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.”

While they often played in tandem during the 2019 World Cup cycle, India have tended to use only one at a time in the lead-up to 2023

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-2023Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal. For years their names were always part of the same sentences. Between Kuldeep’s ODI debut in June 2017 and the end of the 2019 World Cup, India played 63 ODIs with either one of them in their XI, 34 with both, and none with neither.Since the 2019 World Cup, though, India have become reluctant to use their wristspinners in tandem. While they’ve fielded either Kuldeep or Chahal in 51 ODIs, they’ve unleashed both of them only three times, and picked neither of them on four occasions.Related

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It’s been a challenging situation, but their relationship, according to Kuldeep, hasn’t suffered for it.”We’re very relaxed,” he said after picking up 4 for 6 in the first ODI against West Indies in Bridgetown on Thursday. “We know the combination matters a lot. Sometimes he plays, sometimes I play, and our understanding is very good. We’re very normal.”He helps me a lot when I play, he tells me what I can do, what I can change. He always wants me to do well. When he plays I do the same thing, so that when he plays he performs well for the team. Maybe this is why the Kul-Cha partnership has worked so well over the years. We support and back each other.”Kuldeep has impressive records in all three formats, but such is India’s depth of spin resources that he’s sat out 184 of their 302 matches since his international debut. He says he understands the situation and is used to dealing with it.”You often have to sit outside because of the situation or the combination,” he said. “It’s become a normal thing. I’ve been playing cricket for such a long time – it’s been six, six-and-a-half years [since my debut] and a lot of things have become normal.”I pay more attention to the work I need to put in, and my bowling, [so that I can perform] whenever I get a chance. I’m very relaxed when I don’t play, because there’s no pressure of performing on the ground. When you play there’s pressure, but at the same time it’s the pressure of doing well. You’re playing for a big team, you’re playing for India, you have so many people watching you, following you, so you want to perform at your best.”

Labuschagne produces more super-sub heroics; Cameron Green ruled out for eight days with concussion

Alex Malcolm08-Sep-2023Australia’s selectors might give Marnus Labuschagne’s mother Alta a call to get some insight into how the next three months of ODI cricket will unfold, after she correctly predicted that her son would play in Bloemfontein, where he saved Australia’s blushes as the supersub again through the most unlikely set of circumstances.Labuschagne made 80 not out to guide Australia home to a three-wicket win chasing just 223 after replacing Cameron Green as the concussion substitute.Green was hit behind the left ear when he ducked into a Kagiso Rabada bouncer off the second ball he faced after walking out at No. 4 for the first time in his ODI career. Green retired hurt and didn’t return. Cricket Australia confirmed he had a precautionary scan and will now enter an eight-day concussion protocol where he will be monitored daily by the medical staff. He is not going to be available to play again until at least the last match of the series on September 17.Related

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• Labuschagne called in as Green's concussion sub

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• 'Our next best have got work to do' – South Africa coach

• Labuschagne's lack of consistency puts paid to WC hopes

Labuschagne was initially left out of the ODI squad to tour South Africa and Australia’s provisional 15-man World Cup squad having averaged just 22.30 and struck at a lowly 69.87 over his previous 14 ODI innings dating back to April 2022, and had admitted he “wasn’t too shocked” he was dropped, when speaking in the aftermath of his sensational 80 not out on return.But as Labuschagne was preparing to play some 50-over matches for Australia A against New Zealand A in Queensland, which start this week, a wrist tendon injury to Steven Smith saw him getting called up to South Africa as cover for that series.Even then it appeared like he was just getting a free trip to South Africa to visit family as he was listed 15th on Australia’s team sheet for the first ODI, behind Tim David and Aaron Hardie.But despite all evidence to the contrary, Alta Labuschagne stayed at the ground in Bloemfontein for the entirety of Australia’s bowling innings and the start of the chase and was proven right. Green was hit in the head in the sixth over of Australia’s reply. Five overs later, Australia confirmed Labuschagne would be the concussion sub for Green, as he famously was for Smith at Lord’s in the second Ashes Test in 2019. And one over later he was out in the middle at No. 7 with Australia in dire straits at 72 for 5. From there he guided his side home with a classy 93-ball innings, looking every bit the world-class player he has been at Test level.”She’s an amazing woman,” Labuschagne said of his mother’s premonition. “She stayed for the whole game. Even though I wasn’t playing for the first three-and-a-half hours of the game. She had a feeling. She was adamant when I came here that I was going to play this game. And I told her, ‘I’ve seen the team, Mum, I’m not in the team’. She just got a feeling and, once again, she’s right. It’s hard to describe, to be honest.”Labuschagne’s innings will undoubtedly cause some external discussions around his omission from Australia’s World Cup squad. But Labuschagne was having none of it, taking full responsibility for his recent ODI form and being completely understanding of the reasons behind his omission.”I have been really disappointed with how I’ve played my one-day cricket, the last 10 to 12 games I felt like I haven’t shown the intensity and the courage that I would have liked,” he said. “I wasn’t too shocked when I was dropped. I said that to the selectors, I said, ‘I understand I haven’t made runs’. But I did say that I still want to be that person for you batting in the middle order. And then you’ve just got to sit tight and wait for your opportunity. And when the opportunity comes, you’ve got to be ready.”Ready he was, just like he was at Lord’s. Labuschagne revealed he only took three or four days off after the gruelling Ashes series and was straight back into the nets working on his white-ball deficiencies.That work immediately paid dividends. He admitted the lowering of expectations, both personally and externally, does help when entering as a concussion sub. But even with that, his performance was extraordinary. On a surface where every player struggled at times to find rhythm and timing, including South Africa captain Temba Bavuma during his outstanding unbeaten century, Labuschagne’s timing was sublime from the outset racing to 34 off his first 20 balls without really taking a risk.Marnus Labuschagne famously walked out as a concussion sub for Steven Smith and scored a battling half-century in the 2019 Lord’s Test•Getty Images

“It comes (down) to your training, I always pride myself on training well, and making sure I’m always ready,” Labuschagne said. “The opportunity that happens when you’re a concussion sub is sometimes a little bit of a free hit because the pressure of the game is out there but obviously the expectation is probably not as much on you.”He got outstanding support from Ashton Agar, who made his highest ODI score of 48 not out to help Labuschagne guide Australia home, reinforcing the selectors’ desire to have an XI that bats as deep as possible. It was just Agar’s third score above 30 in an ODI but he has recently been working diligently on simplifying his batting and his mental approach and that work was also evident.It is unlikely Australia’s selectors will second guess their initial decision to leave Labuschagne out of the World Cup squad but his performance, alongside Agar’s, will give them enormous confidence in their bench strength which continues to flex its muscle as South Africa white-ball coach Rob Walter lamented after the T20I series.Australia’s injury toll remains a concern, with Green now added to the list of concerns alongside Smith, Glenn Maxwell (ankle), Pat Cummins (wrist) and Mitchell Starc (groin) ahead of the World Cup.Labuschagne proved he is ready to go at a moment’s notice and a man for a crisis, particularly on difficult pitches. His mum might tell him to keep his passport within arm’s reach at all times as the World Cup draws closer.

“We want to finish in the same way. We want to take it match by match, just like we did it three years ago”

Mohammad Isam08-Oct-2023Bangladesh have never won more than three matches in an ODI World Cup but a convincing win against Afghanistan in the opener means that they can dare to dream. And if they are looking for advice on how to go all the way, they have four players in the squad who have the experience of lifting an ICC World Cup trophy, albeit in the Under-19 format.Shoriful Islam, Towhid Hridoy, Tanzid Hasan and Tanzim Hasan were integral parts of Bangladesh’s first major global title, when they won the Under-19 World Cup in 2020.Related

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From this World Cup-winning side, Shoriful was the first to graduate to the senior team when he made his Test debut in Sri Lanka in 2021. The likes of Shamim Hossain, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Parvez Hossain, Hridoy, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Tanzid and Tanzim, all followed Shoriful’s footsteps soon after. Quickly graduating from Under-19s to the senior team isn’t new in world cricket. For Bangladesh, it is recognised as a natural transition as the BCB’s youth system has produced almost all top-level cricketers in the last 25 years.But the 2020 batch is slightly different because of their triumph. The immediate success of some of these young players has further vindicated their ability. Mahmudul started off superbly in New Zealand and South Africa last year. Hridoy became the first Bangladeshi batter to score more than 500 ODI runs in his debut year.Shoriful himself began brightly, and although he doesn’t have a huge haul of wickets, he has steadily improved into a position where he has been at times preferred over the vastly experienced Mustafizur Rahman. And he showed his penchant for the big stage picking 2 for 34 in 6.2 overs in his debut ODI World Cup game as Bangladesh started their 2023 campaign with a six-wicket win.While Shoriful did not want to compare the ODI World Cup to the Under-19 one, he said that the atmosphere in both campaigns was similar.Shoriful Islam was a key figure in Bangladesh’s Under-19 title win in 2020•AFP

“It was the Under-19 World Cup. This is the main World Cup. The difference is the world-class batters in this tournament. Under-19 has a few of them but here almost everyone is of the highest standard. They pounce on your smallest errors,” Shoriful said after Bangladesh’s opening game against Afghanistan.”Four of us are here, so we are really enjoying the World Cup. Everyone is friendly. We are mixing well among us. It is a similar start to the Under-19 World Cup, and , we want to finish in the same way. We want to take it match-by-match, just like we did it three years ago.”Shoriful’s two wickets in Bangladesh’s win came in his last spell as he made up for an ordinary opening burst. Bangladesh struggled to contain Afghanistan’s top three as they raced to 83 for 1 in the 16th over before Shakib Al Hasan provided the important breakthrough. Still, the Bangladesh pacers finished with four wickets between them.Shoriful said that the bowling unit had belief in themselves to bounce back. “We believed that someone from among the five bowlers can get us the breakthrough. Someone will step up with one or two wickets to turn the game around. We didn’t panic when someone had a bad over or spell. Someone or the other will step up.”We tried to bowl in the right areas at the start but unfortunately it didn’t happen. The captain pointed out that we were probably missing something so we should be more tight in the next spells.”Bangladesh’s World Cup has just started but a dominating win will provide them a boost especially ahead of the England game at the same venue on October 10. A few more wins in the early stages would spark the Bangladesh side, but apart from the technical and tactical sides, managing a winning environment is a lesson that this senior side can learn from the Under-19 world champions. They know who to ask.

“We are taking inspiration from Netherlands,” Shakib says of the game against South Africa, their next opponents at the World Cup

Mohammad Isam23-Oct-20234:35

Preview: Is batting first Bangladesh’s only chance to beat SA?

Shakib Al Hasan strolling past the Wankhede Stadium pitches and towards the North Stand meant that he was going to attend a press conference for the first time at the World Cup. It also meant, more importantly, that he had likely recovered enough to play against South Africa on Tuesday.What happened next wasn’t surprising at all – Shakib was testy, especially when discussing Tamim Iqbal and his own fitness.Shakib was asked whether it was he who had planned to bat Tamim down the order against Afghanistan in July; Tamim had taken it as an affront, especially at being told this over a phone call by a BCB official two weeks before the game.Related

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“How do I relate it with Afghanistan? What is my answer going to be? You want to know who told Tamim? I don’t know who called him. It wasn’t me,” Shakib said.Is he fit, after missing the game against India with a quad injury? Is he ready to play even if he isn’t 100% fit? “What is the fitness parameter? You are just here to ask questions… I don’t know what to say to you. I am pain-free, and if that continues, I hope to play.”Shakib is expected to play, but Taskin Ahmed is out with a shoulder injury.”Taskin is not available for tomorrow’s game. He will be available after tomorrow’s game,” Shakib said. “He has a shoulder issue that he has had for the last two games. The doctor decided a bit of rest will get him fit for the last four games. We don’t want to lose him for the tournament, as he is an important member of this side.”If there’s no problem with running, I can play tomorrow. I wasn’t 100% before the India game. It was also important that I don’t risk the rest of the World Cup. I am in a good shape now. I am pain free.”Bangladesh are at No. 7* on the points table, with just one win – against Afghanistan – in four games so far. Not much has gone right for them, most of all their batting, with Najmul Hossain Shanto, among others, not quite delivering up to expectations yet.1:30

Shanto says team has to make fewer mistakes to survive at the World Cup

“We didn’t come here to play only four matches. We are here to play nine or eleven matches. We know that a player can’t do well in every game,” Shakib said. “When he starts doing well, and can continue for five games, that helps the team. I don’t want to comment on this, but we want to do well as a team. We have room for improvement.”Shakib also defended the team management’s decision to move the batters around in the batting order – Mehidy Hasan Miraz walking out ahead of more established batters like himself, Shanto and Towhid Hridoy, for example.”When Miraz scored that hundred as an opener against Afghanistan [in the Asia Cup], we thought he should do it again in the World Cup,” Shakib said. “He made runs against England and Sri Lanka in the practice matches [at of the World Cup]. He again scored runs against Afghanistan. So you have to give a batter who is doing well more chance. This is why he is batting higher up the order.”I also agree that some of our established batters are going a bit low the order, but is there a guarantee that they will score higher up the order? These are difficult and tricky decisions that we have to take. It has mixed results. I think we still had chances to score 280-290 runs in all three matches. Only [Mahmudullah] Riyad batted well till the end [against New Zealand and India].”I don’t think you can criticise this. Riyad is doing well but if we bring him up and he can’t perform out of his usual position, then we will all feel bad about it.”Taskin Ahmed will miss the South Africa game, but Bangladesh are expecting him to play a role later in the tournament•ICC via Getty Images

Shakib: ‘Spinners won’t play a big role’ vs South Africa

South Africa come into the game after bouncing back in style against England following the loss to Netherlands. Shakib doesn’t expect spin to play a big role at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, and is backing his fast bowlers to do the job.”It doesn’t matter if you win or lose your last game in a World Cup, what matters who is performing better on the day,” Shakib said of South Africa. “We saw South Africa flying high. We saw them lose to Netherlands. They played brilliantly against England. We will prepare the way we usually prepare. We will try to play our best cricket and see where we are.”The spinners won’t play a big role in this venue, which is relatively a smaller ground. It is a high-scoring ground. Still, we are planning to restrict them to a low total. We are taking inspiration from how Netherlands restricted them. We have been looking at their weaknesses from the last one or two years.”Bangladesh’s pre-tournament aspiration of making it to the last four is looking shaky. A lot depends on this game against South Africa. Another loss, and it might be all over.”We still have the dream to play the semi-finals. Other teams are helping us also [by beating higher-ranked teams], so if we can help ourselves, it can happen,” Shakib said. “We still have the chance on paper. Let’s finish this campaign first and then you can whole-heartedly feel disappointed.”Combative to the end there, that’s Shakib.