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Australia international scores third ton of the season as Sussex bowlers continue to be repelled

ECB Reporters Network29-May-2019Australia batsman Marnus Labuschagne scored his third hundred of the season as Glamorgan continued their impressive fightback on a rain-shortened day of their Specsavers County Championship division two match against Sussex.Just 21 overs were possible on the third day at Hove before rain arrived with Glamorgan 218 for 1 in their second innings – still 16 behind – with Labuschagne 131 not out.Labuschagne, who made his Test debut for Australia last October, has already made 121 against Northamptonshire and 137 against Gloucestershire during his stint as Glamorgan’s overseas player and the 24-year-old hasn’t offered a chance here on a pitch which has flattened out since 15 wickets fell on the first day.Opener Nick Selman, who carried his bat in the first innings, has so far helped Labuschagne add 218 with the Glamorgan record for the second wicket against Sussex of 238, set in 1962 by Alan Jones and Tony Lewis at Hastings, now in their sights.They resumed on 137 for 1 with Labuschagne quickly adding the 23 runs needed to lodge his seventh first-class hundred, which he reached with a leg glance to the boundary off Chris Jordan. Labuschagne hit two boundaries in an over off four different bowlers and always looked to play positively.Sussex skipper Ben Brown rung the changes, using six bowlers in the 80 minutes of play before the rain arrived but neither batsman looked troubled by either the four seamers or two spinners he employed.While Labuschagne played with more freedom, Selman was happy to accumulate patiently as the partnership grew. When they came off he had faced 174 balls for his 64 with eight fours while Labuschagne has hit 22 boundaries from 190 deliveries so far. They added 81 runs in 21 overs before going off.The rain intensified during the afternoon and after two inspections umpires Paul Baldwin and David Millns abandoned play for the day at 5pm. Glamorgan still trail by 16 runs but will fancy their chances of avoiding defeat now with a day to go and maintaining their unbeaten start to the Championship campaign.

Seamer approaching his ninth Ashes with a relaxed mindset about how many Tests he plays

Andrew Miller06-Jun-2023Like a fine wine, has Stuart Broad mellowed with age? That would appear to be the impression on the eve of his ninth Ashes campaign, with his admission that he doesn’t mind when or how he is deployed in the coming five Tests against Australia, just so long as he plays his part in an Ashes-winning squad performance.At the age of 36, Broad demonstrated his enduring qualities as a strike bowler with five first-innings wickets in England’s ten-wicket win over Ireland at Lord’s last week. However, with James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood all in the running for recalls at Edgbaston, he knows there is no guarantee that he’s done enough to be in the starting line-up for the series opener next week.Such a prospect would have left Broad furious in recent years. Against West Indies in 2020, he declared himself “frustrated, angry and gutted” after being omitted for the series opener at the Ageas Bowl, despite having been England’s leading wicket-taker over the previous two years, an achievement that had led him to believe he was in possession of “the shirt”.Related

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And similarly, for the first Test of the last Ashes in Brisbane, neither Broad nor his veteran partner Anderson was selected for a series-defining nine-wicket loss, with England instead going in with a seam attack comprising Robinson, Wood and Chris Woakes, who had never previously played in the same XI.This time, however, with England boasting a record of 11 wins from 13 Tests under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, Broad says he has absolute faith in their methods and management, and will have no complaints if they decide to hold him back for a later date in the campaign.”I’m just flowing around at the moment,” Broad said, aptly enough, during a sponsor’s event for Laithwaites wine at Lord’s. “I feel really happy with how my cricket is, how life is. I feel fit, I feel fresh. Whether I play at Edgbaston, whether I play at Lord’s, Headingley … I don’t mind, I play really well at all of them.”I love playing against Australia, and whether that’s the first Test, the fifth Test, the third … I’m happy to try and strike whenever I get the chance. I think ultimately as a team we’re going to need every bowler, and we’re going to need to take 100 wickets to win the Ashes. But my ultimate aim is to be fit and fresh and playing at The Oval, because that’s the fifth, and that means I’ve done my job for the group.”It’s a far cry from his non-conformist attitude under the previous Test regime, typified by his anger at the Ageas Bowl and Brisbane, but best expressed in a memorable press conference midway through the fourth Test of that last Ashes. Facing up to another dire match situation at Sydney, he urged England to stop hedging their selection with future events in mind, adding that “if you don’t win the battle in front of you, it’s all irrelevant”.”At Brisbane I was raging. So yeah, I’ve definitely changed. And in a good way. I see my role as striking when I get the chance but also, we won’t be having interviews like the Ageas Bowl. I quite enjoy doing that but …”Broad was talking at a Laithwaites event•PR

As it happens, Broad bounced back after that Ageas Bowl snub with 16 wickets in the remaining two Tests against West Indies, including a ten-for in the series decider at Old Trafford. “Maybe that’ll be the tactic,” he joked. “Leave me out at Edgbaston so I fire up at Lord’s! But I’m very comfortable. I’m just really enjoying the environment.”The communication’s really clear, that we’re going to need everyone. It doesn’t feel like a closed shop. It’s a really addictive environment to be around, and we’re just happy for everyone’s success. So ultimately, if I only play one game and we lift the urn at The Oval, that’s a massive tick in England cricket’s box. It’s not about me, it’s about the collective. But I think I’ll play more than one …”Broad has already played ten more Tests than he might have envisaged 13 months ago, when he and Anderson were axed in the wake of England’s 4-0 Ashes loss. But the fact that England have turned their fortunes around with more or less the same set of core players is proof not only of the wizardry of the so-called Bazball mindset, but that Broad himself was right in his insistence about living in the now.”We had to change that habit of, every four years, going to the Ashes and if we lose it, tear it up and new people come in and start the process again,” he said. “It was just a cycle repeating too often.”You can’t take the emphasis off the Ashes because it’s our biggest series. You only have to be driving through service stations in the last year and it’s ‘come on guys, beat Australia’ – our country has a love affair with Ashes cricket, but as an organisation we had to get our mindset away from personnel losing their jobs if results didn’t go the way you want them to.”I think we have lived in a really healthy way in the last 12 months,” he added. “The Ashes was only mentioned for the first time in the post-match debrief against Ireland, and it was ‘it doesn’t matter what the results as long as we stick to how we play’. As long as we have kids watching and saying ‘wow that’s incredible’, then we have done our jobs.”Stuart Broad was speaking at the launch of wine merchant Laithwaites’ partnership with England cricket. For exclusive offers on great wines this summer, visit laithwaites.co.uk

“We were planning how we can get to 240 or 250 and back our bowling to defend it,” says batting coach Naveed Nawaz

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Jul-2023Yes, okay, Sri Lanka’s batting is pretty poor by big-boy-ODI standards. We have heard the arguments. The dot-ball percentages aren’t great. The top order gets out too early too often. And 300-plus scores just aren’t their thing against good bowling.In the World Cup Qualifier, though, their bowlers have kept proving themselves. Wanindu Hasaranga has rocked it. Lahiru Kumara was good (until he got injured). And Maheesh Theekshana may be the most consistent bowler Sri Lanka have.Together, they’ve refused to allow an opposition to score 200.On Friday, it’s like DJ Khaled says: Another One.Netherlands were chasing 214; they were all out for 192.”Throughout the tournament we have managed to keep every side under 200 so far,” this is Sri Lanka batting coach Naveed Nawaz extolling his team’s bowlers, because what else can he do when he has been sent to a press conference in a match in which the batters have kinda tanked.”The bowling has been good since the start of the tournament,” Nawaz said. “When things went bad at the top end, we were planning how we can get to 240 or 250 and back our bowling to defend it. Looking at the start from where we were, 213 is a good score. We would always back our bowling to defend it.”Would he ? I guess we have to take his word for it. In the last two matches, and perhaps in general over the past couple of years, the bowlers have bailed the batting out.Nawaz thinks it might happen more often in this tournament from now, especially in Bulawayo.”The square looks a bit tired now as well, and wickets are going to get slower,” he said. “The side that adapts well to the conditions and holds their nerve will have a better chance of coming out well at the end.”But Sri Lanka are not beyond admitting there are problems. In the last match they were dismissed for 245 against Scotland. Even though the surfaces were sluggish, neither seemed like an imposing total.”It’s a bit of a concern that twice in a few days our batting has collapsed,” Nawaz said. “Once [we collapsed] at the top, and once in the middle. We’ll have to regroup. We’ll have to sit down, talk about it and see how we’re going to come back in the next game.”Sri Lanka’s spinners have frequently been lead actors in the bailout crew. In this tournament, Hasaranga is by a distance the highest wicket-taker so far, with 20 dismissals to his name at an average of 10.55. In this match, he took 2 for 53.Theekshana helped to turn the match too. He took 3 for 31, and has nine wickets at 18.55 in the tournament.”The two of them have been bearing a lot of responsibility in our team,” Nawaz said of Hasaranga and Theekshana. “They’ve borne it well through the course of this tournament so far.”

Tevyn Walcott and Zachary McCaskie have replaced them in Barbados’ squad

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2021West Indies batsman Shai Hope, and his brother Kyle Hope, have withdrawn from the Barbados squad ahead of the the Regional Super50 Cup after testing positive for Covid-19. The brothers are among three players who returned positive tests, alongside Guyana’s Trevon Griffith.The players were tested on Sunday, January 24, ahead of the tournament which is scheduled to begin from February 7 in Antigua, and run until February 27. A press release from Barbados Cricket Association said that Shai and Kyle would be placed in isolation in accordance with Barbados government protocols.They have been replaced in the 15-man squad by Tevyn Walcott and Zachary McCaskie, who will both be tested before the team departs for Antigua at the end of this month.The Super50 tournament will be the first round of domestic cricket in the West Indies for the year, after the Caribbean Premier League in September 2020, which happened to be the last form of competitive cricket that Shai played. He was dropped for West Indies’ tour of New Zealand following prolonged failures in Test cricket, and wasn’t part of the T20 plans. While Shai has been among the best batsmen in the world in 50-over cricket over the last few years, the West Indies are waiting on him to show that spark in Test cricket, where he averages 26.27, about half his ODI average.Kyle, the older brother, last played competitive cricket in March 2020, before the Covid lockdowns, for Trinidad & Tobago.

England have named three uncapped players in their squad of 15 for the Women’s World T20 in the Caribbean next month

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2018England have named three uncapped players in their squad of 15 for the Women’s World T20 in the Caribbean next month, as they look to add the 20-over title to the 50-over crown that they won in memorable circumstances on home soil last year.Nottinghamshire’s Kirstie Gordon and Sussex’s Linsey Smith – both left-arm spinners with Loughborough Lightning in the Kia Super League – have been named for the first time, while the 20-year-old batsman and legspinner Sophia Dunkley is also included after impressing this season for Middlesex and Surrey Stars.Smith was a breakthrough player for Southern Vipers when they won the inaugural Kia Super League in 2016, and has continued to star for Loughborough Lightning this year, alongside Gordon, who was regularly in the wickets as they reached this year’s final.

England WWT20 squad

Heather Knight (Berkshire, capt), Tammy Beaumont (Kent), Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire), Sophia Dunkley (Middlesex), Sophie Ecclestone (Lancashire), Tash Farrant (Kent), Kirstie Gordon (Nottinghamshire), Jenny Gunn (Warwickshire), Dani Hazell (Yorkshire), Amy Jones (Warwickshire, wk), Nat Sciver (Surrey), Linsey Smith (Sussex), Anya Shrubsole (Somerset), Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire), Danni Wyatt (Sussex)

“It’s always an exciting time when any England squad is announced but especially when there are three newcomers included,” said Mark Robinson, England’s head coach.”Sophia, Kirstie and Linsey have all had outstanding summers domestically and impressed when they have been in and around the group. All three will bring something different to the squad.”Everyone is looking forward to the challenges ahead and we can’t wait to get out there and get started.”England will travel to the Caribbean without the services of Sarah Taylor, their world-class wicketkeeper-batsman, who was withdrawn from consideration last week in the ongoing management of her anxiety condition.Amy Jones has been named as the squad’s first-choice wicketkeeper in Taylor’s absence, and may vye with Lauren Winfield for an opener’s berth alongside Tammy Beaumont and Danielle Wyatt.

Though Tamim and Taskin are missing, Litton has Shakib, Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah to rely on in three-ODI series

Mohammad Isam03-Dec-20225:33

Jaffer: India need to stick with 12-13 players going into ODI World Cup

Big picture

Cricket-mad Bangladesh is currently football-mad. The ongoing World Cup is not just watched in this country, but also celebrated in every corner, dominating most conversations. The visiting Indian players were welcomed by flags of Brazil and Argentina in the buildings overlooking their training ground in Dhaka. There’s little cricket paraphernalia for what is the BCB’s first marquee home series this season. International cricket, even if it is India’s first ODI in Bangladesh in seven years, will have to jostle for space.Bangladesh have qualified for the ODI World Cup next year, but they will not want to take the foot off the gas. India, with their first-choice players back in the squad, would want to start well, and lead into their home World Cup in October next year strongly. This series, remember, is not part of the World Cup Super League, but that shouldn’t reduce the intensity.Related

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• Litton to lead Bangladesh in ODI series against India

• Many contenders but little opportunity as India ring in changes

• Injured Shami ruled out of ODIs against Bangladesh

• 'It's not the ultimate goal' – Tamim on World Cup qualification

Rohit Sharma is back as India’s ODI captain, with KL Rahul his deputy. Virat Kohli has also returned to the side. The star players’ comeback in this format indicates India are starting their preparation for the next year, after sending a second-string side to the recent tour of New Zealand.However, this also means the likes of Ishan Kishan, Rajat Patidar and Rahul Tripathi might not get as many opportunities, as the top and middle orders are loaded with big names. With Mohammed Shami ruled out of the ODIs, and several allrounders like Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar in the mix, it will also be interesting to see how India balance their side with the match being played on the slow Shere Bangla National Stadium pitch.Bangladesh will be missing the services of two star players: Tamim Iqbal, the regular ODI captain, who had earlier pulled out of the series because of a groin injury, and Taskin Ahmed, who was ruled out of the series because of a back injury.Both players have been in good form in ODIs. Tamim has led the side to direct qualification for the World Cup while scoring important runs, and Taskin is seen as the lynchpin of the pace attack these days. Litton Das, who will lead the hosts, has a major role to play with the bat, too, opening against a solid Indian bowling attack.Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli are back in the ODI side•AFP/Getty Images

Litton will have seniors in Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah to bank on, while the likes of Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali and Anamul Haque will be expected to step up in their respective roles.Mustafizur Rahman, who broke through in India’s last ODI series in Bangladesh in 2015, has to lead the attack now, sharing the duties with Hasan Mahmud and Ebadot Hossain. Mehidy Hasan Miraz has risen to the challenge this year, often proving handy when the chips are down .India would not want to take Bangladesh lightly this time, particularly at home where the hosts have not lost a bilateral ODI series since the defeat to England in October 2016. Meanwhile, Bangladesh will rely on their experienced players to get them through.

Form guide

Bangladesh: WLLWW
India: LWWLW

In the spotlight

Virat Kohli is 30 runs short of becoming the second overseas batter to get 1000 runs in ODIs in Bangladesh, where he averages 80.83. In good form in T20Is of late, there couldn’t be a better place for Kohli to get back into rhythm in ODIs after averaging 21.87 in eight games in the format this year.Litton Das has been in excellent form this year•Getty Images

Litton Das has scored 500 runs in ODIs this year while averaging 62.50. But there is an added responsibility this time, leading the side in Tamim’s absence. How he responds to the new test will be interesting to see. The Bangladesh captaincy has, of late, been quite a story.

Team news

Shakib batting at No. 3 should mitigate Tamim’s absence. It would also allow Bangladesh to play an extra batter, which will likely be Yasir Ali. Taskin is also missing, which means Ebadot could get the nod for his pace.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Litton Das (capt), 2 Anamul Haque, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Yasir Ali, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Hasan Mahmud, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Ebadot HossainWith Shami ruled out of the series, young quick Umran Malik has been called up. Unless India decide to give Kuldeep Sen a debut, it is likely that both Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar will play.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Pitch and conditions

It is going to be a typical Mirpur pitch but not the raging turner we see often in Test cricket. The Shere Bangla Stadium last hosted an ODI in May 2021, and the pitch has mostly produced scores on the higher side for the teams batting first. Dhaka is cool this time of the year, with no rain forecast.

Stats and trivia

• Litton now has the most runs (1703) in a calendar year in all formats for Bangladesh, and is the second highest in 2022 behind Babar Azam.
• Bangladesh have won only five ODIs against India since 1988. They beat India the last time when the two teams met in 2015.

Quotes

“This format is such that we play well each time at home. We’ll miss two of our main players, but we still believe that who we have with us are very capable”

India spun out New Zealand, before England edged out Australia in a nail-biter

S Sudarshanan27-Jan-2023It was heartbreak and ecstasy in equal measures in Potchefstroom as India and England made the final of the inaugural Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup to be played on Sunday. While India comfortably beat New Zealand in the first semi-final, tensions swayed one way and then the other before England edged Australia out by three runs in a low-scoring thriller.Defending 99, England fast bowlers Ellie Anderson and Alexa Stonehouse struck early before legspinner Hannah Baker’s triple-strike crippled Australia. She varied her flight and length to bowl Ella Hayward and then got enough purchase from the surface to have Australia captain Rhys McKenna caught at mid-off and trapped wicketkeeper Paris Hall three balls later to have them at 59 for 7.Ella Wilson and Milly Illingworth, batting at No. 9 and No. 10, managed to hit a four apiece towards the end to get the equation down to Australia needing four with two wickets and just shy of three overs in hand. But the latter was run out via a direct hit from Ryana MacDonald-Gay from mid-off before Grace Scrivens trapped No. 11 Maggie Clark lbw with her offspin to spark off wild celebrations.Milly Illingworth was run out off a direct-hit•ICC/Getty Images

The scene was far removed from the halfway stage when Clark, Hayward and Sianna Ginger walked back with three-fors. The script went awry for England after opting to bat, as they lost wickets at regular intervals to be placed at 29 for 4 at the end of the powerplay.The pace of Illingworth and the nagging lengths of Clark had seen the back of Liberty Heap – who has forged a successful alliance at the top with captain Scrivens – and No. 3 Niamh Holland. Offspinner Hayward inflicted further misery by breaking the back of the middle order.But Scrivens – second at present in the tournament’s list of run-scorers – held one end up even as she saw England slide to 37 for 5 in the ninth over. However, a full length ball from seamer Ginger was hard to resist for her and she holed out to Claire Moore at long-off for 20. It was only because of a 46-run eighth-wicket partnership between Stonehouse (25) and Josie Groves (15) that England had managed to get close to hundred.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

India spin out New Zealand

Earlier in the day, India’s spinners wove a web around New Zealand and kept them to 107 for 9 before a masterclass from opener Shweta Sehrawat helped them cruise to an eight-wicket win. Sehrawat scored an unbeaten 61 off just 45 balls with ten fours and was involved in a second-wicket partnership of 62 with Soumya Tiwari (26). It was her third half-century in the competition, by virtue of which she found herself atop the batting charts.This was after legspinner Parshavi Chopra, who shone with a Player-of-the-Match performance against Sri Lanka, starred with three for 20 to leave New Zealand short of par. She broke the 37-run second-wicket partnership between Georgia Plimmer and Isabella Gaze (26) by trapping the latter lbw.Only Plimmer offered some resistance with the bat with a 32-ball 35 and she was the seventh batter out with the score on 91.

Opener in the runs once more as Northants are made to work for first-day wickets

ECB Reporters Network05-Sep-2022Hampshire 229 for 5 (Organ 71) vs Northamptonshire
Felix Organ continued his fine form with 71 as LV= Insurance County Championship title-chasing Hampshire batted out a truncated even day with Northamptonshire.Opening batter Organ ended the Royal London Cup with 54 in the semi-final against Kent Spitfires, having scored 72, 118, 41 and 65 in his last four Championship matches.He also almost single-handedly helped his club side, Winchester-based St Cross Symondians, to the ECB Southern Premier League title on Saturday with a masterful 135, in addition to four wickets.Against Northamptonshire, he put on fifty stands with Joe Weatherley and Nick Gubbins to take Hampshire to 229 for five at close – with Jack White claiming two for 35.Organ started the season batting at No.7, in the team predominantly for his off-spin option in the fourth innings.But after Weatherley damaged his finger in the slips against Lancashire, he was promoted to open – his more familiar position – and immediately made an impact with a century.He slumped with a lean spell but arrived in this match averaging 46 in his previous seven innings.Having been put in by Will Young on a green-tinged wicket and seen his opening partner Ian Holland edge to second slip to the first ball he faced, Organ faced a great deal of pressure.But the 23-year-old was compact with the ball nipping around, with Ben Sanderson particularly finding good subtle movement to find the outside edge of Weatherley’s bat to again find Emilio Gay at second slip.Organ set up deep in his crease with an off-stump guard, and knew exactly where his stumps were, even if there were regular plays and misses from either end either side of the early lunch – with rain and bad light eventually lobbing 34 overs off the day.He particularly peppered the off side although his fifty came up with a sumptuous straight drive off 88 balls.With him, Gubbins and James Vince showed moments of their carefree nature but failed to capitalise on solid starts.Luke Procter entered the attack, got cut for four by Gubbins but found movement in off the seam to bowl the left-hander for 23, while Vince was caught behind for 19.Organ eventually departed when he failed to move his feet to White and feathered off the under-toe of the bat to Ricardo Vasconcelos.But Liam Dawson and Aneurin Donald briskly put on 62 unbeaten runs, with the latter often showing glamour with his driving ability before the light worsened to end play just after 6pm.Hampshire are hoping to get a jump of title rivals Surrey in this round of fixture, but the forecast is not looking too kind to their bid for a first Championship since 1973.

Dynamites were restricted to 116 for 9 in pursuit of 137, a batting performance that was a far cry from their big-hitting ways in their last four games

The Report by Mohammad Isam16-Jan-2019
How the game played outRajshahi Kings broke Dhaka Dynamites’ four-match winning streak, successfully defending a total of 136 for 6 as Arafat Sunny took extraordinary figures of 3 for 8 from his four overs, including the scalps of Andre Russell and Shakib Al Hasan.Dynamites were restricted to 116 for 9, a batting performance that was a far cry from their big-hitting ways in their last four games when either their openers, or allrounders, made a big score.When the Kings batted first, Marshall Ayub top scored with 45 off 31 balls, with three fours and two sixes. It was his first BPL match since the 2013 tournament.But the Kings’ middle-order couldn’t take advantage of the start provided by Ayub and Nafees, as Sunil Narine grabbed three wickets to stifle the middle order.Turning points– Nafees and Ayub put on 75 runs for the second wicket in just 8.5 overs, a refreshing performance from two batsmen known more for their exploits in the longer versions of the game.- Kings made only 27 runs in their last five overs, losing three wickets.- Ryan ten Doeschate and substitute Soumya Sarkar combined to take Kieron Pollard’s boundary line catch, to leave Dynamites seven down and send back the team’s last remaining hope in their chase.Star of the daySunny’s first ball had Russell, promoted to No 3, caught at mid-on before he bowled Rony Talukdar with an arm-ball. When he had Shakib caught at the deep midwicket boundary, the Kings’ celebration said a lot about how crucial they felt the wicket was to their chances.The big missUmpiring errors continued in the BPL with the third umpire in this game judging ten Doeschate not out when the Snickometer (or UltraEdge) clearly showed a spike when the ball was passing his gloves in the 12th over of the Kings’ innings. Ten Doeschate was initially given not out by the on-field umpire too.Where the teams standKings join Comilla Victorians and Chittagong Vikings with six points, while the Dynamites remain on top of the points table with eight points from five games.

Mushfiqur and Mominul had made only 59 and 13 runs respectively in the two Tests in South Africa

Mohammad Isam10-May-2022Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh batting coach, has backed Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque to return to form in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Chattogram next week. Mushfiqur and Mominul had made only 59 and 13 runs respectively in the two Tests in South Africa.In fact, Mominul had the personal-worst two-Test series of his career in South Africa, which extended his lean patch that began during the home Test series against Pakistan last year. Mominul has had only three-double figure scores in 12 innings since last November. As for Mushfiqur, he has made only 76 runs in his last three Tests, leaving Siddons with his hands full during Bangladesh’s short training camp in Chattogram in the lead-up to the Test that begins on May 15.”Every batsman goes through patches where they don’t make runs,” Siddons said. “I am really confident that he will make runs out here this week. I have seen some really good signs, the way he is hitting it in the last two days. We worked on a couple of little things with him. I think he is going to have a successful series.Related

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“Mominul has nine [seven] centuries in Chittagong. This week is another chance to make another couple. He loves this ground. We are just trying to get him ready to go. He is very confident.”Siddons produced a robust defence of Mushfiqur after questions were raised about the senior players’ future in a recent Nazmul Hassan press conference. The BCB chief didn’t mention Mushfiqur, but it resulted in some speculation around Mushfiqur’s career.”I think Mushy is only focused in the next two Tests,” Siddons said. “I don’t think he is worried about his career in any format. I think he is worried about making runs for us in these two Tests. He is quite successful in white-ball cricket.”Good players can have moments when they don’t make runs, and then bounce back. That’s why they are great players. Mushy is a very successful Test player. He keeps making runs. He might have a period like South Africa, and then he will bounce back again.”Overall too, Bangladesh’s batting is a cause for worry. Siddons said that appearances in the Dhaka Premier League and the short camp in Chattogram will be enough for the players to prepare for the Test series. He added that they have had a lot of discussion about Bangladesh’s batting, particularly around building on good starts in the first innings.”South Africa was a long tour. It was a successful tour in my opinion because of the one-day team. Probably [we] didn’t play great Test cricket. We will have good and bad days in cricket. We had a couple of bad days that made us look quite bad. I thought we played some really good cricket in those Tests. Taijul [Islam] gets a nine-for, [Mahmudul Hasan] Joy gets a great hundred, very early in his career. We had some really great starts in the first innings, we didn’t play great in the second innings. The real focus is to make bigger first-innings scores.”