Tag Futebol

Mzansi purple patch no guarantee of World Cup selection – Hendricks

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Faf du Plessis has suggested it’s a straight shootout between Hendricks and Markram for the No. 3 slot, but if he keeps scoring heavily Hendricks could also put pressure on the openers

Liam Brickhill05-Dec-2018Reeza Hendricks has strung together scores of 55, 104*, 108* and 79 in his last four innings, winning three Player-of-the-Match awards on the trot and helping Jozi Stars recover from a difficult start to rise to second on the points table. He has been the talisman that has turned Stars’ Mzansi Super League campaign around, but he does not believe that T20 form will have a big impact on his chances of making South Africa’s World Cup squad.”I don’t think so, to be honest,” Hendricks said when asked about turning T20 form into a ticket to England. “This is obviously a different format. I’d love to think it has some impact towards it, but it’s a different format. Taking it as it comes. Leading up to the World Cup, it’s still a while away. Hopefully I can continue scoring, and closer to the time the rest will take care of itself.”Hendricks should be part of South Africa’s ODI squads to face Pakistan and Sri Lanka this summer, and that is when real stakes can be claimed in the national squad. Before South Africa left for Australia, captain Faf du Plessis suggested it was a straight shootout between Hendricks and Aiden Markram for the no. 3 position, but if he keeps scoring runs Hendricks may also put pressure on the opening slots.Hashim Amla endured lean patches in the Caribbean Premier League and the opening rounds of the MSL, as well as being hobbled by an injury that kept him out of South Africa’s touring party to Australia. After scores of 15, 24, 12. 0 and 4, Amla was dropped from the XI for Durban Heat’s last match against Paarl Rocks. Hendricks, meanwhile, is in a “purple patch”. Has he ever hit the ball better?”That’s a tough question, but to answer that, I don’t think so,” said Hendricks. “It’s a purple patch that I’m going through at the moment. I’m quite grateful for how it’s going at the moment.” Hendricks’ form certainly impressed Cape Town Blitz captain Farhaan Behardien, who suggested that Hendricks is “in the form of life”, and is very tough to stop at the moment.”He batted really well,” Behardien said after Hendricks’ well-paced 79 helped set up Stars’ match-winning 196 for 4 at Newlands on Tuesday night. “His strike rate wasn’t as high in the beginning, but he catches up. And he’s in form. He’s in the form of his life. It’s like trying to stop a guy like AB in form, to stop a guy like David Miller when he’s going really well. It’s his time at the moment. We couldn’t combat him tonight. Fortunately he toed one to Quinny [de Kock] at long-on. It’s tough to stop him, so hopefully if we do come up against him again in a knockout or the final, we’ll try have some better plans.”Hendricks credited his time in the Proteas camp with raising his game leading in to the MSL. He has been part of South Africa’s last three ODI series, and while he has not quite replicated the success of his debut hundred yet, he has gained plenty of confidence from being in the national set-up.”The intensity in the training and everything around that, the knowledge in the squad, it’s a good environment to be in,” he said. “Coming back here, that obviously gave me a great deal of confidence. What I’ve learnt, I can try and execute here, and fortunately it’s been working and it’s been coming off.”While he may have to score similar runs in 50-overs cricket to cement his place in South Africa’s World Cup plans, Hendricks has already done enough to greatly enhance his reputation as a T20 cricketer. With the IPL auction two weeks away, he has made sure to throw his name into that hat. “I did actually put my name in the IPL auction, yes,” Hendricks said. “Who knows, we’ll see what happens.”Hendricks said he had been “overwhelmed” by the messages of support he has received from family, friends and fans since his back-to-back hundreds, but insisted that he won’t be basking in the glow for too long and is already focussed on Jozi Stars’ next game against Durban Heat at Kingsmead on Friday.”Over the last few days it has been overwhelming,” he said. “But after tonight, the game is done so I have to focus on the next day and the next game coming up. As I move on, I put this behind me and try to contribute again in the next game.”Hendricks also got the backing of his stars team-mate Chris Gayle, who suggested that his form made him the most dangerous batsman in the side. Gayle had even hoped for a third hundred from Hendricks.”When I saw that, I had a good laugh about it,” Hendricks said. “I didn’t think it would be on the cards. I just went about it, didn’t think too much about the three figures. Took it as it came, and just went about it over by over, ball by ball, and I was quite fortunate today that I managed to get some runs again.”

Tasmania thrive with Silk ton, Wade fifty

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

The Tasmania opener broke his four-year drought without a first-class century as his side moved to 4 for 392 on the second day after the first had been washed out due to rain

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2017

ScorecardJordan Silk celebrates his century•Getty Images

Tasmania opener Jordan Silk broke his four-year drought without a first-class century as Tasmania built a healthy total on the second day of their Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales in Hobart. Not a ball was bowled on the first day due to rain, and Tasmania reached 4 for 392 at stumps on the second, with Matthew Wade unbeaten on 72 and Ben McDermott on 16.It was a big day for Silk, who burst on to the domestic scene with four first-class centuries in the 2013 calendar year (his first year as a Shield player) but has struggled to replicate that form in the years since. His previous first-class century had come at Adelaide Oval in November 2013, when he scored 104, and he matched that exact score in this match.Silk and Alex Doolan (42) put on 92 for the opening stand before Tasmania captain George Bailey combined with Silk for a 124-run second-wicket partnership. Silk’s innings ended when he was lbw to a Doug Bollinger inswinger, and Bailey was caught behind off Bollinger soon after for 71.But there was plenty of batting left for Tasmania as Jake Doran and Wade settled in for a 141-run fourth-wicket stand that ended when Doran was bowled by Steve O’Keefe for 75. By stumps, axed Test wicketkeeper Wade was hoping to convert his start into what could be his first century at first-class level since March 2015.

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

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

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.

England in control after Anderson's six

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Australia were skittled for 136 on the first day at Edgbaston, where James Anderson led a magnificent display of swing and seam bowling that made full use of the conditions

The Report by Brydon Coverdale29-Jul-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHackneyed though the phrase is, this truly was a good toss to lose for Alastair Cook. There was grass on the pitch and cloud overhead when the coin was flipped, but neither captain was prepared to send the other in to bat. However, Michael Clarke’s desire to play from the front led to Australia being skittled for 136 on the first day at Edgbaston, where James Anderson led a magnificent display of swing and seam bowling.Anderson claimed 6 for 47, the fourth-best figures of his Test career, as England ran through Australia using only three bowlers. In his first Test for more than two years, Steven Finn collected two important wickets in the opening session, and Stuart Broad chipped in with two later in the innings. By stumps on a rain-affected day, England were three runs from overhauling Australia’s total.There were shades of Boxing Day 2010 about proceedings. On that occasion, Anderson picked up four wickets as Australia were rolled for 98. But there they had been sent in. In Birmingham, Clarke backed his batsmen, and the move backfired. Chris Rogers was the only man who seemed capable of handling the conditions. He played the ball late and punched it along the ground to score 52, but had no support of note.On Boxing Day, though, England closed at a crushing 157 for 0, not only well ahead but with 10 wickets in hand. At Edgbaston, they went to stumps on 133 for 3, with Joe Root on 30 and Jonny Bairstow on 1. When rain arrived to end the day after only 65.4 overs, Ian Bell must have been kicking himself. Just one over prior he had thrown his wicket away for 53.Bell had advanced to Nathan Lyon and tried to thump him down the ground, but succeeded only in skying a catch to David Warner at midwicket. It had been an encouraging innings for Bell in his move back up to No.3, full of crisp drives and confident strokeplay. On two separate occasions he struck three fours in an over, once off Josh Hazlewood and once off Mitchell Starc, and his innings could have been so much more.James Anderson got rid of David Warner early•Getty Images

In the end, it wasn’t even clear if Ian was “Belly of the Day”. He had strong competition from Adam Voges’ stomach, which took two catches. The first came when Adam Lyth drove at a wide one from Hazlewood and at slip, Voges fumbled the ball out of his hands and into his tummy, where he managed somehow to cling on. But an even more remarkable take was still to come.Cook was beginning to worry the Australians and had 34 when he pulled a short ball from Lyon off the meat of the bat only to see it rocket into the stomach of Voges at short leg. Such was the force of the shot that the TV cameras panned out to the midwicket boundary in expectation, but the ball had somehow stuck in Voges grasp, his hands completing the catch that his belly had really taken.Australia needed some luck to help them back into the match after a difficult day with the bat. They posted 72 for 3 in a rain-affected first session and while England were clearly on top, it was nevertheless a platform from which Australia might have hoped to build a solid total. Instead, like an over-indulgent uncle on Christmas Day, they suffered a post-lunch slump from which they could not be roused.Cannabis lamps had been used to prepare the pitch, which fittingly had plenty of grass and left the Australians in a haze. Their remaining seven wickets fell for 64 runs in the second session as Anderson ran through the middle order. England’s bowling was masterful, the ball swinging and seaming just enough to flick edges and cause doubt in the minds of the batsmen.They literally did not know how to leave well enough alone. Voges (16) and Starc (11) were both caught behind toe-edging when they decided too late to leave a swinging delivery. Clarke had been lucky to survive a similar shot that ran away for four. Peter Nevill shouldered arms to an Anderson pearler that moved in instead of out, and clattered the top of off stump.Anderson started the procession when he straightened one just enough to have Warner lbw for 2 in the third over, a futile review from Warner notwithstanding. Finn then showed why he earned a recall when he had the in-form Steven Smith caught at slip for 7 and Clarke bowled by a fullish ball for 10, both to deliveries that moved away slightly.Rogers shuffled around and bunted runs here and there, a few classy drives through the off side among his highlights. But once Voges fell shortly after the lunch break, nobody threatened to stick with Rogers for any length of time. Anderson enticed Mitchell Marsh into an expansive drive wide of off, which led to an edge behind for a duck, and Mitchell Johnson gave Anderson his fifth when he edged to fourth slip.A second rain delay interrupted shortly after Rogers posted his half-century, and it did him no favours. On 52 he was trapped lbw by Broad coming around the wicket, and another review achieved nothing but confirming that the umpires were in form as fine as the England bowlers. A few tail-end boundaries helped the total along but Anderson completed his six-for when he had Lyon chopping on for 11.Australia had lasted 36.4 overs, and Clarke might have been left wishing he had called heads instead of tails, for it was not especially a good toss to win.

India thrash England to take series lead

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

MS Dhoni was able to enjoy the occasion in Ranchi, as India strolled to a seven-wicket victory in the first international match ever to be staged in his hometown

The Report by Alan Gardner19-Jan-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMS Dhoni claimed three caught behinds•BCCI

MS Dhoni has not had too much to smile about in recent months, as his India side suffered unexpected home defeats in Test and ODI cricket, but he was able to pack away the defensive frown and wary gaze and enjoy the occasion in Ranchi, as India strolled to a seven-wicket victory in the first international match ever to be staged in his hometown. Dhoni was even out in the middle to hit the winning runs and soak up the atmosphere as England, who appeared as eager as the crowd to give him a day to remember, slipped 2-1 down in the five-match series.All of India’s bowlers contributed in a concerted display, aided by a touch of early movement and a middle-order collapse against spin of familiar proportions. Dhoni also claimed three catches, including a diving take to dismiss England’s top-scorer, Joe Root, and a sharp chance at the wicket off Ian Bell, as England were once again spooked by the ghosts of their recent past in 50-over cricket in India, mustering a paltry 155.India’s innings proved that the pitch was a good one – the curator had predicted a score of 350 for the side batting first but he was obviously banking on that side being India. Although Steven Finn cleaned up Ajinkya Rahane again, bowled through the gate for the second time in as many matches, and James Tredwell claimed his sixth and seventh wickets of the series, Virat Kohli made sure England were the only ones doing any chasing. Kohli twice hammered Tredwell over the ropes, to go with a further nine fours in an unbeaten 77, his return to form yet another fillip for his captain.England’s total was their second-lowest batting first against India (in full matches), as they subsided from an initially promising 68 for 1. Although there was an element of luck about the second breakthrough, as the sound of Kevin Pietersen’s bat on pad seemed to deceive the umpire into awarding a caught behind, India did not owe their victory to fortune. The early dismissals of Alastair Cook, Pietersen and Bell left the middle order exposed and despite another promising display of character from Root, who put on 47 with Tim Bresnan, India were always in control.

Smart stats

  • India won the match with 131 balls to spare, which is their largest margin of win in ODIs against England (in terms of balls remaining). The previous highest was 123, in Jaipur in 2006.

  • England’s highest score in their innings was 39, which is the sixth-lowest top-score for them in a completed ODI against India.

  • England’s total of 155 is their third-lowest all-out score in an ODI against India.

  • Virat Kohli has become the second-fastest cricketer to 4000 ODI runs, in terms of innings batted. Viv Richards achieved the landmark in 88 innings, while Kohli reached there in his 93rd.

  • For the second match in a row, three England batsmen were dismissed without scoring. Before the Kochi game, this had only happened four times for England in ODIs against India.

  • Ranchi became the 42nd Indian venue, and the 182nd venue in the world, to host a one-day international.

The gods had already smiled on Dhoni at the toss, as he was given the option and chose to insert an England side still apparently winded from their emphatic, 127-run defeat in Kochi on Tuesday. Although the pitch looked hard and flat, there was a light covering of grass and just enough moisture to aid the bowlers, further justifying Dhoni’s decision, made ostensibly in view of the possibility of evening dew making the ball difficult to grip. By the time the sun set, however, it was the match that had slipped out of England’s hands.Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed bowled impressive opening spells and although Cook christened the ground with its first international boundary, in the second over, England’s captain was soon undone by swing. The fans at the newly constructed 39,000-capacity Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium had come to see only one inspirational leader among the two sides, and the cheer that went up when he moved across his stumps to be hit in front by a Shami delivery that curved back at him confirmed it was not Cook.Pietersen is an England player capable of whipping up an Indian crowd but they were even more delighted by his downfall. Having added 44 in 41 balls with Bell, both batsmen fell in consecutive overs, Pietersen given out after again briefly threatening despite there being no apparent edge. Pietersen was visibly reluctant to drag himself away after fencing at a length ball from Ishant Sharma that rose sharply, the awkwardness of his stroke forcing the bat into the flap of his front pad. If there was doubt about that dismissal, there was none three balls later as Dhoni collected a scrape off the toe of Bell’s bat while standing up to Bhuvneshwar.England were never able to feel at home on the Ranchi surface and India’s hold on the match was further strengthened as Morgan tamely lobbed the ball to short-third man. Morgan laboured for 10 off 30 balls in a manner reminiscent of his poor form in the UAE last year, playing and missing against the quicks before getting out attempting a premeditated reverse-swipe through point against R Ashwin. Ravindra Jadeja then burst one through a loose defensive shot from Craig Kieswetter and pinned Samit Patel lbw pushing half forward as three wickets fell for one run in nine balls to send the crowd into further raptures.Root again dropped anchor, displaying familiar circumspection and timing a handful of boundaries. He and the returning Bresnan – the one change on either side – formed a Yorkshire coalition in an attempt to heave England towards a respectable total but a loose drive from Root gave Ishant his second wicket and the spinners quickly cleaned up the tail.Before the start, there was already a palpable sense of anticipation in the ground at the return of Dhoni, India’s captain and their standard-bearer during a testing recent run in ODI cricket. A light aircraft trailed a message in coloured smoke across the milky blue sky as Dhoni was interviewed at the toss. “It’s a big moment for me but it’s important to be focused,” he said.Dhoni also suggested that he may have played cricket with “at least 15,000” of the crowd, during his tennis-ball days as a youngster in Jharkhand, but his ten team-mates on the pitch were more than enough to rout a dismal England.

Panesar pleased to get another spin with England

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Monty Panesar has said there were moments he feared he would never play Test cricket again during his long absence from the England team

George Dobell25-Jan-2012Monty Panesar has said there were moments he feared he would never play Test cricket again during his long absence from the England team.Panesar, who returned to Test cricket after a break of two-and-a-half years, bowled 33 overs on an absorbing first day of the second Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and clearly enjoyed every moment of it. Panesar, the 29-year-old left-arm spinner, has been sidelined by the emergence of Graeme Swann and England’s reluctance to go into a Test without three seam bowlers, but was recalled after the tourists opted to select two spinners as part of a four-man attack for the first time since December 2003.”In a sense I was making my second debut, having been out of the team for such a long time,” Panesar said afterwards. “I was nervous, but I was also delighted to get a go and bowl in tandem with my spin twin: my partner ‘Swanny’. I’ve been out of the team for three years, so I just want to make the most of my opportunities.”Panesar even hinted that he might be prepared to take his double act a stage further by joining Swann, an enthusiastic lead singer in a Nottingham-based band, on stage at their next gig. During his time playing grade cricket in Sydney, Panesar has been singing Bruce Springsteen covers in the Mike Whitney Band. “Maybe me and Swanny can do a duet one day,” he said.”I enjoy my partnership with Swann,” Panesar said. “Bowling in tandem with him works well. I might have the ball spinning away from the batsman and he might have it turning in and that creates pressure. We help each other. Some batsmen don’t feel comfortable against offspin, so I’ll try to get them on strike so Swann can bowl at them. It can be very effective, either in bowling sides out or creating pressure.”I’m not thinking about being the No. 1 spinner. I have been out of the team for a long time, so I’m just enjoying this opportunity. We just see each other as partners and look to help each other.””When you’re out of the team you do wonder if it is ever going to happen again,” he added. “There were times when self-doubt did creep in.”Panesar was only informed that he was playing 20 minutes before the start. While some might have wanted the extra notice, Panesar was relieved not to have known in advance. “It was good I didn’t find out before,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to sleep and I’d have been practising my action in the mirror all night.”Panesar’s best moment of the day came moments after his worst. The ball after dropping a relatively simple return catch off Mohammad Hafeez, Panesar bowled the same batsman with his slower ball.”I was thinking I needed to do a bit more caught-and-bowled practice,” Panesar said, of the dropped chance. “I should have taken it. But I think I meant to do it – the arm ball – and it just hit the leather and skidded on.”Panesar was quick to credit the role of Sussex in his revival. He moved to Hove ahead of the 2010 season and feels that the culture of the club and the increased role he has been asked to fulfil have helped him develop as a player.”They’ve helped me grow at Sussex,” he said. “They have made me play a leading role in all forms of the game and that has increased my confidence and self belief. I’ve just kept going and waited for this opportunity.”You need good coaches – good people – around you to help you get through that. That is why Sussex has been so good. They have a good culture there. Mark Robinson and Mark Davies have worked hard on my game.”Panesar was not, perhaps, quite at his best. The slow pace of the pitch allowed batsmen plenty of time to cut and he was punished for pitching short. But with Tests to come in Sri Lanka and India this year, England will be relieved that they have a viable partner – or, if necessary, replacement – for Swann.Meanwhile Taufeeq Umar, Pakistan’s opening batsman, agreed that England had enjoyed the best of the opening day. “England are in the better position right now,” he said. “We lost a couple more wickets than we expected. But Misbah-ul-Haq is still there and he knows how to play with the tail.”Everyone was surprised by how much it turned, even with the new ball. But with two top spinners in our side, that is a plus point for us.”Taufeeq also praised his captain, Misbah. “He always delivers when the team needs it,” Taufeeq said. “He’s a great player – a thinking cricketer – and he always leads from the front.”

Chopra confident bowlers can restrict Baroda

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Bhargav Bhatt took a five-for to help restrict Rajasthan to a total under 400, but Aakash Chopra thinks Rajasthan’s bowlers can defend their total of 394

Abhishek Purohit at Moti Bagh12-Jan-2011It has been a dream Ranji season for Bhargav Bhatt, and the left-arm spinner’s run continued when he picked up five wickets in Rajasthan’s first innings to move past Pankaj Singh as the highest wicket-taker with 45 victims. The Moti Bagh track was assisting spin, there was a rough to be exploited, and Bhatt capitalised, bowling Robin Bist with what is surely one of the best deliveries of this year’s tournament. The ball pitched outside leg stump from over the wicket, and turned sharply past Bist’s forward push to take out the off stump.”It was a planned move,” Mukesh Narula, the Baroda coach, said. “Bhargav saw that Bist was playing with an open face of the bat, and felt that he should go for the changed angle from over the stumps. It was good thinking on his part.”Aakash Chopra, the Rajasthan opener, told ESPNcricinfo that Bhatt was pretty accurate throughout his 42.1 overs. “He didn’t bowl many loose deliveries, and obviously the wicket suited him. He looks good. Of course, he must have done many things right to have taken 45 wickets.” Bhatt, who is playing in his first full Ranji season, said that he has had to learn fast about the importance of accuracy at the first-class level compared to the age-group levels, where one could get away with maybe one or even two bad balls in an over.Despite Bhatt’s heroics, Rajasthan managed 394, a total that will take some getting on a track where uneven bounce is becoming a regular feature. “It is not a huge score, but one that can be defended, with the kind of bowling that we have,” Chopra said. “However, unless it is a huge one, I don’t think the first-innings lead will matter that much. This game has a long way to go. I think tomorrow is the most important day, and by evening we should have a much clearer picture of who is ahead.”Baroda began promisingly in their first innings, with Jaykishan Kolsawala stroking his way to an unbeaten 46, but Chopra felt that was because the ball came on better due to the extra pace of the Rajasthan bowlers. “We also attacked more in the quest for wickets, and that led to some extra runs being conceded. But I don’t see the scoring rate jumping up much on this track.”With many deliveries rising barely above ankle length, Chopra felt that the horizontal shots needed to be avoided, but the overall approach would have to be positive. Narula said that it was possible to score runs on the wicket with a few adjustments. “The deliveries that are keeping low are mostly from short of a good length, and it is possible to go on the back foot and tackle them. It is difficult and requires application, but it is definitely possible to score, as Kolsawala showed today. Only Connor Williams in our line-up plays very steadily. All the other batsmen are aggressive in their approach. And I believe that is the way to go tomorrow.”With the Baroda spinners picking up eight wickets between them, the onus will be on the Rajasthan spinners, Vivek Yadav and Madhur Khatri, to deliver as well, something they haven’t been required to do this season. “I can’t really say that our spinners haven’t done well, the fact is that they haven’t been tested as Pankaj and Deepak Chahar have done the job for us so far,” Chopra said. “But tomorrow will be the big test for them.”

Brash Gayle predicts 4-1 success

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Chris Gayle raised some eyebrows when he tipped a West Indian thrashing of Australia in the one-day series

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG06-Feb-2010It wasn’t quite a Glenn McGrath 5-0 Ashes whitewash prediction but Chris Gayle still raised some eyebrows when he tipped a West Indian thrashing of Australia in the one-day series starting in Melbourne on Sunday. Australia have not lost a match in any format all summer but Gayle dismissed the notion that it would be intimidating to take on Ricky Ponting’s men in a five-game series.”It’s not, to be honest,” Gayle said. “We’re going to beat them 4-1. Not to worry.”Little does worry Gayle. Not the fact that Australia have won 20 of their past 24 one-day internationals, nor that West Indies lost 5-0 at home to Australia 18 months ago and haven’t beaten them in an ODI since 2006, nor even that the visitors are missing eight players including several who would be in their best XI.The loss of key men like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo to injuries will increase the reliance on Gayle. But it will also provide a chance for the next rung of players such as Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Smith, who have starred in domestic Twenty20 competitions without yet showing their best for West Indies, to lock in their long-term futures.”They definitely can put pressure on us [senior players],” Gayle said. “They are the future. It couldn’t be a better opportunity for them, the likes of Pollard, Dwayne Smith coming back and [Lendl] Simmons and those guys. Those guys can actually step up. We expect things from these guys to play a big part to win the series.”Australia are playing some good cricket. They will be difficult to beat. It’s an inexperienced team at this point in time but at the same time it’s a lovely opportunity for the guys to step up against Australia and make a name for themself and then look forward to their career.”He said Smith and Pollard, who enjoyed productive stints in the Big Bash over the past month, appeared to be in impressive form in the nets leading in to the series. However, he warned them against over-confidence – an ironic choice of words after his series prediction – flowing from their Twenty20 successes.Gayle himself deserves to be full of belief considering his Player-of-the-Series effort in the Tests before Christmas and his wonderful 146 within 29 overs in the tour match against the Prime Minister’s XI. The Australians know the importance of removing Gayle early after he plundered 346 at 69.20 in the Test series.”He’s a dynamic player at the top of the order and generally if your openers get you off to a good start it makes things a fair bit easier for the middle order in all forms of the game,” the captain Ricky Ponting said. “He started the tour pretty well down in Canberra.”He’s a very dangerous one-day player. He had a good Test series against us here as well and scored quickly. One thing we did just touch on then with our team meeting was making sure that our plans to him are spot on. They’ve got him and probably Pollard in the middle order that are very, very dangerous, and the other guys will try and work in around those guys.”But while Ponting was wary of Gayle, he refused to take the bait on making a series prediction of his own. With a squad that hasn’t been beaten all summer, he hopes to simply let his men do the talking on the field.”I don’t really care what he’s got to say as far as results go,” Ponting said. “All I can say is that I’m pretty confident this group can keep improving.”

Bess takes seven as Surrey, Yorkshire play out Scarborough stalemate

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Spinner takes season’s best but no result had long been inevitable

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay25-Jul-2025Surrey 537 (Patel 92, Burns 78, Lawrence 78, Blake 72, Sibley 52, Bess 7-162) drew with Yorkshire 517 for 6 dec (Revis 110) and 120 for 5Surrey maintained their one-point lead over Nottinghamshire at the top of the Division One table but Yorkshire are back in the bottom two after both counties dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s on a high-scoring Rothesay County Championship draw at Scarborough today.Unbeaten champions Surrey’s seventh draw in 10 games yielded 14 bonus points and gives them a slender advantage with four rounds remaining having replied to a first-innings 517 for six declared with 537 all out shortly after lunch.Yorkshire, meanwhile, have slipped back into the second relegation place with their fourth draw. This yielded 13 points. Essex jumped above them with victory at Sussex. However, Durham are now firmly in the dogfight having lost to Somerset.Before a ball was bowled on day four, a draw was inevitable. Surrey started on 338 for four and went on to gain three more batting points, with Josh Blake’s 72 off 112 balls representing his maiden first-class fifty in his third game. When the players shook hands at 5.25pm, Yorkshire were 120 for five in their second innings.Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow was absent after his partner Megan went into labour at 5am this morning. Dom Bess took on the captaincy and returned a season’s best seven for 162 with his off-spin.Given the high-scoring nature of this weather-affected game, it was a surprise that Yorkshire all-rounder Matthew Revis was the only man to post a hundred – 110 not out in the first innings.Blake, 26, advanced from 10 overnight and was more poise and invention than powerful.Just before lunch, he was the sixth man in the match out in the seventies when stumped by substitute wicketkeeper Harry Duke off Adam Lyth’s part-time off-spin.New-ball seamer Jack White had Ryan Patel caught at mid-off for 92 during the opening stages of the day before Blake shared a sixth-wicket stand of 90 with Jordan Clark.That was key in helping impressive Surrey claim the maximum five batting bonus points.Surrey travel to face Durham next week and Yorkshire host Sussex here.The White Rose will head into that fixture seven points adrift of third-bottom Durham and eight behind Essex.Either side of Blake’s dismissal – 462 for seven late in the morning – Bess had Clark caught at deep midwicket on the slog sweep for 39 and Jamie Overton bowled.During the early afternoon, he had Sai Kishore caught and bowled and then Dan Worrall stumped.The latter shared a 10th-wicket stand of 50 with Matthew Fisher, who finished 38 not out against his former county.Yorkshire started their second innings 20 runs in arrears with a minimum of 57 overs remaining.Up until the end of Surrey’s first innings, every single batter across both sides reached double figures.Surrey have had all 11 batters pass double figures in an innings for the second time against Yorkshire this season. It has only happened to the White Rose on three occasions in Championship history.The first batter not to post a double-figure score was Yorkshire opener Fin Bean, who edged Indian Kishore’s left-arm to slip on one with the score 15 for one.Overton took a superb one-handed catch diving low to his left.All five Yorkshire wickets fell to spin either side of tea on a pitch now offering assistance.Dan Lawrence played his part in three of the last four.His spin had the other opener Lyth caught at slip by Overton for 34 before being the catcher for the next two as Yorkshire fell to 81 for four.James Wharton was caught at silly point off Kishore for 25 and Will Luxton at leg-slip off Will Jacks.When Jacks trapped Matthew Revis lbw offering no shot on the back foot, Yorkshire were 108 for five but still safe.

Jaiswal stands tall and alone for India as England edge the day

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

The India opener made his highest Test score – 179 not out – on a day where no other batter got past 40

Andrew Miller02-Feb-20241:38

Manjrekar: England are very much in the game

You can only judge a pitch after both sides have Bazballed on it, or so the saying might now go, after England’s preposterous exploits in Hyderabad. On Yashasvi Jaiswal’s watch, India appeared in the mood to make amends for their first-Test failings, thanks to a scintillating century that has met this new agenda for his team with poise and attitude aplenty.However, in claiming six wickets on a tough day in the field, England refused to buckle when previous visiting teams might have been braced for a batting landslide, and with Shoaib Bashir settling into his first day of Test cricket with two wickets and a calm command of his attributes, they are no worse off at the close of this first day than they had been at the same juncture of the opening Test. And both sides know full well how that one turned out.Either way, Jaiswal’s sublime 179 not out from 257 balls was the day’s outstanding hand – both the innings that he had promised amid the fluency of his first-innings 80 from 74 in Hyderabad, and the one that India desperately needed to regain their footing in this series. From his very first stroke, an unfettered slap for four off Joe Root’s first ball, via the towering six over long-on with which he brought up his second Test century and his first on home soil, Jaiswal was a class apart – the one Indian batter who found the fearlessness required to pre-empt the sort of challenge that England are sure to offer when their own turn comes to bat.By the final minutes of the day he was struggling with cramp, but Jaiswal still marched past his previous best of 171, made on debut in the Caribbean last year. His new career-best was secured with the fifth six off his innings off the legspin of Rehan Ahmed – another sweet connection down the ground that maintained a control percentage in excess of 90%, and ensured that he’ll resume with ambitions of significantly more on day two.Related

  • Live Report – India vs England, 2nd Test, Visakhapatnam

  • 'To get Rohit as my first wicket was very, very special' – Shoaib Bashir

  • Jimmy vs Jaiswal: a who-is-gonna-do-it thriller

The rest of India’s batting, however, was more of a mixed bag, and as a consequence, England’s rejigged attack was able to take comfort in the struggle on what has so far been a belter of a wicket. With six men dismissed between the scores of 14 and 34, including KS Bharat in the closing moments of the day, India were in danger of similar failings to those that undermined their performance in Hyderabad, when eight of the top nine reached double figures in the first innings but no-one managed to produce the knock-out blow. At least, on that count, Jaiswal cannot be accused of pulling any punches.Nevertheless, it was a gutsy display from England’s remarkably lop-sided attack. Having opted for three specialist spinners and just the lone quick, their line was led, perhaps inevitably, by the one man who’s seen it all before. The veteran James Anderson, back in action at the age of 41, put his Ashes struggles behind him with an ageless display of cut and guile. He picked off Shubman Gill for his 691st wicket, and thereby ensured that he has now struck in every single year since his debut in 2003, but his influence was felt in each and every one of his 17 overs across three distinct spells.James Anderson drew the outside edge off Shubman Gill’s bat to pick up Test wicket no. 691•BCCI

Anderson’s presence – in place of the pure head-hunter Mark Wood, whose energetic efforts had gone wicketless in Hyderabad – offered a degree of control that Ben Stokes had been obliged to do without in the first Test. His infinitesimal command of each-way movement produced an economy-rate of 1.76 that was less than half that of any of his team-mates, and helped to ensure that – unlike in Hyderabad, where all the first-day focus had fallen on Tom Hartley’s struggle for control – this week’s new boy was nothing less than a good-news story.Bashir hadn’t even been born when Anderson made his own Test debut against Zimbabwe in May 2003, but with apologies to Jimmy’s own first scalp, Mark Vermeulen, the identity of Bashir’s maiden Test wicket will perhaps live on rather longer in the collective memory.Irrespective of Jaiswal’s fluency alongside him, Rohit Sharma had dug himself in for the long haul in making 14 boundary-less runs from 41 balls after winning the toss, the consequence of which was that Bashir had not only settled into his rhythm after entering the attack in the 12th over, but had been rewarded with a leg-slip to crank up the pressure. Cue a closed-face clip at a regulation offbreak, and a sharp take from Ollie Pope to pick off India’s captain against the apparent run of play.The same pattern would repeat itself as the day progressed. Gill, under extreme pressure for his place, started his innings watchfully with 17 from his first 36 balls, only for a sudden flurry of boundaries to prove his downfall. Two of these were classy cover-drives as Bashir over-pitched, but the other two were streaky edges off Anderson, who simply adjusted his line on the same probing full length, and induced a nicked drive to Ben Foakes for 34. It was the fifth time in seven innings that Anderson had got his man, at a cost of 7.8 runs per go, and as India went to lunch on 103 for 2, the session’s honours were broadly even.Only one man fell between lunch and tea – Shreyas Iyer, superbly caught by Foakes for 27, as he stayed low with a scuttling delivery from Hartley and clung onto an under-edged cut that could easily have nutmegged him. But Jaiswal by this stage had soared past his century – arms afloat in celebration after a mic-dropping of his bat – and when Rajat Patidar unfurled England’s signature stroke from Hyderabad, the reverse-sweep for four, it seemed India’s debutant had brought with him precisely the sort of youthful verve to complement that of his team-mate.But England would not be denied in their optimistic hunt for wickets. Rehan, held back until the 60th over, took up a central role in the attack for the final session, serving up 16 overs before stumps and picking off two priceless wickets in the process. On 32, Patidar failed to smother a top-spinning legbreak that rolled down the face of his bat and back into his stumps, and with the shadows lengthening, KS Bharat rocked back on a limp cut and gave his own innings away for 17.By then, Bashir had already claimed his second, and in similar circumstances too, as Axar Patel – India’s key allrounder in Ravindra Jadeja’s absence – failed to get on top of his own cut to pick out Rehan at backward point.But thankfully for India, nothing could slow down Jaiswal, whose wagon-wheel revealed shots all round the ground, but whose command in front of square was exceptional. One six off Rehan, a gallop to the pitch from round the wicket and an inside-out drill over extra cover, defied geometry.He had a couple of near-misses on the cut – Root twice got fingertips to tough chances – and a handful of wild hacks against Bashir that nearly cost him, but the bravery to take the game on was precisely what India had lacked at the key moments in the first Test. Whether he’s yet done enough to cover for his off-colour team-mates, however, remains to be seen.