All posts by csb10.top

Hamilton Masakadza fired Zimbabwe off to a rapid start, held the middle order together and remained unbeaten till the last over of the innings. A few hours later he was named Man of the Match and Man of the Series having played a big part in his team coming from behind to level the T20 series against Bangladesh 2-2.Masakadza’s unbeaten 93 in Khulna on Friday sealed a hat-trick – the top three scores for Zimbabwe in T20s belong to him. He also holds the record for most runs in a bilateral T20I series, and in the second game became the first from his country to complete 3,000 runs in Twenty20 cricket. Zimbabwe will hope his form continues with the World T20 coming up in just over a month.Masakadza needed only 58 balls to almost score a T20 century thanks to five sixes and eight fours, most of which came on the leg side. But there was beauty in his brutality as well.He used singles to feed an 80-run partnership with Richmond Mutumbami, but let the big-hitting Malcolm Waller take most of the strike during their 61-run third-wicket stand. Then when he saw Elton Chigumbura miss a few, Masakadza took the lead in their unbroken 31-run fifth-wicket stand to power Zimbabwe to 180 for 4.”I thought [my innings] went almost exactly like I wanted it to go,” Masakadza said. “We started off playing quite a few shots in the Powerplay. Then, just tried to support the guys in the middle and play some more big shots in the death overs.”Masakadza’s regret was more about failing to get a bigger total for Zimbabwe than missing out on a hundred. “I think I didn’t get as many as I would have liked to in the end overs. I didn’t clear the ropes as much as I wanted to. Other than that it set up the team quite brilliantly. I was more disappointed at not getting 190-odd. We were in a good position to get to the score.”In the first two T20s, Zimbabwe made good starts with the bat but their middle order gave it away at crucial stages. That shortcoming was addressed in the third T20 with Waller playing finisher. Zimbabwe had laid the foundation today as well and a set batsman was able to make sure they got to a formidable total.Masakadza said all the team needed to win was the middle order to take advantage of a fast start, and their self-belief had shot up after winning the third T20.”We were always confident, especially the way we played in the first game. We lost after posting 160 on the board but I thought the way the batsmen had gone, especially to start with, we just needed the middle order to click. We knew we could get over the line.”The momentum definitely helped after the third game. Obviously the guys got more confident with what they were doing. They had a little bit more belief after getting the first victory.”Masakadza said the 2-2 result would go a long way in helping the side overcome their 2-0 loss to Afghanistan earlier this month.”I thought the guys showed a lot of character to come back from 2-0 down. It is a big positive for us. We needed to put what happened against Afghanistan behind us. I think the guys showed good will power to make this comeback. It was very good for the team.”

Bangladesh have trimmed their original 17-man squad for the two-Test series against South Africa to 14.Allrounder Farhad Reza, left-arm spinner Enamul Haque jnr and Syed Rasel, the left-arm medium pacer who dislocated his collar bone during a tour game and missed out the series against New Zealand, were the players to be axed. The trio shared eight wickets in the South Africans’ ongoing tour match against a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI but the selectors have opted for Sajidul Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain as the three primary bowlers.There was some concern over Habibul Bashar, who skipped the three-day practice match due to a thumb injury, but he has been retained.The first Test begins on February 22 at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.Bangladesh squad: Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Aftab Ahmed, Habibul Bashar, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Rafique, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Rajin Saleh, Sajidul Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal

Fast bowler Mitchell Johnson is going to skip the upcoming season of the Big Bash League to rest his body and spend time with his family. Johnson’s retirement from international cricket last month had raised his prospects of playing the BBL for the very first time for his home club and defending champions Perth Scorchers.”[It] is a real shame because I think everyone in Australia was hoping he’d play,” Scorchers coach Justin Langer told radio station on Thursday. “And I really respect where he’s at. He retired for a reason and he won’t be playing.”Since the BBL was going to run parallel to the Australian international home schedule, the Scorchers were hoping to get Johnson on board in the absence of Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh and Shaun Marsh and Nathan Coulter-Nile who are part of the Test squad to play West Indies. Johnson’s management, however, said he would explore the option of playing the BBL next summer.Head of the BBL Anthony Everard was confident that despite the absence of a few international names, the quality of the fifth season of the BBL would surpass that of the previous four seasons.”We would have been delighted to have a player of Mitch’s quality involved,” Everard told . “We’re disappointed that he won’t be involved this year, however the quality of players we have this season is the best we’ve ever had, both in terms of domestic players and overseas players. To have guys like Brad Haddin and Shane Watson playing for the first time in a meaningful way is fantastic. And then there’s the internationals, the likes of [Kevin] Pietersen, [Chris] Gayle, [Kumar] Sangakkara, [Jacques] Kallis – I could go on. The quality is the best we’ve had in four seasons so there’s still a lot of look forward to for fans.”The Scorchers have played all four finals of the BBL so far and won the last two tournaments. Their squad will be strengthened by England allrounder David Willey, who impressed in his first international season as a limited-overs player and will miss the ongoing England Lions tour of the UAE.”You can just start to feel it heating up,” Langer said. “We’ve got a good crew of players. Again, the expectations are very high, and that’s good. A lot will depend on who’s playing for Australia and if we can get our best guys on the park.”The Scorchers open their season on December 21 against the Adelaide Strikers at home.

Ben Stokes said that he remains committed to the England captaincy but conceded that his side proved unable to withstand a “barrage” from Australia across the first three Tests, losing the Ashes series in a record-equalling 11 days.Stokes, England’s Test captain since 2022, signed a new two-year central contract before this tour which runs until the end of the 2027 summer. He insisted that he “absolutely” still has the desire to continue as captain and said that nothing has changed since the start of the tour with regards to his future in international cricket.England arrived in Australia with high hopes of becoming the first team to win an away Ashes series since 2010-11 but have been thoroughly outplayed, losing by eight wickets in Perth and Brisbane and by 85 runs in Adelaide. Stokes conceded that Australia have been “a lot better” than England, and highlighted his bowlers’ inconsistency as a particular disappointment.Related

• Rob Key in a bind as McCullum's wild ride hits Ashes skids

• 'Worst' Australian team too good for England again

• No Christmas miracle for England as Australia make it 3-0 to retain the Ashes in 11 days

• Cummins unlikely for Melbourne after 'pretty amazing' Ashes victory

• McCullum: 'Maybe I didn't get Ashes preparation right'

“It obviously sucks,” Stokes said. “Knowing now that we can’t achieve what we set out to do here is obviously very disappointing… It’s quite simple to me that Australia have been able to execute batting, bowling and fielding a lot more than us on a much more consistent basis.”They’ve been able to execute everything a lot better than us [for] a much more consistent period of time. We’ve had moments where we’ve been very good, but Australia have been a lot better than us over a much longer period of time in this series so far.”We know the plans that work out here. We’ve just not been able to execute those plans for long enough. We did it in moments and did it in passages, but you just can’t be so poor with your execution as consistently as we have been over these first three games – and particularly with the ball, because when you’re off here, it gets punished, and we’ve seen that.”England have shifted away from the ultra-attacking batting that helped them win 10 out of their first 12 Tests since Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as captain and coach, scoring at a significantly slower rate than Australia in this series. And while Stokes defended his side’s identity, Australia captain Pat Cummins suggested that England had changed course.”They seem to have changed their style quite a bit game to game,” Cummins said. “I think that can happen in overseas conditions: you’re always trying to fight for a method that works.”Mitchell Starc celebrates the wicket of Will Jacks on the final day•Getty Images

Cummins specifically highlighted England’s approach on the second day of the third Test in Adelaide, when they added 154 for 5 in 54 overs across the final two sessions in sweltering temperatures. Stokes himself batted particularly defensively, finishing unbeaten on 45 off 151 balls before accelerating on the third morning.”Day two I thought was surprising: it was 40-odd degrees, it was hot, it was a very flat wicket and they shut up shop there for half of the day, which I was pretty happy with. Who knows? I’m sure they’ll talk about it and come at us with different plans for Melbourne and Sydney. I’m glad that we’ve been able to stick to our guns and play the way that we play best, and it’s worked.”Stokes insisted that England still have “a hell of a lot to play for” despite the fact that the series has been lost: “Walking out there and playing for England is a good enough thing in itself… We’re not going to turn around and kick the stumps over because we have so much more to play for in the series, although we can’t go back with the thing we came out here to do.”He also argued that England had played “our best game of cricket so far on this tour” in Adelaide, with Will Jacks and Jamie Smith briefly threatening to pull off a “heist” on the final day, and said that the toss – which Australia won for the first time in the series – had been a major contributing factor to the result.”We bowled Australia out for a total that was under-par on a day-one wicket in Adelaide,” Stokes said. “We knew that we were actually ahead of the game then, before we even went out and batted. We knew that we had a great opportunity to get a big score on the scoreboard in the first innings and put Australia on the back foot. We weren’t able to do that, but we hung in there.”We showed that fight that I was talking about, and being able to get the [deficit] to 80-something [85] when Australia started their second innings and got ourselves back into the game… We were close, but not close enough, and being close ain’t going to do much for you when you need to win a game.”It’s a pretty emotional time for me and the dressing room and the guys – players, management, backroom staff – but when we get ourselves together and speak about the game and what we need to do in the remaining games, we’ll take a lot out of this game. This is how we can apply ourselves to give ourselves a better chance of being a much more consistent team.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Shahzad’s 131* became the highest score for an Afghanistan batsman in ODIs•Chris Whiteoak

Afghanistan’s batting can be a bit like a teenager. Impulsive and reckless, with a tendency to play to the gallery when they should play the situation. But 2015 has witnessed their coming of age and they signed the year off with a victory that was built on a level-headed chase and their ability to withstand pressure when it came. Afghanistan ran down 254 with 14 balls in the bank and a top-order batsman out in the middle as Mohammad Shahzad recorded the highest score for his team in ODIs – 131 not out off 133 balls.Afghanistan will savour going 2-0 up, but they suffered a bit of stage fright as they came near the target. The Sharjah fans had begun thinking of an early finish and a lengthy party. Zimbabwe had been pushed to the limit and nothing had worked. Elton Chigumbura, who had bowled only twice since March 2015, was forced to bring himself on. It was a last throw of the dice.Four balls in, Mohammad Nabi was run out. First ball of Chigumbura’s third over took out Asghar Stanikzai and the last ball of his fourth over trumped Samiullah Shenwari. Afghanistan had cobbled together only 30 runs in nine overs until the 40th, and they went into the final 10 without the big-hitting Najibullah Zadran, yet another Chigumbura victim.A scoreline that read 169 for 1 became 198 for 6, but Shahzad was still there and he proved the difference. He has mirrored Afghanistan’s growth as a batting unit. The brain freezes of the past gave way to an innings of poise and control. His power was hidden away until he was well set enough to minimise the risk in those heaves over the leg side. He trundled through the Powerplay and emerged from the first 10 overs with only three fours. He reached his fifty with a six, but was still accumulating at less than a run a ball. The problem for Zimbabwe was that he had been out there for 19 overs – ample time to understand a slow and low Sharjah pitch and assess the opposition’s biggest threats.Shahzad got into the nineties having taken 41 runs off his last 39 balls. He finished with seven fours and eight sixes, the most by a batsman from an Associate nation in ODIs. The path to his hundred was painstaking – he spent almost six overs getting the final six runs and burst into a memorable celebration full of fist pumping and bat waving.Zimbabwe’s bowlers had done well to keep him quiet in that time, but they needed to take him out and the good work they themselves had done with the bat went in vain. They had to tackle the same pitch on which they made the lowest total by a Full Member against an Associate nation in ODI history. There were two marked differences from the record-breaking events of Christmas Day, though.Zimbabwe were chasing when Afghanistan’s spinners bundled them out for 82. Today, Chigumbura called correctly at the toss and helped his team avoid scoreboard pressure and the complication of batting under lights. And given the best conditions to bat in, Zimbabwe’s 11th opening pair in 31 ODIs made a promising start.In Peter Moor and Richmond Mutumbami’s care, only two of the first 10 overs did not feature a boundary. They took the score to 71 for 0 with sound planning and skillful execution. Moor for example, harvested half of his runs through and over mid-off, including two of his three sixes, to secure his maiden ODI fifty at a strike rate of 100.But the ball began to age after 15 overs and it was stopping on the batsman off a good length. Afghanistan picked up on that and trusted the experienced Nabi to turn things around. He did so with a beautifully crafted trap that turned the batsman’s strength against him. Moor had been eager to drive all day, so Nabi tossed the ball up wider, Moor lunged forward and his back leg left the safety of his crease, Nabi beat the outside edge, Shahzad completed the stumping.Five balls later, debutant left-arm spinner Rokhan Barakzai had Mutumbami caught and bowled and Afghanistan had effectively reset the match. Zimbabwe were up for it thanks to Ervine’s resourcefulness and helpful cameo from the returning Hamilton Masakadza.They were able to keep up the pace simply by using the pace offered to them. Ervine was so prolific at it that he found 39 of his 73 runs behind the wicket. And as an added bonus, his use of sweeps and reverse sweeps kept the pressure on the Afghanistan spinners. Masakadza was also quick to understand that his power game has a lesser chance of success of a slow, low Sharjah pitch. So he found 29 of his 47 runs through singles, and in doing so ensured Ervine took a lot of the strike. Their third-wicket partnership put 98 risk-free runs, barring one occasion when Williams could have been stumped on 43, and gave Zimbabwe’s lower order the freedom to play without worrying about wickets falling. In the end, they were still 20 runs short.