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Four wickets from Yasir Arafat helped Hampshire as good as clinch a NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final place with victory over Somerset

ECB/PA23-Jul-2015
ScorecardMichael Carberry was the one batsman to come to terms with conditions•Getty Images

Four wickets from Yasir Arafat helped Hampshire as good as clinch a NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final place with victory over Somerset.Hampshire looked out of the match after posting a well below par 143 for 7 but excellent death bowling from Arafat and spin duo Will Smith and Danny Briggs eased fears of a rare early exit.Barring a truly remarkable win for Glamorgan over Gloucestershire on Friday, and wins for Essex and Sussex, the south coast side will be in the last eight for the seventh year in a row.After electing to bat, Hampshire set off at breakneck speed, with a sumptuous straight drive four from James Vince to get the ball rolling.Michael Carberry continued the onslaught from the other end, pulling six to the short square leg boundary before ferociously landing one into hot water – as he struck the coffee stand.Opener Carberry continued his thumping with a six over the covers as he peppered the minuscule perimeter – reaching his fourth format fifty of the season off 29 balls.It all seemed to be going swimmingly for the hosts before Jamie Overton wonderfully ran out James Vince off his own bowling to end an opening stand of 80.Adam Wheater was out reverse sweeping to short third-man first ball and then Carberry holed out to long-on for 57.Owais Shah and Smith were both bowled by the impressive Max Waller who ended with figures of 3 for 17 from his four overs.And the Hampshire collapse continued with a calamity run out as Joe Gatting took on a Jim Allenby misfield with Hampshire going from 80 without loss to 112 for 6.Chris Wood gave a temporary respite with a six down the ground but was bowled five balls later by Lewis Gregory.Gareth Berg prodded the last ball over point for four to end on a positive as Hampshire posted 143.After a sprightly start to the chase by the visitors, Arafat found a leading edge from Allenby and Briggs took the catch in the covers. Two balls later captain Vince plucked a catch on the edge of the circle to see off Isle of Wight-born debutant Adam Hose for 20.Hampshire’s nemesis Peter Trego – who has smacked them for 317 in 10 T20 innings – departed cheaply, chipping Smith to Arafat at short fine leg. Tom Cooper made 27 but played on off Smith before Briggs bowled Hildreth.Arafat bowled Gregory with the final ball of the 18th over and Jamie Overton departed for a duck in the next to end the contest.The other Overton brother, Craig, was cleaned up by Arafat – who ended with 4 for 37 – in the final over as Hampshire won by six runs.

A round-up of the second round of Quaid-e-Azam trophy matches

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2013
ScorecardWith Atif Maqbool’s 13-wicket haul, Karachi Whites handed Abbottabad a crushing defeat by an innings and 145 runs in Karachi. Trailing by 313 in the first innings, Abbottabad lost all their wickets for 168 in the second innings, out of which seven were scalped by Maqbool.When Whites started the third day, they already led by 218 runs and Saeed Bin Nasir and Fawad Alam scored another 95 runs together before declaring the innings. Abbottabad openers put on 41 together, but once the opening partnership was broken, they lost their last eight wickets for 98 runs as Khalid Usman was reported absent hurt.Karachi Whites picked up nine points from the win which takes them to top of the table in Group II.

Australia have decided against using the allrounder Daniel Christian in the Boxing Day Test, while the left-armer Mitchell Starc has also missed out from the 13-man squad

Brydon Coverdale24-Dec-2011Australia have decided against using the allrounder Daniel Christian in the Boxing Day Test, while the left-armer Mitchell Starc has also missed out from the 13-man squad. The captain Michael Clarke announced the starting line-up on Saturday, two days before the game, with Ben Hilfenhaus to play his first Test since the Ashes last summer.Shaun Marsh was named at No.3 after making an impressive return from his back injury in Thursday night’s Big Bash League match, while the opener Ed Cowan will make his debut. Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, the two under-pressure senior members of the middle order, have retained their positions.The decision to go in with only four frontline bowlers could be viewed as a gamble against a strong batting line-up including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman. However, Clarke said he would call on his batsmen to provide some overs if required.”I’m confident we’ve got the best XI to win this Test match in these conditions,” Clarke said. “I can use Michael Hussey, Ricky Ponting and myself to bowl a few overs. David Warner can bowl a few legspinners. I feel we’ve got the right XI to give ourselves a chance of winning this Test match.”DC [Christian] offers a lot with both bat and ball but unfortunately for him right now we can’t fit him into the XI.”Hilfenhaus won his recall in part due to his ability to bowl long spells, which without an allrounder will become more important.”I think it plays a part,” Clarke said. “His control, he’s a very good new ball bowler. He can bowl long spells. He’s had success against India as well. There’s a few reasons we decided to go with Hilfy.”While the bowling gains experience with the return of Hilfenhaus, the batting line-up will also welcome back an important man with Marsh to play his first Test since the Cape Town debacle last month. Clarke said he was confident Marsh was fit to play despite his serious back problems over the past six weeks.”His back is fine,” he said. “He’s taken it easy yesterday and today to make sure he’s fully recovered and ready to go come Boxing Day. I’d imagine you’ll see Shaun out here tomorrow facing some bowlers or at least having some throwdowns. He’s 100% ready to go.”Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Ed Cowan, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Michael Clarke (capt), 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.

This match is being used to mark the 40th anniversary of one-day internationals but both teams are focussed on their World Cup planning

Preview by Andrew McGlashan at the MCG15-Jan-2011

Match Facts

January 16, Melbourne

Start time 14.20 (03.20 GMT)Shane Watson will be crucial to Australia’s one-day side•Getty Images

The Big Picture

This match is being used to mark the 40th anniversary of one-day cricket, which began back on January 5, 1971 when Australia faced England at the MCG after the scheduled Test was abandoned due to rain. How times have changed. Floodlights, coloured clothes (and colour TV), white balls, Powerplays, HawkEye, the switch hit and much more. What hasn’t changed, though, is Australia’s desire to win and they haven’t been doing a lot of it lately.The Twenty20 victory on Friday was a welcome change of fortune and now the one-day series is the last chance to prepare before heading to the World Cup next month. But with the squads having to be named by January 19 in reality there is one game before the players will know their fate. Judging by the Australia selectors there are a few spots still up for grabs so there’s plenty riding on performances at the MCG for the likes of David Hussey, Xavier Doherty and Shaun Tait.England are a pretty settled unit after an upturn in their one-day form over the last 18 months. They will welcome back Andrew Strauss, who wasn’t part of the Twenty20 squad, but he’s the only change. James Anderson isn’t around until the fourth match in Adelaide having popped home for a rest but Chris Woakes has already shown his ticker on his Twenty20 debut.England’s World Cup record since 1992, when they lost in the final against Pakistan, has been dire yet they are more than an outside bet this time. They beat Australia 3-2 during the English summer, which gave them some valuable hints for the Ashes, although they were rattled by the pace of Shaun Tait in the latter part of that contest. They won’t want to concede any ground to Australia.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
Australia WLLLW

England WLLWW

Watch out for…

David Hussey has only played 23 ODIs in his career, and he has one more chance now. A decade ago such batsmen were part and parcel of Australia cricket, the lost generation of Stuart Law, Jamie Cox, Martin Love and the like, but given their current problems it’s amazing Hussey hasn’t had more opportunities. With one match remaining before the World Cup, is it do or die, or are the selectors going to take him anyway? Runs on his home ground would certainly help.It’s easy to forget that Kevin Pietersen wasn’t part of England’s last one-day series after being dropped against Pakistan in August. He didn’t take it well, as his Twitter outburst proved, but he’ll come back in wanting to show that he’s a central part of England’s best 50-over side. In his absence, Eoin Morgan has cemented his standing as the matchwinner and both Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell have shown enough form to warrant an extended run, but Pietersen will be vital on the subcontinent.

Team news

Is this a World Cup shoot-out? The selectors want to have a look at a few players before naming their final squad but they won’t learn much from one match. Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle have been rested, while Nathan Hauritz was never set to play this match according to Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors. It might mean that Hauritz, who remains in Sydney for now, has already earned his World Cup place and the selectors want to have another look at Xavier Doherty.Australia 1 Shane Watson, 2 Brad Haddin (wk), 3 Michael Clarke, 4 Cameron White, 5 David Hussey, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Steven Smith, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Xavier Doherty, 10 Doug Bollinger, 11 Shaun Tait.England know their best one-day team, but in the absence of James Anderson (rested) and Stuart Broad (injury) there will be a chance for a combination of Ajmal Shahzad, Chris Woakes and Chris Tremlett to enhance their claims. Andrew Strauss will be back to open and lead the side after his Twenty20 break and has been one England’s most consistent one-day batsman recently. The in-form Ian Bell could slot in at No. 3 meaning Kevin Pietersen at four.England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss, 2 Steven Davies (wk), 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Michael Yardy, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Chris Woakes, 11 Ajmal Shahzad.

Stats and trivia

• England haven’t lost a one-day series since being beaten 6-1 by Australia after the 2009 Ashes. In that time they’ve beaten South Africa, Bangladesh (twice), Australia and Pakistan.
• The two teams have met 20 times at the MCG with Australia ahead 13-6 with one abandonment, although the most recent fixture was a win for England in 2007 when they took a 1-0 lead in CB Series finals.
• Andrew Strauss scored 806 runs at 57.57 from 14 matches in 2010
• In the last series between the two teams Shaun Tait returned for the last three matches and took eight wickets at 12.37.

Quotes

“I see them as wicket-taking bowlers. It’s not a bad problem to have when you have three strike bowlers in one squad.”
“Momentum heading into the World Cup’s crucial. Both sides will be very up for the series and to be thinking ‘ah well, we won the Ashes’ will take away from our intensity.”

New South Wales picked up two points after taking a 79-run lead on first innings despite a spirited batting display from John Hastings

Cricinfo staff20-Dec-2009New South Wales 8 for 390 dec & 0 for 14 lead Victoria 311 (Hastings 84, Wade 59, Sheridan 54) by 93 runs

Scorecard
John Hastings top scored for Victoria•Cricket Victoria

New South Wales picked up two points after taking a 79-run lead on first innings despite a spirited batting display from John Hastings and poor catching by the hosts. Victoria were dismissed for 311 late on the third day following Hastings’ 84 and the Blues were 0 for 14 in reply as the match heads towards a draw.Hastings, the allrounder at No. 8, led a gutsy lower-order fightback after the Bushrangers were in serious trouble at 6 for 90. Half-centuries to Matthew Wade (59) and the debutant Will Sheridan (54) delayed the Blues, who had only themselves to blame after putting down seven chances. They were also forced to call on various substitutes after injuries to Ben Rohrer and Usman Khawaja.The captain Moises Henriques (3 for 69) struck twice early in the day to remove Lloyd Mash and David Hussey while Mitchell Starc caused the problems for Nick Jewell (47) and Cameron White (14). However, Hastings forced Victoria away from most of the danger during an innings containing two sixes and 11 fours. Phillip Hughes, who can seal his spot in the MCG Test squad with another strong display, was unbeaten at stumps on 7, the same score as Phil Jaques.

Hawk-Eye has in its database the toe-to-waist measurement of all IPL batters, and the height of the ball is matched to that for each review

Nagraj Gollapudi27-Mar-2024To remove the subjective element involved in adjudicating above-waist no-balls, the IPL, in coordination with Hawk-Eye, has introduced technology to measure the height of the ball as it passes the batter at the popping crease. That is then matched against the toe-to-waist height of the batter when in an upright position – recorded in advance. If the height of the ball is higher than where the batter’s waist is recorded to be, then it is declared a no-ball. Otherwise it’s a fair delivery.On Wednesday, Mumbai Indians fast bowler Gerald Coetzee became the first to fall foul of this new system when his first delivery of the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad – the sixth of the innings – to Abhishek Sharma was deemed a no-ball.While the on-field umpire immediately signalled it, the Mumbai Indians players, including captain Hardik Pandya and his predecessor Rohit Sharma, asked why it was not called a wide when the ball was nearly outside the mark.Related

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Coetzee had delivered a high full-toss that was also way outside off stump. It was measured at 1.44 metres, 0.42 centimetres above Abhishek’s waist height of 1.02 metres. Both readings were showed on the left panel of the TV screen after Hardik reviewed the no-ball call. The no-ball call was upheld.ESPNcricinfo has learned that Hawk-Eye has measured the waist height for every player this IPL, a piece of information that is available in their database. The third umpire has no role to play during the review, with measurements being worked out by an automated system installed by Hawk-Eye. It has also been learned that Hawk-Eye had been conducting trials for the past two years, and gave a presentation to the IPL with their improved graphics after the 2023 season.The new system is expected to put an end to controversial decisions involved in adjudicating waist-high no-balls, like in previous IPL editions.One such decision was taken by the third umpire in the 2023 IPL, which took place in Hyderabad, incidentally, in SRH’s match against Lucknow Super Giants.In the penultimate over of the SRH innings, Avesh Khan, who was then with LSG, delivered what looked to the naked eye like an above-waist full toss to Abdul Samad.The on-field decision was a no-ball. However, the third umpire deliberated for long as he studied the ball-tracking technology, and overturned the on-field call. The third umpire took into consideration the fact that Samad was crouching a bit when the ball passed him at the popping crease, and that at full height, the ball would have been below his waist.

Will Australia include a backup keeper? And who will be the third frontline spinner?

Andrew McGlashan06-Jan-2023Australia have two days left of their home Test season to push for the victory that would give them a clean sweep of the summer and, barring extreme points deductions, secure a place in the World Test Championship final at The Oval in June.However, regardless of having their spot booked before heading to India that tour will be one of the series that defines their year and against their likely opponents in the WTC final, albeit in vastly different conditions. It will, therefore, be intriguing to see which players fill the fringe places in the squad that will be announced shortly after the Sydney Test is finished.Some of the names called up for the final match against South Africa have given a clear indication of the way the selectors will go. Ashton Agar can be locked in with Matt Renshaw highly likely to be included given the versatility he provides while Peter Handscomb, added late to the Sydney squad, is another expected to travel as a spare batter. Marcus Harris, having travelled all summer as a reserve, may end up unlucky again.Related

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Alongside those who are certain selections it does not leave many gaps to fill, although the injury concerns with Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green may mean a slightly larger group travels. Green has conceded they are both in a race against time for the opening Test in Nagpur.There will be at least one more frontline spinner alongside Agar and Nathan Lyon, and there could yet be two. Legspinner Mitchell Swepson, who played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, will be in the frame as will the uncapped offspinner Todd Murphy who is very highly regarded. The chances of a surprise call-up for Adam Zampa appear to have receded.”Todd’s putting his hand up with the performances he’s put on the board,” coach Andrew McDonald said after the MCG Test. “Mitch Swepson performed well in the subcontinent previously.”Matt Renshaw coming in again in Test cricket has had some success there before. Pete Handscomb, no doubt, would probably consider himself unlucky not to be in that conversation for Sydney, but there’s another one coming back into the Test fold in conversation. We’ve got Marcus Harris also. So feel we’ve got Test experience within that depth.”While Australia may only play two frontline quicks during some of the series, supplemented by Green when he is fit, they will likely have plenty of options at their disposal. Scott Boland’s wicket-to-wicket skills, and ability to find reverse swing, could yet be valuable if pitches are uneven while the uncapped Lance Morris would provide a 150-kph point of difference.As has been made clear in Sydney, there is no like-for-like cover for Green given Mitchell Marsh is sidelined after an ankle surgery and fellow Western Australia allrounder Aaron Hardie is understood to be considered not quite ready for the elevation.The other question will be whether they take a specialist backup to Alex Carey or believe that Handscomb could step in with the gloves if required. Given the relatively condensed nature of the tour, Josh Inglis will likely be included.Australia will arrive in India about seven days before the opening Test in Nagpur on February 9 with McDonald comfortable with the lack of a warm-up match. There are plans for a pre-tour camp in Sydney where they can control the conditions they practice in as happened in Melbourne before they went to Pakistan last year.”We would prefer a centre wicket in India to go through some scenario training, and we feel as though with this experienced group also that have been there before, that they won’t need as long to adapt to the conditions,” McDonald said.”We can be creative in our own conditions. We’ve done it before with the Pakistan build-up in Melbourne. Dusting up wickets, working with the local groundsmen who really help us in and around the country. We feel as though we can get as close to that as possible without necessarily having a practice game.”Possible Australia squad for India tour: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Ashton Agar, Lance Morris, Mitchell Swepson, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Todd Murphy

The three had spent the last nine days in a managed isolation facility in Colombo

Shashank Kishore07-Aug-2021Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal and K Gowtham have returned to India after returning negative Covid-19 tests in Colombo, where they had to stay back at the end of India’s limited-overs tour last month following positive tests for the virus.The absence of direct commercial flights between India and Sri Lanka because of the pandemic, however, forced the three to take a roundabout route back home, via Maldives. They first went to Male, the capital of Maldives, before arriving at their respective destinations in India after a stopover in Kochi.Related

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While Pandya and Chahal travelled onwards to Mumbai, Gowtham landed in Bengaluru, where he spent a few hours at an isolation facility within the airport premises until his RT-PCR test results came out negative.Pandya, Chahal and Gowtham spent the last nine days at a managed isolation facility in Colombo, finally returning a negative test before being allowed to board the flight. Their return came a week after the rest of India’s 25-member contingent got back home in a chartered flight.The first to contract the virus was Pandya, a day after the first T20I on July 27. As a precautionary measure, India isolated eight players they identified as his close contacts. This also forced the second T20I to be postponed by a day.Chahal and Gowtham, who were part of this group of close contacts, and had initially tested negative, returned positive tests two days later. The situation, with that many players isolating, eventually forced India to bring their five reserve bowlers into the main squad, and hand T20I debuts to Chetan Sakariya, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Rana and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the second T20I and Sandeep Warrier in the last one.All three of Pandya, Chahal and Gowtham are understood to have recovered as well as possible, and are expected to link up with their respective IPL squads in the third week of August for short camps ahead of their departure to the UAE for the second half of the postponed 2021 edition of the IPL.

Distinguished career in investigative journalism preceded switch to cricket writing in later years

Andrew Miller18-May-2020Stephen Fay, the distinguished journalist, author and former editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly, has died at the age of 81.In a wide-ranging career that spanned six decades, Fay carved himself a reputation as one of the country’s foremost investigative journalists, in particular through his work on the Sunday Times‘ renowned Insight team.Along the way, he wrote numerous books with a particular focus on the worlds of art and finance, among them in 1976, co-authored with Philip Knightley, and , which was written in the space of three months in the winter of 1995-96, barely a year after the rogue trader Nick Leeson had brought down one of the world’s oldest merchant banks.After rising to become deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday, and briefly its editor, a pivot to cricket journalism was perhaps not the obvious next step for Fay, but in 1994, he was given a weekly slot in the sports pages, and happened to be in the right place at the right time as Devon Malcolm cleaned up South Africa with his figures of 9 for 57 at The Oval.Thereafter Fay’s forensic attention to detail made him a fixture on the cricket beat, as he brought to the role the same rigour that had served him so well in his news-focused days. In particular, he made it his duty to attend all post-match press conferences, no matter how unremarkable the speaker might be, rightly concluding that there was insight to be gleaned from even the most banal of utterances.As his former colleague at the Independent, Stephen Brenkley, wrote in a personal tribute on the Cricket Writers’ Club website, Fay’s example set “a lesson for all young reporters: he was never afraid to pose apparently dumb questions because he was eternally curious, as all reporters in whatever category should be, and sometimes they elicited answers that otherwise might have been elusive or evaded.”In 1999, at the age of 62, Fay was invited to take up the reins as editor of (having had previous experience in the magazine world as editor of (in its original guise), as his deputy John Stern took charge of a new publication, The Wisden Cricketer, following the merger of and its long-term rival, The Cricketer.Fay’s methods were not beyond a bit of light ribbing. He was dubbed “Captain Claret” by for his enduring faith in the art of the journalist’s long lunch, but the time that he made to enjoy the pleasures of networking paid rich dividends, not least in forging enduring bonds with the likes of Mike Atherton and Derek Pringle at the start of their own careers in cricket writing.At one such gathering, Fay took perverse delight in being told by Atherton that he “knew nothing about cricket”. (“I know more about journalism than Mike does,” was his subsequent retort, “though he is learning”).”We would talk about cricket for a bit, but there were always other subjects to explore,” Atherton told Brenkley. “He was pin sharp still and forever curious. I always walked away from the restaurant with a spring in my step.”Mike Selvey, the former cricket correspondent, added his own tribute on Twitter, describing Fay as “such a kind, generous, supportive, brilliant, sage fellow. And great company.”Whether or not there had been a grain of truth in Atherton’s assertion in the early years of their association, it was self-evidently a falsehood by the time of what Fay himself may have considered his crowning achievement in cricket writing, his claiming of the CWC Book of the Year award in 2018, in conjunction with the social historian, David Kynaston, for their work: . In 2005, he had written his first cricket book, , a year in the life of the first former professional to be made president of MCC, and a study of the club’s evolution.Fay’s curiosity and open-mindedness were enduring themes of his career – for instance, his even-handed assessment of the merits of the Twenty20 Cup, on the eve of the first staging of the competition in 2003, was just one example of how unwise it would be to draw any conclusions from appearances, which in Fay’s case were unmistakably ruddy-faced and grand.A personal highlight of my own career was the week I spent sitting next to him up in the media overflow gantry at the Gabba in 2006-07, watching the first Test of that winter’s Ashes, and offering insights into how to use Cricinfo’s Statsguru filters in return for pearls of journalistic wisdom. He would be taken seriously ill shortly after that match, an ailment that would continue to afflict him, but he never let it take the edge off his love of life.”For so many of us in journalism he was mentor, confidante and wise counsel as well as terrific company,” wrote Pringle on Twitter. “I will miss our lunches together with @Athersmike. RIP Captain Claret.”

The England captain urged her team to hold their nerve in light of the dearth of runs among the batsmen, and a slipshod show in the field against West Indies

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Nov-2018As far as tight finishes in world tournaments go, Heather Knight’s England have held their own since she took over as captain following the side’s shock elimination in the 2016 World T20 semi-final. In the World Cup last year, a league-stage win against Australia off the final ball paved the way for a two-run, final-over victory against South Africa in the semi-final. A humdinger of a finish followed, in the final at a full-house Lord’s, where they capped off their campaign with a nine-run triumph over India.At the ongoing World T20, though, it had been relatively smooth sailing for the side – with dominant seven-wicket wins in their first two completed matches. That, however, changed on Sunday in their last group-stage match against the side that had knocked them out in the previous edition. With about 10,000 spectators in attendance, defending champions West Indies snared a last-over win at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium, thanks in part to a lacklustre outing from England – only three batsmen got into double-figures – and three dropped chances during the final leg of the 116 chase.”In terms of what went wrong, I guess, ideally you want one of the top five to be there in the last two or three overs,” Knight said of their batting, wary of the consequences a similar show may have during their semi-final clash against India on Thursday. “That’s where you’re going to start to push it forward and get those really big scores. I think a little more composure, just more staying calm in that sort of situation, that would have got it over the line. But obviously we have the semi-finals to make that right. And a massive game it’s going to be against India.”And the fielding, I think, a little bit more composure potentially would have got us over the line. But like I say, I can’t question the girls’ fight and actually to stay in the game like that under that sort of pressure, the crowd and the support for the West Indies was really pleasing. I think it’s very difficult conditions. Those balls actually went very high with the lights. And fielding under the dark sky as well we haven’t done well in this competition yet.”Anya Shrubsole bagged a hat-trick against South Africa•ICC

Knight, however, emphasised that the defeat might well have been the “learning” the youngsters in the side needed before they shift base to Antigua for the knockouts.”I think it’s a great experience for the girls,” she said. “For some of the younger girls that haven’t played in front of that sort of crowd, that sort of pressure and the atmosphere that it had, it will be great for them. It’s a brilliant learning, I think. And what an amazing occasion it was.”But to have a tight game like that and to see how we fought, how we stayed in the game, how we scrapped, that’s what the team is about. And that’s all I can ask for the girls.”Save for the superlative all-round show from Anya Shrubsole, who finished with 3.3-1-10-1 to follow up her 26-ball 29 at No. 8, the stand-out contribution came from Sophia Dunkley. In her maiden international innings after her debut two games ago, the 20-year-old smashed three fours and a six in her 30-ball 39 while adding 50 with Shrubsole for the seventh wicket.”Yeah, she comes in at that No. 7, and it’s quite a tricky place to bat, I think,” Knight said. “You either come in when the team’s in trouble like she did tonight, or you come in with not many balls left and you obviously want to score very quickly. That’s why we’ve put her in that role. She scores quickly. She hits in unusual areas. So to show that composure under that amount of pressure, in front of that sort of amount of people, 10,000 people, whatever it was. So really pleased for her. She’s worked so hard.”Heading into the semi-final against India, whom England outscored in a record-breaking run-fest in the T20 tri-series in Mumbai in March this year before surrendering meekly in their next encounter four days later, Knight will be wary of the challenges that await. First, the red-hot form of the opposition side, who were undefeated in the group phase. Second, the dearth of form among their frontline batsmen, none of whom feature in the top 20 on the run-scorers list. These, along with fitness concerns looming Kirstie Gordon, their second-highest wicket-taker, with six scalps, in the tournament behind Shrubsole.”Yeah, she’s fine. She had a back twinge,” Knight said of Gordon, who left the field after bowling her allocation inside 15 overs. “She was actually struggling to finish that final over, just a little bit of back twinge going on, hamstrings. Yeah, decision to take her off. She obviously bowled very well. But she was in a lot of pain in the last few balls of the over.”