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With the slow pitches and key pace bowlers injured, the legspinner could have a big role in the knockouts

Daniel Brettig02-Mar-2020For most of this summer, Georgia Wareham could only have expected the most fringe-dwelling of T20 World Cup roles for Australia. After all, Ellyse Perry and Tayla Vlaeminck were set to blast opponents out with pace, Megan Schutt bewitching them with swing, and Jess Jonassen cleaning up whatever other resistance was left over.This script was largely followed in Australia’s tournament lead-up, as Wareham played only twice against India and England and then in one unofficial warm-up against South Africa before the tournament began. In a further dampener of expectations, the loss of Vlaeminck to a foot fracture saw Molly Strano vault into the team for the opener against India: unlike her key role in the Caribbean, Wareham was looking squarely at a lot of drinks running.

‘Best win of the tournament’ – Lanning

Meg Lanning called the four-run win over New Zealand in the must-win final group game Australia’s best win of the tournament. The loss to India earlier in the script had put Australia in a spot, and they rode on Beth Mooney’s 60 Georgia Wareham’s three-for to get to the semi-finals after a tight finish in Melbourne.
“Today’s performance was our best of the tournament so far,” Lanning said. “I don’t think we could be better placed for the semi-finals. It’s certainly nice to have a win against a really good team and I thought it was a really good performance. We started well and were able to calm the situation down early with Beth Mooney playing a really good hand.
“We were under the pump with the ball a little bit but I think we dealt with it extremely well to get over the line against a really good New Zealand team. Our first challenge for this tournament to get out of the group stage and to have done that now is certainly a nice feeling.”

Two things happened to change things drastically. First, Australia lost to India, and then nearly coughed up another defeat to Sri Lanka that would have meant instant elimination. Second, the pitches turned out to be far more suitable to Wareham’s art, rewarding spin bowlers who bowl stump to stump while varying their speed and degree of spin, while depriving batters of pace to work with or create angles through the field.If her first appearance against Bangladesh was not particularly memorable, Wareham produced her most incisive spell of the home season at the precise moment Australia needed it: even more so once Perry had limped out of the match and probably the Cup with a hamstring injury. At 20, Wareham has shown considerable evolution as a spin bowler even from the 2018 World Cup to now, and was too good for New Zealand’s key trio of Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine and Maddie Green as they contended with a steepling required run rate.Asked how she had summoned up this display with so little consistent cricket behind her, Wareham said she had recalled her important contributions to both the 2018 World Cup and last year’s West Indies tour, when she plucked four wickets while conceding just 46 runs from 11 overs in three T20Is.”It’s probably something I’ve looked back on and seen how I did things during that tournament and what worked for me,” Wareham said. “I think implementing those little things today helped out, and also I guess knowing that I can play that sort of role in the team because I did that in the last World Cup, it gives me a bit of confidence and it definitely helped out today.”Things started to turn for Wareham when she and wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy correctly deduced that Bates was lbw to a skidder after trying a pull shot. “I was confident it was out, but Midge [Healy] had a pretty good say and that usually helps,” Wareham said.The captain Meg Lanning added: “We were talking about it maybe being too high. As soon as we felt that she hadn’t hit it, it was worth a gamble I guess and it paid off as well.”Devine’s exit, well stumped off a legbreak outside the off stump just as the game was starting to tighten, was the result of a more concerted plan. “It’s probably something that’s been in the works for a little bit,” Wareham said. “Just planning around if I see the batter coming at me just chucking one wide, it worked out for me today, which was good, but it’s been tough going and it was finally good to get one.”All this added up to the pivotal spell of the game, and perhaps also a blueprint for Australia to take forward into the semi-final and, if they get there, the final of the tournament they were widely expected to win. Lacking the pace of Vlaeminck and Perry, Lanning will likely need to call on Wareham, Jonassen and maybe even a third spin bowler – Sophie Molineux if fit, or someone like Amanda Wellington coming in from outside the squad – to deny opponents the chance to use pace onto the bat.”As the tournament goes on I think the wickets are played on a lot more and they become a bit slower and lower, and pace off the ball makes it more difficult for the batters to create it,” Lanning said. “So that seemed to work for us today, and I guess it just depends on where you’re playing – the SCG we’re not really sure what we’re going to get, there’s been no games on there so far, so we’ll have to look at that. But I think spin’s played a massive role across T20 cricket for a long time now and when you are under the pump as batters and you’ve got to force the issue a bit, it is more difficult to do it against the slower pace.Georgia Wareham celebrates after a successful review•Getty Images

“We’ve got 15 players here who can do a job and you need a squad to win a World Cup. You can’t rely on two players and the same XI each game, and we’re going to have to use the depth we have got, we’ve said we’ve got a lot of depth, I believe that, and we’re just going to have to use it. That’s just the reality of it, in elite sport you get injuries and things like that … I’ve got full confidence that any player who comes in can play a role and we’re just going to have to get through it and play maybe slightly differently, but that’s fine, we’ve got to adapt.”Having finished second best to Wareham to ensure her side’s elimination, Devine admitted that it had been a different feeling losing to an Australian side relying so much more on spin than speed. “I think it is, and I think as well the pitch conditions certainly haven’t been what we expected when we first came over to Australia,” she said. “As soon as we knew the World Cup was here, we thought we’d get nice, fast, bouncy wickets and probably haven’t had those, although today’s wicket was a lot better, had a bit more carry and bounce in it.”But spin has played a massive part throughout the tournament and it will continue to do so moving into the finals series. Certainly with Australia losing Tayla early in the competition, I know that was a massive blow fro them, but we also know their depth, spoken a lot about with the bat but certainly with the ball, the way Georgia Wareham stood up today was fantastic.”Megan Schutt as well – geez, I hate her sometimes! – but they’re world-class players and I think that’s the great thing about Australia, I don’t like blowing them up too much because they’ve got big enough heads already, but it doesn’t matter who on the day, someone always seems to step up for them.”From the moment they lost Vlaeminck, to the opening loss against India, the near-death experience against Sri Lanka and now the loss of Perry, Australia are becoming accustomed to doing things according to plans B and C. Wareham showed that, in her case at least, the back-ups are ready, willing, and most importantly able.

Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva move up in Test batting rankings

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-2021Mohammad Rizwan continued his rapid rise as a T20I batter by entering the top 10 in the ICC rankings on the back of his player-of-the-series performance in Zimbabwe.Rizwan hit 82* and 91* in the two matches Pakistan won, and that took him up five slots to tenth. He went past Eoin Morgan and Rohit Sharma on the table where Dawid Malan, Aaron Finch, Babar Azam, Devon Conway and Virat Kohli retained the top five positions.Haris Rauf was the other Pakistan player to make a noteworthy gain, up 17 places to 21st after taking four wickets in three matches.Zimbabwe, who won the second T20I to give themselves a chance of a rare series win, moved up one slot – past Ireland – to No. 11 in the team rankings, while Pakistan remained in fourth place. Elsewhere, Nepal’s victory in the T20I tri-series at home against Netherlands and Malaysia meant a move up (by one spot, past Scotland) to No 14, while Netherlands slipped from 17th to 18th and Malaysia stayed at No. 31.The drawn first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Pallekele had a number of major performances by the batters of the two sides, and that reflected in the Test batting rankings too.Dimuth Karunaratne’s career-best 244 helped him gain seven places to reach the 15th position. His 676 rating points was also his best since last January.The other Sri Lanka batter to move up was Dhananjaya de Silva, who scored 166, and was involved in a 345-run stand for the fourth wicket with Karunaratne in Sri Lanka’s only innings. He gained seven spots to reach his career-best 28th position.Among Bangladesh batters, Mominul Haque’s 11th Test century, and first overseas, took him from 35th to joint 31st, while Vishwa Fernando was the only bowler to have a decent haul, and his 4 for 96 in the first innings took him to 43rd place.

New Zealand had given themselves a platform at 159 for 2 in the 38th over but the borderline stumping of Amelia Kerr set in motion a collapse of 8 for 53

Andrew McGlashan04-Apr-2021Australia secured a world-record 22nd ODI win in a row with a powerful batting display in Mount Maunganui as half-centuries from Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry and Ash Gardner carried them to victory with more than 11 overs to spare.The match was finished, and record secured, when Gardner pulled her third six which also brought up 41-ball half-century. Perry had anchored the innings after the early losses of Rachael Haynes and Meg Lanning briefly suggested New Zealand might find a way back into the game.After a watchful start Healy, one of four players to appear in all 22 victories, took the chase by the scruff of the neck with her first major innings of the tour. However, at 136 for 4 the game wasn’t entirely secure, but any notion of it being a problem was quickly dispelled as Gardner found her range, much as she had in the first T20I, and dominated an unbroken stand of 79 with Perry.Earlier, New Zealand had given themselves a platform at 159 for 2 in the 38th over but the borderline stumping of Amelia Kerr set in motion a collapse of 8 for 53. Lauren Down, recalled to the team for the series, made a career-best 90 but the tempo at the top of the order left too much pressure on others to accelerate. Megan Schutt and Nicola Carey shared seven wickets between them.Schutt had struck with her first delivery of the day when a wicked inswinger snaked between Hayley Jensen’s bat and pad to take leg stump. It was slow going in the opening exchanges with Down taking 19 balls to get off the mark but a second-wicket stand of 69 with Amy Satterthwaite gave a foundation.After Satterthwaite lofted to mid-on – Lanning kept fielders inside the ring as long as possible to build pressure – Down and Amelia Kerr added 90 in an 18-over stand that occasionally threatened to break free against a disciplined Australia attack.The Australia squad after their world record 22nd ODI win in a row•Getty Images

Tayla Vlaeminck, whose first four overs cost just four, had 21 taken off a two-over comeback spell while legspinner Georgia Wareham went for a run-a-ball. Down, who had scored 75 runs in her previous 10 ODI innings, reached a maiden fifty off 90 balls.However, the innings lost its way when Amelia Kerr was given out stumped off Schutt – it was a very tight decision by the third umpire and from the replays broadcast hard to say it was clearly out. With the innings having been built at a largely sedate pace, the remaining batters had little time to play themselves in and the pressure told. Katey Martin was run out from cover and Down’s innings ended with a leading edge back to Carey whose wicket-to-wicket medium pace was tough to score off.Maddy Green and Brooke Halliday both managed sixes to suggest they could provide the late power but fell shortly after each of their boundaries.The first over of the chase from Jess Kerr cost 11 but she and Rosemary Mair tightened their lines and were rewarded when Haynes chased a drive in the seventh over. New Zealand were then buoyant when Lanning, who has a phenomenal record chasing and an even more so at this ground, edged Hannah Rowe to the keeper to leave Australia 37 for 2.Healy had reached 25 off 38 balls when she upped the tempo with a six over midwicket after Perry had eased into her innings with consecutive boundaries off the returning Lea Tahuhu. Healy was dropped on 46 – by Tahuhu long-on – with the resulting six bringing up her fifty from 57 deliveries and another life came her way on 61 when Jensen missed a low return catch.Next over, though, she got a leading edge back to Amelia Kerr and when Satterthwaite lured Beth Mooney into driving to cover there was just a glimmer for New Zealand if they could strike again.But Australia’s batting order oozes confidence and Gardner stamped her authority on the chase with two early boundaries against Amelia Kerr who she had also targeted in the first T20I. As her innings progressed she added off-side sixes against Mair and Tahuhu while Perry ticked over to a 73-ball fifty to show her batting is in fine fettle.The job, though, for this tour is not yet finished with the Rose Bowl series – which Australia have held since 2000 – still up for grabs. It would be a brave person to suggest that task won’t be completed in the second game by a side that has taken the one-day game to a new level.

“It’s a disappointing performance from day one in the position we were in at lunch time and from then on, we weren’t at our best.”

Mohammad Isam05-Jan-2022Tom Latham was left to rue two missed opportunities for his side after their eight-wicket loss to Bangladesh in Mount Maunganui. It was a spectacular win for the visitors, but just as unexpected was how the home team, which held a 17-match unbeaten home record before this game, capitulated, second-best in most departments.”It is obviously a disappointing performance from day one, in the position we were in at lunch time [66 for 1],” Latham said. “From then on, we certainly weren’t at our best. Losing six [five] for 70 on day two didn’t allow us to get to the 400-450 mark. Bangladesh showed exactly how to operate in the first innings. They put us under pressure. We tried to build partnerships in our second innings but couldn’t push the advantage.Related

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“They showed it with the ball today. They were confident. They bowled really well. Full respect to them. They certainly outplayed us throughout the five days.”New Zealand’s 328 in the first innings was – before the second-innings 169 – their lowest total against Bangladesh at home, and the bowlers also couldn’t raise their game enough to swing the balance.”[It’s fair to wonder] whether we could have attacked the stumps a little bit more earlier on. But the ball was always swinging throughout the innings,” Latham said. “We haven’t played a lot of cricket here. It is not a huge amount of information, whether we could have gone a little bit straighter earlier.”They obviously played the short ball really well. They showed us the lengths we needed to bowl. They got enough out of the surface to trouble us.”New Zealand were almost at full-strength, regular captain Kane Williamson the only one missing out. And they chose to leave out Ajaz Patel, their best long-format spinner who recently became only the third bowler in history to complete a ten-wicket haul in an innings, against India in Mumbai.”It is hard to say [whether Ajaz should have been picked],” Latham said. “We give 100% backing to whoever goes out there in the XI. I thought Rachin (Ravindra) did a great job for us bowling into the wind. From that end, the surface didn’t necessarily spin a lot. I guess that’s the conversation in the future when we play here.”Latham also brushed aside the notion that New Zealand were weighed down by expectations after becoming world champions.”We know it is a new two-year cycle. What we did last time was outstanding. It was a pretty special time. The focus has quickly shifted to the two-year cycle here. We started over in India. This is the first Test of our home summer,” he said. “We are certainly not resting on [our laurels]. We know we have to turn up and play our brand of cricket. Unfortunately we didn’t quite do that.”We have a chance in a few days to put another good performance on the board.”

A few hours of sleep did not make things any easier for New Zealand, but their grace and dignity remained one of the overriding images

Nagraj Gollapudi16-Jul-20194:24

#PoliteEnquiries: Did the best team in the World Cup win the tournament?

“Did I sleep at all?Hmm. I did sleep. I did.”Kane Williamson talks in the dry, wry, inimitable tone of his. We are standing at arm’s length. I am trying hard to find an emotion in the man’s face. This is no ordinary man. This man, this leader of men, lost the World Cup in the cruelest way possible.No, wait.This man saw the World Cup being snatched from New Zealand’s grip by the combined might of cricket’s Laws and the thing that human nature can neither be prepared for nor prevail: fate. If you want to rub it in a bit more, this man had to swallow defeat in a World Cup final for the second successive time, after Brendon McCullum’s New Zealand had lost to Australia.So you ask Kane Williamson: did you sleep?ALSO READ: Umpires made ‘error of judgement’ with overthrows – TaufelWilliamson did. But after a lot of time trying to understand what had happened. After a lot of time chatting with his team-mates in the away dressing room at Lord’s, hours after the World Cup was over. After hours of reflection.That reflection, by his own admission, Williamson says, will not end. Not for some time. It will haunt him and his men. At least for a while. I ask him to try and explain his emotions from the moment cricket was over. “I reckon I sort of explained that to a few people,” Williamson says, nodding his head. “It hits in you in waves. For ten minutes you forget about it, and you make little jokes. And then it comes back to you and you go: ‘Did that just happen? Did it just happen? Is that real or is that just I woke up wondering whether it was a bad dream? It wasn’t. Was it.’ “You want him to cry. He has not, he assures. “Not me.”

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Williamson might have managed to keep his emotions in check but a few of the New Zealand players could not hide theirs. Jimmy Neesham, who was in the middle when Jos Buttler ran out his partner Martin Guptill to deny New Zealand the two runs off the final ball of the Super Over and the World Cup, went down on his knees and might have shed a tear or two. Later Neesham, one of the most intelligent wordsmiths in cricket, summed up his feelings on Twitter succinctly: “Kids, don’t take up sport. Take up baking or something. Die at 60 really fat and happy,” he said in his first post. In a follow-up post, he explained: “That hurts. Hopefully there’s a day or two over the next decade where I don’t think about that last half hour.”Tim Southee, who played the 2015 final, but took a spectacular catch in the deep as a 12th man on Sunday, observed: “What is there to say?”