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Babar Azam became the third Pakistan player – and eighth overall – to score three consecutive ODI centuries as he top-scored with a 106-ball 117 in Pakistan’s commanding 136-run victory over West Indies in Abu Dhabi

The Report by Sirish Raghavan05-Oct-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:59

By the Numbers: Pakistan repeat whitewash against WI

Babar Azam became the third Pakistan player – and eighth overall – to score three consecutive ODI centuries as he top-scored with a 106-ball 117 in Pakistan’s commanding 136-run victory over West Indies in Abu Dhabi. The win completed Pakistan’s 3-0 sweep of the ODI series and enabled them to displace West Indies at No. 8 in the ODI rankings.Azam put on a run-a-ball 147 for the second wicket with captain Azhar Ali, who scored a century of his own to become the only Pakistan player to score three hundreds as ODI captain. The top-order hundreds formed the backbone of Pakistan’s total of 308 for 6, a score that looked beyond West Indies almost from the start of their scratchy, plodding reply.

We still have to improve finishing an innings – Azhar

Having climbed to No. 8 on the ICC ODI rankings, Pakistan captain Azhar Ali has asked his team to brace for a more challenging period as they try to secure a qualification for the 2019 World Cup. Pakistan need to be among the top eight sides by September 30, 2017 to gain automatic qualification into the World Cup. If they fail to make the cut, they will have to play a Qualifier in April 2018.
“Our last seven-eight limited-overs games have been fantastic and our confidence has increased, specially of the younger players in the side,” he said. “You can see the hunger in them to perform and this will help us move forward in the format. There is still a year for the World Cup qualification. There will be a lot of challenges. Our job isn’t done yet because to qualify for the World Cup we will have to win more series and matches.”
Azhar said the team had begun showing improvements and potential during the ODI series in England, which they lost by 4-1. He said the biggest area where Pakistan’s batting needed to improve was finishing an innings and scoring well in the slog overs.
“One aspect we want to improve upon is finishing the innings,” he said. “Finishing an innings well is very important, regardless of how you have started an innings. I think if we can improve that then we can score bigger totals and consistently score more than 300.”

The margin of victory could have been even bigger had Pakistan’s middle- and lower-order batsmen fully capitalised on the strong launchpad provided by Azam and Azhar. Pakistan had moved to 232 for 2 by the time their partnership had been broken in the 39th over; they added just 76 runs thereafter, as successive batsmen struggled to find their timing on a slowing wicket and against an older ball. The last ten overs of Pakistan’s innings yielded only two boundaries, one of which was possible only thanks to a lazy misfield by Evin Lewis at deep backward square.But if the end of Pakistan’s innings appeared anti-climactic, it was still lively compared to the dreary run-chase that followed. Showing an inability to rotate the strike, against pace and spin alike, West Indies’ batsmen got stuck and never approached the run rate required to mount a genuine challenge. By the end of the 30th over, West Indies had soaked up 112 dot balls – as many as Pakistan had faced in their entire innings – and were wallowing in the gloom of impending defeat with the score 119 for 5. Their limp effort continued thereafter as the match drifted towards its inevitable conclusion.On a flat pitch that became slower and more sluggish over time, the best time for batting was at the very start. Having won the toss, Pakistan batted first – for the third time in a row – and made the most of the good conditions early on, racing along to 36 off the first four overs. Opening bowlers Azarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel clocked up speeds in excess of 140 kph – Gabriel hit the late 140s several times – but could not quite find the control to match. Sharjeel Khan was characteristically strong square of the wicket, while Azhar showed nice touch, flicking through midwicket, driving down the ground and playing a commanding cut past backward square.The introduction of Kraigg Brathwaite and Jason Holder slowed the tempo of Pakistan’s innings somewhat, before Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn helped West Indies regain a greater measure of control, stifling the batsmen with their lack of pace and disciplined lines. Benn was rewarded in his second over when Sharjeel lost patience and hit a well-flighted delivery straight to Joseph at long-on.Babar Azam and Azhar Ali added 147 for the second wicket•Getty Images

With the spinners continuing to exert the squeeze, Azhar and Azam meandered along, bringing up the team’s 100 in the 20th over. But as the partnership got going, the runs began to flow again. Once Azam was set, he found the gaps with increasing ease. Azhar used the sweep and slog-sweep with great effectiveness against Benn. Pakistan’s second 100 runs came off just 83 balls.It was Holder who ended their partnership when Azhar, batting on 101, played a tired heave across the line of a slower ball that clipped the top of off stump. Shoaib Malik was dismissed by Narine next over as West Indies began to pull things back for the second time in the innings, just when Pakistan would have wanted to push on. Azam picked up ones and twos as he approached his century, but, with only three wickets down, Pakistan would have wanted rather more than that.Azam departed off the last ball of the 46th over, looking to paddle-sweep a yorker-length ball from Kieron Pollard, only to find his leg stump disturbed. Pakistan were 280 for 4 with four overs remaining. They added another 28, but the late charge towards which they had been building never actually materialised.It didn’t need to. West Indies’ openers, Lewis and Kraigg Brathwaite, started steadily, putting on 45 off 56 balls before Lewis, on ODI debut, was bowled around his legs by Sohail Khan. That partnership turned out to be the biggest of West Indies’ innings, as wickets fell regularly thereafter. A 42-run sixth-wicket partnership between Holder and Denesh Ramdin was the only other stand of substance, but it came after the match was all but lost. Once Imad Wasim broke that stand, the end came quickly, with the last five wickets falling for the addition of just 13 runs.

New Zealand’s inability to bowl out Australia during the Trans-Tasman series has placed the spotlight on their highly regarded pacemen Trent Boult and Tim Southee

Brydon Coverdale in Christchurch25-Feb-2016At the start of this summer, New Zealand had two bowlers inside the top ten in the Test rankings: Trent Boult and Tim Southee. Australia had one, Mitchell Johnson, and unbeknownst to them he was about to retire. But the inability of New Zealand’s attack to take 20 wickets in any of the five Tests between the teams this season was a major factor in Australia’s domination and retention, twice, of the Trans-Tasman Trophy.Perhaps the most surprising thing was that in their home conditions in Wellington and Christchurch, New Zealand’s attack, led by Southee and Boult, struggled to find anywhere near as much swing as Australia’s fast men. The conditions played a part – Steven Smith won the toss and sent New Zealand in on green pitches in both matches – but Australia also proved capable of finding reverse swing later in the Tests.The final wicket tally for the five Tests home and away makes for lopsided reading. Josh Hazlewood topped the wickets with 22 at 32.63, Nathan Lyon was second with 20 at 27.75, and Boult was third with 18 victims at the inflated average of 42.11. No other New Zealander took more than 10 wickets across the five Tests and only Neil Wagner and Mitchell Santner, who each played only one Test, averaged under 40.Southee’s tally was especially disappointing. He finished the summer with nine wickets against Australia at 62.77, and rarely looked seriously threatening. Although Southee took 13 wickets at 16.30 in the two home Tests against Sri Lanka that came between the two Trans-Tasman contests, outgoing captain Brendon McCullum said after the loss in Christchurch that Southee could soon face competition for his place.”It’s probably not my question to answer any more. He is a strong leader in the group but Tim’s got some challenges in the next little while,” McCullum said. “There’s other guys coming through who are performing very well, Matt Henry in particular, and it’s going to push Tim to make sure he’s operating at his best which we saw for a good 12 to 18 months. He’s got some challenges but I still believe he’s a strong leader in the group and he’s just got to smooth out some of his rough edges.”One man who did himself plenty of favours at Hagley Oval was Wagner, who collected match figures of 7 for 166 and was tireless in enacting the team plan of repeated short-pitched bowling to a packed leg-side field. It was a desperate tactic used because the New Zealanders were failing to swing the ball, but Wagner’s willingness to bowl long, hard spells will make him an attractive option for the selectors going forward.”The beauty of Neil is that he makes things happen,” New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said. “Even on benign surfaces, where we play the majority of our cricket, he does generate wicket-taking opportunities. I think he got 6 for 70 in the first innings once he decided to bowl 25 overs of bumpers and there are not many people around the world who can do that.”I have been fortunate enough to work with Neil for a long time, so I know he’s a gutsy performer. But I thought the skill he showed, that’s a really a difficult thing to do, to get the ball between chest and head consistently and I thought his ability to keep them in that area and keep challenging was world-class and certainly kept us in the match.”Should the selectors decide to grant more opportunities to Wagner and Henry in New Zealand’s upcoming Test campaigns, it could mean something of a changing of the guard, with the attack having been based around Southee and Boult for some time. Hesson conceded that choosing New Zealand’s attack would not necessarily be as straightforward as it had at times in recent years.”I think there will be [tough selections],” Hesson said. “Tim and Trent for two years have been exceptional for us but we have different guys in the squad who do different things. We have alluded to Neil. He brings a different option. Dougie Bracewell is a bit different, as is Matt Henry, so within those five we have got, we should be able to get a pretty good attack in all conditions around the world.”New Zealand finished the five Tests against Australia this summer with four losses and one draw, but Hesson said he felt that the battle had been somewhat closer than that scoreline suggested.”In Australia we felt we were pretty close in Adelaide,” Hesson said. “I think over here, to be fair, we weren’t close in the end result but certainly felt that if things had been a little different then we might have been able to put a bit more pressure on them.”

A round-up of the Group A games of the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 season on October 16, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Oct-2015
ScorecardFile Photo – Arup Das and Krishna Das shared all 10 wickets from the Odisha innings•PTI

Seamer Krishna Das took 7 for 21 to bowl Odisha out for 88 and give Assam, who had made only 92 yesterday, an almost inconceivable first-innings lead. Assam then managed to cobble a total in triple-figures, finishing on 137 for 8 at stumps. The Cuttack pitch afforded 15 wickets on Thursday and 13 today, so any advantage seems vital and the visitors are 141 runs ahead.Krishna and Arup Das, who took 3 for 45, took care of all the Odisha batsmen. Only Natraj Behera and Anurag Sarangi managed to get double-figure scores and Odisha’s best partnership – 22 runs – was put on by the ninth wicket.But the help that was available to the fast bowlers meant the hosts were able to reel in some of the ground they lost. Suryakant Pradhan struck twice in the second over of Assam’s second innings to dismiss Kunal Saikia and Gokul Sharma for ducks. At the other end, Basant Mohanty removed Amit Verma, also for a duck, to leave the visitors on 13 for 3.By the 45th over Assam were 86 for 6. But coming in at No. 7 Syed Mohammad struck 42 off 158 balls with four fours to record the highest score of the match so far and perhaps tempt his team into contemplating an away victory.
ScorecardOvernight rain followed by intermittent showers on the second day resulted in only 16.2 overs being bowled in the Group A game between Bengal and Rajasthan at the Eden Gardens.The start of the match was delayed by an over hour. Resuming from 104 for 3, Rajasthan lost two wickets while putting on 38 runs. Pragyan Ojha got the first when he went through the defences of Ashok Menaria in the 43rd over while Ashok Dinda had Puneet Yadav caught for 14 in the 50th.Ojha came back to dismiss Arjit Gupta for 5 in the 59th over but then the weather intervened. Only 59.4 overs have been possible after two days. Karnatka v Vidarbha in Bangalore – Satish 81* leads VidarbhaDelhi v Haryana in Delhi – Sehwag threat looms

Veterans return to the fray for three-match home series against Sri Lanka

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Feb-2021Chris Gayle has been recalled to play for West Indies for first time in two years, while senior fast bowler Fidel Edwards is back in the national squad after a nine-year hiatus.Both Gayle, who is 41 years old and Edwards, who turned 39 this month, have been named in West Indies’ squad for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, which will be played between March 3-7 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua, which will be making its international debut.Gayle arrived in Antigua this week, having played two matches for Quetta Gladiators in this year’s PSL. He last played for West Indies in their home series against India in the wake of the 2019 World Cup, which the former West Indies captain had at one stage said would be his final international appearances.However, during his appearances at the 2020 BPL, Gayle playfully hinted he could even play until 45. The fact that he was serious can be gauged from his performances at the 2020 IPL, in which he made a belated entry in the second half of the tournament but helped Kings XI Punjab string together five successive wins with his measured aggression in the top order.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Gayle was duly included in West Indies’ T20I provisional squad, and on return from the PSL, passed his fitness test to make the final 14. “Chris Gayle has performed very well in recent tournaments and the selection panel thinks that he can still add great value to our team,” Roger Harper, CWI’s lead selector, said in a media release.As for Edwards, Harper stated that his recall was to “give the bowling the potent firepower needed”. Edwards, who played 55 Tests for West Indies, moved to Hampshire in 2015 on a Kolpak deal. However, following the UK’s recent departure from the European Union, Edwards expressed his desire to make an international comeback. Accordingly Edwards spoke to captain Kieron Pollard and head coach Phil Simmons expressing his desire for a recall.Another notable inclusion in the squad is 21-year-old Guyana offspinner Kevin Sinclair, who has received a maiden call-up to both the T20I and ODI squads. The 50-over matches are scheduled to be played between March 10-14 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.Sinclair and Hosein received their call-ups following impressive performances in domestic cricket in the last two years. “Akeal Hosein performed very well in Bangladesh [ODI Series] and had excellent stats in the CPL so this is an opportunity to see how he equips himself in this format,” read the release.”Kevin Sinclair grabbed our attention in the Super50 Cup back in 2019 and has been consistently economical in the last CPL and the current CG Insurance Super50. He will provide an off-spinning option for the team.”Also featuring for the first time in the 14-man T20I squad is left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, who played in the ODI series recently in Bangladesh.Related

• Shimron Hetmyer, Sheldon Cottrell and Roston Chase back in West Indies' ODI squad

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• Chris Gayle set for West Indies T20I return

West Indies Test captain Jason Holder has also been recalled for the white-ball segment of the Sri Lanka tour after his impactful performances for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2020 IPL, where he played as a replacement player before being retained by the franchise for this season.In a media released issued on Friday by Cricket West Indies, Harper said Holder, who had missed the home series against Ireland last year, as well as the white-ball tours of Sri Lanka and New Zealand, had been brought back to “add depth” to the squad.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Andre Russell “recovering” from Covid-19Holder’s presence will offset the absence of Andre Russell, whom CWI revealed was “still recovering” from Covid-19.In a media release issued alongside the white-ball squads, CWI said Russell was not considered for selection on the advice of its medical panel.CWI said Russell had “contracted” the coronavirus “earlier” in February. “Despite testing negative over a week ago [Russell] was ruled out of the T20Is by the CWI Medical Panel whilst he completes his “return to play” protocols,” the statement read.Fitness has been a key consideration for Simmons and Pollard, as West Indies prepare to defend the T20 World Cup that they won in India when the tournament was last held in 2016. According to the media release, the fast bowling pair of Sheldon Cottrell and Oshane Thomas, as well as key batsman Shimron Hetmyer, and all-rounder Roston Chase have all failed to reach the minimum fitness standard in time for selection consideration.

The proposal is a way of defying the ICC’s prohibition of bilateral tournaments comprising any more than three teams

Daniel Brettig24-Dec-2019A four-nation limited-overs tournament comprising India, England, Australia and one other invited nation has been proposed by the BCCI in part as a way of defying the ICC’s prohibition of non-ICC tournaments (apart from the Asia Cup) comprising any more than three teams in current and future Members Participation Agreements (MPA). The Super Series – as announced by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly over the weekend – is proposed to be rotated annually between the boards of cricket’s three major financial powers, starting 2021, and span two weeks.As players and officials around the world reacted to the Super Series proposal, Ganguly toned down his language by telling the that “nothing is confirmed yet” and “nothing is concrete”.However, ESPNcricinfo has learned that, as was the case in the lead-up to the Big Three breakaway move by the BCCI, ECB and Cricket Australia in 2014, a central issue is the terms under which India will be prepared to sign the MPA. Back then, the issue was primarily a larger slice of ICC tournament revenue for the BCCI, and the resultant reshaping of the global scene saw millions of dollars pushed back India’s way, a scenario that remained even after many of the reforms were rolled back after 2015.Nevertheless, Ganguly stated even before he was formally installed as BCCI president that one of his agenda items would be to increase India’s share of global cricket revenue, an uncannily similar ticket on which N Srinivasan vaulted to the top of world cricket’s hierarchy before he was sidelined as a result of the IPL corruption scandal. Srinivasan is now back in circulation as a senior figure behind many of the recent machinations.This time around, the four-nation bilateral series concept has risen in direct opposition to the idea floated by the ICC’s chief executive Manu Sawhney of two “Champions Trophy-style” ODI events in the next tournament cycle to begin in 2023. This would be geared at providing a global event in each calendar year and thereby allow greater and more consistent flows of ICC revenue to nations other than India, England and Australia, all of whom are increasingly reliant on this central funding for their operations.Linked to this is the intention for the MPA to limit the types of tournaments that member boards can stage, in order to raise the value of ICC broadcast rights as the global governing body would be the only source of events that collected all of the game’s most attractive teams and players at once for international tournaments.At the same time, this would serve to raise bilateral revenue for all nations via league structures for Test matches and ODIs that require all nations to at least maintain some pretence of playing each other an equitable amount, rather than the rich nations simply playing off against one another every year or two. Asked recently whether there was any danger of India, England or Australia not signing the MPA as a result of their reservations about an extra ICC event, CA chairman Earl Eddings had said he hoped such a scenario could be avoided.”We’re a long way off – this is post 2023 so we’ve got a number of years to work through it, but you can’t do one thing without the other,” he told ESPNcricinfo earlier this month. “To be able to work on your Future Tours Programme, you need to know where that fits in with an ICC schedule, so you can’t just look at an ICC schedule in isolation, just as you can’t look at a bilateral or Future Tours Programme in isolation.”There has been some anxiety among member nations about the direction of the ICC, pushing aggressively for an increase in global events revenue, since Sawhney took over from David Richardson at the end of this year’s ODI World Cup in England, and Eddings and chief executive Kevin Roberts recently met with Sawhney in Melbourne to discuss the issues of the moment. Eddings and Roberts are due to travel to India to meet Ganguly and the new BCCI administration in Mumbai in January around Australia’s first of three ODIs against India.The ECB confirmed its leaders recently met Ganguly and other BCCI office bearers, during which time the concept of the four-nation event was discussed. “We meet regularly with other leaders from the major cricketing nations to share learnings and discuss topics that impact our sport,” the ECB said in a statement. “A four-nation tournament was raised at a meeting with the BCCI in December and we are open to discussions with other ICC members to see if this concept can develop.”CA has been tight-lipped about the proposal, with some conjecture as to how much of it has yet been shared with the governing body by the BCCI. Australia’s coach Justin Langer admitted that the tightness of the current schedule made any attempts to slot in extra tournaments extremely problematic.”We all understand the schedule in world cricket is really tight,” Langer said. “So I am sure there will be lots of negotiation and there are people, that’s their role to negotiate and get that right. But we all know it is a tight schedule.”Struggles for other ICC member nations have been underlined by the fact that New Zealand’s board has returned a financial loss each of the past three years, while Ireland have recently been forced to cancel a host of matches due to a lack of funds. This after the leaders of the Big Three proposals of 2014 had promised to make all nations better off.

Cameron Green’s chances of playing have increased dramatically following a positive nets session

Alex Malcolm15-Feb-20231:24

O’Keefe breaks down difference between Australian & Indian spinners

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc has admitted he is behind where he would like to be ahead of the second Test in India while Cameron Green’s chances of playing have increased dramatically following a positive nets session in Delhi two days out from the start of the match.Both players missed the first Test in Nagpur due to the respective finger injuries they suffered during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa late last year.Starc did not travel with the team to Nagpur and instead remained in Sydney to do four bowling sessions at home, some with a splint on his middle finger to protect his tendon injury while two were without.Starc has already had one bowling session in Delhi having arrived before the team did after flying in from Australia on Sunday. But speaking before Australia’s main session on Wednesday he admitted he was not as far advanced as he would like to be just two days out from the Test match.”There’s still a fair bit of restriction there,” Starc said.”Still lacking a bit of strength having been in a splint for six weeks. But it’s progressing – not as fast as I would have liked, but it’s as planned in terms of the medical stuff. There’s a few boxes to tick but it’s on track.”I’d like to be a little further down the road.”Still a good chance. It’ll come down to how it reacts by the end of the day, how the medical staff see it, how the selectors and Pat [Cummins] and Ronnie [Andrew McDonald] feel about it as well. I’ll do everything I can to be fully available for selection. Then it’s a discussion for the rest of the group involved.”Starc bowled two separate spells on Wednesday and batted in the nets for an extended period. He started the four-hour session with some outfield catching and then had a long bowl. It was only his fourth bowl without the splint. He bowled without the splint in Australia twice last week and then again on Monday. Prior to that he had been maintaining his bowling loads while bowling with the splint on and using his left index and ring finger to hold the ball.There was the odd sign of discomfort from Starc in his first spell but he appeared to look in decent rhythm. He batted without any discomfort before returning to have a second bowl to test it again after it had stiffened up. He was able to bowl again for a short period but his spell ended in some discomfort before holding a lengthy discussion with McDonald, Australia physio Nick Jones and selector Tony Dodemaide.How Starc recovers over the next 24 hours will dictate his availability. He is in line to replace Scott Boland as Australia would love to add some extra pace, left-arm variety and a greater exponent of reverse swing to their attack. He was an automatic selection and a key figure in their two-pace two-spin attack on the tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka last year. He will also create more rough outside the off stump for the right-hand batters which would help Australia offspinners Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy.”Nath [Lyon] gave me a big hug here,” Starc said. “We haven’t got too many right-handers. That’s always a discussion point being a left-armer. I’m a bit heavier on the crease than some of the other guys, who don’t make too many marks. That’s always going to come into play. If I do suit up for this second Test hopefully I can create a bit of havoc out there for the spinners.”Including Starc would come at the cost of the scoreboard control that Boland offered in Nagpur.Cameron Green at a training session•Getty Images

Green light for Cam?Green’s availability is vital to Australia although having both he and Starc at the selectors’ disposal does provide so many more options.Green had one of his best training sessions on tour so far. He caught hard balls in the outfield for the first time on tour having only caught soft balls in Nagpur. He had another long bowl in the middle and looked in good rhythm. There are no concerns about him being underdone from a bowling perspective.He also faced fast bowling throw downs in the nets for the first time and batted for well over an hour with batting coach Michael Di Venuto throwing to him the entire time with a side arm. The Arun Jaitley Stadium nets were incredibly low and slow and there weren’t any balls flung that reared up off a length to threaten his surgically repaired right index finger.Green did receive some sharp jabs of pain in the finger from balls that were struck off the toe of the bat, with the reverberation through the handle causing him to wince in pain. But he was able to push through and batted comfortably against both the pace throwdowns and spin bowlers. He still hasn’t faced an actual fast bowler since batting with the broken finger in the second innings of the Boxing Day Test where he made an unbeaten half-century while batting with a painkilling injection.But provided there are no adverse effects from his lengthy net session on Wednesday, and there is no concern that the bone still hasn’t healed properly, he is looking increasingly likely to play on Friday. His presence, even if not at 100%, adds so much flexibility to Australia’s line-up.It means Starc could play if they wanted to risk him given they will have a third fast bowling option. Or it could open the door for a third spinner to play with one of either Ashton Agar or Matthew Kuhnemann coming into the mix alongside Lyon and Murphy while Green plays as Cummins’ lone fast bowling partner.

Derbyshire pair Harvey Hosein and Leus du Plooy post fifties in rain-hit fixture at Lord’s

ECB Reporters Network25-Sep-2019Dawid Malan and Billy Godleman joined something of an exclusive club as the game between Middlesex and Derbyshire meandered towards a draw on day three at Lord’s.The respective captains became just the fifth and sixth batsmen in Division Two to reach 1,000 Championship runs for the season on the campaign’s penultimate day. Only Warwickshire’s Dominic Sibley has managed the feat in Division One.Malan’s came in a score 72 out of a Middlesex total of 260, while Godleman achieved four figures when reaching 19, going on to make 27 as Derbyshire replied with 199 for 4.The loss of much of the first two days to rain means without contrivance this game will peter out on the final day of the season on Thursday.Middlesex began a day which started 45 minutes late on 199 for 5 and Malan, left on 999 for the season overnight, raised his landmark by stroking his first ball to the cover boundary, but departed soon afterwards, lbw to Luis Reece, who claimed 4 for 61.Reece claimed his fourth wicket when Toby Roland-Jones was lbw playing no shot before Fynn Hudson-Prentice mopped up the tail, leaving James Harris 25 not out.Godleman and Reece started with a flurry of boundaries, the openers added 49 in fewer than 10 overs before Ethan Bamber removed the latter lbw for 26 with the score on 49. When Wayne Madsen went the same way first ball Bamber was on a hat-trick, but excitement got the better of him as a leg-stump delivery on the hip was tucked away for two runs by new batsman Leus Du Plooy.Nevertheless, Derbyshire were 55 for 3, having lost three wickets for six runs, when Godleman edged Roland-Jones to Malan at slip.Du Plooy and Alex Hughes steadied matters with a stand of 48, but Tim Murtagh returned to have the latter caught by Miguel Cummins at wide mid-off just before tea.The third session saw Derbyshire in charge, du Plooy finding an ally in wicketkeeper Harvey Hosein, the pair prospering against Middlesex’s seamers who persistently banged the ball in too short. Hosein was first to reach 50 from 80 balls with six fours, while Du Plooy took 31 deliveries more, but with eight boundaries.Bad light ended play shortly afterwards meaning another 16 overs were lost in this weather-ruined fixture.

Sussex fast bowler promoted from rookie list as ECB announce contracts for 21 players

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2019England Women have awarded fast bowler Freya Davies her first full central contract ahead of their upcoming tour of India.Davies, 23, was part of the Western Storm side that won the 2017 Kia Super League and finished runners-up last season, having made her first senior appearance for Sussex aged just 14 in a T20 against Middlesex. She has been promoted to a full contract for 2019 from a rookie contract.”I’m absolutely thrilled to receive my first full contract,” Davies said. “It’s always been my aim to represent England and this is an exciting step in the right direction. I’m looking forward to continuing the hard work, and the challenge now of getting myself picked.”England Women face India in three ODIs in Mumbai starting on February 22 and three IT20s in Guwahati in March.Davies is among 21 players centrally contracted to ECB for 2019, with four of those on rookie deals, including Surrey’s Bryony Smith, who received her first call-up to the senior team for last year’s tri-series against India and Australia. Smith is joined on the rookie list by Linsey Smith, Alice Davidson-Richards and Katie George.Tash Farrant and Beth Langston have been released, while Dani Hazell announced her retirement from the international game last month. Langston was part of the squad that won the ICC Women’s World Cup while Farrant’s most recent tour was as part of England’s runners-up finish in the ICC Women’s World T20.England Women contracted players Tammy Beaumont (Kent), Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire), Kate Cross (Lancashire), Freya Davies (Sussex), Sophie Ecclestone (Lancashire), Georgia Elwiss (Sussex), Jenny Gunn (Warwickshire), Alex Hartley (Lancashire), Amy Jones (Warwickshire), Heather Knight (Berkshire), Laura Marsh (Kent), Nat Sciver (Surrey), Anya Shrubsole (Somerset), Sarah Taylor (Sussex), Fran Wilson (Kent), Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire), Danni Wyatt (Sussex). Rookies: Alice Davidson-Richards (Kent), Katie George (Hampshire), Bryony Smith (Surrey), Linsey Smith (Sussex).

Captain takes pride in watching his side grow, and singles out Ben Stokes for particular praise

George Dobell in Colombo26-Nov-2018England have shown they can no longer be considered “a one-trick pony” who can only win at home, according to their captain, Joe Root.While they have long had a strong reputation at home, where their seamers are often able to exploit helpful conditions and a Duke’s ball, England’s results away from home have been far less impressive. Going into this tour, they had not won any of their last 13 away Tests and were without an away series victory since early 2016 in South Africa.But, by completing a 3-0 series win in Sri Lanka, England have managed a first-ever whitewash in Asia (in series of three matches or more) and first away from home anywhere since 1963.And, underlining the changing face of this side, they have done it without their leading Test run-scorer, Alastair Cook, who retired at the end of the English summer, and with their two senior bowlers, Stuart Broad and James Anderson, contributing just one wicket between them. Instead their trio of spinners claimed 48 wickets (49 if Root’s one victim is included), while the batsmen took a much bolder approach to the turning ball than is typical for England sides.

Root feels the captaincy growing on him

Joe Root feels his confidence and his authority as captain have increased as a result of England’s success in Sri Lanka.
“I felt I was growing into the role very nicely towards the end of the India series,” Root said. “We’ve done things very differently here and I’ve had to drive that and made a point of it.
“People might have thought ‘that’s a bit radical’ but it’s really worked for us and that’s a great lesson for this group moving forward and for me as captain. It has filled me with a huge amount of confidence.
“Everyone has really accepted it and bought into it and now we have seen it work. Hopefully this can be the start of this team really growing.”

That, Root believes, shows the adaptability of his new-look side. And it is a quality he has urged his players to continue to embrace as they look ahead to 2019, in which tours of the Caribbean, New Zealand and South Africa sandwich a home Ashes campaign.”We’ve had to do things very differently here,” Root said. “It’s been amazing how much the ball has turned. So the most pleasing thing is how quickly we adapted to that. We’ve had to adapt and grow as a group.”We’ve been brave. We’ve done things differently to how we have in the past, but that’s not frightened us. We really bought into that and played it to our advantage. We’ve got three wonderful spinners that complement each other very well, backed up very ably by some very good seam bowling”It’s nice to know we don’t just rely on Anderson and Broad. We gave opportunities for young, less experienced guys to step up and show their worth. Those three spinners dovetailed really well and built pressure.”Look at Rory Burns, as an example. He’s been a consistent performer at the top of the order for Surrey, but has spent most of his time facing seam bowling with the ball zipping around. Here, on his first trip with England and all the pressures that brings, he has faced spinners with a new ball, which is completely different to anything he will have experienced before. But he has been brilliant and played a vital role. That’s one example of how we’ve adapted and grown as a group.”But we’ve got to be open to doing things differently wherever we go. We’ve done things in a certain way in these conditions. But it will be different in the West Indies, different in South Africa and obviously very different in Australia next time we’re over there. That’s the one we really want to get right. But we’ve got some time to figure out what’s going to work for us and adapt our squad to exploit those conditions.”It’s about being adaptable and we’ve shown we can do that. We’ve shown we are not a one-trick pony any more. And that should fill us with a huge amount of confidence going into future tours.”While Root, who is getting married at the weekend, was particularly pleased that the victory had been a good squad effort, he did pick out a few of his players for praise. Moeen Ali, who finished with 18 wickets, was one, with Ben Foakes, who was named player of the series, another. But his most effusive praise was reserved for Ben Stokes.”Moeen has really stepped up as a senior bowler and led the way,” Root said. “He’s been quite vocal at times on plans and trying to get the best out of the other two guys and he deserved a lot of credit.”Foakes has been brilliant, too. He has come into the team on very difficult surfaces, stood up to the stumps for long periods of time and looked pretty faultless. It’s great to see him take to Test cricket as well as he has.”But we all know that, at any stage, Ben Stokes can turn a game on his own. There were a couple of moments of brilliance in the field in Kandy and then here he found a way as a seam bowler to expose batters on this surface. That’s a great skill. With bat and ball, he’s adapted to different roles, whether that’s been looking for reverse swing, trying to bowl short, or batting up and down the order.”He always gives absolutely everything and he’ll never shy away from any challenge put in front of him. He’s a complete team man and sets a brilliant example to the rest of the group. He is a great leader within that dressing room.”But while Root stressed he was proud of his team, he was unapologetic about leaving senior players such as Broad and Jonny Bairstow out of the side.”Look at any side that’s No.1 in the world,” Root said. “They’ always got some very good players missing out.”That’s where we want to be. We want to keep pushing, keep improving and get to that No.1 status.”If we’re really serious about that, guys are going to have to work very hard and accept that on occasions they’re going to miss out. Having that environment is going to keep driving the guys in the team forwards.”It feels like we’re in a good place at the moment, we can’t be happy with where we are. We’ve got to keep looking to improve. We’ve a lot of hard work to do, but it’s great to see us grow at a team on this trip.”

Krunal, Bumrah and Malinga induce a collapse after Rohit’s first fifty of IPL 2019 leads Mumbai to an above-par total on a tired Chepauk surface

The Report by Ankur Dhawan26-Apr-20193:36

Agarkar: Rohit’s runs on a difficult pitch showed his class

A forty-over contest was virtually decided in the two Powerplays as Mumbai Indians completed the double against Chennai Super Kings, also inflicting upon the hosts their first defeat chasing at Chepauk since 2013. The defining innings of the match came upfront from Rohit Sharma, who struck 67, his first fifty of the season. Mumbai put up 51 in six overs, which was not very rapid, but in comparison, Super Kings were 40 for 3. Krunal Pandya had 1 for 3 in two overs, and with an indisposed MS Dhoni absent on a wearing pitch, Super Kings knew only a miracle could take them over the line, and that didn’t materialise.Dhoni was also missed in the field. Rohit and Evin Lewis had added 75 runs for the second wicket, but during the course of the partnership, stand-in wicketkeeper Ambati Rayudu missed hearing an outside edge from Lewis when the left-hander was on 12. Rayudu had caught the ball cleanly off a Harbhajan off-spinner, but neither the bowler nor the keeper realised there had been a feather on it, and Lewis batted on.Mumbai suffered a brief stutter when Mitchell Santner returned for a second spell and the pitch revealed its true colours. First, he had Lewis hole out at deep midwicket, thereby quashing the notion that the ball spinning back into the left-hander isn’t a threat. He followed that up with Rohit’s scalp, whom he had caught at long-on in his final over to finish with figures of 2 for 13, and it looked like Mumbai were going be restricted to below 150. However, Hardik Pandya took apart Dwayne Bravo in his final over, much like he had at the Wankhede when these two teams played their first match of IPL 2019, as Mumbai finished with 155 for 4. It was their third-lowest score having lost four or fewer wickets, but one that seemed above par on the surface. That was confirmed soon after, as five of the top six Super Kings batsmen failed to reach double figures, struggling to come to terms with a tired surface. Ironically, that difficulty was best demonstrated by top scorer M Vijay’s – playing his second match since last season – charmed life in the middle. In the third over from Lasith Malinga, Vijay chipped three balls over the cover field and was early into the shot each time. He was then dropped at point by debutant Anukul Roy, who ran back, circled around it, and in the end struggled to get a finger on it. Eventually, despite a brief rearguard from Bravo and Santner, Super Kings fell well short of the target.

Win toss, lose match?Arguably, the most decisive moment of the match came even before a ball was bowled. Stand-in captain Suresh Raina opted to bowl, pointing out that there could be dew later. However, he seemed to have badly misread a pitch that deteriorated rapidly after the first ten overs of Mumbai’s innings, which meant that the visitors had the best of the conditions. To their credit, Mumbai used that advantage optimally. They put up 51 in the Powerplay, as Super Kings’ best bowler during that phase, Deepak Chahar, was taken for 36 in three overs – the most he has conceded in that period this season. After ten overs, Mumbai were 84 for 1. In the remaining 27.3 overs that the match lasted, only 180 runs were scored while 13 wickets fell.Harbhajan and Tahir have an off-dayOn a normal day, on a normal pitch, on another ground, combined figures of 1 for 60 from eight overs would be considered a pretty reasonable return for two spinners. However, this was a pitch that came gift wrapped for the experienced Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir. Part of their relative ineffectiveness was down to Mumbai’s strategic brilliance. Tahir had been introduced immediately after the Powerplay to exploit Rohit Sharma’s well documented weakness against leg spin, and Harbhajan bowled out without a break as he was turning the ball away from Lewis. But Lewis took the majority of the strike when the legspinner operated, taking Tahir for 17 in seven balls, with the help of a six and a four. At the other end, Rohit dented Harbhajan’s final figures, as he stepped out to deposit him over deep midwicket and then over his head. This also ensured that Mumbai’s momentum never broke, even as the field spread.Mitchell Santner’s mid-innings chokeThe first signs of the pitch starting to play tricks came on Santner’s first ball in the 11th over, that spun sharply past Rohit Sharma’s outside edge. In his next over, Lewis stepped out to hoick over the leg side, but Santner shortened his length, and as a result, the ball held in the surface, leading to the miscue which was caught comfortably at deep midwicket. In his next 17 deliveries, Santner induced a leading edge, beat the bat on numerous occasions, and took the crucial wicket of Rohit Sharma, who had just started to cut loose. At that stage, Super Kings were on their way to restricting Mumbai to a much lower total.Watson goes early, with him Super Kings’ chancesIt seems as though the key to stopping Watson from having an impact on a match is offering a few freebies first up, creating a false sense of security, and then inducing an error. In the last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, in an eerie throw-back to last year’s final, Watson looked all at sea in the first over against Bhuvneshwar Kumar but finished with a match-winning 96. Here, he was first offered width outside off – crunched through the covers. One followed on the pads – clipped past short fine-leg for four. Then a juicy half volley on the pads again, which Watson, brimming with confidence by now, clipped straight to short fine-leg, who took a sharp chance. Crestfallen, he trudged off the field, taking with him his side’s chances of chasing the target.