Sports
Bumrah’s career-best 6-19 sets up India’s comprehensive win
A sizzling performance with the ball, led by Jasprit Bumrah’s career-best show, set up India’s comprehensive victory in the opening ODI against England at The Oval on Tuesday (July 12). Bumrah’s 6 for 19 was supported well by Mohammed Shami, who bagged 3 for 31 en route to becoming the joint third fastest to 150 wickets, as England were restricted to a paltry 110 – their lowest ODI total against India.
An unbeaten century stand between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan powered India’s reply, with the pair becoming the fourth to cross 5000 partnership runs for the opening wicket in the process. Rohit favoured the pull shot as he struck 6 fours and 5 sixes during his 58-ball 76, helping India register their maiden 10-wicket victory in ODIs against England.
Dhawan, who should have been run out of the first ball when Rohit took off after playing the ball to short midwicket, got off to a sedate start while the Indian captain was a bit edgy. But he got over it and started playing his shots, including a hook for a six off David Willey. Dhawan, who was on 2 off 17, got going with a couple of cover drives for boundaries off Reece Topley in the 7th over, and the bowler was also pulled for a four by Rohit as he conceded 16. The half-century stand – the 33rd fifty-plus partnership for this pair – was raised when Rohit pulled Craig Overton for two successive sixes in the 10th over.
Overton also tried bowling short to Dhawan, having struck on his finger on one occasion, but was pulled for a four this time. Dhawan, however, scored his first 20 runs at a strike rate of only 50 but Rohit was finding the fence regularly, welcoming Brydon Carse into the attack with a square drive for a four. Carse went up in a leg-before shout and an England review ensued but the umpire’s call went in favour of Rohit, who crossed 50 with dispatching a short ball from the same bowler for another six, bringing up his half-century off 49 deliveries. The openers registered their 18th century partnership before Rohit pulled Carse for another six while Dhawan finished it off with a four as India won with 31.2 overs to spare.
Earlier, on a pitch that had plenty of bounce and with some swing also on offer, Bumrah rattled England with early strikes, dismissing four of the top six, after England were asked to bat. Having had Jason Roy in trouble with a couple of deliveries swinging in sharply in the second over, he set the dismissal up well, bowling one slightly wide and the batter ended up inside-edging it onto the stumps. Joe Root probably expected the ball to swing in but it held the line and had some extra bounce and the No. 3 outside-edged it to Rishabh Pant. England were in more trouble as Ben Stokes also departed without scoring – the second occasion of three ducks among the top four for England in an ODI – when he got an inside edge to the ‘keeper while trying to defend Shami who came in from round the wicket.
Bumrah bagged his third, getting one to come in to Bairstow, having previously moved the ball away from the batter, and forcing an outside edge. Liam Livingstone also departed for a duck, getting far too much across and exposing his stumps, getting bowled by an in-swinging delivery from Bumrah. Hardik Pandya, who replaced Shami, nearly picked up a wicket in his first over when Jos Buttler rode the bounce and almost chopped it on.
Bumrah, given a fifth straight over, would have picked up the wicket of Moeen Ali had Pant not put down a tough chance down the leg side. Buttler and Moeen played their shots as they tried to build a partnership to resurrect England. They added 27 before Moeen, who played an uppish drive past Prasidh Krishna for a four, chipped a catch back to the bowler soon after. With Buttler getting out to Shami while playing the pull, and Craig Overton being bowled by the same bowler, England were in shambles at 68/8.
That they managed to cross 100 was thanks to a useful ninth wicket association between Willey and Carse. In terms of runs scored (35) and balls faced (41) this was the best partnership in the innings but it came to an end when Carse had no answers to a searing yorker from Bumrah. Topley struck a six off Yuzvendra Chahal but Willey (21), the second highest run-getter in the innings, was bowled by Bumrah, who registered the third best bowling figures for India in ODIs, as the hosts were bowled out inside 26 overs.
Brief scores:
England 110 in 25.2 overs (Jos Buttler 32, David Willey 21; Jasprit Bumrah 6-19, Mohammed Shami 3-31) lost to India 114/0 in 18.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 76*, Shikhar Dhawan 31*) by 10 wickets
(Cricbuzz)
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]
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
Rahuman questions sudden cancellation of leave of CEB employees
