His last act as captain was lifting the IPL trophy. His most lasting act, subverting expectation

Alagappan Muthu21-Mar-20244:43

Moody: Dhoni was able to get a lot out of average squads

It happened quietly. A whisper into the ether. Just like it did in 2014. And then in 2020. The end of an era. MS Dhoni’s last act as captain was lifting the IPL trophy. His most lasting act, subverting expectation.He’s made it seem like it’s been a straight line from being an Indian Railways employee to breakout cricket star to multiple World Cup winner to multiple IPL winner to finally the stuff of pure myth, who was spending his Thursday evening calmly playing volleyball with his feet.Related

• Fleming on CSK captaincy change: 'We weren't ready for Dhoni to move aside in 2022, but the timing is right now'

• MS Dhoni hands over CSK captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad

About two hours before this training session, it became clear that he’d made a life-altering decision (if not his, then at least Ruturaj Gaikwad’s). But here he was, whacking a ball to the other end of the outfield, that long hair from back in the day flowing in the wind.Two-hundred and thirty-five games as CSK captain. That’s just two matches less than Virat Kohli’s entire IPL career. And even over all those matches, he always found a way to surprise. Going all the way back to that wild night in Dharamsala in 2010. Back then there was a glitch in the system and the emotion came pouring out. There has rarely been a more visceral celebration in the 16 years of this tournament than the guy who gets called Captain Cool losing it and pretty much punching himself in the face. Although, ten months ago, when he grabbed a grown man around his middle and hoisted him up high on a knee that was completely shot, he probably topped himself.The long hair is back, but for how long will we continue to watch MS Dhoni in the IPL?•PTI Ravindra Jadeja was the one that was holding Dhoni up from taking the crease at practice on Thursday. Clean hits down the ground and over cover and once again they brought zero applause. There was only a smattering of people at the ground – maybe about a hundred – and they were here for only one person. He tends to wear funny pads, start sentences with “Well, of course” and drop bombshells with no warning.The time for him to bat finally came and once again he subverted expectations. Dhoni’s practice sessions in the IPL end up as a sort of structural integrity test for cricket balls. He absolutely belts them. Here he started with a (Chennai street lingo for block). It was a reminder that he can still be kept quiet by that in-between length on and around off stump. The person operating the sidearm quickly read the room and shifted his line closer to Dhoni’s body and very soon those vintage shots were peppering the leg-side boundary. There was a glimpse of the helicopter. One that soared out of the ground. And another that was a warning to anyone planning to bowl wide yorkers. Make sure they’re proper wide or you’ll be in the path of a missile coming straight at you.”It’s annoying, isn’t it?” CSK coach Stephen Fleming said with a smile as he spoke about Dhoni’s power. “That it comes that easy. But no, I have been absolutely amazed with the way that he has prepared and played the pre-season. And I’m very hopeful that he’s going to have a big contribution again to us in that role down the order.”But it is one of the things that we really admire about MS, his durability. Last year, he functioned on one leg and had that cleaned up and the desire to rehab and come back again is very strong. And it’s contagious and motivational for the players when they see the work that he does and then the skills that he still has. He’s a sharp mind. He’s hitting the ball beautifully in the nets and is still as determined as ever to make a contribution to the franchise. And that’s all that I can ask and that his fellow team-mates do as well.”‘He’s hitting the ball beautifully in the nets and is still as determined as ever to make a contribution to the franchise’ – Stephen Fleming on Dhoni•PTI The switch in captaincy was Dhoni’s idea and while he does have a long history of making calls based on gut instinct, the most famous of which happened at 114 for 3 on April 2, 2011, both he and the franchise would not have taken this one lightly. Especially because they last time they tried it, it backfired. The problem with succeeding Dhoni is that you aren’t just succeeding a man, you’re succeeding a feeling, a phenomenon. When Dhoni had faith in you, it meant a cult hero, a World-Cup-winning legend, one of the greatest to have ever played the game, had faith in you. That made you play differently.So this transition, like most others of its kind, will be painful and CSK will have to brace for a tough little period. They will want to insulate their new captain; ensure that even though the outside world would judge him against an impossible standard, they themselves are behind him and his vision. They seem better prepared for it. Fleming’s already cracking jokes.”There were tears everywhere. Everyone was crying,” he said, taking the opportunity to show off his dry sense of humour. “Yeah, no, it was typically low-key. Very low-key. And as expected, quickly led to a bit of a celebration of Ruturaj and the opportunity [he has]. So the players embraced it well. There’s always a little bit of shock around it, but going back to two years ago, we’re much more conditioned to this time. And the players handled it very well, just as the captain… ex-captain, handled it well in announcing it to the team.”That little slip of the tongue right there, where Fleming couldn’t help but call Dhoni captain, and then corrected himself, it’s going to keep happening. It’s going to take some time for this to feel real. For Fleming, for CSK, and the rest of us.

“It’s a little difficult being an allrounder because it seems when the batting picks up, you lose a bit of the bowling, and vice versa”

Vishal Dikshit17-Mar-2024Firstly, how does it feel to have taken so many wickets after your recent injuries and poor health?
It’s obviously good to up my team into the finals. It’s always nice contributing and taking wickets with the new ball. I feel like it’s so important in the T20 format, especially in these leagues, because the top order is so heavy with internationals, especially, and big hits. So I feel like something that’s needed in T20 cricket is wickets, early wickets.Earlier in the tournament you had said your advice to youngsters in the Delhi Capitals squad is ‘work as hard as you can when you are young because when you’re older it’s about being fresh on game days’. Now that you are 34 and there’s cricket happening around the year, how have you had to change your fitness and routines?
For me, it’s actually been downscaling, because I used to train so hard and especially worked so hard on my skills that when there was game day, I was just too tired to actually play. It took a lot of mental work because I’m someone that needs to bowl a certain amount of balls and need to spend a certain amount of time in the nets [batting], otherwise I don’t feel confident. It was more a mindset change knowing that I’ve put in the work even though it’s not as much as it used to be when I was younger because, like I said, now it’s more important for me to be fresh knowing I’ve done that work, not only now but for the last 15 years.You got a lot of swing in the last league game against Gujarat Giants and even Ellyse Perry picked up 6 for 15 with her seam movement. Has it surprised you that pace bowlers have found so much purchase from the pitches in Delhi?
Yes and no. I feel every single wicket we’ve played on has been so different. Even today, I still don’t know if it’s better when you win the toss you bowl first or bat first because the wickets have really been so different. The last game, there was probably a little bit more bounce and movement, yes, but I still felt like it was slow. And the other day, it was extremely flat and nothing in it for pace bowlers or even spinners. You don’t know what to expect.Marizanne Kapp was at her absolute best with the bat in the ODIs in Australia earlier this year•Getty ImagesYou have been particularly effective in the powerplays. How do you prepare for that phase when you know some of the best and hard-hitting batters are going to go after you?
I’ve found if I just stick to what I do best I usually end up with the wickets or being quite economical. There were some games where I went for a bit of runs when I changed what I do well. When I thought they would maybe try and lap or they were going to run at me or step across the line and I try something different, that’s usually when I go for runs. But if they do those things and I stick to what I do best, usually it works out. So I just try and keep it simple, hit my hard back of a length, bowl line and length, and try and bowl as many dot balls as possible.You said after your spell of 3 for 5 against UP Warriorz that you weren’t too happy about your bowling in the last couple of months and you went back and worked on it. Can you tell us what exactly you were unhappy with and what you did to rectify it?
I feel like it’s again a little difficult being an allrounder because it seems when the batting picks up, you lose a bit of the bowling, and vice versa. So I felt like I was probably just leaning back a little bit in the crease while I was bowling the last couple of months and I started slinging a bit more and bowling from lower down. I just went back and looked at some footage of me in the past and tried to be a bit more upright from the crease and the momentum going forward. For me, my biggest weapon is trying to land the ball on the seam and usually when I’m at my best, if I do that, the ball either nips in or out.What are some of the frequently asked questions by the younger Indian players in the Capitals camp?
They sometimes ask if they should have bowled this ball or should have had this field and, usually, I would just tell them what I think. Or I would tell them to first stick to bowling their line and length for as long as possible before they go to their death bowling or, on a wicket where it’s a bit slower and there’s a bigger boundary, bowling it into the wicket rather than going full and straight at the stumps. It’s more little things but in general the girls are quite good with their plans and what they want to do out in the middle.You have been batting higher up for both South Africa and Capitals in recent times. What aspects of batting did you have to keep in mind after this change?
When I started my career, I batted higher up for South Africa in any case. So that’s something that comes to me a little bit easier. In the last couple of years, I’ve just tried to work on finishing games or being there at the back end. So I don’t think it changes too much whether you’re batting a bit higher up or lower down.

“I feel in T20 cricket you sometimes get away with bad technique or bad bowling, whereas in ODI cricket you have to be good at your skills for so much longer”Marizanne Kapp

You said recently your favourite format is still ODI cricket but there’s a T20 World Cup coming up. How is your body shaping up and how much are you looking forward to it?
I still enjoy T20 cricket as well. It’s just that I feel ODI cricket brings out the skills and I feel in T20 cricket you sometimes get away with bad technique or bad bowling, whereas in ODI cricket you have to be good at your skills for so much longer. I still enjoy T20 cricket and I’m looking forward to the World Cup. I feel like my bowling is coming back and the last couple of months the batting has been good as well. So I’m looking forward to the World Cup and hopefully I can contribute a lot more there for South Africa.Since the start of 2023, your T20 batting strike rate is about 120, which is well above your career strike rate [99.24]. Did you consciously change that to keep up with the pace of the game or did it just happen?
If you look at my stats and where I’ve probably batted, when I played most of those matches… me, personally, I don’t look too much into those stats because if you look at the amount of T20s I’ve played for South Africa in the last five years, it’s actually not been a lot. Most of my games have been prior to that and that’s probably when I wasn’t batting as well and batting a lot lower down and not feeling confident about my batting. If you look at the leagues and South Africa the last two years, I feel like my strike rate is even higher than 120. I feel it’s me as a player being a little bit older now, playing more in these leagues and understanding what is needed. I feel like I’ve always had the shots and the power, it’s just believing in my skill a little bit more.We’ve seen your wife Dane van Niekerk wearing the Capitals jersey in the stands. How much does it help to have a fellow cricketer as a partner who understands and knows what it’s like to have a good or bad day on the field?
It helps a lot. I’ve said it previously, especially when it comes to her being a [former South Africa] captain as well. What fields I would want or a lot of times I’ll ask her, ‘what field do you think I need for this batter or if they do this, what do I do then, where do I look to score?’ Yeah, that really helps a lot because obviously Dane has a massive knowledge about cricket and she understands the game so well. Again, in saying that, sometimes as well when I enter the room, I just don’t want to speak about cricket. So every now and then I have to tell her, ‘okay, enough today’.”Dane has a massive knowledge about cricket and she understands the game so well”•Ben Hoskins/ECB/Getty ImagesIt must be tough to see her sitting out when you play international cricket?
Yeah, it’s such a waste of such a talented cricketer, to be sitting on the sidelines. But she’s been working hard and hopefully we’ll see her come back. I feel like she’s too young and too talented to not play international cricket and to not play in these leagues. She has so much knowledge and so much to give back to the game.We’ve heard about the South Africa coaching staff changing. Can you tell us what about the current environment, what has helped you thrive?
For me personally, it’s just the amount of years I’ve spent in international cricket and the leagues I’ve played in. For me, it’s more about the confidence I have in my own skill, what I want to do and obviously I love representing my country and doing well and helping them win. So that has always been my main goal and my main focus.Does the exposure to a different style of coaching change the way you’ve played and how?
Yes, definitely. I think if you not only look at the South African coaching set-up but you get different coaches in all these leagues and everyone gives their input and you see how they do things… as a player, there’s a fine line [when it comes to] allowing people to just change things in your game, but I feel like there’s definitely value in working with different coaches and seeing how they do things. I always say that you have to use the leagues and coaches as you use what you think will work for you; and things that you feel is not going to work, or won’t make an impact, you just push to one side, because I feel like as an international cricketer and especially in the women’s game, there’s a lot of info coming in and you can’t always take everything on board. So you have to be very careful with who and what you listen to and what you try and implement in your own game.

With a tough 2023 behind her, Renuka’s spell in the series opener would give confidence to the India management too

Srinidhi Ramanujam28-Apr-2024Renuka Singh had been waiting for months to just feel normal: to be in the rhythm, start well with the new ball, and translate that to tangible terms in the wickets column using her swing and seam. On Sunday, everything fell in place for India’s pace spearhead as she starred with a three-wicket haul to help the visitors go 1-0 up against Bangladesh in the five-match series in Sylhet.For someone who spent most of 2023 in rehabilitation and recovery, it appears Renuka has peaked just at the right time for India, with the T20 World Cup around the corner in Bangladesh. After the visitors posted 145 for 7 on a surface that had some moisture due to an overnight shower, it was Renuka’s spell that pegged Bangladesh back early in the chase after India posted what looked like a below-par total at the halfway stage.”It feels very good because I am taking a three-wicket haul after quite a while,” Renuka said after India won by 44 runs. “I was in a good rhythm and started well. When we had to bowl in the second innings, the weather had become quite good. That helped because it wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on. So my plan was to bowl stump to stump and the ball would do enough.”Related

• How Radha Yadav levelled up her game with a 'smiling face'

• Troy Cooley on Renuka and Vastrakar: 'Their work ethic is through the roof'

• Sultana fifty in vain as Renuka bowls India to comfortable win

Bowling just stump-to-stump denied Bangladesh runs. Her first wicket, off her third delivery, was a good length ball that jagged back in to trap the Bangladesh opener Dilara Akter lbw. Renuka gave away just three runs in her second over, bowling mostly good-length deliveries around off and fourth stump. Bowling her third over in a row, she cleaned up one-drop Sobhana Mostary with her seam movement. The ball shaped in off the surface and Mostary, who missed the ball completely, allowed the ball to go in between the pad and the bat and hit top of off.In no time, Bangladesh were 23 for 2 in 4.1 overs with their captain Nigar Sultana in within the powerplay and Renuka finished her first spell with 3-0-16-2 in an excellent display of seam and swing-bowling. With Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar striking from the other end, Bangladesh were reduced to 33 for 4 and they could never recover from early blows.Renuka Singh returned seven wickets in three T20Is against England last year•BCCIRenuka returned after 15 overs, when Bangladesh were 78 for 5, to remove Rabeya Khan with a slower delivery to finish with 3 for 18 in four overs.”I understood the pitch is going to help [fast bowling], so I kept everything simple, bowling wicket to wicket,” she said. “During the powerplay, the ball swings a bit so it is easier to get the wickets. And during the death, I used the variations well.”It has not been an easy ride for Renuka since the start of 2023. She played a total of ten T20Is and picked up 15 wickets last year. At the T20 World Cup in South Africa, she was India’s leading wicket-taker with seven wickets from five innings at an economy rate of 6.58. However, coming back home to WPL, she grappled at Royal Challengers Bangalore, scalping just one wicket in six innings before being sidelined with a stress injury. She then had to spend more than six months at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru to recover.There she worked with bowling coach Troy Cooley, focussing not just on fitness but also on adding more variations such as the one that swings away, the reverse swinger and the slower ball to her arsenal. She made her India return in the home series against England in December and took seven wickets in three games, conceding just 6.3 an over. In the next assignment – Australia at home in January 2024 – she bowled 12 overs in three games for a solitary wicket at an economy of 6.75.In WPL 2024, she struggled with consistency to eventually finish the competition with just two wickets from ten games in RCB’s title-winning run. It was against this backdrop that her Sylhet spell arrived.Since Jhulan Goswami first started inching towards her retirement, India have tried Meghna Singh, Titas Sadhu, Anjali Sarvani and Amanjot Kaur in the pace attack, although Pooja Vastrakar and Renuka have been the first-choice options. With Shikha Pandey being overlooked since the 2023 T20 World Cup, Renuka, who has now played 39 T20Is since her debut in February 2022, will be expected to play a key role in the upcoming T20 World Cup when the team returns to Bangladesh in September-October.Renuka and India will have four more matches in Sylhet and the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka to stay in rhythm before they kick off their campaign at the World Cup.”We definitely want to win it [The T20 World Cup],” she said. “This is a good preparation for us because the World Cup will be here. When we come, we will have an idea about the conditions, and how to bowl and bat on these wickets. So, we will be better prepared for the World Cup and we’ll try to win it.”

Chasing has been a bit of a problem for the trendsetters with the bat this IPL season

Alagappan Muthu29-Apr-20242:13

Rapid Fire review: What explains SRH’s batting struggles while chasing?

There are 120 legal balls in a T20 innings and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have attacked more than half of them not once, not twice but three times this season. That led to two record-breaking totals (69 aggressive responses vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru and 63 vs Mumbai Indians ) and one where they looked on course for 300 (67 vs Delhi Capitals).This is what’s made them such a dangerous side this IPL season, especially in good conditions. They have stretched the realms of possibility by doing one very simple thing – allowing both ends to go bang, bang. Not for them, the idea of one batter being content with just rotating the strike when the other guy is making perfectly clear just how much is in their favour out there. In Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi, the pitches were less mud and clay and more red carpet.The same template worked for the one win that they had while chasing. Abhishek Sharma finished that game in virtually a single over of play when he kind of forgot there were 18 more left. Mukesh Chaudhary was hit for 4, 0, 6, 0, 7nb, 6, 4 and that was that. Left-hand batter took down left-arm bowler angling it into his hitting arc. This is what SRH want.Related

CSK vs SRH highlights – CSK cruise to win in dewy Chennai

Ruturaj and Deshpande star as CSK hand SRH a thumping

'As a bowler, I need to dictate terms' – Deshpande's powerplay impact floors SRH

“It’s not just random slogging,” the captain Pat Cummins said at the press conference on Sunday after they lost to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 78 runs. “Like our guys still pick their bowlers. It’s something that we talk about – picking match-ups that suit you and if it’s a green light, then you know, go for it. If it’s not your match-up, then be a little bit smarter about it. I’ve been really happy how the boys have been going about it. Even tonight, I don’t think there were too many reckless shots.”A little over three weeks ago, in the first meeting between these two sides, SRH had gotten so far ahead that even when spin came on and throttled the run-scoring to the point that there were 6.1 overs without a boundary, the required rate they were looking at was still a run-a-ball. This is the reason Cummins believes they are actually set up to be a chasing team.So why then does their run-rate drop from 11.74 batting first all the way down to 8.76 batting second? Why do their sixes – the very reason behind their revival – slump from 76 to 36? And why did they lose this game, getting bowled out for 134 when they’ve been able to put up totals of twice as many, twice?Because they keep attempting to kill chases, instead of trying to last through them, and it’s resulted in needless wickets. Against RCB, they lost four in the powerplay. Against CSK, they lost three. That’s a lot of resources being burnt in too short a time leaving them with too big an ask. Each of SRH’s failures batting second have involved them having to get to targets of 200-plus. And the only time they looked like they might was when Heinrich Klaasen did Heinrich Klaasen things.ESPNcricinfo LtdEven in that match, against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), they were 133 for 4 after 16 overs facing a required rate of 19. They will want to do better at building their innings, or re-building them rather. Because it is easy to look at every ball as a six-hitting opportunity when you have support down the order. But when you’re running out of partners, you can’t just go bang bang. You need other skills.Lucknow Super Giants had those. They too stumbled in the powerplay against CSK but recalibrated. In the end, it didn’t matter that they had to stomach a period of play where they could score only three boundaries in five overs. By ensuring that they had a set top-order batter out there, they were able to capitalise when CSK had to turn to a couple of their weaker bowlers.Dew played a big role in ensuring that outcome, which was probably why, against SRH, at every opportunity, eight members of the Chepauk groundstaff broke onto the field, dragging four ropes between them. Two for the off side and two for the leg side. One trip up. Another trip down. It must have helped. CSK’s spinners couldn’t even bowl in that LSG defeat. Here, Ravindra Jadeja was able to get through his four overs and was hit to the boundary only once. It was another example of how one team had all bases covered. The other came in with great plan A but little else.Aiden Markram did try though. He gave up looking at the asking rate that kept shooting up. His focus, instead, was in making sure he could be out there in the last few overs. At 63 for 3 in the eighth over, he was 25 off 17 with a strike rate of 147. He was a snowball just beginning to roll downhill. Except all of a sudden, Matheesha Pathirana popped up and made his middle stump go splat. The Chepauk DJ chose that moment to drop the needle on a glorious track from way back in 2006 containing the lyric , which loosely translated means “this is our territory, don’t you come in.” Michael Hussey put that in slightly better cricketing terms in his post-match press conference.Matheesha Pathirana had Aiden Markram’s middle stump going splat!•AFP/Getty Images”I know some of the scores have been really big around the country,” The CSK batting coach said. “260-plus. 275 in some places. But not all conditions are like this. I mean, we’ve got a pretty big ground here in Chennai. The boundaries are very big. The pitch sometimes can be a little slow, it can take some spin. Okay, the dew can help skid it on sometimes, but we try and assess the conditions as quickly as we can.”If we’ve lost wickets up front, sometimes you do need to take a little bit of time to stabilise before then launching again. In other conditions, maybe like in Kolkata or maybe in Delhi, because if the conditions suit the batsmen, you can just keep going, especially if it’s a small ground, flat batting pitch, lots of bating resources, then you can have the confidence to keep swinging and you’d have more chances of scoring runs. But here at Chepauk, we need to adapt to the conditions, understand the conditions and play accordingly.”This game might well have turned out differently if Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma’s attempts to clear the boundary early on had actually succeeded – which is what they’d be telling themselves right now – but that once again is a best-case scenario. SRH’s outstanding batting line-up needs to do more to show that it has the nuance to cope even when things aren’t going their way.

Allrounder Matthew Spoors could become an option for Scorchers after reviving his career with Canada

Tristan Lavalette14-Dec-2024In the last BBL game played at Optus Stadium, a low-scoring knockout final back in January, Adelaide Strikers successfully deployed a spin-heavy attack that flummoxed Perth Scorchers and ended their dreams of a hat-trick of titles.It was a stunning turn, pardon the pun, of events and underlined that spin can have a major impact on a surface renowned for being fast and bouncy much like the nearby WACA.Scorchers, the competition’s most successful franchise, will be determined to bounce back but they could face challenges with their spin depth.Related

BBL preview: Squads, fixtures, overseas names, players to watch

Stoinis: BBL power surge makes it hard to develop middle-order talent

Swepson retains hope of Sri Lanka tour place as focus turns to BBL

Left-arm spinners Ashton Agar and Cooper Connolly have been in a race to be fit for Sunday’s season-opener against Melbourne Stars at Optus Stadium. While skipper Ashton Turner, a handy offspinner, has been managing a ribs issue since a recent hit-out for local team Fremantle. But all three have been named in Scorchers’ 14-player squad.Left-arm wrist spinner Hamish McKenzie departed in the off-season after taking up a two-year deal with Stars having struggled to regularly crack into a Scorchers attack usually featuring Agar as their sole frontline spinner.Agar has been a mainstay of Scorchers’ attack for years, relied upon to dry the scoring in the middle overs although he was expensive late last season. He has not played since suffering a shoulder injury during the Sheffield Shield last month.Having been blooded into Australia’s white-ball teams, there was a lot of excitement heading into this season over Connolly whose x-factor allround ability has seen him likened to Travis Head.But he’s been on the sidelines for the past month with a fractured hand after being whacked by a short delivery from Pakistan quick Mohammad Hasnain in the third ODI at Optus Stadium.Australia’s selectors are excited about Cooper Connolly’s potential with the ball as well as bat•Getty ImagesIt was a premature end to Connolly’s first innings in international cricket, but he appears a chance to take his place against Stars after playing in Scorchers’ intra-squad match on Thursday at the WACA.”I’m going to try and put my best foot forward to play on Sunday. But it’s up to the coaches to decide if I’m ready or not,” Connolly told ESPNcricinfo on Thursday. “It’s obviously frustrating [the injury], it wasn’t great timing. But it’s a small bump in the road and I’m just looking to keep a positive mindset.”Connolly is still developing his left-arm orthodox bowling, but does boast a three-wicket haul among his 15 BBL games. The 21-year-old Connolly is set to assume more responsibility if Agar is absent, while his cavalier batting makes him a potential match-winner.Connolly offers flexibility with the bat but failed to make an impact as an opener early last season. At this stage of his career, No. 6 is his preferred position and appears the best use of his ability to finish an innings as he memorably showed in the unforgettable final of BBL12 when he helped lift Scorchers to the title and became an instant cult hero.”I like to be very versatile and I’m happy to bat anywhere from one to seven,” Connolly said. “But at this point in time, I probably see myself at six and want to try to knuckle down in that role and finish off the innings.”With limited spare spin options, Scorchers could at some stage this season turn to new signing Matthew Spoors, a legspinning allrounder who like his friend and former team-mate Tim David has emerged off the canvas and ignited his career through Associate cricket. He isn’t part of the squad to face Stars but has already provided an impressive comeback story.Spoors, 25, was a highly touted top-order batter as a junior and received his first Western Australia contract while he was in high school. But he never played a senior game and was discarded in 2020 after three years on the list.”I probably didn’t know my game too well and chopped and changed my technique a lot,” Spoors told ESPNcricinfo. “I listened to too many people when I was younger and probably couldn’t say no to the advice.”With his cricket career in ruins, he tried his hand at Australian Rules Football, his other sporting passion, but the rough and tumble sport proved demanding for the diminutive Spoors.He decided to give cricket another serious crack, with a particular focus on the T20 format amid the sport’s shifting landscape to franchise leagues. But a reinvention was required if he was going to make a professional career out of it.Having always been able to bowl a “quick leggie”, Spoors focused on the craft of legspin and used Afghanistan talisman Rashid Khan as a blueprint.Matthew Spoors has revived his career•Getty Images”I could never really slow it up, that wasn’t really my game,” Spoors said about his legspin. “I’ve always been able to bowl a wrong’un and leggie, so being able to to do that fast…I’ve tried to utilise that and it’s the type of bowling that suits T20 cricket.”He’s also worked on his power-hitting in a bid to turn himself into a specialist finisher.Inspired by David, who rose from WA cricket discard to in-demand T20 player via a stint with Singapore, Spoors made use of holding a Canadian passport – the country his mother was born – and represented them in the uncompromising world of Associate cricket. He smashed 108 not out from 66 balls on T20I debut against the Philippines in Oman and played 10 T20Is and five ODIs in a 14-month period.”Playing Associate cricket helped my confidence,” he said. “I played on so many different pitches in different environments that it holds you in good stead. And meeting new people and being part of different cultures really expanded my horizons.”Spoors took that form into last season’s local cricket competition in Perth where he shared the Olly Cooley Medal with Renegades batter Jono Wells for the top player in WA Premier Cricket.He then impressed in August’s Top End T20 Series in Darwin to seal a contract with Scorchers before making his List A debut for WA against Victoria at the MCG last month. He didn’t get a chance to bowl and made just 4 off 12 balls at No. 6 in the rain-interrupted match, but more opportunities under brighter lights may be imminent.Spoors already has an enthusiastic supporter in the Scorchers ranks with Connolly, his Scarborough team-mate in local cricket, a firm believer in his skill-set.”I’m very close to him and we’ve had some good conversations about the game and being a spin allrounder,” Connolly said about Spoors. “I think if he gets an opportunity, he’ll be ready.”

Andy Flower discusses the joys and challenges of his globetrotting coaching career, and shares his insights on identifying and developing young talent

Shashank Kishore13-Jan-2025How have you seen the UAE ecosystem flourish with the ILT20 coming in?
It’s different to most cricket ecosystems around the world, because we don’t have a lot of Emiratis playing cricket. But there is a growing population of people that live and work here who see cricket as a pathway to fulfilling some of their sporting dreams. Some want to see how well they can do amongst better players, some see it as a way to earn money and some enjoy the team aspects of it. The exposure for UAE players in the ILT20, through Abu Dhabi T10 and their domestic leagues, is improving.How do you scout for players in the ILT20, given you’re busy all year round?
I use player agents, coaches, and people involved in the game here as a sounding board. I also now know a number of the UAE players. Between them, I’ve got the best view of the players and opponents. Coverage and streaming of games in the region have improved.As we speak, I’m watching the live streaming of a development game [at ICC Academy, Dubai]. I’ve come in from the UK to scout for two UAE players in addition to our two picks: Aayan Afzal Khan and Muhammad Zuhaib. In time to come, I would think that minimum requirement of two UAE players in the XI and the system will grow to support three or four.How do you judge players who are good, but don’t show the same spark at trials?
There’s a lot of data on the players these days. Like with most things in life, you’re generally trying to find a balance somewhere if you’re looking for good decisions. You are looking to see some evidence that supports the theory that this young player can produce results for you. This game is about producing results. It’s about finding solutions, creating the habit of beating your opponent, of finding ways to exploit his weaknesses and finding ways to exploit your strengths and hide your weaknesses.So you want to see evidence of that through-way to runs or wickets or whatever. But there’s this other side of it where you’re trying to predict how a person is going to develop and whether that person has that little bit of X-factor he can bring to the party at some stage in the future that is going to produce results. And I think there are some people that have a better eye than others.Flower coached Gulf Giants to victory in the initial edition of the ILT20•ILT20And I wouldn’t profess to be particularly any better than the next person. But for instance, I’ll give you an example. When Joe Root first made it into the England Academy and the England Lions squad, Graham Thorpe was on the phone with me. And he said, ‘this guy can play, he’s got a very good technique.’ And I remember I was sitting while walking through my lounge or something one day, or in a hotel room, and watching him play.I think it was his first 50-over game for Yorkshire. He didn’t get many, but straightaway I thought, ‘wow, I’m going to keep watching him.’ There was something about him. I don’t even know what it was. But there was something about him that after years of watching a lot of great players, my eyes were attracted to him. And that was in his first 50-over game. So there is something to be said for the instinct, for following instinct and following your gut feelings from players, absolutely.So there’s also a gut feel that helps make certain decisions/selections?
The bottom line is they have to perform. It can’t all be potential. And probably for every one of those stories that I’ve just told about Thorpe and myself with Joe Root, there’ll be five others that we were wrong about.Specifically with ILT20, how do you keep in touch with the local players you sign?
When we left Aayan and Zuhaib last February after the tournament finished, we left them with a few things to work on. To be honest, I certainly didn’t closely monitor them. I monitored the scorecards when Aayan was playing, absolutely. And it’s really great to see that he’s had a great year for the UAE in white-ball cricket.Flower worked with the analyst Nathan Leamon (left) during his time as England head coach•PA Photos/Getty ImagesAnd Zuhaib has played for the country as well but isn’t in the side at the moment and definitely has a few things to work on. But we haven’t been closely monitoring them or micromanaging them. We’ve let them go out there and develop. And one of the good things about the UAE, I think, is that there’s so many games available for them to play. And I much prefer them playing those games than just net practicing all the time.With schedules as demanding as yours, how do you switch from one league to another?
I really enjoy the fact that there’s a real variety to my coaching life. You experience these different cultures in the dressing room and in whatever country you go to. And that certainly enriches me as a person. I’ve loved spending time in India, in Pakistan, in the Caribbean, here in the UAE.I live in England, but being involved in those different cultures, it’s a real blessing for me. The other thing is you meet a lot of really good people and that’s invigorating. I think it keeps me feeling younger because you’re mixing with the young, hungry, motivated people, which is brilliant. And I like that energy around me. So the professional challenges are also there, which I really like.You know, the owners want results, which is quite right. That’s why they employ us. And I like the professional challenge of getting a group of people together in a sports team and seeing if we can do better than our opposition.The other thing I want to do and I like to talk about in the franchise world is, each time you come together as a team in the franchise world, you will only be that team once ever in your life. You’ll never have the same group of people together again. True. There’s a draft for an auction before the next tournament. Someone’s bound to go out, others may come in. The staff could change. You never have that group again.

I hear sometimes cricketers, captains, coaches almost fearful about talking about data. I don’t view it that way at all.Andy Flower

So if you’re together for, say, three months at the IPL or together for five weeks at the ILT20, really embrace that as a blessing. And make sure that you enjoy your time with each other. Of course, there will be some tensions and some pressures and maybe some disagreements. But the fact that you can meet such a wonderful variety of people in this job is, again, is a very positive aspect of it.At one stage, I was doing, say, five jobs, five teams in a year. Now I’m doing four, which gives me some more time and energy. When I was doing ILT20, then PSL, then IPL, that was very tiring. I found that very tiring. It was literally not a day between the tournaments. So this is without the PSL in the middle, it is definitely giving me more energy around that time of the year. And there’s quite a lot of work to do for monitoring players, strategising, and whatever you do. You’re on the phone quite a lot. You’re either organising staff or you’re monitoring some of your players, and if you’ve got multiple teams, you’re keeping an eye on quite a few players. You talk about players’ fitness, their form, their development. There’s always an auction or a draft to be looking forward to. And obviously the IPL is the biggest one of those, which takes a lot of time and energy.How has the tactical involvement in your coaching evolved over 20 years?
It’s a lot further back than that. When we first started playing cricket for Zimbabwe, we didn’t get paid as players. But myself, my brother [Grant Flower], Alastair Campbell and Dave Houghton, we all were paid as coaches. And so we were coaching in our early 20s. We were professional coaches, not professional cricketers. In the winters, we used to go across to Holland, or into the leagues in England. I played in the Birmingham League and Central Lancashire League during the weekends, and during the week, we’d coach. Also, when I played for Zimbabwe, I was not just interested in my own development, but also interested in my brother’s development and my fellow players’. So, we used to work with each other a lot. We didn’t have a group of coaches working with us. We used to work with each other,. And that’s how it was in those days. So I would say I’ve been working in coaching for many decades.’When we first started playing cricket for Zimbabwe, we didn’t get paid as players. But myself, my brother [Grant Flower], Alastair Campbell and Dave Houghton, we all were paid as coaches’•Getty ImagesBut just more to your question, your point – when I first started coaching with England, which was my first main coaching job after playing, I was very lucky to get that job. I brought in an analyst there, a guy called Nathan Leamon who still works with the ECB. He was a brilliant guy, a mathematician, but he was also a cricket coach and a rugby coach. We were trying to do something different with analytics then. And I enjoyed conversing with him about cricket. One of his clear tasks was to challenge us coaches; it wasn’t to agree with us. Especially challenge some of the cricketing norms and some of the bull**** that was spoken in dressing rooms.I really enjoyed giving him that role and I think he really enjoyed doing it. Yes, we call some of the obvious cricketing decisions that captains used to make in days gone by, we call them match-ups now. It is a more glorified term, but the emphasis on it is important because there is more statistical information available to us to suggest tactical directions. And so I hear sometimes cricketers, captains, coaches almost fearful about talking about data. I don’t view it that way at all.I just think it’s information and the important thing is how you use that information. It’s which stuff you listen to, which stuff you don’t listen to. It’s how you work with that information with your coaching team. It’s how you share that information, how and when you share that information with players, if you share it with them at all. That’s the important stuff. But we shouldn’t stop collecting data because it helps us, it should help us understand the game better. And it should help us develop the game, develop players, develop new tactics. I don’t think that’s going to stop.

After an injury layoff and a few low scores, Ibrahim Zadran repays Afghanistan’s faith with a match-winning century in a crucial game

Danyal Rasool26-Feb-20252:22

Knight: Ibrahim showed he is good against pace as well

Ibrahim Zadran walked over to the practice nets, probably wondering what he was doing in Greater Noida. Afghanistan were supposed to be two days into a Test match against New Zealand, and the toss was yet to happen. Even his presence on these practice pitches was downright dangerous, the top layer of soil underfoot was unstable, every step presenting a hazard. Like a horror movie cliché where the jump scare is foreshadowed by an extended period of disquieting dread, what he feared happened. His ankle sank into the slush and turned over; it would be nearly four months before he played again. Seriously, what was he doing out here?That question took on a slightly different tone half-an-hour into Afghanistan’s ‘eliminator’ against England in Lahore. The crowd was beginning to fill up and, unlike England’s game against Australia here at the Gaddafi Stadium, they knew precisely what they wanted. The sea of Afghan flags left little doubt.But, and Zadran will know this, few who tune in to watch an Afghan innings from the first ball do it to watch him bat. But Rahmanullah Gurbaz had been sent back early after England muffled him with hard lengths in the first four overs before Jofra Archer punished him for static feet by going full and cleaning him up.Related

Steyn: Afghanistan can win an ICC tournament in next decade

Azmatullah Omarzai emerges as 'the perfect utility allrounder for Afghanistan'

Jonathan Trott: 'Afghanistan will never be taken lightly again'

Stats – Ibrahim Zadran achieves new Champions Trophy high

Zadran 177, Omarzai five-wicket haul knock England out

It was the sixth over, and Zadran had managed two runs. Afghanistan’s faith in him had shown no signs of wavering but Zadran’s form hadn’t been helped by the enforced injury layoff. No half-century in nine white-ball games and, despite six of them being T20s, just one innings where he scored at better than a run-a-ball. With two off 14 balls, this was very much an innings in his recent mould.Mark Wood fired another one into the pitch, and Zadran deflected this away to third, perhaps too close to third. Archer, who against Australia crucially put down Alex Carey midway through a crucial chase, didn’t put in the dive that perhaps would have made the distance, and watched the ball sail over for six. The following over, Archer, perhaps catalysed at ceding that half-chance, went full and fast at him. Zadran lashed one away through the off side, before creaming a straight drive past mid-off. When Archer banged it in again, he just dropped his hands.Perhaps it’s because he opens with Gurbaz, but Afghanistan don’t need Zadran to come out flying. His strike rate in the low 80s is positively quaint by modern standards; just four of his 34 innings before today had come at better than a run-a-ball. His shot-making repertoire, too, is conventional; runs behind the wicket likely coming via glances rather than scoops, boundaries to backward point the product of late cuts and not reverse sweeps.

What an honour it is to be praised by the very man who inspired generations to pick up the bat @sachin_rt

Your words mean a lot to me and to cricket in Afghanistan. Thank you, sir. https://t.co/QHTsrmc8Ob

— Ibrahim Zadran (@IZadran18) February 27, 2025