All posts by csb10.top

Rashid Khan’s late fireworks on New Year’s Eve nearly helped Adelaide Strikers pull off a spectacular heist but Chris Morris just about held his nerve as Sydney Thunder ended the year with a win by the thinnest of margins.The three-run win ended the Strikers’ unbeaten run this season, and was their first ever defeat on New Year’s Eve. While the match was only sealed on the very last ball, it was set up early in the day. Fifties from Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson helped the Thunder post a competitive 5 for 168, the latter batting nearly through the innings, pacing his knock to perfection to top the chart for most runs this season.Callum Ferguson raises his bat•Getty Images

This, before their spinners stifled the Strikers’ reply in the Powerplay. With runs coming in a trickle rather than a torrent, the seamers reaped rewards at the other end, as the hosts were reduced to 3 for 38 in the first six. Although Jake Weatherald (52) and later Rashid fought spiritedly, their efforts weren’t quite enough.Khawaja brings out the Watson playbookAs though he’d just had a re-run of Shane Watson’s last two IPL finals innings’ on Youtube, Khawaja made just two from his first ten balls. The approach may have drawn scrutiny had he fallen after consuming so many balls, but he found the cover fence off his 11th delivery. That set his innings in motion as he picked up five fours and a six off his next 10 balls. Having settled in, with a platform laid, Khawaja returned to a more calculated approach after the introduction of spin, another tactic that meant that the middle order wasn’t exposed to Rashid until the very end of the Thunder innings.Tale of two contrasting powerplaysAre T20 contests decided in the Powerplay? The eventual result may suggest so, but it nearly wasn’t the case. While the Thunder were slow off the blocks, Khawaja managed to tee off just in time to take 52 from the Powerplay. Furthermore, Ferguson hung around to ensure Thunder had a solid platform to launch from.Strikers seemed keen to follow the same template, picking up just a single off first over, but lost their way thereafter as Phil Salt fell to a cutter from Daniel Sams first ball next over. With the spinners having choked the runs from one end, Alex Carey, one of the top run getters this season, took on Morris in the last over the Strikers’ Powerplay. He pulled him for six then swatted him for four down the ground, before nicking one behind in slightly anti-climactic fashion. That ensured that the Thunder had well and truly dominated both crucial passages of play.Rashid loses it in the 19th. Rashid (nearly) wins it in the 19thNot often do teams take Rashid for 11 an over. And it probably wouldn’t have been the case here had it not been for a belated counterattack from a set Ferguson. He transferred the pressure back on the legspinner, who was presumably held back for Morris’ big hitting, but only got one ball at the allrounder. Before that Ferguson bisected deep square leg and deep midwicket for a four on the sweep, and deposited a high full toss and a half tracker into the crowd at deep midwicket. Nineteen came from that over, Rashid’s most expensive of the season, as the Thunder carried momentum into the defence. Ironically, with the match seemingly decided and 28 needed from 9, Rashid launched a counterattack of his own with the bat. That too in the 19th over. And it was done expertly, toying with the field as it moved: first, he squeezed a yorker past short third-man for four, then when the fielder from square leg came in so that the third-man could go back, he fetched a full toss from outside off and hammered it into the 15th row at deep square leg. While the fielder would have been a mute spectator on that occasion, the next one was fetched again from way outside off and swept for four in the same direction. Two consecutive fours of Morris – a full toss swept fine and the next one slice powerfully over point – left the Strikers five to get off two, but his run-out next ball meant that the Thunder could finally breathe.

Zimbabwe will host their first Test in over two years when they play Sri Lanka in a two-match series starting January 19. This will also be their first assignment since the ICC reinstated their membership following a three-month suspension last July.Sean Williams will lead the new squad that will be picked based on performances in the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s first-class competition that is currently underway, and assemble together on Thursday to start training.ALSO READ: Ryan Burl, a man ‘addicted to all sports’“For us, it’s a new beginning, a new chapter,” head coach Lalchand Rajput said. “And it’s good that we are starting off with the long version which always brings the best out of players.”Although Zimbabwe continued to play through the time they were penalised by the ICC, they haven’t gone through the rigours of a Test match since November 2018, when they went to Bangladesh and secured their first win away from home in 18 years.Given that, Rajput put a premium on his players’ form in domestic cricket and hoped they would hit the ground running against Sri Lanka. “It’s important to have players performing well in first-class cricket,” he said. “And I am happy that in the Logan Cup we have players who have scored centuries and taken five wickets and more. This bodes well for our preparations and it’s always good to have players who are match-fit and in good nick.”During our 10-day camp, we will attend to a few issues, including the processes, as we fine-tune our team ahead of the series.”The Harare Sports Club will host both matches, the second one starting on January 27.”We know our home conditions better, our players are getting match-fit and enjoying some game time. So all we have to do is to get in the middle and perform,” Rajput said.”We have not had much game time, so the players will be very keen and eager to seize this opportunity and do well.”

Four wickets to Chadd Sayers and three to Wes Agar have helped South Australia establish a 314-run lead over Western Australia with a day to play in Adelaide.WA were bowled out for 254 partway through the third day before Jake Weatherald and Travis Head both made 49 as the home side pressed towards a final-day declaration.WA lost 6 for 81 to concede a 135-run first-innings deficit. Sayers picked up his third wicket early in the morning session with Josh Philippe failing to a stunning diving catch at cover from William Bosisto. Cameron Green’s patient 43 came to an end when he holed out at fine leg off Nick Winter. Agar nabbed his third with Josh Inglis slicing a catch to Weatherald at gully in the following over.Joel Paris and Liam Guthrie both faced in excess of 50 balls but contributed just 30 runs between them to delay the inevitable.South Australia scored at a healthy rate from the outset in the third innings with a declaration in mind. Henry Hunt and Weatherald combined for 85 in 22 overs but both fell in consecutive overs for 35 and 49 respectively. The platform allowed captain Travis Head to club 49 off 50 balls with six fours and two sixes before falling one short of a half-century.Matt Kelly was the pick of the WA bowlers nabbing 3 for 34 but their batsmen will be left with a mountain to climb on the final day.

Domain, the naming-rights partner for Test cricket, is not the only brand to be exiting Cricket Australia’s suite of sponsors. Mastercard and Specsavers are also on their way out, with Bupa to scale down its commitment and so lose its naming rights sponsorship of the national cricket centre in Brisbane and place on the shirts of Australian team support staff.If this sounds like a worrying exodus for the game, it is nothing next to the climate in which CA’s last broadcast rights deal was signed, a matter of weeks after the Newlands scandal. Having been front and centre of that negotiation, CA executive Stephanie Beltrame is now concocting a plan to recast the governing body’s portfolio of partners in order to grow it.Cricket is hardly doing badly: in terms of revenue raised from corporate backers it sits third in Australia behind tennis and the AFL. However, the dwarfing of all other sports revenue by the cash derived from broadcast rights means that the wider commercial realm is due a rethink, and cricket is getting its own from the very person who played a large part in growing that broadcast revenue.As CA’s head of broadcast rights, Beltrame worked assiduously towards the creation of competition in the market for a 2013 deal that included the Big Bash League for the first time and was worth some A$500 million. The next step was bigger, bolder and more lucrative still, the 2018 agreement with Fox and Seven reaping A$1.18 billion for CA. Having returned from maternity leave, Beltrame is now the executive in charge of all commercial concerns, and wants the wider picture to follow the broadcast trend.”I prefer the term partnership than sponsorship because there’s so much more to it than a one way investment,” Beltrame told ESPNcricinfo. “I also want us to be able to form partnerships in other commercial areas, diversify our revenue and seek new opportunities so that we will be able to grow in the same way that we’ve seen growth across our media rights revenue. I have high expectations.”From time to time we’ll have a partner advise us that they’re exiting despite having what they regard as quite a successful result, but we just have to respect that decision. Every partner you want to be treated in the same way when you arrive as when you leave, and exactly the same way an employee should have that – so we don’t have any issues when partners go. We’d prefer they stay obviously, but you’ve got to respect the decision.”Among CA’s other current sponsors, KFC, Toyota and Sanitarium have deals that run until 2021, and its commercial betting partner Bet365’s much-debated contract expires the following year. Of Bet365, Beltrame said: “Ultimately because we still have a number of years left in the agreement, no decision has been taken about our association, whether that’s to status quo, to change, so I think they’re all considerations, but at this point in time we’re still in a current agreement.”Chief among Beltrame’s questions is to investigate, alongside the state associations, whether there is more to be wrung from the BBL, a far bigger proposition than it was at its inception in 2011. The league’s current list of four partners may yet grow.”If we believe a different model is required for BBL then we might look at changing the number of partners that can be associated with it,” Beltrame said. “And then some consideration of how do you grow the pie but still provide meaningful protection and exclusivity to brands. How the BBL fits in with international cricket, how brands can opt to be involved across Australian cricket or be involved in international only or BBL only.”Where the AFL has been able to successfully build sponsorships over a long period of time through its breadth of clubs, matches, length of season and connection to the passions stirred in club members and followers, tennis’ fulcrum is the Australian Open, a truly international event that sets the eyes of the world on Melbourne Park for two highly lucrative weeks. With its strong hold on the summer months, and the extra overseas eyeballs presented by its standing as a far more global game than AFL but somewhat less so than tennis, cricket should sit somewhere in between.”The mix of how [our revenue] made up is very different, we don’t have many partners, we’ve been quite exclusive for a long period of time,” Beltrame said. “I think there’s opportunities where we can create different partnerships at different levels. We can really take advantage of our national and international footprint. India’s touring here, what else can we do, how can we sell directly to India? There’s things we can do because of our remit as a national and international sport.”Some things, of course, are beyond anyone’s control, like the extreme weather that blighted this summer’s BBL almost as much as all previous events combined, or a slackening Australian economy after more than 25 years of growth. Whatever lies ahead, Beltrame wants CA to be able to adapt: “It just really starts from my perspective from reviewing what we’re currently doing – looking under the hood.”

Brendon McCullum has called for greater New Zealand involvement in the Big Bash League later this year if the availability of overseas players – and international cricket overall – remains restricted by the Covid-19 pandemic.There are positive signs that the Australian season could take shape somewhat as scheduled – there even remains hope that the men’s T20 World Cup could be played in October – with every effort being made to enable to the lucrative series against India to survive. Cricket Australia has started conversations with the federal government about what protocols would need to be in place to allow international teams to visit later in the year.While there remain plenty of hurdles to cross before full-fledged international sport can take place, there has already been progress in links between Australia and New Zealand resuming with the Warriors rugby team arriving in Tamworth, New South Wales at the weekend to prepare for the resumption of the NRL later this month and there are talks at the government level about a travel “bubble” between the two countries.”If there is a shortage of international cricket what an opportunity for the Big Bash, which if we are being honest has probably just tailed off a little bit of late, what a great opportunity to really morph that back into Australia sporting fans’ eyes,” McCullum, who had eight seasons with the Brisbane Heat, told . “And I think what a great opportunity to maybe bring a New Zealand team into the Big Bash or use New Zealand players as local players because there may be a distinct lack of overseas players.”A little bit of creative thinking. It may be just for one season but we have to prepare for the long-term if you are going to grow the game there may be some value.”However, if New Zealand’s international players are not playing in December and January – they are due to have a visit by Pakistan – NZC would likely see it as a chance to have them available for the T20 Super Smash, which usually runs concurrently with the first part of the Big Bash from mid-December.One of the contingency plans in place should next season be disrupted is the potential for Australia and New Zealand to play each other if movement between those two countries is more feasible than broader international travel. There are two ODIs left to play from the curtailed series in March plus three T20Is that were due to be hosted in New Zealand.The Big Bash will mark its tenth anniversary in the 2020-21 season and, before the pandemic, had commissioned a review by David Barham, the television executive who was central to the BBL’s rise while at Channel 10, into what could be done to revitalise the competition. The most intriguing suggestion out of the review was the prospect of four-innings T20 matches in an attempt to ensure contests are alive for longer.

Big picture

Maybe this Test cricket lark has some legs after all. Two matches in as many weeks, two pulsating fifth-day finishes, one victory apiece and the promise of more to come. The series in a bubble is bubbling up nicely as the decider looms – once again at Emirates Old Trafford, where Ben Stokes’ most recent expression of greatness proved that the intensity of these contests has not been diminished by the absence of crowd-based atmospherics.What on earth can Stokes possibly have up his sleeve as an encore? There is the possibility that he may not be risked as a bowler in this match, after picking up a late niggle last week, but that hardly diminishes his value to the side. In fact, his batting performance alone in the second Test was one of the most remarkable all-round displays in Test history, as he conjured a pair of entirely opposite personas in each of his two innings. A 255-ball hundred on the first and second days; a 36-ball fifty on the fifth – his debut as a Test opener, no less.Not that he’s the only allrounder to have impressed in this series, mind you. Not for the first time, and surely not for the last, Jason Holder’s masterful seizure of the moment in the first Test has been relegated to the undercard. Lest we forget, not only did he claim 6 for 42 in that first innings, he extracted Stokes twice in the match – intercessions that we now know were even more priceless than they seemed at the time.And though he has now officially dipped to No. 2 in the ICC’s allrounder rankings, with Stokes taking over as top dog, Holder’s talismanic value will be of even greater importance to his team in this final contest, not to mention his quietly authoritative leadership. Their squad may be feeling the strain in this back-to-back-to-back series, but West Indies have won four of their last seven Tests against England since their famous run-chase at Headingley in 2017, and (a not-insignificant detail too) they are the proud holders of the Wisden Trophy, and are unlikely to hand it back without an almighty fight.Selection issues abound for both teams, although England’s are the ones that you would classify as “good headaches” – namely, the need to cram six fit and eager seamers into three available slots. In their differing styles, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran did absolutely everything that was asked of them in the second Test, and all three have duly been retained in an extended squad for the decider. But so too have each of the men they replaced after the Ageas Bowl loss, so expect a fully-blown selection migraine for Joe Root and Chris Silverwood before the final XI takes the field on Friday.West Indies, by contrast, are faced with the classic stick-or-twist dilemma. Their seamers excelled in the Ageas Bowl victory, but the same attack struggled to touch such heights in the second Test – not helped, it must be said, by Holder’s decision to bowl first. It was a bold move designed to seize the series there and then, and it might have worked had Stokes and Dom Sibley not been quite so bloody-minded. But instead, it leaves them fatigued with the climax still to come. Chemar Holder lurks on the bench with a big reputation already stored up in his young career. But it would be a big ask to be pitched into the series now.There has, of course, been a third narrative to this series – the expression of anti-racism sentiments by both teams, who will once again take a knee before the start of play in recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement. And while Jofra Archer’s banishment from the second Test was a justifiable disciplinary measure in the wake of his breaching of England’s bio-secure bubble, the subsequent racist abuse that he received on social media during his five days of self-isolation was unacceptable in any context.After some suggestion that he might not be ready to return to the fray, Archer has since expressed his eagerness to get back on the field – and gratifyingly, a lot of the credit for that is almost certainly down to the men he’ll be facing as and when he gets there. England’s players have rallied round their team-mate of course, but West Indies’ efforts to put the on-pitch rivalry aside and reach out to him must be applauded too.Roddy Estwick, his former youth-team coach, has been a sounding board since the Brighton incident, but so too has that man, Holder, who vouched for Archer’s character in his column in the Daily Mail and called on both teams to “unite behind him and show as much support as we can”.Win or lose, Holder has been and remains a credit to West Indies, and to cricket in general. But as of Friday morning, his statesmanship will revert to secondary status behind his inspirational abilities on a cricket field. For if Stokes raised the bar with his above-and-beyond display in the second Test, you can be sure it won’t just have been his own team-mates who have been inspired to dig that little bit deeper.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)England WLWWW
West Indies LWWLL
Jason Holder and Nkrumah Bonner head to the nets•Getty Images

In the spotlight

All eyes will be on Stokes, inevitably, but they will doubtless be drawn to Jofra Archer too, as he makes his probable return to action after last week’s ill-advised Brighton jaunt. It’s been another tough week in Archer’s hyper-speed international baptism, and it’s little wonder he was moved to describe a career in sport as “fickle” given the highs and lows he’s encountered so far. This time last year, he was taking a well-earned break after winning the World Cup, and was still a few weeks away from felling Steve Smith on that extraordinary Test debut at Lord’s. Few players encounter such heightened levels of scrutiny so early in their careers – he’s still only 25, after all – but the best response to his recent criticism (both justified and vile) is to turn on the style in the manner of which everyone knows he is capable.West Indies’ senior seamer has had a quiet series so far, though not necessarily a bad one. Kemar Roach went wicketless in the first Test but played an important role in their victory nonetheless, providing a zippy and economical line and length that allowed Shannon Gabriel in particular to attack with spite in both innings. And though he eventually got some reward at Old Trafford, his two wickets in the second innings were both gifted as England looked to slog quick runs. But Gabriel in particular looked stiff in that match, and Alzarri Joseph hasn’t quite found his range in either game, meaning that West Indies will need their attack leader to front up with some extra verve if they are to maintain their hold on the Wisden Trophy, let alone win their first series in England since 1988. On the plus side, he’s certainly got some miles in his legs now after the strictures of lockdown. Whether that’s also a negative remains to be seen.

Team news

Six into three doesn’t go. That’s the key take-away from England’s belatedly named 14-man man squad, unveiled by Ed Smith at 1pm on the eve of the match, and featuring all six of the seamers who played in one or other of the first two Tests, but not both. So, will James Anderson get to play another Test on his home ground at Old Trafford? Will he get to partner his old muckah, Broad once again? Will Archer slot straight back into the line-up? Should Mark Wood be given another chance to prove his form on home soil? The obvious fall-guys are Curran, even though he’s won eight out of eight of his home Tests, and Woakes, whose 75 Test wickets in England have come at a remarkable 22.90. Clarity comes in the retention of Dom Bess, ahead of Jack Leach’s left-arm spin (although a four-seam attack is a definite option given Stokes’ niggle) and Jos Buttler, who will have another chance to improve his unbecoming record as the Test wicketkeeper.England (possible): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Dom Sibley, 3 Zak Crawley, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Ollie Pope, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Dom Bess/Chris Woakes, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 James Anderson, 11 Stuart BroadWest Indies’ quicks toiled through 162 overs in the second Test, hot on the heels of their exertions in the first, but with history still within their grasp, there’s a case to be made for another unchanged line-up. Certainly Roddy Estwick, the assistant coach, hinted that they would look to trust the experience in the line-up, both to deliver the goods, and perhaps just as important, to self-assess their own stamina levels. There will, however, be a temptation to turn to the spin of Rahkeem Cornwall, given the assistance that Roston Chase got in the last Test, although such decisions have been deferred until they’ve taken a good look at the pitch. On the batting front, Shai Hope’s twin failures in the second Test took his post-Headingley-2017 tally to 899 runs at 24.29, but he retains the support of his captain and may have another chance to put the record straight. John Campbell at the top of the order is looking an equally weak link, but Joshua Da Silva, the next cab off the rank after an impressive hundred in the intra-squad warm-up, is better suited to the middle order.West Indies (possible): 1 John Campbell, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Shamarh Brooks, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Jermaine Blackwood, 7 Shane Dowrich (wk), 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shannon Gabriel

Pitch and conditions

Manchester will inevitably be cloaked in drizzle in the coming days but the long-range forecast predicts more than enough good weather to get another result – after all, the loss of the entire third day last week managed not to diminish the climax. The pitch for the first Test was not lightning quick – in fact it was positively sluggish at times – but it held up well over the course of the four days of play, offering seam movement up front, a bit of up-and-down bounce at the end, and spin – damp then dry – in all four innings. More of the same would set up the contest just fine.

Stats and trivia

• With 612 runs at 76.50, and 17 wickets at 20.29, Ben Stokes is both the leading run-scorer and leading wicket-taker in Test cricket in 2020.
• England’s victory at Old Trafford last week has extended their win-loss record at the ground to 10-1 in their last 13 Tests. Australia’s Ashes-sealing win last summer was their only defeat.
• Holder needs 46 more runs to reach 2000 in Tests. He would be the third West Indian player behind Sir Garfield Sobers and Carl Hooper to achieve the double of 2000 runs and 100 Test wickets.
• After breaking his 11-month wicketless streak in the second Test, Roach needs three more wickets to become the first West Indian fast bowler since Curtly Ambrose to reach 200 in Tests.
• Broad and Anderson are in the midst of a race to landmarks of their own. Broad’s six wickets last week means he now needs nine more to reach 500 in Tests. Anderson still needs 13 to become the first seam bowler to 600 Test wickets.

Quotes

“Jofra is available for selection. He’s a spectacular talent, a brilliant cricketer with an exceptional record in England. We’re just pleased and excited that he’s back and available.”
Ed Smith, England’s selector, looks forward to seeing Archer back in action“The spirits in the dressing are still very, very high. We still have a really good opportunity here to win this series. Everybody is upbeat for the occasion and we know what’s at stake.”
Jason Holder has his eyes on the prize as West Indies continue to press for a first series victory in England for 32 years

Trent Boult did not train on day two of New Zealand’s camp in Mount Maunganui; Boult, it is understood, was feeling unwell and stayed away as precaution. Ross Taylor said he was hopeful the pacer would be fit to go on the third day of the camp, which is running from July 19 to 24 at Bay Oval with cricketers from the national men’s and women’s teams based in the North Island.”I think he’s just tired from his eight overs bowling at us yesterday,” Taylor joked, adding, “Obviously, with what’s going around, you’ve got to be a bit smart around things like that. Hopefully he’s fine and raring to go tomorrow.”Taylor and Boult were two of eight men’s players to attend the first half of the North camp, alongside Colin de Grandhomme, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner. The second half of the six-day camp will have Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham, Will Somerville and Will Young taking part.The camp will give the two groups of men’s players, as well as seven women’s players – Anna Peterson, Katie Perkins, Lauren Down, Holly Huddleston, Hannah Rowe, Rosemary Mair and Natalie Dodd – the chance to get a feel of the turf again, even while being protected from the elements in the New Zealand winter. A marquee tent has been set up at Bay Oval, over the outdoor nets, meaning the players could train despite it raining on Monday.New Zealand’s bowling coach Shane Jurgensen, who is part of the support staff present at the camp, explained the men’s camp had been split in two to limit the number of players present. “Geographically, with the way things are set out, we’ve got more [players training] on the North Island. We split this camp into two for that reason,” he said. “For now it’s a temporary [tented] structure, we’ve got two nets. The bigger structure will come in next year.”We want to make sure we maximise our time with the guys, give them every opportunity over three days, and then we have the second group coming in later in the week.”Jurgensen, who was part of the camp in Lincoln for players from the South Island last week as well, said that from a skills point of view, work has begun on tweaking bowling plans and habits to meet the new playing conditions – such as the ban on saliva to polish the ball – in the era of Covid-19. “We’re trying to adjust to potential new rules, in my department, with the bowling,” Jurgensen said. “We’ve got to look after the ball in a different way now, we’ve got to come up with some new deliveries. So this week’s been a good starting point.”Rowe, the seamer, said it was good to get back on turf, and to pick the brains of the men’s players. “We’ve all been training indoors. It’s really good to get that opportunity to get back on grass. If we didn’t have the marquee up here, we’d be back indoors [due to the rain],” she said. “Also, to share facilities and obviously to learn off [the men’s players] as well… I know the girls down South [Lincoln] had really good conversations with the boys regarding different ways to play the game, so, yeah, it’s awesome to be able to share that with them.”In all, New Zealand have six national camps scheduled this winter, three each in the north and south islands, in their bid to shake off the effects of the pandemic-induced lockdown.

Sachin Tendulkar knew even before MS Dhoni’s international debut that he was “something special to see.” Dhoni made his international debut in Bangladesh in 2004, under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy, and in just his fifth ODI, he smashed 148 against Pakistan after being promoted to No. 3.”I hadn’t heard about him (Dhoni) until he got into the Indian team,” Tendulkar told the (whip) in his hand which he uses while hitting the ball.’ It was something special to see. It was his first outing with the Indian team. But the way he was hitting the ball, one could make out he was someone special.”ALSO READ: What that Insta post revealed: MS Dhoni caredGiving a peek into Dhoni’s personality, Tendulkar said he found him quiet in his early days as an international cricketer. “He has been quiet with me all throughout,” Tendulkar said. “I had heard many stories that he will not come and say ‘hello’. Many found him rude, but we broke that barrier. His behaviour was understandable. It happens when a player is new in the team, and takes some time to open up.”Dhoni, who went on to captain Tendulkar for six years, revealed during a book launch in 2013 how even after many years of playing together, he found it difficult to chat with Tendulkar outside the ground.”Even now, am a bit shy to talking to Sachin outside the field; inside the field it’s still good. On the Bangladesh tour [in 2004] we didn’t interact much, but in the Pakistan series, in the Kochi ODI, Sachin got five wickets. Whenever he was supposed to bowl, he’d ask me ‘shall I bowl legspin or offspin? Shall I bowl seam-ups or mix them up?'”That interaction made me comfortable. From there on, it was important for me to be ready with an answer whenever he asked me something. I had to at times tell him, ‘no, legspin will work better’. By the time I was made captain in 2007, I was easily comfortable with him when it came to talking to him on the field. Off the field, I still find it difficult.”Tendulkar picked out Dhoni’s calmness as one standout quality, while also being unable to pick out one particular Dhoni knock as his most favourite. Tendulkar resonated views of many of their former team-mates when he said “MS gave hope and showed nothing is impossible.”The one quality I liked about him was his calmness. It’s something that helped him be so successful,” Tendulkar said. “It has been a fantastic journey, he had come from a small place (Ranchi) and played 15 years for India. I wish him all the best after a fantastic career. I enjoyed all his innings, and to single out one innings will be hard for me.”Whatever is going on in his mind and what he thinks about his body, only he knows. He knows it better than anybody else. I would much rather look at his contribution to Indian cricket, it has been immense. He has given joy to so many people around the globe and inspired so many youngsters to play this sport. I would like to congratulate him on a fantastic career. I enjoyed playing with him.”‘You’ll always be my captain’ – Virat KohliVirat Kohli, the current India captain, who made his Test and ODI debuts under Dhoni’s captaincy, said he’ll always be “grateful” to Dhoni for backing him.”Words fall short a lot of times in life and this is one of those moments,” Kohli said in a video posted by the BCCI on Twitter. “All I can say, is to me, you’ll always be the guy who sat in the last seat of the bus; not saying much, but you’re presence and aura saying a lot. And for me, you’ve always been that guy and I’m sure you’ll continue to be so. “We shared a great camaraderie, friendship, understanding and that has happened because we’ve always played for the same goal, same reason, which is to make the team win and it has been a pleasure playing alongside you and playing under you initially in my career. You’ve shown faith and belief in me, which I’ll always be grateful for and I wish you the best in your next phase of your life – lot peace and lot of happiness. And I’ve always said this and I’ll say it again: you’ll always be my captain.”‘He hit balls into parts of the field that others couldn’t’ – Greg ChappellGreg Chappell, India’s head coach from 2005 to 2007, said Dhoni’s brute force and unorthodox approach stood out when he saw the wicketkeeper-batsman for the first time.”When I first met Dhoni in 2005, I was taken by his strength and the fact that he hit balls into parts of the field that others couldn’t,” Chappell told . “Short balls that most pulled through midwicket, MS hit straight back past startled bowlers. His back-foot, short-armed punches down the ground were also a signature shot but what impressed me most of all was his ability to clear boundaries at will.”Chappell felt Dhoni’s street smarts, his ability to understand situations and tailor his game from a brute hitter to a tactical finisher quickly made him India’s go-to player in ODIs.”I saw more potential than a brute in the dying overs,” Chappell said. “I could see that his decision-making and his reading of a game could make him one of the most dangerous finishers in the game. As Rahul Dravid and I began to reshape the way India played one-day cricket, we could see that Dhoni was going to be a key component in becoming one of the most dangerous teams either setting or chasing a target.”

On a day Australia’s cricketers made a public statement of solidarity with Aboriginal Australia in their opening match of the new season, it was the ferocious counterattack of the Muruwari woman Ashleigh Gardner that gave Australia enough runs to comfortably defend against New Zealand for victory at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.On a windy afternoon and at times tricky pitch, the hosts were far from from the fluency they had displayed in the Twenty20 World Cup decider back in March. But Garder’s powerful striking ensured that they had enough runs to pressure the visitors into error. That all this came in the absence of Ellyse Perry, even as she gets to the finish of her recovery from a serious hamstring injury, made it more special.New Zealand and their captain, Sophie Devine, were on the wrong end of a couple of contentious moments. First, Devine had a raucous caught behind appeal turned down against Nicola Carey when the Australian innings wobbled. Then in the chase, Devine was adjudged stumped off Delissa Kimmince’s bowling in a decision that was marginal at best.Nos. 1 and 5 make just 2 and 6
Australia’s previous match, the small matter of a T20 World Cup final in front of more than 86,000 spectators at the MCG in March, was more or less decided by the opening partnership of Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy. Mooney batted through the innings after Healy had crashed an opening salvo of boundaries that India could not cope with. But in the quieter, windier surrounds of Allan Border Field, neither Mooney nor Healy could get going, on a surface that required a little more careful assessment than the MCG’s had done.Mooney was facing her fourth ball when she tried to get after Rosemary Mair and managed only to spoon a catch to mid-off. Healy and Meg Lanning formed the foundations of a partnership before Healy also tried to force the pace and could only loop a catch to cover. Australia’s Powerplay at the MCG had reaped 0 for 49; this one scraped 2 for 33.Gardner thrives after Devine intervention
That sluggish start provided Devine with an ideal scenario in which to pressure the Australians still further with ring fields. Her own excellent combination of a tight line and subtle variations in pace on a pitch that also offered its own inconsistencies helped too. Her third over fetched the wickets of Rachael Haynes and Sophie Molineux, as both fell trying to clear the inner ring and reach the boundary. Devine should have had a third when Nicola Carey edged behind but was reprieved when the umpire apparently missed the nick due to the wind. Without any technology available, New Zealand couldn’t take the DRS.At the other end, Gardner was slowly building into her innings, doing so with the confidence of a performer who knows how quickly her enormous power can help “catch-up” an innings after a sedate start. Against the leg breaks of Amelia Kerr, Gardner aimed for straight midwicket with devastating effect, crashing two of her three sixes in the space of three balls. A trio of further boundaries took Gardner as far as 61, the third highest score by an Australian at No. 5 or lower – the other top three scores all contributed by Haynes.Healy’s photo finish
If Devine had a right to feel hard done by after Carey was given not out and then stayed on right to the end of Australia’s innings, the feeling was enhanced just as she and Suzie Bates appeared to be building a sound foundation for New Zealand’s chase. Delissa Kimmince appealed for caught behind as ball drifted down the leg side and brushed Devine’s pad on the way through to Healy, but as New Zealand’s captain overbalanced slightly, the gloves were whipped off for a stumping chance.It was extremely close – made to look tighter still by the fact that Australia’s uniforms are black, the same colour as the sponsored bails – and the most likely result was that Healy had lifted the bails in the frame between Devine lifting her foot and returning it to safety. Nevertheless, the third umpire Michael Graham-Smith chose to give Devine out, breaking up the pivotal partnership of the innings and allowing Lanning and her bowlers to tighten things up still further.Lanning, Schutt close the net
With Devine and Bates separated, the Australians had engineered for themselves a position from which they lose remarkably few matches – one of being able to gradually push up the required run rate up the point where the pressure creates a flow of opposition wickets. Lanning was helped on this day by the sluggishness of the pitch and the challenges presented by the breeze, as her bowlers worked through now familiar sequences of discipline, backed by a familiar desperation in the field.With the exception of Georgia Wareham’s two overs and Gardner’s one, none of the Australians conceded more than six runs per over, and the most effective performer was, as is so often the case, the miserly and resourceful Schutt. After her first two overs went wicketless and cost 15, she returned at the death with the run rate in her favour, and capitalised supremely by scooping the wickets of Bates, Katie Martin, Kerr and Hayley Jensen. Give Lanning, Schutt and their fielders any sort of total to defend and they are fiendishly tough to beat.

Sussex have confirmed that Stiaan van Zyl will stay at the club in 2021 despite the end of Kolpak registrations, fulfilling his contract on overseas terms, while David Wiese’s time at Hove is set to come to an end.Van Zyl, who signed a three-year extension in early 2019 after initially joining the club in 2017, missed the 2020 county season due to restrictions on international travel and club finances, and it was mutually agreed that he would return as an overseas player next summer.Wiese, the South African allrounder, has left the club at the end of his contract after four seasons as a Kolpak player, but a Sussex statement said that he could still return as an overseas player for the T20 Blast.The ECB confirmed in writing to counties two weeks ago that Kolpak registrations would be invalid once the UK’s transition period with the European Union comes to an end on December 31, with affected players either leaving their clubs or re-signing as overseas players. Players with settled or pre-settled status in the UK through EU citizenship will be free to continue playing as locals.Counties will be allowed to field two overseas players in all formats next season, having previously been permitted only one in the County Championship and Royal London Cup.Travis Head, the Australia batsman, is due to be Sussex’s second main overseas player after having his contract for this summer deferred to 2021, but it remains to be seen which formats he will play. With Rashid Khan, whose contract was cancelled this year to allow him to play in the CPL and the IPL, also under consideration for a T20-only deal, it could be that van Zyl and Head only play in the County Championship and the Royal London One-Day Cup. “Obviously the government is kicking us out of here with Brexit at this stage, and I suppose the joy-ride had to come to an end at some stage,” Wiese joked after Sussex’s Blast quarter-final defeat to Lancashire last week. “It’s been a good couple of years for me, and hopefully it’s not the end.”I could come back as an overseas – obviously it’s trying times financially, a lot of the clubs are in tough positions and there are contracts in place with other players, so we’ll have to see what the future holds. I’ll go back home, chill out with a bit of family time and hopefully things work out in the future that I can come back here.”David Wiese carves into the off side•Getty Images

Wiese is the latest Sussex player to depart in a period of transition for the club. Luke Wells and Harry Finch will both be released at the end of their contracts, while Danny Briggs has signed for Warwickshire and Laurie Evans spent the season on loan at Surrey ahead of a permanent move. George Garton, Tom Haines and Delray Rawlins have all signed new deals.Meanwhile, head coach Jason Gillespie has returned home to take up the South Australia job, with the club not expected to recruit a replacement until the start of next year. Assistant coaches James Kirtley, Ian Salisbury and Jason Swift are all likely to be candidates.