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Ian Bell’s accession to the Warwickshire captaincy was not meant to turn out like this. Instead of an anticipated title challenge, he is now haunted by vague fears of relegation, unthinkable in April

David Hopps at Edgbaston16-Aug-2016
ScorecardIan Bell battled for more than two hours but could not prevent defeat•Getty Images

Ian Bell’s accession to the Warwickshire captaincy was not meant to turn out like this. Instead of an anticipated title challenge, he is now haunted by vague fears of relegation, unthinkable in April. Instead of an inspired return to the England side, he has made no immediate comeback to a deeply unimpressive England middle order and is so consumed by the job he has taken on late in his career that the runs are not coming easily.The Warwickshire captaincy was a childhood dream for Bell ever since he sprinted onto the outfield at Lord’s to celebrate the county’s 1993 NatWest Trophy win under the individualistic captaincy of Dermot Reeve. For a proven England player to return to the county ranks with ambitions so sharp, and good years still ahead, was something for Warwickshire to relish, but the job is proving an onerous one.Bell challenged Warwickshire to bat out the final day against Surrey – to chase 396 for victory, from 2 for 1 overnight, felt out of the question – but the day he called the biggest of the season fell Surrey’s way by 227 runs with 20 overs to spare. Surrey have passed Warwickshire in the table and have the look of an improving side with much to commend them. If either of the bottom two stir it is now Warwickshire and Durham who have most to fear.

Boys put their bodies on the line – Batty

Gareth Batty, the Surrey captain, praised his team commitment over the four days and especially their final-day efforts.
“It was a magnificent performance. I’ve just said to the boys in the dressing-room I couldn’t ask for any more from any individual which, from a captaincy point of view, is just a wonderful place to be.
“The boys have been absolutely magnificent for the last six weeks, today they were out there diving on a hard square and putting their bodies on the line. We are nearing that time of year where traditionally we are pretty good and we are showing it again. On the flatter pitches we are putting in some wonderful performances.”
Meanwhile Dougie Brown, Warwickshire’s director of cricket, was critical of his team’s batting.
“There were a number of soft dismissals today which we couldn’t afford as we were already behind the game due to our first-innings indiscipline. If you analyse the first five dismissals of our specialist batsmen today I think you would say there was ill-discipline attached to all of them. We need to find a way to apply all the things we do in practice in match-situations.”

At least Bell conceded his own wicket in most honourable fashion during a compelling duel with Gareth Batty, finally unpicked at short leg after making 32 in two-and-a-quarter stubborn hours, survival his only undertaking. He managed a couple of peaceful off-side drives, but the overriding image was of Bell under attack from an angry seagull as Batty squawked, flapped and smiled his way through his overs, finding substantial bounce and turn from a wearing final-day surface. This was surely the best 2 for 27 of the season, earned by 21 antagonistic overs. This has also been another excellent Edgbaston pitch.Surrey’s spin pair, Batty and Zafar Ansari, are both being monitored as potential England tourists in India and Bangladesh and they make a contrasting pair, not just because of offspin and slow left arm but in personality. Ansari has a stately stroll and flick back of floppy hair that smacks of old-time pedigree whereas Batty is waspish and combative, every grin – and he grins often when he is on top – the possible precursor to something more quarrelsome.Suggestions that a spinner fast heading towards his 39th birthday should add to his seven Tests, the last of them 11 years ago, naturally invite suspicion, but contenders are conspicuous by their absence and, if England opt for a specialist finger spinner then on this evidence Batty is better than anybody. That he would relish the challenge could be taken for granted.For the first 40 minutes of the morning, Bell’s call to arms was answered, but the loss of three wickets in six overs then told of a laborious day ahead. The nightwatchman Chris Wright backed up too far and Batty threw him out from mid-on with a celebratory speech of triumph. Varun Chopra, Bell’s predecessor, whose move to Essex has already been confirmed, edged Mark Footitt’s sixth ball of the innings to wicketkeeper Steven Davies. To lose Jonathan Trott, alongside whom Bell stood firm so often for England, was the biggest jolt of all, Stuart Meaker producing a good one to have him caught at the wicket.Three more wickets fell in the afternoon session, not just Bell, but Laurie Evans, who was forced back by Ansari and had his off-stump knocked out by one that turned. Rikki Clarke fell in the final over before tea, bowled as he offered no shot to Sam Curran. The tail succumbed easily enough after tea, the victory suitably confirmed by Batty when he had Oliver Hannon-Dalby lbw for nought, six Surrey bowlers taking wickets in a strong team display.Gareth Batty celebrates the wicket of Ian Bell•Getty Images

Bell was omitted by England after averaging barely 20 in his last 23 Test innings, nine of them single figures. The Warwickshire captaincy seemed a perfect challenge and he has thrown himself into it with gusto. He could have taken quite a narrow role, concentrating on making runs, changing fields and preserving energy to keep his England ambitions alive. Instead, his authority is strikingly wide for a captain. For a player who has not skippered since age-group cricket – apart from a stand-in appearance or two – it must be particularly burdensome.He is taking a central role in recruitment and was influential in the signing of Olly Stone from Northants, a bowler who – if he stays fit – can bring new verve to their attack. Warwickshire’s academy, too, must surely be something that troubles him because he came that way himself, but it has not produced a player of substance for Warwickshire since Chris Woakes a decade or so ago. To lose Woakes regularly now to England – a consummate professional who would naturally buy into his ideas – has been a deserved career progression for Woakes, but ill-timed for Bell as he seeks to implant his beliefs on a squad that is arguably too unwieldy and too set in its ways to respond in the way he wishes.

All the BCCI board members and office bearers have been asked to sign an undertaking stating they are not in any conflict of interest

Amol Karhadkar24-Jul-20153:01

BCCI seeks to address conflicts of interest issue

The BCCI has, for the first time, acknowledged and sought to address the issue of conflict of interest. In a letter written to its members, the board’s new secretary, Anurag Thakur, has said conflict of interest has “caused enough consternation in our organisation”. Thakur has asked representatives of every state association, and members of various committees and sub-committees of the BCCI to sign a declaration stating they have no conflicts of interest.ESPNcricinfo is in possession of a copy of the letter, which acknowledges conflict-of-interest issues have led to situations “which we need to collectively address and avoid for the future to come”.One of the stock responses to any allegation of conflict of interest has been insistence that they have never actually misused their role as a board official for personal gain. This letter, though, clearly defines conflict of interest as the possibility of a bias and not necessarily the exercising of that bias.”Conflict of interest is not about beliefs or biases,” the letter tells the board’s members. “It is about a person’s roles and responsibilities, and the tendency or apprehension of bias that assumes to exist when duties, decisions or actions conflict. Deciding that someone has a conflict of interest is a description of a situation, not a judgement about the person or their actual beliefs.”

Undertaking is to reaffirm transparency – Dalmiya

BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said the directive to its members to sign a ‘no conflict of interest’ undertaking was aimed at bringing transparency and ensuring that the financial dealings of the board are made without any direct or indirect personal interest.
A statement he issued said, “The purpose of declaration of interest is to reaffirm the principle of transparency and that the members address every issue of financial dealings of the Board without any personal or financial interest directly or indirectly which may be seen to be vested interest or an obstacle to just and bona fide acts in the interest of the game.
“I personally feel that the concept of appropriate declarations not merely by the officials of the BCCI but also of the state associations must be revived in larger interests of transparency, evenhandedness and impartiality. This would ensure that the reputation and integrity of the Board are secured.”
PTI

With a Supreme Court-appointed Lodha committee looking into institutional reforms for the BCCI, this declaration comes at a time when the board needs to “protect the reputation and institutional integrity so as to earn broad trust, faith and confidence in all our activities”.The undertaking that board officials have to sign is stern and comprehensive. For example it asks everyone to declare the absence of “any personal or family allegiance, bias, inclination, obligation or any interest of whatsoever nature, directly or indirectly which may in any way affect or provide any financial or any other benefit to me, my family or close relations or which may tend to interfere with or affect my objectivity, independence, impartiality and neutrality in any decision making process, acts and conduct relating to or arising out of discharge of my office of President/Hony. Secretary of …”The Supreme Court had taken notice of the conflict of interest issue during the IPL spot-fixing case when it asked how N Srinivasan’s company could own an IPL team when he was the BCCI president.Srinivasan is the managing director of India Cements, which owned Chennai Super Kings. His son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan, was found to be a bona fide official of the team, a face of it, and he indulged in illegal betting. However, investigations carried out by a BCCI committee cleared Gurunath of any wrongdoing. Then the Supreme Court had to intervene, and it eventually resulted in the suspension of the owners of Super Kings for two years.A former selector had also accused Srinivasan of blocking the selection committee’s decision to remove MS Dhoni as ODI captain in 2012. Dhoni is captain of Super Kings, and also a vice-president of India Cements.Srinivasan’s defence, though, has always been that the company owned the IPL team and not he personally. This undertaking, however, eliminates the possibility of such situations. Anyone who signs it will admit that, “I am not in any manner or mode associated or connected with any Institution, body Corporate, Association of persons, Partnership or otherwise in any form or manner which derives any financial, commercial or any other benefits or gain from the Board of Control for Cricket in India directly or indirectly, other than the official grants received by the Association I represent.”The officials have been asked to declare conflicts of interest well in advance. “In the event of any act, function of the Association or any decision making process or related to any Tournament or otherwise, any conflict of interest do arise, I shall forthwith disclose the same and refrain myself from being associated with the same in any manner whatsoever or by whatever name described.”Officials have also been asked to sign they or their associated don’t stand to gain from any service contracts handed out by the board.

Leicestershire have had their plans for the new season shaken up by Ramnaresh Sarwan’s recall to the West Indies squad and they will seek to clarify his availability for next season.

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2013Leicestershire have had their plans for the new season shaken up by Ramnaresh Sarwan’s recall to the West Indies squad and they will seek to clarify his availability.Sarwan had seemingly turned his back on West Indies, claiming he had been “mentally and emotionally” hurt by the coaching staff, when he signed a two-year extension to his stay at Grace Road which began last summer. He was then appointed captain of the County Championship side for 2013 in place of Matthew Hoggard.But he was recalled to the West Indies squad for the one-day series against Australia which begins on February 1, suggesting Sarwan could be part of West Indies’ future series against Zimbabwe in March and India and Sri Lanka following the Champions Trophy.”We will be making contact with Ramnaresh to see where this might lead to,” Leicestershire head coach Phil Whitticase said. “At this moment, the question of how it might affect us during the season is a bit unanswerable.”We are really pleased for him because we know that he has been striving to play for the West Indies again. He still has that passion and drive and we want all our players to play at the highest level. From our point of view, it does leave us a bit vulnerable and looking to come up with a Plan B.”Sarwan had an excellent summer for Leicestershire, helping them avoided consecutive wooden spoons in the Championship with 941 runs at 40.91. He also struck two centuries in the CB40.But he will now add to his 173 ODIs in which he has scored 5,644 runs at 43.41. Although he has endured a poor run of recent form in the Caribbean T20 with a highest score of 19 in seven matches for Guyana.

Pakistan International Airlines wrapped up their seventh QEA title before lunch on the final day

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2011.
ScorecardPakistan International Airlines needed just 21.4 overs on the final day to claim their seventh Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division One. They took just two balls to wrap up Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited’s second-innings for 70 before their top order wasted no time chasing down the target of 107 in 21.2 overs for the loss of opener Kamran Sajid.ZTBL had not added to their overnight score of 70 when Anwar Ali had Iftikhar Anjum caught to claim his eight wicket of the match. Then, with Agha Sabir playing the anchor role, Sajid went after the ZTBL bowlers, smashing eight fours in his 34 that came off just 29 balls. He was dismissed by Sohail Tanvir but Sheharyar Ghani made sure there would be no respite for the bowlers, making 36 from 34 balls, with seven fours to take his side to victory in the company of Sabir, who made a comparatively patient 40 from 65 balls,

Khawaja is a run-maker who will be the first Muslim to wear a baggy green, instantly becoming a poster boy for a significant chunk of a country which has always had to watch a mono-culture team

Peter English in Sydney02-Jan-2011Usman Khawaja will bring so much more than his bat to the SCG for his Test debut on Monday. Khawaja, 24, is a run-maker who will be the first Muslim to wear a baggy green, instantly becoming a poster boy for a significant chunk of a country which has always had to watch a mono-culture team.Jason Gillespie was Australia’s only Test cricketer with acknowledged Aboriginal heritage and there have been a heavy sprinkling of players with eastern European heritage, such as Katich, Kasprowicz and Krejza. But despite the country having welcomed a huge immigrant population from Asia, it has taken the rise of Khawaja, an assured left-hander born in Pakistan, to break the mould.And Khawaja, who doesn’t drink and is a qualified pilot, fits in perfectly with his new team-mates. He is already the most popular guy in the New South Wales squad and has settled in well over the summer with the Test outfit in Brisbane, Melbourne and now Sydney.Khawaja, who moved to Australia when he was three, will bat three in the fifth Test after replacing Ricky Ponting. It is a massive job but nothing seems to faze him. Not the extra attention because of his religion, his upbringing, his flying or his batting. Not even the size of the queue for his autograph outside the SCG nets today.”Ussie is pretty chilled out, a pretty laid-back sort of guy,” Michael Clarke said. “He’s going fine. He’s really excited about being part of this Australian team and receiving his baggy green and playing his first Test match.”Like most people who have watched Khawaja, Clarke is impressed by his composed play and wristy shots. In 27 first-class matches Khawaja averages 51.70 and after 30 first-class innings for New South Wales was the state’s sixth-most prolific run-scorer. Only Don Bradman, Arthur Morris, Norm O’Neill, Phillip Hughes and Stan McCabe had done more.”I have no doubt Usman will play a lot more than one Test match for Australia,” Clarke said. “It’s important when he walks out on the field he’s doing nothing different to what he’s done the last two years for New South Wales. Get out there, play his way, be himself, be confident. I guarantee you, if he gets out there and plays the way he’s played for New South Wales, we all know he’ll have success over a long career.”There will be two new caps handed out before the toss, with the spinner Michael Beer also getting one, but Clarke won’t be delivering them like Ricky Ponting has done. Clarke’s first change as captain comes with a return to former Australian Test players presenting the baggy greens, a ceremony started under Steve Waugh.”The players don’t know who they are [getting the caps from] so it’s a bit of a surprise,” Clarke said. Shane Warne is likely to be there for Beer, a left-arm spinner, who used to play at his St Kilda club in Melbourne. Beer has since moved to Western Australia and leap-frogged from fringe state player to Test specialist in seven first-class games.Beer, 26, is more a traditional Australian player, with long vowels, short words and light-coloured, spiky hair. He has never played at the SCG and is the latest slow bowler to have shot from the selectors’ test-tube. The panel has preferred Beer to Doug Bollinger, with Ben Hilfenhaus holding on to his spot.Clarke is not worried by Beer’s lack of experience at the ground and expects him to have a big impact from the third day, when the pitch is expected to offer significant turn. “I made my debut in Bangalore and I’d never been to Bangalore before, never seen that change room, never played a game on that wicket,” Clarke said. “It’s no different. He’s lucky enough to make his Test debut at the SCG in front of a full house.”

New South Wales’ title defences of both the Big Bash and the Champions League are over

Alex Malcolm13-Jan-2010
Scorecard
Andrew Symonds top scored with an unbeaten 38 as the Bulls roared in Sydney•Getty Images

New South Wales’ title defences of both the Big Bash and the Champions League are over after Queensland routed them in a rain-reduced nine-over a side clash at ANZ Stadium. The Blues’ pursuit of 111 was made impossible by a wonderful spell from Man-of-the-Match Nathan Rimmington (3 for 13) before the star import Daniel Vettori added to his three outfield catches with a wicket in two overs that cost just seven runs to break local hearts.The defending champions failed dismally in their first game, finishing at 7 for 56 in front of a record crowd of 29,743 that had to wait 90 minutes for the rain to subside. When it finally did Queensland batted first in a nine-over slog-fest that began shrouded in smoke from an ill-thought-out pyrotechnics display.Bulls captain Chris Simpson elevated himself to open and provided some fireworks of his own as he walloped 34 from 14 balls to get the innings off to a quick start. Andrew Symonds (38) and Lee Carseldine (25) struggled with their timing early on a very slow surface, but both cleared the rope in the eighth over before Dwayne Smith (2 for 18) bowled a crafty ninth to rattle Carseldine’s and Craig Philipson’s stumps as the visitors were restricted to 110.In the reply David Warner started brightly by taking nine off the first four deliveries, including a mammoth six. But Rimmington removed Phillip Hughes with the fifth ball of the first over, skying a catch to Vettori, before striking gold with Warner pulling the next ball straight to Philipson at short fine leg. Rimmington’s second over was his coup de grace, with him beating Moises Henriques twice with two outswingers before scratching his outside edge with a third.New South Wales’ night was best summed up by the run-out of Phil Jaques, who dived for his crease only to bury his bat short of safe ground in the rain-softened turf, allowing the bails to be removed with his outstretched glove still short. The Bulls then removed Ben Rohrer and Steven Smith in the next five scoreless deliveries to embarrass the hosts.Queensland joined Western Australia and Victoria with two wins each. Victoria’s net run-rate is the inferior of the three and they must beat Tasmania at the MCG on Friday, while the winner of Saturday’s crucial clash between the Bulls and Western Australia should decide who will host the preliminary final.

Oman Cricket says the delay “was procedural, dependent on formal post-event clarifications from the ICC”

Osman Samiuddin23-Jun-2025Oman Cricket (OC) has finally agreed to pay the members of its men’s T20 World Cup squad the prize money due to them from that tournament, claiming that the long delay in clearing the dues was “procedural”. In a statement put out on Monday, OC said the US$225,000 amount would be disbursed to the squad and support staff by July 2025.ESPNcricinfo had reported earlier this month that players from the Oman squad had not been paid, a year after the event held in the USA and the Caribbean in June 2024.Agreements participating boards sign with the ICC for events stipulate that prize money must be disbursed to players within 21 days of the board having received it from the ICC. That money, the ICC confirmed, had been sent to OC on time, though the latter claimed in its statement “that the delay in disbursement was procedural, dependent on formal post-event clarifications from the ICC, which are typically received after global tournaments”.The players raised the issue of non-payment not long after the event, and matters came to a head last October, at the emerging teams Asia Cup, when the Oman players resolved to take unified action. That led to the players threatening to not play and being told to leave a day before the tournament began.Eventually, 11 of the players from that 15-man squad had their central contracts suspended and most had to leave Oman. As with most Gulf states, residency in the country is tied to employment and, in this case, a number of players had their employment revoked, compelling them to leave the country.Oman Cricket acknowledged that players had raised the matter but said that officials, including chairman Pankaj Khimji “had repeatedly assured the players that payments would be made in full following the ICC’s confirmation of the allocation and structure.” The players contend that the board’s assurances – by that stage already four months late on the payments – had begun to sound hollow.The board blamed the players for escalating the situation and refusing to play, which they claimed put Oman’s international commitment “at serious risk”.”The players had every right to seek clarity, and we were transparent about the timelines involved,” Khimji said in the statement.The players sought help from the World Cricketers’ Association (WCA) after being made aware of the avenue by players from Canada and Nepal – who had faced similar difficulties. Khimji criticised WCA’s involvement, saying the global players’ body “misled” the players and “encouraged them to abandon their duties under the guise of advocacy.”The WCA CEO Tom Moffat told ESPNcricinfo: “We are pleased to see that Oman Cricket has put a timeline on paying the players the prize money almost a year after they received the money from the ICC, and almost a year after it should have been paid to the players under the ICC terms of participation.”Every player in the world should be afforded a safe space to raise concerns and advocate for themselves. It’s incredibly sad that the majority of Oman’s men’s World Cup team have lost their careers, employment, and were in turn forced to leave the country for doing so. WCA will always assist players who come to it for help, especially those who are vulnerable or who face with extremely imbalanced and unhealthy power dynamics.”Oman Cricket said it had constituted an internal committee to investigate “the communication gap” around issues of prize money as well as to avoid such a situation in the future. “This was an isolated incident, but it showed us the need for stronger systems,” the board treasurer Alkesh Joshi said in the statement. “We will ensure that players are never left uncertain about their entitlements — but also that professional commitments are never compromised.”

Andrew McDonald has floated the notion of a batting reshuffle, but the former captain cautioned against it

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff30-Nov-2023Ricky Ponting insists Cameron Bancroft should be David Warner’s replacement once the veteran Australia opener bows out of Test cricket in January.WA’s Bancroft is again the Sheffield Shield’s top run-scorer after making 945 runs – almost 300 more than the next best – last summer.Despite the 31-year-old’s domestic success, Bancroft was still overlooked for Marcus Harris for a spare batting spot in Australia’s Ashes squad in June.Related

• 'Traditions have to start somewhere' – Gilchrist hopes for revival of Test cricket in Perth

• Warner on track for Sydney farewell while Marsh and Green both named in Test squad

• Ball-by-ball: how Maxwell conjured another miracle

• Warner's Test retirement could lead to batting order reshuffle

• Mitchell Marsh: 'Past battling, I'm here to enjoy my cricket and have fun'

Harris and Queenslander Matt Renshaw loom as the other candidates at the top of the order to partner Usman Khawaja after Warner’s farewell at the SCG.All three will get another chance to impress for the Prime Minister’s XI against Pakistan in Canberra next week.However, Ponting believes Bancroft needed to be recalled for his first Test since 2019 due to his sheer weight of runs.”If you look at those three guys, I think it’s quite clear that Bancroft is the one that’s got the runs on the board and I wouldn’t be surprised if they [selectors] go that way,” he told SEN on Thursday. “If you wind the clock back about six months it might have been a slightly different order than what it is now.”I think they probably had Harris as the one that would come back in a while ago. To me now it sort of feels [there’s] a bit more of a groundswell behind Cameron Bancroft getting first crack.”Australia coach Andrew McDonald has floated the possibility of a change in the batting order to open so allrounder Cameron Green can slot back into the Test XI.But Ponting has cautioned against such a move, saying Green should be forced to earn his spot by finding form in the Shield with WA.But the prodigiously talented 24-year-old was dropped during the Ashes, just months after his maiden Test century, for Mitchell Marsh.”I think Cameron Green might just have to sit back and bide his time and wait for the opportunity to come back,” Ponting said. “He can get a truckload of runs in Shield cricket and sort of force his way back into the side.”[Marnus] Labuschagne has been outstanding at number three for Australia, it’s very much a specialist position.”Ponting also believes enigmatic allrounder Glenn Maxwell should seriously be considered for a Test recall after his stunning white-ball success in India.Maxwell played the last of his seven Tests in 2017, but his three recent international centuries, two in the ODI World Cup and one in a T20, have been irresistible.”I could see him getting back into a Test line-up because of the all round game that he brings in those conditions,” Ponting said. “The [201] not out in that game against Afghanistan, which is the most remarkable one-day innings I’ve ever seen.”I’ve been around a lot of games, watched a lot of games, played a lot of games, I’ve never ever seen anything like that.”Ponting, who captained Australia to World Cup titles in 2003 and 2007, has urged Pat Cummins’ team to maintain the rage in the Test summer when they host Pakistan and the struggling West Indies.”I’d be saying to go as hard as you can and just really try and bury these teams and win as convincingly as you can,” Ponting said.The squad for the first Test in Perth is expected to be named shortly after the conclusion of the ongoing round of Sheffield Shield matches and before the PM’s XI contest.

South Africa allrounder guides chase with nerveless innings after Brave suffer another final collapse

Matt Roller03-Sep-2022Oval Invincibles defended their Hundred title thanks to Marizanne Kapp’s nerveless, unbeaten innings of 37 off 33 to steer them past Southern Brave in a rematch of last year’s final.After choosing to bat first, Brave collapsed from 83 for 2 after 74 balls to post just 101 for 7, struggling to find any impetus on a tricky, two-paced pitch in front of a 20,840 crowd at Lord’s.Invincibles lost regular wickets in the chase but for the second final in a row, Kapp was the matchwinner – this time, with the bat. Coming in at 33 for 2 – which quickly became 33 for 3 – she marshalled their inexperienced middle order and dragged them over the line with six balls to spare.”The way Marizanne batted under pressure was just awesome,” Suzie Bates, Invincibles’ captain, said. “She’s one of the best allrounders in the world and today she showed why: under pressure, she’s even better.”Our bowling group did an outstanding job to keep them to that score. It was always going to be a nervy chase but it’s brilliant to have young players perform.”Slow and steady
Southern Brave’s success has been characterised by attacking batting, with the depth of their line-up allowing Danni Wyatt and Smriti Mandhana licence to go hard at the top of the order, particularly during the powerplay.They made a bright start on a slow pitch: Mandhana, who missed last year’s final, pierced the infield with a crisp cover drive to the second ball of the innings, and Sophia Smale’s second set – the last five balls of the powerplay – was clearly targeted as Wyatt crashed consecutive fours through the off side and Mandhana lofted over the leg side.Both openers were caught and bowled. Shabnim Ismail removed Wyatt, settling under a difficult chance after cranking the pace up to 78mph with a hard-length ball that skewed up into the leg side, and Mandhana miscued back to Smale to leave Brave 39 for 2 after 39 balls.Sophia Dunkley and Tahlia McGrath, the engine room of Brave’s batting, set about the rebuild and batted with plenty of attacking intent, but generally struggled to find gaps. At 74 for 2 with 30 balls remaining, they needed to launch at the back end.Invincibles fight back
Dunkley and McGrath exchanged boundaries when Invincibles brought Eva Gray, their sixth bowler, into the attack, but when McGrath fell to the final ball of her first set, it sparked a collapse that proved defining.They failed to score a boundary in the final 26 balls of the innings and added only 18 runs for the loss of five wickets in that phase. Maia Bouchier, their designated finisher, was starved of the strike and finished 9 not out off 11 balls.Invincibles were brilliant at the death, squeezing hard. Alice Capsey took 2 for 6 across a set of 10 consecutive balls, split across both ends: Dunkley edged through to Lauren Winfield-Hill, who took a smart catch, and Georgia Adams was caught at deep midwicket. Ismail rearranged Freya Kemp’s stumps, and Amanda-Jade Wellington miscued Kapp to mid-off.Eva Gray’s dismissal of Tahlia McGrath triggered a collapse•Getty Images

Wasteful Brave
Invincibles have relied heavily on their opening pair, Winfield-Hill and Bates, throughout this season but lost both for single-figure scores in the final: Winfield-Hill was stumped by Carla Rudd’s lightning-fast hands off Anya Shrubsole, and Bates inside-edged Wellington onto her own stumps via her pad.Brave needed regular wickets to stand a chance, but were profligate in the field: Capsey was dropped twice, by Shrubsole and Mandhana, during her cameo of 25 off 17, and several misfields allowed Invincibles to build partnerships without worrying about the required rate mounting.Kapp’s star turn
Kapp has turned big-game performances into a habit: she took 4 for 9 in the Hundred’s inaugural final and won the match award in the WBBL final at the end of last year for Perth Scorchers, and Invincibles were always favourites as long as she stayed in.Back-to-back boundaries off Wellington, the season’s leading wicket-taker, got her up and running before she punished Shrubsole for straying in line, and she survived a number of scares when beaten on the inside edge.Mady Villiers and Kira Chathli both fell cheaply but Emily Windsor, the 24-year-old batter in her first innings of the season, held her nerve at the end. She charged Wellington’s penultimate ball, pumping her back down the ground for four, and after Kapp had slashed McGrath through the off side, Windsor did the same to seal the game.”It’s been an amazing journey,” Kapp said. “You’re always nervous in finals and the wicket was really tough, but luckily we got across the line.”Brave have only lost three games across both seasons of the women’s Hundred, but two of them have been in finals. As Invincibles lifted the trophy, they were left to reflect on a second successive near-miss.

Shane Bond expects a fascinating battle between Rohit Sharma and Trent Boult

Vishal Dikshit15-Jun-20210:52

Five batters and two spinners? Aakash Chopra’s India XI for WTC final

VVS Laxman has offered two tips to Rohit Sharma ahead of the World Test Championship final against New Zealand starting Friday: know where your off stump is to leave the ball outside off and don’t take the left leg across too much while facing Trent Boult, who is likely to swing the ball into the batter. Laxman was speaking at a virtual press conference organised by broadcaster , with Ian Bishop and Shane Bond as his co-panelists.”I think not only for Rohit but for every opener, it’s very important to know where your off stump is,” Laxman said. “And Rohit, since the time he has opened for the Indian team even in Indian conditions against South Africa, the way he knew where his off stump was, he was very disciplined at the start of the innings. And if Rohit can replicate that in England, I’m sure he will perform well.”We all know what an unbelievable and talented batsman he is. He is a match-winner for the Indian team. But knowing where your off stump is and letting go of the balls outside the off stump in the channel of uncertainty is something which Rohit requires to focus on.

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“Another challenge is in the form of Trent Boult who can get the ball in. So I think he also knows that against Trent Boult, he cannot take his left leg across, he has to play as much as possible with the full face of the bat back towards the bowler and the umpire. These are the two things Rohit definitely requires to address at the start of the innings.”Bond, meanwhile, believes Sharma has the ability impose himself on bowling attacks like Matthew Hayden did during his time. The former New Zealand quick is part of the Mumbai Indians, of which both Sharma and Boult are part of. The trio were part of the IPL-winning Mumbai Indians team in the UAE last September.Bond chuckled that banter for the WTC final between Sharma and Boult had started well in advance, during the 2021 IPL season.”What I do know is that even during the IPL season, Trent Boult was running in, swinging the ball and hitting him (Sharma) on the pads and telling him, ‘that’s what is going to happen in the World Test Championship final’,” Bond said with a hearty laugh. “So he was talking about it four months in advance, there was banter going on, which was just brilliant. Those two were very aware that they were going to come up against each other.”I love Rohit Sharma as a player, I see him almost in a Matt Hayden kind of role where he goes out, as he did against England in the series in India on very difficult wickets, and he imposes himself. He could come out and score very quickly, he’s that sort of player, very dynamic in difficult conditions, like a Rishabh Pant, can take the game away from a team in a very good hour even when New Zealand are bowling with the new ball. So with the field up and he’s such a stroke-maker, it sort of suits him being at the top of the order when the ball is hard.”There’s obviously some areas in his game which New Zealand will look to exploit but what he does do is he scores fast and if he can score fast and put runs on the board, that instantly puts pressure on the bowling attack and there’s nothing worse as a bowler than going for runs, especially if you’re trying to pitch the ball up. I can’t wait for the Boult-Sharma battle, with all the banter that’s been going on and I’m expecting a few smiles between the boys as well.”For the rest of the Indian batting line-up as well, Laxman emphasised on how playing the ball late would help them in covering the late swing of the Dukes ball.”What the batsmen require to remember if they want to succeed in England is to know where there off stump is, and also always look for the full ball and a good, long, big stride,” Laxman said. “What that enables them to do is to play the ball late, allow the ball to come close to them and they can then cover the late swing which the bowlers will extract with the Dukes ball and also the lateral movement which probably they can extract because of the conditions there.”Boult further said it was New Zealand ‘s “best chance” to take home an ICC trophy after finishing runners-up in the 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cups, and expected them to play five quick bowlers by picking Colin de Grandhomme ahead of spinner Ajaz Patel, who was named in the final 15 ahead of Mitchell Santner on Tuesday.Laxman and Bishop both predicted India to pick five batters, Pant as the wicketkeeper at No. 6, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as the spin-bowling allrounders, and three fast bowlers.