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Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand and Conor Olphert also make the cut in the 15-member squad

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2022Ireland have dropped offspinner Andy McBrine from their T20 World Cup squad, and brought in Simi Singh in place of him. While the rest of the 15-member squad wears a largely familiar look, there are also some new and inexperienced names.These include opening batter Stephen Doheny, who is yet to play a T20I; pace-bowling allrounder Fionn Hand, who made his T20I debut last month against Afghanistan; and medium-pace bowler Conor Olphert, who has played only two T20Is so far.McBrine, who has featured in 32 T20Is, was left out of Ireland’s side after the first two games of the five-match series against Afghanistan in August, which was the last time they played the format. He has conceded runs at an economy rate of 10.53 in his last seven T20Is, and got only three wickets.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Ireland have lost ten – and won just three – of the last 13 T20Is they have played, including losing all five T20Is to India and New Zealand during their home summer. All three of those wins came against Afghanistan in a 3-2 series win. Having lost to Sri Lanka and Namibia in the qualifying matches of the T20 World Cup in 2021, Ireland failed to make the main round last year.Related

• Kevin O'Brien: 'For Ireland to go deep into T20 World Cup, they need Josh Little bowling well'

• Graham Hume replaces Craig Young in Ireland's T20 World Cup squad

• Ireland coach Malan: 'It's about inquisitively asking questions'

• Nathan Hauritz named Ireland spin bowling coach

• Raza books UAE's berth at T20 World Cup; Ireland end Oman's hopes

This time, Ireland play Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Namibia in Group B of the qualifying matches, from where the top-two teams – and two others from Group A – will progress to the main event.Squad: Andrew Balbirnie (capt), Paul Stirling (vice-capt), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Simi Singh, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young

“Going forward, we will definitely keep an eye out for him,” India’s T20 captain says of Venkatesh Iyer

Sreshth Shah22-Nov-2021With the 2022 T20 World Cup just 11 months away, India’s captain for the format, Rohit Sharma, wants the new players who featured in the team’s 3-0 series win over New Zealand to be given a long run to express themselves.Speaking to the media after sealing the series sweep in Kolkata on Sunday, Rohit pointed to India’s huge pool of talented cricketers and said that with so many of them making a case for selection in the Indian T20 team, the onus was on him and head coach Rahul Dravid to create that sense of security among the players.”When you’re playing bilaterals, you need to tick certain boxes, and we are trying to do that,” Rohit said. “We are trying to create a healthy atmosphere, giving the younger players security so that players can go out and play fearlessly.Related

• Rohit and Dravid want to give players security to play fearlessly

• Iyer: 'Blessed I had to struggle to understand value of cricket'

“In the first meeting that we had, we spoke about this very clearly. Told them that ‘if you’re trying to do something for the team, that act will never get unnoticed; you will be noticed when you raise your hand and try to take pressure on yourself and try to do something for the team’. That’s the job of the captain and coach. To tell the players that ‘we do understand what you’re trying to do for the team’.”You tell them to take their chances, and if it doesn’t come off, you still back them because we know what they are trying to do for the team.”India fielded a fairly inexperienced squad for the series, with the previously uncapped Harshal Patel and Venkatesh Iyer making their international debuts, and Axar Patel – who had played just one T20I in four years coming into the series – getting a run in Ravindra Jadeja’s absence. However, there was no place for Ruturaj Gaikwad and Avesh Khan in any of the games.”Seeing the talent pool of India, it is not easy,” Rohit said. “Most of the guys sitting outside have also done very well. It’s not easy, only 11 can play, we know that. It’s always tough, but we will try our best that whenever our players step out, they do not have any baggage.”‘Batting down the order will be tough for Venkatesh Iyer’
Rohit was also clear on what role was being considered for Venkatesh Iyer, the breakout star from the UAE leg of the 2021 IPL. Although he has been opening for Kolkata Knight Riders, the management wants him to find a place between Nos. 5 and 7 for India.

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Rohit said the team acknowledged that changing batting positions so drastically could be tough on the newcomer, his skills as a medium-pace bowler made him a tempting option.”The plan is to keep Iyer in the mix as much as we can,” Rohit said. “At the same time, we need to give him a role to bat where he usually doesn’t bat for his franchise. It’s going to be slightly tough for him to bat down the order. We’ve given him a role to bat at No. 5, 6 or 7 and see if he can do the job for us.”Today, he looked composed, he was clear in his mindset, and he has a very good approach. And you saw his bowling skills, looks a very, very bright prospect for us. He can get the job done for us, it’s about giving him the confidence and making him play as much as he can. It’s still very early days – been just three games. He’s not had much of an opportunity to make an impact but going forward, we will definitely keep an eye out for him.”The more depth we have the better it is for us. But for now, the way our bowling is going, and the way we have bowled, you don’t need a sixth or seventh bowler if the five players bowl well. But as a captain, it’s a good cushion to have.”Rohit on Ashwin: “He is always an attacking option for the captain – when he is there, the captain has the opportunity to take wickets in the middle overs”•BCCI

‘Fielding, bowling biggest positives’
Looking back at the series win, Rohit said that there were two standout positives for India. First, the fielding, which saved them around 15 runs each in the first two games, and secondly, how they managed to restrict New Zealand in the first two games despite being put on the back foot early on.In Jaipur, India took five wickets for 68 runs in the last eight overs to keep New Zealand down to 164 and in Ranchi, New Zealand managed to score only 153 despite a 64-run powerplay. In Kolkata, too, New Zealand’s batters were stymied by a varied bowling attack that bowled them out for 111 batting second in dewy conditions.Much of the praise from Rohit went to the spin duo of Axar and R Ashwin. “I think it’s been a great comeback for Ashwin,” Rohit said. “He has proved himself with the red ball and even with the white ball, he doesn’t have a bad record. It shows the quality that he has. He is always an attacking option for the captain – when he is there, the captain has the opportunity to take wickets in the middle overs. And we know how important middle overs are – you need to take wickets there.”Along with Axar, both of these guys are wicket-taking options, and when they bowl, it’s never about surviving for them. It’s about ‘how I can get the batter out, or how I can put pressure on the batter’.”

Opener takes opportunity to impress with fluent fifty in warm-up

Andrew Miller01-Jul-2020It wasn’t a first-class innings, and it barely even counts as an England representative game. And yet it was played in England colours, against a Test-class bowling attack, and in spite of the unavoidable lack of a crowd, it was televised to a global audience, albeit via the ECB’s own fixed-camera web-stream.Three and a half months after England’s cricketers left the field in Colombo as their tour of Sri Lanka was abandoned due to the Covid-19 pandemic, James Bracey became the first Englishman to score a half-century in the 2020 home season. And in so doing, he laid down the sort of marker that he hopes could yet earn him higher honours before the summer is out.Invited to open the Buttler XI innings alongside Rory Burns, Bracey not only outlasted his senior partner but turned his opportunity into an impressively fluent 85 – an innings that might have promised even more had he not been strangled down the leg side with a century beginning to beckon.Nevertheless, for the 23-year-old Bracey – nominally the fourth-choice wicketkeeper in England’s 30-man squad – this was an innings full of calm shot selection and measured decision-making that can only have turned heads in his favour, especially given that he is a relative newcomer to the opener’s role, having done the job on an irregular basis for Gloucestershire in last season’s County Championship.”I’m delighted with today, it was a great opportunity to get out there against the new ball, and show them what I’ve got,” said Bracey. “I haven’t opened up a huge amount in the last couple of years and a lot of people wouldn’t have seen me play in that role, so it was really nice to repay some faith and show them that I’ve got the capability to do that job.”By his own admission, the step up from Division Two Championship cricket to the England set-up has not been a small one, but Bracey’s head for heights has already been clocked by the national selectors – not least thanks to his key role on the Lions tour of Australia in February, a trip in which he made a key half-century at Melbourne in the visitors’ first victory in an unofficial Test in seven tours.”Big moments like that are obviously going to go a long way for me personally,” said Bracey. “Being able to score runs and keep wicket was really nice and may have gone a long way for me to be part of this squad.”Obviously I haven’t played Division One like a lot of the other lads, so it was nice today to get a taste of what those Division One pitches are like, and to play on a Division One ground which I haven’t done a huge amount of.ALSO READ: Bracey, Lawrence make fifties as England warm-up begins“But I think there are skills I’ve developed playing in [Division Two] on maybe some more challenging pitches against different styles of bowling that I think can put me in good stead going up those levels. I think it’s helped me build a pretty sound technique and hopefully I can take that into Test cricket at some point if I’m lucky enough.”Bracey certainly held his own against the best of British today, withstanding James Anderson’s new-ball bursts as well as some brisk fare from Saqib Mahmood in particular in the morning session. But on an attritional wicket, and against an attack that has been barred from using saliva to shine the ball due to the Covid-19 outbreak, he was able to thrive as the day wore on, not least in a 98-run stand with Joe Denly for the second wicket.”The ball went quite soft a way out but I think that was the state of the ball itself,” said Bracey. “It did swing for Stokes in particular and Anderson did get it to talk, but it lacked a little bit of that zip.”The lads worked hard on the ball in terms of dry-shining, possibly using any sweat they could get on the ball, but it’s very different. They’ll have to be creative with ways that they can get the ball to move around.”But as much as it was tough and attritional for the bowlers, it was tough for us guys to score in periods as well, especially when they built pressure. It’s possibly not what we expected a Test-match pitch to be like but it’s good practice nonetheless to get to test our skills, and try and build that temperament ready for next week.”As much as Bracey made his personal case, arguably the key innings of the day came from his Lions team-mate, Dan Lawrence, whose hard-hitting half-century further cemented the sense that he is the coming man in England’s ranks, particularly given that Joe Root’s paternity leave creates a vacancy in the middle order for the first Windies Test.”He looks really good,” said Bracey. “I played with Dan all winter. I went to India with him before Christmas and he was obviously with us on the Lions in Australia, and he was outrageous when we went over there.”He’s really good at going through the gears, but it’s important to know he’s got a really good defensive game too. He’s definitely got the technique to play Test cricket, no doubt about it. Today, we saw more of that and he was able to get into his stride.”

Sam Curran will be England’s third seamer, with Dawid Malan to bat in the middle order while India will confirm their XI on Wednesday

Preview by Andrew Miller31-Jul-2018

Big Picture

Seven years ago, at the start of another Indian Test tour of England, another notable Test landmark was reached. It will be England’s 1000th Test at Edgbaston on Wednesday; at Lord’s in the first Test of the 2011 series, it was the 2000th Test all told.Such landmarks can be trite, but every now and then they can have a galvanising effect too. That 2011 Test proved to be an epic, life-affirming affair, lit up by queues all down the Wellington Road on the final morning, as fans piled in for the chance to witness a grandstand finish, and maybe even (or not, as it transpired) a 100th hundred for the inimitable Sachin Tendulkar.The ECB, and Edgbaston, can but pray that this week’s Test will be amplified by its additional layer of history. Ticket sales for the much of the series have been sluggish, undermined no doubt by an England team that may include three players – Alastair Cook, James Anderson and Stuart Broad – who have contributed to more than a tenth of that English Test history, but which is currently performing at a similar fraction of its potential.In theory, everything this summer ought to have been building towards this climax. The logic of the India itinerary certainly implied that the Tests would be the biggest deal – with the T20Is and ODIs loaded into the top half of the tour before clearing the calendar for a full five-Test showdown. And yet, India chose to reduce their solitary warm-up at Chelmsford from four days to three, while England’s non-white-ball players have been hampered by a lack of Championship cricket in which to fine-tune their own preparations.In particular, the new-ball veterans, Anderson and Broad, are about to be asked to go from 0 to 100 in double-quick time. Having both played a solitary county fixture in the whole of July, they are now embarking on an itinerary of five Tests in six weeks, an ask that even an arch-combatant such as Broad has admitted he may struggle to complete without factoring in rest and rotation.It’s a state of affairs that will surely alarm the ECB, who have been banking on the windfalls from this bumper summer to replenish their coffers, and who must be wondering, if not India, then who can keep the crowds coming through the turnstiles for Test cricket?That’s not to say, however, that the status of the series has been diminished before it has begun. The era of the Big Three was consigned to the ICC’s official history books some time ago, but the sentiments that drove that agenda continue to hold sway in on-field engagements. England v India has taken its time to catch up with India v Australia as one of Test cricket’s blue riband battles, and it hasn’t yet produced the sort of see-sawing contest that would lift it alongside the Ashes in the public’s affections. But in terms of spice and animosity, there’s history aplenty between these teams, and scope in the coming weeks for so many additional plotlines.Virat Kohli himself gave short shrift to the notion that his team are favourites, but either way this is looking like India’s best-drilled squad for a tour of England since 2007, when Rahul Dravid’s team emerged as 1-0 victors in a three-Test series, having shed their previous reticence in a gripping tussle under Sourav Ganguly five years earlier.The more recent trips in 2011 and 2014 showed promise in the early exchanges, not least at Lord’s four years ago when Ishant Sharma pushed Cook to the brink of resignation by sealing a remarkable win. But by the end of both series, the captain MS Dhoni had the air of a man who no longer needed the hassle as India’s shortcomings against the moving ball pushed him into reverse.One thing you can be pretty sure of in 2018 – there will be no retreat under Kohli, a man on a mission to cement his own place as one of the sport’s all-time great cricketers. He has no material need to push himself any more than he already does, but like Tendulkar and Dravid before him, he recognises that Test cricket, even in its habitual state of flux, remains the format by which you book your place in the pantheon. If he can inspire a few of England’s own flatlining stars to match his resolve, we could yet be in for the classic that the format so desperately needs.Graphic: Adil Rashid will play his first Test for England since December 2016•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Form guide

England WLDLL
India WWLLD

In the spotlight

James Anderson v Virat Kohli is England v India in microcosm. Two giants of the game, drawn together once more to add another chapter to a storied rivalry. It would be grossly simplistic to say that the winner of this duel will decide the fate of this Test, and ultimately the series, but no two men are more fundamental to the fortunes of their teams.Kohli’s performance in England in 2014 – 134 runs in five Tests – remains a stain on his otherwise spotless world-class record, but his desire for retribution could not be more plain. Had it not been for an injury sustained at the IPL, he would have warmed up for this tour with a county stint with Surrey, but he’s had ample sighters in the course of India’s month-long build-up, including the limited-overs series, and no Indian captain since Ganguly has been more expressive in his desire for victory. His massive haul of 655 runs 109.16 on home soil paved the way for India’s 4-0 win in their last encounter with England in 2016-17.Anderson turned 36 on Monday, and while age is but a number, it’s still a pretty large one for a fast bowler who has been around the block for his 540 wickets over the course of a 15-year career. The economy of his run-up, allied to the magic in his wrist, means that there are no questions about his enduring quality – in many respects he is better now than ever before – but the challenge of five Tests in six weeks will require careful management, especially given his recent history of shoulder trouble. Anderson defied injury to rush himself back for the latter stages of that 2016-17 tour – to no great avail, he claimed four wickets at 53.5 in the last three Tests. But that willingness to put himself back in the frame showed how fiercely his fires still burn, as did his rather churlish end-of-series comments about Kohli’s record in England. The subtext was clear, but whether he’ll find his usual prodigious swing in the midst of England’s heatwave is another matter.

Team news

Adil Rashid’s recall to the Test squad spawned a chapter of Yorkshire in-fighting not seen since Geoff Boycott was in his pomp – and Boycott himself hasn’t been shy on the subject either – but he will now be making his first Test appearance since December 2016. A grassy deck and a slight easing in the Saharan heat of this most atypical of English summers dissuaded England from fielding two spinners at Edgbaston for the first time since 1993, although Moeen Ali might have been considered ahead of Dawid Malan as a batsman. After playing his part in the series leveller against Pakistan, Sam Curran’s left-arm line complements the veteran pairing of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.England 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Keaton Jennings, 3 Joe Root (capt), 4 Dawid Malan, 5 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jos Buttler, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 Sam Curran, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.Kuldeep Yadav’s potential inclusion persuaded England to recruit a trio of club left-armers to replicate his unusual angles in the nets this week. But with R Ashwin a shoo-in, Ravi Jadeja’s established qualities are the likelier second-spin option if India decide to stick to their strengths rather than lean on the extra seamer in Mohammad Shami. Shikhar Dhawan’s place at the top of the order is under pressure following his pair at Essex last week. KL Rahul is itching for an opening, and might well open alongside Murali Vijay.India 1 Shikhar Dhawan/KL Rahul, 2 Murali Vijay, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Hardik Pandya, 9 Ravindra Jadeja/Mohammed Shami, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav

Pitch and conditions

It has taken some diligent input from the Edgbaston groundstaff – and several million litres of water – to keep their wicket from turning to a dustbowl in the midst of an improbable English heatwave. And they have succeeded against the odds, but presumably in keeping with their brief from the ECB, in producing a wicket that looks markedly similar to those from the 2015 Ashes and 2016 Pakistan series. And seamers dominated in both of those games.

Stats and Trivia

• After playing each of his first ten Tests overseas, Rashid is set to make his home Test debut, and play for the first time as a solitary spinner.
• Jos Buttler has been promoted to England’s vice-captain after just two matches of his Test comeback. He takes over from James Anderson, who in turn stepped up after Ben Stokes missed the Ashes. India’s last visit to Edgbaston was one that they’d rather forget. Alastair Cook’s highest Test score of 294 was more than the visitors made in either innings, as they slumped to defeat by an innings and 242 runs.

Quotes

“Looking at the surface, we’ve decided we only want to go with one spinner, and that’s going to be Adil. With the amount of right-handers in what we think is going to be India’s team, he gives us a very attacking option.” Joe Root explains the thinking as Rashid’s Test recall is confirmed.“You need professionalism more than feeling like an underdog or starting as a favourite. That is something we want to do as a team: we want to be consistent and professional.” Virat Kohli is focussed only on on-field matters

Royal Challengers Bangalore start as favourites against Sunrisers Hyderabad as both teams chase their maiden IPL title

The Preview by Sirish Raghavan28-May-2016

Match facts

Sunday, May 29, 2016
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)4:38

O’Brien: The best batting side v the best bowling side

Big Picture

On Sunday night at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, two teams will seek to complete the final stretch of a journey to a summit that has thus far eluded them both. At first glance, it would appear as if the hosts, Royal Challengers Bangalore, are surer of their footing. They have built up considerable momentum, winning seven of their previous eight matches. Their two leading batsmen, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, bring fearsome form into the contest. And unlike Sunrisers Hyderabad, they have been in an IPL final before – twice, in 2009 and 2011. Playing a third final, in their own backyard, against an opposition that already finds itself in uncharted territory, must feel like an opportunity begging to be grabbed.But the flip side of having played in two finals before is that they have lost two finals before. That brings mental baggage that Royal Challengers could well do without. For years they have been fancied to win the IPL, only to stumble and fall at some point. They have delivered many memorable wins, they have lit up the tournament with bursts of individual brilliance, but, in the final analysis, they have flattered to deceive. So, in some ways, the fact that a golden opportunity now presents itself puts even more pressure on Royal Challengers to get the job done this time.Sunrisers, meanwhile, must strive to approach their first IPL final with a clarity of purpose. While they will be buoyed by the confidence of having won two knockout matches to reach this stage, it does not help that those matches were played in Delhi, in vastly different conditions. Add to it the fact that they arrived in Bangalore only on match-eve, with a delayed flight adding to their woes.Playing Royal Challengers in Bangalore, with little time to adjust to the conditions, in front of a vociferous and partisan crowd, they might well feel that the odds are stacked against them. But if they can avoid a deer-in-the-headlights mentality and make the most of their resources, they could turn in a performance to silence the Chinnaswamy din.That will, in large part, depend on their bowlers. No batting lineup – not even one that boasts an in-form David Warner – can match up to Kohli and de Villiers if they hit the dizzying heights that they have reached with regularity in this tournament. In trying to tame Royal Challengers’ batting, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will play a particularly pivotal role. He is already the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, with 23 wickets in 16 matches. If he can add a couple to that tally when bowling in the Powerplay, that might just decide the match. His ability to limit the end-overs damage with his pinpoint yorkers will also make a huge difference.

Form guide

Royal Challengers Bangalore WWWWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Sunrisers Hyderabad WWLLW

In the spotlight

After playing second fiddle to Yuzvendra Chahal for much of the tournament, Iqbal Abdulla came to the fore in Royal Challengers’ hour of need in Qualifier 1 against Gujarat Lions- as a batsman. Coming in to bat at 68 for 6 in the 10th over with a target of 159, Abdulla showed composure – and ability – under pressure to provide the perfect foil to AB de Villiers’ match-winning masterclass. Equally invaluable were Abdulla’s early strikes with the ball, removing Brendon McCullum and Aaron Finch for single-figure scores in the second over of the match. It remains to be seen how Kohli will use Abdulla in the final, but the left-arm spinner has shown that he is a man for a big occasion.If Bhuvneshwar cannot provide Sunrisers with early breakthroughs, the onus might well fall on Moises Henriques in the middle overs. Henriques has taken 12 wickets in the tournament and maintained a reasonable economy rate of 7.65. His bowling performance will be an important supporting act to Bhuvneshwar and Barinder Sran. Henriques will also hope to be the middle-overs supporting act to Warner with the bat. His batting returns so far this season – 178 runs at 16.18, with a strike rate of 116.33 – have been disappointing, but he has looked better in his last few knocks. The Australian allrounder was a mainstay of Sunrisers’ campaign last year; he has one last chance this season to make a serious impact for Sunrisers.

Team news

Chahal was the only bowler to have an off-day for Royal Challengers in Qualifier 1, but, given his consistent performances throughout the season, they are unlikely to discard him for the final. It is reasonable to expect that Royal Challengers will stick with their winning combination.Royal Challengers Bangalore (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 KL Rahul (wk), 5 Shane Watson, 6 Stuart Binny, 7 Sachin Baby, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Iqbal Abdulla, 10 S Aravind, 11 Yuzvendra ChahalSunrisers are sweating – to the point of dehydration, surely – on Mustafizur Rahman’s fitness. He missed Qualifier 2 against Lions due to a hamstring injury. While his replacement, Trent Boult, made an impact with his bowling and fielding early on, Sunrisers sorely missed Mustafizur’s control at the death. If the Bangladesh bowler is still unfit, Boult is likely to keep his place.Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable) 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Moises Henriques, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Ben Cutting, 7 Naman Ojha (wk) 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Bipul Sharma, 10 Barinder Sran 11 Mustafizur Rahman/Trent Boult

Pitch and conditions

For Qualifier 1, the Chinnaswamy Stadium sported a rather sticky pitch, which flew in the face of the ground’s reputation for big runs. Given how nearly that ended in disaster for the home team, such a track is unlikely to be repeated. Expect a return to the batting belters seen here in the rest of the season. The type of batting belter that enabled 200 to be crossed three times at this venue in IPL 2016, including once in a 15-over match. There is a chance of evening showers on Sunday, but, if the weather does play spoilsport, Monday will serve as the reserve day.

Stats and trivia

• Kohli is 81 runs away from becoming the first batsman to score 1000 runs in an IPL season
• Out of eight innings at the Chinnaswamy this season, Kohli has crossed fifty six times, scoring three centuries and three half-centuries. He has also made a duck
• Warner has scored 468 runs while chasing in this IPL, which is the most by a batsman while chasing in any IPL season

Quotes

“The biggest challenge for tomorrow I guess for all the players in the side is to not look at that game of cricket as something very different.”

Preview of the first semi-final between Chittagong Kings and Duronto Rajshahi in Mirpur

The Preview by Mohammad Isam15-Feb-2013

Match Facts

February 16, Mirpur
Start time 1800 (1200 GMT)

Big Picture

Brendan Taylor’s absence will hurt Chittagong Kings•Chittagong Kings

Duronto Rajshahi have enjoyed good luck in the competition, their latest piece of fortune being Rangpur Riders’ loss to Barisal Burners on Thursday. The result put Rajshahi, Riders and Burners on ten points each, and Rajshahi qualified because they had won the highest number of matches – three – against the other two teams.In the upcoming knockout game, Rajshahi’s top order will need to play to their potential. Charles Coventry, Simon Katich, Dilshan Munaweera and the captain Chamara Kapugedera will be expected to come good, because often Jahurul Islam has had to resurrect a chase after a top-order collapse. Much will be expected of him too. Allrounder Mukhtar Ali and left-arm spinners Monir Hossain and Naeem Islam jnr have done well, but this will be the biggest game of their careers.Chittagong Kings have had their ups and downs in the tournament. They won matches with the highest margin, yet at the start of the campaign, they failed to chase 99, against Rajshahi. The loss of Brendan Taylor will also be a blow to them as the Zimbabwean had captained them through a turnaround and scored important runs too.The winner of this match will have to play another knockout contest to reach the final.

Form guide

(Most recent first)Chittagong Kings LWLWWDuronto Rajshahi LLLWW

In the spotlight

Ryan ten Doeschate has had a fruitful first BPL so far. He has a high score of 95 not out and two other fifties. He has also hit 17 sixes, so a lot will depend on him for the Kings to progress.Jahurul Islam is the standout performer for Rajshahi in the tournament, and the team’s highest scorer despite batting lower down the order. His strike-rate of 127 is also remarkable because aggression isn’t his strength.

Team news

Although Taylor will not be available for the Kings, Jacob Oram is back and Naeem Islam is also fit to play after stepping on a ball during their second last game.Chittagong Kings (possible) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Naeem Islam, 3 Ryan ten Doeschate, 4 Mahmudullah (capt), 5 Jacob Oram, 6 Nurul Hasan (wk), 7 Kevon Cooper, 8 Enamul Haque jnr, 9 Arafat Sunny, 10 Shaun Tait, 11 Rubel Hossain.Rajshahi will have a full-strength squad barring Tamim Iqbal.Duronto Rajshahi (possible) 1 Charles Coventry, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Dilshan Munaweera, 4 Chamara Kapugedera (capt), 5 Jahurul Islam, 6 Sean Ervine, 7 Ziaur Rahman, 8 Mukhtar Ali, 9 Abul Hasan, 10 Monir Hossain, 11 Naeem Islam jnr.

Pitch and conditions

The match is scheduled to begin at 6.00 pm and the biggest concern for teams bowling second is the dew. It is late winter in Bangladesh, so it won’t be surprising if the ball becomes wet even in the first innings.

Stats and trivia

The New Zealand batsman Scott Styris will play in the Big Bash League this season as the second international player for the Hobart Hurricanes

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2012The New Zealand batsman Scott Styris will play in the Big Bash League this season as the second international player for the Hobart Hurricanes. Styris, 37, retired from international cricket last year but has remained a useful Twenty20 player in domestic competitions around the world, having played for two IPL franchises, the Sylhet Royals in Bangladesh and this year for Sussex in England’s county competition.The Hurricanes were impressed by his form for Sussex, which included a 37-ball century last month, equalling the third-fastest hundred in T20 history. Styris said he was looking forward to joining the Hurricanes, having not played in Australia’s T20 competition before.”I’m enjoying my involvement in franchise T20 cricket around the world and have always enjoyed the challenge of playing in Australia against Australians,” Styris said. “The prospect of competing in this major Aussie domestic competition excites me greatly.”The England batsman Owais Shah is the other international player on the Hurricanes’ list for this season, and they have now signed 16 men. All teams must finalise their squads of 18 by the end of November, and the Sydney Thunder have added two more to their list with the signings of Usman Khawaja and Chris Rogers.Khawaja was part of the Thunder group last summer but this will be the first exposure to the BBL for Rogers, who was last year overlooked for a deal. Rogers, 34, continues to pile up the runs in county cricket and for Victoria, and the Thunder hope that in addition to his scoring he will be a valuable mentor for the younger players.”Chris is an exceptional batsman with an outstanding first-class record,” Shane Duff, the Thunder coach, said. “He is the type of proven player we lacked last season and he will play an important role in our line-up.”

Ricky Ponting has brushed off Paul Collingwood’s comments that England will “go hard” in the first ODI in Southampton on Tuesday

Cricinfo staff21-Jun-2010Ricky Ponting has brushed off Paul Collingwood’s comments that England will “go hard” in the first ODI in Southampton on Tuesday. Collingwood emphasised the importance of getting on top of Australia early in the tour, as they did in 2005 when England thumped Ponting’s men at the Rose Bowl in a Twenty20 and went on to claim the Ashes.”You’ve got to go hard at them,” Collingwood said. “We’ve learnt that over the last five or six years. If you go hard at them and it comes off, it puts them under a lot of pressure. The 2005 series was a prime example.”But Ponting dismissed the talk and said the game at the Rose Bowl would be no different to any other international fixture.”Isn’t that what international cricket is all about?” Ponting said. “I would expect that they would come out aggressive in every match that they play. I can’t see why they would want to come out aggressive in one match and not another game.”So that is just words, it does not mean anything. It is about level of cricket that you bring to the table when it matters under pressure. We’ll be ready for that.”However, Australia will be without Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin from their first-choice line-up, while the fringe ODI fast men Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle are also missing due to injury. The ongoing absence of the injured Brett Lee from the attack leaves the bowling group lacking experience.Doug Bollinger, Ryan Harris and Clint McKay will be Australia’s frontline seamers and between them they have 45 one-day internationals to their names. Despite Australia’s strong recent record – they have won their past six ODI series as well as the Champions Trophy – Ponting said it would be tough to beat England at home.”You would probably think that we have got our work cut out for us to win this series but we are looking forward to the challenge,” Ponting said. “I have great belief in this group and great belief in what they have inside themselves.”

Ball changes and questionable decisions leave Hampshire sore as Essex sneak 12-run win

David Hopps28-Jun-2022Simon Harmer claimed career-best figures of 15 for 207 as Essex clinched a thoroughly enjoyable match by 12 runs, but Hampshire have reason for considerable pride. Everything was tilted against them, not just the excellence of Harmer, who was in his element on a pitch that turned from the outset, but some borderline umpiring decisions and unfortunate ball changes. They came as credible Championship challengers and despite defeat that status remains.That Hampshire might actually pull off an unlikely run chase was possible as Keith Barker organised late-order defiance, a dignified figure imbued with commonsense. But as the requirement fell, his ambition rose and when he clubbed heartily to long-off, Harmer had his seventh wicket and Essex had their victory.About the time that Brendon McCullum’s noon edict for county cricketers to buy into England’s spirit of all-out adventure became known, Chelmsford was a hive of inactivity. The two scoreboards were frozen in time, both showing the wrong score and the umpires were nosing through several boxes of balls trying to find some suitable replacements.Whatever the scoreboards would have the crowd believe, the real score at that juncture was Hampshire 113 for 1. An unlikely target of 299 was beginning to look gettable, especially as the expected matchwinner, Harmer, was sitting on unflattering figures of 1 for 69 in 14 overs.In actuality, Hampshire had adopted Bazball on the previous evening when Felix Organ, their slightly built opener, had swung Harmer for three sixes over the stands at straight midwicket. Two more slog-sweeps had quickly followed on the third morning. The only problem was that several had plopped into the River Can. Essex were fast running out of suitable substitutes.So the official exhorting on behalf of Bazball, county cricket style, happened to coincide not with an immediate run fest, but a crash of wickets after (to Hampshire’s mind at least) the choice of a harder ball than might have been appropriate. By lunch, Essex had put together a decisive sequence of five wickets for 36 runs in 52 balls. Harmer had improved his figures to 4 for 118. The ball was fizzing again and his authority had been regained.”What is the highest successful run chase at Chelmsford by the opposition since Harmer came to Essex?” was one query at start of play. The answer turned out to be 2, made by Surrey in four balls. Essentially then, a victorious run chase against Harmer on a Chelmsford turner was an unrealised ambition. It remains unrealised after Essex completed a 12-run win. Harmer finished with 7 for 161 – following eight wickets in the first.An even battle between bat and ball was Harmer’s assessment. “It isn’t ideal to go for that many runs,” he said. “There needed to be a bit of cat and mouse with their batters. I needed to bowl an attacking line and their best option was the slog sweep. My mindset was that if you could do that for 299 runs then I’ll take my hat off, shake your hand and say ‘well done’. We always knew we would get to a point in the season where the wickets would start to deteriorate and we would get wickets that would turn.”That Harmer would immediately take up the attack was a certainty, but it was his seventh over of the morning before he struck. Organ can draw much heart from his 65. He had stayed inside the turning ball whenever he could and also swung lustily to the leg side. He was bowled attempting a square drive: a fair enough shot, a decent ball.James Fuller was promoted up from No. 9 to No. 3 with the intention of launching a blitz upon Harmer. To force him out of the attack would have been ambitious, but a quick foray might at least set an adventurous tone and strengthen Hampshire’s conviction that they could win the game. Harmer dragged down one delivery that was duly clubbed for six but there was a seamer to contend with at the other end and, with 20 from 17 balls, Fuller fended Aaron Beard to second slip.Beard has returned from a loan spell at Sussex in good heart. If he can finally retain fitness, he can rediscover the brio of his youth. His support for Harmer was also instrumental in Essex’s win, a second wicket coming his way when Liam Dawson was adjudged to have been caught at the wicket.Hampshire are playing combative, occasionally testy cricket, and Dawson’s dismissal left them aggrieved. Nick Gubbins, typically, was a vision of politeness when he went back to a good-length ball from Harmer and was lbw. James Vince, though, felt the need to check with the wicketkeeper, Adam Rossington, whether his gloves had broken the stumps when his square cut was beaten by a lavish Harmer break-back that clipped his off bail. The decision looked fair enough.Initally, Harmer’s authority after lunch was undimmed. Aneurin Donald became the third Hampshire batter to be bowled by a big turner after playing back to cut. Ben Brown, who played Harmer as solidly as anybody in both innings, was lbw after he switched around the wicket.At 208 for 8, made at four-and-half an over, Bazball then relented as the two elder statesmen of the side, Barker and Kyle Abbott, opted for a more orderly approach. With the ball softening, two such imposing, battle-hardened figures could not be entirely discounted. They added 41 in 13 overs without any sense of risk. A crossword clue could be completed in the knowledge that nothing outrageous would be missed. Then Beard brought one back and Abbott was lbw to something that felt distinctly leg-sidey.”The draw’s the second-favourite result now,” opined a spectator in front of the media box. Were there reports of storms in Borehamwood? But the skies were clear and so was the result as Barker, emboldened by a pulled six against Snater, got out the reverse sweep to take four leg byes off Harmer and then perished at long-off.So Harmer had the last word – if you don’t count the grumbles from Hampshire’s skipper, Vince. There were plenty of them and they were justifiable to an extent, but only to an extent. He sounded a little too much like an English professional who resents a turning ball. And considering that Hampshire manufactured a turning pitch only last September to try to keep their title challenge alive, he could only protest so much.”Due to the conditions we had to play village cricket really and attack the short side and hope you got lucky,” he said. “The pitch from day one was turning a hell of a lot. Harmer took wickets right from the word go. In the first innings a lot of the guys tried to play it properly and defend the good ones but it was just doing too much and you were never going to survive a few overs before one bounced over the shoulder. He is a world-class bowler who is going to exploit those conditions.”We did the hard work and we saw as the ball got older it spun less, then they changed the ball a couple of times. We had one that came out after 30 overs which still had writing on it and then we lost six wickets in next to no time and the ball started seaming around from the other end as well. They said they felt that there wasn’t a ball exactly the same so they went for a newer one rather than a slightly older one. It leaves a bitter taste especially as we got so close. There were some uncontrollables there that stopped us from getting all the points.”We were hoping to come up and go man for man against a decent Essex team and let the best team come out on top, but the conditions prevented that from happening.”

England gain direct entry as hosts, while the final team will be determined via a qualifying event

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2020Hosts England and six other top-ranked teams on the ICC women’s T20I rankings will gain automatic qualification for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. April 1, 2021 is the cut-off date for the rankings.The final team taking part in the eight-team event will be decided via a Qualifier, for which the format and details are yet to be finalised. The deadline for the Qualifier is January 31, 2022.If West Indies finish among the automatic qualifiers, the Caribbean nation that takes part in the games will be the winner of the 2021 T20 Blaze domestic competition.”Cricket at the Commonwealth Games is a fantastic opportunity for us to continue to grow the women’s game globally,” Manu Sawhney, the ICC’s chief executive, said while announcing the qualifying pathway on Wednesday. “We are committed to accelerating this growth and maintaining the momentum we have created over the past few years, which most recently saw 86,174 fans packed into the MCG for the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020.”I thank the Commonwealth Games Federation for their support and for making this possible. We share with them the vision of greater equality, fairness and opportunity in sport and I am sure Birmingham 2022 will go a long way towards us achieving our common objectives.”The Commonwealth Games, which are set to be held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8, 2022, will include women’s cricket for the first time, and cricket for only the second time after a men’s 50-over event at the 1998 CWG in Kuala Lumpur. South Africa, captained by Shaun Pollock, took home gold by beating the Steve-Waugh-led Australia in the final.”We are absolutely delighted to have women’s T20 cricket debut at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games,” said Dame Louise Martin, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president. “Cricket has always been one of the Commonwealth’s most popular sports and it is so special to have it back at our Games for the first time since the men’s competition at Kuala Lumpur 1998, where true greats of the game including Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar were on show.”Now is the turn of the women and I can’t wait to see the next generation of stars like Heather Knight, Harmanpreet Kaur and Meg Lanning take centre stage.”Birmingham 2022 will be a fantastic showcase for the women’s game and the unveiling of the qualification criteria today is an exciting and important milestone as we head towards what will be a spectacular competition at the iconic Edgbaston Stadium.”