No communication from selectors after being dropped in England - Murali Vijay

WOMEN'S WT20 2018

England include three uncapped players for WWT20

Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on Thu, 04 Oct, 2018, 11:04 PM

Gordon, the left-arm spinner from Nottinghamshire, has picked up 29 scalps at an average of 13.24 in T20s this year. © Getty

England have included three uncapped players, Kirstie Gordon, Linsey Smith and Sophia Dunkley in a 15-member squad for the Women's World T20 to be held in West Indies in November this year.

"It's always an exciting time when any England squad is announced but especially when there are three newcomers included," said coach Mark Robinson on Thursday (October 4). "Sophia, Kirstie and Linsey have all had outstanding summers domestically and impressed when they have been in and around the group. All three will bring something different to the squad.

"Everyone is looking forward to the challenges ahead and we can't wait to get out there and get started."

Gordon, the left-arm spinner from Nottinghamshire, has picked up 29 scalps at an average of 13.24 in T20s this year. She also helped Loughborough Lightning reach the final of Women's Super League this season by bagging 17 wickets at 12.47. The 21-year-old also played for Scotland in the Women's World Cup Qualifiers last year, taking eight wickets at an average of 14.75.

Smith, another left-arm spinner, who represents Sussex in domestic cricket, snared 11 scalps for Lightning during this season's Women's Super League. Her potential first came into the limelight during the 2016 season of Women's Super League when she took eight scalps at just 11.50 for Southern Vipers.

Dunkley, the Middlesex all-rounder, has compiled 239 runs in T20s this year. She also composed a fine hand of 66 against the Vipers in the Super League. Dunkley also bowls leg-spin.

Meanwhile, Heather Knight will again captain the side. Tammy Beaumont from Kent will be one of the mainstays of the batting line-up, having notched up 376 runs in T20Is this year. Danielle Wyatt, the opener, who has a strike-rate of 162.8 in T20Is in 2018, is also a key member of the side. Natalie Sciver, the Tokyo-born all-rounder, has also been in good nick in T20Is this year with 168 runs to her name.

Sophie Ecclestone (12 wickets this year), the left-arm spinner from Lancashire, and Danielle Hazell, the experienced offspinner, who has 84 T20I scalps will spearhead the bowling attack. The experienced trio of Katherine Brunt, Anya Shrubsole and Jenny Gunn will shoulder the pace-bowling duties.

England, however, will miss the services of Sarah Taylor, the seasoned wicketkeeper-batter, due to a relapse of anxiety issues. With Taylor not being included in the squad, Amy Jones, the 25-year-old from Warwickshire, will be the main wicketkeeper. She has played 24 T20Is and 29 ODIs for her country.

Alex Hartley, Georgia Elwiss, Fran Wilson and Laura Marsh, who were all part of England's 50-over World Cup winning squad last year, haven't been selected. Katie George, the left-arm pacer, who took a hat-trick versus India 'A' in a practice game this year, also misses out.

England have been slotted in Group A and will open their campaign against Sri Lanka in St Lucia on November 10.

Squad: Heather Knight (c) Katherine Brunt, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Eccelstone, Tash Farrant, Kirstie Gordon, Jenny Gunn, Dani Hazell, Amy Jones (wk), Nat Sciver, Linsey Smith, Anya Shrubsole, Lauren Winfield, Danni Wyatt, Tammy Beaumont

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NOT HEARING FROM SELECTORS

No communication from selectors after being dropped in England - Murali Vijay

Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on Thu, 04 Oct, 2018, 02:01 PM

Murali Vijay was dropped after the first two Tests in England. © Getty

Murali Vijay has joined the 'no communication from selectors' bandwagon, speaking out about the lack of dialogue between players who have been left out of the India squads and the national selectors.

"Neither the chief selector nor any other person spoke to me in England after I was dropped from the third Test," Vijay told Mumbai Mirror. "None of them have spoken to me since. I did have a conversation with the members of the team management in England and that's it," Vijay said of the tour in which he had scores of 20, 6, 0 and 0 in the first two Tests in the five-match series.

Subsequently, he was not picked in the XI for the third, and dropped from the squad for the last two Tests. "I think it is important that a player is told about the reasons for keeping him out so that he knows where exactly he stands in the team managements' and selectors' scheme of things. As a player it is very important that you are going to get more than just one or two games, so that you can plan better. Stability keeps doubts away. Ultimately, one has to perform and contribute to the team's cause."

Vijay's run of scores after being dropped in England for Essex in the County Championship were: 56, 100, 85, 80 and 2. However, he was not considered for the two-match Test series against Windies at home, as was Nair, who said he hadn't had any communication from the management for his own axing after a considerable period on the bench. Incidentally Nair has only played three Tests since his epoch in Chennai in December 2016. However, selector MSK Prasad refuted the claims saying that his team had been in touch with Nair over his non-selection.

"I will be preparing for the Australia series too in my own manner," said Vijay, who hopes to make a comeback when India tour Australia later next month. "I know the conditions there well, having scored close to 500 runs during the 2014-15 series. I wish to be ready if the chance comes. Ultimately it's the runs that matter when you are trying to make a comeback."

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WINDIES TOUR OF INDIA, 2018

Shaw. Ok. Tested

• Last updated on Thu, 04 Oct, 2018, 11:45 PM Shirshendu Roy in Rajkot

The nerves were there but it just didn't show for Prithvi Shaw on debut © AFP

When India's 293rd Test player, the 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw, walked in to bat, he admitted to having been "nervous". But there's nothing abnormal about it. For however many runs one might have scored at the levels building up to this stage, Test cricket shall always remain a different beast to conquer. So what if the debut is in the familiar climes of India, on a wicket that has produced truckloads of runs in the past; so what if it has a generous covering of grass on it and so what if the opposition is the Windies - sans Kemar Roach and their skipper Jason Holder. It's no more India A after all that he is playing for here, it is India.

It was not too long ago when KL Rahul, Shaw's opening partner on Thursday, himself had walked out to bat for the first time in Test cricket. Of course, his challenges were different. It was against Australia at their home, batting at No. 6 and with the comfort of having Virat Kohli by his side, who had already scored a hundred. Off the eighth ball Rahul faced, he came charging down to lift Nathan Lyon over the top and a miscued hit was dropped by the fielder in the deep. Immediately, Kohli walked up to him, sensing nerves jangling for the young man. There was a quick chat, perhaps telling him to back himself. Rahul did, but his slog sweep the next ball could only result in a top-edge landing safely in the hands of the fielder. Talk about nerves.

On Thursday, Shaw could have chosen to take the backseat [non-striker's end] and allowed himself that extra bit of time to wrap his head around the zillion emotions going on in his head. Rahul, who'd suddenly become this senior opening batsman in the side, could have taken the first ball for him. But no. Shaw seemed ready to take the challenge head on. It still was Windies' best and fastest bowler waiting at the top of the run-up - Shannon Gabriel. And it took Shaw only two balls to score his first runs in international cricket with a lovely backfoot punch through covers.

It was not the first time that the world had stopped by to take notice of what this young boy was up to. Match after match, season after season, he had made everyone follow him with awe, right from the day he had smashed a record-breaking 546 for his school Rizvi Springfield at the prestigious Harris Shield competition. Every time the bar was raised, Shaw would seemingly push it further. He won the Youth Asia Cup with India Under-19 first and then hit a hundred on Ranji Trophy debut. Less than a year thereon, he repeated the feat on his Duleep Trophy debut too. When he was made the captain of the Under-19 team at the World Cup, he led the team to victory and when he was thrust into the overseas challenges with the India A setup, he proved his mettle there too.

So what if the Windies might not be the same challenge that an England would have been when the little boy was with the Indian outfit during the last two Tests. He was fighting his own baggage, a reputation that he had built knock by knock. Even on Thursday, when Shaw was staying leg-side of the ball at most times to punch off the backfoot and cut fiercely through point, he was evoking comparisons again.

***

Just five deliveries old in Test cricket, Shaw had an interesting induction at the top level. His senior opening partner Rahul had been rapped on the pad and the umpire had given him out. All of a sudden, the 18-year-old, was involved in some crucial decision-making. Take that for a quick graduation, even though it resulted in a failed review.

That if it played on his mind for a little while is unknown but it was a tricky welcome to the toughest format of the sport. Minutes later, in the second over, the teenager would quash those doubts in everyone's mind. In a match-up of sorts against the one-Test old Keemo Paul, Shaw took on him to punch him through the cover region for four - the first boundary of the series, and importantly, his first at this level. He'd go on to hit him for three more in his next over. Such was his strokeplay that it forced the Windies on to the defensive, in as early as the ninth over.

It's strange how an opposition succumbed to the debutant's threat so early that they put four fielders in the deep with their lead spinner Devendra Bishoo bowling his first over. It was this tenacity to go after Bishoo that stood out on the day, with his treatment of the opposition's primary workhorse having the potential to throw him off his plans so early in the series. It were these phases that he won that made him special.

Windies' fielding coach Nic Pothas concurred. "You put two batters in who were scoring pretty freely, it is a game of chess. You do not want the game to run away from you early in a Test match. It is tough conditions and what you do not want is to have a day that goes in excess of 400 or 420 because you keep fielders in attacking positions for too long."

Off the pacers, Shaw was mellifluous. Every time they pinged their usual hard lengths, Shaw sent them a gentle reminder that it doesn't work that way in this part of the world. Every time they bowled closer to the stumps, he let them know that he'd the on-side game too, displaying his flicks and glances. And every time it was slightly outside off, he let them go without making much fuss. The fields were open but the run-rate still remained around a comfortable five at Lunch and quite similar till he hung around.

In Shaw's offensive march ahead, an otherwise sedate Cheteshwar Pujara, too, scored a brisk fifty before Lunch on the first day's play, a feat he'd never achieved in his 62-Test career. Pujara though would fall 14 short of his hundred.

***

Only a few hours ago, Shaw had been handed his first Test cap in a team huddle by his skipper and here he was telling him about how the pitch had been behaving so far and if there was any particular thing that the incoming batsman would need to know before taking strike.

Only some time back, Shaw had pushed a ball through the covers to bring up a majestic hundred on debut, becoming the second youngest Indian batsman to do so in Test cricket. Unfortunately though, there wasn't the biggest audience to witness him punch the air. There was neither the kind of challenge he'd have had, had he debuted in England. What was there though was the same old habit to score hundreds on debut.

... so what if he's playing for India, he still knows how to score them.

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