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She’s a “bit annoyed” with herself because she didn’t stay till the end to finish off things, but heaped praise on her side after beating England

Firdose Moonda14-Mar-2022After a maiden career five-for and a game-changing cameo innings, the first word that passed Marizanne Kapp’s lips is not what you might expect. “Sorry,” she told Trisha Chetty when Hawkeye confirmed the Anya Shrubsole ball she missed would have gone on to hit the stumps. “I knew I was supposed to be there at the end.”Kapp took South Africa ten runs away from a third successive victory at the tournament, and the first over England at the tournament since 2000, having played a key role in ensuring they would only have to face a gettable 236.She took wickets at the top and bottom of England’s line-up, effected a run-out that changed the trajectory of their innings and could have viewed her performance as the perfect game until she was dismissed with the result still in the balance.Related

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Though South Africa have not lost a game while chasing since the start of 2020 – having won 12 out of 14 – with the lower order in operation against the team that narrowly beat them in the 2017 World Cup semi-final, Kapp had reason to believe she should have finished things.”I was a bit annoyed with myself,” she said. “I knew I should have finished that game. I put a lot of pressure on the two batters in the middle.”But she had faith they would get South Africa over the line and she told them so. “I told Trisha, ‘If I am out now [when the review was happening], you take charge; you take the lead. We only need a run a ball and I back the both of you’,” Kapp said afterwards. “I said the same thing to Shabnim [Ismail]: ‘Just watch the ball and don’t be scared’.”Ismail hit the first ball she faced for four to cut through the tension, and went on to rotate strike with Chetty to secure the win. Like their previous two matches, it wasn’t South Africa’s most convincing performance, but it showed that they can play under pressure. For Kapp, it demonstrated how they have developed over the last few years.”I’ve just reached a point in my career where now I know what I am capable of, and I just have to back myself,” Kapp said•AFP/Getty Images

“In the past, those close games were the ones we lost,” Kapp said. “In the first two games, we probably didn’t play the cricket we can and want to play, and even today, we scrapped the runs together and managed to get over the line. We know the heartbreak we had in the previous World Cup and we have different plans. Hopefully after today, this team is just going to get stronger and better. I feel like we are moving in the right direction and we will probably peak at the right time.”Kapp’s career is following a similar arc. After 13 years and 121 matches, she finally took five wickets in an innings and has adapted to her role as a pinch-hitter at No. 6 to allay fears of South Africa’s tail being too long. She also has more belief in herself than she did before, which comes from a combination of experience and consistent performance.”I’ve played over 200 games [in all formats] for South Africa, so I should be confident in my abilities,” she added. “But being with this team, being able to represent my country in so many games, I’ve just reached a point in my career where now I know what I am capable of, and I just have to back myself. If I do that, I usually perform well.”She is also carrying some extra responsibility now. In the absence of regular captain Dane van Niekerk, who is also Kapp’s wife, South Africa’s senior players had to step up to create match-winning moments of their own.”A lot of our performances over the past year or year-and-a-half are because of Dane. She carries this team,” Kapp said. “It’s so sad that she is not here to enjoy this with us. She leaves a massive void. Not only skill-wise, but just to have her around the group.”van Niekerk is still involved, albeit indirectly, and tweeted up a storm during the match. She called Kapp’s performance “world-class”, and the match against England “what World Cups are all about,” and Kapp had something to say to her in return: “I know she is our biggest supporter. I know she is back home cheering for us and this win was for her.”

Aaradhya Yadav, Shaik Rasheed and Manav Parakh join their captain and Siddarth Yadav in isolation

PTI21-Jan-2022Five Indian players, including captain Yash Dhull, have been ruled out of India’s final group-stage game of the Under-19 World Cup, against Uganda, after testing positive for Covid-19 in a fresh round of RT-PCR tests. Of the six players, who had isolated before the match against Ireland on Wednesday, only Vasu Vats has tested negative, a source in the ICC said.Dhull, Aaradhya Yadav and Shaik Rasheed had all returned positive Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) on Wednesday, while Manav Parakh and Vats had displayed symptoms of Covid-19 but returned negative RATs. Siddarth Yadav had, meanwhile, returned a positive RT-PCR test.Related

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“One positive out of this unfortunate situation is that the 11 who played against Ireland have all tested negative,” the ICC source said.Among the infected, Dhull has the worst symptoms but he, along with the other players, “should be fine” before their quarter-final on January 29 (if they top Group B, which they are currently leading), the source said.India registered a thumping win over Ireland in the second game, on Wednesday, to qualify for the knockouts after barely managing to field a team in the wake of the outbreak.All the infected players are required to undergo five days of isolation as per tournament protocols and can only rejoin their team after returning three negative tests within that period.How did the virus enter the bubble?
After winning the Under-19 Asia Cup in the UAE, the Indian team had flown to the Caribbean via Amsterdam. A support staff member, who is fine now, had tested positive during the hard quarantine upon arrival in Guyana after catching the infection in transit and it is believed the players contracted the virus from him.The entire squad underwent a five-day hard quarantine in Guyana upon arrival and underwent three RT-PCR tests within that period. However, with the reports taking as long as 48 hours to arrive, the third test report was only made available on the seventh day.”The players mingled with the coach in that period and that seems be to be the most likely source of outbreak in the team,” the source said.It has also been learnt that the tournament’s bio-bubble could be stricter with team not being allocated dedicated floors in the hotel as it was during the Asia Cup in the UAE.However, despite a tight bubble in Dubai, the virus managed to enter the environment and a league game between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had to be abandoned after two officials involved in the game tested positive.

Allrounders Sophie Molineux and Nicola Carey will be in line for their international debuts as both were picked for ODI and T20Is

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2018Australia captain Meg Lanning will return to international cricket during the upcoming India tour as she will lead the ODI and T20 sides after being out of action for seven months. Allrounders Sophie Molineux and Nicola Carey will be in line for their international debuts as both were picked for both formats.Australia were, however, without two injured players – South Australia allrounder Tahlia McGrath and New South Wales quick Lauren Cheatle. McGrath played a key role in Australia’s Ashes success and was in good form during the WBBL as well but experienced back pain in the final round of the Women’s National Cricket League, as scans showed a recurrence of bone oedema in her lumbar spine. Cheatle had missed the Ashes T20Is with a back injury and has not played since then.Lanning played her last international match in July – the World Cup semi-final against India in Derby where Australia lost by 36 runs. In August, she underwent shoulder surgery and missed the Ashes as well as the WBBL as a result. She was hoping to make a return for Victoria in the final round of the WNCL last weekend but Australia decided to go easy with her return.”Meg’s rehab has been progressing well, she’s back to her old self with the bat and with a few weeks until the first match, we’re confident she’ll be right to play when the times comes,” national selection Shawn Flegler said. “Meg will resume the captaincy and we’re extremely fortunate to have Rach as her deputy after doing a fantastic job as stand-in skipper during the Women’s Ashes. She’ll be a great sounding board for Meg and will continue to drive the standards of the team.”Rachael Haynes was named the vice-captain of the two squads after Alex Blackwell retired from international cricket recently.Molineux and Carey are two promising allrounders picked in the squads. Molineux represented the Melbourne Renegades in the WBBL and was named the Young Gun of the Year during the third season after she scored 318 runs and picked six wickets with an economy rate of 6.38. In the six innings of the WNCL, Molineux scored 170 runs with two half-centuries and collected eight wickets with an economy rate of 3.46. The left-arm bowler was also given the Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year award in January 2017.Getty Images

“Sophie is a really exciting youngster that has shown immense talent as a batter and spin bowler and someone who the selectors have had their eyes on for a while,” Flegler said. “She’s been a standout especially in the Women’s Big Bash and this tour will give her the opportunity to get a taste of the Australian setup in what will be some challenging Indian conditions.”Carey, who represented the Sydney Thunder, scored 149 runs from 10 innings in the WBBL but at an impressive strike rate of 126.27 and struck a 19-ball 47 against the Renegades in Sydney in December. Also a left-hand bat like Molineux, Carey bowls right-arm medium-pace and picked 17 wickets in the WBBL, joint-fourth on the wickets tally.With the 2018 and 2020 World T20s coming up, Australia also saw the inclusions of two youngsters and recent international debutants in the squad – NSW team-mates Belinda Vakarewa and Naomi Stalenberg. Vakarewa made her ODI debut in the World Cup last year and returned to the ODI squad after missing the Ashes. Stalenberg, on the other hand, made her T20I debut two years ago against India and will have chance to add more caps to her name after a few middle-order cameos for the Thunder in the WBBL.Former internationals Shelley Nitschke and Ashley Noffke will travel with the squads as assistant coaches in place of the outgoing coaches Tim Coyle and Joe Dawes.Australia will fly to India on March 3 and will play two warm-up matches in Mumbai on March 6 and 8 before heading to Vadodara for the three ODIs starting March 12. They will then return to Mumbai for the T20 tri-series featuring India and England.ODI squad: Meg Lanning (capt), Rachael Haynes (vice-capt), Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade WellingtonT20 squad: Meg Lanning (capt), Rachael Haynes (vice-capt), Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Naomi Stalenberg, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington.

England come unstuck in stiff chase as opponents make up for lapses in series opener

Vithushan Ehantharajah28-Jul-2022South Africa unfurled a near-perfect short-form display to beat England by 58 runs in Cardiff, squaring the T20I series ahead of Sunday’s decider at the Ageas Bowl.Just 24 hours after defeat by 41 runs in Bristol on Wednesday evening, it was a redemptive performance from the Proteas to draw level at 1-1. Rilee Rossouw’s 96 not out spearheaded a total of 207 for three, before Tabraiz Shamsi (three for 27) and Andile Phehlukwayo (three for 39) successfully defended their score by skittling their opponents with 20 balls to spare.Jos Buttler said he wanted to see how his team went chasing after winning a first toss in eight and opting to bowl first, and the Proteas were more than happy to oblige. A brisk start – 32 for none after three overs, then 58 for the loss of Quinton de Kock at the end of the powerplay – was maintained throughout.Rossouw was the main event, but Reeza Hendricks provided the perfect warm-up act, backing up Bristol’s half-century with another here, before eventually falling for 53. That ended a stand of 73 between himself and Rossouw, who had 39 at this point, with 8.3 overs to go. With Tristan Stubbs struggling to replicate the hitting from his six-heavy 72 from 28 deliveries, 57 of the remaining 95 runs came from the senior man.England were poor in the field, with wayward lines and lengths, and a variety of fielding errors. Gleeson was able to make amends for dropping Hendricks around the corner at fine leg for 51 by taking the right-hander’s wicket in the next over. However, Buttler’s grounded catch down the leg side off Rossouw – who had just 37 – was far more costly.Tabraiz Shamsi produced a three-wicket spell•Getty Images

That being said, Chris Jordan’s concession of just four runs in the 20th over gave the hosts a spring in their step going into he break. And when Buttler became the first batter of the night to find the stands beyond the longest boundary, and then struck six-six-four off Phehlukwayo, England were in the mix. But Phehlukwayo held his fourth delivery back, resulting in a skier from Buttler taken well by Hendricks running to mid-on, and as four England wickets fell for 51 runs in 6.4 overs, the required rate began to spiral above 12.With 100 needed off the remaining 42 balls, the only reason to sniff an England victory was the presence of Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone at the crease. The ability to smash boundaries at will – as per Bairstow’s eight sixes in his 53-ball 90 on Wednesday – was the only way out of this hole. Unfortunately for England, within 14 balls, the pair had been dismissed – caught at backward point off Rabada and behind off Phehlukwayo, respectively – with 67 left for the tail.The final three wickets fell for just eight, the last of them, Richard Gleeson, off the back of a DRS call seemingly taken on a whim by the fielding side. As with everything else in the match, it went South Africa’s way.Reaping RossouwIt might not have been a century, but Rossouw’s score was a reminder of both his talents and what South Africa have missed out on over the last six years. That he became a Kolpak in his prime, smashing 122 in an ODI against Australia in October 2016, his last appearance for the Proteas before Wednesday’s T20I, was a particularly sore point as he remained visible elsewhere, notable in England for Hampshire and now Somerset.But the prodigal son is now a man, and his innings here typified an underlying sense of maturity to his game. It was particularly evident against those he didn’t target: Reece Topley started well to him and the off spin of Moeen Ali was always going to be tricky for the left-hander to go after. But he struck well against Gleeson, Jordan and particularly Adil Rashid, taking 18 runs off the nine deliveries he faced from the legspinner. But for Stubbs chewing up half of the final over, Rossouw probably would have reached a maiden international T20I hundred. Nevertheless, off the back of a stunning Vitality Blast season for Somerset (623 runs at a strike rate of 192.28), it’s abundantly clear the 32-year-old is making up for lost time.Right-hand, left-hand – overthinking?No sooner had Eoin Morgan posited that it would take a brave man to shunt Bairstow down the order, Buttler did just that. By no means the more ruthless of the two, it was an example of how both teams were persisting with right-hand-left-hand combinations.Related

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It’s nothing new, and in this instance was down to the disparity between the two square boundaries. With the leftie Rossouw batting through the innings from the fourth over, David Miller waved a procession of right-handers through, including Stubbs who came in ahead of the stand-in captain. Similarly, Bairstow was held back for Moeen to enter at No.4 in England’s innings after Dawid Malan had fallen. Then, when Moeen himself was dismissed for an enterprising 28, Sam Curran came in at six ahead of Liam Livingstone.None of them really came off, though the reasons for the promotions were totally justified given the form of Stubbs (72 off 28) and Moeen (52 off 18) from the night before. Not to mention the fact that Bairstow was in by the ninth over anyway, and Rossouw was always going to come in at No.3 to accompany Hendricks. On this occasion, it was a tactic that made a lot of sense but did not produce any tangible reward.Roy …The good news for Jason Roy is, barring injury, he will get the series-decider on Sunday to see if he can improve on the 59 runs off 80 he’s managed across the international T20 summer.The bad news is it looks like it may just be another opportunity to fail. Since a century in the final ODI against Netherlands in Amsterdam, Roy has struggled to get going on home soil. Barring a 41 in the third ODI against India, he has struggled to get the measure of the white Kookaburra ball, occasionally showing flashes of timing amid plenty of mishits and lapses in judgement.The issue that affects Roy more than others is aesthetics: his very nature is to go after attacks, and it is counted as an upside of his character that, even when struggling, he never shies away from a battle. That, however, means in the midst of this kind of run, he looks like a man pushed into the corner swinging haymakers with his eyes closed.

The 18-year old legspinner picked up five wickets in only two overs to ensure Afghanistan beat Ireland by 17 runs in a rain-shortened match and furthered their record-breaking winning streak

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Mar-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Ireland’s middle order could not handle Rashid Khan’s clever changes of pace•Peter Della Penna

Twelve little balls of legspin. How much damage could it really do? Well, it could change the fate of a T20I, vault the practitioner to the greatest of heights and protect a proud winning streak that seemed all but dead. Before Rashid Khan, no one had ever taken a five-wicket haul in as little time as two overs in Twenty20 international cricket. The record, though, was merely a byproduct of his ability to vary pace, prey on the pressure the Ireland batsmen felt and then toss up the hit-me ball, which invariably turned out to be a googly that bamboozled everyone. The slogs came, the stumps were broken, the rest became history.Afghanistan came into the match with nine straight wins in the shortest format. It was already a world record, but their hopes of pushing it to 10 took a major hit when heavy rain lashed across the Greater Noida Sports Complex. With only the pitch and the bowler’s run-ups under covers, the majority of the outfield took on a lot of water and it was testament to the ground staff that the match even restarted. Ireland had been 65 for 2 in 6.1 overs when the weather intervened, which put them 12 runs ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score considering the target was 185. Then the rain stopped.And Rashid went to work. He hoodwinked Kevin O’Brien and Gary Wilson with wrong ‘uns in his first over. His next one was a triple-wicket maiden and it simply trampled upon all the hope Ireland had of levelling the three-match series. Their target was revised to 111 in 11 overs – or 46 runs to win off the remaining 29 balls. It was a tough ask but perhaps some of the senior batsmen should have taken a little time to get themselves set again. Instead, they chose to hit out as wildly as the tailenders who would follow and 65 for 2 became 93 for 9 in what could well have been the blink of an eye.All of that made for excellent viewing for opener Najeeb Tarakai. He had hammered 90 off 58 balls to become the only man not named Mohammad Shahzad among in the list of top six scores by an Afghanistan batsman in T20Is. Spending two hours on the sidelines watching the showers lash across the ground wouldn’t have been pleasant for him after driving his team from the doldrums of 12 for 2 in the third over to 175 for 6 by the time he was dismissed in the 20th. It was his first half-century in the format, including seven fours and five sixes, and most importantly, it turned out to be match-winning effort.

Kolpak-returnee quick opens up on his time away from the national team and the thrill of potentially making the XI against India

Firdose Moonda23-Dec-2021Duanne Olivier was so confident he would not play for South Africa again that when he signed a Kolpak deal in 2019, he framed his Test cap. So, what happens if baggy green No. 94 is needed later this week?”I am going to have to ask if I can get a new one. Otherwise I need to break the frame,” Olivier said, from South Africa’s bio-bubble in Centurion three days before the Boxing Day Test against India, which should mark Olivier’s comeback.Although he is still bashful about his chances of being in the starting XI, with Anrich Nortje out through injury and Olivier leading the first-class wicket-charts, he is all but certain to play.When, and it is when and not if, he does, Olivier is going to be battling butterflies, just like he always does. “I am a nervous person when it comes to playing. Wherever I play I am always nervous. If it’s my first over, I am very nervous,” he said. “I’ll have different feeling this time. will be different feelings. Maybe it might be similar to a debut because I haven’t played for three years. It will be interesting to see what the nerves will be like but I’m sure, if I am selected to play, I think my nerves will be shot through the roof.”Related

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Olivier will partly be worried about performance in a big series against a team that is “not No. 1 for no reason,” he reminded. “It’s massive series. They (India) haven’t won here, so they want to come and win here and for us, we don’t want that to happen.”And he will partly be concerned about what South Africans still bitter from his decision to leave think. “I know people will have mixed feelings about it, but at the end of the day, it’s okay. You handle that and you deal with those pressures or the criticism that comes with that.”But the one thing he does not have to worry about are the feeling of his team-mates, some old, many new, who are more than happy to have him.Earlier in the week, South Africa Test captain Dean Elgar said he’s be happy to have anyone who is in form, in the squad. “I want our best opportunity to win matches and win series, and in order for that, you need to make tough calls on bringing people back, for instance. I was very keen to have him back,” Elgar said. “There’s no bad feelings about what’s happened in the past. I want to win cricket matches for South Africa, I want to win series for South Africa, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got 100% backing when it comes to that in our change room. It’s nice to have him back.”Except that it’s not exactly the same Olivier who has returned. “You can see that he’s a different cricketer to what he was the first time he played for us,” Elgar said. And that’s a good thing. “Obviously with his trip away from South Africa, he’s learnt a lot, he’s played a lot of cricket in the UK, so he’s bringing a lot of knowledge and experience back into the change room, which is something that we need at the moment.”Olivier himself feels like someone else, as a person and a cricketer. “Firstly, I am more mature and a bit more grown up,” he said. “And from a cricketing point of view, I do genuinely believe I am different. The UK helped me a lot in perfecting that fuller length that every bowler wants to bowl. For me, it was quite difficult because it can come across floaty and I wasn’t that consistent. I am still working on it and I am not going to get it right every single time but the three years I spend in the UK helped me immensely, just the way I approach my game. I can still go short if I want to, but at the end of the day, the games dictates that. People thought I only bowl short and fair enough, I did that but now I feel like I have a different element to my game.”Duanne Olivier celebrates a wicket during his stint with the English county Yorkshire•Getty Images

A fuller length has long been talked about as the key to success on the Highveld, where two of the three Tests will be played, and especially at the Wanderers, Olivier’s new home ground, albeit that the temptation is to bowl short. But Olivier has seen for himself that fuller is better. In adjusting his lengths, he has been rewarded and taken 24 of his 28 wickets this summer at the Wanderers, including both five-fors. He hasn’t yet played at SuperSport Park, the venue of the first Tests, but it will be similarly seamer-friendly, with the promise that someone will take the series lead.”It looked like there was a bit of grass, green grass on it and I assume they will probably take a little bit off. I reckon probably a touch slow on day one but it’s always a wicket that speeds up and the game moves forward,” Olivier said. “And there has always been a result. I don’t know when last a Test match, even a four-day game, there was a draw.”The last drawn Test in Centurion was in 2009, against England, and there have only been three drawn Tests at the venue in 26 matches, all against the same opposition. South Africa have beaten India both times they played them at this venue and will hope history repeats itself as they seek to rebuild as a Test outfit, gain points on the World Test Championship table and begin to turn the page over two years of upheaval – two years Olivier missed.But he did not entirely escape the goings-on in this cricketing landscape and he is well aware of the importance of this contest in the broader context of South African cricket. “If we come out on top, it will mean a lot for South Africa in general, for Cricket South Africa and for players, because it’s like a make-or-break series for players,” he said. “If you do well against a top team in the world, it says something.”For me, it’s probably the biggest series I will play so, if selected, there will be those pressures. We’re playing against world class players but at the same time, it’s an exciting challenge. Like, I’ll need to bowl to (Virat) Kohli. It will be tough, but it’s exciting. We’ll be bowling to probably the top four batters in the world. It’s like making a statement to them. We are here to compete. We are not just going to roll over. For me, that’s very important: throwing the first punch, to know that you are here, you are present.”Perhaps as long as that punch doesn’t have to be through the glass frame to retrieve his Test cap.