12:59 AM GMT Vishal Dikshit in Rajkot For some time during the second ODI in Rajkot, it felt like the Australian Test summer was being played in India in coloured clothing. Steven Smith was facing a short-ball barrage from a fast bowler with a leg gully, Smith and Marnus Labuschagne were looking good together, and David Warner was dismissed by a brilliant catch from Manish Pandey, reminding one of Tim…
7:23 PM GMT Around the time he reached his half-century, a landmark achieved with successive cuts for four, Ollie Pope took his Test batting average above 40 for the first time. No young player comes with guarantees. Pope is probably no more talented than Graeme Hick or Mark Ramprakash and they probably didn’t, by the ridiculously harsh standards we set for these things, fulfil their potential as Test batsmen. But,…
Bapu Nadkarni with fellow Mumbai and India stalwarts Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajit Wadekar 6:01 PM GMT Nagraj Gollapudi Close News editor, ESPNcricinfo Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo Vishal Dikshit In a heartfelt tribute to Bapu Nadkarni, who died on Friday aged 86, Sunil Gavaskar has hailed the former India allrounder’s attitude and cricketing acumen. Gavaskar was in Rajkot, as part of the commentators’ panel for the India-Australia ODI,…
5:56 PM GMT Mark Boucher, South Africa’s coach, is in a quandary. He needs to find a way to ensure his premier strike bowler, Kagiso Rabada, does not lose his instinctive aggression but also that Rabada does not use it beyond the parameters of the ICC’s Code of Conduct, as he did to his cost at St George’s Park. After bowling Joe Root with a delivery that beat the England…
Shafiqullah Ghafari takes off in celebration © Getty Images The sign of a menacing spin bowler is how he takes his wickets. In today’s age of white-ball cricket, too often wristspinners are given the leeway of going for runs, just as long as they can get batsmen to eventually miscue an attacking shot. But on the opening day of the Under-19 World Cup, Shafiqullah Ghafari‘s spell of 6 for 15…
5:32 PM GMT Valkerie Baynes Contesting a global tournament is motivation in itself, but for England’s Women’s World T20 squad, their campaign on Australian soil will also carry an inevitable desire to make things right. It is a fact not lost on Natalie Sciver as she prepares for her fourth T20 World Cup with an England squad comprising vast experience and raw youth, a new coaching set-up and more than…
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Keshav Maharaj claimed a hard-earned five-wicket haul © Stu Forster/Getty Images It’s a thankless job. Keshav Maharaj‘s sixth career five-for came as a result of him bowling more overs than a South African has delivered in a home Test in 55 years and was also the most expensive by a South African bowler, ever. It’s a thankless job. The second ban of Kagiso Rabada‘s career came as a result of…
Bapu Nadkarni bowling against Australia © Getty Images Bapu Nadkarni, the former India allrounder known for his extreme economy with the ball, has died aged 86. Nadkarni, who made his India debut in December 1955, played 41 Test matches, scoring 1414 runs at an average of 25.70 and taking 88 wickets at 29.07. The statistic that defined him, though, was his economy rate of 1.67, the second-best in history among…
4:35 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Tom Barber, the highly-rated left-arm fast bowler, has signed for Nottinghamshire on a one-year deal following a successful trial. Barber, 24, has previously had spells at Hampshire and Middlesex, and has regularly attracted high-profile admirers due to his ability to bowl genuinely fast – he once fractured the thumb of Eoin Morgan in the nets, and holds the record for the fastest delivery bowled at…