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With a year to go for the World Cup, the India A coach believes his players are progressing well enough to serve as excellent back-ups to the senior team should the need arise

Alan Gardner at The Oval03-Jul-2018Rahul Dravid, the India A coach, has hailed the “bench strength” being developed for the senior side ahead of next year’s World Cup after his players secured victory in the tri-series final on Monday. Led by a strong bowling performance and Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 64, India A overturned England Lions’ home advantage for the second time in a week to make it four wins in a row and take the trophy.

Dravid on India in England

“It should be an interesting series. The India batting line-up has been here before, which should give them a lot of confidence. Hopefully the bowlers, if they can keep them fit, we’ve got a very good attack; the spinners have been here before, too. India is well placed to do well, but make no mistake, England in these conditions are a very good side. I’m hoping for a great series.”

Victory at The Oval had several authors, as has been the case all series. Deepak Chahar claimed 3 for 58, including a wicket with the new ball and that of Sam Hain, the Lions centurion; Khaleel Ahmed also picked up three wickets, while only Krunal Pandya, who removed Liam Livingstone for 83, went at more than a-run-a-ball. Pant then sealed the chase with a sprightly half-century, after 40s from Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer laid the platform on a sometimes-tricky pitch.Overall, India A had four hundreds by three batsmen – Agarwal, with two, was second only to Hain in the run-scoring charts – and four players averaging more than 50. They also piled up a record 458 for 4 in a warm-up match against Leicestershire. With the ball, Chahar claimed 10 wickets at 14.70, while Shardul Thakur, Khaleel and Axar Patel also impressed in unfamiliar conditions.With the 2019 World Cup taking place in England, Dravid said he had been encouraged by the strides the team had made after losing to the Lions in the opening match of the tri-series at Derby last week.”A lot of these tours aren’t necessarily about winning, but I think the quality of cricket we’ve played throughout this tournament – except for the first game where we didn’t bat particularly well – has been really good,” Dravid told ESPNcricinfo. “A lot of the boys have had their first-time exposure to these conditions; we tried to rotate the squad as much as we could and give everyone decent opportunities.”It’s been quite satisfying, some good performances. A tough game today as well, we had to fight back with the ball and the bat – so good to see them fight, good to see them compete in these conditions. Definitely some positives, as well as seeing some of the boys get into the national side as well, irrespective of the result.Rahul Dravid watches the India A side•Getty Images

“Especially with the World Cup in a year’s time, it’s nice to have bench strength, for the selectors to know there are good young players if the situation does arise. It’s nice to replicate this experience leading into the World Cup, to give these boys some exposure in these conditions.”Chahar, who claimed career-best List A figures of 5 for 27 against West Indies A following an impressive IPL, and Krunal have already been rewarded with maiden calls to the full India squad, for the T20I series against England starting on Tuesday. Dravid was particularly pleased with the performances of the team’s pace attack during the tri-series, which he suggested had matched that of the Lions, notably in the final and in their 102-run win in Leicester.”There’s a good bench strength being developed and I think it gives people a lot of confidence that there are players, if the situation arises, who are in good touch and playing well,” Dravid said. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve done really quite well in white-ball cricket at this level, built up quite a few players – so that’s a good thing for Indian cricket.”All the quicks were really good, we rotated the four of them and all of them had their moments and did well in the series. I think we’ve got a really strong bowling attack at the moment, with the India side, a lot of variation and depth, and it’s nice to see we’ve got another batch there in case of injuries. Especially with the fast-bowling department, you need back-ups and people who can come in – we’ve got Deepak and Shardul [in India’s last series before this tour] joining the national team due to injuries. It’s good to see the fast bowlers coming through and almost out-bowl some of the English seamers in these conditions, which is a really good sign for us.”

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir underscored the importance of a match-winner like Sunil Narine, whose ingenious bowling and big-hitting abilities, overwhelmed Kings XI Punjab in the first match at the Eden Gardens this season

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Apr-2017With 87 wickets over six seasons, the most in the IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders, there is little doubt over Sunil Narine’s importance to the franchise. On Thursday, however, promoted to the opening slot for the first time in the IPL, Narine smacked an 18-ball 37 against Kings XI Punjab, showing a facet of his game that his captain Gautam Gambhir believes has been largely underestimated so far.”A lot of them underestimate Sunil’s batting prowess,” Gambhir told . “Having Sunil in the side is always a luxury with his quality of bowling and as someone who can hit the big ball.”It wasn’t the first time that Narine opened the innings in the T20 format: he did so in three matches for the Melbourne Renegades in the 2016-17 season of the Big Bash League, tallying 37 runs. His big-hitting ability was also on display during the Pakistan Super League earlier this year, where he struck 11 sixes in eight matches and finished the tournament with a strike rate of 181.25, the second-highest overall.Gambhir lauded Narine for taking pressure off him in the chase of 171, which ended with Knight Riders winning by eight wickets. Narine’s blitz helped propel Knight Riders to 76 for 1 in the Powerplay, which was among the fastest starts in the IPL and Knight Riders’ best score in the first six overs. He had a good day with the ball too, conceding 19 runs in four overs for one wicket.”With Narine on the other side, I knew there was someone who is going to go hard at the bowlers and score runs at will, that too, at each and every delivery,” Gambhir said. “Some of the batsmen should be really proud of the way he batted. Look at some of the shots he played; I need to take tips from Narine to hit big sixes.”Narine, who was reportedly given an extended net session on the eve of the match, said that batting as an opener gives him the freedom to play his shots without inhibitions.”I did spend a lot of time at the nets. Today I was asked to bat at the top and I took the opportunity with both hands,” Narine said. “I loved batting with Gambhir at the top tonight. Batting in that position, I get the freedom to express myself and go for my shots and give the kind of start the team wants.”Gambhir stated that giving Narine an extended run as an opener remains a possibility if the move works well going forward but he was pleased at the depth Narine’s big-hitting added to the Knight Riders’ line-up.”If it keeps working, we will see Narine at the top,” Gambhir said. “When he bats at No.8, he hardly gets any deliveries to bat with just some tail-enders left. If this move does work well going forward, it is going to be a great advantage for us. We have a batting line-up that boasts of hitting the big ball and are attacking players. With Sunil going all guns blazing, it just lengthens our batting line-up.”My job is to keep batting as long as I can at one end with Narine going berserk at the other end. With that, I know that there is Narine and then the rest of the batting to follow.”

New Zealand’s coach Mike Hesson has expressed his disappointment that the Basin Reserve pitch offered little seam movement for the fast men after the first session

Brydon Coverdale in Wellington16-Feb-20161:46

‘We were thoroughly outplayed’ – Hesson

New Zealand’s coach Mike Hesson has expressed his disappointment that the Basin Reserve pitch offered little seam movement for the fast men after the first session of the match. In the lead-up to the Test it was at times hard to determine which strip on the pitch square was to be used, such was the consistent grass cover, but Hesson said he would have liked it “much greener than it was” on match morning.The toss proved significant as Steven Smith called correctly, sent New Zealand in and Australia rolled them for 183 before tea. Although New Zealand picked up a couple of early wickets in Australia’s first innings the pitch flattened out much quicker than many of the players expected, and the Australians were able to go on and post 562 in their only innings.”I would’ve liked this to be much greener than it was,” Hesson said on Tuesday. “It certainly only seamed for two hours and I think that meant that both sides weren’t able to be exposed in those conditions. It’s a bit different when it seams for two hours, it makes the toss a little bit more important.””Ideally you want both sides to have a bit of a crack at it if it does seam. You look at the wickets we lost in the first session they were all from good length deliveries and they were able to get the ball to move off the straight and expose some of our techniques. That’s something we’d like to think if we were in a similar situation we’d be able to do something similar.”We had four guys out defending in the first hour. I don’t think that’s mental error; there are times that you have to accept that they put the ball in good areas, the ball seams you’re going to nick it. When the ball seams you do end up playing a little bit wider than you’d like to. We certainly did that in the first hour or so.”However, Hesson acknowledged that it was up to the batsmen to work out a way of coping in the seaming conditions, given the likelihood of a similar pitch in Christchurch on Saturday for the second Test. Although the New Zealand top order performed better in the second innings in Wellington, including with an 81-run opening stand, by then Australia were too far ahead in the match.”We faced different conditions throughout the match,” Hesson said. “We were challenged in the first session and if we were able to get through three down instead of five, possibly things could have been a little bit different. That’s something we’re going to have to get right in the next Test because likely we’ll face conditions that will seam as well.”The other notable factor in the second innings was the reverse swing that Australia’s fast bowlers managed to master early in the innings. The uncertainty that it created in the minds of the New Zealand batsmen contributed to the downfall of Kane Williamson, who was so productive in the recent Test series in Australia but made only 16 and 22 in the Wellington Test.”When you’re getting it to swing both ways that’s a challenge,” Hesson said. “Batsmen were talking about it a lot yesterday afternoon in terms of different ways to combat it. Kane’s better than most in terms of being able to adjust his game but when the ball reverses both ways it’s challenging and you need to think about what is the most challenging delivery – the ball that’s attacking your stumps or the one going away.”Every player has a slightly different technique on that. To be fair in New Zealand you don’t get a lot of reverse swing 18 overs into a game on day three. It’s something we face a heck of a lot more on the subcontinent than something we do here.”

Virat Kohli believes a young India side have done a “brilliant” job of handling the transition in the absence of several senior players

Liam Brickhill in Harare23-Jul-2013For most cricket teams, losing a generation of legends in a short space of time would be disastrous. Australia, seemingly stuck in an infinite rebuilding loop, are still reeling from the departure of their greats. Not so India. In barely more than two years, India’s World Cup-winning side has been chopped, shopped and rendered barely recognizable, but their new school is ready and waiting to take up the mantle.”If you have such big players going out of the team suddenly, you do feel a little weird initially but it’s all about how you pick it up and the guys have done a brilliant job in that,” said Virat Kohli on the eve of his first full series as India’s (albeit temporary) captain. “A transition is never easy, and the guys have taken up the responsibility.”You see Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan stepping into the shoes of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. It’s not an easy task but they’ve batted beautifully for us the last two months, and that’s been one of the main reasons for our success.”Suresh Raina captained the last India side to visit Zimbabwe, in 2010, and while he remains a fixture in the one-day side his potential as a future leader appears to have waned. A similar fate is unlikely to befall Kohli, who set off on the path that has brought him here a decade ago as a precocious 14-year-old captain in the Polly Umrigar Trophy. He was put in charge of India sides at Under-15 and U-19 level, and there is a sense of destiny being fulfilled in his current apprenticeship to the India captaincy.He showed in the recent tri-series in the Caribbean, however, that he still has a lot to learn and readily admitted that he found that assignment, in the absence of the injured MS Dhoni, rather tough. “It was a good experience for me in the West Indies, although I was stepping in between games so it wasn’t that easy because I field in every position when I’m playing under MS and it’s very hard to analyze where the fielders are, what angles they’re standing at, what bowlers to rotate when because you’re focussing on just stopping the ball and giving your 100% in the field.”In Zimbabwe, he’ll have a clear five matches against modest opposition to hone his skills and learn how best to balance instinct and strategy in the heat of the moment, as every good captain must. Kohli will be helped by the presence of six of the players who toured in 2010, as he did, and have some experience of mid-winter conditions in Zimbabwe, when the pitches are dry, the sun dips below the horizon early and the toss can become vitally important.There’s also the small matter of Duncan Fletcher and Trevor Penney’s presence on the coaching staff. Both men were born in Zimbabwe, and have built reputations as two of the finest coaches going around.”Guys who have played here before have shared that input, but Duncan has been a great help, not just for this series but overall since he’s been coach,” Kohli said. “He had really difficult times initially and was criticised a lot, but he’s stuck with the team and stayed strong and we’ve seen the results now. We’re really benefiting from all the experience he has – he has the best cricketing brain in the world and just has so much knowledge about the game.”Him and Trevor Penney are both really excited to be here because they haven’t been here for a while, so it’s a good feeling to have both of them who’ve played here, helping us in that department.”India’s squad has, potentially, five ODI debutants but Kohli downplayed the importance of experience, given the sheer amount of short-format cricket being played these days. “I don’t think experience matters so much in one-day cricket, because we’ve played so much in the IPL back home that we know how to play in different situations. I think that’s helped in a big way as far as limited-overs cricket is concerned.”All the players in the team are quite young right now, and our careers are building up together. I think it’s really exciting for Indian cricket, especially in the one-day format, that 15 players can sort of grow up together in international cricket. It’s really important to have a strong bond in the team, and we have that right now.”

A five-wicket haul from Charlie Shreck and an unbeaten half century from Rob Key put Kent in a strong position in the County Championship Division Two promotion clash with Derbyshire at Derby.

03-Aug-2012
ScorecardCharlie Shreck’s five wickets put Kent on top against Derbyshire•PA Photos

A five-wicket haul from Charlie Shreck and an unbeaten half century from Rob Key put Kent in a strong position in the County Championship Division Two promotion clash with Derbyshire at Derby.Shreck took 5 for 41 as Derbyshire were skittled for 133 in reply to Kent’s first innings 265 and then Key made 63 out of his side’s 93 for 3 to build a lead of 226 at the end of the second day.Kent added another 27 runs for their last two wickets with Matt Coles driving the second ball of the day from Wes Durston for six before sweeping the fourth into the hands of deep mid-wicket to give Derbyshire a third bowling point.Kent’s bowlers then took charge by blowing away Derbyshire’s top order before lunch. Skipper Wayne Madsen went in the second over when he edged Shreck to second slip and the big fast bowler claimed the prize wicket of Australian Test batsman Usman Khawaja who drove at a wide ball and gave James Tredwell a second catch.Shreck struck again in his next over when Matt Lineker edged to first slip and Coles then removed Dan Redfern who was caught low down at gully first ball.A dreadful morning for Derbyshire ended with Durston trapped lbw to Davies as he played across the line to leave the home side in deep trouble on 51 for 5 at lunch.They lost another wicket immediately after the interval. Richard Johnson was lbw to Darren Stevens with no addition to the total and, after play was held up by rain, Jon Clare top-edged a pull at Davies and was caught by Geraint Jones, running backwards.Derbyshire were in danger of falling short of the follow on target of 116 when Tony Palladino was caught behind flashing at Stevens but David Wainwright and Tim Groenewald at least avoided that indignity before Shreck returned to wrap up the innings.Kent took a lead of 133 into their second innings but they quickly lost Sam Northeast who was lbw to Palladino in the fifth over and Ban Harmison failed again when he was pinned in front by Palladino for five.When Mark Turner beat Brendan Nash for pace, Kent were 43 for 3 but Key, who was getting well forward to counter any swing, reached fifty from 78 balls and looked in command at the close of an excellent day for his side.

Even Mark Ramprakash struggled to bring a semblance of common sense batting to County Championship proceedings at The Oval,

11-Jul-2011
ScorecardEven Mark Ramprakash struggled to bring a semblance of common sense batting to County Championship proceedings at The Oval, where another 15 wickets fell on a helter-skelter second day.Having dismissed Kent for 250 to gain a first-innings advantage of 137, Surrey then stumbled to 138 for 7 by the mid-point of a second division match played more like a Twenty20 bash than a conventional Championship tussle.Despite reasonable batting conditions and the fact Kent are without three frontline bowlers, the wicket count continued to blossom as Surrey lost their first four leg before to ill-disciplined shots.Openers Rory Hamilton-Brown and Jason Roy both fell to on-loan Hampshire seamer David Balcombe, who later returned to have Tom Maynard caught behind.First innings century-maker Zander de Bruyn played around a rare straight one from Robbie Joseph, while Ramprakash perished for 20 after an uncharacteristic rush of blood and an attempted legside flick against left-armer Ashley Shaw.Surrey’s demise continued late in the day when occasional leg-spinner Joe Denly snared Steven Davies (39) and Gareth Batty without scoring as Kent restricted the home lead to 275.Having resumed at the start of the day on a perilous overnight position of 26 for 2 – still 361 in arrears – Kent appeared hell-bent on following on.They lost four wickets for 35 runs in the morning session as Sam Northeast played outside the line of a Stuart Meaker off-cutter that brushed off stump then, in Meaker’s next over, Martin van Jaarsveld edged low to first slip to go without scoring.Visiting captain Rob Key walked across his stumps working to leg against Tim Linley to go leg before then Darren Stevens padded up to the same bowler to make it 87 for 6 . Seventh-wicket partners Alex Blake and Geraint Jones both enjoyed good fortune and Blake would have gone for a duck had Hamilton-Brown held on to a sharp low chance at slip.As it was, the pair flourished to set a new seventh-wicket record stand against Surrey, beating the 132 posted by George Collins and Jack Hubble at The Mote in Maidstone in 1926 by six runs.They took Kent to the brink of avoiding the follow-on before Jones, on 61 from 100 balls, aimed a reverse sweep against off-spinner Batty only to balloon a bat-pad catch to Roy at short leg.Ten runs on, Wahab Riaz mowed a good length ball from Batty to cow corner but picked out Ramprakash, bringing in Balcombe who forced through the covers for four to ensure Surrey would bat third.Two balls later Balcombe lost his off stump to a Chris Tremlett yorker and only four short of his second championship century, Blake then tossed his own wicket away. Turning for two against the deep cover fielder Roy, he was sent back by last man Shaw to be run out at the non-striker’s end.

Italy got to a winning start in the European Under-17 Division Two Championships with a thumping victory against Belgium. France, Spain and Isle of Man also registered wins on the opening day.

Cricinfo staff28-Jul-2010
Scorecard
The tournament gets underway in Castletown•ICC/Cricket Europe

Italy got to a winning start in the European Under-17 Division Two Championships with a thumping victory against Belgium on the opening day. The Belgians had beaten Italy in the final of the previous edition of the tournament, but this time they were not given a chance by the clinical Italians.Captain Roshendra Abeywickrama set up the win with an accomplished 76 off 98 balls and he was supported well by Abdulla Al Noman Chowdhury and Jakub Peret who struck 30s. Italy finished with 214 for 5 in their 40 overs. Abeywickrama continued to torment Belgium with the ball, removing Shamin Shah for a duck early. Mohammad Adnan struck a double blow after some resistance from Robert Sehmi after which there was no respite for Belgium. They slid to a sorry 76 all out in 21.4 overs.
Scorecard
Hosts Isle of Man made a confident start to the tournament with a 66 run victory over Germany in Tromode. Openers Adam MacAuley and Carl Wagstaff built a solid platform with their 91 run stand after which there was no looking back. MacAuley struck a pleasing 53 off 68 balls as the hosts reached 180 in their 37 overs. Germany’s reply came unstuck against some persistent bowling from Robert Hester who finished with four wickets. Opener Krishna Cholleti resisted with 34, but it was not enough as Germany slid to 114 all out.
Scorecard
Spain were made to work hard by Switzerland before sealing a 38-run win in Crosby. Himesh Parikh and George Gaillet questioned Spain’s decision to bat first by reducing them to 51 for 4. Charlie Cook then turned the tables with a 46-ball 59 to turn the heat back on Switzerland, as Spain finished with a respectable score of 176. Switzerland’s reply was stunted by a fiery spell from Ben Girling who scalped six wickets. Ali Saleem tried to hold one end up, with 43 off 73 balls, but without support from the other end, as his side were bowled out for 138.
Scorecard
France steamrolled Gibraltar by 222 runs in St John’s in the most one-sided match on the opening day. Gibraltar lost the initiative almost as soon as they invited France to bat after winning the toss. William Smati and Avishka Liyanaarachchi cashed in with lively 60s and received good support from the rest of the cast as France amassed 278. Zain Zahir’s opening burst reduced Gibraltar to 9 for 3 and ended the match as a contest early. Zika Ali then came on to run through the middle and lower order and finish with dream figures of 5 for 3 in four overs as Gibraltar were shut out in the 22nd over for 56.

Ferguson picked up the injury during the T20I against Sri Lanka on Sunday in Dambulla, where he claimed a hat-trick

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2024Lockie Ferguson will be flying back to New Zealand after picking up a calf injury in their series-levelling T20I victory over Sri Lanka in Dambulla. The 33-year-old fast bowler has been ruled out of the ODI leg of the tour which begins with the first of three matches on November 13.Ferguson was only just returning from injury – a different one, right hamstring – and was heavily involved in changing New Zealand’s fortunes, his hat-trick helping them defend a total of 108 as they came back from 0-1 down to share the spoils.An NZC release said he felt some discomfort while bowling his second over of the chase on Sunday. Ferguson left the field thereafter and was unable to take any further part in that T20I, although he did return to pick up the Player-of-the-Match award. He has been ruled out of the rest of the Sri Lanka tour based on initial assessments and is scheduled to undergo scans upon arriving in New Zealand to ascertain the full extent of the damage. Adam Milne has been called into the squad as Ferguson’s replacement and will arrive in Dambulla on Tuesday.”We’re gutted for Lockie,” New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said, “He showed in the space of just two overs what an asset he is with the ball and he’s also brought a lot of leadership to this group, so he’ll be a big miss heading into an important ODI series for us. To be ruled out so early in a tour is always tough to take, but we’re hopeful his recovery will be short and he’ll be back out on the field in no time.”Adam is a like-for-like replacement who brings genuine pace and plenty of international experience, so we’re looking forward to welcoming him into the group.”Ferguson has played one Test, 65 ODIs and 43 T20Is for New Zealand since making his debut in December 2016. He has been one of the team’s first-choice picks in white-ball cricket, a status he underlined by recording his country’s sixth T20I hat-trick. New Zealand will now be relying on a relatively inexperienced seam-bowling attack, although Milne’s inclusion – 49 ODIs and 53 T20Is played – does offset that a little. Milne will join Jacob Duffy and Nathan Smith to make up the team’s frontline seam-bowling options with support from allrounders Zakary Foulkes and Josh Clarkson.New Zealand are on the back end of a long tour of the subcontinent which began with a washed-out Test against Afghanistan in early September. That was followed by a 0-2 loss to Sri Lanka a few weeks later and a 3-0 win over India in India earlier this month.

October 15, the original date for the match, is the first day of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, so the game could now be played a day before on October 14

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Jul-2023In a move that could impact the overall ODI World Cup schedule, the BCCI is considering moving the most high-profile match of the tournament – India vs Pakistan in Ahmedabad – from October 15 to October 14.The reason for the change, ESPNcricinfo has learned, is that October 15 is also the first day of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, and the local police has told the BCCI that it would find it difficult to take care of security on the day.It is understood that the BCCI has alerted the ICC about the issue, but no concrete decision has been taken yet. The BCCI is expected to have a meeting with all the state associations that are hosting World Cup matches on July 27 before a final call is taken.Related

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The original World Cup schedule has October 14 down as a double-header day: England play Afghanistan in a day match in Delhi and New Zealand play Bangladesh in day-night game in Chennai. Incidentally, there are no triple-headers scheduled, though there are two matches on six days.India, who open their World Cup campaign on October 8 with a game against Australia in Chennai, would have also played Afghanistan on October 11 in Delhi before the game against Pakistan, while their next fixture is against Bangladesh on October 19 in Pune.As for Pakistan, they play Netherlands in Hyderabad on October 6, the second day of the tournament, and Sri Lanka on October 12, also in Hyderabad, before playing India, followed by their fourth game, against Australia in Bengaluru on October 20.Therefore, in case the game moves to October 14, Pakistan will have just a day between their games in Hyderabad and in Ahmedabad, while India will have two days’ gap.The development comes roughly a month after the BCCI announced the World Cup schedule, which itself was severely delayed. While the BCCI has not yet announced any information on when matches tickets will go on sale, fans and other stakeholders have already booked flights and hotels in Ahmedabad for the match, which has historically been one of the most watched sporting events globally.