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The wicketkeeper-batsman made 59 against a Victoria XI in Melbourne on Sunday and will replace out-of-form Raval in the second Test against Australia

Alex Malcolm22-Dec-2019New Zealand have confirmed reserve batsman and wicketkeeper Tom Blundell will open during the second Test against Australia on Boxing Day in Melbourne with Jeet Raval set to be dropped.Blundell opened for New Zealand in their single day practice match against Victoria XI at Scotch College in Melbourne on Sunday and made 59. The two-day game had been reduced to a single day fixture due to extreme heat in Melbourne on Friday.Blundell has only played two Test matches, against West Indies at home in 2017, where he made an unbeaten century on debut as wicketkeeper. He has never opened in 93 first-class innings and has not batted any higher than No. 5. He has only opened in four domestic T20s and six List A matches for Wellington but has not done so since 2017.However, Blundell is confident he can make the adjustment. “I think it’s just a mindset shift,” he said. “I’ll probably try and still bat the same but it’s just the first 30 balls, you have to be a little bit patient outside that off stump. If I can last those 30 balls hopefully I can bat a little bit more positively.”I feel like I can do a good job wherever and this game I’ve been given the opportunity to open and I’m really looking forward to Boxing day.”Veteran batsman and team-mate Ross Taylor backed Blundell’s selection for the fixture at the MCG.”It’s fantastic,” Taylor said. “Couldn’t think of a better place [for Blundell] to be introduced to opening the batting. I think he started off with a hundred in his Test debut back home in New Zealand and he definitely won’t be over-awed by the occasion.”He obviously started well today [at the practice match], got a 50, and the team are thoroughly enjoying him being around and are looking forward to seeing what he can do come Boxing Day.”I think one of his strengths is pace bowling. He loves to play the short ball. He hasn’t played a lot of Test cricket but when he has played he’s got a hundred on debut. It’s lovely for him to get out there and show what he’s got. I fully back him and look forward to seeing how he goes.”Raval’s form has forced New Zealand’s hand after he failed to reach double figures in seven of his last nine Test innings. Trent Boult is also set to return from his intercostal injury to replace the injured Lockie Ferguson. With just one day of cricket before the Test, Boult played for the Victoria XI, bowling 11 overs across three spells and claimed the wicket of Tom Latham.Australia are set to make one change with coach Justin Langer confirming to on Saturday that James Pattinson would replace injured fast bowler Josh Hazlewood.

The two familiar Somerset figures who batted for the bulk of the day at Trent Bridge had plenty on their mind

David Hopps at Trent Bridge24-Sep-2018
ScorecardThe two familiar Somerset figures who batted for the bulk of the day at Trent Bridge had plenty on their mind. James Hildreth’s spritely hundred was a response to England rejection whereas Marcus Trescothick has once again felt the love and loyalty from his beloved Somerset and is musing on whether this time it should go unrequited.The West Country has become used to an England side without Hildreth; with every year his chances of winning recognition lessen. He might only be two years older than Joe Denly, summoned for the tour of Sri Lanka at 32, and he might have a superior first-class average, but it is opening batsmen – or theoretical opening batsmen – that England need.But a Somerset side without Trescothick? The apple orchards would drop their produce in sorrow, Wells Cathedral’s 14th century clock would run backwards in the hope of reversing time and hikers would sit at the top of Glastonbury Tor and feel that the walk back down was more than they could be bothered with. Surely, as long as another contract is on offer, it is unthinkable?Trescothick, now 42, does have a one-year contract on the table, issued as automatically as a space in the car park, but reports that he has signed it have been premature. With the end of the season will come his decision and all of Somerset hopes for “yes”. But a pair in his last match against Surrey at Taunton, inflicted by the latest county to end Somerset’s dreams of a first Championship title, was hardly designed to sharpen his appetite.An assured half-century on a benign pitch against a Nottinghamshire side fading to the finishing line will have provided some reassurance that he has more to give. It promised to give Somerset much the better of the opening day, but Harry Gurney hit back well with 5 for 66 (Hildreth, Lewis Gregory and Steve Davies all mopped up after tea) as Notts chased the five bonus points that, even allowing for Lancashire heroics in Southampton, would ensure them of Division One survival.Trescothick surpassed Harold Gimblett’s record of most Somerset first-class centuries last season, but has still to pass his runs. His team ethic runs too deep, though, to stay on if he feels the next generation can do better.A demanding season has yielded only one Championship century, against Lancashire, and even then it came with a broken foot as he approached the landmark. He did well to battle back from that, and looked unruffled enough in making 71 from 141 balls, all his 11 boundaries stroked through the off side, but he was visibly frustrated by his dismissal in mid-afternoon as his balance was awry and an inviting drive offered up by Gurney, at the start of a new spell, flew to extra cover where Ben Duckett held a low catch to his right.Hildreth, dropped at slip by Steven Mullaney off the offspinner Matt Carter on 30, passed 1000 first-class runs this year on 48 and stayed on to make 137 from 203 balls, stronger through the off side, and nimble enough on his feet to pick off Carter – who is slower than most spinners on the county circuit – pretty much as he pleased. A square cut against Luke Fletcher brought up another hundred that will lie at the bottom of the ECB In Tray. Gurney finally silenced an innings of burgeoning ambition from around the wicket as he pushed loosely at one outside off stump. He probably felt he had earned such liberties by then.It was a strange Trent Bridge day: little sign of movement off the pitch or in the air and an offspinner wheeling away by lunch. Carter had played more of his Championship matches on the ground of his opponents (three) than he had in Nottingham (this was his first), but he did have one wicket to mark this strange phenomenon – Tom Abell pushing forward to be caught at first slip.There was a Nottinghamshire connection for Somerset’s opener, Tom Banton, who was playing his second Championship match. His innings soon ended when he fell lbw to Luke Wood, but that a gentle thud on the pad on a sedate pitch was a gentler way to go than that experienced by his father, Colin Banton, in the last of his seven first-class matches for Nottinghamshire in his only season in 1995, as Allan Donald struck him on the forearm during a particularly fiery spell on a Trent Bridge green top and he retired hurt before he had scored.

The Zimbabwe captain was disappointed after a seven wicket defeat to Sri Lanka, saying his batsmen did not adjust to the change in the pitch on Sunday and play more straight-bat shots

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Jul-2017Graeme Cremer conceded Zimbabwe’s batsmen may have been too eager on the sweeps and reverse sweeps during the second ODI on Sunday, even though those strokes had proved productive during Friday’s record chase. Sri Lanka’s best bowler Lakshan Sandakan, meanwhile, had come prepared for that tactic from Zimbabwe, which goes some way to explaining his match figures of 4 for 52.Zimbabwe had been 67 for 1 before the spinners came into operation in Galle, and prompted a collapse that cost the visitors five wickets in the space of 10.3 overs. Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl all fell attempting to sweep or reverse sweep.”Maybe with the wicket, we should have adjusted, should have hit the ball down the ground a bit more,” Cremer said after the seven-wicket defeat. “I thought the wicket was a little bit different from the pitch for the first game, and we didn’t adjust early enough. At one stage we could have batted off the overs – 230 could have been a decent score, but we lost too many wickets in the middle.”Sandakan, playing his first ODI since March, employed several strategies to counter Zimbabwe’s sweep-happy batsmen. Early in the innings, he overcame Hamilton Masakadza’s reverse sweep threat by firing deliveries on a leg-stump line. Later in the innings, the dip he achieved also made him a difficult bowler to play across the line.”We identified that they were sweeping us, and we tried to change the field, slow the ball up a bit and change our lengths,” Sandakan said. “We didn’t try too many changes, but length and pace was important and it worked for us today. We also bowled wicket to wicket – a little straighter – to stop some of those shots.”While Sandakan had made the more telling blows to the opposition innings, debutant legspinner Wanidu Hasaranga knocked out Zimbabwe’s tail with a hat-trick in his third over. After the match, captain Angelo Mathews said he had not known much about Hasaranga, which suggests Cremer and the Zimbabwe are likely to have been even less enlightened on the threat he posed.”To get a hat-trick on debut that something special,” Cremer said of Hasaranga. “He looked a little bit nervous when he started, which is understandable. But credit to him when he stuck at it, and credit to the skipper having faith in him to keep him on. To clean up the back end of the innings was excellent.”Sandakan also lauded the 19-year-old’s poise. “When someone is debuting, he is under pressure. He managed the pressure well and bowled his googlies, flippers and leg-spin nicely.”

Barinder Sran’s 4 for 10 sprung the trap on Zimbabwe, Jasprit Bumrah’s 3 for 11 made sure they couldn’t even think about escape and India levelled the series 1-1 with a 10-wicket victory

The Report by Alagappan Muthu20-Jun-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:17

‘We implemented our plans well’ – Mandeep

” [Don’t do anything],” screamed MS Dhoni. Zimbabwe were 57 for 5 at the time and they were gifting their wickets away.Left-arm fast bowler Barinder Sran picked up three in a single over and recorded the second-best figures by a debutant in T20I cricket. His 4 for 10 sprung the trap on Zimbabwe, Jasprit Bumrah’s 3 for 11 made sure they couldn’t even think about escape and India levelled the series 1-1 with their first ten-wicket victory in T20 cricket.If a team was kept to 99 for 9, it would be reasonable to think that conditions had been bowler-friendly. But a 1pm start in Harare with not a cloud in sight reduced the chances of swing. The pitch was being used for a third time on the tour, which gave the team batting first a slight advantage. Zimbabwe gained that advantage when the coin fell in their favour. If they had put up a big enough total, the natural wear and tear of the surface could have made the chase that much more difficult.Instead, Zimbabwe were 35 for 4 after the Powerplay on the same deck they had made 170 on only two days ago.India gave the new ball to two debutants for a second time in as many matches and Sran made sure to extract as much as he could from it. Only one delivery in his first spell of three overs was pitched short.His first wicket was excellently constructed. Zimbabwe could not find a single run off the bat in nine balls. Chamu Chibhabha came on strike. He had found eight of his 10 runs through boundaries. Sran sensed the batsman would go for a release shot and bowled his offcutter. The batsman mistimed his swipe over mid-on and Ambati Rayudu snapped up an excellent catch over his shoulder while running towards the boundary.Hamilton Masakadza got his first run off his seventh ball with a fearsome drive through the covers and moved into double figures with a thump down the ground. To the next ball he faced – an inswinger, pitching on a good length – he heaved across the line and lost his middle stump. Sran welcomed the new batsman Sikandar Raza with a wide slip and he obliged by steering his second ball to that fielder. Tinotenda Mutumbodzi fell for a golden duck, though replays indicated he was incorrectly adjudged lbw by umpire Russell Tiffin. The batsman was struck above the knee roll and Hawk-Eye suggested enough of the ball had pitched outside leg stump.Nevertheless, Sran had three wickets in an over and Zimbabwe were on course for a terribly underwhelming performance. Not even one of their eleven batsmen could reach a strike-rate of 100 – only the fourth time that has happened in 559 T20Is.Peter Moor, brought in for the injured Richmond Mutumbami, top scored with 31 off 32 balls. His presence would have given Zimbabwe hope but Dhoni played a mean trick. Knowing the opposition was in recovery mode – in other words fearful of losing any more wickets – he called on his spinners to rush through the middle overs. Yuzvendra Chahal deceived an advancing Malcolm Waller in the flight, and refused Elton Chigumbura the leverage he so desperately wanted.With the score at 73 for 5 after 14 overs, panic set in for Zimbabwe. India preyed on that by bringing back their premier fast bowler – Bumrah. Moor never saw the slower delivery coming and was caught at point, Chigumbura’s stumps were bulldozed a few minutes later, and with all their specialist batsmen dismissed, the best Zimbabwe could do was play out the 20 overs. Bumrah, now, has 24 wickets in 2016 – the most by any bowler this year.The chase was straightforward. Mandeep Singh cruised to his maiden T20I fifty, but he could have been caught in the fifth over had Malcolm Waller, rushing forward from deep square leg, and Taurai Muzarabani, running back from short fine leg, communicated better. In the end the ball fell between them and trickled for four. The India opener offered another chance on 22 when he pulled straight to Donald Tiripano, the fielder on the square-leg boundary, who parried over the rope for six. It was just that kind of day for Zimbabwe. They struggled with the basics from start to very early finish.

It was déjà vu on Saturday for Suriname and Bermuda as the South American team repeated its 2013 upset of the island nation, beating them by seven wickets at the Indianapolis World Sports Park

Peter Della Penna in Indianapolis09-May-2015It was déjà vu on Saturday for Suriname and Bermuda as the South American team repeated its 2013 upset of the island nation, beating them by seven wickets at the Indianapolis World Sports Park.Bermuda elected to bat and after losing Dion Stovell in the second over for 2, were stabilised by David Hemp and Tre Manders, the two adding 52 runs for the second wicket. However, Bermuda’s scoring rate was slow and not a single batsman had a strike rate above 100.00, the team finally ending its innings on 99 for 7.Bermuda’s modest pace was dented by Muneshwar Patandin who had Hemp stumped for 28 by wicketkeeper Khemraj Jaikaran standing up to the stumps for the medium pacer. Two balls later, Manders was caught by Troy Dudnath for 21 off Patandin. Bermuda had trouble re-establishing momentum. The only other batsman to cross double-figures was Jacobi Robinson, who made unbeaten 14 from No. 8.Wasim Akram was the main destroyer taking 3 for 15 with his spin to peg back the middle order. Akram then came out at the start of the chase with Patandin and added 60 for the first wicket to squash any chance of a Bermuda comeback.Janeiro Tucker had a hand in all three wickets for Bermuda, getting Patandin caught for 21 in the 12th before he ran out Akram from mid-on in the 13th for 39. One over later he had Gavin Singh out bowled for a two-ball duck. Suriname were 68 for 3 but held their nerve to get across the line with an over to spare.With scores level, captain Mohindra Boodram secured Suriname win with a towering six down the ground off the last ball of the 19th. Boodram finished 26 not out and added an unbeaten 35 for the fourth wicket with Shazam Ramjohn.Both teams ended the week at 1-5 but Suriname was set to be relegated back to Americas Division Two due to a vastly inferior run rate.