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“It’s definitely a possibility, we’ve already spoken about it. We need to get the guys ready for it as well”

Karthik Krishnaswamy28-Feb-202310:31

Rohit: Rahul’s removal as vice-captain doesn’t indicate anything

Rohit Sharma has hinted that India could request a green pitch for the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test in Ahmedabad if they win the third Test in Indore and seal their place in the World Test Championship final. India, currently 2-0 up in the four-Test series, need one more win to confirm their place in the WTC final, which is set to be played at The Oval from June 7 to 11.Australia are the other favourites to play the final, with Sri Lanka also in with an outside chance.India have prepared seamer-friendly home pitches in the past with an eye on preparing for major away tours. In the 2017-18 season, shortly before a tour of South Africa, they played on a greentop at Eden Gardens against Sri Lanka – the seamers took 32 of the 35 wickets that fell in the Test match.Related

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On Tuesday, Rohit said something similar could be on the cards if India go 3-0 up in Indore, setting up a potential WTC final dress rehearsal in pace-friendly conditions in Ahmedabad. He added, however, that selection could prove tricky, given that Shardul Thakur, India’s preferred pace-bowling allrounder in overseas conditions, isn’t part of their squad for this series, and has not played competitive cricket in over a month. Rohit attended Thakur’s wedding during the break between the second and third Tests.”There is definitely a possibility of that,” Rohit said. “We’ve already spoken about it. We need to get the guys ready for it as well.”The important one is Shardul Thakur, because he comes into that plan for us. I don’t know how ready he is, knowing that he just got married. We don’t know how many overs he has bowled. But yeah, that thought process is definitely there. If we do what we do here and we get the result we want, we might think of doing something different in Ahmedabad for sure.”In that Kolkata Test against Sri Lanka, the damp weather played as much of a role as the pitch in helping India simulate overseas conditions. While it should be possible for India to prepare a green pitch in Ahmedabad, the weather is expected to be hot and dry, with maximum temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s (Celsius) – nothing, in short, like London in June.India played a greentop at Eden Gardens against Sri Lanka, shortly before a tour of South Africa, in 2017-18•BCCI

Before their thoughts can turn to such matters, however, India have a Test match to play in Indore, and Rohit warned against letting their thoughts stray too far ahead. Though India won the second Test in Delhi by six wickets, they were made to work hard for their result – at one stage, they were 139 for 7 in reply to Australia’s first-innings total of 263. Rohit expected Australia to push India hard again in Indore.”It will be a great achievement for us [to reach the WTC final], but we know that we need to cross that final hurdle, and for that we need to win the next game as well, so the focus is on this Test, how we can win this game, and not look too far ahead, because after this game we’ve got one more Test match to be played, and then after that there’s two months of IPL,” Rohit said.”There’s a lot of time to think about the final, but right now it’s very important for us to focus on this one and see how we can turn it around and win this game as well, because in the last game we were put under pressure for sure, we can expect the same here as well, so we need to be ready for that.”When pressed to look ahead to the WTC final, Rohit said it would be exciting for the two teams playing it to meet in neutral conditions.”It’ll be a different ball game, for both teams actually,” he said. “Actually, I don’t want to talk about the World Test Championship. We’re not there yet. We want to win this game and then talk about it. That’ll be the right thing to do.”But just speaking of it from the outside, clearly, I don’t think England is going to qualify, so both teams who are going to play the final will be neutral teams. It’s going to be exciting. There’s no home advantage, no conditions advantage. India have played a lot of cricket in England over the last couple of years. Australia have played a lot of cricket [there]. Sri Lanka and South Africa are also in the mix [South Africa are out of the reckoning]. They probably have played a lot of cricket there as well. It’s not going to be alien conditions as such, to both teams who will make the final. It’ll be a good contest between the two teams, whoever those teams are.”

Bairstow, Duckett post imposing 173 but it’s only just enough in epic at Headingley

Valkerie Baynes24-Jul-2021Welsh Fire 173 for 4 (Bairstow 56, Duckett 41) beat Northern Superchargers 168 for 7 (Brook 62, Ahmad 4-13) by 5 runsA blistering half-century to Jonny Bairstow capped by a devastating bowling performance from Afghanistan legspinner Qais Ahmad delivered Welsh Fire a nail-biting five-run victory over Northern Superchargers in their Hundred clash at Emerald Headingley.Harry Brook launched a valiant rescue mission after the hosts had stumbled to 50 for 4 inside the first half of their sizeable run chase. He nearly pulled it off with a knock of 62 from just 31 balls which was every bit as impressive as Bairstow’s.Having seen Jemimah Rodrigues rack up a jaw-dropping 92 not out off 43 on the same excellent batting track in the afternoon match – the highest score across the men’s and women’s competitions so far – Bairstow would doubtless have wanted to press on. But, even though they only have him for the first two matches before he reports for England Test duty, Welsh Fire won’t have any complaints.The crowd swelled from the 5026 for the afternoon match between the women’s sides, won by Superchargers on the back of Rodrigues’ innings, to 10,324 for the men. The relative lack of students in fancy dress suggested the throngs in the pubs lining the route to the ground at lunchtime had decided to stay put. But the largely civilian-clad fans in attendance were in strong voice, quietened briefly when Ben Stokes fell cheaply, but whipped into song by Brook’s charge.Bairstow blitz
If you could only write one player’s name on the Hundred, Bairstow would have to be right up there in lights and, in his first outing of the tournament, he lived up to that billing with an explosive innings that included five fours and three sixes.He launched David Willey over wide mid-off for six on the 11th ball of the match and then hit Willey’s next two deliveries for four. He drove Mujeeb Ur Rahman past a diving Stokes at mid-off for another four and then pummelled Brydon Carse into the fifth row over deep midwicket. Bairstow brought up his fifty off 28 balls with a mammoth six off Mujeeb that sailed into the stands 20 rows back over deep midwicket.Jonny Bairstow came out of the blocks firing for Fire•Getty Images

Stokes, captaining in place of the absent Faf du Plessis, brought himself on and made the breakthrough with his third legitimate delivery, a back-of-a-length ball which Bairstow pulled straight to Willey at deep midwicket. Ben Duckett got in on the act with 41 off 27 balls, including six fours. Combined with Jimmy Neesham’s unbeaten 30 off 11 balls and Glenn Phillips’ 23 off 14 – including two sixes, the first of which he powered off Adil Rashid high into the stand cleared by Liam Livingstone in the T20I last weekend – they helped push Fire to what was comfortably the highest total of the competition to date.Brook no challengers
Brook had been in fine touch for Yorkshire this season with a Championship century and seven scores above 40 in his last eight T20 matches at Headingley. On this occasion, he clattered five sixes and three fours to keeper the Superchargers in the hunt.Brook shared a 68-run stand with Tom Kohler-Cadmore, in the side after recovering from a broken finger which kept him out of much of Yorkshire’s Blast campaign. When Kohler-Cadmore was run out on the 74th ball, Superchargers still needed 55 runs to win and Brook didn’t stop. In the next set of five, he picked off another four and a six off Liam Plunkett, who had bowled with good pace in his first pro game for nine months but was expensive.Brook’s impressive effort ended however, when he was trapped lbw by Ahmad, two balls after the same bowler had John Simpson holing out to Ian Cockbain at long-on during a frenetic passage of play in which Carse also survived a drop and failed run-out attempt by Matt Critchley.Superchargers needed 11 off the last set of five but Jake Ball held his nerve, despite copping a hefty blow to the heel of his hand as Matty Potts struck the penultimate ball back at him with force. Carse managed just one off the last ball instead of the six needed to tie and Fire prevailed.

Qais on song

Welsh Fire accounted for both Superchargers openers in the space of five balls, Adam Lyth spooning Critchley straight to Tom Banton at cover after a short and sweet 25 off 14 and Chris Lynn caught by Ian Cockbain off Ahmad for a run-a-ball 11.Ball then had Stokes caught by Phillips at deep cover for just 5 and when Willey’s attempted drive off Ahmad resulted in a low edge to Critchley at backward point, he was forced to walk off to a blast of “Where’s Your Head At” by Basement Jaxx and Superchargers were in terrible trouble.Just 20 years old, Ahmad ended with 4 for 13 off 20 balls – Stokes was the only other bowler to concede less than a run a ball – his early dismissal of opener Lynn and his role in ending Brook’s innings proving pivotal.

The Punjab Kings captain says the team bowling second shouldn’t have such a “huge disadvantage” because of dew

Hemant Brar18-Apr-2021KL Rahul, the Punjab Kings captain, feels there should be a provision to change a wet ball during the second innings of a T20 game, especially in dewy conditions else the bowling team faces a “huge disadvantage”.Defending 195 against the Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, the Kings’ bowlers struggled with the dew, forcing Rahul to even check with the umpires if the ball could be changed. The playing conditions didn’t allow that and the Capitals went on to win the game with ten balls to spare.”I think that [the ball change] will really be fair to the team bowling second, and I am not just saying that because I am on the losing side,” Rahul told Star Sports at the post-match presentation. “I think that’s only fair that the team bowling second doesn’t have such a huge disadvantage. Our bowlers try and practice their skills with the wet ball, but when you go out in the middle with the pressure it’s always difficult. I did ask the umpires to change the ball a couple of times, but again, it’s not in the rulebook, so that’s how the game goes, we’ve got to take it.”Related

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The dew has been a big factor at the Wankhede, making it easier to chase totals in night games as the ball comes better on to the bat in the second innings. Moreover, spinners too struggle to grip the wet ball and find it hard to get any purchase from the surface, as was seen on Sunday when the ball slipped from Jalaj Saxena’s hand during his delivery stride and landed behind him. Rahul said his side expected those challenges but it’s not easy to overcome them.”It was not something that was unexpected. When we come to Wankhede, we know that bowling second is always a challenge. We, as a bowling unit, tried to prepare for such conditions as well, but, again, it does get a bit difficult in a game situation, and especially when you are bowling against quality batters.”Mayank Agarwal, who scored a brilliant 36-ball 69 for the Kings, also said that dew made batting easier in the second innings.”It wasn’t as easy [in the first innings] as it looked in the second innings,” Agarwal said at the press conference after the game. “I thought the Delhi Capitals batted exceedingly well and also there was as dew factor. We cannot do much about it as players. It just boils down to execution under pressure and practising that. That’s as much as you can do as a player. Those are the things that are in our control. Obviously, we cannot do much apart from that.”In the five games played so far at the Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2021, the side winning the toss has opted to chase every single time. On four occasions, they ended up winning the game. The Rajasthan Royals, the only side to lose after winning the toss, came within a shot of chasing down 222 against the Kings.The Kings have played their three games at the Wankhede so far and were asked to bat first on all three occasions after losing the toss.After the Chennai Super Kings’ first game this season, their captain MS Dhoni had also stated that 7.30pm IST starts were giving an advantage to the team bowling first. His reason: when you start at 8pm, the dew has already set in, thus not giving the chasing side any real advantage.

Bangladesh will tour India for a one-off Test, their first in the country, from February 8 to 12 next year

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Aug-2016Bangladesh will tour India for a one-off Test, their first in the country, from February 8 to 12 next year. The match will be played in Hyderabad.India is the last of the Full Members to host Bangladesh for a Test. Bangladesh have only featured in two limited-overs tournaments in the country – the 2006 Champions Trophy qualifiers and the 2016 World T20 – since getting Test status in 2000.”As a leading Test playing nation it is BCCI’s responsibility to give opportunity to every Test playing nation. It is my pleasure to announce the historic one-off Test match against our neighbours – Bangladesh early next year,” Anurag Thakur, the BCCI president, said. “This will be a great addition to our home season 2016-17.”In all, India’s 2016-17 home season will include 13 Tests, eight ODIs and three T20Is; 13 Tests equals the world record for the highest number of Tests in a home season. Apart from Bangladesh, New Zealand, England and Australia will also visit during the season.The one-off Test against Bangladesh will be played a week after the limited-overs series against England concludes in Bangalore on February 1.Nazmul Hassan, the BCB chief, said the match is a cause for celebration. “For the cricketers who will be representing Bangladesh and India this will be a much-anticipated game and, given the competitive nature of their limited-overs matches in the recent past, I believe the clash between these two cricket crazy nations will catch the imagination.” he said. “The long wait for us to play a Test match on Indian soil is finally over and this is a time for celebration.”This [Bangladesh’s first-ever Test in India] is certainly a big relief. It is just one Test match, it is nothing big. It won’t be doing much for the development of Bangladesh cricket. But this will be the first Test in India. It was a huge challenge for the board. It was supposed to happen earlier but we are happy that the date has been announced. At least we are starting to play there.”

Martin Guptill will miss the remainder of the New Zealand season and the start of the IPL to undergo strengthening work on his hamstrings

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Mar-2017Martin Guptill will miss the remainder of the New Zealand season and the start of the IPL to undergo strengthening work on his hamstrings in an attempt to ensure he is fully fit for the Champions Trophy in June.Guptill suffered injuries to both hamstrings in quick succession over the last few months and though he returned in extraordinary style, with his unbeaten 180 off 138 balls in the fourth ODI against South Africa, it has been decided that for his long-term prognosis he needs further rehabilitation.After his century in Hamilton, and a full fifty overs in the field, Guptill said the hamstrings felt “a little stiff” but that it was nothing unexpected after his period out of the game. He did not have any middle time before his return to the one-day side.He will travel to India for the IPL, where he was bought by Kings Punjab XI having been put back in for the second round of the auction, but won’t initially be available for selection and his recovery will be monitored by New Zealand physio Tommy Simsek, who will also be at the tournament.”At the moment Martin isn’t fit to play and the time we give him now to strengthen his hamstrings will play a big role in mitigating future risk too,” Simsek said. “We’ve put a programme in place to make sure that Martin can return to full strength and we’ll continue to monitor him closely.”Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, said: “Having Martin fully fit is critical, as we all know the positive influence he has on our side. Martin knows this is an important period to get back to 100% so that he can be fully confident when he is on the park. The Champions Trophy isn’t far away and we obviously want Martin firing on all cylinders for that tournament.”Guptill’s times back on the sidelines means his move into the middle order for Auckland, with a view to pushing for a Test recall in that position, will not happen until the next domestic season. It also means that he will not come into consideration if New Zealand need a replacement for Ross Taylor who retired hurt on the second day in Dunedin with a calf injury. Guptill was dropped from the Test side after the tour of India in October.

Fast bowler has been with the squad for four years and is their leading wicket-taker as well

Umar Farooq20-Dec-2021Lahore Qalandars have named Shaheen Shah Afridi as captain for the upcoming PSL season. He replaces Sohail Akhtar, who led the team for the last two seasons. This will the fast bowler’s first time in charge of a team at senior level but he isn’t coming into the job completely cold. He was captain of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas Under-16s at the PCB’s Cricket Stars tournament in 2016.Over the last two years, Afridi has become one of the best players in the world. He has represented Pakistan in 21 Tests, 28 ODIs and 39 T20Is and has been with the Qalandars squad since 2018. In that time, he’s picked up 50 wickets from 37 games, which is a record for the franchise.”Shaheen is our asset and has stuck with us through thick and thin,” Sameen Rana, Qalandars owner and manager, told ESPNcricinfo. “I still remember the day when a young, 18-year-old boy came to Lahore Qalandars for the first time in 2018 and over the years he has developed as one of the finest fast bowlers in the world. He grew with us and helped the franchise to become stronger. He is Pakistan’s top-notch bowler at the moment and over the last three years he gained all the necessary experience playing in all formats of the game. I think this is the best time to give him a chance to show his leadership qualities.”One thing that impressed us all is that he is an excellent learner and I have absolutely no doubt that he will come good as captain. With his performances he has earned enormous respect. It’s a remarkable journey for Shaheen becoming the premium fast bowler and we are extremely happy to be a part of his development first as a player and now allow him to thrive as captain. I wish him very good luck.”As for Afridi, he is relishing the additional responsibility for the forthcoming season. “I am very excited and honoured to accept the role as captain,” Afridi said. “I hope I can give my best as captain. This is a big responsibility and I am happy that they trusted me with this leadership role. Leading a side is the highest role in cricket and equally a privilege for a cricketer. I am grateful to the Lahore Qalandars management and looking forward to the new season next month.”In isolation, Qalandars qualified for the final in 2020, but overall they have struggled to make a mark in the PSL. They have tried various captains in the past, starting with Azhar Ali who was removed from the leadership role in 2016. With most other teams retaining their local core across the first three seasons of the league, Qalandars didn’t have enough options to choose their captain. As a result, they turned to an overseas option in Brendon McCullum before Fakhar Zaman took over as captain.Akhtar, who is uncapped in international cricket, then stepped up as captain over the past two seasons. Under his leadership, Qalandars won the 2018 Abu Dhabi T20 trophy and finished runners-up in the PSL in 2020, but lost their way last year when they finished fifth in the six-team league earlier this year.Akhtar, however, is still an integral part of Qalandars’ core group having been retained by the franchise ahead of the draft.

252 overseas players will compete for seven spots in next week’s draft

Matt Roller17-Feb-2021252 players will compete for the seven remaining overseas spots in next week’s draft for the men’s Hundred, with Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Shakib Al Hasan and David Warner among those to have put their names forward for selection.The Hundred, the ECB’s new 100-ball competition, will finally launch in July 2021 after its inaugural season was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Teams were able to retain as many players as they wished from the squads selected at the initial men’s player draft in October 2019, at a mutually agreed salary band. Wages have been cut by 20% from their original level, with the highest salary now set at £100,000 ($140,000 USD approx.) rather than £125,000.Most teams opted to retain the majority of their squads, with Rashid Khan (Trent Rockets), Andre Russell (Southern Brave), Aaron Finch (Northern Superchargers) and Kane Williamson (Birmingham Phoenix) among the overseas players to re-commit to the competition. 35 players will be selected in next week’s draft – 28 domestic, seven overseas – with Manchester Originals and Welsh Fire making nearly half the picks between them after opting for overhauls.Related

• The Hundred – full 2021 squad lists

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As revealed by ESPNcricinfo, the draft will be staged virtually and behind closed doors, rather than in a live studio setting, with picks due to be announced on Tuesday, February 23, the day after the draft itself.The availability of overseas players will be a major factor in who is picked up in the draft. New Zealand and South Africa currently have clear schedules for the tournament’s window from late July to late August, though the pandemic has left the Future Tours Programme unclear. West Indies are due to play home series against Australia and Pakistan which overlap with the start and end of the Hundred respectively, but Pooran and Pollard could be picked up for short stints with a view to long-term retention.Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc, who were both contracted to Welsh Fire for the 2020 season, have not put themselves forward for the draft. Trent Boult, Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga are another notable absentees, after they went unpicked in the first draft, while AB de Villiers has again opted not to enter.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

10 players have entered with a reserve price of £100,000, meaning at most four of them will be picked up. They are: Shakib, Babar Azam, de Kock, Lockie Ferguson, Jason Holder, Tamim Iqbal, Pollard, Pooran, Rabada and Warner. Teams may be wary about selecting Warner due to the overlap with Australia’s series in the Caribbean, and following his withdrawal ahead of the 2020 season after Southern Brave had selected him.Other players who might attract interest include Shahid Afridi, Jhye Richardson, Imran Tahir (all £80,000 reserve price), Shadab Khan, Chris Morris, Dan Christian, Dale Steyn (£60,000), Dwayne Bravo, David Miller and Mitchell Santner (£48,000). Colin Ingram, Heinrich Klaasen, Tabraiz Shamsi and Rahmanullah Gurbaz are among those without reserve prices.Overseas players from 13 different nations have entered, including Ireland, Netherlands, Oman and USA. Sandeep Lamichhane, the only Nepalese player involved, was previously retained by Oval Invincibles. No Indian players have put their names forward, after Harbhajan Singh’s late withdrawal from the 2019 draft.How the squads stack up before the Hundred draft•The Hundred

254 domestic players have registered for the draft. Several players who were not retained including Saqib Mahmood, Tom Abell, Harry Gurney, Ravi Bopara, Danny Briggs, Ben Foakes and Richard Gleeson will feature on teams’ shortlists, while those who went undrafted in 2019 – including Olly Stone, Tom Lammonby, Ian Cockbain, Jamie Overton, Colin Ackermann and Samit Patel – will also attract interest.Only three domestic players have entered with reserve prices: Tim Bresnan, Ryan ten Doeschate (both £48,000) and Richard Levi (£32,000). Agents have been in discussions with teams for several months, and it is understood that a handful of players have been given assurances that they will be picked at certain salary bands in the draft.After the draft, each team will have 14 players in their men’s squad, including three overseas players, as well as either one or two England players with red-ball central contracts who will be available for a handful of games at the start of the season and for Finals Day, depending on the biosecurity requirements in place for international fixtures. They will pick one final player following the group stage of the T20 Blast as a ‘wildcard’ selection.Recruitment in the women’s competition falls under a different system, with players able to negotiate directly with teams and agree deals until the end of June. Further players will be announced next week.Rob Hillman, the Hundred’s head of operations, said: “We are delighted with the level of interest we’ve had from both overseas and domestic players. The calibre of the players involved means that it’s going to be an exciting men’s draft, with a lot of competition for spaces amongst really top-drawer names.”

A round-up of the final day’s action of the first round of matches in the 2009-10 Ranji Trophy Plate League

Cricinfo staff06-Nov-2009

Group A

Scorecard
Pankaj Singh picked up 7 for 64 during Assam’s chase as Rajasthan put aside their off-the-field troubles to take full points in Guwahati. Madhur Khatri dealt Assam the first blow on the final day, sending back Dheeraj Jadhav for 16, with the hosts needing 294 to win. That opened the gates for Pankaj, who repeatedly dented Assam – an even better showing than his 4 for 44 in the first innings. The right-arm fast bowler was unstoppable as none of the batsmen managed to convert their starts, with Parvez Aziz top scoring with 45. Assam captain Amol Muzumdar had reason to celebrate though, becoming the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, courtesy his 25 in the second innings.
ScorecardAkshay Wakhare’s five-for might have come too late as Goa held on to first-innings points against Vidarbha in Nagpur. The offpsinner ran through the Goa top and middle orders before they declared on 203 for 8 in their second innings. First-innings centurion Saurabh Bandekar was the top scorer for Goa with 40 off 53 balls. The target of 340 was near impossible to achieve as Jayesh Dongaonkar and captain Alind Naidu saw Vidarbha through to the end of the day’s play at 83 for 1.
Scorecard
Debabrata Chowdhury’s half-century ensured crucial first-innings points for Tripura against Jharkhand in the drawn-game in Ranchi. Chowdhury added 44 to his overnight score of 34, taking Tripura’s first-innings total to 438 – a narrow lead of seven. Opener Siddhartha Sinha gave Jharkhand a solid start in their second innings with 76 and they finally took stumps at 167 for 3. Jharkhand would look to make-up for the lost points when they take on Vidarbha on November 10.

Group B

Scorecard
Girikina Prasad’s five-for ensured Andhra grabbed first-innings against Kerala. Continuing from their overnight score of 208 for 6, Preambhastn Prem and Padmanbhan Prasanth battled valiantly, as the seventh-wicket stand yielded 82. Prem surrendered to Prasad nine short of his fifty, and the offspinner then proceeded to take out the last two batsmen to end with a well-deserved 5 for 100. Sitting pretty on a lead of 106, the Andhra openers, Hemal Watekar and Prasad Reddy, saw out the remaining 11 overs in the day without trouble.
Scorecard
The runs continued to flow in Indore as the Haryana openers made merry after they had ensured first-innings points against Madhya Pradesh. Resuming on 364 for 7, still 182 behind Haryana’s mammoth first-innings total, Sanjay Pandey’s patient 46 only delayed the inevitable. He was the last wicket to fall, with the last three wickets contributing 70. Ahead by 112, Rahul Dewan and Ankit Rawat chose to extend Haryana’s domination, smashing 133 and 100 respectively. While Dewan scored 20 fours during his 171-ball innings, Rawat managed nine fours and three sixes during his knock. The unbeaten 244-run partnership was the perfect icing to the three points Haryana gained.

Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade has said that the one-day specialists and seamers in the side countered Sri Lanka’s spinners by ‘adapting really well on some of the toughest ODI pitches’

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2016Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade has said that the one-day specialists and seamers in the side countered Sri Lanka’s spinners by ‘adapting really well on some of the toughest ODI pitches’, helping the visitors seal the ODI series after a 3-0 whitewash in the Tests.”We have had the advantage, the one-day players getting the advantage to see what the Test pitches have played like and coming here with a clear gameplan,” Wade said. “Myself and George Bailey and a few others have just come over for the one-dayers, we have had a clear plan and it has worked so far.”The wickets have been some of the toughest you’ll get in one-day international cricket, we’ve come from the West Indies, which took spin. You don’t usually play on used wickets back to back in one-day internationals. It hasn’t been suited to the way we play but we’ve adapted really well. We are playing a few more quicks than what they (Sri Lanka) are, but with variable bounce and reverse swing, we’ve countered their spinners.”Despite not being picked as Australia’s designated wicketkeeper for the following T20 series against Sri Lanka, Wade acknowledged he is contributing more to Australia now compared to a few years ago.”Every time you don’t get picked for Australia is disappointing, but that’s the way it goes,” he said. “I’m not a 100 % sure of the reason. (Peter) Nevill played the T20 World Cup and I was told he was going to bat lower, so they wanted to go with his keeping. I’ll just keep playing the way I play in ODIs.”I feel my game is at a level now where I can contribute in ODIs. There was a period of time where my game wasn’t in order three or four years ago, where I felt I wasn’t contributing enough. At the moment, I feel my game is in good order. I want to get picked for every tour, every match because I feel I can do the job.”After Australia’s tri-series win in the Caribbean, stand-in coach Justin Langer challenged Wade to become the best wicketkeeper in the country by following a diligent work ethic. More than two months later, Wade said his keeping is as good as it has ever been.”It came as a bit of shock to me that it came out in the press like that. I spoke to JL (Langer) after and understood what he was trying to say,” Wade said. “I’m under no illusions that I need to work harder and get better at my game. If I want to play Test cricket again, I have to work harder.”I’ve improved with my glovework over the past 3-4 weeks in the subcontinent. I went to England and kept playing, that makes a huge difference in the off-season: going home or just training indoors or going to Brisbane to get work done. This time I went to England. I feel like I’m keeping as well as I’ve done for a very long time.”

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has said the quick fall of Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman – the set batsmen – cost the side in a chase of 196 in Mount Maunganui

Mohammad Isam06-Jan-2017Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has said the quick fall of Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman – the set batsmen – cost the side in a chase of 196 in Mount Maunganui. Sarkar and Sabbir added 68 off 40 balls for the fourth wicket before both batsmen exited in a space of 10 balls. The double-strike triggered another Bangladesh collapse, this time they lost their last seven wickets for 44 runs and lurched to a 47-run defeat.”We were hopeful after they made 195,” Mashrafe said. “We were batting positively after losing three early wickets. We were on course to the target but lost the last seven wickets far too quickly.”They [New Zealand] made 15 extra runs at this ground where 180 is a par score. We had two set batsmen chasing well. So when they got out, the match got out of our reach. We did create chances with the ball by taking three early wickets but we didn’t attack with the wind and then defend when the batsmen were hitting down wind.”Although Sarkar’s wicket contributed to the slide, he briefly found form with 39 off 26 balls, including three fours and two sixes, after scores of 0 and 1 in his last two innings. In fact, it was Sarkar’s first 30-plus score in international cricket since March last year. Mashrafe termed Sarkar’s effort as a “positive sign” but rued the lost opportunity.”He [Sarkar] is back in runs after some time, so he must also be feeling better,” Mashrafe said. “But he lost an opportunity to make a big score. It would have helped us because he was playing their pace well.”While Bangladesh struggled to come to come to terms with the wind, Colin Munro used it an ally to hammer seven sixes during his 52-ball century.”Munro didn’t start off with his shots early because they had lost three early wickets,” Mashrafe said. “Munro was constantly targeting to hit down wind. We couldn’t stop him from doing that. We knew his style of batting. He got out off the first ball in the last game. We failed to take advantage of the opportunity we created ourselves. I don’t think it has anything to do with Munro or anyone. We have the ability to keep creating opportunities but we should capitalise on it.”