Needing to chase down the 340 target in under 25 overs to qualify, Tasmania were skittled out for 256

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2017
ScorecardJoe Burns watches the ball closely•Getty Images

Joe Burns, Sam Heazlett and Jimmy Peirson (43 off 26) powered Queensland to a total beyond the reach of Tasmania in the domestic limited-overs match at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.At the venue where the tournament final will be played, only the Tigers had the faintest hope of qualifying for the playoffs but needed to gain a double bonus-point over the Bulls. However the early wicket of Test opener Matt Renshaw was followed by an establishing stand between the captain Usman Khawaja (41) and Marnus Labuschagne (64), that allowed the Queensland middle order to capitalise.Heazlett and Burns added 79 in 59 balls, before Peirson added further acceleration alongside some late blows from Ben Cutting and Jake Wildermuth.Needing to chase down their target in a mere 25 overs to qualify, the Tigers were never a chance, as the Bulls took regular wickets throughout, three to the wrist spin of Mitchell Swepson. South Australia will now meet Victoria on Thursday for the right to play top-of-the-table Western Australia in the final.

From allowing Jason Holder and Shane Dowrich to put on 212 for the eighth wicket to the soft dismissals of Solomon Mire and Craig Ervine, day four in Bulawayo didn’t go to plan for the hosts

Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo01-Nov-2017Zimbabwe coach Heath Streak admitted it would be tough for his side to bat themselves back into the match after conceding a 122-run first innings lead against West Indies in Bulawayo.”There’s still a long way to go, 92 overs,” he said. “And it’s slow going out there, not an easy wicket to score quickly on. So we’ve got to get through a session and get ourselves into a position where we can maybe consider giving them a target. But it’s very tough, especially with the deficit we’ve had to make up, and the pitch being so slow.”Zimbabwe found themselves 23 for 3 in their second innings before a half-century from Sikandar Raza – his second of the Test – took them to 140 for 4 at stumps.”There’s still a lot of cricket to be played tomorrow,” Streak said. “A hard fighting day and a hard fighting first session. It’s not too far until the new ball, and we’ve got to get through that and see if we get some sort of total to defend.”He added that, after several missed chances in the field, Zimbabwe had only themselves to blame for allowing Jason Holder and Shane Dowrich put on a record 212-run partnership. “They put us under pressure, and we didn’t help ourselves with a few dropped catches,” Streak said. “We’ve got ourselves to blame for giving them that lead, but we’ve just got to deal with where we’re at now.”He lamented the soft dismissals that heaped pressure on Zimbabwe’s middle order once again, suggesting that wickets in hand could have helped Zimbabwe push for more of a lead heading into the fifth day.”Hamilton [Masakadza] got out to a good ball that hooped back quite a bit, but then Solomon [Mire] got out to a soft dismissal even by his own standards,” Streak said, describing Mire’s swipe across the line at a ball from Kemar Roach that trapped him lbw. “He does play aggressively, but on that wicket and with that length, it’s very difficult to play that type of shot, especially on a fourth-day wicket when you’ve had a lot of evidence of balls keeping low. So those are the sorts of dismissals we want to get rid of. Even Craig Ervine, if he’s honest with himself, got out to a pretty soft dismissal. It wasn’t like the ball did a heck of a lot.”If we had taken maybe two wickets off there, Mire and Ervine’s wickets, then it’s 140 for 2 and that’s a pretty good score. We’d have wickets in hand if we want to push on and try and get some sort of lead and put them in.”One bright point for Streak was the batting of Raza and Peter Moor, who reined in his attacking instincts to finish on 39 not out from 152 balls at the close. ” PJ [Moor] is a very determined guy first of all, and he’s a very intelligent guy who has worked out watching the other guys,” Streak said. “It’s not easy to just go out there and play shots, so he’s adjusted his game accordingly to the wicket. His batting in the first innings has also given him some insight into how to do it. Anyone who has gone out there and batted for a period of time, you can see there haven’t been easy or free flowing innings from anyone.”Apart from being slow, the pitch also fell short of Zimbabwe’s expectations in terms of help for the spinners. “Having a bit of cool weather around, has meant that the wicket hasn’t dried and dusted up as much as we would have liked,” Streak said. “So it’s been a little more placid than what we’d hoped. We wanted a wicket that would spin and break up, but the weather conditions on day one and two made the deterioration of the wicket much slower than it ought to be. Normally in October you get hot, dry days and then that deterioration happens a lot quicker.”

The short gap between the Sri Lanka series and the South Africa tour has forced the team to get into a “game situation” as preparation for the tour, according to the India captain Virat Kohli

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Nagpur23-Nov-20171:19

Need to assess preparation time for overseas tours – Kohli

A packed international calendar has left India with ‘no choice’ but to get into a “game situation” for the upcoming South Africa tour by playing on seam-friendly pitches in the ongoing home Tests against Sri Lanka, according to Virat Kohli. The series against Sri Lanka, which also includes three ODIs and three T20Is, ends on December 24, 12 days before the first Test against South Africa in Cape Town. This only gives India time to play one two-day warm-up match, on December 30 and 31 in Paarl.”Unfortunately we get only two days before we fly to South Africa after this series gets over,” Kohli said, on the eve of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Nagpur. “So we have no choice but to be in game situation and think of what’s coming ahead of us.”Had we got a month off, ideally, we would have done a proper preparation in a camp sort of scenario but we have to make do with what we have. As usual, cramped for time, which I think we need to assess in future as well, because we very easily assess the team when we go abroad but we don’t look at how many days we have got to prepare before we go to a particular place to play.”And everyone starts judging players when results come after Test matches. It should be a fair game where we get to prepare the way we want to and then we are entitled to be criticised. So we thought this is an ample opportunity for us to challenge ourselves.”As I said, we want to embrace being in difficult conditions. I am not saying that everyone will go out and perform immediately but if we can feel comfortable about it, after one or two or three innings, someone will come good. And once you come good, you build on that confidence. It’s the same for the bowlers. Yes, we are looking at this as an opportunity.”In the first Test at Eden Gardens, a green pitch and overcast skies made for a rain-interrupted Test dominated by the faster bowlers. India’s spinners, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, only bowled 10 overs between them across the two innings. Both are among the top five in the ICC’s Test bowlers’ rankings, but Kohli said India might find it difficult to play both in overseas conditions, despite their batting ability.”I can’t commit to that 100% when we play abroad, that we will be playing with two spinners, to be honest,” Kohli said. “Because we need to have a look at the balance of the side as well. Obviously, those two guys with their batting abilities are both contenders to start a Test match, but depending upon the batsmen we are up against in the opposition – when you play on tracks which don’t turn and bounce – it’s very important to understand if the left-arm spinner is bowling to five right-handers or the offspinner is bowling to four left-handers.”Just the angle the ball coming in makes so much difference against a spinner. And it can turn away from you at some stage in the Test match. Those are very minor factors that you assess before picking the first spinner in overseas conditions but that’s quite far away.”But yes, we count them as allrounders because they have proved themselves in different situations and they have made some very important contributions to the team. So they are not tail-enders anymore, they are proper allrounders. Their ranking does justice to that. They have really improved their games, it gives us good balance when we play both of them because when you play both of them, you can, if you want to, play an extra bowler as well. So that certainly gives us some cushion to play around.”Kohli stressed the importance of a seam-bowling allrounder in overseas conditions, and said India had picked Vijay Shankar in their squad for Nagpur to try him out as a back-up for Hardik Pandya, who has been rested.”He [Shankar] has been very consistent. He has earned his spot,” Kohli said. “We wanted to look at another allrounder keeping in mind that it’s a very important aspect of the team going forward. Obviously, Hardik is in our scheme of things as our first allrounder. But we need to, obviously, find out more people who have that capability and whom we can groom and make as back-ups for the allrounder’s slot, which is very, very crucial for us when we travel abroad.”That is the whole idea of bringing him in and keeping him in the set-up and making him familiar with what’s going on here and making him understand what he needs to work on and look at his game as well. He is a pretty balanced cricketer, he is very composed. He is handy with the ball – he can easily give you 10-12 overs a day – and he is very solid with the bat. I just saw him at the nets. Big moment for him. He has earned it, as I said.”BCCI

On the fifth day in Kolkata, India’s charge to an unlikely victory was halted by bad light, but also held up on occasion by Sri Lanka’s delaying tactics. Niroshan Dickwella, their wicketkeeper-batsman, was particularly adept, stopping Mohammed Shami in his run-up on a couple of occasions, and exchanging words with him. Asked about this, Kohli said he liked his competitiveness.”I like to see that character,” he said. “He is someone who takes a lot of pride in his cricket. Impressed with what I have seen so far from the last series as well. He has got great ability to do something very special for Sri Lankan cricket.”I like to see that competitiveness on the field. In the heat of things, I will do anything for my team to win. Afterwards we had a normal chat, and on the flight as well. Those things end on the field. When you are competitive as an opponent, we always respect that about any opponent. He is a very feisty character and that works for his game. Credit for him for maintaining that and I am sure he will do many good things in Sri Lankan cricket.”

The protective headgear – part helmet, part face mask – is designed to protect Warren Barnes from a possible injury due to his unique follow-through

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Dec-2017Batsmen and wicketkeepers have worn helmets for decades now, and with the evolution of power-hitting, especially in the T20 format, a few umpires and bowlers are also exploring the option of protective headgear to guard against injury. In Hamilton on Saturday, it was the turn of 25-year-old Otago fast bowler Warren Barnes to trial protective headgear while bowling against Northern Districts in a Super Smash T20 match.The headgear – part helmet and part face-mask – has been designed by Barnes and Otago coach Rob Walter, to protect the bowler from injury due to his unique follow-through. Barnes’ head goes down in his follow through, meaning his eyes are off the ball after release, which makes him vulnerable to straight drives hit back by the batsman. The headgear partially covers Barnes’ face but protects the crown of his head.Barnes is looking to avoid the kind of injury that Nottinghamshire bowler Luke Fletcher suffered during a Natwest t20 Blast match earlier this year. Fletcher was struck on the head in his follow-through, by a ferocious straight hit from Birmingham batsman Sam Hain. He was concussed, but did not lose consciousness and was attended to by para-medics in the dressing room before being taken to a Nottinghamshire hospital for further examination. Fletcher was ruled out for the remainder of the season and earlier this month was cleared to resume full training.

India women have not played ODI cricket since the World Cup final last July but Mithali Raj said the side is well equipped to tackle South Africa’s competitive brand of cricket

Annesha Ghosh in Mumbai23-Jan-2018Much of India’s success at the World Cup in 2017 had revolved around the odd individual performance taking the team over the line. Until their virtual quarter-final win over New Zealand, India’s struggle to fire as a unit – with the exception of their tournament opener against England – was first and most debilitatingly evinced in their group-stage 115-run loss to South Africa. Pitted to face an opposition that almost immaculately played out their “always rising” motto to give eventual winners England an almighty scare in the semi-final, India ODI captain Mithali Raj acknowledged the test of character the forthcoming tour of South Africa will pose for the team and the each of the players individually.

India women coach Tushar Arothe on…

Fitness and fielding: What we found during the World Cup was the [inadequacy in the] fitness levels. We had a couple of fitness camps at the NCA around September-October and that really helped improve the standards. During the Challenger Trophy [the three-team domestic 50-over tournament], you must have seen the fielding levels have gone up.
Preparations for the T20I leg of the tour: During this [one-week] camp, we made some of the wickets a little bouncier, the centre wickets especially. During practice, we gave them [the players] some targets, like the first eight overs or ten overs, and then for the last few overs. Even for bowlers we had a few targets and they had been bowling according to that.

“It’s a very important tour. It’s not going to be easy because we’ve played South Africa before,” Raj said. “They are a very good side; you’ve seen in the World Cup, they almost made it to finals, so it’s going to be very competitive cricket and it will test each and every player and also as a team. It’s important that the girls need to be confident that they’re prepared well for the series.”It was not only at the World Cup that South Africa had brought India’s winning streak at the tournament to an end. The last time India toured South Africa, for the Quadrangular series in May, the hosts had robbed India the opportunity to complete a record 17 consecutive ODI victories, even though the visitors won the title subsequently. Despite the formidable nature of the opponents and the near-seven month “break” during which India played no international cricket, Raj exuded confidence in the preparation the team has had going into the three-match ODI series – their first of the second cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship – that will pave way for five T20Is and a packed home season, featuring back-to-back series against Australia and England.Mithali Raj and coach Tushar Arothe have a chat during a preparatory camp•PTI

“We had enough time to prepare for this series,” she said. “It’s again a beginning for us. We need to start afresh. The young girls have been in the match mould because they’ve been playing the domestic [tournaments]; and we had a week’s preparatory camp here [in Mumbai]. A couple of them [Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy] are coming from the WBBL, so pretty much everybody is into the mode of playing matches.”While the inclusion of three young, uncapped players in the ODI squad has piqued much interest around the up-and-coming lot of Indian cricketers, Raj sounded a note of caution while weighing in on any likely tweaking of a well-tested combination the team management may opt for early on in the tour to accommodate the newbies.”After the World Cup this is our first tour, so I wouldn’t be trying out too many things because it’s important for the core also to get confidence,” she said. So, I’ll be going in with the conventional batting order, so that we get the points because it’s also important we win the matches and, accordingly, whenever we get a chance where we can try out a few things, then probably we can look into changing a few things in the batting order or the combination of the team.The ODI series, starting February 5 in Kimberley, is also set to mark a first for both India and the hosts, in light of the new ICC playing conditions for the ICC Women’s Championship, which came into effect in October 2017: both teams will be required to use two new balls each. While India’s conventional practice with the ball – whether in the subcontinent or overseas – has been underpinned by their reliance on a spin-heavy attack, Raj voiced her disinclination towards trading the time-honoured template with employing a three-pronged pace pack.”It all depends on how the first few games go first – if the spinners are bowling well, why would I actually look in to the other combination?” Raj reasoned. “But again, if, say the spinners aren’t bowling that good then yes we try and look after another combination which can work for the team. But we try and have everything open for us – we have batters who can bowl a few overs. So we try and shape the team in such a way that we have a lot of choices tomorrow. But then it all depends on how the matches go for the first couple of games.”Raj also emphasised on the work put in by the coaching staff, led by head coach Tushar Arothe, in ensuring the bowlers are equipped to close out chases or get handy runs down the order – a shortcoming that played a part in India losing the World Cup final . Given 2018 also marks the year of the Women’s World T20, Raj harped on how India’s performance in the one-dayers could provide a practical groundwork for the T20I leg of the tour – to be led by Harmanpreet.”He [head coach Tushar Arothe] has been working really hard on the bowlers, so we get those lower-middle-order runs,” she said. “I think you know now it is [the ODI series] a start, a preparation for the T20 World Cup. Yes, it’s been a while playing T20 format but we as an Indian team are looking forward to the T20 games and we as a team need to work really hard in this format.”

South Africa’s young captain says he is richer for the experience gained in this series, and thinks the lopsided result will spur his team on and make future victories that much sweeter

Sidharth Monga in Centurion17-Feb-2018Over the last two weeks, South Africa’s young ODI captain Aiden Markram has wished that he had a normal introduction to ODI cricket, as opposed to sitting in the spotlight, trying to arrest a seemingly never-ending slide after being thrust into the captaincy role only two matches into his career. However, he is also glad that he has had this experience, learning important lessons.”, that sort of thought will always come, especially seeing how the last two weeks have gone,” Markram said, when asked if there were periods during the last two weeks when he had wished he had had time to fly under the radar and learn from some of the senior members of the side. “But, to be brutally honest with you, I’m happy it’s happened this way; not just for me, but for us as a squad.”It really gives us some points to learn on, and it’s going to make victories in the future much much sweeter. It’s going to make us work a lot harder. There’s a reason it’s worked out the way it has. We’re learning, and we’re growing. It’s going to get to a stage where we really know our games and who needs to do what for the side. It’s going to be an exciting 18 months coming up. The guys will be very hungry.”Asked about the biggest lesson he had personally learnt, Markram spoke of the importance of not letting captaincy affect his batting. “As a player, you still need to look after your performance,” Markram, who has experience of leading South Africa Under-19s, South Africa A and domestic franchise Titans, said. “As a captain, you can only control so much. At the end of the day, I’m still a batsman and I need to score runs. When I get into the middle, I need to be in that comfort zone and not let thoughts of captaincy get into my mind at that time.”Markram has seemed like a batsman going out of his way to impose himself on the game, possibly to tell himself that he deserves the mantle he has been given. After the defeat in Port Elizabeth, coach Ottis Gibson had said Markram wasn’t batting the way he had seen him bat before the captaincy.”I wasn’t playing the usual game I do play, and whether that be due to various pressures… or not being in the zone or in the moment is probably the reason,” Markram said. “He [Gibson] is spot on with what he says. We did chat about it, and today, when I was batting, I felt in a more comfortable space. I felt I was structuring my innings how I would if I was batting in a franchise game. It’s very late in the series, but it’s a positive that I was able to overcome that obstacle.”Markram admitted to there being extra pressure. “There’s a lot of pressure,” he said. “As an individual, I set high standards for myself, and not having done well this series, there was that form of pressure as well. So there are various forms of pressure; captaincy is just one of them. But, like I mentioned, it is pressure I enjoy, and I’d like to enjoy it more in the future.”When Markram was handed the captaincy, there were obvious comparisons with Graeme Smith, who became captain at a similarly young age. Smith had a wealth of experience to fall back on when he became captain, whereas it will be fair to say that Markram has been let down by the performance of the seniors he was left with. However, Markram said they had been helpful to him with their experience.”Plenty help to be fair,” Markram said. “I’m constantly checking in with them. They also understand the space I’m in as a young captain. It’s very nice to fall on them when I need to. Off the field as well. I know it might not reflect in our performances on the field, but in terms of getting me in a calmer space, a lot of credit must go to them.”Markram didn’t expect it to be all rosy, especially given the circumstances under which the captaincy came to him in. He can’t be sure that he will be in the next ODI side; if that doesn’t happen, it will be unfair on the youngster, who said that despite all the challenges and adverse results, he was richer for the experience. “It was always going to be tough,” Markram said. “It was something I was looking forward to, and a challenge that I enjoy. I can still say that sitting here having lost a series 5-1. It was a responsibility that I enjoy. I learned a lot, and at this stage of my career that’s not a bad thing. Going forward, I’m going to take the lessons I did learn. The experience of dealing with other pressures grows me as a player.”

The former India seamer has stepped down with immediate effect to avoid a potential conflict of interest as he is likely to take up a coaching role in the IPL

Nagraj Gollapudi02-Mar-2018Venkatesh Prasad, the chairman of India’s junior selection committee, has stepped down with immediate effect to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Prasad communicated his resignation to the BCCI on Friday morning.It is understood that Prasad is in the final stages of talks with an IPL franchise for the role of an assistant bowling coach. Had Prasad continued as chairman of the junior selection committee and taken up an IPL role, he would have been in violation of the conflict-of-interest rules laid out by the Lodha committee.Incidentally on Thursday, Prasad along with the other two junior selectors – Gyanendra Pandey and Rakesh Parekh – had picked the Under-16 and Under-19 squads for the national camp to be held at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, in the summer.Prasad had a successful tenure as the head of the junior selection panel. During his tenure India reached the Under-19 World Cup final twice, while winning the title last month. Prasad had worked closely with Rahul Dravid, the India A and Under-19 coach, to identify junior talent and hone their skills. The pair had also chalked out a plan where the junior players would get more exposure by playing overseas.Despite the success, Prasad was on the lookout for the next challenge. He had applied for the position of the senior selection panel and also was interviewed by the BCCI for the position of general manager, cricket. Saba Karim was eventually appointed to that position.Although it could not be confirmed, Kings XI Punjab is one of the franchises that Prasad is likely to join. Currently, Kings XI have only Brad Hodge as a head coach. Prasad was the bowling coach at Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008 during the first season of the IPL. He then took the same role at Chennai Super Kings from 2009-10 before moving back to reclaim the same role with Royal Challengers between 2011-13.