All posts by h716a5.icu

Jude Bellingham has topped the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo with his start at Real Madrid, claims ex-Blancos star Aitor Karanka.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

England completed big-money transferMade a stunning impact in SpainCompared with icons from the pastWHAT HAPPENED?

The England international midfielder completed a €103 million (£90m/$112m) transfer to Santiago Bernabeu from Borussia Dortmund during the summer window. Big things were expected of him in Spain, but the 20-year-old has exceeded all expectations.

AdvertisementGettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Former Blancos defender Karanka – who won three Champions League crowns during his time with Real – has told of Bellingham after seeing him hit 13 goals through 14 appearances: “I did not have any surprise or any doubt, but maybe one surprise is just how quickly he’s done this. I played with Figo and Zidane and, even for them, it took time. I remember when Zizou arrived here, the first month or two months, he was not as good as he was at Juventus or later on. It’s Real Madrid.

"But with Jude’s personality and character, it looks like he’s been playing here for 10 years in Madrid. No other club is like it. When I played here, there were top players but all of them were older but now at 20 years, the only one I think of is Raul who started at 18 or 19 but when you are as young as Jude, it’s hard to find anyone who has been as successful as him.”

WHAT THEY SAID

Bellingham has had the pick of Europe’s top clubs over the course of his relatively short career, but Karanka feels Real are the perfect fit for the newly-crowned winner of the prestigious Golden Boy award. The ex-Birmingham boss added on a player that honed his craft at St Andrew’s: “More than his quality and skills, the most important thing is his personality. How mature he is, his brain and the family. The family have clear ideas, Jude has his own ideas and I think it’s important for his direction. When he left Birmingham, he could have gone to other teams in the Premier League but when he joined Borussia Dortmund, it was because he thought it was the best step for him and now I think Real Madrid has been the same.

"For sure, he had offers to go to Liverpool, Manchester City but he decided to go to Madrid as soon as he arrived here and he’s made the difference. His family is so strong. His brother Jobe plays in Sunderland, his father is with him in Sunderland and his mother is with him here and I think it’s vital because, as a player, 25 years later to play for Real Madrid means you are more than just a normal player.”

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

GettyWHAT NEXT?

Bellingham, who is nursing a shoulder injury at present, has signed a contract in Madrid through to 2029 and is expected to come in to contention for Ballon d’Or recognition at some stage in the future.

Mushfiqur Rahim has admitted it was difficult to set fields for his undisciplined bowling attack, and said that as a captain, he was made to look “foolish” when the bowlers struggled to bowl in one area continuously

Mohammad Isam in Fatullah14-Jun-20151:37

‘Could’ve played Harbhajan, Ashwin better’ – Mushfiqur

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim has admitted it was difficult to set fields for his undisciplined bowling attack, and said that as a captain, he was made to look “foolish” when the bowlers struggled to bowl in one area continuously. Mushfiqur also felt that there was much to learn from the Indian bowlers who bowled according to the fields set by their captain Virat Kohli.Mushfiqur fit to keep for ODIs

Mushfiqur Rahim said that he has recovered from his finger injury enough to keep wickets in the ODI series against India, though it did bother him a couple of times during the Fatullah Test.
“I fielded for almost three days and it did hurt once or twice,” he said. “Otherwise, I don’t think I am in a bad situation to keep either. Hopefully I will be fit keeping-wise by the time the ODIs start.”
Mushfiqur said that he wouldn’t use the pain as an excuse for his five-ball two in Bangladesh’s first innings, when he got out nicking a catch to leg-slip.
“I can’t give any excuse about my batting. The injury might have affected me while fielding or keeping but not my batting. I’ll return to keeping in the one-dayers.”

“A bowler needs to bowl in one particular area and be consistent so that we can plan a field for the batsmen,” Mushfiqur said. “If we set a field for deliveries that are bowled in front of the batsmen and in good areas and then you see the bowler bowling a short pitched delivery, then the captain may look foolish. It depends upon the bowler and what they are executing. If our plan clicks everyone would have said positive things. If it doesn’t people will criticize.”India consistently scored more than four runs an over on the truncated first and third day of the Fatullah Test, eventually declaring on 462 for 6 on the fourth morning. None of Bangladesh’s front-line bowlers, on the other hand, went at less than three an over. Shakib Al Hasan finished with 4 for 105 at 4.28 runs per over while Jubair Hossain gave away 113 runs in 19 overs for his two wickets. Taijul Islam and the lone paceman Mohammad Shahid went wicketless, while the entire bowling attack could muster just four maidens.Combined, the bowlers gave away more boundaries on the legside (28 to 26) than the offside, and there were a noticeable number of rank long-hops from both the spinners and Shahid. Shakib admitted that he needed help from his old coach Nazmul Abedeen to correct his bowling action, while Jubair had been short of match practice having last played a first-class game in February. Shahid understandably struggled for 22 overs and even Taijul had an uncharacteristically poor Test match. Since taking 60 wickets from three Tests against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh have bowled their opponents out in an innings only once, against Pakistan in Khulna.”The captaincy depends upon the entire team and captaincy is a big issue,” Mushfiqur said. “But at this level a bowler comes and tells the captain how he is going to set a batsman up and accordingly a captain sets a field. But in our level there is a big gap here.”If our bowlers bowl one ball here and the other there, then the field setup will never look good. The way Harbhajan and Aswhin bowled, you could always use an attacking field against any side. So hopefully we can learn from this Test and work more on our bowling. It will help our Test cricket.”Mushfiqur admitted that picking just one pace bowler was a strategy they needed to revisit. Mushfiqur is the only captain who has used a single pace bowler in a Test match. The first time was in January last year when he used Al-Amin Hossain as the single seamer. Kumar Sangakkara scored a triple-century in that game and the bowling attack looked just as lopsided here as well. It was particularly unfair on Shahid, who was only playing his third Test match and at times, looked out of ideas.”Maybe had we taken another pacer it could have been good. There might have been a mistake from our side. We take a decision together with logic.”Maybe if we would have won the toss, things would have been different and our four spinners could have attacked their batsmen more. So maybe we can learn from this experience and know what are the positives and negatives of playing with a single pacer.”Mushfiqur also said that Shuvagata Hom may perhaps have been given one too many chances to prove his worth. From seven Tests, Hom averages 21.30 with the bat and 59.12 with the ball taking just eight wickets. After going wicketless in the first innings, Hom had a chance to redeem himself with the bat, but even in his 43-run seventh-wicket stand with Litton Das, it was the debutant Litton who looked far more comfortable. Shuvagata made just 9 off 25 balls.”Maybe it is a point that we need to think about. The way we gave him chances, maybe he hasn’t lived up to the expectations,” Mushfiqur said. “He did well in the last domestic competition, so we thought he could be good in the team. So we have seen him in this Test. If there’s a better option for the next Test series, then maybe someone better will be picked up, not just Shuvagata but any player.”

USA were left to missed opportunities against Ireland in the World Twenty20 Qualifier game after poor bowling at the death and a batting collapse saw them crash to a 46-run defeat

Peter Della Penna in Belfast12-Jul-2015Based on the results between the two sides at the last three World Twenty20 Qualifiers, Ireland were likely salivating at the prospect of taking on USA at Stormont.In 2010, Niall O’Brien produced his career-best T20 score of 84 off 50 balls as Ireland passed 200 for the first time in their T20 history before reducing USA to 25 for 6 in a 78-run romp. In 2012, his brother Kevin got out of a lengthy scoring rut after his 2011 World Cup heroics against England by smacking 47 off 36 balls ahead of Boyd Rankin’s career-best T20 figures of 4 for 9 in a 64-run win. Last year, William Porterfield’s T20 career-best 127 not out in a total of 216 for 3 set up a 75-run win.It should be no surprise that Andy Balbirnie kept up the tradition of career-bests against USA on Sunday. The young batsman’s 44 is the highest score in his brief 12-match T20 career. However, he was dropped twice in his innings, on 13 and 23. It allowed Balbirnie to stay at the crease where along with Stuart Thompson and later John Mooney, he carried Ireland from a precarious position of 92 for 5 one ball into the 16th over to a much more comfortable end score of 146 for 6.USA captain Muhammad Ghous lauded his bowling unit for their performance over the first 15 overs of the match. It was by far USA’s best effort in their four encounters with Ireland at the qualifier, but Ghous and his team-mates were left to rue what might have been had they not let Ireland get away in the final five overs.”Overall the bowlers bowled really excellent but the last five overs, that’s where we gave up the game,” Ghous told ESPNcricinfo after the match. “Our bowlers bowled four or five no balls and it can cost you and take pressure off batsmen. The guys tried their best. These guys just played really good shots, shots you can’t set fields to, paddle sweeps. They just played better cricket in the last five overs.”Ghous tried to encourage his team-mates as they walked off the field, shouting to them, “146 is nothing guys. Come on we can do this.” However, after John Mooney had struck four of the seven deliveries he faced to the boundary in an unbeaten 20 off seven balls, most USA players had their heads down, the last two overs at the forefront of their minds instead of the excellent work they did over the first 15USA’s penchant for alarming collapses wouldn’t have been too far back in their minds either and they knew that 130 was the maximum they could afford to give Ireland. Their batting form held true again as a panicky display in the middle of the innings saw them lose two wickets to run-outs in the space of five deliveries, and four wickets in eight balls to go from a hopeful 74 for 4 in the 12th over to a hopeless 81 for 8 after 13. After repeated denials by his team-mates earlier on the tour, Ghous finally admitted the team lacked adequate preparation to take on teams like Ireland.”Everybody lives in different parts of the USA, so it’s very tough for all of us to get together,” Ghous said. “We do lack some experience and preparation but we are here and we have to give our 100% best. Whatever we have, we have to put out there.”Experience does matter. These guys are all young. We don’t play as much cricket on the higher level. We have one or two tournaments in a year. The more you play better cricket, that’s where you gain experience. It will come by playing more tournaments.”As for his own role in the team, Ghous defended his decision to underbowl himself against Ireland. He took the new ball for one over, but only bowled one more for the rest of the game to finish with figures of 0 for 15, and he has yet to take a wicket in the tournament.”These wickets suit medium-pacers,” Ghous said. “Even Ireland, Dockrell came and only bowled one over [sic two]. That’s their main frontline spinner. It’s not necessary I have to bowl four overs. I will come and squeeze runs where I can if I see an opportunity. I have enough bowlers that I can mix around. Me bowling all four overs is not necessary as long as the team is doing great and other people can come and chip in.”USA’s next game is against Namibia at Stormont on Monday morning and Ghous remains hopeful that the team will be able to rally back from a pair of hard losses.”We should have restricted [Ireland] to 130 but things happen and that’s cricket. Things can’t always go your way. The positive I’ll take is that the guys are bowling great so hopefully they’ll keep it that way. We’ll come tomorrow hard and restrict Namibia to even lower than that. We’re gonna play hard and positive. This is a long tournament. Anything is possible.”

Dwayne Bravo wants to bat higher in West Indies’ order as they aim to defend their World T20 title with Sunday’s opener against India looming

Renaldo Matadeen19-Mar-2014Dwayne Bravo wants to bat higher in West Indies’ order as they aim to defend their World T20 title with Sunday’s opener against India looming. Bravo, who hit 43 off 31 balls in the warm-up win over Sri Lanka, believes that a move up will allow him his desired role as the fulcrum of the West Indies’ middle-order.”In this format of the game, I always fancy myself batting higher and as early as possible to give myself that extra time to get set and take the game right down to the end [of the innings],” he said. “Obviously, we have a lot of power-hitters in our line-up but my role is to hold the middle and help us lay a good foundation.”Bravo pointed to Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell as the batsmen he would be able to take on the responsibility of big-hitting as he felt his best role was as a “stabiliser” in the team. He praised the openers, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith, for relieving the pressure off the middle-order and thinks they will be a key duo, particularly by allowing him to bat freely in the crease.However, Bravo added that all the batsmen were high on confidence after series win at home against England, followed by warm-up wins against England and Sri Lanka in Bangladesh, and thinks that his team have already adjusted to the World T20 conditions.”It’s good to win these practice games and we’re looking forward to Sunday [against India]. We left the Caribbean after winning the series against England with good momentum and after these warm-ups, we feel confident and reassured as these are the conditions we’ll be playing the big games in. We expect the conditions to be good for batting. It’s a bit on the slower side so try not to be predictable as a bowler.Bravo also said that while focus would be placed on their spin bowlers, one player who would be a huge asset would be left-arm seamer Krishmar Santokie for his variations, swing and slower-balls. Bravo believed that Santokie, coupled with Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine, was one of their most formidable T20 bowling attacks to date.West Indies, though, are aware of the dangers of becoming complacent but added that their experience in T20 cricket would counter this, especially as the core of the 2012 title-winning squad was still intact.”Compared to the last World Cup, this one is harder as it is fewer games and we are in a tough group,” he said. “We still have most of our players [from 2012] and we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. But we’re playing good cricket and once we continue to show this form, we’ll fancy our chances to defend the title. It might be the last World Cup for some of us in this format of the game.”

Durham needed just 17 balls to take the final Sussex wicket on Wednesday morning to secure a 309-run victory that saw them move to fourth in the Division One standings

Press Association25-Jun-2014
ScorecardBen Stokes received a glowing report from Paul Collingwood•Getty ImagesDurham needed just 17 balls to take the final Sussex wicket on Wednesday morning to secure a 309-run victory that saw them move to fourth in the Division One standings.Resuming on 41, James Tredwell edged Chris Rushworth’s second ball of the morning through the slips for four before driving the next to the cover boundary.A single took him to 50 but he was then left stranded when Lewis Hatchett edged Rushworth to third slip to wrap up a convincing Durham victory – their second of the season in the four-day format.Durham have the chance to secure their third win when they face Division One leaders Yorkshire at Headingley on July 7-10.Victorious skipper Paul Collingwood said: “I’m delighted with the performance. I wasn’t sure what to do when I won the toss and the first hour was tricky. But after that we steadily built the pressure and having people score runs down the order is crucial.”Ben Stokes changed the game in their first innings and his bowling was superb throughout. It’s good for Durham to have him when we expected him to be in the Test team.”He is the type of character who wants to prove people wrong and he has proved his fitness with long spells in this game.”Sussex, who have slipped to third bottom in the standings, are at home to bottom club Northamptonshire in their next match, starting on July 6.Coach Mark Robinson said: “We are in a relegation battle but there are so few teams in the division you are nearly always battling neat the top or bottom. We conceded too many runs in the first innings here after having them 148 for five.”

AB de Villiers can no longer be considered a permanent wicketkeeper especially in shorter formats, according to South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo

Firdose Moonda31-Dec-20141:17

Domingo: Wicketkeeping a burden on AB in ODIs

AB de Villiers can no longer be considered a permanent wicketkeeper especially in shorter formats, according to South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo. Although de Villiers will don the gloves in the third Test against West Indies at Newlands, in the absence of the injured Quinton de Kock, he is unlikely to carry the same responsibility into the T20s and ODIs which follow or the World Cup.”There are times when AB is going to have to keep and we are very fortunate that he can pick that up. He hasn’t practiced his keeping in about six months and he is probably keeping as well as he ever has. He has always found keeping in one-day cricket more tiring, especially with the captaincy, it’s more of a burden on him. I’d prefer him not to keep in one-day cricket,” Domingo said. “Where there is an opportunity for him not to keep, we are hoping to pursue that. I’m sure we will have another keeper in the one-day side now that Quinton de Kock is not there.”South Africa play three T20s and five ODIs against West Indies in 19 days between January 11 and 28 and will have to use those matches to introduce another gloveman into an already settled 50-over squad. Morne van Wyk, who was part of the 2011 World Cup squad, is the leading candidate not least because he is also an opening batsman, which is the other position de Kock occupied. South Africa’s medical team remain hopeful de Kock will recover from his ankle ligament tear in time to play some part in the World Cup but will want to cover their basis in case he is not and they will face a tricky decision with the 15-man squad having to be named by January 7.Their more immediate concern is the New Year’s Test where their conundrum extends to issues in front of the stumps. South Africa will be forced to reassess their attack on a surface which Domingo expects will “offer a little bit more nip,” but also calls for a contribution from a spinner. Newlands takes turn later in the game and South Africa cannot depend on Imran Tahir to produce that consistently or effectively. That much was evident from the number of times they have dropped him – three – in the last two years and to give themselves another option, the South African selectors have included Simon Harmer in the squad.Simon Harmer has been drafted into the Test squad and could yet force his way into the side as South Africa look to expand their spin options•Getty ImagesThe Warriors offspinner was overlooked in favour of Dane Piedt earlier in the year but has since come back into contention for two reasons. The first is that Piedt has only played one first-class match following a three-month lay-off from a shoulder concern and the second, because South Africa are planning long-term. Although they won’t play Test cricket again until mid-2015, their next two away tours are to Bangladesh and India and they want a strong spin contingent for those trips.”We’ve got a lot of cricket in the subcontinent in the next few months so we want to get to know Simon a bit more and then we will make a call on whether we play him,” Domingo said.That does not mean Piedt, who took eight wickets on Test debut in Harare in August, has fallen behind in the queue, just that South Africa want to ensure he is fully fit before making a comeback. “It leaves Dane Piedt with time to get himself where he needs to be. He needs to play some more cricket particularly after a severe shoulder injury,” Domingo said.Someone else who is fighting for a spot on those tours is South Africa’s senior opening batsman, Alviro Petersen. His run of innings without a century has extended to 25 and the New Year’s Test will mark exactly two years since he raised his bat to a hundred, which has caused calls for his head but Domingo is trying his best not to hear them.”It’s a tough one because he seems to be playing really well in the nets and even in the middle. He looks really good and I don’t think a big score is too far away,” Domingo said. “Even in this match, he got out playing a shot that he probably wouldn’t play if he had to do it again.”For much of Petersen’s lean run technique seemed his biggest problem as he struggled against the left-armers in the Pakistan and Australia attacks. But his shot at St George’s suggested his temperament is failing him as well. He was tempted into a tennis-stroke by a short, wide delivery from Shannon Gabriel which has put him under even greater scrutiny. “He knows that if he doesn’t score soon, he is under massive pressure,” Domingo said.Exactly when “soon” is yet to be determined because, as Domingo explained, there are other reasons to keep Petersen around for now. “He is an experienced player, a hell of a slip fielder and offers a lot in the team space,” Domingo said. “We’ve just lost a lot icon players. It’s not so easy to throw away a guy who is capable of scoring big hundreds. I still think he has got a lot to offer this team.”Petersen will know South Africa’s transition is progressing well and a player like Stiaan van Zyl is nipping at his heels. “It does feel like we are moving in the right direction. We have a lot of youngsters in the side and you will go through some ups and downs. We’ve been going through more ups than downs,” Hashim Amla said. “It’s just to be patient with the guys we have because they have been identified as the future of South African cricket.”The future may be glimpsed at the New Year’s Test.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has played down the impact of the West Indies Under-19 team’s withdrawal from its tour of Bangladesh, following an explosion near the team hotel in Chittagong, on the country’s hosting of the World Twenty20

Mohammad Isam09-Dec-2013BCB president Nazmul Hassan has played down the impact of the West Indies Under-19 team’s withdrawal from its tour of Bangladesh, following an explosion near the team hotel in Chittagong, on the country’s hosting of the World Twenty20. Once the general elections (scheduled for January 5) are held the violence is likely to dissipate, Hassan said, so he is “not worried” about hosting the World T20 in February.”The impact won’t be severe,” Hassan said. “The situation can’t be like this all the time. We are hoping that before the start of the World T20s, there will be a solution to our political situation. If there is no solution then the games won’t work, but by January all these solutions will come. So I am not worried about the future games. I am not worried about the World T20s. I am hopeful that all the instability will be over by December.”The West Indies players and staff have remained within the premises of Hotel Agrabad in central Chittagong, but are expected to move to Dhaka on Tuesday morning. The WICB had said on Sunday that it was making arrangements for the players to leave the country, but the BCB wants to discuss resuming the tour with the West Indies board. Hassan said had directed his acting CEO, Nizamuddin Chowdhury, to discuss the matter with his counterpart at the WICB.”Now whether they [West Indies] are thinking about the future, and that because the elections are coming closer there might be more danger, I don’t know,” Hassan said. “We will have a telephone conversation with them on [Monday] evening.”The ongoing troubles in Bangladesh have seemed to escalate over the past two months, as the two main political parties have been at loggerheads and taken it out to the streets. Hassan said he would appeal to the political parties once again, but pointed out that cricket has always been shielded from the violence.”I have always appealed to all the political parties to leave cricket aside and I have always received their support. I might appeal again that such things don’t interfere with the cricket. There is a bit of political instability, this has always happened, but I don’t believe that we have reached a scenario where the games would be called off.”

West Ham United are believed to be keen on bringing a new striker to the London Stadium this winter.

And, according to Gazzetta Dello Sport, Mario Balotelli has become the latest man to be linked with a move to The Hammers.

It is being claimed that the Irons are determined to bring the former Manchester City and Liverpool striker back to the Premier League.

The 28-year-old’s contract at Nice is set to expire in the summer and West Ham could look to try and capitalise on a cut-price fee for the Italy international if they were to try and land him in January.

Olympique de Marseille are thought to be interested in the attacker, however, a move back to England’s top-flight is thought to be ‘alluring’ for the player.

The Verdict:

West Ham appear to have been linked with a number of different attackers throughout January and Balotelli is just the latest name to appear.

Although his time in England was not considered to be the best, he has managed to turn things around in France with Nice and has a rather prolific record, hitting 33 goals in his last two seasons – however, he is yet to hit the target in 10 appearances so far this season.

With Marseille thought to be interested, it remains to be seen if West Ham will look to bring the Italy international back to the Premier League.

West Ham fans – thoughts?

JP Duminy led with an all-round performance to help South Africa pull off a 12-run win in the low-scoring opener of the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka

The Report by Firdose Moonda02-Aug-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details South Africa’s bowlers were miserly as only two Sri Lankan batsmen managed double-digit scores•AFPReplay the manner in which South Africa were defeated four times on their tour of Sri Lanka so far and you would have expected them to lose this match as well. The top order failed, the middle order was exposed but only just hung together and the bowlers had too little to work with. But this time, they pulled off a heist despite all their deficiencies.JP Duminy followed up his half-century with a match-winning bowling performance while Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell finally showed capabilities of bowling at the death. Kumar Sangakkara’s 59 was one of only two double-figure scores on Sri Lanka’s card as the rest battled on a slow surface.South African fans would not have expected that, after their team seemed to have lost the match before the first innings powerplay was even complete. Sri Lanka’s offspinner Sachithra Senanayake plucked three wickets from a top order that has yet to find their confidence. Their bowlers, though, had theirs boosted after they defended a low total which required Sri Lanka to score just 37 runs in the last five overs.Sri Lanka looked set to chase down the total without much fuss when they scored 13 runs in the first two overs. Kusal Perera showed attacking intent but his temperament gave way when he mis-hit Morne Morkel to point.Dinesh Chandimal also seemed in a hurry. He hit two boundaries before bottom-edging Lonwabo Tsotsobe, after struggling with the extra bounce.With early setbacks, Sri Lanka’s seniors Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara knuckled down and tried to pick singles off Wayne Parnell and Imran Tahir. But all the patience Dilshan showed in the ODI series vanished when Duminy was introduced, as in an attempt to take the bowler on, Dilshan only managed to offer AB de Villiers a catch at long-on.Sri Lanka needed to score 70 runs in the second-half of their innings but with the in-form Sangakkara at the crease, they would have thought it more than possible. While he found the boundary, the rest found the fielders.Angelo Mathews gave Duminy a tame return catch and then Jeevan Mendis swept him to deep square leg the next ball. Duminy didn’t complete a hat-trick but he wouldn’t mind that.Lahiru Thirimanne and Thisara Perera holed out within six balls of each other and suddenly, South Africa had the upper-hand. With 21 runs to defend off 12 balls, Parnell mixed up his pace in a double-wicket maiden and Morkel bowled a few full to ensure run-scoring opportunities were unavailable. Sangakkara hit two fours off the last over but he could not do it alone and in the end, Sri Lanka ended up with a worse batting performance than South Africa.That hardly seemed possible after Senanayake’s start. He exposed Quinton de Kock’s inexperience and had the young wicket-keeper batsman playing down the wrong line to one that straightened to get him lbw.Henry Davids also could not read Senanayake. After trying to work him to leg and push him to cover, he went for the sweep to a full delivery and was trapped in front. And then, Faf du Plessis’ lean series became leaner. After constant shuffling at the crease, he tried to play inside the line of a straighter one and was bowled.De Villiers and JP Duminy posted a small stand of 27 and Duminy took on the responsibility of anchoring the innings. He hung around for long enough to accelerate slightly and along with David Miller, helped South Africa manage 21 runs off the 16th and 17th over.Miller became Lasith Malinga’s 50th T20 victim but Duminy notched up a more favourable record. He brought up his fifty with a slog-sweep off an Ajantha Mendis full toss, which took over 1,000 T20 runs and made him South Africa’s leading scorer in the format, overtaking Graeme Smith, and giving the team a morale-boosting win during a tough tour.

Aaron Finch is becoming Australia’s post-Ashes specialist. In Southampton he made a record T20international score of 156 and here became the first Victorian to score an ODI century at the MCG

The Report by Brydon Coverdale at the MCG12-Jan-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:00

Ehantharajah: England’s top order fails to convince

Aaron Finch is becoming Australia’s post-Ashes specialist. Four days after the end of the Ashes in England, the teams reconvened in Southampton for the first of the short-form matches and Finch broke the all-time record for the highest Twenty20 international score with 156. This time, one week after Australia completed their 5-0 Ashes clean sweep, Finch became the first Victorian to score an ODI hundred at the MCG as Australia cruised to a six-wicket win with 26 balls to spare.If England hoped that a change of fortunes would accompany their change of format and clothing, they were mistaken.Things looked okay for a while. Alastair Cook won the toss and chose to bat, Gary Ballance and Eoin Morgan scored half-centuries to set up a competitive total of 7 for 269. But as the lights came on after the change of innings, it became apparent nobody was at home for England. A straightforward chance went down with Finch on 8 and nothing went England’s way from then on.Finch and his opening partner David Warner put on 163 for the first wicket, a record opening stand for Australia in one-day internationals against England. But they rode their luck to get there; seven times they were fortunate to survive missed catches, run-outs or tight umpiring decisions. By the time their stand was finally broken by Joe Root, England’s only spinner as they had left out James Tredwell, the result was more or less a formality.It could all have been so different had Ballance held on to a regulation chance when Finch, on 8, drove Chris Jordan uppishly to mid-off. Jordan was justifiably frustrated and was again twice in his next over, first when Alastair Cook moved second slip out and the next ball was edged by Finch straight through the new gap, and then next delivery when an lbw shout was turned down; England reviewed and Finch survived on a perilously tight umpire’s call.Finch’s fortune continued in the next over when he chipped Boyd Rankin without control up towards square leg, where Ben Stokes dived but was just unable to reach the ball. If that wasn’t bad enough, Jordan’s next over featured yet another dropped chance, although this was a screamingly difficult one; Warner drove the ball straight back at Jordan, who stuck his left hand out but couldn’t make it stick. Five close calls in five overs. It was Australia’s night.It became more so in the 14th over when Warner edged behind off Ben Stokes for 22. The wicketkeeper Jos Buttler claimed the catch and Warner was happy to take his word and walked off, but the umpires wanted to check the low-to-the ground take. The replays were typically open to interpretation, as most are with such two-dimensional views, but it seemed likely the catch was clean. The umpires erred on the side of caution, though, and Warner was called back from near the boundary’s edge.In between all the drama, Finch and Warner played their shots and made use of their luck. Finch used his muscle to score boundaries on both sides of the wicket and straight down the ground. His power was evident from the shot that brought up his fifty from 47 balls, a straight drive off Stokes that crunched into the stumps at the bowler’s end yet still had enough momentum to fly away past the diving mid-on for four.Warner struck five fours and one six, a strong down-the-ground effort off Jordan, and got to his half-century from 59 balls. He survived a run-out chance on 58 when a direct hit would have had him short, but on 65 he finally departed with a high slog off Root that was taken by Stokes at long-on. Shane Watson was bowled by Jordan for a second-ball duck but Finch and Michael Clarke ensured the chase remained on target with a 72-run stand.Aaron Finch scored his third international century•Getty ImagesFinch was given a standing ovation for his hundred, the first by a Victorian-born player in any international match at the MCG since Graeme Yallop in 1983, but on 121 he steered a catch to third man off Stokes. Clarke lobbed a catch up to mid-off from the bowling of Tim Bresnan for 44, but George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell comfortably completed the win.Apart from calling correctly at the toss, the day had also started badly for England when Alastair Cook edged behind in the first over of the game. The bowler, Clint McKay, celebrated like a man playing for his place in the side, which after his struggles on the recent tour of India and having been dropped by the Melbourne Stars last week, he possibly was. But his nagging line and length troubled England and reduced them to 2 for 22 when Joe Root was lbw for a labouring 3 off 23 balls.Ian Bell looked comfortable before he was bowled trying to slog-sweep Xavier Doherty for 41 and that left Ballance and Morgan to put the innings back on track. Morgan’s brisk half-century was entertaining but he lost concentration on 50 and drove a catch to cover off Maxwell, and Ballance played some classy strokes in his 79 but missed the chance of a hundred when he guided a catch to third man off McKay (3 for 44) late in the innings.Stokes and Ravi Bopara made contributions, Buttler’s 34 not out and an unbeaten 16 from Bresnan pushed the total up to 7 for 269 but when evening came, everything went Australia’s way. Cook could be forgiven for counting the days until he boards that plane home.