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James Anderson aims good county performance for national comeback

England pacer James Anderson was surprisingly snubbed from the side's Test squad for the West Indies series after a dreadful Ashes campaign led to poor scenes in English cricket.


Despite the batters' horrid show, Anderson, along with his bowling partner Stuart Broad was omitted from the Test team as interim managing director Sir Andrew Strauss emphasised the importance to look at young talents.


With the veteran pacer seemingly going back to the domestic circuit, he aims to deliver the goods for his county side Lancashire and earn his place back in the national team. Speaking on Eddie Hearn's 'No Passion No Point' podcast, Anderson mentioned that his focus is currently on performing for Lancashire, but international dreams are not over yet.


"When that isn't the case, then I'll have to make a decision on what I do. Whether I play for England this year or not, it's a great opportunity to go back to Lancashire and play for them," Anderson said as quoted by Daily Mail.


"I've had a central contract for 15 years or so now so I've not played a huge amount for them. So, actually giving something back to them would be nice and trying to help them win a Championship title," he added.


Further, Anderson asserted that his "hunger and passion" to play for Lancashire will hopefully give him a chance to don the English white jersey again.


"I don't want to look too far ahead still, I'm thinking about the start of the season in April and at the minute I've got hunger and passion to play for Lancashire and hopefully that will take me on to England later in the summer," Anderson concluded.

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Hard work doesn’t guarantee success: Hardik Pandya mulls comeback ahead of IPL

The Indian Premier League is just a week away and this year, it means a little more than usual for a lot of players in the international circuit. This year’s IPL is going to be very important for the immediate future of several stars who want to be in the scheme of things for the T20 World Cup scheduled later this year. For the Indian national team, focus will be on the likes of Mohammad Shami, Rahul Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and of course Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya - all of whom will be looking to put in strong performances to finalise their ticket for the World Cup. Pandya in particular is an interesting case, having not played the game since the T20 World Cup held in November 2021. For that matter, the all-rounder did not bat or bowl in the final two matches played against Scotland and Namibia. Speaking via the IPL website, Pandya stated that hard work always does not guarantee success and he is looking to follow the correct processes to get where he wants to be. “I am looking forward to this IPL because I have been away from the sport for quite a long time. For me it is exciting. I will get to see where I exactly am after three months of hard work that I have put in behind the closed doors.” It needs to be noted that Pandya has not played domestic cricket in a long time and recently checked into the National Cricket Academy to prove his fitness. “Right now, I just want to be in a positive mindset and I’m not looking way ahead. I am just focusing on things that are the controllables, which is looking after my body and making my team win. ” “I am just a work in progress right now but for me what will be important is that I will always be available for the players no matter what time and day.” There will be a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of Hardik Pandya before Gujarat Titans lock horns against Lucknow Super Giants on March 28.

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SA vs BAN | 1st ODI: Team performance produces historic win for Bangladesh

Bangladesh put on a masterclass against South Africa on Friday, 18 March at Centurion winning their first ever match against Proteas on South African soil. A comprehensive victory of 38 runs put Tamim Iqbal’s men ahead in the three-match ODI series and served a grim warning against the home side who lacked in intensity on the day. The win was setup by the batting unit of the visitors, who took time, but got the job done to put on a huge total that was always going to be difficult in a wicket that offered extra bounce. Bangladesh found batters throughout the line-up who showed up at the right time and helped the Asia side put on a huge total of 314 runs for the loss of seven wickets. Shakib Al Hasan showed the way with his brilliant 77 off 64 balls, and found support in Yasir Ali (50 off 44), who partnered him in the middle. Their 115-run partnership was the prime reason behind Bangladesh’s acceleration, after they were at 112/2 halfway through their innings. Later, Shakib confessed that after playing a few balls, he realised that the wicket had a lot of runs in it and they had to score at the excess of 300 runs to stay in the game. Luckily, he found a patient Yasir Ali alongside him, whose stability helped Shakib accelerate between the 30th and the 40th over. The duo added 115 off just 82 balls, before several contributions from the lower order pushed the runrate further up the chart. Credit must also be given to the opening pair of the visiting team, who chose to be conservative at their start and get a sense of the pitch before attacking the bowlers. Liton Das brought up yet another half century before falling in the 23rd over, to continue his exceptional touch of form. Das has turned things around in a tremendous fashion after his woeful performance in the T20 World Cup and has scored three consecutive fifties and a hundred from his last four matches. Coming into bowl, Bangladesh plated up their best fast bowlers against the Proteas, and they put on a masterclass of how to hit the right lengths consistently on this pitch. Three wickets fell inside the first 10 overs owing to the same, with Janneman Malan (4 off 10), Kyle Verreynne (21 off 25) and Aiden Markram (0 off 3) walking back to the dugout. Three wickets in quick intervals put a lot of pressure on the SA order and they had to go through a patient build-up that hurt their run rate. Down at 36/3 in 8.4 overs, captain Temba Bavuma and more importantly Rassie van der Dussen took control of the proceedings and the pair added 85 runs in the next 107 balls. Van der Dussen looked in the mood scoring the majority of those runs and keeping the run rate up with his flowing boundaries. The departure of Bavuma (31 off 55) in the 27th over meant that SA still needed close to 200 runs and did not have much time in their hands. David Miller’s injection in the 22-yards, ensued panic through the Bangladesh bowling unit, as the left-hander showed that he had done a lot of work in the domestic circuits before coming into this game. Miller and Dussen added 70 runs in the next 10 overs, showing signs that SA might just chase this down. However, disaster struck in the first ball of the 38th over with Yasir Ali taking a stunning catch at deep backward square leg to send Dussen packing. A late comeback from Mehidy Hasan found Miller frustrated at the other end as his partners walked back in a bunch. Proteas hopes were sealed shut after Miller was stumped by Mushfiqur Rahman off a Mehidy delivery that offered turn and bounce in plenty. Final wicket partnership of Keshav Maharaj (23 off 16) and Lungi Ngidi (15 off 10) tried but fell short of the target by 38 runs. With the win, Bangladesh turned a leaf in their history, winning the first ODI game in the SA soil after 19 failed attempts. Bangladesh currently stand at first position in the ICC Super League points table, having won 11 out of their 16 games played. England and India follow the leaders with 9 and 8 wins to their name.