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Rest of India extended their advantage on the second day, amassing 668, to leave Mumbai with a mammoth task in their pursuit of gaining a potentially decisive a first-innings lead

The Bulletin by Abhishek Purohit02-Oct-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Parthiv Patel’s 13th first-class century pushed Rest of India beyond 650•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rest of India extended their advantage on the second day, leaving Mumbai with the mammoth task of having to surpass 668 to gain a potentially decisive first-innings lead. Though Dhawal Kulkarni struck with three early wickets, Parthiv Patel’s hundred and half-centuries from Virat Kohli and R Ashwin ensured the day belonged to Rest of India.There was hope early in the morning for Mumbai, after seamer Kulkarni dismissed Abhinav Mukund, S Badrinath and captain Yuvraj Singh in quick succession. Both seamers Kulkarni and Usman Malvi got some away movement outside the off stump.Kulkarni bowled a nagging length and had the left-handers in trouble with the angle from round the wicket. He got Mukund, who had looked a bit tentative, to edge an away-going delivery to gully in the ninth over of the day. Badrinath, meanwhile, had been pushed onto the back foot by the away movement. Four overs later, Kulkarni bowled Badrinath, six short of a hundred, as he played from the crease to a delivery that came in with the angle. Much was expected from Yuvraj, but he didn’t last long. In his next over, Kulkarni took out his middle stump with a fuller one from round the wicket; Yuvraj playing all around it from the crease. Rest of India, on 353 for 1 at one stage, were suddenly 367 for 4.But Kohli and Parthiv ensured the advantage didn’t slip, adding 158 for the fifth wicket at close to five runs an over. Kohli stuck mostly to the Sunil Gavaskar school of batting. Anything outside off was left alone with a monk’s discipline, and when the bowler pitched it straight or drifted onto his pads, he took full toll, driving gracefully and powerfully in the arc between extra cover and mid wicket.One over from Abhishek Nayar, about an hour before lunch, typified Kohli’s approach. The first ball was full, close to off stump, and was straight driven for four in a flash. The next four balls, wide outside off, were left alone. When Nayar pitched the last delivery fuller and closer to the stumps, he was hammered through extra cover. However, like Shikhar Dhawan on the first day, Kohli missed out on a hundred when in total control, hitting a Ramesh Powar long hop straight to midwicket on 90.If Kohli dominated against the seamers, Parthiv was all footwork against the spinners, welcoming Powar with consecutive boundaries. He went over the infield when they flighted the ball, rocked back to play the cut and pull when they dropped it short, and was quick to use his feet on most occasions. Fifteen of his 18 fours came against the spinners. One of them to the midwicket boundary off Iqbal Abdulla brought up his 13th first-class century.After Kohli fell, Parthiv and Ashwin compounded Mumbai’s misery with the fourth century-plus stand of the innings at almost a run-a-ball. Ashwin played with all the assurance of a batsman averaging in the late-30s in first-class cricket. He lofted and cut the spinners, and pulled the seamers for boundaries. He mixed the powerful shots with some deft late cuts and guides, getting to his seventh first-class half-century with one such steer to third man.Kulkarni returned to take two late wickets to finish with his seventh first-class five-wicket haul. But he sorely lacked support from the other bowlers, and had Ajit Agarkar been able to bowl (he didn’t take the field today because of dehydration), maybe the story could have been different for Mumbai.Their openers began well though, facing ten overs without any fuss. Mumbai will need a gargantuan batting effort to make anything out of this match.

Centurion reflects on the moment he knew Australia were broken before his own wave of emotions breaks

Andrew Miller14-Jun-20251:53

Steyn on SA’s WTC win: ‘We saw the biggest of the biggest come through’

Aiden Markram’s long walk back to the pavilion at the end of his epic, trophy-seizing century, ought by rights to have been one of the proudest, most self-reflective moments of his life.With a mere six runs still needed for World Test Championship glory, here was his chance to soak in the moment, and stride off the hallowed turf of Lord’s with a salute to all corners. Surely, with 136 fourth-innings runs to his name, Markram knew in his heart of hearts (if not quite in his frontal cortex) that he was the man who had just exorcised some 30 years of South Africa big-stage failure.That wasn’t quite how the man himself allowed the moment to unfold, however.”I wish I could have,” he said. “But that’s me being me when I get out. I’m always angry.”At least looking at the building in front was pretty special. And then, naturally, the walk up [the stairs] was incredibly special. So at least there’s one or two memories from that.”Related

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Markram’s reaction was perhaps the final vestige of South Africa’s suspension of belief. Despite all of the well-worn caveats that the nation has learned to factor into impending glory, the thronging support in the stands had long since abandoned their reticence. Perhaps the biggest clue that the game was up, however, came from the reaction of Australia’s own fielders.Travis Head’s sharp take at midwicket created barely a flicker of recognition. For most people in the crowd, the first inkling that Markram was out came as he clasped his own helmet in agony and turned on his heel. But soon afterwards it was clear, as one by one, the Australians trooped up to shake his hand. It was wonderfully magnanimous in the moment, but their body language wasn’t just beaten, but broken.”I noticed it for sure,” Markram said. “Obviously, it was a great touch from their side. There’s quite a bit of banter had on the field. But all is well that ends well, I guess. It’s always nice to be appreciated from that position.”Perhaps he’s still in a trance, still locked into the duty of delivering an innings that, by every conceivable measure – grandness of occasion, fourth innings, and against a relentless attack of unprecedented quality and longevity – earns it the right to be considered the greatest Test innings ever produced by a South African.”Nothing’s hit me just yet, so maybe that’s a good thing, but something needs to hit me soon, to get out all the emotions, because it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster.”It was Aiden Markram’s third fourth-innings hundred•ICC/Getty Images

But there was a moment, as Markram marched through to his century late on the third evening, when the mask cracked and the enormity of his performance seemed ready to engulf him. With a stiff upper lip that would doubtless have earned the approval of the many English public-school boys in the stands, he quickly gulped down his emotions – though not without ducking a request for a close-of-play word to the cameras – and reset himself to perform his duty.”Yeah, it was weird last night. I was pretty emotional,” he said. “From about quarter past five, the game had slowed down. I had a bit of time to look around and see all the fans, the family, all the mates that were there … I was looking at the changing room. I was like, ‘Yes, we are now getting close’, and it caught me off guard. Then the hundred happened, and a couple of tears leaked out that I was trying to fight.”Markram reached the close on 102 not out and, with just 69 runs still to get on the final day, he went on to sleep “horribly”.”I tried to take a sleeping tablet, it didn’t work,” he said. “The mind just couldn’t switch off. But fortunately, today wasn’t ever going to be a full day, so I knew it would be fine.”Markram went the full journey in the course of this contest. Way back on that frenzied opening day, he epitomised South Africa’s hunger with his highly-strung display in the slips – first, by being the distraction as he dived across David Bedingham from second slip, then by clinging on as Wiaan Mulder repeated the dose from third, as Kagiso Rabada cranked open the contest with two Australian wickets in four balls.Later that day, his lesser-heralded offspin extracted a well-set Steven Smith for 66, and on the stroke of lunch on Friday, he finally ended Australia’s dogged tenth-wicket stand as Josh Hazlewood holed out to cover.In between whiles, however, he had also fallen for a sixth-ball duck in South Africa’s ropey start to their batting display. And, having made 4 from five balls as captain in Barbados last June, as South Africa’s last appearance in an ICC final fell agonisingly short of glory, he admitted that the urge to stay in the moment was his single biggest driver, when his chance came again to steer his country’s fortunes.Aiden Markram got a well-deserved drink from a friend in the stands•PA Images via Getty Images

“I thought a lot about the T20 World Cup last night and how hopeless I felt sitting on the side after getting out,” he said. “I was like, I don’t want to sit there again. So, this gave me a bit of motivation to make sure I stayed at the crease, if I could. But never once thought about the achievements and what would come with it. It was always about just trying to get the job done and trying to win.”That mindset meant that, throughout his game-breaking 147-run stand with Temba Bavuma, there was never any question about backing up his captain’s desire to soldier on, even after his left hamstring gave way just six runs into his critical knock of 66 that spanned three-and-a-quarter hours.”To see his hammy go was obviously a bit worrying,” Markram said. “We got to tea, and he said he felt he could still keep going, but he wanted to know from my side if the twos becoming ones would affect me.”I said, ‘there’s no chance’. It’s about the partnership, staying out there for longer, getting the ball even softer, even older, and that’s exactly what he did. He still managed to run twos and threes, so I think there was a lot of adrenaline there, but he showed a lot of leadership and character. Maybe not the big, big numbers, but the ones that really make a difference, and that was tremendous for us.”Besides being his most important innings, this was also Markram’s third century in five Tests against Australia, a team against whom he is clearly primed to raise his game. “Australians and South Africans are pretty similar,” he said. “They play the game hard, they play the game to compete, they play the game to really win, and it brings out the best in us. It’s just a battle between two teams that really don’t have any interest in losing.”And now, South Africa are the World Test Champions – an accolade earned in spite of the many well-documented brickbats they faced in the build-up, both in terms of their unusual route to this final, as well as the baggage that such a contest brings with it. “It’s as big and as tough as it gets,” Markram said. “All the questions that have been asked in the past have fortunately now been answered.”And now, at the very last, perhaps he’ll get his chance to savour the moment, now that he has lived it to the fullest. The first inkling of this occurred in the moments before the presentation, amid the melee on the outfield, and the tears and euphoria of his team-mates.Markram was beckoned by a familiar face in the stands, and after some initial hesitation, he trotted over to let his personal party begin.”Yeah, that was cool,” he said. “That was one of my mates from school. He wanted me to come over. And I was like, ‘man, I can’t, it’s too busy. It’s chaos’. And then he was like, ‘Oh, here’s a beer’ … and I was like, okay! I’ve had my first one for today, and I’m pretty sure there’ll be a few more.”

Amanda-Jade Wellington was confident she could defend 10 runs in the final over

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2023Tahlia McGrath lauded the all-round efforts of her team after Adelaide Strikers went back-to-back in the WBBL with a thrilling three-run victory in the final at Adelaide Oval.In a match that came down to the final ball, legspinner Amanda-Jade Wellington held her nerve, having been lofted for six by Mikayla Hinkley, to bring the requirement down to five off two balls.But Hinkley fell agonisingly short of another six next ball, caught at long-off by Jemma Barsby, then Nicola Hancock couldn’t hit the boundary off the last that would have either won the match or earned a Super Over.Related

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It was another display of the strength of Strikers’ bowling attack, which had been the best during the regular season, with Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown and McGrath herself all coming to the fore.”I’m going to use my quote from last year because it is the exact same, that was pretty bloody special,” she said at the presentation. “We called it last year. We were sitting in the changerooms, we said we’re not done, we want to go back-to-back. And we’ve had that fight, that determination all year.”This team is a proper team. There’s no individuals, no ego. We know our role. We show up, day in, day out and it’s a lot of fun playing with this team.”Speaking to Fox Cricket moments after the title was secured, Schutt admitted that Strikers’ total had looked under par but that McGrath had given them belief.”[I’m] a bit emotional to be honest. A few tears out there,” she said. “We set out a bold goal last year to go back-to-back and to achieve it is amazing. Running out there, 125 didn’t look good but Tahlia said it was a tricky pitch after batting for the longest. We were confident if we could bowl well we could defend it.”The final was played in front of 12,379 spectators which made it the second highest for a standalone WBBL fixture behind the 2021 final at Optus Stadium in Perth. And for the second year in a row, Wellington was entrusted with the final over.”I’m just overwhelmed with joy,” she told reporters. “Two years in row to have the faith to bowl the last over is pretty special. For me, I love those moments, especially when there’s a crowd behind me and my team are backing him. I was feeling [the pressure] from the 17th over, especially when the [power] surge was happening. Was looking at the scoreboard taking note of how many runs I needed to defend off the last and thought anything over 10 I had in the bag.”Brisbane Heat captain Jess Jonassen praised the performances of Strikers, terming them the “benchmark” of the competition, but looked crestfallen at not being able to chase 126.”To our girls, commiserations. I’m super proud of you all, we’ve worked very hard just to get to this moment,” she said. “Keep your heads up, I know it hurts, but we’ll be back bigger and better and stronger next year.”

Every batting record up for grabs on a daily basis in absence of The Hundred elite

ECB Reporters Network23-Aug-2022Derbyshire 312 for 2 (Reece 106, Godleman 87, Masood 53*) beat Northamptonshire 311 for 7 (McManus 107, Zaib 62) by eight wicketsLuis Reece scored his second century of this year’s Royal London Cup campaign to set up a Derbyshire victory by eight wickets against Northamptonshire on a day of records and big runs at Wantage Road.It was Derbyshire’s highest successful run chase in all List A cricket, beating their previous best of 309, also against Northamptonshire, in 2017.Reece (106) shared a mammoth opening partnership worth 204 with his captain Billy Godleman (87) as Derbyshire chased down 312 to win. It was a record stand in List A games between these two sides and the highest for any Derbyshire wicket beating the previous best between Kim Barnett and Chris Adams in 1997.When both fell, Derbyshire were behind the run rate but Shan Masood (53) and Harry Came (44) kept up the pace, making short work of the remaining runs in a blaze of boundaries with seven balls to spare.That meant subdued celebrations for Lewis McManus, who had hit his maiden List A century (107 off 111 balls). The keeper shared a stand of 161 with Tom Taylor (75 off 54 balls) who also hit his highest score in all formats in Northamptonshire colours.Related

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Statisticians could take delight at least. It was the biggest Northamptonshire List A partnership for any wicket against Derbyshire, beating the previous best of 158 between David Sales and Alex Wakely in 2012. It was also the highest fifth-wicket partnership in List A cricket for Northamptonshire against any opposition, beating the previous record set by Allan Lamb and David Capel.Derbyshire made an immediate breakthrough when Ben Aitchison struck in consecutive overs to remove the dangerous pair of Ricardo Vasconcelos, who was caught off a top edge, and skipper Will Young who edged to the keeper.Saif Zaib and Emilio Gay led the recovery, putting on 58 in 10 overs, with Zaib stroking boundaries off three consecutive deliveries from Sam Conners before Gay (29) chipped Reece straight to short midwicket.After putting on 59 with McManus, Zaib (62) reverse swept Mattie McKiernan straight to Mark Watt behind square. It was to be the last wicket for some time as Taylor joined forces with McManus.McManus’ first 50 included just three boundaries but he ran sharply between the wickets and reached the milestone off 79 deliveries. From there he accelerated with the rest of his runs coming off just 32 balls. He hit Watt straight down the ground for six and hooked Nick Potts and Conners behind square for two further maximums. Conners went the distance again when McManus struck him high over deep midwicket and smashed him down the pitch.Taylor smote Watt over long-on for six but was content to let McManus have the strike initially. He took a liking to Potts though, playing a stinging drive through the covers and whipping him through midwicket. He crunched Connors down the ground for four and scooped him over the keeper to bring up his fifth List A half-century. The carnage continued when he swung Reece high over long-on into the stands for six.The pair were finally parted when McManus was run out while Taylor fell when he missed an attempted scoop and was bowled by Conners.Derbyshire got off to a bright start in the chase. Reece soon found the boundary, playing a brace of perfect on-drives down the pitch off Taylor, scooping him for another boundary and whipping Nathan Buck over backward square leg for six. He advanced to his half-century off exactly 50 deliveries with his eighth boundary.Godleman too was timing the ball beautifully through the covers and reached his half-century by pulling Buck aggressively for four.The Falcons otherwise breezed past 150 without loss in the 26th over with neither batter looking troubled or needing to take many risks, most of the boundaries coming along the floor rather than through the air. Northamptonshire’s largely inexperienced attack seldom looked threatening after almost drawing the edge in the opening overs. Wickets looked most likely to come through spin with Zaib having three lbw appeals turned down in two overs.Derbyshire passed 200 in the 35th over but when Reece attempted to force the pace, coming down the pitch to Taylor, he could only pick out Gay who took an excellent tumbling legside boundary catch. He had faced 120 balls and hit 13 fours and one six.Four overs later Godleman (99 balls) departed too, run out thanks to some sharp work by Sales with Derbyshire still needing 91 with nine overs to go.Shan Masood held the key to Derbyshire’s hopes and he came out determined to play his shots, whipping a legside half volley from Sales off his pads for six, supported by Came who struck two big sixes as the pair added 50 in five overs to leave Derbyshire needing 36 off the last five.

The visiting side have been impressive in Test cricket, and Zimbabwe will need to summon a collective performance

Umar Farooq06-May-2021

Big picture

Test cricket is perhaps the format where Pakistan’s progress is most discernible. There is a stability about the side which is lacking in the other formats, with the results beginning to show something of an uptick of late. Performances against Zimbabwe may not appease the critics but remain vital, because an upset would undo much of the good work of recent times, something that should be front and centre across the visitors’ minds especially after the last time Pakistan played a series in Zimbabwe.Having won the first match convincingly, they succumbed to a chastening 24-run loss in the second in 2013. They will need to ensure this series doesn’t follow a similar pattern, especially after a disappointing T20I leg, where they scraped to two victories sandwiched by an embarrassing defeat in which they were skittled out for 99.Zimbabwe are severely handicapped this time around by the loss of several experienced middle order hands due to various reasons, with Craig Ervine, Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza all ruled out. The batters did put up some resistance in the first Test, albeit not nearly enough. Roy Kaia and Milton Shumba had a spirited 59-run fifth-wicket stand after Zimbabwe found themselves in trouble early, and a useful opening stand between Kevin Kasuza and Tarisai Musakanda saw off the new ball in the second innings. The bowlers took wickets at regular intervals to prevent Pakistan getting away too far.Pakistan carry a big bench and are in a position to hand out another debut after Sajid Khan played his first match in the previous Test, with Tabish Khan the likely beneficiary. That will see Faheem Ashraf sit out, depriving the side of a player who offered the best chance of a balance between batters and bowlers, especially with his runs lower down the order. But every performance here will matter for future Test series; Pakistan’s next engagement is in the West Indies in August, and individual performances here will go a long way towards selection then. Both openers – Imran Butt and Abid Ali – were on shaky ground, but runs in the opening Test look to have bought them some time.Zimbabwe, meanwhile, cannot afford the luxury of looking ahead too far, but they do have a calendar that sees activity beyond this second Test. Bangladesh will be arriving for a full series shortly, and any momentum gleaned here will be useful if carried through to that series. For that, they will have to summon the spirit and quality from the T20Is, and put the first Test behind them.

Form guide

Pakistan WWWLL
Zimbabwe LLWLDRoy Kaia made 48 on his Test debut in the first match, and added 59 with Milton Shumba•Zimbabwe Cricket

In the spotlight

Blessing Muzarabani continues to look the home side’s most potent strike bowler, backing up his credentials with a respectable performance in an otherwise disappointing show for his side. It was his wickets towards the end of the second day and on the morning of the third that guaranteed Pakistan would be bowled out instead of having the luxury of declaring, even finding himself on a hat-trick at one point. His figures of 4 for 73 represent a continuing ascent in the lanky fast bowler’s career, but what his side will need are strikes with the new ball as well as the old one. Should he be able to put two openers still struggling for form under pressure, Zimbabwe might have a chance of making a contest out of this.Babar Azam missed out against what at times appeared to be a Zimbabwe attack bereft of ideas, registering the only golden duck of his Test career in the first game. With the Pakistan captain in the form of his life, lightning is unlikely to strike twice this series. The first Test was an aberration in that respect, and the home side may find they have one additional problem to worry about in the second game.

Team news

Prince Masvaure is unlikely to feature following the hand injury he sustained in the first Test, while Sean Williams and Craig Ervine remain ruled out. Wesley Madhevere looks set to play after missing out in the first Test.Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Roy Kaia, 2 Kevin Kasuza, 3 Brendan Taylor (capt), 4 Tarisai Musakanda, 5Wesley Madhevere, 6 Regis Chakabva (wk), 7 Luke Jongwe, 8 Wellington Masakadza, 9 Donald Tiripano, 10 Blessing Muzarabani, 11 Victor NyauchiNo significant changes are expected for Pakistan, with Sajid likely to play despite an indifferent debut. Tabish appears to be in the mix, and should he play, Ashraf would be the man to sit out.Pakistan (probable): 1 Imran Butt, 2 Abid Ali, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Babar Azam (capt), 5 Fawad Alam, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Hasan Ali, 8 Tabish Khan, 9 Sajid Khan, 10 Nauman Ali, 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi

Pitch and conditions

The weather for the next seven days will be cool with plenty of sunshine. The surface in the first Test played slow, and this one is expected to be no different.

Stats that matter

• Fawad Alam has converted each of his first four half centuries into triple figures, one of only six players in Tests to have done so.
• Zimbabwe have only three players with more than ten Test matches under their belt: Brendan Taylor, Regis Chakabva and Donald Tiripano.
• Azam is the first Pakistan captain to lead his side to victory in his first three Tests.

Mohammad Nabi threatened to pull off a steep chase but Ellis held his nerve in the final over in a game where Sam Harper was subbed out for concussion

Report by Daniel Brettig21-Jan-2020A blistering start by Matthew Wade and a cool-headed finish by Nathan Ellis delivered Hobart Hurricanes the victory they needed over the Melbourne Renegades to keep in touch with a place in the Big Bash League finals, in a thrilling affair at Docklands Stadium.On an excellent pitch, Wade helped the Hurricanes hammer 78 from their opening powerplay, before Mac Wright ensured this platform was not wasted. The Renegades’ pursuit had three significant contributions from Shaun Marsh, Beau Webster and Mohammad Nabi, but from a position where they needed 12 from nine balls, the Hurricanes defended grandly, capped off by Ellis conceding just five runs off the final over after he had gone for 20 in the 18th.Mac Wright batted through the Hurricanes innings•Getty Images

Wading into itIn a match the Hurricanes had to win to keep in touch with the competition’s top five, they had the advantage of first use of a pitch that did not play quite as slowly as the Renegades’ captain Dan Christian might have expected when he won the toss and bowled. Wade was certainly quick to find the ball skidding obligingly onto the bat, going after Nabi’s opening over and quickly getting into a rhythm that saw plenty of decent balls go to the boundary and anything loose disappearing well over the Docklands Stadium rope.An Andrew Fekete long-hop was dispatched with a pull shot whose sound reverberated around the arena, while not even Christian’s usually parsimonious offerings were immune to being taken for the maximum. The upshot of all this was a powerplay worth 78, the Hurricanes’ best ever in BBL history. For Wade, this might have been the platform for a spectacular century, but he was not to last much longer, dragged wide of the off stump as he miscued Cameron Boyce to gully for 66 from a mere 29 balls.The Wright stuffAmid Wade’s early attack on the Renegades, with their captain Aaron Finch watching from the boundary on the day he returned home from an ODI tour of India, Wright’s innings was a more measured affair, playing in his captain’s slipstream and then steadily accelerating across the innings. One cover driven boundary off Boyce, where he danced down to get to the pitch of a leg break, was delectable, and he otherwise gave the impression of a player who should remain a fixture in the Hurricanes’ side from here.Nevertheless, the Hobart innings did not quite maintain the rage of its early passages, meaning that although the Renegades only claimed three wickets, they were happy to restrict the Hurricanes to only 112 from the final 14 overs of the innings – despite leaking 20 from Samit Patel’s left-arm spinners in the 19th over.Matthew Wade turned it on at the top of the Hurricanes innings•Getty Images

Harper’s heavy hitDocklands Stadium was built primarily as an Australian football venue, and the manner in which Sam Harper was ruled out of the rest of the match – after getting to six from five balls – was more familiar to many of those who had seen countless marking contests on the west Melbourne turf. Running towards the non-striker’s end, Harper collided with Nathan Ellis and was sent tumbling heavily onto his back and neck as the bowler braced.Harper had previously been the victim of a heavy and traumatic concussion in February 2017 when Jake Lehmann had accidentally hit the Victorian wicketkeeper with his bat, being confined to hospital in Adelaide for some weeks afterwards, and his early movements after this collision were decidedly wobbly. He was submitted to a concussion test on the field of play, and the results did not satisfy medical staff enough to allow Harper to continue. He walked off with a consoling word from Wade and was ultimately sent to hospital, to be subbed out for Tom Cooper – the first such instance in BBL history.Ellis holds the lineHaving lost Harper, the Renegades did not fall too far behind due to some of Marsh’s cleaner hitting for the tournament, accompanied by a supporting innings from Webster that kept the innings at a steady pace. Marsh’s exit for 56 arrived at a time when the game was starting to tilt towards the hosts, but the required rate was allowed to balloon out beyond 15 per over as Webster and Nabi struggled momentarily to find the boundary.However, the third over delivered by Ellis, who had previously conceded just 12 runs from two, offered up enough deliveries in the hitting slot for Nabi to get into the sort of hitting mode that has made him one of the world’s best T20 players. No fewer than 20 runs accrued from the over, and when Nabi nailed two more sixes off Clive Rose, the Renegades suddenly needed a mere 12 from nine balls. Rose, though, slowed up his pace and defeated Nabi, while not conceding another boundary. Ellis, defending 10 runs from the final over, conceded only five.

The opener felt the team was a few runs short against Pakistan, but said they would readjust their targets in the coming games

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2018Australia opener Alyssa Healy said her team should have scored more than they did in their Women’s World T20 opener against Pakistan in Providence, and backed a powerful batting line-up to push for 180 or more in the coming games.Healy smacked 48 off 29 balls at the top of the order, and Australia made 165 for 5, a total they defended by 52 runs.”I think if we’re honest, we probably left a few out. I think they bowled really well in the middle period and sort of shut us down a little bit,” Healy said after the game. “In saying that, chasing 160, 170 on that wicket was never going to be easy. So I think batting line-up did a really good job in the end, but I think moving forward we’ll look to push 180.”I think the other night sort of scared us off a little bit. When we played South Africa, we were a bit worried about the conditions we were potentially going to get. But watching the game before us today on the telly, and watching [Harmanpreet] Kaur just bomb them into the stands, gave us a little bit of hope that the wicket was going to be pretty true, and that turned out to be the case. And it looks like a fantastic cricket wicket, and hopefully it will stay that way all four round games.”Healy’s was the first wicket Australia lost against Pakistan, but her innings had powered them to 72 in eight overs. “It’s a bit of see ball, hit ball at the moment. I’m just really enjoying the role at the top of the order,” she said. “It’s something that I love doing back home in domestic cricket, and it’s something that I’ve really relished over the last 12 months for the green and gold.”Healy said she was a better player now than she was a year ago, and that she had worked on opening up more scoring areas in the field. “I think I went away actually after the 50-over World Cup, there was a game against England in the round games, and we probably should have won that and we didn’t. And I went back and looked at the innings that I played and realised there was a big area with the ground that I wasn’t accessing. And if I had accessed that, potentially we would have won that round game and we would have been in the finals.”For me it was a real eye-opener and I went away and worked really hard and developed a sweep shot and opened up a whole other area of the ground. And I’m really enjoying it at the moment. It’s such a natural hockey swing for me. It’s just allowed me to manipulate fields a little bit more.”While some teams might struggle for a successful opening combination, Australia’s problem is one of plenty, with several of their batsmen opening for their WBBL teams. Healy said she was enjoying the freedom to go after the bowling at the top of the order, in the knowledge that there was lots to come after her.”Every single batter in our top eight opened the batting in our WBBL team. So it’s a fairly formidable line-up. And I’m sure that the six after us [openers] are chomping at the bit to get out there and get that new ball.”Yeah, Pez [Ellyse Perry] has a serious case of pad rash at the moment. Padded up in every single game for us and not really got a hit or come in really late. To have a world-class – I think she’s still one of the best players in the world – sort of missing out and not getting a hit, shows the depth and flexibility of our line-up. I think for every single player in our top, I guess, 10 to just put their ego aside and come out and play a role and do their job for the team is really exciting. That just shows the character of our team at the moment and I guess that’s why we’re so excited about where we’re at.”Australia’s next Group B game is against Ireland on November 12, and Healy was confident that their good form would continue because of recent results leading into the Women’s World T20.”I’ve been saying all along that momentum is really key in T20 cricket,” she said. “And I guess to carry on for a pretty convincing series against Pakistan in Malaysia, and then to come here and play all right against South Africa, but then play even better tonight, I think we’re building really nicely.”

Not once could Sri Lanka push a Test match to the fifth day and the new captain Dinesh Chandimal felt quite badly about that

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Pallekele14-Aug-20172:49

Can’t give excuses for defeat inside three days – Chandimal

In a year of woe for Sri Lanka, another captain has labeled another series loss the worst of his career. Dinesh Chandimal, in only his second series at the helm, lamented the 0-3 beating at India’s hands. Barely a month ago, Angelo Mathews had said the ODI series loss to Zimbabwe had been “one of the lowest points” of his own career, and not long after he ended up stepping down.Chandimal’s despair is understandable, because never before have Sri Lanka lost 0-3 at home to India. Two of India’s victories came by an innings, and the other – in Galle – was their biggest victory in terms of runs. And where India tallied a whopping 1949 across four innings at an average of 60.90 per wicket, Sri Lanka managed 1421 in six innings at an average of 24.92. All four of the highest wicket-takers, and three of the top four run-scorers, were also from the visiting side. It was, in short, an almighty hiding.”This was the toughest series in eight years playing international cricket, no doubt,” Chandimal said. “The reason is that we were not able to take the games to five days. The previous two were four-day Tests, and this was a three-day Test. Since I’ve been in this team, this is the worst series loss I’ve experienced.”The series has seen paltry crowds, especially in Galle and Colombo, perhaps due to the one-sided nature of the contest. Attendance was slightly better in Pallekele, but the ground was still mostly empty.Where fan support and satisfaction had been extremely high at the end of the 3-0 Test victory over Australia last year, it has diminished alarmingly over the past eight months, in which Sri Lanka were defeated badly in South Africa, lost a Test to Bangladesh, and crashed out of the Champions Trophy. Chandimal apologised for the team’s performance this series.”I want to convey our disappointment to all of our fans,” he said. “To all Sri Lankan fans here and away from home, we are very disappointed about our performance. As captain, I would like to take the responsibility. The fans have always supported us. They encourage us always. Today we saw that although we were losing, people were still applauding us. That is what the team needs now. We cannot let the players be mentally down. We are getting the process right. We might not get results soon, but we are confident that the future looks good.”Chandimal did, however, cite injuries as a possible reason for the defeat. Sri Lanka lost batting allrounder Asela Gunaratne in the first session of the series, then had seamer Nuwan Pradeep break down towards the end of the first day at the SSC. Suranga Lakmal was ruled out from the second Test onwards, and Rangana Herath sat out the dead rubber with a stiff back.”I would say what has especially gone wrong is injuries,” Chandimal said. “When we played the Australia series didn’t have any injuries. Everyone did their best. When we came to this series there are so many injuries – Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Rangana Herath. They played some really good cricket in the last six months. That’s the main issue. You can’t give excuses. As youngsters you have to stand up and perform.”Sri Lanka’s pace attack had, in fact, been laid low by injury during that Australia series too. Lakmal had been ruled out before the first Test, and Pradeep only played one game, and Dushmantha Chameera – who was the third seamer in line at the time – was also out of contention with a stress fracture.Elsewhere, another worrying sign for Sri Lanka, was the failure of their senior batsmen. Upul Tharanga and Angelo Mathews hit only one half-century apiece across six innings – both of those on the flattest track of the series. Chandimal himself managed only a high score of 48 and an average of 24 in four innings (though in mitigation, he had suffered from pneumonia the week before the SSC Test).”Consistency has been a huge issue this series,” Chandimal said. “Some players cannot perform well in every series. As seniors, you have to do well, and then the youngsters will follow.”Angelo and I couldn’t get amidst the runs, and we take a lot of blame for that. But we were trying very hard in the middle – even today – and we’ve been training very hard. I have lot of faith the seniors will come back strongly when we take on Pakistan.”

England will have to change the balance of their ODI side due to Ben Stokes’ injury, with Jonny Bairstow favoured to come in as an extra batsman

George Dobell20-Jun-2016Like your health and the brake cables in your car, there are some things you appreciate more in their absence. So it is with Ben Stokes. While Stokes has yet to nail his limited-overs international career – his statistics are modest and his last four deliveries were hit for six – you can perhaps best judge his value to the England side by the difficulty they have in trying to replace him.Without Stokes, absent from the Royal London ODI series as he recovers from knee surgery, it is desperately hard for England to balance their side. They face the choice of either playing just five bowlers, with Joe Root in reserve, or weakening their batting in order to squeeze in the extra bowler should one of the five experience injury or an off day.What they have confirmed is that Jos Buttler will keep wicket and Eoin Morgan will bat at No. 4. While they open the batting with Moeen Ali, who has two ODI centuries in the top order, it seems likely they will stick with the opening pair of Alex Hales and Jason Roy who have set the tone for so much of the improvement in recent times.And while they bat Moeen, David Willey or Chris Woakes at No. 6 and make room for five other bowlers, it seems more likely that they will make use of Jonny Bairstow’s outstanding form, bat him in the top six and go with just the five bowlers. Bairstow is, therefore, set to be the beneficiary of Stokes’ absence.In normal circumstances, you might expect England to include two spinners. But given the wet weather the Nottingham area has experienced in recent days – the groundsman reckons the pitch has had four hours of sunshine since June 10 – there is a strong case for playing four seamers and just one spinner. Whether that is Moeen – at No. 10, the highest rated ODI bowler in this series – or Adil Rashid is debatable: Moeen has the better economy rate (4.91 compared to Rashid’s 5.89) but Rashid the marginally better strike-rate (45.10 compared to 46.20).Their batting averages hardly separate them, either. Moeen’s 27.61 looks better than Rashid’s 24.50, but if you include only innings made by Moeen at No. 7 – his likely position – his average drops to just 19.10. He remains more likely to play, alongside Steven Finn, Willey, Woakes and Chris Jordan, but it is not a straightforward decision.The balance issue is rendered more difficult by the form of the captain. Morgan has now gone 18 international innings without a half-century – a run that extends back to November and the first ODI of the series against Pakistan – and, in the South Africa ODI series, averaged only 12.80. He enjoyed a strong English season in 2015, scoring a century and seven half-centuries in 11 successive ODI innings, but given he averaged just 18.00 in the World Cup, he needs a good series here to prevent the doubts over his position gathering. On form, it is hard to justify him batting above either Buttler or Bairstow.In such circumstances, there might have been a case for recalling Samit Patel or Ravi Bopara to bat in the top six and offer some extra overs. But it seems their time has gone. Right or wrong, it could be seen as a retrograde step.England are, after all, only a year into their brave new world. While results have been patchy – they have lost their last three ODIs and are rated below fifth-placed Sri Lanka in the ICC rankings – they have identified a group of players they hope will take them into the Champions Trophy (which, it might be noted, would have been ruined by rain had it been held this year) next year and the World Cup in 2019. England, currently No. 6, could go ahead of Sri Lanka in the ODI rankings if they win this series by a margin of two games or more.”Ben leaves a huge hole,” Morgan said. “He is a key member of our side. It’d be the same thing if the likes of Moeen Ali went down. Having Moeen batting at possibly six or seven is a luxury when he’s a frontline spin bowler.”We’re still at the beginning of building hopefully what will be a successful campaign in the 2019 World Cup. It’s important for us not only to stick with the same group of players in order to grow their experience but also to find some consistency in our performances.”We’re 12 months down the road and we have built a lot of confidence. There’s a bit more expectation on us as a side and it’s important to relish that expectation. The Champions Trophy is this time next year and the World Cup is two years later so as the home side we’re looking to put in performances so that people don’t see us as outsiders.”Wet weather in Nottingham interrupted preparations for the first ODI•PA Photos

Whatever the final selection, we can expect England to continue the same bold cricket that has characterised their performances over the last 12 months. While it is hard to believe the Trent Bridge pitch will have pace and firmness of recent tracks here – Nottinghamshire scored 445 and 415 in consecutive 50-over innings at the start of this month; their opponents replied with 425 and 379 respectively – it still seems reasonable to expect England to respond to every challenge by attacking more.”We’re trying to change the mentality,” Morgan said. “The mentality was, that if you’re getting beaten around the park, you might try and bowl tight and move things around. But actually trying to get the batsman out is still a priority.”It’s the same with the batting. If we’re three down and you get bowled a half-volley, you still have to hit it. It’s part and parcel of changing the mindset of the side.”I went straight from the one-day series and played a lot of county cricket last summer and the way England played had set the agenda about the brand of aggressive cricket we were playing. Everybody seemed to relate to it. A lot of the younger guys were loving it. It is very important to connect with county cricket because we can sometimes become detached and that is not good for anybody.”Everywhere you look around the counties, the limited-overs game is being played with more belief and confidence than at any time in memory. Emboldened by events in the last 12 months – the revolution of the New Zealand ODI series, the progress of the World T20, the McCullum-isation of English cricket – players have bought into the more positive method demonstrated by Morgan and co. The mentality of English cricket changed. Whatever the results, they have become a vastly more entertaining side to watch.

Billy Godleman is standing in as captain of Derbyshire, winning cricket matches, scoring runs and enjoying life again

Tim Wigmore at Canterbury09-Jun-2015
ScorecardBilly Godleman, shown here applauded off by Cheteshwar Pujara [file picture]•PA Photos

There was an understated satisfaction to Billy Godleman as, a little sheepishly, he raised his bat leaving the field. Derbyshire’s captain had engineered a remarkable turnaround in the match. Resolute and undefeated until the end, he had underpinned Derbyshire’s successful chase of 232.Just twelve months ago, Godleman’s very future as a professional cricketer was uncertain. He had not scored a first-class century since 2012. In mid-summer he was marooned in Derbyshire’s second team, a precarious existence for a 25-year-old who was out of contract in the winter.When Godleman was recalled for Derbyshire’s final six Championship games, he returned “100% playing for my career,” as he reflects. “There were times when I was very concerned about what would lie ahead in the future and whether it was actually going to be in the professional game.”No one would have envisaged such struggles when, as an 18-year-old opening batsman, Godleman scored 842 runs at 38.27 in 2007; that remains both his highest first-class aggregate and average in a campaign.”I was reasonably successful straight away from a young age. Then when I started not to do very well I didn’t quite know how to deal with that,” he admits. “I also realised that I wasn’t quite as good as I thought I was when I was 18, 19, 20.”Twice he suffered the pain of being released, by Middlesex in 2009 and again by Essex in 2012. Nine matches for Derbyshire in 2013 brought a miserable average of 17.18. When 2014 began equally badly, Godleman faced “accepting I wasn’t at the level that I thought I was. And then working out a method of dealing with disappointment and looking at every experience as an opportunity to learn something.”Of one thing Godleman was certain: he was not ready to abandon the game. With Derbyshire faring miserably, Graeme Welch sounded Godleman out. “You’ve got our full support, go and show us what you can do,” he was told.And then something seemed to click. At The Kia Oval last September, Godleman finally scored a century – and it was a match-winning one to boot. After his recall, Derbyshire won five of their last games. He earned a new one-year contract. After an encouraging start to the season and an injury to Wayne Madsen, Godleman was even entrusted with the captaincy, quite a turn-up for a man with a somewhat chequered past.It has evidently sat easily with him. Last week Godleman saved Derbyshire from defeat with an unbeaten 64 of 228 balls against Gloucestershire. Here, once again, Godleman’s defence was unbreachable in the fourth innings.Adhesiveness is integral to Godleman’s game. He knew that trying to mimic Chesney Hughes or Tillakaratne Dilshan when they were smiting Kent’s attack would be fool’s gold. Yet, as he showed with a series of rasping cuts and neat pushes through mid-on, he has also expanded his repertoire. Five half centuries at an average of 62.14 so far in 2015 are testament to that.”Previously he used to be a survivor, trying just to get through, and now he’s starting to develop the game to actually influence the play and put the bowler under more pressure and look to be more assertive,” says Neil Burns, who has worked extensively with Godleman.When Essex released Godleman, Burns devised a 60-month programme to turn his game around. “He’s had lots of ups and downs but the great thing about Billy is he’s prepared to look inside himself and do the tough learning.”Here Godleman’s assiduousness was rewarded with Derbyshire’s first victory at Canterbury since 1999; quite the reversal after Kent had cruised to 63-1 in their second innings, a lead of 182, before lunch on day two.Even a bumper crowd of school children on the third day would have done little for Kent’s mood. Darren Stevens was immediately whisked away to Maidstone, to play for the second XI, hoping to find some semblance of form after 16 runs in his last six first-class innings. On the evidence of this game, in which Kent hemorrhaged 20 wickets for just 317 runs, perhaps some of his teammates here should join him.