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London Spirit show spirit after falling to 30 for 5 only to be overhauled on penultimate ball

ECB Media27-Jul-2024Sean Abbott produced a memorable performance with the ball to inspire Birmingham Phoenix to a three-wicket victory over London Spirit in a low-scoring thriller at Lord’s.Abbott claimed 4 for 14 from his 20 deliveries – the 10th-best figures in the history of the men’s Hundred – as Phoenix restricted their hosts to 127 for 7, and the Australian allrounder was there at the finish as his side snuck home with a ball to spare.Asked to bat first, Spirit had slumped to 30 for 5 after Tim Southee trapped Daniel Bell-Drummond lbw with his first delivery and Abbott saw off Michael Pepper, Adam Rossington, Dan Lawrence and Ryan Higgins in the space of eight balls.Shimron Hetmyer briefly flickered but fell for 16 after top-edging Benny Howell to Adam Milne before Liam Dawson (36 from 34) and Andre Russell (37 from 20) mounted a recovery. Russell hit four sixes in a typically brutal knock which included three maximums off the final set of the innings, bowled by Milne.Phoenix also struggled against the new ball, slipping to 20 for 4 after Dan Worrall claimed two early breakthroughs including the crucial wicket of Moeen Ali for a duck. Liam Livingstone was unlucky to be run out by Olly Stone at the non-striker’s end before the young guns Dan Mousley (39 from 38) and Jacob Bethell (43 from 27) took charge.The visitors stuttered when both players were dismissed with the finishing line in sight but Howell held his nerve, smashing the penultimate ball of the match over extra-cover to seal the win with Abbott, the Meerkat Match Hero, standing at the non-striker’s end.Abbott said: “The feedback from the guys who opened up was that it was doing a little bit so I was just trying to present the seam and hit the top of the stumps. Keeping the run rate down is the most important thing and if you can pick up some wickets along the way then that’s a bonus.”The first two games have favoured the bowlers. We didn’t expect as much seam movement at this time of the year.”It was nice to be out there at the end. I was chuffed for Benny, he played really well again tonight. It wasn’t the easiest wicket and the two young blokes [Mousley and Bethell] did pretty well to get us close to home.”

A new role does not stop the hundreds from flowing as Sussex hit back at Hove

Alan Gardner07-Apr-20230:54

Pujara: Sussex move rejuvenated my India career

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Durham raised the standard for the new mode of ultra-attacking cricket in the LV= Insurance Championship, producing a higher run tally than any other team on the opening day of the season – and that despite losing 20 overs to a damp start in Hove. In response, Sussex leaned on old faithful: Cheteshwar Pujara, in his first match as captain, scored his sixth hundred with the martlets on his chest.The good news for Sussex was that leadership does not look like being a burden. Pujara’s 115 was warmly received by a healthy bank holiday crowd – Sussex’s decision to distribute 2000 free tickets combining with what felt like the first genuine sighting of the sun this spring – and meant that his average for the county actually increased a tick, up to 109.90 from his nine appearances. Pujara is not a particularly demonstrative man, but the very act of pressing out to meet the ball with an authoritative straight bat was a comforting sight for those reclining on their deckchairs.An analogue cricketer in a digital world, Pujara is one of the few Indian cricket aficionados on the planet choosing to focus on the county circuit in preference to the IPL. He was signed by Chennai Super Kings a couple of years ago, but did not get a game (he last played in the tournament in 2014); and having made Sussex his fourth county this time last year, he seems to have decided once and for all just which way he prefers his bread to be buttered.But how does an analogue cricketer fare in the Bazball era? Well, if you’re as technically assured and confident in your processes as Pujara – absolutely fine. Here he moved up and down the gears as required, flicking and guiding the ball into gaps, leaving plenty and attacking when it suited, as demonstrated by a strike rate of 70.55. A rare nod to innovation saw him uppercut the final ball before tea over the keeper for six, taking him to 88 not out at the interval. On the resumption, he took Brydon Carse for three fours in four deliveries to bring up a 133-ball ton.”It was an important knock for the team,” said Pujara, who praised the character shown by his players after Durham’s aggressive start to the match, as well as highlighting the century partnership between himself and Oli Carter that prevent Sussex from being cut adrift.”We are not too far behind in the game, and hopefully if we bowl well tomorrow we are chasing down anywhere close to 350,” he said. “First game, first innings, we were put under pressure, they were 160 for 1 – the way we fought back. Even while batting, we were under pressure, we lost four wickets but the way we fought back we are right in the game. So that’s the kind of attitude we want.”Cheteshwar Pujara scored his sixth Sussex hundred

Carse was the bowler who gave Pujara most trouble, his splice-bothering length twice producing edges that flew between slips and gully; another hit-the-deck effort reared off the shoulder of the bat and also disappeared for four – although that one was a no-ball. Matt Kuhnemann, the Australia spinner on Durham debut, saw an edge fall short and another slash fly beyond the outstretched grasp of slip.It was only a few weeks ago that Kuhnemann, playing in his second Test, helped to bowl Australia to a rare win in India – though conditions were rather more in Pujara’s favour on a crisp April afternoon in England. The comments section of the Sussex livestream featured enough nods to their Border-Gavaskar Trophy rivalry – in amongst complaints about the reliability of the feed – to suggest the IPL hasn’t eclipsed all other forms of cricket yet.Both Sussex and Durham begin this season with new head coaches in place as they attempt to cast off recent underperformance. Between 2003 and 2013, these two counties shared six Championship titles evenly but it is now seven years since either were in the top tier. There is plenty of talent coming through at both clubs, but Paul Farbrace and Ryan Campbell must each find the right blend of youth and experience to oversee a promotion push.Campbell, who took over at Durham after a six-year spell in charge of Netherlands, said that his side felt they had made up for lost time by scoring at more than five runs an over on a curtailed opening day. They continued in the same vein on the second morning, as Ben Raine drove the first ball for four before edging the second to be caught at slip – a fourth wicket for Sussex’s Australian allrounder Nathan McAndrew, who went on to complete a debut five-for as Durham were wrapped up for 376 just after the second new ball became available.Sussex’s reply threatened to come a cropper after some belligerence from their 22-year-old opener Ali Orr, who twice thrashed Raine for six in the space of five balls – either side of being caught off a no-ball. But Raine had the last laugh when he diverted a drive from Orr’s opening partner, Tom Haines, into the stumps at the non-striker’s end, and the Durham seamer then removed Haine, in his first outing since a successful winter with England Lions, via a catch at the wicket in the same over.Pujara was soon ensconced in the manner that brought him more than 1000 runs last year – including a double-century against Durham at Hove – but two quick wickets after lunch saw Sussex slip to 91 for 4. Pujara found an ally in Carter, Sussex’s diminutive wicketkeeper-batter and another academy product, as the fifth wicket yielded 112 in 30-odd overs of sensible batting. That was until Carter’s ill-judged charge gave Kuhnemann his first success in a Durham shirt and the visitors seemed to have taken a grip on proceedings again when Raine won a raucously celebrated lbw decision against Pujara with Sussex still 131 runs in arrears. But the tail was well marshalled by McAndrew, to ensure the home side, who ticked along at 3.64, were still in the game come the close.

Alex Ross’ 77 and Tanveer Sangha’s two-wicket haul were the only bright spots for the Thunder

Sreshth Shah12-Dec-2021Andre Russell hurt his former team Sydney Thunder with an unbeaten 21-ball 42 to give his new team Melbourne Stars a six-wicket win in the battle of the greens at the Sydney Showground Stadium. Walking in with the Stars in a difficult position, Russell maximised the power surge and demolished the Thunder bowlers to help chase 152 with 17 balls to spare.When Russell came in, the Stars had just lost Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell. However, five massive sixes and one four from the West Indian put all fears to rest, and the Stars now sit at third on the points table with two wins in three games.Russell wasn’t the only standout player for the Stars. Seamer Brody Couch, only three T20s old, took 2 for 26 and Afghan leggie Qais Ahmad picked up 2 for 17 to restrict the Thunder to 151. Maxwell, too, entertained with a 25-ball 40.Russell’s muscle after Maxi’s hustleAfter legspinner Tanveer Sangha dismissed the set Stars batters – Stoinis and Maxwell – in the 12th over, the Stars were 83 for 4. The first ball Russell faced was Sangha’s hat-trick delivery. But when Nathan McAndrew offered pace in the 13th over, Russell pummelled him for six over long on and clobbered two more sixes in the next over when Daniel Sams missed his mark with two short balls.With 26 runs off his first 11 balls, Russell had swiftly absorbed all the pressure that the Stoinis-Maxwell dismissals had brought along, and once the power surge was taken, run-scoring eased up even further. Sangha’s half-tracker was pulled over long on, Gurinder Sandhu’s short ball was punished in the same direction, and before one knew it, Russell was collecting the Player-of-the-Match award – from a distance, of course, due to the special and strict bio-bubble/close contact rules applied by the BBL for him.In an unbeaten 68-run stand for the fifth wicket with Russell, the No. 6 Hilton Cartwright contributed 23 in 13 balls.Before the stand, though, Maxwell played his part in shepherding a third-wicket stand with Stoinis. The duo added 59 after Stars lost Joe Clarke for a duck and Nick Larkin for an 11-ball six, with Stoinis choosing to anchor himself for the long haul after the early dismissals.That forced Maxwell to take the onus of keeping up with the required rate, and he started his assault with a well-timed flick off McAndrew over deep midwicket in the seventh over. After surviving a dropped chance, he drilled two fours back past Ben Cutting in the eighth and even hit Chris Green for a reverse-sweep that very nearly went for six. His 40 seemed to be the match-defining innings of the evening, but his dismissal instead made way for Russell to steal the day’s headlines.Young Stars bowlers impressWith Alex Hales hitting three fours off Nathan Coulter-Nile in the first over of the match, it was the Thunder who came off the blocks red hot. And Stars captain Maxwell had to shift to spin very early to put Hales in an uncomfortable position. After Hales carefully saw off the second over from Adam Zampa, he clocked Qais over mid off for a six in the third. However, Maxwell’s persistence with spin finally paid off when he himself dismissed the other opener, Sam Whiteman, in the fourth over.With a new batter in the crease, Qais then pounced on the opportunity by bowling four tidy deliveries before bowling Matthew Gilkes behind his legs. Two quick wickets put the pressure on Hales to go big, but he failed to do so as Couch – who celebrated his 22nd birthday last week – went short, and the batter instead edged an attempted upper-cut to Joe Clarke behind the sticks. Couch, in fact, was Maxwell’s sixth bowling option inside the first seven overs, a ploy he said, when mic’d up, was to unsettle the Thunder batters.It wasn’t the Hales wicket that was most impressive about Couch, but his bowling channel through his first spell. With a packed leg-side field on the boundary line, he went short or on a length, forcing the experienced middle-order batters Sam Billings and Alex Ross to only play across the line.From the other end, Qais’ toss-ups tempted the batters, but his guile ensured they couldn’t find boundaries. Instead, a frustrated Billings succumbed to cover looking to break the shackles by attacking a Qais delivery that had extra turn.All this time, Ross had been industrious in his run-scoring by picking singles and twos and playing low-risk shots, but with the death overs approaching and the Thunder’s score still under 100, he looked to change gears. After Sams clobbered Zampa for two sixes in the 18th, Ross tore into Russell with a hat-trick of sixes in a 23-run 19th over. Those hits helped Ross reach his highest-ever BBL score of 77.However, the young Couch bowled two terrific overs at the death to keep the Thunder down to a gettable total when momentum was not with the Stars. He kept Ross and Sams quiet in a five-run 17th over. And given the responsibility of the 20th, he conceded just one six in an 11-run final over that also included Sams’ scalp. Together, Couch and Qais shared four wickets for 43 runs in eight overs and were key contributors in ensuring that their side needed only 152 to win.

Chief executive says commitment to the women’s game remains “as strong as ever”

George Dobell26-Sep-2020Tom Harrison has insisted the ECB’s commitment to the women’s game is “as strong as ever”, despite the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.Harrison, speaking on the day that England’s women played their first match on the BBC since 1993, said he believes that 2020 “could have been a year of oblivion for women’s cricket” but has instead been “positive.” In particular, he welcomed the visit of West Indies – which ensured international cricket for the England side after other series had been cancelled – the launch of the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy and the implementation of retainer contracts.But while he welcomed such advances, Harrison accepted there was “a danger that women’s cricket’s development becomes isolated in the strongest countries” and feels the ECB must be “a leading voice” in the continued growth of the sport.”For us to get the West Indies over was hugely important,” Harrison said. “We just couldn’t have a situation where we didn’t play international women’s cricket here. I’m really pleased to see this series come together.ALSO READ: Sciver seals series as Dottin riposte proves in vain“I’m probably even more proud about the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy and the implementation of a professional set-up, the retainer contracts that we put in place for the 25 professional players, the commitment to, next year, take that on to 40 professional players plus the centrally-contracted players. We feel like there’s momentum building up and we feel like 2020, when it could have been a year of oblivion for women’s cricket, has been a net positive. It’s something we are very proud of.”But there is a danger that women’s cricket’s development becomes isolated in the strongest countries. With the stress on the finances of global cricket, you can see countries around the world really feeling the pressure not to invest into what they see as development areas as opposed to commercially generating areas.”I do think that’s an area of focus for the world game. And I think the ECB will be a leading voice in saying work needs to be done here to ensure the women’s game continues to be funded and the funding generated from the women’s game goes into the development of the women’s game, which is not always the case.”But while Harrison said that “ring-fencing” funding for the women’s game is “the kind of language” required, he conceded that “nothing can be ring-fenced” at present.”People have often talked about ring-fencing and that’s the kind of language that needs to be attributed to the women’s game,” he said. “The reality is the impact of the pandemic on our finances is massive.”We’re in a position where nothing can be ring-fenced but don’t read that into that any dilution on our commitment. None of our ambition is being diluted by the pandemic’s impact on our finances.”It is a really, really tough moment but our commitment to the women’s game is as strong as ever. You’ll see a continued to commitment to growth in this part of the game which is so fundamental to our future.”ECB chief executive Tom Harrison•Getty Images

With all national cricket boards struggling with their finances as a result of the pandemic, Harrison accepted there would be increased pressures on funding. But he insisted that the sport will prove more relevant and more commercially viable if it embraces the women’s game.”There are some serious financial challenges going around the world of cricket at the moment and that is not going to help women’s cricket,” Harrison said. “But I think the women’s game has a real role to play in the re-emergence of the international game as a much more globally relevant sport that can help us look at the next 100 years of cricket as an exciting opportunity.”What we need to be doing is passing on the evidence that the women’s game can generate two things: firstly, commercial value and secondly, a sustainability plan for your sport when it’s asking questions the financial crisis will inevitably ask. We are working on a big piece of work to understand how we commercialise the women’s game.”ALSO READ: Adams’ journey from a farmer’s field to an Edgbaston finalHarrison also reiterated his commitment toward greater diversity – both in terms of gender and ethnicity – at all levels of the game, including within the administration of the ECB. But he did hint that more progress was required at county level, or from “our stakeholders” as he put it.”Where this comes is demonstrating our commitment to accessibility across the board, whether it’s the men’s or women’s game; girls or boys,” he said. “It’s about creating an environment where everybody feels they have a place in the game. That is the most important piece of work we have to do over the next 10 years in this game and I’m absolutely committed to achieving that.”I inherited a team where there was very little diversity of any kind in my leadership team but we’ve gone beyond the Sport England governing code. We have a fully independent board and we are benefitting massively from the kind of experience and balance and decision-making [that] proper diversity can give you. I have three women in my senior team. We’ve work to do on the BAME diversity and we’re working on that right now.”I welcome the pressure on this. It helps us put pressure on through the game which is where I think more work needs to be done through our stakeholders where progress is a little slower.”There’s a journey we’re on and I’m extremely passionate about the inclusion of the diversity agenda. We’ve already made progress but there’s a lot more progress required. The ECB’s improving dramatically in terms of its gender representation.”

With his 27-ball 52 in the final, Mosaddek made a strong case for the No. 7 position in Bangladesh’s World Cup opener on June 2

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2019Mahmudullah and Mosaddek Hossain decided that they had to attack when West Indies’ Fabian Allen came on to deliver the 22nd over, in the final of tri-nation series on Friday. Bangladesh were chasing a revised target of 210 in 24 overs in a rain-curtailed match, and when they needed 27 to win from 18 balls, they saw Allen come back into the attack.Mosaddek had already struck two sixes and a four by then during his 26 off 18, and Mahmudullah, the designated big hitter for Bangladesh, was on 15 off 16 balls. With a title on the line and having not won one in international cricket, the pair knew Allen’s left-arm spin – largely bereft of variations – was their chance to push West Indies back.ALSO READ: Mosaddek’s 20-ball fifty seals historic win for BangladeshMosaddek hammered three sixes and a four on the first four balls of the over that cost West Indies 25 runs and the match was all but over, with Mosaddek finishing on a 27-ball 52. After the match, Mosaddek said that they knew there were batsmen capable of hitting sixes waiting in the dressing room but since they were the last remaining specialist batsmen, it was their responsibility to take Bangladesh home.”With 27 needed from the last three overs, we targeted that [Allen] over,” Mosaddek said. “We wanted to keep ourselves ahead by using this over. [Mohammad] Saifuddin, [Mehidy Hasan] Miraz and Mashrafe [Mortaza] were there after me. Mashrafe can play the big shots. Our plan was to bat till the end. I think everyone understood that we had done the job after that over. It was the turning point.”A turning point it could also be for Bangladesh and Mosaddek himself. With a World Cup coming up, and hosts England having already set a benchmark for big scores, Bangladesh seemed to have been lagging behind on that front, despite winning quite regularly since 2015. Their lack of a big-hitter down the order has often made the difference between a 320-plus score, and a middling 280.With Soumya Sarkar giving them good starts – he scored three consecutive fifties – in this tri-series, and now Mosaddek also revealing himself as a lower-order hitter, it potentially adds a missing piece to Bangladesh’s puzzle.Before Friday, Mosaddek had made only one ODI fifty in 21 innings, but with his quickfire half-century in the final, he made a strong case for the No. 7 position when Bangladesh take on South Africa in their World Cup opener on June 2. He has never had a reputation for six-hitting, but has been regarded as one for the future since his breakout season in the Dhaka Premier League six years ago.”I had to play positive cricket in that tough situation. I tried to play to the merit of the ball,” Mosaddek said of his willingness to bat with similar aggression in the future. “I think we will be playing on better wickets in England. I will try to play these knocks from down the order, which would be helpful to win games.”Mosaddek added that during the 10-minute innings break, the senior players told the rest of the team that if they simply bore in mind their confidence from the previous three matches, they had a good chance of chasing down the target.”After we returned from fielding, Mashrafe and the rest said that we have the batting ability, as we have shown in the tri-series, we would be able to chase down this target if we bat till the end.”Mosaddek signed off underscoring that winning their first title was important but the four wins in a row will play a bigger part in their preparation for the World Cup. “It is pleasing to win a final, especially against a good opponent. It is a big thing for us with the World Cup’s preparations in mind,” Mosaddek said.

Despite the 222-run win, the defending champions are no longer in contention for the knockouts

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2018Alick Athanaze pulls one away•IDI/Getty

Defending champions West Indies prevailed over Kenya in a one-sided contest in Lincoln, registering a 222-run win – their first in three games this tournament – courtesy Alick Athanaze’s unbeaten 116, and a combined nine wickets between Bhaskar Yadram and Jeavor Royal. Despite the two points, West Indies are no longer in contention for a knockout berth as hosts New Zealand and South Africa lead them on the points table.West Indies got off to a solid start after opting to bat, thanks to a quickfire fifty from Kimani Melius (60 off 45). His opening partner Keagan Simmons’ dismissal in the 15th over, however, led to the side losing their top three for four runs within the space of eight deliveries. Kenya, on their part, failed to capitalise on the quick wickets, allowing Athanaze and Kirstan Kallicharan to hoist West Indies to 150 via a 68-run partnership. While Athanaze motored on, having struck an unbeaten 76 in the previous game, the lower-order duo of Royal and Nyeem Young chipped in with 24 and 57 respectively to help their side finish on 318 for 7. Aveet Desai, the pick of the Kenya bowlers, finished with figures of 3 for 54.Subsequently, it took West Indies all of 24.4 overs to skittle the Kenya line-up with left-arm spinner Royal taking 4 for 25 in his 7.4 overs and Yadram ending with 5 for 18 from his seven overs. Only three of the Kenya batsmen mustered double-digit scores, with opener Aman Gandhi top-scoring with 37.

South Africa come into the Newlands Test looking to complete a whitewash in the three-match series while Sri Lanka would be looking to clinch a consolation win in Johannesburg

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Jan-2017

Match facts

January 12-16, 2017
Start time 1000 local (0800 GMT)

Big Picture

There was always the expectation the series would become incrementally tougher for Sri Lanka. In Port Elizabeth, there was supposed to be a low, slow pitch, but it was not nearly low or slow enough. At Newlands, instead of defusing seam movement on a greener-than-usual deck, Sri Lanka flailed their way to a defeat so enormous there is really no point recalling the exact margin. Now they have arrived at the Wanderers, where locals say, balls jump mischievously off lengths and do mocking high-speed orbits of South Asian batsmen, before seeking out the shoulder of their bats and leaping gaily into the gully fielder’s embrace.On the eve of this Test, Faf du Plessis spoke of ensuring there is no complacency in his outfit, throwing words like “ruthless” and “dominant” around. This is all very nice, but Sri Lanka could have done with a little South African overconfidence to charge them up. Something like: “Instead of going to nets after the second Test, we’ve been practicing our bum-patting in anticipation of how much of it we’ll have to do over the next few days,” might have worked nicely.The hosts’ major talking points ahead of this Test have not exactly been about the cricket they have played this series. Instead, they prepare to wish a happy hundredth to their bearded, presently-not-in-form, wrist-meister Hashim Amla. They are also dealing with the onset of the ‘Kolpakalypse’, which in this Test, takes the form of having to replace Kyle Abbott, who went to Hampshire to be able to pay for groceries.If the surface is as savage as folks are suggesting (seriously, this pitch had apparently once kidnapped an entire top order and held them to ransom), Sri Lanka’s major chance of victory may lie in rolling South Africa over cheaply, twice. That is not a totally outlandish proposition, given the heartening spells Suranga Lakmal and Lahiru Kumara have bowled. But, okay, it is almost an outlandish one.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa WWLWW

Sri Lanka LLWWW
Sri Lanka would hope Lahiru Kumara can repeat his performance from the Newlands Test if they are to trouble South Africa•AFP

In the spotlight

While Hashim Amla’s lean trot has stretched for slightly longer, Temba Bavuma has been having a quietly modest series of his own, with scores of 3, 8, 10 and 0. He is clearly a player of quality, as his hundred against England and the 74 in Hobart lay out. But 16 matches into his Test career now, he will want to begin making a charge on that average, which presently sits at 31.42Perhaps Sri Lanka fans owe a debt of gratitude to the kid who hit Lahiru Kumara on the head. Kumara had played hockey in his youth but was admitted to hospital one day after being struck by a stray stick. By the time he got home, his parents had thrown his hockey gear away and he was forced to switch to cricket, where he almost immediately proved himself a special talent. Possessing a mean bouncer, he could be a strike weapon for Sri Lanka on this pitch.

Teams news

Wayne Parnell will take Kyle Abbott’s place in the XI, and South Africa may also consider playing four quicks, to the exclusion of Keshav Maharaj.South Africa (possible): 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Stephen Cook, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Faf du Plessis (capt.), 6 Temba Bavuma, 7 Quinton de Kock (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Wayne Parnell, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 Kagiso RabadaSri Lanka will likely keep the same XI. There is an outside chance Dushmantha Chameera will replace Nuwan Pradeep, but that’s only if Chameera has regained his rhythm, which was off in Port Elizabeth.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Kaushal Silva, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dhananjaya de Silva, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 6 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 7 Upul Tharanga, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Lahiru Kumara, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Nuwan Pradeep

Pitch and conditions

There is a dusting of green on the Wanderers surface, which suggests it will hold together nicely through the five days, and prevent Rangana Herath from becoming a major threat. There is a chance of rain on Friday and Saturday, but the forecast is good for the remaining days.

Stats and trivia

• Rangana Herath needs six wickets in order to surpass Daniel Vettori’s career tally of 362 and become the most successful left-arm spinner in Test history.
• Hashim Amla’s average against Sri Lanka is 33.46 – his worst against any opponent save for Zimbabwe, whom he has only played one innings against.
• The last time Sri Lanka played at the Wanderers, in 2002, they lost by an innings and 64 runs.

Quotes

“For me it’s about being ruthless and trying to make sure that we’re moving into a space as a team where we start to dominate. That’s something we’ve spoken a lot about, and if you don’t do it now in the third Test then you’re just creeping back into old habits.”
“He is very raw. He bowled extremely well. He can give you a few loose balls as well but he is very aggressive and we need players like that. We have Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal who can hold one end together, so we can attack a little bit more with Lahiru.”

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

New Zealand are on course for an historic series victory against England after dominating the fourth day of the final Test in Auckland

The Report by George Dobell24-Mar-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsPeter Fulton cut loose as New Zealand’s lead grew•Getty Images

New Zealand are on course for an historic series victory against England after dominating the fourth day of the final Test in Auckland. Peter Fulton’s second century of the match took New Zealand out of reach, but it was the bowlers who hammered nails into the coffin of England’s hopes to salvage a draw. England will resume on the final day with just six wickets in hand and all three of their most obdurate batsmen gone.Fulton, who came into the game having not scored a century in a Test career that began in 2006, pulverised the England attack on the fourth day in a devastating partnership with his captain, Brendon McCullum, that did not so much close the door on England’s hopes as slam it in their faces.Fulton’s heroics have earned New Zealand an outstanding opportunity to claim just the second home series win in their history against England. The first was in 1983-84. New Zealand have not won a series against any of the top eight Test nations – nations other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe – since they defeated West Indies in 2006.Here they set England 481 to win the third Test and, with it, the series. New Zealand finally declared on 241 for 6 in their second innings having plundered runs with ease against a dispirited attack.The manner with which Fulton brought up his second century of the match – a straight six thumped back over the head of Stuart Broad – spoke volumes for the balance of power in this encounter: New Zealand, roundly dismissed as no-hopers before the series, established dominance over an England team that arrived in the country full of confidence, having just beaten India in India.New Zealand, resuming 274 ahead at the start of play on the fourth day, extended their advantage by another 206 runs in just 34.2 overs. Fulton, batting with more confidence than at any time in his Test career following his maiden century in the first innings, drove powerfully through mid-on and three times took a step or two down the pitch to thump Monty Panesar for six back over the bowler’s head. As his confidence grew, he gave himself room to drive Anderson over extra cover for six more.He became one of just four New Zealand players to have scored one in each innings of the same Test. Glenn Turner (against Australia in 1973-74), Geoff Howarth (against England in 1977-78) and Andrew Jones (against Sri Lanka in 1991) are the others to have done so.

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• Peter Fulton became the fourth New Zealand batsman to score a century in each innings of a Test, and the first since Andrew Jones against Sri Lanka 22 years ago.

• Fulton is only the second New Zealand opener to achieve this feat, after Glenn Turner in 1974.Overall, there are 26 instances of opening batsmen scoring hundreds in each innings of a Test.

• Fulton became the first New Zealand batsman to play more than 500 deliveries in a Test match since Mark Richardson in 2004. Richardson played 575 balls to score 194 runs at Lord’s against England.

• The most overs ever played by England in the fourth innings of a Test against New Zealand is 146.4, in Christchurch in 1997. England, chasing a target of 305 in that match, won by four wickets.

• Brendon McCullum’s 53-ball unbeaten 67 is the tenth-quickest 50-plus score by a New Zealand batsman in Tests. Six of those top ten innings have come against England.

• The fifth-wicket partnership of 117 between Fulton and McCullum came off 101 balls. The run-rate of 6.95 per over is the second-fastest ever in Tests for a century stand for New Zealand.

His fifth-wicket partnership with his captain, Brendon McCullum, was worth 117 runs, scored in just 16.5 overs, as New Zealand progressed with an ease that made a mockery of the gap between these two teams in the Test rankings.Fulton enjoyed one moment of fortune. When he had 31, he mistimed his attempted on drive off Stuart Broad but saw James Anderson, at a shortish midwicket, spill a sharp but far from impossible chance. New Zealand would have been 65 for 4 had it been taken.England produced an oddly diffident performance in the field. Their attempt to pitch the ball fuller in search of swing that remained elusive too often resulted in over-pitched deliveries that Fulton drove through mid-on. At other times the England bowlers drifted on to Fulton’s legs, allowing him to pick up runs with an ease that defined the match situation.The introduction of Panesar brought some relief for England. His third delivery induced Dean Brownlie to attempt to clear the field. Ian Bell, running back from mid-on, made a desperately tough chance appear straightforward.But that only brought McCullum to the crease. He square drove his first delivery, a wide, over-pitched ball from Steven Finn, to the point boundary and soon pulled Anderson, looking more jaded by the moment, and Finn for sixes.Panesar bore the brunt of the assault, though, His attempt to stem the flow by bowling over the wicket and into the rough outside the right-handers’ leg stump
was negated when McCullum took him for successive boundaries, a powerful pull followed by a precise sweep, and drove him for another six. Panesar conceded
52 in five overs at one point. It was brutal batting.Whatever Alastair Cook envisaged when he won the toss and inserted New Zealand on the first day, it was surely not a situation where his side had to bat for four-and-a-half sessions to save the game. There were no realistic hopes of victory: England have never chased more than the 332 they made against Australia in Melbourne in 1928-29 to win a Test and no team has ever made more than the 418 West Indies made against Australia in Antigua in 2002-03. The highest successful chase on this ground is 348, made by West Indies in 1968-69, though since the introduction of drop-in pitches just over a decade ago, no side has managed more than the 166 scored, admittedly for the loss of just one wicket, in 2005.Nor is this the England team that enjoyed such success a couple of years ago. Not only is there no Kevin Pietersen, but there are fewer lower-order allrounders such as Graeme Swann or Tim Bresnan. Two of the middle-order, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, came into this game with only eight Test caps between them and the days when Stuart Broad could be considered an allrounder seem long ago.Tim Southee soon made inroads into England’s second innings. Nick Compton, feeling for a fine delivery that pitched on off stump and left him, edged a catch behind the stumps before Jonathan Trott squandered his display of resistance by chasing a wide one from the impressively sharp Neil Wagner, bowling left-arm around the wicket.But the hammer blow was inflicted by part-time off-spinner Kane Williamson. Cook, on one, had survived a chance to BJ Watling when he felt for one angled across him from Southee. But when he edged a drive off Williamson, Brownlie, very close in at gully, clung on to a very sharp chance.With Finn, the nightwatchman, also falling to an outstanding close catch before the close, New Zealand were on the brink of a memorable success. It meant that a series that started with many England supporters presuming an easy victory looks set to finish with their team engaged in a desperate – and surely vain – struggle to salvage a draw.

Ireland muscled their way past Namibia to take the last remaining place in the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, showing the all-round game that has made them the leading Associate side for the past five years

The Report by Gerard Siggins in Dubai24-Mar-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsPaul Stirling brutalised the Namibia bowling•Getty Images

Ireland muscled their way past Namibia to take the last remaining place in the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka later this year, showing the disciplined all-round game that has made them the leading Associate side for the past five years.Namibia had caused a surprise on day one of the tournament by defeating Ireland by four runs, but despite finishing the group stage unbeaten, they fly home to Windhoek with nothing to show. “It was a great experience for us, especially for the younger guys,” Sarel Burger, the Namibia captain, said, straining to find positives as his team were outclassed in their two final-phase games. Their top order was blown away by Afghanistan, and again today by Trent Johnston. Raymond van Schoor had been leading scorer in the group stage with 323 runs, but failed miserably in the big games, making 1 and 0.Burger’s decision to bat first was perplexing, as Ireland have built on Johnston and Rankin’s blitzkrieg in the opening overs. And so it was today, with the extra pace and movement confounding the Namibian batters. van Schoor played across the line and was out lbw to Johnston. In Johnston’s next over, Louis van der Westhuizen hit a six over extra cover before getting his feet all wrong in trying a pull and lobbing the ball to Andrew White. Johnston ended with a maiden over, his sixth in Twenty20s.The runless over is rarer than a fifty in this format, but Max Sorensen bowled two maidens in a stunning spell of 4-2-8-2. In his brief career – which started only last month – he has now bowled four maidens. The South-Africa born fast bowler, who plays with The Hills in Dublin, has come good in the knockout phase, showing great character as the clamour to replace him with Middlesex’s Tim Murtagh became insistent. “I’m just glad today was my day,” he said. “Today my rhythm was at its best, but it’s great to do it in an important game.”Namibia had no answer to William Porterfield’s stranglehold and their response was typified by the usually fluent Gerrie Snyman. He took nine balls to get off the mark and took 39 deliveries to score just 17. Ireland bowled as a unit and it was only the final over when Kevin O’Brien went for 12 that they slipped. Such are the riches at Porterfield’s disposal that his ace left-arm spinner George Dockrell was not required to bowl for the first time in his 68 caps.Namibia had only hit three sixes and five fours in their entire innings, but Ireland struck scored five fours within two overs. Porterfield and Paul Stirling went at ten runs an over until the captain clipped a ball to midwicket off Louis Klazinga, but his departure didn’t faze Stirling who continued to brutalise the bowling.His fifty came up in 26 balls, with eight fours and a six, and the innings had just crept one delivery into the 11th over when he reverse-swept Ian Oppermann for four to bring up victory.The Irish team danced and sang as they celebrated qualifying for their third consecutive ICC World Twenty20, but you have to feel for the Namibians who have been the least deserving victims of the Full Members’ vindictive decision to cut Associate participation from six teams to two.Ireland went back to their hotel to rest for two hours before they return to play their second game of the day – and 11th in 12 days – against Afghanistan in the tournament final. At stake is a smart trophy, but also a dilemma.The winners face Australia and West Indies in Sri Lanka, the losers take on England and India. It’s arguable which is the most desirable fate, and has echoes of the 2005 ICC Trophy final when Scotland beat Ireland knowing that in the 2007 World Cup the winners would face Australia, South Africa and Netherlands. Defeat meant a group with Pakistan, Zimbabwe and West Indies. Ireland qualified for the Super Eights with a win and a tie, while the Scots were hammered in all three games. Their respective paths have diverged ever since.Edited by Abhishek Purohit