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Saqlain Sajib took 6 for 50 in Zimbabwe A’s second innings to put Bangladesh A in a winning position on the third day of the first unofficial Test in Cox’s Bazar

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Sep-2014
ScorecardFile photo – With a tally of 15 wickets, Saqlain Sajib achieved the best match figures by a Bangladeshi bowler•Bangladesh Cricket BoardSaqlain Sajib took 6 for 50 in Zimbabwe A’s second innings to put Bangladesh A in a winning position on the third day of the first unofficial Test in Cox’s Bazar. Sajib, who took 9 for 82 in the first innings, achieved the best innings and match figures by a Bangladeshi bowler, with a match tally of 15 wickets.The home side require another 61 runs to win on the final day, after going to stumps on the third day at 43 for 1, chasing 104.The day started with Bangladesh A collapsing from their overnight score of 162 for 3 to 211 all out, their last seven wickets falling for 49 runs. Left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza took his first-class best of 6 for 63, while legspinner Tinotenda Mutombodzi finished with 4 for 38.During Zimbabwe A’s second innings a four-for from legspinner Jubair Hossain, on his first-class debut, also stood out. Brian Chari made 23 out of Zimbabwe A’s total score of 108, as the side lost their last six wickets for 43 runs.

Despite New Zealand’s top-order tumbling for the second time in successive matches, Brendon McCullum treaded carefully when asked to consider whether it may be time recall for Jesse Ryder

Firdose Moonda24-Oct-20143:05

‘Got to make sure Jesse is desperate to play for New Zealand’

Despite New Zealand’s top-order tumbling for the second time in successive matches, Brendon McCullum treaded carefully when asked to consider whether it may be time to recall Jesse Ryder. The explosive opener scored 136 off 57 for Otago against Ireland in Tuesday, to contrast starkly with Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham’s scores of 11 and 10 respectively against South Africa in the second ODI, but McCullum emphasised that the right character, rather than just runs, will be the only way for Ryder to be reconsidered.”We will not compromise the team dynamic,” was as close as McCullum got to saying Ryder needs to show maturity, commitment and discipline before he will get another look in. “There’s lots of cards that need to fit into place before he can be back in the side. We know how good the team dynamic is when we get ourselves into form and get the ship rolling, and Jesse is aware of that. The environment is the most important thing,” McCullum said.Ryder has not played for New Zealand since their ODI series win over India in January. The following month, he was dropped from the Test side after a late-night drinking session, an incident which also cost him his spot in the World T20 squad.That was the last in a long line of indiscretions which have seen Ryder banned for six-months for failing doping test, fined for breaking his bat over a chair in a Champions Trophy game in 2009 and missing Test matches against England in 2008 after severing tendons in his arm while trying to break into a locked toilet. Those incidents stained New Zealand cricket and McCullum does not want to see any recurrence. “The impact that distractions can have on other players in the group can’t go unnoticed,” he said.Neither can the opposite – the sense of togetherness and calm that permeates in the absence of any disruption – and McCullum indicated New Zealand have been enjoying enough of that to be wary of bringing Ryder back. “We’ve got to make sure Jesse is really desperate to play for New Zealand and make sure he fits within the group. He is well aware of that. Let’s hope he is desperate to come back and the environment is ready for him,” he said. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen now, it may not happen this summer. It’s not the right thing by him to try and rush him back in, and it’s not the right thing by the environment.”What McCullum wants from Ryder is consistency, not with bat in hand because he showed plenty of that at Essex but in mindset terms. “I want people who are desperate to represent their country in the team. We won’t compromise the environment because we are representing our country and there are certain obligations which you need to uphold out of respect for the people who support this team and the positions we hold within this group.”Jesse knows he has got some work to do. He is an undoubted talent and if he can get himself right, he is scoring runs and obviously a vacancy is there and the group is ready for him, then I see no reason why he can’t come back but until that happens, we’d be trying to push something which is not quite ready. But the lines of communication have been reopened and we will see what happens over the next little while. “As far as an opening for Ryder goes, even that may be tricky. McCullum admitted that missing Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor in this series is hurting the team, but once they’re back things should work out better. “When you take your No. 3 and No. 4 out of any team in the world, you will be exposed a little more than we would be if those guys were there,” he said. “And we’re lacking a little bit of match hardness. You develop that as you get used to playing. I hoped that we’d be able to find that pretty quickly but we haven’t been able to. We know we have got good players and we know that our game plan works, we just have to be able to execute it.”Again, Luke Ronchi was the only player able to put up resistance and McCullum has urged the rest of his men to learn from their No. 7 for Monday’s dead rubber. “Luke is a guy that it doesn’t matter what time of year it is, he is going to go out, see the ball and react to what he is given. It was a good lesson for the rest of us as well that you can trust your game, stick to your processes and go about your work. He is such a vital player in that No. 7 position for us as well. That bodes well for the rest of the summer.”

Sundar Raman, the IPL’s chief operating officer, has filed an affidavit in India’s Supreme Court in response to the Mudgal panel report and has denied allegations of misdemeanour against him

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2014Sundar Raman, the IPL’s chief operating officer, has filed an affidavit in India’s Supreme Court in response to the Mudgal panel’s report and has denied allegations of misdemeanour against him.The Mudgal committee’s report had stated that Raman knew “a contact of a bookie and contacted him eight times in one season”, but claimed to be “unaware of his connection with betting activities”. The report also said that he had received information about Chennai Super Kings’ team official Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra betting, but did not act on it.In his affidavit, Raman said he had professional integrity. He also said that one of his duties as the IPL’s chief operating officer was to interact with various individuals, including celebrities and officials, and the interactions could not be the basis for a misdemeanour.”I hold a PG degree in management and prior to working with the BCCI, I was employed by a multinational media and advertising agency,” Raman said in his statement. “In all, I have 20 years of experience as a professional with high integrity. I was recruited by the BCCI in 2008 and as part of my duties, I had to interact with various officials, VIPs, bureaucrats and celebrities from all walks of life.”Most of the interactions revolve around arranging and facilitating their attendance at matches and events connected to IPL. The Mudgal committee report doesn’t specifically say that I had knowledge that the person concerned was the contact of a bookie. The person concerned was also a celeb, a movie actor and also a TV star. As IPL COO, I had to deal with celebrities as part of my job. Celebs often call for tickets and invites to events – such bonafide interaction can’t be basis of any misdemeanour on my part.”Sundar Raman was one of the four key individuals – along with sidelined BCCI president N Srinivasan, Meiyappan and Kundra – named by the Supreme Court earlier this month in connection with the Mudgal panel’s report of the IPL 2013 spot-fixing case, and the court observed that the report had suggested several “misdemeanours”.Despite the controversy, Raman has the backing of the BCCI after the board decided, during its working committee meeting in Chennai last week, to support his defence in front of the Supreme Court.The next hearing of the case is on November 24.

Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali has said that his side will target a first-innings score of at least 500 against New Zealand in the Sharjah Test

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Nov-2014Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali has said his side will target a first-innings score of at least 500 against New Zealand in the Sharjah Test. Pakistan finished the opening day at a comfortable 281 for 3, led by Mohammad Hafeez’s unbeaten 178 – his seventh Test century – and the unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 121 between Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq.”We are very glad we all batted. It is very important that when you win the toss and bat first, you make big runs,” Azhar said. “Fortunately, we had a good start and we want to capitalise on it and tomorrow, hopefully, we continue that. And the partnership going on, we’ll hopefully try and make it large and hopefully make a big score in the first innings.”It’s a good start but we want to make it big. On a good track, you want to bat as long as you can and make at least 500 on this wicket. So our target is at least 500, anything over that will be very good for us.”Mark Craig said New Zealand’s strategy of playing three spinners allowed bowlers to remain fresh•AFPAzhar also praised Hafeez who made a return to the Test side after missing the Dubai match due to a hamstring injury. In between the games, Hafeez had also flown to England to have his action tested at Loughborough University after he was reported for a suspect action following the first Test of the series.”I think he came back one day earlier and he was focused for this game and the way he batted, it showed how focused he was, throughout his innings he was very composed and he rarely missed a bad ball,” Azhar said.Hafeez’s century also drew praise from New Zealand offspinner Mark Craig, who said the Pakistan batsman had played “exceptionally”.”I think you have to take your hat off to him. I think he batted extremely well,” Craig said. “He managed to soak up pressure when we got the ball in the right areas and when we missed slightly, he managed to put it away. He batted exceptionally well.”Craig took two of the three Pakistan wickets to fall on the first day, dismissing Shan Masood and Azhar, but he also gave away runs at 4.18. Despite his performance, Craig was happy New Zealand had picked the rare combination of three spinners, and believed it helped the bowlers stay fresher for longer. He stressed New Zealand would focus on bowling to their plans and stop Pakistan from accumulating too many runs.”I think the fact that you can play three spinners means the boys can chip in some shorter spells and keep a bit fresher for a bit longer so I think it’s awesome that three of us are there,” he said. “We are not really looking at what we can restrict them to. It’s more a case of us going out there tomorrow and implementing our roles as bowlers and stuff like that.”

A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group C matches played on December 21, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Dec-2014
ScorecardSeamer Rana Dutta grabbed five wickets to rout hosts Jharkhand for 142 in Dhanbad. Tripura rebounded from an indifferent start to reach 72 for 2 in reply. Kumar Deobrat’s 75 was the only 20-plus score for Jharkhand as Dutta and Manisankar Murasingh ran through the top and middle order. Four of the first five batsmen were caught behind, including captain Saurabh Tiwary for 9. Deobrat hit ten fours and three sixes even as wickets kept falling around him before being the ninth man out to give Dutta his fifth. Kaushal Singh reduced Tripura to 15 for 2 but Bishal Ghosh (25 not out) and former Baroda batsman Rakesh Solanki (40 not out) forged a fifty stand to cut the deficit to 70 by stumps.
ScorecardDarshan Misal made an unbeaten 89 to lead Goa’s lower-middle order fightback in Porvorim. Himachal Pradesh had reduced the hosts to 96 for 5 before Misal revived the innings to 274 for 7 through two partnerships. He added 84 with Saurabh Bandekar (40) and 90 with Shadab Jakati (44). Jakati was stumped in the penultimate over of the day off Gurvinder Singh but Misal was still there, having played 190 deliveries and hit ten boundaries. Vikramjeet Malik and Gurvinder picked up two wickets each for Himachal after Goa chose to bat.
ScorecardOnly 60 overs were possible up north in Delhi where Andhra reached 160 for 3 against hosts Services, who chose to bowl. All the three batsmen to fall got starts but could not carry on. Opener Srikar Bharat fell for a breezy 47 while G Chiranjeevi went for a slow 31. AG Pradeep ensured no further alarms for Andhra as he hit an unbeaten 47. A Rakesh was giving him company on 15.

New Zealand are leading 1-0 in the two-match series against Pakistan. The second ODI is the last international game before the World Cup

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Feb-2015Match factsTuesday, February 3, 2015
Start time 1400 local (0100 GMT)0:57

Last chance for Pakistan to settle World Cup lineup

Big PictureNew Zealand, right now, are Jay Gatsby. They have got their place all spruced up, sashayed around in their most suave outfits, gobbled up the canapés (Sri Lanka), and on Tuesday, aim to pour themselves a toast against Pakistan. All that remains is to await the arrival of their heart’s desire, their vision in platinum and gold – the World Cup.So in this final ODI outing anywhere before the big party, the stakes are really not so high for them. They have already proved themselves among the better teams in the world – perhaps in the leading trio of contenders, alongside Australia and South Africa – and 13 of their 15 squad members have struck form somewhere in the past three weeks. New Zealand have been experimenting with their strategy in the past two matches, and if they drop a game in that manner, neither the players nor their public will have cause for concern.Pakistan’s concerns are more pressing. Tuesday’s match will be an opportunity to answer any number of the questions swirling around their campaign. Have they picked the right squad? Is Younis Khan still good enough? Will the attack cope without Junaid Khan? Are three frontline bowlers enough? Is Mohammad Hafeez worth his place as a specialist batsman, if he fails his bowling test on February 6?But perhaps even for them, this is a low-octane affair. For most teams a victory leading into a World Cup is just the thing, but Pakistan thrive in adversity and their major tournament record is a law unto itself. The completion of a 0-2 loss in Napier may just mean they have won the favour of cricket’s gods for the next six weeks.New Zealand’s recent performances have made them a team most people are tipping to go far in the World Cup•AFPForm guideNew Zealand:WLWWW (last five matches, most recent first)

Pakistan:LLLWLIn the spotlightMartin Guptill has had two golden ducks in his past four innings but after surviving an lbw shout first ball on Saturday, he appeared to be moving towards his best form, sending sweetly-timed balls down the ground and square on the leg side. He was out for 39, which isn’t quite enough to suggest he is now flowing, so he will hope for another shot at a substantial score to put him and the team at ease.Was there a tinge of retribution in Shahid Afridi’s assault on Corey Anderson’s bowling on Saturday? Afridi has said that having his record for the fastest ODI ton bested is one of the regrets of his career, and with AB de Villiers now having struck a 31-ball hundred, Afridi’s chances of reclaiming his old crown are slim. If there is one man in cricket who will not be daunted by probability though, it is Afridi. His 29-ball 67 in Wellington suggested he was approaching his power-hitting best. Record or not, he can be devastating for Pakistan.Teams newsKane Williamson’s shoulder has played up again and his fitness will be assessed on the morning of the game. If he doesn’t play, Tom Latham may have another chance to get himself into gear after a modest home summer.New Zealand: (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (capt), 3 Kane Williamson/Tom Latham, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Luke Ronchi (wk) , 7 Corey Anderson, 8 Nathan McCullum/Daniel Vettori, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Trent BoultPakistan are relying on part-timers Younis Khan and Haris Sohail to make up the quota of the fifth bowler. They will perhaps stick to a similar combination but may swap out seamer Eshan Adil, for Sohail Khan.Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Haris Sohail, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt.), 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi, 9 Bilawal Bhatti, 10 Mohammad Irfan, 11 Sohail Khan/Ehsan AdilPitch and conditionsThe pitch at McLean Park is generally full of runs for the duration of the game. There are showers forecast for the morning but they are expected to clear in time for the toss.Stats and trivia Afridi reached 50 off 21 balls in Wellington. It was the ninth time in his career he had reached a half-century in 21 balls or fewer. Brendon McCullum averages 66 in Tests since the start of 2014, but has averaged 27 in ODIs in that same period

In yet another press conference dominated by questions regarding his fitness, Michael Clarke reiterated that he was “as fit and as healthy as I’ve felt in at least five years”

Abhishek Purohit in Perth03-Mar-2015It is a seven-and-a-half hour flight from Auckland to Perth, and the time difference is five hours. Michael Clarke has said before that he needs more time than others between getting off a plane and training at full intensity.Last year, he traveled to the UAE a week before anybody else for the series against Pakistan. Saturday’s game against New Zealand was Clarke’s first in the World Cup after a long rehabilitation period following hamstring surgery. And so the issue of Clarke’s fitness once again dominated at a Clarke press conference, where the captain said that he was feeling fit, and spoke about the importance of recovery.”I feel really good, thank you,” Clarke said when the inevitable question was broached ahead of Australia’s World Cup group game against Afghanistan. “It was a long flight, so the last two days have been really important recovery-wise to make sure, like everyone, we’re doing everything we can to be a hundred percent fit for tomorrow.”Fortunately, I was able to have a really good training session yesterday as well. I think that was good for my body, and I feel great today. So plenty of recovery again this afternoon, and look forward to getting back out there tomorrow.”Australia are headed to Sydney next, where they play Sri Lanka four days after Afghanistan in Perth, which follows four days after New Zealand in Auckland. It is difficult, but something other sides and players have had to go through as well in the World Cup. However, given his recent injury woes and his long-standing back problem, Clarke was asked just how hard it was to pull himself up for a game after so much travel.”I’ve got no idea. I’ve never done it before, so I’m about to find out,” Clarke said. “Obviously, seven-and-a-half-hour flight, yeah, it takes some time to recover from that. But I think the boys have certainly done that full recovery, rehab, individual recovery as well as guys getting what they need.”We’ve got a lot of resources as well. We’ve got so much staff. There are massage therapists, physios, doctors, strength and conditioning, whatever you need, it’s there. We’re staying in a magnificent hotel too. They’ve got great facilities, gym, pool. We’re very lucky.”I think all the guys have trained really well today, so that’s probably the best sign that we’ll be able to walk out and train at full intensity today. It shows the boys have recovered well and are ready for tomorrow.”The queries kept coming about the same issue. Had he learned from his past experiences with long flights? Did he do something different now to recover? Clarke was a touch sarcastic by the end, but stressed on how recovery had always been important for him from the early years of his career.”It’s the same as I’ve done the last 12 years. Try to sleep when I can. Watch a movie when I can. Get up and walk when I’m sick of watching movies. Eat as much food as possible. Don’t drink alcohol. There is nothing in particular. Yeah, we haven’t got the massage tables on the flight at this stage, as good as Qantas are. But, yeah, I just try to do the same things I’ve done my whole career.”I don’t think there is any proof that I’ve had injuries from flying. I think recovery has always been an important part of my cricket. I’ve had a back injury since I was 17 years of age, so my treatment and my preparation and my training hasn’t changed since then and won’t change until the end of my career.”We just continue to learn from other people and take their expertise and experience in regards to people that have had chronic back injuries and see if it helps me. But like I say, I feel as fit and as healthy as I’ve felt in at least five years, so that’s a real positive sign. I’ve just got to keep my maintenance up, keep listening to the medical staff and doing as they ask, because I feel like it’s helping me at the moment, that’s for sure.”

The MCG’s drop-in pitch might be unfamiliar to some of the New Zealand bowlers and the vast expanses of outfield can be harder to protect, but Tim Southee is confident the attack will be able to transfer their success across the Tasman. up final

Brydon Coverdale in Melbourne27-Mar-2015Martin Guptill lit up Wellington with the highest score in World Cup history. Eden Park erupted when Grant Elliott launched Dale Steyn for a match-winning six, as it had when Kane Williamson did the same off Pat Cummins. Brendon McCullum has batted like a man who thinks this is five-over cricket, not fifty-over. But for all the batting thrills, it has been New Zealand’s bowlers who have shone most consistently in this tournament.The batsmen will need to adjust to the large dimensions of the MCG during Sunday’s World Cup final against Australia, but the World Cup’s most reliable all-round attack will have to adapt as well. New Zealand have the leading wicket taker of the tournament – Trent Boult with 21 wickets at 15.76 – and the equal leading spinner, Daniel Vettori with 15 at 18.80. Tim Southee and Corey Anderson make it four of the top 12 wicket takers.They are the only team that has not conceded a 300-plus total in this World Cup, although South Africa were on the way to ending that run when rain halted their progress in the semi-final. The MCG’s drop-in pitch might be unfamiliar to some of the New Zealand bowlers and the vast expanses of outfield can be harder to protect, but Southee was confident the attack would be able to transfer their success across the Tasman.”A bit of swing would be nice, but it hasn’t swung for us in every game and we’ve found ways to take wickets,” Southee said at the MCG on Friday. “I think that’s the beauty of our attack. We’ve got variety to it, and if it does swing we do become a bit more dangerous. But we have found ways to take wickets when it’s not swinging.”One of our strengths is we’ve adapted to the conditions. We’re familiar with the conditions in New Zealand but they have been different in the various grounds we’ve played at. We’ve managed to adapt as the game goes on and what the wicket has thrown at us. It doesn’t change here. If we see something we’ll try to adapt as the game goes on.”Southee has played at the MCG before but it will be a first for his new-ball partner Boult, whose swing and accuracy destroyed Australia at Eden Park earlier in the tournament. Given his success in this campaign it is remarkable to think that Boult was not a regular in the ODI side at the start of the summer, and had played only 16 one-day internationals before the World Cup began.But Australian conditions are not entirely foreign to Boult, for his international debut came at Bellerive Oval four years ago, when he swung the ball and dried up the runs to help deliver a triumphant Test victory over Australia. It was the same series in which Mitchell Starc made his Test debut and while Starc’s greatest success has come in ODIs, Boult was largely viewed as a long-form player.”It was a matter of time before he became a more permanent fixture in the one-day side,” Southee said. “He’s just grown another leg and what he’s done over the last couple of months has been amazing. He just keeps getting better and better.”It’s great to bowl alongside him, knowing that you have someone to rely on at the other end who’s going to do a great job and keep the pressure on the batsmen. We have a great partnership and a good friendship off the field. I can’t express how proud I am and what he’s done over the last couple of months.”The success of a swing and seam attack led by Boult has perhaps overshadowed the other key member of the New Zealand attack throughout this campaign, with Vettori going about his business quietly and effectively as he has done for nearly two decades. His unflappable nature was on display with a stunning catch in the quarter-final against West Indies and when he was at the crease at the end of the semi-final win over South Africa.He was also responsible for turning the match against Australia when Brendon McCullum looked to him as early as the seventh over of the game. Vettori immediately slowed Australia’s scoring rate and picked up two important wickets in what became an intense, low-scoring contest. It would not be a surprise if Vettori is again called on early in the final.The size of the ground will make it difficult for Australia to get after Vettori, although that in turn might affect his ability to take wickets. If they believe they cannot clear the boundary off him, the Australians are likely to nudge Vettori around and show him the respect that he has earned from previous encounters.In his six previous ODIs against Australia at the MCG, Vettori has gone for only 3.98 runs per over but he has also claimed only four wickets. It will take a brave batsman to attempt to join Ricky Ponting as the only Australian ever to have hit Vettori for a six at the MCG.

Mominul Haque has said he is working hard on improving his strike-rate by increasing his range of shots to increase his suitability for limited-overs formats

Mohammad Isam13-Apr-2015Mominul Haque faces the unusual problem of being one of the leading Test batsmen in Bangladesh but without a guaranteed place in other formats. However, he has said he is working hard on improving his strike-rate by increasing his range of shots.Mominul’s Test average, 63.05 in 23 innings, dwarfs his numbers in ODIs – an average of 23.60 in 24 innings – but his real concern is the 74.58 career strike-rate in ODIs. In the World Cup, he scored just four runs in two innings against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka though he batted in vastly different situations. He was picked in the 14-man squad against Pakistan, but with other batsmen having done better than him, he would have to bide his time.In the 15 innings he has batted so far at No 3, Mominul has a slightly better average but his strike-rate remains almost the same. He has batted at a strike-rate of over 100 in only six innings, and none of those crossed the 60-run mark. His Test numbers are significantly better, having become the fastest batsman to reach 1,000 Test runs for Bangladesh last year.Mominul became the seventh batsman after  Everton Weekes, Alec Stewart, Matthew Hayden, Jacques Kallis, Simon Katich and Kumar Sangakkara to have 50-plus scores in nine consecutive Tests. He is also only the fourth batsman after Weekes, Sunil Gavaskar and Mark Taylor to score 50-plus eleven times in his first 12 Tests.But since the Test series against Zimbabwe ended in November 2014, Bangladesh have only thought in terms of ODIs. After his twin failures in the World Cup and with Soumya Sarkar grabbing the opportunity at No 3, it was coach Chandika Hathurusingha who indicated that Mominul has to wait for his chance as Sarkar has been convincing in the position.”Mominul has to wait at this stage,” Hathurusingha said in Sydney in March. “I think you will see a lot more of Soumya [Sarkar] than Mominul [Haque] at No 3. Mominul is our next batter in the squad. Going forward, he can play a role in one-day cricket. He is a very good player, but he is not suitable for our combination at this stage.”Mominul said he was working on the coach’s instructions without revealing what he was told. “I don’t want to talk about my problems,” Mominul said. “I am working on them and the coach has given me a few instructions. Hopefully when I will start to improve, everyone will notice. I think if I work a little harder I can expand my repertoire. I need to increase my strike-rate.”He knows what is expected of him, and a result of this was seen during the Bangladesh Cricket League final on Sunday. He led East Zone to the inaugural title with a 77-ball 78, including ten boundaries, in a stiff chase which became a bit complicated after the rain delay. In the first Powerplay, he played with the usual poise, middling the ball and finding the gaps with his ease.”The tournament was really good. I managed to score some runs in the final,” he said. “Good innings like these always give you confidence. Confidence at this point of time is really important for me and having done well in that innings, it has improved a lot.”I am trying to learn the art of one-day cricket, to increase my strike-rate. I am trying to bat this way. When I was in Australia, the coach told me that you play well in Test cricket… You will need a bit more time in one-day cricket.”Mominul doesn’t believe the issues he faces are due to a lack of mental toughness. He said he has learnt to shut out the criticism.”When someone plays well everyone will say good things about him. And when someone does badly, many will raise their voice,” he said. “I always try to be a champion. And when someone wants to be the champion he needs to avoid all these talks.”

Scott Borthwick’s unbeaten 97 saw off Sussex at Chester-Le-Street and ensured that Durham preserved their unbeaten record

Srihari Daivanayagam at Chester-le-Street29-Apr-2015
ScorecardScott Borthwick was there at the end alongside his captain Paul Collingwood•Getty ImagesScott Borthwick might still insist that he sees himself as a legspinner first and foremost, but his batting continues to make an impact. It was his unbeaten 97 which ensured that there were no twists on the final day of an eventful match at Chester-le-Street which Durham won to go second in the Division One table with the league’s only unblemished record, five points behind leaders Sussex with a game in hand.Needing 147 on the final day to win, Borthwick took the responsibility of seeing his side home for the second time this season, following his unbeaten fifty against Somerset in the first game.Borthwick had a conversation with Paul Collingwood about getting to his hundred and waved it aside in peremptory fashion. “We needed 11 to win and Colly said to me ‘do you want to get your hundred?’ I said of course, but there is no point messing around, if it is there to hit, just hit it for four. He did that and it was nice to get over the line.”After a tentative start by Borthwick and Michael Richardson, Ajmal Shahzad struck early as he struck Richardson’s leg stump in the fourth over of the day. Shahzad’s early-season form at his new county meant he started the day top of the PCA’s MVP list, but on a pitch was still offering something for the bowlers, Borthwick and Calum MacLeod batted sensibly for the first hour, before accelerating close to lunch.”Runs weren’t that important in the first session,” Borthwick said. “We knew that if we batted long enough runs would come and that’s what we did.”MacLeod was out on the stroke of lunch but not before he compiled a curious 26, which included five fours and took 75 balls. He took 25 balls to get off the mark, but one glorious cover drive off Matthew Hobden and he was away. After starting like he wanted to bat through till the end of the day, he perished trying to accelerate, caught at third man off Shahzad.In between, there were a couple of scares, both from Hobden’s bowling. First was an edge that should have been taken at first slip by Ed Joyce, but instead went between both him and Ben Brown. The second fell just short of second slip and raced to the boundary.After his dismissal, Collingwood came in and kept things solid until lunch before making light work of the chase and finishing unbeaten on 35.Although both sides bowled well at times, the difference was the pressure the hosts managed to exert throughout their innings. Shahzad finished with four wickets in both innings and ending the match the Division’s leading wicket taker with 22 scalps, but a lack of support hurt Sussex’s hopes of making it three wins out of three.Despite making it a dream debut with the bat in the first innings, when he scored his maiden first-class hundred, there was no fairy tale finish for Robinson, who went wicketless in the fourth innings and conceded the winning runs off Borthwick’s bat.Both sides are up against Middlesex in their next game. While Durham head to Lord’s next week looking to keep their winning start going, Sussex host them in two weeks’ time as they look to get back to winning ways.