All posts by n8rngtd.top

They came with great expectations in Ahmedabad, but many left before the last ball was bowled

Shashank Kishore19-Nov-20232:06

Should one of Kohli or Rahul have taken charge?

Twenty minutes past eight on the night of their dreams.Scores of fans begin to move towards the exits of the Narendra Modi Stadium. The all-encompassing blue of tens of thousands of India jerseys dissipate to reveal bright orange seats beneath. The World Cup final is not yet over but many have had enough.Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne had raised their century stand. India’s defence of 240, which looked so promising when Australia were 47 for 3, was failing. The pitch they had hoped would aid the spin of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav was getting better to bat on as the night progressed. The day before the game, Australia’s captain Pat Cummins had spoken of there being no greater satisfaction than silencing a huge crowd. And 11 Australians did just that to more than 90,000 in Ahmedabad.The day had begun very differently. First a hush when Cummins won the toss. Then a roar when he put India in to bat. Those roars grew louder as Rohit Sharma began to do his thing. Where the stadium DJ had failed to rouse the crowd into a Mexican wave, Rohit got them going with a towering six off Glenn Maxwell. The footwork, backswing, timing, and the nonchalance as he turned his back on the ball after following its trajectory – all stunning and typical of Rohit.Related

• Cummins, and the 'satisfying' sound of silence

• Australia's irrepressible trio of quicks cement their legacy

• Rahul Dravid: 'We haven't played any fearful cricket in this final'

• Head hunts down victory as India fall prey once again

• Australia player reactions: 'I think this is bigger than 2015'

The roar was louder next ball as Rohit flayed Maxwell through the covers. He was staying true to the “” he’d beautifully elaborated on the previous evening. He was walking the aggressive talk like he’d done all through this World Cup. Two successive boundaries, however, weren’t enough for Rohit. He charged Maxwell and tried to go big again to make the most of the fielding restrictions.Most watching wouldn’t have thought it possible for Head to latch on to the miscued shot that quickly – turn around from cover, sprint a considerable distance, and dive full length to take a game-changing catch. For two previous balls, there had been bedlam in Ahmedabad. Now silence. As Head picked himself off the ground and began to celebrate before being mobbed by ecstatic team-mates, the parallel with Kapil Dev’s iconic catch off Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup final was impossible to miss. Rohit threw his head up and walked off for 47 off 31 balls.Four balls later, more silence, as Cummins found the outside edge to have Shreyas Iyer, who had scored hundreds in his two previous innings, caught behind. Left hand up, finger pointing skywards, Cummins took off on a celebratory run, the cheers of the Australians cutting through the silence.At 81 for 3 in the 11th over, India’s batting depth was facing its toughest test of the tournament and it was on Virat Kohli to lead the repair job. He’d scored three successive boundaries off Mitchell Starc in the seventh over to kickstart his innings, but once those two wickets fell, risks had to be reduced. So Kohli knuckled down. He ran the hard runs and defended like his life depended on it. The man with the most hundreds in ODIs, the man with the most runs in a World Cup, was now playing one of the most important innings of his life.The stands began to empty at the Narendra Modi Stadium even before the final ended•ICC/Getty ImagesKohli and KL Rahul rebuilt the innings slowly. India didn’t score a boundary for over 15 overs after the powerplay. Two batters at the peak of their powers curbing their instincts for the team’s cause. As Kohli raised his ninth 50-plus score of the World Cup off 56 balls, the crowd found its voice again. Seven balls later, he chopped Cummins on.Kohli was stunned. Couldn’t bear to look back. And it took a while for him to leave the crease. He glared at his bat as an overjoyed Cummins took off on another celebratory sprint, having made good on his pre-match promise a second time. Rahul also fell after his half-century and the mood at the stadium remained sombre for the rest of India’s innings.There was renewed hope after the innings break, though, as India began their defence of 240 with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami zipping the ball past the flailing bats of the Australian openers. The crowd began to find its voice as an edge went between first and second slip, and then raised the roof when the next edge – off Warner – was held by Kohli in the cordon.Bumrah grazed the under edge of Mitchell Marsh’s attempted smash, and then pinned Steven Smith lbw, but little did any of the Indian fans at the ground know then that there would be no more cause for joy for them.By the time Head was caught for a World Cup-winning 137 off 120 balls after a partnership of 192 with Labuschagne, with Australia needing only two runs to win, the final had wound down to its conclusion in eerie silence for a stadium that held nearly a 100,000 fans.

In his first interview since his exit, Arthur discusses his final days in charge, and his worries about Pakistan cricket’s future

Danyal Rasool01-Feb-2024It was a smoggy Wednesday afternoon in November, and Mickey Arthur was puzzled. He stood on a balcony at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, the headquarters of the Pakistan Cricket Board. He’d been speaking to the PCB’s Cricket Operations Director Usman Wahla, discussing logistics ahead of Pakistan’s Test tour of Australia in December. He’d been asked to wait after a meeting with the chairman had broken for a recess, and he couldn’t understand what was taking so long.Most of the cricketing world’s focus, even in Pakistan, wasn’t on Lahore. It was World Cup semifinal day, and New Zealand were giving India a bit of a scare in a tall chase, with Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson’s entertaining partnership ensuring the game in Mumbai would be a contest rather than preparation for a coronation. In Pakistan cricket, however, a storm was brewing, and attention would soon shift from Mumbai to Lahore.Related

• Mohammad Hafeez's stint as Pakistan team in-charge 'cut short'

• Zaka Ashraf steps down as PCB chairman

• Arthur and Puttick resign from their roles with PCB

• Hafeez to serve as head coach for tours of Australia and NZ

• Babar resigns as Pakistan captain in all formats

Arthur was at the Gaddafi for a performance review called for by the PCB management committee head Zaka Ashraf following Pakistan’s relatively underwhelming World Cup campaign; they were knocked out at the group stage with four wins and five defeats. Arthur, Pakistan’s team director, was already looking ahead, focusing on a high-profile three-Test tour of Australia, a country where Pakistan had lost every Test they had played since 1995.”At the end of the World Cup we went back to Lahore,” Arthur tells ESPNcricinfo in his first interview since his exit. “We had planned the whole Australian tour, so much so that we had thought about teams and combinations. We arrived in Pakistan and there was silence initially.”And then Zaka wanted a review meeting of the World Cup. We went to that, I did a presentation, Rehan [ul Haq, the team manager] did a presentation. Grant [Bradburn, the head coach] spoke, the whole management team was in this meeting.”There was a recess and we were starting a camp two days later. I was still on the balcony organising with Usman Wahla what our logistics were going to be. And I wondered why there was such a break in this review. And then I got a little whisper in my ear that Zaka wanted to see me in a separate office in the museum at the HPC [High Performance Centre]. I went in, he asked me a whole lot of questions and then he said, ‘look, we’re going to remove the whole support staff and captain, basically, and that was it.'”That moment set off bedlam in Pakistan cricket. It would emerge that none of Arthur, Bradburn or Rehan would go to Australia or the subsequent series in New Zealand. Former Pakistan allrounder Mohammad Hafeez, who did not have any coaching or management experience, was appointed team director as well as head coach, concentrating the responsibilities of both Arthur and Bradburn into a man who had the experience of neither.Mohammad Hafeez was appointed as both team director and head coach for the tours of Australia and New Zealand•PCBAshraf views it differently. “Hafeez is patriot,” Ashraf tells ESPNcricinfo. “He has a lot of cricketing experience. He had a lot of coaches under him who could handle and organise. Mickey was also not personally handling coaching himself.”Hafeez was the team director like Mickey and had to manage things, which he did in a professional way. At critical situations during international tours, Mickey had to fly and he had refused to join Pakistan because of his contract with Derbyshire county. He was basically coaching online. I have all my respect for him, but how can you do coaching on Zoom?”Arthur, who is currently two years into a four-year contract with Derbyshire, was pursued by Ashraf’s predecessor Najam Sethi, who wanted him in as head coach. “It was a stable job,” Arthur says pointedly. “I had a really good contract. I couldn’t just drop this and do Pakistan. That goes against my grain. And I told Najam that.”The PCB and Arthur eventually worked out a deal where Arthur continued with his job at Derbyshire while appointing a team to work with him as team director. It meant he wasn’t around for a significant chunk of his time with Pakistan cricket, especially during the English county season.”I used to wake up early,” he says. “I used to be up at 5.30 in the morning. I would do all my correspondence until 7.30, then get into Derbyshire, do our day, while being available on the phone through the day. And then when I got home I would sit with Grant over Zoom, and we’d plan out what the next block of days looked like for the Pakistan team. So I was spending a lot of time daily with Pakistan when I wasn’t there too.”Either way, Arthur joined the team part-way through the Asia Cup, and was with Pakistan for the entirety of their World Cup campaign. There was no clash with the England domestic season during Pakistan’s tours of Australia and New Zealand, and he was slated to be with the team throughout those tours when the decision was made.There was something even more immediate, though. Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain in all three formats, was also at the performance review. He was told he was being removed, and opted to issue a statement of reluctant resignation. The PCB’s official version suggested he was only told he would be removed from ODI and T20I captaincy, although this is a version that has been disputed.It all happened at a time when Ashraf was only acting as PCB chairman in a caretaker capacity since he was never formally elected to the position. As such, he was barred by a court in Pakistan from making decisions that extended beyond nominal day-to-day operational calls. In practice, however, that distinction was never truly enforced, and turnover during Ashraf’s time was high.”The whole review was just a charade,” Arthur says. “I would have had a bit more respect for Zaka if he’d said it straight out. The way I realised the whole thing was a charade was Mohammad Hafeez was already sitting at the PCB offices and that’s why Zaka got into trouble because our meeting went on and on and on.”The PCB has not yet conducted elections since Zaka Ashraf’s resignation as caretaker chairman•PCBUnlike Babar, though, Arthur and the coaching staff did not resign. “I was savvy enough in my contract negotiation to put in a clause that there was a three-month termination settlement, not a one-month settlement. We weren’t going to resign because the minute you resign, you walk out and that’s it. For all the efforts we put in, the coaches and I deserved the three-month settlement.”The PCB said we would be reassigned, but that was impossible. You can’t reassign people who have signed contracts. You can’t just reassign the team director, head coach and batting coach of the national team. That was a charade to get rid of us.”In the end, a new management team was ushered in, with Adam Holliake and Umar Gul coming in as batting and bowling coaches under Hafeez. Pakistan endured a disappointing tour, with Australia running away with the Test series 3-0, while New Zealand swept them aside 4-1 in the T20Is.Before that series ended, Ashraf was also out of the PCB, resigning two weeks before the extension awarded to him lapsed. PCB elections still haven’t been held, with the board presently chaired by Khawar Shah, the PCB election commissioner.While Arthur does not rule out a return to Pakistan, he admits his enthusiasm for it has dimmed.”I still followed Pakistan cricket and I’ll always follow it,” he says. “But the vigour and thirst and passion I have for Pakistan cricket waned a little bit after that. To be brutally honest, I think Pakistan cricket is in a very disappointing place. There’s a massive amount of talent there, There are some world-class players, not just talented players. They’re not given the support structure that they need to flourish.”The one thing we had in 2019 and from the time we won the [2017] Champions Trophy to the end of it was an environment where the players were pushed. There was a lot demanded of them, but I backed every one of those boys 100%. So then they went out and played for the team instead of playing for them themselves.”When there’s security within the environment, Pakistan is very good. When there’s that insecurity, players start playing for themselves instead of the team because they’re thinking of the next tour, and the next contract. That’s a dangerous place to be in, and that’s kind of where Pakistan cricket is now. And that’s something that’s very disappointing and sad for me.”

We go behind the scenes to bring you all the answers to your questions about India’s selections for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Jul-2024After the announcement of India’s squads for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, the immediate headlines focussed on Suryakumar Yadav’s appointment as T20I captain and the fact that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were playing the three-match ODI series in preparation for the 2025 Champions Trophy.Several other questions, though, remain. ESPNcricinfo has gone behind the scenes to bring you the answers, a day before newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar address India’s pre-departure press conference.Related

• Gambhir on working with Kohli: 'We are going to be on the same page'

• Where does the elevation of Gill and Suryakumar leave Hardik?

• Axar: When the team needs someone to stand up, they bank on me

• Suryakumar confirmed as India's T20I captain for Sri Lanka tour

• Rohit and Kohli to play ODI series in Sri Lanka

Is Ravindra Jadeja now a Test-only player?
Jadeja, who announced his T20I retirement after the World Cup, was not named in the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour, leading to doubts over his 50-overs future. However, it is learned that the selectors have reassured Jadeja that he is only being rested and he remains India’s primary spin-bowling allrounder. There are two main reasons why Jadeja has been given a break. One, both the selectors and Gambhir are keen to give Axar Patel a chance in ODIs and see if he can play the same role he has successfully performed in T20Is. With just three ODIs in the Sri Lanka series, the selectors and Gambhir agreed that having two left-arm-spin-bowling allrounders would be a surplus.The second reason is that Jadeja is a key member of India’s Test line-up both home and away, a crucial cog in balancing their XI. India are scheduled to play 10 Tests – five at home and five in Australia – from September 2024 to January 2025, and they are looking to keep Jadeja, who is 35 and has missed a number of matches with injury over the last three years, as fresh as possible for those matches.Hardik Pandya has won over the fans, but the selectors are worried about his inability to bowl his 10-overs quota in ODIs•Associated PressWhat is the status of Mohammed Shami?
Shami has played no competitive cricket since the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad on November 19. Currently, the fast bowler is at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru where he has begun to bowl after undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon earlier this year. The selectors haven’t yet marked a definitive return date on their calendar for Shami, but they are keen to see him feature in one if not both Test series India are scheduled to play at home – against Bangladesh (September) and New Zealand (October-November) – before they depart for their 2024-25 tour of Australia. It is understood that in case Shami has no fitness concerns the selectors could consider him for the 2025 Champions Trophy.Has Kuldeep Yadav been rested from T20Is?
Yes, Kuldeep, who is part of the ODI squad, has been given a break from the T20Is and remains India’s frontline spinner in that format. The selectors want Ravi Bishnoi to gain more experience and believe he is the best option to be India’s second wristspinner behind Kuldeep.Is this the end of the road for Yuzvendra Chahal?
While this might appear to be the case from the outside, the selectors will continue to keep the senior legspinner in their list of back-ups. Chahal was the fourth spinner picked in India’s T20 World Cup squad, but did not get to play any of their games. What goes against Chahal is the fact that his utility is restricted to just his bowling. He isn’t the strongest in the field and is a genuine No. 11 as a batter. The selectors continue to believe Chahal is an extremely good bowler, but feel he will have to bide his time for now. If he does get an opportunity, he will need to cash in to keep his currency strong.Rishabh Pant’s return leaves KL Rahul in a fight to keep the ODI keeping gloves•ICC/Getty ImagesWhy is Hardik Pandya not in the ODI squad?
Hardik, it is believed, had asked for a break during the ODI leg of the tour, though the reason could not be confirmed. Hardik has not played 50-overs cricket since hurting his ankle during the World Cup in November. While Hardik provides the ideal balance to India’s XI when he’s available, the selectors are concerned that he has not been able to bowl his full 10-overs quota when he has played. The 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand was the last time he did so. Since then, he has bowled 27 times in 32 ODIs, without once completing his full quota.Keeping Hardik’s injury issues in mind, the selectors have decided to focus on providing more exposure to the back-ups including seam-bowling allrounders Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy (who suffered a hamstring injury and had to pull out of the recent Zimbabwe tour), and spin-bowling allrounders Axar, Washington Sundar and Riyan Parag, whose inclusion for the Sri Lanka ODIs came as something of a surprise. However, the selectors view him as an option who can bat in India’s top six and bowl at least a few overs.Is KL Rahul still an all-format player?
Rahul’s omission from the T20 World Cup squad was a clear signal from this selection panel that he was not part of their plans. This remains the case, as can be seen from Rahul’s non-selection for the T20I tour of Zimbabwe and the T20I leg of the Sri Lanka tour. But it is understood that Rahul remains a key player in the other two formats, where the leadership group and the selectors firmly believe in his ability. Rahul was India’s captain when they last played ODIs on the tour of South Africa earlier this year, and was part of their first XI in the Test series against England that followed, but quadriceps and knee injuries kept him out after the first Test. Rahul’s injury issues and the stiff competition for places will keep him on his toes.At the 2023 World Cup, Rahul kept wickets in the absence of Rishabh Pant, who missed the tournament while recovering from injuries suffered in a life-threatening accident. While the selectors have named both Pant and Rahul as wicketkeepers for the ODI leg of the Sri Lanka tour, Dhruv Jurel, who made his India debut during the England Test series earlier this year, is understood to be seen as the main back-up keeper across formats. Rahul’s return is also the reason Sanju Samson could not find a spot in the 50-overs squad for Sri Lanka series, despite having scored a century in his most recent ODI.Injuries have put Tilak Varma’s India career on hold for the moment, but he remains in the selectors’ plans•Associated PressWhat about Mayank Yadav and Mohsin Khan?
Mayank Yadav’s electric speeds during the early part of IPL 2024 created a buzz around him, leading some to ask if he could be part of India’s pace battery for the Australia tour at the end of the year. The BCCI also added Mayank to the list of fast bowlers with developmental contracts earlier this year. However, the Delhi and Lucknow Super Giants fast bowler was soon ruled out of the IPL with a side injury. While he recovered from that injury, he is understood to have picked up a separate injury while bowling at the NCA. Mayank has only played one first-class match to date; he would be expected to prove his match fitness in domestic red-ball cricket before he is considered for Test cricket at least.As for Mohsin, who was Mayank’s team-mate at LSG, he has a lower-back injury. The selectors have been keen to consider the left-arm fast bowler from Uttar Pradesh in T20Is but Mohsin has been riddled with injuries including the career-threatening limb injury he suffered in 2023.Why is Tilak Varma not part of the T20I squad?
Tilak, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, has been among the most compelling young batting talents to emerge in the last two years. He played 16 T20Is and four ODIs in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, but missed out on the shortlist for the tournament after suffering a freak hand injury at the end of the IPL season. It is understood that while he has recovered from that injury, he has since injured his other hand at the NCA, though details are yet to be confirmed. This is why he wasn’t part of the Zimbabwe tour or in the T20I squad in Sri Lanka.

With New Zealand playing Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and India in the subcontinent over next four months, their young batters were focusing on playing spin

Deivarayan Muthu01-Jul-2024Two days after New Zealand’s golden era ended in Tarouba, some members of their next generation were hard at work in Chennai. The city in south India has become something of a satellite office for New Zealand cricket in India, thanks to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) connection.Spin-bowling allrounder Dean Foxcroft, top-order batter Tim Robinson and wicketkeeper-batter Mitch Hay, three of New Zealand’s brightest young talents, were countering local spinners with a variety of sweeps at both the indoor and outdoor nets at the Super Kings Academy. The trio spent two weeks in Chennai with an old friend Sriram Krishnamurthy, the former New Zealand A and Wellington coach who is currently the coach of the Super Kings Academy at CSK, and Paul Wiseman, NZC’s talent ID manager, getting exposed to black- and red-soil pitches and playing T20 games against Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) sides.With New Zealand in rebuild mode following the first-round exit at the T20 World Cup – and with the team scheduled to play Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and India in the subcontinent over the next four months – this was a good time for the next-gen New Zealand batters to spend the winter on slow, turning pitches.Related

• Williamson: We don't usually get such a volume of Tests

• Paul Wiseman: 'We don't have the numbers India or England have, so we have to be smart with what we've got'

• Kane Williamson opts out of New Zealand central contract for 2024-25

• Spotlight on NZ transition after Boult confirms this will be his last T20 WC

• New Zealand to tour India for three Tests in Oct-Nov 2024

Foxcroft, 26, and Robinson, 22, have already played for New Zealand, while Hay, 23, is on the fringes of national selection, having impressed both in the four-day Plunket Shield and white-ball cricket for Canterbury. Hay averages over 46 after 19 first-class games, while he has a strike rate of almost 150 after 28 T20s. He is also a capable wicketkeeper, but sweeping spin isn’t something that comes naturally to him. He practices every variety of the shot, including the reverse, even in damp conditions following an overnight shower.”I wouldn’t say I’m a natural sweeper, but having the exposure here is a great opportunity to learn from the coaches,” Hay tells ESPNcricinfo on the sidelines of a training session. “Sri [Sriram] has been amazing with his knowledge of conditions in both India and New Zealand. So it’s been a good challenge to learn some different shots and different strategies on wickets that are spinning a lot more than at home.”In New Zealand, you can potentially stand up and hit through the line easier. The biggest takeaway for me against spin is trying to get low because the bounce is variable. We’ve also been trying to use the crease, and as Sri alluded to, a lot of Indian batsmen are good from the crease – playing deep but also coming out on the front foot to get really close to the ball. For me, it’s about staying low, and when the length is there, get into a strong position on the back foot to manoeuvre the ball.”Robinson, who is bit of a Finn Allen clone, has also picked up cues to tackle spin and expand his game. “I think for the sweep, I like to get outside the line of the ball and try not to get in front of the stumps,” Robinson says. “I also think it’s quite important to commit to the shot quite late so you can adjust to the length of the ball and then your own stride.Sriram Krishnamurthy and Paul Wiseman were in charge of the New Zealand batters’ training sessions in Chennai•Super Kings Academy”For me, naturally at home in New Zealand, it’s a sweep-on-line thing, and the need to sweep is not as big there as it is here. So it’s something that we all are trying to develop, and it’s about using the right tools on the right wicket at the right time.”Robinson is a natural athlete. He won junior and senior titles in the javelin throw along with his brother Cam Robinson back in the day. In the most recent Super Smash, he had success throwing his bat at the ball for Wellington at the top, and was immediately called up to the New Zealand T20I squad for the Pakistan tour earlier this year in the absence of the IPL-bound players. Robinson admits that his life changed after he cracked 139 off 64 balls, with ten sixes, against Otago Volts in the Super Smash, the second-highest score in the tournament’s history. Robinson, though, might not have achieved the landmark without some help from Foxcroft.”Foxy dropped one at long-on, and he bowled the sixth over in the powerplay as well, which was a little bit of a kick-start (laughs). But no, I think it was just one of those things that came off and I had a little bit of a luck,” Robinson recalls. “I suppose that’s T20 cricket as well. You got to ride your luck and make it count when things do go your way. It was well and truly my day, but there was luck going my way and I ended up getting through it unscathed. But yeah, it was a life-changing sort of day for me.”Foxcroft is the most experienced among the trio, having also won the PSL with Lahore Qalandars and been part of the Oman T10 league. Covid-19 had locked him out of New Zealand for almost two years, but he is now making up for lost time, learning from every experience.Paul Wiseman chats with Dean Foxcroft at the Super Kings Academy•Super Kings Academy”Pakistan and India are a bit different in terms of conditions,” Foxcroft says. “In Pakistan, the wickets are bit skiddier than here. Wherever you go, you’ve got to adapt quick enough to the conditions and understand your game better, which will be helpful when I come back and play on these wickets.”Foxcroft bowls quickish offspin and tested it out against TNPL team Nellai Royal Kings during a T20 game. In the 2023-24 Super Smash, he bowled just 6.2 overs in ten matches for Otago, but is working towards becoming a genuine allrounder.”Yeah, it [the bowling] has been coming out nicely,” Foxcroft says. “It’s a great time to come out to India and work on it. I want to be the No.1 allrounder, [and contribute] in both departments. Hopefully, I can get a five-for and a Test hundred or whatever, but I want to keep developing [the bowling] and get better at it at every training. It’s great to learn from Sri, the Chennai Super Kings coaches, [and bowling] different variations and different lengths.”Foxcroft and Robinson go “Ooooh!” when Hay’s lofty first-class average is brought up. While Canterbury have produced a number of fast bowlers for New Zealand – right from Kyle Jamieson to Zak Foulkes – in the recent past, Hay could well be the next international batter from the domestic side.Dean Foxcroft bowls quickish offspin, and tested it out against TNPL team Nellai Royal Kings•Super Kings Academy”That’s the ultimate goal: to represent the country and play for the Black Caps,” Hay says. “But there’s also a lot of things before that. To improve my strengths and keep working on my weaknesses and get better overall as a player… those sorts of things. Selection will look after itself, so I guess in a way it’s nice to take the focus away from that and put it on myself to get better so that when I do get the opportunity, I’m ready to perform.”With Kane Williamson giving up his New Zealand central contract to become a freelancer, and a number of other players ageing, Foxcroft, Robinson and Hay will likely get their opportunities in the next few months.New Zealand’s lack of proper preparation for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies came into sharp focus last month, but their young batters might not be underdone when they would revisit the subcontinent for a longer trip later this year.

He says captain Hayley Matthews is thriving in the new structure, and Deandra Dottin has “fitted in beautifully” on her return

Valkerie Baynes03-Oct-2024Bringing the fun back has been a big part of West Indies’ women’s T20 World Cup preparations. It’s a simple ethos, but a much-needed one championed by head coach Shane Deitz, the Australian who is a year into his job.”There is a lot of laughter,” Deitz told ESPNcricinfo. “[It’s about] generally having fun, and being relaxed, and enjoying each other’s company, enjoying the experience of playing cricket, [and] travelling the world.”That’s one thing that, coming from other jobs where it’s a bit more serious and they want a lot of structure, it’s good that we have a bit less of those things and make it a bit more [about] backing your gut feeling and your intuition, and how you want to play and how you naturally grow up playing.Related

• Injuries to Zaida James and Stafanie Taylor make bad day worse for West Indies

• Sultana: 'Heartbreaking' not to play in Bangladesh, but our support here is brilliant

• 'I'm still World Boss' – Dottin is as hungry and competitive as ever

• Powerplay podcast: Matthews on Wales, WI and World Cup plans

• Deandra Dottin back in West Indies squad for T20 World Cup

“You grow up playing on beaches, in the streets – a bit more [of] that environment. Australia’s a lot more structured. So just finding that balance and how to work it into our cricket has probably been one of the things that we’re trying to learn and use that to our advantage, [and] make the girls feel comfortable that that’s how we’re going to play.”Originally from New South Wales, Deitz was a wicketkeeper-batter for South Australia from 1998 to 2008. He coached the Bangladesh women’s team in 2013-14, and was heavily involved in Vanuatu cricket as a player, a coach, and an administrator, before becoming head coach of the Netherlands women’s team immediately prior to taking up his current post with West Indies.Despite his well-travelled CV, it has been a sharp learning curve for Deitz, who took over at West Indies from Courtney Walsh, who in turn had taken over from Gus Logie.”They’ve had a lot of Caribbean, [or] West Indies legends coaching them for a while,” Deitz said. “I’m far from [being] a legend – [just] a middle-aged white man from Australia. It’s a very different culture that I’ve grown up with compared to the girls, so it was about understanding them, [and] understanding the culture, and using that as part of our cricket.”I grew up watching the West Indies cricket team, and they definitely had a style about them and the way they wanted to play. So I wanted to encapsulate that into our style a bit and use what they have in their culture, and bring it into cricket. Also, just gain their trust that I’m here for them, and I’m here to make them better cricketers, and make the team a better team. That was the main thing – just understanding them and getting the team working together.”Deandra Dottin reversed her international retirement just before this year’s T20 World Cup•ICC via Getty ImagesImmediately before this T20 World Cup, star allrounder Deandra Dottin reversed her international retirement, which she had attributed at the time to concerns about the team environment. Dottin won a place in the squad for this World Cup, and Deitz says she has slotted back in “really well”.”She’s known a lot of girls for a long time,” he said. “We’ve changed a few things off the field and how the team is set up with particularly a leadership group. We really control the culture of the team and how the team works off the field. Deandra was coming in really wanting to help the team and play well. Whatever the team needs, she’s happy to do, and she’s fitted in beautifully, and the leaders of the group have made that all work.”Similar to AFL teams, who have a captain supported by several deputies, West Indies now have five team leaders, led by skipper Hayley Matthews, elected by the players to represent them with team management. Deitz didn’t name the other leaders, but said Dottin, who returned after they had been elected, was not one of them.”We spend a lot of time with each other, so like any family or room-mates or whatever, you’re always going to have a little bit of friction from time to time,” Deitz said. “So [it’s about] just making sure we’re all together and we have open conversations. If you’ve got an issue, we just talk about it, get it out there, solve it, and move on quickly.”Shane Deitz on Hayley Matthews: “The hard thing is she wants to do everything”•Getty ImagesDeitz said Matthews was thriving in the new structure. Since becoming captain in 2022, Matthews has scored 1284 runs in T20Is at an average of 40.12 and at a strike rate of 120.45 compared to her corresponding career numbers of 25.70 and 112.88.”The hard thing is she wants to do everything,” Deitz said. “It’s trying to tell her to stop. She wants to be involved with everything and run everything. She gets bored sitting down for ten seconds – particularly at the games.”I think that’s why she bats so long. But she’s been so good off the field, and what I talked about before – about the fun and enjoyment of cricket – she does that so naturally. And her personality is really coming out [with] her captaincy, and that’s a big, big bonus for us.”In terms of building depth around Matthews and Dottin, Deitz believes things are moving in the right direction. After their 2016 T20 World Cup triumph, West Indies women’s cricket fell away sharply amid a lack of resources. But in 2021, CWI increased the number of women on retainer contracts by three to 18, and in 2023 launched the West Indies Women’s Academy.”It’s a good thing now, the Under-19 World Cup – that makes a lot of countries step up their high-performance programmes,” Deitz said. “Australia, England and India, the big three countries, have more resources, more facilities, more infrastructure, [and] everything else to produce more players. We can’t complain about that. We’ve just got to maximise what we’ve got, and in our region, what we can do to try to get to that level. It can’t be an excuse; we’ve just got to be smarter, work better.”

The visitors spent well beyond their designated three hours on a picturesque morning at Newlands

Danyal Rasool01-Jan-2025Cape Town slept in bleary-eyed after a New Year’s Eve that drew a record number of visitors – in excess of 35,000 piled into the picturesque Waterfront for a free music concert and midnight fireworks, with Table Mountain as the epic backdrop. The streets around Newlands, the genteel suburb where the cricket ground looms almost as large as the mountain itself, were deserted as 2025 was welcomed in by clear blue skies punctuated only by wispy clouds, a 22-degree sun bathing the city in its golden hue. On another day – perhaps any other day – the area would have been heaving in the morning. But walk into Newlands Cricket Ground on New Year’s Day before noon, and you have the whole place to yourself.Except for those who, presumably, drew the short straw. That would appear to be Pakistan this morning, scheduled for the morning training session, with South Africa only getting to work in the afternoon. Down by the nets behind the ground, Naseem Shah, Mir Hamza, and Mohammad Abbas are all batting; Pakistan have worried about the length of their tail of late. A couple of startlingly quick net bowlers put them through their paces. Mir Hamza gets an outside edge headed to an imaginary first slip pretty soon. Naseem Shah’s defence is solid, but the short ball can trouble him. He shared a smile and a work of encouragement with the bowler.Related

• Ryan Rickelton, Temba Bavuma centuries drive South Africa's day

• Secrets of Newlands pitch keep Pakistan guessing on team combination

• Deflated Pakistan look to set record straight in South Africa and level series

• Mohammad Abbas shows Pakistan there's more to pace bowling than pace

• When the orchestra played as one – South Africa's journey to their first WTC final

You idly wonder what these three beginning the session with the bat means for Aamer Jamal, who was largely unused with the ball in Centurion. A couple of hours later, though, he’s bowling at the ground in the nets, three strips across from the match pitch, so probably not much. Salman Ali Agha, who came out to speak to the media, says Pakistan don’t really know their team yet.”It looks like a different pitch to Johannesburg [Centurion],” he says as the reporters huddle around underneath a sun that has by now begun to prickle. “Less grass on it. We don’t know, we’ll see tomorrow. Then we’re going to be able to know how we play the Test match. The stats say that spinners does come into it, but we haven’t decided yet. Everyone is fit and available.”I just saw the wicket and I thought I probably will bowl in this game. I haven’t bowled in the last three Test matches, but my role will be key here I feel.”Back at the training nets, a security guard shuffles up slowly, saying “You can’t watch from here,” as I stand behind the batter on the other side of the meshing, shaded by the London Plane trees. This is unusual, because the players never seem to mind; Pakistan, in general, have never really bothered with who’s watching their training and practice sessions. I say I’m from the media, and show him my accreditation. He barely glances, gives me a friendly nod, and moves on. No one feels like an argument this early on New Year’s Day.Soon enough, all the players have moved back to the ground itself, and the bowlers are back to performing their day jobs. Mir Hamza appears to be having the best of it, getting the ball to shape away and constantly beating Saud Shakeel’s outside edge. As the day grows hotter, Naseem has lost none of his energy after his morning excursions, and is steaming in full pelt every ball. Despite some murmured concerns around his fitness, he appears to be bowling fine, and at high pace.Mohammad Abbas is not bowling at high pace, of course, but he’s very accurate. A right handed batter- it’s hard to make out whom for the Newlands press box – is very disciplined about leaving everything that doesn’t hit the stumps. For Pakistan’s sake and for all the troubles he’s had with this kind of dismissal, one hopes it’s Babar Azam.The Table Mountain, the sun and blue skies: Newlands is a beautiful combination of them all•AFP/Getty ImagesAgha, meanwhile, uses his press chat to gush about Abbas. “I’ve never seen anyone who knows his skill as much as he does. He was a bit rusty in the first innings with the new ball, but that’s what you can expect from a guy who’s coming back after three years. The way he came back in the second innings was outstanding, the way he bowled. The way Markram and Bavuma were going, I thought it was going to be a one-sided game. He just came and bowled a whole session; that’s outstanding. I’ve never seen a fast bowler bowl a whole session like that.”The training session seems to be going on awfully long, well beyond the designated three hours. So much so that South Africa, who were scheduled to do their press conference after Pakistan, send Wiaan Mulder in first while Pakistan continue to be put through their paces.”Definitely,” he says about spin coming into this Test. “Generally, over the last couple of years, it has spun more here than at Centurion. It’s a little bit slower as well here, maybe a touch tackier in the mornings.”Speaking of which, Kamran Ghulam is now sending a few of his orthodox left-armers down to Mohammad Rizwan. Rizwan takes a strike out to defend, but it’s gone straight on, and raps him on the pad. Ghulam turns around and breaks into a loud appeal at whoever they have standing in as umpire; again, it’s hard to tell. He’s no longer appealing, he’s pleading, but the man remains unmoved. Ghulam immediately signals for a review; after all, he spent a decade on the domestic circuit before being first playing a Test. He’s not going to take no for an answer.Perhaps Pakistan keep on going because what better arena is there to play cricket? Watching the nets from across the dugouts, it’s hard not to be struck by the grandeur of the place. Table Mountain, possibly the oldest mountain in the world, looks down at the ground, perhaps the oldest cricket spectator in the world. No one, presumably, wants to disappoint it.Pakistan finally begin to pack up, and it’s finally South Africa’s turn now. There are a few routine warm-downs as the players lap around the field. Media interactions done, the journalists begin to shuffle out of the ground, and emerge back out into the city. A few afternoon risers mill about now, but serene quiet still defines Newlands as afternoon takes over from the morning. It must have been a really good New Year’s Eve. Pakistan, unlikely to have participated, want to ensure it’s an equally good New Year’s Test, too.

The world Test champions will be judged on how they play spin in the subcontinent in this cycle

Firdose Moonda13-Oct-2025Champions or not, South Africa were always going to be judged on this: how they play on pitches specifically prepared to suffocate batters and against sides with serious spinners.No disrespect to Bangladesh, where South Africa won their first series in the subcontinent in a decade last year and regarded it as their turning point in the WTC campaign, but critics wanted them to take on sterner challenges. The early results in Pakistan are less terrible than they could have been.For one, South Africa were not bowled out for under 200, which was one of the unspoken fears given how pitches have played in Pakistan most recently. In fact, they are yet to be bowled out though they remain some distance away from challenging Pakistan’s first-innings score. Two, is that they had two batters who got themselves to half-centuries and one is still batting. Pakistan had four with fifty-plus scores and two partnerships over 150, so the difference between the two line-ups is measurable but maybe not exactly comparative. With an obvious advantage to the team that bats first, perhaps this can only be judged if roles are reversed in the next match. For now, South Africa will try to survive.And it’s the last of those words that’s the most important because there isn’t really another to describe what it’s like watching them out there except to say that it is a fight. Even when Shaheen Shah Afridi offered up a half-volley for Ryan Rickelton to drive through the covers off the third ball of South Africa’s reply, there was the threat of who was to share the new ball and when he got it, Noman Ali showed what he could do. His third ball gripped, turned and flirted with Aiden Markam’s outside edge as he lunged forward, missed the ball and almost lifted his back foot. Mohammad Rizwan whipped off the bails for good measure. No damage was done, but that was a warning.Related

• Noman Ali makes spinroads into South Africa's resistance

Noman would keep attacking Markram in the same way and would eventually get him caught behind as he tried to play the turn but the ball spun more than he expected. He would also get Mulder, who worked his way to 17 off 46 balls, but then drove with a horizontal bat against a slow, loopy ball and edged to Rizwan. Mulder will question why he played the way he did, but the answer lies in what came before. After he found some rhythm with 11 off his first 15 balls, he couldn’t get either Noman or Sajid Khan away. Mulder faced maiden overs from both of them, was being tied down by lack of pace, and showed his frustration with an expansive drive.Noman Ali’s four wickets dented South Africa•Getty ImagesAt the other end, Ryan Rickelton had got himself to 37 off 73 and would have known that he was responsible for anchoring the innings, especially in the absence of Temba Bavuma. If it was Rickelton’s job to employ some of Bavuma’s fortitude, it was Tony de Zorzi’s to fill his regular captain’s shoes, batting at No.4 and knowing he lost his opening berth to Rickelton. What better subplot to add to the tension?De Zorzi spent the first 33 balls looking like he could get out to every one of them. In one over, Hasan Ali found his outside edge, then beat him with an inswinging yorker and then found the edge twice with the ball going through the gap for four both times. He almost offered Noman a return catch, then inside-edged him just past short leg, and was then given out lbw to an animated Sajid. De Zorzi was ready to depart but Rickelton convinced him to review. He was saved on impact and made it to tea. Immediately after the break, it was Rickelton who had managed to get outside the line to Noman to survive another boisterous appeal.There were moments, of course, like the reverse sweep that Rickelton got fine of backward point, and the slog over deep midwicket that de Zorzi hit for six or the drag down that got him to his fifty. But for the most part South Africa were driving on a potholed road, trying as hard as possible to avoid the bumps and find a little bit of smooth tar. No car can go on like that without suffering some damage and South Africa’s eventually came. A sharp bit of fielding from Babar Azam at slip ended Rickelton’s knock and he was the first of four wickets to fall for 26 runs in the space of 10 overs.Senuran Muthusamy bagged a six-wicket haul•Associated PressSouth Africa’s crumble has not (yet?) been as bad as Pakistan’s – they lost three wickets with the score on 199 and three again on 362 in a collapse that eventually became 5 for 16 – but was still “not ideal,” according to left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Senuran Muthusamy, who found himself batting at the end of the day after taking a career-best 6 for 117. Muthusamy found himself in the “pretty cool,” position of being on a hat-trick twice and did his best to “open up the game,” in what he said were the most favourable conditions he had operated in. “It’s probably as spin-friendly as I’ve played in,” he said at his press conference.Which is exactly what South Africa were expecting even before they came to Pakistan. They packed their XI with spinners, which has also given them a full XI who can offer something with the bat. Muthusamy himself has opened the batting 29 times in first-class cricket and scored three hundreds in that position, and has nine red-ball centuries to his name overall. All of them were scored in South Africa, where puffs of dust don’t balloon off pitches and bowlers don’t turn it nearly as much as Noman and Sajid. Still, he backs himself and those that remain to keep South Africa in it. “It’s about bouncing back and finding some resilience again,” Muthusamy said. “I thought we did a lot of good today but obviously it wasn’t ideal losing those wickets.”In that analysis, many would agree with Muthusamy. The only batter to play a really poor shot was young Dewald Brevis, a prolific talent in his third Test, who hung back in his crease and chipped Sajid to Shan Masood at midwicket. Brevis will make those kinds of mistakes. And South Africa, as a whole, should learn from them.This series is the first of three in the subcontinent in this cycle with India to come next month and Sri Lanka in early 2027. If South Africa hope to defend their title and show off their championship credentials, they will have to win some of them.

Martin O’Neill’s future as Celtic’s interim manager remains unknown for the time being, but a new update has now emerged regarding the situation.

The 4-2-3-1-playing O’Neill has enjoyed a successful return to Parkhead, winning three of his four matches in temporary charge of the Hoops.

The 73-year-old remains as popular as ever among the Celtic supporters, while Ian Wright has recently heaped praise on the job he is doing at the Scottish Premiership champions, calling him “amazing”, and Paul Scholes has lauded the “unbelievable energy” that he has.

It has recently been claimed that O’Neill’s time in charge of the Hoops could come to an end during the current international break, however, with the Scottish giants seeing Wilfried Nancy and Kjetil Knutsen as the front-runners to come in.

There are some Celtic fans who would like the idea of him staying on, though, given his history with the club and the results he has masterminded since returning, and now a new update has emerged over his future.

Dermot Desmond set for Martin O'Neill talks this week

According to a new claim from Sky Sports, Celtic majority shareholder Dermot Desmond is set to hold “discussions” with O’Neill this week, although it isn’t specified whether it is to do with staying on until the end of the season or bringing someone else in.

That said, the report states that the Hoops are “pleased with the way O’Neill has galvanised the squad and lifted the mood at Celtic Park”, which can only be a good thing for him.

As is always the case with a manager, opinion is sure to be split over O’Neill’s future, with some feeling that he is the right man for the job until next summer, and others perhaps thinking a younger and more long-term option is required right now.

The Northern Irishman has even admitted himself that the demands are tough on a 73-year-old, perhaps showing that he may not have it in him to take the Hoops job on a permanent basis.

“Do you know, that is a genuinely good point, so I’m going to be serious here. I really don’t know. It’s a young man’s game, and I’m almost talking myself out of this here, but it’s been tough, you know. All the things that I kind of thought I knew about it have come to sort of fruition.”

Approach imminent: Manager with 209 wins to 70 losses excited by Celtic

The Bhoys appear to have made their move as they target a permanent successor to Martin O’Neill.

By
Sean Markus Clifford

Nov 10, 2025

It still feels more likely that O’Neill will be moved on, with a younger alternative coming in soon, but he has a good relationship with Desmond, which can’t be a bad thing, and there would be clear positives to him staying on if he is keen to.

Shock Celtic manager frontrunner receives backing from Parkhead higher-up

Though the New York Yankees couldn't muster enough firepower in their 7-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Friday night, the effort was there—mostly.

Yankees rookie third baseman Jorbit Vivas had an outing to forget after a particularly bad bit of base-running, which allowed the Braves to complete a double play in the third inning. With the Yankees down 3-0, Vivas tried tagging up from second on a deep fly ball by Cody Bellinger, but he didn't seem to be running that hard to get to third and even appeared to slow down at the end.

To give credit where it's due, Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. uncorked an incredible throw from right field to tag Vivas out at third. But, had Vivas hustled a little bit more and slid, he probably would've been safe.

Yankees announcers Joe Girardi and Michael Kay both shook their heads at Vivas's visible lack of effort and voiced their disappointment on-air.

"Well, this is inexcusable," Girardi said. "I know [the Yankees] went over that in a meeting. That can't happen. Those are little things that cost you a chance to have Aaron Judge hit with first and third."

"You just took the bat out of Aaron Judge's hands," Kay said. "First of all, you're not running hard to third, and then you don't slide. As you said, perfect word, it is inexcusable."

Vivas admitted postgame that he was caught off guard by Acuña's arm but did take the blame for his costly error. Hopefully, the rookie can turn Friday night's mistake into a valuable learning moment moving forward.

Since 2021, India’s batters have seen surprisingly poorer returns at home than in the previous five years. Here is a deep-dive into why that has happened

S Rajesh15-Sep-2024For several years now, defeating India in India is considered the toughest task in men’s Test cricket, a claim which is backed by numbers: since the start of 2013, India have a 40-4 win-loss record at home, easily the best; in second place is Australia’s 41-7.Over much of this period, India were extremely dominant with both bat and ball: from 2013 to 2020, when they had a stunning 28-1 win-loss home record, India averaged 44.05 runs per wicket with the bat, and 23.30 with the ball. Both were the best among all teams at home. In this period, the only year when the India batters averaged under 40 at home in a calendar year was in 2015, when they scored only 25.27 runs per wicket on dubious pitches in the four-Test series against South Africa. (These batting averages exclude runs scored from extras, while bowling averages include bowler wickets only.)ESPNcricinfo LtdSince 2021, though, that trend has changed a bit. In 17 home Tests in these four years, India’s batting average has dropped to 33.40 from the highs of 48 between 2016 and 2020 (actually 2019, since there was no Test cricket in India in 2020). In terms of rank, India have slipped from first to fifth. The bowlers held their end of the bargain though, averaging 21.29 runs per wicket, which is next only to South Africa’s 18.84 among all teams in their home conditions. India’s 12-3 win-loss record in this period points to a team which is still dominant, though not overwhelming so like they were earlier.The lower batting and bowling averages for India also point to another trend, of conditions getting tougher for batters in general in the country. How much more difficult is batting in India in these last four years, compared to an earlier similar period? Let the numbers provide the answer. We’ll look at the top-seven batters only, in the periods 2016-20, and since 2021.