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Late blows from Abdul Samad and Ayush Badoni dragged Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to 171 for 7 on a two-paced, red-soil pitch after Punjab Kings (PBKS) had opted to bowl in IPL 2025.Such a competitive total seemed beyond LSG’s reach after Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, who had replaced Azmatullah Omarzai, and Glenn Maxwell had carved up their top order. At the end of the powerplay, LSG were 39 for 3. Maxwell had just dismissed LSG captain Rishabh Pant for 2 off 5 balls with an innocuous delivery. LSG, however, offset the early slide by taking 63 off the last six overs of their innings.While Badoni anchored their innings with 41 off 33 balls, Samad kicked into top gear right away, smacking 27 off 12 balls, including two sixes and two fours. Samad left jaws on the door when he reverse-scooped Arshdeep over the keeper for four in the 18th over, which cost PBKS 20 runs. Arshdeep bounced back to dismiss both Badoni and Samad in the final over, but the pair had done enough to repair the innings.Arshdeep had also started well earlier in the evening, snaring Mitchell Marsh for a golden duck. His opening partner Aiden Markram moved to 28 off 18 balls before Ferguson bowled him via an inside edge. PBKS then matched Maxwell up with Pant and got him cheaply too.A cat-and-mouse game then ensued between Nicholas Pooran and Yuzvendra Chahal. When the wristspinner looped a couple of wrong’uns away from Pooran’s reach in his first over, the batter carved those away for fours. In his next over, though, Chahal cut Pooran’s innings short at 44 off 30 balls with a loopier googly. LSG were 89 for 4 in the 12th over at that point. Samad and Badnoni then got together in the end overs to help push that total past 170.

Selectors will wait to make a call on Marnus Labuschagne’s Test future as Australia brace for a batting squeeze in the World Test Championship final and beyond.It comes as in-form Steven Smith urged selectors to keep the faith in Labuschagne, saying it was not long ago he was in a similar predicament to the faltering No. 3.Related

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Labuschagne’s lukewarm form continued in Australia’s 2-0 series defeat of Sri Lanka with scores of 20 and 4 in his first two knocks. He looked to be finding his feet as he made an unbeaten 26 in a 37-run stand with Usman Khawaja that sealed victory in the second Test in Galle on Sunday.But despite that effort and handy half-centuries in Melbourne during the recent India series, Labuschagne has only made one century in his past 51 Test innings. Since the beginning of 2023, Labuschagne has averaged 31.54, well down on the 62.29 he managed across the four calendar years before then.The timing looks unfortunate with a glut of batting options available for the WTC Final against South Africa at Lord’s in June.Cameron Green is set to return to the selection frame as a middle-order option following back surgery, while Josh Inglis impressed with a century on debut in Sri Lanka.Sam Konstas is pushing for a recall after being ousted from the top to facilitate Travis Head’s shift from No.5 and Nathan McSweeney is vying for a first Test in his preferred middle-order spot.”It’s clear that we’ve got some players that have put their hand up, so there is a squeeze,” said coach Andrew McDonald. “Whoever misses out will be very unlucky.”Australia could change their XI around between the WTC Final and the three-match West Indies series that begins later in June. McDonald said it was “highly likely” the squads would be different for the two, but Australia will defer selection calls, including on Labuschagne, until closer to June.”England creates a different challenge and then off to West Indies, which can spin, it can also swing and seam,” McDonald said. “The beauty of it is we’ve got some time before we have to make some decisions.”It’s great to have options. Will they all be fit at that time? Who fits what conditions and when? I think that’s going to be the art of what transpires across the journey.”Smith remains confident Labuschagne is approaching a big score, sceptical about claims his close mate is even out of form. The stand-in captain went as far as to say he had recently been in a similar situation to Labuschagne, feeling at his best despite scores of 0, 17 and 2 to begin the home summer.Smith has since scored centuries in four of five Test matches since those lean figures against India and was player of the series against Sri Lanka.”Marn’s similar to me, in a way,” Smith said. “I’ve said this a lot of times about myself, there’s a difference between being out of form and out of runs. I don’t think he’s out of form, personally. I’ve watched him train, I’ve watched him play and a lot of the things that he’s done so well are there.”He knows he’d love to score more runs, we’d love him to score more runs, but in my opinion, it’s just around the corner.”

Tom Moffat, the CEO of the World Cricketers’ Association (WCA), has blasted the BPL for being “a repeat offender” in failing to pay the players on time. The reaction comes a day after Durbar Rajshahi’s overseas players boycotted their BPL match on Sunday because of non-payment of dues.Even Rajshahi’s captain Taskin Ahmed had joked after the match that he hoped the cheques issued to the Bangladeshi players, hours before the match, wouldn’t bounce like the pitch. The BCB’s media chairman Iftekhar Rahman said that the board is planning to take legal action against the Rajshahi franchise.On Monday, Ryan Burl and Aftab Alam, two of Rajshahi’s overseas players, appeared for the team’s last league match against Sylhet Strikers. It is however not clear whether the franchise owner Shafique Rahman has paid them fully yet.Related

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Moffat expressed his shock on the matter, and called the lack of payment unacceptable.”It’s disappointing to hear about more non-payment issues in the Bangladesh Premier League, which has been a repeat offender over a number of years, ” Moffat told ESPNcricinfo. “These issues are unacceptable, they aren’t getting better, and it’s the players who make the event that are impacted. In any league that is officially sanctioned, players should have confidence that their contracts have some basic protections and minimum standards in them, and that they can be enforced efficiently.”The game is not currently capable of solving transnational issues like this at the moment, and that needs to change if it wants to continue to claim to be a leading global sport in 2025.”The BPL’s first two editions – in 2012 and 2013 – were mired by non-payment issues, with many players remaining unpaid by the franchises. The BCB even stopped the tournament for a season after there were corruption scandals.The payment issue cropped up this year after Rajshahi’s local players boycotted a training session last week, after going totally unpaid for the first two weeks of the tournament. Rajshahi reportedly also initially failed to pay their team hotel in Chattogram, with their owner Rahman getting into trouble with hotel authorities. They also had booking issues in Dhaka where they had to change hotels suddenly.

Reeza Hendricks scored his first T20I century, in his tenth year of being an international cricketer, as South Africa won their first bilateral T20I series win since August 2022. They registered the third-highest successful chase at SuperSport Park to break a T20I trophy drought that has extended for eight series, since they beat Ireland more than two years ago. It is also Rob Walter’s first T20I series win since taking over the white-ball coaching job in March 2023.After being asked to field first, South Africa conceded the fifth-highest first-innings total at SuperSport Park and chased it down with three balls to spare. Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen, batting at No.4, shared a third-wicket partnership of 157 off 83 balls to form the spine of the chase. Van der Dussen scored his seventh T20I fifty and hit the winning runs with stand-in captain Heinrich Klaasen at the other end.Pakistan were guilty of an over-reliance on the slower ball, which they sent down liberally, but that may not be where they lost the game. Although they crossed 200, they could have had many more. They were 103 for 1 after 11 overs and 136 for 4 after 16.In that five-over period, South Africa took 3 for 33, thanks to debutant Dayyaan Galiem and left-arm spinner George Linde. Despite those strikes, Pakistan’s innings was built on two big partnerships: Babar Azam and Saim Ayub put on 87 off 45 balls for the second wicket before Ayub and Irfan Khan posted 73 of 32 balls for the fifth wicket to propel their score over 200.It was not enough thanks to Hendricks and van der Dussen, two older hands, who took South Africa home.Dayyaan’s dream (and nightmare) debut Galiem was planning to be at this match, but not playing in it. He had hospitality suite tickets and was due to be sitting with his domestic team-mates enjoying the start of the December holidays with some drinks but on his way home from the gym this week, he got a call he never expected. Anrich Nortje had broken his left big toe and Galiem was called up to the national squad. He was given a debut on his home ground and then handed the new ball.His first over cost just three runs. Exactly why he didn’t bowl another in the powerplay is for Klaasen to answer but in that period he dropped Ayub on 3, which proved costly. He was brought back on in the seventh over, and erred once in length with a short, wide ball but taken off again. In his third spell, Galiem got his first international wicket when Usman Khan top-edged him to Kwena Maphaka at deep third but his moment came in his final over. It was only the second he bowled in succession and Tayyab Tahir popped a leading edge back up to him and Galiem took a sharp catch. It would not have made up for his earlier miss but it gave him good figures of 2 for 21 in four overs, with 12 dot balls, in his first international outing. But that wasn’t the end of Galiem. He was at long-on when Ayub hit Donovan Ferreira just about straight to him. Galiem got himself into an awkward position and the ball burst out of his hands.Sensational Saim but he would have wanted two more Pakistan separated RizBar as they continue to experiment with their opening combination and Ayub has made the case to continue in the role. He scored three runs off the first eight balls he faced before swatting a Ferreira delivery to debutant Galiem at point, who could not hold on to the chance. The next ball Ayub faced, he muscled over deep midwicket for six at the start of a spectacular takedown of Maphaka. The next two balls brought back-to-back boundaries before three dot balls ended the most expensive over of the Powerplay. The slog sweep proved a favourite shot of Ayub’s as he perfectly complemented Babar.Ayub’s career-best, and also his first half-century in the format came off 33 balls in the 11th over, so he had the time and opportunity to double up. After Babar was dismissed, Ayub brought out more classical strokes like the square drive. He continued to take on Maphaka, and hit him for three sixes in his final over to stand on the edge of 90, with three overs left. In a cruel twist, Ayub only faced six balls in the last three overs, and none in the last over, and was left unbeaten on 98.Jahandad’s double strikeBrought into the side in place of wristspinner Sufiyan Muqeem, Jahandad Khan almost immediately showed what he can do. His second delivery moved away from the left-handed Ryan Rickelton, who could not help but play at it with minimal foot movement and edged to Rizwan to end the opening partnership on 6. In his next over, Jahandad played with his lengths and speeds, delivered a slower ball and then and ended with a short ball which Matthew Breetzke attempted to pull but could only sky to mid-on. Shaheen Shah Afridi took a simple catch to leave South Africa 28 for 2 after four overs. A hundred for Hendricks A day after being dropped from the ODI side to play Pakistan next week and with questions swirling over his continued presence in national squads, Hendricks silenced his critics by showing he still has what it takes at this level. He operated at a run-a-ball off the first 14 balls he faced and then tucked into a short Haris Rauf delivery to top-edge him over fine leg for six before putting a slower ball into the stands over deep square for six more. A third six saw South Africa finish the powerplay on 52 for 2, seven runs ahead and a wicket more than Pakistan’s 45 for 1 at the same stage.He went on to smash two more sixes, including one off Abbas Afridi which brought up his fifty off 29 deliveries, by the halfway stage. South Africa were 94 for 2; at the same stage Pakistan were 90 for 1. Hendricks dealt in boundaries and leapt into the nineties with three more sixes and two fours before bringing up triple figures when he hit Rauf over midwicket. His hundred came off 54 balls, and he finished with 117 off 63 balls, including seven fours and 10 sixes and left South African on the brink of victory. When Hendricks was dismissed, they needed 21 runs off 14 balls, and got there off 11.

Ellyse Perry continued her magnificent early season WBBL form to help Sydney Sixers maintain their stranglehold over Hobart Hurricanes.Sixers captain Perry cracked 86 off 62 deliveries, in an innings that included 11 fours and two sixes, to ensure the visitors posted a competitive 155 for 7.Cameos from Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Elyse Villani,  Chloe Tryon and Lauren Smith got Hurricanes close, but they finished six runs short.It was Sixers’ 19th win in 21 encounters against Hurricanes, who have lost seven straight to the Sydney team and are 0-7 against them in Hobart.Talented 15-year-old schoolgirl Caoimhe Bray again impressed, capturing the key wickets of Nicola Carey and Tryon. English spinner Sophie Ecclestone was another key performer for the Sixers.”A really important win for us, I thought the way we just held with the ball at different points was brilliant,” Perry told .”And Caoimhe especially played a really important role for us, but then I thought Sophie Ecclestone was on fire tonight, the way we defended that total was awesome.”Perry had some luck on 4 when she was dropped at square leg off the third ball of the innings. She made Hurricanes pay.She went on to add 37 with Ashleigh Gardner and 61 with English import Hollie Armitage.Perry then clobbered 14 off the last three balls of the penultimate over, lofting the second last ball over deep extra cover for six before being caught off the final ball of the innings.It took Perry’s aggregate for the season to 252 from four innings – three half centuries and the other an undefeated 31.Hurricanes’ chase started in eventful fashion with Lizelle Lee smacking a boundary off the first ball before falling lbw to Lauren Cheatle the next delivery.They were well placed at 46 for 1 after six overs, but Wyatt-Hodge’s dismissal was followed by those of Australian representatives Carey and Heather Graham.Villani struck four boundaries in the two power surge overs, but holed out to long on off the final ball of that phase.Bray removed Carey thanks to a fine diving legside catch by wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy. The teenager bowled an impactful 16th over in which two wickets fell for just four runs.She had the dangerous Tryon caught at mid off, while Molly Strano fell victim to a direct throw from Ecclestone at mid off and was run out.

India coach Gautam Gambhir has vehemently backed KL Rahul to come good amid mounting scrutiny on his recent form in Test cricket. After making a duck in India’s 46 all out in the first innings of the Bengaluru Test, Rahul was dismissed for 12 in the second as India lost to New Zealand by eight wickets.”You don’t pick players on social media because of social media or for that matter even what the experts are saying,” Gambhir said on while addressing Rahul’s form on the eve of the second Test in Pune. “What the team management thinks and what the leadership group thinks is very, very important. Ultimately, everyone is judged.”International cricket is all about being judged, to be honest, because everyone’s performance will be judged eventually. But I feel that he [Rahul] is batting really well. Obviously, he has had a decent knock in Kanpur [against Bangladesh] obviously, on a difficult wicket. And obviously, he played according to the plans as well. And I am sure, I think, he would also be knowing that he wants to score big runs and he has that capability of scoring runs. That’s why he has been backed by the team management.”While Rahul has built a strong body of work overseas – he has hundreds in South Africa, England and Australia – his average of 33.87 is the lowest among all specialist batters to have played at least 50 Tests for India.With Shubman Gill, who missed the first Test because of neck stiffness, set to bat at No. 3 in Pune, India will have to make a choice between Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan, who scored his maiden Test century in Bengaluru. Sarfaraz, who took a short break after the first Test because of the birth of his child, rejoined the India side and trained in Pune on Wednesday.While Sarfaraz might have the edge over Rahul after his 150 in Bengaluru, Gambhir did not reveal which way the team was leaning.0:54

Manjrekar: Feel sorry for Rahul, but he will have to make way for Gill

India also have another choice to make between left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav and offspin allrounder Washington Sundar, who was added to squad after the defeat in Bengaluru. Apart from boosting India’s spin stocks on a dry, black-soil surface, Washington could add depth to the batting line-up. In his most recent red-ball game, in the second round of the Ranji Trophy, he made 152 at No. 3 for Tamil Nadu against Delhi.”We just felt that probably they [New Zealand] have four or five left-handers in the playing XI,” Gambhir said of Washington’s inclusion in the squad. “That if we want to have another bowler who can take the ball away from the left-handers, it is always going to be useful for us. But we haven’t still decided what is going to be the playing XI.Related

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“We believe that probably there are two [left-hand] opening batters and Rachin [Ravindra] in the middle order. So, we feel that if Washy can give us more control in the middle, it is always going to be good for us.”While managing the workload of the fast bowlers remains a priority for India’s team management heading into a five-Test tour of Australia, Gambhir suggested it won’t be done when the series is on the line against New Zealand in Pune and when crucial World Test Championship (WTC) points are at stake. For India to seal their place in the WTC final, irrespective of other results, they need at least four wins and one draw (52 points) in their remaining seven Tests, which will give them 65.79 percentage points.Gambhir, though, said the team was monitoring the workload of Jasprit Bumrah, who has played each of India’s three Tests so far in this home season.”Once the [New Zealand Test] series is over, we still have around 10 or 12 days before the Test starts in Australia,” Gambhir said. “So, that’s enough break for our fast bowlers. But we will still monitor after the Test match where Jasprit Bumrah is. But it’s not only about Jasprit Bumrah. It’s about all the fast bowlers. We want to keep them fresh. We know that obviously we’ve got a long tour and an important tour of Australia.”But workload management will definitely depend on what the outcome of this Test match is and how much have they bowled in this Test match.”

Alec Stewart will retain his official role at Surrey into the new season after being appointed as the club’s new High-Performance Cricket Advisor from January 2025.Stewart, 61, last week completed his 11-year stint as the club’s director of cricket, after overseeing their third County Championship triumph in consecutive seasons, and the fourth of a tenure that began in 2013.He resigned from that full-time role for personal reasons, with his wife Lynn currently undergoing treatment for cancer – a situation that caused him to take a leave of absence in January 2023.However, the club have chosen not to appoint a direct replacement, a move they had hinted at earlier in the year when mooting a management restructure to fill the void he was set to leave.”You’ve got to understand this club,” Stewart said back in April, when the club’s thoughts first turned to succession planning. “That is a big thing: the expectation, the size of it, the perception of this place. Therefore, if you have been in and around this place… I think it gives you a real headstart, if you understand everything that is expected of Surrey and the Kia Oval.”Now, under the new arrangement, Stewart will work at the club for a fixed number of days a year, charged with overseeing the continued success of the men’s elite game alongside the men’s head coach Gareth Batty and club captain Rory Burns.Related

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“Everyone knows my love of the club and what it means to me and therefore I’m very pleased that the club wanted me to continue in this new role that has been created,” he said.”With this new set-up, I firmly believe that we can continue the success at Surrey that we’ve seen in recent times. I look forward to continuing my working relationship with Gareth, Rory and the team.”A total of 12 cricketers have made England debuts during Stewart’s tenure at the club, nine of whom have come through the club’s Talent Pathway, which is more than at any other county in the country. These include Ollie Pope, England’s Test captain in the recent series against Sri Lanka, as well as Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith, the two breakout stars of England’s 2024 summer.Stewart’s role in nurturing these players has been widely credited, with Pope – whom he first encountered as an Under-9s player – saying at the start of the summer he “couldn’t imagine” life at the Kia Oval without him.As a consequence, Stewart will continue to advise on the Surrey Talent Pathway, with the aim of maintaining the flow of talented cricketers who have the ability to represent the club across formats, and ultimately England.”We completely understood and accepted Alec’s decision to step back from his Director of Cricket role at the start of the season but we always wanted to retain his expertise and his impact at Surrey,” Oli Slipper, Surrey’s chair, said. “We’ve had excellent conversations with Alec around a common ground that worked for him and for the club and I’m thrilled to say that we have found a role that works for all parties.”Steve Elworthy, Surrey’s CEO, added: “Alec has played a pivotal role in the success of the club over many years, not just lifting trophies but the conveyor belt of talent that has progressed through the Talent Pathway. That he will continue to shape the men’s professional set up, albeit in a changed role, is brilliant for the club.”We will not be replacing Alec but will be looking to individuals already at the club to take on new responsibilities. The foundations of the success of the elite group have been built by Alec and we are very pleased that we will retain his support in the future.”His appointment means the Stewart family’s association with Surrey will extend into its eighth decade next season. Alec’s father Micky, after whom the pavilion at the Kia Oval is named, began his 18-year playing career at the club in 1954, before taking over as manager from 1979 to 1986.Stewart himself played for the club between 1981 and 2003, and had the main gate at the Vauxhall End renamed in his honour in 2006, while his brother Neil is a longstanding coach in the club academy.

Australian Daniel Hughes made 144 as second division leaders Sussex established a strong position after day one against Derbyshire at Hove.Derbyshire elected to bowl first then saw Hughes and Tom Haines put on 196 in just 36 overs. Haines made 72 and after Hughes departed Tom Alsop hit an unbeaten 69 as Sussex closed on 391 for 4.It was just the response they would have wanted after losing only their second game of the season to promotion rivals Yorkshire last week.They began the game six points clear of second-placed Middlesex and nine ahead of Yorkshire, who are playing each other at Headingley, but three of their remaining four matches are at the 1st Central County Ground where they won three out of four this season and know the conditions well.Once again there was a good covering of grass on the pitch which would have influenced Derbyshire skipper David Lloyd’s decision to insert Sussex but his seamers, armed with the Kookaburra ball which is being used for the next two rounds of Vitality County Championship fixtures, struggled for consistency, particularly before lunch, and Hughes and Haines cashed in.It wasn’t until deep into the second session, when spinners David Lloyd and Jack Morley operated in tandem, that the run rate dipped below five an over but by then Sussex had taken control.Hughes offered one chance on 35 when he drove at Zak Chappell, but Derbyshire skipper Wayne Madsen couldn’t hold on to the edge diving to his right at second slip, and by lunch the two left-handers had plundered 161 from 28 overs, targeting the short boundary on the scoreboard side.Hughes duly eased to the ninth first-class hundred of his career just after lunch and it was a surprise when he fell for 144 off 142 balls. South African Daryn Dupavillon had bowled a wide earlier in the over when he speared another delivery outside off stump which Hughes could have ignored, but instead under-edged to keeper Brooke Guest. Hughes hit 18 fours and three sixes, but it was a somewhat tame end to an excellent innings by the 35-year-old from Sydney, who has already confirmed that he will return to Sussex next season. It was also the 1500th century scored against Derbyshire in all formats.Haines had already departed for a fluent 72 when Chappell tempted him into a loose drive and this time Madsen held on at slip while Tom Clark, one of the five left-handers in Sussex’s top six, squandered a promising start when left-armer spinner Morley found extra bounce and the edge looped to slip high off the bat.But by then Alsop was easing to his seventh half-century of the season as he added 66 for the fourth wicket with James Coles, who looked untroubled until he played across the line to off-spinner Lloyd. Alsop has yet to convert any of those fifties into a hundred but he won’t have a better opportunity when he resumes tomorrow, having so far put on 39 for the fifth wicket with captain John Simpson, who was dropped by Madsen off Dupavillon on 21 late in the day.

Cricket South Africa [CSA] will host a three-day diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) Indaba (conference) from Friday, with the main aim of identifying a roadmap to ensure a demographically-reflective national men’s team by the 2027 ODI World Cup at home.They will also address issues of representation in the game overall but have changed the labelling of the event from Transformation to DEI to reflect an agenda that addresses the cricketing infrastructure in totality and is not entirely focused on a particular race group.”It is not only about black players but about building a diverse structure,” Mudutambi Ravele, CSA board member and DEI Chairperson told ESPNcricinfo. “For example, we have looked at the data from the Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) province and seen that the number of players of Indian heritage has got less and less. We want to address that. We have looked at Limpopo and there are no white players. We can’t have that. We want to address the issues holistically.”The cases explained above are important when contextualised against the backdrop of South Africa’s history, demographics, and national representation in cricket. While 84.8% of the population is black African, before readmission in 1992, South Africa fielded all-white national sides. Since then, efforts have been made to reflect the country’s other, and most significantly, majority race group, but there was only one black African player in the T20 World Cup 2024 squad – an issue that raised concerns and makes the timing of this conference important.Related

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While CSA has expressed concerns with the lack of black African international players, they also hope to develop the game holistically, especially in places where they can identify gaps in the talent pool such as in Ravele’s examples. The KZN province is the area in the country with the largest percentage of people of Indian descent – 9.3% compared to 2.7% countrywide – while Limpopo, the northernmost province of the country, has a 97.3% black African population but still around 2% of white citizens. Both those race groups have historically high participation in cricket and CSA will seek to understand why those numbers have dipped.However, even their more wide-reaching approach does not take away from the key problem which is the lack of black African representation, that could set CSA back on the agreed annual targets with the country’s sports ministry. In 2016, failure to meet targets saw CSA, and three other sporting federations, banned from hosting major events and with 2027 in mind, CSA is keen to demonstrate a strong commitment to change.When asked why Kagiso Rabada was the only black African in the T20 World Cup squad, South Africa’s white-ball coach Rob Walter pointed to the domestic system and asked it to “really up the ante”. Broadly, CSA agrees with him. At the time, they recognised that “various initiatives that have been pursued over the years have not yielded the desired results,” and now, Ravele said they continue to look at the domestic system to identify where it is lacking.”We want to look at the pool of players who are available and how we can support them to stay in the pool. There are a number of social issues that affect players from disadvantaged backgrounds.”CSA has also launched a specialised program for black African batters since this is an area of particular need.Walter will be present at the DEI , where he will be part of a panel of a discussion with black African batter Khaya Zondo, women’s international bowler Tumi Sekhukhune and former selector Patrick Moroney, who served on South Africa’s last panel under Victor Mpitsang.The selection committee was done away with when Walter and Test coach Shukri Conrad (who will not be in attendance as he readies the squad to leave for a two-match series in West Indies) were appointed last January. As head coaches, they were given sole decision-making powers over their squad selections. This is likely to change with some inside CSA pushing for the return of a panel, which Ravele supports. “A panel helps a lot because there are different views and people can think more broadly. There are more ideas,” she said.If the re-introduction of a selection panel emerges as one of the recommendations from the , it will still need to be ratified by CSA’s board but will ultimately take away Walter and Conrad’s independence.Kagiso Rabada was the only black African in South Africa’s T20 World Cup squad•ICC/Getty Images

The squad Walter picked for the T20 World Cup 2024 was South Africa’s most successful and reached the final for the first time, but Ravela would not be drawn into conflating their success with the issue of representation. “The squad did really well, but did they do well because they didn’t have black players? I think we should view their performance as a matter of progress, as they have been to the semi-finals several times before.”She stressed that CSA will not revert to stipulating a quota for XIs, as they have done in the past, but remain set on average goals. “For the national teams, we don’t put a number of players per event. We want to develop a plan for the year and ask what combinations of players can be used to make sure we are fielding diverse teams.”As things stand, South Africa’s national teams are required to field, on average over the course of a season, at least six players of colour of which two must be black African. At the provincial level, the same target is expected to be met but at least three of the six players of colour must be black African.The SA20, in which CSA owns the majority share although teams are privately owned, has no transformation target or even expectation imposed on it and will remain untouched. Ravele hoped that the franchise owners would keep South Africa’s segregated history and attempts at redress “in the back of their minds,” but so far, the competition is the least representative domestic event. In 2024, there were 13 black African players listed across the six squads, with one – the Pretoria Capitals – having none at all. Of those, only Rabada (MI Cape Town), Junior Dala, Tony de Zorzi (both Durban’s Super Giants), Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo (both Paarl Royals) and Sibonelo Makhanya (Joburg Super Kings) played more than one match for their team.

There were geniuses at play in Bridgetown, wearing the India blue as they cruised to victory in their first Super Eight game against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup 2024. The pitch, once again, was tough to bat on: slow and offering purchase to everyone willing to roll their fingers across the ball. Suryakumar Yadav, though, found a way to prosper as he often does in T20 cricket, helping his team post an above-par total of 181 for 7. That brought Jasprit Bumrah into the fray and he immediately set about dismantling Afghanistan, his two early strikes leaving them indisposed for the rest of the chase.

The old guard

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma did not play a single T20I between the end of the previous World Cup in 2022 and January this year. But they’re here now because they want that medal around their neck. They want to be world champions. And to that end, they’ve been open to batting in a different way. Rohit made only 8 off 13 but he looked to hit a boundary off six of those balls. Kohli was going smoothly but he wasn’t willing to settle for that. He looked to hit Rashid Khan for six and got caught.After being burned in big matches for being too conservative, India have ditched the safety-first approach. And the reason for that played out in the middle overs of this game. When Kohli fell, ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster had their total tracking down by 18 runs to 171. In the space of a mere six balls, the other batters had it tracking back up by the same number of runs. India were set to reach 189 now. That’s how quickly a game can change in this format. That’s why it’s better to have tried and failed than not try and all.

Surya on song

It’s possible India knew this all along but were holding back because they weren’t comfortable with the options they had down the order. That’s changed now because their best T20 batter mans the No. 4 position.Suryakumar played some special shots – not in the way you usually associate with, where he finds a soft spot in the laws of physics and mercilessly pokes holes in them. But more in terms of just knowing his areas and trusting his skill. Even the one time when he made jaws drop to the floor – dragging Azmatullah Omarzai from somewhere off the wide line to the square-leg boundary – he was just trying to put away a full toss. The legside was the shorter boundary. It just made sense.Jasprit Bumrah struck off his second ball against Afghanistan and finished with 3 for 7•CREIMAS

Suryakumar focused on three things while he was out there. Sweep to mess with the wristspinners. He played four and each of them resulted in a boundary. Smash whenever the quicks went too full. He struck a six that sailed into the three Ws stand and held his pose. Worrell, Weeks and Walcott would’ve loved that. Finally swipe – after making sure to hold his shape – when they went slower ball. First time he tried it, he got beaten. Second time, he nearly hit the ball out of the ground. This was a classic case of an attacking batter paring down his options to just those he knew would succeed in the conditions.Suryakumar was box office, even without bat in hand. In between the innings, he admitted that he was nervous. “I began chewing my gum harder when Kohli got out.” But he knew he couldn’t let himself be bogged down. “It was important to keep the intent up.” India do not want to fall into the same traps as before. This World Cup, they’re going to bat like they have a full ten wickets to spare.

Bumrah on fire

He has twice as many wickets as he’s conceded boundaries (8 vs 4) in this T20 World Cup. Bumrah is undeniably India’s most important player. He came on to bowl after Rahmanullah Gurbaz had struck a lion’s share of the 13 runs in the first over of the chase. He had seen, in the first innings, that slower balls had been mighty effective (five wickets for 30 runs at an economy rate of 7.2). Immediately, he dialled one up and also shifted his line real wide to deny Gurbaz the straight hit that he likes so much. Assessing the conditions and the opposition to that degree that quickly is the reason why he is an all-format great. He gave away only seven runs, the second-fewest by an Indian bowling four overs in a T20I.There were further positives as well. Kuldeep Yadav, back in the XI to exploit favourable conditions, picked up 2 for 32. Axar Patel began with a wicket-maiden in the powerplay. Ravindra Jadeja had a good run out as well. And Arshdeep recovered from a two-over spell for 22 runs to almost pick up a hat-trick in the dying moments.