Sports
Bumrah cameo and three-for make it India’s day amid rain breaks
India had the best of a stop-start day, adding 78 with their last three standing wickets and then taking four England wickets by the time they scored 78. On a day that only 39 overs were possible because of rain, India placed one hand firmly on the Pataudi Trophy, to secure which they needed merely a draw.
After Ravindra Jadeja completed his third Test century, India’s first out-and-out fast-bowler captain (Kapil Dev was an allrounder), Jasprit Bumrah broke a record held by Brian Lara, along with George Bailey and Keshav Maharaj, even before he came on to bowl, scoring 29 in a 35-run over from Stuart Broad, both a world record for most runs by a batter in an over and the most expensive over in Test cricket.
After adding 41 for the last wicket with Mohammed Siraj, Bumrah went on to take three wickets in his first spell, broken by rain breaks that helped him bowl seven overs on the trot. With India leading by 332 runs and only five England wickets standing at the end of two days, this Test was fast headed towards a territory from where only one team can win.
Jadeja began the day 17 short of a century, but showed no hurry to get there as he kept farming the strike with Mohammed Shami for company. He got to the landmark just before the second new ball became available with England trying short balls against Shami. It looked like a ploy used when waiting for the new ball, but it brought Shami 16 runs before he ramped Stuart Broad straight to fine third man in the last over of the old ball. Against the new ball, Jadeja tried to attack James Anderson but was bowled.
What followed is hard to decipher. At 375 for 9, with three-over-old ball, Broad began bowling short at Bumrah with a strong field square and behind on the leg side and no slip in place on the off side. It was almost like England had erased Lord’s from their minds where Bumrah and Shami made them pay for their short lengths. To make matters worse, Broad bowled five wides and also a no-ball that flew off the top edge for a six. Also Bumrah drove a full toss through the vacant mid-on region, top-edged another four and smacked clean another hook for a six. With one four through midwicket, Bumrah himself landed on his back but middled the shot. The only consolation for England was that Anderson ended the India innings with his 32nd five-wicket haul in Tests.
An absolutely torrid examination followed for England’s batters. Under overcast skies, Bumrah found just enough movement and never faltered in his length. To make it worse, he got two rain breaks in his first spell, much like Anderson got one to prolong his afternoon spell on day one.
Two of Bumrah’s three wickets came off the seventh and eighth balls of the over at a time when batters might have had reason to be thankful they had played an over out. No, said the third umpire, calling no-balls just in time. Alex Lees failed to cover the angle on a delivery from around the wicket, getting beaten so comprehensively he got both lbw and bowled to it. Of course, bowled takes precedence in such cases.
Both Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope played forgettable shots to get out, driving away from the body to balls that were not nearly full enough. Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer caught them in the slips.
In the final one hour, Shami turned up the heat, constantly troubling Root, which probably drew some loose shots from him. Root tried many tricks to steer Shami off his length, but Shami was persistent. He drove away from the body, he walked at Shami, he shuffled outside the line, and just about survived that Bumrah-Shami interrogation when Mohammed Siraj came on half an hour before stumps.
For that whole over, Root kept trying to late-cut Siraj, but the movement off the pitch kept cramping him up. It was the wobble-seam ball that tends to go like an offcutter for Siraj that kept denying Root, and eventually the last ball of the over seamed in appreciably to take the edge through to Rishabh Pant.
Shami was rewarded for his persistence with the wicket of nightwatchman Jack Leach. Jonny Bairstow, who scored 394 runs at a strike rate of 120.12 against New Zealand, didn’t find anything to hit here and ended the day unbeaten on 12 off 47. That should tell you that a batter’s intent can’t regularly work independent of the quality of bowling and conditions. (cricinfo)
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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