Cricketers of the Week: 27th May to 3rd June

The Champions Trophy is underway and the week featured some enthralling cricket. England beat South Africa 2-1 in a three-match ODI series and then thumped Bangladesh in their first fixture in the Champions Trophy. They definitely look good to win the ICC trophy on home soil.

There were some wonderful performances from many players including in the washed-out New Zealand–Australia fixture that probably robbed the Kiwis of some points.

Here, we take a look at the top five performances of the week. Tamim Iqbal, Hashim Amla and Kane Williamson miss out, despite scoring high-class centuries and so do Miller and Quinton de Kock, who played valiant knocks in a losing cause. Amla even became the quickest to 25 ODI centuries.

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#1 Joe Root (133* v Bangladesh)

At Kennington Oval, Bangladesh had posted an impressive 305 on a reasonably good batting deck in the first fixture of the Champions Trophy. That was courtesy of a solid top-order batting performance.

However, England made mince-meat of that hefty target despite losing Jason Roy cheaply. Much credit has to go to Joe Root who walked in at 6 for 1 in the third over and stayed unbeaten till the end.

Root added 159 for the second wicket with Alex Hales, who scored a blistering 86-ball 95, narrowly missing out on a century himself. He then added an unbeaten 143 with his skipper Eoin Morgan, who continued his good form with a 61-ball 75.

Root’s 133 came off 129 balls and he scarcely looked uncomfortable at any point during the tough chase. This was his tenth ODI century.

#2 Kagiso Rabada (4/39 v England)

SA’s bowling sensation is now their spearhead

Rabada gave the South Africans something to cheer in the dead rubber at Lord’s by battering England’s meaty batting line-up with some serious pace. He picked up the openers, Roy and Hales and then dented the England batting further by picking up Buttler and then Adil Rashid off back to back deliveries.

By the end of the fifth over, England were 20 for 6 with Rabada picking up four big wickets. Eventually, he ended with figures of 4-39 in nine overs, supported well by Wayne Parnell, who had figures of 3-43 in eight overs. Rabada was simply unplayable as all his four wickets were catches to the slip fielder or the wicket-keeper.

#3 Josh Hazlewood (6/52 v New Zealand)

Hazlewood was Australia’s bright spot in a lucky escape

Hazlewood registered one of the best bowling figures by an Australian at the Champions Trophy in the game against their Trans-Tasmanian rivals. Thanks to a Williamson special, New Zealand were 216 for 2 in the 34^th over, but Hazlewood cleaned up the middle and lower order as the Kiwis were bundled out for 291 in just 45 overs.

Hazlewood picked the big wicket of Guptill in the 6^th over before denting the New Zealand middle order, preventing them from building on the solid foundation which a 99 run third-wicket partnership between Williamson and Taylor had laid.

Australia were in trouble during the chase, but were saved by the rain, with the teams ending up sharing the points.

#4 Ben Stokes (101 and 1/12 v South Africa)

Stokes is well on his way to becoming the world’s best all-rounder

Stokes is rising in stature each day and he showed that against a high quality South African team with both bat and ball. Stokes scored a sizzling 101 off just 79 balls, pushing England’s score to 330. He had walked in at 80 for 3 in the 16^th over and by the time he was dismissed, England had reached 252 for 3 in only the 44^th over.

He came back and picked the big wicket of Hashim Amla, breaking the 56-run first wicket partnership. Eventually, he was the difference between the two teams as South Africa came within sniffing distance of that huge total in the second ODI of the three-match series.

SA lost by just two runs, David Miller’s 51-ball 71 proving to be futile.

#5 Imran Tahir (4/27 v Sri Lanka)

Tahir was the Man of the Match against SL

Tahir continued his celebration of cricket with a Man of the Match performance against Sri Lanka at Kennington Oval in the Champions Trophy. Tahir was brought on a little late, but when he got his chance in the 18^th over, he ensured Sri Lanka had no escape.

Tahir ran through the Sri Lankan middle order, first getting the well-set Tharanga, SL’s stand-in skipper. He applied the brakes on the Lankan innings and squeezed out the life from the chase as Sri Lanka tumbled from 94 for 1 in the 12^th over to 203 all out in the 42^nd over.