After just three matches together in 2-1 defeat to West Indies, head coach is encouraged by his charges’ fight

Cameron Ponsonby10-Dec-2023Matthew Mott has called for patience with England’s new-era white-ball team as a work in progress, stressing that they’ve only had three opportunities to play together.England succumbed to a four-wicket defeat in Barbados to lose their first series following a difficult World Cup campaign 2-1.A group which featured just four players to have played more than 10 ODIs, found themselves in strong positions in all three matches against a West Indies side going through a similar reboot having failed to qualify for the World Cup.However, a late-innings onslaught from Shai Hope and Romario Shepherd in the opening match saw England slip to a four-wicket defeat in Antigua, before losing by the same margin at the Kensington Oval after a top-order collapse gave England a total of just 188 to defend in a rain-reduced game.Related

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“We haven’t put a complete game together and that’s the frustration,” Mott, England’s head coach, said immediately after the defeat. “We put ourselves in a chance to win all three games and come away with a series loss, so that’s not ideal.”But there are definitely some really good signs there that there’s a group of players who love playing with each other. They’re some really good mates in there and I think it’ll really take the game forward.”In line for particular praise were Rehan Ahmed and Sam Curran. Rehan, described by Mott as a “revelation”, has been tasked with filling the almighty shoes of Adil Rashid and took five wickets across the series at an average of 23.40 and an economy of 4.33. On the other hand, Curran had a mixed series. In the opening ODI, he showed his class with the bat to save England’s innings from the perilous position of 239 for 7, before conceding the worst ever figures of an England player in ODIs as he was taken for 0 for 98.”Sam’s definitely a player that we really want to invest in,” Mott said, with Curran proving his qualities with the ball in the second match where his triple-strike in the powerplay put England ahead of the game. “He’s got a lot of qualities that we like and he’s got the game to really play well.”A point of pride for Mott was the fight England showed to almost steal an unlikely victory from the final ODI. Suffering from the natural disadvantage of bowling second in a rain-affected match, England were faced with greasy conditions that made it harder for their spinners to grip the ball and easier for the West Indies batters to play seam. But thanks to a Will Jacks-inspired performance with the ball, England reduced West Indies to 135 for 6, with 53 runs still required for victory.”I thought today we showed a lot of character and spirit to fight all day,” Mott said. “You don’t want to make excuses, but to hang in there as a team and show the fight that they did, throwing themselves around and nearly snatching one was something that we’re looking for.”After three months of almost exclusive ODI focus, England’s attention now turns to T20s, with the five-match series against West Indies starting on Tuesday in Barbados.”We’ve played really good T20 cricket over a period of time. It’s always good when you lose a series to change the format,” Mott said, also confirming that Jos Buttler will return to opening the batting after spending the New Zealand series in September lower down the order. “You move on pretty quickly. It’s only a couple of days, it won’t be that different. Obviously you’ve got a few new players coming in with experience. But it’s much of a muchness really.”There are five changes to England’s personnel in the Caribbean, with Chris Woakes, Rashid, Moeen Ali, Reece Topley and Tymal Mills joining the squad for the T20 leg. Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Matthew Potts, Tom Hartley and Brydon Carse will head home.”It’s probably easier transitioning back,” Mott said. “T20 is, particularly for the batting group, pretty clear, you go out and take the game on, there’s not a lot of dead balls. And from the bowling group, you’re trying to hit your variations as much as you can and deny them hitting opportunities. So I think we’ll be fine. We’ve got a couple of days to work on it and looking forward to it.”Also joining the England set-up is Andrew Flintoff, who will continue the first team mentoring role he took up in the summer as part of his first steps back into the public eye following his serious car crash whilst filming Top Gear.Flintoff, whose role is now paid, was part of the backroom staff for both the New Zealand white-ball series and the home ODIs against Ireland before he flew to Abu Dhabi along with Graeme Swann as part of the England Lions’ red-ball training camp. It has been a high-profile return to coaching for Flintoff, who has also been hired as Northern Superchargers head coach for the 2024 edition of The Hundred.

India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey credited England for being brave but doesn’t believe the hosts have fallen behind

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2024The reverse sweep was England’s second most profitable shot (48 off 30 balls, no dismissals) in the second innings that took them from 190 behind to 126 ahead. Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett in particular were using it repeatedly, throwing India’s spinners off the good length area where most of the danger lurked in this Hyderabad pitch.In all, England made 79 runs off 46 balls using various kinds of sweeps – including a reverse Dilscoop that Pope played late in the day after raising an immense century.India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey credited England for being brave and said the only thing to do when a team comes out with such unorthodox strokeplay is to hold your line and hope for the edge.Related

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“It does happen. If a batsman starts to access different areas, it’s always going to be a challenge,” Mhambrey said. “Someone like Pope who played, he accessed the square, fine leg area as well and the sweep and the reverse sweep and he played it consistently. Credit must go to him. They really played well, took on the attack at the stage where it was needed and sometimes that happens. Someone who plays some shots like these consistently does get the bowlers under pressure in terms of variation in the lines. Credit goes to him.”But as I said, we still have to be patient with the lines, still hit the right areas and hope to get a wicket. Hope to get an edge or something or the other. That can happen. But I think the credit goes to him the way he played.”Joe Root, who spoke in glowing terms about Pope, said the key to playing the sweep and the reverse sweep is to believe you’re going to nail it every single time. This was when he was asked if they might be a better option than a forward defensive on a turning pitch.Ollie Pope reverse sweeps, something he did a lot•BCCI

“It can be if you can play it well,” Root said. “When it’s hardest is when some spin, some don’t. When it’s consistent spin you can work out when to take it on, and which balls from which line you can take a risk on.”The most important thing is you don’t think you are going to miss at all. Have that mindset of committing to the shot and nailing it for four or one, or whatever. Pope did it exceptionally well. It took until 110 to make a small error when he got dropped. There were a couple of balls that ripped past his outside edge but you expect that; it’s part and parcel, almost like in England when it’s swinging and seaming around, and you almost give yourself a pat on the back because you’ve not chased it. It’s exactly the same here. It was a really special knock.”India aren’t bothered that they’ve fallen behind because they believe that the surface in Hyderabad is a little atypical.”If you look at the way the game has progressed over the last three days, looking at the first session, the amount of balls, the pace of the wicket, the pace of the spin, it got better in the second innings and I think it’s only going to get a little better,” Mhambrey said.”It is on the slower side. There’s still turn but it’s not the usual turn that we see on Indian subcontinental wickets where the game progresses and there’s sharp turn. It’s not that. Still a little turn but not as challenging as maybe the other wickets we’ve played on.”

KL Rahul is set to miss the fourth Test as well, while his participation in the final Test in Dharamsala is subject to fitness

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Feb-2024Jasprit Bumrah has been rested from the fourth Test against England beginning on February 23 in Ranchi. KL Rahul, who missed the second and third Tests, is set to miss the fourth Test as well, while his participation in the final Test in Dharamsala is subject to fitness.The decision to give Bumrah a break has been made keeping his workload in mind – he’s bowled 80.5 overs in the first three Tests – with an IPL season coming up followed closely by the 2024 T20 World Cup beginning on June 1. There was speculation that Bumrah was going to be rested for the third Test in Rajkot but, with the series level at 1-1, he eventually played the fixture.Mukesh Kumar, who was released from the squad for the third Test in Rajkot, has joined the squad in Ranchi. He played the Ranji Trophy match for Bengal against Bihar after being released, where he picked up a career-best match haul of 10 for 50 in a massive win for Bengal.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

India now lead the five-match series 2-1 after a record 434-run victory in Rajkot, and they will have to find a way to make up for Bumrah’s absence: he’s the leading wicket-taker in the series with 17 wickets at 13.64 apiece. He was the Player of the Match in India’s win in the second Test in Visakhapatnam, where he took 9 for 91 across both innings.Mukesh, meanwhile, had played the second Test against England when Mohammed Siraj was rested but bowled only 12 overs in Vishakapatnam for figures of 1 for 70. If India play two fast bowlers in Ranchi, the choice for the second quick will be between Mukesh and the uncapped Akash Deep, who was included in the squad for the last three Tests after topping the wicket charts for India A in the recent first-class games against England Lions.Rahul had made scores of 86 and 22 during the defeat in the first Test in Hyderabad – the highest aggregate for India in the match – before missing the second Test with a quadriceps injury. He was included in the squad for the third Test subject to fitness, but was eventually ruled out with a sore knee.The fourth Test between India and England begins this Friday, just four days after the end of the third Test, while there is an eight-day gap between the end of the fourth Test on February 27 and the start of the fifth and final Test on March 7.India squad for fourth Test: Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep

Batter grabbed opportunity after years on England sidelines, with Bangladesh campaign looming

Andrew Miller25-Apr-2024Maia Bouchier says her goal for the 2024 summer is to cement her new-found status at the top of England’s batting order, as the countdown begins for the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September.Bouchier, 25, enjoyed a breakthrough winter on England’s recent tour of New Zealand, where she capitalised on the late arrival of several senior players from the Women’s Premier League in India, including the incumbent opener Danni Wyatt and senior batter Nat Sciver-Brunt, to make a strong case for a permanent role.Having previously batted exclusively in the middle-order in her limited opportunities over the previous two years, Bouchier was first promoted to open during Sri Lanka’s visit last summer, where she complemented Sciver-Brunt’s century in the third ODI in Leicester with a career-best 95 from 65 balls.But given England’s main focus for the year, it was Bouchier’s performance in March, in the 4-1 series win in the T20Is against New Zealand, that truly stood out. She batted at No.3 in the first three matches, making scores of 43 not out, 12 and 71, then a series-sealing 91 from 56 balls after being promoted to open for the fourth match.”I’ve been waiting for that moment,” Bouchier told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s been great, I’ve really enjoyed my cricket and putting in some performances for England. Going into this summer, I’ll do as much as I can to grab every opportunity and keep that spot now.”Bouchier’s form was the culmination of a settled run in the side, one that had been promised to her last summer by England’s head coach, Jon Lewis, when she was picked ahead of the veteran Tammy Beaumont despite the latter’s impressive form in the Hundred. The reason Lewis gave at the time was that Bouchier “had been carried around the world”, but her total of 13 innings in 19 T20Is since her debut in 2021 meant she hadn’t been given a chance to prove her worth.Maia Bouchier made a strong impression on England’s tour of New Zealand•Getty Images

She’s done that now, outshining both the returning Beaumont and the struggling Sophia Dunkley in New Zealand, to the extent that she is now ready to stake a claim to be a first-choice opener for the World Cup – a point reiterated last week by her captain Heather Knight, when she praised Bouchier’s form in New Zealand while acknowledging that England “haven’t quite nailed” their opening partnership yet.”It was all about being patient for that moment,” Bouchier said. “[Lewis] talked about giving me a little run-in, to make sure I wasn’t thinking that everything was riding on one opportunity.”I guess I had to do those tough years to get to that point, but playing in those [lower-order] positions meant I had to be able to adapt quickly, so that has only helped me going up to the top of the order. I can’t really regret any of it. I’ll always take that as much as I can.”Related

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England’s summer comprises home series against Pakistan in May and New Zealand in June-July ahead of the Hundred, where Bouchier will once again be playing for the defending champions, Southern Brave. And while the swift transition to Bangladesh’s pitches will be a tough one for England, she’s confident that the batting unit has shored up its game against spin – a notable shortcoming last year, both in the Ashes, as well as the shock T20I series loss to Sri Lanka.”Bangladesh is going to be difficult, and spin is always a talking point, but really it comes down to the game situation and the ball in hand at that moment,” Bouchier said. “Everyone has been working on playing to their strengths against spin, whether it’s reverse-sweeping or long sweeps to the other side of the pitch. We’ll just being looking to put the pressure back on the bowlers as much as we can.”Bouchier was speaking at the launch of the MCC Foundation Hubs tournament in Leyton, a competition that involves more than 100 girls’ and boys’ teams playing for the chance to appear in a Lord’s final.The programme has already reached more than 20,000 state school children since its launch in 2012, and recently received a £1million funding boost from MCC and the ECB. With 126 hubs already in existence, the aim is to reach the 150th location by next year.On the girls’ front alone, the scheme has seen a 53% increase in participation over the past year, and in the week that the ECB announced the eight counties to have been granted Tier 1 status for the new national women’s competition from 2025, Bouchier said that trend reflected the huge growth in interest she had witnessed in the course of her own career.”It’s amazing,” she said. “I was playing for Middlesex when I was 16, and there wasn’t an England development pathway or a county set-up. I’m super lucky and super privileged to have been driven all round London by my parents, who funded everything for me. Without that I would have fallen out of the game.”I also I knew a lot of talented but under-privileged players who just didn’t have anywhere to go. This foundation is there for kids and teenagers in that range, who don’t know whether they want to play, but they’re really interested in getting involved. It gives them access and brings the community together as well, which is exactly what you want.”

Fred Klaassen and Daniel Doram have been ruled out because of injuries

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2024Fred Klaassen and Daniel Doram have been ruled out of the T20 World Cup, and Netherlands have added Kyle Klein, who was the lone travelling reserve, along with Saqib Zulfiqar to the squad as their replacements.Klaasen faced a recurrence of symptoms from a previously sustained stress fracture of the lower back while Doran was ruled out due to a broken hand.Netherlands are preparing for the upcoming T20 World Cup with a tri-series against Scotland and Ireland, where they have so far beaten Scotland comprehensively and lost to Ireland by one run in a close finish. Doram played both those games, returning 2 for 35 and 2 for 27 respectively, but Klaassen hasn’t featured at all.Zulfiqar, 27, has so far played six T20Is – to go with 15 ODIs – and has nine wickets at an economy rate of 6.46, while Klein, the 22-year-old right-arm medium pacer, has played just the solitary T20I and two ODIs till date. The T20I was against Nepal earlier this year, where he bowled just one wicketless over and gave away five runs.Klaassen (Kent) and Bas de Leede (Durham) were the Dutch players allowed to miss the Vitality T20 Blast by their English counties and released for the T20 World Cup, even as the experienced duo of Colin Ackermann (Durham) and Roelof van der Merwe (Somerset) had to stay on with their counties.Kyle Klein was a travelling reserve earlier•ICC via Getty Images

Zulfiqar, a legspinning allrounder, last played a T20I in 2019, while Doram, the Leeward Islands left-arm spinner, had earned a call-up to a full Netherlands T20I squad for the first time.The squad still has a left-arm spinner in Tim Pringle, though.Of the players who were likely to be picked but weren’t, Brandon Glover wasn’t considered as he continues his comeback after an injury, while Timm van der Gugten is out of action with a calf injury.Scott Edwards will continue to captain the side, as he did at the 2022 T20 World Cup.Netherlands have been drawn in Group D of the T20 World Cup, which starts on June 1, alongside Bangladesh, Nepal, South Africa and Sri Lanka, and start with a game against Nepal on June 4 in Dallas.

Netherlands provisional squad for the T20 World Cup

Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Kyle Klein, Logan van Beek, Max O’Dowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Scott Edwards (capt/wk), Saqib Zulfiqar, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle, Vikramjit Singh, Vivian Kingma, Wesley Barresi

It’s a quick turnaround for Pakistan who are still licking their wounds after the India defeat

Danyal Rasool10-Jun-2024

Match details

Canada vs Pakistan
New York, 10.30am local

Big picture: Can the 2022 finalists stay alive?

The nature of the T20 World Cup 2024 scheduling means what cannot be forgotten must at least be shelved temporarily. Pakistan may have time to process their heartache after the defeat against India, which promises to leave scars well after this tournament has been consigned to a distant, unpleasant memory. However, they do not have that time right now. Less than 48 hours after a chase they mucked up, Babar Azam’s side must pick themselves back up off the canvas, staggering, and try to stand up straight once more as Canada come calling.Related

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Pakistan always knew they had these two games in three days, but halfway through the chase on Sunday, that looked like a blessing rather than a curse. A win against India would have allowed them to ride that tidal wave of momentum to undo the damage of the USA defeat in their opening game. Instead, Babar will lead a dispirited, crestfallen group into the game against Canada merely to ensure Pakistan stay alive for a few more days.Canada, meanwhile, find themselves in the somewhat unusual position of looking down the table at their more fancied opponents. If not for an Aaron Jones blitz in the opening game of this tournament, Saad Bin Zafar’s side would have been coming into this contest with two wins in two games. They then also showed impressive composure to shake off that bruising loss by bouncing back to outplay Ireland.Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan need to do the heavy-lifting up top•Sportsfile via Getty Images

If in the first game, Canada showed they have the batters right down the order to put on huge scores, they demonstrated in the second the quality of the bowling line-up to squeeze Ireland effectively in defence of 137. Add to that a superb fielding performance, and this is a side that has shown it has both the hunger and the ability to trouble most in group A. And against a Pakistan line-up still licking their wounds, there may never be a better opportunity to send them back to the canvas one final time.

Form guide

Pakistan: LLLLW

Canada: WLLLL

In the spotlight: RizBar and Nicholas Kirton

How Babar and Mohammad Rizwan choose to approach the innings will be a point of interest. After criticism of their placid pacing in pursuit of a low score against India, expect both to try to come out all guns blazing against the Canadians, regardless of whether Pakistan bat first or second. That might mean the game gets one of those trademark RizBar partnerships where the strokeplay sizzles. At the same time, it gives Canada the chance to get an early wicket or two, and stick their teeth into a middle order that is low on confidence.Canada will be thankful for 26-year-old Barbados-born Nicholas Kirton not being scooped up by West Indies, because at this tournament, he has shown the personality and quality to perform on the big stage. He came into the event with a 39-ball 52 in a warm-up game against Nepal, and has followed it up with 51 and 49 against USA and Ireland, which came off a combined 66 balls. The left-hander has an elegance and flair to his shotmaking, and the ability to use his wrists to open up as much of the ground as possible has made him difficult to bowl to. If, on a New York pitch no one seems quite sure of, Kirton can play another one of those innings, he will pose Pakistan problems.Nicholas Kirton has made a very good impression at the T20 World Cup•AFP/Getty Images

Team news: Will Pakistan turn to Ayub?

There are no fresh injury concerns and limited ways Pakistan can rejig the current 15-man squad. Saim Ayub may have a shout of returning to the side, which leaves one of Usman Khan or Shadab vulnerable to the drop.Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Fakhar Zaman, 5 Shadab Khan/Usman Khan, 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Mohammad AmirCanada are likely to go in unchanged following their win over Ireland.Canada (probable): 1 Aaron Johnson, 2 Navneet Dhaliwal, 3 Pargat Singh, 4 Dilpreet Bajwa, 5 Nicholas Kirton, 6 Shreyas Movva (wk), 7 Dilon Heyliger, 8 Saad Bin Zafar (capt), 9 Kaleem Sana, 10 Junaid Siddiqui, 11 Jeremy Gordon

Pitch and conditions: A fresh surface on the cards

Rain delayed the start of the India-Pakistan clash in New York, but no weather interruptions are expected on Tuesday. A fresh pitch is expected to be used for the Canada-Pakistan clash.

Stats and trivia: Pakistan need more from the batters

• Babar’s dry run at T20 World Cups since the start of the 2022 edition continues. In that time he averages 20.11, with a strike rate of 97.31, having scored 181 runs in nine innings
• The only time Pakistan lost their first two games at a T20 World Cup came in 2022. They have never lost their opening three games
• Only three players have scored more runs than Kirton’s 100 at this T20 World Cup. Pakistan’s highest scorer is Babar, well behind with 57

Quotes

“There is no chance for us to get complacent. If anyone gets complacent after two losses, then whoever it is, does not deserve to be playing for the country. You can’t take any team lightly in T20 cricket. We have to be absolutely ready. The morale of the team is down, but this is the time we show our character. We go and play good cricket.”
Azhar Mahmood does not expect any of the Pakistan players to be complacent against Canada”They [Pakistan] are very skilled players. Most of the guys have been going around the world playing league cricket, not only international cricket, so their skills are there. But if you are looking for an opportunity, you have to relish these moments. I believe that the fact that the wicket is playing some tricks, levels the playing field for us. We are looking to use that to our advantage.”
Aaron Johnson feels the New York pitch makes it a level playing field for Canada