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Pakistani legspinner Mir first pick among overseas players at the draft in Dhaka

Mohammad Isam16-Sep-20171:11

Isam: Rajshahi lucky to get first foreign and domestic picks

Rajshahi Kings picked Mustafizur Rahman with the first overall pick at the BPL players’ draft in Dhaka. The franchise also had the good fortune of getting the first pick among the overseas players, and they took Pakistani legspinner Usama Mir with it.Mustafizur will receive $60,000 as the only player in Grade A+ in the local list. Abu Hider, another left-arm pace bowler, was taken by defending champions Dhaka Dynamites as the second overall pick in the draft before Khulna Titans and Rangpur Riders went for left-hand batsmen, taking Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Shahriar Nafees respectively.Comilla Victorians took pace bowler Al-Amin Hossain, Chittagong Vikings went for left-arm spinner Sunzamul Islam, and Sylhet Sixers took local pacer Abul Hasan the first time around.Mir, the first overseas pick, will be paid $30,000 as he is in Grade D in the draft. Joe Denly (England and Dhaka), Najibullah Zadran (Afghanistan and Chittagong), Solomon Mire (Zimbabwe and Comilla), Shehan Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka and Khulna), Sam Hain (Warwickshire and Rangpur) and Chaturanga de Silva (Sri Lanka and Sylhet) were the first picks among the overseas players.Raza Ali Dar, Akeal Hosein, Luis Reece and Ghulam Mudassar, little-known players in the international T20 market, made it as high as the second round of the draft among the overseas picks.Squads
Chittagong Vikings: Misbah-ul-Haq, Anamul Haque (wk), Soumya Sarkar, Luke Ronchi (wk), Jermine Blackwood, Sikandar Raza, Liam Dawson, Jeevan Mendis, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Sunzamul Islam, Al-Amin, Alauddin Babu, Tanbir Hayder, Najibullah Zadran, Luis Reece, Irfan Sukkur, Naeem Hasan, Yasir ArafatComilla Victorians: Imrul Kayes, Tamim Iqbal, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo, Shoaib Malik, Jos Buttler, Liton Das (wk), Mohammad Saifuddin, Fahim Ashraf, Mohammed Nabi, Rashid Khan, Hassan Ali, Imran Khan Jr, Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Alok Kapali, Mahedi Hasan, Solomon Mire, Rumman Raees, Mehedi Hasan Rana, Enamul Haque, Raqibul HasanDhaka Dynamites: Mehedi Maruf, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Evin Lewis, Cameron Delport, Mosaddek Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Shane Watson, Kevon Cooper, Rovman Powell, Shahid Afridi, Sunil Narine, Graeme Cremer, Mohammad Shahid, Mohammed Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Ronsford Beaton, Abu Hider, Jahurul Islam, Nadif Chowdhury, Saqlain Sajib, Joe Denly, Akeal Hosein, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Shadman Islam, Noor Hossain SaddamKhulna Titans: Rillee Roussow, Dawid Malan, Ariful Haque, Mahmudullah, Chadwick Walton, Sarfraz Ahmed, Carlos Brathwaite, Seekkuge Prasanna, Shadab Khan, Mosharraf Hossain, Kyle Abbott, Benny Howell, Junaid Khan, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Abu Jayed Rahi, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Shehan Jayasurya, Jofra Archer, Imran Ali, Mukter Ali, Dhiman Ghosh, Saif HassanRajshahi Kings: Mominul Haque, Luke Wright, Lendl Simmons, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Malcom Waller, James Franklin, Farhad Reza, Darren Sammy, Samit Patel, Mehidy Hasan, Kesrick Williams, Mohammad Sami, Mustafizur Rahman, Zakir Hasan, Nihaduzzaman, Rony Talukdar, Usama Mir, Raja Ali Dar, Hossain Ali, Naeem Islam jnr, Kazi AnikRangpur Riders: Adam Lyth, Kusal Perera, Johnson Charles, Mohammad Mithun, Ravi Bopara, Thisara Perera, David Willey, Sohag Gazi, Samuel Badree, Rubel Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahriar Nafees, Nazmul Islam Apu, Ziaur Rahman, Fazle Mahmud, Sam Hain, Samiullah Shenwari, Abdur Razzak, Ebadot Hossain, Elias Sunny, Nahidul Islam, Zahir KhanSylhet Sixers: Babar Azam, Andre Fletcher, Davy Jacobs, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Andre McCarthy, Ross Whiteley, Nurul Hasan, Dasun Shanaka, Taijul Islam, Wanidu Hasaranga, Liam Plunkett, Usman Khan Shinwari, Krismar Santokei, Abul Hasan, Shuvagata Hom, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Nabil Samad, Chaturanga de Silva, Ghulam Mudasser Khan, Mohammad Sharif, Imtiaz Hossain, Mohammad Sharifullah

Adam Zampa might be Australia’s specialist white-ball spinner at the moment, but he hopes to use the upcoming summer to prove that his skills can be transferred to the longer form of the game

Brydon Coverdale12-Aug-2016Adam Zampa might be Australia’s specialist white-ball spinner at the moment, but he hopes to use the upcoming summer to prove that his skills can be transferred to the longer form of the game. Zampa made his ODI and T20 debuts for Australia earlier this year and immediately impressed with his poise under pressure, a trait that has brought him success, particularly in T20 cricket.He was the leading wicket-taker among spinners during the recent Caribbean Premier League, in which he claimed 15 victims at 18.46 for the Guyana Amazon Warriors, and is about to join Australia’s squad in Sri Lanka for the limited-overs leg of their tour. The axing of Glenn Maxwell from the ODI squad should create plenty of chances for Zampa, named alongside Nathan Lyon in the squad.”It’s a big opportunity for me,” Zampa told reporters in Adelaide during a brief trip home between the CPL and the Sri Lanka series. “Looking at the next six months or so coming up too, there’s quite a lot of white-ball cricket. There’s probably three or four tours this summer. It’s a good opportunity for me to cement my spot even more in that one-day and T20 side.”However, Zampa also knows that opportunities are presenting themselves for spinners in the Test side, with Steve O’Keefe and Jon Holland both having played alongside Lyon during the ongoing Test series in Sri Lanka. In order to make himself a candidate for a Test call-up, Zampa will need to make the most of his opportunities at the Sheffield Shield level during the gaps between his white-ball commitments.Last summer, Zampa played five Shield games for South Australia and collected 10 wickets at 45.20, but he was far from alone in terms of spinners being overshadowed during that season. The top 10 wicket-takers in the previous Shield summer were all fast bowlers, including three from Zampa’s own state – Joe Mennie, Daniel Worrall and Chadd Sayers – who dominated the wickets tally.”It’s been made pretty obvious that I’m predominantly white-ball cricket at the moment,” Zampa said. “I want to try and show that I’ve actually improved as a bowler in the last 12 months. I haven’t had a great opportunity, but in Shield cricket last year, I actually felt like I bowled really well.”With our bowling attack and the way the wickets were going last year, I actually didn’t get too much opportunity. I’m hoping to get some suitable conditions this year, and I want to try and win some games for South Australia before I’m ready to play for Australia.”If Zampa can show his red-ball skills during whatever Shield games he plays this summer, the reward could be significant. A Test tour of India in February-March will require Australia to take at least two, and possibly, three spinners.”I’ve got to get quite a few more games under my belt,” Zampa said. “I’ve only played three or four four-dayers in the last 12 months. This year is going to be a great opportunity for me. There’s some opportunities coming up, you’ve seen with O’Keefe, Lyon, Holland… there’s an India tour coming up, so Shield cricket this year is going to be big for me.”

Vernon Philander made a successful return to franchise cricket after more than four months out of action and is targeting more competitive action over the South African winter in the hope of an international recall

Firdose Moonda31-Mar-2016Vernon Philander made a successful return to franchise cricket after more than four months out of action and is targeting more competitive action over the South African winter in the hope of an international recall.Philander, who tore ankle ligaments during South Africa’s Test tour of India in November, played a club match earlier this month followed by an outing for Western Province in the three-day amateur competition below franchise level and will be available for the end of Cape Cobras’ domestic season before searching for a county offer.”The plan is for Vernon to play the two first-class matches at home and then maybe look to go over to the UK for a period of time to play there,” Arthur Turner, Philander’s agent told ESPNcricinfo. “He wants to make sure he gets game time.”On his comeback for Cobras against Dolphins, Philander seemed his old self: miserly and menacing under some morning cloud. He shared the new ball with Wayne Parnell, who overshadowed him with a seven-wicket haul, but Philander helped apply the pressure. He claimed the second wicket, that of Dolphins’ captain Imran Khan, and bowled 11 overs at an economy of 1.81, the lowest on the day to remind South Africa of the discipline they have lacked.At the recent World T20, South Africa’s bowlers leaked extras and conceded 36 runs in wides. His only T20Is came back in 2007 so a return in that format would appear unlikely, but he may be considered for South Africa’s next assignment, an ODI tri-series in the West Indies in June which also includes Australia.Philander has been part of South Africa’s one-day plans as recently as the 2015 World Cup and Turner said he is “hopeful of being picked again in the near future.” If Philander is overlooked for the trip to the West Indies he would almost certainly come into contention for the home August Tests against New Zealand and will want to have overs under the belt before then.With no IPL or CPL deal, Philander’s best chance of playing will be on the county circuit, where he most recently represented Nottinghamshire in the 2015 season but Turner said he will not rule out any other playing possibilities. “If something comes up somewhere, Vernon will definitely consider it because he wants to play now that he is fit. He worked very hard to get himself back to playing. He always knew that the injury would heal but it took longer than expected,” Turner said.When Philander was injured in November, it was estimated he would recover by mid-January in time to play in two of the Tests against England. But Philander did not play any cricket until two months after that and Turner said, “once the international season was over and he could see he wasn’t going to play, he gave it as much time as he could to make sure there will no problems in future.”South Africa were also without Dale Steyn for six of the eight Tests against India and England, and the combined loss of bowling experience was one of the reasons Russell Domingo cited as one of the reasons for their back to back series defeats. “We probably didn’t have the strike power that we wanted with a few injuries with guys like Dale and Vernon not playing. That was a big loss,” Domingo said.That does not mean Philander will be able to walk back into the Test XI. In his absence, 20-year-old quick Kagiso Rabada emerged and South Africa will now need to look at which quicks they want to use in which format.

Australia undid a dominant morning with a desperately poor afternoon as South Africa rumbled back into contention with a flurry of wickets

The Report by Daniel Brettig18-Nov-2011
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Shane Watson once again could not convert a half-century into a hundred•AFP

Championed by the indomitable Dale Steyn, South Africa rumbled back into contention with a flurry of wickets to ensure Australia undid a dominant morning with a desperately poor afternoon. Having blazed to 169 for 0 at lunch, Australia slid to 296 all out after tea, a lead of 30 counterbalanced by the fact that a deteriorating pitch will make the fourth innings difficult. Graeme Smith survived four balls before bad light ended play.South Africa, as strong sides tend to do, redoubled their efforts after a poor start to the day, and as in Cape Town, where they were razed for 47 in the second innings, Australia were unable to lift themselves accordingly. The hosts’ resurgence was epitomised by Dale Steyn, who compensated for a dip in pace by swerving the older ball deviously, and Imran Tahir, innocuous against Watson and Hughes but mightily effective against a supine lower order.Phillip Hughes and Shane Watson can be proud of a stand of 174, but at least one had to go on to a match-shaping score. Ricky Ponting’s exit, lbw again, will seriously threaten his place in the team, as will another inconsequential score for Brad Haddin.In the first session, which started early due to the bad light that truncated day one, Hughes and Watson confronted a handful of difficult early deliveries with the new ball, but there was no more movement off the pitch than might be expected on any Test match morning, and little through the air.Steyn appeared to be down on speed after his Cape Town exertions, and it was Philander and Morkel who posed greater questions. Hughes was into the 30s by the time the hosts manufactured a chance, the batsman flicking off his hip to short leg, where Hashim Amla spilled a difficult catch.

Smart stats

• The 174-run stand between Phillip Hughes and Shane Watson is the fifth century stand for an Australian opening pair against South Africa since South Africa’s readmission. Hughes has been involved in two of them.

• Watson’s half-century is his 16th in Tests. He has scored only two centuries and has been dismissed in the nineties on four occasions.

• Hughes scored his third half-century in Tests. He has now scored 1020 runs with three hundreds and three fifties at an average of 39.23.

• Dale Steyn’s four-wicket haul is his 32nd in Tests. Among South African bowlers, only Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini have more four-wicket hauls than Steyn.

• Ricky Ponting’s horror run continued with his second consecutive duck. The last time he was dismissed in two consecutive innings for a duck was back in 2001 in India. He now averages 17.50 from his last 15 innings with just one half-century.

Hughes should have been out on 38, squeezing an inside edge onto his pad and through to Mark Boucher from the bowling of Jacques Kallis. But the South African appeal was unconvincing, and no referral was called for. When it was, for a Watson lbw appeal by Tahir, an equally thick inside edge was detected.Aside from this helping of luck, and Watson’s risky penchant for driving in the air through the offside, Australia’s batting demonstrated tremendous power, aggression and resolve. Watson was a little slower between the wickets than usual due to his hamstring injury but never lax in his foot movement, while Hughes began to look like the buccaneering opener who had plundered a century in each innings against South Africa in Durban in 2009.Both batsmen saved perhaps their best strokes for passing the half-century mark. Hughes rolled his wrists over a precise cut shot and Watson punched off the back foot through cover with the sort of impudence Steyn is not used to facing.By the interval Tahir had been warned for running on the pitch, and the hosts were doubly ruing their wasteful strokes on the first afternoon.South Africa returned more focused from the lunch break, and set about tying down Watson and Hughes. Results did not take too long: Hughes cut at a ball too close to him and presented a catch to the slips for the third time in as many innings this series.As he has often done on the outskirts of a century, Watson was becalmed, and ultimately chose the wrong ball to pull, swinging Kallis to deep midwicket where Tahir held a vital low catch. Usman Khawaja handled his first few deliveries with care and attention redolent of the man he has replaced in the side, the injured Shaun Marsh, but Ponting would not be joining him for long.Steyn’s first ball to Ponting was precise, seaming back enough to strike the pads in line with the stumps. Steyn was exultant, and a disconsolate Ponting did not even bother to refer the decision. It was his 27th innings without a Test century.Clarke was struck amidships early in his innings, drawing a combination of cheers and sympathetic groans when the replay was shown on the Wanderers’ big screen, and would still have been sore when he failed to ride Morkel’s bounce with a flashy forcing stroke and edged to first slip.Michael Hussey and Khawaja fought out the session, but they had not long returned when Steyn began curling the ball back into them. Khawaja was pinned in front of middle and wasted a DRS referral, then Hussey went back when he might have come forward and had his stumps splayed.Haddin made sure not to be out in the X-rated manner of the second innings at Newlands, but misjudged Tahir’s turn to be lbw for 16, and Peter Siddle might have been the first man ever to receive a googly, so badly did he misread it.Pat Cummins hung around long enough to take the tourists into the lead, but Steyn’s return brought more swing and an edge that was claimed neatly by Mark Boucher, diving in front of first slip. Johnson hit out ably for 38, but the fact he was the next highest score after the openers when Nathan Lyon was lbw to another Tahir googly said rather too much about Australia’s batting.

A century from Joe Denly went in vain as Kent failed to make eight runs off the final over, and lost an exciting match to the Indians by five runs

Nagraj Gollapudi in Canterbury27-Aug-2011
ScorecardVirat Kohli’s 78 ensured India reached a winning score•Bipin Patel

A century from Joe Denly went in vain as Kent failed to make eight runs off the final over, and lost an exciting match to the Indians by five runs. Riding on Virat Kohli’s vibrant 78, the Indians had managed to set up a challenging target, but Denly, who has played five Twenty20 internationals for England in addition to nine ODIs, drove the chase before he was bowled seven balls from the end.Originally meant to be a 50-over encounter, the match was converted to a 20-over one after rain delayed the start. It was a long Friday for everyone. After the rain had played spoilsport, news poured in that a suspect package was found near the Canterbury West Railway Station and there was a fire in the Marks & Spencer store near the team hotel. The main road leading to the city centre from the St Lawrence county ground had been cut off. Still, the die-hard fans, who had bought tickets months in advance and had waded through the streams of water gushing down from the slope at the ground entrance, did not panic and leave. Instead they stayed put and even enjoyed the bhangra music, performed by the local group Jugnu, who kept the crowd going through the afternoon and evening.And what an evening it was. It belonged entirely to Denly till Munaf Patel’s nail-biting final over. Denly had started on the wrong foot when he charged at RP Singh and tried to hit the third ball of the chase over the bowler’s head. He only succeeded in getting an inside-edge that raced down to the fine-leg boundary. RP Singh followed that up with two wides.When Vinay Kumar came in from the Nackington Road end, Denly flicked him for consecutive boundaries, beating a harried Parthiv Patel at deep square leg. Denly then swept Amit Mishra for a flat six to move quickly into the 40s. When Mishra returned from the Pavilion end, Denly cut him for another easy four.Only R Ashwin managed to keep Denly quiet, with the batsman smartly respecting him once he realised he could take easy runs off the other bowlers. No other Kent batsman managed to cross 17 but that was also because Denly took most of the strike during the two major partnerships in the innings. A 60-run stand for the second wicket with Martin van Jaarsveld helped Kent stay in the race. Denly then combined well with allrounder Darren Stevens in a 73-run stand.Forty-nine runs were needed from the last six overs. That became 37 from the last four. Denly pulled RP Singh for a four and then cleared cow corner with a powerful six. Eighteen were need from 12 deliveries. Denly got to his hundred with a hard-run two off a free hit. But the very next ball, he was caught in two minds as his body was positioned to play the pull but the arc of his bat suggested he wanted to cut it, and he ended up being bowled.Joe Denly’s century was nearly enough to take Kent home•Bipin Patel

Kent needed a further eight runs from the final six deliveries. Munaf, who had been off colour during the Indians’ tour game in Hove, bowled off a slightly shorter run-up but put in more effort. He gave away two singles off the first two balls and then kept Sam Northeast guessing with his lengths off the next two deliveries. Stevens and the Kent fans were growing anxious. Off the fifth ball Stevens charged for a single when Northeast failed to connect. Northeast failed to reach the non-striker’s end, meaning the hosts still needed six off the last ball. Munaf clean bowled Stevens with a yorker and let out a shriek.India had recovered well in their innings after Parthiv Patel was dismissed off the third ball of the match. Rahul Dravid, a former overseas player for Kent, failed to make an impact, falling for 15 when he pulled straight to short midwicket where James Tredwell dived forward brilliantly to complete the catch.Over the last year Kohli has proved that he can bat comfortably in his own space and not let anything distract him. In Hove he had led India towards their target without breaking a sweat in the company of Rohit Sharma. The only difference in Canterbury was Rohit remained largely a bystander throughout their 69-run stand for the third wicket as Kohli doused the Kent bowling with a straight blade, a sharp eye, powerful wrists and good footwork.
India had scored just one boundary by the end of the third over when Kohli came in. Immediately he flicked Matt Coles past the fine-leg boundary, then hit over mid-off for two, and improvised the very next ball by hitting over the bowler’s head for another boundary.It was at the same venue that Kohli had made 123 in a Youth Test against the likes of Steven Finn and Adil Rashid back in 2006. Kohli was in a dominant mood today as he clobbered a full toss from Stevens high over deep midwicket. He then pulled offspinner Adam Riley over deep square leg for his second six and, in his next over, cleared his back foot and swatted Riley high over long-off for another six.Sadly Kohli’s innings ended abruptly as he slog-swept Tredwell towards deep midwicket where Denly fumbled, prompting Suresh Raina to call for a second run. Kohli seemed happy with the single but Raina’s desperate calls forced him to respond and even a full-stretched dive could not save him from being run out. A disappointed Kohli let Raina know that there was no need for a rushed extra run. He needn’t have worried. He had helped India to a winning target.

Harbhajan Singh has said it is “important to understand your body and manage it accordingly” in order to survive the rigours of the bloated schedule India’s cricketers are being subjected to

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jun-2011Harbhajan Singh has said it is “important to understand your body and manage it accordingly” in order to survive the rigours of the bloated schedule India’s cricketers are being subjected to.”A lot of hard work has been put in outside the field, and I am glad that it is paying off when the country needs me the most,” Harbhajan told the ahead of the West Indies tour, where he will be vice-captain of the one-day side in the absence of all the other senior players who are either resting or recovering from injuries. “You need to build your stamina to remain fit and be raring to go, and that happens only with proper planning. During non-match days I make sure that I sleep well – it is the most important nourishment to your body. I don’t try and push my body too much. The key is to just keep things simple.”For the one-day leg, Harbhajan will be the deputy to Suresh Raina who appeared on the scene much after Harbhajan established his place in the Indian side. Harbhajan said that he was not too bothered about not being named the captain of the depleted outfit. “Not everybody gets to be [king], some have to be [minister],” he said. “It’s a great honour to play for India. Of course, the dream to captain the side is alive, and I hope that it happens someday. But until then, I just want to do the best I can for the team. It is an honour to just be a part of this side.”It [my role as vice-captain] is simple, I have to make sure the dressing room environment remains fresh and energetic. The main thing is to make the youngsters feel very comfortable in the dressing room. There should be positive vibes all around, and the most important thing is to try and maintain our winning momentum from the World Cup.”Harbhajan had a reasonably successful IPL, finishing with 14 dismissals in 15 games at an economy-rate of 6.98. He believed switching from the Twenty20 format to one-dayers at short notice would not be a problem for him. “They are diametrically opposite versions, but being a professional, I’m ready for it. In Twenty20s, every second guy can roll his arm over – you don’t need skill or great variation. However, in the 50-over format, a spinner can really achieve something substantial. The switch is quite drastic.”The IPL was alright, it still is quite an unpredictable format for everyone concerned, but especially the bowlers. As a spinner, all I can do is to pray that the four overs go well. If I get lucky, then I end up with a couple of wickets, otherwise the only constant is to get hit for runs all over the park. You can’t really judge a player based on his Twenty20 performances.”Harbhajan will share the spin burden with R Ashwin and Amit Mishra in the West Indies one-dayers, both of whom courted more success than him in the IPL. Harbhajan said there were plenty of options in the team and did not want to comment on the combination. He hoped that the youngsters would make use of the chance to shine in the absence of the regulars.”It is a relatively young side, and this tour should be looked at as an opportunity for them to grab,” Harbhajan said. “They have earned their team call-ups the hard way, and after knocking on the door for so long, they have an entire series to really stake their claim. Nevertheless, it will be a challenge.”

Ricky Ponting believes it is “absolutely possible” that Australia can trounce England with a 5-0 Ashes clean-sweep this summer

Cricinfo staff16-Aug-2010Ricky Ponting believes it is “absolutely possible” that Australia can trounce England with a 5-0 Ashes clean-sweep this summer. Although Ponting didn’t quite match Glenn McGrath’s 5-0 prediction from four years ago – which turned out to be correct – he was confident that Australia had learnt from their mistakes and such an outcome was “all in our hands”.The Australians gave up the urn in England last year with a 2-1 defeat and while they have performed strongly since then, a 1-1 draw against Pakistan last month raised a few questions. The Headingley loss was Australia’s first Test defeat since the Ashes, and back home they won’t have as much reason to fear the swinging ball.By the first Test at the Gabba, Australia should have regained their No. 1 wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and the offspinner Nathan Hauritz, while they hope Peter Siddle will also be available after battling back stress fractures. Ponting met Cricket Australia officials in Melbourne on Monday to plan for the Ashes and said there was no reason to rule out a 5-0 win.”It’s absolutely possible,” Ponting told reporters. “There’s no reason why not. It’s all in our hands. It’s how well we play and how well we take charge of different situations. We’ve learnt from a lot of the mistakes that we’ve made. There’s no doubt we made some mistakes in the last Ashes series in England that probably at the end of the day cost us the series.”We know now that we’re a more experienced and probably a better team now than we were then. We put that together plus we’re playing in our conditions, we hope to win this series and win it well. Batting collapses probably were the reason we lost the series last time around and our inability to bowl them out on the last day in Cardiff. I’ve got confidence in the squad of players that we’ve got that they are going to be good enough to win an Ashes series.”Following Australia’s 1-1 series with Pakistan, England have started their series against the same opponents with two powerful victories, winning inside four days at both Trent Bridge and Edgbaston. They play two more Tests against Pakistan, their only five-day outings before the Ashes, while Australia will fine-tune their preparations with two Tests in India in October.”[James] Anderson and [Stuart] Broad and those guys have really stepped up,” Ponting said of England.” They are coming together well as a team. We have to make sure at the end of the Indian tour that we have got everything in place to make sure that we’re ultra-competitive against them.”They [England] certainly have bowled well and they’ve had great conditions to bowl in as well, the English. We’ll have a different set of conditions and a different ball when they come out here and I’m sure our guys will equip themselves really well. We know where we have to bowl to all of their batsmen. They’ve got no one there who’s going to surprise us at all.”Jonathan Trott, the England batsman who scored a century on debut at The Oval last August, offered a wry response to Ponting’s assessment. “I’ve only played one game against them, and they wanted to win that game but it turned out pretty good for us,” he said. “That’s all I can say, I don’t know the guy and his character, but I’d find if I’d said something like that I’d have put more pressure on myself and the team, more than if I go about my business the way I know.”

Karachi opener Shahzaib Hasan, one of three new faces in Pakistan’s side for the upcoming Asia Cup, believes he is ready for the challenges of international one-day cricket

Cricinfo staff09-Jun-2010Karachi opener Shahzaib Hasan, one of three new faces in Pakistan’s side for the upcoming Asia Cup, believes he is ready for the challenges of international one-day cricket.”I am confident that I can play well in the 50-over format of the game,” he told . “While I have no international experience at the 50-over format, I’m sure that I can turn my recent good domestic form into runs at international level and I am ready for the challenge of 50-over international cricket.” In domestic one-dayers, Hasan has scored 504 runs at an average of 38.76 and a strike-rate of 100.Hasan, who has played four Twenty20 internationals, is currently attending the national training camp at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, where the team is being put through net sessions and fielding practice, along with lots of one-on-one coaching. “We are being pushed hard by the coaches and it is tough work in this heat, but I am really enjoying it,” he said. “Waqar bhai and Ijaz bhai are just tremendous; they have a real connection with the boys, and know how to get the very best out of them.”Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi also gave Hasan batting advice, which the 20-year-old has taken to heart. “Shahid bhai has told me to be positive, and to bat with a positive attitude and not to think of any negative thoughts when I am batting, which I think is excellent advice and advice that I will take on board”The tip from Afridi came on top of advice Hasan received from Pakistan legend Javed Miandad at a recent emerging players camp. “He [Miandad] gave me a lot of advice, especially with regards to some technical issues and batting with soft hands and rotating the strike. He also told me to concentrate more on working the ball around the field instead of looking for big shots all of the time.”A fellow rookie in the Pakistan squad, Umar Amin, also expressed his excitement at being called up and his eagerness to succeed at the international level. Umar, who has a first-class average of over 42, was playing a club match in Rawalpindi when he heard the news. “My mother called me up and told me that I had been selected for the Asia Cup squad. I think my form currently is pretty good after the recently concluded Pentangular Cup in Karachi.”Umar said that, if given the opportunity to play, the knowledge of Sri Lankan conditions acquired on A-team tours would prove handy. “I am very aware of the conditions in Sri Lanka and I’m happy to bat wherever I am required.” On that tour, Umar made 153 against Sri Lanka A in a four-day game in Dambulla, the venue for the Asia Cup.

“We’re expecting a slow and low wicket, to test ourselves in tough conditions which will be great preparation for us moving forward.”

Andrew Miller26-Feb-2023Jos Buttler, England’s white-ball captain, believes that the slow, low surfaces that his team are likely to face in their forthcoming ODI and T20I series in Bangladesh will be ideal preparation for this winter’s 50-over World Cup in India.Buttler’s team recently added the T20 World Cup title to the 50-over crown that they won in such memorable fashion at Lord’s in 2019, but their opportunities to finetune the defence of that latter trophy have been impacted by the constraints of the global itinerary.They come into this campaign having played just 33 ODIs since the start of 2020 – by comparison they played 98 between the end of the 2015 World Cup and the final four years later – and have not won a 50-over series in four attempts since beating the Netherlands in June last year. This includes a run of five losses in a row until victory in their most recent outing in South Africa last month.Life is unlikely to get much easier against Bangladesh, a team that hasn’t lost an ODI series on home soil since England themselves beat them on their 2016 tour. Most recently, Bangladesh defeated India 2-1 in December, but Buttler said his side was relishing the chance to test themselves in their last overseas assignment ahead of the World Cup.Related

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“It’ll be a great challenge for us,” Buttler said on arrival in Dhaka. “Obviously Bangladesh are very tough to beat in their home conditions, they beat India as well. So this is exactly the kind of challenge we need, nearing the World Cup, to test ourselves in probably the conditions that we as a side will find the hardest. This can be a great measure of where we are as a team.”We’re expecting a slow and low wicket, which is exactly what we want, to test ourselves in tough conditions which will be great preparation for us moving forward.”With the ongoing Test tour of New Zealand restricting the availability of some of England’s multi-format players, and with a further group of players choosing to honour their T20 franchise commitments rather than join the tour, England will once again be unable to field their first-choice XI.Nevertheless, the tour offers a further opportunity for Jofra Archer to fine-tune his international comeback after a successful return in South Africa. He and Mark Wood, who was rested after the Pakistan Test tour, will offer a 90mph threat which Buttler believes is still a key weapon even if the pitches in Bangladesh are not conducive to pace.”Generally the wicket will be slower, but guys like Jofra and Mark Wood have fantastic airspeed, so someone who can bowl with such pace on these wickets is still a handful. It’s not always to the benefit of the batsman. We have a nice variety in the squad. Right-arm, left-arm, high pace, guys who can swing it … we have a nice balanced attack.The squad has also been reinforced by the addition of Surrey’s Will Jacks, who has flown in after being an unused reserve on the Test tour of New Zealand, and may challenge for a place at the top of the order, in light of Jason Roy’s struggle for form in recent months, especially after impressing in the recent SA20.Another uncapped option is Rehan Ahmed, the 18-year-old legspinner who burst to prominence with his matchwinning role on Test debut in Karachi before Christmas. He may well get a chance in the coming contests, but moreover he will have the opportunity to work closely with England’s veteran legspinner, Adil Rashid, which Buttler believes will be invaluable in his development.”Rehan is a really exciting talent,” he said. “He’s still a very young man, just a teenager, so we’re excited about his development and where we think he can go.”It’s great to have him in and around the England set-up. Adil Rashid has been such a star performer for us for a long, long period of time, so getting to spend time with him and discussing bowling and watching each other bowl will be a huge benefit to him, and the biggest stage in his development.”We’re really excited for someone with so much talent, not just with the ball but with the bat as well. So we look forward to watching him develop and hopefully turning himself into a brilliant international cricketer.”England’s reputation in white-ball cricket has been built on their aggressive batting approach, with Buttler himself leading the way in their most recent world-record total of 498 against the Netherlands. However, he insisted that the approach was more subtle than simply swinging for the fences at every opportunity.”We always try and be as aggressive as we can,” he said. “The misconception is that we’re aiming for 400 every time, whereas it’s more about trying to push the boundaries of what’s expected on the day and not settling for par. We’r trying to push the envelope higher. If the maximum that the wicket allows us is 100, can we try and score 100, instead of 80?”We’re just trying to assess the conditions and imprint our game as much as we can. Of course, you have to understand conditions, but we’ve always been more on the positive side as opposed to the more negative side.”For the hosts, one of the proudest moments in their international history came at the 2015 World Cup, when they progressed to the quarter-finals at England’s expense with a thrilling 15-run victory in Adelaide. Buttler played in that match, which is widely recognised as a catalyst for the dramatic change of approach that propelled England to glory four years later.”Even if we we’d won that game in 2015, we would have fallen down not far after”•Getty Images

But while Buttler acknowledged that that game is seen as a turning point in his team’s fortunes, he also believes that the change was coming regardless.”Even if we we’d won that game in 2015, we would have fallen down not far after,” he said. “Looking back, we were quite a way behind the rest of the teams in the world at that stage. It was very obvious post that World Cup that we had to change the way we played, and try and be at the forefront of where the game was going as opposed to trying to catch up.”I think we would have got to that point regardless, but obviously losing that match and being knocked out of the World Cup at that stage is absolutely now looked back at as that real turning point for English cricket. But I’m sure we would have been found out not long after, had we managed to get through that game.”In the meantime, the 2023 World Cup is looming large, and Buttler recognises the importance of the coming contests, which begin with two ODIs in Dhaka on March 1 and 3, a third in Chittagong on March 6, then three T20Is on March 9, 12 and 14.”All our preparation is geared towards that World Cup,” he said. “These are the conditions that will probably be the closest that we can get to playing in India. We only have these matches, and then we don’t play again until September just before the World Cup, so it’s a great challenge for us and we’re excited for the series.”

The fast bowler is set to become the sixth India player to feature in county cricket this season

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2022Mohammed Siraj is set to play for Warwickshire over the remainder of the 2022 County Championship season. He becomes the sixth India player to be signed by a county team this season, after Cheteshwar Pujara (Sussex), Washington Sundar (Lancashire), Krunal Pandya (Warwickshire for Royal London Cup), Umesh Yadav (Middlesex) and Navdeep Saini (Kent).Siraj is currently part of the India squad that is in Zimbabwe for a three-match ODI series, which began on Thursday in Harare. After the conclusion of the Zimbabwe tour on August 22, Siraj is expected to arrive in Birmingham ahead of Warwickshire’s home game against Somerset, which begins on September 12.