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Hundred eludes Hales, wickets elude England

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Alex Hales is getting closer to a treasured maiden Test hundred, but he will have to wait a while yet. He was on 94, only six runs short, when he fell only 10 minutes before tea at Lord’s

The Report by David Hopps12-Jun-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEngland would have had two main ambitions on a bedraggled fourth day at Lord’s. The first would have been to make incursions into Sri Lanka’s second innings to prepare a route to victory and a 3-0 clean sweep in the series; the second, a maiden Test hundred for Alex Hales. Neither eventuated as Sri Lanka continued to resist gamely in the final Test.Left with 12 overs to see out at the end of the day, Sri Lanka’s openers clipped 32 from the 362 needed for victory. Alastair Cook’s declaration at 233 for 7 was well judged, a touch more generous perhaps than if the series had been level. The pitch is a little uneven, but nothing excessive and, judging by the sober way Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva went about their work, Sri Lanka look in the mood to scrap every inch of the way.Hales is getting closer to a treasured first Test hundred, but he will have to wait a while yet. He was on 94, only six runs short, when he fell lbw only 10 minutes before tea, trying to turn Angelo Mathews quietly on the leg side. He reviewed umpire Rod Tucker’s decision, but it was with a wan expression from a man fearing the worst. Ball-tracking technology held that the ball would have struck the top of leg stump.

Smart stats

  • 3 – 80-plus scores for Alex Hales in five innings in this series; his highest in eight innings in South Africa was 60

  • 7 – England batsmen who have been dismissed in the 90s more often than Hales in all international cricket

  • 7054 – Balls between sixes for Alastair Cook in Tests; his last one before the second innings at Lord’s was versus India in Kolkata in 2012

  • 2009 – The last time, before the second innings of this match, that James Anderson didn’t bowl the first over of an innings: he bowled first change versus West Indies at Lord’s in 2009

  • 2 – Instances, in the last 30 years, of teams scoring more than 310 in the fourth innings of a Lord’s Test – by Australia (406 in 2009) and India (397 in 2002)

With two 80s to his name in the series, Hales could at least console himself that he had done much to implant himself at the top of the order, his composed, if occasionally fortunate, innings providing more evidence that he can successfully adjust to the demands of the five-day game. Without repeated self-destruction against Sri Lanka’s spinners earlier in the series, he could have been basking in something even better.Rain had prevented a start until 2.40pm, but England held an overnight lead of 237 and, despite several more pesky showers, the day yielded 45 overs, enough to keep the Test meaningful.Hales’ composure held England’s second innings together, even if he was not without fortune. On 58, he suffered a replica of Joe Root’s dismissal the previous day – his off stump hit by a shooter from Nuwan Pradeep – only for umpire Tucker to call no-ball. TV replays suggested that Pradeep’s heel was behind the line on first impact, the umpire perhaps being fooled by the bowler’s foot slipping forward on landing.Understandable complaints that international umpires were ignoring repeated no-balls so that they could concentrate on events at the business end of the pitch seem to have caused a recent reassessment of that approach, but Tucker’s no-ball call for such a borderline delivery – a wrong call as it turned out – will not allay concerns that the system has become outdated in a TV age..With no chance under current regulations to use TV evidence to reverse the decision, Sri Lanka were understandably aggrieved. Those regulations were already due to be examined at the ICC annual meeting in Edinburgh later this month.Undiplomatically, Sri Lanka responded by hanging the national flag from the Lord’s balcony, which could either be regarded as a plucky statement to their players that they would fight on regardless of their mounting ill luck or, conversely, as an infantile gesture carrying the implication of umpiring bias. The request soon came through for them to take it down: Lord’s does not allow flags of any description, certainly not from dressing room balconies.Thilanga Sumathipala, SLC’s president, called the decision “unacceptable” and said: “It will be reported to the ICC. The flag is a symbol. It is a mark to say we are not happy with the decision. To show solidarity and fight back.”Sri Lanka also thought they might have had Hales on 45 when Shaminda Eranga brought one back to strike him on the top of the pad but umpire S Ravi’s not-out decision was upheld by virtue of “umpire’s call” on review.The breaks in Hales’ favour were fast adding up. In reaching 41 by Saturday’s close, he might have fallen on 19, if Karunaratne had clung on to a low chance to his left at second slip and again on 39, shortly before the close, when he glanced Pradeep down the leg side only for Dinesh Chandimal to grass the chance. There were no reports of draped flags then.Nevertheless, Hales had some dominant moments, too, none better than when he conquered Rangana Herath’s over-the-wicket attack into the rough by hoisting the left-arm spinner straight for six, then sweeping his next delivery for four.England did lose the nightwatchman Steven Finn, lbw to Eranga, clearing the way for Cook. His place at No. 7 was purely happenstance, and not due to regulations limiting a player’s place in the batting order after injury, explained by the fact that his mishap while fielding at silly point was regarded as an external injury.Cook showed no ill effects although he, too, flirted with the vagaries of the review system. On 6, Herath spun one back to hit his thigh, playing back, but replays showed the ball had struck him outside the line. Then, in Herath’s very next over, he was struck in line of off stump by another sharp spinner, but this Sri Lanka erroneously chose not to appeal the original not-out decision. Hawk-Eye would have sent the England captain on his way for 11.Cook’s unbeaten 49, batting at No. 7, including a deep midwicket six into the Mound Stand off Eranga – he had hit 10 previously in Tests – and surely his first attempted ramp shot. The latter felt a bit like tipsy dad on the dancefloor. Probably judging that was enough tomfoolery for one day, he then declared, no doubt returning to a dressing room where he commands so much respect that players can happily giggle at his adventure.

When Imran turned demolition man

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Just ten months after they met in a historic series, India and Pakistan are ready for another battle which promises to be just as exciting and closely fought as the previous one was

Sambit Bal06-Jul-2016

Imran Khan destroyed a strong Indian batting line-up with his reverse-swing
© Getty Images

This wasn’t a Test that you would call great in the traditional sense. It was a no-contest: Pakistan won by an innings and 87 runs, their biggest win over India at the time, and one they went on to better two Tests later at Hyderabad. But the match was significant for the performance of one man – Imran Khan took 11 wickets in the match, eight of them in the second innings, five in the space of 25 balls, and the legend of reverse-swing was born. Sarfraz Nawaz is credited as being the early exponent of reverse-swing but on that third afternoon of the Karachi Test, Imran gave the most fearsome exhibition of the art which was yet to acquire a name.India, trailing by 283 runs, would have nurtured faint hopes of saving the game as Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar took them to 102 for 1 shortly after tea. The new ball had been negotiated comfortably and the only wicket to fall, that of Arun Lal, had been claimed by Abdul Qadir. But Imran returned for his second spell with a semi-old ball and, aided by a strong wind, produced prodigious late swing at a blistering pace that left the Indian batsmen numb.Gavaskar was the first go, bowled through the gate, and it signalled a procession. India ended the day at 118 for 7, and of Imran’s five victims, four were bowled and only Mohinder Amarnath managed to get his front pad in the way. This was the spell that decided the series. Writing on the series for World Cricket Digest, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi termed it a “case of overkill”. Imran, who started the match with flu, ended the series with 40 wickets and by the time the Indians arrived in Hyderabad, Pakistani fans were holding up banners likening him to the F-16s, the American fighter planes that were the latest addition to Pakistan’s military stable.India had begun the Test horribly after being sent in on a newly laid, green-tinged pitch, by losing Gavaskar to a run-out from a direct hit by Imran, who then accounted for Vengsarkar with a ball that lifted and swung away. Arun Lal and Gundappa Viswanath put up a brief partnership, but India soon found themselves at 70 for 5. Kapil Dev avoided a total rout by merrily swinging away to a 53-ball 73. He was severe on Qadir in particular, hitting him for five fours and a six. And when Madan Lal removed Pakistan’s first three batsmen for 18, the day didn’t seem so bad for India.However, the second day belonged to Pakistan. Zaheer Abbas, who had scored a double-century in the first Test at Lahore, stroked away to 186 and added 213 runs for the fifth wicket with Mudassar Nazar, who was batting down the order because of flu. With useful 30s from Imran and Wasim Bari, Pakistan ended up with 452. India stayed in the battle for a couple of hours, after which it was all Imran.

Van Wyk helps New Zealand acclimatise to South Africa

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South Africa may find their home advantage somewhat eroded next month, when they take on a New Zealand side that will have had a lengthy training camp at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre

Firdose Moonda18-Jul-2016The advantage of being a home team is you have a better understanding of conditions than your opposition, but that may not be the case when South Africa host New Zealand next month. Kane Williamson’s men will have spent a significant amount of time in the country ahead of their two-Test series, thanks to a training camp at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre organised by former New Zealand player Kruger van Wyk.The wicketkeeper-batsman, originally from South Africa, had retired from cricket in December and returned home to take charge of the University’s cricket program, which he himself had come through. Van Wyk has an intricate knowledge of the High Performance Centre, which is home to CSA’s National Academy and hosts several other elite sports teams at its state-of-the-art facilities. He knew it would be the ideal place for New Zealand to prepare for the four Tests they play in southern Africa – two in Zimbabwe, two in South Africa – this winter.”I know what it’s like to tour, to want to get the best preparation and I had no doubt that we could help them with that,” van Wyk said. In particular, he has focussed on giving New Zealand the kinds of surfaces they will encounter in Bulawayo, Durban and Centurion, which are all expected to be slow and low at this time of year. “It’s important that they [the pitches] are similar to the Zimbabwe ones, similar to the ones they’ll get here. As a player, whatever you need, you get. That’s our motto. Whatever you guys need, we’re going to give it to you and give it at a high level of professionalism as well, so I hope the boys enjoy it as well while they’re here.”With New Zealand’s every need being met, van Wyk’s loyalties were a subject of discussion and he made no attempt to hide where they lie. “I think it’s going to be an awesome series. It’s very clear who I want to see do well. These are the guys who I played for, and my priorities, even though I’m coaching and living in South Africa at the moment, it’s still with the New Zealand side,” he said. “I’ve played Test cricket for New Zealand and I’m proud of that. But I think it’s going to be a hell of a good series and I’m so excited about seeing that and I really believe this is a good opportunity to get a double Test series victory.”Key to New Zealand’s recent success has been their team culture, which is centered on the collective and has exuded a fun-factor for all involved. For van Wyk, that is the difference. “It’s been wonderful, actually. I think there’s been such a new life blown into cricket in New Zealand and that was just through the culture in this side. Mike [Hesson, the coach] and Baz [Brendon McCullum] and Kane and a lot of the senior players must take massive credit for this. They’ve done some wonderful things for the image of the game and just the way they’ve played as well. That’s the best way to get fans back, to get all these sorts of things back, ex-players, and their performances have been outstanding and I know it will only grow under Kane and Mike as well.”That culture exists even among those, like van Wyk, who have left the New Zealand fold. “As a coach, and as an ex-player, I think a lot of it is about giving back to the game, giving back to the people who’ve always been good to you. I am extremely thankful towards New Zealand cricket who’ve always been good to me and it’s time to give back,” he said. “Tukkies [University of Pretoria] was an institution that put a lot of time and effort into my development when I was a youngster here, so it’s the best of both worlds.”

Amila Aponso 4 for 18 seals Sri Lanka's 82-run victory

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Sri Lanka’s openers gone cheaply. A recovery led by Kusal Mendis. A Sri Lankan attack heavy on spin options. Australia’s batsmen struggling. A Sri Lankan victory

The Report by Brydon Coverdale24-Aug-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:58

By the Numbers: Aponso’s four-four sinks Australia

Sri Lanka’s openers gone cheaply. A recovery led by Kusal Mendis. A Sri Lankan attack heavy on spin options. Australia’s batsmen struggling to have any impact. A Sri Lankan victory. Steven Smith could be forgiven for feeling like this was a flashback to the Test series just ended. But the big difference was that Australia already have a win in this one-day series. At the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka merely levelled it 1-1 with three to play.It was a victory built on two big partnerships: a 125-run stand between Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal, and a 103-run effort from Angelo Mathews and Kusal Perera. Chandimal was the only one of the quartet who did not reach fifty, falling instead on 48 and thus missing the chance to become the first Sri Lankan to score six consecutive ODI half-centuries. Besides those two stands, Sri Lanka’s wickets fell rapidly in three clumps.The last of those clumps featured a momentous event – James Faulkner became the sixth Australian to take a hat-trick in an ODI. But by that late stage in the innings the damage had been done. Sri Lanka had done enough to set Australia a target of 289. No team had ever won an ODI at this ground chasing such a hefty total and on a pitch offering plenty of turn Australia could not rewrite history, despite Matthew Wade’s career-best innings.One key difference from the Test series was that Sri Lanka opened with seamers from both ends – curious given that Nathan Lyon had taken the new ball for Australia earlier in the day – and the move brought immediate success. Thisara Perera’s first ball drew David Warner into a drive that was edged behind, and in his next over Perera had Aaron Finch dragging one on. Australia were 16 for 2, hardly the kind of start required for this chase.Sri Lanka had recovered from a similar position, but forcing the scoring rate against Sri Lanka’s spin attack was never going to be easy for Australia. Left-arm spinner Amila Aponso in particular proved difficult to get away, and the pressure that he applied brought him the wickets of Smith and George Bailey. On 30, Smith advanced and drove a catch to mid-on. Bailey was much less fluent, his 27 taking 46 balls, and he did not manage a single boundary before being bowled, deceived by Aponso’s dip.Bailey was not the only Australian to labour at the crease. Moises Henriques took 16 balls to make 4 and was out when he lunged forward and was beaten by legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna’s turn and Chandimal’s quick stumping – a similar dismissal to the first innings in the Colombo Test, when Henriques dragged his back foot out of his ground. Supposedly a good player of spin, Henriques must find another method, for drag is proving as costly to him as it does an Olympic swimmer.Wade and Travis Head did their best to claw Australia back into the match, but clawing rarely achieves much but to delay the inevitable. Sri Lanka’s spinners were too hard to dominate, and the required rate ballooned. Wade reached 76, his highest ODI score, but did so with only three boundaries, and by the timed he holed out to Thisara Perera, Australia needed more than 10 an over.Head top-edged a catch off Mathews for 31 from 48, Mitchell Starc popped a return catch back to Mathews, and then Aponso finished off the game with the wickets of Adam Zampa and Faulkner, to end up with the outstanding figures of 4 for 18 off 9.2 overs. Sri Lanka had won by 82 runs.Kusal Mendis revived Sri Lanka with a plucky half-century after they lost two early wickets•AFP

For the first few overs of the day it looked like Australia’s hopes of taking a 2-0 series lead were strong. After Mathews chose to bat, Sri Lanka stumbled to 12 for 2. Danushka Gunathilaka, brought in for this match at the expense of Milinda Siriwardana, was bowled by Starc for 2, and next ball Tillakarante Dilshan was bowled behind his legs by Lyon, operating around the wicket.But Mendis and Chandimal were up to the task of rebuilding, rotating the strike and putting away boundaries off bad balls. And they got a few of those. Smith’s decision to use the part-time offspin of Head inside the first 10 overs backfired spectacularly when Mendis plundered 20 runs off his first over. Head’s four overs cost 41 and combined with Henriques’ 0 for 40 off five, offset much of the good work of Zampa, Starc and Faulkner, who each took three wickets.Chandimal was the victim of a remarkable review off the bowling of Zampa. Chandimal advanced and tried to work Zampa to leg, missed, and the ball cannoned into the wicketkeeper Wade’s midriff. When Wade recovered, he appealed for lbw and convinced Smith to ask for a review. Replays confirmed the ball had struck Chandimal’s pad on the way through, in line, and would have hit the stumps.Zampa added the key wicket of Mendis to his tally in his next over. Mendis, who had scored all around the ground for his run-a-ball 69, was done by Zampa’s googly, trapped lbw, so plumb he did not seriously consider asking for a review. Zampa’s third came when Dhananjaya de Silva drove a catch to short cover, and he finished with 3 for 42 from his 10 overs.But then came the second of Sri Lanka’s crucial – or is that Kusal? – partnerships. Kusal Perera and Mathews came together with the score at 158 for 5 and both men combined attacking strokeplay with the ability to find the gaps for ones and twos. Mathews launched a pair of sixes off Lyon in the 40th over and his fifty came up off 55 balls; Perera struck five fours and one six, and brought up his half-century from 47 deliveries.However, they became the first two victims of Faulkner’s hat-trick: on 54 Perera was lbw trying a reverse sweep from the last ball of the 46th over, and first ball of the next over Mathews, on 57, drilled a catch down the ground. Completing the feat, Faulkner had Thisara Perera bowled. But by then, the damage had been done. Starc finished off the tail in the 49th over.Sri Lanka’s wickets had fallen in clusters – 2 for 12 at the top, 3 for 21 in the middle, 5 for 27 at the end. But those collapses were offset by two century stands, and those two partnerships were the difference in the match.

Gunaratne impresses as Sri Lanka A close in

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Asela Gunaratne followed up an impressive 38 with two top-order wickets to help Sri Lanka A close in on victory against West Indies A, who ended day three nine wickets down in their second innings and only 55 in front

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-2016
ScorecardFile photo – Asela Gunaratne put in an all-round performance for Sri Lanka A•AFP

Asela Gunaratne followed up an impressive 38 with two top-order wickets to help Sri Lanka A close in on victory against West Indies A, who ended day three nine wickets down in their second innings and only 55 in front.Gunaratne first helped Sri Lanka stretch their overnight lead of 72 to 110, adding 49 for the ninth wicket with Lahiru Kumara. Then he took the wickets of Rajendra Chandrika, who failed to go past 5 for the fourth innings in a row, and Shamarh Brooks to hasten West Indies’ second-innings slide. Four West Indies batsmen got past 20, but none of them managed a half-century, with Vishaul Singh top-scoring once again with 46.Gunaratne and offspinner Charith Asalanka took two wickets each, and Asith Fernando removed Singh for 46 as the visitors were reduced to 132 for 8. Sri Lanka were then frustrated by Gudakesh Moti-Kanhai and Keon Joseph, the ninth-wicket pair batting for 19 overs before Lakshan Sandakan trapped Moti-Kanhai in front, off the last ball of the day, to pick up his third wicket.In the morning session, offspinner Rahkeem Cornwall picked up the last two Sri Lanka wickets to end with career-best figures of 8 for 108.

Timil five-for, Taylor century sees USA steamroll Oman

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A roundup of the third day’s action at ICC World Cricket League Division Four in Los Angeles

Peter Della Penna in Los Angeles 02-Nov-2016Legspinner Timil Patel’s second five-wicket haul of the tournament was followed by a devastating century by captain Steven Taylor as USA crushed Oman by eight wickets at Wright Cricket Field. The win put USA in the driver’s seat for one of the two promotion berths available at WCL Division Four while Oman’s promotion chances were dented not only by the loss, but also by USA’s chase of 164 in only 29.3 overs, which wrecked Oman’s net run rate.Taylor sent Oman in to bat on an overcast morning, giving debutant fast bowler Ali Khan the new ball. Ali, contracted by Guyana Amazon Warriors, had missed the first two games due to a left hamstring injury and clearly was still not 100%. He started off with a wide on a shortened run-up of just 12 paces, but on the last ball of the first over, he bowled the dangerous Zeeshan Maqsood through the gate with an inswinger for a duck.Khan laboured through the rest of his six-over opening spell but managed to nab Arun Poulose with a sharp return catch for 18, to leave Oman at 29 for 2. It was one of the few catches USA held on to over the next 12 overs; they missed six chances on the day.Swapnil Khadye benefited most from USA’s sloppy fielding, surviving a run-out chance and a drop at cover on 21 in the space of three deliveries, in the 20th over by Danial Ahmed. Khadye eventually added 46 runs with Khawar Ali before Elmore Hutchinson broke the partnership, getting Khawar to edge a drive to Akeem Dodson behind for 22. Khadye was bowled for 36, beaten in flight by Taylor’s offspin.With the middle order exposed, Timil was brought into the attack in the 32nd over and struck in the 34th, getting Zeeshan Siddiqui caught at deep midwicket for 22. Jatinder Singh and Amir Ali both fell attempting to slog Timil over midwicket only for Taylor to take brilliant catches at cover. Timil then trapped Ajay Lalcheta in front for his fourth wicket before Mohammad Nadeem’s leading edge went to Taylor to complete the five-for. Alex Amsterdam had Munis Ansari caught on the boundary at long-on two balls into the final over to wrap up the innings.The last time Taylor faced Oman at 2013 WCL Division Three in Bermuda, he was yorked for a second-ball duck by Ansari. On this occasion however, Taylor saw off the new ball with confidence and held firm after the early loss of Fahad Babar.Taylor moved to a sedate 12 off 20 balls before showing his menace in the eighth over against Ansari. He flicked the bowler off his hips for six before angling an attempted yorker behind point for four more. Ansari finished wicketless for the third successive match in the tournament. Taylor drove Amir’s offspin over mid-on for his seventh four in the 16th over and tapped a single to cover next ball to bring up his fifty in 44 balls.Taylor took the same number of deliveries to move from a fifty to a century, but gave two chances along the way. The first was on 66, an inside-edge in left-arm spinner Lalcheta’s first over that popped up off his pads in the region of silly point. Khadye bolted from behind the stumps and dived but the ball slipped through his gloves. On 90, Taylor edged Maqsood to Jatinder at slip but a sharp chance was spilled. One ball later, he slog-swept Maqsood over deep square leg to go to 96 and brought up three figures in the following over off Lalcheta with a crisp cover drive.Jersey kept their slim promotion hopes alive with a three-wicket win at Severn Cricket Field over Italy, who fell squarely in the relegation zone after their third consecutive loss. Jersey’s next match is against Bermuda on Wednesday where the winner will go to 2-2 and have an outside chance of promotion while the loser will fall to 1-3 and be in danger of relegation.Sent into bat, Italy made 235 with the top score from Gian Meade who scored 61 after being promoted to No. 3, and added 66 with Alessandro Bonora for the third wicket.Italy were on track for 250, having reached 211 for 5 by the 45th over with Carl Sandri and captain Damian Crowley well set. Anthony Hawkins-Kay struck a crucial blow in the 46th over, bowling Sandri for 40 off 32 balls to end a 91-run stand. It sparked a slide of six for 23 with the lower order collapsing. Offspinner Rhys Palmer plucked out two of those wickets and ended with 3 for 57 while Crowley fell for 58 in the 49th over to Ben Kynman, after which the pair got into a verbal exchange, one of several heated moments in the match.Man-of-the-Match Nat Watkins opened Jersey’s chase and top-scored with 77 off 101 balls. He added 64 with Luke Gallichan for the second wicket and then added another 75 for the third wicket with Jonty Jenner before he was stumped off Sandri. Will Harris’ hit-wicket dismissal off Sandri’s bowling nearly pulled Italy back into the game while Meade ran out Hawkins-Kay in the 39th to make it 167 for 5.Italy then struck twice in the space of three balls to remove Jenner for 65 and Charles Perchard for a first-ball duck, leaving Jersey needing 44 to win off 40 balls. Corey Bisson calmly saw the side home with an unbeaten 42 off 31 balls, hitting the winning single with three balls to spare.Corey Bisson roars after completing the winning run for Jersey to get past Italy by three wickets•Peter Della Penna

Bermuda got their first win of the tournament, beating Denmark by 38 runs at Wong Cricket Field to keep the tournament wide open heading into round four. This was Denmark’s first loss in the tournament. Sent in to bat, Bermuda posted 221 for 7 and were boosted by the arrival of Delray Rawlins, who had missed the first two matches while training with the England Under-19 squad across the Atlantic. Rawlins made a top score of 39 batting at No. 3, sharing in a 71-run second-wicket stand with captain Oliver Pitcher.Offspinner Bashir Shah took two wickets to stay tied with USA’s Timil on the tournament wickets list, with 10 dismissals in three games. His double-strike removed Steven Bremar and Curt Stovell in consecutive overs and pinned Bermuda down at 161 for 7 in the 40th. Jordan DeSilva and Dennico Hollis, however, held Denmark’s bowling at bay with a valuable 60-run unbroken stand for the eighth wicket. Denmark also paid for a sloppy effort in which they conceded 36 extras, including 26 wides.Man-of-the-Match DeSilva and Cejay Outerbridge each took two wickets in the first six overs to leave Denmark floundering at 21 for 4 and Bermuda struck regularly thereafter. Denmark were struggling at 106 for 6 in the 31st over with the wicket of Zameer Khan who top-scored with 47.Denmark then switched their strategy to batting out the 50 overs to limit the damage to their net run rate, following Oman’s heavy loss. The last two wickets added 62 before DeSilva finished off the match, getting Basit Raja caught at long-on before bowling Yasir Iqbal one ball into the 49th over. DeSilva ended with returns of 4 for 23 as Denmark were bowled out for 183.In the next round on Wednesday, a win for USA over Denmark could clinch promotion into Division Three with a game to spare in the league stage, while Oman are scheduled to take on winless Italy at Wong.

Debutant Stevenson bowls Redbacks out of tournament

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Tasmania fast bowler Cameron Stevenson picked up five wickets on debut at Hurstville Oval to prevent South Australia from reaching the Matador Cup finals

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2016
ScorecardCameron Stevenson picked up 5 for 32 on debut•Getty Images

Tasmania fast bowler Cameron Stevenson picked up five wickets on debut at Hurstville Oval to prevent South Australia from reaching the Matador Cup finals. Needing to win with a bonus point in order to reach the elimination final, the Redbacks were set a tall order with a target of 296 that would need to be reached inside 40 overs.South Australia did their best to ensure their tempo was up to standard, opener and captain Travis Head racing to 35 from 18 balls and Tom Cooper making 63 off 65, and gave themselves a chance if they could keep enough wickets in hand.But Stevenson claimed the wickets of Jake Weatherald and Jake Lehmann and then ran through the tail as the Redbacks were bowled out for 267 in the 39th over.Earlier, contributions from Alex Doolan (79), Dom Michael (57), Tim Paine (44) and Ben McDermott (44) pushed the Tigers to 7 for 295 from their 50 overs.Tasmania finished fifth on the tournament table and South Australia sixth, and the elimination final will now be played between New South Wales and Victoria for a place in the decider against Queensland.

Chisoro deserves all the credit – Raza

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Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo25-Nov-2016For Tendai Chisoro and his team-mates, who have seen him play this way for domestic and A sides, his match-winning performance, which included an unbeaten 42 and 2 for 23, was nothing out of the ordinary.Called upon to open the bowling, 15 minutes after he had been pulling sixes off Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite, he struck with his fourth delivery. “Graeme [Cremer] just said: ‘Do what you know best’,” Chisoro said. “I’ve done it before, I’ve opened the bowling in a couple of T20 games and I’ve been successful, so it was just me doing my normal thing.”At the other end was Sikandar Raza, who had shared an unbeaten 91-run stand with Chisoro, bowling offspin with the new ball. “As soon as we came off, the first thing I asked is ‘How long is the lunch break?’,” explained Raza. “They said it’s only 15 minutes. The next thing you know, the captain and coach got together and they told us ‘This is the plan: TC’s going to bowl the first one, and you’re going to bowl the second one.’ And because it’s still gripping, and it wasn’t drizzling at that moment, we’ll see if it turns. And credit to TC, he started so well. Those two wickets in the early overs certainly put us on the front foot.””When we started it wasn’t that wet, so we could grip the ball and it was turning really nicely,” Chisoro confirmed. “And some of them weren’t turning, they were just going on with the angle, so it was pretty difficult to bat at that moment. And then they lost two quick wickets, so the momentum was on our side.”Raza and Chisoro, and Donald Tiripano before him, had started to shift the momentum Zimbabwe’s way with the bat earlier. From the pit of 89 for 7, Raza and Tiripano rescued Zimbabwe with a 38-run stand for the eighth wicket. Raza and Chisoro then took the team past 200 – and past their own expectations of what would be a winning total in sticky, muggy conditions.”We had to revise our total that we thought would be a winning total, once we saw that it was gripping and turning,” Raza said. “We sent a message back [while we were in the middle] that we’re looking at 180 to be a winning total. Once we passed that total, we got together again and we thought this is not the time to go ultra aggressive just because we’ve achieved that total. We’ll take our chances, but we’ll take them in the 48th and 49th overs.”When TC came long, I know he’s an aggressive batter so I kind of have to slap him at times and tell him ‘This is what we’re going to do and this is how we’re going to play’,” Raza joked, “but credit to him. We all know TC can bat. He’s done it at franchise level, and he’s done it for Zim A as well. For an aggressive batter with not a lot of international experience, I think credit goes to TC for how he batted out there. He deserves all the credit.”The victory secured Zimbabwe’s place in Sunday’s final against Sri Lanka, and both men insisted that morale in the dressing room would be given a timely boost by their performance. “Coming out of a performance like today, I’d say it’s pretty high,” Raza said.”I think our confidence is very high,” Chisoro agreed. “We’re very used to these conditions now, and we should use that to our advantage, and win the final.”

Taylor, Tickner star in Auckland demolition

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A round-up of the Super Smash games held on December 29, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Dec-2016In his first match after undergoing surgery on his left eye last month, Ross Taylor struck an unbeaten 82 off 41 balls and added 111 off only 50 balls with Dane Cleaver to set up a 64-run win for Central Districts against Auckland in New Pylmouth.Central Districts were put in to bat and their in-form opener Mahela Jayawardene struck 31 off 19 after losing his partner George Worker in the first over. This took them off to a good start and allowed them to keep a healthy run rate. However, they were reduced to 95 for 4 in the 12th over, thanks to Hong Kong international Mark Chapman (2-36) who removed Will Young (30) and Tom Bruce (12) in consecutive overs. This brought Cleaver and Taylor together and the duo got stuck into Auckland’s bowling. Cleaver scored 47 off 26 balls with two fours and four sixes, while Taylor hit four fours and eight sixes to help Central Districts post 213.In response, Auckland were pegged back by medium-pacer Blair Tickner, who took two of the three wickets they lost within the Powerplay, before returning in the latter half of the innings to complete with figures of 5 for 19 – his best across formats. Only SM Solia (40 off 21) and Jeet Raval (31 off 18) offered any resistance for Auckland as they folded for 149, to lose by the biggest margin so far in this season’s Super Smash.Opener BJ Watling struck an unbeaten 52 to take Northern Districts to their third consecutive Super Smash win, against Canterbury in Mount Maunganui. His 48-ball innings followed a strong Northern Districts bowling performance that saw Canterbury finish with 127 for 6 in their innings.Chasing 128, Watling combined with opening partner Dean Brownlie (36 off 22) to put on a 62 before the latter was dismissed in the eighth over. Although a string of wickets – one each in the 11th, 12th and 13th overs – fell thereafter, Watling anchored Northern Districts’ batting, adding another 42 runs for the fifth wicket with Nick Kelly (23* off 19) to win the game with 13 balls to spare and six wickets in hand.Earlier, pacers Trent Lawford and Scott Kuggeleijn took two wickets each, while Ish Sodhi and Jono Boult took a scalp each to restrict Canterbury to 127. Todd Astle remained unbeaten on 37 after coming in when Canterbury were struggling at 73 for 5.

Sridharan Sriram to coach Australia's spinners in India

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Sridharan Sriram, the former India left-arm spinning allrounder, will mentor Australia’s legion of slow bowlers on their upcoming Test tour of India

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2017Sridharan Sriram, the former India left-arm spinning allrounder, will mentor Australia’s legion of slow bowlers on their upcoming Test tour of India. Sriram has worked with Australia’s spinners on previous occasions, including on last year’s tour of Sri Lanka and in the World Twenty20 in India earlier in 2016, and he was also engaged for the tour of Bangladesh that was ultimately postponed.Sriram will travel with the squad to Dubai on January 29 for their training camp at the ICC Academy, and will then work with the side through the four-Test tour that follows. Australia have picked four specialist spinners for the series – Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe, Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson – as well as spinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell.”Sri has worked with us on a number of occasions now all across our pathway system and he is currently in Dubai with our Under-16 team providing his expertise on sub-continental conditions,” Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s executive general manager of team performance, said.”He knows our players very well and has a wealth of knowledge on the conditions that our players will face in India.”Sriram’s presence on the India tour has been preferred to that of spin consultant John Davison, who has a good working relationship with Lyon but travels only sporadically with the team.Australia have also called on England left-armer Monty Panesar to help them prepare for the India series. Panesar has been playing club cricket in Sydney this summer and is set to travel to the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane this week to offer spin advice.