Tag: Andrew

SOUTH GETS ANOTHER WIN IN NORTH-SOUTH SERIES

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South have completed a 3-0 series victory over the North in the North-South series.


Hampshire leg spinner Mason Crane was the star man of the match, helping the winners to a 20-run lead in Abu Dhabi. The 20-year old cricketer finished 4-39 as the North chased their 228-8.

Bowler for the North Mark Wood returned from his ankle operations to take 2-38 but the North’s 208 could not stop the South from winning the third one-day match in the series.

The series is a warm-up for the players ahead of international cricket and the Royal London One-Day Cup. It also helps the payers prepare for the county cricket tournament. Eight players from the counties in eitherside make up a team while the rest are added by the England selectors. Continue reading “SOUTH GETS ANOTHER WIN IN NORTH-SOUTH SERIES”

ENGLAND STILL HAS HOPES OF A STRONGER COMEBACK

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The last time England was beaten so badly on any of their tour, was back during their whitewash at the Ashes, which ensured that several careers of different Test players were effectively ended, such as the likes of Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann.


Their current 3-0 whitewash in their fourth Test Indian series at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai has been one of their most terrible so far, and has also seen the Indian squad and team break a lot of records.

However, the England Cricket Team might still have a last shot at redemption when they meet India in the Final test of the Indian series to be played at Chennai by Friday.

And it would not be an easy one for them considering ViratKohli, who will be hoping to score his fourth double century of the year, and equal Michael Clarke’s record, while still going ahead to break some more records. Continue reading “ENGLAND STILL HAS HOPES OF A STRONGER COMEBACK”

Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes can play together

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Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes can play together if England is ready to sacrifice a batsman.


Normally, England plays with two spinners and three fast bowlers out of which two are the specialist fast bowlers and one is a fast bowling all-rounder which leaves the space for only one of Woakes and Stokes and not for both.

Mostly, Stokes plays for his dynamism and Woakes is more of his understudy who fills for him when he leaves the position vacant.

But, after the first game of the series against Sri Lanka, the England coach Trevor Bayliss might trust Woakes more now in terms of what he can do with the bat as his 96 was as good a One Day knock as any you will see in the lower order.

Woakes’ first class stats actually qualify him as a better batsman than Stokes. Stokes is about aura and heroism. You never have any idea what is coming off him. He can take his brilliance to the ridiculous levels, but, the sense of stability is always missing with him.

Woakes, however, doesn’t surprise you. There is no fanciful quality. But, what Stokes doesn’t give you, Woakes does and that is the stability and that’s why, he can bat even in top 5, not only in ODIs, but, in tests too. In fact, he has batted at 6 in tests before. Continue reading “Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes can play together”

Alex Hales has been picked by England

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Alex Hales has been picked by England for their upcoming test series against Pakistan.

Hales had been a heavy run scorer in the recently finished English county season, but, after his dismal showings in the One Day International games against Australia, it was believed he might be overlooked in favour of somebody else for the Pakistan tests.

The selectors, however, did not take Hales’ limited-over form into account that much and rewarded him for his numbers in domestic Cricket.

Hales can turn out to be a bit of an enforcer for England at the top of the order. He is an explosive batsman by nature and he plays the same way in red ball Cricket too.

However, in Emirates, his biggest challenge will be to tackle the spin bowling. He would not have seen too many of turning pitches so far in his career and would not have faced the quality of spin either which Pakistan would dish out to him.

He is considered a good player of spin though when he plays domestic Cricket in England. He uses his feet well to loft the ball and also, likes to sweep, but, to execute these shots when the ball is turning square is no child’s play.

Another uncapped player who has been named in England’s touring party is Zafar Ansari. Continue reading “Alex Hales has been picked by England”

Joe Root believes the set of players that England presently has for the shortest format

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Joe Root believes the set of players that England presently has for the shortest format of the game is quite capable and they will have to rise to the occasion in the coming World Championship in India next year.

As per Root, inexperience can’t be used as an excuse at the highest level of the game.

In an interview to a British television network, the deputy skipper of the Three Lions said, “When you are up against the teams at the World stage, you need to ensure you produce the goods. Yes, you want to learn and make progressions as a Cricketer, but, at the same time, it’s also very important to win games because ultimately it’s that which would give you confidence.”

“Our aim is to play consistent Cricket in all forms and clinch trophies. There are so many ambitious individuals involved in this group at the moment.”

When asked about England not having played that much of Twenty 20 Cricket of late and whether that is a concern leading to India, Root said, “Yes, we haven’t had too many games under our belt in that format in the last couple of years, but, we would be playing quite a few against Pakistan and South Africa in the coming weeks and I think that would help us sort our combinations keeping the big picture in mind.” Continue reading “Joe Root believes the set of players that England presently has for the shortest format”

Some great batting by James Taylor and Jason Roy helped England secure their first win

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Some great batting by James Taylor and Jason Roy helped England secure their first win in the 5-match One Day International series against Australia.

While, Roy scored a quick fire half century, his second in the series, Taylor got to three figures and the English managed to post a decent score to the Aussies after batting first at Old Trafford.

And, then the spinners played their part as they accounted for five dismissals in helping conditions and restricted the opposition far behind the target.

Winning the toss benefitted England as the pitch just kept getting drier and drier and more difficult for batting especially to the slower bowlers.

301 had looked like a score which could be chased with the firepower in Australian batting and the openers were in mood which got the visitors off to a fine start.

Aaron Finch, who was making a comeback, was happily taking the aerial route on regular occasions and was collecting boundaries down the ground with ease.

But, as the shine went off the ball and the spin bowling came into play, the game changed.

The spinners put the squeeze on and the fielders did their bit as well with fully committed efforts.

There were no easy singles on offer in the inner ring and with the number of remaining balls getting lesser in comparison to the number of runs required to be scored, the batsmen started trying to manufacture shots and the wickets tumbled. Continue reading “Some great batting by James Taylor and Jason Roy helped England secure their first win”

Ben Stokes in good flow

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Ben Stokes, who is being seen as England’s biggest trump card in this year’s Ashes, was in pretty good flow yesterday in Cardiff as he played a flamboyant innings of 52 and stitched a very good partnership with the centurion Joe Root to take his team to the position of solidity.

Stokes later got a beauty from Mitchell Starc which cleaned him up, but, he had already shown his array of strokes.

Before actually getting dismissed, the left hander was in no trouble whatsoever. He was tight in his defence and whenever he was opting to go for his shots, there was full commitment in that.

The Australian bowlers needed something special to get rid of him and Starc did that with the older ball which was starting to reverse a little bit for him.

He came up with an absolute peach which totally outfoxed Stokes.

It swung in first and then, held its line. Stokes was looking to clip it through the leg side with the swing, but, got deceived and the bells were off.

Had he stayed there, Stokes, with the rate at which he was going and the comfort with which he was putting the balls away, he would have put England in real command at the end of the day, but, it wasn’t to be.

However, there is still quite a big role to play for Stokes in the Cardiff test match. Alastair Cook would be relying on him to bowl a couple of tight spells when his main quicks would need a breather. Continue reading “Ben Stokes in good flow”