Head coach also backs new-look top three to step up in the absence of Rohit and Kohli

Hemant Brar07-Jun-20221:39

Dravid on top-three batters: ‘We’re looking for good, positive starts’

Hardik Pandya is likely to be back in the finisher’s role for India despite having a lot of success at No. 3 and 4 for Gujarat Titans at IPL 2022. Hardik was the leading scorer for Titans with 487 runs at an average of 44.27 and a strike rate of 131.26, but according to India’s head coach Rahul Dravid, it’s not necessary that he will bat in the position for the national team.”Hardik is a fantastic cricketer with both bat and ball – we have seen that for India in the past obviously,” Dravid said. “He has been very successful in white-ball cricket and has shown some really good form in this IPL as well. So it’s very pleasing to have someone of that quality that we can choose from.Related

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“Without giving too much away – I’m not going to be telling the batting order before the game starts – but in general, sometimes the role that you play for your franchise matches with the role that you play for India, but sometimes you have to play slightly different roles for different teams.”And it’s not only about Hardik. For all the players, some of the roles they played for their IPL franchises might be slightly different to the roles that we are expecting here based on our team combination.”With little captaincy experience under his belt, Hardik led Titans to the title in their maiden IPL season. From his team-mates to the coaching staff at the franchise, everyone praised his leadership style, especially the freedom he gave his players to express themselves on the field.Dravid was asked if he noticed any difference in Hardik after the IPL. “I just met him a couple of hours ago,” he laughed, “as we had given the guys who played in the IPL final an extra day off at home. So I’m not sure what I can tell you. I just said hello to the guy.”But will he be part of India’s leadership group going forward? Dravid isn’t concerned about that. He is more pleased that Hardik is bowling again. Hardik picked up eight wickets in the IPL, and on Tuesday, he bowled for about 20 minutes on the centre wicket under the supervision of bowling coach Paras Mhambrey.”Obviously his leadership was very impressive right through the IPL,” Dravid said, “but you don’t have to be designated as a leader to be part of any leadership group. At this point of time, it’s a good thing from our perspective that he has started bowling again. We know what that does for us, what kind of depth that brings to the side. So really, for us, it’s about ensuring that we can get the best out of him as a cricketer in terms of his bowling, his batting, and in terms of his overall contribution.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

In Hardik, India will have a familiar face in the finisher’s role, but the top order will bear a new look with both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli rested for the series. Against South Africa, either Ishan Kishan or Ruturaj Gaikwad will open the innings along with KL Rahul.But over the last few years, even in T20 cricket, it has been seen that India’s top three prefer to take their time to settle down instead of attacking right from the start. Irrespective of who bats in the top three, Dravid expects them to be capable of playing all kinds of roles as per the demands of the match situation and the pitch.”We know our top three’s quality. It’s a top-class top three that we play regularly. Obviously, we have a slightly different top three in this particular series, but any top three that plays, what we’re looking for is good positive starts, and playing what the situation and that wicket demands. If it’s a high-scoring game, obviously you want your people to be able to maintain that level of strike rate.”There could be other situations where the wicket might be a bit more challenging, you might lose a few wickets, you need to adapt, so you need to be able to respond to that as well. But in general, in T20 cricket, you want people to play positively and I think these guys have got that quality. Each one of them can play all of the roles as and when required. As I said earlier, their roles at the franchise level might be slightly different but we will certainly be giving them a lot of clarity as to what their roles are for India, and what our expectations are. And I’m pretty confident that anyone we pick in the top three would be able to play all the roles required, depending on the situation of the match and the pitch.”

Primary among them is the top three of Dhawan, Kohli and Rohit himself, which faltered more often than it did not

Shashank Kishore18-Jul-2022Rohit Sharma isn’t too worried yet, but does think the form of India’s top-order batters is “something we need to look into”.Shikhar Dhawan finished with scores of 1, 9 and 31* in the three ODIs in England, while Virat Kohli aggregated just 46 runs in those games, along with the 11 and 1 he made in two T20Is. Rohit himself made scores of 0 and 17 after opening the ODI series with an unbeaten 76 in a ten-wicket win.Related

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“Not really,” he said if it was a concern. “But we do understand that it is something we need to look into. To be honest, the wicket [at Old Trafford] didn’t have much. We played some not-so-good shots and that’s what cost us wickets. But I still back those guys to come out good because they have done it for a long time. I’ve got nothing more to say since I understand the quality they bring to the team.”Despite the lack of runs at the top, India won the series 2-1.After the canter in the first ODI, India were 29 for 3 in pursuit of 247 in the second. In the series decider, they slipped to 38 for 3 by the ninth over in their chase of 260. While Dhawan was out driving to point on Sunday, Rohit nicked to slip and Kohli was caught behind, in near-identical fashion to his dismissal in the second ODI at Lord’s.On Sunday, a 133-run stand for the fifth wicket, at better than a run-a-ball, between Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant helped India overcome that stutter to win by five wickets. While Hardik made 71, Pant was unbeaten on 125 – his maiden ODI century – when the winning runs were hit.”[We were] quite pleased chasing 260 – it was a good pitch, but we knew it won’t be easy if we lost wickets early,” Rohit said. “We didn’t want it to happen, but if you look at the positive side, a lot of these guys haven’t batted a long period in the middle overs, and we got to see that from Rishabh and Hardik. Both of them were clinical with the bat – at no point did we feel they were panicking. They backed themselves, played great cricketing shots, which was good to see.”It meant a second straight series win for Rohit as full-time ODI captain since being elevated to the role last November.”Very pleased,” Rohit said of the series outcome. “We came here wanting to achieve something as a group in white-ball cricket, and I thought we achieved a fair bit. Obviously, moving forward there are a lot of things we need to improve as a group, but quite pleased with the effort from the boys in the entire white-ball leg.”We were here last time, and we were beaten, I remember that. It is not an easy place to come and win games, but the way we played the entire white-ball leg was fantastic. It’s something we wanted to do for a long period of time, to finally come and achieve was a great effort from the entire unit.”Yuzvendra Chahal had an excellent tour, picking up seven wickets in the ODIs at an economy rate of 5.35•Getty Images

Rohit was effusive in his praise for Hardik, who returned as an allrounder to the ODI set-up after more than a year. He finished with six wickets in three matches, including a career-best of 4 for 24 at Old Trafford on Sunday, to go with his contributions with the bat: 29 in 44 balls and 71 in 55 balls.There were also good words for Yuzvendra Chahal, who underlined his significance to India’s white-ball plans again, after being left out of last year’s T20 World Cup. He finished the ODI series with seven wickets in three games, at an economy rate of just 5.35.”He is a critical member for us,” Rohit said. “He has got so much experience, bowling in all sorts of white-ball formats. It was very unfortunate that he missed the last T20 World Cup, but I’m pleased with how he has come back after the World Cup and gone from strength to strength.”Hardik as well, he used the dimensions of the ground pretty well. One side of the boundary was pretty long, he kept bowling those bouncers and got the rewards for it as well. I’m very pleased for him.”

“I can proudly say I can bowl four overs now as a third seamer or a fourth seamer”

Deivarayan Muthu03-Aug-20223:18

Hardik Pandya – ‘When I bowl it gives a lot of balance to the side’

After having started his international career as a back-up bowling option, Hardik Pandya now believes that he can do the job as a frontline seamer. Apart from Arshdeep Singh, Hardik is the only India seamer to have bowled his full quota of four overs in each of the three T20Is so far in the Caribbean. On Tuesday, on a used Basettere pitch, Hardik handcuffed West Indies’ big hitters with a mixture of slower offcutters and on-pace deliveries.”Obviously, I’ve enjoyed bowling,” Hardik said after India secured a 2-1 series lead. “Again I’ve mentioned multiple times, that was the reason I felt I should take some time off to make sure my bowling comes off because I’ve realised when I bowl, it gives a lot of balance to the side; it gives a lot of confidence to the captain.Related

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“Yes, I used to bowl before. I used to be a filler in between when someone is not bowling well. I can proudly say I can bowl four overs now as a third seamer or a fourth seamer where I can contribute equally as I do with the bat.”When Hardik was introduced into the attack in the third T20I, West Indies were 32 for 0 in four overs, with Kyle Mayers dominating the early exchanges. After seeing Mayers swat his on-pace short ball over midwicket with the strong wind, Hardik shifted his lines wider, varied his pace more regularly, and challenged the batters to hit against the wind.Hardik sent Brandon King’s leg stump cartwheeling with a slower offcutter into the pitch and then beat Mayers three times in a row in the tenth over by taking his cutters away from the left-hander’s reach with his sharp angle from over the wicket. He finished with figures of 1 for 19, and after India wrapped up a seven-wicket victory, even Mayers conceded that Hardik and India had used the conditions better than West Indies.”For me, it’s the approach that I’m following,” Hardik said. “I understood that if you enjoy life and be in a frame of mind where you are positive, eventually a lot of the time the result goes your way. So, for me, it’s not about the result. It’s about how I take the game on, how smart I’m thinking and how I can make sure I use the situation and condition[s] which is offering me something with the bat or the ball.”1:04

Hardik on T20I vice-captaincy: ‘I enjoy responsibility, it adds flair to my game’

India captain Rohit Sharma was impressed with how Hardik and R Ashwin operated in the middle overs to keep Nicholas Pooran and the other middle-order hitters in check.”How we bowled in the middle overs [was pleasing],” Rohit said. “I think that was very, very crucial because they were about to get that big [opening] partnership and with few of their experienced players batting in the middle and I thought we used the conditions really well. We used our variations pretty well and then how we chased the runs, I thought it was quite clinical.”‘Responsibility adds more flair to my game’
Being appointed T20I vice-captain for the West Indies tour has raised his game to a new level, Hardik has said. Earlier this year, he captained Gujarat Titans to IPL glory in their first season and then oversaw India’s 2-0 sweep of a spirited Ireland side in Malahide.”I’ve always enjoyed responsibility and it has added more and more to my game,” Hardik said. “Whenever I’ve taken the responsibility, it has added some more flair to my game because it makes me think more and when I think more it just adds more value to my cricket.”Hardik also lauded Rohit for building a team environment that gave players – even those on the bench – security, echoing Dinesh Karthik’s comments from the T20I series opener in Tarouba.”Obviously, very privileged to get the opportunity to be vice-captain,” Hardik said. “When the captain gives you a lot of flexibility and lot of freedom, which is his strength throughout his captaincy stint, whenever I’ve played with him… and here as well a lot of credit goes to him on how they’ve got the team together and making sure that a lot of positive mindset comes in and at the same point of time players are feeling secure. They’re not looking over their shoulder, making sure they’re getting ample chances, and they are being told as well if they’re not playing.”

No play on Friday after first-day washout, match could still begin on Saturday

Vithushan Ehantharajah08-Sep-2022The third Test between England and South Africa at the Kia Oval has been suspended following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.The announcement of the Queen’s death at the age of 96 came at 6.30pm on Thursday, the scheduled first day of the Test, after which the ECB confirmed that no scheduled cricket would take place on Friday. As well as day two of the Test, four fixtures in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy were due to be played.”Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Friday’s play between England and South Africa Men at The Oval, along with all scheduled matches in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, will not take place,” the ECB said in a statement. “For fixtures beyond Friday, updates will be provided in due course.”The ECB is in consultation with government and other sports on the appropriate course of action for the rest of the Test. Ticket-holders for day two will be eligible for a full refund, the board confirmed.No play was possible on day one because of rain throughout the day, with stumps eventually called at 4.44pm, as speculation rose about the condition of the monarch.ESPNcricinfo understands the ECB and the Proteas management team met to discuss options, whether moving day two to Saturday or cancelling the Test altogether. CSA was happy to accept whatever the ECB board deemed appropriate and is willing to extend the team’s stay in the UK to facilitate the completion of the series, which is currently tied at one Test apiece.ECB chair Richard Thompson said: “I’m sure I speak for everyone in the game when I say how truly sad I am to hear of the Queen’s passing. Her Majesty has been such a great supporter of the game and was always so vocal of her and her late husband’s enjoyment around the sport. Her dedication to her country will never be forgotten. For her service and her selflessness over her extraordinary reign, we owe her a debt that can never be repaid.”A period of national mourning is expected in the UK, with sporting cancellations likely. Play was suspended at the PGA Championship in Wentworth on Thursday evening, while the British Horseracing Authority announced the postponement of Friday’s races.England were playing a Test match in India when the death of King George VI was announced in 1952. Day two of the Chennai Test was designated a rest day, with India going on to record their first victory in the format on the fourth day of play.

Freya Kemp becomes youngest woman to make T20I fifty for England but total proves under par

Valkerie Baynes13-Sep-2022A glorious unbeaten half-century from Smriti Mandhana saw India to victory by eight wickets over England with 20 balls to spare in their second of three T20Is to level the series 1-1.If this evening was anything to go by, the damp and dreary onset of autumn has so far been restricted to either end of the country. Durham had offered a soggy opening to the series on Saturday as England eased to a nine-wicket win in conditions that weren’t to India’s liking. Then London was enveloped in steady rain for a good part of Tuesday. The midlands, however, were clinging on to summer as England’s innings progressed in bright evening sunshine at Derby’s Incora County Ground.That was arguably the most pleasant thing about it from the hosts’ perspective after they lurched from 16 for 3 to 54 for 5… until 17-year-old left-hander – or left-arm seamer to be more precise – Freya Kemp produced an innings-saving unbeaten half-century of her own. In the end, though it was the vastly more experienced Mandhana who countered Kemp’s effort with a brilliant 79 not out to set up a series decider in Bristol on Thursday.Mandhana all classSet a below-par target, thanks to England’s early collapse and a vastly improved performance in the field by India, Mandhana played the key role in reeling it in, facing 53 balls and finding the boundary 13 times.She put on an opening stand worth 55 with Shafali Verma, who fell for 20 to a sharp return catch by Sophie Ecclestone and an unbroken partnership of 69 with Harmanpreet Kaur, who should have been out on 19 had Danni Wyatt not spilled a straightforward chance at deep midwicket.Dayalan Hemalatha lost her off stump to a Freya Davies ball that beat the outside edge as the only other India batter to fall, and Mandhana brought up the winning runs with back-to-back fours off Davies, powered through midwicket and lofted over the bowler’s head towards long-off.England stumble, India hold onEngland started brightly enough when Sophia Dunkley clipped the third ball of match, from Renuka Singh, for four through midwicket and Wyatt nudged the fifth between backward point and short third. In the next over, however, Dunkley charged at Deepti Sharma’s first ball and was stumped by Richa Ghosh and Wyatt followed a short time later, edging Renuka to Sneh Rana at first slip.A combination of excellent fielding – an area in which India were ragged in the opening match – and a blunder by Alice Capsey made it 16 for 3. Capsey had smashed Renuka through the covers and started coming back for a third run, seemingly unaware of Radha Yadav’s brilliant effort running round to her right in the deep and sprawling at full stretch to stop the ball short of the rope and fire it fluidly into Harmanpreet inside the ring. As Bryony Smith stood her ground at the non-striker’s end, so too did Capsey, flat-footed halfway back down the pitch, watching as Harmanpreet threw to the keeper, who fumbled but broke the stumps with Capsey still nowhere near.India hadn’t completely eradicated their fielding errors with Pooja Vastrakar parrying what should have been a catch to remove Smith on 12 as she ran in from deep midwicket. But Smith fell next ball to a brilliant diving effort from Radha as she ran in from long-on off the bowling of Rana, who then had Amy Jones out attempting a reverse sweep to one that slid under the bat and clattered into off stump. Maia Bouchier, who shared a 65-run stand with Kemp, was also dropped on 25 by Kiran Navgire inside the ring, before Rana had her stumped to claim her third wicket.Kemp shinesPlaying her eighth T20I but batting for only the second time, Kemp came in at No. 7 and proceeded to resurrect the England innings with her 37-ball knock. She unleashed three sixes, twice lofting Radha down the ground to bookend her heave over deep midwicket off Renuka. She brought up her maiden international fifty with a straight-driven four off the penultimate ball of the innings and ended unbeaten on 51.Kemp made her international debut at this ground against South Africa less than two months ago as England looked to revamp their T20 side ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Primarily picked for her bowling as England look beyond veteran seamers Anya Shrubsole, who has retired from international cricket, and Katherine Brunt, rested for India’s tour, she became the youngest Englishwomen to reach fifty in T20Is at 17 years and 145 days. She is also the second-youngest for England Women in international cricket after Sarah Taylor, who scored 61 in an ODI against India in 2006 aged 17 years and 96 days.

Pujara’s availability will be determined by his other commitments

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2022Cheteshwar Pujara will return to Sussex in 2023 after making a significant impact during his first season with the club this year.”I am glad to be back with Sussex for the 2023 season,” Pujara said in a statement released by the club. “I thoroughly enjoyed my last stint with the club last season, both on and off the field and I’m looking forward to contributing to the team’s growth and success in the coming year.”Pujara made Sussex his fourth county after previous spells with Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, and made eight hundreds – including three doubles – for them across formats. He was their leading run-scorer in Division Two of the County Championship, with an aggregate of 1094 at 109.4 across 13 innings, and was the second-highest scorer across the 50-over Royal London Cup, making three hundreds as Sussex reached the semi-finals. He also deputised as captain.Sussex did not specify in their statement which formats Pujara would play, or for how long, but his availability will be dictated by his involvement in India’s Test squad and, possibly, the IPL. The club later clarified that they expect him to play Championship and 50-over cricket for them and added that he is due to arrive in time for the start of the season.Pujara remains an important part of India’s Test plans, top-scoring with 66 in their most recent game in the format against England in July. Their Test schedule is relatively sparse in 2023, but they are due to play a two-match series away against West Indies in July-August.He has not played an IPL game since 2014 but was part of Chennai Super Kings’ squad in 2021, and would miss the first two months of the county season if picked up in December’s auction.Keith Greenfield, Sussex’s performance director, said, “It is fantastic news that Cheteshwar will be returning in 2023. We all saw the class he showed with the bat and his performances, but he was also outstanding in our young dressing room as a world-class role model for them to follow.”Sussex are in the process of recruiting a new coach after Ian Salisbury left at the end of the 2022 season. James Kirtley acted as T20 coach throughout Salisbury’s tenure, but the club will return to a single head coach from 2023.

Moxon’s successor named after torrid year as Gough stays on as Director of Cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2022Yorkshire have appointed as their new chief executive Stephen Vaughan, the former CEO of Wasps Group – the premiership rugby club that went into administration last month – while confirming that Darren Gough will stay on as permanent director of cricket, following their relegation to Division Two of the County Championship.Vaughan’s role will officially begin on November 7, almost exactly a year on from the resignation of his predecessor, Mark Arthur, who stood down at the height of the club’s racism scandal, prior to Azeem Rafiq’s explosive testimony at the DCMS parliamentary hearing at which he had also been due to give evidence.In his three-year stint at Wasps, Vaughan went from CEO of sports business in August 2019 to becoming Group Chief Executive in 2020, but in October he was one of 167 players, coaches and staff made redundant following the collapse of the parent company, Wasps Holdings Ltd. Prior to that, he had been managing director of Thomas Cook London 2012, where he led the company’s involvement with the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, and seven years at Gloucester Rugby.During his time at Wasps, Vaughan was responsible for the rollout of a comprehensive Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) strategy, a trait that made him attractive to Yorkshire as they seek to rebuild the club’s reputation following a damaging two years.”Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of the most iconic sporting institutions in the world and it’s truly an honour to take up this position,” Vaughan said. “Without shying away from the significant challenges we have faced over the past year, there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future, both on and off the pitch. I had a number of offers, but the opportunity to lead this club back to the forefront of English Cricket and realise our full potential was very attractive.”The club is hugely important in the region with a massive fan base of loyal Members who want to see us get back to where we should be. Working alongside the newly installed Board I am determined to deliver sporting success at Headingley and produce exceptional results, underpinned by robust commercial foundations and our vision to make Yorkshire Cricket a place for everyone.Lord Kamlesh Patel, Yorkshire’s chair, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Stephen to the club as the outstanding candidate in a highly talented field. With years of knowledge and experience working across various disciplines within sport he will bring a huge amount of expertise to Yorkshire County Cricket Club. His proven track record and business acumen will be vital to our future success.”Stephen’s openness in dealing with challenging conditions at Wasps in the wake of Covid demonstrates the strength of character that will be vital to the ongoing transformation of the club. I look forward to working with him as we continue on our rebuilding journey”.Gough, meanwhile, has been confirmed as Yorkshire’s full-time director of cricket, having stepped into the role last year following the departure of Martyn Moxon. His first season in charge was a disappointment, however, as Yorkshire were relegated on the final day of the season following Warwickshire’s thrilling victory over Hampshire.”I have a long-established connection to the club and am very happy to be part of our future by signing a permanent contract,” Gough said. “We were all disappointed with the conclusion of the men’s XI season but we are determined to get back to the top as soon as possible and regain our Division One status.”There is much to be optimistic about, not least the exceptional young talent coming through, and I am excited about the signings we have made to improve the team. The hard work starts through the winter, and I am looking forward to working together with Ottis and the coaching team in the years ahead to bring success on the cricket field back to Yorkshire.”

What were the standout and eye-catching happenings over the past week?

Andrew McGlashan26-Dec-2022Hooley Dooley
What a week Paddy Dooley has had. The left-arm spinner, who has modeled his unorthodox action on Jasprit Bumrah, has suddenly become a trump card in Hobart Hurricanes’ attack. Last season he was hastily called up by Brisbane Heat during their Covid outbreak and caught the eye of Ricky Ponting, Hurricanes’ head of strategy. He took four wickets against Perth Scorchers, including the key scalps of Faf du Plessis and Josh Inglis, then added two wickets against both Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Renegades. “It’s an added bonus at this stage that I’m new for people but I’ve still got a few things I’m working on as well to develop it as there’s more footage of me going around,” he told cricket.com.au shortly before his matchwinning performance against Scorchers.Related

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Thunder lose their captain
It’s been a difficult start to the season for Sydney Thunder. There was the 15 all out and then the shock departure of Fazalhaq Farooqi in controversial circumstances. Sandwiched in the middle of that they have lost their captain Jason Sangha for the season after he fractured his collarbone against Renegades. He has since undergone surgery with Chris Green taking charge of the team. An interesting aspect to this is that the original big push to have David Warner’s leadership ban overturned came from Thunder. That, of course, has fallen by the wayside – and he would never have been a long-term option given international commitments – but should Green now get injured while Warner is around after the South Africa Tests they’ll need to look elsewhere for a stand-in captain. A hat-trick and huge sixes
There was a hectic chase in the game between Renegades and Heat in Geelong. After Heat had limped to 137 for 8, Michael Neser, released from the Test squad earlier that day, struck with the first ball of the innings. But that was just the start. By the third over he had a hat-trick – although not that he was aware – with Jake Fraser-McGurk caught behind, Nic Maddinson dragging on and then Jono Wells leaving a delivery that rocked back off stump. Renegades were 9 for 4 and Andre Russell was within a whisker of also going first ball, but then deposited his fourth onto the roof over deep midwicket. When Russell had 24 runs they had all come in sixes. A sixth six brought up fifty from 32 balls before a big hack had him caught behind. But, after Akeal Hosein fell just short of finishing the job, Will Sutherland took a leaf out of Russell’s book with another six onto the roof.Scorchers go big
Scorchers took the honours of being the first side to pass 200 this season. Junction Oval provided prime conditions – a flat pitch and short boundaries – and they took full advantage. du Plessis set the tone and was on track for a century before being taken in the deep, but Inglis took over with an innings full of flair and invention. This BBL is a big chance for Inglis to get a consistent run of cricket after being in and out of enlarged Covid squads then suffered a freak golf injury before the T20 World Cup. Scorchers have had to contend with a number of challenges around their list but they continue to look a very strong outfit with all bases covered.Billings’ honest assessment
England’s Sam Billings was one of the players on the microphone during Heat’s clash against Adelaide Strikers at the Gabba – Chris Lynn’s return to his former club. His candor was illuminating, calling out some of the tactics of his own team which he thought was letting them down in what became a tight encounter. In the end, Heat got over the line to end a run of eight consecutive defeats which spanned this season and last. Billings had played the key hand with 79 off 48 balls after Heat had been trouble at 12 for 2 and 86 for 5. He continued his honest appraisal when named player of the match. “We didn’t play very well, let’s be honest, but we managed to get the win and that’s what the best sides do,” Billings said. “We’ll take a lot of confidence from that, but we know that we can be so much better in all three facets of the game. We’ve got to be way better than that if we want to be in serious contention.”Fraser-McGurk adds to his highlights reel Limping O’Keefe
Ahead of the tournament, Sydney Sixers spinner Steve O’Keefe spoke to ESPNcricinfo about playing another season and did flag the risk of tweaking a calf muscle. Sadly, that almost looks to have come true. Against Melbourne Stars at the SCG, O’Keefe appeared to suffer a leg injury in his opening over. However, to his immense credit he returned to the field to complete his spell – a miserly 1 for 16 from four overs with 12 dots balls – which helped keep Stars to a chaseable total.Performance of the week
It’s for a series of performances this time, with Paddy Dooley twice playing key roles in wins for Hurricanes. After his four-wicket haul against Scorchers he then took 2 for 23 against Renegades on Christmas Eve to help defend the second-lowest total (in a non-rain-reduced game) to claim victory in the BBL. Even in Hurricanes’ loss to Sixers he was excellent with for 2 for 19 including a wonderful delivery to remove Jordan Silk.