England allrounder set to feature on white-ball tour to country where he grew up

Matt Roller03-Oct-2024Jacob Bethell is targeting a spot in England’s Champions Trophy squad through performances on their white-ball tour to the Caribbean – and joked that he is hoping to avoid being booed when he plays against West Indies in Barbados, where he grew up.Bethell, who turns 21 this month, made his T20I and ODI debuts against Australia in September and felt as though his first taste of international cricket “reaffirmed that I was ready” to make the step up. He kept his place in both squads for the Caribbean tour, which comprises three ODIs and five T20Is and includes three fixtures at Kensington Oval at the start of November.”That’s where my heritage is, so all my friends have already bought tickets,” Bethell said at the cinch PCA awards, where he was pipped to the Young Player of the Year trophy by Jamie Smith. “They’ll be in the stands waiting for me when I get there. I’m slightly worried about how the West Indian fans are going to accept me.Related

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“I’m hoping I don’t get booed too much. I’ve seen Steve Smith in his last few games and every time he walks out to bat, it’s like the end of the world. I’m hoping that’s not the case in the West Indies! I’m only saying that as a joke: there’s a whole lot of support coming around so I can’t imagine it’s going to be anything but that.”Bethell was born and raised in Barbados but moved to the UK aged 12, attending Rugby School on a sports scholarship. He is one of three players in England’s 14-man squad with links to Barbados, along with Phil Salt – who attended Harrison College, the same school as Bethell, while living there as a teenager – and Jofra Archer, who was born and raised there.After the tour, Bethell will head to Australia to play for Melbourne Renegades in the BBL, and hopes that he will remain part of England’s white-ball plans. “There’s obviously the India series for England [from January] and the Champions Trophy, which is something I’ll be looking to put in performances in the West Indies to then get selected for,” he said.Bethell’s first seven international appearances were a mixed bag. He hit 44 off 24 at Cardiff – which included 20 runs off four balls facing Adam Zampa – and helped to square the T20I series in partnership with Liam Livingstone, but had a quieter time in the ODIs, with 85 runs and four wickets across five matches as England’s No. 7.He found the experience “full on” but felt “at home” against Australia’s bowlers, who included Zampa, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. “You’re ‘on’ all the time,” Bethell said. “I found it hard to switch off at times, but on the whole, it was pretty much everything I expected. It’s hard cricket, mixed around busy travel and a lot of off-field expectations.”A perfect example is Southampton: we were staying on the ground, and you’re sleeping 50 yards away from where you’re walking out to bat, so I found it quite hard to switch off then.”One thing that was really pleasing was you see the level. You’re playing against the top players in the world – and obviously [50-over] world champions – but it was a level that I didn’t feel uncomfortable at, especially with the bat. I felt really at home, so it just kind of reaffirmed that I was ready for it, and ready for what’s to come.”He will predominantly play white-ball cricket this winter, but Bethell’s aspirations extend across all formats. “It’s nice to tick off two of them, but definitely the best one is yet to come – hopefully,” he said. “Test cricket has always been my dream. I know it’s taken a different shape in the last three years but definitely, that’s still my dream: to play Test cricket for England.”At the minute, I’m still very adaptable in red-ball. I haven’t really found a place where I’ve gone, ‘Right, this feels like home’ in terms of a place in the batting order, but I think that could be anywhere from opening the batting to No. 7 – especially with bowling offspin, I’m hoping that I can get into a team being a genuine allrounder.”

True to form, the 2-0 win in Pakistan came against a backdrop of strife and adversity

Mohammad Isam13-Sep-2024Najmul Hossain Shanto was on his way to the elevator. He had just finished the tour’s final press conference, after leading the side to their maiden Test series win against Pakistan. Bangladesh had completed the six-wicket victory by mid-afternoon on the fifth day. It left them a bit of a breather between arguably their greatest moment in Tests and their evening flight home.The staff and security personnel in the media centre had taken selfies with the Bangladesh captain, and he was walking, relaxed, taking in the compliments. Then the question.”Shanto, what is the secret to this 2-0 win?””One word: belief,” Shanto said, his hand on his heart.Bangladesh went to Pakistan after the T20 World Cup, where they meekly surrendered to Afghanistan in the Super Eight. Their fans turned their backs on them; the rest of the world lost interest. Bangladesh found themselves, ironically, in the kind of position that Pakistan have always prided themselves on fighting their way out of – that of the cornered tiger.Related

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Bangladesh have a history of motivating themselves to rise after their worst moments. On an awful tour of England in 2005, where they were battered on the field and blasted by cricket’s greats off it, they summoned all their energy and emotion to beat mighty Australia. There was no cricketing or worldly explanation for that Cardiff game; it was one of cricket’s great miracles.Three years later, when a significant group of Bangladeshi cricketers signed up for the rebel Indian Cricket League tournament, Bangladesh cricket was in tatters. They handed debuts to a few youngsters. The public doubted whether the team could ever win again, but they did, managing to beat New Zealand in their first ODI after the exodus.This pattern has been common enough over the last 15 years or so, and it marked the Rawalpindi wins too. Bangladesh arrived in Pakistan on the back of a prolonged run of poor results, including two disastrous World Cups. In the weeks leading up to the tour, the cricketers lived through a violent revolution at home, many leaving for Pakistan after having defended their homes from dacoits and looters, and having suffered losses of various kinds. There was no cricket board to speak of; the BCB’s president and several directors went into hiding after the Awami League government resigned early in August.Shanto had his work cut out, but he had at his disposal two veterans, a couple of Test specialists, an encouraging group of fast bowlers, an able wicketkeeper, and a hungry allrounder. Off the field it was an interesting mix. Bangladesh’s head coach, Chandika Hathurusinghe, had faced criticism, and chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain had only returned to the BCB earlier in the year after a decade in administrative hiatus. At least Rabeed Imam, the experienced manager, brought a calming presence.One of the things Shanto was especially pleased about was the team-first ethos that marked the tour. He called it one of the hallmarks of the series win. Every batter who got a start made sure he capitalised, in terms of time spent at the wicket, or runs scored. The fast bowlers pounded in all day as a pack.”In the past, we have had many individual performances in the team,” Shanto told ESPNcricinfo in Rawalpindi. “This time, every player contributed to the team’s exact requirement. They thought about the team first. They were only worried about the team. Nobody looked for personal milestones.Shanto (third from right) embraces Litton Das after the win in the second Test•Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images”The way Mushfiq [Rahim] bhai played during his 191 in the first Test, you could see that he wanted to bat a little more for the team. When Mehidy [Hasan Miraz] made 78 in the second Test, he didn’t think about his century. He had gone out to bat at 26 for 6. It was clear that he wanted to take the team to a better position.”Look at how Litton [Das] batted for so long with Hasan Mahmud. Even after scoring 138, he felt like he could have given more.”Nahid Rana bowled fast all day. Hasan Mahmud held a spot all day. Taskin [Ahmed] returned after a long time – he is trying hard for the team. Everyone is supporting the bowlers. The one who drops a catch gets a pat on the back. It was a great environment. I know that winning a match always brings out positives. I know that big performances become famous. They are talked about. But these small factors were effective for the team.”A member of the touring party who requested anonymity echoed the captain’s sentiments. “Bangladesh were a treat to watch on this tour,” he said. “There’s a definite change in mindset among the younger lot. We had to take nine wickets on the fifth day [of the first Test] when Shoriful [Islam] told everyone loud and clear that we will win the game. It showed that he had the desire [and was ready to work to make it come true].”Mehidy had a huge role. He bowled beautifully, and then made those telling contributions from No 8. The way he looked hungry and eager to be in the wicket safter his half-century in the second Test, it gave a different vibe to the team. When we [came back into] the contest from 26 for 6, it added a new dimension to this team.”We don’t do these kinds of things. The incredible partnership between Litton and Mehidy suggested to the whole dressing room that we can turn the game from any situation.”

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Having the right attitude paid off for the Bangladesh batters, who, more than their bowling counterparts, had had an ordinary year in all three formats. So when openers Shadman Islam and Zakir Hasan fought hard in the first innings of the series, it sent a strong message to the dressing room.New blood: Bangladesh’s exciting young fast bowler Nahid Rana•Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images”The majority of the pre-tour preparation was simply focused on making better decisions consistently in the nets,” batting coach David Hemp said. “Being clear about which balls to attack, defend or leave, coupled with judging length – whether to move forward or back.”[Shadman and Zakir] approach the way they bat and their individual innings in different ways, and as such, both had their own particular areas that they were working on pre-series. However, decision-making is vital, and as a batting group we discussed the importance of time and making the opposition bowlers come back for four-plus spells. This was something that we identified after the Sri Lanka series in March.”Shadman and Zakir eked out 250 balls across their opening stands in the series, the most by a Bangladeshi opening pair in an overseas series in more than five years. It gave the middle order less to worry about and more to build on. Between Mushfiqur Rahim, Mominul Haque and Shakib Al Hasan there was just the one century and one half-century, but those three players made valuable contributions on and off the field.Thankfully, Litton and Mehidy stepped up in both Tests. Litton’s taking the attack to Naseem Shah in the first Test – off whom he scored 18 runs in an over at the end of the third day – blunted Pakistan, and then he put on that epic 165-run stand with Mehidy that changed the course of the second Test.”Litton is a very talented and experienced all-round player,” Hemp said. “What was impressive was his discipline and patience to absorb pressure, and then additionally his awareness to exert pressure the other way by attacking the bowling at key moments.”Mehidy again made significant contributions at critical moments with the bat. He is naturally an attacking player, which is a big strength, so it can be a challenge to navigate what to do in certain situations, but this series his decision-making and approach was outstanding.”Opener Zakir Hasan was, along with his partner Shadman Islam, a key contributor to Bangladesh’s series success•Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images

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Shanto’s on-field presence was noticeable, though his batting form continued to suffer in Pakistan – even if his final innings in the series suggested it might be returning. But there was a spring in his step, and his was often the loudest voice on the field. He spoke to his bowlers regularly, and he was proactive in changing them around. He stuck to his plans and did not shy away from attacking Pakistan’s best batters. Shanto’s clever use of spinners on two occasions – the fifth day of the first Test and the first day of the second – was also impressive. Often, he kept the slip cordon intact but also employed in-and-out fields for set batters. Overall, he and Hathurusinghe read the conditions better than Pakistan.”I am in the slips for a while, then I am at mid-on or mid-off at other times,” Shanto said. “My fielding position depends on who is bowling. Sometimes it is hard to speak to Nahid Rana from the slips. I spend time next to him, to give him instructions. Once he gets it, I can field anywhere. Sometimes I have to stay there for Hasan Mahmud. I don’t have to do the same for Taskin. I thought the bowlers gave me exactly what I wanted from them.”He now possesses arguably Bangladesh’s best bowling attack in years, fast bowlers who can win him matches, and two of the world’s leading spinners. But Shanto’s future as the captain isn’t all rosy. His brief when he was handed the captaincy last November was to take Bangladesh cricket into the future. Stating it that way elides the fact that it will be a future without a golden generation of players who defined Bangladesh cricket – the likes of Shakib and Mushfiqur, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah.

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One of the more unusual things about this tour was the lack of influences from outside the team. For years, it had been common practice for the former board president, Nazmul Hassan, and some BCB directors to travel on tours. They would sit in on team meetings and talk to players and coaching staff every now and then, in the team hotels and elsewhere.This time, however, it was different. Hassan and several board directors with political ties haven’t been seen in public since August 5. Hassan stepped down as president on August 21, and the head of cricket operations, Jalal Yunus, resigned the day before. The team left Bangladesh with the country in chaos, but once in Pakistan, the team focused on the task at hand.”In the team, everyone knew their specific roles,” said Imam, the team manager. “They knew what was expected of them. It was a very cricket-centric tour. We basically stuck to training, matches and hotel. We had our rooms side by side and on the same floor. It created an atmosphere of togetherness. They spent their spare time with each other. It was good to see that cricket was the only thought during a tour.We’ll always have Rawalpindi: old-timers Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan seal the deal•Associated Press”News did come through but the focus never wavered. The coaches and support staff, we tried to make them comfortable. We were together all the time. There were no distractions. Rather, we received a lot of encouragement from the board and from home.”That resulted in a relaxed atmosphere, despite the new board chief’s criticism of Hathurusinghe, and Shakib being accused of a murder during the student protests.Not that things didn’t get tense in the dressing room. Rabeed, who has worked at the BCB for close to two decades, spoke of how he got to pacing when the team fell to 26 for 6 in the second Test.”I wasn’t feeling comfortable anywhere. I didn’t feel like standing or sitting anywhere. I was thinking of going towards the dugout. When I was coming down the dressing room stairs, Miraz hit a boundary. He struck one more, and then I just sat midway down the stairs. I decided to sit there throughout [Mehidy and Litton’s] 165-run partnership.

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Given the side has eight Tests from August through December, the BCB sent the high-performance team to Australia and the Bangladesh A team to Pakistan in advance to prepare. Several of the Test squad members, like Mushfiqur and Mominul, played for the A team in Islamabad ahead of the first Test. The Test team ultimately had to rely on six days of practice in Lahore and Rawalpindi, but they were well prepared and acclimated to the conditions.Shanto: “I think such a moment has never come in Bangladesh team’s history. Cricketers look for references. Now we have one”•Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty ImagesIf Shanto felt vindicated after winning the first Test he looked relieved and content after the second, posting a photo of himself asleep next to the trophy. He reflected later that no matter what direction the team took from there on, they will always have this 2-0 result in Pakistan.”It feels great when you are winning. It is important to enjoy these moments. I think such a moment has never come in Bangladesh team’s history. Cricketers look for references. Now we have one. We know that we have the ability to win abroad.”The next time we play, I don’t know about the result, but we will surely have the belief that we can win. I said the same thing in the press conference on the first day [when asked about Bangladesh’s dismal record in Pakistan] that records are meant to be broken.”It was from my belief after seeing how hard the players worked. The way they showed hunger for the team, it gave me the belief. Results can vary in these situations. If we can stick to this process, work hard, we can do even better.”Bangladesh have had many false dawns. In fact, the win in the first Test of this series seemed like one. But they followed it up with another great effort in the second, a first overseas clean sweep, 15 years after their last. But unlike that 2-0 win against a depleted West Indies side, Rawalpindi has provided them with a blueprint for overseas success.They have a reference. And they also now have the belief.

Aqib and Masood have made it clear that the spin strategy is not short-term, but is it really a fix?

Danyal Rasool27-Jan-2025There has been lots of glorious myth-making of Pakistani fast-bowling. Of Sarfraz Nawaz, wily inventor of a new art no one new anything about. Of Imran Khan running in open chested, grace and effectiveness in equal measure, all culminating in a gazelle like gallop, creating the cricketer that led Pakistan’s greatest ever side. Of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, whose swing and accuracy were as addictively watchable as they were devastating, of Shoaib Akhtar, a high-speed train in a world of freight locomotives. The legends are passed on from one generation to another, and, for much of the region’s cricketing history, marked Pakistan out as the exception to the rule that the sub-continent was a land of spin-bowling specialists.The stories we tell of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali will be different, and nowhere near as enduring. After years of repeated failures to develop a home template in line with the self-image Pakistan wish to live up to, the current setup – led in part by Aqib Javed, member of Pakistan’s selection panel and all-format interim coach – dispensed with the idealism and injected realpolitik into their philosophy. The fast bowlers weren’t taking 20 wickets, and all attempts to prepare seam-friendly wickets had failed, as, seemingly, had the ability and willingness of many of their fast bowlers to actually play Test matches.Related

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Their new idea was as brilliant as it was simple, hiding in plain sight. Pakistan had wizened old fingerspinners who always seemed to do well in spin-conducive conditions in domestic cricket. So, by way of fans and heaters, windbreakers and greenhouses, they prepared surfaces that ragged from day one, where fast bowlers were rendered as superfluous as horse-drawn carriages; seamers have bowled 17 overs for Pakistan in their last four Tests, and taken one wicket. Bat first, get the ball ragging, rinse, repeat.Pakistan finished the World Test Championship cycle at the bottom•AFP/Getty ImagesAnd supporters, despite disgruntlement from some quarters, were happy to sacrifice playing style at the altar of effectiveness. Drawbacks, such as what it meant for Pakistan’s fast bowling future, or the toll it would take on batters’ confidence and techniques could be ignored. Their captain Shan Masood went far enough to call it a “sacrifice” that the batters and fast bowlers were making. However, they had to win. That was the social contract.But if your only selling point is that the trains run on time, you do at the very least have to ensure the trains do, in fact, run on time. Over the past two days, West Indies demonstrated to Pakistan the precarity of that assumption. Any denunciation of Pakistan’s playing style over the past three Tests largely circled around whether these were sporting wickets of if they were doing Pakistan’s long-term prospects hard; that victory would be achieved was almost assumed. Before this Test, Aqib was already referencing the next World Test Championship cycle and how Pakistan would replicate these wickets because they needed to win “all their Test matches” at home to qualify for the final.Yet, results – on these surfaces more than perhaps any other – can tilt substantially on the flip of a coin. Pakistan were on the right side of it in two of the first three Test matches they won this way, but no pitch can guarantee you won’t have to bat fourth. And while three out of four wins is a vastly improved Test run than any Pakistan have managed at home in years, West Indies hoisting Pakistan by their own petard in Multan was a reminder of how few data points we have to extrapolate meaningfully into the future. Brendon McCullum’s “Bazball” approach to the England Test side began with a similar uptick in results to equally wild optimism over the first season, but longer sample sizes can provide surprisingly sobering reality checks.Pakistan were willing to ignore drawbacks of playing on a turner – like the toll it would take on batters’ confidence•AFP/Getty ImagesBut Pakistan have, to their credit, provided consistent clarity on their future intentions. An on-paper soft draw over the next cycle has encouraged Pakistan to dream of a possible slot at the WTC final in 2027, with the path invariably running through home wins. Masood backed his coach up, promising domestic cricket on similar pitches to help batters cope with opposition spin better.But Pakistan have to guard against chasing their own tails here; they may find they’re preparing for the season just passed than the one that follows. This was billed as the “bumper home Test season” with seven home games across three series, but it has come and gone, with their spin strategy “a new one for our batters, too” as Masood said. It may not be quite as new for them when the next season does roll around.Pakistan are scheduled to host South Africa later this year and then welcome Sri Lanka – a side that, in any case, they are unlikely to want to curate uber-spin tracks for – for two Tests in 2026. A year of honing batters’ spin techniques on pitches that have nothing for red-ball quicks is unlikely to be of much assistance when they travel away between March and August next year, five of which come in West Indies and England. Not to mention, of course, that in Pakistan, where the domestic red-ball season is jostled around at the mercy of different priorities, two years might as well be an epoch.The most flippant criticism of Aqibball, as it has come to be known, is that it was a short-term fix. But Aqib and Masood have made clear they don’t view it as short term, and Jomel Warrican’s West Indies showed them it may not necessarily even be a fix.

We will be keeping tabs on how these five young women go at the latest edition of the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia

Shashank Kishore17-Jan-2025Caoimhe Bray (Australia)A seam-bowling allrounder like her role model Ellyse Perry, Bray became the youngest to feature in the WBBL late last year when she was just 15. She marked the occasion by dismissing Deandra Dottin and then hitting the winning runs for Sydney Sixers.She had come into the spotlight after amassing nearly 1000 runs in the New South Wales Under-18s competition in 2024, which included a double-century in the final. Last September, she made her Australia Under-19s debut in a tri-series, where she hit 84 and picked up 4 for 20 against New Zealand.Bray has also represented Australia’s junior football team as a 14-year-old at the AFC Women’s Under-17 championships in Indonesia.Tilly Corteen-Coleman has come through the ranks following an impressive initiation in domestic cricket•Getty ImagesTilly Corteen-Coleman (England)A left-arm spinner who dismissed Meg Lanning on her Hundred debut as a 16-year-old, England’s Corteen-Coleman has come through the ranks following an impressive initiation in domestic cricket, where she picked up four wickets in four deliveries for South East Stars in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.She followed that up with an impressive outing at the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in 2024, where she picked up nine wickets in eight games as South East Stars finished runners-up.Corteen-Coleman has already gained valuable experience in Asia, having represented England Under-19s in Sri Lanka last year.Niki Prasad recently led India to the Under-19 Asia Cup title•ICC via Getty ImagesNiki Prasad (India)As a 15-year-old in 2021, Prasad hit Deepti Sharma for towering sixes at a club tournament in Bengaluru, and there was a buzz around her in the cricket circles in the city. But a departure from her aggressive game to try and bat longer pushed her down the pecking order after she was initially in the running to play in the inaugural edition of this World Cup in 2023.Over the past 18 months, Prasad has rediscovered her big-hitting abilities through dedicated power-hitting sessions as well as a transformation in her fitness routine. In 2025, she will lead India as they hope to defend their crown. She is one of five players from the current India squad to have been picked up in the latest WPL auction; Prasad will play for the Meg Lanning-led Delhi Capitals.Karabo Meso has already featured in two T20Is as a wicketkeeper-batter•Cricket South AfricaKarabo Meso (South Africa)Set to play in her second Under-19 World Cup, Meso is seen in South Africa as the natural successor to incumbent wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta.Meso comes from a family with a sporting background. Her mother played netball and her father played softball. Meso herself started off as a prodigious track-and-field athlete before shifting to cricket and choosing the big gloves. She earned a maiden national call-up for the home series against Sri Lanka last April, and has subsequently featured in two T20Is.Related

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Her eight dismissals and superb glovework at the previous edition of the tournament was noticed when she was picked in ICC’s team of the tournament despite South Africa not making it past the Super Six stage.Limansa Thilakarathna (Sri Lanka)Daughter of former Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Melbourne-raised Limansa, an Australian national, wants to be a legspinner like another famous Victorian, the late Shane Warne. In 2021, she became the youngest female cricketer – at 12 – to play at the premier level, when she was chosen for Cricket Victoria’s Under-16 squad. She currently represents Melbourne Cricket Club.Limansa’s Australian nationality has caused debate within Sri Lankan cricketing circles, but the selectors have stuck to their decision of picking her citing her all-round abilities – she bats left-handed and in the top four, apart from being a legspinner.

Stand-in captain hoping to avoid slow start of 2023 World Cup against England in Lahore

Danyal Rasool21-Feb-20255:01

Agar: Aussie youngsters will have ‘hunger to make a difference’

It’s a day out from the game, and yet getting to Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium when Australia or England are en route can be impossible. Presidential-style security chaperones the sides between the hotel and the newly rebuilt ground. The ticketing website and resale venue were overwhelmed as soon as tickets for this contest were released, and then once more when further tickets were made available.A car arrived at the gate, a full mile away from the stadium entrance itself. A policeman had a long squint at the windshield, and shook his head. “Wrong type of sticker,” he said firmly. “You can’t enter here, let alone park here.” In Pakistan, this game is a big deal, bigger than arguably for any other side this tournament.It can be hard to escape the impression that Australia are on the opposite end of that spectrum. Injuries and withdrawals leave them without the entirety of their preferred fast bowling line-up, while Marcus Stoinis announced his ODI retirement in the lead-up to this tournament and Mitchell Marsh is also injured.Related

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When you’re the reigning world champions in the format, the motivation to demonstrate you must also be considered champions of the mini-World Cup, as this competition was once informally billed, has to be lukewarm at best. But Steven Smith insists his side do not see it that way.”I think it’s irrelevant, really,” Smith said on Friday. “This is another event. You’ve got to be focused from that first game. In our last World Cup, we were a bit slow to get started. We were really under the pump. And then we brought our best cricket towards the back end of the tournament, which is what you need in World Cups.”Champions Trophies are a lot different. You can’t be slow to get started. You’ve got to get right into your work from the outset. That’s our message to the group and the guys are excited about getting started tomorrow night against England out here.”Steven Smith is leading a depleted Australia squad in Pakistan•Sameer Ali/Getty ImagesFor Smith, leading this side in Pat Cummins’ absence, is well aware he couldn’t have taken that privilege for granted. Once destined to be a long-term Australian captain before it was all washed away by the events of Cape Town 2018, Smith knows better than almost anyone how one moment, or one tournament, cannot define a player.Back as Australian captain in an incredible redemptive arc, victory here may just be another bit of silverware for a heaving Australian trophy cabinet, but leading his side to it would be a prized career highlight for the man himself.”I’m pretty relaxed,” Smith said. “There’s always pressure when you’re playing in international events and big tournaments. It’s clear we’re obviously missing a few of our gun fast bowlers, but we’re not worried about that. We’re thinking about what we’ve got here and the opportunity that those guys have.”There’s some quality players in that room that are playing in almost their first big event, I suppose, which they’re looking forward to and I’m looking forward to as well. It’s going to be great to see them placed under pressure against some quality opposition, and it’s going to be an exciting time for us.”England may not be the terrifying opposition they were in this format between 2015 and 2019, the side that blitzed Australia to what remains their only World Cup semi-final defeat. However, it does offer an indication of what each side expects from the squad they bring to this tournament that England announced their starting XI – specific batting positions and all – nearly two full days out from the game, while Australia want as much information as possible.Marnus Labuschagne looks set to play in Lahore on Saturday•Getty Images”We’re pretty clear where we’re sort of heading,” Smith said, somewhat unconvincingly. “But we’ll name it [the team] at the toss tomorrow. I need to have a look at the surface when we get an opportunity as well. We’re pretty clear where we want to go, but we’ll name it tomorrow.”Smith was hit in the box in the nets on Friday, but has been cleared to face England after some initial discomfort. He missed a training session earlier in the week through illness, and said that he had not yet looked at the surface when he spoke to media.”England are a great side,” Smith said. “They’ve been a very good white-ball team for a long period of time and we’re looking forward to starting our campaign against them tomorrow. Hopefully it’s a belter of a game.”England, after all, have recognised pace pedigree that Australia cannot match in the absence of Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Brydon Carse will all play on Saturday, while Australia must work out how to fit three of Nathan Ellis, Ben Dwarshuis, Spencer Johnson and Sean Abbott into an attack led by the legspin of Adam Zampa.But, as every side in this tournament knows well, there is only so much debate to be had about the finer technical points of strength and weakness about an Australian side in these circumstances. Like Real Madrid in football’s Champions League, all that sometimes matters is that running through the DNA of this particular unit is an ancient, received wisdom passed down generations, one that illuminates the path to glory in ICC event after ICC event.No wonder, then, that Smith, whom destiny appears to have thrust into the role of main Australian character against England once more, is quite so relaxed.

The league has survived exile, spot-fixing, Covid, bad anthems, different board heads, four different prime ministers and two caretakers. Yet here it is in all its glory

Osman Samiuddin12-Apr-2025On the flight home after he had bought the PSL’s most expensive franchise, Karachi Kings, Salman Iqbal, the business and media tycoon, remembers being told by everyone he had made a mistake. A massive mistake. His employees at the ARY Group continued to tell him much the same. For days afterwards he couldn’t sleep, disbelieving of what he had done. Biggest mistake of his business career? His life?It’s easy to forget the fraught, fragile place in which Iqbal had bought those rights in December 2015, for US $26 million (over 10 years). Talk of a Pakistan T20 league had been going on since 2008. Chairmen had come, chairmen had gone, opportunities peaked, opportunities troughed, but a league remained absent. The IPL was already booming, Bangladesh had started the BPL, West Indies the CPL. Pakistan was nearly seven years into its exile era. Even with a league, there was no timeline for when it might come home and no chance foreign stars would come to Pakistan. The PCB had not fully recovered from a period of leadership turbulence (between Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf). The BCCI was ignoring them, the Big Three had cast them aside.Actually, it shouldn’t be so easy to forget because, tenth season upon us (PSL X does have a zeitgeisty, and kind of adult, zing to it) and look around. Pakistan cricket is again – still? – a pretty fraught place. Struggling on the field. Not fully recovered from a period of administrative turbulence (featuring Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf). The BCCI ignoring them harder than ever (other than when it’s making life difficult for them), the big three (now small-capped because they’re more disingenuous about it) casting them aside.Related

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Iqbal says the decision to buy Kings was not a business decision. It was one he made with his heart. To some extent, most, if not all, those first buyers, were the same. In that sense those decisions ring closer to Malcolm Gladwell’s thesis about the owners of sports teams and the psychic benefits of owning those teams. It’s not too long to read but in short he argues sports team are like works of art: there is a measurable value and then there is a value on top, the bit of owning it that speaks to the owner’s heart: the psychic benefit.Not that the PSL has been bad business. Not at all for the PCB. Indeed, as a report in the Pakistan business weekly made clear last year, the league was the board’s biggest source of revenue for five years until 2022 – essentially from its inception. A period where international cricket had not fully returned to Pakistan the pandemic had upended the game. It is no longer the biggest slice. The ICC’s current revenue distribution model, which has doubled the PCB’s share to about $34 million annually, holds that distinction.But here is a simple gauge of the PSL’s enduring value to Pakistan cricket. The current broadcast deal for the league is worth over $30 million across two seasons, while the PCB’s home bilateral rights, for a comparable period, recently went for approximately a fifth of that.It hasn’t always been so profitable for the franchises, though it wasn’t entirely on them, because a financial model in which they paid franchise fees in US dollars but were earning in Pakistan Rupees was stacked against them. The Pakistan economy has been through a hell of a ride since then, and not a fun one. At the start of 2016, when the franchises came in, the rupee was around 105 to the dollar; it is currently around 280.The 2024 opening ceremony attracted some stars too – singers Ali Zafar and Aima Baig•AFP/Getty ImagesThe franchises did eventually convince the PCB to fix that rate, as part of a new financial model they agreed on in 2021. A considerably bigger slice of the total league revenue is now shared between the franchises. They received financial help for two Covid-battered seasons. That has helped the situation. Not all franchises are consistently in the black, but they do each make approximately $4.5 million every season from their share of that central pool and their own commercial deals. In that time, a couple of the lower-value franchises have shown it is possible to run it as a profitable business and be successful.What of its cricket impact? Well, what of it? It feels necessary to preface this, that the fortunes of Pakistan’s cricket teams – past, present, future – are beholden to the PCB, the PSL. Of course, the PSL helps players to evolve, to add some nous and some sheen. But it is not primarily how or where cricketers are found or, more relevantly to Pakistan, made sustainable. That will – and should – always be the PCB’s job. And Pakistan’s recent downturn in results is quite clearly linked to the actions of successive PCB administrations.Still, if you insist on looking at records pre- and post-PSL, you’ll not be able to make any definitive point. Pakistan are as they have always been. Eerily so, in fact. Here is the Pakistan men’s team win-loss record in all international cricket in the ten years to the first PSL versus the years since: 1.130 (fifth-best among Full Members) vs 1.138 (seventh out of 12). They had the third-best win-loss record in T20Is in the decade before the PSL (1.50), and the fourth-best win-loss record in the years since (1.375). One white-ball trophy before, one since. ESPNcricinfo’s statsguru doesn’t have a metric ratio for talent unearthed against talent wasted, but I think we can all assume with confidence it’s the same pre-PSL as it is post-PSL. Probably down to the last decimal point.But you know what tangible impact? Bringing international cricket back to Pakistan. To that end, has there been a more seminal game than the 2017 PSL final, with eight foreign players at the Gaddafi Stadium? A World XI visit followed later that year, then the PSL’s qualifiers in Pakistan the following season, then more the next and then, bang, normalisation. Inestimably better earnings for a breed perennially among the world’s lowest paid, is also tangible impact. Ditto better opportunities for an army of former cricketers, in coaching roles, or as support staff. And there is probably a fascinating study waiting to be done on the economic activity the PSL generates in the country every year.Fans in Lahore were delighted (even if their expressions don’t say so) when cricket returned to Pakistan in 2017•AFPTo be honest, it would have been enough of an achievement to last 10 seasons, let alone any of this. What, after all, lasts that long in the corrosive environment that is Pakistan cricket? The PSL has survived exile. It has survived spot-fixing. Covid. Bad anthems. Seven different tenures of board heads, a couple of whom have inadvertently cannibalised it with their own vanity projects. More bad anthems. Four different prime ministers and two caretakers. The arrival of new, monied leagues. All of it to become, more or less, a fixture in the calendar which, in a country that daily with such dizzying force and speed, is an invaluable bit of groundedness.The next ten seasons are probably even more important because there is so much still to do. Above all, a women’s equivalent, the idea of which has been paid lip service to by some administrations and ignored by the rest. It may need franchise involvement, or for the PCB to do the initial heavy lifting but there is no doubt it needs to happen. Smaller steps, like taking the league to cities such as Peshawar and Faisalabad, can reap easy but meaningful rewards; and imagine the atmosphere in these venues, starved for so long of top-flight cricket.The league will get bigger, with up to two more teams likely to be added from next season, which is about the right number for a one-sport country the size of Pakistan. Bids will be made once this season is over, and after a valuation exercise of the league has been completed. It’s early but word is that interest is healthy among local businesses, and according to a couple of officials, a little foreign interest too.The existing franchise, whose leases run out this season, will have to negotiate a new franchise fee if they want to continue (with a minimum increase of 25% baked in). Most, if not all, of them do, but foremost on their agendas should be to no longer be leaseholders in the league. They should push for franchise rights in perpetuity. The PSL is the house they have built over ten years, at considerable cost; they should not be treated as tenants.These negotiations will not be straightforward, not least the prospect that existing franchises will have to share revenues with more teams going forward. The league’s media and sponsorship rights are up for renewal and no guarantee there will be more money in the market in the next cycle (that not-fun Pakistan economic ride). And yet, despite this and given the ILT20 and SA20, the PSL will have to find a way to be more competitive for foreign players.There will almost certainly be a push by franchises to have greater say in the running of the league – a common gripe, albeit expressed through varying degrees of frustration. This should be a surprise to nobody, given the PCB’s statist approach to running cricket. As with Mr Tribbiani and his food, so it is that the PCB does not like sharing power or control with any stakeholder.Which is why talk of setting up the PSL as a separate and somewhat independent entity is intriguing and important. It has already been incorporated as a private limited company, wholly owned by the PCB. But that is a first, tiny step. What shape it intends to take is far from certain right now. It could be incorporated abroad (bringing tax benefits). It could go public. Nothing could happen, because it’s not like this separation hasn’t been attempted before. But if it can somehow buffer itself from the instability and politicisation of the PCB that will be the biggest win. If, additionally, any change brings financial advantages, some operational ease, and a separate and long-term strategic vision, then those are significant perks. None of this will be easy, but it will be vital to get much of it right.In light of which is this season’s head-to-head scheduling clash with the IPL. It is in truth a bit of a red herring. The PSL is not competing with the IPL. It can’t. This was a decision they forced upon themselves by the scheduling. A clear space from all the other leagues in that December-March window may yet bring some benefits and they will probably have to do it next season too, given the timing of the T20 World Cup, in February-March. It may be that they find it’s better to move back to their traditional window, right into that leagues crunch.It shouldn’t matter. This next bit of the PSL isn’t about competing with those other leagues. Instead, this bit should be – and apologies in advance for how corny and self-helpy this sounds – the PSL striving to become the best version of itself that it can be. That would be its greatest, most enduring feat.

Shamar Joseph’s brilliance in Brisbane or the thrilling England win in Trent Bridge? Which Test was better? Vote now!

ESPNcricinfo staff24-May-2025Update: This poll has ended. The AUS-WI 2024 Brisbane Test moves into the quarter-finals.England hold their nerve – Trent Bridge, 2005It was a Test of two halves.The first 11 sessions were about England’s march to a 2-1 lead in the fourth game of the Ashes. The 12th and final session, in which England were chasing a small(ish) target, was dragged into a great fight from the time Shane Warne took a wicket off his first ball. Had Australia won, they would have retained the Ashes with a game to spare.England were so dominant that they forced Australia to follow-on after being bowled out for 218 inside 50 overs. Andrew Flintoff’s 102 off 132 balls and Geraint Jones’ 85, had propelled England to 477. In the third innings, Australia rode on half-centuries from Justin Langer, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich to post 387 and set England a target of 129.It wasn’t a cakewalk for England, though.The fourth innings lasted only 31.5 overs, where Brett Lee and Warne led a courageous Australian fightback. There was a period of calm when England moved from 32 for 1 to 103 for 4. But when Lee dramatically dismissed Kevin Pietersen and Flintoff to leave England at 111 for 6, Australia sensed a comeback. In the next over after Flintoff’s dismissal, Warne – who had by then picked up three wickets – removed Jones. It was left to Ashley Giles and Matthew Hoggard to fight it out. Slowly, they picked off the runs even as Lee peppered Hoggard with a mixture of bouncers and yorkers. Giles hit the winning runs to the delight of a joyous England balcony.Shamar stuns Australia – Brisbane, 2024Carl Hooper and Brian Lara broke down. Even the most patriotic Australian fans cheered for the opposition. The world Test champions were stunned. It was all because one bowler with a broken toe who staged a siege at the Gabba.Australia hadn’t lost a Test to West Indies since 2003, or at home since 1997. They had never lost a pink-ball Test. That changed in Brisbane.They came into the second Test having decimated West Indies in Adelaide inside three days. At the Gabba, Australia replied to the visitors’ 311 with 289 for 9 declared. West Indies fought for 193 in their second innings, setting a 216-run target.But more importantly, Shamar Joseph had retired hurt after a Mitchell Starc yorker crushed his toe. Australia lost Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne early in the chase, but Steven Smith and Cameron Green took them to stumps, requiring 156 runs to win. Shamar hadn’t bowled at all on the third evening.On the fourth afternoon, Smith and Green looked comfortable. Then Shamar arrived. He conceded 19 runs off his first ten balls and then removed Green and Head. He kept bowling – removing Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Starc, and Pat Cummins in a fiery spell.All this while, Smith kept at it. But when Alzarri Joseph had Nathan Lyon with Australia still 25 adrift, the end was near. Fittingly, it was Shamar bowled Josh Hazlewood to seal a famous win, finishing with stunning figures of 7 for 68. It was a performance that single-handedly elevated Shamar to stardom.

Zimbabwe-born batter has sights set on higher honours after sparkling in sunshine at The Oval

Matt Roller11-Aug-2025The Hundred’s relentless social-media push for viral moments can make it hard to know where to look across a weekend featuring eight matches, 2,084 runs and 95 wickets. But Tawanda Muyeye’s roar of celebration after Jordan Cox hit the winning runs at a brimming Oval on Saturday afternoon was the culmination of a performance which demanded attention.Muyeye punched the air and shouted in celebration in the south London sunshine, after playing an innings that had been two years in the making. First signed by Oval Invincibles in 2023, he has been backed as a first-choice player this season and his unbeaten 59 off 28 balls to set up a nine-wicket thrashing of Manchester Originals showed precisely why.When Muyeye walked along Cottesloe Beach earlier this year to meet Invincibles coach Tom Moody for coffee, he feared that he was about to be released. He was playing grade cricket in Perth, and knew the retention deadline was imminent. “I was like, ‘Goodness, this could be one of two things: either I’m getting flicked, or he’s going to continue with me,'” Muyeye said.Related

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But Moody was clear in his belief that after struggling to find an opening partner for Will Jacks – Jason Roy and Dawid Malan were both inconsistent – it was time to back Muyeye. “We felt that T was ready to play a frontline position,” Moody said. “He’s come along leaps and bounds over the last 12 months, and has been part of our dressing room for some time now.”Muyeye has had a breakout T20 season for Kent – only D’Arcy Short has scored more than his 516 runs in the Blast – and he believes he is a far better player than the one Moody first signed as a wildcard on Matt Walker and Sam Billings’ recommendation: “Every time I’ve come into this group, I’ve improved so much [from] being around a gun group of cricketers.”His innings on Saturday was dominant, part of an opening stand worth 114 in just 49 balls. Jacks appeared determined to break the back of the game inside the powerplay – he slashed his second ball over deep third for six – and Muyeye soon emerged from his slipstream, hitting his first ball for four and then belting another off James Anderson.

“If I keep working hard, we don’t know what can happen in the future. [International cricket] has always been my dream… But I’m just trying to focus on getting better and being the best player possible.”Tawanda Muyeye

“Jacksy just took the attack to them and I was like, ‘Okay, well, I might as well join the party,'” Muyeye said. “It was good. He took the initiative… I don’t play like that without him, so it was a bit of yin and yang. I think our games complement each other pretty well, and we showed it today.”The most impressive feature of Muyeye’s innings was his takedown of Noor Ahmad: he had never previously faced a left-arm wristspinner in a short-form match, but hit five of Noor’s first six balls for four. It was substance to match his undeniable style. “I just saw a few opportunities, and played my strongest shots against him,” Muyeye said.”We talked about one of their threats being Noor, who is one of the most effective wristspinners in the game,” Moody added. “We talked about concentrating on vertical-bat shots through the off side, and he played a couple of great ones: one just past cover, then one lifted over cover-point. Absorbing information is one thing; being able to execute under pressure is another.”For all of Muyeye’s success in the Blast this year, the Hundred is a step up. His innings on Saturday came in front of a soldout crowd at The Oval, in a televised game, and in a tournament with a concentrated talent pool. “For me personally, this is the closest thing to international cricket there is,” he said.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}})}();