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The India vice-captain feels his side has not done much wrong in this Test series, but the hosts have just been better

Nagraj Gollapudi at The Oval06-Sep-20181:19

England played better cricket in crucial sessions – Rahane

Patience, focus, consistency, winning minor duels in a session and then winning multiple sessions – these are the things India have not been able to master and England have. And that is reason England have won the Pataudi Trophy 3-1 against the No. 1 Test team. This is how India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane sums up events in the series thus far. India have done “nothing wrong”, he feels, but England have just been “better”.Rahane, whose resolute second-innings half-century was one of the few highlights of the Indian batting in the Southampton defeat, said India just have to persevere in the final match of the series, which also happens to be his 50th Test. “In Test cricket you have to win each and every session,” Rahane said. “You look to win each and every session. I don’t think we did anything wrong, but England played better cricket. They were consistent in their bowling, they bowled with patience.”Rahane admitted that the Indian batsmen, despite being an experienced unit, “fell short”, failing to back up the hard work of the fast bowlers who dominated England virtually all through the first four Tests. In the high-pressure passages, he said, England consistently came out on top. “When you travel abroad, every session you have to give 100%. Many times there are tough moments. In those tough moments, how you capitalise and how you capture them is very important. In my opinion England did that very nicely. When they were in a tough situation, the way their Nos. 7, 8, 9 batted, their contributions were very important. Even their bowling, even though we were batting well, they showed patience in their bowling. That is the only reason they are 3-1.”Rahane has been one of India’s best overseas batsmen, but on this tour he has failed to convert starts despite watchful beginnings. He has only two half-centuries in eight innings and is the third-best Indian batsman in terms of runs scored (220) behind Kohli (544) and Cheteshwar Pujara (241). Kohli has scored more than twice the runs of any other batsman across both teams.Rahane said Kohli entered the series with everyone talking about his nightmarish tour of England in 2014, when he struggled to put bat on ball and was exposed by James Anderson. Rahane said the reason Kohli has succeeded was because he kept his focus on the ball and nothing else, something he and the other India batsmen can only learn from. “As far as Virat’s batting is concerned, the way he conducted himself, the way he showed the consistency… There were a lot of people talking about him, whether he would perform in England or not, but in my opinion his focus was solely on playing cricket and he did not pay attention to anything else.”We all should learn from him, about how your focus should be on what you need to pay attention to. As a team-mate and as our captain, we have a lot to learn from him and we have learned a lot from him.”

The allrounder has requested an NOC from December 23 and January 1 to play in the T20 tournament

Mohammad Isam22-Oct-2018The BCB will decide in a day or two whether allrounder Shakib Al Hasan will be allowed to play in this year’s UAE T20x. Shakib had requested an NOC between December 23 and January 1 to participate in the T20 tournament in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.”He [Shakib] has applied for the NOC for the T20 tournament, but a decision is yet to be made,” Jalal Yunus, BCB’s media committee chairman, said. “It will be taken in a day or two.”Shakib is recovering from a long-standing finger injury, which got worse due to an infection during last month’s Asia Cup. He underwent an emergency operation in Dhaka before going to Australia for a further check-up. He returned to Bangladesh last week and said that his participation in competitive cricket depended largely on how quickly the infection was completely removed, suggesting he may be back for Bangladesh’s home series against West Indies.ESPNcricinfo learned that in a meeting about Bangladesh’s World Cup plans on Sunday, the BCB chief Nazmul Hassan had asked for all injured players – including Shakib and Tamim Iqbal – to be treated with added caution ahead of next year’s tournament in England.Bangladesh is currently playing Zimbabwe without Shakib, and if he is to play against West Indies at home, he has to be passed fit by mid-November.

There is a mixture of youth and experience for the matches against Zimbabwe as the hosts look to build on a their one-day success

Liam Brickhill08-Oct-2018The youngest member of South Africa’s T20 squad is 22, the oldest 39, and it’s this blend of youth and experience that allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo – himself only 26 days shy of being the most youthful player in the group – believes strikes just the right balance in this format.”There is that balance between the guys that are experienced and already have a few T20 caps and the newbies,” Phehlukwayo said on the eve of the first of three T20Is against Zimbabwe. “That’s where the balance in the team comes in, and that’s really good to have in the team.”South Africa have included two potential international debutants, Gihahn Cloete and Rassie van der Dussen, for the games against Zimbabwe, as well as offering further chances to fast bowlers Junior Dala and Dane Paterson, and allrounder Robbie Frylinck.”There are a lot of guys in the team who are quite new,” Phehlukwayo said. “But looking at their performances at the domestic level, they’re really deserving of their caps. Gihahn is a really exciting batter. Rassie has done well overseas. He’s gone over and played in the Caribbean Premier League and in America and done really well there. Junior and Rob have had a few caps. Every guy that’s in the squad has put in performances at the domestic level and done really well, put up their hands and earned their spot in the international team.”The depth within the South African system is really good,” he added. “A few guys have had a few caps this series, and it’s good to see new guys coming in and putting up their hands up before the World Cup.”Indeed, it’s going to be hard to see any white-ball cricket that South Africa might play between now and May next year outside of the context of the World Cup and while the format might be different, clues as to how the new names in South Africa’s T20 squad might also be part of their thinking for England can be gleaned from the cricket they’ve played recently. All four newcomers are coming off stints in the A side, which took part in a triangular one-day series against India and Australia’s A teams in August.Cloete was part of the same Under-19 team as Quinton de Kock, and consistent performances at domestic level lead to his inclusion in South Africa A’s trip to India. He responded with a fluent fifty in a one-day game against Australia A, and opened his domestic season with 81 against Lions last week.Frylinck was also part of that A tour, having made his T20I debut against Bangladesh last year following a stint with Trinbago Knight Riders in CPL 2017. At 34, Frylinck brings a wealth of T20 experience and adds value as a two-in-one player. He has played 98 T20s, scoring his runs at 148.22 and taking a wicket every 18.5 deliveries, relying on a mixture of knuckleballs and yorkers at the death.Paterson’s bowling skillset is similarly modern, and he made a good impression with 5 for 19 against India A before returning to South Africa and helping Cobras to a winning start to their domestic season with a match haul of 7 for 135 against the Knights at Newlands. Van der Dussen’s contributions to that A tour were a little slim, but he is riding on excellent T20 returns from the Global T20 in Canada and the Caribbean Premier League.As South Africa builds towards Vision 2019, all of the above – as well as Dala, who played two ODIs in Sri Lanka – will believe that their T20 skills might be transferable to a slightly longer format. Phehlukwayo certainly believes that’s the case, suggesting that the fine margins of the shortest format can help to hone vital skills.”T20 cricket helps with all the small skills, all the small fundamentals of trying to hit the ball into the gaps and using skills that you might not use particularly often in the long format,” he said. “It just enhances your level, and the variety of shots you have, the skills you can use.”South Africa galloped to a 3-0 victory in the ODIs, and by the third game they were starting to express the sort of positivity that coach Ottis Gibson is trying to make the touchstone of their limited-overs cricket. Replicating that over and over will be key to making it part of the team culture, reckoned Phehlukwayo.”We’ve got to stick to the level of cricket and the brand of cricket that we play,” he said. “We’ve got to put a lot of emphasis on the culture and the brand of cricket that we want to play. We want to be really positive, we want to execute our skills, and it doesn’t matter about the opposition. In pressure situations, you want to be the person that’s there and doing well.”

Only 17 overs of play were possible on day three, with India A batting for just one over in reply to the home team’s 303 for 7 declared

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Nov-2018Only 17 overs of play were possible on the third day of the second unofficial Test between New Zealand A and India A in Hamilton, with rain continuing to affect the game.There had been no play on the second day, and the entire morning session on the third was also washed out. Play finally began after lunch, with New Zealand A resuming on their overnight 221 for 5. Will Young, who was batting on 117, was out in the second over of the afternoon, bowled by Mohammed Siraj.Siraj eventually took 4 for 59 to be India’s best bowler, while Rajneesh Gurbani took 2 for 60. Navdeep Saini didn’t add to the wicket of Tim Seifert that he had taken on the first day.New Zealand A came out with the intent to get some quick runs, perhaps prompted by the big chunk of time already lost to rain. They batted for 16 overs, racking up 82 runs, before Young, the captain, declared the innings on 303 for 7. In that period, Theo van Woerkom completed a maiden first-class fifty. Overnight on 32, he ended up making 54 before Siraj had him lbw.Fast bowlers Lockie Ferguson and Seth Rance then swung their bats around, adding 30 runs in 4.1 overs before the declaration came. Ferguson was unbeaten on 23 off 33 with three fours, while Rance made 22 not out off just 15 balls, smacking one four and two sixes.India could bat only one over before the rain returned, and there was no play in the final session.

In an email to the CoA chairman, Edulji described his decision to appoint an ad hoc committee to select the India women head coach as ‘an illegal step’

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2019Diana Edulji, one of the two members of the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (CoA), has written to the other member Vinod Rai seeking changes to several decisions around the appointment of WV Raman as the India women head coach. These include making Raman an interim coach and asking the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) to find a full-time coach.Raman was appointed head coach on December 20, and is set to tour New Zealand with the team later this month. Edulji, who had opposed his appointment on the grounds that it did not follow the required processes, wants him to go on the tour on his old contract as the National Cricket Academy (NCA) batting coach. That contract expires in June.In her email to Rai, sent on Thursday night and accessed by ESPNcricinfo, Edulji writes: “…it is prudent to let WV Raman go as the interim coach on his old contract which is valid till June 2019 and let CAC do a fresh process to select a Coach.”Edulji and Rai have publicly been at loggerheads for the past few months over multiple issues including the selection of the India women head coach. This followed the acrimonious falling-out between previous coach Ramesh Powar and the ODI captain Mithali Raj during the World T20 in the West Indies. Raj had aired her grievances with Powar in a letter after India lost the World T20 semifinal against England – for which Raj was benched – and Powar subsequently also wrote to the BCCI, claiming Raj had threatened to retire if she wasn’t given the opening slot.Powar’s contract as interim coach expired on November 30, and the BCCI decided against giving him an extension in the wake of the controversy. Edulji and Rai, however, had sharp differences of opinion over how to appoint a new coach. Edulji wanted the CAC, comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, to conduct the interviews as they had done before appointing the India men head coach. When the CAC said they would need some time, Rai appointed an ad hoc committee comprising Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy to select the coach. They shortlisted, in order of preference, Gary Kirsten, Raman and Venkatesh Prasad.Diana Edulji picks the player bails at the IPL auction•Sportzpics

Kirsten was ruled out of the role since he was unwilling to give up his position as the head coach of the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, and the committee chose Raman.Edulji, in Thursday’s email, maintained that there had been no need to rush into appointing a coach, and that either Powar’s contract could have been extended, or an interim coach appointed, until the CAC was able to gather and select the coach as per the process followed for the men’s team. She described Rai’s decision to appoint an ad hoc committee and select a coach as “an illegal step”.She also referred to the process by which Ravi Shastri had been appointed for his current term as the men’s coach. “The CEO & yourself in the past had changed/extended timelines for an individual who eventually became the Head Coach of Men’s team, then how is it that you have suddenly found it difficult to give time to CAC… or extend the contract of the coach Mr Ramesh Powar. Please recall the time when the Men’s team went without a coach to West Indies and late Doc [MV] Sridhar was asked to be with the team, as timelines were extended and CAC was allowed to complete its process of selecting a Coach.”Shastri replaced Anil Kumble as the India men head coach in 2017, after it emerged during the Champions Trophy that year that Virat Kohli, the captain, had differences of opinion with Kumble. Initially, Shastri hadn’t put forward his candidature, but he applied after the deadline was moved forward. The Indian team travelled to the Caribbean immediately after the Champions Trophy for a limited-overs tour without a head coach, and Shastri was appointed only after the team’s return.

Colin de Grandhomme, who was rested for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, also returns for the first three ODIs against India

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-2019Left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner is set to play his first ODI in 10 months. He has recovered from knee surgery and has proved his fitness in the one-off T20I against Sri Lanka and in the Super Smash, New Zealand’s domestic T20 tournament. Wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham and seam-bowling allrounder Colin de Grandhomme, who were both rested for the ODIs against Sri Lanka, also return to the side for the first three ODIs against India.James Neesham, who was sidelined from the T20I against Sri Lanka with a hamstring strain, and legspinner Todd Astle, who is recovering from a knee injury, were not included in the squad. However, they could be considered for the last two ODIs on January 31 and February 3, after proving their fitness in the ongoing Super Smash.Santner has shown fine form in the T20 tournament, taking seven wickets in six matches at an economy rate of 6.77 in addition to providing Northern Districts the finishing kick with the bat. He has tested out his knee by securing hard-run twos and diving catches in the outfield.Doug Bracewell, who did not play a single ODI against Sri Lanka, was retained in the squad. New Zealand coach Gary Stead said he was impressed with the performances of Bracewell and Santner in the T20I in Auckland. While Bracewell struck 44 off 26 balls and took the wicket of Niroshan Dickwella in a Man-of-the-Match performance, Santner came away with 1 for 27 from three overs.”Our two main priorities have been to select and prepare a squad capable of winning what is shaping as a massive series against India, and gathering as much information as possible ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales,” Stead said. “Tom and Colin are experienced players in this format and will offer quality in their respective roles, and Mitch and Doug showed us what they are capable of during the T20 on Friday night.”Tim Seifert, who kept wicket against Sri Lanka, was left out. Latham will take over the gloves from him. The seam attack has a familiar look with the promise of Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry complementing the experience of Trent Boult and Tim Southee. Santner’s Northern Districts team-mate Ish Sodhi is the other spinner in the side.The five-match series begins with the first ODI in Napier on January 23.Squad for first three ODIs: Kane Williamson (capt), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor

Who gained, who lost, what are the indications – making sense of the latest BCCI central contracts

Nagraj Gollapudi08-Mar-2019Like last year, the 25-strong final list of BCCI-contracted male cricketers was prepared by the five-man national selection panel led by MSK Prasad. The selectors have opted to reward players who have taken significant strides over the last year and have been key performers consistently.

Who is the biggest gainer?

Rishabh Pant. He wasn’t part of the 26 contracted players in 2017-18, but has forced his way in, and all the way into the second bracket, following his exploits in international cricket since his Test debut in England last year.

The list of contracts

• Grade A+ (INR 7cr): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah

• Grade A (INR 5cr): R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant

• Grade B (INR 3cr): KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya

• Grade C (INR 1cr): Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Khaleel Ahmed, Wriddhiman Saha

• IN: Rishabh Pant, Ambati Rayudu, Hanuma Vihari, Khaleel Ahmed

• OUT: Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, Jayant Yadav, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, M Vijay

Picked in place of the injured Wriddhiman Saha, Pant cracked a century in his third Test on a debut tour of England. More recently, Pant made 159 against Australia during the New Year’s Test in Sydney, having taken 11 catches in the series opener in Adelaide, the most by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests.Pant is currently auditioning for India’s World Cup squad. He is part of Grade A, which carries a retainer worth INR 5 crore. Pant aside, the category has R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav.

What are the other major changes

The A+ category, worth INR 7 crore, has just three players: Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma. Bhuvneshwar and Dhawan, both in the same bracket last time, have dropped to Grade A. The A bracket has 11 players compared to seven last year, with Ishant, Shami and Kuldeep Yadav moving up from Grade B.ESPNcricinfo understands Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar were not retained in the A+ category because they did not consistently feature in all three formats last season. Dhawan struggled for form in the Test format on the tours of South Africa and England and was eventually dropped for the Australia tour, with the selectors picking Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal as alternatives. Bhuvneshwar was injured at the start of the season, and although he was included in the Test squad for Australia, he did not play in the four-match series that India won 2-1.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Where did M Vijay go?

Out, for now. Having failed to make an impression on comeback, Vijay was left out after the second Test in Perth in December. He lost his Test spot to debutant Agarwal, who was incidentally a replacement for the injured Shaw. Earlier in 2018, Vijay was dropped after the second Test at Lord’s. Shaw struck a hundred on Test debut against West Indies, and followed it up with a half-century in his next outing.

Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal – have they made the cut?

No. The two of them, along with Vijay Shankar, haven’t been included. Shaw was part of the Test squad for the Australia tour, but had to return home after a freak injury while fielding during a tour match. Agarwal made two robust half-centuries in three Test innings in Melbourne and Sydney, after being called-in midway through the tour. Vijay, who clinched India a thrilling last-over victory with the ball in the Nagpur ODI against Australia earlier this week, has given healthy headaches to the selection panel, which has put him in the pool of 18-odd players shortlisted for the World Cup. But no contract for him yet.

What happens to Wriddhiman Saha?

Having missed a lot of cricket through 2018 because of injuries, Saha, who only started playing again a few weeks back, has been moved from Grade A to Grade C. There were some new entrants to C too: Ambati Rayudu, Hanuma Vihari and Khaleel Ahmed.

Who have fallen out of favour?

Along with Vijay, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel and Jayant Yadav – all part of Grade C last time – have been omitted. Among them, Nair and Jayant didn’t feature in a single international game during the contracted period.

What’s the update on Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul?

The two players, who were suspended by the CoA briefly for their alleged misconduct on a TV chat show, will continue to be part of Grade B (INR 3 crore). On Thursday, the CoA asked Justice DK Jain, newly-appointed BCCI ombudsman, to investigate the allegations against Pandya and Rahul.. As per the BCCI constitution, the ombudsman is the final authority to adjudicate on such issues. Pandya is not part of the ongoing ODI series against Australia because of a back injury, but his stock has gradually increased over the last 18 months with the management backing him to play in all three formats as the primary allrounder.

Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj played strong hands with the bat to take home side to a seven-wicket win

The Report by Annesha Ghosh in Mumbai25-Feb-20195:12

‘Rectifying a small flaw has made a huge difference’

Pacers Shikha Pandey and Jhulan Goswami foiled England’s plans of “creating history” – winning a bilateral ODI series in India for the first time – with sizzling four-wicket hauls, which helped set up a 162-run chase for India. With Smriti Mandhana scoring 63 and captain Mithali Raj chipping in with a quick 47 not out, India then romped to a seven-wicket win to earn two more ICC Women’s Championship points and also take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.England captain Heather Knight opted to bat in the morning at Wankhede Stadium with the objective of “getting some good runs on the board” following their botched chase on a grassy pitch at the same venue in the first game three days ago. That didn’t happen, and it was chiefly down to Pandey and Goswami, who became the first pair of Indian pacers to take four-wicket hauls in a women’s ODI.
Goswami and Pandey bowled in tandem for the whole of the Powerplay like in the last game – they had left England at 27 for two then, this time it was 31 for three after ten overs. They bowled a combined total of 45 dot balls along the way.ALSO READ: Mithali Raj calls for age-group World CupsHaving played second fiddle to Goswami in the series opener, the younger Pandey took centre stage with a career-best 4 for 18 on this occasion, accomplished over two spells of seven and three overs, each worth two wickets.In an incisive opening spell of swing bowling, Pandey struck with her sixth ball as opener Amy Jones flicked a nip-backer straight to Ekta Bisht at square leg. Goswami, later named the Player of the Match, made further inroads with the movement she got off the pitch, forcing Sarah Taylor to play on in a bid to drive a wide delivery.Knight fell next, chipping a full and wide delivery from Goswami to short cover. Goswami went off the attack after that, with spin introduced in the form of Deepti Sharma, but Raj stuck with Pandey, who proved the decision right by eliciting a top edge from Tammy Beaumont that was pouched by Deepti at the square-leg boundary with a dive forward.Natalie Sciver goes down the ground•Getty Images

At 44 for four in the 14th over, it was going away from England, but their punt of dropping Danielle Wyatt for Lauren Winfield paid off to some extent. Winfield muscled four fours in her 49-ball 28 as she put on 42 runs with Natalie Sciver. But after she holed out in the 28th over, caught by Mandhana off Poonam Yadav, England lost their way.In the first game, they had lost their last seven wickets for 25 runs. It wasn’t as bad this time, but they still lost five wickets for 26 runs, going from 93 for four to 119 for nine.Little, however, seemed to deter Sciver, who charged down the track against both the spinners and the quicks while also shuffling around the crease to plunder runs behind the wicket. She added 42 runs with No. 11 Alex Hartley – the highest tenth-wicket stand for England. But with 39 balls left in the innings, it was all over for Sciver as Goswami returned to beat her attempt at playing a paddle sweep and trapped her in front. Her 109-ball innings, studded with 12 fours and a six, added a semblance of respectability to England’s total, but there was always a feeling that it wouldn’t be enough to trump India.India’s chase didn’t begin smoothly either, as Jemimah Rodrigues fell for a ten-ball duck, mistiming a flick off Anya Shrubsole to midwicket in the second over.But it was all India after that as Punam Raut, who replaced Harleen Deol in the XI, took India past 50 with a steady – if slow – 65-ball 32 in the company of Mandhana, who looked more like her fluent self this time than in the previous game.Raut received a reprieve along the way on 26 when Sciver dropped her off her own bowling, but it didn’t cost England much, the batsman falling to Georgia Elwiss thanks to a lightning-quick stumping by Sarah Taylor. With the dismissal, Taylor became only second woman to complete 50 stumpings in ODIs after India’s Anju Jain.The second-wicket stand was worth 73 runs, and Mandhana then teamed up with Raj to take India past the three-figure mark in the 26th over with the asking rate well in control.Mandhana, meanwhile, hit the occasional boundary, including the one that took her to a 15th ODI half-century. The two added 66 runs in 14 overs before Shrubsole sent Mandhana back with a yorker. The target was only 22 runs away at that point, though, and Raj finished off the job with Deepti by her side, ending on an unbeaten 69-ball 47.

Three years and many lifetimes on from his last Championship century, Hameed shows the poise that earned him England plaudits

Paul Edwards at Lord's12-Apr-2019
Form might be temporary but its departure can cause permanent infection. A host of cricketers have lost the ability to score runs or take wickets and taken refuge in the assurances of colleagues that this was merely a brief dip in their careers. Before long, though, they have stopped believing the comforting slogans and have consequently made it less likely they would ever again hear tunes of glory. In time they are found playing tennis and appearing in “Whatever Happened to…” features.Last season Haseeb Hameed made 165 runs in 17 championship innings. Over the winter coaches he trusts in India told him his game was in good order. Very pleasant, of course, but no one could know whether he would ever again score serious runs against high-quality pace attacks containing, say, four international bowlers.Well, we know now. For on a bright afternoon at Lord’s, with the catkins still on the alders, Hameed rediscovered the composure and assurance that had amazed former Test cricketers in Manchester and Mohali some three seasons and a few lifetimes ago. His first century since August 2016 was more than a return to form; it was reclamation of treasured territory and the firmest of reminders that the talent which brought his colleagues onto the balcony at Rajkot was still in good order.By the time he was dismissed for 117, caught and bowled by Dawid Malan when trying to pull a shortish ball, Hameed had hit 17 fours and had reached his century with a six which he smacked into the Grandstand off Toby Roland-Jones. Ed Smith, the national selector, had watched the innings and will surely have been impressed. Yet someone in the ECB should now sound a warning klaxon that it is far too soon to talk about Hameed returning to the England side. This is one century. It is still April and it is still the springtime of Hameed’s career. He is, lest we forget, 22 years old.But it still true that the Boltonian opener had looked good from the first delivery he faced. Rather than retreating into the meek quiescence which is so often the prelude to any batsman’s dismissal, he sought to get forward and score runs. In Murtagh’s fourth over there was a cover drive that recalled his enchanted summer of 2016; three balls later there was an even better stroke though midwicket off the front foot.Throughout these early stages of Hameed’s innings he was looking to play the ball rather than merely have it bowled to him. There was a scampered single, something rarely seen three years ago. There was more intent and a will to impose himself on the play. He was pro-active rather than pre-emptive, adjectives which may make him sound like a yoghurt as distinct from a nuclear attack, but are still valid when applied to his smooth movement onto the front foot. His 47 pre-prandial runs included nine fours and none of them had come off thin edges.In the early afternoon he was roughed up a little by Steven Finn, who seemed to offer a few observations on his technique. But Hameed knew rather better than anyone else the shape his game was in. The cover drives, the creams through midwicket, the Fort Knox forward defensive and, just as importantly, the balls he left alone had given him all the evidence he needed. Only when Finn dug it in, and only a couple of times even then, did he look discomfited.Yes, of course he had assistance from his colleagues. Most notably, this came from his opening partner, Keaton Jennings, who made 52 and put on 123 for the first wicket before he was tempted to poke at one outside the off stump from James Harris and nicked a catch to John Simpson. Brooke Guest, pressed into service as a No.3, made 17 before he was bowled through a gate of Brandenburgish dimensions by Tim Murtagh. The same bowler then tempted Glenn Maxwell into a booming drive and castled him off the inside edge.Presumably troubled by these dismissals but clearly not disturbed by them, Hameed batted on, scoring only 34 runs between lunch and tea. Four overs after the resumption he drove Roland-Jones straight to the Nursery End boundary; the next ball was short and Hameed pulled it over the rope. His progress to a century was the first time he had rushed anywhere in 253 minutes; he had faced 167 balls and made maybe half a dozen errors.In the evening session Rob Jones also batted well, reaching his own fifty and helping Dane Vilas establish what may turn out to be a very useful first-innings lead. But Jones knows whose name will be on the lips of most cricket lovers in pubs around Lord’s this evening.Of course, there may be those who believe that bringing the troubled state of Hameed’s career to his attention inspired him to this day’s triumph. That is surely a fine example of the fallacy. One thing, though, was made very clear by this innings: Hameed is, as his former colleague, Ashwell Prince, once said, born to bat.He is, one might even say, a proper cricketer to his very fingertips.

Durham slip to fourth straight Championship defeat to stay stuck to bottom of table

ECB Reporters Network22-May-2019Gloucestershire have secured their first win of the County Championship Division Two season by defeating Durham by six wickets at Emirates Riverside.The visitors required only 53 runs to win in the morning after the opening partnership between Chris Dent and Miles Hammond had knocked off more than half their target of 117 the previous evening. Although they lost three further wickets, Gloucestershire eased their way to victory to move up to third on the table, eyeing a potential charge for promotion.Meanwhile, Durham slipped to their fourth defeat in a row in the Championship, remaining rooted to the bottom of Division Two.Gloucestershire began the day only one wicket down but they lost nightwatchman Josh Shaw without adding to their overnight score as Chris Rushworth made the breakthrough. Shaw had been dropped two balls previously by Ryan Pringle at third slip, but Ned Eckersley claimed a routine catch to send him on his way.Hammond made a solid knock of 36 to put Gloucestershire on the verge of victory. However, Matt Salisbury struck with his first ball of day three to deny the opener the chance to see his team over the line, edging behind to Eckersley. Salisbury then bowled George Hankins just before James Bracey and Gareth Roderick were able to see out the comfortable win.The visitors’ clinical edge with the ball and in the field was the difference between the two sides. Gloucestershire capitalised on familiar failings in the Durham batting ranks to surge through the order twice in two days. Ryan Higgins, David Payne, Matt Taylor and Shaw were all on form, posing problems with their accuracy and the ability to find movement off the slow track.Graeme van Buuren played a pivotal role in Gloucestershire’s victory when he ran out Cameron Bancroft on day two. The Aussie looked well set on 40 not out in his attempt to dig Durham out of trouble. However, Bancroft hesitated after his partner, Liam Trevaskis, called for a tight single, allowing van Buuren to collect at cover before connecting with an accurate throw at the stumps.Bancroft’s dismissal epitomised Durham’s season in the Championship to date, failing in the decisive moments. Head coach James Franklin has made changes since replacing Jon Lewis, but he has yet to find a cure for his side’s batting woes in the four-day format.Franklin said: “It has certainly been a tough start. Four games and four losses. It is what it is and we have 10 more games to try to show improvement and progress in this format of the game.”Make no bones about it, the guys in the dressing room are hurting really badly. In some ways it’s quite good that we have 10 days until the next first-team game to clear their heads and regroup to get a method to compete in the next four-day game against Derbyshire.”Durham host Derbyshire and Northamptonshire in back-to-back matches at the beginning of June where they are in dire need of improvement to end their win-less run in the Championship. Gloucestershire now prepare for a showdown against Lancashire at Cheltenham, beginning on Monday.