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In the feudal world of cricket, an Associate nation has never beaten a Full Member in an international series, but Ireland came desperately close to beating Pakistan before a breathtaking partnership took the game, and series, away

The Report by Ger Siggins26-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEd Joyce’s unbeaten ton went in vain•AFP

In the feudal world of cricket, an Associate nation has never beaten a Full Member in an international series, but Ireland came desperately close to beating Pakistan before a breathtaking partnership took the game, and series, away.Kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz came together with just under 100 needed off 13 overs. Kamran is experienced in Irish conditions, having played with the Limavady club in 2002 and 2003, and with his young colleague he went about repairing the early damage wreaked by the Irish seamers. But Kamran is a wily performer and eased into destructive mode as the bowlers struggled to find their lengths.Wahab took nine balls to get off the mark but his demolition of Tim Murtagh in the 47th over proved decisive and he made an ODI career best 47 not out. Murtagh, a Middlesex seamer, is the leading championship performer this season but he was taken apart by clean hitting as the over went 2,6,6,0,4,6 with the maximums soaring over long-off and square leg.With just eight needed off three overs, Kamran tried to finish it off and lost his wicket, but Wahab and Junaid Khan saw Pakistan home. The decisive eighth wicket partnership of 93 took just 62 balls. “Two special innings took it away from us”, admitted Kevin O’Brien, who took the Man-of the-Series award.Ireland had a special innings of their own to enjoy. Ed Joyce walked to the wicket in Clontarf after just five balls of Ireland’s innings, and left it unbeaten 49.1 overs later. His highest score of 116 was an innings of high quality from a player who became only the second man to make an ODI century for two countries. The first was also an Irishman, Eoin Morgan, who is playing for England.Pakistan made three changes to their bowling attack, bringing in debutant Asad Ali, Wahab Riaz and Abdur Rehman for Mohammed Irfan, Saeed Ajmal and Ehsan Adil. Ireland, too, called upon a newbie in James Shannon, who came in for club-mate Andrew White.And Ali quickly showed his great promise, finding extravagant seam movement as he reeled off three maidens to open his international career. Ireland were quickly 4 for 2, but the experienced southpaws Joyce and Niall O’Brien stitched the ideal partnership for the situation and battled their way through to see off Ali and Junaid Khan, with the debutant’s opening spell reading 6-4-4-1.When he reached 33, Joyce passed 1000 runs in ODIs, 471 of which he made for England. The pair was batting with increasing confidence when Riaz found the edge of O’Brien’s bat. Gary Wilson perished soon after when he ballooned an attempted reverse sweep to slip, but Joyce found a steady partner in Kevin O’Brien.Kevin has often been accused of inconsistency, but he continued here as he finished Thursday’s tie. He played several powerful drives and was looking set to make back-to-back ODI fifties for the first time since the 2007 World Cup when he holed out on the midwicket boundary.Joyce rode his luck – an entertaining juggling act from Mohammed Hafeez spilled to earth after five attempts when he was on 61 – and moved serenely towards his century. Kevin’s departure seemed to cause panic in the Irish lower order and four wickets fell for 11 as Rehman found some turn. Trent Johnston fell to the first leg-before decision of the series but Murtagh hung around long enough to see his former Middlesex colleague into three figures, which Joyce raised with his only six, over midwicket.Ireland had switched pitches two days before the game, banking on a greener track to negate the Pakistan spinners. The 7,000 euro bill for moving the scaffolding and grandstands looked money well spent until those last ten overs. Trent Johnston and Tim Murtagh found extravagant seam and played havoc with the Pakistan top order, reducing them to 17 for 4.  That score could have been worse had two catches not been forsaken off Johnston to dismiss Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik before they had scored.But experienced players of the Pakistan middle order battled their way back with stands of 43, 52 and 21. Misbah and Shoaib were able to settle in when the Irish opening bowlers were removed and the pressure slipped a little. George Dockrell turned back on the heat with a spell of 8-2-16-1, but by the time he came back for his last two overs, Kamran was eyeing up the ropes.Skipper William Porterfield knows how close his team came to a historic series victory. “We’re pretty dejected at the minute because of the position we got ourselves in,” he said. “We’re very disappointed not to win.”

Even in the face of a tall target and a top-order failure, Kings XI Punjab and David Hussey never lost faith

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran13-May-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Gurkeerat Singh powered 29 off 12 to seal the victory•AFP

For the second match in a day, the hero was a cricketer who was a complete unknown, playing his second game of the tournament. In the afternoon, Rajasthan Royals’ offspinner Ajit Chandila took the first hat-trick of the season and the wind out of Pune Warriors’ chase and in the second game, it was 21-year-old Gurkeerat Singh who handed Deccan Chargers their fifth last-over defeat of the season with an ice-cool display of hitting.Chargers seemed to have the game in control for much of the time. First, their two most consistent batsmen, Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White, added to their rapidly growing collection of half-centuries this season to lift Chargers to their second highest total of 2012. And soon after Azhar Mahmood was dismissed in the 13th over of the chase, the asking-rate was rocketing past 13, with David Hussey as the only recognised batsman remaining. Still, as they have so often this season, Chargers managed to make a hash of it, and end up on the losing side.The first signs of trouble for Chargers came in the 15th over from Amit Mishra, when Hussey hammered a couple of leg-side sixes as Kings XI looted 21 off it. Madhya Pradesh seamer TP Sudhindra then seemed to have pulled things back with a yorker-filled over that went only for five in the first five deliveries, but he missed his length off the final ball and Hussey promptly dispatched it for a straight six.Fifty needed off four overs and time for Chargers to turn to their most potent weapon, Dale Steyn. He delivered with two wickets in his comeback over, though Piyush Chawla got a couple of audacious boundaries off it. When Hussey muscled a slower one from Daniel Christian for six early in the 18th over, everyone thought the outcome of the game would depend on Hussey. Instead, there were no more boundaries from Hussey and most of the runs came from Gurkeerat.First, Christian was drilled down the ground for four and then a fearless attempt to paddle a ball from outside off resulted in a streaky four off the thigh pad. Steyn has combusted on a couple of occasions at the death this season, and has been unhittable on others. This time he was back at his best-bowler-in-the-world mode, conceding just four singles off the first five balls, though the pressure on him was evident from the expletive-infused outburst at a fielder for shying at the stumps. The last ball of the over was a low full toss that Gurkeerat somehow squeezed behind point for a boundary, making it 16 required off the final over.With Christian and Steyn having bowled out, Kumar Sangakkara had to choose between legspinner Mishra and quick bowler Manpreet Gony, and he picked Gony. Chargers’ fielding seemed to have cost them on the first ball when a fumble allowed Hussey to return for two and retain the strike, but Hussey could only take a single off the next.Gurkeerat was unfazed by the task at hand, clubbing the next ball over midwicket for six before placing the fourth delivery to the sweeper cover boundary. Two more were taken off the penultimate delivery, levelling the scores. Sangakkara brought in all his fielders, but Gony opted to go with the bouncer, which was probably the wrong option as Hussey could have scampered a bye even if Gurkeerat missed. Gurkeerat didn’t though, getting an edge as he pulled it to the fine leg boundary to deliver victory that tightens the table – the top seven teams are only four points apart.The late heroics were needed as Christian had taken two early wickets, including the crucial one of Shaun Marsh, to stall the chase. Mahmood then helped Kings XI gain ground with a quick 31, then the baton was taken by Hussey who speeded up the innings further before Gurkeerat provided the final burst.Earlier – considering the three tough games remaining for them – Kings XI seemed to have blown their chances with an amateurish effort in the field. Two simple catches offered by White were put down and there were numerous fumbles as Chargers built up a big score.Parthiv Patel featured in a brisk opening stand and Christian showed off his hitting skills at the death, but the innings revolved around a 96-run stand between Dhawan and White. The pair set a scorching pace, scoring at nearly 10 an over, and despite another underwhelming performance from Sangakkara, Chargers put up what looked like a winning score. Once again, though, repeating a familiar story from their season, they managed to go down despite controlling a big chunk of the match.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils in Hyderabad

The Preview by Dustin Silgardo04-May-2011

Match facts

Thursday, May 5, Hyderabad
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)David Warner’s tournament has been on a downward curve•AFP

Big Picture

A loss in Hyderabad could be the final blow to the already feeble hopes Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils harbour of making the play-offs. The good news for both of them is that they have tended to win when absolutely necessary – neither of them have lost more than two matches in a row. The problem is neither of them have won two games back-to-back either, which makes the probability of either side putting together a late run to make the top four unlikely.Delhi are a one-man side. When Virender Sehwag departs early, the team’s shoulders droop and even the most loyal fans reach for the remote control. And James Hopes’ absence in the last two games hasn’t helped either.Deccan Chargers have been a bit like the little girl with a little curl in the middle of her forehead. They’ve had two of the biggest wins of this IPL – they showed all-round strength against Royal Challengers Bangalore at home, and then scythed through Kochi Tuskers away – but when they’ve lost, they’ve gone down without a whimper. The Hyderabad jinx that was broken with the win against Bangalore seems to be resurfacing, as they’ve lost three matches at home since, making it 13 losses out of 14 games there in all competitions. Deccan haven’t won a match chasing so far, betraying a batting line-up lacking depth and quick to crumble under pressure.

Form guide (most recent first)

Deccan: LLWLW (seventh on points table)
Delhi: LWLLW (eigtht on points table)

Team talk

Deccan Chargers’ problem has been the under-performance of their international players. Shikhar Dhawan, Sunny Sohal and Bharat Chipli have all scored their share of the runs, but Cameron White, Daniel Christian and JP Duminy haven’t. The persistence with White, who has a strike-rate of 91.75 in the 97 balls he’s faced, is bordering on farcical, particularly when Michael Lumb is warming the bench. With JP Duminy struggling for form too, it may make sense to play Rusty Theron and shore up the bowling.Delhi seem to have settled on Travis Birt as their fourth foreign player, and after his cameo in their last match, he may continue to keep Andrew McDonald and Colin Ingram out. Umesh Yadav was all over the place against Kochi, and the other India fast bowlers in the squad – Ashok Dinda and Varun Aaron – aren’t visions of perfection either. They might well decide to bring left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem back in.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.

In the spotlight

David Warner scored three half-centuries and a 46 in his first five matches of this IPL, but has since reached double figures just once. He needs to find that early form in order to take some of the pressure off Sehwag.Amit Mishra has been Deccan’s best bowler of the tournament along with Dale Steyn. His 10 wickets have come at 22.60 and his economy rate of 6.64 is the best among the bowlers in the side. On Thursday he will come up against Venugopal Rao in Delhi’s middle order, who has been solid through the tournament.

Prime numbers

• Virender Sehwag and David Warner’s 146-run stand against Kings XI Punjab is the highest opening stand of this IPL. Deccan have not had a partnership of more than 92
• Ishant Sharma is one of three bowlers to have taken a five-wicket haul this season. There were no five-fors in IPL 2010

The chatter

“The only area where we lacked is all-round overall performance on a regular basis.”
“A couple of seasons back Deccan Chargers won five matches in a row to reach the semi-finals and ended up winning the IPL as well. If they can do it, so can we.”

The Twenty20 series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Florida has been reshaped after the ICC declared that the floodlights at the Broward County Regional Park, the venue, were unfit for hosting international cricket

Cricinfo staff14-May-2010The Twenty20 series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Florida – the first international series between two full ICC members to take place in the USA – has been reshaped after the ICC declared that the floodlights at the Broward County Regional Park, the venue, were unfit for hosting international cricket. The schedule will now involve New Zealand taking on Sri Lanka twice over the weekend in addition to two Twenty20 games between USA and Jamaica, who also play a 50-over one-day game on May 21.”Ideally the inaugural game in the Pearls Cup series would have been a night game on Thursday,” New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan said. “The lights at the stadium are fine for most levels of cricket, but they need to be of a higher standard for the playing and broadcast of international cricket.”And added to this, there is a high probability of rain and thunderstorms in the region on Thursday which added weight to our decision. Because of these factors, we have decided, along with our partner USA Cricket, to focus all of the attention on the weekend with the two double headers as well a full one-day international between USA and Jamaica on Friday the 21st.”The original plan was for a three-match Twenty20 series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which had been reduced to two back-to-back fixtures on May 21 and 22.According to Don Lockerbie, the chief executive of USACA, the decision to cancel the opening fixture, scheduled for May 19, was taken in the interests of promoting USA cricket in the best possible light, with a thunderstorm threatening to wash out the opening fixture and damage the image of the sport as it seeks to find its niche in a new and untapped market.”The original match was scheduled under lights, and we wanted to move it to the afternoon, but that’s tough to pull off on an American working week,” Lockerbie told Cricinfo. “We feel it’s better to start with a big bang on the weekend, because it’s about the USA and our strategic partner, New Zealand, trying to figure out what’s best to grow cricket in our country.”However, Lockerbie played down suggestions that the decision had been made as a cost-cutting measure, following reports of poor ticket sales and low levels of sponsor interest.
“This is really an important weekend for us,” said Lockerbie. “We want to show the world we are open for business, and show that these teams have made a wise choice to come and play cricket in the US. But it’s got to be done prudently. How many events all over the world get set up and then cancelled at the last minute due to inclement weather while the fans are in the stadium and the broadcasters have to talk through the rain? To us, at this stage of our development, that would be worse than making a smart business decision now.”

On managing workloads of Jasprit Bumrah & Co: “We’re going to take a call on a match-to-match basis,” Shubman Gill says

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-20252:50

‘Nothing is pre-decided’ – Gill on Bumrah’s workload

It’s “very important” for India to do well in the two-Test series against West Indies after they were blanked 3-0 in their previous home Test series by New Zealand, Shubman Gill said on the eve of the first Test in Ahmedabad.”We are looking to play some hard, grinding cricket. Over the past few years, if you see the Test matches, they haven’t got to five days. So what we are looking to do is play some good, hard cricket,” Gill said at a press conference. “All the Test matches that we played in England went pretty deep [all five Tests went into the fifth day]. And I think what you can expect from us is good, hard, grinding cricket and we won’t be looking for any easy options.”And I think we have the skills to dominate in any kind of situation and the kind of talent we have got in the team, we can turn around from any situation, so that’s what we will be looking to play.”Related

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In recent years, when India have hosted teams for Test cricket, spin-friendly pitches have been prepared more often than not. Seeing how well India competed in the 2-2 series in England earlier this year, what sort of pitch should we expect?”I can’t speak about the conversations before I came, but we would be looking to play on wickets that offer [something] to both the batsmen and to the bowlers,” Gill said. “But, having said that, any team that comes to India, the challenge is the spin and reverse swing. These are the two things that, if teams can play spin well and if they can challenge the reverse swing, they are going to get good success.”So keeping these challenges in mind, you’d be looking to play on wickets that offer [something] to the batsmen and the bowlers.”In England, India picked a pace-heavy bowling attack, and the only spinners in the mix were the allrounders, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, with Kuldeep Yadav sitting out all five Tests. Two days out from the Test, the Ahmedabad pitch appeared to be greener than anticipated.”The weather and wickets we have in India, it will be difficult to follow that template [employed in England],” Gill said. “We have such quality in our team. Someone like Kuldeep, such a wicket-taker for us in all formats, didn’t get a chance to play in England, which was very unfortunate. Here, I think, playing four spinners, and spinners of such quality, you are always tempted to look at the batting depth, you have to just weigh in your options, what can give you a bit more.”6:18

Aaron on Bumrah: India not taking any chances after NZ drubbing

Will Jasprit Bumrah play both Tests?

It was a constant talking point in England after it had been announced before the series that Jasprit Bumrah would play only three of the five Tests to manage his fitness. What happens now?”We’re going to take a call on a match-to-match basis depending on how long a Test match goes on and how many overs our fast bowlers bowl,” Gill said. “Nothing is pre-decided. We’re going to take the call once the Test match is over and how our fast bowlers feel and how their bodies feel after the match.”And what about Gill himself? Going from red-ball cricket in England to white-ball cricket in the UAE and back to red-ball cricket, on a red-soil pitch this time, just three days after winning the T20 Asia Cup?”For a batsman, I don’t think it’s physical fatigue. It’s more mental for a batsman. That’s a little different for a bowler,” he said. “As of now, I feel fresh and my body is ready. I am just looking at what I have to do this week and next week and that’s how I will be taking my decisions.”

“When you take a break, people gossip about it a lot. But I feel it’s important to understand not everything is in players’ hands,” Kishan says

Edited PTI copy12-Apr-20241:55

Moody: Kishan is getting his career back on track

Having returned to competitive cricket after a break for personal reasons, Ishan Kishan is not thinking about his spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad.Kishan, who last played for India in November, had asked for a break during the South Africa tour in December-January. He returned to action in February during the DY Patil T20 Cup. Currently, he is the leading run-scorer for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024 with a tally of 161 at a strike rate of 182.95.”About the World Cup, it is not in my hands and I am taking things very easy right now,” he said on Thursday, after starring with a 34-ball 69 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru to help Mumbai win by seven wickets. “You have to take one match at a time. One needs to understand that a lot is not in the hands of the players.Related

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“It [the IPL] is a long big tournament and you do not want to overstep. I am just taking one game at a time and [my motto is] however I can help the team, let’s do it.Talking about his time away from the game, Kishan said: “I was practising [during the break]. When you take a break, people gossip about it a lot, they say a lot of things on social media. But I feel it’s important to understand not everything is in players’ hands. We can only make the best use of the break. This is what adopting a good mindset is.”Kishan, along with Shreyas Iyer, was not considered for the BCCI central contract for the period between October 2023 and September 2024. However, Kishan is not thinking about proving a point to anyone.Ishan Kishan smashed a 23-ball fifty against RCB•Associated Press

“There is nothing like that [that] I want to prove to someone,” he said. “I just have to go there and enjoy. I have learned that you do not have to add pressure on yourself about these things, which are not in your hand. You have to figure out what are [your] controllables and what are [your] uncontrollables.”If I were the old Ishan Kishan, I might not have left the good deliveries in the first two overs [against RCB]. I would have been in pressure. But with time I have learned that even 20 overs are a lot and you can take your time. You can have the belief and move forward. So all these things helped me in that break also. Now we lost some games here, but I feel most of the players, not just me, were keen to work with everyone. It was never about us individually performing well for the team and not knowing what other players were going through. So I also know if someone is not doing well, how they feel.”So these things also changed in me that even when I am not performing, if I know someone isn’t feeling good, let’s talk to them, let’s know what their mindset is. So these things have happened after that break.”

Hardik ‘loves challenges’, fans ‘will start loving him’

Hardik Pandya might have been at the receiving end of fans’ ire in this IPL, but Kishan has little doubt that the Mumbai captain is “enjoying the challenge” of winning them over.Hardik, who replaced Rohit Sharma as captain before the start of this IPL, has been consistently getting booed by the fans and the situation was no different on Thursday night at the Wankhede.”He [Hardik] loves challenges, he has been in this situation before and he is in that situation right now,” Kishan said.” He is not someone who will come out and talk about it and say let’s stop this or that. I know that he must be enjoying it. I know him personally. I have spent a lot of time with him. He is ready for the challenges because you cannot complain to the fans, they will come up with their explanations and their point of view.”Kishan said Hardik could turn around fans’ anger with his performances.”Knowing how Hardik Pandya thinks, he is happy with people doing it but I know that in the coming games, he will do it with the bat and people will start loving him [again]. People also recognise your hard work, what you are going through and still you are doing so well for your team.”Our fans will be a little harsh on you but at the same time when you do well, or when you show that it is [still] not bothering you and [that] you are in a good headspace, that might change. If not today, tomorrow. If not tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.”

“You feel proud when you realise that you have achieved something that not many are able to,” Nadeem says after reaching the landmark of 500 first-class wickets

Syed Hussain17-Jan-2023Shahbaz Nadeem recently became the latest entrant in the club of bowlers with 500 first-class wickets. He got there in the previous round of Ranji Trophy matches, at the end of which, he also had 381 wickets in the tournament, putting him in 12th place for most successful bowlers in the Ranji Trophy. For a boy from Muzaffarpur, around 80 kilometres from Patna, reaching the milestone is a “feeling of satisfaction” and also one of having “achieved something that not many are able to”.”It’s a really nice feeling when, after playing for so many years [he made his first-class debut in December 2004], you reach a place like this, you achieve something big,” Nadeem told ESPNcricinfo. “As a cricketer, it’s a feeling of satisfaction, you feel happy. Whether you play for your country or for your state [in India’s domestic circuit], you feel proud when you realise that you have achieved something that not many are able to.”Nadeem has played all his domestic cricket for Jharkhand, a total of 129 first-class matches (before the start of the latest round in the Ranji Trophy, on January 17) and 127 List A matches, plus 144 T20s, which includes 72 appearances in the IPL, where he has been with Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants.Related

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Along the way, after knocking on the doors of the national team loudly and persistently for many years, he got to play two Tests: at his home venue of Ranchi, against South Africa, in October 2019, and in Chennai, against England, in February 2021. He has eight wickets from those two games.Nadeem’s career took off in right earnest after his father, a policeman, was transferred to Muzaffarpur from Dhanbad. In the 2004-05 season, he was picked to play for Jharkhand against Kerala in Jamshedpur (in Jharkhand, a state carved out of the larger state of Bihar in 2000). It was an unremarkable debut, as he picked up just two wickets in a drawn encounter, but he stuck it out, and has today made his name among India’s domestic giants.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

And now, after getting to 500, 600 doesn’t seem too far away. Nor does the magical number of 637, the Ranji Trophy wicket-taking record that’s in the name of Rajinder Goel, a left-arm spinner like Nadeem, who played 157 first-class matches between 1958-59 and 1984-85.”When I am playing, I don’t have specific targets, but yes, if you keep playing and keep performing well, you do achieve some goals, and if I can get to 653 wickets, it will be great,” Nadeem said. “But it’s not like that is my aim. I just want to keep performing well and making my team win.”

Shahbaz Nadeem waits for ‘another opportunity’ in Test cricket

At 33, after more than a decade-and-a-half of professional cricket, there might not be many opportunities for Nadeem to add to those two Test appearances, but he hasn’t stopped dreaming altogether.”The only thing I can do is keep picking up wickets, as many as possible, and I am doing that,” Nadeem, who has 30 wickets including three five-fors from five matches in this season’s Ranji Trophy so far, said. “I was third in the wicket-takers’ list last season [with 25 wickets from five matches], and I have been picking up wickets this season too.”I feel that if, season after season, I am among the top wicket-takers, , I can get another opportunity to play Test cricket.”Before that, though, there is a Ranji Trophy campaign to worry about, and for Jharkhand, placed third in Elite Group C behind Karnataka and Kerala at the moment, the remaining games are massive. As they are for Nadeem, who might tick off a few more milestones before he feels he has had enough.

The former captain was expected to bowl in this game, but that now appears unlikely

Andrew Fidel Fernando30-Nov-2021Angelo Mathews’ role in the ongoing second Test against West Indies in Galle could be substantially restricted after he picked up a thigh strain on the second morning.He sustained the injury while running a single in Sri Lanka’s first innings, and ended up having to retire hurt, when on 12, presumably to receive further treatment in the dressing room.Mathews did return to bat after a gap of just under eight overs, during which four Sri Lanka wickets fell. Coming in essentially at No. 10, Mathews completed only one hobbled single, choosing instead to remain in his crease and try to clobber boundaries. He hit two straight sixes and a four in the company of the tail, before becoming the last batter to be dismissed, scoring 29 of Sri Lanka’s 204.When West Indies came out to bat, Mathews did not take the field. He had been expected to bowl in this match, but that now looks unlikely. He will be assessed over the next 24 hours, but given his long-standing problems with hamstring, quad, and calf injuries, it is possible that he will not field, and only bat if required.This is Mathews’ first international series since May. In the first Test, he had hit 3 and 69 not out.

Leicestershire’s early inroads thwarted as match takes place at Worcester’s New Road

ECB Reporters Network01-Aug-2020Lancashire 265 for 6 (Vilas 90, Croft 63) v Leicestershire A fifth wicket partnership of 130 between Dane Vilas and Steven Croft helped Lancashire recover after being reduced to 97 for 4 shortly after lunch on the opening day of their Bob Willis Trophy match against Leicestershire at Blackfinch New Road.Captain Vilas led the way for Lancashire, hitting 14 fours in going to 90 off 126 deliveries before edging a drive off the bowling of Tom Taylor to slip, where Hassan Azad hung on to the chance. It was redemption of sorts for Azad, who failed to pick up an earlier chance given by Vilas off the same bowler when he scored just 28.The morning had seen Leicestershire make Lancashire’s batsmen work hard for their runs after Vilas had won the toss and chosen to bat.Both sides fielded debutants. Batsman Ben Slater, signed on two weeks’ loan from Nottinghamshire, made his first start for the Foxes, while all-rounder George Balderson and bowlers Tom Hartley and Ed Moulton made their first start for Lancashire – the first time Lancashire had given three men a debut in the same match since 2002.Taylor made an early breakthrough, trapping opener Keaton Jennings leg before wicket with a full delivery that swung back in to the left-hander.Alex Davies and Josh Bohannon put together a partnership of 39 for the second wicket before Davies, who had hit five boundaries in moving on to 21, mistimed a pull at a sharp delivery from left-arm seamer Dieter Klein. The ball looped towards midwicket where George Rhodes took a fine low catch two-handed to his right.Klein then bowled Rob Jones with a quick yorker that swung back in to hit the right-hander’s off-stump, and then had Bohannon caught down the leg-side by wicket-keeper Harry Swindells, gloving an attempted pull at a short ball after playing impressively in going to 44.Lancashire looked to be in trouble, but Vilas led the fightback in typically belligerent style. The experienced Croft played the ideal supporting innings, but having reached his own half-century, was surprisingly dismissed shortly before the close when he went back to a delivery from off-spinner Colin Ackermann and was given out leg before wicket.Before the game started, everyone on the ground participated in a minute’s applause to pay tribute to those affected by the Covid pandemic. The players also took a knee to emphasise their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.