From the diary of a cricketer

Being still is hard. When you think about it, it should be easy. After all, it involves doing nothing. Over the last few months, I have tried desperately to be still. To take the time to breathe, to reflect, to just be. Truth be told, it has been one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in recent times. The uncertainty that comes with freedom is daunting to say the least. After years of movement and structure, as a student, an athlete, a working professional, there was suddenly nothing. Stillness is strange – it means the absence of movement. But my mind has not stopped racing since December. I have felt restless and frustrated and unsure of where to channel my energies. So many possibilities, so many ideas, but little (read: no) motivation. No deadlines to meet or plans to make, meant I didn’t have to dig into an empty reservoir of enthusiasm either. There was no need to plod on. I could just be. Until a couple of months ago, my days have always been very structured – things that need...

(James Allan / Getty Images) On 20 November 2016, when Meghana Sabbineni walked on to the field for the first time as an international cricketer, she was greeted by a boisterous crowd gathered at the Dr. Gokaraju Liala Gangaaraju ACA Cricket Ground in Mulapadu to cheer for their local hero. When she struck four boundaries on her way to a 16-ball 17 in India’s chase of 138, the crowd roared their appreciation. And when she was dismissed – lbw to Hayley Matthews – the disappointment was palpable. A little over five years to that day, Meghana was back in her home ground – a little older, much wiser, and far leaner – but this time, she was an international discard, playing in an empty stadium (albeit in front of television cameras) for her place in the Indian team. *** When Meghana first came into the domestic system, she was seen as an obscenely talented batter, but often missed the spotlight next her equally gifted opening partner V Sneha Deepthi. The pair, both highly rated by then Andh...

Jade Allan/ Getty Images In the first ODI of New Zealand’s five-match series against India in Queenstown, Maddy Green found herself opening the batting - a role she had performed only twice before, against South Africa in 2020. In her third attempt, she made a decent account of herself, scoring an enterprising 17 in a 54-run opening stand - the side’s first 50+ opening stand in 12 matches - with Suzie Bates before she ran past a delivery from Deepti Sharma. A couple of days later, in the second ODI, Green was back down the order at No. 5. A little over a year earlier, the right-hander had stepped in as the team’s premier off-spinner in the absence of Leigh Kasperek and Anna Peterson during New Zealand’s tour to Australia. Amy Satterthwaite, who had just returned from maternity leave was focused primarily on her batting, so Green, who had begun turning her arm over in the nets (and domestic matches) more regularly, was seen as an alternate option. She bowled 12.4 overs through the serie...

Photo: James Allen/ Getty Images When Suzie Bates brought up her 11th ODI century in the opening game of the five-match series against India at the John Davies Oval in Queenstown on Saturday (12 February), there was a sense of relief that appeared to envelope her. It was the casting aside of months of doubt and frustration; the reassertion of her dominance at the top of the order; a reminder, from one of the game’s greatest, that there is plenty of fight left in the tank. Bates’ match-winning 106 off 111 deliveries headlined a convincing 62-run win for New Zealand, allowing the hosts to take the opening game in a bi-lateral ODI series for the first time since June 2018. Incidentally, that same series, against Ireland, was when Bates scored her last (tenth) ODI hundred – a mammoth 151 off just 94 deliveries. For a batter of the quality of Bates, the wait was far too long, but after a lengthy injury layoff , the runs couldn’t have come at a better time – heading into a home World Cup. ...