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The three-match T20I series gives a struggling Zimbabwe team the chance to press the reset button and start with a clean slate

The Preview by Sirish Raghavan17-Jun-2016

Match facts

Saturday, June 18, 2016
Start time 1300 local (1100 GMT)3:06

‘There is enough pressure on players to perform here’ – Bangar

Big picture

Prior to the ODI series, Zimbabwe’s stand-in coach Makhaya Ntini spoke of “creating a new venture” and “competing with the big boys”. It was exactly the kind of upbeat talk Zimbabwe needed to draw a line under their disappointments of the past year and forge a more successful path going forward. Sadly, what followed was a succession of limp performances that demonstrated just how far Zimbabwe are from being able to compete at this level. It left fans angered and disillusioned, and steadily added to Ntini’s frustration with his charges.As bad as the outlook may seem for the hosts, the three-match T20I series in Harare gives them a chance to press the reset button and start afresh. The 20-over format mitigates their biggest weakness – the apparent inability to bat for long periods. Even during the course of the disastrous ODI series, Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda and Sikandar Raza showed glimpses of their potential. If they can produce a few sparkling knocks in the T20Is, Zimbabwe’s bowlers may finally have a fighting chance to compete.That said, India’s young side will only grow in confidence as they move to the shortest format. Most of them have been battle-hardened over several IPL seasons and, with the latest edition having concluded less than a month ago, they have ample match-practice to fall back on. Another 3-0 whitewash then?

Form guide

Zimbabwe: LWWWW (last five matches, most recent first)
India: LWWWL

In the spotlight

Run-making is Zimbabwe’s foremost imperative at the moment. Where will the runs come from? Vusi Sibanda, who has been around for more than 13 years at the top level, was the side’s highest run-scorer in the ODI series. He played some delightful shots that provided a window into his talent. At 32, he is now a senior member of the team and will have to take the responsibility to deliver on that talent more often. If Sibanda can deliver, it will lay a platform for the lower-order strokemakers to cut loose.Jasprit Bumrah’s numbers in the three-ODI series merit a double-take – nine wickets at an average of 8.55 and an economy rate of 2.98. While some of that may be put down to the helpful conditions and the Zimbabwe batsmen’s unfamiliarity with his action, a lot of it is explained by the giant strides he’s taken since making his international debut in January this year. The T20 format will allow him to slip back into his comfort zone, tormenting batsmen with the new ball and at the death.

Team news

Craig Ervine and Sean Williams are out of the T20I series due to injury, leaving a dent in Zimbabwe’s batting.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Vusi Sibanda, 4 Sikandar Raza, 5 Malcolm Waller, 6 Elton Chigumbura, 7 Richmond Mutumbami (wk), 8 Graeme Cremer (capt), 9 Neville Madziva, 10 Tendai Chatara, 11 Donald TiripanoIndia had selected the same 16-man squad for the ODIs and the T20Is. Only 12 of those players got a chance in the ODIs, and many of the batsmen registered DNBs. The bowling attack remained unchanged throughout, leaving Jayant Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat and Rishi Dhawan unutilised. It remains to be seen how willing MS Dhoni will be to tinker with the playing XI.India (probable): 1 KL Rahul, 2 Karun Nair/Faiz Fazal, 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Axar Patel/Jayant Yadav, 8 Dhawal Kulkarni, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Barinder Sran/Jaydev Unadkat

Pitch and conditions

In the ODIs, conditions were seamer-friendly early on, and eased out a bit as the day wore on. The later start for the T20Is should work to the benefit of the batsmen. The wicket was flat and true for the third ODI, and is likely to be the same for the T20Is. Harare Sports Club is a fairly big ground, which means that fielding and running between the wickets will be under the scanner.

Stats and trivia

• The last time these two teams met in a T20I was at the same venue, 11 months ago – Zimbabwe won by 10 runs.
• Faiz Fazal is the only member of India’s squad not to have participated in IPL 2016.

Quotes

“The last T20 we played against India we beat them, so it’s not impossible. We are just looking to start well whether batting or bowling.”
“There is a lot to lose and a lot to gain for our younger players from this opportunity.”

The Supreme Court has asked the Lodha Committee to re-examine the recommendation relating to the presence of two franchise representatives on the IPL Governing Council

Nagraj Gollapudi18-Jul-2016The Supreme Court has asked the Lodha Committee to re-examine the recommendation relating to the presence of two franchise representatives on the IPL Governing Council. The BCCI had strongly objected to the recommendation, saying that the presence of franchises’ representatives would amount to conflict of interest as the Governing Council takes influential decisions that directly affect the teams.”The BCCI contends that the induction of the nominees from the franchisees is impermissible because important matters like players-retention policy, posting of umpires for IPL matches, etc are deliberated upon and decided by the Governing Council itself,” the two-judge bench of the court said in its judgement on Monday, which made it mandatory for the BCCI to implement virtually all the recommendations proposed by the Lodha Committee. “There is therefore an evident conflict of interest between the nominees of the IPL franchisees on the one hand and their role as members of the Governing Council on the other.”In May, former BCCI president Shashank Manohar had expanded on why the BCCI felt the presence of the franchises’ nominees on the Governing Council amounted to clear conflict of interest. Manohar pointed out that one big reason the BCCI got itself embroiled in a slew of legal issues was the presence of former BCCI president N Srinivasan, the owner of Chennai Super Kings, on the IPL Governing Council. “I should not judge on a matter when I have an interest in it. That is the basic rule of law,” Manohar said.Having the franchise nominees on the Governing Council would amount to violating the principles of “institutional integrity”, the BCCI legal counsel had said during the court hearings.The objective of this particular recommendation, the Lodha committee had said, was to bring more independent voices to the Governing Council. The council, it said, should comprise of nine members: three ex-officio members (the BCCI secretary, treasurer, and the CEO), two representatives of the members of BCCI to be elected by the General Body, two nominees of the franchises, one nominee who is the Comptroller and Auditor General’s representative on the Apex Council (the proposed body that would replace the Working Committee, the BCCI’s highest decision-making body), and one nominee from the players’ association. It was also recommended that the nominees of the franchises rotate annually.The court pointed out that “independent voices” was the objective, but contended that the Lodha Committee was not definitive on whether the IPL franchises needed to have a seat on the Governing Council. “All that is said is that the Governing Council [so far] has denied any role to the franchisee companies, and that there is no independent voice in the Governing Council which is dominated by the full members of the BCCI and two former cricketers,” the court said.The court did concede, however, that there was an element of conflict, as raised by Manohar and BCCI. “The Committee does not appear to have addressed the question of conflict of interest in the event IPL franchisees place two nominees in the Governing Council. There is prima facie a possibility of conflict of interest arising out of [this]. Be that as it may, we do not consider it necessary to finally pronounce on this aspect, which can be better left to the Committee to re-examine in the light of what has been observed earlier.”The court made it clear that if the Lodha Committee were to rule out the possibility of conflict of interest on re-examing the recommendation, it would accept it. “We make it clear that if upon reconsideration of the matter the Committee takes a view that the induction of the nominees of the franchisees will not result in any conflict of interest, it shall be free to stick to its recommendations in which event the recommendations shall be deemed to have been accepted by this Court to be formalised and carried out in such manner as the Committee may decide.”

Nottinghamshire, believe it or not, are deep in the relegation mire – and the situation has got worse after an intervention by their old boy Andy Carter

David Hopps14-Aug-2016
ScorecardAndy Carter stormed back to Trent Bridge•Getty Images

Discovering Nottinghamshire hanging around at the wrong end of the First Division is like finding the flash guy with the top-of-the-range BMW drinking in the cheapest pub in town. No matter how much you remind yourself he is loaded you can’t avoid noticing in the corner of your eye the unexpected scrambling for enough change for another bag of pork scratchings.Nottinghamshire are heading for Twenty20 finals day on Saturday. Among the most glamorous of county cricket’s limited-overs side they finally have a chance to claim a T20 trophy that has long seemed overdue. But four-day cricket is a less endearing story. It is entirely possible they could go to Edgbaston uncomfortably placed at the bottom of the Championship.Midway through this match, Hampshire lead by 180 with nine second-innings wickets intact, a position made more secure in the final session by Jimmy Adams’ unbeaten 68.”The plan now is bat and bat,” said Liam Dawson. “We’ll look to bat all day and see where it takes us.” They might be bottom but that they have the capacity to grind out a batting day is beyond doubt.A Hampshire victory would send them above Notts in the table. Such an outcome would not just cause shivers in the East Midlands. Hampshire have long presumed to be relegation fodder and a victory would cause consternation for Surrey, Lancashire and Durham. Suddenly, the First Division relegation outcome would look likely to be contested deep into September.Quite how Nottinghamshire succumbed for 245, 74 behind on first innings, must have been a mystery for their combative captain, Chris Read, whose counter-attacking, unbeaten 70, full of attractive off-side drives, prevented total calamity. It was Family Fun day at Trent Bridge but only Read seemed to want to do much colouring in. He seems to have been staving off Nottinghamshire collapses for a lifetime and, by rights, his boyish dash should have been exhausted years ago.To make matters worse, Nottinghamshire’s morning collapse, in which they lost five for 77 in decent batting conditions, was engineered by Andy Carter, whose gangling pace bowling used to be at Notts’ service until he rejected a new contract and decamped to Derbyshire at the end of last season, only to abandon that in disgust after half a season because of his lack of Championship opportunities to join Hampshire, who at that point had so many injured fast bowlers they were almost reduced to looking for solutions in a Tesco bargain bucket.Read considered a bad day with consummate understatement. One day he will surely crack, grab everybody by the throat and promptly announce his retirement. Until then he merely said: “It was a disappointing morning session and ultimately, although it was a good fightback to get to 245, we were somewhat lacking in first innings’ runs.”Andy Carter bowled nicely. We all like Andy here at Notts and we’ve fond memories of his time with us. Unfortunately for us he chose this moment to bowl a good opening spell. We’ve not batted well all season; it’s one area we are trying to improve. We are working exceptionally hard behind the scenes to put things right but again we came unstuck.”Hampshire went into the match with only Ryan McLaren taking his Championship wickets under 40s, but Carter’s debut gave them a bowler eminently capable of a hot spell or two, his Derbyshire return of six wickets for 73.33 best overlooked. An incisive pre-lunch spell underlined that as he removed three former team-mates for six runs in 12 deliveries.The nightwatchman, Jake Ball, hit his first delivery to Adam Wheater at midwicket, Riki Wessels found a bouncer from a former team-mate irresistible and holed out, fourth ball, at deep square leg, and Steven Mullaney chopped a rising delivery onto his stumps. Wessels has had an eye-catching one-day season and strange things can happen to an attacking player met by an old team-mate who bangs one in and suggests: “Go on then, try to hit that for old time’s sake.”When you need to dig in, Brendon Taylor is not your man. Neither does he immediately strike you as the sort of high-profile signing you want in a relegation battle. Since abandoning an unpredictable international career with Zimbabwe for the security of county cricket, he has produced the occasional destructive innings alongside rather too many lax dismissals to earn admiration in his new homeland.He fell to a good catch by Mason Crane at midwicket, off Gareth Berg, and soon afterwards Notts were 91 for 6 when Samit Patel was lbw, struck on the boot by Brad Wheal and hobbled off. He was the hero of Notts’ NatWest Blast quarter-final win and the crowd rose to him with great fondness, which was nice to see, but the sense will forever remain that it is impossible for Samit to cross the road without the intervention of a couple of moments of tragi-comedy.That left Read to find support from Michael Lumb – a restrained innings ending when he edged an attempted pull and became a fourth wicket for Carter – and some tail-end spanking from Luke Wood and, more unexpectedly, Imran Tahir, helped by a missed stumping off Dawson. Wood was unhinged by a short ball from McLaren which deflected off bat and helmet. Carter’s simple catch in the leg-side allowed Dawson to wrap up the innings with wickets in successive balls. Hampshire are still kicking for all they are worth.

Harbhajan Singh has made a call against using rank turners in the three-match Test series between India and New Zealand

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2016Harbhajan Singh has made a call against using rank turners in the three-match Test series between India and New Zealand. He said there may not be any long-term gains in winning matches in three days, with the batsmen being short-changed and the spinners unable to get a proper assessment of their skills.Speaking to in Delhi, where the New Zealanders played their only practice match ahead of the Kanpur Test, Harbhajan believed a surface offering excessive help to spinners could backfire on India.”I can tell you if we go for rank turners, it can boomerang on us like [in the] World T20 in Nagpur. Mitch Santner and Ish Sodhi could prove to be a handful,” he said. “But if we can produce sporting pitch where our batsmen can score 400 runs if batting first, New Zealand can’t beat us. Man to man, we are a better unit. Even if we prepare sporting tracks, we can win 3-0.”Teams coming to the subcontinent would expect to be put under pressure by the turning ball, but in the most recent series in India, South Africa found themselves playing on pitches that misbehaved even on the first day. Nagpur received an official warning from the ICC for the surface that was prepared for the third Test of that series. It ended in three days with 33 of the 40 wickets taken by spinners and no one making a fifty.”Are we gaining anything by winning inside two and half to three days?” Harbhajan asked. “Are we also being fair to our batsmen who struggled against South African spinners during last home series?”You can get wickets but there are times when the bowler doesn’t even know where the ball will land and which direction it goes. You don’t know which one would turn and which one would jump. That’s why I am stressing on good pitches where skill comes into play.”Harbhajan also sympathised with the Indian fast bowlers when conditions are such that “you need spin in the first hour”.”People criticise Ishant [Sharma] for having played nearly 70 Test matches [72] with barely 200-plus [209] wickets. But has anyone cared to find out how many overs Ishant had bowled in India? And how many overs with new ball and how many with old one which reverses?” Harbhajan said. “And why Ishant has not bowled much is because of having such wickets where you need spin in first hour. If he doesn’t get to bowl with the new ball when the seam is hard and new, then we are being unfair to Ishant, who is such a workhorse. If we can make a statement of intent in this series, it will only help us when we travel abroad next time.”I believe both Anil [Kumble, the India coach] and Virat [Kohli, the Test captain] are positive people, who would like play on good Test pitches, where the results are decided on fourth evening or by fifth day post lunch session.”

The chances of England hosting a floodlit Test have receded sharply with the acceptance that there will be no pink ball cricket in the final round of the 2016 County Championship season

George Dobell20-Sep-2016The chances of England hosting a floodlit Test have receded sharply with the acceptance that there will be no pink-ball cricket in the final round of the 2016 County Championship season.While the ECB was hopeful that Edgbaston could stage the first such Test in 2017 – the Test between England and West Indies in August had been identified as the most likely option – they were keen to thoroughly test all aspects of the initiative before committing themselves. In particular, they were keen to assess the deterioration of the pink ball in English conditions.Initial tests – Warwickshire hosted a Second XI Championship match against their Worcestershire counterparts between August 22-24 – suggested no issues with floodlights, but suggested that the balls deteriorated quite severely with players feeling it was almost impossible to gain swing, either conventional or reverse, after the first dozen or so overs.It was therefore decided to host another game in similar conditions – but hopefully at a higher standard – before a commitment was made the day-night Test, with the final Championship match of the season between Warwickshire and Lancashire identified as a possible option. But with both teams fighting to avoid relegation, it was decided it would inappropriate to conduct such tests.Attempts to use a Division Two game were thwarted when local planning issues ruled out the matches at Bristol and Leicester. It is also understood that players were underwhelmed at the prospect of using a pink ball with which they have not have an opportunity to practice. An attempt to persuade them to use a pink ball in normal playing hours and without the use of lights fell on deaf ears.With tickets for next summer’s Tests going on sale in the coming weeks and Neil Snowball, the Warwickshire CEO, having previously confirmed that there would be no change to playing regulations once they had, it now seems highly unlikely that a day-night will be played in England in 2017.And with India the visitors in high summer of 2018 and Australia in 2019, it seems equally unlikely that such a match will be scheduled in either of those seasons. The time difference in India would not be conducive to the change of playing hours, while there seems little need for any marketing gimmicks during an Ashes series. For the 2017 Test against West Indies, however, it might have proved advantageous to those attempting to sell tickets.”ECB did consider just using the pink balls for one of the Division Two matches during normal playing times and not under lights,” Snowball told ESPNcricinfo. “But it’s not happening.”Despite that, they still remain positive about day-night cricket in England, so we will continue to work together and see what happens.”

A list of all the squads in the 2017 season of the Pakistan Super League, including categories of players who are new, retained or were let go by their teams

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2016Shahid Afridi has handed over the captaincy of Pakistan Super League (PSL) team Peshawar Zalmi to Darren Sammy, who has led West Indies to two World T20 titles. Younis Khan, who was unpicked by any team, was named as Peshawar’s batting mentor.The announcements were made during the second PSL draft in Dubai on October 19, with the tournament scheduled to be played in the UAE in February and March 2017. Some of the other highlights at the event were:

• Lahore Qalandars traded Chris Gayle for Sohail Tanvir with Karachi Kings, where Gayle will join his West Indies team-mate Kieron Pollard
• Islamabad United traded Babar Azam to Karachi Kings and selected Dwayne Smith. Islamabad released Umar Siddiq and Asher Zaidi
• The first pick of the draft was former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, who went to Lahore Qalandars. Lahore also traded Sohaib Maqsood to bring in Aamer Yamin, and released Mustafizur Rahman and Kevon Cooper.
• Brad Haddin will double-up in an assistant coaching role with Islamabad, where Dean Jones is the head coach.
• Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, who have returned to domestic cricket in Pakistan after their bans for spot-fixing, were not picked. Mohammad Amir, however, was retained by Karachi and rose from silver to diamond category.
• Islamabad and Quetta Gladiators are the only teams likely to be captained by Pakistan players – Misbah-ul-Haq and Sarfraz Ahmed respectively.

Peshawar Zalmi

Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales will join forces in the PSL•Getty Images

New players: Eoin Morgan (England), Haris Sohail, Alex Hales (England), Mohammad Shahzad (Afghanistan), Irfan Khan, Khushdil Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), Sohaib MaqsoodRetained players: Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Darren Sammy (West Indies), Mohammad Hafeez, Chris Jordan (England), Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh), Kamran Akmal, Junaid Khan, Imran Khan, Hasan Ali, Mohammad AsgharReleased from 2016: Aamer Yamin, Abdur Rehman, Jim Allenby, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Musadiq Ahmed, Shahid Yousuf, Shaun Tait, Brad Hodge, Israrullah, Taj Wali

Lahore Qalandars

Brendon McCullum was the first player picked in the 2017 draft•AFP

New players: Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Sunil Narine (West Indies), Anton Devcich (New Zealand), Fakhar Zaman, Ghulam Mudassar, Usman Qadir, Saif Badar, Mohammad Irfan, Grant Elliott (New Zealand), Aamer Yamin, Shaun Tait (Australia), Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail TanvirRetained players: Umar Akmal, Dwayne Bravo (West Indies), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Rizwan, Cameron Delport (South Africa), Azhar Ali, Zafar GoharReleased from 2016: Adnan Rasool, Kevon Cooper, Chris Gayle, Hammad Azam, Mustafizur Rahman, Sohaib Maqsood, Zia-ul-Haq, Zohaib Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Ehsan Adil, Imran Butt, Mukhtar Ahmed

Karachi Kings

Babar Azam moved from Islamabad United to Karachi Kings•Getty Images

New players: Kieron Pollard (West Indies), Ryan McLaren (South Africa), Kashif Bhatti, Abrar Ahmed, Khurram Manzoor, Abdul Ameer, Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Rahat Ali, Amad Alam, Babar Azam, Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Chris Gayle (West Indies)Retained players: Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Amir, Ravi Bopara (England), Imad Wasim, Sohail Khan, Shahzaib Hassan, Saifullah Bangash, Usama MirReleased from 2016: Bilawal Bhatti, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mir Hamza, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nauman Anwar, Shakib Al Hasan, Lendl Simmons, Sohail Tanvir, James Vince, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Fawad Alam

Islamabad United

Andre Russell will turn out again for the defending champions•CPL/Sportsfile

New players: Ben Duckett (England), Shadab Khan, Zohaib KhanRetained players: Shane Watson (Australia), Andre Russell (West Indies), Samuel Badree (West Indies), Dwayne Smith (West Indies), Brad Haddin (Australia), Sam Billings (England), Misbah-ul-Haq, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Sami, Khalid Latif, Saeed Ajmal, Rumman Raees, Imran Khalid, Amad Butt, Hussain Talat, Asif AliReleased from 2016: Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Ashar Zaidi, Umar Siddiq, Umar Amin

Quetta Gladiators

Carlos Brathwaite is set to play his first PSL season•CPL/Sportsfile

New players: Carlos Brathwaite (West Indies), Tymal Mills (England), Rovman Powell (West Indies), David Willey (England), Hasan Khan, Noor Wali, Mir Hamza, Umar AminRetained players: Kevin Pietersen (England), Sarfraz Ahmed, Ahmed Shehzad, Luke Wright (England), Anwar Ali, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Mohammad Nawaz, Asad Shafiq, Saad Nasim, Bismillah KhanReleased from 2016: Grant Elliott, Nathan McCullum, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Bilal Asif, Elton Chigumbura, Jason Holder, Aizaz Cheema, Rameez Raja, Kumar Sangakkara

England have confirmed that Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes will return to their team for the third Test against India starting in Mohali on Saturday

George Dobell in Mohali25-Nov-20162:53

Compton: Buttler may not be a long-term option

England have confirmed that Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes will return to the side for the third Test against India starting in Mohali on Saturday. Buttler comes in for Ben Duckett, who has been dropped, while Woakes replaces the injured Stuart Broad.For Buttler it will be just his second first-class match since being dropped from the Test side against Pakistan in the UAE last year. He played once for Lancashire towards the end of 2016 season, having had plans to play Championship cricket earlier in the summer ended by a broken thumb.”Jos is an extremely talented cricketer and we’ve all seen that in the one-day and Twenty20 format,” Alastair Cook, the England captain, said. “He’s right up there with the best short-form players in the world and he’s earned an opportunity to come and play here.”It’s clearly not ideal because of circumstances and he hasn’t played a lot of red-ball cricket but sometimes when the pressure’s off and you just go out and play you can do something special.Cook also said that using Buttler as wicketkeeper, and Jonny Bairstow as a specialist batsman after what has been a prolific year, was not discussed. “There was no temptation to give Jos the gloves back,” he said. “I think Jonny’s been outstanding and has settled in that role and done very well.”But he had a glint in his eye when I said we’d like you to move up to five. It gives him more chance to bat. He bats at five and keeps at Yorkshire so he’s used to that role.”Virat Kohli, the India captain, said he was surprised it had taken so long for England to bring Buttler back. “I was actually quite surprised to see him being left out after a couple of bad runs. I think he’s a very talented player and can do really well for England.”One advantage that Buttler has over most of his team-mates is in having played at Mohali already this year, during his IPL stint with Mumbai Indians. But the suggestion that Buttler has “earned” his recall will raise some eyebrows. While Buttler’s record in limited-overs cricket is very good – he is rated No. 12 in the official ICC ODI rankings and 20th in the T20I rankings – and his work ethic around the squad is excellent, he has hardly had an opportunity to push for a return in red-ball cricket.He has not been able to prove that he has learned to build an innings or deal with some of the issues that saw him lose form. Buttler hasn’t so much earned his recall as won it by default, with Duckett and Gary Ballance having been dropped.That raises questions about the balance of the squad on this section of the tour. The England camp were not committed to retaining the same squad from Bangladesh here so if they had come to a decision not to pick Ballance – and it appears they had – in India, it might have made sense to call up another player in his place.Quite who that might have been is debatable. While England would love a player of Ian Bell’s talent and experience to have scored enough runs to justify his recall, it is hard to argue that he did.Asked whether reinforcements might be called up before the final two Tests of the series, Cook replied: “I don’t think that will happen.”Cook also had warm words for Broad, who produced an exceptional spell on the fourth morning in Visakhapatnam despite a foot injury. “You wouldn’t know that his foot was as bad as it was,” Cook said. “But the specialist’s advice is that there is a risk of it going totally and he would then be out for a period of time”They were quite surprised how well he got through those four-and-a-half days after doing it in the third or fourth over of the match. If he played here and did more damage to the tendon in the second over then you’d look stupid.”Describing the decision to drop Duckett as “a blip” in a promising young player’s career, Cook expressed confidence in his long-term future.”Ben won’t be the only good player who has been dropped,” he said. “He has an England future, there’s no doubt about it, because he’s a very talented guy with a lot ahead of him.”When I chatted to him he said he thought he was a pretty decent player of spin. And he is. But he just has an issue which unfortunately has been found out quite quickly which can happen in this part of the world in international cricket.”He can go and address that and come again because he’s a very talented and exciting cricketer in all three forms. It’s just a blip in his career. He will have to work at his game, but he isn’t the first person who has to do that and he won’t be the last.”Cook also confirmed that Zafar Ansari was not fit for selection but delayed naming a full side until he had taken the chance to inspect the pitch and decide whether a third spinner or fourth seamer would be more appropriate. On a dry, shaved surface though, it looks likely that Gareth Batty, the offspinner, will come into the side in place of Ansari.Moeen Ali is to be promoted to No. 4 in the batting order and Bairstow to No. 5. Buttler will bat at No. 7. That means Moeen will have batted at every position in the top nine for England in Test cricket except at No. 3, which is where he bats for Worcestershire.

Colin Munro became the third New Zealand player, after Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill, to hit a T20I century as the hosts flattened Bangladesh to wrap up the series in Mount Maunganui

The Report by Mohammad Isam06-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:12

Isam: Munro’s big-hitting made the difference

Colin Munro’s marauding 52-ball hundred – his first in T20 internationals – powered New Zealand to a series win with a game to spare. Munro struck seven sixes and seven fours to lead the hosts to 195, which proved 47 too many for Bangladesh.New Zealand, though, had to deal with the anxiety of Luke Ronchi leaving the field in the eighth over of the chase because of a groin injury. He did not return, with rookie Tom Bruce taking the wicketkeeping gloves.Bangladesh threatened briefly with a rapid 68-run stand between Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman, but lost their last seven wickets for 44 runs to be dismissed for 148 in 18.1 overs.Bangladesh had started positively, though, after opting to bowl in Mount Maunganui. Their captain Mashrafe Mortaza struck with the first ball to remove Ronchi, before the spinners made further inroads to reduce New Zealand to 46 for 3 within six overs.Munro took charge and added 123 runs – a New Zealand record for the fourth wicket in T20Is – with Bruce, who helped himself to an unbeaten 59 off 39 balls, including five fours and a six.Munro signalled his intent with a blast down the ground off Mashrafe in the first over. Despite the loss of Ronchi, Williamson, and Corey Anderson, Munro went on a boundary-hitting spree. He hit Rubel Hossain for back-to-back fours in the second over and then launched offspinning allrounder Mosaddek Hossain for two sixes in the eighth over.Munro reached his fifty off 31 balls in the 11th over before hammering Shakib Al Hasan for a six over cover and four to long-on. He found excellent support from the newcomer Bruce, who rotated the strike well in addition to putting the bad balls away.Munro hit top gear when he nailed Mahmudullah behind square for two sixes in three balls in the 13th over. Mahmudullah eventually conceded 28 runs off that over as Munro zoomed from 64 to 92.He brought up his century with a quick single in the 16th over, becoming the third New Zealand batsman, after Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill, to score a T20I hundred.Tom Bruce struck his first T20I fifty in his second match•Getty Images

Munro was dismissed in the next over by Rubel, who proceeded to dismiss Colin de Grandhomme and Jimmy Neesham. He also ran Mitchell Santner out and finished with impressive figures of 3 for 37.Bangladesh’s start strangely mirrored New Zealand’s. The visitors lost three early wickets before the fourth-wicket pair lent the innings some impetus. Imrul Kayes holed out in the first over, Tamim Iqbal fell to a horrible mix-up in the fourth, and Shakib chipped Ben Wheeler to cover-point, leaving his team at 36 for 3 in 4.1 overs. The early losses put additional pressure on Sarkar, who had managed only 1 and 0 in his last two innings.He regained form with a glance past fine leg and two sixes over long-on. He went on to hit Trent Boult for two fours in the 11th over before top-edging a pull to short fine leg. He had made 39 off 26 balls.Sabbir played some adventurous shots, including a scoop over the wicketkeeper’s head and a number of blasts over long-on, but sliced Ish Sodhi to long-off for 48. Sodhi then combined with Williamson to derail Bangladesh’s chase.Sabbir missed out on a fifty despite having batted so well with his three sixes, ranging from the scoop over the wicketkeeper’s head to big blasts over long-on.Ish Sodhi, who conceded 16 off his first over, removed Sabbir before taking the wickets of Mahmudullah and Mashrafe Mortaza as Bangladesh sunk fast in the chase.Mitchell Santner’s ripping catch at long-on to dismiss Mosaddek Hossain was another highlight in a game in which New Zealand ran into trouble twice, but bounced back strongly to wrap up the series.

The offspinning allrounder who played his only ODI against Bangladesh in 2014 believes that he is a better bowler now after a stint at the NCA

PTI23-Jan-2017With R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being rested for the three-T20I series against England, Parvez Rasool has been added to the squad along with Amit Mishra, but the offspinning allrounder from Jammu & Kashmir hopes to find a place in the India side when Ashwin is around.”I had no clue that Ashwin has been rested for the series,” Rasool told PTI. “Actually, when I got a call from the BCCI office, I thought this will be a first chance for me to share the dressing room with Ashwin. Seven days with a player of his calibre means I can learn a lot.”I was training with state team in Jammu for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. I got a call from BCCI office in the morning and now I am rushing to catch a flight to Delhi.”While Rasool has slipped down the pecking order, having played his only ODI against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2014, his own assessment is that he is now a better bowler.”This year before the Ranji Trophy, there was an NCA camp for spinners only,” Rasool said. “There I had sessions with Narendra Hirwani and Nikhil Chopra. I believe those 20 days at NCA were very fruitful. I dissected my own bowling.”Because in IPL, you have to also play a restrictive role, I was pushing the ball faster through the air. Hirwani Sir told me that moment you push it faster, the revs on the delivery would be lesser. Nikhil Sir also told me to be a bit slower through the air and give the ball more air. The 38 wickets in the Ranji Trophy was a testimony to that.”Rasool believes that his 3 for 38 for India A against England XI in the warm-up game also helped him get a call-up.”It is very essential to perform consistently throughout the season but I believe there are certain matches where the selectors are keenly watching you,” he said. “If you can perform there, your case becomes stronger. Two of my three wickets were Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. Once you are getting wickets against an international side, you know can belong to this level.”Rasool is also looking forward to learning from India coach Anil Kumble and captain Virat Kohli, who was Rasool’s team-mate at the IPL.”I have not had too many interactions with Anil Sir,” he said. “This is an opportunity where I can learn a few things from him. Also Virat’s presence in the side makes it easier for me as he has been my captain in the Royal Challengers Bangalore.”I don’t need to elaborate on Virat’s dedication. But the lasting memory that has stayed with me is his innings against KKR after getting stitches in his hand. He was in pain but he didn’t even flinch one bit. I saw him and felt that that’s what a world-class cricketer means. Everyday with Virat is a learning experience.”

The wicketkeeper-batsman, who was also Hong Kong’s batting coach, will begin his new role from April 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2017Former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan Campbell will take over as Netherlands coach from April 2017. Campbell will replace interim coach Chris Adams, who has agreed to remain in the role until the side’s tour of Hong Kong next month for a round of WCL Championship matches and an Intercontinental Cup fixture.Campbell, who had played two ODIs for Australia before 2016, was head coach and cricket operations manager for Hong Kong’s Kowloon Cricket Club. He became Hong Kong’s batting coach in 2013 and, in early 2016, was picked to play for the side in the World T20. Making his debut in the format at the age of 44, Campbell was the oldest player in the tournament and went on to feature in three matches, scoring 36 runs and taking two wickets for Hong Kong. Campbell also has an Australian level-three coaching certificate.An aggressive batsman, Campbell struck 6009 runs in first-class cricket, representing Western Australia and Australia A in most of his 98 matches, with 11 centuries and 37 fifties. In 105 List A games matches, he scored 2286 runs.”I am honoured to be offered the head coach position with Netherlands cricket, a team that has risen to great heights on the world stage and has a rich tradition in the game,” Campbell said. “They have many talented players and I hope my experience can help bring on the youngsters, whilst also helping out our experienced leaders.”With my wife and son holding Dutch passports, I have always held the Netherlands close to my heart and I can’t wait to get there and make a big contribution to the direction of Dutch Cricket.”Netherlands are third on the Intercontinental Cup table, with two wins and two losses from four matches. They are placed second on the WCL Championship table with 12 points from eight matches, level with table-leaders Papua New Guinea who have one more win.