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Graeme Swann has said slow bowlers who don’t attempt to give the ball a rip should be cast out of English cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Apr-2011Graeme Swann has said slow bowlers who don’t attempt to give the ball a rip should be cast out of English cricket. As a devotee of the hard spun off-break, Swann has grown to become perhaps the most accomplished finger spinner in the world, and had no time for ‘rollers’ who trotted up to the wicket and landed the ball with accuracy but no fizz.”They should be banished from the first-class game. It winds me up, if you are a spinner, spin the ball,” Swann told . “I have never, ever seen the point of bowling without trying to spin the ball. It’s been my bugbear that I have seen some young spinners come up who have got lovely control and land it nicely but don’t try to turn it. I really like watching the ball fizzing down. That’s why I always like watching Shane Warne bowl, [Muttiah] Muralitharan bowl, these guys who really try and spin it, these are the guys I really try to emulate.”Trying to spin the ball and actually turning it can be two quite different things, as hard pitches will often preclude a finger spinner from extracting much life. It is for this reason Swann rates his spell to Michael Clarke at the MCG during the fourth Ashes Test as the best of his career.”That’s the best I bowled for England, I hardly bowled a bad ball,” he said. “It wasn’t turning at all but I still managed to get a lot of drift and maintain pressure for the seamers at the other end. I regard that as my finest performance with the ball.”My role turned into very much a holding role, allowing the seamers to build up pressure at the other end. All I did was try and bowl dot balls. I thought aside from the Perth game [second Test] I was able to do that so I was very happy.”Ahead of Swann is a home series against India, the world’s No. 1 Test nation, and he had little hesitation picking out Sachin Tendulkar as an opponent of interest.”You make challenges within your own head. I always look at the team sheet beforehand and target the batsmen I want to get out and it’s always the best player, it gives me personal satisfaction getting the best players out,” he said.”Sachin Tendulkar is the best player the game has had in my lifetime so it’s always a pleasure to play against him. But hopefully I won’t get to bowl to him too much this year because that would mean Jimmy Anderson is doing his job at the top of the order.”

Pakistan continue to be dogged by injury-concerns in the lead-up to the World Twenty20, as Umar Gul and Yasir Arafat remain doubtful starters for the tournament that begins in the West Indies on April 30

Cricinfo staff12-Apr-2010Pakistan continue to be dogged by injury concerns in the lead-up to their defence of the World Twenty20 crown, as Umar Gul remains a doubtful starter for the tournament that begins in the West Indies from April 30.Gul, who was Pakistan’s top wicket-taker in the previous editions of the tournament, is yet to recover from a shoulder injury he sustained during the team’s rigorous preparatory camp in Lahore.”We are still awaiting word from the experts on Gul and that whether he would be able to play in the Twenty20 World Cup,” Shahid Afridi, the team’s captain, told the .”I hope he gets fit and manages to go with us to the West Indies. He is a top performer in Twenty20 cricket and has done a great job for the team in the last two World Cups. We would certainly need him in the West Indies because the conditions would really help him get a lot of reverse swing there,” Afridi said.Gul is currently the leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 cricket, with 43 wickets in 26 matches, and he was a key factor in Pakistan’s victory in the 2009 edition. He is not the only player struggling for fitness – batsmen Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam are nursing injuries while allrounder Yasir Arafat is laid low by a calf strain.Pakistan are slated to play Bangladesh and Australia in the league phase, on May 1st and 2nd respectively.

Nottinghamshire captain wary of looking too far ahead as they aim to depose three-time defending champions Surrey

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay23-Sep-2025The stage is set for one of the most memorable ends to a Rothesay County Championship season with the battle for the Division One title and relegation places still very much alive heading into the final round this week.Nottinghamshire put themselves in pole position to win their first title in 15 years after snatching a 20-run win over three-time reigning champions Surrey last week. It was a contest to highlight the very best of the Rothesay County Championship and leaves Notts needing a maximum of 10 points to be crowned champions when they host Warwickshire at Trent Bridge starting Wednesday.With excitement building in the east Midlands after their success at the Kia Oval, Notts captain Haseeb Hameed has warned they will still need to produce “four more days of quality cricket”.Related

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“We have to go into the game with that mindset and focus because Warwickshire are a really good team,” Hameed told ecb.co.uk. “I think you can see that across the whole County Championship this season – anyone can beat anyone. It has been a really tight and tough year and that’s probably why it’s so close at the bottom as well.”There are no easy wins in this division and we go into the final round knowing we have to play four more days of quality cricket.”Surrey have been the county to catch for the past four seasons as they have set the bar high for the chasing pack. They will draw on that culture of success as they look to become the first county, since the great Surrey side of the 1950s, to win four titles in a row when they travel to Hampshire.Rory Burns’ team know that anything other than a win will probably not be enough while Hampshire, who could welcome back talisman Liam Dawson from England duty, have plenty to play for themselves as one of five counties that head into the final round looking to avoid relegation.The south-coast club are just two points above Durham, who sit inside the relegation zone on 140 points, but the northern-most county do have their fate in their own hands as make the journey down the A1 to a Yorkshire team who need 10 points to be assured of staying up.Sussex and Essex both have 150 points and know avoiding defeat in their final-round matches against already-relegated Worcestershire and third-placed Somerset respectively would be enough to retain their place in the top tier.It sets the scene for an intriguing final round at both ends of the table and Hameed admits he’d have it no other way.”At the start of the season the goal of every team would be to put themselves in the position we’re in heading into the final round,” he said. “It’s a great position to be in, but there’s work still to be done and that’s the focus. There is going to be a bit of noise around and there will be some excitement I’m sure across the four days with everything that is going on at the top of the bottom of the division.”We just have to be ready to go on Wednesday morning and focus on doing what we’ve done in the 13 matches so far.”Hameed is not letting himself think about becoming a title-winning captain, after reviving his career since moving to Notts from Lancashire ahead of the 2020 season. The 28-year-old, who has 10 Test caps, scored 1235 runs when he helped Notts win promotion from Division Two in 2022 and could surpass that mark this week as this season’s second-leading runscorer.”I just want to lead from the front and do my job. I’ve been here five or six years now and it feels like home and I’ve enjoyed my cricket,” said Hameed, who also highlighted the influence of his opening partner Ben Slater, who could pass 1000 runs for the season this week.”It’s been great establishing an opening partnership with Slats. He’s had a great season and has loads of experience which is so important. But I come back to it – the whole team knows we have to focus on our job because Warwickshire are a quality team. I’d love to see a good crowd at Trent Bridge and hopefully we can make it a week to remember.”In Division Two, Leicestershire will head into the final round knowing the title – and a return to Division One for the first time in 22 years – is already assured. The Foxes’ star allrounder Rehan Ahmed, who has struck five Championship centuries in a breakout summer with the bat, was not born when they were last in the top-flight.Leicestershire make the short trip to Northamptonshire to round out their season while Glamorgan, who under head coach Richard Dawson have secured their place in Division One for the first time since 2004, will host Lancashire at Sophia Gardens.Kent welcome Derbyshire to the Spitfire Ground in Canterbury while Middlesex host Gloucestershire at Lord’s.

After grabbing 2 for 24 with the ball, Sciver-Brunt scored 31 with the bat to put 19-year-old Izzy Gaze’s fifty in vain

Valkerie Baynes29-Mar-2024Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone were devastating with the ball as England secured a clinical five-wicket win over New Zealand in their final T20I for a 4-1 series victory. The pair shared five wickets between them, with Sciver-Brunt making the early breakthroughs which had the home side reeling, and Ecclestone claiming three to ensure England faced a modest target.An unbeaten half-century from 19-year-old Izzy Gaze had earlier rescued New Zealand from 69 for 5. She shared a 56-run stand for the sixth wicket with Brooke Halliday, but in reply, Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight put on a 57-run stand of their own from 64 for 3 to bring England within touching distance of victory. The sides next meet in a three-match ODI series beginning in Wellington on Monday.

England’s devastating duet

Sciver-Brunt and Ecclestone returned to international duty in the fourth T20I after playing in the WPL. England won that match to take an unassailable 3-1 lead, and the duo made a massive impact in the fifth. Sciver-Brunt claimed a wicket with the fifth ball of the match, and had two in seven deliveries when she removed Bernadine Bezuidenhout and Amelia Kerr, as the hosts stumbled to 10 for 2 inside three overs.It wasn’t long before Charlie Dean, who finished as the series’ leading wicket-taker with seven, accounted for Suzie Bates. Ecclestone then entered the attack immediately after the powerplay to great effect for England. She had Georgia Plimmer caught by Danielle Gibson with her second delivery to make it 31 for 4, before taking a stunning return catch low to her left to remove Maddy Green just as New Zealand had started to breathe via a 38-run partnership between Green and Halliday.

Star Gaze-ing

Sophie Devine, ruled out of this match with a quad strain, had told ESPNcricinfo’s Powerplay podcast before the series that building depth in this New Zealand side would take time. Gaze, with a previous highest score of 16 in T20Is – and 26 not out from 26 international matches – shone a light on the future as she amassed 51 not out off just 28 balls. It was the first time in 27 innings that a New Zealand Women’s player other than Devine, Bates or Amelia Kerr had reached fifty in T20Is.Izzy Gaze finished on 51 not out off just 28 balls•Getty Images

Gaze helped herself to 16 runs off Sciver-Brunt in the 18th over via a particularly effective lap shot and a pulled six. Come the final over, Halliday fell for 33 to a strong catch by Alice Capsey, who ran in from long-on to give Ecclestone her third wicket. Ecclestone then dropped a sitter off her own bowling when Jess Kerr looped one high into the air in the swirling Wellington breeze, and Gaze brought up her half-century next ball. She reverse swept Ecclestone to the boundary to walk off unbeaten, her innings giving New Zealand’s bowlers something to defend.

England ease to victory

In a bright start to the run chase for New Zealand, Rosemary Mair conceded just one run off the first over. Maia Bouchier, the star of the previous match with her innings of 91, cleared mid-off to send Jess Kerr to the boundary off third ball of the second over. But Lea Tahuhu struck next over, as the ball swung away slightly and drew a thick outside edge which Gaze collected behind the stumps to send Bouchier back for 6.Gaze fumbled a chance to stump Capsey off Jess Kerr moments later, and it was Amelia Kerr, standing in for Devine as captain, who made the breakthrough when Capsey hit her straight down the ground and into the hands of Green for 25. Amelia Kerr then enticed Danni Wyatt down the pitch before Gaze whipped the bails off, with the batter well outside of her ground and England 64 for 3.But England were still looking comfortable with Sciver-Brunt and Knight at the crease. And when Knight survived a run-out chance before she hit double figures, the pair settled into a rhythm, building their fourth-wicket stand. They continued to capitalise on some wayward fielding until Amelia Kerr eased her side’s frustrations with an excellent wrong ‘un that rearranged Sciver-Brunt’s leg stump.Knight then sliced Mair to Jess Kerr in the covers with five runs needed off the last nine balls of the match, but there was no panic in the England camp as Sophia Dunkley cut Mair to the boundary to raise the winning runs with an over and a ball to spare.

Next course of treatment and rehabilitation will be discussed by Dr Dishaw Pardiwala, who conducted the procedure, and the BCCI’s medical team

PTI and ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2023Rishabh Pant has undergone a successful knee ligament surgery, conducted at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on Friday, BCCI sources have confirmed.”Rishabh Pant has successfully undergone a knee ligament surgery on Friday. He will be under observation. Further course of action and rehabilitation will be advised by Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala and followed by the BCCI sports science and medicine team,” PTI reported a BCCI source as saying.Pant was admitted to the hospital in Mumbai after being airlifted from Dehradun on Wednesday for intervention on one of two ligament tears in his knee. He was examined by doctors upon reaching the Mumbai hospital.Dr Pardiwala, the Head of Centre for Sports Medicine and Director of Arthroscopy & Shoulder Service at the hospital, had previously worked with Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja as well as with other athletes.