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Kane Williamson included as well after recovering from a hamstring injury

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2024Rachin Ravindra is set to add to his three Test caps after being named in the New Zealand squad for the two-Test series against South Africa that starts on February 4 in Mount Maunganui. New Zealand have also handed a maiden Test call-up to Canterbury fast bowler Will O’Rourke, who is known as the clone of Kyle Jamieson, although only for the second Test in Hamilton.New Zealand have named Kane Williamson in the side after he missed the last three T20Is against Pakistan due to a hamstring injury. Tom Blundell and Jamieson, who are also recovering from injuries, have been included as well.From the Test squad that toured Bangladesh in November-December last year, Ish Sodhi and Ajaz Patel have not found in a place against South Africa because of the conditions expected at home.Related

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Ravindra comes into the squad at the expense of Henry Nicholls, who has suffered somewhat of a form slump. Barring an unbeaten 200 against Sri Lanka in Wellington in March 2023, the batter hasn’t crossed 40 in his last 11 Tests.Ravindra made his Test debut in November 2021 against India in Kanpur but has not played the format since the new year’s Test against Bangladesh in 2022. However, a breakthrough 2023 which culminated in him bagging the ICC Emerging Player-of-the-Year award has seen him get a Test recall.O’Rourke, 22, recently made his ODI debut in the three-game series against Bangladesh at home picking five wickets at 23.00. He is currently playing the Super Smash – the domestic T20s – where he has picked nine wickets in the last five games.Mitchell Santner kept his place and so did Glenn Phillips, who showed his wares in Bangladesh. With scores of 87 and 40 not out, the middle-order batter was named Player of the Match in the second Test in Mirpur which New Zealand won by four wickets. He also picked a three-for in the first innings.Glenn Phillips showed his wares against Bangladesh•Associated Press

Since making his debut against Australia, this will be the first time that Phillips will be playing a Test at home since January 2020, if picked in the XI.”It was pleasing as a selector to see different players making contributions during the recent series in Bangladesh,” head coach Gary Stead said. “Glenn and Mitch both earned selection on the back of their recent work in red-ball cricket. Will O’Rourke has impressed us in stepping up from domestic cricket to New Zealand A and then international level. Rachin Ravindra is another player who has really impressed us with his contributions to the team over the past 12 months in international cricket.”Tom Blundell, Kyle Jamieson and Kane Williamson are all at slightly different points in their rehabilitation plans. But we’re confident they’ll be good to go at Bay Oval.”New Zealand are chasing their first-ever Test series win against a weakened South Africa, who have as many as eight uncapped players in the side, including captain Neil Brand. Duanne Olivier is the most experienced member of the side with 15 Tests to his name. Stead, however, expected stern challenges from the South Africa unit regardless.”The Proteas are a highly competitive team across formats and, having never won a Test series against them home or away, we expect two stern challenges,” he said. “It’s an honour to be involved in any Test match and I know the players are looking forward to the start of a big Test summer – in what is a big year of Test cricket home and away.”

New Zealand Test squad

Tim Southee (capt), Tom Blundell, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke (second test only), Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young

Welsh Fire hit rock-bottom after slipping to sixth consecutive defeat

Harshini Mehta24-Aug-2022Dan Lawrence starred with bat and ball as London Spirit recorded their fifth victory out of six in their Hundred campaign, beating winless Welsh Fire by 18 runs.The England international top-scored for his side with an impressive 43 off 26 and with Adam Rossington and Ben McDermott weighing in with 32 apiece, Spirit set a challenging target of 157 despite Ish Sodhi’s tight spell on debut.Lawrence made sure that total was never seriously challenged as he decimated Fire’s top order with 4 for 20, and despite some explosive hitting from the middle order, Fire came up short.Related

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After Fire won the toss and chose to field, Spirit opener Rossington produced the early pyrotechnics with a flurry of boundaries off Dwaine Pretorius and David Payne. His partner Daniel Bell-Drummond was undone by a beauty from Jake Ball, but Rossington’s brutal striking brought the hosts to 41 for one at the end of the powerplay.Sodhi, Fire’s replacement for Adam Zampa, applied the brakes, only giving away two runs in his first five and pressure told when Rossington slog-swept the New Zealand legspinner straight down Ben Duckett’s throat in the deep. Eoin Morgan went without scoring but McDermott picked up where Rossington had left off, smashing his second six over long-on.McDermott too though fell to Sodhi’s wizardry at which point he had 2 for 6 in 14 deliveries. But Lawrence caused a dent in his bowling figures, twice planting him into the Grandstand.A third six to the long side followed as he endangered the cameras beyond the longer square boundary and with Kieron Pollard also clearing the ropes in his last appearance before making his way back to the Caribbean Premier League, Spirit posted a competitive 156.Dan Lawrence gets down to slog-sweep•ECB/Getty Images

Fire struggled for momentum from the off, taking 17 balls to find the boundary and the out-of-form Joe Clarke holed out soon afterwards off the bowling of Thompson trying to go the aerial route.Thereafter Lawrence returned to centre stage – his delivery to captain Josh Cobb caused him to skew his effort and he was comfortably caught by Bell-Drummond; two balls later, he yorked Bethell with a beauty and David Miller’s effort was seized by Pollard on the boundary edge.Pretorius and Duckett briefly raised Fire’s hopes with a partnership of 52 off 28, the latter striking two big sixes, but Lawrence returned to castle Duckett with the last ball of his spell.Leus du Plooy took up the challenge clubbing consecutive sixes and Matt Critchley blazed 21 from six balls, but Chris Wood dismissed both in the final set of five to finish with 4 for 28 as Spirit clinched victory.

WIn sealed with 16 balls to spare as fifth-wicket pairing make hay at Bristol

ECB Reporters' Network11-Jun-2021Phil Salt and George Garton gunned down a target of 178 with 16 balls to spare to get Sussex off to a winning start in the Vitality Blast with a five-wicket win at Gloucestershire.3,600 were admitted into Nevil Road, with all tickets sold in advance, but the fans were sent home disappointed by a flat-out chase.Salt, in his first appearance of the season for Sussex, made 77 not out from 49 balls and Garton, who had only made 103 runs in 23 T20s before this, made 46 from only 25 balls as Sussex waltzed home.The chase was initially under pressure as David Payne held Travis Head, for 2, at short-third man before taking Ravi Bopara caught and bowled first ball. Josh Shaw then took out David Wiese’s off stump for only 11 and Delray Rawlings lazily clubbed Graeme van Buuren to long-on to leave Sussex 57 for 4 after the Powerplay.But Sussex kept the pedal down. Salt lifted two sixes over long-on and whipped Matt Taylor behind square for four. He slapped Shaw for two further boundaries and with Garton slog-sweeping two sixes to the short side, the chase was in control at 102 for 4 by halfway and they never relinquished their position.It rendered Gloucestershire’s 177 for 7 well short having been sent in. Glenn Phillips made 42 from 27 balls but he and the rest of the order threatened greater damage before Sussex took regular wickets to keep their hosts in check.Sussex handed a debut to 16-year-old Archie Lenham, who became the second-youngest player in Blast history after Hamidullah Qadri for Derbyshire in 2017, and he enjoyed a fine debut with 1 for 34.A legspinner who plays club cricket for Eastbourne, Lenham was handed the seventh over and bowled with confidence, using his change-ups, bowling quickly and flat with a large leg-side boundary for comfort. He conceded five from his first over and then forced Taylor to hole out to long-on, drawing a heart-warming joyful leap of celebration.A third over saw him heaved twice over deep midwicket by Phillips but was trusted with a final over that conceded only seven.Garton’s career-best effort with the bat followed a fine performance with the ball where he claimed 3 for 19, including just three from two overs in the Powerplay.

India have named a 16-member squad for the five-match T20I series that will kick off their tour from January 24

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2020India have named a 16-member squad for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which will kick off their tour from January 24. Rohit Sharma, who was rested for the recently concluded three-match series against Sri Lanka, is back in the squad as vice-captain. His direct replacement for the series, Sanju Samson, has been drafted out of the squad.An addition has also been made to the squad that played Sri Lanka, with fast bowler Mohammed Shami back in the T20I squad after playing one match against West Indies in December, which was his first since July 2017.Shami’s inclusion makes it three express fast-bowling options for India, with Jasprit Bumrah and Navdeep Saini retaining their places. Shardul Thakur, who was Man of the Match in the last T20I against Sri Lanka, and took five wickets in two matches in the series, rounds up the frontline seam options. Backing them up is the medium-pace of allrounder Shivam Dube.Sharma’s return and Shikhar Dhawan’s retention gives India three in-form opening options, while KL Rahul will also double up as the back-up wicketkeeper. The length of this series, however, may also prompt India to try all three of them together as they have before, with Virat Kohli acknowledging during the Sri Lanka series that he was open to batting lower than the top three if needed. In essence, that would mean Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant could see themselves in and out through the course of these five matches, depending on which top-three combination India chooses.Among the spinners, India have continued to go with one of every kind – Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Kuldeep Yadav have all kept their places in the squad.India T20I squad for New Zealand tour: Virat Kohli (capt.), Rohit Sharma (vice-capt.), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur

ESPNcricinfo’s live blog of the first round of the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season

Shashank Kishore02-Nov-2018

Rain is expected again in the afternoon in Port-of-Spain where India would want to assess the strength of the batsmen they employ at No. 4 and below

The Preview by Alagappan Muthu24-Jun-2017

Match Facts

June 25, 2017
Start time 0900 local (1300 GMT)1:50

India will be pleased with Ajinkya Rahane being among the runs

Big Picture

Nine am starts in a bilateral series, after a world tournament has ended, with rain in the air, is asking a lot of a spectator. But for those die-hard fans who will still make the trip to the Queens Park Oval, be advised. Port-of-Spain is expected to receive thundershowers on Sunday afternoon, so don’t be surprised if you hit your head on a big red sign in front of the ground that says, “nothing to see here”. The sensible lot would take the time to sleep in, but the players don’t really have that luxury.India, for example, might not have anyone to grumble “five more minutes, coach,” to on this tour, but they do have a few rookies they’d want to get in shape. Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav was handed a debut on Friday but he didn’t even step on to the field with the match being washed out. Uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was not in the XI, but considering the low stakes, it might be useful to give him as many starts as possible to see if he could fit in the 2019 World Cup puzzle.In any case, it is starting to seem like the only way India can check on a middle-order batsman is if they can promote him to open. Typically it is their top order that fetches the bulk of the runs in ODIs – on Friday, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane contributed 149 out of 199 before the rain came down.West Indies – from 39.2 overs of play – looked steady, and their bowlers were especially clever against Virat Kohli. Pitching it short of a length and outside off stump – on a surface that gave them a little extra lift – they forced the India captain to return with a strike rate of 68. He couldn’t get on top of the ball to bring his powerful wrists into play and he was rarely offered the drive as a means of escape. Take this attack lightly at your peril.

Form guide

West Indies WLLLW (completed matches, most recent first)
India LWWLW

In the spotlight

At 20, Alzarri Joseph generates pace effortlessly, not unlike Kagiso Rabada, who already leads South Africa’s attack in all formats. But that is only an asset when combined with discipline, and some creativity in the form of variations. Joseph showed with his dismissal of Rahane – an offcutter the batsman simply did not see coming – that he is more than ready for modern cricket.The merits in retaining Yuvraj Singh, even though he is 35, become apparent when he is in form. A career-best 150 against England and a 29-ball fifty against Pakistan showcased the best of his timing. In fact, since his comeback in January 2017, he has averaged 45 and struck at 102.24. He might have to keep up that level of performance to ward off competition from the likes of Pant, Manish Pandey (injured) and KL Rahul (injured), though.

Team news

Considering the last match they played ended in a no-result, West Indies might want to persist with the same XI.West Indies (probable): 1 Evin Lewis, 2 Kieran Powell, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Jonathan Carter, 5 Jason Mohammed, 6 Roston Chase, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Ashley Nurse, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Devendra Bishoo, 11 Miguel Cummins,India came to the Caribbean with two uncapped players. One of them – Kuldeep – has debuted already and the other – Pant – would be looking forward to a first ODI cap as well.India (probable): 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Umesh Yadav

Pitch and conditions

Before the first ODI, Jeffrey Dujon described the pitch at the Queens Park Oval as a “tie-dye t-shirt” by Jeffrey Dujon, implying that it was difficult to assess. The one thing he was certain of was that it would spin in the first innings and flatten out later.

Stats and trivia

• The average run-rate batting first at the venue across 66 matches is 4.86. That translates to an average score of 243.
• Dhawan and Rahane’s last five ODI partnerships read: 83, 125, 56, 112, 132
• Jason Holder has 48 wickets as West Indies captain – the same as Courtney Walsh

Nepal will meet Zimbabwe in the Plate Championship final to be held at Lincoln No

Matthew Appleby29-May-2016Nepal will meet Zimbabwe in the Plate Championship final to be held at Lincoln No. 3 tomorrow.The team that has surprised everyone in this tournament conquered a second Test-playing nation, Bangladesh, today. Nepal beat Pakistan in the opening week of the competition to open the cricket-playing world’s eyes to a new corner of cricketing power.With six 15 or 16-year olds in the team, cricket’s future looks bright in the Himalayan nation. The first step in climbing the mountain towards being a full international team has been overcome here at Lincoln, no matter what happens in the final.Coach Roy Dias, who may be in charge for the last time tomorrow, said: “We’re looking forward to it. They are a very good side, but we’ll take it as just another match because every game is like a final to us.”He defended his decision to bat first, saying, “To all the people who suggested we made a mistake, I am coach and I know the side’s strengths.”A score of 180/6 off 50 overs was more than enough to see Nepal comfortably home and overcome another huge challenge, after the shock 30-run victory over Pakistan on January 22.Bangladesh was never in it, and lost by a flattering 23 runs after an uneven attempt to reach the target.Man of the match Bardan Chalise is a member of the full Nepalese national side, and it was his 27 off 90 balls that held Nepal together on Wednesday evening after a day of gales had prevented a start before tea time.This gave Nepal tail-enders Basudev Thapa and Manjit Shrestha the chance to run everything and add 44 this morning off the 30 deliveries remaining to be bowled in their innings.”This morning the boys gave me 44 runs which was magic,” said Dias, who had hoped for a mere 30 to make a competitive score. Thapa hurt his knee when batting and looks doubtful for the final.Bangladesh began well, with Gazi Salauddin hitting Shrestha for a couple of boundaries, before three wickets fell in 11 deliveries, two to the right-arm medium of captain Binod Das, who later ran out Hasibul Haoq and caught Ali Arman blindingly at midwicket.Dias told CricInfo: “I was pleased with everyone, especially the captaincy of Das, who will be the future Nepal captain, there is no doubt about it.”The former Sri Lanka Test player, who was his country’s coach from 1998-99 has been with Nepal just three months, but his experience with Muttiah Muralithran has rubbed off on off-spinner Sanjam Regmi who, along with Chalise, who took four for 38 today, is in the senior national team.”Muralitharan is a genius and I didn’t do anything with him, though I learnt a lot from him,” said Dias, who may soon be lost to Nepalese cricket unless a new contract is offered to him within “a couple of weeks.””I’ve got to decide whether to stay or go somewhere else,” said Dias. Duleep Mendis of the Asia Cricket Council has put a proposal to coach the United Arab Emirates to Dias, whose experience as a player and coach has been instrumental in Nepal’s improvement.Possibly the most obvious aspect of Nepal’s superiority in this hard-fought game was the manic fielding and spirited teamwork the players demonstrated.”If you want to play one-day cricket you have got to be a good fielding side. It was difficult because the boys were not used to those kind of drills, but there were no complaints because they all want to improve,” said Dias.”I’d like to see these guys continue from here because they have the ability,” Dias added.The country has an aim of playing in the 2011 World Cup. Dias concluded, “If they continue no-one can say they can’t do it.”

Sri Lanka women beat West Indies women by five runs in a rain-affected match in Colombo, to lead the three-match series 1-0

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2015Sri Lanka Women West indies Women
ScorecardDilani Manodara top-scored for Sri Lanka with 28•WICB

Sri Lanka Women beat West Indies Women by five runs in a rain-affected game in Colombo to lead the three-match T20 series 1-0.West Indies, after being inserted to bat, put up 109 for 6 in 20 overs. They lost two wickets in the first over, as Sripali Weerakkody picked up Kycia Knight and Deandra Dottin. Stafanie Taylor top-scored with 40, sharing partnerships of 32 with Britney Cooper and 45 with Merissa Aguilleira (28). Other than Maduri Samuddika, all the bowlers took at least one wicket.In the chase, Sri Lanka lost Yasoda Mendis for a duck as she was run out in the second over, but a brisk stand of 46 in 39 balls between the captain Chamari Atapattu (17) and Dilani Manodara (28) got the chase back on track. The match turned again as Sri Lanka lost four wickets in 12 balls, to leave them at 60 for 5. Twenty-two runs were needed to win off 28 balls with four wickets in hand, when the match was interrupted by rain with Sri Lanka five runs ahead of the D/L score .

Steven Finn has been ruled of the second Test against India with the thigh strain he picked up early in the tour

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2012Steven Finn has been ruled of the second Test against India in Mumbai after aggravating the thigh injury he suffered early in the tour.Finn was injured during England’s first warm-up match of the trip and bowled just four overs. He will now undergo a further scan in Mumbai on Wednesday to determine the extent of the problem.Andy Flower, the England team director, said: “Steven has been working hard to get back to full fitness. He has unfortunately hurt his leg again, a couple of days ago, and is having another scan tomorrow.”We don’t think he’s got any structural damage, but it would be careless to suggest that he might play the second Test.”However, Flower remained hopeful Finn could still play a part in the series and suggested they may use the Performance Squad, which arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday, to help in his recovery.”They’ve got a three-day game starting on the 27th,” Flower said. “If he’s ready for that, which is the last day of the second Test, we’ll put him through his paces. If he comes through that well, he’ll be available for the third and fourth Tests.”That extra pace would certainly assist us. But that’s not to be, so let’s hope he gets fit and ready for that third Test. I’ve got an open mind about it. Let’s see what his scan reveals tomorrow. We hope he goes and plays that three-day game, and comes through well.”Finn had been tipped to be recalled for the second Test to bring a cutting edge to England’s pace attack which struggled to make an impression in the opening Test in Ahmedabad. James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan managed just one wicket between them and were considerably out-bowled by India’s Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav.There is still a strong chance that England will make changes to their bowling attack with Monty Panesar tipped for a call-up.”We’ll assess conditions tomorrow, when we’re down at the ground for training,” Flower said. “It would be naive, or silly, to prejudge them without actually having seen the pitch.”But it might be fairly obvious that it might turn a little – which is good, because I’d like our guys to test themselves against the turning ball again here in Mumbai. Monty Panesar, of course, has a chance to play.”We might well go with two spinners, but we’ll judge that when we actually see the conditions. Of course these are challenging times for selectors, coaches, players. That’s why we’re here, because we like putting ourselves in those positions. If we didn’t like to make those sorts of decisions; if we didn’t like being in an arena where you’re tested, and you’re judged, then we wouldn’t be here.”There will be an enforced change in the batting after Ian Bell flew home for the birth of his first son, Joseph William, but he did not make it home in time for the delivery.

Harbhajan Singh has been excluded from India’s squad for the first Test against West Indies, and R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Rahul Sharma will make up the spin department

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Oct-2011Harbhajan Singh has been excluded from India’s squad for the first Test against West Indies, one of eight changes to the squad that was picked to tour England earlier this year. R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Rahul Sharma make up the spin department with Amit Mishra also left out, leaving India with a completely different set of spinners to the one they had on the England tour.Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh have recovered from their injuries in time to make it to the squad, which will be captained by MS Dhoni.The pace department also has a new look with Praveen Kumar and Sreesanth being left out in favour of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron. Ajinkya Rahane also finds a place as a reserve opener, ahead of M Vijay and Abhinav Mukund, while Virat Kohli replaces Suresh Raina.”We think from the future point of view,” Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of selectors, told . “We have to look at building the side from the perspective of the future”. He also said there would be not problems with fitness. “Everybody is 100 percent fit, I can assure you that fitness will not be a concern.”India had already left out Harbhajan from the one-dayers against England at home, and have now dropped him from the Test squad as well. R Ashwin, who has been a regular part of India’s one-day side but is yet to debut in Tests, was an obvious replacement, but Rahul Sharma’s inclusion is surprising. Rahul, a legspinner who plays for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy and Pune Warriors in the IPL, has played only 10 first-class games and does not hold a regular place in the Punjab side. His performances in the IPL earned him a place in India’s squad for the limited-overs matches against England, but though he is yet to play a game in that series he has been selected for the Test squad.Harbhajan had to leave the England tour midway through with a strain in his abdomen, after having taken just two wickets in the first two Tests. That had been preceded by a mediocre tour of the West Indies, and he now finds himself out of the India setup, two matches short of 100 Tests. Amit Mishra replaced Harbhajan Singh in the side for the last two Tests in England but was ineffective, ending up with figures of 0 for 170 – the fourth-worst for an India bowler in Tests – at the Oval. Pragyan Ojha, who impressed during India’s two home Test series last year but has subsequently been left out, returns after taking 24 wickets at an average of 12.95 for Surrey in the County Championship in England.Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav have been included after impressing with their pace in the home ODIs against England, which means all three seamers in the squad are under the age of 25. Ishant Sharma has been included after undergoing rehabilitation on a ligament injury in his left ankle. Zaheer Khan is still recovering from ankle surgery, while Munaf Patel also injured his ankle during the ODIs in England.The batting line-up has a more familiar look to it, with several seniors returning from injury. Virat Kohli’s prolific run-scoring in the ODIs against England has earned him a place ahead of Suresh Raina, who struggled against the short ball in England. Kohli played all three Tests in the West Indies in June, but managed a highest-score of just 30. He will be in a straight shootout with Yuvraj Singh for the No.6 spot. Ajinka Rahane’s 91 against England in Mohali has done enough to convince the selectors to call him up to the Test squad.The first Test against West Indies begins November 6 in Delhi.Squad for first Test: M S Dhoni (capt & wk), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Varun Aaron, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Sharma