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Dockrell, who played against Sri Lanka despite having Covid, continues to train in isolation from the broader group

Valkerie Baynes25-Oct-20223:35

Kumble: Death bowling is always an issue with England

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This T20 World Cup has already produced some notable twists and turns, from Logan van Beek’s snake-hipped celebrations as Netherland qualified for the Super 12s to India’s thrilling victory over Pakistan at a fever-pitched MCG, an early exit for two-time winners West Indies and New Zealand’s dismantling of defending champions Australia. But it is hard to see England vs Ireland venturing too far off-piste.England wobbled in their opening match against Afghanistan, where they were 65 for 3 in the 11th over chasing just 113 before winning by five wickets, a victory built largely on Sam Curran’s brilliant death bowling as he claimed 5 for 10 in 3.4 overs. Ireland, who successfully navigated the first round for just the second time in their history by knocking West Indies out with a convincing nine-wicket victory, dropped their first Super 12s match by the same margin when they were outplayed by Sri Lanka.England will want to address a misfire after their top four all failed to reach 20 against Afghanistan and the team managed just seven boundaries in all off the bat, including three in five balls to No. 5 Liam Livingstone. But seamers Mark Wood and Chris Woakes made continued good progress along their respective injury comeback trails to bolster Curran’s diamond run. Ireland opener Paul Stirling looks in decent touch with an unbeaten 66 against West Indies and 34 from 25 balls as his team’s second-highest scorer behind Harry Tector’s 45 against Sri Lanka, but both will need more against England.These sides have only faced off once in T20Is, when their match at the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in Guyana was washed out in the fourth over of Ireland’s run-chase with eventual champions England attempting to defend a meagre 120 for 8 and avoid bowing out in the first round. Ireland have beaten them twice in ODIs, however, including at the 2011 World Cup in India but, in winning 4-3 in Pakistan and beating Australia 2-0 (their final game was rained off) immediately before this tournament, England remain favourites.

Form guide

England WWWWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Ireland LWWLWAndy Balbirnie and Paul Stirling will be key for Ireland•AFP/Getty Images

In the spotlight

Alex Hales has a prime opportunity to rediscover the form on Australian soil that was key to his recall for England after three years on the outer. His return started brightly with a half-century against Pakistan in Karachi last month, his first international match since March 2019. Upon reaching Australian shores again, where he had amassed 11 fifties and a ton in 45 matches for Sydney Thunder during that time in the Big Bash League, Hales scored 84 in the first of three matches with the hosts.Since then, however, he has posted 4, 0, 9 (in the World Cup warm-up against Pakistan in Brisbane) and 19 in England’s tournament opener against Afghanistan. In the 10 T20Is he has played since his international comeback, Hales averages 23.70 with a strike rate of 137.9 and two fifties compared to a career average of 29.85 and strike rate of 136.80 with 10 fifties and a century. Getting back into a rhythm in the next match could spell danger for Ireland – and the sides to follow.Andy Balbirnie‘s quick-fire 37 off 23 balls against West Indies hinted at the Ireland captain playing a key role in his side’s fortunes at this event. But since a half-century followed by 46 at home to Afghanistan in August, it’s his only innings of note.Four single-figure scores, including 1 against Sri Lanka, during a stretch where he has otherwise failed to pass 15 could pique his desire to dig deep for a big innings. With Stirling, Balbirinie can forge a formidable partnership, as England discovered in their 50-over encounter at Southampton in 2020. Reprise that sort of stand and anything can happen.

Team news

The poser for England is whether they exercise caution with Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, making their way back from elbow and knee surgery respectively. Woakes, who had been in doubt for the first game because of a thigh problem before taking 1 for 24 from his four overs, said he was hopeful of playing all five Super 12s games. Jos Buttler said on match eve that he was keen to play his strongest available side according to conditions, which would suggest both play. Should they place one or both seamers in cotton wool, England have David Willey and Chris Jordan in the wings, as well as Tymal Mills – a late injury replacement for Reece Topley.England (probable): 1 Jos Buttler (capt, wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Harry Brook, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Chris Woakes/David Willey, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood/Chris JordanIreland have plumped for the same XI for their first four games, including two victories which followed their first-up defeat to Zimbabwe, and may well stick with their line-up. George Dockrell continues to train in isolation from the broader group while experiencing mild symptoms, having played against Sri Lanka after testing positive for Covid-19.Ireland (probable): 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Andy Balbirnie (capt), 3 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 4 Harry Tector, 5 Curtis Campher, 6 George Dockrell, 7 Gareth Delany, 8 Mark Adair, 9 Simi Singh, 10 Barry McCarthy, 11 Josh Little

Pitch and conditions

Ireland lost five wickets to spin against Sri Lanka in Hobart, but with some vicious pace and bounce on offer from the MCG pitch during epic India vs Pakistan fixture, Wood’s express speed is a big plus for England. With rain forecast for the afternoon and evening in Melbourne, swing could play a part too, making England the happier side.

Stats and trivia

• England have hit a six once every 17 balls in T20Is since 2021, a record bettered only by India. Will this approach work against the big boundaries of the ‘G?
• Stirling averages just 24.64 from 17 innings at a strike rate of 120.62 in all World Cups.
• Ireland are yet to win a match batting first in T20 World Cup history. They have lost six in seven games with one no result.

Quotes

“Watching the game here between India and Pakistan, there was certainly some quality bowlers on show but they certainly got some assistance… it’s about seeing what’s in front of us on that day. If the ball is swinging, can we use that to our advantage? If it’s not, can we recognise that quickly and change plans if we have to?”
“It’s making sure that we understand the situation, the conditions, the opposition, use that as a competitive advantage that we know that they know that we know that they know.”

Sunil Narine still absent as West Indies gear up for 15 T20Is against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2021Allrounder Andre Russell is back in the West Indies T20I squad for the first time since March 2020. West Indies’ 18-member squad for their upcoming set of T20I series against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan also includes the returning duo of Shimron Hetmyer and Sheldon Cottrell, with Kieron Pollard continuing to lead the side following on from the 2-1 home win against Sri Lanka in the format in March.Related

• Shimron Hetmyer, Sheldon Cottrell and Roston Chase back in West Indies' ODI squad

• Pollard: Sunil Narine will return to T20I side once he gains confidence

• Andre Russell: Bubble life 'definitely taken a toll on me mentally'

• Sunil Narine indicates he's 'not ready' for West Indies return

• Prenelan Subrayen among six uncapped players in South Africa squad for West Indies Tests

Sunil Narine, meanwhile, continues to miss out, with Cricket West Indies revealing the spinner informed lead selector Roger Harper he wasn’t yet ready to return to international cricket. “If his position changes, then the selectors would consider him for selection,” a CWI spokesperson said.While the West Indies side retains at its core most of the players that helped them triumph in the series against Sri Lanka, there are a handful of changes, especially in the bowling department. Alongside Cottrell, Oshane Thomas and Hayden Walsh Jnr also return, while the 39-year-old fast bowler Fidel Edwards retains his place in the side. Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis remain part of the side, while Nicholas Pooran is vice-captain.”The provisional T20I squad was put together with all T20I home series matches against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in mind,” Harper said. “This gives us the opportunity to continue to build towards the upcoming World Cup and to determine our best squad and our ideal eleven.”West Indies coach Phil Simmons stressed the importance of the 15 upcoming T20Is, with two T20 World Cups scheduled to take place over the next 18 months. “These upcoming T20Is are crucial in terms of our preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup. We have assembled a very solid squad with experienced world-class match-winners and some exciting young talented players, ready to explode onto the global stage and do great things for West Indies cricket.”We are at that point where we have identified those who we will look to be the core of the squad to defend our World Cup title, so we want to make sure the upcoming matches create that environment – the way we train, the way we plan, the way we execute and the chemistry within the group. We won five years ago, so the next few weeks and months will be major steppingstones on the road towards defending our title and being World Champions for a third time.”The series against South Africa begins on June 26 and ends on July 3, with all five games taking place in Grenada. The five T20Is against Australia will take place in St Lucia, while the five matches against Pakistan will be held in Barbados and Guyana.West Indies T20I squad: Kieron Pollard (capt), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jnr

The hosts struggled on a slow, dry surface that proved to be suited to Yadav’s art

The Report by Daniel Brettig21-Feb-2020A bewitching spell of wrist-spin bowling from Poonam Yadav sank Australia on the opening night of the T20 World Cup at the Sydney Showgrounds, underlining India’s status as genuine contenders to win a tournament that has heaped untold pressure on the world No. 1-ranked hosts.In front of a crowd of 13,432 – the best for a standalone women’s cricket match in Australia – the Indians began with familiar bombast at the top of the order before the loss of three wickets for six runs lowered their expectations. Deepti Sharma was not daunted, reverting to plan B of running as many singles as possible and guiding India to a competitive 132.While Alyssa Healy made a much-needed return to runs and confidence at the top of the Australian order, the rest struggled for timing on a slow, dry surface that proved to be ideally suited to Yadav’s art. A legbreak and three wrong’uns delivered her the wondrous figures of 4 for 19, and with the strong support of Shikha Pandey, Australia were confounded. Having entered 2020 as the world’s undisputed T20 dominators, the hosts have now lost three games out of six and are no guarantee to make the semi-finals.India boom, then bustIf it was a surprise to see Molly Strano go from missing Australia’s World Cup squad to bowling the first ball of the tournament a couple days after she was a late inclusion for the injured Tayla Vlaeminck. India’s top-order approach after blocking out the offspinner’s exploratory first over was not.After she was dropped by Strano at midwicket, Smriti Mandhana found the boundary off Ellyse Perry, and Shafali Verma found her range against Megan Schutt, pinging four boundaries as the Indians vaulted to 0 for 40 from four overs.The Australians knew they needed to maintain composure, and did so through the intervention of the in-form Jess Jonassen, who pinned Mandhana lbw on the slog sweep and was later to be the beneficiary of a foolhardy dance down the pitch by a keyed-up Harmanpreet Kaur and then a fortuitous stumping as the ball rebounded off Healy’s pads. That after Verma had pulled her 15th ball straight to mid-on off Perry to depart for 29 off just 15 balls. Three wickets down for six in 15 balls made the rest of the innings a salvage job.Sharma keeps her coolA decidedly sluggish surface at the Sydney Showgrounds recalled some of the desperately slow pitches the Sydney Thunder men’s team had played on at the neighbouring Sydney Olympic Stadium in the early years of the Big Bash League. This meant that it was fiendishly difficult to force the pace against anything but the longest of half-volleys, something Sharma recognised as she sought to pull the innings back from the brink.Singles were the order of the day, and Sharma was to collect no fewer than 29 of them in her sturdy, unbeaten 49. She received useful support from Jemimah Rodrigues, who had been reprieved from an early lbw decision in Perry’s favour when a review showed the ball sliding past leg stump, and scored 24 runs in singles herself. So while a tally of three boundaries in the final 16 overs of the innings sounds paltry, the approach at least meant that India could reach a couple of runs beyond the average T20I score at the venue.Alyssa Healy hits over the top•Getty Images

Healy turns a cornerNine, one, duck, one, four, nine. That sequence of six sickly innings represented Healy’s run into the T20 World Cup, and left her team hoping as much as expecting that she would be “due” for a big score when the main event began. The fact that the long build-up was finally over had to help Healy’s mind, and she was soon back into the sort of stride that had seen her win the Player of the Tournament in the Caribbean in 2018 and also take out the T20 and ODI Player of the Year trophies at the Australian Cricket Awards earlier this month.Healy’s power down the ground, along with some deft touch on the cut and glide past short third man, put India’s bowlers on the back foot quickly, and also saw the return to some Australian batting line-up permutations that had not been needed so long as she kept being the first out for her team. Meg Lanning came in at No. 3 in place of Ashleigh Gardner when Beth Mooney cut to backward point, and Rachael Haynes replaced Lanning when she was beaten wonderfully in flight by Rajeshwari Gayakwad.Yadav’s mayhemAustralia were comfortably placed if not quite dominant when Yadav entered the attack, having not played at all in the triangular series before the Cup proper. Her high, looping legbreaks and googlies provide a tantalising sight for opponents and spectators alike, and Healy was soon teased into a return catch. That was nothing, though, on the sequence of googlies Yadav would present to the middle-order. Haynes was beaten and comfortably stumped, Perry even more comprehensively bowled first ball, and Jonassen’s edge was only millimetres too thick to allow Taniya Bhatia to hang on to.Nevertheless, another wrong’un soon claimed a slighter deflection and a safe catch for Bhatia, giving Yadav the figures of 4 for 15 from three overs and India control of the contest. More smart work from Bhatia saw Annabel Sutherland stumped off Pandey, and when Harmanpreet brought Yadav back, only the quirk of a second bouncing short ball denied her a fifth wicket. Australia had needed 75 off 66 balls with eight wickets in hand when Yadav came on. By the time she was done, the equation was 28 from 12 with three in hand: the game-changer without doubt.

Under this amnesty, reporting any previous corrupt approach in Sri Lankan cricket will not result in the player being punished

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jan-2019The ICC has announced a 15-day amnesty from January 16 to 31 to participants who have previously failed to report corruption-related offences in Sri Lankan cricket. Under this amnesty, reporting a previous corrupt approach now will not result in any punishment for the player.”This is the first time the ICC has held an amnesty and it is in response to the very specific challenges we face in Sri Lanka,” Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager, said.”If any player or participant has any information concerning corrupt conduct they should come forward and share it with us now without fear of any repercussions.”ALSO READ: Jayasuriya charged under ICC anti-corruption code; Zimbabwe series in focusUnder normal circumstances, failure to report a corrupt approach without delay can result in players being banned. With the amnesty in place, this won’t happen.Three former Sri Lanka players, including Sanath Jayasuriya, have been charged under ICC anti-corruption code in the past few months. In October after Jayasuriya was charged, Marshall stated that a team was on the island “as part of [their] ongoing investigations into serious allegations of corruption in cricket in the country”.Former fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa, who had been working as a coach in the Sri Lanka system, and allrounder Dilhara Lokuhettige, have also been charged.Reports can be made 24 hours a day in the following ways:ICC Integrity App, which is available for download by searching ‘ICC Integrity’ via the Apple ‘App Store’ or ‘Android Apps’ICC ACU Hotline: +971 565 458909ICC ACU e-mail: [email protected]

After scores of 15 and 2 against England in the first Test, JP Duminy said that he ‘rightly deserved’ to be dropped and felt he needed to find a different path

Firdose Moonda11-Oct-20170:49

Duminy’s International career by the numbers

JP Duminy only announced his Test retirement in mid-September, but he knew his time in whites was up more than two months earlier. With scores of 15 and 2 in South Africa’s series-opener against England in July, Duminy sensed he had reached the end, and when he was sent home from the tour after the second Test, it confirmed it.”Walking off after Lord’s, I felt a change needed to happen. I rightly deserved to be dropped. There were guys putting up their hands for places and I felt I needed a different path,” Duminy said in Bloemfontein, ahead of the South African Invitation XI’s match against the touring Bangladesh team.At the time he was discarded, Duminy had gone eight innings with a top-score of 39. While he had scored two of his six hundreds in the last year, the lean patches he went through in between big scores meant there was constant pressure on him to justify his place. South Africa’s line-up needed a relook with Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock wasted down the order and allrounders waiting in the wings to bolster both departments.Since Duminy’s departure, South Africa have rejigged things so that Bavuma bats at No.4 and de Kock at No.6, and have made room for either an extra allrounder or another bowler. They lost the series in England 3-1 but have just recorded a 2-0 win over Bangladesh at home. Although the quality of the opposition and the circumstances in which they are playing must be considered when assessing their performances, it seems they are on the right track.Meanwhile, Duminy’s “different path” has seen him begin a journey of his own, which mostly involves leadership. Duminy will captain the Invitation side, which also includes former ODI skipper AB de Villiers, who may also be after Duminy’s Test spot, and was also due to lead the Cape Town Knight Riders in the now-postponed T20 Global League. Having chosen to finish his career playing white-ball cricket, it’s understandable Duminy is particularly let down by the tournament being a non-starter.”It is disappointing, not just from a South African point of view but also from a global point of view. I think the manner in which it has been postponed is the most disappointing,” he said. “I’m hoping it’s not the end. I’m hoping it can recover and we can come to a consensus about the way forward.”CSA maintains that the league will begin in 2018 but have a myriad of issues to resolve before then, not least the acquisition of a broadcast deal and title sponsor. Meanwhile, Duminy and South Africas’s ODI outfit also have things to work on, chiefly on how they plan to win the 2019 World Cup.For Duminy, it’s not so much about the team strategy yet but about his own performances and making sure he does enough to remain part of South Africa’s plans. “Every player wants to win the World Cup but we still have a long way to go. To be there, I have to keep putting in good performances,” Duminy said. “It’s good to have a long-term goal but it’s also important that we stay focused on the present and what’s in front of us.”

Former Sri Lanka batsman Thilan Samaraweera has been appointed as Bangladesh batting consultant for the upcoming home series against England

Mohammad Isam02-Sep-2016Former Sri Lanka batsman Thilan Samaraweera has been appointed as Bangladesh batting consultant for the upcoming home series against England. This will be his second stint in this role with an international team, having already worked as batting consultant to Australia earlier this year.BCB president Nazmul Hassan said on Friday that Samaraweera would be available only for one series, but added that the contract could be extended. He also said that the BCB was looking for a spin bowling coach, who could be appointed before Bangladesh’s tour to New Zealand later this year.”Thilan Samaraweera, the batting specialist, has been hired for the England series as a consultant,” Hassan said. “We will see if we want to extend him. We are still looking for a spin bowling coach. [We will] get the best among those available. We hope to appoint one before the New Zealand series.”Meanwhile, fielding coach Richard Halsall has been promoted to the position of assistant coach after Ruwan Kalpage was sacked last month for ignoring instructions to report to duty. Halsall was part of the major shake-up in the coaching staff that came about in mid-2014, when head coach Chandika Hathurusingha was appointed.

Nottinghamshire breathed new life into their NatWest T20 Blast campaign as they won a last-ball thriller by three wickets over rivals Lancashire at Old Trafford

ECB/PA15-Jul-2015
ScorecardJames Taylor showed a cool head to guide his side home•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire breathed new life into their NatWest T20 Blast campaign as they won a last-ball thriller by three wickets over rivals Lancashire at Old Trafford. With six needed off the last two balls, captain James Taylor hit successive boundaries to seal victory.Nottinghamshire, who lost the toss, won for the sixth time after reducing the hosts to 13 for 3 to move level on points with fourth-placed Lancashire on 12 points from 12. Lancashire are only ahead on net run-rate with two North Group matches left after failing to defend 137 for 4 on a slow pitch, a total which included a pair of 51s for Karl Brown and Steven Croft.This was their fourth home defeat in six this season, having previously never lost more than twice at this venue in a Twenty20 campaign.Former Lancashire allrounder Steven Mullaney excelled in returning 1 for 14 from four overs of canny medium pace before Notts made hard work of the chase.They lost three wickets for 19 to slip from 63 for 1 in the 11th over and ended up needing 13 off the last against Kyle Jarvis. Taylor kept cool to finish 33 not out off 21.Early wickets for Samit Patel, Harry Gurney and a run out hurt the hosts as Ashwell Prince chipped to mid-off, Paul Horton chopped on and Alex Davies was run out without facing a ball going for two. But Brown ensured Nottinghamshire did not have things all their own way as he hit all of six boundaries accrued in a Powerplay score of 36 for 3.In fact, the in-form right-hander scored all of Lancashire’s first eight boundaries on the way to a 39-ball fifty, his third in a row, as he helped them reach 69 for 3 after 11.Unfortunately for the hosts, Brown holed out to long-on in the next off the medium pace of his childhood best-mate Mullaney as the score slipped to 70 for 4 and ended a 57-run partnership with Croft.They went without a four or six from the fifth ball of the 11th over to the third ball of the 17th, although Croft and James Faulkner shared 67 unbroken for the fifth wicket to carry their side to something to bowl at.Notts lost Michael Lumb to a Jarvis slower ball in the third over of their chase and only reached six overs at 28 for 1. At halfway, they were 61 for one, needing 77 more with Alex Hales (30) and Riki Wessels together. But they lost 3 for 19 inside three overs to put the game back in the balance at 82 for 4 in the 14th.Wessels cut Jordan Clark to point, ending a 47-run stand with Hales, who then miscued Stephen Parry’s left-arm spin to midwicket, before Patel also cut Clark to point.The target went to 45 off the last five overs and 21 off 11 balls when Faulkner yorked compatriot Dan Christian and had Mullaney brilliantly caught at deep midwicket by a running Arron Lilley – leaving Notts 117 for six in the 19th. Chris Read also fell in the last over but the visitors made it home.

Ranchi is preparing to host India, with local boy MS Dhoni as captain, for the first time and the city is buzzing with anticipation

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2013With the local boy arriving in Ranchi as India captain for the third ODI against England, the city has been taken over by Dhoni mania. In neighbouring West Bengal, Sourav Ganguly still sends the locals berserk whenever he makes a public appearance. Ranchi has had to wait eight years after Dhoni’s India debut to host its maiden international game. No wonder then that thousands lined the roads from the Birsa Munda airport to the team hotel, a sight that left MS Dhoni feeling “humbled”. Getting in and out of the team hotel has been difficult, with people crowding the entrance and even prompting the police into a mild lathi charge.To celebrate the occasion, a liquor shop put up posters of Dhoni and Alastair Cook and even lined its counters with bats and stumps. The authorities went a step further. The state aviation department has been roped in, and there are plans to have a glider fly over the stadium and scatter (pink-coloured powder) on the outfield during the inauguration ceremony, before the start of the match and during the innings break.Students are demanding a holiday on Saturday, the match day, something schools, already hit by shutdowns because of a severe cold wave, can ill-afford. J Mohanty, principal of DPS [Delhi Public School] Ranchi, is benevolent, though. “This is a proud moment for Jharkhand,” Mohanty told the . “The cricket match will be on the students’ minds and they will also have to wait outside the hotels for a glimpse of their cricketing heroes. So we will not hold any additional classes this weekend.”There is a reason Dhoni matters so much to Ranchi and Jharkhand, which had little to cheer when it was part of Bihar state and has had little to cheer since it was carved out in 2000. Political instability is common; central-government rule has just been imposed for the third time in the state’s short existence. “Small-town boys from places like this just don’t get to be captain of India,” Ushinor Majumdar, Jharkhand correspondent for the Hindustan Times, told the . “And it is mostly because of Dhoni that there is so much attention. In many ways it is an under-developed, backward place. But it is known in cricket thanks to Dhoni.”International cricket in Jharkhand was restricted to the steel city of Jamshedpur, where Dhoni has played a couple of ODIs, including one against England in 2006, at Tata Steel’s Keenan Stadium. It was the state association’s desire to have its own stadium that enabled Ranchi to watch Dhoni play for India in the city.Dhoni was clearly thrilled with the stadium at his hometown. “Personally, it’s a special moment for me. The journey begins tomorrow. It’s the beginning of a new innings,” he said at a function inaugurating cricket’s latest international venue*.He said the 39,000-seater stadium will give Ranchi plenty of recognition. “When I first joined the team, people were asking me the place I belonged to,” Dhoni said. “I used to say I am from India and the next thing I would say I am from a place called Ranchi in Jharkhand. I used to explain Ranchi, giving various routes like it is a place close to Kolkata, near Jamshedpur. We are the richest state in natural resources.”But, after the stadium was built it has now become an international venue. At least, we need not have to explain further about Ranchi in the cricket playing nations. It is a proud beginning; proud moment for people of Jharkhand.”The mood in the city has already shown how proud Ranchi is of the double honour of making its international debut with a homegrown captain.* January 18, 17.00GMT This story has been updated after the stadium’s inauguration ceremony

Dirk Nannes, the Australia fast bowler, will return to Surrey for their Friends Life t20 campaign this year

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2012Dirk Nannes, the Australia fast bowler, will return to Surrey for their Friends Life t20 campaign this season. Nannes, who is the leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 cricket, will join Murali Kartik as the overseas players at The Oval.Nannes, a Twenty20 Cup winner alongside Kartik with Middlesex in 2008, took 19 wickets at 20.05 for Surrey in the Friends Life t20 in 2011. Altogether, he has taken 169 T20 wickets, earning caps for both Netherlands and Australia.”As we saw last season in the shortest form of the game, Dirk is still one of the most consistently dangerous and economical bowlers on the world scene,” Surrey team director Chris Adams said. “He did a fantastic job for us and I can speak for the whole club when I say we are delighted to welcome him back for another spell.”Nannes, who is based in the UK, will be contracted for Surrey’s ten group games in the Friends Life t20 South Division, with a provision to stay on for the knockout stages if the county qualifies.

The BCCI’s pitch curator Sudhir Naik, who was sent to Vadodara to inspect the pitch that will be used in the Ranji Trophy final, has deemed it a sporting wicket

Abhishek Purohit in Vadodara10-Jan-2011After the Ranji Trophy semi-final between Baroda and Karnataka ended in one-and-a-half days on a sharp turner, the track for the final has expectedly attracted attention from various quarters. The BCCI even sent its curator Sudhir Naik to inspect the surface at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara, the venue for Tuesday’s final between Baroda and Rajasthan.Naik’s visit followed Karnataka’s complaint to the match referee about the dry pitch at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara, where thirty-three wickets tumbled before tea on the second day of the semi-final, resulting in a shock exit for the visitors. But Naik allayed all concerns, saying the Moti Bagh track was a good wicket. “It is the right choice for the final, and will assist both the pacers as well as spinners,” he told the .The captains of both the teams in the final agreed with Naik’s assessment. “I think there should be some help there for the seamers,” Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the Rajasthan captain, said. “It looks a fine surface, but in a five-day game the pitch can change its nature as the game goes on.” The Baroda captain Pinal Shah said the wicket would take some turn as the game progressed.Both captains would hope their reading of the pitch turns out to be correct, as their bowling attacks will be accordingly calibrated. Rajasthan are banking on their seam trio of Pankaj Singh, Deepak Chahar and Sumit Mathur, while Baroda could go in with two specialist spinners in Bhargav Bhatt and Aditya Waghmode, as well as Swapnil Singh, a batting allrounder who bowls left-arm spin.The wicket is devoid of grass and looks good for batting. “It is a typical red soil wicket. It should break up a bit and turn from the third day onwards,” Aakash Chopra, the Rajasthan opener, said. Amit Asawa, the Rajasthan coach, said he did not see the game lasting beyond four days.Swing is usually a major factor at Moti Bagh, a stadium that has no stands and lies in the sprawling Lakshmi Vilas Palace complex amid scores of trees. The wind blows vigorously at the ground, and the ball nips around in the morning session. “The first session is always the key at Moti Bagh,” Pinal said. However, if one can survive till lunch, the lush outfield and true bounce provides good value for shots.”It does not seam much here, but another thing you have to take into account is the amount of dew,” Mukesh Narula, the Baroda coach, said. “For the last week or so, there has not been much dew here, and there was none at the Reliance Stadium. But it’s winter now and if the dew comes, it will definitely have an impact.” There are a lot of variables for the teams to ponder over, but given how the wicket looks, another finish inside two days is unlikely.