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Manipur's homegrown heroes prepare for life in the Elite lane

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The northeastern state has barely any cricket infrastructure, but its players have fought their way to promotion

Himanshu Agrawal23-Jan-2023The state of Manipur, in the northeastern corner of India, has a rich history and tradition in sport; even the state’s current chief minister, N Biren Singh, is a former Border Security Force footballer. But amid all the success in boxing, weightlifting and football, cricket has barely had any presence.It is still, as Rajkumar Imo Singh, the president of the Manipur Cricket Association (MNCA) puts it, “in its infancy stage”. But infants grow quickly. Manipur have made the final of the Plate Division of the Ranji Trophy, where they will meet Bihar starting January 25, and have earned a promotion to the Elite Division next season. Manipur have done this with barely any infrastructure – their “home” games were played in Gujarat – and with a team full of homegrown players.”We have a team born and bred in Manipur – a totally indigenous team,” Imo tells ESPNcricinfo. “With the talent we have, we pushed forward only those who are actually from Manipur.”It was only before the 2018-19 season that nine new teams – including Manipur and five others from the Northeast – gained full-time BCCI membership. Until then, these associations received vastly less funding from the BCCI than the older full members. Though this has changed, Manipur continues to lag behind in infrastructure, grounds and support staff. That the wet weather in the state lasts five or six months a year doesn’t help either.But there is talent, and that talent is learning on the job.”The key is to keep it simple,” says Rakesh Sharma, Manipur’s coach – he formerly played for and coached Oman. “If we feed them with too much information or even stats, they might get confused.”Rakesh takes the example of the successful chase of 337 against Sikkim in the Plate semi-finals.”I broke it down into blocks of 50 runs each because 337 is a huge target. The boys kept believing, and kept growing in confidence as the chase moved on.”We played friendly matches in the build-up [to the Ranji Trophy]. Special thanks to our trainer [Raajoo Bhatkal], who keeps pushing them, since our players barely play ten matches a year. But they have played so much in the last five months that their bodies have taken a lot of load. Our physio has also worked very hard to make them match-ready.”The floodlights at the Luwangpokpa Cricket Stadium in Imphal are soon to be inaugurated•Manipur Cricket AssociationBefore the start of the Ranji season, camps in Noida helped players develop their fitness for four-day matches. Simultaneously, the focus was on developing the right environment for players to prosper no matter the problems they faced.Ronel Singh, the MNCA secretary, says the players gelled well because most of them had played together over he last few seasons.”My priority was strong team bonding,” Ronel says. “We emphasised on players below 30 years of age. We told them, ‘You will be given ample opportunities to showcase your skill’.”While he’s proud of what the players have achieved, Ronel sees room for improvement. “We seem to be low on patience with the bat,” he says. “We are almost always in T20 mode!”New stars in the making
Rex Rajkumar was one of Manipur’s early bloomers, making the headlines when he picked up all ten wickets in an innings in an Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy match against Arunachal Pradesh in December 2018. Cut to the 2022-23 season, and Manipur’s list of impressive performers is growing.Pace bowler Pheiroijam Jotin, all of 16, made his first-class debut against Sikkim last month, and immediately grabbed attention with 9 for 69 in the first innings. He then took a nine-wicket match haul against Sikkim in the Plate semi-finals. So far, Jotin has 33 wickets at an average of 13.81 in six games this season.Left-arm spinner Kishan Singha has also taken 33 wickets this season, at 15.42, while seamer Bishworjit Konthoujam has 20, at 21.00.Konthoujam is currently Manipur’s leading wicket-taker in first-class, List A and T20 cricket.

Cricket wasn’t Konthoujam’s first love – he was once a national-level boxer. And he’s not alone among Manipur’s players in having played other sports at a high level.”He is very tall, and has a fighting instinct,” Ronel says of Konthoujam. “We had just asked him to bowl for a few months, and he has now completely turned to cricket. Also, Johnson Singh played football at the representative level; he is still a very good footballer.”Incidentally, such is the quality of football in Manipur that 38 of their players – the most from any state – featured in the Indian Super League’s 2022-23 season.The road ahead
Performances on the field have been encouraging, and there is now ample funding from the BCCI, but concerns linger.”The playing season is pretty short [due to the rainy weather], so we have to take that into consideration,” Imo says. “We need the expertise which BCCI has.” He suggests that indoor training facilities will help.But there are positive signs for the future. The Luwangpokpa Cricket Stadium in Imphal, the capital of Manipur, will soon inaugurate its floodlights. And Imo, who has been with the association for six years now, sees an appreciable increase in youngsters taking to cricket, and he has approached the state’s education directorate to request school and college students to be actively involved in the sport.Imo recalls his father, the former Manipur chief minister RK Jaichandra Singh, taking him to the Khuman Lampak Stadium – a multi-use stadium that’s mainly used for football and athletics, to play cricket. Imo hopes that budding cricketers in Manipur will have enough cricket grounds to play in. More and better infrastructure can only speed up the growth of cricket in the state.And there will be accelerated learning for Manipur’s players next year, when they face India’s domestic heavyweights in the Elite Division next year.”We follow Mumbai and Tamil Nadu a lot,” their captain Langlonyamba Meitan Keishangbam says. “And we admire Sai Kishore, Cheteshwar Pujara and Jaydev Unadkat the most.”The ambition, hunger and willingness to grow is already visible. If that desire is matched by performances on the field and the growth of the game in Manipur’s grassroots, there will soon be space for a bat and a ball alongside the football that sits in a corner of every household in the state.

Attrition in Ahmedabad: Shami and Khawaja headline old-school day of Test cricket

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The day started in extraordinary fashion, before the teams fought hard on the best batting pitch of the series

Karthik Krishnaswamy09-Mar-2023On December 8, 1959, Ayub Khan and Dwight D Eisenhower, the presidents of Pakistan and the USA, attended the fourth day of a Test match in Karachi. Striving to save the Test against Australia, Pakistan scored 104 for 5 over that five-and-a-half-hour day. Only once have fewer runs been scored over a full day’s play in Test cricket.Sixty-three years and three months later, Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese, the prime ministers of India and Australia, were in attendance on day one of another Test match, at a stadium named after one of them. Runs came quicker in Ahmedabad than they did in Karachi, but there was a similar attrition to proceedings, and it felt especially so coming after the frenetic contests in Nagpur, Delhi and Indore.You could almost call it a day of normalcy after the frenzied action of those three Tests, but there was nothing normal about it in other respects. The players didn’t warm up on the field of play. Before the toss, the prime ministers went on a lap of honour around the outfield, on a buggy decked out with stumps and bats, to the accompaniment of patriotic Bollywood tunes composed by AR Rahman and Salim-Sulaiman.Related

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Tickets for days two, three, four and five of this match had gone on sale days before tickets for day one, as the organisers sought to balance the presence of the paying public and special invitees. There was talk before the match of record attendances, but the world’s highest-capacity cricket stadium was perhaps only 60% full through the first hour of play, which the prime ministers sat through. A curious thing happened once they left; the lower tiers, initially packed with men and women wearing badges around their necks with the word “volunteer” on them, began to clear out, while the upper tiers began filling up.All this was unusual, but the cricket was relentlessly old-school.It was the kind of day on which your attention could wander, but whenever you turned your eye back to the action, whether it was at 10am or 4pm, you were likely to find Usman Khawaja defending off the back foot, with his front pad pulled smartly away from the line of the ball.Khawaja’s timeless, unhurried grace was the one constant on a day of subtle shifts in mood and tempo. The new ball swung around corners, but India’s quicks took time to find their lines, and Travis Head, slashing at everything, rode his luck while scoring 32 off 44 balls. He played and missed constantly, survived a dropped chance, and achieved a control percentage of 77 on the flattest pitch of the series, but India could do little against him but wait for the next mistake. Once it came, a miscue to mid-on off R Ashwin, the bowlers got into their groove, and gained control over Australia’s run rate.A simplistic narrative has developed around this generation of India players, that they represent a new-age vision of India fuelled by a brook-no-questions aggression, but the cornerstone of their Test results both home and away has been the patience and control of their bowling attack. It was fully on display now, on this flat, first-day pitch. It took India 289 balls to pick up their next two wickets after they’d dismissed Head, but they only conceded 90 runs in that time.The pitch was slow and low with barely any turn on offer, and India met its challenge with time-tested methods. They tried to keep the stumps in play, and set fields for drives and flicks in the wide V from extra-cover to midwicket, primarily to protect runs against those shots, while also hoping for catches if the batters played too early.A frequent sight on day one in Ahmedabad: R Ashwin reacts after a close call•BCCIThe spinners looked to mix up their pace and angles and turn the batters’ muscle memory against them, hoping to get them playing for turn when there was barely any available. Steven Smith kept trying to clip Ashwin to mid-on, and kept playing the ball back to the bowler off the outside half of his bat. Ashwin’s hands kept going towards his head, but while he was troubling Smith with his drift and lack of turn, he wasn’t necessarily going to get him out with just those tools.India waited for mistakes, and kept the runs down while they waited. Marnus Labuschagne and Smith both looked good without managing to wriggle out of India’s stranglehold, and both were out in classic slow-pitch fashion, playing on with their bats drawn a mite too far from their bodies.So far, so attritional. It took until the 71st over of the day for an India bowler to do something spectacular at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Mohammed Shami produced that moment, as he somehow often seems to on seemingly lifeless pitches. He did it during a spell of reverse-swing, but he did it with a hint of seam movement, and in a manner that seemed almost inevitable.When he last came to India, Peter Handscomb had the reputation of being an lbw candidate; he’d stand deep in his crease, go back and across in his trigger movement, and often end up on the back foot against full deliveries with his pads in line with the stumps. On this trip, he’s changed his set-up slightly, at least when the ball has reversed. He still stands with both feet inside the crease, but he doesn’t go across his stumps quite so much, and stays leg-side of the ball.Watching this, you may have felt that a skiddy ball straightening to hit the top of off stump could get him in trouble. Umesh Yadav tried to bowl this for a while, before Shami took over. There’s probably no one in the world better at bowling that particular delivery, and Shami took exactly one ball to land it perfectly to Handscomb. Outside edge beaten, off stump cartwheeling, thank you very much.Mohammed Shami sent Peter Handscomb’s off stump cartwheeling in Ahmedabad•BCCIFor India in home Tests, this sort of moment has often opened the floodgates after hours and sessions of patient probing. For a while, Shami continued to threaten. Cameron Green shouldered arms to a ball he could have left on length in Perth or Brisbane, and was lucky to come away with his off stump intact.Shami then peppered Green with the short ball. As a towering man with a crouched stance, low hands, and a recently fractured finger, Green may well have expected to face this line of attack, particularly on this low-bounce pitch against skiddy fast bowling. He knew, however, that the bigger threat was the full ball at his stumps, and he was prepared to use methods to repel that mode of attack even if it left him looking awkward when it was up near his ribcage.Green got through the barrage, and India took the second new ball, an over after it became available. They may have hoped it would swing, while also giving their spinners a bit more purchase late in the day. It didn’t quite work that way, and from 201 for 4 in 81 overs, Australia sped to 255 for 4 in 90 with Khawaja bringing up his century, to pockets of warm applause, in the last over of the day.Australia had perhaps enjoyed the better of the day’s exchanges, but India had kept their scoring down for large periods. They will have had an anxious eye on the pitch throughout; it remains to be seen how long it will hold together under the harsh Ahmedabad sun.The turning pitches laid out for the first three Tests of this series were partly an effort to minimise the impact of the toss. Now, with a series win and a place in the World Test Championship final on the line, India had prepared – by design or otherwise – the flattest surface of the series. These pitches tend to stay flat through both teams’ first innings when India play Test matches in October and November; in the heat of March, there’s a chance they can start off flat and deteriorate rapidly.The course of the Test match may well hinge on how long it takes for this pitch to offer serious turn. Both teams can expect plenty more old-fashioned attrition until then, under the watchful eyes of a thousand larger-than-life likenesses of their respective prime ministers. They’ve left the stadium, but they’re still watching.

Ladies who Switch: England unveil Women's Ashes Test squad

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Valkerie Baynes and Firdose Moonda discuss newcomers and old hands as the build-up to Trent Bridge intensifies

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-2023The build-up to the Women’s Ashes Test at Trent Bridge has intensified with England naming their squad to face the Australians. Valkerie Baynes and Firdose Moonda look at the players who stand to make their debuts in the format, as well as some who have been there before. They also discuss the Charlotte Edwards Cup final and Anya Shrubsole’s retirement announcement.

Pakistan's Hyderabad experience: heavy security, thoughtful hospitality

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Babar Azam’s team have been in India for a little over a week and they’ve been well looked after ahead of their World Cup opener

Shashank Kishore05-Oct-2023As the Pakistan team bus zooms into the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad, their motorcade of armed police jeeps containing a few hundred security personnel quickly swing into action. They spread themselves across the outdoor nets area within a blink of an eye, just before the team comes out to train.Behind the police jeeps, there’s a van full of trained commandos that makes a swift entry. As they disembark, their chief issues orders detailing the areas they will survey and the activities they have to carry out. A local liaison officer is then briefed by the security chief, and plans are relayed across walkie-talkies to various department heads around the venue.It’s not hard to understand why security is so elaborate. There’s body frisking at every entry point; those with a valid pass only have it slightly better than many others, and fans making a beeline outside the gates to catch a glimpse of the players, or those trying to get hold of tickets, are kept out.Even before the Pakistan team emerges from the dressing room, three armed guards station themselves besides the perimeter of the nets area, while six others are at the entrance of the main pavilion block as Babar Azam strides out with his team after a slip catching drill inside the main ground.Related

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These guards with dark glasses have their backs to the action. They’re so seasoned that they don’t flinch or move a muscle, even when someone with the ferocious ball-striking capabilities of Iftikhar Ahmed, or Ifti as the team calls him affectionately, goes about his business. As he has a hit, repeatedly swinging big to the chorus of ‘played, yaar’ from team director Mickey Arthur, the sound of ball on bat echoes around the concrete stadium.As Pakistan go about training, the intense security seems overwhelming to the bystander watching from afar. But if you’re wondering whether Pakistan feel the same way, remember that they play under heavy security when hosting international teams at home. They’ve taken the protection in their stride at the World Cup, with smiles on faces amid the warm hospitality they’ve received in Hyderabad.At the ground, organisers have gone out of their way to procure many more kilos of ice than originally requested for, and the chef has tailored local delicacies to the taste of the players. This is i, Hyderabadi style, where food is an integral part of the conversation. Generous cups of Irani chai and diet Karachi biscuits – a local delicacy – are served, apart from dishes curated by the team trainer to ensure players aren’t loading themselves up prior to a training session or match.Back at the hotel, the Pakistani players have an entire floor to themselves, cut-off from the general public, and a dedicated set of staff to cater to the team’s needs. There’s a separate dining area, a cordoned off swimming pool that’s kept open beyond usual hours to accommodate late recovery requests, and round-the-clock security that makes arrangements for the team if they want to head out.Four nights ago, the entire team visited Jewel of Nizam, near the famous Golconda Fort, for dinner. A section of the route was turned into a green channel to facilitate smooth movement. On their plate were different varieties of kebabs, biryani and lots of spicy local food. and were favourites. It was Pakistan’s first and only outing since arriving in India.Mohammad Bashir might be the only Pakistani fan at their opening game against Netherlands in Hyderabad•Mohammad BashirOnly a week ago, there was so much uncertainty around Pakistan’s journey to India. Visa delays had prompted the team to cancel a training trip to Dubai. Now, those teething troubles have been long forgotten and the team appeared at ease with their environment. The only hint of regret, from Babar at the captain’s event in Ahmedabad on the eve of the tournament opener, was the absence of Pakistani fans.Babar has been asked several times about the welcome his team received in India. How the airport came to life as news spread that Pakistan had arrived. Babar has said he’s been surprised, not just on arrival but also at their warm-up games.”To be honest, we also heard that,” he said, when asked if the team thought they’d receive a hostile reception. “But since the time we arrived in Hyderabad, the kind of hospitality we’ve received and the kind of welcome we had from the airport to the hotel … even in the last match at the ground we felt very good.”On Friday, Babar will be able to hear shouts of ‘Pakistan jeetega’ and ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ from an elderly gentleman, 66-year-old Mohammad Bashir, who is a bit of an anomaly in Hyderabad. He’s perhaps a lone ranger, the only Pakistani fan in the city.Bashir is from Karachi, but he’s been able to make it in time for their first game against Netherlands only because he’s a now a US citizen. He’s been traveling to World Cups since 2011 and has quite a rapport with several Indian players, including MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. Bashir has several photos with them and their families, and says Dhoni and Rohit regularly give him tickets for ICC events. Bashir says while he isn’t as familiar with the current Pakistan players, he’s excited to watch Babar and Mohammad Rizwan “do something special” at the World Cup.In June, much against his doctor’s wishes, he decided to travel to India to watch the tournament. All he knew then was that he would be based in Hyderabad, the hometown of his wife, Rafia. To many, Bashir has already become a familiar face around the ground. He cheers for the players, waves the Pakistan flag passionately, and belts out chants that resonate loudly around the ground.He’s mighty impressed with the ” Hyderabad has given him. It’s likely the Pakistan team will share the sentiment when they reflect on this World Cup campaign many years later.

Going short in the middle overs: for Cummins, it's a risk worth taking

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

How Cummins uses it could significantly affect Australia’s fortunes against Pakistan on the pitch that offers true bounce

Karthik Krishnaswamy19-Oct-20232:10

Cummins: Pakistan’s bowlers could do serious damage

There are good short balls and bad short balls, but sometimes their goodness or badness is an entirely post-facto construct. Take two balls Pat Cummins bowled, back-to-back, to Pathum Nissanka in Lucknow. Both were banged into roughly the same area of the pitch, and both climbed to just over shoulder height and finished outside off stump.Nissanka pulled the first one for four, picking the length in a flash and dispatching the ball well in front of square.The line of the second short ball may have been ever so slightly closer to Nissanka’s body, cramping him ever so slightly for room, or Nissanka may have taken ever so slightly longer to get into position for the pull. In any case, he failed to get on top of the bounce, and hit the ball in the air, within range of David Warner haring to his left from deep square-leg.Related

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Similar balls, different outcomes, and in each case there was only so much the bowler was in control of. Bowling fast is an intensely physical act, bowling fast and short even more so, and how quickly the ball reaches the batter and at what height and line are hugely dependent on the vagaries of the pitch and how the ball reacts off it.Bowling short is, in essence, an act of faith.The variance of outcome between those two short balls from Cummins is also typical of that length. It’s a length that’s likely to go for runs, but it’s also likelier than most other lengths to bring wickets.As first change, Cummins does a job that he isn’t exactly a natural at. He isn’t Lockie Ferguson, a white-ball specialist who trains year-round to bowl middle-overs lengths in white-ball cricket. But it’s a role Cummins has to perform out of necessity, and a role that’s vital for Australia at this World Cup, where they only have one frontline spinner with whom he can share the middle-overs wicket-taking burden.It’s also a role that’s heavily dependent on what has come before. Cummins hasn’t had a great World Cup, so far, in terms of the situations he’s begun bowling in. There were no new-ball wickets against either South Africa or Sri Lanka, and while Australia picked up three in their opening game against India, they had only posted 199 batting first.Pakistan and Bengaluru are likely to present Cummins with another stern middle-overs test. The Chinnaswamy Stadium is traditionally one of the fastest-scoring grounds in India, with pitches that offer true bounce and an outfield that’s among the smallest in the country. The straight boundaries are particularly short, so teams often tend to try and make batters hit square.The short ball, then, is likely to be a key component of the middle-overs battle. How Cummins uses it could significantly affect Australia’s fortunes.

Mike Procter, runaway dream

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

There were few feats the late great South African allrounder could not achieve on a cricket field. He was an action-hero come to life

Mark Nicholas19-Feb-2024Late afternoon on Saturday, I was on a train. Rain spat angrily at the windows. Apple lit up and the WhatsApp message read, “We wanted to share the sad news with you. Mike passed away peacefully at 16.34 surrounded by his family.” The English countryside raced by, an indistinct picture of grey landscape and flooded fields. The news was a shock but not unexpected. After a complication during relatively routine surgery little more than a week ago, Mike Procter went into cardiac arrest. From unconsciousness, he never woke up. A bright and powerful flame had been snuffed out. Just like that. Proc, gone.I had four cricketing heroes as a kid – first Ted Dexter and John Snow, then Barry Richards and Proc. At Lord’s in the 1973 Gillette Cup final I heard the public announcer say, “From the pavilion end… Mike Procter”, and I shivered. In he sprinted, the winds blowing back his hair as he exploded into that unique action and dramatic result. In all things cricket, Proc was the runaway dream. Gifted, good-looking and great fun, he knew no enemies. In the cricketing homes he loved most – Natal, Rhodesia and Gloucestershire – it was a love that did not go unrequited. In fact, the adoration knew no boundary and it came from spectators, team-mates and opponents alike.He bowled those fast inswingers, and later, he lobbed up big-spinning offbreaks; he caught most things at slip and he batted as if in a hurry, smiting the ball through and over the off side with extraordinary timing and power. He is one of only three men to have made first-class hundreds in six consecutive innings, the others being Sir Donald Bradman and CB Fry.He partied hard, married young (to the glamorous and no-nonsense Springbok tennis player Maryna Goodwin, just four months after they met), travelled widely with bat and ball, won trophies, signed for Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, and almost never failed to honour a commitment. What a franchise cricketer he would have been!Upon retirement he tried commentary before turning his hand to coaching, international match-refereeing, and the role of South African chief selector. He was a cricketing man in its best sense, a liver and lover of life – charming, thoughtful, kind. He had his flaws, his kryptonite if you like – a drink, a fag and a punt among them, but was never judged. I imagine the Australian allrounder Keith Miller to have been the forebear of the Procter way: few thoughts of strategic plans and due process, more of sparkling performance and the shindigs that followed.The Proccie Rocket in full cry, in a 1971 game against Northampton•Ken Kelly/The Cricketer InternationalThe first time I stood next to him was in the old pavilion bar at the County Ground, Southampton, after he had taken four wickets in five balls to blow away the Hampshire top order in the 1977 Benson and Hedges Cup semi-final. He actually took five in six but the umpire, dear old Tommy Spencer, simply couldn’t bring himself to lift the finger yet again. Nigel Cowley, the batter who followed Gordon Greenidge, Barry Richards, Trevor Jesty and John Rice to the guillotine, said he stood gripped by fear at the bellowing appeal by all of Gloucestershire, but the execution never came.As ground-staff kids, we helped run the scoreboard on big-match occasions and this was as big as it got. We couldn’t find the numbers in time to get them up – remember, those old metal plates that hung by small hooks and were changed by hand at every run and wicket? We missed “Last Man” every time and instead settled for getting the wickets right and the new batter’s name.Anyway, the quid pro quo was a drink with the coach in the bar after the game. And there was Michael John Procter, man of the moment, of the match and of the decade for me. I swear I brushed by to touch an arm and felt the magic rub off in the warm glow of a flushed face and fast-beating heart.Writing a piece for the a few years back, called “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Like the Mighty Mike Procter” I told stories of great deeds done by this man of many talents. The greatest allrounders of existing lifetimes have been Miller, Garry Sobers, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Jacques Kallis and Procter. Truly he was that good, and dare I say it, perhaps better than a couple. His cover-drive was likened by Gloucestershire folk to the one revered in those parts years before and played by Wally Hammond. His devastating fast bowling brought myriad hat-tricks and launched a miracle or two. The place to be after the umpires removed the bails for the night was the dressing room, where Cane and coke – aka spook and diesel – was knocked back in gung-ho spirit, whether good day or bad.Straight outta Durban: with friend and long-time team mate Barry Richards at a friendly in Brisbane in 1993•Getty ImagesThere are some facts worth knowing. In the seven Test matches allowed to him, all against Australia, he took 41 wickets at 15 apiece. He scored a thousand runs in a county season nine times and took more than a hundred wickets twice. He was the first cricketer to score a hundred and take a hat-trick in the same match twice. His career-best figures of 9 for 71 came in Bulawayo with offbreaks, in a famous Currie Cup win over Natal. (See the David Lewis story in the piece linked earlier.)But figures don’t do it. His close pal and partner in numerous campaigns, Vintcent Van der Bijl, said simply, “I would have followed him over the top of the First World War trenches had he demanded it. A remarkable all-round cricketer, captain and man. I just loved who Proc was.”Barry Richards says he was “gutted” by the news. “After 65 years where our paths have so often crossed, it’s hard to imagine not being with him again. A giant has fallen.”Most recently Proc founded a project that coached sport- and life skills to thousands of underprivileged children in the areas around Durban, his home town. The Mike Procter Foundation needs money and the trustees are committed to driving it on, in honour of his name.Charismatic, colourful and swashbuckling, Proc was an inspiration wherever he went. Occasionally there was sadness around him as, oddly and unkindly, there has been around other great South African cricketers of the day – Richards, Graeme Pollock and Lee Irvine – but they brightened so many lives with the cricket they played that the memories remain gilded by their genius. It is impossible to pick a favourite but what we can say about Proccie is that few men to have played the game have been so widely respected and admired. His gifts were many, his legacy is forever.

A Sri Lanka campaign that could have been an email

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

If you’re a Sri Lanka fan, there isn’t much to cheer about in this World Cup. And the root problems do not lie with the coaching staff or the on-field leadership

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Jun-2024To the people in charge of Sri Lankan cricket,We hope this email finds you in a well.We are writing this after observing another embarrassing start to a World Cup campaign. We regret to take this tone, but honestly, this has gone on long enough, and something needs to be said.Over the past week, we have stayed up late into the night, and woken up early in the morning, to watch the men’s team play in the ongoing T20 World Cup.While we were excited about the state of the bowling resources in this squad (our fast-bowling battery has never been faster), we were always worried about the lack of dynamism in the batting, which never seemed up to modern T20I standards. As if to prove our point, Sri Lanka collapsed to 77 against South Africa, then 124 for 9 against Bangladesh. Unless there are some serious upsets in Group D, Sri Lanka are out of the T20 World Cup for exactly the reasons expected.It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this World Cup campaign could have just been an email.We also take no pleasure in noting that it is now exactly ten years since Sri Lanka last won a global cricket tournament, a victory we remember celebrating in truly euphoric fashion, by the way. In the seven years leading up to that 2014 T20 win, Sri Lanka had been in major finals four times, and were more or less a fixture in the semi-finals.Related

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Rishad Hossain, a package Bangladesh don't understand but can't ignore

Mustafizur, Rishad, Hridoy dazzle in Bangladesh's tight two-wicket win over Sri Lanka

Since 2014, however, Sri Lanka have not made a semi-final once. There have been many captains of the Sri Lankan team (too many to count), and almost as many coaches. We have observed a pattern, where after every World Cup failure, coaches and captains are blamed, only to be replaced by the next set of scapegoats coaches and captains.As we have observed this pattern over ten years now, it is becoming clear that the root problems do not lie with the coaching staff or the on-field leadership. Dare we ask how long the decision makers, at the board and CEO level, have been in their jobs?In the past year, the board president has frequently been in the news, and was engaged in a war of words with the former sports minister. The only tangible outcome for us, and for Sri Lankan cricket in general, is that the Under-19 Men’s World Cup, which was supposed to be played in Sri Lanka in January, was moved to South Africa.We will still wake up to watch the matches, of course. If the last ten years have proved anything, it is that Sri Lankan fans’ love for the game is basically unconditional. The moment there is a good spell, or a great innings, or a fun win, we tend to yank our knockoff jerseys out of the closet, and turn up, faces painted, throats full of song. It doesn’t matter if it’s only an Associate team that Sri Lanka is beating. What matters is the chance to dance in the stands to .Perhaps the greatest thing about being a Sri Lanka cricket fan is what we often say: – even if the ship sinks the party still bangs.But it feels the ships SLC sends out to World Cups get worse and worse. And that they are not worthy of the parties we keep throwing at them.Best regards,Sri Lanka fans

Australia's World Cup mojo on full display in bid for triple crown

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Afghanistan could pose the toughest challenge yet in spin-friendly St Vincent, although there will be memories of Mumbai for both sides

Andrew McGlashan22-Jun-20242:40

Moody: Warner showed why Australia picked him in World Cup

Pat Cummins took a hat trick, Mitchell Starc set a new record, Adam Zampa was again outstanding and David Warner’s farewell lap continued with more runs. At nearly every turn against Bangladesh, Australia’s World Cup credentials oozed from their performance.The fact the opposition sat back and barely landed a blow in return aided a comfortable outing for Australia, but on the flip side their well-oiled game barely gave Bangladesh the opportunity to do so. The one blip so far has been an indifferent fielding display against Scotland – in a game that had no consequence for Australia – and that was alleviated when Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis put on a show.The problems, or concerns, also do not seem insurmountable. Captain Mitchell Marsh remains low on runs – although he was a little unfortunate with a stump-grazing lbw against Bangladesh – but is leading the side impressively in his first major assignment. Glenn Maxwell’s form remains in the spotlight, stemming back to the IPL where he averaged 5.77, but even in a very small sample size of six balls in Antigua, there was a glimpse that perhaps he is finding his groove.Related

Maxwell in focus as Afghanistan await Australia in spin-friendly Kingstown

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Warner leads Australia's charge after the Zampa-Cummins show

“I think tonight I just went in with a really clear mindset to sort of be a little bit more proactive and a bit more trusting I suppose in my foundations and what I do really well,” Maxwell said of his brief innings against Bangladesh. “I know I reverse well; I know I play spin well when I’m busy on my feet and moving forward and back and when I’m just looking at gaps in the field and adapting to what comes in front of me, I can get into my innings relatively comfortably.Pat Cummins became the seventh man and second Australian to take a hat-trick in men’s T20 World Cup•ICC/Getty Images”Even just thinking back, I feel like I might have even got sucked into a little bit of the pace of play during the IPL where you’re sort of set up as a power-hitter. And that’s [where] all your sort of focus goes towards and you’re thinking more about hitting boundaries every ball instead of still playing your strengths and tonight sort of went back to I suppose what I do really well is start my innings with good cricketing shots, back my ability to manipulate fields and try and stick to that.”Australia’s next outing, however, has the potential to be the trickiest yet. Even though Afghanistan were turned over by India, conditions in St Vincent should suit them if the pitch turns anything like it has done so far. Not that Australia are without options in that area – Exhibit One: Zampa – but in Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed and Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistan have a spin attack to cause problems. If there is uneven bounce, don’t ignore the quicks either, with Fazalhaq Farooqi leading the tournament wicket-taking.”It feels like every ground has its different little idiosyncrasies,” Maxwell said. “This [Antigua] is a slow outfield with a howling breeze to a short boundary. Barbados can be fifty-fifty on the wicket, can be slow. As we’ve seen, St. Vincent is going to be spinny and might be a slightly quicker outfield. So, there’s so many different changes.”It feels like you’re going to a completely different part of the world every ground that you go to, and you’ve got to adapt and change. I think that’s just the way our team’s gone. It feels like we’ve been the quickest ones to adapt to the conditions throughout the tournament. I’m sure that’s going to probably hold true for the last few games. The team that adapts the quickest will come out victorious.”Will the events of Mumbai have an effect on either side?•AFP/Getty Images”We’ve kind of ticked off everything we have we could possibly do so far,” Cummins succinctly put it after the Bangladesh outing, adding it felt like Warner is “always up there” in the run charts at World Cups and that Starc, who is now the leading wicket-taker across both the 50- and 20-over events, has “stood up when we needed [him] to in big moments.”Speaking before the Bangladesh game, Ricky Ponting touched on Australia’s tournament mentality. “I think other teams feel that Australia are going to lift for the bigger games, so they try harder and do things differently,” he said. “I think India in the [ODI] World Cup final is a great example of that – they got away from what they’d done right the way through, tried too hard and it cost them. Australia know what they need to do – they stay in control of things and turn up ready to play every game.”Australia know how to win World Cups. Afghanistan pose a significant threat, but memories of what happened in Mumbai last year won’t be far away for either side. Even in the high-jeopardy world of T20, it will take a very good performance to stop them doing it again.

Meet the five new faces in India's Border-Gavaskar Trophy touring party

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Abhimanyu Easwaran, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna all made compelling cases for selection

Vishal Dikshit26-Oct-202411:45

‘Bold move to pick two youngsters in Reddy and Harshit’

Abhimanyu EaswaranThe 29-year-old opening bat from Bengal has been part of India’s Test squads in the recent past after grinding it out in domestic cricket for over a decade. Abhimanyu Easwaran has the body of work to instil confidence in the team management – and himself – if he needs to open in the absence of Rohit Sharma in Perth or Adelaide early on in the five-match series. An old-school batter, Abhimanyu is already in Australia for two India A games and would have played 100 first-class games by the time the Test series starts.Abhimanyu Easwaran has scored a century in each of his last four first-class games•Hindustan Times via Getty ImagesHe has over 7600 first-class runs while averaging nearly 50, and his recent form probably helped him pip the likes of B Sai Sudharsan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devdutt Padikkal for the reserve opener’s slot. Abhimanyu has scored a century in each of his last four first-class games, against a variety of bowling attacks at that, starting with 157* and 116 in the Duleep Trophy followed by 191 against Mumbai in the Irani Cup before starting the Ranji Trophy season with a second-innings 127* against Uttar Pradesh. India will hope he can continue this streak into the ‘A’ series while facing the likes of Scott Boland, Michael Neser and Todd Murphy, Test cricketers all of them.Washington SundarBack in the Test circuit after over three years, Washington Sundar proved in Pune that he deserved to brought into the Test XI from the Ranji Trophy.His stifling offbreaks, delivered from close to the stumps, fetched him seven wickets – of which six were bowled or lbw – in the first innings before he picked up another four in similar fashion in the second. It’ll be a surprise if he plays a Test in Australia ahead of Ravindra Jadeja or R Ashwin, but if either of them is unavailable, Washington will fit right in – and his batting will help him push his case.2:32

Will India play a spin-bowling allrounder at No. 8 in Australia?

He came into the Pune Test against New Zealand on the back of a 152 for Tamil Nadu from No. 3 – even if on a flat deck against an inexperienced and injury-hit Delhi attack – but his classy 62 at the Gabba on India’s previous tour of Australia and his unbeaten half-centuries against England at home in early 2021 are proof that he can do it against better bowling too.His height could fetch him extra bounce on the Australian tracks and his previous experience of playing there in 2021 bodes well for him, if India need an offspin-bowling allrounder.Nitish Kumar ReddyOne of the key players for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their run to the IPL 2024 final earlier this year, the seam-bowling allrounder earned a T20I debut earlier this month against Bangladesh. Just 21, Nitish Kumar Reddy’s batting exploits in the middle order have been on show for a while now, first while rescuing SRH with blazing knocks in the IPL and then the 74 off 34 in the second T20I against Bangladesh, where he also picked up two wickets while opening the bowling.1:04

Will Nitish Kumar Reddy get into the playing XI?

His performances in the Duleep Trophy before the India debut didn’t inspire much confidence, though. Reddy bagged two ducks in five innings with a high score of 40 not out and picked up only two wickets across 48 overs.However, he has the ability to swing the ball both ways in the mid-130s, as he has shown for Andhra in the domestic circuit with a fairly new ball, being their top wicket-taker in the last Ranji Trophy season with 25 wickets at 18.76. That tally featured a five-for against Mumbai, including the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer, and the India team management will hope he gets some overs under his belt in the ‘A’ series before the Tests.Called “awesome” by his SRH captain Pat Cummins, Reddy’s inclusion for Australia shows the faith the selectors have shown in a young allrounder over the established Shardul Thakur, who is back playing domestic cricket after an injury layoff and had contributed with seven wickets and a valuable knock of 67 in Brisbane in 2021.Prasidh KrishnaPrasidh Krishna is also returning from injury but he got himself a Test berth, unlike Thakur, after proving his fitness with four first-class games at the start of this domestic season. Even though he returned unimpressive numbers in his two Tests in South Africa in 2023-24, leaking runs at more than 4.60 an over in his 28 overs for just two wickets, it’s his height that works in his favour. He can draw extra bounce, is accurate, and bowls with the sort of pace that India are hoping will come handy in Australia, especially if they need to change the combination – because of workload or injuries – in a long series.2:13

Manjrekar: Surprised Prasidh and not Dayal was selected

Prasidh is also with the India A squad for the two first-class games to be played in Mackay and Melbourne, and India will want him to stay fit. And also find some form. Since his comeback in September, he has picked up just seven wickets in as many innings across the Duleep Trophy, the Irani Cup and the eight overs he bowled in a Ranji Trophy game for Karnataka.Harshit RanaThe least experienced of the 21 players – including the reserves – picked for the tour with just nine first-class matches, Harshit Rana is a tall and bustling fast bowler from Delhi who made his IPL debut, for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), before his senior domestic debut. Rana, too, featured in the Duleep Trophy at the start of the season and collected two four-fors while opening the bowling. He was KKR’s best fast bowler – with 19 wickets and an economy rate of 9.08 – in their victorious IPL 2024 campaign and would have been closely watched by Gautam Gambhir and Abhishek Nayar, who have both moved from the KKR dressing room to India’s.Harshit Rana is inexperienced, but has a lot of qualities that make him an exciting prospect•AFP/Getty ImagesWhile it was his variations and death-overs exploits that shone through in the IPL, Rana has also proven himself with the red ball in a fledgling career, and at times given the ball a good bash down the order. He bagged 21 wickets in five Ranji Trophy games in 2022-23, smashed an unbeaten 122 off 86 balls in the Duleep Trophy next year, and then toured South Africa with the India A side in 2023-24.Despite the lack of experience, it’s his promise that got 22-year-old a Test spot ahead of Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini, who are in the reserves. He was called up for the T20Is against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh but is yet to make his international debut.Rana was part of the India Test squad for the New Zealand series initially as a reserve, before turning out for Delhi in the third round of the Ranji Trophy where he started with three early wickets against Assam on Saturday morning.

Stats – Suryakumar Yadav second fastest to 8000 T20 runs

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Stats highlights from MI’s first win of IPL 2025, against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium

Sampath Bandarupalli31-Mar-202510-2 – Mumbai Indians’ (MI) win-loss record against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede Stadium in the IPL. They are the first team to win ten IPL matches against an opponent at a single venue.The eight-wicket win on Monday was their 24th overall against KKR in the IPL, three more than any other team against a single opponent.5256 – Balls taken by Suryakumar Yadav to complete 8000 T20 runs – the second quickest to the milestone behind Andre Russell, who took 4749 balls to score 8000 runs. Suryakumar passed the milestone during his unbeaten 27 off 9 balls against KKR.4 for 24 – Ashwani Kumar became the first Indian bowler to take a four-wicket haul on IPL debut. Amit Singh’s 3 for 9 against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in IPL 2009 was the previous best by an Indian on IPL debut.6 – Bowlers with four or more wickets on IPL debut, including Ashwani. He has the fourth-best figures (4 for 24) for an IPL debutant, behind Alzarri Joseph (6 for 12 vs SRH) in 2019, Andrew Tye (5 for 17 vs RPGS) in 2017 and Shoaib Akhtar (4 for 11 vs DD) in 2008.14 – Number of players to take a wicket with their first ball in the IPL, before Ashwani got Ajinkya Rahane on Monday. Matheesha Pathirana, in 2022, was the previous, while Hanuma Vihari, in 2013, was the last Indian to strike with his first ball in the IPL.30 – Wickets taken by Trent Boult in the first over of an IPL innings – the most for any bowler. His dismissal of Sunil Narine was his 11th for MI in the first over; the other 19 were for his previous franchise – Rajasthan Royals (RR).5/5 – Narine has fallen to Boult in all five T20s in which he has faced the left-arm quick. He has scored only 23 runs off 19 balls from Boult.

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