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Wanindu Hasaranga kept Bangladesh honest in the dying stages, but Bangladesh’s batsmen had ensured they had enough runs to play with

Andrew Fidel Fernando23-May-2021Mehidy Hasan took 4 for 30 to wreck Sri Lanka’s top order and set Bangladesh on track to defend their 257 for 6, which in the end, they managed easily, despite a valiant Wanindu Hasaranga innings. That they were chasing so many on a sluggish surface was down to Mushfiqur Rahim’s 87 off 84, as well as half-centuries from Mahmudullah and Tamim Iqbal. It had been a 107-run fifth-wicket stand between Rahim and Mahmudullah that raised Bangladesh from a difficult middle-overs position, and delivered them in a healthy state to the death overs.But it was Miraz who made the most decisive plays of the match. He claimed the first wicket of Sri Lanka’s innings, getting Danushka Gunathilaka caught and bowled in the Powerplay, before coming back in the middle overs to dismiss Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva and Ashen Bandara – all of them bowled – to leave Sri Lanka gasping at 102 for 6 in the 28th over. He was almost unhittable through the middle overs, batsmen attempting to sweep him, charge him, and play him from deep in the crease, all to little avail.Also in good rhythm for Bangladesh was Mustafizur Rahman, who took 3 for 34 from his nine overs, relying heavily on his slower deliveries, and of course, his cutters. Mohammad Saifuddin claimed two wickets and Shakib Al Hasan took one, as they bowled Sri Lanka out in the 49th over for 224.The Bangladesh attack also withstood Hasaranga’s late charge. He hit 74 off 60 in a scintillating innings that contained five sixes, bringing Sri Lanka within 50 runs of the target. But Saifuddin eventually had Hasaranga caught at deep square leg in the 44th over, and Rahman then had Isuru Udana (with whom Hasaranga had put on a 62-run eighth-wicket stand) caught at wide long on, next ball. Sri Lanka’s mild hopes were snuffed out.Earlier, it had been Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah’s stand that had been the backbone of Bangladesh’s innings. They came together when Bangladesh lost two wickets in two balls – Dhananjaya de Silva trapping Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Mithun in front in the 23rd over, to leave Bangladesh at 99 for 4.But together, the new pair set about bedding in against the spinners, cautiously at first, venturing only the occasional boundary. The run rate had fallen to 4.13 by the end of the 30th over, but eventually they would pick up the pace – Rahim crashing Hasaranga for four through deep midwicket, before hitting de Silva aerially over cover to complete his half century, off 52 balls.Although the Mirpur track was slow, there was no drastic turn at this stage, and both batters soon appeared extremely comfortable against Sri Lanka’s spinners, frequently slinking around the field to manoeuvre the ball into gaps square of the wicket. By the end of the 42nd over, their recovery was complete – Bangladesh nicely poised at 199 for 4. Mushfiqur would soon perish hitting a reverse sweep to short third man, and Mahmudullah would be bowled by de Silva, but Afif Hossain and Saifuddin ensured the platform that had been laid got a decent finish, which propelled Bangladesh beyond 250. Earlier, Iqbal had produced a solid 52 off 72 balls.Sri Lanka never seemed to have the measure of this chase. Gunathilaka was out in the fifth over. Pathum Nissanka dragged Rahman to short midwicket to leave the visitors two down for 41 in the eighth over. Then Miraz mowed his way through a tentative top order, and it never seemed likely that Sri Lanka would make a serious charge for victory, even when Hasaranga was batting beautifully.On the bowling front, de Silva had returned Sri Lanka’s best figures, taking 3 for 45 from his 10. Udana had been expensive, especially at the death, conceding 14 and 10 in his last two overs, with his 10 overs costing 64.

Raqibul Hasan, the first to the landmark from the country, was on the field when the landmark came up

Mohammad Isam02-Feb-2020Tamim Iqbal has recorded the highest individual score in first-class cricket by a Bangladeshi when he scored 334 not out for East Zone in a Bangladesh Cricket League match against Central Zone in Mirpur on Sunday.It was the second instance of a Bangladeshi batsman getting to a first-class triple century, after Raqibul Hasan’s 313 in March 2007, and also the highest first-class score in the country, topping Kumar Sangakkara’s 319 in a Test match in 2014. He got past Sangakkara’s mark with a stylish six down the ground off Shuvagata Hom.Thanks to Tamim’s quick innings – he faced 426 balls, and hit 42 fours and three sixes – East Zone declared on 555 for 2 in reply to Central’s 213He didn’t spend too long in the 290s, hitting boundaries off Hom and Mustafizur Rahman through the off-side field before picking up a quick single to cross the mark in the second session on the third day. Raqibul was incidentally on the field – in the opposition – when Tamim reached the landmark.A sparse crowd, which included Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo, selectors and BCB officials came out of their offices to applaud the left-handed Tamim, Bangladesh’s highest run-getter in international cricket.Tamim began the third morning on 222, before putting together a big partnership with Yasir Ali for the third wicket, before going to to lunch on 279. He faced 407 balls and hit 40 boundaries to reach the figure.The opening batsman has been batting since the first evening of this four-day game, having put on partnerships worth 62 with opening partner Pinak Ghosh and 296 with Mominul Haque, who made 111 on the second day.Following a short break from the game, Tamim will make his Test comeback when Bangladesh play their first Test in Pakistan, in Rawalpindi, next month.

The 20-year old is coming to terms with a year in which he compiled a monumental double ton, stood out of the game with mental health issues, made a return with a new outlook

Daniel Brettig09-Jan-2019Had Will Pucovski simply played out the remainder of the Sheffield Shield season with Victoria, 2018-19 would have already been an exceptionally momentous summer for him, given its rich mixture of experiences good and bad, great and small.As it stands, however, he is coming to terms with a year in which he compiled a monumental double century against Western Australia, stood out of the game for six weeks with mental health struggles, made a return to the fold with a refreshed outlook and coping strategies, and has now been rushed into the Australian Test squad to face Sri Lanka.If this seems a lot to digest, then Pucovski is taking solace from the fact that in those weeks between the 243 at the WACA Ground in October and his return to make scores of 1 and 67 also against Western Australia at the MCG in December, he learned an enormous amount about himself, his mental state and the tools he needed to manage himself and his cricket in the best ways possible. At the age of 20, Pucovski has been considered a talent of note for some time; he is hopeful the rapidity of his entry into Test calculations has coincided with critical life lessons.ALSO READ: How do Australia fix their batting before the Ashes?“I’m feeling really good, as good as I have felt in a really long time,” Pucovski said in Melbourne. “I’ve met some people along the way who have helped me turn things around. There is probably no better time to get exciting news like I have in the last 24 hours. It’s not every day you get called up to represent your country, so it’s been a very exciting couple of days.”Quite a bit sooner [than expected] to be honest. It’s every kid’s dream and to think in two weeks’ time there’s a chance I could be playing for your country is just amazing. You can’t even use words to describe it. It is one of those things … even the joy on your family and friends’ faces when you’ve told them or they’ve got the news, it makes you proud to make a lot of other people proud as well.”A lot of the messages I’ve received today is you’ve got there for a reason, so just try to play your way and embrace that as much as you can. My challenge if I do get picked is to do that, and just try to bat the way I bat, prepare the way I prepare. If things work out, that’s great, but for a 20-year old, it’s just super exciting either way.”A history of concussions had been one complicating factor for Pucovski on his journey through junior ranks into the Victoria side, but it was the spectre of mental health problems that overcame him even as he was embarking upon the innings in October that put his name clearly in the sights of a national selection panel so transparently desperate to find the next great talent as opposed to merely good ones. At first, he confided in Victoria coaches Lachlan Stevens and Andrew McDonald, before linking up with Emma Murray, the mindfulness coach so valuable to the 2017 premiership success of Richmond in the AFL.”They’ve been amazing throughout the whole process,” Pucovski said of the batting coach Stevens and head coach McDonald. “I actually told them what had been going on in Perth, and they’ve been super supportive along the whole pathway back to cricket and then playing that Shield game. As a young man, you can’t really ask for much more than two coaches who are super supportive of you. They basically said ‘mate just sort all that stuff out and your cricket will take care of itself’.”I met a lady called Emma Murray who has worked quite a bit with Richmond, and had a bit of attention with how they have turned things around. She has been a mentor in that space. I have added things like I am meditating every morning, which I honestly never really believed in until she got me on to it and things like that have helped me turn things around. I speak to her regularly and am seeing another woman who helps me with a few different things. Having that team together makes me feel really supported and in a good space to deal with that kind of stuff.”Much of Murray’s work revolves around keeping athletes in the moment, and teaching them ways to return to a state of focus and concentration as quickly as possible following distractions. For Pucovski, these were valuable lessons for someone who had already shown an innate ability to score centuries – exactly what Trevor Hohns’ panel have been crying out for this summer, as they watched the Australian Test team fail to make a single score higher than 79 across four Tests against India.ALSO READ: Will Pucovski is on the cusp of great thingsBy the time Pucovski returned in December, he was far better equipped to manage his own expectations and thoughts, at the same time as he returned to familiar and comfortable surroundings with Victoria. “I think it was just that knowledge that I had enough strategies in place that whatever came across from a cricketing perspective in those four days, that I’d be able to deal with it,” Pucovski said.”That well and truly proved to me that I’m able to do that in a four-day period, and then as I said, dealing with a few things outside of cricket has really helped, and Emma has really helped me with that stuff. It’s been a really positive experience over the last couple of months.”I’ve just always tried to bat for as long as I can. If that comes off sometimes, then that’s great and if it doesn’t, that’s part of the game. Probably just trying to take a more relaxed outlook on it has helped me especially in the last couple of years. I try and follow my process as closely as I can and hopefully the results take care of themselves. It’s one of those sports where, as an individual, you are going to fail quite a bit. Getting better at dealing with that has probably helped me quite a bit.”Given the level of scrutiny placed on the Australian Test team in the season after the Newlands scandal, it is natural to wonder how Pucovski may cope with a spotlight that will be squarely on him over the next two weeks, whether turning out for a Cricket Australia XI against the Sri Lankans in a Hobart day-night tour game, or assembling with Tim Paine’s team in Brisbane for their final series prior to the most prestigious of all – an Ashes tour of England later this year. Asked whether there is any danger of a Test call-up clouding the work he has steadily done with Murray and others, Pucovski was optimistic.”It comes to mind but I don’t think so,” he said. “I feel like I am in a really good space, and the people I am working with think so too. It’s one of those things where it is a day-by-day proposition for me that I have to manage. I think it is a good thing to invest time in. I feel like I have done quite a bit of work over the past few months and was able to play that Shield game and loved every minute of it. I feel like I am back in action.”One of the favourite sayings of the selector Greg Chappell is that “talent is a bit like fruit – if you don’t pick it when it’s ripe, it goes rotten”. Both Australia’s selectors and Pucovski are earnestly hoping that the moment of his picking for Test match duty is not a moment too soon.

‘Turn up as your Super Hero’ Ryan Sidebottom was told, only to find that his Yorkshire team-mates had done just that

David Hopps04-Oct-2017Yorkshire’s players donned curly ginger wigs to pay tribute to Ryan Sidebottom and bring a distinguished 20-year career to an end in his own inimitable style.Sidebottom was told to turn up as a Super Hero at the start of Yorkshire’s end-of-season celebration only to find to his surprise that his team-mates had done just that – by turning up as him.Such get-togethers are a chance to let your hair down after a long season and this time there was a lot more hair on show than normal.Then it was time to take on the infamous Otley Run – a Leeds pub crawl that has struck fear into the hearts of Leeds students for generations and which is as arduous as any spell even Sidebottom has delivered.Quite a way to bring the curtain down on a career that brought 65 England appearances across three competitions, 762 first-class wickets and two decades of indefatigable service for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.One of Yorkshire’s most valued servants, Sidebottom had received guards of honour at Scarborough and Headingley, the latter after injury had ruled him out of Yorkshire’s final home match of the season.But nothing matters quite as much as the respect of your team-mates, especially as the pints begin to slip quietly down.

Jason Roy is little more than a year into ODI career but he will be the senior opener as England take on Bangladesh this month

Mohammad Isam03-Oct-2016Jason Roy is little more than a year into his ODI career but he will be the senior opener as England take on Bangladesh this month. In the absence of Alex Hales, who pulled out of the tour over fears about security, Roy will take to the field alongside a new partner, beginning with England’s first warm-up match in Fatullah on Tuesday.Roy has opened with Hales in 27 of his 29 innings, building an impressive record together since the 2015 World Cup. The hugely impressive but uncapped Ben Duckett has been tipped to take Hales’ place, although England appear to be considering a return to the top of the order for Moeen Ali.”Whoever comes in deserves a go,” Roy said. “They are going to get a huge opportunity to state their mark on international cricket. Whether it’s Duckett or Moeen, I’ve been batting with a few of the guys, I don’t know yet – I just get on with it. We get on that well we don’t need to worry.”Joining up with the boys now, been away for a couple of weeks, it’s straight back in. We have great team cohesion. I won’t think of myself as the senior partner – we are all equal, just crack on and maybe try help whoever it is out. If it is the new man Duckett, he might be nervous, but he deserves to be here.”Moeen has only opened once in ODIs since the World Cup, when Hales hurt his back in the field against Sri Lanka at The Oval earlier this year. If he is asked to open, that could leave Duckett competing with James Vince for a spot at No. 3.Roy is among a handful of batsmen to have scored 1000-plus ODI runs at a 100-plus strike rate and he said that he will try to bat the way he has so far in his short career, in which he has found early success. He said he considers himself far from being the finished product as an international batsman and is focused on developing himself as a consistent match-winner.”I still have lots of work to do, loads more runs, a few more hundreds,” Roy said. “I don’t really settle for mediocrity. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. I want to improve and win more games for England but I’m pretty happy with where my game is. I’ve matured playing in big games.”I probably won’t change my approach mentally, but maybe a couple of things technically. Really it’s all very similar, trying to get the team off to a good start – the first 15-20 balls are going to be huge, getting myself in. Like I said, we have just had one real net session today so we will assess how the game goes tomorrow and go from there.”Roy said that the hot and humid conditions in Bangladesh – the temperature was around 33C in Mirpur on Monday, with 75% humidity – will need some time to get acclimatised, but he hopes to be prepared for the first ODI on Friday. Roy suffered a dizzy spell in a game against Pakistan in August and will know the importance of taking on fluids.”You don’t really think about it too much,” he said. “You’ve just got to get on with your job. It can be draining but that’s what training days and practice matches are for, so that when we come to Friday we are ready.”You don’t realise how much you are sweating and the next minute you can feel a bit weird. Concentration will be key, just keeping yourself ticking over and batting for as long as possible.”

Lancashire’s draw against Glamorgan left the Division Two leaders needing just five points to clinch promotion in the LV= County Championship

ECB/PA24-Aug-2015
ScorecardJacques Rudolph helped Glamorgan secure a draw•Getty Images

Lancashire’s draw against Glamorgan left the Division Two leaders needing just five points to clinch promotion in the LV= County Championship.But it also left spectators at Emirates Old Trafford in little doubt as to why Jacques Rudolph and his players have been such tough opponents for many teams this season.When Colin Ingram was caught behind off James Faulkner 20 minutes after lunch Glamorgan were 45 for 2, having been asked to follow on 249 runs behind. There were a minimum of 56 overs left in the day.What followed was an exhibition of high-quality defensive batsmanship by two cricketers whose team has nothing more exalted than third place in English cricket’s second tier to achieve this summer.Rudolph led the way, making 63 off 206 balls in 244 minutes before he was leg before to Steven Croft just before the last hour, but he was very well supported by Chris Cooke.The latter was undefeated on 41 when the players shook hands at 5.20 with Glamorgan on 159 for 3 and nine overs still available to Lancashire.Accompanying Cooke at the close was David Lloyd, who was 20 not out and had helped his fourth-wicket partner see off the new ball which had been taken with only 11 overs left in the match.Before lunch, opener Will Bragg was brilliantly caught one-handed to his right in the gully by Karl Brown off Kyle Jarvis when he had made eight and Ingram’s departure followed a torrid examination by Faulkner’s left-arm seam bowling.Thereafter, spinners Simon Kerrigan, Arron Lilley and Croft all bowled well, as did seamers Faulkner, Jarvis and Glen Chapple. But they were met by straight bats, secure techniques and resolute temperaments.These were enough both to secure the draw and to reinforce the judgement that this Glamorgan regime under the stewardship of Rudolph and coach Toby Radford may be capable of mounting a challenge next season.That said, some of Glamorgan’s batting in their first innings on the final morning did not exhibit the resolution of which Radford and Rudolph would approve.Resuming on 182 for 6, Glamorgan lost three wickets for 31 runs in 11.2 overs, and since Kieran Bull was unable to bat because of a back injury the visitors were all out when nine wickets down. They were immediately asked to follow on.The last three wickets to fall in Glamorgan’s first innings were all taken by Kerrigan, who capitalised upon some rather rash shot selection by Glamorgan’s later batsmen and ended the innings with 4 for 60 from 24.4 overs.Mark Wallace was the first to go when his failed attempt to sweep a ball which pitched outside off resulted in the loss of his off stump.Eight overs later Graham Wagg came down the wicket to Kerrigan and was stumped by Alex Davies for 20 and Michael Hogan was caught by Chapple at midwicket three balls later for 2.Indeed, the only matter of concern for home supporters on the final morning was the hand injury suffered by Brown when he was hit by the ball when fielding close to the wicket just before lunch.Lancashire’s draw leaves them 10 points ahead of Surrey at the top of Division Two, with each side having three games left to play.

Derbyshire have announced a profit of £23,310 for 2012, a further sign that the club is in good health ahead of their return to Division One of the Championship

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2013Derbyshire have announced a profit of £23,310 for 2012, a further sign that the club is in good health ahead of their return to Division One of the Championship. The club have generated a surplus for the second year running – and the sixth in seven – despite a wet summer that caused financial headaches for several counties.Derbyshire recently revealed plans to redevelop their Derby ground, with a view to hosting games at the 2019 World Cup, as part of a six-point blueprint to develop and promote cricket in the county.”After a very challenging summer for English cricket, in which we were competing with both the weather and sporting spectacles such as the London Olympics and Euro 2012, our financial results for the year are very pleasing indeed,” the chief executive, Simon Storey, said. “The profit is testament to the hard work of everyone involved and it caps a special year for the county both on and off the field.”Derbyshire chairman, Chris Grant, added: “It has been a momentous year for Derbyshire County Cricket Club and – given the economic climate – posting a profit for the second successive year is an excellent achievement. Even more importantly we are embarking upon an exciting period both on and off the field with no debt and on a sound financial footing.”

A round-up of matches from the Caribbean T20 on January 14

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2012Sussex slipped to their second defeat of the Caribbean T20, losing to Combined Campuses and Colleges by 29 runs at North Sound. Choosing to bat, CCC were guided along by their captain Romel Currency, who made a run-a-ball 48. His innings comprised three fours and a six, and he was part of an important stand of 51 with Kyle Mayers, who chipped in with 33. The pair helped CCC recover from 58 for 3 and helped them post, what was eventually, a match-winning score.Barring opener Joe Gatting and wicketkeeper Ben Brown, who made 37 and 27 respectively, the Sussex batting offered little resistance. The pair had little hope of reviving the innings with the batting crumbling around them. Currency led by example, starring in an all-round effort, grabbing four wickets for eight runs in four overs. Yannick Ottley and Ryan Austin picked up a couple of wickets each and Sussex were made to settle for 101 for 9.Barbados thrashed Jamaica by 62 runs at North Sound to inflict a first defeat on their opponents. In what has been a low-scoring tournament by Twenty20 standards, Barbados managed a match-winning 157 for 7 after choosing to bat. Dwayne Smith guided the innings, blasting seven fours and six sixes in his 86 off 57 balls. He dominated an 85-run stand with wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich for the third wicket which lay the foundation for a big score. A surge at the death from Ryan Hinds took Barbados past 150.Jamaica were abject in their chase, being skittled out for 95. Nkruma Bonner top-scored with 27 but only two others managed to reach double-figures. Wickets fell at regular intervals and the five Barbados bowlers helped themselves to at least a wicket each. Tino Best, Sulieman Benn and Ashley Nurse grabbed two each and Jamaica were all out in 16.5 overs.

Of the 25 top earners from the 2011 IPL auction, only six are specialist bowlers, as teams looked to sign batsmen to make use of the flat pitches in India

Sharda Ugra09-Jan-2011At the end of the largest two-day sports ‘auction’ in the world, the Indian Premier League took the first clear, decisive step towards its fourth season. Ending months of controversy around the League’s own financial deals and its teams’ ownership holdings, the ten franchises finally shook hands with the 139 cricketers who will form the core of the high-profile domestic Twenty20 event that begins in India on April 8.Auction weekend in Bangalore oscillated wildly between extremes of spending, lavish as well as careful, and general sloppiness around its conclusion. What began with the first of four $2m signings on Saturday morning ended with Mohammed Kaif’s name finally pencilled into the IPL roster, after being met with silence across the floor not once, but twice on Sunday. Almost like a sudden afterthought, Kaif was hauled onto the IPL4 gravy train, the last cricketer aboard, concluding the 353-man auction used to reshuffle the League’s overall player pool.After a prolonged two-day display of corporate wealth, cricket tactics and Bollywood showbiz (in that order), which ran live on national television across India, teams were left dealing with either a shrunken wallet or depleted ranks. If Gautam Gambhir broke the $2m salary mark on Saturday, the relatively-unknown Australia allrounder Daniel Christian, who has played three Twenty20 internationals, was the highest-paid player signed up on Sunday, at $900,000 by the Deccan Chargers. Deccan now have 14 cricketers in their roster, and still have $2.13m left unspent from their $9m salary ‘cap’. Current IPL champions Chennai Super Kings filled 18 slots, of the maximum squad strength of 30, during the auction itself. At the other end are the Rajasthan Royals, who signed just eight cricketers (Rahul Dravid and Pankaj Singh the only Indians among them) at the auction and are now left with a mere $800,000. They have less than Christian’s wage to hire at least another 18 cricketers to field a competitive team in the IPL.Rajasthan and all the other teams must now find the remainder of their squad from among India’s domestic player pool, officially called the ‘uncapped’ players, who unofficially form the source of much confusion between the franchises. The uncapped players can only be paid a fixed sum depending on their experience in domestic cricket and there is doubt among franchises as to whether the guidelines imposed by the IPL governing council in this regard would, or indeed could, be legitimately followed.The first XI’s of many sides were signed on as much as possible on the first day of the auction itself, and the second was spent trying to fill in the overseas quota and the remaining gaps in team plans. If the first auction in 2008 was marked by the stampede to nab names that create spectator interest and a ‘fan base’, 2011 had the franchises, not the concept of ‘icons’ players, calling the shots. No takers then for some of the high-earning cricketers of the first phase of the IPL like Sourav Ganguly and Sanath Jayasuriya, nor the need to seek random, occasional short-game performers from overseas like Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Jacob Oram or even the born-again Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Every soundbite that emerged on doting television channels talked about ‘youth’, the Twenty20 format, and the team’s ‘plans’ for the future.The heavy sums during auction weekend were spent on impact players, who are now expected to win matches single-handedly, as well as those men meant to serve as genuine multi-taskers. If the player on auction was Indian, a fat pay cheque was a given, regardless of the cricketer’s core skill. Gambhir was the highest-paid specialist batsman at $2.4m, closely followed by the allrounders Yusuf and Irfan Pathan, who between them picked up $4m.On the flat wickets, quick outfields and short boundaries of India, all long handles were welcomed. Of the top 25 earners from the auction (excluding the retained players), there are only six specialist bowlers: Dale Steyn at $1.2m, Muttiah Muralitharan ($1.1m), Johan Botha ($950,000), and Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla (all $900,000).Yet, the 35 slots between $900,000 and $400,000 are full of bowlers, as many as 17, with Sunday’s frantic buying including happy contracts for more than half a dozen Indian seamers. It opened with Umesh Yadav’s astonishing $750,000 bid, Munaf Patel got $700,000 and Laxmipathy Balaji $500,000. Vinay Kumar was bought for $475,000, Ashok Dinda for $375,000 and Manpreet Gony went for $290,000. The younger Indian seamers – Abhimanyu Mithun, Jaidev Unadkat and Sudeep Tyagi – were separated by $10,000 between the $260,000 to $240,000 bracket. Ajit Agarkar signed on with Delhi for $210,000.The heavy presence of as many as six Australians – Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Geoff Lawson, Geoff Marsh, Dav Whatmore, Shane Warne (player-coach) and David Shipperd – heading support staffs among the ten teams explains the signing of 38 Australians amongst the 87 overseas players who will compete in IPL4. The South Africans are next with 20 of their players getting contracts. The southern hemisphere’s cricket calendar works perfectly for both these nations’ players to accommodate the IPL into their schedule, even as their third rugby-playing partner New Zealand is unable to hustle its most competitive cricketers into the tournament.England’s best will always find themselves having to grapple between their domestic season, early international fixtures and the IPL. The West Indian dispute over the unsigned board contracts may be settled by the silence from the entire League towards cricketers from the Caribbean as a whole.While smaller nations may take some heart from Dutchman Ryan Ten Doeschate’s $150,000 contract with Kolkata, Bangladesh or Zimbabwe players’ entry into the IPL will still depend not on the team owners’ knowledge of the game, but on the open-mindedness of those in charge of a franchise’s cricket operations. Pakistan’s players’ entry, though, will have to rely on a thaw in both the political freeze between India and its neighbour, as well as the immovable timidity of the League.The final round of the IPL auction ended in farce as 28 players were put back into auction, ostensibly because they had been asked for by the franchises. Yet 13 of the 28, including eight international cricketers, were not bid for by a single franchise, with no explanations given as to why they had been put onto the list in the first place. The three biggest names left out of the auction – Ganguly, Jayasuriya and Chris Gayle – were not on the second list and will not be a part of IPL4. Ganguly and Jayasuriya may have missed out because of their age but Gayle’s omission is as inexplicable as the man’s own persona. Among those bid for as second thoughts were Jesse Ryder of New Zealand, Rusty Theron of South Africa, Adam Voges and Moises Henriques from Australia, and Dmitri Mascarenhas and Michael Lumb of England. A few first-class cricketers, known mostly to the overseas coaches who make up most of the franchises’ support staff, pulled in some surprise contracts right at the end.Only two more Indians made that final cut: left-arm spinner Murali Kartik and Kaif, whose name was suddenly called for the third time. He was one of the earliest on the leftover list to be called up again, but met with silence for the second time in a few hours. Third time around, Kaif drew bids from Pune, Deccan and Bangalore, and eventually went to the Royal Challengers Bangalore for $130,000. The auction finally drew to a close with the three groups of men and women who had been tossing around numbers for Kaif rocking back and forth with laughter. The heaviest wallets in Indian cricket had much to celebrate: for six weeks this summer, they will own and control the biggest and some of the most gifted names in the sport.

Mithali Raj, who nearly took the game away from England with her unbeaten 91, gave credit to the visitors for holding their nerve during the final overs of the chase

Nishi Narayanan21-Feb-2010Mithali Raj, who nearly took the second ODI away from England with her unbeaten 91 in Bangalore, gave credit to the visitors for holding their nerve during the final overs of the chase.Raj had added 106 with Amita Sharma for the fifth wicket and at one stage India needed 11 off 19 balls with four wickets in hand. Fast bowler Jenny Gunn struck twice in her penultimate over; with her first ball she broke the 45-run stand between Raj and Jhulan Goswami and then with the sixth she had Nooshin Al Khadeer caught at mid-off.”At one point I thought it would be difficult but during this partnership and the one with Jhulan, I felt we were in the game,” Raj said. “But hers and Amita’s wicket fell at the wrong time. Even if one of them had been there, we could have pulled off the win.”Raj said her decision to let the tailenders take strike had been forced by England bowlers who managed to keep her to just taking singles. “I must give them credit for holding their nerves when it could have been anybody’s match. One mistake or a boundary would have cost them the match but they fielded really well.”England captain Charlotte Edwards said she had been worried as Raj and Sharma whittled down the target but held on to the hope that breaking the stand would expose the Indian tail. “Everybody put their bodies on the line and there was some great bowling from all the bowlers,” Edwards said.”It was a fantastic win for us. I think we’ve done really well today having lost senior players Sarah Taylor and Nicky Shaw in the morning, and Claire Taylor and Holly Colvin at home. So to win the game in India with a lot of young players in the side is a great effort and something we’re really proud of. But we know it’s the start of a big series and hopefully we’ll nick the next couple and it will be a great series win for us.”Indian left-arm spinners Gouher Sultana and Preeti Dimri took six of the eight wickets to fall but England coach Mark Lane said he was happy with the way the team played against the spinners. “We batted well against the spinners in the first game but didn’t finish things off. You have to remember playing Indian spinners on a third-day pitch is a big challenge for anyone. We’re not used to conditions quite as dramatic as that. Our girls have adapted well and we’re looking forward to the next leg of the tour and performing well down there.”The teams will now head to Visakhapatnam for the next two games – on February 24 and 26 – before heading to Mumbai for the final leg of the tour.