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A man doesn’t like to find himself saying “size isn’t everything” too often, but in James Taylor’s case, it seems almost unavoidable.

George Dobell at Edgbaston16-Sep-2015
ScorecardJames Taylor brought his ODI form back into the Championship although was given three lives•Getty Images

A man doesn’t like to find himself saying “size isn’t everything” too often, but in James Taylor’s case, it seems almost unavoidable.Despite an outstanding domestic record, Taylor has had to be content with a supporting role in international cricket. Even his latest foray into the ODI side – during which he scored his maiden century and captained the side when Eoin Morgan was injured – only came about because Joe Root was rested.But for various reasons – not least a perception that his technique will be exposed by the best bowling attack – Taylor has had to wait a little longer than might be expected for his first Test tour. Kevin Pietersen infamously told Andy Flower that Taylor was built to be a jockey – like his father – and “not up to it” at Test level.But Taylor is the same height as Sachin Tendulkar. He could swap shoes with Murray Goodwin. He could reach up to shelves and pass things down to Alvin Kallicharran. He is plenty tall enough.And while it is true that he has a jockey’s height, it might also be said that he has a jockey’s toughness. County bowlers learned several years ago that it was foolish to equate his size and fresh-face with weakness and have long since given up trying to intimidate him. A first-class average of 47 will do that.This was, in many ways, a typical Taylor innings. It was scrappy at times, dropped on three occasions but, while nobody else in the top six could reach 25 – four of them could not reach 10 – he compiled the 20th first-class century of his career and the second of this campaign. He also recorded his 1000th first-class run of the season.He is wonderfully balanced at the crease. While other players fell to the off side as they attempted to play the inswing of the dangerous Keith Barker, Taylor waited just that fraction longer so that, instead of attempting to play through midwicket, he was able to punch the ball straight down the ground. His on-drives were a delight.But he is not much interested in being pretty. The way he throws himself into cut shots – the full MS Dhoni helicopter was on display here when an out of sorts Boyd Rankin dropped short – the way he scampers his runs with a pace that would leave a greyhound trailing – suggests a man that is utterly committed to the practical business of run scoring and will let others worry about style. Taylor maybe more artisan than artist, but he has a method that he understands and works for him. He doesn’t need to change.He had some fortune here, though. On the few occasions he allowed himself to be expansive, he offered chances. He was put down three times – on 8, 22 and 75 – and also caught off a no-ball. While the chances on 8 and 75 – both to the normally reliable Tim Ambrose – were not straightforward, the catch to Sam Hain, at point, should have been taken. Rankin and Barker were the unfortunate bowlers.Warwickshire were also convinced they had Taylor caught behind off Jonathan Trott on 99. As a result, they declined to applaud his century.”It’s not the batsman’s fault if the fielders keep dropping the ball,” his coach, Mick Newell said afterwards. “I don’t call that good luck, I just call it taking the most of your opportunity.”Ambrose, like the rest of his Warwickshire team, looked a little jaded having played through any number of aches, strains, bruises and bumps. They no longer have much to play for and the combination of a long season and a tinge of disappointment has taken the edge off their performance. There is talk of some discontent, but it looks like nothing a lengthy break from cricket – and maybe from each other – will not solve. There is no reason why both these teams should not challenge for the Championship next year.Warwickshire will be doing it without their second-string keeper, Peter McKay, though. He has been released after struggling with injuries, while 24-year-old Staffordshire keeper Alex Mellor – who made a double-century for Staffordshire a few weeks ago – has been signed in his place. Warwickshire have also released the batsman Tom Lewis, while the seam-bowling allrounder Tom Milnes is likely to join Derbyshire for greater opportunity.The pick of the bowlers here was Barker. He dismissed Alex Hales, set up by two inswingers and then guilty of nibbling at one angled across him that didn’t swing, before Steven Mullaney was caught off the boot at gully after jabbing his bat down on another full swinging ball, and Brendan Taylor’s innings was ended when he played around another inswinger. When Riki Wessels poked at an outswinger from Trott and Samit Patel was bowled round his legs as he attempted to flick into the leg side, Nottinghamshire were in some trouble.But Chris Read helped Taylor add 124 for the sixth-wicket with Taylor. He was savage on the pull, merciless on both sides of the wicket if the ball was over-pitched and very quick to punish Jeetan Patel when he gave the ball a little flight. If Newell’s hopes of overhauling Middlesex for second place in the table look optimistic, it is still possible.”I don’t think we’ll be setting up a chase tomorrow. We want to finish second in the Championship and if we can pick up 12 or 13 points from this game then we will have a strong chance of getting past Middlesex in the last round of matches.”It is to be hoped that the aim does not convince Newell to ask Hales and Taylor to play in their final Championship game. They have long, emotionally draining winters ahead which could define their careers. And in 30 years time, the difference between second and third in the Championship season may not seem terribly important.

West Indies Women captain Stafanie Taylor led her team to another series win, with an 11-run victory over Pakistan Women in the second T20I in Grenada

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsStafanie Taylor won her third Player-of-the-Match Award in her last four matches•WICB Media/Randy Brooks

West Indies Women captain Stafanie Taylor led her team to another series win, with an 11-run victory over Pakistan Women in the second T20I in Grenada. The West Indies bowlers first restricted Pakistan to 95 for 7 in 20 overs, and the hosts were cruising at 91 for 3 in 17.4 overs when rain intervened and they were declared winners by the D/L method.Put in to bat, Pakistan were confined to another sub-par total, after their 74 for 9 in the first T20, as five out of six West Indies bowlers conceded at less than six runs per over. Medium-pacer Deandra Dottin led the charge again with figures of 3 from 20, accounting for top-scorer Nain Abidi (35), Asmavia Iqbal and captain Sana Mir. Pakistan were led by Abidi until the 17th over as wickets tumbled around her. The only notable partnership came between her and No. 4 Bismah Maroof as the two put on 44 runs in nine overs. But once Maroof was dismissed by offspinner Anisa Mohammed, the visitors lost another four wickets for 23 runs in the last seven overs. Only three Pakistan batsmen managed double-digit scores.West Indies lost Hayley Matthews early in the chase before Dottin joined Taylor and the duo put on a steady stand of 43 runs in 9.2 overs before Dottin was stumped for 19 off Nida Dar’s offspin. Dar struck again in her next over to dismiss Britney Cooper for 3, but Taylor hurtled along with an unbeaten 43-ball 48 before rain interrupted, and West Indies took an unassailable 2-0 lead. Taylor was named the Player of the Match for the third time on the tour.

Evin Lewis struck an unbeaten 101 off 65 balls, helping Barisal Bulls gun down 159 and injected some much-needed big hitting into the Bangladesh Premier League

The Report by Mohammad Isam in Chittagong01-Dec-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Evin Lewis hit seven fours and six sixes•Caribbean Premier League

This season’s BPL has witnessed several noteworthy bowling performances but a T20 league needed raw, big-hitting innings and Evin Lewis delivered that, his unbeaten 101 off 65 balls sealing a nine-wicket win for Barisal Bulls over Dhaka Dynamites.Lewis smashed seven fours and six sixes on his way to become the sixth centurion in the tournament. Barisal will get more firepower with Chris Gayle, who had reeled off three centuries in the BPL, poised to join the team in Dhaka next week. They now have four wins, level with Rangpur Riders who have played an extra match.Chasing 159, Barisal began in earnest with Lewis swinging Farhad Reza for a six over midwicket in the second over. Two balls later, Rony Talukdar produced a similar shot for a six of his own. They chugged along to 81 in ten overs and Lewis felt no need to hold back. He got to his fifty off 39 balls, with a six off Nabil Samad over long-off. Lewis then plundered 27 runs off the next over bowled by Ryan ten Doeschate, thanks to three sixes over midwicket, long-off and cover and two fours. During the over, Lewis surpassed his own personal T20 best of 78 and ended up with the the highest individual score in the BPL this season.Talukar was dismissed in the 14th over by Abul Hasan for 38 off 34 balls. The equation was a straightforward 32 off 38 balls with nine wickets in hand. Lewis reached his century in the 18th over with a quick single and celebrated with a leap of sheer joy and three balls later, Mehedi Maruf hit the winning runs with more than an over to spare.Earlier, ten Doeschate had a better time with the bat, his 32-ball 45 helping Dhaka finish impressively after a sluggish start. He added 59 with Sangakkara and a rapid 26 with Malcolm Waller, who perhaps played the best shot of the Dhaka innings: a rasping square drive for a six.Having been inserted, Dhaka were in trouble at 73 for 4 by the 11th over. Shykat Ali edged behind to Talukar, Lahiru Thirimanne was brilliantly stumped in the eighth over before Nasir Hossain’s wild swing was caught easily Mahmudullah, who had run back from slip. But Sangakkara, who made 60 off 46 balls, kept them afloat.Abul Hasan, who was promoted to No.6, too did not fire but Sangakkara offset all this, cutting, flicking, driving, and even paddle-scooping. But he was eventually upstaged.

Carlos Brathwaite’s stroke-filled 69 was the only highlight in a rain-affected second day, but admitted he was “very upset” that he didn’t carry on to a bigger score

Daniel Brettig04-Jan-2016Day two in Sydney was one to stretch the patience of the most ardent cricket follower. Five times play was started and then stopped due to rain, before the showers intensified and blotted out the remainder of play completely. A hardy 14,266 souls turned up, including 501 Richie Benaud impersonators, whose trio of trumpeters gave rousing renditions of the old Channel Nine cricket fanfare.It was fitting then, that the day’s dominant figure – in the 11.2 overs play that were possible – was a cricketer who exudes an enthusiasm for the game that is familiar to its most committed fans. Carlos Brathwaite has been a revelation on this tour so far, as much for his infectiously enthusiastic approach to the game as a pair of freewheeling half centuries. When numerous other West Indian players have seemed unwilling to show too much of themselves on the field, Brathwaite’s heart is very much on his sleeve.

Still time for a result – O’Keefe

Though he has at least enjoyed the feeling of taking a wicket in a Test on his home ground, Steve O’Keefe spent most of a rain-affected day two like everyone else – waiting, hoping, and ultimately leaving early.
“It is annoying. It’s hard for the guys to just continually switch off then get back up,” he said. “I think it’s much easier if you’re batting. You can sort of come out then start again, it’s only really the two guys out there. Very rarely do you play games of cricket where the conditions are perfect and game plans go exactly to plan. The support staff get us switched on and Smithy makes sure that with 10 minutes to go we’re ready and out there to do a job.”
Nevertheless, O’Keefe reckoned that there was still a result possible on a pitch offering spin and swing. “There’s still a hell of a lot of cricket to go,” he said. “If you can get three days in it’s close to 300 overs and hopefully if the skipper sees that spin will play a big role then we might get more overs in towards the back end of the match. If the wicket keeps spinning … it’s spinning already. Without a doubt.”

The day’s truncated rhythm, damp outfield and greasy ball suited the sort of smash and grab innings Brathwaite clearly enjoys playing, and in the day’s longest stretch of play he took on the Australian bowling in a fashion that exploited bowlers still finding their lines. While Denesh Ramdin dropped anchor, Brathwaite moved from his overnight 35 to 69 from 71 balls, including a handful of strokes that will stay long in the mind’s eye.”I just went out there and tried to play my game,” Brathwaite said of a tally that included 23 runs in two overs from a fast but wayward James Pattinson. “Thankfully I got from 30-odd overnight to 69. I’m not satisfied with the fact I didn’t carry on to get three figures or to see out the day but still happy in the sense that I managed to record my highest Test score so far.”Watching Brathwaite making use of his height and the leverage it offers him, numerous heavy hitters came to mind. The man himself had been inspired by Kevin Pietersen, a batsman of similar reach and a matchless capacity to put a bowler off balance with agile footwork and blazing shots, not all of them in the coaching manual but plenty played with disarming flourish. But there is a twist to this tale – until he grew tall and broad, Brathwaite was a top-order player, dropping his bat on the ball with obstinate intent, inspired by none other than Rahul Dravid.”Funnily enough when I was growing up I used to bat No. 3 and I was very defensive,” Brathwaite said. “I used to bat the majority of balls and Rahul Dravid was my idol. A little shift now, in the years since I’ve bulked up and changed my game a bit I’ve looked to Kevin Pietersen, the way he puts bowlers under pressure, the way he stamps his authority on the game. If I can have half the career he had I’ll be happy with that.”In taking the West Indies as far as 7 for 248, Brathwaite has given the visitors a chance to put some pressure on Australia’s batsmen. Even so, Brathwaite still felt there were more runs to be had down the order, and there was plenty to like about the detailed way in which he looked at the talents of the lower-order batting Ramdin will have for company on day three.”We always go out there with a positive mindset,” he said. “Kemar Roach has been batting very well, Jerome Taylor has a Test hundred, and Jomel Warrican will never let any of us forget he’s averaging 45 in Test cricket, only being dismissed once. So the guys in the dressing room can back their talents and see how far we can go from here.”It was a source of considerable frustration to Brathwaite that he would not be able to join them, having continued on his positive path right up until the instant Pattinson found some late swing to beat his bat and flick the outside of the off stump. A fine delivery ended Brathwaite’s day, but it was nothing compared to the warm reception he was given by an SCG crowd who knew the preceding interlude was likely to be the highlight of the day.”I was very, very upset, not on the dismissal because I think it was a good nut – didn’t handle it as well as I could have though – but walking off I was upset that once again I got a start and couldn’t carry on,” Brathwaite said. “One of my mantras in cricket is when things are going good you maximise, because when things are going bad it’s very hard to play yourself out of a slump.”But reaching halfway off and hearing the applause and seeing some people standing, I took a step back and just enjoyed the feeling, raised my bat and looked around. It was a very good feeling, I felt at home and really appreciated it.”Unlike the MCG’s BBL derby or even the first day of this match, a rainy afternoon at the SCG was only ever going to draw a crowd of the most committed fans to the grand old ground. Their affirmation of Brathwaite was genuine and touching, for in his attitude to the game many of the gathering saw a hint of their own delight in the game, and their own desire to see it played this way.

Rachel Priest’s 57, and opening stand of 72 with Dane van Niekerk, helped the Renegades reach 139 for 8, after which the Molly Strano’s timely strikes thwarted Thunder’s chase

The report by Will Macpherson in Melbourne09-Jan-2016
ScorecardMolly Strano picked up 3 for 20•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

The early throes of the Women’s Big Bash League have delighted and drawn smiles for many reasons. The cricket has been impressive, a meeting of the world’s finest female cricketing minds, and the crowds and media coverage have been highly encouraging – this game was on Channel Ten’s digital station, while next Saturday’s Sydney derby and the tournament’ Final have been moved to the main channel. The carnivals at the smaller venues – such as this weekend’s at St Kilda’s Junction Oval have been well-attended, joyous, captivating affairs, with kids and giveaways aplenty.But perhaps the tournament’s most enticing aspect has been its evenness, and this fixture provided a perfect example. The ladder has been skewed by teams being various stages through their group campaigns, but going into this game, Renegades sat bottom, and Thunder were top. Of course, from the word go, Renegades dominated, and won their second showpiece game in consecutive Saturdays. As a result, all eight teams can still qualify for the finals.The crowd – which numbered upwards 14,611 by the game’s conclusion, another women’s domestic record, and more than the attendance at the last AFL game at the stadium – were treated to the best of the women’s game; some superb fielding, particularly wicketkeeping, canny spin bowling, and dexterous and flexible batting. And those critics who claim the women’s game lacks power need just ask Danni Wyatt.For the second consecutive Saturday, she was struck hard by a powerful drive when batting at the non-striker’s end. Last week, she was struck on the back of the helmet by Sophie Molineux, and this time Rachel Priest hit her on the arm. While she batted on, she did not take the field, instead taking a trip to hospital for an X-Ray, which revealed no fracture just heavy bruising. She will miss tomorrow’s match against Sydney Sixers, but this can be filed under “lucky escapes” and provided her a second reminder of the inherent danger those close to the wicket are.It was Priest’s 57, and opening stand of 72 with Dane van Niekerk, that laid the foundations for Renegades’ victory. Van Niekerk got after 17-year-old left-arm seamer Lauren Cheatle, slog-sweeping her over midwicket for six, then taking three fours from her next over, including consecutively driving by throwing the hands and sending the ball through the covers. Renegades have used five different opening partnerships in the competition, and this was just the second time they had passed 50 (the same pair had registered 52 against Brisbane Heat before Christmas). This time, they had 56, including seven boundaries, by the end of the Powerplay.Thereafter their batting stuttered, but plenty of damage had been done. Priest anchored the innings as tight bowling stalled the hosts, with the impressive 19-year-old leg-spinner Maisy Gibson bowling Wyatt, and conceding just two boundaries from her four overs. Sarah Elliott briefly moved things forward in Priest’s company, before six wickets fell in the last five overs, including three in Belinda Vakarewa’s 19th. 139 was little more than par, but represented an improvement for their tournament’s weakest batting side.Thunder’s chase never really got going, choked by Renegades’ plethora of spinners. Molly Strano’s offbreaks opened up once, and in her second over she dismissed both Rachel Haynes, bowled, and Stafanie Taylor, plumb in front. Naomi Stalenberg was immediately on the attack, ploughing her second ball over the covers for four, but an over later she was gone, skying a catch to Sophie Molineux off Briana Binch.Renegades regularly picked up timely wickets, with Strano earning a third, and only the experienced Alex Blackwell – briefly joined by Rene Farrell – resisting. Blackwell cleared the leg impressively to swat Kris Britt for four, before becoming the last to go, caught and bowled by Elliott shortly after swiping her for four.

Former Pakistan allrounder Israr Ali died in his hometown of Okara on February 1 at the age of 88

Umar Farooq02-Feb-2016Former Pakistan allrounder Israr Ali died in his hometown of Okara on February 1 at the age of 88. He was Pakistan’s oldest living Test cricketer and had played four Tests for the country between 1952 and 1959. He died of a pneumonia attack.Ali played 40 first-class games, taking 114 wickets at 22.63 and scoring 1130 runs at 20.54. He had begun his career playing for Punjab in 1946-47 before Pakistan and India were partitioned, and then toured India as part of the Pakistan Test side in 1952-53. He played only two Tests on that tour, and was then was recalled to the side for two Tests against Australia in 1959-60. While interacting with ESPNcricinfo in 2012, Ali recalled how he had dismissed Australia opener Les Favell in all four innings without the assistance of fielders.He had said that one of his biggest regrets was a fallout with Pakistan captain Abdul Hafeez Kardar, which Ali believes shortened his international career.After his playing career, Ali stayed involved in cricket administration and was president of the Multan region from 1981 to 1982, and a member of Pakistan’s selection committee in 1983 and 1984, before he decided to move away from the game. “I parted from cricket after 1987, maybe because I was losing the passion, and decided to stay back in Okara,” Ali had said when he was 85 years old.Israr had been living a humble life in Okara, nearly 85 miles away from Lahore. The agricultural town has fertile land with fields of potato, tomato, sugarcane, wheat, rice and corn and in sports it is a significant nursery for hockey. Ali had been living a quiet life up until the time of his death.

Justice AP Shah, the BCCI ombudsman, has ruled that no case of conflict of interest could be found against former India captain Sourav Ganguly under the board’s rules on the subject

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Feb-2016Justice AP Shah, the BCCI ombudsman, has ruled that no case of conflict of interest could be found against former India captain Sourav Ganguly under the board’s rules on the subject. Freelance journalist Niraj Gunde had filed a case with Shah alleging that Ganguly, who is part of the IPL governing council, was in direct conflict having failed to disclose his commercial partnership with the RP Sanjeev Goenka Group, which owns the football franchise Atletico de Kolkata as well as the company that bid successfully for the Pune IPL franchise.While Ganguly had admitted in his response to Shah that he owned a stake of about 5% in the Atletico de Kolkata franchise, he pointed out that he was not in any way related to New Rising India Pvt. Ltd, which bid for the Pune IPL franchise. Gunde insisted that by not disclosing his relationship with the promoters of the Pune franchise, Ganguly was at fault. He also pointed out to Shah that Ganguly, by being part of the IPL Governing Council, was already aware of who all had picked the bid documents and would have been aware of the bid contents.However, Shah looked at the issue differently. “The Ombudsman considered the application and the various submissions made, and found that none of the conflict of interest rules are attracted in the present instance,” Shah noted in a two-page e-mail that he sent to Ganguly, Gunde and the BCCI.Ganguly’s was the first high-profile case filed with Shah, who took over as BCCI’s inaugural ombudsman, as part of the reforms drive initiated by its president Shashank Manohar last October. Shah said he had also examined whether there could be a possible conflict of interest “beyond what is framed in the rules”, because Ganguly had attended the Governing Council meeting when the bids were opened.”In order to examine this, it is important to understand the bidding process itself. It is clear that the bidding process involved first, the submission of sealed technical and financial bids; second, the opening of technical bids; third, the scrutiny of the technical bids by lawyers; fourth, the opening of financial bids; and fifth, the selection of the lowest bidder among those who had qualified the technical round. All of these steps were taken on the same day in the presence of all the bidders,” Shah wrote in the e-mail, accessed by ESPNcricinfo. “It is clear that members of the IPL Governing Council had no role to play, more so because the final selection of the bidder was based on objective criteria, i.e., the lowest bid.”According to Shah, both he and Gunde were satisfied by Ganguly’s statement that he was returning from London to Delhi at the time the technical bids were opened and subsequently examined by the BCCI lawyers.”The question arises as to whether a member of the IPL Governing Council had any role to play in the bidding process,” Shah said. “If the person had no role to play, other than remaining present during/through the bidding process (because of the post they held), there is no reason to raise doubts about the person’s role, as is the case in the present matter.”The Ombudsman, therefore, does not view Mr Ganguly’s presence or conduct in the bidding process as violating any rules of conflict of interest. The bidding process was transparent, and due process was followed. Under the circumstances, the Ombudsman is of the view that no case of conflict of interest has been established or made out against Mr Ganguly, and therefore, the matter is accordingly disposed of.”

South Africa will not dare to take Afghanistan lightly as they bid to bounce back from their chastening opening-round defeat to England at the Wankhede Stadium, according to Hashim Amla

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Mar-2016South Africa will not dare to take Afghanistan lightly as they bid to bounce back from their chastening opening-round defeat to England at the Wankhede Stadium, according to Hashim Amla.Despite a riotous start to South Africa’s innings, Amla’s 58 from 31 balls and a 91-run stand for the first wicket with Quinton de Kock proved insufficient to set up a victory. England, inspired by Joe Root’s 83 from 44 balls, chased down a massive 230 to win by two wickets with two balls to spare and put the pressure on South Africa ahead of their second Group 1 game against the Associate qualifiers.”I still think 230 is a very good total, no matter which venue,” Amla said. “Can you ever be satisfied with any score? I guess I could have hit that ball for six and that ball for four, but that’s not how it goes. We would definitely have taken 230 at the start of the game, we have to be grateful to get that on the board.”Looking ahead to the challenge of Afghanistan, who South Africa have only met once before, Amla said: “You can’t take any team for granted. We saw how they played against Sri Lanka and the shorter the format the more the minnow teams are in the running. We have to play our best players to beat them.”He admitted, however, that he wasn’t fully acquainted with the players he will be facing. “What we know is basically what we’ve seen in their game against Sri Lanka and the preliminary tournament. We leave that to our brains trust, but they are a good team and you don’t take them lightly.”South Africa know that defeat in their first game means the pressure is on them but Amla said captain Faf du Plessis had told his players not to panic after conceding the second-highest successful chase in T20 internationals.One area they can definitely make improvements in is the amount of extras conceded; South Africa gave up 20 runs in wides, compared to England’s two, which may have been the difference between winning and losing in a close finish that came down to the last few deliveries.”Faf has spoken about trying to be as simple as we can with our plans,” Amla said. “The difference in the game last night was us conceding too many extras and we will have to leave it at that.”We have a quality bowling attack, I believe they will be hurt, along with the team, for not executing as well as they would have liked. I’m sure in the games to follow we can bounce back.”

Gujarat Lions coach Brad Hodge has admitted there were quite a few areas of concern after the team’s second defeat in a row at home

Arun Venugopal in Rajkot04-May-2016Gujarat Lions coach Brad Hodge has admitted there were “quite a few areas of concern” after the team’s second defeat in a row at home. According to Hodge, losing wickets in clumps in the Powerplay – they lost three wickets in eight balls and tottered at 24 for 3 after four overs – for the second successive match was a major factor behind Lions’ eight-wicket loss to Delhi Daredevils. They had similarly slipped to 39 for 4 inside seven overs against Kings XI Punjab.”If you are 3 for 20 [sic], losing three of your best batters upfront, you’re going to be in trouble. Same [as] what happened the last game,” Hodge said. “In the last game against Kings, Axar [Patel] took a hat-trick. Couple of balls didn’t even turn. We lost three wickets in an over. And again [today], three wickets in seven [sic] balls with three of our best batters. Wickets in Powerplay… something that we need to look at.”Hodge was also miffed with how no-balls have cost his side crucial wickets in the tournament. When Ravindra Jadeja overstepped to reprieve Sanju Samson, who was stumped in the 16th over, it was the second such let-off in three games. Steven Smith was similarly reprieved in Pune when left-arm wristspinner Shivil Kaushik bowled him off a no-ball for 41. Smith went on to score 60 more runs.”Unforgiveable, unforgivable,” Hodge said. “Who knows what could’ve happened if that was given out for Sanju. Next ball he gets a free hit, the ball goes for a boundary, game over. If you’re just going to let your guard down for a moment, you’re going to be found out. Hopefully, we can dust ourselves off and adjust with the differences and indifferences that we have and come again strongly. I would certainly hope that these last two games hurt very much.”Hodge backed his top order, strengthened further by Aaron Finch’s return from injury, to take the attack to the opposition, but said their shot-selection needed to be more prudent.”They are free spirited players. They are natural stroke-players and I don’t want to certainly take that away from them,” he said. “But we certainly just have to have a little watch at our shot selection and adapt to the conditions a little bit better. They are just little tweaks. I don’t want to rein in those guys when their strike rate is 170, certainly going to encourage that, but more so to adapt to conditions a little bit better.”Hodge was also critical of a pitch, which while a little slow, didn’t appear to be particularly difficult to bat on.”It was not ideal. I must say the surface exactly wasn’t what we were looking for. It is a little disappointing,” he said. “This is your home ground, you expect a little bit better. But having said that, you cannot use that as an excuse. The opportunity was there.”If we could’ve put 170-175 on the board, we could’ve won that game. Again, we were chasing only 155 the other day against Kings and we couldn’t get the job done. We can’t blame any of the surface or the practice. Our skill set was just not good enough on that day. We need to brush that off. We need to address it, step up and come again.”

South Africa start their first Test tour of Bangladesh with a 45-minute
flight from Dhaka to Chittagong tomorrow

Pat Symcox27-May-2016South Africa start their first Test tour of Bangladesh with a 45-minute
flight from Dhaka to Chittagong tomorrow. None of the South Africans have
played in Chittagong before, and little is known about the conditions. By
all accounts the hotel rates rather fewer than five stars, and the weather
predictions aren’t great. It is the rainy season, and completing a Test at
all is considered fortunate. The city is a busy port, and is in very
mountainous region. Humidity is the biggest enemy of any touring team.But after their solid performances in the last two outings of the TVS Cup
against India last week, the South Africans have good reason to feel upbeat
about their progress in this part of the world. The bowlers have clearly
worked out that on these sluggish pitches, slower balls are not easy to
score from. The batsmen, on the other hand, have realised there is no
substitute for time spent at the crease. They also now realise that if
someone gets in he has to go on and finish the job, as starting an innings
is not an easy task.The make-up of South Africa’s team for the first of the two Tests, which
starts on Thursday, will be interesting. The pitch is expected to be
tailormade for Bangladesh’s spinners, but Eric Simons, the SA coach, has two
spinners in his own squad. Simons will have to weigh up whether to play both
of them, against a team which would probably prefer that, or to bank on the
fact that even on a slow turner the South African pace bowlers will still be
a handful. In any case, the two-spinner option would probably mean leaving
out one of the batsmen who have been doing well on subcontinental pitches
recently.The left-armer Paul Adams is likely to be the first-choice spinner and,
since Jacques Rudolph and Graeme Smith can fill in with a few overs
themselves, Robin Peterson might well miss out.In the pace department Charl Willoughby was picked specifically for his
ability to swing the ball in the air when pitches aren’t conducive to
lateral movement. However, the fact that he is a genuine No. 11 won’t help
his cause. Andrew Hall and Alan Dawson have stepped up when needed, and
their batting ability will make both hard to overlook.The series may be in Bangladesh, but South Africa are still expected to come
out on top. Bangladesh, after all, have lost 16 of the 17 Tests they have
played so far – and their only draw came when rain washed out the last two
days of a match against Zimbabwe. It should add up to a gentle baptism for
Smith as a Test captain.