The week ending 29th August was one bereft of first-class cricket but there were important limted-overs matches played, from ODIs to the Royal London quarter-finals and the Nat West T20 Blast Finals Day at Edgbaston. Despite the lack of innings played, there were easily sufficient performances worthy of gracing any of my Teams of the Week.
I'll start with England's skipper. No, not that one; the ever-reliable Charlotte Edwards. Her 108 was her ninth ODI century and helped secure a win against India's Women. On the other side of the world, Aaron Finch produced his own hundred for Australia against South Africa in the Triangular tournament.
With England's middle-order stuggling against India at Cardiff, James Taylor's magnificent unbeaten 146 in 154 balls for Nottinghamshire was a timely advertisement for his growing reputation as a one-day batsman par excellence as well as a consistent run-maker in the four-day game. AB De Villiers has seen it and done it for SOuth Africa but this week he did it again. This time, Australia were on the end of a 111-ball 136 in a game where Faf DuPlessis also reached three figures.
There was an even bigger partnership in the West Indies' third ODI against Bangladesh. The outstanding contributor was wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, plundering 169 from only 121 deliveries. And I can't ignore Suresh Raina's 100 in 75 balls here in Cardiff, where England were a distant second best. I also note that Glen Maxwell enjoyed an easy ride against Zimbabwe last week, too, whacking 93 in 46 balls, but it's not enough to make my team.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan were locking swords in an ODI series, and the former's captain Angelo Mathews continued his recent form. He served up scores of 89 and 93, allied to a few useful wickets. His seamer team-mate Thisara Perera is also becoming a star all-rounder. A 36-ball 65 and 3-19 were the highlights of his week.
My final three selections are all spinners. 'Ooh, Ravi Jadeja' was the frequent cry from the India fans at Sophia Gardens, whether he was taking wickets, fielding or facing his 'handbags' opponent Jimmy Anderson. 4-28 in an ODI victory does indeed merit a few 'oohs'. Warwickshire (aka Birmingham) may have won the T20 Blast but I rate Lancashire's Steven Croft as the player of the day. In the semi, he hit 22 in 12 balls and took 2-11 in three overs. His 1-17 in four was the most economical bowling statistic even if he ended up a runner-up. Then there's another loser in my XI. Zimbabwe may have been defeated by SA but the intriguingly monikered Prosper Utsaya lived up to his name by capturing five wickets.
A one-day-dominated week thus yields the following star Eleven: Edwards (Eng W, *), Finch (Aus), Taylor (Not), De Villiers (SA), Raina (Ind), Ramdin (WI, +), Mathews (SL), Croft (Lan), Jadeja (Ind), Perera (SL), Utseya (Zim)
Showing posts with label Suresh Raina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Suresh Raina. Show all posts
Saturday, 30 August 2014
Wednesday, 27 August 2014
Raina and Ravi blow England away at Cardiff
I've just got back from Sophia Gardens where India made it three out of three ODI victories in the past year or so. They even took the final wicket just minutes before the rain pepped up - timing as impressive as that of MS Dhoni's batting. Maybe the BCCI should pay me handsomely to attend all their games around the world as I was in Cardiff for those Champions Trophy successes, too. Please get in touch, guys, and don't forget to include travel expenses!
It wasn't all plain sailing for India today. Jimmy Anderson and Chris Woakes bowled beautifully in the first ten overs, the latter rewarded by the wickets of Dhawan and poor Kohli, thumping a great off drive straight at the only fielder in the arc, Alastair Cook. After his earlier new-ball struggles, Rohit Sharma began to settle and, with Rahane, built a useful third-wicket partnership.
However, it was oves 38 to 41 which destroyed England. Woakes' second spell began with an over in which he conceded twenty runs, including two sixes from Suresh Raina. The next over seemed to go on forever as Chris Jordan served up no fewer than five wides, each greeted by even greater derision by the massed ranks of India fans in the Foster's stand. Jordan's stuttery run-up seemed even more forlorn by the end. Meanwhile Raina flayed all bowlers and reached three figures before holing out to Woakes on the cover boundary. His was the star innings but credit to his captain, too. Dhoni seemed to crawl in comparison but he produced some delightful shots and excellent running to reach fifty at more than a run a ball. It was inevitable that Ashwin and Jadeja would take their side past 300. and so they did.
I did despair when the rain started to fall just as Cook and Hales were on their way to the middle. They did a smatr about-turn with the Indian side still on the pitch. The weather forecast had been dismal but the skies turned slightly less dark and England's innings did finally get under way half an hour late, giving me time to see the ICC World Cup trophy on display in the Fan Zone!
Cook hit the first two balls for two on the leg side but he and Hales, batting in an ODI for the first time after the Bristol washout, played, missed and edged frequently against Shami, Mohit Sharma and Kumar. They were well ahead of India's scoring rate until things went wrong in the eleventh over. Shami had Cook LBW and bowled Bell whi inexplicably left a straight ball on his off stump. Root was beaten by a Bhuvi nip-backer, leaving Hales and Morgan to sink into a slough of despond. Even the introduction of spinners Ashwin, Jadeja and Raina failed to ignite them into going for their strokes.
When Hales and Buttler fell in quick succession, Duckworth-Lewis had England miles behind, and the required target of 295 from 47 overs was also lookig more and more remote. Dhoni rotated his attack frequently, the result being no opportunity for England to build any momentum. Sixes from Woakes and Tredwell came far too late and the death knell came mercifully for the home side elevn overs and about an hour early when Tredwell swung Ashwin to Jadeja.
India were best for batting, bowling and, I should add, fielding and they seemed to feed on the growing noise and energy from the boisterous but never menacing fans in orange, white, green and blue. Swann, Vaughan et al can't point the finger solely at Cook and Bell, as most of the others failed to deliver on the day. Bad day at the office? Maybe. Jordan must surely be dropped but perhaps he others deserve another shot. Meanwhile, Indian confidence must be a helluva lot higher than it was a few weeks ago, although I'm afraid I don't have tickets for the remaining ODIs. Find me on Facebook, Duncan and Ravi: Mike Smith's the name. I take cheques.
It wasn't all plain sailing for India today. Jimmy Anderson and Chris Woakes bowled beautifully in the first ten overs, the latter rewarded by the wickets of Dhawan and poor Kohli, thumping a great off drive straight at the only fielder in the arc, Alastair Cook. After his earlier new-ball struggles, Rohit Sharma began to settle and, with Rahane, built a useful third-wicket partnership.
However, it was oves 38 to 41 which destroyed England. Woakes' second spell began with an over in which he conceded twenty runs, including two sixes from Suresh Raina. The next over seemed to go on forever as Chris Jordan served up no fewer than five wides, each greeted by even greater derision by the massed ranks of India fans in the Foster's stand. Jordan's stuttery run-up seemed even more forlorn by the end. Meanwhile Raina flayed all bowlers and reached three figures before holing out to Woakes on the cover boundary. His was the star innings but credit to his captain, too. Dhoni seemed to crawl in comparison but he produced some delightful shots and excellent running to reach fifty at more than a run a ball. It was inevitable that Ashwin and Jadeja would take their side past 300. and so they did.
I did despair when the rain started to fall just as Cook and Hales were on their way to the middle. They did a smatr about-turn with the Indian side still on the pitch. The weather forecast had been dismal but the skies turned slightly less dark and England's innings did finally get under way half an hour late, giving me time to see the ICC World Cup trophy on display in the Fan Zone!
Cook hit the first two balls for two on the leg side but he and Hales, batting in an ODI for the first time after the Bristol washout, played, missed and edged frequently against Shami, Mohit Sharma and Kumar. They were well ahead of India's scoring rate until things went wrong in the eleventh over. Shami had Cook LBW and bowled Bell whi inexplicably left a straight ball on his off stump. Root was beaten by a Bhuvi nip-backer, leaving Hales and Morgan to sink into a slough of despond. Even the introduction of spinners Ashwin, Jadeja and Raina failed to ignite them into going for their strokes.
When Hales and Buttler fell in quick succession, Duckworth-Lewis had England miles behind, and the required target of 295 from 47 overs was also lookig more and more remote. Dhoni rotated his attack frequently, the result being no opportunity for England to build any momentum. Sixes from Woakes and Tredwell came far too late and the death knell came mercifully for the home side elevn overs and about an hour early when Tredwell swung Ashwin to Jadeja.
India were best for batting, bowling and, I should add, fielding and they seemed to feed on the growing noise and energy from the boisterous but never menacing fans in orange, white, green and blue. Swann, Vaughan et al can't point the finger solely at Cook and Bell, as most of the others failed to deliver on the day. Bad day at the office? Maybe. Jordan must surely be dropped but perhaps he others deserve another shot. Meanwhile, Indian confidence must be a helluva lot higher than it was a few weeks ago, although I'm afraid I don't have tickets for the remaining ODIs. Find me on Facebook, Duncan and Ravi: Mike Smith's the name. I take cheques.
Saturday, 31 May 2014
Team of the Week ending 30th May Viru goes Batty!
With wet weather restricting the action in England, there were only two County Championship centuries this week. That just makes it more surprising that there were two scores of 99 and one of 98! The unlucky trio of Westwood, Patel and Hildreth also fail to make my team of the week. Instead my opening batsmen come from the IPL. Virender Sehwag has largely been living off past glories for a while now but, with a place in the final at stake, the old Viru returned to the fore. Against CSK, the Kings XI star plundered 122 from 58 balls, 96 coming from boundaries. Rajasthan's teenage wicketkeeper Sanju Samson also produced a brilliant 74 in 47 balls against Mumbai Indians.
Sehwag's innings had to be special to outshine Suresh Raina's scintillating response of 87 in 25 balls for the Super Kings. All bar three came in fours and sixes, and 33 runs were thumped from a single seven-ball over (including a no-ball) by Awana before it took a brilliant piece of fielding from George Bailey to run him out.
Back now to the Championship for the next selections. Will Porterfield's 118 for Warwickshire against Somerset was his first with the red ball for his county while Gordon Muchall's unbeaten 158 in Durham's draw against Notts was the top score of the week. Two Glamorgan players vied for the number six position, and I've plumped for Jim Allenby's all-round consistency over Chris Cooke's two lively performances in the Championship and T20 Blast.
Tom Smith struck 54 and claimed 5-49 in the otherwise damp and dismal Roses contest, folowed by a 27-ball 54 as Lancashire's T20 opener, enough to make my Eleven. The contrasting ODIs between England and Sri Lanka witnessed several excellent bowling displays. Principal amongst them was Chris Jordan's 5-29 at Old Trafford where the home team dismissed SL for their third lowest ODI score ever. Fortunes had been reversed just a few days earlier. In chilly Chester-le-Street, Dilshan scored 88, Kulasekera took 3-15 but spinner Sachithra Senanayake trumped the lot with his mean 4-13 to complete England's misery. He has accumulated some pretty decent career stats over the years, particularly in limited overs formats, but will surely add to his single Test appearance.
My final two choices are Junaid Khan and Gareth Batty. The Pakistani aggregated 7-33 in Lancashire's two T20 victories and certainly doesn't deserve to be ignored in favour of some England has-been called Flintoff when he makes his debut, as he surely must, if only to attract more through the turnstiles next week. I'm no fan of Batty's spiky on-pitch demeanour, as illustrated by his aggression against Somerset last summer. However, 8-68 for Surrey against Essex was the bowling performance of the week.
Sehwag's innings had to be special to outshine Suresh Raina's scintillating response of 87 in 25 balls for the Super Kings. All bar three came in fours and sixes, and 33 runs were thumped from a single seven-ball over (including a no-ball) by Awana before it took a brilliant piece of fielding from George Bailey to run him out.
Back now to the Championship for the next selections. Will Porterfield's 118 for Warwickshire against Somerset was his first with the red ball for his county while Gordon Muchall's unbeaten 158 in Durham's draw against Notts was the top score of the week. Two Glamorgan players vied for the number six position, and I've plumped for Jim Allenby's all-round consistency over Chris Cooke's two lively performances in the Championship and T20 Blast.
Tom Smith struck 54 and claimed 5-49 in the otherwise damp and dismal Roses contest, folowed by a 27-ball 54 as Lancashire's T20 opener, enough to make my Eleven. The contrasting ODIs between England and Sri Lanka witnessed several excellent bowling displays. Principal amongst them was Chris Jordan's 5-29 at Old Trafford where the home team dismissed SL for their third lowest ODI score ever. Fortunes had been reversed just a few days earlier. In chilly Chester-le-Street, Dilshan scored 88, Kulasekera took 3-15 but spinner Sachithra Senanayake trumped the lot with his mean 4-13 to complete England's misery. He has accumulated some pretty decent career stats over the years, particularly in limited overs formats, but will surely add to his single Test appearance.
My final two choices are Junaid Khan and Gareth Batty. The Pakistani aggregated 7-33 in Lancashire's two T20 victories and certainly doesn't deserve to be ignored in favour of some England has-been called Flintoff when he makes his debut, as he surely must, if only to attract more through the turnstiles next week. I'm no fan of Batty's spiky on-pitch demeanour, as illustrated by his aggression against Somerset last summer. However, 8-68 for Surrey against Essex was the bowling performance of the week.
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Classy Bell compensation for England
Before the start of the Dharamsala fixture, India had already proved me wrong by recovering from their Rajkot reverse to win three ODIs on the trot and claim the series. However, credit to Ian Bell for steering England to a seven-wicket triumph to end their on-off tour on a high.
I've always liked Bell as a player in all three formats and, while he has off-days like anyone else, the Warwickshire man continues to prove while he simply cannot be left out of England's line-up. He doesn't do the eye-catching stuff like KP, Morgan or Buttler, but when you need an anchor who also keeps the scoreboard ticking, Bell is yer man.
Only Suresh Raina scored more runs across the five matches and duly snatched the Player of the Series award. However, this was perhaps overshadowed by the arguments about the selection of Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma over Rahane (correct) and Pujara (more debatable). Ravi Jadeja had a good all-round series but Kohli and Yuvi were more hit-and-mis.
On the bowling front, Steven Finn improved as January wore on, while Jade Dernbach had a nightmare. He may have earrings and tattoos but as a strike bowler he couldn't take wickets and as a death bowler he was hideously expensive. Nice to see Chris Woakes get a couple of opportunities and I do hope his Test debut is not far away. The battle between him and Bresnan for the number eight spot in 2013 will be interesting.
Top wicket-taker of the tournament and most economic bowler for England was, perhaps surprisingly, James Tredwell. Not exactly seen as the future of spin in this country, he nonetheless did his job in the middle of the innings as Graeme Swann's off-break deputy. The jury's still out on Samit Patel, just as it is on Ravi Bopara who of course wasn't in India. Joe Root did his future prospects no harm, though, even if his strengths surely lie in longer-form cricket.
Overall, the sides have been fairly well matched over the past three months. The T20 series was shared but told us nothing, India enjoyed some success in the 50-over format but it was England's superb first Test series win on Indian soil for decades that will give the Flower-Cook-Giles unit the biggest boost of all as a two-month spell in New Zealand beckons. The Black Caps will surely fail to pose as many problems as Dhoni, Tendulkar, Kohli and co.
I've always liked Bell as a player in all three formats and, while he has off-days like anyone else, the Warwickshire man continues to prove while he simply cannot be left out of England's line-up. He doesn't do the eye-catching stuff like KP, Morgan or Buttler, but when you need an anchor who also keeps the scoreboard ticking, Bell is yer man.
Only Suresh Raina scored more runs across the five matches and duly snatched the Player of the Series award. However, this was perhaps overshadowed by the arguments about the selection of Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma over Rahane (correct) and Pujara (more debatable). Ravi Jadeja had a good all-round series but Kohli and Yuvi were more hit-and-mis.
On the bowling front, Steven Finn improved as January wore on, while Jade Dernbach had a nightmare. He may have earrings and tattoos but as a strike bowler he couldn't take wickets and as a death bowler he was hideously expensive. Nice to see Chris Woakes get a couple of opportunities and I do hope his Test debut is not far away. The battle between him and Bresnan for the number eight spot in 2013 will be interesting.
Top wicket-taker of the tournament and most economic bowler for England was, perhaps surprisingly, James Tredwell. Not exactly seen as the future of spin in this country, he nonetheless did his job in the middle of the innings as Graeme Swann's off-break deputy. The jury's still out on Samit Patel, just as it is on Ravi Bopara who of course wasn't in India. Joe Root did his future prospects no harm, though, even if his strengths surely lie in longer-form cricket.
Overall, the sides have been fairly well matched over the past three months. The T20 series was shared but told us nothing, India enjoyed some success in the 50-over format but it was England's superb first Test series win on Indian soil for decades that will give the Flower-Cook-Giles unit the biggest boost of all as a two-month spell in New Zealand beckons. The Black Caps will surely fail to pose as many problems as Dhoni, Tendulkar, Kohli and co.
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