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With batting getting tougher as the surface wears on, in India, Kane Williamson has said that the first-innings total will be a key area, on the eve of the Indore Test

Sidharth Monga in Indore07-Oct-20163:38

‘We are yet to play our best cricket’ – Williamson

There was good news for New Zealand when Kane Williamson came to address the pre-Test press conference. He still didn’t confirm whether he will play in Indore after missing the Kolkata Test because of illness, but he will be key to one area New Zealand look to set right: first-innings total. In India, you do all your peaceful scoring in the first innings. The second is havoc. You don’t want yourself to be making up ground.”It has shown in the first innings of each Test match that the first innings has been the most vital as batting has got harder as the game has gone on,” Williamson said. “We’ll still need to have another look at the surface here but were are still expecting first innings to be important again.”Apart from preferably winning the toss on a surface that he described as “bare at the ends” and ‘soft”, Williamson will be expected to push that first innings a little further after they had shown a bit of promise at different times.”It is one of those fine lines where there have been some good bits but the good bits haven’t happened for long enough,” Williamson said. “Those 240-250 scores need to be 300-350. In saying that we are still to see this wicket, it might be more or it might be less, we don’t know just yet. But certainly the last two games if we could have pushed up our first-innings total that little bit further, it would have helped us out a huge amount.”This is where India can draw satisfaction. They haven’t let New Zealand run away even when they have had partnerships. India’s captain Virat Kohli said it was crucial to deal well with such periods. “One thing that stands out for me as a learning is how to control a session that’s not going your way,” Kohli said. “When you are taking wickets, you can afford to attack. But when you are not taking wickets, how to stop runs and still maintain enough pressure for you to come in the session and make breakthroughs.”The session when the other team is batting well, you should know how to control runs and at the same time not go negative. There is very thin line, which I think if you maintain more often than not you will come back in the next session and pull things back. That is the biggest learning. Not to go one-dimensional when runs are scored and the other team is batting well.”One of the reasons why India have been able to keep New Zealand in check with just four bowlers is Mohammed Shami’s performance: eight wickets at an average of 21.12. Kohli paid tribute to Shami’s return to fitness. “Shami is someone who’s come back very well,” Kohli said. “He has worked very hard on his fitness as well. You can see he’s able to bowl those five-six over spells now, and he can run in… Bigger momentum and then he can pick up two wickets on any surface. That’s the kind of skill he has, so as captain I feel that he’s a very important bowler for us in this full season and in future as well. But looking at the near future, his fitness and rhythm is very, very important. As you said, he’s a strike bowler and whenever he comes in he makes something regardless of the surface that we’re playing on.”

Perth Scorchers strangled the life out of Brisbane Heat to register a nine-wicket victory at the WACA Ground in the Boxing Day BBL match

The Report by Daniel Brettig26-Dec-2015
ScorecardMichael Klinger struck four fours and a six in his unbeaten 53 to take Perth Scorchers to their first win of the season•Getty Images

Perth Scorchers strangled the life out of Brisbane Heat to register a nine-wicket victory at the WACA Ground in the Boxing Day BBL match.The visitors never established any momentum after losing Lendl Simmons in the first over of the game, maintaining a grim day for Caribbean cricketers after the travails of the West Indies at the MCG.Perth’s reputation as one of the BBL’s most parsimonious bowling attacks was enhanced by their collective display in front of a crowd of 19,225 sun-kissed spectators.Englishman David Willey led the line for the Scorchers, claiming 1 for 15 from four tight overs, including a maiden that featured the wicket of Jimmy Peirson. Willey won Man of the Match for his efforts.Others also prospered – Jason Behrendorff claimed two victims on his return from injury, Brad Hogg was confusing as ever in claiming figures of 4-0-15-1, and Andrew Tye rounded off the attack with 3 for 23, the best analysis of all. Even Joel Paris, the only man not to take a wicket, produced plenty of quality in four overs that conceded a mere 25.Chris Lynn was left to build the total more or less on his own, finishing with an unbeaten 58-ball 75, an innings that featured three fours and four sixes. Finding the boundary regularly but also working the ball around, Lynn was ultimately responsible for almost two thirds of the Heat’s total, a burden to put others to shame.Defending such a meagre tally, the Heat needed early wickets, but were thwarted by Marcus Harris and Michael Klinger. One Harris six was almost taken by Simmons, but otherwise the hosts careered towards the target.When Lynn popped up again to catch Harris, Ashton Agar played soundly at No. 3, helping the vastly experienced Klinger to take the Scorchers home. Having suffered a chastening loss to the Strikers in game one and also after losing the services of the injured Nathan Coulter-Nile, the defending champions are now on the board.

Yorkshire have signed offspinner James Middlebrook to cover for Adil Rashid ahead of their Championship match with Warwickshire on Sunday.

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2015Yorkshire have signed James Middlebrook, the 37-year-old offspinner, to cover for Adil Rashid ahead of their Championship match with Warwickshire on Sunday.Yorkshire asked England to release Rashid from their tour of the Caribbean but the request was denied with the legspinning allrounder in contention to play the third Test in Barbados on May 1.Middlebrook, originally from Leeds, was released by Northamptonshire at the end of last season in a cost-cutting purge despite being one of their more effective players in a grim season.He has been playing for New Farnley in the Bradford League and has been included in the 12-man squad for the match at Headingley starting on Sunday. Head coach Jason Gillespie said he was likely to play.Middlebrook, who began his career at Yorkshire and last played for the White Rose In June 2001, described his unexpected comeback as “surreal”.Yorkshire feel they had fair reasons to request Rashid’s return, believing that he has no prospect of playing in the third Test in Barbados and that he is being used as little more than a glorified net bowler on a tour that, improperly, clashes with the start of the England season. Their request has been criticised by the BBC’s cricket correspondent, Jonathan Agnew.”Karl Carver has been in our squad this season and we have been pleased with his development over the past 12 months,” Gillespie said. “But at this point in time, we feel he is best served learning his trade in the second team.”We felt that James could come in and do a job for us in the short-term. He is an experienced campaigner and knows the county system inside out. I expect him to do well for us and add to our squad in the short-tem.”Middlebrook added: “It has been surreal. I wasn’t expecting a call to come and play first-class cricket again and to get the call from Yorkshire was a shock. It will be a big honour to walk out in front of the Yorkshire members on Sunday at Headingley.””Yorkshire are a talented side with some great players. I’ll do my job and hopefully help the lads get a win against Warwickshire.”

Zimbabwe remained on course for their first Test win in nearly two years, ending the third day with at 187 for 7 with a convincing lead of 442 as Brendan Taylor took charge on a bowler-dominated day

The Report by Mohammad Isam19-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShingirai Masakadza took his first four-wicket haul in Test cricket in his second game•AFP

Zimbabwe remained on course for their first Test win in nearly two years, ending the third day at 187 for 7 with a convincing lead of 442, as Brendan Taylor took charge on a bowler-dominated day.He was unbeaten on 80 in the second innings, to add to his 171 that shaped Zimbabwe’s 389. Taylor, however, didn’t find any help from the top or middle-order, which was dismantled single-handedly by Robiul Islam. The pace bowler took the first six Zimbabwe wickets to fall, his maiden Test five-for and the first by any Bangladeshi pace bowler since June 2010.But Robiul’s 6 for 55 didn’t take away any advantages from Zimbabwe. Graeme Cremer once again offered resistance before he was run out for 43, bettering his previous highest Test score from the first innings. He and Taylor added 79 for the seventh wicket, rounding off a very good day for the hosts.Zimbabwe began the day by triggering a massive collapse in the visitors’ batting line-up. Bangladesh went on to lose nine wickets for just 32 runs, giving away their last five wickets without scoring a run. They ended their first innings on 134 runs, trailing by 255, but Taylor didn’t enforce the follow-on.Instead, he let his young pace attack put their feet up for some time, after their efforts in the morning put Zimbabwe ahead. Kyle Jarvis and Shingirai Masakadza picked up four wickets each, while debutant Keegan Meth took two in a lengthy spell.It was Meth’s medium-paced seam bowling that struck first. He ended Jahurul Islam’s promising 43 although the batsman had slowed down considerably on the third morning. He had added just five runs off 35 balls before he was trapped leg-before in the 11th over of the day. Mahmudullah prodded needlessly at an away-going delivery and dragged it back onto his stumps to give Meth his second wicket. Bangladesh’s good work from the previous evening was coming undone.Bangladesh’s over-reliance on a defensive approach, although it looked sensible at the onset, cost them dearly. The second-wicket pair between Ashraful and Jahurul added only seven runs in 10.5 overs on the third morning and soon after, the batting imploded. As soon as Jahurul and Mahmudullah fell, Shakib Al Hasan tried to up the ante but wasn’t successful.Ashraful’s poor shot was not much of a surprise with his career in mind, but in the context of his 88-ball innings it was actually a shock that he had actually pulled that ball in the same over of Shakib’s dismissal. Mushfiqur Rahim and Nasir Hossain have been Bangladesh’s saviour in many a collapse over the last two years, but it was a day when nothing worked and whenever the ball was pitched up, the Bangladeshi batsmen succumbed. The timidity goes completely against their recent approaches of solidity this season, but it was a reminder that they are still prone of collapsing in a mighty heap.Masakadza, playing his second Test, was the most successful bowler as he removed three top batsmen in the space of four overs. Shakib couldn’t keep a bouncing delivery down, guiding a simple catch to Vusi Sibanda at gully. Ashraful was out a ball later, giving an easy catch to Malcolm Waller at square-leg. It was a waste of diligence after he had batted well for more than two hours. He was dismissed for 38, the last Bangladesh batsman to get to double figures in the first innings.Mushfiqur was trapped leg-before by Masakadza, before he finished off Bangladesh’s misery with the wicket of Sohag Gazi just after lunch.Meth and Masakadza reaped the rewards of Jarvis’ superb first spell. Giving away just one run in six overs, the young pace bowler kept the Bangladesh batsmen either leaving or using the forward defence regularly. Neither Ashraful nor Jahurul could force him off the square, though they had played the same bowler with much ease in his first eight overs the evening before.Jarvis returned after lunch to remove Nasir Hossain with an away-going delivery after sucking him in with fuller balls. He added the wickets of Enamul Haque jnr and Rubel Hossain to finish with 4 for 40 from his 16 overs.Bangladesh’s reaction to the collapse came through Robiul, who took the first six wickets. He bowled a beautiful full delivery to bowl Sibanda for the second time in the match.
Hamilton Masakadza gave Robiul a simple return catch in his next over, before he got rid of Timycen Maruma with another full delivery. He took three wickets in successive overs before he added Waller’s wicket an over later as Zimbabwe slipped to 27 for four.After the tea break, Robiul had Elton Chigumbura caught at gully by Jahurul Islam to give him a first five-for at this level. Wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami missed a late-moving inswinger and was adjudged out leg-before off the next ball. But the Taylor-Cremer partnership rescued Zimbabwe from 85 for 6.Zimbabwe had lost their last five Tests before this match but against Bangladesh they turned into a competitive unit. The lead is handsome and should be more than enough to give them a well-deserved win but Bangladesh’s collapse said a lot about overcompensating on an approach that is relatively new to them.

Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors, has lashed out at the players and coaches of the national team for their dismal performances against Pakistan

Sa'adi Thawfeeq06-Nov-2011Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors, has lashed out at the players and coaches of the national team for their dismal performances against Pakistan in the ongoing Test series in the United Arab Emirates.”The performance of our cricketers is way below of what we expected of them,” Mendis said.”We may not have played Test cricket in the UAE before but then we should have gone there a few weeks ahead and got ourselves acclimatised to the pitches and conditions.”Apart from Kumar Sangakkara the batting has been a complete let down. There have been occasions where other batsmen have also contributed but overall our batting from one to six has been disappointing. Sangakkara has been brilliant and he alone is carrying the Sri Lanka batting most of the time.”Mendis noted that this was not the first time the Sri Lanka batting has failed to live up to its potential. “This has happened in three consecutive series starting in England and Australia and now against Pakistan. Compared to Pakistan we have one of the best batting line-ups in Test cricket and experienced players who have made centuries at the highest level. I think it has something to do with the mental approach. Something is not right there and it is the coaches who have to address it.”Unlike during our time, today there are coaches to handle every aspect of the game, batting, bowling, fielding, so it is their duty to see where we are going wrong. As much as it is the responsibility of the coaches the players must also take a fair share of the blame.”
Pakistan’s bowling attack has been much more incisive than Sri Lanka’s over the course of the series, and Mendis felt that was an indictment of the bowling coach. “You take our bowlers there is a marked difference when Pakistan bowl and when we bowl. Their bowlers are able to get life out of a lifeless pitch. I think it is something to do with technique and our bowling coach is responsible for it.”He was also critical of the rest of the support staff for not performing their roles properly. “See the number of players who are injured? Dammika Prasad is unable to play in two consecutive Test matches without breaking down. Yesterday (third day) he did not bowl and we were down to four bowlers. Thankfully we played five bowlers in the Test.
“Apart from Prasad there is Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga, Ajantha Mendis and Prasanna Jayawardene all on the injury list. I don’t know what our physios and masseurs are doing with the players for them to get constantly injured.”On the question of promoting captain Tillakaratne Dilshan to open the batting in the third Test against Pakistan at Sharjah, Mendis said it was a tactical change to allow for an extra bowler in the XI.”We tried the 6-5 combination in England also but it didn’t work in our favour. We are 1-0 down in the present series and we need to win the final Test to square it. We made the change with that intention. [Lahiru] Thirimanne didn’t bat all that badly for a newcomer. He was left out because we are looking for a result in this Test.”Mendis also pointed out that Sri Lanka was presently in the process of rebuilding the team after the retirements of Muthiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu and during such a period there can be setbacks.”It is not easy replacing players in the calibre of Murali, Sanath, Vaas and Marvan overnight. It will take some time and we will hit some rough patches while in the process of doing so.”

Yorkshire’s prospects of escaping with a draw against Lancashire were advanced substantially by a rain interruption that eventually spanned more than three and a half hours

Jon Culley at Aigburth20-May-2011
Scorecard
Yorkshire were not ready to countenance another batting performance with the shortcomings of their first innings here but their prospects of escaping with a draw were advanced substantially nonetheless by a rain interruption that eventually spanned more than three and a half hours.Two down for 85 in the second innings when a heavy shower heralded the frustratingly long stoppage, they added a further 41 runs in 50 minutes after play restarted at 5.40pm without further loss and will need to add another 57 to make Lancashire bat again on the final day.Joe Sayers completed his second half-century of the match and Andrew Gale is three runs away from following suit. With the pitch taking spin, Lancashire had Steven Croft bowling offbreaks in support of Gary Keedy and might wish they had stuck with Simon Kerrigan after his match-winning performance at Edgbaston. Then again, with Jimmy Anderson itching for a big send-off ahead of next week’s first Test, Lancashire will expect their seamers to inflict some damage on the final morning.It had taken only 11 deliveries for Lancashire to lose their last two wickets as the day began in relatively pleasant weather, albeit a good 10 degrees cooler than the balmy days of late April when Somerset were beaten here.Steve Patterson, whose form has been patchy but who looked somewhere near his best in this match, had Luke Procter leg before with his first ball of the morning as the left-hander tried to work the ball to leg and uprooted Gary Keedy’s off stump four balls later. The 6ft 4ins seamer finished with 4 for 51 from 24.5 overs, which will advance his claims for a regular place in the side as Yorkshire seek to settle on their best attack.Nonetheless, Lancashire’s lead of 188 on a pitch that has generally played slow and low would have left Yorkshire with a lot to do to escape with a draw had the forecast of passing showers not proved somewhat optimistic.When umpires Neil Bainton and Richard Illingworth ushered the players off just after two o’clock it was expected to be only a brief interruption but a scheduled restart at five past three had to be knocked on the head and every hint of brightening skies seemed to prompt another intense burst.Even so, Yorkshire will still have something to do on the last day against a Lancashire attack that seems more than capable of setting up a fourth win in five matches and a first home win over their cross-Pennine rivals since 2000.Anderson, who will not play again in the Championship after this match until at least late in the season (and only then, perhaps, if he is not recalled for England’s one-day team), looked as motivated as ever to make his contribution meaningful. After one fevered appeal for a caught behind off a short ball to Joe Sayers was turned down, Anderson’s follow-through ended with him eyeball-to-eyeball with the batsman, presumably asking him to reflect on his good fortune.It did not impress Sayers, who is little by little reacquiring the characteristic stubbornness that made him such a doughty opponent before he was laid low by illness last year. Anderson has found as much life in this pitch as anyone and was unlucky to be wicketless after bowling seven consistently challenging overs before the rain came.The wickets instead went to Chapple, who upped the pressure on the Yorkshire batsmen by not conceding a run until his seventh over, and Farveez Maharoof.Chapple struck in his fourth over with a ball that stopped on Adam Lyth enough to induce a tame return catch from the left-hander, who is struggling to match the form he enjoyed in the early part of last season, when he went close to the coveted feat of scoring 1,000 first-class runs by the end of May.His return thus far this season has been a paltry 283, even taking three half-centuries into account. He has been dismissed in single figures in five of his last seven innings, although talk of his being dropped is premature.Yorkshire need his quality, especially now that the loss of Jacques Rudolph is being felt. Joe Root, the 20-year-old from Sheffield, has made a good impression every time he has played but it is on the shoulders of Lyth, Sayers and Andrew Gale that responsibility lies, and with Anthony McGrath when he regains his fitness.Root fell to Maharoof, in two minds about whether to go forward or back to a ball that kept a touch low. Apart from the moment that Anderson thought he had found an edge or a glove, when he had scored only one, Sayers has looked solid. With no Jonny Bairstow or Gerard Brophy to come, he and Gale hold the key to Yorkshire’s survival.

Historically, New Zealand have the edge over South Africa in World Cups, but South Africa are a team transformed in this tournament and New Zealand have been inconsistent

The Preview by Liam Brickhill24-Mar-2011

Match Facts

March 25, Dhaka

Start time 1430 hours (0830 GMT)Imran Tahir has been a revelation for South Africa in this tournament•AFP

The Big Picture

Like the ghost of World Cups past, New Zealand have visited South Africa’s campaigns in every tournament since 1992. Each time they have been clear underdogs against a team with a fabled dedication to clinical professionalism, but more often than not they reminded the South African scrooges of the frailty of a rigid formula. The timbre of those reminders has rung with increasing insistence, and when their paths crossed in 2003 and 2007, New Zealand were clear winners.The lesson has been learned, and this time South Africa’s progress has been notable for its break from the formulaic approaches of the past. In Imran Tahir they’ve found the final component in a team of near-perfect balance, and have shown a refreshing willingness to adapt as opposition or conditions demand. They have two of the best fast bowlers in the world, but both Robin Peterson and Johan Botha have opened the bowling at different stages.But while South Africa’s approach may have changed, there is a familiar look to their results from the group stages. West Indies, Netherlands and Bangladesh were dispatched with consummate ease. The loss to England may have raised old fears about the ‘C’ word, but that defeat never threatened South Africa’s march to the second round and they immediately shrugged off the ‘chokers’ tag (a phrase that seems to be focussed on more obsessively in the media than it is by anyone in South Africa’s camp) with a thrilling, last-over win against India.How could New Zealand, who floundered against Australia and Sri Lanka and made the quarter-finals thanks mainly to a meltdown that only Pakistan could have delivered, possibly hope to derail the mighty South Africans? Outgunned with both bat and ball, and struggling with injuries, they will have to resort to the sort of scrapping, street-wise cricket for which their previous World Cup campaigns have been renowned. A transformed South Africa are determined to correct the mistakes of the past, but the return of Daniel Vettori will inspire New Zealand and this match could well be won by whichever team is better able to maintain temperament and composure.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand LWWWL

South Africa WWWLW

Watch out for…

Imran Tahir may not be South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament so far – that title belongs, surprisingly, to Robin Peterson – but his inclusion is symbolic of South Africa’s new approach to limited-overs cricket. He’s also their first attacking wrist spinner in a cricketing generation, and should find conditions in Mirpur to his liking. If New Zealand’s top order can survive the early onslaught from Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, Graeme Smith will turn to Tahir, confident in his ability to pick up cheap wickets with a variety of legspinners, sliders and wrong ‘uns.
New Zealand have a couple of limited-overs stars in their ranks, such as Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder, but their strength as a team is their potential to gel and become more than the sum of their parts. Their captain, Daniel Vettori, is the vital ingredient in that formula. Whether with bat, ball or in the field, Vettori seems to inspire by his very presence and as a seasoned cricketer he won’t be intimidated by South Africa. There have been hints that Vettori could give up ODIs after this tournament, giving him an added incentive to go out on a high.

Team news

South Africa gave away nothing in terms of likely selections or injury troubles in the lead-up to the game, and there’s been no word on whether or not AB de Villiers has recovered from injury. Given the importance of the match, it’s likely he will play even if not fully fit, and perhaps not be asked to keep wicket. That means wicketkeeper Morne van Wyk will keep his place in the XI, possibly at Faf du Plessis’s expense. With Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel slotting back in in place of Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell, South Africa will probably fill the remaining slots with their three spinners.South Africa (probable): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Morne van Wyk (wk), 7 Johan Botha, 8 Robin Peterson, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran TahirBrendon McCullum has apparently recovered from a painful knee, and Vettori is also set to return. New Zealand have been affected by several injuries in this tournament, with Kyle Mills suffering a quad strain and Hamish Bennett’s tournament ended by an injury to his ankle and Achilles tendon. Daryl Tuffey has been called up as cover, but if Mills is fit he’ll be the first choice to partner Tim Southee with the new ball.New Zealand (probable): 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Jesse Ryder, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Kane Williamson, 6 Scott Styris, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Daniel Vettori (capt), 10 Tim Southee, 11 Kyle Mills..

Both teams will know just what to expect from the Mirpur wicket, and although Graeme Smith said that he was surprised by the amount of grass on the track, it should still play on the slow, low side and aid spinners. Hot and humid weather is expected, and so dew could come into play if evening is cloudless, although its impact should be minimal.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa and New Zealand have met 51 times in ODIs, with South Africa winning 30 to New Zealand’s 17. Four of their matches have ended with no result. In World Cups, however, New Zealand have won three of the five matches the teams have played, and prevailed in both 2003 and 2007.
• Jacques Kallis has more runs against New Zealand in ODIs than any other South African, having scored 1385 at 41.96, including three hundreds and nine fifties in 42 matches.
• Tim Southee is New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with 14 scalps at 15.07. Ross Taylor leads their run-scoring table, with 245 at an average of 81.66 and a strike rate of exactly a-run-a-ball.

Quotes

“There are so many South Africans all around the world that if we stress about that we won’t sleep at night. Things have changed a lot since Allan Donald was in the side.”

“I don’t have any form because I haven’t played.”

Amit Mishra, who had struggled to buy a wicket until the penultimate day of the series, provided two inspirational moments just before two breaks to keep India hopeful

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga17-Feb-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
HawkeyeAmit Mishra provided two big breakthroughs•AFP

Amit Mishra, who had struggled to buy a wicket until the penultimate day of the series, provided two inspirational moments just before two session breaks to keep alive India’s hopes of a win on a day that they could managed only 157 minutes of play. Hashim Amla, who had scored 367 runs in two innings before this, was made to dig deep into his patience and skill reserves, and will be hoping he has more in the tank. India would have been much more comfortably placed despite bad light and rain had M Vijay held on to a sharp chance from Amla at backward short leg.On a riveting, if truncated, day’s play India couldn’t manage wickets in a hurry but got three of them at regular intervals. Graeme Smith came out bull-headed and, along with Alviro Petersen, almost batted out the one-hour first session. Five minutes before the break, though, Mishra got him with his first delivery. In the second session, Harbhajan Singh, looking menacing with almost every delivery, got Petersen early. Amla and Jacques Kallis looked pretty comfortable for 16 overs, but in deteriorating light Mishra got Kallis with a beauty minutes before the players walked off.Zaheer Khan got an iffy moment each out of Smith and Petersen in the first few overs, but wasn’t helped by the inexplicable choice of just two slips and a gully in his third over. Petersen survived then, but it was Harbhajan – opening the bowling – who looked the most difficult to negotiate.Harbhajan tested both the batsmen with his drift and dip, and the bounce that the pitch has provided on each of the four days. Smith made sure he didn’t repeat the mistake Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy committed in the first innings. His first instinct was to play at every delivery, but he watched the rotations closely, and only if certain of an offbreak he left it alone. Against Zaheer, Smith took a middle and off guard, covering the stumps better, preventing a repeat of the earlier two dismissals.Against Mishra, though, it seemed Smith let the guard down, and paid for it. He played all around an accurate legbreak, missed, and was trapped in front. India went in to the break a confident side, and came out a confident side.Just before the break, Harbhajan had got one to bounce and break at Petersen, but there was no backward short leg to take the catch. In his first over after lunch, he nearly got Amla who swept at a full delivery and somehow managed to get an inside edge. In his second, the inevitable Harbhajan dismissal arrived, with another ball turning in sharply to Petersen, and taking the bat and pad. It took a smart catch from forward short leg S Badrinath, though, who went up high to his right, parried it, and then recovered quickly to take the rebound.Harbhajan was on a roll, and in his third over after the break, got an inside edge from Amla, but Vijay couldn’t get down in time. It was the 20th over of the innings, and the Amla-Kallis partnership had hardly even begun. After that and before the eventual Kallis dismissal, neither of the batsmen struggled.Ishant Sharma’s bouncer ploy didn’t work: Amla swayed away easily, Kallis pulled him. Harbhajan was swept regularly by Amla, and easily defended by Kallis. Zaheer looked off in his post-lunch spell and was taken off after one over. Mishra’s four overs were easy to negotiate.Then Mishra changed ends and started his third spell off with an accurate maiden to Amla. The second ball of the second over landed around middle, Kallis had to play at it and made provision for the spin as he did, but the ball turned more than budgeted, took a thin edge and settled in MS Dhoni’s gloves. It was a big moment in an important day’s play: two balls before the dismissal the umpires discussed the light situation, and four balls later walked off for bad light.That was at 1.44pm, 41 minutes before scheduled tea. Rain followed soon and play resumed at 3.20pm, only for light to deteriorate within three minutes. During this period, Harbhajan bowled one over and Alma cut him for a four to move to 49.

Seamer’s 4 for 16 closes out tense win over Originals, set up by Capsey-van Niekerk partnership

Matt Roller09-Aug-2023Ryana MacDonald-Gay gave Oval Invincibles, the two-time defending champions, their first win of the season, taking 4 for 16 to close out a tense five-run win over Manchester Originals on a balmy afternoon in South London.Originals needed 16 to win off 14 balls after Deandra Dottin hit the third six of her innings at The Kia Oval, taking her to 41 off 19. But she played out four consecutive dot balls to give Invincibles a cushion heading into the final 10.MacDonald-Gay, the 19-year-old seamer, backed her slower balls at the death and, after gathering Alice Capsey’s throw to run Fi Morris out, she had Dottin caught at short third and Kathryn Bryce mistiming to midwicket. That left 13 required off the final set of five balls, and Eva Gray closed out Invincibles’ win.The result was set up by Capsey and Dane van Niekerk, whose third-wicket partnership of 61 in 37 balls enabled Invincibles to post 128 for 7 – a much-improved showing on the 80 all out they managed in the first completed innings of their title defence in a three-wicket defeat to Welsh Fire on Sunday night.But it was MacDonald-Gay who clinched the points. She was an ever-present for Invincibles last season but was used sparingly with the ball in the latter half of the tournament and did not bowl in their last three games, including the final. This was the first time in her Hundred career she had bowled all of her permitted 20 deliveries.She struck with her third ball, hitting Laura Wolvaardt on the pad and having her lbw on review for 27, just as she was starting to move through the gears, and in her second set of five she had Ami Campbell caught at point, skying a slower ball to Marizanne Kapp.Dottin thumped her down the ground for four in her third set, but her last cost only three runs as she backed her variations to finish with the fourth-best bowling figures of the competition so far.”She’s been brilliant for us at South East Stars, coming in at the back end and bowling her slower balls,” Capsey said of her team-mate. “She bowls them brilliantly and that’s one of her strengths and one of the reasons she’s so valued in our team. Whenever she comes on, she impacts the game.”She was bowling at Deandra Dottin, one of the world’s best players. That shows her character, and what a great bowler she is. She really held her nerve and backed her strengths. That’s all you can ask for from a bowler. She kept us in the game.”Invincibles started slowly with the bat, with Mahika Gaur striking early. Gaur, the towering teenage left-arm seamer, bowled 15 of the first 20 balls and had Lauren Winfield-Hill lbw, with figures of 1 for 7 from her first three sets.Sophie Ecclestone had delayed her own entry before striking in her first set, having Suzie Bates stumped, and Capsey struggled for timing early on. She was dropped on 28 by Morris, then given out lbw one ball later only to successfully review the on-field decision.She largely played second fiddle to van Niekerk but powered Ecclestone back over her head for a straight six, and was stumped immediately after reaching a 40-ball half-century, her first in a competitive game since the end of May.Van Niekerk scored quickly against Originals’ spinners, who were held back until the end of the innings, crashing a six and a four off successive balls from Amanda-Jade Wellington as Invincibles eyed a late surge towards 140.Instead, they slid to 128 for 7 as van Niekerk’s dismissal – caught at long-on off Wellington – preceded a flurry of three run-outs in the final six balls. Much to Invincibles’ relief, the mini-collapse did not prove costly.

Smith, Starc, Henry and Boult have gained at the end of the Australia vs New Zealand ODI series

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Sep-20222:05

Arthur: Hasaranga is reliable, incredible and loves playing on the big stage

Wanindu Hasaranga, Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the big movers in the latest ICC T20I rankings for men, following strong performances at the recent Asia Cup in the UAE.

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On the bowlers’ table, Hasaranga has moved up three places to sixth after finishing as the second-highest wicket-taker, behind Bhuvneshwar, in Sri Lanka’s sixth Asia Cup triumph. Hasaranga, who was named Player of the Tournament, picked up nine wickets at an economy rate of 7.39.He also made important contributions with the bat, including a 21-ball 36 in the final, which helped Sri Lanka get to a strong total, which they defended successfully. That helped him move up seven spots to No. 4 on the allrounders’ chart – Shakib Al Hasan is at the top there.Kohli, meanwhile, has risen 14 places to slot in at No. 15 on the batters’ table. His rise came on the back of a good Asia Cup, where he scored 276 runs in five innings – at an average of 92.00 and strike rate of 147.59.Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had a good time of it at the Asia cup•Associated Press

He also scored his first T20I century during the tournament, an unbeaten 122 against Afghanistan, which brought an end to a century drought across formats that had run for 1020 days. Kohli’s tally of runs was only behind Mohammad Rizwan’s 281, and Rizwan held on to the top spot on the batters’ table. Babar Azam, who had a forgettable Asia Cup with the bat, lost his No. 2 spot to Aiden Markram.Bhuvneshwar, the highest wicket-taker at the Asia Cup with 11 strikes, also made notable progress, moving into the top ten among bowlers, jumping from 11th to seventh.In ODIs, Steven Smith, after his starring role in Australia’s 3-0 sweep of New Zealand at home, jumped 13 places to move to tenth among batters. Mitchell Starc, after picking up six wickets in three games, broke into the top ten among bowlers, moving up three places to ninth.Matt Henry also jumped one position to take the eighth spot after picking up five wickets in two games, while Trent Boult continued to lead the list after finishing the series as the top wicket-taker, with ten strikes.