Five West Indian rookies who could become big names in the CPL

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Our list includes a left-hand batter with boundless potential and an allrounder who shares Andre Russell’s birthday and some of his skills as well

Deivarayan Muthu14-Aug-2023Alick Athanaze (Barbados Royals)
When Alick Athanaze was on his way to the joint-fastest half-century on ODI debut, Carlos Brathwaite, who was on TV commentary at the time, dubbed him the “future of West Indies cricket”. Then, after the left-hand batter made his Test debut against India at his home ground in Dominica, in front of his family, R Ashwin picked him among a group of players who could dominate the next decade in cricket. A CPL debut for Barbados Royals this season will only embellish his CV.Athanaze hasn’t played any official T20 cricket yet, but showed during the ODIs against UAE and India that he has a variety of shots in his repertoire, including the reverse-sweep. He also has the experience of having featured in Global T20 Canada and the Vincy T10 league. His ability to bowl offspin and patrol the infield as the outfield makes him a particularly attractive package.Related

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Kevin Wickham (Barbados Royals)
Another former West Indies Under-19 player and another Royal, Kevin Wickham is also set for his CPL debut. Wickham, now 20, has played just six first-class and six List A games so far, but has already been part of CWI’s Emerging Players camp and was recently name-checked by Ian Bishop during an interview with ESPNcricinfo.Like Athanaze, Wickham is yet to play any official T20 cricket, but he did produce a Player-of-the-Match performance in the Barbados T10 final, which Settlers won. Opening the batting, he cracked 45 off 21 balls in that final, and could be among the top-order options for Royals too in the CPL. Wickham had also been on St Kitts & Nevis Patriots’ radar and even played for their developmental team against a visiting Scotland side earlier this year.Matthew Forde (St Lucia Kings)
Matthew Forde shares a birthday with Andre Russell and has modelled his game on the T20 phenom. He can launch sixes down the order, hit hard lengths with the ball, and also bowl deceptive slower cutters, skills that have put him on the radar of T20 leagues even outside the Caribbean.Most recently, he finished Global T20 Canada as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker, with 15 wickets in eight games at an average of 10.80 and economy rate of 6.43 in Surrey Jaguars’ run to the final. Though his hero Russell had the final say in that final for Montreal Tigers, Forde did well enough to keep Chris Lynn and Sherfane Rutherford quiet. Forde was also impressive with the ball during the Cool & Smooth T20 tournament, conceding just five runs an over across seven matches.Forde played only seven games for Kings last season but could have a bigger role this CPL after having proven his white-ball chops in the LPL and GT20 Canada.Nicholson Gordon can leak runs but has the knack of picking up key wickets in pressure situations•CPL T20 via Getty ImagesKofi James (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots)
Kofi James was part of Patriots’ development sides and is a product of their extensive scouting system. James started his career as a lower-order batter but has now slid up the order after having expanded his range. It was on display during the Cool & Smooth T20 tournament, where he was the top-scorer with 330 runs in nine innings, including a century, ahead of Scotland internationals like Richie Berrington and Matthew Cross. James’ dart-it-in offspin has also attracted the attention of Patriots’ new head coach Malolan Rangarajan.”Adhishwar (The director of cricket at St Kitts) was on ground during our scouting camps, and he was speaking very highly about Kofi’s potential,” Malolan told ESPNcricinfo in the lead-up to CPL 2023. “I would term him under the ‘potential’ category. He has tremendous potential, but if given an opportunity, he has the tools to come up and produce the goods required.”He is someone who bowls real fast offspin and his batting has improved leaps and bounds. He’s batting at one-down and scoring hundreds in T20 cricket. So that’s the amount of work he’s put in, in his game. Also, he’s a brilliant fielder, so I think the world is his oyster now and he will only get better playing with experienced players at St Kitts.”Nicholson Gordon (Jamaica Tallawahs)
Nicholson Gordon, 31, is the oldest among the five players in this list but is young in terms of T20 experience. The fast bowler hadn’t played an official T20 until CPL 2022 and ended up winning the tournament with Jamaica Tallawahs. In the final against Royals, Gordon stepped up in the absence of the injured Mohammad Amir, taking out Najibullah Zadran, Corbin Bosch and Devon Thomas.Gordon is a bit like India’s Shardul Thakur. He has a tendency to leak runs but also has the knack of taking key wickets under pressure. And going for boundaries doesn’t prevent him from exploring attacking lengths. Gordon suffered a thigh injury earlier this year but is fit now and ready to bowl the difficult overs for Tallawahs once again.

Stats – Close finishes, big chases and Australia's dominance

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

All the interesting numbers about the close finishes, scoring rates, and more from the Women’s World Cup 2022

Sampath Bandarupalli05-Apr-20225:47

#PoliteEnquiries: Has there ever been a better ODI team than Meg Lanning’s Australia?

The tournament of close games
One of the biggest talking points of the tournament was how a number of matches went down to the wire. Teams batting first won five times by a margin of fewer than ten runs, while the chasing teams got over the line in the final over four times. Nine of the 30 completed matches in this edition were either won in the last over by the chasing side or by a margin of fewer than ten runs. Before the 2022 Women’s World Cup, there have been only 12 such results, and no more than three in any edition.Related

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The only previous instance of a team either reaching the target on the last ball of the chase or winning with only one wicket in hand at a World Cup was by Sri Lanka in 2013 against England, when they reached the 239-run target on the last ball of the 50th over, having lost nine wickets. In the 2022 edition, there were two similar results – England beating New Zealand by one wicket at Eden Park, and South Africa completing a chase on the last ball against India in the final league game.Australia’s dominance
Australia started the tournament as clear favourites on the back of an impeccable record in the format since the previous World Cup. Between the 2017 and 2022 editions, Australia won 31 of the 33 ODIs they played, including a record of 26 consecutive wins. Their performance was no less than the expectations from them, as they ended up winning all nine matches on their way to the seventh ODI World Cup title.

It was only the third time a team won all their matches in an edition of the Women’s ODI World Cup. Australia was the team on the previous two such instances as well, winning all three they played in 1978 and all seven in 1997. Batting was the key feature in Australia’s seventh title win as their batters averaged 54.87 while their bowlers took wickets at 27.26.Fewer boundaries but similar scoring rates
The tournament was slightly on the high-scoring side with 18 250-plus totals being recorded, including four 300-plus scores, both the most in a World Cup edition. However, the aggregate run rate of the tournament was 4.68, a decimal point lower than it was in the 2017 edition (4.69).Though the run rates were similar, boundaries were tough to come by in New Zealand. The boundary lengths could have contributed to this, as the ropes were not brought in at any venue. A boundary was hit every 13.45 balls in this tournament, while it was 11.44 in the 2017 edition, and 12.86 in the ODIs between the two World Cups.

The sixes dried up further – only 52 were hit across the 31 matches this time, less than half of the 111 sixes in the 2017 edition, and less than the tally of the 2013 World Cup (67 sixes) as well. The balls-per-six ratio in this tournament was 307.46, higher than the 2009 edition (279.51). It resulted in a steep increase in the batting strike rate on non-boundary balls – from 40.86 in 2017 to 46.58 in 2022.Healy, Haynes and Ecclestone make a mark in record books
Australia’s success with the bat would not be possible without the contributions from their opening pair of Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes, who had three century stands, including two in the knockouts. Healy and Haynes contributed 509 and 497 runs respectively in the tournament, the highest by anyone in a single edition of the Women’s World Cup. They did not even spare the leading wicket-taker of the tournament – Sophie Ecclestone.

Ecclestone finished with 21 wickets, the third-most in a Women’s World Cup. In the two matches against Australia, Ecclestone picked up only one wicket and conceded 148 runs. In the remaining seven games, she took 20 wickets at an average of just nine. Better performances against Australia could have handed Ecclestone the record of most wickets in a World Cup, held by Lyn Fullston who bagged 23 wickets in 1982.High chases and bowling-first bias
Before 2022, the Women’s World Cups had witnessed only one successful chase of a 250-plus target: 258 by Australia against Sri Lanka in 2017. However, in this edition, the record was bettered three times (twice by Australia). Despite all those big chases and chasing being their preferred option, the teams did not see much success while batting second.

Seventeen times the chasing sides ended up on the losing side in this tournament, 12 after electing to bowl. Most of the teams were confident about their chances while chasing due to ODIs inclining towards the second batting sides in the last two years. One of the things that contributed to the failure of this strategy was the narrow defeats – six of those 17 losses were by less than a 15-run margin.Pace vs Spin
The pace bowlers and spinners were quite close at picking wickets throughout the tournament. The quick bowlers took 206 wickets while the spinners claimed 200 wickets. However, spinners edged out the seamers in average, strike rate and economy rates. Only South Africa’s bowling numbers were different – their quick bowlers took 47 wickets at 25.21, while their spinners bagged only four wickets at 120.25.

The 47 wickets by South Africa’s quicks in the tournament were the most for any team’s fast bowlers in a Women’s World Cup since 2000.

Australia will miss David Warner's aggression and match-winning ability

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

As his time comes to a close, the opening batter, despite his recent struggles with form, will be remembered for his courage to play his own way

Ian Chappell10-Sep-2023The modern tendency is to favourably recall the last occurrence in a player’s career. Consequently, Australia’s opening master blaster, David Warner, will often be remembered as having a desire to finish his spluttering Test career at the SCG.Barring injury, Warner’s excellent form in Australia should allow him to achieve his ambition.However, it’s a mistake to only recall his overseas struggles. There’s a lot more to him than those recent setbacks.Warner is definitely not a T20 hitter who happened to make it in the Test arena. He is foremost a batter capable of performing well in any format.Related

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I first saw him play against a strong South Africa attack, which he blasted to all parts of the MCG in his debut T20 international. My wife placed dinner on the table and I said, “Sit down and watch this kid, he can really play.””What,” replied Barbara-Ann, “all the fours and sixes?””Not just them,” I answered, “the way he handles all deliveries – the excellent and the hittable ones.”Shortly afterwards Warner carried his bat, making a scintillating Test century against a good New Zealand attack where the other Australian batters struggled on a tricky Bellerive pitch. That cemented his place as a Test opener and it confirmed his all-round batting ability.It also heralded one of Warner’s biggest attributes – the courage to play his own way. He had the guts to take on the pace bowlers with the new ball and that is no mean feat. It’s something that he should be remembered for – not many have the courage to not only do it but to maintain that approach throughout a lengthy career.A look at Warner’s overall career strike rate in all formats confirms he favoured that approach.

There are very few aggressive batters who keep an opposing captain awake at night with their ability to virtually win a match in one session. Warner is one of that rare breed

Not long after the explosive opener blasted an exquisite 165 not out in a 50-over match for NSW, a coach wanted Warner to bat at No. 7. He reasoned Warner could take advantage of the five late-innings powerplay overs that were then available to the fielding side.This was stupidity on two counts. As an opener, Warner had a guaranteed ten powerplay overs, with another five likely. More importantly, it detracted from Warner’s amazing ability to win a match in quick time with his belligerent stroke play against the new ball.There are very few aggressive batters who keep an opposing captain awake at night with their ability to virtually win a match in one session. Warner is one of that rare breed.He is also a smart, aggressive cricketer who would likely have made a tactically good captain. When a broken thumb on the 2015 tour against England forced him to do a short commentary stint for Channel 9 back in Australia, it soon became apparent he knew a lot about batting and what bowlers were doing to try and claim his wicket. He was also well aware of how he could overcome their tactics.It would have been preferable if Warner had avoided the “attack dog” reputation he gained for on-field verbal jousting in his prime. However, I often wonder how much of that reputation was gained at the behest of the hierarchy.Importantly, Warner hasn’t forgotten his early days of stacking supermarket shelves. He’s well aware of what his calling could have been if he hadn’t been a talented opener. When that batting talent earned him good money early in his career, he set about looking after his parents financially.In another admirable example of his ability to learn from life, he has forged a very strong family life, with his helpful wife Candice, and his beloved daughters.Sure, Warner, like us all, has made some mistakes. The important thing is, he has learned from them and is a better person for those experiences.Fans will have their memories of Warner, both good and bad. However, they should always remember that he had the courage to be an aggressor against the new ball and was a rare match-winner for his team.

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