Shahid Afridi’s four wickets gave Hampshire promise of victory but they dried up with the bat as Kent kept their last-eight hopes alive

ECB Reporters Network01-Aug-2017Shahid Afridi’s four wickets were to no avail•Getty Images

Mitchell Claydon defended 16 in the final over to back up Daniel Bell-Drummond’s ninth career T20 fifty as Kent edged a last over thriller to beat Hampshire by five runs in the Natwest T20 Blast.England Lions star Bell-Drummond carefully hit 62 to help the visitors reach 159 for six on a slow track.Hampshire faltered in the second half of the innings to fall short. They needed 37 from 28 balls when Australian George Bailey was the third wicket to fall. Liam Dawson managed 5 from 9 balls and No. 3 Tom Alsop was left high and dry with 43 from 41 balls with only two boundaries.Hampshire’s captain James Vince expressed his disappointment at a victory that eluded his side: “For three quarters of the game we did better than them but we struggled to find the boundary in the second half of our innings,” he said. “We needed 72 from 10 overs with eight wickets in hand – it was a bit of a mess up but we have to move on for Friday.”He defended the decision not to push Shahid Afridi up the order to No 6, saying: “Afridi hasn’t really hit it miles yet this season and McManus has been in really good touch. We didn’t lose a wicket for a while so no one went in and we left too much to do in the back end. In hindsight we would have liked to win that with an over to spare.”Vince and Rilee Rossouw had got Hampshire off to a quick start in their quest to reach 160. Skipper Vince in particular took a fancy to Mitchell Clayton, who he dispatched for the match’s first six over cover in the fourth over.But the fast bowler hit back three balls later as Rossouw picked out Alex Blake at mid-on to break the 43-run opening partnership. Vince departed to the final ball of the powerplay as he was yorked by former teammate Matt Coles – as Hampshire sped to 60 in the opening six overs.Spin pair Imran Qayyum and James Tredwell put the brakes on Hampshire’s charge with tight middle overs. And from then on the hosts struggled, Bailey and Alsop neatly added 40 to take their side to 28 runs from victory before the Australian chipped a paddle sweep to short fine leg for a season best 41.Liam Dawson then picked out Blake on the long on boundary to leave his side needing 16 from the final over. But Claydon brilliantly defended the last six balls, as he only went for 10, to lift Kent’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.Earlier, Kent captain Sam Northeast won the toss and decided to bat on a grubby track under thin grey clouds.Joe Denly and Bell-Drummond set off at an understated rate, which set the tone for the innings. Denly cracked back-to-back fours off Chris Wood in the second over, two of just 12 boundaries in the Kent total, as they reached 47 by the end of the Powerplay. Mason Crane broke the 65-run opening stand when he bowled Denly with a googly.Skipper Northeast was bowled for a quick 10 and Sam Billings picked out Crane on the long on boundary as Afridi showed his class by going on to take four wickets.England Lions star Bell-Drummond continued to tick the score along effortlessly and reached a 33-ball fifty. Afridi was keeping things tight at the other end but waited until his final over to blow the visitors away by snatching two wickets in two balls.James Neesham top edged a sweep to short third man and Bell-Drummond was brilliant caught by a sliding Dawson on the cover boundary – leaving Afridi with his third best Hampshire T20 figures of 4 for 26.Alex Blake and Darren Stevens struck a quick 39 to lift Kent to 159 although the latter was caught at mid-off at the final ball as Kyle Abbott deceived him with a slower ball – but the score was enough.

Sri Lanka Cricket, who had already named a T20 squad ahead of the ODI series against India, have now announced a new 15 two days ahead of the one-off game

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Sep-2017Although Sri Lanka Cricket had already named a T20 squad ahead of the ODI series, two days out from the one-off match against India, the board has released a new squad, this one featuring legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay and seam-bowling allrounder Dasun Shanaka.

Sri Lanka’s revised T20 squad

Upul Tharanga (capt), Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Dilshan Munaweera, Dasun Shanaka, Milinda Siriwardana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Isuru Udana, Seekkuge Prasanna, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Vikum Sanjaya

Also in this side are spinner Akila Dananjaya, who was Sri Lanka’s most penetrative bowler in the ODIs, seamer Suranga Lakmal, who has recovered from a back complaint, and allrounders Wanindu Hasaranga, Thisara Perera and Milinda Siriwardana. Seam bowler Isuru Udana has also been named, while Dushmantha Chameera and Vishwa Fernando have been omitted.Kusal Mendis, whom the management feels is suffering from mental fatigue, has been rested as well.Vandersay has not played a T20 for Sri Lanka since the World T20 last year, which is perhaps surprising, as he had been one of the team’s standout players in that tournament. His return was complicated by injury, but the selectors have tried other spinners ahead of him as well. Notably absent from this 15 is left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan – a more aggressive but expensive option.*On the seam-bowling front Sri Lanka have Lasith Malinga, in addition to Lakmal and Vikum Sanjaya. The most senior batsman is Angelo Mathews, and this will also be Upul Tharanga’s first match as full-time T20 captain.T20s are the one format in which Sri Lanka have a creditable record in 2017. They won both the three-match series against Australia and South Africa, and drew the two-match series against Bangladesh to keep a 5-3 win-loss record. The victories over Australia and South Africa, however, were against substantially depleted teams.The match is scheduled to be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 6.*The story had earlier stated Seekkuge Prasanna had been ommittted. However, he is in the squad.

The India batsman will be available until January 15 and will miss the last stages of the tournament to prepare for the national team’s tour to South Africa

Shashank Kishore18-Oct-2017Batsman Veda Krishnamurthy has been signed by the Hobart Hurricanes for the third edition of the Women’s Big Bash League, which starts from December 9. Krishnamurthy will be part of the Hurricanes’ overseas contingent, alongside England’s Lauren Winfield and West Indies’ Hayley Mathews, and will be available until January 15 before returning for national duties.Currently, Krishnamurthy and Harmanpreet Kaur are the two Indian players in the WBBL line-up, with the latter set to continue her stint with the Sydney Thunder. ESPNcricinfo understands allrounder Deepti Sharma is also in negotiations with a number of franchises, while Smriti Mandhana, who represented the Brisbane Heat last year, could miss out this season. It is not yet clear if the franchise will renew her contract.Krishnamurthy has stated she is available for ten matches and will miss the last stages of the tournament to prepare for India’s tour of South Africa, which starts from mid-February. The WBBL final is scheduled for February 4.”The offer came about a month ago. I was pleasantly surprised because I wasn’t expecting it,” Krishnamurthy told ESPNcricinfo. “Because our South Africa tour dates weren’t announced then. We were expecting it [the tour] to be in January, so there was some confusion if I’d be able to take up the offer.”Initially, they wanted my availability for the full season. But now, they are okay with me missing the last stages to accommodate the South Africa tour in February. At the moment, I’ll be playing 10 games for Hobart Hurricanes.”I spoke to Harman and Smriti about what to expect. It’s exciting to play in a brand new country, interact with new cultures. I think this is a direct result of ICC promoting the game well. With the World Cup being so well received, new avenues have opened up for cricketers from around the world. This deal is a direct recognition of India’s performance at the World Cup. To play in that environment with some of the world’s best will surely add a new dimension to my game.”Krishnamurthy was a key member of India’s squad that finished runners-up at the 2017 Women’s World Cup. Her unbeaten 45-ball 70 in a must-win game against New Zealand helped India secure a semi-final berth.

The Australia captain acknowledges the importance of using Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood in short bursts, but assures that they are more than capable of keeping at it for longer periods

Brydon Coverdale at The Gabba22-Nov-20171:24

Net sessions with Cummins and Starc have been scary – Smith

If recent net sessions are anything to go by, Australia’s pace trio could be even tougher for England’s batsmen to face than Mitchell Johnson was in 2013-14, captain Steven Smith has said. At the Gabba this week, Australia will for the first time field a Test pace attack consisting of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, an exciting state of affairs for Smith, given the promise that all three men have shown over the past few years.”It has been exciting watching them bowl in the nets,” Smith said on Wednesday. “I think back to 2013-14, when Mitchell was bowling in the nets – these guys are just as nasty, if not more nasty, to be perfectly honest. A couple of the net sessions I have had against Cummins and Starc have been quite scary, so that is really exciting for us.”Cummins will play his first Test on home soil, and one of the question-marks will be how his body holds up over the course of a five-Test series. After bursting on to the Test scene as a teenager in South Africa in 2011, he has spent much of his career sidelined by injuries, and has still played only 15 first-class matches.The lack of an allrounder in Australia’s line-up could also mean a significant workload for the three fast men, along with offspinner Nathan Lyon; among the batsmen, only Steven Smith and David Warner could feasibly be used to bowl a few overs, and even that in only very occasional capacities. That could limit Smith’s ability to use his quicks in short, impactful spells as Michael Clarke used Johnson in 2013-14.”In an ideal world, yeah, that would be how I would like to use them as much as I could,” he said. “I think back to 2013-14, we had the luxury of someone like Shane Watson there, who bowled 15 overs an innings, kept things really tight and gave those guys that little bit of extra rest so Johnson could come on and do what he did.”We have only got four frontline bowlers here at the moment. At times, I will try to use them in shorter spells, but they are also comfortable bowling a little bit longer. I know that some of them, when they get into rhythm, they like to keep on going and they actually bowl a bit quicker at the back end of their spells.”The lack of a fifth bowling option will only increase the importance of Lyon, whose provocative comments in the lead-up to the series suggest a man full of confidence. For perhaps the first time in his career, Lyon has not had to deal with speculation about Australia fielding an all-pace attack – hardly surprising, given that over the past year he has taken nearly twice as many Test wickets as any other Australian.”I think with England, a lot of left-handers, Nathan Lyon is going to be an important bowler for us,” Smith said. “He has been bowling particularly well, he is probably bowling as well as I have seen him bowl. I think he has grown in confidence a lot over the last year, even in the way he talks to me out in the field, he is willing to throw out suggestions, come over the wicket to a left-hander – things that he probably wasn’t comfortable doing just over a year ago.”I think he has grown in confidence a lot in his place around the team, in his ability, the way he is bowling. And the consistency he is bowling with is really good for us. I am excited; I think he bowls really well on wickets that bounce a bit, something like out there at the Gabba. I think he had a lot of success last time against England in the game out here.”Not surprisingly, Cricket Australia scheduled the first Test at the Gabba after last year’s experiment of starting the summer at the WACA, where South Africa secured a 177-run win. By comparison, Australia have not lost a Test at the Gabba since the heyday of West Indies, who beat Allan Border’s men at the venue in 1988.”We know these grounds like the back of our hands,” Smith said. “The Gabba has been a fortress for Australia cricket for a long period of time, and no doubt it is important that we start really well in this first Test match here.”

The Sylhet captain led from the front, finishing with his maiden five-wicket haul, and ensuring that the team’s play-off hopes remained alive

The Report by Sreshth Shah03-Dec-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball updatesNasir Hossain roars after taking a wicket•Raton Gomes/BCB

Sylhet Sixers kept their hopes of qualifying into the playoffs as they walloped Chittagong Vikings by ten wickets in Dhaka. Chittagong were bowled out for 67 – the lowest total of BPL 2017 and joint fourth-lowest of all time – and Sylhet cruised to victory with 53 balls to spare. It was the largest margin of victory – in terms of balls remaining – this season.Nasir Hossain, the captain, took his maiden T20 five-wicket haul, and he was assisted by the spin duo of Nabil Samad (3 for 7) and Sharifullah (2 for 32) as Chittagong were bowled out in the 12th over of their innings.Nasir’s double strikeAs Sylhet displayed in their wicket-less chase, the pitch was not a difficult one to bat on. But Chittagong were adamant about being over-aggressive and paid a steep price for it. Luke Ronchi started the game off with a first-ball six off Nasir, but the Sylhet captain bowled his opposite number the very next ball. Four deliveries later, Soumya Sarkar, the other opener, checked his drive to a ball that held up after pitching, handing Nasir the easiest of catches. At the end of the first over, Chittagong’s score read 7 for 2.Nasir continued to chip away at the wickets, by bowling slow and maintaining a tight line. In his second over, he had the dangerous-looking Luis Reece lbw for 12. In this third, he trapped Tanbir Hayder plumb lbw with an arm ball. And in his last over, Nasir got one to bounce a little more than Stiaan van Zyl expected, forcing the batsman to mis-hit to midwicket. By the time Nasir bowled himself out, Chittagong were 45 for 6.The Nabil, Sharifullah assist Nasir may have finished with five wickets to his name, but Sylhet’s other two spinners played important roles as well. They kept a check on Chittagong’s scoring from the other end and took five wickets of their own. Their seven overs cost only 30 runs and ensured there wasn’t a last-minute rearguard.Fletcher, Rizwan make it look easyThe fact that there were no demons in the pitch was made amply clear when the Sylhet openers Andre Fletcher and Mohammad Rizwan cut, swept and pulled their way to an unbeaten partnership of 68 in 67 balls with ten fours and a six.

Former spearhead Glenn McGrath, however, prefers that Australia play the left-arm quick only if he is “100% fit”

Daniel Brettig in Sydney02-Jan-20181:11

‘Play Starc only if 100% fit’ – McGrath

A recovering Mitchell Starc is a strong chance to return to Australia’s team for the fifth Ashes Test at the SCG, though he would be doing so over the objections of the former spearhead Glenn McGrath, who believes the left-arm quick should only resume bowling when he is “100% fit”.Having failed to recover from a bruised heel in time to take part in the Boxing Day Test, Starc bowled off his full run for about 30 minutes in the SCG nets on Tuesday, and is clearly eager to front up on his home ground alongside fellow New South Welshmen Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. The captain Steven Smith, meanwhile, took a rare day off the nets due to some back soreness but is expected to be fine to play.

SCG Pink Test marks 10 seasons

When Glenn and Jane McGrath founded a breast cancer charity in 2005, they intended to raise awareness about the affliction and also to help ensure sufferers were afforded as much support as possible. The first “pink” day three of the SCG Test followed, and in 2018 the Jane McGrath foundation marks 10 years of that day.
“Great to be back here and to think 10 years have gone by is amazing,” McGrath said. “The SCG was my home ground, my favourite cricket ground in the world, so anytime I get to come out here is pretty amazing. But to be the Sydney Pink Test as we call it now makes it that much more special and for 10 years to have gone past is incredible – each year it seems to get bigger and bigger. The way the cricket community has got together and supported the foundation is amazing, I think we’ve got 119 McGrath breast care nurses, supporting more than 160,000 individuals and families going through breast cancer.”
The foundation’s fundraising goal for this match is A$1.3 million equivalent to the employment of 10 full-time breast care nurses over 12 months, who can provide support for 1000 individuals. This year’s events will also feature a “pink picnic” at the Sydney Football Stadium for those unable to get into the SCG, with the cricket to be played on a big screen, and pink picnic rugs and a hampers provided.

With nearly two months between this match and the first of Australia’s tour of South Africa, Starc has the opportunity for a break in between, even if he is named in the squad for the ODI series against England. The announced is due on Wednesday. McGrath, who was famously averse to any sort of resting or management during his long and durable career, said he would prefer to see Australia be cautious with Starc, given the niggardly nature of heel injuries and the looming South African assignment.”You want him playing but you want him at 100% and you want to make sure next series he’s ready to go at 100%, so if Starcy’s not 100% I’d be tempted to rest him, unfortunately for the Sydney public,” McGrath said. “They want to see him performing on his home ground and he wants to be out there as well, but you’ve got to think ‘ok, South Africa’s important’, so we’ll wait and see.”As a player you want to play every game, you really only think about the next game and do whatever you can to get through it. When you’ve got important series, South Africa coming up, Australia have won this series here, he’s such an integral part of the Australian line-up. I think they missed him in Melbourne more so bowling to the tail, because the pace and the lengths he bowls, he can clean up a tail pretty quickly.”The SCG strip, part of a natural wicket block as opposed to the MCG’s drop-in surface, is another factor for the selectors, as its extra live grass may be more helpful to Jackson Bird, who had little joy when replacing Starc in Melbourne. How much the wicket is shaved and whether it dries out much more ahead of Thursday’s coin toss will also determine whether Ashton Agar becomes a serious chance to join Lyon in a dual spin attack.Cummins, who is expected to play his first Test on his home ground, said Starc’s heel was showing good signs in that it had not worsened at all since the first time the left-armer experienced pain, as opposed to the more serious ailment Cummins had suffered during his 2011 Test debut in Johannesburg. But he agreed that it would not be wise to risk Starc’s ability to take part in South Africa.1:34

Starc confident he’s going to play – Cummins

“I’d say that [South Africa] is probably the big concern. If it was really bad that’s I guess what would keep him out,” Cummins said. “But it’s different to me. He can walk around. Each time I kind of bowled a spell it got worse and worse. The way he was saying, it was almost worse in the first innings and stayed the same for the whole Perth match.”And the last couple of weeks it’s definitely got a lot better. So it’s definitely different to what I had. By the end of my match, or even the first innings, I could hardly walk. It’s like anything. It’s a bruise. If you keep smashing it, it will get bigger and bigger. But he says it’s in a good spot now. I think if he doesn’t think he can get through this match he wouldn’t play but we’ll find out in the next couple of days.”Starc joined Cummins, Hazlewood, Bird, Smith and his deputy David Warner for a conference in the middle of the SCG before training, in which the subject up for discussion was swinging the ball. Both conventional and reverse swing are likely to factor in Sydney, and Cummins said the assistant coach David Saker had been at pains to discuss taking care of the ball to ensure it would be capable of doing both.”We were actually just talking about swinging the ball and the keys,” Cummins said. “Obviously for bowlers our major tool is the ball, batters the bat. It’s about getting our message the same, which side to shine. It’s kind of sometimes a decision of ‘when do we start shining it one side or the other to get it reversing’ and things like that. I thought both teams did it pretty well in Melbourne.”He also assuaged concerns that the Australians needed Starc to be playing in order to take 20 wickets. “We’ve seen Birdy out the back there he’s bowled beautifully on this wicket and all season in the Shield and taken lots of wickets,” Cummins said. “So I think he’ll fit in pretty seamlessly and here at the SCG. Hopefully there’s a bit more spin for Gazza [Lyon] and we saw how important the first couple of games were when the ball spun, how damaging he can be.”I think we’ll be fine, we’ve got Mitch Marsh in as well. The good thing about our group at the moment is we can all get up for a big spell and it feels like anyone can bowl that big spell that can crack a game open. It doesn’t feel like there’s one spearhead.”For his part, McGrath said he was not in favour of allowing fielding teams more latitude in terms of deliberate bounce throws to encourage greater reverse swing, a practice both teams were warned about by the umpires at the MCG. “You try to look after the ball and get it swinging on pitches like in [Melbourne] where there’s nothing happening,” he said.”Sometimes in India where the pitches are quite flat. But I think conditions in India are a little more abrasive anyway. Not sure how I feel about that. If that [bounce throwing] happens naturally fair enough, but if it’s intentionally throwing it in the deck any chance they get, I think there is a bit of a line there.”

The schedule for the CPL has been selected to avoid matches coinciding with West Indies’ international games, allowing marquee players to submit their names for this year’s draft

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2018A window for the sixth edition of the Caribbean Premier League has been finalised, with the tournament to take place between August 8 and September 16. The schedule for the CPL has been set to avoid matches coinciding with West Indies’ international games, allowing marquee players to submit their names for this year’s draft.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Speaking at the announcement, CPL’s chief operating officer Pete Russell said, “The Hero CPL is now the start of our domestic season and we are delighted that we have found a window when all of the best cricketers from the Caribbean will be available to take part. We are sure that 2018 will be the biggest season yet.”The opening games of the CPL, which comprises six teams, will take place in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.The window for the CPL will, however, clash with the Natwest T20 Blast, England’s domestic T20 tournament, which will run from July till September.

After having lost to the hosts in the tournament opener, India face a side that have come into this series a little bruised

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Mar-2018

Big Picture

Almost everyone remembers Bangladesh-India match. World T20, 2016, Bangladesh need two runs from three balls to knock out the hosts. Instead, a senior batsman allows his emotions to get the better of him, and India pounce to claim a heart-stopping one-run victory.Two years later, Bangladesh players are still asked questions about this match. Have the wounds from that game healed? Will the World T20 clash play on their minds if they find themselves in a similar situation? Perhaps they have the skill, but do they possess the nerve to overcome this opponent?It does not help that even without some of their most formidable T20 players, India appear the more confident side. Though defeated by the hosts on Tuesday, they have a powerful top order, and a promising attack – even if it is a little short on experience.Bangladesh have the raw materials in place, but following a poor home series against Sri Lanka, they have come into this series a little bruised. Without Shakib Al Hasan in the top order, they are not producing runs as consistently as they have done over the past two years, and their bowling appears a little light – particularly as Mustafizur Rahman’s efficiency has recently waned.They do, however, have one thing this Indian side does not have – a win on Sri Lankan soil, on this trip. A comprehensive victory in their practice match in Colombo on Tuesday will have helped repair some of the damage sustained in their most-recent series. Whether that is sufficient to put them on even terms with India, remains to be seen.

Form guide

BangladeshLLLLW (completed matches, most recent first)
India LWLWWAssociated Press

In the spotlight

Shikhar Dhawan came into the tournament with good T20 form, and on Tuesday hit a 49-ball 90 – his highest score in the format. Although he was by far India’s highest scorer, his innings was not without a little luck. He was often awkward against the short ball, top edging no fewer than three for six. If he shows a similar vulnerability on Thursday, in Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh do possess the quicks that could exploit it.If there is anyone who must exorcise the memory of Bangalore, it is Mushfiqur Rahim who had the game in hand, but then celebrated too early, and ushered in Bangladesh’s failure. With Shakib now out of the side, there is also the added pressure of being one of the few senior men left in the middle order. He arrives with a little form behind him, but should India take early wickets, Mushfiqur’s ability to handle the occasion may prove crucial to the outcome.

Team news

Bangladesh could opt for Nurul Hasan ahead of Sabbir Rahman, while Mehidy Hasan could be picked ahead of a seamer, for his batting. Ariful Haque and Soumya Sarkar are seam-bowling options, if they opt for only two frontline pace bowlers.Bangladesh (possible): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Liton Das, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah (capt.), 6 Ariful Haque, 7 Nurul Hasan, 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Nazmul Hossain 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Mustafizur RahmanIndia may think about fielding seamer Mohammed Siraj in place of Shardul Thakur, who was expensive on Monday. Otherwise, they may remain unchanged – though it is also possible that KL Rahul could enter the top order.India (possible): 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma (capt.), 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Rishabh Pant, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Vijay Shankar, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Pitch and conditions

A standard Khettarama pitch is expected – half decent for batting, but a little on the slow side. It is possible – but not likely – that an evening thunderstorm will blow through.

Stats and trivia

• Bangladesh have lost all five T20s they have played against India.
• India have not lost two T20s in a row since 2016. They have played 19 completed T20s since then.
• Shikhar Dhawan’s 90 on Tuesday is the second-highest T20 score at Khettarama, after Luke Wright’s 99 not out against Afghanistan in 2012.

Quotes

“The Bangalore match was over that day. Accidents occur in cricket. There’s no point sitting with it. It is better to learn from it though.”

Atapattu will take over the captaincy from Inoka Ranaweera for the upcoming home ODIs against Pakistan

Madushka Balasuriya 19-Mar-2018Chamari Atapattu, fresh from her excursion in the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, will take over the captaincy from Inoka Ranaweera for Sri Lanka in the upcoming home series against Pakistan. Nipuni Hansika was named vice-captain.All eyes will be on 17-year old Kavisha Dilhari, who was discovered through an island-wide talent hunt. Dilhari was recently described by Sri Lanka’s high performance manager Simon Willis – who was a part of the talent search team – as a “very competitive beast,” having been playing cricket domestically since she was 15 years of age.”She came to some trials I was at and showed great potential. She showed great maturity for someone her age. Even in match situations she’s a very competitive beast,” he told ESPNcricinfo.”Hence, why we’ve given her the opportunity here. We believe she’s someone we need to back and give the experience and play alongside fantastic players like her captain. And learn from her.”Dilhari is among four changes to the squad from the one that toured the West Indies late last year, with Chamari Polgampola, Sugandika Kumari and Inoshi Fernando the other additions. Making way are Chandima Gunaratne, Hansima Karunaratne, Yashoda Mendis, and Udeshika Prabodhani.Sri Lanka will play three ODIs and three T20Is. All three ODIs will take place in Dambulla on March 20, 22, and 24, and will count for the ICC Women’s Championship. The T20 series will shift the action to Colombo with the first match taking place at the SSC on the 28th, the second at the NCC on 30th, and the final game back at the SSC on the 31st.Sri Lanka and Pakistan have played three matches each in the current cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship. Sri Lanka are placed at the bottom – the only team without a win yet – while Pakistan are sixth with one win to their name.Sri Lanka ODI squad: Chamari Atapattu (captain), Prasadani Weerakkody, Dilani Manodara, Nipuni Hansika, Hasini Perera, Rebecca Vandort, Chamari Polgampola, Shashikala Siriwardena, Ama Kanchana, Achini Kulasooriya, Sripali Weerakkody, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Fernando, Kavishka Dilhani

Medium pacer Yeasin Arafat became the first Bangladeshi bowler to take an eight-wicket haul in List-A cricket as Gazi Group Cricketers cantered to an eight-wicket win against DPL table-toppers Abahani Limited

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Mar-2018Medium pacer Yeasin Arafat became the first Bangladeshi bowler to take an eight-wicket haul in List-A cricket. Arafat’s incredible figures of 8 for 40 helped Gazi Group Cricketers canter to an eight-wicket win against Dhaka Premier League table-toppers Abahani Limited at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium.Playing only his third List-A game, Yeasin rocked Abahani in the third over by removing Saif Hassan and Nazmul Hossain Shanto in the space of three deliveries. He did an encore in his next over, producing another double-strike to dismiss Nasir Hossain and Mosaddek Hossain within three balls. By now, Abahani had slipped to 12 for 5, with Anamul Haque perishing to Tipu Sultan in between the two overs.Mohammad Mithun counter-attacked with 40 as Abahani recovered to 65, but Sultan got his wicket too. Arafat then returned for his second spell, and there was no let-up in intensity, as he took out Mashrafe Mortaza, Sunzamul Islam and Ariful Islam, all in the 23rd over.His eighth wicket arrived in the form of last man Manan Sharma, who had already top-scored with 46, in the 27th over, as Abahani were bowled out for 113. Arafat’s eight-for is the first in List-A matches since 2010, when West Indies A’s Kevin Stoute took 8 for 52 against Lancashire.Having earned the right to do so, Arafat then put his feet up as Jahurul Islam shepherded the chase with an unbeaten 52 off 78 balls. He lost Mahedi Hasan and Mominul Haque early, but Fawad Alam joined him to help complete the chase in 29.5 overs. The pair added 93 runs for the unbroken third-wicket stand.The win also lifted Gazi Group from the DPL’s relegation zone – occupied by the bottom three teams – as they now have 10 points after 10 games.