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Bangladesh coach Shane Jurgensen has said that if Mohammad Ashraful is handed a ban, it will be a “huge loss” for the team

Mohammad Isam11-Jun-2013Bangladesh coach Shane Jurgensen has said that it will be a “huge loss” for the team if Mohammad Ashraful was banned from cricket for his involvement in match-fixing. Jurgensen said there was some “disbelief” when the news about Ashraful’s confession emerged, but he did not comment on any other aspects of the controversy.Jurgensen, who returned to Dhaka on Monday from Brisbane, had to face several questions about the issue, but the Bangladesh team management is trying its best to shift the focus back to cricket, before a fitness camp begins in Mirpur on June 13.Ashraful will not be a part of the camp because he has been suspended by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) until the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) report is submitted. Given his confession, there is doubt whether he will play for Bangladesh in the near future.”If he is banned, it is a huge loss in the batting order for us,” Jurgensen said. “But that’s all I am really going to say. I don’t know the findings of the investigations. He’s batting well and if he’s banned, we will miss him. There was a little bit of disbelief there, but I am not going to comment any further.”Jurgensen said it was imperative that everyone concerned with the cricket team returned to the game rather than dwell on the controversy. “It is important [to shift focus]. It has to be business as usual as far as cricket is concerned,” he said. “We have some really important cricket coming up. We have all had a really nice break after a long international and domestic season. Now we have to focus strongly on what’s coming up.”The camp will be Bangladesh’s first prolonged fitness programme in more than two years. Many of the players involved will head to different tours for the Bangladesh A side as well as the Under-23 side in the next two months.

Jesse Ryder is out of his induced coma and has begun talking again as he embarks upon the road towards a full recovery from his assault in Christchurch

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Mar-2013

Jesse Ryder is out of his induced coma and has begun talking again as he embarks upon the long and arduous road towards a full recovery from his assault in Christchurch on Wednesday night.Ryder’s manager Aaron Klee said the New Zealand batsman was also now breathing without the assistance of a ventilator, though he is still battling the effects of his coma and the drugs used to aid his fight against serious head and lung injuries.”Jesse’s condition has improved to the extent that he is now out of the induced coma and off the ventilator,” Klee said in Christchurch. “Jesse is awake and talking to us, but he is obviously still working through the immediate effects from being in the coma and the drugs the medical team have been using.”Naturally we are thrilled with this progress. This is only the start of the recovery process for Jesse and there is still a big battle ahead to full health, but the progress is positive. Again the family wishes to extend their sincere thanks to everyone for their messages of support and love. They mean a lot and will help Jesse no end in his journey ahead.”Klee said that Ryder had no recollection of the events that left him in hospital, his last memory of the day being his dismissal for a duck during the Wellington Firebirds’ season ending loss to Canterbury in the afternoon.”It’s not like it is in the movies where they wake up peacefully and they give everyone a big hug. It takes a while, there’s a lot of confusion and he’s dazed,” Klee said. ”[But] he knows where he is, he knows what’s happened and he knows I’m here now talking to you. It’s leaps and bounds from 24 hours ago.”He’s still got quite serious lung injuries and they’re keeping an eye on that because there’s a lot that potentially can go wrong with the lungs, so monitoring that very closely but at this stage they don’t need to support his breathing, which is a great milestone.”It was great to have him order us around again.”Ryder had gone with teammates to Aikmans Bar in Merivale where around 12.30am, while making his way to join other Wellingston players at a nearby McDonalds, he had been attacked twice in the space of a few minutes, suffering heavy blows to the head and chest that left him with a skull fracture and a collapsed lung.Police have arrested two men in connection with the assaults, a 20-year-old Christchurch resident and a 37-year-old relative who was visiting the city. They have been bailed to appear in the Christchurch District Court court on Thursday, April 4.

M Vijay’s performance in Chennai was what pushed him into an innings that could mark his return to the Indian team for a longer period

Sharda Ugra03-Mar-2013M Vijay’s performance in Chennai, where he scored 16 runs in two innings, and the disappointment of his second innings dismissal, was what pushed him into an innings that could mark his return to the Indian team for a longer period.Vijay scored a superbly-weighted second Test century, against Australia in Hyderabad, as part of a vital unbeaten 294-run partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara to take India’s total to 311 for 1 at stumps on day two.Vijay said the Chennai Test had “hit him hard” because “I gave my wicket away in the second innings.” Vijay had scored 10 and 6 in the Chennai Test, dismissed both times by James Pattinson. In the second innings, with the victory target being only 50, Vijay had gone for an extravagant drive outside the off stump and was caught by Moises Henriques at mid-off.”Basically, I was thinking that I made a mistake in the second innings of the first Test match rather than the first,” Vijay said. “I should have just come back not out, which didn’t happen. So I was just ready for this game.”M Vijay: “I just wanted to stay at the wicket for as long as possible. So that was my intention and it didn’t matter how the wicket goes”•BCCIComing to Hyderabad, Vijay said, “I just wanted to stay at the wicket for as long as possible. So that was my intention and it didn’t matter how the wicket goes. My thinking was to give a good start for the team. Apparently, it happened.”Vijay’s was an uncharacteristically sedate innings: of the 288 balls he faced today in his innings of 129, he scored off only 57 balls, at a strike-rate of under 45. “I was preparing to fight it out there as long as possible and maybe if a good ball comes, then it is fine. I just wanted to stay and not give my wicket away.”He realised that his partnership with Pujara was an unusual and important one for India. “It is always wonderful to get a good start for the team. Partnerships like this don’t happen all the time. We really cherished it. Pujara batted really well and it was good for the team.”Over a single inspired day in Hyderabad, Vijay’s selection in the Indian team for the first two Tests against Australia had gone from being a flaky choice to one governed by enormous foresight. A woeful Ranji season, in which he averaged 17.25 and top scored with 42, was not the reason he was included in the Rest of India team for the Irani Cup. Vijay scored 116 in the Irani Cup and what could have counted in his selection was a good record at home, where he averages above 47 across a smattering of 13 Tests since November 2008.Vijay said he didn’t know whether this innings would cement his pace in the Test team. “Every innings in the international circuit is very important for everybody. I was really pumped up to play this series and that is what I really worked for. When I got it, I just wanted to hang in there and show what I am capable of.”The Uppal wicket he said, was a good one to bat on, “if you apply yourself.” The difficulty it presented for new batsmen coming in became the centerpiece of his partnership with Pujara. “We took it session by session. Myself and Pujara decided to bat as long as possible because on this wicket, batsman coming in will find it a little difficult.”He said that occupying sessions and time was a conscious effort by him and his partner. The turn being offered by the wicket was not consistent, he said, and the unpredictability meant that the batsmen couldn’t take it easy against the spinners.Despite that, Vijay and Pujara scored 140 runs against the spinners Xavier Doherty and Glenn Maxwell in 36 overs, and punished David Warner’s part-time leg spin for 14 in a single over.

The India ODI captain has asked for consistency from openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma

Annesha Ghosh21-Sep-20211:34

Mithali Raj: ‘We have a lot to do in terms of our bowling’

Mithali Raj, India’s ODI captain, has called for greater accountability from the opening pair of Smriti Mandhana, especially, and Shafali Verma after the two fell for low scores in India’s nine-wicket loss in the first ODI in Mackay. While a better start – the pair fell in quick succession after adding 31 – might have helped India put up more than the 225 for 8 they managed, better bowling could have made things tough for Australia in their chase. They eventually got to their target in just 41 overs, and Raj was unhappy about the performance of the spinners as well.Related

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“The opening partnership – if they can give us a good start, clearly the middle order can take the momentum from there,” Raj told reporters after the match. “But if you lose wickets, you actually have to build an innings in the first ten overs. Smriti [16 in 18 balls] has been on the international circuit for a while, so we would expect some runs from her.”When you know the sort of batting line-up the Australians have, anything closer to 250 is what we were looking at, but losing two wickets, especially batters like Smriti and Shafali [8 in 10 balls], in the powerplay itself, it was important the middle order starts to compensate for that and build a partnership there. And that’s what we did with Yastika [Bhatia, the debutant, who scored a 51-ball 35], but then again, we didn’t get enough partnerships in the lower-middle order.”You always bat according to the situation. Of course, the players need to play shots, but it doesn’t mean you be reckless. We need to now actually have partnerships rather than thinking about fearless cricket. The girls need to get down to developing some partnerships in the middle and that will definitely give them confidence at some point to play fearlessly.”Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma fell in quick succession after putting on 31•Getty Images

Both Mandhana and Verma fell to the 18-year-old quick Darcie Brown after India were asked to bat on a pitch with bounce, pace and carry. The two have opened together in 25 T20Is, but only three times before this in ODIs, adding 23, 56 and 46, all in England in June.The relative inexperience of the 17-year-old Shafali means the team management would like to give her “breathing space”, but Mandhana, who has over 140 India caps, has struggled for consistency in limited-overs cricket since 2020. In nine ODI innings this year, against South Africa at home and in England before the latest outing, Mandhana has only one fifty and seven scores under 30 in a total of 244 runs at an average of 30.50.In a post-match interview with the host broadcaster on Tuesday, Raj made it clear that “when you’re put in to bat, you expect an opening partnership of minimum 50 runs.” Against a well-rounded Australia attack, India had just one 50-plus stand, between Bhatia and Raj, who added 77 for the third wicket, with the captain continuing to play the anchor as she went on to score her fifth straight fifty in the format.”Yastika – she had a very good [preparatory] camp in Bangalore. She was among runs and she continued that even in the practice game, whatever little she scored she was quite impressive and that is why without a doubt we picked her today in place of Harman [Harmanpreet Kaur] because Harman was injured,” Raj said. “The order we sent her [in] she was quite positive out there to score runs.”On her own performance – a 59th ODI fifty but at a sedate scoring rate (she took 12 balls to get off the mark and 92 deliveries to reach her half-century) – Raj said, “It is always in my mind to improve on that [strike rate] aspect. I wouldn’t say I definitely don’t think about it, but it’s not something that crosses my mind when I walk in to bat.”I’ve always felt no matter how many runs I score there’s always some room for improvement. I want to evolve as a player, too. I know I’ve been scoring runs but it isn’t enough for the team to win, so there’s always room for improvement.”As there is on the strike-rotation front. “As far as running between the wickets is concerned, there’s still a lot to be achieved in that aspect,” Raj agreed. “This is not just about the running between the wickets, but overall the batting department needs to work hard because just not running, but even in batting [because] as batters you need to play and score runs.”With just 225 on the board, India needed a lot from the three-pronged spin contingent of Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana and Poonam Yadav. Given how seamlessly Australia blunted India’s attack, with their top three of Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes and Meg Lanning blitzing solid half-centuries and putting on century stands for the first two wickets, Raj admitted that there was a concern.Mithali Raj scored her fifth straight half-century in ODIs, but it was yet another sedate innings•Getty Images

“Yes, we do have a lot to work in terms of our bowling department because predominantly we are spinners, a spin attack, and spinners are getting hit everywhere, so that’s something we need to work on,” she said. “The wicket is good for batters as well as fast bowlers. Having said that, the bowlers need to be a little more tighter in their line and length on a wicket like this, which we did get to see with the Australian fast bowlers but not really with the Indian seamers.”Though Raj said she was unlikely to tinker much with the starting XI, she kept the possibility open for “maybe one or two changes” for the second ODI, on Friday at the same venue.Complimenting the debutants Bhatia, wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh and pacer Meghna Singh for doing “really well”, Raj did hint at a possible promotion to No. 3 for Ghosh.”We definitely are looking into all that,” she said. “But because it is her first game, you also want players to have some confidence in the role they’ve already played; Richa has already been part of the T20I squad and scored runs there at a particular order.”So, when she’s making her debut, you want to give a comfort level to a player get into the same role they’ve played and experienced. That is why she went in the order she did. But, yes, she was very impressive today and, clearly, it does put thoughts in our head that we could promote her up the order.”

ScorecardJayde Herrick and John Hastings rumbled Western Austraia for 181 then Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell sprinted with the bat to deliver a bonus point for Victoria in the domestic limited overs match at the MCG.The Bushrangers prevailed with 16.4 overs to spare, adding to the Warriors’ difficulties on the day they lost their coach Lachlan Stevens and little more than a week after their captain Marcus North also resigned.Winning the toss and batting first in his first match as WA’s interim captain, Adam Voges made only 18 as all of the WA top four passed 15 but failed to go past 27.The only innings of any substance was 51 from Mitch Marsh, having come to the wicket at 4 for 70. Herrick bowled with his usual vigour, and earned his best limited overs figures.WA’s bowlers charged in at the start of the defence, none more so than Mitchell Johnson, who had one bouncer fly over the ‘keeper Tom Triffitt’s head and into the fence on the first bounce.But Finch and Chris Rogers weathered the early storm, and Maxwell helped ensure that the Bushrangers would register a most comfortable victory over their bedraggled opposition.