Visitors win by 74 runs as Glamorgan’s bowlers struggle at both ends of the innings

ECB Reporters Network16-Jul-2021Somerset sealed a place in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals as they hammered Glamorgan by 74 runs at Sophia Gardens.New Zealand run machine Devon Conway batted Somerset’s full 20 overs for an unbeaten 70 from 52 balls as Glamorgan’s bowlers struggled at both ends of the innings.In between, Roman Walker impressed with 3 for 15 from his four overs but Glamorgan’s batsman were nowhere near as good as they were bowled out for just 107 with First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford watching on.Somerset – who were without England pair Lewis Gregory and Tom Banton – won the toss and unsurprisingly chose to bat on a stunning evening in the Welsh capital.Conway struck two leg-side boundaries from Andrew Salter’s first over, but Glamorgan’s poor bowling gave their opponents a flying start. Dan Douthwaite’s first over went for 16 and included a ball which went for five wides. Two more wides and a six struck by Steve Davies followed.Timm van der Gugten dismissed Davies, caught behind by Chris Cooke for 22, but it was a rare good delivery as Glamorgan strayed on to leg stump far too frequently.Somerset were 55 for 1 after six overs and 84 for 2 at the halfway stage, but Walker dragged Glamorgan back into it with the wickets of Will Smeed and veteran James Hildreth.Lewis Goldsworthy smashed Marnus Labuschagne for six down the ground, but Walker showed him how it should be done with his third wicket of a superb spell.Conway watched the wickets fall at the other end until Tom Lammonby joined him and smashed Van der Gugten for four, four and six from the first three balls of the 17th over.Conway went past 50 and then joined in the fun by hitting the struggling Douthwaite for six although the Glamorgan seamer did dismiss Lammonby for 34 thanks to a smart Salter catch.Kiran Carlson smashed Jack Leach for six on the second ball of Glamorgan’s response but was caught and bowled by the England spinner on the fourth. Colin Ingram carted a six over midwicket but he too went caught and bowled, this time at the hands of Craig Overton for 19.Glamorgan were 36 for 2 after the first powerplay. David Lloyd hit Goldsworthy’s first ball to Overton at cover and it left Labuschagne and Billy Root needing 122 from the final 10 overs. Glamorgan didn’t get close. Labuschagne pulled Marchant de Lange to the mid-wicket boundary where Roelof van der Merwe took a stunning catch and from there the Welsh side folded. Somerset’s spinners were far too good with Goldsworthy finishing with 3 for 14 and Van der Merwe 3 for 20.

ESPNcricinfo understands that the venues in the UAE were rendered unavailable because of the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2021The three-match ODI series between Afghanistan and Pakistan will be played at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Hambantota, Sri Lanka instead of in the UAE, as originally planned. The series, which is the first bilateral contest between the two sides, will be played between September 1 and 5, and ESPNcricinfo has learnt that the venues in the UAE were unavailable because of the second leg of IPL 2021, which has been tentatively scheduled to begin on September 20.Earlier this month, the schedule for the CPL was tweaked to avoid an overlap with the IPL, and the next edition of the PSL, in 2022, has also been slotted into a January-February window to avoid a clash with the Indian T20 league, expected to be played in April-May.Related

• Afghanistan's series with Pakistan to go ahead despite Taliban's takeover of the country

• Avishka Gunawardene appointed Afghanistan batting coach for Pakistan ODIs

• Afghanistan selector steps down citing 'interruption' from 'non-cricketers' in the board

• PSL 2022 to be played in January-February to avoid clash with IPL

• Farooqi, Noor in Afghanistan squad for Pakistan ODIs

The Pakistan-Afghanistan series will count towards points in the ICC Super League, where Pakistan currently sit in fifth with 40 points from nine matches, and Afghanistan are eighth with 30 points, having won all three their matches so far. Afghanistan have played four matches against Pakistan previously, two of them in the UAE, one in Fatullah, and one more in Leeds during the 2019 World Cup. Aside from having never played a bilateral series against Pakistan, they are also yet to beat them.The Hambantota stadium last hosted an ODI in February 2020, when Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 161 runs. This will be the second instance of the stadium being a neutral venue; the last time also involved Pakistan, when they faced Kenya back in the 2011 World Cup.Pakistan are currently gearing up for the start of their tour of the West Indies, which will begin on July 27 with a five-match T20I series, before a two-Test series that will end on August 24. Afghanistan’s last bit of cricket was in March, when they swept Zimbabwe 3-0 in a T20I series, after drawing the Test series 1-1. Their last ODIs were against Ireland in January this year, where they had sealed a 3-0 series win.

Southee’s 5 for 69 keeps India to 345 despite Iyer’s debut century

Karthik Krishnaswamy26-Nov-20213:38

Jaffer: Iyer a No. 5 candidate for all conditions

Tim Southee delivered one of the great Test-match spells by a visiting fast bowler in India to drag New Zealand back into the Kanpur Test, before Will Young and Tom Latham put on a resolute and unbroken 129 to ensure all four results were still in play after two engrossing days.Having been bowled out for 345 shortly after lunch, India probed from every conceivable angle for 57 overs, but their five bowlers couldn’t separate New Zealand’s opening pair. While the ball occasionally gripped and turned square, and more often kept low, the slowness of the surface allowed the batters to adjust and survive.

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For all their frustrations over the last two sessions, India’s five-man attack bowled with control throughout – particularly in the post-tea session, in which they conceded just 57 runs in 31 overs – ensuring that the scoring rate was kept down, and New Zealand went to stumps still trailing by more than 200 runs.Young and Latham, however, showed the rest of New Zealand’s line-up a template to survive. Knowing that the pitch wasn’t going to rush them, they let the ball come to them, meeting it right under their eye as far as possible, and didn’t go looking for scoring opportunities outside their comfort zones. Against the spinners, Latham waited for the line to shift outside off stump so he could sweep while minimising the risk of lbw. That shot was his primary scoring option aside from leg-side flicks and nudges.Young, meanwhile, reached his fifty with a flurry of drives against the spinners before tea. But he was content to remain scoreless for long periods in the final session, when R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel began to find their rhythm and the ideal pace and seam positions for this surface.As the day neared its close, all three spinners began to beat the bat more often. Ashwin thought he had Latham caught behind in the penultimate over of the day, and the umpire agreed, only for a review to indicate it was bat brushing pad rather than an edge. It was Latham’s third successful review; he had twice been adjudged lbw off the inside edge before tea, once against Umesh Yadav and once against Jadeja.The first half of the day belonged to Southee. Having nursed a groin strain that took him off the field for parts of the first day’s play, he recovered sufficiently – or bowled through residual pain – to pick up four wickets in an unbroken spell of 11 overs on the second morning to complete his 13th five-wicket haul in Test cricket and his second in India.Tom Latham profited from the sweep in Kanpur•BCCI

Starting the day at 258 for 4 with two half-centurions at the crease, India were bowled out for the addition of only 87 runs. The bulk of those runs came from Shreyas Iyer, who became the 16th India batter to score a century on debut, and Ashwin, who made a counterattacking 38 at No. 8.Kyle Jamieson was New Zealand’s most impactful performer on day one, but he began day two completely out of rhythm, and Iyer, resuming on 75, hit him for five fours in his first three overs of the morning to hurry into the 90s. He brought up his hundred in Jamieson’s next over, with a sliced drive for two backward of point.By then, though, Southee had already made a crucial incision. He began the day with four balls wide of Jadeja’s off stump, delivered from around the wicket, and the left-hander shouldered arms to all of them. He followed it with one that swung sharply into the stumps, and Jadeja, stuck in his crease, played down the wrong line and was struck on the back pad, with an umpire’s call verdict on height saving him after New Zealand reviewed the initial not-out decision.Southee didn’t have to wait long to get his man, though. A similar delivery in his next over drew a similar, leaden-footed response, and this time the ball rattled into the stumps via the inside edge.The wickets kept coming. A pair of full outswingers that weren’t quite full enough to drive prised Wriddhiman Saha and Iyer out; the first, delivered from wide of the crease, drew an off-drive down the wrong line, and the second, delivered from closer to the stumps and swerving away to scramble the batter’s shape and causing him to spoon the ball to cover point.Then, in his eighth over of the morning, Southee alternated inswingers to the left-handed Axar with scrambled-seam balls that straightened off the pitch. Axar played and missed at the first scrambled-seam ball, and hung his bat out and edged the second to the keeper. India were 313 for 8.By then, Ashwin was already on 20 off 22 balls, having come in and taken on Southee’s outswingers and hit him for three fours through the off side. Southee kept going for three more overs in the quest to finish the innings off, but Ashwin farmed the strike, refusing singles to keep Umesh away from the strike as much as possible.Ashwin could have been dismissed for 16 when he stepped out to Ajaz Patel and missed an attempted lofted hit, with the ball scooting through low. The ball, however, narrowly missed off stump and bounced off Tom Blundell’s pad before he could react. It could have been the first wicket to fall to a spinner in this Test match, but as on day one – when he missed reviewing an lbw decision against Shubman Gill – the luck wasn’t quite with Ajaz.It turned after lunch, though, as he spun one out of the footmarks and past the outside edge to bowl Ashwin, and got one to skid through with the arm to trap Ishant Sharma plumb in front.

Ireland stay in the hunt courtesy Balbirnie and Tector, but fall short by 24 runs in the end

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jan-2022
Shamarh Brooks hit 93 off 89 on ODI debut as West Indies recovered from a shaky start to beat Ireland by 24 runs in the first ODI of a three-match series.Choosing to field at Sabina Park in Kingston, Ireland’s bowlers had the home team in early trouble, with West Indies slipping to 62 for 4 in 19 overs. They had started steadily, being 59 for 1 at one point, though the run rate dawdled at the three-and-a-half mark. But three wickets fell in the space of 2.2 overs, and captain Kieron Pollard strode out to join the debuting Brooks, who had come in at No. 4.Together, the two put on 155 runs in just 136 balls, having begun cautiously given the rush of wickets, but opening out as the partnership progressed. Brooks reached his half-century in 61 balls at the end of the 36th over, and Pollard hit a hat-trick of sixes against Andy McBrine to go from 41 off 49 to 59 off 52. The over went for 23 runs, Brooks also finding the boundary later on.

Ireland fined, docked points

Ireland have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during their loss to West Indies in the first ODI, and have been fined 40% of their match fees as a result. Ireland were adjudged to be two overs short of the target in the game and, therefore, were also docked two points from their Super League tally.

Pollard had begun his acceleration earlier, but eventually fell for a 66-ball 69, caught at long-on in an attempt to hit his fifth six.Brooks fell seven short of his hundred, missing out on becoming only the second West Indies player to score a century on ODI debut after Desmond Haynes, when he was trapped lbw by Mark Adair in the 45th over. Some meaty hits by Odean Smith pushed West Indies past 250, but wickets continued to fall and they were bowled out in 48.5 overs.Ireland lost former captain William Porterfield for a duck in the second over, but captain Andy Balbirnie, the other opener, and Harry Tector, at No. 4, did well to keep Ireland on track. Ireland did have another hiccup before the two got together, though, as McBrine was forced to retire hurt when he and Balbirnie had got a good second-wicket partnership going. McBrine copped a blow on the helmet from Smith in the 16th over, and went off at the end of the next. He had a concussion and Ireland had to bring in Neil Rock at No. 9 as a substitute.Balbirnie and McBrine had added 61 in 91 balls before McBrine went off, looking set on 34 off 50. However, Ireland’s momentum didn’t stall as Tector allied with Balbirnie for an even bigger stand.Ireland were well in control at 165 for 1 in 36 overs, with 105 needed in 84 balls and both batters having passed half-centuries, but Romario Shepherd then had Balbirnie edging behind for 71 off 94. In the next over, Smith had Tector caught at third man off a slash for a 68-ball 53, and Ireland had two new men at the crease.The wickets fell in a heap after that, and although George Dockrell (30 off 25) and Mark Adair (21* off 9) hit out, no other batter got into double-digits.Ireland were eventually bowled out in 49.1 overs.

South Africa’s head coach to face a disciplinary hearing chaired by senior counsel advocate Terry Motau; he will remain in his role as coach in the interim

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2022In a follow-up to the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) report, Mark Boucher has been charged with gross misconduct by Cricket South Africa, and will face a disciplinary hearing chaired by senior counsel advocate Terry Motau. Boucher remains in his role as head coach of the senior men’s team, and will be with the team as they take on India in the second ODI in Paarl on Friday.On Thursday, CSA named Motau as chairperson of the disciplinary hearing into the allegations of misconduct against Boucher, and said in a statement that the coach had been presented with his charge sheet.The statement said: “It is proposed that the parties [Boucher] will meet with Advocate [Motau] on 26th January 2022 to determine a timetable for the proceedings.”This follows December’s Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) report, which made tentative findings regarding allegations of discrimination and racism against various persons, including Mr Boucher. Specifically, during the SJN process, allegations of racism were levelled against Mr Boucher by his former Proteas team-mate, Paul Adams.Related

• CSA withdraws misconduct charges against Mark Boucher

• 'Not my job or desire to find Boucher guilty or not' – Adams to not testify against former team-mate

• Mark Boucher hearing – current South Africa players to testify on behalf of coach

• SJN follow-up: CSA will argue in favour of dismissing Mark Boucher at disciplinary hearing

• Paul Adams: I was nicknamed 'brown s*** when I was playing'

“CSA confirms that a charge sheet, containing both the disciplinary charges against Mr Boucher, as well as his rights, was provided to him on 17 January. The upcoming inquiry will also consider concerns and allegations that arose following the resignation of former assistant coach, Enoch Nkwe.”While Mr Boucher is being charged with gross misconduct, which could lead to his dismissal, CSA emphasises it is important that the independent inquiry first needs to test all allegations before any question of sanction can arise.”Responding to the development, Boucher issued a statement of his own later in the day, saying: “I look forward to dealing with and defending these allegations which have been made and will do so at the hearing in due course. For now I am solely focused on my duties as head coach of the Proteas.”*The SJN report, which was released in December, made “tentative” findings that Boucher, among others, had engaged in prejudicial and discriminatory conduct in the past on the basis of race. But ombudsman Dumisa Ntsebeza was unable to make definite findings, and recommended to CSA that a further process be undertaken for this. This secondary process is now what CSA is flagging off, with Motau at the helm.The CSA statement said further steps in this regard will be announced “in due course”. “Further steps and action by CSA to transform cricket and act on other applicable recommendations in the SJN report, aligned to the Board’s new strategic framework and pillars of access, inclusion and excellence, will be announced in due course.”*

Todd Greenberg, the ACA chief executive, said players were aware how important it was to keep the game going

Alex Malcolm28-Feb-2022The Australian Cricketers’ Association is hopeful the key parts of a new pay deal between the players and Cricket Australia could be resolved in the coming months with chief executive Todd Greenberg vowing that there will be no repeat of the ugly dispute that unfolded when the last deal was struck in 2017.Discussions on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) have been ongoing between Greenberg and CA chief executive Nick Hockley with the pair currently in Pakistan together on tour with the Australian men’s team for the first Test in Rawalpindi.They have been speaking regularly since coming into their respective posts in 2021 in a bid to form a stronger bond than the almost non-existent relationship between predecessors James Sutherland and Alistair Nicholson back in 2017 when an ugly 10-month pay dispute led to the players being unemployed for 34 days and an Australia A tour being cancelled before a resolution was found.”I’d be surprised if we haven’t got something resolved in the coming months,” Greenberg told ESPNcricinfo. “First and foremost, we don’t anticipate having any of the MoU discussions conducted in the same manner that it was way back in 2017. I think a lot of that has changed.”Cricket Australia have recognised the revenue share model and the importance of that for cricket. The game has continued to grow during this period of time, and I think despite the difficulties of the Covid pandemic, what it has demonstrated is there is a really strong alignment of partnering between the game and the players because there’s a real need for each other to be aligned on that. So the model works. Effectively if games aren’t being played, revenue is not being earned.”We’ve made some good progress already on the MoU discussions. Nick and I have been leading those on behalf of our respective teams. And I’m hopeful we can come to an agreement in a relatively short space of time, which will see both the players and Cricket Australia in a really strong position to come out of the pandemic.”Bubbles have been a strain on finances and the players•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Greenberg was pleased he had been able to forge a relationship with Hockley over the last year to create a greater dialogue between the ACA and CA on a range of issues.”We’ve spent a lot of time together,” Greenberg said. “And I’m pleased that we are spending time together because it’s really important when we said we can talk about different issues in the game and I can certainly give him perspectives on behalf of the players both male and females.”That relationship is really strong. I came into this role knowing the history of the last MoU and the difficulties that the game faced, and I was pretty determined to try to repair some bridges and try to mend some of those relationships. And so Nick and I both being new in our roles have an opportunity to do that.”The new MoU is one of a number of key issues for Cricket Australia to resolve in the coming months. New CA chairman Lachlan Henderson outlined a new cricket strategy with refreshing the BBL at the top of the agenda, particularly with a new TV broadcast rights deal set to be negotiated in 2024, after the new MoU is already in place.Covid has also affected CA’s bottom line with Henderson revealing the administration had spent $40 million on biosecurity over the past two seasons, money it needs to recoup.The players are hopeful the bio-bubbles will not be required next summer after two years of playing in such environments both home and abroad.”We’re really hopeful that we can return to some level of normality next summer by the time that rolls around,” Greenberg said. “But it’s certainly not lost on me and it shouldn’t be lost on the fans that the players have made enormous sacrifices to keep the game underway.”The players have made it very clear to me that at any point in time, the most important thing for them is to continue to play cricket and if you go back over the last 24 months the sacrifices players have made to be away from families to be in isolated environments, some of the sacrifices from players from Western Australia who have literally not been home since the middle of last year is nothing short of phenomenal.”They know that they’ve got a huge responsibility to do that, a responsibility to keep the show on the road but a responsibility to play cricket so that the revenues are still coming into the game. Because the revenues are there to generate grassroots participation and to keep the game flowing from top to bottom.”

After 172 overs in the field in Karachi, recovery will be vital ahead of the deciding Test

Andrew McGlashan17-Mar-2022Pat Cummins is confident Australia’s bowlers can recharge in time for the final Test against Pakistan in Lahore after the disappointment of not being able to force victory from a hugely dominant position in Karachi.The deciding match of the series starts on March 21, giving the players an extra day of recovery, with the series locked at 0-0 following Pakistan’s remarkable rearguard led by Babar Azam. Australia sent down 172 overs in the second innings, of which spinners Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson bowled 108, but in the immediate aftermath of the back-breaking efforts, Cummins did not see cause for concern.Related

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• 'If we took a couple of catches it might be a different scenario'

• When Babar, Shafique and Rizwan made Karachi dream

• Babar Azam: 'This innings holds a lot of meaning for me'

“Had a walkaround and everyone is fine, there’s no big injury concerns,” he said. “We knew it was a 15-day tour, basically back-to-back, think that’s why we protected ourselves on the last day of the last Test [in Rawalpindi]. We know what we’ve signed up for, so will put everything into the next week. We’ve got four days, so one extra than what we had before this Test to recover.”The brevity of Pakistan’s first innings and the volume of work for the spinners in the second meant Australia’s quicks did not bowl themselves into the ground. Cummins sent down the most with 39 overs, including a magnificent seven-over spell on the final day, which removed Abdullah Shafique and Fawad Alam, followed by Mitchell Starc’s 34 and then Cameron Green’s 23.Australia have plenty of bowling reserves in their squad, with Josh Hazlewood, who played the opening match in Rawalpindi, and Scott Boland, who has a Test average of 9.55, vying for a spot if a change is required. The uncapped Mark Steketee is also part of the squad. Ashton Agar is the other spinner available.”We’ve got a full contingent if we need to call on anyone,” Cummins said. “The quick bowlers, Starcy and I and Greeny, all bowled between 20 and 35 overs or something like that, so not a huge workload. [It’s] probably the spinners, make sure they are looked after.”Debutant Swepson bowled 53.4 wicketless overs in the second innings but had four chances of varying difficulty missed off his bowling. “I thought Swepo bowled fantastically today,” Cummins said. “I don’t know how he’s ended up with those figures. The way he was able to be a real wicket-taking option on a really good wicket without really footmarks to the right-handers I was just really impressed with how he went about it.”There will be an element of the unknown about the pitch in Lahore, with the soon-to-be-renamed Gaddafi Stadium hosting its first Test since 2009. In five first-class matches played at the ground last year, pace bowlers have averaged 49.16 and spinners 56.00.

“Teams, players, coaches are better prepared for him,” says Daniel Vettori of the KKR allrounder’s batting slump, in conversation with Chris Lynn and Aakash Chopra

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Apr-20225:52

Vettori – ‘Teams, players, coaches are better prepared for Venkatesh Iyer’

Since getting retained by Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 8 crore (40 times his previous salary), life in the IPL hasn’t been easy for Venkatesh Iyer. He’s batted eight times this season and has gone past 20 only once, and neither his average (18.00) nor his strike rate (102.43) make for pretty reading.After six games as opener, Knight Riders have moved him into the middle order, and that hasn’t worked either. So what’s gone wrong?Related

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According to both the former captain and coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore Daniel Vettori and former Knight Riders batter Chris Lynn, Iyer’s troubles this season mostly fall into the category of second-season syndrome.”I think I remember a discussion with Lynny, probably when we were watching a game, when he just thought that there’s a lot more information on Venkatesh Iyer, and therefore bowling coaches, coaches in general, have put a lot more time and effort into how to find a way to bowl to him, and I think that’s simply second-season [syndrome] or whatever it is – it happens,” Vettori said on the ESPNcricinfo show T20 Time:Out. “It’s happened to a lot of players, it’s happened to a lot of very good players, and the challenge, I suppose, is to step up from that.”And I think bowlers also have an understanding – some bowlers would have had success against him and try to relive that, and some bowlers would try to rectify mistakes that they made last year. I don’t think you need to overthink it; it’s just the fact that teams, players, coaches are better prepared for him.”Lynn said Iyer’s challenge would be to come up with plans to fight his way back into form.”On the whiteboards in every change room will be exactly the same plans, no doubt about that, and he’s just got to find a way,” he said. “There’s no doubt he’s good enough to bat from [Nos.] 1 to 6 – he’s playing in the Kolkata side for a reason, because he’s got talent. It’s just that teams have more knowledge and it’s as simple as that, I think.Venkatesh Iyer has gone past 20 only once in eight innings this season•BCCI

“The challenge for him is to try and go back to the drawing board, build some confidence, whether that’s for Kolkata or for another team, but just try and have some clarity when he’s walking out to bat, and it might be putting away a big shot, it might be just getting off strike, it might be using his feet, whatever it may be, just finding a way to get down to the other end and bat time. He’s only scored one fifty so far, he’s just got to bat time, and that’s the only way you build confidence.”The former India opener Aakash Chopra, who was part of the same discussion, felt there might be two other reasons for Iyer’s dip in form.”I completely agree that there is data, there is analysis, and there’s a lot of homework with regards to certain players, and he’s a top-order batter. So that’s one part of the story,” he said. “But the second part is that since that fantastic [2021] season he’s batted at [Nos.] 5 for 6 for his state side, for India, and now he’s back to opening, so yes, while he’s facing these form issues and found-out kind of issues, but the fact is that he’s been up and down the order too much.”Even now, KKR lost faith very quickly. So that’s one side, that he’s now maybe slightly confused in the head, ‘what am I supposed to do, am I an opener or am I a finisher?'”Secondly, nobody else is [performing]. See, sometimes you could go through a bad patch but you have an opening partner who’s scoring runs. He makes your life simpler, easier, and gives you the allowance to just find form, sometimes, but that’s not happening, their batting is in slight disarray. You don’t have runs from a lot of them – once in a while from Shreyas Iyer but nobody has been consistent enough, so that just puts the added pressure on Venkatesh.”Should KKR have retained Iyer?
Another potential source of pressure on Iyer could be having to live up to being retained by his franchise – ahead of Shubman Gill, one of the brightest top-order talents in India, who has since moved to Gujarat Titans.KKR let go of Shubman Gill and opted to retain Iyer ahead of the 2022 auction•BCCI

Vettori felt Knight Riders had made a smart move in retaining Iyer.”You’d have to know the man to answer that question [whether being retained had put more pressure on Iyer], but I think KKR were right in retaining him, because I think that the auction would have taken him to another level in terms of the amount that he would have gone for,” he said. “Everyone talks about that Indian allrounder and what he could have brought to a team, so retained for 6 crore, if I’m correct? [8 crore] I think he would have comfortably gone for more than that if he’d gone into the auction. I think KKR’s strategy was right; it’s just the fact that he hasn’t had the season that they would have expected.”Chopra said he would have retained Gill ahead of Iyer, if it was his call to make.”There are two more seasons to go, two-and-a-half more seasons to go [before the next scheduled mega auction], so let’s not jump the gun, and you can’t always judge a decision based on how things are panning out,” he said. “You do the best at that point in time, whatever you think.”But I think, personally, they had a choice. They had a choice of paying a couple of crores more to Shubman Gill and retaining him, and then invest in him as maybe a long-term captaincy candidate. I think it’s not about Venkatesh Iyer getting retained, and maybe he was worth more or worth less, we don’t know, but Shubman Gill, I think letting him go was a mistake, because it’s important to know when to hold on to, and when to let go of [a player]. I think the best of Shubman Gill is going to come in the next three years for Gujarat Titans and not KKR.”And what of his bowling?
Iyer, meanwhile, has not had much of a chance to show off his second suit this season, with Knight Riders only calling on his medium-pace for two overs. This, Lynn said, was not a reflection of his skills as much as of the team’s requirements. He believes Knight Riders can get their money’s worth out of Iyer in the long term, if he and their coaches can find a way to fix his ongoing issues.Iyer (seen here bowling in the IPL 2021 final) has only sent down two overs so far this season•BCCI

“I think you can’t really use that [not being required to bowl] against him, because […] going back to the auction they’ve done well, and obviously Andre Russell is bowling quite well as well, when he’s needed, so it’s not Venky’s fault there at all, but I think it’s a positive move from Kolkata to retain him.”You look at other teams, there’s two world-class established players that’s probably had a similar season – it’s not rocket science to work out who those guys are – but I think it’s a great move from Kolkata and they’re investing in him long-term; the challenge is up to him now and the coaching staff to get him back up where he wants to be and needs to be, not only scoring runs for Kolkata but getting back in those Indian colours where he does belong, I believe.”As to where Iyer should bat for the rest of the season, the T20 Time:Out panel was unanimous in its opinion that he should go back to the top of the order.”My only humble submission is that once you invest in someone for whatever reason, stick with it for a little longer,” Chopra said. “Don’t lose patience, don’t lose faith that early, Venkatesh Iyer at the top of the order is your best bet. None of your other openers are anyway firing.”Lynn concurred. “Yeah, 100%. It’s the only way we’re going to build confidence back with him. Get him up. He’s a freely flowing batsman, he plays on instinct, and that’s not going to happen at 5 or 6, so let’s get him back up in the opening role when the field’s in.”

Sadia Iqbal and Kainat Imtiaz, meanwhile, are back after recovering from their respective injuries

Umar Farooq18-May-2022Pakistan have named two uncapped players – wicketkeeper-batter Gull Feroza and legspinner Tuba Hassan – in their T20I squad for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka. Feroza is also part of the squad for the ODI series, which also includes uncapped batter Sadaf Shamas. Left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal, meanwhile, has been recalled to both squads after recovering from an injury.Kainat Imtiaz, the pacer who had been ruled out of the Women’s World Cup earlier this year with a thumb injury, is back in the fold for the T20Is after clearing a fitness test in Karachi. Bismah Maroof will lead the side. She returns to the side after participating in the recently concluded FairBreak Invitational T20 event alongside Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig and Fatima Sana. The trio has now joined the team.The 26 probables for the national women’s team have been training since May 8 at the Hanif Mohammad High-Performance Centre at the National Stadium in Karachi. The pre-series camp is set to conclude today with the selectors having narrowed down the squad to 15. Left-arm-spinner Nashra Sandhu, who missed the camp due to a shoulder injury, will have to wait for her return.The series is set to start with a three-match T20I series from May 24 with the final game to be played on May 28. The ODIs that are a part of the ICC Women’s Championship will be played on June 1, 3, and 5. All games will be played at Karachi’s Southend Club.Related

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“I want to wish the two squads the very best for the series, we have provided opportunities to Gull Feroza, Sadaf Shamas and Tuba Hassan on the basis of their future potential and skills,” Chief Selector Asmavia Iqbal said. “The three youngsters took part in the emerging camp last December and made an impression with their talent. I am pleased to see their progress and we all feel it is now the right time to give them exposure in international cricket.”We had sent Tuba as a reserve player in the recently concluded ODI World Cup, she continues to make good progress; and since spin bowling has been a traditional strength of ours, I feel she can make a good contribution in our bowling strategy. Gull Feroza has also made good progress, she has an aggressive style of play and can provide us with brisk starts in both T20Is and ODIs which are now a big requirement at the international stage. Sadaf, besides her batting skills, provides us a bowling option too with her medium-pace skills.”T20I squad:Bismah Maroof (capt), Aiman Anwer, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Naseem, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Gull Feroza (wk), Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal and Tuba Hassan.ODI squad:Bismah Maroof (captain), Aiman Anwer, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali (wk), Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Ameen, and Sidra Nawaz (wk).

The pair added 152 after getting together at 4 for 2 before Athapaththu’s two wickets hastened the end for Pakistan

Danyal Rasool05-Jun-2022An all-round performance from Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu helped her team to a convincing consolation win on the final day of their tour of Pakistan. After electing to bat, she scored her sixth ODI hundred, a 95-ball 101, before taking 2 for 20 with the ball to help rout Pakistan by 93 runs.It looked like a miserable tour for Sri Lanka would end with another defeat when they lost two wickets for four runs. Hasini Perera was – you guessed it – run out on the fifth ball of the innings before Anam Amin trapped Hansima Karunaratne in front. But Athapaththu consolidated with Harshitha Madavi in a splendid third-wicket partnership that accumulated 152 runs. While Madavi was circumspect in her approach, her captain was far more aggressive, taking the fight to spinners and fast bowlers alike and putting Pakistan on the ropes for the first time all series.A number of curious captaincy decisions by Bismah Maroof, who had a torrid day, didn’t help. She brought herself on when a wicket was needed, though it was quickly apparent she wouldn’t be the one to deliver it. An increasingly emboldened Athapaththu was taking on every bowler at that point, and she wasn’t spared. When Diana Baig did come on, she was accosted with three fours off her first three balls.When Nida Dar finally had Athapaththu stumped, she had brought up her hundred, and a number of cameos lower down the order took the visitors to 260. Pakistan had only ever managed more than that in a second innings once and, against a buoyant Sri Lanka, they had their work cut out if they were to manage something similar.The chase followed the expected script as Pakistan couldn’t even come close. The fall of Sidra Ameen was perhaps unfortunate, with the batter getting an inside edge onto her pad though she was given out lbw. However, what followed was Pakistan’s own doing. An ordinary call for a non-existent single from Maroof saw Muneeba Ali run out. Soon, Maroof was bowled for a duck by Oshadi Ranasinghe while Nida Dar was cleaned up by Athapaththu.Aliya Riaz’s half-century brought some respectability to the scorecard for Pakistan, but the target was a way away. Sri Lanka kept chipping away as Pakistan waited for the inevitable and, with more than eight overs to go, folded for 167. Sri Lanka may not leave with either of the two trophies they fought for in Karachi, but they had the consolation of the last laugh.