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Tayla Vlaeminck and Annabel Sutherland are also among the 15 names

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-2020Allrounder Tahlia McGrath has been included among 15 contracts handed out for Australia’s women’s squad alongside the expected inclusions of fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck and allrounder Annabel Sutherland.Top-order batters Nicole Bolton and Elyse Villani lose their deals having dropped out of the reckoning over the last 12 months.Following their success in winning the T20 World Cup last month, the major focus for the women’s team over the next 12 months is the 50-over tournament in New Zealand scheduled for 2021 although that could yet be impacted by the covid-19 pandemic.McGrath’s name is the most notable among the inclusions for 2020-21 having last played for Australia in 2017 and it comes off the back of a strong season for Adelaide Strikers and South Australia. Shawn Flegler, the women’s national selector, explained that with Ellyse Perry and Vlaeminck recovering from injuries sustained during the T20 World Cup McGrath would add depth to the all-round resources.”Tayla Vlaeminck and Annabel Sutherland were upgraded to CA contracts last season and were members of Australia’s triumphant T20 World Cup squad. They have emerged as key figures in the team and deserve their place on the contract list,” Flegler said.”Tahlia McGrath had a brilliant season with the Adelaide Strikers and South Australia, winning the Andrea McCauley medal. She’s been a consistent performer over the last few seasons with bat and ball, including the five matches she played for Australia during the 2017 Ashes series.”With Tayla and Ellyse Perry coming back from long-term injuries, Tahlia will add extra depth to our all-rounders, especially with her bowling. We saw that depth come into play during the recent World Cup and we know that will be important with another World Cup scheduled this summer.”Flegler offered hope of a way back for both Bolton and Villani if they can dominate in domestic cricket while said that Erin Burns, who was part of the T20 World Cup squad, was unlucky to miss the cut.”The door is not closed on any of the players who did not receive a new CA contract,” he said. “There will be plenty of opportunities for Nicole Bolton and Elyse Villani who both missed out to make their case once cricket resumes. Both are world-class when at their best, so hopefully they can dominate domestic cricket and put their hands up for selection.”Erin Burns was unlucky to miss out having been upgraded to a full contract this season but is highly rated by the selectors. She’s an adaptable player and is still in the mix for future selection. Molly Strano also misses out despite being drafted into Australia’s World Cup squad and playing an important role, but she too is highly rated and will be looked at for future opportunities.”Contract list Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Meg Lanning, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

Stung by memories of a flat performance in Melbourne after levelling the series against India, Australia’s captain has told his team to be at their most vigilant against Sri Lanka

Daniel Brettig in Canberra31-Jan-20192:10

Boys working their back sides off to score hundreds – Paine

Good sporting teams, it is said, know how to respond to defeat. Great ones, however, become masters of maintaining their hunger and rage in the aftermath of victory. Australia’s national team right now is a long way from becoming a great or even a good team, and their sole experience of playing in the wake of winning this season was far from a happy one.Stung by memories of a flat performance in the Boxing Day Test after levelling the series against India in Perth, Australia’s captain Tim Paine has counselled his team to be at their most vigilant against Sri Lanka, in the inaugural Test match to be played at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.Widely lauded for a lively defeat of Virat Kohli’s team at the new Perth Stadium, the Australians reconvened in Melbourne with heavy legs and minds, turning in a lethargic performance in the field that was to be compounded by an alarming lack of application with the bat. While Dinesh Chandimal’s side represent nowhere near the same level of challenge, Paine was adamant in stressing the need for his men to learn to take the right approach into what is their final Test before the Ashes in England, more than six months from now.”We’ve spoken a little bit about our attitude, the way we turn up for our two training sessions here and tomorrow morning,” Paine said. “We touched on how we had a great win in Perth against India and then I thought we turned up pretty poorly and really flat in Melbourne and started that Test match pretty ordinarily. But then you get a good side like India in front of you and we really couldn’t reel them back in.”It’s just been making sure our attitude to this Test is spot on and we’re leaving nothing to chance. If we do that, start as well as we can tomorrow and put Sri Lanka on the back foot where we finished in Brisbane. That’s been the message. A lot can change in six months but performances this summer will be taken into account, every Test match you play is really important, this one because we want to win the series, we haven’t won a series for a while.”Going forward we want to start building some momentum and having some guys that are performing around this group. Having said that there is plenty of opportunity for guys a the back end of the season for pressing their claims with the Dukes balls with a big series coming up, it will count toward that but it is not the be all and end all.”The inconsistency of Paine’s team, summed up by the lack of even a single century from any of the batsmen over six Tests dating back to Dubai in October, has been maddening for the coach Justin Langer, familiar as he is with Australia’s era of vast and sustained success in the 1990s and 2000s. Geoff Lawson, the noted coach and commentator, once summed up Australia’s greatness during this period as follows:”It’s easy to say ‘well we won last week or last year’ and not play your best, but that Australian team just did that to the nth degree, and that’s what made them so hard to beat. Even when they were starting to decline with great players going out and not so great players coming in, they were still tough to beat because they had the right attitude.Tim Paine didn’t live up to the promise of his early days, but he has stepped up when Australia needed him to•Getty Images

“It didn’t matter who their captain was, who their coach was. I guess it’s what people refer to as culture, but culture is behaviour, you’ve got to behave, and as an observer, it didn’t matter which country, where or when, they’d be there early doing their thing. If I was in the opposition and I looked over at Australia warming up I’d think ‘ah, ok, they’re serious today’. There’s nothing flippant about what Australia did. They weren’t a laughing matter.”Finding a way back to that level of mental strength and consistency continues to be chief among Langer’s challenges, as summed up by the flickering performances of two senior players in Mitchell Starc and Usman Khawaja. Neither have been able to provide the sort of leadership by performance that has been desperately needed in the absence of the banned Steven Smith and David Warner, but both have chances in Canberra to excel in their customary positions – Khawaja at No. 3, and Starc with the new ball, which will again be denied to Pat Cummins.ALSO READ: Starc strives to place Ashes seed in Langer’s mind“We’ve used Starcy for a long time with the new ball and we think he is still our best new-ball bowler when he gets it right, so we’ll always give him the first few,” Paine said. “Hopefully he can swing a few and if he does we know he is more than likely to get an early breakthrough. What we have done is brought Pat on a lot earlier than what we have done in the past.”We’re still reasonably happy with his output. He’s not 100 per cent at his best but I think that’s a sign of how good a bowler he is that he’s still finding ways to pick up wickets at certain times, and like I said post-Brisbane Test that when he gets it right he’s going to be devastating. Hopefully it will be this Test straight up tomorrow morning or potentially some reverse-swing when he is devastating. Hopefully there’s a chance of that happening here.”Usman is a very experienced player, he knows what he wants to do and how to go about it, he just hasn’t scored the runs he would like. He had that [knee] injury at a time he was batting the best he’s ever batted. He’s the same as Starcy, he’s one innings, half an hour away from being one of our best players. We know that.”An unchanged team meant no room for Will Pucovski or Marcus Stoinis, and a further chance for Kurtis Patterson, Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne to press their own claims to spots on the plane to England. When Paine sits down to reflect on the summer of 2018-19, he will undoubtedly see it as a point in time where fresh names emerged for the Test team. “We’ve unearthed some players that are going to have good Test careers,” he said.”We haven’t had the wins we would like and sometimes it’s easy to look at the negatives, the losses and the lack of hundreds and whatnot, but I think when we sit back and take in this summer and plan going forward, we’ve unearthed some really good cricketers, batting, bowling, Jhye Richardson, Marnus, Travis, Marcus Harris, a number of guys coming through. When you add to that some experienced players who could be coming back, there’s going to be a really good period of cricket coming up for our team and for Australian fans to watch.”

Despite the loss, Khulna Titans were also through along with Dhaka Dynamites and Comilla Victorians with four league matches still to be played

The Report by Mohammad Isam03-Dec-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRaton Gomes/BCB

Rangpur Riders, led by Mohammad Mithun’s punchy 50 not out, rallied to beat Khulna Titans by 19 runs and seal their place in the playoffs. Despite the loss, Khulna were also through along with Dhaka Dynamites and Comilla Victorians with four league matches still to be played.Having been inserted, Rangpur limped to 114 for 6 in eight overs before Mithun’s late blows helped the side plunder 33 off the last two overs. Chasing 148, Khulna sprinted to 60 for 0 by the eighth over but collapsed to be restricted to 128 for 8.Rangpur kept in check
Rangpur’s powerful top order, boasting Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle, failed to deliver again. Ziaur Rahman was the first to go, for 8, when he skied Abu Jayed to third man in the third over.Mccullum flickered briefly – scoring 15 off 11 balls – before holing out to mid-on after being deceived by Shafiul Islam’s offcutter. Chris Gayle, too, couldn’t covert his start: he hit four fours and two sixes – before falling in the 11th over for 38 off 27 balls.Khulna make more inroads
Jofra Archer then removed Ravi Bopara in the 15th over and when Chamara Kapugedara gave Mahmudullah a simple catch off a Carlos Brathwaite long-hop in the next over, Rangpur were 98 for 5. Archer struck again, getting Nahidul Islam caught at third man, as Khulna reduced Rangpur to 105 for 6 in the 17th over.Mithun’s late push
Despite wickets falling at the other end, Mithun slowly got into his groove. He enjoyed some good fortune too: he was dropped on 8 and 30, but unleashed big hits in the last two overs of the innings. He hit Shafiul Islam for three sixes in the last over – two over long-on and one over midwicket.Khulna start positively
Michael Klinger and Nazmul Hossain Shanto ensured Khulna started confidently, taking the side to 48 for 0 at the end of the Powerplay. Klinger was assured both against pace and spin while Shanto – who was reprieved on 0 – moved to 20 before he was trapped lbw.The implosion
From 60 for 0, Khulna tumbled to 97 for 6 with the Rangpur bowlers sharing the spoils. Afif Hossain pulled Sohag Gazi straight down Mashrafe Mortaza’s throat at deep midwicket. Klinger also gave Mashrafe a catch, at cover, after hitting 44 off 45 balls with four fours and a six.
Mahmudullah was then bowled for 6, trying to slog the offspinner Nahidul Islam, before Ziaur Rahman ran out Nicholas Pooran in the same over.The crucial blow was Brathwaite’s wicket; Isuru Udana had frustrated him with two wide balls in the 16th over before having the West Indies allrounder chase another one wide and edge it to Mithun.Bopara, Udana provide finishing kick
Archer struck two sixes to raise hopes of a Khulna comeback before falling run out in the 18th over. Bopara then gave away just one runs in the penultimate over while picking up Ariful Haque’s wicket. He finished with 2 for 4 in his two overs, before Udana defended 23 off the last over with his pace and length variations.

The New Zealand wicketkeeper batsman made 66 out of a total of 189 against a full-strength Indian attack in his team’s Champions Trophy warm-up match

ESPNcricinfo staff29-May-20170:56

‘Surprised that an opener’s spot was available’ – Ronchi

New Zealand left for a tri-series in Ireland with a mind to see if Luke Ronchi could be an opener again, and, after a top score of 37 in four innings, he probably thought the experiment had run its course. But the 36-year old wicketkeeper was asked to bat at the top of the order again in a Champions Trophy warm-up game too and it caught him off guard.

Neesham expects bouncer barrage

In two of the three warm-up matches of the Champions Trophy, teams have been able to chase 300-plus totals, even while running out of specialist batsmen. Australia beat Sri Lanka by two wickets and Pakistan beat Bangladesh by two wicket as well, highlighting the batting-friendly nature of the pitches
In light of that, New Zealand allrounder James Neesham believes the bouncer will be an invaluable tool in taking wickets and choking runs.
“I think that’s the nature of one-days these days. If you just bowl it up there and hope for the best a lot of the times, you get hit back over your head. The way the game’s evolving and the par scores are getting higher and higher, you do have to change your lengths more and the bouncer is one of those things”
Neesham’s team-mate Luke Ronchi, though, advocated batsmen not to explicitly trust the conditions.
“The wickets are getting flatter and I guess in a lot of places the boundaries come in a bit more and so higher scores are the norm. In saying that, the wicket might look amazing and then it might be a bit slower, might bounce more so you’re going to have to assess as you go along. We have blueprints to stick to and if you do that well then you will get those 330s, 350s.”

Ronchi’s ability to strike the ball cleanly can be an advantage early on, considering the first 10 overs are played with only two fielders on the boundary. There are a few obstacles, though. New Zealand already have a settled pair of openers – Martin Guptill, the joint-highest run-getter since the 2015 World Cup, and Tom Latham, who scored a century captaining the side in Ireland earlier this month.And Ronchi himself has not scored an ODI half-century since a record-breaking 170 not out in January 2015. Nevertheless, he did his best to show his credentials against a full-strength Indian bowling attack, scoring 66 out of a total of 189. His innings lasted 63 balls with six fours and two sixes.”I was a bit surprised when I first found out the opportunity was going to be there but it’s been pretty good,” Ronchi said. “Feeling comfortable with the way things have worked. It’s been nice to make a few runs and obviously you’d like to kick on. Helping the team get off to a bit of a start makes a difference.”Being aggressive is my natural way of batting. If I can take that aggressive approach to the bowlers, if we can get off to a flier, that’s brilliant, but obviously there’s also chances of me getting out early as well with that sort of approach. Hopefully, if it comes off, it comes off well and if it doesn’t, well I guess that’s my role and people understand that.”Ronchi thought “it should be pretty entertaining” if New Zealand couple him with Guptill and they both “kick off”. But in the event the team management prefers not to upset a settled opening partnership, he could get his chance in the middle order.The captain Kane Williamson holds the No. 3 spot and Ross Taylor, who did not play at the Oval on Sunday, will follow him. So Ronchi could conceivably bat at No. 5 but he will face competition from Neil Broom, who has made a hundred and four fifties in 12 innings since ending a three-year hiatus from international cricket in December 2016.New Zealand have a choice of finishers to assess as well. Corey Anderson, who has played only two ODIs this year, is back, fit and ready. Colin de Grandhomme can smack the ball long and he is a decent bowler in seamer-friendly conditions.And there is James Neesham, who came in at 116 for 6 against the Indians and made made 46 off 47 balls. “It probably wasn’t vintage ball-striking, I think I was dragging it around a little bit, but it’s always good to contribute runs coming in at the lower order; reminded me a bit of my first days in the black shirt.” His recent ones aren’t too bad either. He has averaged 34 in 10 matches, batting at Nos 6 and 7, with a strike-rate of 99.Neesham was hopeful of New Zealand’s chances in the Champions Trophy. “We have the Chappell-Hadlee in the cabinet and we took South Africa to deciding the one-day series. And the same thing with India over in India. So the results certainly haven’t been bad. But whenever you come to these pinnacle world events, you want to put your best foot forward. We’re definitely looking at winning the tournament, that’s for sure.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers in Kolkata

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit10-Apr-2011

Match facts

Monday, April 11
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Kolkata will look to get over their choke in the opening game•AFP

Big picture

Both batting line-ups faltered in their opening games; Deccan Chargers never got going, and Kolkata Knight Riders choked. Kolkata definitely have more class and power in their batting, but until Brett Lee and Shakib Al Hasan return from national duty, their bowling looks thin. In their absence though, Kolkata’s bowling held up decently against Chennai Super Kings, but it was the star-studded batting line-up that failed to get them home in a modest chase, blowing away a winning position.
Deccan have a world-class bowling attack, but it was given too few runs to defend by a misfiring batting unit. They tried hard, but Pragyan Ojha had an off day. Their bowling relies on Dale Steyn for making maximum impact, and the way he was played out by Rajasthan Royals after they had conceded two wickets to him, could be one approach teams would look to use against Deccan. The rest of the bowlers will be targeted, but there is no reason why they cannot step up, given their pedigree.

Team talk

Gambhir said that he had come lower down the order against Chennai in order to hold the line-up together, as Jacques Kallis had got off to a good start. The move of sending Yusuf Pathan at No. 3 and demoting himself to No. 6 did not work, and Kolkata would look at rejigging the order.

In the spotlight

Gautam Gambhir has acquired a reputation for some brain fades of late, getting run-out, stumped and bowled after a blind charge in the three World Cup knockout games. He followed that up with another run-out in the IPL opener. He has been in fine touch otherwise, but will have to stay in the middle long enough to make the runs. And would also need to bat at his natural position, in the top order.
Rajasthan targeted Pragyan Ojha who went for 44 in 23 deliveries, blunting a bowling performance that had otherwise been largely on target in defending a small total. Ojha, the top wicket-taker in the previous IPL, will have to complement Steyn’s efforts with the ball.

Prime numbers

• Kolkata’s 67 against Mumbai Indians in 2008 is the second-lowest total in the IPL
• The longest losing streak in the IPL is eight matches by Kolkata in 2009

The chatter

“These things happen. If they did not happen, we wouldn’t call cricket an unpredictable game.”
Gautam Gambhir is not too worried over his run-outs