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Ben Laughlin defended three off the last ball against Kieron Pollard as Adelaide Strikers made it to their first ever BBL final

The Report by Alex Malcolm02-Feb-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJake Weatherald sweeps the ball fine•Getty Images

Confirmation of the BBL final’s host hung on one delivery. A swing and a miss from Kieron Pollard made Ben Laughlin a hero and delivered Adelaide Strikers their first BBL final berth, while the Melbourne Renegades were denied a chance at a title. Strikers will host Hobart Hurricanes on Sunday at Adelaide Oval, with both sides chasing their first BBL trophy.The game was on a knife’s edge all through the Renegades run chase. Laughlin was asked to keep the Renegades to 12 runs or less in the final over. He gave up 10 off the first five balls including a boundary from Pollard. With three to win off the final delivery Pollard missed a length ball in the slot and a bye wasn’t enough.Strikers’ tried and tested set-and-defend formula worked again. Travis Head cast aside his disappointment of being dropped from Australia’s T20 International side to play a match-winning hand. His unbeaten 85 was pivotal to the Strikers’ imposing total. Jake Weatherald provided superb support.Renegades had looked on track the whole way after a brisk start from Marcus Harris and Tim Ludeman. Tom Cooper and Kieron Pollard appeared set to finish the job but they couldn’t.Dashing DeanThe loss of Alex Carey at the top of the order seemed an impossible hole to fill. Jono Dean couldn’t provide the volume of runs that Carey had but he could provide something different. Carey had been a slow starter in the Powerplay and preferred to accelerate once set.Renegades had hoped to sneak in an over of Cooper’s offspin early to get the Strikers behind the eight-ball. Dean did not allow it. He smashed 13 from the first over and then hit Chris Tremain over the rope off the seventh ball of the innings. He holed out off the eighth. But the rapid start gave Weatherald and Head the chance to settle in. Weatherald was able to do as Carey had done. He was striking at less than run-a-ball, before launching Cooper in the 10th over. He scored 33 runs off his next 16 balls to take the pressure off Head. Their partnership of 104 looked set to blow the game apart.Holland a specialist fielderJon Holland took the catch to remove Weatherald. It was his only contribution for the night. He wasn’t used with the ball despite being selected as Renegades’ only specialist spinner, presumably because he wasn’t the right match-up for the two left-handers that batted deep into the innings. The rate slowed briefly as Colin Ingram and Jonathan Wells came and went. Ingram fell to a stunning one-hander from Tim Ludeman. But Head found a way to accelerate despite losing partners. He only hit one four and one six in the last five overs but ran eight twos to get the total up to 178.Bizarre PowerplayStrikers have buried opponents in the Powerplay when defending totals. But without Billy Stanlake, Renegades bolted out of the blocks in spite of making some bizarre decisions themselves. The top three of Marcus Harris, Matthew Short and Tom Cooper from the last few fixtures was abandoned. Cameron White, who batted at No. 3 with great success before leaving for international duty, opened with Harris and Ludeman batted one-down for the first time in the tournament, while Short was not selected. White holed out early. But Harris continued his fine form and Ludeman cut loose. The key moment came when Rashid Khan was forced to bowl an over in the Powerplay and Renegades took 12 runs from it. The Renegades Powerplay of 1 for 64 was their best in the tournament, and the Strikers’ worst.Nervous Lehmann, nerveless LaughlinHead and Rashid got their own back, removing Harris and Ludeman off consecutive overs. But Renegades needed just 87 runs from the last 60 balls with seven wickets in hand. Cooper and Dwayne Bravo reduced that to 52 from 36 with some cool and calculated batting. The game then appeared to slip through the Strikers’ fingers.Head turned boldly to the part-time legspin of Ingram. He forced a mistake from Bravo, who skied one to long-on, but Lehmann spilled the relatively simple chance running in. Bravo launched the next ball for six over cover. Laughlin removed Bravo and conceded just five runs in the 16th over. Head gambled with Ingram again to Pollard. Again, he forced a skied ball to long-on. Lehmann ran in glancing at midwicket, hoping someone would call him out of the catch. No call came. When he looked back up he realised he had over-run and it fell untouched.The next ball didn’t go for six, but Pollard launched Rashid over the longest boundary next over. The Renegades needed 20 runs from 12 balls with Pollard and Cooper set. But where Head had run twos on mis-hits during his batting innings, Pollard strolled ones. Michael Neser gave up just seven runs in the 19th over to give Laughlin a chance. Despite one incredible strike down the ground and some luck on the final ball, Laughlin held his nerve to get his side home.

The two spinners finished with match hauls of eight wickets each to clinch the unofficial Test series for Sri Lanka 2-1

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2017
ScorecardWICB Media/Athelstan Bellamy

Left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara and offspinner Shehan Jayasuriya were at the forefront of Sri Lanka A’s series-clinching win in the third unofficial Test against West Indies A, with a match haul of eight wickets each. Their combined efforts meant West Indies A were limited to scores of 181 and 118 in their two innings, to hand Sri Lanka A a comfortable ten-wicket win within two days of play.Pushpakumara, who had a haul of 12 wickets in the second four-dayer, took 4 for 67 in the first innings, with support from Lahiru Kumara and Jayasuriya, who picked up two each. West Indies A’s innings of 181 was propped up single-handedly by Sunil Ambris, who scored his fifth first-class century, even as no other West Indies A batsman managed to score more than 20.Sri Lanka A then took a 92-run lead despite a few stutters with the bat. Captain Dhananjaya de Silva top-scored with 64, while Roshen Silva contributed 52 before retiring hurt.Jayasuriya then took centre stage, accounting for West Indies A’s top six for returns of 6 for 60. Like their first innings, only one West Indies A batsman managed a score of more than 20; in this instance captain Shamarh Brooks hit 52. Pushpakumara ran through the lower order, with 4 for 19, to leave Sri Lanka A with a target of 27 runs to win. The visitors needed only 5.5 overs to reach the target on the third evening.

However, the Cricket West Indies president was personally quite satisfied by security arrangements in Lahore for the final match of the World XI series

Umar Farooq16-Sep-2017Cricket West Indies president Dave Cameron said it was a “challenge” to convince the West Indies players that it was safe to visit Pakistan. Cameron was on a two-day trip to the country to watch the final T20I of the World XI series, an event which the PCB hopes will convince other nations to send their teams for international tours.”I have enjoyed my two days in Pakistan,” Cameron said in a press conference at Gaddafi Stadium on Friday. “As Najam [Sethi, the PCB chairman] said, we’ve been talking about this for some time and have our own challenges back in the West Indies. We’re only 5 million people, and as you heard there was recently a hurricane passing through our islands as well. But my challenge is to convince the players that it’s safe enough. It’s our duty to help as well. I felt that if I came over here to show that it’s safe enough that would go some way in convincing the players. InshAllah [God-willing] in November, we’ll be here.”This is the second time PCB has approached West Indies to tour, after they refused to travel to Pakistan in March upon receiving security advice from the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA). In the report then, FICA warned that the risk level in Pakistan remained “at an extremely elevated state” and that “an acceptable level of participant security and safety cannot be expected or guaranteed”. It had also discouraged players strongly from travelling to Lahore for the Pakistan Super League final.But things have improved since, as ICC’s chief executive officer David Richardson noted at a press conference on Wednesday. The security arrangements were overseen by international security consultants. The ICC bore the cost of the security advisors and have agreed terms to assist the PCB for every series they host in Pakistan from hereon in.But Cameron also explained that the matter may not necessarily be in his hands, with the board not having the final say over whether its players tour a particular nation. “We’ve had the security team here for the final of the PSL and they’ve seen these matches as well,” he said, when asked if FICA could be convinced. “Here, Pakistan’s board makes decisions [regarding where to tour]. My board’s a little bit different, with the WIPA [West Indies Players Association] also having a big say. We have to respect their decision.”We want to ensure that when the players come over, everyone actually wants to come and enjoy the experience, and we don’t want to be seen to be forcing anyone. We’ve had Darren Sammy here and Samuel Badree and they’ve loved it. Sammy’s on his second trip and I think that will also convince the players that it is safe to come.Cameron also gave the security arrangements in Pakistan a personal vote of confidence. “From what I believe I’m very convinced. The hospitality has been great, and the security has been first-class, and from where I stand right now, everything looks good.”

The Bangladesh coach wants to build on the team’s impressive performances since the 2015 World Cup and maintains his focus on winning matches abroad with the South Africa tour coming up

Mohammad Isam02-Aug-2017Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha believes that the positive results over the past season will be the base on which the team will look to build their progress in the upcoming international season. The steady rise since the 2015 World Cup which culminated in the 2017 Champions Trophy semi-final appearance was the starting point for the upcoming season in which Bangladesh are going to face varied challenges over eight months, Hathurusingha said.Even as they target a series win over Australia, the coach said winning abroad remains their main challenge, particularly in South Africa where Bangladesh haven’t toured since 2008.”Success will be to win away from home and beating teams above us,” he said. “The progress for us is to maintain this success. We made it to the World Cup quarter-final and then Champions Trophy semi-final. We have started winning in the subcontinent. We have lot of areas to improve, so we are looking at consistency.”We have made some progress in Test cricket. Now we have the game plan of winning in the subcontinent. We want to win the two Tests against Australia. The challenge is to adapt to South African conditions, and then adjust the game plan. The first two weeks in South Africa before the first Test are very crucial.”Their first call of duty will be against Australia at home and notwithstanding the uncertainty that lurks over the tour scheduled for later this month, Bangladesh have steadily raised their training intensity over the last four weeks. The new batting consultant, Mark O’Neill, for instance, is now regularly seen speaking to bowlers about their basics with the bat. Courtney Walsh has already held a bowling clinic with the fast bowlers while the BCB is close to hiring a spin-bowling coach.The training camp that started in Mirpur on July 10 first focused on fitness before moving to the skills part of the game towards the end of the month. The group will move to Chittagong on Friday, where they have three training sessions before a three-day practice match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, the venue for the second Test.Hathurusingha said that developing a stronger unit for the next World Cup is their main goal, and by bringing in uncapped players into the training camp, they are leaving the door open for a rookie to stand up and be counted, after being drilled with proper fitness and training methods.”We are looking at the bigger picture so we have involved 20-odd players. Our main focus is up to 2019 World Cup, at least for me,” Hathurusingha said. “All these guys have to get used to playing and training in high intensity.”By training with the national players, they can see what the challenges ahead are to break into the team. It is about expanding our pool if we need, or someone puts his hand up and says ‘pick me, I am good enough’. We don’t want anyone to take their place for granted.”

MLS has always been an attractive destination for stars entering the end of their careers. We've seen David Beckham and Steven Gerrard both play for LA Galaxy; Frank Lampard and David Villa play for New York City FC; and now, in the biggest move in MLS history, we're about to see Lionel Messi turn out for Inter Miami every week.

Given Miami's current form, however – failing to win in their last eight games – the European equivalent of this move would be if the Argentine decided to move to Everton. Yet, here Messi is, and here Miami are, ready to build around one of the best players of all time, if not the very best.

David Beckham is not messing around, either, reportedly targeting some big names, some of which you can see below. And so, Football FanCast has put together a dream XI for the club.

Jesse Lingard

To say that Jesse Lingard's move to Nottingham Forest didn't work out would be an understatement. The midfielder didn't score or assist a single Premier League goal as the newly-promoted side managed to secure survival.

Now a free agent after his deal came to an end, the former Manchester United man is on the hunt for a new club, and is reportedly training with Inter Miami.

Still only 30, Lingard has plenty to offer, and would be a significant upgrade in a struggling Miami side.

Jordi Alba

Like Lingard, Jordi Alba is a free agent this summer, and could make the move to Inter Miami to join former Barcelona teammate Messi. During his time at the Spanish giants, Alba wrote himself into the history books as arguably one of the club's greatest full-backs, winning La Liga six times, as well as numerous other trophies.

Now 34, the left-back has the chance to make the MLS move. According to Marca, Alba is already in contact with Inter Miami amid a potential summer switch.

He would be the second Barcelona player to make the move during this transfer window following in Sergio Busquets' footsteps.

Sergio Ramos

After getting a glimpse of Messi's ability up close as a teammate for the first time at Paris Saint-Germain, Sergio Ramos could link up with the Barcelona legend once again, this time at Inter Miami – as per Sport.

The former Real Madrid captain continues the trend of free agents on Beckham's list of transfer targets, after his contract in the French capital came to an end this summer.

If Inter Miami are looking for leaders, then they needn't look any further than Ramos in the current transfer window.

Luis Suarez

Getting Luis Suarez and Messi back together on the same pitch would arguably be a better reunion than any famous band in history. The duo would still cause chaos against some big European sides, let alone MLS teams.

If Inter Miami can secure a deal for Suarez from Gremio, in particular, then they will undoubtedly rise up the rankings in America, and rapidly.

Speaking about transfer targets, Beckham said, via GiveMeSport: “Two or three more players will come.

"We spoke with Jordi Alba— while Luis Suarez has a contract and a release clause. I don't know if that will happen or not. All the announcements will be made before July 15.”

How Inter Miami could line-up: Callender; Taylor; Ramos; Kryvstov; Alba; Busquets; Lingard; Gregore; Messi; Martinez; Suarez

The ACA have revealed that they want to discuss ‘what is in and what is out of shared revenue streams’,a definition that has become a major stumbling block

Daniel Brettig01-Jun-20173:46

What exactly is the Cricket Australia-ACA pay dispute?

Australia’s players are willing to compromise on a major financial sticking point that lies at the heart of their ongoing pay dispute with Cricket Australia (CA). As the board’s nine directors met in Brisbane on Thursday, the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) opened up a potential path for more productive talks, by indicating they are open to a redefinition – and reduction – of the revenue they are entitled to share in.That led to a reciprocal response from CA, who have expressed their own willingness to be “flexible”. In a negotiation period that began last November and has been the most divisive and bitter in 20 years, this may be a significant step forward ahead of the June 30 deadline by which the parties must find agreement.CA has repeatedly claimed that the ACA is seeking a share of all revenue in the game for professional players, including from such areas as sponsorships of grassroots competitions and junior registrations. The claim was made explicit in a briefing note distributed to media last week, which said:”A proportion of revenue from the sponsorship of grassroots cricket programs has to be distributed to elite player payments. Under the ACA’s new proposal, a guaranteed 22.5% of all CA and the states and associations revenue means the players would receive 22.5 cents of every dollar spent by parents on a junior registration fee.”However, the ACA have now confirmed that the players’ flexibility over the next pay agreement extends to being “open to a discussion of what is in and what is out of shared revenue streams.” The position was conveyed in a letter to the CA chairman David Peever last month.A narrower definition of agreed revenue may be the first building block of a deal between the parties. It would remove the impending risk of a major industrial relations battle, in a year when Australia are scheduled to play a home Ashes series after tours of South Africa, Bangladesh and India.”The players have always had and still do have flexibility,” the ACA president Greg Dyer said, striking a far less confrontational tone. “There is room to move to modernise this partnership. The ACA can discuss new models of revenue sharing, and how we can collectively manage risk.”A CA spokesman said the board was also prepared to be flexible. “CA believes there is still time to conclude an MoU by 30 June and reiterates its preparedness to be flexible in negotiations,” he said. “CA urges the ACA to spend more time at the negotiating table and less time writing press releases in order to begin making progress towards a resolution.”Less than a month remains before the expiry of the current MoU, with CA threatening that all players out of contract will be unemployed should the ACA not agree to discuss its current pay offer. A key plank of the offer is the replacement of revenue sharing with fixed wages for players, with only international players entitled to any of the game’s “blue sky” above that, while state player contract levels are effectively frozen over the next five years.CA’s tactics have included efforts to put space between the ACA and the players, including the team performance manager Pat Howard’s attempts to deal directly with all contracted players by email. Howard recently offered multi-year deals to the top five CA-contracted players – Steven Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins – under the board’s new terms, an approach that was quickly rebuffed.The allrounder Moises Henriques, who is also part of the ACA executive, said the association was working closely with the players, and that they were willing to be flexible in the interests of reaching an agreement with CA.”We’re a part of the decision-making process, in strategy and how we play it … and the ACA are just a representative agent of the players,” he said. “Really, the decisions get made by the players and the ACA acts on their behalf.”It’s not like we [the ACA] are going to do anything the players don’t want to do. Coming to an agreement would be the best way forward. What we’ve got to worry about is that agreement being made as quickly as possible. Maybe CA may have to give a little bit, we may have to give a little bit, who knows. But the players know we need to get to an agreement. Guys want to play international cricket, guys want to play state cricket. The players want it sorted and I am sure CA do as well.”

An update has emerged on Everton and their plans to bolster their attacking options in the summer transfer window…

What's the latest on Alfredo Morelos to Everton?

Colombian journalist Pipe Sierra has claimed that the Toffees are one of the clubs showing an interest in signing Colombian centre-forward Alfredo Morelos.

The reporter tweeted:

"Alfredo Morelos (26) and #Rangers did not reach a renewal agreement; everything is given for him to be a free agent from July 1. #Sevilla, #Cádiz, #Everton #Nottingham and #Fenerbahçe the first interested parties. There is also an Italian club that wants it."

Toffees boss Sean Dyche will now have to convince the soon-to-be-former Gers marksman to reject a host of other teams in order to secure his signature for the 2023/24 campaign.

Will Neal Maupay leave Everton this summer?

The Frenchman has been linked with a move to Serie A outfit Salernitana and the Blues head coach bringing Morelos in would surely allow him to sanction such a move, thus ruthlessly ditch the expensive dud.

Signing another striker to occupy one of the forward slots in the team would open the door for Dyche to kick Neal Maupay out of the club, after his dreadful season at Goodison Park.

The 26-year-old flop joined from Brighton & Hove Albion for a fee of £15m last summer and endured a rough campaign in front of goal for the Toffees.

He averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.56 across 27 appearances in the Premier League and only contributed with one goal, as the misfiring striker failed to register a single assist or create a 'big chance' for his teammates. Maupay also missed seven 'big chances' and this proves that the service into him was not the reason behind his severe lack of goals in the division.

Morelos is yet to experience football in England and there is certainly no guarantee that he will be able to translate his form at Ibrox over to Goodison Park, but his form in Scotland suggests that the potential is there for him to be a big upgrade on Maupay.

The £33k-per-week international plundered an eye-catching 124 goals and 58 assists across 269 appearances for the Light Blues during his time at Ibrox.

During the 2022/23 campaign, the 26-year-old goal machine averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.98 in the Scottish Premiership and chipped in with 11 goals and five assists in 32 appearances, despite only having started 15 matches.

Morelos, who was anonymously described as a "nightmare for defenders" by one of his SPFL opponents, has been a reliable goalscorer, and provider, throughout his years in Scotland and Dyche could now be handed a perfect reason to ruthlessly axe Maupay by bringing the prolific striker in to take his place in the squad.

Jose Mourinho has used Romelu Lukaku’s goal-scoring exploits to aim a sly dig at his critics, with the Belgian striker continuing to deliver for Roma.

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• Belgian striker returned to Italy on loan
• Worked with Portuguese at Chelsea & Man Utd
• Coach has no concerns regarding future

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The former Chelsea and Manchester United frontman – who worked with Mourinho at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford – made his way to Stadio Olimpico during the summer transfer window on an initial loan agreement.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Lukaku has found the target on four occasions through six appearances for Roma – with the former Serie A title winner from his days at Inter proving to be a rare bright spark for the Giallorossi through a testing start to the season that has delivered eight points from seven games.

• WHAT THEY SAID

  Mourinho believes those exploits prove that he still knows what he is doing, as critics are quick to point at him enduring supposed third-season syndrome once again in a prominent coaching post, with the Portuguese telling after seeing Lukaku score in a 2-0 victory over Frosinone: “I thought that I could be held responsible for Lukaku not scoring! At the very least, nobody can accuse me of that, because Romelu keeps scoring. He scores here, he scores at Manchester United, at Inter. Romelu scores everywhere. Fortunately, I am not a coach who can remove Romelu’s qualities.”

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  WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

  Questions continue to be asked of how long Mourinho will be sticking around at Roma – with a lucrative offer from the Middle East having already been snubbed – but he claims to have the full support of owners Dan and Ryan Friedkin. He added: “You keep talking about future, that is not something I need to worry about, my future is the promise I made until June 30. A coach must respect the club owners and not comment on anything. I am happy for them that we won today, because obviously the owners want to win. I work for them, I work for the Roma fans and I work for the players. When we do well, I am happy.”

Western Australia batsman William Bosisto will captain the Cricket Australia XI in next month’s Matador Cup, with former Test player Brad Hodge named as the side’s coach. Bosisto is one of five men in the squad who also played for the CA XI in last year’s tournament, along with his vice-captain Matthew Short, James Bazley, Liam Hatcher and Ryan Lees.The teenage New South Wales spinner Arjun Nair, who made his Sheffield Shield debut last summer, is part of the 14-man group, having made his List A debut for the National Performance Squad in this winter’s A series in Queensland. Other NPS players from this year who join Nair in the CA XI squad are Tom O’Donnell, Sam Grimwade, Sam Harper, David Grant and Josh Inglis.Fast bowler Jhye Richardson, who played for Western Australia in last year’s Matador Cup, is in the CA XI this summer. Western Australia’s Jake Carder and New South Wales’ Ryan Gibson are the only members of the group with no List A experience.”This is a great opportunity for these emerging players to test their skills and develop their cricket by competing at domestic level,” CA’s national talent manager Greg Chappell said. “The squad contains a number of players who have already played domestic cricket. Hopefully this opportunity will allow these players to push for further selection within states or at the national level.”It’s been really pleasing to see the development of players from last year’s CA XI. Hilton Cartwright and Mitch Swepson are two examples of players who have taken that opportunity with both hands, and have gone from strength to strength over the past 12 months.”Players in this year’s squad now have the opportunity to follow that same path, and we are confident this side will be competitive throughout the tournament.”Cricket Australia XI squad William Bosisto (capt, WA), Matthew Short (vice-capt, Vic), James Bazley (Qld), Jake Carder (WA), Ryan Gibson (NSW), David Grant (SA), Sam Grimwade (Vic), Sam Harper (Vic), Liam Hatcher (NSW), Josh Inglis (WA), Ryan Lees (Tas), Arjun Nair (NSW), Tom O’Donnell (Vic), Jhye Richardson (WA).

Scotland batsman Calum MacLeod has credited a return to form to technical adjustments made during a winter of off-season training with his county side Durham. MacLeod’s 103 in a win over UAE on Tuesday was his third ODI ton for Scotland and first since 2014.”It’s been a year without a hundred for Scotland so to get a monkey off my back in putting in a winning performance again, I’m really really happy personally,” MacLeod told ESPNcricinfo after the win in Edinburgh.MacLeod had an outstanding 2014 for Scotland, beginning that January by scoring two centuries at the 2014 World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand including a Scotland ODI record 175 against Canada. He ended the year in solid form as well, notching 116 not out in a win over Ireland at Malahide in September.However, 2015 was a nightmare for MacLeod. A pre-World Cup tour to the UAE to play fellow World Cup participants Ireland and Afghanistan in a desert tri-series netted three runs in five innings opening the batting. Things didn’t get much better at the World Cup either. He scored off one ball in his first 12 deliveries of the tournament, registering two ducks along the way to complete a string of four noughts in six innings that began in Dubai.After being Scotland’s second-highest scorer in New Zealand a year earlier at the Qualifier, with 401 runs in eight innings, he ended the World Cup with 50 runs in six innings. He struggled at the World T20 Qualifier back on home soil later in the summer too, finishing fifth in the team in runs with 114 from seven innings and a best of just 29.That form slump carried to Durham as well. In 2014, MacLeod was Durham’s leading scorer in the NatWest T20 Blast with 358 runs at 44.75 including two fifties. On the back of the World Cup drought, he made 210 runs at 21.00 in the T20 Blast while his County Championship form went south too, finishing with 161 runs in 13 innings at 14.63 with a best of 44.”After the World Cup and the season that followed as well, I got myself into some quite bad habits,” MacLeod said. “Last winter I went away and worked quite closely with the coach for quite a lot of the winter, Jon Lewis down at Durham, and we did some really interesting work.”It was amazing how small a change I think I had to make to get back to scoring runs. It felt, and it looked when we did some video, that a lot of the time I just wasn’t set. My trigger [movement] wasn’t in and it was that simple, that I was doing it too late. So I was trying to bat when I wasn’t even ready to bat.”MacLeod started to show signs of turning things around in January during the tour of Hong Kong when he top-scored with 58 in the first ODI. He struggled a bit more in the subsequent T20s and wound up only playing in one of Scotland’s three matches at the World T20 in India.However, MacLeod continued to plug away upon returning to Durham and the results have been showing. Working his way back into the first team he scored an unbeaten 105 on July 18 in the 2nd XI one-day cup against Northamptonshire, his third 50-plus score in four games in the competition. On July 29, he motored to 83 off 50 in the T20 Blast against Derbyshire before scoring Tuesday’s century against UAE.”Changing such a simple thing and just getting it in earlier for me, it gave me the time and the confidence started to flow when I scored more runs in the early part of this season down at Durham and continued it the whole way through. So it’s been a nice reward of some hard work in the winter away from games.”Scotland have two more home ODIs in September against Hong Kong to end the summer. They’re also now just one point behind Netherlands after eight games in the WCL Championship. Scotland’s remaining WCL Championship fixtures through 2017 come against Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Kenya and MacLeod says the series against Hong Kong is a good opportunity to continue building momentum in an effort to overtake Netherlands on the WCL Championship table next year.”We spent a bit of time in Hong Kong during the winter,” MacLeod said. “We didn’t play our best cricket so I think the guys will be really fired up to give Hong Kong a good showing and show them what we can do. If we play as well as we played and field as well as we have then I see no reason why we can’t come away with two wins.”We want to win the tournament and I think it’s going to be based on performances like we’ve done in the last two games. We don’t want to do it based on other teams losing games. There won’t be a game that we won’t go into without this attitude to go and win the game and take it forward. Obviously there’s some big games coming up. It’s just a case of finding a way to win those really.”