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Teenager named to lead youth tour of South Africa later this month

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jan-2025Archie Vaughan, son of former England captain Michael, is set to follow in his father’s footsteps later this month, after being asked to lead England Under-19s on their tour of South Africa.England’s Young Lions are due to play three youth one-day internationals and two youth Tests against South Africa Under-19s, from January 17. It is 20 years to the month since Vaughan senior became the first England captain to win a Test series in South Africa in the post-Apartheid era.”I found out that I was going to be captain during the training camp before Christmas and it was a very special moment,” Vaughan, a top-order batter and offspinner, said. “To get the opportunity to represent England at this level is really special in itself, but to lead the team out is something else.”Having signed his first professional contract with Somerset in May, Vaughan made his county debut in July and shot to prominence in the team’s Championship run-in at Taunton in September. In tandem with Jack Leach, he claimed match figures of 11 for 140 to beat league leaders Surrey and briefly spark hopes of the club’s first title.In total, he played four first-class and seven 50-over matches for Somerset, averaging 33.71 with the bat in the Championship. He also impressed at age-group level, making 85 from 83 balls for a Young Lions Invitational XI in a warm-up match against the England Under-19 ODI squad, for whom Rocky Flintoff – son of Andrew Flintoff – top-scored with 106.”If someone had told me 12 months ago that I would have forced my way into the Somerset first team and be captaining the Under-19s, I wouldn’t have believed them,” Vaughan added. “It’s happened quickly but I’m going to keep my feet on the ground and work harder and harder.”Vaughan’s father went on to become one of the most successful England captains of all time, with 26 victories in 51 Tests in charge between 2003 and 2008, including the 2005 Ashes triumph.England Under-19s squad: Archie Vaughan (Somerset, capt), Farhan Ahmed (Nottinghamshire), Tazeem Ali (Warwickshire), Ben Dawkins (Kent), Kesh Fonseka (Lancashire – Test squad only), Alex French (Surrey), Alex Green (Leicestershire), Jack Home (Worcestershire), James Isbell (Middlesex), Eddie Jack (Hampshire), Ben Mayes (Hampshire), James Minto (Durham), Harry Moore (Derbyshire), Joe Moores (Lancashire – ODIs only), Thomas Rew (Somerset), Aaryan Sawant (Middlesex), Naavya Sharma (Middlesex), Alexander Wade (Yorkshire)

Afghanistan and Sri Lanka face each other in a crucial game for their semi-final ambitions

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-20231:57

Moody: India’s bowlers relentless with their lengths

—Fixtures | Squads | Points table | Tournament Index

Top Story: Shami and Bumrah demolish England to make it six out of six for India

Mohammed Shami ripped the heart out of England as India defended a modest total in Lucknow to maintain their unbeaten World Cup run and condemn their opponents’ campaign even further.Shami claimed 2 for 4 from three overs inside the first powerplay in a breathtaking spell and Jasprit Bumrah 2 for 17 from five as England lurched to 40 for 4 after 10 overs chasing 230 for just their second win of the tournament. Shami claimed two more and Bumrah one to ensure that wasn’t to be as none of England’s batters passed Liam Livingstone’s 27 and India romped to a 100-run victory with 15.1 overs to spare.Click here to read the full report

Match analysis: Shami to Stokes: Ten balls from hell

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami ripped through England•Associated Press

Nine balls, nine dots, no runs. Five balls on a good length, three a fraction shorter and one a little fuller. One leave, two charges, three balls that connected with Ben Stokes’ bat. Fifteen balls since England last scored a run. 197 to win in 42.1 overs, eight wickets in hand. Six games, five defeats, two points. 32 nights since England’s players left home, 14 more until they are finally put out of their misery.Which of those numbers passed through Stokes’ head when he made the calculation that the final ball of Shami’s second over had to go? Maybe none; maybe so many that his mind was scrambled. Stokes planted his front foot outside leg stump, looking to make room to force the ball through the off side for four. The ball nipped in off the seam, skidded through off the pitch and clattered into his middle and leg stumps.Click here to read the full analysis from Matt Roller in Lucknow

Must Watch: Time for an England rethink?

2:32

Should England rethink their brand of cricket in this format?

News headlines

• The top seven sides at the end of the league stage of the ongoing ODI World Cup in India will qualify for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, along with hosts Pakistan, to compete in the eight-team event meaning England could miss out
• Lahiru Kumara has been ruled out of the World Cup after hurting his left thigh during training in Pune, where Sri Lanka play their next game of the tournament, against Afghanistan on Monday..
• India are hoping to get further clarity on Hardik Pandya’s fitness over the next few days, ahead of their match against Sri Lanka in Mumbai on November 2

Match preview

Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka, Lucknow (2pm IST; 8.30am GMT; 7.30pm AEDT)2:57

Shahidi: This is Afghanistan’s best-ever World Cup

While this World Cup has only belatedly started offering up some nail-biters, it’s been rather more generous in terms of unexpected results. As a result, despite the sides currently occupying the top-four spots in the points table being the likeliest to make it through to the knockouts, there’s a cluster of teams just below them ready to capitalise on any potential slip-ups.For Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, three wins from their final four games in the league stage will leave them on ten points, which would give them a genuine shot at a semi-final berth. But of those four games, Afghanistan will face Australia and South Africa, while Sri Lanka still have to take on India and New Zealand.Click here for the full previewTeam newsAfghanistan (possible) 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fazalhaq FarooqiSri Lanka (probable) 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Perera/Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kusal Mendis (capt, wk) 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Angelo Mathews 8 Maheesh Theekshana, 9 Kasun Rajitha, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Dilshan Madushanka

West Indies’ batting crumbled with Santner and Bracewell sharing six wickets

Associated Press12-Aug-2022Glenn Phillips struck a half century from 31 balls to propel New Zealand to a 90-run win over the West Indies in the second T20I in Jamaica, clinching the three-match series with a 2-0 lead.After reaching his fifth T20I half century, Phillips went on to 76 from 40 balls and led New Zealand to 215 for 5, exceeding the 185 for 5 that was a winning total in the first match of the series. His innings included six sixes and four fours.West Indies managed only 125 for 9 in reply, lacking the partnerships that underpinned a New Zealand total which was the highest by a visiting team against the West Indies in a T20I in the Caribbean.Phillips put on 71 for the third wicket with Devon Conway who made 42 from 34 balls and 83 with Daryl Mitchell who made 48 from 20, the latter partnership coming off just 34 balls. In all, New Zealand scored 130 off their second 10 overs.West Indies’ best were stands of 35 for the seventh wicket between Romario Shepherd and Rovman Powell which began when the home team was 40 for 6 and the match already lost. Hayden Walsh and Obed McCoy put on 38 in an unbroken stand for the last wicket.Phillips put to good use his knowledge of conditions at Sabina Park, which is his home ground in the Caribbean Premier League.”Coming back to Sabina Park is amazing. I’ve got great memories here,” Phillips said in a television interview. “Being able to get a 50 for my country over here in front of a crowd which I really love is definitely very special for me.”Credit to the West Indies for the way they bowled up front with the new ball which was really, really good in terms of taking the pace off the ball when it was new and harder. As it got older the pitch became a bit nicer to bat on.”Seven West Indies wickets fell to spin bowlers, including the first four of the innings.Mitchell Santner, who was Player of the Match for his 3 for 19 in the first game, took a wicket with his first ball and two wickets in his opening over to set back West Indies’ run chase.Offspinner Michael Bracewell, who replaced fast bowler Lockie Ferguson in the New Zealand line-up, also took a wicket with his first delivery, dismissing captain Nicholas Pooran as West Indies slumped to 12 for 3 at the start of the fourth over.Santner and Bracewell both finished with 3 for 15. Tim Southee took the only wicket which fell to a fast bowler, removing Odean Smith at the tail.Shimron Hetmeyer was the first batter not to fall to a spin bowler, run out by a direct hit at the bowler’s end by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. West Indies were 28 for 5 at that point and couldn’t recover.”We just didn’t show up today,” Pooran said. “They batted us out of it and we couldn’t see our way with the bat. We had to stay in the game. It just didn’t start well for us. We are struggling but the more cricket we play our performance will grow.”The final T20I will be played on Sunday at the same venue, followed by three ODIs

Aiden Markram continues to impress at the top for the hosts, hitting his second half-century on the trot

Firdose Moonda12-Apr-2021South Africa made light work in chasing down a below-par score to level the four-match T20I series against Pakistan, making it 1-1 with a six-wicket win with 36 balls in hand at the Wanderers.George Linde starred in the first half, picking up the first three Pakistan wickets to restrict them to 140, and then scored an unbeaten 20 off ten balls to help South Africa polish off whatever was left of a small target after coming in with 49 to get. Linde opened the bowling, as he did in the first match, and struck twice in his opening spell and once in his second to finish with an impressive 3 for 23. He was supported well by his spin companion Tabraiz Shamsi, who also conceded at less than six runs an over, and left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks. Sisanda Magala and Lizaad Williams were expensive but only one Pakistan batsman, Babar Azam, made a half-century, and there was only one half-century stand, between Azam and Mohammad Hafeez, for them.South Africa started the chase strongly with Janneman Malan and Aiden Markram sharing a stand of 44 in 27 balls. Even though their middle-order wobbled, and they lost four wickets for 48 runs, Heinrich Klaasen and Linde did enough to see them through against a Pakistan attack that never seemed able to keep a lid on things.The next two matches will be played at SuperSport Park, where Pakistan won both ODIs earlier on their tour.Rizwan’s run-spree finally endsSouth Africa might have been wondering how they would ever be rid of Mohammad Rizwan, but it took just one ball for it to happen in the second T20I. Rizwan danced down the track first ball of the Pakistan innings to hit Linde over long-on but skied the ball to Markram, who took a comfortable catch at mid-off. Rizwan’s dismissal ended a streak of ten consecutive scores of 40+ scores in T20s, which included a century and six fifties. Linde had more success in his next over when Sharjeel Khan, the other opener who replaced Fakhar Zaman for his first game in almost three years after returning from a spot-fixing ban, sliced across a ball to give Markram a second catch.Aiden Markram brought up back-to-back half-centuries•AFP/Getty Images

South Africa’s longest overThis is not a record anyone wants to have, but it now belongs to Magala, whose opening over lasted 12 balls, beating Dale Steyn’s 11-ball over against West Indies at the T20 World Cup in 2010. Magala started with two front-foot no-balls, followed by a high full-toss, and a wide yorker. His fifth delivery was another wide yorker, but legal, and Haider Ali hit it over short third-man for four. Magala’s next ball went for two through midwicket, before a wide down the leg side. His next three were all full on the stumps and Azam hit the last of them through third man for four before another wide, down leg. Magala’s over ended on its 12th ball, when Azam couldn’t get him away on the off side. In total, the over cost 18 runs. Magala’s second over was better, and he conceded just six runs, and his third was even better than that, with four runs and his first international wicket. He bowled the Pakistan captain with a ball in the slot on off stump that Azam swung at, and missed.No singles, just foursWihan Lubbe has 16 international runs to his name but has not yet scored a single at the highest level. The hard-hitting No. 3 deals in boundaries and nothing else, at least on the evidence of his performance so far. In the first T20I, Lubbe pulled the first ball he faced, a short one from Hasan Ali, to the midwicket fence for four. Two balls later, he was too early on the drive down the ground and chipped a catch to cover. In this match, he sent the third ball he faced through mid-on for four with a piece of splendid timing, then chipped one over the leg side and then stuck his bat out to flip a full toss over backward square leg. But three boundaries in the over didn’t seem enough for Lubbe, who tried to hit the last ball over mid-on, but sent it straight to Azam instead.Markram finds his white-ball flowAfter struggling to transfer his domestic 50-over form to the international stage, Markram has managed to find his flow in the shortest format. He followed on from his first half-century on Sunday with another authoritative knock in this match. Markram’s first four came off the innings’ fourth ball, when he hit Shaheen Afridi through backward square. In the next over, he hit Mohammad Nawaz through the covers for four and over his head for six, and two overs after that, plundered Mohammad Hasnain for three fours, taking advantage of the short ball and some width. His six off Ali, over extra cover, was the most audacious shot of the innings while he brought up fifty when he hit Usman Qadir over midwicket. Makram holed out to long-on two balls later and would have been disappointed not to finish the game. For someone who was not even part of the squad initially, but stayed on when Temba Bavuma was ruled out, Markram has made the most of his opportunity.

India vice-captain says the team will stick to its strengths and won’t try to replicate West Indies’ strategy of hitting big

Deivarayan Muthu in Mumbai10-Dec-20196:47

West Indies’ unpredictability a challenge – Rohit

West Indies v India, Wankhede Stadium: here we go again. In the T20 World Cup semi-final at this venue more than three years ago, India managed only four sixes on their way to a total of 192 for 2. West Indies’ power-hitters, led by Lendl Simmons, then made that look a whole lot smaller by smashing 11 sixes. West Indies eventually sealed the chase with seven wickets and two balls to spare.Under a new management, West Indies are slowly getting their band back together for their T20 World Cup defence and are also easing some bright, young talents from the CPL into their international mix. However, their strength continues to be six-hitting. Case in point: even in this series, West Indies have cracked 27 sixes in comparison to India’s 17.While India have veered from their safety-first approach and are open to experimenting more with their T20 line-up these days, their white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma said that they are comfortable in their own skins and that they aren’t looking to emulate West Indies’ six-hitting template.”This format is such that you have to take risks to get on the top,” Rohit said on the eve of the third T20I. “Again, for us, it will be important what we as a team can do. Not to try and replicate what the other team is doing or what the other team is trying to do. They back their strength, which is to play a few balls and then go after a big shot. But for us, it’s totally different. We believe in taking singles and doubles and putting the pressure on the bowler by getting eight-nine an over without taking risks.”But again, we are prepared to take risks when it’s necessary. But, at the end of the day you want to play smart cricket. And that’s how we beat the opposition, by playing smart cricket. We believe in that. Sometimes it comes off and sometimes it doesn’t. But we like to back what we do as a team well, which is to play smart cricket. Whether it’s taking singles, or doubles, or going after the bowlers – that the situation will tell you. But at the end of the day, the only way you can come on top of the opposition is by playing smart cricket whether with the ball or bat.”Three of West Indies’ top-five six-hitters in CPL 2019 are part of the national squad for the T20I series in India. Guyana Amazon Warriors opener Brandon King, who was the leading run-getter in CPL earlier this year, is now being used as a floater on this India tour. In Thiruvananthapuram, West Indies’ left-handers, in particular, upset the rhythm of India’s spinners.India were wary of the “unpredictability” that West Indies’ T20I side brings, according to Rohit, but the vice-captain also said that the hosts weren’t caught by surprise in the second match.”Yeah, they [West Indies] are very unpredictable as a team, you never know what they can come up with on that given day, like we saw the other day [Sunday],” he said. “Even the first game, they played very well and it was Virat [Kohli’s] brilliance that got us over. But with West Indies this is always expected and they play well as a team and now under the leadership of Kieron Pollard… I know Pollard really well and I know as a leader what he would be expecting from the team.”It is a different team that we are seeing now, so yes, we have to be at our best when we play them. Like I said they are very unpredictable, so we just got to stick to our plans and back it and believe in whatever ways [we find to] try and execute in the middle. Last game we made some mistakes on the field, whether it was with the bat, ball and also on the field. We know where we lacked as a team so we just need to tighten up in those areas and make sure that those mistakes are not repeated again and again.”Since the 2016 T20 World Cup, India have lost 11 of the 26 T20I games in which they’ve batted first, but Rohit downplayed those concerns and put that record down to various other factors.”Wankhede has always been a chasing ground as far as I know, I have played lot of games here. When you talk about setting targets, on that [Thiruvananthapuram] pitch 170-plus was a decent target when we started batting,” Rohit said. “The wicket was on the slower side, the shot-making was not that easy, although the West Indies made it look very easy. That’s them, like I said that’s I meant when I said they are very unpredictable. So, we just have to get everything together and make sure execute those plans – whether it is with the bat or ball.”Doesn’t matter if we bat first or ball first…yes of late our chasing has been good and not posting targets or defending it rather. It was a good target that we posted there [in Thiruvananthapuram] but again it’s a new set of guys, lot of inexperienced players along with experienced players, that’s what every T20 team now has, bit of inexperience, along with that some experience. Those two elements need to come together to form a very composite [sic] side.”

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.”

The injury raises question marks over his participation in the remainder of the series

Firdose Moonda in Potchefstroom01-Oct-2017Morne Morkel’s participation in the remainder of the first Test against Bangladesh is in doubt after he sustained a side strain on the fourth afternoon. Morkel will be taken for scans on Monday. This also raises question marks over his availability for the second Test starting October 6.Morkel, who took two wickets in a searing opening burst, left the field in his sixth over of the second innings. He bowled Tamim Iqbal off his fourth ball and trapped Mominul Haque lbw with his sixth. However, replays showed the ball would have missed leg stump, but Mominul didn’t avail a review.In his next over, Morkel knocked out Mushfiqur Rahim’s middle-stump with a full delivery but had overstepped in doing so. That made it the 14th time in Tests that he’d taken a wicket off a no-ball. Temba Bavuma said the disappointment if missing the wicket lingered.”Morne is a big team player, and he’s obviously a senior player in the team so he knows there’s a lot of responsibility thrust on his shoulders to lead the attack. When he commits a cardinal sin he really takes it emotionally,” Bavuma said. “I think if there was still time out there on the field he would have come back even stronger. Knowing the guy, I understand the emotional side of it all and I know that sitting in the change room he’s still having a go at himself.”Morkel had more time in the change room than he might have expected. He only bowled 20 more deliveries before walking off, with Duanne Olivier completing the over.Morkel has had a fairly regular load in this Test match. He bowled 19 overs in the first innings, five less than Kagiso Rabada’s 24 but more than Olivier (11) or Andile Phehlukwayo, the fourth seamer. Phehlukwayo, who was particularly under-utilised, bowled only six overs, thereby bringing into question South Africa’s strategy to play the extra bowler.The slowness of the surface has meant Keshav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner, has had to do more than his share of the work, with 27.1 overs in the first innings. He was given the ball in the 12th over of the second innings.With Bangladesh sliding in the second innings, South Africa should not miss Morkel too much in Potchefstroom, but Bavuma still described it as a “massive blow,” and was even willing to step up himself, if needs be.”He’s the leader of the attack and he was hot at that point in time. Luckily we’ve got guys in the reserve tank, and I’ll be bringing my bowling spikes tomorrow as well,” Bavuma joked “Andile, KG, Keshav and Duanne will all be putting their hands up and doing work for the team.”Still, Morkel’s injury adds to a growing list of walking wounded in the South African camp. They are already without Dale Steyn, who continues to recover from a shoulder injury, Vernon Philander and Chris Morris, both of whom will only resume playing later in October.Wayne Parnell, not considered for selection in this Test because of lack of four-day cricket recently, Beuran Hendricks and Dwaine Pretorius are the other players who may come into consideration.

Virat Kohli said India’s players had reached a stage where they could no longer be content with learning from every performance, but needed to start dominating Test matches regularly to become a better team

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Antigua25-Jul-20163:19

‘Probably the perfect finish’ – Kohli

Bat once, bat big, bowl the opposition out twice, and achieve all of this inside four days. In the first innings, the fast bowlers take eight out of ten wickets. In the second, the spinners take eight out of ten. India were expected to win, and keep winning, when they arrived in the West Indies, but they may not have expected to start the series with a win that ticked off every box to make up the perfect Test-match template.Virat Kohli, India’s captain, couldn’t have been more pleased with the manner in which his team went 1-0 up in the four-Test series. He said India’s players had reached a stage where they could no longer be content with learning from every performance, but needed to start dominating Test matches regularly.”If you look at it logically, that’s probably the perfect finish, which every team looks for,” he said. “The seamers usually dominate the first innings when you play away from home. The wicket tires out on day four and five. That’s when the spinners come into play. In the first innings, spinners are taking couple of the breakthrough wickets. In the second innings, fast bowlers are doing this for you and then the spinners will open it up again.”I think it was wonderful partnership bowling by all our bowlers in the two innings. And the batsmen as well. We have spoken about one thing, that we have the skill and ability to declare innings more often than not rather than struggling to get to 350 with our lower order. So that’s the kind of mindset we need to play with.”You know when you start off with five batsmen, obviously you need to take more responsibility. I think they are all good enough to do that. As I’ve said before, we are not at a stage now where we need to come and improve. We should be ready enough in international cricket to start dominating Test matches and win those crucial situations and sessions. That’s how we become a better team.”If you think we are going to keep learning every series, learning every game, we will never get that hunger and that mindset to win games from difficult situations. We need to challenge ourselves a little bit, which this team has been willing to do and which is a wonderful sign. The way we finished the Test, it all panned out pretty nicely.”R Ashwin was the standout Indian bowler on the fourth day, finishing with figures of 7 for 83 as West Indies’ second innings folded half an hour after tea. While Kohli hailed Ashwin’s bowling, he said Amit Mishra had also played an important role at the other end.”It was a very good effort from the bowlers [to spend two days on the field and bowl West Indies out twice],” he said. “The good thing was that we didn’t bowl that much in the first innings, so everyone’s mindset in the second innings was, yes, we can bowl again.”[It] becomes crucial to have bowlers who can get you those one or two wickets at the end. Their role becomes big. If you end up bowling 15-20 extra overs [in the first innings], this doubt comes into your mind whether you can start [bowling again] or not.”I think [the first innings] ended at a perfect time for us last evening, and then we got 13-14 overs and got a wicket again, so it was good to get some rest in the evening, and the bowlers’ attitude was very good, all of them voluntarily said, yes, we’ll bowl, and the spinners took the responsibility.”They knew the fast bowlers had done a lot of bowling in the first innings, so we’ll have to take that responsibility. Ashwin obviously bowled very well, and Mishra also bowled very well but didn’t get wickets. But both kept the pressure on, and we talk about partnership bowling – that was a classic example, that the spinners didn’t have to bowl that much in the first innings, but took the responsibility from the fast bowlers in the second innings, and did the job fully.”Kohli also felt the team needed to avoid losing wickets close to breaks in play and try and bowl the lower order out quicker•AFP

When India came back after sealing the win, Kohli said Anil Kumble, their head coach, made “special mention” to players whose contributions may not have leaped out of the scorecard.”In the first innings, four wickets each to Umesh [Yadav] and [Mohammed] Shami, but the way Ishant [Sharma] bowled and Mishi picking up those two wickets in the end also played an important role,” Kohli said, when asked to elaborate on these contributions. “Otherwise you have to play the guys who have bowled a bulk of the bowling and tire them out more for those final two wickets.”There the guy who takes the wickets at the end finishes off the game and helps the other bowlers stay fresh. Someone like Ishant maintained the pressure, the run-rate did not go beyond two in the first innings. All those things count massively in the course of the game. This morning, Umesh getting one wicket for us, Ishant an important breakthrough last evening. These are the moments that don’t get much attention but they are very important to winning a Test match.”Despite the ease of the win, and the range of contributions, Kohli felt there were still areas India needed to improve in. One of these – which he had mentioned before the Test match as well – was to avoid losing wickets close to breaks in play.”I think [there are] a couple of areas with the bat we can improve on, especially not losing wickets close to the breaks,” he said. “I think we did that three times. [Cheteshwar] Pujara was one, Shikhar [Dhawan] was the other, just before tea [on the first day], and then myself soon after lunch on day two.”See, these are the things, which if we have enough runs on the board and start scoring quickly, you tend to ignore these things. But I have that it in my mind pretty strongly because every team will want to challenge you strongly and will want to dry those runs out. So you have to capitalise [on] those important moments so the team doesn’t lose that momentum and can start scoring runs again.”We’ve lost wickets in those moments previously. That’s one area I still think we need to tighten up a little bit more if we want to be in complete control of things in all the sessions that we play. We’ve done really well in this game, but that’s one area we have addressed before and we certainly want to improve on.”Another area in need of improvement, he said, was to try and bowl the lower order out quicker. West Indies raised their score from 144 for 7 to 243 in the first innings, and from 132 for 8 to 231 in the second.”That’s an area we need to address. It also happens that you take the top-order wickets quickly, so you become a little desperate to keep taking wickets, and forget the things that got you those initial wickets. It becomes very important that the fielders also stay relaxed, don’t get frustrated, and bowlers also don’t get frustrated.”It’s important that we still keep bowling in consistent areas. If you’re getting the pure batsmen out, you don’t need to do anything different to get the tailenders out. That’s one thing we’ll have to play out smartly in the remaining Test matches, so that we save our energy, and don’t end up bowling 8-10 extra overs, and if we get the tail out quickly, that’s a good habit as well, so obviously we’ll plan and see how we can do this. We’ll look to keep playing the same kind of cricket, and if we get the opportunity to win each match, we’ll try to win each match.”

A day after informally discussing the fate of the Champions League Twenty20 with Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa, the other stakeholders of the tournament, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur dropped another hint that it may be scrapped

Amol Karhadkar25-May-20152:15

The end of CLT20?

A day after informally discussing the fate of the Champions League Twenty20 with Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA), the other stakeholders of the tournament, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur dropped another hint that it may be scrapped. ESPNcricinfo understands that a meeting of the CLT20 governing council is likely to be convened soon to make the final call.”We still have CLT20. We will have meetings on how to make it a better tournament, or something in place of that. We just finished the season eight of the IPL which has been very successful. We will now start thinking on those lines [fate of CLT20],” Thakur told a group of select journalists in Kolkata on Monday.”If CLT20 cannot attract crowds in India or abroad, you need to sit down and think about other options. It’s in the interest of cricket. In the interest of cricket, you make changes. Like from Test cricket we switched to ODIs, then T20s and now we’ve the IPL. With time, you bring in changes so that the game does not die. There should be enough takers for the game. Tournament should be successful.”

Fitness test for Bangladesh-bound cricketers on June 6

The BCCI will conduct fitness tests for the India players selected for the Bangladesh tour on June 6 – the day before they fly out – in Kolkata
Over the last year or so, BCCI had not conducted fitness tests on the national team since they were playing non-stop cricket ahead of the World Cup. With another gruelling season of international cricket ahead though, beginning in Bangladesh and culminating with next year’s World Twenty20, BCCI have had a change of mind.
A meeting between BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya and secretary Anurag Thakur failed to break the deadlock over India’s support staff for the tour of Bangladesh. “You will get to know about coach and support staff before 6th of June,” Thakur told reporters after the meeting.

For more than a month, the fate of CLT20 has been hanging in the balance. BCCI, the majority stakeholder of the tournament, and the broadcaster aren’t keen on hosting it, but they will need a formal consent from CSA and CA before cancellation. The South African board seems to have accepted that CLT20 is a history, having already announced Africa T20 Cup to be held in September, when the CLT20 usually takes place.IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla had also said that the BCCI was planning to do away with CLT20, adding that they were exploring possible alternatives.Sections in the media had reported of a tournament involving the top four IPL teams from this season. Although Thakur denied those claims, he admitted that the Champions League has been struggling to attract any takers.”Would you like your product to go down?” he said “No. You will only get sponsors if you’ve a successful tournament. There will be no takers otherwise. Eventually, you will have to look for cricket first. For me, that one-month window has to be used properly in the interest of cricket and cricket board.”

Plenty of things went right for South Africa on the third day in Adelaide but they still faced the prospect of a difficult chase as Australia led by 273 runs at stumps

The Report by Brydon Coverdale24-Nov-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Faf du Plessis made an impressive 78 on debut•Getty Images

Plenty of things went right for South Africa on the third day in Adelaide. Faf du Plessis made an impressive 78 on debut, Jacques Kallis shrugged off the pain of his injured hamstring to score a fighting fifty, and Rory Kleinveldt took three quick wickets late in the day to rattle Australia’s top order. But when stumps rolled around, one unavoidable fact remained: South Africa were going to need to complete the biggest Adelaide Oval chase in 110 years – and possibly of all time – to take a 1-0 lead in the series.Adelaide might be renowned as a batting paradise but the way the surface can break up on the fourth and fifth days can make run-scoring difficult. The biggest successful chase in Adelaide Oval Tests was 315, scored by Joe Darling’s Australians in 1902, and by stumps on Saturday, Michael Clarke’s side already led by 273. Clarke was at the crease on 9 and Michael Hussey was on 5, and the score had moved on to 5 for 111 thanks largely to a solid opening stand from David Warner and Ed Cowan.But if any team knows about hefty pursuits it is Graeme Smith’s outfit. Four years ago, they chased down 414 at the WACA, with only four wickets down, and six members of that side are also playing in Adelaide. They can also take heart from the fact that James Pattinson is almost certain not to bowl in the fourth innings after being sent for scans to assess pain that he felt in his left side early on the third day. Kallis can bat injured, but Pattinson won’t be much good with the ball.The Australians will hope for the same kind of bowling success that Kleinveldt and his colleagues enjoyed on the third afternoon. Cowan and Warner put on 77 for the opening wicket and Warner was enjoying the chance to thrash boundaries off Imran Tahir’s legspin when Kleinveldt ended the party. He drew a leading edge from Warner, who was caught at cover for 41, and two balls later Rob Quiney’s Test future was placed in serious jeopardy when he edged behind for a duck, an almost identical dismissal to the first innings.Kleinveldt also got rid of Cowan, who on 29 played on to leave Australia at 3 for 91 and Tahir relieved after he should have had Cowan earlier in the innings. Cowan had been caught at cover off a leading edge and Tahir celebrated what he thought was his first wicket of the game, but replays confirmed what the umpire suspected – he had over-stepped, an unforgivable error for a slow bowler, and Cowan was briefly reprieved.