“The team culture has improved in the last two years under the senior players. We have to continue on that.”

Mohammad Isam24-Jul-2022Bangladesh’s new T20I captain Nurul Hasan wants his side to play “fearless cricket” in Zimbabwe in the three-match series next week. In his first press conference as captain, Nurul offered a glimpse into his thinking as he fended off tough questions about a struggling team and his own performance in the format.BCB named Nurul captain for only their next three T20I games, replacing Mahmudullah who had been in charge since 2019. But it is a major concern that Bangladesh have won only one of their last 13 T20Is, and have stagnated in the format. It is widely believed that Nurul is a stopgap option before Shakib Al Hasan, who has been rested from the Zimbabwe tour, takes over for the Asia Cup next month.Related

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But Nurul is to be taken seriously. He is known for his shy demeanor off the field and his aggression on it. For a cricketer who only returned to the T20I setup in Bangladesh’s most recent series, it is a big ask to lead a side that has so much expectation riding on it. He said that the characteristic of not being too excitable will be handy for him as captain.”It is important to play fearless cricket,” Nurul said. “It creates more opportunity. We want to stick to our process too but we can’t plan too far ahead. Captaincy is definitely a matter of pride but I am thinking more about the challenge ahead. At every level I have led teams, I tried to [get the players to] play as a team. I want to continue that team-first culture.”I have very little expectation and excitement in my life. I don’t worry too much about results or the past. These things don’t really matter to me. I have been successfully doing this for a long time.”Nurul said he would take the best bits of what he has learned from the previous leaders, but believes that captains differ vastly. “I have learned a lot playing under [Mahmudullah] Riyad ,” he said. “I have learned from all our captains, all of whom are quite different. I want to work by taking something from each of those experiences.”The team culture has improved in the last two years under the senior players. We have to continue on that. You can’t mention the contribution of our senior cricketers in one or two words. They have brought Bangladesh cricket to a level, so now our job is to take it forward.”Nurul’s T20I record with the bat is modest – 271 runs at an average of 12.90 and a strike rate of 111.98, with a top score of 30 not out from 29 innings – but he felt those numbers didn’t reflect the extent of his contributions.”The type of batting I do, it creates more impact than what my score often suggests.” he said. “I might score 15-20 runs but it has a direct consequence for the team. I will try to continue in that vein.”Meanwhile, the man widely tipped to take over from Nurul after the Zimbabwe tour endorsed the new captain. “I think he is a worthy captain,” Shakib said. “BCB also feels he can contribute to Bangladesh’s future, which is why they made him the captain. I wish him well. I hope he can overcome the challenge in Zimbabwe.”

Fast bowler says team-mate Broad will reach mark, but rise of T20 leagues will end the appeal

Vithushan Ehantharajah15-Aug-2022James Anderson has expressed his sadness at Trent Boult’s request to be released from his central contract to improve his availability to T20 leagues, and fears Test cricket will struggle in the changing landscape.Following conversations with New Zealand Cricket, Boult and the board agreed to a parting of ways that by no means ends the 33-year-old’s international career, but will see it significantly reduced. In lieu of regular appearances for the Blackcaps, his focus instead will be the franchise circuit, including two lucrative new additions in the UAE and South Africa.NZC chief executive David White told ESPNcricinfo he does not believe this will have a knock-on effect to others within the New Zealand set-up. However Anderson, who turned 40 last month and will pick up his 173rd cap in the first Test against South Africa on Wednesday, believes Boult’s decision is a seismic event given where cricket is headed. He expects more bowlers in particular to go down this path given the rewards on offer.Asked if he was saddened by Boult’s decision, Anderson admitted he was “because Test cricket will probably bear the brunt of it. The easiest thing to do for bowlers is bowl four overs or 20 balls. It takes nothing out of you. And if you’re getting paid just as well, it probably makes sense. It will tempt more people than not.”It is [a big deal that Boult made this choice] because he is such a high-profile international player and I can definitely see it happening more and more now, particularly with bowlers.”Boult’s citation of the schedule and spending more time to his family is something Anderson can appreciate. He knows his workload, significantly eased due to playing no white-ball cricket for England since the 2015 50-over World Cup, has contributed to his longevity. Likewise for his opening partner Stuart Broad, who last represented England in the limited-overs format in an ODI against South Africa in January 2016.”I think Broady will say the same: that we were fortunate our white-ball careers pretty much ended after that World Cup and we could focus on red-ball cricket. That worked out great for us. In the future, I can see it definitely being the other way round – with people picking and choosing their formats, tours, whatever it might be.”Already the most successful fast bowler in Test history, Anderson will become the first forty-plus wicket-taker for England since Graham Gooch during the 1994-95 Ashes, assuming he adds to his 657 dismissals at Lord’s. The previous out-and-out quick to do so as many years young was Leslie Jackson, again against Australia, in July 1961. It is apt that Anderson’s Test debut – against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in May 2003 – even came before the first round of matches in the inaugural Twenty20 Cup, which got underway on June 13 that summer.Related

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“I feel proud to have got to where I have,” Anderson said, reflecting on his feat of endurance. “I feel fortunate as well that I’ve still got the love for the game and the desire to get better and still do the training and the nets and whatever else that comes with it. Because with a lot of people that’s the first thing that goes, and that’s when you start slowing down and winding down. But for me, I feel like that passion is still there. So I feel fortunate for that. I feel fortunate that my body’s still functioning properly and allowing me to do the job that I love.”As for who will be the next player to join that age-bracket, Anderson suggested his long-term partner Broad, who is already 36. However, his follow-up of who else spoke of his view of the game at the moment – a time when the future feels far more relevant than the present:”Definitely not after that because no-one will be stupid enough. Everything that has gone in the world with franchise cricket, the Hundred, short forms of the game, I can’t see anyone wanting to play Test cricket for this long.”As for future-proofing Test cricket, while boards need to assume most of the responsibility for doing so – if they wish – Anderson believes the current players are the ones who must continue to do their bit. Since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have taken over as head coach and captain of England’s Test side, much has been made of how their style of cricket is making the longest format more attractive.While most of that talk has been from English players, much to the derision of others, not least the Proteas who are motivated to burst the so-called “Bazball” bubble, the manner of four victories at the start of the summer against New Zealand and India has reignited the good feeling around the format. It is a responsibility Anderson feels should not be ignored.”Even if we didn’t play this way, I still think Test cricket is an amazing format. We’ve had some brilliant series and matches, not just involving us and between other teams around the world that have been brilliant to watch. So I hope people will see that and want to be a part of it, growing up wanting to play Test cricket.”But, yes, 100 percent our job and responsibility as Test cricketers is to promote the game and encourage as many people as possible to watch it and play it when they get older.”

Derbyshire unable to prise out five more wickets for victory after final-day declaration

ECB Reporters Network08-Sep-2022Derbyshire 306v (du Plooy 82, Came 78, Dal 56, Rushworth 3-60) and 214 for 9 dec (Madsen 58, Raine 5-43, Trevaskis 3-81) drew with Durham 223 (Jones 87, Conners 4-55) and 176 for 5 (Trevaskis 42*)Durham’s Liam Trevaskis and Paul Coughlin denied promotion hopefuls Derbyshire victory in a dramatic end to the LV=Insurance County Championship match at the Incora County Ground.The sixth-wicket pair batted through the final 17 overs to steer Durham to a fighting draw after they had been set 298 in 87 overs. Trevaskis faced 57 balls for an unbeaten 42 and Coughlin was 19 not out off 53 as Durham closed on 176 for 5 from 53 overs.Mark Watt took 2 for 37 in 13 overs but Derbyshire could not force the win that would have taken them to second in Division Two.Durham paceman Ben Raine claimed two more wickets to finish with 5 for 43 in 22 overs before Derbyshire declared on 214 for 9. Derbyshire had batted on for seven overs, adding 29 runs for the loss of Anuj Dal and Nick Potts before the declaration came.With showers forecast in the afternoon, they needed to make early inroads but Michael Jones again started positively, taking three fours from the second over from Nick Potts. Jones had scored 24 out of 26 when he tried to leave a ball from Ben Aitchison and got a bottom edge into his stumps.Aitchison should have had a second when Sean Dickson on 11 edged him low to first slip where Watt spilled the chance at the second attempt. But Derbyshire had a second breakthrough in the next over when Scott Borthwick played across a low dipping full toss from Conners and lost his middle stump.At lunch, Durham required a further 237 in 67 overs but their hopes took another blow when Dal removed Dickson. The allrounder thought he had the opener caught behind earlier and when Dickson missed a big swing and lost his off stump, he gave him a loud and visible send-off.Durham’s chances now rested with Nic Maddinson who drove Watt for consecutive fours before rain stopped play for 20 minutes with the loss of five overs.When play resumed under threatening clouds, Watt broke through in the first over when Maddinson pushed forward at a ball that went on with the arm and was caught behind. Watt struck again in his next over, tempting Jonathan Bushnell into a drive which he edged low to Wayne Madsen at slip.It was now a question of whether the rain would stay away but as the players were leaving the field for bad light, a storm broke over the ground, holding up play for two hours.The umpires decided the match could resume at 4.50pm, which gave Derbyshire 17.1 overs or 103 balls to take five wickets. And there was drama immediately with Coughlin put down at second slip on 1 as he pushed forward at Watt.Trevaskis and Coughlin showed application and good judgement to frustrate Derbyshire who, with seven overs left and the light deteriorating, were unable to use their pace bowlers. With spinners on at both ends, Derbyshire had every fielder in a catching position but the pair stood firm and the home side called off the hunt with one over remaining.There was a touching finale as the players and coaching staff applauded umpire Nick Cook off the field in his last appearance at Derby before he retires at the end of the season.

Ngidi says both teams will be equally under pressure if they are looking to win the World Cup

Mohammad Isam26-Oct-2022Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has deflected attention, and some of the pressure, towards South Africa, their opponents on Thursday at the Sydney Cricket Ground. South Africa had to contend with just one point after rain halted their chase against Zimbabwe in Hobart earlier in the week.Although T20 is a volatile format, recent form and results tell you that South Africa are competing against Pakistan for the second semi-final spot from Group 2, with India favourites to take the other one. Shakib, therefore, didn’t miss the opportunity to remind his opponents what is at stake for them. He also said that Bangladesh’s ODI series win against South Africa earlier this year will give them confidence ahead of the game.”It is a very important match for both sides but for South Africa, who would have expected two points from their first game, this is a do-or-die match,” Shakib said. “They will be under some pressure. We have a win under our belt, and now we will be playing at a ground that normally aids the spinners. The ICC usually tries to produce true wickets in the World Cup so that everyone gets help.”They have a number of world-class players in their side, but we will try to the best of our ability. We have some good memories against them recently, albeit in another format. It will certainly help us mentally. We want to be clear-minded and enjoy the game. We are hopeful of a big crowd since Sydney has a huge Bangladeshi population.”But according to South Africa seamer Lungi Ngidi, both sides will be equally under pressure. He also said that South Africa would look to attack Bangladesh with their seamers.”Think everyone is under pressure in this tournament if you are looking to win,” Ngidi said. “Their claim that we will be hungry to win, that’s definitely true. Obviously, we would have loved a win in the first game and we know now what pressure we have in terms of going forward in the tournament. But to say we are under pressure, I would say it’s pretty equal if you are looking to win the World Cup.”At the moment we are just playing to our strengths. From the games we’ve watched, we have seen that pace has been the most successful, so we are going with our strengths. We would like to attack the Bangladesh side with our strength and that is the pace. Depending on how they handle that, guess we’ll see tomorrow, but all in all we are running with what we are good at.”Bangladesh didn’t fare that well against Netherlands in their nine-run win, with their fast bowlers bailing them out after yet another indifferent batting performance. Shakib, however, said that Bangladesh have the personnel to produce another “heroic” effort against South Africa.”T20 is a game of momentum, so it is important to maintain it,” he said. “T20s also don’t allow you to have a number of performers like Tests and ODIs. But the performance has to be a big one. Tomorrow is going to be another opportunity for one of our 11 to be a hero.”I believe our openers can bat for 20 overs. Or, why can’t our bowlers again take ten wickets? We will go with an open mind. We want to enjoy the match. We want to be aggressive. We want to end the game with a smile on our faces.”Shakib is hopeful that Bangladesh can take down South Africa’s pace attack, especially after openers Soumya Sarkar and Najmul Hossain Shanto gave them a brisk start against Netherlands, adding 43 in 5.1 overs for the first wicket.”The opening stand will give us confidence. Both openers were quite positive [against Netherlands], which was more important than the runs they scored. We should play with more freedom now.”We have played against the South African pacers recently. We know what they can do, and we have been successful in ODIs. I think we can counter their plans and have the upper hand.”He also lauded the Bangladesh pace attack, particularly Taskin Ahmed for his strong showing against Netherlands. It has been one of the better years for Bangladeshi fast bowlers, having led from the front in wins in New Zealand and South Africa.”[Taskin] is one of the leaders now after Mashrafe’s exit. He has done tremendously well in the last two years for Bangladesh. He is leading by example.”We have a very good fast bowling group in all three formats. I can’t be more proud of how they have improved themselves and come this far, and it is showing in the results. I hope they continue their form in this World Cup.”

Kane Williamson, meanwhile, felt New Zealand’s bowlers could have been more disciplined against Pakistan’s openers

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Nov-2022Coming into their semi-final against New Zealand at the SCG, Pakistan had one of the worst powerplay records of any batting team at this World Cup, with a scoring rate of just 5.93 in that phase – only Zimbabwe and Netherlands had done worse. Their openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were under pressure both individually and as a combination, with numerous experts including ESPNcricinfo’s Robin Uthappa suggesting that one of them move down the order, with Mohammad Haris promoted to open.On the big day, however, Babar and Rizwan delivered, scoring brisk fifties and putting on 105 off 76 balls to put Pakistan on top in a chase of 153. They scored 55 of their runs in the first six overs – it was Pakistan’s best powerplay of the tournament, bettering their 42 for 3 against South Africa by a fair distance.Related

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Rizwan was the early aggressor, hitting five fours in the first five overs to race to 26 off 13 balls. While receiving the Player-of-the-Match award for his 43-ball 57, Rizwan said it had been a deliberate ploy from Pakistan to go hard in the powerplay, with the awareness that batting would get harder against the older ball on this used pitch at the SCG.”When we crossed the boundary line, me and Babar decided that we can attack the new ball, because we knew that the pitch was tricky, a little bit difficult, and 150 [153] was a good target on this pitch,” Rizwan said. “We decided we’re going to do hard work and attack these guys, and when we finish the powerplay, one of the guys will go deep, because obviously pitch was tricky, and , Allah helped us and we succeeded.”Kane Williamson felt New Zealand’s bowlers could have been more disciplined with their lines to Babar and Rizwan•AFP/Getty Images

There was clear aggressive intent in a number of Rizwan’s early boundaries, most notably when he swung across the line to belt good-length balls from Tim Southee into the leg side. But some of Pakistan’s early running was also helped by loose bowling from New Zealand’s quicks. Trent Boult, in particular, had an off day – he found Babar’s edge early, only for wicketkeeper Devon Conway to put down a diving chance, but he also offered the batters width on several occasions.New Zealand captain Kane Williamson admitted that his bowlers could have made it harder for Pakistan’s openers.”Fielding was okay,” he said, when asked about New Zealand’s uncharacteristic lapses on the field. “Yeah, look, Babar and Rizwan, at the top of the order, put us under pressure and played really nicely. If we’re honest with ourselves, we wanted to be a little bit more disciplined with our areas, and make that a little bit more difficult to get away on, if we were able to just keep it nice and straight.”Having said that, there’s always different parts of the game you want to touch on to do a little bit better, but at the end of the day Pakistan certainly deserved to be the winners.”Like Rizwan, Williamson also felt New Zealand had posted a fairly challenging total given the conditions.”I thought we were put under pressure early,” he said. “Pakistan bowled really nicely, and we managed to sort of wrestle back some momentum. Unbelievable knock from Daryl Mitchell [53 off 35 balls], and at the halfway stage we were all feeling like that’s a competitive total.”We knew the wicket was a little bit tough, a used surface, and yeah, very disappointing to not make Pakistan work a lot harder for that. They were outstanding, we were outplayed today. Credit goes to their quality – they certainly deserved their win. A tough pill for us to swallow, we certainly pride ourselves in a number of areas, strengths of ours, and didn’t quite do that today.”

Seamer says aggressive gameplans can give her a second wind at back end of career

Valkerie Baynes02-Dec-2022Kate Cross says England Women are ready to embrace a more aggressive approach under the guidance of new head coach Jon Lewis.Upon linking up with his charges at their training base in Loughborough last week, Lewis revealed he wanted them to play less safe and “walk towards the danger” just as he had seen the England Men’s sides do across formats in his previous role as their elite pace bowling coach.It’s an approach that may come naturally to the younger members of the squad, with the likes of Alice Capsey, Freya Kemp, Issy Wong and Lauren Bell all fearlessly grabbing the international opportunities given to them over the summer during the final months of Lisa Keightley’s three-year tenure as head coach.And while Kate Cross, the 31-year-old seamer, believes it will require a “mindset shift” for the team as a whole, she’s all in.”If you’re not willing to move with the times, then you’re going to get stuck behind anyway,” Cross said from Antigua, where the ODI squad is preparing for the first of three matches against West Indies on Sunday.”I’m not daft, I know that people are going to work out how to face me and how to attack me and that’s ultimately going to put pressure on me. So if I can get ahead of that curve now, then that’s pretty handy for me as a player.”How it looks for me might look very different to how it looks for Freya Kemp or Katherine Brunt. That’s where I think Lewy is going to come in and be really clear with our roles in the team, and what that looks like and what is needed from us.”From a bowling point of view, we’ve got such a big unit now and a really exciting unit, that it will be more how we approach the game as a unit, because it’ll be up to the five or six bowlers that are out there to try and bowl teams out. It’s going to be interesting, but I’m really looking forward to it.”Related

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Cross is an admirer of how England Men’s red- and white-ball teams have executed the positive ethos promoted by their respective head coaches, Brendon McCullum and Matthew Mott, reacting on her Instagram stories to an ECB post about the Test team’s feats on the opening day in Pakistan, saying: “Changing the game, this team”. And she said the concept wasn’t completely alien to the Women’s group, who had talked about adopting a similar approach under Keightley and captain Heather Knight over the summer.”Personally for me, it’s a really nice time for this to come in,” she added. “It’s getting that second wind in your career. You don’t want to be the old senior pro that is stuck in their ways and just does what they always do. It feels like a really nice time for me personally as well, to be getting that messaging.”The thing that I’ve noticed with the youngsters is just the lack of fear that they have when they play. That’s probably an element of coming in and making debuts in the Hundred and playing in front of big crowds, and having the opportunity to impress people. Sometimes I think players from my generation could have been doing that, but it was a bit behind the scenes, you weren’t on TV, it wasn’t even live-streamed back then.”Those youngsters are just used to that environment. For me, what is exciting is they don’t really care who’s bowling at them or who they’re bowling at, they just go and do their thing. That’s the making of a really exciting team.”The ODIs in Antigua will form part of the ICC Women’s Championship, in which England are yet to get off the mark following their 3-0 defeat by India in September.Cross is not part of the T20I squad staying on – with Brunt, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Sarah Glenn and Wong joining them – for five matches from December 11. She will return home along with Emma Lamb, Alice Davidson-Richards and Tammy Beaumont after the third ODI in a week’s time but for now she is relishing being back in the Caribbean, where she made her international debut in 2013 and where she came as a youngster herself to watch the men play on the 2004 Test tour.”I remember coming out here as a young kid watching [Steve] Harmison and [Matthew] Hoggard bowling on pitches like this and making West Indian players look silly,” she said. “I also did see Brian Lara get 400, so maybe I shouldn’t say that. But I’m a huge cricket fan, I’ve been lucky to come out here and watch England men play, so it’s great to be back here… it’s a special place for me.”

“I feel so assured of myself right now knowing someone like Belinda Clark has my back”

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jan-2023Shikha Pandey, the India allrounder, has credited former Australia captain Belinda Clark for making her feel “worthy” and “special” during her time away from the national team.In September 2022, Clark facilitated a three-week stint for Pandey in Brisbane, where she played club cricket. That stint nearly paved way for a maiden Women’s Big Bash deal with Brisbane Heat, but Pandey had to turn it down due to her commitments with Goa, her state team.Four months since a memorable stint in Australia, Pandey’s immediate future looks a lot brighter now. She is set to make a comeback after 15 months, having been included in India’s squad for the upcoming T20I tri-series in South Africa and the T20 World Cup next month.Related

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“The one thing that I like about Belinda is that there was less sympathy and more empathy,” Pandey told Scroll.in. “She listened to my story and then worked with me to set different goals – not just cricket related, but outside the game as well.”We worked on my leadership traits, we discussed different podcasts, we worked on how I could make a difference by being in the state side and she made me feel worthy; special, even.”Pandey highlighted a significant shift in mindset as one of her major takeaways from being mentored by Clark. It helped develop a “squad mentality” by promoting a “more inclusive culture” within the teams she turned up for while being away from the national team.”The sessions that I had with her helped me immensely to bring in changes in my team environment. We brought in the squad mentality, started believing more in positive reinforcement, we understood the importance of creating a psychologically safe environment in which players feel valued, and we also started to celebrate our differences and tried to create a more inclusive culture.”Belinda Clark’s statue at the SCG is the first of a female cricketer anywhere in the world•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

“I remember in one of the early sessions, Belinda said something on the lines of how the situations we are facing don’t define us, but what we choose to do in reply to those situations and the decisions that we take to come out of those situations, define us. She kind of made me realise that I had so much more to offer to the game and giving up was not an option.”Pandey believes those conversations helped her embrace her vulnerabilities and accept her struggles.”She told me that it was okay to be different,” Pandey explained. “As long as I was being me, it was fine. As a professional athlete sometimes you are so scared of struggles and low phases you try not to do anything that could risk your ‘safety’ in a sense.”But she explained that you should be willing to experiment, and you need to understand that you will be vulnerable and that’s okay. It’s okay to fail in the pursuit of excellence, that’s how we grow. We need to learn to own our mistakes. Those conversations opened up a lot of things for me.”I feel so assured of myself right now knowing someone like Belinda Clark has my back. I have kept in touch with her throughout and after I got selected I sent her a message and spoke to her the next day. I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ because she was with me at a very low phase and gave me huge confidence to help build myself back up.”Sometimes when things like non-selection happen you start doubting yourself and your abilities so much that you become your own enemy. Knowing that she is in my corner, that she feels I am really good, helped me more than I can say.”

Ben Duckett says England “could have easily had five or six [wickets] tonight”

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2023Ben Stokes made the second-earliest first-innings declaration in Test history on the first day in Mount Maunganui, a decision vindicated when England reduced New Zealand to 37 for 3 under floodlights.England were 325 for 9 after only 58.2 overs when Stokes called time on their innings, a move that his team-mates explained owed to the challenge of facing a new pink ball under lights in a day-night Test.The move was not without precedent: South Africa have twice declared nine-down on the first day of a day-night Test to enable them to bowl under floodlights, against Australia in 2016 and against Zimbabwe in 2017.Related

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“I haven’t played many pink-ball games, but by the looks of it, it’s the hardest time to bat when it’s under lights, and obviously we had the new ball as well,” Harry Brook told talkSPORT. “I think it was a great declaration. To get three wickets there is vital and hopefully we can force a few more early tomorrow.”Speaking at the end-of-day press conference, Brook added: “The best time to bowl is under these lights. You can extract the most amount of swing and seam so why not try and expose their top order to that? It’s the hardest time to bat and we’ve got three of the best bowlers to ever play the game. And thankfully we got three wickets.”It just happened like that, to be honest. There was no plan at dinner to declare. Me and Foakesy [Ben Foakes] were still batting together and if I hadn’t got out, the plan would’ve been the same. But because I got out the plan changed, and Stokesy said if there’re two bowlers in at the same time, give them a couple of overs and we’ll try and utilise the lights.”Ben Duckett, England’s other half-centurion, told talkSPORT: “We knew the conditions under lights tonight were going to suit us with the ball and that was the reason for the declaration.”We could have easily had five or six [wickets] tonight. Stick two on that in the morning and suddenly they’re a long way behind the game and we’re in a very good position.”

Wagner – New Zealand ‘expected’ declaration

Neil Wagner, who took 4 for 82 and then saw out the day as nightwatch, said that New Zealand had “sort of expected” England to declare.”After that dinner break we thought they might come out a little harder, get to the point where they were really trying to up the ante, score as quick as they can and just get us in there,” he said.”We tried to stem the run rate a little bit and eliminate them getting too far ahead of us. We kept trying to take wickets, which brought it back for us at the back end.”

Giants had earlier said Dottin was “recovering from a medical situation” and she had tweeted saying, “I’m recovering from nothing”

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Mar-2023Gujarat Giants have issued a statement saying they were not able to obtain medical clearance in time for their allrounder Deandra Dottin, because of which they had to replace her with Australia allrounder Kim Garth for the ongoing Women’s Premier League.The franchise had earlier said that Dottin was “recovering from a medical situation”. In response to that, Dottin tweeted: “I really appreciate all the messages but truth be told I’m recovering from nothing but the Holy Ghost anointing thank you #GodIsGood #GodIsInControl.”On Sunday, Giants issued a clarification saying: “Deandra is a world-class player and a wonderful signing for the franchise. Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain a medical clearance before the defined deadline for this season, such clearances are a requirement of all players participating in the WPL.