For the second time this season, Rajasthan Royals promoted a wicketkeeper to No. 3, and stunned the opposition to set up a win

The Report by Sidharth Monga29-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Shane Watson pitched in with an all-round effort, picking up three wickets and scoring 41•BCCI

For the second time this season, Rajasthan Royals promoted a wicketkeeper to No. 3, and stunned the opposition to set up a win. Chasing 172, with Shane Watson, Brad Hodge and Owais Shah yet to bat, Kerala’s 18-year-old Sanju Samson scored 63 off 41, leaving Royals 56 to get off 34 balls, which they chased, but not without the mandatory inexplicable drama that is the IPL’s USP. Watson, who left the chase all but finished, had been instrumental in keeping Royal Challengers, who have now lost all their four away matches, down with the wickets of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli among his three.The game began with Royals presenting Gayle spin when hostile short bowling has only managed to trouble him. Gayle raced away, but Watson got him for 34 off 16 with an innocuous-looking delivery angling away from him. From 44 for 1 in four overs, Royal Challengers went without a boundary for 6.1 overs. The run rate fell, and when AB de Villiers and Kohli tried to correct it, they both holed out.With the innings not going anywhere, R Vinay Kumar gave them a fighting target with three sixes of James Faulkner in the final over, two of those off slower balls. Faulkner had had a good birthday until then with two catches a run-out. Vinay would try to turn the game around in the last over of the next innings too, but that’s for later.In the chase, Royals stayed with their plan of using Watson lower down the order. Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane opened, and got them off to a swift enough start, but it was Samson who pinched Royal Challengers. There might have been the odd slog, but a major part of the innings relied on cricketing shots. The standout was successive sixes over extra cover to welcome Murali Kartik, who would have hoped he had not recovered from his illness in time for this match.Those sixes took Royals to 60 for 2 in 7.2 overs, and the chase was on its way. Watson played the second fiddle while Samson went at it, reaching 25 off 21 by the time Samson fell. Watson and Hodge went about with the pursuit coolly until Hodge seemed to have killed off the chase with two sixes off Ravi Rampaul in the 18th over. If you thought 18 off 15 was the done thing, though, you haven’t watched enough of IPL.Watson top-edged RP Singh in the next over, but six off six was easy enough. However, Hodge tried to finish it off in one hit, and was bowled to leave five to get off four. Owais Shah then managed to get run out at the non-danger end, and we were smack in the middle of an IPL implosion. Back to the same last-over characters: Vinay and Faulkner.Faulkner took the single, and then Stuart Binny pulled a four to beat the team that carries his home city’s name.

On the eve of their match against India at The Oval, West Indies coach Ottis Gibson hoped his side will be known for more than just their flair

Andrew Fidel Fernando at The Oval10-Jun-2013On that famous Colombo night, after Marlon Samuels had launched a staggering counterattack with the bat, he came to the bowling crease and made his presence felt there too. When Samuels took a wicket in his final over, he stood mid-pitch, face lit up in jubilation, and began to shudder while dusting himself off. Incoming team-mates committed to the caper. Each one picked a spot on Samuels’ body and brushed him down ecstatically. It is a moment few who were in the ground will ever forget, and an emphatic expression of uniquely Caribbean cricketing fun. On the eve of their second Champions Trophy group match, against India at The Oval though, West Indies coach Ottis Gibson hoped his side will be known for more than just their colour.”That’s the one thing you will get when you come to the stadium to watch West Indies play, you will be entertained,” Gibson said. “There was a time not long ago where we entertained you and ended up on the wrong side of the result, and we’re hoping to change that. We saw against Pakistan a very close, entertaining match – low scoring but very entertaining – and we actually got the right result. We’re looking to do the same again.”Samuels and company had helped deliver West Indies’ first major world title since 1979 (although they won the Champions Trophy in 2004). In the intervening years – particularly since the mid-1990s – West Indies had slid drastically from their perch atop the cricket world, and Gibson hoped the triumph in Colombo would become the beginning of West Indies’ road to regaining credibility.”When you look at the style of play that we have as a nation, Twenty20 lends itself to the way we play, the way we like to play. Having said that, Twenty20 to me is always about entertainment. The 50‑over format and, more importantly for me, the Test format, is where the real skills of cricket need to be applied.”In the past, we’ve had this group of players together, and we’ve gone to major tournaments with high expectations, and we didn’t do as well as we could have done or should have done. Winning the tournament in Sri Lanka gave us huge belief that yes, we can win. We know we have the superstars, we know we have the players, the talent, but we never really got the job done. Sri Lanka gave us a huge belief that we can, and you’ll see a sort of renewed attitude within the team, that when we come to major tournaments we’re not just here to make the numbers up anymore.”The rankings say that we are now eighth in the world. We know that on our day we’re capable of beating the No. 1 team. We’re capable of beating any team in a format like this where it’s so short and every game matters.”Having won one match and secured – if fortuitously- top spot with a strong net run rate, they are not far from earning a semi-finals berth. India have been one of the form sides in England so far, however, and shape as West Indies’ biggest hurdle in the group. West Indies players have been among the most abundant overseas stars in the IPL, and Gibson hoped that experience would sharpen his side’s strategy on Tuesday.”Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and especially Sunil Narine have been starring in the IPL, so hopefully they’ve got a lot of information to share when we get back this evening. We’ll have a really good discussion about the Indian players and stuff like that, and those guys will form part of the main part of that discussion.”Gibson said their strategy is unlikely to prey on India batsmen’s perceived weakness against the short ball and would instead seek to maximise West Indies’ strengths. India exited the World Twenty20 in England in 2009, after several batsmen had their techniques exposed, and the same deficiency also contributed to their downfall in England in 2011, when they lost the Test series 4-0 and the ODI series 3-0.”The last time we used short-pitched bowling, it was Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Michael Holding and people like that,” Gibson said. “We don’t have those tall guys anymore, so as we saw against Pakistan, we pitched it up, we swung it a little bit and we put it in the right areas. I suppose that will be the strategy going forward.”

Ed Joyce has enjoyed better, and more profitable, days than this, of course. But in terms of keeping his county afloat against determined opponents, on a testing pitch, Sussex’s captain can have played few finer innings.

David Lloyd at Hove17-Jul-2013
ScorecardEd Joyce held Sussex together•Getty Images

Ed Joyce has enjoyed better, and more profitable, days than this, of course. But in terms of keeping his county afloat against determined opponents, on a testing pitch, Sussex’s captain can have played few finer innings.Losing the toss was a blow, no doubt, and seeing far too many of his colleagues falling short of expectations in the care and concentration stakes must have frustrated Joyce. But thanks almost entirely to his second century of the season, the Championship leaders – and only unbeaten side in Division One – are certainly not out of this contest, even though the first day scorecard may appear heavily weighted in their opponents’ favour.This pitch is one of the re-laid variety, the same surface, indeed, on which Sussex beat Middlesex by eight wickets last August. On that occasion, the hosts triumphed because their quick bowlers generated more pace and bounce, an advantage which they still hold this summer – at least for the time being. That will change quite dramatically if England decide tomorrow that Steve Finn is surplus to requirements for the second Ashes Test. Should that happen, Finn will replace Gurjit Sandhu in the line-up here in plenty of time to take out any feelings of frustration on Sussex’s second innings.Even without Finn and the injured pace pair of Toby Roland-Jones and James Harris, Middlesex were more than a handful for all but Joyce, their former opener.They may not have won in the Championship for two months, and their title hopes were significantly reduced by heavy defeats to Yorkshire and Warwickshire, but Middlesex don’t do moping. With memories of what happened here last year, and encouraged by a decent if pale covering of grass, they chose to bowl first and then backed up that judgment by dismissing Sussex an hour before the close.Regular sideways movement and a bit of up and down bounce meant that batting was seldom straightforward. But neither was it anything like impossible, as Joyce proved while keeping his Championship average above 90, and several wickets were handed over too easily for home comfort.The first strike of the day – and Sandhu’s first in Championship cricket – certainly did not fall into the gift-wrapped category. Sandhu is a 21-year-old left-armer who bowls medium-fast but has the potential to add pace as he fills out, produced a beauty to find the edge of Luke Wells’ bat.But Mike Yardy fell first ball, to Gareth Berg, playing at one he could have left alone, Rory Hamilton-Brown lost his off stump when shouldering arms to Neil Dexter, Luke Wright drove hard and fast to short midwicket after advancing on Ollie Rayner and Ben Brown looped a leading edge to mid-on as Sandhu enjoyed a second success.As for Joyce, he was simply different class. Any width on offer was punished with crisp cuts while most of his cover drives skimmed over the parched turf before fielders could move a muscle. It was a joy to watch and it would have been a travesty if he had fallen short of three figures.But for some stout defence from No. 10 Jimmy Anyon, Joyce might have run out of partners. Still 18 short of his century when the eighth wicket fell, he was grateful to Anyon’s straight bat – finally reaching the landmark by uppercutting his 162nd ball, from Berg, for a flamboyant six to go with 13 fours.Joyce’s masterpiece ended when he played on to Dexter, a dismissal which frustrated him so much that he accidentally disturbed the stumps still further with an ill-directed swish of the bat. Embarrassed, Joyce hurriedly set about trying to repair the damage before leaving the middle. Whether Sussex can make amends quite so readily remains to be seen but Middlesex will know there is plenty of battling still to be done.

Talk of a possible whitewash has been calmly batted aside by England’s captain

George Dobell in Manchester31-Jul-2013Alastair Cook did not make his name with outrageous strokes or flamboyant innings, so it should be no surprise that his measured approach to batting is reflected in his captaincy.That is not to say that Cook’s approach is limited or lacking in ambition. Just that Cook, like Andy Flower, the coach in whose image this entire England team is moulded, is a pragmatist more than a dreamer. While others plan for the long term, Cook focuses on the present. He knows that his success has come, not through a flash of genius or a preposterous talent, but through hard work, application, discipline and determination. And he is not about to abandon those qualities now he is on the threshold of an achievement that may well define him as a captain.Rightly or wrongly, England and Australia players are still judged – disproportionately, really – by their own supporters on their success in Ashes series. So for Cook, aged only 28 and in his first summer as Test captain, to already have such a landmark achievement in sight is remarkable.Two-nil up with three to play, England need only a draw at Old Trafford to retain the Ashes. Bearing in mind Manchester’s reputation for rain – England’s practice session on the eve of the game had to take place inside due to a torrential downpour – that may prove pertinent.But while the media, in particular, are already starting to speculate on the possibility of a 5-0 whitewash, the England captain remains as calm and unruffled as ever: the one-ball-at-a-time mantra has served him well and he will not deviate from it. There is no talk in the England camp about whitewashes.It’s not hard to understand Cook’s caution. England have been on the crest of a wave before, only to crash dramatically. No sooner had they won the Ashes in 2005 than they were defeated by Pakistan, while the same team dragged them back to earth at the start of 2012 just after England had reached the No. 1 Test ranking.They have experience in Ashes encounters, too. In 2009, for example, England went to Leeds on the back of some good performances only to succumb to an innings-and-80-run defeat that gave Australia a lifeline in the series. Similarly, in 2010-11, they went to Perth on the back of a strong win in Adelaide, and were brushed aside by 267 runs.And then there was the entire 2006-07 series. Cook and several of his team experienced a thrashing in that series and the pain of it has instilled not just a fear of failure, but a fear of the complacency and hubris that often precede it. For Cook and Flower, complacency is an almost unimaginable indulgence.”That was a miserable time,” Cook said as he reflected on the 2006-07 Ashes. “They just showed the Brisbane Test on Sky Sports and it was a very tough introduction to Ashes cricket. But it has gone now and it was part of my learning experience as a player. You can’t keep looking back. We focus on today and today only.”At Headingley in 2009 we did start thinking too far ahead. I admit I do remember saying ‘If we win here, we win the Ashes’. There was that mentality and we forgot about the hard work. I can’t remember who won the toss, but we were suddenly bowled out for 150 and you don’t win many games from there.”Perth was different. I think you have to give credit to the way Australia played in that game. I don’t think it was anything to do with it being 1-0 in the series. It wasn’t a do-or-die game as such and they out-skilled us. Today we are very much focusing on that first day, that first thing that we have to do.”There has been a lot of talk about 5-0, but that has come from outside the dressing room. We are very much focused on this game and this game only. What happens after that we will re-evaluate before the next game at Durham and then the next game at The Oval. That is the only way. We know it works for us better than anything else. Anything else you end up taking your eye off the ball and do not play good cricket.”It is not, perhaps, the most exciting approach. But it is sensible, it is characteristic and it has served England and Cook well. They are the accountants of world cricket. While West Indies and Pakistan flirt with success and failure in a thrilling yet infuriating fashion, England play the percentages, accumulate the runs and sustain the ‘good areas’ with the ball. It may not make them a great side, but it has made them, arguably, as good as they can be. You cannot ask for more.The one man on either side who might be described as a genius is Kevin Pietersen. He is the only batsman in the England side, at least, who can transcend any conditions and any attack to shape a game in little more than a session.But, while Cook remains hopeful that Pietersen will have suffered no reaction to Wednesday’s fitness test, he also remained confident that England could win without him if necessary.”We’ve played some pretty good cricket without him in the side,” Cook said. “Clearly he is a world-class player, let’s make no mistake about that, and he is a player who can change games very quickly. There are not many like that around.”But I think this England squad, especially over the last few years, has developed enough that the players in the squad have also produced some fantastic cricket as well. Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott: they are world class batters as well, so we are not as reliant on Kev as we were once a few years ago.”A final decision on Pietersen’s inclusion will be made on the morning of the game and left, largely, to the individual.”At the end of the day it is pretty much the player’s responsibility,” Cook said. “You can have as much medical advice and technology as there is today but only the player deep down knows what he is thinking and that is pretty much it.”He has always been desperate to play for England. He has always worked incredibly hard at his game and over the past week he has worked incredibly hard behind the scenes at rehab, which is not the most fun thing to do, to get himself right for this game.”

Warwickshire’s dismal limited-overs campaign went from bad to worse with a five-run defeat to Netherlands at Edgbaston

11-Aug-2013
ScorecardVarun Chopra’s hundred did not stop Warwickshire sliding to another limited-overs defeat•Getty Images

Warwickshire’s dismal limited-overs campaign went from bad to worse with a five-run defeat to Netherlands at Edgbaston.Warwickshire have endured a season to forget in the shorter formats and were out of the Yorkshire Bank 40 qualification race almost before it had started.And when Netherlands, having chosen to bat, charged to 100 without loss in the 16th over, it seemed that more misery was on the way for a Warwickshire side resting key bowlers Chris Woakes, Keith Barker, Rikki Clarke and Boyd Rankin to safeguard them for the LV= County Championship run-in.Netherlands’ charge slowed so that they eventually totalled 248 for 7, no more than par on a good batting pitch. And an opening stand of 134 in 24 overs between Varun Chopra and William Porterfield then put Warwickshire well on the way to their target.But after Porterfield perished for 62 from 70 balls, there was a loss of momentum. Chopra posted a polished century but found no support from the middle order and an equation of 49 from the last four overs proved too demanding.Warwickshire’s inexperienced bowling attack suffered early on as Stephan Myburgh and Michael Swart put 50 on the board in seven overs. Abetted by some wayward bowling, the openers added 125 in 21 overs and were only parted by their own misunderstanding. Both ended up at the same end and Myburgh’s aggressive knock was terminated as he was run out for 76 from 72 balls, with eight fours and three sixes.Swart found another assertive partner in Eric Szwarczynski, who thumped 28 from 19 balls in a third-wicket stand of 51 in six overs. When Netherlands passed 200 with eight overs left, they appeared to be heading for 270-plus but after Swart (67 from 85 balls) was well caught by wicketkeeper Pete McKay off Darren Maddy, the innings lost momentum.Wesley Barresi swiped 37 from 28 balls but the target was much smaller than had appeared likely – and was soon looking very small indeed as Chopra and Porterfield worked the ball round adroitly against a workmanlike but limited attack.But after Porterfield fell to Pieter Seelaar, Jim Troughton made 17 from 18 balls on his return to the side after six weeks out with a back injury. He perished on the offensive, though, as did Maddy and excellent bowling from Ahsan Malik further tightened the screw.Chopra was stumped off Peter Borren, having made 111 from 117 balls with 11 boundaries, and Netherlands were soon celebrating a West Midlands double having already beaten Worcestershire in this season’s competition.

Six wickets between the fast bowlers Ishwar Pandey and Mohammed Shami helped India A beat South Africa A by an innings and 13 runs in the first unofficial Test in Rustenburg

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Aug-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Mohammed Shami dismissed Dean Elgar and JP Duminy in the same over and South Africa A never recovered•Associated Press

Six wickets between the fast bowlers Ishwar Pandey and Mohammed Shami helped India A beat South Africa A by an innings and 13 runs in the first unofficial Test in Rustenburg, as a fighting 65 from Temba Bavuma went in vain.South Africa A resumed their first innings on 312 for 9 and frustrated the Indian bowlers, as Kyle Abbott and Andrew Birch added another 45. Suresh Raina eventually trapped Birch in front to end the innings on 357, 76 short of the follow-on target.Cheteshwar Pujara asked South Africa to bat again and his decision was immediately vindicated, as Pandey, who had claimed 4 for 46 in the first innings, bowled Reeza Hendricks off the third ball of the innings. Shami dismissed both Dean Elgar and first innings top-scorer JP Duminy in the sixth over to leave the hosts on 15 for 3 and staring at a deficit of 210.Rilee Rossouw continued his counterattacking ways, taking three fours off Shami in the 10th over. But as in the first innings, he failed to capitalise on his start as Raina bowled him for 34.South Africa resisted through Bavuma who, having departed for a duck in the first innings, produced a gritty half-century. Justin Ontong and Thami Tsolekile were stopped in their tracks as Shami and Pandey returned for their second spells.Ontong struck two fours off Shami in the 25th over before his stumps were disturbed and Tsolekile lost his to Pandey in the 35th. Wayne Parnell holed out to Shikhar Dhawan at deep midwicket off left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, to leave South Africa A on 140 for 7.Bavuma soldiered on, collecting two fours off the 44th over from Nadeem to reach his fifty but pulled Rohit Sharma’s first delivery of the innings to midwicket. Rohit also induced the edge from Abbott to the wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha after ten overs of further resistance and finished with 2 for 19 in eight overs, to go with his century from the first innings. Pandey bowled Birch in the 67th over to end with match figures of 7 for 71.Pujara, named the Man of the Match for his 137 in the first innings, lauded the efforts of his bowlers. “If you want to win a Test match you have to get 20 wickets and to do that in two days in these conditions is fantastic,” Pujara said. “Our experience of playing in Indian conditions where you get similar wickets to this one has helped. Normally the wickets are flat and the bowlers are made to work hard for their wickets and that experience shone through today.”South Africa A coach Vincent Barnes said his players had learnt a lot from the match despite the defeat. “I tell the players that these are the type of conditions you are going to play in most of the time and you have to have the game plan and the skills for it,” Barnes said. “That is what international cricket is about, a few of the guys stepped up, some stuck in and batted well to get us into a good position, especially in the first innings.”At the end of the day these tough conditions give me an idea of the character of the players under situations like this,” he said. “If they got 590 and we scored 480 we would walk off learning very little about ourselves and the game. There is a lot that we have learnt, I think the players understood that they are playing against world-class opposition and it was tough.”The teams will square off in Pretoria for the second and final unofficial Test starting on August 24.

Mohammad Hafeez is quite likely to be axed from Pakistan’s Test squad given his poor showing in the format this year but, Hafeez said, he couldn’t complain if that happened

Umar Farooq25-Sep-2013Mohammad Hafeez is quite likely to be axed from Pakistan’s Test squad given his poor showing in the format this year but, Hafeez said, he couldn’t complain if that happened and it would be part and parcel of the game. A lack of first-class game time, he said, has contributed to his woes, but he still believes he is “one big innings” away from establishing himself in Test cricket.”It’s not a bad patch, it’s not form too,” Hafeez said in Lahore. “It happens in cricket, you try your best but sometimes you can’t perform in a particular format. It’s not a matter of technique even, the ball is coming on to my bat but I am not able to play a big innings. It happens with any big cricketer.”Hafeez has aggregated 102 runs in 10 Test innings this year, and his biggest struggle was the three-match Test series against South Africa in February. That signaled the start of his current slump, as he was doing reasonably well since being recalled in 2010 after a three-year gap. In South Africa, he was exposed against moving ball and became Dale Steyn’s bunny. On the recent trip to Zimbabwe, he remained off-color in the Tests, scoring 59 in four innings despite being the Man of the Series in the ODIs.He cited Pakistan’s lack of Test matches as a major hurdle for him to turn his form around: “If you look at Test series we played against South Africa six months ago, we didn’t play first-class cricket [until the Zimbabwe series this month], so it’s a lengthy gap and it’s not easy to adapt yourself in the format after such lengthy gap. But yes it’s not an excuse, I admit that in the previous five Test matches my performance has not been good and I am concerned about it.”Given his current form, Hafeez says he will accept his fate – whatever it be – when the squad is announced. “I am playing well in the other formats and it’s not like that I am not doing the handwork, but maybe I need to be doing more handwork. I am just one big inning away from being settled in the format. But the selectors’ job is to pick the best team for Pakistan, if they think my place is there in the team, they will pick me, otherwise I will accept their decision.”Hafeez, 32, is currently the captain of Pakistan’s Twenty20 team. He scored 665 runs at 23.75 as a T20 opener but his batting average started to rise after dropping to No. 3 – this year, in four matches at the position he has averaged 52.00. When asked if he would bat down the order to find his rhythm in Tests, Hafeez said: “It’s not my decision, to decide whether to bat lower down the order. I am always ready to play at whatever the number they want me to play at, but it’s the decision of team management.”

Leon Johnson, the Guyana batsman, will lead WICB President’s XI in a three-day tour match against Australia at North Sound in Antigua later this month

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2015Leon Johnson, the Guyana batsman, will lead WICB President’s XI in a three-day tour match against Australia at North Sound in Antigua later this month. Carlos Brathwaite, who was included in the West Indies squad for the Tests against England but did not play, has been named vice-captain.Johnson has played four Tests and scored 275 runs at an average of 39.28, with a highest score of 66. No other player in the 13-member squad has represented West Indies in Test cricket.The match starts on May 27 and will be Australia’s only warm-up ahead of their two-Test series against West Indies beginning on June 3.WICB President’s XI squad Leon Johnson(capt), Carlos Brathwaite (vice-capt), Sharmarh Brooks, Rajindra Chandrika, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Jason Dawes, Shane Dowrich, Imran Khan, Marquino Mindley, Jason Mohammed, Tyrone Theophile, Jomel Warrican

Test cricket has been rather less kind to Moeen Ali than during his remarkable breakthrough summer. Last year, he first sent down a doosra during the Headingley Test against Sri Lanka and now Moeen plans to unleash the doosra once more in the NatWest T20

Tim Wigmore04-Jun-2015Since appearing on the cover of Wisden, Test cricket has been rather less kind to Moeen Ali than during his remarkable breakthrough summer. Last year, he first sent down a doosra during the Headingley Test against Sri Lanka. The delivery was subsequently put away during a widespread clampdown on illegal actions but now Moeen plans to unleash the doosra once more in the NatWest T20 Blast.”I’m hoping to bowl a couple in the T20s for a bit of fun really,” Moeen said. “I’ve worked so hard on it over the years but I don’t really bowl it much.”In Twirlymen: The Unlikely History of Cricket’s Greatest Spin Bowlers, Amol Rajan likens the doosra to a “hallucinogenic drug”. He writes: “Muralitharan aside, every single international bowler who has practised endlessly to master this delivery has rightfully had his action questioned, or has lost his stock ball altogether, or both.”Moeen evidently does not agree. “A lot of guys I’ve bowled it to and who’ve seen it say that it is fine,” he said, unconcerned that the delivery could fall foul of the ICC’s recent clampdown on throwing.A month before an Ashes series was traditionally the time when Shane Warne would announce that he would be unveiling a new delivery on England. Moeen is not a cricketer associated with such bluster, and admits his doosra might not be spotted in a Test this summer. “I don’t think I’ll bowl it in the Ashes.”But Moeen does hope to have his stock offspin back in sound working order before the 1st Test on July 8. His offspin lacked consistency and bite during England’s Tests against the West Indies and New Zealand.”The belief is still there although maybe the confidence has been knocked a bit,” he said. “I do feel like I have the potential to be a good spinner, or a decent spinner because I feel like the ball comes out nice out of my hand, and the shape and everything is all good. But there’s just maybe one or two things that I need to really get consistent in my action.” He cites a tendency to fall away slightly in his delivery stride.Moeen’s mentality remains that of a batsman rather than the role he now occupies in England’s Test side. “I think people forget that I am a batsman. I always see myself as a batter still who can bowl,” he said. “The thing with my batting is I know exactly when things aren’t going so well I need to go to my go-to areas. With the bowling it’s not actually quite there yet.”Moving two places down England’s Test batting order to No. 8 has not been an enjoyable experience. “It’s tough. When the guys below me come in I have to try and bat more positively and it’s not always easy if you’re not in.” Moeen has discussed the art of batting with the tail with Joe Root and Jos Buttler.Batting at No. 8 puts more onus on Moeen’s offspin. The burden has not appeared to sit easily so far in 2015, with four Tests bringing 11 wickets at 41.63, and an economy rate of 3.77 per over. His performance in the Headingley Test, when he recorded match figures of 1 for 121, was particularly disappointing.Moeen admits he “struggled” battling the wind and cold. “I couldn’t feel my fingers for the first few overs,” he said. “I had a few catches dropped which could have turned things. But I still don’t think I bowled very well.”Moeen Ali has struggled since returning to England’s Test side•Getty Images

But he has not been surprised by the challenges that recent Tests have posed. “I knew there would be bumps in my development,” he said. “I haven’t got a lot of experience as a front line bowler – I don’t feel like I have a lot of experience. Everytime I bowl I feel like I am learning a lot about my bowling. I just need to get more consistent about my action – just keep bowling and hopefully do what I did last year.”A desire to give Moeen more bowling with the red ball is behind England’s decision not to select him for the ODI squad against New Zealand, with the selectors making clear that Moeen had not been dropped. While he “would have loved to be in the one day side”, Moeen accepts the logic.”Maybe it is a good thing in a way in the long run to get some bowling under my belt,” he said. “I’ve been told to go and get ready for the Ashes and hopefully get some overs and wickets under my belt so that’s all I’m going to do.” But there could be a complication. “It might be a bit difficult with Saeed Ajmal in the side as well. Though it has “been talked about” to give him more bowling than when he has played alongside Ajmal in the past.Still, Moeen should benefit from Ajmal’s wisdom. “I work things out myself,” he said. “If I get too much information I sort of confuse myself so in a way I’m glad I can just get on with it and bowl and have Saeed to talk to. I talk to him a lot more about the mentality side of things.”Moeen Ali was speaking at the launch of the Royal London Gilbert Cup, a new grassroots under-11 cricket tournament. cccwww.royallondoncricket.com

England continued their remarkable resurgence in limited-overs cricket with the third-largest victory in their history over New Zealand in the one-off T20 at Old Trafford

The Report by George Dobell23-Jun-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:26

England produce another box office performance

England continued their remarkable resurgence in limited-overs cricket with the third largest victory in their history over New Zealand in the one-off T20 at Old Trafford.England had won only three of their previous 12 T20 matches and, in that period, suffered a defeat to Netherlands. But inspired by their young players – there were three T20I debutants in this side – and a newly acquired aggressive approach, they followed the 12th highest total in their T20 history, and the fifth highest in England, with a disciplined display of bowling that eventually saw New Zealand lose their last five wickets for the addition of just four runs in 12 legitimate deliveries.Only 11 times have they been bowled out more cheaply in a T20. Their captian, Brendon McCullum, rated their batting as “pretty amateurish.”The result, an England win by 56 runs, means that a New Zealand side that were thought by many to be the strongest to have toured the UK depart without a series win in any of the formats. They were previously held to a draw in the Test series and lost the ODI series.When they cruised to 89 for 2 in the ninth over with Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson together, it seemed New Zealand were on course for victory. Jonny Bairstow, deputising with the gloves for the injured Jos Buttler, had just missed a simple opportunity offered by Taylor off the unfortunate Ben Stokes and Williamson was batting with the class and composure that has become his trademark.But then Taylor miscued an attempted lofted drive and, while Williamson went on to compile the second half-century, and highest score, of his T20I career, nobody else could reach double-figures.Mark Wood claimed three wickets as England knocked over New Zealand•Getty Images

Mark Wood, one of England’s debutants, finished with three wickets – doubling his career tally in the format – as reward for his pace and full length, with David Willey, another debutant, also claiming three wickets as reward for his control and yorker length.By the time Williamson, called for an optimistic single by Nathan McCullum, was run out by an outstanding pick-up and throw from Willey, with one stump to aim at, from cover point, New Zealand were doomed. The last three batsmen failed to score.It was an impressive performance in the field from England. Willey, finding some late swing, claimed the wicket of Martin Guptill in the first over of the reply with a beauty that pitched on off stump and nipped back to hit leg, while McCullum’s early assault – he crashed four sixes and two fours in his 15-ball stay – was ended by a fine piece of bowling from Wood who, spotting the batsman giving himself room, went wide of the crease and followed McCullum with a yorker-length delivery. McCullum could only edge it on to his stumps.Earlier Joe Root sustained his excellent form with another half-century. Striking the ball with a power that belies his relatively willowy frame, he combined innovation with convention to put England on target to a substantial total. Starting with a rasping cut to the boundary, he showed a willingness to hit over the top, an ability to execute the reverse sweep against balls even outside leg stump and his now established ability to pick up the length unusually fast.At one stage England took 23 from a Nathan McCullum over with Root pulling two fours before Sam Billings thrashed two fours and a six off the final ball full toss.Given a bright start through Alex Hales and Jason Roy, who drove two sixes over long-on in Mitchell McClenaghan’s first over, they stuttered in mid-innings when Bairstow was bowled by a beauty from debutant Mitchell Santner, who produced a fine spell, that gripped and turned past his outside edge to hit the top of off stump and Eoin Morgan miscued to deep midwicket.But Stokes added late impetus and, with New Zealand starting to look weary at the end of a long season, took England to a total that proved more than enough.