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Left-arm spinner Morna Nielsen’s maiden five-for meant New Zealand Women handed Sri Lanka Women another hammering, by 10 wickets in the fourth ODI in Lincoln

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2015
ScorecardFile photo: Morna Nielsen’s career-best figures of 5 for 21 included a wicket maiden•ICC/Solaris Images

Left-arm spinner Morna Nielsen’s maiden five-for meant New Zealand Women handed Sri Lanka Women another hammering, by 10 wickets in the fourth ODI in Lincoln. Sri Lanka were first bowled out for 126, with the help of Nielsen’s 5 for 21 before the hosts’ openers whittled down the target in under 19 overs. It was New Zealand’s second 10-wicket win of the series.Sri Lanka’s top order started slow, after opting to bat, as the score read 23 when they lost opener Hasini Perera in the 10th over. They lost wickets regularly from there as medium-pacer Sophie Devine struck twice in consecutive overs even as opener and stand-in captain Chamari Atapattu worked her way along to her 10th ODI fifty. However, she was bowled by Nielsen, who came into the XI for Leigh Kasperek, for 56 in the 30th over and Sri Lanka were reeling at 87 for 6. A brief resistance of 37-ball 31 from No. 8 Ama Kanchana helped Sri Lanka past 100 but they were bowled out in 46.2 overs as Nielsen wiped the tail off.New Zealand captain Suzie Bates had a new opening partner in Amy Satterthwaite, instead of Rachel Priest, but the result was no different. The openers scored at nearly seven an over and while Bates struck 10 fours in her 51-ball 70, Satterthwaite fell short of her fifty by a run despite hitting six fours. It was Bates’ third consecutive ODI fifty and the first time New Zealand Women produced three straight century opening stands in ODIs.

Geoff Miller, England’s national selector, has given the strongest suggestion yet that there was an element of complacency in the series against New Zealand

Andrew McGlashan11-May-2013Geoff Miller, England’s national selector, has given the strongest suggestion yet that there was an element of complacency in the series against New Zealand and that the same mistakes from that tour will not be tolerated when the return series starts at Lord’s next week.In the aftermath of the recent tour, where England only escaped with a 0-0 draw after outstanding innings from Matt Prior and Ian Bell on the final day, the players have been adamant that there was no element of taking the task lightly after the high of winning in India or being lulled by pre-series talk of only needing to turn up to whitewash New Zealand.While Miller, who has not been known for particularly strong public statements during his six years in the main job, did not to use words such as ‘complacent’ or ‘underestimated’ there was a clear indication that a repeat of the performances in New Zealand will have significant ramifications at the beginning of an Ashes year.”It keeps your feet on the ground. It makes you realise you can’t just go into a game and go through the motions and win the game because, on paper, you are supposedly superior. It doesn’t work like that. These boys know they have to perform,” he said after announcing England’s first Test squad of the summer. “It was very disappointing and we talked about that but they are capable of playing far, far better than that – and know that – and hopefully, I’m quietly confident, they’ll show they are a better side.”The selectors have shown faith in the players on duty in New Zealand – Monty Panesar has been dropped, but that is to accommodate Graeme Swann’s return – and continuity, a hallmark of Miller’s tenure, was at the forefront of his mind, as well as avoiding knee-jerk reactions to one disappointing series.”All right, they under-performed there, but they’re capable of playing better than that and you don’t just discard somebody because they have had a bad time as a unit,” he said. “You just say ‘right, not good enough, improve’. That’s exactly the message they have been given.”New Zealand are a good side, they have shown what they are capable of doing. Maybe we were forced to under-perform but we didn’t play to the capabilities they have shown in the past so that has got to be rectified.”If the first part of the year had fitted England’s perfect script, they may have eyed this series as a chance to rest a senior bowler or two but after the significantly below-part display in New Zealand it made it virtually impossible for the selectors to name anything other than a full-strength side for this series, even though opportunities to give players a break are now few and far between.Alongside Swann’s return, Tim Bresnan has also been brought back into the squad following his recovery from the elbow problem that hampered him last year, which means there are two players in the 12 who have recently been on the operating table but Miller insisted there was no risk attached.”They have gone through the process with their counties, showing there was no reaction to it,” he said. “They have both been very, very positive, and there has been nothing at all. The reason for the operations was to get rid of the pain which they were showing and disability as such, which wasn’t allowing them to perform to their best. Now they’re pain free and bowling like they were before they had the problems.”

In a game overflowing with twists and turns, Jeetan Patel landed the decisive blow to see Warwickshire to a tense victory over Somerset

George Dobell at Edgbaston15-Apr-2012
ScorecardJim Troughton had more reason than most to be thankful for Jeetan Patel•Getty Images

In a game overflowing with twists and turns, Jeetan Patel landed the decisive blow to see Warwickshire to a tense victory over Somerset. Patel, coming to the crease with his side requiring 52 for victory and only two wickets in hand, thrashed 43 in 36 balls to settle a match which had veered from one side to the other throughout an intriguing three-and-a-half days.No-one had more reason to be grateful for Patel’s intervention than Jim Troughton. The Warwickshire captain, who played his part in a match-clinching 55-run stand with Patel, had dropped a simple chance on the third day that had allowed Somerset back into the game. Jos Buttler was on seven and had added just 12 with Nick Compton when Troughton missed an easy chance at mid-off. Buttler went on to score 93 and extend Somerset’s sixth-wicket partnership to 167.Troughton admitted that he had not been able to eat or sleep since the miss. He said that the pressures of captaincy had clouded his mind and described the feeling as dropping such important catches as “the worst thing in cricket.”We were in a great position at the time so, when we batted, it was the reason I wasn’t going to let this one go. I told the guys ‘this one is on me.'”The final twist came when Marcus Trescothick introduced the spin of teenager George Dockrell into the attack with three overs to go before the new ball and 16 required by Warwickshire. It was a gamble that backfired as Patel, the New Zealand spinner, thrashed a six and two fours from the first three balls, before levelling the scores with a single from the next. With Troughton forcing the next delivery for four through the covers, Dockrell’s five balls had cost 19.It was not Dockrell’s fault. Patel took a chance and it paid off. More senior bowlers – the likes of Peter Trego and Vernon Philander – had received equally rough treatment with Patel giving himself room to thump the former over long-on and the latter over third man for sixes. Not for the first time in recent years, victory was snatched from Somerset’s grasp.Warwickshire should have won far more comfortably. Midway through the morning, with seven wickets in hand and only 69 more runs required, it appeared they were cruising.Inexplicably, however, they lost five wickets for 17 runs in 47 balls with a succession of batsmen wilting under pressure. Though Ian Westwood left a straight one and Keith Barker, having been hit on the head by Trego’s bouncer, trod on his own stumps, none was more culpable than William Porterfield. The Irishman tarnished his excellent innings with an attempted slog across the line that Shahid Afridi might have thought twice about in the last over of a benefit match.Barker can surely expect a bouncer barrage every time he walks to the crease in future. Suffice to say, he played Trego – admittedly a fired-up Trego, bowling with more pace than usual – as if he were Allan Donald at the WACA. At one stage Trego took four wickets while conceding four runs, with only two of those coming from the bat.Still, Warwickshire clung on for an immensely encouraging win. Missing four of their top players – Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott are being rested following England duty, and Boyd Rankin and Chris Woakes are both injured – they demonstrated they have the squad depth to challenge throughout the season. They should grow stronger. Bell returns ahead of the Championship game against Lancashire in Liverpool later this week, while Woakes is recovering ahead of schedule. What is more in Chris Wright they have a much-improved seamer who one umpire and a couple of players are beginning to talk of as one of the quickest bowlers in the county game.County cricket will always have its detractors. But there should be no doubting the entertainment on offer or the intensity of the competition. And the quality? Well, all four of the key protagonists involved at the end of this game – the two batsmen and the two bowlers – are cricketers with international experience, including the man who has just set a record as the fastest to 50 Test wickets. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

Graham Gooch, England’s batting coach, believes that the current squad has the character and ability to go one better than the teams he was involved with during his playing days

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2011Graham Gooch, England’s batting coach, believes that the current squad has the character and ability to go one better than the teams he was involved with during his playing days, and lift the World Cup for the first time in the country’s history.Gooch played in three World Cups in the course of his 20-year England career, but lost in the final on each occasion – against West Indies at Lord’s in 1979, against Australia at Eden Gardens in 1987, and most gallingly of all, against Pakistan at Melbourne in 1992, when he was captain.”Winning a World Cup didn’t happen for me,” Gooch told reporters ahead of the team’s flight to Colombo for their quarter-final against Sri Lanka. “But it’s a great honour to be involved with the England side. When you come up as a youngster you dream about playing for your country. I was fortunate enough to do that – and now to be asked to help other players, who are representing their country, is a great thrill.”But as part of the management structure of the class of 2011, Gooch believes that the players who scraped into the quarter-finals are battle-hardened and ready to raise their games in the knockout stages of the tournament. The very fact that they had to fight so hard to escape from a tough Group B will, he feels, be to their advantage.”They’ve shown their fighting qualities and their resilience,” he said. “The objective was to get into the knockout stages. We’ve made that, we’ve scraped through, and we’re not going to look back. We’re going to look forward to the next challenge. I hope this team have got it within them to win the World Cup – and I’m convinced they have.””We know we can improve, we know we’ve got better cricket within our team. Our guys need to concentrate on that,” he added. “Each individual has got to commit to his game to be part of our team framework for the big match. We can get better, and if we do we have as good a chance as anyone else.”Often, success in World Cups is as much about peaking at the right moment as it is about sheer quality, as Gooch himself knows only too well, after his team set the standard for the 1992 tournament, only to run out of steam just as Pakistan were hitting their best form ahead of the final. Likewise, Australia had to overcome a dreadful start to their campaign in 1999, before sealing the title with a run of seven unbeaten matches in a row.Having shaded West Indies by 18 runs in Chennai, England’s challenge is now to win three games in a row, starting with Saturday’s showdown in Colombo. And before that match gets underway, there are plenty of selection posers for Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss to consider, among them Ian Bell’s potential shift up the batting order in place of Matt Prior.”Having opened the batting myself, I think it’s a special place to play – and I think every batsman should aspire to open the batting in one-day cricket,” said Gooch. “Why wouldn’t you want 50 overs to bat? Why would you want to come in halfway down? You want to set the tone. You want to set up the game. If you open the batting in one-day cricket, you have a chance to make a mark and set the direction of your team.”Either way, Gooch insisted that England would not be panicked into wholesale changes. “You look at each game individually,” he added. “Our batting fired in the early matches, then we’ve been short of a few runs on lower-scoring pitches in exciting games. We just need to get that quantity of runs to be competitive. Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss will look at the batting order, once we’ve seen the conditions, and decide what’s our best way forward.”

Wickets and boundaries were hard to come by on day three of a fluctuating County Championship Division One encounter in Canterbury

06-May-2010

ScorecardWickets and boundaries were hard to come by on day three of a fluctuating County Championship Division One encounter in Canterbury where Warwickshire batted their way out of a hole to go into the final day against Kent with an overall lead of 131.At stumps the visitors, who faced a first-innings deficit of 127, had reached 258 for 4 courtesy of three stoic knocks by captain Ian Westwood (68), England Test batsmen Ian Bell (94) and Jonathan Trott (65 not out). Though they lost Darren Maddy to the 15th ball of their reply Warwickshire batted with far more resolve second time around and, on an easing pitch, the Kent attack appeared somewhat toothless.Having scored three from four balls Maddy shouldered arms to an Amjad Khan off cutter that held its line up the St Lawrence slope to go leg before and make it 3 for 1. That brought together Westwood and Bell for a gritty second-wicket stand of 157 in 55 overs that overhauled the deficit and took their side into a slight lead before Kent finally broke through three overs from tea through occasional offspinner Martin van Jaarsveld.Having batted almost three hours for his 68 with seven fours, Westwood was pinned on the crease by a quick arm ball to go leg before and make it 160 for 2. Bell’s painstaking 182-ball stay with 10 boundaries ended two overs after the break when he moved back and across in defence to a shooting off cutter from Amjad Khan to also fall lbw.For much of the day Warwickshire’s batsmen appeared hell bent on making amends for their first-innings misdemeanours. Content to work the ball around into the gaps, they went 41.4 overs without scoring a boundary and needed 32.1 overs to score the 50 runs that took them to 200.Trott took almost two hours to post his dogged half-century, finally reaching the milestone with four boundaries four overs from stumps, but he lost fourth-wicket partner Jim Troughton (24) to the last ball of the day when the left-hander sparred at a Darren Stevens bouncer to be caught behind.Kent resumed at the start of the day on 374 for 9 but added only three runs
before Rikki Clarke removed Darren Stevens without addition to his overnight score of 57. Heaving across the line, Stevens went leg before to give Clarke career-best figures of 6 for 63.

Chasing 185, Malaysia were all out for 40 as 15-year-old Shashini Gimhani took 3 for 9

Shashank Kishore22-Jul-2024Chamari Athapaththu’s T20I best – an unbeaten 119 off 69 balls – formed the heart and soul of Sri Lanka’s crushing win over Malaysia at the Women’s Asia Cup in Dambulla.There was also a dream outing for 15-year-old ambidextrous wristspinner Shashini Gimhani, who picked up 3 for 9 with her left-arm wristspin to send Malaysia on a tailspin in the powerplay from which they couldn’t recover, making it one-way traffic from start to finish.

Athapaththu starts sedately

Vishmi Gunaratne, the half-centurion in Sri Lanka’s win over Bangladesh, was out for 1 when she tamely chipped a check drive to short cover in the second over. But that hardly had any effect on Athapaththu, who kept putting the loose balls away from time to time. She also found some help from a series of lapses by the Malaysia fielders.Athapaththu broke the shackles in the sixth over with back-to-back boundaries and raised Sri Lanka’s half-century in the next over. For much of the first half, Athapaththu’s elegance, and not her trademark brutality, took centre stage. With hardly any pace on the ball, she innovated at times to get well outside the line to flick and sweep, allowing Harshitha Samarawickrama some breathing space to find her gears during the course of a 64-run second-wicket stand.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Athapaththu hit back-to-back sixes off her opposite number Winifred Duraisingam in the 11th over to raise her half-century off 35 balls. Even then, there was a sense that Sri Lanka weren’t fully out of the third gear. Athapaththu received a lifeline on 56 when she was put down by Dhanusri Muhunan at backward point in the 12th over. That was the trigger for her to go into overdrive.

Athapaththu cranks it up

From 85 for 2 in 11 overs, Sri Lanka made 99 in the last nine. Athapaththu made 68 off her own, a majority of those coming in the last three overs. Unbeaten on 76 off 57 at the end of the 17th over, Athapaththu hit one four and five sixes in the last three overs. This included two back-to-back sixes off Aisya Eleesa’s military medium to bring up a century in the 19th, the first-ever in the history of the Women’s Asia Cup.Athapaththu’s modus operandi was simple. Clear the front leg and muscle the ball into the arc from long-on to deep midwicket. Malaysia were so out of depth that they operated much of the second half with barely any protection on the leg side boundary against Athapaththu.Anushka Sanjeewani had the best seat in the house during the course of their 115-run stand off just 62 balls. Sanjeewani’s own contribution to it was 31 off 24. The only semblance of cheer for Malaysia apart from their first wicket came right at the end when Duraisingham picked up two back-to-back wickets to close out the innings.Winifred Duraisingam took 2 for 34 for Malaysia•Asian Cricket Council

Gimhani – Sri Lanka’s World Cup trump card?

Gimhani was one of the four changes Sri Lanka made in a bid to give everyone in the squad a run in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. And she responded by picking up three wickets, including two in two overs inside the powerplay, with her left-arm wristspin.Gimhani imparted plenty of revs on the ball and wasn’t afraid to toss it up. Sure, the quality of the opposition wasn’t the best to challenge her, but figures of 3 for 9 from four overs will be confidence-boosting. Malaysia’s chase never took off and from 17 for 3 in the sixth over, it only kept getting worse. Aina Najwa held on defiantly to bat out 43 balls for her 9 as Malaysia were bowled out for 40 in the final over.Elsa Hunter, who hit the only two boundaries of the Malaysia innings, was one of Gimhani’s three victims.

In case there is no play, and Mumbai Indians beat SRH in the day’s first game, RCB will be eliminated

ESPNcricinfo staff21-May-2023The rain that had been forecast for Sunday evening in Bengaluru came down in torrents not long after the toss in Mumbai in the first game of the day, and with at least another shower forecast for later in the evening, around 7pm local time – toss time – the Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Titans game could well be affected.The match, which is crucial for RCB, who are in a race with Mumbai Indians for the final spot in the IPL 2023 playoffs, is scheduled to start at 7.30pm, but the M Chinnaswamy Stadium was left drenched roughly three hours before the toss, though the rain did lose some intensity at around 4.30pm.At the time of writing this, the main square is under covers, but there are many large patches of the ground under water.Related

• Chinnaswamy drainage gets makeover to tackle wet outfield

The Chinnaswamy has the high-quality sub-air drainage system, which has in the past allowed matches to begin quickly after ran has stopped. Even on Saturday evening, teams trained not long after a shower.RCB started the day in fourth place, tied on 14 points with Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai, who are playing bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium. As things stand, if Mumbai win, RCB, who have an edge over Mumbai and Royals on net run rate, have to beat Titans, the table-toppers.

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Here are the scenarios, starting with the possibility of the RCB vs Titans game being washed out.No result in the RCB-Titans game
In this event Mumbai will qualify if they win, otherwise RCB will go through to the playoffs.Mumbai Indians and RCB both win
Both Mumbai and RCB will move to 16 points, but this scenario will be stacked in favour of RCB who have the better NRR of the two. Even if RCB win by the barest margin of one run, Mumbai are required to thrash SRH by at least 79 runs to finish ahead of RCB. Even if Mumbai win by a margin bigger than 79 runs, RCB will have the advantage of knowing exactly what they would need to qualify because they are playing the last game.Only one of Mumbai or RCB win
Whichever team wins, moves to 16 points and makes it to the playoffs. RCB losing to Titans is the best-case scenario for Mumbai to qualify with a win.Both MI and RCB lose
This is the outcome Rajasthan Royals will be hoping for, for it would give them a realistic chance of qualifying. If this happens, all three teams – Mumbai, RCB and Royals – will be tied on 14 points. Mumbai will be knocked out on account of their poor NRR.It will come down to NRR between RCB and Royals and here’s what Royals would need from Titans. If RCB bat first and score 180, Royals need Titans to chase down the target in 19.3 overs or before. If RCB field first and concede 180, Royals need Titans to restrict RCB to 174 or less.If the margins of RCB’s loss are tighter than that, then they will go through with a better NRR.No result in the Mumbai-SRH game
In this event, RCB will qualify if they win, otherwise Mumbai will go through to the playoffs.No result in both matches
RCB will qualify on account of superior NRR.

But managing director of England men’s cricket warns against mass sackings as a solution

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2022Ashley Giles has apologised for England’s heavy Ashes defeat but warned against mass sackings as a solution, saying that “systemic change” is needed.Speaking to reporters in Sydney ahead of the fourth Test, Giles, the managing director of England men’s cricket, said “everything will be on the table” following an ECB investigation into the ongoing Ashes campaign after Australia sealed an unassailable 3-0 lead to retain the urn inside 12 days.”Being here now in this position, I absolutely feel the responsibility of losing this Ashes series,” Giles said. “Absolutely, we all do, and we can only apologise.”I know there will be a lot of emotion, a lot of anger about how we’ve lost it but we know it’s not an easy place to come. We can’t kid ourselves. Look, in 34 years we’ve come here and won once. We’ll review the tour and there will be a full review, everything will be on the table. We’ll have to send a report through Tom [Harrison, ECB chief executive] to the board.”Related

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England won only four of the 15 Tests they played in 2021 with two draws and nine defeats. In Australia, they lost the first Test by nine wickets, the second by 275 runs and the third by an innings before lunch on the third day. That means England have now lost 18 of their last 23 Tests in Australia, including 12 of the last 13 with pressure mounting on Chris Silverwood, the head coach, and captain Joe Root as well as the likes of Giles and Harrison.”In terms of my position, that’s not for me to decide,” Giles said. “But you can clearly tell by the way I’m talking that I’m thinking very much about the future and how we take this team forward.”If it was a failing of this leadership, then fine, I’d take that, I’m at peace with accountability. But I’m not the first and I won’t be the last unless we make some change… Unless we look at more systemic change and a collective responsibility and collective solutions, we can make whatever changes we want.”You can change me, change the head coach, change the captain, but we’re only setting up future leaders for failure. That’s all we’re doing. We’re only pushing it down the road.”Giles cited a range of factors in England’s disappointing performances, including a packed playing schedule which he described as “horrendous” and the restrictions and sacrifices that touring during a global pandemic demand. A three-Test tour to the Caribbean in March will do little to relieve his concerns over scheduling and travelling under Covid-related protocols, but it is part of England’s obligation to repay West Indies for agreeing to play in England at the height of the pandemic in 2020.”The last two years have probably been the most challenging of my career,” Giles said. “Performance has almost been the last thing we’ve had to think about. And that’s a really sad situation. But have we got the game on? Have we tried to keep the players fit and well? Yes, we’ve tried. And the wellbeing issue is a massive one.”Giles also blamed the failure of the domestic game in England to prepare players for international level as contributing to their current struggles.”Are we creating [domestic] conditions that will allow us to better prepare our cricketers for playing in the conditions out here? I’m not sure we are at the moment,” Giles said. “What we play, when we play, on what [pitches] we play – that’s a collective responsibility. It’s up to us as ECB but also a conversation to have with the counties.”He also noted the gulf between England, the fourth-ranked Test nation and those above them – India, New Zealand and Australia.”At the moment do we think we are a better side than we are? We are sort of at our level. Fourth in the world is probably where we are,” Giles said. “We’ve beaten the sides below us but, in these conditions, we’re not beating the sides above us.”What’s important is that we don’t try to paper over the cracks. We could easily go to West Indies and win, then win this summer. We could do ‘everything’s alright, rah, rah, rah’ but I think we still need to be truly focused on finding a way we can compete in Australia and in India.”

After confirmation of the early rounds of the Sheffield Shield, a reminder of each states’ list

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-2020With confirmation of the fixture list for the first four rounds of the Sheffield Shield, here is a reminder of the men’s state squads for the 2020-21 season*= CA state contract

R= Rookie contract

IPL= currently in the UAENew South WalesDaniel Hughes plays through the off side•Getty Images

Sean Abbott, Harry Conway, Trent Copeland, Pat Cummins* (IPL), Oliver Davies (R), Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Mickey Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hackney, Ryan Hadley (R), Liam Hatcher, Josh Hazlewood* (IPL), Lachlan Hearne (R), Moises Henriques, Baxter Holt (R), Daniel Hughes, Nick Larkin, Nathan Lyon*, Nathan McAndrew, Arjun Nair (R), Peter Nevill, Kurtis Patterson, Daniel Sams (IPL), Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha (R), Steven Smith* (IPL), Daniel Solway, Mitchell Starc*, Chris Tremain, David Warner* (IPL), Adam Zampa* (IPL)QueenslandJoe Burns plays square of the wicket•Getty Images

Xavier Bartlett, Max Bryant, Joe Burns*, Jack Clayton (R), Brendan Doggett, Blake Edwards, Benji Floros (R), Sam Heazlett, Corey Hunter (R), Usman Khawaja, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne*, Nathan McSweeney, Michael Neser, Lachlan Pfeffer, Jimmy Peirson, Matt Renshaw, Billy Stanlake (IPL), Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Connor Sully (R), Mitch Swepson, Jack Wildermuth, Matthew Willans (R), Jack WoodSouth AustraliaWes Agar celebrates•Getty Images

Wes Agar, Will Bosisto, Alex Carey* (IPL), Tom Cooper, Brad Davis, Jacob Dickman (R), Daniel Drew, Callum Ferguson, David Grant, Travis Head*, Henry Hunt, Corey Kelly (R), Thomas Kelly (R), Jake Lehmann, Conor McInerney, Joe Mennie, Harry Nielsen, Tim Oakley (R), Lloyd Pope, Kane Richardson*, Luke Robins, Chadd Sayers, Liam Scott (R), Cameron Valente, Jake Weatherald, Nick Winter, Daniel WorrallTasmaniaTim Paine works through the leg side•AFP

Tom Andrews, Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, Nathan Ellis, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Tim Paine*, Alex Pyecroft, Sam Rainbird, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk, Matthew Wade*, Charlie Wakim, Beau Webster, Mac Wright.VictoriaMarcus Harris drives through cover•Getty Images

Scott Boland, Xavier Crone, Brody Crouch (R), Travis Dean, Sam Elliott (R), Zak Evans, Aaron Finch* (IPL), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sebastian Gotch, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Jon Holland, Tom Jackson (R), Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell* (IPL), Cameron McClure (R), Jonathan Merlo, Todd Murphy (R), Tom O’Connell, Wil Parker, James Pattinson* (IPL), Mitch Perry, Will Pucovski, Patrick Rowe (R), Matthew Short, Will SutherlandWestern AustraliaCameron Green driving down the ground•Getty Images

Ashton Agar*, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Jake Carder, Hilton Cartwright, Sam Fanning (R), Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green, Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Bradley Hope (R), Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Mitchell Marsh* (IPL), Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Lance Morris, Liam O’Connor, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe (IPL), Jhye Richardson*, Corey Rocchiccioli (R), D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis (IPL), Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman

The Pakistan captain understands the frustrations of their fans but pleaded with them not to get personal

Osman Samiuddin at Lord's22-Jun-2019\0:50

Social media comments hurt us – Sarfaraz

Who says India-Pakistan doesn’t matter anymore? Judging by the reactions of some Pakistani fans to their team’s defeat to India last Sunday, it matters to them, and perhaps a bit too much.The last week has been a cruel one for Pakistan’s players. Becoming the subject of countless memes is now par for the course, but the kind of real-life abuse their players have received has been harrowing.The captain Sarfaraz Ahmed – with his child – was abused to his face by a fan who, having videoed it on his phone, later issued an “apology” in which it sounded as if the fan had been unintentionally caught on camera. Two other players were abused while out shopping. Families have been dragged into it. They’ve been pilloried for daring to be out and about, as if to have dinner itself is a crime. Ex-players have joined this deafening cacophony.The PCB has taken note. “We have advised players to be aware of the situation and be cautious,” a spokesperson said. “It is not correct that we have barred them from going out as is projected in some parts of the media.”Sarfaraz, captured yawning during the game against India, has borne the brunt of it. And ahead of a series of do-or-die games starting with South Africa at Lord’s on Sunday, he looked like a man on whom this last week has weighed heavily.It has been, Sarfaraz admitted wearily, a tough week. They took two days off immediately after the India game and since practice has resumed, Mohammad Hafeez and then Wahab Riaz have also asked for a certain degree of calm and respect from fans.
“Social media and media are not in our control,” he said at Lord’s. “They are so big that you cannot stop them. Teams have lost before but now on social media it is unstoppable. Whoever thinks [anything, they just] write it on social media. That hurts, too much. Players are affected psychologically.”Criticise us on our game, that’s not an issue, but don’t abuse us. Their families get affected. If someone is hitting, then pushing anyone that’s not good. Our fans are emotional and these same people lift us when we win. But if they feel sad on a defeat we also feel the same way.”We feel it much more because we are playing for Pakistan.”Sarfaraz himself has tried to retain whatever semblance of balance he can through all this, insisting that he is like he was before, that cricket brings ups and downs like this. But the pressures are telling.