Ahead of their first Champions Trophy in 10 years, Bangladesh feel they have finally earned what they have always wanted – respect from their peers

Mohammad Isam30-May-2017For a long time, it was only one-off wins that brought the attention of the cricket world upon Bangladesh. But still, respect was hard to come by. Then came the 2015 World Cup, series wins against India, South Africa and Pakistan, and now, ahead of their first Champions Trophy in 10 years, Bangladesh are finally getting what they have wanted for so long.Tamim Iqbal, who has been closely involved in the team’s rise as an ODI force, said they have worked to get to a level where oppositions are wary of them. Bangladesh recently rose to No. 6 in the ICC rankings – their highest mark. The journey began seven years ago, from No. 9, and it isn’t done yet.”That’s how it goes, you know,” Tamim said. “When your team is winning games, when your team is playing better cricket people will notice you, people will respect you. And we deserve the respect we are getting.”As a team, we have come up a long way. That time we were ranked 10th, now we are ranked sixth. As I told you before, it didn’t come easy. We had to go through a lot of lost matches, hard work and criticism as well. But the last two years has been brilliant for Bangladesh cricket. [We are] probably one of the most successful teams in the world if you see in the last two years.”Bangladesh have a win-loss ratio of 1.46 from 34 matches since the start of 2015 – the best among the Asian teams. They have also developed the backbone to fight out of tough situations, as evidenced by a comeback win against Sri Lanka in Tests, a rout of Afghanistan to secure their 100th victory in ODIs and a spirited defence of 238 against England in Dhaka.It is against England that Bangladesh begin their Champions Trophy campaign, on Thursday, and while Tamim understood the heft of the challenge ahead of them, he wanted his team to draw from the good memories of their recent past.”We just need to carry on those things and keep on improving. We know one thing that we need to improve a hell of a lot is to be consistent in international cricket and beat good teams like India, England or Pakistan. We have to keep improving and that’s what we are looking for.”We’ve done well against [England], but they are playing in home conditions and they have some serious individual players as well. If we want to repeat the result again, we have to be on top of our game in all departments because England is a very, very strong team.”Beating higher ranked teams in the Champions Trophy will also boost Bangladesh’s hopes of direct qualification into the 2019 World Cup. Only the top eight teams on the ODI rankings on September 30 earn that right, while the rest will have to go through a qualifying tournament in April 2018.”I think we are very close to qualifying,” Tamim said. “During the tri-series [in Ireland earlier this month], we won against New Zealand and we became the sixth-ranked team in the world. Those things are nice to have but when you are playing in such a big tournament you don’t want to be thinking of those kinds of things, rather than concentrate on winning games. We’ll try to our best in these three matches to do something special for the nation.”

The combination of rain and the stubborn resistance of Kent’s eighth-wicket pair denied Nottinghamshire victory at Trent Bridge

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge29-Jun-2017
ScorecardFile photo – Adam Milne’s efforts with the bat helped save Kent•Getty Images

The combination of rain and the stubborn resistance of Kent’s eighth-wicket pair denied Nottinghamshire an opportunity to open up what would have begun to look like an unassailable lead at the top of Division Two.Victory would have taken Nottinghamshire to 171 points, 37 clear of second-placed Worcestershire and 55 in front of Kent. Although both those rivals have a game in hand, having to make up that amount of ground at the halfway stage is a daunting challenge.When they dismissed Kent for 265 at around 5.50pm, following a start delayed until 4.30pm, there were 46 overs left to score 75 runs. But after allowing Kent’s innings to end in fine drizzle, the umpires decided conditions were not good enough to start a new innings.It was typical of cricket’s way of looking ridiculous that the officials and players were halfway to the middle when the decision was taken, although in the event it was not long before the rain became heavy to the point at which it would caused play to be stopped anyway, and improvement came too late to start within the cut-off time.The man Kent needed to thank most for gaining the unexpected draw points was Adam Milne, the New Zealand pace bowler who is clearly too good a batsman to be coming in at No. 10.Milne atoned for a second-ball duck in the first innings with a half-century off 87 balls. He unveiled some pretty impressive strokes, putting James Pattinson in his box with a classy cut and a textbook straight drive off consecutive balls to raise his boundary tally to eight.His innings ended immediately after he had completed his fifty, when Luke Fletcher induced an edge for Chris Read to take his fourth catch of the innings, yet Milne had given sterling service to his new employers on debut.Most importantly, in his team’s cause, he had shared a partnership with wicketkeeper Adam Rouse of 79 that spanned 29 overs, a good chunk of which they had to negotiate in the most difficult light of the third evening, not long after their team-mate Darren Stevens had ducked into the Harry Gurney half-bouncer that curtailed his involvement in the match.It turned a 24-run deficit with the fall of the seventh wicket to a 55-run advantage, which Rouse was able to swell further with Mitch Claydon holding the fort for eight overs at the other end.Rouse, who had been put down on 21 at third slip off Fletcher, made 35, his last scoring shot a pull for six off Steven Mullaney before an attempt to mete out the same treatment to the next delivery fell into the hands of Samit Patel on the boundary.Nottinghamshire would have been better equipped to see the pair off more quickly had Jake Ball been fit, but the fact was in any event that neither the old pink ball nor the hard new one proved to be much of a weapon.Ball’s knee has ruled him out of any cricket for the next couple of weeks, leaving places up for grabs in both the Nottinghamshire team and the England Test squad. Stuart Broad is now thought likely to play in Saturday’s Royal London One-Day Cup final and, by the same token, can be expected to be available for the first Test against South Africa next week.Stevens, meanwhile, will miss Kent’s match against Northamptonshire at Beckenham next week. The scan he underwent on Wednesday evening happily showed no damage as a result of his blow to the head, but under the ECB’s concussion protocol he is required to take a mandatory break of six days.

The former India allrounders are part of Jo’burg Giants and Bloem City Blazers respectively

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2017S Sriram and Robin Singh are set to coach Jo’burg Giants and Bloem City Blazers respectively in the inaugural edition of South Africa’s T20 Global League in November.Sriram, who played eight ODIs for India between 2000 and 2004, is currently the spin consultant with the Australian team on their tour of Bangladesh. It is a role he performed during their tours of India and Sri Lanka last season, as well as the World T20 in 2016. Giants, incidentally, is owned by GMR, the parent group that owns Delhi Daredevils, where Sriram has worked as an assistant coach.Robin Singh, who played 136 ODIs and one Test for India, has coached T20 sides across the globe in the past. He was the head coach of Deccan Chargers in 2008 before assuming duties with Mumbai Indians, with whom he has been associated since, first as head coach and later as batting coach. He has also worked with Barbados Tridents in the CPL, Khulna Titans in the BPL and Uva Next in Sri Lanka’s T20 competition.On Monday, Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain, was unveiled as head coach of Benoni Zalmi. Jacques Kallis (Cape Town Knight Riders), Mark Boucher (Nelson Mandela Bay Stars), Paddy Upton (Durban Qalandars) and Stephen Fleming (Stellenbosch Monarchs) are the other high-profile appointments.

Being on the lookout for wickets even when Australia tried to dominate helped India’s bowlers make significant contribution towards series win, says India vice-captain

Alagappan Muthu in Nagpur01-Oct-2017Until the last day of the five-match ODI series, India were about to win it without a single centurion. Rohit Sharma’s excellent handling of a slow, grippy pitch to score 125 at a strike-rate of 114.87 – when everyone that faced at least 20 balls had to settle for 88 runs per 100 balls or less – deserves praise. But his job was made just a touch easy by the bowlers responding well to another tough situation.Australia were 100 for 1 in the 20th over with David Warner batting on 50. But they slumped 118 for 4 by the 25th with Kedar Jadhav (1 for 48) and Axar Patel (3 for 38) doing most of the damage. Then Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar closed out the innings so well that Australia lost five wickets for the addition of 52 in the last 10 overs. Bumrah had cost 37 runs in his first five overs but he wrapped up with 2 for 51, including a wicket maiden in the 45th.Rohit, India’s vice- captain, praised this ability of his bowlers to bounce back when the team needed it most. “To restrict Australia to 242 on this particular wicket wasn’t easy, because they are a solid batting line-up and especially with the opening partnership they got,” he said. “Even in the last game, we thought 350-360 would be on the board, but we pulled it back and that’s been the hallmark of this bowling unit throughout the tournament. We have pulled the game back at the crucial time and that has allowed our batters to go and play their game.”In Chennai, after the batting flopped, India needed a leg up from Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. The wristspinners took 5 for 63, bowling nine out of the 21 overs in a rain-shortened game.Then in Kolkata, where apart from Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, no one was able to get into the 30s, Bhuvneshwar’s new-ball swing was so vicious that Warner, a soon-to-be 100 match veteran said they were the most difficult conditions he had faced in ODI cricket. India defended 252 with Kuldeep taking a hat-trick.Indore presented the best chance for runs but Australia won the toss and it was their opener Aaron Finch who made the first century of the series. But he fell, leaving his team at 224 for 2 in the 38th over, and soon after they were kept to a mere 294 off 50 overs.Kuldeep, having been punished for bowling too full on a tiny ground, dismissed the set batsmen Finch (124) and Smith (63). Chahal later got rid of Maxwell for a third time in three games. After that Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah showed why they are perhaps the most potent bowling combination in the world at the end of an innings.The bowlers’ success has been because they’ve stuck to their brief, of trying to attack even when Australia have been on top. “We’ve played in these conditions so many times and they understand that they need to keep sticking to their strength,” Rohit said. “One boundary here and there doesn’t make a difference. That’s been their attitude throughout the tournament and we go out in the middle to take wickets, not to look to get the strike-rate down.”All the bowlers who participated in this tournament have gone with this mindset of taking wickets. When you’re doing that you will obviously strike at some point during the game and pull the match back towards you. That is what these guys have done, all the spinners and the fast bowlers as well. All the compliments should go to them as well, the way they have bowled as a bowling unit throughout the tournament.”Rohit was also highly appreciative of Rahane’s contribution in the 4-1 series victory – four successive fifties as an opener in Shikhar Dhawan’s absence.”We have played a lot of cricket together in Mumbai and we understand each other and we know each other’s game really well,” Rohit said. “We talk a lot in the middle, about when we need to take risk and when we need not. These are the little things that really help in building a partnership. In the last three games, we’ve got hundred-run partnerships and that’s only through the communication we’ve had in the middle.”It’s important that you keep talking to your partner, making him comfortable and it goes the other way as well. And he has played really well throughout the tournament, scoring four fifties in the last four games and he’s shown a lot of maturity as well handling the new ball. Whatever conditions you play, handling the new ball is pretty important and he did that pretty well.”

Addressing the speculation around India captain Virat Kohli’s availability for the series, MSK Prasad said the India captain’s workload would also be looked at after the Tests

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai23-Oct-20174:46

Chopra: Dhawan should be Vijay’s opening partner

Opening batsman M Vijay has returned to India’s Test side for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka. Vijay had missed the Tests on the Sri Lanka tour due to a wrist injury. The three-Test series against Sri Lanka will begin from November 16 in Kolkata.

India squad for first two Tests

Virat Kohli (capt), M Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Vijay’s return was the only change to India’s squad which had toured Sri Lanka earlier this year, with Abhinav Mukund making way. Axar Patel, who had come as Ravindra Jadeja’s replacement following the latter’s suspension for the Pallekele Test, was left out.In the lead-up to the selection committee meeting in Mumbai, there was some speculation that Virat Kohli would be rested. The had reported that Kohli had asked for personal time off in December, when India and Sri Lanka are slated to play the third Test and the six limited-overs matches. Since the Test squad has been announced only for the first two games, which will be played in November, there is still a possibility of Kohli getting time off.”With regard to Virat Kohli there has been some speculation that he’s going to be rested for the whole of Sri Lanka series,” India’s chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad, said. “It’s not right. Yes, as far as Test series is concerned, he’s going to play and at some point of time, the rotation policy that we’re following will also apply to the captain. We’re also monitoring his workload – he’s been playing continuously right from the IPL. We need to give him a break and we will consider after the Test series.”

India Board President’s XI for tour match v SL

Naman Ojha (capt, wk), Sanju Samson, Jiwanjot Singh, B Sandeep, Tanmay Agarwal, Abhishek Gupta, Rohan Prem, Akash Bhandari, Jalaj Saxena, CV Milind, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Ravi Kiran.

Kohli had recently spoken about India’s “hectic” schedule, before the start of the ODI series against New Zealand and had hinted that some “key batsmen” would also be rested before the upcoming away tours in 2018. Prasad did not identify which players would be rested and only said the workload of all players was being monitored.”Considering the workload and considering the international schedule we have right now, we are definitely rotating the players,” he said. “And it is too premature to say right now [who will be rested]. If you see the pattern with which we are selecting and we will let you know at an appropriate time. One thing is for sure that we are definitely going to rotate and monitor the workload of the players.”The selectors also announced the Board President’s XI for a two-day practice match against Sri Lanka, scheduled for November 11 and 12 in Kolkata. Led by wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, the squad features players whose teams will not play the Ranji Trophy round that is scheduled to begin on November 12. The team includes Sanju Samson, Jalaj Saxena and 20-year-old Madhya Pradesh seamer Avesh Khan.

Although numbers highlight Usman Khawaja’s trouble against spinners, the Australia No. 3 is doing his best to not think about it too much as he returns to the scene of one of his finest Test centuries

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide29-Nov-20170:32

Khawaja well short of Healy’s stump and golf ball record

If Usman Khawaja does have a problem against spin bowling – empirical evidence suggests that he does – the Australia No. 3 is doing his best to ensure he does not think about it as he returns to the scene of arguably his finest Test innings.A stern century against Vernon Philander, Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada under lights at Adelaide Oval a year ago demonstrated the high level of quality Khawaja possesses, even when challenged by a moving pink ball, quality bowlers and the inconvenience of becoming an impromptu opening batsman when David Warner was indisposed.However his non-selection for India, return for a single frazzled match in Bangladesh and then a first-up lbw dismissal to Moeen Ali in Brisbane have combined to raise plenty of the old, familiar questions about Khawaja’s ability to adapt to the challenges posed by spin bowlers. Moeen’s deception of Khawaja at the Gabba was a near replay of his exit to Graeme Swann at Durham four years ago, leaving batting technicians the calibre of Ricky Ponting and Chris Rogers to suggest numerous remedies.Whatever their suggestions, Khawaja is not about to start listening, preferring to keep himself as confident as possible in his ability without resorting to tinkering or overthought. “Sometimes you just get out. It’s cricket, it’s always going to happen,” Khawaja said. “It doesn’t really bother me too much but I have a pretty simple game plan – watch the ball and hit it. I don’t think there’s anything too drastic I have to worry about, it’s one game. Every time I go out there I watch the ball and score runs, I’m going to do exactly the same thing going forward.”There were two lefties out there and the Gabba was turning a fair bit which was a bit weird for the Gabba, day two. The wicket was still pretty soft and we did the exact same thing to them with Lyno [Nathan Lyon]. It depends on the conditions. In Australia, you’re most likely to get out to, especially in a pink ball game, a lot of the quicks. Spin plays an important role and there’s one good spinner in both sides.”I’m really happy with where I’m at. I’m really enjoying my cricket this year as I have in the previous years and fortunately scored a lot of runs for Queensland. Coming into this Test series, 1-0 up, it’s all I can really ask for. We’re winning cricket games, I’m happy. Obviously, I would’ve liked to contribute a bit more last game but the innings Smudge [Steven Smith] played was outstanding and then the way we backed that up was excellent. For me that’s what’s so important.”Something Khawaja has spent a little more time pondering is the place of the pink ball in Test cricket, suggesting a little more than a year ago that day-night Tests should not be considered the same as all-day affairs played with a red ball. “I would suggest we say pink-ball cricket is a different format because that way, players will start to accept it a bit more,” Khawaja said in November 2016. “Now when you mix the formats together it blurs the lines a bit.”His views, like the ball itself, have evolved in 12 months, to the point that he does not see it necessarily playing into the hands of England’s swing-bowling expert James Anderson. “The pink ball has changed a little over time,” he said. “It’s become a bit more consistent, it’s become closer to a red ball than it was three years ago when it was going around corners, it had a white seam, you couldn’t see a thing. It’s still a little bit different. I think if the conditions are right and it’s swinging, yes, but it’s one of those balls it doesn’t always swing consistently so it’s a bit hard to get a gauge on.”But it makes for a really great spectacle and you can still score runs if you play well and if you don’t bowl well you’re still going to get hit around. It’s still a pretty even contest. It’s definitely improved. I would never say it’s like the red ball because it’s not exactly like the red ball but it’s definitely improved over the years. That’s all we can do as cricket, trying to improve the pink ball, trying to make it a good spectacle, trying to make it an even contest between bat and ball.”It’s still fairly new, it’s in its infancy of trying to come out as a spectacle of the game. You can see the crowds around, people can come after work and watch cricket so it’s great for the game. I’m a big supporter of it for that reason and as long as we’re making improvements year after year, that’s all you can ask for.”As for who will be the most difficult opponent with the pink ball in hand this week, Khawaja looked towards one of his own number – the tall New South Welshman Josh Hazlewood. “Josh is always one who is very dangerous because he can swing it back in and nibble it,” he said. “When he’s on he gives you absolutely nothing. He doesn’t give you anything to hit, he’s one guy who is always in the game.”I think it does [get quicker at night]. It depends on the conditions too. I’m not sure if it’s the dew or the grass stands up, we’ve only been playing the pink ball for three or four years so it’s still fairly new to everyone. We’ve played night sessions where it’s quickened up. If you don’t bowl well you’ll still get hit for runs because the ball comes on to the bat better. Good cricket will always prevail, if both teams want to win they’ll have to play good cricket.”

This season’s final will be played from December 29, running into the new year

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2017Indore’s Holkar Stadium will host the Ranji Trophy final for the second year in a row. Last season, it was the venue of Gujarat’s title-winning bout against Mumbai. This season’s final will be played December 29 onwards.

Ranji Trophy knockouts

• 1st semi-final: Bengal v Delhi in Pune

• 2nd semi-final: Karnataka v Vidarbha in Kolkata

• Final: December 29 onwards in Indore

The two semi-finals will be played from December 17 to 21 with Pune playing host to Bengal and Delhi in a televised game, while Karnataka and Vidarbha will face off at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, with the match being available via a live stream.Defending champions Gujarat were knocked out in the quarter-finals this time by Bengal, who took a first-innings lead in the draw in Jaipur. The other three semi-finalists proceeded with the help of wins in the quarter-finals. Delhi beat Madhya Pradesh by seven wickets in Vijayawada, Vidarbha romped past Kerala by a massive 412 runs and Karnataka handed 41-time champions Mumbai an innings defeat in Nagpur.

While the stand-in captain praised Sri Lanka for their series turnaround, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said his team could not execute their plans despite doing ‘some homework’ before the final

Mohammad Isam27-Jan-2018Sri Lanka knew Bangladesh would find it hard to chase down 222 runs on the Mirpur pitch, according to their captain Dinesh Chandimal. He described the pitch as a “tough” one, saying his batsmen understood the importance of sticking around till the 50th over quite early and batted accordingly. That confidence helped them blow Bangladesh away in a 79-run win in the tri-series final, a superb comeback after losing so poorly in the first two matches of the tournament.Chandimal said the competitive total went hand-in-hand with Sri Lanka’s growing confidence. “It was a tough wicket,” Chandimal said. “I prayed before the toss, I need to win the toss. It was a dry wicket. Credit goes to Upul [Tharanga] and [Niroshan] Dickwella, they put on a 70-run [71] partnership. That was a turning point. We knew after 20 overs that if we can get 220-230, that’s a winning total for us.”We all knew, as I said, they are really good, especially playing here. But we had a feeling that we have a good total, and that’s a winning total. As I said we have game plans and we always try to play competitive cricket. And the guys played some outstanding cricket all around – with bat, ball and in the fielding also.”It was a sweet turnaround in Mirpur for Chandimal too, who was standing in in place of the injured Angelo Mathews. Around four years ago, he sat out the World T20 final despite being the captain, eventually seeing Lasith Malinga lift the trophy.It was a happy occasion certainly, and walking around the Shere Bangla National Stadium, trophy in hand, must have pleased Chandimal. He however took little credit.”We are over the moon,” he said. “This is all about working hard, especially after you lose the first two games. It is difficult to get back in this kind of tournament. The guys put their heart and soul in the practices and then when they go to the middle they put their heart and soul. They had the plans and they executed well, and credit goes to everyone who played the series.”Sri Lanka’s tactics to bowl short to the Bangladesh batsmen paid dividends as Tamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman fell prey to that length once again. Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said his team knew their opposition would use this length but couldn’t quite stave it off.”We have known in the last 8-10 days that they were bowling short,” Mashrafe said. “We have also spoken about it. But we cannot develop skills over seven days. One has to be mentally prepared. We talked about handling that length. We had the homework but we couldn’t deliver it.”Mashrafe also lamented the lack of support for Mahmudullah, whose 76 took Bangladesh to 142. “He needed support at the other end,” Mashrafe said. “He was the last man out. He had to play shots. If he got support from the middle order, he could have taken the chase deeper. In the Champions Trophy [win against New Zealand from a similar situation], he rotated the strike with Shakib [Al Hasan]. But playing shots and picking singles, all of it can’t be one batsman’s work.”

Leicestershire have made a double Pakistan pace bowler signing for the 2018 season, with Paul Nixon beginning his tenure as head coach by bringing in Mohammad Abbas and Sohail Khan to share overseas player duties

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jan-2018Leicestershire have made a double Pakistan pace bowler signing for the 2018 season, with Paul Nixon beginning his tenure as head coach by bringing in Mohammad Abbas and Sohail Khan to share overseas player duties.Abbas, 27, has made a good impression since his Test debut last year, taking 23 wickets at 21.34 in five matches. He will be available for Leicestershire’s first Championship match, starting on April 20, and then again from mid-June – given his likely involvement with Pakistan’s tour of England and Ireland during the first half of the season.Sohail, an experienced seamer who has played all three formats for Pakistan and claimed Test five-fors at Edgbaston and The Oval in 2016, will deputise while Abbas is away. He could feature in four Championship games, as well as Leicestershire’s Royal London Cup campaign.”We have been looking for a quality fast bowler as our overseas professional and Mohammad Abbas ticks all of the boxes,” Nixon said. “His Test match record is different class, he is the new kid on the block, and I am delighted to secure his signature.”But we expect to be without Mohammad for the first part of the season and it was vital that we secured high-class cover. Sohail Khan has a superb record both in red- and white-ball cricket, he has good experience on English conditions, and really stood out on the last tour when Pakistan played here. Sohail’s bowling will be ideally suited to early season conditions here.”Leicestershire finished bottom of the Championship in 2017, for the fourth time in five seasons, and replaced coach Pierre de Bruyn after less than a year in charge. Clint McKay, who had spent three seasons as Leicestershire’s overseas player, was also not asked to return.Nixon, the former England international and long-serving former player at Leicestershire, was appointed to try and build on the work started by chief executive Wasim Khan. In 2015, Leicestershire won their first Championship fixture in almost three years, while the following season they improved enough to finish seventh in Division Two – although they have still faced criticism for their recruitment policies.Abbas follows in the footsteps of recent Pakistan internationals to sign for Leicestershire, such as Umar Akmal and Abdul Razzaq. His first-class record is impressive, with 304 wickets at 21.05, and he is also expected to play in the T20 Blast, filling one of the two overseas slots.”I am really pleased to be joining Leicestershire County Cricket Club for the 2018 season,” he said. “It has been a dream of mine to play in county cricket and I am looking forward to meeting my new team-mates and working with head coach Paul Nixon and the staff.”

Australia U-19 will feature in a tri-series alongside hosts South Africa and England, this April, for their first overseas tour

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2018The Australia women’s Under-19 team is set to play for the first time in 15 years when they travel to South Africa for a tri-series, also featuring England, in April. Having last played a match in 2003, against England at home, the tour will also be the maiden overseas foray for the Under-19 side.The Cricket Australia Women’s youth selection panel named a 14-member squad that will take on South Africa’s Emerging Women and England Women’s Academy across four 50-over matches – between April 12 and 18 – and two Twenty20s, on April 24 and 26. The final will be a 50-over match and will be played on April 28. The team will be coached by former Australia batsman and current Cricket Australia high performance coach and Under-19 head coach Leah Poulton, with Ben Sawyer and Luke Williams acting in the assistant roles.The leadership duties will be split across the formats, with 16-year-old allrounder Rachel Trenaman named captain of the 50-over side, with Tasmanian Courtney Webb her deputy. The T20 side will be led by Saskia Horley, with Annabel Sutherland shouldering vice-captaincy responsibilities.”I think it just goes to show how fast the female pathway has moved over the last few years,” Poulton said of the decision to reintroduce the Under-19 team. “It’s an exciting time for women’s cricket and if Australia wants to stay at the top we really need to invest in our pathway, which I believe we’re doing well.”The tour presents a really good opportunity for the players to get a taste of what it’s like to be in an elite touring environment. Putting your skills to the test in a variety of different conditions and situations is an essential part of being an elite cricketer.”England and South Africa are two very good teams who will present some good challenges for the group. We want the players to be tested and to be pushed outside their comfort zones and to have to adapt to the different situations they find themselves in. This is a really exciting group of players who I think all have big futures in the game so I’m looking forward to seeing how they perform.”The re-integration of an Under-19 side comes on the back of structural changes made to the female pathway which brought it in line with the male pathway, with an Australia A side, Cricket Australia XI and National Performance Squad replacing the previous Under-21 Shooting Stars.Australia Under-19 squad: Stella Campbell (NSW), Maddy Darke (NSW), Hannah Darlington (NSW), Josephine Dooley (Queensland), Ellen Falconer (South Australia), Nicole Faltum (Victoria), Saskia Horley (NSW), Hayley Silver-Holmes (NSW), Annabel Sutherland (Victoria), Rachel Trenaman (NSW), Tayla Vlaeminck (Victoria), Georgia Wareham (Victoria), Courtney Webb (Tasmania), Tahlia Wilson (NSW)