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CSA, as of Thursday evening, is no longer operational and is under investigation

Firdose Moonda10-Sep-2020Cricket South Africa’s board and senior executives including acting CEO Kugandrie Govender have been instructed to step aside by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), which is the controlling body for all high-performance sport in South Africa. SASCOC will now appoint a task team to conduct an investigation into the affairs at CSA. The panel will make findings and recommendations to SASCOC and CSA’s Members’ Council within one month of the finalisation of the members of the task team.Along with Govender, company secretary Welsh Gwaza and acting chief commercial officer Thamie Mthembu will no longer be involved in the day-to-day running of CSA. That means that as things stand on Thursday evening, there is no one in charge of the operational running of cricket in South Africa.CSA, in a statement issued on Friday morning said it “does not agree” with the decision and will be taking legal advice on “the basis on which SASCOC has sought to intervene in the business affairs of CSA.” Despite that, CSA has committed to engaging with SASCOC to “find common ground with it in the best interests of cricket.” CSA’s Board and Members Council will hold a workshop this weekend to “discuss critical matters.”SASCOC took the decision unanimously at a board meeting on Tuesday because of what it said are “the many instances of maladministration and malpractice,” at CSA which “has brought cricket into disrepute.”Whether SASCOC’s action constitutes government interference that goes against the ICC’s code of conduct is yet to be determined. The ICC have already received one complaint against CSA from the Institute for Race Relations who took issue with CSA’s affirmative action hiring policy.The SASCOC has taken action following “at least” nine months of CSA in crisis dating back to December last year, when former CEO Thabang Moroe was suspended. Moroe was fired last month on the basis of a forensic report which revealed “acts of serious misconduct.”However, CSA have not made the report available publicly or to SASCOC and even to its own Members’ Council (the body of the 14 provincial presidents) are understood to have had to sign non-disclosure agreements before viewing the report. SASCOC had demanded to see the report before CSA’s AGM, which was initially scheduled for September 5 but was postponed. CSA’s inability to produce the report to SASCOC as well as the spate of recent resignations including that of President Chris Nenzani and acting CEO Jacques Faul prompted SASCOC’s interest in further investigation into CSA, which it indicated had been uncooperative in explaining the myriad issues affecting the organisation.”SASCOC has attempted to address these issues in two meetings with the CSA Board: one was exploratory, and the other failed to take place mainly because of the fact that CSA failed to make the Fundudzi Forensic Report available to the SASCOC Board despite promises and undertakings by CSA to do so,” a SASCOC letter to CSA’s Members’ Council, seen by ESPNcricinfo said. “CSA is in receipt of our letter which records that the Board’s decision to make the said report available only on a limited basis to the President and Board members of SASCOC, is wholly unreasonable and irrational given the apparent nature and scope of the report.”As a result of not being able to access the full report, a task team will now conduct its own investigations into CSA’s administrative and/or financial affairs. The members of the task team are yet to be identified but when they are, the CSA board and all staff who have been directed to step aside will be expected to “assist the task team to execute its mandate, where necessary, when called upon to do so.”This leaves cricket in South Africa at an uncertain juncture, with no fixtures finalised for the coming season which is due to start imminently. Neither domestic nor international matches have been released with South Africa’s borders still closed because of the coronavirus pandemic and a lockdown still in place. Though competitive matches can be played, CSA have yet to reveal any plans for the 2020-21 season apart from appointing a new high performance management staff earlier on Thursday.As of now, this will not affect South African players’ participation at the IPL or other competitions.

Pakistan wicketkeeper warns “it will be very difficult for them too” after marshalling lower-order resistance

Danyal Rasool14-Aug-2020England might feel they have had the better of two truncated days in Southampton, reducing Pakistan to 223 for 9 after the visitors had won the toss and opted to bat. But wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan dismissed the idea Pakistan were up against it, saying their seamers had showed what they were capable of at Old Trafford, and would test England here in “seaming conditions the likes of which I have never seen” before.”They were difficult conditions, not too dissimilar to some of the wickets in the north in Pakistan,” Rizwan said. “Places like Abbottabad and Peshawar, particularly. But this was the first time in my career I saw the ball seam after 75 overs, right until they took the new ball. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’ll be very difficult for England, too. They won’t find batting easy.”It feels strange to say Rizwan was under any pressure coming into this test, and from within the team management, that might never have been the case. His glovework at Old Trafford was inspired, as evidenced by a few excellent catches keeping up to Yasir Shah, who at times turned the ball square. He was unafraid of standing up to the 80mph Mohammad Abbas to keep England’s batsman honest when they strayed out of the crease, never in the slightest appearing out of his depth.ALSO READ: Alam and the cruelty of batting: 10-year wait ends in a duckBut two failures with the bat, combined by the somewhat intimidating presence of former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed waiting in the wings as back-up, led to questions about whether Ahmed might not be the safer choice, particularly with bat in hand. As such, Rizwan may have felt the need to showcase his ability when he walked out to bat alongside Babar Azam in Southampton, and after negotiating a torturously difficult first hour during which runs seemed a distant dream, the 27-year old began to grow into the role.”When we had Babar with me, I was being compact,” he said. “But when he got out and the tail came in, I knew I would have to go searching for the runs. In this format, you have these phases. At times, you have to stay calm and work hard to preserve your wicket. It would be silly to throw your wicket away when you have Babar alongside you, but the situation changed when he got out. When the tail came in, I attacked, and that worked out very nicely.”This was a new experience for me. When I play domestic cricket, I bat in the top five, so here, batting with the tail was a learning process for me. When we were coming on and off [due to rain and bad light], I spoke to Misbah[-ul-Haq] and Younis [Khan], and they gave me plenty of advice on how to play. But to negotiate the situation batting with the tail, and how to build up the innings for myself and the team, is very much a learning process and this was a good start.”It was the partnership with Mohammad Abbas that especially spruced up Rizwan’s outlook. After Pakistan crumbled to 176 for 8, Shaheen Afridi falling to some characteristically tailender running, even 200 seemed a distant prospect. Rizwan started farming the strike, and as England spread the field, he found the stifling pressure lift. Aided by some dodgy tactics from England, particularly around allowing too many loose singles later on in overs, he struck up a breezy 39-run partnership with Abbas, bringing up his half-century along the way.”We have fought back and our position is decent,” Rizwan said. “If we add 30-40 runs, we have lots of chances. Even if we don’t, and get them out within our own score, the match is on. You look at our bowlers, and they did the job for us in Manchester. England had the fortune on that final day, but our bowlers did a very good job. We expect them to repeat that here, given the ball seamed all the time for England. They had a bit of good fortune in that when we kept coming off, they got a bit of rest between their spells, allowing them to bowl longer spells. But our bowlers are young and capable, and we expect to contain them to within our total.”Mohammad Rizwan threads one through extra cover•Getty Images

For all of Rizwan’s talk about the team, this was a deeply personal innings. Some of the criticism flung his way following the first Test was ill-judged at best and spiteful at worst, not to mention being well wide of the mark. But in Pakistan cricket, what people say about players matters a great deal, and for all the brilliance Rizwan showed with the gloves, wicketkeeping, like perhaps umpiring, is often only noticed when done poorly. Rizwan needed a contribution with the bat to completely silence those who questioned his place in the team.”I don’t care about my critics,” Rizwan said. “I don’t listen to any of them. I see the cricket ground in front of my eyes and I know what I have to do in the nets. I work hard and leave the rest up to God. I don’t even read the news or watch TV. I keep working hard, and hope that what I’m doing produces results. That’s all I know how to do.”Rizwan’s story has been one of excelling where no one can see him. He toiled away in domestic cricket for years, clocking up first-class runs – nearly 4700 of them at 42.58 – which no one really watched beyond grainy YouTube feeds accumulated from the few occasions the PCB had a couple of cameras at the ground. All people saw, however, was Ahmed lead the side form strength to strength in international cricket; he was so obviously the first-choice wicketkeeper Pakistan didn’t even take a reserve to England for the World Cup last year.In the Manchester Test, Rizwan continued his progress by demonstrating he was fit for his primary role, and kept wickets immaculately. All people noticed, though, was the lack of footwork when he had bat in hand, and the scorecard, which showed he had managed just 36 in two innings.While his quality behind the stumps has never been in question, this might have been the day Rizwan demonstrated he is a half-decent cricketer in front of them, as well. He remains unbeaten, and not just on the overnight scorecard.

Broadcaster says “his involvement in the Yorkshire story represents a conflict of interest”

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Nov-2021The BBC has dropped Michael Vaughan from its coverage of the upcoming Ashes series in Australia, and BT Sport may yet follow suit, after he was named in the Azeem Rafiq racism probe.Vaughan, the former England captain turned commentator, was stood down from his BBC Radio 5 Live show earlier this month after it emerged that he was the subject of a complaint by Rafiq in Yorkshire’s report into Rafiq’s allegations of racism at the club.On Wednesday, the BBC released a statement saying that Vaughan would also not be involved in its “wider coverage of the sport at the moment”.”While he is involved in a significant story in cricket, for editorial reasons we do not believe that it would be appropriate for Michael Vaughan to have a role in our Ashes team or wider coverage of the sport at the moment,” the BBC statement said.”We require our contributors to talk about relevant topics and his involvement in the Yorkshire story represents a conflict of interest.”Related

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Responding in a post on Instagram, Vaughan admitted he was “very disappointed” at the decision, and would “miss working with great colleagues & friends”.However, he confirmed that he will still be a part of the Ashes coverage in his TV role with Fox Cricket in Australia, which is also due to be heard in the UK, following BT Sport’s decision not to send a bespoke commentary team.”The issues facing cricket are bigger than any individual case,” Vaughan added. “I want to be part of the solution, listening, educating myself and helping to make it a more welcoming sport for all.”Now, however, BT Sport too are considering Vaughan’s place in their plans, with a spokesman confirming that the decision to share the Australian host broadcasting feed – originally made “as a result of Covid and travel restrictions” – was now under review.”The recent report presented to UK Parliament uncovering institutional racism within cricket and specifically Yorkshire County Cricket Club is extremely disappointing and a concern for all,” the BT Sport spokesman added. “Given these recent events we are reviewing and discussing our commentary plans with Cricket Australia.”The issue stems from Rafiq’s allegation that Vaughan had noted the inclusion of four players of Asian heritage in the Yorkshire side playing a county fixture against Nottinghamshire in 2009 and said: “There are too many of you lot; we need to do something about it.” Vaughan has denied the allegations against him.Rafiq’s account was supported by former Pakistan bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and England leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who said they heard the comment.Appearing before a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee hearing last week, Rafiq said: “I think it’s important on Michael [Vaughan] that we don’t make it all about Michael. It was a long time ago, Michael might not remember it as I said about earlier because it doesn’t mean anything. But three of us remember it.”Vaughan joined the BBC’s Test Match Special radio team as a summariser in 2009.

Warwickshire have appointed Neil Snowball as their new chief executive. He is currently the chief operating officer of England Rugby 2015 Ltd, the organising committee for the recently concluded Rugby World Cup

George Dobell12-Nov-2015Warwickshire have appointed Neil Snowball as their new chief executive. He is currently the chief operating officer of England Rugby 2015 Ltd, the organising committee for the recently concluded Rugby World Cup, and will succeed Colin Povey at Edgbaston at the start of January.Prior to his current role, Snowball was head of sport operations at the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, where he was responsible for service delivery and operational management for the 26 Olympic and 20 Paralympic sports and 45 competition venues. Before that, he was an executive director at Goldman Sachs for eight years.He describes himself as a “lifelong cricket supporter” and, having played for Guildford CC, spent three years as chairman of the club. He has served on the Surrey Championship committee and, in 2012, was invited to be a member of the Surrey CCC Business Advisory Group. He will relocate to the West Midlands from Surrey.”I am delighted to have been appointed as Warwickshire’s chief executive, joining a club with not only a proud and successful history but with a clear ambition for the future,” he said. “The strength of the playing squad as evidenced by performances over the last five years and the world class facilities at Edgbaston offer enormous opportunity in the years ahead.”He joins a club with a good allocation of major matches in the next few years, but burdened by substantial debt after the redevelopment of the ground in recent times. Managing that debt, and the level of expectation from members of the success of a team that has consistently challenged for trophies in recent years and continues to value red-ball cricket, is likely to occupy a good proportion of his time.

Middle-order batsman’s belligerence helped the county reach Finals Day in 2018

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Feb-2020Corey Anderson, the New Zealand middle-order batsman, has re-signed for Somerset for this summer’s Vitality Blast.Anderson, who will join Babar Azam as the club’s second overseas signing in T20 cricket, was the fifth-highest run-scorer in the competition in 2018, scoring 514 runs at a strike rate of 169.07 as Somerset reached Finals Day. He also appeared for the county in 2017, though had his stint cut short by injury.He last played international cricket in November 2018, with persistent injuries effectively ruling him out of the 2019 World Cup, and is a beneficiary of visa regulation changes pushed for by the ECB in order to ensure the world’s best players would be eligible to play in the Hundred.Previously, players needed to have played at least one Test or 15 white-ball internationals for a full-member country in the past 24 months to qualify for a ‘governing body endorsement’, but the ECB successfully had that criterion extended to those who had played at least 20 domestic T20 fixtures in recognised leagues in that time period, in order to ensure that players like Sunil Narine and Sandeep Lamichhane would be eligible for Hundred deals. That qualification extends to all domestic competitions, which means that Anderson will meet the new regulations.Anderson will form part of an imperious batting line-up that also includes Babar, Tom Banton, Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory, and will be available for all 14 group games and a potential quarter-final.Andy Hurry, the club’s director of cricket, said: “Corey has made a big impression both on and off the field for the club in his two previous stints with us. He was one of the first names mentioned when it came to considering our overseas players for next season because he is one of the best T20 players in the world and he was extremely popular with the playing staff and also with our members and supporters.”His contributions in 2018 were absolutely outstanding and he was one of the main reasons that we reached Finals Day that year.””I’m looking forward to playing for Somerset again next summer,” Anderson said. “The club has a great squad and the atmosphere in the dressing room is one of the best I’ve experienced.”The supporters are very knowledgeable and get right behind the team. It’s a great place to play cricket and hopefully I can help the Club go one better than we did in 2018 and make the Vitality Blast final.”

Belligerent batting display ensures visitors make good use of only practice ahead of Tests

Vithushan Ehantharajah08-Feb-2023England XI 465 (Brook 97, Lawrence 85, Root 77, Foakes 57) vs New Zealand XIFor a warm-up fixture that had started to feel like an afterthought before it had even begun, England made the first meaningful day of cricket on this tour count. A score of 465 was blitzed in 69.2 overs against a New Zealand XI, with 55 fours and 17 sixes hammering home a mantra that the hosts are all too familiar with.As New Zealand’s favourite son Brendon McCullum watched those under his care squeeze plenty of juice from their only competitive day’s batting before the first Test begins a week Thursday, it was clear the apparently blasé approach to this fixture did not carry over onto the field. There was no toss, with England given the opportunity to bat the entirety of day one ahead of bowling all of day two. There was no Ben Stokes, either, with the captain opting to go through his own preparations to offer up an extra batting spot and give Ollie Pope another small dose of leadership. Only nine tourists were named in the XI ahead of the 2pm start.Adding to the cushty nature was the presence of Blackcaps captain Tim Southee. A white baseball cap hinted at an incognito look at the opposition, but any whiff of espionage was quashed when Southee caught up with McCullum before sitting down with Stokes and the England staff to chat about anything and everything. Better concealed was the former New Zealand limited-overs batter Anton Devcich in full England training gear. The Hamilton local has been lending a helping hand in training.Though play ended prematurely at 8:23pm with 20.4 overs of the 90 remaining, this had been a worthwhile endeavour. Particularly for Harry Brook, leading the way with a pugnacious 97, followed by 85 for Dan Lawrence, 77 for Joe Root and an accomplished 57 from Ben Foakes.Brook’s knock was the one of note, fast-tracking the innings, notably during a five-over spell before tea in which he and Yorkshire team-mate Root hammered 47. The pair combined for 115 in 16.1 overs for the fourth wicket, following starts from Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Pope that had lifted England to 95 from 17 overs.This was originally pencilled in as a four-day affair, as per the posters dotted throughout the ground, before the reduction to two to focus solely on the pink-ball elements ahead of the day-night opener in Mount Maunganui. That decision was ultimately made in Pakistan, a series also preceded by a reduced two-day scrimmage against England Lions. On that occasion, the decision to trim off a day was taken after conversations among the players at stumps on day two.Joe Root steers into the covers during his innings of 77•Getty Images

The knock-on effect of that discussion has been to give the players more ownership of their individual games, particularly when off-duty. That includes rest. Brook, for example, pulled out of a deal with SA20 franchise Joburg Super Kings to spend a bit more time at home after his player-of-the-series exploits in Pakistan.”I made the decision with England to pull out of the new South Africa competition and that was massive for me,” Brook said. “I was meant to travel on the 7th and I wasn’t quite ready to be completely honest, and I’m glad I pulled out in the end. That month was massive, just to be able to spend some time with the family and relax and not really touch a cricket bat was good. Hopefully I can come back in full flow this year and dominate.”Not that he’ll be lacking for the experience or coin. A £1.3million deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad for the upcoming IPL has only just sunk in. It is the fulfilment of a dream, even if he wasn’t expecting to go for as much. “Every little helps,” he said with a wry smile.This time last year, Brook was a non-playing member of England’s white-ball tour to West Indies. As he says, a fair bit has changed.”Last year was probably the best year of my life, lifestyle and cricket-wise, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Standing here saying I’m a World cup winner is unbelievable and nobody can ever take that away from me. It was a phenomenal year.”Related

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His work on Wednesday afternoon in Hamilton was far more attacking than his three innings across six days in Bloemfontein and Kimberley had been in last week’s ODI series: 97 off 71 versus 86 from 87. All four of his sixes during the ODIs came in the same knock of 80 in the second match. Today, five in a row came in the 36th over after Brook had played out a first-ball dot from legspinner Adithya Ashok. The first of those blows – comfortably the biggest of his nine – landed on Tristram Street which runs along the west of the ground. An attempted attempt for a 10th to take Brook to three figures was snared smartly on the thirf boundary to give Jarrod McKay the second of his 3 for 72. The first – cartwheeling Crawley’s middle stump – was the most spectacular blow landed.”To be honest, the way we’re playing cricket at the minute, it doesn’t really change,” Brook said, when asked about switching continents and ball colours in the space of a week. “I batted a lot slower for the 80 I got in South Africa than I did out there. We’re looking to put pressure on the bowlers, trying to hit them off the spot and keep the pressure on throughout.”He admitted to a degree of pressure in his own head to score briskly, which in turn meant his movements were a bit off by his own exacting standards. Nevertheless, he was impressed with his ball-striking beyond that one devastating over.”I think I’ve got a little bit stronger so I feel like I’m hitting the ball a bit harder,” he said. “Whether that’s just because I’ve been given the freedom to go out and play in a positive way and take the match on or I’ve just got stronger. I just feel like I’m hitting the ball a lot harder than I was before.”It was hard not to sympathise with those chasing leather, particularly given the heavy green tinge to their side. Ashok, for instance, only has one first-class appearance under his belt for Auckland against Central Districts back in October, though he did take 5 for 108 in his only innings of that game. Even with the misfortune of being thrashed around here for 82 from nine overs, he did at least emerge with the dismissal of Root, albeit a fortuitous caught-behind down the leg side off a lackadaisical sweep.By then Root had had his fun, pulling out the now-characteristic lap over third man for the first of two sixes, sending a reminder to the watching Southee after the hard launch of that shot in last summer’s Trent Bridge Test. By the time Lawrence got stuck in, the inferiority of the New Zealand attack was shining through as the sun dimmed.Play was at its most competitive when Kyle Jamieson had the ball in hand, and 15 overs of constant pressure throughout the day will have boosted Southee more than his eventual haul of 3 for 65. Jamieson has not played international cricket since picking up a back injury in that same Test in Nottingham, and has been working up to full fitness with limited-overs cricket.After shaking out a bit of rust on his return to whites, he removed Duckett with a neat delivery that drew the left-hander forward and slightly across for an edge through to Tom Bruce at second slip. A return in the final session exploited a bit of extra juice with the floodlights to square Lawrence up for another catch to Bruce in the cordon, before Will Jacks was turned inside-out to be caught at first slip this time.New Zealand’s coach Gary Stead has not confirmed whether Jamieson will make his comeback in the first or second Test. The decision won’t be made on this outing alone, although given England’s mood, and the absence of Trent Boult, perhaps it should be.

Supernovas needed 19 off the last over and Harmanpreet struck four fours but they weren’t enough

The Report by Annesha Ghosh06-May-2019Two big stars of Indian women’s cricket took centrestage in Jaipur as the multi-team Women’s T20 Challenge kicked off with a final-ball thriller, much like how the one-off exhibition game had ended in Mumbai last year. Except this time, Trailblazers captain Smriti Mandhana’s enterprising 90 trumped her opposite number Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 46 as Supernovas fell short by an agonising two runs.Chasing 19 off the last over, Harmanpreet nearly pulled off an encore of her performance on her Lancashire Thunder debut at last year’s Kia Super League, when she struck a last-ball six in a chase, carting Jhulan Goswami for four fours off the first five balls, the last one landing only inside the rope. Needing three off the last ball, Harmanpreet slashed hard but couldn’t connect with the length ball outside off, and the attempted bye ended with wicketkeeper R Kalpana catching non-striker Lea Tahuhu short of her ground at her end.The near-perfect Harman-Devine showWhen Harmanpreet walked in at No. 4 after eight overs, Supernovas’ asking rate (7.16) was only a shade above their run rate 6.87. With Trailblazers shelling several chances, little suggested Mandhana’s side won’t have to pay for the drops. Keeping to her scratchy-at-first-sublime-thereafter template, Harmanpreet scored six off her first 10 balls. An unforgiving punch off Harleen Deol in the 12th over fetched Harmanpreet the first of her eight fours, the same number collected by the six other Supernovas batsmen.During her 48-run stand with No. 6 Sophie Devine, Harmanpreet was off the strike for the major part as Devine herself, with her 22-ball 32, looked set to hand Trailblazers the finality. Having taken Supernovas to 122, Devine was trapped in front by Sophie Ecclestone. Devine used the review, the first of the tournament, but it wasn’t overturned. The dismissal, eventually, proved a match-winning one as Ecclestone rounded out her 20th birthday with 2 for 11 that played a key role in victory for her side.Below-par fielding a worry for TrailblazersA misfield in the third over from Deepti Sharma handed Jemimah Rodrigues her first four. In the sixth, Deepti dropped the same batsman on 16, the ball popping out of her hands over her head at mid-on after she got both hands to it, and it was just the start of more telling shoddiness that was to follow.Chamari Atapattu got two lives in the eighth over, bowled by Shakera Selman. Stafanie Taylor first put down a straightforward chance at deep square leg on the first ball before D Hemalatha ran in hard from sweeper cover two balls later, but couldn’t hold on despite getting her hands under the ball.The first drop had Mandhana clutch her knees, the second brought out a huge sigh (of disbelief) from Selman. But then came a moment of brilliance, courtesy Selman herself. Anticipating the striker Atapattu’s call for a quick single on the leg side, Selman swooped in while carrying on from her follow-through, and put in a full-length forward-stretch to fire a direct hit at the wicketkeeper’s end to catch Rodrigues well short of her ground, for a 19-ball 24.The drop that nearly cost them the game came in the 17th over. Harmanpreet, on 25, launched Taylor down the ground, where Hemalatha went to her left from long-on and shelled her second catch of the night. Four drops, yet ending on the winning side? Trailblazers should be thanking their stars captain.Mandhana magic: sedate and scintillatingMandhana lived up to her reputation with an uncharacteristic 67-ball 90, her second-highest T20 score.If her maiden T20 ton, for Western Storm in KSL 2018, against Harmanpreet’s Lancashire Thunder was all menace, the magic took time to unfold on Monday. It wasn’t until the 35th ball of her innings that Mandhana’s strike rate touched 100. That was largely down to Harmanpreet persisting with spin for the major part of that period, and Mandhana’s early struggle was borne out in the seven runs she scored off her Maharashtra team-mate Anuja Patil, the offspinner. Her first two fours – in a combined tally of 10 fours and three sixes – came 23 balls apart.As she loves pace on the ball, the four she broke her shackles with came off the first delivery bowled by Tahuhu. Thereafter, her willow oozed the class the 22-year-old is famed for. The highlight of her 119-run second-wicket stand with Deol (36 off 44) was the six – the first of the match – off wristpinner Poonam Yadav that floated over the extra cover boundary. Dragging her side to a respectable total has become second-nature to Mandhana in the recent past, thanks to India’s middle-order woes. But on Monday, her knock also cushioned her side amid an otherwise deplorable fielding performance.