Botafogo star Guilherme Madruga has won the Puskas Award for the most beautiful goal in 2023.
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The best team at ICC events since 2010 marched into its fourth final in seven tournaments to set up a summit clash against Pakistan, pitting the tournament’s best bowling sides against each other
The Report by Sidharth Monga15-Jun-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Kiss of death: Kedar Jadhav gives Tamim Iqbal’s leg stump a peck•Getty Images
The best team at ICC events since 2010 marched into its fourth final in seven tournaments to set up a summit clash against Pakistan, pitting the tournament’s best bowling sides against each other.Like they did in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final, first time semi-finalists Bangladesh went toe to toe with India for about 30 overs – even inched ahead perhaps – but came apart against the non-turning, part-time, extremely slow offspin of Kedar Jadhav. They slipped from 142 for 2 in 25 overs to only 264 on a fresh pitch at Edgbaston. While Jadhav brought down the total from the realms of 320, Jasprit Bumrah’s final spell of 5-0-27-1 shaved a further 20 off what Bangladesh looked good for.In response, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan put up an exhibition, picking apart Bangladesh’s bowling with delectable stroke-play. Rohit brought up his first hundred of this tournament and moved to No. 2 on the run-scoring charts; Dhawan reclaimed the lead from Tamim Iqbal; and Kohli – who had been scoring runs despite not looking at his best – signalled a return to sublime form while becoming the fastest to 8000 ODI runs. It was an ominous sign for India’s opponents in what will be their third final appearance in the last four 50-over ICC events; in the other event they lost in the semi-final.There was a calm to how India chased down the target, the slickness of a team used to such situations. This was their sixth semi-final in ICC events in seven years. Veterans of big matches, they prefer to sit back while their oppositions work themselves into a frenzy; when they make a mistake, India swoop in.It looked like they had done that in the seventh over when Bhuvneshwar Kumar out-thought the aggressive Sabbir Rahman after he had raced away to 19 off 12. Having seen him chip down twice to clear mid-off, Bhuvneshwar started to mix bouncers and length balls. Bumrah did his bit by cramping Tamim Iqbal up at the other end. Thirteen straight dot balls brought the expected loose shot, and the wicket, to the sucker ball, reducing Bangladesh to 31 for 2.Mushfiqur Rahim kept attacking, dropping Bhuvneshwar over mid-off, but settled down soon, carrying the struggling Tamim. Signs were ominous for India – reminiscent of the World T20 semi-final last year – when Hardik Pandya overstepped when castling Tamim, who would have been out for 12 off 36 then.Instead Tamim and Mushfiqur batted perfectly against the India spinners. Mushfiqur is a hard man to bowl to for a spinner because his height means that good length balls end up getting cut or pulled. And he has the various sweeps to unsettle them when they start pitching it up. Tamim grew in confidence, too. Every time India strung together dot balls, either of them would hit a boundary. By the 25th over, they had added 111 in 19.1 overs. They had negated the main spinners, and had also taken 28 off Pandya’s three overs, which meant India now had a fifth-bowler problem.That fifth-bowler problem turned out to be their blessing in disguise. Bangladesh believed they should have hit four of the first 11 Jadhav deliveries for boundaries. They were short and they were juicy, but because Jadhav’s pace is off, they played with batsmen’s rhythm. Three of those were hit straight to fielders, and the fourth was rescued by a diving Bhuvneshwar at cover-point. Had any of these balls reached the fence, you can be pretty sure the 12th ball would have gone differently. Now, though, Tamim went for the slog sweep but the ball never arrived, and when it did it clipped the leg bail. India could sigh in relief: Tamim had taken 58 off the last 46 balls he faced.Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja – 25 in his first four overs – now began to rush through the overs. Shakib Al Hasan slowed them down a touch with a cut boundary off Jadeja, but when he went to repeat it in Jadeja’s next over, he chose a ball not short enough, and MS Dhoni produced a sensational catch. The coup de grâce of this death by slowness came in the 36th over, when Mushfiqur chipped a dipping full toss from Jadhav straight to short midwicket. Bangladesh since Jadhav’s introduction: 10.2 overs, 37 runs, and three wickets to rip the heart out of the batting.Of the core Bangladesh batting, only Mahmudullah was left. With Mosaddek Hossain, he took Bangladesh to the final 10 overs with five wickets in hand and 207 on the board, but in the final 10 came Bumrah. He had had an ordinary start to this tournament, but, like in the South Africa match, he bowled quick, he bowled smartly, and he cramped Mosaddek for a return catch and then hit the base of Mahmudullah’s off stump with what looked like a laser-guided yorker.The bowlers had done their job once again in what has arguably been their best tournament in adverse conditions. The ball hasn’t swung, but you can see – for the first time arguably – that India bowlers have had defensive plans in place, and have executed them, especially Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah. Now it was up to the batsmen to make sure this good work didn’t go to waste.Bangladesh’s only chance lay in accessing India’s suspect lower middle order early, but on a flat pitch with no deviation off the straight, India’s top order took them to school. Every shot hit with ease was a message to the Bangladesh batsmen who had ended at least 50 short. If Dhawan went deep to punch them square, Rohit stood tall and played punch-on drives; if Rohit cut with ease, Kohli unleashed some vintage cover drives that had not quite been coming off in the league stages. It was as if there was a contest within a contest: who will play the most glorious shots. It all worked for India, who ended the chase in 40.1 overs.
Jake Lehmann reeled off his third century of the summer as a young South Australia side held their own against New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield match at Coffs Harbour
ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2016
ScorecardJake Lehmann’s 148-ball 122 included 14 fours and a six•Getty Images
Jake Lehmann reeled off his third century of the summer as a young South Australia side held their own against New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield match at Coffs Harbour.Following Lehmann’s hundred, Joe Mennie was able to dismiss Ed Cowan cheaply before stumps were drawn. Cowan was returning to the team after he missed their draw against Western Australia in Perth due to the after-effects of a blow to the helmet inflicted by a Joel Paris bouncer in Lincoln.The match is being held on the NSW north coast in memory of the late Phillip Hughes, and Lehmann marked it with a swashbuckling left-hander’s century as part of a concerted Redbacks counterattack that followed the loss of three early wickets.SA’s selectors had been the subject of considerable debate in Adelaide after the decision to drop the experienced but underperforming Tom Cooper and Tim Ludeman.Their replacements Jake Weatherald and Alex Carey both made strong contributions. Opener Weatherald made a sprightly 58 while the gloveman added 105 with Lehmann after the visitors had slipped further to 5 for 123.Another youngster, the second-game seamer Cameron Valente, helped add further runs with Lehmann, allowing the Redbacks to reach the fringes of 300.Arjun Nair, the teenaged finger spinner who became the Blues’ 738th first-class cricketer and 11th youngest debutant, claimed a pair of tail-end wickets to help round up SA’s innings.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Conor McGregor have been seated next to one another for Anthony Joshua's fight with Otto Wallin in Saudi Arabia.
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Jason Gillespie thought his days in county cricket were over when his family moved out to Australia but Sussex have tempted him back with a three-year deal
David Hopps20-Nov-2017Sussex have announced Jason Gillespie as their new head coach.The decision ends a period of increasingly feverish speculation in which Matt Prior, the former England wicketkeeper, lobbied publicly for a role in a club that he believes has “gone soft”.Gillespie’s move to Hove, following a brief spell working with Papua New Guinea, represents an about-turn on a decision to commit his future primarily to Australia.When he stood down as Yorkshire head coach last year, having led them to successive Championship titles, he said that the move of his family back to Australia had made it impractical for him to serve as a full-time coach in English county cricket.He was linked with the England role before Trevor Bayliss took charge in 2015 and also had a brief spell as Kent bowling coach earlier this year where the pull of the county circuit remained strong.Further reflection has caused a change of mind as Gillespie takes on the talk of reinvigorating a county that dominated English cricket under the tenure of Peter Moores in the first decade of the century.
He will find a club with exciting bowling stocks – Jofra Archer and George Garton are arguably the two most exhilarating young quicks in the country – but with vulnerabilities in their top-order batting, made worse by the premature retirement through injury of Matt Machan and the departure of their experienced opener, Chris Nash, to Nottinghamshire.A Sussex statement said: “We are thrilled that Jason has agreed to join us on an initial three-year contract. He will take up his post in the New Year, in time for our pre-season preparations and tour.”Gillespie, who will spend the rest of the year in Adelaide, where he coaches Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash, said: “I am thrilled to be given the opportunity of taking the reins at such a proud and traditional club like Sussex. I know that there is some excitement around the capabilities of the current playing group.”I look forward to getting over there and playing my role in helping Sussex achieve its on and off-field goals for 2018 and beyond.”It remains to be seen whether Gillespie will take up Prior’s lobbying for a role within the county where he spent his entire first-class career. But Prior has already tweeted his enthusiasm for a “fantastic” appointment, adding: “It’s a very good start to the club moving forward.”Rob Andrew, Sussex’s chief executive, said: “Jason is exactly the experienced head coach we had hoped we would attract to the role. He has enormous experience of the English county game after his very successful spell with Yorkshire.”We believe we have a very talented young squad and we need a bit a bit of stability and a coach of Jason’s experience to help mould a successful team over the next few years.”
The return of the regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket
Steven Lynch18-Sep-2006The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:
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I recall that in my boyhood there was great excitement one year at the prospect of Geoffrey Boycott finishing the season with an average of more than 100. I haven’t seen any similar comment about Mark Ramprakash’s current efforts. Have season averages greater than 100 become commonplace? asked Stephen Sheen
They’re certainly not commonplace: since Geoff Boycott averaged 102.53 in 1979 (he also managed 100.12 in 1971), the only two men to average over 100 in a whole English season (given a minimum of eight competed innings) are Graham Gooch, with 101.70 in 1990, and Damien Martyn, who averaged 104.66 from nine matches on Australia’s 2001 tour of England. At the time of writing Mark Ramprakash is averaging 103.54, with a possible two innings to come at Derby later this week. Ramprakash has a fairly modest record against Derbyshire: he averages 35.35 from nine previous matches against them – the only county against whom he has a worse average is Essex (29.18). The target for him to aim at is 115.66, the highest average ever recorded in an English season, by Australia’s Don Bradman in 1938. Ramps would beat that if he makes 267 not out (or 383 runs if he’s out once).Sachin Tendulkar has just made his 40th ODI century, but India lost again. How many of his hundreds have led to Indian wins? asked Sumit Bhave from Jharkand
India have won 28 of the one-day internationals in which Sachin Tendulkar has scored a century, and lost 11 of them: there was also one no-result, against England at Chester-le-Street in 2002. Rather worryingly for India, though, they have ended up losing on each of the last four occasions that Tendulkar has reached 100.Are the current DLF Cup matches the first official one-day internationals to be played in Malaysia? asked Priyantha de Silva from Galle
Yes they were: Malaysia had previously hosted the ICC Trophy in 1997, and the cricket competition of the 1998 Commonwealth Games, but those were not official one-day internationals. When it staged the match between Australia and West Indies last week, the Kinrara Academy ground in Kuala Lumpur became the 161st different venue to stage an official ODI: for a complete list of the grounds, click here.Who has made the highest score at the Melbourne Cricket Ground? asked Chris Macdonald from Carlton … Melbourne
The highest score in a first-class match at the MCG is 437, by Bill Ponsford for Victoria against Queensland in 1927-28. Ponsford also scored the only other quadruple-century there, 429 against Tasmania in 1922-23. The Test record is 307, by Bob Cowper for Australia against England in 1965-66, and the highest individual score in a one-day international there is 173, by Mark Waugh for Australia against West Indies in 2000-01.
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Which cricketer called his autobiography Playing With Fire? asked Robert Richards from Cornwall
That was Nasser Hussain, who brought out his life story after his retirement in 2004. Published by Michael Joseph Books, it weighed in at a chunky 512 pages, which I suspect was the record for a cricket autobiography at the time, although the mark was smashed by Steve Waugh’s 816-page monster Out Of My Comfort Zone in 2005!There’s an update to last week’s question about the former Zimbabwe captain Brian Murphy, from Debashish Biswas
“Brian Murphy is the pro at Henley Cricket Club, on the Berkshire/Oxfordshire border. He has been there since at least 2004. Their First XI play in the Home Counties Premier League.”And there have also been a few responses to last week’s appeal for the missing words for Tony Woodward’s poem:
Mike Staveley from Canada suggests:
I wondered how she’d look without her Extra Cover,
And how she would respond if I tried my Leg Break tricks …
While Tony McGowan attempted:
Did she spot your googly coming,
Or your other fancy tricks?
And Farrukh Aziz from Pakistan tried:
Wanting to drive Through the covers, I just got a nick,
I heard the Third Man saying “Oh what a nice flick”.
But possibly the best one came from Chandramouli in India:
I thought she would be a good catch,
And we would make a perfect match.
Isa Guha, the former England seamer, has become the first woman to be appointed to the board of the Professional Cricketers’ Association
ESPNcricinfo staff12-Apr-2017
Isa Guha, the former England seamer, has become the first woman to be appointed to the board of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.Guha, 31, becomes a non-executive director of the players’ union.She retired from international cricket in 2012, having played a part in England’s victories in both the World Cup and the World T20 in 2009, as well as two Ashes triumphs in 2005 and 2007-08, when she took career-best match figures of 9 for 100 at Bowral.She has since gone on to forge a career in broadcasting, becoming the first female summariser on BBC Test Match Special in 2014, before co-hosting ESPN’s coverage of the 2015 World Cup in Australia.”Isa has a vast knowledge of the game from a men’s and women’s perspective,” said David Leatherdale, the PCA chief executive. “With our international women players now full members of the PCA, Isa will bring real insight to the PCA board.””I am delighted to be joining the PCA at an exciting time for the game here in England for our men and women at both domestic and international levels,” Guha said.”I look forward to working with the team at the PCA, and with all the many past and present players, as the country prepares for a number of major events, starting with the ICC Champions Trophy and the Women’s World Cup this summer.”
Lionel Messi is “very happy” at the moment and that should help to keep him on course to play at the 2026 World Cup, says Javier Zanetti.
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Harry Kane and Thomas Tuchel gave their thoughts on Bayern Munich loanee Josip Stanisic scoring for Bayern Leverkusen against his parent club.
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On a tour where more had been said about Jonny Bairstow’s headbutt than his batting he was able to let out a few emotions on the second day in Perth
George Dobell in Perth15-Dec-2017Jonny Bairstow ensured he had the last laugh after completing a maiden Ashes century.On the first night of this tour, Bairstow ventured to the Avenue bar in the suburbs of Perth and greeted Cameron Bancroft with a now notorious genial head-butt.While it took a few weeks for the incident to come to light – Australia used it in the second innings of the first Test to unsettle Bairstow and some have subsequently suggested it provides evidence of England’s “drinking culture” – it briefly threatened to disturb the focus of both Bairstow and the England camp.But upon reaching his century here, Bairstow kissed and then gently head-butted his England helmet several times in a clear and good-natured reference to the episode. It was a celebration that demonstrated both an ability to laugh at his own errors and suggested the incident had long been put behind him. And, as he said afterwards, it may well be the whole affair gave him made him “more determined to succeed.”With that context and the fact that it had taken Bairstow until his fourth Ashes series, his 12th Ashes Test and his 20th Ashes innings to make his first Ashes century, it was perhaps not surprising that he rated it his “favourite” Test century.”The hundred in many ways was my favourite one,” Bairstow said. “I’ve played in a few Ashes series now and to score an Ashes hundred – something that had eluded me until now – is something you dream about as a kid. This is the pinnacle of the game.”It means a heck of a lot to be involved in record stands. You want to make an Ashes hundred. You want to look back in the archives when you’re retired and say to your kids or your grandkids: ‘I made an Ashes hundred at the WACA’.”There’s a huge amount of pride that comes with any hundred and in playing for your country.”The celebration was a bit of light hearted fun and it should be taken as such. It was spontaneous. I hadn’t thought about it before.”Hopefully it is a positive reaction I have given in this innings. Sometimes the chat out there spurs people on and makes them more determined to succeed.”Jonny Bairstow celebrates his maiden Ashes hundred•Getty Images
Bairstow hadn’t scored a Test century since an unbeaten 167 against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in June 2016 – 21 Tests and 38 innings ago – though he made 99 against South Africa at Old Trafford in August. But here he posted a stand of 237 with Dawid Malan – a record for England’s fifth-wicket in Ashes cricket – to steer England from the peril of 131 for 4 to the relative comfort of 368 for 4 before a now familiar batting collapse.While Bairstow admitted the collapse was “frustrating” and the manner of Malan’s dismissal “disappointing”, he maintained a ‘glass half-full’ perspective.”It was disappointing the way he got out,” Bairstow said, “but the intent we showed in our batting was much better.”Maybe we’re frustrated in some ways, but it depends how you look at things. We were 100 for 4 at one stage. You can either think it was a fantastic recovery or you can look at it and say we’ve let our position slip.”Meanwhile the ECB confirmed Mark Wood would remain with the England squad after the end of the Lions tour on Sunday. There are currently no plans to retain the services of any of the other players in that squad, most of whom will arrive back in the UK on Monday.That means that, despite the failings of the top-order, England’s only obvious batting options for the final two Tests are Ben Foakes and Gary Ballance. While others are either in Australia or shortly will be – Jos Buttler, Jason Roy and Sam Billings are among those involved in the BBL while Sam Robson is spending time with his family in Sydney – there are currently no plans to utilise any of them in the Ashes.It remains to be seen how much of a role Craig Overton will play in the rest of the match. Overton was forced off the pitch for a while on the second day after jarring a rib as he attempted to claim a tough caught and bowled opportunity. He returned to the field before the close and it was not deemed necessary to send him for a scan. But he will be assessed by the medical team before play on the third day to ascertain his fitness to bowl.