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A round-up of matches from the Caribbean T20 on January 10

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jan-2012Jamaica opened their account in the Caribbean T20 with a tight win over Combined Campuses and Colleges in Antigua. CCC, after choosing to bat, managed a competitive 131 for 9, thanks to two individual contributions amid what would have otherwise qualified as a batting failure. Opener Chadwick Walton guided the innings with 66 off 59 balls, including four fours and five sixes. He was supported in a 92-run third-wicket stand by Kyle Hope. However, when Hope fell, CCC collapsed, losing seven wickets in quick time but managed 34 runs in 25 balls in that period. For Jamaica, Krishmar Santokie picked up four wickets and left-arm spinner Nikita Miller chipped in with three.In the chase, it was Marlon Samuels who took centrestage as the batting around him struggled. Wickets fell at a steady pace but Samuels held firm, unbeaten on 66 in 52 balls and leading his side to victory in the final over with three balls to spare. A collective bowling effort from CCC had reduced Jamaica to 106 for 8 at one stage in 18.1 overs, but Samuels, in the company of Miller, who at No.8, faced just 2 balls, saw his team through. The next 27 runs came off just eight balls, and Samuels finished with five sixes.Sussex thrashed Netherlands in Antigua by 34 runs to begin their Caribbean T20 campaign on a high. A five-wicket haul from Timm van der Gugten was in vain as the score Sussex managed after being asked to bat proved more than adequate. Wicketkeeper Ben Brown top-scored with 42 and Chris Nash, Joe Gatting and Naved Arif chipped in with small, but important, contributions to take their team to 125 for 9, continuing the trend of low scores in this tournament so far.But it proved too much for Netherlands. There was no significant resistance from their batsmen barring captain Peter Borren, who made a quick 45; only one other batsman reached double-figures as the innings folded for 91. Arif picked up three wickets, and Chris Liddle and Michael Yardy earned two each. Each of the six bowlers employed by Sussex picked up at least a wicket each.

Fast bowler Michael Bates’ triple-wicket maiden set up a thrilling four-run win for Auckland in the HRV Cup final against Central Districts at the Colin Maiden Park

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jan-2011Auckland 158 for 8 (J Adams 62, Mason 3-24) beat Central Districts 154 for 9 (Taylor 44, Bates 4-18) by 4 runs

ScorecardMichael Bates’ triple-wicket maiden set up a thrilling win for Auckland•Getty Images

Fast bowler Michael Bates’ triple-wicket maiden set up a thrilling four-run win for Auckland in the HRV Cup final against Central Districts at the Colin Maiden Park. Auckland were restricted to 158 for 8 in their 20 overs, but some tight bowling backed up by sharp fielding helped them wrest the title from the defending champions.Hosts Auckland, who won the toss, elected to bat. But Gareth Hopkins’ decision seemed to backfire after Auckland lost two wickets within the first four overs. Martin Guptill, who was in fine form in the recent Twenty20 series Pakistan, was the first to go in the second over for 4, edging Doug Bracewell to Ross Tayor in the slips. Bracewell struck again in his next over to have Lou Vincent caught at long-on.Jimmy Adams and Colin de Grandhomme then combined for a 66-run third-wicket partnership to calm the nerves. Grandhomme got the Auckland innings moving, striking consecutive boundaries. Adams too found his touch and soon brought up the partnership’s fifty with back-to-back boundaries. Grandhomme fell for 31 but Adams, who was dropped by Taylor, went on to reach his half-century before he was finally dismissed for 62 to leave Auckland at 125 for 4 with 4.1 overs still left. But Auckland failed to accelerate after that, and though Colin Munro hit 29 off 18 balls, Michael Mason struck to pick up three quick wickets, to keep Auckland down to an average total.CD, who had chased down 181 to beat Auckland in Pukekura Park last week to qualify for the final, didn’t bargain for the start they had. Peter Ingram was caught at third man off the first ball of the innings from Michael Bates. This was followed by back-to-back dismissals: Jamie How was caught in the slips of Bates’ third ball and Ian Blackwell was caught by a diving Roneel Hira off the fourth ball. CD were 0 for 3.”To be honest, that first ball was short and wide,” Bates said. “The second was good but the ball that got the third wicket was a half-volley on leg stump.”Michael Yardy and Taylor buckled down to add 51 runs for the fourth wicket to restore some normalcy. When Andre Adams struck to pick up the crucial wicket of Taylor who made a fluent 44, CD needed 87 from 39. At 85 for 7, things looked bleak for CD. Bracewell and Kruger van Wyk added 50 in 4.4 overs to swing the momentum in favour of CD. Bates, however, struck again to dismiss Bracewell and was involved in running out van Wyk in the last over. CD needed 13 runs off three balls but Auckland held their nerve.”We pride ourselves on our fielding,” Hopkins said. “We’ve done a lot of work to set a standard and we want to be the best fielding unit in the competition.”When you win things like this you need an extended squad. You can’t overlook the efforts of those who weren’t playing today. They’re here today and they’ll be celebrating with us.”The winners of the HRV Cup have qualified for the previous two editions of the Champions League and should the format remain the same for the next edition as well, Auckland will be the team to qualify.

What is India’s best bowling attack in Kolkata: the existing two-seamer and two-spinner combination or does it make sense to field three fast bowlers

N Hunter13-Feb-2010What is India’s best bowling attack for Kolkata? Is it the existing two-seamer and two-spinner combination or does it make sense to field three fast bowlers with Harbhajan Singh as the lone spinner and Virender Sehwag as a sidekick. The Indian think-tank has less than 24 hours to sort out that puzzle before the final Test begins.The question has cropped up only because the South Africans, among the best players of spin in India, successfully tackled the pair of Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra in Nagpur through a mixture of sheer application and some luck. It continues the trend of Indian spinners struggling for consistency, which was on evidence in the Sri Lanka series late last year as well.In the past the thumb rule was to field at least two spinners because the pitches would invariably start turning sharply from the third day. But on surfaces which have refused to break and have been slow and low (Motera and Green Park during the Sri Lanka series are good examples), the Indians spinners have failed to find a rhythm, adding pressure on the fast bowlers. The pitches cannot be as spin-unfriendly as they are made out to be especially considering Paul Harris’ effectiveness against some of the best players of spin in Nagpur.In the three-Test series against Sri Lanka, Harbhajan managed 13 wickets at an average of 41. India won that series more because of their batting might and some incisive fast bowling spells. Otherwise more questions would have been asked of India’s best spinner, whose form has been a concern for a while now.You can’t blame his slow-bowling partners, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha, since neither of them has been given the long rope. Mishra failed to make an impact with his leg breaks against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad, picking only one wicket, but came back with an impressive seven-wicket match haul in the first Test in Bangladesh. Harbhajan returned for the next Test but only picked two wickets in the game, in which Mishra was dropped for the left-arm spin of Ojha. Even in the Sri Lanka series, Ojha was preferred over Mishra during the victories in the final two Tests, in which Ojha claimed nine victims.With the spinners unconvincing, a better ploy at Eden Gardens could be to play three fast bowlers. It might look like a desperate measure, but with MS Dhoni emphasising that India prefers the four-bowler theory, it is the only way to play their four best bowlers. Dhoni, too, agrees to an extent. “We have always been comfortable with four bowlers because it has worked for us. If you have an allrounder in the side that makes it very easy but we don’t have that option.”Importantly, India’s fast bowlers have featured prominently in most of the recent Test wins. Less than three months ago, Sreesanth produced an amazing spell of fast bowling against Sri Lanka at Kanpur in what was India’s 100th Test victory. Then, as now, Sreesanth was coming out of a break, but found his rhythm and swing without much sweat. Also, South Africa have been Sreesanth’s favourite opposition: his 22 wickets against them are his highest against a single team, with the famous 8 for 99 at the Wanderers remaining his career-best performance.His presence could lighten the burden on Zaheer Khan and even Ishant Sharma, who has been under pressure over the past year. But the team management has retained confidence in Ishant, who has faded a bit in the recent past after his much-heralded arrival during the tour of Australia in 2007-08.A crucial factor that might support the quicks could be the conditions especially in the final session when the breeze wafting in from the Hooghly on the West side of the ground can help swing bowlers a lot. The trio of Zaheer, Ishant and Sreesanth has the capability of swerving the ball about and could prove a handful on their day.”There is a bit of grass on the wicket so I think the seamers will get a bit of help,” Dhoni said after the final training session. He also acknowledged the afternoon breeze could play a role, especially with the stands on the West side being reconstructed. “There is no stand on one side of the ground so you can see a bit of breeze going across the field so there will be a bit of help for the seamers.”But Dhoni remained non-committal on the number of seamers of spinners he would like to field, leaving that decision for Sunday morning. Perhaps he could heed the thoughts expressed by John Wright, former India coach. “You have to play a spinner but you don’t play a spinner for a spinner’s sake, he has to be among your four best bowlers. Who are your first bowlers? That is a question you need to ask.”

Notts remain in quarter-finals contention with comfortable victory at Wantage Road

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay20-Jun-2025Tom Moores smashed 53 off just 27 balls to help set up a 24-run Vitality Blast victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Wantage Road.Moores struck five fours and three sixes to regain the initiative for the Outlaws after they made just 33 for 2 in the powerplay. He shared a 43-run partnership with Jack Haynes (32) in five overs. However, the visitors were still well behind the pace on 111 for 5 after 16 overs before Moores blazed 20 off one over from Luke Procter and, with three of the lower order each smashing a six, Nottinghamshire closed on a competitive 164 for 8.Ricardo Vasconcelos and Justin Broad started briskly in the chase, but the hosts lost early wickets and failed to push on, struggling on 50 for 4 after 10 overs. Outlaws offspinners Matt Montgomery (3 for 22) and Farhan Ahmed (2 for 23) were key in putting the squeeze on the hosts.David Willey thumped two sixes in his 20 and while Saif Zaib and Lewis McManus put on 45 in 4.3 overs, the game finished in a clatter of wickets, the last five falling in 12 balls.Earlier Willey (1 for 17) conceded just three runs off his first two overs, but on a rare expensive evening for Ben Sanderson, Lyndon James smashed three leg-side boundaries before driving him through the covers.But it was Sanderson who made the first breakthrough when Joe Clarke was caught by Willey at wide mid-on. The Outlaws lost a second when James played expansively against Procter and edged behind to McManus. With just two coming from the over, the Outlaws finished the powerplay on 33 for 2. It was McManus’ 50th T20 catch for Northamptonshire, the first Steelbacks keeper to reach that milestone and on his 50th T20 appearance for the club.Freddie McCann fell to a sensational catch by Willey running backwards at long-off, but that brought together Moores and Haynes who had opened his account with a punch through the covers off Sanderson and two off-side boundaries off Australian spinner Lloyd Pope’s first over.George Scrimshaw conceded 19 off his second, Moores dispatching him over square leg for six before pulling his next ball behind square.Pope broke the partnership, trapping Haynes as he went to sweep, the Outlaws losing another wicket in the next over when Daniel Sams was bowled by Willey eyeing up a leg-side strike.Moores motored on, smashing Pope aerially for four. Then in one extraordinary over from Procter he clobbered him down the ground for consecutive sixes, thumping his next ball straight for four. Moores brought up his half-century by pulling Procter’s next delivery for four before he was caught by a diving Willey at long leg.Montgomery, Liam Patterson-White and Calvin Harrison all struck sixes down the ground in the closing overs, adding crucial runs. There were consolation wickets for Sanderson who had Montgomery caught in the deep and Scrimshaw who bowled Patterson-White.In the chase, Vasconcelos top-edged and scooped Sams over the keeper for two sixes in his first over, but Matt Breetzke, playing his last innings before joining up with the South African Test squad, fell cheaply caught on the boundary.Broad picked up early boundaries before picking out deep midwicket to give Farhan his first wicket as the Steelbacks ended the powerplay on 34 for 2.Farhan picked up a second when Vasconcelos top-edged to Dillon Pennington at short fine-leg off an attempted sweep. Next over Ravi Bopara chipped a return catch back to Harrison.Willey swept for a big six behind square and deposited another maximum over deep midwicket, but was caught attempting one more big hit off Montgomery. McManus was fluent against the spinners, sweeping and reverse sweeping as well as cutting seamer Sams for four.Sams almost removed Zaib but he was dropped at deep midwicket by Haynes, the ball going for six. Zaib then slog-swept an enormous six off Pennington before holing out at long-off off the same bowler, heralding the end.

He also believes Pakistan needed to invest in depth rather than individuals

Danyal Rasool29-Dec-2023Haris Rauf’s self-imposed absence from the ongoing series between Australia and Pakistan has seen another voice weighing in, with former Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi saying the pace bowler “should have been a part of this side”.Rauf pulled out of the series before the squad was announced, citing a desire to manage his workload and his protect his body. He played four games in the Big Bash League in Australia while the series was going on for the Melbourne Stars. Meanwhile, Pakistan went into the series with a squad that possessed very little high pace, with medium fast bowlers Khurram Shahzad and Aamer Jamal playing the first Test, and Mir Hamza and Hasan Ali the second. Shaheen Shah Afridi was the young leader of the pace battery, but even his pace has never quite recovered since a knee injury, and mostly operated in the low 130s kmph.”I think Haris [Rauf] should be part of this side instead rather than [the BBL],” Afridi, speaking to media at the MCG, said.” In these conditions, the kind of pace he has, he would have performed well and enjoyed himself on the kinds of pitches Australia prepared in Perth and here.”Related

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The pitch at the Optus Stadium for the first Test was lively even by Perth standards, with fast bowlers seeming to get extra assistance as the Test wore on. It was arguably at its most unplayable on the fourth afternoon, when Australia stilled Pakistan out for 89 in 30.2 overs to inflict a 360-run defeat. The home side’s seamers have continued to enjoy great success at the MCG, with Pat Cummins taking five wickets in the first innings.Shahid Afridi, who is in Australia for work related to his foundation, also said he didn’t believe Shaheen carried any injury despite the drop in pace, believing Pakistan needed to invest in depth rather than individuals.”I’ve never got the impression that Shaheen has an injury. If you’re injured you can’t play as a fast bowler. He knows his responsibility and how important he is to the team. The fast bowlers, we are expecting a lot from them because they’ve done well in the past. Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen etc. have performed so well we expect them to perform in every match. Relentless consistency is challenging in cricket.”I have always said that unless our bench is strong we won’t be able to take the best decisions. The A team should be as strong as the main team, so if Shaheen or Babar or Rizwan aren’t strong, we shouldn’t have the excuses of players being unavailable, like we do with Naseem now. When our bench is strong, we will no longer have excuses.”Shahid also backed Pakistan to maintain a fighting interest in the ongoing Test, where the visitors need 317 to win. No side has chased a higher target in the fourth innings at the MCG in nearly a century, and Pakistan may indeed have been pursuing a much lower total had they held on to their slip catches.”This Test match they should win. A good opportunity we missed to get them out easily for 150 runs. But it’s a chaseable score. I rate Babar Azam very highly and so does the world. He is the backbone of Pakistan’s batting lineup. The best batters lose form, but I have seen such consistent batters very rarely in Pakistan cricket.”

Samson smashed 86 not out off 63 balls, but India fell just short of what seemed an improbable chase at one stage

Firdose Moonda06-Oct-20222:25

Ntini: I will have Klaasen in the top four for the T20 World Cup

Sanju Samson smashed 86 not out off 63 balls but India fell just short of what seemed an improbable chase at one stage against a South African side desperate for wins in the World Cup Super League. The visitors escaped with ten points after being set up by an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 139 off 106 balls between Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, who helped set India a target of 250, and a strong bowling effort early on that reduced India to 51 for 4 in 18 overs.What should have a been a straightforward result in favour of South Africa was turned on its head by Shreyas Iyer and Samson, who put on 67 for the fifth wicket, and then Samson and Shardul Thakur. They added 93 in 66 balls for the sixth wicket and were particularly severe on South Africa’s second spinner, Tabraiz Shamsi. He conceded 89 runs in eight overs, including 20 in the final over, when India needed 30.In the end, both teams were left to consider the limitation of using only five bowlers in an ODI innings. India only picked five while South Africa chose not to use part-timer Aiden Markram, and both attacks had mixed results. Their opening pairs were exceptional – Mohammed Siraj and Avesh Khan gave away only 28 runs in the eight-over powerplay, and Rabada and Parnell reduced India to 8 for 2 in 31 balls upfront – but one each of their spinners proved costly. Ravi Bishnoi, on debut, conceded 69 runs in eight overs while Shamsi’s economy rate was a massive 11.12.In a match that was reduced to 40 overs a side, South Africa took time to set the pace of their innings in challenging conditions. Siraj and Avesh sent down four testing overs each, in which they found movement and challenged the openers’ awareness of their off stumps, but could not separate them. Instead, it was Thakur, brought on as first change, who issued the first threat. He drew Janneman Malan forward to take the edge but Shubman Gill, at first slip, put down the chance. India would go on to drop three more catches. Thakur got Malan two overs later, when the batter clipped a full ball to Iyer at midwicket and the opening stand ended on 49.That brought under-fire captain Temba Bavuma to the crease and he almost fell for a third duck in four innings when he bottom-edged Thakur onto his foot and came close to chopping on. Bavuma went on to strike two sweet boundaries but was then bowled by a cross-seamer from Thakur for 8.Lungi Ngidi removed Shreyas Iyer for the fourth time in as many ODI innings•BCCI

Sensing an opportunity to get into South Africa’s middle order, Shikhar Dhawan brought on Kuldeep Yadav to replace Bishnoi and it was clear that Aiden Markram could not read him at all. Markram was foxed by the googly and the shorter delivery and then bowled by the legbreak as he moved forward to defend. South Africa were 71 for 3 after 16 overs.Klaasen and de Kock led the recovery with a fourth-wicket partnership of 39. The two were going well until de Kock missed a reverse sweep off Bishnoi and was out lbw for 48. With 17.4 overs left and a decent platform laid, the stage was set for Miller to tee off. He smacked a short, wide delivery from Bishnoi upfront, then swept the first Kuldeep ball he faced for four more and brought out the heavy artillery when he tonked Bishnoi back over his head for six.The aggressor’s role was swapped between Miller and Klaasen who settled on a middle ground between an all-out attack and saving themselves for the end. In the 36th over, Miller reached his fifty off 50 balls, and Klaasen got to his milestone off 52. Klaasen’s was his first 50-plus score in 10 innings since April 2021, while Miller’s milestone continued his golden run in 2022. Miller averages 61.75 from ten ODIs and 56.60 from 12 T20Is this year. The pair plundered 54 runs off the final five overs to give India a challenging target of 250.India’s task was made to look even more daunting by the sixth over of the chase. Gill inside-edged a full delivery from Kagiso Rabada onto his stumps and Dhawan chopped one from Wayne Parnell onto his. Rabada looked as dangerous as ever as he maintained a length just short of a good and a line outside off, finishing his five-over opening spell with figures of 1 for 10.Maharaj was brought on just after the powerplay and held his end well to keep Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan quiet. By the time Tabraiz Shamsi was called on, in the 16th over, Gaikwad’s patience had run out. He advanced down the track to hit Shamsi over the off side but was beaten by the turn and stumped. Maharaj also enjoyed some of the spoils when Kishan danced down to clip him over the leg side in the next over and handed Malan a simple catch at leg slip.Sanju Samson and Shardul Thakur put up an attacking partnership•BCCI

India’s required rate had climbed to more than nine an over when Iyer decided to take matters into his own hands. He hit Shamsi back over his head for four, helped himself to three successive boundaries off his next over, and took on Lungi Ngidi’s pace to bring up India’s 100. Iyer’s fifty came off 33 balls and his partnership with Samson had South Africa worried. Ngidi, though, put out those fears. He dismissed Iyer for the fourth time in four ODIs against him, with a short ball that Iyer lobbed to Rabada at mid-on. But the danger was far from over.Thakur joined the fun when he guided Ngidi fine and then hit a Shamsi long hop through square leg, prompting Bavuma to bring back Rabada and then Parnell. Parnell was too short in his last over and Samson hit him for two fours. He was replaced by Ngidi, who also offered a back-of-good-length ball for Samson to pull for six.Still, with India needing 74 off the last five overs, South Africa were the favourites. Both Shamsi and Rabada’s seventh overs were hit for 14 each and but panic was setting in, Ngidi removed Thakur and Kuldeep off successive deliveries. Thakur didn’t get hold of a full ball while Kuldeep tried to loft Ngidi over extra cover but Bavuma took a good catch running backwards. Ngidi himself, though, dropped Avesh in Rabada’s final over, running in from point.India needed 30 off the last over, which started with a wide. Samson then took 14 runs off the next three balls to leave 15 to get off three. He then tried to slog sweep Shamsi but couldn’t pierce the field and the match was all but over. South Africa would have had their hearts in their mouths until the end, when they sealed a tense win.Having dropped points against Ireland, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and with three matches against Australia due to be forfeited, all of South Africa’s matches are effectively must-wins. They remain in 11th place on the standings but have closed the gap between themselves and Sri Lanka and could leapfrog them and Ireland into ninth place with another win in this series.

Mithali Raj adds “it’s nice to go in without the baggage” as India Women seek exposure in tour of England

Annesha Ghosh01-Jun-20211:43

Powar: ‘Opportunity for Mithali and I to take team to the next level’

Ten out of the 18-member Test squad haven’t played a Test before. India play two Tests away this year. Could blooding first-timers in the longest format away from home be a challenge?
Raj: It’s good to have Tests, whether it’s at home or away. If there’s continuity, it’s great because it helps the player as well. Sometimes it’s nice to go in without the baggage; you just go and play it, enjoy the atmosphere and it’s good to have girls who have played for the first time and girls who’ve played in the past share their experiences of how it was way back in 2014. But I guess having two back-to-back Test matches, I mean to say touring England and Australia, can give a lot of exposure to the current lot. And If that can be carried forward in the coming years, it will be great for the sport.Powar: I think it’s a great start. As head coach, obviously, I want more Test games all over the world. We have to look at it in a different way. It’s just a start; let’s take it step by step. Don’t push the girls into a zone where you’re demanding too many things in Test cricket. It’s a new format [for them] that has not been played consistently over the last ten years, so let’s wait and watch how they react. We might get surprises. They will perform better [if] given the opportunity.India have only played one full series – at home against South Africa in March – since the T20 World Cup last year. How will quarantines in Mumbai [before departure] and Southampton [upon arrival] affect the team’s pre-series preparations?
Powar: It’s not ideal, worldwide, right now. We are trying to look at the bright side. If you look at it, women’s cricketers are getting opportunities – Test cricket, ODIs and, T20Is. It’s a good, long tour of 45 days, and I think, we as a team are thankful to the BCCI for putting up such a tour. It’s not easy.It’s not physically possible, yes, [to prepare oneself adequately], but mental make-up will make a huge difference and I think in my last assignment we’ve tried that, and it paid dividends. I have done it with the Mumbai [men’s] team, and we had just six sessions, and we managed to react positively to the tournament we played.Ramesh Powar speaks to the India Women players•ICC via Getty

Powar on the key to adapting quickly to English conditions
Powar: There will be balls seaming around for batters as well as bowlers. I think in every part of England the conditions will be different, so we will try and adjust to that. Batsmen will, obviously, play close to the body, they will show more patience. When the sun is out, they will enjoy their batting, when the sun is down, they’ll put in hard work to get over that period.Bowlers also – if there’s a lot of help, they will have to control their swing also. There are a lot of things. We’ll go there and assess and we’ll build on it. We can’t go there with a fixed mind. The sun might be out and you may get flat tracks too. You never know.Related

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How important is workload management of 38-year-old Jhulan Goswami, the senior-most member of the Indian attack?
Raj: It’s important that she gets games because even she needs game-time in the middle but, at the same time, being the senior-most it’s also important to keep her in the thick of things. If she needs rest, it’s up to her completely. Knowing Jhulan, I know for a fact she wants to play every game. As a captain also I would like to have her on the field so that the young fast bowlers in the side will get a lot of help if they have her around.Thoughts on Shafali Verma, the 17-year-old batter, who is making heads turn
Powar: It [guidance she needs in longer formats] depends on the way she handles practice sessions because we’ve done something great with Prithvi Shaw when we played the Vijay Hazare Trophy, so you can wait and watch. You might see a different Shafali when she [takes] the field after one and a half months.

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 allrounder is averaging 28 with the bat and 59 with the ball this season but could feature in Sydney as Australia attempt to level the series

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-20184:04

‘There are holes in India’s batting as well’ – Paine

Australia have added allrounder Marnus Labuschagne to their squad for the final Test against India in Sydney which they need to win to level the series, with captain Tim Paine admitting “a lot of things are on table” following the batting slump at the MCG.Labuschagne made his debut in the UAE earlier this year and played both Tests against Pakistan where he showed some promise with bat and ball, making a top score of 43 alongside claiming seven wickets with his legspin.However, a poor start to the Sheffield Shield cost him the chance of being part of the India series from the beginning and his first-class numbers for the season are an underwhelming average of 28.22 with the bat and 59.60 with the ball.It is Labuschagne’s bowling as much as his batting which has brought him back into contention as Australia battle to balance their side amid the struggles of Mitchell Marsh, question marks over Aaron Finch as an opener and workload of the quick bowlers.”I think there’ll be a lot of things on the table in the next day or two and I’ve got some thoughts on what I think but I think I’ll share that with JL [Justin Langer] and a few other guys before I share it here,” Paine said. “We’ve got the best group of players available to us at the moment and we’ll pick the best combination out of that group that we think will win this last Test.Marnus Labuschagne steers the ball past silly mid-off•Getty Images

“We’ll get up to Sydney and have a look at the conditions, I think we’re hearing it will spin quite a bit, so once we see that for ourselves we can try to think about the best combination to win that Test. From what I’m hearing it will be dry, spin quite a bit, a bit like the old SCG used to be.”Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins had almost two days in the field as India piled up 7 for 443 and were then back out again by the final session of the third day after Australia folded for 151 in their first innings.”Physically they’re all fine,” Paine said. “We’ll have a look at the conditions before we name our XI. There’s no problem with any of them at the moment.”Mitchell Marsh performed a handy role with the ball in Melbourne, sending down 26 tight overs over the opening two days, but had an awful time with the bat as he twice fell trying to attack Ravinda Jadeja. It takes his Test run tally in his last five matches to 74 runs at 7.40.”As we’ve said all along, we know Mitch at his best can offer a lot to Australian cricket,” Paine said. “We just need to make sure he’s at his best more often than not and like the rest of us the gap between his best and his worst gets smaller all the time.”No one has been dropped from the squad named before the Melbourne Test which means Peter Handscomb, who was omitted in favour of Marsh, retains his place. Peter Siddle, who will play Big Bash for Adelaide Strikers on New Year’s Eve, remains the spare pace bowler.Finch’s role as opener is also being hotly debated following a double failure at the MCG, and though he has been retained in the squad, his role in Sydney could range from the status quo, to dropping into the middle or being left out altogether.

Zimbabwe’s batting coach has said his team’s aggressive approach against West Indies’ bowlers was planned, but the execution was off

Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo22-Oct-2017Zimbabwe batting coach Lance Klusener has blamed soft dismissals for his batsmen’s capitulation on the second day at Queens Sports Club and denied that the home side’s preparation of a spinning track had backfired.”There were about eight soft dismissals in our innings,” Klusener said. “Way too many soft dismissals, and the boys are upset with themselves. That wasn’t how we wanted to play.”But we saw it [the spinning track] as an opportunity to try and nail the first Test match. Had we applied ourselves a little better and got a little bit of a lead, that would have gone to plan. We played reasonably well in Sri Lanka and we’d like to think that going forward [playing spin] is a strength of ours. But it isn’t easy to bat out there. Having won the toss would have helped as well.”Zimbabwe were bowled out for 159 on day two, with Devendra Bishoo’s legspin and reverse-swing from a three-pronged pace attack doing the damage. Zimbabwe’s batsmen also continued to play their strokes, even as wickets started to tumble. Solomon Mire was caught slogging to deep midwicket, while Brendan Taylor reverse-swept to slip, Sean Williams was caught flashing outside off stump, and Sikandar Raza skied a drive to long-off.The shots were part of the plan, Klusener suggested, but Zimbabwe’s execution was off. “We do want to score runs, it’s how we want to play Test cricket. We want to be aggressive. We’d like to make smarter decisions, way smarter decisions than what we saw today.”Solomon plays a lot of one-day cricket, he plays attacking cricket, and we don’t want to change too much about the way he plays. Raza would be the first one to tell you that that wasn’t the greatest of shots or the greatest decision. We’re striving to make better decisions more often as a team, and if we do that then we won’t have as many soft dismissals.”Klusener also reiterated the need for Zimbabwe to play more long-form cricket in order to push for future success. This is Zimbabwe’s second Test this year, and just their sixth Test in the last three years.”I’d like to see us playing more Test cricket,” he said. “It’s not an excuse, but it is important. Our one-day cricket has been excellent, but we need to play more Test matches. The more we play and the more we get an opportunity to apply our plans, the better we’ll get. It’s about quality match-time, more Test matches, spending time in the middle.”We’ve come a long way in terms of playing spin, we’ve come a long way as a team. But it is international cricket, and it’s important that players do stand up and score a gutsy fifty or a hundred, whatever we need. So that’s the frustration the boys are feeling. They’re not proud of the way they played, but we’ve done a lot of work and we can play better. And we will play better.”