Only two Mzansi Super League games have seen a bowling team close out a close game in the final over

Firdose Moonda19-Feb-2020The absence of proper pressure in South Africa’s domestic competitions is leaving bowlers ill-equipped to handle similar situations on the international stage, according to bowling coach Charl Langeveldt.Speaking three days after Mark Boucher assessed his bowlers’ skill levels as not being good enough following South Africa’s failure to defend totals in two out of the three T20 matches in the recently completed England series, Langeveldt said more practice at franchise level is essential for his young pack.ALSO READ: Hamstrung Bavuma out of first T20I“It was disappointing, especially with the scores we had. I thought we could have defended that but in saying that, not a lot of guys get into that position in domestic cricket,” Langeveldt said. “It’s a concern for me. It’s not good enough. In World Cups, you are going to get a lot of games like that. And if I look around the country, domestic cricket, the close games aren’t like it used to be.”The evidence from the Mzansi Super League (MSL), South Africa’s flagship T20 competition, supports Langeveldt’s claim. In 54 completed matches across two editions of the tournament, only three matches have reached their stage where the fielding team needed to defend fewer than 15 runs to win off the last over. On two occasions, they were successful, once in 2018 when Andrew Birch of the Tshwane Spartans ensured they beat the Paarl Rocks and then in 2019, when Sri Lanka’s Isuru Udana gave Paarl Rocks victory over the Cape Town Blitz. While Udana has been in action against India recently, Birch has never played for South Africa despite a strong domestic record.Instead, it is a new crop of quicks that Langeveldt has been tasked with moulding into death bowlers and the one he sees as best-placed to do the job is no longer in the squad. “A guy like [Sisanda] Magala, from seeing him in the nets, he is the most confident,” Langeveldt said. But uncapped Magala was dropped from the squad having spent the England series working to pass a fitness test that would see him debut. He has returned to his franchise, the Warriors, and was named in their team to play a domestic one-day cup match on Tuesday, which was rained off.Magala is due to continue working with South Africa’s fitness trainer to meet the team’s requirements and remains a candidate for the T20 World Cup but for now, Langeveldt is looking at Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo to do the job and the latter, specifically. “has gone a bit backwards.” Phehluwayo’s changes of pace used to be key to South Africa’s ability to contain but he has struggled with his consistency.One of the only ways to improve on that is repetition and Langeveldt is trying to emphasis that. “It’s training. The same way you train bowling length every day, with yorkers you have to train it,” he said. “It’s when to release the ball.”But even then, bowling in the nets is entirely different to pulling it off in a match, when eyes and expectation are on you and that is something Langeveldt can’t teach. “The big thing is to land it under pressure. You can execute it in the nets but it’s when you are in the game, you need to be able to,” he said. “It’s sometimes difficult to coach that to a guy because he needs to figure it out for himself, once he is out in the middle. You can give him the tools, it’s what he does with them.”Dale Steyn celebrates dismissing Jos Buttler•Getty Images

While Langeveldt’s focus is on “mentally preparing” his bowlers, he also hopes the inclusion of experienced players like Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada will bring belief into group. Rabada was rested for the white-ball games against England, after being suspended from the final Test, and spent his time at NBA All-Star game in Chicago. He arrived in Johannesburg on Wednesday, “refreshed and ready to get straight back to work,” which is exactly what Langeveldt hoped would happen.”Renewed focus is a good thing. As 24-year-old playing for your country all the time, you’re always under pressure,” Langeveldt said. “He was our leading bowler for a couple of years and probably still is so hopefully he brings that energy back.”One thing that is certain is that Rabada will bring intent, especially against Australia. His most recent history with them involved a shoulder-brush with Steve Smith which almost saw him banned for a match in the 2018 Tests series but he successfully appealed the charge. He has since earned a further demerit point for an aggressive send-off which included screaming at Joe Root and entering his space during the Port Elizabeth Test and has promised to contain his passions for the good of the team in future.But Langeveldt hopes not too much. “KG will always bring that competitiveness. He is competitive by nature. He wants to take wickets and we will definitely use our bumpers,” Langeveldt warned. “But he also needs to control the aggression. Be controlled with your lines, lengths and your bouncer.”

The semi-finals and the final will be rescheduled, the PCB says

Umar Farooq17-Mar-20202:21

We took all measures we possibly could – PCB CEO

The PSL, which had tweaked its original schedule to shorten it by four days with an eye on the worsening COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) situation, has been “suspended” following the revelation that an overseas cricketer, who has now left Pakistan, had shown symptoms of the virus.”One overseas player has been potentially suspected (of having contracted COVID-19). However, we cannot reveal the identity of that player. But it’s true that there is one suspected case and the player has left Pakistan already,” Wasim Khan, the PCB chief executive, told mediapersons in Lahore.According to a tweet by the official PSL handle, the semi-final games [Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings v Lahore Qalandars], which were scheduled to be played on Tuesday, and the final, slotted for Wednesday, would be rescheduled.”We took the responsibility and were engaged with the government all the time and taking their minute-by-minute advice,” Khan said. “We were continuing with their consent. We first made our decision to play in empty stadiums, gave players option to leave, reduced the number of days as well and all decisions we had taken were for the greater good.”But this new development came after a player who left Pakistan told us that (he has) symptoms and this (decision to suspend PSL) isn’t in light of being panicked, but it’s a sensible response and we made our decision after thorough deliberation. But before this there was no suspected case at all, which is why the decision wasn’t made before.”Representatives of the management teams of the various franchises accepted the decision, saying it was the right thing to do in the circumstances. Salman Iqbal, the owner of Karachi Kings, told ESPNcricinfo, “I have been asking for it to be postponed for the past two days, as we [PSL] was the only cricket going on. But, anyway, it’s a very good decision by the franchise owners and the PCB management.”We also caught up with Sameen Rana, owner of Lahore Qalandars, who said, “We respect the PCB decision. The health and safety of players and officials is of utmost importance. It’s unfortunate, but considering the situation, we understand the rationale.””As important as the PSL is for all of us, it was clear that the right thing to do at this time was to call off the remaining games,” Alamgir Tareen of Multan Sultans told ESPNcricinfo. “Where there are concerns about health there can be no other priority.” Meanwhile, it has also emerged that all the players and other officials of the four teams to have qualified for the semi-finals, as well as broadcast employees and others involved with the games, are being tested.As such, the organisers had taken a decision on March 13 to tweak the schedule of the tournament following the premature departure of a number of overseas players and the increased risk in Pakistan, cancelling the four-match playoff stage (March 17 to 22) and introducing two semi-finals (as a double-header) and the final on March 17 and 18. More players have left Pakistan since then.There are 184 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Pakistan according to the latest update, with two in Punjab (of which Lahore is a part), and the number has been going up with each passing day.The Punjab province is under Section 144, a law that bans all private and public sports activity as well as other public gatherings. The PCB had taken special permission to have the remaining games behind closed doors, but Gaddafi Stadium still had a large presence of mediapersons during the last few games, and post-match presentation ceremonies and press conferences have been fairly crowded with representatives of the PCB and other stakeholders in attendance.

Departure for England tour could be brought forward as PCB mulls options

Umar Farooq09-Jun-2020Plans to create a bio-secure environment for Pakistan’s training camp ahead of their tour of England have been shelved following the rapid growth of coronavirus cases in the country. A press release from the PCB on Tuesday said “keeping the players in a safe and secure environment” would have been “a challenge” after ESPNcricinfo reported that it had become increasingly difficult for the board to construct a secure bubble between player lodgings and the training facility.The Pakistan squad had been expected to fly in the first week of July, with their first four weeks in England meant for quarantine and training, but the PCB and ECB are in discussions with to move the travel date forward by one week. Under current UK government rules, those arriving from outside the country will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine period.ALSO READ: Younis Khan to be Pakistan batting coach in EnglandPakistan’s rescheduled tour is expected to feature three Tests in August followed by a series of three T20Is, with the matches taking place behind closed doors as part of unprecedented measures to combat Covid-19. The ECB has come up with extensive plans to keep Pakistan’s players in a bio-secure environment – likely to be in Birmingham initially – from the moment they land in the country. Prior to that PCB was hoping to hold a training camp in Lahore, at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and Gaddafi Stadium, where a 25-man squad would reside and train in a completely isolated area.However, the plan to bring Pakistan’s players out of lockdown hit a snag first with the fact the NCA isn’t capable of housing a large group. The PCB then considered making players stay at a five-star hotel about 8km away from the training facility. But with the sudden hike in coronavirus cases, concerns have been raised about the ability to maintain a fully secure environment and the need to tightly regulate player movements.Pakistan’s government has recently eased the lockdown situation in the country, encouraging the public to follow health guidelines despite a worsening situation in Lahore and Karachi and expectations the peak of the virus will not come for some weeks. Pakistan has currently more than 100,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and more than 2000 deaths.On Monday, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the reopening of many businesses and industries, including tourism. However, all contact sports, indoor sports clubs, indoor gyms, indoor sports facilities, and sporting tournaments/matches (indoors and outdoors) remain shut.All sport, including cricket, in the country has been on hold since March 16, when most players were last active in the PSL. There have been reports of a few centrally contracted players going for nets on their own. In the last three months, their fitness has been monitored by the national trainer with detailed guidelines and customised workouts to stay fit. Players also underwent fitness tests via video link and over 90% reached the required benchmark, which was lowered due to being in isolation with limited facilities.

CWI president Skierritt hints player may have brought disrepute to the league, which violates his contract

Nagraj Gollapudi12-May-2020Chris Gayle’s disparaging remarks against his former franchise Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is likely to earn him some sort of sanction. Such a sanction, Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt hinted, would be in order because Gayle probably brought “disrepute” to the league, which a contracted player cannot do.Although the Tallawahs management released a statement that denied calling Gayle’s release as purely a business move, the CPL has remained quiet. On Tuesday, the CPL was asked for a comment by ESPNcricinfo on whether it was deliberating on penalising Gayle, but there was no response.Last month Gayle had expressed his dismay at the Tallawahs releasing him without having informed him in an outburst on YouTube. In the video, split across four segments, Gayle singled out the franchise chief executive Jeff Miller and owner Krish Persaud for “playing a game”. He also hauled up former West Indies team-mate Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is Tallawahs’ assistant coach, for being responsible for his release. Calling Sarwan a “snake” and “very deceitful and very disrespectful”, Gayle told the Guyanese he was “no friends” anymore with him.Sarwan called Gayle’s allegations both “false” and “scandalous” and said he had no hand to play in the Jamaican being released by the Tallawahs.Skerritt viewed the entire controversy as “interpersonal battles” between individuals being played out publicly. “It cannot be good for West Indies cricket obviously. It is certainly not something that I enjoyed reading about,” Skerritt told i955fm, a Trinidad-based radio station, last week.However Skerritt said Gayle was answerable to the CPL only because he had a contract which clearly stated a player cannot bring the league into disrepute. Gayle, Skerritt said, would have been spared were he a retired player, voicing criticism as an outsider.”If however, a player is contracted to a club or a franchise or to Cricket West Indies, then (due to) the contract they have signed, that kind of behaviour brings that contract to some level of disrepute. So I would expect that this most recent matter is not over.”But my point is I think Chris is going to face…I’m sure there’s some kind of discussion taking place at the moment between Chris and the CPL because Chris is signed into a franchise team.”Skerritt pointed out that although CPL is an independent league, CWI did have a “watching interest” in how the league dealt with the Gayle episode. “If he was on contract with Cricket West Indies, and to a certain extent it is by being in the CPL, so we kind of have a watching interest. But we’ll wait and see what happens.”Look, am not condoning Chris, am not judging Chris. Chris clearly has a number of concerns on his mind and he decided to go public. Personally I think that was unfortunate, but the process will have to take its course and that process will get triggered because he is a contracted player in the CPL within the West Indies league.”The main reason behind Gayle’s outburst was that he had rejoined the Tallawahs in 2019 on a three-year contract with the intention of finishing his career in his home country, Jamaica. Skerritt hoped Gayle’s career would not end abruptly on a controversial note. “I hope it doesn’t become a world matter in terms of the career of Mr Gayle because it’s been a very outstanding career and I really wouldn’t want to see it being brought to an end by this event.”Incidentally, back in the 1990s when Gayle and Sarwan were just starting their careers, Skerritt had watched them closely as West Indies’ team manager. “What has happened most recently is obviously something that to me does not reflect the Chris Gayle that I have known for many, many years. I happened to have been fortunate to be around Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Wavell Hinds, Ronnie Sarwan when they were just starting out their careers. These are guys who are all great lovers of cricket. They really loved the idea of putting on the maroon colours and along the way things have happened.”I am not a psychologist nor am I a historian, all I can tell you (it is) very disappointing to see players who were such great team-mates, who had played so well together at times, carried the West Indies pride on their back that these kind of exchanges have taken place.”

Premises licence could provide clubs with closed-door loophole

George Dobell16-Jul-2020County chiefs remain optimistic spectators will be allowed to attend games in the Bob Willis Trophy.The Trophy, the replacement first-class competition to maximise the last couple of months of a virus-ravaged season, is set to start on August 1.While there are not currently plans to permit spectators, the sport is hopeful it can make an argument to the government as something of a test case before the return of Premier League football in September.Specifically, it will argue that, in comparison to football, county cricket will attract relatively low numbers of socially-distanced spectators, all of whom would be club members and therefore easily traceable should it be required.ALSO READ: Lancashire hopeful spectators could be admitted again in SeptemberAs a result, they hope a couple of games in early August – one at a Test-hosting ground; one at a smaller venue – will be utilised as a trial to demonstrate the sport’s ability to safely welcome back spectators. If those trials are successful, they hope spectators will be allowed to return to all county grounds. The counties are especially keen to see spectators return for the Vitality T20 Blast; a competition which remains key to the cash flow at most clubs.Some counties may also have found a loophole. It is, for example, permissible to show televised cricket from the Test series on the terrace at The Oval to a limited number of spectators thanks to the club’s status as a licensed premises. It could well be that first-class county cricket is played at the ground at the same time.There have been concerns about the welfare of players, too. Most notably, some counties felt their players – and their seam bowlers, in particular – risked injury if they returned to cricket without sufficient preparation. The ICC recently recommended a minimum of eight weeks of training before international players returned to competition but, with most counties not coming off furlough until the start of July, four weeks is having to suffice. As a consequence, some counties have expressed a fear of litigation should players sustain injuries.The counties rejected the idea of 12-a-side games, though, as such a move would rob the competition of its first-class status.Instead, they hope that a raft of measures designed to mitigate the risk of injury will provide protection for the bowlers. Those measures include a reduction in the number of overs in a day (from 98 to 90), limiting the number of overs in an innings to 120 and delaying the availability of a new ball until 90 overs have been bowled. The follow-on mark will also be increased from 150 to 200 to minimise the possibility of bowlers facing successive innings in the field.Concerns have been raised about bowling workloads•Getty Images

With August given over almost entirely to red-ball cricket for the first time in many years – the Blast starts on August 27, but four successive weekends before that will feature first-class county cricket – the counties also hope the competition will provide increased opportunities for spin bowlers.ALSO READ: No sanctions for counties who fall under salary collarWith few overseas players expected, either, there is also an expectation the competition will provide opportunities for many of those English-qualified players who are out of contract at the end of the season. There is no ban on overseas players but, with most counties having accepted government money to help them through the last few months, there is an understanding that it may be inappropriate to sign any new faces.Some on existing contracts will return – as will some Kolpak registrations such as Duanne Olivier, Morne Morkel, Hashim Amla if they can reach the UK – but most have seen their contracts cancelled. Even Jeetan Patel, Warwickshire’s overseas player for a decade, has been informed he will only feature in the T20 competition.Draft fixtures for the trophy were shared with counties on Wednesday, with the ECB hoping to publish them at the start of next week. As reported by ESPNcricinfo, the competition will culminate in a Lord’s final that will finish at the start of October.

Test captain not out of the running as England start on blueprint for next year’s T20 World Cup in India

Alan Gardner03-Sep-2020Eoin Morgan has welcomed the chance to field something close to a first-choice T20I team in the forthcoming series against Australia, but made it clear that Joe Root is not out of the running as England start putting together their blueprint for next year’s T20 World Cup in India.During previous white-ball assignments against Ireland and Pakistan, Morgan has had to do without several players due to their involvement in the Test bio-secure environment. But with Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood returning to the squad, England are almost at “full strength” – missing only Jason Roy, through injury, and Ben Stokes, who has travelled to New Zealand to be with his unwell father.”For the first time this summer we are seeing the majority of our best team on the park and that’s great,” Morgan said. “Bar injury and absent players, which is only a couple, we are at full strength. That is a nice place to be. We don’t have to pick our best XI every series that we play because we can’t put all our eggs in one basket, because we need 16 or 17 players in the lead up to a World Cup, all vying for selection in the best 15. We found in the lead in to the 50-overs World Cup that was the best position to be in.”ALSO READ: Wood keen to make impression against ‘biggest rivals’ AustraliaWhile Morgan has been comfortable with giving opportunities to fringe players, he warned last week it would be important to get “our strongest team on the park as often as we can” in order to focus on role definition ahead of the 2021 World Cup.On Root’s case to be considered part of that group, Morgan indicated that England thought there would be more value in the Test captain getting some T20 cricket under his belt with Yorkshire, to better enable him to press his case among a clutch of top-order batting candidates.”Yes, we have had that conversation with Joe and he certainly does have a future. The conversation was surrounding Joe not getting in the best XI at the moment. We didn’t want to carry him round and him not play any cricket. Joe wants to play T20 cricket and put his best case forwards particularly when he doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to go back to Yorks and play T20 cricket. We felt it was a really good opportunity for him to do that.”While Root played a vital role as an accumulator at No. 3 in the side that reached the 2016 World T20 final, his position has been squeezed by England’s preference for using Buttler at the top of the order, as well as the stellar T20I record built up by Dawid Malan and the emergence of Tom Banton.Morgan confirmed that Buttler would open alongside Jonny Bairstow against Australia on Friday, saying that along with Roy they counted as “three of our greatest-ever white-ball players”. England remain keen to give Buttler as many balls per innings in which to wreak destruction as possible, although Morgan hinted he could still be redeployed to the finisher role he fulfils in ODI cricket.”Like I have said before, we will continue with this until we feel that it’s not working,” Morgan said. “We feel that Jason, Jonny and Jos are three of our greatest-ever white-ball players. They are unbelievable strikers of the ball. They’re batsmen who you do not want to bowl against. If one of the three of them gets going past the first six overs of the Powerplay, and into those middle overs, it puts us in a really strong position for the last 14.”We always pose the question of how do we get the best out of all of our players. When you talk about those three guys specifically, it’s more obvious with Jonny and Jason batting at the top of the order. Trying to get the best out of Jos, at the moment we feel the more balls he faces, the more influence he can have on the game. If we find things down the line haven’t exactly worked out we can always fall back on Jos in the middle order.”England’s wealth of options at the top has also masked, to a degree, their uncertainty around Nos. 5 and 6, where a number of candidates – from Sam Billings, to Joe Denly and Sam Curran – have been tried over the last couple of years, without staking a strong claim.”One of the challenges we do have down the line is trying to find a middle-to-lower-order batter that can come in and play in an aggressive manner from ball one,” Morgan said. “Very difficult to predict who that might be because very few do that at county level – they either bat in the top four or open. At the moment we do have an abundance of talented players who open the batting or bat at three.”Moeen Ali responded to a move up the order to No. 5 with his highest T20I score since 2015 in Tuesday’s defeat to Pakistan. Ali afterwards admitted to “coasting” at times recently, but credited his captain for showing faith in him; Morgan said that he was hopeful Ali had now rediscovered his motivation.”I have spoken to him a little bit about that,” Morgan said. “Sometimes in your career, if there is no direct goal or direct drive in what you are trying to do, your mind is not challenged, your body is not challenged. It’s always important to have that. It might be a team goal that motivates you, it might be an individual goal for different guys. It’s really important to have that.”Morgan was also pleased to have Archer back to play his first limited-overs international since bowling the Super Over in last year’s World Cup final, although he warned against overburdening the pace bowler with expectations after weeks of discussion about his role in the Test side.”It’s great to have him back. He’s one of our match-winners and to have another one in your team is great – he’s a huge asset. I just think we need to manage the level of expectation of what he produces throughout the series. Obviously, he has played a lot during the summer and he is very excited about playing in this series but we saw at Old Trafford in the first game [against Pakistan] guys took a little bit of time to get into their rhythm. So, the level of expectation naturally will be high but within reason.”

Kohli’s team never got going in their chase of 197 as Rabada ended with 4 for 24, the best figures of this IPL

Vishal Dikshit05-Oct-20202:14

Agarkar: RCB’s bowling wasn’t as good as it could’ve been

Just when the Royal Challengers Bangalore were started to think they were getting their combinations and players’ roles right this IPL, they were beaten comprehensively by the Delhi Capitals, one of the most balanced sides who lead the points table with four wins out of five games. After posting a challenging 196 with the help of their openers and Marcus Stoinis’ unbeaten 53 off 26, the Capitals’ well-oiled bowling attack strangled the Royal Challengers chase with precise and economical bowling that led to regular wickets.Virat Kohli tried stretching the chase even as the asking rate surged after the fall of Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch and AB de Villiers inside the powerplay. Pace sensation Kagiso Rabada then returned for his second over – the 14th of the chase – to have his opposition captain caught behind. The Royal Challengers needed a stiff 100 from 36 balls at the end of the over, and the required rate headed only in one direction as Rabada closed the chase out with figures of 4 for 24 – the best of this tournament – after being on a hat-trick in the 18th over.Capitals’ skillful bowling attackA silver lining of Amit Mishra being out of the tournament was that the Capitals could bring their economical bowler Axar Patel back. After his first ball was driven beautifully for four by Kohli, Patel extracted turn to beat his outside edge two balls later, and slowed down the ball further on the last ball to have Finch caught behind for a scratchy 13.This, after Finch had been warned by R Ashwin while backing up too far at the non-striker’s end in the previous over.Some more drama was left for the sixth over when de Villiers sent Kohli back for a quick single after pushing the ball to mid-on but Rabada couldn’t get a direct hit. Next ball de Villiers whipped Anrich Nortje over mid-off with his supple wrists but the quick bowler replied immediately with his compatriots’ wicket as de Villiers top-edged a 150km delivery that Shikhar Dhawan pouched while running backwards from extra cover.Rabada had earlier conceded only five in the first over and put down a simple return catch of Finch, but the Capitals have clear plans for the pace spearhead: keep at least two of his overs for the end. That the boundaries dried up for over five overs after the seventh, with Patel taking the pace off and Ashwin mixing up his offbreaks with carrom balls and flatter deliveries, only helped Rabada ‘s second over. The scoreboard pressure meant Moeen Ali holed out off Patel to deep midwicket for 11 off 13 and Rabada had his eyes on one man.With 106 to get from 42, the onus was on Kohli and he took on a Rabada short ball but only edged it behind for 43. Five down for 94, the Royal Challengers weren’t going to recover from that against Rabada and Nortje, who kept breaching the 150kmh mark. Birthday boy Washington Sundar impressed briefly with some off-side strokes off Rabada before being deceived by a slower bouncer, and Shivam Dube soon missed a slog to lose his stumps.Capitals’ best powerplay this IPLEarlier, the Capitals openers Prithvi Shaw and Dhawan put up their best powerplay of the season, of 63, after being put in to bat. Shaw started by targeting the quicker bowlers and Dhawan, who normally drops anchor, attacked as well, going after Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal. As soon as Chahal came on in the fifth over, the Capitals openers collected 18 off him to make Kohli change his plans.The Royal Challengers bowler who stood out yet again in the powerplay was Sundar. He sent down three in the first six, stifled the openers with his angle from wide of the crease from around the wicket, and conceded only one four in that phase before finishing on 0 for 20 for the second game in a row.Kagiso Rabada celebrates with his team-mates•BCCI

The Stoinis show againThe Capitals innings was fizzling out after the powerplay. With the field spread and accurate bowling from Mohammad Siraj – who came into the XI with Ali – the boundaries started drying up. Shaw was the first wicket to fall as he edged Siraj behind, followed by Dhawan holing out to long-on and Shreyas Iyer to deep midwicket where Padikkal completed a fantastic hop-out-and-back-in catch. The focus was now on Rishabh Pant and Stoinis to rebuild and accelerate from 90 for 3 in the 12th over.Stoinis came out at No. 5 and didn’t waste any time to settle in, even as Pant was kept quiet by the bowlers. Stoinis was also helped by the three chances he got – a return catch that slipped through Chahal’s hands on 3 in 13th over, another chance put down by Chahal at deep midwicket off Saini on 30, and a run-out chance missed when Pant said no for a second run and Stoinis, on 45, had given up at the non-striker’s end after turning back but an inaccurate throw saved him.The Royal Challengers paid the price for all this. Stoinis not only cashed in when the bowlers erred with full or short deliveries but also shuffled across to the off side to whip and dispatch the ball to the leg side, especially when fine leg was in the 30-yard circle. His and Pant’s assault at the end meant the Capitals collected under 10 runs in only one of the last seven overs, with 94 runs coming off those 42 balls. Stoinis was particularly brutal against Saini and Siraj, by targeting the straight and leg-side boundaries.His 24-ball fifty and Saini’s 0 for 48 off three overs meant the Capitals got a total that was too much for the Royal Challengers.

Wealth of opening options means that middle-order specialist could be valuable

Andrew Miller13-Oct-2020On the day that England’s logjam at the top of their T20 batting order potentially got even more clogged following the successful promotion of Sam Curran as Chennai Super Kings’ latest opening batsman against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, there is at least one candidate for their World Cup plans who has no intention of pushing his way up the order.After what may yet prove to have been a breakthrough summer in England colours, Sam Billings says he would relish the chance to become the team’s designated finisher, having completed the English international season with his first extended run of opportunities since 2017.And England may well need him to do just that, given that so many of their batting options are currently gravitating towards the top three, both for England and increasingly in franchise cricket.For the moment, Jos Buttler and Jason Roy remain England’s first-choice T20 openers, with Jonny Bairstow slated to come in at No. 3 despite his powerful opening partnership with David Warner for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Tom Banton made his IPL debut at the top of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ order earlier this week, while Dawid Malan, the No.1-ranked T20I batsman in the world, is likely to get a chance to push his case with a stint in the BBL this winter.And with Ben Stokes returning to action this week as Buttler’s new opening partner at the Rajasthan Royals prior to Curran’s powerful opening cameo of 31 from 21 balls on Tuesday, that leaves Billings and Eoin Morgan as the only two specialist batsmen in England’s most recent T20 squad whose skills are not currently being deployed at the front of the innings.”There’s quite a few options at the top of the order,” Billings said. “Jason, Tom Banton, Phil Salt… all these guys. But they can battle it out for those three spots. I’ve just focused on what I’ve done this summer and hopefully I can continue that form over the course of the winter.”It is a different role, and it’s a very specific role,” he added. “So it’s one that I really want to grasp. It’s a role that I’ve done consistently over the last few years for Kent, and something that actually I prefer.”Billings, 29, withdrew from the Chennai Super Kings’ squad last year, prior to the Covid outbreak, primarily to focus on his red-ball duties with Kent. But with England’s squads split across two formats to allow their full international programme to take place in a condensed season, he seized his recall with a pair of match-winning knocks in tight run-chases against Ireland, before producing a maiden ODI hundred against Australia.And while his returns in four T20Is against Pakistan and Australia were less imposing, that is the format in which he has produced his finest innings to date for England – a blistering knock of 87 from 47 balls in St Kitts last year, in which he rescued a scoreline of 32 for 4 in the sixth over, to set up a crushing 137-run win.ALSO READ: England’s winter tours: What is the current state of play?That innings, however, came shortly before Billings dislocated his shoulder in a fielding accident in his first appearance of the 2019 county season – an injury which ended his hopes of featuring in the World Cup and left him fearing his England career would end up being a series of stand-in appearances when he was omitted from the tour of South Africa earlier this year.”It’s easy to say that but, actually, if you look at the record, that was a fact,” he said. “This [summer] was the first time I played consecutive games for England in ODI cricket since 2017. And then before that, it was two games against Ireland, and before that it was my debut series back in 2015.”It’s great to get consistent opportunity and an extended run as a player,” he said. “Chennai have done with loads of players and that’s why they are the most successful franchise around: they give players the opportunity to succeed and fail as well. A game here or there isn’t in anyone’s best interest.”I know my game,” he added. “In the middle overs, if we’ve lost early wickets, it’s about rotating the spinners, as you see all the best players in the world do. That’s something that I strive towards, and then having the power at the back-end of an innings to win games of cricket.”I’m never going to be the biggest run-scorer in terms of a competition or a tournament,” he said. “However, in terms of winning games of cricket, whether it’s ten runs off the last three balls, they’re the kind of contributions that are hugely valued in that role, and I want to be the man to do so.”Sam Billings swings into the leg side•Getty Images

England’s international plans for the winter remain up in the air, with their planned white-ball tour of South Africa still awaiting clearance from the South African government. But one tournament that Billings will be taking part in is the Abu Dhabi T10, which has been pushed back from its original date in November to January 28-February 6.And though he does hope to be in the top three for that particular event, Billings reckons that many of the skills required for finishing in T20s will be in even more demand with only 60 balls to play with.”It’ll be pretty tricky coming in at five or six, you might be in for two balls,” he said. “But it’s about the realisation that, as a batsman especially, your numbers won’t stack up. I think T10 cricket will change how we measure batting, so that instead of averages and traditional strike rates, it’ll be judged in terms of batting impact.”In T20 cricket, everyone wants to bat in the top three, because it is the nicest place to bat. But actually, a contribution of 20 off six balls as a No. 6 batsman has far more of an impact than, say, 40 off 30 at the top of the order. So how cricket is going to change in that respect is really interesting.”

McCullum felt the Knight Riders batsmen had ceded control of the game to Siraj by not being proactive enough

Saurabh Somani21-Oct-20202:17

KKR coach McCullum praises RCB’s bowling

Brendon McCullum, the Kolkata Knight Riders coach, has said the team “just wasn’t good enough” with the bat and had shown a “timid” approach in their eight-wicket loss to the Royal Challengers Bangalore.The Knight Riders were undone by Mohammed Siraj’s 3 for 8 in four overs and made only 84 for 8 after choosing to bat, with the Royal Challengers cruising to victory in 13.3 overs. The result kept the Knight Riders in fourth place on the IPL 2020 points table, but with a significant hit on their net run rate, which now stands at a negative -0.828.”In all honesty, I didn’t think there was a lot in the wicket. Siraj obviously bowled well and [Chris] Morris at times also. But if anything, we were just a little timid in our approach,” McCullum said at the press conference. “That’s a bit frustrating because we spoke at length before the game about trying to be positive and show some strong intent. So that’s something we’ll have to address in the next few days.”Before the game we talked about wanting to show some strong intent with the batting at the top of the order. Unfortunately tonight, if anything we probably lacked intent. So that’s something we’re going to have to address. I think RCB were very good tonight and we were very poor with bat in hand. You’re not going to win too many games from 40 for 6. It was a poor night with the bat but we’ve got to bounce back because we’ve got another game in a few days. That could be the nature of this tournament as well, with the conditions being slightly challenging at times. You’ve got to find a way to still pick yourself up and try and get a result next game, even after a poor one.”McCullum felt the Knight Riders batsmen had ceded control of the game to Siraj by not being proactive enough. Siraj varied his lines, kept the ball on a length or just short of it often, and found movement too. No batsman was able to get into any rhythm against him.”I think Mohammed Siraj bowled excellent lines and lengths. He was out to present the seam and asked a few questions of us, questions which in the past we would have probably answered better than we did tonight,” McCullum said.”There’s many things you can do [to counter good bowling]. You can use your crease: go laterally, advance, or go deeper in your crease. You can try and apply a little bit of pressure somehow, but we weren’t able to do any of those tonight. That’s something we’ll discuss, how as batsmen you’re able to enter the game, show strong presence and try to turn the pressure a little bit back on the opposition, particularly in slightly helpful conditions for the seamers.”McCullum contrasted his own batsmen’s performance with the approach shown by Aaron Finch for the Royal Challengers. While Finch made only 16 off 21, he was walking down the pitch constantly, not only forcing bowlers to bowl alternate lengths but also minimising the risk of an lbw.”None of our top order batsmen were able to get anything going,” McCullum said. “If we flip that over and look at how even Aaron Finch – I know he didn’t set the world on fire tonight but he still showed intent. He was walking down the wicket, he was asking some different questions of us as bowlers and trying to take out a mode of dismissal. Sometimes that’s what you have to do, you’ve got to be a little bit creative to be able to get yourself into the game. It wasn’t to be tonight, but there’ll be some good lessons for some of our guys. We’re going to have to find a way to be able to actually enter the game because you can’t be in a situation like you were at 40 for 6 and expect to win games of cricket.”The Knight Riders still have four games in hand, and with 10 points on the board they are still in the thick of the qualifying race.”We’re still fourth in the tournament, which is very fortunate for us. Destiny is still very much in our own hands,” McCullum said. “We’ve just got to tidy up those areas where we were deficient tonight and make sure we improve on our performance.”I’ve said all the way along, as long as our morale stays high and our belief within the dressing room stays high, then we have the talent within our set-up, and the intelligence and the quality of players, to be able to go deep in the tournament. This is going to affect a little bit in terms of our confidence and [we need to] work hard on ensuring our morale doesn’t drop. At the same time, having those honest conversations around how we improve. But I still firmly believe we have a side which can be there come finals time. We just need to improve slightly.”

This, in addition to his role as Pakistan’s batting consultant

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2020The PCB is keen to rope in former captain Younis Khan in a full-time role as the head of the High Performance Centre (HPC) in Karachi in addition to his role as Pakistan’s batting consultant. Earlier this year, Khan signed up as the national team’s batting coach for the tour of England, where they lost the Test series 1-0 and levelled the T20I series 1-1.This is the third time the PCB has reached out to Khan to coax him into the coaching mix. They had initially wanted him to work at the National Cricket Academy – the predecessor to the HPC – in a development capacity though that didn’t ultimately pan out. However, after that, Khan toured the UK as part of the star-studded support staff that also included Waqar Younis (bowling coach) and Mushtaq Ahmed (spin-bowling coach). That short-term stint ended in September.In May last year, Khan was close to taking up a role as the country’s Under-19 coach, but the plan eventually didn’t come to pass. One of the sticking points, ESPNcricinfo reported, had to do with finances, while the other was with the job profile, as the PCB had proposed Khan only be a mentor and a coach, but he wanted a broader scope and a say in selection as well.Khan brings with him vast experience as Pakistan’s highest scorer in Test cricket, though he has had a frayed relationship with the PCB over the years. It is understood that various senior PCB officials have expressed reservations about working with him. However, a pep talk that he gave to the players on video during lockdown and his first stint as batting coach in England seems to have changed some of those opinions. Khan received positive feedback from the other backroom staff and the players for his role on the tour of England, where he had to deal with a large pool of players.