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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.

Fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to the foot injury he picked up during a practice match last week, and Sri Lanka Cricket has replaced him with seam-bowling allrounder Dilhara Lokuhettige

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2013Sri Lankan fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara is unlikely to travel to England for the Champions Trophy, after failing to recover sufficiently from an ankle injury he sustained on May 18. Welegedara failed a fitness test on Wednesday morning, and Sri Lanka Cricket have since named seam bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige as a replacement. The selection was cleared by the sports minister, but has not yet been approved by the ICC.Lokuhettige, 32, played eight ODIs for Sri Lanka in 2005, and two Twenty20 internationals in 2008. He has six ODI wickets at 36.83. He has largely been picked on his form in the recently concluded List A tri-series in Pallekele, where he was the joint highest wicket-taker: nine scalps at an average of 17.66. If approved, he will be one of four pace specialists on tour, with Lasith Malinga, Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Kulasekara also traveling. Allrounders Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews are part of the squad as well.”SLC have written to the ICC Event Technical Committee regarding this replacement,” an SLC statement said. “The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.”Welegedara had picked up the injury during the penultimate match of the tri-series, which he left, in pain, during his third over. His chances of traveling to England had looked promising on Tuesday after scans revealed no breaks or fractures, but inflammation persisted and he was unable to put sufficient weight on his landing foot.Welegedara, also 32, was the leader of Sri Lanka’s Test pace attack, but has been plagued by injury in the last 12 months, in which he only completed one Test match. He strained his groin playing England in March last year, before tearing a shoulder muscle before the Pakistan series in July. He recovered in time to travel to Australia at the end of the year, but tore a hamstring early in the second Test in Melbourne, and has not played any international cricket since. Largely regarded a Test specialist, Welegedara has not played limited-overs international cricket since June 2010.The Sri Lanka squad leaves for England in the early hours of Monday morning.

Derbyshire’s impressive start to the season continued as they crushed Glamorgan by eight wickets with a day to spare in the Derby

18-May-2012David Wainwright spun Derbyshire to their third win of the season•Getty Images

Derbyshire’s impressive start to the season continued as they crushed Glamorgan by eight wickets with a day to spare in the Derby. Glamorgan’s fragile batting failed again with only Will Bragg offering any resistance with 78 as they collapsed to 188 all out in their second innings against the spin of David Wainwright, who took 5 for 51, and Wes Durston 3 for 43.That left Derbyshire needing only 70 and they took less than 13 overs to seal a 23-point victory which leaves them on top of Division Two and Glamorgan rooted to the bottom. The visitors’ chances of making a fight of it looked good when they wiped out Derbyshire’s lead of 119 with only three wickets down but they crumbled on a pitch taking turn and lost their last seven wickets for only 65 runs.Derbyshire had also lost cheap wickets in the morning when the pace of Hugh Waters and Simon Jones ran through the tail leaving skipper Wayne Madsen stranded on 130 not out. The home side were already 99 in front but they lost the last five wickets for 19 in nine overs to set the tone for a day of bowling domination.Jones got some lift to remove Wainwright in the second over of the day and Waters belatedly got his reward for a wholehearted performance by quickly removing Jon Clare and Tom Poynton. Waters knocked over the injured Mark Footitt, who batted with a runner, to finish with 3 for 78 but Glamorgan were soon in trouble when both openers went before lunch.Tim Groenewald struck twice in his third over by pinning Gareth Rees in front and knocking out Nick James’s off stump when he offered no shot to reduce the visitors to 6 for 2 and Durston struck a big blow when Marcus North edged a drive to slip when on 21. However, Bragg and Ben Wright appeared to be putting their team back in the game when they added 66 in 18 overs but when Wainwright and Durston removed them in successive overs, Derbyshire scented victory.Mark Wallace made 29 before he edged a drive at Wainwright, who took four of the last five wickets, the final one thanks to a stunning one-handed catch at cover by Madsen. The only question was whether Derbyshire could wrap up victory before the close but Martin Guptill with 30 from 23 balls and an unbeaten 21 from Paul Borrington ensured the home dressing room was celebrating a third Championship win before 6pm.

Jason Roy guided Surrey to a four-wicket win over Hampshire in a low-scoring Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B match at the Rose Bowl

02-May-2011
ScorecardJason Roy guided Surrey to a four-wicket win over Hampshire in a low-scoring Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B match at the Rose Bowl. The 20-year-old hit a match top score of 76 to help ease Surrey home with more than six overs to spare.Chasing Hampshire’s meagre 141 all out, made in 30 overs, Surrey were in trouble at 45 for 5, still needing another 97 for victory. But Roy teamed up with Matthew Spriegel in a match-winning stand of 95 for the sixth wicket as Hampshire ran out of ideas. Roy hit four fours and a six and faced 108 balls, but it was his ability to dig in during a crisis which proved vital to the Surrey cause.Hampshire chose to bat first and were in trouble from the start, losing both openers, James Adams and James Vince, with only 16 on the board in the third over. There was only one partnership of note, 41 for the fourth wicket between top scorer Liam Dawson and experienced South African Neil McKenzie.Jade Dernbach did most of the damage, removing the dangerous Adams in his first over and then returning to demolish the tail, sending back Benny Howell, Dominic Cork and last man Danny Briggs. Yasir Arafat and Tim Linley each took two wickets and Dawson was the only batsman who made any impression, hitting 34 with only two boundaries.But, if Surrey thought their target was a simple one, they were wrong because both openers, Rory Hamilton-Brown and Steven Davies, were out by the third over and Zander de Bruyn and Tom Maynard soon followed.Gary Wilson was out first ball as spinner Briggs made an instant impression, with two wickets in his first over. At 45 for 5, Hampshire must have fancied their chances of a second win of the season.But, then, Roy and Spriegel began the task of repairing the damage, taking few chances but taking Surrey within sight of their target. Chris Wood prevented Roy finishing off the job by bowling him at the start of the 33rd over, but Chris Schofield got the two runs required from the only ball he faced.Spriegel was 29 not out from 48 balls when the winning runs were scored and Briggs was the most economical of the Hampshire bowlers, taking 2 for 27 from his eight-over allotment.

Pakistan allrounder Yasir Arafat has been ruled out of the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies later this month due to a calf injury, the captain Shahid Afridi has confirmed

Cricinfo staff14-Apr-2010Pakistan allrounder Yasir Arafat has been ruled out of the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies later this month due to a calf injury, the captain Shahid Afridi has confirmed. Arafat, the world’s most successful Twenty20 bowler with 90 wickets, was anyway in doubt when the training camp began in Lahore last week.”Yasir Arafat is out because of the calf injury,” Afridi told the . “He told us that he was not fit, after which we had to take a decision.”Though a replacement hasn’t been named yet, Afridi suggested that they may draft in a batsman, Shahzaib Hasan. The 20-year-old right-hander appeared in last year’s World Twenty20 in England and provided the team with good starts.”Shahzaib is very much in the picture for us,” Afridi said. “He is a good pinch-hitter and could be useful for us in the West Indies.”Pakistan are also waiting on the fitness of their strike bowler Umar Gul, who hurt his shoulder last week during a fielding drill. He resumed bowling in the nets and he said his shoulder was showing signs of improvement.”We don’t have that much time which is why there is going to be a fitness test for him on the 18th,” Afridi said. “Gul himself is very keen and confident which is why I’m hoping that he would get fully fit.”Pakistan play their first match against Bangladesh on May 1 in St Lucia.

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

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• 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.”