Sports
Batters give India women opening-day honours against England women
Impressive debuts from two young players at opposite ends of the experience spectrum led India to an impressive first-innings total on the opening day of their Test against England.
Satheesh Shubha representing her country for the first time, and Jeminah Rodrigues, playing her maiden Test after 113 white-ball appearances for India, both scored half-centuries on an accommodating pitch in Navi Mumbai as India posted 410 for 7, the second-highest total by a team on the opening day of a women’s Test behind England’s 431 for 4 against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1935, having bowled their opponents out for 44.
By midway through the first evening session of this four-day fixture, the hosts’ run rate hadn’t dipped below 4.5 per over. Yastika Bhatia and Deepti Sharma, with three Test caps between them heading into the match, also racked up fifties and each played roles in key partnerships – Bhatia with Harmanpreet Kaur, who fell agonisingly short of her half-century in a strange yet familiar run out, and Deepti with Sneh Rana.
Shubha’s selection was a surprise. She hardly played for Railways this season amid a lack of opportunities after moving from Karnataka, but was picked up by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the WPL. And the 24-year-old left-hander gave more than a glimpse of what her franchise can expect as she eased to 69 off 76 balls, coming in at No. 3 with her side 25 for 1 after they chose to bat.
Smriti Mandhana, dropped on 5 by Tammy Beaumont running back from short leg to catch a top edge that ballooned straight up in the second over, managed just 17 before she chopped onto her stumps off Lauren Bell. Kate Cross then sent Shafali Verma’s off stump cartwheeling with a delivery that moved away just enough to beat the bat, leaving India 47 for 2.
But then Shubha and Rodrigues settled into a 115-run partnership that not only steadied the innings but kept the home side scoring at an impressive rate, the 23-year-old Rodrigues finding the gaps seemingly at will as Shubha looked right at home. When the latter cut Cross through backward point with ease, using the pace of the ball for one of her 13 fours, a half-century was just one more stroke away. She produced that three balls later, driving so sweetly down the ground it looked like she had been doing this forever.
Heather Knight couldn’t cling onto a sharp chance to her right at slip that would have given Sophie Ecclestone her first wicket of the match when Shubha was on 51. That was the last ball before lunch and the India duo picked up where they left off after the break until Ecclestone broke through to remove Shubha, who picked out Nat Sciver-Brunt at short midwicket.
Rodrigues forged ahead, bringing up her fifty with the first of two fours in three balls, a beautiful off-drive off Bell. Back-to-back boundaries off Ecclestone followed next over for Rodrigues, driven through the covers and swept fine, but she eventually fell to Bell in a moment of indecision that left her neither playing forward nor back and bowled between bat and pad.
Bell put down a sitter to let off Bhatia on 15, her top edge off Charlie Dean looping up but going through Bell’s hands as she ran in from mid-on. Bhatia and Harmanpreet’s union for the fifth wicket was unbroken on 71 at tea, India having scored 125 runs in the afternoon session.
They bettered Shubha and Rodrigues’ stand by one off the same number of balls (146) before Harmanpreet was run out right when she should have had an overthrow to bring up her half-century. Having pushed the ball towards covers, she set off but had to turn back. As Danni Wyatt hit the stumps direct with an underarm throw, Harmanpreet’s bat got stuck in the pitch just short of her crease. The dismissal went from the realms of bizarre to ignominious given that she had been run out in a similar way in India’s T20 World Cup semi-final loss to Australia in February.
Bhatia produced some wonderful drives and rammed home her authority on the innings with the first six of the match, pulling Lauren Filer over deep-backward square leg to bring up her fifty. But Bell made up for her earlier mistake when she held a catch at mid-on to give Dean the wicket she should have had earlier and send Bhatia on her way.
Rana was off the mark immediately, turning Dean through fine leg for four on the next ball and she settled into a 92-run partnership with Deepti, who produced nine fours and an emphatic six off Ecclestone over wide long-on. England’s bowlers lacked penetration and their tiring fielders were left to rue those missed chances. Then Deepti brought up her third fifty from as many Test matches with a four off Bell through square leg late in the day.
That was before Sciver-Brunt ripped out Rana’s leg stump, and Pooja Vastrakar negotiated a tense final over from Ecclestone as the opening day of the first women’s Test hosted by India since 2014 and England’s first on these shores since 2005 ended up very much in the home side’s favour.
Brief scores:
India 410 for 7 in 94 overs (Satheesh Shubha 69, Jemimah Rodrigues 68, Yastika Bhatia 66, Harampreet Kaur 49, Deepti Sharma 60*, Sneh Rana 30; Lauren Bell 2-64) vs England
(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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