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West Indies coach Phil Simmons has openly expressed his disappointment and outrage at not getting the “best 50-over ODI squad” for the Sri Lanka tour

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Sep-2015West Indies coach Phil Simmons has openly expressed his disappointment and outrage at not getting the “best 50-over ODI squad” for the Sri Lanka tour. The West Indies Cricket Board is yet to announce the ODI squad but Simmons blamed “interference from outside” at a selection meeting on September 23, where experienced allrounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard were left out. Bravo and Pollard have not been considered for ODI selection since they were dropped for the series in South Africa in January this year.Simmons revealed that Bravo and Pollard had backing not just from him but also Clive Lloyd, the chairman of selectors, and West Indies Test and ODI captain, Jason Holder. However, Simmons and Lloyd were outvoted 3-2 in the selection meeting. Besides Lloyd, the other selectors on the panel are: Courtney Walsh, Courtney Browne and Eldine Baptiste.”I think it’s disappointing from the fact that I haven’t got the best 50-over ODI squad that we can select in the Caribbean,” Simmons said at a media conference, at the conclusion of the West Indies training camp at the 3Ws Oval in Bridgetown. “The chairman, Mr Lloyd, he came and he gave an exceptional speech saying that he thinks it is time they are back in the squad and he gave exceptional reasons for them being back in the squad. Unfortunately, when we went into the selection [meeting] we lost it 3-2. Him and myself – the captain [Holder] doesn’t have a vote in this – but the captain also gave his views as to why they need to be back.”What annoyed Simmons the most was elements outside the selection panel, although he would not identify who forced the final vote. “That’s not the disappointing fact. The disappointing fact is that you can lose 3-2 in a vote-off but there is too much interference from outside in the selection of the ODI squad and it’s disappointing for me to know that in any aspect of life … [people would use] their position to get people into a squad; or in this case, get people left out of a squad. It is wrong and I don’t like it and that is my beef with the selection of the ODI team.”Simmons was blunt about the interference and called it unprofessional: “I don’t think that it [selection] was done as professionally as it should be done, [there was] too much interference from outside and in this case, I even go as far as saying maybe influence because of the reasons that were given for them being out.”It’s disappointing for me … because we want to have our best squad. The chairman put it to us that we need to have our best squad and it’s not so, so I’m disappointed about that squad.”Simmons, a former West Indies opener, took over as West Indies coach immediately after the World Cup in March. Simmons was a popular coach in Ireland previously and had earned recognition for his work ethic and the ability to instil a positive attitude in the players. His signature was immediately evident in the home series against England and Australia, where West Indies put up spirited performances – drawing the Test series 1-1 against England and losing 2-0 against Australia.In the past few months, Simmons has sought an audience with senior players like Bravo, Pollard, Sunil Narine to gauge their desire to play for West Indies. According to Simmons, Bravo and Pollard were happy to work with him and told him they were available to play in the limited-overs format. Pollard has never played Test cricket, and Bravo retired from Tests earlier this year.”There was no agreement reached [with the players]. I can’t go and say, ‘Oi, you’re selected’. I had a chat with every one of them saying ‘This is the way I think things should be done, are you happy with the way I’m going to do things.’ And everyone to a [man] was happy with the way things were going to run, happy with the captain, happy with everything that was to move forward,” Simmons said. “So once they had bought into our philosophy as to the captain and myself then it’s about selection. I can’t go and tell them, ‘Hey, you’re in the squad’ so I think that’s all I could have done.”

A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy Group B matches on October 16, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Oct-2015
ScorecardParthiv Patel struck his third score of 50 of more in three innings•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Parthiv Patel recorded a second century for Gujarat in the match. Venugopal Rao could have upped that count, but his 95 was part of six scores of fifty or more in Mohali. Punjab legspinner Sarabjit Ladda did his best to restore parity though with 5 for 138 and forced the visitors from 432 for 4 to 467 all out.Much of that vast total was the result of the 188-run partnership between Parthiv and Venugopal. They were together for almost 50 overs even as Punjab dipped into every resource they had. Including the part-time spin of their opening batsman Jiwanjot Singh. And the tactic worked. Venugopal was stumped after 187 balls, 12 of which were hit to the boundary. Parthiv, however, went on to make 113 to add to his 122 and 50* from the last match against Andhra.Just when it looked like Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh was running out of options, Ladda had Parthiv caught for his first wicket of the match, and proceeded to demolish the tail with his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, completing it in his 43rd over. That runs remained on the pitch was made clear when Punjab batted. Jiwanjot cracked 51 off 75 balls, with six fours, but was dismissed in the 27th over. His partner at the top, Manan Vohra is not out on 50 off 112 balls as Punjab negotiated the remaining 11 overs without any further trouble.
ScorecardSwapnil Singh had finished five runs shy of his half-century at stumps in Vizianagaram. Baroda were 234 for 7 as Andhra kept true to their pre-season plan of giving their seamers the best chance of picking wickets. CV Stephen, one of four specialist seamers, led the way with 4 for 72. Notably there have been 147.2 overs of play, spin was used for only 13 of them and has not yielded a single wicket yet.Part of the reason might be down to the Baroda tail’s resilience. Swapnil made 74, led an eighth-wicket stand of 78 – the visitors’ best – and was the final wicket to fall with the score on 302. He struck four fours and three sixes. But Andhra’s openers Srikar Bharat (50 off 127) and DB Prashanth (38 off 102) provided a very solid start, taking their team to 96 for 0 in 38 overs.
ScorecardA collapse that began in the wee hours of play yesterday continued for Railways. They were 304 for 3 with just under five overs till stumps on Thursday, which had been enough for Uttar Pradesh to snag two wickets. On Friday, Railways resumed today on 316 for 5 and finished on 375.Praveen Kumar, the UP captain, struck the first blow in the sixth over of the day and 89th of the innings to have his opposite number Mahesh Rawat lbw for 7. Karn Sharma was caught behind in the 94th over off Ankit Rajpoot. Nine balls later, the specialist batsman Arindam Ghosh was dismissed for 50 and Railways finally succumbed in the 102nd over. Their first five wickets had given them 305 runs. The last five only 70 more.The lift provided by the UP bowlers – all five specialists used were among the wickets with left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav taking 3 for 64 – seeped into the batting as well. Opener Tanmay Srivastava has recorded his third fifty-plus score in as many matches and is not out on 75. His partner Almas Shaukat cracked 10 fours and two sixes in his 76 and UP finished the day at 169 for 2 in 71 overs.Mumbai v Tamil Nadu – Dinesh Karthik 167 deflates Mumbai

Australia will risk the fitness of Josh Hazlewood rather than recalling Peter Siddle in a calculated gamble to seal the Trans-Tasman series at the WACA Ground, before it reaches the experimental day/night match to follow in Adelaide

Daniel Brettig in Perth12-Nov-2015Australia will risk the fitness of Josh Hazlewood rather than recalling Peter Siddle in a calculated gamble to seal the Trans-Tasman series at the WACA Ground, before it reaches the experimental day/night match to follow in Adelaide.The captain Steven Smith conceded on match eve that Hazlewood’s bowling workload had been high enough for the selectors to consider withdrawing him from a Perth Test set to be played in typically scorching temperatures. That move would have reduced Hazlewood’s chances of injury and also allowed Siddle to bowl on a venue where he has enjoyed considerable success.However it has been decided instead to keep Hazlewood in the team following his useful contribution to the opening victory at the Gabba, a decision made in large part due to his strong record when playing ODIs for Australia at the ground. While yet to play a Test in Perth, Hazlewood’s record of 10 wickets at 11.9 in four limited-overs matches played a large part in swaying the selector on duty Rod Marsh and coach Darren Lehmann.”It was talked about,” Smith said. “Josh’s loads are quite high at the moment – he’s bowled quite a lot over the past month or two – so it was definitely spoken about. But we think he’s going to do a great job out here in Perth. He bowled really well last time he was here, against the South Africans in the one-dayers, so hopefully he can do a good job for us out here this Test match.”We’ll see how we’re going [after that]. There’s a reasonable gap between this Test and the next one. Obviously a six-Test summer as well so there’s a lot of cricket. We’ll wait and see how he pulls up after this Test match. [Siddle] was talked about. He’s bowling really well at the moment. But we won the last Test match with this line-up, and we’re going in with the same one.”Hazlewood’s height is expected to make him a major threat to New Zealand’s top order, who must adjust once more to a fast and bouncy pitch after Brisbane gave them some impression of what the WACA would be like. Smith agreed it was to Australia’s considerable advantage that no member of the New Zealand side has played a Test in Perth – the last meeting between these two countries in the West was as far back as 2001.”I guess that probably helps us a little bit, I think it’s a place that takes a little bit of getting used to,” Smith said. “I think as a batsman it takes a little bit longer to get in. I guess probably at a lot of grounds around the world it’s 20 or 30 balls to get in, I reckon here it’s probably more 40 or 50 to feel like you’re in. Once you get in it’s one of the best places in the world to bat. It’s nice to know that some of their players haven’t played here and we’ve got a lot of experience here.”While understandably happy with the way the Australian top order batting functioned at the Gabba, Smith has addressed his team on two areas that he felt were not up to standard last week. These were the home side’s catching, which gave up four chances across the two New Zealand innings, and also bowling that was lacking in consistency at times, particularly against the excellent Kane Williamson.”We set ourselves really high standards in the field and we let ourselves down a little bit in that department,” Smith said. “So that’s something we’re going to be working on. This is one of the best places in the world to field in the slips – you get a lot of time to see the ball because you’re generally quite deep, so hopefully we can hold our catches this match.”And with our bowling, I’ve sort of addressed that – our lengths were a little bit too short with the new ball in Brisbane. The guys found it quite hard from both ends because the wickets was a bit more raised than it normally is, so guys were finding it hard to find their rhythm. I don’t think they’ll have that problem out here so hopefully they can get their lengths right from ball one.”Australia have chosen to rest their players following this match rather than offering them additional practice against the pink ball to be used in Adelaide. By contrast, New Zealand’s squad will take part in a day/night warm-up fixture at the WACA against a WA Invitational XI to prepare them for the third Test. Smith and Australia are hoping it will not be billed as the series decider.

Alastair Cook has admitted England will be taking “a risk” if they select James Anderson in their team for the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town

George Dobell in Cape Town01-Jan-2016Alastair Cook has admitted England will be taking “a risk” if they select James Anderson in their team for the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town.Anderson missed the first Test after sustaining a mild calf strain and, though he is confident he should be fit for this match, has not been able to deliver the overs he would have liked before heading into a major match. He bowled just five overs in the tour match in Potchefstroom and, while he bowled in training over the last couple of days in Durban, he usually does very little the day before a Test in order to ensure he is fresh.With England having seen Dale Steyn break down during the first Test after coming into the match having recently recovered from injury, they will be very keen not to make the same mistake.”We have to be really careful with heart and head,” Cook said. “He’s desperate to play but we just have to make sure it’s the right decision for him. We don’t want to hinder ourselves and have an injury caused that we could have prevented. Obviously there will be a bit of a risk about it.”Ultimately, it seems Anderson will be trusted to make the decision himself. As a highly experienced bowler who knows his body, the management are confident that his heart will not rule his head. He bowled at full pace and batted in the nets on Friday and all things considered, he looks likely to play.”If he’s fit to go, then he’ll play,” Cook said. “It’s an interesting call because of how many overs he’s bowled so far on this tour – it’s not a huge amount – and the conditions will be tough for all of us. We’ll have a good chat in the changing room and see how he feels.”You want your best players playing. If he’s fit and ready and confident, then he’ll be opening the bowling. But we have to make sure we’re right.”England’s other concern is their consistency over recent times. In 2015, they won six and lost six Tests sometimes following an excellent performance (Grenada and Cardiff) with a pretty wretched one (Barbados and Lord’s).”I certainly haven’t got to the bottom of why we’ve been so inconsistent as a side over the last ten months,” Cook admitted. “Have we as a side learned? Can we be more consistent and harder to beat?”If South Africa play out of their skin and we hit the same standards then I’ll be happy. But we have to hit the same standard. In Durban, we set a benchmark. It’s just a case of whether we have the same hunger in us to do that again.”In the longer term, England have some scheduling concerns. Both sides go into this match with just a two-day turnaround between games – it seems incredible to think that Tests used to contain rest days – and it starts a year when England are scheduled to play 17 Tests (though it is rumoured the five Test series in India could be reduced to a four-Test series).Such a schedule – and that is before ODIs and the World T20 is considered – gives England’s top players little chance to play at their optimum. Given more rest and care, Anderson and Stuart Broad might still be capable of producing their sharpest spells more often.Equally Graeme Swann’s elbow might not have caused so many problems and Jonathan Trott may have had time to recover his equilibrium. Andy Flower, too, may reflect that the relentless pressure of the England coaching role saw him change, over time, and become, for a while, a less positive figure.Many of the players have their families with them at present – one of the coaching staff saw his family at Christmas for the first time since September – but there is a concern that the demands on those involved now stretch to around 300 days a year and create strains on family life that cannot be fully compensated by a large salary. International careers are becoming shorter; the demands are unsustainable.”A two-day turnaround isn’t great for the players,” Cook said. “If we’d bowled 140 overs in the dirt in Durban and then had a two-day turnaround in 40 degrees, which it has been here, that’s a gruelling ask to keep the standards up. Hopefully, this is just a one-off and people see sense. You need a couple more days between Tests.”We started in April saying that we had 17 Test matches and it was a gruelling schedule. But we certainly won’t be using that as an excuse at the end of this week if we don’t play well.”The players, like the coaches, are pawns in a game that sees the ECB demanding more to sustain a business model that is creaking under the weight of the demands upon it. It is not easy for the ECB: pay any less and players may prefer a future in T20 leagues; play any less and the money may not be there for the academies, the development tours, the county system and salaries. But the current demands on the players are too great and, in time, will become self-defeating.

India Women created history at the MCG on Friday, where their ten-wicket win resulted in their first series victory over Australia Women in any format

The Report by Brydon Coverdale29-Jan-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:06

Anjum: India were always ahead of the par score

India Women created history at the MCG on Friday, where their ten-wicket win resulted in their first bilateral series victory over Australia Women in any format. In a rain-affected T20 contest the Australians reached 8 for 125 from 18 overs, led by captain Meg Lanning with 49, but they failed to take a wicket during the chase and India reached their revised target of 66 with five balls of their allotted 10 overs remaining.India’s bowling was tight and their work in the field was outstanding after Mithali Raj won the toss and sent Australia in. Jhulan Goswami set things off on a fine note by bowling Grace Harris in the first over of the match and she picked up a second wicket when Beth Mooney lofted over the cover fielder Anuja Patil, who ran back with the flight to complete a brilliant catch that left Australia at 2 for 28.Patil’s sharp fielding again came to the fore when she snapped up the ball at short mid-on and threw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end to find Ellyse Perry short attempting a quick single, and Australia were 3 for 33. While Lanning was at the crease Australia still had hope of a competitive score, though, and her 70-run partnership with Jess Jonassen steadied the innings.But the match arguably turned on a piece of great fortune for India when Jonassen drove straight back down the pitch and the ball clipped the fingers of the bowler, Harmanpreet Kaur, and ricocheted back onto the stumps to have Lanning run out for 49 off 39 balls. Jonassen (27) slog-swept a catch to deep midwicket in the same over.The Australians struggled to find the boundary in their remaining overs and the left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad proved hard to get away, and picked up two wickets in an over. India made a fine start to their chase through Raj and Smriti Mandhana and when rain arrived in the eighth over of the chase they were ahead of the D/L target on 0 for 52.The rain eventually relented but only to allow a further 2.1 overs with India needing a further 14 runs on the re-adjusted D/L score. Raj and Mandhana cruised to victory with five balls to spare, Raj finishing on 37 from 32 balls and Mandhana on 22 off 24. India had an unassailable 2-0 lead with one match still to play.

Namibia batsman Michael van Lingen has defended his decision to walk off the field for a caught-behind appeal, despite the umpire ruling it not out

Mohammad Isam31-Jan-2016The South Africans roared in appeal as Sean Whitehead got one to slide past the left-hand batman Michael van Lingen, who appeared to have edged the ball to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne. However, the umpire Enamul Haque said no to them, irking the South Africans. A moment later, though, van Lingen started to walk towards the pavilion.It took everyone a few seconds to realise that van Lingen was walking. Some of the South Africa players looked at him while Lohan Louwrens tried to tell van Lingen something, but they were too far from each other by then.Some of the parents of the South Africa players could be hear saying “good sportsmanship”. There were also some claps from van Lingen’s team-mates in the dressing-room.Namibia had just slipped to 50 for 4 chasing 137 runs against the defending champions South Africa, with their biggest win ever on the line. What van Lingen did apparently did not go down too well with his team-mates, but he would not have done it any other way.”It is the nature of my game,” van Lingen told ESPNcricinfo. “If I am out, I’m out. To be an honest person, and be as good a sportsman as I can. I think I just felt inside me to just walk.”But when he had walked off, did he have any lingering feeling that perhaps he could have stayed back?”There’s always the feeling there. Some of my teammates said they wouldn’t have walked; they would stayed in. I just had the feeling I had to go.”

Trevor Bayliss has called for England to play smarter cricket following the poor end to their tour of South Africa as they turn attentions to the World T20 in India

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2016Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, has called for the team to play smarter cricket following the poor end to their tour of South Africa as they turn attentions to the World T20 in India. However, he does not want the players to go into their shells after a difficult couple of weeks, saying that the winner in India will be the “boldest” team on show.England ended their stay in South Africa with a crushing nine-wicket defeat at the Wanderers to lose the T20 series 2-0. From a promising position of 157 for 3 – with Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler finding their range – they were well placed for 200, but conspired to lose 7 for 14 and not even play out their overs.They were then belted around the Bullring by AB de Villiers who cartwheeled to 71 off 29 balls as South Africa raced to their target with more than five overs to spare.It led to Bayliss saying it was like “men against boys” and meant that England finished with five defeats on the bounce having been 2-0 up in the one-day series before being let down by poor fielding when they could have sealed it in the Johannesburg ODI. Although the Test series was secured on that heady day at the Wanderers when Stuart Broad blew South Africa away the tour ended on a downbeat note.There is little time to ponder with just a short break at home before departing for India where they will face group matches against West Indies, Sri Lanka, a qualifier and, potentially significantly given recent results, South Africa again in Mumbai on March 18. Faf du Plessis, the South Africa T20 captain, was not shy at suggesting his side could have struck some psychological blows.”I can guarantee you one thing, the team that wins the World Twenty20 will be the boldest team there,” Bayliss said.”If we go out and try to be too nice, or if we give that advantage away or are not as positive and aggressive as we have been when we have played well and won, then we will still not win – because there will be teams out there with the confidence, players and ability to go out and play that way.”The two series defeats in South Africa have zapped some of the feel-good factor that had developed around England’s white-ball teams since their post-World Cup rebuilding which has been forged on an almost breakable desire to be positive and for players to be encouraged to push their own boundaries.Both Bayliss and Morgan have cited the inexperience in the side as a factor as to why the wheels came off somewhat in South Africa and cautioned that more such days cannot be ruled out as players continue to find their feet at international level. But the straight-talking Bayliss knows that platitudes about how good a team could be does not help in the present.”We’ve had some good results, but it’s a reminder to people back home in England that this team is still a developing one,” he said. “We’ve had some good performances, and there’s a lot of potential there.”But potential never won anything … we’ve got some hard work to do. I think the expectation the players have put on themselves is why they are so disappointed when they play badly. It may be that extra pressure they put on themselves that they’ve got to get over.”In the final ODI at Newlands and the first T20 at the same ground, England were criticised for not adjusting quickly enough to conditions and reassessing what a defendable total could be.”We spoke the other night, it is a case of going with the flow of the game,” Bayliss said. “If we get off to a good start, you have to recognise that flow [and think] ‘can we continue to do this’?”If we do happen to lose a few wickets … well, has the flow of the game changed, and do we have to play a little bit differently? I think that will be playing smart cricket, and that is what the good teams will do.”Still, despite the setback, Bayliss believes that England can put on a good show in India which will conclude a long period overseas for the team this winter.”If we play well … we’ll be hard to beat. In the last two games, we haven’t played all that well – and in this game, we’ve been beaten easily. We’re going to have to play a lot better than that.””It’s small margins,” he added. “One catch, and we’d have only lost the last four – and we’d have won the one-day series. That’s as simple as it can get. You win that fourth match, who knows … it might have given the boys enough confidence to go on and win the fifth one. We’ve got to learn from that, and work out how we can get better.”

If West Indies win in Nagpur, they’re through to the last four of the World T20 and South Africa’s journey there becomes that much harder

The Preview by Firdose Moonda24-Mar-2016

Match facts

Friday, March 25, 2016
Start time 1930 local (1400 GMT)2:07

Match Day – Drop Abbott or Rabada, play Phangiso

Big Picture

It has been talked up as the fixture that will decide Group 1, making the match-up between South Africa and West Indies perhaps the most intriguing of the group so far.West Indies hold the aces after two wins from their opening two matches. A third will see them take control of the group and set themselves up to top it, with only Afghanistan left to play. It will also guarantee them a semi-final berth.South Africa remain far away from such safety. Defeat to England means that even after beating Afghanistan, they still have to deal with the two most recent champions if they are to ensure advancement. On paper, South Africa should not be too anxious of the West Indian challenge, but we all know the saying about where sport is actually played.In sharp focus will be the contrasting approaches of these two sides. Well-planned South Africa take on carefree West Indies, perhaps the last people they want to see when under pressure – it means South Africa have to think of what they can expect and what they can’t from a West Indies side that thrives on the spontaneous. Already, one of South Africa’s strategies – to use JP Duminy to bowl more – has been spoiled because Duminy is injured. West Indies don’t even have that worry after Chris Gayle’s injury scare passed.For both sides, this may be their toughest test before the knockouts. As such, whoever wins this may become favourite for the title.

Form guide

South Africa: WLLLW (last five completed games, most recent first)
West Indies: WWWLL

In the spotlight

With spin set to take centre-stage Imran Tahir and Samuel Badree could be game-changers, albeit in different ways. Badree has opened the bowling against England and Sri Lanka, against whom he was both container and destroyer-in-chief, while Tahir tends to be held back for when the fielding restrictions are lifted. Both times, he has been successful in pulling back opposition from fast starts but they may not get off to those if he is used earlier on.Should South Africa be pondering any experimentation in the PowerPlay, then Nagpur will be the venue and West Indies the team to do it against. Unlike Mumbai, where South Africa conceded 89 and then 64 against England and Afghanistan respectively, things will slow down at VCA and West Indies already seem to like it that way. They’ve scored 55 and 39 in their previous two PowerPlays but, importantly, have only lost one wicket in each to ensure they stick to a more traditional approach of keeping firepower for the end.

Team news

JP Duminy’s injury-enforced absence means the balance of South Africa’s side will be affected. They will have to bring in a batsman to replace Duminy in the middle-order with Rilee Rossouw and Farhaan Behardien competing for the spot, but they will also need to make room for an extra spinner. Aaron Phangiso should make his first international appearance in five months, at the expense of either Chris Morris or David Wiese. Kagiso Rabada will have to lead the attack if Dale Steyn continues to sit out.South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Faf du Plessis (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Rilee Rossouw/Farhaan Behardien 6 David Miller, 7 David Wiese/Chris Morris, 8 Kyle Abbott 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Aaron Phangiso 11 Imran TahirChris Gayle has been declared fit to face South Africa after tweaking his hamstring in the Sri Lanka match, which should see West Indies go in with the same XI as they used for that game.West Indies: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Johnson Charles, 3 Andre Fletcher, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Dinesh Ramdin (wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Carlos Brathwaite, 10 Samuel Badree, 11 Sulieman Benn

Pitch and conditions

The pitch is under severe scrutiny after the qualifying round was played on a sluggish surface. The ball struggled to reach the bat and there was significant turn, which was also evident during the India-New Zealand clash. On Wednesday, two days before this match, the ICC’s pitch consultant Andy Atkinson oversaw preparations, with game-strip moving to an adjacent surface to the one the first round and the opening match of the Super 10s were played on. The new surface has been watered recently and has more grass, so is expected to hold together better, which could mean the spinners may not play as much of a starring role they were being primed for. That does not mean it will be easy-going and South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo’s assertion that the batsmen will have to “earn the money” will still hold, especially in hot, humid conditions.

Stats and Trivia

• South Africa have the historical advantage over West Indies. They have won six of the nine T20Is played between them. But West Indies have enjoyed more recent success. They claimed the series against South Africa in January 2015
• The first of Chris Gayle’s two T20I hundreds was scored against South Africa, in September 2007. The second came at this tournament, against England
• Hashim Amla is 49 runs away from becoming the fourth South African to 1,000 T20I runs

Quotes

“I’ve said it many times, once we do what we do well, we are a force to reckon with. We are very destructive. We’ve doing just the basic things well.”
“[When] you peak at the right time, that’s when you win tournaments. When it happens the other way around, you generally fall out in those [big] games. As a team, we’ve been possibly going at 60-70% for a while and I’m hoping that we’ll step up a gear when it comes to crunch time.”

Delhi Daredevils defended 164 against Mumbai Indians and sealed a hat-trick of wins for the first time since IPL 2012

The Report by Sirish Raghavan23-Apr-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAmit Mishra tied down Mumbai Indians with his googlies and sliders•BCCI

Delhi Daredevils defended 164 against Mumbai Indians and secured a hat-trick of wins for the first time since IPL 2012. They became the second team, after Royal Challengers Bangalore, to defend a total in IPL 2016. Mumbai appeared to be cruising in the early part of their chase, but legspinners Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir strangled them in the middle overs, before seamers Zaheer Khan and Chris Morris fired inch-perfect yorkers to seal Daredevils’ tense 10-run victory.Mumbai still had a chance when the equation was 42 off 18 with Kieron Pollard on 8 and Rohit Sharma on 50. Morris, coming back for his third spell, conceded ten runs in the 18th over and Zaheer followed it with the wicket of Pollard to leave Morris with 20 to defend off the final over. Hardik Pandya slapped the first ball to long-off and Rohit gave Mumbai hope by clouting the second ball for six. A ball later, when scampering back for a second run, Rohit collided with Hardik near the middle of the pitch and was run out. Mumbai also had to bear the anxiety of Rohit being helped off the field by the physio. Morris trapped Harbhajan Singh lbw the next ball and consigned Mumbai to their fourth loss in six matches.Mumbai, however, had started brightly in their chase. Rohit and Ambati Rayudu pierced the packed off-side field frequently, after Parthiv Patel was run out for 1 in the second over. Rohit and Rayudu built momentum with seven fours in 12 balls and the score raced past fifty by the sixth over.Rayudu could have been dismissed on 16 had JP Duminy hung onto a sharp catch at slip. He added nine runs before Mishra bowled him with a googly in his second over. Krunal Pandya, who was promoted to No.4, mixed finesse with power and hit 36 off 17 before Zaheer caught him short with a direct hit off his own bowling.Krunal’s run out applied the brakes on Mumbai’s innings. Mishra’s googly then made a reappearance in his third over and pinned Jos Buttler lbw for 2. Mishra celebrated the wicket by setting off on a celebratory run. Mishra and Imran Tahir tightened the screws and ended with combined figures of 8-0-53-2. Rohit then brought up his third fifty of the season with a crunching drive in the 17th over but his collision with Hardik killed the chase.Hardik was involved in a similar nasty collision when he tore to his left from deep backward square leg and bumped his face into Buttler who was running to his right from deep midwicket.Daredevils met an early stumbling block when Quinton de Kock, coming off a century against Royal Challengers, miscued a leg-side slog to backward point for 9 in the second over off Mitchell McClenaghan. Shreyas Iyer showed promise before he fell to a leg-side slog of his own. By the time Karun Nair sent a top edge to fine leg the following over, Daredevils had been reduced to 54 for 3 in eight overs.Duminy then joined Sanju Samson and revived Daredevils’ innings. They did so under pressure, given that Daredevils had packed their team with bowlers, with Pawan Negi batting at No.6. At one point 26 off 27 balls, Samson broke free with a huge six off Harbhajan Singh over long-on. A ball later he swept the offspinner for four between deep square leg and fine leg. He went on to bring up his fifth half-century against Mumbai off 40 balls.Samson holed out in the 17th over but Duminy took 22 runs off 11 balls from Jasprit Bumrah. The highlight of Duminy’s unbeaten 49 off 31 was an over-the-shoulder scoop for six. Mumbai, on the other hand, did not find impetus in their slog overs.

Half-centuries for Jimmy Adams and Adam Wheater made sure both Hampshire and Middlesex secured a third draw in three County Championship fixtures

ECB Reporters Network04-May-2016
ScorecardJimmy Adams made 70 to help ease Hampshire towards a draw (file photo)•Getty Images

Half-centuries for Jimmy Adams and Adam Wheater made sure both Hampshire and Middlesex secured a third draw in three County Championship fixtures. Adams, on his first appearance of the season, led the charge with 70 before Wheater, alongside Ryan McLaren, took the sting out of the match, with an unbeaten 57.Hampshire resumed with a lead of 26 knowing they needed to bat out the majority of the final day to make sure Middlesex could not force a win.Adams, with skipper James Vince, started solidly enough – the latter again showing some flair – as the pair added 81 for the second wicket. But Vince somewhat gave his wicket away by steering fast bowler Toby Roland-Jones to Sam Robson at gully.Will Smith provided little assistance to the cause when he was adjudged leg-before to Tim Murtagh less than ten overs later – the first of two blips for the hosts. Adams, meanwhile had reached a 140 ball fifty as he proved a valuable anchor, before he loosely swung at a ball outside the off stump to first slip – a rare mistake in a mostly flawless knock.Alarm bells rang two overs later when Liam Dawson, on 19, was comprehensively bowled by a Steven Finn delivery which kept very low, on a pitch which offered variable bounce throughout. But a 104 run stand for the sixth wicket between Wheater and McLaren eased the game back to its natural conclusion of a draw.Wicketkeeper Wheater kept the game moving with a half-century from 74 balls, with just eight of the runs coming from boundaries in a busy innings. McLaren also batted to quickly take the possibility of defeat away, ending the innings on an unbeaten 46 as Vince declared at tea, with Hampshire keen to get the over rate into minus figures.There was still time for nerves for the visitors as Robson fell for a three ball duck – he edged Tino Best behind for the West Indian’s first Hampshire wicket.Best was bowling at impressive pace and was close to getting Nick Compton lbw before Nick Gubbins was leg-before to James Tomlinson – the visitors effectively 19 for 3, with Adam Voges absent, and 20 overs still on the board. But first-innings centurion Dawid Malan and Compton saw Middlesex home – as Vince and stand-in Compton shock hands at exactly 5pm – Middlesex taking 12 points, Hampshire one fewer.