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Pakistan fast bowlers Mohammad Talha and Sohail Khan have said they have made significant improvements to their game at the ongoing emerging players camp in Lahore

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jul-2011Pakistan fast bowlers Mohammad Talha and Sohail Khan have said they have made significant improvements to their game at the ongoing two-week emerging players camp being held at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.Talha, whose only Test cap for Pakistan came in the game that was unfortunately abandoned due to the attack on the Sri Lanka team bus, said the camp was helping him correct some of his mistakes. “Camps like this should take place more often, to give bowlers a fair opportunity to rectify their mistakes and enhance their ability,” Talha told the . Sarfraz Nawaz, the former Pakistan fast bowler and now mentor at the camp, had said he was impressed with Talha but there were some problems with his follow through. Talha said he had benefited from Sarfraz’s advice.”Sarfaraz Nawaz has given us various tips which will help us improve. I hope to be considered for the national side when I sign off from the camp, as I want an opportunity to prove myself.”Sohail was also optimistic about his chances of getting back into the Pakistan squad. He, like Talha, has played only one Test for Pakistan, in which he failed to pick up a wicket. Sohail put his poor debut down to fitness concerns and said the camp had helped him grow stronger. “Many players have faced similar situations in the past, but the coaches at the camp are helping me get fully fit through various useful methods. I am now 100% fit to play international cricket.”Sohail also said he could benefit from the recent rule-change in ODIs mandating the use of two new balls, one from each end. “I have been bowling a lot faster with a new ball. In fact, I have always preferred to use a new ball, as reverse swing has never been one of my priorities.”Pakistan’s next assignment is a tour to Zimbabwe beginning in August after which they host Sri Lanka in the UAE. Sohail, who was the leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup, and Talha, who had an impressive first-class season, will both be on the selectors’ radar.

Amjad Ali struck a fifty and a century as UAE beat Bermuda in the two Twenty20 matches at the National Stadium

Cricinfo staff13-Jul-2010
ScorecardUAE were stretched by a robust batting performance from Bermuda chasing 179, but prevailed by 21 runs in the first of two Twenty20 games in Hamilton. Amjad Ali was aggressive at the top after UAE elected to bat, and smashed three fours and as many sixes in his 53 to launch his side to a big total. Saqib Shah kept things rolling from the other end as the opening stand raised 67 in under eight overs. Offspinner Rodney Trott and seamer Kevin Tucker brought Bermuda back into the game during the end overs, but UAE had enough momentum to reach 178, with Saqib Ali and Arshad Ali making crucial contributions.Bermuda began their chase positively, with Chris Foggo striking a six before being stumped off Shadeep Silva. David Hemp and Steven Outerbridge gave their side a strong chance at victory, adding 57 in 53 balls before Arshad Ali brought UAE back in the game. He finished with 2 for 22, as Bermuda lost too many wickets and fell out of the reckoning. Outerbridge remained unbeaten on 43, and despite Jordan DeSilva’s 18 off 12 balls, UAE prevailed easily in the end.
ScorecardWhile UAE had to earn their win in the first game, the second match was a walk in the park once again masterminded by Amjad. He went one better than his fifty earlier in the day and finished with a fluent 105 off 61 balls with eleven fours and five sixes. The bulk of UAE’s runs came during Amjad’s second-wicket stand with Swapnil Patil – 117 runs in 12 overs. Bermuda recovered towards the end of the innings, with Outerbridge taking three wickets including that of Amjad’s to deny UAE a score in excess of 200, but sufficient damage had already been done.Bermuda were never in the hunt after losing Hemp in the first over. Fiqre Crockwell and Outerbridge kept attacking during their second-wicket stand of 53, but the innings unraveled once the left-arm spinning duo of Shadeep Silva and Ahmed Raza came on. Their seven overs yielded only 29 runs while accounting for five wickets as Bermuda suffered a resounding defeat.

The Sri Lanka pair is currently recovering from injuries

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2024The Sri Lanka pair of Wanindu Hasaranga and Nuwan Thushara will not be available to play for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in CPL 2024. Both players had suffered injuries during the recent white-ball series at home against India.Patriots have signed Tabraiz Shamsi and Anrich Nortje as replacements for Hasaranga and Thushara.While slinger Thushara was ruled out of the entire series with a finger injury, Hasaranga played all three T20Is and the first ODI before being sidelined with a hamstring injury.Related

• CPL 2024 FAQs: New team, new players, new intrigues

• South Africa call up Under-19 World Cup star Maphaka for West Indies T20Is

• Thushara out of India T20Is with broken finger

Nortje is yet to make his CPL debut but Shamsi is a familiar name at the league, having played 32 games, including 27 for Patriots. Shamsi has taken 33 wickets in those matches for Patriots at an economy rate of 7.06.Nortje and Shamsi will reunite with their South Africa team-mate Tristan Stubbs at Patriots. The side had finished last in CPL 2023, with just a solitary win in ten games.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots squad for CPL 2024

Kyle Mayers, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rilee Rossouw, Evin Lewis, Sherfane Rutherford, Sikandar Raza, Anrich Nortje, Andre Fletcher, Tristan Stubbs, Dominic Drakes, Mikyle Louis, Odean Smith, Joshua da Silva, Veerasammy Permaul, Ryan John, Ashmead Nedd, Johann Layne

Headed by Aqib Javed, the Qalandars management will take the cricketing decisions for Nationals in the upcoming season

Umar Farooq16-Jun-2023Toronto Nationals have entered into a deal with the two-time PSL champions Lahore Qalandars to outsource their coaching staff headed by director of cricket and head coach Aqib Javed to lead the franchise in the upcoming Global T20 [GT20]. While Aqib’s appointment has been formalised, the rest of the support staff’s appointment awaits a final ratification from Cricket Canada. The team had also picked four Pakistani players – Shahid Afridi, Zaman Khan, Saim Ayub, and Abdullah Shafique – in the recent draft.”We are excited about our association with Lahore Qalandars,” Nationals CEO Manzoor Chaudhry said. “Cricket being a global sport is proliferating and connecting cricketing communities together. They won the PSL title twice and contributed a lot in Pakistan with their player development program and with such credibility, their assistance will be invaluable. So it’s an incredible opportunity for us to rope them into Canada to manage our team. We are looking forward to forging a long-term deal in the future.”The deal will see the Qalandars’ team management taking all cricketing decisions for Nationals. Apart from Aqib, full-time bowling coach Waqas Ahmed, fielding coach Shahzad Butt, and performance analyst Nabeel Edgar Pace will also be involved according to the terms of the contract between Qalandars and Nationals.Related

• Clash between SL Tests and GT20 Canada set to affect Pakistan players availability

• Russell, Gayle and Shakib among marquee names drafted at GT20

Former Australia fast bowler, Geoff Lawson was Nationals’ head coach the last time GT20 was held in 2019. They made it to the playoffs only to crash out in the Eliminator. In 2018, they finished bottom with Phil Simmons as head coach.”We are thrilled to be a part of the GT20 here in Canada and assisting Toronto Nationals with setting up the roster and providing them our full coaching staff in the upcoming season,” Lahore Qalandars owner, Sameen Rana said. “In our responsibility, we will help the franchise to achieve their winning ambitions in the league. The deal is a first of a kind and it is initially for a season and we will see how it goes.”For us, it could also serve as a talent scouting on some unseen players from associates countries. Who knows we could find another Tim David out of another associate country who outshines and become a part of a bigger cricket ecosystem.”The GT20 returns after a four-year gap. The first two seasons took place in 2018 and 2019, but following payment disputes and the Covid pandemic, the league has not been held.The tournament has since undergone a revamp, with the title holders Winnipeg Hawks and Edmonton Royals not part of the competition anymore. Their places have been taken by Surrey Jaguars and Mississauga Panthers. Each team has included two marquee players and three Canadian players from the national side, as well as three emerging Canadian players, and four players from Associate countries in their roster of 16 at a cost of US $579,500.The GT20 will resume on July 20, with the final scheduled for August 6.

Home side take handy first-innings lead despite being reduced to 129 for 7

ECB Reporters Network08-Apr-2022Rob Keogh and Gareth Berg rescued Northamptonshire with a century stand for the eighth wicket to give their side the edge against Gloucestershire at Wantage Road. The pair came together with Northants stumbling towards a sizeable first-innings deficit after James Bracey’s hundred had engineered the visitors’ recovery to 223 all out.Wicketkeeper Bracey showcased his all-round skills with five dismissals as Gloucestershire reduced their fellow LV= Insurance County Championship Division One newcomers to 129 for 7 in reply. But Keogh, who compiled his 12th first-class ton before falling for 113, shared a partnership of 137 with Berg, who made 66, to guide Northamptonshire to 288 – and there was still time to make inroads second time around, with the West Country side closing on 5 for 1, a deficit of 60.Resuming on 77 not out overnight, Bracey found a capable ally in Naseem Shah – the Pakistan international frustrating Northamptonshire’s bowlers while his partner steered the total towards 200. Successive cover boundaries off Ben Sanderson brought Bracey his century and he followed that up with a savage six over long-off, prompting Naseem to start cutting loose at the other end.A series of productive blows against Keogh extended the ninth-wicket partnership to 80 before the spinner finally got his man, Emilio Gay judging a skier perfectly to take the diving catch at mid-off.James Bracey played pretty much a lone hand for Gloucestershire•Getty Images

Bracey holed out to Nathan Buck in the next over – but he was soon back in the thick of the action, donning the gloves to take a thin edge from Ricardo Vasconcelos in the third over of Northamptonshire’s reply. That was the first of a trio of early wickets for Ryan Higgins, who then collected two in three balls as Ben Curran and Saif Zaib fell to slip catches to leave the home side wobbling at 24 for 3.Gay appeared to have weathered the storm, only to depart on the stroke of lunch and, despite losing a further three wickets in the afternoon, Northamptonshire rattled along at a lively four an over. Bracey accounted for all three, two of them sharp low catches to dismiss Lewis McManus and Tom Taylor, but Berg was reprieved when Higgins’ no-ball nullified his mistimed pull into midwicket’s hands.The veteran allrounder took full advantage with some bold strokeplay, turning the tide as he and Keogh got on top of the bowling and shepherded their side beyond Gloucestershire’s total. Keogh went to three figures with an all-run four off Higgins and, although a misjudged sweep off Zafar Gohar eventually accounted for Berg, he advanced to 113 before Ben Charlesworth had him caught in the slips.

Captain says both Rohit and Ishant could’ve been in rehab in Australia to be ready for Test series

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Nov-20202:15

No idea why Rohit wasn’t on the flight to Australia – Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli has said that the entire episode surrounding Rohit Sharma’s injury has been “very confusing”, exacerbated by a “lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity”. Speaking on the eve of India’s ODI series opener against Australia, Kohli said that ideally both Rohit and fast bowler Ishant Sharma should have been in Australia to complete recovery from their respective injuries which would have allowed them to play in the Test leg of the tour.Both players were ruled out of the first two Tests of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which is scheduled to start with the day-night Test in Adelaide on December 17.ALSO READ – Monga: Rohit injury debacle – Should we get used to players prioritising IPL over bilateral series?Speaking on the situation around Rohit’s injury, Kohli said that initially the senior batsman was ruled out when the squads for Australia tour were picked in October.”Before we had the selection meeting in Dubai, we had got an email two days before that, which said that he is unavailable for selection [as] he has picked an injury during the IPL,” Kohli said at the virtual media briefing on Thursday in Sydney. “And it mentioned there was a two-week rest and rehab period. The pros and cons and the implications of the injury has been explained to him and he understood that. And he was unavailable for selection. That was the information we got on mail before the selection meeting. After that he played in the IPL, so we all thought he would be on that flight to Australia, which he wasn’t. And we had no information whatsoever on the reason on why he is not traveling with us.”Rohit Sharma injury timeline•ESPNcricinfo

Having sat out four matches for the Mumbai Indians during the league phase of the IPL, Rohit made a successful return and made a half-century in the final to help the Mumbai Indians clinch an unprecedented fifth IPL title. However, he was not part of the Indian contingent that flew directly from Dubai to Sydney on November 11.Instead, Rohit returned to Mumbai to cater to what ESPNcricinfo understands were personal reasons. Last week he flew to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to work on his fitness. Incidentally, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had told , an Indian magazine, that Rohit had been “70% fit”.According to Kohli, the Indian team management was recently informed that Rohit would be next “assessed” on December 11 at the NCA, six days before the first Test. “And after that the only other information officially we have received on mail is that he is in the NCA and he’s been assessed and he’ll be further assessed on December 11. So from the time that the selection meeting happened to the IPL finishing now, when this email came about his assessment at the NCA, there has been no information, there has been lack of clarity. We have been playing the waiting game on this issue for a while now, which is not ideal at all. So, yeah, it’s been very confusing. There has been a lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity around the situation.”‘Would’ve been helpful if Rohit and Ishant did rehab in Australia’
Kohli also agreed that it would have been ideal for both Rohit and Ishant to complete their rehab in Australia, similar to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha’s case. Saha, who was originally named in the Test squad, hurt both his hamstrings in the first week of November, while playing for the Sunrirsers Hyderabad in the IPL. However, the selectors retained Saha after receiving the nod from the BCCI’s medical team, which was confident that he would regain fitness in time for the Test series, where he is one of the two wicketkeepers along with Rishabh Pant.”Yeah, [it] definitely would have increased the chances of both of them playing Test matches,” Kohi said. “Someone like Saha, who also had an injury during the IPL and is here and doing rehab with the team, so we are aware of his progress and he is on the right path to make sure that he is fit and available in time to play the Test series. And same would have been the case with Ishant and Rohit as well – it would have given them a chance to get themselves fit and be available for the start of the Test series.”Yeah, right now there is so much uncertainty on whether they are going to be able to make it, if they are going to be able to make it at all or not. It definitely would have been very helpful in them getting fit if they were here and doing the rehab just like Saha is with the team to get fit for the Test series.”

After their win over Pakistan in UAE, New Zealand have a chance to scale Test rankings’ summit if they topple Sri Lanka

The Preview by Madushka Balasuriya13-Aug-2019

Big Picture

Sri Lanka won their last Test assignment – it was a historic one too – in South Africa, but so much has happened since. New Zealand have had a different kind of high, and a heartbreak to boot, at the World Cup, but are determined to move on and make a fresh start in Sri Lanka, with the Tests part of the World Test Championship.What’s certain is they won’t underestimate the hosts, even though they are yet to emerge from their forever-rebuilding state, under another interim coach. In Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, and Henry Nicholls they have a middle order more than capable of batting Sri Lanka out of the game. To bolster their batting unit, they have also recruited former Sri Lanka batting coach Thilan Samaraweera for the duration of the series.Sri Lanka are coming into the series on the back of a comprehensive ODI series whitewash over Bangladesh. Prior to that, they finished a World Cup campaign that was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. All of it has taken place in the midst of constant backroom turmoil, culminating in head coach Chandika Hathurusingha being replaced in the interim by fast-bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake.Yet, this Sri Lanka side under Dimuth Karunaratne has shown considerable mental resolve in recent months, especially with their batting, and while most teams would be unsettled by the loss of a coach days before a series, not many sides are as practiced at compartmentalising such chaos as Sri Lanka.All things considered, though, New Zealand certainly have the edge. Yes, Sri Lanka have beaten South Africa and Australia at home in recent years, but that was with the assistance of the now retired Rangana Herath, and the injured Dilruwan Perera. Sri Lanka’s spin-bowling future in Tests still has heavy question marks around it. New Zealand meanwhile are coming on the back of five consecutive series wins, and it would take brave man to bet against them making it six.

Form guide

Sri Lanka WWLDL (last five completed matches, most recent first)New Zealand WWWDW

In the spotlight

This will be Sri Lanka’s first Test at home since Rangana Herath’s retirement. There had been a succession plan in place in the shape of Dilruwan Perera, but with him also out injured, Sri Lanka have suddenly lost some 378 wickets worth of spin-bowling experience on home soil. This puts the pressure squarely on Akila Dananjaya to carry Sri Lanka’s spin attack on what should be a fairly accommodating Galle surface. While Dananjaya only has 27 Test wickets to his name, 17 of which have come at home, they have come in just five Tests. This will be his first outing in the longer format of the game since he remodelled his action earlier this year.Left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel was instrumental in New Zealand’s away series win against Pakistan last year, and despite having just the five Tests under his belt, he impressed in the warm-up game, where he walked away with a five-for on the only day play was possible. Visiting spinners have also had a fair bit of success in Sri Lanka recently, and Patel and co. will have studied closely.

Team news

Sri Lanka are set to welcome back Dinesh Chandimal, dropped for the series in South Africa because of poor form, and Angelo Mathews, who missed the South Africa tour because of an injury. New Zealand, meanwhile, could field three frontline spinners, with Todd Astle missing out.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 2 Lahiru Thirimanne, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Kusal Perera, 7 Dhananjaya De Silva, 8 Lasith Embuldeniya, 9 Akila Dananjaya 10 Lakshan Sandakan 11 Suranga LakmalNew Zealand (probable): 1 Jeet Raval, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Ajaz Patel, 9 Will Somerville, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Tim Southee

Pitch and conditions

Galle pitches usually favour spin, so expect the same this time too. Given rain is forecast right through the Test, there’s every chance of a five-day affair, unlike recent Tests that have finished early. If it does go there, both sides will want to be bowling on a deteriorating deck, so winning the toss and batting first would be the obvious choice.

Stats and trivia

• If New Zealand win this series 2-0 they will become No.1 ranked Test side in the world for the first time in their history
• Teams winning the toss have batted first in 27 of the 32 Tests played here
• Kane Williamson’s 968 runs against Sri Lanka at 80.66 is the most he has scored against a single opponent
• Galle is one of only four venues where a single bowler has more than 100 wickets (Lord’s the only non-Sri Lankan venue in the list).
• Tim Southee is six wickets from becoming the second-highest wicket taker in bilateral Tests between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Muttiah Muralitharan is the highest.

Quotes

“We were too attacking perhaps in our last game here. We couldn’t for example stop the flow of runs. Now we have plans to move forward and all the spinners are in good shape.”
“The guys that are here were part of a fantastic series in the UAE where spin bowling was the dominant art. They are really looking forward to the opportunity in another country where the conditions will be slightly different again.”

According to a statement released by NZC on behalf of his wife Lady Dianne Hadlee, he has undergone surgery to remove a tumour, and ‘has made an excellent recovery’

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jun-2018Sir Richard Hadlee has been diagnosed with bowel cancer. According to a statement released by New Zealand Cricket on behalf of his wife Lady Dianne Hadlee, he has undergone surgery to remove a tumour.”Last month, Richard had a routine, 3-year colonoscopy, and we discovered that he has bowel cancer,” the statement said. “He has since had an operation to remove the tumour. This operation went extremely well and he has made an excellent recovery from surgery.”As a safeguard, further treatment in the form of chemotherapy will commence shortly and last for a few months. It is expected that, in time, he will have a full recovery.”Hadlee, 66, is widely considered New Zealand’s greatest ever cricketer, and was one of the four great fast-bowling allrounders of the 1980s alongside Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev. He took 431 Test wickets – a world record at the time of his retirement – in 86 matches at an average of 22.29, and also contributed 3124 runs at 27.16.His performances were central to New Zealand’s rise as a serious cricketing power, as match figures of 7 for 130 and 10 for 100 in their first ever wins over Australia and England, respectively, would suggest. In all, he took 173 wickets at 13.06 in New Zealand Test wins.During his last tour of England, in 1990, he was knighted for his services to cricket.

Ross Taylor struck his 17th ODI century and Trent Boult produced 3 for 63, helping New Zealand scrape to a six-run, series-levelling victory against South Africa in Christchurch

The Report by Andrew McGlashan21-Feb-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRoss Taylor was the fourth New Zealand batsman to reach 6000 ODI runs•AFP

South Africa’s lower order threatened another heist, but Trent Boult gave a glimpse of why he went for big money in the IPL by holding his nerve to help New Zealand secure a series-levelling six-run victory in Christchurch. Dwaine Pretorius’ 26-ball fifty almost wrestled the game away from New Zealand until Boult got his yorkers on target in the penultimate over. He then cleaned up Pretorius to make amends for dropping him in the deep on 15.The win should have been much more comfortable for New Zealand when South Africa slipped to 214 for 8, but after Pretorius was shelled he kept finding the boundary. It came down to needing 20 off two overs when Boult, who had earlier claimed the key scalps of Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers but conceded 15 off his ninth over, only went for five runs of his last. Andile Phehlukwayo was unable to locate the boundary early in the last over bowled by Tim Southee – and did not trust Imran Tahir with the strike – as South Africa’s winning streak ended at 12.It meant that Ross Taylor’s record-breaking day did not come in vain. He became New Zealand’s leading ODI century-maker, and the country’s quickest batsman to reach 6000 runs in the process, while adding the innings-defining stand of 123 with Jimmy Neesham.While Boult earned a mega payday 48 hours ago, Taylor was not picked in the auction: his T20 cricket is not valued by country or franchise at the moment. His absence from New Zealand’s side has been a topic of much debate, but in the longer white-ball format he is playing as well as ever. He equalled Nathan Astle’s 16 centuries against Australia, at Hamilton, earlier this month and went one better off the final ball of the innings when he drilled Wayne Parnell through the covers.Taylor added 104 with Kane Williamson, their 11th century stand in ODIs, to set the base for the innings. Then, Neesham struck a timely 45-ball half-century which helped New Zealand add 89 in the final ten overs. The Hagley Oval pitch was slower than usual due to recent poor weather, so while five of the previous nine first-innings totals on the ground had been over 300, this one was more than workable.However with David Miller back after his finger injury and Phehlukwayo at No. 10 (Kagiso Rabada was ruled out with a knee niggle), South Africa’s batting order was even more imposing. But New Zealand kept chipping away. Southee produced an unplayable delivery to trap Hashim Amla lbw and Colin de Grandhomme nipped one back to defeat Faf du Plessis.JP Duminy was sent in at No. 4 ahead of de Villiers – for tactical purposes it was said – but having eased to 34 he was beaten in the flight by Mitchell Santner: a chance for a match-defining innings had slipped away. The same could be said of de Kock, for the second match running, after he had glided to his fifty from 59 balls before heaving Boult deep into the leg side.A hallmark of South Africa’s winning streak has been having someone in the top order take responsibility for an innings but that wasn’t the case in Christchurch. Miller, after his spell on sidelines, couldn’t quite find his timing before edging Ish Sodhi’s googly and de Villiers under-edged a pull against Boult in his first over back in the attack.Trent Boult and Tim Southee sealed the victory by executing their yorkers in the final overs•AFP

When Chris Morris was smartly run out by a back-handed flick from Dean Brownlie and Parnell lbw to Santner, there seemed very little chance for South Africa only for late drama. New Zealand would have struggled to recover if they had let this one slip away.It had not been easy going for them when they were put in. Tom Latham’s tricky run continued, softly clipping a leg-stump delivery from Parnell to square leg. It made his run in ODIs – since the 137 against Bangladesh on this ground – 2, 0, 0, 7, 4 and 22, potentially leaving him vulnerable when Martin Guptill returns from injury.There was caution from Williamson and Taylor at the start of their partnership, but Williamson broke the shackles when he bunted Phehlukwayo over wide mid-on at the end of the 19th over. The next 11 overs brought 73 runs – Williamson reaching his second fifty of the series off 59 deliveries – to leave New Zealand with a strong platform of 155 for 2 after 30 overs.The innings threatened to lose its way when Williamson picked out long-on against Imran Tahir and Neil Broom collected his second failure of the series to leave the onus very much on Taylor.The boundary that took him to fifty off 60 balls also brought up the 6000-run milestone and alongside Neesham, whose position had been coming under scrutiny, they ensured the wobble did not become a collapse. Neesham was the first to take on the bowling inside the final ten overs, which helped take the pressure off Taylor, as he took on Tahir’s last two overs and also played a blistering pull off Morris.Taylor began the final over on 95 but lost the strike off the first ball and only got it back with two deliveries remaining. A meaty swing at the penultimate ball sent it sailing towards long-on where Miller took a fabulous catch but, sliding round the boundary, thought he would touch the rope and flicked the ball back so it became two runs. The final ball of the innings was wide outside off and Taylor thumped it through the covers to wild applause from the sellout crowd. They were cheering again a few hours later.

James Faulkner predicts more feats of run scoring and further sobering times for bowlers in the second ODI between Australia and India at the Gabba, even though playing conditions have actually eased in favour of the fielding sides since last year’s World

Daniel Brettig14-Jan-20161:49

Being aggressive and taking wickets is objective – Faulkner

James Faulkner predicts more feats of run scoring and further sobering times for bowlers in the second ODI between Australia and India at the Gabba, even though playing conditions have actually eased in favour of the fielding sides since last year’s World Cup.Batting Powerplays were abolished three months after Australia’s players lifted the trophy at the MCG last March, but a preponderance of flat pitches, spring-loaded bats and powerful hitters mean that scoring has been only subtly affected by the change.Faulkner pointed out that the Gabba shared the WACA’s tendencies for fast scoring in ODIs, and expected something similar to the series opener when Australia reeled in India’s 309 with something in reserve, on a surface affording less assistance to the bowlers than the hosts had expected.”Everyone was quite surprised by the way the wicket played in Perth, it was very flat and we saw a lot of runs scored. I think any time you see 300 scored and chased it’s definitely a flat wicket,” he said in Brisbane. “I’m expecting the same sort of scenario here as well, I haven’t seen a one-day wicket that hasn’t been flat here for a fair while, so it should have good pace, carry and be a good contest again.”In general it’s a tough gig bowling in Perth and here. Runs can be scored so fast due to the pace on the ball, change-ups don’t grip as much as other grounds like the MCG and Canberra that we’ll see later in the series. Everyone got hit the other day so I don’t think you can single out one or two bowlers.”Commenting on the removal of the Powerplay, Faulkner said the ability of the fielding side to post five boundary riders was a relief. He also felt it meant that batsmen were less likely to contrive their innings by playing within themselves before the chance to hit into unmanned expanses of the outfield caused them to switch to and overtly aggressive posture.”I did notice a change,” he said. “The big change was the overs leading into the old Powerplay where batters tended to milk it around and stay in and then use that as a launching pad. That was a dangerous time for any team batting, if you lost a wicket before that five-over period it could really halt your momentum.”Likewise if you didn’t lose a wicket you could really set up a big total. I like the new rules, it goes back to five in the last 10 and it’s still a massive challenge for the bowlers, but it’s a bit more normal instead of players milking it around before.”While admitting he was trying to “avoid” taking in too much of the Big Bash League while on Australian duty, Faulkner indicated that Australia’s players felt no more pressure to be entertainers than they usually are under their coach Darren Lehmann’s desire for attractive cricket.”Every time you go onto the ground you try to entertain, I don’t think you specifically go out there and think ‘I want to put on a show’, it’s more worrying about what you can do to contribute to the team,” Faulkner said. “The revolution in T20 cricket and how successful the Big Bash has been this season with the crowd numbers that have attended and also on TV, it’s only going to get bigger.”It’s an exciting time for cricket in general, you’re seeing a lot more high scores in the one-day format as well. That’s entertaining enough.”