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Derbyshire coach says it’s “unacceptable” for the Blast to be given “so much disrespect”

David Hopps08-Jul-2022Mickey Arthur has condemned the failure to ring fence the Vitality Blast knockout stages and give them their own place in the cricket calendar as a decision that shows “disrespect” to the county game.Arthur, one of the most respected international coaches of the past 20 years, has guided Derbyshire to the Blast quarter-finals in his first season coaching at county level.He is mystified by the fact that the knockout stages of England’s long-running professional T20 tournament are drained by England call-ups at a time when its appeal should be at its highest and feels it shows scant regard for the overwhelming majority of professional cricketers.Related

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Arthur said: “Surrey played Yorkshire this week with only a few international cricketers because there is an England series on at the same time. For me, that is unacceptable.”The absence of England players – they are engaged in a T20I series against India this week – might be viewed as a potential opportunity for Derbyshire who are one of the more unsung counties without any players currently in the England senior squads.If they beat Somerset on Saturday night, their future opponents could conceivably have to face further withdrawals because of England’s primary claims in a series against India that by then has moved on to a 50-over series, with the third ODI due to be played the day after Finals Day.But Arthur has no interest in main chancing. His concern is the message that not giving the Blast a dominant week in England’s cricket calendar gives to the county professionals.”100%, the Blast knockout stages should be ring-fenced,” he said. “For our players, it is the showpiece of the summer. Take the Hundred out of the argument for a moment. For the Blast to be given so much disrespect is not great for the counties. I am quite strong on that view.”Chris Jordan, Surrey’s captain, missed their quarter-final defeat on Wednesday•Associated Press

England’s willingness to release players has been described as “fluid” with “fairness” to both counties involved in a tie regarded as the main criteria.That meant when Ollie Pope played for Surrey in Wednesday’s quarter-final, only 24 hours after the rescheduled fifth Test against India, but Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow opted for rest ahead of the ODI series, that England’s white-ball set-up agreed to release Yorkshire’s captain, David Willey.Willey’s call-up was so late that he realised he was short of county kit and travelled from the Ageas Bowl to the Kia Oval in a shirt bearing the name of his Yorkshire team-mate Harry Brook.Eight players missed Yorkshire’s dramatic victory over Surrey at the Kia Oval: Dawid Malan, Root, Brook and Bairstow for Yorkshire; Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jason Roy and Reece Topley for Surrey.Unless there is a late release of players, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Matt Parkinson and Richard Gleeson are expected to be missing for Lancashire’s quarter-final against Essex Eagles on Friday, though Phil Salt is expected to be made available.Late decisions could also be a feature of Finals Day on July 16 because it must compete with international demands. England face India at Lord’s on Thursday and again at Old Trafford on Sunday and a new white-ball team of Buttler, the captain, and coach Matthew Mott are likely to be resistant to all but the most token flexibility in releasing players.It would be understandable if a former international coach of such repute – Arthur has variously taken charge of South Africa, Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – responded with horror towards the lack of preparation time on the county circuit. Arthur’s natural response is to make light of the rigours of a non-stop schedule although he is not blind to the difficulties it creates.”I’ve really enjoyed it because I could be on a cricket ground every day of my life, but it challenges everyone without a doubt,” he said. “I’ve often sat with the coaching staff and when we’ve been talking and planning, particularly with the strength and conditioning guys a lot, is ‘how are you feeling?’ And he says ‘I’m slightly tired’. Imagine then how the players are feeling? It’s been a very, very taxing programme.”I don’t know what’s going to happen if we get some rain in Taunton on Saturday because we start a four-day game in Durham on Monday morning. So that kind of highlights the fixture schedule. But, you know, we’ve just had to get on with it. And the one thing we’ve been very strong on within our dressing room is that we can never use that as excuse.”

England seek his ‘expertise of local conditions’ in the West Indies and USA

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Dec-2023Kieron Pollard has been appointed England’s assistant coach for the Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States of America. It is a sole assignment with the objective ‘to provide expertise of local conditions.’Pollard has represented West Indies in 101 T20Is and was part of the T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2012, he also captained them in the 2021 edition. He retired from international cricket in 2022 but is still active in the franchise-league circuit.Related

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Pollard recently captained New York Strikers to victory in the Abu Dhabi T10 League and Trinbago Knight Riders to the final of CPL 2023. He leads MI Emirates in the ILT20 and is Mumbai Indians’ batting coach in the IPL.England go into the tournament as defending champions but are coming off of a disastrous ODI World Cup defence in India, where they lost six of their nine games and just about managed to qualify for the Champions Trophy in 2025.The upcoming edition of the World Cup will be played from June 4 to 30 across seven Caribbean and three American venues.

Annerie Dercksen, who was part of the T20Is, is out and Delmi Tucker has replaced her

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Apr-2024Karabo Meso, the 16-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, has earned her maiden ODI call-up, figuring in the 14 for South Africa’s three-match series against Sri Lanka from April 9 in East London.Chloe Tryon, who missed the third T20I, has been ruled out of the series to continue her rehabilitation for a back injury. Annerie Dercksen, who was part of the T20I series that South Africa lost 2-1, has been left out. Delmi Tucker, the allrounder, has replaced her in the side.”It’s a big loss with the injury of Chloe as an allrounder, that’s why Delmi has come into the squad and she can give you the offspin option and with her batting,” Hilton Moreeng, South Africa’s head coach, said. “In these conditions, we never know this time of year what to expect on our surfaces. So we make sure that we have all our angles covered and overall we’re just excited to make sure that we finish off on a high and go into our off-season.”

Kapp reprimanded for Athapaththu send-off

Marizanne Kapp has been reprimanded for breaching level one of the ICC Code of Conduct during the third T20I against Sri Lanka. Kapp, in the 13th over of the Sri Lanka innings, used inappropriate language and gestured in the direction of the pavilion after dismissing Chamari Athapaththu. One demerit point has also been added to Kapp’s disciplinary record, for whom it was the first offence in a 24-month period.

Meso made her South Africa debut in the second T20I against Sri Lanka in Potchefstroom, where she came in at No. 8 and was dismissed for a two-ball duck by Chamari Athapaththu. In the third match, she arrived at the crease with one ball left in the innings and did not make a run. Tucker, meanwhile, has played seven ODIs, 14 T20Is and one Test. In seven ODIs, she has 53 runs and three wickets.The ODI series will be part of the ICC Women’s Championship, which determines qualification for the 50-over World Cup. South Africa are currently second on the table with 20 points, with ten wins in 15 matches.”It’s a very simple equation for us, there’s six points to play for and Sri Lanka showed now in the last two to three days what they are capable of, so it’s now to make sure that we can get that right because every game there’s a lot more to play for,” Moreeng said. “Qualification is key for the 2025 World Cup. It’s going to be a challenge but everyone is looking forward to it and we have a very strong squad on home soil.”After the opening ODI in East London, South Africa and Sri Lanka face-off in the second game in Kimberley on April 13 and then the third in Potchefstroom on April 17.

South Africa squad for women’s ODI series vs Sri Lanka:

Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Suné Luus, Eliz-Mari Marx, Karabo Meso, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune Delmi Tucker

Warner will fly home to recover but is expected to return to India for the ODI series that follows the fourth Test

Alex Malcolm21-Feb-2023David Warner has been ruled out of the final two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy due to his elbow fracture. He will head home to Sydney to recover but he is expected to return to India for the three-match ODI series at the end of March.Warner suffered a hairline fracture in his left elbow after copping a blow from Mohammed Siraj during the first innings of the second Test in Delhi. Two overs later he was hit on the helmet and later suffered delayed concussion symptoms and was subbed out of the Test match.While his concussion symptoms have subsided, his elbow remains an issue. It was initially thought that the hairline fracture was so minor that could play in Indore.Related

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As of Monday night Warner was intending to stay in India to try and play the third Test. But after further testing on his pain and his range of motion, he was officially ruled out and will return home with his family.Australia are unlikely to call up any batters as cover. Travis Head is set to open the batting in Indore after filling in for Warner in the second innings in Delhi. Head made an enterprising 43 at the top and looked in excellent touch having only previously opened twice in first-class cricket in a County Championship match for Worcestershire in 2018. Australia coach Andrew McDonald stressed on Monday that Head opening was not a long-term solution in all conditions but that he was well-suited to open in the subcontinent.Cameron Green will be fit to play in Indore. He faced fast bowling in the nets for the first time during the second Test in a net session against Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc after he was very close to being selected in the second Test. Green is training on Tuesday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on his own to keep his bowling loads up while the rest of the squad relaxes for a couple of days following the stunning collapse on Sunday.Australia have already lost Josh Hazlewood from the tour due to his nagging Achilles. Mitchell Starc is set to be fit to play in Indore. Mitchell Swepson is also set to return to the squad having flown home for the birth of his first child.Captain Pat Cummins flew home immediately after the Delhi Test for family reasons but it currently due to return later in the week and is expected to play in Indore, however his situation remains fluid.Australia may release some squad members to return home to play some domestic cricket with any changes to be finalised on Wednesday.

Retiring Jharkhand stalwart hopes to realise his dream of winning the Ranji Trophy by “helping the team from the outside”

Rajan Raj20-Feb-2024A day before the start of the Jharkhand vs Haryana Ranji Trophy fixture at Jamshedpur’s Keenan Stadium, while the local Jharkhand boys were training, a young boy strolled out to the turf. When a securityman stopped him, he teared up and said he only wanted a selfie with Saurabh . Saurabh Tiwary wasn’t around at the time, but the fans didn’t know that. After the boy, a few others attempted to get into the ground to try and meet him.Tiwary’s popularity in the Jharkhand cricket circles has to be seen to be believed. Plus, of course, a few days earlier, it had become known that Tiwary would retire at the end of Jharkhand’s run in the ongoing season, which came on February 19, also at the Keenan, as Jharkhand beat Rajasthan to finish their Ranji Trophy campaign. When Tiwary went out to bat a second time in that game, the opposition players lined up to give him a guard of honour.”Saying farewell to your favourite thing isn’t easy, my friend,” Tiwary, now 34, said afterwards. “When I left the dressing room and was entering the ground, it was very emotional. My whole journey, from the time I was a kid to now, flashed before my eyes. I started my career here [at Keenan Stadium] and am finishing here too. My favourite people, including my coach [Kajal Das] had come to be part of the occasion. Sometimes, it’s difficult to express the feeling.”Related

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Once the farewell match got over, Tiwary walked over the pitch, tears in his eyes, bent down and kissed the turf. Das, who has also coached the Jharkhand team in the past, was in attendance, and recalled an old story that gives you a glimpse into Tiwary the person.”He must have been 15 or 16, and a ball hit his head during training. He needed some stitches. He went to the hospital and came right back to me. I told him to pad up and go bat in the nets [and he did so] – I wanted to see if he was scared and wanted to test him,” Das said. “I have never had a student as dedicated as Saurabh. His keenness to be at the ground and his hunger for runs is unmatched.”Tiwary wore the India cap – in three ODIs, in late 2010 – and had a lengthy run in the IPL, playing 93 matches across 11 seasons between 2008 and 2021, missing out only in 2014, 2018 and 2019. The only time Jharkhand won a domestic tournament, the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2010-11, Tiwary was the captain. Add to that 8076 first-class runs, 4050 in List A cricket, 3454 in T20s… one dream, however, remained unfulfilled.”Cricket has taught me two things. One is that you have to fight for everything, and the second is that you need to understand you won’t get everything in life. Some things will remain out of reach,” Tiwary said. “I had a dream that we will win the Ranji Trophy but I couldn’t achieve it. That takes us back to the thing about fighting for everything. I will now try to play my part in helping the team win the Ranji Trophy, but from the outside. And I will do whatever I can to make it happen.”

Worcestershire lower-order resist but hosts prove too strong once again

ECB Reporters Network19-May-2024Surrey’s quest for a hat-trick of Vitality County Championship titles gained further momentum with a 281-run demolition of Worcestershire inside three days at the Kia Oval.Dan Worrall added four for 35 to his first innings’ six for 22 and late hitting from Ben Gibbon and Nathan Smith merely delayed the inevitable as Worcestershire, set a nominal 513 to win, were bowled out for 231 in their second innings.Worcestershire, a sickly 102 for eight at one stage, were boosted by Gibbon’s spirited 63-ball 75, his career-best, and Smith’s 60, while Kemar Roach picked up two for 29 and Dan Lawrence two for 53. Sean Abbott and Gus Atkinson took a wicket apiece, leaving only Jordan Clark wicketless.It is Surrey’s fourth successive victory and, having begun the game already 21 points clear of their nearest rivals, their 19-point haul could stretch their lead at the top of Division One table.Surrey’s second-innings 427 left Worcestershire, 85 runs in arrears on first innings, with not just a mountain to climb but an impossible task even to save the game against the 2023 and 2022 champions’ formidable five-pronged pace attack.And, despite a well-grassed surface playing far easier than when Surrey – put in – had slipped initially to 15 for four at the start of the match, Worcestershire’s top order were still no match for Worrall and company.Gareth Roderick (1) was the first to go, before lunch, nibbling a legside catch to keeper Ben Foakes off Worrall, and in the fifth over after the interval Kashif Ali (12) glanced Roach to leg slip, where Lawrence took a smart low catch.Soon Worcestershire were an ugly 34 for four, with Worrall producing classic outswingers to have both Jake Libby (13) and Adam Hose (1) caught at the wicket.Atkinson’s introduction, for the 20th over, brought an almost immediate reward as the centrally-contracted England fast bowler bowled Brett D’Oliveira with his sixth ball for 13.Matthew Waite was the next to depart, at 69 for six, when he swished at Abbott’s fast-medium and edged through for Foakes to claim the fourth of his five catches in the innings.Worrall, recalled for a second spell at the Vauxhall End after Atkinson’s initial 6-1-14-1, struck with his eighth ball back to have Rob Jones leg-before for 14 and Roach also returned to have Joe Leach caught behind for six.But Smith, the New Zealand international, then offered defiance with some lovely strokes against the Surrey quicks, and in No 10 Gibbon he also found a willing partner in a ninth wicket stand of 71 that took the game beyond tea.But after he reached 60, with two sixes in the first over following the interval from Lawrence which cost 18, Smith hit the off spinner high to long on where Roach took a comfortable catch.Gibbon continued to attack, taking three sixes from Lawrence’s third over, that cost 25, and in the process completing his maiden first-class fifty before also hooking Abbott over the deep mid wicket ropes for another maximum.Last man Yadvinder Singh joined in the fun, as Lawrence was replaced nursing the extraordinary figures of 3-0-49-1. Singh’s unbeaten 14 helped Gibbon to post another 58 for the tenth wicket, a Worcestershire record against Surrey, before Gibbon greeted Lawrence’s return to the attack by mis-hitting a reverse-swipe to deep mid-wicket. Gibbon’s 75 had included four sixes and seven fours.Surrey had earlier spent 75 minutes adding 85 more runs to their overnight 342 for five, with both Lawrence and Clark – resuming on 86 and 69 respectively – failing to complete their hundreds after adding 117 together in 22 overs for the sixth wicket.Clark got closest, agonizingly falling for 98 from 116 balls when one from Waite kept a little low and pinned him in front. Lawrence went in the morning’s second over, having added just a single to reach 87 before swivel-pulling Gibbon straight to deep square leg, but Abbott helped Clark to add a quickfire 42, pummeling two legside sixes in the process.Bustling medium-pacer Waite then produced a fine ball to send back Atkinson for four, leg-before in front of his stumps, and Abbott’s merry 31-ball 38 was ended when he swung once too often at Singh and was bowled.Paceman Singh ended up with four for 103, on his first-class debut, when he also bowled Worrall for two, while Waite and the left-arm Gibbon – who toiled through 27 overs – both deserved their own figures of three for 69 and three for 102, respectively.

Surrey youngster delivers on his promise with key role in memorable 3-1 victory in SA

Andrew Miller28-Jan-2020Ollie Pope has said he is ready for the step-up in scrutiny following his breakthrough series in South Africa, and believes that the positive influence of Joe Root and Ben Stokes will help him to translate his impressive form in South Africa on to the slower, spinning decks of Sri Lanka in March.In a series studded with crucial contributions from a variety of England players, established and new, Pope’s haul of 266 runs in three Tests at 88.66 was instrumental in their 3-1 victory.He bounced back from missing the first Test through illness to record a matchwinning maiden Test hundred in the innings win at Port Elizabeth, and confirmed his reputation, at the age of 22, as one of the best young batsman in the world.ALSO READ: Marks out of 10 – Stokes, Wood, Pope shine for England“It’s an amazing feeling,” Pope said, after England had wrapped up the series with a 191-run win at the Wanderers. “I went through all the emotions on that final day. They got a few good partnerships early on but we trusted our bowlers to go on and take the wickets, and it happened pretty quickly at the end.”However, with England’s next Test challenges looming large in Galle and Colombo, Pope knows that he and the squad will not be able to rest on their laurels – but nor will they be allowed to, thanks to the drive for constant improvement that he said has been instilled by the captain and vice-captain.”Looking at the guys around you, you definitely never stand still,” he said. “You’re learning from Rooty and Stokesy – they set a benchmark from a batting point of view. They’re always looking ahead, always thinking about that next series coming up and how they can prepare themselves best for that. That’s definitely what I’ll be learning to do from now on as well.”Pope has already shown he is a fast learner in the course of his brief career. Less than three years have elapsed since he made his first-class debut for Surrey, at the age of 19, while his Test debut followed a year later, against India at Lord’s in August 2018.He finished his first full season of Championship cricket with 986 runs at 70.42, including four hundreds, and even managed to improve on that average in his five appearances for Surrey in 2019 (561 at 80.14), despite missing the bulk of the season after dislocating his shoulder in a fielding accident.And with all that in mind, Pope insisted he will have no qualms about the heightened expectations that come with his efforts in South Africa.Ollie Pope and Ben Stokes added 203 for the fifth wicket•Stu Forster/Getty Images

“I think you go through that whatever level you play at,” he said. “It happens in county cricket. When you’re first starting out, no one knows what you do, they might bowl to your strengths then they realise what your strengths are and bowl differently. But if I just keep working on my technique and my temperament at the crease, and whatever flaws I have got, if I can brush them out of the way then I’ll be ready to cope with whatever comes my way.”Pope’s range of experiences made be limited, but he will at least be travelling to Sri Lanka with some prior knowledge, having been an initial member of the squad that completed a 3-0 whitewash on their last tour of the country in November 2018.On that occasion, he proved surplus to requirements and decamped to join the Lions tour in the UAE, but he saw enough from his team-mates to know what type of approach could succeed, not least from his Surrey team-mate Ben Foakes, who was named Player of the Series after scoring a century on Test debut in Galle.”It’s going to be completely different cricket to what it is out here from a batting point of view,” Pope said. “We play on pretty quick wickets out here and you might not face many overs of spin. In Sri Lanka, they might open with spin.”But from that time out there, I learned that you can go about scoring runs in different ways. I saw how Foakesy went about his innings, he batted time and backed his defence and picked off bad balls. He had a lot of success, then Jos [Buttler] had a lot of success as well. He probably took the more positive option – a lot of sweeping and you look at the scoreboard and he’d be 30 off 20 before you knew it.”There’s two different ways to go about it. I chat to people like Rooty who’ve done very well out there, and I bat in a similar tempo to him, and try to pick his brain a little bit and take that into that first Test if I do get picked out there.”In the latter stages of his Port Elizabeth hundred, however, Pope showed he is not simply a Root clone, with a remarkable array of one-day-influenced strokes, including a ramp over fine leg off an Anrich Nortje bouncer, and a full-blooded reverse-pull off Kagiso Rabada. And when the pair came together in their century partnership at the Wanderers, it was the younger man teaching the old dog some new tricks.ALSO READ: Dobell: Young England embrace old-fashioned virtues“It’s quite funny,” Pope said. “Rooty been one of my favourite players as I’ve been growing up over the last 10 years – watching him play has been awesome. He hit a shot – one of those ramps – and said ‘I learned that one off you!’ That’s a big compliment from one of my favourite players growing up.”But I learn a lot off him and that’s just the way batting works. Sometimes I’ll be bogged down and grafting a bit more and other times it will come a bit easier. That morning for me, I was just moving well and it’s a shame not to go on and make a bigger one [Pope made 56] but I really enjoyed batting with him.”My dream is to play all three formats for England,” he added. “I see myself as a white-ball player as well but our team is pretty established at the moment. They’ve got a great batting line-up, a great middle order, so if I want to get in that white-ball side I’ve got to bide my time, score my runs in county cricket and hopefully keep scoring some Test runs and that’ll look after itself.”Pope wasn’t the only young player to make his mark in South Africa. Dom Sibley also scored his maiden Test hundred in Cape Town, while Zak Crawley seized his chance to impress after Rory Burns’ ankle injury with a series of key innings at the top of the order.”The way this series has gone it’s been nice for Sibbers, Crawley and myself to get some game-time and get some runs as well, which has been really good for all of us going forward,” Pope said. “Obviously we’re still young guys and I think that’s what we needed – a few scores under our belts to give you the confidence to know you can do it at this level. Definitely doing it in a winning cause makes all the difference as well, from a personal point of view.”And after a stuttering start in New Zealand, where England were ground down on slow pitches to succumb to a 1-0 series loss, the confidence in a new-look squad is tangible.”I think it’s massive,” Pope said. “At the start of the New Zealand series we realised we’ve got a young group of players together as a team, and we knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. Our target was to go and win this series out here.”It’s been an amazing experience to do that. But we also realise, hopefully, it’s just the start. Looking ahead it’s been nice to get some games under our belt, and a series win and now it’s massive taking that into Sri Lanka.”

England quick marks BBL debut with four wickets inside the first three overs of Thunder’s defence of 196

AAP19-Dec-2021
Saqib Mahmood made BBL history before Brisbane Heat’s tail saved some face as Sydney Thunder won by 53 runs at the Gabba.On debut for Thunder, English quick Mahmood became the first man in the BBL and only the 10th person in T20 cricket anywhere in the world to take four wickets inside the first three overs of an innings.Mahmood couldn’t believe his luck when Jimmy Peirson clipped one to deep fine leg, giving him 4 for 9 from just 11 balls after his first delivery was sent to the boundary by Chris Lynn.Lynn, Ben Duckett and Sam Heazlett all fell though, with the chase of the Thunder’s 7 for 196 looking all but over.A horror run-out added to Heat’s misery, the hosts sinking to 5 for 15 inside the first three overs, before bowlers Xavier Bartlett and Mark Steketee combined for a BBL record 79-run eighth wicket stand.That pair’s partnership came too late for Heat to even salvage the Bash Boost point, Steketee eventually falling just as a miracle comeback victory was being entertained.Sam Billings (64 off 27) had earlier powered the Thunder’s innings, the English wicketkeeper hitting five sixes and five fours as he swept both spinners and pacemen over the rope. His innings came after Alex Hales and Jason Sangha had set the tone, leaving Heat a huge chase if they were to win a second straight game.It could have been an even steeper task if not for Mitchell Swepson bowling Sangha around his legs. Bartlett also took two wickets but went for 45 from his four overs, while Steketee also grabbed two wickets on his return from national duties where he was briefly called up to bolster the squad after Pat Cummins’ Covid close contact drama.Thunder held back the in-form Alex Ross until the final over despite him coming off three unbeaten knocks, his last a whirlwind 77 off 49.Ross thought he’d found a boundary, but his lap sweep was well caught by wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson. He had deflected the ball past his off stump towards fine leg, but Peirson reacted incredibly well to pouch the catch in his left hand.Tom Cooper entered the game as the Heat’s X-factor sub, in for Tom Abell after he jammed his hip while attempting an outfield catch in the second over.

Karima Gore struck an unbeaten half-century to see a 134-run chase through

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Aug-2025Shakib Al Hasan made history on Sunday, becoming the fifth man in the world to take 500 wickets in T20 cricket. He bowled only two overs against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots but picked up 3 for 11 in a match-winning effort for Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, who consolidated their place at the top of the CPL 2025 points table.Shakib needed six balls to get the record out of the way, deceiving Mohammad Rizwan in flight and securing a caught and bowled. Two more wickets came his way as he quadrupled his tally for the season and limited the former champions to a meagre 133 for 9 in North Sound. Patriots had a tough go of it after being put in to bat with only Rizwan (30 off 26) and Evin Lewis (32 off 31) scoring more than 18 runs. There were four single-digit scores and three run-outs, epitomising an innings that never went quite right.With a target in front of them, Falcons were able to negotiate the difficult batting conditions better but even they had the odd hiccup. Afghanistan wristspinner Waqar Salamkheil continued his outstanding form as this season’s top wicket-taker with figures of 1 for 16. Patriots needed more than one man to pull off this defence though. They ran into Shakib again, this time with the bat as the Bangladesh allrounder showed off his other skill. Four other men have 500 wickets in T20 cricket but none of them have nearly as much as his 7574 runs. Shakib was 3 off seven balls before he hit Ashmead Nedd for a six down the ground and reverse-swept the next ball for four to hasten Falcons’ march to the finish line.Falcons needed 28 from 30 balls when Shakib fell. Karima Gore, who was playing the anchor’s role until then, found a couple of boundaries to ease off the pressure. He also hit the winning boundary, thus seeing off the chase with two balls to spare and bringing up his fifty as well.

This was Ireland’s third T20I win over Bangladesh

Mohammad Isam27-Nov-2025After the Tector brothers – Tim and Harry – powered Ireland to an above-par score, their bowlers ensured a 39-run win over Bangladesh in the first T20I in Chattogram. The hosts have now lost four T20Is in a row while the visitors won their first match of the year.Harry struck five sixes in his unbeaten 45-ball 69, after his younger brother Tim had given Ireland a sound start, with a 19-ball 32. The Tector brothers struck big ones in both ends of the Ireland innings, before their bowlers managed to bowl through the wet conditions due to dew in Chattogram.Fast bowler Mark Adair, playing his first international series since his knee surgery in August this year, sunk Bangladesh in the powerplay. Left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys took 4 for 13, and took three wickets with the wet ball in his fourth over.

Adair forces Bangladesh to crash

Humphreys had Tanzid Hasan caught at mid-on in the first over to give Ireland a perfect start with the ball. Adair got a wicket-maiden in his first over back in competitive cricket after five months. He removed Litton Das playing a double-minded cut, easily caught inside the circle for one. Bangladesh sunk to 5 for 3 in the fourth over, when Adair had Parvez Hossain Emon caught at midwicket.Saif Hassan, recently elevated to the vice captaincy in the T20I side, struck the team’s first boundary in the fifth over. He however was clean bowled by Barry McCarthy, who replaced Adair after he bowled a scintillating spell that read 2-1-3-2.

Jaker, Hridoy offer brief respite

Towhid Hridoy tried to haul Bangladesh out of a desperate situation, with four wickets down and the required run-rate touching 12 per over. He struck Josh Little for four over mid-off, before hitting Gareth Delany for a square-cut boundary. Both Hridoy and Jaker Ali lofted Delany for a six each in the tenth over, as Bangladesh looked to this middle-order pair to get them out of trouble. Jaker however continued his batting struggle, getting caught at deep third after making 20 off 16 balls.Humphreys skins Bangladesh tail

Returning to bowl his last over, Humphreys had quite the mixed bag. He had Tanzim’s wicket with the first ball, caught at long-on. Humphreys bowled three wide deliveries, struggling to keep the wet ball in his grip. He however dried up his hands real good, when he had Rishad Hossain lbw and Nasum Ahmed stumped off consecutive deliveries.After the eighth wicket fell, Ireland dropped several catches mainly due to the wet ball. Hridoy meanwhile reached his fifth half-century, apart from adding 48 runs for the ninth wicket with Shoriful Islam, but it had little consequence on the match.Harry Tector finished unbeaten on 69•BCB

Tim Tector blazes along the ground

When Ireland batted first, captain Paul Stirling struck three early fours before it was the Tim Tector show. He clattered Shoriful for four boundaries in the third over, which went for 18 runs. Stirling fell in the fifth over after which Tim was joined by Harry, and the Tector brothers exchanged more boundaries from either ends.Tim’s inside-out shot over the covers brought up Ireland’s fifty in the seventh over, before he struck Tanzim Hasan through point. Rishad removed Tim in the ninth over, when Tanzim took the catch at long-on.

Harry Tector goes aerial

Harry had already got two boundaries including a straight six, before Tim departed the crease. Harry also went for straight sixes off Rishad before Shoriful removed Lorcan Tucker for 18, in the thirteenth over.Curtis Campher aided Harry with three more fours in his 17-ball 24. Harry hammered Shoriful for his third six, pulled over midwicket, before hitting two more sixes in the last over, both over long-on.