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Opening batsman fell off England radar after three lean seasons for Lancashire

George Dobell04-Dec-2020When England returned from India at the end of 2016, it looked for all the world as if they had discovered a new opening batsman to serve them for a decade and more.Haseeb Hameed had only played three Tests in that Test series before a broken finger ended his involvement. But so assured had the 19-year-old seemed, so accomplished had he appeared, it looked as if they had discovered Alastair Cook’s successor.It was not to be. Returning to county cricket at the start of 2017, Hameed endured a horrid run of form. He had to wait until August to register a County Championship half-century and at one stage suffered four ducks in nine Championship innings. England couldn’t pick him.The hope was the year would prove to be a blip. But it wasn’t. He averaged 9.70 in the 2018 Championship season and 28.41 in 2019. As much for his good as theirs, Lancashire released him ahead of 2020.Nobody has yet been able to put their finger on what went wrong. There aren’t glaring technical flaws; there’s no lack of effort or obvious weakness. Some claim he wanted it too much. But they all do, really. Unless you’re committed, you won’t rise to the top. Those with simple answers tend to be those with simple minds.Haseeb Hameed had a lean three years in county cricket for Lancashire•Getty Images

But the story isn’t over. Signing for Nottinghamshire ahead of the 2020 season – he wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last to be charmed by their head coach Peter Moores – Hameed enjoyed a steady if unspectacular return to form. Thursday gave us, perhaps, the next step in his rehabilitation, with the announcement that he had signed a contract extension securing his future at Nottinghamshire until at least the end of 2022.Some caution is required here: Hameed averaged 38.85 in 2020. There were three half-centuries in seven innings. That’s pretty good, but there were no centuries and he averaged about half what his opening partner, Ben Slater, did and about 20 fewer than another top-order player on that India tour, Ben Duckett. Talk of an England recall is premature.ALSO READ: Notts move lays foundation for Hameed to reinvigorate his faltering careerStill, it is heartening to see him heading in the right direction, and to see him smiling as he talks about his cricket. He’s still only 23. It’s not unreasonable to think there could be brighter days ahead.As he spoke on Thursday, it became clear how tough some aspects of the last few years have been and, as a consequence, what an achievement it is to return to a position where he is consistently scoring runs.”I didn’t give it too much thought,” he replied when asked whether he considered leaving the game entirely. “Of course when you’re going through a tough phase there are a lot of different voices in your head. You go through that bit of difficult period. You get a number of different thoughts of walking away from the game. I’d say it was very tough. To have had the success I’ve had, to then have what followed… it hit quite hard.”There were hints, too, of what may have helped turn things around. Instead of concentrating on run-scoring, for example, Moores has him focused upon enjoyment. And instead of conversations about what he needed to do, teammates discussed his successes of the past.”The Notts players appreciated this was a new chapter for me,” he said. “And they appreciated you don’t want to dwell on what happened. It was starting afresh. So we’ve just talked about good memories: I was able to score a few runs against Notts in red and white-ball cricket at Trent Bridge. Having those sort of conversations does help. And they signed me as a player. You can take confidence from that.”Cricket is fun again. That became quite a focus: enjoying batting again, enjoying being with my team mates and all those different things. This environment is brilliant for that. It’s a lovely mix of younger lads who are extremely ambitious – Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett, Tom Moores and Zak Chappell – and extremely talented. To have that mix with the older guys who have been around the club for a long time is brilliant.”It’s interesting to note, too, that Moores, once derided for his obsession with data, is now credited with uncluttering Hameed’s mind.”Peter is a big believer in there being an information overload now,” Hameed said. “It’s easy to look at other players and think you’ve got to do this or that. But the key message from Mooresy is: trust your game. Make refinements, yes, but not wholesale changes.”For me right now, it’s less about being so methodical and so watchful. It’s more about letting my game flow and enjoying the art of batting. It’s a case of not getting too caught up in almost survival. Yes, at the top of the order you do need a strong defence. But at the end of the day the game is about scoring runs and there is no point spending 100 balls at the crease to score 10 runs and then getting a good ball or a bad decision, and you’re out.”Haseeb Hameed celebrates with his team-mates after another Nottinghamshire wicket•Getty Images

Most of all, though, the whole episode speaks of a resilience within Hameed. There are no guarantees that he’ll ever recapture the spirit of that 19-year-old with the broken finger in Mohali. But there’s something admirable in the way he’s fought through the bad times. You’d need a heart of stone not to wish him well.”I still look at myself as quite a young man within the game,” he said. “I look at it as something that can propel me to achieve greater things.”One thing I’ve prided myself on from a young age is my best years were after my worst years. As a 15-year-old I won the player of year trophy at Lancashire and three awards at the Bunbury festival and then selection in the England development programme came after a year, when 14, I had the worst year of junior career.”Then I look at not being selected for the U-19 World Cup and, a year later, going to Bangladesh in the senior team. That stuck with me. That tells me I’ve something deep down that won’t let me stop. Of course you have doubts. But that’s when you need something within you, deep down, to stop you giving in and try one more time. That mental resilience has been quite good for me.”Look at those who have achieved great things in life and in sports: these things don’t happen without setbacks and real slumps. The ones that achieve more are the ones who have had the biggest slumps and bigger downfalls. To say those four years have been easy wouldn’t be true. It was very difficult.”But I still want to push. I’m still clear what I want to achieve and I still have the confidence I will get there.”

India’s batting innings was hurt by three run-outs on day three

Varun Shetty08-Jan-2021Australia ended the third day 197 ahead, with eight wickets in hand, and both Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith looking at their pristine best as they picked apart India’s insipid – and temporarily depleted – bowling attack in the final session. India’s day didn’t end too far from where it had begun in terms of the deficit, but a collapse of 6 for 49 at the end of their innings and the ease of Australia’s scoring in the final session pushed them decidedly behind in the match. The relentlessness of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood was responsible for that, as they were bowled out for 244, 94 short of Australia’s first-innings score, while also losing the immediate services of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja who were both hit on their hands by bouncers and missed the end of the day as they went away for scans.Coming into the day – the sunniest of all so far – at 96 for 2, it was clear that India’s senior-most batsmen had to both be among the runs if they were to set up a fighting chance for their inexperienced bowling line-up. But both Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were met with the exact diligence and consistency that they faced in the last hour of the second day; they had made nine in the last ten overs in that period, and on the morning of the third they got only 11 off seven overs in the opening half hour. Rahane countered the short-pitched bowling with compulsive hooks and attacking shots briefly, but uneven bounce had already shown up early in the day. Eventually, he chopped a late cut on as the ball stayed lower than he expected when he leapt to execute the shot.Pat Cummins leaps up in joy after getting rid of Cheteshwar Pujara with a jaffa•Getty Images

That brought Hanuma Vihari to the crease and another extended period of tight bowling – into the body mostly, by both spinner and fast bowlers – that seemed to produce chances every couple of overs. Pujara looked to find an escape off Nathan Lyon’s bowling, but before he could manage to get the strategy going properly, he had been dropped by Mathew Wade at short leg. Vihari had his share of misses and inside-edges and reprieves close-in as well, as he got wrapped tighter and tighter into a shell. At 4 off 37, he looked to steal a single to Hazlewood’s right at mid-off, only for the bowler to adjust his lunge such that he could throw the ball at the stumps immediately. Executing to perfection, he hit the non-striker’s stumps directly to catch Vihari short.Australia had India 142 for 4 at that point and were only a wicket away from exposing the lower order. Enter Pant who, once again, came out attacking and briefly swayed the momentum India’s way. Against predominantly short bowling, he occasionally fended, occasionally ducked, and often cut or pulled to pick up quick boundaries early in his innings. He was also struck on the elbow by Cummins during that phase, the blow that later kept him out as Wriddhiman Saha came in to keep wicket in Australia’s second innings.Pant’s stand with Pujara settled down after the early bluster, and stretched past 50 with runs coming a lot easier than in any previous stand. But after negotiating the second new ball together for close to eight overs, both Pant and Pujara fell six balls apart. Hazlewood had Pant nicking to first slip from around the wicket, and Cummins – for the fourth time in five innings – got Pujara to edge behind with one that straightened in the channel. Just like that 195 for 4 turned to 195 for 6, and from there it was a rather dramatic, humbling collapse.Only Jadeja’s forced counterattack in the last-wicket stand looked anything like competitiveness as R Ashwin, first, and then Jasprit Bumrah were run out to lift the innings’ tally of those caught short of their ground to three. Between them was Navdeep Saini’s attempt at standing up to Mitchell Starc, whom he had peppered with bouncers and a beamer on day two; in turn, he was softened by three bouncers and patted the fourth to short cover who was brought in that very ball. Starc also got Jadeja’s left thumb with a bouncer in the middle of all this, before Cummins wrapped the innings up and finished with 4 for 29 in 21.4 overs.India managed to dismiss both openers fairly early, starting with Mohammed Siraj finding Will Pucovski’s outside edge just as the debutant had begun to look confident. David Warner then missed a slog-sweep against Ashwin to be lbw, and it looked like India had a way back in. While the first session had balls kicking up at batsmen, Bumrah and Ashwin both got a few to keep low in the final session. With the uneven bounce going both upwards and down, India might have enjoyed more control had Jadeja been available.Instead, it was mostly rock-solid batting from Labuschagne and Smith that dominated the rest of the session. They had both picked up the pace of the pitch fairly early on, and appeared more than ready for India’s leg-trap strategy – loading up the leg side infield and slanting it into the stumps. The strategy that had worked so well all series till now as a restrictive tool, came apart for India. In fact, it proved to have the opposite effect here, as Labuschagne picked up four boundaries square on the leg side. Rahane attempted a brief rotation of his bowlers, in order to have as much of Bumrah on as possible. But little control came from the other end as no-balls, boundary balls and touches of genius driving from Smith kept pegging India back. By stumps, the third-wicket pair had added 68 without once looking like getting out.

Absence in Sri Lanka means limited preparation time ahead of Chennai Test

Andrew Miller28-Jan-2021If ever there was proof that cricket is a mental game, then Rory Burns is banking on showing it in the coming weeks in India, as he prepares to make his case for a return to England’s Test team following the birth of his first daughter Cora, despite not having played a first-class fixture since the beginning of September.Burns and his fellow late arrivals, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, touched down in India on Monday, just as their England team-mates were wrapping up their 2-0 series win in Sri Lanka. The trio are expected to get their first opportunity for outdoor training at Chepauk Stadium on Sunday, five days out from the first Test against India – a team whose recent victory in Australia underlines the magnitude of the challenge that England are set to face.It’s hardly ideal preparation, but then there’s little about the current Covid-influenced climate that is. And until his mandatory six-day quarantine period has elapsed, Burns accepts he will have to make do with shadow-batting in front of his hotel-room mirror, while keeping his mind active with some exploratory dabblings in a psychology course – one that he says may or may not form the basis of a post-cricket career.”Psychology in cricket has always been an interest of mind, so I’m just dipping my toe in to see if I want to pursue it further,” Burns said during a media Zoom call. “It helps to keep you fresh and get your mind away from cricket, so that I don’t just sit there and stew about the game and things going on in the world. Because if 2020 wasn’t a humbler for people, then I don’t know what will be.”But I can’t wait to get going,” he added. “I’ve literally got a bat in front of the mirror. I’ve not gone the full Steve Smith and whited up yet, but just having the bat in hand makes me hungry to get going. It’s coming down alright, so hopefully that translates.”It’s obviously a challenge, but there’s not much we can do about that schedule. If you waste time thinking about that, it’s probably not going to do you any good.”And while Burns acknowledged that sitting out of the Sri Lanka tour for the birth of his daughter had been a “double-edged sword” in terms of asserting his status as England’s first-choice opening batsman, he added that the sense of perspective that comes with becoming a father for the first time was something that he would not swap.”It’s a strange feeling, but if you’re going to miss it for anything, the birth of your first child is one thing you would do it for,” Burns said. “It’s a pretty momentous occasion, isn’t it? She just makes me emotional looking at her, so the fact I’ve got a little girl to go and play my cricket for now, it’s a nice little perspective difference.”Rory Burns in action•Getty Images

Even so, his paternity leave does now mean that Burns – until recently considered to be England’s most bankable opening batsman since the retirement of Alastair Cook – has missed each of England’s run of five consecutive overseas Test wins.His absences began at Cape Town last year, when he suffered ankle ligament damage during a warm-up game of football ahead of the second Test against South Africa, and though he returned to the side for the English summer – and contributed a crucial pair of half-centuries to help turn the series against West Indies – his most recent England scores are a run of 4, 10, 0 and 6 against Pakistan in August.”Covid lent itself to that,” Burns said. “It’s been a stop-start year for everyone, not just myself.”I jumped back in with Surrey straight after the England summer and we had a decent T20 run,” he added, after helping his club to the final of the T20 Blast at Edgbaston. “It was good fun just to hack into the white ball and not worry about the red ball as much. But the break and refreshment, and new perspective, that fatherhood brings, it’s been nice to have a bit of time at home to spend with the wife, and then come back and be ready to go now.”Due to the demands of new parenthood, Burns found himself watching more of India’s Test series in Australia than England’s early-morning exploits in Sri Lanka, but he saw enough from two of his team-mates in particular, Joe Root and Dom Sibley, to know what combination of technical and mental prowess he’ll need to find to succeed on such a tough tour.Related

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“Joe obviously leads from the front,” Burns said, after his haul of 426 runs in Sri Lanka, including two big hundreds in each Test. “Some of the sessions I saw him bat, it was pretty incredible watching him go about his business.”He’s a leader by example, in terms of how he captains the team and how he wants people to go about their batting, so he’s an easy bloke to follow. We’re very fortunate that we’ve got Joe and Stokesy, people like that. You can’t help but learn from them.”And that is very much what Sibley set out to do in Galle, where he overcame a grim haul of six runs in three innings by tweaking his technique mid-match and grinding out an invaluable unbeaten half-century.”I messaged Sibs straight away, and told him how well he played,” Burns said. “We’ve got three days [in India] to put in our work and try and get used to conditions, so it’s a mental switch really, like Sibbers from innings one to innings two in that last innings in Sri Lanka.”He managed to switch his mental approach and it worked out for him, so I guess that’s the challenge. Fortunately, I’ve been around a little while now so I’ve got some experience to draw on.”

“We can see a lot of positives, but we tend to choose the negatives”

Sidharth Monga16-Feb-20214:33

R Ashwin: ‘It was an outbursting of emotion when I reached the hundred’

After delivering a dream performance in front of his home crowd, R Ashwin has asked for more positivity, understanding and pride from the cricket community in India. Ashwin’s eight-wicket haul and century led India to a series-levelling win in Chennai where the crowd made him “feel like a hero”, cheering every move of his on the ground.However, one of the other heroes of India’s incredible success in Australia and here, Rishabh Pant, was not long ago made to feel like a villain in Indian grounds when the crowds chanted MS Dhoni’s name whenever he made a mistake. Ashwin compared the opinion around Pant to the one around a young Australia cricketer when asked what he made of Pant’s wicketkeeping.Related

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“I didn’t think I would say this but I am coming out and saying it,” Ashwin said. “But because you are asking me this question, I couldn’t think of anything else. About two months ago we had a cricketer called Cameron Green who made his debut for Australia. Even before he made his debut, everybody said he was the next big thing. And as he was playing, I think he got one fifty in the entire series. I don’t think he got a wicket through the series. But how much he was built up and how much confidence he was given back in Australia made me reflect and think about how we as a community treat our cricketers when they come through, the young ones. It gave me a massive perspective.”Rishabh Pant is an excellent cricketer. There are many more excellent excellent cricketers who are there in the squad and outside of the team scheme as well. They are all excellent cricketers. We believe they are excellent. That is why they end up playing for the country. And when they play for the country, it is almost as if we are searching for what is wrong with them.”Rishabh Pant was always going to be a good cricketer, he was always going to improve. Only if we back them in such a way that they can improve, they will improve faster. But if you are going to find those loopholes and faults, cricketers are going to take that much longer. It is more of a mindset issue for us. As a community we should be able to embrace how good a cricketer is. We can [choose to] see a lot of positives, but we tend to choose the negatives. If we see a lot more positives, we will see a lot more champion cricketers.”‘When people come out with such opinions, we should respect them but we should be able to magnanimously deflect them’ – R Ashwin’s response to people railing against a turning pitch•BCCI

That is not too different with what happened with Ashwin the batsman when he went through a lean phase and started to lose his place in the side in away Tests because of his batting. The turnaround began with the tour of Australia, blossomed with his match-saving effort in Sydney, and the cherry on the cake was the hundred in front of his home crowd.”The last hundred I scored was in the West Indies in 2016,” Ashwin said. “Literally five years ago. A lot of people were frustrated that I have the batting ability but I am not able to contribute. The problem is, in India there are so many opinions and they all lean towards advising you. Nobody pauses to think how the cricketer thinks. And what help is needed. The way I needed some help, I also needed some reassurance, which I got from this batting coach [Vikram Rathour]. During the Covid-19 lockdown I practised a lot at home. Hitting balls against the wall, sweeping, footwork, everything. All put together, it was an outbursting of emotion when I reached the hundred.”Ashwin asked for a similar positive outlook towards the spinning pitches. The one for the second Test in Chennai received criticism from former players – mostly outside India but a few Indian names too – for being too loaded in favour of spin too early into the match.”Everyone is entitled to their opinion,” Ashwin said. “Whoever is giving their opinion are well within their rights. It is us who are reading into it and seeing if it is working or not. As a cricketing fraternity or a country, the way we deal with such accusations needs to get better. We must hold our pride in saying how we are playing good cricket. Test matches are won over a period of time. You play a lot of overs.”When people give their opinions, I am completely fine with how they have opinions. We will also have our opinions reserved when we tour. We don’t complain or crib, we just get on with it. I have never seen any of our greats, be it our coach Ravi Shastri or Sunil Gavaskar. They have been on lots of tours. I have never seen them talking about pitches having a lot of grass. It is more of a mentality. When people come out with such opinions, we should respect them but we should be able to magnanimously deflect them.”

“I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better than what I did today.”

Mohammad Isam26-Mar-2021For newcomers Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell, the Wellington ODI turned out to be a dream outing as they both struck maiden ODI centuries. Mitchell reached the personal landmark off the last ball of the New Zealand innings, as he scampered for the second and managed to reach the crease while Mushfiqur Rahim fumbled the return from midwicket.Related

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Mitchell pumped his fist as the nearly full-house roared in delight. Conway, who had shortly before left the crease with a superb 126 under his belt, saw him from the foot of the pavilion. The pair had earlier added 159 runs for the fifth wicket, breaking a 38-year-old partnership record at the Basin Reserve. It helped New Zealand recover to 318-run total when at 57 for 3, they might have settled for a middling total.”I remember the ground announcer talking about my partnership with Daryl (Mitchell),” Conway said. “When they said it was the highest partnership, it was a cool moment. Him (Daryl Mitchell) coming over to congratulate me for the hundred was a pretty special feeling. Unfortunately I wasn’t at the other end to see him reach his hundred, but watching him from the tunnel, come back for that two, I will remember this for a long time.”For Conway the century topped off an impressive first international season. In a match that included another century, a five-wicket haul and a four-for, his contribution won his second Player-of-the-Match award. His 225 runs in the ODI series also earned him the Player-of-the-Series honour.Conway, who moved to New Zealand from his native South Africa in 2017, said that his first international match at his adopted home ground, the Basin Reserve, added to the overall occasion of Bangladesh’s 50th Independence Day. Conway had recently scored an unbeaten 93 in the Super Smash final at this ground to lead Wellington to victory.He said that this match reminded him of his first match at the venue just over three years ago. Conway plays for the Victoria University of Wellington Cricket Club, who play their matches at the nearby Kelburn Park.”It was a pretty special feeling out there. I woke up and I was like, ‘wow I am going to play at the Basin Reserve today for the Black Caps’. Singing the national anthems and commemorating Bangladesh’s 50th Independence Day, it was a special feeling. I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better than what I did today.”When I was out there ticking along the nineties, I had a little feeling of how it all started. I remember playing a little internal game here at the Basin over three years ago,” he said.Conway revealed that despite playing 11 T20Is for New Zealand in the past four months, he made a nervous start on his ODI debut in Dunedin last week. He said that he felt better speaking to Ross Taylor, and following Tom Latham during their match-winning partnership in Christchurch.”I think naturally there was a bit of pressure that I put on myself in the first game. It was about just trying to focus on things that I can control. Take it slowly, watch each ball and play it on its merit. It is key for my batting. I tried to continue on a positive mindset throughout.”I had good conversations with some of the guys who have been around. Ross Taylor was with us throughout the series, so it was good to lean on him a few times. During the partnership with Tommy Latham in Christchurch, saw how he went about his business,” he said.Conway is part of New Zealand’s T20I side that takes on Bangladesh in the three-match series starting in Hamilton on Sunday.

India’s captain expressed his surprise at the choices for the awards, which went to Sam Curran and Jonny Bairstow respectively

Saurabh Somani28-Mar-20212:12

Manjrekar: Thakur gets you wickets but he’ll never be economical

India’s seven-run win in the third ODI against England won them the series 2-1 and completed a sweep across formats.India had put up 329 and had England on the ropes at 257 for 8, but a career-best 83-ball 95* by Sam Curran kept England in the game till the end of the final over. Curran had also got the wicket of a free-flowing Rishabh Pant to end India’s best partnership in their innings. In a relatively rare occurrence, players from the losing side were awarded the Player-of-the-Match and Player-of-the-Series awards, Curran winning the former and Jonny Bairstow the latter for topping the run-charts in the series with scores of 94, 124 and 1.India captain Virat Kohli expressed his surprise at the choices for the awards, holding that Shardul Thakur and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were better candidates for both.”I am quite surprised that he (Thakur) wasn’t the Man of the Match today, to be honest,” Kohli told Star Sports at the post-match presentation ceremony. Thakur had figures of 4 for 67 and had earlier scored 30 off 21.Related

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“Four wickets for 65 in ten overs and scoring 30 off 20 balls…And Bhuvi, again, a big contender for Man of the Series as well. Picking up six wickets at an economy of under six on these kind of wickets? For me, it’s a no-brainer and I think these two guys were the difference during those middle overs and with the new ball as well. I think they were outstanding and a lot of credit goes to them for the series win.”Bhuvneshwar continued his fine form on his comeback to international cricket, following on from a stellar show in the T20Is to end the ODI series with six wickets in three games, at an economy rate of 4.65 – the best by a distance for any bowler in a series where the total of 300 was topped five times in six innings, and only a freak England collapse prevented it from being six out of six.Thakur ended up as the highest wicket-taker in both limited-overs series, taking eight wickets in the T20Is and seven in the ODIs, employing his slower ball variations to good effect throughout.Playing in bubbles for so long going to be very, very difficult

Kohli also reiterated that moving from bubble to bubble for extended periods of time was not a sustainable model for cricketers, saying the schedule needs to be looked at.The Indian players will move to their respective IPL team bubbles for the tournament that starts on April 9, making it nearly four non-stop bubbles since the start of last year’s IPL in September.”As I said, a couple of days ago as well, scheduling is something that needs to be looked at in the future,” Kohli said. “Because playing in bubbles for so long, two-three months, is going to be very, very difficult going forward. You can’t expect everyone to be at the same level of mental strength. Sometimes you do get cooked, and you do feel like a bit of change. I’m sure that things will be discussed and things will change in the future as well. But a different tournament, so it brings in fresh challenges now heading into the IPL. “

Bangladesh paid the price for dropping Karunaratne on 28, before debutant Shoriful Islam got him for 118

Mohammad Isam29-Apr-2021Stumps Centuries from Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne gave Sri Lanka full control of the first day of the second Test in Pallekele, as the home side ended at 291 for 1 at stumps. The pitch offered next to nothing to the Bangladesh bowlers, but the visitors were also guilty of sitting on defensive lengths and spread-out fields from quite early on.It allowed Karunaratne, fresh from his maiden double-century last weekend, and Thirimanne to dominate once they had managed to bat out the first couple of hours cautiously. The pair added 209, Sri Lanka’s first 200-plus opening stand since 2011, and the first in the country in 21 years. The partnership, which is also the pair’s third consecutive century stand, ended when Karunaratne was caught behind off Bangladesh’s debutant Shoriful Islam shortly after tea.Karunaratne made 118 off 190 balls, having struck 15 boundaries. During the course of the innings, he crossed 5,000 Test runs, apart from reaching his 12th Test century, the most by any active Sri Lanka batter. Thirimanne was the more circumspect of the two, as he reached his third Test century – the second this year – having piled up his fifth fifty-plus score in his last six innings.Thirimanne was unbeaten on 131 off 253 balls with 14 fours, alongside Oshada Fernando, who kept things calm after the long opening partnership. Fernando ended on 40 not out off 98 balls.Karunaratne and Thirimanne had begun the day slowly, adding just 66 runs in 27 overs in the first session. They had to ride out initial movement from Taskin Ahmed and Abu Jayed. Ahmed in particular was a real menace in his first two spells. He could have had an early success but Najmul Hossain Shanto dropped Karunaratne on 28 during the first session.Only Taskin and newcomer Shoriful looked penetrative over the length of their spells, but they too seemed to have gradually got tired. Jayed hardly tried anything other than a largely straight line and length, while the spinners Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz bowled too quickly in most of their spells.Karunaratne largely focused on getting his boundaries through the range between wide third man and extra cover. Eleven out of his 15 boundaries came through this region, as he hardly scored through mid-off and mid-on. Thirimanne too got plenty of runs through point and cover, and also played some fascinating straight drives besides a couple through wide mid-on.The home side remains on course to put up a dominating first innings total, perhaps one that would be enough to keep Bangladesh out of contention for the rest of the game.

“He does a lot of good things on the field and the boys respect him even as a young leader,” Islamabad United coach says

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jun-2021Johan Botha, the Islamabad United head coach, reckons his team’s leader Shadab Khan is the “best captain” in the Pakistan Super League. Botha, speaking ahead of the league’s resumption on Wednesday evening in which United played the Lahore Qalandars, said Khan’s credibility had grown as a leader over the last couple of seasons.Khan was named the United captain ahead of the 2020 season and has performed well enough as the youngest captain in the league. His batting has evolved with a move up the order, and before the resumption, he had the third-best strike rate among all PSL captains, of 149.75 only behind Shane Watson’s 158.66 (from two games as captain) and Shahid Afridi’s 158.18 (10 games as captain). He has averaged just under 26 in those 16 games as captain, winning eight and losing as many games.The batting has become his form suit, Botha saying the allrounder had toned down his “over-aggression” to bring a sense of “calm” to his personality.”His batting is coming along nicely,” Botha said. “Early in the season, he was probably a little bit over-aggressive in the Karachi leg and I think he has figured out now how he wants to go about things. His game is in good order and for me he probably is the best captain in the tournament. That should set him down that he is a really good and calm captain. He does a lot of good things on the field and the boys respect him even as a young leader. That’s all you can ask from a captain … he does lead from the front, makes good decisions under pressure and he keeps the rest of the boys calm.”What United could do with to maintain their position in third place before the resumption is a return to the bowling form that announced Khan’s arrival into the game in 2016. He has taken 12 wickets as captain with an economy rate of 7.64 – both figures considerably down from his earlier seasons. He has, however, in that time also been elevated to the Pakistan vice-captaincy in white-ball formats although the 22-year-old has also had a rough time with injuries in recent times.He was out with groin and hamstring problems most recently only to recover before the second leg of the PSL which resumed on Wednesday. Khan had missed the Zimbabwe tour last year after first complaining about a groin injury but recovered in time for the New Zealand tour. The problem, however, got worse during a tour game in Christchurch, but he was cleared to lead Pakistan in the T20Is after Babar Azam picked up a finger injury.But to his dismay, Khan was later ruled out of the Test series. He carried on with this rehabilitation and returned to the field during the PSL in Karachi leg earlier this year but averaged 56.50 with the ball in four games, taking only two wickets while leaking 8.69 runs per over. With the bat, he scored 32 runs at a strike rate of 110.34.”He’s been working really hard, he’s bowled a lot of overs actually, for T20 preparation this week,” Botha said when asked if Khan was 100% fit. “I think he felt probably a little bit underdone coming to the UAE and having to spend a week in quarantine doesn’t really help that situation. But we know that’s for the tournament. And he’s worked hard this week, he is working really well, he is bowling beautifully.”United were placed third when the tournament was postponed earlier this year, with three wins and one loss. The conditions, however, of Karachi in March and now in Abu Dhabi are vastly different in terms of the weather and pitch. The organisers have had to plan for the humidity and the sapping heat at this time of the year as the UAE has never hosted high-profile cricket in the summer.”It’s obviously different times,” Botha said. “Everyone now is sort of getting used to that. You’ve got to do quarantines and that’s part of the game and that’s part of tournament. I think our boys handle it really well. The weather is a factor, but I think having spent a week out there already, training sessions, different training sessions at different times, we’ve we sort of adapted. There’s no complaints. There’s no more talking about the weather or how hot it is. Obviously there’s going to be a lot of sweat and dew and stuff and the ball could get slippery. The batters will have to change the gloves a lot. But I think for us, we just need to be on top of making sure that our guys get sort of cooled down between this.”

The coach admitted reports of unrest over his coaching style in recent months hurt him

Reuters and ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-20213:48

Justin Langer talks up Dan Christian’s return to the Australian side

Australia coach Justin Langer said he was hurt and confused by some of the things he read about his style of working but remains keen to lead the side and get an extension when his current contract runs out next year.Reports of dressing-room unrest and discontent over his coaching style surfaced after Australia were beaten 2-1 in the Test series at home by an injury-ravaged India in January.The players took part in an end-of-season review with leadership consultant Tim Ford, and Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch said last week that Langer had cleared the air at a gathering on the Gold Coast before flying with the team to West Indies.”I haven’t changed much in twenty-odd years of being involved in Australian cricket,” Langer said on the eve of Australia’s T20 series opener against West Indies in St Lucia. “Some of the things I was reading were a bit confusing actually. If I’m completely honest I was really hurt by some of it. Maybe I’m being a sook but in three years…I hadn’t heard from any of the people I work with and I certainly hadn’t heard from any of the players which had been so widely reported.”The feedback I’ve been given for three years has been overwhelmingly positive of the role that I’ve been able to play as a coach.”Related

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For Langer the pre-tour gathering, which also included Test captain Tim Paine, was the first time he had been with the squad since the end of the India series due to the postponement of the South Africa tour and he emerged feeling energised about the challenge ahead.”We addressed some of those issues. Honestly, I left the camp feeling like Superman,” he said. “It was such a great few days for us. It was good to get everyone back together again. Everyone’s absolutely flying at the moment, there’s a great spirit over here, we’ve just appointed our two new senior assistant coaches, which I’m delighted about and I think everything is moving in the right direction.”Cricket Australia appointed Langer as the head coach on a four-year contract in 2018 after Darren Lehmann stepped down in the wake of the damaging ball-tampering scandal in South Africa and he said he would want to continue in his role.”If the board and the CEO and high performance manager believe I’m the right person to keep leading us forward, absolutely. I absolutely love my job,” Langer said. “I didn’t like losing to India in the amazing series, no one likes losing. I’m absolutely committed, I love my job, I love the Australian cricket team, I love the players and I love Australian cricket.”They’re the things I value most in my life. Hopefully I’ve done a really good job the last three years, that’s been the feedback. Long may that continue.”Langer and his team will be keen to perform well at the T20 World Cup in the UAE – the one major limited-overs trophy they have never won – and the home Ashes series against England starting December.”We’re not a great team yet and that’s what we’re all aspiring to. Like I’m aspiring to be a great coach,” he added. “I’m not a great coach yet, I’m aspiring to be a great coach. I’m working towards it and I hope all the players are doing the same thing.”

Australia vice-captain says the WBBL is expected to go ahead as scheduled after the multi-format international assignment

Andrew McGlashan05-Aug-2021Australia vice-captain Rachael Haynes is prepared for what appears inevitable disruption to the start of the season and prospect of hotel quarantine around the series against India in September.India’s tour is currently due to start on September 17 with a warm-up match in Sydney followed by the first ODI on September 19. However, with the city’s lockdown already extended to the end of August that appears increasingly challenging to make happen alongside the various border restrictions that are currently in place. The series is also due to head to Melbourne and Perth before returning to Sydney for the T20Is in early October.As of Thursday, large swathes of Australia’s east coast were in lockdown with south-east Queensland, including Brisbane, and Victoria also back under tight restrictions due to Covid-19 outbreaks.Haynes said she expected some clarity in the next week or so about what plans would be put in place but was preparing to have to leave New South Wales and quarantine in another state at some point.Last season the international summer started with Australia facing New Zealand in Brisbane which involved players from Victoria and New South Wales having to quarantine for two weeks before the series although they were permitted to train.”The reality is that the players in New South Wales are probably very much aware that to leave the state we will have to participate in some form of quarantine,” Haynes told reporters. “Exactly how that looks, whether it’s a hard hotel quarantine or perhaps like when we quarantined in Brisbane and we were able to train some capacity, I don’t believe there is an answer to that question at the moment but there will be over the coming weeks.”Once we know that it’ll crystalise what it looks like in terms of our preparation but very much the players based in New South Wales are resigned to the fact that we’ll have to quarantine in some capacity.”Currently Haynes, who signed a new one-year deal as captain of defending WBBL champions Sydney Thunder on Thursday, and the rest of the New South Wales squad can continue pre-season training under various Covid restrictions.”Unfortunately, we probably aren’t too unfamiliar with this circumstance given the nature of the pandemic,” Haynes said. “It’s certainly had its challenges, but we have been fortunate that our New South Wales programme has been able to continue albeit under slightly modified restrictions. That’s allowed us to continue training, it’s allowed us a good preparation heading into the international season.”Think early next week we’ll find out exactly what that looks like in terms of our preparation against India and we’ve been given every indication that the intention is for the Big Bash to continue on beyond that.”As we know the pandemic always throws a spanner in the works, and if we had a crystal ball it would be nice to predict where we would be in a couple of months’ time, but I learnt last year there’s no point getting too far ahead of yourself.”Following the multi-format series against India, the WBBL is due to start on October 14 in Sydney with the hope that it can return to a country-wide tournament following last season’s hub. Haynes and her partner Leah Poulton are expecting their first child in mid-October, so if the start of the competition had to move out of the state, Haynes’ availability for the Thunder would likely be impacted.”I’m definitely not going to miss the birth of my child if I have any control over that, so I’ll definitely be returning to Sydney in October,” she said. “It’s really hard to know exactly how that will look and I’d be guessing how that transition will take place.”From my perspective I want to play as much of the season as possible and be there to support my team-mates. If we do kick off in Sydney as was originally intended I’ll definitely be a part of that and if there are any changes that I need to make then I’ll cross that bridge when it comes.”