India’s medical staff estimates the opener could take a minimum of eight weeks to recover

Nagraj Gollapudi01-Jul-2021Shubman Gill has a stress related injury in his left leg and could be in danger of missing the entire five-Test series against England, beginning in August. ESPNcricinfo has learned that as per the initial prognosis, the Indian medical staff suspects Gill is likely to take a minimum of eight weeks to get back to fitness.Related

• Ishant Sharma gets stitches on bowling hand but 'expected to recover in time' for England Tests

• Shubman Gill injures lower leg and in doubt for first England Test

• Joe Root hopes England rest-and-rotation is 'behind us' as India and Ashes Tests loom

Details of the injury, including its exact nature, remain unclear still. Throughout the World Test Championship final, Gill, who opened and even took a spectacular diving catch in New Zealand’s first innings, showed no discomfort. Although it could not be confirmed, it is believed that Gill is likely to have picked up the injury during a recent fitness training session.This is Gill’s first injury since he made his Test debut on the tour of Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in 2020-21, where he had impressed the team management with a bold attitude while opening the batting. At present, Gill is staying with the rest of the Indian squad in London. He is believed to have expressed a desire to play in the latter half of the England tour, but the team management is expected to take a final call shortly.The BCCI has not sent any update on Gill’s fitness. Currently, the Indian squad is on a three-week break which started from June 24. The contingent will reassemble in Durham from July 15 and train, including playing two warm-up matches. It is understood that the BCCI recently put in a fresh request with the ECB to organise a practice match against one of the counties so that the Indians would get some quality match training before the Test series which begins from August 4 at Trent Bridge.The second Test will be played at Lord’s (August 12-16), the third at Headingley (August 25-29), the fourth at The Oval (September 2-6) and the fifth at Old Trafford (September 10-14). Immediately after the final Test, the Indians will fly out of Manchester directly to the UAE to participate in the remainder of IPL 2021.It is believed that Gill will be fully fit in time for the IPL, where he plays for Kolkata Knight Riders.

For now the quick bowler is focused on a rare sustained period of T20 cricket

Andrew McGlashan05-Jul-2021Mitchell Starc is prepared to improvise to give himself the best chance of being ready for Test cricket amid a schedule crunch which is further complicated by the quarantine requirements in Australia, but Test captain Tim Paine is not confident of having all his players available to face Afghanistan.Starc is one of Australia’s multi-format names who could be impacted by the very tight turnaround between the T20 World Cup and start of the home Test season against Afghanistan in Hobart.If Australia and/or Afghanistan reach the final in the UAE on November 14 there would only be 12 days before the first ball of the Test on November 27 which is inside the mandatory 14-day period returning travelers have to quarantine for.Various solutions could be sought by Cricket Australia with one option to try and gain exemption for the Test to be played under the quarantine rules used against India in Brisbane last season following the Covid-19 outbreak in Sydney.For Australia’s Test players who are part of the T20 World Cup the Afghanistan match will be their only chance of red-ball preparation ahead of the Ashes starting on December 8.Related

• Australia's T20 shake-up – who has the most to gain?

• Australia's World Cup conundrum: the search for a T20 finisher

• Wade taking latest selection audition in his stride with 'nothing to lose'

“It’s a very interesting one,” Starc said from St Lucia. “The way of the world at the moment throws up a lot hurdles and then you are throwing two weeks of quarantine, like we are going to have to do coming back from this tour as well, there’s a lot of question marks.”You look back to the summer and we played Sydney under restrictions, Brisbane was under full quarantine so there’s certainly precedence set there in how we approach different games especially in Australia.”In that respect I don’t think there’s any hurdles to get around in playing cricket under quarantine conditions, it’s just some of the finer details that government and cricket will have to work together [to sort out].”But for the few multi-format players we all want to play as much cricket as we can, Test cricket is certainly the pinnacle for a lot of us, certainly it is for me, as is a World Cup so it will be hard to pick and choose.”Limited-overs captain Aaron Finch has made clear he expects to have all first-choice players available for the World Cup. “The T20 World Cup is an international event, the one piece of [limited-overs] silverware that was eluded us. They’ll be no management for Test cricket, I can tell you that much,” he said last week.Mitchell Starc during the 2012 T20 World Cup•AFP

Speaking a few hours after Starc, Paine endorsed that the strongest T20 side should be selected and had faith in anyone who missed the Afghanistan Test being ready to face England.”It does look tight,” he said. “From our point of view we’re probably expecting not to [have the players]. We’d like our a T20 side to go as deep as they can. Our players have come into an Ashes series before without any red-ball cricket, if we have to do that in the professional era guys can cope with that.”Although for the next six weeks in West Indies and Bangladesh Starc’s attention will be on white-ball bowling, as the Test matches draw nearer towards the end of the year he will delve on past experiences to ensure he is ready.”There’s been some really tight turnarounds whether it be white-ball tournaments into Test series or away tours where we’ve had to improvise and make sure we get a little bit of red-ball bowling in so it wouldn’t be the first time,” he said. “Throws up another hurdle with quarantining after a World Cup and the tight turnaround we might be faced with, but the multi-format players have all played cricket for quite a while now and have experienced the same situation in slightly difference circumstances before.”For now, Starc is working on fine-tuning his T20 skills as he sets his sights on a first appearance at a T20 World Cup since 2012 having missed the 2016 edition in India due to injury. If the Bangladesh tour gets final approval there will be up to 10 T20s over the next month and while Starc will be unlikely to feature in them all it’s a rare chance for an extended focus on the format.Starc was a central figure in the successful run Australia’s T20 side put together in 2019-2020, featuring in eight of the nine matches against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa, and then played the three-match series against England last year. He only had one game against India last season due to withdrawing from the squad, did not play in the BBL and opted against the IPL with the hectic schedule in mind.”It’s a great opportunity for the group to start preparing with a bit more focus on that World Cup,” he said. “Don’t think I’ve played 10 T20s in the last four years let alone in the space of a few weeks so personally it would be nice to get a bit of a rhythm of T20 cricket.”The back end of the summer I was heavily focused on the red-ball so put the white-ball to the side. To prepare for this tour it’s all been white-ball focused with what’s coming up in the next few months. Preparing for shorter spells, more of a focus on staying unpredictable or [using] variations. I don’t change a whole lot in my preparation across the formats but certainly they’ll be a lot more planning and focus on tactically what we’ll take on this series.”This story was update with Tim Paine’s comments

Former Test opener lured to Lord’s by long-term contract and chance to play all formats

George Dobell18-Aug-2021Mark Stoneman is to leave Surrey and join Middlesex on a three-year deal.Stoneman, the former England Test opener, had been offered a new deal to remain at The Kia Oval but has been lured to Lord’s by a long-term contract and the prospect featuring in all three formats of the county game. Stoneman has struggled to gain a place in Surrey’s T20 team.The 34-year-old, who has spent five years at Surrey having previously represented Durham, is to join Middlesex on loan immediately and is available for their final four LV= Insurance County Championship matches of the season. The deal secures his future at Middlesex until at least the end of 2024.”Mark brings a wealth of experience from the cricket side of things, and it will be great to use that experience to drive our young batsmen forward,” Stuart Law, the Middlesex head coach, said. “[He is] a tough no-nonsense bloke who will form an experienced opening partnership with Sam Robson at the top of the order.”This is a significant signing for us as we build a squad for future success here at Middlesex, and it won’t be the last signing we make before next season. There’ll be more to come on this in the coming weeks.”Related

• Yorkshire sign Mark Stoneman on loan for Blast after Dawid Malan's ODI call-up

• Mark Stoneman's homecoming ton in vain as Scott Borthwick leads Durham into final

Stoneman started and finished his Surrey career with centuries. After making 165 in his first Championship innings for the club (against Warwickshire) in 2017, he finished with a List A century against Glamorgan on Tuesday in the Royal London One-day Cup semi-final. In between times, he won 11 Test caps and played an important role in Surrey’s Championship-winning side of 2018.”I have had a fantastic five years at Surrey and will be forever grateful to Alec Stewart for giving me the opportunity to represent the club,” Stoneman said. “They played a key part in helping me achieve an ambition of playing for England. It was an incredibly difficult decision to turn down their contract offer as I’ve loved being part of the Surrey family.”During my time at the club, I have received fantastic support both on and off the field. However, I was offered a fantastic opportunity by Middlesex and I’m grateful to Alec for his understanding of my decision.”Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, admitted he was disappointed to lose Stoneman, but wished him well.”We are obviously disappointed that Rocky chose not to accept our new contract, but I respect his decision and the reasoning behind his move,” Stewart said. “He has been brilliant to work with during his time at Surrey and I wish him every success as he joins Middlesex.”

The captain praised his bowlers despite the punishment they copped – as a unit – in the final

Deivarayan Muthu15-Nov-20211:45

Vettori: New Zealand one of the best all-round teams across formats

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson refused to blame his bowling attack and instead credited Australia’s batters after they hunted down 173 with considerable ease to win their first-ever T20 World Cup title.”The bowling attack has been a strong point for us throughout this whole competition,” Williamson said. “And you’re having to adjust from venue to venue, team to team, and that’s the nature of playing in tournament sport.”And tonight, yeah, you can always look at little bits that you want to do a little bit better. But ultimately the quality was there from Australia and they played really, really well and put us under pressure, and we weren’t able to get those breakthroughs. Then you can’t build that pressure, and 170 feels like a long way away. But they played really well. They got momentum and it never changed.”Related

• Stead admits NZ are facing a 'tough and challenging' schedule

• Kane Williamson produces a masterclass but history repeats itself for New Zealand

• Mitchell Marsh proves his doubters wrong

• Toss played 'a big part', admits Aaron Finch, but so did Australia aggression

Trent Boult aside, the rest of New Zealand’s attack missed their lines and lengths, with Ish Sodhi and Tim Southee, in particular, copping heavy punishment.The Dubai pitch seemed two-paced, especially in the first half, with the ball holding in the surface. New Zealand managed just 32 for 1 in the powerplay – their lowest score in the first six overs in the tournament. Williamson, though, cranked up the tempo and carried them to 172 for 4, with his awe-inspiring 85 off 48 balls.”[The total was] roundabout par. I guess there’s always things that come in and factor, and conditions are a big part of that,” Williamson said. “But having said that, with runs on the board and you can build some pressure and you get a few opportunities, things can happen quickly, but wasn’t to be tonight.”It did feel tough. It was just holding in the wicket a little bit. Sort of normal characteristics I think of your Dubai surfaces. It was nice to sort of build a platform and accelerate from there which we were able to do.”Kane Williamson and his team-mates troop off after losing the final•Getty Images

Despite the defeat in the final, Williamson was proud of New Zealand’s performance in the tournament. Pooled in a group with three Asian sides – Pakistan, India and Afghanistan – who are all more familiar with the UAE conditions, they progressed to the semi-final, where they toppled England, the pre-tournament favourites.

Cricket on ESPN+

Match highlights of the Men’s T20 World Cup final is available in English, and in Hindi (USA only).

“But you come up against a very strong side in Australia and they are playing very, very well, and they did that again tonight,” Williamson said. “You know, if you look at the campaign on a whole, which we do, and the type of cricket that we have been able to play, I can say that we are very proud of our efforts throughout this period of time.”You get to a final and anything can happen. And all these different fine lines and results, they happen and today, we turned up and played some really good cricket. And it wasn’t quite good enough. That’s sort of just the way it goes, you know, and for us, it’s still putting our energy into the right areas.”For us, it’s still trying to build on the positives and grow as a team. You want to win these comps. You want the fruits, and so did a lot of other teams. When you do turn up on the day, anything can happen, and we can see how competitive this competition has been right through the group stages, as well, and there were so many sides that were more than capable of winning this competition. But like I say, really proud of the efforts that have gone in from our side across the board.”

Malan reclaims the No.1 spot in T20I batters list as Babar slips to third after a disappointing series against West Indies

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2021Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head have attained their career-best positions in the latest rankings for Test batters, with seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi also achieving the feat in the bowlers’ list.Labuschagne’s 74 and Head’s 152 in the first Ashes Test at the Gabba against England have helped them reach No. 2 and No. 10 respectively in the list. Labuschagne jumped two places, also moving past team-mate Steven Smith who has now slipped to No. 3, while Head has moved up by 16 places.Another batter to have gained in the rankings from the first Ashes Test is David Warner, who jumped from ninth to sixth, while England’s fast bowlers Ollie Robinson (up four places to 31st) and Mark Wood (up two places to 50th) also climbed up the bowling charts which is led by Australia captain Pat Cummins.

Full rankings tables

• Click here for the full team rankings

• Click here for the full player rankings

Meanwhile, Afridi, who picked up three wickets for 34 runs against Bangladesh in the second Test that Pakistan won by an innings and eight runs and eventually clinched the series, moved up by two places to attain his career-best third position.For Bangladesh, Shakib Al Hasan, who scored 33 and 63 against Pakistan in the second Test, has advanced to 35th, a jump of eight places, in the batters list while also occupying the fourth place – from being fifth – among allrounders.The latest ranking update also sees Dawid Malan reclaiming the No.1 position in the T20I batters list after Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who made scores of 0 and 7 in the series against West Indies, lost the top spot.In the T20I bowling list, Shadab Khan was back in the top 10, gaining five slots to be ninth.

ECB boss insists he will walk away when the time is right, as English cricket grapples with crises on and off field

Andrew Miller04-Feb-2022Tom Harrison has denied that he is “clinging on for grim death” amid a wave of post-Ashes sackings, and insists that he will walk away from his role as chief executive when the time is right, as the ECB grapples with a succession of crises, both on and off the field.Harrison, who has been in his role since 2015, was instrumental in securing the £1.1 billion rights deal with Sky and the BBC in 2017, and also oversaw the structures that enabled England’s white-ball team to become World Cup winners in 2019.He was credited, too, for keeping English cricket solvent during the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, when the successful hosting of England men’s home-summer series against West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland and Australia helped to mitigate the board’s multi-million pound losses.However, more recently, Harrison has come under intense pressure for his handling of the racism scandal that has engulfed English cricket since Azeem Rafiq’s revelations at Yorkshire, including a succession of unconvincing appearances before Parliament’s DCMS select committee.The fall-out from the Ashes has intensified the scrutiny as well, particularly in light of Harrison’s call for a “red-ball reset” in response to the declining standards of the Test team. As one of the primary advocates of the Hundred, the ECB’s new competition that took place in the prime summer months of July and August last summer while forcing the County Championship ever further into the margins of the season, many critics doubt whether he is the right man to oversee that change of priority.Other mis-steps include the ECB’s unilateral cancellation of England’s goodwill T20I tour of Pakistan in October – a trip that would have been England’s first to the country since 2005, and which was a factor in the subsequent resignation of Ian Watmore as chair – and the awarding of a £2.1 million bonus pool for the board senior executives off the back of the Hundred’s launch. The pay-out for that bonus scheme is anticipated in April, and comes in spite of the extensive round of redundancies that the ECB underwent last year in the wake of the pandemic.”I’d like not to be seen to be running away from the challenge of addressing the issues,” Harrison said in a press conference at Lord’s, as he and Andrew Strauss, the interim England director, addressed England’s preparations for this month’s tour of West Indies, which include the retention of Joe Root as captain, but the removal of Graham Thorpe as assistant coach – the third sacking in as many days following the departures of Ashley Giles and Chris Silverwood.”We’re in a particular moment, we’re looking for an interim coach, we have an interim chair, we’re looking for a full-time chair. We’ve got a lot of discussions underway,” Harrison said. “This is a moment where I think I have the support of the board and it is a very tough moment. And honestly, the toughest moment that I’ve experienced in my career, but I’m not running away.Related

• PCA to appear before Parliament in wake of Azeem Rafiq's 'inept' claims

• Tom Harrison defends Hundred disruption, believes reluctant fans 'will find a place' for it

• Sports Minister warns ECB of government intervention as pressure mounts on Tom Harrison

• Tom Harrison believes 'earthquake' can accelerate change as ECB unveil plan to tackle racism

• When faultlines are too exposed, there's no easy way to rebuild after an earthquake

“I just feel that I have to keep going. I want to take English cricket back to a place where there’s some stability, there’s some calmness, frankly, and a sense that we are heading in the right direction.”England’s 4-0 Ashes loss was the culmination of a terrible 12 months for England’s Test team, which has now lost 10 of its last 14 matches with a solitary win over India at Headingley. But Harrison was insistent that English cricket’s achievements in 2021 – including record crowds for domestic women’s matches during the first season of the Hundred – were still worth celebrating.”I know we had a terrible Test summer and no one’s trying to disguise that, but the incredible growth in the women’s game, the impact of the Hundred, going back on free-to-air television and 16 million people seeing a tournament and viewing figures being the best they’ve ever had for Test cricket and for white-ball cricket … there is an awful lot to be building on.”I know that’s not something to be talking about in the wake of an Ashes defeat and we do have to reflect hard on what happened. But I’m not clinging on for grim death, that is not what I’m doing.”I’m doing this because I think it’s the right thing for English cricket right now. And as soon as that is not the case, you will not have to push me.”

Head coach Jayawardene, meanwhile, hoped the Tim David-Kieron Pollard combination would be just as potent with the bat

S Sudarshanan13-Feb-20223:08

Akash Ambani: I hope our players don’t feel the pressure of the price tag

Mumbai Indians had their eyes on England fast bowler Jofra Archer from well before the auction day but, according to the franchise owner Akash Ambani, their resolve to go all-out for him was firmed up only on Saturday night.Mumbai were successful in snapping up Archer for INR 8 crore on the second day of the IPL 2022 auction. That they did so despite Archer not being available for IPL 2022 – he is recovering from elbow surgery – was perhaps the more interesting part.Related

• Need to approach IPL 2022 as 'neutral tournament', say Rohit and Jayawardene

• Live blog: The IPL 2022 auction

• IPL 2022 mega auction: Mumbai Indians splurge on Tim David and 'non-playing' Jofra Archer

• How the ten teams stack up after the IPL 2022 auction

“We bid for all fast bowlers before Jofra but were priced out,” Ambani said after the auction. “The plans firmed up last night and it was not that we were setting aside the budget. We discussed him pre-auction but the plan was firmed up last night.”We took all those considerations in after what the fast bowlers went for yesterday. One option became very clear that Jofra was the only fast bowler left in the list. He is not available this year but when he is fit and available we believe he will make a formidable partnership with [Jasprit] Bumrah.”Zaheer Khan, Mumbai’s director of cricket operations, echoed that belief.Mumbai Indians snapped up Jofra Archer for INR 8 crore•Getty Images

“You are eagerly waiting for the partnership to go on the field and so am I,” he said. “To see two legendary fast bowlers bowling in tandem and I’m glad that it seems possible and will be worth the wait.”Archer was listed at a base price of INR 2 crore and was eventually the joint-most expensive overseas pick by Mumbai in the IPL. However, minutes later, they secured the Singapore-born Australian batter Tim David for INR 8.25 crore, making him the most expensive overseas buy in the franchise’s history. David was listed at a base price of INR 40 lakh.”Tim is a player we have been tracking for the last two-three years,” Ambani said. “We believed in his skills and he is one of the best finishers in the world. As soon as we knew that Hardik [Pandya] was not on our team sheet, we knew that slot had to go to a foreigner because there is no one in India like Hardik.”David was part of the inaugural men’s Hundred competition last year where he played for Southern Brave, the side coached by Mahela Jayawardene who also happens to be Mumbai’s coach.”He is a hot property at the moment and is known to be a hard hitter,” Jayawardene said. “We knew we had funds available and a lot of the Hundred players were the target for us. Just like Bumrah-Archer combo [with the ball], Pollard-David can be a combo with the bat.”Mumbai Indians were also successful in securing the services of David’s Southern Brave team-mate Tymal Mills for INR 1.5 crore. Mills was part of England’s T20 World Cup squad before being ruled out because of a thigh strain.

Kagiso Rabada, meanwhile, was pleased with the extra pace and bounce on offer at the Wanderers

Mohammad Isam20-Mar-2022South Africa bowled well with the new ball in both the Centurion ODI on Friday, and at the Wanderers on Sunday. But where Bangladesh’s openers weathered their initial spells and put on 95 in Centurion, South Africa’s fast bowlers ripped through the top order on Sunday. Kagiso Rabada, who picked up 5 for 39, his best figures in a home ODI, suggested that the extra pace and bounce at the Wanderers was behind the fast bowlers’ greater success here.”I guess the Wanderers was good to us,” Rabada said. “There was a bit more with the new ball in this game. There’s generally more bounce at the Wanderers. I think the cracks came into play initially. Once the ball gets older, it is better to bat.”I thought we bowled very well in the first ten overs of the previous game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a breakthrough. Playing at the Highveld, you are almost guaranteed to speed up. You score quicker once you are in.”Tamim Iqbal was the first wicket to fall followed by four more within the first 13 overs. Tamim felt that the big difference between the first two ODIs was the uneven bounce on Sunday, but he still backed his decision to bat first after winning the toss, as he based his decision on the big-scoring history of sides batting first at the Wanderers. Tamim was himself a victim of uneven bounce, with Lungi Ngidi finding extra bounce to have the Bangladesh captain caught off his thumb.”We knew there would be pace and bounce on South African pitches, but there was uneven bounce today if you look at my wicket,” Tamim said. “There was uneven bounce in the second innings too. It is hard to predict if there’s going to be uneven bounce. I think this was my second game here in 15 years. We also have to rely on the statistics. If you look at the numbers, teams have batted first and scored big in this ground.”Rabada said Bangladesh’s unfamiliarity with these conditions made their batters’ life harder.”You generally want to use the extra bounce and extra pace at the Wanderers.” he said. “I don’t know if I should be surprised [at how they got out]. You are not going to rock up and just expect to bounce out teams. You will use that tactic to the best of your ability.”I guess the talk is that subcontinent teams wouldn’t be able to deal with the extra bounce as well as we would. We have grown up and played here. Vice versa, if you go to the subcontinent, they are well-prepared to play in their conditions. That’s the beauty of cricket when you consider conditions. It plays a huge role. At home, we will try to exploit what we know we can exploit. I am glad to say that it worked. Players generally play multiple conditions rather well but conditions will always favour for the home side.”Kagiso Rabada suggested ‘the cracks came into play initially’ at the Wanderers on Sunday•AFP/Getty Images

Tamim said Bangladesh could have still reached a total of around 240 or 250 if the likes of Yasir Ali and Mushfiqur Rahim had held on for a little longer.”I thought 240-250 would have been a good total. The wicket was turning from one end, from where [Mehidy Hasan] Miraz and [Tabraiz] Shamsi bowled most of their overs. I thought [Yasir] Rabbi’s wicket was costly as it would have been the last ball of Rabada’s [first] spell. He bowled another over.”Small things make a big difference. If we could have taken our innings a bit deeper with that [Yasir-Mushfiqur] partnership, we could have made 240-250. The way Afif [Hossain] and Miraz batted, it showed there was room to score plenty of runs against their bowling in the middle overs. We knew that they would come hard at us with the new ball. We did it very well in the first innings by not giving away anything. That’s why we capitalised in the middle overs. Today, the situation was different: we lost too many wickets up front. There weren’t enough batsmen to capitalise in the middle.”One of the concerns for Bangladesh is Mahmudullah’s form over his last three ODI series, in which he has made 152 runs at an average of 25.33 and a strike-rate of 66.67. Tamim said he still believes Mahmudullah is the right man at No. 6, and wants Afif, who has made two fifties in his last five games, to remain at No 7.”I think Riyad is a very important part of this ODI team,” Tamim said. “Neither me, the team management nor selectors are thinking about [dropping] him.”Afif is batting really well at No 7. If I bring him up to No 6, then we will be asked who will bat at No 7. We took a long time to find a good No 7 who will finish games and score runs in the end overs. I think Afif is the right guy [at No 7]. The sort of batting he does, the day he scores runs it will take us to a winning position.”

Australia batter also says “that kind of pressure thrown out at us leading into the semi-finals is absolutely critical for this group”

Annesha Ghosh25-Mar-2022Australia’s Beth Mooney heaped praise on the “crafty” Bangladeshi attack, led by the “super impressive” Salma Khatun. This was after Khatun threatened to orchestrate an unlikely upset against title favourites Australia in a World Cup league fixture on Friday.Mooney made an unbeaten 66 to dig her side out from a precarious 70 for 5 in their chase of 136 in a truncated 43-overs-a-side clash. She acknowledged that the clinical approach of offspinner Khatun and the other Bangladeshi spinners made batting difficult for the vaunted Australian line-up at the windswept Basin Reserve in Wellington.Related

• Fahima: 'We want to take back some good memories' from our first WC

• Mooney fifty helps stumbling Australia over the line

• Injured Perry expected to be fit for semi-finals

“She was super impressive today,” Mooney said about Khatun, who wiped out Australia’s top order comprising Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning, and Rachael Haynes during her performance of 9-0-3-23 . “Obviously, she took three poles up front, so whenever someone new came out, I sort of just said she was the main threat that we had to nullify.”Khatun, the former captain, opened the bowling with medium-pacer Jahanara Alam. First, she had Healy caught at deep square leg. Then Lanning was bowled for an eight-ball duck, before Haynes holed out to mid-off during her unbroken seven-over opening spell. The top-order collapse saw Australia, who made short work of two 270-plus chases heading into Friday’s fixture, reeling at 26 for 3 in 9.2 overs.”She’s a crafty spinner, got a lot of changes and can really settle on a length which is probably what we let her do a little bit today – settle on us a little bit more than we would normally, with that wind playing a factor as well,” Mooney said. “She’s extremely crafty. And she bowled really well today, so it’s no surprise to me that she’s been a very successful player for Bangladesh.”Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana echoed Mooney in her appreciation for Khatun’s impressive showing. “Salma bowled really well today,” Sultana said. “It was her show actually, trying to keep the pressure on the Aussie batters, so I’m really proud of her.”While wickets kept tumbling around her, second-drop Mooney took it upon herself to wrest control from the opposition attack with the calm approach that has underpinned her many rescue acts for Australia. She said staying calm was particularly important amid a swell of energy and competitiveness the Bangladeshis had, which resulted in five quick wickets.Beth Mooney made an unbeaten 66 to dig her side out from a precarious 70 for 5•ICC via Getty Images

“I think just taking the sting out of… obviously Bangladesh being pretty highly emotional at that point, having taken two or three wickets in a row,” Mooney said. “We know that sort of… what teams get like when they’re on a roll and they’re taking a few wickets. They ride on that emotion a little bit.””So, I sort of just knew that we needed to build a partnership somewhere along the way to take the sting out of that a little bit, and come home strong, but obviously, we lost a couple more wickets than we would have liked but I thought Belsy (Annabel Sutherland) came out and played a really mature innings.”Asked if Australia, who head into the semi-finals with an all-win record from their seven league-stage outings, had anticipated a challenge so stiff from a side they had never previously faced in the format, Mooney said, “We talk about it within our group that when teams come up against us, they find another level and we have to always try and match that.”Obviously, Bangladesh had us under a lot of pressure early in that batting innings with how well they bowled and the fields that they set as well. They’re really crafty bowlers, they know what they’re doing and know how to put us under the pump.”Having run several other teams close in this World Cup, and even won a game against Pakistan, Mooney said Bangladesh will only get better as they get more game time, especially through the 2022-2025 ICC Women’s ODI Championship.”They, hopefully, are going to play a lot more cricket in the next World Cup cycle leading into the next edition in 2025,” Mooney said. “So, it would be just about learning and making sure whatever situation you’re in, that you learn from it and enjoy it. These experiences don’t last forever and you’re a long time retired. So just the opportunity to be out there running around – you can’t say no to.”Mooney also underlined the difficulty Australia faced in overcast, windy conditions could help them prepare better for the knockouts, should they play their semi-final in Wellington next week.”Obviously, we’re not sure if we’re going to play the semi-final here in Wellington or in Christchurch, so we could be thrown in those conditions again,” Mooney said. “If we do play the semi-final here and obviously, with the late start as well, and not losing too many overs, with no lights being here in Wellington, it can make for quite a dark second innings once we’re out there.”So, to be put under some pressure and playing those conditions and be able to learn from it and have that kind of pressure thrown out at us leading into the semi-final is absolutely critical for this group.”

Batter set for county cricket after Australia A’s tour to Sri Lanka

Matt Roller18-May-2022Nic Maddinson has lined up a stint in county cricket to further his prospects of an Australia recall in time for the 2023 Ashes.Maddinson, 30, struggled in his three Tests in late 2016 but made 71 for Australia A against England Lions in December and is part of the squad that will shadow the Test tour of Sri Lanka next month.He has set his sights on a return to Test cricket and is closing in on a deal with Durham to replace Keegan Petersen as their overseas player for the second half of the County Championship season. He may also feature in the Royal London Cup.”It hasn’t been announced but I’m looking to go over to Durham,” he told RSN Breakfast Club. “They’ve got a South African, Keegan Petersen, over there at the moment playing for them for the first half of the season and then he has to head off.”We’re just in the final stages of getting that signed off and hopefully it’s all smooth sailing from here and I can get over straight after Sri Lanka.”Related

• All the Australia state squads for 2022-23 season

• Gotch retires, Murphy earns first Vics contract after Australia A call-up

• Cummins rested for Sri Lanka T20Is; big guns return for white-ball leg

Maddinson has been a consistent performer in red-ball cricket in recent years and was the sixth-highest run-scorer in the Sheffield Shield this season, averaging 54.50 for Victoria with two hundreds in seven appearances.”I’ve been very open in the last year to going over and playing in England,” he added. “I think with the stage of my career I’m at, I’m really prioritising four-day cricket.”I feel like Test cricket is the ultimate goal for me still so I want to get as much experience in that around as possible and playing in England definitely ticks that box.”With an Ashes coming up next year I felt like it was a pretty good opportunity to try and make it over there and get some experience in those conditions as well.”