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When he dived and fell short of his ground, it was hard for the mind to go anywhere else. But then, the Neesham of 2023 is not focusing on the result “as much anymore”

Sidharth Monga28-Oct-20231:27

Pujara: No major concerns for New Zealand despite loss to Australia

Even when he was walking back, James Neesham knew it was going to look a lot like 2019. Neesham had built on the century of Rachin Ravindra and half-century of Daryl Mitchell to bring New Zealand to within a shot of tying a chase of 389 against Australia.On 57 off 38, punishing any error in length until then and now needing seven off two, this time Neesham couldn’t send a thigh-high full toss into the stands. It just got too close to him; he was probably setting himself up to punish an error on the shorter side. He ended up hitting straight to deep midwicket, and went back for a desperate second because he had a No. 10 for company.The throw came in a little slow, making Josh Inglis move off his mark to collect. Still Neesham needed a dive and a prayer. He ended up diving in pure desperation, even as Inglis dived simultaneously towards the stumps and caught him short. Neesham had to go through the agony of watching the replay on the big screen as the third umpire decided on it.Josh Inglis ran out James Neesham to leave New Zealand needing six runs off the last ball•ICC/Getty Images

It was enough to remind Neesham of the 2019 World Cup final when Martin Guptill went for a similar second to try to win it but ended up run-out, tying the game but losing the final on boundary countback. Does the game really have to be that cruel?”Actually, that [2019 final] was the first thing I thought of when I was coming off, that it’s going to look very, very similar,” Neesham said. “I mean that’s the nature isn’t it? You want to be desperate, I suppose, in those situations and you’d much rather get run out on your stomach than on your feet.”For Neesham this would have meant all the more in a game where the sides remained neck and neck for a long time. After overs 40, 42 and 44, both sides had scored the same number of runs. Then it was in the 48th over, bowled by Neesham, that Australia pulled away.Related

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Neesham came on to bowl for the first time only in the 45th over, covering for the injured Lockie Ferguson. He looked to bowl into the pitch and take the pace off, taking out Glenn Maxwell immediately.In the next over, Neesham nearly had Josh Inglis caught but Rachin Ravindra dropped him in the deep. Instead of a new batter, Neesham now had Pat Cummins on strike, and he hit him for three sixes. The over went for 27. All the while, as New Zealand stayed abreast with Australia, the question was: who would make up for the Neesham over?It is tempting to look at it as Ravindra nearly making up for that catch drop with a century and Neesham nearly making up for it with the chase with tail for company. Four years ago, Neesham had been on the other side of such a close finish, in Manchester against West Indies, when he bowled a superb 49th over to a marauding Carlos Brathwaite to help New Zealand win by, well, five runs.James Neesham reflects on another run-out New Zealand fans will remember for a long time•AFP/Getty Images

Not long before that World Cup, Neesham had nearly given up on the sport partly because of the vagaries of it. In his recovery, Neesham worked at a start-up that made cow collars. In that job, he could see tangible results for the work he put in, something you don’t often do in cricket. He used to struggle to come to terms with putting in all the hard work but not always getting the results. Living outside the bubble of high-performance teams, and working with a mental skills coach, helped.Reminded now of that night when he denied Brathwaite, and asked whether this night was difficult to reconcile with, Neesham could now joke: “Well, I’m not 6’6” and bowling 145, so it’s probably more impressive when I get out of it.”Now, Neesham can be philosophical about it. “You worked for six and a half hours during the day, and it comes down to potentially two deliveries,” Neesham said. “And four years ago, we worked for two months, and it came down to one delivery. It’s just the nature of the game.”I can think of one reason that I don’t focus on the result as much anymore, but look, I think that’s one of the things you learn as you get a little bit older. Obviously I’m probably closer towards the back-end of my career than I am to the front. So yeah, it doesn’t pay to stress too much on the results. I think everyone wants to win and everyone’s desperate to win, especially in world tournaments, but that can’t dictate how you want to play the game.”It’s just about trying to stick to your process and stick to what you’re good at, which for me is standing still and looking to hit straight. On another day, one ball is different, the result’s different, but we’ll move on to Pune in a couple of days’ time and hopefully get a different result there.”Parts of this match were so unlike New Zealand: Matt Henry bowling successive no-balls, Neesham bowling that over, catches going down, but then again the way they came back was typical New Zealand. In hanging in there and giving themselves a chance, in refusing to go away, they have at least made sure their net run rate hasn’t plummeted. This could eventually be the difference between facing India and not facing India in a home semi-final. That’s the best they can do really: keep sticking to their processes, keep hanging in there, and hope some day that the cricketing gods smile on them.For now, though, Neesham is not asking kids to not take up cricket.

Tawanda Muyeye’s T20 career-best knock goes in vain as Kent suffer seven-wicket defeat

ECB Reporters Network02-Jun-2023For the second successive match it was Glamorgan’s leading run-scorers in T20 cricket, Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke, who secured an impressive victory, this time over Kent, in the Vitality Blast.The Glamorgan stalwarts shared a stand worth 109 after Eddie Byrom had set a strong platform as the home side chased down a target of 190 to win by seven wickets with 18 balls remaining.Kent’s innings had a strong start thanks to a career-best score from Tawanda Muyeye and a powerful finish thanks to their lower order but a stutter in the middle overs prevented them from setting a truly competitive total.This win was Glamorgan’s third from four matches while Kent now have two wins and two losses.Kent were put in to bat and it looked as if Glamorgan had made the wrong call as Daniel Bell-Drummond and Muyeye raced along inside the powerplay. It was Muyeye who was the main aggressor as 63 runs were scored off the first six overs with Jamie McIlroy and Zain-ul-Hassan struggling to keep the Kent openers under control.It was the introduction of Australian leg-spinner Peter Hatzoglou that brought Glamorgan back into the game. Hatzoglou made the first breakthrough with his sixth ball of the game when he bowled Bell-Drummond for 19 as the Kent opener attempted a slog sweep.Joe Denly attempted to keep the momentum going as he smoked a massive six over the midwicket boundary to get himself off the mark. That attempt to inject some impetus didn’t last long with Denly’s dismissal the first of three in the space of just 10 runs as Hatzoglou and Prem Sisodiya did a good job of pinning down the Kent middle order to bring themselves back into the game. When Muyeye was dismissed for 62 his team were 103 for 4 after 11 overs with two new batters at the crease.Jordan Cox, Jack Leaning and George Linde did a fantastic job of covering up the cracks caused by that cluster of wickets as they all made meaningful contributions and Kent reached 189 for 6 off their 20 overs. The Cox innings was the most eventful, especially when he offered two catching chances to Kiran Carlson off two successive deliveries, neither of which were claimed by the Glamorgan captain.Glamorgan had a similarly quick start to their innings, with Byrom scoring 43 out of a 51 opening stand with Sam Northeast. Byrom smashed 20 runs from Wes Agar’s first over, and despite the bowler hitting his helmet he managed to guide the ball immediately after the blow over third man for six.Grant Stewart was given similarly brutal treatment and had conceded 19 runs from his first five balls before he had Byrom caught by Cox at mid-on.The one Kent bowler who kept things under control in the powerplay was Michael Hogan who was back in Cardiff for the first time since his departure from Glamorgan over the winter. Welsh cricket supporters were given a reminder of what they lost when Hogan made the decision to finish his career at Kent when his two powerplay overs brought just seven runs and the wicket of Northeast.A truly remarkable catch by Agar at fine leg ended Carlson’s innings but that brought together Cooke and Ingram who got themselves set before taking the game away from Kent in a stand that was professionally managed, with both batters happy to take boundaries when they were offered and singles when the ball was not there to be hit.It was a no-ball from Agar that took Glamorgan to their victory target as Kent failed to find any answers to the Cooke-Ingram partnership.

Sussex stumble to 203 all out despite Fynn Hudson-Prentice’s fifty

ECB Reporters Network 26-Jun-2023Glamorgan’s bowlers fought their way back into this game, dismissing Sussex for 203 as the home side finished with a lead of 85 and 10 second-innings wickets standingA first-innings lead of 39 could be crucial in a low-scoring contest. Australian leg spinner Mitch Swepson took the last two wickets in two balls to wrap things up, finishing with 3 for 52, while seamer James Harris returned figures of 3 for 38.Sussex had started the day in a strong position on 65 for 1, but lost both not-out batters before a run had been added, with Fynn Hudson-Prentice then holding the innings together in scoring only the second half century of the match.When he went for 59, the rest of the Sussex innings folded. Glamorgan openers Zain-ul-Hassan and Andrew Salter went about patiently increasing that lead, as the home side finished the day on 46 without loss.The Australian Kookaburra ball is being used for this match, with Glamorgan’s bowlers using it to good effect to stem the runs for long periods as well as taking regular wickets. Sussex scored at just over two runs an over as they struggled to evade the fielders with their few attacking shots, as the home bowlers maintained a stranglehold.It was the 30th ball of the morning before Sussex added to their overnight score, by which time Timm van der Gugten had added his second wicket of the innings by bowling Tom Alsop for 27, while Jamie McIlroy dismissed Tom Clark lbw for 32.Then it was the turn of Harris to get in on the act, getting the wicket of James Coles with his first ball and then adding that of Danial Ibrahim to leave Sussex struggling on 95 for 5.Hudson-Prentice and Oli Carter were patient in their efforts to rebuild the innings before the wicketkeeper fell caught behind off the bowling of McIlroy. Nathan McAndrew was caught and bowled by fellow Australian Swepson.Offspinner Jack Carson then provided valuable support in a partnership of 61 with Hudson-Prentice which edged their team ever closer to Glamorgan’s first-innings total of 242. Carson was given a life when dropped by Billy Root off Zain, however, the end came suddenly as Glamorgan wrapped the innings up with three wickets in four balls.First Hudson-Prentice’s watchful innings was undone when he skied a short ball from Harris, then Carson fell lbw and Aristides Karvelas caught behind by Chris Cooke, both to Swepson who will be on a hat-trick ball when he next bowls.Zain and Salter found getting runs equally difficult in the early stages of Glamorgan’s second innings, before scoring a little more freely in the last few overs of the day. They will look to build a match-winning lead, while Sussex will take confidence from the way Glamorgan were able to keep taking wickets as the Kookaburra ball got older.

Original tour had to be postponed due to Covid-19 outbreak in March

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2020England’s cricketers will play two Tests behind closed doors in Galle in January, following a period of quarantine in Hambantota, after the schedule for their rearranged tour of Sri Lanka was confirmed by the ECB on Wednesday.The tour, which is England’s penultimate series in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship, had to be postponed in March following the escalation of the Covid-19 outbreak, which caused the abandonment of that original tour midway through England’s warm-up game in Colombo.The details of the rearranged trip, for which bio-security and travel protocols have been agreed, was subject to some speculation in recent weeks, with the ECB having to postpone their original confirmation of the arrangements on December 2 due to the need for further ratification from Sri Lanka’s ministry of health and Sri Lanka Cricket.The squad will arrive in Sri Lanka on January 2, on a chartered flight from London to Hambantota in the south of the island, where they will be permitted to train and prepare for five days from January 5-9 at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium.ALSO READ: England cleared to fly home from SA after confirmation of false positivesThe first Test will take place between January 14-18, with the second Test following on January 22-26 before the squad departs from Hambantota the following day.England’s Test squad is expected to be confirmed in the coming days, and comes in the wake of the abandonment of England’s white-ball tour of South Africa, due to concerns about the bio-secure integrity of the team hotel in Cape Town.One absentee from the squad may prove to be Rory Burns, who indicated in an interview last week that he may skip the tour to attend the birth of his first child. Jonny Bairstow, who last played a Test in South Africa 12 months ago, is a likely inclusion, having already withdrawn from his BBL deal with Melbourne Stars.Jofra Archer is another player who may be rested from the Sri Lanka series, having spent most of the preceding five months in bio-secure environments during the English summer, the IPL and the T20I leg of the South Africa tour, while Ollie Pope’s availability is unclear following an operation on his shoulder.Speaking in the wake of the South Africa tour abandonment, Ashley Giles, England’s team director, re-iterated that player welfare was the board’s primary concern in the current climate, adding that mental health screening would be factored into forthcoming selections, with a tour of India also coming up in February and March before the impending return of the English season and the 2021 IPL.”These are very difficult environments, you are away for long periods, it is tough for everyone and those layers of bio-security just add a different level of anxiety,” Giles said.”These guys have been living in bubbles for long periods of time and their mental health and well-being is the absolute priority for us. If we consistently say that’s the most important thing for us, when we’re tested we can’t move away from that.”Sri Lanka are due to arrive in South Africa next week, ahead of the Boxing Day Test at Centurion. With the tour due to finish in Johannesburg on January 7, only a week before the first Test against England, officials at SLC are understood to be concerned about the implications if a Covid outbreak does impact on the England visit, which is vital to the board’s finances.However, an ECB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo that there had been no consideration given to an extended quarantine period between the two tours.The series will be the first international cricket staged in Sri Lanka since West Indies toured in March 2020. Bangladesh had been due to travel for a three-Test series, but the tour was repeatedly postponed.England in Sri Lanka, fixtures:1st Test: January 14-18
2nd Test: January 22-26

His first major task will be to oversee the upcoming edition of the PSL

Danyal Rasool06-Feb-2024The PCB has finally held elections and appointed a full-time chairman, with Mohsin Naqvi elected for a three-year term. The PCB announced the appointment on Tuesday without providing any other details, simply saying he had been elected unopposed as the 37th PCB chairman.”I am deeply honoured and humbled to have been unanimously elected as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board,” Naqvi said. “I am thankful for the trust and confidence reposed in me. I am fully committed to upgrading the standard of the game in the country and bringing professionalism in the administration of cricket in Pakistan.”Naqvi’s appointment was widely expected after Zaka Ashraf, who served as de facto chairman while officially the head of the interim management committee, quit last month. He also resigned from his position on the PCB’s board of governors, a vacancy which was filled by Naqvi, with Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister Anwar Kakar appointing Punjab’s caretaker chief minister – Naqvi – to the cricket board.Related

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Naqvi will continue to serve as Punjab’s caretaker chief minister alongside his role at the helm of the PCB. This had raised eyebrows last week when the PCB election commissioner, Khawar Shah, briefly took over the chairmanship when Ashraf resigned. But Khawar defended Naqvi holding both roles, saying the PCB rules forbade a chairman from holding an “office of profit” concurrently, and argued – somewhat incongruously – that Naqvi did not.Naqvi’s term as caretaker chief minister has already extended well beyond its constitutional realm. According to Pakistani law, a caretaker government can serve in that capacity for only three months while preparations for upcoming elections take place. Naqvi, however, was appointed over a year ago, in January 2023, with Pakistan’s elections pushed back by several months. His time as chief minister of Pakistan’s largest province will finally end later this week, when Pakistan go to the polls for general elections on February 8.While Naqvi does not have any known cricketing experience or a background in cricketing administration, that is not unusual for most PCB chairmen, especially over the past decade. Neither Najam Sethi nor Zaka Ashraf, the two men who held that position for the best part of the last ten years, had such experience before being first appointed, with Ehsan Mani and Ramiz Raja exceptions rather than the rule.Naqvi’s first major task will be to oversee the upcoming edition of the Pakistan Super League, which begins on February 17. While much of the logistical work of the tournament, including the draft, decisions on venues and ticket sales, has already happened, the league is arguably the most financially significant event for Pakistan cricket every year.The other pressing issue for the new chairmen will concern the hosting of the only ICC event Pakistan has been awarded this decade. The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled to take place in the country, which requires significant logistical and administrative preparedness, including the construction of appropriate facilities to host as many as eight teams simultaneously. Pakistan have not played host to an event of that size since the 1996 World Cup.He will also have to find a way to deal with the potential fallout if India, as historical precedence suggests, decide against making the trip to Pakistan. When a similar situation arose ahead of the Asia Cup last year, then-PCB chairman Sethi agreed to a “hybrid” model, which saw a handful of initial games in Pakistan, with the bulk of the later games taking place in Sri Lanka. Several members of the management committee later expressed dissatisfaction with that arrangement, attributing it to the fatigue that caused injuries to a number of players. The PCB has implied they will not agree to such an arrangement this time.

The seamers had set it up for them by taking 19 of the 20 wickets

Sreshth Shah01-Mar-2024Ireland 263 (Stirling 52, Ur-Rahman 5-64) and 111 for 4 (Balbirnie 58*, Tucker 27*, Naveed 2-31) beat Afghanistan 155 (Ibrahim 53, Adair 5-39) and 218 (Shahidi 55, Young 3-24, McCarthy 3-48, Adair 3-56) by six wicketsSix years and seven Test defeats later, Ireland earned their first victory in cricket’s longest format on Friday, beating Afghanistan by six wickets on the third day of the one-off Test in Abu Dhabi.Set a small target of 111 for victory, Ireland found themselves in a slippery position at 13 for 3 in their fourth innings, but their captain Andy Balbirnie staved off the Afghan challenge with Lorcan Tucker for company to seal the historic win in front of a spattering of travelling Ireland fans. There were tears in the crowd among family members of the Irish contingent when Tucker scurried across for a single to complete the historic winning run in the 32nd over.While Balbirnie’s unbeaten 58 on a turning surface got Ireland back on track for the win, it was their pace bowlers who set the game up. The trio of Barry McCarthy, Mark Adair and Craig Young shared three Afghanistan wickets apiece in the third innings to make Afghanistan fold for only 218, having started the day at a comfortable 134 for 3. In all, Ireland’s pace bowlers shared 19 of the 20 wickets in the match, only the second time in eight Tests that the team took all 20. They bent their back in warm conditions at the Tolerance Oval to ensure Afghanistan could finish with a lead of only 110, a score that was, in the end, too low.