Australian cricket’s Indigenous leader says the focus can’t just be on those who play the game

Daniel Brettig23-Jul-2020Australian cricket’s Indigenous leader, Justin Mohamed, believes that Cricket Australia’s work to improve Aboriginal involvement in the game will not have lasting effects until representation extends to the management office and the boardroom as well as on the playing field.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and its effect of raising public consciousness around the world, Mohamed was adamant that CA’s focus needed to be broader than just increasing elite representation in terms of state, W/BBL and international cricketers, or even at the junior and community levels beneath them.Instead, Mohamed pointed to areas of leadership including coaching, executive management and also the CA board, which is likely to have at least two vacancies this year with Jacquie Hey and Michael Kasprowicz set to exit the scene as directors.ALSO READ: The Indigenous hole at Australian cricket’s heart“It’d be great to have consistently more Aboriginal cricketers at the highest level, but that can’t be at the detriment of having the base strong, and when I say the base, not only players in local teams, but administrators, people on boards, CEOs and executives across cricket employment in states and territories and at CA,” Mohamed said. “That all has to be moving at the same pace, or it will be lopsided and there will be a gulf there and it won’t be able to be sustained.”You may have a whole lot of players that come through, and then you don’t see them again. I think that’s a challenge across many sporting codes, the AFL for instance would boast they’ve got the most Aboriginal players percentage-wise playing, close to the NRL, but if you look at the TV presenters and the coaches and the assistant coaches and board members and administrators, those percentages don’t equate across those other levels. That has to all be moving as part of where we’re going to go if we want to go as a nation.”We don’t want to put people up just because they’ve got sporting ability, and then once that goes they get pushed aside and we move on, because there’s more to a person than that. As we’ve seen with most people in CA, the Justin Langers and a whole range of people who played the game but have also been able to contribute to cricket in other areas beyond their playing days.”Mohamed’s own status as co-chair of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cricket Advisory Committee (NATSICAC) rather sums up how Indigenous voices are growing in influence but could still be more impactful, given the opportunity.The committee has historically been co-chaired by an Indigenous leader and a CA director, from the late John Bannon and then the current chairman Earl Eddings, to his successor Kasprowicz. However, CA is yet to take the step of placing the Indigenous co-chair on the CA board itself.Justin Mohamed with Michael Kasprowicz at the launch of Cricket Australia’s reconciliation action plan•Getty Images

CA’s board is currently subject to a nominations committee process involving Eddings, the New South Wales chairman John Knox and his Tasmanian counterpart Andrew Gaggin, while the Queensland chairman Chris Simpson will have a role in selecting Kasprowicz’s replacement.Mohamed, as a Gooreng Gooreng man from Bundaberg who has spent much of his professional life in Victoria, has links to two states, but said it was critical that the whole of cricket took on responsibility to broaden the game, rather than just palming it off to selected Indigenous leaders.”There would be a lot of Aboriginal people who would want to be more involved in the administration side of the game in CA and across the states and territories, and at the moment we know with the current board there’s some changes there,” Mohamed said. “I’d be more than honoured to be considered if that was the case, and if I was able to go through the process I’d be more than willing to give my best.”The important piece in having an Aboriginal person on the board, it is very clear they’re there for what they bring, who they are, their experience and expertise. Yes, they’re Aboriginal, but not all Aboriginal issues have to sit with them, because it is a whole organisation responsibility to move this forward.”In Australia there’s less than 3% of the population that are Aboriginal people, so really we need the other 97% to take responsibility and to move with us on this.You may have an Aboriginal senior executive, a board member, you might have a committee set up, you may have Aboriginal staff, but it’s going to take all of CA to move and to be a part of this, not just leave that to the Aboriginal committee or employee or a future board person.”Should that sort of outcome be reached, Mohamed enthused, then Australian cricket had the opportunity to grow far larger than its current level, given that it has the Indigenous story of the 1868 tour of England at its very beginning, and an international facet that the likes of the AFL and NRL can only dream about.”The thing that I love about cricket and what CA has in front of them, is the enormous untapped potential of what it can do for this nation,” he said. “It doesn’t have a whole heap of Aboriginal cricketers playing at the elite level, but we know we can, because we know Aboriginal cricketers both male and female have the ability to be at the top level.”We know there’s a number of Aboriginal people who can have such great influence in local clubs and bring such a rich culture to those areas and connection to where they’re playing the game.”

Zak Crawley back in action for Kent but showers intervene before DLS can take over

ECB Reporters Network27-Aug-2020Kent suffered Vitality Blast agony after being denied an emphatic south group win over Hampshire by rain showers in Canterbury. Seemingly cruising to an opening round win at 52 without loss after only 25 deliveries of their reply, the heavens opened at 4.20pm forcing Kent’s openers off the field with only five more deliveries needing to be bowled to constitute a completed match.Though the hosts were way ahead of the asking rate required under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, the deluge forced the match officials to abandon the match 20 minutes later with the sides sharing a point apiece.Aware of the great risk of further rain, Kent started their pursuit of 140 at an asking rate of seven an over in a hurry as Zak Crawley, fresh from his record-breaking double ton against Pakistan, clubbed 16 off Chris Woods’ opening over. Daniel Bell-Drummond showed James Fuller similar distain by crashing another brace of boundaries as Kent had 25 on the board within two overs.The onslaught continued as Bell-Drummond clattered a four and six over midwicket during Ryan Stevenson’s first over, and then marched down the pitch to Wood to cart two more leg-side boundaries as Spitfires raised their 50 after 4.1 overs with a Crawley leg-glance against Fuller. But, with victory within the sight of five more balls, the rain returned and the players departed to dressing rooms on separate sides of the ground.Batting first after losing the toss, Hampshire’s Joe Weatherley held the innings together with a bright 49-ball knock worth 68 either side of a 20-minute rain breakGeorge Munsey started the boundary count with a slog-swept six in the opening over from Alex Blake, but Matt Milnes struck in his first over having Tom Alsop caught at deep cover off a skied leading edge.Sam Northeast, Hampshire’s acting captain and a former Kent skipper to boot, had only two runs to his name when, having been called through for a sharp single by Munsey, went run out after Fred Klaassen’s direct hit, left-handed from cover point. In the next over Klaassen’s bumper caused Munsey, on 19, to top-edge to midwicket where Jack Leaning took a fine diving catch and help restrict the visitors to 30 for 3 in their Powerplay.Having reached 61 for 6 at the midpoint, Hampshire struggled for boundaries until Weatherley, a Kent loanee in 2017, slog-swept the afternoon’s second six against Calum Haggett. In the next over Lewis McManus pulled another maximum from a short one from Grant Stewart as the fourth-wicket pair posed a 50 stand in 43 balls. The partnership ended for 71 just as drizzle arrived when McManus heaved a Milnes offcutter to long-on.With 17 overs completed, the rain strengthened leaving umpires Mark Newell and Nigel Llong with little option but to take the players off with Weatherley stranded seven runs shy of his 50.The shower abated, allowing Weatherley to resume his knock 20 minutes later and move to a 42-ball 50 with a slog-swept six over midwicket against Stewart. Left-armer Klassen continued to impress when he extracted extra bounce to have James Fuller caught behind then, in the final over, a Milnes slow-ball bouncer brushed Weatherley’s gloves and looped through to the keeper to end the innings on 139 for 6.Imran Qayyum conceded only 22 from his four overs of left-arm spin, but Milnes was the pick of the home seamers after a stint of 4-0-19-3.Describing the side’s heartbreak, Klaassen, the Netherlands ODI left-armer, said: “With only five balls to go it was excruciating to come off really. The batters were going so well, batting beautifully they timed it so well but couldn’t quite get us over the line.”It’s sad times with no one in the ground, it takes away a bit of the buzz, and we had to try and create a bit of it ourselves. There was no crowd, no music and even the electronic scoreboard was struggling to start with, but we were still going nicely as a team. Of course, we all miss the crowds. A full house here under the lights are the best nights I’ve played cricket for Kent.”

Appointment of white ex-cricketer comes after CSA announced affirmative action policy for consultants

Firdose Moonda08-Sep-2020Dillon du Preez, the former Knights’ allrounder, has been appointed assistant coach of the South African women’s team. He replaced Salieg Nackerdien, whose contract was not renewed, and will work under Hilton Moreeng, who was reappointed on a three-year contract in July.Du Preez is the first appointment CSA have made since they announced their affirmative action policy for consultants, which attracted a complaint from the Institute for Race relations, who wrote to the ICC alleging discrimination. Du Preez is not an ad-hoc consultant and has been contracted to CSA, but he is white which, suggests that the organisation will not employ entirely exclusionary policies. Acting CEO Kugandrie Govender had earlier indicated that CSA would strive for inclusion when she spoke to ESPNcricinfo last week and emphasised that CSA are “not saying we don’t want any white people.” Govender’s comment came even after CSA were chastised by the South African sports minister Nathi Mthethwa for having too many white men in senior positions.For now the proof is in the hiring and the statement CSA sent out on Tuesday in which it confirmed it “has not taken and will not take a decision to work exclusively with black consultants.” Du Preez has been identified as one of the former players CSA want to keep in the system. He has experience coaching at the Free State province and Knights franchise and was the assistant coach for the Coronation team in the South African Women’s T20 Super League.”I am really honoured. I have been relishing such an opportunity and can’t wait to get going,” du Preez said. “A lot has been going on behind the scenes for a little while and obviously with the break I’ve had to wait a little while before formally joining the team, but now it’s finally come and I’m really excited and can’t wait to get going with Hilton and the rest of the girls.”The South African Women’s team have had three series affected by the covid-19 pandemic and have yet to have any future fixtures confirmed. They were due to host Australia in March, to travel to West Indies in June and were on the brink of heading to England in September but were denied permission to travel by the South African government. While individuals are allowed to leave the country for business purposes, national teams are not. That means that those women who have been contracted to the WBBL will travel to Australia.South Africa are also expected to announce an under-19 coach and an A team coach in the next few weeks. Malibongwe Maketa, who worked as the national assistant coach under Ottis Gibson, is expected to be among the frontrunners for either of these positions.

The Australia captain believes England pair Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver will change the dynamic of the Stars

Annesha Ghosh14-Oct-20204:39

Meg Lanning: I’ve always wanted to win at anything that I do’

Australia captain Meg Lanning is hopeful that a maiden WBBL title will cease to elude her this season as she resumes leadership duties at a new-look Melbourne Stars. She believes the recruitment of England’s star allrounders Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver will inject a much-needed “killer instinct” and the “real will to wanting to win” in the club, who couldn’t qualify for the knockouts in any of the past five seasons of the eight-team tournament.Coming off a three-year stint at the Perth Scorchers, Lanning, 28, signed a three-year deal with the Stars, having previously played for them in the first two editions of the WBBL where she scored 1,062 runs and was the team’s leading run-scorer in both campaigns. She then missed her first season with the Scorchers due to a shoulder injury before scoring 920 runs across her next two summers. Although the Scorchers made it to the knockouts last year, eventual runners-up Adelaide Strikers knocked them out with an eight-wicket semi-final defeat at Allan Border Field.ALSO READ: The Lanning interview – ‘I want to be the best in the world’Taking over the captaincy reins from Elyse Villani at the Stars, Lanning was hopeful the inclusion of the English players and the retention of Villani and veteran South Africa batter Mignon du Preez, the side’s highest run-getter with 1,118 runs at a strike rate of 108.43, could add bite to the Stars’ bowling and batting. The up-and-coming Australia allrounder Annabel Sutherland, in Lanning’s view, will further bolster their resources.”The Melbourne Stars, our list is really shaping up nicely,” Lanning told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve got Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver joining us, Mignon du Preez, Elyse Villani, Annabel Sutherland are the marquee international players. That’s a really good mix of firepower with bat and ball and we’ve got some really good young kids coming through.Meg Lanning will resume the captaincy of the Melbourne Stars•Getty Images

“We targeted really specific skillsets in terms of who we wanted. Just being a good team on paper doesn’t give you any guarantees but looking at our team, I think it’s really strong and the players we brought in are really competitive as well.”That’s perhaps something that the Melbourne Stars have lacked in the first five editions – that real killer instinct and the real will to wanting to win. And I think we’ve been able to address that with our recruits, especially Katherine Brunt. I’m looking forward to her bring some aggression and really taking it to the other teams.”ALSO READ: Lanning resumes reign at top of ODI rankings A five-time World Cup winner, and captain in three of those title triumphs – all in the shortest format – Lanning recently led Australia, alongside Rachael Haynes, to a world-record-equalling 21-ODI winning streak during the 3-0 home series whitewash of New Zealand in Brisbane. Earlier in the year, she captained hosts Australia to a tri-series victory against England and India, and her side trumped the latter in the final of the T20 World Cup at the MCG, with Lanning becoming only the third Australian captain, after Lyn Larsen and Michael Clarke, to win a World Cup on home soil. The WBBL’s top prize remains the only piece of silverware missing in her trophy cabinet, decked with achievements earned over an international career nearing a decade.Lanning, who lives in Melbourne and plays for Victoria in the Women’s National Cricket League, said that the decision to move back to the Stars was primarily dictated by wanting to spend “more time home”. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic necessitating lockdown impositions of varying degrees across Australia, the restriction of the whole of the upcoming WBBL’s sixth season to a Sydney hub has put paid to her original plans.”Chasing a title in the WBBL, everybody would say that [it’s on their mind],” she said. “I’ve enjoyed my three years in Perth, they [the Perth Scorchers] are a great club. They’re really well run. Eventually it came down to being in Melbourne a little bit more and spending more time home.”It’s funny how it’s panned out: we will be in Sydney the whole time this year and we won’t be in Melbourne. But that’s just this year, hopefully, obviously, with the Covid-19 pandemic. There’s only so much that can be done about that. It’s great that we’ve got the tournament up and running.”The Stars will kick off their campaign against the Melbourne Renegades at the Hurstville Oval on October 25 in the last of the four matches on the tournament’s opening day.

The legspinner has become one of the household names in the BBL

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Oct-2020Local favourite Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan legspinner, will return to the Adelaide Strikers for the BBLKhan has taken 56 wickets in 40 matches and contributed 253 runs at a strike-rate of 161.14 while becoming one of the iconic players in the tournament.There had been suggested he could be lured away from the Strikers but he will remain for at least another season.”I’m so happy that I am able to play for the Strikers again in a big tenth season of the Big Bash, and I have loved this competition from the very beginning,” Rashid said. The Strikers have been like a family to me since I joined them, and I am so thankful to the fans who have been supporting me and made me feel like Adelaide is my home.”Confirmation of Khan’s return follows that of team-mate Mohammad Nabi who will again play for the Melbourne Renegades.Teams will be allowed to field up to three overseas players in their XIs for the next two seasons after the increase from two was approved earlier this week.The tournament is expected to start in the second week of December although the exact structure and schedule remains to be confirmed amid the reworking of the season.

Pakistan bowling allrounder will join the Renegades from December 26 following Pakistan’s T20I series with New Zealand

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2020Melbourne Renegades have signed experienced Pakistan bowling allrounder Imad Wasim for the second half of the upcoming BBL season.Imad will join the Renegades from December 26 after the completion of the three-match T20I series between Pakistan and New Zealand in New Zealand. The 31-year-old will be able to play immediately upon arriving in Australia without quarantining due to the Covid travel-bubble agreement between New Zealand and Australia.”Imad is one of the best T20 players in the world with his ability to impact games with the ball and to finish the innings with the bat,” Renegades coach Michael Klinger said.”He’s an experienced player with recent title success, he’s capable of bowling in the powerplay and he’ll strengthen our middle-order batting.”Imad joins South Africans Rilee Rossouw and Imran Tahir, and Afghanistan spin duo Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmad on the Renegades roster. The BBL has allowed three overseas to play per game this season and the various international commitments and travel restrictions have meant the Renegades have added five to their roster to give them flexibility.”Given the current landscape we’ve had to be flexible with our international players,” Klinger said. “We’ll have Rilee Rossouw available for the whole season while our other international players will feature at different points throughout the tournament.”It’s a really talented group of international players and they’ll provide us with some great flexibility throughout the season.”

The 19-year-old is the leading spinner in this season’s BBL and is one of a number of players rewarded for their tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2021Tanveer Sangha, the 19-year-old legspinner, has been rewarded for a prolific first season in the BBL with a place in the Australia squad for the T20I series in New Zealand next month.Sangha, part of the Sydney Thunder attack, has 21 wickets at the end of the group stage and will join the established spin pair of Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar in the squad.With a number of players who would have been part of the T20I squad in normal circumstances set to be in South Africa for the Test series there is a fresh look to the group heading across the Tasman.”It’s been the last couple of years that we’ve started to hear about Tanveer and now seeing him perform in the Big Bash and performing very well at a young age is very exciting,” national selector Trevor Hohns said. “We have high hopes for him going forward, however we don’t want to put too much pressure on a young player, especially a legspinner, because as we know it’s hard for young players.”If he gets the opportunity in New Zealand we have to make sure we look after him because experienced players at international level will target a new guy. It’s a great opportunity for him and exposure for him to find out what the standard is like.”Related

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Josh Philippe’s second impressive season in a row for Sydney Sixers has pushed him further towards a maiden cap while Hobart Hurricanes quick Riley Meredith could also make his debut during the five matches.Hohns suggested that Matthew Wade, who was dropped from the Test squad, could be the favourite to start as wicketkeeper although Philippe will push him close and both could play as specialist batsmen.Ben McDermott, Jhye Richardson and Jason Behrendorff have been recalled on the strength of their BBL seasons while Ashton Turner has another chance at a middle-order role. Mitchell Marsh, who has had an injury-hit tournament for the Perth Scorchers, is also among the collection of allrounders.With Richardson, who is the leading wicket-taker in the BBL with 27, it was decided that the T20 tour represented a better route back to international cricket which he has not played since dislocating his shoulder against Pakistan in the UAE in early 2019.”Jhye was discussed at length regarding inclusion for the South Africa tour,” Hohns said. “However, we took advice from the medical people and in the end it was decided his comeback to international cricket should be gradual and that coming back in a T20 tour would be ideal.”T20I squad Aaron Finch (capt), Matthew Wade (vc), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa

A handful of high-profile fixtures could be moved to help maximise ticket revenues

George Dobell03-Mar-2021Any changes to the domestic schedule in the 2021 English season are likely to be limited to a handful of high-value games, after the government revealed a roadmap out of lockdown last week.While the government’s roadmap does present some challenges for a county game desperate to maximise ticket revenues, various meetings between the counties and the ECB have concluded as much will be lost as is gained by widespread fixture changes.The T20 Blast starts on June 9, nearly two weeks ahead of the government’s anticipated date for the lifting of social-distancing measures on June 21. As a result, games played in that window will have attendances limited to a maximum 50% (and probable 25% according to current regulations) of ground capacity.But while some counties hoped they might be able to swap the rounds of County Championship cricket scheduled for the weeks starting July 4 or July 11, they have now accepted this would not be practical. Several of the Championship games due to be played over that period are at ‘festival’ grounds such as Scarborough, Cheltenham and Chesterfield, with the counties involved confident of good attendances.There would also be issues with TV schedules – Sky Sports have plans to show T20 games in the period before the lifting of social-distancing measures – and ground availability, with the Ageas Bowl likely to host the World Test Championship final from June 18. Plans to play the entire group stage of the Blast in the period after social distancing has been lifted were also abandoned as impractical as there were only 29 days available in which to play the tournament. As a result, it has been decided the published fixture list will not be changed.Related

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There are a few exceptions. ESPNcricinfo understands that a handful of games which might be expected to sell heavily and disproportionately impact the finances of the host county could still be rearranged so they are played after all social-distancing measures are lifted. Among those games are the Middlesex vs Surrey fixture, scheduled for Lord’s on June 10, and Durham vs Yorkshire, scheduled to be played at Chester-le-Street on June 11.It is likely those matches will be swapped with T20 fixtures deemed less likely to attract full-house crowds currently scheduled to be played later in the tournament. Tickets for the majority of fixtures in the Blast were put on sale by counties on Monday.While Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, originally said social distancing measures would be from June 21 at the earliest, there are some hopes the government may accelerate the end of lockdown. With the number of Covid-19 cases falling steadily at present and the number of those vaccinated rising sharply, there are those around the counties hopeful full houses may return in time for the entire Blast schedule. Wales’ roadmap out of lockdown – which will affect Glamorgan’s preparations for the season – is yet to be announced.One alteration to the Championship schedule has been confirmed, with Surrey shifting their home fixture against Gloucestershire, which starts on May 27, from Guildford to The Oval in anticipation of being able to accommodate a limited number of members. Counties have begun to unveil their pre-season schedules, with fixtures starting from the end of March.

“This was among my top career achievements. I enjoyed every moment just being around this team”

Mohammad Isam15-Feb-2021West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite has said that sweeping Bangladesh at their own turf is an “amazing” achievement, especially having been on the receiving end of such a defeat, back in 2018 when Jason Holder had pulled out due to an injury. This time, it wasn’t just Holder who was missing, but a whole host of West Indies top players decided not to tour Bangladesh, which left the reins for Brathwaite.Related

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The young side was no match for Bangladesh in the experience column, but when it mattered, they took control of the Tests in Chattogram, where they won by three wickets after staging a late comeback, and in Dhaka, where they clinched the 17-run win in the fourth day.”We lost 2-0 the last time we were here so to win 2-0 this time is pretty amazing,” Brathwaite said. “Winning away and sweeping the home team is truly amazing. We will never forget it. The future looks bright. We have to stay strong as a team, and keep the same attitude. This series was amazing.”We knew what we faced with all the Covid stuff that was going around. We stuck to the batting and bowling plans. This was among my top career achievements. I enjoyed every moment just being around this team, and it wasn’t easy obviously in a bubble.”Brathwaite said that his biggest source of confidence of winning the series came when they scored 409 in the first innings in Dhaka, as six out of seven teams scoring 400-plus in the first innings in Dhaka have won. Even when West Indies only gave Bangladesh a 230-run target in the fourth innings, that confidence stayed with Brathwaite.”Traditionally on this pitch, when you bat first and get a good total in Dhaka, you win 99% of the time. I was quite confident after the first-innings total. Obviously Bangladesh posted a good total as well. Pitch was still good.”Yesterday in the field, we were confident we could defend 230. They made a good start that put us under a bit of pressure. I knew that once we got a breakthrough, I thought the wickets would have tumbled.”Brathwaite said that West Indies’ discipline in the field handed them the advantage, particularly their catching, accurate bowling and batting partnerships.”Bangladesh played well but in some stages we got the better of them which was kudos to our discipline as a team. We were disciplined especially in the second innings of the first Test. (Nkrumah) Bonner and (Kyle) Meyers batted for two sessions, which was quite crucial for us.”I was confident all along. The key to winning is discipline. We took 17 catches in the Dhaka Test. We bowled to the fields, and from a batting point of view, building partnerships and putting runs on the board, I think we will continue to do well as a team,” he said.Brathwaite praised the newcomers Bonner, Mayers and Joshua Da Silva for showing fight in trying circumstances.”All three were fantastic in the series. I am not surprised. Before the series started, I had a chat with Meyers and Bonner. They were hungry. Joshua showed fight in his first Test in New Zealand, and I knew he would come out fighting here.”These guys wanted to represent West Indies, and made their families proud. They were all in the ODI team so their experience served them well. They were very motivated in the Test series to turn the table on Bangladesh.”Among his favourite moments during this series, Brathwaite recalled Shannon Gabriel’s third-day spell in which he pounded Mominul Haque, Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto with one bouncer after another. Brathwaite also remembered how Jomel Warrican kept saying he can take the last wicket in Dhaka.”There isn’t one favourite moment. Kyle Mayers scoring the double-century, the way Bonner batted, just looked so easy working the spin, Joshua showing the fight and Shannon’s spell at the end of day three (in Chattogram). It was very inspiring.”It was a whole team effort. The final moment, when Warrican took the last wicket. He kept telling me he will do it. That capped it off.”

Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls ensured the target was knocked off with ease

Andrew McGlashan19-Mar-2021New Zealand laid down an impressive marker on their return to ODI cricket for the first time in a year with a thumping victory over a disappointing Bangladesh. Trent Boult top and tailed the wicket-taking as the visitors’ batting was overwhelmed on a surface offering bounce then Martin Guptill briefly peppered the grass banks as the target was hunted down with more than 28 overs overs to spare.Only Madmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim passed 20 for Bangladesh as the line-up was challenged by the University Oval surface which was exploited perfectly by New Zealand after they bowled first. In a sign of the hold they had with the ball, there were only eight boundaries (along with three sixes) as they bundled the opposition out with eight overs remaining when Boult claimed the last two wickets in three balls. Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner claimed a tidy brace each.Guptill picked up his T20 form from the series against Australia, sending seven of his 19 deliveries to the boundary, including four for six, in an opening stand of 54 in 5.3 overs. His fun was ended when he had a huge swing at Taskin Ahmed, who bowled with good pace, and edged behind although Guptill wasn’t sure and used up a review.With no scoreboard pressure Henry Nicholls and Devon Conway, the latter of three New Zealand debutants, went along at a leisurely pace. Conway departed with a handful of runs needed, picking out deep square leg, but it allowed fellow debutant Will Young a brief stay at the crease and his consecutive boundaries wrapped up victory, leaving Nicholls one short of his fifty.This was New Zealand’s first ODI since their aborted tour of Australia last March and just their fourth since the 2019 World Cup final. For the first time since 2012 they handed out three new caps in the same game with allrounder Daryl Mitchell joining Conway and Young. Mitchell wasn’t needed with bat or ball and his one chance to get on the scoreboard was spurned when he was distracted by Tom Latham diving across him as Matt Henry found the edge of Liton Das in the sixth over. It was New Zealand’s only error of the innings.The opening scoring shot of the game was a six as Tamim Iqbal upper cut Boult over backward point, but the contest was soon won by the left-armer with a classic set-up: after twice beating Iqbal with late away swing he made one hold its line which thundered into Iqbal’s pads to earn the lbw. Three balls later and Boult had his second when Soumya Sarkar played a poor stroke against a shorter delivery, popping a catch into the off side.Das shaped up well in challenging conditions as he tried to commit either fully forward or fully back, but his hard work was undone when he got a leading edge to mid-on in Neesham’s opening over.The scoring rate rarely got above three an over against a relentless New Zealand attack. Kyle Jamieson, who struggled in the T20I series against Australia, went wicketless but at times Bangladesh could barely lay a bat on him as he gained troublesome bounce from a reasonably full length.Rahim played solidly to try and give his team some chance of building a foundation but became Neesham’s second wicket when he was cramped for room playing a cut and found gully. That was the first of three wickets to fall for nine runs in six overs.Bangladesh’s woes were compounded when Mohammad Mithun was run out backing up after a firm straight drive from Mahmudullah flicked the finger of Neesham into the non-striker’s stumps. Mehidy Hasan then moved too far across his crease against Santner and had his leg stump tickled.Debutant Mahedi Hasan marked the occasion when his first scoring stroke in ODIs was a huge 94-metre six over long-off but an attempt to repeat it four overs later offered a catch to mid-on leaving Bangladesh seven down with 18 overs remaining.Madmudullah and Ahmed formed a 10-over stand although large parts of it was purely survival before Madmudullah, attempting to inject some impetus, picked out midwicket where Santner timed his leap perfectly. Boult did the rest.