A last-ball six for a WPL debutant to win a thriller for Mumbai Indians followed a star-studded opening ceremony headlined by superstar Shah Rukh Khan

Ashish Pant24-Feb-20243:36

Takeaways: Overseas stars, Indian batters shine in MI’s thrilling win in opener

An uncapped Indian batter walks out with her team needing five off the last ball. She’s just watched her captain fall, and is going to face a bowler high on confidence after taking two wickets in the first five deliveries of the final over. The odds are stacked against her. She sees the ball looped up a touch, takes two steps down the pitch, swings with all she’s got, and bam: the ball flies towards wide long-on where the fielder thinks she has a chance, moving to her right and leaping, but the connection is clean. A last-ball six to seal a dramatic victory on the opening night of the season.Sounds rather Bollywood, doesn’t it? The opening game of WPL 2024 sure felt like a box-office blockbuster. A night that began with the movie industry’s leading men shaking a leg at the opening ceremony ended in a thrilling climax, with 29-year-old allrounder S Sajana lofting Alice Capsey over the wide long-on boundary to clinch a four-wicket win for Mumbai Indians over Delhi Capitals.As the WPL made its debut in Bengaluru, the fans flocked to the Chinnaswamy Stadium in numbers. Most of the stands open to the public were packed. They screamed their lungs out and danced to the fullest during the song and dance, but also watched the cricket with equal enthusiasm. The glitzy opening ceremony headlined by Shah Rukh Khan was a draw but the quality of cricket ensured they stayed through the game to witness a finish for the ages.Related

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Last season’s finalists went at each other like boxers, trying to assert dominance and take a grip on the game. They both had their moments but a punch was quickly followed by a counter-punch. Mumbai struck the first blow through South African fast bowler Shabnim Ismail, who clocked 128.3 kph on the speed gun while also taking out Shafali Verma.Then came the Capitals’ recovery and surge, led by 19-year-old Capsey. She struck her England team-mate Nat Sciver-Brunt for two fours off her first three balls to say: what’s the fuss?Capsey is a sucker for ice cream. She also loves Prue Pizza. And hitting boundaries. She struck 11 of them on opening night – eight fours and three sixes – during her 75 from 53 balls to give Capitals a rush after a slow start. It wasn’t the easiest pitch to bat on. Capitals head coach Jonathan Batty said the covers on the surface during the opening ceremony had made a difference: “It sweated a little bit and gave the Mumbai opening bowlers assistance”.Once Capsey got going, she ensured the Capitals’ innings did not stall, adding 64 with her captain Meg Lanning for the second wicket and 74 off 40 balls with Jemimah Rodrigues. The run rate jumped from 4.33 after the powerplay, to 6.50 after ten overs, and 7.93 after 16. Marizanne Kapp’s cameo helped them finish on 171 for 5. Advantage Capitals.S Sajana is surrounded by her team-mates after her last-ball heroics•BCCIMumbai had a perfect record in chases last season – five wins out of five. But now they were faced with pulling off their highest chase in the WPL, and they lost West Indian star batter Hayley Matthews second ball. Sciver-Brunt, their rock at No. 3, also fell not long after.Yastika Bhatia threw the counterpunch to begin Mumbai’s recovery. More accumulator than aggressor, Bhatia started sedately, but laid into Annabel Sutherland and Shikha Pandey to race to 30 off 18 balls before raising her maiden WPL fifty off 35 deliveries. While she couldn’t carry on much longer, Bhatia had picked Mumbai up off the mat.”When I went to bat today, I had the freedom. The MI management has given me the freedom to express my shots, and hit the through-the-line shots”, Bhatia said after the game. “I just wanted that we have a good powerplay and play according to the situation.”At the other end was the Mumbai captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who was coming into the WPL with five single-digit scores in her last five white-ball innings. So she decided to change the narrative.Harmanpreet began with a fluent cover drive but took charge only after Bhatia was dismissed. With the asking rate hovering around 10.66, Harmanpreet struck Sutherland for back-to-back fours in the 15th over, but saved her best for last. She hit only one six in her innings off 55 from 34 deliveries, and it came at a crucial time: bringing the equation down to 12 off six balls.Mumbai seemed poised to land the knockout blow but Lanning had one more move to make. She gave the final over to Capsey, despite the offspinner going for ten runs in her first over. This had start as her night and so it continued, with Pooja Vastrakar and Harmanpreet falling off the first five balls. Celebration time for Capitals, right?But in strode “the Kieron Pollard of the Mumbai team”, and Sajana proved the comparison was not unfounded with a match-winning six off the first ball she faced in the WPL.”She has been smacking sixes throughout the practice sessions. She showed what she had. Because of Sajana, I am standing here [as Player of the Match],” a beaming Harmanpreet said after the match.As far as opening games go, the contest was breathtaking. It had begun with a dash of Bollywood, and ended with cricket fittingly making the headlines.

Firdose Moonda and Valkerie Baynes chat to Nigar Sultana Joty to mark International Women’s Day

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2024In the second episode of ESPNcricinfo Powerplay, Firdose Moonda and Valkerie Baynes speak with Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana about the hurdles she and her countrywomen have overcome to play the sport they love.

A low-scoring game dominated by the bowlers was not the ideal way to launch a tournament which hopes to embrace a new audience

Sidharth Monga04-Jun-20242:06

Maharoof: Pitch in New York ‘not good enough’ for a T20 game

Were we not entertained?
Even for a traditional cricket fan, this match was a bit of a hard-sell. A diehard fan might have found some excitement during some tight overs when South Africa were chasing 78, but otherwise it was just too loaded in favour of the bowlers. There was just too much bounce, and unpredictable bounce, which made six-hitting next to impossible. It was going both up and down, left and right. And it was happening not in the air but after the ball bounced, which gives batters very little time to adjust. They can defend their wicket but can’t possibly score quickly.Why was the pitch so difficult? Surely they didn’t do it on purpose?
It is hard to say. These drop-in pitches were prepared by an experienced groundsman from Adelaide who knows the assignment. Perhaps they haven’t had enough time to settle down with enough cricket played on them. There are four pitches at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, and six for the nets at Cantiague Park. They were all prepared at the same time. India have done the most training at Cantiague Park, and they have seen them behave better day by day. Perhaps these will too.Related

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Or perhaps the curator is leaving extra grass because the square of four pitches has to host eight matches in 10 days. He obviously doesn’t want them to die down by the time the New York leg is nearing its end.But aren’t these expert batters? Why couldn’t they adjust and score at least a run a ball through grounded shots?
The outfield wasn’t great. There were quite a few shots that would have fetched fours in standard conditions, but this is a heavy sandy outfield. Even aerial shots that clear the infield were bouncing in it and plugging.Can anything be done about the outfield? Perhaps shave some of the grass?
That could make it dangerous for the fielders. Already they are not too keen on diving. Perhaps they could consider bringing the boundaries in.Hang on, why do we want standard conditions?
Because T20 is the shortest format of cricket. It is the vehicle to take it to newer outposts. There is just not enough time to adjust to such variable conditions. It creates competitive imbalance, giving the bowling side a huge advantage. As you saw, the side batting first didn’t have the time to realise 120 was a good score and kept losing wickets trying to aim for a bigger total.Especially in tournament play, cricket always aims for standard conditions because you want the players to shine and not the conditions. In the ODI World Cup in India last year, the governing body kept rating pitches “average” whenever they deviated a bit from the norm.Looking good, but what about the pitch?•ICC via Getty ImagesBut didn’t Sri Lanka win the toss? Why did they choose to bat first?
They possibly didn’t know what to expect from these pitches.And why is that?
They only just arrived two days ago after spending their entire night in the Miami airport because of a flight delay. Then the actual facility doesn’t have practice pitches. Looking at how they would be practising elsewhere, they chose to rest rather than make the trek all the way from downtown Brooklyn to Long Island. Even on match day they woke up at 5.30am to make it in time. They were practically sleepwalking.Why are they staying so far?
The other hotels in the vicinity are fully booked by the other teams who are here for longer.That sounds like a nightmare. Why go through all this to come to New York when you can’t get a cricket field in the city where there are enough hotels to house all the teams?
New York is arguably the best city in the world. Like any business, cricket wants to expand. It is aiming for the richest consumers of sport.Then why play at 10.30am on a Monday?
In the biggest existing market for cricket, India, it was 8pm on a Monday. That’s primetime. You can’t completely ignore the existing audience in order to make an outreach to a newer one.There was significant help for the fast bowlers•Associated PressWere they entertained at least?
Going by the texts I received, no. They are generally traditionalists so most of them were laughing laughs of vindication. It was the loudest I told you so.I can understand they must be feeling like that girl in the meme where the boy is walking with her but looking at someone else.
That’s not a question but I will grant you this one. It is quite accurate.So is this a total disaster?
No, there is a cheat code. India vs Pakistan, arch rivals with a shared bloodied history. It has already sold out two stadiums in and around New York. It will rescue everything.Did it really need a World Cup for that particular game to be sold out? Because from what I understand it is a completely inconsequential match, which tells me these two teams can sell out anything.
Yes, it is inconsequential unless at least a couple of big upsets take place in other matches in this group. It is also correct that you don’t even get easier opponents in the next rounds if you win this match.But no, those two teams can’t play each other outside multi-nation events because of the politics between the two countries. Between you and me, the governing body even rigs the draw to make sure they play each other at least once.Hmm. But it’s not like the 1800s when Canada and USA played international cricket for the first time. The conditions needn’t have been such an unknown. Surely if the expat fans are selling out two stadiums, they must be wanting to play too? If they had stadiums here, you wouldn’t need to bring in untested pitches from Australia.
Yeah, but you can’t blame the ICC for that. Developing grounds and pitches is the job of the national board.Why didn’t they do it then?
USA Cricket? Now that’s a whole can of worms even the ICC opens with a visor and gloves on.How much did they spend on this makeshift stadium again?
Well, that really is the $30 million question.

Head clubbed the fourth-fastest IPL century off 39 balls in a dazzling display that left teammates and opponents amazed

Hemant Brar16-Apr-20242:54

How do you bowl to Travis Head in this kind of form?

Virat Kohli had look on his face, the one he had when Adil Rashid bowled him with a near-perfect legbreak. A mix of surprise, shock and appreciation. The only difference being that Kohli was fielding this time.It was the fifth over of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s innings. Yash Dayal bowled a slower ball, on a good length and just outside off stump. Travis Head moved towards the leg side, gave himself room, and smashed it straight to Kohli at extra cover. Such was the power behind the shot that it burst through Kohli’s hands and raced to the boundary line, leaving him shell-shocked.The shot also brought up Head’s fifty, off just 20 balls. It was the second time in IPL 2024 that Head scored a half-century inside the powerplay. He went on to score 102 off 41 balls as SRH posted 287 for 3, the second-highest total in T20 cricket.Related

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Before the match, most experts felt that the Chinnaswamy pitch was going to be two-paced. “Sometimes it looks like this but 240 feels like par,” Pat Cummins, the SRH captain, said with a laugh at the toss.He was only half-joking. In fact, 240 might have been a losing total as Royal Challengers Bengaluru posted 262 for 7 in reply. But Head’s innings meant they were always behind the eight ball.Throughout this season, SRH have tried to maximise the powerplay. One such attempt hauled them to 277 for 3 against Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad. Given the Chinnaswamy’s reputation of being a high-scoring and chasing venue, Head and Abhishek Sharma had the licence to go even harder, if such a thing was even possible.It took Head only three balls to realise that this was going to be his day. After defending Will Jacks’ last ball of the opening over, Head dispatched a length ball from Reece Topley over midwicket for four. Topley went fuller next ball, only to be lofted for a straight six.”I try not to think too much or too far ahead,” Head said after the game. “But the second ball, which I whipped over midwicket, it felt like I was in a really stable position. And then the next ball I was able to get one back over the top to the sightscreen, which is where I try to target. Those probably were the two, in particular, when I knew I was moving well and seeing the ball well.”During his innings, Head hit nine fours and eight sixes, many of which landed deep into the stands. But it was not blind hitting. What stood out was the way he played with the field and took calculated risks.After being hit for a four and a six off successive deliveries, Topley bowled the next one short around off stump. With no one at deep midwicket, Head went for the pull. Even though he did not middle it, there was enough to clear the 30-yard circle and pick up a couple of runs.ESPNcricinfo LtdTwo balls before his fifty, Head tried to smash a slower ball from Dayal down the ground. Once again he could not nail it but cleared mid-off easily for another two.When he middled it, the ball invariably went to the boundary line. In the ninth over, Topley was bowling without a deep third and a deep point. Sensing an opportunity on the off side, Head backed away and used his wrists to manoeuvre the ball over the backward point fielder, who was a couple of yards inside the circle.”Depending on the field positions they set, I try to sum up what the bowlers are trying to do,” Head said. “In the powerplay with just two [fielders] out, I try to think about hitting the ball 360 [degrees] around the whole ground as you only have to go over the infield or through the infielders for boundaries.”I was really pleased with the way I was able to move with the ball today. I worked on a few things over the last couple of days. In the last couple of games, I was slightly off it and the first risk I took. I did not execute the way I would have liked. But today, especially in the powerplay, the way I was able to strike the ball, I was pleased with the work I did.”When Abhishek Sharma fell on the first ball of the ninth over, SRH had 108 on the board. They promoted Heinrich Klaasen, arguably the best hitter in T20 cricket right now, to No. 3 but Head was looking so good that even he preferred to take a back seat.”It was an unbelievable start from Heady,” Klaasen, who himself scored 67 off 31, said. “When I came in, I had a little bit of time. I wanted to be sensible and knock it around and make sure Heady faced the majority of the balls. It is difficult to out-hit players like that. So when it’s his night, make sure I’m on the other side and wait for a couple of bad balls.”At the post-match presentation, Head was asked how he would bowl to himself. “I am not sure,” he replied. “I think everyone has tried a bit of everything. I just clear my front leg and slog a little bit. It’s not the prettiest thing in the world, never has been. But pleased with how I moved today and how I struck the ball.”Head brought up his hundred off Vijaykumar Vyshak, with a ferocious punch wide of long-on. Coming off 39 balls, it was the fourth-fastest in the IPL. In celebration, Head removed his helmet, placed it on the handle of the bat and raised it high. Later, he revealed it was for SRH head coach Daniel Vettori.”A couple of days ago, we were talking about celebrations and the ones that he did,” Head said. “We’ve got a little running gag off the field in golf and different things with the cap. So that was one for Vettori. A little inside joke that one. Everyone was trying to work it out but I know he enjoyed it.”

Jemimah Rodrigues, Laura Wolvaardt, Kate Cross, Shreyanka Patil, Tanuja Kanwar, Alice Capsey and Shweta Sehrawat on what they have learned about their Australian team-mates in T20 leagues

Interviews by S Sudarshanan 29-Sep-2024Out of the first 15 Women’s World Cups across the ODI and T20I formats, Australia won nine. Then they lost the semi-final of the 2017 50-over World Cup, which stung them so much that they changed the look of their line-ups – pushing up Alyssa Healy to open the batting being one of those – in a bid to get back to the winningest of ways.Since then, they have added another ODI World Cup and three more T20 World Cups to their cabinet. They also finished gold medalists at the inaugural Commonwealth Games women’s cricket competition in 2022. In short, they have swept it all – every single multi-team tournament since the start of 2018.How do Australia manage to build a winning mindset? What does it entail? And how do their players prepare for matches or deal with pressure? We asked players from other countries to tell us what they had observed about their Australian counterparts while playing alongside them in T20 leagues across the world.Is there an Australian player you love watching play or train?
Kate Cross (*with Ellyse Perry, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux in WPL; Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Phoebe Litchfield, Heather Graham in the Hundred): I think Phoebe Litchfield is probably one of the more fun players to watch at training. She often commentates on her batting, which can be hilarious at times, and she really puts a lot of time into her funky shots. So, it was interesting watching how she tries to develop and improve her game – even in the middle of competitions.Related

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I love watching Georgia Wareham go about her business. She’s a pretty quiet character off the field but she’s outthinking a lot of people on it. Her skill level is ridiculously high too, so having her as a team-mate recently has been something I’ve really enjoyed.Shreyanka Patil (with Perry, Wareham, Molineux in WPL): I enjoyed playing with Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham as fellow spinners. Even during practice, they were coming and helping me out, and asking questions as well, so it was a two-way learning.Laura Wolvaardt (with Gardner, Garth, Sutherland, Wareham, Litchfield, Mooney in WPL; Mooney, Garth, Wellington in the Hundred; McGrath, Wellington, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown in WBBL): Tahlia McGrath, obviously played a lot with her at [Adelaide] Strikers. I think she is a really good cricketer, good at everything – batting, bowling, fielding, captaincy. She is a really cool and humble person off the field as well.Alice Capsey (with Lanning, Sutherland, Jess Jonassen in WPL; Lanning, Sutherland, Kim Garth in WBBL; Amanda-Jade Wellington in the Hundred): Growing up, I was more attracted to the Jos Buttlers, Jason Roys, Charlotte Edwards. I wasn’t really Australian-driven, I didn’t know many of the players that well. But now it has been great to share the dressing room with someone like Meg Lanning. It is not just about their experiences but [observing] how they go about training, preparing for a game, what they look for, what kind of prep they do and just learning how they had done it themselves. I am never going to be same as a Lanning, but I can pick up on different things she does based on what works for me.Shweta Sehrawat walks out to bat with Alyssa Healy for UP Warriorz: “My first experience playing alongside Healy and Tahlia [McGrath]… I had to adjust a bit mentally, because in my mind they were my opponents”•Deepak Malik/BCCIHow has your impression of them changed from that of an opponent to a team-mate?
Capsey: You see these players on TV and you play against them, but it is nice to understand them as a person as well and just build really good relationships and have a relaxed conversation. Every time I have been in the changing room with Meg, she has been very open, very welcome. She is one of the cricketers who just knows her game so well.She’s been a good sounding board for when I have been playing for Delhi Capitals and Melbourne Stars. People don’t realise how valuable it is batting alongside her in the middle. At the end of the day, you can do all the training and have all the conversations off the pitch. But it is how they manage the in-game situations, which is one of the aspects that makes them so great. Meg’s one of those – she manages her innings so well. She knows what’s happening and is so in control. Being able to play alongside her is so amazing.Shweta Sehrawat (with Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath in WPL): It was a bit different for me. I always imagined wanting to play for India against Australians as opponents. But my first experience itself was playing alongside Alyssa Healy and Tahlia McGrath in the first season of the WPL. I had to adjust a bit mentally, because in my mind they were my opponents. But there was no fear, and I lapped up the opportunity to learn from them. I gelled better in the second season, so much so that I am in regular touch with Tahlia and we went out for dinner when I toured Australia as part of the India A side last month.Tanuja Kanwar (with Litchfield, Garth, Sutherland, Wareham, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner in WPL): I used to watch Australian players only on TV before the WPL. But when I met them, I realised they are very chill people. I used to feel, “Oh, how do I speak to them”, but it was very easy when I met them and we became a team.Cross: I think it was just nicer to have Ellyse as a team-mate for once and not worry about how to get her out! But the beauty of changing from rivals to team-mates is that it gives you an insight into how and why they have got to the very top of their game. Also, just getting to know someone on a personal level – it almost makes me look forward to the Ashes more, knowing you’ve got mates to go up against.Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey at a Delhi Capitals event: Capsey says her understanding of the game has grown in the time she’s spent with Lanning•Bhushan Koyande/Hindustan Times/Getty ImagesHow do they train and prepare for a game?
Wolvaardt: The level of training and preparation at Strikers is equal to an international set-up, whereas our domestic systems are very much behind. They have an analyst, physio, strength and conditioning coach, a manager, because they are just so far ahead development wise. They have 200-300 players at a professional level every single day whereas we maybe only have the national side that is at that level of training.Cross: I didn’t notice any differences, but it’s their diligence that stands out the most. How well they train is admirable and is a huge indication of how consistent they are on the pitch because of how they train behind the scenes.Capsey: Everyone does it differently; someone like Meg does it differently to someone like Nat [Sciver-Brunt], who does it differently to someone like Marizanne Kapp, who does it differently to me or anyone else. Everyone has different things that works for them. Meg’s one of those people that’s so consistent, she just churns runs for fun, and it’s amazing to watch. You can also see the hard work that goes behind the scenes, how she goes about her net sessions and how specific she is. Then you get a pretty good understanding of the process that makes her successful.That is important in cricket. You are always going to fail more than you succeed. As a batter, more often than not, you are going to get out for low scores. It is about understanding and creating a process that works for you and allows you the best chance to be successful. There are so many variables that if you have your process it makes it a little bit easier.Kanwar: I am a bit superstitious; I don’t do knocking just before toss, but I do bowl a bit to warm up. With Australian players, I have seen that they prepare fully. They do knocking, take a few catches and do fielding drills, too, just to be ready in the match.Tanuja Kanwar: “I have noticed that the Australians do not get overly dejected [by defeat]. They are focused on what to do next and how to better the performances”•Prashant Bhoot/BCCIHow do they react under pressure?
Jemimah Rodrigues (with Lanning, Jonassen, Sutherland in WPL; Jonassen in WPCL; Sutherland in WBBL): Lanning is so calm and cool, even under pressure. I feel that is one of the biggest qualities a captain can have. Everyone’s under pressure, but if you see your captain calm, it just helps calm the entire team. That is an amazing thing with Lanning.Wolvaardt: They are very good under pressure. Just as you think they are about to finally lose a game, they find a way to win. They can find a way to win from any position. That comes with time and being exposed to those scenarios. It is like a momentum type of thing – the more you win in those situations, the more you will be able to win. It’s hard when you are in those situations and you lose ().Rodrigues: I think the one thing I will really take from Lanning is that she just knows what she’s doing. That’s what helps her be calm even under pressure.Cross: Nothing massively stood out that I wasn’t expecting, but Pez would be in the nets all the time. I’m now really not surprised she has that massive hotspot in the middle of her bat. She uses it that often!Sehrawat: I hadn’t really looked at Tahlia from that perspective, but come to think of it, I can recall one thing from during the A series. I was standing at slip, and against a left-arm spinner, she hit a lovely inside-out lofted shot that beat long-off. I then remembered her playing that shot on a few occasions before as well, so I now want to steal that shot and play it as adeptly as her.Capsey: Playing with Meg, I have learnt to manage my innings a lot better. The little bits and pieces that I have taken from her have been about my mindset and how I go about reading a game. She’s one of the most successful captains in world cricket – just how she reads the game, she’s good at speaking. She’ll tell you why she’s done certain things. She just doesn’t do it and you notice it, but she speaks to you and helps you understand why she’s done it. So, mindset and my understanding of the game and reading the game, I think, has a lot to do with playing and being in an environment with her. How to be ruthless once you are on top, I think she is good at that – sensing moments and pouncing at that.*Includes Australian team-mates in T20 leagues from March 1, 2023

From raising the profile of domestic first-class cricket and finding ways to win overseas, to curbing lopsided power plays in the board, the BCB’s new chief has his work cut out

Mohammad Isam23-Aug-2024Faruque Ahmed, the BCB’s new president, is the first to get the role after having played cricket at the top level – he even captained his country at the ICC Trophy in 1994. That’s a departure from the usual trend: in the past the top job has been manned by politicians, a military general, bureaucrats, and a real estate tycoon.Faruque’s main contribution to Bangladeshi cricket till now has been as a chief selector; in his first stint in that role, when he ushered in a new generation of cricketers like Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal. He is also widely known as a thinker of the game, so there will be great expectations of him.What should his priorities be as he takes office? ESPNcricinfo gives you a run-through.Related

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Shut down the media circus

Nazmul Hassan publicly weighing in on all matters big and small was distracting and, ultimately, damaging for Bangladeshi cricket. His press conferences came thick and fast. He spoke for long, in strong words, which worked well for social media clips and reels. Players, coaches, administrators and match officials had become wary of being taken apart by the board president after a poor performance.Faruque, on the other hand, is a reserved person in general. He will know the cameras will be waiting for him every day, but it is up to him to choose to ignore them and get on with the job.

Aim for a better overseas record

As chief selector, Faruque has overseen two good World Cup campaigns. He introduced young players like Shakib, Tamim and Mushfiqur ahead of the 2007 ODI World Cup, while also forming a strong relationship with coach Dav Whatmore and captain Habibul Bashar. He continued to make sensible calls in his second stint as selector, during which Bangladesh reached the quarter-finals of the 2015 ODI World Cup.Bangladesh haven’t replicated those performances at global events since then. Faruque has talked about changing the head coach, but the team is a few moves short of regaining lost ground from the 2010s.Formulating plans to win red- and white-ball matches overseas should be a top priority. Once they break that barrier, the team will start to feel more at ease against top opponents in foreign conditions, and more big-tournament success could flow from that.Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan came into the national team when Faruque Ahmed was chief selector•AFP/Getty Images

First-class overhaul needed

Faruque has to find ways to raise the competitiveness and status of the domestic first-class competitions. Players call it “picnic cricket” even after the BCB introduced a new two-tier system for the National Cricket League (NCL).Firstly, players earn very little from first-class cricket, compared to the limited-overs competitions like the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) and the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).Secondly, selection committees have traditionally paid little attention to first-class performances. Bangladesh squad selection largely depends on DPL performances and Under-19 World Cup appearances.Thirdly, the NCL is just not competitive. Teams like Dhaka Division and Khulna Division dominate due to their better facilities and regional tournaments and scouting. Rajshahi Division used to be a heavyweight while Rangpur Division and Dhaka Metropolis have done well at times. Barishal Division, Sylhet Division and Chattogram Division have been below-par for a quarter of a century. So there’s plenty of work to do on this front.

Bangladeshis need more T20s

This might sound off, but Bangladesh’s professional cricketers don’t play enough competitive T20 matches. Overseas cricketers get all the key roles in BPL teams, so it leaves very few domestic players with the opportunity to command a place in the national team or other franchise leagues.To begin to address this gap in supply, Faruque could encourage the tournament committee to organise regional T20 tournaments, where scouts could look for brand-new talents. Bangladesh’s lack of big-hitters and legspinners might be fixed in this process.

A change in constitution, and attitude

Conflict of interest is a major problem in the BCB. It stems from the board’s constitution, which allows DPL club representatives to gain the majority stake on the board. So they have traditionally had a bigger say on BCB matters, and have tended to protect their clubs’ interests.If this is addressed through an amended constitution, the different BCB departments will have more independence to formulate plans as needed, without delay or deference. For instance, the cricket operations department had to wait for Nazmul Hassan to firm up decisions on the national team. This wasn’t always the case with the BCB, and it is not how the board should be run if it is to become a truly professional unit. To change this, Faruque needs loyal lieutenants. Loyal not to him, but to Bangladesh cricket. It will be a major shift if he can pull it off.

Who, what, where and everything else you need to know about CPL 2024

Deivarayan Muthu28-Aug-2024

So, the biggest party in cricket is back?

Indeed, the six-team CPL 2024 will start on August 29 and will run until October 6, with seven venues set to host 34 games. The top-four teams in the league phase will qualify for the playoffs, which will be held at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. Just like the IPL, the top-two teams will get two tilts at the final.

Okay, how many countries are hosting the tournament?

CPL 2024 will be played in six countries: Trinidad, Guyana, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts, and Antigua.Related

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Tell me, what’s new this season?

For starters, Shamar Joseph is now a global phenomenon. After having started CPL 2023 as a mere net bowler for Guyana Amazon Warriors, Joseph moved up the ranks and bowled West Indies to their first Test victory in Australia in nearly 27 years, and has broken into the IPL and West Indies’ T20 World Cup squad since. He is poised to play a more prominent role for Amazon Warriors, the defending champions.Plus, there’s a new team: Antigua & Barbuda Falcons. They will replace Jamaica Tallawahs, the 2013, 2016 and 2022 CPL champions. Kris Persaud, a Guyanese businessman based in Florida, owned the Tallawahs franchise but had sold it back to the CPL. The CPL intends to relaunch a Jamaica-based franchise in the years to come.Falcons’ home base will be the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, which last hosted a CPL game in 2014 when Antigua Hawksbills were active in the league.Falcons have absorbed the core of Tallawahs, with Brandon King, who is currently recovering from injury, Mohammad Amir, Fabian Allen and Imad Wasim all part of the new franchise.

You mentioned that Amazon Warriors are defending champions…

Yep. After falling short in five finals previously, Amazon Warriors clinched their first title under Imran Tahir’s leadership last season. Tahir, 45, is still going strong in franchise T20 leagues, and will return to captain Amazon Warriors in their quest to defend the crown. Left-arm fingerspinner Gudakesh Motie and offspinners Kevin Sinclair and Junior Sinclair will complement Tahir’s wristspin on the slow, low pitches at Providence.They will be bolstered further by the return of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who was the leading run-getter in the T20 World Cup 2024, and the addition of left-arm seam-bowling allrounder Raymon Reifer.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Which are the other strong teams?

You can’t look past the star-studded Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) side, who have Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Nicholas Pooran and Sunil Narine in their ranks. Russell, who had been rested from West Indies’ most recent home T20I series against South Africa, is set to return to action in the CPL.If TKR’s big guns fire in unison, they have a strong chance to mark their tenth year in the league with a fourth title. TKR last won the silverware when they enjoyed an unbeaten run to the title in 2020.St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, who finished bottom last season with just a solitary win in ten games, look much stronger this season, at least on paper, especially after having signed the South Africa trio of Tristan Stubbs, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi. They have also recruited big-hitting allrounder Odean Smith, who was transferred from Amazon Warriors. Opener Evin Lewis will look to prove a point after having last played for West Indies in the 2022 T20 World Cup. He is set to open the batting with allrounder Kyle Mayers, who was Patriots’ first pick at the draft.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

How many overseas players can be part of the XIs at the CPL?

As such, four. But it’s mandatory for the teams to field an emerging player in five games, and in those games, they can field an additional overseas player. But once the quota is done, they can’t pick a fifth overseas player even if they field that emerging player.

Tahir is the oldest player in this CPL, but who is the youngest?

At 17, Jewel Andrew, who was snapped up by Falcons, could well become the youngest player ever to feature in the CPL (if he makes his debut before the playoffs). Pooran was previously the youngest player to make a CPL appearance at 17 years and 300 days.Andrew, who was West Indies’ highest run-getter in the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, with 207 runs in four innings at an average of 69 and strike rate of 109.52, has been tipped to become the next big thing in Caribbean cricket. So, well, remember the name!ESPNcricinfo Ltd

USA’s Aaron Jones is part of this CPL, right?

Yes, you have been paying attention. The USA batter, who made a splash at the T20 World Cup earlier this year, was picked by Daren Sammy’s St Lucia Kings at the draft, but he will play as a local player through his Barbados passport. Jones has previously played in West Indies’ regional set-up for Barbados and Combined Campuses and Colleges and was an unused member of the Patriots squad in CPL 2019.

Any unknown players to keep an eye on?

Quite a few, including fast bowlers Isai Thorne (Barbados Royals) and Nathan Edward (TKR) who have both represented West Indies at the Under-19 World Cup.Also, heard of Mikkel Govia?The Kings allrounder is the son of Russell Latapy, the former Trinidadian footballer. Govia, 22, hasn’t played an official T20 yet, but has made regular appearances in T10 cricket in the Caribbean. With West Indies searching for their next offspin-bowling allrounder after Roston Chase, there might be some interest around Govia and Falcons’ Kofi James.

Does the CPL clash with any other T20 tournament?

Of course. What’s a T20 league without a schedule clash these days? It overlaps with the knockouts of the Vitality T20 Blast in England. Chris Green, for example, will turn out for Falcons in the CPL and will not be available to Lancashire. The CPL, however, has avoided a clash with the Hundred after holding talks with the ECB earlier this year.

How can fans outside the Caribbean catch the action?

Every match of CPL 2024 will have ball-by-ball commentary right here on ESPNcricinfo. Fans in India can watch the CPL on the Star Sports network or Fancode. USA and UK viewers can watch it on Willow TV and TNT Sports respectively. Sky Sport will be broadcasting in New Zealand and Super Sport in South Africa.

Bowlers’ inconsistency allows England to recover from 54 for 5 on second day

Nagraj Gollapudi27-Jul-2024Shamar Joseph has a false start as he misses his run-up first ball on Saturday. Edgbaston mocks him jovially. It was similar to the false start Joseph had six months ago as he ran in to deliver his first ball in international cricket, against Australia at the Adelaide Oval: that time, he overcame it to take Steve Smith’s wicket. He has a picture of that dismissal framed in his house in New Amsterdam, in Guyana.At Edgbaston this morning, Joe Root pushes the first ball, a fuller delivery, to mid-on. In Joseph’s second over, Ollie Pope decides to cut a ball in the channel rooted in his crease with a horizontal bat. That’s a big no, no, on this slow-paced pitch. Pope ends up punching the back of his bat more than once after watching his inside edge uprooting his middle stump. It is enough to send Joseph squealing in delight.Pope’s dismissal and the timing comes as balm for West Indies and especially Jayden Seales, who could have actually had the first wicket of the morning had he pressed for a lbw review against Root in the second over of the morning. Replays show the delivery, which seamed into Root and squaring him up, would have clipped the top of leg stump but Joshua da Silva tells Seales that the ball is heading down leg the side.Shamar Joseph made a mess of Ollie Pope’s stumps early in the day•Darren Staples/Getty ImagesBut Seales is not distracted and soon after forces an outside edge from Harry Brook who is caught at slip – exactly in the same fashion as at Trent Bridge. From their overnight 38 for 3, England are 54 for 5 inside the first hour of the morning.Fans in the Caribbean, watching all this in the tender hours of the morning, must have started to believe. Rally, rally, they would have urged their team. In the end, though, emotion is not enough to win Test matches. You need more than one plan. You need to sustain pressure and create it even if nothing is in your favour, including the pitch. You need to find ways to dry up the flow of runs.All this is known to Kraigg Brathwaite, a proud leader who, after Joseph’s miracle spell at the Gabba in January, flexed his biceps to tell former Australian fast bowler Rodney Hogg who had derided West Indies as “pathetic and hopeless” at the outset.On Saturday, though, as the afternoon stretched out, West Indies’ plight became more and more hopeless. First, Root and Stokes gradually loosened the visitors’ grip by rotating the strike and picking runs comfortably going into the lunch. Immediately after the break, West Indies seemed to have a plan.Alzarri Joseph banged in short-pitched deliveries into the body of the England captain, but Stokes pulled two fours with ease in the first over of the new session. In his next over, Joseph forced the error from Stokes with consecutive 90mph deliveries that were banged short-of-the-length and rose quickly. Stokes ducked out of the first one, but was sucked into pulling the second one straight to square leg. Stokes cursed himself for falling into the trap.Ben Stokes grimaces after holing out off Alzarri Joseph•Darren Staples/Getty ImagesJoseph continued the short-ball barrage against Jamie Smith in his following over, coming from round the stumps. The first time he attempted to hook, Smith ended up gloving the ball, just over the outstretched hands of the leaping da Silva. Joseph had himself leapt in the air in his excitement, thinking da Silva had pouched Smith. The next delivery, Joseph directed another bouncer, which this time failed to climb up and Smith instinctively pulled it over the roof of the rousing Hollies Stand, forcing a ball change.Instead of sticking to the plan of bowling short and packing the field on the leg side, West Indies drifted away from it. That allowed Root to march towards his century and Smith to settle down quickly. Even after Root departed, Chris Woakes managed to quickly carry forward the momentum alongside Smith as the pair eventually helped England take the lead.Related

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Seales conceded that while the Windies bowlers had “showed great fight” on both Friday evening and Saturday morning, they had failed to do it “consistently, and backing it up all the time.”He cited the example of Smith, who he described as a “compulsive hooker”, someone West Indies should have attacked for longer with the short ball. “If we had stuck at it little bit longer and keep forcing him to do it time after time, one may not have held and he could’ve gotten out.”But Seales disputed the idea that West Indies had failed to keep the pressure at all times on a pitch that was slow and scoring was easy. “We bowled well as a group,” he said. “Collectively we were on the right spots the majority of the time. We forced them to go at it and try and score runs quickly and it paid off for them.”Kudos to them. But I thought we did our job as a bowling unit: we stuck to it as long as we possibly could. And when the time came to try the short ball, we gave our best efforts. It just didn’t go our way.”About 10 minutes before lunch the Hollies stand burst out singing . Da Silva didn’t mind joining in and was heard on the stump mic singing Jon Bon Jovi’s anthem. At the time it was all fun and frolic. By the late afternoon, the lyrics summed up West Indies’ situation in this match – and this series.