Take our quiz on some of the biggest names to feature in the 11th Women’s World Cup in England

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2017

With the verdict against Khalid Latif on Wednesday, all but two of the players charged with allegations related to spot-fixing in the PSL have had their sentences pronounced

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2017

Football might be king in Assam, but cricket received quite the welcome too

Arun Venugopal in Guwahati11-Oct-2017Tea. Kaziranga. The one-horned rhinoceros. Sericulture. Political strife. Think Assam and this could well be a quick – by no means comprehensive – list of associative words that come to your mind. But omit football and the list is definitely incomplete. Across the eight states of north-east India, football is the true of the masses, and Assam is no exception.Football was brought into the north-east by the Christian missionaries from Great Britain and it soon became more than just a sport. The reasons that contributed to football’s presence across the world – ease of access and low-cost infrastructure – apply to Assam as well.Also, like in many parts of the world, football became a means of social and economic liberation; while football helped people of the state stamp their identity, it also was a ticket to a better lifestyle. According to Sharda Ugra, senior editor at ESPNcricinfo who has chronicled the growth of north-east football for ESPN’s multi-sports website, at one point footballers in the region wanted to go to Kolkata to pursue football professionally in the quest for a better livelihood.Guwahati, the biggest city of Assam, is fittingly one of the host cities of the ongoing Under-17 football World Cup. Kausav Baruah, a sports journalist with local newspaper the , puts the spectator numbers for games not featuring India – France v New Caledonia and Japan v Honduras – at around 12,000.Amid all this, cricket remains a niche but loved cousin. Even if you were a kilometre or two away from the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, you couldn’t have missed the deafening soundtrack produced by a screaming, hyperventilating mass of fans to welcome the Indian team. “It’s not that cricket is not popular in Assam,” Baruah says. “After all, an international game is happening in the city after seven long years and everyone is aware of what it means to see players in the blue jersey.”After decades of footballing monogamy, Kerala has indulged in a breezy romance with cricket in recent times. There is no reason why Assam couldn’t go the Kerala way. A sell-out crowd for the second T20I between India and Australia in the new Baraspara Stadium is as good a place to start as any. But there is much work to be done.

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If you have grown up in Kolkata, like I have, in the 1990s, then Guwahati is bound to evoke a sense of déjà vu. For the most part, the city seems to be torn between tiny, congested streets and expansive, ambitious stretches. On the one hand there are the elegant waterways, the pungency of mustard oil and the vocals of the legendary Bhupen Hazarika filling the air, and on the other, cute cafés, wildlife workshops and majestic mountains. It’s easy to pigeonhole Guwahati as an idyllic city but it would be as much a lazy stereotype as is some of the casual racism that is directed at people from this region.Assam, like its other sisters from the north-east, doesn’t often find itself in India’s mainstream narrative. Even during the floods that claimed several lives earlier this year, Assam’s plight wasn’t as much in the public glare as was, say, an inundated Mumbai’s at about the same time. But the people of Guwahati are a delightful mix of hardiness and fun with an unmistakable streak of ingenuity or what they call in Hindi. Sample this: a cycle-rickshaw driver has an umbrella custom-fitted right over his head to guard against the rains. In exhibit two, a café manager tells me of how his cricket-fan friend advised him to acquire a ticket to the India-Australia match for INR 4000 (USD 60 approx) and sell it to some other fan for a slightly higher price. That it would be a viable proposition is beyond doubt, given the high demand for tickets and the resultant glee of black-marketeers.To understand what the return of big-ticket cricket means to the people of Guwahati, you don’t need to look beyond Brett Lee’s example. Now, Lee isn’t an active cricketer, and while he’s popular with the Indian crowd there isn’t the kind of euphoria around him that a Virat Kohli or an MS Dhoni would generate. He is usually approached by the odd selfie-hunter or two, but once he touched down at Guwahati he was mobbed by at least 500 people and appeared a touch surprised. Forget match day, the roads leading up to the Barsapara were clogged with people on the eve of it. And they sure knew how to make noise. Minto, an auto-rickshaw driver, is a football fan who has shown up for the France-New Caledonia game but is disappointed that the tickets to the India-Australia game are sold out. Ramanand, in the food business, has pushed football to the back of his priorities for now. “India is not even playing here, so there isn’t much interest. But, at least in cricket, there is an India-Australia game.”By 6.15 pm on match day, nearly all seats were taken. About 15 minutes later, they took up the same incantations as their counterparts from other cities: “Kohli…Kohli.” “Dhoni… Dhoni.” “We want sixer… we want sixer.” Forty-five minutes later, they lost their voice as India suffered a top-order collapse. By 10 pm, their vocal chords were functional again when Moises Henriques completed a half-century. It hurt them that India were on the losing side, but most were not going to not acknowledge good cricket. Some it seems were not as graceful, and that left a regretful blemish.

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On the eve of the match, Richie Richardson wore two hats – that of a match referee and a man with a soft spot for Guwahati. There is good reason for the latter: Richardson had made his ODI debut at the Nehru Stadium here in 1983. After he was done briefing the different crews – pitch, security, medical and catering – he spoke to the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) officials of his affection for the venue. He even jokingly asked if the catering staff could make his favourite . “I wish you the very best from my heart,” he told the officials. “I played my debut game here. I want the best for you. [I hope you do well] so that you get more matches in the future.”Barsapara’s debut international match, though, isn’t ACA’s only challenge unfortunately. While independent audits have found several discrepancies in its functioning, allegations of corruption and political interference are freely tossed around inside the association. On the eve of the match, there is even a scuffle for match tickets outside an administrator’s office. The stadium smells of fresh paint, but that upkeep and general maintenance is a problem becomes evident when you take a tour of the restrooms.Like Richardson said, the ACA’s challenge would be to demonstrate to the wider community that it is equipped to stage games of such magnitude. But, before they focus their energies there, they would do well to put their house in order. One way of doing that would be to strive for on-field success by tapping into the potential of the domestic side. The Assam team made the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy two seasons ago, but followed it up by finishing last in their group in 2016-17. It hasn’t helped that they have had three different coaches in as many seasons.Inspiring stories, like that of Krishna Das, the fast bowler who played a key role in Assam’s journey to the Ranji Trophy semi-finals two seasons ago, is testimony to how players from the the state have grown with the game. If Assam can unearth more such players, the state’s cricket will automatically be spoken about more for the right reasons. Barsapara could then be a useful means to a greater end.

Christian Ryan’s book about Patrick Eagar’s photographs celebrates the experience of watching the game

Paul Edwards10-Dec-2017″The hardest thing of all to see is what is really there,” writes JA Baker in . Yes.In 1975, Patrick Eagar photographed an English cricket season that included the first World Cup and a four-Test Ashes series. Now Christian Ryan has written a book about that summer, those photographs, Eagar’s art, and much else besides. He has helped us see what this great craftsman preserved from an age when taking pictures cost money and photographers knew what they had only when they had developed each roll of film. Baker’s words might have served as an epigraph for this book.There are no scorecards in , no session-by-session accounts, no chapter headings, and only the roughest sense of chronological order. There are many times when Ryan strays far beyond any of cricket’s wide boundaries. There is a photograph of Muhammad Ali knocking out Sonny Liston, another of the Bee Gees, and even a section of Monet’s . The penultimate picture in the book is Joel Meyerowitz’s famous shot of the North Wall of the World Trade Center after 9/11. This is appropriate, and probably intentional, not least because title is taken from Meyerowitz’s words in a 1981 documentary. It is about the only unoriginal line in the book.To a limited extent, might be seen as a companion work to Gideon Haigh’s . In both books there is a deep curiosity about the technical aspects of the photographer’s craft and the skills of cricketers; one difference, of course, is that Ryan has interviewed Eagar on Skype, whereas Haigh had to discover more about George Beldam’s technique by using more conventional historical methods.There is also the distinction that Haigh’s book is a biography of one cricketer, Victor Trumper, and a history of the game’s most famous photograph whereas Ryan and Eagar’s collaboration ranges across many players and a vast range of images. So let us be done with comparisons; there has never been a cricket book like this.One of the best things about is Ryan’s detailed commentary on specific photographs. In late May 1975 the Australians practised at Lord’s. Jeff Thomson faces the camera, hands on hips, while Dennis Lillee stands a little more side-on. Ryan writes this:

“Thomson was standing, so close they were touching, beside Lillee, one’s are the supple fingers of a cellist, dainty nearly, and his partner, though powerfully built, has a footman’s humble air, these two most glamorous cricketers on earth. On an exposed arm, fair hairs are sprinkled. Something of their beginnings comes through, an asbestos house, anxiety nosebleeds, magpies that swooped, too shy to dance, tensed up and leaving pages blank at school exams, sport all weekend, eaten-out soup cans for golf holes, zonal hockey, fishing, soccer in the Protestant Churches League, cricket in the Municipal and Shire competition.”

It is some writer who can change tenses in a sentence, risk the momentary giggle provoked by an image of shy magpies and still carry off a 98-word prose poem about what it was to be a young Australian athlete in the late-1960s. One does not need to agree with all of Ryan’s observations in order to be enriched by them. And maybe it is intentional that there are white spaces at the bottom of most pages of ; they could accommodate a reader’s own queries and observations. It might therefore be useful to have two copies, one to annotate and one for best. This is one of those relatively rare books that seems to welcome argument. “What are we looking at?” wonders Ryan. “What did I take?” asks Eagar.riverrunSome of Eagar’s photographs prompt us to reconsider cricketers we thought we already knew. A particular favourite is the shot of Steve Waugh playing a forward-defensive shot, almost certainly to a ball from John Emburey, in the 1989 Lord’s Test. Jack Russell has the gloves and Dickie Bird is at square leg. Neither wicketkeeper nor umpire repels a lens but it is Waugh’s angular precision that commands the attention. Everything is right; there is a beautiful Aussie obduracy about the stroke but also a quietness. England lost 25 out of the next 38 Ashes Tests in which Waugh played.The hardest thing of all to see is what is really there. Cricket often seems a game which is meant to be played rather than watched. We spend years of our lives watching it. And then a book like comes along, which justifies all that time and extends the parameters of our understanding.If is your thing, this book is probably not for you. If, on the other hand, you have looked at a game of cricket or even a group of players warming up and wondered, in both senses of the word, at the narratives such moments contain, one hopes your Christmas morning may be brightened by a stocking-filler richer than ripe Reblochon.And if you have a mild interest in cricket but know someone who is all but lost to the game, you should buy this book for them. Actually, buy two, because once you open , one doubts you’ll fancy parting with it. It helps us to see and then invites us to look again. In certain respects this is one of the bravest cricket books ever written.Feeling is the Thing That Happens in 1000th. of a Second – A Season of Cricket Photographer Patrick Eagar
By Christian Ryan
riverrun

The Test team’s bowling resources have taken a severe hit over the last six months

George Dobell09-Nov-2017Jake Ball
Suffered a sprained ankle on the second day in Adelaide. The extent of the injury remains unclear. Ball missed the start of England’s Test series with South Africa during the summer with a knee injury.Steven Finn
Returned home on Wednesday having sustained a knee injury in the nets that may require surgery. Finn was only called up for Australia after Ben Stokes was made unavailable.Moeen Ali
Sustained a side strain in Perth and has yet to bowl on tour. He is expected to play in Townsville next week.Ben Stokes
Currently unavailable as the police investigation into his part in a fracas outside a Bristol nightclub in September continues. Stokes’ absence has been particularly problematic for England, as he would usually bat at No. 6 and form part of a four-man pace attack.Toby Roland-Jones
Roland-Jones was certain to win selection in the main squad after impressing against South Africa and West Indies but was ruled out after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back at the end of his breakthrough season.Mark Wood suffered a heel injury during the summer•Getty ImagesMark Wood
Still not deemed sufficiently fit having sustained a bruised heel during the Test series against South Africa in July. He did play a couple of Championship matches at the end of the season in an attempt to prove his fitness – and is also part of the Lions squad – but was not considered fit for selection as a replacement for Finn earlier this week.Jamie Porter
The top wicket-taker in Division One of the Championship this year, Essex’s 24-year-old attack leader was forced to pull out of the Lions tour after a stress fracture was diagnosed in his lower back.Jamie Overton
The quicker of the Overton twins, Jamie suffered a stress fracture in his back after an impressive start to the season. He has been named on the ECB’s Pace Programme and hopes to bowl at the England squad in the nets over Christmas.

Andile Phehlukwayo or Chris Morris. Temba Bavuma or AB de Villiers. Dale Steyn or Morne Morkel. “As a captain it’s probably the hardest selection I’ve had,” captain Faf du Plessis said

Firdose Moonda04-Jan-20182:05

Three selection questions for South Africa

“Bavuma-AB; Andile-Morris; Steyn-Morkel.”Captain Faf du Plessis knows his three major choices ahead of the upcoming Test summer. Apart from the pitch, South Africa’s selection of their starting XI, given that they have a full strength squad available, has been the major talking point in the lead-up to the series against India, both outside the dressing room and in it.”As a captain it’s probably the hardest selection I’ve had. But it’s certainly much better than having three seamers injured,” du Plessis said.For much of the last two years, South Africa have grappled with having frontline fast bowlers unavailable, and have had to make do with a second-tier pack. While Vernon Philander has been through torn ankle ligaments and lower-back spasms, Morne Morkel’s career was almost ended by a back issue and, more recently, a side strain. Chris Morris has also been out with a back problem while Dale Steyn has been front and centre of the injury list.In fact, he has barely played since South Africa and India last met in India in 2015. There, Steyn suffered a groin injury ahead of the second Test. When he returned against England in Durban a month later, he sustained a shoulder injury mid-match. He briefly recovered to take on New Zealand in August 2016 but in November broke a bone in his shoulder which has kept him out since. Given his lengthy absence and subsequent lack of game time, Ottis Gibson suggested South Africa will think hard about how soon they want him to return, but du Plessis seems keen for that to be as soon as possible.”For me, he is the best bowler in the world. He hasn’t played for a while and he hasn’t got the overs under his legs that he would have wanted, but facing Dale in the nets, it feels like the skill hasn’t gone anywhere,” du Plessis said. “He has got the same pace, and the same swing. Skills wise it’s like he has just jumped back on that bicycle and is riding again.”Du Plessis toned down his enthusiasm with the same reasoning Gibson had earlier in the week: that it may make more sense to send Steyn out as part of a stronger bowling attack later in the series. “It’s a possibility up on the Highveld to play four seamers,” du Plessis said. “But we’re still talking about what could be our strongest XI. I would like to give you a bit of insight into it but not quite yet.”The inclusion of Steyn could also depend on whether South Africa want to make room for the allrounder, which would be a choice between the incumbent Andile Phehlukwayo and Chris Morris, who last played in England. While Phehlukwayo has made an impressive start to his Test career, Morris offers pace and a reliable pair of hands in the slips or at gully. So, once again, the choice will likely depend on conditions. If that’s the case, Morris could be the man to play up country at SuperSport Park and the Wanderers and Phehlukwayo more suited to Newlands.”With the make-up of our squad now we have so many different options you can look at picking a different team for different venues. That’s our thinking,” du Plessis said.But both Phehlukwayo and Morris could find themselves on the bench if South Africa opt for seven batsmen, instead of six, and decide not to choose between Temba Bavuma and AB de Villiers. Of the three decisions they must make, this one is the toughest because it is a question of choosing between proven potential and reputable experience, between a small name and a big one.AFPSouth Africa’s transformation targets – which are applied over the course of a season and require the national side to field a minimum average of six players of colour of which two are black African – will also play a part in selection. If not now, then at some point over the season. In a six-batsmen strategy, if Bavuma plays, its easier to get Morris into the side; if de Villiers plays, the same applies to Phehlukwayo.To some, it seems an absurdity that de Villiers is even in a selection debate because he is considered an automatic pick in any side. However, de Villiers took a break from the game and not even du Plessis expected he would return to Tests. As recently as the end of the England series in early August, du Plessis said he would “be surprised” to see de Villiers back in whites. Knowing the toll a heavy workload takes on de Villiers is likely to prompt South Africa to proceed with caution when it comes to their former captain.”What’s important with AB is that he is fresh and hungry to score big runs,” du Plessis said. “He has had a good break. He feels mentally strong and he wants to put in big performances, so I think that’s half the battle already. When you have got a high-quality player like himself, if you get the mental side of things right, he can be a good asset.”All that musing takes us no closer to knowing what South Africa will do, but du Plessis will lead them in doing it. The captain has been sidelined since October when he sustained a back injury against Bangladesh, and missed the domestic twenty-over competition and one-off Zimbabwe Test. In that time, he also had surgery on a problematic shoulder and recovered from a viral infection.The focus on players making a comeback has not been on him, but it may as well be, because the captain wants to make plain that he is as ready as anyone to steer the ship. “I sent the Ferrari into the panel beaters, just to get fixed,” du Plessis joked about himself. “It was frustrating at times because everything happened slower than I thought it would. It’s 11 weeks now and I just feel now like I’m ready to play. Obviously time at home is nice, and the good thing is I didn’t miss much cricket for South Africa. I’m extremely hungry to play again.”

Nepal’s four last-gasp wins this year may have been too much to take for some, but for hardcore Nepal cricket fans, they are quickly becoming addictive

Peter Della Penna05-Aug-2018Walking along the Museumplein on a weeknight evening in Amsterdam, the sights and smells of the pedestrian mall between the Rijksmuseum and Het Concertgebouw might be characterised as medicinal. The pungent scent of cannabis is unmistakable as it wafts through the air.The scene is not much different the more you wander north towards De Wallen. Anyone who makes prolonged eye contact with suppliers loitering the streets, the ones who make their business by scanning the bustling night-time crowds looking for partiers, is bound to be asked, “You need me to get you anything?”But it’s hard to imagine any of the products they have for sale – tucked discreetly in their pockets – could be as intoxicating as Nepal’s 2018 cricket roadshow. Amidst the euphoria of the post-match celebrations from the 100 or so hardcore addicts who lined the boundary at the Mulder End of the VRA Ground in Amstelveen on Friday to witness Nepal’s one-run win off the final ball to defeat Netherlands, one sign stood out that summed up how they get their fix: “NEPALI CRICKET is our DRUG, PARAS is our DEALER!!”For those who are hooked and can’t shake the habit, Nepal’s manner of victories on tour this year may be starting to produce a hallucinogenic effect. Is it really possible to experience four matches in the space of six months that have all come down to the final wicket, final run, or final ball, wind up on the winning side every single time and not wonder if this is some kind of psychedelic acid trip?According to the kingpin of the entire operation of smuggling victories out of the jaws of defeat, the elixir for success is much more mundane than it seems.”More than experience, I call it a lot of fortune favours the brave as they say,” Paras Khadka said, after his country’s first ever ODI win on Friday, of his gang’s ability to consistently come out on top with pressure at its peak.In each of these four victories this year, the most salient characteristic is how Nepal have held their nerve while the opposition has become a bit twitchy. The streak started against Namibia in Windhoek. Nepal appeared to have lost the match as per the DLS calculations when heavy rain stopped play at 111 for 8 in 43 overs, chasing a target of 139.A handshake line seemed imminent when all of a sudden the skies cleared, giving Nepal’s tailenders a shot in the arm. The equation was whittled to seven off six with one wicket in hand when medium-pacer Jan Frylinck cracked, leaking a two and four behind point to Basant Regmi before sending a wide down leg for the clinching run.Four days later, Kenya had Nepal’s batting backbone of Khadka, vice-captain Gyanendra Malla and Sharad Vesawkar all dismissed at 82 for 5 chasing 179 and could be heard shrieking in delight as victory seemed a foregone conclusion. But 15-year-old Rohit Kumar and Aarif Sheikh took Nepal to the last two overs, and by the final ball two runs were needed to win, just like Friday in Amstelveen. Sompal Kami flicked a full ball to deep midwicket for one but Shem Ngoche muffed the collection haring off the rope to cut off the second as Kami and Paudel scampered to victory.Captain Paras Khadka and the rest of the Nepal team take an impromptu celebratory selfie•Peter Della PennaAgainst Canada, a legendary last-wicket stand by Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane, that had already accounted for 43 runs, was on the verge of being a footnote in history after four Cecil Pervez yorkers turned the last over equation that started with eight off six needed into eight off two. But in a mano a mano staredown for a place at the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, Pervez blinked first. Karan stepped back to carve him over extra cover for six, a wide down leg levelled the scores before a full toss was swatted over the leg side to see Nepal through.Even with the deck stacked heavily against them on all three occasions in Namibia, Nepal waited patiently for the bowling side to falter and then pounced ruthlessly. Friday was different, though. And not just because it was Nepal in the field.With two needed off the final two balls, the last Dutch pair at the crease and the ball in Khadka’s hand, the field was brought up to cut off a single. The shoe was truly on the other foot when Khadka floated one down the leg side to Fred Klaassen. With fine leg up, all that was needed was a slight tickle for the winning boundary but he whiffed off the pad flap, negating a wide to rub salt into the miscued shot attempt.Still, Klaassen had one more chance. Khadka floated up a juicy half-volley on off stump and Klaassen didn’t hold back in smashing it past Khadka before he could get his hand down to stop it. Mid-on and mid-off were up and the ball looked certain to bisect the gap for a game-winning four.Instead, three wooden sticks anthropomorphised into Nepal’s 12th man. It was divine intervention that the stumps behind Khadka not only blocked the drive but provided the perfect carrom relay to the captain, who was only too grateful to pick up the ball and best Klaassen in a race to the non-striker’s stumps, ripping one out briefly before chucking it to the ground as he ran towards a delirious Nepal team tent. When that happens, it’s hard not to think Khadka has got Nepal’s opponents under a magical drug-induced spell.When asked at a press conference before the 2001 World Series if there was a particular “mystique and aura” at Yankee Stadium that was responsible for the New York Yankees dramatic wins at home during the playoffs, Arizona Diamondbacks pitching ace Curt Schilling scoffed at the idea. Schilling famously quipped that mystique and aura “are dancers at a nightclub”.Schilling pitched a marvellous Game Four in New York and exited holding a two-run lead for the bullpen to close out. The Yankees were down to their final out in the ninth inning when Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim gave up a game-tying home run to Tino Martinez. It happened again the following night in the ninth inning with two outs to Scott Brosius after which Kim sunk to his haunches, looking on the verge of tears on the mound, and was immediately taken out of the game. The Yankees won both games in extra innings to take a 3-2 series lead as broadcast cameras panned to a fan in the crowd holding a sign that read, “Mystique and Aura, Appearing Nightly!”Nepali cricket fans aren’t shy about their devotion to Paras Khadka•Peter Della PennaNepal might not have mystique and aura, but perhaps another mystical combination is behind their winning magic: madal and momo. The first is the drum that can be heard in the background played by the fans while Nepal is on the field, giving them the rhythm to keep them performing in sync. The second is the food that fuels them.As happens from time to time after indulging in certain chemical habits, the munchies can periodically come on. For Nepali cricket fans, that means feasting on momo, a traditional dumpling. A speciality food tent set up at the VRA Ground was producing them like a factory line during both ODIs. In Kathmandu, they can be had almost for a dime a dozen, but at the VRA they were going being sold in trays of five for five euros, as though it was a Ritz-Carlton delicacy.On Friday, the owners of the makeshift momo tent had planned to stop selling them as soon as the match ended in order to pack up and get home in quick time. But when the final ball left the visiting Nepali supporters high as a kite, fans were thumping a madal and the rush was on for more momos, and more money for the owners. After a while though, they had to put a stop to sales as a member of the staff shouted, “We’ve got to keep some for the players!”On this day, the mind-bending experience was a communal one shared between players and fans at the VRA. After handshakes were exchanged between the players and Kami was presented his Man-of-the-Match award, Khadka broke out a bottle of champagne. The initial spray was contained within the circle of the 15-man squad, but Khadka saved half the bottle. He then sauntered over to the fans hooting and hollering with “NE-PAL! NE-PAL!” and gave them a champagne shower to remember.Team manager Raman Shivakoti usually has a habit of toting around a selfie stick for post-match team photos, but on this occasion he brought it over to the fans. A spontaneous selfie shared by fans and players with Khadka smack in the middle of it all, getting a rush from all the adulation.The Nepal cricket junkies and their dealer have scored a mutual fix. Witnessing it all made it clear how hard it is to break the addiction, though Khadka says he’ll do his best in future to wean the fans off “600-ball” wins.”To the fans, I know it’s very hard to get that nail-biting finish,” Khadka said. “It’s hard I can understand. Having said that as players we are pushing ourselves. We are trying our best and hopefully, in future, we can try and get victories with bigger margins, which can help the fans as well as ourselves.”They’re very, very vocal. We can hear them as we are batting, bowling and on the field and that really motivates us. For us to get our first victory and to celebrate it among them adds it up. More victories, more champagnes, more victory laps, more cheering and a lot more smiles.”

As England take on India at Lord’s, try our quiz on previous encounters between the two teams at the venue

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2018

A Bangladesh fan’s belief is reaffirmed after watching her team demolish Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup opener

Madiha Khan18-Sep-2018Choice of game
I was in Dubai since I have my family here, but more because I have an uncle who understands my love and passion for cricket. Back when I was a teenager, I lived, breathed, and ate cricket. I loved writing about the game and made it to this column a few times as well. This seemed like a good time to connect with that side of myself. Bangladesh have a good record in Asia Cups, with many of them having been played at home. The (in)famous loss in the 2012 final against Pakistan by two runs still hurts Bangladeshi cricket fanatics (and there’s many of us). Since then, we have been waiting for Bangladesh to lift the Asia Cup trophy. I was confident we would start off with a bang against Sri Lanka, and I was not disappointed.Key performer(s)
The genius that is Mushfiqur Rahim delivered yet again. He was calm while wickets fell at regular intervals. He focused on his batting, and ended with what might be his best performance till date. He started his innings with Bangladesh having lost two wickets in the first over to the experienced Lasith Malinga, who was making a comeback for Sri Lanka. Tamim Iqbal was then forced to retire hurt.Somebody who didn’t get as much praise but played an extremely crucial role was Mohammad Mithun, who joined Mushfiqur at the crease. These two worked the ball around confidently and helped Bangladesh escape from a dire situation. Mushfiqur played the steady hand while Mithun played the new ball as if he felt no pressure, maintaining a strike rate above 80 during his 63.Coming back to Mushfiqur, he stayed unfazed. He held firm at one end and rotated the strike. Bangladesh didn’t let the runs go dry. Mehidy Hasan’s 15, Mashrafe Mortaza’s 11, and Mustafizur Rahman’s 10 all mattered since they allowed Mushfiqur to build his innings. One could say that Mushfiqur should have upped the ante at times but I felt he did the right thing by taking minimal chances. He piled up runs towards the end, and was the last man out with a career-best ODI score of 144. His resilience and creative shots in the death overs showcased his style and technique.Wow Factor
We watched the game with mixed feelings as throughout the first innings the game was in balance. During the game I got to know the unfortunate news that Tamim was ruled out of the rest of the Asia Cup. Then the ninth wicket fell on 229, which, at that point looked far below what should be a fighting score. The man who had been seen wearing a cast in the dressing room just a while back was striding out. I couldn’t help but feel chills run down my spine. This man had decided to ignore his pain, his injury and instead walked out to support the man of the moment, redefining the term “give it your all”. Tamim displayed a type of sportsmanship that overwhelms people like me by the beauty of sport and cricket.Sadatuddin Ahmed/ The Daily Star He faced one ball, defending it using only his right hand perfectly. This act seemed to spark the steadily glowing flame that was Mushfiqur’s innings: he brilliantly scored 32 more runs, amassing boundaries and managing to keep the strike on the last ball of the over. While Bangladesh supporters were stunned and overjoyed to see it, I felt Sri Lanka’s fielders could have done a tad more. Then again, the ease with which Mushfiqur launched his sixes really makes you think again. Tamim’s courage, confidence, and the duty he showed towards his team will surely inspire all those who watched the game.One thing I would have changed
The stadium was beautiful. It was big but not so big that you felt overwhelmed. The rainbow-coloured lights above the shades made for a great ambience and I watched the match with some of my favourite people. And the result was exactly what I wanted so I really don’t have much to change. But if I am allowed to be picky, I would rather have not witnessed the complete misjudgement of what should have been a sitter by Nazmul Islam, reprieving Dasun Shanaka.Crowd meter
It was heartening to see the stands nearly packed for the game. Even though home support for any team has a beauty of its own, you can always appreciate a neutral ground that allows the chance of equal support for both teams. The Sri Lankan fans have a reputation of being enthusiastic, cheery and loud, and they definitely made themselves heard but towards the end I honestly I felt like I was in Bangladesh. The icing on the cake was hearing a Bangla song “Oporadhi” played between the overs. The crowd sang along loudly to the melodious tune which had gone viral a few months back.Marks out of 10
Doubtlessly a 10/10. From experience I can say that watching a cricket match is enjoyable, even for someone who is not a follower of the sport. A loss for your team will make you sad but the energy of the live game itself makes it a fulfilling experience. This game for me was about having my belief reaffirmed that not only are Bangladesh a team on the rise but one that’s taken seriously by opponents. From turning around a dismal start to never really losing the momentum despite the hiccups to demolishing the Sri Lankan batting line-up, Bangladesh played a victorious brand of cricket. At the end of the day, that’s what you expect from a world-class team. However, it’s going to take me a bit of time to adjust to the reality that the days of us being the underdog are long gone.

There were notable performances from Ben Foakes, Moeen Ali and Keaton Jennings but almost everyone contributed to England’s first away Test win in two years

George Dobell in Galle10-Nov-2018For all its imposing ramparts, ownership of the fort in Galle has changed hands often over the years.At one stage the Dutch, struggling with the attentions of the French closer to home, invited the British to look after it for a while in the expectation they would retake control when resources allowed. It was a bit like asking the fox to mind your chickens while you have a snooze.Sri Lanka were almost as obliging at moments during the second Test as the Dutch had been at the end of the 18th century. To see Kusal Mendis slice to mid-off, Angelo Mathews pull to midwicket (where the chance was spurned), Kaushal Silva playing against the spin or Dhananjaya de Silva attempting to thrash a wide ball for seven was to see a side lacking the discipline or determination required at this level.The Sri Lanka coach, Chandika Hathurusingha, compared his batsmen to “school kids”, which seems about right. It is a side that could learn much from the scrupulous professionalism and commitment for which Rangana Herath was known.For that reason, this was not quite an England victory to rate with similar subcontinental Test triumphs in India in 2012, Pakistan in 2000 or those here in 2001.It was significant, though. Given England’s away record – they were, remember, in the midst of their longest winless streak away from home in their history – and their record against spin, in particular, any victory in Asia is worthy of respect. It was Joe Root’s first win overseas as captain and England’s first win with a Kookaburra ball since Stuart Broad’s inspired spell in Johannesburg in January 2016.This Sri Lanka side, flawed though it may be, had some decent scalps, too. Pakistan in the UAE, for example, and Bangladesh in Bangladesh. England couldn’t manage either of those results.The most pleasing thing from an England perspective was that just about everyone contributed. James Anderson and Sam Curran only took a wicket apiece but, by striking with the new ball in the first innings, they played their part. Ben Stokes only took one wicket, but the hostility he generated – remarkable given the docile surface – unsettled the Sri Lanka middle order. And while Adil Rashid bowled well below his best, he did make the vital breakthrough in the first innings, breaking the partnership between Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, and was an affordable luxury in a three-man spin attack.But more than that, it may have marked something of a changing of the guard. There was no Alastair Cook and no Stuart Broad – England had only won Test without either of them since the 2005 Ashes and that was in Mumbai in March 2006 – and, such was Ben Foakes’ excellence, it raised the possibility that neither Jos Buttler or Jonny Bairstow will ever again keep in a Test. Keaton Jennings provided grounds for belief that he may yet develop into a reliable Test opener and Buttler provided two key supporting contributions.Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler celebrate the fall of Angelo Mathews•Getty ImagesEngland used their one unique selling point – the remarkable number of allrounders they currently have – to ensure they had a deep batting order and both variation and contingency plans in the attack. So Curran, at No. 8, and Rashid, at No. 9, produced valuable runs while the presence of six bowlers seemed to take the pressure off Moeen Ali. He has never had better match figures in an overseas Test and rarely bowled better in a fourth innings.And then there’s Foakes. It is naive to pretend we can ever return to a time when keepers could hardly bat, but it’s also foolish to suggest the value of a keeper’s run can offset a missed chance. In Foakes England have a batsman good enough to bat at No. 7, at least, and a better keeper than they have had since the days of James Foster. Matt Prior, who watched this match in his role as a commentator, suggested Foakes may already be better than Foster, who was once rated the best there has ever been by Jack Russell.They are strong words and time will tell, but there is huge value in having such a skilful keeper. While there may be a temptation to classify his first Test dismissals as routine, it’s worth remembering that, between November 2012 and December 2015, England didn’t take a single wicket by a stumping in Test cricket. The best tend to make things look easy.There is a lesson to learn from Galle, though. While the instinct of most batsmen on both sides is to counterattack in almost all circumstances, the key innings in this match were old-school, patient affairs. England remain insistent that their first-morning batting was appropriate – Root suggested his side could have been “50 for 5 if we had sat in our bunker and waited for a good ball” – but the fact is they were dug out of trouble by Foakes’ century, while Jennings shut Sri Lanka out of the game in the second. Neither tried to take the attack to bowlers as much as they sought to defy them and accumulate steadily.If England want to go the next step, from being an attractive and dangerous side to one of the very best, they need to tailor their aggression just a little more. Three-session centuries might not be as much fun as 60-ball 50s, but Tests are still won more by the former than the latter. Root, in particular, will get more out of his substantial talent if he realises that.England need to develop their defensive game – there’s no way they should be 50 for 5 if they trust their defensive techniques – and remember the old adage about allowing bowlers the first session of a Test. This match ended more than a day early; there’s plenty of time to defend, or even leave, a few more balls. Even Lewis Hamilton slows down for corners.