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Former Sri Lanka player found to have committed a serious breach of CA’s Code of Conduct by engaging in inappropriate behaviour while working at Cricket Victoria

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2024Former Sri Lanka international Dulip Samaraweera has received a 20-year ban from Cricket Australia for conduct that has been described as “utterly reprehensible” and he will not be allowed to hold any position within CA, the state associations, BBL or WBBL clubs during that time.Samaraweera, 52, was found to have committed a serious breach of CA’s Code of Conduct during his time as a Cricket Victoria employee with a CA Code of Conduct commission banning him for 20 years following an investigation from CA’s Integrity Department after complaints about his conduct had been made.Samaraweera, who played seven Tests and five ODIs for Sri Lanka between 1993 and 1995, was a long-time Victoria women’s and Melbourne Stars WBBL assistant coach before being elevated to the Victoria women’s senior coaching role earlier this year, only for him to resign just two weeks into the role after being denied an appointment he wanted to make to his staff due to the state’s policies.The serious code of conduct breach was separate from that issue. CA’s Commission found Samaraweera had engaged in inappropriate behaviour that breached section 2.23 of CA’s Code of Conduct. The behaviour is alleged to have been involving a player.Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins released a statement condemning Samaraweera’s behaviour.”We strongly support the decision taken by the Code of Conduct Commission today, banning Dulip Samaraweera for 20 years,” Cummins said. “It is our view that the conduct was utterly reprehensible and a betrayal of everything we stand for at Cricket Victoria.”The victim in this case has demonstrated incredible strength of character and courage in speaking up. She will continue to receive our ongoing support to allow her to achieve her goals on and off the field.”From an organisation perspective, the safety and wellbeing of everyone at Cricket Victoria is paramount. We will not tolerate any behaviour which compromises that position, or our people, and will always support our culture of speaking up.”CA also stated that they are “committed to providing a safe environment for all players and employees and the welfare of those subjected to mistreatment is paramount.”

The visitors hunted down 253 in front of 20,000 spectators at The Oval amid carnage for bowlers

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-2023Will Jacks just missed out on smashing six sixes in an over in a massive Surrey total of 252 for seven, but Stephen Eskinazi and Max Holden still emerged as the heroes of an astonishing Vitality Blast London derby as Middlesex pulled off a record-breaking chase to win by seven wickets with four balls to spare in front of more than 20,000 spectators at the Kia Oval.Eskinazi blasted 73 from 39 balls, in an opening blitz of 90 runs in just 6.3 overs with Joe Cracknell, who made 36 off 16, before Holden took over with a nerveless 68 not out from 35 balls – adding 105 in 7.4 overs under the lights with Ryan Higgins.Higgins, who had bowled well amid the carnage of Surrey’s innings to take 2 for 40 – his ten runs per over making him the most economical bowler of the whole evening – batted superbly for his 48 off 24 balls, pulling the first ball he faced, from Chris Jordan, for six.And when Higgins was caught behind off Jordan in the penultimate over, 23-year-old left hander Jack Davies came in to take a single to keep the strike for the last over before scooping Gus Atkinson for six over fine leg and then slicing another low full toss next ball for four to take his side to 253 for three and spark joyous scenes of jubilation in the Middlesex dug out.This was Middlesex’s first win in 15 T20 games, stretching back to last summer, and their incredible chase was the highest in Blast history and the second highest in T20 matches around the world.Jacks had earlier made 96 from only 45 balls in an extraordinary opening stand of 177 in a mere 12.4 overs with Laurie Evans, whose own contribution was an explosive 37-ball 85, and yet Middlesex’s brilliant reply – barely believably – left the Surrey openers on the losing side.But Jacks was left slightly annoyed, after thumping Luke Hollman for five sixes from the first five balls of the 11th over, that he could then only mishit a knee-high full toss from the leg spinner to deep mid wicket. “I don’t think I’ll get a better chance of hitting six sixes in an over than that so it’s a little bit disappointing,” said Jacks.After crashing seven sixes and eight fours in all, Jacks was caught on the cover boundary off Martin Andersson going for yet another six to complete his hundred, and by then Evans had also been bowled swinging at 21-year-old paceman Max Harris to end a brilliant knock of his own featuring five sixes and nine fours.The final part of Surrey’s innings, just six runs short of their highest T20 total but their best against Middlesex, was a flurry of wickets and more big hits – if not at quite the rate achieved by Jacks and Evans.There were further sixes, however, from both Jamie Overton (18) and Sean Abbott (11) before Jordan ended the innings in style by striking the first and final balls of Tom Helm’s 20th over for sixes driven high and straight and pulled far over mid wicket to finish on 16 not out.It meant that Surrey totalled 16 sixes and 19 fours in their thrilling onslaught on an excellent batting pitch after being put in by a Middlesex side that had lost their ten previous South Group matches this season, and the final four of last year’s Blast competition.So it was to their enormous credit that Middlesex, led by their skipper Eskinazi, responded with such bravery to the huge task in front of them. Eskinazi hit 14 fours and a six, swung over mid wicket off Abbott in a second over of the innings costing 20, and with Cracknell also striking it well the Middlesex total was a stunning 83 for no wicket at the end of the six-over powerplay. At halfway they were 129 for 1 and after 15 overs 200 for 2.Cracknell was run out in an unfortunate mix-up but Holden struck Sunil Narine for a straight six and later took another maximum off the West Indian star spinner. In all, Middlesex hit eight sixes and no fewer than 33 fours on a truly spectacular night in south London.

What they said

Stephen Eskinazi“It was an absolutely incredible game of cricket and although our celebrations at the end may have looked over the top it’s because as a group of players, and staff, we have been through a phenomenally difficult period of time in this competition.”Our feelings now are that this win is a vindication as a group that we are doing the right things even though we must have been on the longest losing streak that any team has had in T20 cricket. This is a really special evening and really special result, even though it’s only our first win of the season.”Max Holden“It’s been a tricky time for everyone this summer in T20 but we still have believed we were building towards a performance like that. Results have not been going our way but we’ve felt there have been positives and so it’s great now to get a victory like that. It was an amazing batting pitch and even when they got their total on the board we still did think we could do something special.”Chris Jordan“We will look at areas where it went wrong for us tonight, and perhaps especially the way we started their innings. I don’t think we hit the areas we wanted to hit in those early powerplay overs but full credit to Middlesex and the way they played to chase that down.”They came hard at us all the way through their innings and that made it very difficult for us. T20 is a momentum game and they never gave it up after getting off to a flyer. They always had an answer to everything we tried and that’s great credit to them.”

Bangladesh crumbled to spin again and barely batted for an hour on the fourth morning

Mohammad Isam11-Apr-2022When the result of this Test series will be read about years later, it will say South Africa 2, Bangladesh 0. Many would take it as a usual occurrence since Bangladesh have usually been below-par in Tests in South Africa. However, this time around, the hosts were without their frontline bowling attack, and had lost the preceding ODI series to Bangladesh for the first time at home. Keshav Maharaj, though, made sure the IPL stars were not missed as he helped South Africa demolish the visitors by 332 runs in the second Test in Gqeberha and complete a clean sweep.

Khaled fined for flinging ball at Verreynne

Khaled Ahmed has been fined 15% of his match fee for breaching Level 1 of the ICC’s code of conduct during the second day of the Gqeberha Test, when, in the 95th over of South Africa’s first innings, Kyle Verreynne hit the ball back towards Ahmed, the bowler, and he flung it towards the batter in “an inappropriate and dangerous manner, hitting him on the right glove”.
In addition to the fine, one demerit point has been added to Ahmed’s disciplinary record. It was his first offence in a 24-month period.

Maharaj took 7 for 40 in the fourth innings to skittle Bangladesh for a meagre 80, thus becoming the first bowler in Test history to take seven-wicket hauls in consecutive fourth innings. He had returned figures of 7 for 32 when Bangladesh were rolled over for 53 in the fourth innings of the first Test, in Durban. In the process, Maharaj also completed 150 wickets in Test cricket. Simon Harmer took three wickets in this innings, as he did in the fourth innings of the previous Test, as South Africa once again embarrassed Bangladesh by just using two bowlers.Chasing 413, Bangladesh started the fourth morning on 27 for 3 and they would have hoped that there would not be a repeat of the Durban collapse. But the Bangladesh batters wilted under pressure.Related

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Mushfiqur Rahim was the first to depart, edging Maharaj to Dean Elgar at slips in the second over of the day. Mominul Haque followed in Maharaj’s next over, top-edging a sweep that he couldn’t quite reach, with Ryan Rickelton completing an easy catch at square leg. Yasir Ali then top-edged Harmer in his attempted slog sweep, giving Lizaad Williams, the only fielder on the leg-side boundary, an easy catch. By the fifth over of the morning, Bangladesh had slipped to 44 for 6.Litton Das struck five fours in his 27 off 33 balls before Maharaj lured him out of the crease. Litton missed the ball by a foot and Kyle Verreynne completed an easy stumping. Maharaj then had Mehidy Hasan Miraz caught behind and Khaled Ahmed lbw, before Harmer ended Bangladesh’s misery.The day had started with South Africa making international cricket’s first two Covid substitutions after Sarel Erwee and Wiaan Mulder tested positive and were replaced by Khaya Zondo, who got a Test debut, and Glenton Stuurman.

Coach says defeat is part of bigger picture as South Africa strive to close the gap

Firdose Moonda01-Dec-2020South Africa have a considerable amount of catching-up to do to reach the same white-ball standards as a team like England, according to their coach Mark Boucher.Speaking after South Africa failed to win a match in a home T20 series for the first time in the format’s history, Boucher acknowledged that England are in a different class when compared with other teams.”England are step ahead of, not only us, but quite a few different teams in world cricket,” Boucher said, after the team’s defeat in the third T20 at Newlands. “We’ve got a way to go. If you look at this England team, when they got together probably in around 2017, they were also asking a lot of questions of themselves trying to find a balance that was going to suit their style of play. These guys have won a World Cup and are oozing with confidence. Their players are a lot more developed than what our players are. Our job is to get our guys in our team feeling what these guys are.”Boucher and his support staff’s work has been made many times more difficult by the almost nine-month period of inaction forced upon the national team by the coronavirus pandemic, and its effects on team selection, both of which left South Africa “exposed” in certain areas.”We didn’t have allrounders due to various reasons so we lacked a sixth bowler. You can’t hide behind that. Sometimes in T20 cricket, you’ve got a bowler who goes. And most teams, especially a team like England, tend to fancy a particular bowler on one night and you need a bit of cover for that individual, and we haven’t been able to do that,” Boucher said.Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo have both been unavailable for selection for this series which forced South Africa to field XIs made up of specialists. They opted for a six batsmen-five bowler split, which meant they had no alternative but for each bowler to deliver a full quota of four overs. In the first match, they tried to use Heinrich Klaasen for an over of part-time spin, which backfired, while in the second, Lungi Ngidi was costly and in the third, Lutho Sipamla and Tabraiz Shamsi leaked runs, but South Africa had no-one else to attempt to apply the brakes.While Boucher was mostly satisfied with the team’s batting efforts, he lamented the lack of a left-hander, with David Miller also unavailable for this series. “Maybe (we could also have had) a left-hander in the middle-order, especially to a legspinner like Adil Rashid who turns the ball in to the left-hander. It showed in the England batting line-up how valuable that can be,” he said.Despite the forced absence of some first-choice players, Boucher insists South Africa are beyond the trial phase of their T20 World Cup preparation and want to fine-tune rather than figure out their overall squad. “We haven’t been experimenting. We’ve been using the resources that we’ve had,” he said. “We’ve had a couple of unfortunate circumstances that caused us to play combinations that we knew were not correct but we had to do it. We want to get into a situation where we are solid on a T20 squad.”He also defended the team’s demonstration of their new aggressive, but smart, style of play, which has yet to be fully explained. It seems to suggest a more proactive approach to shorter formats than is usual for South Africa, who tend to err on the side of caution. Boucher said he felt the team showed signs of clever thinking, even though it didn’t always work in their favour.ALSO READ: CSA will apply affirmative action in hiring coaching consultants“I do think they were smart. We were thrown a couple of curveballs,” he said. “A smart decision would be to play six bowlers but the balance of the side wouldn’t have worked out. On the field, I like the core group of guys to make decisions, and they made those decisions. We continuously talk about smart decisions and what we felt we did right and what we felt we could do better. We want to keep growing.”In the first two games, we were smart, we just didn’t play the big moments that well. If you look at the games, it came down to one or two overs that cost us. That’s just big moments that we didn’t play as well as England did and hence the results. The first two games were a lot tighter than people may think. This game not so much. I thought we had enough runs. We just didn’t execute with the ball and England are a powerhouse side and they are going to punish you.”Balking at the big moments has often been a criticism levelled against South Africa, but that’s not something they can dwell on right now. Rather than a close scrutiny of what they didn’t do in this series, Boucher hopes his squad can apply a wide lens to this series and see it in the context of their rebuilding process and the summer ahead, as they look to close the gap between themselves and teams like England.”Days like today are tough because we haven’t won,” he said. “We will try and encourage the guys that they need to trust the bigger picture. There are a couple of hard lessons being learnt at the moment but we are not going to quit. We are here for the long haul.”

Steven Smith’s hopes of participating in the third Ashes Test will rest in the hands of Australia’s medical team

Daniel Brettig at Lord's18-Aug-2019Steven Smith will need to bat against top pace within the next three days and show no further signs of discomfort in order to be passed fit for the third Test at Headingley on Thursday. He said that he did not want to return unless he was “100% fit” to play in the next chapter of this Ashes series.While expressing hope that he would be able to play in Leeds, Smith conceded that the “quick turnaround” between the second and third Tests was an obstacle for his return from what he described as a “mild concussion” resulting from a blow to the back of the neck from Jofra Archer on day four at Lord’s – a diagnosis that led to him becoming the first concussion substitution in international cricket.”It’s obviously a quick turnaround between Test matches,” Smith said. “I’m going to be assessed over the next five or six days, each day a couple times a day, to see how I’m feeling and progressing and I’m hopeful I will be available for that Test match, but it’s certainly up to the medical staff and we’ll have conversations. It’s certainly an area of concern concussion and I want to be 100% fit.”I’ve got to be able to train probably a couple of days out and face fast bowling to make sure my reaction time and all that kind of stuff is in place. There’s a few tests I’ll have to tick off and I guess time will tell.”I’d love to be out there trying to keep performing and try help Australia win another Test match but I think the right decision’s been made and I’ll obviously be monitored very closely over the next few days with a pretty quick turnaround in between Test matches and I’m hopeful I can make a recovery and be okay for that.”On Sunday evening, Cricket Australia said that Smith had been sent for a precautionary scan of his neck, which had cleared him of any structural damage. He returned to the team hotel afterwards to be monitored on an ongoing basis.Speaking about how he felt on the fifth morning, Smith said his condition had deteriorated relative to what it had been in the hour after he was hit by Archer, at the time passing the concussion tests he needed to in order to resume his innings.Steven Smith walks off after being hit by a bouncer•Getty Images

“I started to feel a little bit of a headache coming on last night, probably as the adrenaline got out of my system,” Smith said. “I was able to get a good sleep in, which is somewhat rare for me. But woke up feeling a little bit groggy and with a headache again, so had some tests done and upon some further assessments deemed to be a mild concussion unfortunately.”We did a test this morning here at the ground, did one last night and results changed slightly and unfortunately that and how I’m feeling have contributed to me being ruled out for the rest of the Test match. Yesterday when I came off the ground the results were normal. I passed all the tests and felt fine, felt normal. I was allowed to go back out and bat, upon discussions with the team doctor and the coach as well. They were both happy and I was comfortable as well, so we were all happy and I was able to go out and continue batting.”I didn’t have any real pain in my neck yesterday when I touched it or when anyone else touched it. Today I do have a bit of pain there, whether that’s some swelling or what I’m not sure. Perhaps that’s leading to me having a headache and feeling a bit groggy. In regards to the arm, the arm feels pretty good today. It’s quite a good bruise I have on it and it’s feeling a lot better. The movement I have in it is far greater than I had yesterday and that feels really good.”In explaining why he did not use a stem guard to protect the back of his neck, Smith said that he would now have to consider adopting the extra protection in the wake of his injury. “I along with a few other players in the team find it a little bit different, uncomfortable to what we’re used to,” he explained. “For me, I feel a little bit claustrophobic when it’s on, I feel like I’m enclosed and not overly comfortable. But it’s certainly something I need to probably have a look at and perhaps try in the nets and see if I can find a way to get comfortable with it.”Australia’s the leader in bringing the concussion subs and rules around concussion in the domestic competition back home. We’re very thorough in the way we deal with knocks to the head and neck to ensure that the safety and health of a player is of paramount importance. The doc’s had a pretty close eye on me since I came off the field yesterday and I’ve been assessed and asked a lot of questions over the last 20 hours or thereabouts, and unfortunately I’ve declined in the way I’ve felt over that time.”

Ben Duckett showed a glimmer of form with his second half-century of a disappointing season as Northants sought their first Championship win

ECB Reporters Network20-Jun-2018
ScorecardBen Duckett, Luke Procter and Richard Levi all made half-centuries as bottom-of-the-table Northamptonshire made 282 against Gloucestershire on the opening day of the pink-ball Specsavers County Championship match at Wantage Road.After being bowled out with 13 overs left in the day, Northants swung the new ball around as the floodlights took effect and struck in the final over of the day with Steven Crook trapping Chris Dent lbw for 11 and Gloucestershire closed 25 for 1.Until that wicket, Gloucestershire had fought back fairly well into the day after handing Northants easy runs early in the innings. But two mini-collapses prevented that early initiative being converted into a commanding total and had Dent survived with Benny Howell to the close, Gloucestershire, having elected to bowl, may have felt the more content with their day.The visitors began the day terribly with the new ball and gave Northants a racing start with Duckett and Procter adding 97 runs in the first 16 overs. Duckett in particular feasted merrily to reach fifty in just 44 balls with nine fours – five of them in successive deliveries in the third over of the game bowled by Matt Taylor – for his first half-century in the Championship this season.But Taylor returned and, after lodging his second half-century of the season, Duckett chased a full wide delivery to edge behind for 52, Ricardo Vasconcelos steered a catch to first slip off the same bowler for a nine ball duck and Alex Wakely was caught and bowled by Kieran Noema-Barnett for just 3 as Northants lost three wickets for 13 runs in five overs.Just after lunch, Procter went to fifty in 93 balls with nine fours but having got to 70, top-edged a pull against Taylor and James Bracey ran back from slip to claim the catch. It was Taylor’s third wicket, none of them terribly deserved, and he went on to claim 4 for 70 in 12 overs.The wicket of Procter brought about the second Northants collapse as three wickets went down for 34 runs in eight overs. Adam Rossington lazily cut Taylor to first slip and Levi, having struck 13 fours in reaching 63 with a number of eye-catching strokes, pushed forward and was caught behind giving Ryan Higgins his first wicket before Northants settled to 247 for 6 at tea.Saif Zaib fell in the first over of the evening session, trapped lbw by Noema-Barnett and after Rory Kleinveldt received a far more questionable lbw decision to fall for 9, Higgins removed the final two wickets – Crook caught a slip and Brett Hutton caught behind – to finish with 3 for 52.

Dean Elgar’s 128* and Faf du Plessis’ 52 led South Africa’s fightback on the opening day in Dunedin after the New Zealand quicks jolted the visitors early

The Report by Andrew McGlashan07-Mar-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:10

Moonda: All eyes on Bavuma after Elgar

On 22 consecutive occasions, the captain winning the toss in New Zealand had opted to bowl. When South Africa were 22 for 3 on the opening day in Dunedin, Dean Elgar may have pondered if Faf du Plessis had picked the right time to end that run. But Elgar did more than most to make sure it worked out fine in the end as his seventh Test hundred carried South Africa to 229 for 4.The dominant stand of the day came between Elgar, who was dropped by BJ Watling on 36, and du Plessis as they added 126 for the fourth wicket before further consolidation alongside Temba Bavuma in a stand of 81 which survived the entire final session. However, New Zealand ensured the game did not run away from them, for the most part keeping a lid on the scoring, after making the surprise decision of selecting two frontline spinners.Elgar’s seventh Test century, and a third in his last seven outings, came from 197 balls including 20 boundaries which highlighted how focused he was on leaving and defending unless there was something on offer to attack. He has become one of the preeminent opening batsmen in the game, although his returns can fly under the radar. He was named Man of the Series against Sri Lanka in January and this innings took his average above 40 for the first time since his third Test (which was also against New Zealand) as he finished within two runs of a new career-best score.While Elgar’s recent returns mean this performance shouldn’t be unexpected, there was plenty at the start of the day which did confound expectation. Kane Williamson had put considerable faith in his luck with the coin changing after making the crunch decision to leave out vice-captain Tim Southee in favour of Jeetan Patel. But after losing all five tosses in the one-day series the run continued which meant bowling with an attack New Zealand would be more expected to field on the subcontinent than at home: it was the first time they had selected two specialist spinners at University Oval.Patel was bowling by the sixth over and conceded just eight runs in his first 10 overs to help New Zealand build and sustain pressure in the first session. There was certainly some grip for him and Mitchell Santner to suggest the selection call was not out of the realms of fantasy, but there were times when New Zealand felt a quick bowler light.There was nothing strange, however, in the manner of the early wickets. Stephen Cook’s defensive mindset led to him padding up against Trent Boult. Then Neil Wagner, on his home ground, produced a superb over at the start of his second spell. Firstly, he caught Hashim Amla flat-footed, after he had made 1 off 27 balls, with a full delivery which clattered into the stumps and then he switched to Wagner 101 mode with a brute of a short ball to bounce out JP Duminy.When you are a captain who was undecided what to do until moments before the toss, you are probably questioning your decision to bat when walking in at 22 for 3. But alongside Elgar, du Plessis took the sting out of the morning session. A penny for Southee’s thoughts as he saw the ball swinging but a spinner in operation.Neil Wagner’s double-strike in the 19th over sent back Hashim Amla and JP Duminy•AFP

The major moment of the day came off the first delivery of the second over after lunch when Elgar tickled Boult down the leg side but Watling could not gather the low catch. He did not offer another chance. As the fourth-wicket partnership bedded in, Williamson was left with the juggling act of not over-bowling Boult and Wagner. The way in which Elgar and du Plessis bided their time reinforced how they knew they could force Williamson’s hand and their reward was a period before tea which brought seven boundaries in 19 deliveries, although that was a rare period of brisk scoring.Du Plessis reached his fifty with a delightful drive off Santner before handing New Zealand a boost during an action-packed over against James Neesham who had been selected ahead of Colin de Grandhomme but not bowled until the 57th over. Clocking over 140kph, Neesham had du Plessis given lbw only for the decision to be overturned by the DRS due to a very thin edge (du Plessis initially reviewed for height, so thin was the nick). Three balls later there was no doubt, du Plessis pulling to Boult at deep midwicket ten minutes before tea in uncharacteristically careless fashion.It was an opening for New Zealand, especially with Bavuma coming off 21 runs in five innings against Sri Lanka, but while the bowling remained accurate it was difficult with the ageing ball. Elgar moved into the 90s with a neat skip down the pitch to loft Santner down the ground then reached three figures with a crunching pull through midwicket off Neesham.Bavuma took 20 balls to open his account but after a top-edged hook evaded long leg became more secure, surviving Wagner’s attempts to rough him up with the older ball. The new ball was taken and caused a few uneasy moments, but could not conjure the breakthrough New Zealand needed. There was much that went against history on the opening day of this series and though it’s too early to say how history will judge the match, South Africa will have ended highly satisfied with having hauled themselves out of the mire.

For so long unwanted when it comes to Australia’s limited overs plans, Nathan Lyon can take his latest omission from the ODI team as a sign he is actually closer than ever to a start at the next major ICC tournament

Daniel Brettig04-Jan-2016A paradox, a paradox, a most ingenious paradox. For so long unwanted when it comes to Australia’s limited overs plans, Nathan Lyon can take his latest omission from the ODI team as a sign he is actually closer than ever to a start at the next major ICC tournament.The World Twenty20 in India in March looms as the event in which Lyon will belatedly make his mark as a bowler in Australian gold rather than Test match cream. His exclusion from the squad to face India in five 50-over matches at the start of a new World Cup cycle means that Lyon can play out the remainder of the Big Bash League, honing his T20 skills ahead of 20-over series against India and South Africa that precede the ICC event.The selector Trevor Hohns said this year’s calendar had been a factor in the decision to use only Glenn Maxwell’s part-time off spin in the ODIs against India, allowing Lyon to play T20 for the Sydney Sixers ahead of the more pivotal tournament in India. Hohns said that the event on the subcontinent would require more than one spin bowler, meaning Lyon is firming as the man to make the trip.”Nathan is not far out of the picture … for one-day cricket, and of course with the [World] T20 coming up it’s probably ideal for him to go back and play some of those games,” Hohns said. “Also, if we look where we’re playing the first few games – you’ve got Brisbane, you’ve got Perth – normally you play with your faster bowlers there.”Glenn Maxwell has done a pretty good job in the spinning role when we’re only playing that one type of spinner-cum-allrounder, plus the quicks. I think we’ll find that, for the T20 World Cup in particular in those conditions over there, we’ll probably need a couple of spinners in our squad. I can’t see why [Lyon and Maxwell can’t play together] – depending on conditions, of course.”There was a contrasting verdict from Hohns on the young fast man James Pattinson, who has made promising progress in his first Test series back from injury since early 2014. At some times Pattinson has been irresistible, at others eminently hittable, as shown when Carlos Brathwaite went after him on the rain-hit second day of the SCG Test before he responded with a pearler to bowl the allrounder.Hohns said the panel had been happy with Pattinson’s progress, but doubted he would be a limited-overs prospect in the medium term as he build back towards his very best rhythm and speed. “With Patto as we know he’s just coming back from pretty extensive injury,” Hohns said.”He’s now played a few Test matches on the trot, so we’re thinking more about the future for him, rather than just clogging him up immediately and bringing up his workloads as they say. It’s more about management for him in particular. One-day cricket there’s probably a question mark there I must say, but certainly Test cricket we want him back flying how he was a couple of years ago and he’s not quite there yet, but gradually getting there.”As for Australia’s batting, Hohns noted positively that there was now an emerging sense of depth that has not been evident for some time. The likes of Chris Lynn, Travis Head and the indefatigable Michael Klinger are keeping pressure on the players being picked in the Test ODI and T20 teams, something the selectors view as vital to the success of the national side across all formats.”There’s quite a few on the fringes there and the back half of the one day series might give us an opportunity to have a look at a couple of those players,” Hohns said. “What we’re finding now with your Lynns, Khawajas, Travis Head another one, it’s really starting to build our depth back up again, and those are the players we want to have keeping the pressure on the blokes in the side. It’s all about depth and we’re starting to get there in the batting line-up.”

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim praised his team for the attitude and commitment they showed in the 143-run win over Zimbabwe in Harare

Mohammad Isam29-Apr-2013The Bangladesh dressing room was a subdued enclosure after their 143-run win over Zimbabwe in the second and final Test. The team had decided to skip celebrations as a mark of respect to the victims of the Savar building collapse tragedy, one of the worst industrial accidents in Bangladesh’s history, which has resulted in 389 deaths so far.”We dedicate this win to the Savar victims,” Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said at the post-match press conference. “It probably contributes nothing [to their cause] but we didn’t celebrate after the win. We didn’t sing the team song. It is a very sad moment for us back home.”We were thinking about it during the match, and we discussed it when we got back to the hotel after the first day. We have been trying to keep in touch with everyone back home because it really is a disaster and we don’t want things like this to happen.”It was a tough five days of cricket for both sides, especially for Bangladesh who were smarting from a massive 335-run loss in the first match. There was a human tragedy playing out back home, and they were faced with the challenge of winning the second Test, something they had done only three times prior to this match in 13 years of their Test history.But they turned it around. Mushfiqur was adjudged Man of the Match for his two fifties, one of which could easily have been his third Test century. The 60 and 93 was nonetheless of great value to the team. His phlegmatic approach stood out, he rarely played a rash shot and did not let his emotions run the course of his innings. Shakib Al Hasan also scored two fifties, but the manner of his dismissals will be more remembered easily.”Winning a Test match is an amazing feeling, especially after coming back in this manner,” Mushfiqur said. “We could have won the first Test had we applied ourselves like we did in this game. It was never going to be easy against them, but we turned it around. It is great to be awarded the Man of the Match in a Test victory. Every player would tell you he dreams of this. It means a lot when your hard work pays off in this way.”The Bangladesh captain had special praise for Robiul Islam and Nasir Hossain for the crucial performances they turned in on the second day, which helped Bangladesh gain a 109-run lead. “Robiul bowled very well in both Tests,” he said. “He works very hard, and he is one guy who gives his 100% with every ball even if he doesn’t get a wicket. We needed a bowler like him. He got just rewards for his hard work.”The first innings in the second Test was very important for us. Remember, we hadn’t scored even 150 in both innings of the first Test. Tamim (Iqbal), Shakib and Nasir did well. I tried my best. Shiblu (Robiul) bowled very well in their first innings, and I think the 109-run lead was the turning point in this game,” he said.It was an important win for Mushfiqur as a captain, too. He can now experience what Habibul Bashar and Shakib Al Hasan have achieved as captains. Bashar was in charge when Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe at home in 2005, their maiden Test win. Shakib took Mashrafe Mortaza’s place as the captain in the 2009 series against West Indies, and played a vital part in the two wins.”It helps to do well as a captain. The confidence of a side is different when the captain scores some runs,” he said. “It sets an example, the attitude within the team changes. Nasir can play with responsibilities, and the younger ones will learn from him and our performance.”Mushfiqur didn’t want to comment on the umpiring but had some tough words for the hosts. Zimbabwe Cricket’s hospitality has irked the visitors, especially the lack of practice facilities on tour.”A visiting team doesn’t deserve the sort of practice facilities they gave us,” he said. “We had requested a morning session, but they said no. I had told the media before the second Test that we have to win to reply to such behaviour.”The side now heads to Bulawayo to play the limited-overs leg of the tour, which will bring an end to the Bangladesh season. It has been a season that has seen some big scores, some personal milestones and a drawn Test in Sri Lanka. But it will always be bookmarked by this win in Harare.

Albie Morkel ransacked 28 runs off the first six balls he faced – the 19th over – to pull off an incredible heist for Chennai Super Kings, the second highest successful chase in the IPL

The Report by Firdose Moonda12-Apr-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Faf du Plessis built the platform from which Albie Morkel launched his match-winning assault•AFP

Albie Morkel ransacked 28 runs off the first six balls he faced – the 19th over – to pull off an incredible heist for Chennai Super Kings, the second highest successful chase in the IPL. Pursuing 206, Super Kings needed 43 off 12 balls and Royal Challengers Bangalore would have thought the match safe, only for Morkel to shatter the notion by savaging Virat Kohli’s over.Morkel launched three sixes, two fours and ran a two, to leave Super Kings with 15 to get in the last over. Although he was caught on the boundary, and Super Kings needed 14 off four balls, Dwayne Bravo was on hand to finish it off, helped by a no-ball and a full toss from Vinay Kumar. It was a compelling finish to an innings that had its platform laid by aggression from Faf du Plessis and innovation from MS Dhoni, who promoted himself to No. 4, but until that rocket-fueled thrust from Morkel, Super Kings had been behind for 38 overs.In hindsight Royal Challengers were left to rue a late collapse in their innings, when five wickets fell in six balls and they scored only 11 runs off the final ten deliveries. Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli had done enough to ensure they were the first side to make more than 200 in this IPL, but they were set for more than 205 at one stage.While Royal Challengers swelled in the middle of their innings, scoring 21 off the ninth over, Super Kings waited for the end to lash out after a solid start. Du Plessis took control of the innings early on and scored risk-free boundaries off short balls. He dominated the first seven overs, while M Vijay batted in his shadow.Vijay became the first of Muttiah Muralitharan’s three scalps when he offered the Sri Lankan a return catch. Murali had to dive to his right and defy his age to complete it and he did. Murali broke the next two partnerships as well to prevent Super Kings from gaining too much ground. Suresh Raina and du Plessis both holed out as they fought a climbing asking rate.With more than 15 an over required off the last five, Super Kings needed a sustained attack. It did not come. Dhoni perished in the cause, attempting the helicopter shot to be caught at long-off, which proved a blessing in disguise as it brought Morkel to the crease.Kohli was given the responsibility of the 19th over because Vettori had exhausted the quotas of his experienced bowlers and Gayle was off the field with what seemed to be a groin niggle. Morkel got underway with an inside edge for four and then blasted the next delivery over long-on for six. An outside edge off the third ball flew towards third man for four and Morkel clobbered the fourth and sixth deliveries for six as well.When Morkel was dismissed, the advantage was back with a shell-shocked Royal Challengers but Vinay Kumar let it slip again. He bowled a high no-ball that Bravo pulled for four and the next delivery was a full toss, which got slapped for six. Vinay Kumar followed up with two boundary-less balls leaving Super Kings with two to win off the last ball. Ravindra Jadeja swung hard at the final delivery and outside-edged to the third-man boundary, sparking off delirious celebrations in the Super Kings dugout. Royal Challengers explosive efforts with the bat were a distant memory.During Royal Challengers’ innings, Mayank Agarwal had performed a similar role to Du Plessis, attacking at the start. He initially eclipsed Gayle, peppering the off side with powerful shots, lofting the ball over mid-off and timing it sweetly through covers. Agarwal ushered Royal Challengers to the first half-century score inside five overs this season.Unlike du Plessis, however, Agarwal did not build on his platform and top-edged a slower bouncer from Morkel to mid-on. He had done enough though for Gayle and Kohli to build a skyscraper on. Both scored half-centuries in contrasting styles. Gayle gathered runs with power while Kohli did it with placement and timing. Their partnership grew to the highest of this IPL but neither of them survived until the end of the innings, from where they may have been able to launch the kind of onslaught Morkel did, and break the game.