All posts by h716a5.icu

Left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen capped off an all-round display by snaring four wickets and then scoring a crucial 33, as she helped Australia Women prevail by five wickets in a tense run-chase against Pakistan Women in Brisbane

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Aug-2014
ScorecardFile photo: Jess Jonassen’s 27-ball 33 helped Australia Women recover from a top-order wobble•Getty ImagesLeft-arm spinner Jess Jonassen capped off an all-round display by snaring four wickets and then scoring a crucial 33, as she helped Australia Women prevail by five wickets in a tense run-chase against Pakistan Women in Brisbane.Rain on Saturday had forced the second ODI to a reserve day, and the weather did not let up even on Sunday, as the game was reduced to 25 overs per side following a delayed start.The hosts inserted Pakistan and made an early impact as medium-pacer Sarah Coyte had the opener Marina Iqbal trapped lbw in the fifth over. Javeria Khan (46) and Bismah Maroof (26) steadied the innings with a 70-run stand for the second wicket, but Jonassen struck four times in three overs as Pakistan slumped from 1 for 81 to 8 for 121.Despite chasing a paltry total, Australia were rocked by the loss of early wickets. Asmavia Iqbal and Sana Mir shared two wickets apiece as the hosts were soon precariously placed 4 for 48, still needing another 74 from 71 deliveries.Jonassen, however, coming in at No.6, eased the pressure with a six off Nida Dar in the 18th over. Jonassen did not strike any more boundaries, but kept the score ticking with singles and twos as she raced to 33 off just 27 balls, and also produced a vital 60-run partnership with Alex Blackwell.Jonassen eventually fell in the 23rd over, but Blackwell remained unbeaten on 39 to guide Australia home with three balls to spare. The win gave Australia a 2-0 lead in the series, with two more games to play.

Mohammad Hafeez has defiantly suggested that he has no need to modify his bowling action less than a week after he was reported during a Champions League game

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2014Mohammad Hafeez has defiantly suggested that he has no need to modify his bowling action less than a week after he was reported during a Champions League game.Hafeez was one of four offspinners reported by Kumar Dharmasena, a former ICC umpire of the year, during the Champions League, but it would have needed a second report for any of them to be banned from bowling in the tournament.Although any sanction would have only applied to Indian-run domestic tournaments, Hafeez is bound to feel that his action will be under greater scrutiny than normal during Pakistan’s series against Australia that begins with a Twenty20 international in Dubai on Sunday.”I am surprised over my action being reported because I am bowling like this for the last 11 years,” he said. “I have played six major world events: two World Cups and three World Twenty20s and nobody had ever questioned my action, this is a big surprise for me.”I will bowl the same way I have been bowling throughout my career. I don’t bowl a doosra. I bowl simple offbreaks and that doesn’t come under chucking.”Hafeez has a wealth of experience, with over 200 international wickets behind him, and his action has never attracted widespread qualms, but his suggestion that he cannot be questioned because he does not bowl a doosra will cause raised eyebrows: chucking a conventional offspinner is entirely possible.Three new ICC testing centres are now operational, with Brisbane and Chennai joining Cardiff on the list of approved facilities, and there seems to be a clear campaign against potentially illegal actions – with offspinners to the fore – before next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.Pakistan’s coach, Waqar Younis, has expressed misgivings that the development could “shatter” Hafeez’s confidence but the player himself issued a strong-willed defence of his action before departing with the rest of the squad to the UAE.The ICC began a crackdown on illegal bowling actions in June. Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson were suspended, Saeed Ajmal followed, with his conventional offspinners, not just his doosra, also found to be beyond the 15 degree maximum of arm straightening permitted in the regulations.

Ajinkya Rahane has been a calming influence for India in the opening slot, the proof of which was visible during his half-century knock in the fourth ODI against West Indies, but consistency is something he is striving for

PTI19-Oct-2014Ajinkya Rahane has been a calming influence for India in the opening slot, the proof of which was visible during his half-century knock in the fourth ODI against West Indies, but consistency is something he is striving for to cement his place in the team.Opening the batting, Rahane scored a stroke-filled 68 off 79 balls and looked on course for a century before his innings was cut short by Sulieman Benn in the fourth ODI.Asked to judge his progression as a batsman, Rahane said his main focus now is to convert starts into big scores. “I have always tried my best to improve certain aspects of my game and pick certain bits and pieces from practice sessions and the matches that I play,” Rahane told bcci.tv. “From the previous tours till now I have realised that consistency will be an important factor. I have often got starts for the team but not been able to convert them into big ones.”I realise that if I get a big score opening the innings, it will only help the team’s cause. I would want to get a lot more consistent.”To bring that consistency, my focus has been to keep up the momentum that I attained till I reached a score of 30 or 40. At the same time I have realised that I need to play risk free cricket and back myself to play proper cricketing shots.”Opening the batting is an important slot in the batting order because it is the openers who set up the platform for the team during a run-chase or while setting a target. For improving my concentration I meditate and read books.”Presently, there is competition for the openers’ slots and Rahane said it is always welcome to see healthy competition for places in a side. “It is always good to have healthy competition when you are playing for your country. You need to accept it as a challenge, especially at this stage, when you are playing tough cricket. I enjoy the competition.”MS Dhoni had a chat with me and asked me to back my strengths and play according to them. I am at the moment concentrating on backing my own game and performing to my potential. I always try to focus on the present and work towards it rather than thinking about the future tours.”

For the second time this year, Kevin Pietersen suggested Alastair Cook should quit the England captaincy. This time he tweeted his dissatisfaction with England’s one-day form, though Cook is just as disinclined to listen

Alan Gardner in Colombo29-Nov-2014For the second time this year, Kevin Pietersen has suggested Alastair Cook should quit the England captaincy.After England went 1-0 down in the Test series against India, which they came back to win 3-1, Pietersen used his newspaper column to advise Cook to go. This time Pietersen tweeted his dissatisfaction with England’s one-day form, though Cook is just as disinclined to listen.”Dear Alastair, if you care about England’s chances this winter, pls resign and just concentrate on Test cricket…#getHalesin,” Pietersen wrote on Twitter after England lost the second ODI to Sri Lanka by eight wickets.But, following a difficult week, Cook reiterated his commitment to the job and to overseeing an upturn in form. He admitted he was feeling the pressure, over his lack of runs as much as the team’s poor run, and that Pietersen was entitled to his view but said his future would not be determined by those “on the outside” of the England dressing room.”People are totally entitled to their view, that’s the nature of the beast when you’re on the outside,” Cook said. “People believe what they want to believe and in our dressing room, we’ve got to stay strong as a group, we’re the guys who have the honour of playing for England at this precise moment in time and we’re the guys with the opportunity to turn it around, not other people outside.”Pietersen has not played for England since the start of the year and was effectively sacked after the ruinous Ashes tour to Australia. His recent autobiography was not explicitly critical of Cook, calling him a “company man”, but another woeful England batting display prompted Pietersen’s call for Cook to resign and Alex Hales to be promoted as opener.Cook made 22 at the Premadasa stadium, following a score of 10 in the first ODI, and he has gone 20 months without a one-day hundred. England have not won a series with Cook in charge since the New Zealand tour of 2013, although they did get to the final of the Champions Trophy the same year.”I think you feel the heat when you’re not scoring runs,” Cook said. “Of course, the start of the tour, when you have two games and you don’t score the runs you want, you’re going to start feeling that. I’ve just got to do what I keep doing, keep believing with myself, keep doing my basics well.”

Dear Alastair, if you care about England's chances this winter, pls resign and just concentrate on Test cricket…#getHalesin

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) November 29, 2014

Asked whether a fifth defeat in England’s last six ODIs had shaken his conviction, he said: “No, I don’t think it does, actually. From the first game, I thought we took a lot out of the way we went about our business. Obviously it helped Mo playing an extraordinary innings but we’ve got people capable of doing that. It’ll be a dent to our confidence, we’ve got four days to the next game, how we respond will be really important.”The death of Phillip Hughes had overshadowed the match, with a minute’s silence observed beforehand and flags at half-mast, although Cook did not attempt to use that as an excuse. England have also missed out on several practice sessions and one warm-up game due to poor weather.”It has been a difficult day but that’s the same for both sides, in terms of the fixture,” he said. “We just never got going. In hindsight I probably would have changed my decision at the toss, I probably misread that a little bit. Probably as a batting unit we set our sights too high, playing on a similar wicket from two days ago and we just didn’t adjust quick enough. I know it was a 45-over game, but 250 you’d have had a really good chance. But we probably thought it was a 300 wicket early on and we paid the price for that.”You don’t win any games when you don’t get partnerships together. We know that, no one is deliberately trying to get out, no one is deliberately trying to not build a partnership … But we just didn’t get going today, whether that’s the effect of the events over the last couple of days, not having a practice day yesterday might have contributed to it, I don’t know. It’s just been a weird couple of days to be honest with you and probably that showed in our performance.”

Australia had a near-perfect day in their endeavor to be in a position to push hard for victory on Saturday in Adelaide

The Report by George Binoy12-Dec-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
3:04

Match point – Australia batted too long

Australia had a near-perfect day in their endeavour to be in a position to push hard for victory on Saturday in Adelaide. Offspinner Nathan Lyon used the considerable bounce in the pitch to hasten the end of the Indian innings during an extended first session, securing a 73-run lead for his side, after which David Warner scored a second hundred in the Test – for the second time in 2014 – to help stretch that advantage to 363 at stumps.Another overnight declaration is inevitable, which means India will have at least 98 overs to survive if they are to leave for Brisbane with the series still level. One day of batting might not seem improbable, but the last time India batted at least that many overs in the final innings of an away Test was at Lord’s in 2002, a match they still lost. Before that, it was in Colombo in 1997, and then in Adelaide in 1992. Such is the magnitude of the task ahead of Virat Kohli’s men.That Australia had so much time to try to force a win in this most emotional of Tests, despite losing most of the second day to rain, was down to Lyon and Warner. Lyon claimed three of the last five wickets to become only the second Australian spinner to take a five-for at home against India, after Bob Simpson in 1968.India had resumed on 5 for 369, and Rohit Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha had survived opening spells from Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson without much trouble. Michael Clarke made his bowling changes after the first half hour and wickets came quickly. Rohit had just stepped out to loft Lyon for a boundary over mid-on, but when he advanced again next ball he wasn’t to the pitch of it and chipped a return catch. India’s tail was exposed early.Peter Siddle was unwell and expensive on the third day but his pace was up on Friday and he swiftly breached the debutant Karn Sharma’s defences. And had Siddle not dropped Mohammed Shami off Lyon on the deep midwicket boundary, Australia would have been batting sooner.Though he had Saha for company, Shami slogged with abandon. His initial approach was questionable, but it brought valuable runs after Saha’s dismissal – caught at slip off bat and pad, though replays indicated the decision was also questionable. Two balls later Lyon had Ishant at bat-pad to complete his five.India’s last wicket added 22 as Shami slogged between deep square leg and long-on. Siddle eventually found the toe end of his bat, and Shane Watson took a low catch at first slip to end the innings on 444.Warner then got cracking. Not in the 45 minutes before lunch, when he was sussing how different batting conditions were from the first innings, but after the break, when he laid into India’s specialist spinner and part-timer. He lofted Karn Sharma and M Vijay repeatedly over their heads, slapped through cover when their lengths were short, and reverse swept too. He hit Australia’s first six of the Test – a towering blow over midwicket off Vijay.Warner brought up his half-century off 63 balls, and then stopped by Phillip Hughes’ final score of 63 for the second time in the match. With his spinners proving ineffective – their ends had been swapped immediately after Karn dismissed Chris Rogers – Virat Kohli turned to Ishant Sharma but Watson glanced and flicked leg-side offerings to the boundary.Varun Aaron had not been used until the 32nd over – presumably to keep fresh for any reverse swing – and in his second over he bowled Warner. The contest heated up instantly. Aaron and Kohli celebrated aggressively, but replays revealed a no-ball. Warner returned the cries of “come on,” more than once as he returned to the pitch, and a ball later there were confrontations involving several Indians and the batsmen. The umpires intervened and Kohli had to calm his own emotions to rein in his players.Aaron revved it up, but a bouncer deflected off Watson for four leg byes, a leg-side wide went to the boundary, and the batsman flicked to the midwicket boundary off consecutive deliveries.At tea, with Australia ahead by 212 and a host of aggressive batsmen to follow Warner and Watson, a declaration before stumps seemed likely. But Watson and Clarke fell in quick succession and Warner slowed down. His second 50 took 91 deliveries and Warner celebrated the landmark with his customary leap and a gaze up at the skies.There was another flashpoint soon after. Steven Smith reacted to an absurd appeal, prompting the bowler Rohit to exclaim, “What? What?” Several exchanges were made between players and there was a long conversation between Kohli and umpire Ian Gould.There was no aggression in India’s cricket, though, as Smith and Mitchell Marsh clobbered the bowling in the last half hour of the day. Marsh clubbed 40 off 26 balls and Smith was unbeaten on 52 at stumps. It is unlikely Australia will bat on Saturday.

West Indies T20 captain Darren Sammy believes that a change of format could invigorate the team after their defeat in the Test series

Firdose Moonda08-Jan-20152:11

‘We’re very confident’ – Sammy

A knowing smile, widening eyes, fidgety fingers. Those are just three of many ways to read someone’s mood even if you don’t know them at all. The other is by listening. Not to the things they say but the other sounds: low humming can reveal anxiety, a clicking tongue irritation and music can express just about anything. In the case of the West Indies team, it beats a ballad of bliss.The tunes seeping from their team room, through the walls in the bowels of the Newlands members’ stand where the media conference venue is nestled, were upbeat and catchy, toe-tapping, hip-swaying sounds. They told not of a team who had been outplayed just two days ago, for the third time in as many matches, but of optimism and enthusiasm for what’s to come. And Darren Sammy confirmed that is exactly how they feel.”We are generally a happy bunch of boys. We are moving forward. There’s a new energy and a different calibre of players,” Sammy, West Indies’ T20 captain, said.Although five members of the Test squad that lost 2-0 to South Africa are part of their T20 outfit, West Indies have been bolstered by the arrival of their heavyweights for the shortest format. Most notable among them are Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard but Andre Russell and Sammy himself will also attract attention.All four played in the most recent edition of South Africa’s domestic T20 competition and are expected to be familiar with the type of cricket needed to be successful in these conditions.”We gained a bit of knowledge but at the same time it was a plus for the South Africans, who were able to get some information on us,” Sammy said. “But we are very confident. We won a World T20 three years ago and we believe we have some of the best players in the world in this format.”Darren Sammy hopes the T20 format can inspire West Indies to throw a few shapes•WICBFaf du Plessis, Sammy’s opposite number, agrees and happily stuck the underdog label on his own men. “They are full of match-winners so it will be really for tough for us but that’s how we want it,” du Plessis said. “We want our guys to compete against the best in the world.”Although West Indies have dipped since being crowned champions in 2012, they remain a formidable short-format side and du Plessis identified their batsmen as the biggest threat. “They have got guys who come in and put you under pressure and that’s the hardest thing as a captain,” he said. “When you get a wicket you try and bring the run rate down but with them, it’s almost the opposite. They come in and keep playing.”That is what Sammy intends to do in this series as well: just keep playing in the hope a change in fortunes can be conjured up. West Indies endured a difficult 2014, in which they lost at home to New Zealand and endured an administrative crisis. Their challenges only get bigger in 2015, starting with a World Cup in which they are expected to perform well. Sammy doesn’t want to think that far ahead but sees this series as an opportunity to get the ball rolling and the music playing before they have to challenge for serious silverware.”It’s a different format but the contest between bat and ball doesn’t change,” he said. “Whatever form of cricket we get, we can use to get guys in good nick and build the team spirit. We’ll be focusing on this T20 series to try to play the brand of cricket that helped us win the cup in 2012.” And the beat goes on…

A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group B matches on February 7, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2015
ScorecardGujarat needed just over 31 overs to complete a nine-wicket win against Haryana on a raging turner in Ahmedabad, despite conceding a first-innings lead. Twenty-six wickets had tumbled on day one, and the trend continued on the second morning, as Haryana, who began on 71 for 6, lost their last four wickets for just 36 runs to be bowled out for 110.Rush Kalaria, who had picked up four first-innings wickets, added to his tally by collecting 5 for 26. Hardik Patel chipped in with 3 for 29, as only two Haryana batsmen made more than 12. It meant that Gujarat needed just 115 for victory and though they aced the chase in just 18 overs, the wicket of Priyank Kirit Panchal in the sixth over meant that the hosts were denied a bonus point. Parthiv Patel, who top-scored with 43 in the first-innings, once again led from the front, hitting a 54-ball 62. He shared an unbroken, 81-run stand with Chirag Gandhi (42*), ensuring Gujarat sealed only their second win of the season. ScorecardSixteen wickets tumbled on the second day in Pune as Vidarbha were bowled out for 114 in their first innings and were asked to follow on. Seamer Domnic Joseph’s five-wicket haul underpinned Ankit Bawne’s second successive century with Maharashtra taking control of a match that has high stakes for both teams.The procession began during the Maharashtra’s innings as Rahul Tripathi was run out for 43 in the sixth over of the day. Chirag Khurana was dismissed by Swapnil Bandiwar off the next ball and the lower-order could not lend much support as the hosts could only push their overnight score by 80 runs and were all out for 342. Bawne contributed 44 of them and remained unbeaten with 13 fours and a six.In response, Vidarbha were reduced to 22 for 4 against Joseph and Shrikant Mundhe and could not recover. Only two batsmen crossed 15 with captain S Badrinath’s 27 off 55 deliveries being the top score.Sent back in, the Vidarbha openers batted out 13 overs in the second innings until stumps.
ScorecardFifties from Mandeep Singh, debutant Himanshu Chawla and Gurkeerat Singh helped Punjab gain a slender first-innings lead of 14. But it was swiftly erased as Unmukt Chand and Gautam Gambhir took Delhi to 48 for no loss by stumps.The overnight pair of Mandeep and Himanshu began the second day by extending their third-wicket partnership to 86, before Chawla became the first of left-arm spinner Varun Sood’s four victims.Mandeep continued, making 82 off 159 balls with 10 fours and was assisted by Gurkeerat Singh’s 57 off 90 to lift Punjab into the lead. Gurkeerat’s loss, though, led to a lower-order collapse as the last three wickets fell for seven runs.Manan Sharma picked up 3 for 51 to add to his unbeaten 77 in Punjab’s first innings.
ScorecardSudeep Tyagi’s five-wicket haul routed Odisha for 88 in the first innings, but their fast bowlers hit back hard and reduced Saurashtra to 64 for 6 by stumps on the second day in Cuttack.Only three of Odisha’s batsmen could reach double-figures. The first-wicket partnership was restricted to 27 as Jaydev Unadkat bowled Girija Rout for 18 in the 12th over. Paresh Patel, the other opener, Govinda Podder and Anurag Sarangi were knocked back quickly as the score slipped further to 77 for 5. The remaining batsmen could add only 11 more runs as Tyagi finished with 5 for 24 and Unadkat 3 for 33.Saurashtra’s batsmen fared no better in the second innings, but their mammoth first-innings lead came in handy. Seamer Deepak Behera and Basant Mohanty delivered combined figures of 21-12-21-5 to wreck the top and middle order. Cheteshwar Pujara injured his hand while fielding and did not bat. Saurashtra are already ahead by 194 runs with Jaydev Shah and Unadkat at the crease.

David Warner has great respect for Brendon McCullum, but thinks the secret to countering his influence this Saturday will be to force him to have a “brain explosion”

Brydon Coverdale in Auckland24-Feb-2015David Warner has great respect for Brendon McCullum, but thinks the secret to countering his influence this Saturday will be to force him to have a “brain explosion”. Australia take on New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday and Warner expects a hostile crowd to send a few obscure swear words his way, but he is more interested in what will happen in the middle.It will be Australia’s second match of the World Cup after their wash-out against Bangladesh, and it will be New Zealand’s fourth. Their most recent game was a thrashing of England at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, where McCullum smashed 77 off 25 balls. You could say he blew the lid off the Cake Tin, except that cake tins don’t really have lids.There are plenty of dangerous batsmen in the New Zealand line-up but McCullum is the key wicket, given the swiftness with which he can take a game away from the opposition. In that sense he is perhaps New Zealand’s David Warner, which might explain why Warner believes he knows the way to get McCullum – build up the pressure and force him into a mistake.”I think a lot of people have seen in the last 10 years how Brendon McCullum can bat,” Warner said in Auckland. “It’s not by fluke or by chance he’s come out and scored the runs he has. He’s had a great last 12 months but at the end of the day he’s one player out of the rest of their team.”I haven’t played much against him. But he seems like a great guy. I think a lot of the guys know him off the field. He seems like a great, humble guy. But when we walk on the field it’s going to be a different story.”If he nicks them we’ve got to catch them. If they bowl the right line and lengths we’ll get him out. He’s a player who can come down the wicket, use the off side well. We’ve got to back our strengths. If we bowl well to him, we’ll create the pressure and he’ll have a brain explosion.”Warner is no stranger to brain explosions himself, both on field and off. When Australia last played New Zealand, in the 2013 Champions Trophy in England, Warner was left out of the XI; it had just emerged that day that Warner had punched Joe Root in a pub a few days earlier. As it happened, the match was washed out.Strangely, that is the only ODI that Australia and New Zealand have played in the past four years, their last result being an Australian victory in Nagpur in the 2011 World Cup. The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy seems to have largely been forgotten, although it is likely that it will be placed up for grabs in this Saturday’s game in Auckland.The last time a full Chappell-Hadlee series was played was in 2009-10, when Australia won 3-2 in New Zealand. Warner did not play in that series but he was part of the T20s on the same tour, and he knows what to expect from the New Zealand crowd.”I hope they come out and boo us and give us crap like they always do,” Warner said. “That’s what’s going to happen. We love it, it gets us up and going, gets the adrenaline going for sure.”I love it. You get some obscure swear words and a couple of things thrown at you, but that’s what you expect when you come here. It’s happened before. It’s probably going to happen again. But I embrace it. They can give it to me as much as they want. I’ll just get it on board and let my bat do the talking.”

Kevin Pietersen may have been deemed “disengaged” by the England management, but at Surrey he is viewed as an ideal role-model for young players

George Dobell26-Mar-20152:33

‘World class KP signing a massive boost’ – Stewart

Kevin Pietersen may have been deemed “disengaged” by the England management, but at Surrey he is viewed as an ideal role-model for young players.Only a few weeks after the ECB hinted that Pietersen was not seen as a “positive dressing room influence,” Surrey have made it clear that they view him quite differently by re-signing him for the 2015 season.Underlining his commitment to regaining a place in the England side, Pietersen has negotiated his release from his IPL contract with Sunrisers Hyderabad and announced that he will donate all his wages from his Surrey deal to his charity, the Kevin Pietersen Foundation.Pietersen has not, at this stage, signed to play anything other than first-class cricket for the club and is still scheduled to play in the Caribbean Premier League from the third week of June. All that could change, however, depending on what else happens in the next few weeks. He is likely to make his first appearance of the season against Oxford MCCU in the Parks on April 12, with his first Championship match of the season coming on April 19 against Glamorgan in Cardiff.”We’ve never had a problem with him,” Alec Stewart, the Surrey director of cricket, said. “If we had ever had a problem with him, we wouldn’t be welcoming him back. I have a relationship with him as does Graham Ford, our first team coach, who has worked with him since the age of nine.”Yes, we need good cricketers, but we also need good people. We are trying to bring through young players who learn and do the right thing. Jason Roy, for example has learnt so much from KP. He has huge respect, looks up to him and would like to emulate what KP has done as a player.”We’ve gained a very ambitious, very good player. That’s why we’ve brought him back in.”While Pietersen might, in the past, have struggled to motivate himself for the prospect of a Division Two promotion challenge, the incentive of a potential England recall will, in Stewart’s opinion, focus his mind. Pietersen already averages 77.16 in the nine first-class games he has played for the club with some suggesting that, given good luck with the weather, he could become the first man this century – and only the ninth in all – to register 1,000 runs before the end of May.”It’s a good story for us,” Stewart said. “We want to be successful and we want to win things here, but we also have a duty to produce players for England.”Kevin is eligible to play for England. He has set his sights on the Ashes and, if he scores runs for us, then the selectors will have to make a decision.”Stewart went on to suggest that, should Pietersen return to the England team, it might constitute one of the “biggest comeback” stories in sport.”If he ends up playing for England again it is going to be one of the biggest comebacks in sport,” Stewart said. “Just coming back to play for Surrey isn’t right up there, but for England it would be.”Going back to the times of Kerry Packer, players got banned. When they went to play in South Africa they got banned and they came back. So it isn’t as though someone who has been slung out has never come back.”There are examples there of the ECB, going back on decisions. Will they have to this time because of what he is doing? We’ll see.”It is sad that one of England’s finest players has been at loggerheads with the ECB. Both parties are at fault. He has been very good for England and England have been very good for him.”But we got to a situation where they sacked him and that is not right because somehow they have to find some common ground. I am not saying pick him but they have to find common ground where a relationship is recreated whether it is for now or for in 20 years time when, for example, they suddenly might want a dinner for the 2005 Ashes winners. Why would you not want one of the main contributors being there rather than being frightened to invite him?”And we don’t want everyone exactly the same. It would be pretty dull.”Lycamobile supports ‘Chance to Shine Street’ as part of its mission to bring communities together. www.lycamobile.com

Dale Steyn has suggested he may not be available for the full duration of South Africa’s next international assignment, against Bangladesh in July, as he tries to manage his workload with one eye on appearing at another World Cup

Firdose Moonda11-May-2015Dale Steyn has suggested he may not be available for the full duration of South Africa’s next international assignment, against Bangladesh in July, as he tries to manage his workload with one eye on appearing at another World Cup.”At this stage of my career, I’d rather be saving myself to go and participate in the major tournaments, rather than wasting the few balls I have left in my career in a Bangladesh match,” Steyn said in an interview with “I’d rather go to Bangladesh to help and support future South African bowlers, and use what is left of the 10,000 or 20,000 deliveries that I have in my body for the big tournament. That’s where I’m at personally. But at the beginning of my career, I would have done everything. I would have gone every tournament and to every place. But I’ve done it all now.”Steyn, who has been playing international cricket for a decade, has competed against all nine Test teams he could have faced. He maintains that Test cricket is the format he wants to “play a lot more,” in, especially because, at 31, he considers his days “numbered.”In the same time period, Steyn has been less prolific in limited-overs cricket. He has featured in two fifty-over World Cups and four World T20s but been rested from several other series as South Africa sought to keep him fresh. As his career reaches its twilight years, Steyn said that trend will continue because he placed greater value on major tournaments than bilateral series.”It might sound very cocky or naïve of me, or self-centered, but I want to win a World Cup for my country. And they only come around once every four years. If you’re playing in the Twenty20 World Cup, luckily they come around every second year,” he said. “So with all due respect to places like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, going and playing three ODIs in Bangladesh does nothing for my confidence as opposed to knowing that I’m going to a World Cup”That could leave South Africa without several senior players for their two T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests against Bangladesh. Apart from Steyn, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and Morne Morkel could all miss some part of the series as all three are expecting the birth of their first children around the time of the tour, which could present an opportunity for the team to blood some new players.Marchant de Lange and Kagiso Rabada are among the fast bowlers coming through who may get a chance in Bangladesh, where they will work under a new coach. Allan Donald decided not to seek a renewal of his contract after the World Cup which has left a vacancy among the management team. His replacement, expected to be Charl Langeveldt, will be announced in early June. Steyn has also offered to travel as a mentor.South Africa will also have a new Test opener following the retirement of Alviro Petersen in January. Stiaan van Zyl, Cobras’ left-hander who scored a century on Test debut, is in line to fill that role. The new-look South African outfit could also see two spinners in a Test XI, with Dane Piedt and Simon Harmer both expected to make the trip, while Aaron Phangiso should get some game time in shorter formats after spending the World Cup on the sidelines.