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He is also “open to” moving down the order in Tests, if asked to by the team management

Firdose Moonda02-Aug-2022Aiden Markram won’t say it quite yet, but in spite of the bottleneck of top-order batters in South Africa’s T20I squad, he is fairly sure of his place to Australia for the World Cup. And you would think he should be.Markram is ranked third on the ICC’s T20I batting rankings, averages 42.60 in T20Is, strikes at 146.55 and contributes with part time offspin. But he has only played one of South Africa’s eight T20Is this year, missed the series against India after contracting Covid-19 and was benched for two of the three games against England in favour of Heinrich Klaasen. So if he was feeling uncertain, it would be understandable. Luckily for him, South Africa have a plan and it almost certainly includes him.”The communication has been really good from coach, management team and captain. It makes it easier to understand why they are doing it (rotating players). Building up to World Cups you want to pick your best squad and it’s important to give guys fair opportunities before you select the team,” Markram said ahead of South Africa’s two-match T20I series against Ireland, which starts on Wednesday in Bristol.Although South Africa don’t have many matches left to experiment before the T20 World Cup (their two against Ireland are followed by three in India just before the tournament), they have tinkered with the top order in the absence of captain Temba Bavuma. They started off the England series giving Klaasen an opportunity at No. 4, but even though he is capable of hitting the ball hard, Klaasen may have had his run with scores of 20 and 19 against England. Markram replaced Klaasen for the third game and hit an unbeaten 51 in the deciding match.Who bats above Markram is yet to be fully decided. Quinton de Kock will get in on reputation, if not current form, and Reeza Hendricks has done everything asked of him to open the batting with de Kock with three successive half-centuries against England. But if Bavuma is fit, that means either Hendricks is squeezed out or moved down the order, where Rilee Rossouw returned to the national set-up with an unbeaten 96 in the second match against England. If Rossouw moves down, that impedes on Markram and possibly further down where David Miller and Tristan Stubbs make up the middle order.It’s a problem of plenty, which South Africa may not yet know how to solve apart from Markram, who can see a clear role for himself in that mix.”Rilee, Tristan and Reeza are exciting for us as a team and creates some good competition for us as a squad. For me, it’s just about playing the situation. If they get us off to a flier, it’s about coming in and matching their intensity. And if not, it’s for me to up the intensity,” he said.”I would still love to be involved in all three formats and will put as much work as I can to try and keep that dream of playing in all three formats alive”•Getty Images

Energy in the middle order is where South Africa’s squad has seen its biggest change from the team they were a year or two ago. Rather than rely on one player to finish an innings – Miller historically – they now have Markram, Stubbs, Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo with Stubbs adding a new dynamic to the squad. “It’s exciting for us to have a player with his x-factor ability,” Markram said. “He (Stubbs) is on cloud nine now and it’s about staying there and enjoying every second. He is a bit of a free spirit and has always got a smile on his face.”The hype around Stubbs may remind some of the same hope Markram brought with him after South Africa won the 2014 Under-19 World Cup and he was promoted to senior international cricket three years later. Markram said he “hasn’t quite got it worked out,” how to manage those expectations but his advice to Stubbs is that since “it’s been an awesome six months for him, the longer he can drag that out, the more awesome things will come for him.”That’s how Markram has played since the IPL, where he had a “decent bit, not amazing” tournament for Sunrisers Hyderabad, with three fifties in his 13 innings. “Confidence is a massive part of this game. This IPL tournament provided me with that confidence, that belief that I was lacking [earlier],” Markram said.While Markram may be fairly sure of himself in T20Is, he can’t be quite as assured in other formats because “I can appreciate that I might have not scored as many runs as I should have.” Specifically, his role as a Test player will come into sharp focus later this month, when South Africa play England for three games, starting on August 17.Markram has been included in the squad, after missing the series against Bangladesh because of the IPL and following a particularly poor run. Before that, Markram had gone 13 Test innings with only one half-century and an average of 16.38. He has since been replaced by Sarel Erwee as Dean Elgar’s opening partner, and does not think he will find his way back into the XI anytime soon. “I am not even expecting to play to be honest,” he said. “If you look at the makeup of the top three, they’ve done really well over the past few series. I’m over the moon for the three of them.”Asked if he could consider moving down the order in the longest format, as he has done in shorter ones, Markram said, “it’s something I would be open to,” but that South Africa haven’t had any planning around that yet. “We haven’t had too many discussions with regards to red-ball cricket. That will be next week,” he said. “I’ve only ever done top of the order stuff but it’s something I would be open to. If there is a role to fill in the middle order and the coaches and selectors think there is a space for me, I would be open to trying it and I would have to prepare accordingly. And make those slight mental adjustments.”Wherever, or perhaps whether, he finds himself in the line-up, Markram remains committed across longer and shorter formats even as an increasing number of players find themselves choosing between them. “I would still love to be involved in all three formats and will put as much work as I can to try and keep that dream of playing in all three formats alive.”

IPL franchises considering pooling together to arrange chartered flight for the group

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Mar-2021South Africa’s IPL-bound players who are part of the national squad for the limited-overs series against Pakistan, which starts on April 2, will be allowed by Cricket South Africa to fly out to India after the second ODI on April 4. The Pakistan series includes three ODI series, followed by four T20Is running till April 16. The IPL begins on April 9.The new-ball pair of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje (both Delhi Capitals), wicketkeeper batsman Quinton de Kock (Mumbai Indians), power-hitter David Miller (Rajasthan Royals) and pacer Lungi Ngidi (Chennai Super Kings) are expected to be part of the group travelling straight from the Pakistan series into the IPL.ESPNcricinfo understands that the franchises involved are checking on whether pooling in to arrange a chartered flight is a viable option, considering that would then allow some of the players to not miss their team’s first matches. According to BCCI guidelines, team members do not need to do the mandatory seven-day quarantine in their hotel rooms if they are moving between biosecure team bubbles via chartered flights. If players take commercial flights, then they will need to undergo quarantine before they can link up with those already in the IPL bubble.The IPL opener, on April 9, will be between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai. The next day the Capitals, who finished runners-up in IPL 2020, will compete against three-time champions Super Kings in Mumbai. The Royals play their first match on April 12 in Mumbai against the Punjab Kings.

The quick has had his workload carefully managed since returning from back surgery but is now keen to push himself

Alex Malcolm11-Nov-2019Workload management and resting from matches has become part of the new norm for Australia’s fast bowlers but James Pattinson wants to be able to string back-to-back Test matches together.Pattinson, 29, was deliberately managed through the Ashes, his first experience of Test cricket in three years after having spinal surgery in late 2017. His bowling loads were carefully plotted as he only played in the first and third Test while being rested for the second and fourth. He was available for the fifth Test but was not selected.His management has continued on return to Victoria. He played the first two Sheffield Shield games bowling 60 overs on two extremely flat wickets before he was rested from the third game of the season against Tasmania with the Test series against Pakistan in mind.Pattinson is set to return for Victoria against Queensland at the MCG starting on Tuesday with the Test squad to be announced Thursday and his aim is to be fit enough play consecutive Tests moving forward.ALSO READ: How Jhye Richardson’s career sped up by slowing down“I think the next process for me if I do get a chance in the Test arena is trying to play more back-to-back cricket now,” Pattinson said. “I think [being rested] was more being out of the team and coming back after three years.”I’ve been injury-free now for the better part of a year now. The body is feeling good. Hopefully, that’s the next progression if I do get a chance in the Test team.”The rest and rotation policy has been a source of consternation for Australia’s bowlers. The selectors are keen for “squad mentality” in order to prolong careers but the bowlers are wary of giving up their spot due to the quality of players available. Australia are likely to have Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pattinson and Jhye Richardson all fit and available for Brisbane.Pattinson said he looks on with envy at the batsmen who do get the continuity of playing every game.”I think the more cricket you play the more comfortable you feel in terms of your body and how the ball is coming out. You see the batters around and they’re playing all the time and they get into a rhythm. As a bowler, it’s hard sometimes when you’re stopping and going and stopping and going so hopefully the next step of the process is playing some consistent cricket.”He is aware that his situation is different from his fellow fast bowlers. Pattinson has two screws in his lower back after undergoing the same spinal surgery that prolonged the careers of New Zealanders, Shane Bond, Matt Henry and Corey Anderson. He has to be extra vigilant around how his back feels after big workloads in first-class games.”When I do have a big load it’s just managing how it responds that,” Pattinson said. “In the past, if I’ve had a big load, it gets a bit stiff, I then manage it, have a break, go again sort of thing,” he said. “It’s mainly keeping that area as mobile as possible. When you’ve got a couple screws in your back it’s about doing as much stretching as possible and not trying to overdo it. I think as you get older you learn how to manage it and a lot of time and effort goes into it.”I think if I didn’t have that surgery I wouldn’t know where I’d be now. I could have had another stress [fracture] and retired. It’s been a really big tick. It’s held me on the park for over a year now so hopefully, I can keep going.”Fellow Australia fast bowler Jason Behrendorff underwent the same surgery in October. Pattinson had been in contact with Behrendorff and said his advice was to be patient in the recovery process.”I think probably not to rush it in the early stages. For me, I was able to take a bit longer because there wasn’t a lot of cricket on. I gave it that initial time to heal. When you have the surgery, they pack it full of new bone. They take a bone graft and pack it around there so you want it to bind together and one thing I tried to do was pretty much try and sit on the couch for 10 weeks.”I was lucky enough I was speaking to Shane Bond and Corey Anderson from New Zealand who had it done not long before me, so he was really good to ring up and say I’m feeling this and I’m feeling that, is this normal is this not normal, and everything was sort of normal along the way that everyone else had experienced so that was a good feeling for me.”

In 2018, the number of “club and community” players in Australia has shrunk for the second year in a row, slipping from a peak of 454,657 in 2016 to 444,570 in 2017 and now 432,609

Daniel Brettig06-Sep-2018In the world of finance, “recession” has a simple definition: two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Cricket in Australia now faces an equivalent recession, according to the latest edition of CA’s annual census conducted each year since 2000.

CA census reports on club cricket figures

2012: “313,536 people participated in club cricket in 2011-12 across 570 associations and 3,820 clubs. 2,359 coaches and 257 umpires administered the game in 2011-12.”
2013: “After a small dip last year, club cricket rebounded with a growth of almost two per cent (1.7%), with 318,830 participants across 577 associations and 3,737 clubs.”
2014: “An eight per cent increase in traditional club cricket, bringing total participation up to 337,000 across Australia’s 477 cricket associations and 3,995 clubs. This is the biggest single year percentage growth in this segment for over five years.”
2015: “Traditional 11-a-side club cricket accounted for 344,053 participants across 23,000 teams, including 90 new female 11-a-side teams. It is the third consecutive year that traditional club cricket participation has increased. 415,104 club & community participants.”
2016: “Club and community participation jumped 9.5 per cent to 454,657 in the past 12 months.”
2017: “444,570 club and community players”
2018: “432,609 club and community players”

While the census has always been accompanied by glowing “participation” numbers, growing every year and once again in 2018 reporting a jump to more than 1.5 million, this figure has long been known to be particularly rubbery, given that according to CA and its census taker Street Ryan it is defined by anyone participating in school programmes or competitions at least four times over a summer. Within that figure, the number of paid-up, registered club cricketers is a far more reliable indicator of the game’s grassroots reach, and herein lies the trouble.In 2018, the number of “club and community” players in Australia has shrunk for the second year in a row, slipping from a peak of 454,657 in 2016 to 444,570 in 2017 and now 432,609. Given the inbuilt tendency of any self-assessed survey to look for gains, this trend may actually be more pronounced than it appears, even as losses from the traditional ranks of male and adult players are offset by growth among female players and juniors. Also notable is the fact that not even these numbers seem truly reliable anymore, as a result of ever widening criteria.Over the most recent seven surveys, club numbers tell something of a swinging tale. In 2012, the figure was 313,536; in 2013 it rose to 318,830, then jumping in 2014 to an even 337,000. Here is where things become more interesting still, as that was the year CA started to recut the numbers by including less formal “community cricket” numbers also – bumping up the 2014 figure to 400,000.For 2015, club figures rose again to 344,053, with the amalgamated figure coming in at a more bountiful 415,104. As if by process of evolution, the distinction had disappeared in figures for 2016, when CA trumpeted a seemingly mighty 454,657 “club and community” players. Therefore, the drop-off in that number in 2017 and this year may actually hide a more marked shrinkage of the number of players actually playing the sort of club cricket that could readily be defined as serious participation.This is not to say that CA is ignoring the aforementioned recession. On the contrary, their version of Keynesian stimulus was announced last week in the form of some A$35 million in directed and strategic funding for community cricket levels. Population growth areas in New South Wales/ACT, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia are to be served by no fewer than 58 new community cricket staffers, nearly A$13 million will be pushed directly towards infrastructure projects, registration fees for junior programmes will be redirected towards funding clubs, further funding will be pushed towards growing competitions for women and girls, and free level one coaching courses have been made available to help volunteers.At the helm of the relevant CA department is the game development chief Belinda Clark, who has long noted the critical importance of the club participation number in assessing the game’s overall health in Australia. When asked about how CA was addressing the gap between rosy overall participation and the rather less promising club numbers, Clark pointed to three methods being tried.Getty Images

“The rollout of new junior formats has been taken up really well in the community,” Clark told ESPNcricinfo recently. “So last year there were 65% of associations that had started to implement those formats and this year we anticipate getting as high as 90% of associations, so step one is to make sure that the game is fun and fast and attractive to kids, so that’s that.”But in terms of making sure the environment’s great, that’s where the free level one community coaching courses come into play, making sure the kids – once they arrive at the club – have got good coaches and great experiences. The third bit is providing additional resources – by sharing the revenue from Cricket Blast registration it provides clubs with a revenue stream that previously wasn’t there in order to make sure there’s opportunities to continue to play.”Clark’s efforts are being given further urgency by the fact that more independently gleaned numbers are also slipping downwards. In 2016 the then Australian Sports Commission – now Sports Australia – released AusPlay, a national survey of sporting participation that immediately installed cricket as a mid-table dweller, with 562,669 registered participants. That ranked the game sixth among the top 10, well behind soccer, golf, AFL, netball and tennis.In the most recent AusPlay survey, conducted last year and released in April 2018, cricket had slid to 545,704 participants, and found itself seventh in the top 10, now also behind basketball. Of course there is a difference between registered club players, participants and followers, an area in which CA can still point to plenty of success. The figure denoting the game’s estimated following more loudly than any other is the A$1.18 billion paid by News Corporation and Seven for broadcast rights, more than any sport other than the winter staples of AFL and NRL could dream about.To that end, the triumphal note struck by the chief executive James Sutherland in his final census before departing the job was not entirely off the mark. “We are thrilled to see the number of Australians playing cricket continue to grow year-on-year. To have more than 1.5 million Australians participating in cricket last season is a fantastic result, highlighting the passion Australians have for cricket,” Sutherland said. “We are pleased with the uptake of young children experiencing cricket through programmes specifically designed for schools.”More than 850,000 young Australians participated in these programmes in 2017-18 – these entry level numbers are outstanding, and we hope the programmes help instill a love of the game that will see them continue to play and enjoy their cricket. We are working hard with the community to ensure this interest and enthusiasm is transferred to regular playing opportunities.”We have more women and girls playing cricket than ever before, and The Growing Cricket for Girls Fund has been an overwhelming success and a programme we will continue to invest heavily in. We are particularly pleased with 619 new junior girl’s teams creating opportunities for the next Meg Lanning or Ellyse Perry to learn the game.”All that said, the participation recession in club land will have more serious consequences if allowed to continue. Just ask the ECB.

Birmingham’s unsung duo Colin de Grandhomme and Grant Elliott made the difference against Derbyshire at Edgbaston

ECB Reporters Network23-Jul-2017
Colin de Grandhomme was in destructive mood [file picture]•BCCI

Birmingham Bears stars Colin de Grandhomme and Grant Elliott produced fine displays to beat the Derbyshire Falcons by 20 runs in an entertaining NatWest Blast match at Edgbaston.De Grandhomme went into the tournament with the reputation as holder of the fastest scoring rate in Twenty20 and finally he made someone suffer.Having been invited to bat, Birmingham got off to an excellent start in the Powerplay overs at 49 for 0, with Ed Pollack hitting two huge sixes off Hardus Viljoen and Derbyshire’s overseas player Imran Tahir.Debutant Pollack brought up his 50 off just 31 balls as the Bears threatened to cut loose, and he made it a century partnership with fellow opener Sam Hain in the 12th over of the match.The partnership was broken just two balls later as Wayne Madsen continued to take wickets in the competition, having Hain caught by Tahir at short third-man for 34. The wicket saw New Zealand international De Grandhomme promoted to No 3 in the order.Pollack eventually fell to a smart catch by Matt Henry off Viljoen for an explosive 66 off 40 balls as the Falcons hoped to get a grip on the game and drag back the run-rate.De Grandhomme took on the role of enforcer while new man at the crease Ian Bell anchored proceedings before losing his wicket thanks to a stunning one-handed catch from Henry at deep long-on.That failed to slow down De Grandhomme, however, as he raced to his half-century off just 22 balls, finishing the innings in style along with Ireland captain William Porterfield, who was run out off the last ball for 20.De Grandhomme finished unbeaten on 65, with the Bears reaching 197 for 4 in their 20 overs.The Falcons’ reply began with the early loss of skipper Billy Godleman caught behind by Alex Mellor off Keith Barker, but Matt Critchley and Luis Reece launched a brief counter-attack for the Falcons.Critchley’s bright innings was brought to an end on 17 when Barker’s low full toss was miscued to De Grandhomme at cover, to earn the left-arm seamer his second wicket of the afternoon. At the end of the Powerplay, Derbyshire were ahead of the Bears on 59 for two.Madsen – the leading run-scorer in the T20 Blast this season – soon entered the fray and began to build with Reese, as the Falcons floated around the required run-rate.Wickets were the key component for both sides, and it was the Bears that continued to chip away as Patel bowled Reece, before Falcons captain Gary Wilson was tamely caught at short third-man off Elliott as Birmingham
turned the screw.The loss of Madsen for 16, caught by Hain running in from deep cover off Elliott, dealt a huge blow to the Falcons, and it looked desperate once Alex Hughes went for 25, caught behind off the glove.With the run-rate increasing, the comical run-out of Calum Brodrick by Hain effectively ended the Falcons’ chase and there was a fourth wicket for former New Zealand international Elliott as his fellow countryman Henry holed out at deep midwicket.Barker got his third wicket of the game, bowling Viljoen around his legs as the Falcons finished on 177 for 9 to lose by 20 runs.