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Shahid three-for helps Dhaka retain top spot

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Shahid took three wickets in nine balls•BCB

Fast bowler Mohammad Shahid claimed 3 for 23 to help Dhaka Dynamites defend 148 against hosts Chittagong Vikings and secure their third consecutive victory in BPL 2016-17. The result meant Dhaka stayed on top of the table with eight points from five matches.Having been sent in, Dhaka got off to a blistering start thanks to Mehedi Maruf, who hit 33 off 20 balls, including six fours and one six. In the process, Maruf went past Shahriar Nafees as the top-scorer in this season’s BPL. His knock ended when he was pinned lbw by offspinning allrounder Mohammad Nabi in the fifth over.Tymal Mills, the fast bowler from England, then removed Nasir Hossain and Kumar Sangakkara in the tenth over to reduce Dhaka to 73 for 3. This came after a dramatic ninth over by left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib . Nasir survived a caught-behind chance off the second ball of the over, despite getting an inside edge, which ricocheted off the thigh pad to Anamul Haque, the wicketkeeper. Saqlain responded by stopping halfway in his bowling stride to disturb Nasir’s concentration, only for the batsman to return the favour the next time he looked to bowl.Mills then bowled Nasir for 20 in the next over. The wicket gave way to a collapse: Dhaka lost 4 for 28 in 3.1 overs. Mosaddek Hossain then gave the innings a boost with the lower order, taking his side to 148. He top-scored with 35 off 26 balls, including two fours and two sixes. Mills and Nabi finished with three wickets each for Chittagong.In reply, Chittagong lost opener Jahurul Islam for 6 in the third over. The other opener – Tamim Iqbal – hung on for 26 off 35 balls before falling to Dwayne Bravo. Anamul and Mahmudul Hasan also reached double-figures, but failed to press on. Shahid then went on to rip through the lower-middle order, collecting three wickets in a space of nine balls. Eventually, the hosts fell 19 runs short of the target.

Root falls in spite of Yadav fumble

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For a split-second, Umesh Yadav’s heart was in his mouth. He’d had the key wicket of England’s innings clasped in his hands but appeared to have tossed it away in a celebratory gesture reminiscent of Herschelle Gibbs’ infamous “dropping of the World Cup” at Headingley in 1999.This time, however, there was no reprieve for the opposition’s centurion. Whereas at Headingley 17 years ago, Steve Waugh went on to make a matchwinning 120 not out, in Rajkot Joe Root was sent on his way for 124, as Yadav ended a vital 179-run stand for England’s fourth wicket.The moment happened at blink-and-you-miss-it speed. Root, on the front foot, drove hard back towards Yadav’s knees, and in a single upwards motion, the bowler first wrapped his fingers round the ball then flung it skywards, but with less control than he might have desired.In a moment of panic, Yadav parried it over his head, peered back over his shoulder to locate the ball, then watched it flop to the turf near umpire Kumar Dharmasena. Root, understandably, stood his ground, but the batsman’s fate was effectively sealed from the moment that Dharmasena gave a soft signal to the third umpire, Rod Tucker, that he believed that Yadav had been in control of the ball for long enough, and therefore the catch was fair.The relevant part of the Law (19.4) states:”The act of making the catch, or of fielding the ball, shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with some part of a fielder’s person and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control both over the ball and over his own movement.””I think the on-field umpire’s soft signal was the key,” Fraser Stewart, of the MCC, told ESPNcricinfo. “If he’d given a not-out soft signal, there was probably enough doubt to keep it as not out. However, as the soft signal was out, the on-field umpires must have been happy with it as their gut reaction and, had it been in a game with no reviews or referrals, they would have given it out.”Did he have complete control over the ball? In slow-motion you would probably say ‘yes’, but in real time it’s less clear. It could easily be argued either way.”The soft signal was introduced in response to concerns that TV replays, for all the benefits that they offer, don’t always show the full picture as experienced live out in the middle. Low catches, in particular, have often fallen victim to the phenomenon of “foreshortening”, as 3D events are replayed on 2D screens. In November 2014, the ICC introduced the concept of broadcasting the discussions between on-field and third umpires, to further demystify the process for viewers.”Decision-making is an important skill and one that should be applied at the highest level of the game,” umpire Simon Taufel told the Times of India recently. “So, the soft signal maintains the premise that the decision-making happens on field and not just left to technology to provide an outcome.”Root himself was phlegmatic about the incident. “I was so disgusted with the shot that – giving it the Arsene Wenger approach – I didn’t really see what was happening.”But having seen the slow-motion replay, it does look out. When it’s sped up it looks a bit strange, but I was very lucky to get an umpire’s call with an lbw earlier on and you have to take the rough with the smooth sometimes and just get on with it.”Additional reporting by George Dobell

Agar stars as Western Australia win rain-hit match

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ScorecardAshton Agar delivered victory to Western Australia•Getty Images

Ashton Agar smashed 47 off 19 balls to set up victory for Western Australia in a severely rain-shortened match against the Cricket Australia XI at Hurstville Oval in Sydney. The game was reduced to 15 overs per side due to the wet weather earlier the day, and after Duckworth-Lewis adjustments were made, the CA XI’s 8 for 147 translated into a target of 156 for the Warriors.Agar had taken two wickets and Andrew Tye picked up 4 for 23 as the CA XI pushed for a competitive total, with opener Sam Harper the top scorer with 48 off 28 balls. Jake Carder contributed 43 from 18 deliveries and Matthew Short struck four sixes late in the innings during a cameo of 27 from 10 balls.But a fast and furious opening stand of 44 from 3.2 overs between Hilton Cartwright (32 off 14) and Michael Klinger (29 from 20) set the Warriors on the right path, and Agar steered most of the remainder of the short chase. Agar struck four fours and four sixes and although he departed with 13 runs still required, he had done enough.Adam Voges hit the winning runs as the Warriors completed their five-wicket win with eight balls to spare.

Lynn and Finch out of Sri Lanka T20s

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Chris Lynn and Aaron Finch are the latest Australians to be injured on the Sri Lanka tour. They joined Shaun Marsh (broken finger) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (back injury) on the injury roster, and will not be available for the two T20Is later this week.”Chris dislocated his left shoulder whilst diving during a fielding drill at training today,” Australia’s physiotherapist David Beakley said. “Consequently he will be unavailable for the remaining matches and instead will return to Brisbane to undergo further investigation to determine the full extent of the injury.”Aaron was hit on the right index finger when fielding a ball [during the fifth ODI] and subsequent x-rays have shown a fracture.”The injury to Lynn’s left shoulder continues a disastrous trend for the batsman, who in the lead-up to the 2014-15 season had surgery to fix a rotator cuff problem in his left shoulder. As a result, he missed the entire Matador Cup campaign and the first half of the Sheffield Shield summer.Then in September 2015, Lynn dislocated the same shoulder during a fielding drill and once again missed the entire Matador Cup season, in which he was set to captain Queensland, and the first half of the Shield summer. The 2016-17 Matador Cup season is to begin in less than four weeks.Although the seriousness of the latest injury to Lynn’s left shoulder remains to be seen, given his history the possibility of a third consecutive curtailed season would be a major blow. Lynn’s entire international career so far consists of five T20s, but for some time he has been considered one of the most promising batsmen in the country.Lynn had been in prime form in the Caribbean Premier League, topping the run-charts with 454 runs at an average of 45.40 and strike-rate of 133.13. Finch had been one of Australia’s most dominant batsmen in Sri Lanka, striking a record-equalling 18-ball fifty in the fourth ODI.With Mitchell Marsh and Steven Smith having left for home to rest, Australia were almost in danger of not having XI fit men to put on the park for Tuesday’s T20 until they asked wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and batsman George Bailey to remain in Sri Lanka after the ODI series that ended today.Wade, who will stay on for both T20s, and Bailey, for one of them, have also handled Sri Lanka’s spinners in dry and dusty pitches excellently. Usman Khawaja had been added to the squad when Marsh was forced to leave last week. Finch will perform 12th man duties during the T20s.Australia squad: David Warner (capt), George Bailey, Scott Boland, James Faulkner, John Hastings, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Usman Khawaja, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Nevill (wk), Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa

Australia seal nervy chase after Chandimal ton

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:48

By the Numbers

There were reasons for Sri Lankan fans to cheer at the third ODI in Dambulla. But the result wasn’t one of them. On a day when Tillakaratne Dilshan was farewelled from one-day international cricket, and Dinesh Chandimal scored his fourth ODI hundred, Australia held on for a tense victory that gave them a 2-1 series lead with two to play – and gave David Warner a 100% success rate as an international captain.Not that it was all smooth sailing. Chasing 227, Australia relatively cruised most of the way. At 187 for 4 they needed only 40 more runs, with George Bailey and Matthew Wade both well set, but suddenly Sri Lanka’s spinners came into the game. Four wickets fell in quick time and it was beginning to look like Australia might find a way to throw it away. It was Adam Zampa who struck the winning runs, a boundary behind point off Amila Aponso, and a single five balls later.It wasn’t any old single – it was cut in the air towards extra cover, where Dilruwan Perera hurled himself into the air to try for a one-handed catch. The ball didn’t stick, and the result was sealed: a two-wicket win, though with four overs remaining. That Sri Lanka came that close to pulling the rug out from under Australia was a fine effort, given the solid way the chase unfolded through two key partnerships.In the absence of captain Steven Smith, who had flown home for a rest, Australia needed a leader to steer the chase. It would not be Warner, who fell in the fifth over to a terrific diving catch from Dilshan at point off Mathews. Nor would it be Aaron Finch, lbw to Aponso for a brisk 30, nor Shaun Marsh, caught by a diving Chandimal at mid-off off Mathews for 1.The man was Bailey, the most experienced ODI player in the side. He set about building a 62-run partnership with Travis Head, and then an 81-run stand with Wade that took Australia to within sight of their victory. It wasn’t always easy; Sri Lanka’s spinners were always a threat, but they needed more runs to defend, their own batting having been disappointing earlier in the day.Head played a mature innings of 36 that ended when he went back to cut Dilruwan, only to see the ball skid on to his stumps. And Wade, a consistent performer this series, contributed 42 before he missed a sweep and was stumped off the same bowler. That was the wicket that precipitated Australia’s collapse, though as it happened they were by then just close enough to get over the line.The Sri Lankan crowd came alive as the spinners crowded Australia’s batsmen. Bailey simply missed a legbreak from Seekkuge Prasanna and was bowled for 70, then in the next over James Faulkner holed out to deep square leg off Aponso. The Finisher was finished, but Australia weren’t quite yet. Mitchell Starc sent Prasanna over long-on for six but was caught in the next over trying for another off Dhananjaya de Silva. Zampa walked to the crease with five runs still needed, and he got them, with John Hastings unbeaten at the other end.Sri Lanka’s own innings – all out for 226 in the 50th over – never quite looked like enough. Wickets fell regularly throughout the innings, the only half-century partnership a 73-run combination between Chandimal and Dilshan. Zampa was again a key weapon, collecting 3 for 38 from his 10 overs, and there were two victims each for Starc, Faulkner and Hastings.The innings was built around Chandimal’s fourth ODI hundred. Of late in one-day cricket, Chandimal has been batting like he’s Keanu Reeves in , afraid something terrible will happen if he drops below 50. He did so, marginally, in the second ODI in Colombo, where his 48 ended his hopes of becoming the first Sri Lankan to make six consecutive one-day international fifties. But in Dambulla he was back. His last seven ODI innings now read: 52, 62, 63, 53, 80*, 48 and 102.Chandimal’s approach was simple: push the ball into the gaps and rotate the strike. Repeat, and repeat. That method brought him 56 singles, although he managed seven boundaries as well, driving when the fast men overpitched or punishing them for bowling too straight. His half-century came up with a deft dab for four wide of the wicketkeeper off Hastings from his 66th ball.His primary support came from Dilshan, the retiring hero who struck five fours on his way to an enterprising 42. But the dream of a big farewell innings ended when Dilshan whacked a Zampa full toss to midwicket and was well caught by Bailey. To the applause of players and fans, Dilshan walked off with a bow fitting for the entertainer that he was, the owner of 10,290 ODI runs, the 11th-highest tally in history.Sri Lanka’s other batsmen were disappointing. For the second time in the series Starc struck in the first over of the innings, bowling Danushka Gunathilaka, and the total wobbled to 23 for 2 when Kusal Mendis edged Josh Hazlewood to slip for 4. The wickets fell with regularity again after Dilshan departed.Mathews was lbw for 2 to Zampa, who had pitched the ball on leg and straightened it just enough. Marsh ran and jumped to his left at mid-on to snare de Silva for 12 off Faulkner, and also held one in the deep when Thisara Perera holed out off Hastings for 9. In between those takes, Starc’s brutal inswinging yorker accounted for Kusal Perera, who kept one out but could not manage two and saw his stumps rattled on 11.Prasanna picked out deep midwicket off Zampa and Dilruwan added 17 before chipping a catch to midwicket off Hastings, which left Chandimal nervously hoping the No.11 Aponso could help him reach triple figures. He did so, and the Sri Lankan fans roared. The final result was not so pleasing for them.

CPL exposure will help USA cricket – Sangakkara

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The Caribbean Premier League’s initial foray into the USA kicked off on Friday with the arrival of Jamaica Tallawahs at Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, six days ahead of the first CPL games to be played in the USA. Tallawahs wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara, who captained Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 International played in the USA at the same facility in 2010, has said the CPL could help the growth of cricket in USA.”It’s very exciting to be back,” Sangakkara said at the Tallawahs first press conference in Lauderhill on Friday. “I remember when we played New Zealand here in 2010, [it was] two very competitive games and I think it finished one-all and we enjoyed our time here.”To bring cricket back to Fort Lauderdale, to be here at Broward Park to play again is just about making sure the game is exposed to new viewership, to encourage new spectators to come and watch what happens on a cricket field, to watch the differences between cricket and baseball and to hopefully better understand it and hopefully grow to like it enough to actually experiment playing it.”The first experience for Sangakkara did not provide the fireworks that were billed to new fans, with scores under 100 in three of four innings, and a total of four sixes hit during the two games. Two years later, West Indies posted 209 for 2 against new Zealand, a record total at the time.However, it has been four years since high-level cricket has been played at the facility. In its absence, soccer has been a primary tenant, resulting in the square being dug up and relaid. New Zealand curator Mark Perham has been brought in to work on the pitches.”The pitch looks pretty good and by the reports that we hear over the years there’s been a lot of improvement done,” Sangakkara said. “A new curator has been doing a lot of hard work trying to get it up to standard and by the scores of the subsequent matches played after we were here it seems all pretty good.”We hope that the crowds do come in and the ordinary American comes in and has a look to see what it’s all about. It could be just a case of curiosity, or it could be that they’ve heard of it before or watched it on TV once or twice maybe but crowd participation is absolutely important to any sport. It’s absolutely vital. That’s what the players play for, to play in front of a packed stadium, having kids and families come and watch. That’s what I think drives us or any sport higher.”Sangakkara toured the USA in November last year as part of the Cricket All-Stars series. The largest crowd of the three games featured 27,000 people at Citi Field in New York City. Although the Central Broward Regional Park has a capacity of 10,000, Sangakkara said it will be as good for the fans due to the facility being designed for cricket.”Either way it’s got to be entertaining,” Sangakkara said. “Whether it’s 10,000 in a small stadium where it feels as if it’s a much larger crowd because it gets noisier and the atmosphere is a little more intense. In baseball stadiums we played in, there were a huge amount of people there but they were far removed from the action because of how the stadium is configured. Either way I think it’s all about getting smiles on their faces, making sure that when they walk away after three and a half hours they walk away with good memories.”

Forty-over Zimbabwe Premier League announced

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In a bid to revive a club system that has become crippled with inactivity, Zimbabwe Cricket have announced a Premier League, but not of the twenty-over variety like many other countries. The Zimbabwe Premier League (ZPL) will be a forty-over competition involving eight clubs and will be played as a conventional league, with no final, and a winner declared after seven rounds.The bulk of the teams come from Zimbabwe’s two main cricketing centres, Harare and Bulawayo. Takashinga Cricket Club, famed for being the breeding ground of some of Zimbabwe’s most notable players, including Tatenda Taibu, Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda, will have two teams called Patriots 1 and Patriots 2, while Rainbow are the club from the capital. Bulawayo’s metro and northern areas will be represented by the Amakhosi and Inkatha teams respectively, and Masvingo’s Southern Lions make up the other standalone side. Manicaland and Mashonaland East will have one team between them, the Eastern Lions, while Mashonaland West and Midlands will play as the Muzvezve Tigers.The league kicks off this Saturday and will continue through Zimbabwe’s Tests against New Zealand in Bulawayo and beyond, as a precursor to the summer. All players not featuring in the internationals but who are part of the national and domestic set-up in Zimbabwe are expected to take part in this competition, which ZC is hoping to use to increase the player pool and grow depth.”The ZPL is a very important competition involving Zimbabwe’s top clubs fighting it out for the national honours,” Givemore Makoni, ZC’s head of cricket affairs, said. “It’s top-notch cricket with all national team players not in the Test side expected to turn out for clubs in the league. This means youngsters will get the chance to play with and against experienced international players, which will quickly bring them through.”Apart from the ZPL, Zimbabwe’s domestic structures continue to include first-class, fifty-over and twenty-over competitions.

Tasamul century lifts Kalabagan out of relegation zone

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A superb unbeaten 126 by Tasamul Haque lifted Kalabagan Krira Chakra out of the relegation zone and into contention for the Super League, guiding the team to a six-wicket win over Mohammedan Sporting Club.Kalabagan climbed to eighth place with ten points, level with three other teams, while Mohammedan went down one place to third after their fourth defeat in the competition.In a high-scoring encounter at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium, Kalabagan lost Jashimuddin off the the second ball of their innings while chasing 291. But Tasamul and opener Hasanuzzaman added 140 for the second wicket in under 18 overs to bring them back into the contest. Hasanuzzaman blazed to 95 off 53 balls with eight sixes and four fours.Paras Dogra, their new Indian recruit, and Mehrab Hossain jnr fell cheaply but Tasamul and Tanveer Haider sped from the 24th over, adding an unbroken 129 for the fourth wicket. Tanveer finished not out on 52 while Tasamul, who struck eight fours and two sixes, ended on 126 off 129 balls. Tasamul struck his second six to take Kalabagan home, the win coming with 6.5 overs to spare.Mohammedan virtually had no reply with the ball, with most of their in-form bowlers like Subashis Roy, Naeem Islam jnr and Habibur Rahman going for plenty.They had a better time with the bat. Bipul Sharma, who played for the IPL-winning Sunrisers Hyderabad side, struck his maiden List A hundred as Mohammedan piled up 290 for 6 in 50 overs. Dewan Sabbir bowled Bipul after he had made exactly 100, with six boundaries and eight sixes.He came to the crease with Mohammedan in trouble at 69 for 3, and went on to add 171 for the fourth wicket with captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who chipped in with a 71-ball 75.Victoria Sporting Club crushed Brothers Union by 112 runs in Mirpur, after Abdul Mazid’s first century of the competition lifted them to a formidable 302 for 9. Mazid dominated the 170-run opening stand with Fazle Mahmud, which lasted 33.3 overs. Mazid cracked eleven boundaries and four sixes in his 118 off 117 balls, his highest List-A score.Though they lost Mazid and Mominul Haque in the space of three balls, and Mahmud – for 71 – in the 39th over, Victoria didn’t lose much momentum, taking 84 runs off the last ten overs with Al-Amin, Chaturanga de Silva and Dhiman Ghosh making rapid contributions. Left-arm spinners Nabil Samad and Asif Hasan took four and two wickets respectively, while offspinner Iftekhar Sajjad bagged two.Brothers Union collapsed in their chase, with only their captain Tushar Imran standing firm, scoring his fifth half-century of the season. The other five members of their top six, however, fell single-figure scores as Brothers Union slipped to 92 for 8 in the 27th over.Tushar and Asif then added 97 for the ninth wicket, but it only delayed the inevitable. Brothers Union were eventually bowled out for 190 in 45.3 overs. Tushar made 93 off 126 balls with eleven fours. Pace bowler Mahbubul Alam took three wickets while there were two each for offspinner Al-Amin and paceman Kamrul Islam Rabbi.Legends of Rupganj trounced Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club by seven wickets at the BKSP-3 ground. It was a fine effort for a side that was without their captain Mosharraf Hossain and their in-form wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Mithun, both serving one-match bans.Nahidul Islam made 92 and Junaid Siddique was unbeaten on 53 as Rupganj completed a chase of 185 with 17.1 overs to spare. Nahidul, who earlier took 2 for 38 with his offspin, struck nine fours and three sixes during his 99-ball innings. He came to the crease after Jahurul Islam was given leg-before off the first ball of the innings.He added 46 for the second wicket with Soumya Sarkar, who was also out leg-before, and another 125 for the third wicket with Junaid. Nahidul’s end also came through a leg-before decision, though by then the win was only 13 runs away.Sent in to bat, Dhanmondi lost wickets regularly. Left-arm spinners Murad Khan and Taijul Islam took three wickets each after seamer Alauddin Babu struck twice in the fourth over to remove the big-hitting Mahbubul Karim and the steady Marshall Ayub. Abdullah Al Mamun (24), Mahmudullah (35) and Nazmus Sadat (41) steadied Dhanmondi’s innings, but they collapsed thereafter, losing their last six wickets for just 28 runs to slump from 156 for four in the 36th over to 184 all out in 45.

Perry backs 'huge depth' to see Australia through in ODI World Cup defence

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It hasn’t quite been a case of having too much of a good thing, but a key plank of Australia’s build towards their ODI World Cup title defence in India and Sri Lanka has been instilling the belief to make the most of their enviable depth.No team has gone back-to-back in the women’s ODI World Cup since Australia’s hat-trick of titles between 1978 and 1988, but few would be surprised if this side achieved the feat. They have lost just three matches in the format since defeating England in Christchurch in the 2022 World Cup final to complete their redemption arc from the semi-final exit of 2017.But two of those losses came in the 2023 Ashes when Australia were exposed across both white-ball formats. While not as seismic as what happened in the 2017 semi-final against India, coupled with their semi-final exit at last year’s T20 World Cup it was a moment when the team challenged itself to remain ahead of the pack.Related

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“We’re really conscious of the fact that we’re incredibly fortunate to have some huge depth in our side, both batting and bowling,” Ellyse Perry, who will be playing her fifth ODI World Cup, said at a sponsorship announcement for Chemist Warehouse ahead of the team’s departure to India.”So, from that aspect, I think we’ve made a really conscious shift towards wanting to take the game on from the very start and probably keep our foot down for as long as we can. Obviously, you’ve got to adapt to conditions and certain circumstances, but it just feels like there’s a real ethos within the group to make sure that we can utilise everyone’s talent on the day.”It’s going to be one person’s day most of the time, not everyone’s, but if we can kind of really be consistent with that, we’ve got a good chance of being successful more often than not. I think that’s been a big shift for us.”Staying ahead of the chasing pack is not just focused on batting and bowling, either. “The development of the women’s game has been really incredible in the last couple of years,” Perry said. “From an athletic point of view, we’re very conscious of making sure that we’re dominant in that space. We want to run hard between the wickets, be really good in the field, and I think looking at some of our bowling options, [we have] some of the quicker bowlers in the world as well. Hopefully we’re a dynamic side and hopefully that’s successful for us.”Annabel Sutherland and Phoebe Litchfield have emerged as fulcrums in the batting order•Sportsfile/Getty Images

Three major names from the side that emerged from the heartache of 2017 into one of the most dominant sporting teams in history – with a record winning run of 26 ODIs – won’t be in India: Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes have retired, while Jess Jonassen has not been able to regain the spot she lost nearly two years ago, an example of the riches available to Australia.”[There’s been] some fairly big changes to our group over the last four years,” Perry said. “But in the last particularly 12 months, we’ve had a fairly stable group and some really amazing young talent emerge as mainstays as well, contributing consistently in every match. From that perspective, [it’s] definitely a slightly different-looking team, but I think still a really stable and established team.”The likes of Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland have emerged as fulcrums in the batting order, while Georgia Voll had a breakout first year in international cricket. Voll may struggle to start the World Cup but will keep the incumbents on their toes. Perhaps the slight unknown, and potentially a factor at last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, is the pressure of knockout cricket.Speaking last week when the squad was named, captain Alyssa Healy said, “I had to watch something on the 2022 World Cup and just how much our team support staff and our squad has changed in that period of time, I think no one’s probably noticed that as much simply because of the way that players have had opportunity over the last couple of years.”1:24

Gardner on using the Hundred to gauge the opposition

Last season, there was a subtle shift in the batting order with Sutherland promoted to No. 5 and Tahlia McGrath moved to a finishing role at No. 7. Sutherland’s development into a world-class allrounder had almost demanded the move but it felt a significant nod to the next generation; she responded with back-to-back centuries against India and New Zealand. Nothing in elite sport is certain, but she’s the type of player who could shine at this World Cup.”Annabel’s been absolutely superb for the last 12 months, probably before that,” Perry said. “And to think that she’s only still so young is quite incredible. Obviously, she won the Belinda Clark Medal last year, and she’s been such a big contributor to our team in the last little bit.”I think her coupled with Phoebe Litchfield, the way that she’s been playing, Georgia Voll as well, since she’s had an opportunity at an international level… there’s some really, really special young players that we’ve got in the group. I think they balance out the experience that we have as well.”I’m sure Annabel’s going to have a wonderful tournament. She works exceptionally hard at her game. She’s never standing still.”Australia fly out to India on Wednesday ahead of their three-match series with the hosts before the World Cup. “It feels like with the women’s game, every World Cup just gets a little bit bigger, more competitive, and there’s more on the line,” Perry said.

Dawid Malan, England's former No.1-ranked T20I batter, retires from international cricket

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Dawid Malan, England’s former No.1-ranked T20I batter, has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 37.Malan, who played 22 Tests, 30 ODIs and 62 T20Is, is one of only two England men’s batters (alongside Jos Buttler) to have made centuries in all three international formats. However, he had not featured in an England squad since the 50-over World Cup in India last year, and confirmed his decision after his omission from the forthcoming white-ball series against Australia.”It has been an incredible journey since July 2017,” Malan said. “I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to play for England in all three formats.”Cricket, like most sports, is an industry where almost everyone eventually retires wishing they had done that little bit more. Whether you’ve played ten Tests or 100, many step away regretting not playing just one more, scoring a few more runs, or winning more trophies.”Right now, as I retire from international cricket, I can say I am genuinely satisfied. It has not been easy. It may be my nature, but for whatever reason, it has always seemed that I had something to prove and often felt as if I was playing for my place. The pressure goes with the territory, but it does take a mental and physical toll. Even so, I look back with pride on what I have been able to achieve.”Despite announcing himself with a free-flowing innings of 78 from 44 on his T20I debut against South Africa in 2017, Malan’s initial breakthrough with England came on the following winter’s Ashes tour, where he made his only Test hundred, 140 from 227 balls, in partnership with Jonny Bairstow at Perth.However, it was in the T20I format that he truly made his name, most particularly in the aftermath of England’s ODI World Cup victory in 2019, when he forced his way into the team’s 20-over plans through his sheer weight of run-making, including a 48-ball hundred at Napier on that winter’s tour of New Zealand.In September 2020, he reached the top of the ICC’s batting rankings for T20I cricket, and the following March, he became the fastest men’s player to reach 1000 runs in the format, from just 24 innings, all but one of which had been at least double-figures. He was also a T20 World Cup winner in Australia in 2022, although he missed the knock-out stages after tearing his groin in the field against Sri Lanka.Due to the success of the 50-over squad, Malan took longer to break into the ODI team – despite the prevailing sense that it was the format for which he was best suited, with his tendency to begin an innings cautiously before unfurling his full range of strokes at the back end often attracting criticism during his T20I performances.Nevertheless, he seized his chance when it came, scoring five ODI hundreds in the space of 15 innings between June 2022 and September 2023, to make an unequivocal case to replace England’s incumbent opener, Jason Roy, in the 2023 World Cup squad. He then added a sixth hundred in the second match of the tournament to guide England to victory over Bangladesh in Dharamsala, but he could not survive the fall-out from the team’s disappointing overall campaign.Speaking to The Times, Malan said that he had “exceeded all expectations of myself in white-ball formats”, but admitted that his inability to forge a more consistent Test career would be a regret. Ten of his 22 appearances came on consecutive tours of Australia in 2017-18 and 2021-22, where his average of 33.00 is bettered only by Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow among regular England performers of the past decade. However, he never played the format again after England’s 146-run defeat at Hobart in January 2022.Related

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“Test cricket was always the pinnacle for me growing up,” he said. “At times I played well but in between just wasn’t good enough or consistent enough, which was disappointing because I felt I was a better player than that.”I took all three formats extremely seriously but the intensity of Test cricket was something else: five days plus the days building up. I’m a big trainer; I love hitting lots of balls and I’d train hard in the build-up, and then the days were long and intense. You can’t switch off. I found it very mentally draining, especially the long Test series that I played, where my performances dropped off from the third or fourth Test onwards.””But, you know, on the field I always did what I felt was right to win a game for the team. I never walked off the field if I got runs not caring about whether we had won or lost. It was always about winning and I’d always question myself as to whether I’d made the right decisions on the field to do that.”Malan is likely to be in high demand on the T20 franchise circuit with his England career behind him. He was most recently in action for Oval Invincibles, helping the team to victory in the Men’s Hundred, two years after he was part of the Trent Rockets squad that claimed the 2022 title. Last winter, he helped Sunrisers Eastern Cape win the second season of the SA20, and was also in action for Multan Sultans in the PSL.Rob Key, the managing director of England Men’s Cricket, added: “Dawid Malan retires after an excellent international career marked by resilience and determination.”Early on, he had to fight for every opportunity, often facing some of the best teams in the world. His contributions were pivotal, particularly during the memorable World Cup victories in Australia, where he played an integral role in the team’s success.”His legacy will be remembered as one of tenacity and achievement on the international stage – traits any player would be extremely proud to have.”