Sports
Deepti, Ghosh help India make it two in two
Deepti Sharma became the first Indian, male or female, to reach 100 T20I wickets as she set up India’s six-wicket victory against the West Indies in Cape Town on Wednesday (February 15). On a wicket aiding the slower bowlers, Deepti finished with excellent figures of 3 for 15 from her four overs to restrict the opposition to 118/6. India stuttered a bit in the chase but a 72-run partnership between Richa Ghosh (44* off 32, 5 4s) and Harmanpreet Kaur (33 off 42, 3 4s) helped them over the line with 11 deliveries to spare to make it two wins out of two.
Shafali set the tone for the chase by striking three fours off Shamilia Connell in the opening over and followed it up with a boundary off Chinelle Henry. The bowler was also hit for two more fours by Smriti Mandhana, returning to the playing eleven after missing the first game due to a finger injury. Mandhana’s stay, however, was a short one as she was stumped off Karishma Ramharack in the fourth over and Hayley Matthews took a sharp catch off her own bowling to send Jemimah Rodrigues back to the hut. A boundary for Shafali off Ramharack helped India end the powerplay at 41/2.
A tight over from Matthews followed and in her bid to up the ante Shafali became the third to depart as she slog-swept Ramharack straight to deep backward square leg. The onus was on Harmanpreet and Ghosh to stabilise India’s innings and the Indian captain, after a slow start, struck successive fours off Afy Fletcher in an over that yielded 16 runs. Just before that, Stafanie Taylor had to be stretchered off the field after injuring herself while throwing. Meanwhile, offspinner Ramharack continued to strangle India as she gave away only four runs off her final over to finish with impressive figures of 2 for 14, with India managing only 64 in the first half of their innings.
But Connell ended up going for nine in her second over, which included a boundary for Ghosh, while Harmanpreet swept a full toss from Fletcher for a boundary to bring the equation down to 27 off the last six overs. Fletcher was also guilty of not collecting a throw properly, which would have given West Indies the chance to run Harmanpreet out. The half-century stand was raised shortly after, with the fourth wicket pair pacing their partnership well, with plenty of singles and twos interspersed with boundaries. India crossed 100 at the start of the 16th over when Ghosh pulled Henry for a four. Ghosh then hit two fours off Gajnabi and despite Henry dismissing Harmanpreet and bowling a maiden, India’s wicketkeeper-bat finished it off with a four in the penultimate over off Connell.
Earlier, after opting to bat, West Indies were sluggish during the powerplay as they managed only 29 runs and also lost Matthews early in the innings. Pooja Vastrakar got the West Indies captain edging to the ‘keeper with a delivery that moved late, dismissing Matthews for the fifth time, as she started with a wicket-maiden. Vastrakar conceded only five runs from her first two overs and despite Taylor and Shemaine Campbelle managing a few boundaries, West Indies could not make the most of the fielding restrictions.
The second wicket pair did pick up pace as the innings progressed, managing regular boundaries and rotating the strike well, as they added 73. But the set batters fell in quick succession to Deepti – Campbelle fell to a reverse sweep, with Mandhana taking a diving catch, while India used to review to send Taylor back lbw. Chinelle Henry was run out soon after as West Indies slipped to 79/4.
Shabika Gajnabi and Chedean Nation struck a boundary each off Devika Vaidya in the 17th over, and the former also edged a Vastrakar delivery for a four. But she fell to Renuka Singh and Deepti added another wicket to her tally by having Fletcher bowled in the final over, as India conceded 36 in the last five overs to complete a tidy job with the ball.
Brief scores:
West Indies women 118/6 in 20 overs (Stafanie Taylor 42, Shemaine Campbelle 30; Deepti Sharma 3-15) lost to India women 119/4 in 18.1 overs (Richa Ghosh 44*, Harmanpreet Kaur 33; Karishma Ramharack 2-14) by 6 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]
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