The club has endured a tough run since the 2015 fixture, but things are looking up

Matt Roller14-Apr-2021Six years have passed since Leicestershire’s last fixture at The Oval, but the game is not easily forgotten by anyone associated with the club. Winless in the Championship for two-and-a-half years at the time, Leicestershire were at the receiving end of one of the most extraordinary county innings in recent memory, as Kevin Pietersen struck 355 not out and asked the ECB: “What more can I do?”The innings itself was only part of the story. Sixteen months after his last game for England, Pietersen sensed a way back after a change of the guard at the ECB, with Colin Graves, the new chairman, encouraging him to play for a county if he had genuine ambitions to return to international cricket. At the end of the second day’s play, when he had reached 326 not out overnight, Pietersen met with Andrew Strauss, the incoming director of cricket. Strauss confirmed that the door would remain closed.”There was so much press around The Oval going into it, but we went into it as a normal day,” recalls Rob Taylor, the former Scotland allrounder who went wicketless in the first innings. “[Kumar] Sangakkara and Pietersen were both 35 not out at the end of day one and we thought it could be a fairly long day, but Clint McKay got Sangakkara pretty early on and we thought ‘now let’s get KP’.”Ben Raine said something to him at one point, and he came back with a pretty good response. I think he questioned what Ben had ever done for English cricket and Rainey just said: ‘yeah, fair enough mate’. It was one of those moments where you try to take yourself out of the game and realise that it’s pretty special. We went through stages when if we’d had 15 fielders, it still wouldn’t have been enough.”

County team news

• Surrey have named a 14-man squad for Thursday’s fixture at The Oval, with Liam Plunkett and Kemar Roach coming in for the rested Gus Atkinson and Reece Topley.

• Alzarri Joseph, Will Young, Wayne Parnell and Kraigg Brathwaite will make their debuts for Worcestershire, Durham, Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire respectively after completing quarantine periods, while Hanuma Vihari is expected to be available for Warwickshire.

• Stuart Broad and Olly Stone will make their first appearances of the season, facing one another at Trent Bridge. James Anderson and Mark Wood are both rested again.

Leicestershire had started the season under a new captain and coach in Mark Cosgrove and Andrew McDonald, and had no answers to the questions Pietersen posed. He added 101 for the ninth wicket with Chris Tremlett, who made 30, and 139 for the tenth alongside Matt Dunn, who made 5. All told, he racked up 36 fours and 15 sixes to give Surrey a 265-run lead.Perhaps the most chastening aspect was what came next. In their second innings, Leicestershire racked up 480 in 161.1 overs, leaving Surrey a seemingly impossible target of 216 in 24 overs on the final evening; Pietersen, who had suffered a calf strain, was not required, as Steven Davies’ unbeaten hundred saw Surrey home with 14 balls to spare.”The club had a few issues at the time,” Taylor says. “Winning the T20 in 2011 was a highlight but it was pretty slim pickings after that, with a phase of a number of different coaches coming in. Macca [McDonald] set his stall out to change thing and we did start winning a few games, and things started looking up.”It was only a month later that Leicestershire finally broke their 992-day duck by beating Essex in Chelmsford, and the following season, they managed to avoid the wooden spoon for the first time since 2012. They were back at the bottom of the pile in 2017 under Pierre de Bruyn, and while they were not far off promotion in Paul Nixon’s first season as coach, in 2018, the following year again proved to be a struggle.Leicestershire started the season with an innings defeat at home to Hampshire, James Vince making 231•Getty ImagesThere were glimmers of optimism in 2020, with a win against Lancashire the highlight of the club’s Bob Willis Trophy campaign, and a tied quarter-final against eventual T20 Blast champions Nottinghamshire that saw them eliminated on wickets lost. And despite a chastening start to this season, with an innings loss against Hampshire, the club is positive that it is on the right track.There has been a change in personnel, too. Lewis Hill, who made his maiden first-class ton in the 2015 fixture at The Oval, is the only member of that squad still on the staff, and while some players continue to leave for pastures new – Zak Chappell and Tom Taylor are notable recent departures – there is now a core to build around in the Championship, featuring Colin Ackermann, Hassan Azad, Callum Parkinson and Gavin Griffiths.”We were the second-youngest team in the opening round of games,” Sean Jarvis, the club’s chief executive since last March, says. “You’ll have the highs and the lows with inexperience. Our players have been hurting and were disappointed with the manner of the defeat but they have been training hard and will try to bounce back this week.”The group we’ve been placed in is with a lot of first-division teams but our lads want to pit their wits against those players. Each game we go into, we want to progress. It’s a baptism of fire for us to take on teams like Hampshire, Surrey and Somerset, but that’s what we want.”Off the field, the club appear to have navigated its way through a tough financial period, and while money remains tight, there are positive signs. Three promising young players in Rishi Patel, Ed Barnes and Scott Steel were brought in from Essex, Yorkshire and Durham respectively over the winter, while Marcus Harris is in line to play his first game of the season next week. Then Josh Inglis and Naveen-ul-Haq will arrive for the T20 Blast. Sponsorship deals have been signed following a “charm offensive” with local businesses, and the return of crowds from May 17 – and maximum capacity from June 21 – will be an important landmark.Related

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“We can’t get crowds in soon enough,” Jarvis says. “The impact of the pandemic is still hurting us. We’re up to about £1.5million of missing revenue and that will carry on. We’ve sold out hospitality for the Yorkshire fixture on June 25 already and are trying to get additional hospitality in just for that game to generate income. Previously the club would have accepted 70% capacity for that game but not anymore – we want sell-outs for all of our T20 fixtures.”More immediately, the focus is on turning things around after the defeat against Hampshire, against a Surrey side which will feature Kemar Roach for the first time this season. The clubs have not met at all since 2015, following Surrey’s promotion to Division One and with the regional split of the domestic white-ball competitions keeping them apart, and both teams come into the game on the back of opening-round defeats.”It seems like an exciting place to be with Nico in charge,” Taylor says. “Things are starting to happen and you’re seeing that on the field. Leicestershire have always given young players an opportunity to come through – I don’t think it’s ever going to be one of those big-hitting clubs but it’s certainly one that can punch above its weight.””Leicestershire’s recent history in Championship cricket has not been the best and we want to start the process of changing that, which isn’t going to happen overnight,” Jarvis adds. “We’ve drawn a line under it and this is the start of our new journey. What went on all those years ago with KP is an old book. This is a new one.”

All the numbers from one of the worst batting days in India’s Test history

Sampath Bandarupalli25-Aug-20213 – India’s total of 78, in the first innings of the Headingley Test on Wednesday, was their third-lowest first-innings total ever.The poorest was 75 against West Indies in 1987, followed by 76 against South Africa in 2008, both coming in the first innings after they elected to bat.2 – India’s total was the second-lowest first-innings total by any team since electing to bat first since 2011. New Zealand managed just 45 against South Africa in 2013 after choosing to bat in Cape Town.2 – It was also the second-lowest first-innings total after opting to bat against England in the last 50 years, behind Pakistan’s 72 all out in Birmingham in 2010.22 – Runs added by India for the last six partnerships, the fifth-lowest by them in a Test innings. Their lowest was 11 runs, against Australia in the first innings of the Pune Test in 2017.2 – Number of times India have had a lower innings total against England than Wednesday’s 78. India scored only 42 in their second innings of the 1974 Lord’s Test, and were all out for 58 at Old Trafford in 1952.5 – Jos Buttler was the catcher in each of the first five wickets in the Indian innings. It was only the second instance where the same fielder has been involved (as catcher or stumper) in the first five wickets in a Test innings. Brad Haddin was the first, also against India in 2014 in Brisbane.19 – Rohit Sharma was India’s top scorer in the first innings with 19. Only three times has the highest individual score for India in a Test innings been lower than that (where ten wickets have fallen).120* The opening partnership between Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed is England’s highest for the first wicket in Tests since the 180-run stand between Alastair Cook and Hameed against India in 2016. It is also the first-century opening stand for England at home against India since Cook added 186 with Andrew Strauss in 2011 in Birmingham.2 Previous instances of a team batting second ending the first day of a Test match with a first-innings lead, without losing a wicket. New Zealand took a 56-run lead on day one in the 2001 Hamilton Test against Pakistan, while England went 59 runs ahead of Australia on Boxing Day in 2010.

Slippy conditions may encourage seam-dominant attack versus West Indies

Matt Roller21-Oct-2021″I actually think we’ve played really well there, we’ve probably had the wrong side of the toss. The dew, from about the eighth over [of the chase] was extremely challenging. I can’t fault anybody’s efforts.”Eoin Morgan’s reflections after a defeat in the 2020 edition of the IPL went against a fundamental sporting idea: if you play better than the opposition, you tend to win. But in floodlit games in the UAE, particularly in October and November, there is another factor to consider: dew.Generally setting in either side of the innings break in a game starting at 6pm local time, it has the effect of making the ball harder to grip for the defending team’s bowlers and fielders. That bias towards the chasing team has been apparent in the IPL: out of the 25 night games played after its mid-season resumption in the UAE, chasing teams won 17.The challenge of coping with the dew is heightened for teams who rarely have to worry about dew when playing at home, so it comes as no surprise to learn that England have been focusing on how to cope with it in their build-up to the tournament ahead of their first game – under lights – against West Indies on Saturday.Their first warm-up match against India highlighted the issue. Batting first, England had posted 188 against India at the ICC Academy in Dubai, but their attack as a collective struggled for control in the run chase. Chris Jordan bowled the 19th over with 20 runs still required, but a series of attempted yorkers ended up as full tosses after the ball slipped out of his hand; his six balls cost an eye-watering 23.”The amount of dew and sweat is something we’ve had to manage very quickly,” David Willey said on Thursday. “We’ve got to think about how we’re going to keep our hands dry, keep our arms dry, dry the ball, and also be able to bowl with a wet ball.”England’s players have employed some unusual methods in training: “dunking balls in buckets and catching, fielding and bowling with those wet balls,” Willey explained. “We’ll probably get some more towels on the way to change them every over for the lads that are heavy sweaters, and sweatbands and things. It’s never going to be perfect but it’s certainly worth putting things in place to make it manageable.”Related

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Temperatures have been in the mid-30s degrees celsius in the UAE in recent weeks – they will cool down slightly as the tournament wears on, which could mean dew forms earlier and evens conditions up – but the stifling humidity has meant that ‘feels like’ temperatures are above 40. “You start sweating and you just can’t stop,” Willey said. “Just saturated from head to toe.”England’s fixture list for the tournament, which sees them play four group games out of five under lights, exacerbates the importance of managing the dew – and may also justify their decision to pick a single specialist spinner in their squad in Adil Rashid, with Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone generally used as part-timers by Morgan over the last 18 months.While England’s spin stocks are not exactly deep, there was some level of surprise to see Liam Dawson named only as a reserve and Matt Parkinson miss out on the squad entirely while spinners were enjoying success in the IPL, but England may well feel that their seamers will be more effective, particularly if dew is in play in both innings during the knockout stages.”There’s no denying that for spinners, if they’re trying to grip the ball, it’s going to be a challenge if it’s soaking wet,” Willey said, while Rashid added on Wednesday: “You’ve got to find a way, you can’t hide behind it, whether you’re a seamer or a spinner.”Willey himself is unlikely to be bowling at the death for England – though he has been working on a new slower ball – but is instead relishing the opportunity to face West Indies on Saturday. He is not a guaranteed starter but has been successful against them in the past – he took 3 for 20 in the 2016 final, and 4 for 7 in the sides’ most recent T20I – and the make-up of their batting line-up should play in his favour: West Indies may field as many as four left-handers in their top five, and Willey has a better economy rate (7.25 vs 8.09) and strike rate (15.9 vs 22.1) against left-handers than right-handers in all T20s since the last World Cup.”The ball swinging away from the left-handers in all formats can be dangerous, and in the white-ball game, when they’re looking to be aggressive, hopefully that goes in my favour,” he said. “I’ve been told I’ve got a decent record [against left-handers] and that might swing in my favour for getting the nod in that first game.”And having been left out of the 50-over World Cup squad on the eve of the tournament two years ago, Willey suggested that he has learned a lot from the experience. “It’s definitely made me a better person. To be part of it for four years and miss out was obviously disappointing but the personal growth from me thereon… has been massive. I’m playing every game as if it’s my last and really savouring the moment of pulling on that England shirt.”

Proud club’s agonies may only be beginning as change comes too late to save reputation

David Hopps15-Nov-2021Psychologists have never quite agreed how many stages of grief exist, or indeed quite what they are, but many Yorkshire cricket lovers will imagine they have lived through many of them as the Azeem Rafiq racism allegations have reverberated around the globe. The time for disbelief and anger is long gone. Depression and desperation have now taken hold, as many in the county are demoralized by the sort of fiasco that they had fondly imagined was consigned to the past. Only when there is a proper plan for the future, a new way of living, an approach that is progressive, resilient and unnegotiable, and one where anyone with Yorkshire cricket in their heart can believe that this mess will never happen again, will it be time to move on.To still be writing such words again is beyond belief. On a sunny July day in 2006, Yorkshire devotees dashed across the Yorkshire Wolds to Scarborough to watch Adil Rashid bowl out Warwickshire on a historic first-class debut. There was a palpable sense of excitement that Rashid would finally symbolize Yorkshire’s growing success in fostering links within its minority-ethnic communities. On that heady afternoon, the mood among many spectators was celebratory, the county’s reputation unsullied, even if Yorkshire’s captain and coaching staff folded arms and said very little, indicating in gruff, unimaginative, ungenerous manner that the publicity might be damaging.Fifteen years later, they are discovering the real nature of bad publicity. Rashid, shamefully, is now the only Yorkshire-born player of subcontinent heritage on the staff, despite the county having the largest percentage of non-white inhabitants outside London and the West Midlands. Despite the presence of many worthy people, some – whether you believe it or not – employed by the county, in the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, and in clubs throughout the region, who are forever striving to create equal opportunities, and whose task is now made so much harder, the pathways for minority-ethnic cricketers have persistently failed as they approach county level. Rafiq’s single-minded offensive has made it clear that an entrenched, uncompromising culture remains unwelcoming, either by accident or design.As for Rashid, who has largely preferred to keep his own counsel on this tawdry tale, and who one day can rightly expect to be honoured by Yorkshire with his own cricket school in his native Bradford, he has now confirmed Rafiq’s story that yes, Michael Vaughan, a former England captain, had indeed observed to a group of Asian players something along the lines that there were too many of you lot and we need to do something about it.Azeem Rafiq bowls for Yorkshire during T20 finals day in 2016•Getty ImagesIt is such destructive sporting “banter” – racist banter, let it be said – that seems to be at the crux of the matter. Many might conclude that Vaughan intended his comments, as alleged but not admitted, to be taken in jest. But even the most generous misinterpretation does not protect him from the charge that any such remarks, if so made, would be unacceptable – comments with race at their heart, uttered by a powerful member of the dominant ethnic group, a statement of difference that risks exclusion and undermines integration.The same might be observed of Gary Ballance’s candid admission of his long-running “banter” with Rafiq, an old drinking buddy, before Rafiq returned to his Muslim roots and abandoned the alcohol that he says he had turned to in order to fit in. Ballance accepted to Yorkshire’s internal enquiry that he had used racial slurs and apologised for it, but his friendship with Rafiq had still been deep enough to invite him to his home in Zimbabwe. Rafiq responded in kind. But it was still breathtakingly misjudged, it was still essentially a relationship which had race at its heart and did the member of the minority group a great disservice. Amid it all, Yorkshire contrived to give Ballance a new three-year contract,As a result of this and many other allegations, Yorkshire cricket is now cleaved in a manner that will not be easily repaired. Both the chairman, Roger Hutton, who led the inquiry, and chief executive Mark Arthur have resigned; the director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, is on sick leave with a stress-related condition; and Rafiq himself, who has talked of past suicidal thoughts, has since been through a draining, obsessional experience that invites concern that his mental health is being looked after.Those of us who know the executives who have now departed have defended them as decent human beings. That assertion has been countered by the view that they have supervised a failed system without intervening and so must pay the penalty. They are guilty of sins of omission and what is disturbing is that millions would have been just as inactive. Both men are understandably hurt by the character assassination they have suffered, just as Rafiq was distraught at the racist overtones that regularly occurred on their watch. Arthur (like all those before him) failed to introduce systems and educate all those under in a way that makes the charge of Systematic Racism a persuasive one – even if the enquiry rejected this. Moxon was too timid in addressing an aggressive dressing room culture, perhaps because cutting humour was regarded as the very stuff of professional sport. Especially in Yorkshire.Lord Patel has signalled overdue change in his first weeks as Yorkshire chairman•Getty ImagesHow has it come to this? Cricket in Yorkshire is central to many people’s lives. They believe in it like little else on earth. And while racist attitudes linger in a small but by no means inconsequential minority (in what area of life do they not?), the majority of fans feel badly let down. They had believed these dog days belonged in the past. Many are beside themselves with frustration at the incompetent handling of this affair: firstly, dismissive and inactive as senior figures failed to see the big picture. They were blinded by the simple fact that they regarded Rafiq as a bit of a liability – and there is much they could say to prove as much. Then they were secretive, disunited and unpersuasive as they were forced into an investigation against their will. That investigation was utterly mishandled because Hutton, the new-departed chairman, had good intentions but no power to force them through.Many who live in the county will recognize an uneasy truth, as much as we insist that the county where we have made our lives is a wonderful place to live, awash with great scenery, food, theatre, community. In Yorkshire, things are done differently. There is no more stubborn, forthright and bloody-minded county in England. Views are candid, and at their best are refreshingly honest. There is very little dissembling, although there is often a stony silence. The difference in behaviour is so pronounced that a person living in Yorkshire, and liable to be viewed as a bit of a wuss, only has to catch a train two hours south to London to be suspected instead as an abrupt, opinionated bully. “Banter” in these parts can be savage and becomes part of the daily routine from childhood, but racism, not to say sexism and homophobia, must be regarded with zero tolerance, and Rafiq’s whistleblowing has made it clear that Yorkshire have failed to address it.Stereotypes, by their very definition, are over-simplifications. But an interesting aspect of such character generalisations is that these plain-speaking attributes can often be seen these days in the minority ethnic groups that have made Yorkshire their home. Such a connection can strengthen bonds. It is quite an irony, though, considering Yorkshire’s reputation for heavy-handedness, that the word was gradually slipped out by the old regime that Rafiq had been guilty of bullying academy players.Is that true? In this soap opera of claims and counter claims, is it really worth the effort to find out? Rafiq is a flawed individual. But that he was ill-served – and Yorkshire finally admit as much – is ultimately all that matters. But we are all much too interested in who might have said what to whom, and whether a sentence (rather than a life) can be construed as racist. When attention turns to Ballance or Vaughan, interest is sharpened all the more. Racism is abhorrent and there should be no concessions about that. But analysing the grades of racism inherent in a single action or moment (and the charges vary from the non-existent to the totally unacceptable) is no way to move Yorkshire onto a firmer footing.Joe Root’s well-judged call for education to aid Yorkshire’s recovery was overshadowed by his reticence on the club’s dressing-room culture•Getty ImagesSystems and processes do not capture much attention. But it is systems and processes that Yorkshire now need. Joe Root, England’s captain, a champion of diversity and arguably the proudest of all Yorkshire cricketers, was criticized by Rafiq last week because he said he had never seen racism in action at Yorkshire. Regrettably this took attention away from a well-judged statement in which he put the need for education from an early age at the core of Yorkshire’s recovery. This is a social problem, said Root, which was not an attempt to pass the buck, but a recognition that social failures demanded of Yorkshire a policy of active education of every single person – of all races – who entered their system, the creation not just of a safe space, but the imposition of a more enlightened, club-orientated, multi-racial culture for all who pass through Headingley’s gates.”We need to educate, unify and reset,” said Root. “We need to educate more and earlier; we must call [racism] out straight away and have our eyes and ears open more.”Related

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Other county clubs, who have largely escaped criticism, should also look at themselves. When it comes to self-destruction nobody does it quite like Yorkshire, but too many minority ethnic players who come into county cricket have, to put it crudely, been “whitewashed” by a public school education. Cricket’s over-reliance on the private school system is well chronicled. Selection of junior sides is complacent. The two London counties, Surrey especially but also Middlesex, are beginning to make progress. Many are not. More stories could emerge. The dam has been breached.Yorkshire will give oral evidence to the Digital Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on Tuesday, and they have already released to them the full internal report. Expect a few grandstanding MPs and not a little pomposity. But it is fit and proper that Yorkshire have been called to account and it will be an uncomfortable watch. Comments ahead of the meeting by Lord Patel, Yorkshire’s incoming chairman, that Azeem is an important whistleblower who should be “praised for speaking up”, that the investigation was “flawed” and that “urgent change” is further proof if it were needed that, under Lord Patel’s guidance, change is already underway.Yorkshire can emerge more strongly from this than many imagine. Rafiq can one day be judged by historians as a catalyst for change. That would be some consolation for what has often felt like a lonely struggle. Many cricket people in Yorkshire are already doing good things, many lessons have already been learned. At club level, for a generation or so, players of different ethnic groups – and often, this being cricket in the north, from working-class backgrounds – have slowly learned to rub along. Integration has been slow, imperfect and often painful, and there remains much to be done, but the direction of travel has been a positive one. While Yorkshire’s reputation was in tatters, the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation welcomed 140 Afghan refugees to Leeds in early November with the support of Leeds City Council. The final stage of grief is the imagining of a new beginning. Not everybody is fortunate to get that far. Yorkshire owe it to all their supporters – not just to Rafiq – to make it.

A young mother, a hard grafter and a flamboyant allrounder all delivered when it mattered

S Sudarshanan18-Mar-2022Afy Fletcher was into her sixth straight over – and West Indies into their 13th since their last wicket, defending 140 – when she got the better of Fargana Hoque. It was not the generous flight by the legspinner which enticed the well-set Hoque into a false shot that grabbed the spotlight, but what played out after that.Fletcher ran towards covers, took out an imaginary phone from her pocket to mock-dial her seven-month-old on a video call to say, “Hi baby!” with a wave and a gleam in her eyes. Irrespective of where your allegiance lay, it was a moment that would have brought a smile to your face.Fletcher returned to international cricket after maternity leave during the home series against South Africa in February, but played just the one match. In the two warm-up matches ahead of the Women’s World Cup, she remained wicketless. It then took West Indies five games to get Fletcher into the playing XI, but now here she was in the thick of the action.”I thought Afy was brilliant (in her) first (World Cup) game back after giving birth,” captain Stafanie Taylor said after the match. “She has been working really hard in the nets. Really pleased she came out on top.”In the over after she dismissed Hoque, Fletcher showed why she is rated highly. First an authentic legbreak got the better of Rumana Ahmed as she was caught behind, before a wrong ‘un left Ritu Moni clueless next ball. Though she couldn’t get the hat-trick, her ten overs – bowled at one go – resulted in three wickets for 29 runs and, more importantly, broke the back of the chase.Hayley Matthews finished with career-best ODI figures•AFP/Getty Images”You look at women in sport nowadays and you see so many changes happening,” Hayley Matthews said later. “It’s been fantastic that she’s been able to go out, become a mother and come back. It speaks for her dedication at her age – being 30-something at this point.”It is becoming more of a regular happenstance that women can leave the game, give birth and come back to it, knowing that they have that support around her. It’s brilliant to have her back, we saw the class that she is and we expect only good things from her going forward as always.”Matthews herself delivered a Player-of-the-Match performance, with career-best ODI figures of four wickets for 15. She is currently the joint-leading wicket-taker at the tournament, with ten scalps, and among the top five run-getters as well.”Over the last year or so, I was able to understand a lot about bowling offspin in certain situations,” she said. “(I have been) working on my technique, getting my hand coming from a bit higher, trying to get as many revs as possible. What’s more important for me is to control where I am pitching the ball. As a tall girl, helps me get a bit more bounce as well.”That Matthews bowled the opening over in West Indies’ defence of 140 speaks about Taylor’s faith in her and she backed it up with a wicket off the fifth ball, trapping Shamima Sultana in front.Shemaine Campbelle gave the bowlers something to defend•ICC via Getty Images”Looking at the wicket, we saw how well their spinners bowled,” Matthews said. “The conditions definitely suited spin. So we figured that if we get a spinner there in as early as possible, it would be really helpful and hopefully pick up some early wickets. I am just the one the team went for and it worked pretty well.”Matthews, Fletcher and Taylor picked up all ten wickets between them, making it the first instance of spinners claiming all ten in a Women’s World Cup match. It perhaps wouldn’t have got to a stage where the trio could put pressure and inflict damage on Bangladesh, had it not been for Shemaine Campbelle’s gritty innings.West Indies were 48 for 3 when the wicketkeeper-batter walked in and soon found themselves 70 for 7. At that time, Campbelle was on 15 off 63 balls, 52 of which were dots. However, she stayed put and scored her second half-century in this competition, in the process helping West Indies get to a total which had looked way beyond their reach at one point.Also read: Cricket’s mothers have it better now than ever (but not all of them)
“At that point we really needed our batters to stand up and she did really well,” Matthews said, heaping praise on Cambelle. “She’s the type of person who can catch up and get the runs towards the end of the innings. She realised what was more important and that was her spending time in the middle, and she did exactly that. Some people will say the strike rate was pretty low but at the same time we were in a bit of a trouble. She just did what we needed her to do.”While West Indies have flexed their bowling muscle well to churn out three wins in five matches and move to the third spot on the points table, they will know it is time for their batting to come good to truly make this World Cup a party.

No Indian has a better first-class average than him since the start of 2016, and he can keep wicket too

Deivarayan Muthu02-Mar-2022Since the start of 2016, B Indrajith has racked up 2512 runs in 33 first-class games at an average of 66.10. Among those to have played at least 25 first-class games in this period, no Indian batter has a better average than Indrajith’s. Globally, Afghanistan’s Bahir Shah, New Zealand’s Devon Conway and South Africa’s Obus Pienaar are the only three with better averages.Indrajith began the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy season with a counterattacking 117 off 149 balls against Delhi and followed it up with an even punchier 127 off 141 balls against Chhattisgarh. The first century helped Tamil Nadu snatch the first-innings lead after they were 162 for 5 in response to Delhi’s 452, and the second gave Tamil Nadu a shot at an innings victory before Chattisgarh denied them in the final session.Before that, however, Tamil Nadu had dropped Indrajith from the season-opening Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20s, which he says “hit me hard”. He returned to action in the 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy and played a significant part in Tamil Nadu’s run to the final, scoring four fifties including knocks of 50 and 80 in the semi-finals and final. Indrajith pins down his early-season success to his off-season work.”I have to put it down to the back-end work,” Indrajith tells ESPNcricinfo. “I’ve been working really hard. From the last summer, I’ve wanted to work on specific aspects of the game – that is to upgrade my game – and I didn’t want to be one-dimensional. I worked on my keeping and physical fitness, but I missed out on the T20 side. I was very disappointed, but when the opportunity came in Vijay Hazare, I think everything fell into place.”We had five sessions in Chennai [before the Ranji Trophy] and we came early to Guwahati to get used to the conditions. The few sessions here really helped us because like everyone we were uncertain whether Ranji Trophy will happen or not. Once we got the confirmation, TNCA set up the camp. The first few days – the feel, and the red-ball… it was slightly different. But we needed those five-six sessions to help us get into the groove, being in the bubble.”A large chunk of Indrajith’s off-season training involved working with RX Muralidhar, the Bengaluru-based coach who Mayank Agarwal often credits with turning his career around. Indrajith largely focused on his white-ball game with Muralidhar after being dropped for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, and the stints in Bengaluru helped him expand his overall range of shots and approaches.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”I wanted to emphasise more on white-ball cricket – six-hitting, range-hitting, executing paddle shots,” Indrajith says. “It was something new for me and it pulled me out of my comfort zone. When I was not there in the [Tamil Nadu] T20 team, I went to Bangalore for another stint. I’ve never gone out of Chennai before and trained, but I wanted to explore it and it turned out to be an eye-opening experience.”I’m not sure, but maybe yes, that training has helped me in red-ball [cricket] too. I didn’t play too many lofted shots or hit out during the last two Ranji innings; I tried to play normal cricket only but a lot of factors worked. Once I got the initial boundaries, I was in the zone and I just went from there. It wasn’t a conscious effort to score quicker in first-class cricket, but maybe it was a byproduct of the back-end work.”Indrajith looked back fondly on his partnership of 207 with his twin brother B Aparajith against Chattisgarh. It was the first instance of twins scoring hundreds in the same game for the same team in Indian domestic cricket. In the 2018-19 Duleep Trophy, in Dindigul, Indrajith and Aparajith had scored hundreds in the same game, but as opponents.”When we scored the hundreds, it didn’t sink in that we’re the first twins to score it in the same match for same team [in Indian domestic cricket],” Indrajith says. “After a long time, we had a long partnership in Ranji and it was really nice; we’ve always enjoyed each other’s company. After we got to the dressing room, we got to know that we were the first twins to score hundreds for the same team in Indian domestic. We felt happy because not often [do] these kinds of things happen.”Having been consistent over a substantial period in first-class cricket and having expanded his game – including keeping wicket for Nellai Royal Kings in the Tamil Nadu Premier League – Indrajith is hoping for higher honours.”I’m more confident, having upgraded my game, and I feel I have more shots and I’m better-equipped to handle situations,” Indrajith says. “It doesn’t guarantee success but yes I’ll be more confident when the opportunities come. I’ve been doing decently in domestic cricket. I’ve been waiting for that break – Indian Test side or India A side.B Aparajith and B Indrajith became the first pair of twins to score hundreds in the same game for the same team in Indian domestic cricket•AFP”But I need to keep scoring in Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare and that will give me a better chance to succeed when I get the break. If it has to happen, I believe it will happen. So I’m looking forward to the IPL stint and other opportunities.”The forthcoming stint with Kolkata Knight Riders will be Indrajith’s first taste of the IPL. After making 80 off 71 balls to help Tamil Nadu to a total of 314 in the Vijay Hazare final, Indrajith flew to a trial at KKR, where he struck a rapid half-century. He was snapped up by KKR at the auction for his base price of INR 20 lakh and will now be the third keeping option for the franchise behind Sam Billings and Sheldon Jackson.”There was a KKR trial on the [day of the] final of the Vijay Hazare. I didn’t attend the first day because of the final,” Indrajith says. “I only managed to attend trials the second day. The simulation was there during the first day, so I couldn’t be part of that. I just played one T20 match and there I got 60 off 25 balls. It impressed them, I think, but I didn’t keep wicket there. Maybe they didn’t know that I keep [in TNPL], so after the selection trials I told them I keep wicket as well. They asked me for some videos of my keeping, so I sent videos of it from TNPL to them and I’m looking forward to the IPL.”Indrajith’s immediate challenge, though, is to keep up his rich first-class form against Jharkhand and push Tamil Nadu into the knockouts. Tamil Nadu are currently level with Jharkhand on six points in Group H, which is currently wide open, with Chhattisgarh leading with seven points.”We actually didn’t do too badly in the first two games and got the first-innings lead in both games,” Indrajith says. “We’re not taking too much pressure; we are all aware that first we need to take first-innings lead against Jharkhand and then push for an outright win.”

A look at what each team needs to do – and need other teams to do – to make the cut

S Rajesh20-Mar-2022England’s nervy one-wicket win against New Zealand means they stay in contention for the semi-finals of Women’s World Cup 2022, while New Zealand are almost out of it. With just nine more games to go in the group stage, only Australia have sealed their semi-final slot, while the rest are still involved in a tense struggle. Here is a look at what each team needs to do – and need other teams to do – to make the cut.New ZealandNew Zealand have lost three matches by extremely close margins: one wicket (against England), two wickets (South Africa) and three runs (West Indies). These three defeats mean the home team is on the brink of elimination. If England win their last two games – against the relatively weaker Bangladesh and Pakistan – then at least three teams will have more than six points, which is the maximum New Zealand can reach.They would then have to hope that West Indies lose their last two matches – against Pakistan and South Africa – and stay on six with a poorer net run rate, and India lose their last two games too – against Bangladesh and South Africa – and stay on four points, as their NRR is currently much better than New Zealand’s. (Even if New Zealand score 300 in their last game and win by 200 runs, their NRR will still only improve to 0.427, which is lower than India’s current rate of 0.456.) In that case New Zealand could qualify as the fourth team, but at the moment they are clutching at straws.EnglandEngland had a disastrous start to the tournament, but with two games to go, they have an excellent chance of making the semi-finals. They have a couple of advantages going into the last week of the group stage: their two remaining opponents are the weaker teams, and their NRR is a relatively healthy 0.327 (which can increase further with convincing wins).England have managed to stay in contention despite a disastrous start•Getty ImagesIf they finish on eight points, they should be in a good position in an NRR battle. (India are currently marginally ahead on 0.456, but one of their remaining games is against South Africa, who haven’t lost a match yet.)For England to lose out even after winning their last two games, West Indies will have to win their last two matches and go up to ten points, and South Africa will have to beat Australia so that they move beyond eight as well. If India win their last two and stay above England on NRR, then England will be eliminated. They will be hoping that the weather stays clear in Christchurch and Wellington, allowing them the opportunity to look for four points and improve their NRR.However, if they lose either of those matches (or if one is rained out), then they could struggle.IndiaIndia are in a similar position as England in terms of points and run rate, but the one major difference is that one of their remaining games is against South Africa. India’s best chance will be if they win their last two, and either South Africa or West Indies don’t progress beyond eight points. That can happen if West Indies lose at least one of their two remaining matches, or if South Africa lose all three. Then, both India and England will qualify with eight points (if England win their last two as well), while West Indies/South Africa will be eliminated because of poorer NRRs.India have a healthy net run rate, thanks to their big win against West Indies•AFP via Getty ImagesConversely, if West Indies win their last two, and if South Africa beat Australia, then three teams will finish on more than eight points. Then, even with wins in their two remaining games, India will be battling for the fourth spot with England (if they finish on eight as well).South AfricaDespite winning all four matches so far, South Africa still have some work to do to confirm a place in the semi-finals. That can happen if they win one more game and lift their points tally to ten.However, their three remaining games are all tough ones. If they lose all three then they could well be eliminated, as West Indies could finish on ten points, and England and India could get eight with better net run rates.West Indies will qualify if they win their two remaining matches•ICC via GettyWest IndiesWest Indies are currently third on the points table, but their NRR of -0.930 is the worst among all teams in contention for the semi-finals. They will qualify if they win their two remaining matches, but if they lose one – and if England beat Pakistan and Bangladesh – then West Indies will have to hope that India lose at least one of their two remaining games and finish on no more than six points. Then West Indies will qualify, along with Australia, South Africa and England.BangladeshBangladesh can theoretically get to eight points, but their remaining matches are against some of the toughest teams in this competition.PakistanPakistan too can qualify theoretically but having lost 18 successive matches in the 50-over World Cup, their immediate aim would be to stop it from extending to 21 by the end of this tournament.