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The fast bowler, who turned his back on an international career with South Africa, reiterated that his decision to relocate to Yorkshire was the best for his and his family’s future

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Mar-2019Having decided to end his South Africa international career last month, following a Kolpak deal with Yorkshire, fast bowler Duanne Olivier has revealed his hopes of playing Test cricket for England.”I accept that my Test career is over for South Africa but if I do well, hopefully in the future, I can play for England,” Olivier told . “You always need to put your mind to certain goals.”Maybe people will think it’s unrealistic but for me, if I really do well, you never know. I can’t tell you what will happen in the future. All I can do, as of now, is control what I am doing this season and give 100% every game.”In February, Olivier agreed to a three-year county deal with Yorkshire, subject to clearance through Kolpak regulations. He had also turned down a two-year contract with Cricket South Africa, offered to him as an incentive to continue playing for the national side. While announcing his decision, Olivier stated in an Instagram post that the decision to turn his back on South Africa was “possibly the most difficult … I’ll ever have to make”.Addressing the criticism around his move, especially him having given up a possible spot in the World Cup squad, Olivier he didn’t personally feel he would be part of South Africa’s World Cup attack, given the already existing variety in the bowling line-up. He also reiterated that the decision to play for Yorkshire had been made keeping in mind his future and that of his family.”I can understand that people are upset but I have not played a lot of one-day cricket, especially for South Africa or the A side,” he said. “‘I made my ODI debut only this year and, over those couple of games I think they were seeing what I could offer. Personally, I don’t think I would have been in the World Cup squad as they have enough bowlers. I wasn’t looking too far ahead at World Cup spots being up for grabs, it was just taking it day by day.”For me, it was just the best decision to make. For me and my family, re-locating is the best decision for our future. I realise some people will understand and some people won’t at all but it doesn’t really faze me what they think. At the end of the day, it’s about what I want to do. I want to see things going forward and I feel like my cricket will improve playing county cricket.”An aggressive fast bowler, Olivier made his Test debut in Johannesburg in January 2017 – ironically as a replacement for Kyle Abbott, who signed a Kolpak deal with Hampshire – and took 48 wickets in ten Tests at an average of 19.25. He featured in two Tests on South Africa’s tour of England in July and August 2017, at Trent Bridge and Old Trafford, and returned to the country in 2018 as an overseas player for Derbyshire.He had an impressive run in Test cricket over the last two home series for South Africa – in three matches against Pakistan, Olivier took 24 wickets – the most on either side – and followed it up with seven wickets in two Tests against Sri Lanka. Olivier also played two ODIs against Pakistan – his only matches in the format – after being called to the ODI team as a cover for Dale Steyn.Olivier has prior county experience. In 2018, he turned out for Derbyshire in the County Championship Division 2, taking 31 wickets in seven first-class matches, and 13 wickets in eight List A matches. Yorkshire, who are in Division 1 of the Championship, will begin their campaign against Nottingham on April 5.

India might have been disappointed with 324 after looking good for 350, but their bowlers quickly washed it off with a comfortable defence

The Report by Sidharth Monga26-Jan-2019
In a league game in Champions Trophy 2017, India couldn’t really capitalise on their score of 178 for 2 in 33 overs and failed to defend the underwhelming 321 they posted. A year and a half later, in an ODI in New Zealand, they reached 179 for 2 in the 31st over, but again failed to convert it into the 350 they looked good for. Just as a measure of how far their bowling has come from there, though, India defended the 324 in Mount Maunganui with consummate ease.

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India’s quicks and spinners both drew more out of the pitch than New Zealand’s did, which meant they didn’t need to resort to the funky fields and plans that New Zealand needed to restrict India after a 154-run opening stand at more than a run a ball between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. By the time New Zealand reached that score in their response, they had lost six wickets. The first five of those fell one each to the new-ball skills of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, one each to the wristspin of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, and one to the deadly combination of Kedar Jadhav’s unfathomable low-arm spin and MS Dhoni’s super-quick hands.The two first halves couldn’t have been more different. Any hope New Zealand had of taking a wicket fell prey to innovative field placing. Rohit edged the first ball of the match, but the lone slip was well wide of the orthodox position. By the time New Zealand went to the orthodox two slips, the ball had stopped swinging. Rohit and Dhawan kept India around six an over almost on auto-pilot mode. So good is their game and form that the bowlers needed to err only slightly for them to pick the gaps either side of the wicket. Nine of the first 10 overs, and 17 of the 25 that the two batted together, went for at least one boundary.As is often the case, Rohit faced more balls, ate more dots, but scored more runs and hit more boundaries than Dhawan in the partnership. Dhawan, who showed glimpses of regained form in his half-century in the first ODI, looked flawless. At the halfway mark, both had brought up their half-centuries, and looked ominous. You can never count out a Rohit double if he is still batting at this stage; not least if he is in his 80s. However, once Dhawan edged a short and wide ball from Trent Boult, New Zealand began to claw back in.Kuldeep Yadav picked up four wickets•Getty Images

With nothing happening for the bowlers and with India’s top three looking incapable of making a mistake, New Zealand refused to just turn up and accept their punishment. They tried different things. Lockie Ferguson went round the wicket to Rohit, who was approaching his hundred, and they attacked Virat Kohli and Ambati Rayudu with six and seven men inside the circle. They were okay with three dots and a four instead of four easy singles.This was a high-risk plan, but it worked. Ferguson’s angle and changes of pace brought two wickets, Kohli fell to a bouncer from Boult, and the pressure was on Dhoni and the rest of the middle order again. Ferguson kept finding success with his bowling round the wicket. Twenty-five balls went without a boundary. At the start of the 48th over, though, Colin de Grandhomme dropped Dhoni. Dhoni and Jadhav – 48 off 33 and 22 off 10 respectively – gave India a little finishing kick with 35 off the last two overs.If the memories of that Sri Lanka chase were still fresh, they were exorcised quickly by a good start to the defence by Shami and Bhuvneshwar. Martin Guptill survived thrice – a run out, a dropped catch, an edge falling short – before finally offering third man a catch. The pressure was obvious. The new ball was doing more for India’s bowlers than it did for New Zealand’s. India were bowling with a higher skill. Shami eventually got the wicket of Kane Williamson with a short ball outside off, but he had bowled enough good balls until then to deserve this.Colin Munro, seen as a bit of a dasher, is one of the batsmen not yet assured of a place in the World Cup squad. Here he tried to settle in for a longer innings, playing more efficient and percentage cricket, but he could keep that up for only so long. In the 15th over, with the run rate still at six an over, Munro tried to switch-hit Chahal and missed.The final nail was probably driven through when Ross Taylor played Jadhav for the turn, but as he does so often Jadhav only got the ball to drift past the outside edge.Taylor overbalanced, his back foot left the ground for a split second, and it was time enough for Dhoni to stump him. New Zealand were 100 for 4, and India hadn’t yet introduced their big weapon: the left-arm wristspin of Kuldeep.And then on came Kuldeep, running delightfully through the rest of the New Zealand innings who were trigger happy with their shots. Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls were beaten in the air, de Grandhomme paid the price for trying to hit every delivery for a six, and Ish Sodhi was beaten by the sharp turn. This, Kuldeep’s second in two matches in the country, was only the fifth four-for by a spinner visiting New Zealand this decade.Doug Bracewell then chanced his arm, secured his maiden half-century and also denied Kuldeep a five-for. In the larger scheme of the match, his 58-run stand for ninth wicket with Ferguson only served to bring India’s victory margin down to two digits.

Only Hamilton Masakadza looked in touch with a steady century while the rest of the batting order crumbled

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2018Zimbabwe left BKSP with more questions than answers after BCB XI crushed them by eight wickets in the practice match. Only captain Hamilton Masakadza looked in touch with a steady century while the rest of the batting order crumbled.BCB XI’s fast bowlers ran through the visitors’ line-up, bowling them out for 178 in 45.2 overs. Elton Chigumbura made 47 and shared a 124-run partnership with Masakadza for the sixth wicket after they had slipped to 47 for five in the 16th over.While Ebadot Hossain took five wickets for 19 runs, Mohammad Saifuddin, recalled in the ODI side after nine months, picked three for 32.In reply, the home side banked on captain Soumya Sarkar’s unbeaten 102 to race to victory in 39 overs. Soumya struck 13 fours and a six in his 114-ball knock.Zimbabwe take on Bangladesh in the first ODI on October 21.

Barbados Tridents posted the highest CPL total at Providence courtesy Dwayne Smith’s century and then made a late victory push courtesy Kieron Pollard’s four-for, but it wasn’t enough

The Report by Peter Della Penna21-Aug-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsWalton hit seven fours and six sixes in his 92•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

In a scintillating showdown that produced the two highest individual scores of CPL 2017, Chadwick Walton’s 92 trumped Dwayne Smith’s century as Guyana Amazon Warriors scored a crucial four-wicket win over Barbados Tridents. That meant Warriors were level on four points with Tridents.Kieron Pollard nearly triggered a shocking collapse with four wickets at the death but it was the one wicket he did not take – bypassing a mankad opportunity with Assad Fudadin a long way out of his crease – that he may come to regret. Fudadin struck a boundary to begin the 20th to draw scores level before a wide down the leg side accounted for the winning run with five balls to spare.Smith’s charmed ton

Smith brought up the first century of CPL 2017, but not without a fair share of luck. He was first reprieved on 42, in the 13th over, courtesy a Keemo Paul no-ball. Six balls later, on 46, Smith was struck on the back pad off a skiddy Rashid delivery that would’ve crashed into the stumps, but wasn’t given. While Kane Williamson, with whom he put together a 107-run opening stand fell for 47, Smith launched a savage attack in the end overs, scoring 39 off the last three overs to bring up his century.The final surge began when he clattered three fours and a six off Sohail Tanvir in the 18th over. He slammed a four early in the 19th off Rayad Emrit then ended the over with back-to-back sixes to move to 96. He missed out on a beamer from Tanvir that could have disappeared for his century, but wound up striking a two off the ensuing free hit and then a subsequent two to bring up his century off 70 balls. He fell with two balls to spare; Tridents finished with 159 for 4.Walton mirrors Smith
After watching Smith’s carnage from behind the stumps, Walton responded with a gem himself. Martin Guptill, the captain, dropped himself down the order and promoted Sohail Tanvir to open with Walton. The pair raced to 48 off four overs to lay down the marker. But just like Smith had good fortune, Walton benefited too. He first survived a confident lbw shout off Ravi Rampaul on 11 and was then dropped at deep midwicket in the same over. After that, everything changed.While Tanvir fell in the fifth over, Walton was undeterred, smacking Imran Khan’s legspin for a four and two sixes. Even though Gajanand Singh fell in the next over, Walton’s blitz took Warriors to 71 for 2 after six overs, their highest Powerplay score this season. Walton moved to 50 off 27 balls in the following over. Having broken a window with one of his earlier sixes, he nearly took out a cheerleader with another in the 10th. His sixth and final six was an imperious straight drive off Rampaul that took him into the 90s and by the time he was dismissed in the 17th, he’d moved to the top of the 2017 CPL scoring chart.Pollard’s double double

Warriors were cruising, needing 15 off four overs with eight wickets in hand when Pollard nearly turned the match upside down. Guptill and Walton’s 81-run stand was broken, with both batsmen falling to lofted drives down the ground off consecutive deliveries in the 17th over. Jason Mohammed fell to a circus catch by a sliding Tion Webster two balls into the 19th for Pollard’s third wicket. He then had Keemo Paul next ball to give himself a second hat-trick ball in consecutive overs.The mankad that wasn’t

Prior to delivering the ball that claimed Paul, Pollard pulled out of his initial attempt upon arriving at the crease as Assad Fudadin was several yards down the pitch at the non-striker’s end. Pollard could easily have run-out Fudadin. It was hard to miss the irony, given Paul was the center of the famous mankad in a controversial West Indies win over Zimbabwe at the Under-19 World Cup last year.Instead, Pollard mocked taking off the bails before running in again to bowl the ball that claimed Paul. With Fudadin allowed to stay in, he saw off the hat-trick ball with a single and pinched two more to take strike at the start of the next over. He then hammered a lofted drive over mid-on off Shamar Springer and then watched one drift behind his pads for an extra to clinch victory.

Islamabad United were off to a slow start in the inaugural edition of the PSL, but gathered momentum at the right time. The question is, can an aging squad defend their title?

Danyal Rasool08-Feb-20170:50

Islamabad United’s strengths and weaknesses

Inaugural season results
After initially looking like the poorest side in the competition in 2016, Islamabad United mastered that fabled Pakistani ability: peaking at the right time. Four heavy defeats in the first six games must have had Misbah’s men fearing the worst, but that indifferent start was followed by a remarkable turnaround in form. They edged a tight contest against Karachi Kings, and won their last five games in what ended up being a romp to the PSL’s inaugural title.Team assessment
Having retained 17 players from last season’s successful campaign, Islamabad United appear to want to stick to their winning formula. The aggressive English wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Duckett has been added as a supplementary player, who is likely to help not only with the strike rate, but, at 22, the average age as well. An aging team might be a concern, with Misbah-ul-Haq, Shane Watson, Saeed Ajmal, Samuel Badree, Mohammad Sami and Brad Haddin all over 35 years old. The wealth of experience they bring cannot be underestimated, but this is a team that wasn’t considered extremely dynamic even when they won the title last year.Moreover, the leading wicket-taker of last year’s edition, Andre Russell, has been suspended for a doping violation. While Steven Finn has been drafted in to replace him, the team from the capital are likely to miss the Jamaican’s explosiveness with the bat.However, Islamabad do possess a handful of exciting young players for whom this tournament represents an excellent opportunity to realise their potential. Sharjeel Khan is arguably the hottest property in Pakistan’s T20 side since his prolific PSL last year, a 62-ball 117 in the third-qualifying final showcasing the threat he poses. Rumman Raees, whose rise has been rather less meteoric, will also be looking to build on a stellar tournament in 2016, where he took eight wickets with a tidy economy rate of 6.79.Key overseas player
Sam Billings had a disappointing PSL last year, but he has become a fixture in England’s limited-overs squad (if not the playing XI) since. He represented the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash this season, playing just five games due to international duty, but of his four innings, he was the Sixers’ top-scorer in three. An international T20 strike rate of 154.65 owes much to a 25-ball 53 in Dubai in a Man-of- the-Match winning performance against Pakistan. This tournament will be played in the same conditions, on the same grounds. Pair him with Sharjeel at the top of the order, and we might find out what Powerplay really means.Under the radar local lad
Hussain Talat was in top form in the Regional One-Day Cup in January. The left-hand batsman scored 319 runs for FATA, including two centuries, at an average of just under 80 (despite one duck). According to one of Islamabad United’s managers Rehan-ul-Haq, Talat is rated highly by everyone at the franchise; people there are particularly impressed by his ability to make scoring quick runs look easy. With a solid T20 average (28.77) and a strike rate of 111.15, this PSL could be a stepping stone to bigger things for the 20 year old.After a slow start to the inaugural PSL, Islamabad United peaked at the right time•PSL

Availability
As previously mentioned, Andre Russell has been banned for a year due to a doping violation. He was replaced by Steven Finn. There are no injury concerns.Coaching staff
Dean Jones (head coach), Wasim Akram (team director), Tauseef Ahmed (assistant coach), Johan Botha (fielding coach), Rehan-ul-Haq and Hassan Cheema (managers)Squad
Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Shane Watson, Steven Finn, Samuel Badree, Brad Haddin, Sam Billings, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Sami, Khalid Latif, Saeed Ajmal, Asif Ali, Rumman Raees, Imran Khalid, Amad Butt, Hussain Talat. Supplementary players: Dwayne Smith, Ben Duckett, Shadab Khan, Zohaib Khan

Karun Nair’s unbeaten 59-ball 83 single-handedly helped Delhi Daredevils beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in a last-ball thriller in Raipur to keep their playoff ambitions burning bright.

The Report by Shashank Kishore20-May-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKarun Nair’s third half-century in a winning cause this season kept Delhi Daredevils alive•BCCI

Karun Nair showed there was place for finesse and street-smart cricket amid the big-hitting in T20s. His unbeaten 59-ball 83 single-handedly helped Delhi Daredevils beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in a last-ball thriller in Raipur to keep their playoff ambitions burning bright. The side must now win their final match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Raipur on Sunday.With Daredevils needing six off two deliveries, Nair, who had walked in to bat at No. 3, muscled successive boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar to pull off a win that may have not been possible had Sunrisers fielded better than they did. Nair was lucky to survive a caught-behind appeal on 23 in the ninth over, with Daredevils needing 105 off 69. David Warner then put down a sitter when the batsman was on 51. As it turned out, those two moments had a significant bearing on the outcome and Sunrisers, with 16 points, may yet have to win their final league game against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata to control their fate.While Rishabh Pant was the aggressor in the 73-run second-wicket stand, Nair was happy to farm strike and play himself in before the stroke of luck with the caught-behind appeal brought about a change in mindset. By the time Pant was run out for 32, courtesy Bhuvneshwar’s direct hit from deep cover, Nair had switched gears. It meant Warner’s wonderfully crafted 56-ball 73 was consigned to being second-best.The game started off as a battle of wits. Sunrisers were watchful upfront against Zaheer Khan after being sent in to bat, but the pressure built up at one end was released by offspinner Jayant Yadav and Nathan Coulter-Nile, who leaked runs. Sunrisers motored to 42 without loss in five overs, before the brakes were applied through two run-outs.Shikhar Dhawan, far from his fluent best, was the first to go. Carlos Brathwaite, who replaced the injured Chris Morris, stopped a drive by diving to his left and then hurled a throw back at the striker’s end with Dhawan well short of the crease. Four balls later, Amit Mishra’s half-stop off his own bowling resulted in confusion between Warner and Deepak Hooda, and a direct hit at the bowler’s end found Hooda short. With the score at 48 for 2 in the seventh over, the need of the hour was consolidation.Yuvraj Singh hung around for 10 deliveries, one of which was sent screaming behind point off a fierce cut, before Brathwaite had him chop one onto the stumps, the two-paced nature of the pitch surfacing as the ball kept low to take the inside-edge. Even as wickets tumbled, Warner was a picture of supreme confidence, flaying pacers with flat-batted pulls and slaps through the off side.His technique against the spinners – Mishra and Yadav – was equally effective as he used the depth of the crease to make room and bring his bottom hand into play. Once the off side field opened up, he kept carving boundaries to make batting look ridiculously easy. Warner brought up his half-century off 40 balls and his 32nd IPL fifty helped notch up a record for most fifty-plus scores by a batsman in the tournament.He found able support from Moises Henriques, who milked the singles, and a 13-run over seemed to indicate that Sunrisers were ready to switch to attack. However, an attempt to hit with the spin towards deep midwicket off JP Duminy in the 14th over resulted in Henriques’ wicket, and ended a sprightly 39-run stand.Eoin Morgan’s wicket drained more momentum and it took an enterprising partnership between Naman Ojha and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – the pair added 26 off 15 balls in the last three overs – to take them close to the 160-mark.Daredevils lost Quinton de Kock early, but Nair and Pant kept pace with the asking rate through tactful strike-rotation and the odd boundary. Apart from swatting away full tosses, Nair’s use of the sweep shot to negate Karn Sharma’s legspin was impressive.With Daredevils needing 52 off 30, Sunrisers had a ray of hope in the two potential overs from Mustafizur Rahman. When Duminy, put down on 17 by Bhuvneshwar, holed out to Warner off the first ball bowled by Barinder Sran in the 17th over, the game was wide open. But Nair muscled two sixes in the over to allay fears of a meltdown.Mustafizur’s tight last over – he gave away five runs – left Daredevils needing 11 off the last six balls, but Nair was not to be denied as his third half-century in a winning cause this season kept Daredevils alive.

Justin Langer, the former Australia assistant coach, has urged the national selectors to retain Phillip Hughes for the third Test against India in Mohali

Brydon Coverdale11-Mar-2013Justin Langer, the former Australia assistant coach, has urged the national selectors to retain Phillip Hughes for the third Test against India in Mohali, despite his awful results against spin in the first two Tests. David Warner also called for patience, saying he had not seen Hughes face much spin bowling before and that it would be only a matter of time before he worked out the best way to handle quality slow bowling.Hughes is in danger of being dropped when the third Test begins on Thursday after having failed in the tour match in Chennai and then in the first two Tests. His work against spin has been especially disappointing and he has barely looked like being able to score unless the fast men are on; the 51 balls of spin Hughes faced in the two first two Tests brought him six runs and cost him his wicket four times.But Hughes is far from the only Australian batsman to have struggled in India. Ricky Ponting did not score a century in India until his ninth Test there across five tours and finished with a record of 662 Test runs in India at 26.48. Hughes has not played Test cricket in India until the past three weeks and already he is in a precarious position, having only just regained his Test place for the home series against Sri Lanka following Ponting’s retirement.Already his batting coach Neil d’Costa has attacked Cricket Australia for refusing to allow him to give Hughes a crash course in how to handle Indian conditions before the tour, when Hughes was piling up runs in the ODI side. And Langer, who until late last year was the Australia assistant coach, said patience was required when young batsmen were exposed to new conditions.”I would be so disappointed if he didn’t play the next Test. He has been brilliant again all summer,” Langer said in Adelaide. “He is our most exciting and best performed young player and I hope they stick with him. Phil is a young kid who is playing Test cricket in India for the first time and you can’t just keep chopping and changing all the time. He has missed out but has shown over time he has the capacity to know how to score runs and work out strategies to score runs.”There is no question that Hughes has been in form this summer. Until the last round of matches he was on top of the Sheffield Shield run tally with 673 runs at 56.08. At the age of 24, Hughes has already compiled 21 first-class hundreds. But he is generally at his best when the ball is coming on to the bat, which is not the case in India. Warner, until last season a New South Wales team-mate of Hughes, said he should be given time to adjust.”I haven’t really seen a lot of spin bowling against Hughesy, so I just think it’s more of a time thing and being patient,” Warner said. “We all have to score runs and have a job to do. Phil is in a patch at the moment where he isn’t scoring as many runs as he would like, but I’m sure if the selectors stick by him he will come good. He is the type of player who always puts runs on the board, especially when he scores a hundred he scores a big hundred.”One of the problems that has afflicted Hughes and the rest of the batsmen on this trip has been a lack of quality spin bowling at Sheffield Shield level, meaning a majority of their experience is against fast men. The Shield pitches in recent years have often been green seamers and matches can be over quickly, with spinners either hardly required or asked to bowl in conditions that are more suitable for the fast bowlers.This summer in the Sheffield Shield, the top 15 wicket takers are all fast bowlers and the pitches are at their most favourable for the seamers early in the season, when the Test batsmen are more likely to be playing for their states. Warner said to help young batsmen become more accustomed to spin bowling the state teams should consider setting up centre-wicket training sessions when matches finish early, as the Test squad has done over the past two matches in India.”If you’re playing a four day game and the game finishes on day three, why not go out and practice on day four?” Warner said. “You’re a professional athlete, you’ve got the whole thing there for you on day four to practice as much as you want. It’s like us having a net out in the middle of the wicket [in India]. You very rarely get that opportunity in Australia. They will be watering the wicket straight away preparing for the next Shield game. It’s fantastic to get that opportunity.”

Mominul Haque has been brought into Bangladesh’s squad for the first two ODIs against West Indies as a replacement for the injured Shakib Al Hasan

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2012Mominul Haque, a left-hand batsman, has been brought into Bangladesh’s squad for the first two ODIs against West Indies as a replacement for the injured Shakib Al Hasan. The Bangladesh board announced their decision after the completion of the warm-up match between BCB XI and the West Indians in Khulna, where Mominul made 43.Shakib was ruled out of the first two ODIs because of a stress reaction in his right tibia that caused a shin injury. He has another scan scheduled for December 1 and that will determine the length of his layoff.”The team management had asked for a batsman to replace Shakib for the first two ODIs, so we picked Mominul,” Bangladesh’s chief selector Akram Khan said. “He has been batting well for the last one and a half years but I feel it will be wise not to have too many expectations of him because he is new. We will only want him to do things that a batsman does.”We picked him from among the form batsman. He has been consistent for the A team, scoring runs in West Indies, and also has runs in first-class cricket at home.”Mominul is a middle-order batsman who has been a regular in the Bangladesh A team over the last two years after he graduated through age-group tournaments and spent a year at the National Cricket Academy. He made a pair of forties in the two practice matches for BCB XI against Bangladesh and the West Indians. He scored two centuries for Chittagong in this season’s National Cricket League.

England made it three from three in the group stage of the Women’s World T20 as Pakistan bowed out the tournament with a consolatory win over India

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMeg Lanning top scored for Australia Women but once again England were up to the chase•ICC/Getty

England Women completed a sweep of the group stage with a seven-wicket win over Australia. They were given their sternest challenge of the competition, asked to chase 145, but again showed their excellence in all departments by winning with 11 balls to spare.Sarah Taylor made the highest individual score of the tournament, 65 not out, to guide her side’s chase. She shared a stand of 63 at more than 11 runs per over with Danni Wyatt to reach the target comfortably. Wyatt arrived at the crease with 62 required from 44 balls but played a breezy innings with six boundaries that took the game away from Australia. She finished with 33 in 17 balls, winning the match with a boundary.Australia had played well after choosing to bat first. Opener Meg Lanning led the way with 39 from 31 balls and Lisa Sthalekar’s 28-ball 38 boosted the total. Both batsman fell to Anya Shrubsole but she and the usually dependable Laura Marsh and Holly Colvin went at eight-an-over. Dannielle Hazell was the most economical in holding Australia to a total they could eclipse.Australia captain Jodie Fields said her team’s batting performance was a positive but was disappointed at not finishing the game well.”It felt like we were right in the match right up until the last couple of overs. Our batting innings went the way we wanted it to do, we aimed for 140 and we got that target.”Her team would take on West Indies in the second semi-final of the tournament on October 5. “West Indies are a strong team and we were lucky enough to play them in a warm-up match which gave us an idea about how we can play against them,” Fields said. England go on to play New Zealand in their semi-final.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe other match of the day was a low-scoring thriller that brightened up the dead rubber, with Pakistan Women heading home with a victory by the smallest margin against India. With four required off the final delivery, Nagarajan Niranjana was run out attempting the tying third run.Pakistan chose to bat but only three players made double figures. Sana Mir with 26 and Nain Abidi’s 25 had laid a platform at the top of the order but their failure to go on exposed the rest of the order, of whom Asmavia Iqbal with 10 was the top score. Rasanara Parwin returned the best figures, going for just 15 in her fours overs and picking up the wickets of Mir and Bismah Maroof for 3.India also struggled for a significant contribution with the bat but Jhulan Goswami looked to be guiding them home. But when she fell for a 24-ball 21, 16 were needed from 10 balls which became 14 from the last over. Niranjana struck the first ball for four and worked a target of four off the final ball but it proved just beyond them.

Ian Bell’s comeback hundred set up England for a comprehensive victory in the first one-day international against West Indies

The Report by Andrew McGlashan16-Jun-2012England 288 for 6 (Bell 126) beat West Indies 172 (Smith 56, Bresnan 4-34) by 114 runs (D/L method)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIan Bell’s first boundary was a straight six off Andre Russell•Getty Images

Ian Bell won the battle of the replacement openers in the first one-day international as he marked his return to England’s 50-over side with his second ODI hundred – nearly five years after his previous one – to earn the home side an early series advantage with a 114-run victory. Initially West Indies threatened in the chase with Dwayne Smith filling the void left by Chris Gayle’s late injury but England’s quicks burst through either side of a rain delay.In some neat symmetry this was the same ground (albeit with a different name) where Bell made his only other ODI hundred – against India in 2007 – and this time he reached three figures from a lively 95 balls to suggest that the hole left by Kevin Pietersen’s retirement will not be as vast as some had envisaged. A day after suffering a suspected fractured jaw, and needing 10 stitches after being hit in the nets, there was barely a false shot in the innings until he top-edged a slower ball from Dwayne Bravo when level with his career best having played gracefully to show, yet again, that one-day cricket is not all about brute force.The opening partnership did not flourish with Alastair Cook was caught behind third ball against Ravi Rampaul but Bell ensured that the team’s recent run of ODI hundreds continued; this was the fifth match in a row that one of the openers had reached three figures after the back-to-back efforts of Cook and Pietersen against Pakistan in the UAE.England’s final total of 288 for 6 was less than they may have hoped for after 30 overs when they were 163 for 3, but was still the second highest score batting first at this venue – and England’s highest – after Craig Kieswetter produced some late boundaries along with Stuart Broad in a useful 43-run stand off 34 balls.After the early loss of Lendl Simmons, Smith’s innings included three boundaries in four deliveries against Steven Finn, the second of which was a pick-up over deep square-leg, and went past fifty off 38 balls. Longevity, though, has never been Smith’s strength and and aiming another shot through the legs side got an edge off Bresnan. In one sense he had done his job, but it was also a missed opportunity to build a long innings. Bresnan struck again in his next over when he won an lbw against Denesh Ramdin – batting at No. 3 after Darren Bravo picked up a groin injury in the field – after the wicketkeeper had lurched to 22.West Indies continued to play their shots with both Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo collecting early boundaries but as rain started to fall Finn struck in the first over of his second spell by squaring up Bravo with a full delivery. In that one moment West Indies went from being ahead of the D/L par score to being behind it. The margin became even greater when Eoin Morgan plucked out Kieran Pollard’s fierce cut at backward point. When Samuels clipped James Anderson to midwicket shortly after an hour’s delay for rain, West Indies’ last hope had gone. In total they lost 9 for 77 in 18 overs.

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• England’s 114-run win is their largest ever against West Indies in ODIs. Their previous highest is the 89-run win in Adelaide in 1987.

• The win is also England’s second-largest in Southampton after the 121-run win over Pakistan in 2010. Since 2005, West Indies have lost by a margin of 100-plus runs ten times.

• England’s total of 288 is their fifth-highest against West Indies and their second-highest against West Indies at home. The total is the joint-highest for England in ODIs in Southampton.

• Ian Bell equalled his highest score in ODIs (126) with his century. He has now scored 3360 runs at an average of 35.00.

• Bell’s 126 is the fourth-highest score by an England player against West Indies and second-highest against West Indies in home ODIs. Marcus Trescothick is on top for his 130 in 2004.

• The 108-run stand between Bell and Jonathan Trott is the second century stand for the second wicket for England against West Indies. The highest is 144 between Graeme Hick and Michael Atherton in 1995.

• Tim Bresnan’s 4 for 34 is the fourth-best bowling performance for England against West Indies. The best is Andrew Flintoff’s 5 for 19 in 2009. It is also Bresnan’s third haul of four or more wickets.

The foundation of England’s total was laid by a second-wicket stand of 108 between Bell and Jonathan Trott, Warwickshire team-mates who used their understanding well to run hard between the wickets against some lacklustre West Indian fielding. The boundaries had been pushed right to edge of the playing area in anticipation of West Indies’ power-packed batting order.After the early loss of Cook, Bell gave England momentum when he took 18 off Andre Russell’s third over which began with a sublime straight six and continued with three further boundaries around the ground. Pietersen, who tweeted support to his former team-mates during the day, could not have done it any better.Bell had a nervous moment on 23 when Rampaul was convinced he had found the outside edge but umpire Richard Kettleborough said not out. Hot Spot did not show anything on replay although Snicko suggested at a thin edge. Two balls later Bell responded with a rasping square cut as Rampaul dropped short and wide.Bell’s timing and placement was effortless, but the going was tougher for Trott who had collected an early boundary through midwicket but had to wait until the 16th over for his second when Bravo drifted into the pads. As in the final Test, Sunil Narine did not overly trouble the top order – at one stage being reverse swept by Trott – but did break the partnership when Trott was caught behind cutting.It was spin (or rather slow bowling) that continued to keep West Indies in touch when Ravi Bopara edged a cut against Samuels to end his first international innings of the season following injury. Samuels also claimed the important wicket of Morgan who chopped into his stumps after a promising start to his innings and a stand of 51 in eight overs with Bell. After a debilitating winter in all formats and an IPL spent warming the bench Morgan looked in decent form and with a far less pronounced squat at the crease than on his previous appearance. After the success of Bell, significant runs for Bopara and Morgan are the next boxes England will be looking to tick.