They’ll never catch Mahika Gaur!

After bowling Malaysia’s Nur Dania Syuhada to complete a hat-trick at the Under-19 T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier, the UAE and Manchester Originals left-arm quick sets off on a sprint as her teammates chase her, running laps around the UKM-YSD Oval in Malaysia.

‘Theertha Satish, our captain was very annoyed because they all had to chase me! They had to run a lot. All of them afterward, they were just complaining that I made them run but it was an amazing feeling,’ jokes Gaur in an exclusive chat with All Over Cricket.

Gaur ended the tournament with 11 wickets in five games at a stunning economy rate of 1.36. Her show of force propelled the UAE to the Asia Qualifier trophy and into the inaugural U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup to be held next year in South Africa.

As a young child, Gaur used to play cricket in parks and gardens with her father. When she was seven years old, her family went on a trip to India, where she watched her first IPL game between Rajasthan and Delhi.

Young Mahika was hooked.

When her family returned to the UK, her father enrolled her in a club team as the left-armer started watching more and more cricket, and grew to idolize aggressive fast bowlers.

‘Along the way, I’ve found many people I’ve looked up to. I’ve tried to take parts of their game into my game. Mitchell Starc: I just love his action and pace and everything! More recently, in the women’s game, Shabnim Ismail.’

When she was 8 years old, the Gaur family moved to Dubai, where they enrolled their daughter at the world-renowned ICC Academy, where she had the opportunity to train with players from the UAE senior team.

‘As an 8 or 9-year-old girl I’d go there and I’d be like ‘I want to be there one day playing with these girls”.’

‘I remember the first ever ball I bowled was to Chaya Mughal [current UAE captain]. It was a loopy full toss and she probably felt bad that an 8-year-old was bowling to her. She didn’t want to whack it so she just defended it,’ recalls Gaur as a grin breaks out on her face.

Yet, it soon became clear to Mughal and everyone involved in the UAE setup that the left-arm quick was one for the future. As Gaur approached her teens, the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) had started to place a greater emphasis on the women’s game.

Under the leadership of newly instated captain Mughal, the UAE had a clear goal: to win the T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier in 2021 and advance to the Global Qualifier. With her height, pace, and ability to swing the ball, the teenager was a central part of these plans in spite of the fact that she was yet to take her GCSE exams.

A month before the Asia Qualifier, Gaur’s career received a potentially life-changing boost.

As the UAE began to open up to tourists for the first time since the pandemic, officials from Lancashire County Cricket Club had set up a coaching clinic exhibition at the Dubai Expo fair, where Gaur’s school was on an excursion. When she stumbled upon the booth, Gaur grabbed one of the tennis balls on offer, ran into bowl, and immediately impressed the surprised Lancastrian delegation.

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When they called the school to get in touch with her parents, they found out that Mahika was a UK passport holder, which meant she could play in England as a local player. After announcing a joint Lancashire Men’s and Thunder Women’s pre-season tour of the UAE in March 2022, which would feature five T20s between the UAE and the Thunder, club officials knew that they’d be getting another look at the talented Gaur. Yet, they were already convinced of her abilities. As a result, Gaur was invited to train with the Thunder in the UK during the 2022 English summer.

Gaur’s dream of becoming a professional cricketer was becoming brighter and brighter by the day.

However, this is when she suffered the biggest setback of her short playing career. In spite of bowling quickly and accurately at the senior T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier, she was getting unlucky with catches being dropped off her bowling, edges running down to the boundary, and plays and misses depriving her of wickets.

‘I was bowling well. I just wasn’t getting wickets. That made me feel as if I wasn’t contributing to the team and I wasn’t playing as best as I could.’

The pressure to perform continued to grow, as did her misfortune as Gaur’s drought of wickets continued past the New Year and into the Thunder’s pre-season tour this March. In spite of this, Gaur continued to be backed by those in the UAE set up and by the Thunder who were as keen as ever to help her refine her skills and realize her immense potential.

Soon enough, their faith in her would be vindicated in the most emphatic way.

In addition to the hat-trick against Malaysia at the U-19 Asia Qualifier, she took five wickets against Nepal, conceding just two runs in a spell that included four dismissals that were bowled or LBW. Nepal were bowled out for 8 as social media started to take (fleeting) notice of a player whose relative anonymity is surprising for anyone who has ever watched her bowl.  

Unbeknownst to the casual observer, while she was breaking records and shattering stumps, Gaur had to sit for two GCSE exams during the Qualifier. Still needing to sit three more exams, Gaur was forced to skip the ACC Women’s T20 Championship, a qualifying tournament for the Asia Cup, where the top two teams would qualify to face India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Thailand in the main tournament.

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Undefeated throughout the competition, the UAE lifted the Championship trophy, qualifying for the Asia Cup in the process to cap off a Golden Era for women’s cricket in the gulf state.

All this recent success will see the UAE getting an unprecedented volume of games against full members and higher-ranked associates in both the T20 World Cup Global Qualifier and the Asia Cup.  Gaur heaps praise on skipper Chaya Mughal and coach Najeeb Amar for creating a culture of belief and excellence in the dressing room.

‘Right now there is a lot of positivity and a lot of confidence. [Chaya] kept reiterating [the goal of qualifying for the Asia Cup]. She wants to get everyone in the team on the same level so we all have that hunger and that motivation to win.’

After sitting her remaining GCSEs, the left-arm quick began to train with the Thunder squad throughout the early stages of the English summer and impressed them enough to be awarded a contract with the Manchester Originals for this year’s edition of The Hundred.

The 16-year-old was the second youngest player to be awarded a contract this year after Central Sparks’ and Birmingham Phoenix’s Davina Perrin, who is still just 15 at the time of writing.

Gaur, unsurprisingly, is chuffed to be sharing the dressing room with the likes of Sophie Ecclestone, Deandra Dottin, and Amy Satterthwaite.

‘For me, personally, the experience had been amazing because there’s so much experience in the dressing room. Just hearing them talk about the game I’m getting to learn so much. The coaches here have been so amazing in helping me notice things in my action and in my bowling which I myself wasn’t noticing,’ says Gaur.

While she does not know whether she will get to play this season, it is clear to her that the Thunder and the Originals are viewing her as a long-term prospect. When asked about her goals for her career in cricket, Gaur reminds me that she is yet to begin her A-levels. She says she will take stock of her options as she approaches graduation, after which she may take a gap year to pursue cricket.

For now, the quick bowler is not looking too far ahead. Her mantra is simple:

‘Keep bowling fast, keep swinging it, and keep enjoying.’

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‘I’m ready to bat, bowl or field whenever my team needs me to,’ said Dipendra Singh Airee when he sat down with All Over Cricket for an exclusive chat in June of this year.

This sums up what Airee is all about. He always wants to be involved in the game. The former men’s U-19 captain batted at number four on his international debut against Kenya in March 2017, replacing then injured Paras Khadka. Five years down the line, Airee is once again playing against Kenya but has replaced the now retired Khadka as Nepal’s biggest batting hope.   

‘Tiger’ as he was nicknamed by Khadka went through a roller-coaster ride in the early stages of his career before he was a regular in the national team. For one, he wasn’t an off-spinner like he is now. Instead, he was an up-and-coming teenage pace bowler who batted mostly in the lower order and struggled with back injuries. To ensure an injury-free career, he had to give up fast bowling and has gradually moved up the order since then.

He captained Nepal’s Under-19s to a famous 19-run win against India during the Asia Cup group match back in November 12 2017. He scored 88 runs, picked up four wickets, and took two catches to limit India to 166. This was an early sign of the package deal he brought with his skills.

As a testament to his enormous potential, he was already given a Nepal senior team debut earlier in the same year. Fast forward a couple of years, and he was trusted with the vice-captain’s role. Even though he no longer holds this position, his stock as a batter has risen exponentially since then and he has established himself as a senior player for Nepal.

T20 Beast

Airee has great numbers in T20I cricket. This is helped by the fact that Nepal has played more T20Is than ODIs. The 22-year-old always tops the batting charts in domestic cricket but he didn’t make a seamless transition to international cricket.

In his first 21 T20Is, his average was hovering around 20 with a strike of less than 110. He didn’t have a single fifty to his name either. The pandemic was a blessing in disguise for Airee as he found time to think about his career and fine-tune aspects of his game.

‘I used to practice with Kushal [Bhurtel] and Rohit [Kumar Paudel] during the pandemic. I saw my old footage a lot. I closely observed what I was doing wrong from the videos of my dismissals. I concentrated to play more in front of the wicket,’ said Airee.

There is a clear change in technique in pre and post-pandemic Airee. Previously, the right-handed batter’s front foot was stiff, unbalancing the weight of his body. His front foot was doing all the work with minimal back foot movement.

More often than not, due to his backlift, he’d struggle to generate any sort of power in his shots. Yet, his strong hand-eye coordination allowed him to score runs along with a penchant for manipulating the field with his signature reverse sweeps.

After the pandemic, however, his back foot started anchoring his front foot movements allowing a smoother transfer of body weight. Airee doesn’t compulsively plant his front foot forward anymore, and he sets himself up to slap the ball through the covers as he gets his shoulders and chest into his shots. His open stance allows him to create width as well as access the leg side. Unlike the Airee of 2019, Dippy 2.0 generates power with a free-flowing swing of the bat.

In T20Is, he has become a package that could soon entice franchises around the world. As a big-hitting batter, quick runner between the wickets, and an economical off-spinner, who is also a gun fielder, Airee can slot into any T20 lineup and contribute in any of the three departments.

Airee, the ODI batter is still a work in progress. He is yet to hit the same level of consistency that sets him apart in T20Is, but he did notch up his maiden hundred against PNG in the home bilateral series held in March 2022. It was an innings that rolled back the years to March 2018 when he scored a half-century and picked up four wickets against the same opponents to help Nepal secure ODI status at the Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.

Controversies and the way forward

Earlier this year, Airee was embroiled in a board-player controversy that cost him the vice-captaincy. His favorite batting partner Rohit Kumar Paudel was announced as the new vice-captain before the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 series against the USA and Oman. Airee admits there were times during the initial period of controversy when he thought about completely quitting the sport. He claims to have stopped thinking about leaving the sport and does not have any leadership ambitions as things stand.

‘Pubudu Dassanyake [Nepal’s coach at the time] asked me if I was interested to be reinstated as a vice-captain before leaving for the US. I denied to take up the role. I just can’t relate myself as a vice-captain anymore. I don’t feel the need for it. I am happy to be a player and win matches for Nepal,’ he admits.

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Leaving controversies in the past, Airee has emerged as the go-to all-rounder for current skipper Sandeep Lamichhane. That both have a history together in the Under-19s has helped the pair understand how to work together. However, as a top order batter and a full-quota bowler, Airee recognizes the need to balance workload, especially in League 2 tri-series.

‘Obviously, if I have to play two matches in two days, it can be physically challenging, but our trainers are working hard to keep us in shape and prepare accordingly.’

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Many followers of Nepal cricket are concerned about the possibility of Airee burning out while shouldering such a vast responsibility with both bat and ball. He is one of the mainstays in batting after the retirement of Paras Khadka, the phasing out of Sharad Vesawkar, and the uncertainty over Gyanendra Malla’s place in the eleven. While refusing to be drawn into comments about selection, Airee stressed how important it is for Nepal to have experienced heads in the team.

‘The inclusion of senior players always does a world of good to any team in transition. Experience-wise or setting up a proper team culture, any team needs the presence of veterans who have been there and done that at this level.’

Picked for Nepal’s ongoing tour of Kenya, Malla top-scored with 46 (41) in a player-of-the-match performance to give Nepal a 2-1 lead in the ongoing 5-match T20I series, and reinforce the point Airee was making. With the plethora of franchise T20 leagues played in Nepal over the years, it is no surprise that T20 is arguably Nepal’s favored format. Nepal narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup after losing to UAE in a winner-takes-all bout at the Qualifier A tournament in February.

While the future of the likes of the Everest Premier League, Pokhara Premier League and Dhangadi Premier League remains uncertain (a topic that deserves its own article) Airee is optimistic about the CAN-run Nepal T20.

‘We will get quality matches. It also gives a proper pathway to young players and a financial stream to establish them as professionals.’

Airee, however, echoed the calls that have been made by many players over the years.

‘If a domestic season was announced, it could have been much better,’ he said in no uncertain terms.

Airee currently averages a shade below 17 in ODI cricket. Nepal currently sits second from bottom at the Cricket World Cup League 2 table with just eight wins in their first 20 games. If they miss out on a top three position, they will fail to advance directly to the Qualifier for the 2023 World Cup, needing to go through the Qualifier Playoff instead.

It might be too late to remedy this situation, but the sooner the Cricket Association of Nepal can establish a full-fledged domestic structure, the sooner they can get the best out of their players, improve results across formats and accelerate Nepal’s road to full membership. You know this. And Dipendra Singh Airee knows this too.

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It’s amazing how much drama the cricketing Gods had planned during the six games of the recently concluded Men’s Asia Cup Qualifier. We saw two last-over thrillers, an upset for the ages, and plenty of net run rate drama.

Let’s take a look at how Hong Kong, the UAE, Kuwait, and Singapore fared over the course of the tournament.

Undefeated Hong Kong

834 days: That’s how long Hong Kong’s men’s team was absent from international cricket.

Throughout the pandemic, Hong Kong’s government has imposed some of the world’s most draconian quarantine restrictions, which up until recently included a 21-day hotel isolation period for incoming travellers.

After all of the cricket they’d missed, Hong Kong had to make up for lost time. As a result, they’ve been on the road for two and half months, playing high-stakes pathway tournaments one after the other. At the end of the Asia Cup, many members of Hong Kong’s squad will have spent three months on the road with three members of the squad even missing the birth of their respective children.

Hong Kong surprised a few onlookers by winning four out of their five games during the second leg of Challenge League B in Uganda. Yet, unsurprisingly, the cocktail of extensive time on the road, injuries, and illnesses caught up with them.

As things turned out, Hong Kong won just two of their five games at the T20 World Cup Qualifier B. Following this, they lost their last three games of the final leg of Challenge League B to narrowly miss out on regaining ODI status.

In spite of the UAE’s tactical own goals, Hong Kong demonstrated admirable resilience, going undefeated at the Qualifier to book their ticket to play India and Pakistan in the UAE.

Yasim Murtaza and Ehsan Khan were Hong Kong’s standout players, finishing atop the run charts and wicket-taking charts, respectively.

After a sluggish batting powerplay against Singapore, Murtaza’s promotion to open the batting was questioned by myself as well as the on-air commentators. However, to his immense credit, he bounced back against Kuwait and the UAE to emerge as the dominant member of an opening partnership that included skipper Nizakat Khan.

Nizakat, for his part, is arguably in the form of his life. He recorded his first List A century against Jersey last month and three out of his five T20I career half-centuries have come in his last seven innings. He played maturely during the Qualifier, allowing Murtaza to be the dominant partner, which makes you wonder whether we’re seeing the evolution of one of the most gifted batters to emerge out of the city-state.

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A cornerstone of Hong Kong’s undefeated campaign was their trio of frontline spinners.

Left-arm spinner Murtaza did not concede a single boundary in Hong Kong’s last two games. With his fingers taped up throughout the tournament, off-spinner Ehsan Khan wasn’t able to put too many revolutions on the ball, yet he was able to deceive batters with flight, drift, and changes in pace. Leg-spinner Mohammad Ghazanfar complemented the experienced spin duo with an element of mystery, specifically a googly that few if any batters were able to pick throughout the tournament.

Together, the trio combined to take 15 wickets, while conceding just 5.78 runs per over.

With games against Pakistan and India on the horizon in the main tournament, Hong Kong will have to tighten up their death bowling. After all, they did concede 74 runs in the last five overs against Kuwait.

Their new ball bowling is also a bit of a concern with Ayush Shukla still new to international cricket. Shukla, however, arguably has a higher ceiling than any other Hong Kong cricketer. In their final game against the UAE, his wickets of Muhammad Waseem and Vriitya Aravind set the tone for Hong Kong, who’d be well-served to prefer him over Haroon Arshad with the new ball.  

Hong Kong does have a settled top four, yet the rest of their batting order seems to be playing a game of musical chairs with the likes of Zeeshan Ali, Scott McKechnie, Aizaz Khan, and Haroon Arshad switching positions nearly every game.

My biggest piece of advice for Hong Kong would be to treat Arshad as a proper batter instead of a ‘go-from-ball-one’ finisher. His career strike rate of 138 is the highest for any Hong Konger with at least 100 runs in Men’s T20Is. His average of 24.4 is second only to Babar Hayat.

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If Hong Kong would like to push full member opposition, as they’ve done on numerous occasions in the past, they need more defined roles for the rest of their batting line-up.

UAE implode

UAE owes a debt of gratitude to former captain Ahmed Raza for leading them out of a scandal-hit 2019 and into this year’s T20 World Cup. Moreover, as a player, he was instrumental in them realizing their World Cup dream by taking a five-wicket haul against Nepal in the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier A semi-final, which propelled the Emiratis into the big dance.

Along with Rohan Mustafa, he still has a lot to offer UAE cricket. Why the UAE would choose to make wholesale changes to the core group of players that propelled them to the T20 World Cup Qualifier A trophy just a few months ago is a mystery to anyone who’s followed them over the years.

That they would ignore key matchups during seemingly impulsive team selections is even harder to fathom. Mustafa is still the best off-spinner in the UAE. Against a Hong Kong top four comprising left-handers Yasim Murtaza and Kinchit Shah, he could have made a difference.

With the bat, he could have countered the threat of Muhammad Ghazanfar and Murtaza, who’d be spinning the ball into him.

How the UAE sacked Raza in favour of a player who was not deemed good enough to be included in the squad for the qualifier in February is beyond the understanding of any reasonable onlooker.

The UAE’s Asia Cup Qualifier campaign was nothing short of shambolic. They shot themselves in the foot by side-lining one of the main architects of their fairy tale resurgence.

Kuwait’s audacity

Throughout the tournament, Kuwait’s entire batting line-up just kept going for it. In their historic win over UAE, where they successfully chased down a target of 174, their top score was just 34 from Ravija Sandaruwan.

In spite of this, they seemed to have a never-ending list of batters who could hit the big shots. 10 out of 11 batters in that game managed to find the fence with five of them clearing the ropes at least once.

In their next game against Hong Kong, they clobbered 74 in the last five overs of their innings to finish on 151.

Edson Silva scored a gravity-defying 56 off 31 in that game to go with his player-of-the-match performance against the UAE. In the same game, Sayed Monib walked in at number ten and walloped two sixes off the last two balls, which was a major factor in keeping Hong Kong’s net run rate below the UAE’s.

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In their next game against Singapore, they chased a target of 105 inside 8 overs, striking ten sixes in the space of 47 balls.

Make no mistake: Kuwait was the most entertaining team in the tournament. They’re also the best advertisement for how competitive the Asian region is and why the Asia Cup needs to expand.

Young Singapore and Salman Butt

2019 was one heck of a year for Singapore. They beat Nepal, Canada, Zimbabwe, and Scotland in the space of three and a half months.

Tim David played a key role in three out of those four wins. Since then, he’s become one of the hottest properties on the franchise circuit and it’s just a matter of time before he switches his allegiances to Australia. His absence is something Singapore will have to come to terms with.

A chronic issue for them, however, is that a whole host of players are often missing due to work commitments, school, or mandatory armed forces service. It is rare that Singapore can ever put its best eleven on the park.

That they were able to remain competitive at the Qualifier in spite of these constraints is largely down to their bowlers. Three out of the top ten wicket-takers during the Qualifiers were Singaporean. The only other team to achieve this was Hong Kong.

Vinoth Bhaskaran, who took six wickets at the Qualifier, has traditionally been a powerplay specialist. His control with the new ball has certainly not evaded him, but he is also putting more revolutions on the ball and is more adept at deceiving the batters in flight.

Teenage off-spinner Akshay Puri picked up four wickets in Oman and has been a constant threat to opposition teams in his rookie year for the national team. Janak Prakash looks quicker and more accurate than ever before and is being given more responsibility with the bat, coming in at four throughout the tournament.

In spite of issues with player availability, Singapore keeps producing homegrown youngsters. Adwitya Bhargava looked good in the two overs he bowled in the tournament, picking up the wicket of Chirag Suri with a full inswinger. He too is blessed with pace and it will be interesting to track his development over the years.

I wish my wrap of Singapore’s tournament ended right here.

But if there was one enduring image of their campaign, it would have to be the presence of Salman Butt in their dugout as the ‘Consulting Head Coach.’

Salman Butt should not be allowed anywhere near an officially sanctioned cricket event let alone around a young squad.

As a human being, he deserves a second chance. But that second chance should not come in cricket. After taking three long years to publicly apologize for his leading role in the spot-fixing scam, he has lost the right to be involved in the sport.

As a follower of associate cricket, few teams entertained me more than Singapore did in 2019. It, therefore, pains me that the biggest story of their campaign isn’t the continued improvement of their next generation of talent, but the reintegration of an unremorseful pantomime villain into the sport.

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Shadley van Schalkwyk is the ultimate journeyman of South African Cricket. After twelve years in the Rainbow Nation, he is in his second season of Minor League Cricket (MiLC) with the Seattle Thunderbolts. Throughout his time in the United States, he has been incisive with the new ball, regularly finding movement in the air and off the deck.

He finished the 2021 MiLC season with 20 wickets at an economy rate of 4.8, which was the best economy rate for anyone to have bowled at least 15 overs in the tournament. His returns this season have been modest, yet respectable.

Yet, over the last few weeks, he has recaptured his form from season one. Two weeks ago, he took 3 wickets in the powerplay against Golden State Grizzlies to help bowl them out for an easily chaseable 122. A few days before that, he smashed 57 off 32 against the San Deigo Surf Riders, walking in at 26 for 3 in an ultimately successful chase of 184. Most recently, he struck 38 off 15, including 4 maximums in a win over the Dallas Mustangs in the Pacific Conference Semi-final on Sunday.

van Schalkwyk’s success won’t come as a surprise to followers of South African domestic cricket. While he never kicked on to play for South Africa, he’s racked up close to 500 wickets and 4000 runs across formats in his career.

Make no mistake, Shadley van Schalkwyk is the archetype of a domestic stalwart.

He sat down with All Over Cricket to talk about his cricketing journey from being a schoolboy in South Africa to a match-winner in the USA.

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‘In my early years I always had an interest in sport of all kinds and I always believed I was going to be a sportsman of some kind,’ recalls van Schalkwyk.

‘I started cricket when I was very young and I remember going to what was then Kenilworth Cricket Club [now Western Province Cricket Club] with my dad on weekends to watch cricket, so the bug bit me from an early age.’

While a young Shadley was passionate about the game, he’s quick to admit that it took him a while to find his feet on the cricket field.

‘Although I did make the U14-A side at Wynberg, I made four ducks in a row so wasn’t much good. It wasn’t until I was about 17 that I thought I could make a job of it.’

Shadley admits that the desire to improve as a player was partly driven by his less-than-ideal academic performances. He recalls how the Principal at Wynberg High School saw him in his office on a regular basis. Yet, Shadley can’t speak highly enough of his time at the renowned school, which was also the alma mater of Jacques Kallis.

‘I hated the first week there so much I phoned home one day from the school to ask if I could leave and my mom said, “You weren’t accepted by any other schools, so you aren’t leaving”.’

‘However, after that first week, I realized that the school was for me. More than anything because they allowed me to be the person I am rather than boxing me into being someone or something they wanted me to become.’

A year after graduating from Wynberg, the all-rounder made the South Africa Under-19 side while he was in the Western Province Academy. While he was elated at the opportunity of wearing national colours, he was soon excluded from the 2009 U-19 World Cup squad on a count of him missing the qualification period by three weeks.

He signed his first professional contract with the Eagles in the following season but was not retained at the end of his rookie season. He considered quitting the game altogether, but his parents and coaches convinced him to persist with his dream.

‘I’m forever grateful to the coach and my parents for making sure I did stay. From there though I had a successful season in the semi-pro setup and regained my professional contract shortly after and didn’t look back.’

As I sit and listen to his story, it is clear that he is proud of his career in South Africa.

‘I even received a two-year contract extension from the Knights before I decided to leave South Africa, so I do feel as though I have given my all to South African cricket,’ he adds.

Does he have any regrets about his time in South Africa?

‘Although I was probably not quick enough or good enough [to play test cricket], I did think I might have got a few South Africa “A” matches at some point or been able to offer something in white ball cricket. I accept the Proteas squad at the time was very strong but I also think maybe the communication from CSA to our coaches at domestic level could have been better.

There was one time when I asked my franchise coach what I must average, and what must I score when batting but nothing came from CSA and I am a little disappointed about that. I hold no real grudges against anyone. I just wish the communication was better.’

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The all-rounder tells me that he was really ‘comfortable’ in his last few seasons in South Africa and highlights that as a reason for wanting to move.

‘I had a safe job, I was earning decent money, and I had a good circle of friends. There was one evening when I was sitting at home in my garden and I said to myself, “I don’t want things to be this easy”, so getting outside of this comfort zone was a priority for me.’

Yet, he admits that financial security and the possibility of playing international cricket were his other push factors.

‘I knew I wasn’t going to play for South Africa and I understood that with the quality of individuals above me at the time. The move to the USA created a job where international cricket was a possibility, if admittedly maybe a little unlikely.

So how did his journey to the USA begin?

‘My agent Lee Coller was instrumental as he made me aware of this opportunity in the USA with the launching of the Minor League. That along with the fact that Nosthush Kenjige, who plays for the USA was training with us [Knights] in South Africa during our summer. I asked him about life over there and whether there would be a space for me to come over. He told me to email him and he would get back to me when he had spoken to USA Cricket.

Major League Cricket offered me a three-year contract with an opportunity to do coaching at the same time.  This was very important to me, as I can’t play the game forever, so coaching going forward is very important to me.’

Upon arriving in America, van Schalkwyk had to go through a period of adjustment.

‘Coming to a new country without my wife at the time was the real challenge. In cricket terms, the conditions when I arrived were not great. They only had one indoor center in Seattle, where I lived. But I was ok with that. It was not like I did not know this was the case, so it wasn’t much of a surprise. It was the same on the field, as they didn’t have a turf pitch, but again, I grew up in South Africa playing on artificial surfaces, so that was not difficult to adjust to.’

Thankfully, Shadley found a T20 competition to play in soon after his move across continents.

‘I played in the Mock Minor League Championships in 2020 and really enjoyed my time playing for the Silicon Valley Strikers.’

In spite of a three-month break from cricket training and game time at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the former South Africa Under-19 all-rounder is settled and admittedly happy in his new home.

‘I am now based in Seattle and I love it. It reminds me so much of Cape Town, with the mountains, hiking trails, and overall outdoor lifestyle. Life is good here. We are very happy where we are now.’

When talking about playing cricket in the USA, he’s all praise about the competition and the players he has played with or against.

‘I have played against more international cricketers here than at any time in South Africa and that is not just in the Minor League Championship. It might be hard to judge things like pace and overall standard from the live stream on your laptop but there is real talent over here.

For guys that have played International or A cricket from India, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and New Zealand, there has to be something happening here that is attracting them. You can quote me on this that the age group cricketers from Under-13 to Under-15 are more talented than the guys in South Africa.’

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On his plans for the future, he is hopeful of playing for the USA and potentially getting picked to play in the CPL.

‘If I control my processes and do the right things, I certainly wouldn’t say no [to playing for the USA] but I am living in the moment for now and not looking beyond that.’

He adds, ‘We all know that living in the USA means we are closer to something like the CPL. Several West Indies players are in the Minor League, so if the offer came from one of the teams to play in the competition I would definitely do it. Playing just the T20 format over here does help as my focus is only on one format.’

It is clear to see that Shadley Van Schalkwyk is loving his time in the USA.

And if he continues to deliver on the field, it is possible he will get a long-awaited international cap when he qualifies for the USA at the end of 2023. That, arguably, would be a just reward for a professional with more than a decade worth of consistency on his resume.

All Over Cricket

Ahmed Raza’s World Cup Obsession

Ahmed Raza looks up at the ceiling to recall a memory. He pauses, runs his fingers through his beard, and leans into the camera. The current UAE men’s skipper is about to tell me something he has never opened up about …

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4 years ago · Jay Dansinghani

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When you combine The Hundred with greater professionalism and an increase in regional retainer contracts, the competition has been a game-changer for women’s cricket.

Approximately 267,000 people attended last year’s women’s fixtures. This averages out to around 8000 per game. 17,116 people packed in at Lords to witness The Oval Invincibles lift the trophy.

This season, the growing profile of English women’s cricket has continued apace. As reported by ESPN Cricinfo’s Matt Roller, The Birmingham Phoenix’s opening fixture on Monday against the Trent Rockets drew a crowd of 9,859. This was significant as it was a weekday and because the fixture took place outside of London and did not involve a London-based team. 

In a small step towards gender parity, the highest-paid women will this year earn a salary of £31,250, which is marginally more than the lowest-paid male players at £30,000.

I swear this introduction was supposed to be shorter…

Despite being a mere week into the second season of The Hundred, there have already been so many talking points. Here are five of the biggest stories from the competition thus far.

Boundary sizes

In season one, there were two totals of 150 plus in 32 matches where a result was possible.

This year, in just 10 matches, there have already been five totals of 150 plus.

The two highest run chases in the history of the competition came in the first two matches of this season.

Part of this might be due to female athletes getting stronger with greater professionalization and better high performance systems in place across the world.

But this is also because of unnecessarily small boundaries. London Spirit’s Dani Gibson voiced her concerns about this on social media after the Spirit played the Northern Superchargers at Headingley.

‘The women’s game has developed so much since the KSL years and bigger boundaries makes it such a better contest between fielders and batters. It was either 4 or 1s today,’ she posted.

It’s hard to disagree with Gibson. In a ‘4 or 1’ game, you don’t get to watch a batter manipulating the field and running hard. Small boundaries can also relegate the role of a boundary fielder to that of a ball girl or ball boy. You’re unlikely to see those signature ‘thrown back in’ catches.

If tournament organizers do want to see more boundaries in the women’s competition, they need to trust the process. With a greater number of female cricketers being able to pursue the game as a full time career, you will see more and more batters getting stronger and hitting the ball over the ropes as the seasons roll by.

Until then, there is no need to view the women’s game through the lens of the men’s game. There is nothing wrong or boring about a total of 125 that includes “only’ one or two maximums. I’d much rather watch that than an innings of 150, where mishit aerial shots only need to travel 52 meters to clear a disinterested fielder.

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Uncapped players and England’s fringe

Sophia Smale may be an injury replacement for Oval Invincibles, but it certainly looks like she belongs at this level.

The left-arm spinner has been frugal with the new ball and was wisely held back against the Southern Brave when left-handed Smriti Mandhana was opening the batting. In that game, she finished with figures of 2 for 12 in her 20 balls, including the wickets of Danni Wyatt and Tahlia McGrath. Smale has arguably been her team’s best bowler along with fellow uncapped bowler Eva Gray.

Against the Trent Rockets, Birmingham Phoenix’s Em Arlott picked up 3 for 19 and proved why she is arguably the most exciting uncapped seamer in England. She had Marie Kelly and Alana King caught off dipping slower balls before cramping Nat Sciver with a back of a length delivery into her body, which she could only manage to lob to backward point.

Bess Heath’s 57 off 34 against the London Spirit led the way for uncapped batters. Her innings was only the fourth half-century for an uncapped English batter in the history of the competition and the third-highest overall.

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She was severe on anything short and showed great intent while manipulating the off side field with a series of reverse sweeps off the spinners. What made her innings even more special was that the Superchargers lost openers Alyssa Healy and Jemimah Rodrigues early and that Laura Wolvaardt was also struggling to find her timing at the other end.

Sophie Luff deserves a mention for a spirited knock of 39* (30) in the second innings of the same game, which nearly stole a win for the Spirit.

A day earlier, Abbey Freeborn top-scored for the Rockets with an unbeaten 45 off 38, where she was great at moving across her crease to access mid wicket whenever the Originals bowled too short. The highlight of her innings, however, was her exhibition of scoops and paddles down to the fine leg boundary off both spinners and seamers alike.

I have to say, after such a high-impact innings, it was surprising to see her batting at eight in the Rockets’ loss to the Invincibles.

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‘Hey! Remember me?’

With Sophia Dunkley faltering in the opening position during the Commonwealth Games, Tammy Beaumont has a chance to make a comeback into England’s T20 plans. Having said that, she struggled in the second half of her unbeaten 45 off 42 against the Originals in a game where more than 300 runs were scored. While it is too early to write off one of England’s finest ever batters, she will have to score quick runs to force her way back into the team.

Beaumont might fall further behind in the pecking order if Lauren Winfield-Hill can string together a few more match-defining innings. Until recently, Winfield-Hill was probably given too much of a rope in ODI cricket. She hasn’t scored a single half-century in her last 31 ODI innings, so it’s hard to see a way back for her in 50-over cricket.

To her credit, she’s shaken off the rust from a poor first season, where her only half-century came in the Supercharger’s last game against the Phoenix. After moving to the Invincibles for this season, she found her feet straightaway, striking 74* (42) to help her team chase down a target of 144 against the Superchargers on the opening night of the women’s competition.

Winfield-Hill has not played a T20I for England since the 2020 T20 World Cup. She hasn’t opened the batting since July 2016 in spite of most of her success, and all three of her half-centuries in the format, coming in that position. If she can notch up a few more healthy scores in the next two weeks, there’s every chance she’ll be back up top for England.

Overseas combinations and the ‘Australian Effect’

Beth Mooney struck the highest score in the history of the women’s competition on her Hundred debut.

Alana King was the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the women’s competition.

King was also the first bowler, woman or man, to bowl ten dots in two consecutive sets of five.

Amanda Jade-Wellington is the top wicket-taker in the history of the tournament with 21 scalps to her name. She has also taken 3 or more wickets on four occasions since the inception of the competition, which ties her with fellow Australian Sammy-Jo Johnson.

Ellyse Perry’s elegant drives through the off side have complimented her footwork. In both of her first two innings, she has turned deliveries from spinners into full tosses, thumping them down the ground. She has also charged at slower bowlers, taking deliveries on the half volley and slog sweeping them into the leg side. It remains to be seen whether she can force her way back into Australia’s T20I eleven.

Butt this is vintage Ellyse Perry and it’s great to watch the GOAT in form.

The availability of Australia’s finest cricketers for this season has undoubtedly improved the quality of cricket on show.

However, with only three overseas players allowed in each playing eleven, there has been some debate over overseas combinations.

Dane van Niekerk sitting out of the Invincibles XI has been the most contentious selection of the tournament thus far. In addition to being last year’s Player-of-the-tournaments and the top run-scorer, she also led her team to the trophy. Dane van Niekerk was the heartbeat of the Invincibles.

I don’t think it’s wise to break up the successful Bates-Winfield-Hill opening duo. Marizanne Kapp is also the first name on their team sheet, which means that the last overseas slot is a toss-up between van Niekerk and Shabnim Ismail. The fact that I’m sitting here and making a case of Shabnim Ismail to be dropped just shows you how strong this Oval unit is.

Commentary and more primetime slots

Bree-ownee Smith and Elyse Vill-ownee…

I wish there was a way to insert a face palm emoji on the substack editor.

In all seriousness, many of the male commentators — Nasser Hussain being a notable exception — have been woefully underqualified to call games during the women’s competition. There is no shortage of commentators who are knowledgeable about women’s cricket, so the broadcasters and tournament organizers have no excuse for making us endure a substandard telecast.

Another thing I’d like to see is for the women’s competition to get more primetime slots. Not only is this fair, but it’s also just good business. If organizers and broadcasters want to know the full potential of the Women’s Competition, they need to give it the best chance to thrive.

Primetime slots and commentators who care would be a good start.

All Over Cricket

Sita Rana Magar: Her origins, journey, and struggle

15 years and she didn’t even get a phone call. As she prepared for the final of the 2022 FairBreak Invitational, Tornadoes all-rounder Sita Rana Magar had no idea that she’d been removed as Nepal’s vice-captain. Remarkably, she only found out about her sackin…

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4 years ago · Jay Dansinghani

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The T20 World Cup, the 50-over World Cup, and now a Gold Medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Can someone run down to Ikea? Australia needs a new trophy cabinet.

Let’s take a look at the statistics behind Australia’s triumph in Birmingham and India’s Silver Medal finish.

Australia

Over the last five years, Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning have been two of the best batters in the world across formats. However, for their standards, they both had poor tournaments with Healy aggregating a mere 48 runs and Lanning a mere 91 in five innings each.

Unsurprisingly, this resulted in Australia only managing to score at 6.27 runs per over in the powerplay, which was comfortably the worst among all four of the semi-finalists. They also lost wickets more frequently than any of the other three semi finalists, losing ten in total across the competition.

So, given these numbers, how did Australia manage to secure a gold medal?

A lot of credit goes to Beth Mooney who topped the tournament run charts with 179 runs at a strike rate of 133.6 in her 5 innings. Earlier this year, in a wrap up of Australia’s dominant batting at the 50-over World Cup, I highlighted how Mooney had the best non-boundary strike rate (NBSR) in that tournament, striking at 67.35 off non-boundary balls.

Well, guess what? She’s done it again in the T20 format!

She had the best NBSR out of all batters with at least 75 runs during the Commonwealth Games, striking at 76.6 off non-boundary balls. England’s Amy Jones was next at 70. We’ve said it before on All Over Cricket and we’ll say it again: Beth Mooney is the world’s best strike rotator. It’s near impossible to keep her quiet even when she isn’t getting boundaries away.

Yet, Mooney was not the only Australian batter to make game-defining (or tournament-defining) contributions. Tahlia McGrath, Ash Gardner, and Grace Harris stepped up at different points in Birmingham.

On two separate occasions against Pakistan and New Zealand, McGrath combined with Mooney to rescue Australia from early trouble in the powerplay. Throughout her time in Birmingham, McGrath averaged a brutal 4.3 balls per boundary, while scoring at a strike rate of 69.7 off non-boundary balls.

Among the top 20 tournament run-scorers, her overall strike rate of 148.8 was second only to Smriti Mandhana’s 151.4. McGrath and Mooney were the most consistent and most merciless duo in the middle overs. Moreover, Ash Gardner’s innings against India was a masterclass in taking a game deep. You couldn’t stop this trio from scoring boundaries or rotating the strike at will when boundaries were hard to come by.

When you plot NBSR against Balls per boundary, these three names occupy the top left quadrant of the scatter plot. They struck the best balance between strike rotation and boundary-hitting and made up for the inconsistencies of Lanning and Healy.

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Overall, Australia scored at 8.67 in the middle overs (Overs 7-15), marginally behind South Africa’s 8.75 before pummelling 9.84 runs per over in the final five overs, which was ahead of second-placed India’s 9.23 runs per over.

If you’re not Australian, brace yourself. A look at their bowling statistics will make for a bumpy ride. It is hard to argue that Australia wasn’t the best bowling team in the competition. They conceded 5.9 runs per over in the powerplay, 6.42 in the middle, and just 6.69 at the death.

In spite of underwhelming with the bat in the first six overs, their bowlers ensured a powerplay run rate differential of 0.37. Their middle overs differential of 2.25 was also the best among all the semi-finalists.

Their death overs differential, however, was simply scary. For every over of death overs batting, they scored an average of 3.15 runs more than their opponents.

To put it simply, Australia won Gold at the Commonwealth Games because they batted deeper than any other team, they were the best bowling team, they executed their skills at the death in all departments, and they held their nerve when it mattered most.

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India

Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma were easily the most explosive opening pair in Birmingham. They’re a big reason why India’s batters had the best powerplay run rate among all teams, going at 8.38 runs per over when the field was up. Throughout the competition, Mandhana scored at a strike rate of 151.4, whereas Shafali struck at 144.6. Out of all batters with at least 75 runs, they had the best and third best strike rates, respectively.

Remarkably, India scored at or above 10 runs per over in three out of five powerplays. New Zealand was the only team to manage this even once.

How Mandhana and Shafali went about this makes for fascinating reading. Of all batters with at least 75 runs in the tournament, Mandhana and Shafali’s had the best balls per boundary ratio at 3.62 and 3.83, respectively.

However, on the same list of batters, Mandhana (40.8) and Shafali (48.5) also had the second and third worst non-boundary strike rates. There was no designated role of anchor or aggressor between these two. They both went for boundaries and didn’t care for singles. Their boom or bust approach paid rich dividends and was a cornerstone for India’s Silver-medal campaign. 

As the opposition, if you were lucky enough to survive the onslaught from India’s two swashbucklers, you had your hands full with Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur. Rodrigues maintained an NBSR of 67.29 throughout India’s campaign, playing key innings against Barbados and England to prove that she should always bat in her favourite number three position, which has brought her so much success over the years in T20 leagues.

Harmanpreet, meanwhile, excelled at number four, which is arguably the toughest position to bat in T20 cricket. Sometimes, a number four batter will walk into bat during the powerplay. They have to rebuild, so they can’t take full advantage of the field being up. In other instances, they come in when the field is spread out, so it’s theoretically harder to score boundaries.

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Yet, Harmanpreet Kaur has been in fabulous form ever since last year’s WBBL, where she won the player-of-the-tournament award. Since the end of the 2020 T20 World Cup, no batter has scored more runs at number four than Harmanpreet Kaur. Coming at two down, she has amassed 319 runs, striking at 126.58. Crucially, both of her two half-centuries in Birmingham came against the mighty Australians.

India’s returns with the ball also got better as the tournament progressed. It was baffling that they ever thought it was a good idea to drop Sneh Rana, one of their best all-format players over the last 12 months. Pooja Vastrakar’s return to the XI after recovering from Covid-19 also breathed life into India’s bowling attack.

The difference between India’s run rate in the powerplay and that of their opponents was 1.9. This was the highest powerplay run rate differential for any team. Renuka Singh Thakur, of course, had a huge role to play in this regard. Her iconic 4-fer against Australia on the opening day was arguably the best spell of the tournament.

In Vastrakar and Renuka, India have two reliable seamers, from whom the best may be yet to come. Deepti Sharma is perhaps India’s most-versatile all-phase bowler while Sneh Rana’s last over against England with just three fielders in the ring was a major contribution in a high-pressure situation. These four are the core around which India should be building their bowling attack.

A special mention goes to India’s fielding, which was just as good as Australia’s in the final. It was also one of the factors that allowed them to edge ahead of England in the semi-final.

Aside from a collapse that saw them lose 34 for 8 in 5.1 overs against Australia in the final, India had a top-quality campaign. In any other era gone by, their showing at the Commonwealth Games would have seen them run away with gold.

Yet, the concern for them and other teams in the world is that Australia just keep getting stronger.

And no, I haven’t forgotten about the elephant in the room! It comes up every time I pen a piece about India.

Given that the professionalization of the women’s game in Australia has outpaced other nations and because of the WBBL, Australia’s players are simply more battle-hardened than their Indian counterparts.

There is no gulf in talent between the two cricketing nations. Instead, in the absence of a Women’s IPL, India’s players simply don’t have the opportunity to test their mettle in nearly as many high-pressure, competitive situations.

Yes, India crumbled under pressure in the final. This, however, was largely a symptom of administrative failings from the richest board in world cricket.

Like what you read? Subscribe to All Over Cricket for more stories on women’s cricket and associate cricket!

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Deandra Dottin’s shock retirement from the senior West Indies team comes on the heels of Lizelle Lee’s decision to step away from the international scene to focus on franchise and domestic cricket.  

While Dottin’s statement on her social media channels did not go into too much detail, Lee spoke to Alison Mitchell in a tell-all on the BBC Stumped Podcast.

What exactly happened with Lee?

Lee was initially asked to do both a skinfold test and a weight test in Johannesburg ahead of South Africa departing for the Commonwealth Games. She was at her parents’ place in Ermelo at the time and given the cost of fuel on what would have been a seven-hour trip back-and-forth, she asked if she could do the test closer to home.

This request was granted. She weighed herself at home and was booked to do her skinfold test at a nearby clinic. She tested her weight at home and relayed the number to the team trainer who told her that she was within the permissible threshold.

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The issue arises when she got to the biokineticist’s clinic in Ermelo. She asked Lee to do another weigh-in, to which Lee refused. Lee said that she’d done an approved weigh-in at home, receiving the all-clear. As she was on the margins of passing her weight test, any small fluctuation would lead to her being dropped for the England tour.

Fluctuations in weight, as Lee rightfully points out, can happen for female athletes due to periods, changes in hormones, and other anatomical factors that are unique to female athletes.

Nonetheless, she passed her skin fold test and was cleared to tour by Cricket South Africa (CSA).

Upon arriving in England, she was asked to do another weigh-in and skinfold test. She passed the skinfold test yet again, but her weight was noticeably higher than what it was in South Africa.

The team manager then called her into a meeting during which someone else from CSA was also present. They told her that because she did not do a weight test with the biokineticist in South Africa and because there was a discrepancy between her weight back then and her second weigh-in on tour, she’d been dropped from the squad.

The worst was yet to come. Lee was informed that she’d have to travel back to South Africa with her family, and she’d be responsible for the cost of airfare to South Africa and back to England for The Hundred. According to Lee, flying back was both prohibitively expensive and physically taxing for her newborn baby who had just completed an eleven-hour journey to make it to England.

To make matters much worse, Lee claims that CSA had also revoked her No Objection Certificate (NOC) for The Hundred along with the NOC for the WBBL until she was able to pass her weight and fitness test.

Lee says, and rightfully so, that she had no option but to retire. Losing her salary from The Hundred and/or the Big Bash would have been a massive blow to her and her young family.

Callous mismanagement

CSA’s mismanagement of a stalwart of the game is both mind-boggling and heartbreaking. When Lee started playing for South Africa, retainers were not as high as they are now. Yet, she chose to play for her country ahead of her ambitions to become a teacher. Her sacrifices aren’t consistent with the image of someone who was described as a disruptive influence by a source within CSA.

‘Before [retainers] there was no money, there were no contracts,’ she told Mitchell.

‘So after my studies, there was nothing. How was I supposed to survive not getting a salary and wanting to play cricket? So I took out loans and did what I had to do to survive.’

CSA, as Lee admits, had the contractual right to revoke her NOCs for franchise tournaments in the case of her failing a fitness test. Firstly, it doesn’t seem fair to hold a historically underpaid player’s financial security at ransom.

Secondly, Lee passed the running element of the test.

 ‘If you don’t make the running, they don’t see you as fit enough to play which is probably fine,’ she said.

‘I made the fitness physically, I did the running that I had to do. I told them, “You’re dropping me because of the way I look and how much I weigh”, and they said, “No, it’s because you failed the fitness battery”.

‘I said “Yes, Okay, but if you break the fitness battery down, what did I not make? I made the running, but I didn’t make my weight, so you’re dropping me because of weight”.

It’s hard to argue with Lee’s logic here. Why should it matter what she looks like if she can run as fast as she needs to? Why should it matter how much she weighs? Even after all of this, why was CSA unaware that she did not get weighed by the biokineticist in South Africa? Why did they let her board the flight?

The most heartbreaking aspect of the podcast was when Lee said that she’d often been brought to tears because of her struggles with weight and how she looked. When she was dropped because of her weight in Ireland, she asked the team doctor. ‘What do you want me to do? Put my finger in my mouth before testing?’

She also revealed that she has skipped meals before. ‘Not eating comes to mind. I’ve tried that,’ she said.

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Needless to say, if a sporting body is running the game in a way that increases the likelihood of its female athletes developing eating disorders, it needs to take a good, hard look at itself.

Do better or lose your best

As time goes on, we could see more top players from financially weaker nations develop into T20 globetrotters. In addition to the gap in wages between athletes in smaller nations and those in England and Australia, what compounds the issue is that the people who run the women’s game don’t administer it in a way that tailors specifically to female athletes. 

Ten years ago, if a player was unhappy, their only option would be to put up with things or stop playing high-level cricket altogether. Now, however, they have more options and hence more leverage.

Against the backdrop of financial disparities, if financially weaker boards want to retain their best talent, they have to be proactive in addressing the grievances and concerns of female athletes.

Coming back to Dottin, she recently played for the Thunder in the Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy, which preceded the Commonwealth Games, and she is reportedly looking for a WBBL deal. In addition to T20 leagues, you might see more and more players deciding to play domestic cricket in countries like England and Australia.

I’d be lying if I sat here and told you that financial disparities weren’t driving this. It’s definitely happening and cricket boards can do little to control this.

But for the sake of retaining their best talent — and in some cases, for the sake of basic human decency — they need to implement systemic changes that stop their best players from turning their back on international cricket. This is an even more pressing need given the financial gulf between the Big 3 and the rest.

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All Over Cricket

‘No! That’s My Niece!’: The Wini Duraisingam Story

When she was ten years old, the boys in the neighbourhood didn’t want Winifred Duraisingam to play with them. ‘They were scared [that I’d get hurt] because I was so young at the…

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4 years ago · 3 likes · 2 comments · Jay Dansinghani

Subscribe to All Over Cricket for more content throughout the Commonwealth Games and beyond!

You can also follow us on Twitter, where we will be live-tweeting throughout the tournament!

A teenage prodigy, a thrilling new ball spell, two dominant opening partnerships, and a dramatic come-from-behind chase: There’s been no shortage of action in the first half of the Commonwealth Games Cricket Competition.

Let’s take a look at four takeaways from the first four days.

Pakistan’s batting

When Muneeba Ali slogged Meghna Singh over cow corner in the eighth over of Pakistan’s clash against India, she brought up her first-ever six in T20I cricket. It took her 469 balls and 29 games to achieve this.

This is not what you want from a powerplay batter. For what it’s worth, I believe that Muneeba has the ability to develop into someone who can get through the new ball and anchor an innings while scoring at a healthy clip. Yet, the issue for Pakistan has been the other batters in their top four who also struggle to score quickly.

Make no mistake, out of all teams in the competition, Pakistan are the worst powerplay batting team. The last time they scored at over 7 runs per over in the first six overs of an innings was their opening game of the 2020 T20 World Cup against West Indies. In 16 innings since then, they’ve averaged 14.4 runs per wicket, scoring at a run rate of 4.66 runs in the first 6 overs of an innings.

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Just for context, even after you exclude Sri Lanka’s numbers from the Commonwealth Games Qualifier, where three of their four games were against associate nations, they’ve still scored at 5.46 runs per over in the first six overs, averaging 32.78.

Pakistan’s powerplay statistics look much worse in comparison to other, stronger teams. India has scored at 7.11 runs per over, averaging 29.5. Australia have gone at 6.92 runs per over and averaged 31.6. England have averaged a shade above 30 going at 7.26 runs per over.

If Pakistan hopes to compete with the top teams, they need to change their personnel at the top of the order. Their over-reliance on Nida Dar, by far their best T20I batter over the years, has gone on for far too long and was exposed against India. After the fall of Bismah Maroof’s wicket, they lost 49 for 9 to collapse to 99 all out.

Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma then killed the game off in the six overs, where they pummeled 61 runs. It’s hard to imagine Pakistan being able to pull off something similar.

As someone who seems custom built for powerplay batting, Ayesha Naseem is certainly capable of playing a similar role to Shafali Verma. There is, of course, no guarantee that pushing her up to open will pay immediate dividends. Yet, if you’re David Hemp or Bismah Maroof, surely anything is better than the current default setting.

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Renuka’s rhythm; Radha and Meghna’s struggles

Tahlia McGrath couldn’t believe it. She looked back at what remained of her stumps after Renuka Singh Thakur’s hooping late inswinger clattered into them.

Renuka’s spell was one of the finest new ball spells in recent memory and was the result of hard work and meticulous training.

In spite of her efforts in helping to reduce Australia to 49 for 5 in a chase of 155, the rest of India’s bowling attack — with the exception of Deepti Sharma — was unable to seal what should have been a comfortable victory for their team. This was a far cry from the Indian attack that comfortably defended 132 against the same opponents in the opening clash of the 2020 T20 World Cup. On that day, Shikha Pandey and Poonam Yadav combined to take 7 wickets.

In the absence of Pooja Vastrakar, India could have used Pandey’s consistency and Poonam Yadav’s bravery. Instead, they were forced to throw the ball to Meghna Singh — making her T20I debut — and Radha Yadav. 

While it is hard to fathom why Radha was entrusted with crucial death overs ahead of Rajeshwari Gayakwad, India’s best spinner, she did find her lengths and bowled at the right speed against Pakistan. She bowled fuller, slower and got the purchase that was on offer from a hybrid surface that seems to be getting slower and dryer as the tournament progresses.

A big concern for India is being able to win games consistently against the best teams in the world. In this year’s 50-over World Cup, they missed out on the semi-finals, losing to England, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. While Radha’s spell against Pakistan was encouraging, whether she can replicate the same results against the world’s best teams is a different question altogether.

Gardner-Harris and Bates-Devine

How good were Grace Harris and Ash Gardner against India? It all started with Harris who began the counter attack by stepping down the track to deposit Radha Yadav over long on. After she was dismissed for 37 off 20, Ash Gardner took over to play a mature innings, where she took the game deep before targeting Meghna Singh and Radha Yadav. Gardner’s innings is a textbook example of how to pace a tricky run chase, and won’t be long forgotten.

Meanwhile, in Group B, Suzie Bates played a supporting role to Sophie Devine before exploding in the aftermath of her partner’s dismissal to finish on 91* off 64 balls. The most impressive aspects of her burst in the death overs was a pair of reverse scoops, which travelled for four, and how she moved across her crease to access the leg side, including a paddle scoop for six off Ayabonga Khaka.

Crucially, this was Bates’ first half-century in her last 17 T20I innings — a run that stretches back to 8th February 2019. She backed this up with a knock of 34 against Sri Lanka in New Zealand’s next game.

In spite of this, a big question looms for New Zealand:

What happens when their top three fail? Katey Martin opted to retire after the T20 World Cup, while Amy Satterthwaite was forced into the decision after being inexplicably snubbed for a contract. As New Zealand don’t have readymade replacements for either, Bates could not have picked a better time to run into form.

It’s an Alice Capsey world…

Alice Capsey’s run of form has meant that England have barely missed skipper Heather Knight. The teenager’s knock of 44 against Sri Lanka in a small run chase was just a teaser for a more aggressive 50 off 37 against South Africa.

From the very beginning of her innings, she was not shy to use her feet to the seamers, charging down the track to smash Shabnim Ismail through the covers.

She did get lucky, being gifted four full tosses throughout her innings. Yet, she was clinical, putting each one away to the boundary or over the ropes.

And her off side game is nothing but sublime. Capsey’s iconic slaps through the off side were accompanied by a very sweet sound off her bat. With the way she takes guard and shapes up to play each delivery, often clearing her back leg, it seems like she’s practically tailor-made for white ball cricket. As you can see from the screenshot below, she has a very open bat face in her stance, which allows her to access the off side and makes her an awkward customer to bowl to.

She also judges length very quickly, which allows her to rock onto her back foot and pull away deliveries that are too short. Her quick reading of length also allows her to use her feet to spinners, who she sometimes hits over the leg side. In other instances, she opens up her body and goes inside out over extra cover or decides to pull out a reverse sweep, like the one she executed off Oshadi Ranasinghe’s bowling.

Capsey’s range is incredible for a teenager. She is the sort of batter who can play three or four different shots to the same delivery.

Moreover, as she demonstrated for the Oval Invincibles during The Hundred, she has the composure to ride out a storm. Against the London Spirit, she came in with the score on 3 for 29 and scored a match-winning half-century. In the Eliminator versus the Birmingham Phoenix, her 26 (20) propelled her team to 114 after being 36 for 3 on a tough surface.

Across The Hundred, she struck at 148.9 between balls 26 and 75 of an innings and has demonstrated the same proficiency in the middle overs in her short international career.

One of the most compelling narratives heading into the Commonwealth Games was how a young English squad would fare. England’s toughest games are yet to come, but Alice Capsey has clearly been the main protagonist in these opening chapters.

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I’m not going to lie. I am experiencing mixed emotions in the lead up to cricket’s return to the Commonwealth Games.

For a change, let’s start with the positives. Let’s start with why I can’t wait for the first ball to be bowled on Friday.

The good

Indeed, this is the highest profile multi-sport event that cricket has been a part of since the 1900 Olympics, where cricket was played between England and France.

It is also the first time that cricket will feature in the games since 1998 and the first time that women’s cricket will be part of the games. Unlike 1998 when games did not carry official ODI status, all matches in Birmingham will count as T20Is.

There are so many interesting narratives and subplots that promise to make this the biggest cricketing event of the year after the Women’s ODI World Cup and the Men’s T20 World Cup.

In Group A, favourites Australia will be looking to add yet another trophy to their cabinet and further establish themselves as one of the most prolific teams in sporting history. It’s hard to find many flaws with the Meg Lanning-led unit other than the fact that they conceded 77 runs in extras, including 56 runs in wides and no balls in 68 overs during the tri-series in Ireland.

If only for the sake of change you’d like to see a team other than Australia lift the trophy, the good news for you is the T20 format is more unpredictable than ODI cricket. All teams in the tournament have at least one if not more batters who can single-handedly win you a game.

Australia’s first match will be against India, who were the only team to beat them at the 2020 T20 World Cup. In Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, India has one of the best opening partnerships in the world. Moreover, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is enjoying a golden run of form. Yet, to balance all of that out, their selections continue to lack basic transparency and arguably any real logic or fairness.

India and Australia are grouped with an ever-improving Pakistan unit and Barbados, who in spite of being underdogs, are blessed with certified match-winners in Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews.

Group B favourites England should advance to the knockout stages. That they will be playing in front of a home crowd a year after the average match attendance at The Hundred Women’s Competition was 9536 makes this all the more special. There are now 51 professionally contracted women in the ECB’s regional structures along with 16 nationally contracted players. The revolution is set to continue apace as a young and exciting squad will look to make a mark on an international stage, and attract even more girls across England to the sport.  

New Zealand have also flown a young squad to Birmingham. Their contingent, controversially, does not include the likes of Amy Satterthwaite, Frankie Mackay, and Leigh Kasperek. However, with a Sri Lankan batting line-up that is still too reliant on Chamari Athapaththu and a South African unit beleaguered by injury and the retirement of Lizelle Lee, New Zealand may yet sneak through to the semi-finals.

8 teams? You’re kidding, right?

Neither Bangladesh nor any associate nations will be participating in the tournament. Here are some of the many notable absentees.

Scotland is the leading associate nation from Europe, having beaten Ireland in a dramatic encounter at the T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier last year to advance to the Global Qualifier. Kathryn Bryce and Sarah Bryce hold ECB regional contracts, while leg-spinner Abtaha Maqsood appears regularly for the Sunrisers on the regional circuit along with turning out for Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred’s inaugural season.

Tanzania have won 22 out of their 25 T20Is since official T20I status was awarded to all ICC member boards. Uganda and Namibia are two more African teams whose talent pool is dominated by homegrown players.

As per the latest Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) census accessed by All Over Cricket, 99 schools had a girl’s team in a soft ball and/or hard ball league sanctioned by the MCA. That translates to more than 1000 girls in the age group pathway.

The Commonwealth Games could have been a perfect shop window to promote the game in non-traditional markets that have already shown an appetite for the sport even in the backdrop of administrative negligence.

Instead, out of the 72 nations participating in the Commonwealth Games, only 8 will feature in the cricket competition. Yes, cricket is back in the biggest multi-sport event after the Olympics, but this is a reduction from the 16 teams we saw in the 1998 Men’s Competition.

This disparity in the size of men’s events and women’s global events is nothing new. But, why does it exist?

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One of the theories from the men who run the women’s game is that nobody will watch women’s teams from associate countries competing against each other.

This logic is flawed.

Personally, I find real fans of the women’s game more open to an inclusive global game than certain groups of toxic men’s cricket fans that are part of the reason why I’ve shifted more of my focus to women’s cricket. I prefer to discuss the sport with these groups of people that tend to be more knowledgeable and dedicated fans with a greater capacity for empathy.

Clearly, I’m starting to digress!

Yet, you have to question whether the men who run women’s cricket are aware of what this fan base wants. If they are aware, do they even care?

At a time when the future of international cricket is uncertain, at a time when boards struggle to turn a profit outside of global events, it seems as if the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics could be the lifeline that international cricket needs to shed its over-reliance on Indian, Australian, and English markets.

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I will, of course, concede that the Commonwealth Games is a great opportunity to cross-sell cricket to sports fans from the countries participating in the games. In some of these countries, the cricket competition will be shown on free-to-air television, where it can reach a sizable audience. This is especially crucial in conservative nations, where there is an urgent need to normalize female participation in sport.

Yet, as someone who has spent the last three years travelling around Asia and Southeast Asia to tell stories about cricket in this region — sometimes at my own expense, and once spending 21 consecutive days in quarantine in a 160-square-foot hotel room — I occasionally ask myself, ‘What’s the point?’

As a professional, I know it’s important to avoid taking sides. Yet, as a human being, I feel betrayed by the custodians of the sport. Sometimes, in the brief moments between tapping away on my keyboard, I can’t help but wonder:

‘When will cricket start caring about us?’

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It’s hardly surprising that Pakistan won five out of the six limited overs games against visitors Sri Lanka. What separates the two teams and determines their on-field fortunes is the way the women’s game is administered in both countries.

Sri Lanka went 631 days without international cricket between their final game of the 2020 T20 World Cup and their first game of last year’s Women’s World Cup Qualifier. In the same period, Pakistan played 11 ODIs and 6 T20Is.

Moreover, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Women’s Wing ensured that the Southend Club Cricket Stadium in Karachi was packed full of school students for each of the three T20Is. Simply put the PCB cares more about women’s cricket than Sri Lanka Cricket does.

As things stand, for Sri Lanka to compete with Pakistan across formats, they need flashes of individual brilliance, which, of course, often come from the blade of Chamari Athapaththu. Pakistan, on the other hand, has a system that is producing a deeper pool of talent, which makes them less reliant on one or two star players.

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Having said that, if Pakistan hopes to compete with the world’s strongest teams in the Women’s Championship, this year’s Commonwealth Games and next year’s T20 World Cup, they need to make some strategic changes. Here are three more takeaways from Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan. 

Pakistan’s T20I intent and batting order

She might be a mere 13 games into her international career, but it’s clear that Ayesha Naseem is one of the most powerful hitters Pakistan has ever produced.

When she was left out of this year’s World cup squad, her inexperience and her lack of exposure to top-quality international opposition may have justified that decision.

However, after her exploits in the T20I series, it was even more surprising to see her excluded from the squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka. In the 2nd T20I, she played a composed knock of 45* (31) which included a six that was muscled off the back foot over long on off the bowling of Kavisha Dilhari. The ball wasn’t that short. It wasn’t there to be hit. Yet, Naseem had the audacity and the strength to clear the long on fielder.

Given her raw talent, you can see why skipper Bismah Maroof chose to promote her ahead of Nida Dar — Pakistan’s best T20 batter over the years. Yet, for a while now, Pakistan’s top order has struggled in the first half of their batting innings, most notably in the Powerplay.

The last time Pakistan scored more than a run-a-ball in the Powerplay was their first match of the 2020 T20 World Cup against the West Indies. Not once have they scored at above six runs an over in the Powerplay in 12 innings since then. In the same period, their average run rate has been a paltry 4.82 runs per over while they’ve lost an average of two wickets.

This self-inflicted wound has meant that Dar and Aliya Riaz have often walked in needing to either perform a repair job or to play stupendous knocks to get Pakistan close to a par score. 

Put simply, Pakistan needs a change of personnel at the top. Enter Ayesha Naseem. It is hard to believe that Pakistan did not experiment with Naseem at the top of the order during the Sri Lanka series. On the surface, she seems tailor-made for Powerplay batting and there is every chance she can play a role similar to the one Shafali Verma plays for India.

Naseem’s elevation to the top of the order will also free up Nida Dar and Aliya Riaz to bat higher up the order, where they can face a larger share of deliveries.

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The Sidras

Sidra Ameen has scored two centuries in her last 7 ODI innings, which includes her solo effort of 104 in a losing cause against Bangladesh at the World Cup. Ameen is a good player of spin, who latches onto any width and often clears her left leg to create more room to access the off side.

Make no mistake: if you can score runs against Bangladesh’s spinners, you’re a good player. While she has expanded her strokeplay and has drastically improved as a batter, only time will tell whether Ameen can perform against higher-ranked opponents and some of the best swing bowlers in the world.

Her namesake, wicket-keeper batter Sidra Nawaz continues to underwhelm with the bat in international cricket. Yet, her prowess behind the stumps is reason enough for her to be chosen as a regular starter for Pakistan. Sri Lanka gifted Pakistan 11 run outs across six games on tour. After five run outs in the final T20I, they suffered a total of five more run outs across the three ODIs.

This number would have been smaller had it not been for Nawaz who on three separate occasions gathered inaccurate throws (that would have been too wide and/or too high for most keepers to gather) to affect run outs.

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Chamari over-reliance and strike rotation

It’s no surprise that the one game Sri Lanka won, the third ODI, was a game where Chamari Athapaththu hammered 101 off just 85 balls. Yet, had it not been for the calm head of Harshitha Samarawickrama at the other end, Chamari would have found it harder to notch up a cathartic, match-winning century.

In the first two ODIs, Sri Lanka’s top four was stacked with players with a low non-boundary strike rate (NBSR). Chamari’s NBSR of 42 can, of course, be forgiven. However, opener Hasini Perera (39.4), Prasadani Weerakkody (41.5), and Hansima Karunaratne (19) don’t have the boundary-striking ability to counteract their strike rotation issues.

Samarawickrama, in contrast, had the best NBSR out of any batter in the series, striking at 58.1 off non-boundary balls. Indeed, the fact that Perera and Karunaratne were dismissed inside the first two overs was a blessing in disguise for a Sri Lankan dugout that was treated to a 152-run stand between Chamari and Samarawickrama.

Unsurprisingly, Bismah Maroof was Pakistan’s busiest player with an NBSR of 53.8. Hot on Maroof’s heels was Kavisha Dilhari with an NBSR of 53.3. However, their NBSRs were bettered by Nilakshi de Silva’s 57.

By dropping Weerakkody for the third ODI, Sri Lanka was able to push Dilhari and de Silva up to positions five and six, respectively. This allowed them to maintain a good run rate in the wake of Chamari’s dismissal, which propelled Sri Lanka to an impressive and above-par 260.

Sri Lanka’s tactics were noticeably better in the third ODI compared to the first two. They also clearly have a middle order trio capable of minimizing dot balls and complementing their prolific captain.

Yet, perhaps they should consider dropping either Perera or Karunaratne out of their top three slots and pushing Samarawickrama and one of either Dilhari or de Silva up to three and four, respectively. This would help Sri Lanka’s batters avoid the procession of dots and all too frequent maidens that have characterized their batting in the first half of ODI innings over the years.

All Over Cricket

Sita Rana Magar: Her origins, journey, and struggle

15 years and she didn’t even get a phone call. As she prepared for the final of the 2022 FairBreak Invitational, Tornadoes all-rounder Sita Rana Magar had no idea that she’d been removed as Nepal’s vice-captain. Remarkably, she only found out about her sackin…

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4 years ago · Jay Dansinghani

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Simran Bahadur looks to the skies as she reluctantly drags herself to the non-striker’s end. She gets down on her haunches, exhausted and heartbroken.

After reducing an equation of 47 required off 16 to 6 off 1 with the help of Laura Wolvaardt, Bahadur has just mistimed a Sophie Ecclestone full toss into the leg side.

Ecclestone, in contrast, is beside herself. She runs off on a solo lap of honour as her teammates and the entire Supernovas dugout eventually catch up to her.

Her elation may have caught many by surprise, especially as winning the Women’s T20 Challenge doesn’t carry as much prestige as winning the WBBL or The Hundred. Yet, Ecclestone’s reaction was down to a combination of how close the game was, the attendance at the final, which peaked at 8621, and the feeling that we are closer than ever before to a Women’s IPL.

Interest? Yes. Intent? Not enough

8621 is a surprisingly impressive figure for many reasons. Firstly, the final was hosted at the MCA stadium in Gahunje, which, for all intents and purposes, is located in the middle of nowhere beside the Pune-Mumbai expressway.

Secondly, the BBCI did not promote the tournament nearly as well as they could have. This half-hearted promotion is neither surprising nor is it a new phenomenon.

Indeed, the BCCI Women’s Twitter handle has often been inactive for days on end except, of course, to pass on birthday greetings to current or former players. Compare this to Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board, which actively promote women’s cricket and their respective T20 competitions all year round.

To make matters worse, the BCCI broadcasted a grand total of zero balls of the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, whereas each game of England’s Charlotte Edwards Cup or the Rachel Heyhoe-Flint Trophy receives tens of thousands of views. Needless to say, if Indian domestic cricket were streamed, viewership figures would dwarf anything you would ever see in England. Streaming or broadcasting domestic fixtures would also maintain interest amongst fans throughout the year and not just when a premier T20 league is on.

Not only has the BCCI’s intent paled in comparison to its Australian and English counterparts, but it has also been shown up by the recently concluded 2022 FairBreak Invitational. FBI 22, a privately funded tournament run by women’s empowerment organization FairBreak Global and two associate boards — Cricket Hong Kong and the Emirates Cricket Board — was broadcast in over 140 countries and territories.

It featured 90 players from 35 different nations, most of which were associate member nations. The tournament made stars out of the likes of Sita Rana Magar, Henriette Ishimwe, and Winifred Duraisingam, who were previously unknown to the majority of women’s cricket fans.

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What makes FairBreak Global’s accomplishments even more impressive is their reaction to the logistical nightmare they were faced with. Due to Hong Kong’s government imposing some of the world’s most draconian Covid restrictions just months prior to the tournament — including a 21-day isolation period for inbound passengers and a ban on non-resident arrivals —FairBreak Global founder Shaun Martyn and Cricket Hong Kong made the agonizing decision to shift the already postponed tournament to the UAE.

They had to start many things from scratch. Yet, in spite of lacking the resources and financial might of the Big 3 boards, this did not dissuade them from staging the tournament.

On Wednesday, the New Indian Express reported that the BCCI is strongly considering staging the inaugural Women’s IPL next year in March. This could cause a clash between the WIPL and FBI 23, which is scheduled for 11 to 26th March in Hong Kong. Ironically, the Invitational may well have been the very tournament that spurred the BCCI into action.

However, the BCCI’s lack of intent means that they only have nine months left to pull off a March tournament. We still don’t know how many teams will be taking part, the bidding process for team ownership, or the dates of the tournament. These are some big missing details, so if I had to bet on whether a March IPL would happen, I’d probably just keep my money in my pockets.

Lack of depth is a myth

There has long been an argument that there isn’t enough depth for a Women’s IPL. Firstly, this assumption has gained a lot of traction amongst people who barely follow women’s cricket, and are not, therefore, qualified to be taken seriously. Secondly, a women’s IPL is exactly what you need to create more depth in India’s pool of players.

And thirdly, this season has emphatically proven that the outdated depth argument is a logical fallacy.  

It’s staggering that Simran Bahadur walked in at number 10 in the final, and hit Alana King, one of the world’s best spinners, down the ground for six before taking three fours off Pooja Vastrakar, the tournament’s highest wicket-taker.

Eight out of the top ten run-scorers at the Women’s T20 Challenge were Indian. In this list was uncapped Kiran Navgire, who could not break into Maharashtra’s line-up for this season, and sought an opportunity out-of-station in the Northeastern state of Nagaland. Yet, against the Trailblazers she blitzed five sixes in a memorable innings of 69 (34).

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Missing from the tournament were players such as T20 specialist Anuja Patil, veterans Ekta Bisht and Shikha Pandey, and strong domestic performers Dayalan Hemalatha and Disha Kasat.

There is clearly enough talent for more teams in a full-fledged Women’s IPL. There is clearly a large and growing market for the women’s game in India. What is less clear, however, is whether the BCCI will stop dragging its feet on a tournament that it should have launched years ago.

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‘No! That’s My Niece!’: The Wini Duraisingam Story

When she was ten years old, the boys in the neighbourhood didn’t want Winifred Duraisingam to play with them. ‘They were scared [that I’d get hurt] because I was so young at the…

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4 years ago · 3 likes · 2 comments · Jay Dansinghani

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15 years and she didn’t even get a phone call.

As she prepared for the final of the 2022 FairBreak Invitational, Tornadoes all-rounder Sita Rana Magar had no idea that she’d been removed as Nepal’s vice-captain. Remarkably, she only found out about her sacking through reading the news.

‘If you expect professionalism from players then at least show some from your side first,’ she said at a press conference in Nepal after the Tornadoes won the FairBreak Invitational. 

Sita is not wrong. The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has a longstanding reputation of mismanaging the sport in a country with the single largest fan base in the associate world. Their callous treatment of Sita, a legend who has served Nepal for more than a decade and a half, has betrayed their historical apathy toward the women’s game in the country.

It’s funny. When I first started planning this piece, it wasn’t supposed to focus on CAN’s incompetence and indifference to its players.

So I hope you can excuse this extended, yet necessary prologue. It is, after all, the elephant in the room.

Yet, Sita is more than just a victim of a cold, incompetent board. She is a pioneer and a flag-bearer of the women’s game in Nepal. So, before we go down the rabbit hole of CAN, here is the story of Sita Rana Magar.

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The all-rounder, who bowls left-arm spin and bats left-handed, was part of the first-ever Nepal women’s team set up in 2007 by LB Chhetri, Nepal’s second-ever men’s captain who is widely regarded as the father of Nepali Women’s cricket.

Yet, when she first started playing cricket, she did not like it as much as she liked football. Sita wanted to play football for Nepal, but after representing the country for three years on the cricket field, she began to take the sport more seriously.

That was around the time when Nepal won the 2010 ACC Under-19 Women’s Championship. It was their second successive ACC Under-19 title after winning the 2008 iteration of the tournament.

Throughout these early triumphs, her mother was very supportive, but her father was harder to win over. He wanted Sita to help out around the house and learn how to cook in order to improve her prospects of finding a suitor for marriage.

‘Being a girl in Nepal, our mothers and fathers wanted us to work at home so that in future when we marry, it will be easy for us [to find a husband],’ she says in conversation with All Over Cricket.

Fortunately, the recognition of Sita’s accomplishments in her neighborhood quickly led to her father softening his conservative stance and taking a much keener interest in her career.

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‘After I played two international tournaments, my neighbours told him “Sita is doing great” and they praised me. I think he felt good after knowing that his daughter was doing great.’

‘Now, whenever there is any tournament — international or domestic — he is very much curious. He calls me and asks me about every match,’ she says with a surprised smile on her face.

Sita is just as grateful for the support from her husband who comes from a sporting background.

‘My husband is also a sportsperson. He used to be a boxer and his elder sister and brother are also boxers. He supports me. When I’m at practice, he does all my [house] work. He even cooks when I’m training.’

‘He says, “You play. When you’re done [with your career] then we can have a baby”.’

In spite of this support system, Sita and her teammates have found support hard to come by from CAN. One of the reasons they’ve been leapfrogged by Thailand and the UAE in the Asian region over the years is their lack of domestic and international fixtures.

Shockingly, Nepal’s female cricketers went more than two years without any international cricket between the 2019 South Asian Games and a bilateral series in Qatar in 2021. Meanwhile, the men’s team had been on many tours and hosted matches outside the qualification pathway calendar.

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‘We have a few domestic tournaments in Nepal but after that, we just play international tournaments like Qualifiers once a year. That’s not enough for us. Other associations are focusing on women more. Like Thailand. Before Thailand was below us but nowadays they’ve upgraded so much.’

Unlike the men — who in the absence of an organized domestic season have still been able to participate in and earn a living from privately- run T20 leagues — Nepal’s female cricketers have been starved of competitive action outside qualification pathway tournaments.

The Nepal all-rounder is adamant that a similar franchise league for Nepal’s women would be a game-changer for her and the nation’s female cricketers.

‘We could earn money from there so it would be easy to sustain our lives. But it’s not just about money. We’ll be more professional and we’ll be recognised by more fans in Nepal and in other countries as well.’

In spite of a board that is yet to demonstrate a strong commitment toward the growth of women’s cricket, Sita’s talents were on show for the Tornadoes at the recently concluded FairBreak Invitational. She picked up four wickets in seven games at an economy rate of 7.50. These raw stats may not do her justice, but Sita regularly bowled in the Powerplay along with delivering crucial overs in the middle of the innings.

She teamed up with Malaysia’s Wini Duraisingam and Thailand’s Chanida Sutthiruang to form a bowling core that punched above expectations and helped the Tornadoes win the tournament.

Before the FairBreak Invitational, Sita and Wini had faced off numerous times for Nepal and Malaysia, respectively, having begun their international careers at around the same time. Now, their bond has grown much stronger to the point where they’re virtually inseparable.

‘Wini! Wini!” she exclaims as the biggest smile of her day breaks out on her face. ‘From the very first day in FairBreak, we sat together on the bus. We’ve known each other for long so we were friends, but FairBreak has made us great friends.’

Just as importantly, the Invitational has given Sita the opportunity to pick the brains of some of the world’s best players, including New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine.

‘It was my first time playing night matches. [Devine] gave me some tips on how to field and how to catch at nighttime,’ she says.

From both Devine and West Indian Stafanie Taylor, she has learned the importance of training smart, especially when it comes to her batting.

“In Nepal, we are doing hard work but not in a smart way. I came to know that senior players just focus on particular areas. In one day if they want to hit long-range shots, they will only focus on that. They won’t do anything else. But in Nepal we don’t do that. We do everything at one time.”

Mixing with professional athletes has also given her the confidence to break out of her shell and improve her communication in English.

‘To be very honest, I was nervous to talk with [Devine and Martin] before,’ admits Sita. ‘I was the one who stayed quiet in the team and I couldn’t understand their accents. But they came to me and said, “Don’t stay quiet. Just speak. Just speak”. I don’t think they’re [just] professional players [anymore]. They are like our mates.’

With the growing popularity of live-streaming and with the Invitational being broadcast in more than 140 countries and territories, Sita recognizes the impact of being more than just a name on a scorecard. 

‘When there was no telecast, people didn’t know any women’s players. But now they are streaming live everywhere, so people are recognising us. Now at least they’ve come to know that we exist.’

Indeed, it is hard to imagine the FairBreak Invitational without personalities like Sita Rana Magar. Her cult status can be explained by her on-field exploits, her enthusiastic celebrations, and a growing awareness amongst the global community of how much she has contributed to the women’s game in Nepal.

CAN would be well advised to remember this in all their future interactions with her. Yet, even if they don’t give her the courtesy that she has earned during a distinguished career for Nepal, Sita Rana Magar can take consolation from the fact that she’s already had a lasting impact on Nepali cricket.

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Back when I used to travel around the world to watch associate cricket, before streaming went mainstream, I never thought this would be possible.  

The recently concluded FairBreak Invitational — a tournament that featured 90 female cricketers from 35 different nations — was broadcast in more than 140 countries and territories.

Let those numbers sink in for a second.

Here are three talking points from FBI 22 — the single most global tournament in the history of the sport.

Equality through opportunity

Can you imagine FBI 22 without Winifred Duraisingam or Sita Rana Magar? Can you imagine me asking you this question before the start of the tournament?

The Invitational proved what is possible when players from associate nations are given the same platform as full member players. Many of the associate players that featured were testing themselves against the toughest competition they’d ever faced. Many of them had more than a decade’s worth of international experience. Many of them are pioneering the women’s game in their respective countries.

And all of them deserved the opportunity to earn a living from a sport they’re remarkably good at when you consider how the custodians of the sport have failed in their duty toward growth and inclusivity.

Associate players didn’t just share dressing rooms, facilities, and hotel rooms with full member players, they were part of a professionally run tournament. A good number of players faced regular media interactions and press conferences for the first time in their careers. The broadcast was exactly what you’d expect from a global tournament, featuring eye-catching yet simple graphics and commentators well versed in the women’s game.

Moreover, FairBreak Global founder Shaun Martyn’s heart appears to be in the right place. It’s highly unlikely that he strays from his emphasis on providing opportunities for female cricketers across the world, especially in associate nations.

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Why associate bowlers did better than batters

The FairBreak Invitational was more than just a series of feel-good, inspiring stories. It featured a high standard of cricket, and associate nation cricketers played a big part in this.

Five of the top 15 wicket-takers were from associate nations. More encouragingly, out of all bowlers to have delivered at least five overs in the tournament, four out of the top ten economy rates belonged to associate players Shizuka Miyaji, Henriette Ishimwe, Nattaya Boochatham, and Kary Chan.

Indeed, a bowling core comprised of Duraisingam, Sita Rana Magar, and Thailand’s Chanida Sutthiruang is a big reason why the Tornadoes won the Invitational.

However, it was a different story for associate batters. Only two out of the top 15 run-scorers were from associate nations. So, why was there such a gulf between full member and associate batters?

In a lot of cases, associate batters were batting outside of their favoured positions. In their first few games, the Warriors utilized UAE opener Esha Oza in the late middle order. The Sapphires’ Kary Chan never batted above five, whereas she thrives at number four for Hong Kong. Yasmeen Khan and Kathryn Bryce, also of the Warriors, were primarily used in the late middle order.

When you have players from 35 countries on show, it is hard for a captain to know a lot about each of the players under their charge. As a captain, if you throw the ball to a bowler who leaks runs, they can be taken out of the attack. Yet, there is a fear that if you send in a batter that you barely know anything about and they go on to play out a maiden, it can drain the momentum out of your innings.

Another reason for the gulf between associate batters and full member batters is their access to professional environments and regular fixtures. Full member players, on average, play more games than their associate counterparts. For many full member athletes, playing cricket is their full-time job, which means that they simply hit more balls and enjoy a dedicated weekly schedule of training and strength and conditioning.

When we spoke to Nepal’s Sita Rana Magar (for an interview that will be out on AllOverCric.Com in a few days from now) she talked about how Full Member batters often have specialized training sessions. Monday could be power-hitting day, Wednesday could be strike rotation, and Thursday could be ‘surviving the new ball’ day. In between all of this, cardio, strength training, and appointments with nutritionists and sports therapists can give them the physiological tools they need to hit the ball further.

With associate batters, who often have to juggle cricket with their full-time jobs, they don’t have the luxury of such specialized training, having to squeeze all of it into one training session.

In spite of this, however, several players showed marked improvements as the tournament went on.

After a scratchy start with the bat, Hong Kong’s Mariko Hill ended her tournament scoring 21 and 30* not out against the Tornadoes. The latter was a mature innings in the high-pressure final, where she supported Marizanne Kapp in a 92-run partnership.

Two games after labouring to 8 off 22 balls on FBI debut, Kavisha Kumari struck 43 off 42 in a 116-run partnership with Deandra Dottin, which allowed the Barmy Army to gun down 151 against eventual champions the Tornadoes.

After her well-publicized struggles with the gloves in the early stages of the Invitational, Babette de Leede bounced back in emphatic fashion. Remarkably, she affected five stumpings in the Sapphires’ final group game against the Falcons. Earlier in the game, she’d scored 45 — her highest score of the tournament — batting at number three to propel her team to 152.

The lesson here is simple: The more opportunities you provide to associate nation players, the more the gulf between them and the world’s leading players will shrink.

How to make FBI 23 even better

You have to feel for Cricket Hong Kong. Due to some of the world’s harshest COVID restrictions and travel curbs, this year’s tournament was shifted out of Hong Kong and hosted in Dubai. Soon after the conclusion of FBI 22, CHK and FairBreak Global announced that the next edition of the Invitational would be staged in Hong Kong. There is a fair chance it will stay that way as the Hong Kong government has finally begun to chart a path toward living with COVID-19.

Unlike Dubai, there won’t be empty stands at either the Kowloon Cricket Club or the Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground, the two potential venues for the tournament that have smaller dimensions than the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. There will be more of a community feel at the games in addition to a better aesthetic for viewers at home.

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A major issue I have with T20 leagues is that quite often the teams just seem like a random hodgepodge of names. In the absence of geographical loyalties, I’d certainly like to see a degree of continuity in each of the squads. It’ll help fans pick a side and stick to it. This fandom and the friendly enmity between groups of supporters will add to the allure of the tournament.

Yet, I’d also like to see players who didn’t get much of an opportunity being moved to other teams. The Spirit’s Betty Chan and Barmy Army duo Rubina Chhetry and Ruchi Venkatesh immediately come to mind. While Tornadoes fans will probably click away after reading this, I’d love to see Sita Rana Magar play for another team that utilizes her skills as a batter and not just her left-arm spin.

I’d also like to see two rule changes.

Firstly, I’d like to see a mandate requiring two out of team’s top four batters to come from associate nations. This will prevent a situation where the only batters getting a decent hit are those from full member nations.

It would also be great if only three bowlers could bowl a maximum of four overs. This would force teams to use at least six bowlers and prevent situations where the likes of Ruchi Venkatesh, Mariana Martinez, Laura Cardoso, and Iqra Sahar barely get to utilize their primary suit.

It would also be great to see other associate stars that weren’t picked this year getting a go at FBI 23. Some of the many names I’d be looking for are Malaysian all-rounder Mas Elysa, Namibian off-spinner Victoria Hamunyela, Nepal seamer Kabita Kunwar, and Scotland off-spinner Kathryn Fraser.

As much as possible, it would be great if squads, fixtures, and broadcast details were announced at least a few weeks before the tournament instead of a few days before it.

Yet, to the credit of Shaun Martyn and the tournament organizers, they were able to shift an entire tournament out of one city and into another. At the end of the day, as a viewer, whatever country you were from, there was a way to tune into FBI 22. At the time of writing, the value and the details of FBI 22’s television deals are not known. Yet, even if the deals with some TV channels were not that lucrative, even if the broadcast was given away for free in some cases, the FairBreak Invitational stayed true to its promise of delivering a global and inclusive tournament.

That New Zealand legend Katey Martin wanted FBI 22 to be her final act in a storied career speaks volumes about how players have bought into the vision behind the FairBreak Invitational. Her camaraderie with Wini Duraisingam and Sita Rana Magar is one of the enduring symbols of a tournament that has the potential to disrupt women’s cricket.    

All Over Cricket

‘No! That’s My Niece!’: The Wini Duraisingam Story

When she was ten years old, the boys in the neighbourhood didn’t want Winifred Duraisingam to play with them. ‘They were scared [that I’d get hurt] because I was so young at the…

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4 years ago · 3 likes · 2 comments · Jay Dansinghani

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When she was ten years old, the boys in the neighbourhood didn’t want Winifred Duraisingam to play with them.

‘They were scared [that I’d get hurt] because I was so young at the age of 10,’ recounts the Malaysia and Tornadoes all-rounder in conversation with All Over Cricket.

‘So my uncle came up to me and said, “It’s okay. I’ll teach you how to bowl”. He came up with this rule that whoever takes a wicket, they go into bat. So he taught me how to bowl and I started taking the boys’ wickets,’ exclaims Wini as a grin breaks out on her face.

‘They were all so shy looking at me because a young girl was taking their wickets, but [even after batting] I realized that I enjoyed bowling more, so I said “It’s okay. I’ll just bowl”.’

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With obvious talent and a passion for the game, Duraisingam’s uncle, who was also her first-ever coach, encouraged her to play competitively for their regional club, Kuala Langat Club. In a game against the Royal Selangor Club, she dismissed legendary Malaysian cricketer Hector Durairatnam. Impressed by the gifted youngster, Durairatnam walked up to Wini’s uncle and asked him, ‘Who is that young boy who got my wicket?’

To which Wini’s uncle replied, ‘No! That’s my niece!’

The Malaysian legend was taken aback. Yet, he knew that Wini would be a star for the national team. Along with the national selectors who were present at the game, he urged Wini to start training with the Malaysian team.

In 2007, at the age of 14, she was selected for both Malaysia’s U-19 and senior teams. Toward the end of 2008, she was part of a Malaysian outfit that finished as runners-up in the ACC Under-19 Women’s Championship, beating Hong Kong in the semi-final by 2 runs.

A year and a half later, she had firmly established herself as one of the first names on Malaysia’s team sheets and was rewarded for this by being appointed the Under-19 captain. Soon after, and rather true to form, she was also given the captain’s armband for the senior team.  

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Duraisingam has served as Malaysia’s skipper for more than a decade since. In the last few years, she has begun to take even more responsibility, gradually moving up from the lower middle order to the top order. She batted at three throughout the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, where she top-scored in consecutive games against Singapore and Thailand.

However, Duraisingam truly started to blossom as an opener in early 2020. In the final of the Malaysia Super Women’s League — a tournament that featured international players such as Thailand’s Thippatcha Putthawong, Vanuatu’s Selina Solman, and Singapore’s Diviya GK — she top-scored with 61 in a last-ball finish, which she highlights as the best innings of her life.

‘First, as a cricketer, you must be fit so you can handle your bowling and your batting. I pushed myself with fitness and that’s why I [started batting] higher and higher and higher,’ says Duraisingam, who doubles down on her desire to lead from the front.

‘If I go up in the order, if I stay until the end, I can do something for the team. If I stay there, I can score fifty,’ she continues.

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Unfortunately, just as both herself and Malaysian women’s cricket were gaining momentum, stringent COVID restrictions in Malaysia and even more draconian measures by governments across Asia meant that Malaysia wouldn’t play international cricket for the next two years.

2021 marked their return to the international fold with an encouraging campaign at the T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier. While she didn’t quite fire with the bat, Duraisingam bowled what was likely the over of the tournament against Hong Kong. Defending a below-par 101, she delivered a double-wicket maiden in the first over of the innings, which included a dream delivery to Tash Miles that started full on leg stump and straightened to trap the right-hander in front.  

In spite of only winning two out of their five games at the Asia Qualifier, Malaysia were able to push Hong Kong, the UAE, and Nepal in encouraging displays against the three pre-tournament favourites. The main reasons behind this improved showing, as Duraisingam points out, are that the majority of their squad is now over the age of 18 and that Malaysia’s female cricketers are playing more regularly.

‘2019 we were lacking in experience. We didn’t have too many leagues, but now it is coming up slowly. Now the girls are more mature, they understand the game,’ she says.

In a sign of the Malaysian Cricket Association’s growing commitment to the women’s game, in April 2021, they awarded playing contracts to 15 female cricketers, including Duraisingam, for a period of 12 months. While the remuneration isn’t high enough for all the players to commit to cricket full-time, it is a step in the right direction for an associate board that consistently ranks toward the top of ICC’s development and funding scorecard.

The benefits of regular game time and greater investment in the women’s game were on display at the Commonwealth Games Qualifier at the start of the year. Malaysia batted out their overs against leading associate Scotland, against whom they scored 117. In their next game against full members Sri Lanka, Duraisingam batted through the innings, scoring an unbeaten 42 in a total of 82.

And then came one of the biggest days in the history of Malaysian cricket. On the back of a flawless, and aggressive Powerplay display from Duraisingam and fellow seamer Ainna Hamizah, Malaysia restricted Kenya to 88 in their 20 overs before chasing down the target with 10 balls to spare. In jubilant scenes that made the front pages of sports sections, the entire Malaysian dugout ran onto the field with many players waving flags and screaming.

On a personal level, Duraisingam would soon have even more reason to celebrate. As she revealed to FairBreak Invitational presenter Lesego Poee in an interview released to the media, it was during the Commonwealth Games Qualifier that she got an e-mail from FairBreak founder Shaun Martyn inviting her to be part of the Invitational.

It was just reward for the Malaysian stalwart who has forged a reputation as a tenacious leader and aggressive bowler who isn’t shy of a dogfight. Needless to say, Wini has repaid Martyn’s faith in her, picking up seven wickets during the group stages of FBI 22 on the way to becoming a fan favourite.

In her first game against the Sapphires, she dismissed Kim Garth and Hong Kong’s Kary Chan in the same over to turn around a chase that the Sapphires looked to be controlling. Garth charged at the Malaysian, playing inside the line of an outswinger and was stumped by an elated Katey Martin who screamed out ‘Yes Wini!’ A few balls later, Wini bowled another outswinger, this time to left-hander Kary Chan, who could only manage to nick through to slip.

In her next game, with the Warriors requiring 37 off 24 for victory, she demonstrated her range and versatility, picking up the wickets of Mignon du Preez and Georgia Redmayne in the same over with a pair of slower balls. The Redmayne wicket was particularly impressive. Duraisingam delivered a wide slower ball outside the left-hander’s hitting arc, causing her to drag it with little power to long on. It was a classic death bowling plan, which Duraisingam executed to perfection.

Unsurprisingly, when it came time to announce the player-of-the-match award at the presentation ceremony that followed the game, her teammates could be heard chanting, ‘Watch for Wini! Watch for Wini!’ in reference to the smart watches awarded to each POTM.

Without a doubt, Winifred Duraisingam has been soaking in every moment during a dream tournament. There have never been as many eyeballs on her as there are right now, and nobody who has followed Malaysian cricket over the years can deny that she deserves the limelight.

Duraisingam has arguably been the standout associate player at the FairBreak Invitational. At a time when more and more T20 leagues are being announced across the world, perhaps scouts should consider this simple piece of advice:

‘Watch for Wini! Watch for Wini!’

All Over Cricket

Ahmed Raza’s World Cup Obsession

Ahmed Raza looks up at the ceiling to recall a memory. He pauses, runs his fingers through his beard, and leans into the camera. The current UAE men’s skipper is about to tell me something he has never opened up about …

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4 years ago · Jay Dansinghani

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Kathryn Bryce’s earliest memory of watching cricket is the 2005 Men’s Ashes series. Her whole family would gather in the living room in front of the TV while young Kathryn and younger sister Sarah would give each other throwdowns.

Unsurprisingly, Andrew Flintoff was her first cricketing hero, which is only fitting for the Scottish all-rounder who in December 2020 was crowned the ICC Women’s Associate Cricketer of the Decade.

‘We’ve always played a lot of sports together in the garden. Anything that you can hit and kick and throw really,’ says Bryce in conversation with All Over Cricket.

Tennis was the first sport she developed an interest in before she started playing cricket and hockey. When Bryce was nine years old, she received a mass-mailed letter at home from former Scotland International Liz Smith who was starting a girl’s team at her school George Watson’s College (GWC). She signed up right away for what was her first-ever taste of organized cricket training.

‘I don’t know if I would have gotten into [cricket] if there wasn’t a girl’s team at the school,’ admits Bryce, who is thankful to Smith, renowned as one of the pioneers of Scottish women’s cricket.  

As there were no other girls’ school teams in Edinburgh at the time, GWC played a lot of games against University teams, comprised of players who, much like the teenaged Bryce, had just begun their cricketing journeys. Whereas there wasn’t a strong school or club cricket pathway when Bryce first got into cricket, things have changed a lot since then.

‘I remember going to a cricket festival down in Perth [when I was a child] and there were maybe six or seven girls teams that had come along, whereas a few years ago I went back and it was absolutely packed! There were hundreds of kids from different schools, clubs, and organizations,’ she remarks.

The talented Bryce’s cricketing journey continued after she graduated from GWC. She was accepted into Loughborough University, where she pursued a Sports Science degree in addition to playing for the Loughborough Lightning, a Women’s Cricket Super League team based out of the university.

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In 2020, following the restructuring of English women’s domestic cricket, which included the creation of eight regional hub teams, the Loughborough Lightning were disbanded, and essentially reborn as the Lightning — a regional team covering a larger area across the East Midlands.  

At the same time, in an unprecedented move, the ECB funded 40 full-time domestic contracts — outside the centrally contracted pool of national players — spread equally across the eight regional hubs. This number has now expanded to 51, and it means that players like Bryce — who has since graduated from Loughborough University — no longer have to juggle playing and training with work. It also means that for the first time a female cricketer outside the main England setup could earn a sustainable income from the sport.

To complete this set of reforms was the launch of The Hundred, where Bryce played for the Natalie Sciver-led Trent Rockets. While she arguably didn’t get as many opportunities with the bat as she deserved — being used primarily as a bowler — she benefitted from being in an environment where each squad included three England contracted players and three overseas players.

In spite of being criticized for, among other things, undermining the traditions of the men’s county game, the Hundred was a game-changer for English Women’s Cricket. The marketing behind the women’s competition and the grounds used for the women’s games were on par with their male counterparts.

‘[The Hundred] was huge!’ exclaims Bryce. ‘The number of kids you saw at the end of the games and how it brought new fans and players to the game. A lot of people came [specifically] to see the women’s game. It’s not like “Oh! I’ll come at the end of the women’s game so I can watch the men”,’ she adds.

Without a doubt, the attendance figures vindicated these overdue, yet encouraging investments into women’s cricket. The inaugural game between the Oval Invincibles and the Manchester Originals was a last-over thriller, which set the tone for the rest of the tournament, and not just the women’s competition. Attendance for that fixture peaked at 7395, which was viewed as a huge win for the women’s game.

Yet, things only got better. A week later, 15,189 attended a game between the London Spirit and the Southern Brave. To cap it off, 17,116 fans witnessed the final between the Invincibles and the Southern Brave. By the end of the tournament, the average match day attendance at the women’s competition stood at 9,536.

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‘The visibility [was also huge]. So many of mum’s colleagues have known that [Sarah and I] played cricket for years and they’ve kind of followed us, but then [during The Hundred] they really got into it and properly followed it,’ she said.

The all-rounder has carried her experiences from the Hundred into international cricket for Scotland, whom she has captained since 2018. In August of last year, she scored 46* (58) to help Scotland chase down 89 against Ireland on a dry and uneven pitch at the T20 World Cup European Qualifier in La Manga, Spain.

While it may not seem like a big achievement, the pitch used for that game is one of the most challenging tracks used for a T20 contest that this writer has ever seen. Bryce’s well-paced innings, which featured three maximums, helped Scotland recover from 20/4 after 9 overs and qualify for the T20 World Cup Global Qualifier, which will be held later this year.

Scotland would have to wait more than six months for their next set of international fixtures at the Commonwealth Games Qualifier held in January of this year. Unfortunately, they were unable to get over the line against Full Members Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, against whom they were bowled out for 73 and 77, respectively.

These scores, however, don’t tell the entire story of a team transitioning to a more aggressive brand of batting under influential coach Mark Coles, who has since stepped down in order to spend more time with his family.

‘When you look at the scorecards, it doesn’t necessarily look brilliant but as an associate member, it was exciting how went about it. The positivity with the bat, and just going out there and backing our skills. Being able to do that against Sri Lanka sets up a really good platform for us going forward,’ she said.

Bryce’s next assignment is at the FairBreak Invitational from May 4th – 15th in Dubai, where she will play for the Warriors led by USA’s Sindhu Sriharsha. The team also features the likes of Hayley Matthews, Mignon du Preez, and Australian left-hander Georgia Redmayne.

‘It’s such an exciting organisation to be a part of,’ says Bryce of FairBreak, who’ve previously organized exhibition games between teams comprised of associate and full member players.

‘It’s not “Oh! We’ll try to do a little bit for equality.” It’s like “No. We’re giving everything and it’s going to be equal. We’re going to pay you what you deserve and we’re going to treat you as you should be treated”,’

The Scotland skipper is also convinced of the commercial viability of the competition, believing it will be just as popular with English and Australian fans as it will be with the growing market of associate cricket aficionados.

‘They don’t necessarily enjoy watching [just] England and Australia, they [also] want to see the smaller teams playing,’ she opines.

As the leading seam-bowling all-rounder in the Warriors unit, Bryce will shoulder a lot of responsibility to propel her side into the knockout stages.

However, as anyone who has tracked her international and domestic career can attest to, this is usually when Bryce is at her dangerous best.

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Opportunity, growth, and equality.

These are merely three of the many words I’d use to describe what FairBreak Global means to players from associate nations.

In a global cricket ecosystem where World Cups aren’t inclusive enough, and where the game’s governing body has dragged its heels on Olympic inclusion, the FairBreak Invitational offers associate players the chance to grow against high-quality opposition.

Here are five associate cricketers to watch out for during FBI 22, which is set to take place from May 4th – 15th in Dubai. 

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Sita Rana Magar (Nepal and Tornadoes)

Role: All-rounder - Left-arm spinner; left-hand top-order batter

The length of Sita Rana Magar’s iconic ponytail is a metaphor for her longevity in the game. At the T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier held in November 2021, she was the only surviving member of Nepal’s first-ever women’s team, the establishment of which in 2007 was driven in large part by Lekh Bahadur Chhetri, Nepal’s second-ever men’s captain.

The all-rounder is by some distance the top run-scorer for Nepal in T20Is with 439 runs at an average of 27.43. She is also Nepal’s highest T20I wicket-taker with 21 scalps; two ahead of skipper Rubina Chhetri who will turn out for The Barmy Army Team.

Sita earned the player-of-the-tournament award at the Asia Qualifier where her proactive approach as an opener combined with her frugal spells in the middle overs earned her many plaudits. She accumulated 100 runs in five innings while picking up six wickets at an economy rate of 4.25.

How can Tornadoes utilize her?

As a southpaw, she could partner Sophie Devine at the top of the order. With the ball, she could form a potent spin bowling core along with skipper Stafanie Taylor and South African leg-spinning all-rounder Sune Luus.

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Kary Chan (Hong Kong and South Coast Sapphires)

Role: Left-arm spinner; left-hand batter

As we wrote about in our exclusive interview with Kary Chan a few months ago, she is literally the poster girl of Hong Kong cricket. At the age of 13, the now Hong Kong skipper was identified by former Hong Kong Men’s Head Coach Lal Jayasinghe at a school outreach program and fast-tracked into hard ball cricket. Fast forward two years and she was included as a non-playing member of Hong Kong’s squad at the 2012 Asian Games in Guangzhou. 

Read our exclusive interview with Kary

Three months later, she was pushed up to open the batting against the UAE in the 2013 ACC Women’s Championship. The faith shown in Kary was an investment in the future. In her first two years of international cricket, she didn’t always get to bowl and she was often dismissed for single-digit scores.

Yet, the years invested in Kary have paid rich dividends. As things stand, she is Hong Kong’s top run-scorer in T20Is with 401 runs along with being their top wicket-taker with 32 scalps.

Make no mistake; Kary Chan is an all-rounder in every sense of the word. Along with captaining the national team, she is the Head of Women’s Cricket at the Hong Kong Cricket Club, a position she earned after excelling as a Development Officer for Cricket Hong Kong.

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How can Sapphires utilize her?

Kary is known to maintain a low dot ball percentage in the middle overs, where she is just as proficient at dancing down the track as she is at using the depth of her crease.

She bats at number four for Hong Kong, which is a role she’d also thrive in for the Sapphires.

With the ball, she tends to operate in the Powerplay for Hong Kong but her immaculate control makes her an asset at any stage of the innings. That she may well bowl in tandem with skipper Sana Mir is a mouth-watering prospect!

Laura Cardoso (Brazil and The Barmy Army Team)

Role: Right-arm seamer; right-hand middle order batter

3 required off the last over. Five wickets in hand. You’re backing the batting side, aren’t you?

Well, teenager Laura Cardoso had other ideas when Brazil squared off against Canada at the T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier in October of last year.

She took a hat-trick, including two pinpoint perfect yorkers that bowled Hala Azmat and Hiba Shamshad. Either side of that, Brazil affected two run outs to help Cardoso restrict Canada to just one run in the most dramatic over in Brazillian cricket history.

It’s obvious: Laura Cardoso can bowl. Yet, when Brazil skipper Roberta Moretti appeared on the All Over Cricket Podcast, she was quick to praise Cardoso’s batting prowess.

‘Not even when I was in Australia or England I saw someone with hands as quick as she has,’ commented Moretti, who is also Cardoso’s teammate at the Barmy Army Team.

How can The Barmy Army Team utilize her?

When you’re part of a batting line-up that includes Laura Wolvaardt, Heather Knight, and Deandra Dottin, there is a chance that your opportunities might be slightly limited. Cardoso batted at four for Brazil during the Americas Qualifier, but there is every chance she could slot in further down the order during the Invitational.

She is likely to feature more prominently with the ball, where she has clearly demonstrated her ability at the end of an innings.

Anju Gurung (Bhutan and Falcons)

Role: Left-arm swing bowler

The Bhutan vice-captain has a smooth run-up, rhythmical action, and an exaggerated leap before she delivers the ball. Along with her accuracy, she has the rare ability to bring the ball back into right-handers, an asset that was on show for the first time to an international audience at the live-streamed Asia Qualifier.

She took 7 wickets in 5 games at an economy rate of 4.05 and was arguably the bowler of the tournament.

The variety that she adds with her left-arm angle is something that is sorely missing in full member international cricket. Fresh off a ten-day training stint in Thailand, where she bowled to members of the world’s strongest associate team, Anju will prove to be a handful if she can hit the ground running.

How can the Falcons utilize her?

The Falcons may have the best fast bowling attack in the tournament with Marizanne Kapp and Jahanara Alam also in the squad. With German left-arm seamer Tina Gough also among their ranks, it’s hard to predict how many games Gurung will play during the tournament. Yet, if she does make the starting line-up, she has to open the bowling.

Theertha Satish (UAE and Falcons)

Role: Left-hand top three batter; wicket-keeper

Having turned 18 just two weeks ago, southpaw Theertha Satish is perhaps the most talented name on this list. Remarkably, the multi-sport athlete only took up cricket two years ago after watching Tamil movie Kanaa about a young girl who wants to play in the World Cup.

In her very first international assignment, she topped the tournament run charts at the Asia Qualifier with 165 runs in five innings. Satish is an audacious batter, who judges length very quickly, is dangerous on the leg side, and is unafraid to hit against the spin or clear the infield.

How can the Falcons utilize her?

Satish bats in the top three for the UAE and occasionally opens the batting. Given the presence of Chamari Athapaththu in the top-order, Satish may have to bat outside of the top three if the Falcons want to maintain a left-right batting combination at the crease.  

Satish’s keeping is still a work in progress, so if Thailand’s Nannapat Koncharoenkai plays, we’re unlikely to see Satish behind the sticks.

Who among these associate players are you most excited to see? Let us know in the comments and be sure to subscribe to All Over Cricket for more content throughout the SDG FairBreak Invitational!

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Ahmed Raza looks up at the ceiling to recall a memory. He pauses, runs his fingers through his beard, and leans into the camera. The current UAE men’s skipper is about to tell me something he has never opened up about in an interview.

It’s barely been 48 hours since he led the UAE to the Qualifier A trophy, which allowed them to qualify for the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup. It’s a remarkable feat considering that just two and a half years earlier, several UAE veterans were implicated in a corruption scandal that rocked their T20 World Cup Qualifier campaign in 2019.

Since UAE cricket’s lowest ebb, Raza has played a central role in rebuilding the national team, arguably making them stronger than they’ve ever been. It is hard — nay impossible — to imagine such a dramatic turnaround without the talismanic skipper.

However, in spite of his recent success and triumphs, Raza says his career could have ended before it even started…

Raza comes from a humble background. His late father Syed Zahid Kazmi moved to Sharjah in 1972 to work as an electrical engineer, and had a daughter and three sons, including his youngest Ahmed, to support.

In spite of working long hours, the family patriarch regularly found time to take Ahmed and his siblings to Sharjah Cricket Stadium to watch live cricket being played.

‘Our house was literally five minutes down the road,’ recalls Raza in conversation with All Over Cricket.

‘We could hear the noise from the stadium in our house! And dad loved cricket so our family outings were going to Sharjah stadium to watch a Bukhatir League game or a 35-over game during Ramadan.’

The annual Ramadan tournament in particular would draw big names such as Virender Sehwag, Vinod Kambli, Mohammad Sami, and a host of Sri Lankan stars.

Inspired by the cauldron-like atmosphere at Sharjah and the good fortune to see some of the world’s best players up close, a starry-eyed Ahmed Raza dreamt of playing international cricket.

Conversations with his friends and classmates led him to the Young Talents Cricket Academy (YTCA) run by former UAE international Shahzad Altaf. YTCA had — and still has — a track record of churning out players for the UAE’s senior and age group teams.

Unsurprisingly, being a private coaching clinic, the fees could get steep, especially for a family that lived a modest lifestyle. In spite of the fact that he had to pay college tuition for two of his children in addition to secondary school fees for two teenagers, Kazmi did not flinch when it came to paying for Ahmed’s passion.

Until one day, the bills started to stack up.

‘I cannot afford it anymore,’ said Kazmi to young Ahmed.

‘So I went back to Shahzad sir and I said “my father cannot afford your fees anymore.” And the great Shahzad Altaf said to me — and I’ll never forget this —“Beta, you’re most welcome. You don’t have to pay anything. Just keep coming”.’

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Humbled, Raza immediately began to repay Altaf’s generosity. He rose through the age-group ranks and was soon promoted to captain the UAE U-19s. Combining his height with unnerving control, the left-arm spinner quickly developed a reputation as a frugal and reliable operator with a sharp cricketing brain. It was, therefore, unsurprising that he was soon called up to appear for the senior national team.

UAE’s Head Coach at the time, Aaqib Javed believed the Sharjah-born spinner had leadership potential, so he started grooming him to take over from long-time skipper Khurram Khan, widely regarded as UAE’s best-ever player.

In December 2014, in the fourth ODI of a series against Afghanistan, Raza was asked to lead the side in the absence of Khan in spite of not playing a single game in the series until then. He led his side to victory in that fixture allowing them to seal the series 3-1.

He was not included in the UAE’s squad for the 2015 ODI World Cup, after which the retirements of senior players such as Khurram Khan and Mohammad Tauqir created opportunities for younger players and left the UAE with a leadership vacuum. Raza was appointed captain for Hong Kong’s tour of the UAE, which included an Intercontinental Cup first-class fixture and two World Cricket League Championship ODIs.

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Sadly, things did not go to plan as Raza’s men were hammered by 276 runs in the I-Cup game before losing both subsequent ODIs. Things went from bad to worse after Raza could not prevent two more defeats to the Netherlands in their next two WCL Championship matches.

He was soon removed from the captaincy — an arguably contentious decision for a player captaining an inexperienced side in transition against the two best teams in the World Cricket League.

In spite of the UAE winning four out of their last six WCL Championship games, they were relegated to the six-team WCL Division 2, where they had to finish in the top two in order to advance to the World Cup Qualifier.

This is when Raza stepped up to the plate. He took 10 wickets in 6 matches at WCL 2 in 2018 en route to the UAE winning the trophy. Raza admits it was the hardest series he’s ever played in.

‘I’ve never played in a tournament that was more important in my life. You could be a ball away from losing your contract, losing your ODI status, and losing four years of you in your peak,’ he says.

In March of the same year, the UAE advanced to the Super Six stage at the World Cup Qualifier, retaining their ODI status until 2023 and earning a berth in the Cricket World Cup League 2. While they didn’t make it to the World Cup, they famously defeated Zimbabwe in their final Super 6 fixture, knocking the hosts out of contention for a World Cup berth.

Later that year, Raza was player of the tournament at the Asia Cup Qualifier, leading the tournament wicket charts with 16 wickets in six games.

Heading into the 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifier, the anticipation was high for both Raza and the UAE, who were set to host the tournament on home soil. Not only was the transition from 2015 complete, it looked as if the UAE had assembled what was arguably their strongest-ever team.

And that’s when Raza and many of his teammates were betrayed.

‘I don’t really like talking about what happened in 2019 and it’s not because I’m not comfortable talking about it, but it’s because they don’t deserve the air time at all. They did what they did, they got punished,’ says a stoic Raza, who replaced then suspended Mohammad Naveed as skipper ahead of the Qualifier.

Over the next few days, another three players were handed suspensions pending investigations with a fourth player absconding to Pakistan under suspicious circumstances. As things stand, six UAE players who were part of the 2019 Qualifier squad have received bans ranging from four to eight years for various anti-corruption offences.

Raza, however, is proud that the UAE was just one victory away from making the World Cup in spite of the challenging circumstances they were faced with.

“We didn’t feel bad for them. They were the ones doing wrong, they were the ones betraying us. Not even once did I blame the people who were there with us in the Qualifier that we couldn’t make it [to the World Cup].”

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After the Qualifier, Raza was installed as the full-time UAE Men’s Captain. The side was clearly in transition, yet the turmoil of 2019 has proven to be a blessing in disguise for Raza and his men.

Prior to 2019, the chance to represent the UAE was a pipe dream for many promising youngsters who came through the Under-16 and Under-19 system. They were stuck behind a queue of senior players, including the now-banned set of players, who were all in their thirties.

However, in the first game that UAE played after the Qualifier, an ODI against the USA in Cricket World Cup League 2, Raza handed ODI debuts to six different players. More UAE debuts were to follow in subsequent tournaments, which further incentivized players to stick around in the UAE’s talent pathways. 

In February 2020, Head Coach Dougie Brown was sacked with former Indian all-rounder Robin Singh being brought in both as Men’s Head Coach and Director of Cricket at the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB). Given that the UAE retained ODI status during Brown’s tenure and that they won three out of their first six CWCL2 games as a team in transition, his sacking was arguably harsh.

Nonetheless, to Singh’s credit, one of his first moves as Director of Cricket was to introduce 10 full-time contracts and 10 part-time retainers for a core group of players. Encouragingly, seven out of the ten retainer deals were given to players aged 22 or younger.

‘I’m more inclined towards the players that we produce because we invest so much in them,’ says Raza, highlighting the importance of backing homegrown talent.

‘They get the opportunities so they see a future here as well. They want to be the next Chirag Suri, they want to be the next Ahmed Raza, or they want to be the next Rohan Mustafa. They don’t want to leave the country and play somewhere else after playing the Under-19s and Under16s here.’

Without a doubt, these opportunities have furthered the careers of various players and improved the UAE’s on-field fortunes. 19-year-old Vriitya Aravind was the Player-of-the-tournament at the Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier A this February, amassing 267 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 154.

Mohammad Waseem has emerged as one of the most dangerous openers in associate cricket, smashing two T20I centuries against Ireland in the last six months.

Prior to 2019, Chirag Suri spent years shuffling in and out of the UAE’s starting line-up. A more secure place in the XI has allowed him to notch up the first two ODI centuries of his career this year, including a player-of-the-match 115 in a challenging chase of 308 against Oman.

In ODIs, the ever-astute Raza has adopted a horses-for-courses approach, sending in CP Rizwan when the UAE has had to chase modest targets in tougher batting conditions. Twice in the space of four innings, Rizwan top-scored with 109 in a victory over Ireland and 76* in a win over Oman.

All-rounders Basil Hameed and Kashif Daud have added balance to the UAE line-up, allowing them to play six bowlers without compromising on their batting. The duo famously put on a 148-run partnership to rescue UAE from 53-6 in a chase of 207 against Namibia.

Leg-spinner and product of the age-group system, Karthik Meiyappan has played a pivotal role in the UAE registering five consecutive T20I victories against Ireland, including two wins at the Qualifier.

On top of all of this, earlier this year, the UAE’s Under-19 team were crowned the Plate Champions at the Under-19 World Cup in the West Indies, where they beat two full members – Ireland and hosts West Indies.

Ahmed Raza, who works closely with the Under-19s, including at the 2020 U-19 World Cup as a coach and consultant, is not the least bit surprised. He praises the culture of his team and the youngsters he’s had the pleasure of working with.

‘One dream, which becomes your obsession and you talk about it day in and day out for two and a half years. And then it happens. It takes time to sink in,’ he says with a wide smile on his face.

‘Whoever is writing the script, wrote it brilliantly! We’ve made it to the World Cup with an amazing group of people!’

At the World Cup, the UAE has been drawn in the same group as Namibia, Sri Lanka, and the runner-up from Qualifier B, set to be staged later this year. The top two from the group will advance to the Super 12 stage and book an automatic berth at the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, which has been expanded to 20 teams.

As a unit, the UAE has not played in Australia since their 2015 World Cup campaign. Raza acknowledges that they will have to make a few adjustments in preparation for their first T20 World Cup appearance since 2014.

‘In Asia, you can get away with ten overs of spin and ten overs of fast bowling, but in Australia, the key players will be fast bowling all-rounders who can contribute with bat and ball,’ opines Raza.

‘It’s just about how well we prepare for those wickets. We’ve got Australian soil here as well, so whenever we train for T20s now, we’ll be using Australian soil to train and get used to that extra bounce.’

With the ICC headquartered in Dubai, the UAE benefits from having a high standard of grounds and training facilities at its disposal. Moreover, as the last two and a half years have proved, they’re equally fortunate to have Ahmed Raza as a leader.

What Raza and the UAE have achieved since late 2019 reads like the plot of an Oscar-worthy sports biopic.

And make no mistake; the inspirational Ahmed Raza has been a key protagonist in this epic resurgence.

All Over Cricket

Australia's Batting Might in Numbers

Imagine scoring 148 off 121 in a World Cup final and ending up on the losing side. It’s not Nat Sciver’s fault that she was up against the single most dominant team in the history of the women’s game. It’s also not her fault that her scintillating knock was bettered by Australian opener Alyssa Healy, whose 170 of 138 is probably the best World Cup inning…

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4 years ago · Jay Dansinghani

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“In another welcome change, Nepal’s spinners have taken a back seat and their pace battery, much like their batting line-up, has risen to the occasion. It’s been that kind of series for Nepal.

And that is why the largest fan base in associate cricket is feeling hopeful about a new and improved Nepal.”

It feels like just yesterday, but I wrote that a year ago for All Over Cricket. The hopes I had back then have not been fully realized. Indeed, the last year for Nepal’s Men’s team has felt like a time loop where they’ve taken a step forward before taking two steps back.

The recently concluded tri-series against Malaysia and Papua New Guinea almost feels like an action replay of the Netherlands-Malaysia tri-series that took place a year ago. The only setback is Nepal cricket lost another 365 days of substantial progression. Nepal squandered a World Cup berth, had mixed fortunes across a couple of Cricket World Cup League 2 rounds and fell to a few administrative and systematic regressions in this period.

They lost a World Cup-winning coach in Dav Whatmore, who left in a haste to manage Indian domestic team Baroda. This was followed by more player-board disputes, including successful skipper Gyanendra Malla being sacked as captain.

Unwarranted Criticisms

The publicizing of the dressing room atmosphere in the media was quite jarring to fans that were never exposed to such things in the Whatmore-Malla era.

Coach Pubudu Dassanayake, in his second stint with Nepal, openly stated that the ‘dressing room is not united’ and that ‘motivation is missing like previous stint’ during Nepal’s repeated batting failures in the UAE leg of League 2 matches against PNG and the UAE.

Curiously, the same management, coach and captain, were pretty vocal about wickets being flat and easy to bat on in the pre and post-match conferences. However, the stats don’t seem to add up.

Whether in Dubai or in Sharjah, all three teams struggled to bat convincingly. Rohan Mustafa, who scored the most runs in the leg, admitted that last 10 overs were the only time when batters could score freely if batting teams had wickets in hand. The surfaces had seam movement, tailor-made for the UAE’s quicks to take advantage of home conditions.

The cricket manager of the Cricket Association of Nepal, Binod Das, also agreed with the nature of the wickets supported bowlers rather than batters in his conversation with All Over Cricket. He was also satisfied with the team management’s approach regarding press moving ahead. “When you hire someone to do a job, you got to trust his working ways. I am satisfied with team management’s approach with media. [Dasssnayake’s] comments in public, as well as his reports to [the board], have been regarded as constructive for the team’s development towards a projected identity.”

As proven by Nepali batters breaking records, left, right and center in the two ODI matches played against the PNG, these criticisms appear to be overly harsh. Rohit Paudel and Dipendra Singh Airee took their batting to the next level whereas the Sheikh brothers — Aarif and Aasif — along with Kushal Bhurtel and Bhim Sharki have shown that there is quality and depth in batting for Nepal to work with.

In spite of this, the constant public criticism of batting continued until the final T20I match.

Bowling tactics: too many part-timers?

Nepal lost both the ODI matches against PNG due to self-inflicted wounds that PNG took full advantage of.

Aarif Sheikh was trusted as the fifth bowler and the third seamer in the UAE leg of League 2. He returned with immaculate bowling figures 6-0-16-1, 10-1-21-1, and 9-0-31-1. But he struggled to replicate this success in the PNG ODIs, particularly in the second game where he leaked 63 runs in eights overs.

Nepal, playing with lone seamer Sompal Kami, struggled to keep runs down with their army of part-timers as Lamichhane had an off-series. However, Airee’s bowling has been the biggest plus throughout the season. His emergence as a genuine all-rounder with a bankable 10 overs in ODIs will help Nepal carry an extra dimension in their bowling armory moving forward.

Overall, Nepal’s bowling attack struggled to contain PNG’s batters. Nepal dearly missed the services of Karan KC, who was omitted from the ODI squad. He would go on to take 13 wickets in the Tri-nation T20I series, including spells of 3/44 and 5/21 in the league stage followed by 3/27 in the final against PNG.

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It has to be noted that by the end of the T20I series, Nepal still has a familiar trio of fast bowlers with Kamal Singh Airee and Gulshan Jha forced out due to injury and form respectively. Kami, KC, Lamichhane, and Bohara remain Nepal’s go-to bowling combination in T20 cricket. Nothing has changed in the last year. However, in all this while, Nepal has failed to find a left-arm spinner that can continue the legacy of Basant Regmi and Shakti Gauchan.

Likewise, Anil Sah was recalled to keep wickets and open the batting in the ODIs. This is the same Anil Sah who is not even a regular keeper for Nepal Police Club in domestic cricket.

The impact of Airee and Paudel

For all the parallels being drawn between Paras Khadka and Dipendra Singh Airee, an impeccable stat makes the best case for it. In T20Is (minimum 20 innings), Paras Khadka has scored 20.50% (799 out of 3897) of Nepal’s runs. He is 11th overall in the world when it comes to contribution to the team total. His closest second is Dipendra Singh Airee with 19.42% (1033/5318) in T20Is. As far as Nepal's cricketing royalty goes, Airee is on the way to becoming the new King of Nepali batting.

Still new to international cricket, Bhurtel, currently on 16 innings, might have his say once he reaches 20 innings for Nepal. Similarly, Rohit Paudel, who was a casualty of the Grade-Contract atrocity only months ago, has evolved into a pillar of Nepali batting. After missing out on the squad for the Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier A, he was included in the ODI squad. He was initially overlooked for the PNG T20I series. Thankfully, this was later corrected and he was included not just in the squad but also in the playing XI on the back of a strong ODI series that included his maiden hundred batting at number 5 in the first ODI.

Likewise, some cameos from Bhim Sharki, Dev Khanal, and Adil Ansari exhibiting composure and maturity beyond their age bodes well for Nepal’s batting future.

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Salvation for Sompal

I remember having a chat with Jay Dansinghani after the controversies regarding player contracts. Sompal Kami, Nepal’s premier fast bowler, was demoted to Grade B for the second time in as many years by CAN. Jay’s reaction was, “How can you do that? It is like India demoting Bumrah if he struggles for a bit.”

Kami’s year-by-year statistics across formats explain how consistent a performer he has been for Nepal. The leader of the pace attack was subjected to unnecessary pressure, both physical and mental, before he found his mojo back after having just one less-than-ideal year in ODI cricket when he was struggling with injury.

Kami coming back to his best is good news for Nepal cricket. He is the only surviving member of the 2014 World T20 team along with coach Pubudu. Gulshan Jha’s evident struggle in converting his talent to international cricket and Kamal Singh Airee’s fitness issues make it even more crucial that Kami and his proven partner in crime Karan KC are handled with care moving ahead.

The Gyanendra Malla question

Former captain and Nepal batting stalwart Gyanendra Malla was apparently rested from both the squads ahead of the ODI and T20I series. However, there are murmurs that it could be the last we see of him in Nepal colors. The emergence of younger batters across the nation makes it harder to accommodate him in the squad.

Speaking to All Over Cricket, CAN selector Dipendra Chaudhary is optimistic that the door isn’t shut for veterans like Malla and Binod Bhandari.

“He is definitely in contention,” said Chaudhary. “The team will call up him if we find there is a role he can play for Nepal.”

Nepal may or may not have moved on from Gyanendra Malla, but he still holds the highest run aggregate for Nepal in League 2  — 286 runs in 11 matches or 14.43% of team runs. The second best is the ever-improving Rohit Paudel with 249 in 9 matches, which translates to 12.56% of team runs.

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The returning charm

Nepal saw a record crowd in the final against PNG. It was a heartening spectacle considering that many fans in that crowd would have been frustrated with coach Pubudu and captain Lamichhane demanding ‘unity’ and ‘performances’ after losing the ODI series. But it was still nowhere near to what TU Cricket Ground used to have in 2013.

Nowadays, in spite of cricket becoming more accessible in the social media era, we simply don’t see the organic fanaticism of a decade ago.

Nepal’s men need better on-field performances, administrative stability, and systematic reforms if they wish to propel Nepali cricket to new heights. For the sanity of Nepal’s fan base, they need to break out of this endless time loop.

All Over Cricket

Max O’Dowd: Wielding the Willow and Spinning Discs

Albion CC captain Josh Tasman-Jones is one lucky person. He’s had the best seat in the house watching Max O’Dowd rack up a bucket load of runs for the club. When the Otago cricketer found out about O’Dowd’s move from Auckland to Dunedin to get more game time under his belt, he was…

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4 years ago · Malhar Hathi

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Imagine scoring 148 off 121 in a World Cup final and ending up on the losing side. It’s not Nat Sciver’s fault that she was up against the single most dominant team in the history of the women’s game.

It’s also not her fault that her scintillating knock was bettered by Australian opener Alyssa Healy, whose 170 of 138 is probably the best World Cup innings after Harmanpreet Kaur’s famous 171 not out. Harmanpreet’s innings is the one that knocked Australia out of the last World Cup and acted as a kick up the backside for them in the five years that followed. As is well publicized, they’ve only lost two ODIs since that heartbreaking day in Derby.

Their success, of course, is the result of having the single most professional structure in the women’s game. Up until three months ago, Alana King was nowhere near a household name. Now, along with fellow rookie Darcie Brown, she is arguably leading Australia’s bowling attack.

Moreover, in the aftermath of Derby 2017, Matthew Mott and the team management made some bold calls, which have proved to be the masterstrokes behind Australia’s victorious World Cup campaign.

Dangerous Healy and Mooney 2.0

In the lead-up to the 2017 World Cup, Healy was averaging 15.96 in 52 ODI matches being deployed primarily at the number seven position. Since being backed to open across formats by Mott and the management, she has amassed 2144 runs – more than anyone else in the world – at an average of 52.3 and a strike rate of 102. Out of all batters with at least 1000 runs in the same period, only one has a strike rate in the 90s. That batter is Beth Mooney with a strike rate of 93. We’ll have more on her in a minute!

As things stand, it is hard to argue against Healy being the world’s best white ball opener. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that she’s the world’s best batter, having been awarded the Player-of-the-tournament award after back-to-back centuries in the knockout stages of the World Cup.

Healy’s performances alone would be enough to make any team she played in a strong contender for a World Cup trophy. Yet, Australia’s entire top order has come to the party. Four out of the top six run-scorers in the tournament are Australians, with Meg Lanning, Rachel Haynes, and Mooney offering company to the belligerent opener.

Overall, while batting, Australia averaged 57.8 runs per dismissal across their campaign. Remarkably, England was a distant second, averaging nearly half of that at 30 runs per dismissal.  Australia’s batters were also exceptionally hard to dismiss, losing a wicket every 59.5 deliveries.

Just let that sink in for a minute. Australia’s average partnership lasted nearly ten overs. Daylight separated them and India at 35.7.

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And yes, you guessed it: Australia’s run rate of 5.82 was far superior to anyone else’s. England was next in line with a run rate of 5.16, which was inflated, no doubt, by the two scintillating hundreds Sciver scored against Australia.

Healy struck a boundary every seven balls – the best boundary count for anyone with at least 150 runs in the tournament. Dottin was up there with her at 7.6 balls per boundary, but her non-boundary strike rate (NBSR) of 31.8 was comfortably the lowest in the tournament among batters with at least 175 runs. Dottin’s NBSR was also well below the tournament average of 46.58*, whereas Healy’s was well over at 53.9.

Hitting the perfect balance between the two was Beth Mooney, who averaged a boundary every 9.9 deliveries and struck at a remarkable 67.35 off non-boundary balls. When we plot NBSR against balls per boundary, Mooney is the only batter in the top left quadrant. She is both a regular boundary hitter and she has enhanced her reputation as the world’s best strike rotator.

Mooney opened at the 2017 World Cup but was moved down the order after making drastic improvements to her fitness and running between the wickets. Soon after the 2017 World Cup, Mott denied her request to play county cricket in England, telling her that the only thing standing in her way of being a modern day great was her fitness. Mooney soon started cycling 50 kilometers a day, admitting that she probably overdid things at the time. In any case, she was soon able to run 2 kilometers in 8 minutes and 10 seconds, comfortably better than the minimum fitness benchmark at the time.

Beth Mooney 2.0 is a big reason why Healy and Haynes have felt comfortable playing cautiously against the new ball on several occasions. Australia only scored at an average of 4.28 in the first ten overs across the tournament. However, they only lost 8 wickets, which is less than any other team. The opening pair, which put on three century stands in nine innings, had faith in both themselves and in the rest of the batting unit to catch up as the innings went on.

In addition to high non-boundary strike rates that served them well in the middle overs, Australia scored 100 runs or more on three occasions in the last ten overs. No other team managed this even once.

Look! I’ll be honest. Sometimes when crafting a piece as numerical as this, I do get a bit paralyzed by choice. There is no shortage of numbers to demonstrate just how dominant Australia has been in the last five years and during this World Cup.

Make no mistake: Australia is miles ahead of the rest of the pack. England is the only team with a comparable system and structure in place to close the gap with the Southern Stars.

However, the ECB only introduced full-time domestic contracts two years ago, and it could be another few years before we begin to see the benefits of that investment. With the next World Cup just three years away, there isn’t much time left for England and other teams to regroup and catch up.

What’s scary is that even if a team can build up to where Australia is right now, who knows where Australia will have gotten to by then.

All Over Cricket

The Inches that Separated Triumph from Heartbreak

I’m doing it again! This time it’s 3 off 2. I know. I know. 50-over cricket is not supposed to be this close this often. But I’ve got a large captive audience. Eyes all around the world are focussed on Christchurch — the canvas for my latest …

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4 years ago · Jay Dansinghani

*Stat courtesy ESPNCricinfo

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Albion CC captain Josh Tasman-Jones is one lucky person. He’s had the best seat in the house watching Max O’Dowd rack up a bucket load of runs for the club.

When the Otago cricketer found out about O’Dowd’s move from Auckland to Dunedin to get more game time under his belt, he was excited at the prospect of welcoming an international cricketer to the club. In fact, Tasman-Jones, two years O’Dowd’s senior, knew the Dutch opener from high school with both of them having attended Westlake Boys, but it wasn’t until the 2019-20 club season that their paths crossed “in a cricket sense.”

“He needed a haircut!” quips Tasman-Jones. “Max fitted in like a glove, immediately becoming a part of the group as if he’d been playing with us for years,” he continued.

Being a top-order batter himself, Tasman-Jones shared many partnerships with O’Dowd for Albion and later Otago ‘A’ but he recalls a specific game against Taieri at Brooklands Park fondly.

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“Max was having one of those days, middling everything. We were only chasing 120 from memory. I think I went at a run-a-ball for 40 which felt quite pedestrian. Max hit the first two balls for six in one over. We met in the middle as they chased it down the street and I said, ‘surely you go for all six here mate.’ He said ‘absolutely’. He gave it a good crack. Unfortunately, he didn’t hit all six out of the park but he got three sixes and a four.”

A hundred in a T20 club game soon followed before O’Dowd scored heaps of runs for Otago ‘A’ but a first XI opportunity continued to elude him.

“It was special to play with him last season. I observed a man who took care of his craft, could adjust his game to suit different conditions and match situations, and most of all always played for the team. He’s the teammate you dream of. He's a winner, he has fun and plays the game the right way,” added Tasman-Jones.

When he moved to Dunedin, O’Dowd had 36 T20 Internationals under his belt and a couple of ODIs against Zimbabwe, where he averaged 145 across the two games. The world, however, was yet to see the best of him.

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He announced himself to the world during a T20I tri-series tour to Nepal in April 2021, where he scored a whirlwind 133 not out against Malaysia. Only Canadian opener Rayyan Pathan scored more runs in 2021 — 312 in six games compared to O’Dowd’s 295 in seven games. An 82 against Scotland followed in the Netherlands’ first ODI on home soil in nearly two years before knocks of 51 and 70 against Ireland and Namibia at the T20 World Cup in October provided a ray of hope in an otherwise dismal campaign in which the Dutch failed to make the Super 12s.

Yet, statistics mean little in the backdrop of gloomy defeats. In their last World Cup fixture, the Netherlands were shot out for 44 batting first.

“I want to win games for the Netherlands which I think is the most important thing,” O’Dowd tells All Over Cricket.

“The more games we win, the more opportunities we get, the more we get out on the main stage, which for us is invaluable. Those runs at the World Cup were great but we lost three games so it was pretty pointless.”

A historic ODI tour to South Africa in late 2021 had to be abandoned after the first match due to border restrictions enforced by the Omicron variant. Stricter border restrictions in New Zealand meant O’Dowd was forced to miss the subsequent tour to Qatar to take on Afghanistan, where the Dutch were blanked 0-3. Instead, he spent some time with his partner after being on the road for ten months and playing for Auckland ‘A’.

Refreshed, he is now playing in a Super League series of three ODIs against New Zealand, the country of his birth.

“Living here for a large portion of my life has helped and I understand what it is like. The wickets tend to get flatter as we go on. For me, it’s about communicating with the guys who haven’t played here as much what the wicket might be doing and how we would go about things.”

New Zealand, who are missing several first-choice players such as Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, and Tim Southee due to IPL commitments, are ranked No. 1 in One-Day Internationals. O’Dowd, who grew up playing against Kyle Jamieson in Auckland, is also familiar with the likes of Blair Tickner and Doug Bracewell.

In the run-up to the series, the Netherlands played two warm-up one-day matches against an New Zealand XI at McLean Park in Napier, the scene of the washed out T20 International. Although rain also impacted the warm-ups, they had a good look at Michael Bracewell, who scored 127 not out and 81 before making his Blackcaps debut in the first ODI.

“There’s not as much pace or bounce as there was in South Africa but certainly more movement. The ball swings for longer. As a bowling unit, we are looking to be more aggressive and look to make the batters play and leave outside their eyeline. As a batting side, it comes back down to the basics.

“Guys are going to challenge outside our off-stump and it comes solely down to our decision-making. Having that high intent and making the right decisions at the right time will be the most important part. New Zealand have some fantastic bowlers who would bang the same lengths ball after ball and won’t make things easy for us.”

“All I’m thinking about is looking to play as straight as possible throughout the early stages of my innings. When I get a bit of width, I feel that’s my strength. I have got a feeling that guys are going to attack my stumps so for me it’s about trying to stay simple and see off the new ball.”

Away from cricket, O’Dowd enjoys DJing — “spinning the discs” — and making house music sets. His hobby makes sense given his family pedigree: his uncle is an Opera singer and his grandmother played the piano.

“It’s a hobby I’ve loved pretty much my whole life. My mum and dad used to play all the old school deep house tracks when we used to drive around. I have done quite a few gigs in New Zealand when I was a bit younger but I really don’t think it suits my lifestyle now with the late nights. I prefer where I’m at right now, playing cricket and doing it on the sides for friends.”

Being a DJ, he surely must have a pseudonym? “Maxwell. Simple, standard, a little bit cooler. Normally works.” Although, he admits his music may not be for everyone.

“I’m not going to be diplomatic here. I think it’s not great!” says Dutch skipper Pieter Seelaar as he lets out a hearty laugh. “But then again my music is not everyone’s cup of tea. As good a batter he is, I don’t think he’s as good a DJ.”

It may not be the glowing endorsement O’Dowd would have liked but it’s hardly a deterrent. He recently put out a new album and plans to put out more next week.

“I recently did a liquid drum and bass down at Takapuna. It’s up on my YouTube channel. My partner is going to join me in Tauranga so I’m going to try and get her to bring my discs across and then I might just do a sunset session outside the infinity pool over the water. Keep your eyes peeled for that one!”

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