Allrounder steps in to oversee clean sweep after hamstring injury rules Knight out of last game

Valkerie Baynes07-Mar-2021Natalie Sciver thoroughly enjoyed a first taste of international captaincy, saying her side made the job easy as she oversaw England’s 3-0 sweep of the T20I series against New Zealand.When Anya Shrubsole was ruled out with a knee injury, Sciver was handed the role of vice-captain for the tour, to glowing approval from regular captain Heather Knight, who said at the time: “There’s no doubt Nat is a huge leader in the group for us.” When Knight was ruled out of the final fixture because of a hamstring problem, Sciver had to bring her leadership skills to the fore and she relished the opportunity as England sealed a 32-run victory over New Zealand with 12 balls to spare on Sunday.”Sign me up for some more games,” Sciver beamed. “It’s been brilliant. With everyone contributing like that, it’s an easy game.Related

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“Yesterday, Heather pulled up not so well after the last game, so I found out yesterday [that I would be leading the team today]. I had a maybe a sleepless hour when I was trying to get sleep but as soon as the warm-up was done I was all right.”Having gone 2-0 up in the preceding ODI series, England were disappointed to have dropped the third game, which New Zealand won by seven wickets, and the tourists set their sights on sweeping the T20s.Tammy Beaumont carried on her excellent form from the ODIs, where she was the leading run-scorer, to be named Player of the Series for the T20s, again topping the run-scoring charts with 102 at an average of 34.00 and strike rate of 100.99. But when she, fellow opener Danni Wyatt and Sciver all fell cheaply on Sunday, two players trying to establish themselves as regulars in the team shone with the bat.Fran Wilson, playing her first match of the series, top-scored with an unbeaten 31 off 23 and Sophia Dunkley, coming in a No.4 where Knight would normally be, added a valuable 26 off 29 deliveries. Dunkley did not bat in the first match as England won by seven wickets and was not out on nought when they won the second by six wickets.”As soon as she heard the news, she was a bit shocked,” Sciver said of the moment Dunkley learned she had been promoted up the order from No. 6. “But then I think she managed to get her head around it.”It does get harder in T20 when you go in at five, six and seven, where you might only have two balls or ten balls or whatever it is. So, yes, it’s great for her to get a chance and really show us that she can do it.”It’s so hard to go through a tour when you’re not sure if you’re going to play and then you don’t really get the opportunity to bat in the game… Fran was really key, to be in at the end was was brilliant, so she took on her role really well.”England Women pose with the trophy•AFP/Getty Images

But it was England’s bowling contingent who were most impressive in the final match, with six different bowlers among the wickets as New Zealand were bowled out for 96 in 18 overs in reply to England’s 128 for 9. Young offspinner Mady Villiers claimed career-best figures of 3 for 10 from two overs, but Katherine Brunt was named Player of the Match after dismissing both openers, Sophie Devine and Hayley Jensen, for ducks in the first over of New Zealand’s chase before finishing with figures of 2 for 19 from four overs.Sophie Ecclestone ended with identical match figures to Brunt, while Freya Davies, Sarah Glenn and Sciver all chimed in with a wicket each.Sciver said Brunt, her fiancee who returned after missing the second match with a head cold and ended the series with four wickets at an economy rate of 4.17, had been bowling as well as she had done for some time.”She has been brilliant,” Sciver said. “She’s been terrorising people in the nets. You don’t want to sign up to face her at training sessions, so it’s great for her to get some reward out there on the pitch.”Sometimes she doesn’t quite have the luck go with her, or the decisions, so I’m really pleased that she managed to, throughout the tour, pick up wickets where she can and today was really important for us and she did the job.”Villiers had only bowled four overs across the first two matches for one wicket, so Sciver was happy about her return as she continues to forge a three-pronged spin attack with Glenn and Ecclestone.”It’s so good, just to have a legspinner, a left-arm spinner and an offspinner who all have got amazing talent and can come in and do a job for us at any point,” Sciver said. “Mady’s had to wait her turn a little bit but she did brilliantly today.”

High praise from team-mates and opponents for the 17-year-old, after she spearheads India’s win in the third T20I

Annesha Ghosh23-Mar-2021Shafali Verma, the No. 1-ranked T20I batter in the world, said she took her non-selection in India’s ODI squad for the recently concluded home series against South Africa in her stride, but at the same time felt driven to iron out any potential shortcoming in her batting that may have kept her out of the reckoning.The youngest player to have represented India in T20Is, Verma, 17, opened up on her plans for the 50-over format, in which she is still uncapped, after her blistering 30-ball 60 in the third and final match of the T20I leg of South Africa’s tour of India. Following up on her 22-ball 23 and 31-ball 47 in the first two matches, Verma made short work of a 113 chase on Tuesday as India romped to a nine-wicket victory and averted a 3-0 sweep in Lucknow.Related

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“When I didn’t get a call-up for the one-dayers, I thought there might still be some inadequacy that I need to address. But I didn’t ask anybody – neither the captain nor the coach – about my non-selection,” Verma said after the match when asked if she had spoken to any senior player or the head coach to identify the areas she could improve in to strengthen her case for an ODI call-up.”I made up my mind I will work more on my fitness and make sure to play according to the balls whenever I get an opportunity in the format,” she said. “When my name didn’t come up for the one-dayers, I tried to keep my confidence up and motivated myself to play better so I can make it to the 50-over team as well. I wasn’t much disappointed; I just made sure I focused on working harder.”Since making her international debut in the T20I series against South Africa at home in September 2019, Verma has emerged the frontline choice for Smriti Mandhana’s opening partner. In her 22 innings in the format, she has made 617 runs at an average of 29.38, her strike of 149.31 the key to India’s brisk starts.In last year’s T20 World Cup, she topped the run-chart for India, and was arguably the foremost reason for their run to the final given she found little support from other top-order batters. However, as India prepared to return to international cricket after a 364-day spell of almost complete inactivity, the absence of her name from the ODI squad for the South Africa series raised eyebrows.Verma said when an ODI debut does come by, she would aim to make the most of the preparations she is putting in now.”The focus would be on spending as much time on the wicket as possible and score as many runs as I can, ” she said, “so I can create a good report of myself.”No matter what position I get to play in, I will try to extend my innings for as long as possible and score well.”Whenever I go to my hometown, [while training] I try to choose balls that I think I should hit and pay attention to rotating the strike by taking singles and doubles. For one-dayers, too, I think shot-selection based on the merit of the balls has been my focus.”In the opening over of India’s chase on Tuesday, she cracked three fours and a six off Shabnim Ismail, the No. 2-ranked bowler in women’s T20Is, and helped propel India to 71 for 0 in the powerplay. Her fifty came off just 26 balls, the fourth-fastest in the format by an Indian woman, and by the time she fell, in the 10th over, India, requiring just 17 runs, were poised to seal a comfortable victory.”When I went in to bat, I wanted to make sure I bat well because this is the last match for me,” she said. “There is some time before the next series, so I wanted to do my best and do well for the team and score well.””Whenever we [she and Mandhana] go out to at together, we try to hit the loose balls well and convert them into boundaries and play as long as possible, so we can maximise our scoring opportunities,” Verma said.Sinalo Jafta, the South Africa wicketkeeper-batter, also heaped praise on Verma’s attacking style of play.”Firstly, you took the word out of my mind: fearless. T20 cricket is about expressing oneself and the way she expresses herself, I have to commend her. She is just 100% fearless. That’s the one word.”Mandhana, too, commended Verma’s performance as well as her bowlers’.”Being the winning captain, I think it was a good show over all. Our bowlers did extremely well to restrict them to 112 in the first innings,” Mandhana told host broadcaster Star Sports after the match. “And then Shafali just stole the show. She was brilliant. But I think this victory definitely goes to the bowlers.”Mandhana also said the series-deciding final-ball defeat on Sunday was a demotivating blow for the hosts to overcome but their head coach WV Raman enthused them to take the field on Tuesday with a professional approach.”After losing the series in the second match it needs a lot of motivation to come out there for the third match,” she said. “We all came as a group. Raman sir told us, ‘Nevertheless, this is an international match and we have to go out there and win the match.’ We are going to go back home with a positive mind and then we will be in a positive frame of mind whenever we play the next series, so this match in that context is really important for us.”

Ryan Higgins leads way with four wickets as only James Hildreth offers resistance among Somerset batters

ECB Reporters Network17-Apr-2021Gloucestershire’s seam attack put them in sight of a first County Championship win at Taunton since 1993 on the third day of the match with Somerset at the Cooper Associates County Ground.With a first-innings lead of just three runs, the home side crashed to 149 all out in their second innings in bright sunshine on a decent pitch.Ryan Higgins led the way with 4 for 29, well supported by Matt Taylor (2 for 27) and debutant Dom Goodman (2 for 19), as only James Hildreth of the Somerset batsmen showed some form with 64.Faced with a victory target of 153 and ten overs left in the day, Gloucestershire progressed to 28 for 1, losing Chris Dent, who played on to Craig Overton attempting to withdraw his bat.At the start of the day, the visitors could add only eight runs to their overnight total of 301 for 8, David Payne offering a return catch to Marchant de Lange, who then ended Matt Taylor’s career-best contribution of 56 by pinning him lbw with a full delivery.Somerset were soon in trouble as Tom Lammonby registered a third successive duck, edging Higgins through to wicketkeeper James Bracey.It was 18 for 2 when Tom Abell fell leg-before pushing forward to Higgins and 36 for 3 when Tom Banton guided the last ball of Taylor’s first over to Dent at third slip.George Bartlett departed first ball, caught behind off a full swinging delivery from Goodman and at lunch Somerset were in a deep hole at 47 for 4.By the time play was paused at 2.50pm to mark the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, Gloucestershire had struck three more blows.Steve Davies edged a back-foot defensive shot off Payne to George Hankins at second slip and Higgins produced a good delivery that nipped back to bowl Overton between bat and pad.When Lewis Gregory miscued off the back foot and lofted a simple catch to mid-wicket off Taylor, Somerset were in disarray at 88 for 7.Hildreth was unbeaten on 36 when play halted and the experienced batsman shouldered major responsibility for his side’s fading hopes.James Hildreth plays to the off side en route to fifty•Getty Images

At 3pm both teams, coaching staffs and umpires lined up on the outfield for a minute’s silence in memory of Prince Philip.When play resumed at 4.10pm, Hildreth and Josh Davey offered the stiffest resistance of Somerset’s poor batting display.Hildreth went to a patient half-century off 124 balls, with seven fours, and the pair had added 54 in 25 overs when he fell lbw, looking to cut a delivery from Goodman that was too close to him for the shot.Graeme van Buuren’s left-arm spin quickly sent back de Lange, leg-before for a duck and Davey was taken at first slip off Higgins for 22 to end a sorry batting effort.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar named vice-captain, Chetan Sakariya and Nitish Rana among new faces in the mix

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Jun-20218:17

Sanjay Manjrekar: Dhawan rewarded with captaincy after longevity in white-ball cricket

Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana, K Gowtham and Chetan Sakariya have all received maiden call-ups to the national team, figuring in the 20-man India squad for the white-ball series in Sri Lanka, scheduled for July. The second-string squad – the main team will be in England at the time – will be captained by opening batter Shikhar Dhawan, who has never led India previously, and have fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the vice-captain.India’s Sri Lanka tour comprises six matches: three ODIs (on July 13, 16 and 18), followed by three T20Is (July 21, 23, 25). Former India captain Rahul Dravid has been confirmed as the head coach for the tour, although the BCCI did not announce the entire roster of support staff on Thursday when it made public details of the squad, which will have five reserve bowlers.India will have to field a team in Sri Lanka shorn of its premier players because the main squad, captained by Virat Kohli, is currently in England getting ready for the inaugural World Test Championship final against New Zealand (June 18 onwards), followed by a five-Test series against England starting in August. That makes this the first instance of two senior Indian men’s teams operating simultaneously in bilateral series.It is no surprise that four of the five uncapped players – Gowtham the exception – all made strong impressions in the last two seasons of the IPL. Padikkal and Gaikwad have been successful as openers at the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Chennai Super Kings respectively, while Rana has been a regular in the top order at the Kolkata Knight Riders for a few seasons, and pacer Sakariya made an impressive start to his stint with the Rajasthan Royals in the truncated 2021 edition.Padikkal became the first Indian to hit four consecutive List A centuries, while opening for Karnataka during the Indian domestic Vijay Hazare 50-over tournament this year. Padikkal, who made his IPL debut with the Royal Challengers in IPL 2020, has 668 runs in 21 IPL matches at an average of 33.40 and a strike rate of 131.75.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Gaikwad, who has a healthy average of 47.87 in List A cricket, has scored five half-centuries in 13 IPL matches. As for Rana, the Knight Riders’ regular, he has 13 fifties in the IPL and a total of 1638 runs. He also has three centuries in List A cricket for Delhi in the domestic circuit.Probably the biggest surprise in the squad, though, is Sakariya. The left-arm fast bowler from Saurashtra was bought by the Royals in the auction before the 2021 IPL for INR 1.2 crore (USD 164,000 approx.), which proved to be an inspired investment. Sakariya, 23, has picked up seven wickets in seven IPL matches so far, and his victims include MS Dhoni, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and Rana.The India call-up is bound to be a bittersweet moment for Sakariya, who lost his father to Covid-19 immediately after he returned home once the IPL had been suspended indefinitely in early May.For 32-year-old Gowtham, too, the India call-up means a step up from the fringes. He was included as a reserve bowler during the four-match home Test series against England recently and, during that series, he captured the headlines when he became the most expensive uncapped Indian player in the IPL when the Super Kings paid INR 9.25 crore (US$ 1,273,000 approx.) for him, beating bids from the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Knight Riders. In the 2020 IPL, too, Gowtham had bagged a massive sum from the Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab), who released him after the season after fielding him in just two matches. Gowtham has 57 wickets in 35 List A matches for Karnataka and has a batting strike rate of 141.26 in List A and 159.24 in T20s respectively.The squad also features spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who has been picked for the third time by the selectors since the 2020 IPL. Chakravarthy, who plays for the Knight Riders, had been selected for the T20I series in Australia last year but did not travel because of a shoulder injury, and was again picked for the home T20I series against England earlier this year, but failed to clear the mandatory fitness test.The pair of Shreyas Iyer and T Natarajan were not considered for selection as they are both still recovering from surgeries. Iyer had hurt his shoulder during the ODI series against England and had undergone surgery in April, which had ruled him out of the IPL. Natarajan, who made a fairy-tale debut in Australia in all three formats at the turn of the year, had to abandon the IPL to undergo knee surgery.Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-capt), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan SakariyaNet bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, R Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh

Rajah managed the men’s national team from 1992 till his retirement in 2011

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2021Goolam Rajah, the former manager of the South Africa men’s cricket team, has died of Covid-19-related complications in Johannesburg. Rajah was 74. He had spent most of the last two months on ventilator in a hospital in the city, but succumbed as South Africa, and the Gauteng province in particular, deals with a massive surge in Covid-19 cases.Related

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Rajah, a pharmacist by profession, managed the national men’s side from 1992 until his retirement in 2011, and was known to be much loved by the players. He was in the dressing room for many big moments, including the memorable 1999 World Cup semi-final, where he remembered seeing the players cry after South Africa were knocked out.Rajah had been with the team for more than 600 matches, working alongside as many as 107 players.”It is a very sad day for the South African Cricket Family,” CSA Acting Chief Executive Pholetsi Moseki said. “Goolam was a very special human being who has touched so many lives in a positive way in the 30 years we have enjoyed being a democratic cricket organization.
“We all have our special memories of him which we will treasure. He was truly a man who gave a great deal to the game of cricket and to everybody involved in it. “Former captain Graeme Smith said Rajah was like a “father figure” for most of the players.”He took care of everything with such detail that the players were able to focus totally on the cricket and that was why his tenure was so successful,” Smith said. “The players were particularly appreciative of the way he looked after their wives and partners on away tours. We will indeed be fortunate to see his like again.”