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Hampshire recovered an all but hopeless position thanks to two young quicks Brad Wheal and Gavin Griffiths to keave Sussex off the pace in the chase for the last eight

Vithushan Ehantharajah at Hove15-Jul-2016
ScorecardRoss Taylor could not get Sussex over the line•Getty Images

A low-scoring classic at Hove saw Sussex Sharks snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as a floundering middler order saw them make a mountain out of a low target set by Hampshire. A simple chase of 135 from 20 overs took a turn when Sussex’s batsmen only managed five runs from three overs, in which they lost the wickets of Matt Machan and Chris Jordan.That meant 23 needed off the final three overs, which soon became 17 off 11 when Dawson caught Craig Cachopa at deep third man off the bowling of Gavin Griffiths. The silver lining of the wicket meant Ross Taylor found himself back on strike. Three fours in the remaining five balls of the penultimate over meant a manageable five off the final six.With three needed from the final two deliveries, Taylor went to lap Brad Wheal around the corner, only for the ball to pass him and leg stump through to the keeper. No wide was signalled and, with a cracking yorker, Wheal sealed a one-run win for Hampshire. Sussex Sharks skipper Luke Wright, while questioning the wide decision did not shy away from the brutal truth that Sussex lost this match through their own inexcusable carelessness.Even Matt Prior, watching on from the stands, could not bite his tongue when Sussex’s middle order woes were put to him, suggesting that he was prepared to help – although stopping short of saying in quite what capacity.
While Griffiths returned three figures, it was 19-year-old Wheal that influenced where this game was headed. It was not just his ability to send the ball down consistently above the 85mph mark but his knack of second-guessing the batsmen to return 14 dot balls. Bowling Luke Wright for just nine and then trapping Machan in front just as he looked to steer the game away from Hampshire were marquee wickets.Having chosen to bat, Hampshire posted an under-par target with a batting effort that went some way to explaining why they were rooted to the bottom of the South Group before the match. It makes for unsettling viewing. In an era when the phrase “Moneyball” has been bastardised to the extent that you could get away with applying the phrase to a petrol station meal deal, they were one of the few sides that appreciated the analytics and application of T20 theorems. This will be the first season in the last eight in which they have not made it out of the group stages.Liam Dawson, morphing from one of English cricket’s “most improved” to “most valuable” white ball cricketers, cast as many disapproving looks to teammates as boundaries. Miscommunication with Tom Alsop and Shahid Afridi saw both run out embarrassingly, leaving him to pick up the pieces.Former Barbados under-19 Jofra Archer made his T20 Blast debut and, in his second over, picked up the wicket of Adam Wheater, with Chris Jordan taking the catch. It was Jordan who spotted Archer and recommended that Sussex make use of his British passport and bring him to Hove. Judging by the chain and chunky golden watch, Jordan may accessorise him, too.When he wasn’t encouraging Archer, he was showing him how it’s done. Four overs returned two for 14, as Jordan toyed with the tail when he finished his set with the 17th and 19th overs. His part in the game did not end with the ball, as he made an appearance in the 16th over of the chase, in at No. 6, as Sussex began to get stage fright.Three sixes – Taylor hitting Tino Best into the flats out at midwicket and Machan taking two in a row off Dawson – gave Sussex a degree of insurance. So, too, did Chris Nash’s 32 off the top of the innings. But a game that by Wright’s estimation should have been won in the 18th over slipped through their fingers in embarrassing fashion.It has been a strange season for Sussex: one which started with talk of an all out attack on the sole promotion spot out of Division Two and now, in the midst of the county summer’s own silly season, has them assessing how many eggs to place in each basket. Promotion is still not out of the question. But the uncertain weather and sheer effort needed to win four day games on down-trodden tracks means they will have to embark on an unheard of run in their final 10 matches to take them back to the top division.In the short term, staying in the hunt for T20 success means placing everything on beating Essex Eagles, Surrey and Glamorgan – all of whom sit above them in the group. They are still in control of their own destiny to a point but have lost all wiggle room.

Kent, 24 points behind Essex with three matches remaining, need to close that gap before the sides meet in the final match of the season at Canterbury

David Hopps at Hove31-Aug-2016
ScorecardSam Northeast scored 44 to help lead Kent into the ascendency•Getty Images

In a normal year, Essex and Kent would be entering the final stage of the season sitting prettily for promotion. Both are showing signs of a rebirth and both have batsmen who deserve a Division One stage: Nick Browne, Tom Westley and Dan Lawrence at Essex; Daniel Bell-Drummond, Sam Northeast and Sam Billings at Kent. But this is no ordinary year.Only the champions will be promoted this summer to enable the reduction of Division One to eight clubs to ease a congested fixture list. Kent, 24 points behind Essex with three matches remaining, need to close that gap before the sides meet in the final match of the season at Canterbury. The battle is far from over, but they remain the county most likely to suffer.That situation demands not only winning, but winning well. Kent are neatly placed to achieve the first after bundling out Sussex for 180, but achieving 400 for maximum batting points will be far from straightforward after closing on 211 for 5, especially as they are fielding an extra bowler. From the moment that Steve Magoffin removed their top three with the new ball, continuing a recent burst of form, they were under pressure. They will have been grateful to see Darren Stevens dropped at slip late on.Sam Billings’ partnership with Sam Northeast was an interesting, as well as a classy, retort on a glorious summer’s evening: Billings full of pent-up life; Northeast languidly looking on. They threatened to steal the game in a gorgeous sunlit spell, but Ajmal Shahzad had Northeast caught at second slip and Billings was lbw to David Wiese, hunting out the leg side.

Wicket won’t ease – Billings

Sam Billings: “The wicket was a bit sporting with the new ball and I thought we bowled really well with it. To bowl them out for 180 was a great effort. With the bat we’d like to have been less than five wickets down, but would have taken this position at the start of the day. I’d liked to have been there at the end but it was good to contribute, not only with the bat but with the gloves as well – that’s well as I have kept all season. The wicket doesn’t look as if it will get any easier so any lead we have is almost doubled in importance.” have a young top order and hopefully our bowlers can expose them again.”
Mark Davis, Sussex coach: “The wicket is a bit up and down and it was tough against the new ball but to get to 180 was actually a pretty decent comeback considering the start we had. I thought Ben Brown counter-attacked really well, in those sorts of situations he tends to play well. We’ve got a fairly inexperienced top five and it showed on that wicket.”

Some of those observing Billings from a Hove deckchair must have reflected at times that he has more energy than a man can safely accommodate. He hit a career-best 171 against Gloucestershire last week, an achievement matched only by the arrival of a replica Manchester United shirt with Paul Pogba’s name on the back. He has been wearing it with pride, although he stopped short from batting in it.There is always the chance that his appetite will run away with him. In an otherwise restrained innings, Shahzad was despatched for four boundaries in an over, the last of them a swat which flew past the stumps at the bowler’s end and rattled into the sightscreen. On such an evening, he might briefly have been the Sussex-born essayist, Hilaire Belloc, working the chest-high grass on the South Downs, “sweeping my scythe until the air was full of odours”.Sussex, in theory, were also still in the promotion shake-up – a further 19 points behind with a game in hand – but they are severely depleted. Nine were absent here: Ed Joyce and Chris Jordan on international duty, Luke Wright and George Garton among six players injured and Jofra Archer away at a funeral in the Caribbean. They responded by giving a first-class debut to Tom Haines, a 17-year-old opener, while Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Craig Cachopa made their first Championship appearances of the summer.Given their vulnerability, for them to produce such a lively first-session pitch, upon which Kent had little hesitation in choosing to bowl, was something of a turn-up. Sussex collapsed to 70 for 6 by the 25th over and, even though Kent would have been frustrated by their escape, courtesy of a spirited counter-attack by Ben Brown and Ollie Robinson, at least the pitch was slowly easing in the process. Billings suggests it isn’t – and he has batted on it. We shall see.Hardus Viljoen, the South Africa quick brought in to bolster Kent in late season, had time to reflect on the oddities of Division Two county cricket as he awaited his turn to cause havoc down the Hove slope. By the time he got the ball in his hand, Sussex were four down, the ageless Stevens dispatching Haines – caught off a glove for a fifth-ball duck – and Luke Wells in an 11-over spell, and Matt Coles having Hudson-Prentice lbw.Chris Nash, the batting mainstay, was run out taking a third to deep square leg and outdone by an excellent sprint and retrieve from short leg by Sean Dickson. If one moment encapsulated Kent’s energetic approach to county cricket this season that was surely it.When Viljoen was set loose, he handled the slope with great deliberation, determinedly going down the gears like a heavy vehicle on a 25% hill. He was not the runaway that might have been anticipated, which was a relief as nobody had thought to dig him an escape route piled deep with sand.Two wickets came quickly, but he took a pounding after lunch, Brown starting the session with four boundaries in an over, his last five overs disappearing for 49. But Brown departed to a mis-pull and Kent’s batsmen were tasked with reasserting their superiority.

Any thoughts this game might end with a victory for either side were extinguished by the strength of both sides’ batting and the understandable conservatism of skippers who were content to take five points for the draw

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford15-Sep-2016
ScorecardSimon Kerrigan derailed Middlesex with six wickets•Getty Images

And so it will not be settled – or anything like settled – for another week. A season in which Middlesex have led, Yorkshire have loomed and Somerset have scarcely been mentioned will end with the three counties covered by ten points. The world’s most famous cricket ground and one of the best in the land will together stage the final dramas of this late, late summer. What have we done to deserve this? Clearly, something good.Any thoughts this game might end with a victory for either side were extinguished by the strength of both sides’ batting and the understandable conservatism of skippers who were content to take five points for the draw. Such a return leaves Middlesex nine points ahead of Yorkshire and ten clear of Somerset.All the points permutations can wait for the back of an envelope and a double espresso. It is enough for the moment to say that if the leaders avoid losing to Yorkshire at Lord’s and Somerset fail to beat Nottinghamshire at Taunton, Middlesex will be champions and worthy ones. Their evisceration of Yorkshire on the last day at Scarborough proclaimed their quality. But the destination of the pennant far from settled.The cricket on this final day of the season at Old Trafford was only briefly exciting but always absorbing. Some shots, some moments will be remembered fondly by spectators watching their final first-class overs of the year. Dawid Malan and John Simpson batted with great certainty throughout the morning and had extended their partnership to 151 when Malan played a half-hearted cut at Simon Kerrigan and was caught by Jos Buttler for 87.That wicket was the prelude to three more in five overs as Middlesex established a lead of 308 before declaring. Simpson was the last of these but he had made a fine 74 before he swayed like a drunk avoiding a bicycle and lost his leg stump to Luke Procter. Kerrigan finished the innings with 6 for 86 – and ten in the match – which is something to encourage him before Lancashire’s final game at Edgbaston next week.Indeed, this was the first morning of autumnal haze at Old Trafford. It was burned off quite quickly, of course, but there was still a September note of gentle closure. And very briefly, we wondered if the finale to the season was to be accompanied with drums and yells as Lancashire responded to the stern challenge of scoring 309 in 44 overs by opening with Buttler.Three fours and a scooped six heightened the frisson of excitement but a leading edge off Steven Finn looped a dolly to Nick Compton at cover and Buttler was gone for 26. Hameed replaced him and Lancashire’s dash for victory was run. Spectators settled into their last cricket of the summer and some of them will have stored images away as one might with sustenance for the winter.The game ended with Hameed tucking Rayner to long leg and scampering two runs. It was only right that he should score the last first-class runs on the ground this season. The match ended with handshakes at half past four in the poignant elegies of departure. There is a week to go but Lancashire are 14 points clear of Hampshire near the bottom of Division One. Should they secure a draw against Warwickshire next week, they have as great a chance of staying up as the new hotel does. Given their recent record and the youth of their side, they will class survival as something of an achievement.For we are at the stage of the season when accomplishment comes in many guises. Middlesex, Yorkshire and Somerset will be happy with only the title; Lancashire Warwickshire and Hampshire must hope to retain their status although Ian Bell’s team will want to preface that subdued success by lifting the Royal London Cup. We have eight days left in the season and some fine hurrahs before the drawing down of blinds.

Former England batsman given three-month contract following 15-day stint as coaching consultant during UAE’s 2-1 series victory against Oman in October

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2016Former England batsman Owais Shah has been given a three-month contract as UAE’s interim head coach. The contract follows his 15-day stint as coaching consultant during UAE’s 2-1 series victory against Oman last month, where he is said to have struck a rapport with the players.David East, CEO of the Emirates Cricket Board, said, “We are very pleased to confirm that Owais will continue working with Emirates Cricket as Interim Head Coach for a three-month period. In a short time, Owais has developed a strong rapport with the players and Emirates Cricket support staff, and we expect to see gains, both in development and on the scoreboard, from his involvement as we enter a very busy playing schedule.”The Emirates Cricket Board will look for a full-time replacement for Aaqib Javed who resigned from the post in April this year, ending a three-year stint. Shah, who has business interests outside of cricket, is not seen as a long-term prospect. He came into contention after assisting Paul Franks – another temporary coach – as a batting consultant earlier this year during a UK tour.UAE do not have any international games scheduled during Shah’s contract period, but may face Pakistan A and England Lions.

Martin Guptill’s rapid half-century, and canny bowling from Tim Southee and James Neesham, were vital to New Zealand forcing the series into a decider at Visakhapatnam

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu26-Oct-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:44

Agarkar: Burden on Kohli if Rohit doesn’t perform

Martin Guptill’s opening salvo, and canny bowling from Tim Southee and James Neesham, ensured New Zealand forced the ODI series into a decider at Visakhapatnam. Having won their first toss of the tour in their eighth match, New Zealand, led by Guptill’s bruising half-century, tactfully exploited the field restrictions and ultimately finished at 260 for 7 on a track that offered turn and variable – sometimes negligible – bounce. The bowlers then frequently varied their pace and found equally good support from the fielders to throttle India’s chase.Southee was New Zealand’s key figure with the ball, first having Rohit Sharma caught behind with a perfectly-pitched outswinger. He returned with the old ball and produced a double-strike to all but snuff out the chase; a ball after Manish Pandey holed out off him, he had Kedhar Jadhav pinned in front by a slower offcutter for a first-ball duck. Three overs later Hardik Pandya was caught at long-off, Tom Latham running to his left to pocket a smart catch. India were left needing 94 off 84 balls, with three wickets in hand. Axar Patel, who was promoted to No. 5, and Amit Mishra briefly rallied with a 38-run partnership for the eighth wicket, Dhawal Kulkarni and Umesh Yadav then added 34 for the last wicket, but the hosts were dismissed for 241 in 48.4 overs.Neesham had produced a double-strike of his own, before ceding the stage to Southee. He dismissed Ajinkya Rahane for 57 in the 28th over and followed it with the bigger wicket of MS Dhoni in the 30th over. Rahane shuffled across and was trapped lbw by a straight ball while Dhoni was bowled through the gate for 11 off 31 balls.India, however, had started positively in their chase, with Rahane jumping onto any width offered and swatting away short balls with authority. He even uppercut Trent Boult for a six over point. He strung together 79 for the second wicket with Virat Kohli, who played a few trademark whiplash drives and punches during his 45 off 51 balls. Mitchell Santner, meanwhile, held his own and spun a few past the outside edge, with his family watching from the stands. And when he found the outside edge there was nobody at slips to snap it up.The partnership ended in the 20th over when Ish Sodhi found Kohli’s outside edge with a short legbreak and BJ Watling, who was playing his first ODI since February 2013, pouched it. The middle order then faded away, and although Axar showed glimpses of bravado in his cameo – 38 off 40 balls – India are yet to identify a genuine finisher with only four ODIs to go for the Champions Trophy.MS Dhoni was bowled through the gate for 11 at his home ground•Associated Press

New Zealand, on the other hand, ticked many boxes. For starters they read the conditions expertly, picking three spinners and taking the mind back to their success in the World T20. Guptill struck his second fifty of the tour. Latham was solid as usual, and Ross Taylor, under fire from all quarters, spent some time in the middle, although he was edgy throughout his 35 off 58 balls.But the most telling contribution, perhaps, arrived from Guptill. He didn’t always look pretty, but bent India’s attack out of shape in the Powerplay. He gave Kulkarni a cold welcome, hitting three fours off four balls. The first two were skewed drives wide of point and over mid-on. The third was disdainfully scythed through extra cover. He pressed on to unfurl sublime inside-out drives too. The nature of the pitch put in perspective Guptill’s early assault. As the match wore on, the odd ball kept low while several stopped on the batsmen. A couple of grubbers even raised puffs of dust from the surface.India could have had Guptill on 29, but Mishra could not hold on to one after diving to his left from mid-on – a decent effort, but he might have done better if he were a bit quicker to react. Mishra gave him another life later on, misjudging a much simpler catch at long-off when Guptill was on 62.Guptill had reached his half-century off 56 balls at the start of the 17th over, four balls after Axar had Latham top-edging a sweep to short fine leg for 39 off 40 balls. By then Axar and Mishra had settled into an asphyxiating rhythm. Guptill needed 12 balls to score his first run against spin, and was further stifled by Jadhav’s loopy offbreaks and straighter ones. The spinners conceded only 19 runs in the seven overs from the 11th to the 17th. But it was Pandya who eventually removed Guptill, when he had him playing inside the line and feathering behind to leave New Zealand at 139 for 2 in 26 overs.Mishra dragged them back further by removing Kane Williamson and Neesham in successive overs. New Zealand scrounged only 99 runs for five wickets from the last 20 overs of their innings, and only three boundaries in the last ten overs, including one of the final ball of the innings. But it proved enough to square the series.

Manoj Tiwary, the Bengal captain, has called for surfaces of the kind that hosted the India-England Tests in Rajkot and Visakhapatnam to be prepared for the Ranji Trophy

Shashank Kishore22-Nov-2016Manoj Tiwary, the Bengal captain, has called for surfaces of the kind that hosted the India-England Tests in Rajkot and Visakhapatnam to be prepared for the Ranji Trophy. His assessment comes after the season’s first two-day finish, Baroda’s 21-run win against Bengal in a Group A fixture in Lahli, where the fast bowlers claimed 38 of the 40 wickets to fall.As many as 23 wickets fell on the opening day, the most in a day so far this season, with neither side managing to pass 100 in their first innings. The remaining 17 fell on day two. That Tiwary’s fourth-innings 39 was the highest score of the match indicated how tough batting was at a venue that has traditionally been regarded as a seamer’s paradise.”I think we should be playing on surfaces close to what the Indian team plays on in the current season so that those who perform and are picked immediately don’t have to make drastic adjustments,” Tiwary told ESPNcricinfo. “I said it even yesterday, when we had a chance of winning despite conceding a lead, that on these kind of surfaces you can’t be chasing more than 120. Not really ideal, isn’t it?”It would be good to play on surfaces that bring not just the fast bowlers but spinners into the picture too. It’s disappointing to lose, we played some bad shots too, but surfaces of this kind take skills out of the picture. It’s understandable if it’s a greentop with consistent bounce, but here it wasn’t. Lahli is probably the toughest surface in the country, but unfortunately this was simply very very tough. Having said that, credit to Baroda. The wicket was same for both sides. “Tiwary pointed to damp patches at both ends as the cause of the inconsistent bounce. “There were green patches at drive-able lengths. Even fast bowlers weren’t sure which way the ball would move if it pitched there. Every time you pitched the ball in certain areas, there were indentations. After a few overs, it was reduced to a guessing game. Some balls reared up, some balls kept low. This contributed to the dismissals no doubt, but it wasn’t ideal to be playing on this kind of surface.”Would his assessment have changed had Bengal won? “Deepak Hooda has made a big double-century just two matches ago. He made centuries in his first two games. Sure, you can have a bad game, but on this surface, he too was struggling. In one game you can’t be that bad,” Tiwary said. “It would be nice to play on surfaces that at least offer consistent bounce.”As a side we are disappointed, no doubt. But without making excuses, I’ll say it was tough. As a state captain, I will highlight these observations to Dada (Sourav Ganguly, head of the BCCI’s technical committee that proposed neutral venues in the Ranji Trophy). The think-tank can then decide. If you ask me, the surface that we played on in Bilaspur [against Punjab] earlier this season was the most ideal, where there was a little bit of everything for everyone.”Tiwary said Bengal’s bowling after they sent Baroda in was the decisive his side’s defeat – surprisingly, considering Baroda only made 97, with Ashok Dinda picking up six wickets. “We shouldn’t have allowed them to get that much,” Tiwary said. “We shouldn’t have conceded more than 60. That made the difference especially with our second-innings scores being identical.”

New Zealand will look for a clean sweep of the six limited-overs matches in the third and final T20I in Mount Maunganui while Bangladesh will want to finish with a win

The Preview by Mohammad Isam07-Jan-2017

Match Facts

January 8, Mount Maunganui
Start time 1500 local (0200 GMT)
New Zealand may be thinking about resting some of their key players in the dead rubber, including Trent Boult•AFP

Big Picture

A dead rubber has already come and gone on this tour, when New Zealand showed no lack of motivation and battered Bangladesh to seal the ODI series 3-0. They would look to do the same in the third T20I, though there may be thoughts of resting some of their Test specialists.The management may choose to give some time off to Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult or Colin de Grandhomme given they have good back-ups in George Worker, at the top of the order, and Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson in the bowling attack, providing raw pace that tends to trouble Bangladesh.At least one first-choice player will be on the bench for New Zealand with Luke Ronchi injuring his groin during Friday’s T20I. Tom Bruce stood in for him then, but uncapped specialist wicketkeeper batsman Tom Blundell, who has a strike-rate of 121.57 in 19 T20s, has been called up to the squad and could be looking at a debut in international cricket a day after winning the Super Smash final with Wellington.Bangladesh might be thinking along the lines of resting their frontline players too – notably Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan – and instilling some freshness into the XI. Mashrafe Mortaza would also like to sign off with a win in New Zealand, having endured his worst series as captain.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand WWLWW

Bangladesh LLLLL

In the spotlight

Soumya Sarkar finally got runs on Friday, an encouraging 39 that included typically elegant fours and sixes. He would be expected to play better to prove he has gotten over his slump.Colin Munro would also like to follow up his barn-storming 101 with another innings of substance. He couldn’t do so in the ODIs, falling for 3 after a match-winning 87, so the weekend crowd at the Bay Oval have a lot to look forward to.

Team news

Tom Blundell could replace the injured Luke Ronchi and George Worker might get to play for New Zealand for the first time in over a year.New Zealand (probable) 1 Kane Williamson (capt), 2 George Worker, 3 Colin Munro, 4 Corey Anderson, 5 Tom Bruce, 6 Colin de Grandhomme/ James Neesham, 7 Tom Blundell (wk), 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Matt Henry/ Ben Wheeler, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Trent Boult/ Lockie FergusonWith Taskin Ahmed named in the Test squad, he won’t be risked in a dead rubber but Shuvagata Hom and Taijul Islam may get their first match on tour if the senior players are rested.Bangladesh (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Sabbir Rahman, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Soumya Sarkar, 7 Mosaddek Hossain, 8 Nurul Hasan (wk) 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and conditions

The Mount Maunganui pitch was on the slower side in the second T20I, but not so much that it curtailed big-hitting. Bangladesh were unable to cope against the heavy wind on Friday and would want to factor that into their calculations as well. It is forecast to be a bright and sunny day.

Stats and trivia

• Munro struck seven sixes in his 101 in the second T20I, equaling his personal best but one short of the New Zealand record of eight in an innings, by Brendon McCullum
• In six matches between them, Bangladesh have never beaten New Zealand in a T20I.

Finishing as group toppers meant Scotland were able to avoid Afghanistan in the semi-finals, a team they have failed to beat in six previous attempts in T20Is

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Dubai20-Jan-2017
Scorecard2:08

‘Scotland yet to hit peak’ – Coetzer

Scotland remained undefeated at the Desert T20 Challenge after another composed chase of 134 with an over to spare and seven wickets in hand, over Oman on Thursday night. That meant Oman will have to come back to Dubai Sports City for Friday’s first semi-final, less than 12 hours after the game against Scotland finished.Scotland, meanwhile, can hit the snooze button before they take on a well-rested Ireland – the only one of the four semi-finalists to not play on Thursday – at 2:30 pm in the second semi-final. Finishing atop the group also meant Scotland were able to avoid Afghanistan in the semi-finals, a team they have failed to beat in six previous attempts in T20Is. The winners advance to the tournament final at 7:30 pm.Oman stuttered through their innings in fits and starts with six players reaching double-figures, but none doing better than Khurram Nawaz with 23. Overall, they were not under too much pressure to fall short of the semi-finals regardless of a loss due to their net run rate advantage of +1.611 over Hong Kong heading into the match. Winning the toss and electing to field virtually assured them a place in the semi-final as long as Scotland did not chase any target inside of 11.4 overs.Oman missed a few chances early but once Scotland’s opening stand was broken in the seventh over, the chase slowed and Oman stretched Scotland until the 19th over. Matthew Cross top-scored with 47 off 40 balls before being caught on the circle an over before victory was secured. Watt’s Application
Less than a year ago at the World T20 in India, then 19-year-old Mark Watt was touted to be Scotland’s lead spinner ahead of Con de Lange, and was also given the new ball as well when the tournament got underway against Afghanistan. Since then de Lange has usurped the lead spinner’s role but Watt has worked on developing more consistency and has demonstrated his ability.Taking the new ball in every outing, he has been economical without being incisive. On Thursday, he was finally rewarded against Oman with the scalps of both openers. A quicker ball pinned Arun Poulose on the pads while he played down the wrong line for a duck in the third over. After being hit hard bowling around the wicket by Maqsood, he switched to bowl over the wicket and produced a skied leading edge that was taken by Calum MacLeod at long-on in the fifth over. He finished with 2 for 23.Berrington runout show continues


In Scotland’s dramatic seven-run win over Netherlands in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night, Richie Berrington clinched victory by charging in from long-on with a pair of picture perfect relays to Safyaan Sharif over the bowler’s stumps off back-to-back deliverie for the last two wickets.Oman were decently positioned at 51 for 2 in 10 over, but Con de Lange struck with a ball sliding in to beat Khawar Ali’s cut on the first ball of the following over. Aqib Ilyas, who made a half-century against Hong Kong in Oman’s previous match, was looking solid at the other end on 19 but new batsman Khurram Nawaz was eager to get off strike straight away. He tried to run his first delivery behind point for a sharp single but Berrington swooped in and flicked from eight yards to wicketkeeper Cross as Ilyas’ dive wasn’t in time.It was another momentum game-changing moment in the field for Berrington, but it could be the last one he provides at the tournament though as he stayed down on the ground clutching his right hamstring afterward. After getting treatment, he was forced to limp off the field. His status for finals day is in doubt.Saint Andrew’s Matthew Cross


The Scotland wicket-keeper batsman has impressed with his glove work since debuting in 2013, but his batting has lacked consistency, partly because he hasn’t had a stable batting position – he has shuffled between No. 3 and No. 7.He didn’t bat in the opening win over Hong Kong when Scotland made 189 for 3. He then made 4 against the Netherlands before Paul van Meekeren had him edging behind. Coetzer and coach Grant Bradburn kept the faith with Cross at first drop against Oman and he rewarded them with a handy knock.He played the spinners with confidence, depositing Lalcheta over midwicket on a slog sweep for six, and was even more fluent when Oman brought back their medium pacers, hitting Mohammad Nadeed for six and four in the 12th over.Cross hit two more fours off Bilal Khan in the 17th over before he was deceived by a slower ball from left-arm quick in the same over three short of a half-century. If Berrington can’t go on finals day, Cross must step up again with the bat for Scotland to have their best chance of slaying both Ireland and Afghanistan.

Daniel Marsh has been ousted as Tasmania coach, effective immediately, following an extended run of under-performance by the Tigers in the Sheffield Shield

Daniel Brettig16-Feb-2017Daniel Marsh has been ousted as Tasmania coach, effective immediately, following an extended run of under-performance by the Tigers in the Sheffield Shield. He was fired less than a year after signing a new two-year contract with the state.The decision to remove Marsh is the third major change at Cricket Tasmania in little more than a month, after the Sydney Thunder general manager Nick Cummins was appointed as the association’s new chief executive in January. The Hobart Hurricanes had also announced they would not be renewing the contract of their coach, Damien Wright, following the BBL.”The players are the ones who perform on the field, but the Head Coach has ultimate responsibility for results and performance,” Andrew Gaggin, the Cricket Tasmania chairman, said. “On behalf of the Cricket Tasmania Board, management, staff, members and fans generally I would like to thank Dan for his period as coach and service to Tasmanian cricket.”While Cummins does not officially begin until April, Marsh’s sacking is the signal for a significant change in direction at Bellerive Oval as the Tigers seek to regain the lofty perch they had ascended to in recent seasons, winning the Shield twice and contending on multiple other occasions.Marsh had been captain of the state’s inaugural Shield title-winning team in 2007 and was assistant coach to Tim Coyle when the Tigers won their second six years later. However the Tigers have finished no better than fifth out of six teams in each Shield season since, and are presently comfortably bottom of the table after two losses on the resumption of the competition post-BBL.The state has fared no better in the domestic limited-overs competition, failing to qualify for the finals during the same period. Sporadic appearances by George Bailey, the state captain, due to Australian commitments have been cited as a problem for the Tigers, in addition to the loss of a core of experienced players including Mark Cosgrove, Luke Butterworth, Ed Cowan and Ben Hilfenhaus.

More than 100 capped international players will be among the 351 players available for bidding at the upcoming IPL 2017 auction in Bangalore on February 20

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Feb-20170:48

Quick Facts: IPL 2017 Auction

A total of 351 players, which includes 122 capped internationals, will feature in the IPL auction, scheduled to be held in Bangalore on February 20. The final roster was pruned from the original list of 799 players, after the eight franchises submitted their wishlists to the IPL.Fast bowler Ishant Sharma is one of the seven players with a maximum base price of INR 2 crore – approximately US $298,000 – for the tenth player auction. The other six include three England players – allrounder Ben Stokes, ODI and T20I captain Eoin Morgan and allrounder Chris Woakes – two Australian fast men Mitchell Johnson and Pat Cummins, and Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews.In the initial list there were 160 capped players from nine countries – none from Pakistan – and 639 uncapped ones. The final list also contained six players from the Associates, including five from Afghanistan: captain Asghar Stanikzai, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad, Rashid Khan and Dawlat Zadran. Shahzad and Rashid have the highest base prices among the five at INR 50 lakh. UAE batsman Chirag Suri was the other Associate player in the list.Seamer Sudeep Tyagi, who has played four ODIs, is the only one to have been cut from the original list of 24 capped Indian players.Considering they will have to put a majority of their players back into the auction in 2018, some franchise officials said they would not be too aggressive in buying players this season. However, they did agree that there would be considerable interest in the English players.Although the IPL is yet to decide on the retention rules, franchises expect the right-to-match option to be available. This allows a franchise to buy back a specific number of the players they have released for the auction by matching the highest bid those players attract. If they match the bid, they get the player.