All posts by n8rngtd.top

Head coach says there’s hardly any series for them where they can ‘take the foot off it’

Alex Malcolm09-Mar-2020Coach Justin Langer says there is no opportunity to rest his weary senior players with each series as important as the next as Australia continue to search for their best T20I and ODI combinations.Australia travelled home from South Africa on Sunday after being trounced 3-0 in the ODI series. They did win the preceding T20I series 2-1. But there is no chance to rest as they head straight to Sydney for a three-game ODI series against New Zealand which ends in Hobart on March 20, followed by a three-match T20I series in New Zealand starting on March 24 in Dunedin.The majority of Australia’s senior players, with the exception of Mitchell Starc, will then head to India for the IPL.Langer conceded his senior men who play all three forms for Australia, including Steven Smith, David Warner, Pat Cummins and Starc are feeling the pinch.”The truth is we’ve got some weary boys at the moment, particularly our senior players,” Langer said after the third ODI in Potchefstroom.”They play so much cricket. When you think about what they’ve done since we started the World Cup, they went straight from the IPL, which is almost a year ago, straight to the World Cup, straight to the Ashes, straight to what has been a golden summer for us until probably these last three one-dayers. We’ve got some weary boys. We know we’ve got six more games to play and then they’ve got to go again.”Australia rested Cummins and Starc from the third ODI after the series had already been lost in South Africa. Starc was given leave to head home early to watch his wife Alyssa Healy play in the Women’s T20 World Cup final in Melbourne.But both are preparing to play in Friday’s first ODI against New Zealand at the SCG. Langer said there is currently no room in the schedule to pick and choose when players rest.Getty Images

“The challenge is, which series is less important,” Langer said. “Because South Africa here is a really important series. Coming back after [what happened] two years ago, that was a really important series for us. And I’ve got to say it’s been a great series or a great time here both in the hospitality, the way we’ve been treated, the way everyone has looked after us has been brilliant. So that’s an important series.”Then we play New Zealand who made the World Cup final. They’re a very good team and great rivals so that becomes a pretty important series. The T20s we’re pushing for the World Cup, so that’s a pretty important series. So there’s not too many now in international cricket where you think maybe we can take the foot off it, because as soon as you do get beaten like we have today and it’s a terrible feeling being beaten.”Australia were beaten comprehensively in the ODI series, failing to make more than 271 in any of the three games. They have now lost seven of their last eight ODIs dating back to the final pool game in the 2019 World Cup against South Africa at Old Trafford. South Africa have also beaten Australia in six of the last seven ODI meetings since Langer took over as coach in 2018, and 11 of the last 12 dating back to September 2016.”The truth is we’ve got a bit of an eye to the T20 World Cup. Obviously, we’ve got two [T20 World Cups] in a row,” Langer said. “We’ve still got another four years until the next one-day World Cup. That said, we haven’t played good enough cricket. It’s very disappointing. South Africa, it reminded me a bit of great German soccer teams, they’re so disciplined, they’re so fit, and their processes are just so disciplined all the time. They’ve got the better of us in one-day cricket so far, for some time now, and we respect how they play their one-day cricket and they were too good for us this last three.”We’ve got to work out. I think England are showing their cards a bit about how they’re playing their one-day cricket with a bigger picture view. So, we’ll have those discussions in the next few weeks. We’ve probably learned lessons from that in the past as well when the guys are playing all three forms, and playing IPL, how we keep them really sharp. We know how brilliant cricketers they are, but even the best of the best, staying 100% sharp all the time is really hard to do. They’re mentally tough guys but it’s a real challenge for us.”Australia have selected the same squad for the series against New Zealand with the exception of Jhye Richardson, who has been released to play the Sheffield Shield for Western Australia.

Southee and Boult pick up two wickets apiece as India fold for 242

The Report by Sidharth Monga28-Feb-2020
The depth in New Zealand’s five-man seam attack pulled India back from positions of strength on two occasions to leave them bowled out for 242; their openers knocked 63 off that total by stumps. While Kyle Jamieson starred on the scoreboard with a maiden five-for, the other three frontline quicks played their part: Trent Boult took the first wicket, Tim Southee took out Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, and Neil Wagner’s short-pitched bowling broke India’s biggest stand of the series.At 63 overs, India’s innings was shorter than either of their digs in Wellington but, thanks to more positive intent and a quicker pitch, they ended up with a bigger score. And yet they will be disappointed that despite three fifties from their specialist batsmen, despite lives through dropped catches, they ended up with the third-lowest Test total in an innings that featured three or more scores of 50-plus from the top-seven batsmen.On an individual level, there was improvement as all three half-centurions made technical or mindset adjustments after Wellington. Out of sorts with lack of footwork and struggling against the short ball, Prithvi Shaw got his front foot moving and scored a 64-ball 54 to give India a rollicking start. Two men in the spotlight for their slow going in Wellington and their captain’s subsequent remarks about intent, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari batted with urgency and purpose in their half-centuries, but aggression got the better of both of them with the team score in the 190s as India lost their last six wickets for 48 runs.Asked to bat once again, India had a tough job in the morning after a delayed start because of an early-morning drizzle. Shaw, though, went on to show that conditions in New Zealand can look tougher than they are. His forward movement allowed him to track the swing, and his instinctive positive batting remained intact. As a result, Southee in particular couldn’t bowl the really full swinging ball, and Shaw made merry every time Southee pitched even slightly short of a good length. There was a gorgeous on-drive off the full ball too.Boult, though, brought New Zealand some cheer by setting up Mayank Agarwal by moving the first four balls of the sixth over out, in, out and in. Pujara showed he was mindful of his attitude to loose deliveries after he was guilty of not always taking advantage of them in Wellington. To the 13th ball he faced, a full wide one, he threw his hands, ending up slicing it over point. Shaw at the other end made sure Colin de Grandhomme, first-change bowler, couldn’t achieve a repeat of Wellington where he bowled at under two an over.As early as the 19th over, New Zealand went to Wagner and his short-pitched bowling, which nearly brought immediate benefit. Shaw hooked the second ball from Wagner, top-edging it just over the tallest man on the field, Jamieson, at fine leg. That brought up his fifty, a credit to him and the support staff that they could figure a way out of his Wellington issues in one net session between the Tests. Minutes before lunch, though, Shaw had a drive at a full wide one from Jamieson, falling to an acrobatic catch by Tom Latham at second slip. New Zealand would struggle to maintain that catching form.Kohli had tense few minutes to survive before lunch, and Williamson immediately went to Southee. Before lunch, Southee kept dragging Kohli across with outswing outside off before bowling the perfect delivery immediately after lunch. These are not always bowled by design, but you reap the benefits only if you are accurate. This was an outswinger just outside off, but it seamed back in upon pitching and hit him in front, leaving Kohli no chance. A more defensive batsman might have perhaps got an inside edge, it was that good a delivery.While Pujara had now begun driving well, and timing them instead of punching them, Rahane committed a mental error in Southee’s fifth over after lunch. Just visually, Rahane has looked the most comfortable of India’s batsmen on tour, defending late and playing under his head, but this time he was drawn to defend in front of his body, and the outswinger took the edge. When Jamieson pushed Vihari back, hit him on the finger, and then drew an edge to a full one, 80 for 1 was all set to become 134 for 5. Except that BJ Watling dived in front of first slip, and managed to get only fingertips to it.Pujara and Vihari then batted freely, especially against Boult, which meant New Zealand went to plan B in the afternoon. Wagner kept the batsmen honest with a seven-over spell for just eight runs, mixing the bouncers and knuckle balls, nearly getting Pujara with one. But India didn’t allow de Grandhomme to settle, which meant the run rate remained healthy. However, just before tea, Wagner did his job. Having had enough of his bouncers, Vihari decided to take Wagner on in a fresh spell. He kept a pull down, upper-cut him for a four, drove a knuckle ball, but to what turned out to be the last ball before tea he managed only a glove through to Watling. Time and again, it has been seen that there is only one winner when you start taking Wagner’s bouncers on, which will make Vihari question his approach moments before tea.If Vihari’s dismissal was disappointing, Pujara’s was near inexplicable. Just after tea, Pujara went to hook the tallest bowler in the opposition, managing only a top edge to a ball not that short. At the other end, de Grandhomme and Watling reprieved Rishabh Pant in successive deliveries, but the uncertainty that Jamieson’s height brings got the better of him in the next over. Pant pushed at a length ball outside off, but his feet remain rooted, thus producing a played-on dismissal.Umesh Yadav was no match to Jamieson, and Ravindra Jadeja – selected ahead of R Ashwin for his batting – top-edged another short ball to give Jamieson the five-for. A 26-run roulette for the last wicket took India to 242, but the bowlers sans Ishant Sharma had a big task.In the 23 overs before stumps, India kept the batsmen honest, but couldn’t produce an opportunity that would go to hand. Tom Blundell and Latham batted watchfully, respecting the good balls and then cashing on the odd loose ones. They will hope the loose ones will increase in number if they can keep India on the field for a long time on day two.

The teams were scheduled to play a three-Test series in the July-August period

Mohammad Isam24-Jun-2020Twenty-four hours after the postponement of their home series against New Zealand, Bangladesh have deferred their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. The teams were scheduled to play three Tests in the July-August period.The BCB informed SLC of its unpreparedness on Wednesday, which means both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will remain out of action due to the Covid-19 pandemic.The BCB hasn’t yet commenced any form of training of its cricketers with the Shere Bangla National Stadium, cricket’s headquarters in the country, well within a virus “red zone”. Bangladesh’s count of those infected by the virus has crossed the 100,000 mark, with 1,502 officially counted dead as of June 23. Earlier this week, cricketers Mashrafe Mortaza and Nazmul Islam, as well as former batsman Nafees Iqbal. tested Covid positive.So far, this is Bangladesh’s fifth postponement since March, following the second Test against Pakistan in Karachi (April), the tour of the UK and Ireland (May), and the home series against Australia (June) and New Zealand (August-September).Sri Lanka is in a better situation than Bangladesh in terms of numbers of Covid-18=9 cases and deaths, but it has also had its share of postponements. Apart from the England team returning home from Sri Lanka after two practice matches, South Africa and India have also postponed tours of the island.

On an episode of the podcast, the umpire has opened up on the 2007 Trent Bridge incident

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Aug-2020Simon Taufel won the ICC Umpire of the Year award for five years straight – from 2004 to 2008 – but to some India fans, he’ll always remain the umpire who denied Sachin Tendulkar a hundred during the 2007 Trent Bridge Test. Taufel has spoken in detail about that decision on an episode of the podcast hosted by Gaurav Kapur, and revealed how a frank chat with Tendulkar the next day helped them forge a relationship based on “mutual respect for each other and our abilities”.Tendulkar was batting on 91 when he shouldered arms to a nip-backer from Paul Collingwood, and Taufel raised his finger. Ball-tracking, however, suggested the ball would have gone on to miss the stumps.”Well, I’m thinking, shouldered arms, so benefit of the doubt probably to the bowler, and I’ve given Sachin out after a bit of thought,” Taufel recalled. “Now, of course, Sachin’s not happy with the decision. It’s unusual for him to stand around, and he did stand there for a little bit of time, and then he went. I could see that he wasn’t happy.”[…] Later on Hawkeye showed that the ball was predicted to miss the off stump by maybe an inch. And I just knew what the response was going to be like from world cricket; so I didn’t open Cricinfo, I didn’t read any newspapers, I knew that I was going to be… not the flavour of the month in the media.”The following morning I happened to pass by Sachin on my normal morning walk out to the middle […] and I come across Sachin and I said, ‘look, yesterday I got it wrong, you know? I’ve looked at it, I got it wrong.’ He said, ‘look, Simon, I know.’ He said, ‘you’re a good umpire, you don’t often get many wrong, it’s okay, don’t worry about it.'”And out of that sort of exchange, which wasn’t an apology for the sake of making him feel better or me feel better, it was just an acknowledgment that we were both out there doing our best. This is sport, and I wanted to acknowledge that I knew the fact that he was unhappy, and I was doing my best to make sure that that didn’t happen again. That was really the underlying message.”[…] I’m a big believer that breakdowns lead to breakthroughs, and I think that was an example where Sachin and I had a moment that wasn’t particularly pleasant, and I wanted him to know that I took my job seriously and I was going to make sure that that didn’t happen again. And I think out of that exchange, that relationship bank account got a massive credit, because I think that breakdown moment did lead to a breakthrough.”We have an ongoing mutual respect for each other and our abilities, because I’ve got Sachin wrong a number of times, not just on that one occasion. I’ve got the best in the world wrong. And I’ve learned from all those examples, but one thing that will always be with me, apart from those mistakes, is the respect and the trust and the integrity of our relationships as we go forward.”ALSO READ: Steve Bucknor: My ‘mistake’ in 2008 Sydney Test ‘might have cost India the game’Speaking of other occasions where he got decisions wrong, Taufel brought up one where Tendulkar was the beneficiary, during the 2005 Delhi Test against Sri Lanka, where he made his 35th Test century to go past Sunil Gavaskar’s then Test-record tally of hundreds.ESPNcricinfo’s report of the first day’s play says Tendulkar survived “two perilous lbw appeals” before getting to his hundred – one against Dilhara Fernando on 24, the other against Muttiah Muralitharan on 38. Taufel didn’t specify which one he was referring to.Simon Taufel and Virender Sehwag stand in the drizzle•AFP

“I was doing a Test match at Feroz Shah Kotla between India and Sri Lanka, and Sachin does get hit on the pads early on in the innings, and I’ve given it not out,” Taufel said. “He goes on to score a hundred, which I think was his record-breaking hundred at that period of time, but no one’s talking about that. No one remembers that, that’s not on YouTube anywhere.”They’re all talking about Sachin being robbed on 91 [at Trent Bridge], they don’t talk about the not-out where he goes on to score a hundred. Tom Moody, who was the [then] Sri Lankan coach, wasn’t particularly happy with me, because of [that decision].”On MS Dhoni’s sense of humourSpeaking about the various characters he interacted with during his umpiring career, Taufel picked out MS Dhoni for his sense of humour.”MS Dhoni, I find him amazing. He’s got one of the best cricket brains I’ve ever come across – [him,] Darren Lehmann and Shane Warne would be the top three cricket brains that I’ve been fortunate to come across. MS Dhoni is so calm – he’s so relaxed – but he’s also got a sense of humour that most people wouldn’t get to see.”I remember sitting down in a change room at Durban with him. We’d just come off a Test match in Cape Town. Sreesanth had bowled in that previous game, [there were] over-rate challenges because Sree takes a long time to bowl his overs, and we’d sat down in these leather chairs in the umpires’ room in Durban.”We’re just having an informal chat, and MS is looking at these black leather chairs in the umpires’ room, and he says, ‘these chairs are okay, they’re pretty good, and I was thinking, how can I get a couple of these, I wouldn’t mind buying some of these and taking them home’. I’m thinking, I’m trying to have a serious discussion with you about over rates and you’re worried about these leather chairs.ALSO READ: Daryl Harper ‘extremely proud’ of controversial Sachin Tendulkar lbw decision“And I said, ‘MS, you’ve now been done for over rates in Cape Town, and if you’ve got the same problems here in Durban, we’re talking about suspension territory.’ He’s almost rubbed his hands together, and [said], ‘suspension? I wouldn’t mind a game off, because I’m playing a lot of cricket at the moment’, and it just blew me away. I thought, this is something different that I haven’t seen before. But that’s the sense of humour and the relaxed nature of the character and you develop good relationships [with such people].”Makhaya Ntini, another great one, as a fast bowler. What a character! He scored many centuries as a bowler on difficult pitches, and occasionally he’d come to me and say, ‘Simon, what do you think I should do now? Where should I bowl this one?’ And I said, mate, ‘I’ve got my own challenges, I’m worrying about my own game! Bowl where you want to bowl, and do what you have to do!'”

Babar Azam holds on to top spot, Mohammad Hafeez makes big gains, Dawid Malan re-enters top five

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2020England opener Tom Banton and Pakistan middle-order veteran Mohammad Hafeez have both made big gains in the ICC rankings for T20I batsmen at the end of the three-match series that ended 1-1, while Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain in the format, held on to the top spot, opening up a 45-point lead over second-placed KL Rahul.

Shaheryar Butt moves up 351 spots

In the Luxembourg T20I tri-series that pitted Belgium and Czech Republic against the home side, Shaheryar Butt hit 236 runs in four outings, including a best of 125 not out in 50 balls against Czech Republic, to help his side register an all-win record. That helped him jump 351 spots in the batsmen’s rankings to No. 105. On the same day he scored the century, he also hit 81 not out against Luxembourg.
Belgium’s run of four wins also lifted them from 63rd to 47th in the team rankings, while Czech Republic and Luxembourg, who won one match apiece, slipped to No. 61 (from 54) and No. 63 (from 58) respectively.

Banton, who is headed to UAE to link up with his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mates for the IPL, hit 137 runs in the series, including 71 in 42 balls in the washed-out opening game, to move up a remarkable 152 spots on the ladder to reach the 43rd position.The other England batsman to impress, Dawid Malan, who hit 23 and 54 not out in the first two games, also got back in the top five after briefly reaching a career-high 804 rating points when he hit the half-century in the England win.Azam hit a 44-ball 56 from the top of the order in Pakistan’s defeat in the second game to consolidate his position at the top, with Rahul, Australia’s Aaron Finch and New Zealand’s Colin Munro between him and Malan.Hafeez, however, was the standout batsman of the series, and his 36-ball 69 in the second game and a match-winning 86 not out off 52 balls in the final encounter helped him move up 24 spots to No. 44, just behind Banton.Of the bowlers in action in the three games at Manchester’s Old Trafford, Pakistan legspinner Shadab Khan was the most successful with five strikes, including a best of 3 for 34, and that helped him stay in the top ten, at No. 8. England paceman Tom Curran and Pakistan quick Shaheen Shah Afridi (both with two wickets) moved up to the joint 20th spot.

Prime Minister says he convinced Misbah, Ali and Hafeez with “great difficulty” on new system’s virtues

Umar Farooq16-Sep-2020Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Prime Minister and patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has rejected calls for reviving departmental cricket in the country. In a brief meeting at Khan’s residence, a delegation that included Misbah-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali and Mohammad Hafeez, made a bid to change the premier’s mind about the new structure, which has already cost over 400 cricketers their jobs, but could make no headway with Khan insisting that the new regional model was “the right way”.The cricketers who met Khan cited the reduced earnings for players under the new model, as well as the reduced opportunities for younger cricketers to pick up the game.”The new structure didn’t make any difference from its first year (2019) to the second (2020), which has been affected by Covid-19 too,” one member of the delegation said. “The pipeline of cricketers coming into the system has been drying up. We understand that Imran Khan has a point about having competitive cricket in Pakistan, but you cannot implement this in one go, without giving an alternative to cricketers.”However, Khan stuck to his stand, and said he had convinced the cricketers “with great difficulty” that the new structure needed time.”I have convinced with great difficulty Misbah, Hafeez and Azhar that the new cricket structure must be allowed to grow and become strong,” Khan said later. “I told them that every new system had its teething problems and it takes some time but I can assure you once it is established, it will ensure the raw talent we have in cricket will come through polished and groomed for international cricket.”He added that whatever success Pakistan had so far was in spite of the old system, and not because of it.”I am hopeful that we will be able in a position to field a very strong team for the next World Cup and do well in it thanks to this new system,” he said. “Despite this system we won because of the immense raw talent we have. Nowhere does a player graduate straight into the national team from junior or club level cricket.”ALSO READ: “We need departmental cricket back in Pakistan” – Umar GulAlongside the three cricketers, the delegation included PCB chairman Ehsan Mani, chief executive Wasim Khan, the COO Salman Naseer and Wasim Akram, in his capacity as a PCB cricket committee member.Khan had been a strong advocate for a domestic structure with only regional sides instead of departmental sides for much of his playing career too, wanting Pakistan to adopt a structure similar to Australia’s Shield cricket. Since becoming Prime Minister, a position that automatically makes him the patron of the PCB, Khan set about putting his ideas in place. He instructed Mani to restructure the domestic model with six regional teams in the system, which would be the only feeder for the national team. The decision effectively ended the role that departmental cricket had since the 1970s, but it also saw 400 cricketers lose their livelihoods because they had held jobs with departments only by virtue of playing for those teams. The PCB offered contracts to only 192 cricketers, apart from match officials. For many those contracts are much lower value than what departments were paying cricketers, where they often benefited from other perks.ESPNcricinfo understands the meeting was also marred by PCB officials contradicting players and not letting discussions flow smoothly. One of the players told ESPNcricinfo that Khan asked for patience with the new model, saying that Khan argued that such “transition” was always going to be difficult, but that for the national side to benefit, there needed to be competitive domestic cricket. No successful model in other cricket playing countries, Khan said, has departments (or corporate teams) playing at the highest level in domestic cricket. Khan also argued that players’ development stopped once they got jobs with departments, because the security bred complacency.The new structure is meant to empower the six province associations to operate from the grassroots level to the domestic level, and they will be responsible for regulating club, city and regional cricket. But while sound on paper, it’s not been easy to implement the new model in practice. Clubs that were supposed to be registered under the new model haven’t been, while players have played for the clubs for the past 18 months in a kind of vacuum – with the old structure gone and without the new structure in place.Domestic cricket in Pakistan has been played among departments and regions for nearly 50 years, starting in the early 1970s, when Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistan’s first Test captain and then PCB chairman, encouraged organisations like Habib Bank Limited, Sui Southern Gas Corporation, Water and Power Development Authority and others to provide employment opportunities for players. With the new model, most departments have already suspended contracts they had with cricketers. Those who were permanent employees were asked to pick desk jobs, effectively ending their cricketing aspirations. These were players hired mainly for their cricketing skills, and given their lack of qualifications for other jobs, they have had to pick non-executive jobs with lesser pay.

Glamorgan seal only their third victory of campaign against Central Group leaders

ECB Reporters Network18-Sep-2020Glamorgan 188 for 4 (Balbirnie 99*) beat Gloucestershire 171 for 6 (Dent 55, Wagg 3-34) by 17 runsIreland captain Andy Balbirnie fell agonisingly short of becoming Glamorgan’s sixth centurion in T20 cricket as he led his side to a well-earned victory over Central Group leaders Gloucestershire by 17 runs in the Vitality Blast in Cardiff.Balbirnie struck an explosive unbeaten 99, the highest individual T20 score by a Glamorgan batsman at Cardiff, to lay the foundations of a competitive 188 for 4, adding 61 for the second wicket with David Lloyd and 79 for the fourth with Chris Cooke.Defeat for the visitors means that they must now wait until their final match against Somerset on Sunday to discover whether they will have a home tie in the quarter-finals.Glamorgan made three changes to the side that lost heavily to Somerset at Cardiff two nights ago – top-scorer Owen Morgan, Callum Taylor and Marchant de Lange replaced by Kiran Carlson, Dan Douthwaite and Graham Wagg.Openers Lloyd and Nick Selman lofted the ball for a boundary apiece before the latter holed out to deep midwicket. However, Balbirnie continued the onslaught as Glamorgan reached 51 for 1 at the end of the Powerplay.Gloucestershire turned to the medium-pace of Benny Howell and Ryan Higgins, and then to the left-arm spin of Tom Smith – and it yielded success when Lloyd was bowled by Howell as he stepped away to the leg side, before Carlson drove Smith to Howell at cover.Balbirnie swept Taylor to the fine-leg boundary for his second six, bringing up his half-century, and continued to blast the Gloucestershire attack with Higgins conceding 17 in his second over. Balbirnie waited nervously for his century, as Cooke was run out attempting a quick single, before Douthwaite despatched consecutive boundaries, but the Irishman ultimately fell one run short.Chasing 189 to win, Gloucestershire made a slow start to their Powerplay, despite two fours and a six by Chris Dent in the fourth over, before Mile Hammond was caught at short third man in the fifth as the visitors reached 49 for 1.By the halfway stage, Dent, who was dropped by Salter before reaching his half-century from 32 deliveries, and Ian Cockbain, also dropped by Timm van der Gugten in the deep, had guided Gloucestershire to 86 for 1, still requiring 103 runs to win.Graham Wagg gave Glamorgan important breakthroughs in successive overs, when he struck the top of Cockbain’s leg stump before catching Dent at long-off off Prem Sisodiya. He struck again when the equation was 65 from the final five overs as John Bracey, dropped at long-on on 29, skied to point from a leading edge on 37 in the 18th over.Van der Gugten yorked Higgins from the final delivery of the penultimate over, and Wagg claimed a third wicket in the final over when Jack Taylor was caught at long-off as Balbirnie rounded off a memorable evening for the Dubliner.

Mitch Perry and Zak Evans both struck on their first-class debuts as South Australia’s batting struggled again

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2020Making a belated start to their season, which has followed two weeks of quarantine in Adelaide where they could only train in groups of four, a young Victoria attack took the honours on the opening day as they removed South Australia for 200.Mitch Perry and Zak Evans were making their first-class debuts while Will Sutherland had five matches under his belt. They were complemented by the experienced duo of Scott Boland and Jon Holland, but the young trio did more than their share of the damage on a well-grassed surface.To cap Victoria’s day their openers, Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski, got through a testing last hour to leave them well placed to take advantage of the bowlers’ good work.Sutherland had the pick of the figures and claimed the two senior middle-order batsmen either side of lunch: Travis Head nicked an excellent delivery from round the wicket and Callum Ferguson edged a drive that he will want to forget.The first wicket of the day had been Perry’s maiden scalp when Conor McInerney top edged a pull and later Evans also got off the mark when Liam Scott edged to second slip.It wasn’t all the kids, however, with Boland getting Brad Davis caught behind and Holland’s left-arm spin doing both an excellent holding job and chipping out two wickets. Holland’s first of the day removed Henry Hunt, playing around a full delivery, after the opener had done the majority of South Australia’s run-scoring.That left the Redbacks in a hole at 5 for 76 and when Holland struck again, having Chadd Sayers caught at cover, they were 7 for 116 but they managed to haul themselves towards something respectable.Harry Nielsen produced another valuable innings while Wes Agar provided a somewhat unexpected boost with a career-best 41, adding 34 for the last wicket.

Opener says he is mentally and physically refreshed after tough home season and ready for action

Andrew Miller25-Nov-2020It’s tough at the top, as Jason Roy knows only too well after a tricky summer in England’s white-ball bubble, and it’s only set to get tougher still in the build-up to next year’s T20 World Cup, given what he describes as the “frightening” array of talent lining up to challenge for a starting berth in the format.However, after withdrawing from the recent IPL to get himself mentally and physically prepared for the year ahead, Roy has declared himself refreshed and ready to return to the fray, and says that his only focus is on winning the series against South Africa, rather than worrying about whether his place in the side is under threat.”It’s mad, the amount of batters is quite frightening (battling) for our top six or top seven,” Roy said during a Zoom call from South Africa. “It’s a great position to be in. I’m not fussed who I open with, whether I open, or what dynamics they go with, but it’s a good position leading into a World Cup.”Sam Billings touched on it the other day, about it being one of the hardest sports teams to infiltrate,” he added. “The amount of players out here – Tom Banton and Tom Helm sitting here as reserves … it’s a beautiful position to be in, we are spoilt for choice.”That wealth of options is no luxury when you are the incumbent, however, and Roy recognises he will be under some scrutiny this week after a fallow run of scores in the summer. He managed just 49 runs in six ODIs against Ireland and Australia, with a side strain in between whiles ruling him out of the T20I leg of the summer.But at the age of 30, and having thrived in the pressure of England’s build-up to the 50-over World Cup, he’s confident of getting into the right head-space to succeed in the coming weeks.”Playing for places is quite a hard thing to do,” Roy said. “You’ve got to concentrate as an individual on the next performance. If there’s players on this tour who are like ‘I need to play for my place’ then that’s not what we’re here to do. We’re here to win the series. Some players will be feeling the pressure but you’ve just got to go out there and express yourself in T20.”ALSO READ: Five things that England need to learn from their T20Is in South AfricaSpeaking to PA earlier in the week, Chris Silverwood, England’s head coach, appeared to confirm that Roy and Jos Buttler would resume their status as England’s first-choice openers for Friday’s opening fixture at Newlands, but the competition for a top-order berth is intense.Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan, the world’s top-ranked T20I batsman, are also in the running for an opener’s slot, as well as Banton, who deputised for Roy in the summer but is only a reserve batsman for this trip. And while Ben Stokes and Sam Curran are more likely to feature in the middle order than the top, both of them opened with notable results for Rajasthan and CSK in the IPL last month.”I would 100% be lying if I said you were not under pressure for your place,” Roy said. “With the amount of talent that is around us, there is not one person, everyone is getting pushed to their limits. No one can rest on their laurels. It’s one of those amazing squads. But I have got to do what I have got to do, right? I have got to get myself physically fit, mentally fit and then I’ve got to score some runs. It’s as simple as that.”Such were the reasons why Roy opted to withdraw from his IPL deal with Delhi Capitals, after a disjointed English summer in which his rhythm as a batsman never quite came together, even though he played a strong hand in Surrey’s late-season run to the final of the T20 Blast.”It was a mixture of a few things,” Roy said. “Physically and mentally I probably wasn’t where I wanted to be at that stage, especially going into quite a big year and a half. The decision wasn’t taken lightly but, due to the amount of bubbles we’ve been in, what’s to come up and the uncertainty over what’s to come, it was the right decision.”I’m feeling the benefits. We’ve had a good week here, quite a few training sessions,” he added. “I’ve put my hand up to face quite a lot of our bowlers at all the net sessions, to get myself in a good place to play.”The best thing is I’m really excited for my cricket. I’m excited for my training, excited to keep learning, so it’s a good place for me mentally. Not having game-time is something, but being mentally refreshed is just as important.”South Africa, however, is just the starting point for Roy in his push towards the goal of the T20 World Cup. He has also committed to a full stint with Perth Scorchers at this year’s Big Bash – including the likelihood of spending Christmas Day in quarantine ahead of his opening fixture on December 27 – before England’s planned but un-finalised trips to India and Sri Lanka in the new year.”The fact that I hadn’t played much cricket during the summer, and I chose to opt out of the IPL, meant [the BBL] was a bit of a no-brainer for me and my family,” he said. “It’s a big 12 months of me getting fully prepared with my batting. Mentally and physically, I am in one of the best places I have been. Now it’s just a case of getting my runs on the board, and as much cricket as possible between now and the World Cup.””We know how tense these tournaments are, we have played in a World Cup final in T20s before,” he added. “We know the pathway to that is very physically and mentally demanding. We know what we are in for. Now it’s a case of going out and having some fun.”

Priyank Panchal, though, has “no preference” among domestic cricketers ESPNcricinfo spoke to

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2020Faiz Fazal, Vidarbha captain: Given it’s a T20 World Cup year and with the IPL auction in the pipeline, I would like to begin with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s and then move on to the Ranji Trophy. Beginning with T20s will allow players to get into the thick of things.Parvez Rasool, Jammu & Kashmir captain: For players like me who don’t have an IPL contract, the SMA T20s are a lifeline. Even one big impact performance for your team can boost your chances of being noticed by franchises. So I’d definitely like to start with the Mushtaq Ali T20s and then move on to the Ranji Trophy. The window is very limited, so maybe then [we] can look to have a zonal system this year and then stage the knockouts. I understand the number of matches each team plays will reduce, but having some form of first-class cricket is better than not playing at all.Priyank Panchal, Gujarat captain: I have no preference, and I’ll tell you why. After the previous season, one of my goals was to better my white-ball game. There were a few limitations to my batting in the shorter formats. So once the lockdown was lifted, I worked on a range of shots – like the ramp, scoop, paddle, short-arm jabs to deliveries banged into the pitch [and] my range hitting. The goal was to score consistently in the shorter formats, like I’ve done with the red ball. So if they plan to have the limited-overs options only, it’ll be a chance for me to see how the work during the off-season has helped. If it’s one of the 50-overs or T20 and Ranji Trophy, I’m fine with that too. The main thing is to get back onto the field.Jalaj Saxena, Kerala allrounder: Personally, I’d pick the Ranji Trophy as first priority and then if time permits, look to conduct the Mushtaq Ali T20s. But the dynamics will vary now with the IPL auction. If auctions are there, then SMA T20s will be held first.Abhimanyu Easwaran, Bengal captain: I’d prefer to have two tournaments – at least. For me, Ranji Trophy is really important. Obviously with the auction coming up, it [also] makes sense to have T20s. The more cricket we get, the better.