Two dashing innings – a confident 87 off 117 from Kusal Mendis, and a stroke filled 62 off 70 from Niroshan Dickwella – propelled Sri Lanka to a 287-run lead in St Lucia, edging them ahead in the Test

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Jun-2018CWI Media

Two dashing innings – a confident 87 off 117 from Kusal Mendis, and a stroke filled 62 off 70 from Niroshan Dickwella – propelled Sri Lanka to a 287-run lead in St Lucia, edging them ahead in this match. Although Shannon Gabriel bowled spiritedly through the fourth day, collecting figures of 6 for 57 to take his match haul to 11 for 116, Sri Lanka still have two wickets remaining in their second innings. Only twice in this century have West Indies chased a higher score for victory. That the visitors found themselves in such a healthy position is a testament to their fight on day four, having found themselves effectively four wickets down with a lead of only one run, in the first hour of play.Two big partnerships built this Sri Lanka innings. The first was the 117-run fifth-wicket stand between Mendis and a lucky Dinesh Chandimal, who could have been out twice on his way to 39 off 112 balls. The second was the 99-run association between Dickwella and Roshen Silva, after Mendis and Chandimal had fallen within 10 overs of one another. Silva made his first significant score of the series, hitting 48 off 115, while Mendis and Dickwella batted more aggressively at the other end. Both Silva and Dickwella were out to the second new ball, but late in the day, Suranga Lakmal and Akila Dananjaya put on a useful unbeaten partnership amounting to 27. As that second new ball is only nine overs old, however, West Indies will hope to knock out the last two wickets before the lead stretches to 300 on the fifth morning.Gabriel has been the best bowler in the series by a distance, and Cricket West Indies’ recent decision to switch to the Dukes cricket ball appears to be suiting him well. He sometimes attempted to intimidate the batsmen, sending plenty at the ribs and at the throat, but it was the ball that he seamed in from outside off stump that brought him the most joy on day four. He struck nightwatchman Kasun Rajitha in front of the stumps in his first over of the day, then bowled Mendis off an inside edge much later. Roshen Silva was also out to a ball that bounced and nipped back at him more than he expected – Shane Dowrich snatching a tough chance close to the ground after Silva had gloved it.Only Dananjaya de Silva and Dickwella got out to Gabriel deliveries pitched on fuller lengths. Dananjaya was caught at slip attempting an expansive drive – the ball seaming away to take the outside edge. Dickwella merely slapped a full ball into the hands of mid-off, after Gabriel had pitched on a leg stump line.Where during his Trinidad hundred Mendis had had reprieves early in his innings, in this knock he was secure and polished. In the morning, he thwarted Gabriel’s short deliveries, defused Miguel Cummins and Roach, while taking a particular liking to Devendra Bishoo’s legspin, which he hit for 18 off 13 balls. As usual, he favoured the sweep to the spinners, and scored all but 12 of his total runs through the legside, the most attractive of his strokes an elegant push off Roach through mid-on for four early in the day. After lunch, he was especially confident. He whipped Roach over the leg side for six on two occasions, and swivel-pulled Jason Holder to the midwicket boundary for four. Some of the pressure he exerted on the bowlers through his positive approach had sucked some venom out of the West Indies effort, especially earlier in the day.Dickwella had a slightly easier task, not having to face the newer ball, but his innings was nevertheless important, after he had arrived at the crease with Sri Lanka in some peril. He scored most of his runs in the arc between third man and cover, audaciously carving two boundaries over the slip cordon whenever he was given some width. But even though he struck at 89, less than half of Dickwella’s runs came from boundaries. The big shots may have been the most memorable, but this was an innings held together by sharp singles and twos.Of the two supporting acts, Silva was better than Chandimal in this innings. For the first time in Caribbean, Silva managed to ride that sharp bounce that the West Indies quicks tend to generate, and stuck around while Dickwella scored more quickly at the other end. Chandimal was also reticent, only hitting a single boundary in an innings that stretched to 112 deliveries. He should have been out twice in one Gabriel over in the last half hour of the first session. First, he was struck in front of the stumps, but the appeal was turned down because two noises were heard. As it turned out, the second noise was the ball hitting his back pad, and had West Indies reviewed, they would have had Chandimal out for 21. Two balls later, Gabriel sent a bouncer at his throat and had Chandimal caught at gully. But thanks to Kusal Mendis, who had watched Gabriel overstep and prompted the umpire to check the front foot, Chandimal survived.All this, after West Indies had threatened to run away with this Test with their early-morning surge. Inside the first seven overs of the day, they had taken three wickets – those of Rajitha, de Silva and Mahela Udawatte. Having had Sri Lanka 47 for 4, they will perhaps be disappointed that the score has now swelled to 334 for 8.

Though Malaysia could be promoted depending on the Uganda-Jersey replay on Sunday, they may get relegated if Bermuda beat them in the reverse fixture

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Kuala Lumpur05-May-2018No result
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAhmed Faiz looks on after connecting with a clean strike•Peter Della Penna

Malaysia’s slim hopes of securing one of the two berths available to WCL Division Three were kept alive courtesy of a no result when just three more overs were needed for an official result. Bermuda were 55 for 2 in 17 overs chasing a target of 229 when rain stopped play at Royal Selangor Club.The DLS par-score for two wickets down was 65 after 17 overs and would have been 72 after 20, putting Malaysia in a position to secure their status in Division Four, while Bermuda (and Vanuatu) would’ve been relegated.Though Malaysia now has a shot at promotion depending on the Uganda-Jersey replay on Sunday, they also now face the prospect of being relegated should Bermuda beat them – and overtake them on net run rate. This would send Malaysia back with Vanuatu to WCL Division Five.Malaysia’s total was built around a series of starts from the top order, with everyone in the top five making double-digits but no one in the group bettering the 45 made by Ahmed Faiz. Malaysia had looked solid at 100 for 1 but Dion Stovell’s offspin triggered a middle-order collapse that reduced the hosts to 145 for 6 in the 35th.It took a handy lower order knock from wicketkeeper Shafiq Sharif to take Malaysia past 200 after he top-scored with a 45-ball 47. Sharif teamed with Virandeep Singh in a 79-run partnership that stretched into the final over before the latter was removed by left-arm seamer Cejay Outerbridge. Outerbridge ended with 4 for 46.Bermuda’s quest to win and overtake Malaysia on net run-rate tiebreaker, in order to avoid relegation, was derailed in the Powerplay when the opening pair of Okera Bascome and Kamau Leverock fell inside the first seven overs. However, they’ll get another crack on Sunday to avoid going down.The replay has shifted venues from Royal Selangor Club to Kinrara Oval. Kinrara became available due to the Denmark-Vanuatu match reaching a conclusion with Vanuatu winning by five wickets. The event’s technical committee made the decision to switch venues late Saturday night over concerns from tournament officials that the RSC pitch would not be suitable for play on Sunday due to an excessive amount of rain it absorbed that caused Saturday’s match to be halted.

3:55

Dasgupta: RCB paying for the mistakes made at the auction

Ravindra Jadeja took out Virat Kohli first ball. Harbhajan Singh took out AB de Villiers first ball. Chennai Super Kings took out Royal Challengers Bangalore for 127. And at the end of it all, MS Dhoni just smiled. He wielded a slow pitch like a magic wand, turning a docile bowling attack – economy-rate of 9.19 – into a mythical match-winning entity.The left-arm wrecking ball
Jadeja’s arm has been gathering dust this IPL and the situation got so bad that he was malfunctioning. He wasn’t scoring runs. On Thursday, he dropped two catches in two balls. He wasn’t taking wickets. And the coach was forced to call him out at a post-match press conference.But everything changed the moment CSK won the toss on Saturday. An arm ball zipped past Kohli’s cut shot and thudded into the off stump. A full-blooded sweep from Mandeep Singh found deep square leg. And even the top-scorer Parthiv Patel popped a catch straight back to him. Jadeja didn’t celebrate any of those wickets and instead wore a look that said: is this really happening? Considering they collapsed to 89 for 8, RCB might have wondered the same thing.2:14

Dhoni is the key on and off the field – Hussey

The right-arm straightjacket
Harbhajan used to be a linchpin with Mumbai Indians. But his 10-year relationship with them ended this season and he has found a foolproof way to cozy up to his new fans – tweet in Tamil, the first language in Chennai, and keep taking wickets. Big ones. Like de Villiers, stumped while playing the reverse sweep.Harbhajan’s success – and Jadeja’s too – was the result of being accurate, looping the ball up on off stump but rarely allowing batsmen to reach the pitch of it. Most played for non-existent turn and were ambushed by straight balls. The two spinners bowled eight overs, conceded only three boundaries and picked up five wickets. Even batsmen of the class of Kohli and de Villiers – who made only 9 runs put together – couldn’t cope.The baby-faced hero
Imagine the kid at the amusement park standing on tip-toe to prove he is tall enough to ride the rollercoaster. Now swap them out with Parthiv and you’ll just about understand how much he’d like to prove he belongs in an RCB batting line-up. He struck three fours and two sixes in the Poweplay, taking advantage of David Willey and Lungi Ngidi straying into his pads. There was one that he sent straight into the CSK dugout, making M Vijay run for cover. But in between those big hits, he ate up too many dot balls. The wickets at the other end began to take a toll as well. And eventually he fell for 53 off 41 balls. The next batsman to get into double digits was No. 8 Tim Southee, who made 36 off 26.The formalities
A chase of 128 presented the opportunity for CSK to experiment. They had handed a debut to David Willey and the English allrounder has experience as a pinch-hitting opener. But his work was limited to the ball, as a firmly traditional approach took them to the target in the 18th over. Traditional down to Dhoni finishing things off with a blaze of sixes.

Nick Gubbins, touted as an opener for England’s first Test of the summer against Pakistan, gave a wonderful audition for the role with an innings of 99

ECB Reporters Network11-May-20181:50

Nick Gubbins again advertised his England credentials

ScorecardMiddlesex’s England stars of present and possibly near future dominated day one of their Specsavers County Championship match with Gloucestershire at Lord’s.Nick Gubbins, touted as an opener for England’s first Test of the summer against Pakistan later this month, gave a wonderful audition for the role, before falling one short of a deserved century. Skipper Dawid Malan, a current red-ball incumbent for the national side, and England’s white-ball captain Eoin Morgan weighed in with 76 apiece – the latter in his first County Championship appearance in almost three years.The persevering Daniel Worrall was Gloucester’s standout bowler with 3 for 59, as Middlesex passed 300 in the first innings for the first time in 13 matches.Gubbins wasted no time making Gloucestershire regret their decision to forego the toss and bowl. He survived a couple of early scares, the first when wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick dropped him down the leg side off the bowling of Worrall when on just 17. The second shortly after saw him almost run out by a direct hit from Graham van Buuren, the ball ricocheting to the boundary for a rare 5.Gubbins’ cover-drives were a joy to behold and the opener was also quick to savagely cut anything short and wide. Sam Robson, perhaps fortunate to retain his place at the expense of Max Holden, by contrast looked edgy early on but found some batting rhythm particularly with some punchy drives through midwicket.The pair added 77 before the excellent Worrall squared up Robson who edged a low catch to Roderick. Gubbins though carried on unperturbed, hitting 10 boundaries in reaching 50 off 73 balls.Nick Gubbins works the ball away•Getty Images

Stevie Eskinazi proved a good foil either side of lunch before playing a poor shot to a wide one from Worrall, which Kieran Noema-Barnett palmed upwards before claiming at the second attempt.It was the beginning of an excellent spell from Australian quick Worrall who ended Gubbins’ hopes of back-to-back Championship centuries when the left-hander gloved a rising delivery to give Roderick a second catch behind the stumps.Sadly, for the visitors, none of Worrall’s team-mates found the same life or bowled with the same control, meaning Malan and Morgan wrestled back the initiative with a century stand. Malan, buoyed by last week’s century against Sussex, was the early aggressor with some stylish off drives, but Morgan caught the mood, hoisting van Buuren for a straight six.Such was the duo’s dominance it was a shock when Malan fell to the second new ball, trapped lbw by Matthew Taylor to a delivery which pitched and rolled along the floor – surely ominous for Gloucestershire whose earlier decision to bowl means they must bat last.Taylor soon struck again when new batsman Hilton Cartwright wafted a catch to slip and departed without scoring, and Morgan fell lbw just before the close to another ball which kept low from former Middlesex allrounder Ryan Higgins.

England’s batsmen produced nine scores between 16 and 49, all of which added up to an overnight lead of 128

The Report by Andrew Miller02-Jun-2018

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe second Test at Headingley has officially been designated the Participation Test – a call to arms from the ECB for everyone with a passing interest in English cricket to get involved, and (so the unspoken reasoning goes…) help dig the sport out of something of an existential crisis.Ever the diligent corporate citizens, England’s Test cricketers have been leading from the front in that regard at least, and will go into the third day against Pakistan with a solid advantage borne of a collective team effort. After a four-way share of the wickets in the first innings, today it was the turn of all the batsmen to chip in for the greater good.A total of nine scores between 16 and 49 – everyone taking a turn but none for so long that their team-mates would get bored waiting – added up to an overnight lead of 128. It is the sort of position that ought, on the evidence of the series so far, to prove decisive. But it hardly added up to a decisive performance.Pakistan simply kept chiselling away, their skilful attack finding sufficient magic at irregular intervals to dislodge a series of well-set players. But England were once again complicit in their own downfalls, and it was telling that their outstanding player of the day was their 20-year-old nightwatchman Dom Bess, whose cover-driving evoked Joe Root at his most fluent, but whose spin bowling – his primary suit – has yet to claim a Test wicket, or even bowl an over in this match.Root himself is becoming something of a past master at the unconverted start, and once again, he inadvertently set the tone for England’s innings with a typically attractive but ultimately underwhelming 45. He was the first man to depart as play got underway at 2.45pm after a three-hour rain delay – snicking outside off as Mohammad Amir’s left-arm line once again exposed a slight weakness in an otherwise enviable technique.His technical issues, however, were as nothing compared to those that Dawid Malan was experiencing by the end of England’s winter in Australia and New Zealand. Like his fellow left-handers, Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings, he appeared to have reached for an off-the-peg remedy, in setting himself up outside of his crease and willing himself on to the front foot at every opportunity.And just like Cook in particular, the approach appeared to be paying dividends for Malan, not least with the clarity of his cover-driving. He went to tea on 28 from 70 balls, with five fours to his name and the air of a batsman who had found the answer to his struggles. But then, from his first ball of the resumption, he received a snorter from that man Amir, which bounced and left him, taking the shoulder of the bat as it did so, before looping invitingly to slip.Bess, by contrast, hasn’t got a care in the world right now. He’d like, presumably, to pick up that elusive first Test wicket at some point in the near future, but at the age of 20, and with the confidence of youth, he’s used his batting to showcase his credentials as a player who is made of The Right Stuff™. A second consecutive Test fifty appeared a done deal, especially when he scuffed a Shadab Khan full toss to ease along to 49. But then one ball later, Shadab bit back with his best ball of the match so far – a fizzing top-spinning legbreak that slammed the gloves and nestled in the hands of slip before the batsman really knew what had happened.Pakistan could – no, should – have taken three wickets for 20 runs in the space of five overs when Buttler, looking to bat with the same controlled belligerence that had briefly raised England’s spirits at Lord’s, clipped Shadab uppishly into the leg side, and straight through the hands of Hasan Ali at short midwicket. But the moment was lost, and so too seemed the momentum, especially when Jonny Bairstow successfully overturned an lbw appeal on 8, after offering no shot to Faheem Ashraf.But that wasn’t quite the end of the resistance. Faheem got his man in his next over instead, as Bairstow nibbled outside off, having just helped himself to three fours in the space of seven balls. The fact that his dismissal came on the stroke of the 80th over rather added to the soft-headedness of the moment, even though Pakistan then chose to delay the new ball, perhaps to give Amir an extra over or two to gather his strength.Either way, Mohammad Abbas didn’t waste it when he was finally handed it, and produced another pearler in the channel outside off to account for Chris Woakes for 17. It was left to Sam Curran to finish the day with a mini-flourish, two fours from the final three balls brought up England’s 300 and underlined their eventual dominance. But it had been a circuitous route to the top.

He took a few wickets with pace. Then a few more with bounce. Even some with lateral movement. Shannon Gabriel was so good in St Lucia that he vaulted into the record books. Only once has a West Indian bowler struck more than the 13 times he did in a single Test match. And that was back in 1976, when Michael Holding wrapped England up and put them in his pocket.”It’s a great feeling,” Gabriel said after the game. “If someone told me, ‘Shannon, you’ll play Tests and take 100 wickets’, I would’ve told him, ‘you’re crazy!’ I’d like to thank family and friends for supporting me.”I was prepared well for this series, getting myself fit. As long as you get wickets, pains and aches go away. I was supported well by Kemar (Roach), he was unlucky. Miguel Cummins kept coming at the batsmen. (Jason) Holder was also very good. Anything other than a loss is good. We can take plenty of positives from this Test.”There was only one clear star though, at least in captain Holder’s eyes. “Shannon was absolutely outstanding. I don’t think words can describe the spell he bowled in both the first and second innings. He was aggressive. His pace was up. He caused trouble with every spell he came in and bowled and he stood up. He put us in a position to draw this Test match.”West Indies had won the first Test of the series and were fighting to protect their 1-0 lead at the Darren Sammy stadium. Gabriel was a key part of that, picking up 5 for 59 and then bettering it with 8 for 62. Only three times in the last 23 years has a West Indies bowler taken five wickets in each innings. On the back of that, Gabriel has leapt 11 places up to No. 12 on the ICC Test bowlers rankings.The other saviour for West Indies was opener Kraigg Brathwaite. He soldiered on for 60.3 overs even as the top order crumbled – they were 64 for 4 chasing 296 – to shut down Sri Lanka’s hopes of levelling the series. The hosts had a little help from a timely spell of rain as well.”Congrats as well to Kemar [Roach] and Kraigg, both reaching milestones in this Test match,” Holder said. “Three-thousand Test match [runs] as an opening batter is remarkable and obviously Kemar getting 150 wickets. Very very pleasing to see our guys getting some landmarks and hopefully they can keep pressing forward.”The other major talking point from the Test match was a ball-tampering issue that broke out on the third day. The umpires laid a complaint against Sri Lanka’s methods at maintaining the red-ball, following which they refused to take the field for two hours. Eventually, their captain Dinesh Chandimal was charged by the ICC for breaking the code of conduct.Holder would not be drawn into talking about the incident, but he did feel aggrieved that there was little communication between the officials and the West Indies team. “To be honest I wasn’t aware of what was going on early in the morning. Then we got some information of what was going on. Obviously we’ve seen what has transpired and what has come of it. I choose not to get involved with it. The game is in the control of the match referee. Just a bit disappointed with how it was handled. We basically sat around for two hours with not much information.”Holder was far more open in talking about the final Test of the series, starting on Saturday. “Its obviously a special occasion, the first day-night Test in the Caribbean. I guess the people of Barbados – I’m from Barbados as well – will come out and support us. They’re really avid cricket fans and it should be a really good spectacle at the Kensington Oval.”

India’s tour begins on June 27 with T20Is against Ireland, and the Tests against England start on August 1. That’s enough time to acclimatise, say Kohli and Shastri

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-2018India are ready to play “difficult” Test cricket. That is the message their captain Virat Kohli has sent out on the eve of their departure for the 81-day long tour of the UK. Kohli has made it clear that what happened on the last tour in 2014, when India lost the Test series 3-1, will have no bearing on the five-match Test series this summer. By the time the Test series starts in the peak of the English summer on August 1, India, according to Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri, would be feeling at home, having been in the country for more than the month.India’s tour will begin with two T20Is against Ireland from June 27, before heading to England for more T20Is, an ODI series, and then the Tests. Shastri said playing the shorter formats first will be “ideal” preparation for them, giving them a month to acclimatise to the conditions, and Kohli added that by the time they play the Tests, they will be “so comfortable that we won’t even feel like we’ll be playing an away series”.

India tour of Ireland and England

1st T20I v Ireland: June 27, Dublin
2nd T20I v Ireland: June 29, Dublin
1st T20I v England: July 3, Manchester
2nd T20I v England: July 6, Cardiff
3rd T20I v England: July 8, Bristol
1st ODI v England: July 12, Nottingham
2nd ODI v England: July 14, London
3rd ODI v England: July 17 Leeds
1st Test v England: August 1, Birmingham
2nd Test v England: August 9, Lord’s
3rd Test v England: August 18, Nottingham
4th Test v England: August 30, Southampton
5th Test v England: September 7, The Oval

“The last time we played [in England], we felt that collectively as a team we didn’t perform consistently in all three skills,” Kohli said in Delhi before departing for the tour. “Because of that, the batsmen feel the extra pressure, or the bowlers feel the pressure because they feel batsmen aren’t doing enough. But when both click together and whether it’s swinging or seaming, bounce or turn, if you have momentum, any conditions feel favourable and if you don’t have the momentum, flat pitches may also feel tough.”But yes, the conditions are going to be different, we will have to respect that. By the time the Tests come, we’ll be so comfortable that we won’t even feel like we’ll be playing an away series. So once you spend time there, you get comfortable and that’s the biggest factor. If you are at ease mentally, it will show in your performances.”Shastri, on the other hand, said India were focusing more on the pitches and the conditions instead of the opposition. He went to the extent of saying they were not even looking at it as an away series.”From the preparation point of view, it is ideal [to start with T20s and ODIs,” Shastri said. “They will get to play T20s first, then ODIs, the Tests will come a month later. The first game against Ireland is on the 27th (June) and the first Test starts on the 1st (August). So there’s a lot of time to acclimatise.”For us there is no away, every game is home game because we don’t play the opponent, we play the pitch. Our job is to conquer the pitch. Wherever we go – it could be Bombay, it could be Delhi, it could be London, it could be Johannesburg. It is 22 yards that we have to try and conquer, and that is the endeavour. The boys know that they will be rated if they adapt to different conditions. So, if the other team has to adapt to those conditions, so do we. It’s not a question of where you’re playing, for us every game has to be a home game. You see those 22 yards, you say, ‘how am I going to take 20 wickets on those 22 yards, and how am I going to score 350-400.’ Keep it simple.”India’s schedule in England is in stark contrast to their most recent tour to South Africa, when they arrived only five days before the first Test. The players even chose to train on their own instead of playing warm-up matches. At the time, Kohli had said they were “very well prepared” but later Shastri admitted that 10 more days of preparation in South Africa would have made a difference. India lost the first two Tests, but won the third and then went on to dominate the ODI (5-1) and T20I (2-1) series.”When we were playing the Test series in South Africa, after a couple of Tests, people really thought we were outplayed. And then we won the third [Test] and won the series that followed,” Kohli said on Friday. “Then people really understood how well we played in that series. We as a team knew internally we had played well and that led to the success in the ODIs and the T20s as well because we took the confidence into it. People on the outside might not be able to see the small things that happened when you’re playing a particular Test match of a series, but the point about teams not travelling well… I think we’re one of the teams who are looking forward to other countries and playing.”I think that makes a massive difference and that showed with the mindset of someone like Jasprit Bumrah bowling 144kph in his last spell of the third Test. And that’s where fitness comes in. When you have people that are hungry, fit and ready, you’re not only competing but you’re winning. That’s the difference between getting emotional and letting go of a policy and holding on to it and actually taking the hard calls and moving ahead with the system. I think all those things have come together really nice and as I said, we’re looking forward to playing difficult cricket. It can be anywhere, even in India, because that is the only way we feel we’ll be able to test ourselves as a team and judge ourselves as players and as a team. It’s a very exciting time for all of us.”Kohli said he is back to peak fitness having spent time off the field post IPL. A neck injury, which he picked up at the back end of the IPL campaign with Royal Challengers Bangalore, had denied Kohli a much anticipated county stint with Surrey, a deal which was done at the last minute.Kohli admitted that playing for Surrey, even for just about a month, would have been ideal preparation for him to not just adapt to English conditions but also keep him mentally charged going into the Test series. The last time India played a Test series in England was in 2014, a tour Kohli will not spend too much time thinking about. In 10 innings in that series, Kohli scored 134 runs at an average of 13.40.Kohli said the key thing for him was to enter the Test series fresh and not exhausted, and that not playing county cricket may have helped him in that regard. “In hindsight what has happened was the best thing for me because although, yes, I wanted to go and experience the conditions, that is a place we haven’t played so much. There’s a big gap of four years and you sort of forget how the conditions were when you played the last time.”So I wanted the more difficult phase of those conditions. Now we are going to enter the heatwave. I wanted the damp and the wet conditions, which Puji [Cheteshwar Pujara] played in, Ishant [Sharma] played in and I saw Varun [Aaron] play in as well.”But in hindsight when I look at it now if I was 90% fit in my body and used to the conditions compared to feeling 110 (%) now and going in fresh I would much rather be in this position. Because in hindsight when I thought of it, I thought I need to be fresh for the tour. I need to be looking forward to it rather than thinking ‘oh, I have been in that place for four months now’. And you don’t want that feeling because the Test series is in the latter half [of the English summer].”Since last year Kohli has stressed on managing his workload in order to be match-fit for a longer career. He played in the IPL having skipped the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka and then missed out on the Afghanistan Test recuperating from the neck injury, which he said he has completely recovered from.”I am absolutely ready to go, went through the fitness test as well so body is feeling fine. I am actually very excited to get back on to the field which is a very rare thing when you play so much cricket. But these sort of breaks really help as mentally they make you fresh and make you excited to go back on to the pitch again.”Having fought their way back in the closely fought Test series in South Africa, Kohli said his team was now hungry and keen to play the Test series in England. “This is another series as far as I am concerned individually. But for us as a team this is a very exciting time because we are actually looking forward to playing more difficult Test cricket after what happened in South Africa. That I feel is the best thing that can happen to any side. You don’t want to go to England and say ‘oh, the Test series is one month [away]’. We want it to be actually be sooner. It is just a great phase for Indian cricket.”

Mithali Raj’s unbeaten 97 powered India to a score that was far too much for Malaysia, who were shot out for 27 in the tournament’s opening match

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jun-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMithali Raj’s unbeaten 97 powered India women to 169 for 3 before the bowlers shot Malaysia out for 27 in a resounding 142-run victory to open the Women’s T20 Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Not a single Malaysia batsman managed to make a score in double-figures as India ran through their line-up with six bowlers who bowled a combined five maiden overs. Medium-pacer Pooja Vastrakar was the most successful bowler, taking 3 for 6, while Poonam Yadav chipped in with two wickets without conceding a run in her two overs.India captain Harmanpreet Kaur had elected to bat and was needed in the middle overs to add impetus, after her team had fallen to 35 for 2 just after the Powerplay was done. Her 23-ball 32 did exactly that, but the innings was dictated by Raj, who batted through the 20 overs with a strike rate of 140.57.Raj hit 13 fours and a six in her knock, but couldn’t find the boundary in the last two overs when she was eight away from a century. Her 86-run stand with Kaur came off just 53 balls and she closed the innings off with Deepti Sharma, who did manage to find boundaries at the end to lift India to 169.In response, Malaysia lost half their side within five overs, falling to 12 for 5. Captain Winifred Duraisingam, Sasha Azmi, and Zumika Azmi were the only batsmen to display resistance, but their comparatively long stays at the crease yielded no substantial scores as India completed a massive victory.

New Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl suggested that the Bavarians might sell Alphonso Davies this summer.

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Eberl suggested that Davies won't leave for freeLeft-back reportedly reached agreement with Real MadridBayern have 'had discussions with [Davies'] agent'WHAT HAPPENED?

Alphonso Davies' time at Bayern Munich could be coming to an end. The Bavarians, although determined not to lose their star full-back, risk losing the Canada international for free in 2025 when his contract expires. And on Monday, it was reported that Davies had verbally agreed to join Madrid.

AdvertisementWHAT EBERL SAID ABOUT DAVIES

The newly-minted Bayern sporting director outlined the Davies situation in his introductory press conference: "No club wants to lose players for free… of course. We already had discussions with his agent, so I will now try to continue the conversation. I have to see how the situation is."

WHAT EBERL SAID ABOUT REPLACING THOMAS TUCHEL

Eberl also explained the criteria for the Bavarians' soon-to-be-vacant managerial post: "We want a coach who fits with the club and its ambitions – who also fits with the ideas that Christoph and I have about the squad. Players like Tel and Musiala, are young players who need to play. Other big clubs like Real Madrid managed to integrate Camavinga and Tchouameni into a midfield with Kroos, Modric and Casemiro. That’s the sort of coach we need. We need a coach who wants to work with these kinds of players. Language? He has to speak a language that we all speak, German or English. It’s a criterion but not an excluding one. There are candidates."

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Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Eberl arrives at a turbulent time. Tuchel is set to leave at the end of the campaign after falling behind a surging Bayer Leverkusen side in the title race. Meanwhile, the futures of cornerstones Davies and Joshua Kimmich seem to be up in the air.

The hosts are looking to avoid a repeat of the chastening defeat in the third ODI, in which they were bowled out for 67

The Preview by Danyal Rasool19-Jul-2018

Big Picture You might as well bring out all the clichés. If this was a boxing match, the referee would indeed have stopped it by now. If it was a tennis match, the chair umpire would have called “game, set, match” and pronounced it a straight-sets victory for Pakistan. But this is cricket, after all, and both sides must play through to the bitter end in the upcoming two games where the only potential outcome is further embarrassment and farce.After looking at Zimbabwe’s squad following the second ODI, it was hard to see what changes they could make to try and make this series more competitive. Nothing jumped out. After the third ODI, it wasn’t hard to see why. Zimbabwe rung the changes, perhaps for no other reason than something had to be done. The outcome was devastating. Zimbabwe plunged new depths, getting bowled out for 67, with Pakistan chasing it down in under 10 overs. The average T20 game lasts longer.It isn’t clear by now what Pakistan can learn in the last two games. They could, of course, try out new players, but would how they perform really be an indication of their talent or the inadequacy of the hosts? Will the young, inexperienced Zimbabwe side thrown into the deep end at this hour of crisis suffer scarring due to the crushing nature of the defeats?One good thing to come out of this, however, may be that it hastens both parties in Zimbabwe to the negotiating table. Zimbabwe Cricket would have seen the lack of depth to their international side, and realised they can ill-afford yet another player exodus, particularly when so much was invested to secure the return of cricketers like Brendan Taylor. The players, on the other hand, may not like becoming scapegoats for the shambolic performance of the national side this series, and could be more partial to agreeing a settlement.Pakistan, on the other hand, just need to keep the intensity up; this is a test of professionalism as much as anything else. Playing against a side so vastly inferior to their own, ensuring standards remain high and concentration doesn’t dip can present a real challenge. In the face of scarce resistance from the opposition, a mindset of complacency might be the only hazard they’d need to guard against.Form guideZimbabwe LLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WWWLLIn the spotlightPeter Moor has been given the license to take the gloves off – quite literally. Having been relieved of his wicketkeeping duties, he’s effectively been asked to earn his place on batting performances alone. With the possibility of sevral players coming back into the side for the next series, depending on how negotiations go, a lot of players from this squad will make way. Moor’s ability with the bat promises much, but an average of 18.44 in 34 ODIs suggests he hasn’t nearly made the most of it. A half-century in the second ODI was sandwiched between scores of 1 and 2, and consistent performances have been hard to come by for the 27-year-old. He will be fully aware his long-term place in the side could hinge on his scores in the following two games, and he has the ability to make them impressive ones.Peter Moor has his stumps shattered•AFP

For Pakistan once more, it is likely the bowling attack will determine how competitive the fourth ODI will be. Regardless of who plays in the final XI, every single bowler on tour has the ability to blow the hosts away. You might as well draw lots. Faheem Ashraf and Junaid Khan were the chief destroyers on Wednesday, Usman Khan the game before, and Shadab Khan in the opener. Pakistan’s bowlers are sharing the wickets around, and there’s no reason to think that should change in what remains of this tour.Team newsHaving made several changes in the third game and seen them backfire spectacularly, Zimbabwe could revert to the relative safety of their XIs from the first two games, where at least some respectability was preserved.Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Brian Chari/Prince Masvaure, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Hamilton Masakadza (capt), 4 Tarisai Musakanda, 5 Ryan Murray (wk), 6 Peter Moor, 7 Donald Tiripano, 8 Liam Roche/Tendai Chisoro, 9 Wellington Masakadza, 10 Tendai Chatara, 11 Blessing MuzarbaniHaving put on a flawless display on Wednesday, Pakistan may be tempted to give the same eleven another run out, especially since they weren’t particularly stretched during a game that ended half an hour before the lunch break.Pakistan (possible): 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Asif Ali, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Faheem Ashraf, 9 Yasir Shah, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Usman KhanPitch and conditionsThe weather is once more expected to be cold, and the pitch flat.Stats and trivia Sarfraz Ahmed hasn’t been called upon to bat much over the past year. Since the semi-finals of last year’s Champions Trophy, he hasn’t batted in seven of Pakistan’s 15 ODIs. In the eight innings he has walked out to the crease, he has scored 98 runs at 16.33. No player in the current Zimbabwe squad has a five-wicket haul in ODIs. Wellington Masakadza has the best figures, with 4 for 21 in a game against Afghanistan in 2015.