Erling Haaland has enjoyed a social media meme a day after his furious referee rant during Manchester City's clash with Tottenham.
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Despite Australia having claimed the Ashes, both the hosts and England will have something to play for, especially in light of the World T20 in the Caribbean next year
Adam Collins in Canberra18-Nov-2017One benefit of the multi-format Women’s Ashes system is that it takes quite a lot for a rubber to be truly dead. So now, despite the series, at large, having been determined on Friday with the trophy in Australia’s safe-keeping for another two years, both sides still have something to play for. The remainder of the series assumes greater currency for them when casting their gaze forward to the World T20 – their next major global assignment, this time next year, in the Caribbean.Elated as Australia captain Rachael Haynes was after the home side retained the trophy, there was no suggestion of tinkering with her XI for the final two contests between the teams, in Canberra on Sunday and Tuesday. “We want to win the series,” she said of the T20I leg. “So we will pick the best team as we have done throughout.”That sentiment was shared by seamer Megan Schutt, who popped her head up to speak the day after the night before, where a few drinks and an enthusiastic singalong were enjoyed after the home side easily accounted for England in the opening T20. “We want to win the series 12-4,” she said. “We haven’t won a T20 series in a little while and that is something we are quite aware of.”Both acknowledged the strip that they will be presented with at the Manuka Oval will be hard work for bowlers. Comparisons to the barren Federal Highway that leads into town are supported by the volume of runs scored at the ground in recent summers.The Australians arrive in the nation’s capital satisfied with what they have achieved after a tough year. “It really hit us then that we have regained the Ashes on home soil,” Schutt said. “For me, it has been a little bit emotional. Just the way this team sticks together is something really brilliant. We really do have a special group.”For Haynes’ part, she said it was made all the better after the “bitter disappointment” of having been bundled out of the World Cup in July in the semi-final. “That was obviously a hard loss,” Schutt added. “We did some clear planning coming into this and it has paid off. We have plans and are accountable for what we said we are going to do.”The South Australian has bowled exceptionally across the four white-ball fixtures to date, capturing 14 wickets at an outstanding average of 9.71. Her returns of 4 for 22 on Friday earned Schutt her third four-wicket haul in the limited-overs contests. By contrast, in the World Cup, she took 10 wickets at close to 31 and conceded 4.79 runs an over, the most profligate non-spinner on the list of those with double-digit victim counts.”It is swinging again,” Schutt, the right-arm opening bowler said simply of her return to top form. “I don’t really know why that is, so I am just really happy it is going that way at the moment.”England were shattered that they had not been able to bounce from their World Cup win to also capture a rare Ashes triumph away from home. It was visible that they were exhausted, a risk that coach Mark Robinson spoke of before boarding the plane following on from their most taxing home summer since turning full professional in 2014.”It was quite a hard ask,” he said after the North Sydney Oval loss. “We came here at the request of Cricket Australia because they wanted to do this one-off, standalone series. It didn’t really suit us.” This raises a secondary question about scheduling, but that is a debate for another day as the England camp doesn’t want to take any gloss over the hosts’ victory.England captain Heather Knight said her team had learned the hard way what a difficult place Australia can be as a touring side under pressure. “We came out here to try and get [the Women’s Ashes] back and we haven’t done that and it hurts,” she said.But she was also quick to offer praise to her team for fighting back after a top-order collapse in Sydney. She was particularly praiseful of Danielle Wyatt, who made her maiden international half-century on Friday in what was her first innings of the tour and saved the tourists from embarrassment. “I couldn’t be more proud of how the girls have fought and stood up to that toughness and tried to throw a few punches back.”
It’s not about beating the best sides on your day but about building a team that can compete consistently at the highest level, Bangladesh’s coach tells Cricinfo
Interview by Khondaker Mirazur Rahman15-Sep-2008
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What was your motivation for taking up the Bangladesh job?
I took the position as it was an amazing opportunity to coach an international cricket team, and it was a natural progression from my position as assistant coach of Australia, where we had won the World Cup, The Champions Trophy, and regained the Ashes. I wanted to bring my knowledge and experience to Bangladesh and take them forward.In terms of cricket ability, where do Bangladesh stand now?
It is not a question of cricket ability but a question of cricket schooling. Our coaches, competition, and facilities are just not preparing our players for the tough world of international cricket. Our players are as skillful as any, but we are lacking in depth when it comes to consistent performers at the highest level of cricket.You have been trying to change the cricket culture of Bangladesh and also the way the players approach their game. Why is that important?
At present, and before I came on board, we had no players in our side that you could say are truly successful international cricketers. We love them and they are our heroes but they do not have the results or statistics that their oppositions have. Our batsmen average 20 and the opposition batsmen average 45-50. Our bowlers average 45 and the opposition average 25. This suggested to me that things – and team culture is one of them – needed to change. I have taken a long-term approach and may never see the results of my work. The players are learning to train and prepare in a more professional and responsible manner, where we are trying to improve so that we can be consistently competitive, not just when all the stars are aligned and we have a “good day”. We have several players in the team at the moment who I believe have the ability to lead from the front and be world-class players that we can count on each time we play. This is what I am excited about for Bangladesh Cricket and our supporters.Isn’t trying to force a change in the natural style of play fraught with risk?
There is such a misconception about how I want my players to play. I will just say that the batsmen are instructed to think of every ball as an opportunity to hit a four or a six, but if the ball is too good and the risk or percentage for success is not good, then we must do something else. The game is about making runs and I encourage my players to look to score at every opportunity. Our supporters cannot have a team that entertains from ball one by hitting the ball in the air, and expect them to also score a lot of runs at international level. It won’t happen. We will lose wickets and fail nine times out of ten as we have done in the past. There needs to be a balance of responsibility and structure to our batting. We are a team that in the past used to pass 200 in our innings just one time in four at the crease. We now do this every second time we play. I look for success in lots of ways. Winning is a result of a lot of successes in the process.How is coaching Bangladesh different from coaching Australia or any other international team?
In Australia there is an amazing domestic infrastructure, which culminates in the best first-class competition in the world. The international players, when not playing for the country, simply go back to their state cricket system and train with their state team-mates and coaches, fitness trainers, physios, doctors and so on. In Bangladesh our players must stay in Dhaka to train and get any coaching they need. There are just no real facilities for them in the home areas, but the cricket board and I have identified this and are planning to improve in this area.
| With Australia you are talking tactics and teaching new shots and small aspects of the game; with our team you spend every day just teaching them the basics of the game, things that they should know when they are 15 or 16 | |||
Our players are just so inexperienced in terms of decision-making and being ready for international standard. With Australia you are talking tactics and teaching new shots and small aspects of the game; with our team you spend every day just teaching them the basics of the game, things that they should know when they are 15 or 16. This is because our infrastructure and pathway is not good enough at present.What are the major obstacles that are holding Bangladesh back in international cricket?
International cricket is as competitive as it has ever been. We have seen India beat Australia in Australia in a one-day series. Then Pakistan won the tri-series in Bangladesh. This was followed by Sri Lanka beating us all to win the Asia Cup in Pakistan. All three of these teams are at the top of their games and are capable of pushing the world No. 1. We are still a young cricket country and are still to get our facilities and infrastructure to where they need to be to produce world-class success stories. We are aware of our deficiencies in this area and know that it will take time to develop them to the high standard required.At the moment the players selected have still got many areas that need to be improved if they are to perform consistently at the highest level. The pathway at present does not allow those flaws to be ironed out before they are selected. Our players learn the hard way, in the public eye, on the international stage. I know we have won games at times in the past, but I ask: have we really produced a world-class cricketer that we can rely on year in year out?Recently Bangladesh have shown signs of improvement in batting, but the bowling has deteriorated significantly. Has having a specialist bowling coach like Champaka Ramanayake in your coaching staff helped?
It is fantastic to have Ramanayeke in our system at the moment. He was a regular at our training before the Australian tour, so we have access to his assistance when we need or want him. His bowling squad regularly attends our training sessions as well.There is a perception among cricket fans and media that you are downplaying the successes achieved by your predecessor Dave Whatmore, to cover up the recent failures of Bangladesh team.
I have the utmost respect for Dav. He is a personal friend and we speak from time to time. Success is measured in many ways, and I would love the team to grab a couple of wins here and there – as Dav and the boys did in his time. However, I am not here just to have the team win a game or two. I am trying to develop this squad and the future of Bangladesh cricket to a point where they can compete regularly against the top-ranked teams. This will take time as the players have so many lessons to learn and skills to develop. There are no easy wins out there at the moment. All the teams we have played recently are very strong and on the move forward.I continually talk about success and improvement. We have a young team, and when you are developing you must base success on achievement, not on the win-loss figures. I hate the word “failure” when used to describe our team. They have had so many achievements in the nine months I have been with them. It is the long term that the people of Bangladesh must look at, not the immediate high of a win. Though I admit it would be nice at the moment to get you guys off our backs and increase the confidence of all. We now have more potential world-class players than ever before and the future is as bright as ever.
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There was once a belief that Bangladesh could compete with any team on their day, which no longer appears to be the case. Do you think you are a bit too pessimistic about Bangladesh’s chance of winning against the top eight teams, which is affecting the team morale?
The problem is, people have no idea how I talk to my team on a daily basis. The players are aware that our vision is to always improve. I would love to know what “on their day” means. I am not interested in coaching a team that relies on luck or it being their day. I am concerned with improving skills and confidence, so that we believe in ourselves every time we compete. We do believe that if we play to the best of our ability then we can win.The other thing I need to say is that the team under Dav were given plenty of games against the so-called minnow teams prior to the World Cup. This allowed them to win a lot of games in the lead-up and gain some momentum. They then went on to win two very big games [against India and South Africa], in perfect conditions for our style of cricket. In my time so far, we have been scheduled to play the No. 2 sides in the world in two series, and the No. 1 recently. We also had a series in New Zealand, which is very tough to tour. We have had just one three-match series against a minor team [Ireland], a team that actually beat us at the World Cup. We completely outplayed them and won the series 3-0.Are you happy with the progress Bangladesh have made over the last ten months under your coaching?
As I have said previously there are so many examples of success within our team lately. The elusiveness of victory is not helping the public see this, though. We have scored our highest scores ever against India and Pakistan in the last three months. We have had five players make their first or second ODI centuries. We have a 19-year-old, Raqibul Hasan, who is shaping to be an international player of the future.How do you explain Bangladesh’s recent performance in Australia?
I can say that the results were very disappointing and the lessons learnt were hard ones. The players were simply overwhelmed by the world No. 1 team. They know they are better than they showed us in this series and are determined to gain some credibility back in the near future. We should have won the third match in Darwin. Our bowlers, and in particular our fielders, were superb in keeping Australia to 198 in their 50 overs.We were a little unlucky at the beginning of our tour to lose two opening batsmen before the first practice match, and then to lose Raqibul with a broken thumb in the first ODI. We simply don’t have the depth just yet to replace an opener and our best No. 4 batsman. This left us very unbalanced and even more vulnerable than we were at the beginning. No excuses though – the team have underperformed and are embarrassed by their efforts.During the Australia series you were very critical about Ashraful in public. What were you trying to achieve? Was it a desperate attempt to bring some responsibility to Ashraful’s batting?
I am always talking to Ash about his performances, both good and bad. We are trying to get him to be more consistent and contribute to the score more often. Ash has made maybe just four or five half-centuries in his last 50 innings and I felt it was worth a try to say that we need more from him as captain and a key batsman in our line-up. Ash was sitting beside me and I only stated the obvious. You might consider it as an honest attempt to make him aware of his responsibilities.I believe we have been too focused on Ash and what he is capable of. We have many batsmen who have made centuries for us and who are real match-winners in our team. These are the players that will make us a successful team; one man cannot do it alone. I hope Ash can find the game that he needs to play his role for us. Everyone thinks he is one of our best players. He needs to show this by making consistent big scores.It has also been said that I tried to remove Ash as captain of the team during the Australia tour. I have never, and would never, do that. He has the toughest job in world cricket and his players do not always back him up with consistent performances. I have told him that if he is under too much pressure and he feels his batting is suffering due to captaincy, then he should consider resting from it. A run-making Ash is better for his team than to have him as captain and not making runs.Do you think the team is a bit too youth-oriented and lacks experienced players?
Yes, we lack experienced players, but you cannot have experienced players in your side who are failing all the time – they will not offer guidance when they are not performing themselves. We have no experienced players out of the team at the moment who demand selection because they are performing, or have performed recently in international cricket. If we had an experienced player who was demanding to be picked because of performances then I would be asking the selectors to pick him.
| I do not base success on win-loss figures, as this is demoralising to a developing side – they would see every loss as a failure, irrespective of whether they have made a century or taken five wickets | |||
What about someone like Habibul Bashar?
Habibul is one of our centrally contracted players. He is not currently in our team but is a helpful and welcome addition at training. He understands better than most just how hard it is to be successful at international level. I would love to have a performing Habibul in our team. However, he is not at the top of his game and was omitted some time ago after many opportunities. A non-performing senior can’t really influence the game of his team-mates. We would not leave a senior player out of our young team if they had the potential to be a match-winner or be in our team come the next World Cup.What do you expect from the upcoming New Zealand series?
I do not base success on win-loss figures, as this is demoralising to a developing side – they would see every loss as a failure, irrespective of whether they have made a century or taken five wickets. Our young team, whether we like it or not, will lose a few games before they start to win consistently. I want to be realistic here; we have to raise our game to beat teams like New Zealand. The series is on our home soil, the conditions should favor us. If we can play up to our potential, there is no reason why we can’t compete and produce some good results.I expect us to have a lot of players achieving great things against New Zealand, and I also believe we will show that we are improving by winning games in this series. Winning would be amazing for all of us.Where do you want to see Bangladesh at the end of your initial two-year contract?
We will still be ranked ninth in the world when my two years are up. What I have embarked on is not going to bear much fruit inside two years. What I want to see is that we have started to compete and are consistent in the plans and the processes we need to follow in order to push and beat teams regularly. My intentions have always been to produce some world-class performers who can carry the team to new heights on a consistent basis. And the exciting thing is, there are three or four players who may just do that.
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Jurgen Klopp joked that young full-back Conor Bradley would likely "fall asleep in the dressing room" after his team's 2-1 win against Fulham.
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Despite a lead of 613 at the end of the fourth day, Bengal don’t necessarily have to declare in a bid for an outright win – they are set to advance to semi-finals by virtue of their first innings-innings lead
ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2017
ScorecardPTI
Writtick Chatterjee’s unbeaten double-century and Abhimanyu Easwaran’s second century of the match meant Bengal amassed 483 for 4 by stumps and have all but sealed the game against defending champions Gujarat. By virtue of a strong first-innings advantage, Bengal’s overall lead is now 613. They don’t necessarily have to declare in the bid for an outright win, as they would advance to semi-finals by virtue of their lead in the first innings anyway.Resuming on 177 for 1, Bengal’s overnight batsmen Chatterjee and Easwaran went about collecting personal milestones one after the other. Easwaran brought up his seventh first-class hundred even as Chatterjee completed his second a little while after, off 183 balls. Gujarat, though, broke through in the eleventh over of the morning when seamer Ishwar Chaudhary accepted a return chance offered by Easwaran.That, however, didn’t put an end to Gujarat’s misery as Chatterjee continued pinching runs, only this time in the company of captain Manoj Tiwary (59). Together they added 166 runs for the third wicket following which Chaudhary struck again to send back Tiwary. Chatterjee then added 88 runs for the fourth wicket with Shreevats Goswami (32) before the latter was bowled by Samit Gohel with less than five overs remaining in the day. Chatterjee, playing only his sixth first-class game, had collected his maiden double-hundred about an hour after tea and remained unbeaten on 213 off 357 deliveries, including 23 fours and a six.
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Matt Coles admitted he had a “heavy heart” about leaving Kent but felt the opportunity to play Division One cricket was too good an opportunity to miss
George Dobell19-Oct-2017
Matt Coles has swapped Kent for County Champions Essex on a two-year deal.Coles, something of an unfulfilled talent, admitted he had a “heavy heart” about leaving Kent but felt the opportunity to play Division One cricket and “push myself to be as good as I can be” made this too good an opportunity to miss.For Essex, his addition adds competition for places and depth in all formats.A former Lions allrounder, Coles emerged through the Kent youth system and academy. He made his first-team debut in 2009 and has represented the club more than 200 times across formats. He had a year remaining on his Kent contract.He did briefly leave Kent once before. At the end of 2013 he joined Hampshire on loan and subsequently signed with them. But despite a decent 2014 season, he struggled to settle away from home and returned to Kent.”It is with a heavy heart that I leave Kent,” Coles said. “It’s been my home and family for most of my life and career.”But I have a great opportunity to move and play Division One cricket with the County Champions. It feels right, and I want to push myself to be as good as I can be. Essex’s vision for the future is really exciting and I’m looking forward to playing a significant part.”Coles has flirted with notoriety for much of his career – he and Ben Stokes were sent home from a Lions tour in early 2013 after one too many nights out, while he was left out of Kent’s Championship fixture against Derbyshire in June 2016 following a drink-related incident and was suspended by the ECB for two further Championship matches after being found guilty of throwing the ball in a dangerous manner during their victory against Glamorgan in May. However, he is a well-respected player who performed well enough to earn selection for the first series of North-South matches at the start of the year.Aged 27 and with his chances of England recognition having receded sharply over recent years, the move might be considered a defining moment in his career.”It is important that we continue to improve the squad and not rest on our laurels,” Essex Head Coach Chris Silverwood said. “We feel Matt offers excellent attributes with both his batting and bowling across all formats. He will strengthen competition in red-ball cricket but also offer destructive batting and bowling in white-ball cricket so it is an excellent signing for the club.”The news leaves Kent’s seam-bowling resources looking a little thin ahead of the 2018 season. It is understood the club are among several keen to tempt Morne Morkel into a Kolpak deal and are also making enquiries about several other county seamers who either out of contract or out of favour at their current counties.