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The former Pakistan batter played two Tests, in 1969 and 1975

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2022Aftab Baloch, a domestic giant from the 1970s, maker of Pakistan’s second domestic quadruple ton, and a batter who could have played more than his two Tests for Pakistan, has died. He was 68 years old.Baloch is probably best remembered for the 428 he made as captain of Sindh against Balochistan in Karachi during the 1973-74 Quaid-e-Azam trophy. He added 174 for the fifth wicket in that game with a young Javed Miandad, playing only his eighth first-class game. It remains the only 400-plus score made by a Pakistani in first-class cricket other than Hanif Mohammad’s legendary 499, made 15 years before that.But there was much greater pedigree to Baloch beyond that one innings. His father Shamsher Baloch had played for Gujarat and Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy in pre-partition India. And Aftab’s first-class debut as a 16-year-old was testament to his talent: he scored an unbeaten 77 batting at number nine, and took 12 wickets in an easy win for PwD (Public Works Department) over Hyderabad Blues in August 1969 in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy.Miandad’s presence in the 428 match, however, was significant in that it was testament to the depth in Pakistan’s batting during that decade, a depth that kept Baloch out of the side. Between the 1972-73 season and the 1977-78 season, Baloch was at his peak: he scored 5025 runs in Pakistani first-class cricket, averaging nearly 55 with 14 tons.At the same time, Pakistan had a batting order built around Sadiq Mohammad, Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal and Mushtaq Mohammad – and then, eventually, Miandad himself. It was among the strongest batting line-ups Pakistan has ever had in Tests.In those peak years Baloch enjoyed considerable success as captain of a strong National Bank side. He led them to the Patron’s Trophy title in the 1974-75 season and then a double of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy and the Patron’s Trophy again the very next season. The next season he again led them to the finals of both tournaments, though this time they lost both (on first-innings scores rather than outright defeat). Baloch scored three hundreds across all those finals.In the midst of that run, he did at least get a Test, against the visiting West Indies at Gaddafi Stadium in February 1975. It was his second, after a debut in 1969, and he did well: he hit an unbeaten 60 in the second innings against a pre-great West Indies attack that still included Andy Roberts and Lance Gibbs. It was to be his last Test, in a side that would two years later become a serious force on tours of Australia and West Indies.”I am deeply saddened to hear the passing of Aftab Baloch, who was one the most popular cricketers when I was growing up,” PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said in a statement. “I not only had the privilege of watching him in action, but also played against him in the twilight of his career.”As he was a close friend of my late brother Wasim Hasan Raja, I knew him well outside the field of play and always admired him for his passion, love and understanding of the game. He was gentle, friendly and caring, and had qualities that made him a widely respected and loved person.”

England captain wants more fight from his side after crushing defeat in Brisbane leaves Ashes hopes hanging by thread

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Dec-20250:50

Stokes: ‘If we lose hope, we might as well not turn up’

Ben Stokes admitted that England had not been “able to stand up to the pressure” applied on them by Australia after his side went 2-0 down in the series in Brisbane. He said England had to show more fight but reiterated his belief that he could lead them back from the brink, with a 3-2 result now their only route to regaining the Ashes.England’s captain pinpointed dropped catches on the second night as one of the tourists’ key failings, undermining their rally with the pink ball under lights. Having been 290 for 3, Australia fell to 329 for 6 – still behind England’s first-innings 334 – but capitalised on a host of reprieves to eventually stretch their total beyond 500 on the third day.Stokes added that he did not believe there was a skills deficit with Australia but conceded England’s mentality in tough situations had twice been found wanting after two chastening defeats. For the second Ashes in a row, England find themselves 2-0 down after two games and, although they came back to draw in 2023, that would not be enough to reclaim the urn from Australia. Only once in Ashes history has a side won 3-2 after being 2-0 down, and that was Don Bradman’s Australia in 1936-37.Related

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“Very disappointing,” Stokes said at the post-match presentation. “A lot of it comes down to not being able to stand up to the pressure of this game, this format, when the game is on the line. In small passages, we’ve been able to bring the game back into some kind of control and then we’ve let us slip away. We’ve done that again here this week, and it’s very, very disappointing, in particular, because of the ability of the players that we have in that dressing room.”We need to think a bit harder and deeper about those moments and what we’re taking mentally into those, and overall show a bit more fight when it’s needed.”We sit there and watch what’s going on in front of us, what Australia are looking to throw at us, and what plans they’re trying to bowl to,” he added. “And then it’s up to us as players to be able to go out there with a plan and how to negate the threat.”To me, it just seems to be a constant theme at the moment, that when you know the game is in a pressure moment, Australia keep outdoing us. They say Australia isn’t a place for weak men. We’re definitely not weak, but we need to find something, because we’re two-nil down now we’ve got three more games to go, and we need to, sort it.”Speaking to TNT Sport after the game, he said that errors in the field had hurt England the most. England put down five chances on day two – Jamie Smith off Travis Head, Ben Duckett off Alex Carey and Josh Inglis, Brydon Carse off Michael Neser and Joe Root off Carey – as Australia carved out a match-defining lead of 177.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“A huge part of it was that we had to take 15 wickets,” Stokes said. “You can’t drop catches. They always come back to bite you. And I think it definitely showed there. If we were able to hold on to our chances, we shouldn’t have been batting last night [day three]. No one means to do that kind of stuff. No one means to drop catches. No one means to not bowl an area where you set plans to but, yeah, those kind of things just can’t happen at this level.”On the gap between the sides, he said: “It’s a mentality. It’s a mindset about how you take yourself out there in those situations. You know, Test cricket has its own pressures anyway, and how you handle those moments, how you handle yourself in those moments, how you get yourself into a clear head, a clear space to make good decisions. That’s so important to being successful at this level.”England had posted their highest score in Australia since 2018 after opting to bat first in the day-night Test, buoyed by Joe Root’s maiden hundred on Australian soil. But after Head’s reprieve on 3, Australia’s openers raced off to a 77-run opening stand, with Jake Weatherald’s punchy 72 from 78 setting the tone – and Stokes took some of the blame for a wayward bowling effort, as he and Brydon Carse in particular leaked runs.”Not being able to execute skill is something that you can live with, because no one means to bowl away from the plan that we’re trying to do. We knew exactly how we needed to bowl on that wicket, and we weren’t able to do it for a long enough period to put the Australian batters under pressure. And that was evident in the way that Australia were able to score so quickly and so easily against us.”I think Jofra and Gus set the tone very nicely, actually, when we first took ball, but then myself and Brydon sort of let the game get away from us quite quickly. So, yeah, just not being able to execute what’s needed, not only with batting and also with the ball. We’ll be having some conversations that I’ll be keeping in the dressing room.”Asked about lessons from previous tours – England have lost 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0 in their last three Ashes series down under – Stokes said that he wanted to maintain belief within the dressing room.”Don’t panic, don’t flap, don’t waver, and just have complete and utter belief in our guys as a team. Because I know we can do this. I believe emphatically in the group, I believe empathy, myself, as a captain, as a leader, that I can get the guys into a place where they need to be to able to win these next three games.”

“The plan was not to bowl outside the stumps; the plan was to bowl at the stumps,” explains coach Chandika Hathurusinghe

Mohammad Isam10-Oct-20235:43

What England did right, what Bangladesh did wrong

Taskin Ahmed’s face at the media ruck after Bangladesh’s crushing defeat to England indicated how the day had gone for his team.It was Taskin, so the line of questioning was quite obvious: why did the fast bowlers bowl so poorly?Taskin, usually affable, was glum from the start. And then, faced with a bombardment of questions, looked shaken.Related

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To put things in perspective, Bangladesh had started ordinarily with the ball against Afghanistan in their World Cup opener, too, but they came back well in that game. Here, England had their 100 in the 16th over, 200 in the 33rd, and 298 by the end of the 40th. Shoriful Islam’s three wickets did bring down England’s run rate a bit in the last ten overs, but they were always going to get a big total.Bangladesh have conceded big totals often, but their improved pace-bowling unit had given rise to the hope that was all in the past. In the four-year period between the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, they had the second-best combined bowling average among the teams participating at the World Cup. The expectation, as a result, was sky-high.Taskin, considered the leader of the pace attack, is proud of that record. The questions poured in, and Taskin snapped when asked about the pacers not doing well in this game, before saying “we didn’t bowl well” to other questions on the subject.”If you consider the performance of two matches as haphazard after two years of achievement, it is a failure. We will try to do well in the future,” he said to one. “That’s what I have been telling you. There’s no point in giving an excuse. We couldn’t bowl well.” The frustration in his voice was palpable.When he settled down, he elaborated on the path to better results.”We have to be more accurate. Different batters have different types of weaknesses – we have to make them play more good balls,” he said. “Sometimes we will concede runs but we have to bowl more good balls. We have to execute these plans accordingly. We will do well if we can bowl out oppositions for low totals.”We didn’t bowl according to the expectations [in this game], although we were playing in mostly batting-friendly conditions. There was enough room for us to do well. We started badly, but Shoriful and Mahedi [Hasan] came back well.”It was that sort of day for Shakib Al Hasan and Bangladesh•AFP/Getty Images

Hathurusinghe: The execution let us down in this game

In the previous game against Afghanistan, Bangladesh took seven wickets for 77 runs off the 112 balls they bowled outside off stump.In the first 37.2 overs against England, Bangladesh went wicketless in 83 balls outside off stump, conceding 108 runs.The plan, however, was to bowl at the stumps, not outside them.”The plan was not to bowl outside the stumps; the plan was to bowl at the stumps,” coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said. “I think the execution let us down in this game especially. In the last game, we came back later with the help of the spinners. This game, what happened was our spinners did not bring us back into the game due to the good, intelligent batting.”Taskin said that as much as the bowlers would do their best to keep the runs down, it was important for the batters to try and chase 300-plus totals in mostly batting-friendly conditions.”Most of the wickets in India are going to be batting friendly. Our batters have to be ready to chase 300-plus totals but we, as bowlers, also have to think about keeping the opposition down to below 300,” he said. “It will happen sometimes but we have to be prepared for both scenarios.”

Allrounder’s half-century helps pull off the second highest chase in PSL history

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Mar-2023Sometimes crash, bang, wallop is fun. It is the principle on which T20 cricket was founded on (look away, haters) and it came to the fore in an entertaining bout that Islamabad United took by a mere two wickets. Faheem Ashraf produced a powerhouse performance, capped by his hitting three fours and a six in the final over to complete the second-highest chase in PSL history.Multan Sultans would’ve been confident after putting up a total of 205, but they’ll now be thinking back to their own last over which went for zero boundaries but cost two wickets. Until those incredible six balls, yorker specialist Mohammad Wasim had leaked 42 runs. He had to deal with a rampaging Tim David, who was on 60 off 27. Still, he backed himself, went for the blockhole and not only took out Sultans’ biggest hitter, but he also accounted for David Miller off the last ball of the innings.United do this a lot. They are pure T20, led by an allrounder who loves his data and fuelled by batters who give no room for second thought. They lost eight wickets through the course of this chase. They were 32 for 2, 99 for 4 and 159 for 7. But the longest they went without hitting a boundary after each of those dismissals was seven balls. And as penance for that, they hit the eighth and ninth for fours. United kept coming. They kept coming and coming and coming.Colin Munro fixed a top-order wobble with 40 off 21. Usama Mir took him out. Shadab Khan regained the momentum with 44 off 25. Ihsanullah demolished his stumps. Ashraf popped up and with 18 needed off six balls, he went 4, 6, 2, 4, 4. The six in that sequence was a wide yorker that went over deep third, after the left-hander had originally intended to paddle sweep the ball. It was bonkers.Until those final few moments, it felt like Sultans’ game. Shan Masood put on 75 at the top of the order, only he didn’t hit a single six. David came in at No. 4 and compensated for that with a vengeance, clattering four of them off back-to-back balls in a 16th over from Rumman Raees that cost 30 runs. But just as it started to look really bleak, United snuck in an eight-run 19th over from Fazalhaq Farooqi and a six-run 20th over from Wasim and that turned out to be the difference.

Sharma’s crucial unbeaten 39 from 22 balls from No. 6 pulls Storm through nail-biting run chase

Matt Roller at Hove01-Sep-2019Heather Knight paid credit to her Western Storm side’s batting depth after Deepti Sharma’s crucial unbeaten 39 from 22 balls from No. 6 lifted them over the line in a nail-biting run chase against Southern Vipers at Hove.Sharma came in with Storm needing 70 off 7.3 overs after prolific openers Smriti Mandhana and Rachel Priest had fallen early, but struck seven boundaries in her cameo in the middle to support Knight – who made 78 not out – as they chased down their target with an over to spare.”We’ve had people throughout the order play brilliantly throughout the competition,” Knight said. “Fran Wilson and Sophie Luff have been outstanding for us this year, and Deepti has had some really good cameos, even though she hasn’t had to bat too much.”I’m really delighted with how we’ve gone. The two at the top [Mandhana and Priest] obviously have a job to try and score quickly and sometimes that doesn’t pay off so we’ve got the middle order to patch that up if that does happen.”Also read: Knight leads Storm to title with unbeaten 78 against VipersVipers captain Tammy Beaumont suggested that while her side’s middle order had chipped in throughout the tournament, the difference in batting depth was ultimately the difference between the sides.”Yeah definitely, you look at them – they’ve got seven international players, and we’re kind of lacking that a little bit in our team,” she said.”Full credit to the girls, they’ve all stepped up at different times. Amanda Wellington has played some gems of innings for us at five or six, and so have Fi Morris and Paige Scholfield, so that’s just the way it is. But yeah, of course – having someone of the class of Deepti is maybe a little bit of a difference there.”The contrast with the Vipers – who were 134 for 1 after 14 overs, but lost six wickets for 38 runs in the final six overs – was clear, and Knight paid credit to her side’s decision to sign a full quota of overseas players that would be available for Finals Day, which contrasted with the other two sides.”Trevor Griffin has been amazing, putting the squad together,” she said. “No-one works harder as a coach than him in the early summer going to see players play in county cricket, and stuff like that, and assembling the best squad we could.”We made the decision to go with an overseas [player] that was going to be available for the final, because obviously we lost Smriti last year. It was sad to let Stafanie [Taylor] go but obviously she wasn’t available for today, and Deepti’s been outstanding for us, and obviously we had that little bit of extra depth which was nice.”With Danni Wyatt, who was confirmed as player of the tournament after the final, striking the ball cleanly, the Vipers had been set for a total far in advance of the 172 they ended up with, and Knight credited her seamers with dragging things back in their favour.”I thought they were on for 200-plus at one point, the way Tammy and Danni were going there in the middle,” Knight said. “It was a really good track, really hard to defend or stop the flow of runs when players were going like that.”We bowled outstandingly – Freya [Davies] and Anya [Shrubsole] in particular pulled it back nicely, managed to pick up a few wickets and I thought 170 was going to be really tough to chase, but we knew it was probably within our grasp.”We’ve chased some really good totals over the past couple of years, and we’ve somehow found a way to win a lot this season in tricky situations, so to do that, with the belief we’ve had, we knew that if one batter was there at the end we were in with a good chance. [I’m] delighted it was me, and happy to pick up the trophy.”

Use of saliva for ball-shining, and batters changing ends during dismissals also amended

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2022The new batter being on strike even if the players crossed while a catch is taken, a reframing of the law for running out non-strikers while backing up, and a permanent ban on using saliva to shine the ball are among the changes to MCC’s Laws that will come into effect later this year.An updated code of the Laws was approved by the MCC’s main committee this week. The changes will also allow greater leeway to the bowler in the judging of wides when a batter has moved across the crease, and see the introduction of penalty runs for the batting side should a fielder be deemed to have moved unfairly.The decision to change the Law for caught dismissals comes as a result of its trialling in the Hundred. Previously, if the two batters crossed before a catch was taken, the new batter would go to the non-striker’s end; now they will always be on strike – unless it is the end of the over – in a move that was proposed as a way of further rewarding the bowler for taking a wicket.The wording that covers a player being run out by the bowler while backing up – often referred to as Mankading – has been moved from Law 41 (Unfair play) to Law 38 (Run out), in a further attempt to remove some of the stigma around such dismissals.”The bowler is always painted as the villain but it is a legitimate way to dismiss someone and it is the non-striker who is stealing the ground,” Fraser Stewart, MCC Laws Manager, told the . “It is legitimate, it is a run-out and therefore it should live in the run-out section of the laws.”The prohibition of saliva as a means of shining the ball came about through changes to playing conditions during Covid, with MCC’s research suggesting it had had “little or no impact” on bowlers’ ability to generate swing. Making this the default position was felt to remove any ambiguity around the use of mints or sweets to change the condition of the ball – something that was already banned.The rewording of Law 22.1, meanwhile, means that wide calls will “apply to where the batter is standing, where the striker has stood at any point since the bowler began their run-up, and which would also have passed wide of the striker in a normal batting position”.Further changes have been agreed governing the use of replacements, the Laws governing dead balls, and the legality of trying to play the ball once it has gone off the cut strip.Updates to the Laws are usually incorporated throughout the game, from international down to club level, although governing bodies around the world have the ability to ignore certain changes by reference to competition-specific playing conditions.”Since the publication of the 2017 Code of the Laws of Cricket, the game has changed in numerous ways,” Stewart said in an MCC press release. “The 2nd edition of that Code, published in 2019, was mostly clarification and minor amendments, but the 2022 Code makes some rather bigger changes, from the way we talk about cricket to the way it’s played.”It is important that we announce these changes now as part of the club’s global commitment to the game, giving officials from all over the world the chance to learn under the new Code ahead of the Laws coming into force in October.”

Pakistan A rode on Tayyab’s century to post 352 before Muqeem’s three-wicket burst broke India A’s back in Colombo

Shashank Kishore23-Jul-2023Tayyab Tahir, a seasoned 29-year-old batter, and Sufiyan Muqeem, a rookie left-arm wristspinner, combined to help Pakistan A beat India A and defend their ACC Men’s Emerging Cup crown in Colombo.Tayyab, for whom it has already been a dream year, added another chapter to his 2023 fairytale. He started with a dazzling half-century on PSL debut for Karachi Kings in February and made his T20I debut against Afghanistan in March. Four months on, he struck an aggressive 71-ball 108 to power Pakistan A to 352 for 8 after they were sent in to bat by Yash Dhull, on what he felt was a dry surface.Then, with India A’s chase in the balance, Muqeem, who made his List A debut earlier in the tournament, made a telling contribution with his ripping wrong’uns from the over-the-wicket angle. That he mixed it up with sharp legbreaks added to India A’s challenge and they folded for 224 in 40 overs.That the game fizzled out towards the end was because Muqeem prised out the massive scalps of Abhishek Sharma, India’s top scorer with 61, and Dhull, for 39, to crack open the game in Pakistan’s favour. Muqeem finished with figures of 3 for 66 in his ten overs, thriving on support from fellow spinners Mubasir Khan and Mehran Mumtaz.The Pakistan team management did not play Muqeem in the league game against India, possibly to shield him from the batters’ view. In the grand finale, they were caught unawares by a supremely talented spinner who made heads turn with his control and guile, seldom taking the defensive route, not even when he was under attack early on by Abhishek.Pakistan A players celebrate after winning the Emerging Cup•SLC

India’s lower order hung around to try and defy the bowlers in a late effort to take the game deep, but at 194 for 8, they were merely delaying the inevitable. Mohammad Wasim fittingly finished the game off with a searing yorker to send Yuvrajsinh Dodiya’s stumps.The win would be all the more satisfying for Pakistan, not least because they were handed a pounding by India A in the league fixture. Tayyab, who like Muqeem did not play in that game, walked in at 146 for 2 in the 22nd over after openers Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub put together an aggressive century stand to lay down the marker.But he soon saw Omair Yousuf and Qasim Akram fall off successive deliveries to Riyan Parag’s right-arm everything in the 28th over. Then in the 29th, when Mohammad Haris, the captain, was trapped lbw by Nishant Sindhu’s left-arm spin, Pakistan A had lost 3 for 4 in ten deliveries.At 187 for 5, India A had just found their footing and were beginning to tighten the screws courtesy their spinners. This is when Tayyab decided he wasn’t going to let the game drift. At the first sign of the Indians switching off, he cashed in. What began as a burst of aggression turned into a full-blown counterattack.Tayyab had a slice of luck when he was dropped on 51 in the 37th over when Rajvardhan Hangargekar circled around a ball he misjudged at the long-on boundary. That was the only blemish in a knock where he showcased oodles of maturity in manipulating the fields, milking runs, throwing bowlers off their lengths and also playing some cheeky reverse paddles, all without making it look like he was taking risks.He was superbly supported by Mubasir, who occupied the crease to help the lower order rally. Without their 126-run seventh-wicket stand, Pakistan A may have been bundled out for a much smaller score.Abhishek Sharma’s 51-ball 61 was not enough to get India A close•Asian Cricket Council

India A’s chase began on a sprightly note as Abhishek and Sai Sudharsan played authentic shots and matched each other stroke for stroke in an enterprising first ten overs. Sudharsan’s wristwork was particularly impressive as he whipped and worked the ball to different parts of the leg side with ease, but his undoing was an Arshad Iqbal short ball that he couldn’t quite get out of the way of, top-edging a pull to the wicketkeeper to break a 64-run opening stand.Nikin Jose was a tad unfortunate to be given out caught behind when replays confirmed the ball had brushed his right hip on the way through to the wicketkeeper. Dhull steadied the innings but found no support once Abhishek was out playing an uppish cut to Muqeem.Pakistan A profited from having the crafty Mubasir operate from the other end and he struck with the big wicket of Sindhu, who was promoted up the order. Mubasir got the ball to dip on Sindhu, who popped a return catch. When Dhruv Jurel and Parag followed suit, the end was nigh.

He’s targeting the role of a finisher in the Indian team and has been training with that in mind

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Apr-202032:18

‘I still have that fire burning in me, I really want to compete’

Robin Uthappa, who last played for India in July 2015 on a tour of Zimbabwe, believes he “still has a World Cup” left in him, and is targeting a comeback to the Indian team in the T20 format.Uthappa, 34, has played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is, and was part of the 2007 50-over World Cup campaign as well as the inaugural T20 World Cup played later in the same year. However, he was dropped from the team in mid-2008 and his international appearances since then have been sporadic, with a total of eight ODIs and four T20Is since his first comeback in October 2011.”Right now I want to be competitive. I still have that fire burning in me, I really want to compete and do well,” Uthappa told ESPNcricinfo. “I honestly believe I have a World Cup left in me, so I’m pursuing that, especially the shortest format. The blessings of Lady Luck or God or whatever you call it, plays a massive factor. Especially in India, it becomes so much more evident. I don’t think it is evident when you’re playing cricket outside of India. But in the subcontinent and India especially, with the amount of talent that we do have in our country, all of those aspects become evident.”You can never write yourself off. You would be unfair to yourself if you write yourself off. Especially if you believe you have the ability and you know that there is an outside chance. So I still believe in that outside chance. I still believe that things can go my way and I probably can be a part of a World Cup-winning team and play an integral role in that as well. Those dreams are still alive and I think I’ll keep playing cricket till that is alive.”Uthappa has scored 934 runs in ODIs at an average of 25.94 and a strike rate of 90.59, while in T20Is his corresponding numbers are 249 runs at 24.90 and 118.00. He has had great success in the IPL, initially with Royal Challengers Bangalore and then in more sustained fashion with Kolkata Knight Riders. He was the top run-getter in the IPL in 2014, and central to Knight Riders’ title run that year. However, underwhelming returns in 2019 meant the team released him, and he was picked by Rajasthan Royals in the last auction.On his numerous short comebacks in the Indian team – he played one T20I in 2011, one in 2012, five ODIs in 2014 and finally three ODIs and two T20Is in 2015 – Uthappa felt he had been batted out of position.”When I played for India [in 2007 and 2008], I scored all my runs opening the batting. Then [in his comeback phases] I ended up playing for India in the middle-order, which seems so… from one perception it seems very unfair,” Uthappa said. “That kind of cycle has repeated itself maybe three or four times in the three or four comebacks that I’ve made in the Indian team. I scored all the runs up the order, and I got to bat in the middle-order when I got back in the Indian team.”Stats-wise, Uthappa has slightly better numbers when he has not opened the batting for India. In the 16 ODI innings in which he batted at the top of the order, he has an average of 25.50 and a strike rate of 88.31 with four half-centuries. In 26 ODI innings in which he has batted lower down, he averages 26.30 at a strike rate of 92.44 with two half-centuries.Uthappa has opened only twice in T20Is, making 1 and 18* at less than a run a ball. When not opening the batting, he averages 25.55 at a strike rate of 121.69.In his comebacks in 2011, 2012 and 2014, Uthappa played as an opener and crossed 20 once in five innings. On another comeback in 2014 and a subsequent one in 2015, he batted in the middle-order.Uthappa said he was targeting the role of being a finisher for the Indian team and had begun training with that specific goal in mind, till the coronavirus pandemic enforced a standstill.”What I’ve been trying to do is to make sure that I’m well prepared,” he explained. “Opening the batting is something I can do at any point of time. I’m trying to make sure I’m well equipped to bat in the middle order as well. One of the things that we need today in Indian cricket is a good finisher, and that’s something that I’m pursuing and working hard on. It’s something I’m looking forward to improving on a day to day basis.”I’m actually missing practice really bad right now because that was one of the aspects I was working on and I felt like I was beginning to get somewhere. Because you know it’s a process. These kinds of things don’t just turn up on their head. You need to work on it and get better at it on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis. I felt like I was getting places. A small kind of sweet spot. God willing, I believe it will happen at some point in time.”

Allrounder is recovering from an injured ankle in CSA’s care as they “assess her eligibility for the [T20] World Cup”

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2023Dane van Niekerk has been left out of South Africa’s 17-member squad, led by legspinning allrounder Sune Luus, for the women’s T20I tri-series featuring India and West Indies. Experienced wicketkeeper-batter Trisha Chetty is also absent from the squad that has two uncapped players in Annerie Dercksen and Tebogo Macheke.Van Niekerk, who last played for South Africa in September 2021, was not considered after failing to meet fitness requirements as she makes her comeback from a broken ankle. She suffered the injury in January last year and has intermittently played in the Women’s BBL, the Hundred, the Women’s Super League, and for the South African Emerging Women’s side but has not met the standards to qualify for national selection. She has two weeks to change that, with South Africa due to announce their Women’s T20 World Cup squad on January 31. Chetty is sidelined with a long-standing back injury.”Dané has progressed very well and it’s a step in the right direction,” Clinton du Preez, Convenor of Selectors, said. “Unfortunately, she did not meet the minimum national standards and therefore is ineligible for selection and we will continue working on her fitness as we continue through the tri-series, to assess her eligibility for the [T20] World Cup.”Mignon du Preez, who announced her retirement late last year, and Chetty are the only two missing from the team that played the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022, with top order batter Tazmin Brits and offspinning allrounder Delmi Tucker – who made her T20I debut against England in July last year – coming in apart from the two uncapped players.Dercksen, who bats in the top order and bowls right-arm seam, impressed in the CSA Women’s Provincial T20 competition with her fast starts. She also picked up wickets while being economical. Macheke is the back-up wicketkeeper in the squad behind Sinalo Jafta.”The uncapped players included have been part of the recent camps and have grown immensely,” Clinton du Preez said. “Annerie as an allrounder, she will bring much depth to the squad and versatility within the team. Tebogo has been working hard and will add an additional option as a wicketkeeper and it’s great for them to be a part of it.”They’ve shown a lot of improvement and I am looking forward to their involvement and how we can maximise the opportunity of them being in the squad. It’s a great occasion for them to come up against two strongholds in India and the West Indies, which will really test the resilience of the two players.South Africa open the tri-series with a match against India on January 19. While they haven’t played an international since August last year, van Niekerk, allrounder Marizanne Kapp and fast bowler Shabnim Ismail were part of the Oval Invincibles side that won their second successive Women’s Hundred title in September. Ismail, Kapp, batter Laura Wolvaardt and allrounders Nadine de Klerk and Chloe Tryon played in the Women’s Big Bash League. Luus and seamer Ayabonga Khaka were in action at the inaugural Women’s Caribbean Premier League.Squad: Suné Luus (capt), Chloé Tryon (vice-capt), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Lara Goodall, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Tebogo Macheke, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune, Delmi Tucker, Laura Wolvaardt

New limited-overs captain is focused on defining a style of play in his early days

Firdose Moonda29-Mar-2021The Temba Bavuma era of white-ball cricket begins later this week, with a series against Pakistan which is intended to kickstart South Africa’s next three World Cup campaigns. Bavuma has been appointed until 2023 and will be in charge for two T20 World Cups and a fifty-over one, and while it is too early to list things like becoming global champions among his aims, Bavuma hopes to use this series to establish a brand of cricket that South Africa can carry through his tenure.”We have the opportunity now, building up to 2023 to the World Cup, to define our style of play and how we want to go about our business,” he said. “If you look at South Africa, we have always been a more than competitive ODI unit, even to the point where the guys have got to positions of No.1. For me, it’s about trying to define a style of play, create something that makes us accountable, and most importantly, to be able to institute that style of play in any conditions or any occasion.”While Bavuma did not specify what this new strategy will entail – team management has spoken about playing ‘smart but aggressive’ in the recent past – he has identified one area that needs improvement. “Mentally, that’s somewhere we probably need to improve a lot more in terms of getting stronger,” he said.South Africa have become known for crumbling under pressure in big moments at major tournaments but since the 2019 World Cup – where they were the first team to bow out – they have also become known for their rapid decline. They currently sit fifth on the ODI rankings and sixth in T20s and have only won one of their last six white-ball series as administrative chaos has bled onto the field and uncertainty has engulfed their approach.As an indication of the level of experimentation South Africa reached, they have handed out six ODI and seven T20 caps since the 2019-20 summer, and are on to their third captain.After Faf du Plessis was replaced by Quinton de Kock in February last year, de Kock has now been succeeded by Bavuma. None of these appointments appear to have been part of a plan. Du Plessis stood down as Test captain following South Africa’s defeat to England last year and was then stripped of the white-ball leadership. De Kock took over, and was also asked to temporarily lead South Africa in Tests which unfairly overburdened him. He was thensidelined from the leadership role in all formats. It is understood that de Kock wanted to continue the white-ball captaincy but after South Africa’s sorry trip to Pakistan earlier this year, they believed wholesale changes were necessary.Now, they face Pakistan again, having had two months of international inaction thanks to Australia’s cancelled Test tour and they seem to have a clean slate. At least, that’s how Bavuma makes it sound. “The mood is optimistic,” he said. Though the challenge is steep.For a start, South Africa will lose a quintet of key players after the second ODI as Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje head to the IPL. Their absence could well be a major disruption to Bavuma’s first series in charge, but he chose not to see it that way. “It’s not as disturbing now that we are aware of the arrangement that is in place,” he said. “For the first two games, we’ve got all our best players. It’s important that we get positive results. That’s not to say we are conceding the result in the third game. We believe we have got worthy enough replacements. I don’t think it’s that disturbing and we respect the relationship between CSA and the BCCI.”When the big five leave, South Africa are likely to award more new caps, and players like slog-overs specialist Sisanda Magala, seamer Lizaad Williams and allrounder Wihan Lubbe are among those in contention.”The guys who are here can take comfort in the fact that the World Cup squads will be coming from this group, so it’s important that guys acknowledge that there is an opportunity and that they know where they can fit in within that squad,” Bavuma said. “My message to the young guys is that the opportunity is there and make sure you keep churning out those performances.”It will help that Magala and Williams will be used to conditions at the Wanderers and SuperSport Park, their domestic home grounds, because it’s rare to play cricket in South Africa in April. Bavuma expects the Highveld to be even more bowler-friendly than usual. From his recollection of a T20 competition played in April 2018, he said: “it seemed to suit seam bowling a bit more, with the ball swinging. But the wickets still become favourable for batting, so even though the challenge will be a bit more with the seam but I think there’s something in there for the batters.”He also sees it as an opportunity for the team to test their adaptability, knowing that surfaces won’t always suit them. “In the long run we want to test ourselves a lot more in unfavourable conditions and see if we can execute our brand of cricket in all conditions,” he said.At this point, South Africa are still in their short run, with just seven fixtures against Pakistan before a two-month winter break. Their real work will start in June, when they hope to tour West Indies in a series that was postponed from last year, before heading to Ireland and possibly Sri Lanka and India before the T20 World Cup. That will be the first true test of Bavuma’s leadership and so for now his task “is to inspire and try and get the guys in spaces where they can perform as well as they can for the team.”