Tag Futebol

RCB have lost all three games at home this season while DC are entering the contest as table-toppers

Sruthi Ravindranath28-Feb-2025

Who’s playing

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) vs Delhi Capitals (DC)
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, 7.30pm IST

What to expect

A big win against Mumbai Indians (MI) was just what DC needed to shake off any tiredness going into the next game. They will be facing a bruised RCB less than 24 hours after their match against MI, but will have a lot to cheer about. Firstly, they are at the top of the table with eight points from six games. Their bowling in the last two games, where they’ve kept their opponents to sub-130 totals, has been quite excellent. They’ve also been among the best fielding units this tournament, with the likes of Annabel Sutherland, Minnu Mani and Jemimah Rodrigues saving a number of runs with their acrobatics on the field.RCB have lost their last three games at their home venue, but the defeat in the game against Gujarat Giants – where they were restricted to 125 for 7 “affected” them the most, captain Smriti Mandhana said after the game. There are several questions for them heading into this clash: is the batting too dependent on Ellyse Perry? Are they missing their spin trio of Asha Sobhana, Sophie Molineux and Shreyanka Patil, who were their key bowlers at the Chinnaswamy last year? Is Mandhana’s subpar form affecting them a bit too much? RCB will want to quickly find answers and give the home crowd something to cheer about for one last time this season before moving to the Lucknow leg.

Form guide

Royal Challengers Bengaluru LLL (last three matches, most recent first)
Delhi Capitals WWLMinnu Mani has had an impact despite bowling just 14 overs across five games•BCCI

Team news

RCB made one change in the last game, bringing back legspinner Prema Rawat for left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht. Rawat, however, bowled just one over in the game and conceded 19 runs.Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable XI): 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 Danni Wyatt-Hodge, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Raghvi Bisht, 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Kanika Ahuja, 7 Georgia Wareham, 8 Sneh Rana, 9 Kim Garth, 10 Prema Rawat/ Ekta Bisht, 11 Renuka SinghDC are likely to persist with the winning combination.Delhi Capitals (probable XI): 1 Meg Lanning (capt), 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Jemimah Rodrigues, 4 Annabel Sutherland, 5 Marizanne Kapp, 6 Sarah Bryce (wk), 7 Jess Jonassen, 8 Niki Prasad, 9 Minnu Mani, 10Titas Sadhu, 11 Shikha Pandey

Players to watch: Minnu Mani and Georgia Wareham

Be it with the ball or as a fielder, Minnu Mani gave it her all in the game against MI. After bowling a quiet 12th over, she dealt Mumbai a double jolt in the 17th, dismissing S Sajana and Amelia Kerr. She came back to remove Sansriti Gupta in the 19th to finish with figures of 3 for 17 from three overs on a sluggish surface. Her flying one-handed stop to her right to save a boundary in the 13th over highlighted why she’s one of the best fielders going around in the circuit. She’s bowled only 14 overs across five matches and has taken five wickets. DC will want to make use of her bowling more, allowing her to bowl her full quota which she’s done only in two games this season.Georgia Wareham has picked up nine wickets so far•BCCI

Georgia Wareham bounced back well after conceding 50 runs in the first match of the season, picking nine wickets in five matches so far. She picked two crucial wickets against Giants, removing Harleen Deol and top-scorer Ashleigh Gardner, although it was a bit too late. She has played at No. 3 for Australia before – even has a half-century playing in the position – and RCB could use her as a floater in the middle order in case of early wickets.

Stats that matter

• This season’s top four wicket-takers so far – Jess Jonassen (9 wickets), Renuka Singh (9), Georgia Wareham (9) and Annabel Sutherland (8) – will be part of this match
• Meg Lanning has the most fifty-plus scores in the WPL (eight), going past Ellyse Perry
• Toss has been decisive at the M Chinnaswamy, with chasing teams winning six out of the seven games

Labuschagne wasn’t anywhere near Australia’s World Cup squad until two months ago… but fate had something else in store for him

Shashank Kishore20-Nov-20232:15

Moody: Labuschagne perfectly suited for pitches like these

Marnus Labuschagne’s most significant contribution at the 2023 ODI World Cup until the final was his assist in a run out from the deep to help seal a tense game against New Zealand in Dharamsala.With the bat, he had made 304 runs at a strike rate of 75.62. It raised questions – did it make sense, especially since Australia had another anchor, Steven Smith, who they wanted in the XI.As it turned out, Australia kept the faith, and Labuschagne delivered in the final with a made-for-the-situation innings, an unbeaten 58 off 110 balls, to help take Australia home.Related

• Australia player reactions: 'I think this is bigger than 2015'

• Head's magnificent 137 leads Australia to sixth World Cup title

• Cummins pleased Australia 'saved the best for last'

• How Australia silenced 90,000 voices

• Advance Australia, inevitably

It was tailor-made for him, to stand alongside Travis Head, who had built a strong platform on his way to a barnstorming century. The target was just 241. Labuschagne had walked out at 47 for 3. He said later that he didn’t need any clarity on how he had to approach it. By the time their 192-run stand ended with Head holing out in the deep, the trophy was just two runs away.”I was quite nervous when I was waiting to bat,” Labuschagne told reporters afterwards. “But when you get on the field, nothing really changes. You’re watching the ball, and you just try and get in the zone, trying to focus, the noise sort of gets blocked out, it gets into the periphery, but it was loud. There was a bit of pressure there, but it was good.”My mindset was you treat it like a Test match. When you’re batting with Travis Head, there’s usually no run-rate pressure. When you’re chasing a lower total like 230 [241], unless you’re really struggling, there’s not going to be much run-rate pressure. It was just about being nice and positive, but also lock-in like I would if I was playing a Test match, just making sure I was defending the ball well and when they bowled a bad ball, score off that. Just make sure you’re building a partnership with your partner out there.”Labuschagne showed off his World Cup medal as he spoke. Prior to speaking to us – when Pat Cummins was speaking to the media – Labuschagne had stood at the corner of the room, clicking selfies as he tried out a few different poses while clutching his medal, chuckling to himself all along.Perhaps there was realisation at how things can change when you least expect. Labuschagne wasn’t anywhere near Australia’s World Cup squad until two months ago. He’d even been left out of their tour party to South Africa, a precursor to their World Cup campaign, after averaging 22.30 at a strike rate of 69.87 in 14 innings prior to that. But fate had something else in store.Marnus Labuschagne acknowledges the applause on registering a half-century in the World Cup final•ICC/Getty Images

As he was preparing to play for Australia A against the touring New Zealand A in Brisbane, he was summoned to South Africa as a batting cover for Smith following an injury scare (wrist tendon). At the time, it was seen as nothing more than a trip to the country he hails from, except his mum, Alta, had an inkling that Labuschagne would play the series opener in Bloemfontein. Maybe it was just a mother’s instinct, but it was prophetic.Labuschagne came in as a concussion sub for Cameron Green in the first ODI and finished the match 80 not out to seal a tense three-wicket win. The situation was similar to the Ashes Test at Lord’s in 2019, when he walked out to bat after Smith had been concussed, and then batted with poise against a raging pace attack like he hadn’t experienced before.”It’s hard for me not to believe in miracles,” he said. “There’s someone above putting the pieces of the puzzle together. I think unofficially I was dropped five times. I wasn’t in the squad in South Africa, someone got concussed, I got an opportunity, got some runs and pushed my case. Then I got on the squad, and played 19 games in a row, since the first South Africa match. I’m very thankful to the coaches and selectors for sticking by me. There are some really good players. Marcus Stoinis missed out this game, and he’s a phenomenal player. I’m just very thankful they stuck by me and I lucked out.”Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne’s partnership pretty much did it for India•ICC/Getty Images

Labuschagne admitted that while his overall output was far from satisfactory, there had been shades of form in the nets. When he saw the surface for the final – a black soil deck that ended up aiding slow turn – he knew it was right down his alley. It also helped that the slightly bigger ground dimensions in Ahmedabad suited him, in terms of being able to hit the ball into the open spaces to milk runs.”I didn’t get a hit against Bangladesh, I missed out on a few games to bat, but I felt like since the start of the South Africa tour, I’d been batting really well. Some of the scenarios that I came in during this World Cup have been tough. Three-four down early, trying to navigate those scenarios have been tough. That contributed a little bit of my demise,” Labuschagne said. “At times, I didn’t score as fast as I would’ve liked but the most important thing is winning games and today was a great example of just absorbing that pressure and making sure that I was there at the end.”I wasn’t going to give it up for anything at the end. They could’ve brought all the fielders around me, inside the circle, I was still going to block it and make sure I wasn’t getting out now.”As victory neared, Labuschagne derived satisfaction from silencing the home crowd. He touched upon how banking on past experience – he played a Test match here earlier in the year – had been beneficial in trying to keep out the noise.”The sound of silence is a great sound in India because it means you’re on top,” he said. “When me and Travis were batting, we were discussing about making sure we got them here, everything’s quiet, just keep playing. We played two different styles, he played an unbelievable innings, but it was about keeping engaged every ball, play every ball on merit and keep the crowd out of it.”

Latham (69), Mitchell (63), Guptill (57) and Conway (56) make short work of a chase of 302

Associated Press22-Aug-2022Four batters posted half centuries as New Zealand overhauled the West Indies’ total of 301 for 8 to win the third ODI on Sunday by five wickets and clinch the series 2-1.Tom Latham scored 69 and put on 120 for the fourth wicket with Daryl Mitchell (63) in a stand which paced the run chase and carried New Zealand in sight of victory.

WI fined for slow over-rate

West Indies have been fined 40% of their match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate in the final ODI. They were found to be two overs short after time allowances were taken into consideration and, in accordance with the World Cup Super League playing conditions, docked two points from their tally.

Martin Guptill (57) and Devon Conway (56) had earlier combined to add 82 runs for the second wicket to give New Zealand a platform for a demanding chase.Mitchell was out with the score on 248 in the 42nd over and Latham at 259 in the 44th, with New Zealand still requiring 43 runs. Jimmy Neesham settled the issue with a decisive innings of 34 from 11 deliveries, taking 18 runs from the 45th over bowled by Yannic Cariah.Neesham hit a six from the bowling of West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran to end the chase with 17 balls remaining.”It was obviously nice to make a contribution,” Latham said. “I think the partnership that Daryl and I were able to make put them under pressure. We set a target of getting to that 40-over mark where we needed a run a ball.”Kyle Mayers acknowledges his second ODI hundred•AFP/Getty Images

Latham appeared to have erred when he chose to bowl first and as the West Indies flourished in good batting conditions.
Kyle Mayers made 105 in a 173-run opening partnership with Shai Hope, and Pooran smashed nine sixes in a rapid 91 for the West Indies.The pitch proved much better for batting than those on which the West Indies won the first match by five wickets and New Zealand won the second by 50 runs. The highest previous total in the series was New Zealand’s 212 in the second match.Mayers and Hope stayed together for almost 35 overs to shape the West Indies innings. Their partnership ended when Hope was out for 51 off 100 balls and, as often happens with large partnerships, Mayers was out two balls later and without addition to the total. Brandon King fell soon afterwards with the score at 181 for 3 in a sudden reversal for the West Indies.But Pooran picked up the pace again, posting a half-century from 33 balls. He had hit nine sixes and and four fours from 55 balls when he was out in the 49th over.Mayers and Hope made a cautious start to the innings as they found the pace of the new pitch, crawling to 24 after 10 overs, negotiating a short rain break in the seventh over.”I took my time in the powerplay and it gave me the chance to get in. The last two games I got out in the powerplay,” Mayers said in a television interview. “It’s not every day you bat the powerplay for 20 runs but it worked out well in the end.”

Cummins, Warner and Smith to feature in Marsh Cup fixture ahead of IPL departure

Andrew McGlashan29-Mar-2021It would not be this cricket season without Covid-19 making a late reappearance. After the WNCL final was briefly caught up in the fallout of the new community outbreak in Brisbane, the last rounds of the Marsh Cup and Sheffield Shield, with finals berths up for grabs, will now try and avoid the ramifications.So far the impact has been mitigated with Queensland flying to Sydney ahead of schedule on Monday before Greater Brisbane went into a three-day snap lockdown to try and get on top of the cluster after four new cases were confirmed on Monday.The New South Wales government has said that anyone arriving from Brisbane will need to abide by the same lockdown conditions. However the Queensland squad, which faces New South Wales in the Marsh Cup on Wednesday and then the Sheffield Shield from Saturday, will be able to train and play in a similar scenario to the one that enabled Victoria to travel to Sydney during that state’s February lockdown.The winner of the Marsh Cup game at North Sydney Oval will earn hosting rights for the final on April 11 although ESPNcricinfo understands that if Queensland win there will not be an immediate decision on the venue while the impact of Covid situation is monitored.On Friday, the Queensland WNCL squad had to undergo late-night Covid tests when the first case of community transmission was announced in Brisbane. They all came back negative in time for the final on Saturday.South Australia, who play Victoria in Melbourne in their final matches of the season, may be affected by the situation having recently completed a stay in Brisbane with the Victoria government having now declared the city a “red zone”. It is understood that all the teams who have recently been in Queensland have undergone regular testing.Qualification and hosting rights for the Sheffield Shield final are also up for grabs in the final round matches which start on Saturday with a three-horse race between Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia – the latter who face Tasmania in Perth.Both Queensland and New South Wales have been able to make significant inclusions in their squads: Steven Smith will play the one-day game for the Blues, having recovered from an elbow injury, while legspinner Mitchell Swepson is available for Queensland in the Shield.It will be Smith’s first match since mid-February and his last of the season – he will jump on a plane to India the next day along with the rest of the IPL-bound Australia players.Pat Cummins, the New South Wales one-day captain, is among those names along with David Warner, Moises Henriques, Josh Hazlewood and Daniel Sams who has been recalled in place of the injured Sean Abbott.”The way we look at it is it’s always a bonus when we have the Aussie guys back in the group but the fact they are going [to the IPL] means we may get the chance to give other guys the opportunity to step up,” New South Wales coach Phil Jaques said.”First port of call though is to make the final and to do that we need to try and win on Wednesday. Then we can prepare for a final which will be an exciting opportunity.”Swepson, meanwhile, has recovered from the stress fracture of the C6 vertebrae in his neck which has sidelined him since the end of the BBL and had been expected to keep him out for the season.In the first part of the Sheffield Shield he took 23 wickets in three matches including three five-wicket hauls. He was then recalled to the Australia side for the T20I series against India, was part of the Test bubble without playing and was included for the postponed South Africa tour shortly before his injury was confirmed.Queensland Marsh Cup squad Usman Khawaja (capt), Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Brendan Doggett, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Billy StanlakeQueensland Sheffield Shield squad Usman Khawaja (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Joe Burns, Brendan Doggett, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan McSweeney, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Bryce Street, Mitchell SweepsNew South Wales Marsh Cup squad Pat Cummins (capt), Oliver Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Matthew Gilkes, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Kurtis Patterson, Daniel Sams, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

Trent Boult has a bowl in the nets, but his participation in the first Test remains uncertain

Andrew McGlashan in Perth10-Dec-2019New Zealand are ready to embrace the “most extreme” conditions they could encounter in Australia, but don’t believe the pink ball will be toughest element of their challenge in the Perth Test.The forecast is for temperatures to top 40 degrees Celsius over the weekend, and while that is not unusual for cricketers around the world, New Zealand have only three days to prepare for the opening Test. Add to that the pace and bounce the Perth Stadium pitch is expected to produce, plus a chance of cracks opening up as the heat takes it effect.It doesn’t end there. There is the floodlight element, but with the game starting a 1pm local time there will only be a short window played in darkness, although the lights will start to have an effect around 5pm as shadows come across the ground.ALSO READ: New Zealand’s great chance to defy history in Australia“Coming to Perth is probably the most extreme [conditions] we will face, perhaps if it was Melbourne or Sydney it would be a little more like home, so good on them for bringing us over here first,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said. “This is a different challenge than we have had for a while, we’ve had a lot of success at home and we play well there generally, but Australia also came and beat us there a few years ago.”We’ve got to be careful that we don’t overstate what the pink ball might do at night. We start an hour earlier than most pink-ball Tests, so that’s an hour less in darkness, so perhaps a bigger factor may be the heat that we are going to face over the next four or five days and making sure we are aware of that. We’ve played in many different conditions so it’s not a surprise.”The Australians are taking the conditions in their stride and coach Justin Langer said they would “hopefully” have an advantage from it, but acknowledged that all players would be tested.”We are talking about elite athletes so they’ll be well prepared for it but there’s no doubt it will have an effect. If you’re a fast bowler or batting in a helmet for hopefully a long period of time being in 40 is like being in a sauna,” Langer said. “It will be a battle of endurance, fitness and skill and, again, that’s why we love Test cricket.”New Zealand are ranked second compared to Australia’s fifth but do not have history on their side as they aim for just their second series win in Australia following the 1985-86 victory. Asked whether he believed New Zealand had earned enough kudos for their climb up the rankings, Stead said the outcome of this series and the one to follow against India were important in making a judgement.”I think after this summer you’ll probably know a lot more,” he said. “When you look at the programme we have – England, Australia and then India – you’d argue they are up there with the best teams in the world. When we get to end of the summer I think it’s probably an easier time for me to answer that.” New Zealand had a daytime training session at Perth Stadium on Tuesday [they will train under lights again on Wednesday] and there was a scare when Ross Taylor took a nasty blow on the right hand from a throwdown. He immediately dropped his bat, ripped off the glove and left the net with the physio but he appeared to have escaped serious damage. An NZC spokesman said initial assessment suggested no fracture and there were no immediate plans to get it x-rayed.There was already a fitness battle going on with Trent Boult having his first bowl since arriving in Australia as he aimed to overcome a side strain. He sent down two spells during the session at decent pace, between them having a lengthy conversation with captain Kane Williamson, Stead and bowling coach Shane Jurgensen.”We’ve got to be really careful how we manage the next couple of days if we do think he’s going to start,” Stead said of Boult. “I don’t think [today] you’ll see him bowling 15 overs or anything, but he does need to be able to prove that he can get the intensity we want.”On some lively net pitches, Lockie Ferguson looked a handful, but he might need Boult to be ruled out in order to make his debut despite the attraction of his pace on the Perth Stadium pitch.”I think most wickets will suit Lockie,” Stead said. “He’s certainly got pace and we are acutely aware of that and he’s got a very good red-ball record. The hard thing for us is how he fits into the team, we’ve had some success with guys who have been consistently there.”The pace would suit him, no doubt about it, people want to see the ball flying around – look at Australia’s attack, they are built around [Mitchell] Starc, [Pat] Cummins and [Josh] Hazlewood – so if he gets a go it will be exciting.”

The visitors hung on by two wickets to draw the Dubai Test, as Pakistan applied immense pressure in the final hour

The Report by Danyal Rasool11-Oct-2018Never mind the last over. This was never meant to go to the last session, with Pakistan having left 140 overs for themselves to bowl Australia out. But Australia, spearheaded by a superhuman effort from Usman Khawaja, who batted for 302 balls, and captain Tim Paine at the end, kept Pakistan out, ensuring a draw that simply wasn’t an option for much of this match. It required Nathan Lyon batting with his captain for the last 11 overs, when it looked like the visitors would succumb after Khawaja had been dismissed, but Paine and Lyon rallied. As Pakistan prowled, Paine dug deep.The records might be meaningless to an Australian side playing to salvage their reputations after the disaster of Cape Town a few months ago. After that, Paine said he wanted to captain an Australia side the fans could be proud of. It’s taken no more than one Test match to achieve that, with Australia summoning all their powers of grit and fortitude to ensure that they would make the opposition earn a win over their dead bodies. As it was, Australia remained alive, just, and Pakistan, having dominated for such large periods in the match, had nothing to show for it.But there were records made and records broken along the way. This was the second-highest fourth-innings score by a visiting team in Asia in history. Khawaja, who scored 141, surpassed the record for the highest-ever fourth-innings score by an individual batsman, going past Younis Khan’s 131 in 2010. Australia played one ball short of 140 overs, longer than they’ve ever batted in the fourth innings of a Test. All that work to ensure the series remained 0-0. How’s that for fighting spirit?It really wasn’t meant to be so difficult for Pakistan, who needed just seven wickets today to complete what looked like a routine win. But Khawaja and Travis Head carried on from where they had left off yesterday, batting 49 overs together and keeping Pakistan wicketless all morning to begin raising hopes, however faint, that a draw was possible.Draws between these two sides don’t come too often; the last one was 20 years and 20 Test matches ago. Pakistan looked like they were on their way again after Mohammad Hafeez – who in hindsight was perhaps a little underused – trapped Head in front two overs after lunch.Marnus Labuschagne never appeared set against the spinners, as Yasir began to look more potent than did at any point all match. He finally got his first wicket as the debutant went back to a delivery that went straight on, and was trapped plumb in front of middle.Even Tim Paine, who in the end was the man holding back a Pakistan surge, seemed particularly vulnerable for the first half hour in the middle, never quite sure of his footwork, or of which ball to leave. But some of Khawaja’s confidence rubbed off on his captain. As Paine began to get set, Pakistan found themselves having to break down the third significant partnership of the innings, with time running out.There was little drama for the first 90 minutes or so after tea, but Yasir finally broke through Khawaja’s vigil with a googly that the left-hander, for once, failed to sweep effectively. That brought Mitchell Starc to the crease, and gave Pakistan fresh hope. Within 13 balls, Pakistan had Australia eight down, and with Australia still needing to bat almost 13 overs, Pakistan were on course yet again.Crucially, though, Paine still hung around. In Lyon, he found a man able to shut out pressure, and simply focused on the task at hand. So comfortably did Lyon hold his end up that Paine never really looked to farm the strike. For a captain just two matches into the job, it is an ideal way to set the tempo for his tenure, as he embodied the virtues he wants his side to embrace, and played the game (in its true rather than vapid sense) hard but fair.The team spirit of Australia had been visible all game, even on the first two days when Pakistan’s batsmen were grinding them into the dust. The shoulders never dropped, the fast bowlers kept their pace up, and the spinners’ lines never wavered. Australia were fully focused on the task at hand, right until Paine blocked Yasir Shah’s final delivery, forcing Sarfraz to pull out the stumps and offer him a handshake.If Paine’s request to start the match with handshakes had seemed a little contrived to Sarfraz, the Pakistan captain reciprocating the gesture at the end would have been out of nothing but respect.

The spoils were shared in Cardiff where the match was abandoned after 17.2 overs of Glamorgan’s innings

ECB Reporters Network15-Jul-2017
ScorecardJacques Rudolph was leading Glamorgan to a hefty total•Getty Images

The spoils were shared in Cardiff where the match was abandoned after 17.2 overs of Glamorgan’s innings which was set to leave a demanding target with Jacques Rudolph unbeaten on 65 off 37 balls.Despite a 35-minute delay because of rain before the start there was no reduction in overs and, after winning the toss, Somerset, who had lost their previous nine games in the competition, elected to bowl first.They quickly gained success when Lewis Gregory, with the second ball of his first over, had David Lloyd caught behind. Aneurin Donald, however, was soon into his stride, pulling Craig Overton for four, before sweeping him over the wicketkeeper for six.Colin Ingram, who scored a 46-ball century against Sussex last week, then struck Tim Groenewald for fourteen runs in an over, which included a huge six fourteen rows back into the members enclosure.Somerset took their second wicket when Donald skied Gregory to mid-on after scoring 24 from 13 balls, but Ingram kept attacking, hitting Allenby for another six, before he was caught on the midwicket boundary for 39 from 21 balls.Glamorgan were 92 for 3 at the halfway stage, but then lost their fourth wicket when Andrew Salter was well held by Max Waller off his own bowling.Rudolph and Chris Cooke maintained the momentum with a rapid partnership of 52 in 4.2 overs, which ended when Cooke struck a full toss from Groenewald to mid-off.Rudolph then reached his fifty from only 28 balls, which included four fours and two sixes, with Glamorgan reaching 158 for 5 after 16 overs but after eight deliveries the rain returned.

Alastair Cook has backed Chris Woakes and Nick Compton to deliver in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham

George Dobell at Chester-le-Street26-May-2016Alastair Cook has backed Chris Woakes and Nick Compton to deliver in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham, but admitted that both players need a performance to retain their places beyond the series.Woakes comes into the team in place of the injured local hero Ben Stokes. But while Cook has confirmed that Woakes is likely, fitness permitting, to play in both the remaining Tests of the series, he also admitted that he had yet to settle in Test cricket.Woakes’ current Test record – he has taken eight wickets in six Tests at an average of 63.75 and he averages 21.50 with the bat – is modest. But, over the last two rounds of Championship matches, Woakes has taken career-best bowling figures of 9 for 36 against Durham and scored the ninth first-class century of his career against Nottinghamshire. Cook hopes, therefore, that he enters this Test with confidence soaring and insisted that he was highly rated by his colleagues.”He is another one of those guys we have not seen the best of in international cricket,” Cook said. “There is no doubt in my mind that facing him in the nets, seeing him bowl for Warwickshire or knowing his character that he has a lot going for him. He is really respected.”He just needs that performance to make him feel settled in the side and help him feel he belongs in international cricket. I have no doubt about that. I am really excited about him playing and he has the next couple of games with Ben out. He can make future selection really hard.”Cook admitted there had been a temptation to select Jake Ball, the in-form Nottinghamshire seamer who has taken 21 Championship wickets at a cost of 22.28 this season. But England enjoy the depth that fielding an extra allrounder gives them and feel that Woakes is a closer like-for-like replacement for Stokes.”We enjoy playing with this balance of the side,” Cook said. “We know Ben balances the side really well, but he could get injured [again] and obviously we need the competition in that all-rounder place.”Ben is going to be a big loss for us. But injuries are part and parcel of a side and we need to know we can play without him. Chris has that opportunity to fill the all-rounder role and Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow go up a spot in the batting, so it gives them more of an opportunity.”While Cook said Stokes’ operation had “gone well” he also cautioned against rushing him back into action and suggested it was too early to say whether he would be fit for the start of the Test series against Pakistan.Compton, meanwhile, has averaged 27.22 in the five Tests he has played since coming back into the side in South Africa. In that time, he has scored one half-century from nine innings with most recent six innings bringing 15, 26, 0, 19, 6 and 0. He admitted on Wednesday that he was playing for his international future.Cook agreed with that view, but offered encouragement over his ability to perform under pressure.”It’s quite refreshing he has come out and said it in one way,” Cook said. “You are always under pressure playing for England because of the competition for places. People want to take his place. That is the nature of the beast.”We know he is a good player,” he added. “There’s no doubt about that, you see his record in first-class cricket over the past five years, he is right up there in the run-scorer’s chart. He made an important 80-odd in South Africa in tough conditions, he battled hard and set up that win, and he scored two hundreds already so he can play at this level.”He knows, like all of us, he is a score away and he will need a score. But this is a good place to do that.”Cook also said that the team management had discussed batting Moeen at No. 6 in the hope of coaxing more out of his batting. In the end, though, they decided to keep Bairstow one place ahead of him, with both moving up one position.”We did discuss leaving Jonny at seven,” Cook said. “I just thought that was a bit complicated; a bit funky.”I imagine it is hard for Mo, a guy who has batted at the top of the order ,to bat lower down and I don’t think we have seen the best of Mo’s batting. It’s an area where we can unlock a bit more. He has played some brilliant innings for us, those partnerships with Stuart Broad against Australia were devastating against high-quality bowling. He is a brilliant cricketer and I think he will get better and better.”

Ashley Giles’s disclosure at a Lancashire members forum that Andrew Flintoff is unlikely to play any cricket for Lancashire this season should surprise no one

Paul Edwards28-Apr-2015Ashley Giles’s disclosure at a Lancashire members forum that Andrew Flintoff is unlikely to play any cricket for Lancashire this season should surprise no one.The demands made on current players, even T20 specialists, are not easy to balance with a host of media appearances and the player himself said at the end of the Big Bash that he was struggling to square his many other commitments with the regimen of a professional sportsman.Even at Lancashire, the county represented with such distinction by that mighty trencherman Jack Simmons, chip-van tours and cricket no longer mix.Old Trafford coach Giles was already finding it difficult to contact Flintoff and had opted to send him texts, facts which scarcely suggest a very close relationship between the pair.Moreover, the player himself had been forthright in his criticism of his county during a winter in which a number of loyal servants, including Academy Director John Stanworth, had been made redundant. That might also have made a return to the staff pretty difficult.This summer Flintoff has a stand-up tour arranged in addition to his TV commitments and whatever other bookings and his representatives accept.Lancashire supporters will therefore have to content themselves with their memories of his three appearances in the 2014 NatWest T20 Blast, the last of which took place in the final at Edgbaston when his eight-ball 20 not out just failed to secure the trophy for his team.From there, there was a Big Bash season where Flintoff was a popular figure at Brisbane Heat but he made more of an impact as a commentator than a player and he conceded when it was all over that the end of the road was nigh.It is surely pretty unlikely that any other county will offer Flintoff a T20 contract, although the temptation to ask Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie whether he has considered the possibility may be too delicious to resist.

A sizzling counterattack by New Zealand captain Ross Taylor produced a high-speed century that was the spark that led to an improved display from the visitors on the opening day of the second Test against India

The Report by Sharda Ugra31-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRoss Taylor got to his hundred at over a run a ball•Associated Press

A sizzling counterattack by New Zealand captain Ross Taylor produced a high-speed century that sparked an improved display from the visitors on the opening day of the second Test against India. At stumps, New Zealand, who had elected to bat, were 328 for 6. Led by Taylor’s incandescent 113, New Zealand’s batsmen had, in the course of a single day, scored more runs than they had in both innings in Hyderabad.Play was stopped due to bad light and eventually called off for the day about half an hour before the scheduled close, the umpires offering light to the batsman after Umesh Yadav bowled half of his first over with the second new ball. Kruger van Wyk and Doug Bracewell strode off, van Vyk batting on a deftly engineered 63 and Bracwell on 30. The two had found themselves at the crease after Taylor’s departure, and within an hour had put on 82 for the seventh wicket.Taylor’s seventh Test century formed the bulk of the New Zealand batting effort. It was buffeted by two fifties, one by Martin Guptill at the top of the order which ended in dismay and the other by keeper van Wyk. It ensured that New Zealand could dismiss the innings and 115-run defeat in Hyderabad as a nightmare that need not be repeated.After the departure of New Zealand’s top three batsmen before lunch, Taylor let his aggression and intent take over. It was a fearless innings, the runs scored both robustly and in fine style. Taylor slog swept Ashwin for six before the lunch interval and when he returned, cranked the scoring up a gear. The India bowlers were hit all around the Chinnaswamy Stadium, with lusty slog sweeps, crisp straight drives and spanking shots through cover. New Zealand, or rather Taylor, was scoring at nearly seven runs an over in the hour after lunch. The hardworking Ojha was punished with four boundaries in his second over after lunch, Zaheer for two including a disdainful straight drive in his second spell, Ashwin was guided fine down to the boundary past leg slip. Taylor got to his century in 99 balls, cutting Ojha to the point boundary and two balls later, hit him down the ground for his second six over long-off.For a captain who had a miserable first Test – losing the toss, dropping catches in slip and scoring nine in two innings – Taylor’s innings on Friday was a more just exhibition of his batting abilities. On New Zealand’s miserable tour of the West Indies in July, it was Taylor who had scored the sole New Zealand century, in the fourth ODI in St Kitts. New Zealand’s previous Test century had come six months ago from Kane Williamson in a drawn Test against South Africa in Wellington.Taylor’s innings lit up the Bangalore crowd that grew through the day; his aggressive mode of batting had also been welcomed at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, when he had played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. The reception he received after his hundred against India, also, didn’t lack in either enthusiasm or warmth.

Smart stats

• Ross Taylor’s century is his seventh in Tests and his third against India. He is one among five New Zealand batsmen to score three Test centuries against India.

• Taylor’s strike rate of 88.97 during his knock of 113 is his second-highest for a fifty-plus score. It is also the fifth-highest strike rate for a visiting batsman in India (centuries only).

• The 107-run stand between Taylor and Daniel Flynn is the fourth-highest fourth-wicket stand for New Zealand against India. It is, however, their highest fourth-wicket stand in India.

• The 82-run stand between Kruger van Wyk and Doug Bracewell is the fifth-highest seventh-wicket stand for New Zealand in India.

• Pragyan Ojha, who picked up 4 for 90, became the first specialist Indian spinner to open the bowling in a Test. The last Indian spinner (non-regular spinner) to do so was ML Jaisimha in 1969.

• New Zealand’s run-rate at the end of 80 overs (3.95) is the fourth-highest for a visiting team in Tests in India. The highest (80-over run-rate) is Australia’s 4.28 in Nagpur in 2004 followed by Sri Lanka’s 4.11 in Mumbai (Brabourne) in 2009.

It was vital for New Zealand that their batting continued forcefully, after Martin Guptill had shaken off the early dismissal of Brendon McCullum in the morning. Guptill played the aggressor in his 63-run second-wicket stand with Kane Williamson. After being troubled by Ojha and dropped off Zaheer on 17, Guptill found his groove, his innings resolute in judgement and positive in strokeplay. He struck three boundaries off Yadav in a single over and two off Zaheer, including a cracking backfoot drive through extra cover. Less than half an hour before lunch though, Ojha pulled in the fielders, tossed one up and lured Guptill. It was the perfect bait: the ball didn’t turn, Guptill’s intended shot on the on-side ended up in Gautam Gambhir’s hands at midwicket. Despite India’s slow bowling tradition, Ojha was the first specialist India spinner to open the bowling in a Test match, and took four of the six New Zealand wickets to fall today.Taylor, who owned the second session, was out in the fifth over after tea, forced to sweep against Ojha with the off side plugged. The ball was tossed up and Ojha hit Taylor in front of off and middle. His innings of 113 off 127 balls had slowed down only at the fall of Daniel Flynn’s wicket, bringing to an end New Zealand’s biggest partnership on this tour: 107 runs for the fourth wicket. Flynn had hung on gamely over an hour for 33, but for the third time in three innings, was leg before trying to sweep Ashwin. The loss of James Franklin – he hit a full toss from Ojha to a diving Suresh Raina at midwicket – had New Zealand stuttering at 215 for 5.But inspired by Taylor’s bold batsmanship, the undefeated 82-run seventh-wicket partnership between van Wyk and Bracewell added 32 runs in five overs following the captain’s departure. Van Wyk’s was an innings almost patented by chirpy, pocket-sized keepers; he was only 12 when Taylor was out and took charge, happy to have the quicker bowlers bowling at one end. Zaheer Khan was guided past slips, van Wyk taking 13 off the 16 balls he faced off him, and the quick-but-struggling Yadav went for 14 runs in six balls, including two fours an over. The partnership took New Zealand past 300, but they will be sobered by the knowledge that in the previous Test held in Bangalore in 2010, Australia had scored over 400 in their first innings and still lost.