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Ian Bell believes Andrew Strauss’s brilliant 158 against India is a sign that England are well placed for success at this World Cup

Brydon Coverdale in Bangalore28-Feb-2011Ian Bell believes Andrew Strauss’s brilliant 158 against India is a sign that England are well placed for success at this World Cup, as they get ready to return to Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium to take on Ireland. England had to settle for a tie with the hosts on Sunday, but Bell said he and his batting colleagues would look at their captain’s effort as the template for how to bat in this tournament.”It’s probably the best knock I’ve ever seen, to be honest with you, from an England player,” Bell said. “It had everything. He hit his boundaries when he wanted to, he rotated the strike, he played his sweeps. He looked very, very hard to bowl to.”If you can have a player like that at the top of the order, it really holds us in good stead. In the next game if it’s not Straussy that goes on and makes a hundred, it’s [hopefully] one of the other top four that does, because it really was for the rest of us a template for how you play a proper one-day innings. He’s done that for a while for us.”However, Ireland’s young spinner George Dockrell said his team would not be intimidated by the hefty and almost successful chase when they meet England on Wednesday. Ireland are still searching for their first win of the World Cup, after missing a golden opportunity against Bangladesh, and they know they will have to score big to challenge England, who could regain Stuart Broad after he missed the India game due to illness.”With both teams getting 338, you can see that the pitch is very good and the outfield is quick, it’s a small stadium,” Dockrell said. “There’s big scores out here in India, there are going to be games like this. I don’t think we’ll be daunted by that. We played one of the warm-up games in Nagpur, a lot bigger stadium and yet we got 290 against New Zealand, so I don’t think we’ll be too daunted by that.”We’re obviously disappointed with the game against Bangladesh and now we’re looking forward to this England game and hopefully getting that first win. We took a lot of positives from that Bangladesh game. It was a very good bowling performance from us, the batting went wrong in a few places but we’re quite confident still coming in to this game.”Dockrell is one of several members of the Ireland squad who have been handed county deals, after he was signed by Somerset last year, and his bowling colleague Boyd Rankin is another who is well known by the England players. Rankin has played with Bell at Warwickshire and, despite leaking 62 off his nine overs against Bangladesh, could be more of a handful in Bangalore.”Boyd has got a lot of ability and is someone who I think could go a long way in this game,” Bell said. “For Warwickshire I’ve seen him bowl some fantastic spells. He’s got good pace and really good bounce. Playing at Dhaka isn’t the easiest place to play as a big 6’6-plus guy. If you’re slightly off line to someone as good as Tamim Iqbal you get punished.”This wicket will probably have a little bit more pace and bounce than Dhaka did. He’s someone you respect. We’re going to have to play him well with the new ball. A lot of those guys are respected on the county circuit. There’s a lot of experience now in their side, in county cricket, and it’s a game that we’re looking forward to and we’re going to have to play well in. It’s not a game that we can turn up in and just coast.”

Fifties to Grace Scrivens, Cordelia Griffith and Jodi Grewcock drive seven-wicket victory

ECB Reporters Network14-Sep-2024Half-centuries from captain Grace Scrivens, Cordelia Griffith and Jodi Grewcock steered Sunrisers to a maiden Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final appearance as they chased 233 to beat 2022 champions Northern Diamonds by seven wickets in a one-sided semi-final at Headingley.Sunrisers will meet South East Stars in next Saturday’s final at Leicester.Sunrisers held firm in a contest which swung back and forth, with opener Scrivens posting 56 off 73 balls, Griffith 68 off 89 off and Grewcock 63 not out off 68. The latter two posted season’s-best scores as victory was sealed in the 44th over.Diamonds, aiming for a fourth 50-over final in the five-year regional era, posted 232 for 8 thanks to opener Emma Marlow’s measured 63 added to 49 from Sterre Kalis and a late 32 not out from 15 balls for Phoebe Turner.Six of the seven bowlers employed by Scrivens, including herself, struck before she confidently laid the platform for a chase all but finished off by a 134-partnership for the third wicket between Griffith and Grewcock. It was their region’s highest of the season.Having elected to bat, the Diamonds innings was built around a solid start and a blistering end.Marlow shared in two early partnerships of substance – 48 for the first wicket with Lauren Winfield-Hill and 42 for the third with Kalis, who was run out at the end of the penultimate over.When Marlow fell, caught and bowled by new ball seamer Kate Coppack as the score fell to 119 for 3 after 29 overs, Sunrisers put the squeeze on impressively.Coppack was excellent in conceding only 29 runs from her 10 overs, while leg-spinner Grewcock also struck once and was nearly as miserly as she conceded 26 in eight overs.Coppack’s new-ball partner Eva Gray struck twice with her lively seamers, getting Erin Burns caught at mid-off and Abi Glen caught at short third as the score fell to 185 for 7 in the 47th over.Led by Phoebe Turner, Diamonds then counter-attacked as she crashed five boundaries in her cameo, including four of them off Gray as the 49th over cost 20.Key seamer Sophie Munro only bowling two early overs, including the wicket of Rebecca Duckworth caught behind, before leaving the field injured hurt Sunrisers on a sunny Headingley day. But they cruised with the bat.Sunrisers have now won eight RHF Trophy matches this season. In the first four seasons of regional cricket, which started in 2020, they only won six combined.Scrivens shared an opening partnership of 70 in 14 overs with Jo Gardner, which included the former hoisting the off-spin of Australian all-rounder Burns for six over wide long-on.After Gardner had been trapped lbw by Beth Langston for 19, Scrivens reached her fifty off 66 balls – her fourth added to a century in this campaign.Her haul of 514 runs is the second best in the competition.However, the left-hander was trapped lbw by Katie Levick’s leg-spin not long afterwards, leaving Sunrisers 91 for two in the 19th over.From there, Griffith took on the senior role to steer the chase, with one late cut for four off Levick particularly memorable. She also clubbed a Rachel Slater full toss over square-leg for six.By the time she reached her fifty off 64 balls, Sunrisers were all but over the winning line at 181 for two in the 36th over.Grewcock rubber-stamped things with a 54-ball fifty, effectively ending the Diamonds existence given their players will now head to pastures new following the domestic restructure ahead of 2025.Levick trapped Griffith lbw, but it was nothing more than consolatory as Sunrisers get one last dance.

Chauhan also broke the record for most sixes in a men’s T20I, hitting 18 in his 41-ball innings

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-20246:06

Highlights: Sahil Chauhan breaks record for fastest T20I ton (Credit: FanCode)

Jan-Nicol Loftie Eaton’s record for the quickest T20I century, off just 33 balls, lasted less than four months as Sahil Chauhan, the Estonia batter, smashed a century off just 27 balls in a T20I against Cyprus on Monday.It was also the fastest century in all T20s, topping Chris Gayle’s 30-ball bash in IPL 2013. Along the way, Chauhan also got to the top of the table for most sixes – 18 – in a men’s T20I innings.Two matches were slotted on Monday’s opening day of the six-match bilateral series in Episkopi, and while Estonia won both, Chauhan’s time with the bat was as mixed as it could be. In the first game, the 32-year-old Chauhan was dismissed for a first-ball duck even as his team chased down Cyprus’ 195 for 7 in the last over.But he came into his own in the second game, which started not long after the first one got over. Batting first again, Cyprus scored 191 for 7. Estonia’s start was terrible, with both openers falling inside eight balls with just nine runs on the board.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Chauhan, however, took off straightaway, hitting 6, 4 and 6 in the first three legal deliveries he faced, from Buddika Mahesh. Stuart Hook, his partner, and Steffan Gooch fell soon after, leaving Estonia at 89 for 4 in the seventh over, but by that time, Chauhan was on 66 from 17 balls, with five fours and three sixes.The mayhem started in the previous over, the sixth of the chase, where Chauhan hit Mangala Gunasekara for four sixes and a four, getting to a 14-ball fifty in the process. This was not a record, though, which instead stands in the name of Dipendra Singh Airee (nine balls). There have also been two other quicker T20I half-centuries, including Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball show against England in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.Chauhan continued to deal in sixes, hitting four more off Chamal Sadun in the eighth over, and then hit three more in the next, off Neeraj Tiwari, the last one taking him to his century. The big hits continued, till Chauhan finished off the chase with a four off James Chialoufas off the last ball of the 13th over. Chauhan scored his runs at a scarcely believable strike rate of 351.21.For Estonia, Bilal Masud, Chauhan’s partner for the fifth wicket, was the second-highest scorer with an unbeaten 21.The corresponding record for women’s T20Is belongs to Deandra Dottin, the West Indies allrounder, who had got to the mark in just 38 balls in a game against South Africa in 2010.

Matthew Revis ton leads charge as visitors are asked to post 571 for victory

ECB Reporters Network05-Sep-2023Yorkshire set Derbyshire a completely out-of-the-question target of 571 to win the ongoing LV= Insurance County Championship match at Scarborough, which heads into its final day tomorrow.The home side are chasing the season’s double over Leus du Plooy and company and have dominated this Division Two affair from very early during day one.Day three was no different, with Yorkshire – they led by 50 on first innings – advancing their second innings from 179 for 2 overnight to 520 for 9 declared just after tea.Five players went beyond fifty, including all-rounder Matthew Revis as the only centurion. His 106 off 142 balls represented his second first-class century of the season and of his career.Captain Shan Masood also completed a morning 86 against his former county, who closed the day on 65 for 1 from 26 overs of their ‘chase’.After lunch, young Derbyshire batter Mitch Wagstaff, who was bowling leg-spin, claimed two wickets in his first over in first-class cricket. He is the first player in his county’s history to achieve that feat in this format of the game.For certainly the second half of the afternoon session, maybe even longer, Yorkshire’s progress with the bat was nothing more than a training exercise.Realistically, they had enough of a lead at lunch, where they reached at 324 for 5 and 374 ahead. Derbyshire’s record chase in first-class cricket is 371 in a one-wicket win over a touring Australian side including the likes of Warne and Gillespie in 1997.It was understandable that Yorkshire wanted a few more than that. A target of 450 was sufficient. They certainly did not require anything approaching 600, even though this North Marine Road pitch is slower than usual because of recent wet weather.Revis’s progress towards a century was potentially a reason why they batted on until after tea. Another likely reason would have been that they will have been targeting a number of overs to bowl rather than an amount of runs to defend.They have a seam bowling department including a couple of key seam bowling assets with recent injury issues in Ben Coad and England fringe quick Matthew Fisher, and managing their workloads will be a significant consideration. Incidentally, Fisher did not take the field for much of the evening.Derbyshire rattled through their overs in a bid to improve their over-rate, with off-spinner Alex Thomson finishing with five for 190 from 38.5.That including a stunning one-handed return catch low to his right to dismiss Masood before lunch, leaving the hosts at 238 for 4. The Pakistani left-hander had completed a fourth-wicket partnership of 107 with James Wharton (38).After opener Fin Bean made 64 late on day two, four others went beyond 50 today, including Revis and Masood. All-rounders George Hill and Jordan Thompson made 79 and 64 respectively.Wagstaff had Hill caught at slip and Dom Bess, for nought, caught at cover early in the afternoon as Yorkshire fell to 366 for seven after 75 overs.Revis and Thompson then shared 125, a Yorkshire eighth-wicket record in first-class matches between these two counties. While 21-year-old Revis was measured, Thompson slog-swept or heaved four sixes over midwicket or long-on.Revis reached tea on 98 not out. Surely, Yorkshire would not have batted on into the evening had he reached his century late in the afternoon. But they did so for 10 balls afterwards to allow a player they rate incredibly highly to achieve another landmark in a career which promises so much. He fell caught at long-on off Thomson to bring about the declaration.Bess then claimed the only wicket of Derbyshire’s second innings, getting opener Wagstaff lbw to leave the score at 24 for 1 in the 10th over – the former England off-spinner’s first over of the match.But the other opener, Harry Came, led visiting resistance through to close with an unbeaten 33. He will be hoping to make Yorkshire regret batting on too long.

Zimbabwe also announced a 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup Qualifier in UAE

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Aug-2022Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has announced central contracts for 19 women players for the 2022-23 season. Zimbabwe captain Mary-Anne Musonda, deputy Josephine Nkomo and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano were named in the Grade A+ category.Grade A consists of offspinner Precious Marange and batters Modester Mupachikwa and Sharne Mayers , while left-arm pacer Nomvelo Sibanda and right-arm fast bowler Loreen Tshuma were given Grade B contracts. A total of 11 players were named in the Grade C category.”As part of our commitment to the growth and development of our women’s game, we are pleased to confirm the awarding of central contracts to a talented group of 19 players,” Hamilton Masakadza, ZC director of cricket, said. “We believe this will not only boost the morale of our players but will also allow them to fully focus on their game ahead of a crucial period for our national team, which includes participation at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2022 to be held in the United Arab Emirates in September.”Central contract list:
Grade A+: Mary-Anne Musonda, Josephine Nkomo, Chipo Mugeri-TiripanoGrade A: Precious Marange, Modester Mupachikwa, Sharne MayersGrade B: Nomvelo Sibanda, Loreen TshumaGrade C: Esther Mbofana, Loryn Phiri, Pellagia Mujaji, Audrey Mazvishaya, Christabel Chatonzwa, Nyasha Gwanzura, Ashley Ndiraya, Nomatter Mutasa, Chiedza Dhururu, Francisca Chipare, Tasmeen Granger Nkomo, Mupachikwa in squad for T20 World Cup Qualifier
ZC also announced a 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE from September 18 to 25.Josephine Nkomo and Mupachikwa, who both missed an 18-day training camp in India in July due to their commitments to club cricket in England, were included in the squad. Musonda will lead the side.The 16-year-old opener Kelis Ndlovu, who was the youngest to play for Zimbabwe in T20Is, and pacer Francisca Chipare were also included in the squad.Zimbabwe’s next assignment is a tour to South Africa for five T20Is from August 28 to September 3 as a part of their preparation for the T20 World Cup Qualifier. They will then travel to the UAE on September 7 for a quadrangular series against Thailand Women, the USA and the hosts.Zimbabwe are in Group B in the T20 World Cup qualifier, along with Thailand, Papua New Guinea and UAE. Group A comprises Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland and the USA Women.The two teams that advance to the final will qualify for the T20 World Cup 2023 which will be held in South Africa next February.Squad Mary-Anne Musonda (captain), Modester Mupachikwa, Kelis Ndhlovu, Sharne Mayers, Josephine Nkomo, Precious Marange, Christabel Chatonzwa, Loreen Tshuma, Loryn Phiri, Nomvelo Sibanda, Esther Mbofana, Pellagia Mujaji, Audrey Mazvishaya, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, Francisca Chipare

Birmingham go second in North Group with six-wicket victory, Northants slip to fourth

David Hopps22-Jun-2022The time of reckoning is upon us in the Blast and Birmingham responded to it by swinging to the leg-side harder and more often. They remained in touch with Northants’ 211 for 6 from the outset, and even though they needed 77 from the last six overs, they broke the target with a merciless assault on the Northants’ left-arm wrist spinner, Freddie Heldreich as they pulled off the highest T20 chase in their history.Adam Hose is as uncomplicated a T20 batter as you can get, an unabashed seeker of deep midwicket. Put the ball in his arc and his long limbs will deposit the ball skywards. Chris Benjamin often looked scratchy, but give him half an opportunity and he can target the same region in destructive fashion. Both made unbeaten half-centuries, their shot selection excellent as their stand of 100 rattled along in 54 balls.Carlos Brathwaite, Birmingham’s captain, exudes relaxation and confidence, good attributes at this stage of the season. “We’ve been reckless at times this season,” he said. “We wanted to be positive, express ourselves, but bat a lot smarter.”Birmingham go second in North group with this victory whereas Northants now slip to fourth and will sense Yorkshire, in particular, scenting an opportunity to overhaul them.Heldreich, who went for 59 from four overs, must have felt himself deliberately targeted. Alex Davies’ whirlwind 42 from 18 balls set the tone. Successive sixes over long-on appeared to have put the bowler in his place, but Heldreich is a confident sort and, with his next ball, he drew Davies into a wild sweep and bowled him off a bottom edge.But it was not the bowler’s night. Chris Benjamin looked out of touch until he launched him over the leg-side for 6-4-6 in successive balls. Converging boundary fielders were beaten by inches and Heldreich winced, not the first bowler to wonder why the boards could not be pushed back to fairer proportions. With 59 needed from six, Birmingham’s head coach Mark Robinson, a bit of a poker face these days, flashed a smile for the first time on the night. By the end Jake Lintott, sat next to him in the dugout, had him roaring with laughter: when Birmingham are batting, the dugout is where Robinson wants Lintott, for more reason than one.Birmingham had lost three wickets for 64 by the end of the powerplay. Paul Stirling took Northants for a career-best 119 in a memorable Birmingham debut, including five consecutive sixes off James Sales, but he has been short of runs since. He biffed 17 from Tom Taylor’s first over, but that was that.The reason for that was Ben Sanderson, an old-fashioned seamer but highly effective as he nibbled the new ball both ways off the seam, having Stirling caught at the wicket off an inside edge and silencing Rob Yates with a bail-trimmer. Sam Hain, the lynchpin of the Bears’ line-up, is having to contend with a back strain, and there was general delight when Taylor returned to the attack and immediately had him lbw to a yorker.Northants’ batting remains heavily reliant, perhaps overly reliant, upon the Australian Chris Lynn, whose 59 from 43 balls moves him alongside Somerset’s Rilee Rossouw at the top of the Blast run-scorers with 443 runs apiece. Rossouw has a faster scoring rate (191 to 161) and has struck the most sixes, but over the tournament there have been no more violent batters in the country.There were times when Lynn felt comparatively reserved, as if aware of the responsibilities that rest upon him. Initial assessment was necessary because Olly Stone, on the ground where his career began, was unsettlingly fast and bouncy with the new ball. Stone is recovering cautiously from his fourth stress fracture in five years, but caution is thrown to the winds whenever he gets the ball in his hands.Somehow, Northants still emerged from the powerplay with 53 to their name. Ben Curran had also been troubled by Stone’s pace and bounce on an excellent, fresh pitch, surviving one bat-handle crusher with a cry of “where did that come from?” as he made it to the safety of the non-striker’s end. He fell after an opening stand of 72, bowled by Brathwaite as his defensive block spun back onto his stumps.Lintott’s avuncular left-arm wrist spin did for Lynn, who carved a ball angled across him to short third, but Saif Zaib quickened the impetus, his 74 taking only 32 balls, when he swung Lintott to long off. He was confident, steely-eyed and full of purpose. A definite, long-term breakthrough has been a long time coming, and he has had a thin time in the Championship this season, but he has more talent, if not better outcomes, than some batters holding Hundred deals. A career-best 92 from 58 against Derbyshire in Northants’ defeat the previous night, and now this: this time, at 24, he needs to make it pay.Birmingham gave both Lynn and Zaib lives in the field. Zaib was only 12 when he cut Craig Miles to deep point, but Yates, sliding in, failed to retrieve a half-volley chance. Benjamin’s miss at deep midwicket, off Brathwaite, when Lynn was 52, probably owed much to a low evening sun and he was fortunate not to take a blow in the face. The County Ground is hardly the most vociferous crowd in the country, but the most raucous spectators sit in this area, preying upon fielders like Great White Sharks exploiting the angle of the sun to hunt down their prey. Long before the end, Birmingham were firing sixes in their direction

New Zealand put up 173 on the board thanks to Conway’s fifty, but it wasn’t enough

Alagappan Muthu22-Dec-2020Pakistan really rate Mohammad Rizwan. Their followers might continue to doubt him. But the team itself is firmly behind the wicketkeeper-batsman. And that belief is a powerful thing. It lifts people and makes them do extraordinary things.That was the case in Napier, where Rizwan led his team to one of their best ever wins in T20Is. His 89 off 59 was the centrepiece of Pakistan’s fourth-highest chase in the shortest format.

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New Zealand did well to get a strong total on the board thanks to Devon Conway’s half-century at the back end of the innings and as hard as they tried to defend it, the dew that came down in the evening, along with a hamstring injury to Ish Sodhi, were odds too great to overcome.The change bowlerFaheem Ashraf started his spell with a lot of wobble seam deliveries. Mostly because he was bowling at a time when the pitch offered grip to virtually every kind of change-up delivery. This is what has been missing from Pakistan’s game all series. The ability to read the conditions early and adapting to them quickly.The allrounder’s impact was immediate. He took out captain Kane Williamson with a back of a length ball that kept a touch low and didn’t come onto the bat. Then he produced a flash of genius when he went through the in-form Tim Seifert with a ball that decked in off the pitch and took out the top of off stump.New Zealand had made a strong start – 47 for 2 at the end of the powerplay – but Ashraf dragged them back beautifully.Devon Conway acknowledges the applause on getting to his fifty•AFP/Getty Images

The Con manNew Zealand found themselves having to re-start their innings all over again. But they suffered a serious blow in the 15th over when they lost Glenn Phillips – once again the slower ball doing the trick. The score was 109. There were only 35 balls remaining. Time was running out.Being out there batting in a situation like that can feel suffocating. But Conway, playing only his sixth international game, stepped up in a way that suggests he will be a long-time presence in this team.He is electric through the off side, as Shaheen Afridi found out immediately after taking that Phillips wicket. Two scorching cover drives kickstarted New Zealand’s push in the slog overs. And it also featured an effortless flick for six off the extreme pace of Haris Rauf.Conway does seem vulnerable at the start of his innings – as most batsmen do – but once he’s through that tough period he really knows how to make it count. Because of him, New Zealand hit 64 runs in the last 5.5 overs.The match-winnerIt began in discomfort. Trent Boult’s inswingers buzzed around his pads. Tim Southee very nearly had him bowled. The new ball under lights was doing some tricky things.But Rizwan, having made starts and thrown it away in both previous matches of this series, was determined not to make the same mistake again. He was also helped by a two-paced pitch turning into a batting beauty thanks to the dew.Still, some of his strokeplay was hair-raising good. Any time the New Zealand bowlers strayed even slightly on his pads, he was ready with a range of shots. The scoop over fine leg. The flick over square leg. The pull over midwicket. He got 70 of his 89 runs on the leg side.Rizwan controlled the chase from start to finish and though his wicket in the last over did create a little excitement, Pakistan needed only three further runs to win and those were struck in emphatic fashion as Iftikhar Ahmed calmly sent the ball into orbit above McLean Park.

A torrential downpour on the Gold Coast dampened the mood before South Africa inflicted Australia’s third loss in four matches

The Report by Alex Malcolm17-Nov-2018A torrential downpour on the Gold Coast dampened the mood before South Africa inflicted Australia’s third loss in four matches to leave the home side down right miserable.Australia have now lost their last four T20Is and five of the last six on top of losing a one-day and Test series in between times.The rain reduced the game to a 10 overs-a-side on a surface at Metricon Stadium that was hosting international cricket for the first time.South Africa coped with the unknowns of the conditions and the pitch better than their opponents, piling on 108 in 10 overs thanks to a power-packed Powerplay from Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks.Australia’s chase drowned under the scoreboard pressure. Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi built the pressure before Chris Morris delivered the knock-out blow in the third over removing D’Arcy Short and Chris Lynn and Australia never recovered.Rain, rain go awayMetricon Stadium on the Gold Coast had set itself for its first international cricket match, just seven months after hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games. But a deluge of rain pre-game, 18 millimetres in total, nearly ensured the match never started. Fortunately, the heavy rain cell passed due to strong winds. The game did start after a delay of nearly two hours, with the playing conditions changing to 10 overs per side, two overs maximum for each bowler, with a three over Powerplay.Pace gets burntAustralia opted for an all specialist pace attack, leaving out Adam Zampa and relying on the part-time spin of Glenn Maxwell and Short. They paid a price in the three-over Powerplay. Jason Behrendorff, Billy Stanlake and Nathan Coulter-Nile were clubbed for 42 in three overs. de Kock and Hendricks feasted on the shorter lengths and inconsistent lines that were offered before Hendricks holed out from the second last ball of the Powerplay. Finch turned to spin post Powerplay and it put the brakes on. Maxwell and Short bowled the next three overs for 28 runs and it could have been far less with a bit of luck. Maxwell had de Kock stumped and should have had du Plessis stumped as well and numerous mis-hits fell safely into the gaps.Chris Morris cleaned up Chris Lynn with a superb yorker•Getty Images

Maxwell’s catchThe innings changed with du Plessis’ dismissal. With 3.1 overs left South Africa had a score of 120 on offer. Du Plessis hammered Stanlake to deep midwicket. Very few fielders in the world could have saved six let alone completed the catch. Maxwell leapt high and took the catch at full stretch above his head while momentum carried him over the rope. He threw the ball up just before his left foot hit the ground over the rope, he balanced, got back inside the rope and made the end result look exceptionally simple despite the incredible degree of difficulty. Coulter-Nile and Andrew Tye then closed the innings brilliantly conceding just 24 runs from the last 18 balls and claiming three wickets with some well-executed slower balls.The old-fashioned yorkerLynn opened the innings in the shortened chase and held the key. He was missed fourth ball of the innings at deep square when Hendricks misjudged a catch that sailed over his head and landed inside the rope. Finch was tied down by some strategic straight bowling and was clean bowled by Ngidi. Short fell first ball picking out cover off Morris. But Lynn is capable of anything. Morris, in his first match of the tour, delivered the perfect yorker. It was fast and straight, tailing in a touch, it slid under Lynn’s bat and crashed into middle. Australia slumped to 3 for 27 at the end of the Powerplay and never recovered. Morris was magnificent taking 2 for 12 from two overs with almost flawless execution throughout. Tabraiz Shamsi bowled very well claiming 1 for 12 from his two overs of left-arm wrist spin and earned the Man of the Match award. Maxwell tried in vain to chase the target down making 38 from 23 balls, which was remarkable in itself as he faced three consecutive dots from Morris while he struggled to keep his shape trying to clear the rope.

A round-up of the latest round of Group B Ranji Trophy matches, in which Rishabh Pant made one of the fastest hundreds in Ranji history and Arup Das bowled Assam to victory

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Nov-2016Rishabh Pant smacked one of the fastest centuries in Ranji Trophy history, off 48 balls, to clinch his second hundred in the match as Delhi saw out a draw against Jharkhand in Thumba. The 19-year old batsman, has averaged 81.87 with a strike rate of 96.75 since making his first-class debut in October 2015.Pant, who scored a 106-ball 117 in the first innings, followed it up with a 67-ball 135 to secure a point for Delhi after they were asked to follow on. Overnight batsmen Dhruv Shorey and Nitish Rana put together an 82-run stand for the second wicket, before the latter was dismissed one short of a half-century by Shahbaz Nadeem. Thirteen runs later, Nadeem got Shorey out on 91, before Pant’s blitz of 13 sixes and eight fours ended any chance of a Jharkhand victory. Milind Kumar (65) and Manan Sharma (53*) chipped in with half-centuries as Delhi finished on 480 for 6 at stumps. Jharkhand collected three points on account of their first-innings lead.Assam beat Saurashtra by nine wickets to record their first win this season in Kolkata. Arup Das returned with another five-wicket haul to finish with match figures of 12 for 70, his best in first-class cricket.Saurashtra were skittled for 81 in their second innings, with only three batsmen reaching double figures. There were five ducks overall. The new ball pair of Arup and Krishna Das shared nine wickets between them to trigger a massive collapse that resulted in Saurashtra losing seven wickets for just 30 runs. Needing 66 to win, Assam missed an opportunity to claim a bonus point when Rahul Hazarika was dismissed for 8. Rishav Das, who made a 41-ball 30, and Sibsankar Royl secured the six points for an outright win.Centuries from Ranjit Singh, Subhranshu Senapati and debutant Abhishek Yadav helped Odisha to a draw against Rajasthan in Patiala after being asked to follow on.Ranjit and Senapati put together a 233-run partnership for the third wicket as both batsmen reached centuries before lunch, before both were dismissed in the space of four runs as Odisha slipped from 318 for 2 to 334 for 5. Yadav then struck a 157-ball 115 supported by Saurabh Rawat as they ended on 508 for 6 at stumps. Rajasthan used ten bowlers in the innings, as they settled for three points due to their first-innings lead. Odisha received a solitary point.

The bowling Sri Lanka faced in practice games ahead of the Test series was of modest quality, opener Dimuth Karunaratne has said

Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Jun-2016The bowling Sri Lanka faced in practice games ahead of the Test series was of modest quality, opener Dimuth Karunaratne has said. Karunaratne made scores of 8, 16 not out, 0 and 100 not out in three-day first-class matches against Essex and Leicestershire, but felt those outings had been inadequate preparation for the challenge of facing England’s attack.”I don’t think the century in that warm-up game was very satisfying,” Karunaratne told the . “I don’t think that kind of preparation will do any good ahead of a tough Test series. The oppositions we played were basically second-string teams. In our second warm-up game, there were just two fast bowlers and the rest were spinners. I wasn’t too pleased after getting the hundred.”Though he has not made a significant score in the ongoing series, Karunaratne had been one of Sri Lanka’s better batsmen of the past two years, hitting 1283 runs at an average of 38.88 across 2014 and 2015. He was especially impressive in similar conditions in New Zealand, where he averaged 42.12 after four Tests.He said he would have preferred to play a Division One county side ahead of this series. Essex and Leicestershire are both in Division Two.”During the practice game, of the two fast bowlers, the quickest guy bowled just four overs,” Karunaratne said. “Some of the Division Two bowlers didn’t ask many questions. When we play that kind of opposition and all of a sudden play James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the Test match, the gap is huge. We tend to make more mistakes and get out cheaply. When England come to Sri Lanka, they play our A team as warm-up.”Karunaratne made more significant contributions during the 2014 Test series in England, in which he had scores of 38, 16, 28 and 45, as part of an opening partnership which saw Sri Lanka past the 10th over in three out of four innings. The opening partnership has been less steady on this tour, but did survive 16.2 overs in Sri Lanka’s most-recent innings, in which the team went on to make 475.”When we won the Test series here in 2014, Kaushal Silva and I had batted for more than ten overs and we had seen off the new ball threat,” Karunaratne said. “That made things easier for the guys who followed. This time, I got out in the third or fourth over of the first three innings and then it’s hard on rest of the batsmen. We needed to rotate the strike and put the loose balls away and be active always. When runs are on the board, the opposition’s mentality also changes, and they aren’t too attacking. We can hear them talking that runs are being scored and the need to cover certain areas.”Karunaratne has been out to the series’ leading wicket-taker, James Anderson, twice in his four innings so far. He reported having faced a sharper England spearhead.”Anderson this time around is a changed bowler from what we had seen of him in the past,” Karunaratne said. “He has good rhythm. Last time he was only concentrating on swinging the ball. This time what we have found is that he has got the length spot on too. He was bowling lot of inswing for me last time, but this time not a single inswinger. He hits the deck hard and when he does that with the swing he creates, the ball cuts away too quickly. That makes it even tougher.”Conditions at Lord’s are likely to be the most comfortable for batsmen so far in the series, with temperatures forecast to be above 20 degrees right through the Test and a flatter surface expected. The visitors will likely need to add to the six Sri Lankan names already up on the Lord’s batting honours board if they are to be competitive in the third match.”Last time I had got a start at Lord’s, but didn’t know how to build the innings,” Karunaratne said. “The Lord’s wicket has lot of runs. It’s a batting paradise. The swing will be less and the sun will be out.”Mahela Jayawardene had a chat with me and he gave me some options. Then Kumar Sangakkara called me and stressed the need to remain positive. His tips are useful as he has played here a lot. Sanath Jayasuriya too had a chat with me. Currently I take guard on the middle stump. He suggested that I should maybe move between middle and off stump as that allows me to stop playing outside the body. He had done the same thing during his playing days. These are very useful tips.”