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Batter was rushed to a hospital after complaining of chest pain while playing a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match

Umar Farooq21-Dec-2021Abid Ali was taken to hospital after complaining of chest pain while playing for Central Punjab against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the ongoing last round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in Karachi.According to a PCB statement, he was taken to a specialist hospital immediately, “where he was diagnosed as a case of Acute Coronary Syndrome” or ACS. “He is under the care of Consultant Cardiologist who is liaising with PCB medical team regarding further treatment. He is currently stable.”ACS is often used to describe a range of conditions resulting from a sudden, reduced blood flow to the heart.Abid returned to his domestic side, Central Punjab, following the recent Bangladesh tour, where he was Player of the Series for the Tests after scoring 263 runs at 87.66. He was playing his sixth first-class game this season and had scored 766 runs at an average of 51.89 with three hundreds. On the last day of the ongoing game at UBL Complex in Karachi, he had crossed a half-century when he complained of discomfort around his shoulder and chest area before he was rushed to the hospital.Abid has been the highest run-getter in Tests for Pakistan since his debut in 2019, and in 2021 he is fifth in the world with 695 runs in nine Tests at 48.87, including a double-hundred against Zimbabwe in Harare. He made his debut in Rawalpindi in 2019 after spending 12 years in domestic cricket for 7116 runs in 106 first-class games. He made his Test debut at the age of 31 and began with a century, and also became the only player in history to reach three figures on both Test and ODI debuts.Central Punjab are sitting in fourth place on the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy table at the moment and are out of the finals race, with Northern and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sitting in the top-two spots. They have drawn five games, won two and lost two so far this season.

Josh Philippe and Daniel Hughes scored half-centuries as Sixers made up for a slow start

AAP15-Jan-2022Veteran spinner Steve O’Keefe has enjoyed a triumphant BBL comeback while star batter Josh Philippe returned to form as Sydney Sixers scored a thumping 60-run win over Sydney Thunder.The result at the SCG on Saturday moved Sixers into second place on the ladder on net run rate above Thunder, who have played one more game and suffered back-to-back losses.Sixers made 5 for 197 with Philippe (57 off 35 balls), Daniel Hughes (66 off 48) and captain Moises Henriques kept (47 not out off 27) lifting the tempo massively after their side scored a competition low of just eight from their opening four-over powerplay.Thunder tallied 28 more in the powerplay than Sixers, but 37-year-old O’Keefe, back after missing two matches with a hand injury, triggered a massive collapse. He took two wickets in both his first and third overs as the Thunder lost 7 for 38 before a ninth-wicket stand of 56 salvaged some pride. Captain Chris Green scored his first BBL half-century, with the visitors finishing on 9 for 137.Alex Hales got the Thunder off to a rapid start, taking three fours off Sean Abbott in the second over. But O’Keefe bowled Hales with his first delivery and had Alex Ross caught behind three balls later to alter the momentum.O’Keefe struck twice more when he had the dangerous Daniel Sams caught at long-on and Oliver Davies stumped. Thunder slumped to 5 for 61 in the 10th over and 8 for 80 in the 13th.Earlier Sixers took 28 balls to notch their first boundary but made the most of their chances. Coming off a lean run of three ducks in four innings, Philippe was dropped on 9 and made Thunder pay.Returning to his strong early season form, Philippe smashed five fours and two sixes, pulling off some well executed ramp shots and big leg-side hits.Australian T20 and ODI representative Philippe and Hughes picked up the pace, adding 82 in just under 10 overs. Hughes, who scored just two runs off his first 11 balls, brought up a record fifth half-century in Sydney Smash matches, a fixture in which he has scored more runs than any other player.Hughes and Henriques kept the pressure on the Thunder’s bowlers, putting on 77 in seven overs.Thunder were guilty of sloppy fielding and pacemen Mohammed Hasnain and Sams were left visibly agitated with the former exchanging words with Henriques — when Sixers captain seemed to cheekily suggest the Pakistan quick was throwing.Sams and fellow paceman Nathan McAndrew each took two wickets but Hasnain, who was playing his last match before returning home, was clearly Thunder’s most economical bowler.

England allrounder, who retired from Tests last year, says coaching changes were inevitable after poor Ashes

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2022Chris Silverwood, the sacked England head coach, is a “good guy” who looked after his players’ best interests, Moeen Ali says.Speaking after Silverwood, his assistant Graham Thorpe, and head of men’s cricket Ashley Giles were removed from their posts in the aftermath of England’s 4-0 Ashes series defeat, Moeen acknowledged that changes were inevitable within the national team set-up following such a disappointing campaign in Australia.”One thing with Silverwood, he tries to look after the players and he’s a brilliant person, he’s a very good coach,” Moeen said. “It’s a shame he’s obviously not there anymore but he’s made lots of friends and he can go with a lot of respect because he was such a good guy.”It’s always sad when people leave, the guys are good guys and they’ve all done a great job, but at the end of the day everything is about results and we had a poor Ashes and these things happen. It’s not a job forever. They tried to do the best for the players but these things happen when you have a bad tour like Australia, which is big for England, people then always after that get sacked, so it’s very sad.”Related

• Giles' fatalism sealed his fate – England's Test revival will depend on tough calls

• England sack Chris Silverwood in wake of Ashes disaster

• Root to remain England Test captain as Thorpe becomes latest Ashes casualty

• Langer apologises for being 'too intense' in resignation letter

Silverwood and Thorpe followed Giles in paying the price last week for England’s dismal tour of Australia, which was beset not only by poor results on the field, but reports of an off-field drinking culture and poor fitness levels.Among the contenders to step in as interim coach for England’s three-Test tour of West Indies, which gets underway on February 24 with the first Test starting on March 8, are current assistant Paul Collingwood, who oversaw the recent white-ball tour there, and Richard Dawson, who guided the Young Lions to the Under-19 World Cup final, also in the Caribbean. Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, has expressed an interest in the post, while Justin Langer – who led Australia’s T20 World Cup and Ashes victories – has firmed as a contender for a permanent coaching position with England after his split from Cricket Australia.Moeen was absent from the Ashes tour, having announced his retirement from Test cricket in September. He continues to play white-ball cricket at the highest level, however, captaining England in the absence of an injured Eoin Morgan during their 3-2 T20I series defeat to West Indies which included two Player-of-the-Match performances. He is also active in franchise competitions around the world, playing in the Abu Dhabi T10 at the end of last year, and now with table-topping BPL side Comilla Victorians, who have won four of their six matches so far.Speaking in Sylhet, where his wife is originally from, Moeen said he was relishing the chance to hone his batting against spin as well as capitalise on the conditions with the ball.”Bangladesh is one of the hardest places to come, especially for batsmen, but you can learn so much,” Moeen said. “If you play well here, I feel you can play anywhere. That’s one of the reasons I came to Bangladesh, to try and improve and get used to conditions, so when I come with England, hopefully in the future, I know the conditions better and things like that.”It’s good for me because obviously I bowl spin. Batting, I want to still improve. I’m 34, still always trying to improve and we’re doing well as a team. We want to win, obviously I want to win trophies. [I have] maybe five, six years left and I want to win as many trophies all over the world as I can, so that’s my aim with Comilla Victorians, to win the competition.”Of the field, Moeen also revealed he was keen to learn more Sylheti.”It’s my first time in Sylhet,” he said. “My family’s from here. I know a few Sylheti words and that’s about it. I wish I could learn more actually, I will try and learn more now that I’m here because the guys in the hotel are speaking, Sylheti to me so I need to try and learn.”

After a rapid opening stand the home side’s chase fell away then collapsed after Nic Maddinson’s run out

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Feb-2022Sam Truloff enjoyed a memorable one-day debut as he top-scored for Queensland and produced a brilliant run out in a convincing 92-run victory over Victoria in the Marsh Cup.Truloff’s 80 helped lift Queensland from an uncertain 4 for 126 in the 28th over in a 102-run stand with captain Jimmy Peirson who struck three sixes in his 56 off 47 balls.Victoria raced out of the blocks in the chase as MacKenzie Harvey and Jake Fraser-McGurk added 58 in less than nine overs but from there things fell away.Glenn Maxwell, playing his first game for Victoria since October 2019, was bowled by a superb delivery from Gurinder Sandhu which nipped back between bat and pad then he had Jonathan Merlo caught behind two balls later.The in-form Nic Maddinson became key to Victoria’s hopes and he added 55 in 10 overs alongside Sam Harper before a final collapse decided the game. It started when Maddinson was caught short by Truloff’s direct hit from backward point and three wickets would fall with the score on 157 before Sandhu went on to finish with four.The day had not started well for Queensland when Max Bryant was caught behind in the first over. Matt Renshaw, who is a standby player for the upcoming Pakistan tour, anchored the early part of the innings with 57 off 76 balls before he was caught behind off Henry Thornton.Truloff and Peirson initially took their time before accelerating. Truloff’s fifty came from 63 balls while Peirson skipped to his from 45. James Bazley’s rapid 28 helped add the finishing touches as the final ten overs brought 95 runs.

Thanks to Samson and Buttler, the Royals have been dismantling slow bowlers this season

Karthik Krishnaswamy17-Apr-20222:14

Should Venkatesh Iyer bat lower? Who should be Royals’ death bowlers?

Big picture

Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders. Two teams with six points each, two teams looking to bounce back from defeats in their most recent games, and two teams with certain broad similarities this season.Take death bowling, for instance: both teams have struggled at this aspect of the game. They have averaged just one wicket per innings in this phase, and their economy rates are near-identical, with KKR (12.97) faring marginally worse than Royals (12.78).On Monday, these attacks will come up against two of the most formidable death-overs ball-strikers in the competition: Shimron Hetmyer (262.00) has the best strike rate of any batter who has faced at least 20 balls in this phase this season, while Andre Russell (196.55) isn’t too far behind.These two teams also, perhaps, boast the best spin attacks in the competition. Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin have both enjoyed superb starts to the season. Sunil Narine has been at his miserly best – his economy rate of 5.00 is the best of any bowler to have sent down at least five overs this season. But Varun Chakravarthy has been quite a way off, meaning KKR’s middle-overs bowling has lacked its usual air of double-barreled suffocation.KKR will hope Chakravarthy can return to something like his best form on Monday, given that Royals (average of 73.66, scoring rate of 9.20) have collectively been the best batting team against spin this season. Two of the biggest reasons for that are Sanju Samson, who has the best strike rate against spin (223.33) of any batter (min 20 balls) this season, and Jos Buttler, who has also gone at a healthy 152.00 against that style of bowling.Opposition teams are always well-advised to dismiss these two as early as possible; for KKR, it might be doubly important to do so.1:18

Kohli’s cover drive or Rohit’s pull? We asked Shreyas Iyer to pick just one

In the news

A niggle kept Trent Boult out of Royals’ last match against Gujarat Titans, and while there is no official word on the left-arm quick, he was seen bowling in a team challenge video – bowl the ball through a tire and hit the stumps – put up on the franchise’s official Twitter account. Whether that means he is fit to play against KKR is yet to be seen.Sam Billings missed KKR’s last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad with an illness. He should have recovered by now, but the team management will face a difficult decision over whether to pick him or Aaron Finch, who has only played the one game so far for his new franchise.

Likely XIs

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Rassie van der Dussen, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 James Neesham/Trent Boult, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Kuldeep Sen.Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Venkatesh Iyer, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Sheldon Jackson (wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Aman Khan, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.8:32

IPL so far: Young Indian players >> retained names?

Strategy punt

Ashwin loves bowling to left-hand batters, but this isn’t always the case when he comes up against KKR. Narine (SR 225.71) and Nitish Rana (163.57) are two of the three quickest-scoring left-hand batters against offspin in IPL history and both have superb records against Ashwin.Narine has scored 60 runs off 22 balls (SR 272.72) against him while being dismissed once, while Rana has clattered 74 off 35 (211.42), without being dismissed.Expect KKR to promote Narine if the stage of the game allows it. Royals could also combat these match-ups by giving Ashwin the new ball and getting one or two of his overs out of the way early. This will also allow Ashwin to attack Venkatesh Iyer, who has a far more typical left-hander’s record against him: 14 runs off 15 balls, no dismissals. Ashwin also has a terrific record against Aaron Finch (22 runs conceded in 27 balls, no wickets).

Stats that matter

The Brabourne Stadium has been the quickest-scoring venue of IPL 2022, with seven matches at the ground producing an overall run rate of 9.43.Narine is KKR’s most-capped player. If he is picked on Sunday, he will be playing his 150th match for the team.Chakravarthy boasts a significantly better IPL record in the UAE (average 20.89, economy rate 6.35) than he does in India (37.08, 8.24)Samson is 49 runs away from the 5000 mark in T20 cricket.

Xavier Marshall, Vatsal Vaghela and Jessy Singh have been left out, while Rusty Theron and Cameron Stevenson make their comebacks

Peter Della Penna15-May-2022Legspin-bowling allrounder Yasir Mohammad, who impressed for USA on his T20I debut in a famous victory over Ireland in December, has parlayed that success into a call-up in USA’s 14-man ODI squad for the back-to-back home ODI tri-series as part of Cricket World Cup League Two starting on May 28 in Texas.Yasir, 19, was not initially part of the USA squad that was named for the two T20Is and three ODIs against Ireland, but was rushed into the T20I squad after a Covid-19 outbreak in the camp on the eve of the series. He made the most of his opportunity by bowling a nerveless, albeit wicketless, spell at the death to clinch a 26-run win for USA. Yasir, the New Jersey teenager, came back a day later to take 2 for 32 in a nine-run loss, and then impressed at an exhibition quadrangular series in April between a USA XI and a trio of Major League Cricket invitational squads at Prairie View, Texas.

USA 14-man ODI squad

Monank Patel (capt, wk), Rahul Jariwala (wk), Aaron Jones, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan, Jaskaran Malhotra, Sushant Modani, Yasir Mohammad, Saurabh Netravalkar, Nisarg Patel, Gajanand Singh, Cameron Stevenson, Steven Taylor, Rusty Theron

Yasir is one of several changes to USA’s squad that was picked for the three-match ODI series against Ireland, which was eventually cancelled before the first match could take place because of logistical issues arising out of the Covid-19 outbreak. California left-arm spinner Vatsal Vaghela, who made his T20I debut in the second T20I against Ireland and was in line for an ODI debut a few days later, has been left out to make room for the wristspin offered by Yasir, with two other left-arm spinners – Nisarg Patel and Nosthush Kenjige – being the incumbents.Right-arm medium pacer Jessy Singh has also been left out along with opening batter Xavier Marshall to make room for the return of the pace duo of Rusty Theron and Cameron Stevenson. The two have not played ODIs for USA since the winless tour of Nepal in February 2020, though Theron has remained a part of USA’s T20I squad through their recent undefeated run at the ICC Americas T20 World Cup Qualifier, played in Antigua in November. Stevenson, a dual citizen based in his native Victoria, made himself unavailable for USA because of work and personal commitments in Australia during the pandemic, but has been lured to Texas for this tour after being offered a short-term central contract, according to multiple sources.USA will host Scotland and the UAE in the first of the consecutive tri-series in Texas before welcoming Nepal and Oman for the latter half of fixtures, which run through to June 15. They will be held in the south Houston suburb of Pearland at Moosa Stadium, which will become the second ODI-accredited facility in America after Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida.

Shakib also backs Mominul to continue as Test captain despite his woeful form

Mohammad Isam26-May-2022″We have to work on our mentality. I think there’s fear of failure among us”, Shakib Al Hasan said after Bangladesh slipped to 23 for 4 on the fourth evening, which seemed like a carbon copy of their collapse on the first morning, when they were 24 for 5.The collapse could be decisive, with Sri Lanka needing only six wickets on the final day to clinch the Test series. Although Bangladesh have Mushfiqur Rahim and Litton Das, the two first-innings heroes, at the crease, with Shakib due to bat, their plight remains exposed.Tamim Iqbal bagged the first pair of his Test career as the Bangladesh openers made it only the ninth occasion in Test history where the top-two batters got three ducks between them in a Test.Bangladesh have scored eight ducks in the match so far, for the second time in their history. The top four scored just 34 runs in the match, their second lowest in a match.Related

• Can Bangladesh's batters take a leaf out of their bowlers' book?

• Shakib Al Hasan back as Bangladesh Test captain

• Mominul Haque steps down as Bangladesh Test captain

• Domingo: 'You won't win Tests from 24 for 5 and 23 for 4 in both innings'

• Litton: 'It helps knowing that the team depends on me to play a big innings'

Shakib, who spoke at a press conference after a while, was repetitively asked for the cause of Bangladesh’s frequent collapses. He claimed that it was their mentality, not the lack of physical fitness, which bogged them down.”I think we are one of the fittest teams in the world,” Shakib said. “We spend most of our time fielding in matches. I think we fielded around 400 overs [408] in this series. We are definitely fit, look at Litton who kept for 400 overs but came out and scored 141. Mushfiq made 175 [in the first innings]. I think we are physically fit, but we are behind mentally. We have to work on our mentality. I think there’s [a] fear of failure among us. If we think otherwise, we might get better results.””We weren’t able to handle the pressure, and it has been happening like this recently. It happened when I was not in the team, and now it’s happening when I am in the team. We are failing in the second innings in the recent past. We had a chance to improve upon it, but we failed today as well. But we shouldn’t call it ‘the end’ before it ends.”Shakib said that Najmul Hossain Shanto’s run-out, created by an unnecessary mix-up, was a consequence of the batters not being calm.”It is disappointing for us,” Shakib said. “Run-outs, at this stage of the Test, is quite dangerous. One needs to be calm in these situations. There will be nervousness, people will have fear. But it is important to handle pressure in these moments. This is where Test cricket gets interesting.”Shakib said that one way out of it is to remember how the player was successful in similar conundrums, and apply those learnings to overcome them.”We have all faced similar problems in the past. We have seen both sides – success and failure. What is important is to remember what formula helped us become successful. Since we are not used to such a state of mind, it is vital that we keep it in our memory.Shakib said that the remaining Bangladesh batters can save the game on the fifth day. But only if they can survive the first session without losing more than one wicket.”I can help my team by batting for at least three hours,” he said. “If the overnight unbeaten batters can see off the first session, I can bat for another three hours, it will help the team [get to safety].”It is hard to get batters out when they are set in this wicket. Their pacers will bowl five or six-over spells. We have to manage their threat. When the ball gets old and the bowlers get tired, the batsmen are set.”Mominul Haque, has had low returns since becoming Bangladesh Test captain•AFP/Getty Images

Shakib, however, had a better day than most of his team-mates, as he got his 19th five-wicket haul in Test cricket. There was concern around his match fitness, ahead of the Test series, when he came into the Chattogram game two days after testing negative for Covid-19.Shakib shrugged off those concerns by saying that he doesn’t need a long fitness camp at this stage of his career to get back into shape.”I am usually very confident with my bowling,” Shakib said. “I think I lost confidence only once or twice, but it is rare that I have worried about my bowling. The four [DPL] matches were enough. After playing for so long, a player doesn’t need 10 or 15-day camps. He needs three to five sessions.””When I am not playing, I need five or six sessions. If you have fitness, you wouldn’t need anything more. Training isn’t important after playing for so long, but whether you are doing it purposefully or not [is].”Shakib also backed Mominul Haque, who was dismissed for a single-digit score for the seventh innings in a row, to continue as captain.Mominul averages 16.20 this year, and 31.44 as captain since 2019. Before being appointed captain, he used to average 41.47.”It is a tough time for a captain but it is important for us to support him,” Shakib said. “We don’t have a better option that Mominul given our current situation in Test cricket. It is a matter of one inning, which will change everything.”

Turner will stay at the club but has been sidelined by a shoulder injury

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jun-2022Durham have brought in Andrew Tye, the Australian seamer, for the rest of the Vitality Blast after Ashton Turner, their new T20 captain, suffered a shoulder injury.Turner was forced to retire hurt during Durham’s defeat to Northamptonshire on Friday night, his second game as captain, after jarring his left shoulder while diving to make his ground.The club said in a statement that Turner has “begun a process of rehabilitation” with their medical staff and that he will be regularly assessed with the hope that he will be fit enough to play a part later in the group stages.Related

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• Pepper 75* seasons straightforward Essex win over Hants

• Drakes to join Yorkshire for four-game Blast stint

Tye, Turner’s Perth Scorchers team-mate, is by no means a like-for-like replacement but will bolster a bowling attack that has leaked 9.42 runs an over across the opening three games of the season. Matthew Potts, who will make his England Test debut on Thursday, has been a big miss.Tye is available to make his debut against Worcestershire on Wednesday night. “There are still lots of games to play and having lost Ashton Turner to injury we were keen to act quickly on a replacement,” Marcus North, Durham’s director of cricket, said.Tye played several seasons of club cricket for Chester-le-Street as a young player and also appeared for Durham’s second XI. He has previously appeared in the Blast for Gloucestershire, where he played in 2016, 2018 and 2019.Counties are allowed to have three overseas players registered simultaneously but can only pick two in a single game. Durham already have David Bedingham on their books, who may miss out if Turner and Tye are both available later in the group stages.Liam Trevaskis captained Durham on Sunday in their defeat to Birmingham Bears and is expected to continue in the role.

James Neesham strikes 91 as Northamptonshire lead Kent by 252 runs with five second-innings wickets in hand

ECB Reporters Network13-Jul-2022Northamptonshire 303 and 284 for 5 (Rickelton101*, Neesham 91) lead Kent 335 (Cox 72, Denly 63, Leaning 63, White 4-62, Sanderson 4-63) by 252 runsA tense final day could be in store in the LV= Insurance County Championship at Canterbury, where Northamptonshire lead Kent by 252, having reached 284 for 5 at stumps, aided by an unbeaten 101 from Ryan Rickelton.On a see-sawing day at the St Lawrence, Kent were all out for 335, adding just 48 to their overnight score for a modest lead of 32. Jack White took 4 for 62 and Ben Sanderson 4 for 63, while Jordan Cox was the top scorer with 72.The hosts then reduced Northamptonshire to 64 for 3, but a stand of 158 between Rickelton and James Neesham batted them out of immediate danger.Neesham’s 91 came from just 100 balls and having started day three as underdogs, Northamptonshire now look a strong bet for at least a draw against their Division One relegation rivals.The hosts had ended day two eyeing a substantial lead after closing on 287 for 5, but Northamptonshire mopped up their final five wickets in little over an hour.Cox was the first man to go, having added just nine to his overnight score of 63 when he left a straight one to White and was bowled.George Linde then edged a Sanderson delivery through the slips for the four that put Kent in the lead but it was his only scoring shot as he nicked the same bowler behind in his next over.Grant Stewart went for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 7, hooking Sanderson to White at fine leg and when Sam Billings edged White to Ricardo Vasconcelos at first slip for 44, he repeatedly jabbed his bat into the ground in frustration.Showing little faith in the No. 11 Matt Quinn, Matt Milnes then holed out to Sanderson and was caught by Josh Cobb for 4.Northamptonshire slashed Kent’s lead to five by the lunch interval, but they lost Emilio Gay soon after, when he got a leading edge to Stewart and was caught by Ben Compton.Stewart then snared Vasconcelos, who was the victim of a tumbling catch by Billings for 19 and with Luke Procter suffering from a foot injury, Rob Keogh was the next man in. When he was given out caught behind for 13, trying to hook Daniel Bell-Drummond, Nothamptonshire were in deep trouble but Rickelton and Neesham turned the game with a stand that lasted more than two hours.While Rickelton paced himself, Neesham thrashed his way past 50 before eventually getting caught and bowled by Joe Denly nine runs short of a debut hundred.Josh Cobb then came in for a quickfire innings of 26, which ended when Zak Crawley held a sharp slip catch off Linde, before Rickelton reached three figures just before the close with a straight drive off Stewart for 2 and while all results remain possible, the visitors will be far happier at the end of day three than they were at the start of it.

Also shares news that Hetmyer has passed his fitness tests and will be available for WI selection soon

Deivarayan Muthu27-Jul-20223:26

Pooran: We’re finding different ways to lose games

West Indies have lost their last eight ODIs, but their captain Nicholas Pooran believes that they aren’t far away from identifying their strengths and putting wins on the board. Pooran drew confidence from West Indies’ first two ODIs against India where they put up 300-plus totals.”We’re just starting to obviously put performances together,” Pooran said on the eve of the third ODI. “I don’t want to come to a conclusion and say our batting is our strength or our bowling is our strength. As a team we’re still figuring it out. We haven’t put a collective effort together yet, obviously the results haven’t shown that yet, but the more games we play as a unit, we’re going to figure it out and we’re close to crossing the line and actually figuring it out what is our strength as a team.”I don’t want to be saying that our batting is our strength or bowling is our strength. I want both facets to be our strength, to be honest. That’s how we’re going to win cricket games. We’re just staying the moment, trying to learn as fast as possible and sticking through these tough times as a team.”Pooran conceded that West Indies are still hurting after suffering heartbreaking defeats in the first two ODIs but backed his side to regroup and avoid a 3-0 sweep on Wednesday.”The confidence level is there,” Pooran said. “The guys are obviously hurt. Those two losses obviously hurt us a lot but that’s another game and that’s another experience and another opportunity for us to learn. This game keeps teaching us different things and I’m just happy that we’ve had that experience. It’s difficult to obviously lose, I’m disappointed, but that’s where the learning takes place and as a group we understand that and we know that for a fact that it’s our time now.”I keep telling winning and losing is contagious and at the moment in ODI cricket we’re losing and we’re finding ways to lose games, but in terms of the confidence level all the guys are ready for the challenge again. We’re ready to come out there and put our hearts and souls out there and perform together as a team.”Related

• Pooran: West Indies must 'believe that we can fight'

• Axar leaves jaws on the floor as India win cliffhanger

Shai Hope was particularly despondent after his century in his 100th ODI ended in vain for West Indies on Sunday. Hope’s career strike rate of 75.11, which is the lowest among the 16 highest run-getters in ODI cricket since his debut in November 2016, has probably divided opinion about his role in the modern era, but Pooran stressed that Hope’s ability to dig in and bat for long frees up the batters at the other end.”His role has remained the same for the last five years,” Pooran said of Hope.” I think he just needs to bat and bat through. He doesn’t need to study about the strike rate or any other thing. He just needs to be out there for the team. We know once he’s there, he’s going to score runs for us and that is what matters the most, I think. He just being out there obviously sends a message and there’s a bit of a calm in the dressing room as well.”We know at one end he’s holding up things and other guys just need to fine-tune themselves to do their job and do what the team is required of them at that moment. He’s very important to our team and he knows that. Time and time again, he keeps putting his hands up and keep proving to everyone how good he is as a player.”Pooran was also wary of managing his workload as well as those of his team-mates as West Indies prepare for a hectic season. Just one day after the ongoing ODI series ends, West Indies will face India again in a five-match T20I series in the Caribbean and the USA. This will be followed by a visit from New Zealand for three T20Is and three ODIs.Ten days after the New Zealand series ends, West Indies’ players will be in action in the CPL, which runs from August 31 to September 30. Then, just days after the CPL ends, West Indies will tour Australia for two T20Is, in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.”That’s a tough one because as a group we want to win and we want all our players to be available for us,” Pooran said. “But in seeing that we need to look after our players and that’s the key as a collective effort for the coach, chairman of selectors and myself, we need to determine… not only myself but the other guys who we believe need to rest.”Obviously, that’s very important with eight T20 games coming up, four more ODIs and then CPL coming up and the addition of the 6IXTY and the CPL, we definitely need to manage the players. How? I’m not too sure, but we need to figure it out and be smart about it as well. But, at the end of the day, we want to win, and we need to have all our guys to be available to us.”Hetmyer passes fitness test
Pooran revealed that batter Shimron Hetmyer has cleared a fitness test and will be available for selection in the near future. Hetmyer, who had omitted from West Indies’ recent white-ball squads, had linked up with the ODI group in Port of Spain to work with the trainers and coaches. He had last represented West Indies in November 2021, in the T20 World Cup in the UAE.”He [Hetmyer] passed his fitness test this morning, which is wonderful news,” Pooran said. “So, we expect him to see him back as soon as possible. I can’t tell you exactly when because I’m not sure, but as soon as possible and as soon as you can get him on the field.”