Taskin Ahmed took four wickets as Bangladesh beat Netherlands by nine runs in their first game of the T20 World Cup at Bellerive Oval.

Afif Hossain top scored with 38 as the Tigers were restricted to 144-8 in their opening Group 2 game in Hobart on Monday.

Paul van Meekeren (2-21) and Bas de Leede (2-29) claimed two wickets apiece to keep Bangladesh down to a total that the Dutch would have felt they could chase down.

Paceman ensured it was advantage Bangladesh by taking two wickets with the first two deliveries of the run chase, dismissing Vikramjit Singh and De Leede.

Netherlands were deep in the mire at 15-4 after Max O'Dowd and Tom Cooper were run out, but a half-century from Colin Ackermann gave them hope.

Ackermann struck 62 off 48 balls, but he lacked support and the Dutch were all out for 135.

Taskin too hot to handle

It was an impressive spell with the ball from Taskin, who took four wickets in a T20I for the first time in his career.

His figures of 4-25 earned him the player of the match award, removing Ackermann and Shariz Ahmad after his brilliant first over. 

Ackermann shows resistance 

It proved to be in vain, but Ackermann impressed with the bat after coming in at number four.

He scored two of Netherlands' four sixes, while also hitting six fours as to prevent his side from being embarrassed. 

Hosts Australia head into the T20 World Cup as defending champions, but no team has ever won back-to-back editions of this tournament.

The showpiece for international cricket's shortest format has provided some spectacular moments since South Africa staged the first edition 15 years ago.

West Indies are the only team to have carried off the trophy twice, and their long-time ring master Chris Gayle is absent this time, having not featured since the Caribbean side bowed out of the T20 World Cup last year.

With Gayle all but retired from internationals, and with others shuffling away, new stars will emerge over the coming weeks, and some established figures will be chasing records.

Here, Stats Perform looks at the T20 World Cup's top performers, and the spectacular feats from tournaments gone by that the class of 2022 will have in their sights.

Batters bid to go big in post-Gayle era

Sri Lanka great Mahela Jayawardene is the only batter to have topped 1,000 runs in the history of the T20 World Cup, reaching 1,016 from 31 innings, spanning 2007 to 2014. He went out on a sensational high, passing the 1,000-run barrier in the final as Sri Lanka won the 2014 title by beating India in Mirpur.

Windies great Gayle sits second on that list with 965 runs, and is the only batter to have made two centuries in T20 World Cups. Those were also the fastest two tons in T20 World Cup history (47 balls v England in 2016, 50 balls v South Africa in 2007).

There are a number of batters who could join Jayawardene in reaching 1,000 runs at the T20 World Cup, but principal among them are the India pair of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

Rohit replaced Kohli as skipper at the end of last year, following India's failure to get past the Super 12 stage at the World Cup, and there could be a friendly rivalry emerging in the race for four figures.

Rohit enters the tournament for top-ranked India on 847 runs in past editions, while Kohli has 845. Strikingly, Rohit's runs have come from 30 innings at an average of 38.50, whereas Kohli has plundered his in just 19 innings, and the latter's average of 76.81 is by far and away the best among all batters with 500-plus runs in the competition.

It helps, of course, that Kohli has finished unbeaten in eight of those knocks. The next highest average among such players is former England batter Kevin Pietersen's 44.61 (580 runs from 15 innings, two unbeaten).

The highest score by any batter in a single innings at the T20 World Cup remains the 123 that Brendon McCullum, now England's Test head coach, plundered for New Zealand against Bangladesh in Pallekele at the 2012 tournament. That was McCullum's highest score across his entire T20I career.

David Warner is another who could make it to 1,000 runs, but the Australia opener will need a big tournament to make that happen. He goes in on 762 runs from 30 prior innings, Cricinfo statistics show.

Only one batter has reached 500 T20 World Cup runs without making a fifty, and that was former India captain MS Dhoni, who skippered the team to the 2007 title. His best score in 29 innings, from which he accumulated 529 runs, was a modest 45.

Pakistan's Babar Azam dazzled at the 2021 T20 World Cup, scoring a tournament-high 303 runs in six innings.

His four half-centuries matched the most by any player in an edition of the tournament, the ICC said, having been previously achieved in 2014 by Kohli and in 2007 by Matthew Hayden.

Shakib, Mendis and Campher set standards for bowling elite

Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan is something of a T20 World Cup superstar. As well as ranking eighth on the run-scoring list (698 from 31 innings), the all-rounder has taken more wickets than anyone, with 41 at an average of 17.29.

A haul of 11 at the 2021 tournament took him top of the list, and there is nobody threatening to get particularly close to the 35-year-old spinner.

Among players selected for this tournament, the player with the next highest wicket haul is India's Ravichandran Ashwin, with 26 from 18 matches.

When it comes to T20 cricket, unsurprisingly there have been precious few five-wicket hauls, given the bowlers each have just a four-over allocation.

Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis is the only bowler to have snagged six in an innings, taking princely figures of 6-8 against Zimbabwe in 2012, while eight others have taken five wickets in a match, headed by Rangana Herath's remarkable 5-3 against New Zealand at the 2014 tournament, when the Black Caps were skittled for 60.

That ranks as the fourth-lowest team score in a T20 World Cup, with Netherlands responsible for the two worst totals, both times folding against Sri Lanka when making 39 at Chattogram in 2014 and 44 in Sharjah last year.

The other side to post a sub-60 score were West Indies, routed for 55 by England in Dubai 12 months ago.

A hat-trick represents the holy grail for all bowlers, and there have been just four in T20 World Cups, with Brett Lee taking the first for Australia against Bangladesh at the inaugural 2007 tournament.

There were no more until the 2021 tournament, which incredibly featured three: Curtis Campher took four wickets in four balls for Ireland against Netherlands, before Wanindu Hasaranga (for Sri Lanka against South Africa) and Kagiso Rabada (for South Africa against England) both managed three in three.

It has been a long time coming but the T20 World Cup will finally get under way in Australia on Sunday.

Two years later than scheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the tournament will start with Sri Lanka taking on Namibia at Kardinia Park followed by the United Arab Emirates versus the Netherlands at the same venue on Sunday.

There will be six days of qualifying matches to decide which four teams will go through to the Super 12, which starts with a repeat of last year's final between holders Australia and New Zealand on October 22.

You could make a case for several teams being strong contenders to lift the trophy at the MCG on November 13.

Stats Perform picks out some of the storylines to look out for in a tournament that will be well worth the wait.

 

Windies and Sri Lanka should avoid shock early exit

The only team to have won the T20 World Cup twice is West Indies, but they failed to secure direct qualification for the Super 12 on this occasion.

They lost four out of five matches as defending champions in the United Arab Emirates last year, a crushing six-wicket defeat to England setting the tone as they were skittled out for a pitiful 55.

Nicholas Pooran's side will face Scotland, Zimbabwe, Ireland at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart and will be expected to advance from Group B.

Sri Lanka were crowned Asia Cup champions last month and ought to have no trouble in advancing from a Group A that also includes the Netherlands, the UAE and Namibia.

On a high from lifting the trophy in Dubai, Dasun Shanaka's men could be dangerous if they made it through to the Super 12 as expected.

 

Hosts in quest to make history

Australia ended their wait for a first T20 World Cup title in Dubai last year at the expense of the Black Caps, Mitchell Marsh blasting an unbeaten 77 in the final to seal an eight-wicket win.

No team has won back-to-back T20 World Cup titles, so the hosts have an opportunity to make history on home soil.

Tim David has emerged as another potential match-winner that has bolted his way into the squad and he is capable of making a big impact, while big things will be expected from the likes of David Warner with the bat.

Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are a formidable pace trio and leg-spinner Adam Zampa brings an X-Factor. Australia have a great chance of achieving a feat no other side has accomplished.

Can India make amends?

India were strongly fancied to win the rearranged T20 World Cup last year, but their challenge was all-but over soon after it had started.

They were consigned to a 10-wicket thrashing by fierce rivals in Pakistan in their first match and still looked shellshocked when New Zealand hammered them by eight wickets.

Virat Kohli stepped down as captain after that failure, with Rohit Sharma the skipper of what is another star-studded squad.

The loss of paceman Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja to injury were huge blows, but India will be expected to mount a strong challenge as the top-ranked side in the world and batter Suryakumar Yadav can make a big impact.

Buttler to deliver in first tournament as skipper?

England looked unstoppable in the World Cup last year until they were knocked out by New Zealand at the semi-final stage.

Jos Buttler has since taken over as captain after Eoin Morgan retired from international cricket, and Matthew Mott was appointed as head coach.

Buttler has recovered from injury for what will be his first tournament as skipper and will look to produce the sort of form he did in the 2021 World Cup, in which he averaged a staggering 89.66.

England have huge firepower with the bat, while Reece Topley, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid are among the bowlers Buttler will be counting on to step up as they strive to lift the trophy for a second time.

 

Proteas a force to be reckoned with

South Africa have never been beyond the semi-final of a T20 World Cup, but there is every chance this could be their year.

Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje are a hostile trio of pace bowlers and they also have the wizardry of spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.

The absence of Rassie van der Dussen is a big loss, but the Proteas are not short of explosive batting with the likes of Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Rillee Rossouw and Tristan Stubbs to call upon.

Lockie Ferguson could miss the entire T20I tri-series against Pakistan and Bangladesh as New Zealand aim to protect the fast bowler's fitness for the T20 World Cup.

The 31-year-old missed last year's World Cup due to a calf tear and, after a minor abdominal injury, New Zealand head coach Gary Stead has suggested Ferguson could miss the ongoing tri-series in Christchurch.

The Blackcaps are already without Daryl Mitchell after the batter fractured his hand in training on Friday, while spinner Mitchell Santner will join the squad on Sunday after a paternity break.

"Lockie has a little ab injury at the moment. We're just managing that and the most important thing is we get to the start of the World Cup and Lockie is ready to go," Stead said.

"He's a very, very important cog in our bowling line-up. Unfortunately for him, he missed last year's World Cup with the injury he had then.

"I mean we are mindful of it and we want to make sure that he's right and ready for those early games in the World Cup.

"There is that chance [of him missing the entire tri-series]. We will just see how he responds to treatment over the next few days."

Adam Milne is another Blackcaps bowler to suffer from persistent injury issues, with New Zealand aiming to rebuild the 30-year-old's fitness ahead of the World Cup later this month.

"It's the first time I've had eyes live on Milne at the nets and he looked really good," Stead said.

"We're pleased with what we are seeing there and again he is coming off a reasonably extensive injury break as well, so just managing him and making sure he's right will be the most important thing for us in these four games."

While New Zealand scramble for options in their fast-bowling department, Mitchell hopes to be back in action ahead of the first game of the T20 World Cup against Australia on October 22.

"Obviously, not ideal timing, but we've got some good news around where the fracture is in the hand and the time frame to be ready for the first game in Australia in a couple of weeks' time," Mitchell told Spark Sport on the sidelines of New Zealand's tri-series opener against Pakistan on Saturday.

"We'll do everything we can to try and be ready and fingers crossed that I'll be good to go."

Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim has announced his Twenty20 International retirement.

The 35-year-old has called time on his T20I career in order to "focus on Test and ODI formats of the game".

An Asia Cup defeat to Sri Lanka on Thursday will be Mushfiqur's 102nd and final appearance for his country in the shortest format.

He tweeted on Sunday: "Today, I am announcing my retirement from T20 Internationals.

"I will proudly continue to represent Bangladesh in Test and ODI formats. I am hopeful that I can bring success for our nation in these two formats. I will continue to take part in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and other franchise tournaments."

Mushfiqur's decision comes just over a month before the T20 World Cup gets under way in Australia.

He scored 1,500 T20I runs at an average of 19.48, taking 42 catches and finishing with 30 stumpings after making his debut back in November 2006.

There will be an increase in the number of men's international cricket for the 12 full ICC members in the next Future Tours Program (FTP) cycle.

Australia and India will play two five-match series in the 2023-2027 FTP cycle, with the last time they have contested that many matches in a series being back in 1992.

There will be 777 internationals during the next cycle - 173 Tests, 281 ODIs and 323 T20Is - compared to 694 in the current one.

England, Australia and India will play the greatest number of Tests, featuring in 22, 21 and 20 respectively.

The next cycle will include five major ICC events, starting with the Cricket World Cup in India next year.

ICC general manager of cricket Wasim Khan said: "I'd like to thank our members for the effort that has gone into creating this FTP for the next four years.

"We are incredibly lucky to have three vibrant formats of the game, with an outstanding programme of ICC global events and strong bilateral and domestic cricket and this FTP is designed to allow all cricket to flourish."

A late attacking onslaught from Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein proved to be inadequate as the West Indies came up short by 3 runs, against India, in a thrilling start to the One Day International series.

After a solid top order partnership of 117 from Shamarh Brooks and Kyle Mayers, following the loss of Shai Hope, the Windies found themselves needing 120 off the last 15 overs and with seven batsmen in reserve.

Shardul Thakur, however, checked that momentum after taking two wickets in two overs. The pacer removed both Brooks and Mayers.  Unlike the previous series, however, the Windies managed to keep putting partnerships together.  Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran then kept the score ticking over for the regional team with a 51-run stand.

Pooran was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj in the 36th over, and Yuzvendra Chahal lifted Indian spirits even higher when he removed Rovman Powell. King, Hosein, and Shepherd though, continued to take the fight to the India bowling line-up. King stitched together another fifty-run stand with Akeal Hosein before he was dismissed.

Hosein and Shepherd seemed determined to bring things over the line.  Hosein anchored from one end while Shepherd attacked from the other.  They kept going into the last three overs, hammering Siraj for 11 in the 48th and Prasidh for 12 in the 49th. The equation came down to 15 off Siraj’s last over but the bowler held his nerves, conceding 11 runs off and keeping Shepherd largely silent.  In pursuit of 308 for 6, the West Indies got to 305 for 6.

West Indies coach Phil Simmons expects a much better showing from the team’s batsmen ahead of the upcoming series against India.

The Windies line-up struggled mightily against Bangladesh, albeit in difficult circumstances for batting in the most recent One Day International series.  In three matches the team, batting first on each occasion, managed just a total of 435.

The team’s captain Nicholas Pooran was the team’s scorer with 91 runs but scored 73 in the final game when the series was already decided.  Shamarh Brooks was the next best and he totalled 42 over the three matches.  Despite facing superior opposition, India, in another series beginning on Friday, Simmons does not expect such a brutal showing with the bat.

“You expect a better batting performance.  You don’t really want to make excuses and in the last game we showed what we should have shown in the first two games, on what were bad cricket wickets on whole but we expect differently,” Simmons told members of the media on Wednesday.

“We’ve had two days of practice, we practiced yesterday and a really good session today, something that we did not get between Dominica and Guyana because of the rain that stopped us from practicing.  From the sessions I have seen so far, the guys seem to be switched on again.”

West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran stroked a responsible half-century and spinner Gudakesh Motie claimed a four-for but still came up short in a 4-wicket loss to Bangladesh on Saturday.

The result saw the Asian team complete a 3-0 series whitewash of the Windies and continue their stranglehold over the Caribbean team in the ODI format, which amounts to an 11th straight win.  Unlike the two previous fixtures, however, the third and final match proved a more competitive affair.

The Windies were off to another difficult start after losing Brandon King, Shai Hope, and Shamarh Brooks in the first 6 overs and with only 16 runs on the board.  Pooran, however, steadied the ship alongside Keacy Carty, and the two combined to put on 67 for the fourth wicket.

The partnership was, however, ended when Carty was caught at mid-on, on 33, after a loose shot failed to clear Tamim at mid-on.

Pooran then partnered with Rovman Powell to put on another 34, but Powell was clean bowled by Taijul Islam, leaving the team on 117 for 5.  The Windies captain struggled to find partners to occupy the crease and his outstanding innings came to an end on 73, after also being bowled by Islam. 

Romario Shepherd added a useful 19 from 22 and the Windies ended with their highest score of the series on 178.

Islam ended with the best figures for Bangladesh after taking five for 28.

In pursuit, Bangladesh got off to a strong start as Liton Das had an even 50, while captain Tamim Iqbal played his part with 34.  The team found themselves in trouble mid-innings after some rash strokes left them struggling at 5-116, before an unbeaten 32 from wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan in partnership with Mehidy Hasan saw them home.  Motie had career-best figures for the Windies after taking 4 for 23.

West Indies bowling coach Roddy Estwick insists the team must find a way to cope with Bangladesh spinners after being comprehensively outplayed over two One Day Internationals thus far.

After losing the toss and being sent to bat on both occasions, the West Indies failed to reach 150 in any of the two encounters.  In the first, the Windies were dismissed for 149 in 41 overs, a match they lost by 6 wickets, and 108 in the second, a lopsided 9-wicket loss.

Similar to the previous encounters between the teams, the Bangladeshi spinners had the West Indies batsmen beaten all ends up.  In the second ODI Nasum Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan Miraz combined for 7 wickets.  Mehidy finished with 4 for 29.

“Losing the toss should not necessarily mean that you are going to lose the game. We’ve got to find a way to counteract these spinners and play the spin a lot better,” Estwick said.

“They’ve been causing us a lot of problems but it’s not for a lack of trying, the boys are trying and that’s going to be very important for us going forward,” he added.

“We still have one more game to go and we continue to learn and hope that we can take some lessons away from it.”

Bangladesh has beaten the West Indies in the last 10 straight ODI matches.  The teams will play the third and final match of the series on Saturday.

 

Bangladesh condemned the West Indies to a second consecutive defeat, this time by nine wickets, to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in their three-match ODI series at Providence in Guyana on Wednesday.

West Indies batsman Shai Hopes insists the team must find ways to score more efficiently if they are to find any success against Bangladesh in the ongoing series.

 The regional team’s difficult run of form in One Day Internationals continued earlier this week, after losing to Bangladesh by six wickets in the rain-affected first match.  Batting first, the Windes could only manage 149 runs in their 41 overs at the crease, a total that was easily surpassed by the visitors.

Despite showing positive signs in the other formats, the West Indies continue to struggle to find any sort of consistency or tempo in ODI cricket.

“We need to find more ways to score, whether that’s picking up more singles or finding more boundary options,” Hope said in assessing the team’s issues from the first ODI.

“It’s important for us to learn that so we can find more ways to put the bowlers under pressure so that when we do get those bad balls we can find some more runs for the bowler to bowl at,” he added.

The West Indies will meet Bangladesh in the second ODI at Providence Stadium in Guyana, on Wednesday.

 

 

Bangladesh secured a comfortable six-wicket win over the West Indies at Providence in Guyana on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead in their three-match One-Day International series.

The win was Bangladesh’s first win on their tour having lost both the Test and T20 International series 2-0.

The win also means that Bangladesh have now won their last six ODIs against the hosts, a fact that West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran says the team is well aware of.

“We know Bangladesh has had us in the last couple series but that’s ok. I feel like we’re still going to win this series. We’re 1-0 down but we can come again on Wednesday with better plans and punch back,” said Pooran in a post-match interview.

The skipper lamented the team’s lack of runs on the board in the 41 overs-per-side game, being restricted to a subpar 149-9.

“We definitely didn’t have enough runs on the board. If we had got close to 175 or 200 on that wicket, it’d be interesting to see how the game would have turned out. We also could’ve bowled a bit better in the powerplay. It’s going to be a challenge for us but we just need to keep figuring out ways to win cricket games, especially in the ODI format,” Pooran said.

On the other hand, “Fantastic,” was how Pooran described debutant Gudakesh Motie’s performance with the ball.

Motie took his first international wicket on the way to a tidy 1-18 off nine overs.

“He got his opportunity in front of his home crowd and delivered. Unfortunately, he was on the losing side but the way he bowled nine overs for 18 runs is fabulous and we’re expecting him to continue to bowl like this, not just in this series but in the future as well,” he added.

The 27-year-old Motie, who also made his Test debut on this tour, got his chance in the ODI format on the back of a stellar campaign in the 2021 Super 50 Cup which saw him finish as the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 17 wickets in seven matches as Guyana got all the way to the final, losing to Trinidad & Tobago.

 

 

 

 

 

After being shut out in the respective Test and T20 series, Bangladesh struck back on Sunday to defeat the West Indies by six wickets to take a 1-0 lead in their three-match ODI series at Providence in Guyana.

In the match reduced to 41 overs because of a wet outfield, Bangladesh won the toss and sent the West Indies in to bat. The home side was in early trouble losing Shai Hope first ball, bowled by an inswinger from Mustafizur Rahman for nought.

On a pitch of uneven bounce and taking spin, the West Indies struggled to rotate the strike. They lost Kyle Mayers for 10 in the 12th over when the score was on 32. It would get a lot worse eight overs later when after limping to 55-2, they lost Brandon King and Shamarh Brooks off consecutive deliveries of the 21st over bowled by Shoriful Islam for eight and 33, respectively.

The dismissals brought together Captain Nicholas Pooran (18) and Vice-Captain Rovman Powell (9), who together put on 20 for the fifth wicket. Mehidy Hasan Miraz removed both in quick succession to have the West Indies tottering on 91-6.

Shoriful picked up his third and fourth wickets with the dismissals of Romario Shepherd for 15 and Gudakesh Motie for 7, which along with the run out of Akeal Hosein for 3, saw the West Indies stumble to 110-9 in over 35.

Jayden Seales and Anderson Phillip, who were unbeaten on 16 and 21, respectively put on 39 for the last wicket to take the West Indies to 149-9.

Shoriful returned figures of 4-34 while Mehidy took 3-36.

Needing 150 for their first victory of the series, Bangladesh lost the wickets of Liton Das for 1 with the score at 9 and Tamim Iqbal for 33 when the score was 49 but still raced to 77-2 after 13 overs.

The tourists would lose the wickets of Najmul Hossain Shanto for 37 and Afif Hossain for nine as Bangladesh closed in on the victory but Mahmudullah 41 not out and Nurul Hasan (20) ensured that there would be no further jitters as they eased to 151-4 with 55 balls to spare.

Motie, who dismissed Shanto for the first wicket of his international career, bowled well for figures of 1-18 from nine overs while Pooran took 1-39 from seven. Akeal Hosein took 1-43.

 

 

  

 

West Indies One Day International captain Nicholas Pooran believes the team is still searching for the right approach to be able to reap success in the format.

Despite some promising signs in both the Test and T20 versions of the sport, the team Windies have continued to accumulate indifferent results in 50-over cricket.  Currently ranked at 9th in the world, the team has won just 4 of the last 10 games and won only one against a team in the top 10.

In their last encounter, the team struggled to come to grips with Pakistan in a 3-0 loss after a convincing win against the Netherlands prior to that.  Recently appointed Pooran, however, believes the team is still trying to find its legs.

“There are a lot of new guys on the team and we need to learn to play together as a group.  You just have to be patient, the ODI format is between the Test and the T20, and the mindset is changing.  We just need to get the right mindset, the right template, and just stick with it for a bit, I am really looking forward to the Bangladesh game,” Pooran said.

The West Indies will play Bangladesh in a three-match ODI series, beginning in Guyana tomorrow.

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