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Shane Watson has bluntly stated his intention to win back his Test match opening spot, irrespective of the promising union formed by David Warner and Ed Cowan in the Australian vice-captain’s absence from the XI

Daniel Brettig15-Feb-2012Shane Watson has bluntly stated his intention to win back his Test match opening spot, irrespective of the promising union formed by David Warner and Ed Cowan in his absence.Before he departed Sydney to return to first-class cricket for New South Wales against Western Australia in a Sheffield Shield match at the WACA, Watson said he would be opening the batting for the Blues as a precursor to his bid to regain that spot for the national team.While an extended injury break due to hamstring and calf problems has made Watson mindful of managing his workload this time around, the prospect of moving down the order appeared a long way from his mind.”At the moment I’m going to open the batting [in Perth],” Watson said. “I’d love to be able to open [for Australia], but that’s where I’ve had the most enjoyment as a batsman and that’s where I’ve had the most enjoyment as a batsman, that’s where my game really progressed from, with the opportunity to open the batting. That’s really where I’d love to be able to bat, no doubt.”Ed Cowan, in Test cricket especially, and Dave Warner have done a pretty good job there. It’s going to be interesting to see where things pan out but I certainly do love opening, because that’s where I’ve had most success in my international career.”The absence of Watson, the vice-captain, coincided with a rich vein of form for the Test team under Michael Clarke’s leadership, and whenever he returns, either towards the end of the triangular ODI series or in the West Indies, it will be to a vastly different dressing room from the one he left. However, Watson’s primary concern will be to find the ideal balance between his muscular batting and shrewd swing and seam bowling, something he admitted did not “exactly work” in the months leading up to his injury.”I’ll have to keep an eye on that, definitely,” Watson said. “That’s something I’ve looked at in detail over the last few months, exactly how I’m going to be able to balance what I’m trying to do and keeping my body as good as it can as well throughout the period of playing a lot of cricket.”There’s no doubt playing consistently for four months, which I did throughout that period, it just ended up my body wasn’t agreeing with what I was trying to do with it. In the end it’s meant a lot of other things have been able to regenerate and I’ve been able to reassess where I was at and the things that didn’t go exactly to plan throughout that four-month period of playing consistently – a few mistakes that I did make throughout that period of time, I certainly won’t be making them again because I wouldn’t really like to be out for another three months again because it’s very frustrating.”So I’m going to have to continue to talk to Michael and Mickey Arthur and just try and balance my workload as much as I possibly can because what happened over the last little while didn’t exactly work so I’m just going to have to stay on top of things a little bit more, I think.”Joining Watson in Perth for the Shield match starting on Friday is the Test wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who remains surplus to the requirements of the limited-overs team despite having earlier been informed that he was being rested for the first three matches. Watson said he felt Haddin had been left “in limbo”, though the wicketkeeper himself seems more comfortable with where things stand.”I actually feel sorry for Brad at the moment,” Watson said. “He’s been left in a bit of limbo unfortunately. He doesn’t know which way he’s going, whether he’s been rested or being dropped. I really do feel sorry for him because someone who’s played an important role over the last five years in all forms of the game for Australia.”I think [he] definitely deserves to be told either way what his future holds, because I know if I was in the same position I’d be pretty disappointed if you’re being left in limbo a little bit. I think they should tell him either way and that’s for Test cricket also. It’s important for him just to be able to know which direction he is going.”I’ve been in different situations when [in] selection you don’t know exactly what’s going on. But for someone who’s been a big part and been the vice-captain for Australia on a number of occasions as well, I think that’s what he deserves.”

The Indian batting emphasised why they are such a feared unit and the spinners continued to look impressive as they beat New Zealand by 117 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran at the MA Chidambaram Stadium16-Feb-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Suresh Raina’s whirlwind half-century marked a return to form after a lean patch•AFP

The Indian batting emphasised why they are such a feared unit by piling up 360 against New Zealand, despite the failures of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, two batsmen who tormented New Zealand in the one-day series three months ago, crafted a century partnership to set the base, before MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, two batsmen who are crowd favourites in Chennai for their IPL exploits, delighted the fans with brutal hitting that was frenetic even by Twenty20 standards. The final 16 overs brought a jaw-dropping 193 runs to further demoralise a struggling New Zealand outfit, who were eventually crushed by 117 runs.The Chennai crowd wouldn’t have expected such a treat when the superstar opening pair of Tendulkar and Sehwag fell within the first ten overs. It was Kohli who led the recovery initially after the loss of the two wickets, continuing to be in the fluent form that has has more or less earned him a starting place in India’s opening World Cup game at the expense of Raina. A combination of hard-hit lofted drives and delicate dinks behind square brought him a stabilising half-century.It had been run-of-the-mill stuff till the 34th over, with the bowling mostly mediocre and the batsmen mainly concerned with consolidation. The mandatory ball change in the 35th over prompted the batting Powerplay, and began an hour-long period of carnage. Gambhir started it with lap sweeps and carves over extra cover, followed by three successive boundaries off Tim Southee in the 37th to pick up 31 off 12 deliveries before nicking to the keeper.If New Zealand felt that would provide some respite, there were emphatically proved wrong by Dhoni and Raina, both of whose one-day fortunes have hit a trough in the recent past. Dhoni showed that the bludgeoner of old wasn’t gone for good, by thrashing a 61-ball century that had plenty of heaves over midwicket and power-packed drives down the ground. There were some deft placements as well from Dhoni to collect boundaries past short third man and short fine leg. Raina joined in the fun, with his patented swipes towards midwicket fetching him loads of runs in a 25-ball half-century.Jacob Oram’s bowling performance perfectly illustrated how New Zealand wilted after a solid beginning. Oram, fighting for a place in the starting XI, started the day with the massive wicket of Virender Shehwag off his first delivery. It got even better for him when he returned for his second spell; he had Kolhi poking at an extremely wide delivery that ended up as a nick to the keeper, and his figures read 7-1-30-2. The smile was off his face in his final burst, though, as Dhoni picked five successive fours off him before Raina swung him for three sixes over midwicket in four balls. Oram kicked the ground in disgust as he ended with 9-1-70-2.New Zealand began their chase spiritedly with Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill scoring quickly against the quick bowlers. As on Sunday against Australia, it was the spinners that applied the brakes for India. New Zealand had sprinted to 94 for 0 in 15 overs, when offspinner R Ashwin removed Guptill with a delivery that spun sharply and bounced, flying off the bat handle to Dhoni. McCullum was then dismissed attempting a misjudged run, before Harbhajan Singh removed the two other big names in the New Zealand batting, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor. At 147 for 5, the game was up, though New Zealand’s lower order lingered around for another 18 overs.The batting can’t be blamed for coming up short in the face of a mammoth target, but the bowling, which was taken apart on Wednesday, had shipped loads of runs in the first warm-up against Ireland as well. New bowling coach Allan Donald will have his hands full during the tournament. Taylor, who was captain in the absence of Daniel Vettori, admitted his bowlers had been too expensive. “MS Dhoni batted very well, but I think we leaked 40 or 50 too many runs on that wicket.”Dhoni will be satisfied overall with the two wins in the warm-up matches, but he won’t be getting carried away by these results, especially after India’s disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign which had begun with two massive victories in the practice matches.Taylor, though, is convinced India are clear front-runners to win the tournament this time around. “I think they have got to be the favourites by far; it’s on their home conditions, and as you saw out there, they are a very well balanced side,” Taylor said. “Spinners are going to be the key, and they have some very good spinners in Harbhajan [Singh] and R Ashwin and their part-timers also.”

Match Timeline

Shane Bond and Scott Styris have returned to the New Zealand squad for the one-dayers and the Twenty20s against Australia starting next week

Cricinfo staff19-Feb-2010The experienced pair of Shane Bond and Scott Styris have returned to the New Zealand squad for the one-dayers and the Twenty20s against Australia starting next week. The players to miss out from the pool that was picked for the recent Bangladesh series are the fast bowling pair of Andy McKay (injured) and Ian Butler.Bond comes back into the national squad for the first time since he tore an abdominal muscle during his Man-of-the-Match performance in the Dunedin Test against Pakistan last November. Australia are among Bond’s favourite opponents, particularly in the one-day format where he has 35 wickets at 14.45 in 12 matches against them, including five four-wicket hauls.”We are very happy with Shane’s progress,” Mark Greatbatch, national selector and coach, said. “He’s had five or six games now with Canterbury and club cricket and he’s ready to go.”He’s very, very excited about playing for New Zealand again in the one-dayers and Twenty20s again against Australia and has always saved his best for them so is looking forward to getting stuck in and helping us.”The other comeback man, Styris, had fared poorly in New Zealand’s limited-overs contests against Pakistan in November and was left out of the home series against Bangladesh. “Scott’s had really good domestic form,” Greatbatch said. ” We’ve asked him to go away and try and extend his game and we fell that he’s done that so he gets an opportunity in the first two one-dayer’s as part of the 13 man squad to play Australia.”The series gets underway on February 26 with the first of two Twenty20s, followed by five ODIs.New Zealand Daniel Vettori (capt), Shane Bond, Neil Broom, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Peter Ingram, Brendon McCullum (wk), Nathan McCullum, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey

Victory over Derbyshire not enough to qualify for knockouts as Hampshire’s win at Bristol denies Essex third place

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay26-Aug-2025Essex 366 for 6 (Westley 118, Benkenstein 74, Allison 64) beat Derbyshire 322 for 9 (Came 139, Montgomery 108, Critchley 3-63) by 44 runs

Harry Came’s highest List A score of 139 from 120 balls was in vain as Derbyshire Falcons lost to Essex by 44 runs in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup Group A game at the Central Co-op County Ground.But victory for Essex was not enough to qualify for the knock-out stages as Hampshire’s win at Bristol denied them a third-place finish.Came shared a second-wicket stand of 225 from 178 balls with Matt Montgomery, who made 108 off 91, but once Simon Harmer (2 for 45) broke through, the Falcons’ chase of 367 stalled as former Derbyshire all-rounder Matt Critchley claimed 3 for 63.The home side finished on 322 for 9 with all-rounder Martin Andersson unable to bat after injuring a hand in the field.Essex’s 366 for 6 was built around Tom Westley’s 118 from 110 balls, 74 off 48 by Luc Benkenstein and Charlie Allison’s 64 with Zak Chappell taking 2 for 64.Essex chose to bat on a pitch which was used for Friday’s high-scoring game against Surrey and lost Critchley in the second over.Critchley made only 2 on his return to Derby for the first time since he left the county four years ago when he missed a full length ball from Ben Aitchison.Paul Walter marked his first List A game since 2021 by flicking Rory Haydon over the deep square leg boundary and pulled the young spinner Joe Hawkins for two sixes in the 14th over.The Falcons were relieved to see him get a big leading edge to mid-off in the next over but Westley and Allison were soon finding the ropes or clearing them with regularity.After Westley went to his 50 from 60 balls, Allison reached his off 46 by dispatching Hawkins for successive sixes.Hawkins failed to cling on to a difficult chance running back from mid-off when Allison was on 57 but the Falcons broke the stand three overs later.Allison tried to drive the medium pace of Amrit Basra over cover but Caleb Jewell took a good catch above his head.Westley edged a drive at Jack Morley to reach his 100 which came off 98 balls and contained 14 fours and a six but was well caught at deep midwicket off Haydon in the 42nd over.Benkenstein initially struggled to beat the fielders but when he found his range, he did so spectacularly, driving and pulling Haydon for six to reach 50 from 38 balls.He dispatched Morley for two more sixes before a mistimed pull was taken at long on but Harmer’s unbeaten 29 off 20 balls took Essex to an imposing total.The Falcons’ chase started badly when Charlie Bennett moved one in to bowl Jewell in the third over but Came and Montgomery got them back on track.Came advanced to drive Jamie Porter for six and then Montgomery dismissed a free hit over wide long on for another maximum.Montgomery nudged Harmer to the third boundary to reach 50 from 37 balls with Benkenstein’s leg-spin coming in for some harsh treatment.Came completed his 50 off 61 balls and after 25 overs, the game was in the balance with the Falcons on 168 for 1, needing another 199.Essex were struggling to exert any control with Came driving Critchley for six, the pair reaching their hundreds in consecutive overs as the 200 stand came up off 163 balls.Harmer made the breakthrough when Montgomery dragged a drive into his stumps and four balls later he turned one through Basra’s defence.Came drove Shane Snater for six but Essex struck again when Walter’s throw from cover ran out Brooke Guest, leaving the Falcons to score 90 from the last 10 overs.Critchley gave the contest a decisive twist when he bowled Chappell and with the asking rate above 10 an over, Came was stumped to end the Falcons hopes.

Lucknow Super Giants beat the Chennai Super Kings for the second time in the space of five days

Hemant Brar23-Apr-20242:43

Why No. 3 is the best position for Stoinis at LSG

“Fortress Chepauk,” proclaimed a huge banner in CSK colours in the stands. By the end of the contest, though, Lucknow Super Giants had breached it to hand Chennai Super Kings their first defeat at home this season. It was their second loss against LSG in five days.The star of the night was Marcus Stoinis, whose unbeaten 124 off 63 balls helped LSG pull off the highest successful chase at Chepauk in T20 cricket. He was batting at No. 3 for the first time this season and achieved the target of 211 with three balls and six wickets to spare.Stoinis’ century came off 56 balls, just like Ruturaj Gaikwad’s did earlier in the night after the CSK captain lost his seventh toss in eight games. Gaikwad’s unbeaten 108 off 60 balls and Shivam Dube’s 66 off 27 powered the Super Kings to 210 for 4.CSK had looked in control for the majority of the defence. LSG needed 74 from the last five overs but Stoinis, with help from Nicholas Pooran and Deepak Hooda, silenced the Chennai crowd. The result took LSG to fourth place with ten points from eight games; CSK are fifth with eight points after eight games.

Gaikwad powers CSK

After LSG opted to bowl, Matt Henry struck in the first over. He bowled four balls on a good length, one slightly short of it, and then pitched the last one full. Ajinkya Rahane edged the drive, and with first slip wider than usual, KL Rahul dived full length to his right and completed a stunning, one-handed catch.Rahul’s athleticism, though, was followed by some shoddy fielding from LSG. In the second over, Yash Thakur dropped Daryl Mitchell off Mohsin Khan at short third. A little later, at the same position, Henry could not get his hand to a tougher chance from Gaikwad off Ravi Bishnoi.Mitchell could not take advantage of the reprieve and fell for 11 off 10 but Gaikwad did not miss out. He was on 20 when he was dropped and hit two fours off Henry in the next over. CSK ended the powerplay on 49 for 2, with Gaikwad scoring 37 off 19 balls. While the other CSK batters struggled for timing, he looked sublime and brought up his fifty off 28 balls, with seven fours.

Gaikwad, Dube take CSK past 200

Ravindra Jadeja, sent in at No. 4, got out in the 12th over for 16 off 19 balls. By that time, Gaikwad had scored 71 off 39; the other CSK batters 29 off 32.Gaikwad found an ideal partner in Dube, who also hit the first six of the innings in the 13th over. After that, there was no respite for the LSG bowlers. Given Dube’s reputation of being a spin-hitter, Rahul did not risk bringing on either Bishnoi or Krunal Pandya – both turn the ball in to Dube – for the rest of the innings.Dube showed he had improved his game against pace as well. He hit Yash for three successive sixes in the 16th over and Mohsin for two sixes and a four in the 19th.Gaikwad, too, was severe on Yash, hitting him for 6, 4, 4 off successive balls – a sequence during which he also brought up his hundred.Marcus Stoinis is mobbed by his team-mates after his match-winning century•Getty Images

LSG’s stuttering start

Deepak Chahar got the new ball to swing in both directions and had Quinton de Kock chopping one onto his stumps in the opening over. Rahul and Stoinis kept LSG on track with a flurry of boundaries before CSK struck again.Having hit a boundary earlier in the over, Rahul tried to go aerial against Mustafizur Rahman but failed to clear Gaikwad at extra cover. LSG finished the powerplay on 45 for 2.

Stoinis keeps LSG in contest

Devdutt Padikkal came in as Impact Player but struggled with timing. Meanwhile, Stoinis singlehandedly kept LSG in the contest by hitting boundaries at regular intervals. He brought up his fifty off 26 balls, with six fours and two sixes.Still, it was an uphill task. LSG needed 128 from the last ten overs, of which Matheesha Pathirana was to bowl four and Mustafizur three. Pathirana ended Padikkal’s struggle on 13 off 19 balls with a 151.4kph length ball that uprooted leg stump.

The dew effect

Dew in the second half of the game was the only reason LSG had opted to chase. They have otherwise preferred to set the target this season. The first obvious sign of dew having an impact came in the 13th over, when Tushar Deshpande bowled a beamer. Stoinis hit it for four. And when Mustafizur dug a cutter into the pitch, the ball came onto the bat nicely, and Stoinis launched it to the straight boundary off the back foot.When Shardul Thakur got the 16th over, Stoinis and Pooran knew they had to cash in, with the remaining four shared by Mustafizur and Pathirana. Pooran hit the first three balls for 6, 4, 6 and LSG eventually took 20 runs off Shardul.

Stoinis silences Chepauk

Pooran holed out to long-off against Pathirana when LSG needed 53 from 22 balls. Once again, it was all up to Stoinis. He hit Pathirana for a four before pulling Mustafizur for a six in the 18th over. Two balls later, he brought up his hundred.With 32 required from two overs, Stoinis and Hooda picked up three boundaries in the first four balls from Pathirana. It left them needing 17 from six balls.Stoinis launched the first delivery from Mustafizur over long-on before drilling the next straight back for four. Luck, too, favoured him as the next one raced past short third for another boundary. It turned out, Mustafizur had overstepped as well, which reduced the equation to two needed from four balls. Stoinis then moved across and pulled a short-of-length ball over backward square leg to complete the job.At the toss, Rahul had said that it was not easy to silence Chepauk. By the end of the day, LSG had done that too.

Prolific openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Yash Dhull also included in squad led by Abhimanyu Easwaran; Priyank Panchal misses out

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2022Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav will play for India A in Bangladesh ahead of the national team’s two-match Test series next month. The tour party will be led by Abhimanyu Easwaran, the Bengal opener.Related

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Umesh and Pujara will feature in the second four-day game leading up to the first Test in Chottogram from December 14. KS Bharat, the back-up wicketkeeper to Rishabh Pant in the main Test squad, will also link-up with the India A squad ahead of the second four-day fixture from December 6-9 in Sylhet. The first four-day match will be played in Cox’s Bazaar from November 29 to December 2.Elsewhere, there was a maiden India A call-up for Kerala’s Rohan Kunnummal, who has had a superb initiation in first-class cricket. This year alone, the 24-year-old has hit four centuries in nine first-class innings.The young and prolific pair of Yash Dhull and Yashasvi Jaiswal have also made the cut, alongside Baroda’s seam-bowling allrounder Atit Sheth, who picked up 13 wickets in three Ranji Trophy matches this year. Sheth has been around the domestic scene since 2015, but has come into his own over the last few years.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Like Kunnummal, Dhull, too, has had an impressive red-ball initiation, having already hit four first-class centuries in six matches. Dhull, India’s Under-19 World Cup-winning captain from 2022, has already hit hundreds on debut in the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy.Jaiswal has been equally prolific, becoming the joint-fastest Indian to 1000 first-class runs in September, getting to the mark in only 13 innings, equally-fastest with Amol Muzumdar and Rusi Modi. Earlier this year, he hit twin hundreds in the Ranji semi-final and backed that up with another century in the final against Madhya Pradesh. Overall, Jaiswal has five centuries and a half-century in seven first-class games at an impressive average of 84.58.The inclusion of Jaiswal and Dhull, both of whom open, meant there was no place for Priyank Panchal, the Gujarat opener, who had led India A during their previous assignment at home against New Zealand A in August-September.Tilak Varma, who gave a good assessment of himself in the first red-ball game against New Zealand A with a century, retains his place in the middle order alongside Sarfaraz Khan, another prolific run-getter in domestic cricket.Mukesh Kumar, who was the joint leading wicket-taker in the three games, also keeps his place, alongside Saurabh Kumar, the left-arm spinner. Saurabh will lead the spin-bowling unit with Jayant Yadav and Rahul Chahar, while Umesh (second game only), Navdeep Saini, Sheth and Mukesh will form the pace battery.India A squad for first four-day game: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Rohan Kunnummal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yash Dhull, Sarfaraz Khan, Tilak Varma, Upendra Yadav (wk), Saurabh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Atit ShethIndia A squad for second four-day game: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Rohan Kunnummal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yash Dhull, Sarfaraz Khan, Tilak Varma, Upendra Yadav (wk), Saurabh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Atit Sheth, Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, KS Bharat (wk)

Wetherley, McManus fifties set up hosts before Currie’s four wickets help bowl Somerset out for 100

ECB Reporters Network09-Jul-2021Hampshire climbed off the foot of the Vitality Blast South Group with a crushing 75-run victory over high-flying Somerset at the Ageas Bowl.The win was the second in succession for the Hawks, who bowled superbly to dismiss the visitors for 100 with young quick Scott Currie finishing with 4 for 24 after wicketkeeper Lewis McManus earlier hit a career-best 60 not out.Defeat for Somerset, who were without Tom Banton, Craig Overton, Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory due to international duty and injury, hinders their hopes of a top-four finish on a difficult evening where they struggled with the ball, the bat and in the field at the Ageas Bowl.Hampshire, who were also missing key men in skipper James Vince and Liam Dawson, recovered well after being 22 for 3 inside the powerplay with McManus and Joe Weatherley hitting half-centuries to help their side to a competitive score of 175 for 6.Related

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Inspired by McManus, Hampshire thumped 23 off the last two overs, taking full advantage of a sloppy fielding performance from the visitors who dropped three catches and bowled poorly after their strong start.D’Arcy Short once again failed to register a score, when he found the hands of Will Smeed off Jack Brooks for two with teenage debutante Toby Albert departing for 13 and fellow rookie Tom Prest falling for five.Jack Brooks celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

But that was as good as it got for Somerset, as Colin de Grandhomme, fresh from his 174 against Surrey earlier this week, and Weatherley rebuilt the innings.with a 52-run stand that saw the New Zealand all-rounder dropped on 17 by Tom Lammonby.De Grandhomme clubbed two sixes and stroked two boundaries for his 28 off 19 balls before chipping Lewis Goldsworthy to James Hildreth at mid-wicket.Weatherley brought up his 50 with a huge six over fine leg before falling to the very next ball, one of three shots to clear the rope in his 35-ball innings.McManus continued where Weatherley left off as he hammered 60 from just 36 deliveries before Somerset got off to a disastrous start when in-form New Zealand opener Devon Conway fell second- ball as stand-in skipper Chris Wood found the edge of his bat and McManus took a simple catch.Exciting young batsman Smeed looked in good touch with 15 runs of nine balls but his attempt to hit a big six off Brad Wheal only found the hands of Mason Crane at cover.Somerset then lost their last eight wickets for 76 runs with Currie ripping through the rest of the top order, dismissing James Hildreth and Lewis Goldsworthy before the spin of Crane and Short reduced the visitors to 70 for 6.Currie and Wheal then wrapped up the tail with Roelof van der Merwe, with 25, the only batsman to show any real resistance as the Hawks wrapped up victory with 24 balls to spare.

West Indies opener draws on great’s mental strength ahead of England Tests

Valkerie Baynes17-Jun-2020Kraigg Brathwaite has engaged the help of West Indies great Desmond Haynes as he seeks to rediscover the form that saw him narrowly miss scoring twin centuries against England at Headingley in 2017.Both opening batsmen from Barbados, Brathwaite and Haynes have worked together previously on technical components of Brathwaite’s game but, more recently, the focus has shifted to the mental side as West Indies prepare to face England in their three-Test series behind closed doors, beginning at the Ageas Bowl on July 8.”I had some words with Desmond Haynes back in Barbados,” Brathwaite said on Wednesday via video link from the team’s Manchester training base. “Me and him always had a good relationship because he was team manager for the Barbados team when I first started, so I had some chats with him. He was obviously an opener as well and that’s been very beneficial to me.”A lot of it is keeping it simple, you don’t really want to complicate it too much. It’s just simple advice, just about what he did back in the day. Three hours left in a day is always a tough period for an opener, or an hour. So it’s just mental stuff that he helped me with… he was very strong mentally.”ALSO READ: Moeen Ali back in Test frame as England name 30-man training squadBrathwaite scored 134 and 95 when West Indies chased down 322 to win the second Test at Headingley in 2017 – their first Test victory in England for 17 years – and team-mate Shai Hope became the first man to score two centuries in a first-class match at the ground with 147 and 118 not out.Since then, Brathwaite has suffered a dip in form, averaging 25.33 in his last 20 Tests. He made it into the 40s twice as West Indies defeated England 2-1 in the Caribbean 18 months ago but his failure to convert those starts, followed by even leaner returns against India and, most recently, Afghanistan has put him under increasing pressure.Brathwaite did strike some good form with the bat during the West Indies Championship, reaching three half-centuries and scoring 40 or more on three further occasions for Barbados before the competition was halted with two rounds to go in mid-March because of the Covid-19 pandemic.The absence of batsmen Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer, who opted not to travel to England during the outbreak, only adds to the expectation on Brathwaite and Hope for this series, although Brathwaite doesn’t necessarily see it that way. Nor does he give too much currency to his feats in Leeds last time West Indies toured England.”That was almost three years ago,” Brathwaite said. “Looking back at stuff I did I can obviously see things I did well, but that’s history. I have a current job to do here and I’m ready, I’m raring to go.”I’m up for the challenge… I know all the guys here can do well. I’m starting the innings and I’m just going to do my job, it’s as simple as that. I know we have a good batting line-up and everyone’s ready and raring to go, so no added pressure really.”Having said that, Brathwaite also believes that run-chase at Headingley could hold the key to success this time around for a side that, by head coach Phil Simmons’ admission, has come to rely too heavily on its bowling attack.”We’ve got to score runs,” Brathwaite said. “Once you can put runs on the board we put our team in a great position. We’ve still got to be disciplined with the ball but I think potentially, when we won the game at Headingley, we scored runs, we chased down over 300 runs, so we’ve just got to put runs on the board.””You’ve just got to be mentally strong. The last couple of series, we’ve got to be honest with ourselves, we didn’t do as good as we know we can so we’ve got to buckle down and stay disciplined. Discipline will carry you a long way, in Test cricket in the whole and then especially here in England where the ball will potentially be moving. Once you can be disciplined throughout the whole day and not just for half an hour, an hour, I think that will bring forth big runs.”Brathwaite’s discipline and patience stood out against England in the Caribbean 18 months ago, where he performed well against the seamers and the new ball, but fell to Moeen Ali three times in six innings. But he has never faced fellow Barbadian Jofra Archer, who is set to play West Indies for the first time in a Test since qualifying to represent England last year.”Jofra is quality,” Brathwaite said. “I’ve never played against Jofra, not even back in Barbados, but I look forward to the challenge. We know it won’t be easy so you’ve just got to work hard. Our net sessions are quite competitive, our guys are quite aggressive so we’re getting in shape.”

Ameen scored 52 to guide the chase after Baig and Sandhu took three-fors to dismiss West Indies for 159 in the series decider

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Feb-2019Sidra Ameen’s half-century and three-fors from Diana Baig and Nashra Sandhu led Pakistan to a four-wicket win against West Indies in the third ODI, giving the home team a historic 2-1 series victory – their first against West Indies.The win gave Pakistan two points, lifting them above West Indies to fourth place in the ICC Women’s Championship table. Pakistan now have 12 points, the same as India, but with a much inferior net run rate. West Indies remain on 11 points.The Pakistan bowlers continued their fine show from the second ODI, in which they had bowled out West Indies for 206. This time, the visitors managed only 159. Captain Stafanie Taylor opted to bat, scored 52, and even took 2 for 17, but her all-round show wasn’t enough to take West Indies through.Taylor had to walk out in the first over, Kycia Knight having been bowled by Baig off the third ball of the innings, and she stayed till the 37th over as wickets fell around her. West Indies were in a good position early on till Taylor and Deandra Dottin were batting together but Dottin’s aggressive 28 off 20 came to an end when she was run-out by Nida Dar in the eighth over.Shemaine Campbelle then joined Taylor for a 52-run stand as West Indies consolidated, but once Campbelle was caught behind off Sandhu, the innings stuttered. They slipped from 87 for 2 in the 20th over to 159 all out, losing their last eight wickets for only 72 runs. Only one other batsman – Afy Fletcher – reached double figures after that and she remained unbeaten on 21. The 21-year-old Sandhu built a stranglehold in the middle overs, taking 3 for 21 in ten overs. Baig returned to end Taylor’s 95-ball stay with a return catch, before adding one more wicket to end with 3 for 42 in eight overs.The trio of Sana Mir, Dar, and Kainat Imtiaz were also parsimonious, conceding at less than three runs per over each.Pakistan’s reply was steady, with opener Ameen’s second straight half-century guiding the chase early on. She shared useful stands with fellow opener Nahida Khan, Javeria Khan, and Dar, before falling for 52 off 107 in the 39th over. Ameen’s wicket induced a mini-wobble, as Pakistan went from 128 for 3 to 139 for 6 in the space of 22 balls, but the experienced Mir came in at No. 8 and guided the team home, hitting a boundary with the scores level to seal victory in 47.2 overs.Shakera Selman took 2 for 24 in ten overs while Taylor had a fruitful seven-over stint too. But the other bowlers couldn’t sustain the pressure as much to defend the sub-par total.

The limited-overs fixture at the venue is part of a compromise that will also see the Perth Scorchers play any Big Bash League home finals at the ground

Daniel Brettig20-Nov-2017Australia and England will play an ODI in the new Perth Stadium on January 28, the first major sporting event to be held at the venue after construction couldn’t be finished in time to host the third Ashes Test next month.Cricket Australia had initially hoped to schedule the mid-December Test at the stadium, but the governing body was disabused of that notion after the chief executive James Sutherland met with stadium management and Western Australia state government ministers in May. Its availability for the limited-overs fixture is part of a compromise that will also see the Perth Scorchers play any Big Bash League home finals at the venue (if Scorchers make the knockouts or the final, they will both be played at new stadium), after hosting all their regular season games at the WACA.”For Cricket to host the first major sporting event at Perth Stadium is a huge honour for our sport, and given it’s an Australia-England fixture, we are confident that will be able to celebrate history being made with a sold-out stadium,” Sutherland said in Perth. “Thanks must go to the WA Government, VenuesLive and the WACA for working hard to enable this to happen. The stadium is simply state-of-the-art, and a magnificent asset for the state and WA sports fans.”We very much look forward to bringing the excitement of an Australia-England ODI to Perth Stadium on 28 January.”Christina Matthews, the WACA chief executive, said the arrangement would mean a fitting handover of major cricket events from one venue to the other. “We’re extremely excited to be the first sport and first major event at Perth Stadium, which comes after close collaboration with the WA State Government and Cricket Australia to ensure a world-class, fan-first cricket experience at the new venue,” she said.”Not only will we be able to reach a larger live audience through increased capacity, the ODI will showcase the new stadium to a large global televised audience. Playing a final Ashes Test and regular BBL matches at the WACA Ground and passing the torch to Perth Stadium with an England ODI, is a fitting way to start a new chapter in WA’s cricket tale.”