History for Bangladesh but Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott will move on quickly from 3-0 loss

Matt Roller14-Mar-2023As Hasan Mahmud’s full toss scudded into Chris Woakes’ front pad to seal Bangladesh’s whitewash-clinching 16-run victory in Mirpur, it marked the end of a long and winding English winter. Exactly six months prior, the first squad of the offseason boarded their plane to Karachi via Dubai for the first of six tours; on Wednesday, the last men standing will return home from Dhaka.Little wonder, then, that England’s performance in Tuesday night’s dead-rubber T20I lacked focus. They were slipshod in the field, with Rehan Ahmed and Ben Duckett both dropping straightforward catches; the first prompted Jofra Archer to put his hand over his face, while the second drew a resigned laugh. Only a substitute teacher wheeling a VCR player onto the outfield could have added to England’s end-of-term vibe.The gap in intensity between the sides was most apparent in the run chase, when the game turned on Jos Buttler’s run-out. The ball after Dawid Malan fell, slashing Mustafizur Rahman behind, Buttler ran through for a single after Ben Duckett had chopped into the covers. Buttler scampered through, but was ball-watching just long enough that Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s athletic pick-up-and-throw caught him just short of his crease.Related

• Tamim: Bangladesh 'should tour Australia and England more often'

• England accept Bangladesh battering in pursuit of long-term gain

• Bangladesh's leap of faith finally paying dividends

• Litton Das finds spark before Bangladesh bowlers choke chase

“I’m really disappointed in myself for not diving,” Buttler said afterwards. “You should be fully committed to making that run… it potentially cost us the game.” From 100 for 1 after 13 overs, England managed 42 runs off the next 42 balls to fall 16 runs short.It was, Matthew Mott admitted, England’s worst performance out of three bad ones in the T20I leg of this tour. “I thought our first 15 overs in the field were nowhere near the level we’d expect,” Mott said. “We really wanted to finish well here… the lead-in was good, everyone was up and about.”But for whatever reason, we just couldn’t get clean hands on the ball, either in the air or on the ground. We showed a bit of ticker at the back end… [but] they were still at least 15-20 over par on that wicket. That one hurts today. To finish the way we did today will leave a bit of a sour taste in our mouths.”Mott’s defence of their decision not to bring a sixth batter echoed Buttler’s own comments after the second game, and underlined the sense that England saw results in this series as an irrelevance. “If you look at how many players we’ve exposed this year alone, we’ve gone a fair way down the depth charts,” Mott said.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”The realisation [was] that we’re probably better off investing in some batters that were put under pressure in these games. You only learn from your mistakes: the opportunities that they’ve been given here will give them time to reflect and when we get into pressure situations in World Cups. I’m confident it was the right decision.”The overall sense is that this tour will be swiftly forgotten by England – if not their hosts, who will justifiably use the result to underline their progress in T20Is and, perhaps, to question why they have not been deemed worthy of a reciprocal visit for the last 13 years.From afar, this series has felt like cricket for the sake of broadcasting commitments and the fulfilment of contracts. The ODIs offered genuine value for both sides, representing competitive cricket in relevant conditions seven months before the 2023 World Cup; England have treated the T20Is like an afterthought.And perhaps they have been right to. These fixtures were initially meant to represent preparation for the 2021 T20 World Cup in India – which was later changed to the UAE – but were postponed by 18 months as part of the pandemic-induced schedule crunch, elbowed out of the way by the second half of that year’s IPL.For the past three years, England have played so often that it can be tricky to remember which series is preparation for which tournament. These T20Is were framed as opportunities for their 50-over squad, but were also their first since they won the World Cup four months ago, yet their title defence is only 14 months away.England have been stretched by tours to five different countries this winter•BCBWho could blame the ECB’s staff for breathing a collective sigh of relief on Tuesday evening? Three years and one day after England abandoned their tour of Sri Lanka, rushing home in time for the UK’s first lockdown, their Covid backlog of fixtures is finally over. In that time, they have played 127 times across formats – only India have played more – of which 72 have been overseas.England have used 35 different players this winter across five different countries, with countless others travelling around the world as support staff, unused squad members and administrators on diplomatic duty. There is hardly time for them to touch base at home before they are off again, back on the county grind or at the IPL.It has been a gruelling treadmill; as double world champions and the world’s must-watch Test team, England have set the pace for so much of this winter that they could afford to slip off right at the end. While every game of international cricket should matter, some matter more than others. In truth, this was not one of them.

They aren’t old enough to have built a big fan base but can do so now and quickly by defending their title

Shashank Kishore27-May-20232:02

Solanki: Gill has all the qualities of a world-class player

Who owns Mumbai Indians?
“Ambanis! Reliance! Duh, too easy.”Who owns Kolkata Knight Riders?
“What a question! SRK, of course. Shahrukh Khan! SRK-Juhi Chawla.”Okay, what about Gujarat Titans?
“Umm……that company. …some American company…okay, give me a clue?”The IPL’s second-most expensive franchise, which is in its second straight final, trying to defend a crowd they won after being billed as no-hopers in 2022, don’t have a recall value when it comes to their ownership.Related

Hardik is Neymar as Neymar could rarely be

IPL 2023 comes full circle as wily CSK face defending champs Titans – on reserve day

For Showman Gill, it's all about pushing the boundaries

Much of it is down to the owners – private equity firm CVC Capitals – staying away from the limelight – and instead trusting their management group led by Vikram Solanki and Ashish Nehra to call the shots.But ask the same folks who their favorite Titans player is, and they throw out names in a torrent. Hardik Pandya. Rashid Khan. Shubman Gill. David Miller. Mohammed Shami. They say it’s way too hard to pick one, but Gill and Hardik seemed equal on the popularity stakes.This was on Friday, long before Gill inflicted carnage in the second Qualifier. The man who has hit three IPL centuries in his last four games. The man many believe is a once-in-a-generation batter. You could firmly say Ahmedabad brought their Gill-cams with them to the stadium.Right from the kids queuing up at the merchandise store to get a number printed on a miniature jersey to folks lining up inside the ground, having made it through a connection of connections, to be able to watch the teams have a short but sharp net session at the ‘B’ grounds in Motera. It’s as if watching him all season hadn’t been enough. They were back to see him train.They crowded the perimeter of the outdoor nets area to watch them. A number of support staff members were mobbed for selfies too, even Arush Nehra, coach Nehra’s son. In return, all of them sweetly gave into their innocence, and did not crush the fans by saying they weren’t players.Once they saw Hardik, it was mayhem. And in a glimpse of how relaxed the camp was, he settled to play a game of street cricket with Arush and friends, even Rohit Sharma went full tilt in the centre. It told you of a mindset that is as calm and stable in both victory and defeat. It’s something Solanki, their team director, spoke at length about. Their manner of keeping the group together wasn’t about just working on techniques, but about trying to imbibe a winning culture by staying neutral.Gujarat Titans have an impressive trophy to defend•BCCIFor a while, after training had been wrapped up prior to the Qualifier 2, Hardik sat in the middle, eyes closed and soaking in the silence of an empty ground, barring the odd crack of the bat from Rohit. He seemed at ease. He was chatty with the ground staff, posed for pictures with their families and generally resonated with a relaxed vibe. He is the leader, but was the first to talk to the reserves, handhold them and guide them at training.This included a young net bowler Thomas, who now lives in Ahmedabad and hopes to play for Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy having moved from Scotland two years ago. Thomas moved to the city after marrying a Gujarati and plays club cricket in the city. He was in awe of how special he was made to feel to the extent that they’re all rooting for Titans all the way from Scotland. Certainly, they have enough support from Afghanistan and Ireland because of the trio of Rashid, Noor Ahmad and Josh Little.When Titans met Chennai Super Kings in the inaugural game, the Dhoni mania outnumbered all else, and while you’d be naive to not expect a repeat, there’s a general sense of how this game will be slightly different. It’s after all a home-grown Gujarati captain leading the local team and having the backing of the same fans who rooted for India’s icon.Hardik is every bit a Dhoni clone. In terms of his mindset, and most definitely in terms of his temperament as captain. That is reason enough to root for someone who is Dhoni-like. Hardik comes from Baroda, and there is some striking contrast in how he has won over another city. Hardik himself has spoken enough about the Dhoni hand in his self-transformation from a “crazy guy” to a polished “cricket nerd” whose thinking for the game goes way beyond what it seem on the surface.In that sense, Sunday’s clash is similar in terms of what one can expect from both captains. The unflinching determination, the wave of authority, the calmness, the energy, the vibe, and more importantly, the colour – it’s all set up for a grand occasion. Titans have an opportunity to do something that has been done only twice before. Winning a title can be hard; defending it even harder. Dhoni has done it, will Hardik follow?Last year, a capacity crowd willed Titans on and then dotted the streets to celebrate an open bus parade that firmly etched the team into the city’s consciousness. The connect they didn’t quite have with Gujarat Lions – who were based in Rajkot – is now there with Titans. A win will firmly cement – no pun intended – this relationship and loyalty.

Delivery to Pope proves that, in this format, Starc is the best in the world at what he does

Matt Roller01-Jul-2023Mitchell Starc is probably not the best bowler in the world, but he might be the bowler who bowls the best balls. And on Saturday afternoon, a couple of minutes after five o’clock, Ollie Pope faced one of Starc’s best.It was the ball that left-arm fast bowlers dream about: fast, full, angling across, swinging back in, bursting through the gap between bat and pad. On a day where England’s bowlers hardly bowled a ball that would have hit the stumps between them, Starc ripped Pope’s middle stump out of the ground.Starc stuck his right arm out with his first finger raised and let out a scream so loud that every muscle in his neck was visible, popping out from under his skin. He wore an expression of genuine anger, giving Cameron Green a high-ten hard enough to sting his hands. It was close to perfection.Related

• Starc, Cummins slice through England top order to undermine chase of 371

• Lyon criticises suggestions he went out to bat with concussion sub in mind

• MCC clarifies why Mitchell Starc catch of Ben Duckett was given not out

And the context made it even better. Starc’s first ball of the over, his third, was angled across Pope, holding its line up the slope to beat his outside edge. It created enough doubt that, facing the next ball, Pope planted his front foot slightly tentatively and played down an off-stump line.He missed the ball by inches, his head falling over to the off side. After it flicked his pad and crashed into his stump, Pope kept falling. He peered around his right hip to see the stump lying on the floor, with a camera cable attached to it. England were 13 for 2, needing another 358 to win.Starc has never been – and will never be – a bowler who exerts control, and Australia have never quite trusted him in England for that reason. Four years ago, he played only one of the five Ashes Tests, with Peter Siddle and James Pattinson among those preferred; in Birmingham last week, Scott Boland got the nod ahead of him.At Lord’s, Starc started the second innings by spraying one so far outside Zak Crawley’s off stump that it was called a wide; three balls later, with Ben Duckett on strike, he so short and wide outside his off stump that the man who prides himself on never leaving the ball had no other choice.Starc’s economy rate across his Test career is 3.33 and in this match, he has gone at 4.74 an over. None of his 27 overs has been a maiden and at times, England have been able to get after him. But his attributes are irresistible: height, bounce, pace, swing, all from a left-arm angle.That cocktail lends itself to chances. At the end of Starc’s first over, he found some extra bounce from a length to take Duckett’s outside edge, Green unable to cling on as he flung himself to his left in the gully; his next ball, the first of his second over, was near identical but this time to the right-handed Crawley, and resulted in a leg-side strangle.Mitchell Starc strangled Zak Crawley down the leg side•Getty ImagesTwo balls later, he pinned Duckett with another beauty, a ball which angled in, swung away and thumped him on the knee roll of his back pad. Given out on field by Chris Gaffaney, Duckett survived on review but only just, ball-tracking predicting it would have missed the top of off stump by a hair’s breadth.Starc was baffled when his catch at deep fine leg off Duckett was given not out by the third umpire in the final stages of the fourth day, captured by TV cameras asking: “What the hell?” The same question must have gone through Pope’s mind two hours previously – and last week, when Pat Cummins uprooted his off stump with a wicked yorker.This was Starc at his best, coming up with a spell where nobody – not him, not his team-mates, and certainly not England’s batters – seemed to know whether he was about to spray one down the leg side or rattle the stumps. Pace – or, as Starc calls it, “airspeed” – creates doubt; doubt causes chaos, and a batter’s demise.Few players convey the sense that this – white clothes, red ball, five days – really is the pinnacle in the way Starc does. The two other truly elite left-arm seamers, Trent Boult and Shaheen Shah Afridi, have not played a Test between them in the past 11 months. In this format, he is the best in the world at what he does.Starc does not play in the IPL, or the Big Bash, or in any franchise leagues. He plays for Australia and can’t get enough of it. “The money’s nice,” he said before this tour, “but I’d love to play 100 Test matches.” Not many cricketers have the financial security to turn down the T20 money, but it is clear just how much this means to Starc.This tour is legacy-defining for Starc. He had already ticked the white-ball World Cups off but since arriving in the UK, he has become a World Test Champion; now, he is bowling magic balls that will likely contribute to Australia taking a 2-0 lead in an away Ashes series. It doesn’t get much better.

Several key themes emerged, some predicted, some not, from the second edition of the BBL overseas draft

Alex Malcolm04-Sep-2023Availability wasn’t a major worryAll the talk coming into the draft was that BBL clubs would prioritise the availability of overseas players above all else to the point where several clubs hinted they would only take ILT20 players who could play all 10 home and away games, instead of players signed up for the SA20 that starts earlier in January, or players who were likely to have international duty during the BBL. That situation did not eventuate.Rashid Khan and Quinton de Kock were both taken in the first four picks despite not being available beyond January 5 while England’s Test tour of India in mid-January did not prove a major deterrent with Harry Brook, Zak Crawley and Rehan Ahmed all snapped up. Tom Curran, Chris Jordan and Haris Rauf could also be called away for international limited-overs duties, and yet all three were taken in the first nine picks. Clubs appeared happy to take the best players on offer and will back themselves to find replacements if and when they need them.Related

Harry Brook withdraws from the BBL

Kapp goes pick one to Thunder in WBBL draft as Scorchers retain Devine

How the drafts played out

De Kock to make his BBL debut while Brook and Crawley find new clubs

Three clubs only take two overseasThe WBBL draft was plagued by passes in the third and fourth rounds as seven of the eight clubs only took two overseas players due to the bespoke direct nomination rule. There was a similar spate of passes in the BBL draft despite no such rule being in play. But clubs were allowed to take only two overseas and then sign a third at a later stage, provided the player had nominated for the draft. Melbourne Renegades, Perth Scorchers and Sydney Thunder all took this option. The major reason for only taking two players is flexibility.One of the negatives of the draft from a club perspective is that they are locked into signing a player in September when so much can change in terms of injuries and availability between now and the start of the tournament in December. The negative from the BBL’s perspective is the later rounds of the draft can fall flat when there are more passes than expected. It may be something the BBL needs to look at next year.James Vince still got to the Sixers despite being available to be poached•Getty ImagesLoyalty remains valued despite retention being testedThere were two intriguing storylines into the draft with Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat both set to be severely tested by other clubs given they could only use one retention pick. Sixers had three retention options among the platinum players in Curran, Jordan and James Vince. Hobart Hurricanes tested Sixers’ mettle early using pick three on Curran knowing they could get one of the others. Sixers bit straight away, retaining Curran. Hurricanes then took Jordan, filling their need for a bowling allrounder. It left one of the BBL’s most consistent overseas performers in Vince up for grabs to any club who wanted him for 10 straight picks. But no one took him, and Sixers were able to pick him at pick 14.Similarly, there was pre-draft talk of a club potentially trying to force Heat to choose between Colin Munro and Sam Billings. In the end, Heat didn’t have to use their retention pick on either. Billings was actually available to Hurricanes at pick 11 but they opted for Heat’s other retention pick in Sam Hain and Heat let him go, then took Billings with pick 15.Eight players – Vince, Munro, Billings, Rauf, Adam Hose, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Alex Hales, and Laurie Evans – returned to their previous club without a retention pick needed. Only two were used to retain Rashid and Curran, and only four players – Hain, Jordan, Brook and Crawley – were selected by a new club. Despite the BBL wanting more player movement, loyalty, familiarity, and culture remain strong forces among the BBL clubs in selecting overseas players.Hundred is the BBL’s major overseas recruiting farmThe two competitions are closely linked with so many Australian administrators, coaches and players working across both competitions. It should be no surprise then that so many of this year’s draftees have come from the Hundred. Eighteen of the 21 players drafted played in the Hundred including eight from the two finalists, Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals. Player of the tournament Jamie Overton will make his BBL debut this year after being shrewdly selected by Strikers.Zaman Khan was a surprise selection at pick 13•Getty ImagesPakistan gems still sought-after commoditiesPakistan players have long been attractive prospects for BBL clubs and quite often it is those just under the international radar that are the most sought after following the success of Rauf. Two more get to follow in his footsteps in Zaman Khan and Usama Mir although unlike Rauf, both have already played international cricket and have been appearing in a number of leagues around the world this year alone. Stars are hoping Mir will fill the huge spin hole they have and become a cult hero bowling his fast legspin at the MCG, while Thunder have added Zaman. Thunder’s selection was especially bold at pick 13 given the number of high-quality fast bowlers available.American Anderson not a forgotten manHurricanes’ head of strategy Ricky Ponting said moments after selecting Corey Anderson that he was “a forgotten man” in global cricket. The former New Zealand allrounder has not played an official T20 since August 2020 having not featured in international cricket for New Zealand since 2018 after announcing his intention to qualify for USA. But Anderson, 32, has re-emerged this year in Major League Cricket for San Francisco Unicorns, a team run by Cricket Victoria and coached by former Australia allrounder Shane Watson, who is a close friend of Ponting.Hurricanes captain Matthew Wade also played with Anderson and witnessed firsthand his stunning 91 not out off 52 balls where he torched a MI New York attack featuring Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult and Kieron Pollard. That was enough for Hurricanes to take him with their third pick and they hope he can replicate those feats on the small dimensions of Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

Batting coach denies poor performance is part of wider decline in Sri Lanka cricket

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Nov-20232:18

Farveez: Inconsistency has let Sri Lanka down

Sri Lanka’s poor performance in the World Cup is not part of a wider decline of Sri Lanka cricket, their batting coach Naveed Nawaz said. This is a group, he said, that’s pretty young, and has more World Cups in them.And perhaps there is some truth to the latter statement especially. Of the 11 that took the field on Thursday, only four are over 30. And even among those over 30, it is not inconceivable that the likes of Kasun Rajitha (30), and Dushmantha Chameera (31), might be around for another ODI World Cup cycle.”Well, it’s a cause of concern for sure, but I don’t see it as the decline of Sri Lanka cricket,” said Nawaz. “We’ve got a young group of players; we’ve got only a few guys who have played over 100 ODIs here in this group as well. So, I think it’s a rebuilding stage where we are, a couple of new players are still learning the trade, I would say.”Related

Rohit pleased to achieve 'first goal' at the first opportunity

Magic in Mumbai – a night of stunning spells

What short-ball trouble, asks Shreyas after powering India into semi-finals

Shami smashes records, while Sri Lanka plunge to new lows

India's Avengers assemble at the Wankhede

There has been a marked decline for some time, however, since the era in which Sri Lanka was arguably the best big-tournament team around. Between 2007 and 2014, Sri Lanka made five global finals, winning the last of those (the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh). In addition, they made two other major semi-finals.Since 2015, however, Sri Lanka have not made a global semi-final at all, in seven attempts. They had to qualify to even play at this World Cup. Sri Lanka’s goal in their two remaining matches, would be to qualify for the next big ODI event.”I think it’s going to be important that we finish above the eight to qualify for Champions Trophy [in 2025]. We’ve got to find a factor to motivate the boys and keep them alive because we had the same issue in June when we played the World Cup Qualifier. There was no guarantee when we went into Zimbabwe to qualify for the World Cup.”Kusal Mendis had his bails broken by Mohammed Siraj•ICC/Getty ImagesWhile Nawaz conceded that some of the responsibility to prepare players for the kind of bowling India sent down to Sri Lanka rested with the coaching staff, he also suggested Sri Lanka’s batters had not applied themselves. Their 55 all out was the third occasion in which Sri Lanka have failed to reach triple figures against India this year.”The bowlers bowled incredibly well and we have to give them credit,” he said. “But we have to take the responsibility for how it turned out. In the difficult situations, there was no one willing to push the game deep and handle it. Angelo [Mathews] showed signs of doing that, but others gave away their wickets early. In this tournament we’ve scored 300, 340 – scores like that, against good bowlers. But we did have shortcomings in our fighting qualities today.”

The Sri Lanka quick stuck to his strengths against England and, for a change, got the rewards he so deserved

Shashank Kishore27-Oct-2023It’s a story similar to that of many of his team-mates. Lahiru Kumara made his ODI debut as a 20-year-old in 2017, but has managed just 28 games over the years. He’s battled all sorts of fast-bowler injuries in between: knee, back, ankle, hamstring, side… But every time he’s returned, the one constant has been pace, bristling pace.Unfortunately, he’s been prone to waywardness and inconsistency; an ODI economy of 6.48 is some indication of that.He doesn’t swing the ball but can be more than handful if there’s lateral movement. He also has the ability to work batters over with the short stuff. But, at the World Cup, on largely flat surfaces, he has had to work that much harder to execute.Related

• Samarawickrama – Doing it with style, doing it with substance

• Kumara out with thigh injury, Chameera comes in as replacement

• England's lurching between attack and defence leaves them in no man's land

• Are defending champions out of the World Cup?

• Peak Sri Lanka too sharp for England

Kumara didn’t start the tournament and was largely seen as a back-up option. But Sri Lanka’s pace stocks have been depleting faster than the world’s gold reserves. Injured fast bowlers have recuperated and come in to replace other injured fast bowlers as a result. Kumara has been part of this merry-go-round for a while now. At the World Cup, he may well have been on the bench had Dushmantha Chameera been fit, but an injury to Matheesha Pathirana forced Sri Lanka to alter their combination.On Thursday, Kumara was up against England on one of the flattest decks in the country. He came in with a clear plan. He was told clearly to forget about Australia – he managed all of four wicketless overs and got taken for 47. “Just go flat out, bowl short, and be the middle-overs enforcer.”It’s easier said than done. But Kumara had been putting in the long hours in training. His nets sessions have been devoid of much drama. Just three stumps, the bowling coach on the side, and him. The mandate: bowl fast, hit the area marked out between short of length and good length repeatedly, and stick to one line. And Kumara had been at it, 30 minutes non-stop, sometimes 40, every day.

For once, he’s not in the news for a scan or a period of rehab. It’s about a bowling performance that has reinvigorated Sri Lanka’s flagging World Cup campaign

Kumara is strongly built. Broad shoulders, ripping muscles, he generates the strength from his core. The run-up may not be butter smooth, but there’s a hustle, effort, the grunt as he finishes off in a whippy open-chested action.On Thursday in Bengaluru, his pace and seam movement accounted for Jos Buttler. He bowled it just a touch fuller than Buttler probably anticipated as he tried to flay it on the up, the ball decking away and taking the thick outside edge to be superbly grabbed by Kusal Mendis behind the stumps. This was Kumara in his zone. He was simply running in and letting it rip. It’s likely he wasn’t sure how the ball was going to behave after pitching.The ball that got Liam Livingstone lbw ducked back in off a length to trap him lbw as he played all around it. Kumara was simply targeting one spot, give or take a few centimetres this way or that. Most times, this small margin is the difference between good and bad deliveries on flat decks. Against England, Kumara also got a touch lucky that England were on damage-control mode after a top-order meltdown when he got into his act.Kumara’s biggest wicket was yet to come. Ben Stokes had begun to raise hopes of a rearguard of the kind he’s known for. With England’s campaign on the line, he reined himself in for much of his stay. It hadn’t quite got to a point where he had to tee off, but he did nonetheless.1:46

Shane Bond: Hopefully this win kickstarts Sri Lanka’s campaign

But Kumara, by then, was like a four-stroke engine. Bounding in, hitting hard lengths, generating some movement. He beat Stokes twice with balls that held their line. Stokes, though, couldn’t hold back when he finally saw one dropped short. He took him on, pulling it from outside off, but picked out deep midwicket.Kumara was modest enough to admit afterwards that the Stokes dismissal played out accidentally. It was perhaps just the rub of green he needed.”Stokes,” he said spontaneously with a smile when asked after the match which of the three wickets he had enjoyed the most. He led the flag wave with a few Sri Lankan fans, chatted with the press pack, and walked off with the contented smile of a man who had thoroughly enjoyed his moment in the spotlight for all the right reasons.For once, he’s not in the news for a scan or a period of rehab. It’s about a bowling performance that has reinvigorated Sri Lanka’s flagging World Cup campaign.

As the domestic season winds down, a run through of efforts to keep first-class structures steady despite winds of change

Firdose Moonda04-Mar-2024Lions were crowned South Africa’s first-class champions in a tense five-day final against Western Province at the Wanderers, bringing an end to the country’s red-ball season. The curtain came down with a classic contest, which saw Lions come back from being 35 for 5 on the first morning and conceding an 87-run first innings lead, to setting Western Province a target of 308 and claiming a 99-run win.Delano Potgieter was the batting hero for the home side with a first-innings 81 and a career-best 155 not out in the second innings that made up for top-order struggles. Tshepo Moreki, who made his Test debut in New Zealand last month, took his first career five-for in Western Province’s first innings and Bjorn Fortuin’s final day 5 for 69 sealed the title for Lions and his own spot as the competition’s leading wicket-taker.The varied contributions point to a season where Lions relied on the collective rather than stand-out individuals. They had only one batter among the tournament’s top ten run-scorers – Wiaan Mulder, who finished third – and two bowlers in the top ten wicket-takers. Their strength lies in their depth and their determination, moulded by former national head coach Russell Domingo, former national bowling coach Allan Donald and former national captain Hashim Amla, who are all part of Lions’ coaching staff.Between them, they have instilled international cricket values to a domestic side that believes that “every four-day game is a Test match”, as Lions captain Dominic Hendricks said on the eve of the final. “We have that mentality of training and playing like we are playing a Test match. All the chats have been about what Test cricket is like and how difficult it is to win.”But how many of Lions’ players, or indeed anyone else in the first-class system, is ready to make the step up to Test cricket?Delano Potgieter scored an unbeaten 155 in the second innings in the final•CSA/Gallo ImagesSome part of the answer may lie in South Africa’s recent Tests against New Zealand where they lost 2-0 (and became the first South African side to be defeated by New Zealand in a Test series) with a makeshift squad drawn from the first-class structures. Though they showed some fight in the second Test, they were outplayed throughout the trip. Moreki and Dane Paterson, who led the attacks for Lions and Western Province respectively in the final, were unthreatening in the Tests. Eddie Moore – one of the Western Province batters in the top 10 – looked out of his depth against New Zealand’s bowlers and Tony de Zorzi, Kyle Verreynne, and Fortuin – who all played important roles in the final – were unavailable for the New Zealand series because of their commitments in the SA20.In a way, juxtaposing the SA20 with the first-class competition is one of the clearest ways to measure the direction of travel of development of the game in South Africa. The SA20’s scheduling has not only affected the availability of players for the national team but has pushed the domestic first-class competition out of the prime summer window into the margins of the season. Matches this year started in November with five rounds played until the end of December. The tournament then took a six-week break until mid-February and resumed for the last two rounds and the final. Although November through March is the southern hemisphere summer, surfaces in the country, especially for batters, are at their best all around the country in January and early February. That may explain why no batters scored more than Marques Ackerman’s 571 in the season.In the season immediately before the SA20, when first-class matches were played in the January window, two batters scored more runs than that and in the season before that six batters totalled more. Pre-Covid and before South Africa did away with the franchise system in favour of a two-tier provincial structure, the top batters were regularly scoring 900 or more runs a season but also playing more games. The reduction of fixtures from ten a season to seven is more a consequence of cost-cutting than a calendar crunch but is also impacting the experience players are getting in the red-ball game.A similar issue is in the development of bowlers. For the third successive season, spinners have dominated the bowling charts
and Beyers Swanepoel is the only uncapped seamer among the leading wicket-takers. Could that be because the first-class competition is taking place too late for surfaces to be sporting and at a time in the season when they have already been used for several other matches?”It would be interesting to see four-day cricket starting earlier in the summer because wickets are slightly different in that part of the summer and then it just evolves as the summer goes on,” Hendricks said. “It might be a bit more sporting in the beginning and then in the middle it’s a bit better to bat on and towards the end its a bit drier so spinners play a role.”It doesn’t help that South Africa’s frontline international quicks hardly ever play domestic red-ball cricket – both Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi have only played two domestic first-class games since 2017 – and any promising new talent is fast-tracked through the white-ball set-up. Left-arm seamer Kwena Maphaka, who was the Player of the Tournament at the Under-19 World Cup, will play for Lions in the upcoming T20 competition, for example.Kyle Verreynne scored his maiden T20 century when red-ball cricket was on a break•SA20But these are realities of cricket’s changing priorities and South Africa’s players have learned to get on with it. “I know in county cricket they also play multiple formats at a time,” Verreynne, Western Province’s captain, said. “It does pose challenges having to play half of a campaign and then you come back for the second half and your squad is completely different with injuries and different guys are in form and you have a whole different mojo. There are quite a few challenges with that but there are also some positives.”Verreynne used himself as an example. He opened the first-class season with 150 against Titans and then had two tough Tests against India. When the formats changed, he was Pretoria Capitals’ leading run-scorer at the SA20 – including scoring his first hundred in the format – and returned to the red-ball circuit to score a second century. He finished as the fifth-highest run-scorer and oversaw Western Province’s run to the final – an achievement in itself considering the poor state of the province’s administration. Western Province is currently battling debt from the costs of construction of a new building on the stadium’s premises while also searching for a new CEO, but Verreynne hopes their on-field performances will start the turnaround.”When Salieg [Nackerdien, the Western Province coach] appointed me, one of my biggest messages was that as players and management we’ve got to find a way to keep our circle small and control what we can,” Verreynne said. “We said we are going to focus on the cricket and make sure the cricket stays the main thing. If we can find a way to keep winning games of cricket, maybe other things can change.”That’s one story of the attempt to keep the red-ball game alive; around the country, there are others. In Durban, Dolphins missed out on the final after a strong campaign to keep their uptick in performance over the last few years going and are home to the leading run-scorer, Ackermann. In Pietermaritzburg, Tristan Stubbs scored a triple-century for Warriors and made a strong Test claim. And in Johannesburg, Mulder has demonstrated a maturity that may revive this long-format credentials. The value of all of that may be seen at South Africa’s next World Test Championship matches in August, when they play West Indies. Until then, it’s over to the white ball.

All the runs in domestic cricket, “that constant support from myself to myself”, and a maturity that’s taken time coming have lifted Parag to the next level

Shashank Kishore29-Mar-20244:17

Moody: Parag showed us what he’s capable of doing

Riyan Parag had nailed it. Standing deep inside the crease, he picked the length early and walloped the pull front of square. Parag’s eyes were on the ball, in total self-admiration of the connection he had made. Anrich Nortje looked away without looking up.Parag had already hit Nortje for a sequence of 4, 4, 6 and 4 earlier in that over, the final one of the innings. This six, however, took the cake for savagery, swagger and aesthetics all rolled into one. It was as if he knew what was coming. He was ready when the ball – a bouncer at 144kph – was halfway to him, some 0.3 seconds earlier.The over cost 25 and Parag finished unbeaten on 84 off 45 balls as Rajasthan Royals made 185. Astonishing as it may sound, Parag is one of only two batters with over 1000 T20 runs at No. 4 with a strike rate of over 150 and an average over 40. Only once prior to this knock had he batted at this position in the IPL.Related

Riyan Parag: 'I wanted to know more about my game, because I've been lost inside those 22 yards too many times'

IPL 2024 trend – the high-impact emergence of the uncapped Indian player

Shane Bond on Riyan Parag: 'He reminds me of Suryakumar'

Parag: I have the power to deal with yorkers, short balls

Parag comes of age to keep Capitals, and away teams, winless

The only other man to have such numbers was watching from afar, awed by what he had just seen. Four years ago, Suryakumar Yadav had been in Parag’s shoes, doing unreal things that earned him the admiration of his seniors. Then India head coach Ravi Shastri was among those wowed by the pyrotechnics.”Surya Namaskar. Stay strong and patient,” Shastri had tweeted, perhaps in an effort to console the man who had missed out on national selection despite having had the kind of IPL he had that year: averaging 40.22 and striking at 155.36 as a finisher; 235 of his 480 runs came in death overs alone, faster than Hardik Pandya and just a shade slower than at Kieron Pollard’s strike rate of 210.25.The same Suryakumar was now watching on TV, gushing about what he’d just seen. “Met a guy at NCA few weeks ago,” his post on X read. “He came with a slight niggle. Completely focused on his recovery and with great discipline working on his skills. And I was not wrong to tell that to one of the coaches there ‘He is a changed guy’. Riyan Parag 2.0. Watch out.”

Met a guy at NCA few weeks ago. He came with a slight niggle. Completely focused on his recovery and with great discipline working on his skills. And I was not wrong to tell that to one of the coaches there ‘He is a changed guy’
RIYAN PARAG 2.0
Watch out

— Surya Kumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar) March 28, 2024