Western Australia offspinner gears up for his second Sheffield Shield final after a break-out second season in first-class cricket

Tristan Lavalette21-Mar-2023When the calendar flips into April, as the stifling Perth heat makes way to a cooler change signalling cricket’s off-season, Western Australia offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli is usually not quite ready for a breather.He can instead often be found at lush James Oval, located inside picturesque University of Western Australia, honing his craft alongside state and club cricket teammate Ashton Agar, who also doubles as Rocchiccioli’s landlord.”We get together in the first couple of weeks in April and have unbelievable net sessions,” Rocchiccioli told ESPNcricinfo. “We just bowl and talk cricket. He’s taught me, amongst other things, how to bowl a square seam, which I’ve been bowling this summer.”The spinners haven’t yet realised a long-held dream of partnering up for WA’s Shield side due in part to Agar’s unavailability because of his international white-ball commitments.While almost inseparable, as underlined by Rocchiccioli renting the house of globe-trotting Agar, they could well end up jostling to be WA’s frontline Shield spinner in the seasons ahead.Related

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The 25-year-old Rocchiccioli has emerged as a key cog of WA’s strong attack after a breakout Shield season of 24 wickets at 32.45 from nine matches. He had only taken five wickets in four first-class matches previously.The only match he’s missed ahead of the Shield final between WA and Victoria was against Queensland at the Gabba in December when he made way for Agar, who had match figures of 1 for 105 in his only appearance of the season.At the famed pace-friendly WACA ground, which has been particularly spicy this season causing a lump in the throat of traditionalists, Rocchiccioli has a thankless role on his home surface.Bowling from the old Prindiville Stand end, looking rather barren these days amid a ground redevelopment, Rocchiccioli primarily tries to tie down batters while providing valuable rest for WA’s star-studded quicks who vie to bowl downwind from the other end.Utilising his 6 foot 3 inch [1.9m] frame, Rocchiccioli generates menacing bounce and can deceive batters through canny drift. Comparisons to Nathan Lyon are warranted.He has taken 11 wickets at 28.45 at the WACA this season featuring an equal-career-best return of 4 for 31 against Tasmania earlier in the month.”I actually love rolling up to the WACA and bowling even though it’s not known for spinners to take wickets here,” he said. “A lot of the chats [with coach Adam Voges and spin coach Beau Casson] have been about trying to go at twos and threes [runs an over].”At the WACA, it’s not my job to take wickets. But when you take wickets, it’s really rewarding to play a role in a pace-dominated state.”Rocchiccioli has stuck with his home blueprint in a bid to cope with the expectations of being a strike weapon on spin-friendlier surfaces on the country’s east coast.

“I’d love to play for Australia, but you can’t play good cricket if you’re in fairyland thinking of the next tour of India. I look up to guys like [R] Ashwin and Lyon for their consistency and ability to evolve. But I’m trying to not be Lyon or Ashwin…just finding how those superstars fit into the Corey Rocchiccioli that I want to become.”Corey Rocchicioli

He’s had mixed success so far but did capture an eight-wicket haul against New South Wales at the SCG earlier in the season.”The biggest thing I’m learning about bowling on the east coast is not expecting too much of myself,” he said. “I try to keep playing that holding role and stack up lots of overs. The wickets will come in the last couple of days.”In the off-season, I will work on getting more over-spin on the ball as the winds are a little bit different on the east coast.”One of my values is curiosity and to keep learning and growing.”Rocchiccioli’s rise has been somewhat unexpected having not come through WA’s strong pathway program. He started as a batter and was a self-described “fat little medium pacer” before reverting to spin on a typically sweltering Perth summer’s day when he was 13 years old.”I asked my coach if I could bowl offspin. The first ball spun…that’s how I remember it anyway,” Rocchiccioli grinned. “That season I turned into a batter who bowled.”Rocchiccioli still considered himself primarily a batter as he climbed the ranks until the penny dropped at age 21 when he switched clubs to Agar’s University grade team.”I realised that spin was going to get me where I wanted to go, which is to be a professional cricketer, so I put my eggs into one basket,” he said.It was undoubtedly the right call with Rocchiccioli earning a WA state rookie contract for 2020-21 before making his first-class debut in the following season against South Australia.He had a tough initiation on the batting-friendly Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide, where he finished with 1 for 145 in the Redbacks’ sole innings and was put to the sword by centurion Travis Head.Corey Rocchiccioli smashed 50 off 28 balls•Getty ImagesRocchiccioli had to wait another six months for a recall but finished the season strongly to be part of WA’s drought-breaking Shield triumph, where his batting instincts reared to smash a memorable 28-ball half-century at No.10 against Victoria in the final.”Between my debut and the second match, I made technical adjustments to drift the ball again just like I did when I played grade cricket,” he said.”At this level, you really need to beat the bat in the air. Since then I’ve been able to stack games together and playing so much has naturally helped me get better.”This trajectory might tempt him to dream of higher honours given the national hierarchy’s propensity for selecting spin bolters on tours of the subcontinent.”I’d love to play for Australia, but you can’t play good cricket if you’re in fairyland thinking of the next tour of India,” he said. “I look up to guys like [R] Ashwin and Lyon for their consistency and ability to evolve.”But I’m trying to not be Lyon or Ashwin…just finding how those superstars fit into the Corey Rocchiccioli that I want to become.”Even though he’s on the brink of being part of back-to-back Shield titles to start his first-class career, amid a golden era for WA, Rocchiccioli is conditioned to feel on the edge and scrap for every opportunity.”I feel like as a spinner you’re always playing for your spot in Perth because we don’t need to play a spinner at the WACA,” he said. “I haven’t forgotten my journey getting here, I wasn’t a pathway player.”Playing in another Shield final is incredible. I won’t take it for granted.”

Pakistan pair will lead Hundred strugglers’ pace attack, but their availability is unclear

Matt Roller27-Mar-2023Mike Hussey, Welsh Fire’s new men’s coach, has admitted that signing Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf in last week’s Hundred draft was a “gamble” due to uncertainty over their availability, but one he believes could have “a huge pay-off”.The limited availability of overseas players has been a constant issue across the Hundred’s first two seasons, owing to clashes with bilateral series and the Caribbean Premier League. Most teams responded by prioritising availability over star power in Thursday’s draft, with Babar Azam, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell all going unselected as a result.But Fire, who brought in Hussey as a replacement for Gary Kirsten after a winless 2022 season, broke the mould in signing two of the world’s leading white-ball bowlers for a combined £160,000, despite a lack of clarity over Pakistan’s fixture list in August, when the Hundred will be played.Hussey has replaced Gary Kirsten as Fire coach•Getty ImagesFire will play their opening match on August 2, away at Manchester Originals, and Hussey anticipates Shaheen and Rauf will be available for seven of their eight group games. Pakistan are due to finish a two-Test series in Sri Lanka in late July, and have a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan pencilled in for late August, leading into the Asia Cup and then the World Cup.”We’ve been told that they’re available up to about the 20th,” Hussey told ESPNcricinfo and the Press Association. “I think that’s about seven games, and there’s a chance that the series they’ve got against Afghanistan may be called off as well. It’s a bit of a gamble, but if that is the case, it’d be a huge win for us to have them for the whole season, which would be amazing for us.”They are big stars, and they’re match-winners as well. The first seven games is a fair chunk of the tournament. If they can come in and have a huge impact and win us a few games, and get us right up there, then that will help build some confidence and belief. And then there’s still some quality performers out there that we can attract as suitable replacements.Related

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“The gamble is, we know we’ve got them for seven games at this stage, but it could also be the whole tournament which would be a huge pay-off for us. Obviously they are both world-class performers and have performed on the biggest stage in the past, so hopefully they can have a big impact for us.”The pair have played together extensively for Pakistan, and have also been integral parts of Lahore Qalandars’ back-to-back PSL titles over the last two seasons, revitalising a struggling franchise in a way that Hussey hopes they can repeat in Cardiff.”It’s great that we’ve got them as a pair,” he added, “so they’ve got a bit of camaraderie off the field and both have a buddy there as well. I think that’s going to hopefully help them settle in nicely.”Tom Abell lined up as captain
Welsh Fire’s first move in the draft was to try and sign Tim David, but as Hussey had anticipated, Southern Brave used their Right-To-Match (RTM) to bring him back for a third stint with them. Instead, they used their first pick to bring in Somerset’s Tom Abell on a £125,000 contract, which will be further topped up by a captaincy bonus.”I obviously did a lot of background [work] and got a lot of information from a lot of different sources,” Hussey said of Abell, “and the information I got was that he sounds like an outstanding character and a really good leader, which is something that we identified that we really wanted this season.”It took several conversations with Hussey to prise Abell away from Birmingham Phoenix, who offered him a retention despite injuries limiting him to a single game across the Hundred’s first two seasons. “Tom’s such a loyal guy, so the initial conversations were a bit nervous,” Hussey said.Welsh Fire’s squad for the 2023 Men’s Hundred•ECB/The Hundred”He really respected Birmingham so much and they’d stood by him when he was injured in a previous season, and so he was very reluctant to leave them, to be honest. We had to work extremely hard to help him see the vision of what we had in place, and what we would hopefully create over the next few years, and that we saw him as a huge part of that, particularly being the leader of the team.”Thankfully, he made the choice to go back into the draft and obviously to secure his services we were going to take him as early as we could. We’ve got a really good player that can hopefully play well in the conditions in Cardiff in particular – but all around the country as well. And then obviously throwing in those leadership capabilities as well was something that we were really attracted to.”Their other picks were David Willey (£125k), Glenn Phillips (£75k), Roelof van der Merwe (£50k), Stevie Eskinazi and Dan Douthwaite (both £40k), and while the draft system meant Hussey inevitably missed out on some targets, he said he was “very happy” with his squad overall.Fire had previously retained only five players (Joe Clarke, Ollie Pope, David Payne, Jake Ball and George Scrimshaw) from their 2022 squad, with some players turning down pay rises in order to move elsewhere – most notably Ben Duckett, who openly asked Hussey not to RTM him and allow him to move to Birmingham Phoenix.Bairstow featuring would be ‘a bonus’
Jonny Bairstow is allocated to Fire as their England player on an all-format central contract, though Hussey is not expecting him to play much part in the Hundred, which is sandwiched between the Ashes and the World Cup. “Whatever we can get is an absolute bonus,” he said.But he added that Pope is keen to use it as a chance to improve and showcase his white-ball skills, after scant opportunities over the last four years. “We’ll be very respectful: the Ashes is a huge campaign, and very demanding both mentally and physically. [But] he sounds keen to play as much as he possibly can.”As a Glamorgan player, Douthwaite’s selection was particularly notable. Fire’s squad did not contain a single player from their host county last season, leading Nasser Hussain to deliver a damning verdict on them: “there’s neither been many Welsh, nor much Fire”.Hussey was keen to change that, and suggested Fire will strongly consider adding at least one more Glamorgan player as a ‘wildcard’ pick after the group stages of the T20 Blast. “I do think we have a responsibility to really engage with the local community – to really make them feel like we’re playing for them and that we’re really invested in this team,” he said.The easiest way to do that is simple: “We need to perform on the field to attract crowds.” After eight defeats out of eight last summer, the only way is up.

The New Zealand batter has a system that insulates him from the make-or-break nature of his sport

Alagappan Muthu15-Mar-2023On July 15, 2019, Kane Williamson cracked a joke about still being able to crack a joke.He was standing in front of a group of journalists, all of whom were all but ready to drop the professional act and give him just the biggest hug.So Williamson defused the tension.Of all the things that make up this man, and we see very little of him beyond his artistry at the crease and his modesty on the mic, this is the most incredible one.Related

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The way he looks at big moments on the field and takes away their power.Then-New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said the nation had all “aged” watching the Super Over. James Neesham sent out a PSA for kids not to take up sport: “Die at 60 really fat and happy.” Williamson understood the significance of it – of how close they were to becoming the first Black Caps team to win a World Cup – but he wouldn’t let it define him. Heck, he wouldn’t even give other people that opportunity. And so a press conference with the losing captain the day after he took part in the greatest ODI of all time turned into something oddly matter-of-fact.

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Williamson is staring at the big screen just like everybody else. If he is anxious, he is hiding it well. The replays are focused on his dive to get to the non-striker’s end. It’s uncomfortably tight.”He’s got him,” someone says in the commentary box. “He’s safe,” says someone else.The tension’s rising. Slow motion isn’t helping. And then comes the roar. The Hagley Oval crowd bursts into applause. Several of them are on their feet. They are all toasting a second Test match win for the ages in the space of two weeks. And yet the man who orchestrated them both celebrates with just a small, little smile.If ever there was a time to get carried away, it was this. And yet all he did was bow his head in sweet relief. Honestly, people open their mail with more excitement than Williamson winning a five-day match off its final ball.Kane Williamson, the calmness amid chaos•Joe Allison/Getty Images

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MS Dhoni introduced the word “process” into our world as a way to take his players – who are expected to be nothing less than perfect by over a billion taskmasters – out of their heads. It wasn’t necessarily revolutionary but it was coming from an authority figure who for some strange reason wasn’t so worried about the results. It was like sitting in class and hearing your teacher say exams don’t matter so long as you actually learn something. It was freeing.India give a lot of their power away to the game; players and fans alike treat it like it is the only thing that matters in their lives. And that’s neither helpful nor healthy. The greatest trick Dhoni ever pulled had nothing to do with sixes hit in the last over or trophies won out of nowhere. It was breaking all of cricket down and rebuilding it as a series of events that he and his men could control; a series of events that had power over.There is a New Zealand team that has to deal with such extremes, but it’s not the one Williamson plays for. The demands on him, the scrutiny on him, are kinder.

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A chase of 285 comes down to the last over. The equation is five off three. Pretty much everyone is out on the fence. Asitha Fernando is in the middle of an inspired spell, going nose-or-toes-nose-or-toes. The margin of error – for the batting side especially – is non-existent, which only means the potential for things to go wrong is at its peak.Williamson has a system that insulates him from this toxicity. A home that reminds him his value as a person doesn’t depend on his success as a sportsman. And a workplace that marks wins and losses in almost the same way – by getting together and having a beer.All of this gives him clarity and that clarity unleashes his genius.What happens when one of the best players in the world realises he doesn’t have to look back and feel haunted by the matches he could have won? That he can just take pleasure from the fact that he was good enough to be in those places.Based on the events in Christchurch, it puts Williamson in a state of mind where he can harness all his talent, all his hand-eye coordination and all his timing and hit a game-breaking boundary, beating not one but two deep points, even though they had a 50-metre head start on the ball and there was barely a gap between them; at best it was the length of a pitch. Power and precision don’t usually go so well together without help from a green screen.

“Just the calmness at which he does it”. Tim Southee reflects on Kane Williamson’s 121* at Hagley Oval. #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/7KE8H4SyT8

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) March 14, 2023

All the statistical landmarks of a high-octane opening day of the 2023 Ashes at Edgbaston

Sampath Bandarupalli16-Jun-2023393 for 8 dec England’s total in Birmingham is the second-highest by any team on the first day of an Ashes Test since World War II, behind their 407 all out in 2005, also at the Edgbaston.407 Runs aggregated by England and Australia on Friday. These are the joint-second most runs scored on the first day of an Ashes Test since World War II. Birmingham was the host for the 2001 Ashes Test, where 427 runs were scored on the opening day, while the same venue saw England making 407 on the first day in 2005.

Bangladesh have relied on their spinners at home over the years, but as today demonstrated, that might be changing

Mohammad Isam15-Jun-2023Bangladesh fans don’t really know what it’s like to see their fast bowlers rattle opponents at a home Test. They were never a side that had a genuine fast bowling attack in their first decade, which led to a period between 2016 and 2020 when the team management decided to show the door to fast bowling at home. When Afghanistan last played a Test here in 2019, Bangladesh didn’t even field a specialist seamer.The circumstances have certainly changed. Bangladesh’s fast bowling has progressed so much in the last two and a half years that the Shere Bangla National Stadium curator, Gamini Silva – seemingly following instructions from the team management – put out a green top with pace, bounce and carry in the one-off Test against Afghanistan this week.There was turn on the pitch from the first day too, but the fast bowlers from both sides have outperformed spinners. They have combined to take 13 wickets, including eight in the first session on the second day. Nijat Masood took a five-wicket debut haul, before Ebadot Hossain snared four wickets.Such scenes are a rarity at this venue which is well-known for dishing out regular raging turners. But with the fast bowling unit improving in all formats, the Bangladesh think-tank showed that they have belief in them.Ahead of this Test, Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said that they want to see how their different skillsets can give them options over five days of a Test match. It was during Hathurusinghe’s first reign as head coach when Bangladesh team management wanted only raging turners at home. It paid off with maiden Test wins over England and Australia but they lost to Afghanistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka using the same tactics. It was becoming too predictable.

We had a pitch in our favour so we wanted to make best use of it. The rest is up to the team management. I think if we keep bowling well at home, the team management can have confidence in usEbadot Hossain

On Thursday, it was Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Ebadot Hossain who blazed away in the hot afternoon. Left-arm quick Shoriful opened the floodgates with two crucial strikes before Ebadot bounced out four of the batters. Taskin didn’t get wickets but he’s the natural leader of this attack, and wickets are often around the corner for the 28-year old tearaway.Ebadot looked the most hostile of the Bangladesh bowlers, either attacking the stumps or bowling quick bouncers to keep the batters guessing. He said that the idea was to use the bouncer a surprise weapon.”I think this is the first time that we got this type of wicket (at home),” Ebadot said. “We were lucky to have three fast bowlers playing here. We tried to bowl them out for as less a total as possible. I am happy that we could stick to our plan. We extracted bounce out of the wicket. We cannot plan for it. We tried to make use of the pace and bounce of the wicket. They found it tough.Ebadot Hossain struck twice with the new ball in the first session•Walton”I didn’t get my wickets just by bowling bouncers. I set up the batter with full balls before surprising them with a bouncer. I have grabbed this plan slowly. Before I used to bowl two or three bouncers an over after bowling inswingers and outswingers. But now I could do execute a plan of surprising the batter due to the wicket.”Ebadot said that the unit is trying to match up to the world standards of fast bowling’s effectiveness at the highest level. He said that the more they have performances that help the team win, the more confidence the team management will have in them.”Our pace bowling department have improved a lot in the last three years. I am not saying that we are the finished product but our graph is going upward in this period. We want to do consistently well. We have been able to grab the fast bowling dominating mindset of world cricket.”The fast bowlers did well in this good wicket. The match isn’t over. We have bowled only one innings. We want to do better in the second innings. We were all confident that we could do well in this game. We had a pitch in our favour so we wanted to make best use of it. The rest is up to the team management. I think if we keep bowling well at home, the team management can have confidence in us,” he said.Ebadot said that he didn’t regret not taking the five-for, as the captain Litton Das was having to catch up to a slow over rate. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam shared the last three wickets.”I am okay with not getting five wickets. We were two overs behind so the captain employed spinners from both ends. He told me that I won’t be bowling since we needed to make up for the overs. Team comes first for me, more than my personal goals,” he said.Ebadot also had another bit of good news during this spell of 4-47. His bowling average has gone down to less than 50 for the first time in his Test career. It has taken him 20 Tests in four years to get to this level. These four years have also seen Bangladesh changing its perception about fast bowling. When was the last time you saw the wicketkeeper collecting the ball around his chest for two days in Mirpur?

Australia are annoying teacher’s pets again, India get gold stars for effort, England look for a place to hide their report cards

Andrew Fidel Fernando21-Nov-2023Gather round children. World Cup term is out. Hey, Sri Lanka and Pakistan! How many times do I have to tell you to keep quiet in the back? Do you to be suspended? Sri Lanka, don’t you dare answer that.Where was I? Yes, you’ve played all your matches. Some of you I’m very proud of. Some of you must already know you can do better. Come up one by one in alphabetical order and get your report cards.

Afghanistan

Place: SixthTeacher’s remarks: You cuties. You did so well! And you did so well without upsetting the regular balance of things, by which I mean not winning against India and Australia and thereby putting earnings at risk. Your plucky run through the tournament was as inspiring as watching the rebels in . That is, if the rebels did not have Princess Leia or any other female generals or women fighters involved in any way.Related

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Best work: Beating England to not only set your campaign on a good run, but also trip them down a set of stairs they would continue to tumble down to the amusement of many.Worst work: Giving away 201 runs to Glenn Maxwell, whose body was so lifeless it looked like every shot was a spasm powered by defibrillator shock.

Australia

Place: FirstRemarks: You did your best to sabotage yourselves. You lost your first two games and were bottom of the table. You fell off golf carts and gave yourself concussion. One of you had a broken hand for half the tournament. And then you came first, yet again. No one can figure out how you keep doing this.Best work: Your captain getting the wicket of Virat Kohli and turning that final.Worst work: Your captain saying he was “sad to see” England’s downfall at this World Cup, when we all know he very much was not sad.Next time maybe just give Australia the trophy at the start of the tournament•ICC/Getty Images

Bangladesh

Place: EighthRemarks: Never got close to the top spots, as usual. But created a lot of drama, as usual. Full marks for consistency.Best work: Your captain delivering a consoling shoulder tap to the batter he’d just appealed to have timed-out, then going on to win that game and acting like the whole thing was nothing.Worst work: Everything else.

England

Place: SeventhRemarks: Strutted in like big dogs, with big attitudes and major expectations. Then proceeded to crap your pants pretty much all the way through the competition. Gross. Don’t see me after class.Best work: Beating Netherlands by 160. You rock stars.Worst work: Choosing to bat first when you won the toss against Pakistan, when they had a tiny chance of qualifying for the semis but only if batted first. As if tanking your campaign wasn’t enough.

India

Place: Second
Remarks: The best student through the course of the term, ticking all the achievement boxes, sometimes embarrassing the other students with how much better you are than them across all subjects. There were times when it felt like your dad was doing your homework for you, but he’s the main donor to this school, and who am I to dock points? Yes, you stumbled in the final, but note that I am still giving you a special 10/10 perfect score. Actually 100/10. And all the stickers you want from the gold star sticker book. Plus free fruit juices for all of next term. If it were up to me, you’d be first place forever. I would have redone the final. Please tell your dad I don’t want to lose my job.Best work: Beating Pakistan in a stadium of 250,000 at least, surely. Jai Hind.Worst work: If you’d had Hardik Pandya you’d have smashed the final too, wow what a shame, don’t be sad, here are more stickers.Déja boo: South Africa have seen this somewhere before•ICC/Getty Images

Netherlands

Place: TenthRemarks: You did not just make up the numbers. You were a valued member of this class. It doesn’t matter to us that you’re from humble backgrounds. The memories you created will stay with all of those who watched this World… See you when we see you and good luck with your life otherwise.Best work: Beating South Africa.Worst work: Would have been really fun if you beat England too, but you didn’t quite manage it.

New Zealand

Place: FourthRemarks: Yes, you’re all so glad for the opportunity to be here, and this country is such a wonderful place to play cricket, plus the fans are so passionate, and the sky is such a beautiful colour today, but would it kill you to have more to your collective personality beyond being nice?Best work: Rachin Ravindra’s hair.Worst work: Rachin Ravindra telling the world his first name was a mix of Rahul (Dravid) and Sachin (Tendulkar), until his dad said it was “nothing of the sort”, proving that if you’re of South Asian descent it doesn’t matter if you’ve made the most runs ever for a World Cup debutant, your parents are still going to somehow find a way to shame you in public.

Pakistan

Place: FifthRemarks: You really need to stop living in 1992. We went through this in the last World Cup. Sometimes losing a lot is not a prerequisite to not losing, and is just a sign that more losing is about to come.Best work: Announcing your major captaincy reshuffle while the rest of the world was focused on the World Cup knockouts.Worst work: Some of your World Cup showings didn’t cover themselves in glory.Tissues are now a mandatory kit-bag item for South Africa in World Cups•Getty Images

South Africa

Place: Third (kinda)Remarks: You didn’t do what everyone expected you to do. But you also didn’t quite blow those expectations out of the water. But, okay, sure. In four more years. I agree, for sure, you have some young players with promise. Next World Cup, absolutely. You’re gonna crush it then. Not a doubt in my mind. Keep believing, etc.Best work: Not choking in the semi-final and just losing it despite your best efforts.Worst work: Not being good enough to even get into a position in the semi-final for choking to be an option.

Sri Lanka

Place: NinthRemarks: No matter how bad your playing XI is, it will never be as bad as your administration. But man, has your playing XI sucked.Best work: Beating England. Very least you could do. But nice.Worst work: Your administrators asking for the ICC to suspend their own board after the Sri Lankan courts gave a stay order ousting the interim committee that replaced the board for roughly 24 hours, off the back of you crashing out of the World Cup and out of the 2024 Champions Trophy.

His highest ODI score or his longest ODI innings

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2023With Virat Kohli becoming the first to score 50 ODI hundreds, we are asking you to pick his best century in the format. From eight shortlisted hundreds, we are now down to the final four. The innings with more votes in this match-up moves to the final round in our bracket.Voting for this match-up has ended. The 183 vs Pakistan in Mirpur moves to the final round.183 (148) vs Pakistan, Asia Cup, Mirpur, 2012Less than a month after his Hobart heroics, Kohli helped chase down a 300-plus total again with room to spare. Pakistan had set India 330, and Gautam Gambhir was out for a duck second-ball. Kohli flicked, he glanced, he drove and cut his way to what remains his highest ODI score. You could already see the ability to switch gears and combine busy accumulation with authoritative strokeplay. People christened him the master of the chase: it was just his seventh hundred in a successful chase. There would be many more to come.160*(159) vs South Africa, 3rd ODI, Cape Town, 2018A tough pitch was no hindrance to Kohli during a run in which he scored a record tally of 558 in a bilateral ODI series. He made three hundreds in six innings, with the 160* in Cape Town being the pick of them. Kohli put in a masterclass even as the batters around him struggled against the pace and bounce of South Africa’s bowling attack. After consolidating in the middle overs, he accelerated in the final ten, taking India from 223 for 4 to 303 for 6. He made more than half of India’s total and ran for 100 of his runs in the dry heat. South Africa were bundled out for 179, just 19 more runs than what Kohli made himself.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto admits that Bangladesh “didn’t play well as a team”, despite getting the pitch they wanted

Mohammad Isam25-Mar-2024Alarm bells are ringing for Bangladesh after their fourth successive batting debacle in Tests. On a pitch that the team management reportedly desired, the home side collapsed twice in Sylhet, with Litton Das’ shot to get out in the fourth innings particularly being emblematic of the side’s batting failure.Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto has owned up to the problems, including his own dismissal in the fourth innings. But there are suggestions that the players weren’t prepared for the Test, which is all the more concerning given how most of them have ignored first-class cricket for many seasons now.Bangladesh kept Sri Lanka in the field for three hours on the fourth day. Most of the damage was done the previous day when they crashed to 37 for 5, before Mominul Haque’s 87 took them to 182 – their fourth consecutive sub-200 innings at home. In the first innings, they were bowled out for 180 after crashing to 83 for 5.Bangladesh made 172 and 144 against New Zealand in Dhaka, but at the time, the raging turner and the afterglow of beating New Zealand in Sylhet in the previous game, meant they avoided some of the public criticism. Three months ago, Shere Bangla National Stadium’s pitch was stacked too much in favour of the spinners. In Sylhet this time, both team acknowledged that barring the first 20 overs in each innings, the pitch was good for batting.Related

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Shanto admitted that Bangladesh had to quickly regroup after this 328-run defeat so that they can give an improved showing in the upcoming Chattogram Test.”We got the pitch we wanted,” Shanto said. “It was in our favour. We have no complaints about the pitch. I don’t think a defeat will bring us motivation. How we prepare and what we are thinking, that’s more important. This was a bad result. We didn’t play well as a team. We couldn’t take our chances. We are focusing on improving in the next game, and ensuring we don’t make the small mistakes.”Our top order didn’t do well in both innings, but it was also the same for them. We have to work on improving our game. I am hoping we will do well in the next game. There are lessons from every game but only when you take a long hard look at where you went wrong and where it went right for you. We have to consider everything. This experience will help us in the future.”There are no mincing words. Bangladesh batted poorly in Sylhet. The top order offered no fight against the new ball. In particular, they chased deliveries moving away from and outside off-stump. Openers Zakir Hasan and Mahmudul Hasan Joy were caught behind once each, as were captain Shanto and Mominul Haque. Shahadat Hossain got caught in the slips in both innings.Shanto called his waft outside off-stump a misjudgment, promising to improve in the next game.”I can only say that I chose the wrong ball. The sort of wicket it was, I should left that delivery as a top-order batter. It was a misjudgment. We will try to make a comeback in the next game.”The spotlight however is on the Litton dismissal on the third evening, when he tried to slog the first ball he faced in the innings. Angelo Mathews caught the skier, as it turned Bangladesh’s dire situation worse.Shanto suggested that Litton’s dismissal was rare in Test cricket, so he has to work harder on his batting with the coaches ahead of the Chattogram Test. He, however, ruled out giving a break to Litton.Shoriful Islam and Khaled Ahmed added 40 off 35 balls for the ninth wicket in the first innings•AFP/Getty Images”I can’t talk about Litton’s dismissal. He can explain it better. You don’t see this sort of dismissal in Test cricket. The batting coach can talk about the particular shot. I don’t want to talk too much about his dismissal. We wouldn’t have spoken if it was a caught-behind dismissal. I think the batting coach and Litton will plan better so that these shots can be avoided next time.”When (Litton) didn’t play the last ODI, we were thinking of giving him a break. He is an important player for us. One of our best batters. He hasn’t had a great time lately but we should be with him during this time, starting from the coaching staff to the players. He is also wary of this. I am hopeful he will do well in the next game.”Selector Abdur Razzak told reporters after the third day’s play that Litton’s shot was “disappointing”, but said that the top order has to take equal responsibility for their low scores.”It is disappointing that a senior batter got out in this way in a Test match. It is not right. But it wasn’t just Litton Das. We lost five wickets in the session. Everyone is at fault. There’s no chance to say that these are raw players,” Razzak said.”We have picked the players because they can handle these situations. When the team does well, we credit the team. The team now has to take the responsibility in this situation.”Bangladesh now have four days to recuperate ahead of the Chattogram Test which starts on March 30. There were suggestions however that they didn’t get enough time to prepare for the Sylhet Test, that was played four days after the last ODI in Chattogram on March 18, leaving Bangladesh with just three training days.Razzak, however, felt that the team had enough training. He said that cricket tours these days don’t allow practice matches.”The way cricket is these days, there’s not enough time for practice matches. There’s a lot of competitive cricket these days. I don’t see it as lack of preparation for the players,” he said.Bangladesh collapsed to their fourth successive sub-200 score at home•AFP/Getty ImagesThis was a particularly busy season for the senior men’s side. After the ODI World Cup last November, Bangladesh played home Tests against New Zealand and also toured New Zealand for white-ball matches. The two domestic first-class competitions had finished by December. There were no other Bangladesh A tours. The BPL was held from January 19 to March 1, while the Dhaka Premier League, the lucrative List-A competition, began in mid-March.Bangladesh’s Test specialists, however, had opportunities to play both the NCL and BCL. But none of the players in the XI had played the full season of first-class cricket. Zakir and Khaled played seven matches each, while Mominul played six games. Joy and Shahadat played three each.Litton, Mehidy and Shoriful Islam didn’t play a single first-class game this season while captain Shanto played one. It is mostly because their schedule didn’t make room for the first-class fixtures, but for long, even the more senior players have avoided the first-class tournaments.Most of the Sri Lanka players have a healthy diet of first-class cricket this season. Nishan Madushka and Fernando played nine and eight games respectively, while Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis and Prabhat Jayasuriya have played seven each. Dimuth Karunaratne and captain Dhananjaya de Silva took part in six games too. Even someone as busy as Kusal Mendis played five games.Only playing first-class cricket will not guarantee success in Tests. Bangladesh’s first-class scene has long been criticised for lacking in quality. Tournaments like the NCL and BCL haven’t quite reached the level required to promote first-class cricket.That being said, Bangladesh also pay less attention to Test cricket, especially when an ICC tournament is knocking on the door. In this case, the T20 World Cup in June is the BCB and team management’s main concern, even though the Tests they are currently playing are also part of an ICC tournament.