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Their biggest total in the format led to their biggest win as well

Mohammad Isam18-Mar-2023Bangladesh set two new team records in their 183-run win over Ireland in the first ODI in Sylhet. It is their biggest win in ODIs, batting first, after they scored 338 for 8, their highest total in the format, too. The visitors, who have come to these shores after 15 years, were bowled out for 155 in 30.5 overs.Bangladesh’s innings was built around Shakib Al Hasan and Towhid Hridoy making nineties, with Mushfiqur Rahim’s fiery 26-ball 44 complementing their effort. Hridoy’s 92 is the highest by a Bangladeshi debutant in ODIs, beating Nasir Hossain’s 63 in 2011. Hridoy became the first batter from this team to score a fifty on debut batting in the top five. Shakib scored 93, the fourth time he has fallen in the nineties. The pair added 135 runs for the fourth wicket, the foundation on which Bangladesh built their record-breaking total.With a big chase in front of them, Ireland suffered a top- and middle-order collapse, triggered by Shakib and then made terminal by Ebadot Hossain and Taskin Ahmed, who picked up the next four wickets to fall. The visitors went from 60 for 0 to 76 for 5. Nasum Ahmed cleaned up the lower order with 3 for 43. On the day of winning the ESPNcricinfo award for 2022’s best Test bowling performance, Ebadot finished on his career-best ODI figures of 4 for 42.But it was Bangladesh’s batting that made this victory possible. The big partnership between Hridoy and Shakib came on the back of Ireland taking three early wickets. Paul Stirling took the catches of both Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das, before Andy McBrine removed Najmul Hossain Shanto for 25. The trio must have rued their luck having seen what followed.Shakib and Hridoy spent roughly 15 overs rebuilding the innings before unfurling a flurry of boundaries. During this consolidation period, Shakib became the third cricketer to reach 7,000 runs and 300 wickets in ODIs. The pair struck a four each in the 32nd over before Shakib launched into Harry Tector in the 35th over. He struck five fours — sweeping twice, cutting one through point, and chipping over cover and long-on – as Bangladesh lifted the scoring significantly.Towhid Hridoy made 92 on ODI debut•AFP/Getty Images

A century after four years stared back at Shakib at this stage but Graham Hume, Ireland’s best bowler of the day, removed him with a wide yorker. This was Shakib’s eighth dismissal in the 90s in all formats. His 89-ball stay contained nine boundaries.Soon after that dismissal, Hridoy blasted Hume for a six to keep the momentum going. He struck one more, and rushed towards a century himself. It would have been the first by a Bangladeshi on ODI debut but Hume bowled him with a full one and, having already removed Mushfiqur earlier in the over. finished with his maiden four-wicket haul in ODIs.Mushfiqur had hammered three sixes, two of them down the ground. He also hit three fours as his 26-ball 44, the late push that took them to a big total.Ireland’s innings started as promisingly as any team would want chasing 339. Stirling and Stephen Doheny added 60 runs for the first wicket before the batting collapse set in. Doheny made 34 off 38 balls with five boundaries, before Shakib had him caught behind in the 12th over. Ebadot removed Stirling in the following over but that was more a wicketkeeper’s wicket. Mushfiqur dived down the leg-side to complete a tumbling effort.In his next over, Tector edged Ebadot for 3, with Mushfiqur taking his third catch. Then Taskin turned 68 for 3 into 76 for 5 in the space of five of his deliveries. First he bowled captain Andrew Balbirnie through the gate for 5, before Yasir took a smart catch at slip, to remove Lorcan Tucker for 6.Curtis Campher and George Dockrell stemmed the collapse with a 33-run stand for the sixth wicket, before Nasum did away with it. He trapped Campher lbw in the 24th over, with the third umpire upholding the on-field umpire’s decision. Nasum repeated the dose to Gareth Delany in his following over, trapping him lbw for 1. McBrine fell next ball, caught behind for a golden duck. Ebadot removed Mark Adair three overs later, with Mushfiqur taking his fifth catch in the match, for the second time in his ODI career.Ebadot finished the game with his fourth wicket, that of Dockrell, who top scored with 45 off 47 with six fours. It was Ebadot’s second four-wicket haul, coming in an already special day for him.

India captain questions the decision to make qualification for final a percentage-based system

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Nov-20202:24

Australia can be a very intimidating place if you aren’t up for it – Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli has questioned the ICC for altering the points system of the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC), saying the change is “confusing” and the governing body has a lot to explain.India slipped to the second in the WTC standings after the ICC decided last week to rank teams “in order of percentage of points earned” from the contested matches.Australia (296 points from 3 series) toppled India (360 points from 4 series) in the standings after the revision with a percentage of 82.22 compared to the latter’s 75 percent.Speaking during a virtual media briefing from Sydney on Thursday, a day before India start the white-ball leg of their tour of Australia, Kohli admitted he was trying to wrap his head around the ICC’s decision.ALSO READ: Kohli: ‘Lot of uncertainty’ about Rohit injury“It is definitely surprising because we were told points are the matter of contention for the top two teams qualifying in the World Test Championship and now suddenly it has become percentage out of nowhere,” Kohli said. “So it’s very confusing, very difficult to understand why.”Kohli is the first Test captain to react to the decision, which was ratified recently by the ICC’s chief executives committee. A self-admitted fan of Test cricket, Kohli had previously suggested that a better way to find more balance in the WTC could be by teams alternating between home and away series.According to Kohli, it would have been better for the ICC to give some advance notice to teams on the new methodology devised in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic to determine the WTC finalists. “If these things were explained to us from day one then it would have been easier for us to understand the reasons why such a change has happened. But it has happened out of nowhere. I think further questions about this should be asked to the ICC and understand why this has been done and what are the reasons behind it.”ALSO READ: Kohli: Younger players will feature a lot in Australia tourUntil recently, Kohli’s team were favorites to make the WTC final. With 360 points, India were atop the points table, comfortably ahead of England (296) and Australia (292) their two closest competitors. However, after the WTC got disrupted by pandemic, which caused massive imbalance between the nine teams in terms of the series played (each was meant to originally player six), the ICC recently approved modifications to the process to determine the two finalists. Instead of overall points, the ICC approved the recommendation of its Cricket Committee which said that the two finalists will be determined by the highest percentage of points earned from the matches they contested.Consequently, as explained here by ESPNcricinfo, India will need to ensure they win most of the eight Tests in their remaining two series – in Australia, followed by at home, against England – to book their place in the final scheduled for next June.

Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman, has said that he’s still passionate about playing cricket and would relish the chance to play Test cricket again

Umar Farooq26-Apr-2012Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman, has said that he’s still passionate about playing cricket and would relish the chance to play Test cricket again. He took a fitness test under Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore on Tuesday in a bid to stage a comeback to international cricket.Yousuf, 37, last played a Test in 2010, when Pakistan took on England in the controversial Lord’s Test that was marred by spot-fixing. Yousuf has not featured in international or domestic tournaments in more than nine months due to personal reasons. “I never lost my passion for cricket,” Yousuf told ESPNcricinfo. “There were certain commitments in my life that got higher priority for a while, but now I am hungry to play.”He made his debut 14 years ago and has played 90 Tests (scoring 7530 runs at an average of 52.29) and 288 ODIs (scoring 9720 at 41.71). He says he wants to focus only on Test cricket in the future. “I am least concerned about ODIs. My focus [right now] is Test cricket, I want to play it. My basics are right and I have lots of experience under my belt.”Yousuf, whose career has been plagued by controversy in the past, was banned by the PCB twice in 2010. First, for his poor performance on a winless tour of Australia and then for differences with Younis Khan, which the PCB said was a bad influence on the team. “I don’t want to live in past, people learn from mistakes. I have always tried to do my best, but sometimes things go wrong,” he said. “I can’t change the past, but I can only hope to revive my career.”With younger players like Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq now featuring regularly in the side, some feel Yousuf will find it difficult to break into the team again. “I am not against new blood being inducted in the side – it’s good,” Yousuf said. “No one plays forever, but I still have cricket left [in me] and I have a role to play.”Pakistan are slated to tour Sri Lanka soon after the IPL to play two Twenty20s, five ODIs and three Tests. PCB’s chief selector Iqbal Qasim said that the board would discuss Yousuf’s future during their next meeting in May. “He is training and that’s what all players must do, but that doesn’t mean he will be selected in the team,” Qasim said. “If a coach is interested in a player he must convince the selection committee [first].”

Pakistan Women lost their second warm-up match against Odisha XI by four wickets in Cuttack

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2013Pakistan Women lost their second warm-up match against Odisha XI by four wickets in Cuttack.Pakistan were bowled out for a low total of 154 after they chose to bat. The start was not ideal as they lost both their openers with only two runs on the board, both dismissed by Sujata Mallik (2 for 13). But Sana Mir (25) and Nain Abidi (29) stabilised the innings with a 50-run stand. This was followed by Bismah Maroof’s knock of 44 who held one end together but saw regular wickets fall at the other end. When she fell in the 42nd over, Pakistan were 143 for 7 and Odisha XI wrapped up their innings on 154. Sushree Pradhan took 3 for 41 runs in her nine overs.Odisha’s chase was not smooth as they scored at a slow pace and were 50 for 3 in the 20th over. But a 61-ball 50 from Swagatika Rath and an unbeaten knock from Pragyan Mohanty (28 off 82) helped them reach the target with four wickets in hand.

Sean Ervine played argubly his most valuable innings for Hampshire when the support of last man David Balcombe enabled him to reach an unbeaten century on a green pitch against Glamorgan at West End.

Ivo Tennant23-May-2012
ScorecardSean Ervine played one of his most invaluable innings for Hampshire with an unbeaten hundred on a West End greentop•PA Photos

A little over a year ago, Sean Ervine thought hard about giving up
county cricket to concentrate on playing for his native Zimbabwe in
whatever form of the game he could still participate. There was,
though, something about the lure of Hampshire cricket – as well as the lure of becoming an
Englishman – that led him to stay put. It is just as well for Hampshire’s
sake that he did, for his innings against Glamorgan was perhaps the
most valuable he has played.On a green pitch which was indistinguishable from the rest of the
square at the start of play, Hampshire, asked to bat, slumped to 97
for 5 and then 204 for 8t. Ervine was dropped without scoring by
Mark Wallace, a low, difficult chance, and then on 76, a quite
catchable opportunity at long on. He relied on eye, instinct and good
timing in making an unbeaten 109, his first century of the season.Ervine was also reliant on support from David Balcombe, who is too good to be going
in last. Together they put on 85 from 86 balls for the last wicket:
entertaining hitting against an attack shorn of its three best seamers
and which, until then, had performed perfectly respectably. Rather
than defend in textbook manner and sooner or later be beaten by the
conditions as much as the bowling, this pair simply looked to hit the
ball – hard.So a total of 316 could well be a pretty useful one. For this does not
look to be a four-day pitch. John Glover took the new ball for
Glamorgan and moved it sufficiently off the seam to have Liam Dawson
leg before and Michael Carberry and James Vince taken by Mark Wallace.
Simon Katich was his customary adhesive self, compiling 36 before
playing slightly across the line at Will Owen as if batting on the
harder pitches of his homeland down under.Jimmy Adams and Michael Bates, by contrast, played straight and
watchfully. Or at least they did until the former played on to Owen
and the wicketkeeper, who was in form and was driving particularly
well, was bowled by Jim Allenby. When Owen removed Chris Wood and
Kabir Ali with successive balls, Hampshire were 204 for 8. Only
there was still Balcombe to come.His highest previous championship score was just 30, but he can bat.
Or he looks as if he can bat. Ervine reached his century with a six over
long on off Allenby, having made his previous best score this season,
75, against Glamorgan. His clean hitting emphasised why Rod
Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, believes him to be a good enough
cricketer to represent England, as he has just become qualified to do.Had James Harris, Huw Waters and Graham Wagg been playing, the
likelihood is that Hampshire would not have reached 300. Even so,
Wallace had little option but to bowl first when he inspected the
pitch. Until the umpires appeared to have their own examination, and
while the groundstaff were in their hutch at square leg, it really was
impossible to tell where the match would take place. Still, this made
for an interesting day. And there is pace in the pitch.Glamorgan’s openers, the cerebral Gareth Rees, and Nick James, who
replaced Stewart Walters, survived the seven overs they had to face on
a sultry evening. Their side has mustered just one batting bonus point
thus far this season, an embarrassing statistic which provides just
the incentive they need to make some runs now.

Dean Brownlie spent the first 25 years of his life in Australia. Now he is trying to thwart them in Test cricket.

Brydon Coverdale06-Dec-2011The pavlova last year, Dean Brownlie this year – Western Australia’s finest have been ripe for the poaching by New Zealand recently. Then again, from Russell Crowe to Keith Urban, from Ruth Park to Rebecca Gibney, Australians have been claiming New Zealand’s best as their own for decades. It’s about time a few went the other way.Brownlie might have missed the news stories last December when the Oxford English Dictionary determined that pavlova was a New Zealand invention and was not, as Australians had asserted, created at Perth’s Esplanade Hotel in 1935. If he hadn’t caught up with those reports it would be understandable. This time last year, Brownlie was just settling in to his second season with Canterbury.He had lived in Perth for the first 25 years of his life, his primary connection with New Zealand the fact that his father was born in Christchurch. Now, he is not only playing Test cricket against Australia, but thriving: in the first Test he was New Zealand’s leading scorer, with a fighting 77 not out in the first innings and 42 in the second.It was the kind of performance that made onlookers wonder how Brownlie had spent so long in Perth club cricket without earning a place in Western Australia’s side. He played some junior cricket with Shaun Marsh, but by his own admission wasn’t seriously in the reckoning for a state call-up.”I don’t think I was that close,” Brownlie told reporters in Brisbane, before the team flew to Hobart for the second Test. “I was scoring a few runs, but given the quality of players in WA, probably didn’t score enough runs to demand a spot. It was more a cricketing decision [to move to New Zealand]. I just wanted to give it a go and see what happened. If I got a first-class game – awesome.”Brownlie’s efforts in the Gabba Test certainly left more of a mark on Michael Hussey than any grade performances in Perth over the past few years. Hussey said he didn’t remember playing club cricket against Brownlie, but he was impressed by his work in Brisbane.”I thought he played very well,” Hussey said. “He showed great temperament, against some pretty hostile bowling there for a while, coming in for the second innings in particular when the team was under extreme pressure, I thought he applied himself really well. It is a shame we couldn’t keep him in Australia … but I thought he played really well, showed a great temperament and a good, solid technique as well.”Brownlie, 27, has now scored two half-centuries from his two Tests and appears to be one of the most stable parts of a faltering batting order. He hopes he can continue to thwart the Australians, his countrymen for most of his life, when the second Test starts at Bellerive on Friday.”Two years ago I was playing club cricket in Christchurch. I never thought I’d be at the Gabba playing a Test match. It was awesome,” he said. “I haven’t really had too much to do with them [the Australian team], so it wasn’t really a change of scenery. It was an awesome experience.”And it was one that wouldn’t have come without gambling on a trip across the ditch.

Both the top-two aspirants have lost their most recent fixtures

Karthik Krishnaswamy27-Oct-2020

Big picture

The Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore have been in and around the top three for most of IPL 2020, but neither can yet count on finishing there. The tournament table has been known to shape-shift dramatically in past seasons as the league stage approaches its close, and there’s a possibility, this year, of five teams finishing tied at 16 points.Neither team – the Royal Challengers’ net run-rate is currently barely in the positive zone – will want to be in that situation. Both teams come to this meeting having lost their most recent games, and both have the same two oppositions lying in wait after this match, one of whom is a fellow top-two aspirant in the Delhi Capitals.Wednesday’s meeting in Abu Dhabi, therefore, could prove season-defining.

In the news

Navdeep Saini split the webbing on his right hand while fielding off his own bowling against the Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. He has had stitches put in, but since the injury is to his bowling hand, he is a doubtful starter on Wednesday.Rohit Sharma batted in the nets on Monday, but it seems unlikely that his hamstring injury – the ostensible reason for his exclusion from India’s squads for their upcoming tour of Australia – has healed to the extent that he can feature against the Royal Challengers.

Previous meeting

The match of the tournament? Quite possibly. AB de Villiers’ unbeaten 24-ball 55 powered the Royal Challengers to 201, and victory seemed almost certain when the Mumbai Indians needed 80 from 24 balls. Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard had other ideas, though, and forced the game into a Super Over, where Saini kept Pollard and Hardik Pandya to just seven runs. It came down to one ball, one run, and Jasprit Bumrah to Virat Kohli, and a whip to the square-leg boundary gave the Royal Challengers two valuable points.

Likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Ishan Kishan, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt), 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 James Pattinson, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Devdutt Padikkal, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Gurkeerat Singh, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Navdeep Saini/Umesh Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammed Siraj.Rohit Sharma and Navdeep Saini are both doubtful starters•BCCI

Strategy punt

• In the seven matches the Royal Challengers have won this season, de Villiers has scored 246 runs at an average of 123.00 and a strike rate of 203.31. In the four matches they have lost, de Villiers has scored 78 runs at 19.50 and 120.00. Of the matches they have won, four results – including the Super-Over win over the Mumbai Indians in the teams’ previous meeting – would quite likely have gone the other way but for de Villiers’ interventions.
• Further evidence of the Royal Challengers’ over-reliance on de Villiers and his death-overs striking comes from their overall middle-overs run rate of 6.80, the poorest of any team this season. It’s not hurt their campaign because of de Villiers, but the Royal Challengers can’t keep expecting him to win matches singlehandedly.
• One way they could ease the burden on de Villiers is to push Moeen Ali up to No. 4 if they lose their second wicket before the ten-over mark. Of all the Royal Challengers batsmen to have scored at least 50 runs in the phase since his debut season in 2018, Ali has the best middle-overs strike rate – 160.50. His left-handedness would also help combat the Mumbai Indians spinners, Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya, who both turn the ball away from the right-hander.
• The Mumbai Indians are likely to have four left-handers – Quinton de Kock, Kishan, Saurabh Tiwary and Krunal – in their top seven, and the Royal Challengers are likely to have two offspinners to bowl at them, in Ali and Washington Sundar. De Kock (114.88), Kishan (100.99) and Krunal (79.41) all have modest strike rates against this style of bowling in the IPL since the 2018 season, while Tiwary has faced just one ball of offspin in this period. With this in mind, they could make Suryakumar Yadav open the batting, or promote Hardik Pandya or Kieron Pollard to No. 4, to ensure they have a right-hander in the mix for most of their innings.)
• If Yadav opens, though, the Royal Challengers could use Yuzvendra Chahal with the new ball. Since 2018, Chahal has superb records against both Yadav (14 balls, 14 runs, two wickets) and de Kock (12 balls, 11 runs, two wickets).

Stats that matter

• Both teams have enjoyed playing in Abu Dhabi this season. The Mumbai Indians have won five of their seven games here so far, and the Royal Challengers have won two out of two.
• The Mumbai Indians (12.70) and the Royal Challengers (11.47) have the best death-overs (16-20) scoring rates of all batting teams this season.
• They have done pretty well with the ball in this phase too, with the Mumbai Indians (9.89) and the Royal Challengers (10.12) boasting the second- and third-best economy rates behind the Delhi Capitals (9.15 as on October 26).
• Bumrah is one wicket short of 100 in the IPL and 200 in all T20 cricket.
• De Villiers needs 19 runs to complete 9000 in T20 cricket, while Tiwary is 13 short of 3000.