Category Uncategorized

Maroof, Sohail and Amin play crucial hands as hosts take 1-0 lead in three-match series

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2019
Bangladesh women’s senior seamer Jahanara Alam took four wickets and allrounder Rumana Ahmed struck her maiden T20I fifty, but it couldn’t stop Pakistan women from securing victory in their first T20I at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. It was also Pakistan women’s fourth win in six T20Is at home.ALSO READ – Strong arms: the story of Pakistan women’s cricketNo Nida Dar (who is playing in the WBBL)? No problem for Pakistan women. Thirties from captain Bismah Maroof and No. 4 Umaima Sohail hauled the hosts to 126 despite the regular fall of wickets. They then used six bowlers in their defence and each picked up at least one wicket to restrict Bangladesh women to 112 for 7. This, despite Rumana’s 30-ball 50 that included six fours and two sixes. Rumana’s strike rate of 166.66 stood out in a chase where no other Bangladesh batter struck at over 80.In pursuit of 127, Bangladesh women had lost both their openers inside the third over and slumped further to 47 for 4 in 12 overs. Rumana counterattacked and was particularly severe on Maroof, taking 23 off a mere seven balls from the Pakistan women captain. Rumana took the chase to the last over, leaving her side needing 18 with four wickets in hand.However, she was bowled by Aliya Riaz off the third ball, as Bangladesh women eventually lost by 14 runs. Riaz ended with economical figures of 4-0-12-1. Left-arm fingerspinner Sadia Iqbal returned figures of similar impact on T20I debut: 1 for 16.Having opted to bat, Pakistan women lost both their openers cheaply to Alam, but Maroof and Sohail put on 60 off 59 balls to revive the innings. Although both batsmen fell in successive overs, lower-order contributions from Iram Javed (21 off 17 balls) and wicketkeeper Sidra Nawaz (16* off 4 balls) took the hosts closer to 130. It proved to be enough as Pakistan women claimed a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

They do not have a Test win in India and they must find one in Delhi to level the series

The Preview by Alagappan Muthu01-Dec-20173:20

Agarkar: Vijay and Rahul are my first choice openers

Big picture

There will be – at least physically – two teams taking the field in Delhi for the deciding match of a Test series. But their minds are busy peering into the future. India are obsessed with events that will take place in January while Sri Lanka are looking further ahead, willing the mists to clear and reveal a time in which they aren’t being bullied. An innings and 239 runs isn’t so much a margin of defeat as a brand across their faces.Fire, though, is where iron can be forged and the interim coach Nic Pothas is of the belief that these experiences can, in the long term, be helpful. Like how losing the Galle Test in 2015 shook India up. In the time since, they have won 21 out of 28 Tests and their dominance in many of them was barely even up for debate. That boils down to bench strength. It is the advantage Virat Kohli has and the luxury Dinesh Chandimal craves.Makes sense then that Sri Lanka would lose their best bowler at a time everything is on the line, isn’t it? Rangana Herath has been sidelined with a back injury and there is every possibility that Lakshan Sandakan might be asked to replace him. Herath, the fingerspinner, has had no impact this series – average 115 – so a wristspinner might not be the worst plan against a batting line-up that goes into each Test hungry to make big runs. India’s top four have provided four centuries this series, including a double, whereas no one from the visitors has gone past 67. There are vast gaps between the two teams. And unless the Sri Lankans show they can bridge it, they may well lead the brigade that harrumphs there is too much cricket being played between these two sides.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: WDWWW
Sri Lanka: LDWWL

In the spotlight

Three ducks in five first-class innings is not normally a sequence of events Ajinkya Rahane has had to go through. He is yet to get past single-digits in this series, heightening the divide between his home and away form. Now, there is little doubt over the quality he possesses – remember Lord’s. Nor is there question over his will to fight – remember Indore. But considering his status as one of the first names India put down in a Test XI, both he and the team management would prefer he find some form before leaving for South Africa.Speaking of unusual experiences, Herath wouldn’t have thought he would have only one wicket to show for nearly 50 overs’ work. He is steady. His traps are subtle. But India have avoided them without breaking a sweat and in light of that, it may not be such a bad thing to bring in a bit of a wildcard. Like Lakshan Sandakan. The 26-year old left-arm wristspinner took a five-for in Pallekele; included in that bag were the wickets of Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. Not bad for the second spinner.

Team news

India’s combination remains a mystery. Among the openers, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul were involved in slip-fielding practice and M Vijay came out for the press conference. And would they really drop Rohit Sharma soon after he had scored a cathartic Test century?1 M Vijay, 2 Shikhar Dhawan/KL Rahul, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 9 Ravindra Jadeja, 10 Ishant Sharma/Mohammed Shami, 11 Umesh YadavBatting failures in both innings on a more-or-less traditional subcontinent pitch in Nagpur suggests Sri Lanka need to consider adding Dhananjaya de Silva and perhaps even the uncapped Roshen Silva in their XI.1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 3 Dhananjaya de Silva 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Dinesh Chandimal (capt), 6 Niroshan Dickwella (wk) 7 Roshen Silva/Vishwa Fernando, 8 Dilruwan Perera, 9 Lakshan Sandakan, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Lahiru Gamage

Pitch and conditions

The pitch looks green but Chandimal said it was closer to Nagpur than Kolkata. Nothing extraordinary about it. Weather is clear but light could fade early and be a factor

Stats and trivia

• India have not lost a Test match at Feroz Shah Kolta for 30 years. The last team to beat them here was the Viv Richards-led West Indies in November 1987.
• Dimuth Karunaratne is one of three batsmen to aggregate 1000 runs in 2017. The others are Pujara and Dean Elgar

Quotes

“Of course that’s what as a team we are looking at. We have never won a Test match here. Still I have hope that we can win this game but as a team we need to do well on that day. We can do that definitely. We can compete with the Indians. That’s what we are looking forward to.”
“It has grass obviously. That has been the whole point, through the whole series it has been the pattern. Hopefully the wicket plays good, and we get a good experience before the south Africa tour.”

Considered a T20 specialist, she was part of the side that defeated India 3-0 in the T20 leg of the tour last year

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2017Batsman Britney Cooper has been recalled to West Indies women’s squad for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka women, which starts from October 19 in Antigua. Cooper was picked in place of 20-year-old Reniece Boyce, the only change to the squad that swept the preceding ODI series 3-0.

West Indies women squad:

Stafanie Taylor (capt), Merissa Aguilleira (wk), Britney Cooper, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Chedean Nation, Akeira Peters, Shakera Selman.

Cooper has not played an international match since November last year. Considered a T20 specialist, she was part of the side that defeated India 3-0 in the T20 leg of the tour last year. In their title-winning campaign in the World T20 last year, her 48-ball 61 helped set up a win against New Zealand in the semi-final.Weighing in on the selection of Cooper Courtney Browne, chairman of the Cricket West Indies selection panel, said: “Results from the ICC Women’s Championship matches against Sri Lanka women were encouraging and the team needs to build on the momentum going into the Twenty20 International series.”Britney was brought into the T20 squad, as she has shown in the past that she can be aggressive with the bat and increase the scoring rate when needed at times. She was part of our T20 World Cup-winning squad and played her part in that memorable victory.”West Indies, the defending champions in the twenty-over format, are scheduled to play the three T20Is on October 19, 21 and 22 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.

Ian Cockbain stepped into the starring role after a first failure from Michael Klinger as Gloucestershire returned to winning ways with a 43-run victory over Middlesex in the NatWest T20 Blast at Richmond.

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-2015
ScorecardDavid Payne ensured there was no danger of Middlesex chasing 215•Getty Images

Ian Cockbain stepped into the starring role after a first failure from Michael Klinger as Gloucestershire returned to winning ways with a 43-run victory over Middlesex in the NatWest T20 Blast at Richmond.Captain Klinger contributed just 10 runs to the visitors’ cause, having totalled 403 runs from his previous four innings in this year’s competition without being dismissed. But at least he now has an average – and, much more important, a team success to celebrate after two defeats earlier in the week.With Cockbain scoring 75 from 39 balls, helped by six sixes and five fours, while sharing in a third-wicket stand of 101 with Benny Howell – who supplied a T20 best of 57 – Gloucestershire were able to post a daunting total of 214 for 4 – their highest so far this year and a T20 record for any county at Old Deer Park.Middlesex, who have now lost three consecutive games in the Blast and were looking for a first ever T20 win against Gloucestershire, at the eighth attempt, made a fast start in reply. But with wickets falling regularly, the hosts were always struggling and ended up well short. Only John Simpson, with an unbeaten 74, caused the visitors any real concern but his effort was overshadowed by David Payne, whose figures of 5 for 24 are the best so far in this year’s competition.Middlesex couldn’t say Cockbain had not given them fair warning. He made an unbeaten 91 against them when Gloucestershire won by seven wickets at Bristol in mid-May. This time he took centre stage once Klinger had top-edged an attempted hook against James Harris. All but one of Cockbain’s six sixes were hit straight, two of them coming off a single over from spinner Paul Stirling that cost 20 runs in all. And with Howell enjoying himself just as much, the third wicket pair posted a century stand at the rate of two runs per ball.Cockbain eventually fell to Toby Roland-Jones via thick outside edge to short third man. But, by then, Gloucestershire were all but guaranteed a total in excess of 200 – and Geraint Jones made sure they comfortably achieved that target by hammering 34 runs from just 14 deliveries.Paul Stirling, who has been in brilliant form for Ireland recently and then made a double century for Middlesex 2nds, hit two of his first three balls for six when the reply began. But when he then played on, against Craig Miles, one big hope for the hosts had gone – and wickets kept tumbling with Payne having a field day.”It’s nice to get a win under our belts again after those two defeats,” Cockbain said. “Michael has been batting brilliantly so it was good for the other guys to put their hands up today and post a big score.”

England will not take their Test series in New Zealand lightly with a full-strength squad expected to be named on Thursday

Andrew McGlashan23-Jan-2013England will not take their Test series in New Zealand lightly with a full-strength squad expected to be named on Thursday for the three matches in March although not all the players who were on duty in India will earn another trip.The selectors covered many bases with their squad for the India series, which ended up consisting of 19 players after the addition of Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Meaker for a period and later James Tredwell to the party. The squad for New Zealand is set to be a more streamlined 15 names so there will be fewer reserves kicking their heels on the sidelines.From the original players included for the India tour, Eoin Morgan and Samit Patel are the likely ones to be disappointed this time. Joe Root’s impressive Test debut, and continued emergence as an international cricketer, will earn him a run at No. 6 while Nick Compton, although he did not make the major score to make his place impregnable, did enough to warrant at least the three matches in New Zealand.Jonny Bairstow is expected to be available again following his compassionate leave which means he will return for the T20s and ODIs then provide the batting and wicketkeeping back-up in the Test squad. Bairstow’s stock has fallen a little since he replaced Pietersen against South Africa at Lord’s, where he made 94 and 54, now finding himself behind Root.Morgan and Patel will remain fringe Test players. Morgan has stated his desire to return to the longer format, but also said he would assess his IPL commitments when his short-term future in the side was clearer. Omission from this Test squad puts him well down the pecking order again and he may well decide on another lengthy spell in India.Patel was always likely to be a horses-for-courses selection. England began the India tour wanting someone to provide a fifth-bowling option to balance the side, but it soon became clear his left-arm spin was not Test standard and he sent down fewer overs as the series progressed. Neither did he fully take his chance with the bat, albeit he was on the end of a couple of rough decisions, and further scores of 26 and 33 were not sufficient.The bowling attack is set to consist of familiar names although the third-seamer’s slot in the final XI remains up for grabs. Tim Bresnan will be able to count himself fortunate to travel after a barren second half to 2012. Since the start of the South Africa series he has two Test wickets at 210 apiece. There is a strong case to have a look at one of the younger pace bowlers – Meaker, Chris Woakes or James Harris – but that does not appear to be the approach.Bresnan, Stuart Broad and Graham Onions will again be competing to support James Anderson and Steven Finn. Broad has ground to make up after a troubled tour of India and his performances in the preceding one-day games could well have a bearing. Onions is the type of bowler who could flourish in New Zealand but will have only one warm-up game to press his case.Monty Panesar, who sparked England’s revival in India, will have to be content with a back-up role again behind Graeme Swann.Probable England squad Alastair Cook (capt), Nick Compton, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar

Hamish Marshall led from the front with 66 as Gloucestershire romped to a shock nine-wicket win over Somerset with 5.2 overs to spare in the Friends Life t20 clash at Taunton.

29-Jun-2012
ScorecardHamish Marshall made 66 as Gloucestershire produced a shock win•Getty Images

Hamish Marshall led from the front with 66 as Gloucestershire romped to a shock nine-wicket win over Somerset with 5.2 overs to spare in the Friends Life t20 clash at Taunton.A packed crowd of more than 7,000 saw the hosts fall to their first T20 defeat this season, having been restricted to 140 for 8 after winning the toss, Albie Morkel top-scoring with 33. Spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (2 for 20) and Ed Young (1 for 18) bowled their eight overs for a combined total of 38 runs, while Ian Saxelby and James Fuller claimed two wickets each.Marshall and Benny Howell (55 not out) then made the total look even more inadequate, with an opening stand of 115 in 12.1 overs. Marshall raced to a half-century off 35 balls – with seven fours – before pulling a catch to midwicket, having added two sixes. By then the game won.Howell looked equally at ease as the pair scored at will against an off-colour Somerset attack, reaching his 50 off 36 balls, with eight fours and a six.Skipper Marshall had earlier set the tone for Somerset’s unusually poor batting effort by taking a fine running catch to dismiss Richard Levi for seven off the first ball of the second over. Kevin O’Brien holed out to deep square off James Fuller and it was 39 for 3 when Nick Compton was caught behind off an inside edge to give Saxelby a wicket.Jos Buttler was dropped on 1 by wicketkeeper Jon Batty off Liam Norwell, but James Hildreth was caught behind sweeping at Muralitharan to make it 47 for 4. Buttler (23) could not find any fluency and lost his patience to be stumped by Batty advancing to Young after a stand of 33 with Morkel. Arul Suppiah was bowled by the wily Murali and at 83 for 6 Somerset were in deep trouble.Morkel hit two big sixes before lofting a catch to long-off and only a poor 18th over from Fuller, in which he was warned for a beamer and conceded 18 runs, gave the home side even the faintest hope.

Chris Tremlett, the injury-plagued England fast bowler, took 4 for 35 in his first appearance since joining Surrey from Hampshire during the winter as Gloucestershire were dismissed for 229 at The Oval

04-May-2010

ScorecardChris Tremlett enjoyed an impressive return to first-class action in his first game for Surrey•PA Photos

Chris Tremlett, the injury-plagued England fast bowler, took 4 for 35 in his first appearance since joining Surrey from Hampshire during the winter as Gloucestershire were dismissed for 229 at The Oval.Tremlett, who missed Surrey’s first three Championship matches after suffering a groin strain in pre-season practice, was soon making up for lost time after Jonathan Batty had been caught behind off Iftikhar Anjum in the first over.He had Hamish Marshall caught at second slip off his second ball and Alex
Gidman caught at square leg in his next over before James Franklin joined Chris Dent in a fourth-wicket stand of 48. Dent was then lbw to Gareth Batty, and Tremlett struck again by claiming Chris Taylor lbw. When Franklin was also lbw to Iftikhar Gloucestershire were struggling at 102 for 6.It was 127 for 7 when Jon Lewis was picked up at short leg off Chris Schofield but Steven Snell, a wicketkeeper playing as a batsman, then put together a determined partnership with Vikram Banerjee. They had put on 52 and Snell had made 48 off 68 balls with seven fours when he was caught behind driving at Stuart Meaker.Tremlett was being used in short spells and when he returned for a fifth time after tea he picked up his fourth wicket by pinning Gemaal Hussain leg before.That gave him his best return since he took 5 for 67 for Surrey against
Hampshire at the Rose Bowl in May 2008, but he was to be denied a fifth wicket by a last wicket stand of 42 between Banerjee and Steve Kirby.Kirby hit a six and two fours on his way to a defiant, unbeaten 20 and Banerjee had made a gallant 35 when he was lbw to Schofield.Gareth Batty was pressed into service as an opening batsman because Stewart
Walters has a back injury when Surrey went in with 14 overs remaining and he made a good fist of it in an opening partnership of 52 with Arun Harinath.Batty had made 31, including six fours, when he was bowled by Hussain in the penultimate over, whereupon Tremlett completed a decent day’s work by going in as night watchman and seeing Surrey to 56 for 1 by the close.

Ravi Bopara, who plays for the Kings XI Punjab, has delayed his departure to India for the IPL, which begins on March 12, due to security concerns

Cricinfo staff01-Mar-2010England batsman Ravi Bopara, who plays for the Kings XI Punjab, has delayed his departure to India for the IPL, which begins on March 12, due to security concerns. However Lalit Modi, the league’s commissioner, said he had spoken to Bopara and the batsman had told him he was “looking forward to coming to India”.Bopara was concerned about the contents of security advisor Reg Dickason’s report, which had named Al Qaeda group Brigade 313 as a possible threat to the IPL. “Cricket is my living and in many ways my life. But it is not worth dying for,” Bopara told the . “This is a very tricky call. I have been in touch with the franchise and they are pretty positive that things will be okay. But Reg Dickason’s report says something different.”At the moment I’m nowhere with this decision. I’ve had some contact with other players. No one has said they are definitely not going, but no one has said they definitely are either. I have pushed back my flight so I can give myself a bit more time to see what happens and whether the security measures are implemented. The franchise will want an answer in the next few days, but I will not come to a hasty decision just because I have to. I need to weigh everything up and if I could buy myself even more time, I would.”Modi, however, responded on his Twitter account by saying reports about Bopara not coming “are completely false”. Bopara, who was bought for $450,000 at the 2009 auction, is one of eight England cricketers involved in IPL 2010. Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Owais Shah, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Graham Napier and Michael Lumb are the others.Meanwhile, the Australian players were told at a security briefing in Christchurch on Sunday that the terrorist threat from the 313 Brigade was not credible. However, Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, has said there could still be “mass withdrawals” unless players receive a commitment that the IPL’s security plans will be implemented at all venues.

Government funding of £35m over five years can make “massive difference” to game’s accessibility

Matt Roller05-Apr-20240:42

UK Prime Minister Sunak gets bowled by young cricketer

James Anderson believes that the British government’s £35 million investment in grassroots cricket will “make a massive difference” to the sport’s profile and accessibility over the next five years.Rishi Sunak, the UK’s Prime Minister, announced a funding package at The Oval on Friday morning which Richard Thompson, ECB chair, described as a “seminal” step towards his ambition to make cricket “the most inclusive team sport in the country”. The ECB plans to build 16 “all-weather cricket domes” in cities across England by 2030.”Cricket [in England] has never had an investment of this size before from government,” Thompson said. “A million children that would never have had the chance to play cricket will now get that chance… that is frankly outstanding. [We] hope that will really develop into something bigger and make schools even more committed to cricket because we’re going to be providing the coaching, the facilities and the equipment.”Related

• Government funds £1.5million all-weather domes in Luton and Lancashire

• ECB to train teachers as coaches to boost cricket in secondary schools

• Ebony Rainford-Brent targets 2030 in ACE's long road to representation

The ECB has already funded a prototype dome in Bradford, which opened last year, and plans to launch two more in Walsall and Luton before the end of this summer. “When the government invests this amount of money, they need to invest in something they know works – and this works,” Thompson said.The funding package also includes investment into the ECB’s partnerships with charities Chance to Shine, the Lord’s Taverners and the ACE Programme, which have an emphasis on engaging children from lower socio-economic groups, those with special educational needs and disabilities, and the black community respectively.”If we can get a bat and ball in people’s hands early enough, and you’ve got the facilities there, then you hope they enter a pathway,” Thompson said. “We’ll work into a hub-spoke model so you’ve got a school, a dome, local clubs – everything will be linked back into local clubs as well – so it’s a bit more joined-up, more coordination.”Things aren’t happening in isolation… my ambition for cricket is to become the most inclusive team sport in the country: you can’t do that if you’ve not been playing at state schools. Take Jimmy, as the best example: if Jimmy’s dad hadn’t played cricket, he probably wouldn’t have played. That shouldn’t be the case.”Anderson, who is part of the ECB’s state-school taskforce, said: “Being in a dressing room of very few state-school players, this could just make a huge difference. I would have loved the chance to play more at school. I know my mates who showed an interest in it would have liked access to the equipment and to have played more – but we just didn’t.”UK prime minister Rishi Sunak plays indoor cricket at The Oval•PA Photos/Getty Images

Only around 6% of schoolchildren in the UK attend fee-paying schools, but more than half of the contracted England men’s players for 2023-24 did so at some stage in their education – some after winning cricket scholarships. Anderson attended his local state school in Burnley, and started playing the sport thanks to his father Mick’s passion for it.”My experience of getting into cricket was basically through my dad,” he said. “Getting into the county set-up was a bit of my mate’s mum telling the coach to have a look at me, and stuff like that. So it was a lot of luck involved to get where I’ve got to. I think anything we can do to make those steps easier is important.”Anderson said that cricket facilities at his school were “non-existent” with “no access” to the sport. “I actually had to ask my dad to ask our cricket club to cut a pitch on the outfield to help us play one or two games a year, because we just didn’t have the facilities at all. We had a shale-type athletics track, then a couple of grass football pitches – but that was literally it.”There’s always been a big number of privately-educated players in the [England] changing room. We talk a lot about trying to make the game inclusive and diverse and if you don’t give kids a chance to play at school, then it’s not making it inclusive or diverse. That is what this is going to help; it’s going to make a massive difference.”But also, I love playing the game – and this isn’t all about getting the next generation of England cricketers. It’s also just about getting people to experience this sport, which teaches you so much as a person: teamwork, communication, and so many other skills that will benefit you in life.”The funding is linked to England’s hosting of the women’s and men’s T20 World Cups in 2026 and 2030 respectively, events which Thompson hopes can help cricket to further grow its profile. “Football suffocates everything,” he said. “We have to double down on the fact that cricket is England’s summer sport and do everything we can to enable that to be the case.

The allrounder has had a taste of international cricket and on his current form more may not be far away

Alex Malcolm25-Oct-2023Moving house can be a pain. But for Matthew Short it was one of the best life decisions he ever made.The most in-form batter in Australian domestic cricket right now, who made his international T20I and ODI debut recently, and was one negative Travis Head scan result away from being drafted into Australia’s World Cup squad, admits that just 18 months ago he was nearing a cricketing abyss.In the winter of 2022, Short had been a professional cricketer for Victoria for eight years. Aged 26, he had played 62 first-class innings and scored just one hundred. It was against England in a tour game for a Cricket Australia XI in 2017 against an attack featuring Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali, but it was the fourth day of a tame draw where only 24 wickets had fallen in a true warm-up game in Townsville ahead of an Ashes series.Related

• Marsh, Short, Abbott sparkle as Australia seal series

• Sizzling Short century helps Victoria beat Queensland

• Jhye Richardson sidelined after another shoulder dislocation

• New South Wales drop Kurtis Patterson after heavy Sheffield Shield loss

He had zero Sheffield Shield centuries and was averaging just 30.38 in 55 innings. He had zero List A hundreds in 46 innings and zero T20 hundreds and just five fifties in 50 innings.But in 2023, he has scored six centuries across all formats: one in the BBL, two in the Marsh Cup and three in Sheffield Shield cricket. He was the BBL player of the tournament, played in the IPL, the Hundred and for Australia in white-ball cricket, all since moving closer to Victoria’s training facility at the Junction Oval in Melbourne.”I suppose probably 12-18 months ago, I was a little bit nowhere in terms of not putting as much effort into training,” Short said. “So I moved in closer to training and made a few sacrifices over the last few months. Really putting some emphasis on training and doing the extra stuff.”There was a bit more to it than that. But it is incredible that Short, now just shy of turning 28, after being a talented Australia Under-19, playing a youth World Cup, being selected in Cricket Australia development teams and consistently for Victoria, had not had that epiphany sooner.As a tall, powerful ball striker, with wonderful hand-eye coordination, a gifted catcher and very skillful offspin bowler, Short is almost the perfect package for the modern game. It is easy to see why he had so many games invested in him as a younger player without the pressure of having to perform for his place.But natural talent can only take you so far. His Victoria coach Chris Rogers has been a big proponent of asking his talented young players to “take the stairs and not the elevator” to get to the top echelon of Australian cricket. Short has done that through putting in more hours at training, but also coupling that with some better decision-making and mental skills out in the middle with the backing of both Rogers and his Adelaide Strikers coach Jason Gillespie.”Probably a lot of volume [training],” Short said. “Really trying to nail down on my game plan. But it’s more spending the extra time around recovery and stuff in the gym. Just really to get my body okay to play as much as I have over the last six to 12 months.”It’s [also] probably more the mental side of things. Both here at Victoria and the Strikers in Adelaide I’ve been given a lot of freedom from Bucky Rogers and Dizzy Gillespie. Just being able to bat my natural way. It’s pretty aggressive and I seem to be getting away with a bit now.”Extra responsibility has also helped. He has gone from an inconsistent rank-and-file member of both Victoria and Strikers to a senior player who is relied upon in both sides. At Strikers, his runscoring at the top of the order became vital in the absence of Alex Carey and Travis Head while he also had to bowl powerplay overs upfront.For Victoria last summer, Marcus Harris and Peter Handscomb’s absence due to Test duties and Nic Maddinson’s injury meant added responsibility. Short thrived with that on his shoulders. He then experienced the new challenge of being an overseas player at the top of the order for Punjab Kings in the IPL and Northern Superchargers in the Hundred.Matthew Short has been around the Australia camp in the last few months•Associated Press

Stepping back into Victoria colours last week after being away with Australia, including clubbing 66 off 30 balls in just his second T20I against South Africa, with his state side struggling early in the season, he was able to stand tall with back-to-back hundreds in Mackay against Queensland.”I think being an international player, albeit they were replacement player gigs, but to be that kind of player that teams rely on for scores or wickets or whatever it is, to have that kind of extra pressure on you, I think that’s been good to bring back to Victoria,” Short said. “I think the last few years we’ve relied heavily on one or two players, whether it be Marcus Harris or Pete Handscomb, Scotty Boland. It’s nice to be able to think of myself as someone that the team relies on to score runs and help set up some victories.”His bowling too has developed with the help of Victoria spin coach Craig Howard, who has been a vital part of Todd Murphy’s development into becoming a Test offspinner. Short suddenly looms as a triple-threat in all three forms.With Australia’s white-ball teams about to hit a transition phase, he is well aware his purple patch could not have come at a better time. But looking beyond that there are subcontinental Test tours that loom for Australia in Sri Lanka in early 2025 and India in early 2027 where Short’s skillset would make him an asset.”You never know,” Short said. “Based off my last six months I think anything can happen. If you keep putting performances on the board at the right time, this sort of time in Australian cricket, there might be a few changes coming up. I think it’s just all about timing. I’m not really thinking about it too much, whether it’s white-ball or red-ball, but if I can keep performing and trying to win games for Victoria then who knows what’ll happen.”His immediate task is to get past New South Wales and a returning Nathan Lyon at the MCG starting on Thursday as Victoria try to rebound after consecutive innings defeats in the Sheffield Shield to start the year. They look set to welcome back Will Pucovski who rested the trip to Queensland.”He seems in good spirits,” Short said. “I’m looking forward to playing with him.”