She has also moved to No. 7 among ODI batters, while Harmanpreet has gained in both the T20I and ODI tables too

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2022Smriti Mandhana has made big gains in both ODI and T20I rankings for batters following her recent match-winning performances in England.In T20Is, she has moved up to a career-best No. 2 following her unbeaten 79 in the second T20I in Derby. And in ODIs, she has moved up three spots to No. 7 after her 91 in the first ODI in Hove.

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Mandhana, who had risen to the third spot in T20Is in August, has now moved past Meg Lanning. Beth Mooney, who took back the No. 1 position after topping the CWG 2022 run-scorers’ chart, has retained the top spot with a total of 743 rating points, 12 ahead of Mandhana.Harmanpreet Kaur has also moved up, advancing four places to ninth in ODIs following her 74* in the first ODI against England, and one place up to 14th in T20Is. Yastika Bhatia, who also scored a half-century in the first ODI, has moved eight places up to 37th. And Deepti Sharma, who bagged 2 for 33 in the game, jumped six spots to 12th in the ODI bowling charts.Among England players, Kate Cross went three places up to tenth on the list for ODI bowlers after her 2 for 43 in the same game, while Charlie Dean moved up four spots to 20th.Following the T20I series, which England won 2-1, Sophia Dunkley jumped 12 places to 32nd after finishing as her team’s highest scorer with 115 runs, while Alice Capsey moved to 20th in the batting rankings.

Irfan, Arif fifties guide Royals to 225 before Zeeshan, Kharote skittle Sharks for 139

Rvel Zahid22-Oct-2022
Bahawalpur Royals carved their name on the inaugural Pakistan Junior League (PJL) trophy by beating Gwadar Sharks by 86 runs in the final, in Lahore on Friday. Shawaiz Irfan smashed 79 off just 32 deliveries and Tayyab Arif hit a quick fifty to set the platform for an imposing total of 225. In the chase, Sharks were bowled out for 139, thanks to Mohammad Zeeshan and Nangeyalia Kharote’ three wicket-hauls.Sharks won the toss and elected to bowl, but the decision backfired. The damage inflicted by Irfan, Arif, Basit Ali and Kharote was massive for Sharks. While Arif made a 34-ball 56, Kharote remained unbeaten on 47 off 30 balls to help the Imran Tahir-mentored side post the highest total of the season.The Lahore-born Shawaiz, who was promoted up the batting order, was crowned Player of the Match after he thumped the fastest half-century of the tournament. His innings had seven fours and six sixes. His glovework has also been impressive throughout the PJL, drawing praise from Rashid Latif as well.Sharks never got a sniff while bowling as Arif and Afghanistani southpaw Kharote teed off and added 87 runs for the third wicket. Arif scored his first fifty of the PJL and his innings was laced with seven fours and one six, while Kharote hammered two sixes and three fours in his unbeaten knock.Sharks finished the group stage at the top of the table and beat Royals in the Qualifier 1 but on Friday, they were outclassed in all departments. Royals brought their A game in the all-important final and went in with an attacking mindset right from the start.In reply, Sharks did manage a flying start in the powerplay and got to 103 for 4 in the first ten overs, but the innings nosedived after the dismissal of their captain Shamyl Hussain, who notched up 67 off 34 balls. In the end, the team was skittled for 139 in under 16 overs.Their innings was a story of two halves as Sharks were meeting the asking rate in the first ten overs with Hussain leading the charge. But the moment Zeeshan was introduced into the attack, he removed Hussain and the floodgates were opened. Thereon, the wickets fell at regular intervals as the spinners applied the choke and the equation became tougher with each passing over.Sharks’ overseas signing Luc Martin Benkenstein has been in good nick in this competition and even guided his side to the doorstep of victory with a well-crafted 71 in Qualifier 1, but he couldn’t get going in the final and holed out to long-on off Sajjad Ali’s bowling. Another lynchpin of Sharks’ batting line-up Mohammad Zulfikal was snared by Kharote early on. Eventually, Sharks lost their last seven wickets for 43 runs.Sharks will rue the missed opportunities, overthrows and losing their composure when Arif and Shawaiz went berserk with the bat.Basit Ali, who hails from a remote city of Pakistan – Dera Murad Jamali – finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer with 379 runs at a strike rate of 150.39. He struck one century and two half-centuries in the PJL and a crucial 35 in the final. Zeeshan ended the tournament as highest wicket-taker with 14 scalps at an economy of 7.25 from eight matches.

The Blues bowled out for their lowest-ever score with Richardson claiming 4 for 24 and Behrendorff 3 for 17 to help WA to their second straight win

AAP01-Oct-2022Western Australia’s new ball bowlers Jhye Richardson and Jason  Behrendorff excelled as their side strolled to a nine-wicket win after dismissing NSW for 76, their lowest-ever one-day score.WA cruised to a bonus point victory at the WACA on Saturday, reaching their modest target with a whopping 33 overs remaining in a rematch of last year’s final.They moved to within a point of early pacesetters Tasmania, who secured a bonus point in each of their victories so far. NSW, who were dismissed in 21.4 overs, have lost both of their games and along with Queensland have yet to register a point.Richardson returned personal career-best one-day figures of 4 for 24 off eight overs, while Behrendorff took 3 for 17 off seven.Blues captain Kurtis Patterson opted to bat first in Perth but must have been ruing his decision after NSW slumped to 6 for 20 in the ninth over.A promising seventh-wicket stand of 38 between Australian short-form representatives Daniel Sams (26 off 31 balls) and Sean Abbott (12 off 20) spared NSW from total embarrassment and added a little flesh to their skinny score.However, the last four wickets added just 18, leaving NSW 16 runs shy of their previous lowest one-day score of 92 back in 1972-73. It was the equal seventh lowest total in Australian one-day domestic history.WA openers Josh Philippe (37 not out off 46) and D’Arcy Short (18 off 38) had few problems, adding 44 off 12.1 overs as the NSW attack struggled for line and length.Liam Hatcher, the least experienced of the Blues pace quartet, was rewarded with a wicket with his first delivery, as he pitched the ball up and bowled Short.Philippe, who scored a century in the win over Victoria, and Sam Whiteman (14 not out off 18), eased WA to victory after just 17 overs.Earlier, Australian representatives Richardson and Behrendorff troubled all the batters with swing on a spicy wicket. The innings hit the skids when NSW lost 3 for 0 in 10 balls. The carnage started in the third over with Patterson (4) and Matthew Gilkes  (0) bowled by Richardson in a double-wicket maiden.Behrendorff chimed in, claiming a wicket in three successive overs. He had Daniel Hughes (0) caught in the covers and bowled Moises Henriques (1) and Jack Edwards (3), while Richardson had Jason Sangha (0) caught off a pull shot.Twelve of the Blues first 20 runs came from extras. Sams struck four boundaries and looked good until flashing at a Matthew Kelly delivery and being caught behind.The two teams square off again in a Sheffield Shield match starting at the WACA on Monday.

Former Gloucestershire and England seamer succeeds Lisa Keightley in women’s role

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2022Jon Lewis, the former England Men’s seamer and coach, has been appointed as the new head coach of England Women. Lewis succeeds Lisa Keightley, who stepped down in September after three years in the role.Lewis has been the ECB’s elite pace bowling coach since 2021, supporting the men’s team on last winter’s Ashes tour, and previously coached the Young Lions. He will take charge of England Women ahead of their limited-overs tour of the West Indies, just a few months out from the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa.”It’s very exciting to have been appointed as head coach of the England Women’s team,” Lewis said. “It’s a new challenge, and one that I can’t wait to get stuck into. I’ve watched from a distance over the last few years and it’s clear that there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this team’s chances going forward.Related

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“The last couple of years have seen the introduction of some younger players and that, allied with the increased strength in depth coming from the regional game, is a really promising sign for the coming few years.”Our immediate focus is the West Indies, and particularly getting some points on the board in the ICC Women’s Championship, and then we’ll look ahead to South Africa and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.”Lewis, 47, played 16 times for England during a lengthy playing career that took him from Gloucestershire to Surrey and then Sussex. He retired in 2014 to become Sussex’s bowling coach, and was subsequently promoted to assistant coach at Hove before moving on to take charge of the Under-19s in 2018.He is understood to have beaten a number of candidates to the job, including his namesake, Jon Lewis, the former Durham head coach who has recently worked with the batters in the England women’s set-up.Jonathan Finch, the ECB’s director of England women’s cricket, said: “We’re really pleased to be able to appoint Jon as the new head coach of England Women following a thorough and competitive recruitment process. We set out to find a head coach with a range of experiences to help lead an exciting group of players across all formats and I am excited with what the future holds with Jon in the role.”Jon comes with excellent pedigree in the men’s game working across different levels of the international pathway, and we were really impressed by how he sees the role moving forward. We look forward to him coming on board and driving the future direction of this team.”England are due to announce their squads for ODI and T20I series in the Caribbean next week, with Heather Knight set to be fit to lead the side after hip surgery during the summer. Nat Sciver, who missed England’s series with India in September for mental health reasons, is also expected to return.

Salil Ankola, SS Das, Subroto Banerjee and S Sharath are the other members of the committee

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2023Chetan Sharma has been reappointed as the chairman of the BCCI’s national men’s senior selection committee. Chetan, who was in the same position in the previous selection committee, which had been sacked in November last year, will have Shiv Sunder Das, Salil Ankola, Subroto Banerjee and S Sharath as colleagues in the new panel.The five men were chosen by the BCCI’s cricket advisory committee of Ashok Malhotra, Sulakshana Naik and Jatin Paranjape after “around 600 applications” came in response to a BCCI advertisement for the positions. The need to appoint a fresh committee came up after the BCCI removed the earlier panel on November 18 last year – the advertisement was published on the BCCI’s website the same day – not long after India were eliminated in the semi-final of the men’s T20 World Cup.Though the panel was removed, they continued to select the India men’s national teams for the limited-overs series in New Zealand, the ODI and Test tour of Bangladesh and then the ongoing limited-overs series at home against Sri Lanka in the absence of a new committee. It was understood that the panel, led by Chetan, had been given an extension until the end of 2022 and, along with picking the national squads, had also been tasked with tracking the Ranji Trophy matches till the end of the year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Indications were that Chetan Sharma would continue

Then, last week, in perhaps a big indication that Chetan might not be replaced – even if the others were – he was part of the BCCI’s review meeting of India’s roadmap to the 2023 ODI World Cup along with Rahul Dravid, the head coach, Rohit Sharma, the all-format captain, and VVS Laxman, the National Cricket Academy chief, as well as top BCCI functionaries.The term for the selection panel is typically four years, but they are up for renewal every year.The CAC, meanwhile, was put in place on January 1 to interview the applicants, prepare a shortlist of candidates, and send the BCCI its recommendations, on the basis of which the five-member panel has now been put in place.The latest panel has a combined experienced of 48 Test matches and 95 ODIs. Chetan and Das have both played 23 Tests each, while Ankola and Banerjee played one each. Chetan also played 65 ODIs; Ankola, Banerjee and Das played 20, six and four apiece. Sharath, a domestic great who played 139 first-class matches and scored 8700 runs in the format at an average of 51.17, never played for India.Sharath, however, was the chairman of the junior men’s selection committee till recently, and it’s an elevation of sorts for him after his panel chose the India squad that went on to win the Under-19 World Cup in February last year.Ankola, the former fast bowler, was also a selector, heading the Mumbai selection committee till the new appointment, while Das and Banerjee were involved in coaching. Das is the only member of the selection panel to have any T20 playing experience, having played three games in October 2011.

He has torn three key ligaments in his knee, two of which were reconstructed recently while surgery on the third is expected after six weeks

Nagraj Gollapudi and Sidharth Monga14-Jan-2023Rishabh Pant is unlikely to play any cricket for most of 2023 and is set to miss a slew of marquee tournaments including the IPL. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the medical update given to the BCCI on Pant, who survived a car crash on December 30, says the wicket-keeper batter has torn all three key ligaments in his knee, two of which were reconstructed recently while surgery on the third is expected after six weeks.As a consequence, Pant is in danger of being sidelined for at least six months, which could also potentially affect his chances of being fit for selection for the ODI World Cup, scheduled to take place in India in October-November.Last week, Pant underwent knee surgery after his right ligaments were damaged in the accident that occurred when he was driving from Delhi to meet his family in Roorkee. As one of India’s top contracted players, Pant was airlifted from Dehradun at the BCCI’s behest and flown to Mumbai last week to be put under the supervision of Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, one of the specialist surgeons contracted by the board.The BCCI issued three medical bulletins since the accident and the surgery, including one that stated Pant had also injured his right ankle. ESPNcricinfo has learned that all three ligaments in the knee – anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament, which are necessary for movement and stability – have been torn in Pant’s case. It is understood that in the surgery conducted recently, both the PCL and MCL were reconstructed. Pant will need to undergo another surgery to reconstruct his ACL, but the doctors will wait for at least six weeks before going ahead with it.Related

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There is no definitive timeline given by the doctors yet on how long it would take Pant to resume training, but both the BCCI and the selectors have concluded that the wicketkeeper-batter would be out for a minimum of six months.Pant, who last featured in the away series in Bangladesh in December, was rested for the home series against Sri Lanka. On Monday he was absent from the squads announced for the New Zealalnd series followed by the first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. Pant, who is Delhi Capitals’ captain, will also miss the IPL, which begins on April 1. Another key match Pant will be absent from is the World Test Championship final in June in case India make it to the summit clash.The selectors have named KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan as the wicketkeeper options in Pant’s absence for the first half of the Australia Test series. Bharat and Kishan will also contest the keeper’s role in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand starting next week.

Short’s second straight ton and Perry’s eight wickets give Victoria a 10-wicket win in what could be Copeland’s final appearance for NSW

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2023Matthew Short’s second consecutive Sheffield Shield century and eight wickets from Mitchell Perry has helped Victoria trounce New South Wales by ten wickets inside three days in Trent Copeland’s likely farewell from first-class cricket in Albury.Short added 23 to his overnight score of 81 to post his second century in as many outings, having not scored one in his previous 64 Shield innings, to help Victoria post a sizeable first-innings lead of 128.Perry then continued his stellar form with the ball picking up 4 for 30 as New South Wales folded for 130 in their second innings. Perry finished with eight wickets for the match and has taken 19 Shield scalps in his last three matches. Short chimed in with two wickets to complete a wonderful allround performance while stand-in captain Will Sutherland also picked up two.Copeland was given a guard of honour as he left the field in what could be his final appearance for NSW. He finished with 3 for 63 from 30 overs. If it is his final appearance, he will finish with 344 Shield scalps, equal 11th all-time and the third most for NSW. He has taken 410 first-class wickets overall, including six Test wickets in three Tests, with 21 five-wicket hauls.Short proved an obstacle for Copeland and his fellow NSW bowlers on the third morning as he cruised to his century. Having lost Sam Harper, he got great support from Fergus O’Neill who made 24 not out. Short fell to Chris Green, caught at short leg for 104, but Victoria added 67 valuable runs to their overnight total for the final four wickets to lift the lead beyond three figures.NSW’s second innings started disastrously as they slumped to 16 for 3, losing all three in just two overs as Perry and Cameron McClure did the damage with seam movement and some extra bounce. NSW lost wickets at regular intervals after that, with Sutherland and Perry tearing through the middle order before Short was on a hat-trick to give Victoria a chance at an innings victory.Green managed to single-handedly avoid that, making 39 not out to ensure Victoria batted again but they had no trouble knocking off three runs needed. NSW opener Daniel Hughes did not bat in the second innings after retiring hurt with a calf injury in the first innings on day one.Victoria remain third on the Shield table and still have a chance of playing in back-to-back finals but they head to Western Australia to face the ladder leaders in the final round. NSW remain winless with one game to go against South Australia.

Fast bowler says he has recovered from a stress fracture and quad grade 3 tear following extensive rehab at the NCA

PTI21-Feb-2023After struggling with two “big” injuries last year, India fast bowler Deepak Chahar says he is fully fit and set to make his comeback with the IPL, starting March 31.Chahar, 30, has had a tough time recovering from a stress fracture and more recently a quad grade 3 tear. He last played for India in the second ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur last December, where he broke down after bowling three overs.Chahar could only feature in 15 games for India in 2022, and was also ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to injury. Having done an extensive rehab at the National Cricket Academy, Chahar is now preparing for the IPL where he will represent the Chennai Super Kings.”I have been working hard for the past two three months on my fitness, I am fully fit and preparing well for the IPL,” Chahar told PTI. “I had two big injures. One was a stress fracture and one was a quad grade 3 tear. They are both very big injuries. You are out for months. Anyone who comes back after the injury it takes time, especially for the fast bowlers.”If I was a batter, I would be playing way back, but as a fast bowler, when you have a stress fracture, it is very tough to get back on track. You can see other bowlers struggling with the back as well.”Chahar made a return to competitive cricket with a first-class game against Services last month but that was his only appearance in the Ranji Trophy.Multiple injuries have pushed him down in the Indian pecking order but he hopes to be part of the team for the ODI World Cup at home later this year.”I have lived by one rule all my life. If I am fully bowling the way I want, if I am batting the way I want, there is no stopping me. That was the basic rule with which I started my career.”I don’t care who is playing, who is not playing , my motive is to get fully fit and perform with the ball and bat 100%. If I do that, I will get my chances.”The men’s IPL will be preceded by the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL), and Chahar could not be more excited for the new tournament.”IPL changed men’s cricket forever, people got a lot of opportunities. Same thing will happen with Women’s Premier League. Women’s cricket will grow very fast as they will face international players very early in their careers. It will also help a lot of women cricketers who have not been able to make money and will fuel competition.”

Rodrigues, Ghosh and Verma among five women’s cricketers awarded Grade B contracts

Shashank Kishore27-Apr-2023Deepti Sharma, the allrounder, is a new entrant to BCCI’s highest bracket of annual retainers – Grade A worth INR 50 lakh – alongside Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur for 2022-23.Poonam Yadav, the legspinner, who had previously been placed in the highest bracket when the central contracts were last made public in May 2021 (for the period October 2020-September 2021), drops out altogether along with the now-retired pair of Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, who had both been placed in Grade B (worth INR 30 lakh).Raj retired after last year’s 50-overs World Cup in New Zealand while Goswami made her final appearance during a historic ODI-series win over England at Lord’s last September.Related

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Shikha Pandey, the allrounder, who earned a recall after 15 months ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup in South Africa has been left out altogether. She had previously been in Grade B which had 10 players. That list has now been pruned to five, with Renuka Singh and Richa Ghosh, who was earlier handed a Grade C retainer, being the new entrants. The others include Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad.Renuka enjoyed a breakthrough 2022, where she played a stellar role in India’s run to a silver-medal finish at Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year and has since emerged as the leader of India’s seam attack after Goswami’s retirement. Ghosh, meanwhile, has emerged as the frontline wicketkeeper and the team’s designated finisher.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Grade C, which is worth INR 10 lakh, has nine players from six previously. Among the first timers are fast bowlers Meghna Singh and Anjali Sarvani, allrounders Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana and Devika Vaidya and batters S Meghana, Yastika Bhatia and Harleen Deol. Allrounder Radha Yadav is also part of this group, having earlier been given a Grade B contract.The formal announcement of annual retainers comes six months after the BCCI announced a pay parity, under which the women – like the men – stood to earn INR 15 lakh for a Test, INR 6 lakh for an ODI and INR 3 lakh for a T20I. These amounts are significantly higher than the flat INR 1 lakh that India women players earned for an ODI or T20I appearance, and INR 2.5 lakh for a Test match prior to that.The Indian team’s next assignment is a tour to Bangladesh in June. Earlier this month, board secretary Jay Shah said it was “imperative we have a dedicated, full-fledged support staff to drive the team forward” while also saying the “best coaches will be roped in to help players realise full potential and achieve excellence on and off the field.”The national team is currently without a full-time head coach since former India offspinner Ramesh Powar was asked to step away as part of a restructuring process. Since then, former India batter Hrishikesh Kanitkar has been in charge and led the team to a semi-final finish at the T20 World Cup.Applications for various positions, including head coach, will be announced soon before BCCI’s three-member Cricket Advisory Committee will conduct interviews to identify the new coaches.

“He is supremely confident about his own ability – the fact that he is fully fit now makes a massive difference,” Shastri says of Hardik

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-20235:13

Runorder: Ravi Shastri wants Hardik to be India’s full-time T20I captain

Ravi Shastri feels that with the next men’s T20 World Cup just over a year away, Hardik Pandya will be handed the captaincy of the India team immediately.”Everyone can qualify to play, but I think Hardik will lead,” Shastri said on ESPNcricinfo’s . “The next two World Cups [after the 2023 ODI World Cup] are T20 cricket. He’s already [standby] captain of India [in T20Is], so he will continue unless he is not fit. I think they [the selectors] will look into a new direction. There’s a lot of talent among the youth at the moment. You might have a pretty much new team; there will be some new faces if not a new team.”There will be still plenty who played in the last T20I match that India played, but there will be some new faces because what we’ve seen here in this year’s IPL is some refreshing young talent.”Related

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Rohit Sharma is India’s designated captain across formats, but he hasn’t played a T20I since the 2022 T20 World Cup. KL Rahul was his deputy at the tournament; his last T20I, too, was at the World Cup. In the meantime, India have played eight T20Is, and Hardik has led in all of them with Rohit resting. Of those eight, India have won five, lost two, and tied one.At the last T20 World Cup, India’s intent with the bat had come under scrutiny, not for the first time. In the semi-final, they scored 168, which England chased down with ten wickets and four overs to spare.Since then, India have tried many fresh faces, with good results. And Shastri suggested “the 2007 route” for the 2024 T20 World Cup. Then, with Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and some others opting out, India had named a relatively inexperienced side for the inaugural T20 World Cup, and India lifted the trophy under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.”I feel they will go the 2007 route, where they will identify talent, and Hardik will have lots of choices when it comes to the selection,” Shastri said. “Because his ideas will be different; he has played the IPL as a captain of a franchise and seen a lot of the other players. He will have his inputs.”Hardik Pandya has led India in every T20I they have played since the last T20 World Cup•Getty Images

When asked if it’s Hardik then who should have a conversation with the senior players about the future, Shastri said, “Obviously. Because he is the guy who is going to take the guys out on the park. Whatever he says has to be given importance and listened to.”Until IPL 2022, Hardik had no captaincy experience at the senior level. But he created a stir when he led Gujarat Titans, one of two new teams that season, to the title. This season, too, Titans are all but through to the playoffs with the last few league-stage matches to go.The only concern with Hardik could be regarding his workload management, given he is expected to play a big role for India at the upcoming ODI World Cup as well and his struggle with injuries is well known. Shastri said it should not be an issue, given he no longer plays long-form cricket.”It is not that he is playing three formats,” Shastri said. “Everything now is separate. You have Test matches, so the moment a Test series comes, he gets a corridor of a month to rest and recuperate. He is supremely confident about his own ability. The fact that he is fully fit now makes a massive difference. Form plays an important role. When he is fit, then he is arguably one of the best T20 players in the world.”In November last year as well, Shastri had said that “there is no harm in identifying a new T20I captain, and if his name is Hardik Pandya, so be it”.