All posts by n8rngtd.top

England white-ball captain has not featured since T20 World Cup due to calf injury

Matt Roller25-Aug-2024Jos Buttler is targeting Lancashire’s T20 Blast quarter-final at Sussex for his comeback from the calf injury which ruled him out of the Hundred.Buttler, who has not played since the T20 World Cup, has been backed to continue as England’s white-ball captain by managing director Rob Key after Matthew Mott lost his job as head coach. He will work alongside interim coach Marcus Trescothick – his former Somerset team-mate – during September’s T20I and ODI series against Australia.After sustaining a calf injury while preparing for the Hundred, Buttler has returned to training and has been working with England physio Craig de Weymarn in Bristol. “Another good session in the bank,” he wrote on Instagram this week, adding in another post: “Picking up injuries as a professional sportsman is always frustrating and I was gutted to miss the Hundred this year.”

Samson’s exclusion comes after KCA decided to include players from the camp

Shashank Kishore18-Dec-2024Sanju Samson has been left out of Kerala’s squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy beginning December 21. The move comes on the back of an internal decision to include only those players who participated in a preparatory camp in the lead-up to the tournament.Samson had led Kerala in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2024-25, where they narrowly missed out on qualifying for the knockouts, winning four out of their six matches. Samson, who had originally been named in the 30-member probable list, now finds himself out of the 19-member long list.ESPNcricinfo understands Samson had written to the association stating his unavailability for the camp, but the KCA has decided to stick to its original decision. With senior batter Sachin Baby also unavailable due to injury he picked up during SMAT, batter Salman Nizar has been named captain for the 50-over competition.Related

• Vijay Hazare Trophy: Agarawal, Tilak, Nair go big as tournament crosses halfway mark

• Shami named in Bengal's Vijay Hazare Trophy squad

• Prithvi Shaw dropped from Mumbai squad for Vijay Hazare Trophy

Samson, fresh off two T20I centuries on the tour of South Africa, played in five of Kerala’s six games at SMAT, scoring 135 runs including one half-century.Kerala squad: Salman Nizar (capt), Rohan Kunnummal, Shoun Roger, Mohammed Azharuddeen (wk), Anand Krishnan, Krishna Prasad, Jalaj Saxena, Aditya Sarwate, Sijomon Joseph, Basil Thampi, Basil NP, Nidheesh MD, Eden Apple Tom, Sharafuddeen, Akhil Scaria, Vishweshwar Suresh, Vaishak Chandran, Ajnas M (wk)

Karnataka ‘move on’ from Manish Pandey

Meanwhile, there’s churn elsewhere with Karnataka seemingly having “moved on” – as per KSCA selection committee chair J Abhiram – from a number of senior players in a bid to reset. Among those not considered is senior batter Manish Pandey.The KSCA believes Pandey’s exit at this point is purely on form and the possibility of a comeback seems “tough.” Pandey managed just 117 runs in five innings as Karnataka failed to make the SMAT knockouts; they finished fourth in the eight-team pool, losing out to Baroda and Saurashtra.The last of Karnataka’s white-ball trophies – Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2018-19 and 2019-20 – came under Manish Pandey’s captaincy•MPCA

The association has also gone to the extent of saying Pandey, who was vice-captain to Mayank Agarwal for the first half of Ranji Trophy 2024-25, won’t be considered for the back end of the competition that will resume in January. Pandey managed a solitary half-century in six innings, with Karnataka needing a miracle to qualify for the knockouts.”We as an association have realised that we need to move on from the players of old and bring in new blood,” Abhiram said. “We cannot live in past glory.”If Pandey has indeed played his last game, it marks the end of a glorious career in which he was part of two Ranji Trophy-winning squads [2013-14 and 2014-15], apart from winning a number of white-ball championships. Interestingly, Karnataka won their most-recent silverware under his leadership – the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy back-to-back in 2018-19 and 2019-20.Pandey has 7973 runs in 118 first-class matches at an average of 50.78, with 25 centuries. Overall, he also has over 13,000 runs across the white-ball formats. He played the most-recent of his 68 white-ball games for India in 2021. Last month, he was re-signed by reigning IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2025 season.Pandey’s ouster from Karnataka comes hot on the heels of a number of high-profile exits. K Gowtham, the allrounder, hasn’t been considered across formats since the end of the 2022-23 season despite compelling performances in club cricket as well as the state-run Maharaja T20 Trophy.R Samarth, the opener, has moved to Uttarakhand to play across formats, something he wasn’t able to at Karnataka with the selectors considering him as a red-ball specialist. Shreyas Gopal, the legspinner, left for Kerala for a season but has since returned to the Karnataka fold.It appears now that senior players, including captain Agarwal, will be under close scrutiny from the selection committee should they continue to flounder. “When we won the double-treble, it was a young Karnataka team,” Abhiram said. “We’re banking on youth once again to get us there.”Karnataka squad: Mayank Agarwal (capt), Shreyas Gopal (vice-capt), S Nikin Jose, KV Aneesh, R Smaran, KL Shrijith, Abhinav Manohar, Hardik Raj, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Vasuki Koushik, Vidyadhar Patil, Kishan Bedare, Abhilash Shetty, Manoj Bhandage, Pravin Dubey, Luvnith Sisodia

But coach backs his team to learn lessons and bounce back from heavy defeat

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-Oct-20232:13

Ryan Cook: ‘The guys will be hurting in the changeroom’

Netherlands have stressed they are not just at this World Cup to make up the numbers. A surprise win over South Africa early in their tournament only galvanised them, and their belief they could make a meaningful run at the semi-final.In that context, a defeat of the magnitude that Australia meted out to them on Wednesday has seriously hurt, said Ryan Cook, their coach. Having conceded 399 for 8, Netherlands were all out for 90 in 21 overs.”The guys will be hurting in the changing room, for sure,” Cook said. “We talked a good game before the game, and we didn’t play a good game of cricket today. We didn’t execute our plans quite like we wanted to and then the fight that we have shown in lots of the matches – we saw only glimpses of that. We need to play better cricket for a lot longer if we’re going to compete with teams like Australia.”Resilience is something as I say we pride ourselves on as a team. We’ll be able to get back up for the next game and learn our lessons from that.”Related

• Bangladesh wary of Netherlands threat as World Cup comes to Kolkata

• Betting on batting on the edge – Maxwell defies the laws of physics in Delhi

• Warner: 'World Cups are what I get up for'

• Warner, Maxwell one-two knocks Netherlands out cold

• Glenn Maxwell smashes the fastest ODI World Cup century

So where did it go so wrong? Cook spoke about Netherlands being “a bit up and down” in the field. While there were several excellent diving stops in the infield, particularly in the early overs, Netherlands were also guilty of one very expensive drop – a difficult, high, swirling chance off Glenn Maxwell (who was 26 off 15 at the time), which Teja Nidamanuru could not hold on to, running back from mid off, off the bowling of Paul van Meekeren.Australia had already passed 300 in the 44th over when that happened, but could conceivably have been held to less than 350 had Maxwell been dismissed at that stage, as they were already six down.”When these types of players give you chances, even if they’re half chances, you do have to take them to be able to give yourself a good chance of victory,” said Cook.Allrounder Logan van Beek said the greater disappointment was Netherlands’ batting. After an early string of boundaries to Vikramjit Singh, who top-scored with a run-a-ball 25, the remainder of the batting line up folded rapidly. The next-highest score was Nidamanuru’s 14.”With the bat is the disappointing one. We shouldn’t be getting bowled for 90. We should be putting up at least a fight. That’s the part that hurts the most.”

Pakistan A will play against India A on July 16

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-2023Mohammad Haris will lead Pakistan A in the eight-team Men’s Emerging Asia Cup, which will run from July 14 to 23 in Sri Lanka. Omair Yousuf has been named his deputy in the 15-member squad that includes the likes of Saim Ayub, Shahnawaz Dahani and Mohammad Wasim among others.Haris was part of the senior T20I squad in the most recent series that Pakistan played against New Zealand at home. In all, he has represented the senior side in five ODIs and nine T20Is. Others in the squad who have senior international experience include Arshad Iqbal, Kamran Ghulam, Wasim, Ayub, Dahani, and Tayyab Tahir. Wasim is the most experienced out of the lot, with two Tests, 14 ODIs and 27 T20Is under his belt.Haris’ deputy Yousuf has not turned out for Pakistan but has a good domestic record, wherein he averages 43.33 in 40 first-class games. In List A cricket, Yousuf has scored 1158 runs in 41 matches at 32.16. He was Pakistan A’s leading run-scorer when they visited Zimbabwe for a six-game unofficial ODI series in May this year, with 275 runs in four outings at 91.66. Pakistan A had gone down 4-2 in that series.Pakistan A, the defending champions, have been placed in Group A alongside India A, Nepal and Sri Lanka A. They will open their campaign against Nepal A on July 14, followed by the clash against their Indian counterparts on July 16 and Sri Lanka A on July 18. The tournament will be held in the 50-over format. Group B consists of Afghanistan A, Bangladesh A, Oman and UAE.The top two sides from each group will qualify for the semi-finals. The final will be held on July 23.Pakistan A squad: Mohammad Haris (capt & wk), Omair Yousuf (vice-capt), Amad Butt, Arshad Iqbal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mubasir Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr., Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shahnawaz Dahani, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab TahirReserves: Abdul Bangalzai, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Junaid, Rohail Nazir

Plenty of internationals in Afghanistan A

Shahidullah Kamal will lead a strong 15-member Afghanistan A squad consisting of eight capped players for the competition. The squad has the likes of Ihsanullah Janat, Ikram Alikhil, Riaz Hassan and Noor Ali Zadran in the mix. Noor, who has represented Afghanistan in 51 ODIs and 20 T20Is, is the most experienced out of the lot.Afghanistan A are part of Group B and start their campaign against Oman on July 14, followed by Sri Lanka A on July 16 and Bangladesh A on July 18.Afghanistan A squad: Shahidullah Kamal (capt), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Ishaq Rahimi (wk), Riaz Hassan, Ihsanullah Jannat, Noor Ali Zadran, Zubaid Akbari, Baheer Shah, Allah Noor Nasiri, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Izharulhaq Naveed, Wafadar Momand, Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai, Salim Safi, Zia Ur Rehman Akbar, Bilal Sami.Reserves: Abdul Malik, Asghar Atal, Abdul Baqi, Zuhaib Zamankhil

RCB stutter in their chase despite having the firepower of Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight

Sruthi Ravindranath05-Mar-2023It was just over a week ago when a disappointed Shafali Verma was watching Australia captain Meg Lanning celebrate a thrilling win over India in the T20 World Cup semi-finals in Cape Town. On Sunday, the two came together to feast on a listless Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling, fist-bumping their way to a rollicking 162-run stand in 14.3 overs at the Brabourne Stadium.Delhi Capitals amassed 223 for 2, the second 200-plus total in a row in the WPL, and in turn, Royal Challengers could only get to 163 for 8, as USA’s Tara Norris – the only Associate player in the tournament – bagged five wickets.It wasn’t like Royal Challengers did not have the firepower. Having Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry and Heather Knight in your line-up is an absolute dream. On a good batting surface, you expect these big names to show up. But Capitals have Lanning and she is no ordinary captain. Actually, we can say it out loud: she is a five-time World Cup-winning captain.She placed a mid-off and prompted Alice Capsey to bowl wide to Devine, who had been targeting that area for boundaries. That resulted in a superb catch by Shafali at mid-off to dismiss the dangerous Devine for just 14. Lanning brought on left-arm spinner Radha Yadav only after Mandhana was dismissed. And she never gave Royal Challengers a chance to recover after that.

The Shafali-Lanning serve: elegance, power and everything in between

“, video analyst (Every team has a video analyst so everyone knows others’ strength and weakness, we have planned everything and we will execute it).”That was Shafali’s response to the host broadcaster before the match on being asked what advise she gave Lanning to stop Mandhana from scoring runs. On the day, Shafali made sure Royal Challengers did not execute any of their strategies they possibly had for her, as she brought her . It was evident in the way she effortlessly charged down the pitch to gracefully drive the ball over long-on or how she backed away to heave a short and wide ball from Devine powerfully over mid-off.While acknowledging that she found her fluency on the day, Shafali also said she was upset that she fell before reaching her century.”I knew it was my day today,” she said after the match. “I was telling myself that I need to bat throughout. When I got out in my 80s, I got really sad because it was that kind of a day, and I couldn’t get my century. It was my time to have hit a century. My family’s presence at the stadium also gave me confidence. And I was only thinking that I should convert and that I shouldn’t play any loose shot.”At the other end was world-class Lanning, showing off her elegance with every shot. She played her favourite cut every time the ball fell short and wide. She also targeted the area behind square with her pulls and sweeps. The duo hardly spared any bowler, leaving Royal Challengers clueless. They put up the fifth-highest stand in women’s T20 leagues, and they did that by constantly encouraging each other in the middle.”She [Lanning] was constantly appreciating me and I was more and more encouraged by it,” Shafali said. “We were just backing each other. She knows how I play and I know how she plays. I was also trying to back her, [I wanted her to be] confident and comfortable playing with me. When I hit a four she said, ‘good shot, keep playing’ and I also (did) that, kept telling her ‘good shot, keep going like this’ and I really enjoyed playing with her.”Ahead of the tournament, Lanning had said she couldn’t wait to stand at the other end and watch Shafali “whack other teams around the park”. Not only did her wish come true in Capitals’ first match, but she also got to join the party. On a sweltering Sunday afternoon, the duo made Mandhana regret her decision to bowl first.While we’ll leave you to decide what the pair’s nickname should be, all we can say is we ship this budding womance.Tara Norris bagged a five-for on WPL debut•BCCI

Kapp’s blitz and Tara Norris, the Associate trump card

The duo also laid the perfect platform for Marizanne Kapp to the off from. Along with Jemimah Rodrigues, Kapp made sure the run rate did not drop as she took on Perry, Megan Schutt and Knight for fours and sixes to get the team total to 200 in the 19th over. She scored a boundary off the last ball of the innings to finish with a 17-ball 39.Capitals had a standout performer in the bowling department too. Norris, the USA left-arm quick, who has been building her experience by plying her trade in the England domestic circuit, came to the party later in the evening.When Perry was just finding her touch in the tall chase, Norris all but ended Royal Challengers’ hopes by getting her to drag on in the 11th over. In the same over, she sent No. 4 Disha Kasat back with a short ball. Norris struck twice in her next over too, dismissing Richa Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja. By the end of that 13th over, Royal Challengers’ equation had reached an improbable 128 off 42 balls with just four wickets in hand.And in her final over, with Royal Challengers floundering, Norris also had Knight caught at cover to cap a memorable spell of 5 for 29.

“Let’s see what the future holds,” Narine said after the match when asked if he’d reconsider his decision to retire

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Apr-20243:22

Powell: ‘Tried to take down KKR’s main bowler Narine’

Is Sunil Narine being coaxed into coming out of international retirement for the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA that follows IPL 2024?Three nights ago, Narine, who had announced his international retirement in November 2023, was certain he’d be watching the tournament from home. But on Tuesday night, after hitting a magnificent century to power Kolkata Knight Riders to 223 for 6, Narine gave an inkling of that stance changing.”It is what it is, but let’s see what the future holds,” Narine, said after the match, when asked if he’d reconsider his decision to retire.Related

• RCB have Narine to tackle, again, with their campaign starting to go belly-up

• Ball-by-ball: How Royals and Buttler pulled off a heist at Eden Gardens

• Buttler's 107* tops Narine's 109 as Royals ace record chase against KKR

After the match, Rovman Powell, West Indies’ T20I captain, revealed he’d been trying to change Narine’s mind through every channel possible.”For the last 12 months, I’ve been whispering in his (Narine’s) ears, but he’s blocked out everyone,” Powell said when asked about trying to convince Narine to reverse his decision. “I’ve asked [Kieron] Pollard, [Dwayne] Bravo, [Nicholas] Pooran. Hopefully, before they select the team, they can crack his code.”Powell himself was a key contributor to Rajasthan Royals’ chase, hitting 26 off 13 balls. He came into his own in the 17th over, when he took apart Narine for a four and two back-to-back sixes in a 16-run over that left Royals needing 46 off the last three.They eventually got home off the last delivery when Jos Buttler, who struck his second century of the competition, heaved Varun Chakravarthy into the leg side with the scores level.Powell was one of Royals’ big-ticket auction signings at INR 7.4 crore, but opportunities have been limited. Tuesday’s game at the Eden Gardens was just his second outing with the bat this season, but he was all praise for the team management.Rovman Powell played a crucial role in Rajasthan Royals’ win•AFP/Getty Images

“The morale in the team is very good, even when I am not playing the communication has been very good and as an international player, I really appreciate when the communication is precise and clear,” he said. “The guys are in good space and long may that continue.”Powell was also asked tongue-in-cheek if he’d been whispering into Kumar Sangakkara’s [director of cricket] ear about a batting promotion.”I told them, ‘hey, I bat at No. 4 or 5 for West Indies and if you think West Indies is a good T20 side, then you can push me up the order,” he said with a smile. “We have got a few days off now and I will keep ringing it in their (the management) ears.”Powell likened the emotions at the end to that of a roller-coaster ride as Royals pulled off IPL’s highest successful chase. He also revealed he went out to bat with not set plans of taking down spin, and was merely reacting to the situation.”The emotions are all over the place at the moment,” he said. “I didn’t plan to take on Sunil, I knew he’s their best bowler, but when it comes down to 80 off 30, you have to take your chances. I backed my strengths, took my chances and came off today.”

A three-wicket opening burst was stopped after five overs and the game changed

Andrew McGlashan07-Sep-2022Australia’s deep batting order appears to have spooked New Zealand in to not taking a more attacking option in the field during the first ODI with scrutiny over Trent Boult’s opening spell being stopped at five overs and the delay in bringing him back.Boult had 3 for 12 after a brilliant burst of swing bowling and Australia were 38 for 4 after 10 overs when he was withdrawn from the attack. Matt Henry maintained the pressure by removing Marcus Stoinis to leave the home side 44 for 5, but Boult did not reappear until the 29th over by which time the match-defining stand between Alex Carey and Cameron Green had taken shape.Related

• Top 10 Chappell-Hadlee classics ft. McCullum, Symonds, Stoinis

• Cameron Green, Alex Carey star as Australia seal thrilling victory

• 'Couldn't really walk for a second' – Cameron Green after sensational Australia victory

Boult did later remove Glenn Maxwell to cause a wobble for Australia, but the feeling persisted that the best moment had been missed earlier on. Speaking after the match, Boult indicated he was keen to keep going although referenced “a naughty batting order” with Maxwell at No. 8, a theme which was picked up by vice-captain Tom Latham on Wednesday.”You can look at it both ways,” Latham said. “Either you can bowl him one more over but you’ve got to look at the bigger picture, the batting line-up Australia have, they bat deep…whether you go for the kill at that moment or just hold him [Boult] back. The guys we’ve got in our line-up, whatever the situation is we back anyone to come in and take wickets.Trent Boult bowled a scintillating first spell of 5-2-12-3•Getty Images

“Whether we do that in the same situation next game or whether we do things slightly differently, that’s the way we went about it and we certainly back the guys in those situations. That’s the decision Kane decided to do…you do have to hold a few overs back every now and again and that was the decision we went with.”Lockie Ferguson caused some uneasy moments with his pace, but Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell and Jimmy Neesham were all used before Boult returned to the attack. Conditions did change significantly between innings with spin being very effective for Australia through Maxwell and Adam Zampa before the lights took hold.”The wicket probably got a little bit better than what we expected, skidded on a little bit more and made batting a little bit easier,” Latham said. “The way we were able to bowl at the top and put them under pressure was outstanding [but] unfortunately we weren’t able to create any chances through that partnership and they batted really well. Hopefully if we are in that situation tomorrow we can try and create a few more chances and get a few more wickets through the middle.”New Zealand may ponder whether they can get another frontline seamer into their attack for the second game – Tim Southee, who is three wickets away from 200 in ODIs, was on the bench for the first outing – but that would likely mean weakening the batting.