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Dan Lawrence is expected to be released from England’s Test squad to play for Essex on Thursday

Matt Roller05-Jul-2023

Birmingham Bears vs Essex

Dan Mousley is an injury doubt•Getty ImagesMoeen Ali’s England call-up, Glenn Maxwell’s lack of form and regular injuries to important players all threatened to derail Birmingham Bears’ Blast season – yet they topped the North Group for the second season in a row, this time with 11 wins out of 14.Dan Mousley, the offspinning allrounder who has enjoyed a breakthrough season, is a doubt after splitting the webbing in his bowling hand, while Moeen and Chris Woakes are on Test duty and Hasan Ali has departed on international duty and is replaced by left-arm seamer Dominic Drakes. But the big news is that Sam Hain – averaging 107.25 with a strike rate of 162.50 this season – is fit again after missing nearly half of the group stage through injury.Essex qualified by the skin of their teeth thanks to Feroze Khushi, who hit the last ball of their game at The Oval for six on Sunday to clinch a quarter-final berth. In Daniel Sams, they have the Blast’s 2023 MVP – according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats – while Dan Lawrence is due to be released from England’s Test squad.The Bears have not reached Finals Day – which is played at their home ground – since 2017 but go into this tie as favourites.

Lancashire vs Surrey

Sam Curran is part of a star-studded Surrey line-up•Getty ImagesOn paper, these are the best two teams in the competition, both filled with international quality. Lancashire’s top six contains three of England’s T20 World Cup-winning batting line-up in Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone but it is Daryl Mitchell, the perennially underrated New Zealander, who has led the way with 409 runs at a strike rate 162.30.Luke Wells, frozen out by Sussex three years ago, has become an important cog with both bat and ball: he has reinvented himself as a modern legspinner in the Rashid Khan mould, earning a wildcard deal at Welsh Fire in the Hundred. He has kept Matt Parkinson, who leaves for Kent at the end of the season, out of the side.Surrey lost four of their last five to let a home quarter-final slip and home advantage is a major factor for Lancashire, who have not lost at Old Trafford since 2020. But they should not be underestimated: Jason Roy is fit again and slotted in at No. 3 on Sunday to avoid breaking up the prolific opening partnership between Will Jacks and Laurie Evans.Jacks has also chipped in with the ball and in Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Sunil Narine and Sean Abbott, Surrey have a number of bowlers who have a track record of playing – and performing – in knockout games. This should be a cracker.

Somerset vs Nottinghamshire</h2

Somerset’s attack have taken regular wickets•Mike Hewitt/Getty ImagesSomerset became the first team in Blast history to win 12 group-stage games and much of their success owes to their ability to take regular wickets. They have taken 125 wickets in 14 games, 21 more than anyone else in the competition; the record for the most wickets taken by a team in a T20 season anywhere in the world is Lancashire’s 130 in the 2015 Blast.Related

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The formula is simple enough: Craig Overton and Matt Henry strike early, Roelof van der Merwe and Lewis Gregory squeeze through the middle and Ben Green mops up at the death. The arrival of Ish Sodhi, replacing the injured Peter Siddle, means they have a wristspin option too – and Sodhi will be playing against one of his old counties.Nottinghamshire are not the T20 force they once were. They remain a dangerous side, with Joe Clarke and Alex Hales opening up and Tom Moores finding some form down the order, but have some availability problems: Colin Munro and Samit Patel missed the end of the group stage with injuries, Olly Stone’s comeback lasted three balls and Shaheen Shah Afridi has left on international duty.With Notts’ attack looking lighter than normal – and Somerset boasting a formidable batting line-up led by a rejuvenated Tom Banton – Somerset should feel confident of reaching a third successive semi-final.

Hampshire vs Worcestershire

Hampshire’s John Turner is the breakout star of the Blast season•Getty ImagesHampshire are defending champions and have strengthened this year: Benny Howell missed the start of the Blast through injury but adds experience, while the South African-born seamer John Turner has been the tournament’s breakout bowler, taking 18 wickets in nine appearances.James Vince, the Blast’s all-time leading run-scorer, has been characteristically dominant and is top of the runs charts for 2023 thanks to eight 50-plus scores in 14 innings. Like Lancashire, Hampshire are very strong at home, winning six out of seven at the Ageas Bowl this season.Worcestershire, the 2018 champions, finished rock-bottom of the North Group last summer but have recruited well, with spin-bowling allrounders Mitchell Santner and Usama Mir – originally signed as a replacement for Michael Bracewell – both thriving with bat as well as ball.Josh Tongue is not expected to be released by England – he will be rested ahead of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford – so Worcestershire’s attack will rely heavily on their three main spinners: Santner, Mir and Brett D’Oliveira. Hampshire should be too strong, but if Worcestershire can get Vince early then anything is possible.

While the national attention is largely on other South African sporting teams, the cricketers will quietly fancy their chances in India

Firdose Moonda18-Sep-2023For a change, South Africa’s cricket team will go to the World Cup without much fuss or fanfare and they have their rugby counterparts to thank for it. The world champion Springboks are competing at their own World Cup, for a record fourth title, and the country’s sports lovers are too Bok-befok (an Afrikaans phrase that can be loosely translated as obsessed with the Springboks) to be distracted by other things, even if the other thing is a World Cup in a different code.That may come as a relief to Temba Bavuma, Rob Walter and co, who will have to deal with far less pressure and expectations than squads before, but they’re also using it as inspiration – to go where no South African side has gone before.”We understand that we are a vehicle for inspiration for the country. When the team are at its best, they provide a mirror for what the country can look like, where race is not an issue, there are no political divides and they are only focused on one thing, which is the collective.”Related

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Those are powerful words at a time when the country has faced unprecedented success alongside unprecedented hardship. In a landmark year for sport, the women’s national team became the first senior cricket side to reach a World Cup final, the women’s national football team, nicknamed , became the first senior side in their code to reach the knockout rounds of a World Cup and wheelchair tennis players Kgothatso Montjane and Donald Ramphadi won gold in their respective categories at Roland Garros. At the same time, there have been more rolling blackouts this year than at any time before, the Rand slipped to its lowest rate against the Dollar in history, and wealth inequality remains the largest in the world.No sports team can solve those issues but between them, the Springboks, , the tennis stars and the Proteas men and women are going to try to at least put smiles on faces and hope in hearts.”The role of the team is to provide inspiration and hope and to unify,” Bavuma says. “The way to do that is by playing a brand of cricket people can get excited about. And everyone likes to win.”That was evident at a sell-out Wanderers, where more than 34,000 people turned up on Sunday afternoon, watched the cricketers on the field and the rugby players on the big screen and celebrated their victories in the spring sunshine with party vibes. What they saw from France was expected: the No.2 ranked Springboks downed 19th placed Romania 76-0. What they saw in front of them was not. South Africa went from 258 for 6 in the 45th over, to 315 and then defended their total successfully for the third fixture in succession to claim the ODI series 3-2.Though Walter cautioned that South Africa need to “very careful,” about “reading too much,” into the result ahead of a World Cup that will be played in vastly different conditions, there are positive signs for a side that only got automatic qualification to the tournament in eighth place.

A tough top-order

At first glance, and especially when stacked up against names like Jonny Bairstow, Rohit Sharma or Babar Azam, South Africa’s top three don’t exactly seem menacing but Bavuma, Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen have numbers that suggest otherwise. They boast averages of 56.95, 44.88 and 57.62 respectively and can all lay a foundation for the big-hitters in the middle-order.Bavuma’s 50-over pedigree is particularly overlooked, in part because of criticism over this T20 strike rate and blurring of lines between formats, but in 2023, he averages 79.62 in ODIs, has scored three hundreds and two fifties and proved himself as an astute captain.Quinton de Kock will retire from ODIs after the World Cup•AFP/Getty Images

Marco Jansen shaping up as a leading allrounder

South Africa raised eyebrows when they chose to include only one genuine allrounder in their squad especially as other squads were stacked with them but Marco Jansen is proving more than useful. He had his best game in the series-decider against Australia with a career-best 47 off 23 balls and his first five-for and Walter warned this is only the beginning. “Marco has got such huge potential. There is so much more in the tank from him,” Walter said.Jansen has indicated he enjoys the roles differently, as he is allowed to be more carefree with the bat and more stoic with the ball. “It’s tough but it’s nice at the same time,” he said, when asked how he is carrying both loads. “It’s a bit more responsibility but for me it’s important to go out there and enjoy it. I enjoy batting and when I am batting I try and express myself and then when I am bowling, it’s more like I have a real job to do.”South Africa probably see his division of labour the same way: bat with freedom but bowl with maturity, especially as he is likely to be their quickest bowler, with Anrich Nortje in doubt because of a back injury.

“We understand that we are a vehicle for inspiration for the country. When the team are at its best, they provide a mirror for what the country can look like, where race is not an issue, there are no political divides and they are only focused on one thing, which is the collective”Temba Bavuma is aware of the job at hand

Winning with spin and seam

There are concerns over the make-up of South Africa’s attack with Nortje and Sisanda Magala in a race against time to prove their fitness ahead of the squad’s departure this weekend but South Africa look otherwise well stocked. Walter was particularly pleased with the different departments of the attack in the Australia series ahead of the World Cup. “We won the game in Potchefstroom with spin, we won the game at SuperSport Park with pace and we put it all together today,” he said.South Africa defended 338 in the third ODI, largely thanks to Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi’s strangling efforts. They bowled 17 overs between them, took four wickets and gave away only 66 runs – fewer than four runs an over in a chase where Australia were required to score above six. They defended 417 in Centurion, where Lungi Ngidi and and Kagiso Rabada shared seven wickets between them and at the Wanderers, Jansen’s short-ball barrage which led to his five-for and Maharaj’s four wickets saw Australia slump to a third defeat by 100 runs or more, and to Walter, justified how he has put his squad together.”It’s one of the biggest cliches in sport: sticking to the process. But it’s a cliche because it’s true. You have to trust the processes, trust the way you want to play the game.”South Africa want to play fearlessly and understand the other nine teams at the World Cup are aiming for the same. But they also know South African eyes may not be entirely on that for some time. The Rugby World Cup started last week and will conclude on October 29, six matches into South Africa’s Cricket World Cup campaign. That buys the cricketers time, to gauge the national mood, to work on their own game and to start their tournament under the radar. They could not have asked for a more relaxed way to enter the competition, or for more motivation. The Springboks have established themselves as the heartbeat of the nation, and they’ll set the pace but a country needs other things too. Over to you, Proteas.

He used to wake up to 5am alarms every year on December 26. Now he’s about to play his first MCG Test, confident Pakistan can end their run of Australian misery

Danyal Rasool21-Dec-2023Perhaps it was Saud Shakeel who gave birth to the Pakistan Way. It is difficult to think of another cricketer on whom the idea could be so pointedly based after looking at how Shakeel went about his business at home a year ago.”Before the Sri Lanka series started, I worked on batting with a more positive mindset,” Shakeel says. “And then I executed that in Sri Lanka.”Related

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Over what was a miserable winter for Pakistan last season, when they lost three Tests out of five and didn’t win a single one at home, Shakeel emerged as a significant positive in the middle order, with 580 runs in five Tests at 72.50.”When you play cricket, your main job is to perform for the team,” he says. “I don’t think of whether I’m new to the team or not. I just want to score runs that win matches for the team.”It was his strike rate of 41.66, though, that got more attention than his sparkling average. Shakeel’s stodgy grit was emblematic of a side that wasn’t just outplayed by two better sides at home, but, perhaps more unforgivably for Pakistan, was also out-styled. Pakistan were a dull, conservative watch over those six weeks, scrambling to save Test matches rather than looking to win them.Shakeel, at least, was doing it somewhat effectively, famously putting together an epic unpbeaten 125 that took more than eight hours and 341 balls to compile. While Pakistan just about managed to rescue that game against New Zealand – the final pair clinging on for 21 balls – how close they had come to winning it was equally noteworthy; when stumps on day five were called, Pakistan were just 15 runs from victory.Thereafter, the Pakistan Way began to emerge. Sequentially, it appeared to be less a cricketing philosophy than a passive-aggressive dig at Pakistan’s player of the season. Shakeel was told he was missing out on scoring opportunities, failing to put away bad deliveries even when the opportunities to do so with very little risk presented themselves. He understood he had the technical ability to go after the bowling more, and in Sri Lanka, he did just that. His strike rate through that series was an impressive 57.95, as he scored an unbeaten double-hundred and a half-century to help Pakistan win 2-0.It is unsurprising, then, that Shakeel can do a better job explaining the elusive Pakistan Way than just about anyone else who’s tried. “The Pakistan Way doesn’t mean you go out and start attacking like mad and only target boundaries,” he says. “The theory behind the Pakistan Way is to look at the situation and take the most positive route out of it. If the situation demands caution, the philosophy doesn’t prevent you from doing that. But always look for positive intent. If you look at my double-hundred in Sri Lanka, there were phases in that innings where I batted slowly, but I always looked for the positive option.”Shakeel added an extra gear to his batting on the tour of Sri Lanka•AFP/Getty ImagesWe’re at the MCG, a ground Shakeel holds special affinity for. When he was younger, he used to set a 5am alarm on December 26 every year, looking to catch the start of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. He has just finished a two-and-a-half hour training session at the nets across from the ground, testing his defensive block against pace and using his feet to spin. At one point, Pakistan spin-bowling coach Saeed Ajmal sent down a few deliveries, with Shakeel managing to look assured, something that eluded most cricketers in Ajmal’s heyday.Perhaps, though, that has to do with the conditions, too. “Whenever you come to Australia, it takes time to get used to conditions,” Shakeel says. “We played a practice match in Canberra but the conditions there weren’t the fast-bouncing pitches we got in Perth, so it took us time to get used to that. We’ve moved on from that now and are looking ahead, and getting more and more used to conditions by the day. I haven’t got big runs in the first Test, but my intent was positive there. And that’s the mentality for us as a batting group, to go out there and play positive and attacking cricket.”Anyone who watched that first Test on a pitch that was – even by West Australian standards – exceptionally spicy will understand why Pakistan felt so strongly about the strip prepared for the four-day game in Canberra. While unseasonal rains and a historically flat surface in the capital meant Pakistan were never going to get the sort of authentic experience that awaited them in Perth, the one word every cricketer reverts to is “practice”.”It’s tricky to make the transition from Asia to Perth,” Shakeel a product of routine and method, says. “When I went to Sri Lanka, I had previously gone there on A tours. Unfortunately, I’ve never been to Australia or New Zealand on an A tour so it was quite new for me to adapt to conditions here. The quicker you adapt and the more practice you have, the easier to find it to perform. There was enough time to practice, if the pitches we practiced on weren’t quick enough. But unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.”I’d never played on a drop-in pitch before, [such as the one] in Perth. It takes one or two days to adjust. But as a professional cricketer, you have to adapt quickly so you’re able to perform. I learned a lot from that match.”And though he managed a modest 52 runs across the two innings, his tendency to get starts in every Test innings remained unabated. He scored 28 and 24, meaning he has not once been dismissed below 20, in a career spanning 15 Test innings. While doing so, he quietly surpassed Everton Weekes’ record of 14 innings, which had stood for 73 years.With that toughest test out of the way, Shakeel feels it might even be a blessing to have gone through that baptism of fire first up. The MCG is unlikely to carry the same spitting venom as Perth did even deep into the fourth day, and the surface most probably won’t break up quite as easily either. That means Australia’s seam attack might not be afforded quite as much assistance as they were at the Optus, with Nathan Lyon potentially finding it trickier to make his presence felt, too.”The practice today was really good. After we played Perth, the pitch here almost feels like Pakistan,” Shakeel says. “The matches in Melbourne, I’ve seen it’s not that hard to bat on. I’m really looking forward to this Test match. The boys are feeling good; it was a very healthy practice session and the players look in good nick. I think you’ll get the chance to see a complete turnaround, especially in this Melbourne Test.After the searing pace and bounce in Perth, Pakistan can expect more straightforward batting conditions in Melbourne•Getty Images”Our country and our fans always have high expectations of you. If you represent Pakistan, it doesn’t matter if you’re inexperienced or not; there are always expectations if you play for Pakistan. I back myself to perform well.”We will try our level best not to repeat mistakes. We did make mistakes in the bowling. The pitch was seaming very well on the first day. Our two inexperienced young bowlers tried hard but it takes time to adjust your lengths. So considering the quality of that pitch, we allowed too many runs to be scored, and found ourselves on the back foot there and then.”But Pakistan clearly felt the practice arrangements agreed to ahead of the tour were a little thin, a point crystallised by the 360-run battering Australia handed out to what looked like an undercooked Pakistan side in Perth. To that end, and with eight days between the first two Tests, the PCB asked for an additional tour game to be wedged in. That will take place at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on December 22 and 23 against a strong Victorian XI side. And while the Junction Oval also has a reputation for being among the flattest tracks in Australia, Pakistan want all the exposure to these conditions they can get.”When you come to Australia, you see they’ve got good experience and a quality bowling attack,” Shakeel says. “When you’re playing in their home conditions it becomes more of a mental challenge than a physical one. We’re aware of our record here but as a team we have to go out there and score runs.”Pakistan’s consecutive defeat tally in Australia now extends to 15 Tests spanning six series stretching back to 1999. As such, most of the players now trying to stem that tide have no reference point to look back upon; eight of the players in the Pakistan squad weren’t even born when Pakistan last won a Test in Australia. Shakeel wasn’t even three months old when it happened.As such, anything that gives Pakistan a straw to clutch at is welcome, and all Pakistan have at the moment is ancient history. The only two venues in this country they have won Tests at are Melbourne and Sydney, the site of the next two Test matches.”There are nerves before you go out to bat, of course,” Shakeel says. “But if I look at the vibe and the feel of the MCG, especially on Boxing Day, it’s special. It’s a very unique feeling and the excitement of this particular Test match is like none other. It’s a huge opportunity for us, still. No Pakistani side has won a series here, so if we perform well and win the series, as a player, think of how much growth that will afford a player throughout a career. So I just look at it as an opportunity.”The boy waking up to 5am alarms continues to dream. And while he’ll never have seen a result pan out his way over those cold winter mornings half a world away, he finds himself in a position to try and give the kids setting those early alarms next week a different experience. No one would want to sleep through that.

With Vrinda Dinesh injured, she opened the innings on Wednesday and smashed 57 off 31 to script UP Warriorz’s first win of the season

Ashish Pant29-Feb-2024There is something about Mumbai Indians that gets Kiran Navgire up and about. Maybe it’s the Punekar in her wanting to go one-up against a Mumbai side. Maybe it’s the extra motivation to prove herself against a top-quality bowling attack. But Navgire seems to have something extra in the tank when facing Mumbai in the WPL.She was the only bright spark for UP Warriorz in the WPL 2023 Eliminator against Mumbai, striking a powerful 27-ball 43 even as the other batters surrendered meekly. In an earlier group game that season, she had struck two fours and a six in a quick 14-ball 17. So when Warriorz faced Mumbai again, on Wednesday, Navgire cut loose.Having batted in the middle order in the first two games of WPL 2024 without much success, Navgire was given a chance to open the batting in this game. She took the opportunity head-on smashing a 31-ball 57 with six fours and four sixes to set up the platform for a chase of 162 and the first win of the season for her side.Related

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For all her heroics, Navgire’s promotion to the top of the order might not have happened if not for an injury to Vrinda Dinesh. Vrinda, who had opened the batting in the first two games, hurt her shoulder while attempting to save a boundary at fine leg in the 14th over of the Mumbai innings and was immediately taken off. That meant Navgire, who had batted at No. 6 in the previous two games, was asked to open.It was a position right in Navgire’s wheelhouse. It was as an opener back in the 2021-22 Senior Women’s T20 when she first shot into the limelight as a guest player for Nagaland, breaking records for fun. She regularly opens the batting for her state Maharashtra. Even for Warriorz last season, she batted at No. 3 for a chunk of the games.”When the innings ended the head coach [Jon Lewis] came up to me and said I had to open. I was happy, because I open the batting in domestic cricket, and I had the chance to do that here,” Navgire said after Wednesday’s game. “I just played the ball on merit, played my natural game. If the ball is in my arc, it should go into the stands – that is my natural thought.”Kiran Navgire and Alyssa Healy put on a quick half-century stand•BCCIAnd over the ropes the ball went. Four times. Each hit making a dent at Mumbai’s chance to go to the top of the points table. Each hit taking Warriorz closer to their first win of the season.Navgire looked switched on from the get-go. She started her boundary counter by going straight over Saika Ishaque’s head off the second ball she faced. Then came an Issy Wong over, one that truly got Navgire into the groove. The first ball, back of a length, was smacked to short midwicket on the bounce, but the fielder failed to stop it and it raced away on the M Chinnaswamy outfield. Wong then went full twice, and was lofted both times over the infield. Then came another short ball and Navgire hammered it past midwicket to make it four fours in five balls.Even as Nat Sciver-Brunt – filling in as captain for the injured Harmapreet Kaur – rung in the changes, the carnage did not stop. Alyssa Healy also joined in on the fun as Warriorz raced to 61 for 0 after six overs – the highest powerplay score of the season.It didn’t take Navgire long to reach her fifty, getting to the mark off just 25 balls with a big six over deep midwicket. By the time she fell in the tenth over, the required rate for Warriorz had dropped to 6.3 from the original asking rate of 8.1. Grace Harris then continued the charge and Warriorz romped home by seven wickets and with 21 balls to spare.Navgire’s onslaught took Mumbai by surprise as they hadn’t quite planned for her at the top of the order. “I don’t think Navgire was going to open,” Mumbai head coach Charlotte Edwards said after the game. “I think the injury [to Vrinda] gave them a licence to put her up the order. We completely weren’t planning for her opening the batting. She played brilliantly tonight and kind of took the game away from us in that period she batted. We never quite recovered.”This innings was even more crucial for Navgire considering she did not have a great WPL 2023. She had an even poor Senior Women’s T20 with 88 runs in six innings. The pressure was firmly on her after two more failures this WPL season, but Navgire stood tall.At no point did her innings feel like a slog-fest. There was assuredness in her footwork while bashing the spinners. Even while tackling the fast bowlers, she made use of the crease and found the gaps.But had Vrinda not been injured, would Navgire have still opened? “Probably not,” Healy said at the post-match presentation. “Things happen for a reason. She’s made a strong case moving forward as to why she should be doing it.”When in full flow, there are not many in Indian cricket who hit the ball as cleanly and as long as Navgire. The one thing lacking in her game is consistency. A half-century is a start, but what she would dearly hope for is to turn the rest of the season into a bumper one. Power-hitters in the women’s game are a rare breed and if she can find momentum, Warriorz could prove to be a tough team to beat.

Batters have looked to hit with the breeze while bowlers try to utilise it in their defence

Matt Roller21-Jun-2024At each of the five T20 World Cup games staged in St Lucia over the past week, there have been two matches going on: one team against the other, and both teams against the wind.Walk up to Daren Sammy Cricket Ground into the Beausejour Hills and the stiff breeze blowing in from the east is the first thing you notice. It is confirmed by the billowing flags hoisted next to the Party Stand, while players and umpires have their shirts buffeted throughout games. It is not far from the sea and the surrounding hills help to create strong winds with gusts of up to 20mph.Throughout this leg of the tournament, the breeze has blown diagonally across the ground, from behind the Party Stand on the north-eastern side – which is low and open – and towards the grandstand on the south-western side. Balls hit hard and flat can avoid it but any shot played in the air is liable to be blown one way or the other, and it has played on almost every player’s mind.Related

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With the wind blowing diagonally rather than straight across the ground, and three different strips used, there have been a number of subplots in these five games. In the first two, the breeze went towards the shorter boundary: bowlers tried to get hit towards the bigger side, and batters used their feet to create an angle that would allow them to hit with the wind.In the next two, the wind blew towards the bigger side, but the ends seemed to have more of an impact: in England’s win over West Indies, Phil Salt scored 27 off 22 balls at one end, while the breeze was coming towards him, and 60 off 25 at the other when it seemed to help straight shots carry over the rope.And on Friday, the first 10.30am start of the St Lucia leg, the wind seemed to be even stronger. On a fresh, central strip, the dimensions were relatively even – one square boundary measured 66 metres, the other 69 metres – and both South Africa and England made their plans accordingly: with the bat, use the breeze to attack; with the ball, use it as a defensive weapon.It has even influenced England’s team selection: they have changed the balance of their side since the start of the tournament, with Sam Curran replacing Will Jacks to provide both an extra seam-bowling option and another left-handed batter. “It gives us another option for the left-hand/right-hand combination, to try and have somebody hitting with the wind,” Jos Buttler said.It was clear in England’s bowling innings that they were trying to use it to their advantage, often bowling straight to a batter at one end and then hanging the ball wide at the other. “The wind’s been playing a big part in all the games,” Buttler said. “It was just a simple plan to try and get people to hit into the wind as opposed to with it.”The game’s costliest overs – which went for 21 runs each – were both influenced heavily by it. In South Africa’s powerplay, England posted two leg-side boundary-riders when Jofra Archer bowled to Quinton de Kock and he used the breeze to flick a ball at his hip over Reece Topley’s head at long leg and pull another over midwicket. It brought an over-correction to a shorter length, which de Kock was alert enough to uppercut for four.2:36

How big a factor is wind in St Lucia?

“Wind’s definitely a big factor, especially opening the batting when you’ve only got two guys out,” de Kock said. “You’ve got to use that wind as much as you can: don’t fight it, just try and use it. But I think it’s going to be like that [for] the whole of the rest of the World Cup when wind definitely plays a big factor.”When South Africa bowled at the death, Ottneil Baartman’s plan to bowl in the blockhole seemingly failed to account for the wind blowing behind him: he attempted five yorkers, and the breeze helped ensure that all five were full tosses. Three of them were hit for four and another for six.Some batters have used it much better than others. David Miller went with the wind to hit two short-side boundaries off Mark Wood in the 16th over, and to swing Archer over square leg for six. Moeen Ali, by contrast, picked out a leg-side boundary-rider while hitting into the breeze for the second match in succession.Fittingly, the game’s decisive moment was elevated by the wind. With 14 required off the last over and Harry Brook on strike, England were well placed as he tried to loft Anrich Nortje over mid-off. It was a percentage option to a slot ball, his poor connection flying away with the breeze and out of Aiden Markram’s reach.But Markram back-pedalled and took a superb diving effort, correctly judging the ball’s trajectory after spending 19 overs in the field working out just how vital the wind was. “I don’t think the TV does it justice,” de Kock said. “There was a massive left-to-right wind from my direction – maybe like 40-50kph.”It’s not that the ball’s just getting pushed, but also getting moved that way and he actually turned on the inside, so the ball’s always moving towards the boundary. Credit to Aiden. Everybody takes high catches but he practises those catches all the time… he won us a moment in the game today.”Ahead of the final game on this beautiful island on Monday, Australia and India should take note. There is nothing they can do to change the winds: it is a question of how they should adjust their sails to reach their destination.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also want to “work on batting” after below-par performances at the T20 World Cup

Firdose Moonda15-Oct-2024Pakistan will seek new batting talent in the aftermath of the T20 World Cup, where they once again failed to make it out of the group stage. Their exit was confirmed after they were dismissed for 56 by New Zealand to add to a string of poor performances at the event.”Our problem area is batting, our line-up, and I think it’s about time we move forward,” Mohammad Wasim, their coach, said after the last group-stage match. “We need to change the mindset of this team, especially in batting.”We have seen glimpses of that but we haven’t seen it consistently. If we talk about the next World Cup, we will have to go for fresh blood, and we will have to do some new inductions in the team. The seniors in the team have to step up. Unfortunately, the seniors have not stepped up in the crunch batting moments. So that’s why I said that we need to move on and bring some new faces.”Related

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The places of former captain Nida Dar, who was replaced by Fatima Sana six weeks before the tournament, and others such as Sidra Amin and Iram Javed may be at risk. Dar batted at No. 5 in the first two matches, No. 4 in the third and No. 7 in the last game, and did not cross 30 in any of her innings. She last managed a 30-plus score 24 innings ago, against South Africa in September 2023, and has not scored a half-century since November 2022. Amin had a high score of 12 at the tournament and has one score over 30 in her last 12 T20Is, while Javed has recorded five ducks in her last ten T20I innings.While Wasim values the experience these players bring to a team, he also wants them to contribute more. “Consistency is the key for everything, to be honest,” he said. “But when you talk about consistency, then there’s a limit also. There’s a limit for the players also. We have changed many coaches. We have changed most of the staff. But it’s about time we need to look at the player side also.”He suggested Pakistan would look at their age-group structures as a starting point for new talent, especially as they have recently had an Under-19 tournament and another is ongoing.”If you look at this year’s domestic cricket schedule, you will see that women’s cricket is getting more importance than before,” he said. “There are U-19 matches starting, then there will be matches for seniors and different formats. So I hope we will get talent in the future. This is not an excuse that you have no talent, so carry on with the same thing.”When results are not coming, then you see what other options you have. It’s not that we don’t have talent. We are doing domestic; we will closely watch what replacements we have. Because we have time before the next event.”That next event is the ODI World Cup in India, which is exactly a year away. Pakistan have not automatically qualified, and currently sit seventh on the Women’s Championship table. India, as hosts, and the top five teams, are guaranteed a spot. Since Pakistan have played all of their matches, they have no chance to advance without finishing in the top two of a six-team qualifying tournament to ensure they make a fifth successive 50-over World Cup appearance.Bangladesh’s batting was their undoing at the T20 World Cup•ICC/Getty Images

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka also look for batting lift

That tournament will also be on the minds of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who too depart the T20 World Cup but remain in the running for one of the six automatic ODI spots. Bangladesh are in ninth place, with six matches left to play – three each against West Indies and Ireland – and must win at least five of those matches. The importance of that was not lost on their captain Nigar Sultana, who turned her attention to it as soon as their T20 World Cup campaign was over.”We want to play the ODI World Cup without qualifying, that’s why we need some points. So our eyes are on that right now,” she said after their defeat to South Africa on Saturday.Like Pakistan, Bangladesh’s batting was their undoing at this tournament, where they won their opener against Scotland, but could not get more than 106 against any of England, West Indies or South Africa. While Sultana celebrated the lone victory, she was critical of their lack of intent in run-scoring.”We’ve been waiting for a win for the last ten years, and we got that. But as a batting unit, we learnt a lot of things,” she said. “We should be more positive, and what happened is that we were behind sometimes in the middle overs. Our thought process was not working. Sometimes we went away from our thought processes, so this is what we need to work on.”Sri Lanka seemed over-reliant on their captain Chamari Athapaththu•Getty ImagesSimilarly, Sri Lanka also identified their batting as a weak spot after they were held to under 100 in their first three matches, and then made only 115 against New Zealand in their last match. Sri Lanka lost all four games, which made it the first time they have not got a win in a T20 World Cup, and their defeats stung all the more because of the expectation with which they entered the tournament: over the last 18 months, Sri Lanka have beaten England and South Africa in series away from home, won the Asia Cup, and cruised through the World Cup qualifiers.”Everybody expected us to be not the top dog but [rather] the top underdog, so to speak, as the team which would beat the best teams. I think the expectations got to the team,” Rumesh Ratnayake, their coach said after their loss to New Zealand.He blamed “poor cricket in all three departments” for their underperformance, but was also repeatedly asked about their batting over-reliance on captain Chamari Athapaththu. Ratnayake acknowledged that she is key to Sri Lanka but also pointed to other important performances, such as Harshita Samarawickrama’s 69* in the Asia Cup final, and believes there will be more players to come.”The pathways are sort of sorted out back home and those things are happening,” he said.Sri Lanka’s increased focus on development through their school and age-groups structures is welcome news after they were graded “amateur” by the global player association FICA’s (now known as WCA) 2022 Women’s Global Employment Report, released ahead of last year’s T20 World Cup. Their domestic programmes were described as “underfunded”, and that “developing a depth of talent and progression up the rankings remains a significant challenge”. But in a short space of time, that has changed.Pakistan and Bangladesh were categorised as “fledgling professional”, with the hope that a women’s PSL and more investment into the game in Bangladesh, respectively, would aid growth in these nations. The former has not yet happened, and Bangladesh has since been through civil unrest which resulted in the ongoing T20 World Cup being moved out of their country while the economy took a hit. Ultimately, the lack of structural and financial support may only explain why these countries have performed poorly at the tournament.The three teams, and subcontinental giants India, have all not progressed to the semi-finals, despite suggestions that conditions would suit them. Their bowlers, especially their slow bowlers, made batting particularly difficult for opposition line-ups but their batters were unable to respond. All four will need to go back to the drawing board and rethink their approach to tournament cricket while the ongoing World Cup concludes without them.

In Test cricket’s conventional world, it’s unwise to ignore an unconventional Sri Lankan

Vithushan Ehantharajah22-Aug-2024If you were to design your ideal fast bowler, it probably would not share many physical traits with Asitha Fernando.For starters, they would be taller than five-foot-eight. Their front leg would be braced, and their deliveries would push the speed gun well beyond 83mph. And they’d almost certainly not be Sri Lankan or blessed with the Sri Lankan uncle’s paunch.But when it comes to craft and nous, you could do worse than take a handful of what Asitha is working with to season your dream hybrid quick. Because it was those, combined with undimmed enthusiasm that sparked day two of this first Test into life. Perhaps not all the way, but how could any fuse stay lit when the wind is blowing the rain sideways, and the cold so biting you have to double-check your calendar to make sure we are actually in August. But in climes not suited for even the most strapping fast bowler, this short king stood head and shoulders above the rest.His three wickets, for 68 so far, brought Sri Lanka great hope after day one’s valiance, even if England do come back on Friday with a lead and wickets to spare. Each of the batters pocketed were prime cuts. The second most productive opener in Test cricket since the start of 2023. England’s No.3, and stand-in Test captain, no less. And, lastly, the seventh-ranked on the list of all-time runs in the format.Related

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The disappointment of missing out on Dan Lawrence’s dismissal at the start of the seventh over – HawkEye showing the projected path of the ball bouncing over the top of middle and leg – was made up for with the dismissal of Ben Duckett two balls later. Sharp movement into the left-hander, and some uncharacteristic over-balancing, pinned the front pad. This time, DRS came to Asitha’s assistance, but it looked just as out in real-time.Ollie Pope had the top of his off stump rocked, stuck in the crease, and in his swing as the bat came down at an angle, surprised as much by the movement as the amount of skid into him. Joe Root had breezed past 30 before being tied down by some reverse swing. A loose attempt to break a boundary-less run of 22 balls – having struck four crisp ones in his first 35 – gifted an edge low to Dinesh Chandimal, even if Asitha had earned it.There may have been clouds overhead, but a slow surface negated any real nip through the air. It also allowed batters to react to deliveries after pitching, even given the red flag of Pope’s dismissal, but particularly as the ball went soft.Asitha was the only quick to effectively tail it late before the outfield dampened that movement. His lengths were consistent throughout; operating primarily on a six-pence around a six to six-and-a-half yard distance from the stumps. The Sri Lanka brain trust had identified for success in these conditions, and it was no surprise that Asitha was the one to take up residence there immediately.Asitha, as he has done throughout his international career, stuck to his task throughout, skill and spirit shining through across the 14 of Thursday’s 57 overs from his fingertips. He may not fit the common ideals of fast bowling, that opening burst which had England 40 for 2 (later 67 for 3 with Vishwa Fernando’s snaring of Lawrence) and then 125 for 4 after seeing off Root, showed he certainly has the traits of revered tearaways.Eventually, according to Sri Lanka bowling coach Aaqib Javed, it will be abundantly clear by the end of the series that Asitha is not just an exception to fast bowling norms. But a prototype of one of the most revered (and studied) quicks of the modern era.”I told him that after Mohammad Asif of Pakistan I saw that quality in him,” said Javed on his skills, dropping that comparison in there like it was a run-of-the-mill observation rather than a grand statement referencing one of the best to ever do it.”Not many people know about his ability. Without changing his wrist, he can swing the ball both ways.”Javed worked with Asif, so he knows what he is talking about. And airing that opinion feels especially prescient here given Asif can claim responsibility for the recent lineage of English quicks. James Anderson and Stuart Broad credit him with bringing the wobble seam, which the former has been passing on to others long before his bowling consultant role began earlier this summer. Javed, as a seam and wrist position enthusiast, does not use the equivalence lightly.”I actually picked Mohammad Asif. He wasn’t in the system. That’s how I know Asif a lot. Sometimes you don’t know what happens with your wrist. He (Asitha) has now got different confidence levels. People change their wrists, change the shine (which way it is showing) – but Asitha is so gifted, and they (the batters) even don’t know which way it will go.”Of course, Asitha has a long way to go to replicate the on-field career and influence of Asif. Not to mention the eight inches in height difference.But if history has taught us anything, it is that in Test cricket’s conventional world, it is unwise to ignore an unconventional Sri Lankan.

India’s batting not living up to its potential in the first innings has been a recurring theme in 2024-25

Sampath Bandarupalli03-Jan-2025185 India’s total on Friday is the second lowest by any team in the first innings of a Test match in Sydney since 2001. The lowest was 127 all-out by Australia against Pakistan in 2010.8 All-out totals of 185 or less by India in Tests in 2024-25, the joint-most such totals for any team in a Test season. Five other teams also had eight totals of 185 or less in a season.