All posts by n8rngtd.top

Rahul Dravid has made a surprise comeback into India’s limited-overs plans, after two years in the wilderness, while the injured duo of Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh are the notable omissions

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Aug-2011Rahul Dravid has made a comeback into India’s limited-overs plans, after two years out of the side. The injured Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh are the notable omissions in the squad for the five-match ODI series and the only Twenty20 international against England.Dravid, who has over 10,000 runs in the ODI format, was a regular in the Indian side for most of the last decade. He was dropped from the team following a poor home series against Australia in 2007, but was recalled to bolster an inexperienced line-up in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy in 2009. His second coming lasted only six matches, and he was axed again following India’s early exit in that tournament in South Africa. He didn’t figure in India’s successful World Cup, but has had a good run in Tests since, including three centuries in five matches.Yuvraj and Harbhajan both picked up injuries in India’s crushing defeat in the second Test at Trent Bridge, ruling them out of action for four and three weeks respectively. Chief selector Kris Srikkanth confirmed that the senior duo was left out on fitness grounds, addressing speculation that Harbhajan may have been dropped.Harbhajan has been dogged by poor form since the World Cup, both in the West Indies and in England, before contracting an abdominal strain at Trent Bridge. He managed only six wickets in four ODIs in the West Indies, and was overshadowed by legspinner Amit Mishra. Harbhajan’s form dipped further in the Tests that followed, as he picked up five wickets in the first two Tests, though there was an improvement in the third Test in Antigua, where he returned match figures of 6 for 101. He has struggled for impact in England, picking up a wicket apiece in the first two Tests.Yuvraj hasn’t played an ODI for India since winning the Man-of-the-Tournament award at the World Cup. He missed the West Indies tour with a lung infection, but scored a half-century on his return to the national side at Trent Bridge before enduring a fractured finger on his left hand in the second innings. Yuvraj’s other World Cup-winning team-mates, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, made their ODI comebacks.Sreesanth, who returned to the Test side for England after missing out on the West Indies tour, was left out again, while R Vinay Kumar kept his ODI spot as the back-up seamer. Zaheer Khan, as expected, returned to the one-day scheme of things after sitting out of the West Indies tour. Ashish Nehra, who picked up an injury that kept him out of the World Cup final, remains on the sidelines.Parthiv Patel, who opened the batting and kept wicket in MS Dhoni’s absence in the West Indies, also retained his place as the second-choice limited-overs wicketkeeper. But there was no place for allrounder Yusuf Pathan, who had a poor World Cup and failed in the West Indies. Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan and S Badrinath, who toured the Caribbean in the absence of the regular batsmen, missed out this time.Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel (wk), Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar

S Badrinath walked into a tricky situation, took charge of the chase without playing a single ugly shot, and finessed Chennai Super Kings to No. 2 in the IPL table with an easy win, though the game ended in the final over

The Bulletin by Nitin Sundar27-Apr-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBatting in the IPL can be a thing of beauty•AFP

Who said there is no room for a purist in the IPL? S Badrinath walked into a tricky situation, took ownership of the chase of 142 without playing a single ugly shot, and finessed Chennai Super Kings to No. 2 in the IPL table. His effort came after Chennai’s seamers made exemplary use of the extra bounce on the DY Patil strip to restrict Pune Warriors to an under-par score, despite a well-paced 62 from Yuvraj Singh.Badrinath’s virtuoso effort made the total seem woefully inadequate though Chennai dawdled listlessly until he came in. Badrinath isn’t your typical IPL hero. His upright stance, clean feet movement, classical backlift and high-elbow follow-through are all made for Test cricket. Yet, he has managed to find a niche for himself in Chennai’s muscular top order. Today he unfurled an IPL innings of rare beauty: there were no cross-batted slogs, no cheeky lap-scoops to deliveries landed outside off, and not once was he caught napping on the front foot to a short ball.Chennai are not fond of chasing, and today it was evident why. M Vijay and Michael Hussey began too cautiously and the result was 14 dot-balls in the first four overs. Hussey then heaved Murali Kartik to midwicket where Manish Pandey took a tumbling catch. Badrinath earned a promotion ahead of the out-of-form Suresh Raina, and the swap helped both batsmen.Chennai had crawled to 39 for 1 in eight overs when Badrinath decided to counter-punch. He trotted out to Kartik and launched him for four through long-off. Kartik tossed the next ball further up, and Badrinath carved him inside-out for a six. Badrinath came out again later in the over, hoodwinking Kartik into dropping short, and then glided him to third man. The over went for 16, and in next over, Badrinath opened up the off side again, lofting Yuvraj for six more. Seventy-seven required off 60, and Chennai did not look back from there.Rahul Sharma thought he had got Badrinath to edge the first ball of the 11th behind, but the umpire gave it not out and replays were inconclusive. Vijay managed to swipe Jesse Ryder over midwicket but his scratchy innings ended in typical fashion when he holed out against a slow legcutter. Badrinath carried on as if nothing had happened, angling near-yorkers to third man and drilling half-volleys to the straight boundary. Suresh Raina ended the contest in the 18th over, muscling Jerome Taylor for sixes over long-off.In reality, Pune lost the match in the first half itself. Ryder fell top-edging an effort ball from Doug Bollinger that rose quickly from short of a length. Mohnish Mishra perished to the pull as well, not bothering to adjust to the length after plonking his front foot forward. Nuwan Kulasekara then dismissed Mithun Manhas with a trademark inducker that squeezed between bat and pad to disturb the leg bail. Manish Pandey departed to a replay of Mishra’s brain-fade, cross-batting Tim Southee off the front foot straight to mid-on, as Pune stumbled to 41 for 4.Yuvraj survived a loose flail at a Kulasekara offcutter first ball. He thumped the next delivery, one of the few over-pitched by Kulasekara, through cover. Thereafter he settled in carefully, and set himself for a late assault. Meanwhile, Robin Uthappa tried to dominate spin, and managed to cart R Ashwin for sixes before falling to his carom ball for the second time in three days. Yuvraj opened up after Uthappa’s fall, lifting Ashwin with the angle over midwicket before launching Doug Bollinger straight for the shot of the afternoon. He slammed Tim Southee for two sixes in the last over as Pune finished their innings with a flourish. Their last five overs yielded 50, but it was not good enough. What Pune missed was a batsman with the technical excellence and mental fortitude of Badrinath to support Yuvraj.

Fire keen to call upon Smith’s experience as Australian takes another step in leadership return

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2020Steven Smith, the former Australia captain, will skipper Welsh Fire in The Hundred this year.Smith was stripped of the Australian captaincy following the Newlands ball-tampering scandal in 2018, banned from playing cricket for year and barred from leading any side under Cricket Australia’s jurisdiction for a further year after his playing ban expired. The leadership sanction will be lifted at the end of March, but it did not extend to the IPL, where he was appointed captain of Rajasthan Royals last April, replacing Ajinkya Rahane eight games into the 2019 edition of the tournament.At Cardiff-based Welsh Fire, Smith will lead the likes of compatriot Mitchell Starc and England’s Jonny Bairstow and Tom Banton.”It’s an honour to be asked to captain Welsh Fire in the first year of The Hundred,” Smith said. “Our squad looks super strong with a great group of players who’ve dominated the international and domestic scenes for the past few years.”Tom Banton is one of the most exciting young players in the world right now and Mitchell Starc brings the X-factor with the ball, so we’re looking to put on an amazing show for the fans in Cardiff.”Welsh Fire men’s head coach, Gary Kirsten, said: “Steve’s knowledge and experience of leading teams in pressurised situations will definitely help us in this first season of The Hundred. He’s got a track record of getting the best out of his players while performing to a very high standard himself, which will be key for us this summer.”After an initial stint as Australia captain in 2014-15, replacing the injured Michael Clarke, Smith took over the role upon Clarke’s retirement in late 2015 until March 2018 and the ball-tampering affair. In 93 matches at the helm, he recorded 47 wins across all formats with 37 losses, six drawn Tests and three ODIs ending in no result.Welsh Fire said in a statement that Smith would lead the team in the competition’s opening fixture against Oval Invincibles at The Oval on July 17, which is the day after Australia’s third and final ODI against England, a day-night match in Bristol.Smith made his international comeback at last year’s World Cup and then played a pivotal role in Australia retaining the Ashes, in which he was by far the leading run scorer. He is now touring South Africa for Australia’s limited-overs series and on Wednesday returns to Newlands, the scene of the events which led to him being banned along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

Assistant coach says England are building a batting unit to succeed on 2021-22 Ashes trip

George Dobell in Hamilton28-Nov-2019Paul Collingwood has backed Zak Crawley to succeed if he wins his chance in the second Test in Hamilton. Kent batsman Crawley was taken on tour largely to gain experience and so the England management could take a closer look at him, but an injury to Jos Buttler the day before the second Test might well have created an early opportunity for an unexpected debut against New Zealand.”Technically he looks very strong,” Collingwood, who is one of England’s assistant coaches, said of Crawley. “He’s willing to learn all the time. He’s been brilliant in the conversations that we’ve had in the nets. He’s always questioning things and that’s what you want.”He’s good fun, he’s a good athlete in the field as well, so he ticks a lot of the right boxes. He looks very good. But you never know until you get in the pressure of a Test match situation. The signs are really good, though.”ALSO READ: NZ depth ‘definitely the best’ it’s been in my career – TaylorCrawley has impressed the England management on this tour. As well as scoring a century in his one opportunity to bat in a match situation, he has also looked comfortable in the nets and impressed with his agility and fitness in fielding sessions.Notably, the two centuries Crawley scored during the 2019 County Championship season were against attacks containing fast bowlers. He made 111 against a Nottinghamshire side which included James Pattinson – nobody else in Kent’s top six made it to double-figures – and 108 against a Warwickshire side containing Ryan Sidebottom and Henry Brookes. And it is ability to play the short ball which is one of the areas that has impressed Collingwood.”Certainly, anything from waist height upwards he looks to be able to handle,” Collingwood said. “And playing short pitched bowling is crucial in these conditions. He times the ball really well, too; he hits the ball hard for a big lad.”By a “big lad” Collingwood certainly does not mean that Crawley is carrying an excess weight. Far from it. Instead he stands at 6ft 5in and looks as fit as anyone in the squad, with the possible exception of Ben Stokes. At training on Wednesday, it appeared as if he deliberately slowed down not to embarrass his captain, Joe Root, who had joined him on multiple circuits of the boundary.Zak Crawley could be in line to make his England debut•Getty Images

Crawley is still very much at the developmental stage of his career, though. He is just 21 and, as his first-class batting average of 31.27 illustrates, he is still learning his game. Having played a great deal on the seamer-friendly surfaces at Canterbury, however, those figures are not, perhaps, quite as modest as they seem.Collingwood is equally optimistic about the prospects for the rest of this side’s batsmen. As a member of the team that won the Ashes in Australia in 2010-11, he thinks he knows what it would take to repeat that result, saying that scoreboard pressure is a vital ingredient.”I’m very confident that this batting unit, over time, is going to score a lot of runs,” Collingwood said. “I think the mentality of it, the way the guys are working, it feels as though we’ve got the right kind of personnel to score big runs.”We know what Australia are going to do to us. They’re going to batter us with 90mph bowlers and make us feel uncomfortable with a spinner at the other end who will dry us up. But when we won there in 2010-11, we scored a lot of runs and then you’ve got scoreboard pressure.”The other challenge is to get those 20 wickets. And that seems to be increasingly difficult. Sides now generally have longer batting orders and the Kookaburra ball can prove difficult to take wickets with. The old school top-of-off with a Dukes ball back in the England doesn’t necessarily work over here. We’ve found ways at times but if you look at history we haven’t really consistently found a formula or a solution.”But we have to find a way. You can see that New Zealand have a strategy that has worked over time: you’re going to get swing bowlers up front, then Colin de Grandhomme and then Wagner to bounce the living daylights out of you. It’s a system that works for them and it’s our challenge to produce the skills out of our bowlers that work on in these conditions with this ball.”You look back and see what we were doing well [in 2010-11], and everyone refers back to pace, but we didn’t have much pace actually. It was more down to accuracy – ‘bowling dry’ as we called it – and it was almost playing on their ego, because they wanted to score runs, because it was the Australian way.”But teams, even Australia, don’t really play with ego any more. They’re very patient. Steve Smith shows that. So you might need a different type of bowler with some extra pace.”

Durham fast bowler Steve Harmison is likely to miss the next three County Championships games after suffering a cracked forearm

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Apr-2011Durham fast bowler Steve Harmison is likely to miss the next three County Championships games after suffering a cracked forearm. X-rays revealed a crack had occurred when Harmison was struck on the forearm during Durham’s first innings against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl last week. “Stephen, at the non-strikers end, was hit by a drive from Phil Mustard,” Durham coach Geoff Cook told . “He’s going to be two or three weeks before he can play again.”Harmison bowled just two deliveries during Hampshire’s first innings and did not bowl for the rest of the match. Durham’s next three games are against Yorkshire, Sussex and Warwickshire. The arm injury is the latest setback in the career of the 32-year-old seamer, who last played for England in the 2009 Ashes.

Joe Denly, Sam Billings join full training session with Premier League club

George Dobell16-Oct-2019England cricketers Joe Denly and Sam Billings joined in a full training session with Crystal Palace FC last week, as the batsmen prepare to travel to New Zealand with the national side for a T20 series and two Test matches.Palace manager Roy Hodgson and right-back Joel Ward also visited Kent County Cricket Club’s indoor Academy after training, with Ward taking on a bowling machine.Both Denly and Billings play for Kent, whose indoor academy facility in Beckenham borders onto the Palace training ground. Denly, who was an integral part of England’s drawn Ashes Series last summer, and Billings, who is Kent captain and an explosive top-order batsman, both have football pedigree with Billings once offered trials at Spurs’ Academy and Denly playing age-group football for Charlton Athletic as a winger.The duo were invited to take part in the Premier League club’s warm-up game of ‘rondos’, where a player is placed in the middle of a group and tasked with intercepting the ball from the outer ring, who are entitled to one touch of the ball only. The pair did enough to impress and were duly invited to take part in most of the the full session led by Hodgson, where they were largely employed to receive long balls from the Palace goalkeepers, before feeding the central midfield players, before attacking play commenced.”We may have passed that [first] test, but I’m not sure we passed when the keeper was pinging it to me,” said Denly. “It makes you realise – I thought I was a decent footballer coming here today – but I go away thinking rather differently!”We play football in the warm-ups, but this is different level. The speed and pace they play the game is phenomenal, it was great to witness.”Billings said: “I enjoyed the session far more than cricket training! It’s great always to see other sports teams train at the top level, there’s always things you can learn from yourself.”The pair were given rare access to Hodgson’s group huddle with the squad, where he outlined his expectations for the upcoming drill. Billings said the manager’s briefing was “very relaxed”.”It was good,” Billings said. “It was exactly how you think it would be. Straight to the point and the detail of what they need to do and get out of it. The lads just crack on.”That’s the similarity with all sports at the top level, the work ethic. He was saying to us that with some of the guys, you need to take down the intensity if you’ve got a game the next day. When we’re training, you can probably put that into some of us as well. It was really interesting. They’re all seriously talented blokes, the speed – and how they move the ball so quickly was the most impressive thing for me.”Hodgson and Ward then walked over to Kent’s indoor net facility, with Hodgson feeding balls to Denly on the bowling machine at around the 78 miles per hour mark – a good 15mph slower than the Australian attack the opening batsman faced during the summer. Denly had a solid season and was tasked with occupying a number of positions in England’s batting line-up, with an undoubted personal highlight his 94 at The Oval in the final Test, which helped secure a drawn Ashes series for the hosts.Hodgson said: “I’m amazed by the courage these guys take – the incredible technique and concentration that they have. I often use cricket as an example to football players – that degree of concentration that they have is nothing compared to the concentration that we have to show – because so many things go on around and protect us. But a cricketer, if you lose concentration for a second your game can be over for a long period of time.”Hodgson recalled that his last game as a cricketer himself was around 1970-71, for Streatham Cricket Club – a club he shared with Palace legend Steve Kember. “I thought I was a batsman, but I wasn’t,” Hodgson joked.Ward strapped the pads on, as well as Denly’s England helmet, with Billings observing his technique whilst feeding the bowling machine. After a few false starts, with Ward poking nervously outside his off stump, Billings ordered: “Just smash it!”That approach appealed to the defender, who proceeded to middle a series of off drives and straight drives. Ward reflected on Billing’s advice: “Just grip it and rip it! It was easier – the tempo of your swing and position you end up, is far better than being defensive and make contact. It’s one of those things, until you’ve faced it – when you’re facing a ball swinging here, or bouncing there – it’s a completely different ball game. The reactions and the speed they can process the ball is phenomenal.”It’s been a good few years since I picked up a cricket bat, so I needed a bit of time to adjust to the ball and the flight. I think I got it towards the end. It was quick. It was only 70-75mph, which isn’t that quick by their standards, but certainly is when you don’t do it on a regular basis – the ball comes at you a lot quicker than you think.”Billings was suitably impressed: “Once he got the hang of it, I just told him to smack it – and he couldn’t miss it after that.”

A round-up of the seventh round of matches from the 2010-11 Plunket Shield

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Mar-2011Canterbury moved up to third place in the Plunket Shield table, beating Wellington by 76 runs in a closely-fought game at the Manipower Oval in Rangiora. A five-wicket haul from left-arm seamer Andy McKay helped bowl out Canterbury for 162 on the first day. Half-centuries from Wellington captain Grant Elliott and then Jeetan Patel lower down the order gave Wellington a handy 85-run lead though Canterbury did well to fight back with legspinner Todd Astle taking five wickets.Canterbury batted more spiritedly in their second innings, overcoming a poor start by way of a 167-run fifth-wicket stand between Shanan Stewart and Reece Young. Stewart made 99 while McKay backed up his first-innings performance with a four-for. Canterbury managed 339, a lead of 254, and Wellington faced a challenging chase. The way the openers Stephen Murdoch and Cameron Merchant were going, adding 105, it seemed Wellington would ease to victory. But Matthew Henry starred on debut, triggering a collapse and grabbing a five-for. Nine wickets fell for 73 and Wellington, who are now second from bottom, fell 76 short.Auckland and Northern Districts served up a thriller at Seddon Park in Hamilton, one in which Auckland held their nerve to seal their first win of the tournament. Auckland batted first and, thanks to a lower-order revival, led by Michael Bates and Bruce Martin, reached 228. Bates, in a fine all-round performance, combined with Chris Martin to limit the lead to 63. He picked up five wickets, Chris Martin took four, but fifties from Brad Wilson and Peter McGlashan ensured the advantage remained with ND.A collective bowling display led by seamer Trent Boult who took four wickets pegged back Auckland further. Gareth Hopkins resisted with 85, and was supported by useful contributions from Anaru Kitchen, Bradley Cachopa and Daryl Tuffey. But a target of 197 didn’t seem sufficient. No one told the Auckland bowlers that, as Chris Martin again stepped up, taking a five-for to finish with nine in the match. The ND batsmen would regret not capitalising on starts. The last three wickets fell for just two runs and ND capitulated to 178, losing by 18 runs.Rain ruined what was shaping up to be an exciting game at the University Oval in Dunedin, between Otago and Central Districts. Kieran Noema-Barnett grabbed four wickets to bowl out Otago for 147 and a lower-order led effort steered CD to a 75-run lead. Kruger van Wyk and Tarun Nethula struck half-centuries to give CD the edge. However, Otago replied strongly in the second innings, and were at 113 for 2 at the end of the third day. Rain, which had washed out the second day, returned to haunt the fourth as well.

If Dominic Calvert-Lewin scores one more goal this season, he will join a very elite club at Goodison Park.

In the Premier League era, only two Everton players have scored more than 20 goals in a single campaign across all competitions.

For all of you trivia experts out there, you’ll be able to name Romelu Lukaku and Yakubu as the lucky individuals to manage such an accomplishment.

Lukaku managed to rack up more than 20 strikes in three consecutive campaigns but not since 2017 have the Toffees had a consistent scorer.

Calvert-Lewin finished last term as their top marksman with 15 but this season he has played like a man possessed.

Signed for just £1.5m from Sheffield United in 2016, he spent his first campaign in the shadows of Lukaku.

After the Belgian powerhouse departed, he has been afforded plenty of opportunities but Marco Silva struggled to ever get the best out of the forward.

He scored 16 goals across the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons but he’s come alive under Carlo Ancelotti.

The Italian has extracted unprecedented levels from Calvert-Lewin and has helped him reach a level in his game that he probably never thought he had.

The 24-year-old has bagged 19 times this term and as a result, has seen his value rise astronomically.

He is now worth £40.5m according to Transfermarkt, a rise of £39m from when he signed five years ago. It is also an increase of £13.5m from what he was valued at just 13 months ago.

It has been quite the journey for Calvert-Lewin over the past year but it’s easy to summarise why he’s valued so highly.

The striker scores goals on a regular basis and is now a regular in the England set-up. Such is his wonderful campaign that he’s also found the net on four occasions in seven outings for Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions.

He may have to usurp Harry Kane in order to become England’s main striker but the £72k-per-week earner is surely a shoo-in for a place at this summer’s European Championships.

A physical forward, Calvert-Lewin knows how to stretch defences while he can also come short and hold the ball up. The forward is also a mesmeric sight in the air, rising like a salmon to emphatically head home.

In the words of his teammate Richarlison, he is the “complete striker.”

In an interview with FIFA (via talkSPORT), the Brazilian said: “I remember when I got here he was nothing like the player he is today.

“It’s down to the work he’s put in. He’s in the gym every day, he’s always working on his finishing. And playing under [Carlo] Ancelotti he’ll keep getting better and better.”

Richarlison added: “He’s had a superb start to the season and without doubt deserved his England call-up. He must be a nightmare to play against and he has an incredible leap on him like Cristiano Ronaldo.”

To be compared to a player like that sums up how far Calvert-Lewin has come in the last few years. He’s not quite an elite striker yet but he is very quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with.

AND in other news, Everton could finally replace Idrissa Gueye by signing £27m beast who “has it all”…