Tag: Lord’s

Nepal vs Netherlands T20I Preview

Nepal make their official full international status return on Sunday, when they face the Netherlands in a T20 International at Lord’s in London.

The game is the final match of a triple-header played that day at the venerable ground in St John’s Wood. Both sides will face an MCC XI led by Mahela Jayawardene earlier in the day in what promises to be a thrilling day for fans of associate cricket, and especially for the two countries concerned.

The game is the latest landmark in Nepal’s rise as a cricketing nation. Enjoying feverish support at home, the national side has risen through the Associate ranks on the field whilst facing turmoil off it, with its governing body having been suspended by the ICC. They have been in official T20I status wilderness since 2015 when they played the last of their eleven official international in the format.

The game against the Netherlands was granted official T20 International status by the ICC in June after Nepal’s historic qualification as an ODI team was secured at the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. They will make their ODI bow against the Netherlands in Amsterdam next week.

For the Dutch, that ODI series will see their own return to the official 50-over international ranks, having regained their status by virtue of winning the ICC World Cricket League in 2017. They have held T20I status for several years however, and are much more experienced in the format than their opponents here.

Of course, cricket is rather unique in its obsession with status, but the elevations do give this game, and the ODI series that follows it, extra significance.

Both sides have fond memories of Lord’s. The Netherlands famously stunned hosts England in the opening game of the 2009 World T20 at the ground, whilst Nepal famously played the MCC there in 2016.

The match will be the Netherlands’ 50th in the twenty over format, having won 26 and lost 21. For Nepal, this game will be their twelfth official T20I in the record books, although they also had four games abandoned without a ball being bowled (and hence not counting towards official totals) in a ill-fated series against Hong Kong in Sri Lanka in 2015. In their eleven games, they have won three and lost eight.

Remarkably, given Nepal’s nascent status, this will be the fifth official T20I between the two sides – the Netherlands leading 3-1 currently, although Nepal took out their last status meeting in Rotterdam in 2015.

Nepal have named a 15-man squad for the match. Four men have played in all eleven of their team’s official T20Is to date – Basant Regmi, Gyandendra Malla, Sompal Kami and skipper Paras Khadka – who will all be looking to keep their 100% records alive.

By contrast, there are six potential international debutants in the squad: Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Bhandari, Rohit Kumar, Lalait Rajbanshi and Anil Sah.

If Rohit Kumar is selected, at age 15 years and 331 days he will become the second youngest player to ever play in an official T20 international, after Hong Kong’s Waqas Khan who was 72 days younger when he made his bow – ironically against Nepal – in 2014.

The Netherlands have been buoyed by the late inclusion in the squad of Essex captain Ryan ten Doeschate released from county cricket duty, as well as the return to the squad of Otago all-rounder Michael Rippon, able to play during the New Zealand winter. They too have several players in the squad that could make their international debut.

One very intriguing statistical oddity will likely occur during the game. Nepal’s wunderkind legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane is poised to make his T20I debut for his country – but not his debut in the format overall. He made that bow in the recent Hurricane Relief game for the ICC Rest of The World XI vs the West Indies. Given where that game was played, Sandeep will have the unique honour of making his international debut for two separate sides both at Lord’s ! Not bad for a 17 year old!

Above: Sandeep Lamichhane

A fabulous day awaits on Sunday at the home of cricket

ICC World XI v West Indies Preview

Over the course of just two weeks in September 2017, the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean were battered by two of the strongest storms to hit the region in living memory, Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The destruction across various islands was widespread, with homes, businesses and vital tourist infrastructure destroyed.

Cricket, a religion in these parts, was not spared the storms’ wrath, with many grounds left badly damaged.

The ICC, recognising the key role sport can play in rebuilding communities’ spirits following a disaster, has arranged a one-off charity T20 international match between an ICC World XI and the West Indies national side to raise funds to help rebuild several of those stadiums in need of significant repair. The match takes place at Lord’s in London on Thursday May 31st.

Funds raised from the match will be directed to five particularly badly affected stadiums in the region:

Ronald Webster Park in Anguilla,
Sir Viv Richards Stadium in Antigua,
Windsor Park Stadium in Dominica,
A.O. Shirley Recreation Ground in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands; and
Carib Lumber Ball Park in St Maarten.

Above: Windsor Park in Roseau, Dominica – before and after Hurricane Maria

I admit to playing close attention to this game. I live on an island in the Atlantic hurricane zone and have experienced many strong storms over the years, knowing only too well the destruction and despair they can leave in their wake. Although my home, Bermuda, was spared the worst of the 2017 hurricane season, a lot of my work colleagues and friends in the British Virgin Islands were very badly affected by Irma at the time, and the islands, like so many are still not fully recovered nearly nine months later. So to see the sport rallying around my island cousins is heartwarming, and I hope the occasion is rightly applauded.

Above: Destruction in Road Town, Tortola, BVI after Hurricane Irma

In order to give the match maximum exposure, the ICC has granted it full T20 International status. As another mark of respect, the fact that the match is being held at Lord’s is a real feather in the cap for the organisers, given that the home of cricket has only previously hosted T20Is as part of the World Twenty20 tournament in 2009.

Fittingly, both teams send strong squads to Lord’s. West Indies include Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels as well as big-hitting Evin Lewis, and a returning Andre Russell. For their part, the ICC side is a mix of experience and youth. Captained by England T20 skipper Eoin Morgan on his home county ground, the representative squad includes the two most capped T20 internationals of all time (Pakistani pair Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik) as well as Afghanistan’s superstar 19 year-old Rashid Khan and 17-year old Sandeep Lamichhane from Nepal.

Intriguingly, both teams last Twenty20 outings saw series defeats to Pakistan, in Pakistan. An ICC World XI visited Lahore for a three game series last year as part of Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to bring top level cricket back to their home country, losing 2-1 – while the West Indies visited Karachi just last month in a very symbolic tour, which they lost 3-0.

(As an interesting aside, spinner Samuel Badree played in both of those series – for the ICC and West Indies – and is in the squad again here, playing against an ICC side he represented just a few short months ago!)

The West Indies are current World Twenty champions of course, and will be looking to put on a show in a game that will be very keenly watched back in the Caribbean.

Although the focus will rightly be on fun and fundraising, given that it has full status there are a few interesting statistical milestones to keep an eye out for:

Shahid Afridi (ICC World XI / Pakistan)

Above: Shahid “Boom-Boom” Afridi will appear in T20I number 99.

Boom-Boom Afridi is something of a Twenty20 International legend. He is the format’s most capped international player and will make his 99th appearance in a T2oI in this game, two years after last playing for Pakistan.

He also leads the world in T20I wickets with 97, and needs just three to bring up his century.

Shoaib Malik (ICC World XI / Pakistan)

All rounder Shoaib Malik currently has 1875 international runs in the shortest format – which sees him in fifth place all-time. He needs just 15 to overtake Sri Lanka’s Tilakaratne Dilshan and move into fourth in the world.

Eoin Morgan (ICC World XI / England)

Above: ICC and England skipper, Eoin Morgan.

The ICC’s skipper currently has 1678 T20I runs, and sits eleventh in the world run scorers list. Just 13 will see him break into the top ten, dislodging Pakistan’s Umar Akmal

Morgan will also play for his third recognised international team, having previously played for England and Ireland.

Luke Ronchi (ICC World XI / New Zealand)

Morgan’s feat will be matched by keeper Ronchi, also playing for his third international side after keeping for both Australia and New Zealand previously.

Sandeep Lamichhane (ICC World XI / Nepal)

Above: Nepalese wunderkind, Sandeep Lamichhane

At 17 years of age and fresh from a blistering performance in the IPL, leggie Lamichhane will notch up a world first on Thursday – he will become the first player to make his full recognised international debut for a representative side rather than a national side*. Although he has played for Nepal before, this was only in games which did not have official ODI or T20I status granted by the ICC.

He does have experience at Lord’s though, having played for Nepal in their victory over the MCC in 2016.

(* excludes the East Africa side that appeared in the 1975 World Cup, as this was a designated ICC member association at the time)

Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis (West Indies)

Universe Boss Gayle and big-hitting Lewis are two of just seven men to hit more than one T20I century -one more in this game will see them equal New Zealander Colin Munro’s world record of three.

England v South Africa – 1st Test Review

On Sunday, England wrapped up an ultimately comfortable 211-run victory over South Africa on a highly eventful fourth day at Lord’s where the last 19 wickets of the 1st Test fell.

It was the perfect start to Joe Root’s England captaincy career, and his charges will go into Friday’s second Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham in great spirits.

There were a number of personal milestones achieved in the Test, some of which we accurately flagged here:

Moeen Ali (England)

England’s spinning all-rounder had the best match of his 38 Test England career to date, thoroughly deserving of his Man-of-the-Match award at the Home of Cricket.

His career best second innings figures of 6-53 were enough to see his name etched onto the famous Lord’s 5-wicket honours board for the second time, and his maiden ten-for in the match overall had the engraver working overtime as Moeen got himself on that board too.

The ten wickets saw him move from 98 scalps before the game to 108 by play’s end, and with the willow his 87 runs in the first innings also saw him past 2000 career runs. In terms of Tests played, Moeen became the second fastest England player to reach the 100 wickets/2000 runs double, in just one game more than the late Tony Greig.

All in all, a pretty good four days for the Worcestershire man!

James Anderson (England)

England’s all-time highest Test wicket-taker earned himself a world record in the Test, but it was with the bat not the ball that he etched his name into the record books.

When Jonny Bairstow became England’s tenth wicket to fall in their second innings, it left the Burnley Lara not-out in Tests for the 62nd time. He had previously shared the world record of 61 not-outs with the legendary West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh, but he can now lay claim to the record all by himself.

Hashim Amla (South Africa)

Although Hashim’s 40 runs in the test were not enough to see him to 8,000 runs just yet, let alone to move past AB de Villiers in third place overall for the Proteas, he did make an appearance in both batting innings, moving him to 177 innings for his country. This moved him past both de Villiers and Gary Kirsten into 4th place overall for South Africa.

Joe Root (England)

With his first-innings ton, England’s new skipper became the fourth consecutive England captain to make a century on their captaincy debut following Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook.

Root’s 190 was the highest score by an England captain on captaincy debut surpassing the 173 Cook scored in his first game in charge against Bangladesh in 2010.

England v South Africa – 1st Test Match Preview

After a seemingly endless wait, the first Test of the English summer is almost upon us, with England finally kicking off their Test series against South Africa on Thursday. The Basil d’Olivera trophy is up for grabs over four matches, starting with the first game at Lord’s, the home of cricket.

Both sides had disappointing ICC Champions Trophy campaigns, although England can at least take some comfort from winning both the ODI and T20I series 2-1 against the Proteas earlier in the summer. For the South Africans, however, this series is the last chance to take something positive out of a long, arduous and to-date rather unsuccessful tour of the British Isles.

South Africa are currently ranked 2nd in the ICC Test team rankings, with England two places behind in fourth. A series win for the hosts however will see them leapfrog Australia into third place.

Form wise, England’s last Test encounter saw them fall to a chastening 4-0 series defeat to India in late 2016, and prior to that they drew their previous two series in Bangladesh and at home to Pakistan last summer. Their last series win was over a year ago against Sri Lanka in the early part of the 2016 summer.

South Africa by contrast have won their last four Test series, and you have to go back 18 months to their last series defeat, at home against England. So although England are the current holders of the Basil d’Olivera trophy following that win in late 2015/early 2016, it is the Proteas who hold the better form.

Overall, the match at Lords will be the 146th Test match between the two sides, with England leading by 58 wins to 32. It is much closer in matches at Lord’s however, with England taking six wins to South Africa’s five from the 15 test matches played between the teams in St John’s Wood, NW8.

From an individual player perspective, there is much to keep an eye on over the next week or so:

Test captaincy debuts

Both sides will be represented at the toss by players marking their first game as captain for their national side.

Joe Root, long groomed as successor to Alastair Cook as England skipper, was officially appointed his permanent replacement earlier in the year following Cook’s captaincy resignation, and will become England’s 80th Test match captain.

For the Proteas, Dean Elgar stands in for usual captain Faf du Plessis who remains at home in South Africa following the birth of his child last week. By contrast, he will become just the 36th man to captain the South Africans in Tests.

Potential Test debuts

Four players as yet uncapped at Test level are in the squads for the first match of the series.

For England, Middlesex quick Toby Roland-Jones could become England’s 677th Test player if picked to play at his home ground.

For South Africa, opening batsman Heino Kuhn will likely make his debut in place of the dropped Stephen Cook, while the untried batsman Aiden Markram and all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo are also in the 16-man Proteas squad, although neither are tipped to play in the opener.

Alastair Cook (England)

He may have resigned as captain, but opening bat Cook could potentially still have years ahead of him in the England Test side as a batsman.

He currently has 11,057 test runs to his name, enough for a place in the world top ten all-time runs scorers. Where he ultimately ends up on that list by the time he calls stumps on his career will be one of the most fascinating things to track over the next couple of years.

First cab off the rank in his quest to move up the rankings is former Australian captain Allan Border who sits 117 runs ahead of Cook on 11,174, and Essex’s finest will be looking to knock him down a notch in this game.

Hashim Amla (South Africa)

South Africa’s leading batsman has a host of personal milestones in his sights in this first test.

He currently has 7,952 test runs to his name, needing just 48 to become the fourth South African and 30th player worldwide to reach 8000 test runs.

A further 75 runs will see him move to 8,075 career runs, and past his ODI captain AB de Villiers (who has all but retired form the longer format) into third place overall for the Proteas, behind only Graeme Smith and the legendary Jacques Kallis.

Amla currently has 26 test centuries under his belt, and one more hundred will see him join Smith in joint second place for his nation.

If he bats in both innings this will take him to 177 test innings, and past both de Villiers and Gary Kirsten who currently sit in joint 4th place for South Africa on 176.

Finally, Hashim has taken 91 catches for his country, and four more from his usual spot in the slips will see him move past Herschelle Gibbs on 94 into 7th place for the Proteas.

Jimmy Anderson (England)

England’s all-time highest wicket-taker (and 6th highest in the world to boot) has a couple of the more obscure records in his sights during this Test.

Jimmy has flung the ball wicket-wards 26,840 times in Test matches, putting him in tenth place in the world for that particular stat. If called upon to bowl 276 more balls, he will move up to ninth in the list past the West Indies’ Lance Gibbs who bowled the ball 27,115 times.

With the willow in hand, England’s number eleven is currently joint top in the world for not-out innings. One more bit of red ink in the record books will see him move clear of another West Indian Courtney Walsh and claim that particular world record for himself.

Moeen Ali (England)

England’s spin bowling all rounder has personal milestones to look forward to with both bat and ball.

He needs 73 more runs to move to 2,000 in the longest format of the game for England, and just two wickets to bring up his century of victims.

Ben Stokes (England)

England’s other all-rounder, Durham’s talismanic Ben Stokes, also has 2000 runs in his sights, sitting just 98 away from the mark on 1,902.

Jonny Bairstow (England)

YJB, now firmly established as England’s Test keeper, has 93 catches in Tests, so needs just seven more to bring up a century of grabs.

Vernon Philander (South Africa)

The burly Philander has taken 161 Test wickets for South Africa, which sees him in eighth place for his country. An impressive nine wickets on the upcoming match will see him draw level with Hugh Tayfield in seventh place.