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Nathan Lyon became only the second non-Asian, after Ian Botham, to take 13 wickets in a Test in Asia

Gaurav Sundararaman07-Sep-2017Record-breaking LyonNathan Lyon was on a roll in the two-Test series in Bangladesh. His Chittagong match-haul of 13 for 154 was his second ten-for, and also his best figures in Tests. In fact, he became only the third off-spinner from Australia and the first in over 110 years to take two ten-wicket hauls. The 22 wickets he has taken in this series against Bangladesh is the joint second-highest in any two-match series, next only to Rangana Herath’s 23-wicket haul against Pakistan in 2014.ESPNcricinfo LtdSolving the Asia puzzleLyon’s first three Asian tours – to Sri Lanka, India and UAE between 2011 and 2014 – were nightmarish. He averaged 49.11, and took a wicket once every 14 overs. The series against Pakistan in the UAE was especially poor, when he managed only three wickets from 660 deliveries.However, he has learnt from those experiences and come back strongly on his next three tours. In nine Tests in Asia since 2015, Lyon has picked up 57 wickets, averaging one every eight overs. Among all the bowlers who have bowled in Asia in this period, Lyon has the second-best strike-rate, ahead of subcontinent-specialists Yasir Shah, Ravindra Jadeja and Shakib Al Hasan. He has also taken five five-wicket hauls and now has the second most five-fors for Australia in Asia, behind Shane Warne.ESPNcricinfo Ltd Left is right Like most offspinners, Lyon is at his best against left-hand batsmen, and this Bangladesh line-up gave him plenty of opportunity to be at his best. Against a top-order that included five left-handers, Lyon was lethal: of the 22 wickets he took in the series, 15 were of left-handers, whom he dismissed at an average of 10.46. The right-handers, however, made him work much harder; he averaged 22.57 against them. He took a wicket every 29 balls against the left-handers compared to one every 53 balls against right-hand batsmen. Imrul Kayes was dismissed three times in 39 balls, scoring just four runs, while Shakib Al Hasan scored 37 from 89, and was out thrice as well.Of those 15 dismissals of left-handers, 13 were from around the stumps, at an average of 11.30. When bowling to right-handers, he took seven wickets from over the stumps, at an average of 17.42, demonstrating an ability to bowl effectively from both sides of the stumps.

Lyon v right and left-handers in the Bangladesh series

Batsman type Wkts Ave SRRight-hand batsmen 15 10.46 29.0Left-hand batsmen 7 22.57 52.6Over his entire career, he averages 34.75 against right-handers and 25.50 against the left, but in Asia the difference is even starker. On his first three tours, Lyon averaged over 35 runs and took a wicket every 10 overs against the left-handers. Having bowled a lot in these conditions, Lyon’s record has made a stark improvement.

Lyon in Asia from 2011-14

Batting Style Wkts Ave SRRight-hand batsman 22 51.54 79.5Left-hand batsman 4 35.75 61.0

Lyon in Asia from 2015-17

Batting Style Wkts Ave SRRight-hand batsman 33 29.66 60.0Left-hand batsman 24 13.62 30.9The second-innings challengeOn pitches that usually tend to wear pretty rapidly, Lyon had been strangely ineffective in the second innings in Asia before this series. His second-innings average in Asia, prior to this series, was 49.47, compared to 32.43 in the first.However with his two consecutive five-fors in the second innings against Bangladesh, Lyon has improved on those numbers too. In this series, Lyon took 12 second-innings wickets at 11.83, compared to 10 in the first innings at 17.30.Lyon is only 29 and his experience in Asian conditions would only help him further these extraordinary numbers. In Lyon, perhaps, Australia have found a worthy successor to Warne.

The inclusion of Narine and Pollard in the ODI squad, and the omission of the likes of Russell, Sammy and Bravo, raises questions about the WICB’s selection policy

Colin Benjamin22-May-2016In a television interview before the announcement of West Indies’ squad for the tri-series at home against Australia and South Africa in June, commentator Ian Bishop stressed on the need to focus on white-ball cricket ahead of the 2019 World Cup.”Let us not burn any more bridges,” Bishop told Sportsmax Zone. “We are already missing the Champions Trophy next year. The World Cup is coming up in 2019. Let us start putting pride and ego aside.”Re-engage those guys who were sidelined in the last year and a half and that will spill over to the Test team, because the bulk of our experience is in white-ball cricket. So while we develop the Test team, let us push hard with the 50-overs and T20 teams.”If you look at the squad named for the tri-series, you will assume the West Indies board and its selectors are not only thinking on totally different lines from Bishop but that they are also contradicting their own policies.Clive Lloyd, Courtney Walsh and the rest of the selectors have picked a team that has left the majority of the Caribbean media, fans and players flabbergasted.How does Jonathan Carter, who averaged 6.33 in three ODIs in Sri Lanka, and wasn’t among the top ten run scorers in the Nagico Super50 competition, make the squad?How do Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles, who averaged 13 and 18 respectively with the bat in the Super50, get selected over Evin Lewis, the best opener in competition?Kemar Roach is out of form and Ravi Rampaul a Kolpak player, so their omission is justifiable, but why is Shannon Gabriel, who did not play in the Super50, one of the quick bowlers in the squad ahead of Rayad Emrit?

How do Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles, who averaged 13 and 18 respectively with the bat in the Super50, get selected over Evin Lewis, the best opener in competition?

There are three spinners in the squad – Sunil Narine, Ashley Nurse and Sulieman Benn. Why wasn’t Devendra Bishoo chosen, given West Indies’ first two ODIs will be played in Guyana, his home turf? It’s amazing that Bishoo and Narine, the ICC’s Emerging Players for 2011 and 2012 respectively, have only played one international together.The WICB selection policy goes back to 2010, when, under the regime of Julian Hunte and Ernest Hilaire, it was mandated that West Indies’ star cricketers needed to play in the domestic tournaments to be eligible to play international cricket. Since the arrival of Richard Pybus, the current director of cricket, this stance has become more inflexible. Last December the players were told that if they didn’t reject playing in the Big Bash and the Pakistan Super League for deals that were worth between US$50,000-75,000 in order to appear in the Super50 for $700 per game, they would be ineligible for the tri-series.Some have argued that Kieron Pollard, who was injured, and Narine, who was suspended from bowling, were eligible for selection for the tri-series, unlike Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Lendl Simmons, who didn’t come back to play the domestic matches. But that’s not entirely accurate.When Pollard and Bravo were left out of the 2015 World Cup squad, they didn’t go off to the Big Bash. They adhered to the selection policy and helped Trinidad & Tobago win the domestic title. Yet, later in the year, when coach Phil Simmons wanted them picked for the Sri Lanka tour and expressed his frustration at not being allowed to, he was suspended for his inappropriate comments.The late great Tony Cozier wrote on this site that there had been “outside interference” in the selection process.Pollard has not played an ODI since 2014 and he would have fulfilled his Big Bash contract if not for his injury, given the obvious uncertainty of his West Indies future outside of T20 cricket.With Narine, the WICB ignored the ICC ruling that allows suspended bowlers to play in domestic competition, though T&T wanted to play him in the Super50 tournament. This was presumably done in good faith by the board, since they wanted his action 100% ready before being tested again.Narine’s agent at Insignia Sports International said in hindsight that he thinks not playing in the Super50 worked in Narine’s benefit, since he would not have otherwise met sport bowling expert Carl Crowe and been able to put in the daily concentrated work he needed to make a successful return.So, although fans will be pleased by the decision, for the selectors to have picked Pollard and Narine is a glaring inconsistency. It’s clear the WICB is capable of being flexible and could have easily done the same for Gayle, Bravo, Russell, Simmons and Sammy.In the global context, the rise of T20 leagues has posed problems for which the ICC has failed to find a clear solution. It was suggested before the governing body’s recent Dubai meeting that the topic of creating windows in the international calendar for domestic T20 tournaments would be discussed. While Cricket Australia’s chief executive, James Sutherland, an influential voice in the running of international cricket, isn’t in favour of the idea, why is the WICB, one of the weakest boards in the world financially, trying to deny its best players from earning money from one of the few viable sources in the convoluted global cricket climate, which it and its and fellow global administrations haven’t managed to stabilise?After the World T20 victory this year, Sir Viv Richards said, “This is the greatest period ever since that wonderful phase involving Clive’s [Lloyd] team. Considering the success that the West Indies team had on a consistent basis, this is the closest any West Indies team would have got in terms of pride among all nations that make up West Indies cricket.”He is right, but disappointingly, due to the WICB’s inconsistent policies, the team has not been able to build on their success since winning the 2012 World T20.It has been previously highlighted on this site in the past that if the WICB had acted more like New Zealand Cricket, which has negotiated well with its star players who wish to play in T20 leagues, the building process could have been accomplished.NZC was confronted by similar challenges as the WICB and chose a different, perhaps more pragmatic, path. By understanding early that it was never going to have the financial clout to prevent a T20 exodus, the New Zealand board cleared a window to allow the players to have their cake and eat it too.The result: New Zealand are enjoying arguably the most successful period in their history while West Indies continue to stagnate.

Should India’s World Cup be judged by the standards of their seven straight wins or their single defeat?

Sharda Ugra28-Mar-2015India’s exit from the World Cup with a crushing 95-run defeat to Australia should be neither surprise nor shock. Or even a cause of lamentation. It was the conclusion of a World Cup campaign that was built on thin ice given the team’s limitations and its ability to skate lightly over them.Following a miserable two months in Australia, it was their opening World Cup game against Pakistan that served as the best way to jump-start the creaking Indian wagon. It gave the team lift-off and helped them get going for their next match – against South Africa at the MCG, which was to be in real terms their toughest group game.It was a match won in a way India know best and have been doing so for a while (at one point, in Test matches overseas as well): batting first, maximising their batting skills to pile up the runs and using the weight of those runs to dictate the course of play. This with an 86,876-strong crowd that turned Melbourne into a home game and added to the suffocation of a mounting asking rate.Despite the passion and drama surrounding the match against Pakistan, the South Africa game was India’s best. After South Africa, the Indians moved for a month through the tournament like a maglev train on a cushion of air.  In the semi-final against Australia, the maglev’s poles were reversed and the cushion of air instantly deflated.Seven straight wins were unexpected, given what preceded in Australia, and for that the class of 2015 must be given due credit. India’s batsmen put their full range out on display, the fielding was arguably of the highest quality seen by an Indian team and the bowlers’ sharpness was shining-razor stuff.What also worked in their favour was the quality of the opposition that they faced as they moved through the group – Pakistan, South Africa, UAE, West Indies, Ireland, Zimbabwe – which was always due to happen because of the World Cup’s current format. With Super Sixes and the like, the level of urgency increases with every match as the event wears on; in this format, two groups, top eight to knockouts, things can actually flatten out through the group stages depending on the draw.After back-to-back victories in Perth, India’s main aim was to top the group and the competition that stood between them and the No.1 position was Ireland and Zimbabwe. It could have been easier, but fiendishly difficult it was not. A quarter-final line-up against Bangladesh was a draw that worked in India’s favour. Bangladesh matched them – but only for a very brief period. After that it was back to a familiar template.The real surprise of the India campaign was the transformation of the quick bowlers from scatter-gun specialists into a well-tooled pack•Getty ImagesThe semi-final proved what was always known: that India were one batsman short and using Ravindra Jadeja as a bowling allrounder was not going to work against high-quality outfits. That had, in fact,  happened before – in the tri-series that had been called a “waste of time” by team director Ravi Shastri. One good use of the time that the tri-series could have served was to remind India that their batting reserves were meagre.Against teams with high-skilled bowling in a World Cup knockout, one of their top batsmen would have to produce a miracle innings, ideally their most experienced batsmen with 100-plus ODIs under their belt. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni fall in that category but none could really respond in Sydney. Given that the next World Cup is going to be held in England, separating those batsmen who can tackle lateral movement and play attractive strokes from those who can only do one of the two may be a good idea for the future.The real surprise of the India campaign was the transformation of the quick bowlers from scatter-gun specialists into a well-tooled pack. Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma had enough time to work out what worked best for them in Australia, and hit the intangible yardage between short and good length. They not only asked questions of batsmen but punished those who failed to answer them, including the rampaging South Africans. Against Australia, along with the spinners, they applied brakes in mid-innings but at the end found a familiar nemesis – wild-eyed lower-order hitters.What did this World Cup prove with respect to the India bowlers in ODIs even under the current lot of regulations? That India’s quick bowlers can be high-pedigree thoroughbreds as those from anywhere else in the world, but need to be looked after like the real ones on four legs.What are the omens for the future? The ODI team between now and the 2019 World Cup could well look largely similar, especially in terms of batsmen, who are always given a greater leeway to “develop.” The bowlers, particularly the quicker ones, are a brand Indian cricket administration has always struggled to handle capably.The biggest change that India will have to deal with is captaincy, as it will have captains in different formats, with the Test captain a younger and most ambitious man. Minutes after India were knocked out, Dhoni told the TV cameras that he felt fit and was running around suitably, and would think about his ODI future only after the 2016 World T20. A day before the semi-final, in an interview to the BCCI website, Kohli was asked how being captain had affected his outlook towards ODI cricket and he said, “I have been vice-captain for the ODI side and I would keep giving inputs to MS about the things that I felt he could use. Now, in recent times knowing the fact that I probably will have to lead the side in the ODIs as well in the future at some point of time, I see more of how Dhoni changes his bowlers, at what stages and situations of the game.”Amongst Kohli’s many fine qualities as a cricketer, batsman and competitor, patience and forbearance do not quite figure in the top three. There is little doubt that in between this World Cup and the next one, a churn will be afoot.A frequently repeated argument during India’s struggles in Australia was about the team being happy with the processes they were involved in and the attacking brand of cricket they had been playing. At the end of these four months, we return to the process versus result debate. Should India’s World Cup be judged by the standards of their seven straight wins or their single defeat? The seven victories are worth celebrating and enjoying on the given day, what they did for the confidence of the squad and their general feel-factor. Look back to the 2011 World Cup, though. It was played at home and despite that made for a hard, chaotic scramble all the way to the title.Which one do you prefer?

Stats highlights from another engrossing day at Trent Bridge

S Rajesh12-Jul-2013

• The highest fourth-innings target successfully chased at Trent Bridge is 284, by England against New Zealand in 2004. In that game England, who batted second, trailed New Zealand by 65 after their first innings. It’s exactly the difference in the first-innings scores in this match, except that Australia, the team batting second, took the lead here. The highest by a visiting team is 208, by West Indies way back in 1980.
• England’s star of the day was Ian Bell, who batted patiently and faced 228 deliveries – the second-highest he has ever faced in an innings against Australia – to score an unbeaten 95. It’s his 13th fifty-plus score against Australia, but he has previously converted only one of those into a century. During the course of that innings, Bell also became the 14th England batsman to get to 6000 Test runs. It’s a superb achievement, but his last 1000 runs have been rather arduous, stretching over 20 Tests and 36 innings. His previous 1000 runs (4000 to 5000) by contrast, required only ten Tests and 14 innings.
• Bell’s 108-run undefeated stand is his second century partnership with Broad. The previous one had come against South Africa at Lord’s, exactly five years ago, when they put together 152 for the seventh wicket.
• Broad’s Test batting average at Trent Bridge is 42.14, which is higher than the corresponding averages of all the specialist batsmen in England’s current team.
• Alastair Cook’s 50 took all of 165 balls – a strike rate of 30.30 – which is the slowest of his 55 fifty-plus scores; the previous-slowest was his 60 off 178 balls at Headingley in 2008.
• It was a surprise, though, that Cook got out after getting that half-century, because it was his first half-century as captain. On the seven previous occasions when he had gone past 50, he had scored hundreds. His previous six fifty-plus scores – dating back to July last year – had all been hundreds too.
• Ashton Agar continued his extraordinary debut by dismissing Cook and Jonny Bairstow and finishing the day with 2 for 82, thus also becoming the first Australian teenage spinner to take a Test wicket. The previous youngest Australian spinner to take a Test wicket was Graham Hole, who was a month over 20 when he took a wicket against England in 1951. India lead the way in terms of wickets for teenage spinners, with 166 – BS Chandrasekhar and Ravi Shastri took 27, L Sivaramakrishnan took 26, and Harbhajan Singh and S Venkataraghavan 21 each.
• The 110-run partnership between Cook and Kevin Pietersen took 296 deliveries, which means the scoring rate was 2.22 per over. Among third-wicket partnerships for England since 2000 which lasted beyond 40 overs, this is the second-slowest: the only slower one was between Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain against West Indies in Port of Spain in 2004, when they put together 120 in 346 balls, a rate of 2.08 per over.

Sri Lanka don’t have a great record in tri-series finals in Australia, but the form of their top order could make a vital difference this time

S Rajesh03-Mar-2012In the end, the two teams that deserved to the most made it to the CB Series finals. For a long time during the last league match between Australia and Sri Lanka, India would have harboured chances of sneaking through, but it would have been just that – sneaking through, at the expense of a team that had been more consistent through the tournament.In the first half of the competition, Sri Lanka lost tight matches to Australia and India, and tied one against India, but in the second half they turned it around with convincing victories against both teams. The shock defeat against India in Hobart was a bolt from the blue, but they were good enough to bounce back from that result despite being a couple of bowlers short against Australia at the MCG.The overall stats for the three teams indicate how the tournament has gone for them. Sri Lanka have easily been the best batting side, thanks to the consistency of their top order. Dinesh Chandimal has been a revelation, slotting in at second* on the tournment’s run charts after the league stage with 383 runs at an average of almost 64, while Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews have all played their part. Overall, their top five have a combined average of 42.25 in the CB Series so far, which is their third-highest ever in a series of five or more matches outside Asia. The corresponding averages for the top five are 30.26 for India and 29.27 for Australia.Overall, Sri Lanka have five batsmen averaging more than 35 in the tournament, compared to three each for Australia and India. For a team that has generally relied on Sangakkara and Jayawardene for most of their runs, this is a huge plus. In fact, India’s numbers went up significantly because of that stunning chase in their last match of the tournament in Hobart. Exclude that, and India’s runs per wicket falls to 24.13, at a run rate of 4.83 per over.As a bowling unit, Australia were the best, while India were the poorest in that aspect as well. The Australians took 65 wickets at 25.58 each, and they were also the only side to concede less than five runs per over. Sri Lanka took 64 wickets, but their average touched 30. Both teams have bowlers who have taken more than ten wickets – Lasith Malinga leads the tally with 14, while Daniel Christian has 13 and Clint McKay 10. For India, though, the highest wicket-taker was Vinay Kumar with nine; in all the Indians took only 54 wickets in their eight games, at an average touching 39 and a run rate of 5.50.

The three teams in the CB Series

Team	W/L/T	Bat ave	Run rate	Bowl ave	Econ rate
Sri Lanka	4/3/1	35.30	5.29	30.10	5.24
Australia	4/4/0	30.52	5.18	25.58	4.95
India	3/4/1	28.01	5.26	38.94	5.50

India had a better start to the tournament compared to Sri Lanka, but as the competition progressed Sri Lanka upped their game and were the more consistent side. The records of these two sides against Australia indicate how much better Sri Lanka played against the hosts. They won three of four matches against Australia, who averaged less than 25 runs per wicket against Sri Lanka with the bat, and conceded 31 per wicket with the ball. Australia also managed to score at just 4.74 runs per over, and conceded almost 5.20.Against India, Australia were dominant. They scored almost 38 runs per wicket at 5.63 runs per over, and allowed the hapless Indian batsmen only 21 runs per wicket. Given a choice, it’s clear whom the Australians would have preferred to face in the finals.

Australia versus Sri Lanka and India

Versus	W/L	Bat ave	Run rate	Bowl ave	Econ rate
India	3/ 1	37.96	5.63	21.22	4.70
Sri Lanka	1/ 3	24.94	4.74	31.00	5.18

Now that they are in the finals, Sri Lanka will have to banish memories from the two previous seasons when they reached this stage of the tri-series in Australia. The most recent instance was in 2005-06, when South Africa were the third side. Sri Lanka won the first of three finals that time, beating Australia by 22 runs in Adelaide. In the second final in Sydney, they had Australia reeling at 10 for 3. From there, though, Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds launched an astonishing counterattack, adding 237 for the fourth wicket at better than a run a ball. Sri Lanka were shell-shocked and capitulated meekly, and in the next match ran into a genius called Adam Gilchrist, who made a target of 267 look anything but challenging.Sri Lanka don’t have a great win-loss record against Australia at the two venues that will host the finals: it’s 0-3 in Brisbane and 1-6 at the Adelaide Oval. Along with Perth, they’re the worst venues for Sri Lanka in Australia. On the other hand, at the MCG and in Sydney, they have a much better 10-15 win-loss record against Australia. However, they can take much comfort from their recent record against Australia in Australia: since February 29, 2008, they’ve won six and lost only two of eight matches. No other team has won more ODIs against Australia in Australia during this period. That should give them confidence before the best-of-three finals.*13:42 GMT, March 3: The article had stated that Dinesh Chandimal was the tournament’s leading run-scorer so far. This has been corrected.

The confidence with which Yuvraj Singh batted on the fourth evening went a long way towards eliminating the slim possibility of an Indian defeat

S Aga22-Dec-2008

	The run-flow had slowed to a trickle before Yuvraj injected some momentum © AFP

Yuvraj Singh’s year started ignominiously, with a sleepwalking performance
at the Sydney Cricket Ground. When he was dropped ahead of India’s famous
victory in Perth, no one raised a voice. One of the prodigals of the
Indian game had been given his chance, and he had blown it. What a
difference 12 months makes, though. With Sourav Ganguly now gone, and having
played his part in the most remarkable of run chases in Chennai, Yuvraj
doesn’t need to look over his shoulder, and the confidence with which he
batted on the fourth evening went a long way towards eliminating the slim
possibility of an Indian defeat.Home turf hasn’t meant happy hunting ground for Yuvraj. This is his third
Test at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium and the 27 he made in the
first innings was his highest score. When he came to the crease midway
through the final session, India were just 231 ahead, and the English
bowlers had slowed the run flow to a trickle.After his repeated run-ins with Kevin Pietersen, who stood at leg slip
while Yuvraj took guard, there was also the prospect of a few verbal
googlies being tossed his way. Yuvraj says he looked forward to it.
“Sometimes it fires you up, sometimes it backfires,” he said. “When you
are chatted to, it makes you stronger, more focused. I really don’t mind
the chat.”I actually look forward to it because I think it brings out the best in
me. It backfired in the first innings in Chennai, in the second it made me
stronger. It’s healthy competition out there, no bad-mouthing. Both the
teams are trying to punch the opposition to win the game, so it’s healthy
competition.”Healthy or not, it spurred Yuvraj into playing some fine strokes. The
run-blockade was eased, and India finished the day in an extremely
comfortable position. “It depends on the weather tomorrow,” Yuvraj said
when asked about the prospects of an Indian victory. “There’s a
disadvantage there because of the weather, we could lose a couple of
hours. Hopefully, we’ll get the maximum possible overs and we’ll be able
to get some runs and bowl them out.”Given the two stunning chases cricket has seen over the past
week, there were no thoughts on what constituted a safe target. “On the
last day, any target is difficult to get,” he said. “For us in Chennai,
387 was tough to get, and I’m sure we’ll set them a tough target.”Chennai was a huge innings for Yuvraj in more ways than one, though he
insisted that the gremlins of doubt hadn’t been keeping him awake at
night. “I never thought that I didn’t belong to this arena because I have
three Test hundreds,” he said. “It’s all media speculation, or I don’t
know what goes on. I never had a doubt and I just wanted to spend some
time in the middle and I knew the runs will come. If you work hard on your
game, the runs will come. That’s what happened in the second innings.”

	“I never thought that I didn’t belong to this arena because I have three Test hundreds,” Yuvraj said. “It’s all media speculation … If you work hard on your game, the runs will come”

Following Virender Sehwag’s run-out soon after lunch, India appeared to have
lost their way for the remainder of the session, but Yuvraj was adamant
that this was no one-trick team. “When Viru starts off and gets a
partnership, we get into a very good position early on,” he said. “But if
we lose a few wickets, we need to get a partnership. Gautam and I have had
a good one and it has brought the game towards us.”We’re not depending on any particular person. Sometimes it’s Viru,
sometimes it’s Gautam. Rahul has shown what a class player he is. Mahi
batted so well in the first innings in Chennai. So it’s not anyone
particular, it’s the whole team. It’s just that the team is gelling very
well, enjoying each other’s success.”I think with Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton, the atmosphere in the team is
good. We enjoy what we do. If we’re under pressure, we know we have a
bunch of guys who can come up with match-winning knocks or spells. Our
bowling has been exceptional. Along with Harbhajan, Zaheer has been the
frontline bowler and Ishant is doing well, so we have a great all-round
bunch of players.”The man who leads came in for more than his fair share of praise. “First,
he [Dhoni] is very cool-headed, that’s the best part about him. When he
took up captaincy, nobody knew that he could do a great job. He always has
a Plan B. Like when England were batting, we got a few wickets, and
then KP and Freddie got a few runs and he slowed down the game. The moment
we had two wickets, we pounced on the batsmen. He’s always thinking, he’s
always asking for suggestions from everyone.”And what of throwing pies? Pietersen was far from amused when Dhoni
brought Yuvraj on for the third over on Sunday morning, and he let his
feelings be known after the day’s play. “When I got up in the morning, I
read the paper, and I said ‘what does this [pie-chucker] mean?’ So I asked
a few people there what it meant, and they said it meant a ‘useless kind
of bowler’. It shows KP hates getting out to me. Well, a useless bowler
getting him out many times would be because of useless batting, I’d say!
But that’s okay.”He’s a phenomenal player and batted like a champion. He’s got 15 hundreds
in 40-odd matches – that’s phenomenal. But he tried to get under my skin
in the last game and that brought out the best in me. I tried the same and
it brought out the best in him. So it’s good competition in the field. But
I don’t have a habit of washing dirty linen in the open, in public. But I
like the name, eh?”If he can get a few more runs on Tuesday morning and play his part in
another Indian victory, Yuvraj, who cheekily offered Pietersen some
bowling tips, won’t particularly care what the English call him. When
you’ve come back from oblivion and the team’s winning, nothing else
matters.

With not much information about the conditions on offer, the Bangladesh head coach wants his team to be ready for high-scoring grounds

Mohammad Isam08-Mar-2024With the 2024 T20 World Cup to be played in the USA and the Caribbean in June, Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe is trying to gather intel about the pitches there, especially in Dallas. They will also be playing in New York and Kingstown (in St Vincent, where they played a Test in 2014) in the first round.Part of Bangladesh’s preparation has involved readying more batting-friendly surfaces in Sylhet during the ongoing T20I series against Sri Lanka.Hathurusinghe said that since the New York venue will have drop-in pitches that are prepared in Adelaide, they should expect conditions they have faced before. But there isn’t much that they know about the venues in Dallas and Kingstown.Related

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SL incensed after third umpire overturns Soumya Sarkar dismissal

Rishad Hossain becomes newest hope for legspin in Bangladesh

“We are looking at a combination for the World Cup, [especially] how the individuals are fitting in and understanding the game plan and be comfortable with that,” Hathurusinghe said. “We wanted to play on good wickets here. We don’t know about the wickets in America. We play two important games in America. Nobody has any clue [about the pitches]. There’s not much data behind it.”From what I understand, New York will have a drop-in wicket from Adelaide. They will hopefully be similar to Australian pitches. There’s little feedback from NSW Cricket about Dallas. Washington Freedom played there. I spoke to their GM when I was in Australia. Our recollection from St Vincent [Kingstown] is the last Test we played there. We are preparing as much as we can for these unknown factors.”Hathurusinghe said that the plan, with just under three months to go for the tournament, is to ensure that their bowlers can adapt to the pitches, which are expected to be batting-friendly.In the ongoing T20I series in Sylhet, Sri Lanka breached the 200-run mark in the first T20I – as did Bangladesh in the chase – but Taskin Ahmed & Co. pulled things back in the second game, with Bangladesh convincingly chasing down 166.

“He had a very good time in the BPL. He came here with the same confidence to bowl in these matches. It was pleasing to see him adjust quickly for the second game. He has grown into the leading bowler with Taskin and Fizz [Mustafizur]”Chandika Hathurusinghe on Shoriful Islam

“We know what we can do. We are continually working on [death bowling]. We are playing on different kinds of pitches now. There’s more grass and carry,” Hathurusinghe said. “We wanted to play on wickets that are conducive for high scoring, to get us to understand what areas we need to improve in bowling.”It is a mindset shift as well. When you are bowling on wickets where 150 is a winning score, you are expected to bowl in a certain way. Eight runs an over [in Sylhet] is very good. You saw the other day that 160 isn’t a par score.”We got to 200 [in the first T20I] even after losing four wickets in the powerplay. We need to understand those factors as well. I am pleased with how our bowling unit is shaping up as well.”Shoriful Islam impressed Hathurusinghe with his improvement in the second game after going for 47 runs in the first. “He had a very good time in the BPL. He came here with the same confidence to bowl in these matches. He however didn’t get to swing in the ball because of the dew in the first game.[File photo] Soumya Sarkar made useful contributions with ball and bat in the second T20I•Dhaka Dominators”It was pleasing to see him adjust quickly for the second game. He has grown into the leading bowler with Taskin and Fizz [Mustafizur Rahman]. There’s another one we can bank on.”Bangladesh’s batting has also looked in good shape in the first two T20Is, although Soumya Sarkar continues to frustrate everyone by getting out after getting starts. It has been the story of his international career, although Hathurusinghe was happy with his crucial 22-ball 26 in the second game. The Sarkar-Litton Das opening pairing, incidentally, is Bangladesh’s 16th in T20Is since the start of 2022.”We were 63 [68] for no loss. You don’t see how many hundreds you made in T20s. As long as they are playing for the team, that’s what we want,” Hathurusinghe said. “[Sarkar] is contributing at the moment. He got [Kusal] Mendis’ wicket. He was crucial for them in both games. [Litton and Sarkar] put their hands up after the first game, [saying that] their approach was wrong. They owned it, and went and played really good cricket.”It is not about this pair. It is about correcting what wrong we have done in the past. If something was working, I don’t think they would make so many changes. We love to see continuity. Their approach was very good.”

The USMNT star might be the best talent in his federation, but there are plenty of other names waiting to burst onto the scene

We all just assumed that Christian Pulisic is the best player in CONCACAF. That is, of course, the natural order of things – especially if you are of the USMNT persuasion. After all, he is the go-to guy for Milan, a constant threat for the national team, and a top performer in pretty much every notable big game he has featured in of late.

But is that really the case? Pulisic missed two months of football this summer after electing to sit out of the Gold Cup, and watched from home as the rest of CONCACAF staked their claim. In short, there's a sense that others could have caught up.

U.S. teammate Tyler Adams has been excellent of late, while Canada's Jonathan David has shown that he is good enough to earn a true step up for Juventus, who have dreams of European glory. 

GOAL ranks the best players in CONCACAF ahead of the September international break.

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  7Alphonso Davies: Canada

  Even with half a working knee, Davies is still one of the best left backs out there. Sure, he was caught up in a significant amount of controversy after sustaining an ACL tear in a Canada national team game when he was arguably not fit to play. But "Phonzie" remains an immense talent, and there is no indication that he won't be back to his scintillating best when he returns. 

  There is good news on that front, too. Davies is back in training for Bayern, and the word is that he could play for Canada by the November break – a timely boost for .

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  6Chris Richards: USMNT

  Give it a couple months, and Richards might be higher up this list. It would not be an overstatement to suggest that the center back's rise has been meteoric. A year ago, he was still a bit of a misfit at Crystal Palace, the weak link in manager Oliver Glasner's back three. But after impressing, he's now a key player for the manager.

  A series of stellar individual performances has only reinforced that notion. Most notably, he clamped Erling Haaland in the FA Cup final in May – despite Man City's obvious attempts at targeting the Birmingham, Alabama native. He was a standout for the U.S. at the Gold Cup, too, and a stalwart at the back as Pochettino's side went on a run to the final. And at 25, he will only get better. 

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  5Raul Jimenez: Mexico

  Jimenez looked like he might have been out of soccer 18 months ago. The goals had dried up at a club level, while he was still recovering from a serious head injury suffered in a Premier League fixture. But every time he put the Mexican national team shirt on, he came alive. That trend has continued in style, with Jimenez consistently bagging for . 

  He has endured something of a quiet start to the Premier League campaign – he is scoreless in his side's first three – but Jimenez remains an icon for Mexico. He's 10 goals away from being El-Tri's all-time top goalscorer, a consistent threat, and still the No.1 choice to lead the line for a national team that just might have turned a corner.

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  4Antonee Robinson: USMNT

  It's a bit dramatic to dub Antonee Robinson a "tragic hero", but he does have the misfortune of getting very good at football at the wrong time in his career. Robinson, remember, really could be playing for Milan now, but after a failed transfer nearly five years ago, finds himself running up and down the left at Fulham. That is no disrespect to the Premier League club, of course, who have offered the perfect forum for Robinson, 28, to be his versatile best. 

  Adept going forward and remarkably scrappy defensively, Robinson relies on an excellent engine as well as a lethal killer ball to serve as the archetypal modern touchline full-back. Injuries have rather hampered him of late, and he has missed out on the most recent U.S. squad as he recovers from a series of knocks. But when he's fit, he's among the best in the world at his position. 

Essex County Cricket Club has been charged by the Cricket Regulator – the sport’s new independent disciplinary body – after a series of historical allegations of racist abuse were last year upheld by an independent report.In December, a 38-page report compiled by Katherine Newton KC found that, in a period from the mid-1990s to 2013, Essex’s club culture had been one in which ethnic, racial and religious comments were regarded as “banter”.The report centred on the testimony of three former players – not named in its pages but known to be Jahid Ahmed, Maurice Chambers and Zoheb Sharif, one of whom was nicknamed “Bomber” due to his South Asian heritage, and another taunted with bananas for being Black.In a separate incident that prompted the commissioning of the report, the former club chair, John Faragher, was alleged to have used the racist phrase “n****r in the woodpile” during a board meeting in 2017, with Essex accepting a fine of £50,000 from the ECB in May 2022 after admitting two charges relating to that meeting.The club has now been charged with a breach of ECB Directive 3.3 during the years 2001 to 2010, for “conduct, acts or omissions which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute”.In a statement, the Cricket Regulator said Essex had failed to address the “systemic use of racist and/or discriminatory language and/or conduct at Essex” in that period, adding that an independent panel of the Cricket Discipline Commission would hear the case in due course.In response, Essex CCC acknowledged the scope of the breach and the club’s willingness to accept the CDC’s findings.”The club has fully cooperated with the Cricket Regulator and will continue to do so throughout the process, and intends to participate willingly with the Cricket Discipline Commission,” a statement read. “There will be no further comment from the club at this time.The Cricket Regulator came into being in December 2023, after that summer’s damning report published by Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC), which detailed structural inequalities across race, gender and class in cricket in England and Wales.In a key recommendation, the ECB’s previous dual roles as promoter and regulator of the game were found to be “irreconcilable”, in light of the board’s handling of Azeem Rafiq’s revelations of institutional racism at Yorkshire.

MatériaMais Notícias

Com o final do ano se aproximando, as equipes começam a se movimentar no mercado e contratar para a próxima temporada. Com passagens de destaque pelo futebol cearense, o atacante Edson Cariús acertou com a Portuguesa-RJ. O atacante falou sobre a motivação em disputar um dos principais torneios estaduais do Brasil, o Campeonato Carioca.

– Estou muito feliz com essa oportunidade de defender a Portuguesa. Chego bastante motivado e com a uma grande vontade de vencer e conquistar grandes coisas. Essa será a minha primeira oportunidade no futebol carioca, que é um dos principais centros do futebol brasileiro. Sei que vamos enfrentar adversários fortes e isso me motiva ainda mais para esse desafio – disse.

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Em 2022, Edson Cariús mostrou seu faro de artilheiro. Pelo Ferroviário, o centroavante de 34 anos conquistou a artilharia do campeonato, deixando para trás atacantes de Fortaleza e Ceará.

O agente de Cariús, Marquinhos Maia, falou sobre o acerto com a Portuguesa e porque escolheu a equipe carioca. O contrato do atacante é válido até abril do ano que vem.

– Nós tínhamos o interesse de algumas equipes pelo Cariús. Ele fez uma boa temporada em 2022 e isso chamou a atenção de vários mercados. Recebemos algumas propostas e sondagens, mas o projeto da Portuguesa chamou muito a atenção dele, por ser uma grande equipe, que disputa um dos campeonatos mais fortes do país – afirmou.