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On another day, Aaron Finch might have been walking back for a first-ball duck in Wellington on Wednesday, a continuation of his lean run in T20s, but instead he was able to reflect on a half-century, his first in 27 innings, which helped set up a convincing victory.Backed by team-mates, the coach and the selectors, Finch’s form had nonetheless starting to become a significant focus as Australia head towards the end of their season and then a winter where they will be settling on a squad for the T20 World Cup in October.It appears unlikely that Finch’s position would have been scrutinised, but a return to form has helped avoid any awkward conversations or selection calls.”It’s never easy when you are trying to lead the side and not performing as well as you would like. But you always put the team first,” Finch said. “I felt my captaincy has been pretty good throughout this period and the Big Bash. I would have loved to have got some more runs but was never doubting that I’d ever get runs again.Related

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“T20 can be brutal game at the best of the times, just having the ability to take a step back and reassess my own game and go out there with a clear mind. It was great to have the support of the selectors.”Finch had been through a similar run two years ago with the 50-over World Cup even closer on the horizon than the T20 one later this year and in the nick of time surged back on a tour of India and didn’t look back in that format. T20 offers less time to play yourself back into form such is the pressure to score quickly but a couple of straight drives in Wellington got him up and running.Aaron Finch survive a very close shout for lbw first ball•Getty Images

“It’s one of those games that sometimes the better intent you have the luckier you get,” he said. “As a batter it can be bloody tough at times. Just having the confidence to keep backing my instinct and keep backing my game was the most important thing. I know I’ve done it before, I’m not a bad player.”I don’t look too much technically, think it’s more a mental thing. Sometimes when you are searching for a score you forget the absolute basics. You always get a bit fixated on the end result and not what’s right in front of you. At times it was wanting desperately to get some runs and forgetting to watch the ball, one percent can be enough in this game to be out and your run continues.”Earlier in the tour, Finch’s wife Amy had revealed she had been receiving significant abuse on social media as his low scores continued. “It’s never ideal when your family or partner is getting abuse for how you’re performing. That’s just not what it should be,” he said. “I’m fine to cop criticism about my game, that’s part of the job, but when it turns into abuse to your family that’s a bit past the line.”

Ross Taylor has said that he has eyes on the T20 World Cup later this year even though he hasn’t featured in the last two New Zealand squads in this format. He believes there is still enough time to return with the side set to play a lot of matches leading up to the main event in India.Taylor was speaking ahead of the third ODI against Bangladesh in Wellington, having been passed fit following a hamstring injury that kept him out of the first two games.”I think I’ve still got ambitions on the T20 World Cup,” Taylor said. “I think there’s still a lot to go. The selectors have wanted to give these guys the opportunity which is fair enough. This is a good format, especially in New Zealand, for getting these guys into international cricket, if they are not going to play a lot of ODI and Test cricket. T20 is the logical way of bringing them into the side.”In the last two years, Taylor has played 14 out of New Zealand’s 24 T20Is. He made 166 runs with two fifties against India last year, but saw his batting position go to new players like Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips. Taylor said that he was surprised to be dropped from the New Zealand team for the T20I series against Australia, and now Bangladesh. He got to play only four deliveries during the T20I series against West Indies in November last year.”It was a bit of a surprise, getting player of the year and facing four balls. I am not going to lie. You have respect their decision that this is a format to give the guys an opportunity to play.”I feel age is just a number. I am able to do a job that’s required. There’s a lot of cricket to be played in the winter. I will be around somewhere,” he said.After the Bangladesh T20I series at home, New Zealand are likely to play against Pakistan and Bangladesh again during their winter, ahead of the T20 World Cup. On Wednesday, New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen said that they haven’t yet ruled Taylor out entirely from their T20 plans.”(New Zealand coach) Gary (Stead) has been working really closely and talking with Ross. Ross sits in behind those current group of incumbents that we’ve got now,” Larsen told stuff.co.nz. “As we said when we didn’t pick Ross originally it was a really tough decision and I’ll say that again because we know his pedigree and the quality. We know and Ross has stated to us that he’s still keen and he thinks he can still contribute. From our side as selectors that’s great. We always take the approach of ‘never say never’. We know he’s sitting there and if we needed to call for Ross then we know he’d be jumping out of his skin.”

Cricket South Africa has potentially avoided being derecognised and defunded by the country’s sports ministry after agreeing to adopt a new Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) that will include a framework for a majority independent board. The members’ council – the body made up of 14 provincial presidents which has the highest decision-making powers at CSA – and interim board met on Sunday, to iron out the new MOI.They reached an agreement two days after sports minister Nathi Mthethwa issued a notice of his intention to strip CSA of its status as the game’s official governing body in the country and five days before Mthethwa’s actions were due to be published in the government gazette. Mthethwa had given CSA three ultimatums to agree to the new structure as part of his efforts to sort out governance issues in cricket. Until Sunday the members’ council were resistant to a majority independent board, but under threat of the game ceasing to exist in the country, changed their minds.Related

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“Today we reached an important milestone, and I am delighted that the members’ council and the Board reached agreement on a new governance structure,” Stavros Nicolaou, interim board chair, said.”We have now successfully managed to fulfill the mandate given to us by Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr Nathi Mthethwa. We trust that this important agreement will give confidence to all cricket’s stakeholders specifically, players, staff, sponsors and all in the country who love the game of cricket. We owed it to our country to find a solution to cricket’s governance challenges.”CSA will adopt the new MOI in the next 48 hours which should mean Mthethwa reverses his decision and cricket in South Africa will continue to be run by CSA.

It took exactly five overs on the fourth day for Pakistan to take the solitary wicket they needed to complete a 2-0 clean sweep over Zimbabwe, bowling them out for 231 and winning by an innings and 147 runs. Shaheen Afridi was the man to make the breakthrough, coaxing Luke Jongwe into a drive the batsman could only edge through to the wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.

Taylor gets one demerit point for showing dissent

Brendan Taylor got one demerit point and an official reprimand for showing dissent at the umpire’s decision after he was adjudged caught behind in Zimbabwe’s second innings. The incident took place in the 37th over, when Taylor pointed to his thigh pad and held his head after being given out.

Taylor was found to have breached Level 1 of Article 2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel. It was his second offence in a 24-month period, taking his cumulative demerit points to two.

Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.

It saw him complete a five-wicket haul, becoming the third Pakistan bowler in the Test to do so after Hasan Ali and Nauman Ali. This is the first time in Pakistan history three bowlers have taken five wickets in a single Test, and just the sixth time overall. Despite the bowling heroics, it was Abid Ali who scooped up the Player of the Match award for his first double-century.The day began with Jongwe looking to farm the strike, ensuring he faced Afridi while Muzarabani was left to negotiate the less menacing Tabish Khan. The pair looked largely comfortable with this arrangement, but with Zimbabwe having little hope in the wider context of the game, it was only a matter of time before the breakthrough would arrive. Pakistan will fly home content with the way they came back in the Test series after the indifferent T20I leg.Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will rue their performances in two rare Tests against high-quality opposition, and gear up again for a series against Bangladesh later this year.

Mithali Raj has said she doesn’t heed criticism around her strike rate and instead focuses on shouldering the responsibility bestowed by the team management in terms of playing the anchor role in the Indian ODI side.”I do read the criticism about my strike rate but as I’ve said earlier also, I don’t seek validation from people,” Raj, the India Test and ODI captain, said after sealing a 220-run chase and her side’s thrilling four-wicket win on Saturday in Worcester with an unbeaten 75. “I have played for a long time, and I know that I have a certain responsibility in the team. I don’t look to please people, I’m here to play the role that’s assigned to me accordingly, by the team management.Related

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“When you’re chasing a target, you pick your bowlers, you pick the length, and you pick the areas. And because I am in good flow, I know I need to make the best use of me in the middle. In a way the batting unit revolves around me – that’s the job that’s been given to me by the coach.”I look to not get bogged down because somewhere I do know that the top order is already in the dugout and it was important for me to understand the situation how I can manoeuvre and try to get the match as close as possible with the batters who are yet to come and the batters that I had in the middle. And I guess I need to give credit also to Sneh Rana because that partnership was very, very crucial. She kept her calm, which is very important in such situations.”Picking up her third straight fifty in the ODI leg of the multi-format series, Raj steered India to victory in the final over of the chase after putting on two fifty stands. The second of those was with No. 7 Sneh Rana, whose vital 22-ball 24 earned her praise from Raj.”For me batting has always been a role-play in the team,” Raj said. “The sort of role that is assigned to me over the years is of taking the responsibility of the batting unit and play throughout. And that’s something I’ve always done.”Today also was one of those days where I could plan my innings. Chasing gives me a better picture of building an innings along with the other batters in the middle and I am able to control the game. I think that really worked for me. And having young girls in the side it helps to guide them when you’re in the middle to also sort of help them understand the situation and how to play in these conditions. It works well that way.”En route to her half-century, Raj surpassed former England captain Charlotte Edwards as the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket. She went past Edwards’ tally of 10,273 with a four off Natalie Sciver in the 24th over of the chase.Mithali Raj – “Because I am in good flow, I know I need to make the best use of me in the middle”•Getty Images

“I think the way things have gone, it wasn’t an easy journey,” Raj said, reflecting on her storied 22-year-long international career. “It had its trials and challenges. I’ve always believed that these trials always have a purpose, and there were times when I wanted to give up for various reasons but something kept me going and here I am, 22 years of international cricket but the hunger to score runs for India has never dried up.”[…] I know I have a few months in the run-up to the World Cup, and there’s certain areas, certain dimensions to the game that I would like to add to my batting. I look forward to working on those areas.”Raj, who retired from T20Is in 2019, had before the England tour said the 2022 ODI World Cup would be her swansong. With only tours of Australia and New Zealand so far scheduled before next year’s world tournament, the ODI assignment in England which concluded on Saturday may have been her last one in the country.”Obviously, before the World Cup we don’t have an England tour but I have always enjoyed playing in England against England, one of the quality teams on the world stage,” Raj, who made her international debut in England in 1999, said. “They say English conditions are always difficult, but the bulk of my runs I’ve scored on this soil. I’m just grateful that each time I come here…”There have been times when I’ve toured England from a bad form and I have scored heavily coming to England. So, I am happy the way I started in 1999, and today it’s come a full circle. I just look forward positively for the tours I am yet to play that I continue this form into those series as well.”

After rediscovering some fine form with the bat, Nat Sciver is targeting more in Taunton, where she expects India to show some fight as England hunt an unassailable lead in the ODI leg of their multi-format series.England lead the series by four points to two after drawing the Test and then winning the first of three ODIs resoundingly in Bristol on Sunday, when Sciver and Tammy Beaumont combined for an unbroken third-wicket stand worth 119.Sciver had spoken in the lead-up to the Test, also in Bristol, of her hunger for more runs after scores of 7, 10 and 9* in the opening rounds of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and 2 for England against England A in a warm-up for the India series.After contributing a valuable 42 in the Test, Sciver kicked on with 74 not out as England’s batting depth was scarcely tested in an eight-wicket victory secured with 15.1 overs to spare.Related

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Turning her attention to Taunton, where England can go 2-0 up in the three-match 50-over series on Wednesday, Sciver was hopeful that her latest knock is a sign of more to come.”I’m really happy that I managed to put a partnership together with Tammy because in the games leading up to the series I’d been a bit frustrated in not being able to get a score,” Sciver said. “We’d spoken about having a partnership over 100 and just making sure that we were clinical so I was very happy to be out there at the end with her and I felt like I was in a good spot to push on.”Beaumont has been in scintillating touch, her unbeaten 87 marking the fourth time in as many ODIs that she has passed fifty and coming after another half-century in the Test. Most encouraging for Sciver, the England vice-captain, was that her return to form required no changes to technique or mindset.”I haven’t done anything different, just being patient,” Sciver added. “I was quite easily frustrated in the domestic games we had before the series, wanting to get a score just to feel good, but I was patient and just played my natural game, hit straight and made use of the bad ball.”It felt good to be out there in the middle with Tammy in the other game so hopefully it can be more of the same.”But where patience proved to be a virtue for Sciver, it was India’s undoing, their overall run rate of 4.02 ultimately taking them to a below-par 201 for 8 from their 50 overs, which included 181 dot balls. India posted 27 for 2 in the first powerplay and they took until the 32nd over to reach the 100 mark, captain Mithali Raj’s 72 holding the innings together but coming off 108 deliveries.Sciver expects to see a different approach from India in the day-night match in Taunton.Sciver’s partnership with Tammy Beaumont in Bristol was match-winning•PA Photos/Getty Images

“If we were in that position, we’d want to certainly punch back a bit harder and make sure that we don’t do the same things again,” she said. “So we’re expecting India to come out with a bit of fight tomorrow.”But hopefully with our skill that we’ve got with the ball and ruthlessness with the bat we can put on a good performance again.”England, whose victory in the first ODI was set up by a strong all-round bowling display led by Sophie Ecclestone’s 3 for 40, could be well-served targeting India’s dangerous openers again.Having removed destructive hitter Shafali Verma, making her ODI debut after twin half-centuries in her maiden Test the week before, and fellow Smriti Mandhana cheaply thanks to seamers Katherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole – who claimed two wickets each – the hosts were in a strong position to keep a lid on India’s scoring and put pressure on the middle order.”Their line-up is obviously very powerful at the top,” Sciver said. “The importance of the first 10 from our bowlers was massive and Anya and Katherine showed their class and really put the pressure on, made it hard for them to score, and then they had to go for a big shot.”

KL Rahul made the last of his five Test hundreds at The Oval in September 2018. He had managed just 150 runs in nine innings on that tour prior to that innings, and his position was in doubt. But he changed things around with an attractive 149 on the final day as he and Rishabh Pant nearly pulled off a coup before falling short. Back in England, almost two years since he last played a Test, Rahul is more “focused and determined” and is less worried about being dropped.Related

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“When I got dropped in 2018, I had to go back and discuss with coaches, watched a lot of videos to see where I was faltering and try to correct that,” he told . “I’m happy, time off from Test cricket (has helped). Like they say, failure makes you strong, makes you more focused and determined about the game. It’s no different for me. I’m looking forward to the opportunities, trying to stay a lot calmer and more disciplined.”Rahul is currently a back-up middle-order batter – and not an opener like in 2018 – in the Test squad, and while he isn’t guaranteed a spot in the first XI for the series opener at Trent Bridge starting on August 4, he could be in the mix should Ajinkya Rahane not recover in time from a hamstring niggle.That innings at The Oval, Rahul pointed out, was down to playing with a sense of freedom. “I remember The Oval being the best batting pitch we got in the whole series,” he said. “At the back of my mind, I also knew it was the last game of the series and I hadn’t done well in the series. So, it was only realistic that I would have probably not gotten a chance in the next series.”I wanted to make it count, enjoy my batting. I had a sense of freedom in my head. I thought this may be my last opportunity to let me go and enjoy my game. Me and Rishabh, had we battled for an hour more, we could have won the game. That would have been historic, been the icing on the cake. But I’ll still hold Oval very close (to my heart).”Rahul has only featured in two first-class games in the last 18 months, but his century in India’s lone tour game against a County Select XI last week has again raised hopes of a Test comeback. His last Test was in the West Indies in August-September 2019, in the series that kicked off India’s World Test Championship campaign. Since then, while his white-ball credentials have skyrocketed, his red-ball stocks have taken a hit.KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant almost pulled off a coup at The Oval back in 2018•Getty Images

A hand injury led to him missing parts of the Australia tour in December-January, and the England series at home. In May, during the IPL, he had to have surgery for appendicitis. Now, on his second Test tour to England, Rahul felt he was more aware of his game.”It’s always good to get runs in the white kit,” he said of his century last week. “It’s been a while since I’d played a red-ball game, so it was very nice to be out there, and score runs. It’s important to stay patient and wait for my turn. I’ve been working on my game. It’s good to get some time in the middle and score some runs.”I’ve always been confident. I’ve never really worried about confidence. It’s my self-belief that has gotten me so far, but it’s about maintaining a calm head, learning from your mistakes. I’m just enjoying my game. I’ve made mistakes, I’ve learnt from them. I get stronger. Like I said this is a good opportunity again, hopefully fingers crossed I can do the job for the team.”During that warm-up game in Durham, Rahul had the additional responsibility of keeping wicket, as Pant and Wriddhiman Saha were unavailable because of Covid-19 protocols. It’s not new to him, it’s part of his job profile in short-format cricket anyway.”It’s a good opportunity to test my body and wicketkeeping skills,” he said. “The added responsibility made me really sore but apart from that, it was good time out and it gives me good opportunity to stay in the game. Especially when it is a practice game, sometimes it can feel longer. But when you’re wicketkeeping, you need to stay focused and you’re in the game all the time. So, I quite enjoyed it.”

Kieron Pollard turned what had looked an uncertain run chase into a canter for Trinbago Knight Riders after the defending champions had been set up for their opening victory in this year’s tournament by Isuru Udana’s career-best five-wicket haul.It was a good game for left-arm seamers with Mohammad Amir responding with three wickets in his opening spell, but from 38 for 4 in the eighth over Knight Riders were taken to victory by an unbroken stand of 87 in nine overs between Pollard and Denesh Ramdin. The target was hauled into view with a barrage of sixes – the last of them taking Pollard to a 29-ball fifty.Barbados Royals had made a reasonable start in the powerplay but things then started to go wrong in the space of consecutive overs from Udana. His first wicket was fortuitous as Johnson Charles was given caught behind pulling only for replays to show it came off the shoulder. Then in four balls of his next over, Udana had Jason Holder and Glenn Phillips caught in the deep to leave Royals 42 for 3.There was something of a recovery from Shai Hope and Azam Khan before Hope was brilliantly caught by Darren Bravo running in from long-on against the excellent Akeal Hosein. Udana completed the first five-wicket haul of his T20 career when he returned for his last over and had Khan slicing to short third man and his fellow Sri Lankan Thisara Perera held in the deep.Pollard was also rewarded for aggressive captaincy when Kyle Mayers edged Sunil Narine to slip in the 16th over. In the end Royals were unable to bat out their 20 overs with their last six wickets falling for 19.They hit back strongly in the Powerplay through Amir who removed Narine first ball, miscuing to mid-off, extracted Lendl Simmons’ middle and leg stumps then had Colin Munro taken at slip when he was cramped by a shorter delivery.There was some awkward bounce to contend with while the ball was new with Holder and Oshane Thomas causing a number of uneasy moments. The pressure that was built in the first half of the chase resulted in Tim Seifert’s wicket when he top edged to deep square.At that stage Royals were firmly in the contest, but with such a small target – and Pollard’s ability to change gear – the required rate was never a problem. Royals were also hampered by a loose first over from Hayden Walsh with Holder then not confident to give the legspinner another bowl.Ramdin, who had taken a thudding blow on the arm guard from Thomas, was content to play second fiddle once Pollard was settled. Amir was brought back for his last over in the 13th to try and conjure a wicket but was seen off and from there Knight Riders did not look back.

Bangladesh are set to play a three-match ODI series against hosts Zimbabwe in November before the two sides enter the biobubble for the 10-team women’s ODI World Cup Qualifier to be played in the African nation. The bilateral series will be Bangladesh’s first international assignment since the T20 World Cup held in Australia in February-March last year.”The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Zimbabwe Cricket have had talks regarding this series and it was decided our women’s team will be play three ODIs against Zimbabwe ahead of the World Cup Qualifier,” Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel, the head of BCB’s women cricket wing told ESPNcricinfo. “We have stuck to just the ODI matches for the bilateral series because the qualifier are in the one-day format and it will serve as an important preparatory exercise for our team in terms of getting match time before the qualifier.”Since the 2020 T20 World Cup, where Bangladesh were eliminated in the league stage, the only top-flight competitive cricket the players took part in was in April, when the South Africa Emerging side had toured Sylhet for a five-game one-day series. The fifth match, however, was cancelled “to accommodate the visiting side’s return home before the suspension of international flight operations” following a Covid-19-induced lockdown in Bangladesh,” a BCB release said at the time.Asked about Bangladesh’s protracted time away from international cricket, stretching to 18 months at present, Nadel said: “We had been trying to organise tours for Bangladesh Women for a long time, but our plans didn’t come off. The coronavirus pandemic was a reason but we came across hurdles arising from issues related to sports and social-cultural perceptions that exist in the subcontinent – I won’t name the countries but we didn’t agree to conduct tours with a few of them because of this reason.”Unfortunately, roadblocks continue to exist around women’s sport, related to prevailing gender inequality, even though we continue to work to eradicate them. The investment required to create a biobubble is significant for a women’s team; we often don’t get that from our sponsors. Sponsors and investors expect mileage out of every series they invest in, and against that backdrop, that doesn’t seem to be possible now (with the women’s side), so the matches against Zimbabwe is all we have been able to finalise.”Related

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The qualifying event, delayed twice due to the pandemic, runs from November 21 to December 5, with Bangladesh, who last played an ODI series in November 2019, expected to depart for Zimbabwe on November 4 or 5. The visitors’ coaching staff, Nadel said, would comprise only local personnel, considering the BCB has not found a suitable candidate yet for the head coach role, a position that has remained vacant since the muddled exit of former India captain Anju Jain in June 2020 following the end of her contract two months earlier.The BCB had formally invited applications for the head coach’s job in May, with June 10 the deadline. However, ESPNcricinfo understands a raft of pandemic-enforced last-minute withdrawals by high-profile foreign candidates either side of publication of the job advert derailed the BCB’s plans of filling up the post. Mark Robinson, who coached England to the 2017 women’s World Cup title at home, was among them.Nadel said the BCB remains focused on hiring a foreign national as head coach, as has been “the tradition over the recent past,” but even if the board ends up shortlisting applicants before the Zimbabwe tour, he made it clear the appointment would be made only after the qualifier.”We have several reputed coaches in the national pool who work with women cricketers. And we have seen interest from foreign coaches, too, not to mention our last few national head coaches for the women’s team have been from overseas,” Nadel said. “Our team is still relatively inexperienced on the international stage, so went want to avail of the services of coaches with strong international experience because we want our women’s team to be mentally strong. That’s the reason we’re looking for a foreign coach.”That said, we are not looking to hire a coach from abroad for the Zimbabwe series or the World Cup Qualifier because we don’t think 15 days or a month would be adequate time for the coach to get to know the players, assess their strengths and weaknesses, or prepare them accordingly,” he said. “So, we want to use our local coaches for these assignments.”To get preparations for the tour of Zimbabwe underway, the BCB recently organised a skills-and-fitness camp at BKSP Ground in Savar for 60 women cricketers, the board’s 22 centrally contracted players included. The camp began on August 14, ran in two phases, and ended with a four-team, 50-over tournament.The final of the seven-match competition was held on September 11 and saw Bangladesh regulars in Salma Khatun, Fargana Hoque, Shamima Sultana, Rumana Ahmed, Khadija Tul Kubra, Lata Mondal lock horns in the Eastern vs Southern clash. The other two teams – Northern and Western – featured the likes of Jahanara Alam and Murshida Khatun among other prominent names from the national side.According to Nadel, the camp was held under the watch of six coaches with prior experience of working with women cricketers in Bangladesh: Wahidul Gani, Dipu Roy, Ruhul Amin, Faruque, Shanu and Emon, some of whom who are expected to accompany Bangladesh on the Zimbabwe tour and oversee the World Cup Qualifier campaign.The three qualifiers for the 2022 ODI World Cup as well as the next two teams will book places in the next ICC Women’s Championship along with the top five from last time, as the ICC increased the number of teams in the third cycle of the IWC from eight to 10. Bangladesh, currently ranked eighth in the ODI team rankings, were not part of the previous IWC cycles. In T20I rankings, they hold the No. 9 position.

Bangladesh will continue to keep the faith with Liton Das, as they push for him to get back into form during the T20 World Cup. After registering 16 and 1 in the warm-up matches, Liton scored 5 against Scotland and 6 against Oman in their first games in the tournament.Liton’s low scores hurt Bangladesh’s starts in the powerplay. Soumya Sarkar failed in the first game, and with Liton getting out cheaply twice, they have had to resort to batting out the powerplay to avoid further damage.”I think at the moment he wants to get a start,” said Ashwell Prince, the team’s batting coach. “He batted really nicely in the warm-up match two weeks ago against Oman A. He hasn’t had a big score since then. I think when you are labelled as the best batsman in your generation, sometimes it can be a burden on your shoulders.”He is a fantastically talented player. I think everyone is waiting for him to burst out and be the player that we know he can be. All the coaches are trying to assist him as much as possible. We believe in him. We trust him. Hopefully, there will be a bigger stage in a week’s time to express himself.”Bangladesh’s shock loss to Scotland in the first game prompted an unprecedented batting order reshuffle. Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim were sent to No. 7 and 8 respectively, while Mahedi Hasan, Nurul Hasan and Afif Hossain were given promotions. Though such changes happen often in franchise cricket, Bangladesh have usually been fairly rigid in their batting positions.Prince said that the batters must be ready for flexibility, and they are often aided by data analysis so they have the information about a particular type of bowler. “If you want to be a big player who goes up against all the other big players in the world, you have to adapt to any situation. Every player should be prepared to be in a flexible batting line-up. We have had these discussions in team meetings.”These days there are so many stats, but the players have to make their own decisions in the middle. The coach is entitled to have a flexible line-up. The players are open about it.”One of Bangladesh’s early success stories in the tournament has been Mahedi Hasan. He has taken four wickets in two matches, and looked in good form in his short innings against Scotland. He got out to a good return catch by Fayyaz Butt against Oman, but Prince believes Mahedi can translate his bowling form into his batting.”We had two pressure matches against Scotland and Oman. If you watched his body language on the field, he is very calm and confident in his ability. It also translates into his batting.”Obviously the coach made a decision to put him at No. 3. It didn’t pay off yesterday, but not all decisions in a cricket match pay off.”