The West Indies allrounder’s 20-ball 46 forces game into a Super Over, but a costly mistake under pressure costs Vancouver Knights the title

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Aug-2019

Super Over Here’s how it panned out: 54 needed off 19 balls in the Knights chase. Shoaib Malik has been dismissed for a fine 64. It is the final, no second chances. In walks Russell at No. 7, the Knights’ last hope. Earlier in the evening, he had taken 4 for 29 to restrict Winnipeg to 192. He has been held back, even below Canada’s Saad Bin Zafar, in the batting order. Now, it’s all or nothing. So what does he do? Smash the ball like only he can – three fours, five sixes, all in 19 balls, to bring it down to three runs off the final ball.Russell is on strike and but this time, he can only mistime an attempted slog towards long-on. The bowler can’t collect the throw as they scramble for a second. They now try to sneak in a third, but the cover fielder backing up quickly hurls the ball to the wicketkeeper. Zafar is run out, Russell’s heroics aren’t enough, and the game is forced into a Super Over. The Hawks are still in it. Shaiman Anwar, whose 90 allowed them to make 192 and keep them alive in the first place, can still be a winner.Now for the one-over shootout.Vancouver, predictably, send in Russell and South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen. Kaleem Sana, an unheralded 25-year-old left-arm medium pacer from Rawalpindi, with an experience of five List-A games and four first-class fixtures, has the unenviable task of bowling.He’s been clubbed for 50 off four wicketless overs earlier in the evening. Now, the pressure is on him and he sees the first ball of the shootout vanish for six. Russell is in his zone again, or he had never left it. Sana follows it up with two length balls to cramp the batsmen, before getting Russell caught at long-on. He’s redeemed himself and Winnipeg need just 10 to win.Shaiman Anwar goes over the infield•Getty Images

You’d think Russell wouldn’t feature anymore in the game – creaking knees, managing his injury and all that. But no! He’s bowling the Super Over. Having got the side to the doorstep of victory, only to see them fluff it, he’s now got the chance to deliver the knockout blow.He starts well, restricting the first two balls to singles, before he slips in a full toss which the batsman misses. All good for now, except, wicketkeeper Tobias Visee misses too. Four byes, game on. Chris Lynn is on strike. Four to get, three balls left, and he swings, gets a thick outside edge over short third man, and it races away for four and Winnipeg win. The Global T20 Canada couldn’t have asked for a more fitting finale.Earlier, after being asked to bat, the Hawks rode on UAE batsman Anwar’s 45-ball 90, with eight fours and seven sixes, to get to a strong total at CAA Centre in Brampton. Anwar started with a 73-run stand with Lynn in the Powerplay before Russell got rid of the Australian for a 21-ball 37. But Anwar batted on, putting up another good stand of 81 with JP Duminy (33 in 27 balls) for the third wicket before falling ten short of his boundary when he miscued an attempted biggie in the 16th over. Russell’s four wickets were complemented by USA pacer Ali Khan’s 2 for 30 and local boy Rayyan Pathan’s 2 for 24.The Knights’ reply started poorly, with Rayad Emrit reducing them to 2 for 2 by the second over, but van der Dussen (23 in 22) and Australian Daniel Sams (21 in 9) gave them stability before Malik, Zafar (27 in 26) and Russell took them to the doorstep of victory. The fell just short in the end, but only just.

They were the only cricketers among the pool of 19 athletes to receive the award this year

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2019India men’s allrounder Ravindra Jadeja and women’s wristspinner Poonam Yadav received the Arjuna Award, an honour bestowed by the Indian government to outstanding individual achievements in sports.While Jadeja, currently on tour in the Caribbean, wasn’t there to receive the award in person, Poonam received hers from the president of the country on Thursday in New Delhi.Jadeja, 30, and Poonam, 28, were among four cricketers – Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah being the others – recommended for the award by the BCCI in April. They were the only cricketers among the pool of 19 athletes to receive the award this year. Jadeja occupies the fourth place on the ICC rankings for Test allrounders. He struck a half-century and picked up two wickets in India’s 318-run victory over West Indies in the North Sound Test and during the World Cup last month, he almost carried India to the final with a flamboyant 59-ball 79 against New Zealand.”First of all, I would like to thank the government of India for giving me the Arjuna Award,” Jadeja said in a video posted by on Twitter. “I would also like to congratulate the other winners as they all have done well in their respective fields. I will always try to be at my best when I play for India and make my team and the country proud. Whenever I play for India, I will try my best to help them win matches.”Poonam, meanwhile, is India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is and is ranked No. 2 by the ICC. She was the world’s leading T20I bowler last year with 35 wickets in 25 innings at an average of 14.91 and strike rate of 15.4, including a career-best 4 for 9 in the final of the Asia Cup, which India lost off the last ball.Earlier this year, she was promoted to BCCI’s Grade A contracts list, having been part of the Indian sides that finished runners-up in the 2017 ODI World Cup in England and crashed out in the semi-finals in the T20 World Cup in November last year.Jadeja is the latest Arjuna Awardee among an elite list of former and current men’s cricketers, while Poonam is the fifth active India women’s cricketer – and 11th overall since 1976 – to win the award. Mithali Raj (2003), Jhulan Goswami (2010), Harmanpreet Kaur (2017) and Smriti Mandhana (2018) are the other current players in the list.

Spark Sport will show all home cricket from next April with a small selection of games also on free-to-air

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2019There will be a major change in the New Zealand broadcast landscape next year after NZC entered into a six-year deal with streaming service Spark Sport to show all home cricket ending a relationship with Sky that dates back to 1995.Spark is showing the current rugby World Cup and will add New Zealand’s men’s and women’s internationals as well as the T20 Super Smash competition and the domestic one-day final after the current deal with Sky ends in April 2020.There will also be a small amount of cricket on free-to-air with TVNZ to show the first T20I of each men’s and women’s series along with a collection of Super Smash matches.”This is a deal which future-proofs the whole of cricket in New Zealand,” David White, the NZC CEO, said. “Live streaming is the future. It allows viewers to free themselves from fixed linear schedules to watch live, delayed, highlighted or clipped content when and where they choose, and on a wide range of devices.”Together with the free-to-air component provided by TVNZ, this accord means more cricket games than ever before will be broadcast live. It’s timely that we make this move now, at a time when more New Zealanders than ever – and especially young Kiwis, consume their sports content through digital devices.”There have been some challenges for Spark during the rugby World Cup with users complaining about the quality of the streaming while there are rural areas of New Zealand that do not have the internet connectivity available to access the service.Sky currently retain the rights to New Zealand’s overseas tours.

“Hopefully,” he said on Thursday, when if he was optimistic about an international comeback

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Nov-2019With the change of guard at both Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the team management, allrounder Dwayne Bravo has expressed his desire to come out of international retirement. Last October Bravo retired from international cricket to “preserve” his “longevity” in his professional career. However, about 12 months later his desire to play for West Indies has been rekindled. Bravo last played international cricket in September 2016, a T20I against Pakistan in the UAE.”Hopefully,” Bravo said on Thursday, speaking in Abu Dhabi when asked by the Martha Arabians media if he was optimistic about an international comeback. Bravo is the captain of the Arabians, which is one of the eight franchises in the Abu Dhabi T10 which begins on November 15.This is the second time this week Bravo has spoken on making an international comeback. On November 10, he put out a post on his Instagram, hinting at playing for West Indies again. “As a former West Indies player, but [I] may soon come out of [international] retirement…anyway,” Bravo said in the Instagram post.T10 marks the return of Bravo, who underwent a finger surgery recently after last playing on August 1 in Global T20 Canada. He missed the entire Caribbean Premier League because of the injury to his middle finger on the right hand, but Bravo told the Arabians media that he was now completely fit.”I bowled a few balls after a long time, after two and a half months, so I’m looking forward to playing cricket again and getting back on the cricket field,” Bravo, who was retained as captain of last season’s semi-finalists Arabians, said following his first practice session with the squad. There could be questions over the timing of Bravo’s comeback to international cricket, after the injuries he has suffered, and because he turned 36 last month. Injuries have troubled Bravo in the past couple of years but he remains one of the key allrounders franchises want across T20 leagues. But Bravo’s vast experience, especially in T20s, cannot be ignored. Only Kieron Pollard has played more T20 matches (490) compared to Bravo’s 450 and the allrounder is still the leading wicket-taker in the format, only 10 short of the 500 mark.Incidentally, in May, CWI had named Bravo along with Pollard in the reserves list for the ODI World Cup in which West Indies finished second from bottom with only two wins from eight completed games. One of the reasons for their dismal performance was the absence of an experienced coaching staff. However, with Phil Simmons coming back as the head coach and Pollard being appointed captain of the limited-overs teams, Bravo is optimistic about the future of West Indies cricket.Earlier this week West Indies whitewashed Afghanistan 3-0 in the ODI series, their first away series win since 2011. “It’s a very good sign [for West Indies cricket],” Bravo said. “We know that in the last few years Afghanistan have been dominating West Indies and now I’m happy that things can turn. I’m happy for the coach, Phil Simmons. He is back in his second tenure as coach and also there is Pollard, the new captain, and other guys like [Nicholas] Pooran, Shai Hope, and Roston Chase – they are all stepping in. I’m happy with the performance of the guys and as long as they can continue and press on, it is heading in the right direction.”Bravo had captioned an Instagram video “See what change can do!” which he posted immediately after West Indies’ 47-run win in the third ODI against Afghanistan. In the near four-minute-long message, he heartily backed the team to do well under the new administration, helmed by Ricky Skerritt, who replaced Dave Cameron as the CWI president in March.Bravo’s run-ins with Cameron are well-known. In 2014, it was under Bravo’s captaincy that West Indies abandoned the India tour abruptly. Bravo and Pollard were dropped from the 2015 World Cup squad as the relationship between Cameron’s administration and most of the senior players then became bitter.Bravo did not name Cameron in the video, but dropped enough hints to describe the person he was talking about. “This video is to highlight some things that have been happening in the last five years under the last administration,” Bravo said. “The vindictiveness, the jealousy, the bad mind, the ‘Mr Boss’ behaviour – ‘I am in charge’. You guys know who exactly I am trying to describe.”The last five years was the worst of West Indies cricket. Just a few individuals with a lot of ego and bad intentions, trying their best to sabotage a few individuals, end a lot of careers. The long and short of the story is: every rope has an end. The longest rope has an end, and thank god that it [has] come to an end.”Bravo said the new think tank comprising Simmons, Pollard and Test captain Jason Holder had the “perfect opportunity” to revive West Indian cricket which has been “suffering” for several years. “The negativity surrounding West Indies cricket is no longer there. God don’t sleep, god sleep. This is the same Afghanistan team that beat West Indies in the last two-three years, the same team. Nothing changing. The only thing [that] changed: [the] leadership from the top, from the very top.”This is just the beginning of great things to come. Mr Pollard, Mr Jason Holder and coach Phil Simmons – you guys have the perfect opportunity to turn West Indies cricket around and enliven the Caribbean people who have been stifled and suffering over the last so much years. Again, congratulations to the team and keep going from strength to strength.”

The Federal Government has committed AUD$30 million to the project which will see capacity cut at the venue

Andrew McGlashan15-Dec-2019The WACA has traded off a reduced capacity in a bid to secure the multi-million dollar funding to allow them to redevelop the ground into a boutique multi-purpose venue.On Sunday, it was announced that the Federal Government had committed AUS$30 million to the project. Another AUD$4 million will come from Cricket Australia with the WACA contributing AUD$10 million. The rest is likely to come from the state government, although that has yet to be approved.After the redevelopment, the ground will have a permanent capacity of 10,000 with the ability to increase that to 15,000 when demand allows/ There remains the ambition of hosting men’s internationals although the high profile matches will go to the new Perth Stadium across the river.”The state government has a hierarchy of stadiums and wouldn’t fund this if it was bigger than 15,000, so we thought as a day-to-day need we wouldn’t need that presently. But we have factored in the facilities we’d need,” WACA CEO Christina Matthews said. “It’s absolutely in line for having Test matches against those new countries and the smaller countries.”So many of us have a cherished WACA Ground memory and now we can retain its heritage and rich history, while creating a venue with a strong community focus that has multi-sport, gender equal facilities. This funding commitment will provide an opportunity to utilise the WACA Ground as a boutique ground that complements Optus Stadium.”From a cricket perspective, the WACA will become a high-performance hub in the way Junction Oval in Melbourne and Allan Border Oval in Brisbane are, with New South Wales also in the process of building a new headquarters in Sydney.The Australians trained at the WACA in the lead-up to the first Test against New Zealand. The ground will host five matches at next year’s Women’s T20 World Cup while it continues to be used for Western Australia’s matches, the WBBL and age-group cricket. BBL matches take place at Perth Stadium.Kevin Roberts, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said: “Much like (Justin) Langer and (Dennis) Lillee, the WACA Ground defines the history of cricket in WA. Today’s announcement is an historic moment for the WACA Ground and very significant for Australian Cricket. This investment will revitalise the WACA Ground and ensure that it will continue to serve as the Home of Cricket in WA for many years to come.”Langer, the Australia head coach who played his whole career for Western Australia, added: “I’ve never been shy about declaring how much I love the WACA Ground and the role it’s played in my career. But it’s not just about history, now we can look to the future and know the WACA Ground can continue to be a place where memories are made.”The crowds for the ongoing Test against New Zealand at Perth Stadium have been modest with 19,084 on the opening day, 20,018 on the second and 17,104 on the third although that is partly being attributed to the heatwave conditions which have seen temperatures push above 40C degrees. However, there is more shading available at Perth Stadium which was one of major criticisms of the WACA.It was not an ideal day for the new stadium on Sunday when they had to issue a product recall when concerns were raised about uncooked chicken being present in a wrap served in the food stalls.A message on the big screens at the ground said: “If you have purchased any sandwiches, wraps or salads containing chicken at the stadium today please present back to the outlet of purchase immediately.”

Sophie Devine, who picked up two wickets and made 65 not-out, and Tahlia McGrath steered Strikers to their first-ever WBBL final

The Report by Daniel Brettig07-Dec-2019Sophie Devine marched the Adelaide Strikers all over Perth Scorchers and into Sunday’s WBBL final, and in doing so closed to within 14 runs of surpassing Ellyse Perry’s 777-run tournament aggregate record, on a sweltering day at Brisbane’s Allan Border Field.The Strikers had taken the initiative from the first few overs after sending the Scorchers in, Devine claiming the pivotal first wicket of Meg Lanning while Megan Schutt played her customary stymieing role at the other end, ultimately conceding just 14 runs from her four overs.Despite a recovery led by Georgia Redmayne, the Scorchers were held to 7 for 126, a total that was defendable only if Devine could be seen off quickly. Instead, she took control of the innings as she has so often this competition, gliding to a ninth half-century this season at the WBBL. She was aided by Tahlia McGrath and Bridget Patterson to rush the Strikers to their first-ever tournament final. The Scorchers, whose coach Lisa Keightley is set to take over as England coach, did not help themselves by dropping two catches and missing a stumping.Devine, Schutt get the early breakAn early start at Allan Border Field offered the chance for the bowling side to get the most of any movement in the air or off the pitch. Thanks to Devine and Schutt, the Adelaide Strikers were able to do both.Critically, this reaped them the wicket of Meg Lanning in only the day’s second over. After being corralled by Schutt’s inswing in the opening over, Lanning leant forward to drive at Bates, only to slice an away-swinger into a well-staffed backward-point region, where Alex Price held the catch.The Strikers’ glee at dismissing the Australian captain was unconfined, but more was to follow as Schutt found a way past Chloe Piparo and Nicole Bolton in consecutive deliveries. A tally of 3 for 26 from the Powerplay meant the Scorchers were starting their innings from an awful long way back, requiring high skill, patience and stamina to rescue things as temperatures ticked towards the high 30s.Redmayne, Barsby fight backInitially, the Scorchers had to be principally concerned with the preservation of wickets, and as 10 overs ticked past with only 45 on the scoreboard, Redmayne and Barbsy knew they needed to add acceleration to occupation. The telling moment arrived when Redmayne hoisted the first ball of Sarah Cotye’s third over high beyond the midwicket boundary for her first-ever WBBL six, starting an over that was to cost the Strikers 17 runs and allow the Scorchers to wriggle clear.In mounting heat, the Strikers’ earlier pristine fielding and bowling began to fray, as wides and byes accrued. Devine returned to end the stand at 88, and Schutt completed an outstanding analysis of 2 for 14 from four, but the Scorchers were able to pile up 81 runs from the final 10 overs of their innings, meaning that the Perth side had given themselves something to bowl at – the average winning score by teams batting first at AB Field being 129.Devine takes charge…Desperate for an early wicket to mirror the loss of Lanning, the Scorchers were able to manufacture one when Suzie Bates, who had looked out of sorts, sliced a ball to gully and set off, only to be foiled by a brilliant diving save and throw into the wicketkeeper by Bolton.But where Lanning’s exit had been followed by two more, Devine was soon able to find her stride in the company of Tahlia McGrath, negotiating the new ball with a combination of vigilance and the occasional rasping shot through the off-side field. Given how dominant she has been all tournament, Devine’s calmness and control were perhaps not surprising, but she benefited from McGrath’s willingness to drive the game forward herself.That approach came with some risk, and she was to be dropped twice – by Redmayne when McGrath had only four, and again when Bolton turfed a straightforward chance at long-on with the Strikers No. 3 on 19. These chances allowed the Strikers to get to the midway point of their innings needing 68 from the last 10 overs, making a favourable comparison with the back-end of the Scorchers’ innings.…and sees the Strikers homeWhen McGrath was out, ending the second-wicket partnership at 79, the Strikers still needed 45 from 38, no sure thing. Bridget Patterson, another strong performer for Adelaide this season, had a few early jitters, notably a stumping chance spurned by Redmayne. But Devine did not for a moment lose her poise, even laughing with the broadcasters about how her swimming ranks rather poorly next to her cricketing skills.The end duly arrived quickly, as 12, 11 and 16 were piled up from the 16th, 17th and 18th overs. That left Devine with just one more run to get, and her drive down the ground was about as commanding a finish as anyone could want.

He is scheduled for surgery early next week and will miss at least eight weeks of action

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Dec-2019South Africa opener Aiden Markram will miss the remainder of the four-Test series against England after sustaining a fracture to his left ring finger.Markram picked up the injury while fielding on the second day of the ongoing Centurion Test. It was reset at time and he continued to play, but x-rays taken afterwards suggested he should sit out. Markram, who scored 20 and 2 in the match, is scheduled for surgery early next week and will miss at least eight weeks of action.Before this game, Markram last played an international match in October, failing to get off the mark in either innings of the Pune Test against India. After his dismissal in the second innings, Markram fractured his wrist when he “lashed out at a solid object” in frustration and subsequently missed the Mzansi Super League.”Aiden sustained a fracture affecting the distal joint of his left ring finger,” CSA’s chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra said. “After consulting with a number of hand specialists yesterday we arrived at a decision that the best outcome would be achieved through surgical reduction and fixation.”This would mean him unfortunately missing the rest of the series against England. We feel for Aiden who worked extremely hard to come through his previous hand fracture sustained in India to be Test match ready.”

“I personally feel I have been a little too watchful and a little too worried about getting out in the recent past”

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Wellington23-Feb-20201:58

The breeze was more than a spinner would like: Ashwin

At the end of 2016, R Ashwin had the batting record of a genuine allrounder: 1816 runs in 44 Tests at an average of 34.92, with four hundreds and ten fifties.Since then, however, his batting returns have plummeted. In the 27 Tests he’s played since the start of 2017, he averages 17.78, and he’s only scored one half-century in that time.Ashwin’s decline as a Test-match batting force has coincided with the rise of Ravindra Jadeja, who averages nearly 50 in that timespan. While Ashwin has largely remained India’s No. 1 Test spinner, he has occasionally lost out to Jadeja when they’ve played just one spinner overseas, and their contrasting batting form has been a factor when this has happened.Ashwin has shown a tendency to tinker frequently with his set-up at the crease, and it’s hard to say if it’s a cause or a consequence of his declining run output. He admits, though, that his mindset at the crease has grown more circumspect, and that he wants to get back to batting more instinctively.”In the past, the only secret to how I have got runs or how I was successful was by looking to be positive and that’s exactly how I played,” Ashwin said in his press conference after day three of the Wellington Test against New Zealand. “I personally feel I have been a little too watchful and a little too worried about getting out in the recent past.”That’s something I have tried getting over even in the games that I have played at home. Hopefully I will try and put it to rest. Just see [the ball] and hit it. Far too much going in the head won’t work.”Ashwin, preferred to Jadeja in this game, picked up three wickets in New Zealand’s first innings. He got the ball to drift during his spells from both ends, but it wasn’t easy to say if he did this with the help of the strong wind blowing across the Basin Reserve or despite it.R Ashwin is pumped after sending back Henry Nicholls•Getty Images

“Look, I am not the lightest but the wind was actually pushing me across, so it must be of significance,” Ashwin said. “Both days, from both ends, I have had to bowl from wherever the breeze has come against me. That has been pretty much my role in the game, but I thought personally the breeze was something that was way more than what a spinner would like, and I couldn’t really take benefit out of it.”So I had to adjust and try see what I can best get out of what was available. I actually quite enjoyed the way I bowled in this [innings] and I personally thought the fourth innings might fetch a little bit more from the surface but we will have to wait and see how it goes.”While Ashwin made some of New Zealand’s top-order batsmen look uncomfortable – Tom Blundell and Henry Nicholls, in particular – Kane Williamson didn’t allow him to settle, jumping onto the back foot at every opportunity and punching him against the turn, through the covers. Eventually, he placed a fielder in an unusual position for this shot, a deepish extra-cover two-thirds of the way to the boundary. He used that fielder against Colin de Grandhomme as well.”I played India A games here [in New Zealand] and generally these guys, I think in terms of trying to use natural conditions and resources in their favour, this team is probably the best, because they are faced with it more often than not – heavy breeze and whatnot,” Ashwin said. “And they tend to hit [with] the breeze rather than actually doing anything else.”If you look at Kane Williamson’s wagon wheel, I would have put [the deepish extra-cover fielder] right from the first ball if it was up to me, because Kane Williamson against an offspinner has always looked to hit through covers. He has not cut the ball and he doesn’t step out much either. Colin de Grandhomme, likewise, [played that shot against Australia’s] Nathan Lyon even from the rough.”When New Zealand lost their seventh wicket, they were only 60 runs ahead of India’s first-innings total, but their last three wickets widened the gulf significantly, adding 123 runs to the home team’s total. India have come up against other frustrating lower-order stands as well, in the recent past, particularly overseas, with Sam Curran playing a hugely influential role in England’s series victory against them in 2018.”I think sometimes we pay too much importance to saying we need to bowl out teams far quicker, and I am not saying we shouldn’t,” Ashwin said. “But batsmen don’t get out [easily] anymore. Lower-order batters do put a price on their wickets. If you were on two wickets [with only the lower order left] say 20-25 years ago, you would probably end up with a five-for.”[Kyle] Jamieson has got a couple of first-class hundreds if I am not wrong (he has none, but scored a century against a touring English side in a warm-up match in 2018) and [Ajaz] Patel, he can bat as well. [Trent] Boult batted really well. You’ve got to give credit where it is due. Like I said, they really understand these conditions very well and use it to their advantage. They try and hit it with the breeze, they know what works and what doesn’t. That’s something we should quickly learn from them and try and compete with them.”At stumps on day three, India were four down, needing a further 39 runs to make New Zealand bat again. The odds are stacked against India, but they have a reasonably set pair of batsmen at the crease in Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari, with some batting ability to follow in Rishabh Pant and Ashwin.”I think we are not yet in a stage of the game where, from our perspective in the dressing room, we can look at it very far,” Ashwin said. “We will have to take it per session, per hour, or however [large] a target we can set, the better it is for us.”It’s about getting away the morning session tomorrow. Since there’s so much time in the game, it’s very difficult to say what might happen, what we might foresee. It’s important to stay in the moment and continue the way [Rahane and Vihari] are batting. They are set and they know what the wicket is like, so we will look to cash in tomorrow morning once again.”

The Oval, Chelmsford, Bristol and Edgbaston to host fixtures

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Mar-2020Ireland will stage their four-match T20I series against Bangladesh in England, with The Oval, Chelmsford, Bristol and Edgbaston staging one fixture each.Extensive renovations to their ground in Clontarf, combined with an unusually busy international schedule, left Ireland with only 12 ICC-standard pitches available across Malahide, Stormont and Bready.Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, had hinted at the possibility of staging the series at neutral venues in December, and Richard Holdsworth, the performance director, visited several counties to discuss options earlier in the year.”We greatly appreciate the support of the ECB and each of the venues involved in hosting this series,” Deutrom said in a press release. “This will be a great set of fixtures being played in some of England’s finest and most atmospheric grounds.”2020 is one of Ireland’s biggest home seasons with three major nations touring and 15 matches to host. Consequently, it has been our most complex match allocation process ever, given the multiple challenges we are working through. Chief among these is the loss of access to one of our four international grounds for probably two seasons, with Clontarf undergoing extensive renovations.”Irish fans will have 11 top-class international matches to enjoy at home – including opportunities to watch the world’s number one T20 side and the World Cup runners-up. The two One-Day Internationals we played in England in 2017, and the overwhelming response to the Lord’s Test last year, shows that there is a great interest in Irish cricket in the United Kingdom, so we will be expecting plenty of green in the stands.””Our thanks also to the Bangladesh Cricket Board for their agreement to support this initiative, and we look forward to a great series.”This will be the first time that Ireland have hosted a series at a neutral venue, and the first neutral internationals between full-member nations on English soil since Pakistan played an ODI, two Tests and two T20Is against Australia in 2010.Bangladesh fans have fond memories of two of the grounds being used. Their team secured a first-ever victory over England at Bristol in 2010, and were involved in two close games at The Oval in last summer’s World Cup – a win against South Africa and a narrow defeat to New Zealand.Bangladesh also featured in one of the three ODIs to have been staged at the County Ground in Chelmsford, a six-wicket defeat against New Zealand during the 1999 World Cup. All three of Chelmsford’s ODIs came during World Cups, starting with a one-off fixture between India and Australia in 1983, and most recently Zimbabwe’s win over South Africa in 1999.More than half a million Bangladeshis live in the UK, the majority of whom live in London. There is also a large Bangladeshi population in the Midlands.”We are passionate about helping to protect and grow the game across the world and we are delighted to be able to support Cricket Ireland by hosting this series,” said Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive. “We can’t wait to welcome both Ireland and Bangladesh as part of what promises to be an incredibly exciting summer of cricket.”We saw at first hand the passion and joy both Irish and Bangladeshi fans brought to our venues last year and I’m sure both sets of supporters will enjoy some high quality cricket at all four grounds.”Ireland vs Bangladesh, fixtures:May 14 – 1st ODI, Stormont
May 16 – 2nd ODI, Stormont
May 19 – 3rd ODI, StormontMay 22 – 1st T20I, The Oval
May 24 – 2nd T20I, Chelmsford
May 27 – 3rd T20I, Bristol
May 29 – 4th T20I, EdgbastonMarch 9, 1430 GMT – This story was updated to include quotes from Warren Deutrom and Tom Harrison

Offspinner has overcome fitness issues to make 30-man training squad

Matt Roller26-Jun-2020He is the youngest and least-experienced of the five specialist spinners in England’s 30-man training group, but Amar Virdi has insisted he is not at the Ageas Bowl to make up the numbers.Virdi, 21, has only played 23 games in his first-class career, but has already been part of several England Lions squads and earned impressive reviews from his coaches at Surrey. And while he finds himself behind Jack Leach, Dom Bess and Moeen Ali in the pecking order going into next month’s Test series against West Indies, he is confident that he can push them for a spot in the side.”Obviously I’m here so I want to be playing Test cricket whenever that comes, so I’m going to keep on trying my hardest to make sure that I’m playing,” he said on Friday. “I don’t really try to impress as such – I want to do my own thing and be who I am. That’s what I want to show people and show people what I’m capable of doing, rather than doing other things or try to forcefully show my skills.”So far I’ve just been myself and just been bowling and doing all my other skills. I definitely do want to be playing in the first Test match, or at least be in the squad. If I didn’t want to do that I probably shouldn’t be here. I’m very proud of myself that I’ve got to this stage. The next stage is about pushing for a Test place, so whenever that does happen I’m going to keep working hard.”ALSO READ: Virdi’s attacking skill ‘could set him apart’ – SolankiVirdi’s new head coach at Surrey, Vikram Solanki, sung his praises last week, describing him as a “very attacking bowler” with “some real skill”. His statistics in his first-class career to date back that up: his strike rate of a wicket every 51.9 balls is bettered only by Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj in Division One of the County Championship over the last three years.”In my set-up as a bowler, it’s a fundamental thing. I think you’ve got to be aggressive and you’ve got to be looking to take wickets. Maybe the pitches aren’t always going to be suited to you but as a spinner even if you are looking to keep it tight, my eyes are always on taking wickets regardless.”Obviously being young, I’m still learning my skills and getting better at my skills, so you will bowl the odd loose ball or you might not get six balls in the perfect space. But I think you’ll bowl a lot more wicket-taking deliveries and that’s what makes you dangerous: when a batsman knows that you can get them out on any wicket.”It is worth remembering that it was only a year ago that Virdi was not being considered for selection at county level due to his fitness levels falling below an acceptable standard. He was shown some “tough love” by strength and conditioning coach Daz Veness, according to director of cricket Alec Stewart, and has taken his new regime very seriously. He even took a swig from a protein shake-branded water bottle during Friday’s virtual press conference, as if to drive home the point.Virdi has been training hard at home during lockdown•Getty Images

“I don’t think I’d be here if that didn’t happen,” he said. “I probably didn’t put as much focus on that part of my game as I should have, and it probably took something like that to understand how important it was. If that didn’t happen, I would have struggled then progressing to the next level.”It’s had a big impact on my bowling and everything like that,” he said. “I’m hitting most of those minimum standards and now it’s a case of making sure I’m fit enough to play the game and making sure that even after a long day’s play I’m ready to go the next day and that’s key for me especially wanting to play Test cricket.”England’s 30-man squad has been split into two groups for training, to help manage its bloated size. Virdi has found himself in the same group as two of his rivals for a Test spot – Moeen and Matt Parkinson – and said he has felt the benefits of working with Moeen already.”He’s definitely a seasoned spinner. It’s just how free people are with their advice. You can ask whatever you want and they’ll always try to help you as much as possible. Whatever opportunity I’ve had in the past, I’ve always tried to ask him a few questions. Chatting with him and bowling with him in the nets has been really good.”I really enjoy watching Moeen bowl now. That’s been really good to see how he goes about his business, and he’s a great help in the nets. Whenever you’re around him he’s always helpful [and] gives you advice.”