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Spin coach hopes seamers can expose England’s “long tail” on second day

Danyal Rasool21-Aug-2020Spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed admitted Pakistan had found bowling in “tough conditions” hard work on the first day of the third Test, but maintained levelling the series remained within their grasp.On a day dominated by an unbroken 205-run partnership between Zak Crawley – who scored his maiden Test hundred and stands 29 runs from a double – and Jos Buttler, unbeaten on 87, Mushtaq admitted it would take time for a “very young bowling attack” to learn how to handle pressure.”It was quite tough,” Mushtaq said at the post-day press conference. “The weather played a huge role. The pitch was very flat, and the toss was vital on that pitch. And because the wind was there the whole day, it was very difficult for the bowlers to control their line and length consistently. It was tough especially for young bowlers like Naseem [Shah] and Shaheen [Shah Afridi]. They are new to Test cricket but they made a huge effort and they can be proud of it.”I think we are working on how to deal with being under pressure. When the opposition attacks your young bowlers, it naturally is difficult for them to handle it. But obviously, the credit goes to Crawley and Buttler. They played very well, and this is a flat first-day pitch. The wind made it even tougher, and that’s not an excuse, but it’s also reality.”ALSO READ: Crawley’s maiden ton puts England in driving seatThere were moments during the day when it appeared unlikely Pakistan would have to walk off at stumps quite so despondent. The visiting side had the better of the first half-hour with Shaheen coaxing a nick from Rory Burns to the slips in just his third over, while Crawley was put under pressure early on in a hostile spell where Shaheen honed in on the right-hander’s stumps. Even though England settled soon after and a sharp counter-attack guided them out of danger at lunch, Pakistan would strike back after the interval, England precariously poised at 127 for 4 at one point, with no specialist batsmen to follow.But England repeated the tactic that had served them so well before lunch, and indeed on the fourth day at Old Trafford. A quick counter saw Pakistan spread the field, and any thoughts they harboured of running through the England line-up were quickly replaced by more conservative ideas. That freed up Crawley, who looked invincible by then, and Buttler, who, in an over that seemed to herald a decisive shift in momentum, took Yasir Shah apart, smashing two sixes and a boundary in one over to bring up the 100-partnership.”When a spinner goes out with young quicks, he has two kinds of responsibilities,” Mushtaq said. “You have to ensure you’re not too expensive, and also be the man who needs to break partnerships. He bowled 29 overs in a spell, and it was all against the wind. All series, England’s plan has been to attack him so he doesn’t settle. So there’s a lot of pressure on Yasir, but we’d been telling him what a match-winner he is.”His responsibilities this series have increased. Previously, we used to have [Mohammad] Amir and other senior bowlers who kept a lid on the scoring, and that way Yasir was free to just attack. So the burden on him has increased but he bowled very well today, and he’s enjoying the challenge on. But they attacked him well, and without life in the wicket, he struggled.”Rory Burns sees an outside edge scooped up at gully•AFP

He also backed Naseem to come good after a challenging day despite bowling arguably the ball of the innings so far to get rid of the England captain, Joe Root. After a wayward start, he produced a pearler which seemed away from middle and off, and all Root could do was get a thick outside edge, a brilliant moment of play for Pakistan capped by wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan snaring a sensational diving catch from in front of first slip.It was one that caught everyone, not least Root, by surprise. But as figures of 17-4-66-1 suggest, it wasn’t all hunky-dory for the teenager. Mushtaq denied he was tired and needed a rest, instead emphasising the importance of experience for Naseem.”Naseem didn’t bowl too many overs in the first two Tests, so fatigue isn’t the issue,” he said. “To learn Test cricket, he needs to play Test cricket. The more he bowls and the more difficult conditions in which he bowls, the better it is for his career. He has the talent, but this is a learning process.”Today was a difficult day to bowl on, but he’ll learn from it and it will come good later in his career. Sometimes when you have tough days, you learn, and this is what Waqar [Younis] was teaching him, about how much effort to put in, and how to bowl to specific batsmen. The quicker he learns, the stronger Pakistan’s bowling attack will get.”We need to try and bowl them out in the first session under 400. That leaves us with over three-and-a-half days and an opportunity to put up a big total ourselves. You never know what can happen in the fourth innings, and we have to believe in ourselves. They may have had a good day, but we’ll come out fresh tomorrow.”The ball is still new, and even if one of our bowlers stands up and makes a contribution, they have a long tail. The pitch is flat and the conditions are there to be exploited. England’s bowlers will find it difficult, too, and we believe we can still win the Test.”

Sunil Narine is fully fit and expected to return for Kolkata Knight Riders as they try and turn around their form after a Super Over loss

The Preview by Sreshth Shah04-Apr-2019

Big picture

At six weeks, the IPL can seem like a short tournament. But if you get on a losing run – the kind Royal Challengers Bangalore are in right now – even six weeks can seem like an eternity.But not all is lost for Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers. In the past, teams have come back from five losses to reach the playoffs, and even redeemed themselves from 0-5 behind to win the tournament. So a win and the momentum it brings could turn things for Royal Challengers.

Form guide (most recent match first)

Royal Challengers: Lost by 7 wickets to Royals, lost by 118 runs to Sunrisers, lost by 6 runs to Mumbai
Knight Riders: Lost via Super Over to Capitals, beat Kings XI by 28 runs, beat Sunrisers by 6 wickets

There are too many questions surrounding Royal Challengers. Does their bowling make opponents fear? Probably not, and we saw that in their game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, where two world-class openers made maximum use of a below-par attack. As for their batting, Royal Challengers have not fielded an unchanged opening combination so far, and their overseas options have not yet fired.Shimron Hetmyer, who has fallen three times to the ball turning away this season, may be the first name out of the XI for their match against Kolkata Knight Riders. Knight Riders normally bowl 12 overs of spin and one of Royal Challengers’ domestic batsmen could be a better choice than Hetmyer.Not only are Royal Challengers trying to avoid a fifth-straight loss in the season, they’re also looking to stop Knight Riders from winning a fifth straight match against them. Knight Riders have lost just one game so far and that, too, was close. Nitish Rana has collected two Man-of-the-Match awards. Andre Russell has been good with the ball, and destructive with the bat. Robin Uthappa has found form, and Kuldeep Yadav has shown he can help Knight Riders defend nearly anything.Knight Riders enter the game as massive favourites, but they’ll know that as long as Kohli leads Royal Challengers, the team will never raise a white flag.

In the news

Nathan Coulter-Nile has not yet linked up with Royal Challengers. He was supposed to join the side with Marcus Stoinis from the UAE, but is expected to join on 13th. Sunil Narine, who missed out on Knight Riders’ last game, has been declared fully fit and should be back in the XI.Sunil Narine took 25 runs off Varun Chakravarthy’s first over•BCCI

Previous meeting

Last season, Knight Riders chased down scores of 176 and 177 as they complete the double against Royal Challengers. Knight Riders’ opening batsmen, Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine, were the Players of the Match on both occasions.

Likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Marcus Stoinis, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Akshdeep Nath, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Yuzvendra ChahalKolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Robin Uthappa, 5 Shubman Gill, 6 Dinesh Karthik (capt, wk), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Prasidh Krishna

Strategy punt

• Make AB de Villiers face Sunil Narine or Piyush Chawla. He’s been out to the offbreak or googly in three games so far, and has a strike-rate of only 100 against spinners this season. De Villiers averages only 5.60 against the googly and 9.75 against the offbreak. Dinesh Karthik, however, might want to keep Kuldeep Yadav out of de Villiers’ way. Against left-arm wristspinners since IPL 2015, de Villiers scores at a strike-rate of 300, scoring a boundary every 2.2 deliveries.
• If Royal Challengers play Shimron Hetmyer, he should bat at No. 3. That would make Kohli the opener, but there’s a case for Hetmyer to bat in that position. In 16 T20s at No. 3, Hetmyer averages 32.10 at a strike-rate of 144.70. At any other position – which he’s batted in 10 times – Hetmyer’s average is less than 10. At the CPL 2018, he was the highest run-scorer among West Indians, where he batted all games at No. 3.

Stats and trivia

• Royal Challengers have dropped nine of the 19 catches they have attempted in IPL 2019
• Virat Kohli needs 17 to reach 8000 in T20s
• Chris Lynn’s strike-rate of 94.90 this season is the second-worst among all batsmen who have played at least three games this season. Only Ambati Rayudu’s strike-rate of 60.70 is worse. Kohli, at 98.70, is fifth-worst.
• In IPL 2019, Andre Russell has a strike-rate of 258.80 against seam bowlers and 207.70 against spin.

Kagiso Rabada turned the match around for South Africa in the space of two overs, ripping through Australia with the use of reverse swing

The Report by Brydon Coverdale09-Mar-20184:02

Holding: Rabada needs to control himself a little bit

Stumps
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIt’ll do a bit early. Bit of grass, bit of moisture, big first hour.That about summed up the sentiments of Steven Smith and Faf du Plessis at the toss in Port Elizabeth, where Smith chose to bat and du Plessis didn’t mind one little bit. It was not surprising, then, that Kagiso Rabada took 5 for 13 in the space of 18 balls on this first day’s play. It was surprising that his spell that defined the day came either side of the tea break, when Australia had done all the hard work.In fact, there could hardly have been any less action in the first hour. The ball did nip around, and there were plenty of plays and misses, but Australia’s openers reached drinks on a yawning total of 23 for 0. That was a win for Australia. So were the 61 bonus runs that came from the ninth- and tenth-wicket partnerships between Tim Paine and Nathan Lyon, and then Paine and Josh Hazlewood. From 170 for 6, South Africa let Australia get away just a little bit.Still, Rabada’s efforts, plus contributions from Lungi Ngidi and Vernon Philander kept the total to 243, Australia’s lowest win-the-toss-and-bat-first score of the Smith captaincy era. South Africa should go to bed happy with their day, despite losing Aiden Markram during a challenging little batting period they faced as evening approached. Markram was trapped lbw for 11 by the first ball that Pat Cummins bowled in the innings, but it was Australia’s only breakthrough.Associated Press

At the close of play, South Africa were on 39 for 1 with Dean Elgar on 11 and Rabada, the nightwatchman, on 17 from 14 balls. It capped off an eventful day for Rabada, who will also spend the rest of the Test wondering if it will be his last match of the series. His dismissal of Smith sparked Australia’s mini-collapse, but also resulted in Rabada brushing his shoulder against Smith as the batsman walked off. With five demerit points already to his name, Rabada is perilously close to a two-Test suspension.It was understandable that Rabada would at least be exuberant after dismissing Smith, who spent much of the second session building a steady little partnership with Shaun Marsh. Rabada angled one in to Smith and rapped him on the pad to have him lbw for 25, the review requested by Australia’s captain only confirming how very out he was.In Rabada’s next over, the final one before tea, he had Shaun Marsh lbw for 24 to a delivery that curled in to the left-hander, and then had Mitchell Marsh caught behind off a thin inside edge behind as he tried to drive what should have been the penultimate ball of the session. Rabada returned after the break to have Pat Cummins caught behind first ball, and although Mitchell Starc survived the hat-trick delivery, he was bowled by Rabada soon after for 8.It was a chaotic period for Australia, but Paine displayed a cool head and set about working with the tail to lift Australia’s total up past 200, and close to 250. He put on 30 for the ninth wicket with Lyon and then 31 for the final wicket with Hazlewood. Both Lyon (17) and Paine (36) were bowled by Ngidi, who finished with 3 for 51 and justified his inclusion ahead of the veteran Morne Morkel, who was dropped for this Test.The morning had started with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft looking set to make it through the opening session unscathed, but their 98-run stand ended on the stroke of lunch when Bancroft edged an outswinger behind off Philander for 38. Warner had been so careful early that at the drinks break he was on 8 from 36 deliveries, but a change in approach resulted in him scoring 42 off 33 in the second half of the session.He brought up his half-century from his 69th delivery, showing no signs of distraction after three days of being in the spotlight following his stairwell altercation with Quinton de Kock in Durban. But despite his strong start, Warner could not capitalise and was bowled by Ngidi for 63 in the second session.By then, Philander had also had Usman Khawaja caught behind for 4. Philander was superb in helpful conditions, taking 2 for 25 from 18 overs. The Australians had to work hard to get through his probing new-ball spell. But much more probing was to come.

The Bangladesh Test captain wants a collective effort from his batsmen in the first Test against New Zealand in Wellington

Mohammad Isam in Wellington11-Jan-2017One by one, Bangladesh’s touring party walked to the centre of the Basin Reserve. First, it was chief selector Minhajul Abedin and BCB’s cricket operations chairman Akram Khan. Then a second and third group went with players and coaching staff. Any batting line-up will have concerns about a green pitch but for Bangladesh, that concern is mixed with a lack of confidence in overseas conditions and the pressure of extending their recent good form at home.For a team that doesn’t travel much outside its own surroundings to play Tests, the challenge seems magnified, especially for the batsmen. The sight of a lush, green pitch can be disconcerting but the visitors can take heart from the numbers. In the last three Tests at the Basin Reserve, teams have scored in excess of 500 three times, raking up the scores in the second and third innings of the match. The highest first-innings score in the last three matches has been 221.Bangladesh’s concern, therefore, should be more about strategy than the pitch: bowl first if they win the toss, and then bat as long as possible to make use of a flatter surface.Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, therefore, has laid down the marker for his batting line-up: to bring their overall consistency of home matches to an away Test match.”Our target would be to bring the home consistency to away Tests,” Mushfiqur said. “It is time that we prove ourselves in overseas conditions. The batsmen have to take the biggest challenge. Some of them like Tamim, Shakib and Mahmudullah have done well in Tests here in the past.”But now we need a collective effort from the batsmen, which we failed to do in the ODIs and T20s. We are capable, so this is our opportunity to do it. Our main challenge will be for the batsmen to set up the Test match for the bowlers. We have to put up a good enough total for the bowlers to defend.”Seven members of the Bangladesh Test squad have never played in this format abroad, including talented youngsters like Sabbir Rahman, Taskin Ahmed and Mehedi Hasan. There will be fewer expectations on the youngsters with most of the focus on the seniors in the batting line-up, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur.Mushfiqur’s technical strength will be important in dealing with seaming conditions while Tamim has the experience of playing for the Wellington Firebirds in the domestic T20 tournament. Much will also depend on how Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan stand up to New Zealand’s pace attack.Mushfiqur said he had advised his young pace attack to target the top of off stump instead of being too focused on the available pace and bounce.”Bowlers do get excited by extra bounce but the best ball here, like any other pitch, is one that targets the top of off stump,” Mushfiqur said. “We have tried to pass on this message to our bowlers and also told them that even a top batsman needs one ball to get out. The bowlers have to work hard here because New Zealand know how to handle these conditions.”When you know as a group that you can take 20 wickets, it gives a bit of satisfaction. But we are playing in a different condition and we haven’t played an away Test in a very long time. The pace bowlers have to take over the attacking role that the spinners have in home Tests. I believe that our pace bowlers have the ability to take 20 wickets if they bowl at their best.”Mushfiqur also said that younger players, like offspinner Mehedi Hasan and seamer Mustafizur Rahman, should not be subject to unrealistic expectations. Mehedi took 19 wickets in his debut Test series against England in October, picking up the Man-of-the-Series award. Mustafizur, who has been rested for the first Test, was recently named the ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year.”I would request all to keep realistic expectations about Mustafizur or Mehedi Hasan,” he said. “These conditions are new for them so sometimes even someone like Mehedi gets confused. But I feel he is a smart operator, which enabled him to come to the senior team so quickly. Here, he will learn how to switch his roles with the fast bowlers becoming the attacking options.”

Sean Abbott and Steve O’Keefe each picked up two wickets as Queensland’s batsmen struggled on the first day of their Sheffield Shield match at the SCG

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2015
ScorecardSean Abbott finished the day with 2 for 39•Getty Images

Sean Abbott and Steve O’Keefe each picked up two wickets as Queensland’s batsmen struggled on the first day of their Sheffield Shield match at the SCG. At stumps, the Bulls were on 6 for 221 with Jason Floros on 72 and Jack Wildermuth on 4, and it had been slow going with a scoring rate of only 2.3 an over after Queensland chose to bat.Scott Henry was out hit wicket in the second over of the day and Abbott then struck in his first over, when he had Sam Heazlett lbw for 9. Abbott claimed his second when he had Marnus Labuschagne caught for 3, and Queensland were in trouble at 3 for 24. Nathan Reardon fell to the bowling of Moises Henriques for 23 and O’Keefe then bowled opener Matt Renshaw for 45.Floros and Chris Hartley rebuilt the innings with a 120-run stand that ended when Hartley was stumped for 48 late in the day off the bowling of O’Keefe. The players from both sides wore black armbands in tribute to Phillip Hughes, who died a year ago to the day after being struck by a bouncer in a Shield game at the SCG two days earlier.