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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have named three debutants in the squad to tour Bermuda in July

Cricinfo staff08-Jun-2010The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has named three debutants in the squad to tour Bermuda in July. Swapnil Patil, Saqib Shah and Tahir Butt join the team that will play a four-day Intercontinental Shield match, two 50-over games and a T20.Khurram Khan will lead the side that also includes Mohamed Tauqir, who has recovered from the broken finger he suffered against Uganda in January. The UAE is currently third in the Intercontinental Shield table, behind Uganda and Namibia, and needs to beat Bermuda to have a chance of qualifying for the final. Bermuda, having lost both its matches, is in last place.Squad: Khurram Khan (capt), Mohamed Tauqir, Abdul Rehman, Arshad Ali, Ahmed Raza, Saqib Ali, Shadeep Silva, Qassim Zubair, Amjad Javed, Saqib Shah, Swapnil Patil, Tahir Butt, Moiz Shahid, Naeemuddin Aslam.

Mitch McClenaghan agrees with Moody, but Varun Aaron feels the right decision had been made

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-20244:17

The Dhruv Jurel run-out – out or not out?

After the contentious lbw call that went in Dinesh Karthik’s favour in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) innings, there was another dismissal in the IPL 2024 Eliminator that divided opinion, when Cameron Green broke the stumps to run out Dhruv Jurel in the Rajasthan Royals (RR) chase.Green, the bowler, collected Virat Kohli’s throw from the deep, but may or may not have had the ball in his grasp while breaking the stumps. The TV umpire, Anil Chaudhary, however, concluded that Green was in control of the ball and gave Jurel out.Law 29.2.1.5 – dealing with “breaking the wicket fairly” – considers it a valid dismissal provided “that the ball is held in the hand or hands so used, or in the hand of the arm so used” to break the stumps. Since the pictures did not conclusively show Green in control over the ball, there was debate.Related

• 'Confidence will come right back' for Royals after Eliminator win, says Ashwin

• 'We needed a little bit more' – Faf du Plessis on the runs RCB failed to score

• Royals eliminate RCB to set up knockout against SRH

• Dinesh Karthik gets reprieve in contentious lbw call

*Talking about the above law, the MCC laws manager Fraser Stewart said: “The umpire must therefore determine whether the ball is ‘held in the hands’. In this instance, the umpire decided that there was just still pressure on both sides of the ball from both hands, albeit not the parts of the hand that would conventionally be used (palms & fingers). At the moment of impact with the wicket, parts of both hands are still touching the ball, applying just enough pressure to keep it in place. This was sufficient for the umpire to decide that the Law was satisfied and that the ball was being held.”ESPNcricinfo’s expoerts, however, did not entirely agree with that soon after the match finished.”I think there was contact when the wicket was broken, but it was with the wrist. And I don’t believe… we’ve always grown up without knowing the law, the actual wording of the law, we’ve always grown up understanding it’s [about] control. About controlling with the hand,” Mitchell McClenaghan said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “And you saw Cam Green’s reaction afterwards, he was on his knee and his head was down and there was no celebration. Even in his mind – and I could be wrong – I believe he thought he lost control.”Tom Moody also felt the visuals were inconclusive, and Jurel deserved the benefit of the doubt.”The key word is ‘held’,” he said, referring to the law. “And I think when the stump lit up, the ball was not held in the hand. He lost control of the ball. Yes, it was in contact with his wrist/thumb, but there was no control of the ball. It wasn’t being held.”So, for me, that’s a huge grey area. I just don’t think you can give it out. That would’ve caused a storm with that decision, but just looking at the actual wording of the law, it’s very hard to give it out.”Varun Aaron, however, felt that the right decision was made.”I thought it was out. I understand sometimes you don’t hold the ball exactly properly, but if it’s somewhere in the vicinity of your palms, and he’s hit the bails, it’s just a matter of seconds and obviously Cam Green didn’t have the time to play the rule in his head,” he said. “I thought it was out. The umpire gave it out. It is debatable, it is something where people will have different opinions, but I just thought in that moment it was out. He somewhat had control over it, I won’t say he had 100% control over it, but there was control.”The decision did not make a difference to the result. Jurel’s dismissal had RR at 112 for 4 in 13.1 overs, but useful knocks from Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell gave RR victory over RCB with one over to spare. RR next face Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday, May 24 in Chennai at the second qualifier.*1525 GMT, May 23: The story was updated with a quote from Fraser Stewart

Qalandars romp home to a 110-run win to move to the top of the table

Danyal Rasool27-Feb-2023This was a match between Lahore Qalandars bowlers and Islamabad United’s batters. But really, it was no match between Qalandars’ bowlers and United’s batters. In the clearest statement of intent, Qalandars wiped the floor with the two-time champions, taking apart their bowling line-up, posting 200. But they’d saved the best for the second innings as they dismembered the most famed batting line-up in PSL history, ripping through them and skittling them out for 90. It is the joint second-heaviest defeat in PSL.After a pulsating victory over Peshawar Zalmi the previous day, Qalandars continued the momentum at home. Until 24 hours prior, it was unclear whether this city would be able to host any more PSL matches this year, but now that it’s confirmed they will, the defending champions appear injected with much more ruthless sense of purpose. Fakhar Zaman and Tahir Baig got them off to a more productive start than yesterday, compiling 56 in the powerplay.United plugged away to try and rein the Qalandars in, in front of another packed house in Lahore. Shadab Khan struck in his first over before Tom Curran removed Fakhar in the next to send both openers back. But Qalandars continued to hammer away with the bat. Sam Billings form gaves the middle order another dimension, and amidst an explosive stand with Abdullah Shafique, the game truly ran away from United. Both batters combined to plunder four boundaries in Shadab’s third over to up the ante, and Shafique followed it up by smashing Zeeshan Zameer for 18 in his second. Billings and Shafique added 71 off 39 balls and it set Qalandars up for an explosive finish.Sikandar Raza, David Wiese and Rashid Khan provided it. Abrar Ahmed went for 21 to herald the start of the death overs before Raza and Rashid bludgeoned 40 in 20 balls in a priceless late partnership to swell Qalandars’ score.David Wiese dented United with three wickets•PCB

For the first four overs, Qalandars were challenged by a characteristically slapdash start from Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Shaheen Shah Afridi began with a 14-run over – ten of those via wides – after which, Zaman Khan was walloped over cow corner for a huge six in the fourth over.Just as the chase appeared to be on track, Zaman dented United which led to a collapse. He dived to his left to dismiss Gurbaz in the last ball of the fourth over. Thereon, United imploded remarkably to lose their ten wickets for 49 with Qalandars overwhelming United with both the quality and quantity of their wicket-taking bowlers.Wiese broke the back of the line-up by taking three middle-order wickets – Colin Munro, Shadab and Azam Khan – to kill the contest. In the interim, Haris Rauf outfoxed Rassie van der Dussen with a lovely slower delivery.And they still had the small matter of Rashid to deal with. The Afghan was typically unplayable; his wily mix of topspinners, flippers and googlies were too much for United. Raza would add the icing on the cake with three wickets, including a run-out, in an over.With Lahore officially confirmed as the hosts for the playoffs and final, their grip on this trophy only appears to be tightening.

Stars and Heat have been severely impacted by Covid-19

AAP06-Jan-2022Big Bash League teams will move into a Melbourne hub while still playing home games interstate as part of a plan to combat the Covid-19 outbreaks that have hampered the competition’s schedule.Under Cricket Australia’s soon-to-be-announced model, all eight BBL teams will begin to take residence in a Melbourne hub over the final stage of the season.Some matches will be relocated to Victoria, while some teams will be able to host home games in a fly-in, fly-out plan to still play around the country.It’s understood chartered flights could be used for those matches outside Victoria in a bid to minimise contact with the public and the risk of further infection.Related

• Cartwright opens up on mental impact of BBL Covid-19 outbreak

• Brisbane Heat hit by Covid-19 cases forcing BBL into last-minute fixture change

• More Covid chaos hits BBL with Brisbane Heat game postponed

It comes as CA on Thursday postponed a third match this season, with Friday night’s clash between the Melbourne Stars and Adelaide Strikers the affected fixture.Stars were hopeful of having several of their 13 infected players return for the game, however, forcing them to travel to Adelaide and play immediately upon exiting quarantine was not deemed fair amid concerns over the mental and physical readiness after isolation. Stars’ players will need to be cleared by the club doctor before returning to action.It is the second Stars game to be postponed, as well as one Brisbane Heat match after there were 12 positive cases in their camp this week.Having all teams based in one city will allow organisers to swap the order of games if required, as was done on the Gold Coast this week after positive virus cases at the Brisbane Heat.”It’s very complex. We are gradually moving the teams into Melbourne,” CA CEO Nick Hockley told SEN. “We saw the other night we had a critical mass of teams in south-east Queensland, and we were able to rejig fixtures to keep going.”The last 10 days of the group stage of the competition, we will be gradually moving teams into Melbourne. They will still fly in and fly out for games in home markets. But if a team is impacted it gives us much more opportunity to swap teams in.”Hockley said his belief the competition could continue was based on outbreaks being “predominantly” in only two teams.While Brisbane’s game against the Sydney Sixers was postponed twice this week, the Heat set to take on Melbourne Renegades on Thursday night despite 12 players being unavailable.Stars have also had to use local replacement players with up to 12 of their own players out in the past week, in between the two postponements.Sixers and Strikers remain the only teams unaffected, with the Sydney Thunder, Hobart Hurricanes, Renegades and Perth Scorchers having players unavailable at times this season.However, Hockley insisted the integrity of the competition had not been damaged, with 22 regular season matches to be played plus finals.”While it’s not ideal, it’s great the level of commitment everyone is showing to the competition continuing,” Hockley said. “In every step we have prioritised the health and wellbeing of those involved. We have a clear plan now for the final run in. We are very confident we will be able to complete the competition fully.”Speaking after last night’s game against Adelaide Strikers, Matthew Wade revealed off-field restrictions have further tightened on BBL players this week.”Restrictions are certainly tightening up within Cricket Australia,” he said. “They’ve hammered down on restrictions again over the last 24 hours.”There’s not going to be much to do outside the hotel again. The bigger issue at the moment is that we’ve got Covid within the teams and we’ve been playing each other.”It’s starting to get tricky, this tournament.. we’ll try to keep the train on the tracks, but if it can’t be done, it can’t be done.”

Outgoing CEO will return to South Africa with daughters after ‘challenging time in England’

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2020Tony Irish, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), has stepped down from his role with immediate effect, and will return to South Africa for personal reasons.Irish, who is also executive chair of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), started his role at the PCA at the beginning of the year, but has struggled to settle with his family in England.In his absence, Daryl Mitchell, the organisation’s unpaid chairman, has been left to shoulder a significant burden as the game attempts to navigate its way through the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.Irish did return to his role briefly in June, initially on a shortened working week, but has since informed the PCA Board that the new arrangement is untenable.”It’s an honour to have served as chief executive of the PCA but it’s also been a very challenging time for me and my daughters in England,” said Irish. “I have made a decision based on what’s best for us as a family.”Rob Lynch, the PCA’s commercial director, has been appointed interim CEO, having joined the organisation in February after a stint as chief operating officer at Middlesex.”I wish Tony and his daughters the very best on their return to South Africa,” said Mitchell. “Tony has had a big influence on the management team, especially in these very testing times.”Having worked in our Oval office during the winter and an increased day-to-day involvement over the past few months, I have full faith in our excellent and dedicated team, led by Rob Lynch to continue championing the ongoing interests of professional cricketers in England and Wales.”Irish’s predecessor as PCA chief executive, David Leatherdale, was also obliged to take several months away from work due to a stress-related illness in 2018. As a result, Mitchell was left at the helm as the PCA negotiated pivotal issues regarding the Hundred and the new County Partnership Agreement.Recognising the huge workload taken on by Mitchell, the PCA recently announced the appointment of two new vice-chairs, Heather Knight and James Harris.Julian Metherell, the PCA non-executive chairman, added: “It is a great disappointment Tony has had to leave the PCA and I want to thank him for all of his hard work during incredibly challenging times.”Tony led the PCA expertly through the initial stages of the Coronavirus crisis which has caused many unforeseen challenges. I am pleased he can now fully prioritise his family, he departs with our understanding and we all wish him well for the future.”

Mahmood follows six-wicket haul against Northants to become first Lancashire bowler to take five wickets in successive List A games

ECB Reporters Network28-Apr-2019Saqib Mahmood became the first Lancashire bowler to take five wickets in successive List A games as his side overwhelmed Leicestershire by nine wickets in a one-sided Royal London One-Day Cup match at Emirates Old Trafford.Following his six-wicket return against Northamptonshire on Wednesday, Mahmood bagged 5 for 14 against a visiting team which contained five former Lancashire players. Leicestershire were bowled out for 80 in 37 overs, their lowest List A total against Lancashire, with only Harry Dearden and Ben Mike reaching double figures.Lancashire took only 19 overs to secure their facile victory, Haseeb Hameed making 29 not out and Steven Croft finishing unbeaten on 37 after the pair had put on an unbroken 73 for the second wicket. The only Lancashire batsman dismissed was Keaton Jennings who drilled a back-foot drive off Dieter Klein to the right of Mark Cosgrove at cover-point, only to see the Australian take a brilliant reflex catch.The conclusion of a game which had featured a dozen maidens but only one six was in sharp contrast to the beginning of the contest four-and-a-half hours earlier.Bowling straight and very quickly, Mahmood took his first wicket in the fourth over when he brought one back off the seam to have Cosgrove leg before wicket for a single. Next over he extracted enough bounce from the Old Trafford wicket to take the edge of Paul Horton’s bat and Jennings pouched the catch at first slip.Colin Ackermann was the next to go when he was bowled through the gate for two and Dearden followed for 20 in the twelfth over when he fished at a ball outside the off stump but only succeeded in giving a low catch to Jennings.Liam Hurt joined the party to reduce Leicestershire to 42 for 5, although Lewis Hill’s wild slash was not a shot he will recall with much fondness. Lancashire’s Dane Vilas was not complaining, though; he took the catch behind the stumps and decided to keep Mahmood bowling from the Statham End.Hurt then had Arron Lilley, another returning Lancastrian, caught down the leg side for a single, although the batsman’s disappointment at Paul Baldwin’s decision was evident. At that point Leicestershire were 46 for 6 and Mahmood was removed from the attack with figures of 7-2-12-4.Jimmy Anderson enjoyed his only success when Callum Parkinson edged him to Vilas but the England seamer clutched an outstanding one-handed diving catch at mid-on to give Mahmood his fifth wicket when Lewis Hill miscued a pull after batting 52 minutes for 18. That wicket fell three overs after the departure of Klein, who was caught at slip off Glenn Maxwell and the innings ended in the 37th over when Rob Jones bowled Gavin Griffiths for four to end his last-wicket partnership of 12 with Chris Wright.Mahmood, who took a career-best 6 for 37 against Northamptonshire, said he felt he needed to capitalise after Anderson had given him the choice of ends.”There was a bit in the wicket up top and I felt we put the ball in the right places,” Mahmood said. “I thought Jimmy would bowl from his own end but he gave me the choice, so I felt like I had to pull my finger out.”I’m just in that little bubble where games are coming thick and fast. Even when I was on four wickets, I wasn’t thinking about the fifth but when I got that I was thinking, ‘hang on, I could get another CB here,’ but that was the only time I looked forward. It was a good day all round.”The only gloomy note for the home side was struck when Matt Parkinson was forced to leave the field with an injured finger after stopping a fierce return drive from Mike. Parkinson damaged the webbing between the thumb and first finger on his left, non-bowling, hand and the injury was to be assessed over the next two days.The first innings of the match was watched from the balcony of the Hilton Garden Hotel by the Chelsea players, Eden Hazard, Gonzalo Higuain and Pedro Rodriguez, who had stayed overnight at Old Trafford before their game at Manchester United.

Gerhard Erasmus followed up his final-over heroics from a day earlier to partner Craig Williams for a 95-run sixth-wicket stand that set up Namibia’s 17-run win

The Report by Peter Della Penna13-Feb-2018ICC/Sportsfile

Batsman Gerhard Erasmus followed up his final-over heroics from 24 hours earlier with his second consecutive half-century, teaming with allrounder Craig Williams for a 95-run sixth-wicket stand as Namibia handed Canada their first loss of the tournament, by 17 runs at United Cricket Field.At a ground that has been a bowler’s paradise in the opening hour of play, Canada won the toss and unsurprisingly sent the hosts in. But they struggled to break through, as Stephan Baard and Lohan Louwrens survived the Powerplay with a 47-run opening stand. Navneet Dhaliwal, whose part-time medium pace ripped apart Kenya on Sunday, struck twice in the 12th over to bring Canada back.But Williams produced Namibia’s highest score of the tournament – 82 off 89 balls – before departing in the 48th over. Erasmus had been with him for much of the way, and once again took Namibia into the last over to forge a commanding total of 268.Ruvindu Gunasekera, the tournament’s top-scorer with 207 runs, continued his stellar run with another half-century. Dhanuka Pathirana and Dhaliwal steered the chase after Gunasekera’s departure, and with 87 to win with 10 overs to go and seven wickets in hand, Canada were favorites, given the United’s short boundaries.But left-arm medium pacers JJ Smit and Jan Frylinck bowled sensational spells to rip out Canada’s middle order. The pair bowled eight of the final ten overs and took four wickets. They were at their best in the final 12 balls. With 28 needed to win, Smit conceded six singles in the 49th. Frylinck began the final over conceding just two singles over the first three balls, effectively clinching victory.

Blistering half-centuries from Michael Papps and Tom Blundell helped Wellington chase down a 176-run target with an over and nine wickets to spare against Northern Districts

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2016
Scorecard
File photo – Michael Papps’ career-best effort helped Wellington chase down a stiff target with ease•Getty Images

Blistering half-centuries from Michael Papps and Tom Blundell helped Wellington chase down a 176-run target with an over and nine wickets to spare against Northern Districts in Hamilton. The two batsmen registered their best scores in T20s, and trumped BJ Watling and Corey Anderson, whose half-centuries had propelled Northern Districts to 175 for 2 after they elected to bat at Seddon Park.Papps, whose unbeaten 59-ball 80 contained seven fours and three sixes, dominated an opening stand of 53 off 5.4 overs with captain Hamish Marshall to set the tone for the chase. After Marshall was caught for 16 off right-arm pacer Daryl Mitchell, Blundell joined Papps for a massive stand. In fact, Blundell took over as the dominant partner, striking at over 160 for his unbeaten 69 off 43 balls. Legspinner Ish Sodhi impressed with returns of none for 18 from four overs.Like Wellington, it was a big second-wicket stand that drove Northern Districts’ innings. Watling and Dean Brownlie gave them a steady start through a 55-run opening stand in 7.5 overs. Once Brownlie fell for 35, Northern Districts went into overdrive with Anderson slamming six fours and five sixes. Though Watling (58 off 48) was run out in the 18th over, Anderson stayed unbeaten on 72 off 41 balls for a strong finish. Grant Elliott was miserly with his medium-pace that fetched him 1 for 22 in four overs.

Even though Sri Lanka began their post Jayawardane-Sangakkara on winning note against West Indies, captain Angelo Mathews admitted that his side’s tour of New Zealand will be their toughest tour so far

Sa'adi Thawfeeq26-Nov-2015Sri Lanka began their post Jayawardene-Sangakkara era on a winning note by defeating West Indies quite convincingly in the Test and ODI series, but captain Angelo Mathews admitted that his team will face their toughest challenge so far in New Zealand, later this year.”We played some really good cricket against the West Indies, we outplayed them in all three departments in all formats but it will be a completely different tour in New Zealand because conditions and the opposition are different,” Mathews said before his team’s departure on Thursday.”We have got to start off from zero, this is a bigger challenge for us because the weather is not going to be on our side, it will be tough and cold but it’s the mental aspect,” he said. “If we can get our mindset right we shouldn’t be too worried about the cold or anything else and make any excuses, we can just go on the tour and play to win.”New Zealand is a very competitive and strong team, not only at home but away as well. In the last couple of years they have played their best cricket. They are a very competitive unit right now, with a very good, balanced team of youth and experience and it’s going to be a tough ask for us to beat them. But I am pretty sure if we do our very best we can beat them.”Sri Lanka toured New Zealand last December and were thrashed 2-0 in Tests and 4-2 in the ODI series, at a time when Sangakkara was still playing and Jayawardene had yet to finish in ODIs. The present side is vastly inexperienced, with left-arm spinner Rangana Herath (65) and Mathews (54) as the only players with over thirty Test appearances.Mathews, however, believes that the level of experience is less important than the players applying themselves.”We are going to play some really good cricket and we expect to win,” Mathews said. “We don’t expect to go there and lose or compete, whether it is inexperience it doesn’t really matter. We had experienced guys in the last couple of years and we still lost to some countries over the years. It’s about applying ourselves, we are definitely not going to lose or compete it’s just a matter of taking up the challenge and doing your very best.”Especially in the Test line-up we have loads of newcomers and only a couple of senior guys in the batting who have played more than 20 Test matches. It’s going to be a tough tour but if we apply ourselves and take up the challenge I am pretty sure we can give New Zealand a good run for their money.”Mathews also refused to accept that batting was the weak point of his team. “We’ve got an inexperienced batting line up but skill-wise even the newcomers have scored a lot of runs. When it comes to Kithuruwan [Vithanage] and Udara Jayasundara – they have scored a lot of runs in New Zealand and they have a good feel of the conditions,” he added.Mathews also stated that Jerome Jayaratne, the interim head coach of the team, was working very closely with the batsmen by helping them ‘to counterattack and hang in there when difficult situations arise”.Mathews said that for practice, his team has been playing on tracks that will be similar to the seam-friendly wickets of New Zealand, but due to the weather and conditions it has been difficult for them to prepare those kind of pitches.”Even the pitches have been prepared in a way where the seamers have a lot of assistance. We’ve been training for the past two weeks on those tracks,” Mathews said. “We are trying to practice on surfaces similar to ones that we will get in New Zealand. You don’t get the ideal wicket because our weather and conditions but we have tried our level best to prepare wickets as close as possible where it helps seamers quite a lot and the batsmen have been batting pretty well on it.”Bowling is an area where the pacers have delivered for Sri Lanka but the inexperience shows. Sri Lanka’s pace quartet of Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal and Dushmantha Chameera have a combined total of 66 Test matches and captured 167 wickets compared to the experienced Herath, who has taken 293 wickets from 65 Tests and will be Sri Lanka’s key strike-bowler on the tour even though the conditions may not be to his liking.One of the main causes for Sri Lanka’s defeats in New Zealand was their poor catching and fitness. However, on this occasion they have addressed that area carefully with the help of their English trainer, Michael Main, who has put them through their paces and the results of it were seen in the recently concluded series against West Indies.Another key area Sri Lanka has worked on is removing the fear of failure, which the players had when Jayaratne took over as head coach for the West Indies series.”We talked a lot about it when it comes to dressing room atmosphere and the fear these individuals have,” Mathews said. “We tried our very best with Jerome’s help to make sure the players get rid of their individual doubts as well as play with a lot of freedom. He’s worked a lot with the support staff as well to clear the environment so that we are not afraid to do mistakes.”The coach has a very big part to play in the team and he has to get involved in making the players mindset right, trying to give them a lot of confidence and make sure they get rid of their individual fears. It plays a massive part in the team as well you feel the team environment is really good, the boys are very happy. You can still do mistakes but the fear of failure is not there.”Mathews then revealed that playing music in the dressing room has helped the team relax and keep the dressing room alive during a Test.”That is the fear that the individuals have, the fear of failure is something that each individual has and if you can cope with that, if you think you are not afraid to do any mistakes, less number of mistakes will occur. It’s just a matter of mindset and we tried to keep the dressing room alive by playing a little bit of music and keeping it relaxed and it has helped a lot. We introduced it initially in the Test series and it worked pretty well they are very happy and they are moving in the right direction.”Mathews was optimistic that if his team could come through in the New Zealand tour with a win it would have a massive impact on the players for the future.”We are quite an inexperienced team when it comes to Test cricket and also beating New Zealand in their conditions is very tough, not many teams have done that. If we can do that it will make a huge impact and create a lot of confidence in the group going forward,” Mathews said.

Bangladesh are in prime position to record a maiden victory in the country and square a series they seemed destined to lose

Firdose Moonda in Harare27-Apr-2013Three days ago, Zimbabwe were readying themselves to win consecutive Tests for the first time in 12 years. Now, Bangladesh are in a strong position to record a maiden victory in the country and square a series they seemed destined to lose.The turnaround has been as emphatic as it was unexpected. Bangladesh have put in an improved all-round performance, led by their strike bowler Robiul Islam and followed up through the senior batsmen.The playing field has levelled too, literally. Members of both camps confirmed a “much better” pitch in the second Test, compared to the one that was used in the first. The sideways movement and uneven bounce is gone. There is still something in it for the bowlers to make use of but an enterprising batsman can reap rewards.Shakib Al Hasan did so in both innings. He left well, accelerated at the right times and even though he gave his wicket away twice, he formed the spine the others needed. He would have been one of those that was chastened by the showing a week ago and took it upon himself to fix some of the failing of the first Test.”We were disappointed after the first Test, in all facets, but in particular our batting,” Corey Richards, the Bangladesh fielding coach, said. “We thought we had good plans and the guys wanted up to show how good they have been recently, because they were so good for us in Sri Lanka. So, they were pretty embarrassed and there was a general hunger to do better. Fortunately a bit of experience showed in Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim.”Bangladesh are 272 runs ahead and have five wickets in hand, which puts them in prime position to bat Zimbabwe out of the match. But they have been known to deal with expectation poorly in the past. This time, Richards said team management have a plan to ensure they are not overwhelmed.”Individually we’ve got what we feel is a goal-setting plan and the players have had a lot of buy-in to that,” he said “They are pretty simple and realistic goals and that makes it a lot easier to know where you are heading.”

Corey Richards on Robiul Islam

Bangladesh have the series’ leading wicket-taker to thank for muscling them back into contention. So far, Robiul has taken 14 wickets at 17.14 and is the only Bangladesh seamer to have consecutive five-wicket hauls. He has also bowled an entire day of overs on his own – his 90 overs amount to more than the rest of Bangladesh’s seamers put together and he has put his hand up to lead the attack in future.
“He missed the first Test in Sri Lanka and that fired him up to become our spearhead,” Richards said. “With a few injuries, he got his opportunity here. He is a little bit older and he has got the best first-class record of any of our bowlers. He knows how to get wickets and so far on this tour he’s put the ball in the right areas more often than not and that’s what you’ve got to do in these conditions.”
While Bangladesh will rely on him to secure victory in the match, Richards is aware that he needs careful management going forward. “Robiul’s efforts have been unbelievable. Yes, he has bowled a lot of overs but he has got a lot of energy and a lot of self-belief. And he has got rhythm. When you’ve got good form and rhythm the overs seem to come easily. We will need to look after to him tonight because there’s a big job for him to do in this match.
“In an ideal world, it’s not great for one of your strike bowlers to bowl lots and lots of overs but we’ve needed him to and he has done it. After this fourth innings, he is not going to have a lot of cricket for a while so he will have a break.”

The immediate one is to get “a lead of over 400,” Richards said. “Not too many teams in the history of cricket have chased over 400 but whatever we get from here on in will be difficult to get.”Stephen Mangongo, Zimbabwe’s interim coach, disagreed. “There is nothing to stop us batting one and a half days and chasing the target,” he said. The evidence of the last innings may contradict that statement. Zimbabwe batted 96 overs and their top-order lasted for fewer than 23 but Mangongo was confident they will rectify that in the second dig.”With have got faith in the top-order, that’s why they are in the team,” he said. “Some guys have been in the doldrums for some time and they are due for some runs. We are still in it big time.” Some guys like Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza are who he might be referring to and they have only a few hours to come up with a plan to negate Robiul.It could mean that Zimbabwe will have to depend on the middle- and lower-order, as they have so far, but they will take heart from knowing another of that lot has returned to form. Elton Chigumbura recorded his highest Test score and changed the course of the Zimbabwe innings by scoring quicker than the rest, something Mangongo has urged him to keep doing.”Elton is a strokeplayer and we want to give him the role of the enforcer – to liberate him and allow him to play his natural game,” he said. “When he came in yesterday evening with 15 overs to go, playing his shots, orthodox cricket people would have said he was mad. He looks like a fool when it doesn’t pay off but he is an attacking player and we want him to play that way.”Another member of the squad who has been urged to do what feels most natural is Shingi Masakadza. He opened the bowling with success and with Keegan Meth unable to bowl so far, he will have to play a major part in ending Bangladesh’s innings early. “Shingi was always out-and-out away swing bowler and someone who hits the deck hard,” Mangongo said. “He has been trying to get the ball to come in so we’ve gone back to basics. We’ve told him to run in, hit the deck and get the ball to move away and it’s working.”Not everything about Zimbabwe cricket is doing the same. After dominating in the first Test, they are scrambling in this one and they already seem to have a ready-made excuse if things don’t go their way. “We are building. We don’t have a team at the moment,” Mangongo said. “There are a lot of hungry players out there and we will only know who the best are when the guys put their hands up consistently.”