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A slew of former ICL players, as well as a few who turned in successful Ranji Trophy seasons, have found themselves picked in the final IPL squads for the third season starting next month

Cricinfo staff12-Feb-2010A slew of former ICL players, as well as a few who turned in successful Ranji Trophy seasons, have found themselves picked in the final IPL squads for the third season starting next month. The squads can be tweaked at any time during the season with the inclusion, at 24 hours’ notice, of any players on a franchise’s books – which explains the exclusion of big names such as Shane Watson and Shane Bond.Kings XI Punjab have signed up four domestic players – the medium-pacers Love Ablish and Shalabh Srivastava, batsman Manvinder Bisla and allrounder Reetinder Sodhi. Sodhi, who played 18 ODIs for India, and Srivastava, a left-arm pacer, were recently admitted back into the domestic fold after they severed ties with the unofficial ICL. Ablish, who plays for Punjab on the domestic circuit, was the third highest wicket-taker in this season’s Ranji Super League. Bisla, the Haryana-born wicketkeeper who plays for Jammu & Kashmir, was part of IPL champions Deccan Chargers’ squad in 2009.Commenting on the selection, Punjab coach Tom Moody said: “They not only bring extra zeal to excel but also add fresh talent to the field with their exemplary ability with the ball and bat. Their zest to learn will ensure KXIP reaches newer heights and is ready to face any competition this season.”Kings XI Punjab: Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), Brett Lee, Adrian Barath, Vikramjeet Malik, Bipul Sharma, Manvinder Bisla, Yusuf Abdullah, Karan Goel, Ravi Bopara, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Shalabh Srivastava, Mohammad Kaif, Love Ablish, Amanpreet Singh, James Hopes, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Yash Gandhi, Shaun Marsh, Mahela Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh, Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla.S Sriram, the batsman who played eight ODIs for India as well as in the ICL, has been named in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s squad. The other more notable change in the Bangalore squad was the inclusion of Steven Smith, the Australia legspinner, in place of Jesse Ryder. Ryder, the New Zealand batsman, has been out of action since the ICC Champions League last September with a groin problem that has troubled him for nearly a year. Smith has made a name for himself in Twenty20 cricket having helped New South Wales win the inaugural Champions League title in India last October. He was also New South Wales’ leading wicket-taker during the 2009-10 Big Bash tournament with seven wickets 10.28Royal Challengers Bangalore: Anil Kumble (capt), Jacques Kallis, Shrivats Goswami, Bhuvanesh Kumar, Eoin Morgan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Virat Kohli, Robin Uthappa, Dale Steyn, Cameron White, Kevin Pietersen, Rahul Dravid, S Sriram, Manish Pandey, R Vinay Kumar, KP Appanna, B Akhil, Steven Smith, Praveen Kumar, Mark Boucher, Dillon du Preez, Ross Taylor, Roelof van der Merwe.Chennai Super Kings have signed up C Ganapathy, who was one of the Ranji Trophy’s leading allrounders this season and who also took a five-wicket haul in the Duleep Trophy final, as well as former India batsman Hemang Badani. Badani was also one of the many domestic players who was released from the ICL last year.Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (capt), Muttiah Muralitharan, Manpreet Gony, Shadab Jakati, Arun Karthik, Thissara Perera, L Balaji, Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey, Makhaya Ntini, Thilan Thushara, C Ganapathy, M Vijay, Sudeep Tyagi, R Ashwin, Justin Kemp, Hemang Badani, S Badrinath, Matthew Hayden, Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram, George Bailey, Parthiv Patel.Kolkata Knight Riders have not named New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, their big buy at the auction, but a spokesman said Bond will play for Kolkata once New Zealand finish their home limited-overs matches against Australia. Players who have been drafted in include the Saurashtra opener, Chirag Pathak, who hit a brisk century in the Duleep final. Also named in the Kolkata squad were Cheteshwar Pujara and Ganapathi Vignesh, the hard-hitting opener from Tamil Nadu. Vignesh was another to have returned to the domestic scene from the ICL.Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Charl Langeveldt, Chirag Pathak, Iqbal Abdulla, G Vignesh, Brendon McCullum, Angelo Mathews, Wriddhiman Saha, Ajit Agarkar, Chris Gayle, Manoj Tiwary, Rohan Gavaskar, Harshad Khadiwale, Varun Aaron, Eklak Ahmed, Owais Shah, Murali Kartik, Brad Hodge, Ajantha Mendis, Laxmi Shukla, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma.Deccan Chargers, the defending champions, also have four new domestic players in their ranks: Bodapati Sumanth, a middle-order batsman, allrounder Ashish Reddy, opener Monish Mishra who is a former ICL player, and 17-year-old Mumbai left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh.Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (capt/wk), Azhar Bilakhia, Andrew Symonds, Arjun Yadav, Bodapati Sumanth, Chaminda Vaas, D Ravi Teja, Dwayne Smith, Harmeet Singh, Ashish Reddy, Herschelle Gibbs, Kemar Roach, VVS Laxman, Mohnish Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Ryan Harris, T Suman, Venugopal Rao, Anirudh Singh, Rahul Sharma, Mitchell Marsh.The former India offspinner Sarandeep Singh, who played three Tests and five ODIs, and the Punjab legspinner Sarabjit Ladda have joined Delhi Daredevils.Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir (capt), AB de Villiers, Umesh Yadav, Kedar Jadhav, Wayne Parnell, Shashi Ranjan, Ashish Nehra, Mithun Manhas, Andrew McDonald, Farveez Maharoof, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Joginder Singh, Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Mishra, Moises Henriques, Sarandeep Singh, Sarabjit Ladda, Aavishkar Salvi, David Warner, Dirk Nannes, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rajat Bhatia.The three former ICL players in the Mumbai Indians squad are Ambati Rayudu, once ranked as India material, Syed Sahabuddin, and Ali Murtaza.Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Chandan Madan, Syed Sahabuddin, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shikhar Dhawan, Graham Napier, Dilhara Fernando, Dwayne Bravo, Zaheer Khan, Ali Murtaza, Saurabh Tiwary, R Sathish, Aditya Tare, Ishan Malhotra, Rahul Shukla, Abhishek Nayar, JP Duminy, Sanath Jayasuriya, Harbhajan Singh, Ryan McLaren.Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja has been omitted from Rajasthan Royals’ squad.Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt), Damien Martyn, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Abhishek Raut, Faiz Fazal, Amit Paunikar, Amit Singh, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shaun Tait, Yusuf Pathan, Swapnil Asnodkar, Naman Ojha, Johan Botha, Michael Lumb, Shrikant Wagh, Sumit Narwal, Syed Quadri, Kamran Khan, Graeme Smith, Morne Morkel, Siddharth Trivedi, Mahesh Rawat, Munaf Patel.

India will face the winner of Thursday’s clash between Bangladesh and Pakistan, while Sri Lanka are out of contention now

Karthik Krishnaswamy24-Sep-20251:20

Chopra: Very little the bowlers could do against Abhishek

India are in the final of Asia Cup 2025, where they will meet the winner of Thursday’s Super Fours clash between Bangladesh and Pakistan. Sri Lanka are out of contention, and their game against India on Friday is now a dead rubber.India sealed their place in the final with a 41-run win over Bangladesh that was, for the victors, both comfortable and discomfiting. Bangladesh never really looked in contention at any point during their chase of 169, with their limitations as a T20 side exposed by the depth and variety of India’s bowling. But they would feel they should have made a much better fist of that target, after their bowlers had done brilliantly to haul India back when Abhishek Sharma had seemingly put them on course for 200 and beyond.Related

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Abhishek continued his magnificent tournament, following up his 39-ball 74 against Pakistan with a 37-ball 75, but India struggled when he wasn’t at the crease.Their innings followed a pattern not unlike Pakistan’s against their bowlers on Sunday: a strong start followed by a dramatic slowdown when the ball became older and harder to time. India scored 95 runs in overs 3-11, when Abhishek ran rampant, and just 73 runs in the 12 overs either side of that stretch.In the end, Abhishek’s innings proved the difference between the teams. Bangladesh didn’t have anyone in their line-up with that level of relentless boundary-hitting ability, even if Saif Hassan showed the promise in their ranks, hitting five sixes in a 51-ball 69.

Bangladesh begin brightly

Bangladesh could have dismissed Abhishek for 7 off 8 in the third over, had the wicketkeeper held on to an edge off Tanzim Hasan Sakib, who came into an XI with as many as four changes, and bowled brilliantly with the new ball, swinging it prodigiously while also hitting the deck hard.The wicketkeeper who shelled that chance – and Bangladesh’s captain on the night – was Jaker Ali, standing in for Litton Das who was ruled out with a side strain.That moment ended the first chapter of this match, which Bangladesh dominated without quite being able to separate Abhishek and Shubman Gill. Tanzim had beaten Gill’s bat twice in the first over, and left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed had used his swinging arm ball cleverly to take the ball away from Abhishek’s hitting arc in the second. By the end of the third over, India were still going at less than a run a ball.

Abhishek and Gill take over

Gill began the counterattack by stepping out to the first two balls of the fourth over and hitting Nasum for four and six. That began a torrent of boundary-hitting that Bangladesh seemed powerless to stop. Abhishek looked unstoppable once he got to grips with the conditions, hitting Mustafizur Rahman for two sixes in the fifth over, peppering the off-side boundary with four fours off Mohammad Saifuddin in the sixth, and carrying on in similar vein beyond the powerplay.In all, Abhishek hit five sixes and jumped to joint No. 7 on India’s all-time T20I six-hitting charts. He has now hit 58 sixes in just 21 innings; Suresh Raina, with whom he drew level, hit 58 in 66 innings.2:57

Chopra questions India’s batting order logic

Experimental India slow down

India were 112 for 2 at the start of the 12th over, and Bangladesh seemed powerless to stop Abhishek. But they did, via a run out manufactured by Rishad Hossain’s brilliance at backward point. He dived to his left to stop a dab from Suryakumar Yadav and sprang up, ready to throw in one motion, leaving Abhishek with little chance of regaining his ground at the non-striker’s end.That moment changed the complexion of the game, exposing India’s middle order to an issue that has troubled every line-up in these conditions in the UAE – the difficulty of starting innings against the old ball. Bangladesh’s bowlers did their bit too, with Mustafizur, Tanzim and Saifuddin finding plenty of purchase with their slower cutters and with Nasum varying his pace cleverly, and India only scored 56 runs across their last nine overs. Hardik Pandya, who was out off the last ball of the innings for 38 off 29, did the bulk of the scoring.India’s slide looked worse for coming against the backdrop of batting-order changes that didn’t come off on the day. India promoted Shivam Dube to No. 3, and sent in Hardik, Tilak Varma and Axar Patel above Sanju Samson, who did not get to bat at all.Handshakes all around after India completed an easy win•AFP/Getty Images

Saif wages lone fight as Bangladesh fade away

Bangladesh seemed in with a real chance at the halfway mark, but the required rate kept slipping further and further away from their reach. Jasprit Bumrah, once again bowling three overs in the powerplay, struck in his first over, and looked close to unhittable with the new ball, finding prodigious swing and at one stage beating Parvez Hossain Emon’s bat six times in eight balls.And then, just as Emon had seemed to shrug off that early struggle with a six off Bumrah and a pair of swept fours off Varun Chakravarthy, he fell while miscuing a slog-sweep in Kuldeep Yadav’s first over, the seventh of the innings.Then it became a game of two ends. At one end, Saif showed off his hitting range, particularly off Axar whom he hit for three sixes. At the other, batters came and went, with Jaker’s run-out dismissal in the 13th over, while trying to steal a quick single to get Saif to his fifty, effectively bringing Bangladesh’s challenge to an end.All that remained was for Kuldeep to pull off his customary two-wickets-in-two-balls trick, for India’s fielders to shell a series of catches to extend Saif’s innings into the 18th over, for Bumrah to come back and pick up a second wicket, and finally for part-timer Tilak to roll his arm over and end the match with three balls to spare.

Derbyshire’s Alex Thomson continues impressive match to claim maiden ten-wicket haul

ECB Reporters Network13-Apr-2024Spin continued to dominate proceedings on the second day of the Vitality County Championship match between Glamorgan and Derbyshire in Cardiff.Mason Crane took four wickets on his Glamorgan debut as Derbyshire were bowled out for 198, 39 runs behind on first innings. Wayne Madsen top scored for Derbyshire with 63 but his departure brought about a collapse of five wickets for 33 runs.Alex Thomson was once again the star man with the ball for Derbyshire as he secured his first 10-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Glamorgan had reached 74 for 4 at the close, a lead of 113 with six second innings wickets in hand.With the pitch offering significant assistance to both seam and spin bowlers the destination of this game will depend on how well Glamorgan bat in the first session of day three.Having resumed on 46 for 1, Derbyshire while placed to get past Glamorgan’s total and they started the day with captain David Lloyd reaching fifty from 65 balls against his former county. He was the first wicket to fall on day two when he was trapped lbw by Crane for 60.Harry Came made a patient 25 from 113 balls but he never really found runs easy to come by on a pitch that is slow enough that batters had to take risks to score quickly. He was dismissed by James Harris for the second of his three wickets in Derbyshire’s innings. Harris conceded runs at less than 1.5 an over, conceding just three boundaries, one of which was an edge past the slips as he finished with figures of 3 for 28.As was the case in Glamorgan’s first innings, it was the spinner who was the most consistent threat with Crane starring with the ball on his Glamorgan debut. Figures 4 for 60 was his best return in first-class cricket since his five-wicket haul against Lancashire for Hampshire in 2021.While Crane was a consistent threat, it was the seamers who took the heart out of the Derbyshire batting line-up with Dan Douthwaite and Mir Hamza picking up wickets.While Madsen was at the crease it felt as is Derbyshire could claim a first-innings lead but when he was well caught in the covers by sub fielder Asa Tribe off Douthwaite it began the collapse that prevented Derbyshire eclipsing Glamorgan’s first innings total.Crane was brought back into the attack after a short break and claimed the last three Derbyshire wickets as scoring became increasingly difficult against the aging Kookaburra ball. When the last Derbyshire wicket fell on the stoke of the tea break Glamorgan had secured a 39-run lead.When their second innings got underway the Glamorgan openers once again found Thomson extremely difficult to face. Having claimed career-best figures of 7 for 65 in the first innings he opened the bowling and had two wickets in two balls. Both Zain-ul-Hassan and Sam Northeast were dismissed lbw, the latter for a golden duck.Thomson claimed his 10th wicket of the match when he bowled Kiran Carlson for 11 before Sam Conners bowled Billy Root for 32 to put this game into the balance heading into the third day.

Jacob Oram, meanwhile, has joined MI Cape Town as the team’s bowling coach

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Dec-2022J Arunkumar, the former Karnataka captain and coach, has been roped by Mumbai Indians as their assistant batting coach ahead of IPL 2023. Arunkumar joins his former team-mate R Vinay Kumar, a talent scout, on the franchise’s support staff roster, that will be headed by Mark Boucher; Arunkumar and Boucher were colleagues at Royal Challengers Bangalore during the inaugural IPL season in 2008.Arunkumar will work in tandem with Kieron Pollard, who was announced as batting coach in November after he was released by the franchise ahead of the auction. Pollard had represented the franchise in 189 matches since first coming on board in 2009.A veteran of 109 first-class matches, Arunkumar was until recently head coach of the USA men’s national team for over two years. Prior to that, he was involved in the Indian domestic circuit with Puducherry and Karnataka. In the IPL, he’s previously worked with Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) as batting coach in 2017.Arunkumar achieved great success with Karnataka
During his tenure [Arunkumar and Mansur Ali Khan coached the team together], Karnataka won back-to-back Ranji Trophy titles in 2013-14 and 2014-15. They also won two Irani Cups and Vijay Hazare Trophy titles in the same seasons. His time coincided with the team establishing themselves as a dominant force in domestic cricket, with KL Rahul, Manish Pandey and Karun Nair all graduating to play for India.Arunkumar also had an impressive career as a player with Karnataka, being part of two title wins as a player, in 1995-96 and 1997-98. He made 7208 first-class runs in 176 innings, with 20 centuries and 36 half-centuries.The new support staff appointments followed the group’s overhaul of its existing coaching set-up after the acquisition of teams at the UAE’s ILT20 (MI Emirates) and the South African SA20 league (MI Cape Town). Mahela Jayawardene, who was the head coach at Mumbai Indians since 2017, has been elevated to the global head of performance, and Zaheer Khan, the director of cricket operations till last season, is now the global head of cricket development. They will both be involved with all three teams.Jacob Oram roped in as MI Cape Town bowling coach
In another update, Jacob Oram, the former New Zealand allrounder, has been appointed MI Cape Town’s bowling coach ahead of the inaugural SA20 season.Oram, who played 33 Tests, 160 ODIs and 36 T20Is between 2001 and 2012, also played four seasons of the IPL, in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013, finishing up with Mumbai Indians. A coach after retirement, Oram’s most recent position was as the assistant coach of the New Zealand women’s team.He now joins the MI Cape Town support staff team of Simon Katich (head coach), Hashim Amla (batting coach), James Pamment (fielding coach), and Robin Peterson (team manager).

The new board has advertised the CEO’s position, with applications due to close on July 31

Firdose Moonda31-Jul-2021Cricket South Africa’s former acting CEO Kugandrie Govender has been dismissed with immediate effect, bringing an end to the disciplinary matters that have stretched back to December 2019. Govender was suspended in December 2020, four months after former CEO Thabang Moroe was fired over allegations of misconduct.Specifically, Govender was under scrutiny for the role she played in revoking the accreditation of journalists in December 2019, for breaches of the Companies’ Act, and her part in the dismissal of the former head of sales and sponsorships Clive Eksteen, whose sacking was ruled unfair. She was found guilty after a lengthy process which has lasted more than seven months.”The Chairperson of the Disciplinary Tribunal, Advocate Terry Motau SC, imposed a sanction of immediate dismissal, having regard inter alia to the seriousness of Ms Govender’s misconduct, the breach of trust and including the fact that a continued working relationship between Ms Govender and CSA would no longer be possible,” a CSA statement read.Related

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Since Govender’s suspension, CSA has also parted ways with former chief operating officer Naasei Appiah and former finance manager Ziyanda Nkuta after previously ending their relationship with Moroe and Eksteen. Govender’s immediate predecessor, Jacques Faul, resigned from the acting CEO role to return to his post as CEO of the Titans franchise. She was succeeded by Pholetsi Moseki, who remains CSA’s acting CEO to date.However, CSA is in the process of finalising a new governance structure after a new, majority-independent board was ushered in in June. The new board has advertised the CEO’s position, with applications due to close on July 31, though no date has been set for confirming the new candidate.

Fifties from the middle-order pair helped Pakistan overhaul a 263-run target against co-hosts New Zealand

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy01-May-2020 #RetroLive They lost three of their first five matches, and should probably have lost a fourth too, when England bowled them out for 74. Rain saved them there, and gave them an underserved point, a point that was eventually critical to their progress into the last four of this World Cup.But don’t take anything away from Pakistan for what they’ve done since that early run. They beat Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand on the bounce to reach the semi-finals. And now they’re in their first World Cup final, having pulled off a sensational chase to dump out New Zealand, the co-hosts and league-table toppers, on their own turf.They’ve pulled off the fourth-biggest successful chase in any World Cup match. Of the three above it, two came in 60-over matches, and the third against an Associate side, Zimbabwe. And none of the top three chases came in a knockout match.It was challenge enough for Pakistan to chase 263. When Imran Khan and Saleem Malik fell in the space of five balls, their task had grown immeasurably more difficult: 123 needed off 95 balls, with six wickets in hand.It was here that Inzamam-ul-Haq, all of 22, with only 15 ODIs behind him, joined Javed Miandad at the crease. Inzamam wasn’t unknown or unproven at this level; he’d scored back-to-back ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka earlier this year. But this had been a quiet World Cup for him up to this point, and this was a semi-final.For a player of quality, though, a semi-final is a cricket match like any other. And Inzamam is most definitely a player of quality. How else do you score a half-century in 31 balls while exuding the air of someone taking a leisurely stroll around the neighbourhood, pausing occasionally to chomp on an apple?It wasn’t an in-your-face explosion of sixes and fours. There were moments of sublime timing, such as when Inzamam stepped out to Gavin Larsen and sent the ball racing to the midwicket boundary with the gentlest of nudges, and shots that hinted at supreme judgment of length, such as a pulled four off a Chris Harris delivery that was only marginally short. But more than all that, it was an innings of awareness, of where the gaps were and how to find them; to that end, his best shot was probably a dancing flick over midwicket off Willie Watson, which landed in a wide, unguarded area to the left of deep square leg and allowed him to run three.There was some poor bowling too; Harris kept floating the ball wide of off stump when the batsmen advanced at him, with no sweeper protecting the off-side boundary. Inzamam and Miandad threaded fours through the off-side infield once each in successive overs. Dipak Patel, the offspinner, kept bowling into Inzamam’s sweeping and pulling arc despite leaving a massive gap between deep backward-square leg and deep midwicket.Inzamam, in truth, was showing up a limited New Zealand attack for what it was. Their dibbly-dobblers – Harris, Larsen and Watson – have been unhittable at times during this World Cup, especially on the slower pitches in New Zealand, but there’s a sameness to this attack, and a lack of genuinely attacking bowlers apart from Danny Morrison.Once Inzamam and Miandad brought the required rate back under control with an 87-run partnership off 63 balls, New Zealand needed a couple of quick wickets to bring themselves back in the match, and lacked the bowling firepower with which to do it.Their fielding could have brought them a couple of wickets, though. Two direct hits from Harris had Miandad – batting on 1 at that stage – and Moin Khan – on 5, with Pakistan needing 16 off 16 with four wickets in hand – scrambling for safety. Replays showed both of them marginally, but clearly, short of their crease. There was no way the square-leg umpire could have given either of them out, but with technology playing an increasingly influential role at this level, expect video umpires to make an appearance soon.Who knows what might have happened had Miandad been run out so early, with Pakistan needing 177 off 161 balls. The fallout of Moin’s non-dismissal was clearer; he’s still new to this level, but he showed Miandadesque calmness and smarts in helping the senior man finish off the match, and clubbed a pair of unorthodox, Miandadesque boundaries to seal the deal.That Pakistan had needed to hustle to such a degree at the finish was down to their turgid scoring through the first two-thirds of their innings, which was largely down to Imran Khan’s struggle, after promoting himself to No. 3 once again, to pierce the field, and, on occasion, to put bat to ball. It lasted 93 balls, and brought him only 40 runs, 12 of them coming in two hits.A similar struggle took root at a similar stage of New Zealand’s innings, after they had chosen to bat first with a grim forecast in mind. Mark Greatbatch, as he has done through this tournament, clubbed a couple of early sixes, before failing to pick up a back-of-the-hand slower ball from Aaqib Javed that spun like a googly. John Wright and the No. 3 Andrew Jones struggled to time the ball, though, and Ken Rutherford, batting at No. 5, took an age to get going, remaining scoreless for 20 balls, and taking 43 balls to reach double figures.If it wasn’t for the in-form Martin Crowe, who moved his feet with precision and timed the ball like a dream from the moment he stepped in, New Zealand’s innings could have come to a complete standstill. Mushtaq Ahmed, who had returned figures of 2 for 18 in 10 overs in the league-stage meeting between these sides, dismissed Jones with a brilliant quicker one, and gave Rutherford a torrid time as well, and with Pakistan’s second legspinner, Iqbal Sikander, starting tidily as well, New Zealand crawled to 119 for 3 in 34 overs. Getting to 220 looked unlikely.But as if a switch had been clicked on, Rutherford suddenly found his rhythm, and his feet began to twinkle against the spinners, bringing him a series of boundaries including a straight six off Sikander. Crowe, like Inzamam would do later in the match, began punishing the smallest errors in line and length, sweeping and pulling the spinners at every opportunity, and whipping Wasim Akram for a stupendous six off his hip, over backward square leg. Crowe raced to his fifty in 51 balls. Rutherford flew from 17 off 47 balls to 50 off 67, before a miscued pull off Akram ended their partnership at 107.New Zealand’s innings had legs now, but their captain’s legs gave way in the 44th over, Crowe injuring his left hamstring while taking a single off Sikander. On 79 then, he would add 12 more to his score, before a mix-up involving his runner, Greatbatch, sent him back in the 47th over, right after another brutal pull off a barely-short delivery had moved him into the 90s.Crowe’s injury didn’t have any immediate effect on New Zealand’s morale, with Ian Smith leading their plundering of 40 runs off the last 22 balls of their innings. But their tactics during Pakistan’s innings lacked the Crowe stamp. Rather than swap his bowlers around constantly as Crowe has done through this tournament, the stand-in captain Wright kept his bowlers on for long spells, refusing to use Jones’ offspin as a sixth option. With Inzamam new to the crease, he delayed the reintroduction of Morrison, who had four overs left, and kept plugging away with his slow-medium trio.It’s hard to say, though, that this same New Zealand attack, shuffled into a different configuration, could have dealt with Inzamam in the mood he was in. Today was simply his day, and this tournament may simply be Pakistan’s, though England or South Africa may have something to say about that. RetroLive

West Indies captain and fellow Bajan Dowrich take command with brilliant 295-run stand

Andrew Miller25-Jan-2019Jason Holder fulfilled one of the most cherished ambitions of his career, as he converted a Test century in front of his home crowd at the Kensington Oval into a brilliant unbeaten 202, to put his side into an unassailable position against England on the third day in Barbados.In partnership with his fellow Bajan and age-group team-mate, Shane Dowrich, Holder made a mockery of England’s feeble efforts in their 77 all out on the second day. Together they added an unbeaten 295 for the seventh wicket, in the process lifting the total from 120 for 6 to 415 for 6 declared, a lead of 627.Though England dug deep to reach 56 for 0 at the close, they face a massive challenge to bat out the final two days of the Test, on a wicket that has clearly eased up after 18 wickets tumbled on the second day, but which still offers a bit of life for the seamers and signs of turn for the offspin of Roston Chase and John Campbell.”It was a good day,” said Holder at the close. “My friends and family were here to enjoy it, as I really wanted to achieve this from the very start of my career.”It was the third Test century of Holder’s 37-Test career, and his second against England, after a gutsy innings in Antigua four years ago helped to save the first Test of that series. But, having made several starts in his previous appearances on his home island, this was the performance he had been longing for.”I was fortunate to make my debut here in front of my home crowd [against New Zealand in 2014], and since then I’ve made four or five half-centuries, it was just a matter of converting one into a hundred. I finally got the hundred and made it into a double.”West Indies had been in a commanding position going into the third day’s play, although their dominance had looked rather shakier when Dowrich came to the crease in the midst of a collapse of 5 for 9. And the memory of that struggle for the ascendancy helped the pair through a tough first hour, when James Anderson and Ben Stokes combined to put the squeeze on once more.”It was a taxing day,” said Dowrich. “At the start we had to get through that initial period with Jimmy and Stokesy, but we knew it would get easier. We stuck to our guns and it paid off.Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder put on a record stand for West Indies•AFP

“I found it very challenging up front,” Holder said. “Jimmy and Stokesy made us play a lot of deliveries in the channel, particularly Stokes with his angle and getting the ball to leave.”He was a threat all day and credit to him, he made us work hard for our runs, but it was a really pleasing day, to bat up past tea and form the partnership that we did.”Thereafter, however, England’s selection errors played emphatically into West Indies’ hands. In the absence of Stuart Broad, whose deck-hitting lengths would clearly have been an asset, the remainder of the attack – Sam Curran, Moeen Ali and the barely-used legspin of Adil Rashid – were unable to make an impact, with Moeen being thumped for three fours in a row by Holder when he joined the attack in the second hour.”Two of them are two of the best bowlers in the world right now, and challenging, but Moeen we thought we could get him off the square a bit easier,” Dowrich said. “We didn’t discuss [batting at] any pace, it was just play the ball on merit, look to bat as long as possible, and tire out the English as much as possible.”Holder then took a shine to Rashid as his hundred approached, twice flogging him into the stands for two of his eight sixes – a tally which broke Viv Richards’ record for an innings against England, at Antigua in 1986 during his 56-ball hundred.”Rashid had mid-off up when he was round the wicket,” Holder said. “I felt with my reach and height, I could get closer and hit it over his head, I got one off the inner portion of the bat which got lucky, I was just shouting ‘go ball, go ball’, but it went over his head and I continued on.”The only question as the partnership wore on was the timing of Holder’s declaration. With two full days still to come in the match, however, there was clearly never any rush.”We wanted to declare at some point this evening,” Holder said. “It was important to keep England on their feet as long as possible. We wanted to wear them down as there’s still a lot of time left in the Test match and we didn’t want a silly declaration and make it too easy.”We got to tea and thought we’d have another 45 minutes, then have a good crack this evening. But I don’t think we used the new ball as well as we liked, we’d have liked a few more deliveries to make them play a bit more.”Both men, however, were confident that there would be plenty still in the pitch to exploit in the final innings.”There’s a bit of spin and a bit of bounce,” Dowrich said. “There are a few rough patches outside off causing problems, so hopefully our offspinners can come into the game tomorrow.”You have to err on the fuller side and take a drive or two,” said Holder of the seamers’ challenge. “We’ve got runs on the board, so we can afford to express ourselves a bit. There were occasions tonight when the ball did a bit but we were just a tiny bit too short.”

The 18-year old leads rally with Siddesh Lad before Andhra strike back; Madhya Pradesh recover after TN inflict early blows and Baroda firm against Odisha

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-20170:36

Pathan: Prithvi Shaw’s initiation much like Tendulkar’s

Prithvi Shaw’s fifth century in his seventh first-class match provided the thrust for Mumbai, but they couldn’t build on, slipping to 248 for 6 at stumps against Andhra in Ongole. That the hosts made inroads was because of the twin-threat posed by seamers B Ayyappa (3 for 87) and P Vijay Kumar (2 for 55).Put into bat, Mumbai wobbled, losing Jay Bista and Shreyas Iyer (0) inside three deliveries. From 20 for 2 they slumped to 64 for 3 when vice-captain Surya Kumar Yadav was caught behind off Ayyappa. Shaw then teamed up with Siddhesh Lad (86), fresh from a second-innings rescue-act against Baroda, to add 125 before yet another stutter.Ayyappa came back to remove Shaw in the 61st over. When Aditya Tare, the captain, fell for a duck, Mumbai were precariously placed at 193 for 5. Lad and Abhishek Nayar, though, put on 55 runs, but frustratingly for Mumbai, they couldn’t carry on as Lad’s dismissal in the penultimate over of the day set them back further.Madhya Pradesh recovered from 67 for 5 to post a more respectable 224 for 7 on the opening day against Tamil Nadu in Indore. K Vignesh and M Mohammed, the seam bowling duo, inflicted maximum damage, but MP were rescued by the two Ankits – Sharma (75*) and Dane (63) – through a 120-run stand. Offspinner Washington Sundar made a couple of late strikes, including one to remove Dane, but Sharma and Mihir Hirwani couldn’t be dislodged.In the morning, Mohammed (2 for 46) removed openers Aditya Shrivastava and Rajat Patidar before Vignesh got into the act. In the space of six overs, he removed Shubham Sharma, Harpreet Singh Bhatia and captain Devendra Bundela to knock half the side out. He finished the day with figures of 19-7-27-3.Kedar Devdhar’s seventh first-class hundred led Baroda’s dominant batting performance against Odisha in Vadodara. Two other batsmen – Aditya Waghmode (52) and captain Deepak Hooda (51) – made half-centuries as Baroda ended on 281 for 3.In fact, it wasn’t until the 51st over that Odisha, who elected to bowl, had their first breakthrough as seamer Basant Mohanty dismissed Waghmode. They would account for another Baroda batsmen in the next four overs, as Biplab Samantray sent back Devdhar, whose 150-ball 104 included 15 fours and a six.A 70-run stand for the fourth wicket between Hooda and Vishnu Solanki (46*) meant Baroda would consolidate their position further before Hooda fell in the 73rd over. Solanki and Swapnil Singh, though, made sure Odisha didn’t have the satisfaction of another late wicket.

Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh’s captain, and his team-mate Sabbir Rahman have been fined 20 percent of their match fees by the ICC, following their role in the on-field row with Jos Buttler

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2016Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh’s captain, and his team-mate Sabbir Rahman have been fined 20 percent of their match fees by the ICC, following their role in the on-field row with Jos Buttler, England’s one-day captain, that marred the second one-day international against Bangladesh on Sunday.Buttler, who received an official reprimand for his own actions, reacted angrily to provocation from Bangladesh’s fielders after being given out for 57, via a third-umpire review, during England’s 34-run defeat at Mirpur.All three players admitted the offences and accepted the sanctions proposed by the ICC match referee, Javagal Srinath, meaning there was no need for a formal hearing.”The Bangladesh players overstepped in their celebration of Jos Buttler’s wicket, which prompted an inappropriate reaction from the dismissed batsman and required the on-field umpires’ intervention,” said Srinath. “We all want to see high intensity on the field of play, but only as long as it is not provoking or antagonising or disrespecting the opponent.”The Bangladesh players were found to have violated article 2.1.7 of the ICC code of conduct which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his/her dismissal during an international match”.Buttler was found in breach of article 2.1.4, “using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an international match”.All three players pleaded guilty to the offences and accepted the sanctions, which also include one demerit point being added to the disciplinary records of each player.If any of the trio are given four demerit points within the next two years then that will be converted into at least two suspension points which carry a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20 internationals, depending on the fixture schedule.While it was a first offence for the two captains, Sabbir now has three demerit points on his record after being given his first two for breaching the ICC’s code of conduct against Afghanistan last month.Buttler’s run-a-ball 57 had given England renewed hope of sealing the series win after slumping to 26 for 4, but his dismissal left them 123 for 7 and facing near-certain defeat.”I was just a little bit disappointed in the fashion they celebrated,” he said afterwards. “Mainly just the way they celebrated by running towards me and giving me a bit of a send-off.”You don’t have to run up to a guy. I’m disappointed to get out, but emotions were running high, they were obviously delighted to get the wicket, maybe I should have just walked away.”There has, as yet, been no ICC investigation into another flashpoint at the end of the match – as raised by Ben Stokes on Twitter, and reportedly involving Tamim Iqbal and Jonny Bairstow.”Congrats to Bangladesh on the win tonight,” Stokes tweeted. “Outplayed us, what I won’t stand for is someone putting a shoulder to my teammate at handshakes.”

Gloucestershire dodged early rain on day four in Swansea as they posted their fifth LV= County Championship win of the season. Chris Dent led the victory charge as his unbeaten 65 helped the visitors to their 108-run winning target for the loss of three w

ECB/PA09-Aug-2015
ScorecardChris Dent’s half-century saw Gloucestershire comfortably to their target•PA Photos

Gloucestershire avoided being knocked out of their stride by early rain on day four in Swansea as they posted their fifth LV= County Championship win of the season. Chris Dent led the victory charge in the Division Two match against Glamorgan as his unbeaten 65 helped the visitors to their 108-run winning target for the loss of three wickets.Although 15 overs were lost to wet weather before lunch, Gloucestershire were in no danger of missing out. Will Tavare, in his first match as captain, Gareth Roderick and Benny Howell all fell cheaply, but the target was so small it only called for one batsman to make a substantial knock for a seven-wicket victory to become a formality.Having bowled out Glamorgan second time around for 224 on Saturday evening, Gloucestershire began from scratch on Sunday, and Tavare struck Craig Meschede for two fours in his first over. Michael Hogan produced an accurate spell with the ball, bowling five successive maidens in an opening spell of 7-5-7-0, and in one over beat Tavare five times outside the off stump.But it was Graham Wagg who made the initial breakthrough in his first over, when he had Tavare caught at the wicket for 12. Wagg bowled at a lively pace and two overs later dismissed Roderick who struck a lifting delivery low down to cover, perishing for seven.Andrew Salter’s offspin was introduced, but after being struck for six and another boundary by Dent he was taken off after conceding 14 runs. Dent, meanwhile, played every ball on its merit, and reached a chanceless half-century from 99 balls which included a six and eight fours.Hogan continued to command respect and was rewarded for his accuracy when he had Howell caught at slip from a rising delivery, Gloucestershire at that stage 84 for 3. The result was soon sealed, with Gloucestershire’s reward a handsome 23 points and Glamorgan were left to ponder their punishment for a dangerous pitch in the Royal London Cup last Sunday – the case will be heard on Monday.