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Vice-captain backs team-mate to turn on the style at some point in coming series

Vithushan Ehantharajah10-Jun-2023Ollie Pope has backed Zak Crawley to make an impression in the Ashes, believing the England opener can strike a run-a-ball hundred against Australia’s much-vaunted attack.Crawley remains a point of contention in a team that has won 11 out of their last 13 Tests under Ben Stokes’ captaincy. He’s been a constant selection since the start of last summer, but heads into the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston this week averaging just 27.69 in that period. There have been just four scores above fifty – including a century against Pakistan back in December – the last of which came against Ireland at Lord’s last week.Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum remain huge advocates of the 25-year-old, citing his potential as a reason not to judge him solely on output. During a poor run last summer, McCullum stated that Crawley’s skillset “is not to be a consistent cricketer”, encouraging him to continue playing his way at the top of the order for the team’s good.And last week at Lord’s, faced with an 11-run chase in the fourth innings against Ireland, Stuart Broad related how the talk in the innings break had been about the possibility of Crawley winning the game with consecutive sixes. “The conversation in that 10 minutes was ‘can you do it two balls?'” he said. “Don’t take four overs, don’t worry about getting out …” In the end, Crawley sealed the chase with three fours in four balls.Such sentiments are echoed by Pope. Though the vice-captain cedes Crawley himself has not been happy with his returns so far, Pope feels the Ashes, and the bowlers England will face, provides the perfect opportunity for the Kent batter to show just how high his ceiling really is.”The player that Zak is, he could have a tough first game, have a tough first innings of a second game and then go and blast a hundred off a hundred, because he’s got the ability to do that against Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon – these guys,” said Pope. “That’s the exciting thing about Zak as a player – you know he can take the game and, in the space of a session, set the tone or break the back of a run-chase.”We chat about it openly and he wouldn’t mind me saying – there have been times when he hasn’t scored the weight of runs that he has wanted. But there have also been times where he has played some knocks that have gone under the radar. He’s scored his three hundreds (in his career) but he’s also had a lot of big knocks at the top of the order.”Pope cites knocks against India and South Africa last year as examples of Crawley’s under-rated contributions. The former was 46 at Edgbaston, part of an opening stand of 107 with Alex Lees, which provided a platform for a chase of 378. The latter was 38 from 101 deliveries in the second Test against South Africa that, following centuries from Stokes and Ben Foakes, led to a first innings of 415 for 9 declared that England were able to fashion into an innings victory to square the series at Old Trafford.Related

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There is also Crawley’s only score of note against Australia, a 77 compiled at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It is this knock, against Cummins, Starc, Boland and Green, that coaches and team-mates believe showcase the scale of Crawley’s ability, more so than the 267 against Pakistan in 2020. “He’s obviously a player who can deal with 90mph bowling at his head,” said Pope on that innings.Crawley is clearly at the end of his tether with constant criticism of his selection. Last month he stated he did not care for the views of “the average punter” questioning his place on social media. That noise will only get louder with the heightened interest in the Ashes bringing greater scrutiny.Pope sympathised with his team-mate’s situation and feels greater focus on the five matches against Australia should not make the next six weeks the be-all and end-all. Not just for Crawley, but for the rest of an England side angling to claim the urn for the first time since 2015.”Firstly, Zak is a top bloke and a very well-liked bloke in the changing room,” Pope said. “There’s a lot of media around it, because of the numbers. There’s been a lot of chat. Coming in after someone like Alastair Cook and the way he played – what a legend of the game he is, averaged 40-odd – there’s probably a bit of a stereotype maybe as to that England opening spot, you need to be averaging 40 and batting this way.”Just because it is an Ashes series, there’s more on it because there are more public eyes watching. But it doesn’t have to be a make-or-break series. There’s pressure on us all going into this series. We’re playing one of the best teams in the world in our home conditions, so we’re desperate for everyone to do well. But at the same time, if it doesn’t go to plan, what we’ve done as a team in the last year and a bit … for nobody is it a make-or-break series.”

SA’s white-ball captain says they don’t want to rush 19-year-old Brevis into international cricket

Firdose Moonda31-May-2022South Africa will tap into the confidence of IPL champion David Miller when they kick off a busy 2022-23 season with five T20Is in India next week.Miller, who was the sixth-highest run-scorer in IPL 2022, had his best IPL showing in 10 years and was particularly successful against spin, which has often been a weak spot in South Africa’s batting.”It’s always nice to see guys in form. A guy like David lifting the trophy with the Gujarat Titans – the confidence that he will bring into the team, we look forward to that,” Temba Bavuma, South Africa’s white-ball captain said on the eve of the team’s departure to India. “David has performed exceedingly well at the IPL and I’m sure that will do a world of good for his confidence.”Related

• What David Miller, Kagiso Rabada's IPL form means for South Africa

• How a push down the order made Markram's T20 stocks go up

• 'Going to try and bring that into my game' – Pretorius hopes to emulate Dhoni's calmness

• No strict bio-secure bubbles for India vs South Africa T20I series

• 'I feel extremely backed' – Miller explains his success at Gujarat Titans

Milller’s most notable improvement at the IPL was the way he dealt with spin. He went from scoring 226 runs at a strike rate of 98.68 against spin between 2016 and 2021 – which was the second-worst return in that five year period – to scoring 206 runs at a strike rate of 145.07 this year. He was one of only five batters to average over 100 against spin this IPL.But there are also other reasons for his prolific run. Miller said he felt “extremely backed,” by Titans, indicating that it wasn’t always that way at other IPL franchises. But what about the national side?”The conversations that I have had with David, he has never expressed those types of feelings to me,” Bavuma said. “As far as I know, David is still an integral member within our team and we trust his performances will continue well into the future.”While it’s never been expressed whether Miller feels his role in the South African set-up is secure, it’s often been a talking point that he doesn’t get enough time in the middle and that, as is the case with many finishers, a lot rests on him at the end. But, by Bavuma’s own admission in a wide-ranging upcoming interview with ESPNcricinfo, South Africa’s top order has not always done their bit, and as they look to improve their combinations ahead of the T20 World Cup, they may consider using Miller differently.While Miller has mostly batted between No.5 and No.6 for South Africa, he consistently batted at No.5 for Titans and may want to make a case for a permanent role at that position for the national side too. Bavuma indicated that South Africa would consider it, if it brings the best out of Miller.”In terms of him batting a bit longer, that has always been the conversation over the years when David has done well,” Bavuma said. “He understands where he fits in within the team. If he feels he can add more value within a different position, a conversation can be had in that regard. There is no way we are going to stifle him or restrict David in any manner. That’s how we try to treat all the players. We try to set them up in positions where they can succeed and make strong plays for the team.”‘Brevis should be given time and space to hone his game’
The same applies to those who are not in the team at all. Dewald Brevis is the only South African from this season’s IPL who was not selected for the T20I squad, despite setting the Under-19 World Cup alight.Bavuma explained that South Africa did not want to rush the 19-year-old into international cricket and hoped to see him perform well in the domestic set-up this summer. Brevis has been contracted to the Titans (the Centurion-based South African domestic franchise) for the next two seasons.”In all fairness to him, he hasn’t played a first-class game,” Bavuma said. “In terms of expectation but also allowing the boy to grow within his game, it would be fair to allow him to play a couple of first-class games where he can really get an understanding of his game. It will be a lot of pressure to throw him into the international set up and expect him to make plays. He will be treated like any other exciting young prospect that comes onto the scene. He will be looked after as well as he can. He should be given time and the space to hone his game within the system and ease into the international side of things.”

The trio joins Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh in the panel, with Sharma set to be chairman

Nagraj Gollapudi and Vishal Dikshit24-Dec-2020Former India fast bowler Chetan Sharma, along with the fast bowling pair of Abey Kuruvilla and Debasis Mohanty, will be the three new men on the Indian selection committee. The trio will join the pair of Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh to complete the five-man committee, with Sharma set to be the chairman of the panel.The selection of Sharma, Kuruvilla and Mohanty was made by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), led by former India allrounder Madan Lal and which also comprises former India left-arm seamer RP Singh and former India women’s player Sulakshana Naik, on Thursday. Incidentally, four members of the five-member panel will now comprise of seam bowlers.The BCCI made the announcement through a media release, saying the CAC has “recommended” Sharma as the chairperson of the committee “based on seniority” in terms of his Test-playing experience. Sharma, who turns 55 in January, has played 23 Test matches and was one of the 11 candidates interviewed virtually on Thursday. According to the BCCI, the CAC will conduct a review of the three selectors after one year.”It’s indeed a privilege for me to get an opportunity to serve Indian cricket once again. I am a man of few words and my action will speak louder than words,” Sharma told . “I can only thank BCCI for this opportunity.”Lal, RP Singh and Naik “met virtually” on Thursday – the same the day the 89th AGM of the BCCI was held in Ahmedabad – to pick replacements for Jatin Paranjpe, Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh, whose terms ended in September.Sharma, Kuruvilla and Mohanty were among several candidates who had applied in late November, including Ajit Agarkar, Maninder Singh, Nayan Mongia, SS Das and Ranadeb Bose.The BCCI had put down a minimum qualification of seven Tests or 30 first-class matches, or 10 ODIs and 20 first-class matches for the applicants. They should have also retired “at least five years previously” and should not have been over 60 years of age.The first assignment for the new panel will be picking the three squads for the long home tour against England featuring four Tests, five T20Is and three ODIs, starting February 5 next year.Sharma is the most experienced of the three new names with 23 Tests and 65 ODIs in which he took 61 and 67 wickets respectively, and also struck an ODI century after being promoted to No. 4 against England in 1989. He is, however, famously remembered for taking a hat-trick against New Zealand in the 1987 World Cup. By bowling Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield, Sharma became the first bowler to grab a World Cup hat-trick and the first Indian to do so in ODIs.Mohanty, from Odisha, played two Tests and 45 ODIs from 1997 to 2001 and also featured in the 1999 World Cup. He was India’s second-best bowler in the tournament with 10 wickets from six games at an average of 26, behind Javagal Srinath’s tally of 12. Mohanty also coached his home side Odisha in 2011-12 after taking over from Michael Bevan.Kuruvilla, who rose to international cricket from Mumbai, took 25 wickets each in the 10 Tests and 25 ODIs he played in 1997. One of the tallest men to bowl for India at 6’6″, Kuruvilla impressed in only his third Test with a five-for against West Indies in Bridgetown in 1997, but fell off the radar soon after. Later he served in various selection panels, heading the India junior selection committee in 2011-12 before being named the Mumbai chief selector in 2012.

Birmingham Bears’ quarter-final hopes are ended as Faheem Ashraf sneaks Northants home

ECB Reporters Network25-Aug-2019Faheem Ashraf saw Northamptonshire home with two balls to spare as his side beat Birmingham Bears by four wickets on a golden afternoon at Edgbaston to keep the visitors hopes alive of qualifying for the Vitality Blast quarter-finals.Northants began the day having to win their last three matches to reach the top four of the North Group and were cruising in a chase of 151 at 128 for 2 in the 15th over. But wickets began to tumble and five were left from five balls. Ashraf then guided Henry Brookes wide of third man for two before striking the winning boundary over extra cover.Defeat for the Bears ended their chances or reaching the top four as they slipped bottom of the table with two matches to play.The home side chose to bat on a used wicket but slumped to 109 for 5 in the 17th over only for Will Rhodes, with 45 in 31 balls, and Chris Green, 23 from 13 to boost them to 150 for 6, taking 20 runs from the final seven balls of the innings.Before then, the Northants’ spinners had a grip on the innings with turn available. Rob Keogh spun one sharply past Matt Lamb’s inside edge to bowl him for just one and deceived Adam Hose to have him stumped for 24. Left-arm spinner Graeme White also earned a stumping when Dom Sibley advanced and missed an off drive to fall for 24 in 20 balls.Rhodes kept the Bears together – twice slog-sweeping to the short leg-side fence – and the blast from Green in the final over, hitting three fours off Ben Sanderson, gave the home side something to defend.The Northants chase was given a bright start by Richard Levi, who made a timely return to form in making 44 from 27 balls – his highest score in the competition this season. He took three fours from Oliver Hannon-Dalby’s opening over before dealing with Jeetan Patel’s offspin by twice sweeping him for four. Levi eventually fell trying to hit Rhodes over mid-off but he laid the platform for the pursuit at 73 for 2 in the eighth over.Captain Josh Cobb then shared a stand of 55 in seven overs that appeared to have put the game to bed, Cobb striking two sixes into the Raglan Stand. But trying to repeat the shot he holed out to deep midwicket for 42 from 36 balls and when Dwaine Pretorius’ measured 26 from 24 balls was ended by a superb low return catch by Patel, work was left for the Northants middle order.The task appeared straightforward with 16 needed from 18 balls but Alex Wakely and Keogh couldn’t find the boundaries that would have killed the game. One reserve-sweep from Wakely earned four past backward point but Keogh was bowled swinging at Green’s final delivery and Wakely then fell to a Brookes nip-backer first ball of the final over.Suddenly the Bears sensed a chance and Tom Sole would have run himself out taking a run straight to mid-on had Lamb’s throw struck. Ashraf, with four needed from four, then took over to win the game.

Mohammad Abbas ensured a third victory in five for Leicestershire as they continued to defy the sceptics

ECB Reporters Network27-Jun-20181:57

Kent go top of Division Two

ScorecardThe international class of Mohammad Abbas was too much for Derbyshire despite a rousing innings from Matt Critchley as Leicestershire celebrated a six-wicket victory on day three of the floodlit Division Two match at Derby.The Pakistan pace bowler took 6 for 54, including the wicket of Critchley who was last to go for 86 from 124 balls as Derbyshire were bowled out for 184.That left Leicestershire with a modest target of 133 and 58 from Colin Ackermann backed up by 48 from skipper Paul Horton sealed a 21 point win with more than 23 overs to spare.Horton said of the Foxes’ third win in five: “We’re really happy to get over the line. We’ve played a lot of solid first-class cricket this season and the two games we lost we should have won so to come back after dominating but sadly losing a fixture and step up a day later was a great effort.”Leicestershire’s two defeats in this sequence were astonishing. They enforced the follow-on against Durham at Chester-le-Street and lost – then chose not to enforce it again against Middlesex at Grace Road and lost that one too.Derbyshire had gone into another hot day nine runs behind and they lost skipper Billy Godleman to the third delivery as Abbas swung one in to shatter his stumps.Alex Hughes was badly missed by Lewis Hill off Ben Raine but the wicketkeeper made amends by taking a diving catch to remove him when he drove at a wide ball from Abbas who then saw Mark Cosgrove put down Daryn Smit at second slip in the same over.Smit survived for another 10 overs before he got an inside edge off Raine into his stumps and after Critchley completed a deserved 50 from 71 balls, Hardus Viljoen swung Callum Parkinson to long-on with Derbyshire only 79 ahead.Tony Palladino demonstrated the application Derbyshire required by batting for 10 overs until Raine bowled him off an inside edge but Critchley made sure they would have something to defend by driving consecutive balls from Raine for a four and a six.Abbas bowled Olivier with a full-length ball and Critchley’s excellent innings ended when he miscued a pull trying to keep the strike and lobbed a catch to mid-on.That left Leicestershire with 53 overs to chase down the runs but they lost Sam Evans in the second over when he edged Viljoen to second slip with three on the board.Another couple of wickets then would have set nerves jangling in the visiting dressing room but Horton again batted soundly while Ackermann unleashed some powerful drives to cut the target to 46 at tea.Ackermann was caught behind driving at Duanne Olivier, Cosgrove edged a cut at Viljoen and although Horton was lbw with four needed, he had done enough to seal a third win in four matches.

South Africa will be looking to seal their qualification against the lowest-ranked team in the ICC Champions Trophy

The Preview by Danyal Rasool06-Jun-2017

Match facts

June 07, 2017

Start time 13.30 local (12.30 GMT)
3:14

Tait: Without Wahab, Amir needs to show authority

Big Picture

South Africa and Pakistan are cricketing opposites in every conceivable way at the moment. South Africa are the highest-ranked team in the Champions Trophy, Pakistan the lowest. South Africa hammered Sri Lanka to kick off their tournament, while Pakistan were at the end of a pasting – against arch-rivals India, no less. South Africa’s power-hitting stocks are the envy of virtually every other side in the tournament, while seemingly the only power-hitter in all of Pakistan has been suspended on charges of corruption during the Pakistan Super League. South Africa are favourites to win this game, Pakistan are not.Pakistan have traditionally gone into big tournaments believing their bowling to be their biggest asset, but anyone who took a look at their performance during the game against India would begin to seriously wonder if that was the case this time around. In any case, the top-two ODI bowlers according to the ICC rankings are South African – Kagiso Rabada and Imran Tahir – so their opponents certainly have the edge in that department.What other ways can we compare Pakistan and South Africa? Batting? What about (if only for amusement’s sake) fielding?South Africa did indeed lose the last series they played, but they got better with each game, culminating in a demolition of England in the final ODI. They continued that upsurge with a comfortable win over Sri Lanka, a game in which they were by no means excellent. It was a mark of their quality that victory never seemed to be in doubt, except for a brief period at the start of the second innings when Sri Lanka got off to a flyer. Hashim Amla scored a hundred, Quinton de Kock is perhaps the world’s best young batsman, Tahir was Man of the Match. You could run through all the other names, without finding any real chink in the armour.Pakistan can take inspiration from recent history. These two sides were similarly mismatched when they last took each other on at the 2015 World Cup, and South Africa were on course for a routine victory chasing a below-par total, before a few quick wickets derailed the chase and had Pakistan snatch an unlikely win. Eight of the XI that started for South Africa in the opening game of this tournament also played in that contest, so Pakistan may harness hopes of reopening old wounds.

Form guide

South Africa WWLLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan LWWLL

In the spotlight

David Miller is the sort of player Pakistan are crying out for: an explosive middle-order player who can have a devastating impact towards the close of an innings. He isn’t just a slogger, though; it’s just that South Africa’s top order is so reliable he doesn’t often get in before the 35th over. He’s fresh off a 51-ball 71 in a thrilling ODI against England not too long ago, and though it couldn’t get South Africa over the line, it highlighted the value Miller provides as a stable No.5 to a superb top order. Pakistan’s death bowling was clueless against India, and it has been that way against the better teams for a while now. Miller should be licking his lips at the very prospect of facing them tomorrow.Besides Mohammad Amir, Shadab Khan was the only Pakistan bowler who could claim a passing grade from their game against India. The 18-year-old legspinner held his own against a daunting Indian batting line-up, ensuring the batsmen couldn’t target him in a tournament where spin bowlers’ chances haven’t been fancied. Fifty-two runs came off his ten overs, and he even provided the opening breakthrough, deceiving Shikhar Dhawan in the air. He might be expected to perform a similar role against South Africa, who will be aware of the damage quality legspin can do, what with Tahir’s heroics against Sri Lanka.

Team news

South Africa may be tempted to stick with the side that beat Sri Lanka so comprehensively, although that would mean they miss the transformation target – a minimum of six players of colour on average over a season – two games in a row. Phehlukwayo might be given a start, and in such an eventuality one of Chris Morris and Morne Morkel could make way.South Africa (possible): 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Morne Morkel/Andile Phelukwayo, 11 Imran TahirWahab Riaz has been ruled out of the tournament, and Junaid Khan will take his place in the side. Sarfraz Ahmed also confirmed that Fakhar Zaman will open the batting, replacing Ahmed Shehzad.Pakistan (possible): 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Azhar Ali, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt, wk), 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Hasan Ali, 11 Junaid Khan

Pitch and conditions

There has been some drama surrounding the Edgbaston pitch. This game was scheduled to be played on an unused pitch, but it has gone soft due to the amount of rain. As a result, the match will be played on the same pitch that was used previously this tournament. As for weather, rain is expected to stay away for most of tomorrow, and a full game is expected.

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan have lost six successive Champions Trophy matches, a run that stretches back to 2009
• Hashim Amla became the quickest batsman to 25 ODI centuries with a hundred against Sri Lanka on Saturday. He needed 151 innings to get to the mark, overtaking Virat Kohli who took 162

Quotes

“Yes, definitely.”
“We have tried to lift the team’s spirits, and the mood in the camp is very good now.”

India captain MS Dhoni says his side’s ability to stay calm under intense pressure was a key factor in escaping with a one-run win over Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Mar-20162:33

‘Pandya executed the plan well’ – Dhoni

India captain MS Dhoni says his side’s ability to stay calm under intense pressure was a key factor in escaping with a one-run win over Bangladesh in Bangalore. With India in danger of falling short of the semi-final stage, Dhoni’s charges held their nerve and when asked afterward about the end of game situation he said it was important to keep cool in such hectic situations.”In a situation like this, it’s literally chaos. What you are trying to do is you’re trying to manage chaos,” Dhoni said after the match. “Everybody will come and he’ll have his own opinion. Often the opinion of a batsman is very different to the opinion of a bowler. But what you have to do is you have to see what the strength of the batsman is who is batting at that point of time, how the wicket is behaving, whether there is some kind of reverse swing or no reverse swing on offer. All these things you need to calculate and I feel what really helps is you listen to all of them.”But at the end of the day you push the bowler to bowl what you feel is good at that point of time. If I am convinced that this is something I want to do, I will go ahead with it but definitely having an open mind at that point of time really helps because at times in situations like these under pressure, that’s where the input of others comes in. But you have to assess everything and it has to happen in a very short span of time.”Dhoni hailed the younger players in the India side for stepping up and performing in key roles. In particular, he gave credit to Jasprit Bumrah for overcoming a rough start to the second innings – a misfield turned boundary and a dropped chance off Tamim Iqbal were followed by four boundaries off Bumrah to Tamim in the sixth over – to bowl a crucial 17th and 19th overs, conceding 13 runs across the 12 deliveries.”After the first misfield, if you see actually his international career, this was the first game where he was under pressure,” Dhoni said. “It’s not only the pressure of bowling. I consider him slightly weak when it comes to the fielding department and today’s game was very important. We all knew how important it was. To start, the very first ball if you miss, as a youngster you are under pressure and I feel that actually reflected in his bowling also, then he dropped a catch.”It’s important at that point of time to tell him that it doesn’t really matter because what has happened has happened. You can’t do anything about it. Even if you sit there for half an hour, the batsman won’t get out. What was important was to get away from it and at the same time try to execute your plans, what your strength is. But I felt when he came for the second over where he went for runs, I don’t think he was completely out of it. So after that we had one more conversation. I won’t say what I said but definitely it worked.”Like Bumrah, Hardik Pandya’s international career is in its infancy with both players having made their international debuts in January. However, Dhoni was pleased with the way Pandya responded after conceding boundaries from two of the first three deliveries in the final over, which left India with no margin for error needing to defend two runs off the final three balls with four Bangladesh wickets in hand.Dhoni further elaborated on the sequence afterwards saying that he came to choose Pandya to bowl the final over by going to his specialist bowlers first, including Bumrah and Ashish Nehra, in the three overs prior as a means of stretching out the game as long as possible before seeing what the final-over equation would be.”The batsmen were scoring quite freely at that point of time,” Dhoni said. “I knew I had to take that one over from somebody whether it was a spinner or Hardik Pandya. I said what is important right now is to make a game out of it and that’s where I said I’ll use the proper bowlers at this point of time and we’ll see how many runs are needed in the last over. Then according to that we’ll decide who is the person who can bowl.”There were quite a few options. There was Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya was there. That was the reason behind it. Often it’s quite an easy one. You want to give a cushion of an extra few runs and you go back to your main bowlers, you back their strength and say whatever runs you save it all keeps mounting on the last over and if he’s able to execute his plans then we’ll be on the winning side.”More than anything, Dhoni was proud of the way the team was able to still win on a day where multiple players had rocky outings. The resiliency on display for younger players like Bumrah to compose themselves and manage to do enough to win is something that Dhoni says is a valuable learning experience they can take with them through the rest of the tournament and beyond in their careers.”It was still a very good effort by the team. I felt majority members of the team had a tough day. Ash had a very good day when it comes to bowling but still there were patches where he went for runs where he thought maybe the batsman played a very good shot. All the bowlers went for runs but they came back and everybody contributed. So I feel it’s a very good game for us, especially for youngsters who have not played under a lot of pressure.”Somebody like Hardik or Bumrah, this was a first proper interaction with pressure and what pressure can really do. So I feel they must have learned a lot out of this game and these are the games that really make you better players because it pushes you to think in a different way, pushes you to have that confidence in your strength at the time when it’s really needed. So I think it was a very good game for us.”The media conference began with Dhoni castigating a journalist for asking the following question in Hindi: “From talking about winning by a large margin to increase the net run rate, and to win by around 50 runs from being close to losing this game and winning narrowly. How satisfied are you with this win?”As the reporter began his second query, Dhoni said, “One question at a time… Because I know you are not happy that India has won.” As the reporter sought to clarify, Dhoni went said, “No listen. From your voice, your tone and you question, I feel you are not happy that India has won. Okay? And when it comes to a cricket match, it doesn’t have a script.”It is not about the script. You need to analyse that after losing the toss the kind of wicket we had to bat on, what was the reason we couldnt make a lot more runs. If while sitting on the outside, you are not analysing all these thing, then you shouldn’t ask these questions.”

Australia’s former coach Mickey Arthur has revealed the tourists planned to inflict damage and gain intelligence on England in the away series before pushing hardest to regain the Ashes in the return bout at home

Daniel Brettig21-Aug-2013Australia’s former coach Mickey Arthur has revealed the tourists planned to inflict damage and gain intelligence on England in the away series before pushing hardest to regain the Ashes in the return bout at home. He also said the 3-0 scoreline would not have changed irrespective of selections because “that is what we’ve got at the moment”.While the new coach Darren Lehmann had stated before the series that his objective was simply to “win, win, win”, there had been some suggestions that Cricket Australia would be content with a competitive showing in England, provided the home matches would reap a winning result. Arthur confirmed that he and the captain Michael Clarke had been talking in terms of using the first series to prepare for the second.”We had a goal that I will reveal. We wanted to try to push England really hard in England, but we wanted to win in Australia, this is what Michael and I wanted to do,” Arthur told ABC Radio. “We didn’t go into the series ever to lose it, but we wanted to develop enough intelligence on all the England players, we had a lot but there was going to be some current stuff we could use.”We were going to really push them close, give the players in our team the confidence to see that England could get beaten, and then go for them in Australia. That was how we wanted to go about our escapade there. You could have put anybody in [the team], the results were going to be the results because that is what we’ve got at the moment. That is the current crop of players. But as coaches it’s such a good challenge because there’s so much unfulfilled potential that you can make better.”Arthur was not the only senior CA figure pushing this view before the start of the series, and some players are understood to have been taken aback by the attitude when they assembled together in Bristol before the tour officially began. It remains to be seen whether the current leadership of Clarke and Lehmann have managed to glean enough from this series to help them at home.Looking back on his time as coach, a period ended suddenly in England before the Ashes tour and then played out acrimoniously in a legal battle with CA over severance payments, Arthur said a 4-0 defeat in India and its associated disciplinary problems had been a major blow. For that he cited the BCCI’s desire to avenge an identical series ledger in Australia in 2011-12, duly preparing pitches to suit the purpose.”India was a really tough tour for us in so many ways. I’ve been privileged to tour India a couple of times and those were the worst conditions that I’d ever seen,” Arthur said. “They hijacked us, and they clearly wanted revenge for the 4-0 series win we had got when they toured here the last time.”One goes back to the Perth Test where the wicket was green and we played to our strengths and won the Test in two and a half days. They clearly wanted retribution for that and produced some of the toughest conditions I’d ever seen. They went out of their way to prepare those conditions and I can’t argue with that.”Despite the circumstances of his departure, Arthur said he had been watching the Ashes series very closely. Too closely, perhaps, for members of his family, who had asked him why he could not let it go. “I’ve been watching every ball of the Ashes,” he said. “My family has been saying ‘let it go’ and I can’t. I’ve spent too much time with these boys trying to make them better cricketers, I’ve got to watch it.”I am talking to the television. The funny thing as a coach is with a trained eye and knowing the psyche of all the players, I can sit and watch something developing and know what’s going to happen an over later. I’m going ‘don’t do that again, keep hitting straight, they’re trying to set you up for the lbw … keep hitting straight, oh across the line, damn lbw again’.”

Unmukt Chand, the captain of the Under-19 World Cup winning India team, is focused on the job ahead

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2012Unmukt Chand, captain of the Under-19 World Cup winning India team, said that he is not thinking too far ahead and is fully focused on performing positively during India A’s tour to New Zealand in September, for which he had been selected before the World Cup. “I take one tournament at a time. I want to play for India but don’t want to think about it now. I want to do well for India A,” Chand told .Chand, who led India’s win in the final with a century, thereby becoming India’s highest run-getter in the tournament, was speaking during a function organised by the BCCI to felicitate the Under-19 squad. He said that the team had prepared itself mentally to overcome the challenges in the tournament.India lost the first match against West Indies, but won all their matches thereafter, including a narrow one-wicket win over Pakistan in the quarter-final. However, the batsmen failed to dominate and the team was repeatedly bailed out by the bowlers.”All the batsmen go out to score runs but most of the time it does not happen,” Chand said. “We lost the first match against West Indies, but even from that we took the positives like our bowling and fielding. That we carried in further matches.”The best part was, we didn’t know what was happening in India, [which] really kept us on target. The belief was very strong among the guys and we always felt we will go and lift the trophy. [It] only took us further and win the tournament.”He said his team’s half-hour session with Sachin Tendulkar ahead of the event helped.”We had a half an hour session with him before leaving. The session was quite helpful. He told what we would face there and how we need to tackle it. He helped us a lot and told us the do’s and don’ts.”Though happy to be able to overcome a tough test as a team, he said he was aware that they would have to be more mature to deal with future challenges.”Under-19 is a good platform and the boys have showcased their talent and proved that they are good enough. Our boys are extremely talented and can match anybody but they need to be more matured as a player. It would be a bigger challenge to climb up the ladder now.”

Whangarei’s Cobham Oval has been handed its first international fixture, a Waitangi Day ODI against Zimbabwe next summer

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-2011Whangarei’s Cobham Oval has been handed its first international fixture, a Waitangi Day ODI against Zimbabwe next summer. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has released its home schedule for 2011-12, and the four Tests against Zimbabwe and South Africa have been allocated to Napier, Dunedin, Hamilton and Wellington, while Christchurch was ruled out due to AMI Stadium’s earthquake damage.”Unfortunately we have not been able to allocate any matches to AMI Stadium, in Christchurch,” Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of NZC, said. “Following damage to AMI Stadium from the February earthquakes and subsequent uncertainty about timelines for remediation due to ongoing aftershocks, Vbase advised New Zealand Cricket that it could not absolutely guarantee that the venue would be available to host international cricket in the coming season.”In the latest start to an international summer in New Zealand for 17 years, the opening clash is the one-off Test against Zimbabwe at Napier’s McLean Park, beginning on January 26. The window between the final Test against Australia in Hobart from December 9-13 and the Napier match could allow New Zealand’s international players to play almost all of the domestic Twenty20 tournament, which is likely to run in December and January.The Zimbabwe Test is followed by ODIs in Dunedin, Whangarei and Napier, and two Twenty20s in Auckland and Hamilton. Justin Vaughan, the chief executive officer of NZC, said it was good to see Cobham Oval win its first New Zealand match after being approved as an international venue by the ICC earlier this week.”It is pleasing to be able to reward Northland Cricket by allocating an ODI to Cobham Oval,” Vaughan said. “It is a credit to their hard work and I know they are thrilled to host Zimbabwe in February.”The schedule is also good news for fans in Dunedin, with University Oval back on the international circuit following improvement works last summer. The venue will host an ODI against Zimbabwe and the first Test against South Africa, beginning on March 11, before the series moves on to Seddon Park from March 15-19 and the Basin Reserve from March 23-27.Ross Taylor, the new captain of New Zealand, said the summer would be a tough one for his team, with nine matches against the strong South African outfit. “It will be a very challenging summer of international cricket and we are looking forward to taking on South Africa and Zimbabwe at home in front of our fans,” Taylor said. “South Africa is currently ranked second in world Test rankings so the three-Test series against them will be an excellent gauge of our progress.”New Zealand v ZimbabweJanuary 26-30: Only Test, McLean Park, NapierFebruary 3: 1st ODI, University Oval, DunedinFebruary 6: 2nd ODI, Cobham Oval, WhangareiFebruary 9: 3rd ODI, McLean Park, NapierFebruary 12: 1st Twenty20, Eden Park, AucklandFebruary 14: 2nd Twenty20, Seddon Park, HamiltonNew Zealand v South AfricaFebruary 17: 1st Twenty20, Westpac Stadium, WellingtonFebruary 19: 2nd Twenty20, Seddon Park, HamiltonFebruary 22: 3rd Twenty20, Eden Park, AucklandFebruary 25: 1st ODI, Westpac Stadium, WellingtonFebruary 29, 2nd ODI: McLean Park, NapierMarch 3: 3rd ODI, Eden Park, AucklandMarch 7-11: 1st Test, University Oval, DunedinMarch 15-19: 2nd Test, Seddon Park, HamiltonMarch 23-27: 3rd Test, Basin Reserve, Wellington