All posts by h716a5.icu

Albie Morkel opens up to ESPNcricinfo about his plans for an international comeback, dealing with depression, and the difficulty of switching IPL teams every season

Arun Venugopal19-Apr-2015Albie Morkel has admitted that the World T20 in India next year is on his “radar”, should he produce strong performances in the domestic circuit this summer to catch the selectors’ eye.”Definitely, that’s on my radar if I can perform really strongly back home this summer,” Morkel told ESPNcricinfo. “Then I know I will have a chance, and I’ll really like to play in another T20 World Cup.”Morkel, who has played 58 ODIs and 49 T20Is apart from a lone Test against Australia, last put on a South Africa shirt during the World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014, where his team lost to India in the semi-final. He was picked primarily for his finishing skills with the bat, but he fared poorly, scoring 33 runs in four innings.There wasn’t much to show for with the ball either, as he picked up one wicket from five matches at an economy-rate of 9.20.While Morkel missed the South African domestic T20 tournament last season with an ankle injury, he played a pivotal role in guiding Titans to the Momentum One-Day Cup title. Morkel aggregated 280 runs in six innings at an average of 93.33, including an unbeaten 134 in the final against Cape Cobras. His seam-bowling also reaped five wickets in the tournament at less than four runs an over.Morkel had said two years ago that he didn’t see himself playing for South Africa again, a statement, he said, was misunderstood. “When I said, ‘I don’t think I will play for South Africa again,’ it’s not that I said ‘I don’t like to.’ I am just being realistic.”Also I am at an age where the South Africa selectors are building for the future. That doesn’t necessarily mean I have no desire to play for South Africa. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to try or train harder or stay motivated. I think it was written about a couple of years, just flew a little out of what I actually meant.”Morkel has been an IPL regular, having represented Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past. Turning out for Delhi Daredevils this year, Morkel’s counter-punching unbeaten 73 off 54 balls nearly got his team over the line against Super Kings. He hasn’t played another game since, having had to make way for Angelo Mathews.Morkel said it was a challenge to get used to different teams, given the limited time players spend with one another during the IPL. “Obviously I have spent time with Chennai so you get used to how things work with the team. And then RCB, it’s difficult to do it in one year. With the IPL being in Dubai and India [last year], it was a bit disruptive.”This time I have really had a good three weeks in Delhi in the training camp prior to the IPL. That helped us get to know everyone as a person and build relationships. And also I think Gary Kirsten and the support staff have done an outstanding job to create a cricket environment.”Daredevils had a familiarly worrying start, suffering two last-ball defeats, but have since reeled two successive wins on the road. Morkel said the positive vibes in the team had impacted the performance.”Delhi has had two bad seasons where I think they have lost 10 games [11] in a row. It’s always challenging to step into an environment like that, but as players you can either just carry on like you have been carrying on or you can try and make a difference.”Every single guy that’s part of Delhi this year has made the decision to turn the ship around. I am sure you have seen in the performances you are getting to see a different Delhi side this year, they are upfront.”As someone who has played across the world, Morkel admitted life as a professional cricketer could be lonely at times, one that could seed depression.”I went through that phase when I reached the burnout stage. That was a case of overdoing it. I played the domestic season, I played in the IPL, Champions League, I played county cricket in England, and I played the Caribbean [Premier] League so it was just too much for me.”I think the key is just to find a balance between playing enough cricket and also having time for yourself and your family. If you are just playing cricket day in and day out there will come a stage where normally the first thing you see is a change in the attitude, body language and then the performance.””I am at an age where the South Africa selectors are building for the future, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I have no desire to play for South Africa”•AFPMorkel spoke of the importance of family structures and the strong bond he shared with his brother Morne. “We have got a very close relationship, myself and Morne. Earlier in our careers, we shared a house with AB de Villiers, so you know, we were always there for each other.”I don’t think we have ever competed against each other. We grew up in a house that obviously had a lot of sport with dad being a cricketer. [But] there was no pressure on us to do well in sport. That’s the way we were brought up. We started to realise at about 17 or 18 that we could possibly make a career out of it.”According to Morkel, being outside the framework of the national team for lengthy periods has never been a deterrent in motivating himself. “To get out to play to the cheer of the crowd, that’s the most honest thing, and that keeps us going. The personal pride and the adrenaline you get when you’re playing as a professional cricketer. You can’t replace that.””I also really enjoy chatting about the game with the younger guys. The young guys think so much differently than we thought about the game 10 years ago, so I think the roles are reversed. The older guys learn from the younger players.”T20 cricket has really lifted the standard of all formats. And as a cricketer if you don’t grow your game you will stay behind. It’s just trying to add something to my game every time I train.”Morkel is aware he is inching towards the end of his career, but retirement, he said, could be a while away yet. “I will take it year by year now. I said two years ago two years and my body still holds up,” he said. “For me it’s all about the enjoyment factor. Let’s give it two more years.”Morkel said there wasn’t much he could have done differently in his career. “When you are looking back you will always find things you will do differently in hindsight. Sometimes I wish I knew stuff that I know now, but I know that’s not possible. I played for some successful teams and have some great memories.”

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Apr-2015Cook reached his fourth fifty in seven innings…•Getty Images…and Trott his first since The Oval in August 2013•AFPDevendra Bishoo broke the opening stand when Trott edged to second slip…•Getty Images….and Cook could not end the near two-year wait for a hundred when he dragged on against Shannon Gabriel•Getty ImagesIan Bell fell in similar fashion to his captain, dragging on against Gabriel on a sluggish pitch to give West Indies a life•AFPHowever, Joe Root once again added impetus to the innings with a sixth consecutive Test fifty – equalling an England record…•Getty Images…and he converted that into a sixth Test hundred, his first overseas•Getty ImagesGary Ballance helped Root add 165 for the fourth wicket before dragging on against Marlon Samuels•AFPSamuels was the focus, again, when Ben Stokes departed but for this salute rather than an active role in the wicket•Associated PressRoot ended a warm day’s work unbeaten on 118 despite a back that was “stiff and sore”•AFP

Players from the lesser-known nations who could light up the World T20 Qualifier

Peter Della Penna in Belfast08-Jul-2015 Gyanendra Malla – Nepal Even though he is only 24, Malla has almost a decade of experience with the men’s team after debuting as a 15-year-old against Kuwait at the Asian Cricket Council Trophy in 2006. The vice-captain is sometimes cast in the shadow of his captain and national icon Paras Khadka, but Nepal’s faithful consider him the more naturally gifted batsman of the two.While Khadka is a tall and sturdy accumulator, Malla is much more of a freewheeling entertainer possessing a wide array of strokes. When he gets humming, he won’t hesitate to shuffle around the crease and bring out the reverse slog sweep to throw bowlers out of their rhythm. He was recently pushed up to open against the Netherlands in a bid to energise the rest of the order with his dynamic capabilities. If he can adjust to that slot it could pay huge dividends for both him and his team.Malla has been in peak form the last 12 months. He scored his maiden ton against Singapore at WCL Division Three in October and finished as Nepal’s leading scorer to help them secure promotion. At the subsequent Division Two this past January in Namibia, he led the team averages again with 236 runs at 59.00 and made 91 not out against Kenya in a match where the next best Nepal score was Khadka’s 20.He is also electric fielding inside the circle during the Powerplay before being sent out to long on or deep midwicket for his catching abilities during the slog overs. Whether it’s with the bat or in the field, the action follows Malla. Tony Ura – Papua New Guinea Assad Vala and Mahuru Dai were PNG’s batting heroes in their maiden first-class win over Netherlands while Lega Siaka became PNG’s first ODI centurion in a historic victory over Hong Kong last November. When it comes to Twenty20 cricket though, Tony Ura has been arguably his country’s most rampaging menace at the crease.Few have matched his exploits at tournaments in the East Asia-Pacific. In July 2011, he scored 354 runs at 59 with a century and three 50s as PNG secured a spot in the World T20 Qualifier for the first time. Ura once again topped the runs list at the last East Asia-Pacific qualifier in November with 304 runs to get PNG to Ireland.At PNG’s first appearance in the World T20 Qualifier in 2012, Ura was their leading scorer with 197 runs in nine games, including a best of 70 against Netherlands. He came back a year later to torment the Dutch with 100 off 60 balls in a 52-run PNG win. Ura finished second overall with 336 runs behind only Scotland’s Matt Machan.At 25, the powerful right-hander is firmly entrenched at the top of the Papua New Guinea order for the foreseeable future and is a key cog in his country’s efforts to make the T20 World Cup for the first time. Timil Patel – USA USA’s most experienced player, the 31-year-old legspinner has been roaming around California since 2010 taking buckets of wickets but only recently has he got the chance at the national stage after qualifying under the ICC’s four-year residency rule. Prior to coming to America, Patel had a 38-match first-class Ranji Trophy career for Gujarat.After battling through a finger injury at ICC WCL Division Three in Malaysia last October, Patel showed what he is capable of when fully fit by topping the wickets list at the Americas qualifier in May with 15 wickets at an average of 7.66 in six games. Standing at 5′ 5″, Patel has the benefit of flighting the ball generously to deceive batsmen, and he had five men out stumped in Indianapolis. Patel showed he would be a threat in Ireland by taking 4 for 19 bowling against a stiff breeze at Bready on Tuesday against the North West Warriors interprovincial side.Patel is held in such high esteem by his team-mates that when members of the USA squad were polled after the Americas championship in Indianapolis about which member of the squad they could least afford to play without, many of them named Patel ahead of Steven Taylor. Their reasoning was that while Taylor has the potential for big scores, those innings don’t come along often whereas Patel takes wickets at key times in every match to shift momentum in the field.USA legspinner Timil Patel snares his share of wickets using flight to tempt batsmen down the track•Peter Della Penna Mark Chapman – Hong Kong For a country where there is often lament about the lack of development in the indigenous community, Mark Chapman provides some hope that the game in some way may breach the Chinese population. The 21-year-old was born in Hong Kong to a Chinese mother and Kiwi father and has progressed quickly to become his country’s vice-captain.A wiry left-hand bat, Chapman provides a calm counterpoint to the boom or bust approach employed by some of his team-mates who come in ahead of him. A talented athlete, Chapman also excelled as a junior rugby player before an injury at King’s College in Auckland resulted in torn knee ligaments. However, he has recovered in the last two years and is back near his best on the cricket field.Chapman scored half-centuries against Netherlands and Zimbabwe in a pair of warm-up wins ahead of last year’s World T20 in Bangladesh but faltered once the tournament got underway. He has been in impressive form on Hong Kong’s UK tour leading into this qualifier though, including 56 against Warwickshire 2nd XI and added 22 in a low-scoring win over the Netherlands. Ahsan Malik – Netherlands The 25-year-old rarely breaches 130 kph on the speed gun, but over the last two years has developed into Netherlands most potent wicket-taking threat and one of the cagiest bowlers in Associate cricket. Malik’s stock arsenal is bowling a series of leg and off cutters to keep batsmen off balance, the one with extra-pace working more as a surprise delivery.After taking just six wickets in five games at the World T20 Qualifier in 2012, he stormed his way to a tournament-best 21 in 10 matches in 2013. He followed that up at the main event in Bangladesh by turning in the best ever figures by an Associate bowler against a Full Member when his 5 for 19 against South Africa almost propelled his side to causing a major upset.He is at his most lethal during the death overs when batsmen on the charge struggle to respond to his constant changes of pace. Malik took 11 wickets in four games against Nepal in the recent home series, more than double the next closest bowler on either side. He should be a handful to face as he rolls his fingers across the seam on wickets in Scotland.

Stats highlights from the second day’s play in Sharjah include Alastair Cook’s record England aggregate in a calendar year and the proof that Cook and Ian Bell do not gell

S Rajesh02-Nov-20151294 Alastair Cook’s Test aggregate in 2015, the highest among England captains in a calendar year. He went past Graham Gooch’s aggregate of 1264 in 1990. Among all captains, Cook is in seventh place; the best is Graeme Smith’s 1656 in 2008, while his current aggregate is sixth among all England batsmen.3 Number of times Cook has scored 1200-plus Test runs in a calendar year – in 2010, 2012 and 2015. He joins a select group of three batsmen – Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting are the others – who have achieved this feat.31.9 Ian Bell’s strike rate in this series – he has scored 158 runs in 495 balls. Among the 30 series where he has faced at least 200 balls, only twice has his strike rate been lower: in South Africa in 2012 (144 runs in 533 balls, SR 27.01) and in New Zealand in 2013 (153 in 502 balls, SR 30.47).35.07 The average partnership between Cook and Bell, which is the lowest among the 20 England pairs who have batted together at least 40 times in Tests. The highest among them is the Cook-Pietersen combination, who average 64.69 per partnership.19 Boundaries by England’s batsmen in the entire day – 18 fours and a six. They played out 418 dot balls, and took 78 singles, 23 twos and four threes.9.33 Cook’s batting average against Yasir Shah in the Test series – he has scored 28 runs and been dismissed three times off 63 balls. Against other bowlers in this series he has scored 359 runs off 723 balls and been dismissed just once.85 Balls per dismissal for England’s batsmen in this series; on their previous tour in 2012, they lost a wicket every 43 balls. They have averaged 39.13 runs per wicket on this tour, compared with 19.06 in 2012.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the final one-day international in Dubai

George Dobell20-Nov-2015Shot of the dayThere is footage of Viv Richards during his innings of 189 not out against England at Old Trafford in 1984 – sometimes referenced as the greatest ODI innings – where he steps outside off stump and whips a perfectly respectable ball at least a yard outside off stump through square leg for four. While it would be pushing it to claim Jos Buttler is in that class as a batsman – not many have been – there were moments in his extraordinary century which evoked memories of Richards. One stroke, in particular, brought back memories of that century at Old Trafford: stepping across his stumps, Buttler somehow flicked a full ball from the distinctly swift Mohammad Irfan through square leg with a power and timing that grew gasps from the crowd. There were many impressive moments during this innings, but this was a shot that to all but a few would have been all but impossible.Near miss of the dayJason Roy had scored just seven when, drawn into pushing away from his body at a delivery Anwar Ali, he saw a thick inside edge pass perilously close to his off stump and away to the fine leg boundary. Roy went on to register his maiden international century and set the platform for Buttler’s outstanding blitz at the end of the innings. It so nearly didn’t happen.Catch of the dayEngland were growing just a little nervous. Pakistan were up with the rate and, despite the fall of wickets, their batsmen just kept coming. But then Alex Hales, who had earlier made a horrible hash of a catching opportunity from Hafeez on 26, pulled off an outstanding effort to dismiss Shoaib Malik and the chase fizzled away. Malik had thrashed a full toss from Reece Topley towards the midwicket boundary, but Hales, rushing in, threw himself forward and clung on to the ball inches from the ground in an admirably committed move. Even in a game stuffed with outstanding moments, it was an exceptional effort.Run out of the dayIf Pakistan were to have any hope of overhauling their monumental target, it was always likely that one of their top order was going to have to make a substantial contribution. But while several made a decent start, none of them were able to go on and mirror the scores made by Roy or Buttler. While it was understandable that batsmen would fail taking chances – the required run-rate gave them little other option – the dismissal of Hafeez was far more frustrating. After three damaging run-outs in Sharjah, Hafeez fell the same way here after pushing a ball into the off side and setting off for a sharp single. Babar Azam had other thoughts, however, and while he stood in his crease, watching the ball, Hafeez tried desperately – and in vain – to regain his ground.Change of the dayIt didn’t take long for Pakistan to benefit from the recall of Ahmed Shehzad. Fielding at backward point, he pulled off a couple of outstanding stops to frustrate England’s openers. But it was his presence at the top of the order that allowed Pakistan to look a far more coherent batting line-up. It allowed Azam to move into the middle order, where he looked far more comfortable and, for the first time this series, gave a hint of a Pakistan side that could improve the side’s ODI fortunes in the months and years ahead.

Relying on patience and discipline against Australia’s bowlers, Darren Bravo played an innings that was reminiscent of the kind played by Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Brydon Coverdale28-Dec-2015Yes, we all know Darren Bravo modelled his game on Brian Lara. He looks like Lara at the crease, the stance, the class through the off side. They are cousins, after all. But on the third day in Melbourne, Bravo seemed not to be channelling Lara, but another of the best Caribbean batsmen of the past two decades. Six hours at the crease, 81 runs, no boundaries in his first hundred balls. This was a Shiv Chanderpaul of an innings.If there was one thing that Chanderpaul could do, it was to soak up balls and minutes. The runs would eventually come, a byproduct of his time at the crease. More often than not, his approach was to subdue the opposition attack, tire them out, frustrate them. Give West Indies a chance of staying in a match. At the very least, Bravo ensured that a Test that seemed likely to finish on day three will go to day four. Or five.In a series in which West Indies have underwhelmed, even allowing for low expectations, Bravo has been the exception. Carlos Brathwaite might literally stand head and shoulders above his team-mates, but Bravo does so figuratively. There have been 28 West Indian batting partnerships during this series and Bravo has been part of 18. The other 10 have all featured Kraigg Brathwaite; that’s a heavy reliance on two men.Bravo’s century in Hobart was a display of class; his 81 in Melbourne was too, though class of a different kind. Before this Test, Bravo was asked what the batsmen needed to do in order to improve on the Hobart fiasco. His answer was straightforward: give yourself time to get in. If you spend time in the middle and respect the good balls, he said, the bad balls would come and the rewards would be reaped in the end.It was almost a word-for-word description of the way Bravo batted. He came to the crease on the second afternoon at 1 for 35. Wickets quickly began to fall around him, but Bravo held firm. He left a few balls but mostly his method was straight-bat defence, Australia’s reluctance to give him width outside off meaning that he usually had to play. His patience and discipline were notable, his preparedness to wait, and wait, and wait.His first boundary did not come until he had already faced 100 deliveries. Runs were a secondary consideration for Bravo, although it helped that Carlos Brathwaite was scoring at a decent rate at the other end. There were occasions when Bravo’s running left something to be desired: perhaps he took too literally his desire to spend time at the crease. But that was more forgivable than taking silly risks.His first 100 balls brought just 15 runs, but he scored quicker once Brathwaite had departed. Again his off-side dominance came to the fore. In Hobart, only 17 of his 108 runs came through the leg side and in Melbourne it was 20 of his 81. In Hobart, Bravo’s first-innings 108 featured 80 runs in boundaries. Here he managed only eight boundaries, working hard to frustrate the Australians.Even as the attrition rate at the other end grew, a century still appeared feasible until he was the last man out, caught at gully trying for some late runs before he ran out of partners. By the end of his innings, Bravo had the distinction of boasting the highest average of all time – 52.57 – for West Indians away from home, with a minimum of five Tests.Bravo had soaked up 204 deliveries for his 81 runs, and had batted for 363 minutes – that’s more than a full day of scheduled play. In the past 25 years, only two West Indians have batted for more than six hours in an innings yet failed to reach a century: Chanderpaul did it twice and Jimmy Adams also did it twice. In the fine tradition of left-handed Caribbean crease occupation Bravo had followed.From 6 for 91 at the start of play, West Indies were in a position of much greater respectability. By tiring the Australian bowlers they discouraged Steven Smith from enforcing the follow-on. Suddenly, there was enthusiasm in the field again, genuine celebrations when a wicket fell in Australia’s second innings. West Indies will not win this Test, and probably won’t even draw it, but on day three they at least regained some respect. And they had Bravo to thank for it.

Plays of the day from the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka in Pune

Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Feb-2016The pole-thin co-operativeSri Lanka unearthed a skinny quick with serious potential in Dushmantha Chameera last year. In this match, Chameera may have played a role in finding another just like him. The second ball of Kasun Rajitha’s career stopped slightly on Rohit Sharma, who spooned the ball just wide of the bowler. Chameera made quick ground moving to his right from mid-off, and dove athletically, both feet off the ground, to secure the catch. That first wicket sent Rajitha into raptures, and he would go on to set the tone for the innings with four more excellent balls in that over.The drop and redemptionRajitha should have had a third wicket when Suresh Raina’s outside edge sailed straight to Danushka Gunathilaka at third man. Only, the fielder followed the ball right into his palms, and still managed to spill it. Rajitha couldn’t get Raina in the end, but he did take Shikhar Dhawan’s outside edge in his next over. This one flew to third man as well, and this time, Gunathilaka moved quickly to complete a much tougher, running catch.The batsman who can bowl a bitDasun Shanaka uprooted Raina’s leg stump, bounced MS Dhoni out, and trapped Hardik Pandya in front to claim innings-best figures of 3 for 16, but as he admitted later on, bowling isn’t even his main gig. He had only two T20 wickets from 26 matches before this performance, and was largely in the side for having struck two manic hundreds in a domestic T20 competition in January. “Most people only know about my batting,” he said in a mid-match interview.The overeager tail-enderJasprit Bumrah had played four international matches prior to this game, but was yet to face a ball at the top level. R Ashwin thought he had given Bumrah that chance, when he scooped a ball towards fine leg and took a single in the 19th over, but Bumrah had other ideas. Haring back to the non-striker’s end for the second run, Bumrah suddenly realised Ashwin wasn’t responding. He skidded, then slipped in his efforts to turn back, but before he could lift himself off the ground, Sri Lanka had run him out.

Plays of the day from the game between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils in Visakhapatnam

Nikhil Kalro15-May-2016Zaheer’s cunning change-upEarly signs of a slow Visakhapatnam surface were on display when Shahbaz Nadeem got the first two balls of the game to grip and spin. Zaheer Khan, returning from a niggle, started his spell with an offcutter that ripped past Rohit Sharma’s outside edge. In the fifth over, however, Zaheer deceived Martin Guptill with deceptive change in pace and length. He banged a bouncer on leg and Guptill, hustled for pace, was late on the pull and caught between trying to play the stroke and sway out of the way. The ball pinged him on the helmet and almost detached it.A sloppy forehand errorIf a long list of some of the best fielding efforts of the season were to be drawn up, it’s unlikely that Imran Tahir would feature in it. Krunal Pandya swiped an Amit Mishra delivery to Tahir’s right at deep midwicket. He scampered towards the ball and got there. All good so far. But instead of patting the ball back into the field of play, Tahir ended up parrying the ball over the boundary for four while trying to awkwardly swat it. Tahir’s apology didn’t soothe Mishra’s pain.Brothers in armsKrunal Pandya took apart Delhi Daredevils’ spinners in an exhibition of power hitting. He smashed seven fours and six sixes in his 37-ball 86. After almost every boundary, he wore a flashy smile and gestured effusively. After racing to a fifty, he imitated his brother Hardik Pandya’s stance and pointed in his direction. Hardik was seen applauding many of Krunal’s boundaries. Krunal’s blitz ended when he chopped a full delivery onto his stumps. As he walked into the dugout area, he went straight to Hardik and hugged him in celebratory embrace.De Kock’s unchanging fateKrunal hammered a 37-ball 86 to set up Mumbai’s fifth-highest IPL score of 206 for 4. His night was about to get better. Bowling to Quinton de Kock, he darted a slider outside off. De Kock rocked back for a late cut but missed the ball, and instead chopped his bat into wicketkeeper Jos Buttler’s gloves. A thin noise and a vociferous appeal resulted in de Kock being wrongly adjudged caught behind, again, for the second consecutive game. De kock had his hands on his head as he trudged off.

Tamim Iqbal talks about rediscovering his batting form through 2015, and Bangladesh’s shortage of cricket this year

Interview by Mohammad Isam29-Jun-2016Comparing two productive years may be a bit unfair, but do you still see a difference between 2010 and 2015?
The year 2010 was a great one for me. In 2015, I knew what I was trying to achieve. I planned and I achieved. I wanted to score 1000 runs in all formats in 2015. My goal was to average 50-plus in Tests and ODIs, which I almost did. It was a more pleasing year, as a result.Your masterpiece was the double-hundred in Khulna against Pakistan last year, where you also had a record-breaking opening partnership with Imrul Kayes. Bangladesh were in big trouble when you two went out to bat in the second innings.
After Pakistan declared on 628, we knew it was going to be really hard for us to save that Test match. Even if it was the best wicket in the world, it would be hard. Imrul asked me, “What’s the plan?” I said, “We will take them on.”It was the only way to get out of it. We can’t defend, defend, defend and survive. We have to score runs and take them on. We played our shots and it was going to plan. When we reached 150 for no loss, we started to believe. I thought, “Shit, everything is in our control. If we keep playing our way, nobody can take this away from us.” We would have to give it away.After I reached my hundred, I told Imrul that I had done my part. The only thing in my mind was to save the game. I started to think about my double-hundred. I was attacking constantly. There were times when we faced difficulties against a particular bowler. He asked me, “Can you handle him?” I did. I got very nervous in the last over of the day. I went to him and said, “Can you handle this over, by not taking a single?” So he helped me.There were a lot of emotions and stories in that partnership. Imrul was also keeping wicket though he wasn’t a [regular] keeper, and he did so for a long time in that game. We had a very good ODI series where I scored two hundreds. Imrul came in and saw a team high on confidence.On batting with Soumya Sarkar against Pakistan: “We were in the middle of a big partnership. When you face this situation, you laugh and joke in the middle”•AFPThere were also two hundreds in the ODI series against Pakistan.
The first ODI hundred was more important for me because I was struggling leading up to the series. The World Cup wasn’t my best tournament. There was a lot of talk about my selection. After getting a hundred, I was relaxed. Before the hundred, I was too focused on scoring runs.So this innings helped me relax and it led to the double-hundred. We were happy as a team, which enabled us to achieve a lot of things.One of those happy moments was batting with Soumya Sarkar in the third ODI against Pakistan. You were smiling and laughing during that partnership.
We had already won the series 2-0 and we knew we were going to win that game as well. We were in the middle of a big partnership. When you face this situation, you laugh and joke in the middle. We get into these situations often in the Dhaka Premier League but we don’t get this at the international level all the time. When we were getting the results, we said, why not? And I must say that he was also playing the sort of innings that would have made anyone else do what I was doing.We are also seeing glimpses of the 2007 Tamim Iqbal these days.
When you are very confident about your batting, there will be a year or two when you will score runs with a couple of shots. Then the next year, you will get it with a different shot.The one-legged pull through square leg is also back. Is it a conscious shot or did you pick it up from someone?
There are a few shots that stay with you forever. It is just a matter of time when it comes out. I didn’t want to follow anyone. It comes naturally to me. I know a lot of West Indian players do it, but I just do it out of instinct.Charging at the bowlers is also something you did regularly in 2007, and now again over the last year or so.
When you are charging a bowler, they start to think about you. When you are in a defensive mood, you think about that bowler. It gives him the edge but when he is thinking about you, it gives you the edge.The one-legged pull: “It is just a matter of time when it comes out”•AFPYou are a mentor of sorts to many of your younger team-mates. They say you are very welcoming and even in your worst days you hang out with them.
It is true that people look up to me, but I have to keep performing in the same way. My responsibility is to work even harder and achieve new things. In spite of my form, people in the dressing room like me. It could be how I behave with them. I feel I am lucky to be liked so much.You have also possibly been at your fittest over the last 18 months. Has that made you a better batsman?
Fitness won’t make you score hundreds, skills will. But fitness will make you play for longer. It is more important for the senior players, because I can’t really be a Sabbir Rahman. I can be someone who can be very fit within my limitations. It would give me an extra year in international cricket.Is there a number in mind?
I want to play for another six years. I really want to score 10,000 runs in either format. In Tests it is looking impossible, but if I play another 150 ODIs really well, it is possible. Bangladesh play next against England in October…
After such a great season, we are not playing for eight months. It would definitely hamper us. People should be more interested in playing against us, but instead we are sitting on the sidelines. We don’t know how we are going to play. There’s no team in the world apart from Zimbabwe which sits out for so long between matches.I could have understood it if we were playing like we did five years ago when our results were predictable, but after we have been performing so well they [other teams] don’t want to play us. Take any top team and tell them to sit for eight months. You will see how they perform. They won’t play the way they were playing.

It had been eight years since Mashrafe Mortaza had taken a four-for or scored 40 in an ODI. He did both on Sunday in a Man of the Match performance just when his team needed it

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur09-Oct-2016May 12, 2007 was the last time Mashrafe Mortaza scored 40 runs in an ODI. It had also been exactly eight years to the day since his last ODI four-wicket haul. He chose the right time to bring up both landmarks once again to lift a Bangladesh team to a much-needed win over England.After the shock of the first ODI in which Bangladesh collapsed spectacularly, Mashrafe could see that his teammates were feeling very disappointed. On the night after that game, they were in his room till the early hours, chatting away and trying to make sense of the batting collapse.”We were up till 3am that night, sitting and talking in my room,” Mashrafe said. “We tried to forget about the game and talk about other stuff. But it was tough not to. We talked about how we made a mistake in the end again. The last match was easier to win compared to the India defeat in the World T20. It was nice to see the comeback.”Team comes first for me. Anyone could have been the player of the match today. I am happy that we won today. We were shocked and disappointed with the last game. We were feeling down till the warm-up session today. But we believed that a moment can change everything.”And that moment came when he lifted the team with the bat from a dire position, and then took three wickets in his first spell that detached England from the 239-run chase.On the previous occasion that he took an ODI four-for, his bowling had inspired Bangladesh to their first-ever win over New Zealand. The win had also come just weeks after several Bangladesh players had defected to the rebel Indian Cricket League, which nearly decimated Bangladesh cricket. There was talk at the time that New Zealand were facing a below-standard home side but Mashrafe and later Junaid Siddique and Mohammad Ashraful brought the much-needed victory.The four-for in Mirpur on Sunday came in a much different era. This is the greatest time in Bangladesh cricket ever since they became a Test-playing nation. They have won six home bilateral ODI series in a row. There is experience in the ranks while young guns are firing almost regularly. The only danger this time was breaking that sequence of successive series wins.Struggling at 169 for 7, Bangladesh looked down the barrel, and were certainly just steps away from conceding the series to a rampant England side who quickly grabbed the whole idea of battling the humidity, using the sluggish pitch and using their fast bowlers’ physical strength to conjure bounce to attack the Bangladesh batsmen.Mashrafe’s delightful 44 off 29 balls changed the course of the game. He started off with two sixes against Moeen Ali, before a swat off David Willey landed just beyond the long-on fielder. One of the fours was a hilarious swat that he tried to move away from, but ended up middling to the midwicket fence. He said that after some poor innings against Afghanistan and in the first ODI against England, he decided he would revert back to his old ways of swinging from the hip.”I think this is the right approach for my batting,” Mashrafe said. “It is best to go on the offensive with the bat, not get bogged down by pressure. I thought that I should play shots today.”But it was with the ball that he made more impact. He cut one away from James Vince who scooped the catch to point in the fourth over, before cutting another slightly back into Jason Roy who was trapped leg-before. To Ben Stokes, he bowled a full seam-up delivery that moved back in. It is heard that Mashrafe was shown this delivery, where the seam wobbles only slightly, from the new bowling coach Courtney Walsh.Mashrafe said that getting the new ball again was a challenge but he used all of his experience to eke out the first three wickets, before he finished off the dangerous 45-run last wicket stand with his fourth scalp.”In 2015, I couldn’t bowl with the new ball,” Mashrafe said. “Now that Mustafiz isn’t here, I am having to do it. Mustafiz took most of the wickets so without him it becomes challenging. I am trying to do a good job with the ball.”Fitness obviously makes a difference [to how well I bowl]. Last year, I bowled after 15 overs in most matches. I didn’t get swing with my seam-up bowling with that ball, so I bowled my variation. I bowled more seam-up deliveries but got two wickets with cutters.”Regardless of Mashrafe’s own contributions, the Bangladesh captain said that Taskin Ahmed’s second spell, that also drew three crucial wickets including that of Jos Buttler, was what changed the game for Bangladesh.”I asked Shakib and Mushfiq to think what we can do,” Mashrafe said. “We had options between Mosaddek, Taskin and Sabbir. But then I kept faith in Taskin. He is my main bowler, and has pace. He bowled extraordinarily, and took three wickets. The game came back to us through his performance.”Taskin bowled very fast at his best rhythm. If he didn’t take those wickets, we wouldn’t have won the game. His spell was outstanding. Top fast bowlers bowl match-winning spells, and I see his that way.”