Sports
Foakes brings back memories of a painful series loss
by Rex Clementine
Who is your favourte England wicketkeeper? Godfrey Evans, Jim Parks, Alan Knott, Bob Taylor, Bruce French, Jack Russell and Alec Stewart have all had their moments and left an indelible mark in the sport. But the gloveman to impress us most in recent years is Ben Foakes. The Surrey keeper has made a comeback into the England side in the ongoing Test series against India.
Foakes debuted against us in that 2018 series. He was in Galle only to make up numbers we thought. But injury to Jonny Bairstow meant that he was a last minute replacement. The Sri Lankan camp was perhaps relieved for Bairstow was a proven player and obviously a rookie like Foakes would struggle on debut that too in Galle where conditions for wicketkeepers in particular are demanding.
But how well Foakes adapted. First there was a hundred on debut and then he showcased his neat glove work. He was Man of the Match as England won in Galle. Subsequently when Bairstow returned, the gloves weren’t taken away from Foakes. He was retained and made quite an impact effecting ten dismissals and scored 277 runs, most by a batter from either side. That won him Player of the Series award. How did his opposite number Niroshan Dickwella fare – eight dismissals and 128 runs! You expected much more from Dickwella, given his experience and that he was playing on home turf. Not to be so.
Not that Foakes’ batting was exceptional like that of Adam Gilchrist’s when the Aussies were here in 2004 or similar to that of Andy Flower’s when Zimbabwe toured Sri Lanka in 2001.
Foakes’ batting was effective as he stitched some valuable partnerships with the tail and was spot on with his recommendations to the captain with reviews. Dickwella on the other hand was awful with his reviews. Often, Sri Lanka found that their reviews were exhausted even before Rangana Herath, their best bowler came into the attack.
Foakes survived several chances as Sri Lanka had run out of reviews and were not in a position to overturn a decision. He made Sri Lanka pay, dearly.
Sadly, the team failed to address their review problems throughout the series. Dickwella was too impulsive with his calls and a vital aspect of the modern game was dismayingly overlooked. The press brought up the issue with the coaching staff, but flimsy excuses were given and the burning issue was buried under the carpet. The result, Sri Lanka suffered a humiliating 3-0 whitewash.
Dickwella’s horror reviews played a pivotal role in Sri Lanka losing all three Tests. The Head Coach was more worried that his bowlers weren’t creating opportunities. He was wrong. The bowlers were creating enough chances but there were umpiring errors. Sri Lanka simply didn’t have the means to get decisions in their favour for their keeper had busted all reviews too early in the innings. It wasn’t smart cricket at all. No body could get the keeper to reign in his instincts.
When Dickwella first came into the side, a bright future was predicted for him. He had good pedigree as Trinity College had won several titles under his captaincy including the Big Match. The sight of him unafraid and prepared to scoop Kagiso Rabada’s 150kmph thunderbolts were further proof that here was a special player. There were sparkling cameos but not match winning ones. The early promises remained unfulfilled although his keeping was largely flawless.
In fairness, the selectors, the team management and captain Dimuth Karunaratne gave him the long rope hoping that he will turn a corner soon as they had invested on him quite heavily. However, the patience ran out when the team toured New Zealand not so long ago and Dickwella was eventually dumped. Today he is not able to represent the country in any format. His was another case of talent not making the most. There are many of them that have gone down the drain.
In Dickwella’s case in particular it is quite puzzling that he could not get his act together. To start with he is a smart young man and represents a club where players have largely remained grounded. The culture at NCC is such that they mentor their players well. Club stalwarts like Ranjit Fernando and Leo Wijesinghe are father figures while former captains like Ranjan Madugalle, Aravinda de Silva, Hashan Tillakaratne and Kumar Sangakkara are ever willing to help young players. Sadly, they missed out on Dickwella.
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
