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SA’s Test bowling coach also cautioned the team to “pay attention” to the no-balls

Firdose Moonda05-Jan-2025South Africa have no choice but to “keep attacking” Pakistan as they go in search of the eight wickets required (as Saim Ayub will play no further part in the Test) to win the series and sweep the home summer. With a 208-run advantage, Pakistan following-on and two days left to play, South Africa will throw everything at the batters, even if it means conceding heavily, as they did on the third evening.Shan Masood and Babar Azam put on the highest first-wicket partnership by a Pakistani duo against South Africa and scored at a rate of 4.42 to the over and there were times when it looked like they were too many boundary balls on offer. Masood hit 14 fours and Babar 10, with South Africa bowling both sides of the wicket and often erring on the fuller side but that is all part of how they hoped to induce a false shot on flat track albeit that they only managed one wicket in Pakistan’s second innings.With 15 minutes left to go in the day, Babar was tempted by a full, wide ball from Marco Jansen and edged to gully. South Africa are hoping for more of the same on day four. “You have to be attacking. We can’t defend because of the position we are in,” Piet Botha, South Africa’s Test bowling coach, said after the third day’s play. “We have to keep slips and a gully in and have to use our bounce, even though it (the pitch) is not quick. Once the batters are set, it seems to be quite easy to rotate. So you can go defensive, but we’re not in that situation. We have to attack.”Related

• Babar, Masood fight for Pakistan after South Africa enforce follow-on

• Stats: Masood and Babar raise the follow-on bar for openers

• Ayub ruled out of Cape Town Test after suffering ankle injury

But Botha cautioned that they also have to be more careful with their disciplines, which went awry on Sunday afternoon, and were magnified by the number of no-balls. In total, South Africa have bowled 23 in this match and ten of those in the second innings. Only one, a Kagiso Rabada ball that hit Masood on the knee roll looked like a wicket-taking ball but South Africa do not want to take the chance that there may be more, and the bowler has overstepped.”It’s disappointing,” Botha said. “It’s something that creeps into the game every now and then. We probably started a little bit with that problem in Bangladesh and sorted it out. Now it’s crept back in.”But Botha is only partially correct. Across two Tests in Bangladesh, South Africa bowled 25 no-balls but they then delivered 28 against Sri Lanka and ten at SuperSport Park. Including this Test, that equates to 86 no-balls in six matches. Of those Rabada had bowled 44, and Wiaan Mulder 11. Botha had an explanation for at least one of those. “With Wiaan, what we’re really trying to do is to get him to run in a little bit harder because he wants to be a bowler that has a fourth seamer in attack and be a little bit quicker,” he said. “One of the aspects we worked on is for him to run in a little bit harder and that brought its own issues. We worked on it this morning a bit, and it seemed to work for a while. For others it may be different on different days.”A variety of other reasons were spitballed to explain the rest. “Sometimes it’s the ground, sometimes it’s the wind, sometimes it’s fatigue, sometimes it’s the slope,” Botha said. “But it’s obviously something we have to pay attention to again and make sure we fix it.”And that will be his second message to the attack in the morning: stay patient. “We have a very good couple of Tests where we’ve knocked teams over but these things we always talk about: discipline and patience,” Botha said. “Once you get frustrated or start searching a bit too much like we might have done in the second innings, you’re going at fours and fives (runs an over). That’s what you don’t want to do. Let’s go back to try and see if we can go at threes and a false shot will come,”South Africa have bowled out teams on all but four occasions in this World Test Championship cycle which includes a rain-affected draw and the two matches they sent a second-string side to New Zealand in. So with a frontline attack, they back their ability to dismiss oppositions no matter what the situation.In this case, they understand that by enforcing the follow-on, they gave Pakistan some of the best batting conditions of the match but after bowling them out for 194 and with a 421-run lead, felt there was enough cushioning to put them again. The surface has yet to show any real signs of deterioration but it is taking a turn and historically tends to become more difficult from the fourth day. “There were a couple of slow motion videos with the dust and you expect day four and five to be the days where the spinner comes into play. Already a couple have turned and also bounced,” Botha said. “The signs are there that after lunch tomorrow, Kesh[av] Maharaj will come more and more into the game.”Maharaj has already found the turn that Pakistan’s part-time spinner Salman Agha did not but even if he doesn’t, South Africa are willing to bide their time. “We talk about it all the time because you expect these days. That’s Test cricket,” Botha said.

Head coach admits team “exposed” in record defeat, despite having already sealed series

Firdose Moonda07-Sep-2025South Africa’s coach Shukri Conrad labelled his team’s record 342-run defeat to England in the third ODI “embarrassing” while captain Temba Bavuma said the performance “doesn’t do us justice” after their recent ODI success. South Africa have beaten both Australia and England 2-1 in series over the last month.Their loss in the third match in England, which was a dead rubber, came after a comprehensive win in game one and a nail-biting triumph in game two. That secured a first series in England since 1998. But the magnitude of the defeat in Southampton, which comes after a 276-run loss against Australia – also in a series that was already won – asks questions of how quickly and dramatically South Africa switch off, especially when the result does not matter.”Any excuse is better than none. We were definitely off today. And against a top side like England, when you’re not on top of your game, you do get exposed,” Conrad said at the post-match conference. “A similar thing happened in Australia, where after going 2-0 up, it was a complete aberration. They got in excess of 400 as well. But if we were going to be poor at something, we’d rather be poor at games that aren’t clutch games. We’re not making light of today’s defeat. That was slightly embarrassing.”Related

• Concern for South Africa as Bavuma suffers calf strain

• Jofra Archer: 'There was an ooh or an aah every single over'

• Stats – England record the biggest win in men's ODIs

• Bethell, Root tons, Archer four-for see England hand out record thrashing

Both defeats – South Africa’s two heaviest in ODIs – have come when they have fielded first and were accompanied by lack of discipline and dropped catches. Against Australia, South Africa bowled 15 wides and put down Alex Carey, who went on to finish the innings strongly. Against England, they bowled 19 wides and dropped two catches including Jamie Smith on 23 and Jacob Bethell on 44. Bavuma said at the post-match presentation that bowling that many extras was “far from ideal, not good enough” and said it “could be complacency”, while Conrad believed a wayward bowling performance impacted the rest of their skillset.”The bowling affects the fielding and the other way around, but nine out of ten times, Matthew Breetzke is taking that catch [off Smith, who offered a chance off a leading edge in the covers],” Conraid said. “We’re not going to read too much into that, but it’s a difficult one because when that edge is not there and something doesn’t go your way and the harder you try, it’s just not there. I’m not offering it as an excuse because it’s not supposed to be like that, but the fielding wasn’t at the usual high standard that we set. All in all, yeah, it was an embarrassing performance in the field.”Among South Africa’s bowling lows were Nandre Burger’s 0 for 95, which was the most expensive in their history, and Codi Yusuf’s 0 or 80, the worst by a South African debutant. Some of that may be down to inexperience especially in the absence of pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada, who has not played an ODI in either Australia or England as he recovers from ankle inflammation.Conrad confirmed Rabada could have been “really pushed and forced through today” but South Africa decided they “didn’t want to take any risks with him” ahead of the T20Is next week. “The T20 is the priority for us. When we earned the right to give him another rest, we definitely exercised that because with the T20 World Cup looming, we want to make sure that we get a good take on that. We’ve obviously got two massive Test series [against Pakistan and India] coming up.”Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, who was rested, and Marco Jansen, who has not played since the World Test Championship final where he broke his thumb, will all be back for the T20Is. A new concern is Bavuma, who could not bat after hurting his calf – but as he is not part of the T20Is, he will be assessed on his return to South Africa. Bavuma’s injury was among the reasons South Africa’s batting stumbled to their second lowest total in ODIs – 72 – as they went in pursuit of a target of 415 for which Bavuma said there is “no real formula”.In the end, they were blown away by a searing opening spell from Jofrra Archer, who took 3 for 1 in his first three overs and finished with 4 for 18. Archer’s first wicket was Aiden Markram, who nicked off against a short, wide ball and sent the rest of the line-up into freefall.”Aiden lost his wicket to a pretty innocuous delivery, and that probably summed up the day,” Conrad said. “And then from there, before you know it, you’re four down. Obviously, the disruption of Temba not being able to bat, that played a part as well but it is very difficult to explain. If you’re not on top of your game, if the edge is not there, then you’re going to get exposed.”Bashful as they were in this match, Bavuma also highlighted South Africa’s achievements over the last month after beating both Australia and England with a game to spare. “There are lots of positives in the series, coming to England away with a fairly inexperienced side and we wouldn’t want today’s performance to diminish that,” he said. “There are shining moments so we’ll try to highlight those. They can’t be wiped away by one performance.”

The win boosted West Indies’ net run rate to 1.154 and they’re now on the top of Group B table

Madushka Balasuriya06-Oct-2024West Indies romped to a six-wicket victory over Scotland to secure their first win of the T20 World Cup in Dubai with 50 balls to spare. The win boosted their net run rate to 1.154 and they’re now on the top of Group B table. The result leaves Scotland with two defeats in as many games, though the margin of defeat could prove even more dire to their qualification chances.Qiana Joseph’s 31 off 18 spearheaded what was a middling chase, before Deandra Dottin (28 off 15) and Chinelle Henry (18 off 10) finished the game off in haste. It was a win set up by the bowlers, as West Indies restricted Scotland to 99 for 8.Henry was named Player of the Match for her burst at the top of Scotland’s innings which yielded figures of 1 for 10, before her boundary-laden knock ensured a brisk victory.Scotland were simply second-best in all the areas that mattered with only Kathryn Bryce and Ailsa Lister with any innings of note. With the ball, meanwhile, they picked up wickets and caught much better than their opponents but were unable to stem the flow of runs – the most crucial factor when aiming to defend such a low total.West Indies dominate the powerplayScotland were 25 for 2 at the end of the powerplay, but it might have been much worse if not for West Indies’ profligacy in their catching. While the now infamous ‘ring of fire’ floodlights can be partially to blame, three chances of varying difficulty were spilt in the opening six overs.Thankfully for the West Indies, Henry was putting on a clinic in swing bowling to make sure Scotland weren’t able to capitalise on their multiple lifelines.In her first over she had Sarah Bryce edging high to first slip, where Hayley Matthews could only palm over and she followed that up with two consecutive maidens – including a wicket maiden, where she had Bryce completely foxed by an outswinger that rattled her off stump.Spinners throttle run flow Kathryn survived a tight lbw decision while Lister was dropped twice. They put these second chances to good use in stitching together a 46-run third-wicket stand. However at no point were either afforded easy runs.Afy Fletcher celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

Their stand saw just one boundary scored, with both players forced to find the gaps and run hard between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking along.It looked as if a platform might have been set for a late launch, but then the wickets began to fall. Afy Fletcher dismissed Lister and Priyanaz Chatterji in consecutive deliveries in the 13th over, before removing Kathryn in her next over. Scotland stumbled to 76 for five at the end of 15 overs, and they managed only a further 23 runs in the remaining five overs, as the West Indies refused to give an inch.The Qiana Joseph experimentIf this tournament has shown anything, it’s not to judge a total or a pitch until both sides have batted. The other thing is that finding quick runs at the death is exceedingly difficult. Taking both these factors into account, West Indies opted to promote Qiana Joseph up the order after Stafanie Taylor had fallen early.Joseph’s intent was clear from the get-go, swinging and missing at a series of deliveries off Bryce. But with such a low target, each blow had an exponential impact. In all, she struck three fours and a six, but her 18-ball stay had seen as much as 31% of the target wiped off.Dottin does the jobWhen Joseph fell, West Indies still needed 41 runs for victory, and the prevailing mood was that one or two more wickets might have made the going a little trickier, particularly as Scotland were catching well.But Dottin the veteran showed she could carry on her recent franchise form, as she made light work of what might have been a banana skin of a finish. Her 15 deliveries in the middle brought with it two sixes and fours apiece, as West Indies sealed a win.

KKR handed Capitals a thrashing to make it three wins in three and go to the top of the table with a massive net run rate boost

Sidharth Monga03-Apr-20242:21

Moody: ‘Raghuvanshi’s hands, bat path similar to Gill’

Last Wednesday at the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad set the record for the highest IPL score: 277. What should have been a once-in-a-decade effort was very nearly taken down by a marauding Kolkata Knight Riders batting unit tonight in Visakhapatnam. Sunil Narine plundered his personal best in T20s – 85 off 39 – almost home-grown Angkrish Raghuvanshi matched him with 54 off 27, and Andre Russell added the finishing touches with 41 off 19.A searing yorker from Ishant Sharma to get Russell in the last over prevented the record being broken, but the 272 KKR put up was more than enough to register a comfortable win – by 106 runs – and join Rajasthan Royals with three wins from three matches at the top of the table. In taking four wickets in the powerplay, two each for Vaibhav Arora and Mitchell Starc, KKR ticked another box in a season in which they have presented themselves as serious title contenders.

Pant fined for slow over-rate again

Rishabh Pant, the Capitals captain, has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate against KKR in their 106-run loss in Visakhapatnam. As it was Capitals’ second offence of the season – in just four matches – Pant was fined INR 24 lakh, while the rest of the members of the playing XII, were each fined either INR 6 lakh or 25% of their respective match fees, whichever is lower.

Narine, Raghuvanshi hammer Capitals

Khaleel Ahmed and Ishant Sharma set Capitals’ win in the previous match in Vizag with swing early on. Here, though, probably because of Narine’s presence, both of them started slightly short of a length. The one ball that Khaleel pitched up swung to beat Narine.It seems ridiculous now but Narine took six balls to get off the mark. Capitals had managed to keep Narine quiet, but had they missed the small window of swing to try to get him out? Another chance would arrive soon to a short-of-a-length delivery, but neither Ishant Sharma nor Rishabh Pant heard the edge. No appeal, no review.Narine and Phil Salt had got down to work by then, but Capitals could still have got Narine for 24 off 13 had they listened to Mitchell Marsh and reviewed. Then again, reviews were not the only thing they were getting wrong. They kept offering Narine room, when they went short they didn’t get it high enough, and the ball had stopped swinging by now.Sunil Narine smacked seven fours and as many sixes in his 39-ball innings•AFP/Getty Images

Anrich Nortje got rid of Salt in the fifth over, but Raghuvanshi, trained from the age of 11 by KKR’s own Abhishek Nayar, walked out and laced fours off the first two balls he faced. Mukesh Kumar is not express, but his injury has left DC with even less of a pace threat. Narine jumped on Rasikh Salam’s medium-pace in the last over of the powerplay, hitting him for three fours and a six to bring up his half-century in just 21 balls. Their 88 for 1 in the powerplay was the highest by any team so far at IPL 2024.The end of the powerplay brought DC relief only for one over, bowled by Sumit Kumar, but Narine ended any threats of variations in the attack by hitting two sixes off Axar Patel, who wouldn’t bowl again. Raghuvanshi matched him with a reverse-pull over short third for a six. Their 135 for 1 was the third-highest 10-over score in the IPL – all three have come this season.

Wickets fail to slow KKR down

Eventually it was the short ball from Marsh that got the better of Narine, but it wasn’t just one short ball. He kept bowling short and wide outside off with changes of pace. Narine still ended with a boundary every two-and-a-half balls, and the wicket came too late anyway. The 13th over was the right point of entry for Russell, and he punished the samey attack. Capitals didn’t go back to spin despite right-hand batters at the wicket, and Nortje was the only one who presented the batters with an inbuilt challenge.Andre Russell and Rinku Singh smashed 32 runs off 11 balls for the fifth wicket•AFP/Getty Images

Russell was too good for the rest, and when Nortje started the 19th over with one fewer fielder on the fence because of a poor over-rate, Rinku Singh got stuck into him, taking 25 off the over.Ishant then produced a beauty that drew an applause from Russell himself and prevented Capitals from ending up on the wrong side of the record.

Arora announces himself

One of the two tall domestic fast bowlers in the KKR stable, Arora came on as the Impact Player and found inswing immediately. It wasn’t just swing, though. He mixed it up with accurate bouncers. Prithvi Shaw fell to the inswinger before Abhishek Porel top-edged a bouncer.Vaibhav Arora took 3 for 27 in KKR’s clinical win•BCCI

At the other end, Starc took care of his Australia team-mates, Marsh caught trying to square-drive and Warner playing on immediately after slogging him for a six. These were his first wickets this IPL after his eight overs in the first two matches had gone for 100 runs.At 33 for 4 in the fifth over, even batting for net run rate would need heavy hitting and risks. For a while Pant and Tristan Stubbs managed to score quickly. Pant was especially pleasing as he continues his return from a life-threatening accident, but their fifties were never going to be enough to deny KKR a third consecutive win – the first time they have started a season with three wins in three in their history.

Skipper leads from the front as George Balderson made inroads after Lancashire post 331

ECB Reporters Network11-May-2024Haseeb Hameed posted his first Vitality County Championship hundred since September 2022 and his first since being made captain but his Nottinghamshire side still have work to do to match Lancashire’s first innings total in their Division One match at Trent Bridge, where they trail by 52 runs on 279 for 7.Hameed, who still harbours ambitions of playing Test cricket despite being tried and discarded twice by England, finished day two unbeaten on 137 after hitting 16 fours, although he was dropped on 104 off left-arm spinner Tom Hartley.Hartley went wicketless in 18 overs in his last county match before joining the England squad as they prepare for the upcoming white-ball series against Pakistan and the T20 World Cup as all-rounder George Balderson took the bowling honours for his side. Balderson, who shared a key partnership with Keaton Jennings in Lancashire’s first innings, has 4 for 72 from 22 overs.Lancashire could reflect on a satisfactory morning’s work after Nottinghamshire’s strong finish to day one. Forcing the home side to concede another 25 runs for their last two wickets, most of them courtesy of Tom Bailey’s bat. The 33-year-old seam bowler hit five boundaries in his 42-ball unbeaten 31.Olly Stone, whose performance with the ball on day one deserved more than his one wicket, dismissed Will Williams, caught at second slip, and Saqib Mahmood, who chipped to extra cover, to finish with three for 56 from 23.2 overs.Seeking to overhaul Lancashire’s 331, Nottinghamshire started on the front foot but Ben Slater’s second-over boundary turned out to be his only scoring shot as Mahmood, bowling for the first time in a senior match for 12 months following a stress fracture, claimed his first comeback wicket via an edge to third slip.Hameed and Will Young looked as though they could put that setback behind them, weathering what remained of Mahmood and Tom Bailey’s new-ball offensive, but when Williams replaced Bailey at the Stuart Broad End, Young was dropped at second slip on 17 and then bowled for 27, shouldering arms to a ball that hit his middle stump, having come back sharply off the pitch.A sequence of beautiful shots by Hameed greeted the afternoon, and when Joe Clarke followed a deft steer to the third-man boundary off Bailey with a handsome drive through the covers to greet the return of Mahmood, it appeared the Lancashire bowlers might be in for a tough session.But again a potentially damaging partnership fizzled out as Balderson came back into the attack, his away movement finding a thin edge to have Clarke caught behind before Tom Moores, recalled after a couple of hundreds in the Second XI, rather gave his wicket away with a rash swing outside off stump that saw him caught behind too in Balderson’s next over.Jack Haynes proved to be a more patient accomplice, content with diligent accumulation as his captain cashed in on his form to dominate the bowling, most productively through the on side. Having reached his half-century from 99 balls, Hameed went past 100 in just 63 more, bringing up the milestone with his 15th boundary, tucked away backward of square off Balderson.After going a full season without reaching three figures last year, in which his numbers were generally disappointing after an excellent 2022, there was relief in his celebration on account of that, but also in quelling any fears that the challenge of stepping into Steven Mullaney’s shoes as captain might detract from his batting.It is his first hundred against his former county and his first against First Division bowling since 2016, when he was a 19-year-old prodigy hailed as the ‘new Boycott’ and made hundreds in both innings in the Roses match at Old Trafford.He was promptly put down on 104, a difficult chance coming hard to slip Luke Wells off Hartley, but though Hameed survived Nottinghamshire suffered another setback in the last over before tea, Haynes, on 35, becoming the second batter on the day to be out not playing a stroke as Balderson brought one back to claim his third success.With Hartley and seamer Williams matching each other for economy, Hameed and new batter Lyndon James had to graft for runs after tea, the first 50 runs of their partnership needing 145 deliveries.The sixth-wicket pair reduced the deficit to 83 runs but the second new ball, with which the Nottinghamshire bowlers had enjoyed success on the first day, brought a rapid dividend. James, driving expansively, was caught at first slip as Balderson picked up his fourth scalp, before Calvin Harrison’s bright 21 ended with an edge to second slip off Bailey.

South Africa enforced the follow-on on Zimbabwe who collapsed in 43 overs

Shashank Kishore07-Jul-2025

Wiaan Mulder brought up the second fastest triple century in Test cricket•Zimbabwe Cricket

July 7, 2025 may not invoke the same grand feeling of that unforgettable summer afternoon at Lord’s last month, but it’ll still have a reverence of its own for Wiaan Mulder, who, only weeks earlier, stood on the winner’s podium as a newly crowned World Test Champion.One of cricket’s most iconic and celebrated records – Brian Lara’s majestic 400 not out, which he held like a crown jewel after reclaiming it from Matthew Hayden – was in real danger of being knocked off its perch after 21 long years. When Mulder, South Africa’s stand-in captain, went into the lunch interval unbeaten on 367, it seemed a matter of time before history books would be rewritten. Then came a quiet message from the change room, like a bolt from the blue. South Africa had declared. Mulder had declared.”Why did he do that?” is a question that lingered on for much of the day as Zimbabwe collapsed in just 43 overs, and were asked to follow-on. With so much time left in the match, the decision will be rightly debated for a while. Sure, barring Blessing Muzarabani, the quality of Zimbabwe’s attack was hardly Test class, but the opportunity to etch yourself into Test history doesn’t come knocking everyday.Related

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South Africa declared on 626 for 5. Mulder’s feat became all the more special as it came in front of his father, who had made the trip to soak in the occasion after he had been informed of Mulder’s promotion to captaincy in the lead-up to the game after Keshav Maharaj had been ruled out due to an injury. Along the way, Mulder may have cemented himself as South Africa’s new No. 3, a spot once occupied by legends he may have grown up watching, Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla among them.In the morning session, every run or over carried the weight of a milestone either impending or ticked off. Records came; records went. Mulder went past some heavyweights in South Africa: Gary Kirsten, Daryl Cullinan, Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers. And soon after his triple-ton, he went past 311 to eclipse Amla, and achieve the highest Test score by a South African.Mulder could’ve chosen a calmer, more serene path if he had wished. South Africa’s run-scoring on the opening day, where they surged to 465 for 4, meant time was never going to be a consideration. Mulder, though, had other ideas. Except for his first boundary very early in the day off Muzarabani, off a streaky edge that flew through vacant third slip, there was control and authority in every stoke he played and every run he ran.Mulder’s authority stemmed from his own confidence, and Zimbabwe’s hit-me lengths. Without any swing on offer, even with the second new ball that they took late on the opening day, the pacers erred on the shorter side and kept getting punished square of the wicket on both sides. When spin came on, Mulder channeled the golfer in him to club them downtown. He hit 49 fours and four sixes in all – one of them landed out of the ground – forcing them to bring out a different ball.Wiaan Mulder and Dewald Brevis added 88 off just 94 balls for the fifth wicket•Zimbabwe Cricket

Amid Mulder’s run-fest, that South Africa lost Dewald Brewis was lost on everyone. He survived on 24 when Craig Ervine put down a regulation chance in the fifth over off Muzarabani at slip, but couldn’t capitalise. On 35, Brevis attempted to flay a cut, only to get a thick outside edge to the wicketkeeper. Kyle Verreynne then came and enjoyed a good hit out to remain unbeaten on 42.The day’s big moment – Mulder’s triple – arrived in the 101st over when he clipped a low full toss off Tanaka Chivanga to fine leg to wild applause and cheer from his team-mates on the balcony. It had come off 297 balls, the second-fastest in Test history, behind Virender Sehwag’s that had come off 278 balls against South Africa in Chennai 17 years ago.After Mulder got past the 300, there was carnage aplenty as Muzarabani was dispatched for three boundaries in an over, the third of those helping him surpass Amla. There was more punishment in the next as Mulder cleared his front leg to wallop him out of the ground to enter the 360s. This is when everyone seemed to be readying for the moment, when the declaration came.Mulder wasn’t done yet. With the ball, he took out Wesley Madhevere and Ervine in quick succession. Madhevere was out to a nip-backer that flattened the stumps; Ervine was felled by an effort ball that lifted off the deck to have him fend one into the hand of backward point. Mulder’s fiery spell wasn’t the highlight, though. Debutant Prenelan Subrayen and Senuran Muthusamy’s flight and loop were equally noteworthy. Subrayen ended with 4 for 42.Sean Williams, who spent much of the first evening and the opening session on the sidelines due to an illness, came out swinging and raised his half-century off just 32 balls, the fastest by a Zimbabwean. But he ran out of partners, and remained stuck on 83 as last man Chivanga’s wicket meant Zimbabwe were bundled out for 170.Made to follow-on, Zimbabwe lost Dion Myers early, but Takudzwanashe Kaitano and Nick Welch batted a tricky last 30 minutes to take them to stumps on 51 for 1, with Zimbabwe still needing 146 to surpass Mulder.

Despite a quick 69-run opening stand, India were tested by the 229 target

Sidharth Monga20-Feb-20254:30

Manjrekar: There’s an air of dominance around Gill

Shubman Gill dug deep for his slowest ODI hundred and India’s slowest in the last six years to see India through a tricky chase of 229 that must have brought back memories of their 2-0 series defeat to Sri Lanka last August on similarly slow tracks. Despite a quick 69-run opening stand, India were tested by a target that was kept to 229 in the main by Mohammed Shami, who took his sixth ODI five-for and became the quickest man to 200 ODI wickets in terms of balls bowled to get there.Both sides will rue missed opportunities in their Champions Trophy opener. Bangladesh won a crucial toss on a tired pitch with no dew expected to make chasing easier, but they got off to such a poor start that they needed three dropped catches and a superlative fighting hundred from Towhid Hridoy to stay in the contest. India had Bangladesh down at 35 for 5, Axar Patel was on a hat-trick, and Rohit Sharma dropped a sitter, and that was followed by two more lives for the record-breaking sixth-wicket pair. It allowed Bangladesh to get to a total that denied India a net-run-rate boost, which can prove crucial if they happen to lose one of their three matches.Related

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India will still consider this a banana peel survived, having misread the conditions and wanted to field first should they have won the toss. On a slow pitch with no assistance for the quicks, they were gifted early wickets through some indiscriminate hitting. Bangladesh possibly felt the new ball was the best time to bat: they didn’t wait for a bad ball on offer and kept losing wickets. The first three fell to ambitious shots to plain good-length bowling with little seam.Bangladesh were 35 for 3 when Axar was introduced in the ninth over. Tanzid Hasan, the only batter who had looked comfortable, played him for the turn and paid the ultimate price with an outside edge. Mushfiqur Rahim, arguably batting too late at No. 6 especially in the absence of the injured Mahmudullah, played the original line, and was done in by the rare one that turned. Axar slowed down the hat-trick ball, Jaker Ali obliged with an edge, which Rohit spilled.Soon Hardik Pandya dropped Hridoy on 23 in Kuldeep Yadav’s first over. Scoring runs was still a task on the sluggish surface, more than ten overs went without a boundary, but also India went through the middle overs without a single wicket for the first time since the 2023 World Cup final. Jaker did provide an opportunity on 24 but this time KL Rahul missed the stumping off Ravindra Jadeja.

The duo found their touch deeper into the innings, but Hridoy was hampered by cramps. Shami returned to the challenging task of bowling with a short leg-side boundary but used the slower ball wide outside off to not just deny them boundaries but also collect three more wickets. A cameo from Rishad Hossain and Hridoy’s fight despite crippling cramps took Bangladesh to a total that proved competitive.Rohit continued his high-intent starts of recent times, and Gill matched him shot for shot as India raced away from the three Bangladesh quicks. Just before the field was about to spread, Rohit fell for 41 off 36 in a bid to make one last use of the field restrictions. Immediately, scoring became laborious. Even the master accumulator Virat Kohli struggled to manipulate the ball into gaps before falling to a legspinner again, this one with the letters scrambled from Rashid to Rishad.Shreyas Iyer played the conditions for a while, but once he got a couple and a boundary off Mustafizur Rahman, he over-reached and lobbed a slower ball to mid-off to be dismissed for 15 off 17. Promoted for the dual task of breaking the sequence of right-hand batters and also have an eye on the net run-rate, Axar skied a slog-sweep, failing to read the Rishad topspinner.Shubman Gill scored his slowest ODI hundred•AFP / Getty Images

The last three wickets had fallen for 75 runs and had taken 20.2 overs. You would have thought the sight of KL Rahul would have brought calm to the proceedings, but he tried an uncharacteristic hoick early on only to be dropped by Jaker, whom he had himself reprieved earlier in the day. That proved to be the last opportunity for Bangladesh even as India overcame the ghosts of the failed chases in Sri Lanka last year.The man to thank was Gill, who anchored the chase and made sure he was there at the end. He was 26 off 23 when Rohit got out, but as the conditions changed, he tightened his game and took only selective risks. His next boundary came only when the skiddy fast bowler Tanzim Hasan came back in the 32nd over. By that time had brought up his slowest half-century.Gill was content with singles off the spinners and even Mustafizur, who bowls a wicked slower ball to make use of these conditions. He scored just 30 off the 52 balls following Rohit’s dismissal, then went into middle gears before finishing it off in glory. He needed 12 out of the 19 runs to bring up a hundred, and hit a six and a four off Tanzim to get to the mark off 125 balls and take his customary bow. Rahul took India home with a six off Tanzim with 21 balls to spare.

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has declared Australia as “very beatable” ahead of the Perth Test and said their batting was not as strong as in recent years

Cricinfo staff10-Dec-2009Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has declared Australia are “very beatable” ahead of the Perth Test and said their batting was not as strong as in recent years. Gayle was the Man of the Match in the draw at Adelaide Oval and his team will be aiming to level the series 1-1 when the third and final Test begins on Wednesday.They are in that position because of an excellent performance in Adelaide, where they had a realistic chance on the final day of being the first West Indies side to win a Test in Australia since Courtney Walsh’s team in 1996-97. Gayle said Ricky Ponting’s side of 2009-10 was very different to Australian teams he had faced in the past.”The Aussies still have a lot of quality players and they are still a strong unit, but I am sure they are very beatable,” Gayle wrote in his column in Australia’s News Ltd papers. “There is no doubt we really pushed them in Adelaide and had them under a lot of pressure for long periods of the second Test. It was a shame we couldn’t quite finish them off, but they do have quite a long batting line-up.”Having said that, Aussie sides I have played before have had much bigger and stronger batting line-ups. Their bowling attack is also not very experienced – Mitchell Johnson is a good bowler, but it might say something that he is easily their most seasoned quick.”Gayle praised his own players for the character they displayed after a “terrible” performance in losing the Gabba Test in three days. He said every player stood up, including the young fast bowler Kemar Roach, who Ricky Ponting has already conceded will be tough to face on the WACA pitch.”Kemar Roach will be a huge handful with his pace on the bouncy pitch,” Gayle wrote. “I think we will see something extraordinary from him. Trust me, he has some serious wheels. I really don’t like facing him in the nets – usually I have to tell him to slow things down so I can see the ball!”Ricky Ponting is a top-class and experienced player, but Kemar really ruffled him and hustled him with sheer pace in Adelaide. Kemar won’t back down against Ricky in Perth and will ask even more questions of the Aussie captain on a pitch I hear should be very quick and bouncy.”West Indies are unlikely to make any changes to their side for the Perth Test following their impressive showing in Adelaide. Australia are waiting to find out if Peter Siddle recovers from a hamstring strain, with the Victoria fast bowler Clint McKay in line for a Test debut if Siddle does not prove his fitness.

CWI will be initiating a “comprehensive recruitment process to select the next CEO”

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Aug-2024Johnny Grave’s role as chief executive officer of Cricket West Indies (CWI) is set to end in October 2024. Grave had taken up the position in February 2017, before which he served as commercial director at the Professional Cricketers’ Association [PCA] in England for nine years.”It has been an absolute privilege to have been CEO of CWI since February 2017,” Grave said in a CWI press release. “Having just hosted a successful T20 World Cup and delivered significant surpluses for CWI for the third consecutive year, I do feel it is the right time for me and my family to seek a new challenge.”I have received tremendous support from so many people since becoming CEO and I’d like to thank everyone, especially the staff and the players, particularly during the difficult pandemic, for their trust in me and their commitment to West Indies cricket. I have put everything into this role, and now is the right time for someone new with fresh energy to lead the organisation and continue this important work and build on the strong foundations that are now in place.”Related

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Grave had assumed the position vacated by Michael Muirhead. During his time at the helm, he oversaw three World Cups hosted in the West Indies: the 2018 women’s T20 World Cup, the 2022 Under-19 World Cup and the 2024 men’s T20 World Cup co-hosted with the USA. He was also the T20 World Cup CEO for the event in June this year.Grave had also earlier this year sounded a warning to the ICC that its revenue-share model was “completely broken” and urged the board of India, Australia and England to work with the ICC to change the economics of Test cricket.”Johnny’s efforts, particularly through challenging times such as the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as successfully hosting three World Cups including have made a lasting impact on CWI,” Kishore Shallow, CWI President said. “Appreciably, the organisation has taken many positive strides during his tenure. A standout achievement is the acquisition and full ownership of the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG), which is now our headquarters and home to our Men’s and Women’s Academies.”The CWI release also further stated the board will be initiating a “comprehensive recruitment process to select the next CEO.””The organisation is dedicated to ensuring a thorough and transparent selection process,” the release stated. “Details regarding the recruitment process will be announced shortly and will be published across various media platforms to keep stakeholders informed.”

He was given a reprimand and a demerit point after an argument over a dead ball not being called

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2024Matthew Wade has escaped a fine from the ICC following a heated on-field argument with umpire Nitin Menon during Australia’s 36-run win over England in Barbados in the T20 World Cup 2024, though he has been handed an “official reprimand” and one demerit point.Facing Adil Rashid in the 18th over of Australia’s innings, Wade backed away to the leg side as the bowler was in his action, and dead-batted the ball back down the pitch. The ICC said in a press release: “[Wade] expected it to be called a ‘dead ball’ by the umpire. When it wasn’t, Wade then argued with the umpires over the decision.”Wade exchanged words with Jos Buttler, England’s wicketkeeper, and continued to argue with Menon after taking a single off the following delivery. He accepted a Level 1 breach of the ICC’s code of conduct but avoided the maximum penalty of a 50% match fee fine, instead having a demerit point added to his record for the next two years.Related

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Buttler suggested he could have intervened, but said that Wade had backed away “very late”. He said: “[I’m not sure] whether I should have said, ‘I don’t know if he pulled away and let’s just carry on’. But the umpire seemed to be like, ‘well, because he played it, it’s a dot ball’… he seemed ready, and then pulled out very late.”Adam Zampa, who took 2 for 28 in Australia’s win, said that Wade had been fired up by the incident. “Wadey is a fiery guy, super competitive, and something ticked him over a little bit. That’s what we love about Wadey… having him behind the stumps, so competitive, you can hear his voice and that makes a huge difference.”If you’ve got a wicketkeeper who’s quiet, whose body language is the opposite to someone like Wadey, you can feel that as well. I love playing with Wadey. He’s so competitive… He backed away and he played that shot, and I think he felt like it was basically the same as letting it hit him in the leg, kind of a dead ball. But yeah, it doesn’t take much to fire Wadey up.”Zampa was also critical of England’s body language in the field, suggesting that they let their frustrations get the better of them – particularly when bowling to Travis Head and David Warner. “They were under the pump and it showed,” he said. “It’s so hard to bowl to those two in the powerplay.”If your bowlers aren’t summing up the conditions quickly, I guess it can be frustrating, and Heady and Davey took advantage of it. We try not to be like that. We speak about it a bit. Our leadership isn’t like that. They are very calm, and I think that helps us as bowlers as well.”