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Five things you need to know about the 24-year-old and his unbeaten innings of 94 against West Indies

Mohammad Isam in Taunton18-Jun-2019A nervous start
After the West Indies match, Liton said he had been quite nervous as he walked past the dismissed Mushfiqur Rahim in the 19th over. It was only after he reached the thirties, with an inside-out loft over covers, that he felt completely at ease at the crease. He sped off from that point, adding a further 62 runs off just 38 balls.Batting out of position
Normally a top-order batsman, the match against West Indies was the first time Liton walked out to bat at No. 5 in an ODI, and he admitted to feeling a lot of pressure while batting out of position. In this match, he replaced Mohammad Mithun, who had had a bad outing against England. With Shakib playing at No. 3 these days, the only slot left for Liton was No. 5.Watch on Hotstar (INDIA ONLY) – Liton’s 94 not outAn issue of consistency
Following his superb 121 against India in the Asia Cup final last year, Liton averaged only 19 in the following nine ODIs against Zimbabwe, West Indies and New Zealand. His string of 1, 1, and 1 in New Zealand handed Soumya Sarkar the opening spot alongside Tamim Iqbal, but, since Liton was always seen as a far more aggressive option to Imrul Kayes, he kept his place in the World Cup squad.A false start
When he had made 1881 runs in the 2014-15 domestic season, Liton was a considered shoo-in for the No. 3 role in the home internationals against India, Pakistan and South Africa. However, despite many in the senior team brushing off questions about his place in the side, Liton was dropped for nearly two years.He regained his place in the national side after ending as lead run-getter in the 2017 Dhaka Premier League and was part of the squad that toured South Africa in September that year. For a while, he became a Test regular, scoring 94 against Sri Lanka in Chittagong last year.Followed Shakib’s footsteps
Liton is a Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP) graduate like Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Nasir Hossain, among others. It is Bangladesh’s top sports institution situated 40km from Dhaka. Liton is originally from Dinajpur, some 335km from Dhaka on the northern tip of the country. He doesn’t hail from a cricketing background but his interest prompted his father to send him to BKSP, considered a hub of sporting excellence in Bangladesh.Liton then followed the traditional route of young cricketers in Bangladesh, going through age-group cricket, including the Under-19s with players like Anamul Haque, Mosaddek Hossain and Taskin Ahmed.

For the third time this home season, the team took the lead after its opposition put up 400 batting first but the Ranchi effort was special

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Ranchi19-Mar-20171:39

Chappell: Pujara didn’t look like tiring

Nathan Lyon had already bowled 29 overs in India’s innings when he came on to bowl his first over of day four. His first ball was just a touch short, and Wriddhiman Saha went on the back foot and punched him for a couple between cover and mid-off. Three balls later, slightly short again, Saha whisked him away through midwicket for a single.Lyon wasn’t bowling long-hops – he wasn’t being pulled or cut – but his length was marginally off, just short enough for the batsman to step back towards leg stump, wait, and push gently into the covers, or go back and across and work him to deep backward square leg. That sort of thing. He bowled nine overs in his first spell on Sunday, conceded 29 runs, had one lbw shout upheld and then turned down following a successful review from Cheteshwar Pujara. This wasn’t Lyon’s greatest spell, but it wasn’t a particularly poor one by anyone’s standards.It was also, perhaps, the least testing spell Pujara and Saha had faced since they came together on the third evening in Ranchi. When Lyon was brought back, they had already put on 65 in 28.2 overs – 28.2 overs of unrelenting Australian pressure.Australia began bowling to India in the middle session of the second day. India declared in the last session of the fourth day, after batting out 210 overs. They ground Australia down, drained them of energy and spark and ideas, and at various points left them wondering when their next wicket would come. But they never had it easy.Barring the second session of day three and the last session of day four, when India were in the lead and Ravindra Jadeja decided to have some fun, there was almost no let-up in Australia’s intensity. Lyon, probably the worst of the four specialist bowlers, finished with 1 for 163 in 46 overs. The other three combined for 160 overs, taking eight wickets and conceding 2.55 runs per over.It was the third time in their 2016-17 home season that India had scored 600-plus in reply to their opposition batting first and scoring more than 400. In Mumbai, England made 400 and India 631. In Chennai, it was 477 and 759. This was the same sort of thing, but it was also entirely different. This was the hardest they had been made to work.Nathan Lyon didn’t have much success against the Indians in Ranchi•Associated PressChennai was possibly the flattest of the three pitches, and India were playing a team that was already 3-0 down and out of the series. England’s bowling figures in that match paint a fairly obvious picture of how they had been dominated – three bowlers conceded more than four an over while sending down at least 20 overs – while two Indian batsmen made big hundreds at 60-plus strike rates. Over the course of 190.4 overs, India scored at nearly four an over.Things were slightly different in Mumbai. England were still in the series at that point, and like Australia in Ranchi, seemed in with a chance of taking a fairly substantial lead at one point. India were six down and behind by 93, then seven down and 36 adrift. But a top-order double-centurion – Virat Kohli – combined with a lower-order centurion – Jayant Yadav – to lift India into a dominant position. The same thing played out against Australia. Only the batsmen were different.Overall, India scored their runs at 3.45 per over at the Wankhede. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, who between them bowled nearly 60% of England’s total overs – finished with combined figures of 6 for 366 with a combined economy rate of 3.37. It doesn’t look terrible but that was largely down to the fields England set, with sweepers on both square boundaries almost all the way through.Those fielders at deep point and deep square leg were absolute musts: according to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data from the match, India’s batsmen cut Rashid and Moeen 29 times and pulled them 13 times. That’s a cut or a pull every two-and-a-half overs.In Ranchi, Lyon and Steve O’Keefe bowled 123 overs, and were cut 15 times and pulled four times. That’s a cut or pull every six-and-a-half overs. It was this control of length that allowed Australia to keep their fields in and stem the flow of singles. It was this control of length that allowed O’Keefe to bowl maiden after maiden from left-arm over to Pujara when he was already past the century mark.Wriddhiman Saha battled his way through some good bowling to make his third Test century•Associated PressA spinner who turns the ball away from the batsman cannot afford to bowl short with a leg-side dominant field, even while pitching the ball a long way outside leg stump. Rashid may have turned the ball further than O’Keefe did had he been in Ranchi, attacking the rough outside Pujara’s leg stump, but he might also have offered a steady diet of slaps and punches either side of deep point.For long periods of time, O’Keefe’s defensive line kept Pujara, India’s immovable object, away from Pat Cummins, Australia’s irresistible force. Cummins harried India with a Swiss-army-knife-full of cutting-edge tools – pace, bounce, cutters, reverse-swing – and took four wickets while remaining accurate enough to concede less than three an over. England’s pace attack in Mumbai had no one remotely as penetrative.None of them even managed to do the job Josh Hazlewood did. He bowled 44 overs, took one wicket, and finished with an economy rate of 2.34. James Anderson, England’s most-used fast bowler in Mumbai, sent down only 20 overs, and Jake Ball, who was the only one of their four quicks to concede less than three an over, bowled only 18. All this meant India were never under the sort of ceaseless pressure that they were to experience in Ranchi.In Mumbai, Kohli and Jayant added 241 in 58.4 overs. In Ranchi, Pujara and Saha added 199 in 77.4 overs. Both partnerships were exactly what India needed in their respective circumstances. But where Mumbai was the familiar tale of an Indian team overwhelming what was clearly, in those conditions, a lesser opponent, Ranchi was something new. The series was 1-1, Australia’s attack had no genuine weak link, and they made India work for every run.Having done all that hard work, India will start day five as overwhelming favourites to go 2-1 up. Should they win as expected, their batting performance is likely to be hailed as one of their finest in recent years. That should remain the case even if they somehow fail to do so.

Amid growing concerns about the depth and quality of South Africa’s batting reserves, the time may be nigh for one of the country’s most consistent performers to earn a call-up

Firdose Moonda21-Dec-2015So sings Amos Hart, the good-hearted husband of Chicago’s Roxie, when he laments his own invisibility. Stephen Cook would relate. He is South African cricket’s own Mr Cellophane, who has been looked right through despite being among the top 10 run-scorers in the first-class competition for the last seven seasons including the last one, when he finally topped the charts only to find himself still on the outside.Now, with a four-Test series against England looming, and on a weekend in which most of South Africa’s national batsman failed to find form, the 33-year-old Cook carried his bat for an unbeaten 53 against the touring opposition. There is a growing sense that his time may finally have come.Cook’s Seven-Year Itch

Stephen Cook has been among the top ten run-scorers South Africa’s first-class competition for the last seven seasons. Here’s how he has done:

2008-09 behind Imraan Khan, Ashwell Prince, Alviro Petersen, Davy Jacobs, Rilee Rossouw, Andrew Puttick and Boeta Dippenaar.
2009-10 behind Rilee Rossouw and Dean Elgar.
2010-11 8behind Jacques Rudolph, Neil McKenzie, Farhaan Behardien, Zander de Bruyn, Andrew Puttick, Justin Ontong and Vaughn van Jaarsveld.
2011-12behind Alviro Petersen, Neil McKenzie, Morne van Wyk, Reeza Hendricks and JJ Smuts.
2012-13 behind Neil McKenzie, Stiaan van Zyl, Davy Jacobs, Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Alistair Gray.
2013-14 behind Stiaan van Zyl, Justin Ontong, David White, Morne van Wyk, Andrew Puttick and Temba Bavuma.
2014-15

“Stephen is a good player and of late, he has been scoring heavily and doing very well in the domestic set-up,” Andrew Hudson, the former convener of selectors, told ESPNcricinfo. “I don’t think he is too old and I think he has got a lot to offer but it’s up to the selectors to see whether they want to continue with a makeshift opener or whether they feel they need a specialist.”Hudson led the selection panel for five years from 2010 to 2015, a period which coincided with Cook’s performances, but, he added, picked Cook was always difficult because of personnel and circumstance. Cook’s playing days have coincided with those of Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie, then with Jacques Rudolph and Alviro Petersen and more recently, with Dean Elgar, Stiaan van Zyl and Temba Bavuma.”When Alviro retired, we already had Dean Elgar and he had done pretty well so that continued and then we made the decision to push Stiaan, who had also done reasonably well on different wickets, up,” Hudson said. “It’s quite a subjective thing. Sometimes the selectors feel someone can make the step up.”Van Zyl, a regular No.3, was the leading run-scorer in the first-class game the season before Cook topped the charts but, because there was no space in South Africa’s middle-order, the only spot the selectors could find was at the top. So far, van Zyl has only opened in the subcontinent and, even though he appeared the most awkward on South Africa’s tour of India, he will be given another opportunity to show what he can do in home conditions against England.But Hudson has warned that they may be taking a risk given the quality of the bowlers they will be up against. “England have got a nice new-ball attack so it’s about whether you expose someone like Stiaan or Temba Bavuma to the new ball or whether you feel you need someone who has done the job for a long time,” Hudson said.A chorus of former players are opting for the latter. Adam Bacher, a former team-mate of Cook’s, told he sees Cook as a “the team’s response to Australia’s Chris Rogers,” and said he had never encountered a player with stronger mental strength than Cook. Meanwhile Boeta Dippenaar, a former Test player, impressed the need for “specialists” at the top. Barry Richards and Paul Harris have also been among those calling for Cook’s inclusion.The swathe of support for Cook became stronger during the tour match against the England XI, when his half-century also brought up his 11,000th first-class run. In the same match, Rilee Rossouw, the current reserve batsmen in the Test squad, scored just 6 and Dane Vilas and Quinton de Kock, who are on the fringes, each scored 4. Given the shakiness of South Africa’s current middle-order and the seeming uncertainty about the depth of quality in the reserves, Cook could offer the steadiness South Africa currently lack.Hudson admitted the scarcity of strong performances in the last two months is a concern ahead of a series in which South Africa could be toppled from their No.1 Test spot.”I am not worried about individuals but I am worried about the batting unit,” he said. “With the middle-order not being as settled as South Africa might like, the opening partnership becomes even more important. I think we will really have to pay attention to our batting if we are do well in this series.”And that may mean finally paying attention to Cook before it’s too late and he ends up fading away to these words:

Also, most twin fifties in Tests, and a correction about most first-class wickets in a calendar year

Steven Lynch02-Dec-2014Who has scored the most twin fifties in Test cricket? And who has the record for twin centuries? asked Dhanushka Edussuriya from Sri Lanka
Ricky Ponting reached 50 twice in the same Test on the most occasions – he did it 15 times in all. Three of those involved twin hundreds, a record he shares with Sunil Gavaskar. Jacques Kallis scored two fifties in a Test on 14 occasions and Allan Border 13, while so far Kumar Sangakkara has done it 12 times and Shivnarine Chanderpaul 11. Inzamam-ul-Haq also managed it 11 times, while those on ten are Greg Chappell, Alastair Cook and Rahul Dravid.How many Tests have New Zealand won by an innings, as they did at Sharjah? asked Andrew Talbot from England
New Zealand’s thumping win over Pakistan in Sharjah last week was their 21st innings victory in Tests, of which nine have come against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. Their first such win was against India in Wellington in 1975-76, and 12 of them have come in the current century. New Zealand have beaten Pakistan by an innings twice before: in Hamilton in 2000-01, and in Auckland in 1984-85. For the full list, click here. New Zealand’s total of 690 in Sharjah was their highest in Tests, beating 680 for 8 dec against India in Wellington earlier this year. It was also the highest total against Pakistan in Tests, apart from West Indies’ 790 for 3 declared in Kingston in 1957-58, in the innings in which Garry Sobers made 365 not out.Is Mark Craig the first New Zealand player to take ten wickets and score a fifty in the same Test? asked Richard Webb from Finland
Mark Craig took 10 for 203, and also scored 65 in the first innings, in the victory in Sharjah last week. He’s actually the fifth New Zealander to achieve this particular double. Richard Hadlee managed it three times – against West Indies in Dunedin in 1979-80, v Australia in Brisbane in 1985-86 (when he took 15 wickets in the match), and v England at Trent Bridge in 1986 – while Chris Cairns (against West Indies in Hamilton in 1999-2000), Dion Nash (v England at Lord’s in 1994) and Daniel Vettori (v Sri Lanka in Wellington in 2006-07) each managed it once.There were 22 sixes in New Zealand’s innings at Sharjah. Was this a record? asked Asim Ahmed from Pakistan
New Zealand’s 22 sixes in their 690 in Sharjah was indeed a Test record, easily surpassing the 17 hit by Australia against Zimbabwe in Perth in 2003-04 – Matthew Hayden smacked 11 of those on his way to 380, the highest individual Test score at the time. For the full list, click here. I was surprised when I read, about Don Bradman’s first Test, that his fellow debutant Bert Ironmonger was 46. Who is the oldest on this list? asked Khalil Waleed from Saudi Arabia
The unorthodox left-arm spinner Bert Ironmonger was aged 46 years 237 days when he made his Test debut against England in Brisbane in 1928-29. He was Australia’s oldest debutant, a record he held for… a fortnight, before offspinner Don Blackie – who played with Ironmonger at the St Kilda club in Melbourne – made his debut in the second Test in Sydney, aged 46 years 253 days! Blackie and Ironmonger were born two days apart in 1882. Only two men have been older in their first Tests: James Southerton was 49 when he played for England in the first Test of all, in Melbourne in 1876-77, while Miran Bakhsh was 47 on debut for Pakistan against India in Lahore in 1954-55. For the full list, click here.There’s an update to last week’s question about the most wickets in a calendar year, from James Thompson from Australia
“Actually there is someone who took more than Tich Freeman’s 356 wickets in 1928 – the Australian Charles “Terror” Turner claimed 365 in 1888, with 283 of them coming on that year’s tour of England.” This is quite right: I’d looked at the probable English suspects, but hadn’t checked any overseas players. I’m glad I put “I think” – but apologies for the misleading information. Turner’s feats in England in 1888 were quite amazing: his wickets came in 36 matches, at an average of 11.68. His opening partner, Jack Ferris, finished with 199 wickets, so they took 482 between them – no one else took more than 43.

As a senior player with a good record from his previous Tests in India, much more was needed from Shane Watson in this series

Brydon Coverdale24-Mar-2013With a firm drive back to the bowler, Pragyan Ojha, in Australia’s second innings, Nathan Lyon consigned Shane Watson to an embarrassing fate. Lyon, the No. 11, had faced more deliveries in this series than Watson, the No. 4 and supposedly one of the team’s senior batsmen. Both men had played three Tests on this tour. Lyon had shown admirable fight and in two of his innings had lasted more than an hour. Watson managed that only once. Plenty of Australia’s batsmen were culpable on this trip, but none more so than Watson.After the match, Watson spoke of his disappointment at his own poor results but he also defended the wider top-order performance by saying the conditions had been difficult. If they were that difficult, how did Peter Siddle score a half-century in each innings in Delhi? How did Mitchell Starc make 99 in Mohali? Why did men batting at No. 7 or below top score in four of the eight innings? How was it that Lyon (244 balls), Starc (254 in two Tests), Siddle (350) all survived more deliveries over the four Tests than Watson, who faced only 239?In the second innings in Delhi, Watson showed that while the conditions might have been challenging, he wasn’t respecting them. On a pitch offering up-and-down bounce, pulling is fraught with danger. Anything that could threaten the stumps needed to be met with a straight bat. But Watson went for a big pull, the kind of shot that brings him countless boundaries on flat pitches in one-day and Twenty20 cricket, and was bowled when the ball kept low. It was a terrible shot in the circumstances.Watson was the acting captain in Delhi and that made sense for a one-off match, for he is vice-captain to Clarke and was the logical choice as leader. But the vice-captaincy should not guarantee selection and Watson must be sailing dangerously close to losing his place. In the past two years he has scored 627 runs at 24.11 in 14 Tests. That would be acceptable if he was a bowling allrounder, but his primary role in this side is as a top-six batsman. On that alone he should be judged.When the Ashes comes around later this year, Watson is likely to be bowling again. If he is making runs and bowling he provides valuable balance to the side; if he is still failing with the bat that becomes irrelevant. Watson will probably be in the XI for the first Ashes Test and against England’s fast men he could score runs – he averaged 48.00 there on the 2009 tour. But then, he averaged 16.50 in this series having averaged 40.09 on his previous two Indian tours.That Watson performed so poorly having played six Tests in India before this series made him the most accountable of Australia’s batting failures, but he was not alone. The batting throughout the tour was characterised by a lack of patience and an inability to handle the turning ball. There are two sides to batting, the technical and the mental, and on both Australia were beaten soundly in this series.India’s batsmen set the example from the first Test. Collectively they scored six centuries and five of their batsman averaged 50-plus. They were patient and respectful of the conditions, they played with straight bats and they waited for the bad balls to put away. Too often the Australians tried to force the issue, hoping an aggressive approach would put India’s bowlers on the back foot. Cross-bat shots and inadequate footwork proved extremely costly.

Three members of the top six averaged fewer than 20 for the series. It is no wonder Australia lost 4-0 with such a malfunctioning batting order.

Michael Clarke scored a century on the opening day of the first Test in Chennai but no Australian made one after that. Three members of the top six – Watson, Phillip Hughes and Matthew Wade – averaged fewer than 20 for the series. That is a figure that bears repeating. Three of the top six. Fewer than 20. No team can carry such inadequacies. It is no wonder Australia lost 4-0 with such a malfunctioning batting order.As expected, Clarke was excellent in spinning conditions and Steven Smith’s footwork also made him a valuable member of the middle order. Ed Cowan progressed throughout the trip and showed that he could bat time, generally forcing the bowlers to get him out rather than getting himself out. But overall it was a miserable tour for Australia’s batsmen. The bowlers at times let things slip away but always they found themselves defending sub-par totals, often propped up by their own tail-end efforts with the bat.It is becoming a worryingly consistent trend. In the past year, Australia have played 13 Tests. Clarke has scored four centuries and the now-retired Michael Hussey made three. Outside of those two, Australian batsmen have made only four hundreds in those 13 Tests: Wade has made two and Cowan and David Warner one each. It’s more than two years since Watson has scored a century. In the past year, only Clarke and Hussey have averaged 40-plus, of those Australians who have played more than two Tests.Often, Australia have got by on the backs of Clarke and Hussey, for before this disastrous tour the only series they had lost since the 2010-11 Ashes was against South Africa at home, and that could have gone either way. But now Hussey is gone and says he’s not returning. Clarke cannot shoulder the batting burden alone. And a burden it has become.There is merit in showing patience in a young, developing batting line-up. But can that come at the cost of a 4-0 whitewash in India and a couple of Ashes drubbings? The conditions in England will be more familiar for the Australian batsmen, but England’s attack is full of quality. If the batting falters again in England, what then? Australia would face the prospect of retuning their line-up for another Ashes at home a few months later.Australian cricket may not exactly be brimming with batting talent at the moment, as shown by the fact that Ricky Ponting, who retired after a woeful series against South Africa, easily topped the Sheffield Shield run tally this summer. But there are other batsmen worth trying. Usman Khawaja is one. Alex Doolan is another. So is Callum Ferguson. The in-form veteran Chris Rogers would be an ideal Ashes pick if he wasn’t an opener. Australia have enough of them already.But what this tour has highlighted is that substandard batting cannot be tolerated indefinitely, especially from senior men like Watson, otherwise this won’t be the only thrashing Australia will receive this year.

One-time wild boy Jesse Ryder says he has had plenty of time out of cricket to think about his game. It’s all about patience for him now, he says

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi25-Mar-2011Are you in a happy place?
I think I sort of know my role in the team now and what I have to do while I am out there batting. I am not thinking about other stuff. I just play my natural game. The coaches have given us our jobs to do and we play our games. They give us the freedom to express ourselves when we are out there.What’s the role given to you?
To be aggressive at the start, depending on how the other batsmen go. It also means I need to bat through 30 overs and set up the game for the lower-order batsmen.Has John Wright asked you to do some things in particular?
Wrighty is really good, just says it how it is. He keeps it simple as well, knows how we play and lets us just play to our ability. He backs us, expects us to turn up and train hard.Recently, midway into the World Cup campaign, he did say if we hit it out of the net we were going to be in a “six-and-out” position, so it was good for the boys, I reckon, just to milk ones and get used to taking your time through that middle stage where we pick up a run a ball. It seems to be working for the boys of late – they have got off to a flier, then calmed down, taken the ones, and then gone and hit again, which has set up the team through the game.What did you learn from that exercise?
Just patience. Nailing your game down to how you want to play. It does take a while to get everything sorted in your game. The sort of position I’m in now, I have played enough to know my game. And that is part of my game where I get into a stage to get a run a ball, because I can naturally hit the bad ball.Considering the talent you have, there is always this feeling that a big innings is around the corner. Do you feel the same?
I always go in with that confidence. At the moment I am striking the ball well in the nets. Even in the Pakistan series [at home] when I got all those ducks in a row, I was still striking the ball, and I always felt that the big score was coming. And I got a fifty in the first one-dayer and a hundred in the last one. So as long as I’m striking the ball well and training properly I’m still feeling good going out there in the middle.How tough has it been to rein in your attacking instincts?
It was the patience. Since I have got to the World Cup I have been a bit more patient. The moment I start thinking too much, I am in trouble. If there is too much on my mind that is when I am in trouble. When I am basically not thinking about other things I can express myself better.How do you switch off?
In the Test matches it is different because you have got all the time in the world, so it is pretty easy to switch off. I like to joke with the likes of Martin Guptill and I like having fun. I can’t reveal much but we do talk about dance moves and stuff. I usually stay away from cricket when I am not playing. I follow a lot of rugby league [Melbourne Storm], and having played basketball during my young days I still play it and follow the Boston Celtics. It is just excitement I get watching those sports. All my mates are into the same sort of things as well. We have got a sweepstakes that we do every year, where we pick the winner of each game and the person who comes out on top takes about $1000 away. There is a bit of gambling involved, of course.You are supposedly the DJ of the New Zealand dressing room?
It is one of the jobs I perform on tours – be the music guy, carry the speakers, sort out the music in the change room. I have got loads of songs on my computer – about 20,000. It is not an easy job. I have got to get the variation there. Luckily I have a lot of different stuff on the playlists, which caters to everyone’s tastes. A big hit at the moment is Dave Dobbin, a guy from New Zealand. He played to us before the Pakistan match in Auckland. I use that to get the team going before matches at times.There seem to be two sides to you: one is the playful one in the dressing room, where you are free. But once you step out of there, the world seems to view you differently.
I am seen as a bad boy – reckless and stuff like that from my past. But now I am a pretty chilled out, low-key sort of person who likes to have fun. It is sort of how I have grown up and what I know.Do you get involved in verbal duels with the opposition while batting?
Sometimes. It spurs me on more than anything, makes me want to score runs. If it is in my zone I am still going to play my shots, if it is one of my strong shots.

“I like to joke with the likes of Martin Guptill and I like having fun. I can’t reveal much but we do talk about dance moves and stuff”

Who is the batsman you most enjoy watching in modern-day cricket?
I like Ross Taylor, who seems unstoppable when he gets in the mood. [MS] Dhoni is good to watch when he is going as well. I don’t watch too much cricket unless I’m playing it. Even when I get out I tend to not watch too much of the cricket.Have you learned anything from the Twenty20 format?
That is probably my worst game. What I’m still learning is that in Twenty20 cricket you have actually got more time than you think.Is there one innings where you played just the way you wanted to play?
The last innings against Pakistan in Auckland was probably my best innings in the recent past. I backed myself and played my shots. I was not thinking too much, kept it very simple – see the ball, hit the ball.Also, the double-hundred [against India], where I felt they could not get me out. It was one of the days where you walk out and start hitting the ball out of the middle from ball one and feel good. Like I said, I had nothing on my mind, just batting. That made it easy.I got a hundred and a double-hundred. Harbhajan Singh told me he had enough of me batting in that series. When you have got people like him saying that, it is a compliment. That double-century remains my favourite innings. In fact, the bat I hit the double-hundred with was the one with which I hit my first one-day century.What is the one shot you play that makes you enjoy your batting?
I feel good when I stand up quite tall and hit it over cover-point. That is the shot that has come out of nowhere, really. When I play it I’m usually trying to block the ball. But actually if I give it a little bit more there is a chance of getting runs. And if I hit that off a good-length ball then it might make the bowler think about not pitching on the same length again.What would you say has been the biggest change in your career?
Patience is probably the biggest thing that has changed. The time I’ve had sitting out in the last two years has allowed me to think a lot about my game and work on my game.On the technical front I am still learning to get forward a little bit more and not leaning back when I am driving, and making sure the head is over the ball.

Andrew White, the Ireland allrounder, speaks to Cricinfo about trying to be a professional in an amateur game

Andrew McGlashan26-Jun-2007

Andrew White became an instant Irish hero when he bowled the final over of their World Cup match against Zimbabwe, forcing a tie after nine were needed. Half the deliveries were full tosses, two were long hops, but the one that mattered – the final ball – was a full, spearing yorker that went under Stuart Matsikenyeri’s bat. Ireland had their first World Cup point and the rest, as they say, is history.”If it’s not mentioned every day, it’s mentioned every other day. I think the legacy will always be there after what we achieved,” White said proudly while talking to Cricinfo during the delayed start to Ireland’s match against South Africa at Stormont. “But we are very conscious it can’t be a flash in the pan, which is why it’s great to have India and South Africa here, we need to play more games at this level otherwise we will slip backwards.”The warning signs have already starting flashing since Ireland returned from the Caribbean. Their Friends Provident campaign ended without a win as they struggled to compete without many of the World Cup stars. White would like to see all touring teams warm up with games in Ireland and an annual fixture against England, who they played and ran close in the World Cup – “Bar those last ten overs of Paul Collingwood at his very best it could have been a very different story”. But he understands the fixture congestion in international cricket makes it difficult.Ireland’s captain Trent Johnston has spoken regularly about the difficulties the side faces and White admits keeping the momentum going has been tough. “People go back to their full-time day jobs, it’s been mentioned quite a bit by most of the players, but that’s the reality of it,” he said. “It leaves very little time to put into the cricket. We are meeting up the day before and it’s very difficult to step up and turn it on. We are going to have to come up with ways and means around it, but that’s for the hierarchy to try and sort out.”

The hierarchy in question is the Irish Cricket Union, headed by the chief executive, Warren Deutrom, and they have already begun looking into how to turn the game professional. However, it’s not as simple as getting everyone to sign a piece of paper. Somehow the money has to be found and a regular supply of decent cricket scheduled to keep the players in form. The decision by Eoin Morgan to remain with Middlesex is completely understandable because he has a career to think about, while Jeremy Bray’s recent newspaper comments highlight the problems.Another idea suggested is a semi-professional set-up, which would give the ICU some control over the players. White, though, isn’t convinced. “It could work for the younger members of the squad, but for the likes of Kyle [McCallan], myself who starts a full-time teaching job in September, and others who are in full-time jobs I can’t see semi-professional working.”The argument is that senior players like Kevin O’Brien should be going into full-time contracts because they are the ones at a stage in their life and career where they’ve finished their studies and aren’t working. So why not invest money in players who are going to be the spine of the team for the next 10 years.”White will get a proper taste of the problems faced when he takes up a full-time teaching post, at the same school as team-mate McCallan, in September. “The principle of the school both Kyle and I are involved in has been extremely good in allowing us the time,” he said. “But there’s only a limit to that and how much time we can have. Kyle had to take a sabbatical for six months and if you kept asking for that they wouldn’t be too chuffed.”

So what does a typical week have in store for White as tries to maintain his two careers? “You are practising with your club two nights a week then you have a club game on Saturday if there’s no game for Ireland and besides that you are trying to get into the gym when possible. People like Kyle are leaving the house at half seven and he’s not home until six, then he’s got family time to consider as well. It’s an impossible task trying to balance your day job and the cricket at this level.”But while the current system remains, the players will continue to try and, somehow, find a work-life balance. White says every player is “extremely proud” to play for Ireland and the decisions taken by Morgan and Boyd Rankin have not come easily. Club cricket is thriving around the country with participation reaching record levels, so the desire to play is clearly still climbing after the World Cup success.”Club cricket has been played in Ireland for so long and hopefully it will continue to be so because the success of the national team encourages the club system, and the players, to keep going and play week after week. They are reporting that numbers have doubled, tripled and quadrupled.”That’s why I fail to understand when people like Michael Holding and Mike Atherton said we shouldn’t have been at the World Cup, because we weren’t good enough. I think it was a very narrow-minded insight into what it meant to the game back home. Our performances at the World Cup were truly inspirational from that point of view and the numbers coming into the game have been fantastic.” However, what sort of future is waiting for those who make it to the top level is still uncertain.

The U.S. had to make a change at goalkeeper after Schulte sustained an oblique injury over the weekend

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• Schulte out of USMNT squad
• Brady in for first senior call-up
• Joins Turner, Steffen and Freese in goalkeeper pool

• AFP
  

  WHAT HAPPENED?

  Ahead of the upcoming Gold Cup, U.S. men's national team boss Mauricio Pochettino called up Chicago Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady to replace the injured Patrick Schulte.

  Schulte's removal comes after the Columbus Crew goalkeeper sustained an oblique injury over the weekend, with that injury expected to keep him out through the Gold Cup. In his place, Pochettino has called in Brady to join Matt Turner, Zack Steffen and Matt Freese in the 27-player USMNT squad.

  Pochettino will cut that squad down to 26 following two pre-Gold Cup friendlies, with one of the four goalkeepers likely making way before the tournament.

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• Getty Images Sport
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Schulte's injury comes at a tough time, as the Crew star was looking to push Turner for the USMNT's starting job. Turner has been the starter since the 2022 World Cup cycle but, due to his lack of minutes at Crystal Palace, the race to be the 2026 starter remains on.

  Brady will now join Steffen and Freese for the summer portion of that race, with the Fire shotstopper earning his first senior team call-up. Brady has previously featured for the U.S. throughout the youth levels.

• Getty Images Sport
  

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Brady was a regular for the U.S. at the U20 level, winning the Golden Gloves at the 2022 CONCACAF U20 Championship. He then featured for the U.S. U23s, but did not make the final 2024 Olympic squad, which included Schulte and Gabriel Slonina in goal.

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• AFP
  

  WHAT NEXT FOR THE USMNT?

  The U.S. will face Turkey on June 7 and Switzerland on June 10 in pre-Gold Cup friendlies. They'll then take on Trinidad & Tobago, Saudi Arabia and Haiti in the group stage to start this summer's tournament.

MatériaMais Notícias

A lateral-esquerda Tamires é um ícone não apenas do Corinthians como do futebol feminino no país. Nesta quarta-feira (8), Dia Internacional da Mulher, data que simboliza a luta das mulheres para terem as mesmas condições dos homens na sociedade, a atleta de 35 anos destacou o crescimento da modalidade, mas também deixou claro que as condições ainda não são ideais.

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+ Yuri Alberto é ovacionado em vitória do Corinthians sobre o Santo André

– A gente não chegou aonde a gente gostaria, mas estamos evoluindo, muito felizes com as conquistas que estamos tendo, com a competitividade do Brasileiro, (que está) cada vez melhor, as oportunidades que estão aparecendo para as categorias de base. É um processo positivo e com muitas coisas boas ainda para acontecer – disse a “Mamãe da Fiel” em entrevista para o site do clube.

Ao lado de nomes como Marta, Formiga e Cristiane, Tamires foi uma das “pioneiras” na modalidade no país. Ela fez uma reflexão sobre as mudanças que estão acontecendo, apontou o trabalho na base como a principal conquista do futebol feminino nos últimos anos. No entanto, afirmou que clubes de grande porte ainda deixam a desejar em relação ao investimento.

+ Veja as movimentações do mercado da bola no LANCE!

– Hoje a gente tem clubes “de camisa”, investimento, uma estrutura maior. Muitos clubes ainda deixam a desejar, precisam ainda investir mais, e não simplesmente dar a camisa para as meninas. A maior conquista que tivemos foi olhar para a base. Nosso futuro começa com essas menininhas de 13, 14 anos, tendo bolsas de estudos, já jogando em equipes grandes, já tendo uma estrutura melhor, para se equilibrarem fisicamente e taticamente. Quando chegarem em uma equipe profissional, já estarão mais preparadas – analisou.

Após as Brabas conquistarem o título da Supercopa do Brasil sobre o Flamengo, Tamires cutucou a diretoria rubro-negra pela decisão de realizar a partida anterior do time carioca, a semifinal contra o Real Brasília, no Estádio Luso-Brasileiro.

COPA DO MUNDO E IMPORTÂNCIA DO SEU FILHO

Tamires é um dos principais nomes da Seleção Brasileira e deve estar na lista da técnica Pia Sundhage para a Copa do Mundo, que será realizada na Austrália e Nova Zelândia, entre julho e agosto.

A lateral salientou a importância da competição para aumentar a voz das mulheres e adiantou suas expectativas para o torneio.

– Sempre que tem uma Copa do Mundo, a gente não vai só pelo esporte, vamos por muitas causas. E o futebol feminino está à frente de muitas coisas positivas, de muitas causas importantes para o nosso crescimento. A voz da mulher aumentou muito durante esses anos todos.

– Agora a expectativa é super-alta, não só do nível tático, mas do físico. Os investimentos (também) aumentaram. As minhas expectativas são as melhores possíveis e espero que a nossa Seleção Brasileira possa representar tão bem o país, como a gente merece – afirmou.

+ Veja como ficou a tabela e simule para o mata-mata do Campeonato Paulista

continua após a publicidade

Mãe de Bernardo, Tamires disse como a maternidade fez ela lutar pelos seus familiares, seu grande alicerce na carreira.

-A Tamires mudou muito durante os anos, eu acho que a única coisa que não mudou daquela Tamires de 15 anos atrás, quando saiu de casa, foi a determinação, a minha persistência. Mas, sim, depois que eu virei mãe, a minha força aumentou, eu passei a lutar não só por mim, mas também a lutar por pessoas que estão ao meu lado. E isso foi o que me motivou: os meus familiares, que sempre me apoiaram. Isso me deu uma força muito grande – comentou.

A atleta de 35 anos deixou uma mensagem positiva para as jogadoras que possuem o sonho de jogar futebol, destacando a importância do esporte na vida das pessoas.

-Meu recado é: sempre acreditar. A gente não pode, nunca, desistir dos nossos sonhos. O esporte educa, disciplina, e se você tem o sonho de ser uma jogadora de futebol, as oportunidades estão aí, então vá atrás delas, não desista no primeiro “não” e acredite sempre, independentemente de qualquer coisa. Lembre-se sempre que você tem de ser uma atleta de respeito, de personalidade – concluiu Tamires.

Sussex now just 151 ahead as Middlesex make use of their turn on a flat Lord’s pitch

ECB Reporters Network26-May-2024

Sam Robson and Ryan Higgins continued their fine form with centuries as Middlesex’s run-fest of a game with visitors Sussex continued on day three at Lord’s.Robson underpinned the hosts response to Sussex’s mammoth 554 for 9 with 136, the 35th first-class hundred of his career, while Higgins added the flair his third century of the campaign – an effort of 106 in Middlesex’s total of 403 for 6.Sussex, for whom Jack Carson returned figures of 3 for 89 will rue dropping Robson twice on 51 and 129, while Higgins was also given a life on 67 – England seamer Ollie Robinson the unlucky bowler on each occasion.Given Robson’s heroics it’s important to reflect he may have departed the scene in the opening over of the day. Responding to a call from partner Holden for an injudicious single, the right-hander running to the striker’s end would have been gone for all money given a direct hit. It set the tone for some sketchy running by the opener who suffered at least two other close calls.Robson’s driving however, whether square or through the covers was exquisite, one such stroke taking him to his half-century. The landmark came amid a testing morning burst from Robinson, Robson surviving a confident lbw shout from one which was just going over the top before Clark grassed the first of the two chances offered a slip, a tough one, but an expensive miss nonetheless.At the other end, Max Holden, a man revitalised this season moved to 50 with a minimum of fuss, helped by five boundaries, allowing the pair to steer the hosts to lunch at 140 for 1.Holden however, as on a few occasions this year fell soon after a resumption when the ball after dancing down the pitch to strike Jack Carson back over his head for four, he flashed at a wide one from the spinner to be caught at slip for 61.Leus Du Plooy’s contribution was brisk but brief, the acting captain paddling an innocuous ball wide of leg stump from Jaden Seales straight down the throat of long leg.Robson, though, found another ally in the form of all-rounder Higgins, who came out as ever bristling aggression, reverse sweeping Carson for four before playing the shot in the more orthodox fashion for the first six of the innings into the Grandstand.Robson meanwhile crunched his 14th four through cover to raise his hundred as the stand realised 79 by tea. The opener was given a second life shortly after the restart, Clark again the culprit at slip, Robinson again the unlucky bowler. Clark beat the ground in frustration, but the second top at least didn’t prove costly as Robson fell to the new ball, chipping a tired shot straight to mid-wicket.Higgins continued to be aggressive while Robinson continued to curse his luck. The seamer first found the inside edge of the Zimbabwean’s bat only for the ball to trickle onto the stumps without dislodging the bails, before Higgins flashed hard at a wide one on 67 to be reprieved again as James Coles failed to cling on at third slip.That scare survived, and with the luckless Robinson finally retreating into the outfield, Higgins forged on, striking Coles for successive boundaries to reach his hundred, before dancing down the pitch to Carson and missing the ball to be stumped by John Simpson.Tom Helm, promoted to seven, fell only two balls later in identical fashion to cause a few nerves, but 20-year-old Nathan Fernandes underlined his promise with a composed unbeaten 50 to leave the hosts just two short of the follow-on figure of 405 at stumps.