Soumya Sarkar and Mehidy Hasan Miraz have been picked among 13 capped players in the 16-member Bangladesh A side

Mohammad Isam17-Sep-2019Soumya Sarkar and Mehidy Hasan Miraz have been picked among 13 capped players in the 16-member Bangladesh A side for their tour of Sri Lanka. Mehidy couldn’t find a place in the senior T20I side for the ongoing tri-series, while Soumya was dropped after two matches after scores of 4 and 0.They will now play two four-day matches and three one-dayers against Sri Lanka A from September 23 to October 12. Mominul Haque will lead the side that also includes Mohammad Mithun, Shadman Islam and Abu Jayed.The national selectors also named the Bangladesh Under-23 side that will play five one-day matches in India from September 19 to 27 at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium. This is a similar squad to the one that played for the Bangladesh Emerging side against Sri Lanka at home last month. Saif Hassan will lead the side, although he was also named in the A squad, which means he will fly from India to Sri Lanka once the Under-23 matches are over on September 27.Among the changes, there was no place for Mohammad Mithun, Nazmul Islam, Raqibul Hasan and Tanbir Hayder while Yeasin Hasan is out with injury.Shafiqul Islam, Sumon Khan, Tanvir Islam and Zakir Hasan were transferred from the A side to the Under-23 team, which included Ariful Haque among capped players, as well as Zakir Hasan and Mahedi Hasan, who was dropped from the Bangladesh side from the T20I tri-series earlier this week.A squad: Mominul Haque (capt), Shadman Islam, Jahurul Islam, Mohammad Mithun, Nurul Hasan, Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Abu Jayed, Ebadot Hossain, Sunzamul Islam, Rishad Hossain, Salauddin Sakil, Mehedi Hasan Rana, Najmul Hossain, Saif Hasan, Mehidy Hasan MirazU-23 squad: Saif Hassan (capt), Fardeen Hasan, Mahidul Islam, Yasir Ali, Al Amin, Zakir Hasan, Jaker Ali, Ariful Haque, Tanvir Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Manik Khan, Shafiqul Islam, Sumon Khan, Robiul Haque, Sabbir Hossain

Tallawahs’ home stretch ended with another defeat, their sixth in seven games

The Report by Sreshth Shah20-Sep-2019Jamaica Tallawahs ended their series of home games with another defeat, losing by 20 runs to St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Sabina Park. Patriots rode on Fabian Allen’s 27-ball 62 to reach 176 for 6 from 82 for 6, after which their bowlers combined to strangle Tallawahs, dismissing them for 156.Glenn Phillips was the only Tallawahs batsman to make a worthy contribution, scoring a 49-ball 87 to become the highest run-getter this season, but, with eight single-digit scores in the innings, Phillips had little chance to make a difference. Tallawahs’ defeat was their sixth in seven games, while Patriots, with eight points, are in the battle for a top-two finish with Trinbago Knight Riders, who have played three fewer matches.Honours shared in first ten overs
Having been put in to bat, Patriots lost openers Evin Lewis and Devon Thomas by the third over, but a tidy 46-run third-wicket stand between Laurie Evans and Mohammad Hafeez helped them recover. The Tallawahs’ bowlers rode on the back of some early swing with the new ball, and Dwayne Smith, particularly, troubled the batsmen early on, his lack of pace forcing them to manufacture shots.Hafeez then struck four fours off Shamar Springer in the seventh over to break the shackles. At the halfway stage, Hafeez had crunched five fours and a six, but fell in the next over toe-ending a drive to cover after scoring 37. At that stage, the scoreboard read 76 for 4.Allen rescues Patriots after middle-order wobbleOver the next two overs, Shamarh Brooks was trapped lbw by Zahir Khan, and Carlos Brathwaite was out slicing a catch to cover. At 82 for 6, the Patriots innings seemed destined for a quick finish, but Fabian Allen, batting at No. 7, had other ideas.Batting alongside No. 8 Keron Cottoy, Allen took on Afghanistan left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan, smashing 16 runs off the 16th over. The next two overs – off Jade Dernbach and Springer – yielded 13 and 18 runs respectively, and included two fours, two sixes and a dropped chance to reprieve Cottoy.Dernbach’s final over, the penultimate of the innings, went for another 20 runs, with Allen reaching his half-century off 23 balls. The run spree of the final overs was capped by a 14-run over to end the innings, and from 82 for 6, Patriots had climbed to 176. The unbeaten Allen-Cottoy partnership was worth 94, of which 81 runs came in the final five overs.Varied fortunes for Phillips and TallawahsThe 22-year-old New Zealand batsman took charge of the Tallawahs chase after opener Chris Gayle was out in the third over, trying to pull one over cow corner. The very next ball, Phillips crunched Sheldon Cottrell for a drive through the covers and followed it up with three more boundaries off successive deliveries to collect 18 off the over. Phillips did not slow down even after Tallawahs lost Chadwick Walton, and had raced to a half-century by the eighth over, taking 25 balls to reach the landmark. When Phillips reached 50, his team’s score was 60 for 3, headlining the ease with which he scored, even as his team-mates struggled.Phillips then raced into the 60s by hitting Brathwaite for a four and two sixes in the ninth over, taking 17 runs off the Patriots’ captain. However, Tallawahs were tied down again by tidy second spells from Hafeez and Joseph. Imran Khan, the leg-spinning allrounder, was having a difficult time rotating the strike, and Hafeez prised his wicket out with a caught-and-bowled dismissal in the 14th over. He ended the innings with remarkable returns of 1 for 13 in four overs. The next over saw Andre Russell fall for a first-ball duck, trying to pull Rayad Emrit, and the pressure of the chase and lack of support finally took a toll on Phillips.Looking to target Cottoy in the 16th over – with the required run-rate around 12 – Phillips holed out to long-on for a 49-ball 87 that included eight fours and five sixes. At that stage, he had scored 71% of the Tallawahs’ runs.At 123 for 6, Tallawahs needed a near miracle from their lower order to pull off the chase, especially with the pitch slowing as the evening progressed. Springer entertained with a few lusty blows, and Tallawahs entered the final over with 25 needed and three wickets in hand. But Brathwaite’s accuracy stifled them, and they lost all three wickets, including a run-out, in five balls.

Hopes remain of a maiden Championship title despite only 27.5 overs being possible

Paul Edwards at Taunton23-Sep-2019James Hildreth gets inside the line of a ball from Simon Harmer and sweeps it to the boundary just to the right of Gimblett’s Hill. The locals at the County Ground applaud the stroke and are momentarily buoyed by fresh hope. But it is a rare reverse for Harmer, who will shortly trap Hildreth and Tom Banton leg before wicket in the space of three balls. The offspinner has now taken 80 wickets in the Championship and is a bowler of rare skill and subtlety. He dismissed Hildreth for 32 when bowling round the wicket to cramp the batsman for room and then accounted for Banton in more conventional style from over the wicket. Both balls turned appreciably but this pitch has not yet behaved sufficiently erratically to send the pitch inspectors into a ferment.Despite a dismal weather forecast there is a large crowd at Taunton, which is only fitting on the first morning of the match which will decide the destiny of the County Championship. Sky are covering the game and there is a bevy of radio commentaries, both local and national. Everyone is focused closely on the immediate moment and the destiny of the greatest prize in English domestic cricket. In order to accommodate other media, the written press are housed in Portakabins, just as they were when Tom Abell made his maiden first-class century four sweet summers ago. That rehousing was necessitated by the construction of the Somerset pavilion, which is only the latest of Taunton’s new buildings and, in a glorious piece of eccentricity, the fourth of its pavilions.And yet, even on a ground so obviously clothed in modernity, the past exerts a powerful hold, an effect achieved not simply by the large pictures and brief biographies of Somerset cricketers which are placed every few yards on the perimeter wall and inside the Ondaatje Pavilion. Somerset’s history is fondly remembered partly because the county has been freakishly lucky in the quality of its cricket writers, many of whom worked in the old press box with its high desks and its scant acknowledgement of technological change.This was a good day for Essex. Sam Cook removed Murali Vijay and Steve Davies inside the first 20 minutes of the morning and when the predicted rain arrived at 12.10pm Somerset were 75 for 4. Their chances of posting the sort of total that might help them to embarrass their opponents in the remainder of the game have been significantly damaged. Yet this has still been a fine season for Somerset cricket and one wonders what men like David Foot and Alan Gibson might have made of it.Foot worked mainly for newspapers in the West Country and also for the . His books of essays, and , are as good as that form has produced. Rich in knowledge and insight, they capture a cricketer’s character in a phrase. Take this, for example, from “Twelve O’Clock Low”, Foot’s brilliant essay on Bill Andrews:Andrews’ bowling action was known as “Twelve O’Clock High”. The title of the essay refers to the depression with which this fine cricketer was cursed. Foot knew Andrews so well that he was able to see how an apparently extrovert character also suffered the sideswipes of fate.The old wooden stand from which Foot watched countless days of county cricket is gone; the famous Stragglers Bar is gone; and the old press box with those desks and its hot water urn chuntering in the background is gone, too. Yet time was when at least one journalist used to sit in that box comforted by the fact that it was where Foot and Gibson had worked.Alan Gibson’s reports in the were favoured both by those who played the game professionally and those who simply watched it. Sometimes he did not write about the play so much as the experience of attending a match. Railway stations featured as frequently as pavilions, a fact beautifully reflected in a glorious and very honest book, written and edited by Gibson’s son, Anthony, and lovingly produced by Stephen Chalke’s Fairfield imprint.There were occasions when all the inspiration Gibson needed was a chance meeting. Take this from 1971:Gibson concocted fine soubriquets for his favourite cricketers. Robin Jackman was the “Shoreditch Sparrow”; Colin Dredge was the “Demon of Frome”. As one watched Somerset battle away in this game they must win to take their first title, one wondered what Gibson would make of today’s cricketers. Would the Overton twins be “The Instow Monoliths”? Would Jack Leach be “Sainsbury’s Archivist”?But that’s the point about writers so rich in human sympathy and so bounteously endowed with talent as David Foot and Alan Gibson. Their writings live on, even through their palest imitators and even on damp days when the title may be slipping away from Somerset. “The past becomes the present inside your head,” says Margrethe, Niels Bohr’s wife, in Michael Frayn’s play .

De Kock will “grab it with both hands” if given the chance to lead the T20I squad

Firdose Moonda04-Nov-2019Quinton de Kock expects Faf du Plessis to lead South Africa in next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia but said he would probably not turn down the opportunity if asked to captain in the format.The wicketkeeper-batsman, who captained South Africa in their recent T20I series in India, has been appointed skipper of Cape Town Blitz for the second edition of the Mzansi Super League and is being seen as a successor to du Plessis in the shortest format.With back-to-back T20 World Cups in 2020 and 2021, it may not be long before de Kock is at the helm, and it’s a role he would welcome.”The way I see it is that I was just a replacement,” de Kock told ESPNcricinfo. “That’s the way I took it. For now, it’s still Faf’s baby. But maybe if things change and they do want me to do it, then I will do it.”For the moment, I am not looking too far ahead. I am just trying to look at how I can help out with the youngsters, with the new guys in the T20 team, and by myself, just getting better and getting ready for the T20 World Cup next year. But if that does come upon me, then I will try and grab it with both hands.”He did exactly that when Blitz coach Ashwell Prince approached him at the MSL draft on September 3. “Ash came to me at the draft and asked me if I want to do it and I said, ‘, no problem.’ It was pretty quick and easy. I don’t think there was much discussion around it. He just asked me right there and then and I said yes,” de Kock said, speaking at the Cape Town Blitz media day.Prince had good reason to ask de Kock – his team needed the stability of a leader who would be around for the full five-and-half weeks of the tournament. Last season, Blitz were led by Dawid Malan for the first two matches before Farhaan Behardien took over on his return from international duty in Australia. With Malan not involved in this year’s event and Behardien playing forNelson Mandela Bay Giants, Prince had to find someone else, someone who would also bring form and the ability to think on his feet. De Kock, fresh off two half-centuries in his first two matches as South Africa’s T20I captain, and known for his no-frills approach to playing, seemed to be the perfect fit.”He leads from the front as a player but he is also street-wise,” Prince said. “I like people who can see what’s required on the ground and can make calls and be brave and I think he does all of those things.”De Kock will need to do a bit more. His new role means he will open the batting, keep wickets and lead the side, a trio of tasks that became too much for even the likes of AB de Villiers, who did not open but had a similarly important role of setting the tone in white-ball innings.But de Kock isn’t fussed about the workload. “It’s nothing too difficult – keeping and batting, and the keeping will help out my captaincy anyway,” he said. “Rather than being out in the field, I seem to read things better, how the pitch plays, which bowlers to bowl when, the angles and all that kind of stuff when I am keeping. I feel like the keeping helps my batting and also my captaincy.”This season of the MSL could confirm if de Kock is indeed equipped to perform all three tasks and may also tell us whether he is seriously considered for the national job in the near future. Asked if that’s where he sees de Kock’s career going, Prince said: “Why not? He is still quite young. He hasn’t captained a lot but everyone has to start somewhere. He has had a bit of a taste of it and I think he can grow in the role.”De Kock’s only stint with captaincy before the India series was in an ODI series against Sri Lanka in 2018 after du Plessis suffered a shoulder injury. South Africa had already clinched the series, winning the first three ODIs, but went on to lose the last two matches, which de Kock led in. That instance was considered nothing more than an emergency replacement but it marked the start of a downward spiral for South Africa, which saw them lose five Tests in a row in Asia, and three out of their last four Test series. Their white-ball form also dipped and a poor World Cup followed, which has left South African cricket on the brink of a crisis.Quinton de Kock is mobbed by teammates after pulling off a stunning run-out•Getty Images

But de Kock is one of very few players to have weathered the storm. He has been in prolific run-scoring form across formats for South Africa this year and also finished as the third-highest run-scorer at the IPL this season, and his form could give South Africa some hope that a revival is not far off.”We are not the first team that has gone through a transition,” de Kock said. “England did it after their last World Cup and look at them. Four years later, they end up winning the thing.”With England the visitors this summer, there’s motivation in the camp for South Africa to start putting things right. But de Kock also pointed to the national team’s triumph at the rugby World Cup as a rallying point for cricket to get itself back on track.”It’s all right if the whole country and guys are a bit down and out but when we all gather together, especially after winning this rugby World Cup, a lot of people are pumped up and want to get this transition going so the time we get to our next World Cup, we can really put ourselves in a good stead, just like England did.”

Fast bowler was synonymous with England’s famous victory at Headingley in 1981

Andrew Miller04-Dec-2019Bob Willis, the former England captain and fast bowler who will be forever synonymous with England’s 1981 Ashes victory, has died at the age of 70 after a short battle with cancer.Willis claimed 325 wickets in a 90-Test career that began on the Ashes tour in 1970-71, when he was called up as a 21-year-old as a late replacement for the injured Alan Ward and played a full role in a famous 2-0 series win.Nicknamed “Goose” for his unconventionally loose-limbed approach to the crease, Willis was capable of extreme hostility with the ball, making him England’s one true answer to the West Indian and Australian pace batteries that dominated the 1970s and early 1980s.His finest hour came at Headingley in 1981, when – in the wake of Ian Botham’s counter-attacking 149 not out – he tore into Australia’s second innings in a frenzied display, pounding down the hill from the Kirkstall Lane end to deliver an incredible 18-run win with figures of 8 for 43.Botham would go on to describe Willis as a “tremendous trier, a great team-man and an inspiration – the only world-class fast bowler in my time as an England player”.Willis went on to lead England on 18 occasions in Test cricket, including the 1982-83 Ashes tour, where England were defeated 2-1 though not before pulling off a remarkable three-run win in the fourth Test at Melbourne.Replacing Keith Fletcher in the wake of the 1981-82 tour of India and Sri Lanka, Willis inherited a weakened team, shorn of a number of key players including Graham Gooch and Geoff Boycott who had signed for that year’s rebel tour of South Africa. But he went on to claim nine wickets in his first match in charge, against India at Lord’s, and would lead the side through to the visit of West Indies in 1984.Willis retired after the first Test of that summer as England’s leading wicket-taker, and second in the world overall, behind Australia’s Dennis Lillee. His national tally was subsequently overhauled by his long-term team-mate Botham (383), and more recently James Anderson (575) and Stuart Broad (471).He also captained England at the 1983 World Cup, where England were defeated by India, the eventual winners, in the semi-final at Old Trafford. He claimed 80 wickets at 24.60 in 60 ODIs overall, and was a member of the team that lost the 1979 World Cup final against West Indies at Lord’s.The fact that Willis endured as long as he did made him something of a medical miracle, as he had to overcame surgery on both knees in 1975 before going on to claim 899 first-class wickets at 24.99 in 308 appearances, the majority of them in a 12-year career with Warwickshire.After retirement, Willis went on to forge a career in the media, and was most recently an acerbic and popular pundit on Sky Sports’ post-match show, The Verdict. His off-the-cuff criticisms of England’s players were frequently robust but delivered with an undertone of humour, such as in the wake of England’s 2015 Ashes victory, when Joe Root mimicked his style while wearing a mask in a live TV interview.Willis’ family said in a statement: “We are heartbroken to lose our beloved Bob, who was an incredible husband, father, brother and grandfather. He made a huge impact on everybody he knew and we will miss him terribly.”Tributes poured in in the wake of the news, with David Gower, Willis’s friend and former England team-mate, telling BBC Radio Five Live: “I toured with him as a captain and I took over the captaincy from him and then had him as what was called in those days as an assistant manager. He was a very loyal friend and a loyal supporter. Without going into too much unseemly detail, it was an era where you were allowed to have more fun than you are possibly today. Various tours Down Under were colourful, let’s put it that way.””Bob Willis was my first England captain and a legend of England cricket,” wrote the former England allrounder Derek Pringle, on Twitter. “Headingley 1981 was as much his triumph as Beefy Botham’s – RIP Big Bob…”The ECB, who last year named Willis in an all-time England XI, also paid tribute to “a legend of English cricket” and “a perceptive and respected voice at the microphone”, adding that “cricket has lost a dear friend”.He is survived by his wife Lauren, daughter Katie, brother David and sister Ann.

Lancashire allrounder George Balderson to captain team at next month’s competition

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2019England have named Lancashire allrounder George Balderson as captain of their squad for the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, which begins in South Africa next month.The squad warmed up for the tournament by reaching the final of an Under-19s tri-series in the Caribbean, featuring West Indies and Sri Lanka. Several have first-team experience for their counties, including Worcestershire batsman Jack Haynes, Gloucestershire allrounder Ben Charlesworth, offspinner Hamidullah Qadri and wicketkeeper Jordan Cox, both of whom play for Kent.England begin their campaign against West Indies U19s at Kimberley on January 20. They have been drawn in Group B, along with Australia and Nigeria.”I’m excited to see what this squad can do at the World Cup,” England U19 head coach, Jon Lewis, said. “It will be a great challenge for them both on and off the field, playing in unfamiliar conditions against new opposition in matches that will be televised around the world.”The series in Antigua has shown that our core group of players can perform well in a challenging environment. Each individual is improving in their specific roles within the side, but in South Africa we’ll need to ensure these roles all come together to produce good team performances.”We’ve seen in Antigua, and in our home tri-series this summer against India and Bangladesh, that we can beat some of the best teams in the world. I look forward to seeing how we can take that confidence into the pressurised environment of a World Cup.”England Under-19 World Cup squad: George Balderson (capt), Kasey Aldridge, Ben Charlesworth, Tom Clark, Jordan Cox, Blake Cullen, Scott Currie, Harry Duke, Joey Evison, Lewis Goldsworthy, Jack Haynes, George Hill, Dan Mousley, Hamidullah Qadri, Sam Young

The good was very good from the Scorchers but a couple of bad days with the bat came back to haunt them

Andrew McGlashan28-Jan-2020Season in nutshellBetter than last year when they had the shock of finishing with the wooden spoon but still some way short of the powerhouse side that dominated for many seasons. The schedule was very tough for them without back-to-back home games until the end of the regular season which led to a lot of long return journeys to the east coast. They managed a mid-season run of three consecutive wins which put things on track for a finals place, but two awful batting performances against the Stars were costly although the rain did them no favours in the final game against the Sydney ThunderWhat went right? The good was very good. The opening partnership between Josh Inglis and Liam Livingstone was dynamic and the most prolific pairing of the season with 554 runs. Inglis was likened to Brendon McCullum (with even the man himself seeing the similarities) while Livingstone showed tremendous power. Fawad Ahmed and Jhye Richardson, who each took 15 wickets along with Chris Jordan, were also impressive while Jordan’s stunning catch to remove Dan Christian provided one of the highlights of the tournament.