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Worcestershire should be able to secure their first Championship win of the season, but they have a habit of letting strong positions slip

George Dobell at New Road31-May-2011
ScorecardOne of the oldest clichés in sport is the ‘Lazarus syndrome’: the Biblical metaphor churned out whenever a team comes back from the brink of defeat.Worcestershire, however, have mastered the reverse-Lazarus syndrome. So far in the 2011 season they have made a habit of miraculously transforming almost impregnable match-winning positions into remarkable match-losing ones. Truly, there have been times this season when they have given the impression that they could put down the living and infect the healthy. Their form has been quite wretched.For that reason, and no other, Worcestershire supporters will approach the last day of their championship match against Nottinghamshire with some trepidation. This really should be the game where Worcestershire end their horrendous record of results at New Road and secure their first Championship win of the season. They’ve not won here in Division One of the Championship since May 2004.They’ve already squandered one opportunity to strike the fatal blow, however. At 223 for 3, with two batsmen well set, they had drawn level with Nottinghamshire’s first innings total and had the chance to establish a match-winning lead.Instead they collapsed. Through a combination of a tricky pitch, some fine bowling and some less than robust batting, Worcestershire lost their final seven wickets for 20 runs in just 48 balls. It left them just 20 ahead.It was a decline that had seemed most improbable only minutes earlier. While batting was never comfortable, Moeen Ali and Alexei Kervezee had added 93 in 31 overs for their fourth-wicket, exercising fine judgement over which balls to leave and which to attack.Moeen was especially impressive. While there were few of the elegant strokes that have come to characterise his batting, he looked secure outside off stump and, when the opportunity arose, attacked judiciously. Twice he skipped down the wicket to loft Samit Patel’s left-arm spin over the top – once for four; once for six – and when the bowler retaliated with a flatter delivery, Moeen leant back and cut him through cover for four.When he and Kervezee fell right before the new ball, however, Worcestershire suffered a sharp decline. First Kervezee was drawn into playing at one that left him, before Moeen edged one that was pushed onto him from Samit Patel.From then on, Charlie Shreck dominated. Armed with the new ball, the 33-year-old Cornishman, ripped out the remaining batsmen in a 16-ball spell of four wickets for 15 runs. It was the 19th five-wicket haul of his career and his first since July 2008.Shreck was never the quickest of seamers and, since the injuries began to mount a couple of years ago, he’s lost a bit more pace than he could afford to lose.But he was never going to miss out on conditions like this. Armed with the new ball and on a surface offering variable bounce and movement off the seam, Shreck delivered a probing line and length, defeating Ben Scott with one that kept low, Jack Shantry’s hapless drive with one that swung back sharply and dismissed Neil Pinner to a return catch when the batsman adjusted to deal with Shreck’s late swing.The hosts are not out of this game, though. Nottinghamshire were soon reeling at 40 for 4 after Alan Richardson, also utilising the conditions expertly, claimed three early wickets. Akhil Patel and Mark Wagh edged deliveries that left them, while Adam Voges was trapped in front by one that kept horribly low.Had Damien Wright – Worcestershire’s leading wicket-taker – not limped off the field with a calf strain, the hosts could have made further inroads. As it was, however, the excellent Richardson lacked support and Nottinghamshire’s sixth-wicket paid of Chris Read and Patel were able to stage a partial recovery. Their stand if currently worth 43. On this pitch, that’s a highly valuable contribution.Patel’s batting stood out. The match, apparently an uneven battle between bat and ball when colleagues faced, was transformed when Patel was on strike. Lots of batsmen can shine on flat tracks; class shows in circumstances like this.Wright, meanwhile, will undergo a scan and is most unlikely to take any further part in the game. Indeed, he may well have bowled his last ball for the club.It might just have been Mark Wagh’s final first-class innings, too. He is intending to retire in August but, after failing to pass 50 in 18 innings this season, there seems every chance the club might bring that date forward. Alex Hales is set to return to first team action for Friday’s T20 match.Still, either side could still win this game. Nottinghamshire’s lead is only 84 and Worcestershire should be able to chase anything under 170. It promises to be an intriguing final day.Meanwhile ‘Shankargate’ rumbles on. It has been suggested by some that Worcestershire should strip the disgraced Adrian Shankar of his club colours. And it’s true he scarcely deserves to have his name listed along the likes of Kenyon, Hick, Flavell and Turner. It might, however, set a dangerous precedent. After all, the last time a player lied to the club about his age (Basil D’Oliveira), they named a stand after him. Sometimes it’s better just to move on.

Explosive hitting from Nottinghamshire’s top order paved the way for a 19-run
victory over Gloucestershire in the Clydesdale Bank 40 match at Cheltenham

24-Jul-2011
Scorecard
Explosive hitting from Nottinghamshire’s top order paved the way for a 19-run
victory over Gloucestershire in the Clydesdale Bank 40 match at Cheltenham.Alex Hales led the way with 61 off 32 balls, while Riki Wessels (37), Samit
Patel (45) and Scott Elstone (36) all scored briskly as the visitors took 174
off the first 20 overs on their way to a final total of 266 all out.Five of the wickets were taken by the Taylor brothers as 19-year-old spinner
Jack returned three for 50 and 17-year-old left-arm seamer Matthew claimed two
for 43 on his debut. Gloucestershire never seriously threatened to chase down their target, although Ian Cockbain made a fine 79 as the hosts finished on 247 for 9.It had looked as if Nottinghamshire would plunder well in excess of 300 after
reaching 96 for two off 10 overs and 174 for three off 20. After Ali Brown had been bowled by James Fuller in the second over, Hales and Wessels hammered 77 off 44 balls, which included taking 21 off an over from Kevin O’Brien.Wessels had scored 37 off 24 balls when he was caught on the mid-wicket
boundary by Cockbain off slow left-armer Ed Young. Hales followed him back to the pavilion three overs later when he was bowled swinging across the line at Jack Taylor, having hit 10 fours and two sixes in his 32-ball innings,Patel and Elstone kept the score rattling along with a partnership of 67 in 10
overs, which ended when Elstone miscued a pull off James Fuller to Hamish
Marshall at mid-on.Patel was brilliantly caught by the diving Kane Williamson at extra cover off
Jack Taylor, whose brother Matthew then got in the act with a double wicket
maiden. He accounted for Steven Mullaney, who skied a drive to Cockbain on the
midwicket boundary, and Chris Read, who cut to Marshall at point.The last three wickets fell in the final five overs as Williamson had Ben
Phillips taken by Matthew Taylor at short third man, Darren Pattinson skied
Fuller to Alex Gidman at cover and Luke Fletcher was bowled by Jack Taylor.Paul Franks was left unbeaten on 28 from 29 balls, having struck four
boundaries. In reply, Gloucestershire were reduced to 57 for three in the ninth over after
Fletcher yorked Marshall and had Williamson caught by Hales at deep mid-wicket
and Pattinson had Alex Gidman taken at point by Mullaney.Chris Taylor and Cockbain put on 40 for the fourth wicket, but the partnership
took 11 overs as Franks, Phillips and Patel bowled with impressive control and
variation. It looked all but over for Gloucestershire when Chris Taylor was lbw sweeping
at Patel to make it 97 for four in the 20th over.O’Brien and Cockbain briefly revived the home side’s hopes with a stand of 46
in six overs, which ended when O’Brien was leg before to Pattinson. Jon Batty, on 32, was next to go when holed out to Elstone at long-on off Patel, and Ed Young was caught by Patel at deep mid-wicket in the next over from Mullaney’s bowling.Then, after Jack Taylor was caught at square leg off Phillips, Cockbain’s
impressive 84-ball innings, which contained seven fours, ended when he was
bowled round his legs by Fletcher.Fuller and Matthew Taylor put on an unbroken 32 in an entertaining last-wicket
stand, but there was stopping the visitors registering a fourth win in the
competition.

Despite the long gap, Virat Kohli doesn’t expect Mitchell Starc to be any easier to face

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai13-Jan-20201:20

Looks like Starc is back to swinging the ball like he used to – Kohli

When Ashton Turner turned up at the pre-match press conference on Monday, the first question was about his last India tour, highlighted by the Mohali ODI in which he clobbered an unbeaten 84 of 43 balls to help Australia chase down 359. Each time he recalled that innings on Monday, he let out a beaming smile.What would Mitchell Starc say if he was asked the same question? He’d have to jog back his memory a long way, because his last ODI in India was nearly 10 years ago. Starc made his ODI debut in India, back in October 2010, and hasn’t played an ODI in the country ever since. There are non-Asian players who are eager to tour India, who jump on the opportunities provided by the IPL, to not only play T20 cricket, but also familiarise themselves with the conditions so that it helps them for international tours later on. Not Starc.His last IPL game in India was in 2015 and his last international game in the country was during the Test series nearly three years ago. It’s still likely that because of his skills, Starc’s name will be among the first few on the team sheet on Tuesday. Don’t be surprised if he strikes with the new ball and then nails his yorkers in the death overs.Starc’s adroitness is such that he knows what to do in what kind of conditions. He has played 11 ODIs in Asia – the last one in Sri Lanka in 2016 – and taken 26 wickets at a phenomenal average of 18.65, which is bettered only by Rashid Khan and Mustafizur Rahman (minimum 100 overs bowled).In those five ODIs in Sri Lanka in 2016, Starc tormented the top order with his swing and pace – almost always striking with the new ball – and then occasionally deceived batsmen with his cutters and pace variations. One thing he did through the series was to target the stumps on the flat and slow pitches, taking nine of his 12 wickets either bowled or lbw. And he was the top wicket-taker that series. Which means that despite the long gap, Virat Kohli doesn’t expect Starc to be any easier to face.ESPNcricinfo

“I don’t think that not having played in India [recently] will be much of a factor for him, because he’s played a lot over here,” Kohli said on Monday. “And anyone who has pace, once they find their length they can adjust anywhere, so pace is always going to be an advantage. But having said that we have played against these guys a lot.”What India haven’t faced from Starc recently is his tweaked action, the result of working last year with New South Wales coach Andre Adams. Starc made the change after being picked for only one Ashes Test last year, and upon return to domestic cricket, returned career-best Sheffield Shield figures of 10 for 60 against Tasmania.Starc now bends his left elbow a little more in his delivery load up, so as to hold the ball closer to his left ear, and he looks more linear just before the release when his right arm is outstretched. Kohli has been keeping track of all this.”He is a very skillful bowler and he’s changed his action now, which we saw him getting more swing. Looks like he’s back to swinging the ball like he used to, and that makes him a lethal bowler all over again,” Kohli said. “When he gets to swing the ball like that – the new ball – and then he can tear it away with the old ball because he has got his action in a linear fashion. It is pretty interesting to come up against a guy like that.”Against India, he will have two duels: first against the robust top order and then against the lesser experienced middle and lower order. It could very well be that the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Kohli see Starc’s first spell off to target the other bowlers. Kohli has been dogged enough to not lose his wicket to Starc even once in ODIs, while scoring 56 off 57 balls, while Dhawan has been the poorest of the lot – Starc has dismissed him thrice in 41 balls, conceding 23 runsThe tougher test will be for India’s middle and lower order. If the more experienced batsmen are gone, and the pressure is to score quickly against Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, players like Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja will need to come up with answers to a variety of questions.”It is going to be a great challenge for them (middle order) to face someone like Mitchell,” Kohli said. “I’ve played with him, played against him a lot. We’ll definitely have to be up for it and especially the younger guys in the middle order. They should look for a challenge. Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, if he plays, (Kane) Richardson is an experienced bowler. Adam Zampa. All these guys will challenge us throughout the game.”No matter who comes out on top in these contests, it’s likely Starc will look like he has been a regular on India tours.

Seamer thinks successful tournament with Rajasthan Royals can push him forward in England queue

Andrew Miller27-Feb-2020Deception and subterfuge are key parts of the armoury of a T20 death bowler, but for Tom Curran, Rajasthan Royals’ latest English recruit, those traits may have to be deployed in the nets at Jaipur too. That’s because, with the T20 World Cup looming large on the horizon, a number of his IPL colleagues – not least the team’s Australian head coach, Andrew McDonald – are likely to be grateful for an insight into his mindset come October.Curran’s growing reputation in the crunch moments came to the fore in England’s recent T20I win in South Africa, where he held his nerve with the series on the line to seal a two-run win in the second match at Durban.ALSO READ: Five series takeaways for England’s T20 World Cup preparationsHaving started the final over of that game with a healthy 15 runs to defend, Curran and England were pushed to the brink of a series defeat when Dwaine Pretorius connected with a six and a four from consecutive balls to take the requirement down to five from three.But from that point on, Curran found the resolve to seal the contest, producing a pair of fine yorkers followed by a perfectly executed back-of-the-hand slower ball, that the new man on strike, Bjorn Fortuin, could only flick over his shoulder to short fine leg.”That’s cricket, it can go the other way very quickly,” said Curran during a Rajasthan Royals event in London. “But that game was really big for me. At the start of the over I should have been defending it anyway but, with three balls to go, they were on top. So looking back on it, I was really proud of that. The fact that, in that moment, I had no choice but to execute and I managed to do so.”As Curran recalled, there had been a meeting of England’s brains trust before that final delivery, with the captain and vice-captain, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler, in on the discussions, along with the experienced Chris Jordan. But ultimately, as soon as Curran was clear in his own mind what needed to be done, that was the end of the matter.”I was weighing up the options,” he said. “I’d just bowled two good yorkers, so if he tries to stand there and whack it, if it’s on the money then a yorker is still a good option. But I just thought a slower ball, he actually has to hit it for four, whereas a yorker you can still nick it for four.”I just went with my gut really, and when I said that to Morgs and Jos, everyone was like ‘cool, let’s go with it’. Luckily it came off.”Tom Curran poses in his Rajasthan Royals colours•Getty Images

No doubt his new employers were watching that performance closely. For, with Jofra Archer, Rajasthan Royals’ go-to at the death, set to miss at least the first half of the tournament as he recovers from an elbow fracture, Curran knows that the coming tournament offers him a massive opportunity to cement a role, and his reputation, ahead of the World Cup.”It’s an unbelievable standard at the IPL, so it’s a great experience for me,” he said. “These are sold-out games and it’s proper loud. So it’s mirroring as close to the biggest games on the international circuit, what they’ll be like. It will be a great experience. If guys go there and do well, they’ll take a lot of confidence from that. That’s what it’s all about.”Curran has had one previous taste of IPL action when, in April 2018, he was called up by Kolkata Knight Riders as a late replacement for Mitchell Starc, and performed creditably with six wickets at an economy rate of 11.60 in five matches. This time, however, he was picked up by Rajasthan for his base price of INR 1 crore (approx. £110,000), where his profile will doubtless be raised by the presence of two of the most influential members of England’s white-ball squads, Buttler and Ben Stokes.”I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’ve already played a lot of cricket now with the guys there, so it makes it that much easier. Especially being somewhere like India, where it’s a busy hectic schedule, to have those familiar faces there will be nice.”Not all the familiar faces will be on the Curran’s side come October, however. Rajasthan’s squad contains two overseas stars in particular – Australia’s Steve Smith and South Africa’s David Miller – who may find themselves at the other end of the pitch come the World Cup. And when it comes to sharing knowledge during the IPL, weaknesses as well as strengths, Curran conceded he’d have to be cautious about being too open.ALSO READ: ‘Test cricket is the best form of the game’ – Jos Buttler“I don’t think you chat weaknesses with loads of people anyway,” he said. “There’s a few people who you might trust, and you might ask, ‘what does Steve Smith do in this situation?’ but it’s more about developing and getting better, which we players focus more on.”If I’m bowling in the nets to some of the Indian guys, I’m not going to be showing them all the tricks. But that’s a huge benefit of having Jos, Stokesy and these guys. I think you actually learn a lot too. Speaking to Jos I’ll learn about batting. You just need to have some of the players on the international stage to talk to, and try things with.”However, Buttler, who was also present at the event, added that there was some merit in sharing a bit more of your repertoire with future rivals, because too much knowledge can be used against your opponent in the heat of battle.”It evolves, as well,” said Buttler. “TC will show someone his slower ball – you can use it both ways. It can be a bluff as well. He might say: ‘Yeah, I always bowl this slower ball.’ But there will be times when TC says at the end of his mark, ‘Yeah I said to Smith in the nets that I bowl this ball, so let’s bowl something else.’ That might become part of your [repertoire].”It definitely does happen,” Curran added. “You’ll be aware of it. If you have it in the back of your mind that I’ll throw in the odd curveball in there.”As for McDonald, Rajasthan’s highly-rated new head coach, Curran insisted that his dual status as Australia’s assistant coach would have little bearing on their relationship, even though the Aussies are set to go into their home World Cup as favourites after winning nine of their last ten completed T20Is.”It seems to be the way things are going now,” he said of McDonald’s roles. “I don’t think it will make too much of a difference. It will be great to work with him there and he’ll be fully involved once he gets to India.”I haven’t worked with him full-time but I have bumped into him,” he added. “Nowadays you tend to bump into people and have conversations, so it will be a really good experience.”You’re always going to have coaches, but it’s about filtering information. There are things that people say… some people you’re going to listen to, and you almost build up that relationship over time from working with someone.”If a [new] coach comes and gives you some information, you take it with a pinch of salt. You don’t want to be making massive technical changes mid-tournament, but it’s different for everyone.”

“In the slips, the ball hits your hand so hard it almost felt like a heavy hockey ball.”

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2019Fielding, rather than batting, could be the biggest challenge faced with the pink ball, according to Virat Kohli. The India captain spoke about adjusting to how quickly the ball travelled, and getting used to its feel on the eve of India’s first day-night Test, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.ALSO READ: ‘Wanted to play in our own conditions first’ – Kohli on pink-ball change of heart“Catching the ball, we felt like how you feel like with the white ball in the afternoon,” Kohli said of India’s fielding session on Thursday. “You don’t know how far the ball is and then it hits your hand very quickly. In the slips, the ball hits your hand so hard it almost felt like a heavy hockey ball, or those synthetic balls we’ve played with when we were younger. It really felt like that on the hand, and it’s definitely because of the extra glaze of the ball.”It’s definitely much harder, and it felt a little heavier. Obviously, it can’t be a difference of weight, but for some reason it felt heavier. Even the throws took a lot more effort than the red ball to reach the keeper. And again, the dip perception was very difficult when the ball went up in the air. During the day, high catches will be very difficult. We had to watch the balls straight into our palms more often than not. With red ball and white ball, you catch with the idea of how fast the ball is coming down, but this time if you don’t look down at the ball in your palms, it’s gone. So, I think the fielding session for me was far more challenging than batting. People are going to be surprised by how challenging fielding with this ball can be.”ALSO READ – Fashionably late, India and Bangladesh join the pink parade
As for batting, Kohli said earlier practice sessions had helped tune up the batsmen, and the ploy against the pink ball was merely to keep things tight.”I think in general, if you haven’t played with the pink ball before, it’s going to be challenging throughout the game,” Kohli said. “It’ll require more concentration, more solid technique. A more compact game compared to the red ball, purely because anyway in the longer format, the ball does a lot more than the white ball. Add not having great visibility or the ability to pick that colour, and it makes it even more difficult. As you can imagine, decision-making will have to be very precise. Your idea of off stump… I think that’s going to be the most crucial thing. Because even yesterday when we practiced, we felt that the ball could be closer to you but it’s not actually that close to the off stump. So I think that channel, one will have to be careful.”Batting is something we were focussing on. As a batsman, invariably you end up thinking a lot more about cutting down those errors when you’re playing with a different coloured ball. As batsmen, we were in the mindset of solidifying our games and our techniques. It’s going be a challenge, it’s going to be something which should excite everyone. Sometimes you need to change the template and be excited for new things and new challenges that you’re going to try out. I think we’ll have to be very precise and our skills will be tested.”Kohli also said that India were particularly excited about playing in front of a packed Eden Gardens and described their first pink-ball Test as a “landmark occasion”.”It’s a nice occasion. We were already excited about this Test, like I said, it’s a challenge for us,” he said. “I think before this, we had this much excitement and buzz in Eden when we played against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. Even then there had been big names and there was a felicitation ceremony and there was a packed stadium. So, I think that type it’ll be that kind of atmosphere. It can be daunting or intimidating, but it’s also very exciting.”When a batsman goes out, he’ll have a lot of support. When a bowler is standing at his mark and 80,000 people are cheering for him with the new ball, which is not easy to play with, he will be boosted. The first session, the first hour, I think will be very exciting, because the energy will be high. And the people will enjoy it a lot. So, obviously this is a landmark occasion and like I said before, we’re lucky that we’re starting this new trend. It’s a matter of honour.”

As a result, the left-arm seamer has been removed from the BCB programmes he’d been part of previously

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2019Left-arm fast bowler Qazi Onik faces a lengthy suspension after he failed a dope test during this season’s National Cricket League. As a result, he has been removed from every BCB programme he had been part of, chief selector Minhajul Abedin said.”The BCB’s medical team informed us of his results,” Minhajul told Bengali daily . “He wasn’t allowed to play in the NCL thereafter, and his name was also withdrawn from the BPL draft. He was also part of some of our other programmes, but from there too we have withdrawn him.”Once the full report is ready, the BCB will take a decision based on its anti-doping policy.Onik, now 20, had represented Bangladesh in the 2018 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, and was part of the Dhaka Dynamites set-up in the BPL earlier this year. So far, he has taken 15 wickets in four first-class matches, 41 wickets in 26 List A games, and 11 wickets in nine T20s.He was talked up by some Bangladesh coaches as an international prospect, but his future becomes uncertain now as he awaits his punishment.

The two seamers ripped through SA once again, leaving the hosts two wickets away from another innings victory

The Report by Firdose Moonda21-Oct-20194:32

Bangar: Attacking the stumps worked for Umesh

India need two wickets to complete a whitewash over South Africa but they will have to wait until Tuesday morning to do it. The visitors might have one more night in India, awaiting a fate that was writ from the second innings in Visakhapatnam, when Mohammed Shami ripped through their middle order and showed how much of a role seam bowlers would play in this series.

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Though R Ashwin remains on top the wicket charts, it was Shami and Umesh Yadav who exposed a weakness South Africa would not have dreamed they had, especially not in the subcontinent.South Africa have been surprised by short balls, beaten by pace and caught off guard by bowlers who attack the stumps, the very same thing they have seen their own attack do, season after season. But this is the season of change and India have spent the series showing how much they have evolved. No longer a team that relies on conditions loaded in the spinners’ favour, they are now an outfit that wins away and that is not only happy to compete on fair-minded surfaces, but can dominate on them.Zubayr Hamza drives on his way to a half-century•BCCI

Sixteen South African wickets fell on day three as they were made to follow-on in consecutive Tests for the first time since 2002, and seven of their players were dismissed twice on the same day. A concussion substitute was required for the third time in Test history after Dean Elgar ducked into a Yadav short ball and was struck just above the ear. Theunis de Bruyn replaced him and was the top-scorer in the second innings, scant consolation after being dropped and watching his replacement make a strong enough case to stay in the No.3 spot for the foreseeable future.If there’s positive South Africa could take, it was Zubayr Hamza’s first-innings effort. After watching his captain Faf du Plessis get beaten and bowled by a Yadav beauty that swerved away from him in the first over of the day, Hamza played a sprightly knock. He was confident on the front foot, energetic in his approach and was the perfect foil for Temba Bavuma, who was circumspect but promised so much. Hamza and Bavuma put on a fourth-wicket stand of 91, but once Hamza was dismissed, the procession began.Ravindra Jadeja had Hamza caught on the back foot, when the batsman was shaping for a flick, but was beaten in the end. This, immediately after an unsuccessful review from India. In the next over, Bavuma came down the track to defend against debutant Shahbaz Nadeem but the ball turned away from him and into Wriddhiman Saha’s gloves. Bavuma was stumped for 32, a score which only added to his failure to covert starts. The tail wagged a little in the form of George Linde but India were all over South Africa. The visitors lost 7 for 55, getting dismissed for their lowest total of the series.With weather threatening to reduce the time left in the match, and South Africa so far behind, both in terms of runs and in their states of mind, Virat Kohli had no second thoughts about enforcing the follow-on. And within ten overs it was obvious he had made the right decision.South Africa were reduced to 26 for 4 when the blow to Elgar resulted in early tea. By then, Quinton de Kock had played down the wrong line to Yadav, Hamza was late on a ball that straightened from Shami, du Plessis took an unnecessary review when he was given out lbw off Shami, and Bavuma was out for a duck.Shami showed South Africa how it’s done once again. Hit the deck hard. Use the short ball aggressively. Keep the lines tight. The only thing he didn’t do was finish South Africa off. Not even Ashwin managed that. The South African tail has routinely frustrated India and this time Anrich Nortje hung on with de Bruyn till stumps. However, it’s only a matter of time before India complete the formalities.

A game against Kenya should not be a thing to be fussed about and New Zealand would actually be worrying how not to get complacent. Instead, Daniel Vettori said that intensity will be even bigger for the “must win game.”

Sriram Veera in Chennai19-Feb-2011These are desperate times for New Zealand. On better days, a game against Kenya should not be a thing to be fussed about and they would actually be worrying how not to get complacent ahead of the contest. Instead, they feel the pressure of a “must-win game”. “Intensity will be even bigger because this is a must win game for us,” Daniel Vettori said. “We will be strong and play well.”For the past few months, New Zealand have been psyching themselves to look to the future. The recent past has been dispiriting: a whitewash in Bangladesh, losses in India, defeats against Pakistan at home, and a soul-crushing pasting against India in the warm-up game. Gloom shadowed them everywhere. Harsh criticism floated up first: “We batted like dicks,” was the frank assessment of the then coach Mark Greatbach. Saner post-mortem followed with the inclusion of John Wright as the new coach. The losses continued, meanwhile.Brendon McCullum recently agreed to the assessment that they had forgotten how to win. Will tomorrow’s game against Kenya be the first step out of the sordid mess or a further slide into the abyss? Daniel Vettori, the captain, tried to sound positive in the pre-game conference. “We are sure to up our confidence levels after our match tomorrow. It is quite a fluid concept when we play bigger teams but our guys have the abilities to bounce back. But I prefer to look at that rather than dwelling on the past.”The past though couldn’t be shoved under the carpet. “We acknowledge the comments [about New Zealand being low on confidence] since we lost a lot of games in recent times and they were disappointing performances, particularly in the sub-continent, but hope we can look at the World Cup as a fresh start.”The first game against Kenya shouldn’t be difficult to win but Vettori, understandably, chose to be cautious. “The hardest thing about playing a qualifier is that you do not see much of them. Some of their players will be a bit of a surprise. You prepare may be after seeing them on television. In a way it is a challenge but it does not matter as we got to turn up and play tomorrow.” It’s something they haven’t done well in the recent past.Things could kickstart if the batsmen start performing. A line-up that reads Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, an in-form Martin Guptill, Scott Styris and Jacob Oram should make the Kenyans sweat. Even in the defeat against India in the warm-up game, the way Brendon and Guptill batted against the seamers would have given a lot of heart to New Zealand fans. It’s their batting against spin that has let them down. And their bowling.The bowlers, especially the seamers, have been so lacklustre that Vettori was prompted to say that their bowling coach Allan Donald “is even now bowling better than all fast bowlers”. It was meant to be a compliment to Donald but it didn’t seem way off the mark. “We have fixed too much on batting and that does not give us enough in bowling,” Vettori said. “Allan has been an exciting addition to the team because he is bringing obviously his own personal skills and his own confidence. Ever since he came on board, he speaks with a position of authority to our players and the guys listen when he says what it takes to succeed in the sub-continent and other parts of the world.”New Zealand have a selection worry ahead of the game as Nathan McCullum is a doubtful starter after running high temperature yesterday and being kept under observation in an hospital. He returned for a light training session this morning but it’s unlikely they will take a risk by playing him against Kenya. “As of now, we plan to play three pacers and two spinners. It depends on Nathan’s fitness. We will play two spinners and look at the possibilities in balancing if the third one is coming in. I think there is plenty of runs on the track, if you bowl well, you can restrict the batting side. Generally, it is a batting wicket. It is incredibly difficult for the fast bowlers on these kinds of wickets to make their presence felt.” For New Zealand’s sake, they must.

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Fulham have completed the signing of Havard Nordtveit on loan from Bundesliga club Hoffenheim, the Premier League side have confirmed via their official website.

What’s the word?

Nordtveit is well aware of the rigours of English football and spent part of his career at Arsenal between 2007 and 2011, though he failed to make his first-team debut for the club.

He also spent the 2016-17 season at West Ham United, making a total of 21 appearances for the club, per Transfermarkt.

Nordtveit has struggled for minutes at Hoffenheim thus far this season, however, playing eight times in the Bundesliga and three times in the Champions League.

He has now returned to English football with Fulham, as they attempt to climb their way out of the relegation zone.

Claudio Ranieri’s men are currently 19th with 17 points, six points behind 17th-placed Burnley.

Strange addition

While Nordtveit bolsters Fulham’s squad, there were precious few signs at West Ham that he was cut out for English football.

Former Wigan & Fulham man, Jimmy Bullard recently showed that he’s still got it! Check out the video below…

The midfielder struggled to nail down a first-team spot in east London and made just 11 starts in the Premier League, per Transfermarkt.

It remains to be seen if Ranieri can bring the best out of the Norway international – he has won a total of 45 caps.

Fulham had best hope he hits the ground running though as they attempt to move away from the relegation zone.