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While his future opportunities after this tour remain uncertain, he hopes to use early success to get better

Andrew McGlashan07-Mar-2023Surreal. Daunting. As good as it gets. Those are just three ways Todd Murphy described his first experience of Test cricket amid the series in India, where he has been lauded for his maturity and ability to slot into the side despite limited experience.Murphy had played seven first-class matches when he was called in to debut at Nagpur where he claimed seven wickets. All told he has taken 11 wickets at 21.81 with a miserly economy of 2.61, the latter particularly coming to the fore in the second innings in Indore when his wicketless 14 overs went for just 18 runs. He was praised by Daniel Vettori for playing a role in ensuring another India collapse.Related

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Among that he has claimed Virat Kohli three times; the first owed a bit to luck when Kohli was caught down the leg side but the other two, especially the dismissal in Indore, came about through terrific skill.”It’s been awesome,” Murphy said of that battle. “When I look back to Nagpur when he walked out to bat, I was at the top of my mark thinking this is as good as it gets getting to bowl to a guy like that. So to be able to have that for the first three Tests has been awesome, a really enjoyable battle and no different to bowling to a lot of their guys. When they stand there it is daunting at times.”Murphy was modest about the set-up to Kohli in Indore. “It’s always nice when it looks like that,” he said. “And I think the plans for [coming from] around the wicket is always to challenge both sides of the edges, for that to work out the way it did was nice and to get him out again was awesome.””At the start of the season we both weren’t in the state sides and to be here now playing Test cricket together is pretty surreal”•Getty Images

Murphy has been part of a rare Australian spin trio in the last two Tests with Matthew Kuhnemann, with only a little more experience under his belt, also hastily drafted into the side for Delhi, then claiming his own maiden five-wicket haul in Indore to bundle out India for 109.”It’s something I’ve never really experienced, playing with two other frontline spinners,” Murphy said. “Steve [Smith] talked about it before the last Test, it’s about putting your ego away and knowing you’re going to bowl short spells at times. It doesn’t mean you’re not bowling well, it’s probably just accepting that and knowing that at certain times you’re going to be playing different roles. It’s been enjoyable and we’ve been able to work off each other very well and we’re quite different.”While Murphy’s relationship with Nathan Lyon was strong before the tour – the latter being a mentor during his young career – a strong bond has been formed with Kuhnemann after their similarly rapid elevation to the Test arena.”It’s been really cool,” he said. “We spoke about it after Kuhny debuted. At the start of the season we both weren’t in the state sides and to be here now playing Test cricket together is pretty surreal. It’s happened a lot faster than we both probably expected. We’ve just tried to enjoy it and the relationship is building nicely. We can talk about spin bowling, what works and what doesn’t.”Quite when Murphy’s next Test opportunity comes after Ahmedabad, providing Lyon remains fit, is uncertain. It is unlikely that conditions in England for the World Test Championship final and the Ashes will call for two spinners and it remains a rare route on home soil, although Ashton Agar did partner Lyon against South Africa at the SCG this season. Australia’s next subcontinent tour is not until early 2025 when they visit Sri Lanka for two Tests.Murphy is set for a spell in county cricket ahead of the Ashes and should be well-placed to be the second spinner in that squad.”I haven’t thought too far ahead but when you look, Gaz [Lyon] is still bowling as good as he ever has so when this series does come to an end it is going to slow down a little, it’s quite rare other places in the world to play two spinners,” he said. “To have this taste so early, it will drive me to get better and what it even more when hopefully it next does come.”

Kemar Roach is smaller than the great West Indian bowlers of the past but faster than he looks

Peter English19-Nov-2009Kemar Roach is smaller than the great West Indian bowlers of the past but faster than he looks. Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Corey Collymore were Roach’s childhood heroes and he would like to carry on the tradition by leading the side in the three-Test series against Australia starting next week.Standing at well under six feet, Roach is a 21-year-old with a reasonably gentle run-up before he explodes through the crease and his slippery deliveries surprised the local batsmen. He regularly hurried Nick Kruger, who carried a headache after being struck on the helmet during his 172, and collected Ryan Broad’s edge with a lifting delivery before lunch.While Roach’s 1 for 67 off 23 overs came in the Bulls’ hefty total of 4 for 384, he gained frequent plays and misses and was frustrated not to win a couple more calls from the umpires. “That’s what cricket is all about – hard days and long days,” he said. “I know to work hard to get wickets and I’ll bowl all day if I have to. It was tiring but I was accustomed to that, I’m accustomed to bowling a long time. It’s not a problem for me.”Roach, who was clocked at 94.5mph [152kph] during the Champions Trophy, was called up for the two Tests against Bangladesh during the players’ strike and was the leading bowler with 13 wickets in the lost series. “He just ambles in but then it is on you,” Kruger said. “He is quick and he got me with a good one – I have got a bit of a headache.”Kruger felt Roach was holding back too. “He was just ambling in there today,” he said. Both Kruger and Wade Townsend, who also scored a maiden century, had some tough moments in the early stages but recovered for a satisfying 243-run stand for the second wicket.”They came hard at us but we batted pretty well,” Kruger said. “It was my day, I had a couple of chances and they were probably recovering from a bit of jet-lag.”The West Indians were not helped by some dropped chances, but Roach expected the performances to improve for the first Test. “There’s more cricket to play and that was only one day,” he said. “I don’t think we will be that bad again.”

Fast bowler’s five-for sees Worcestershire skittled before captain Dawid Malan notches unbeaten hundred

ECB Reporters Network28-May-2019Middlesex paceman Tom Helm returned career best figures before skipper Dawid Malan’s 23rd first-class hundred established a position of strength for his side in the Specsavers County Championship encounter with Worcestershire at Blackfinch New Road.Helm finished with 5 for 36 from 19 overs to earn Middlesex a first-innings lead of 65 as Worcestershire were dismissed for 156 in 63.5 overs shortly before tea. It surpassed the 25-year-old’s previous best of 5 for 59 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston two years ago, as he exploited a pitch of uneven bounce and received excellent support from veteran Tim Murtagh (17-9-25-2).Then skipper Malan and Nick Gubbins cashed in during a marathon final session of 51 overs with an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 175.Malan leg glanced Ed Barnard for four to reach three figures off 121 balls with 14 fours and he accelerated to such an extent that his second 50 came from just 44 deliveries. He ended the day unbeaten on 107 with Gubbins 72 not out as Middlesex closed on 195 for 2, an overall advantage of 260.Conditions appeared to ease for batting during the second half of the day although Worcestershire, with the exception of skipper Joe Leach, were guilty of some undistinguished bowling.In a rain shortened morning session Helm followed up his two wickets on Monday with another double breakthrough in the half hour’s play possible after Worcestershire had resumed on 64 for 3 in reply to Middlesex’s 221.Opener Tom Fell had defied the visitors attack for 27 overs on the opening day but added only one to his overnight 18 before he pushed forward to Helm and was bowled. Helm dismissed nightwatchman Josh Tongue who fended off a delivery which bounced on him and Nathan Sowter held on to a low chance at second slip.The players were driven off by a heavy shower and an early lunch was taken at 12.30pm with the total on 85 for 5.When the action resumed Worcestershire lost two further wickets without any addition to the total. Riki Wessels pushed forward to Murtagh and was bowled and then Helm completed his five wicket haul when Ross Whiteley edged to Steve Eskinazi at second slip.Ben Cox top edged James Harris for six to fine leg and Ed Barnard drove Murtagh for four. But the veteran Middlesex paceman’s next delivery jagged back and accounted for Barnard lbw and Cox was dismissed in the same fashion by Harris.Resistance came from the last wicket Worcestershire pair of Leach and Charlie Morris. They added 40 in 16 overs before spinner Sowter trapped Morris lbw.Leach took the new ball and made two quickfire breakthroughs as Max Holden and Sam Robson fell lbw in successive overs to leave Middlesex on 20 for 2. But Malan, in his first senior game since recovering from a groin injury suffered on England duty, and Gubbins ensured there were no further alarms for the visitors.They scored at around four an over and were seldom troubled with Malan first to his half century off 77 balls with six fours. Gubbins reached his fifty shortly afterwards from 99 deliveries with seven boundaries.

Find out a bit more about the man who has been a late call up to New Zealand’s World Cup squad

Deivarayan Muthu02-Apr-20192:03

Blundell picked because of his superior keeping – Stead

Tom Blundell, who?

A dashing wicketkeeper-batsman, Blundell was part of New Zealand’s Under-19 World Cup squad alongside two other wicketkeepers Dane Cleaver (Kane Williamson’s cousin) and Latham in 2010. Blundell got only one match in the tournament and played as a specialist batsman much like Latham, with Cleaver keeping wicket. Later in 2012, he honed his skills at the Essex League in England before making his Plunket Shield debut for Wellington in 2013.He enjoyed his breakout Plunket Shield season in 2016-17, amassing 656 runs in 15 innings at an average of 54.66. He then gradually established himself as a reliable wicketkeeper, and claimed 10 catches in a tense Plunket Shield game against Canterbury at the Basin Reserve in November 2017. Weeks later an injury to first-choice Test keeper BJ Watling paved the way for Blundell’s Test debut at the Basin Reserve, which is just a stone’s throw away from his school.Tom Blundell in action at training•Getty Images

How did he fare on Test debut?

He became only the fourth wicketkeeper – after Brendon Kuruppu, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Matt Prior – to hit a century on Test debut, in front of his family and friends. After leaving the ball cautiously in his early exchanges, he rolled out a variety of cross-batted strokes to ping the leg-side boundaries. He put on 148 for the seventh wicket at a run rate of six with Colin de Grandhomme to hoist New Zealand to a match-winning first-innings lead of 386.”He was very calm, confident and chill and he made it a lot easier out there for me too” – that was de Grandhomme’s assessment of Blundell.And after New Zealand secured an innings win, Blundell, who was still in playing gear, opted to causally walk home but was caught by his team-mates, who were taking a more conventional route away from the ground.

Tell me about his limited-overs credentials?

In addition to punchy cuts and pulls, Blundell has a variety of sweeps in his repertoire and strikes at 78.88 and 124.83 in List A and T20 cricket respectively. He rattled off 243 runs in nine innings at a strike-rate of 134.25 in Wellington’s run to the Super Smash title in 2016-17.A day after winning the Super Smash, Blundell won his maiden international cap in a T20I against Bangladesh in Mount Maunganui. He has only played only two more T20Is since. In the most recent Super Smash season, he provided muscle to the middle and lower order with eight sixes. Only Michael Bracewell had struck more sixes for Wellington in the past season.

What’s his recent one-day form like?

Not too encouraging. Blundell missed the Ford Trophy one-day competition and has played just one List A game since February 2018, for New Zealand A against Pakistan. Seifert, meanwhile, was at his explosive best in the T20I series against India earlier this year and even prompted commentator Ian Smith to liken him to Brendon McCullum, but an untimely injury, and some reservations about Seifert’s glovework, has helped Blundell sneak into New Zealand’s World Cup plans.

Any New Zealanders who have made their ODI debut at a World Cup?

Eight, including Danny Morrison and Andrew Jones, but none since 1987. Some of the high-profile names who have made their ODI debut at a World Cup include Andre Russell, Kieron Pollard, Imran Tahir and Ajay Jadeja.

Defending champions bowl out Pakistan for 105 and chase it down inside 20 overs to keep semi-final hopes alive

Valkerie Baynes24-Mar-2022Katherine Brunt and Danni Wyatt rediscovered some form to dovetail with England’s World Cup resurgence as the defending champions made it three wins in three matches with a comprehensive nine-wicket victory over Pakistan in Christchurch.Brunt, the veteran England seamer, had taken just one wicket from five matches in the tournament before she and Sophie Ecclestone took three wickets each to help contain Pakistan to 105 all out inside 42 overs.Related

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Wyatt then scored an unbeaten 76 off 68 balls to bring it home with 30.4 overs to spare for England, who remain in control of their own semi-finals destiny. They moved to six points and into fourth place on the table, fractionally ahead of India on net run rate, after South Africa secured their place in the top four by sharing the points in a rained-off match with West Indies, who must now rely on other results to get through.England, who lost their opening three games, made a slow start to their chase as Diana Baig caused them some trouble, helping restrict the openers to just six runs in the first three overs. Wyatt got a second life on four when she cut Fatima Sana to gully where Nida Dar got her fingertips to the ball but couldn’t hold on.Wyatt made it count, hitting the next three balls for four runs each, pulled through square leg, driven in the air through cover and threaded fine through fine leg.Once Baig removed Tammy Beaumont lbw for just two, with Pakistan overturning the initial not-out decision, she then had new batter Heather Knight watchful, squaring her up first ball with one that just managed to evade slip then, next over, twice beating the bat and tangling her up with a yorker that the England captain just managed to dig out.After four overs, Diana had 1 for 7 as Wyatt hit her stride against Aiman Anwer, helping herself to four more boundaries including a powerful drive between point and cover-point as she moved to 36 from 32 balls to guide England to 48 for 1 at the end of the powerplay.Wyatt was elevated to open in England’s third match, a three-wicket loss to South Africa, replacing the out-of-form Lauren Winfield-Hill. Her previous best score of this tournament had been 33 batting at No. 7 against West Indies before Thursday.Danni Wyatt thrashes celebrates her fifty•ICC via Getty Images

Wyatt brought up her maiden World Cup half-century with a single to cover off Nashra Sandhu, and she drew England within 14 runs of victory with back-to-back fours off Dar before hitting the winning runs with a four off Fatima through fine leg, her 11th boundary of the innings. It was Wyatt’s second-highest ODI score as Knight settled into a supporting role to end not out on 24.Having won the toss and opted to bowl first on a Hagley Oval pitch boasting some live grass, England struck first ball via Brunt. She looked skywards with arms outstretched in relief when she had Nahida Khan, called into the Pakistan side to open in place of Muneeba Ali, caught at slip by Knight playing a long way forward to a full, late-moving outswinger that found the outside edge.Pakistan then lost their captain, Bismah Maroof, when she turned a full ball off Anya Shrubsole to the vacant region at backward square leg and called for a second run as wicketkeeper Amy Jones sprinted after the ball and fired it in sharply to the striker’s end, where Sophia Dunkley was waiting to remove the bails with Bismah short of her ground.That left Pakistan at 2 for 11 inside the first four overs, and by the end of the powerplay, they had added just 17 more runs.Omaima Sohail was run out rushing a single off Kate Cross as Beaumont swooped at mid-off and threw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end with an excellent direct hit.Pakistan were largely well contained, facing 18 scoreless balls and nine overs without a boundary before Sidra Ameen – having survived an England review for lbw off the previous delivery on umpire’s call – threaded Cross through square leg for four.Brunt struck again to remove Dar, trying to sweep a full-length ball that struck low on the front pad directly in line. She claimed her third with a gem of a length ball that seamed back in slightly as Ameen tried to steer it toward third man but managed only to get an inside edge onto her stumps to fall for 32, the top-scorer on an underwhelming Pakistan scorecard.After leaving impressive off-spinner Charlie Dean out of the side in favour of an extra batter in Emma Lamb, Knight brought herself into the attack to great effect when she tempted Aliya Riaz into a sweep and got a top edge to loop to Shrubsole at short fine leg.Ecclestone claimed three wickets in as many overs when she had Fatima Sana and Aiman Anwer caught behind by Jones and then wrapped up the Pakistan innings with a wonderful ball that was full and straight to peg back Diana’s middle stump. In between, Cross was miserly with her relentless line and length and she was rewarded on an excellent full-length ball that nipped back in to take out Sidra Nawaz’s leg stump.

England’s spare batter hits 135 off 125 as Essex seize their moment to set up a victory push

Paul Edwards12-Jul-2023
Just before play was due to begin at Stanley Park yesterday it was noticed that the stumps were missing.There were probably moments over the next eight hours or so when Lancashire supporters wished that nobody had bothered to find the bloody things. Even more usefully, perhaps, the locals might have hoped that the rain which delayed the start of our day’s cricket for 45 minutes and then interrupted it briefly in mid-afternoon would hose down for something like 36 hours. Anything to prevent them having to watch their side collapse like a detonated block of flats and then offer as bad a session of outcricket as they have produced all season.Essex, though, are the sort of team who seize on such weaknesses like peckish piranhas. Their seam attack exploited Lancashire’s batting frailties magnificently to earn a first-innings lead of 137 and the last third of the day featured a quite savage assault on Keaton Jennings’ dispirited bowlers and demoralised fielders by Dan Lawrence, the spare batter in England’s Ashes squad who leaves for Surrey at the end of the season.Capitalising gleefully on the home side’s weakness, Lawrence hit nine sixes, losing at least three balls in the adjoining park, reaching his third century with his fifth maximum and hitting four more of the rascals before perishing in the final over of the day when Jennings caught him at long-on for 135, clubbed off 125 balls.Related

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At the other end, Doug Bracewell had hit four sixes in his 61 not out and the pair had added 106 in one ball short of nine overs, but Bracewell will be no more than a footnote to this day’s cricket. The headline writers will be thinking about Lawrence, Essex supporters will be wondering if their side can seal a fourth win of the season and Lancashire followers will be hoping for shelter from the storm.Cricket, however, is rarely so accommodating and the locals’ slumber will be tortured by Essex attack’s merciless demolition of Lancashire’s first innings. Hindered by the Kookaburra ball, which appears to be disliked throughout the county game, but aided by cloudy skies, Tom Westley’s quicker bowlers went to their work with a rare will.Having successfully negotiated the newish ball and reached 76 for 1, Lancashire lost eight wickets for 45 runs either side of lunch and it took Phil Salt’s six over square leg to help them avoid a follow-on that Essex might not have enforced in any case. Sam Cook took four of the wickets but Paul Walter also removed three in eight balls just before the first interval. There were times when the speed of the cricket would have defeated the scribble on the scorecard but Lancashire did not provide such accessories for the third day of this game. It was very prescient of them.Lancashire’s coaches should not be so forgiving. Essex’s seamers bowled with the ruthlessness of men who sensed an opportunity to establish a match-winning advantage and some of the Lancashire’s top order had to be worked out by their opponents. Jennings, for example, pushed at a delivery from Cook which nipped away and went via the edge to Matt Critchley at second slip.Other dismissals were almost entirely the batter’s own work. Among the latter group was Dane Vilas, who pushed his second ball into the off side and called Josh Bohannon for a risky single but was well beaten by Bracewell’s direct hit from the covers. Both Rob Jones and Tom Hartley nicked catches when feeling for balls well outside the off stump. And the innings ended on a note of farce as Tom Bailey ducked away from what he believed to be a beamer from Cook, only to see the ball lollop into his stumps.Dismissed for 145 and already well behind in the game, Lancashire’s bowlers then enjoyed their only decent half-hour of the day. Having been caught at slip for a four-ball duck in the first innings, Nick Browne padded up to Bailey’s third ball of the second dig was sent on his way for a pair. It is doubtful whether the opener will nurture fond memories of Blackpool or, indeed, of Bailey’s bowling.

He made an unbeaten 70 off 45 balls, as he rode out the pressure created by Afghanistan’s spinners, even as wickets kept falling at the other end

The Report by Mohammad Isam21-Sep-2019Shakib Al Hasan’s calculated counterattack helped Bangladesh win a tense game by four wickets in Chattogram, marking their first win over Afghanistan in a T20 in five years. Shakib’s knock helped his side chase down 139 after they were struggling at 104 for 6 in the 16th over, with the captain batting on 54.Shakib finished on an unbeaten 70 off 45 balls with eight fours and a six, as he rode out the pressure created by Afghanistan’s spinners, even as wickets kept falling at the other end.Shakib strikes down RashidShakib finished on top in the battle of the captains. With Bangladesh needing 27 off 18 balls, Shakib turned the game Bangladesh’s way by hitting Rashid Khan for a four and a six in an 18-run over that left them needing just nine off the last two overs.Rashid had gone off the field in the eighth over with a hamstring niggle. He returned to bowl the 14th over and removed Mahmudullah for 6, before dismissing Afif Hossain for 2 in his next over, leaving Bangladesh six down. When Rashid returned for the 18th over, Mosaddek Hossain started with a four past short third man before Shakib muscled the ball over midwicket twice, first for a four and then a six that landed in the stands.Bangladesh’s seniors to the rescueBangladesh lost their openers within the first four overs which left them at 12 for 2. Mujeeb Ur Rahman had Liton Das caught for 4 in the third over, and in the next over Najmul Hossain Shanto became Naveen-ul-Haq’s maiden T20I wicket as he chipped a slower ball to Rashid at midwicket.Shakib provided the relief for Bangladesh by striking two fours to end the Powerplay on 28 for 2. He picked up the singles and twos on offer and brought up a calculated fifty off 35 balls in the 15th over. He added 58 runs for the third wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim, who survived in the tenth over when substitute Najeeb Tarakai, on for Rashid, dropped a catch on the leg side. Mushfiqur, however, fell in the very next over when he dragged a pull off Karim Janat to deep midwicket for 26.Yet another strong start for AfghanistanAfghanistan’s openers put up yet another strong show. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was lucky to be dropped on 1 in the second over, but that hardly stopped the Afghanistan openers from going big. Hazratullah Zazai struck Shafiul Islam for two fours in the fourth over and then blasted Mahmudullah for two fours and a six in a 16-run over to round off a good Powerplay. They took turns to hit three more sixes in the next three overs. Gurbaz then connected with a reverse sweep off Mosaddek for six, stretching the run rate further despite the end of the Powerplay.Collapse dents final flourishBut after the 75-run opening stand ended, Afghanistan lost their next six wickets for 39 runs. Hazratullah’s wicket in the tenth over, after he made a quick 47 off 35 balls, triggered the collapse. After Afif had Hazratullah top-edge to short fine leg, he removed Asghar Afghan for a second-ball duck.Gurbaz was caught and bowled by Mustafizur Rahman for 29 before Shakib had Mohammad Nabi lbw for 4. A run-out soon removed Gulbadin Naib, and Najibullah Zadran and Janat then fell in successive overs, as Afghanistan meandered to 114 for 7 in the 17th over. They managed only two fours in the 31 runs they scored in the last five overs.