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Three-fors from Unadkat and Atit Sheth ensured West Zone were still in the game at stumps on day two

PTI22-Sep-2022B Indrajith’s scintillating hundred and K Gowtham’s rearguard 43 took South Zone past West Zone’s first-innings total on an interesting second day of the Duleep Trophy final.Indrajith’s 118 off 125 balls, along with contributions from Manish Pandey (48) and Gowtham (43 off 55 balls), ensured that South finished the second day on 318 for 7 – 48 runs clear of West Zone’s first innings score of 270.The match did turn out to be interesting when South were in a spot at 243 for 6, but allrounders Gowtham and T Ravi Teja (26*) added 62 for the seventh wicket in just 16.2 overs, and in the process helped their team surpass West’s total.However, with the final being a five-day affair, South are still some distance away from ensuring a healthy lead, which might not happen with only Teja remaining among the recognised batters.He has Sai Kishore (5 for 86 in 35.3 overs in West’s first innings) for company, but the left-arm spinner would be more happy that he could grab a fifth five-for and deny young Het Patel (98) a chance to get to the coveted three-figure mark.Mayank Agarwal pouched his catch, but later, when he came on to bat, he was caught in the slip cordon by Yashasvi Jaiswal off seamer Atit Sheth.Hanuma Vihari (25), whose Test batting slot is on the line, was then caught plumb in front, after Indrajith had been the dominant partner in their stand of 61.The Tamil Nadu right-hander played some gorgeous drives but was equally adept while working the deliveries pitched on his legs.His 13th first-class hundred contained 14 fours, and his 105-run partnership for the fourth wicket with the seasoned Pandey put South in the driver’s seat.Pandey, who had quickly hit four fours and a couple of sixes, could have converted his start to a big score but Tanush Kotian, the Mumbai off-spinner, castled him two short of fifty.The difference between the two sides was how the spinners fared. While Sai Kishore and Gowtham choked the run-flow for South, the two Mumbai spinners of West – Shams Mulani, the Ranji Trophy’s highest wicket-taker last season, and Kotian gave away 183 runs in 41 overs between them, while combining for just one wicket.Jaydev Unadkat (3/52) did his bit and also got a lot of support from former India U-19 player Sheth, but once Gowtham launched into Kotian, hitting him for successive sixes, the first-innings lead was there for the taking.

‘We have a settled top order and with any one of them going till the end with finishers in late middle order we can easily touch 350’

Umar Farooq01-Apr-2021Babar Azam, the Pakistan captain, wants his side to be done with the traditional style of playing one-day cricket. He wants his batsmen to eradicate any sense of doubt in their minds; to be fearless so they can post totals in the region of 350 a lot more often. And all that might just start with the first ODI against South Africa on Friday.Pakistan teams have shown improvement in this regard in the domestic circuit, with run-rates on a steady increase over the past few years – 2016 (5.25), 2017 (6.34), 2018 (6.62), 2019 (6.45). But in 2020 it plummeted to 5.90. The trend of 320-plus scores, however, has increased. There were 15 of these in last year alone – a marked rise from the seven each in 2018 and 2019.Having played only five ODIs since the end of the 2019 World Cup, Pakistan haven’t had a lot of occasion to translate those numbers into international cricket. But the chance has finally come now.”Definitely, we need improvement all the time,” Babar said ahead of the Centurion ODI in a virtual press conference. “You might see a fluctuation in performance between two games but we need to be consistent and with every passing day and the more games we play, we are gaining more experience as a team. We try to go fearless and we understand that is the best way forward. The World Cup is in two years and we have to be consistent in playing a set of players and keep on playing the same combination which will eventually bring in confidence in the team as well as in individual players.”Pakistan have been tweaking their combination a lot lately, but their focus now appears to be on finding a set of seven or eight players who can serve as the team’s nucleus. “When you play the same group of players, this will actually set the momentum and then you see a difference in every aspect of the game either about strike-rate, total we score, or the overall performance,” Babar said. “We definitely have to match up with modern-day cricket and we are figuring out how to adapt the approach.”There is a sense of responsibility among players to keep on lifting their strike-rate and only then we are able to have our required total. We have a settled top order and with any one of them going till the end with finishers in late middle order we can easily touch 350. We have given everyone their individual plans and even they themselves know how to go out and play according to the demanding situations these days. Going fearless isn’t impossible. We have to eradicate this sense that we cannot do it, rather we should instill that we can, we will and we have the capability. We have an approach in mind in line with what is required in modern-day cricket and prepared accordingly.”Pakistan were the first subcontinent side to win a bilateral ODI series in South Africa in 2013-14, and either side of that lost two five-match series by the deciding game. Since 2010, Pakistan has a 6-7 win-loss in 50-overs cricket in South Africa and Babar hopes they can be competitive again.”Of course you have to move on according to the modern cricket and set your targets but you have to be watchful about the opponent’s strength as well,” he said. “They are good at home in their own conditions but we have played well in the past. The difference has been the bounce, but in white-ball cricket, it actually helps batsmen. These are true pitches and as a batsman when you settled in, you have the ball coming on your bat nicely and you enjoy a lot. South Africa have got a good combination but we have our bases covered and expect a good series. We are here with a point of view to win it as the games are going to win us important points for World Cup qualification.”

India were able to put up 134 and it proved plenty more than enough as Anuja Patil returned remarkable figures of 3-1-3-2

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2019Veda Krishnamurthy produced the highest score of her T20I career, her unbeaten 57 along with 50 from Jemimah Rodrigues helping India women to a resounding 61-run victory over West Indies women in Providence to sweep the series 5-0.India were able to put up 134 for 3 on the board, and it proved way more than enough as Anuja Patil, in her 50th T20I game, returned outstanding figures of 3-1-3-2.India needed to recover from a poor start after they elected to bat, with the openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana dismissed for single-digit scores. But that only meant more time for Krishnamurthy and Rodrigues to influence the game. They put on a 117-run partnership, hitting seven fours together. It appeared to be a tough pitch for run-scoring, but Krishnamurthy rose above it. Of all the batters to face at least ten balls in the game, she was the only one with a strike rate above 100.India’s bowlers made use of those conditions well, Patil picking up both her wickets in the fourth over to hurt West Indies in the chase.After that opening, which left the hosts 13 for 2, the spinners took over, each of Radha Yadav (1-10), Poonam Yadav (1-15) and Harleen Deol (1-13) picking up a wicket each. West Indies could barely get any momentum in the case; they were 31 for 4 in the 11th over and the game was pretty much done there. Kyshona Knight top-scored with 22 off 39 balls.India ended the tour having won nine out of ten matches as they continue their preparations for the T20 World Cup in February 2020.

The India opener said he wasn’t eyeing a fourth double-century though Rayudu told him he could reach the landmark

Varun Shetty in Mumbai29-Oct-20182:17

CCI can be tricky while chasing – Rohit

When Rohit Sharma completed his first ODI century in Mumbai, he took some time to savour it, settling into a relaxed acknowledgement of the applause with his arms outstretched. Even at about 60% capacity, the crowd was rather loud for their local hero.

West Indies captain Jason Holder on…

What went wrong: “We definitely didn’t play well. The way we started the series and the way we have played so far, we certainly didn’t do any justice today. Gave away too many runs. I felt it was a very good wicket, the outfield was lightning. It was a wicket where once you get in, you can go really big. Unfortunately none of our batters just really got it and gave themselves a chance to bat deep into the innings.”
Coping with the rising asking rate: “The asking rate definitely plays on your mind as well, you know. Obviously a big total and you need to be up with the total for a majority of the innings. We never really got any momentum up front, lost too many wickets up front. And the two run-outs didn’t really help us. Set us back really – two of our better players, and we didn’t really have any momentum in the middle. Credit to India, they bowled reasonably well upfront and caused trouble.”

Rohit likes playing at the CCI’s Brabourne Stadium. It is the venue where he made his first T20 hundred, an unbeaten 101 against Gujarat in 2007, and two years later made 309 in a Ranji match against the same opposition.”I have played a lot of cricket at CCI and I have always enjoyed batting here,” Rohit said. “It is a good pitch and you get value for your shots. It has a fast outfield, so you don’t need to try and hit too hard. You can find the gaps, and that’s what I was looking at.”When you come to a ground where you have played enough cricket, you feel confident of going into a match. That was my mindset before walking into bat. I understand the nature of the pitch and what it does when the spinners are bowling. Those things are important. Like I said, I’ve had lot of opportunities to play here and it was going about and doing the same thing.”Rohit Sharma scored his seventh 150-plus score at Brabourne•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

This hundred, Rohit’s 21st, comes in the middle of a purple patch and falls in line with a pattern of increasing scores every time he has gone past 50 over the last month. After scores of 52 and 83* in the Asia Cup, Rohit made an unbeaten 111 against Pakistan in the same tournament, and in the next instance of making a 50-plus score, Rohit finished with an unbeaten 152 at the start of this series. Incredibly, he managed to better even that score, but the three-time ODI double-centurion said didn’t think of a fourth at any point.”While batting, I don’t think about scoring hundreds or double-hundreds. I just want to go bat, score runs and get the team to good positions,” Rohit said. “The three double-hundreds that I’ve got, I had never thought about getting them. Even today, in fact, Rayudu was telling me that I can get a double-hundred. But I was just trying to focus on my batting and not think about how I’m going to get to double-hundred. I wanted to score runs and make sure that we get enough runs because CCI can get tricky while [defending]. But we bowled well to get them out.”There were signs that Rohit was alluding to in terms of balance between bat and ball, and perhaps nothing nailed down that hypothesis better than the 224-run margin of victory. And among the stars of India’s 377 defence was left-arm fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed.”In the first innings when me and Shikhar were batting, we were not finding it that easy because it was doing a little bit,” Rohit said. “You can’t just go straight away and start playing shots. You need to spend some time. So in my opinion the pitch was on offer for both batsman and bowlers. It was probably one of the best pitches that I’ve played on in India.”When the left-armers swing the ball the way Khaleel did today, it’s always going to trouble the batsman no matter what sort of batsman he’s bowling against. If he’s swinging the ball the way he is, any batsman in the world will find it difficult. He’s maturing very fast, he understands his bowling. And the management also understands where he needs to be come the World Cup. I hope he continues to do that because it’s only going to be better for us. Come New Zealand, and the World Cup in England, where the ball swings a lot, he might be very handy there.”

Half-centuries by Jacques Rudolph and Aneurin Donald helped Glamorgan extend their leadership of the NatWest T20 Blast South Group with a 25-run win over Kent

ECB Reporters Network30-Jul-2017Jacques Rudolph led the way for Glamorgan again•Getty Images

Half-centuries by Jacques Rudolph and Aneurin Donald coupled with a frugal two-over stint of 1 for 12 by Craig Meschede helped Glamorgan extend their leadership of the NatWest T20 Blast South Group with an emphatic 25-run win over Kent.Rudolph’s captain’s knock of 77 not out from 52 balls saw Glamorgan post 199 for 2 on an excellent Canterbury pitch – a pursuit that proved too tough for Kent despite Joe Denly’s 68 as the hosts fell well short with a 20-over total of 174 for 4.Looking for their fourth South Group win, Kent’s chase started with panache when Denly straight drove Michael Hogan’s fourth delivery for a straight six. At the other end Daniel Bell-Drummond went for 3, dragging the ball on to middle stump in attempting to cut Lukas Carey’s third delivery of the afternoon to bring in Kent skipper Sam Northeast with only 21 on the board.Denly hit the ropes three times as Graham Wagg’s first over of left-arm seam went for 13 to move past the 300-run milestone in this year’s Blast, yet Kent were still 10 behind the visitors come the end of the Powerplay.Northeast upped the tempo with a swept six against Colin Ingram’s wrist spin and, with spin at both ends, Denly repeated the dose against Andrew Salter to keep Kent ticking at eight-an-over. Hitting to the shortest boundary on the Old Dover Road side of the ground, Northeast cleared the ropes again against Ingram as did Denly over extra cover against Wagg as Kent reached 93 for 1 at the midpoint of their reply.After taking a wicket and conceding only two in his opening over, Carey leaked 17 in his second over as Northeast cantered to a 28-ball
fifty with four sixes. But he holed out to deep midwicket when targeting another six off Marchant de Lange to end a second-wicket stand of 89 and bring in left-hander Alex Blake.Denly continued serenely, lofting Wagg for a third maximum in a 36-ball half-century, but Blake chipped to long-off in Meschede’s first over to be replaced by allrounder Jimmy Neesham. Suddenly the boundaries dried up and, with 36 required from the last five overs. Wagg had his revenge by having Denly (68) caught on the ropes at deep midwicket and Kent’s outside victory hopes went with him.Bowling first after winning the toss, Kent made two changes to the side that beat Somerset on Friday night. Having suffered a recurrence of a thigh injury New Zealand paceman Adam Milne was replaced by Calum Haggett, while veteran offspinner James Tredwell was preferred to rookie left-armer Imran Qayyum.Glamorgan made a watchful start through openers Rudolph and Donald, who opened their side’s boundary account in the third over when Matt Coles leaked 15 runs. Neesham also conceded 15 from his second over as Glamorgan completed their Powerplay overs without alarm in reaching 62 without loss.Taking a low-risk approach to batting by keeping the ball on the turf with proper cricket strokes, the visiting openers complimented each other superbly and kept the board ticking just as nicely.Donald was first to his 50 from 30 balls only to lose his middle stump when playing across the line to Haggett’s very next delivery that made it 88 for 1. Glamorgan dangerman Ingram marched in with 275 runs already to his name in this season’s Blast and appeared intent on accelerating the run rate.Rudolph raised Glamorgan’s 100 with an impudent reverse flick for six off Haggett then left-hander Ingram cleared the ropes with a slog-sweep off the next delivery from Tredwell. But, with his score on 11, Ingram risked a lofted straight drive off Coles and miscued high to long-off where Bell-Drummond took a stunning catch on the run.Rudolph cantered to his fifty from 35 balls and finished unbeaten on 77 from 52, while David Miller contributed a useful 43 not out from 25 balls, plundering 19 off Mitch Claydon’s last over to set Kent a tough asking rate of 10 an over for victory.

Pakistan’s new coach Mickey Arthur has said the opportunity of associating with a subcontinent team was a “massive attraction”

Umar Farooq09-Jun-2016Pakistan’s new coach Mickey Arthur has said the opportunity of associating with a subcontinent team was a “massive attraction”. Soon after his arrival in Lahore, his first visit to Pakistan after his appointment, Arthur spoke to the media and explained his decision to take up the job by saying, “If you haven’t coached in the subcontinent you haven’t really coached.”Arthur was appointed last month to fill the role vacated by Waqar Younis, who resigned following the team’s early exit from the World T20. This is Arthur’s third assignment with an international side – he previously coached South Africa from 2005 to 2010, and Australia from 2011 to 2013.”(It has) massive attraction,” Arthur said. “You just got to look at the passion that the Pakistan public have for cricket. The passion that everybody in the subcontinent has for cricket. For me, I wanted to come and coach in the subcontinent at some stage of my coaching career because if you haven’t coached in the subcontinent, you haven’t really coached.”That was a massive attraction, coupled with the fact that we need to improve the rankings in ODI cricket without a doubt, we need to improve the rankings in Twenty20 cricket. We need to become a little bit more consistent. Our Test cricket seems to be very good at the moment. Test cricket is being played in conditions conducive to the subcontinent. If we can play well outside the subcontinent [it] means the team’s really going forward and those are all the challenges I’m really looking forward to.”Pakistan are ranked No. 3 in Test cricket but are currently at ninth place on the ODI table and at No. 7 in T20Is. With a long tour of England and Ireland as his first assignment, Arthur urged the team to guard against fear of failure.”I don’t care if they fail, I don’t care if they make mistakes. Professional people are going to make mistakes. As long as we’re learning from those mistakes and going forward as a team, I’m going to be happy. I don’t want us to fear the failure. I think any team that fears failure is a team that struggles. Certainly I don’t want us to fear failure at all and we’re going to give players the opportunity to get out there and really perform to the best of their ability.”The strategy is to make them believe in their own abilities, make them believe where we are going to take this team and that belief comes over time, it just doesn’t start. I love to see the players dig deep inside and find the extra 10% that’s going to make a significant difference to this team going forward and that’s what I will try to dwell and try to get out of every player. To make sure that they become better, and if they become better players Pakistan cricket will benefit. That is my primary focus at the moment.”Arthur has a two-year deal with the PCB, which will be reviewed after a year based on the team’s performance. With four major series for the side over the next eight months – after the England tour, Pakistan are scheduled to play West Indies, New Zealand and Australia – Arthur has set his sights on identifying players who fit in with the long-term vision of taking the team to No. 1 across formats.”The short-term plan comes in and creates a culture that I think is necessary for a team to be successful,” he said. “With long-term plans I want to get the team to No.1 in all forms of the game, that is without a doubt. We also need to identify long-term players who can be with us for the ride, players who can play all three formats. We need to identify really good allrounders, somebody who can bat in the top six and bowl seam specially when he plays outside subcontinent conditions. Those are all things in my mind as long-term plans.”Arthur had an uneasy tenure as Australia’s coach, despite having garnered success with South Africa. He was sacked almost three weeks before the start of the 2013 Ashes in England, after a challenging time with the team which included the infamous Homeworkgate episode on the tour to India earlier that year. Arthur was confident such an incident would not occur again.”I’ve got no doubt they’ll operate in the right way and Australia did,” he said. “Sometimes things work and sometimes things don’t. We’ve had a good record with Australia but there were other issues that we needed to address and they always say there’s two types of coaches – there’s a coach that’s current and there’s a coach that’s been fired, and if you haven’t been fired, you’ve never coached. So I had a really good five years with South Africa, with Australia we had two very good years and that ended in tears, but that’s what happens. I’m confident that in this role we’ll get things going in the right direction, it won’t happen again.”Arthur’s arrival in Pakistan was delayed by a month – due to paperwork issues involved in switching from South African to Australian citizenship – and he missed the preparatory fitness camp for the England tour. He clarified that his inputs were taken before the selection of the team and that he had had fruitful discussion with the selectors and the rest of the coaching staff.”I had very good and clear communication with the selection panel before this team was selected,” he said. “Inzi (Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s chief selector) and I have built a nice relationship, we spent some time chatting and I know that my opinions will always be taken into account. At the end of the day it’s their job to select the best possible team but I know they will do this in consultation with myself and the captain always.”I’ve had fruitful discussions with every stakeholder throughout the last month – with Inzi and his selection panel, with Mushi (bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed) in terms of the young players coming through, so I’ve got a pretty good indication where Pakistan cricket is. I’ve got a pretty good indication that if we find some players that become long-term, we need to invest in those players, and if we invest in those players and be consistent with our selection, and consistent in the roles that those players have within the team, then, without a doubt, the team will go from strength to strength.”Soon after his appointment, Arthur had stressed the importance of discipline and fitness, and he stated he would manage this on a day-to-day basis to ensure the team’s performance was not affected.”At the end of the day it’s up to me to give them a clear role, let them know exactly how they fit in and also to make sure that they bind to the team. All those issues I haven’t experienced yet and I will manage them on a day-to-day basis to make sure that they don’t impact our performance going forward.”

Return of international cricket to Pakistan might have been fraught with threat of violence, but the first ODI in the country in six years brought about the most non-violent 375 you could imagine, setting up a 41-run win

The Report by Sidharth Monga26-May-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
1:30

A run feast at Lahore

The return of international cricket to Pakistan might have been fraught with threats of violence, but the first ODI in the country in six years brought about the most non-violent 375 you could imagine, setting up a 41-run win. In an incredibly cool and calculated innings, hardly a shot was hit in anger as Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Haris Sohail chipped and chopped an innocuous attack to the highest total in Pakistan.However, the thinness of Pakistan’s attack, the flatness of the pitch and the fact that Zimbabwe’s batting is much stronger than their bowling, became apparent in the chase with only Wahab Riaz looking like taking a wicket. Elton Chigumbura scored a chancy century, Hamilton Masakadza a fifty, but the chase only kicked into life towards the end, by which time the asking rate had reached 15 an over, a task too tall with four Wahab overs to contend with.Considering Mohammad Sami and Anwar Ali’s struggle with the ball, Pakistan will be thankful their batsmen posted the total they did. This was the first time all of their top four scored fifty or more, and the first Pakistan innings to feature two 150-run stands. Malik’s 112 off 76 was his fastest century. Pakistan hit 35 fours and 10 sixes in all, but that masked the lack of frenetic hitting and powerful strokes you associate such big scores with.Azhar and Hafeez began sedately before opening up in a 170-run stand, Pakistan’s third-highest opening partnership at home. The duo missed out on what looked like certain centuries, falling within eight balls of each other, but Malik and Sohail took over from where they left, and added some more intent as you would expect after a strong opening. Playing for the first time in two years, Malik posted his first score of more than 43 in five years, at once reminding you why he had been dropped and why quite a few have been disappointed with an unfulfilled career.Azhar and Hafeez were Pakistan’s fourth opening combination in their last five ODIs, and the tentativeness showed in their start – eight runs in five overs on a pitch that never misbehaved. In the sixth over though, Azhar, the captain playing his first international at home, took the first risk, playing across the line of a ball outside off, placing it wide of mid-on for three. That shot was the release as he raced away to 21 off 24 with Hafeez labouring to five off the same number of deliveries.Zimbabwe’s attack didn’t have the necessary threat to hold the openers back. Hafeez got going with pick-up shots for four and six off Tinashe Panyangara in the ninth over. Azhar reached his fifty first, and Hafeez was on his heels and when he hit the remodelled Prosper Utseya – now bowling little legrollers – for successive fours in the 22nd over, Pakistan’s run rate had crossed six an over never to come back down again. Those two shots summed up the touch play this partnership relied on: first a mere push between mid-off and extra cover, and then waiting for the expected flatter delivery and back-cutting it between point and short third man.Utseya managed to get both the openers out, but looking at how Malik and Sohail went he must be wishing he hadn’t. It was Malik in this partnership that made a slow start, but from the moment he skipped out and lofted Sikandar Raza for a straight six in the 33rd over, he galloped along. With Malik looking in rare touch, Sohail could take it easy and settle in. As with Hafeez and Azhar, it was more about clever placement and missing the infielders rather than manic hitting for Malik.Forty-one came off the Powerplay, and at 263 for 2 in 40 overs Pakistan were set to break the Lahore record of 357, what with 10 an over in the last 10 almost the norm in modern ODI cricket. Except Pakistan are one of the teams that usually buck the trend. Not here. In Malik and Sohail they had right amount of placement and power, in Zimbabwe they had a flat attack, and the two carried the party on. Clean hits cleared the fence, mis-hits fell to ground, Zimbabwe missed quite a few yorkers, the fielding was poor, and 112 came off the last 10. In the 49th over Malik raised the first international century in Pakistan in six years. Sohail, who relied on some power hitting over the leg side in his 89 off 66, ran out of time, but time was a bigger problem for Zimbabwe who were about 40 minutes behind schedule in finishing their 50 overs.They didn’t show much more urgency in the chase, looking for the most part content with batting out the 50 overs of their own. Chigumbura and Masakadza added 124 for the third wicket, but they did so in 20 overs, which meant the asking rate had reached 14.5 for the last 17. Chigumbura, who survived a plumb lbw shout and benefited from two dropped catches, brought brief interest to the chase. He raced away to a maiden ODI century, in the process hitting Sami for a hat-trick of fours and then for 22 in another over. Wahab, though, proved too good for him, troubling him with bouncers before cleaning him up with a quick yorker, and ending the game in the process. Pakistan, though, will be worried at how ineffective their second string of bowlers were.

Dean Elgar, the Knights batsman, has been named as the replacement for the injured JP Duminy for the rest of South Africa’s Test series in Australia

Firdose Moonda11-Nov-2012Dean Elgar, the Knights’ left-hander who has played five ODIs for South Africa, has been called up to replace JP Duminy in the Test squad. Duminy was ruled out of cricket for six months with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon and while Faf du Plessis remains the favourite to take his place in the starting XI, Elgar has been called a “like-for-like replacement.”Although a top-order batsman rather than a lower middle-order one, Elgar also bowls left-arm spin and could be seen to offer the same part-time bowling option as Duminy. Du Plessis, though, bowls legspin and is regarded as next in line, given his inclusion as replacement batsman over the last two tours.Elgar, a former South Africa Under-19 captain, made his case for a place in the national squad soon after debuting in first-class cricket. In 2006-07, he averaged 55.06 and scored 881 runs in the first-class competition. But two lean patches followed and he only really caught the eye again two seasons later. Elgar’s 2009-10 summer resulted in 1193 runs at an average of 62.78 and 2010-11 one saw him score 816 runs at 54.49.With a reputation for being able to play all around the wicket, a strong square cut and proven form, he was named captain of South Africa’s Invitation side to play Sri Lanka in December last year. Elgar top scored with 78. Although always seen as a longer format player, he was named in the squad to play in the ODIs against them later in the tour. He tore knee ligaments on the eve of the series and was ruled out of most of the remainder of the season but continued to feature in South Africa’s plans.Elgar played in the A series against Sri Lanka A in June, where he scored 177 in South Africa’s innings victory. He also travelled to Ireland in August to shadow the men’s senior side in England and made his debut in the ODIs. Although he did not score a single half-century, scores of 15, 42, 35 and 1 were enough to have national convenor of selector Andrew Hudson labelling it a “good debut series.”Elgar will only travel to Australia once his visa requirements have been processed but with the second Test 11 days away that is not a worry. He will play for the Knights in their domestic one-day cup match on Sunday.While Elgar will celebrate his maiden call-up to the Test squad, some of the other players in contention may be aggrieved at being overlooked, especially as there are lower-order players who could be in line. Justin Ontong is the closest as an exact replacement for Duminy. He was the top-scoring middle-order batsman last season. In nine matches, he scored 658 runs at an average of 59.81, with two hundreds and four fifties.Ashwell Prince may not have fancied sitting on the bench but would have been keen on a recall. Since he was dropped after the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka in Durban last December, he has done well for Lancashire and started this season with 213 runs in three matches for the Warriors. He remains a nationally contracted player and Hudson said at the time of Prince’s exit that he would remain in their thoughts.Colin Ingram was another candidate. He fell out of favour after the ODI series against Sri Lanka in January but has been churning out the runs at franchise level. His 270 runs in three matches this season have come at an average of 54.00.None of that has any bearing on the current Test squad, with Elgar due to arrive in Australia soon.

On the 59th anniversary of their first Test win, Pakistan fast bowlers moved on sensationally from the demoralising fielding debacle in Abu Dhabi, but the spinners didn’t enjoy such good fortune

The Report by Sidharth Monga26-Oct-2011
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outSri Lanka only half-recovered from Umar Gul’s early burst•AFP

On the 59th anniversary of their first Test win, Pakistan’s fast bowlers moved on sensationally from the demoralising fielding debacle in Abu Dhabi, but the spinners didn’t enjoy such good fortune. Even though Misbah-ul-Haq took three slip catches off the quicks, Taufeeq Umar dropped Kumar Sangakkara on 27 and Younis Khan reprieved Rangana Herath off the first ball he faced. Consequently 73 for 5 became 154 for 6, and 154 for 8 turned into 239 all out. However, the early damage was so severe that the day still belonged to Pakistan, especially because the openers brought the deficit under 200 in the nine testing overs bowled at them.That the successful completion of regulation catches came as a huge relief in the morning tells the story. Three days after they had been ground into the Abu Dhabi dust thanks largely to their own fielders, Umar Gul and Junaid Khan somehow found the heart to create opportunity after opportunity once again. It was a new-ball pitch, and the two hit the seam with regularity to take five wickets in the first session.Both teams misread the track to an extent. Pakistan dropped the big-hearted Aizaz Cheema in favour of left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman. Expecting a flat track, Sri Lanka chose to bat first. As it turned out, with the ball seaming around in the first session, Gul and Junaid had to make up for the absence of the third seamer with 10-over spells before lunch, including a wicket in the last over of the session.The Sri Lanka top order was left with the task of seeing the new ball off. While not quite a demon, the pitch had enough seam and variable bounce in it to keep the Pakistan fast bowlers in business. True to their nature, they exploited every bit of life on offer. Gul got the ball to swing into the left-handed top three, and on the odd occasion got it to seam away after shaping up to swing in. The variable bounce was obvious from how two early edges didn’t carry to the cordon, and how on two occasions Gul missed out on lbws because of extra bounce.The top order bar Sangakkara came up short. Both Lahiru Thirimanne and Tharanga Paranavitana made the instinctive correction of planting the front foot across to cover the movement, leaving them prone to the balls moving in. Thirimanne survived one such shout because of the height, but was trapped dead plumb immediately after. Paranavitana played himself into a shell before finally playing a reckless cut off Gul. At first slip, Misbah held the ball close to his chest. Finally someone other than the wicketkeeper had taken a catch in 178 overs of bowling.More chances would soon come. Mahela Jayawardene got the classical Gul delivery that angled in, pitched short of a length, drew him into the shot, then held its line, and took a healthy edge. Misbah was there to accept the low catch again. Dilshan played a loose punch outside off to give Misbah his third. Junaid’s contribution to the dismissal cannot be overstated, though. In his sixth over, he went round the stumps, angled the ball in, making Dilshan play, and the open face did the rest.At 45 for 4, after six overs each for the new-ball bowlers, Pakistan would have wished they had Cheema to bowl first change. In his absence, Gul and Junaid put in the extra hours. After Gul’s unbroken 10-over spell, Junaid came back to trouble Mathews from round the stumps. Even as Mathews walked down the track to counter the movement, both his edges were beaten repeatedly until he nicked Junaid to Adnan Akmal, the only catching man Pakistan haven’t had to worry about.In between, Sangakkara played a rare loose shot, an uppish square-drive off Ajmal, but Taufeeq was late to attempt a high catch to his left at backward point. Missing his partner in crime from the first Test, the injured Prasanna Jayawardene, Sangakkara had no option but to score as many as possible before he was left stranded. He scored 49 of the 76 runs that came during his time after lunch.Even though Rehman trapped the debutant keeper Kaushal Silva to end a 54-run partnership, the pitch had settled down and the ball had become soft. Pakistan stopped trying to get Sangakkara out, but at the same time they were lousy enough to forget to bring the field up for the last ball of an over. Sangakkara gladly retained the strike, but exposed Dhammika Prasad to Saeed Ajmal for four balls of the next over. Prasad had no clue which way Ajmal was turning the ball, and despite a customary drop from Mohammad Hafeez, a thick edge from him was accepted by Akmal. Sangakkara took a risk against the first ball of the next over, but holed out to long-on. It could have become three wickets in four balls, but Younis Khan let through a low chance from Herath.The highest partnership of the innings, 75 for the ninth wicket, followed. Chanaka Welegedara and Herath fought bravely after tea, taking blows on their bodies, and putting behind them the plays and misses. Welegedara in particular drove well through the covers, hooked Gul for a six during a heated over, and slogged Abdur Rehman for another even as he fought cramps. He added 48 to his career 67 runs. Ajmal, though, kept coming at them, and made sure Sri Lanka were again dismissed inside the first day.

Dennis Lillee has tipped Australia to regain the Ashes because they have a stronger bowling attack

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2010Dennis Lillee has tipped Australia to regain the Ashes because they have a stronger bowling attack. Lillee, who took 167 wickets in 29 Tests against England, believes the hosts’ current line-up is superior.”In the end it’s got to be [about] your attack – you’ve got to bowl sides out twice,” Lillee told Sky Sports Radio. “If I look at both attacks I think Australia – even without Warne and McGrath – have a better attack than England.”[Their] spinning attack – they may use spin twins – may be better than ours because Nathan Hauritz is still evolving, but overall our attack is better and that’s where games are won.”England lifted the Ashes at home in 2005 and 2009 but were beaten 5-0 in Australia in 2006-07, with McGrath, Warne and Langer retiring at the end of the series. “It’s going to be much closer than the other ones [in Australia],” Lillee said. “But we should probably win it 2-1 or 3-2.”