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Brendon McCullum’s farewell to international cricket at the second Test in Christchurch will be a “pretty sad” moment, according to fast bowler Trent Boult

Brydon Coverdale17-Feb-20162:10

‘Australia had the best of the conditions in Wellington’ – Boult

Brendon McCullum’s farewell to international cricket at the second Test in Christchurch will be a “pretty sad” moment, according to fast bowler Trent Boult, who credited McCullum with uniting the nation behind their cricket team.There was no shortage of emotion at McCullum’s 100th and penultimate Test in Wellington, but expect that only to increase when the New Zealanders walk out onto Hagley Oval on Saturday. There will be a special cap presentation to McCullum ahead of the match, although there will be no fairytale ending after Australia’s victory in Wellington, which meant the best New Zealand can do is draw the series.”I think there was a lot of emotion in this one [in Wellington] to be honest,” Boult said on Wednesday. “But his last one – it’s going to be pretty sad, to be honest. Everyone has played with him for that long and he’s good mates with everyone in the team. We’re all looking forward to running out with him for the last time.”He’s changed the game, in a way. The way the New Zealanders have got behind cricket, behind the team, is because of him and his style of play, his attacking captaincy. He’s going to be sorely missed. We’ll look forward to running out with him one last time and then I’m sure he’s left the team in good hands.”Boult is one of the many players in the New Zealand team who has thrived under the captaincy of McCullum, rising to No.1 in the ODI rankings and currently sitting at No.8 on the ICC’s Test list. He debuted in Test cricket in Australia in 2011 and a year later McCullum was named captain alongside the new coach Mike Hesson.”You can put it down to a lot of things, but he’s a true leader and everyone looks up to him in the team,” Boult said of his own success. “I owe a lot to him, to be honest. He is going to be sorely missed.”New Zealand would like nothing better than to send McCullum off into retirement with a Test victory in Christchurch, where they hope they will find a greener pitch than the one that was served up at the Basin Reserve. There was some seam movement on the first morning but there was little for the rest of the Test, although Australia’s fast men surprised New Zealand by finding reverse swing in the second innings.”We didn’t get it to go at all,” Boult said. “They got it to go nicely. We could learn a thing or two from them in regards to if nothing is happening on a flat wicket, then how valuable reverse swing is. They did that nicely, but I’m not sure how much we’ll see of that down at Hagley.”It’s not something we do often see [in New Zealand]. They got it to go nicely and it worked very effectively for them. We’ll have to learn from that and understand that when things aren’t happening or there’s no wickets on a flat wicket, you’ve got to look at other measures. I think they did that very nicely. It was pretty surprising.”This will be just the second Test played at Hagley Oval, the other one in December 2014 having provided New Zealand with an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka after the hosts put on 441 in the first innings. McCullum made 195 in that match and Boult took seven wickets, including three in the first innings when Sri Lanka were rolled for 138.”I think the wicket here [in Wellington] was a good wicket, but as a bowler I’d love to see it a lot greener of course as well,” Boult said. “That way you can get a lot more seam off the wicket. It’s going to be interesting to see what we get down there [in Christchurch] but I’m sure it will have a tinge of green as well.”New Zealand will be without fast bowler Doug Bracewell at Hagley Oval, after he was ruled out with a shoulder injury. Neil Wagner and Matt Henry are both in the squad and available to be called on to replace Bracewell.

Phillip Hughes is adamant he can repair his shaken confidence in three warm-up matches ahead of the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge

Daniel Brettig in London18-Jun-2013Phillip Hughes is adamant he can repair his shaken confidence in three warm-up matches ahead of the first Investec Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, starting with Australia A’s fixture against Gloucestershire in Bristol from Friday.A paltry return of 57 runs in five limited-overs innings on this England tour so far has not enhanced Hughes’ claims to a spot in the Australian top order for the Test matches to come, particularly when they are added to his poor record against England – 154 runs at 17.11 in five Tests spread across the past two series – and a dire recent tour of India.But the selectors’ decision to send Hughes and Matthew Wade to Bristol to join Australia A will now afford Hughes a trio of first-class matches in which to strive for runs before the Test squad rolls into Nottingham. A century or three over the next two weeks would not only enhance Hughes’ chances of retention in the Test team, but also send self-recriminating thoughts of a poor Champions Trophy to the back of his mind.”I’m really looking forward to getting a couple training days in Bristol and starting Friday,” Hughes said in London. “Hopefully spend a bit of time in the middle and get my mental game around the red ball now. It was disappointing to be knocked out and lose those games of cricket in the Champions Trophy, but that’s behind us now, it’s about moving on.”We’ll be disappointed for a day or two but it’s all about the red ball now and we’ll get into preparation. Behind the scenes in the nets now all my focus will be on the red ball. It can be at times tricky to juggle formats but the beauty of it is there’s still a way to go before the Ashes and we’ve got some good cricket coming up to that first Test.”Largely due to a homespun batting technique that relies heavily on an uncluttered mind and an exceptional eye rather than precise footwork or a watertight defence, confidence is more critical to Hughes’ chances of success than most. This contention is backed up by his penchant for scoring great swathes of runs on some days and looking like the bat is an alien object in his hands on others.The latter state of affairs was in evidence at The Oval against Sri Lanka, where Hughes used the inside and outside edges far more often than the middle on his way to a fretful 13. He did not look like a batsman thinking clearly and simply about the task at hand. Nevertheless, Hughes argued that four years around international cricket now meant he would be far better prepared to do so when the Ashes begin than he had been on his previous visit to England in 2009.”It’s a tough one,” Hughes said of keeping distractions from his mind at the batting crease. “The older you get the better you are at it, I think. You speak to players in the past and they sometimes say you mature at 28-29 years of age. One thing for me is I’ve still got age on my side. I’ve been very lucky to be around the international scene for four years, and I feel like I’m in a lot better space than I was four years ago. I feel like my game’s come a long, and also mentally it’s come along. I suppose it’s a pleasing thing going forward, but day in day out I’m still looking to get better.”One thing around the Ashes is huge hype, so it’s about staying as calm as possible and wiping out as much media and outside influence as possible, and keeping a tight team unit. I remember the memories of four years ago and personally how disappointed I was and everyone was when we lost that series. That’s in the back of my mind. As a kid growing up you want to win Ashes series and that’s what we always talk about.”There was evidence of Hughes’ gathering mental strength in India of all places, where he emerged from a nightmarish first two Tests to make a fighting 69 in Mohali then a battling 45 in Delhi. Those innings don’t sound like much, but they showed rare persistence on a generally dysfunctional tour, and caught the approving eye of the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, among others. Hughes will need to repeat the trick over the next two weeks if he is to keep his Test spot.

Promotion-chasing Derbyshire had to settle for eight points from their County Championship Division Two clash with Leicestershire after the match was abandoned as a draw without a ball being bowled on the final day at Grace Road.

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jun-2012
ScorecardPromotion-chasing Derbyshire had to settle for eight points from their County Championship Division Two clash with Leicestershire after the match was abandoned as a draw without a ball being bowled on the final day at Grace Road.Persistent rain throughout the night and during the early part of the morning left the outfield saturated, and despite the best efforts of the groundstaff, the game was called off at 12.30pm.Top-of-the-table Derbyshire were well in command having bowled out Leicestershire for 177 and reached 259 for 5 in their reply, with Dan Redfern left stranded 19 runs short of a third Championship century of the season. Leicestershire picked up four points from the game.

ESPNcricinfo previews the second IPL qualifier between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians in Chennai

The Preview by Nitin Sundar26-May-2011

Match facts

Friday, May 27, Chennai
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)”Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages … fasten your seat-belts for another show”•AFP

Big Picture

In the circus that is IPL 2011, Mumbai Indians have been the trampoline artistes. They soared through the first half of the season, putting more than daylight between themselves and the rest. Then they lost steam, and began hurtling towards terra firma. At one point they even had to deal with the possibility of missing the play-offs but, almost inevitably, they bounced back with two nerve-shredding wins against Kolkata Knight Riders.Trampoline acts are fine, but can get repetitive after a while. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore have provided real entertainment in their corner of the circus, led by the ringmaster Chris Gayle. He has done everything for them – he has twirled his whip to tame the wildest bowling attacks, and he has juggled batting and bowling duties without breaking a sweat, all without losing the inimitable strut and swagger that are part of his persona. He has rarely failed to entertain this season, and Chepauk will love to be regaled one final time on Friday evening. If Gayle’s still in town on Saturday, though, they won’t be rooting for him. Chennai Super Kings are already in the final, and will have the crowd behind them for the big game.This virtual semi-final can best be seen through the prism of various mini-battles that will make up the contest: the battle of the tenses – the present, Tendulkar v the future, Kohli; the battle of the storms – Gayle v Blizzard; and the battle of the coloured caps – Gayle v Malinga. On a flat track, and in humid conditions that could herald a dewy night, the battle that matters most could be when the coin is spun.

Form guide (most recent first)

Royal Challengers Bangalore: LWLWW
Mumbai Indians: WWLLL

Team talk

Mumbai, like the rest of us, will be surprised by the fact that James Franklin has been their batting saviour for two games on the trot. Aiden Blizzard’s form is good news, but the continued struggle in the middle order isn’t. Kieron Pollard’s strongest suit seems to be his fielding, and Mumbai should mull bringing in Andrew Symonds for him.The silver lining in Bangalore’s defeat in the first play-off was the manner in which their batting stood up after Gayle’s early exit. Still, questions need to be asked about the role of Saurabh Tiwary and Mohammad Kaif in the lower middle order.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team Selector.

In the spotlight

In Bangalore’s previous game, a television commentator requested Virat Kohli to smile more often than he swears and frowns. Kohli promised to do so, but less than an hour later he was back to his swearing best, when a fielder fumbled off his bowling. Regardless of his demeanour, Kohli’s batting has put a smile on his fans’ faces in the last couple of years. Bangalore coach Ray Jennings says being passionate and fiery is an innate part of Kohli’s personality, and that should not be meddled with. Yet, tantrums don’t sit well with someone touted as a future India captain.Like Kohli, Rohit Sharma is another upcoming batsman whose attitude has come under more scrutiny than his ability. If temper is Kohli’s problem, Rohit’s is temperament. Rohit’s woes were best captured by his shocking run-out in the eliminator against Kolkata. In moments such as those, it is tough to believe that Rohit is completely switched on at all times when he is on the field. He will be watched closely in the remainder of the IPL, and when he gets his opportunity in the West Indies.

Prime numbers

• Franklin, Blizzard and Harbhajan Singh have better strike-rates than the more celebrated batsmen in the Mumbai line-up – Sachin Tendulkar, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit, Pollard and Symonds
• Tendulkar has hit more fours (60) than anyone else this season. Kohli is third on the list with 54.
• Gayle has smashed 39 sixes so far this season, well ahead of MS Dhoni, who is second with 21
  

  The chatter

  “Ambati Rayudu is a youngster and you let him react the way he does. He will mature. You just let him be. Harbhajan Singh has also always been aggressive. We have had characters in tennis like McEnroe … We need characters like that in cricket.”
  .

Sri Lanka won on the Duckworth-Lewis method as Zimbabwe only reached 29 for 1 in five overs instead of the required 43 for 1.

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera03-May-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Hawk-EyeMahela Jayawardene converted the tournament’s fastest fifty into a hundred•AFP

Batting was expected to be difficult on a slow and low pitch in Providence but the touch artist Mahela Jayawardene sparkled with a delightful ton, only the fourth batsman to hit a Twenty20 hundred, to charge Sri Lanka to 173. A heavy downpour after one over into the chase left Zimbabwe needing 104 from 11 initially, but it rained again to terminate the match after five overs were completed. Sri Lanka won on the D\L method as Zimbabwe only reached 29 for 1 when the par score was 43.The rains stayed away, however, until Jayawardene treated the sparse crowd to a charming knock. Only one other batsman in Sri Lanka’s top six touched double digits; it said much about the pitch and the form of the other batsmen but most importantly it highlighted Jayawardene’s mastery.There wasn’t a single shot in violence from Jayawardene. Not one looked ugly. Not for a moment did he look hurried. And yet, his strike-rate was over 150. It was such a graceful knock that it stood out amid the violence that this format usually brings in batsmen. Perhaps it’s his economy of movement and the languid flow of his bat that catches the eye. The experts reckoned the pitch would make hitting on the up a difficult task, that the ball would stop on the batsmen, that timing would be difficult to find. And it appeared so when the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and the rest batted. Not when Jayawardene took strike.There was a delicious six hit on the up over extra cover that was a perfect advertisement for Jayawardene’s skill. He was walking down the track to the medium pace of Elton Chigumbura but kept his head still and balance perfect. Chigumbura shortened his length to try and upset the balance but Jayawardene wafted his wand through the line and the ball soared over the extra-cover boundary.Jayawardene flowed right from the start today, collecting three boundaries in the first over from Chris Mpofu: A cut, a gorgeous on-the-up six over long off and a whiplash on-drive. He repeatedly drove the seamers through the off side and there was even a deft upper cut to a slow bouncer from Chigumbura, but he treated the spinners with more respect. He looked for opportunities to unfurl his cuts and sweeps against the slow men and rotated the strike with wristy nudges. In between, he slog-swept and pulled Price for boundaries, slog swept Graeme Cremer for a six, late cut and swatted Greg Lamb to the boundary.Zimbabwe perhaps erred by not starting with two spinners. Prosper Utseya, who has often bowled with Price in the Powerplays, chose to give Mpofu and Chigumbura three overs with the new ball. Those three overs leaked 35 runs and allowed Jayawardene to cut loose. And he went on to play an innings of style and substance.

Tom Alsop top scores for Sharks as Joe Weatherley, James Vince fifties land in losing cause

ECB Reporters Network21-Jun-2024Nathan McAndrew was electric with the bat and miserly with the ball as Sussex Sharks went second in the Vitality Blast South Group with a seven-run victory over Hampshire Hawks.Australian all-rounder McAndrew hammered 32 off 11 balls to boost an underwhelming score, with the help of Tom Alsop’s 43 off 27.James Vince bagged his fifth 50-plus score in his last six T20 innings against Sussex and Joe Weatherley picked up 68 not out.But McAndrew returned 1 for 21 – spoiled only by a penultimate ball no ball – before Danny Lamb defended 25 off the last over to give the Sharks a first Utilita Bowl win since 2020 and pull out a six-point buffer on Hampshire.The Sharks were stuck in and despite losing three wickets in the powerplay – all to a rampant Michael Neser – found regular contributors to reach a sizeable total.Neser – on his last Hawks appearance before Ottneil Baartman replaces him for the second half of the competition – had Harrison Ward skying straight up, Daniel Hughes bowled with a beauty which nipped back and John Simpson chipping to cover. The Australian returning 3 for 32.Fynn Hudson-Prentice forced wicketkeeper Ben McDermott to scramble under a high one and James Coles – who had held firm for 39 – was brilliantly caught by a sprawling Benny Howell at long off.At 73 for 5 at the halfway point, Sussex looked in danger but Hampshire old boy Tom Alsop and Danny Lamb settled things down with a 57-run stand.Lamb scooped a six but was otherwise jerky in his 28, but Alsop crescendoed through his innings, going from a sensible run-a-ball to 43 off 27 before he chipped to his former captain Vince at mid-off.If Alsop had been controlled for most his innings, McAndrew was unrestrained in his ball-striking from the moment his second ball disappeared into the square leg crowd.Two more sixes sailed into the stands and although he was dropped – a bizarre moment where Ollie Robinson was subsequently run out – his late innings blasting got Sussex to a defendable position.With 185 to win, Hampshire didn’t attack the challenge with gusto as McDermott and Fletcha Middleton fell in a flaccid 38 for 2 powerplay.
A couple of 30s had been the high points of Vince’s Blast campaign but he grew through his innings and found the perfect rotating-the-strike partner in Joe Weatherley – the duo adding 88 for the third wicket.There were glimpses of peak Vince with a glorious cover drive as his 71st T20 fifty came up in 35 balls. But he never managed to explode to the required rate and departed for 53 when he rolled the ball back onto his own stumps.Weatherley converted to a half-century – having scored 48 and 49 earlier in the tournament – but his 68 off 47 was ultimately too slow for the rate.Benny Howell swatted two early sixes but faded, and although Weatherley sweetly struck the first four balls of the final over for four, Hampshire ended up seven runs short.

“I spent the last couple of years frustrating myself, trying to win games for my team; tonight it came out well in the end,” says Pooran

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-2023After a see-sawing contest, Lucknow Super Giants beat Royal Challengers Bangalore amid high drama, and KL Rahul credited their lower-middle order of Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis and Ayush Badoni for the two points they earned in their first win away from home in IPL 2023.The Royal Challengers bowlers had reduced Super Giants to 23 for 3 in four overs, but Stoinis’ 30-ball 65 gave them a platform, from which Pooran’s 19-ball 62 and Badoni’s 24-ball 30 took them to the doorstep of victory.”In T20s, I think that’s the most important batting position – Nos. 5, 6 and 7,” Rahul told the broadcaster after the one-wicket win. “That’s where the crunch games are won. Yes, your top order will do the bulk of the scoring in a big tournament like this but it is those boys who win you big games.Related

• Kohli and du Plessis' slowdown against spin proves costly for RCB

• Ball-by-ball: It was all happening at the Chinnaswamy

• Lucknow Super Giants pull off thrilling win after Pooran, Stoinis blitz and dramatic finish

“That is why we have invested in the power of Pooran, Stoinis and Ayush. Ayush is a youngster who is learning the art of finishing games and being there at the end. He has done it a couple of times last season and this season too. He is growing into that role and I’m excited in him becoming better in that position. That will give our team extra power with that skill as well.”But the game was not decided till the final delivery of the match.Badoni fell in the 19th over, followed by Mark Wood and Jaydev Unadkat being dismissed in the final over, which started with Super Giants needing five to win with three wickets in hand.Then with scores tied, and one ball to go and Super Giants nine down, there was drama of unparalleled proportions. Harshal Patel ran in and tried to run out non-striker Ravi Bishnoi, who had taken off in a bid to steal the all-important single, but he missed dislodging the stumps, and even though he did throw down at the poles later with Bishnoi still out of his crease. The umpire Anil Chaudhary, though, called it not out since the ball had gone dead when Harshal had ran a few yards down the pitch before turning and aiming for the stumps.When Harshal finally bowled the last ball, No. 11 Avesh Khan missed and the batters scampered. But wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik fumbled twice and then missed in his shy at the stumps (on both ends).”Unbelievable! This is Chinnaswamy – I have grown up here, I know that this is the only venue in the country to produce so many last-ball finishes,” Rahul said. “To win from the position we were in is phenomenal.”Wayne Parnell reacts as he sees the game going away from Royal Challengers•Associated Press

Faf du Plessis: ‘We tried everything’

Royal Challengers captain Faf du Plessis, who top-scored with 79 alongside fifties from Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell to post 212 in the first innings, said that he “fancied” his side’s chances of taking the game into a super over.”Obviously they played really well but we fought back beautifully. And then that last over, one off one ball, I fancied our chances of getting a run-out there,” he said. “Looking at the wicket, certainly we felt, when we were batting, it was quite slow between overs 7 to 14. Little bit dry. Then as the innings went in the last five overs I think maybe there was bit more moisture and the ball started skidding better, and that was the case right through the second innings. Really nice to bat on, really nice for good cricket shots. Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran didn’t miss the middle.”We tried everything. We threw all our weapons at them, but they took on one of our strong bowlers, Harshal Patel, in his first two overs. Took him for quite a bit of runs in the first two overs. Then he came back beautifully. We were there and thereabouts to bring the game down to the last over from where they were. Thought it was a good fight from us. It is a difficult place to bowl at the death, you have to be really on top of your game with the ball.”2:38

Jaffer: Very hard to stop Pooran when he gets going

Nicholas Pooran: ‘It was about cashing in

The game had changed some time before that, courtesy Pooran. He struck seven sixes and four fours in his 19-ball 62 and also got the joint-third-fastest IPL fifty. Along with Badoni, he added 84 in 35 balls for the sixth wicket. After collecting his Player-of-the-Match award, Pooran credited the earlier partnership between Stoinis and Rahul that started the initial liftoff before he took over.”Stoinis played really well. It kept us in the game,” he said. “We felt like we can chase 15 runs an over. We knew that in the back end of the innings it gets much easier, the pressure is on. The wicket was really nice to bat [on]. It was about cashing in, getting in the right positions and executing.”I was reacting tonight, and I have been working really hard on my game, and this is how I want to be. I spent the last couple of years frustrating myself, trying to win games for my team; tonight obviously it came out well in the end. I want to win games for my team, and I have been working really hard on it. Just happy that tonight we could get that victory.”1:42

Jaffer: Du Plessis played the situations really well

Marcus Stoinis: ‘We bowled really well in the powerplay’

Stoinis credited spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya for restricting Royal Challengers to 212 despite losing only two wickets.”I actually think we bowled really well in the powerplay,” Stoinis said after the game. “There was beautiful batting from Virat and Faf, some of those shots you don’t see every day. I thought we bowled okay in the powerplay and our spinners bowled beautifully. History suggests that 200 is pretty much par a lot of the time.”Maxwell, too, said after the first innings that the spinners’ efforts through the middle overs sucked the momentum out of their batting for a brief period. In a game of close margins, that proved important in the end.”There was a little bit of variable bounce. Ball was staying a bit low from back of a length,” Maxwell said at the halfway point. “Bit dry from the other night, there was little bit variable bounce. Spinners were able to bowl back of a length. Thought Bishnoi and Krunal bowled extremely well after the first few overs and probably kept us back after an electric powerplay.”

SA batter Lizelle Lee is ICC women’s ODI cricketer of the year

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jan-2022Smriti Mandhana has won the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy for being the ICC’s Women’s Cricketer of the Year 2021. She becomes only the second player, after Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry, to win the highest individual distinction in the women’s overall category of the annual ICC awards more than once.Mandhana was also nominated for the Women’s T20I Player of the Year award, but that was won by England opener Tammy Beaumont. Mandhana was, however, named in the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year.Mandhana, who was named ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year and ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2018, pipped fellow opening batters Beaumont, Lizelle Lee of South Africa, and Gaby Lewis of Ireland to the honour. Jhulan Goswami, who won the same award in 2007, is the only other Indian woman to ever win an ICC annual award.Related

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Commenting on receiving the honour Mandhana told ICC: “I am truly honoured for receiving the prestigious Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year 2021. I am grateful to my team-mates, my coaches, my family, friends and fans who believed in my potential and supported me in this journey.”A recognition of such high class from the global governing body of cricket in an exceptional and difficult year will motivate me to continue to better my game and contribute to Team India’s success going forward. I look forward to 2022 with a clear focus on winning the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 in New Zealand as we continue to prepare as a team and unit.”In 2021, since India’s return to the field on March 7 following a 364-day absence from the international scene – primarily because of the Covid-19 pandemic but also the BCCI’s inability to schedule games for them even as the Indian men’s team got its share of fixtures – Mandhana scored 855 runs in 22 international matches across three series, at an average of 38.86, hitting one century and five half-centuries along the way. The crowning piece in her run tally was a Player-of-the-Match-winning maiden hundred in the longest format – 127 against Australia at Gold Coast – in what was India’s maiden women’s day-night Test.In 2018, Mandhana had finished atop the run chart in women’s ODIs with 669 runs at an average of 66.90 and was the third-highest scorer in T20Is with 622 runs at a strike rate of 130.67.The ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award, instituted in 2006, was named after Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, the former England Women’s Test cricketer and administrator, in 2017 upon the reintroduction of the category. Perry won the honour in 2017 and 2019 and took home the ICC Women’s Player of the Decade award in 2020.

Lizelle Lee named ICC Women’s ODI cricketer of the year

Lizelle Lee is the top-ranked batter in women’s ODIs•UPCA

South Africa batter Lizelle Lee has been named the ICC women’s ODI cricketer of the year, following a stellar 2021 in which she ended as the leading run-scorer in the format.Lee, the top-ranked batter in the world, scored 632 runs in 11 matches at an average of 90.28, including one century and five half-centuries. She played a pivotal role in the ODI series against India last March, making 288 runs, as South Africa sealed a 4-1 win. During the third match of that series, in Lucknow, she made her highest individual score, blasting an unbeaten 132 to help the team to a narrow win. She was eventually named the Player of the Series.Lee carried her fine form into the tour of West Indies, where she was once again the leading run-scorer, finishing the ODI leg with 248 runs in four matches at an average of 124.”This award means a lot to me, I didn’t expect it,” Lee said. “It’s an honour to just be nominated, so this feels amazing. There are so many people to give credit to – my parents and my wife have been my biggest source of support, but also my team-mates.”There are a few innings that stand out, but I’d rank the ones against India and my 90-something against West Indies in tough conditions as one of the best.”

The Australia Test captain believes he pushed himself a bit too hard during winter training

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2020In his drive to be as fit as possible for the summer, Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine has left himself nursing some hamstring tendonitis but confirmed he will be available for Tasmania’s opening Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide next week.Paine, who has spent the winter in Hobart amid the Covid-19 restrictions, revealed he had actually lost a bit too much weight during his fitness push and had been given “free rein” over his eating in recent weeks ahead of the start of the domestic season.”I did a bit too much running there at one point and I’m carrying a bit of hamstring tendonitis as a result,” he told Captain’s Call on . “Think I’m getting a bit old, but just tried to get myself very fit and probably ended up going a bit too far and losing a bit too much weight so the last month or so I’ve been given a bit of a free rein which has been lovely.”Paine is one of a group of Australia’s Test players who will feature in the opening rounds of the Shield which will be played in a hub alongside the likes of Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon.”I’m heading over to Adelaide next week,” he said. “Everyone is looking forward to it, getting back on the park for their states and especially for our Test players to be able to prepare with three or four Shield games before such a big series [against India] which I’ll be really important for us.”Confirmation of the schedule for India’s visit is still awaited but it will involve four Tests from mid-December to mid-January with the series expected to start in Adelaide. With the Afghanistan Test postponed they will be Paine’s only international outings of the season and when he might play again remains uncertain with the fate of Australia’s scheduled tour to South Africa in February still up in the air.The members of Australia’s limited-overs squad that toured England and did not head to the IPL completed their quarantine period in Adelaide on Friday. The New South Wales players have a little longer to prepare for the Sheffield Shield with the defending champions not beginning their campaign until October 22 against Victoria and they will head to Adelaide on October 18.”We are hoping Nathan [Lyon] can play all those games, he’ll be keen for some cricket after not playing in the UK,” New South Wales coach Phil Jaques said. “I think Starcy will want to play a couple of games as well leading into the Tests so we’ll see how many we get from those guys. Whatever we get is always a bonus, we always prepare as if we aren’t going to have them and then when we do it’s great to have them back.”

South Africa’s captain has admitted that the early exit from the World Cup will tarnish the legacy of some of the senior players in the squad

Osman Samiuddin at Lord's23-Jun-2019South Africa’s exit from the World Cup will go down as the lowest point in Faf du Plessis’ career as captain. South Africa have lost their fifth game out of seven at this World Cup, to Pakistan at Lord’s, leaving them above only Afghanistan – the only side they have beaten – in the points table.It is the first time they’ve failed to make it past the first round of a World Cup since the disastrous 2003 campaign, and even then they went into their final game knowing a win would see them through. In 2019, they will play their last two matches knowing they don’t matter. Embarrassing, a resigned-looking du Plessis said, after a 49-run loss to opponents who had come in with plenty of their own issues.”Yes, definitely [it is the lowest point]. I’m a very proud player and captain, and playing for South Africa means a lot for me, and the fact that the results we’re dishing out at the moment – you know, it’s really, really tough, and borderline… today, it’s a little bit embarrassing. We’re trying but it’s just not good enough. Obviously I’m human as well, so it will keep chipping at me.”It’s important that the coach, myself, the senior players, are the guys that needs to front up to this challenge. That’s when your players need you the most. So right now, I need to be there for the other players as well.”The patterns that have emerged over the course of this bedraggled campaign were maintained at Lord’s. Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi began poorly and so the rest were catching up; the top order got starts but didn’t move on, and thereafter the batting felt thin; most notably, the fielding was again ragged, far, far short of the very highest standards South Africa have traditionally set.Du Plessis didn’t think Lord’s was the worst performance South Africa have put in, but by now, given the run of results that preceded it, felt it must rank among the most frustrating.Faf du Plessis looks up after edging one off Mohammad Amir to Sarfaraz Khan•Getty Images

“You know, I feel we keep making the same mistakes over and over again,” he said. “Probably started off with the bowling. Our bowling has been the one thing that’s been working this tournament, and today, a well-below-par performance, probably bar Immy [Imran Tahir], who was exceptional once again.”But the rest of the guys, probably, you know, five-out-of-ten performance with the ball, 30 runs too many [given away] and the same thing with the bat once again. We’re starting our innings losing wickets again and then we build something nicely, get a partnership going, and then wicket and then wicket.”This World Cup will mark the end of at least two South African careers – both Tahir and JP Duminy will go once the tournament is done. But talk about white-ball futures will now hound the likes of du Plessis himself, Hashim Amla, and Dale Steyn, whose return home with a shoulder injury was one of the early markers in how badly this tournament was going to go for South Africa.It will, du Plessis was open enough to admit, tarnish the legacy of some of the senior players in the squad.”Yeah, I’d be lying if I say no. I think, as I said, as a player, I’m very proud. But I’ve always said that my most enjoyment that I get from the game playing for South Africa is captaining the side. The fact that we are really underperforming, as I said, chips away at me, as well. It’s really important for me.”I love captaining this team, and the fact that we are playing way, way below our potential is not something that sits with me well. There’s too much pride for me, and that’s why – I mean, I’m trying as much as I can, but unfortunately not everything is in my hands. You know, if I could, I would get my wand out and get some runs on the table for our batters, but I can’t, unfortunately.”So it is a challenge, and my character is one that will try and fix as many problems as I can and try and control the areas that I can, but unfortunately, I can’t control everything.”