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“I guess the one person you want in your team when the pressure is on is Ben Stokes”, says assistant coach

Andrew McGlashan31-Oct-20221:21

Collingwood: It’s been a little more difficult than usual for the batters

With England now virtually playing knockout cricket at the T20 World Cup, assistant coach Paul Collingwood has backed Ben Stokes to come the fore after an indifferent start to the tournament as questions linger about his position in the side.Stokes made 2 off 4 balls against Afghanistan in Perth, and then was cleaned up by a wonderful delivery from Ireland’s Fionn Hand at the MCG for 6 off 8 as England fell to a shock defeat which left their tournament on a knife-edge.Related

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Stokes, who was rested from the seven-match series in Pakistan ahead of the World Cup, was unconvincing in the lead-in matches against Australia too, although he hit a quickfire 36 in the warm-up against Pakistan in Brisbane, the scene of their crunch game against New Zealand on Tuesday.Overall, Stokes’ T20I record is comfortably the least impressive of the three formats. In 33 innings, he averages 18.57 with the bat and a strike-rate of 132.02 although he has rarely had a settled position or role in the team, which is one of the reasons he was given certainty by being locked in for the No. 4 job before this tournament.Ben Stokes gears up to bowl at training•Getty Images

“I guess the one person that you want in your team when the pressure is on is Ben Stokes,” Collingwood said. “We all know what he’s capable of, and not just match-winning innings, but match-winning innings under serious amounts of pressure. I know well that if it comes down to the crunch that you want a man like Ben Stokes walking out.”Stokes has been given a new role with the ball in this tournament, opening the attack to try and exploit early swing before returning later in the innings, and has claimed three wickets in the two games. He is also an asset in the field as he showed against Australia in Canberra with a stunning boundary-saving flick back.”Not just what he gives with the bat, [it’s] the options with the ball, and the skill level he brings into the field as well.” Collingwood said. “It’s not always just the runs that he makes, but it’s everything else that he gives. But I’m pretty confident there’s an innings just around the corner, and now we’re coming into the crucial part of the World Cup, and it’s almost a knockout stage for us, it’s must-win games, you always see Ben come to the fore in those situations.”For England to win, however, they need to get on the field and the forecast isn’t overly promising for Brisbane on Tuesday, although there is a chance that the worst of the rain could clear through earlier in the day. That won’t be much consolation for Afghanistan if they get their third washout in a row when they face Sri Lanka in the first game of the day. Shared points would not be curtains for England, but it would leave them needing favours elsewhere.”In World Cups you want to see sides competing against each other, the best sides competing against each other in an equal game,” Collingwood said. “Hopefully tomorrow night the rain stays away and we can manage to do that.”

The selectors have also named two squads for a ‘Green vs Gold’ red-ball match in Adelaide next month

Andrew McGlashan10-Feb-2024Spin-bowling allrounder Sophie Molineux has been recalled to Australia’s Test squad to face South Africa at the WACA.She is part of a 14-player group that includes five spin options. Molineux, who currently does not hold a central contract, last played for Australia in 2021 and in December last year returned to action after a year sidelined by an ACL injury. Last month she scored a half-century for the Governor-General’s XI against the South Africans and is currently the joint-leading wicket-taker in the WNCL.”It was a nice call to make,” national selector Shawn Flegler said. “She’s been through a lot in the last couple of years. She was pretty emotional. She’s put a lot of hard work in over the last 12 months but even the previous 12 months as well [and has] missed out some big tournaments for us.Related

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“We’ve always kept in touch with her. We spoke to her pretty quickly afterwards and said there’s a lot of cricket coming up next season, focus on that, get yourself right and see what happens after that. She has come back and played really well…has probably surprised herself a little bit with how well she’s gone. She was an all-format player before she got injured and she’s come back in great nick.”Molineux is likely competing with the experienced Jess Jonassen for a place in the final XI with Flegler indicating it was unlikely that both left-arm spinners would play in the same side.From Australia’s previous Test squad against India, Lauren Cheatle (unavailable) and Heather Graham are not part of this group. Left-arm seamer Cheatle has recently undergone surgery for skin cancer which has ruled her out of the rest of the season.”Really tough, devastating, and the WACA probably would’ve suited her more than the India Test match, as well,” Flegler said of Cheatle. “Obviously our thoughts are with her, she just needs to concentrate on her health and hopefully she comes back and gets herself right again and gets herself back in contention.”When she’s swinging it and bowling with some pace, she’s a threat. There’s not too many left-arm pace bowlers in the world like her. She just needs to focus on getting healthy.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The experienced Megan Schutt has been included among the frontline pace options despite being open in her belief that Test cricket is now behind her. Barring injury to another option, she would appear unlikely to make the starting XI.It will be Australia’s third Test in nine months following the Ashes clash against England and the match against India in December.The squad has tried to cover as many permutations as possible with some uncertainty over what conditions will be on offer and a forecast of hot weather.”The WACA has spun this season as well,” Flegler said. “It’s going to be hot early next week, 39 on the first day as well, so we’ll have to see what the wicket looks like when we turn up. It could be a pace-bowling wicket, traditionally the WACA has been, but we’ve got all bases covered.”Meanwhile, the selectors have also named two squads for a ‘Green vs Gold’ three-day red-ball fixture which is part of an expanded Australia A programme to enable players to get more multi-day experience. CA are also working on locking in reciprocal A tours with India to go alongside their agreement with England.The match will take place at Karen Rolton Oval from March 5-7. Players involved in the WPL were not considered but a number of Australia names will be involved.Georgia Redmayne was not available due to attending a wedding while young quick Chloe Ainsworth has an ankle problem which will be assessed at the end of what has been a breakout season for her.

Green squad

Heather Graham, Maitlan Brown, Maddy Darke, Amy Edgar, Alana King, Chloe Piparo, Lilly Mills, Kate Peterson, Sophie Reid, Hayley Silver-Holmes, Courtney Sippel, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Voll

Gold squad

Charli Knott, Emma de Broughe, Darcie Brown, Sophie Day, Nicole Faltum, Tess Flintoff, Kim Garth, Sianna Ginger, Milly Illingworth, Katie Mack, Grace Parsons, Courtney Webb, Amanda-Jade Wellington

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.

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

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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.

“It’s about going out there as a team and trying to control our emotions and play them on skill”

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-20201:05

Kohli and Rahane are like chalk and cheese – Warner

Last time when India toured Australia, there was a lot of on-field chatter between the players but David Warner says this time Australia may adopt a different approach. Instead of engaging Indian players in verbal volleys, they will try to keep their emotions in check and fight it out on skills.However, he also hinted that once Virat Kohli leaves after the first Test, to be with his wife for the birth of their first child, and Ajinkya Rahane takes over the captaincy, Australia may re-consider their strategy.”For me, personally it’s about getting in the contest, so that’s basically when you’re out there, you’re trying to feel for something,” Warner said. “Last summer, I was coming off the back of the England tour, so I really had to knuckle down and try and concentrate as much as I could, and try and get into a battle out there and contest with the opposition. I managed to find that in a different way and it worked, and for me, it’s about trying to find that balance again when I’m out in the middle.”[It’s] different this year. We start with a white-ball series against India, generally the other way around, which is going to be exciting, and Virat is only playing seven of the ten games, so for us, it’s about going out there as a team and trying to control our emotions and play them on skill.”But how will he react if Indian players have some words to say to him?”I’ll always draw from that, mate. To try and get engaged, that’s the way they like to play as well. We saw that last time when we toured India. They really engaged us like that. We’re learning over time and trying not to engage in that. Probably try and reverse the effect by trying and ignoring it, trying to take it on board and using it against them by using your bat. It’s probably something I’ve learnt over time. And you don’t know the effect it can have on your team-mates as well. You’ve got to be a bit more humble in that respect.”Obviously with Virat missing, and well done to him to go home and be by his partner’s side for the birth of his first child… he’s a great guy, Jinks [Rahane]. He’s calm and very measured in his approach. He’s got a very good cricket brain. When you take Virat out of there, I don’t want to say this the wrong way, but he’s obviously passionate, aggressive, he plays with that fight when you’re out there.Virat Kohli and David Warner exchange words•Getty Images

“Jinks is calm, collected, measured. It’s like chalk and cheese with two of them two and as a player to try and engage him on the field, as we’re talking about engaging, and getting into that contest as players, we obviously got to think about how to do that especially with Ajinkya as captain. The great thing from India’s perspective is that you’ve got three if not four very good players who could captain the team at any time. With him, he’ll bring a calm and measured approach with his nature.”While Kohli will not be available for the last three Tests, India will be without Rohit Sharma for the white-ball leg. Sharma is currently recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered during IPL 2020 and has been included only in the Test squad.Warner believes Sharma’s absence is a big loss for the visitors, but at the same time, he also thinks the visitors have got enough in-form replacements.”He’s a big piece of their team they’re going to be missing, but they’ve got great in-form guys, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank [Agarwal],” Warner said. “These guys played in the IPL, so you’ve got guys in good touch and great talent and depth in Indian cricket to take that position of Rohit. He’s a big hole in their team up the top, but you’ve got guys who can replace him who are in form that will do a good enough job, if not better, as we saw in India.”Warner himself had a successful outing in the IPL despite a slow start to the season. In the first ten games, he scored 335 runs at a strike rate of 124.07. It was then he decided to open up his front leg and give it a whack. The next six matches brought him 213 runs at 155.47.”Yeah, definitely,” he said when asked if he would continue in the same aggressive manner in T20Is. “What do you want to see? 100 off ten overs or something? . In the one-day stuff, I’ll still come out and play the way I normally do. There’s probably going to be no change to that. And the T20 stuff is what people saw there.”To answer the question, of how I played at the backend of that tournament, we had to play that way on those wickets. You couldn’t just play yourself in. You had to take on that first six overs against the new ball. Here in Australia, it’s a bit different in 50-over cricket, you can still play the normal way you do and I think I showed that last year, the way I played against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. I played pretty much the same way as I did during the backend of that IPL. I won’t be changing my game and will go out and tackle it the way I always do.”There’s obviously a risk element but there’s a cricket smarts element to it as well. For myself, it’s about getting off to a good start and taking calculated risks in that middle-overs period if we’re talking about 50-over games. For me, it’s about making sure that I’m batting as much as I can and at a good strike rate as well.”

England captain encouraged by improvement in left knee as he looks to reprise fourth-seamer role this summer

Vithushan Ehantharajah11-Apr-2023Ben Stokes has requested “fast, flat” wickets for the Ashes this summer and revealed he has an XI in mind for the first Test at Edgbaston on June 16.Since taking over as Test captain at the start of last summer, Stokes’ team, under the guidance of head coach Brendon McCullum, has adopted a quicker scoring rate that has propelled England to 10 wins out of 12. In that period, their 4.76 runs per over is the highest of the 11 nations to have played Test cricket. The approach and success has created optimism of reclaiming the urn off Australia for the first time since 2015.Speaking to Sky Sports while out in the IPL, Stokes said he has spoken to curators at the five venues and asked for pitches conducive to England’s style of play, even though he accepts this may play into Australia’s hands, given they possess a quicker bowling attack.”We’ve been very clear, especially with the ground staff around England, about what type of wickets we want,” Stokes said. “And they’ve been very responsive to us which has been good.”We want fast, flat wickets. We want to go out there and score quickly. It brings their [Australia’s] guys in: if they’ve got fast wickets to bowl on then they’ll be happy with that as well.”Stokes also reiterated his desire to have up to eight bowlers to choose from ahead of every match, emphasising his 90mph-plus options in Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone.Wood is currently leading wicket-taker at the IPL with nine dismissals for Lucknow Super Giants, while Stone bowled 30 overs for Nottinghamshire in the opening round of the County Championship. Archer, however, seems to have suffered a setback in the last week.Ben Stokes was able to bowl “pain-free” for CSK as left knee improves•BCCI

The 28-year-old has missed two matches for Mumbai Indians after discomfort in his right elbow – the same elbow which kept him out for 18 months with a stress fracture. Mumbai are optimistic he will return for Sunday’s fixture against Kolkata Knight Riders.Stokes expects Archer to play some red-ball cricket before making a return to the squad after a two-year absence. That Wood and Stone are fit and firing does allow Archer breathing room, particularly given his lack of multi-day cricket since 2021. With James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson preparing for their opening round of County Championship cricket this week, England are well-stocked for the time being. The England captain has asked the ECB medical personnel to ensure that remains the case come June and across a schedule of five Ashes Tests in six weeks.”I think I know what the starting XI is going to be, there or thereabouts,” Stokes said. “I think having the option to have someone who can bowl above 90mph is what any captain wants. When it comes to that first Test match, I’ll be making sure that I pick the best team for that first game.”With our bowling group, I’ve asked the medical team to give us the best opportunity to have eight bowlers to select from for every game. I think this year’s Ashes in particular, the games are quite close together. Being able to have those resources available every game is something I’m really keen to have.”I could pick a 20-man squad (right now) because that’s how fortunate we are at the moment to be able to pick from this group of English players who are so good at the moment.”Related

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On his own fitness, Stokes believes there has been considerable improvement in his troublesome left knee, buoyed by a “pain-free” over for Chennai Super Kings against Lucknow Super Giants eight days ago. Though the over went for 18, and he missed Saturday’s victory over Mumbai Indians, albeit due to an issue with his foot, the allrounder is encouraged by the progress made so far. He has already come a long way since February’s tour of New Zealand when Stokes was only able to bowl nine overs across the two-match series.”I’ve worked so hard over the last month, five weeks, to get where I am now,” he said. “Being able to bowl pain-free – touch wood – has been good. Even (though that over), I went for 18 runs, but I was like ‘oh I managed to bowl an over without pain in my knee’. That’s down to a lot of hard work I’ve done – medically, in the gym and obviously had a bit of help with some cortisone injections (before travelling to India).”By no means a long-term remedy, Stokes has not ruled out further injections during the summer in a bid to fulfill his role as the fourth seamer.”The main priority for me is making sure that I can fulfil my role as fourth seamer in the Ashes.”I’ve had some good conversations with the people who are employed to look after us, body-wise. I said I’ll be doing everything I can whilst I’m in India to make sure that when we get to the Ashes, I’ll give myself the best opportunity to do my role.”I’ll do whatever I can to get myself through but, medical team, if there’s anything you guys can do to help to get me through that, then please do.”

CA unveil domestic summer schedule with A series locked in for August and September in Queensland while there will be six Shield rounds before the first Test against Pakistan

Alex Malcolm14-Jul-2023Australia A will host New Zealand A in two four-day games, including a day-night pink ball match, and three 50-over matches in Queensland in August and September as Cricket Australia unveiled its full domestic schedule for the 2023-24 summer.Australia A toured New Zealand in April for two four-day games, and a return series has been locked in for August and September in Brisbane and Mackay in Queensland. CA also announced there will be a Prime Minister’s XI four-day game against Pakistan at Manuka Oval in Canberra ahead of Australia’s first Test of the home summer against Pakistan in Perth on December 14. West Indies will also play a CA XI in a four-day tour game starting on January 10 at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide before the first Test of a two-Test series against Australia begins at Adelaide Oval on January 17.Related

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The Sheffield Shield season will run from October 3, 2023, until the final on March 21-25, 2024. There will be six Shield rounds before the first Test but the last of those six games begins on November 28 to accommodate the BBL starting earlier on December 7. That may mean that Australia’s multi-format players are likely to go without a red-ball game before the Pakistan Test series with the 50-over World Cup set to run from October 5 until November 19 in India. Australia are scheduled to then stay in India and play a five-match T20I series straight after the completion of the World Cup, prior to the home Test series against Pakistan.Players, support staff and management celebrate another Western Australia title•Getty Images

The Marsh Cup 50-over competition will remain as an eight-game tournament rather than a full 10-round home and away season with some matches also played at neutral venues. Two-time defending champions Western Australia will begin their tilt for a three-peat against Queensland at Allan Border Field on September 24. The majority of the Marsh Cup will be played prior to the BBL with each state playing their final two matches after the BBL has finished in late January. The Marsh Cup final will be played on February 25.The WNCL final will be played the day before on February 24. The women’s domestic season will begin on September 22 at Cricket New South Wales’ new facility, Cricket Central at Sydney Olympic Park. The venue will host WNCL, WBBL, and Marsh Cup matches this summer as well as its maiden first-class game with NSW to host Queensland in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield season. Adelaide Oval will also host a day-night WNCL match between South Australia and Victoria on January 29 as part of CA’s push to get more domestic women’s matches on the bigger international venues.There will also be a Governor General’s XI match against South Africa’s women’s team on January 24 at North Sydney Oval ahead of the women’s multiformat seven-match series against Australia starting on January 27.

The India captain says the side were “not great with the bat” in Lucknow, but having hung around to give his bowlers something to work with, he knew they could “do magic”

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-20231:46

Pujara pleased to see Rohit bring out the sweep

For the very first time in this World Cup, India had to set a total. And, coming up against England in Lucknow, they were off to a rocky start at 40 for 3 in the 12th over. From there, as per their captain and Player of the Match Rohit Sharma, it was vital for him to use all his experience on a challenging pitch and “bat to the situation”.”It’s just not about going and playing my shots, when you have that much experience you’ve got to use that experience and do whatever is necessary for the team, and it was at that point in time necessary for me to take the game as deep as possible and create that partnership and get to a decent total,” Rohit said after the game.He had raced away to 17 off 11 in the first two overs after England put India in, but as England repeatedly broke through at the other end, he cut back, easing his way to 29 off 40 before he would hit his next boundary – in the 14th over on his way to 87 off 101, which set India up for a 100-run win.That margin of victory might be as convincing as they come, but Rohit felt India had left a lot of runs out on the field. He had done the initial repair job with KL Rahul, putting on a stand of 91 for the fourth wicket, and then adding 33 more in partnership with Suryakumar Yadav before falling 13 short of a hundred. From there, England chipped away regularly, tying India down to 229 for 9.Related

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• Report – Shami, Bumrah demolish England to make it six out of six for India

“I still felt like we were 20-30 runs short once we finished,” Rohit said. “The new ball was a bit challenging and then obviously as the game went on the ball got softer, it was not easy to rotate strike. But we said in the middle that we’ve got to keep digging in, keep digging in and then, finally, you know we got to a decent partnership there, but like I said we were 20-30 runs short towards the end.”Regardless of the conditions, Rohit said some of India’s issues came down to their batters being loose. Shubman Gill was bowled by a good one from Chris Woakes – albeit driving a touch airily – and then Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer were poor in their shot selection, offering up catches, the former for a duck. After their repair work Rahul and Rohit, and then Suryakumar too, were caught going for the big shots.Rohit Sharma kept India on track despite early losses•ICC via Getty Images

“We were not great with the bat today, losing three wickets in the first powerplay isn’t the ideal situation but when you are in a situation like that all you are looking to do is create that long partnership, which we got. But then couple of guys threw it [away] at the end, including myself,” Rohit said. “But at that stage all I was thinking was to be positive and the balls in my areas I wanted to put it away. That’s how you put the pressure back on the bowler and the opposition as well but, yeah, when you look at the overall picture, I thought we were 30 runs short there.”Those lost runs were quickly forgotten as India quickly carved up England’s line-up, pacers Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah doing the early damage. Rohit was all praise for his attack: “With the experience that our seamers have now, you know you can always rely and bank on it that they could come good and get you those crucial breakthroughs and that is exactly what our seamers did. They exploited the conditions well and I thought they put the ball in the right areas to create that doubt in the batsmen’s minds.”Asked by Michael Atherton at the post-match presentation if India’s is the best-rounded attack in the tournament, Rohit said: “We’ve got a good balance. A couple of good spinners and the seamers have a lot of experience playing in these conditions and, yeah, if I look at the overall options I have in terms of bowling, there is a fair bit and with experience as well.”So you know when you have a bowling line up like that, it’s very important that the batters put the runs on the board, give them something to work for and then rely on them to do the magic.”And magic they did, rolling England over with 15 overs to spare to keep India unbeaten at the top of the table and consign the defending champions to their fifth loss in six games.