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Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder, has said he is enjoying the success with the ball, but he is “desperate to score some runs”

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2013Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder who is playing for the Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League, has said he is enjoying the success with the ball, but he is “desperate to score some runs”. Shakib bowled a destructive spell of 6 for 6 in the match against the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel, but is yet to taste success with the bat and has scores of 5, 1 and 1 from his three innings.”If you told me I could take five wickets or score a hundred, I would take the hundred any day,” Shakib said. “I am more satisfied getting runs than wickets. I am an allrounder, but I always prefer scoring runs more than my bowling so I am more desperate than anyone else right now I guess.”Shakib’s poor form with the bat has followed him from England, where he was part of Leicestershire team in the FLT20, and managed 146 runs from nine innings with a best of 43. In his last match, Shakib’s bowling spell skittled T&T out for 52, but he managed only 1 in the chase, playing on a Fidel Edwards delivery, and his wicket left the team in a precarious position at 36 for 5.”In that situation I needed to bat. The plan was to see off Fidel because he was getting wickets and I played a rash shot,” he said. “I could have left that ball easily because we were not chasing 150, 160 runs so I was frustrated with myself, not anything else.”Shakib, however, was happy with his bowling after registering the second-best T20 bowling figures. “I guess I was a bit lucky because you can’t get six wickets every day in a T20 game,” he said. “Bowling four overs, getting six wickets, once in a blue moon you may get it but I’ll take it.”Barbados Tridents have not been affected by Shakib’s lack of form with the bat and have registered three wins out of three in the tournament.

Sussex have announced that Zac Toumazi, the former Hampshire commercial director, will succeed Dave Brooks as chief executive in January

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Dec-2012Sussex have announced that Zac Toumazi, the former Hampshire commercial director, will succeed Dave Brooks as chief executive in January.Toumazi has extensive experience in the financial sector, working for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, before switching to cricket firstly with Surrey for six years and then with Hampshire from 2011.He will attempt to continue to move Sussex forward and build on the work of Brooks whose four years at Sussex saw the club win a one-day double In 2009 and Division Two of the County Championship in 2010.Since announcing he was leaving Sussex at the end of the year, Brooks has been appointed to the Guernsey Cricket Board.His successor at Sussex, Toumazi, will take over a financially healthy club, largely thanks to inheritance from former club president Spen Cama, and a recently development ground.”We are very pleased to appoint Zac,” Jim May, Sussex chairman, said. “We believe his commercial experience, cultural fit and passion for cricket give him the credentials to ensure that Sussex continues to lead the way both on and off the pitch.”Dave Brooks leaves us in great shape this month after four outstanding years. We had a very strong group of candidates who applied to succeed him.Toumazi said, “I am very excited. I look forward to working with the entire team taking Sussex forward whilst preserving the values that make it so special.”

England coach Trevor Bayliss has backed Ben Stokes to bounce back from the pain of being taken for four sixes by Carlos Brathwaite in the final over the World T20 final

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Apr-20161:40

Butcher: Stokes would put his hand up again

England coach Trevor Bayliss has backed Ben Stokes to bounce back from the pain of being taken for four sixes by Carlos Brathwaite in the final over the World T20 final, and said he is the “heart and soul” of the England team.Stokes, who had become a key figure in the death overs for England during the World T20 as he delivered telling spells against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, had 19 runs to defend when he faced up to Brathwaite. However, four balls later the title was West Indies’ after each of the deliveries was dispatched into the Kolkata stands.Stokes was left distraught and, before hauling himself to the crease for what became the final delivery, he sank to his knees when Brathwaite had levelled the scores. A few hours later he tweeted his thanks for the support he had received and the morning after Brathwaite himself offered some consoling words. As England flew out of India, Paul Collingwood posted a photo of him alongside a relaxed Stokes on the plane.Over the last 12 months, the form of Stokes has become central to England’s success with key match-winning performances against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa before the World T20. Bayliss is in no doubt that he would front up to a similar final-over situation again.”He is one of those blokes – if we had a game tomorrow, he’d put his hand up to bowl the last over again,” he said. “No one is blaming Stokesy for anything. To be honest, he is the heart and soul of this team.”If everyone put in half as much as Stokesy does, we’d go a long way. You can’t fault Ben’s leadership in the team or the effort he puts in. It doesn’t matter whether he is batting, bowling or fielding, he gives you 100% until there’s nothing in the tank. The more of those type of cricketers we can produce, the better for England cricket.”

Home time with these two Durham legends. Don't get bitter get better Ottis Gibson and @stokesy #emirates #flight #homewardbound

A photo posted by Paul Collingwood (@paulcollingwood5) on Apr 4, 2016 at 7:12am PDT

The closing stages of the tournament brought Stokes face-to-face with Marlon Samuels to reignite a tempestuous relationship which began a year ago on England’s tour of the West Indies, where Samuels saluted Stokes off the field after a dismissal in the Grenada Test.Samuels was fined 30% of his match fee for using foul language towards Stokes during the final over and in the press conference further fanned the flames by saying that Stokes “doesn’t learn” about how engaging with him provides motivation.”They keep telling him when he plays against me, do not speak to me because I’m going to perform,” Samuels said. “I didn’t even face a ball and he had so much to say to me that I know I had to be right there at the end, again.”However, Bayliss will not be attempting to change Stokes’ on-field persona and believes it goes hand-in-hand with what makes him such a valuable player.”Ben’s one of those players that feeds off that. Some players sometimes say things and they can’t really back it up. But Stokesy is one of those players… that’s what turns him on, that’s what gets his juices flowing and makes him as good as he is.”He’s not the only one around the world. There are a number of other players who do the same thing – almost create their own controversy, or whatever you want to call it, to psyche themselves up and get their head in the game. It brings the best out of him.”On the tournament overall, and while wanting to give the chance for the dust to settle, Bayliss believed that England will find regular success if they continue playing in the style they have done since the start of the last English season.”Obviously the final was disappointing but I’m extremely proud of the way they played through this last few weeks,” he said. “As long as we keep playing good cricket and someone has to do something remarkable to beat us, we’ll win a lot of games.”England’s next assignment is back in the Test format when a three-Test series against Sri Lanka starts on May 19. Most of the players will return to action with their counties over the next couple of weeks.

David Warner will face a disciplinary hearing on Thursday evening Australian time over his altercation with England batsman Joe Root at a Birmingham pub

Brydon Coverdale13-Jun-2013David Warner will face a disciplinary hearing on Thursday evening Australian time over his altercation with England batsman Joe Root at a Birmingham pub. Warner was stood down from the team for Australia’s washed out Champions Trophy match against New Zealand on Wednesday and will learn at the Code of Behaviour hearing whether he faces any further sanction over the incident, which took place in the early hours of Sunday morning.The hearing will take place via teleconference at 6.30pm AEST (9.30am in the UK) and it will be the second time in less than a month that a case involving Warner will be heard by Cricket Australia’s senior Code of Behaviour commissioner, Gordon Lewis. Warner was fined A$5750 in May after he pleaded guilty to unbecoming behaviour, concerning his foul-mouthed Twitter rant at two Australian journalists.This time, Warner has again been reported for “unbecoming behaviour”, relating to a punch he allegedly threw at Root while members of the England and Australia teams were at a Birmingham pub following their game on Saturday.There have been reports that the altercation was instigated by Warner’s belief that Root was impersonating Hashim Amla when wearing a false beard, but the England camp has said Root was making fun of himself and referring to taunts from his team-mates that he was too young to grow facial hair.George Bailey, the acting captain of Australia in the absence of the injured Michael Clarke, said after the New Zealand match that the Warner-Root altercation was “a very minor incident” which had “been dealt with in-house”.There have also been reports that Warner was a regular at the Walkabout pub, where the incident occurred, during the team’s time in Birmingham. “Our bar staff are quite familiar with David’s face,” John Creighton, the manager of the pub, said.

Trent Boult and Tim Southee shepherded New Zealand their first series win away from home against a top-eight nation in 12 years

The Report by Alagappan Muthu30-Jun-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTrent Boult tormented the West Indies top order•WICBTrent Boult and Tim Southee shepherded New Zealand to their first series win away from home against a top-eight nation in 12 years.New Zealand’s declaration with an overnight lead of 307 had lazily been dubbed brave. The fact that they were away from home would have been discussed. The criticism they would invite if West Indies overhauled the target and claim the series had the potential to frighten. But Brendon McCullum does not appear a captain who prefers the safe route. Moreover, in Boult and Southee, he had two exceptional new-ball bowlers, who would be operating against a depleted batting line-up. It wasn’t a punt. McCullum was simply giving his bowlers the time they would need to dismiss the opposition, especially with showers predicted. Two of them did interrupt play, but in the end they contributed to a stunning finish as the Test went down to the final hour.It took Jason Holder, a debutant at No. 7, to provide the hosts’ strongest source of resistance. He sustained a painful blow to the thumb while tackling a short-ball barrage but shook it off. After some time at the crease, he even took them on and when the ball ventured closer to his half, he played some sweet drives to fuel the innings’ only half-century. Shane Shillingford provided dogged support as the eighth wicket contributed 77 runs. He weaved under bouncers, took body blows when the fifth-day pitch misbehaved and hit out with impressive power but their efforts could not resurrect a poor top-order performance.Boult’s skill in swinging the ball both ways left the batsmen noticeably unsure. Kraigg Brathwaite shouldered arms to a rousing indipper that slid off his pad to cannon into off stump. Kirk Edwards followed the same method but had managed to protect his stumps with his pads. Boult flew into an appeal and the umpire obliged, but DRS surprisingly indicated that the ball would have bounced over off stump. Edwards survived but he was clearly shaken. Another lovely delivery – this one eased across the right-hander – took the outside edge and found Ross Taylor at second slip.A sedate Chris Gayle was hoping to occupy the crease until New Zealand’s momentum eased off. However, Southee enticed him with a fuller delivery and a booming drive ended up deflecting the ball back onto his stumps. West Indies had crumbled to 31 for 3 and were eyeing another collapse in the face. Shivnarine Chanderpaul abated those concerns for a brief period but traipsed down the track against offspinner Mark Craig to be stumped for the first time in 266 innings to leave his side reeling again.Southee pierced through the middle order with an intelligent exhibition of seam bowling. He had a battle of patience with Darren Bravo, who had seemed intent on making up for a loose shot in the first innings. He was tight around his off stump and held his drives in check for 97 balls. Then came the teaser outside off and Bravo just couldn’t help himself – he perished at gully for the second time in the match. Denesh Ramdin succumbed soon after and a lengthy tail was exposed.Craig did his bit to assist the seamers and with ample assistance from a worn pitch, he was able to generate good flight and dip to ensure the batsmen were being strangled from both ends. His heroics with the bat have overshadowed his primary responsibility but today he was key in quelling the lower order’s defiance. New Zealand have looked an impressive outfit over their home summer but success on the road would rank all the more sweeter – it was only their fifth away Test win in five years.

Services crumbled to the lowest score of the season – 31 all out – as Munaf Patel picked up a career-best 6 for 13 and spearhead Baroda to an innings victory in Vadodara

Alagappan Muthu16-Dec-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Munaf Patel grabbed 6 for 13 in the second innings•AFPServices crumbled to the lowest score of the season – 31 all out – as Munaf Patel grabbed a career-best 6 for 13 and spearheaded Baroda to an innings victory in Vadodara.Services began at 2 for 1, and still 176 behind. Only two runs were added in the first five overs of the morning when seamer Gagandeep Singh struck. With the opening made, Munaf burst through to leave Services dangling at 5 for 5 in the 11th over. Only two batsmen – none of them from the top order – scored more than 2 and Vishnu Tiwari was the only one to get into double figures with 14, as Services folded in the 20th over and slumped to their second innings-defeat of the season.”He [Munaf] was bowling sharp and was extracting some good bounce,” the Baroda coach Sanath Kumar told ESPNcricinfo. “The pitch suited our bowlers who tend to hit the deck. Going into the day, we were looking to restrict them to around 150, but we never expected something like this to happen.”Kumar said the Services collapse wasn’t due to any gremlins in the track. “It was a superb pitch,” Kumar said. “There was a lot of bounce, which is normal at the Reliance ground. We expected a little turn for the spinners but there wasn’t much, but they were getting good bounce as well. They [Services] did play a couple of poor shots, but we bowled really well.”Notorious for his susceptibility to injury, Munaf returned to first-class cricket after a two-year gap this year and was used rather sparingly. He has played three of Baroda’s six games so far, an improvement over a record of 11 Ranji Trophy games in the last six years.”We save him for the right games,” Kumar said. “He is coming out of injury so we have to use him the right way so that when he is picked, he can give it his all. He wasn’t doing anything different [today]. He just bowled normally and was excellent for us and was ably supported by Gagandeep Singh”Deepak Bhaskar, the Services manager, hoped the manner of their defeat was a one-off. “We batted poorly and Munaf did very well by keeping it in the right areas. There were no devils in the pitch. It was a positive wicket,” he said. “It is just one of those things that happen in cricket. The batsmen just failed to click.”Baroda’s victory was all the more sweet as Irfan Pathan made his first appearance for the season, but he was still “not fit enough to bowl”, said Kumar. “He’s bowling 20-30 balls a day but will need a couple of weeks [to be fully fit].”Dhiren Mistry was another positive for the home side as the 22-year old opener converted his third successive fifty-plus score into his maiden first-class century. His hundred in the first innings served as the backbone of Baroda’s 369. “It was a very mature innings, especially with the other batsmen being a bit out of touch. He used to go for too many shots and was a little flashy last season, but he’s become more compact.”The seven points from the innings win doubled Baroda’s tally, reviving a sagging campaign ahead of two away matches to round out the league phase.

After victory in Cardiff to level the series, Eoin Morgan was fully justified in his satisfaction at not just the win but the way it came about

Andrew McGlashan in Cardiff14-Sep-2013England’s new-look one-day side, without five first-choice players, has come in for some harsh dissection in recent weeks. Does it devalue the game? Is the balance right? Are the selections consistent, or verging on stubborn? After victory in Cardiff to level the series, albeit just a single win in the bigger picture, Eoin Morgan was fully justified in his satisfaction at not just the win but the way it came about.The insistence on a deep batting order enabled England to overcome the shock of a third-over hat-trick and another middle-order wobble to win by three wickets, through a crucial stand by their Nos. 7 and 8 batsmen. Another specialist bowler could well have enabled them to keep Australia to fewer than 227, but the chase will allow Morgan and Ashley Giles, England’s coach, to feel some vindication.”It’s hugely satisfying, obviously, our backs were against the wall,” Morgan said. “The guys can take a lot of confidence from this game, particularly the young guys coming through.”While the performances of Stokes (with bat and ball), Boyd Rankin and Michael Carberry will help their fledgling England careers, it was no surprise to see Jos Buttler as the central figure in the closing overs. His reputation precedes him on the county circuit when it comes to such skilful finishes and now he is bringing that into the international arena, having been given a run as England’s limited-overs wicketkeeper by Giles.”We were always confident, as long as we were there at the end and took the game deep,” Buttler said. “The run rate wasn’t too out of hand, and I knew if I was there at the end we wouldn’t be very far away. I’ve played enough cricket now to know when it’s getting out of hand. It’s just ‘pick your bowlers, pick your moments’ and hope it comes off in your favour.”Buttler and Stokes, like every young England player these days, have come through the Lions set-up and this stand was another example of the value of that system, as they were familiar with each other – although Buttler acknowledged it wasn’t perfect.”We could have improved on our calling,” he said. “We had a few near run-outs. But I think we were quite calm. I’ve played quite a bit of cricket with Ben, growing up.”Buttler, however, did have his heart in his mouth when he called for a review having been given lbw to Shane Watson on 8. He was not convinced the system would save him, but after chatting to Ravi Bopara decided it was worth a chance, with the match so finely balanced. “I wasn’t sure … It was obviously a big moment, and luckily the review system saved me.”The DRS worked in England’s favour a short while later, too, when Stokes gloved a hook shot but was given not out. Australia had wasted their review on a speculative caught-behind appeal against Morgan.Michael Clarke just shrugged his shoulders – it is not the first time DRS has featured on this tour – and it was clear to him where Australia had fallen short. “We lost five for 18 at the end of our innings, so we needed to make some more runs,” he said. “When you only make that many runs, you know you have to bowl the opposition out. We knew we had to take 10 wickets to win the game, and unfortunately we didn’t do that.”

Ireland’s seamers bundled out Nepal for 53 – their lowest T20 score and romped home to a eight-wicket win with 72 balls to spare in their World T20 Qualifier Group A clash in Belfast

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Belfast13-Jul-2015
ScorecardThe raucous chants of “Ne – PAL! Ne – PAL!” from traveling fans that came out to support their beloved team in one of Group A’s most anticipated showdowns were quickly silenced by Ireland’s seam attack who ripped through the Nepal line-up, dismissing them for 53 in an eight-wicket demolition at Stormont.It was Nepal’s lowest total in T20 cricket with the previous worst coming in a loss to Netherlands on July 1 when they were bowled out for 69, though they made 68 for 9 in a match reduced to 16 overs against Afghanistan in December 2011. Nepal’s 53 is lowest total ever at World Twenty20 Qualifier and second lowest in all T20 Internationals behind Netherlands 39 vs Sri Lanka at 2014 World Twenty20.Ireland made the most of the toss on a wet day, sending Nepal in. After a confident start to reach 18 off two overs, Alex Cusack’s wicket maiden in the third started the procession back to the pavilion. Cusack claimed Anil Mandal with a leading edge to Kevin O’Brien at mid off for 2.John Mooney’s fantastic tournament continued with a wicket each in the fourth and sixth overs to peg Nepal back by the end of the Powerplay. Pradeep Airee was trapped in front missing a flick for a golden duck while Sagar Pun fell into a trap set at short cover, driving hard to Stuart Thompson at knee height for 20.Gyanendra Malla was dropped down to five for this match in a strategic move to keep him back for Ireland’s spinners, who never came into the attack. He pulled tamely off O’Brien to give Thompson another catch at midwicket in the circle for 2. Paras Khadka was the only player besides Pun to reach double-figures, making 10 before Craig Young knocked back his off stump to make it 38 for 5 in the ninth.O’Brien claimed Sharad Vesawkar, swishing outside off for a thin edge behind to Gary Wilson, and bowled Binod Bhandari through the gate on consecutive balls in the 12th but his hat-trick delivery to Basant Regmi was left alone wide of off stump. O’Brien beat out Cusack’s 1 for 7 and Mooney’s 2 for 7 for the most economical spell of the day, finishing with 3 for 8 in a Man-of-the-Match performance.Thompson wiped out the tail with three wickets in four balls to wrap up the innings. Rajesh Pulami was pinned on the crease for 6 to end the 13th while Regmi feathered an edge behind to start the 15th. Shakti Gauchan defended another hat-trick ball but glanced a flick down the leg side that Wilson snapped up with a low diving catch to end the innings in just 14.3 overs.Rain delayed the inevitable during the innings break with a 52-minute hold up before the start of the second innings. Niall O’Brien chopped the slingy pace of Sompal Kami on to his stumps nine balls into the chase to make it 4 for 1 but Paul Stirling punished Kami in the fourth with a disdainful flick over fine leg for six followed by a pair of drives through the off side to the cover rope.Stirling fell for 29 with scores level trying to end the match with a flick through the leg side to Kami. O’Brien sealed the victory with a single one ball later to achieve a win with 12 overs to spare, giving Ireland a massive net run rate boost should that tiebreaker come into play by the end of the group stage.

A round-up of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Gold League matches that ended on November 26, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Nov-2014Nine wickets in the match from medium-pacer Rashid Latif led Rawalpindi Rams to a 72-run win against Multan Tigers in a low-scoring match in Rawalpindi. Set a target of 265, Multan were dismissed for 192, as Latif took five and Haseeb Azam finished with 4 for 70 to give their team nine points.Put in to bat, Rawalpindi were dismissed cheaply for 137 as Majid Ali took 5 for 46 and Mohammad Irfan took two. But Rawalpindi replied by routing Multan for a paltry 70, only three batsmen reaching double-figures, thanks to four wickets from Latif and two each from Rizwan Akbar and Haseeb Azam. Rawalpindi built on their lead further with a score of 197, despite being 57 for 5 at one point. A lower-order fifty from Usman Saeed (67) with the tail put them in a strong position.Multan were in trouble early in the chase as Azam sent the openers back. He took two more later on and Latif’s 5 for 67 sealed the win despite a fighting fifty from Kashif Naved (62).