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“You can be selfish in a Test match, nobody will say anything if you score a 300-ball century. But you can’t do that in this format.”

Mohammad Isam31-Aug-20221:44

Khaled Mahmud: ‘If we win the powerplay battle, we can win the match’

A day ahead of their must-win Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud has criticised his batters for their approach during the seven-wicket loss to Afghanistan. Having chosen to bat first, Bangladesh had struggled to 127 for 7, with their innings featuring just the one six.”Mosaddek [Hossain] hit the only six of the [innings] although it was a lucky one as the fielder caught it and touched the rope. But I would never blame him for that shot,” Mahmud said. “He had the intent to hit a straight six. I want to see the others at least trying. That’s all I want to see.”I don’t want to see them getting out after defending 15-20 balls. It is very hurtful. You can have 50 for 3 or 50 for 4, or 40 for no loss in the powerplay, but you can’t take pressure from both sides.”Mahmud went as far as to question whether the batters’ lack of attacking intent stemmed from their playing to cement their spots in the side. He had made a similar claim after Bangladesh’s 2-1 defeat to Zimbabwe in the T20I series earlier this month.”As long as you are playing for the team, everything will be in order,” he said. “If you fear for losing your place, you won’t be performing at the international level. You can be selfish in a Test match, nobody will say anything if you score a 300-ball century.”But you can’t do that in this format. You have to play fearless cricket. It means you can’t be afraid of losing your spot in the team. You have to show the intent. If you don’t, you have no right to stay in the team.”Mahmud said that the BCB was doing everything within its power to ensure the best training facilities for the batters, including flying in three legspinners – including Rishad Hossain, who has played for Bangladesh A, and one from Chennai – to help them simulate the experience of facing Rashid Khan. Despite this, he felt the batters hadn’t been able to lift their game.”It is difficult to find out if there was actually fear within our batters about [Afghanistan’s] spinners,” Mahmud said. “We brought on couple of legspinners, one of whom played in the IPL. We also had Rishad [Hossain] in the nets. We tried to help the team as much as possible on behalf of the BCB. But there’s a difference between training and matches.”It looks like we are unable to handle the pressure that comes in a match. The players have to find out ways to get out of this situation. To play well in T20s, we can’t really bat this way. Even against an ordinary bowling side, forget about Rashid and [Mohammad] Nabi. They have good technique but we have to improve the tactical part of our batting.”Bangladesh’s innings against Afghanistan included just one six•Getty Images

Apart from his own batters, Mahmud also found another target to swipe at in Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka. After Sri Lanka had lost the opening game of the tournament to Afghanistan, Shanaka had compared Bangladesh’s bowlers unfavourably with those of Afghanistan.”Afghanistan has a world-class bowling attack,” Shanaka had said. “We know Fizz [Mustafizur Rahman] is a good bowler. Shakib [al Hasan] is a world-class bowler. But apart from them, there is no world-class bowler in the side. So if we compare with Afghanistan, Bangladesh is an easier opponent.”In the days following Shanaka’s comment, Sri Lanka’s assistant coach Naveed Nawaz disagreed with him, while Bangladesh offspinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz refused to get drawn into the war of words. Mahmud, however, is known to be a feisty character, and he didn’t shy away from expressing his opinion.”I don’t know why Dasun made that comment,” he said. “Definitely Afghanistan has a better squad. He said we have only two bowlers in our line-up, but I don’t see any bowlers in Sri Lanka. At least Bangladesh has world-class bowlers like Mustafiz and Shakib. They don’t even have that.”It is not about the words. It is about how you play the game.”Mahmud suggested that both sides would have to handle pressure well to come out on top. Afghanistan have comfortably beaten both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, leaving the two more established Group B sides to fight for the one remaining Super 4s spot.”Sri Lanka are also under pressure, not just us,” Mahmud said. “I am hoping we will have a better time in Dubai’s conditions. It will be a tense match tomorrow. The team that handles the pressure better will have more chance of winning. Whoever wins the mental battle, will win the game. Skill, tactics and technique will take a backseat tomorrow.”

Proposed reduction of top-flight Championship matches would be damaging, says Surrey coach

Vithushan Ehantharajah22-Sep-2022On the day Surrey secured their 21st County Championship, head coach Gareth Batty urged the ECB to ensure the proposed changes to the domestic structure were for the better and not just to facilitate what he called “celebrity cricket”.Thursday morning saw the publishing of the men’s High-Performance Review, led by Andrew Strauss, which suggested a new-look red-ball structure with a top division of six teams, among 17 recommendations put forward. Around five hours later, Surrey had beaten Yorkshire by ten wickets to confirm themselves as winners of what could be the penultimate season of a 10-team Division One.The restructuring of the County Championship and changes to the T20 Blast are the only two of the 17 proposals that can be voted on and will require a two-thirds majority in a ballot of the 18 counties. Any changes agreed upon would only come into effect from 2024 onwards.Batty, in his first season as head coach, while appreciating the desire to look at the current set-up, is wary of alterations to the domestic game that may be done to create more space for the Hundred and franchise competitions. The proposed restructuring would reduce the number of top-flight first-class fixtures from 14 to 10, which he believes will cause English cricket to lose a unique point of difference.”I think it would diminish the emotion a little bit,” he said of the proposed cuts. “Because it’s built up for so long, and over that period of time there are lots of different emotions, and [they] end up being one big one once you get over the line, like today.”I think we’ve got to be very careful that we don’t lose too many games,” he added. “That’s our one positive, that we play an amount of cricket. Our England players hopefully don’t play that much, so they are fresh to play for England, but ultimately county cricket is here to serve an England team. We don’t want to miss any players by playing less and less and less, and getting it the wrong way round. A lot of Aussies, a lot of overseas players, want to come here and play cricket, because they don’t get as much.Related

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“I just hope that we’re doing it for the greater good of the game, not to keep celebrity cricket alive. I want it to be for the greater good of cricket.”Batty’s sentiments were echoed by Surrey’s captain, Rory Burns, fresh from marshalling a second successful Championship campaign in five seasons.”I personally think it would be too short. I don’t think there would be enough games to get the required result and integrity into a County Championship season,” Burns said. “All the scheduling stuff, and fixtures and those sorts of thing, it is a fine balance. County Cricket is essentially for the betterment of the England Test team and the England side, so yeah, I agree it needs to be looked at. But 10 is too few.”For now, though, Surrey can celebrate manoeuvring successfully through a schedule that had none of its usual rhythm. Burns noted the oddity of having to bide his time for these final four games of the season following the break in July as the Hundred took over the schedule for August. But they have maintained consistency throughout, and travel to Lancashire next week with an unbeaten record to secure.In another season, the use of 22 players in the Championship would have a feel of disarray. But with the odd injury and England call-ups, opportunities have been shared around the players, including youngsters like 19-year-old Tom Lawes who performed well through the Yorkshire match with four first-innings wickets and a valuable 15 not out.With one game of the season remaining, 12 Surrey players currently boast a batting average of 40 or higher while six are under 30 with the ball. Batty was particularly effusive about the collective buy-in, even from England players such as Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes, who returned to play these last two games. Pope’s 136, which allowed Surrey to post 333 and ultimately force Yorkshire to follow-on, set up this victory.”The numbers tell a pretty good story,” Batty said. “That we have, I believe, a wonderful squad and a squad for a good few years.”I think that’s been the key bit of the season,” Burns added, having moved his average for the season up to 40.15 after finishing unbeaten on 30 off 16 deliveries in Surrey’s 55-run chase. “Every time we’ve needed someone to step up, someone has put their hand up and produced a performance for us. It’s a pretty special thing”The way we’ve gone about it, using 22 guys, we highlighted that at the start of the year that there were going to be opportunities for people and it’s about taking them when we need them. We’ve done that. Roll on next year – it’ll be more of the same, hopefully.”

The underdogs were ahead for most of the game, and rain intervened just as England were threatening to fight back

Deivarayan Muthu26-Oct-20222:24

O’Brien on Ireland’s win: ‘No fluke, things were being put in place behind scenes’

Ireland dominated the powerplay with bat and ball either side of a collapse of 7 for 25 to take down England at the MCG, adding another glorious chapter in Irish sport. Eleven years after Kevin O’Brien inspired Ireland to a memorable victory on a steamy day in Bengaluru, Ireland found new heroes on a wet afternoon in Melbourne to stun a more-fancied England side once again at a World Cup.Josh Little posed a threat to England with the new ball, finding sharp movement and bounce from a fresh MCG pitch. The left-arm quick first had Jos Buttler nicking off and then bounced out Alex Hales. Fionn Hand, who was playing only his third T20I, breached the defences of Ben Stokes to leave England 29 for 3 in the sixth over in their pursuit of 158. Legspinner Gareth Delany hiked England’s asking rate further with his quickish darts.Though Moeen Ali threated a late fightback, marked by a straight six in the 15th over, England were five runs behind on DLS when rain came down once again. It got heavier soon after and by 6.50pm, the game ended with Ireland’s players celebrating a monumental victory with their fans, family and friends in the rain.Balbirnie, Tucker make merry
After rain had played hide and seek earlier in the afternoon as well, Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie dashed out of the blocks, like they have often done in the recent past.Stirling smeared Chris Woakes over extra-cover and then spliced Mark Wood’s first ball over the third-man boundary, with Sam Curran’s effort to scoop it back in proving futile. Two balls later, Stirling backed away and tried to repeat the shot, but Wood cranked it up to 150kph, tucked him up, and had him splicing it straight to Curran.Lorcan Tucker, who is usually strong against spin, then showed that he could cut it against the pace and bounce of Wood and Woakes on a spicy pitch. Tucker closed out the powerplay with a punchy six off Curran, pushing Ireland up to 59 for 1 in six overs.Balbirnie, who was on 25 off 24 balls at one point, turned up the tempo when he lined up Woakes for two fours and a six in the tenth over. With the seamers leaking runs, Buttler was forced to turn to Liam Livingstone’s all-sorts spin.Wood’s extra pace, Livingstone’s lack of pace
After Livingstone gave away just five runs off his first over, England broke the 82-run second-wicket partnership when Adil Rashid deflected a straight drive from Balbirnie back onto the stumps at his end in his follow through to catch Tucker short for 34 off 27 balls.Wood returned to the attack in the next over and ambushed Harry Tector with a 153kph thunderbolt. Wood continued to bowl in the 150-kph range, knocking Curtis Campher and Delany on their helmets.As for Livingstone, he mixed up his pace well and dared Ireland’s batters to clear the bigger boundaries at the MCG. He had Balbirnie caught at deep square leg in the 16th over and cleaned up George Dockrell next ball to trigger a full-blown collapse. From 132 for 3 in the 16th over, Ireland crashed to 157 all out, leaving four balls unused in their innings. Little’s big moment
Little started Ireland’s defence in grand fashion by besting Buttler for a duck in the first over. He and Mark Adair bowled much fuller than England’s seamers did with the new ball earlier in the day. After also testing Hales with the fuller length, Little dug one into the pitch and drew a top-edged pull to short fine leg for 7. He went onto handcuff Dawid Malan with his tactful length variations and use of angles.Little is the new face of Ireland’s attack, having had franchise cricket stints at the Hundred (Manchester Originals), the Lanka Premier League (Dambulla Giants) and even the IPL (net bowler at Chennai Super Kings), and he stepped up against England on the biggest stage of all.Malan laboured to 35 off 37 balls before McCarthy had him miscuing a pull. Harry Brook managed only five runs off nine balls against Delany before he also holed out, failing to clear the boundary.Ireland were untidy in the field, dropping two catches off two balls at the start of the 11th over, but their bowling was anything but. Moeen was onto something when he hit three fours and a six in seven (legal) balls, but it wasn’t enough to pull England ahead when the rain returned.In the 2010 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, Ireland had given England a scare before rain washed out the game. Nothing could deny Ireland this time.

“I am not one to make any excuses,” the fast bowler said of his tournament displays. “I wasn’t up to scratch.”

Firdose Moonda02-Dec-2022Kagiso Rabada has conceded that he “wasn’t up to scratch” at the T20 World Cup, where he finished as South Africa’s most expensive bowler, and with the fewest wickets among their frontline quicks. Rabada put the dip in performance down to fatigue, and said trying to push through the lethargy had the opposite effect to the one he hoped for.”I am not one to make any excuses – I wasn’t up to scratch, I had a disappointing tournament,” he said ahead of South Africa’s departure for their three-match Test series in Australia. “I didn’t feel that great in terms of energy. I still tried my best but I felt like the harder I tried, it just wasn’t coming out.”You can feel it in the intensity of your play. Your intensity is not where you want it to be, and it catches up with you over time. Playing international cricket, you want to be rather high-intensity more often than not.”Related

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Rabada has played in only 26 of South Africa’s 39 matches across formats so far this year, yet only Keshav Maharaj has bowled more overs than him. He also featured in 13 IPL games, but in no other T20 league. Rabada was also exempt from playing in any domestic first-class matches ahead of the Australia tour as part of his workload management. He agreed with that decision because he “felt like I needed to rest”.Asked if he was worried about the volume of cricket he has played, Rabada replied in the affirmative. “It is a concern with the amount of cricket that’s being played. It needs to be managed,” he said. “There need to be plans to be made accordingly.”CSA’s director of cricket Enoch Nkwe has held one-on-one meetings with the T20 World Cup playing group, and is expected to prepare a comprehensive report on the team’s failure to get out of the group stage and plot the way forward. One of the aspects of that report could well be about Rabada’s recent T20I form, as his overall performance across major tournaments also comes under the spotlight.”If it’s happened twice [after the group-stage exit in 2021 too], it’s something that seriously needs to be considered,” Rabada said. “That’s what I have realised, and [the] management have realised as well. We need to come up with some plans – not just for me, but for all players.”Kagiso Rabada bagged a five-for in South Africa’s win in Perth in 2016•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Part of the long-term plan was already made at the recent FTP negotiations, where CSA sacrificed three-match Test series for the next WTC cycle in favour of creating a consistent window for SA20, their new T20 league. That means that this Australia series is the last consisting of three games that South Africa will play until they host Australia in return in 2026, and the last they will play in Australia until at least 2027, until when the new FTP lasts.It is likely that for much of the current squad, this is their last chance to continue South Africa’s successful run in Australia, where they have won their last three series: in 2008-09, 2012-13 and 2016-17. Rabada is the only quick who was part of the last success six years ago, when he took his fourth five-for in the series-opener in Perth.He has since also been part of South Africa’s home-series win against Australia in 2017-18, when he successfully appealed a charge of making deliberate contact with Steven Smith, for which he was initially banned for two Tests. Rabada was found guilty of conduct contrary to the spirit of the game for his over-zealous wicket-taking celebrations, and believes Australia brought out the strongest fight in him.”When you are playing a quality opposition, it can get the best out of you. It’s about letting it happen,” he said. “With me, it’s always come out against Australia. It’s about not backing down to a challenge. If they want to come hard, you stand up to it. That’s what competition is.”But his message to the rest of his pack is not to get overawed. “It’s a game of cricket. As much as the nerves and passion comes in – which is incredibly important – it’s a game of cricket,” he said. “It’s not as intimidating as people make it out to be. It can sound much more intimidating than it actually is.”And the same can be said for Australian surfaces. They are famed for their pace and bounce, but Rabada remarked that he was “not sure what to expect” after Australia declared on 598 for 4 against West Indies in their season-opening Test in Perth; he hopes they will be bowler-friendly.”In Australia, you get some bounce. They are good wickets, but you generally get a bit of nip,” he said. “It can swing at times, but not too much. The bounce and the pace is your ally. But at the same time, they are good wickets to bat on because the bounce is so true. I am excited to play some cricket, and to test myself.”

Mehidy the hero once again as his century helps Bangladesh recover from 69 for 6 to 271 for 7

Vishal Dikshit07-Dec-20221:40

Jaffer: Mehidy Hasan Miraz is a ‘fighter’

Mehidy Hasan Miraz became Bangladesh’s hero for the second game in a row by pulling off another remarkable effort with the bat in another see-saw match, scoring his maiden ODI century off just 83 balls to pull his team out of trouble and post a challenging 271 for 7 that proved to be just beyond India’s reach in the end. India lost early wickets and were reduced to 207 for 8 when an injured Rohit Sharma walked out and made a match out of the equation of 65 off 44 balls. He belted five sixes even as he was running out of partners and brought it down to 20 needed off the last over and a six needed off the last ball, but an accurate yorker from Mustafizur Rahman sealed the series for Bangladesh. The 2-0 win ensured Bangladesh’s second series win against India after their 2-1 win in 2015.Bangladesh were first rescued by Mehidy and Mahmudullah with a record seventh-wicket stand of 148 to pull them out of the pits of 69 for 6 before their quicks struck early to dent India ‘s chase. Virat Kohli opened in Rohit’s absence, but he and Shikhar Dhawan fell in the first three overs of the chase, and the Bangladesh spinners struck later on to hurt India further. Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel tried to rescue India from 65 for 4 with a century stand but it was only a matter of breaking that stand for Bangladesh to bounce back. Once they did, with Iyer’s wicket in the 35th over when India needed another 100 runs, the hosts roared back with Axar’s wicket too, and India’s lower order, with an injured Deepak Chahar, only delayed the inevitable as the asking rate crept up until Rohit gave the hosts a scare.Related

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Another low-scoring match seemed likely when Mehidy and Mahmudullah got together in the 19th over. Mohammed Siraj’s early movement accounted for the openers by trapping Anamul Haque lbw and knocking over Litton Das’ middle stump. The ball before Haque’s dismissal was when Rohit picked up his thumb injury, as he dropped the batter at second slip and walked back immediately, only to bat in the 43rd over of the chase.Umran Malik fired in a few thunderbolts above 150kph and one of them ended Najmul Hossain Shanto’s scratchy stay for 21 when the batter was beaten by pace to lose his off stump. Siraj and Malik then peppered Shakib with a short-ball barrage and struck his helmet twice with bouncers. As soon as Malik was taken off, Shakib tried to attack Washington, but the attempted sweep was top-edged, and was taken by Dhawan at short fine leg after a juggle. Sixty-six for 4 soon became 69 for 6 when Washington Sundar removed Mushfiqur Rahim and Afif Hossain, having them caught off the glove and bowled respectively.Mehidy and Mahmudullah, however, steered Bangladesh out of troubled waters and set the stage for a late push. They found the boundaries regularly in the middle overs as Mahmudullah dropped anchor and Mehidy played the attacking role by smoking Washington for a six down the ground and then slog-sweeping Axar for his second six. Mehidy seemed to be struggling with cramps soon after, but he continued to run ones and twos and brought up his half-century off 55 balls. Mahmudullah got to his off 74 balls; in between, the century stand also came up as Bangladesh reached 169 for 6 with 10 overs left.Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored his first ODI century, off 83 balls•Walton

By now, India were a bowler short as Deepak Chahar had a stiff hamstring. The two batters cashed in on that as Mahmudullah went after Siraj in the 46th by targeting the leg-side boundary in a 14-run over, and even though he fell in the next over, Mehidy’s best was yet to come.Nasum Ahmed too slapped Malik down the ground for back-to-back fours and then smashed Siraj for a six in the next over to take them towards 250. It was the Mehidy show after that. He was on 72 off 74 with two overs to go and he first went after Malik with two drives that raced to the boundary before reverse-scooping the last ball to the deep-third boundary to make it a 14-run over. In the last over, Mehidy carted Thakur for two big sixes on the leg side off slower balls, reached 99 with a double and dabbed the last ball – a full toss – towards mid-on to reach the hundred. With a useful 11-ball 18 from Nasum, Mehidy helped Bangladesh collect 68 off the last five overs and 102 off the last ten.India’s chase lost most of its steam when Kohli chopped on off Ebadot Hossain for 5 and Dhawan was bounced out by a ripper of a short ball from Mustafizur Rahman to be caught at point for 8. Washington came out at No. 4 ahead of Rahul, but he fell on the last ball of the powerplay when he chipped Shakib to midwicket for an easy catch. Rahul’s boundary-less stay didn’t last long either; he attempted a lap sweep against a straight ball from Mehidy to be trapped right in front and India were 65 for 4.An injured Rohit Sharma smacked 51 off 28 from No. 9•AFP/Getty Images

Axar and Iyer kept India’s hopes alive as the asking rate was still under seven an over. Iyer was his usual attacking self against the spinners. Axar was the quicker of the two as he found gaps regularly and went after Nasum and Shakib early on for sixes on the leg side, while Iyer brought up a patient fifty off 69 balls. Their stand was eventually broken when Iyer tried to go for a second six in the 35th over but holed out to deep midwicket for 82.Axar continued to attack and brought up a run-a-ball fifty but Ebadot returned to remove him immediately by having him caught at cover with the equation still a gettable 83 off 70 balls. However, India didn’t have many options left. Shardul Thakur struggled to connect during his 23-ball 7 before he was stumped and an injured Chahar fell for 11 off 18.Rohit mainly had the poorer side of the tail for company and started his boundary barrage with two sixes and a four off Ebaot to bring it down to 41 off 24. Mahmudullah and Mustafizur strengthened Bangladesh’s position again by giving just one run off two overs by keeping Siraj mostly on strike. With 40 to get off 12, Rohit smoked Mahmudullah for two sixes, got two lives in four balls and lost Siraj before reducing it to 20 needed off six but couldn’t finish it on the last ball.

The new coaches are on four-year contracts, starting February 1, with an interim arrangement to be made for the England ODIs later this month

Firdose Moonda16-Jan-2023Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter will begin work as South Africa’s red and white-ball coaches respectively on February 1, with an interim arrangement to be made for the World Cup Super League ODIs against England later this month.As reported by ESPNcricinfo , Conrad and Walter were preferred from a shortlist that included interim coach Malibongwe Maketa, former West Indies director of cricket Richard Pybus, former national assistant coach Adrian Birrell, who applied for the Test role only, and Lance Klusener, who withdrew his interest in the white-ball job last week. Conrad and Walter have been appointed on four-year contracts with the aim of reaching a World Test Championship (WTC) final in that time and winning the ODI World Cup at home in 2027.Related

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“It’s a massive goal, a massive milestone for us as a country. It is a must-win. All the investment, all the energies, all the focus are going to be geared towards 2027,” Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s director of cricket (DOC), said. “We have opportunities along the way to build better systems to give us the best chance. We have opportunities at T20 World Cups, Champions Trophies and Test Championships but our focus is the 2027 World Cup.”

South Africa face qualification challenge for 2023 ODI World Cup

Before that, South Africa have plenty to do, starting with securing their spots at the 2023 ODI World Cup. They remain out of the top eight and have only five matches remaining, having forfeited games in Australia to have the top players around for the inaugural SA20 league. Of those five, South Africa must win at least three to avoid travelling to Zimbabwe for the qualifiers in June.CSA’s leadership is understood to believe qualification for the 2023 World Cup is non-negotiable but, as long as South Africa get to the tournament, they will not place extra pressure or performance criteria on the new coaching staff at the tournament.”We are not going to strictly judge them on the 2023 World Cup. We understand what has transpired before that and we complicated our journey to the 2023 World Cup,” Nkwe said. “We want to ensure we can compete there but they are not going to be judged on that.”Instead, Nkwe outlined “two plans” for the national white-ball sides, which will run parallel to one another. “One plan is going to be what is required right now over the next eight months, and the second one is the medium to long-term plan for our white-ball team. Along the way, we are going to lose some big names. Some big names might not even get to 2027. I don’t want to sit in a position as DOC where we are stuck 18 months before the World Cup and we haven’t built enough depth for 2027.”

CSA not sidelining Test cricket

The extreme focus on shorter formats comes as CSA has filled stadiums for the SA20, the first major cricket event in the country after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, and against the backdrop of a dwindling Test schedule. South Africa only have three more Tests scheduled this year and are all but out of contention for the WTC final, but CSA CEO Pholetsi Moseki stressed on being committed to the longest format.”We will always emphasise the value of Test cricket,” Moseki said. “We are adding a number of Test games over the next four years. We are serious about being a Test-playing nation and we take the format very seriously. We have not relegated it to the margins because of T20 and we still see ourselves as a very serious Test-playing nation. We want to invest to get our Test team back to the standards we expect of them.”Nkwe has set aside the next 12 to 24 months to rebuild South Africa’s Test-player base, which Conrad would be intricately involved in, with the goal of competing for the WTC finals in 2025 and 2027. “We want to be in the top three, but we are pushing for No. 1, even if it takes another three or four years to get there,” Nkwe said. “Over the next two years, we are solidifying our position and building a bigger player pool.”Part of the process would be discussions around players’ priorities at the next round of personal-development-plan meetings next month. For the first time, CSA is open to contracting players across selected formats only, if that emerges as a preference. “We are working with the South African Cricketers’ Association,” Nkwe said. “We don’t want to be caught with our pants down. We are very open if a player just wants to commit to two formats, [but] then how do we contract them?”

Who next after Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma?

The two key players who will come up for discussion early on are the captains – Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma – neither of whom were involved in discussions over the hiring of the new coach and both of whom are under scrutiny. Their places are not yet secure, with Nkwe indicating CSA wants leaders for at least the next two years.Temba Bavuma and Dean Elgar aren’t getting any younger, and their futures will be up for discussion at some stage•AFP/Getty Images

“I need to understand the coaches’ ideas around the leadership. We need to give them an opportunity to sit down with the two captains and discuss how they see it going forward. It’s going to be important that the decisions we make now, we commit to 100% for the next two years,” Nkwe said. “If the captains feel strongly that they can contribute for the next two years and help with the transition and rebuilding phase, we commit to that. We are going to be having some very interesting conversations over the next couple of months to ensure we are all together and we build that stability. We don’t want a situation of chopping and changing.”Conrad and Walter would also be involved in plotting a succession plan for Elgar and Bavuma, who are 35 and 32 respectively. “The reality is that these two captains are not going to be captains for the next five years. We need to identify who are going to be the next two captains and how much time we give to blood them,” Nkwe said. “Those are some of the hard conversations we are going to be having over the next month so that everything is clear. We are not saying we are firing anyone but over the next month or three months, we need to build stability so by that time the season finishes it’s very clear.”The coaches will also appoint their own support staff, which are unlikely to include any of the existing crop but will see a full-time “performance coach”, as Nkwe termed it, in the backroom.Nkwe confirmed that current bowling coach Charl Langeveldt would be stepping down to take up a role at the IPL, while it was not clear whether current batting coach Justin Sammons or fielding coach Justin Ontong would be retained.South African cricket will also be without Neil McKenzie, who resigned as high-performance batting lead (a role that involved overseeing batters from age-group level to the national side) last week. Maketa, who was in the role of interim coach on South Africa’s Test tour to Australia, was expected to move back to the South Africa A team and will have talks on his future with Nkwe later this week.

“If we are not in a good situation and if I play a rash shot, it will let the team down.”

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2023Ishan Kishan is known for his big shots. He loves them so much he went to hit boundaries with the very first balls he played in ODI and T20I cricket. But now, having been brought into India’s Test squad, he knows the importance of playing within himself and not succumbing to what he called “youngsters’ trait”.Speaking to team-mate Shubman Gill on the BCCI website, Kishan said, “I do think about [hitting] fours and sixes but there is a lot of difference in white-ball and red-ball cricket. In white-ball, if you walk out to bat at no. 6 there is no swing. But with the red ball, bowlers use the swing and you have to use your brain instead of showing your youngsters’ trait.”India will not have their first-choice wicketkeeper for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series against Australia with Rishabh Pant in rehab following a serious car crash. So they face a choice between his longtime understudy Srikar Bharat, one of the safest hands behind the stumps in the country, and Kishan, among the most attacking batters they have, although he has recognised that he may need to temper his game to succeed in the longest format.”With experience, I know it is not about fours and sixes [in red-ball cricket] but about getting the team in a good situation,” Kishan said. “If the ball is in my zone and the field is up then I will try. But if the bowling is good, I will look to respect it.”I think the position where I bat – at No. 6 – in the longer format, it is very important [for me] to read the situation. If we are not in a good situation and if I play a rash shot, it will let the team down.”After the men’s T20 World Cup last year, Kishan toured New Zealand with the T20I squad and played just the one ODI in Bangladesh – where he cracked a double-hundred. He opened the batting in the T20Is at home against Sri Lanka but could not find a spot in the XI in the ODIs. Along the way, he also represented Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy, where he hit a century against Kerala walking in at No. 6.Kishan said he liked playing against the red-ball and the challenges it brings along. “When I was playing white-ball cricket, my father used to say Tests are the real deal where the batter is challenged and their skill is put to test. It is a big deal to play Test cricket. When I got to know of my selection in India’s Test squad I was elated and called home [to give the news], because there are so many good players… Test cricket is considered to bring out your real skill and real game. I will try to win games for India if given a chance.”I love playing with the red ball. There is a bit of swing, there is sledging and lots of time [there is] no pressure to score runs. The situations are sometimes easy and sometimes tough. So I enjoy all those scenarios in Ranji Trophy.”

Batting coach Michael Hussey hopes to get Stokes “bowling at some stage in the tournament”

Matt Roller28-Mar-2023Ben Stokes is likely to play as a specialist batter at the start of the 2023 IPL and has had a cortisone injection in order to manage an injury to his left knee, ESPNcricinfo understands.Stokes, who was signed for INR 16.25 crore (US$ 1.9 million approx. at the time) as Chennai Super Kings’ costliest signing in an auction, arrived in India last week and has been training with his new team-mates ahead of their season opener in Ahmedabad on Friday night, against defending champions Gujarat Titans.He has managed recurring injuries in his left knee over a number of years, but suffered a flare-up on England’s tour to New Zealand last month, bowling only nine overs across two Tests and batting through clear physical discomfort on the final day of the series in Wellington.Related

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Stokes admitted the injury had been “very frustrating” at the end of the tour, but said that the IPL would represent an opportunity to “get myself into a position that I feel like I don’t have to worry about my knee anymore” ahead of this summer’s Ashes, which starts on June 16.He also confirmed he has a specific diagnosis of the issue, which he declined to reveal publicly. ESPNcricinfo understands that a subsequent scan on the knee came back clear, but Stokes has taken a cortisone injection – a common anti-inflammatory injection which reduces swelling – ahead of the IPL.”My understanding is he’s ready to go as a batsman from the start,” Mike Hussey, Super Kings’ batting coach, told ESPNcricinfo and PA news. “The bowling might be wait and see. I know he had his first very light bowl yesterday [Sunday] since he had his injections in his knee.”The physios from Chennai and the ECB are working pretty closely together. My understanding is he won’t be bowling much at all in the first few games of the tournament… it might be a few weeks. I’m not 100% sure, [but we will] hopefully get him bowling at some stage in the tournament.”Brendon McCullum, England’s coach, has publicly put his faith in the franchise’s “very good medical team” and Stokes’ own ability to “get right for the big moments”. He said after their tour to New Zealand that he would be in touch with Stephen Fleming, Super Kings’ head coach, and his own former international team-mate.