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The memories of two previous heartaches are now serving as fuel for inspiration at the World Twenty20 Qualifier for Papua New Guinea

Peter Della Penna in Bready11-Jul-20152:14

‘PNG a more mature side now’ – Vare

In their first two trips to the World T20 Qualifier, Papua New Guinea experienced more than their fair share of heartache.In 2012, it was the Americas representatives who tormented them. Canada held off a late charge from Geraint Jones and Mahuru Dai in defense of 167 to win by six runs. Five days later against Bermuda, captain Rarua Dikana had the ball in his hand tasked with protecting 15 runs off the final over with Bermuda five down but he gave up three straight sixes to Janeiro Tucker. It meant PNG finished in fourth place in Group A, one spot out of the playoff positions.In 2013, PNG made it to the playoffs and defeated Namibia in their first knockout game to come within one more win of a berth at the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh. In their way stood Hong Kong, a team they had defeated in the previous year’s qualifier by six wickets chasing down a total of 131 with a ball to spare. Hong Kong was pinned down in the rematch at 19 for 4 and only managed 139, but with a ticket to Bangladesh in their grasp, PNG stumbled to 108.The memories of those heartaches are now serving as fuel for inspiration at the qualifier for the pacific island nation. PNG captain Jack Vare says that this time around he’s hoping the team’s fortunes will change to get them over the hump and into next year’s World Twenty20 in India.”We have missed out in the last two tournaments in Dubai,” Vare told ESPNcricinfo ahead of PNG’s first match of the tournament on Sunday against Jersey. “Everyone is growing arms and legs. There’s a lot of experience in this time. Third time lucky I guess but everyone is confident that we will do well in this competition.”PNG’s build-up to this tournament included a magnificent four-day win over the Netherlands on their Intercontinental Cup debut, with Assad Vala and Dai spearheading the pursuit of a fourth innings target of 305. Though they lost the subsequent WCL Championship fixtures against the Dutch, PNG eased into T20 mode with four games against a pair of County second XIs. In one match, PNG racked up 268 for 3 versus Gloucestershire’s 2nds, a reminder of their potent top order featuring Lega Siaka and Tony Ura.”I think the biggest challenge we go through is from playing longer forms to shorter formats,” Vare said. “Most people know we play a lot of shorter formats but we are trying our best to develop all forms of the game. Playing in our first four-day game and to win that was a big experience for us and a special day.”PNG leaves no stone unturned in preparation as Coach Dipak Patel observes sliding practice during training at Bready CC•Peter Della Penna

PNG’s players have also accumulated experience playing in the Australian Country Cricket Championships as well as the South Australia Premier League. Getting access to better facilities and opponents within the Australasia region has helped lift up their skills and their confidence levels.”Playing in the competition in the South Australian Premier League gives us more experience and more exposed to the outside cricket world what’s happening,” Vare said. “Everyone has been doing well. We’ve been on the road for 18 months in preparation for this tournament. I’m more confident. I’ve got a good side, more mature side coming into this tournament.”PNG is the final team to play their first match of the tournament and on tap for them on Sunday at Bready is Jersey. Coach Dipak Patel and other members of the PNG squad were in attendance to see Jersey’s triumph by nine-wickets over Hong Kong on Saturday, a fresh reminder not to underestimate any opposition. Vare says the team is well-prepared and not about to be caught off guard whoever stands in front of them.”There’s no doubt teams will come and compete hard but we’ll focus on the job at hand,” Vare said. “We won’t look ahead too much. We’ll take every game as it comes and concentrate on our roles as individuals and as a group. That’s our major important thing to do playing top teams. We won’t take any team lightly.”

Centuries from Aditya Tare and Ajit Agarkar helped Mumbai take a large, confident step towards a sizeable first-innings total in their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Services.

Sharda Ugra in Delhi17-Jan-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Ajit Agarkar scored his first Ranji century in three years•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Centuries from Aditya Tare and Ajit Agarkar helped Mumbai take a large, confident step towards a sizeable first-innings total in their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Services. On a slow, sluggish day of cricket, interrupted by bad light and a spot of rain, Mumbai had reached 380 for 6 when play was suspended as the light worsened.Tare was batting on 108, his second century for Mumbai this season, while Agarkar’s 113 not out was his first Ranji century since the 2009-2010 season against Himachal Pradesh.The unbroken 211-run seventh-wicket partnership between Tare and Agarkar has given Mumbai an iron-fisted control of the semi-final and Services all the grief they would not have wanted after a promising first day. They lost their strike bowler and leading wicket-taker of the season, Suraj Yadav, who had to go off the field due to a twisted ankle after bowling four overs in the morning just shortly after the introduction of the new ball. Off the 65 overs of play that happened today, Mumbai scored 181 runs without losing a wicket.Tare’s was the slower of the two centuries, uncharacteristic when it comes to his batting, but typical of his performances for Mumbai this season. He has opened the batting in five matches, batted at No. 3 and 4, and No. 7 once, before being slotted into the conventional No. 6 slot meant for the wicketkeeper. The value of his contributions, said Agarkar, is what has enabled Mumbai to play five bowlers. Tare is better known for flamboyant shot-making but on Thursday, collected the runs with a quality well-known in the old Mumbai school of batting – accumulate when available, don’t throw your wicket away and don’t get ahead of yourself. Tare showed patience to wear down the bowlers, and did not try to force pace with dazzling but dangerous improvisation.Agarkar thinks Tare’s batting has been exceptional this season, and the performance in Palam, was a sign that he had “adapted to a demanding situation.” In keeping with his better-known side, he pulled out a reverse sweep against left-arm spinner Avishek Sinha to take Mumbai past 300, and got to his century by guiding a yorker-length ball from Nakul Verma to third man for four.At the other end Agarkar moved at a quicker clip, but played without risk, offering occasional entertainment with attractive strokes around the ground. Shadab Nazar was punched off the backfoot through covers, Nishan Singh was driven straight down the ground and the spinner Sinha punished similarly. This was his fourth first-class century and his second Ranji century for Mumbai. His first two first-class centuries have come in unusual surroundings – in Peshawar for India A on a 1997-98 tour and the second at a Lord’s Test for India in 2002 – before he scored two more for Mumbai. He was asked to name his favourite shot of the day among his fourteen boundaries at Palam and Agarkar said, dead-pan, “the single to get to a hundred.”Despite their sturdy performance in the field on day one, Services found the second line in their bowling attack significantly weaker from the discipline of their three medium-pacers. When they began to resort to part-time options as the long second session dragged on, Mumbai accelerated, scoring 23 in the last five overs before tea. In the final 15-over second session curtailed by bad light, Mumbai scored 59. Start of play was delayed by 45 minutes due to bad light, then truncated after 9.5 overs due to the combination of bad light and a light drizzle. The very long second session produced 97 off 40.1 overs.Mumbai now have the collective gleam in their eye: the wicket, Agarkar said, had required the batsmen to grind, slow but holding steady. “We’ve got enough batting to survive on a difficult wicket and surviving today was important. It’s a six day match and we want as many runs as we can get.”The Services camp will be nursing hurting calves and some pride this evening, but said they could only do the one thing they knew best: fight. “We’ve got this chance after so long, we won’t let it go.” While the weather and the wicket promise many a slow session of cricket, a tussle underneath the surface will always be on. It is what Ranji Trophy semi-finals should ideally be about.

The second day of the Sheffield Shield clash between Western Australia and South Australia in Perth was washed out without a ball being bowled

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2011
ScorecardThe second day of the Sheffield Shield clash between Western Australia and South Australia in Perth was washed out without a ball being bowled. The Warriors will resume on the third day with a lead of 90 after they skittled the Redbacks for 93 on the opening day.South Australia’s coach, Darren Berry, said his team had put in an embarrassing performance on the first day.”We lacked a bit of commitment with the bat and I think we played at too many balls which we could have left alone,” Berry told reporters in Perth. “There’s no excuses from us … it wasn’t about the wicket, we just batted badly. It’s one thing to get knocked over with the bat, but I think we were really poor with the ball as well.”

Zaheer Khan, the India fast bowler, has been included in the squad for the remaining three ODIs against New Zealand after he missed the third Test and the first two ODIs with a groin strain

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2010Zaheer Khan, the India fast bowler, has been included in the squad for the remaining three ODIs against New Zealand after he missed the third Test and the first two ODIs with a groin strain. Praveen Kumar, who missed the first two ODIs with a fever, also made a comeback.The Indian selectors also gave Suresh Raina a break for the rest of the series following comments by MS Dhoni saying the batsman needed a rest. Sreesanth, too, didn’t feature in the squad. Both of them will presumably leave for South Africa early to prepare for the Test series, which begins on December 16.Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai batsman who was dropped after the tri-series in Sri Lanka in August, is part of the squad for the fourth and fifth ODIs. Rohit is currently representing Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy game against Gujarat in Valsad, which won’t finish before the third ODI that will be played in Vadodara on December 4.Medium-pacer R Vinay Kumar will stay with the team for third ODI, but will be released to play for Karnataka by the time the fourth and fifth ODIs arrive. The only other change in the squad for the fourth and fifth games is Parthiv Patel taking over wicketkeeping duties from Wriddhiman Saha, who might also be leaving for South Africa.Squad for third ODI: Gautam Gambhir (capt), M Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, R Vinay Kumar.Squad for fourth and fifth ODIs: Gautam Gambhir (capt), M Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel (wk), R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma.

Mohammad Aamer doesn’t seem to lack much, not smarts, not pace and, after his maiden five-wicket haul at the MCG, certainly not confidence.

Osman Samiuddin at the MCG29-Dec-2009Mohammad Aamer doesn’t seem to lack much, not smarts, not pace and certainly not confidence. He fairly bounced into the press box after the fourth day’s play, his first five-wicket haul in the kitty, and immediately engaged in some lively, witty banter with journalists. And why not?He’s been Pakistan’s most dangerous bowler in this Test. He’s bowled quicker than he has bowled before; in particular on the third afternoon when he unleashed a spell of such visceral intensity, it lit up the entire day.This morning he carried on, though in making an old ball talk from round the wicket, he provided another dimension altogether. The dismissals of Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin, had the stamp of Wasim Akram on them: old ball coming in with the angle, straightening and leaving the batsmen. Haddin had barely kept out the previous ball, which had homed in on his pads. The MCG has seen such deliveries before, on more august occasions.How many left-armers have been as adept and dangerous at this angle of attack so early in their careers? Some go through entire careers without being able to do so. Shane Watson is as well-placed as any to speak about Aamer, having taken him on in the game’s most riveting battle, and he is convinced that little is missing from Aamer’s game. “He’s an extremely good bowler,” Watson said. “It’s amazing that he’s only 17 because the pace that he bowls, the skill that he has, he’s able to get the ball to move both ways. He’s got a slower ball, a good bouncer and he keeps charging in too. He bowled a lot of overs and especially yesterday evening he bowled a very good spell of fast bowling and this morning. I’m glad he pulled up stumps when he did.”Watson should have been Aamer’s sixth wicket, but he was grassed at point on 99. Not that Aamer was unhappy with a five-wicket haul, for the impression he has made has been greater than the number of wickets he has taken so far. “It’s a great feeling,” he said. “I’ve bowled good spells and been a bit unlucky a few times so it was good to get the wickets this time. I’ve felt in good rhythm through this Test and really enjoyed my spells. Australia is a big team and to make a mark here is always important. If it can help my team in any way then it will obviously feel much better.”And though he was particularly happy with the way he dismissed Clarke today, the prize scalp was that of Ricky Ponting the day before. He had spoken of wanting Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket before the Champions Trophy and went on to get it. He had spoken of Ponting’s wicket before they arrived here. The plan had been to use the Chris Gayle method, to bowl short, and its success pleased Aamer no end. “It’s a great feeling because he is such a big player, the best batsman in the world,” he said.”I was happier that I got him out according to a plan. I got a lot of confidence from that, because in cricket it shows me there is no batsman too big or bowler too big. You only need to use your brain and have some confidence. Seniors tell you how to go about it and if you follow that, you shouldn’t be in trouble. Obviously I was really happy because he is a big player but also happy because a captain is depending on you, setting a field for you to bowl to and succeeding in that and whether it is Ponting or any other batsman, it is a great feeling.”Gradually, since his international debut at the World Twenty20, Aamer has also bulked up; Akram and a number of others have advised him to put on some weight to protect a naturally frail body. Work with David Dwyer, Pakistan’s Australian trainer, has helped put on the muscle and the pace has since increased. He has crossed 150kmph a few times at the MCG, on what is still thought to be a sluggish surface.”Maybe my pace has increased,” he said. “It happens sometimes when the more you play, the more your arm gets used to the load and the looser it gets. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that it is a big series and I am striving harder. I don’t really feel it that I am bowling faster but the speeds are there.”I have built up my body a little. I’ve worked hard with DD (David Dwyer) on it and have increased my weight from 72kg to 75kg. I’ve added a bit of muscle to it. If we have rest days between matches, maybe four to five days, then I spend time in the gym, but in back-to-back Tests that is difficult to do. On any day off, we work to whatever plan DD gives us.”

Imam-ul-Haq, who hasn’t played for Pakistan since December 2023, will link up with the team ahead of their next game, against India on February 23 in Dubai

Danyal Rasool20-Feb-2025Pakistan’s hopes of defending their Champions Trophy title have taken a significant dent with opener Fakhar Zaman ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with an oblique injury. Imam-ul-Haq has been approved by the ICC as Fakhar’s replacement.Fakhar picked up the injury off just the second ball of the tournament, when he hared off in pursuit of a cover drive from Will Young off Shaheen Shah Afridi. When he collected the ball, he appeared to be in some discomfort. After treatment on the field, he was take off, and remained out for more than two hours.