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While Tanvir’s 20-ball 37* secured victory for the visitors, it was Imran Tahir’s four-wicket haul in the first innings that restricted Patriots to 168 for 7

The Report by Peter Della Penna29-Aug-2018Sohail Tanvir slams one away•CPL via Getty Images

The logjam at the top of the CPL has grown from two to three sides as Guyana Amazon Warriors snuck a four-wicket win at the wire over St Kitts and Nevis Patriots to join Trinbago Knight Riders and Jamaica Tallawahs on eight points in a tie for first place. It was a result of an unbeaten cameo from Sohail Tanvir, who struck two fours and three sixes in his 20-ball 37, and a haul of 4 for 22 from Imran Tahir that vaulted him from ninth to a tie for second on the CPL 2018 wickets chart with 11 scalps in six matches, and helped restrict the Patriots to a manageable total.Y2KChris Gayle and Evin Lewis fired the Patriots to a blistering Powerplay, ending on 62 for no loss. Gayle came into the match already a few hundred runs clear of Andre Fletcher as the leading scorer in CPL history, and on Tuesday night in St Kitts, he also become the first batsman in the six-year history of the league to cross 2000 runs.Gayle did it in the fifth over against Tanvir. Entering the match, the Jamaican had never hit Tanvir for six in a CPL match since the fast bowler arrived in the tournament in season two. But Gayle made up for it, cracking Tanvir for 6, 4, 6, 4, 4 across the last five balls of the over. The middle delivery sailed straight over Tanvir’s head, over the Warner Park roof and took Gayle past 2000. It took Keemo Paul’s arrival in the eighth over to finally dislodge Gayle, who smashed a cut straight to backward point for 40 off 27 balls.Tahir the runaway trainOnce Paul struck, Tahir was unleashed in the ninth over and within four balls he struck for the first of his four wickets. The first blow was fairly innocuous, Lewis slashing at a wide delivery to send a catch to short third man, but Tahir was off and running halfway to the boundary in his customary celebration.Brandon King, who outlasted Mohammad Irfan’s near-flawless opening spell to strike his maiden CPL fifty on Saturday, could not survive Tahir’s first ball after drinks as he played around a skiddy straight ball that knocked back the leg stump. Devon Thomas was then pinned lbw by a googly from Tahir in the 13th over. His final over was saved for the 17th, where he nabbed Mahmudullah with a miscued drive to extra cover. From 71 for 0, Patriots had slipped to 124 for 6 by the time Tahir’s work for the night was done.Emrit misses a trickAmazon Warriors kept Patriots in the match thanks in part to some curious strategic moves by Rayad Emrit, who took over as captain on Tuesday night after Shoaib Malik went back to Pakistan to begin preparations for the Asia Cup. Paul had bowled superbly in the eighth and 10th overs, tying down Patriots after the wicket of Gayle for figures of 1 for 7 in two overs but was mystifyingly absent from the attack for the rest of the innings.Despite Paul’s experience as a death bowler, Emrit then chose to bowl the last over himself with figures of 3-0-32-0 and conceded 24 more runs. The sloppy over included two sixes by Ben Cutting followed by five wides sprayed well down the leg side and another thigh-high full toss that was lucky not to be hit by Cutting for a third six. Carlos Brathwaite muscled Emrit down the ground off the final ball for a four to take the Patriots to 168 for 7.Hanging ChadLast year’s leading scorer and Player of the Tournament continued to struggle at CPL 2018. Chadwick Walton scratched his way to 8 off 17 balls and was trapped lbw by a Sheldon Cottrell slower ball in the fifth over. Walton had 458 runs in 2017, but has just 75 in six innings so far this tournament.Wide berthThe best contribution from the top five of the Amazon Warriors batting order was Jason Mohammed’s 36 off 25 and their best partnership was just 46, summing up a night of fits and starts. But they were aided immensely by some poor Patriots fielding and a total of 15 wides, the joint-most bowled by any team in a match this season.Cutting took a pair of spectacular catches on the long-on boundary, the second of which resulted in the wicket of Roshon Primus off Brathwaite towards the end of the 18th over to make it 149 for 6, but they were lost in the shuffle of the sloppy misses that followed. Tanvir should have been out the very next ball for 20 when he skewed a low full toss high over cover, but Anton Devcich overran the chance haring back from the 30-yard ring only to see the ball land in between the painted markers as Tanvir took a single to keep the strike.Needing 19 from the last two overs, Tanvir clubbed the first ball of Cottrell’s next over flat over square leg for six, and then heaved a slower ball over midwicket for six more for a total of 16 from the over. With only three needed off the final over, Patriots then blew three clear-cut run-out chances on three singles as the Warriors made it home with a ball to spare.

Pakistan, by virtue of a resolute 155-run opening partnership, and some sloppy work from West Indies, assumed control of the Bridgetown Test

The Report by Danyal Rasool01-May-2017
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:02

‘We were very sloppy between lunch and tea’ – Estwick

There was no knockout punch today, more gradual asphyxiation. As genuine moments of excitement and drama came few and far between, Pakistan, quietly and ruthlessly, wrapped the West Indies in a bear-hug and slowly squeezed the life out of them. There was some exceptionally generous bowling – Ahmed Shehzad made 70, having been gifted three lives – but Pakistan were efficient enough to capitalise on those mistakes, and end day two in a commanding position.West Indies eventually perked up halfway into final session, taking three wickets for six runs to send Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq back into their shell. But with an opening batsman not out on 81, alongside a captain who loves a firefight, there was a lot of work left to do for Jason Holder’s men.For now, though, they can be relieved they were even able to take wickets. Devendra Bishoo extracted an outside edge from Shehzad to have him caught at slip with the score at 155. The Pakistan batsman had enjoyed a charmed life; he had a catch dropped as early as the third over, and was dismissed twice off deliveries that turned out to be no-balls. Shannon Gabriel was the first culprit, Roston Chase was the other. Shehzad made the most of it, but the question of whether he has returned to form is very much up for debate. He went through periods in his innings where run-scoring almost screeched to a halt; at one point, he made three off 59 balls.West Indies were buoyant when they followed up Shehzad’s wicket with those of Babar Azam and Younis Khan, the heir-apparent and the master. You would have to search far and wide to find a Younis dismissal off a poorer delivery than the one that felled him for a duck in Bridgetown. Bishoo bowled a classic long hop, and the batsman gave it the whack it was begging for, only he picked out short midwicket. Azhar and Misbah then went into power down mode, scoring 11 runs off their 58-ball partnership, ensuring there was no further damage.The day had begun with a couple of West Indian wickets that were mirror images of each other. Holder attempted leave when a shot should have been played, and Chase attempted a shot when the ball was better off being left. But the effect of their dismissals was the same; it wrenched all the momentum the home side had built up over a painstaking 132-run partnership, putting them back to the place they are so dreadfully familiar with: square one.Ahmed Shehzad enjoyed three lives. He was dropped on three, lbw to a no-ball on 21 and stumped off another no-ball on 32•AFP

A breezy partnership between Alzarri Joseph and Bishoo ensured the West Indies made it past 300 but the optimism with which they had begun the day had long since evaporated. Mohammad Abbas – the most successful bowler today – got rid of Bishoo soon after. Yasir Shah cleaned up Joseph next over, and West Indies found themselves shot out for 312.The Pakistan openers then consolidated their position of strength, although the cricket they played to get there fell some way short of attractive. Azhar and Shehzad combined for a century partnership, buying themselves precious time after coming in for sharp criticism for their lack of runs in the first Test. Some of their watchfulness was down to disciplined bowling from the West Indian quicks, although it was noteworthy that the sustained pressure never really felt like spilling over into a wicket.The hosts could have done better to exploit a rapidly wearing pitch. There were balls that Azhar and Shehzad had to dig out from ankle-height, while the footmarks outside the off stump gave wings to the offbreaks pitching into them. The abrasiveness of the surface impacted the ball too, scuffing it up so badly that it had to be changed twice. Even so, Pakistan found ways to hang on, and though it wasn’t always pretty, it certainly was pretty effective.

Keaton Jennings became the third Durham batsmen to make two hundreds in the same match and set Durham on course for victory against Somerset

Paul Edwards at Chester-le-Street11-Apr-2016
ScorecardKeaton Jennings became the third Durham batsmen to score two hundreds in the same match•PA Photos

The second day of this match dawned cool and heavily clouded, conditions which were unlikely to buck up Somerset skipper Chris Rogers as he made his way down to breakfast. Still 226 runs in arrears and with both openers having been dismissed on Sunday evening, Rogers knew that his batsmen would have to resist the many skills of Chris Rushworth and Graham Onions if they were to achieve parity on first innings. That task is generally difficult enough, even without the hindrance of seamers’ gloom.So it must have been devilishly irritating to Somerset’s skipper that his team were bowled out for 179, thus conceding a 77-run lead as much because of their own carelessness and misjudgements as the bowlers’ excellence. Also galling, perhaps, was that Somerset subsided as conditions for batting rapidly improved, albeit that the morning shadows were pale, evanescent things when set beside Sunday’s sharp images.Some Somerset bats might have been playing shots at shadows on Monday morning and
by close of play the home side’s lead had been extended to 300 with Keaton Jennings having become the third Durham batsman after Dean Jones and Paul Collingwood to score two hundreds in a first-class match. Jennings, who is newly qualified to play for England but hardly likely to do so very soon, reached his century off 163 balls with a drive through midwicket off Roelof van der Merwe three overs before play ended. It is a remarkable achievement for a player who was dropped for the last six games of the 2015 Championship season having scored just 473 in 20 innings.In contrast to his batting on Sunday, Jennings batted with considerable freedom on the second afternoon of his game. He helped Mark Stoneman put on 74 for the first wicket in just less than 13 overs as Somerset’s new-ball attack fell apart. Jennings then reined in his more aggressive instincts a little as he lost three partners in 49 balls but Collingwood was with him when he reached his century in 38 fewer balls than he had needed on Sunday. The pair’s unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 72 in only 14 overs firmly reminded everyone at a floodlit Riverside where the balance of this match lay.More significantly than any personal achievement, Jennings gives a side a few were tipping for relegation a wonderful chance of beginning their campaign with a victory. By the same reasoning it seems clear at the midpoint of this game that unless Rogers and his batsmen outdo Leonidas and the Greeks in the First Test at Thermopylae, Somerset will begin their season with a defeat. Rogers’ men may, of course, be saved by the weather but they would be deceiving themselves if they thought that a draw currently represented parity.Yet for the first 40 minutes of the day, Rogers and Hildreth had resisted Rushworth and Onions very stoutly, adding 43 runs to the total and only rarely being defeated. Whenever Rogers drove unwisely or played and missed, he jerked his head back in savage self-reproof and took a penitential walk to square leg. Hildreth looked in even less trouble until, as he seems annoyingly prone to do in the thirties, he edged a catch to the slips, Ryan Pringle pouching the chance off Onions. Jim Allenby’s first ball was straight and on a good length; it needed to be hit, not to be played with a hopeful half-stride forward, the pad doing most of the work and the bat alongside, as if in comradely solidarity. The latter, though, was what Allenby attempted and Rob Bailey sent him on his way. 79 for 5.A quarter of an hour later two more wickets fell to consecutive deliveries and the second of them probably marked a pivotal moment in this game. First van der Merwe drove wildly at Onions but only inside edged the ball to Michael Richardson. Then Peter Trego cover-drove his first ball straight to Mark Stoneman in the ring and called Rogers for a single. Stoneman’s throw took out the middle stump with Rogers still stretching for the crease. The Somerset skipper departed for 23 with a glance at his former partner; perhaps he was speculating as to the nature of life on planet Trego. 85 for 7.The rest of the innings sought to staunch a deep wound with sticking plasters. Trego, hardly in the manner of a sinner seeking atonement, made 45 off 57 balls and added 66 for the eighth wicket with Lewis Gregory. But 20-year-old Brydon Carse marked his Championship debut by dismissing two of the last three batsmen and Durham’s 77-run lead already seemed substantial in the context of the game.

Yuvraj Singh has made a comeback to India’s limited-overs squad for the Twenty20 and first three ODIs of the home series against Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Sep-2013

India squad for T20 and first three ODIs

MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Ambati Rayudu, Mohammed Shami, Jaydev Unadkat
Out from Champions Trophy: Umesh Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, Irfan Pathan
In from Champions Trophy: Yuvraj Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami

Yuvraj Singh has made a comeback to India’s limited-overs squad for the Twenty20 and first three ODIs of the home series against Australia. There were four changes made to India’s last first-choice ODI squad, the one that won the Champions Trophy in England. Yuvraj replaced opener M Vijay, Dinesh Karthik lost out to his Mumbai Indians team-mate Ambati Rayudu, the injured Irfan Pathan made way for Mohammed Shami, and Jaydev Unadkat’s left-arm seam was preferred to Umesh Yadav’s erratic-at-times pace.”I am happy the selectors have reposed faith in me. Now, I have to deliver,” Yuvraj told , after news of his selection broke. “My footwork and timing are alright. The bat swing is in order as well. That is why I got runs against the West Indies and New Zealand A teams. That gave me confidence. Now, I have to capitalise on the opportunity.”Yuvraj’s last ODI was against England in Dharamsala in January 2013. He was dropped from the squad for the Champions Trophy and did not feature in the Zimbabwe series either, when India had rested several first-choice players. However, following a fitness programme in France, he has shown a return to top form in List A cricket. He was the leading run-getter for India A in the limited-overs series against the touring West Indies A, with 224 runs from three matches, including one hundred and a fifty at an average of 74.66. He also scored a half-century for India Blue in the Challenger Trophy, a domestic 50-overs tournament.A fit Yuvraj is seen as a bigger asset than Karthik. Karthik had a decent run in England and in Zimbabwe, but he failed to reach 50 in the tri-series in the West Indies. In effect, Karthik has lost out to Rayudu, who scored 101 runs off 163 balls at an average of 50.5 against Zimbabwe.Two other changes from the Champions Trophy squad mostly explain themselves. Vijay struggled in the West Indies, and Irfan is injured. Yadav, though, remains a curious case. He cannot have been considered unfit because he played the Challenger Trophy last week. He cannot have been rested because he is just coming out of a break. The selectors have either begun to look at him as a Test-only prospect or it was his performance in the Champions Trophy that has got him the axe: four wickets and an economy rate of 5.55 in a mostly low-scoring tournament. His economy rate in the West Indies tri-series hovered around the same mark. His career economy rate also stands at over six, and an average of 41.58 doesn’t do him any favours.The seam-bowling replacements, Shami and Unadkat, played all the five ODIs in Zimbabwe, and have been retained. Mohit, who played two of them and was Man of the Match in the first of them, was expected to replace Vinay Kumar, but the Karnataka quick has retained his place. Vinay went at 6.03 in the recently concluded Challenger Trophy, although he did pick up eight wickets in three matches.Batsmen Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, seamer Mohit and spinner Parvez Rasool missed out from the team that played Zimbabwe.

ESPNcricinfo’s preview of the third ODI between Pakistan and Australia in Sharjah

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale03-Sep-2012

Match facts

Saeed Ajmal has taken 7 for 62 from 20 overs so far in this series•AFP

September 3-4, 2012
Start time 1800 (1400 GMT)

Big Picture

Pakistan and Australia return to Sharjah for the third one-day international, which has become the series decider after Australia took the first match and Pakistan won the second. For Pakistan, this is a chance to end a decade-long era without a one-day series win over Australia. Last time they beat Australia was in 2002 and it was also the last time Pakistan came back from losing the first match in a three-game series to win. They will rely heavily on Saeed Ajmal, who has caused real problems for Australia’s batsmen in the first two games and has taken seven of the 15 wickets collected by Pakistan bowlers so far, at the remarkable average of 8.85. The Australians will consider attacking Ajmal more in this game, but if they continue to misread his doosra it may make little difference.Australia need more runs from their openers, Matthew Wade and David Warner, and they might be keen to take a more aggressive approach after Warner took 19 balls to get off the mark in the second game. They also need to work out the best make-up of their attack should Mitchell Starc be ruled out due to injury after he left the field late in the second match. Choosing a frontline spinner, Xavier Doherty, would not be a bad option, although if they end up bowling second and find the conditions as dewy as they were on Friday in Abu Dhabi, it might not matter. Both matches have been won by the team chasing and Michael Clarke is unlikely to make the mistake of batting first again should he win the toss.

Form guide (Complete matches, most recent first)

Pakistan WLLLW
Australia LWLLL

Watch out for

Saeed Ajmal has taken 7 for 62 in the series so far and is far and were in not for his fine work on Friday, the Australians could well have posted a much heftier total. His variations leave the Australians muddled, and after they chose to be cautious with him in the first two games they might be considering a different approach this time. “He’s a fantastic bowler. But we have to change our game plan,” David Hussey said on Sunday. “We’re defending him a little bit and to our peril. Maybe the best form of defence is attacking him. We’ve seen the Sri Lankans play him, we’ve seen the Indians play him, and we might think that’s the better route to go.”There is no question that Australia have found a dynamic and useful one-day player in Glenn Maxwell, but his challenge is to finish the series by displaying his all-round talents. He made 38 from 38 in the first game and a brisk 28 from 27 in the second game, which featured two mighty sixes. Both were impressive short-burst innings for an ODI No.7. But he is yet to take a wicket and by offering a little more with the ball he could help himself stay ahead of Steven Smith in the minds of the selectors.

Team news

Shahid Afridi missed the second match due to back soreness but is believed to be fit for the third game and a straight swap with Abdur Rehman seems the most likely scenario.Pakistan (possible) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Nasir Jamshed, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi, 9 Sohail Tanvir, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Junaid KhanMitchell Starc left the field late in the second ODI with what was later revealed to a problem with his side/chest and if he doesn’t play, the Australians can bring in the uncapped Alister McDermott or one of the spinners, Xavier Doherty or Steven Smith, as his replacement. Doherty would appear the most likely candidate given the conditions and the lack a frontline spinner in their line-up in the first two games.Australia (possible) 1 Matthew Wade (wk), 2 David Warner, 3 Michael Clarke (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 George Bailey, 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Daniel Christian, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Mitchell Starc/Xavier Doherty, 11 James Pattinson

Pitch and conditions

After the extremely dewy conditions in Abu Dhabi on Friday, the teams return to Sharjah for this third match. In the first two matches of the series it was the chasing team that emerged triumphant, so don’t expect the captains to rush into a decision to bat first at the toss.

Stats and trivia

• Should Pakistan win the third match it will be their first ODI series victory against Australia in ten years, since they took the honours in a winter series played in Australia that included two matches under the roof of Melbourne’s Docklands stadium
• In the past 12 months, only Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga has taken more ODI wickets than Saeed Ajmal’s 44 at an average of 20.38
• In the same period, Australia’s leading ODI wicket takers have been Xavier Doherty, Clint McKay and Brett Lee – none of whom has played a match in this series
  

  Quotes

  “We played really well and we fought really well in the first game in Sharjah so we can take some confidence into that.”

Essex overcame a disastrous start to their innings on a day dominated by bowlers to gain the upper hand in their Division Two battle against Derbyshire at Chelmsford

24-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Essex overcame a disastrous start to their innings on a day dominated by bowlers to gain the upper hand in their Division Two battle against Derbyshire at Chelmsford. After the visitors were bowled out for 132, Essex replied with 173 for 7 but not before they had lost both openers for only one run.A horrendous mix-up ended with Tom Westley run out by half the length of the pitch, whilst Billy Godleman was bowled by Tim Groenewald without offering a stroke. When Owais Shah was caught at slip off Tony Palladino with the total on 20, there were doubts about Essex gaining a first-innings lead.But Jaik Mickleburgh and Adam Wheater, with 34 and 31 respectively, were to tip the balance in Essex’s favour with positive strokeplay, while James Foster hit a brisk 25 before he was caught at slip immediately after the visitors’ total had been passed.Before and after Foster’s dismissal, Ryan ten Doeschate rode his luck with several edges to reach a 55-ball half-century, getting to 54 by the close and helping to point the way to a very useful lead despite the loss of Graham Napier, who was bowled for 11 by Palladino with two overs left in the day.Derbyshire were placed firmly on the back foot by David Masters as Foster’s decision to insert his opponents reaped rapid dividends. In an opening spell of eight overs, the country’s leading wicket-taker claimed three victims at a personal cost of 16, while 17-year-old Reece Topley accounted for debutant Matt Lineker for a duck.Masters took full advantage of the swing conditions, starting with the wicket of Martin Guptill when the bowler found the edge to have the opening batsman caught by Ten Doeschate in the slip cordon. Then in his seventh over, Masters struck with successive deliveries to take his season’s Championship tally to 78.Chesney Hughes was trapped lbw while Dan Redfern was undone by a delivery that again found the edge while leaving him late to provide Shah with a comfortable catch. That left the visitors in serious trouble at 28 for 4. Wes Durston and Greg Smith steadied things by carrying the score to 69 before the latter was snapped up by Westley in the slips to give Topley his second success.Durston was by far the pick of the Derbyshire batsmen, catching the eye with several fine drives among his eight boundaries while making 48. He was finally undone when Maurice Chambers found extra lift to have him caught behind and his departure with the total on 104 signalled a swift further decline in the innings.Of those that followed him, only Ross Whiteley reached double figures and he was last out when he hoisted Chambers to long off. Chambers ended with 3 for 34, Masters 3 for 28, Topley 2 for 35 and Napier 2 for 33.

VVS Laxman has said his century was a very important innings and that he has learnt to ignore the critics who question his place in the side

Sidharth Monga at the P Sara Oval07-Aug-2010VVS Laxman has spent almost all his career as the most disposable member of the team. He has one bad Test, and the knives come out. Fans and critics alike find Laxman’s the easiest place to question. Thankfully, his team-mates and the selectors know his worth. Easily India’s best batsman on bad or testing pitches, he rescued India once again, following his fifty in the first innings with a match-winning, series-levelling, flawless century on a tense final day.”I have had it [people questioning my place in the side] since the start of the career,” Laxman said, laughing. “I have started dealing with them much better. But what matters really is how the team feels about you. And there is no doubt that the team members feel how important my contribution to the team is. I really don’t think [about] what the people are thinking outside the dressing room.”Initially it was tough to play with that insecurity feeling. Sometimes I imagined that if [I had been] given a free hand, I would have probably got much more runs. But after the first four-five years of international cricket I started dealing with it much better and now these things don’t really bother me. I have played more that 100 Test matches, which very few in India do.”

Sachin Tendulkar on Laxman

“Laxman played well in both innings. The context becomes even more important since it was the decisive Test. Even if it was a draw, we would have lost the series but the manner in which he helped us level the series, it was phenomenal. The kind of innings he played in both knocks was remarkable. I have seen Laxman bat for many years and I have seen plenty of such knocks. He has scored on difficult tracks and helped India win. Just like the spectators enjoy it, I also enjoy his batting.”

Laxman has rescued India before, in more challenging conditions too, but he rated this as an important knock. “This innings stands out because of the situation we were in not only in this Test but also in the series,” he said. “The way we came back and won the Test. The partnership between me and Sachin [Tendulkar] changed the momentum of the game. Very satisfying feeling. More importantly feels good for the team because we really worked hard during the entire tour.”Laxman had not only two good spinners and Lasith Malinga to contend with, but also the pain that the back spasms that he developed while fielding during the fourth day brought him. He got treatment on the field, took painkillers, but the medicines have limitations. They don’t kick in immediately. He just had to forget about that pain.”It was painful,” Laxman admitted. “I stared my innings well, but during the partnership I had a lot of discomfort and the spasms didn’t allow me to move freely. Once I was into my 30s it became very painful.”It was difficult [the decision to ask for a runner]. You don’t want to create confusion and also not break the rhythm. If you see, Sachin got out once I took the runner. But I was in such pain that I thought that the best decision in team’s interest was to have a runner instead of just giving away the wicket due to pain.”It was an extra sweet feeling because at the same venue two years ago, Laxman fought pain from an injured ankle, scored a valiant 61 not out with the tail, but it proved to be agonisingly inadequate in the third innings of that match. He spoke more about playing in pain in this match.”During the game I took a couple of painkillers,” Laxman said. “Nitin [Patel, team physio] came and gave me a quick treatment. But I don’t know how much the pills helped as it takes 30-40 minutes before the painkillers start to show their effects. But the situation and the importance of the game, sometimes supersedes your pain. Sometimes you just focus on the process and goal in hand and it takes you over the pain barrier.”

The ground-staff used electric fans and even tried a grass transplant but the outfield remained unfit for play

Ekanth10-Sep-2024The second day of the only Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand in Greater Noida suffered the same miserable fate as the first due to rain, albeit not during hours of play, and the quality of the outfield.The toss was scheduled half an hour earlier at 9am, to make up for day one being abandoned, but at 8.55 am came the announcement that conditions were unfit for play and that there would be an inspection at 12pm.The message on the broadcast at 9.10am was that “a thunderous overnight downpour last evening from 6pm, for 90 minutes, at one stage left the outfield completely and utterly flooded.” The moisture underfoot remained a major concern and there was little hope the ground would be fit for play by noon.Related

• Slushy patches, wet weather prevent Test from starting in Greater Noida

• Greater Noida under the weather ahead of Test debut

• Opening day of Afghanistan-New Zealand Test called off due to wet outfield

• A gloomy debut for Test cricket's newest venue in Greater Noida

The ground staff used electric fans to try and dry a few wet patches on the outfield. They cut out blocks of dry grass the practice nets and transplanted them on a damp region in the 30-yard circle. Despite the sun baking down, the ground wasn’t ready at noon and another inspection was planned for 3pm.New Zealand’s players arrived at the ground around 12:25pm, and a practice net was installed next to the main pitch so that they could practice. The spinners Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santer began to bowl first and were soon joined by the fast bowlers, while Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell had a hit. The Afghanistan players, on the other hand, did not arrive at the venue.Play was called off on the second day at 2.55 pm, with the toss yet to take place.

A seventh win for the Outlaws puts them in a strong position to claim a quarter-final place

ECB Reporters Network20-Jun-2023Joe Clarke hit three sixes in a 41-ball 72 and Colin Munro 28 off 17 as a blistering start by the Outlaws proved to be enough to set up a 22-run North Group victory over Leicestershire Foxes in the Vitality Blast.The Outlaws were 78 for 1 after eight overs having opted to bat first, and though the Foxes came back strongly with the ball to restrict the visitors to 165 for 8, their efforts with the bat proved woefully inadequate.Nick Welsh (32 from 30) and Peter Handscomb (28 from 30) put on 63 for the first wicket but despite Wiaan Mulder striking 38 from 26 balls late in the innings, the Foxes fell 23 runs short of their target, Steven Mullaney taking 3 for 18 from his four overs, leg spinner Calvin Harrison 2 for 14 and Shaheen Shah Afridi 2 for 28.Pace-bowling all-rounder Tom Scriven took a career-best 4 for 21 for the Foxes in only his fifth Blast appearance, backed up by 3 for 22 from canny left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson, while Mike Finan equalled the county record for the format with four outfield catches.Yet they ended on the losing side again as their side suffered their ninth defeat from 11 matches to remain rooted to the bottom of the group.A seventh win for the Outlaws puts them in a strong position to claim a quarter-final place, although they suffered a double blow on the night with overseas star Munro unable to field after suffering what looked like a hamstring injury while batting, and veteran all-rounder Samit Patel leaving the field with an apparent ankle injury after the fourth ball of his third over.The Outlaws were 60 for 1 after an eventful powerplay which saw Parkinson dismiss Alex Hales for the fourth time in five seasons but then drop one of two catching chances the Foxes failed to hold.Munro was put down at short fine leg on five off left-armer Finan before Parkinson spilled an easier one at short third man as Clarke, on 26, went for the ramp against Matt Salisbury, Munro finishing the over with four and six. The Foxes were generally sloppy in the field in the powerplay.Munro needed lengthy treatment in the seventh over, was able to continue as Colin Ackermann’s first over went for 15 but fell in the ninth as he mistimed a lofted drive against Rehan Ahmed to be caught at long on, two tidy overs from the leg-spinner checking the Outlaws’ progress a little as they reached the halfway point at 91 for 2.Clarke stepped on the accelerator, adding sixes off Finan and Scriven to an earlier maximum off Ackermann as the next 22 balls saw the Foxes leak 41 runs but the shape of the Outlaws innings then changed dramatically with the loss of three wickets in seven balls.Scriven, hammered down the ground for six by Clarke the previous delivery, took revenge when the Outlaws’ leading run-scorer miscued high in the air to backward point, before Parkinson struck twice in five balls, having Matt Montomery caught at long off before trapping Tom Moores leg before on the back foot.Notts had slipped from 133 for 2 to 136 for 5, a triple blow that cost them all their momentum with only 29 added in the final five overs as Scriven rounded off a fine performance with three wickets and just eight runs conceded in his two death overs.Samit Patel holed out to long off and Finan became the third Foxes player – along with Arron Lilley and Wiaan Mulder – to take four outfield catches in a single Blast innings by safely pouching Shaheen Afridi and then Mullaney in the deep on the leg side.Foxes openers Welch and Handscomb were not able to match the Outlaws’ explosive start but did not lose a wicket in posting 42 runs from the powerplay, although the Australian would have been run out on seven had a Hales’ throw hit.Yet they struggled to find any acceleration and were already lagging behind the required rate at 74 for 1 after 10, having by then lost Handscomb, stumped going down the pitch to Mullaney, as Moores made amends for missing him off Samit Patel the over before.Rishi Patel announced himself with a pulled six off Calvin Harrison but perished in the next over, well caught on the extra cover boundary as a reverse-sweep went wrong and Mullaney claimed a second wicket.Next over, Welch holed out to Hales at deep midwicket before Ackermann departed in the most bizarre fashion, handing Mullaney a caught-and-bowled chance which he dropped but claimed at a juggling second attempt as the ball bounced back to him off the chest of Mulder, who was standing a yard from him at the non-striker’s end.By now, the run-rate was beginning to look beyond the Foxes, who lost Ahmed caught behind as Harrison completed the stricken Samit Patel’s unfinished over before Scriven found Hales on the long-on boundary, with 70 needed from 27 balls.Mulder launched back-to-back sixes off Jake Ball but they were no more than a consolation with 29 needed off a final over in which Shaheen bowled him and Finan in the space of four balls.

Dhoni also hails the performance of seamers despite CSK suffering an early exit

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-20222:54

Manjrekar: There’s more to Mukesh Choudhary than just swing

Coming into Thursday night’s game against Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, in all their seasons of the IPL, had never been bowled out for below 100 while batting first. All good runs have to come to an end, however, and Super Kings crumbled to 97 all out in conditions at the Wankhede Stadium where the ball swung right through the first 10 overs of their innings.Super Kings lost the match, as expected, with 31 balls remaining, but they still had positives to take out of it, with their new-ball combination of Mukesh Choudhary and Simarjeet Singh bowling their eight overs in one go and reducing Mumbai to 33 for 4 at one stage.Choudhary picked up 3 for 23, all his wickets the product of the left-armer’s traditional mode of inswing to the right-hander and outswing to the left-hander. Simarjeet finished with 1 for 22, finding Rohit Sharma’s outside edge with a good-length ball that left him late.Related

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MS Dhoni, the Super Kings captain, was full of praise for his new-ball pairing during his post-match interview with .”Irrespective of how the wicket is, anything below 130 is very difficult to defend, but still, what I asked the bowlers was to show a lot of character, put the opposition under pressure, forget about the result, and I feel both the youngsters, both the fast bowlers, they bowled really well,” he said. “So as far as their contribution is concerned, I feel a game like this really helps them. They start believing in themselves by saying, okay, irrespective of the conditions, whenever we start, we need to have the same kind of attitude, and that’s what is needed in the shortest format.”Super Kings’ hopes for IPL 2022 were dealt a major blow even before the season began, with Deepak Chahar – whom they spent INR 14 crore (USD 1.84 million approx) to reacquire at the auction – picking up a back injury that eventually ruled him out of the competition. The prospect of calling on all three of Chahar, Choudhary and Simarjeet next season is one that enthuses Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming.”I thought the new-ball bowling of Simarjeet and Mukesh was outstanding,” he said at his post-match press conference. “They’ve been developing – Mukesh all the way through the season, so for him to now feel confident enough to bowl a spell like that, and Simarjeet’s only three games in, four games in, so they’ve made real gains, so that’s a positive. So with Deepak Chahar to come back into the side, there’s some good options with the new ball.”9:41

Mute Me: Is Umran Malik ready to play for India?

Fleming was heartened that Choudhary and Simarjeet had delivered their new-ball performances in a difficult situation for Super Kings.”Yeah, I thought it was really impressive,” he said. “We could have folded, but they really gave us an opportunity, and both of them bowled well. Mukesh in particular had the ball really swinging well, and Simarjeet’s got some deceptive pace.”So we’re really positive about that pairing going forward. It was just disappointing that we didn’t have more runs to play with, but out of that, out of the ashes, came those two. So it was a good way to look at it.”Choudhary and Simarjeet are among a line of young Indian fast bowlers who have impressed during this IPL season; Umran Malik, Mohsin Khan, Yash Dayal, Kuldeep Sen and Arshdeep Singh are five other uncapped seamers who have caught the eye.”It’s good to have them,” Dhoni said. “We have gone through periods when we never had real extraordinary bench strength of fast bowlers, and also what happens is, with fast bowlers, they take their time to mature. If you are lucky you get somebody who in six months’ time can feature in all the different formats, whether it’s Test cricket, one-day or T20, and I feel that’s what IPL is doing.”It’s an opportunity for them, and a lot of them, they have become slightly more bold, a bit more courageous which I feel is important in a format like this. They want to take the opposition head-on, and that has been the difference. Yet, you see a few who are not those types, who shy away a bit initially, but as they play more games, they get more and more confident and they are able to execute their plans better.”