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A flashback to some of the best moments between Australia and South Africa in the last eight years

Firdose Moonda02-Nov-20164:17

‘Told Rhino either you bowl, or I bowl’ – Clarke

It might not quite be the Ashes or India-Pakistan, but a series between Australia and South Africa has its own appeal. The two sides are competitive, intense, evenly matched, and bring the best and worst out of each other.Over the last eight years, Australia-South Africa contests have been especially epic: both teams have overcome the other’s home advantage, legendary captains have retired, and records have been made and broken.Here’s a quick recap.2008: South Africa successfully chased 414 in Perth and won again in Melbourne – their first series victory in Australia.2011: Australia were bowled out for 47 in Cape Town, before sneaking to a two-wicket win in Johannesburg to draw the two-Test series.The 2008 series was particularly special for JP Duminy, who was making his debut•PA Photos2012: A stonewalling in Adelaide that has become the stuff of legend.On the day, it was a show of defiance. In the context of the series, it shifted the momentum. For the players involved, it was defining. It was where Faf du Plessis showed the character that led to him becoming a stand-in captain. It was where Peter Siddle learned to lead an attack. It was where Nathan Lyon played his first real Test.”I realised I was playing Test match cricket and teams don’t just roll over,” Lyon told ESPNcricinfo.Far from it. Usman Khawaja, who was not playing in that Adelaide Test, admitted what a lot of people would have been thinking. “I was expecting Australia to win.”South Africa finished day four on 77 for 4 in their chase of 430. Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla were out. Jacques Kallis was injured. Du Plessis was on debut. Even though Australia also had a casualty in James Pattinson, they thought themselves halfway home.”When you’ve got debutants coming in, you know they might perform well because the reason they are getting an opportunity is because they are skillful,” Siddle said. “You think he might bat for a little while but then you might get him out. He’s nervous, it’s his first test, it won’t last.”But it did. And partly because of who du Plessis had at the other end. His childhood friend, AB de Villiers; the inventor of some of the most ingenious strokes in the modern game was not interested in anything other than the block. De Villiers scored 33 off 220 balls at a strike rate of 15 – a run every seven balls he faced – and did not breach the boundary once. It was an incredible show of restraint from a player who is known for scoring quickly.Australia bowled 148 overs without breaking through in the Adelaide Test•Getty ImagesWhen Lyon called their partnership “unbelievable,” he was not saying so in the way the word is casually used. He really meant it.Australia “tried everything under the sun,” as Siddle remembers it. Michael Clarke bowled first change and went on to deliver 18 overs. Du Plessis was given out twice off him, both times lbw, both times overturned on review.Rob Quiney bowled, Ricky Ponting bowled, David Warner bowled. Nathan Lyon bowled more than anyone else, but in the absence of Pattinson, the responsibility fell chiefly on Siddle. He bore it bravely, even when it became difficult and even as he knew he was probably bowling himself out of contention for the final game.”The first thing I learned was that I hope none of your fast bowling buddies go down injured again,” Siddle joked. “But personally, the biggest thing is putting yourself through that and knowing you can do it. Even though it cost me in the end. I didn’t end up playing in Perth.”Four years and a few injuries later, Siddle can see beyond the exhaustion of that day and reflects fondly on what the match did for Test cricket. “People always talk about Test cricket dying and all those types of things, but that was exciting. They are the challenges you love about Test cricket. You don’t get to see stuff like that in other forms of the game.”That’s the great thing about Test cricket. The different challenges, the tactics, how it goes up and down from one side to the other. You don’t mind if teams have to play defensively sometimes, that’s also what Test cricket is about. It’s not about trying to win every match. I am a traditionalist. I have always loved the longer form.”Siddle: ‘The biggest thing is putting yourself through that and knowing you can do it’•Getty ImagesLike Siddle, Lyon also appreciates the experience, although he certainty does not want to relive it.”It helped me grow as a person and it helped our bowling group grow as well,” he said. “I have much better memories of 2014 though.”2014: That year, Australia traveled to South Africa with revenge on the agenda. Mitchell Johnson was, in Khawaja’s words, “terrorising everyone in world cricket at the time.”South Africa had stayed No.1 all through that period, information that didn’t mean much to Johnson. He tore through them at SuperSport Park, a venue where South Africa have been more successful at than any other, before Steyn returned the favour in Port Elizabeth.The series went down to a decider in Cape Town, where Smith announced his retirement mid-match and South Africa threatened another blockathon to save the game.Ryan Harris was the man with ball in hand then, and in the final hour on the final day, he removed a stubborn Morne Morkel to maintain Australia’s record of never losing a Test series in South Africa post-readmission. South Africa suffered their first defeat since being crowned No. 1.Ryan Harris didn’t allow an Adelaide repeat in 2014•Getty Images”In a way it’s weird. You don’t usually lose on your home soil, and then go over there and win,” Siddle said.But that’s exactly how South Africa and Australia have played it for the last eight years. South Africa have won in Australia, Australia have won in South Africa, and all the meetings have been intriguing.At a time when world cricket needs introspection over the questions of scheduling, possible expansion, and the place of T20 leagues, to have a rivalry this rich is a reminder of how unique international, long-form cricket is. If the 2016 edition of Australia versus South Africa is anything like the previous ones, there’s nothing else you’d want to be watching. Nathan Lyon agrees.”To have two good teams going at it is exceptional for world cricket and it shows how good Test match cricket is.”

The common thread through all three suspensions – 2005, 2007 and 2015 – has been Gladstone Dainty. His reign, which began in 2003, has been an unmitigated disaster through and through

Peter Della Penna27-Jun-2015It may have been jarring to hear the words as they were spoken in a Barbados hotel by ICC chief executive David Richardson, to read the words in print in the ICC’s official press release. But like a defendant on trial who holds out hope – no matter how farfetched, misguided or delusional – of escaping with an acquittal before hearing a verdict of “guilty”, the sobering truth of USACA’s accumulation of administrative failures became real with the uttering of “suspension”.In the two months leading up to Friday’s decision, Richardson and several of his lieutenants – including ICC head of global development Tim Anderson and ICC Americas regional development manager Ben Kavanagh – spent considerable resources reaching out to more than 100 stakeholders currently engaged or recently involved in US cricket affairs.Even though Anderson denied that the purpose of the interview process was to compile a dossier against USACA, many other indications pointed in that direction. A scathing 19-page letter from ICC chairman N Srinivasan to USACA in January warned them of an imminent suspension and the ICC followed that up in April with a proclamation that they were “not satisfied” with USACA’s response.Two points of emphasis were highlighted by Richardson during his press conference to announce the suspension. One was that USACA had lost the right to ICC funding, a blow for an organization already weighed down by more than $4 million in debt, and that USACA had lost sanctioning authority to determine what is classified as approved and unapproved cricket.Few people could fault USACA if they could not organize big cricket events on their own due to their limited resources and lack of professional full-time staff. What has rankled with countless organizers though is not that USACA wasn’t staging major events, but that they regularly stood in the way of those who had the resources to do so by refusing to approve events.Mayor Richard J Kaplan of Lauderhill, Florida, frequently complained about USACA’s habit of freezing the city’s negotiations to host revenue-generating drawcards at the $70 million, 20,000 capacity Central Broward Regional Park, such as a proposed Pakistan v West Indies T20 series in July 2013 and Caribbean Premier League matches in the summer of 2014. Those negotiations may warm up again now that the likes of Kaplan can bypass USACA for sanctioning and go straight to the ICC, which should be a bit more accommodating.On the governance front, USACA had operated with impunity since their last suspension was lifted in 2008, especially when there were few consequences to unconstitutional delays and the stripping of 32 member leagues’ voting rights in the 2011-12 election. However, the ICC’s long leash on USACA became very short following last year’s resignation of chief executive Darren Beazley, a man the ICC handpicked to push through governance reforms that the USACA board rejected.Gladstone Dainty may have scored a landslide win on the April 2012 election day but three years later it has proven to be a pyrrhic victory. More than a dozen of the member leagues who were disenfranchised in 2012 reached a breaking point after years of frustration under USACA and were spurred on to break away and form what became the American Cricket Federation.Election improprieties on their own were not enough to raise a red flag with the ICC, but a competing governing body to USACA’s hegemony was a key reason behind USACA’s first two suspensions and played a supporting role in the one handed down on Friday.Separate from the power struggles within the USA, the parlous state of USACA’s finances made for a ripe target to justify suspension. USACA’s ledger has remained in the red for as long as their financial records have been made public. In the last two years though, USACA’s debts have more than doubled from $1.8 million to $4.1 million.Rather than accuse USACA of sweeping financial mismanagement though, the ICC cleverly zeroed in on a special $200,000 loan granted to USACA by the ICC in the summer of 2013. In the grand scheme of things, $200,000 is a pittance to make a major fuss over for a global body generating roughly $2 billion through its latest television rights contract.Other far more egregious membership violations allegedly carried out by USACA, such as accusations of election fraud through the rumoured ploy of registering ghost leagues to secure winning votes, have been difficult to prove. So is judging the legitimacy of a challenge for official status made by the upstart ACF.But by holding USACA to account over what it deemed to be misuse of the $200,000 loan, the ICC finally had concrete evidence they could pin on USACA of the organisation’s fiscal irresponsibility, and thus find them culpable of improper governance to a standard sufficient to warrant suspension. The ICC tacked on USACA’s poor public reputation and substandard national team performances as supplementary reasons for a reprimand, but those are subjective measures. It is harder to mount a defense against objective data laid out in black and white.Richardson concluded his comments in Barbados by stating that the ICC was willing to extend a helping hand to get USACA up off the mat, including sending a local advisory team to assist USACA to remedy their “conditions”, as if USACA is a sickly patient, “relating to governance, finance and cricket activities”. Rather than issuing a statement pledging to do penance for their sins and fall in line, there has been nothing but radio silence on USACA’s airwaves.The common thread through all three suspensions – 2005, 2007 and 2015 – has been Dainty. His reign, which began in 2003, has been an unmitigated disaster through and through. After making the Champions Trophy in 2004, USA has now been leapfrogged in the Associate rankings by Ireland, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong, four countries that combined don’t have the adult player pool to equal USA. Dainty has left the US cricket community broken but blame must also be shared by the USACA league presidents who, swayed by his election promises, have used their votes to keep him in office on multiple occasions.Questions may remain about who is best suited to take US cricket forward, and it may not necessarily be ACF, but by now it’s crystal clear that a USACA executive board under Dainty is not the answer. If USACA’s administration had any words on how they plan to fix the mess they’ve spent the last decade creating, they haven’t shared them.But with just one word on Friday, the ICC spoke volumes.

England have never lost to Scotland but Peter Moores could think of more straightforward first assignments as he prepares to head north with the independence argument in full swing

Jon Coates02-May-2014England’s misadventure against the Netherlands is still fresh in the memory, but they have never lost a match to Scotland. There again, they have only deigned to play Scotland three times, and only once has there been a result.Scotland have been active as a cricket team for 149 years, but only as a recognised international team since 2006. When you consider that the Union came into being nearly 400 years ago, it is farcical that the two neighbours took so long to get together on a cricket field. But here we are, bound for Aberdeen.It was one of international cricket’s support acts, the Netherlands, whose victory in Chittagong finally banished Ashley Giles’ hopes of getting the England coach’s job. Now the Scots are a potential pitfall for the man preferred to Giles, Peter Moores, as he embarks upon his second term in charge.There is certainly enough anti-English sentiment around at the moment to spice up the contest. As the Scots squabble over whether or not to end a political pact that was signed in 1707 and declare independence, there is for the first time an expectation across the border that their team might just have enough ammunition to outgun the Sassenach forces.Such an upset would be cheered especially loudly by the champions of Scottish independence, so it is the last thing they will want to hear about in Westminster. From small shifts in self-belief, mood swings can take place. Why, to stretch the point, Moores might just have the future of the Union in his hands.According to the polls, the Yes vote is currently creeping on the No vote, which was previously thought to be protected by impenetrable walls. England look as vulnerable as they have for a long time, while Scotland have the new-found confidence of World Cup qualifiers.This is their first game since the ICC World Cup qualifying tournament in New Zealand, where they lost only one game and pulled off many victories with an unfamiliar swagger. Suddenly they are no longer dreaming of the win that would make them national heroes but purposefully plotting it.From an England perspective, at least the Mannofield ground does not carry bad memories. It has only been an ODI venue since 2008 and Scotland have yet to make it a fortress. Unless the scalp of England is taken it will remain most famous for being the last place Bradman batted on British soil – he made a century there in September 1948 at the end of the “Invincibles” tour.Aberdeen is not a nationalist heartland, either. North Sea oil has made the city and surrounding county a cosmopolitan and increasingly wealthy part of Scotland, all of which has helped cricket to flourish. Scotland’s current shirt sponsor is the Parkmead Group, an oil and gas exploratory firm run by Tom Cross, father of Scotland’s hard-hitting wicket-keeper batsman Matthew.Both teams have new coaches, albeit one, in Moores, who has been in this position before. “You don’t take games like this lightly because if you do, you get stung,” Moores said on the eve of the first Scotland-England ODI in 2008, when he was England’s coach and Kevin Pietersen the captain. That was one Union which failed to stand the test of time.Moores could probably think of better ways to begin his second coming than the danger of a defeat in Aberdeen of all places. As for Craig Wright, his Scotland adversary, he could not imagine a better statement ahead of next year’s World Cup than Scotland’s first ODI win over a full ICC member other than Bangladesh.Wright, a former captain and seam bowler, is only in caretaker charge until Grant Bradburn, currently coach of New Zealand A, takes over in early July, with Wright as his assistant. But he has never failed to impress cricket people in the shires and his career prospects would be buttressed by a famous win at Mannofield.But what is all this loose talk of a revival for Scottish cricket? Haven’t they been banished from the county one-day circuit after becoming so weak they no longer even enjoyed the occasional win? Didn’t they fail to reach the 16-team World Twenty20 finals, unlike Nepal, the UAE and Hong Kong? Haven’t they been left lagging behind by the Irish?Weren’t they mocked on the Emerald Isle for writing to every county professional, including William Porterfield and Paul Stirling, to ask if they could trace any Scottish blood in their ancestry and did they fancy a crack at playing at the next World Cup?All of those things are true, but Scotland turned a corner at the qualifiers in New Zealand, they now have a six-match World Cup campaign to work towards and there is much about the team to like, and to respect.Because they are young and largely homegrown, fans no longer have to sheepishly acknowledge that their only decent players are Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton and southern-hemisphere sorts who found a girl in Arbroath or Motherwell and settled down.They are energetic and ambitious, fortified by three or four of the players who answered Cricket Scotland’s infamous correspondence, and they have uncovered individuals like Calum MacLeod and Preston Mommsen who not only know how to play but also how to win.Ireland would probably never have beaten England had some of their players not accelerated their development within the English system, and the Dutch have benefited from county links of their own.Scotland have given seven or eight domestic players enough money to dedicate themselves to full-time training in Edinburgh, but players such as Yorkshire left-armer Iain Wardlaw, Sussex batsman Matt Machan and Rob Taylor of Northants have also made key contributions.Four months ago, though, before the renaissance, they returned from the World Twenty20 Qualifier having lost four of their games and finished seventh. Despite the introduction of Wright and Paul Collingwood to the coaching ticket, they had been so mentally weak that Collingwood admitted when he looked back over the winter: “There were moments when, I’ll be honest, I thought ‘these guys can’t take the heat’.”He challenged the players to prove him wrong, and within weeks of that Scotland interview he was coaching England in his guise as a temporary fielding coach and coming to terms with the reality that their players could not cope with pressure terribly well either.England have not struggled to stifle the Scots in their previous meetings, but it feels like there is far more riding on the result this time, and the hosts are in rude health.
MacLeod, who reinvented himself as a free-flowing opener after his action was judged illegal at Warwickshire, is on a short-term trial at Durham. Machan is rated highly by Sussex and the Scotland captain, Kyle Coetzer of Northants, was born and bred in Aberdeen and averages 82 in ODIs on his home ground.One thing that probably won’t give the Scots an advantage is the Mannofield wicket. In ten ODIs on the ground the average run rate is 4.73 and there have been seven centuries, two of them by New Zealanders who christened the track in style with 402 for 2 against Ireland in 2008.Most Scottish cricketers have benefited at some point from an association with England. Few, if any, will be supporting the Yes vote when they enter the polling booths in September. But they will realise they have a chance to make cricket history next week, leaving the more significant political battle to others.

Plays of the Day from the first day of the third Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Sydney

Daniel Brettig at the SCG03-Jan-2013The tribute
Australia, Sri Lanka and the match officials had another team join them for a moment’s silence to honour Tony Greig after the former England captain, World Series Cricket pioneer and strident commentator died last week. Also lined up at the SCG were Greig’s commentary colleagues at Channel Nine, including Bill Lawry, Ian Chappell and Richie Benaud. Joining them were members of Greig’s family, while on the stumps at the Paddington end was hung his trademark broad-brimmed hat. The players wore black arm bands in memory of Greig, while Australia’s captain Michael Clarke donned a neck scarf reminiscent of those Greig wore when leading England in Australia and India. Many in the crowd also wore sunhats. Of the tribute, Greig’s wife Vivian said: “I just wish he could have seen it. I’m so grateful, truly grateful.”The retiree
Michael Hussey led Australia onto the field for the start of his final Test, and in the first session the ball followed him too. He ran from the slips cordon to accept a high, swirling chance after Dimuth Karunaratne miscued Jackson Bird for the first wicket of the day, but had less success claiming the second. He lunged for a slips chance offered by Mahela Jayawardene when Sri Lanka’s captain had made just four, but unlike in Melbourne the ball burst through his outstretched left hand and scurried away to the third-man boundary.The exasperation
Mitchell Starc can be given to moments of intemperance on the field, and another arrived after he had dismissed Jayawardene to end a stand that frustrated the hosts. Fielding Thilan Samaraweera’s push back down the pitch, Starc hurled the ball back in the general direction of the stumps. He had done this in Hobart and struck the batsman; this time the throw was much further awry, and eluded Matthew Wade’s dive to skid away for four overthrows.The catch
Lahiru Thirimanne was progressing so serenely towards a first Test century that it came as a surprise when he sliced an attempt to drive Lyon square of cover. The ball hung in the air for someone to attempt a catch, and David Warner obliged, running around and diving to claim the chance in his right hand. It was a vital moment: Thirimanne was beside himself with grief at missing out on three figures, Warner equally overcome, but with jubilance at hanging on to a catch that could so easily have tumbled out when he hit the turf.

Six months after his back gave way, Peter Siddle has done the hard yards and is ready for action again

Sriram Veera18-Sep-2010Peter Siddle knows pain intimately. His body is acutely aware of damage and repair. It has been a constant battle all through his sporting life.He has been out in the cold for six months after his dream run with Australia. During this time he moved into a new house and kept himself busy decorating it. He watched a lot of AFL football. It was his catch-up time. He spent every evening with family and friends. They didn’t mention his body; they didn’t ask him when he was going to play for Australia again.His back, adorned by an enormous tattoo of the Southern Cross, gave way during the series against Pakistan. It forced him to rest, recuperate and take stock of his life. He chose to spend half his days with his close ones; he pounded his body the rest of the time.Every morning at 6am he walked into the AFL Carlton club’s strength and conditioning centre, where he was monitored by Justin Cordy. Some days it would be weights, other days running. There were biking and water sessions, rehab with physiotherapists, and even Pilates. For four to five hours every morning, he beat and stretched himself back into shape.His mind would occasionally drift away, though. Should I try to play this series? Or that one? He couldn’t decide. He watched bits and pieces of Australia’s matches.”It was hard to watch the new players come in and perform well. It was tough.” His advisors told him to focus only on those things he could control. “I am glad that I took those extra months. If I had returned early and damaged my back, I might have been out for a year or two.”I have had injures, so I knew it wasn’t the end of the world. That I can get past it. It was tough, though.” Especially after a great 18 months on the road with the team. He was also angry with himself for having taken things easy in the past.”I was confident of my talent and was just enjoying the ride with Victoria and then with the Australia team. I sort of took it a bit easy. Just concentrated on my bowling.”Look at how fit Mitchell Johnson is. He has played for three years now without any injuries. I want to be like him. And like the AFL players with whom I trained. I realised that for a professional cricketer I wasn’t in the best condition.”

“Wickets will come. I am a laidback guy. I don’t set goals in term of wickets and such. Some people get caught up with the goals, get worried when they go off track and lose the plot. I just want to run in and bowl”

There remained one further act in his comeback. His bowling action had to be re-engineered.”If you are injured then you are not doing something right,” he says. He was fully front-on; he will now be slightly side-on. Troy Cooley, the bowling coach, sat down with him and the sports scientists and developed the new action.Siddle had been bowling since he was 12. He had always run in hard and hit the deck. It was natural, like going to sleep. Now he had to do everything backwards. The release action. The loading-up. The run-up. In that order. There was no ball in his hand. “You were constantly working on the action all the while.” The action had to be internalised. It had to become part of the muscle memory.Nearly five months after his injury, he finally bowled with a ball. It was at the MCG during Victoria’s pre-season training. “I was nervous and tentative.” He ran in gingerly and bowled gently at the stumps. Slowly the run-up increased, as did the pace. After a while he bowled to a batsman. He played a few practice games in Darwin and one against Bangalore in South Africa. He finally made his Champions League debut earlier this week, and picked up two wickets in his first over.”I am not massively concerned about going out there and getting 10 wickets in a match. It’s just about getting into rhythm, then bowling flat-out and looking fit and strong on the ground. Wickets will come. I am a laidback guy. I don’t set goals in term of wickets and such. Some people get caught up with the goals, get worried when they go off track and lose the plot. I just want to run in and bowl.”Siddle likes to keep things simple. Just like his first delivery in Test cricket. He was very nervous then. He knew one thing: “I didn’t want to look intimidated and scared.” He knew what he didn’t want to do. “I didn’t want to go there and try to hit the wicket. I was too nervous to do that. I didn’t want to be seen bowling gentle half-volleys.” He decided what he had to bowl: “A bouncer. Show some aggression. I knew if I could get off to a good start, I would feel confident. I was lucky enough with it and I got him [Gautam Gambhir] on the helmet. I thought, ‘Ah that’s not bad.'”Not bad, indeed. Siddle says he is fitter, stronger, better, and is gunning for the Ashes. If he does return in time, the first ball could well be a bouncer again.

Marcus Berkmann reviews My Spin On Cricket by Richie Benaud

Marcus Berkmann13-Oct-2005

Buy this bookWhat are we going to do without Richie? It’s bad enough having to adjust to the prospect of life after Channel 4, but the retirement of Richie Benaud from British broadcasting, for the wholly understandable reason that he refuses to work for Sky, has hit cricket fans hard. For the last time, it seems, we have heard him say “Four from the moment it left the bat”, or, when the ball was missing leg stump by a foot, “I’ll leave you to make your own minds up about that one”. Nostalgia kicks in swiftly these days, and before he’s even on the plane to Sydney we have all been looking back with unnatural fondness to the Richie years. Publishers know this, which is why books like this come into existence. Many of the middle-aged men buying it at my local bookshop were apparently in tears, although the rather steep cover price may have had something to do with that.Richie has written many books over the years, and you may well have read one or two of them. I suspect it’s impossible to follow the game with any enthusiasm and not read at least a couple of Benaud books. They are strangely tempting, promising as they do the authority and judiciousness of the World’s Greatest Commentator leavened with his bone-dry humour and terrific anecdotes about Tony Lewis and Peter West. Which is to some extent what you get, as most of them are essentially the same book updated. The exception was 1998’s Anything But An Autobiography, which was the most reluctant memoir in sporting history. Richie doesn’t want to talk about himself, he wants to talk about cricket, with which, thank heaven, he remains completely enthralled.For what sets Richie Benaud apart from his contemporaries – and also, let’s face it, a fair number of people much younger than him – is that he consistently welcomes change. He sees the modern game as an enhancement on former glories, not as a disappointing echo of them. He esteems one-day cricket, thinks technology is marvellous and adores the aggressive batting style of modern Test sides. Asked, because he has seen or participated in more Tests than anyone else, to nominate the best cricketing period he had lived through, he says that the 20 months between May 2003 and the end of January 2005 pretty much beat everything. As it happens, the end of January 2005 was when he finished writing this book, so we can assume that the recent Ashes series would be up there as well. Test cricket has never been more fun: an inspiring assertion, and you can’t imagine Fred Trueman saying it.Richie remains a journalist to his bones, and this is a journalist’s book: topical, snappy and written without much fuss. He is not the greatest stylist, but as consolation every page is infused with the flavour of his commentary. Whenever he calls something “ordinary”, meaning “atrocious”, you want to cheer. Reading it is a little like taking a Radox bath: it’s wonderfully relaxing, and cheers you up for no reason you can put your finger on. May his retirement be long and fruitful. Morning everyone.

Aiden Markram has been named the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain for IPL 2023.Markram, 28, recently led Sunrisers Eastern Cape to the inaugural SA20 title, where he also finished as the tournament’s third leading run-maker.Related

• IPL 2023 to be played from March 31 to May 28

• Prasidh Krishna ruled out of IPL 2023 with stress fracture

• 'Fully fit' Chahar ready to make comeback at IPL 2023

Sunrisers had to fill the leadership role after releasing Kane Williamson ahead of the IPL auction last December. The first player retained by the franchises ahead of the mega auction in 2022, Williamson struggled for form as Sunrisers failed to make the playoffs last season finishing eighth. Williamson missed the final league match last season to return to New Zealand for the birth of his child following which Bhuvneshwar Kumar took over the reins.It is understood that Bhuvneshwar, who has been with the franchise since its inception in 2013, along with Mayank Agarwal (bought in the December auction) and Markram were among the contenders for the leadership position. Markram was chosen for the role by the Sunrisers team management, which is led by Brian Lara, who was appointed as head coach ahead of the auction.In SA20, Markram proved he could excel both as a captain and a batter while leading Eastern Cape. Alongside making 369 runs at a strike rate of 127 including a century, Markram also bagged 11 wickets at an economy of 6.19 with his part-time offspin – enough to earn 596.6 points and top the Total Impact charts calculated as per ESPNcricnfo’s Smart Stats tool.Sunrisers paid INR 2.6 crore to buy Markram at the 2022 auction. In that season, Markram scored 381 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 139.05 and an average of 47.62.

MatériaMais Notícias

Após enfrentar o Coritiba em jogo-treino na última segunda-feira (27), no CT da Barra Funda, o São Paulo planeja mais um, desta vez nesta sexta-feira (31). Porém, o Tricolor depende de algumas questões.

RelacionadasSão PauloCom ‘ajudinha’ de Antony, São Paulo fecha o balanço de 2022 com superávit na receitaSão Paulo28/03/2023São PauloEm apenas 3 jogos da Sul-Americana, São Paulo terá deslocamento maior que em todo o BrasileirãoSão Paulo28/03/2023São PauloFim da maldição? São Paulo terá reedição de final da Sul-Americana de 2012 com argentinoSão Paulo27/03/2023

Ainda sem um adversário definido, este jogo-treino seria uma forma da equipe se preparar para a estreia na Copa Sul-Americana e nas outras competições que deve enfrentar neste ano. Porém, tudo depende justamente da divulgação da data da primeira partida no continental.

São Paulo reencontra Tigre; Botafogo enfrentará altitude: veja os grupos da Copa Sul-Americana

Veja tabela do Campeonato Paulista

Segundo apurou o LANCE!, se o São Paulo estrear na Sul-Americana na próxima terça-feira (4), por exemplo, possivelmente este jogo-treino não aconteceria. O primeiro confronto da equipe no continental acontecerá contra o Tigre, rival do Tricolor na conquista da competição em 2012.

Como o São Paulo é cabeça de chave, os primeiros jogos do torneio acontecerão fora de casa. Assim, para enfrentar o primeiro adversário, terá que viajar até Buenos Aires – cerca de2.223 quilômetros. Inclusive, esta logística de viagens foi apontada como a maior dificuldade pelo próprio Carlos Belmonte, diretor de futebol do clube, pouco antes do sorteio dos adversários do time.

– A gente estreia na Sul-Americana fora de casa, o sorteio é importante porque o tempo é curto para logística. Queríamos evitar viagens longas porque isso é prejudicial. Todos que estão na competição são aptos, mas queremos evitar viagens longas – disse em entrevista à ‘ESPN’.

O jogo-treino contra o Coritiba foi realizado em duas etapas. Em uma, os jogadores titulares perderam por 2 a 1. Na outra etapa, os reservas foram utilizados e venceram por 3 a 1. Não foram divulgadas as escalações. Tanto estes jogos-treinos quanto o ‘intercâmbio’ que aconteceu em Cotia faziam parte do planejamento da intertemporada, após a eliminação da equipe no Campeonato Paulista.

Heinrich Klaasen will go into the IPL 2024 playoffs feeling like he is back at his best, having worked his way through a slight drop off in form. He hit 42 off 26 against Punjab Kings on Sunday evening in Hyderabad to help his team chase down 215 with relative ease, hitting a couple of shots along the way that “put a smile” on his face.”I haven’t hit it nicely over this period of time,” Klaasen said after the game. “So I went back into the nets to try and figure it out, [and] got something that helped. And I finally hit one or two today that put a smile on my face.”Klaasen had hit 253 runs in his first six innings this season, at an average of 63.25 and a strike rate of 199.21. But his next six knocks, including this one against PBKS in Hyderabad, brought him 128 runs at an average of 25.60 and a strike rate of 158.02. This run included a 2 off four balls against Mumbai Indians, and a 20 off 21 balls against Chennai Super Kings, both in SRH losses.Related

• SRH ride on another Abhishek blitz to finish second in league-stage standings

Asked what he felt had been going wrong for him when his form fell away, Klaasen said: “I haven’t looked at the ball at all. And I was moving way too much. And then I found something. I challenged myself in the nets against the other guys, [like] the spinners. And all of a sudden, everything just clicked again.”So I just went back to the basics of standing dead still, watching the ball, and just reacting. And finally it came [off], so I’m very pleased.”What would have helped Klaasen in this regard was the long break SRH got – partly by design, partly due to the weather. Before today, they had last played against Lucknow Super Giants at home on May 8, before having a match against Gujarat Titans – also at home – washed out without a toss on May 16. Klaasen admitted that was a blessing in disguise.”It couldn’t have come at a better time for us, to be honest,” he said. “It has been a long couple of months. The schedule, I reckon that timing was the best for us. End of the IPL, into the playoffs, will be nice and fresh mentally, and obviously [then] into the [T20] World Cup. So that break was, I reckon, sent from above.”Klaasen and Co had to wait to know which playoff they will feature in, though. The win against PBKS put them second on the points table, one point ahead of Rajasthan Royals in third. Royals played table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders in the final league game of the season, later in the evening.”Yeah, we’ll definitely be awake and supporting KKR tonight,” Klaasen said with a smile. The smile would have remained as news of that game being washed out came through, confirming SRH’s top-two finish.

حقق فريق الجونة فوزًا صعبًا على نظيره كهرباء الإسماعيلية، بهدف نظيف، في المباراة التي جمعتهما اليوم الأحد، ضمن منافسات مسابقة الدوري المصري الممتاز.

والتقى الجونة مع كهرباء الإسماعيلية على استاد الإسماعيلية، ضمن منافسات الجولة الأولى من مسابقة الدوري المصري الممتاز.

طالع.. فيديو | “أسيستات” زيزو لا تكفي.. الأهلي يفقد أول نقطتين بـ تعادل مثير مع مودرن سبورت في الدوري

وجاء هدف الجونة والمباراة الوحيد عن طريق صابر أشرف في الدقيقة 79، ليقود فريقه لفوز صعب على كهرباء الإسماعيلية.

وحصد الجونة أول 3 نقاط له في مسابقة الدوري، بينما كهرباء الإسماعيلة تلقى الخسارة في الظهور الأول له في تاريخ الدوري المصري الممتاز ليتجمد رصيده عند 0 نقاط.

وانطلق الدوري المصري الممتاز، أول أمس الجمعة، حيث من المقرر أن ينتهي في شهر مايو المقبل عام 2026. هدف فوز الجونة على كهرباء الإسماعيلية في الدوري المصري