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Mitchell Johnson has said Australia will target Virender Sehwag’s rib-cage with the short delivery in a bid to get him out quickly during their World Cup quarter-final against India

Brydon Coverdale in Ahmedabad22-Mar-2011As that great innovative thinker Homer Simpson once said when faced with a difficult problem, “I’ve been working on a plan: I’ll hide under some coats and hope that somehow everything will work out”. That’s pretty much how a fast bowler must feel when Virender Sehwag is in his stride. But no pile of coats could offer that level of escapism, nor shield a man from the roars of an Indian home crowd.Fast bowlers will tell you they don’t get frightened. The biggest, meanest men in the side, it is their job to inflict pain, not suffer it. But Sehwag can send the world’s toughest and quickest into the foetal position, as he almost did to Morne Morkel in Nagpur last week. It’s something of a paradox, therefore, that the man who has handled Sehwag as well as anyone in recent years is Mitchell Johnson.Johnson is quick and awkward, but can be more fragile than your average fast bowler – belt him a few times and you can almost sense him searching for a suitable stack of coats to crawl under. But somehow, his style has worked against Sehwag. Perhaps it’s Johnson’s unpredictability that has been the undoing of Sehwag; a couple of loose balls might be dispatched, but followed by another attempted boundary from one that is too close to cut, or so accurate that it should be respected.Whatever the case, in the past five years, no bowler has dismissed Sehwag more often across all formats than Johnson, who has claimed his wicket nine times from 18 games. That’s a trend Johnson wants to continue in Ahmedabad on Thursday, and he believes the best way to attack Sehwag is to bowl at his body.”I don’t mind bowling up into his rib-cage to be honest,” Johnson said. “He seems to struggle with that a bit. I guess [also] putting pressure on him, if he gets a single it puts pressure on the batsman at the other end. That’s one way we thought about it as well. It’s always a good challenge to bowl to someone like that, he doesn’t really use his feet but he can hit the ball hard. It will be a pretty good start to the game if we can get him early.”In the bowlers’ meeting I asked the question how many times he has scored four from the first ball. He likes to get scoring quickly. He’s a dangerous player and we’ll be looking to get him as quickly as we can. We’ll stick to our plans and stick to what we know best of what works against him.”The Australians do seem to have worked Sehwag out better than most sides. His one-day average against Australia is 22.65, notably worse than it is against any other nation, excluding Associates, and it’s ten innings since he has made a limited-overs fifty against them.Getting rid of Sehwag early would be the perfect start for Australia, given that he is India’s leading run scorer in this World Cup. That’s partially due to his 175 against Bangladesh, an innings that ensured the tournament opened with a bang. Since then, India have looked to Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored two centuries, and Yuvraj Singh, who has been a consistent threat.But the Australians know that, as formidable as India’s batting line-up is, there is always the possibility of a collapse. Against South Africa, India lost their last nine wickets for 29 runs; against England they lost their their last seven for 33; and against West Indies their last seven were skittled for 50. It’s a trend that Johnson finds encouraging.”If we can get two or three of their big guns early on it changes the way they think about their game. It’s something we’ve spoken about and we’ll work hard to try and do it. You always target their best players and Sehwag and Tendulkar are their best players, so we think it can change the way they think.”But finding a way through the batting order of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj is easier said than done. It will be the biggest challenge yet for Australia’s attack, which the selectors always intended to be a wicket-taking group, and the offspinner Jason
Krejza will also need to work out how to control the world’s best players of spin.”As a bowling unit we feel pretty confident, us three quicks going together, we always look forward to bowling over 140kph and swinging the ball,” Johnson said. “There’s been talk about the wicket, Sehwag said it will be slow and a bit of a turner, but we have our spinners, Krejza can spin the ball a fair way. It’s leading up to be a very good game and we’re looking forward to it.”And if Australia’s best-laid plans don’t work, and they can’t find any coats in the Ahmedabad heat, they might have to resort to another of Homer’s problem-solving strategies: “I’m not normally a praying man but if you’re up there please save me, Superman.”

If the batsmen were looking for trouble, boy, they came to the right place

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga11-Apr-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outPiyush Chawla was Man of the Match for his terrific spell•Indian Premier League

If the batsmen were looking for trouble, boy, they came to the right place. The Feroz Shah Kotla track was back to its Champions League shenanigans, and Kings XI Punjab, having seen Delhi Daredevils fail to read its nature soon enough, kept their heads in what seemed a meagre chase on paper, also keeping alive their remotest of outside chance to make it to the semis. Only 21 boundaries were hit in 38.2 overs on a pitch that offered variable bounce and appreciable turn right from the first ball, and whose slowness made it hard to time shots.The Punjab bowlers were smart and accurate, two of Delhi’s big three were consumed by silly running, the others collapsed, and hence the below-par total. While Punjab were sensible in the chase, they couldn’t create a comfortable gap between their run rate and the required rate until Yuvraj Singh hit a four and a six in the 14th over.The nature of the pitch was not so apparent in the first four overs of the afternoon. Delhi had got off to another flier when madness struck: Gautam Gambhir and David Warner were run out within three balls of each other, and only 69 runs came in 15.5 overs after that. The spinners bowled 12 overs between them for 55 runs – four of them inside the Powerplay, and Juan Theron, the specialist pace bowler, was used only for two overs, that too at the death.Even after Virender Sehwag’s dismissal to the first ball he faced, Punjab would have been disappointed with the first 3.4 overs: without hitting even one shot in the air, Delhi raced away to 39, including two sets of five wides. The next delivery, though, Gambhir cut straight to short third man, was called for a single by Warner, and then sent back with no chance to get in. Either way there would have been a run-out: there was no single available. Two balls later, Warner played a similar shot, and Paul Collingwood responded in similar manner.From there on, Punjab spinners employed a vicious vice grip on the batsmen: only two boundaries came in the rest of the innings. Following Powar’s opening act, Piyush Chawla feasted. Collingwood’s lbw wasn’t as bad as it looked; it was worse. He sat back and intended to read Chawla off the pitch, and was caught dead plumb to a straight topspinner. Daniel Vettori was defeated by a perfect Chawla googly. Thirty-nine for 1 in 3.3 had become 58 for 4 in 10 overs, and it was down to Dinesh Karthik to take Delhi to a fighting total.Karthik tried various tricks to get quick runs, sweeps, reverse-sweeps, moving in the crease, but could never get away. When he tried to force the pace off the coming-back Irfan Pathan, he holed out to long-on, for 17 off 35. Mithun Manhas, Delhi’s middle-order mainstay for years in Ranji Trophy, played sensibly after that, and managed to go at about run a ball for his 26, an effort that took Delhi beyond 100.Mahela Jayawardene walked out to open with Irfan, sent presumably to get some quick runs, but it was the classier batsman who made sure Punjab didn’t crumble in the chase. While Irfan holed out to deep midwicket, Jayawardene kept playing the orthodox shots and scored at a run a ball, which was better than the rate required.In the fourth over of the chase, he scored a lovely inside-out boundary and followed it up with the first six of the match, a clean strike over long-on. Still even Jayawardene found it difficult to time the ball, a few of his attempted big shots ended up inside the infield, and on this pitch a collapse couldn’t have been too many corners away.When Jayawardene fell at the end of the 11th over, for a 35-ball 38, he had left Punjab 47 to get off 54, which soon became 41 off 42. In the 14th over, though, Yuvraj managed two clean hits in quick succession, a cluster by the standards of this match. He guided Rajat Bhatia past short fine, followed by a heaved six over midwicket. After that the equation was manageable, and the late hiccup through Kumar Sangakkara’s wicket only teased Delhi for having over-aimed during their innings.

The three-match series is due to begin from September 3 in Hambantota

Nagraj Gollapudi19-Aug-2021Afghanistan’s series with Pakistan is set to go ahead as scheduled, despite the surrounding uncertainty following the Taliban’s takeover of the country. The three-match ODI series will take place in Sri Lanka, a venue decided before political events in recent days saw the Taliban take charge following the withdrawal of western forces and the collapse of the elected government.All three games will be played in Hambantota. The series is due to begin from September 3, but will involve a three-day quarantine period on arrival for both sides.That commitment, as well as an Under-19 tour to Bangladesh later in September, have been the focus of immediate concern though ACB CEO Hamid Shinwari said both tours were on, pending logistical issues around the departure of the side. Kabul airport has been the focus of international attention, as many Afghans attempt to leave the country.”Cricket is doing very well,” Shinwari told ESPNcricinfo. “We are going to the office (ACB). The cricket team is preparing for the Pakistan series in Sri Lanka. It is confirmed. We are committed to sending a team to Sri Lanka as soon as possible. There is transition going on here in Afghanistan hence there is a vacuum in flight operations and availability is affected. But we will fly out as soon as we find a flight. We have our boys assembled in Kabul and they are preparing for the series.Related

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“We hope the squad will depart in the next four days. We have updated both the PCB and Sri Lanka Cricket and both are on board. I am thankful to SLC for hosting us and that is really generous of them.”There remain longer-term questions around the Taliban’s approach to the development of the game in the country. It is worth noting that the Afghanistan Cricket Federation (as the Afghanistan Cricket Board was then known) was formed in 1997, during the Taliban’s first stint in rule and they were inducted into the Asian Cricket Council not long after.The game was at a different stage then to where it is now in the country and in much better health. The ICC is monitoring the situation as of now, with a little concern, but will provide support when and if needed on practical matters of playing cricket.Shinwari was confident the game would not be affected adversely. “They [Taliban] are supporting cricket ever since the beginning,” he said. “They never had any issue with cricket. The thing is people love cricket here in Afghanistan and that’s why it has to go with the flow. My confidence that cricket will not be affected is because of two factors: firstly, the legacy. Cricket development in Afghanistan was initiated during Taliban’s first stint 20 years ago. Secondly ACB offices are operating. So far we have seen no issues.”The cricketers are doing very well. They have been assured and they are also happy that cricket will be going on. They are committed to going to Sri Lanka, playing against Pakistan, and after that to the T20 World Cup. Cricket has become an important tool for community development in the country. And the players in particular are icons, and understand the importance.”One area where it is difficult to predict how the Taliban will proceed is in women’s cricket. Their first stint as rulers was especially regressive and damaging for women in the country. The ACB announced central contracts for a pool of 25 women’s cricketers last year but that was very much the first step on a long road: to date, Afghanistan are the only Full Member side without a functioning womens’ team.Even then, ACB officials recognised the social, political and cultural difficulties in starting a women’s team in the country and that may become an even more distant prospect now.”My assumption is women’s cricket could be stopped,” Shinwari said. “But to be honest, I really don’t know the new policies of the government. That assumption was based on the previous stint of the Taliban.”Additional reporting by Umar Farooq Kalson

The hosts chased down 154 with three deliveries to spare in Texas

Mohammad Isam21-May-2024United States of America, the No. 19 ranked cricket team in T20Is, shocked Bangladesh, the ninth ranked team in the world, with a five-wicket victory in Texas. More impressively, the hosts dominated most of the proceedings, as they took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, picking up their second win against a Full Member in T20Is, following their victory against Ireland in 2021.Harmeet Singh, the former India Under-19 cricketer, struck the winning runs in a chase of 154 after his three consecutive sixes turned the tide in favour of the USA. He finished unbeaten on 33 off 13 balls, adding 62 runs in 4.4 overs for the unbroken sixth wicket stand with Corey Anderson, who was not out on 34.The USA also bowled superbly to restrict Bangladesh to 153 for 6. The visitors had slipped to 68 for 4, with Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto continuing to struggle. However, Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah continued to rescue the side from tough situations as they have done all year, helping the team to a respectable score.Hridoy top-scored with 58, lasting till the 20th over. He added 67 runs for the fifth wicket with Mahmudullah, who also showed that he can adapt to conditions faster than most in this batting line-up.

Litton can’t make chance count

Litton couldn’t do justice to the faith shown on him by the Bangladesh team management, as he fell for 14 in the fifth over. He had already survived when he was on 2, when the US captain Monank Patel dropped a sitter behind the stumps. Litton also survived a run-out when the cover fielder couldn’t hit the stumps as he was stranded a few feet away from the crease.Litton had struck a nice straight six in the third over but looked increasingly edgy. He missed the ramp-scoop in the fifth over against Ali Khan before falling lbw to Jasdeep Singh’s superb first over. Jasdeep’s delivery jagged back into Litton.Soumya Sarkar followed him back to the dugout three balls later when he struck Steven Taylor right down deep midwicket’s throat. Najmul Hossain Shanto, another top-order Bangladesh batter now out of form, got stumped off Taylor. He couldn’t time any ball as he made three off 11.

Hridoy, Mahmudullah step up, again

Hridoy made things worse before making them better. When he nudged the ball towards the cover, Hridoy stood still as Shakib Al Hasan came down the pitch looking for a quick single. The run-out made it 68 for 4 in the 12th over. Hridoy made it up with two sixes off Jasdeep, but then he was caught in the covers in the 14th over.Thankfully for the batter, left-arm spinner Harmeet bowled the first of his two no-balls. Mahmudullah struck Khan for a four and a six in the 17th over, but fell trying to heave Saurabh Netravalkar over long-on, where Nitish Kumar took a good catch. Mahmudullah made 31 off 22 balls, but more importantly added 67 runs for the fifth wicket with Hridoy. Jaker Ali and Hridoy took 17 runs off the last over, but Khan at least managed to remove Hridoy with the last ball of the innings.

Gous’ short-lived fireworks

Monank Patel couldn’t take advantage of being dropped by his opposite number Shanto in the third over, when he was run out from Taylor’s straight drive. The ball brushed against Shoriful Islam’s fingers as Patel stood out of his crease at the non-striker’s end.Within two balls, USA’s No. 3 Andries Gous got going with a punched four through the covers. Taylor slammed Shakib for a six before Gous hit Rishad Hossain for two fours in the seventh over. He repeated the dose on Rishad in the legspinner’s next over, but then top edged a sweep to the deep backward square-leg boundary, where Mustafizur Rahman took a good tumbling catch.File pic: Towhid Hridoy made 58 off 47 balls•BCB

Bangladesh slow down USA surge

Gous’ wicket slowed down the USA batting approach. Aaron Jones couldn’t time the ball which forced Taylor to try to clear mid-off. Mahmudullah ran back and took a good catch, ending Taylor’s stay on 28 off 29 balls. One ball later, Jones departed, skying Mustafizur to get out on 4 off 12.Nitish Kumar struck a six off Shakib in the 14th over to break a 31-ball sequence of no boundaries but he fell trying to clear Shoriful in the 15th over. The left-arm quick had conceded just one run in that over, leaving the US to get 60 off the last five overs.

Harmeet strikes back

The required run-rate was going out of the home team’s control when they needed 50 off the last 20 balls. Harmeet, having scratched around for five balls, pinged Mustafizur for two straight sixes to hand back the pressure to Bangladesh. When he got the strike in the next over, Harmeet slammed Shoriful straight down the ground again. He finished the 18th over with a carved four through point, as the USA collected 31 runs in two overs, leaving them needing 24 off the last 12 balls.

Anderson remembers his past

Anderson was minding his own business even as Harmeet was landing the big sixes. The former New Zealand allrounder finally struck a six off his 22nd ball when he crashed Mustafizur over long-on in the penultimate over. Off the first ball of the last over, he drilled Mahmudullah for another six. It left the USA with just three runs to win off five balls. Harmeet struck the third ball for a four, bringing the home side a historic win.

The allrounder offers Australia the priceless balance that South Africa are searching for

Andrew McGlashan16-Dec-20220:57

South Africa looking to grow Jansen’s all-round ability

Pat Cummins has indicated a greater bowling workload for Cameron Green against South Africa and the allrounder may be given an opportunity to get into the attack early.Green largely had a bit-part role to play against West Indies, bowling 29 overs across the two Tests, despite Cummins not being available for half the Perth Test due to injury, and only being required to bat in Adelaide. While there were no workload restrictions on him with the ball Cummins did reveal there had been an effort not to overload him after he was managed for a hamstring niggle in the ODIs against England.The Gabba was the venue where Green opened his account as a Test bowler against England last season having gone through his first series against India without a wicket. He bounced out Ollie Pope in the first innings before claiming Joe Root with a lifting outswinger on the fourth day.Related

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“Somewhere like here I’ll probably rotate the bowlers around to get him a shot with a swinging ball,” Cummins said. “He bowled beautifully here last year, got the big wicket of Joe Root. Coming into the [West Indies] series he wasn’t under any restrictions but he’s still coming off a hamstring injury. We don’t really want to burn him in the first couple of games. So any overs he kind of didn’t bowl in the first two tests hopefully means he can bowl a few more here.”Green went through the rare experience of not being needed with the bat in Perth – having been used to heavily promote the Test in his home city – when Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith feasted themselves with double centuries. He was then unconvincing when he finally got to the crease in Adelaide with Australia 428 for 4, scratching around for 9 off 42 balls then falling in search of quick runs in the second innings.Cameron Green can expect more work against South Africa•Getty Images

In last season’s Ashes, Green made a slow start with the bat as he worked through some technical issues before making half-centuries in Sydney and Hobart. Although he has had a quiet start to the season he offers Australia the priceless balance that is one of the advantages they have over South Africa.It allows the home side to naturally play a five-pronged attack whereas South Africa, who are expected to go with a similar make-up, are asking a lot of the inexperienced Marco Jansen to fill an allrounder’s role at No. 7. However, captain Dean Elgar was confident he would be the long-term solution.”He’s someone who has really won us Test matches in the past with the bat, I refer back to Lord’s [against England] where he put in a massive performance,” Elgar said. “He’s still so raw when it comes to Test cricket and it’s pretty exciting for us. His talent is huge. If he does everything well reckon he’s going to be an allrounder for the next 10 years for us.”For Australia, David Warner is the only other member of the top order whose form is under the microscope with a Test average of 28.12 over the last two years. Tours to India and England loom next year, both where Warner has an underwhelming record, and a lean series against South Africa would increase the scrutiny.”His record is amazing here in Australia,” Cummins said. “He’s a huge part of our team. Opening the batting’s not easy so I’m backing him for big series. He’s hitting the ball beautifully. It’s only two weeks ago he got a 100 [against England] at the MCG. A different format, obviously, but it was a tough wicket so he’s looking good. I’m sure runs will follow.”

Stand-out side rack up highest team total of women’s competition to date with 166 for 3

Matt Roller11-Aug-2021Southern Brave sealed their place in the inaugural final of the Hundred after Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt’s half-centuries helped them rack up the highest team total of the women’s competition to date.Charlotte Edwards’ side have been the stand-out team in the Hundred, winning six out of their first seven group games, and are guaranteed a spot in the final at Lord’s on August 21 after a 39-run win. They will play the winner of the eliminator, which takes place 24 hours earlier at The Oval between the teams finishing second and third.They cruised to 166 against Welsh Fire – with Mandhana and Wyatt putting on 107 for the first wicket – and defended their total without breaking sweat. The result means Fire are mathematically out of contention for the knockout stages with a game to spare, though their chances were already slim after defeat to Birmingham Phoenix earlier this week.Mandhana magicMandhana has had a mixed season in the Hundred, making 61 not out against Welsh Fire in Southern Brave’s second game but failing to reach 20 in her five other innings. She thrived on the chance to play the same opponent – Brave’s nominal local rivals – at the Ageas Bowl.Mahela Jayawardene, Brave’s men’s coach, told ESPNcricinfo earlier this week that he “didn’t know how Lottie [ Edwards] managed to get that top order together”, in awe of her ability to recruit three of the most destructive players in the world and an experienced anchor to bat in their top four, and they lived up to that billing, surpassing Trent Rockets’ tournament-high total of 151 with eight balls left in the innings.