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Twelve overs were still left in the game when umpires called bad light and the players started shaking hands

Annesha Ghosh26-Jun-20214:02

Mithali Raj – ‘The current bowling attack, especially the spinners over the years have won matches for us irrespective of the wicket we played’

Mithali Raj, India’s Test and ODI captain, has expressed surprise at how their one-off Test against England ended last week. According to her, the visiting side wanted to continue batting when play was called off on the final day with 12 overs still left to be bowled. In response to this assertion from Raj, England captain Heather Knight explained that bad light was the reason for the premature close to proceedings in Bristol.Though no result other than a draw was possible at the time, two of India’s five Test debutants, Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia, were batting on unbeaten scores of 80 and 44 respectively, their rearguard ninth-wicket stand having swollen to 104.”We wanted to continue the play and that’s what we informed to the opposite captain, and they continued,” Raj revealed on ahead of the ODI series opener between the two sides. “But then I was told by Sneh Rana because even I was a little on the back foot when I saw the bails coming off and them walking out. So I asked her what happened and she said it was a bad light call taken by the umpire.”That’s what they were told. But then I saw the teams were congratulating [each other], so the umpires told that since both the teams are congratulating, it’s pretty much taken that the match is over. That’s what I was told by Sneh Rana. So that’s what happened.Knight, meanwhile, revealed that Raj was nowhere to be found when England were ready to accept a stalemate.”It became apparent to us that it was going to end in a draw, so we asked to shake hands with the Indian team,” Knight said. “We couldn’t actually find Mithali, so I think eventually a message got back on to us to that we were to carry on, which was fine. And then the umpires [Chris Watts and Sue Redfern] took us off for bad light and then the Indians came over and shook our hands. So that was what happened.”Knight also confirmed that the first ODI on Sunday will be played on a fresh pitch and that Sophia Dunkley, who made a first-innings unbeaten 74 on her Test debut last week, will make her maiden ODI appearance.”Yes, I have [had a chance to take a look at the pitch],” Knight said. “You’ll be pleased to hear it’s a fresh one. It looks pretty good, [with] an even covering of grass. Yeah, [it] looks like a reasonably good batting deck as it usually is with a fresh wicket in Bristol.”The teams head into the three-ODI series, which kicks off the limited-overs leg of the multi-format tour, on an even keel, with two points apiece. Wins in the white-ball games, which also features three T20Is, will be worth two points each.

Teenager became a viral hit with a legside stumping that evoked MS Dhoni in his prime

Matt Roller09-Dec-2020Nottinghamshire have announced the signing of Dane Schadendorf, a teenaged wicketkeeper who played for Zimbabwe in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, on a two-year contract.Schadendorf became a viral hit in the warm-up matches ahead of the tournament, thanks to a legside stumping in a fixture against New Zealand that evoked MS Dhoni in his prime. He also made 81 against eventual finalists India in a warm-up match, though was less successful in the World Cup itself with 138 runs in nine innings. He was born in Harare, but will qualify as a local player in county cricket thanks to a British passport. He had played club cricket for Caythorpe as well as for Nottinghamshire’s Under-18s and second XI in the 2020 season.”My game is probably more suited to white-ball cricket at the moment, but I’m working really hard on my red-ball game, and I think I’m getting better,” Schadendorf said. “My aims for the next year or so are just to get off to a good start here, score as many runs as I can, and try to stake my claim for a place in the first team.”Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, said: “We believe there’s a high ceiling of potential there… we hope to see him pushing for a place in our first team in the near future.”Schadendorf follows his compatriot Nick Welch in signing a county contract. Welch, a 22-year-old top-order batsman, gained British citizenship in September and played five games for Leicestershire in the T20 Blast.Welch will play for Mountaineers in the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s major domestic competition, which started on Wednesday. There is further representation from county cricketers in the tournament in the shape of Shane Snater, the Essex seamer, and Ben Curran, the Northamptonshire opener and brother of Sam and Tom, who will both play for Southern Rocks.

AB de Villiers has put most of the uncertainty of the last few months behind him and said he wants to enjoy cricket in his last few years

Firdose Moonda in Paarl18-Oct-20172:31

‘It felt like my first game again’ – AB de Villiers

It can sometimes be confusing listening to AB de Villiers. Some days he wants to captain, some days he doesn’t. Some days he wants to keep wicket, some days he doesn’t. Some days he isn’t sure how much longer he wants to keep playing, some days he wants to go on for as long as he can.But it is never confusing AB de Villiers. Every time he walks out, he wants only one thing: runs. For the team, for himself, for the fans. De Villiers deals in runs.For most of the last two years, he hasn’t been doing that at all. Since January 2016, de Villiers has battled injury and uncertainty and when he has been available for South Africa, he has not been at his best. Even as recently as June, his future was cloudy with a chance of retirement.South Africa had crashed out of the Champions Trophy to start a three-month tour of England on an embarrassing note. De Villiers was not staying on for the Tests that would follow and was unsure what kind of role, if any, he would play going forward. His former captain and close friend Graeme Smith wrote a column in confirming de Villiers actually wanted to walk away from the whites at some point early in the 2016-17 summer but was convinced to stay on and allowed to take a sabbatical from the longest format.The decision was met with mixed feelings: some felt de Villiers had earned the right to rest, others that he was picking and choosing, and in all that, the team had to find a way to sort-of move on, unsure whether they were making a clean break or just treading water until he returns. All de Villiers said at the time was that he would wait for the new coach to be announced before making a decision.Int the months before the coach was appointed, de Villiers welcomed a second son into the world, launched a coaching tips app and enjoyed his first offseason in more than a decade. When Ottis Gibson was confirmed coach, he had made his decision. He made himself available across all three formats.”I needed a couple of months away with the family and then Ottis made contact. I had met him before he was announced coach and I knew he was a great guy. He wanted to know where I was headed with my career and I told him I wanted to get back in the side,” de Villiers said.But not as captain.AB de Villiers marked his return with a 68-ball hundred•Getty Images

“I had a long run as a captain. I had some fantastic ups, and also quite a few lows in between. I just felt like it was enough. I wanted to enjoy the last few years of my career. I know what Faf is capable of as captain, and I think he’s going to become one of the best leaders we have had in this country. We’re going to give him all the support we can.”Instead, de Villiers wanted to play with the freedom that he thrives under and which Gibson seems to be willing to provide. Though he didn’t reveal exactly what it was about Gibson that he liked, he hinted that having someone with good knowledge and a strong sense of direction helped. “He is quite a confident man and knows what he wants. You get the feeling we know where we are going as a team,” de Villiers said.With 19 months between now and the World Cup, Gibson’s immediate task is to begin moulding the team into a unit that could challenge for the title. He understands that because of the difference in quality between the two sides, this series is not going to give him accurate feedback on whether that process has begun, so all he can ask for now is that they play as ruthlessly as possible.On Sunday, openers Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla answered that call when they marched South Africa to the biggest margin of victory with an unbroken stand; on Wednesday de Villiers did. His 176 is not just about the numbers. It’s about the manner in which he flayed the opposition bowling, almost from the first ball.While other batsmen had been struggling to find the boundary, de Villiers breached it at will and accelerated as his innings took shape. His first 50 runs took 34 balls and the next 50, also 34 but then he needed just 36 balls to add a further 76 runs in a late blitz that included six of his seven sixes. That he did all that without playing an international game in more than three months speaks of his quality.”I was still nervous,” de Villiers said. “It took me an over or so to remember I had a good net in Kimberley and I am in good form. I had to remind myself that I am hitting the ball well. It was great to be out there with Hashim, he has a very calming influence. I am hitting the ball as well as ever. I just spent a bit of time out there and then some of the boundaries kept flowing.”Thoughts of a double hundred were on everyone’s mind but de Villiers’, who insists he does not play for records. But there’s reason to believe he may yet break a few more.De Villiers appears relaxed and ready to do his bit in a big summer for South Africa, that only really kicks off early next year against the touring India and Australia. Before then, there is the small matter of finishing Bangladesh off, and the inaugural four-day day-night Test over Boxing Day, for which de Villiers is available.Having not played a Test since January 2016 though, he does not expect that door to open as easily as the limited-overs’ one did.”If selected, I will be there but I can’t accept that I am going to be in the squad. I have been out of the squad for a while and guys that have come in have done well. You don’t just walk into the Test team,” he said. I am going to have to work my way back. I am prepared to do the hard work.”And that much is as clear as can be.

Tim Paine, Australia’s backup wicketkeeper, is in doubt for the start of the summer after breaking his finger at training last week

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2011Tim Paine, Australia’s backup wicketkeeper, is in doubt for the start of the summer after breaking his finger at training last week. According to a statement from Cricket Tasmania, Paine, the state’s vice-captain, broke his right index finger, the same finger he fractured last November during the Australian Cricketers’ Association All-stars game.Although the injury does not require surgery, Paine will be out of action for at least four to six weeks, and is in doubt for Tasmania’s first match of the home summer, against Western Australia on October 11. Paine’s injury came as Australia’s first-choice gloveman, Brad Haddin, struggled for batting form in the recent one-day series in Sri Lanka.Haddin began the series opening with Shane Watson but was demoted to the lower middle order after he failed to have any impact, and he was especially unconvincing against the spin of Ajantha Mendis. At 33, Haddin hopes to have several years of international cricket left in him, but he can’t afford a lengthy form slump.Paine, 26, who holds a Cricket Australia contract, has impressed during his four Tests and 26 one-day internationals. He is seen as a future leader, and captained Australia A during their winter tour to Zimbabwe this year.His injury means that should Haddin have any fitness troubles during the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka, the Australians would most likely send for the young Victoria gloveman Matthew Wade, or the Queensland veteran Chris Hartley.

Australia captain makes 51 off 48 in WNCL for Victoria against WA in her first game back after six months out with a medical issue

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Sep-2023Australia captain Meg Lanning has made a successful return to professional cricket after six months out with a medical issue, striking a 48-ball 51 in her first game back in the WNCL for Victoria against Western Australia in Perth on Tuesday.Lanning quietly made her long-awaited comeback in the WNCL having not played since the WPL in India in March after missing the women’s Ashes entirely due to an undisclosed medical issue.She was not selected for Australia’s upcoming T20I and ODI series against West Indies, which starts on Sunday, with the national selectors and medical staff preferring she made her return in domestic cricket.