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I had originally intended to write this blog and had planned it all out before Luis Suarez decided to chow down on Branislav Ivanovic’s arm.  Alas, we digress and it gives more argument and debate to the following blog.

Despite what drama circulates Luis Suarez, it is clear to see the boy has incredible talent.  Spellbinding footwork, excellent dribbling and a deathly finish.  The Uruguayan has had his best season for Liverpool, scoring 23 goals and grabbing 8 assists in 33 Premier League games.  A form which has seen him nominated for PFA Player of the Year.  With his unique playing style Suarez has built up a dangerous reputation.  Suarez’s stats for Uruguay are just as impressive with a total of 31 goals in just 62 games.  Suarez embeds a technique where he tends to turn and run into players rather than dribbling round them.  This without speaking the obvious, terrifies defenders, all Suarez needs is a lucky bounce or a deflection and he’s away with his electrifying pace.

With all the praise Suarez deserves for his incredible skills, there is still a very ugly side to his personality.  Almost like the Jekyll and Hyde of football.  Here is a list of the controversies Luis Suarez has been involved with:

2007: Suarez makes his senior debut for Uruguay and gets sent off in the 85th minute after receiving two yellow cards.

2007:  In his first season for Ajax, Suarez was fine for a half-time altercation with fellow team-mate Albert Luque.

2010:  Historically one of the most recognisable incidents of the 2010 World Cup,  Suarez hand balled on the line to stop Ghana scoring in the 90th minute.  Rightly Suarez was sent off, however Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty which could have sent Ghana through.  Uruguay went on to triumph in the penalty shoot out and proceeded into the Semi-Finals.

2010:  Suarez was banned for 7 games in the Dutch league for biting PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal in a domestic match.

2011:  After a month long investigation Suarez was found guilty and charged with racially abusing Manchester United left back Patrice Evra.  Suarez was fined £40,000 and given an 8 match ban.

2013:  In the 2-2 draw between Liverpool and Chelsea, Suarez was involved in a tangle with Blues defender Branislav Ivanovic, in which he bit down on Ivanovic’s right arm.  The incident was not seen by the referee and Suarez stayed on the pitch.  Causing more controversy, Suarez then scored a late goal to level the game.  Liverpool went on to fine their Forward for an undisclosed amount and the FA banned him for 10 games.

With the overwhelming evidence shown it’s pretty clear that Suarez has an evil streak within him.  Reds defender Jamie Carragher even stated in his column for the Daily Mail that: ‘Rather than hounding him out of the country, shouldn’t we be helping him?’.  Liverpool fans, as much as they would prefer Suarez to do the things he does, will also be very quick to forgive and forget.  With what he brings to the team, Liverpool will not want to lose him and if Suarez feels like the fans are against him it wouldn’t be too long before he walks.  At the age of 26, Suarez is starting to enter the prime of his career, with already impressive statistics next to him name, the question begs how much better can Suarez get?

Working his way up, from club to bigger club Suarez is ready to take the leap to an even bigger club.  But where to go?  Suarez will not stay in the Premier League after Liverpool, with the reputation he has Suarez will look elsewhere.  Three clubs which spring to mind are Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Bayern Munich: Difficult to find where to slot into this impressive side, but Pep Guardiola may look to imbed a striker who will show flair as well as grab assists which is important to the German side.  Suarez will certainly find silverware at this club as long as he doesn’t mind being on the bench every now and then.

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Real Madrid:  With Cristiano Ronaldo as a linchpin and Benzema and Higuain for goal back up, Real Madrid have a pretty solid outfit.  Although with Benzema and Higuain never really sealing full-time positions Suarez could take this role.  The rumors are still circulating as to either one of the Real forwards leaving, meaning a position would be vacant.  Ronaldo works best behind a forward who he can work with, Suarez definitely has the capability to use his intricate skills to form a deadly frontier with Ronaldo.

Barcelona:   For me the most likely out of the destinations.  No matter who you have in the squad Messi will still always get you goals but Barcelona need to tie down a solid forward who can also bang them in.  With last weeks 4-0 drumming by Bayern Munich and scraping past PSG it’s a big wake up call for the catalan side.  David Villa hasn’t managed to tie down a regular start since coming back from injury and increasing speculation about him departing in the summer makes this move the ever more likely.

Suarez does indeed have the world at his feet, but can he take it?  More importantly will clubs want to offer him the chance to play there?  Suarez needs to show that he isn’t all Mr Hyde and to get his head down and concentrate on his game.  If he can do this then Suarez has a very bright future ahead of him.  Champions League medals and League winner’s medals await Suarez, time to act your age.

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Veteran seamer acknowledges T20 version is unlikely goal as she focuses on 2025 campaign

Andrew Miller28-May-2024Kate Cross, England’s veteran seamer, says she hasn’t given up hope of competing for a berth in England’s T20 World Cup squad in Bangladesh this winter, but admits her more realistic goal is the 50-over version in 2025, as she prepares to lead the line once more in the third ODI against Pakistan at Chelmsford.Cross, 32, claimed two wickets in England’s 37-run victory in the series opener at Derby on Thursday, and with a total of 85 at 25.35 in 64 ODIs to date, is by a distance the most experienced seamer in England’s white-ball ranks.In the T20I format, however, she has played just three matches in the last four years, and by her own admission, she missed her chance to impress when recalled for England’s shock series loss to Sri Lanka in September last year. The second of those three matches also took place at Chelmsford, where Cross returned figures of 0 for 33 in 2.2 overs as Chamari Athapaththu inspired her side to victory.As such, while the squad’s main focus is on building towards Bangladesh in October, Cross acknowledges that this final ODI is a big chance for her to hone the skills that have kept her at the forefront of England’s 50-over plans for the past five years – and to help raise the team’s standards after an “untidy” display, studded with 31 wides, in last week’s win in the series opener.Related

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“I think how we played in Derby probably wasn’t how we would like to play the game,” Cross said. “We were a little bit untidy with the ball, probably not at our best in the field. And we probably didn’t put as much pressure on the Pakistan bowling attack as we would like.”We actually haven’t lost an ODI series under Jon Lewis [since November 2022] so it goes to show we’re doing a lot of really good things, but how do we keep that mindset positive all the time? We were probably disappointed with ourselves in Derby, that we could have been a little bit more ruthless in some of those moments.”We know on our best day we can beat any team, we saw that in the Ashes last year when we were able to put Australia under pressure in real key moments. But what we sometimes forget is that we’re asking some really young, inexperienced players to be perfect. The group is trying to learn and improve whilst we play international cricket and that’s a really difficult place to be.”We’ve not got these windows now where you’ve got eight weeks at your region or at Loughborough training, and purposely just working on one thing. Because you’re in an England shirt, you’re expected to be absolutely perfect all the time, but that’s something we have to measure ourselves on correctly. As much as we don’t want to be bowling 40 wides in a game, we obviously don’t do that on purpose.”With bad weather in Chelmsford on Tuesday, England’s practice was limited to some indoor sessions for the batters, but as Cross admitted, the team’s mental preparation is the key factor given the intensity of their current workloads across formats and tournaments – which includes the white-ball series against New Zealand in June and July, followed by the next edition of the Hundred, which culminates in August.”There’s always something around the corner,” she said. “We’ve got South Africa this winter, we’ve got an Ashes just after in January, and then we’ve got the 50-over World Cup next year as well. So you always feel like you’re constantly building for something. And underlying all of that are the basic skills that we’re trying to top up all the time.”So the priority is T20 cricket at the moment for us, but for me, I’m probably thinking more about the 50-over stuff and prepping for that World Cup in 18 months’ time. That might be different for Alice Capsey and Lauren Bell, so it’s exciting that we’ve got all this stuff on in the calendar and so much to look forward to. But in terms of this series, it’s really important to be able to practice with the mindset that we want to take into that [50-over] World Cup.”As for the T20 World Cup, Cross insists she can still be involved, and plans to use both the Charlotte Edwards Cup and Northern Superchargers’ Hundred campaign to push her case for a squad berth. But, given Bell’s pre-eminence as England’s frontline seamer, and her own failure to seize the moment last year, she accepts her place in the pecking order.”I was in the squad for about four years without getting an opportunity, but I hold my hand up, in the Sri Lanka series I didn’t execute anything that I wanted to,” Cross said. “I know that I’ve probably lost my opportunity there. I’ve had a chat with Lewey [Jon Lewis] a few times and he just needs to see me be successful in T20 cricket. But the way the team is balanced at the moment, we’ve got one out-and-out seamer in Lauren Bell who’s been exceptional in that format, so you’ve basically got to be knocking her out of the team.”What Belly does brilliantly is swing the new ball and then come back and take wickets at the death to close games out. So it’s quite a nice blueprint to be able to follow and aspire to.”But it’s just about knowing yourself as well,” she added. “Obviously, as a 32-year-old, I probably know my limitations a little bit more than some of the younger girls, but you still want to take those opportunities if you do get them. It’s a real fine balancing act. But our priority is wearing this shirt and doing the best that we can for England.”

New South Wales, after putting up 320, had reduced the home side to 102 for 6 before they fought back

AAP22-Feb-2023Jimmy Peirson, the captain, turned around a poor run of form with a defiant unbeaten century to keep Queensland in touch with New South Wales in their Sheffield Shield match at the Gabba.Queensland ended the second day on 281 for 8, just 39 runs shy of New South Wales’ 320.Thanks to Peirson’s 115 not out, Queensland recovered from a precarious 102 for 6 to prevent New South Wales collecting a potentially match-winning lead in the first innings.Peirson, who had failed to reach double-figures in his past six innings across all forms of the game, struck 13 boundaries in reaching his sixth first-class century.He found a valuable ally in Xavier Bartlett (32), as the pair adding 91 for the eighth wicket. Mark Steketee added further lower-order resistance to end the day on 27 not out.Sean Abbott did the early damage for New South Wales with two wickets in the first session as Queensland limped to 51 for 4 at the conclusion of a rain-impacted opening session.Max Bryant (40) offered the strongest resistance from Queensland’s top order with a quick 40, but his dismissal – bowled shouldering arms – was emblematic of Queensland’s early fortunes.Abbott knocked over Jack Wildermuth after the break for seven and ended the day with 3 for 63.Earlier, New South Wales, who were nine wickets down overnight, added nine runs to their overnight tally to post 320 in their first innings. New South Wales, who haven’t won a game yet, need a victory at the Gabba to avoid a record winless streak, while Queensland started the match in a four-way share of second.

Hazlewood won’t play on Boxing Day but Cameron Green emergence as a like-for-like replacement has caused England captain Joe Root problems

Alex Malcolm24-Dec-2021Josh Hazlewood won’t play in the Boxing Day Test and there might have been a time when the sight of their big quick standing at the back of the nets not participating in training would have been a cause for concern for Australia.But Cameron Green’s emergence in this series as a bona fide Test bowler, who has earned his place as a top-six batter, has completely changed the dynamics for this Australian team and given the selectors confidence to not rush any of their big quicks back from injury.Hazlewood’s side strain needs more time, but the other quicks looked in fine fettle at the MCG nets on Christmas Eve with Mitchell Starc bowling superbly and showing no signs of the rib issue that flared while batting in Adelaide.With Pat Cummins set to return, Jhye Richardson looks on track to keep his place following his five-wicket haul which means Michael Neser is likely to miss out.Green was hardly used on the final day in Adelaide with Australia’s stand-in captain Steven Smith revealing that team management had suggested Smith avoid bowling him for workload reasons although Smith did turn to him late in the day as England’s resistance lingered longer than expected.Related

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But Green said he was ready to go if called upon and is feeling fine in the lead-up to Boxing Day.”I was completely fine and ready to go,” Green said. “It’s just we’re in a really good position. I think Nathan Lyon was bowling beautifully from one end, and then we’ve got three world-class pace bowlers to choose from so I wasn’t really required.”I think they just thought we could probably get through the game without bowling me. And then keep me even more fresh for this game.”Green talked about himself as Australia’s fifth bowler who is just there to “keep it tight at my end and give the other guys a bit of a spell.” But’s he’s been far more than that in this series so far. In Hazlewood’s absence, he has become Joe Root’s nemesis. Hazlewood has dismissed Root 8 times in Test cricket, more than any other bowler in the world.Since Hazlewood’s side strain, Green has stepped as Australia’s most like-for-like replacement to knock over Root twice in three innings, with Green’s extra height and bounce, much like Hazlewood, causing the England captain problems.”I’ve played two poor shots to him,” Root said of his dismissals to Green. “The one thing that he brings to the table is that extra bit of bounce.”The danger we get sucked into in these conditions is it doesn’t do as much as it does in England. So you feel like you can play at balls more frequently and you end up getting sucked into playing the shot that you don’t need to. I think that’s the most frustrating thing on my part, an experienced batter shouldn’t be making that mistake twice in two games. Hence why I’ve been doing the work and I expect better from myself.”Cameron Green roars in celebration after dismissing Joe Root•CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Green believes he is doing anything specific at his end and has felt he has been fortuitous on two occasions.”It’s a bit of fun a moment, isn’t it?” Green said. “I’ve just got very simple plans to him. Basically, just keep it tight, hold it from one end, and the other guys do their job.”I’ve just got lucky a couple of times.”But he’s a world-class player. And even the scores he’s got so far, he obviously hasn’t got a hundred but he’s batting beautifully out in the middle. So we’ve got to be on our game again.”For as well as Green has bowled, his primary role in the team is as a top-six batter. He is yet to really settle at Test level after six Test matches despite dominating Sheffield Shield cricket over the last two years. He made 33 not out in the second innings in Adelaide after having his off-stump knocked back by Ollie Robinson and Ben Stokes for 0 and 2 in his first two innings of the series.Green’s setup and preliminary movement for both dismissals were forensically critiqued by former Australia captain Ricky Ponting on Channel Seven’s broadcast of the Adelaide Test. Green has seen Ponting’s breakdown and has worked on making the necessary adjustments.But Green admitted that he was still trying to get mentally comfortable with playing at Test level, mirroring a process he needed to go through at first-class level a few years ago.”It’s definitely something I’m still working on,” Green said. “You still get a bit overwhelmed when you go out to bat or bowl. But I think that’s pretty natural for any 22-year-old playing Test cricket. That’s definitely something to work on, but it’s a work in progress.”

In a chat with Sachin Tendulkar, former WI captain talks about how to succeed in England

Nagraj Gollapudi08-Jul-2020Protect your stumps. Play beside the line of the ball. Two nuggets of wisdom to succeed in England, from former greats Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, to Jason Holder’s West Indies, before the first Test against England in Southampton. The visitors won the previous leg of the Wisden Trophy at home in 2019, but they have struggled in England, having failed to win a Test series in the country since 1988. They have managed only six Test wins during this period.Batting remains West Indies’ weakness. Holder and head coach Phil Simmons have underlined that as a big concern. In the rain-affected second intra-squad warm-up match in Manchester, none of the top-order batsmen even got a decent start. After the first-innings collapse in that match, Holder was embarrassed to admit some of his batsmen needed to “look in the mirror”.In the absence of Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer, West Indies will look at the pair of Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope to lead the batting department. They were the standout performers for West Indies on their 2017 tour, as the visitors clinched a rare Test win in the country at Headingly on the back of their heroics.However, both batsmen have struggled since. In terms of average, since their tour of England in 2017, Holder has been West Indies’ best batsman.Lack of application and focus, and absence of partnerships, have been outlined as the major issues with the batting by Simmons. Lara, meanwhile, said that batting remained the “key” to West Indies’ fortunes.”The key to any team taking the field, especially if they are taking the field after batting, is the amount of runs they have to play with,” Lara told Tendulkar in a chat on the . “This present West Indies team need the luxury of having runs on the board. They need their batsmen to come up trumps and give them that sort of comfort. So the effectiveness of a Kemar Roach or Shannon Gabriel will only come into play if they don’t have to go on the defensive because of the lack of runs. That has been our problem for many, many years.”According to Lara, quickly understanding the conditions, playing late, and dominating bowlers selectively were some of the cues West Indies batsmen needed to understand.When pressed by Tendulkar, who asked: “In short, your message to West Indian team is try and stay beside the line, don’t get behind the line too much?”, Lara agreed.”In England it is protect your stumps. And get acclimatised quickly, get the pace and bounce of the pitch, know what the bowlers are doing. And then when you feel comfortable then you sort of grow. You don’t necessarily have to dominate every single bowler that is bowling to you – if you get to 70-80 and there’s somebody that is giving you trouble, back off. That’s key.”When Tendulkar joked that West Indies ought to take Lara “seriously”, the former West Indies captain cited the example of Tendulkar’s masterful 241 in 2004 in Sydney where he abstained from playing the cover drive, a shot that had got him into trouble throughout the series.To cut out what hurts you, Lara said, was the “key” to batting.”You know that Sachin, as well. In terms of that great innings that you played in Sydney: it was not about a particular bowler getting you out, but it was a particular shot getting you out. And you stopped yourself from playing it and you were able to score in other areas. So it is similar sort of approach – be it your technique and may be having a problem with a particular shot or a particular bowler.A good example would be Australia. Playing against Australia, I will be 70-80 or may a 140 and [Glenn] McGrath comes back for a spell. And I know he is going to bowl 36 balls or six overs, seven overs, I don’t need to sort of take any great risks. Give your other guy at the other end, give him the opportunity to score.”Summing up the chat, Tendulkar said: “You just have to be smart.”Lara nodded, “Yes, that’s all”.

The secret is to adapt, because mysteries get solved easily these days, feels the offspinner about the emerging bunch of young spinners

Sruthi Ravindranath in Jaipur25-Mar-2019He might not have used a moniker to describe himself like his Kings XI Punjab team-mate Chris ‘Universe Boss’ Gayle, but R Ashwin had no reservations in calling himself one of the top bowlers in the T20 format. The Kings XI captain even threw numbers at doubters and pointed to his success during the 2016 T20 World Cup to make his case.”In terms of the T20 format, my stats are at 6.72 [6.85 as per records] as my economy rate and I’ve played highest number of games in the IPL alongside Harbhajan [Singh],” Ashwin said in Jaipur ahead of his team’s IPL 2019 opener against Rajasthan Royals. “The last T20 World Cup, I played extraordinarily for my side and won Man of the Match in a game as well. That’s where I’d like to rest my case.”For the record, among frontline Indian offspinners in the IPL, Harbhajan has played 150 matches, while Ashwin has played 125.It’s been nearly two years since Ashwin turned out for India in coloured clothes, but he still remains India’s top wicket-taker in T20Is with 52 dismissals. Over the last couple of years, with the spotlight shifting from fingerspinners to wristpinners, Ashwin has struggled to break into the side – Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have been match-winners in recent times with the white ball.A number of young spinners with various weapons in their arsenal have emerged in recent times. Ashwin argued that with technological advancements, no bowler could remain deceptive for too long, adding that adaptability was the only way around.
In a bid to adapt and reinvent himself in the limited-overs format, Ashwin had tried bowling legspin apart from his usual fingerspin variations in the IPL last year. Recently, he also stated that his exclusion from India’s limited-overs teams was down to a “perception” that wristspin is a must in the shorter formats, and insisted he was no “slouch” in white-ball cricket.”Cricket nowadays reveals everything. There is a lot of analysis and cameras can read out every movement of your fingers. The secret is to adapt to conditions. Look at Virat Kohli, earlier he was very strong on leg side but he adapted and now he is as strong on the off side too,” Ashwin said.While India captain Kohli had said that IPL form would have no bearing on World Cup selection, Ashwin believed he could make an impact. “Although I think the formats are very different, adapting will be the key. This time we do have a big break between the IPL and World Cup so whoever is in good form is going to get a place,” he said.It’s unlikely that Ashwin – who has been branded a red-ball specialist – would be considered for the World Cup, especially with Ravindra Jadeja and Kedar Jadhav around too. Jadeja came back into the ODI fold during the Asia Cup last year – after sitting out for more than a year – and has been an integral part of the side since then, valued for his lower-order hitting and experience. Jadhav, meanwhile, is primarily a middle-order batsman, but has been impressive with his low-angle slingy spinners in the middle overs.”India have a number of multi-utility cricketers. These are players who excel in one skill and constantly work on other skills as well,” Ashwin agreed. “In the Indian team, there’s Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar. Even Suresh Raina was an allrounder at a point. And there’s me and Jadeja who bowl as well as bat. Nowadays cricketers are very aware that you’ve to contribute both ways.”

India’s captain has asked every member of the team to reflect on the soft dismissals and errors made by them

Sidharth Monga in Centurion17-Jan-2018The message from a dejected and hurting Virat Kohli to the rest of his team-mates is clear: it is unacceptable to lose the way India did in home-like conditions in Centurion despite given a chance to escape by South Africa throwing their wickets in the final session on day one. Kohli asked every individual to reflect on the soft dismissals and errors made by them.This was widely considered India’s best chance to win a Test in South Africa: the pitch was flat and slow for the first three-and-a-half days, South Africa failed to seize the advantage after winning the toss, India had the best batting conditions of the match to themselves in the first innings, but they let it slip with two silly run-outs, a few loose shots, and dropped catches on the field.”At the end of the day one team has to lose,” Kohli said. “As a team you always try to win. You can accept defeat but not the way we played, the way we let the advantage slip out of our hand, that is not acceptable from a team’s point of view. So many soft dismissals in one match hurt a lot. Because you work so hard, you prepare for a match, you get into good situations, shift the game towards you, and then the momentum shifts because of these mistakes. That feels very bad as a team. Individuals have to sit and reflect on these things themselves. They do it, I am not saying they don’t reflect on it, but we have repeated these mistakes in both matches.”Kohli asked the team to be ask itself tough questions. “We have not come here to play the way we have done,” Kohli said. “That is something that we need to definitely speak about. We need to be hard on ourselves. We need to ask ourselves if we are giving 120% for the team every time we bowl a ball or play a ball or field a ball. That is something individuals need to reflect on themselves, but as a team we are definitely going to lay out these things in the open.”We will ask the guys to be honest about what they were feeling at particular stages in the game. Unless you speak about it and lay it out in front of everyone, there is very little chance of improving. The mistakes that we made have been really about not putting attention to detail at important stages of the game. It is something we definitely need to take into account and sit down and discuss as a team.”However, Kohli didn’t feel the selections of the XIs in both sides had any bearing on the result. Ajinkya Rahane, India’s best all-conditions Test batsman, has been sitting out on “current form”. It was a shocking move to Indian cricket’s followers the morning Rahane was left out of the first Test, but Kohli said “no one” wanted Rahane in the XI, and the outrage has only come after the results. In this Test, India left out their best bowler from Cape Town, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and also lost out on his batting: he faced the most balls by an India batsman in Cape Town. Kohli was asked if having too many options might have confused them.”Look when something doesn’t work, obviously it’s going to be spoken against,” Kohli said, pointing to media and fan reaction. “We are pretty used to that. We as a team don’t think of what the opinion going around is, and I’ve clarified that before also. There are many people that are involved in making a decision for the playing XI. A lot was spoken about Bhuvi as well but Shami performed in this game. So now no one is talking about that.”So you know it’s all about whoever goes out on the field and performs. We obviously look at the conditions that we are playing in and we decide as a management group and the captain myself sitting together that what is the best XI that we can take on the field. And then we don’t sit back and think, ‘Oh we could have done that or we should have done that.’ You make one decision and you back it. It’s always that scenario.”While he refused to concede that there needs to be a debate on the XIs, Kohli said the team would need to assess every move it had made on tour. He didn’t agree that more preparation, or coming early to South Africa, might have helped, which somewhat went against his comments about the crowded international schedule, during the home series against Sri Lanka that preceded this tour.”See, I don’t believe in that,” Kohli said when asked if coming early would have helped them counter the conditions better, particularly in Cape Town. “We had a result in three days in Cape Town, and we had no complaints and we really enjoyed the pitch we played on because we had an equal chance of winning the game there. We were not good enough to do that, that’s a different thing, but it wasn’t like we were set a total, the team had declared, and we were outplayed. We had opportunities in both the games, that’s probably the smallest positive that we can think of at this moment.”Look, I am not going to sit here and try to comfort anyone, we need to be hard on ourselves if we need to do special things. We need to sit down and ask ourselves whether we are giving enough every time that we go out on the field. We should be reflecting on all our decision-making and all the actions that we have made in this game and the previous game and act upon them.”Kohli said a team needed a certain obsession, a “madness”, to win away from home in such conditions.”It doesn’t feel nice that you come out and you feel good as a team and then you are not able to execute what you want to,” Kohli said. “It almost has to be a madness to be able to win away from home. And you have to live that every minute, every day of being on tour. As I said it is a very individual thing but we need to discuss this as a team for sure.”I can’t speak on behalf of selectors as to what they are thinking. Obviously the selectors will come into the conversation as well when we are looking at planning for future tours also because we have a lot of cricket away from home. This was not the only tour. We have to identify all the areas that need improvement. And accordingly act on those. Obviously the selectors are going to be a big part of that conversation.”Kohli admitted South Africa were the better team irrespective of the conditions, but this defeat hurt a little more because India had conditions in their favour. “Well, we were quite disappointed in Cape Town as well, there was an opportunity to win also,” Kohli said. “Look, Test cricket, it doesn’t matter where you are playing. Teams have beaten us also at home at times but these conditions are something that we are used to playing at and we should have certainly done better than what have.”Having said that it’s about which team plays collectively better. South Africa collectively were a much better team than us regardless of the pitches we played on. Their bowlers put relentless pressure on us as a batting unit, and their batsmen as well, after losing a few wickets, they would string in a partnership. They showed more character than us.”

If Kyle Abbott thought he had it rough after only appearing in 11 Tests in four years, Wayne Parnell has had it rougher

Firdose Moonda08-Jan-2017If Kyle Abbott thought he had it rough after only appearing in 11 Tests in four years, Wayne Parnell has had it rougher. In seven years, Parnell has collected just four Tests caps, mostly because injury has stunted his international progression but also because he has battled to break into a pace pack that has been well stocked. Now, with Abbott unavailable after going Kolpak and Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel unfit, Parnell could be in the perfect position for a long run.He was included in South Africa’s squad to play Sri Lanka despite no first-class cricket this season and could be in the starting XI for the Wanderers Test after a strong performance for Cobras at the weekend. Parnell took six wickets and scored an unbeaten 103 opening the batting in the second innings in their victory over Lions in Oudtshoorn.Cobras interim coach Ashwell Prince, who was a national selector as recently as last September, believes Parnell should make a Test return later this week. “I’d play him. A left-armer complements what South Africa already have,” Prince told ESPNcricinfo.South Africa’s current attack includes Vernon Philander who offers seam movement and Kagiso Rabada, who provides pace. Even though Abbott’s job was more containing than attacking, Prince believes Parnell could be a handy third prong.”They have got someone who has control in Vernon Philander and Wayne will add to the strike force. He is looking really good and starting to swing the ball back into the right-hander, which is something he had lost.”Parnell’s ability to find movement waned as his injuries mounted. In 2010, less than a year after an impressive World T20 performance and with three Tests to his name, he suffered a groin strain at the IPL which ruled him out of most of the next season. He lost ground to Philander in the longer format and in 2013 was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat while playing for South Africa A against India A and had to wait even longer for a Test return.It was only in 2014 that Parnell wore whites again, in Port Elizabeth against Australia. He took a wicket with his first ball and another with his third but only bowled eight more overs before leaving the field with another groin strain. Abbott replaced him in the South Africa squad and played the following match; Parnell has not featured in a Test since. He has been injured three more times – hamstring (September 2015), foot (November 2015) and rib (October 2016) – moved from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town, from Warriors to Cobras, got married and put in first-class performances that have put him in line for a third recall.Despite playing only half the matches in last season’s first-class competition, he finished as Cobras’ player of the season with took 23 wickets at 20.56 and scored 337 runs at 48.14. Prince has noticed some marked differences in Parnell’s action, specifically at delivery point. “He has been working with [national bowling coach] Charl Langeveldt on his approach to the crease. It is not as fast as it used to be and that gives him a lot more control. Instead of sprinting in, which used to affect his stability at the crease, he is running in with nice rhythm. He has also done work on his wrist and release point.”Prince said the adjustments mean Parnell can offer a lot more consistency than he used to but more important than any of that has been a change in attitude. At 27, Parnell is older, wiser and has a greater understanding of what it takes to make it on the biggest stage. “There is a lot more maturity to his game. He is in his later 20s and married, maybe that has made the difference,” Prince said. “He works as hard as anybody in the gym and on his fitness and his game. He is ready.”Parnell is competing with the rookie call-up Duanne Olivier for a place in the XI but South Africa may choose to include both quicks on the fastest, bounciest strip of the series. The Wanderers surface is generally spicy but heavy rain in the lead-up to the match could see it offer even more in the third Test. On Sunday, the pitch was being prepared under a tent and with showers forecast throughout the week it may not see any sunlight at all. South Africa also fielded an all-pace attack against England at the venue last year.

ESPNcricinfo previews the third ODI between Pakistan and England

The Preview by Andrew Miller16-Nov-2015

Match facts

November 17, 2015
Start time 1500 local (1100 GMT)

Big Picture

As in the first Test, so too in the one-dayers. After an inauspicious start in Abu Dhabi, England’s bouncebackability has ensured that this contest will now go down to the wire. If Eoin Morgan blamed his batsmen for their shortcomings in the six-wicket defeat in Wednesday’s opening fixture, then the voracity of their response was a delight for the skipper to behold. A maiden ODI hundred for Alex Hales that included a century stand with his opening partner, Jason Roy; a serene example of mid-innings run-harvesting from Joe Root, and another probing display from a young seam attack who shared eight wickets between them were plenty reasons to believe in the continuing development of an upwardly mobile squad.A change of venue beckons for Tuesday’s third ODI, however, and if the lessons of the Test series are anything to go by, then the surface in Sharjah is likely to favour the slower bowlers on both teams, which in turn should play comprehensively into the hands of Pakistan. That said, England’s neutering of the legspinner, Yasir Shah, was a major factor in Friday’s 95-run win – his nine overs were milked for 70 runs – and there is some concern about his fitness for this match. However, with Shoaib Malik still displaying the confidence with the ball that led to seven series-sealing wickets in the third Test earlier this month, the onus will surely be on England’s spin twins, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, to at the very least match the control and penetration of their Pakistani counterparts.Nevertheless, England do appear to be the more settled of the two teams at present. The reverberations of Younis Khan’s surprise retirement are still being felt by Pakistan’s squad. Their coach, Waqar Younis, echoed the sentiments of the PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan in criticising the timing of Younis’s departure, and the plugging of that sizeable hole in the middle order has led to all manner of upheaval elsewhere in their line-up. Neither Bilal Asif nor Babar Azam, who played a vital role from No.6 in the opening victory, has looked comfortable as a makeshift opener, while Azhar Ali, the captain, has seemed devoid of intent at the top of the order. Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan’s in-form Test opener, was bagged for a duck by David Willey from No.3, arguably the decisive moment in England’s victory push on Friday.If there was an area of concern for England in the second match, it centred around the failure of their own middle-order to build on the start provided by Hales and Co. At 165 for 1 in the 30th over, conventional wisdom suggested that a score well in excess of 300 was on the cards. However, thanks in no small part to another supreme spell from Wahab Riaz, England were forced to settle for 283. It proved, on this occasion, to be more than enough, but with Jos Buttler in particular still struggling for the form that he had been displaying at the start of the English summer, England’s line-up is still some way short of full efficiency.

Form guide

Pakistan: LWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
England: WLLWW

Players to watch …

His twin failures in the Sharjah Test match undermined his status as the world’s No.1 batsman, but Joe Root’s ability to translate his talents across formats is currently unrivalled among England cricketers. If Hales’ hundred rightly took the plaudits on Friday, then Root’s fuss-free strike rotation was every bit as vital to England’s finished article – no fewer than 46 of his 77 deliveries were nurdled away for singles, a skill that his compatriots have so often lacked against spin bowling on slow, low Asian pitches.His stated aim, in the aftermath of his Test retirement, is to play in the 2019 World Cup, and Shoaib Malik is so far making a tidy case to be selected as a front-line spinning option. England’s early-summer wickets may not be quite as conducive to his angular offspin but, right now, it is the second string to Shoaib’s bow that is justifying his presence in Pakistan’s line-up. Nevertheless, he was averaging exactly 100 in ODI cricket since his recall after the World Cup, and his Test-best 245 is not yet a distant memory. In light of Younis’ absence, Shoaib’s experience with the bat takes on an extra significance.Alex Hales celebrates with Joe Root after his maiden ODI hundred•Getty Images

Team news

No qualms about Pakistan’s pace attack – Wahab’s class allied to Mohammad Irfan’s cloud-scraping angle of attack, plus Anwar Ali’s consistency with the new ball – means that their seam options are plentiful. There is, however, a concern over Yasir’s fitness. He sustained a knee injury during practice on the eve of the match and may be forced to sit this one out. Bilal would be the obvious stand-in. At the top of the batting order, Ahmed Shehzad could become Azhar’s third opening partner in as many matches.Pakistan (probable) 1 Azhar Ali (capt), 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Iftikhar Ahmed, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Anwar Ali, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Yasir Shah, 11 Mohammad Irfan.No reason for significant tinkering to England’s balance or line-up. The top five looks as solid as anything that the selectors have conjured up since the pre-World Cup panic that unseated Alastair Cook, while Buttler’s struggle for form is no reflection on his obvious class. Not for the first time this tour, the role of Moeen is raising some eyebrows – he is arguably under-utilised in the lower middle-order – while the temptation to play an extra paceman in Liam Plunkett must be strong. But if Rashid’s legspin is to develop as a one-day threat, with next year’s tour of India an obvious staging post, then these are the fixtures in which he needs to play.England (probable) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 James Taylor, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 David Willey, 11 Reece Topley.

Pitch and conditions

England fielded three spinners at Sharjah during the Test series and there’s a strong likelihood that this surface will be conducive to slow bowling as well. It is the same surface that was used for the third Test in Sharjah a fortnioght ago and still has significant scarring.

Stats and trivia

• Sharjah is set to host its 219th ODI, already a world record for any ground in the format. However, this will be England’s first one-day fixture at the venue since April 1999.
• Root requires three more runs to pass 2,000 runs in all formats for the calendar year.
• After going wicketless in the second match, Malik still needs one more wicket to reach 150 in ODIs.

Quotes

“”England bounced back and bounced back well. We probably were not thinking that they are going to play that well and now we have to play out of our skins to make it 2-1.”
“I have to maintain a positive mindset. If I don’t, things go wrong and it’s not the way I play.”

Royal Challengers Bangalore finally got their first away win of the season, beating bottom-placed Pune Warriors by 17 runs

The Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran02-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAB de Villiers’ daredevilry made the difference•BCCI

Royal Challengers Bangalore finally got their first away win of the season, beating bottom-placed Pune Warriors by 17 runs. The margin of victory suggested a comprehensive win, but Royal Challengers were run close by Robin Uthappa, who showed his potential with a blazing fifty which gave Warriors hope of chasing a tall 188. AB de Villiers was at his innovative best with the bat, smashing an unbeaten 50 off 23 balls to launch Royal Challengers past 180. His blows were the difference in the end.De Villiers’ assault helped Royal Challengers ransack 68 off the last five overs. Warriors needed 66 off the last five overs, but with a set Uthappa at the crease, Royal Challengers couldn’t afford to relax. Angelo Mathews too gave the visitors a scare with his cameo, but his untimely departure only piled further pressure on Uthappa. Uthappa’s form was good news for Warriors, but had he received better support, the result could have been different.The pitch at Pune has been one of the slower ones in the IPL and one that was going to test the batsmen more than the one in Bangalore when the teams last met. Chris Gayle found out the hard way early in his innings when he found the spinners hard to get away. It was a clever ploy by Warriors to take the pace off the ball, giving Ajantha Mendis the new ball and bringing in the part-timer T Suman. A repressed Gayle plodded to 15 off 19 balls before lofting Suman over the sightscreen for a six. It was hardly a sign of things to come as he tried to repeat that shot the following the ball and miscued it to deep extra cover, falling for a sluggish run-a-ball 21.Since there was no blazing launchpad by Gayle for a change, it was unusual watching Royal Challengers scrap to 59 after nine overs. Saurabh Tiwary and Virat Kohli gave the innings some impetus with a rousing stand of 63. Tiwary, who has batted in the middle order, had requested to go up the order and he justified his promotion with a half-century.The most decisive phase in the match came in the final over. De Villiers was on 24 off 17 balls when Ashok Dinda – not the most reliable death bowler – ran in. De Villiers moved across his stumps and smoked a full delivery outside off stump to deep midwicket for a flat six. The second was smashed over the bowler’s head for four, the third over long-off for six, the fourth reverse-swept to third man and the fifth scooped over short fine leg. De Villiers had raced to 50 off 23 by the end of the over, rousing Royal Challengers and demoralising the Warriors before the chase began.Warriors needed a pacy start but they too found the going difficult early on, moving to 49 for 2 after eight overs. Yuvraj Singh gave the innings a push with two exquisite sixes and his confidence began to rub off on Uthappa, who was starting to peak when he launched Muttiah Muralitharan over the sightscreenRoyal Challengers bounced back with two wickets in an over from Vinay, but Uthappa’s was the wicket they needed. The equation narrowed after one over when Uthappa and Mathews targeted the most experienced of the lot, Muralitharan, smashing three clean sixes in one over. Forty-five off 24 was achievable, but Vinay provided some relief to the visitors when he had Mathews caught at backward point. Uthappa’s heroics ended the following over when he top edged Murali Kartik to point. The chase was all but over when he walked back.