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The first match between Australia Women and New Zealand Women in the Rose Bowl one-dayers was washed out after only 22 overs were bowled at the SCG

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2012
ScorecardThe first match between Australia Women and New Zealand Women in the Rose Bowl one-dayers was washed out after only 22 overs were bowled at the SCG.Rain was expected to be a factor in the game as Australia elected to field. The first break occurred in the fifth over when showers stopped play. When play resumed, New Zealand openers Frances Mackay and Lucy Doolan played solidly to put up a half-century stand within the first 10 overs. Mackay was the more aggressive batsman, hitting five fours before falling for 25. Doolan, though, persevered and scored 43 before edging to the keeper just before the rains came.Only three more balls could be bowled after her dismissal before the game was abandoned. The two teams will clash again in the remaining two matches, both to be played at the SCG, on January 27 and 29.

Michael Clarke entered this Test with a whitewash on his mind. After two days, he could hardly have hoped for Australia to be in a stronger position to push for it

The Report by Brydon Coverdale25-Jan-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMichael Clarke made 210•Getty ImagesMichael Clarke entered this Test with a whitewash on his mind. After two days, he could hardly have hoped for Australia to be in a stronger position to push for it. A day that started with Clarke and Ricky Ponting both bringing up double-centuries and producing the highest Test partnership ever recorded at the Adelaide Oval ended with India two wickets down, and still 543 runs in arrears.Of course, Australia lost three top-order men in the first session of the match and it didn’t hurt them, but after nearly 11 hours of roasting in the field, India’s batsmen must find some energy on the third day to match Australia. At stumps, Sachin Tendulkar was on 12 and Gautam Gambhir had reached 30, with India on 2 for 61, and on the best batting pitch of the tour India needed someone to bring up the team’s first century of the series.Already they had lost Virender Sehwag, who was brilliantly caught by Peter Siddle off his own bowling on 18. Flat-footed and stuck to the crease, Sehwag toe-edged a ball high to the right of Siddle, who thrust his hand up and pulled in one of the best catches of the summer, and nobody was happier than Ed Cowan, the man who dropped a regulation chance at midwicket when Sehwag had 5.India were 2 for 31 when Rahul Dravid (1) was bowled for the sixth time in the series, the victim of a strange occurrence when a Ben Hilfenhaus delivery ricocheted off his elbow and down on to the stumps. The Australians hadn’t found much swing in the hot Adelaide conditions, but the two breakthroughs gave them a strong start after the outstanding work of their own batsmen.By pushing the total to 7 for 604 before Clarke declared the innings closed, Australia gave themselves a chance of a third innings victory in the series, something they haven’t achieved in more than 60 years. India haven’t lost three Tests in a series by an innings in more than 50 years. There’s plenty of cricket to be played before such a scenario becomes a realistic possibility, but the groundwork had been laid.The 386-run partnership between Ponting and Clarke was the fourth-highest of all time for Australia in Test cricket, and all three of the stands above them on the list featured Don Bradman. Clarke became the third player in Test history, after Bradman and Wally Hammond, to score a triple-hundred and a double-century in the same series.For the sixth time in the series Australia batted through an entire session, this time the first of the day, without losing a wicket. The runs flowed freely as India wilted. Clarke and Ponting went to lunch already having compiled the highest partnership ever recorded in an Adelaide Test, beating the previous record of 341 set by South Africa’s Eddie Barlow and Graeme Pollock in 1963-64. By then, Clarke had his double-ton and Ponting was within touching distance of his.Clarke brought up his with a clip for two through midwicket off R Ashwin and celebrated another monstrous innings in the series: after his unbeaten 329 in Sydney, he finished this innings with 557 runs already in 2012. All through 2011, he managed 618. He didn’t add to his score after lunch; on 210, Clarke was bowled by Umesh Yadav, who kept at the batsmen, despite leaking runs.Ponting was on 199 when Clarke departed, and his sixth Test double-century came with a strong front-foot pull to the boundary off Yadav. For a while, it looked like Ponting would go on to register his highest Test score, which stood at 257, but eventually the pull brought him undone when he picked out the deep midwicket, Sachin Tendulkar, who took a well-judged catch jumping to his left.Already India had removed Michael Hussey for 25 with a very sharp piece of work from Gambhir at silly point. Hussey pushed the ball and took off anticipating a single, but Gambhir was good enough to collect the ball cleanly and aware enough to flick it onto the stumps, catching Hussey short.It was an example of how India needed to field; half-chances had to be grabbed. There weren’t always. Ponting was put down on 215 when VVS Laxman at midwicket grassed a chance off the bowling of Ashwin and Ishant Sharma had missed the chance for a return catch when Ponting had 186, the ball struck back at a catchable pace but the bowler not alert enough to get his hands to it.In the end, India picked up a few wickets, including one off a good carrom ball from Ashwin that kissed the edge of Peter Siddle’s bat and was taken by Wriddhiman Saha – his first Test catch. By that stage, India had taken 3 for 13, but Brad Haddin (42 not out) and Ryan Harris (35 not out) refused to make life easy for India and batted through until the declaration came after tea.For India, it was another dreadful day. The film critic Leonard Maltin’s entire review of was: “More of the same, only worse”. It could also have been said of India in the field, particularly in the morning. The bowling was too often insipid, and Sehwag’s captaincy uninspiring and conservative.At times, he did not appear to think taking a wicket was that important. Ashwin was given fields that encouraged him to bowl straight, and both Clarke and Ponting picked off the runs with ease. Ashwin finished with an unwanted record of his own, his 3 for 194 the most expensive bowling analysis ever recorded in an Adelaide Test, but he had his captain to thank – or blame – for much of that.By stumps, it was all down to India’s batsmen. The pitch had plenty of runs in it. India just needed their batsmen to find them.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, the West Indies batsman, has signed as Leicestershire’s overseas player for the 2012 season

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Feb-2012Ramnaresh Sarwan, the former West Indies captain, has signed as Leicestershire’s overseas player for the 2012 season. He will join the county for the entire season, subject to gaining clearance from the West Indian Cricket Board and a UK work permit. He will be a part of Leicestershire’s pre-season tour of Barbados in mid-March, before flying to the UK.Sarwan has not been a part of the West Indies setup since the home series against India in June 2011, and has not played any cricket since then due to confusion over his fitness. The Guyana Cricket Board left Sarwan out of their squad for the Caribbean T20, saying they were unsure of his fitness, but Sarwan criticised the board, saying he was fit and had informed the board of that. Sarwan has also had his differences with the WICB in the past.Leicestershire have had Australia allrounder Andrew McDonald as their overseas player in the Championship at various stages of the past two seasons, but McDonald has not played for Australia since 2009 and hence cannot get a work permit to play in England. Sarwan, who has previously played for Gloucestershire, will be his replacement.”We are delighted to have completed the signing of Ramnaresh Sarwan,” Leicestershire chief-executive Mike Siddall said. “He has an impressive Test record and his availability to play all forms of the game for us during the 2012 season is an added bonus. We wanted to sign an experienced overseas batsman and Ronnie certainly fits the bill.”Sarwan has played 87 Tests and has scored 5842 runs at 40.01.

Chris Cairns, the former New Zealand allrounder, has won his libel suit against Lalit Modi and has been awarded damages of £90,000

By Alan Gardner at the Royal Courts of Justice26-Mar-2012Chris Cairns, the former New Zealand allrounder, has won his libel case against Lalit Modi and has been awarded damages of £90,000 ($142,000). Modi was also ordered to pay costs – which amounted to around £1.5 million ($2.4 million) – by the judge, David Bean, who delivered his judgement on Monday morning. Neither Cairns nor Modi was present in court.”Today’s verdict lifts a dark cloud that has been over me for the past two years,” Cairns said. “I am proud that I had the courage to stand up and defend my name and feel great relief that I can once again walk into any cricket ground in the world with my head held high.”Cairns was suing the former IPL chairman in the UK’s first Twitter libel case over a defamatory tweet sent in January 2010, in which Modi referred to Cairns’ alleged involvement in match-fixing as the reason for barring him from the IPL auction. Cairns brought the matter to court, saying the allegations threatened to reduce his cricketing achievements to “dust”.Justice Bean, however, said that Modi had “singularly failed to provide any reliable evidence” that Cairns was involved in match-fixing or spot-fixing or even that there were strong grounds for suspicion that he was.”It is obvious that an allegation that a professional cricketer is a match-fixer goes to the core attributes of his personality and, if true, entirely destroys his reputation for integrity,” the judge said. “The allegation is not as serious as one of involvement in terrorism or sexual offences (to take two examples from recent cases). But it is otherwise as serious an allegation as anyone could make against a professional sportsman.”The judge also said Cairns was entitled to an injunction, preventing the accusations from being repeated.In a brief statement, Modi said: “I have received the judgement and I am immediately considering an appeal with my legal team. It would therefore be inappropriate for me to comment any further at this time.”The case centred on the reason for Cairns’ suspension and dismissal from the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a rival Twenty20 league to the IPL. Cairns captained the Chandigarh Lions in the ICL but had his contract cancelled shortly after the start of the third edition in October 2008. The official reason given was Cairns’ failure to disclose an ankle injury but Modi’s legal team argued that this was an orchestrated “cover-up” to conceal his involvement in corrupt activity.The court heard evidence from several of Cairns’ former Chandigarh team-mates, who made various claims against him. On the witness stand, where he gave evidence for almost eight hours, Cairns vigorously denied the allegations and the judge found in his favour, casting doubt on several of the witnesses’ credibility.Bean said evidence from Gaurav Gupta, TP Singh and Rajesh Sharma was “not to be believed”, adding: “The hearsay evidence of Uniyal and Ablish is inconsistent and unreliable; and Karanveer Singh’s last-minute evidence falls well short of sustaining the defendant’s case.”He added that while there was a “quite a substantial volume of evidence against Dinesh Mongia”, the unofficial vice-captain at Chandigarh, this did not prove Cairns’ involvement. Other players, such as TP Singh, had confessed to fixing themselves. “They had an obvious incentive to put forward by way of mitigation that they were only obeying orders, or at least giving into pressure from their charismatic captain,” Bean wrote in his judgement.The judge also said he was “not impressed” with evidence given by Howard Beer, the former ICL anti-corruption officer who conducted the investigation into allegations of fixing, criticising the Australian former police officer’s conduct as “partisan to the point of being unprofessional”.Bean accepted that Cairns had been dismissed by the ICL for breach of contract over his injury and also dismissed suggestions of impropriety about money Cairns received for work with an Indian diamond trader. “Despite prolonged, searching and occasionally intrusive questioning about his sporting, financial and personal life he emerged essentially unscathed,” Bean added.The aggressive tone adopted by the defence was an aggravating factor in Bean’s award for damages, increasing them by a factor of 20%. Modi was given 28 days to settle with Cairns, as well as to make an interim payment of £400,000 in costs to the claimant’s legal team. His own legal bill was estimated at more than £1m. Modi was granted permission to appeal the level of damages.The news that one 24-word tweet could end up costing Lalit Modi £1.5m may chill the blood of even the most hardened keyboard warrior. Confirmation that UK libel laws apply to Twitter – even if posted half the world away – sets a significant precedent and one that may make some of those who use the social network to engage in bar room discussion hesitate the next time they decide to flame a public figure.Although the tweet was read by only a handful of people in England and Wales, the damages awarded to Chris Cairns reflect the unquantifiable reach of such an accusation. Even without Modi’s hefty legal fees, the thought as you hover over the tweet button of receiving a £90,000 bill is likely to make your finger twitch.However, the law that underpins this judgement is still the same. Cairns’ QC said there was little difference between Twitter and slander (spoken, rather than written, defamation); and the judge referred to internet gossip as being of “little significance” when compared to a statement made by one of “the most powerful men in cricket”. Opinions are as welcome online as in the pub – just be careful how you express them.
Alan Gardner

Vijay Telang has been appointed as the coach of Vidarbha team for the next season

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Apr-2012Vijay Telang, the former Vidarbha batsman, has been appointed as the coach of Vidarbha team for the next season. Telang, 60, who has previously served as a player and selector in the team will replace Usman Ghani. Telang played first-class cricket between 1970-86 and scored 2724 runs in 50 games.Vidarbha, who finished on top of Group A in Ranji Trophy Plate League, lost to Hyderabad in the semi-final. With that defeat, they failed to qualify for the Elite division of Ranji.Former India bowler Subroto Banerjee will continue as the bowling coach across all age categories, while former Mumbai cricketer, Kiran Powar, has been appointed as the coach for the under-19 team.

Steven Finn took three wickets in Sussex’s second innings as Middlesex’s bowlers combined well to set up victory

David Lloyd at Lord's02-Jun-2012
ScorecardSteven Finn took three wickets as Sussex failed to bat through for a draw•Getty ImagesMiddlesex will be without Steven Finn for next week’s home Championship match against Somerset, regardless of whether or not he makes his Test return on Thursday. The fast bowler is certain to be in the squad to face West Indies, at the very least, but his county colleagues should take enough confidence from this excellent victory to believe they can cope without him.Finn certainly played his part here, especially during the early stages of Sussex’s second innings. The first three wickets – Ed Joyce, Chris Nash and Murray Goodwin – all fell to the 23-year-old, who looks quick and hostile even on a slow pitch, and the visitors were immediately up against it.Had Finn added a fourth victim (and made it seven for the match) Middlesex would surely have won by an innings. But Eoin Morgan dropped a fast, two-handed chance in the gully before No. 8 Naved Arif had scored and Sussex – showing some welcome and somewhat overdue fight during the afternoon session – just about managed to make the hosts bat again.Despite Finn’s important contribution, Middlesex are anything but a one, two or even three-man team. Last year’s Division Two champions started the season with many people tipping them as relegation candidates but this 10-wicket success sees them firmly established in fourth place.Their third win of the season was sealed during the early stages of the final session. But it was what happened during the first two hours of day one that had most bearing on the outcome – Tim Murtagh, Finn’s new-ball partner, taking three wickets at next to no cost as Sussex, having chosen to bat, crumpled to 66 for 5. The visitors did well to recover to 283 after that. It was still an inadequate total, however, and a draw became the height of their ambition once Middlesex amassed nearly 500 without a single century-maker. Five players passed 50 to underline the depth of their batting.”We are playing some good cricket,” Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s director of cricket, said. “The only objective we’ve set ourselves this season is to make a positive impression on this division. I want the coaches of all the big, successful sides to go away from their games against us thinking we are a good team who can only get better.”Sussex believed on the fourth morning that they could escape. But Finn’s 11th ball of the day put a huge dent in that idea, a fast yorker ripping through Chris Nash’s defence. Having removed Ed Joyce the previous evening, Finn made it three-for with the struggling Murray Goodwin edging into the huge, flypaper hands of Ollie Rayner at second slip.From then on, it was only likely to be a matter of time. Sussex did not help themselves, however, with Luke Wright snicking an away-from-the-body drive against Gareth Berg and Mike Yardy inexplicably pulling Toby Roland-Jones straight to deep square leg. And so it continued, with even Ben Brown – who played so well while compiling his second half-century of the match and sharing in a stand of 63 with Arif – bizarrely falling to a fluffed reverse sweep against Rayner.Sussex will find themselves in relegation bother this season unless they can sort out their batting. They play Surrey at Horsham next week still looking for a total in excess of 315, and their biggest individual worry must be Goodwin. The veteran Zimbabwean has nine single-figure failures in 11 knocks.As for Middlesex, it is onwards and upwards. And they wish Finn well on his travels. “When you are out of the England side and badly wanting to get back in you are constantly striving to get a big bag of wickets,” said Fraser. “You’re bowling can suffer as a result but he has been doing well for us and I’m sure he will do well for England when he next plays for them.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians in Jaipur

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit19-May-2012Match factsSunday, May 20, 2012
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Sachin Tendulkar has had a modest run this season by his standards•AFPBig PictureWith Delhi Daredevils crushing Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians are into the playoffs, rendering the 72nd and final league game of IPL 2012 inconsequential. Rajasthan Royals are already knocked out, while Mumbai Indians’ focus will be on the eliminator and whether they will play Royal Challengers Bangalore or Chennai Super Kings.Mumbai Indians and Royals met in the closing stages of last season, with Shane Watson’s 3 for 19 and unbeaten 89 off 47 balls delivering a 10-wicket win. It was also Shane Warne’s final IPL game and his side gave him a rousing send-off with the victory. It may or may not be Rahul Dravid’s final IPL game tomorrow. After a tame loss to Deccan Chargers finished their playoff hopes, can Royals end their season with a win?Mumbai Indians are also coming off a big loss to Kolkata Knight Riders, and could do with a win going into the eliminator.Form guide
Rajasthan Royals: LWLWW (most recent first)
Mumbai Indians : LWWLWPlayers to watchAfter the defeat to Chargers, Rahul Dravid reflected on what he said had been an emotional two months for him in this IPL. This has been by far his most productive IPL season, with 457 runs. He might be back next year, he might not be. Tomorrow will his last innings, for quite some time at least.The other great, Sachin Tendulkar, has had a modest run this season by his standards, averaging 25.50 from 11 innings with just one half-century. Like all batsmen have this season, he struggled to pick Sunil Narine on Wednesday, eventually getting bowled trying to cut a big offbreak. Expect an even more determined Tendulkar tomorrow.Stats and triviaRoyals still have a strong home record with 19 wins from 28 games, second only to Chennai Super Kings This is Rohit Sharma’s best IPL in terms of runs – 419 so far – but in terms of strike-rate, 2008 was his best year. His 404 runs from that edition came at 147.98 against 129.72 this seasonQuotes”We accept that we haven’t played the way we wanted to play. People say we haven’t played to our potential, [but] still we are at No.3 [in the points table]. So, if we as a team can play to our potential, I am sure we are going to do well.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the T20 international between England and West Indies at Trent Bridge

The Preview by Alex Winter23-Jun-2012Match factsSunday June 24, Trent Bridge
Start time 1430 (1330 GMT)Big PictureWest Indies must be gagging to board the flight home now. It has been a torrid tour: they haven’t won, the weather has been poor and political discussions have again done plenty to overshadow their cricket. At least their last engagement is only 40 overs long; and the lottery of Twenty20 cricket perhaps provides their best chance of victory. They can take heart from their last T20 in England, in September 2011, when a far less experienced side than that which will line up at Trent Bridge beat the world champions in the format.Like the ODI series, many people would start them as favourites because of the power of their hitters – West Indies have more guys that can clear the ropes than England. But they have to do some actual hitting in order to win and we saw little of their potential in the two one-day matches, when West Indies were quickly snuffed out by England’s superb bowling attack.It will be with the ball that England will look to put down a marker down, a few months out from the defence of their World Twenty20 crown in September. Jade Dernbach – whose pace and variations are best suited to T20 – could make an emotional appearance, less than a week after the death of his Surrey team-mate Tom Maynard. He held his nerve to win England the deciding T20I in Abu Dhabi in February and will look to push his case for inclusion in the other formats.England’s other issue is similar to that experienced at the start of the ODI series, in that Kevin Pietersen is absent. He will be a greater loss in T20 – leaving England without one player capable of regularly clearing the ropes; an essential facet of building a big T20 total. Alex Hales will come into the side and, as with Alastair Cook and Ian Bell in the ODIs, England hope another new opening partnership can flourish between Hales and Craig Kieswetter. They have three more T20Is before their World T20 campaign begins – not a lot of playing time to get things right.Form guideEngland: WWLWL
West Indies: WLLWL
Players to watch After making his England debut last August, Alex Hales has been built up as England’s latest T20 specialist. He can certainly strike a long ball and now steps into the shoes of Pietersen after losing his place at opener to the same player in the UAE. He scored a half-century against West Indies at The Oval last September but has struggled for form this season and needs a score to cement his international credentials.Kieron Pollard returns to Trent Bridge, the ground where he made a sparkling 47 from 25 balls last season as Somerset beat Nottinghamshire to reach the Friends Life t20 finals day. Pollard, who hit his first T20I half-century against Australia in March, looked in reasonable touch during his 41 in the second ODI at The Oval and, after Gayle, is West Indies’ most dangerous hitter.Stats and TriviaIn seven T20Is against England, West Indies have won five and lost two – the country they have beaten most often. They have never beaten New Zealand, Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe.In the teams’ last meeting, West Indies defended the second lowest total – 113 – in a T20 international. The lowest successfully defended score was made against West Indies: 105 by Zimbabwe at Port-of-Spain.England will be without the second highest run-scorer in T20 internationals for the first time. Kevin Pietersen’s 1,176 runs are only bettered by Brendan McCullum’s 1,352.Of those who have played over ten T20Is, Pietersen also has the third-highest average, at 37.93. Eoin Morgan’s 40.06 is second, with Andrew Symonds’ 48.14 topping the list.Team newsEngland (probable) 1 Alex Hales, 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad (capt), 10 Jade Dernbach, 11 Steven FinnWest Indies (probable) 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Kieron Pollard, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Darren Sammy (capt), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Tino Best, 10 Sunil Narine, 11 Ravi RampaulPitch and conditionsTrent Bridge usually produces a belter for T20s, a hard, flat deck that will promote big hitting – exactly what West Indies need. The only caveat is the weather, which certainly affected the preparation of the Test match surface that proved slow and low with little movement on offer. Expect this pitch to play harder and quicker.

Durham and Lancashire tied their final Friends Life t20 North Group game at Chester-le-Street as both sides missed out on the quarter-finals

08-Jul-2012
ScorecardDurham and Lancashire tied their final Friends Life t20 North Group game at Chester-le-Street as both sides missed out on the quarter-finals.The teams went into the game knowing a win for either could take them into the last eight, as long as Essex lost against Hampshire in the South Group. A washout at the Rose Bowl, however, gave Essex a point that put them out of Lancashire’s reach and left Durham need to complete their run chase in 15.1 overs or less to overturn Essex’s advantage on run-rate, which proved beyond the hosts.After Lancashire, who were put in, struggled to 133 for 8, Glen Chapple bowled superbly, going straight through his four overs to take 1 for 10. He claimed the vital scalp of Herschelle Gibbs, who made 7 before he was trapped in front after stepping across, trying to flip a straight ball to fine leg.Ben Stokes hit Stephen Parry’s fourth ball for a big six before driving the next, a full toss, straight into the hands of long-on. Phil Mustard made 33 before driving a return catch to Gary Keedy then Gareth Cross claimed a catch and a stumping to send back Johann Myburgh and Gordon Muchall and set up the tense finish.Durham needed 27 off the last three and after a lean series it was one-day captain Dale Benkenstein who almost saw them home, making 28.He had the target down to six off the last over, then two off three balls. But he tried to hook a bouncer from Ajmal Shahzad and the ball flew off the back of the bat to short cover, where Paul Horton took the catch.A bye off the next ball tied the scores but when Gareth Breese tried to scamper a single off the last ball he failed to beat Horton’s direct hit from the same position in which he caught Benkenstein.Breese and Scott Borthwick conceded a total of 34 runs in eight overs between them as Lancashire imploded after a good start. At 69 for 1 after nine overs they lost their way as three wickets went down for six runs.Tom Smith tried to sweep Borthwick’s second ball, hitting against the spin of a googly, and was lbw for 29. Then Steven Croft was caught at long-on for 21 off Breese while Karl Brown set off for a suicidal single to silly point and was run out by Mustard.Wicketkeeper Cross took Lancashire to a competitive total by making 26 before falling to the last ball of the innings.

Bangladesh coach Richard Pybus said the side’s present main objective was to qualify through the first round of the World T20

Mohammad Isam29-Aug-2012Bangladesh travel almost 19,000 miles from Dhaka to Port-of-Spain to Colombo over the next two weeks to take on opponents as varied as Barbados, Afghanistan and Trinidad & Tobago in warm-up matches in Colombo and the Caribbean. Their target, though, is further down the line: on September 21, when they take on New Zealand in their World Twenty20 opener.”The primary objective in the World Cup is to qualify from the first round,” Bangladesh coach Richard Pybus said on the eve of the team’s departure for the West Indies, where they play in a four-nation Twenty20 tournament as the BCB XI. “We need to play our best game on both days. They [New Zealand and Pakistan, their second opponents] are good sides, we have to respect them.”Pybus called Twenty20 “the most demanding of formats” as it doesn’t allow for a single mistake but pointed out how much Bangladesh have progressed as a Twenty20 unit in the past three months.”We have two games to get it right. This is the most demanding of formats, so we are going there to win our first game. We have to put in a lot of work. We are not going into the tournament as favourites, let’s be realistic. Up until a month ago we didn’t have a ranking. We beat South Africa, Ireland 3-0; we didn’t do well in Holland and there are reasons for that but no excuses.”To be frank, our goal over time is to develop into a dominant side in the world. It is not going to happen overnight. There is no quick fix. We are going there to play our very best, we intend to win every game,” he said.The match against New Zealand will be the first meeting between the two sides since Bangladesh crushed New Zealand 4-0 in a one-day series nearly two years ago. Since then the performances of the two teams have taken an upward and downward slide respectively. New Zealand have only defeated Zimbabwe in two full series and beaten Pakistan in a Twenty20 series in December 2010, but lost heavily to South Africa, West Indies and India. Though Bangladesh haven’t set the world alight, they impressed in the Asia Cup and in a tough Twenty20 series win over Ireland in July this year, besides defeating the South Africans in the unofficial Twenty20 tri-series in Zimbabwe in June.Allrounder Shakib Al Hasan also pointed out the importance of Bangladesh’s immediate schedule to hold on to the momentum the team has built up in the Twenty20 format. “We aren’t thinking about the [World Twenty20] now. We are taking it match by match. The next 2-3 weeks will be extremely important for us. If we can improve a bit through these games [in Trinidad &Tobago], then I am sure we can do [well] in the tournament,” he said.”I think we can win both the matches this time if we play our best game. We’ll be confident if our build-up [to the World T20] is good. We have a positive mindset. The majority of the players are confident, they are scoring runs,” Shakib said.Vice-captain Mahmudullah too believed that the first game of the tournament is what the team is building towards, saying, “We are not thinking of two matches right now. We want to think about winning one match at a time. The coach said that our first target is to qualify for the Super Eights. We will set our next goals afterwards.”