Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor says two keys stars will remain absent when the defending champions start their WSL campaign against Manchester City.
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If South Africa manage to come out victorious on this pitch, you can imagine that India might ask for the wrestling pits of Haryana to be turned rectangular for cricket on their next tour
Sidharth Monga in Johannesburg25-Jan-2018It was thrill a minute, make no mistake. Every time a partnership reached ten, you felt the bowling side had squeaky bums because they didn’t have too many to play with; you can never have too many to play with on such pitches.Every time a wicket fell, it seemed one could bring three, and all of a sudden the batting side seemed in crisis. This brought out a highly skilled innings from Hashim Amla which, irrespective of the result, will be one for the ages. It has produced one of the more memorable displays of defensive batting, discipline and concentration. It has produced a one-innings shootout that fans from both the sides will be watching, through the cracks between their fingers, hiding behind their couches. It will be an unpopular opinion for a pitch that has given us such an exciting match, but the advantage for bowlers – of one variety – seems to have gone too far.If you are looking for a fair contest between bat and ball, if you are looking for most facets of our sport getting some chance at display, if you are looking for bowlers setting up batsmen, if you are looking for batsmen punishing lack of accuracy, this pitch wasn’t for you.No side played a spinner here. What you got was most batsmen not venturing to hit balls that were half-bad because the bounce was unpredictable and the seam was exaggerated. What you also got was bowlers from both sides bowling too short and too wide for fear of being driven on a pitch where they didn’t have the runs to afford a period of setting batsmen up. One boundary is almost like ten runs your batsmen will have to get later.It does turn cricket into a bit of a lottery, reducing the difference between the quality of two sides. Just as you don’t want lesser batsmen scoring runs on flat tracks, you don’t want lesser bowlers looking like demons on these pitches.We also had injured batsmen, not because they didn’t have the skill to face the pace, but because of the uneven bounce and the seam movement. You don’t hope for it to make a point, but this could become a dangerous pitch by the time the final innings arrives. Playing such high pace of such accuracy is hard enough and a skill taken for granted at the best of times, never mind when you are in no position to judge the movement, the pace and the bounce off the surface.There will be obvious comparisons with Nagpur 2015-16 and Pune 2016-17, both of which were rated poor by the ICC. The comparisons won’t come from the team. Not yet, at least. India are in a good position in the match, and their focus will be on not squandering this opportunity. Jasprit Bumrah said as much. The pitch has clearly been made to order, although it is possible South Africa didn’t want it to be this extreme. During this series, the demand for spicy pitches has been as unsubtle as the disappointment with the Centurion surface. So don’t expect them to compare this to Nagpur, where they played.Once in a while, these pitches can be fun to watch cricket on, but there is a risk of them becoming more than once-a-season occurrences. India coach Ravi Shastri took one look of this surface and his first reaction was: good, now they can’t complain about the pitches I will get made at home.There is no mistaking this is a reaction to the pitches South Africa encountered in India. They didn’t win a toss there, they didn’t have the spinners who could bowl accurately, but they still often had India’s batting in trouble. That should have been a lesson for South Africa; these pitches bring opposition bowlers into the game and nullify the experience your bowlers have of bowling on home tracks. But sometimes – especially with the series sealed – you can go too far when looking for revenge. That seems to have happened here. There should also be allowance made for pitch-making being an inexact science. It was a lesson India learnt the hard way in Pune against Australia, or possibly the lesson was delivered and not necessarily learnt.If South Africa do manage to come out of victorious in this match, you can only imagine what India’s reaction will be. Shastri and Virat Kohli might ask for the wrestling pits of Haryana to be dropped into various venues. The return trip to South Africa might be played on granite slabs with artificial grass. Pitch-making is an art and a balancing act; at its best it is true to the nature of the geography, provides as even a contest between bat and ball as possible, and offers the home team some advantage. Let’s not belittle it.
Real Madrid have received a boost ahead of the Club World Cup as wonderkid Joan Martinez is back in training after a serious knee injury.
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Toni Kroos' post-retirement took a touching turn as his hometown Greifswald staged a one-of-a-kind tribute to celebrate his legendary career.
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“I feel like you’re constantly letting someone down” – Healy on having so many high-quality bowling options to turn to
Tristan Lavalette17-Feb-2024Australia captain Alyssa Healy has so many options in her bowling attack that sometimes it can almost feel like a mixed blessing.Just like on day three of the Test against a resolute South Africa, when Healy scanned the field and realised she had yet to call upon legspinner and hometown hero Alana King. Suddenly, she sensed the wrath of the WACA faithful.”I could feel the crowd beating down on me,” Healy quipped after Australia had wrapped up an innings-and-284-run victory. “We have so many options and I feel like you’re constantly letting someone down if they haven’t had a bowl. It’s both a luxury and a curse.”Related
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King had threatened late on day two on a sun-baked pitch that had started to be helpful for spin as per pre-match expectations. But she did not return to the attack until the 42nd over of the third day to illustrate Australia’s embarrassment of riches with the ball.Against a fighting South Africa middle-order, with Delmi Tucker, Chloe Tryon and Tazmin Brits batting with discipline and absorbing 461 deliveries combined, and on a surface that flattened out as the match wore on, Healy had to tap into her deep resources. She used eight bowlers with six of them taking wickets to finally crack open South Africa’s resistance late on day three as Australia claimed a comprehensive win.”You know that when we are in a little tricky situation, there’s always someone you can throw the ball to that’s going to do something different, so it’s a huge luxury,” Healy said. “It’s difficult to balance and difficult to get it right all the time, but I’d rather have it that way than not having enough options.”Healy also threw the ball to Annabel Sutherland, who capped her spectacular match with two late wickets including bowling Tryon with one that jagged back in. Sutherland became the first woman to score a double-century and take five wickets in a Test match. After making 210 off 256 balls, the fourth-highest individual score in women’s Tests, Sutherland unsurprisingly did not bowl late on day two.”I didn’t really want to throw her the ball because I thought she might be a little bit tired and probably needed a rest,” Healy said. “I told her that when we went out there and she went ‘aww’ because she wanted to bowl.”[She’s] unbelievably special. I think Test cricket in particular is made for Annabel. Her technique is impeccable and what she can do with the ball, just challenging the stumps all the time and making batters play, I think is pretty unique.”She’ll be opening or batting three I would assume at some point for Australia, but right now I’m not sure who [she is] dislodging.”The Test match, the first between the teams, capped a gruelling stretch for Australia, who claimed the multi-series 12-4 having earlier prevailed in the tough white-ball series. Even though they wrapped up the Test with one day to spare, there won’t be much time for celebration with a number of players having to fly off in the coming days to India to play the Women’s Premier League. Then Australia will travel to Bangladesh next month for a white-ball series before a welcome breather as they set their sights on the T20 World Cup later in the year.Annabel Sutherland became the first woman to score a double-century and take five wickets in a Test match•Getty Images
“There’s probably a little bit of fatigue around the group, but this is our job and the modern-day game,” Healy said. “Everyone’s the ultimate professional in that change room. They’ll have their mindset on what they need to do to get through WPL, but also get themselves right for Bangladesh.”Australia’s red-ball experience came to the fore against South Africa, who were playing just their second Test in a decade. But Test matches remain increasingly rare in women’s cricket with Healy having only played her ninth since debuting in 2011. Australia’s next Test is not scheduled until next summer’s Ashes, but Healy hoped for more with the next FTP cycle set to start from mid next year.”It’s just about finding context for them. You can’t just throw a Test match in willy nilly and think that it’s going to work,” Healy said. “So whether it is the multi-format series, whether there is standalone Test series, I don’t know what it’s going to look like. But I can sit here and safely say we do want more. We’d love to play more and we’d gladly have the opportunity to play as many as we can.”
Manchester United target Douglas Luiz is reportedly desperate for a Premier League return as his relationship with Juventus has completely broken down. According to Fabrizio Romano, his representative has flown into Italy this week to evaluate the situation and explore possible options with potential suitors.
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Cricinfo and Wisden writers select their best and worst moments from 2005
02-Jan-2006
Anand Vasu
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Best
Constantly shat-upon and repeatedly told they were not good enough, did not belong, and were a blight on the purity of the great game, Bangladesh’s tigers roared loud enough for the cynical former cricketers to choke on their bournvitas in their retirement homes. In beating Australia, at Sophia Gardens, on June 18, Habibul Bashar’s crew did not merely warm the hearts of their countrymen, they struck a blow for the underdogs the world around. To Australia, who have since won enough, despite losing the Ashes, to reaffirm their status as No. 1, the game may have been one to forget. For a lot of others, though, it was a moment of hope, and will be etched in memory forever.Worst
If you’re constantly barracked, if your mother is insulted and your team is abused and your integrity is questioned, you will reach a point from where there’s no return. Yuvraj Singh once ran into the stands, bat in hand, a la Inzamam, to sort out a spectator, but eventually calmed down. Harbhajan Singh has had his buttons pushed, and given back as good as he got. But for Greg Chappell, at Kolkata, to give someone – perhaps the crowd – the finger, was a moment where nobody won. Was it banter within the team, was it an angry response to disgusting crowd behaviour? Who knows. Any which way, everyone was poorer in the end.
Andrew McGlashan
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Best
Sorry, another Ashes one, but for English cricket that is all that mattered about 2005. The series was an epic and the destination of the urn was unknown until the final session of the final day – you can’t ask much more. However, the moment where I first started to believe England were finally sealing their crowning moment was when Kevin Pietersen laid into Brett Lee shortly after lunch on the fifth day at The Oval. It was a fearless counter-attack; Pietersen living on the edge. It worked and with every crunching boundary Australian heads dropped and the Ashes were coming home.Worst
South Africa took on Zimbabwe at Cape Town in March, and the first day was painful to watch. There was no enjoyment to be had watching Zimbabwe crash for 54 before South Africa piled up 340 for 3 in 50 overs by the end of the first day. All but one of the Zimbabwean batsmen fell for single figures, then the helpless bowlings were panned. Graeme Cremer, a young legspinner, took 3 for 86 in nine overs. For goodness sake, Jacques Kallis even blasted the fastest Test fifty. This wasn’t Test cricket, it wasn’t fun, it was just sad to watch.
How Ashley Giles had the Australians in a spin
On the ball with S Rajesh and Arun Gopalakrishnan12-Aug-2005Just ten days back, question-marks were being raised about the utility of Ashley Giles in the side: including him in the XI is akin to playing with a ten-member team, reckoned Dave Houghton. He’s unlikely to feel that way after watching Giles nail three of Australia’s top four in a performance that even overshadowed what Shane Warne had achieved in England’s first innings.The key to Giles’s spells was the length he bowled. “Length is mandatory, line is optional,” Erapalli Prasanna, the former Indian offspinner, had once remarked. Giles followed that formula, keeping an impeccable length, landing 96 of his 126 deliveries on a good length. On a pitch offering him turn from the rough, that length meant that the batsmen could never be sure about whether to go forward, back, or go down the wicket.Giles also benefited from the Australians’ tendency to use their feet and advance down the track in an attempt to attack him. The graphic below shows the contrast between how the Australian and England batsmen played the two leading spinners of the opposition teams. Australia’s batsmen stepped out to Giles 30 times – Adam Gilchrist led the way with 10 – while England only tried that trick seven times against Warne. On many occasions in the past, such an adventurous approach has worked well for Australia; today, though, they were unable to dominate him – those sashays down the pitch only fetched them, on average, slightly more than one run per stroke. Giles, meanwhile, relished the opportunity to bowl at batsmen who gave him a chance, and by the end of the day, there was no question about who had come out on top.
Jamie Alter06-Feb-2007
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Cricket, like chess, is won in the field and India’s squad for the Sri Lanka series- which will form, almost in toto, the World Cup squad – has a prominent Achilles heel that could turn check into checkmate: The quality of its fielding. Conventional wisdom, which Greg Chappell also subscribes to, is that the World Cup will be won by the best fielding side but a cursory glance at the men Chappell has to work with suggests an excess of cellulite.Yuvraj Singh is the best fielder, with Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa to follow. Raina and Gautam Gambhir, unconvincing with bat but assets in the field, failed to make the cut for the Sri Lanka series, but could still be in the reckoning for the Caribbean trip. Ajit Agarkar has a great arm and is very good in the deep, Sachin Tendulkar is a safe pair of hands but his throwing at the stumps has slipped from great heights. Sreesanth is quick on his feet but hasn’t done anything to suggest he’s a livewire in the field, and Irfan Pathan is no AB de Villiers. That leaves Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh. Hardly the Oxford University Cross-Country Club.And then there’s Munaf Patel. His lacklustre display in the Test series in South Africa – abysmal throwing, balls regularly rolling through his legs, batsmen adding a run when the ball went near him – went from the comical to the infuriating and may work against his inclusion in the final XI.Yet Munaf is only the most visible manifestation of the problem. India have fielded superbly in patches, but it’s not hard to remember an abysmal fielding performance. In the TVS Cup final at Kolkata in late 2003, India grassed five chances. By dropping Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden twice each and Michael Bevan once, India allowed 82 extra runs, and lost the match by 37. That also equates to Australia playing with five extra batsmen.On day three of the second Test against Zimbabwe at Harare in September 2005, three easy catches went down in three deliveries. And in the 4-1 loss in the West Indies last year, India were let down by some horror displays, not least in the dead rubber at at Trinidad, where Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Uthappa and Munaf all had bad days.And just in case you thought that good fielding was the preserve of teams from the Southern Hemisphere, enter Sri Lanka, who have turned matches around based purely on their throwing, diving and catching. Under a new captain and coach, Sri Lanka have put an emphasis on fielding, and have looked genuinely top-class. Perhaps the most electrifying in recent times was Tillakaratne Dilshan’s brilliance in the first final of the 2005-06 VB Series when he effected four run-outs and took a catch to derail Australia’s chase of 275.
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Key to Sri Lanka’s 5-0 whitewash of England last summer was their electric stops and stunning catching inside the circle. In New Zealand recently, there were outstanding fielding performances in a 2-2 result, with New Zealand matching Sri Lanka dive for dive and catch for catch.Australia and New Zealand have shown the value of putting a premium on ground fielding. Australia, Dad’s Army tag and all, are an outstanding unit; New Zealand don’t have a great bowling attack, but they make up for that with their ground fielding; and even West Indies, in Chennai recently, caused a dramatic turnaround – derailing India from 232 for 3 in the 35th over to 268 in 48 overs – with some athletic fielding.India need to place a similar premium on their fielding at the World Cup. The team management can’t correct the fielding in four games but it can try and ensure a strong core for the World Cup by paying attention to a key aspect of the game and by fielding the young blood. If that equates to Karthik playing ahead of Pathan, still so scarily unconvincing, so be it.Why Mohammad Kaif isn’t in the picture is up for debate, but what he would bring to this side is enthusiasm and brilliance in the field. India’s two best one-day feats in recent years – Lord’s, 2002, and reaching the 2003 World Cup final – were forged on the energy, enthusiasm, versatility and attitude of Yuvraj and Kaif, the beacons of a new mindset. They need to be reunited in the field so that they can inspire their leg-weary seniors.Picture Yuvraj lurking between backward point and gully, Kaif prowling at cover, Raina at midwicket and Karthik adept either side of the pitch, and you’re inspired to root for this team.
Stats highlights from the sixth ODI between India and Australia in Nagpur
S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna14-Oct-2007
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| Opposition | Played | Won | Lost | Win-loss ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 7 | 6 | 1 | 6.00 |
| Zimbabwe | 16 | 13 | 3 | 4.33 |
| Kenya | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2.50 |
| West Indies | 15 | 9 | 6 | 1.50 |
| England | 17 | 10 | 7 | 1.42 |
| South Africa | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1.33 |
| New Zealand | 17 | 8 | 7 | 1.14 |
| Sri Lanka | 26 | 12 | 11 | 1.09 |
| Pakistan | 24 | 9 | 15 | 0.60 |
| Australia | 18 | 0 | 15 | 0.00 |