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Worcestershire closed within 27 runs of Glamorgan’s first innings as they enjoyed the best of the first day in Cardiff

ECB Reporters Network14-Apr-2017
ScorecardFile photo – David Lloyd fell 12 runs short of a century•Getty Images

Glamorgan threatened Worcestershire’s dominance at times but the visitors were well placed at the end of the opening day in Cardiff. When rain and bad light ended play with 12.3 overs remaining, they had reached 180 for 4 – a deficit of only 27.David Lloyd scored 88 and Glamorgan’s last two wickets added 102, to rescue them from 105 for 8, and they then reduced Worcestershire to 1 for 2 at the start of their innings. But they recovered thanks to an unbroken partnership of 100 for the fifth wicket between Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Ben Cox.Joe Leach, in his first game as Worcestershire’s captain, opted to field first under cloudy skies, and his decision was soon vindicated as both Glamorgan openers were back in the pavilion after the opening overs. John Hastings, in his first game as Worcestershire’s overseas player, took the first wicket with his eleventh delivery when Jacques Rudolph edged to slip, before Leach had Nick Selman caught behind.Lloyd, who bagged a pair in the first game at Northampton last week, was off the mark with a six over fine leg, but then lost partners in quick succession, as Leach squared up Colin Ingram first ball, Hastings bowled Aneurin Donald, and Chris Cooke failed to beat Tom Fell’s direct hit from midwicket to leave Glamorgan 46 for 5.Wickets continued to fall after lunch, with Kiran Carlsen and Marchant de Lange falling to Ed Barnard and Harry Podmore removed by Jack Shantry. Lloyd and Lukas Carey retrieved Glamorgan’s parlous position, however, with an attacking partnership of 68 at eight runs an over. Carey belied his position of No. 10 with an array of attractive strokes, and when he was out Glamorgan were within 27 runs of a batting point. This was achieved as Michael Hogan helped add a further 34, before Lloyd’s splendid innings ended 12 runs short of his century, when he lofted Shantry to extra cover.Carey then made immediate inroads when Worcestershire batted, when, after bowling a wide with his first ball, he had Daryl Mitchell caught by the wicketkeeper two deliveries later. In the next over Hogan dismissed Brett D’Oliveira in identical fashion, before Fell and Joe Clarke settled down to share a partnership of 79 for the third wicket. Clarke, who toured with the England Lions during the winter, played an assured innings before he was caught down the leg side off Lloyd and, with no addition to the score, Carey bowled Fell in the next overWith Worcestershire 80 for4, Glamorgan were back in contention, but Kohler-Cadmore and Cox consolidated their team’s position with the best partnership of the day. They were rarely in trouble against Glamorgan’s five-man pace attack, with Kohler-Cadmore striking Carey for three successive fours when the young seamer overpitched.Kohler-Cadmore reached his fifty shortly before the close and, with Cox also showing impressive form, Glamorgan will need to take early wickets if they are to restrict Worcestershire to a modest first-innings lead.

Either Shakib Al Hasan or Trent Boult is likely to replace the Australia fast bowler as Kolkata Knight Riders look to reclaim the top spot

The Preview by Sreshth Shah25-Apr-2017

Match facts

Rising Pune Supergiant v Kolkata Knight Riders
Pune, April 26, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)3:56

Hogg: Tahir at his best with old ball

Form guide

• Rising Pune Supergiant (fourth): defeated Mumbai Indians by three runs, defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets, defeated RCB by 27 runs

• Kolkata Knight Riders (second): defeated RCB by 82 runs, lost to Gujarat Lions by four wickets, defeated Delhi Daredevils by four wickets

Head to head

OverallKolkata Knight Riders chased 66 (D/L adjusted target) and 161 to win both at home and away against Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016.

In the news

Knight Riders will be without Nathan Coulter-Nile, who in their previous game took three wickets to bowl Royal Challengers Bangalore out for 49, which is the lowest total in IPL history. The 29-year old seamer has not travelled with the team to Pune, with captain Gautam Gambhir citing workload management as the reason.Coulter-Nile’s absence means either Shakib Al Hasan or Trent Boult could return to the team. Colin de Grandhomme hasn’t fired with the bat but his three-wicket haul on Sunday has boosted his chances of retaining his place.

The likely XIs

Rising Pune Supergiant 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Rahul Tripathi, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Ben Stokes, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Dan Christian, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Imran Tahir, 11 Jaydev UnadkatKolkata Knight Riders 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Trent Boult/Shakib Al Hasan, 11 Kuldeep Yadav

Strategy Punt

• Overall in the IPL, Sunil Narine smashes spin at a strike-rate of 233 but pace at only 126. But this season, with his promotion to opener, he has smashed fast bowlers for 93 runs off 53 deliveries. So perhaps there is a case for Rising Pune to take pace off the ball and use Imran Tahir or Washington Sundar against him.

Stats that matter

• MS Dhoni has struggled against Sunil Narine in T20s. He has managed only 27 runs off 54 balls.
• Manoj Tiwary has scored 139 runs off 82 balls, at a strike-rate of 167.07. He has been dismissed only three times in his last nine T20 innings, and has been hitting a boundary every four balls.
• Ajinkya Rahane has smashed Umesh Yadav for 54 runs in 38 balls without ever being dismissed in the IPL.
• Knight Riders have taken 28 wickets between overs 7 and 15, ten more than their closest rivals Sunrisers Hyderabad. Six KKR bowlers have taken three or more wickets during the middle overs, with Woakes’ tally of six being the highest.
• KKR’s quicks have been the most productive in the league. They have taken 34 wickets at an average of 19.82. On the other hand, Rising Pune’s seamers have managed only 24 wickets at an average of 32.54.
• Spinners have been more effective than seamers at MCA stadium this season. They have given away only 6.97 runs per over, taking a wicket every 19.42 runs. Seamers have leaked 9.50 runs an over, taking a wicket every 42.61 runs.

England closed out a dramatic victory over the No. 1-ranked ODI side to take the three-match series with one to play and hammer home their credentials as Champions Trophy contenders

The Report by Alan Gardner at the Ageas Bowl27-May-2017England 330 for 5 (Stokes 101, Buttler 65*, Morgan 45) beat South Africa 328 for 5 (de Kock 98, Miller 71*, de Villiers 52) by two runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:03

‘I thought we had it won’ – de Villiers

England closed out a dramatic victory over the No. 1-ranked ODI side to take the three-match series with one to play and hammer home their credentials as Champions Trophy contenders. Ben Stokes was the catalyst with a 77-ball hundred – as well as a wicket from his fifth ball – and although 98 from Quinton de Kock helped keep South Africa in the chase, England’s bowlers stayed on top of the scoring as the asking-rate rose.David Miller looked to have guided South Africa to the brink of victory with 71 off 51, a six and a four off the first two balls of the penultimate over leaving them needing 10 from 10. But Jake Ball conceded just three from the next four deliveries before Mark Wood defended seven off a nerveless final over to seal a two-run win and extend England’s winning run to eight ODIs in a row.With AB de Villiers also contributing a half-century, South Africa were on course to pull off what would have been comfortably the highest successful chase on the ground. By the time they entered the last ten needing 93 with six wickets standing, Miller had found his groove and, alongside Chris Morris, South Africa’s sixth-wicket pair added 62 in 6.3 overs – only for the boundaries to dry up at the crucial juncture.Stokes’ second ODI hundred had lifted England out of trouble and allowed them to post another impressive total after being put in to bat for the second match running. Dropped twice from his first two balls, Stokes paved the way for England’s recovery, which was capped by Jos Buttler’s explosive, unbeaten 65 from 53. Stokes then took a wicket almost immediately after coming on to bowl but ended up delivering only three overs, as questions about his fitness lingered.South Africa had moved relatively comfortably to 56 without loss when Stokes struck. Having narrowly failed to hold on one-handed to a chance from his first ball given by de Kock, he made the breakthrough when Hashim Amla drove loosely to cover.De Kock had almost fallen in similar fashion to his Headingley dismissal, top-edging a swipe across the line against Ball on 16, but this time it carried over the wicketkeeper and slip and ran away for four. Ball was in the side for Chris Woakes, who had experienced a tight quad after taking a four-wicket haul in England’s victory in the first ODI, and South Africa targeted the least-experienced member of the attack to help keep up with a demanding asking rate of 6.6 an over.Although Liam Plunkett picked up Faf du Plessis via a tickle to the keeper, de Kock was largely untroubled in moving to a run-a-ball half-century. He and de Villiers judiciously milked the bowling during the middle overs, putting on 96 before Plunkett struck again with a well-directed short ball that brushed the South Africa captain’s glove as he tried to limbo underneath.With de Kock closing in on a 13th ODI hundred – and what would have been his third against England from seven innings – he was drawn into a poke at Moeen Ali to be caught behind. Miller showed his power in Moeen’s following over by lofting him casually over long-off and he progressed to a 34-ball fifty, scoring the majority of a 55-run stand with Farhaan Behardien, before Plunkett had the latter taken at mid-off.As at Leeds, South Africa won an apparently useful toss and England were 80 for 3 in the 16th over before a 95-run stand between Stokes and Eoin Morgan helped even up the contest. Morgan was not as fluent as he was during his hundred in the first match, surviving a caught-and-bowled chance on 16 before edging a cut against Kagiso Rabada, but Stokes accelerated after reaching his half-century, adding his second fifty from 29 deliveries to record a first hundred in home ODIs.With the platform constructed, Buttler bent himself upon destruction during the latter stages. Buttler crashed his first ODI fifty since the tour of Bangladesh last year, from 46 balls, during stands of 77 with Stokes and 78 with Moeen. The 46th over, bowled by Andile Phehlukwayo, went for 22 as 111 flowed from the last ten; only Rabada, who picked up 2 for 50, managed to go at less than a run a ball for South Africa.South Africa’s cause was not aided by dropping five catches – three of them off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner playing his maiden ODI. In the penultimate over, Amla failed to even get a hand on a skied top edge from Moeen at fine leg, to cap a poor effort in the field.Stokes, playing with strapping on his knee, was given a couple of early lives but quickly put his scratchy start behind him to turn in the sort of dominating innings that helped win him the IPL’s MVP award earlier this month. Pretorius was swung crisply down the ground for a one-bounce four, then Phehlukwayo mowed over deep midwicket for six; when Morris returned, he was deposited into the Shane Warne Stand off an even more towering blow.After a top-edge off Rabada flew high between keeper and slip, Stokes followed up with a dismissive thump back down the ground and a single to bring up his half-century from 48 balls. Morris was again struck into the crowd before Maharaj did eventually claim his man – and his maiden ODI wicket – when Stokes holed out having reached his hundred.With overhead conditions providing just a touch of assistance for the seamers early on, England had struggled through the initial Powerplay. Jason Roy’s indifferent form continued when he was bowled by Rabada for 8 and although Alex Hales and Joe Root assembled a half-century stand at more than a run a ball, two quick wickets further undermined England’s prospects.Pretorius, one of three changes from the South Africa XI beaten at Headingley, recovered to see Hales smartly held by de Kock, standing up to the wicket, and then had a hand in seeing off Root, who looked in good touch until he was run out backing up: Morgan’s drive deflected on to the non-striker’s stumps by the bowler in his follow-through. It could have been even better, had Pretorius clung on to a tough opportunity off Morgan.By then, Maharaj had confirmed himself in the luckless debutant category. Rabada’s drop of Hales at long-on did not cost South Africa too much (although it added six to Maharaj’s figures) but de Villiers would have been as perturbed as his bowler to see Stokes put down from consecutive balls. Stokes’ first delivery saw Maharaj draw a thick edge, only for Amla to miss it completely at slip; then de Kock could not hold a more difficult opportunity, again off the outside edge of the bat. Two moments of good fortune that Stokes ensured he and England would capitalise on.

The allrounder bagged a pair at Lord’s, picked up four wickets in England’s crushing victory, and admitted to a serious attack of nerves in the first innings

Andrew McGlashan11-Jul-2017Liam Dawson hopes to be able to pick the brains of Shane Warne during the Test series against South Africa but believes he remains primarily a batsman with his bowling a valuable second string.Dawson, who made his Test debut against India in Chennai, was a surprise inclusion in Joe Root’s first Test squad as captain. He had a mixed experience at Lord’s, bagging a pair but also picking up four wickets including the key scalp of Hashim Amla with a beautiful delivery in the second innings.The view of his own game, that the batting still holds sway – he has opened in the County Championship for Hampshire this season and made 66 on his Test debut – seems to go against the role he was given in the first Test where he was billed as the team’s main spinner. Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, said the reasoning behind that had been to take the pressure off Moeen Ali who responded with his first 10-wicket haul in Tests.Dawson said that he and Moeen were “equal” in terms of their bowling but that he was keen to evolve his left-arm spin by seeking out Warne who was the Hampshire captain when Dawson made his first-class debut against Yorkshire in 2007.”I will try and catch up with him over the course of this series and have a chat with him about bowling. That would be brilliant to do,” Dawson said. “Someone who is that good, been that successful and a legend of the game, you can only pick their brains. You might pick up something that might give you a little edge when you are out there and that can only be a positive.”I am an allrounder but batting is my strongest suit,” he added. “I can do a good job with the ball. Having two strings to your bow is always helpful.”Dawson admitted he had to battle nerves at Lord’s and was disappointed with his first-innings performance with the ball where although he claimed two wickets he conceded more than four an over. However, despite missing a big full toss from Kagiso Rabada to complete his pair on the fourth morning, making it three Test ducks in a row, he felt far more assured when he was brought on in the second innings and had the joy of straightening one on Amla to trap him lbw.”I usually deal with nerves pretty well, but this time I was just too nervous and I have got to handle that better next time and I think I will be better for it,” he said. “It is just part of sport and you have just got to try and deal with it and I did in the second innings. I was more relaxed second innings because I was out there again and enjoying every minute of it.”Dawson has been well-regarded by the England management since taking three wickets on his T20I debut against Sri Lanka at the Ageas Bowl last season. Bayliss has previously said “he has something about him” and Dawson prides himself on being a “smart” cricketer.”People probably watch me and think ‘you know he is not the best cricketer’ but I have got to use my cricket brain. That has always helped me for Hampshire. That is another thing I pride myself on, being smart and clever. I think I am always trying to get into a battle and enjoy it. It is nice when that happens. Test cricket is suited to that. It is hard. I have only played two Test matches and it is extremely hard but it is so rewarding when you get a win like we did.”The indications after the victory at Lord’s were that England would retain the same XI at Trent Bridge with Bayliss’ view that a fifth quick bowler in the side would be overkill regardless of how green the surface was. Toby Roland-Jones, the uncapped Middlesex seamer, is the 12th member of the unchanged squad.

A record Notts score, a first Notts century in T20 – by Riki Wessels – and the biggest T20 crowd ever seen at Trent Bridge: quite a night as they squeezed out local rivals Derbyshire

ECB Reporters Network21-Jul-2017
Riki Wessels’ rapid hundred proved just enough•Getty Images

A stunning century from Riki Wessels helped Notts Outlaws get their NatWest T20 Blast campaign up and running with a narrow six-run victory over Derbyshire Falcons on a Trent Bridge night strewn with records.Wessels made 110 as Notts powered their way to 227 for 3, their highest score in the competition’s history, after being asked to bat first. The 31-year old scored his runs from just 54 balls and hit 11 fours and seven sixes to become the first Outlaws batsman to reach three figures for the county in T20 cricket.Brendan Taylor shared in a third wicket stand of 153 with Wessels, before closing on 67 not out. Dan Christian applied the finishing touches with a brutal, unbeaten knock of 32 from only 18 balls.Derbyshire, who had won three of their first four matches, stepped up tp the challenge of maintaining a run-rate at over ten an over and fell narrowly short, closing on 221 for 5 with Wayne Madsen unbeaten on 85, made from only 44 balls.In front of a Trent Bridge record domestic gate of 14,123 the result was in the balance until the final delivery of the night but Jake Ball, who finished with two for 51, held his nerve in allowing Madsen to take only a single from the final ball of the contest when a maximum would have tied things up.The Outlaws had experienced a turbulent start to their Blast campaign by losing their first two matches, as well as losing the services of three members of their first team squad.Their last fixture had been the defeat to Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston 13 says ago, a contest that saw fast bowler Luke Fletcher sustain a season-ending head injury.Preparations for this match were then further rocked with the announcements that two of their top order batsmen were retiring from the game; Michael Lumb through an ankle injury and Greg Smith, keen to pursue opportunities outside the game.Losing Alex Hales and Samit Patel inside the first four overs, both to Wayne Madsen, who took two for 32, gave no indication that the county’s fortunes were about to change – but they did, quite dramatically.Wessels took 20 from the fifth over, bowled by Matt Henry and 18 from the seventh, bowled by Imran Tahir. The South African leg-spinner featured in the Notts side that made it through to Finals’ Day last summer but endured a miserable return as his four wicketless overs went for 52 runs.Taylor, returning to the side to fill the void left by Lumb’s departure, went through his full repertoire of shots; reverse-sweeping his first ball for four and then flicking, driving and caressing his way to his first T20 half century for Notts, reaching the landmark from 35 balls.His major hand was in getting the rampant Wessels back on strike as quickly as he could and the right-hander made the most of his opportunity by reaching his hundred from exactly 50 balls before hitting Alex Hughes to square leg.The Falcons’ openers put on 55 before Harry Gurney removed Matt Critchley for 20 in the fifth over. His partner, Billy Godleman had taken two sixes from the bowling of Luke Wood on his way to 43 from 19 deliveries but then lost his middle stump to Jake Ball, returning after almost a month out with a knee injury.Madsen and Luis Reece had their side 22 runs ahead at the halfway stage of the innings but New Zealand international Ish Sodhi dragged things back towards the hosts by having Reece caught for 27.The leg-spinner’s next over cost 25 though as Madsen stormed past a 29-ball half century which had contained six fours and three maximums.An improbable chase suddenly began to look achievable as Madsen began to find the boundary at will; 57 were required from five overs and 49 from 4.Gurney then struck for a second time, having Gary Wilson taken at long off. Ball bowled the final over, with 21 still required and it looked all done and dusted when he removed Hughes after three deliveries. Henry swatted a six and single, meaning Madsen needed a six to tie but he could only manage a single to leave his side just short of their target.Neither side has long to dwell on the result. Notts are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host defending champions Northants Steelbacks, while Derbyshire go to Edgbaston on Sunday, to face Birmingham Bears.

Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka Cricket’s chairman of selectors, and the rest of the committee have stepped down ahead of the team’s fourth ODI against India

Andrew Fidel Fernando29-Aug-2017The Sri Lanka selection committee, headed by Sanath Jayasuriya, has decided to resign following the recent sequence of poor results. As they had already picked the squads for the last two ODIs and the only T20 international of the India tour, they will remain in force in case any additions need to be made. The committee will step down once the tour concludes, two months after they had been given a six-month extension that would have taken them through until the end of the year.”Sri Lanka Cricket chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, as well as committee members Ranjith Madurasinghe, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Asanka Gurusinha and Eric Upashantha, have decided to resign,” Sri Lanka’s sports ministry said. “A combined letter bearing the names of the above committee has conveyed this decision to sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. According to the letter, their tenure will end on September 7.”The announcement came two days after Sri Lanka lost the third ODI in Pallekele, and conceded the five-match series 3-0. They had also been beaten 3-0 in the Test series. Earlier in the year, there had been an unprecedented ODI series loss to Zimbabwe, an unprecedented Test loss to Bangladesh, a torrid tour of South Africa, and a disappointing Champions Trophy campaign.The past few months have seen rapidly mounting pressure on Jayasuriya’s committee to step down. Heavily criticised for making too many changes, having no clear vision, and failing to persist with talented players, the losses during the India tour had seen public perception of the committee sink to new lows. Jayasuriya has always been a hands-on chief selector, but there have also been suggestions from within the team that he repeatedly overstepped his bounds. It was not uncommon to see him advising players in the approach to, or during, games.Jayasuriya had also recently publicly defended his committee, suggesting the volume of injuries Sri Lanka suffered over the past year had necessitated frequent changes to the XI. Since his committee was appointed in May last year, Sri Lanka fielded 51 international cricketers across formats, including 40 in ODIs alone.This was also Jayasuriya’s second stint as chief selector. Counting his first tenure, which ran for two years, he has had the job for three of the past four years.Despite Sri Lanka’s recent failures, however, the same selection committeee – sans Gurusinha, who was added in April – had also been in force when Sri Lanka whitewashed Australia in the Test series last year.Gurusinha stated the selectors had little choice in the decision after the spate of poor results. “The reason for the selectors stepping down is pretty straightforward. The team was losing so much we had to take the responsibility,” Gurusinha said. “We had no choice. We have to give a chance to a new lot. My case is a little different since I have only been a selector since April, but when the others are stepping down I can’t stay there.”Sri Lanka’s next international assignment will be the tour of the UAE and Pakistan, which is expected to begin in late September. A new set of selectors is likely to be named over the course of the next three weeks.

Evin Lewis shellacked an unbeaten 97 off 32 balls as St Kitts and Nevis Patriots ran down a target of 129 in seven overs, with all ten wickets intact on a record-breaking night in Bridgetown

The Report by Peter Della Penna04-Sep-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEvin Lewis blasted six fours and 11 sixes•Ashley Allen – CPL T20 / Getty

On a night when Barbados Tridents needed to win by a record-breaking margin in order to make the CPL 2017 playoffs, it was St Kitts & Nevis Patriots who instead created several fresh pages in the CPL record books, in a 10-wicket mauling of the home team at the Kensington Oval. Among the marks set on the night were the fastest fifty of CPL 2017, by Evin Lewis (off 19 balls), and the highest Powerplay score in CPL history (105 for 0 in six overs).But it may be the one record that wasn’t set which ended the game on a sour note. Lewis was on 97 off 31 balls when he took strike at the start of the eighth over with the scores level. Needing a boundary to record the fastest hundred in CPL history and the second fastest in all T20 cricket, he was denied the opportunity to do so. Kieron Pollard reprised the infamous delivery sent down by Suraj Randiv to Virender Sehwag in an ODI between Sri Lanka and India in 2010, bowling a no ball that gave Patriots the winning run.Patriots displaced Jamaica Tallawahs at second place, ensuring themselves two cracks at making the final. They will now come up against regular season leaders Trinbago Knight Riders in the first qualifier on Tuesday night at the Brian Lara Stadium. Tridents’ loss meant Guyana Amazon Warriors booked the final playoff spot, setting up a date on Wednesday night against Tallawahs in the eliminator.Tri-dented batting orderBarbados had great individual batting highlights during the season – chiefly Dwayne Smith’s pair of centuries – but never found consistency through the order. Lack of key contributions did them in again on Sunday. Nicholas Pooran once again failed to convert a strong start, playing over the ball on a pull against Mohammad Hafeez to be bowled for 21. Patriots made it two in two when Dwayne Smith edged Carlos Brathwaite behind for 17 to start the next over.Like Pooran, high-priced marquee signing Kane Williamson went the entire season without a fifty. On Sunday, he was out for 14, groping a drive off Tabraiz Shamsi to long-on. As bad as Williamson’s season was, mid-season signing Eoin Morgan proved even worse, and was bowled by Mohammad Nabi for 2 to make it 76 for 4. It capped a barren four-game stretch for Morgan with Tridents, with a total of nine runs in 17 deliveries.Brathwaite’s bestOnly once before had Carlos Brathwaite taken four-for in a T20. On Sunday, he bettered that with his career-best figures, ripping through the Tridents line-up late into their innings. He had Pollard caught on the flick, off the leading edge to short third man in the 16th over. Then, he had Tion Webster, the top-scorer, playing in just his second match of the season, caught at long-on. Ryan Wiggins was caught behind in the 18th as Brathwaite ended with 4 for 15 and Tridents stumbled through the end.Lewis’ half-hour of powerTridents began the night needing to win by 220 runs to claim the final playoff spot. When the hopeless mission became impossible, the Tridents responded with a lifeless display befitting their position.Gayle faced the entire first over, striking two boundaries off Wahab Riaz. But he only faced eight balls in the rest of the chase as Lewis took center stage. He slammed his first ball, off Wayne Parnell, over the leg side for six, and hit two more before the over was finished. Thereafter, his strike rate never fell below 200.He broke Colin Munro and Darren Sammy’s jointly held record for fastest fifty of the season – off 23 balls – with a heave over square off the same bowler.Two fours and a six out of the stadium to end the sixth over made Patriots the first CPL side to score triple-figures in the Powerplay.The match lasted just six more legal deliveries, with the seventh over, sent down by Damion Jacobs, being clattered for 23 runs. He was on 96 before the last ball of that over, when a diving stop at sweeper cover denied him a boundary but allowed him to keep strike.The naughty no ballWhile Randiv’s no-ball seven years ago was a massive overstep that sparked ill-will between Sehwag and Sri Lanka over a century denied, Pollard was slightly less conspicuous in his penalty delivery to Lewis, but was still comfortably beyond the crease when the front foot landed. It was an anticlimactic and unsportsmanlike end to Lewis’ whirlwind knock.

Zimbabwe had asked the curator for a spinning track but were surprised at how quickly it came into action

Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo21-Oct-2017Zimbabwe are no strangers to the woes of the batting collapse, but on the first day of the first Test at Queens Sports Club it was West Indies’ batting that had failed. After a steady start to their innings, the scale and speed of their collapse surprised even the hosts.”When they were 170-odd for three we were not expecting them to be bowled out 45 runs later,” said Sean Williams, whose second spell brought 3 for 2 in four overs. “Between [Graeme] Cremer and I, we just tried to keep the squeeze on as much as possible, especially to Hope because we knew his hundred was coming up and we didn’t want him to have any strike. We kept the squeeze on and it worked for us.”Captain Graeme Cremer was Zimbabwe’s leading wicket-taker with 4 for 64, and along with Williams he did most of the damage after tea. It was Sikandar Raza’s offspin that started West Indies’ slide. He had a settled Roston Chase caught at short leg, and from then on Zimbabwe’s tails were up.”We took it one wicket at a time,” Raza said. “When we got Roston Chase out, we thought we were in with a sniff. Credit to Sean and Graeme for the way they wrapped up the innings.”Zimbabwe had asked the Queens curator for a spinning track, but with the speed West Indies folded, the amount of turn available on the first day surprised even them. “I wasn’t expecting it [to turn so much],” Williams said. “But I expect it to spin more as the Test goes on.””It suits us if it starts to turn,” Raza agreed. “We were hoping it would turn, so credit to the groundsmen for doing a fantastic job in pulling off what we asked for. Any lead now would be a good lead! We’ve got the three spinners plus the control of Jarv [Kyle Jarvis] and Bobby [Mpofu]. That gives us confidence that we can win this Test match, especially after rolling them over for 219. They batted for 83 overs and the game never got away from us.”Much of Zimbabwe’s success was built on the early work the seamers had put in. Kyle Jarvis was willing to pitch the ball right up in pursuit of swing, while from the other end Chris Mpofu gave exceptional support in an opening spell that read 6-3-5-0.”They [the seamers] bowled really well,” Williams said. “I think Chris Mpofu bowled exceptionally well in the beginning and so did Jarvis. The West Indies batsmen like bat on ball – as everybody knows – with the Calypso cricket and hitting boundaries. I felt we stuck to our guns, and stuck to our lines and lengths, and it ended up paying off.”Now that the bowlers have done their job, it will be up to Zimbabwe’s batsmen to press home their advantage. Solomon Mire started brightly, but this is the sort of track that will require some hard graft.”Shai Hope showed us the way to bat on that track.” Raza said. “Some guys got a good ball that they couldn’t have done too much about, but Hope showed how you might want to construct an innings on this track. Day two might be a better batting track.””But it depends on how we go about playing spin – I think that’s the key on this wicket,” Williams added. “Spin and the short ball will be key.”

Nathan Lyon believes that the trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins can hurt England as badly as the Mitchell Johnson-led attack did four years ago

Brydon Coverdale in Brisbane20-Nov-2017Petrified. That was the word Kevin Pietersen used to described his own state of mind when he saw Mitchell Johnson rough up Jonathan Trott at the Gabba four years ago. If batsmen the calibre of Pietersen and Trott were in fear, then it was little wonder England’s lower-order men – the likes of Stuart Broad and James Anderson – were physically scared as well. There is no Johnson this time, but Australia are confident that Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood can open up the scars.”There’s some cracks underneath the surface with the fellas who’ve come out here,” Nathan Lyon, one of only three Australians remaining from that 2013-14 whitewash, said in Brisbane on Monday. “Alastair Cook, he faced Mitchell Johnson out here. Joe Root got dropped last time he was out here.”So there are some cracks under the surface that we can hopefully ruffle the surface and crack them right open again and put them under pressure. Our job as the Australian cricket team out here is to put these guys under pressure and make them feel as uncomfortable as possible.”To that end, Australia’s fast bowlers have been studying footage of the 2013-14 series, when Johnson was supported by Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle throughout all five Tests.”The impact that he had, that transcended the cricket field,” Cummins said. “It put fear in them, when they were sitting around waiting to bat, in between games they were thinking about him, how they were going to face him.”The ones that stick out to me are the Gabba and seeing a couple of their bowlers – Stuey Broad and Anderson – from our point of view they looked like they didn’t want to be out there. They didn’t want to bat. They’d try and swerve away from the balls before he’d kind of even released them. Hopefully we can create that kind of anxiety in them.”Lyon, David Warner and Steven Smith are the only players in Australia’s current squad who played in that series, although Harris and Brad Haddin are around the group in coaching roles. And Lyon believes Australia’s pace attack is well-placed to challenge England again, with a similar make-up to the Johnson-Harris-Siddle trio that did the job last time.”Very similar … looking at Sidds, his length and his pace and control; Johnno was an X-factor; and look at Ryan who could swing the ball around. I think Josh Hazlewood in my book is the best fast bowler in the world, and by a long way; you look at Patty, who’s exciting and fast; and then you look at Mitchell Starc as an X-factor. I moved to NSW so I didn’t have to play those guys.”Those guys are exceptional … I think our bowling squad is actually quite strong and it’s probably the strongest attack we’ve had in a couple of years, if I’m being brutally honest. To have these guys all up and firing together, it’s exciting. I’m very confident that our bowling squad can take 20 wickets.”The official ICC rankings place Anderson as the No.1 Test bowler in the world, while Hazlewood sits sixth. But Lyon believes Hazlewood’s versatility makes him a standout in world cricket at the moment.”He can do anything,” Lyon said. “He’s quick, he can bowl bumpers, he can control the new ball, he can swing it in and out, he can reverse it. I haven’t seen a bowler who’s got that control in a long time. I’m happy for you to put it in the headline, he’s the best fast bowler in the world.”Although Australia have long dreamt of fielding Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins in the same Test side – the injured James Pattinson is the other fast bowler of a similar age usually bracketed with that trio – it was not until earlier this month that the three men played in a first-class game together, for New South Wales. And if the selectors could have picked any series to be the first, a home Ashes would have been number one on their list.Cummins is entering his first home Test series, having spent most of his six years as an international cricketer on the injury list, while Starc is fresh from the remarkable feat of taking two hat-tricks in the same Sheffield Shield game. And while Starc is capable of bowling bouncers, his ability to target the stumps, especially against the lower order, is often even more effective.”I think we’ll see a bit of both this summer, at the toes and at the head,” Hazlewood said of Starc. “I faced him the other day which was fun. They’re definitely coming out fast.”

Steven Smith was nervous enough about Australia’s chances of closing out a 2-0 Ashes series lead that he popped a sleeping pill the night before day five in Adelaide

Daniel Brettig at Adelaide Oval06-Dec-20171:32

‘I had to have a sleeping pill last night’ – Smith

Australia’s captain Steven Smith was nervous enough about his chances of closing out a 2-0 Ashes series lead that he popped a sleeping pill in his Adelaide hotel room the night before Josh Hazlewood claimed the key breakthroughs to deliver an ultimately comfortable 120-run victory in the day-night Test.Amidst what he admitted were a “pretty tough” two days from the moment he declined to enforce the follow-on and saw England roar back into the contest, Smith said he had questioned his own decisions plenty of times. Tension enveloped the Australians and the Barmy Army took particular enjoyment from the hosts’ loss of their two reviews in the space of three balls on the fourth evening, but it was Smith who revealed the full extent of his anxiety.”I had to have a sleeping pill last night,” Smith said. “It has been a pretty tough 24 hours if I’m being honest, it’s all part of being captain of your country, you have to make difficult decisions and sometimes you’re going to make the wrong decision. It’s all part of the learning experience and hopefully I can learn something from this game. I’ll think back and reflect in the next day or so, what I could have done differently and better just areas I can continue to improve in my leadership and captaincy as well.

Mitchell Marsh added to squad

In the only Australian change for the Perth Test, the selectors have recalled Mitchell Marsh after his recovery from off-season shoulder surgery. He takes the place of Chadd Sayers in the 13-man group to convene in Perth on December 10.
Australia squad: Steven Smith (capt), Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

“I think we probably dominated the first two-and-a-half days of this Test match, England fought their way back into the game over the last couple of days and if I’m being honest I was a little bit nervous last night at the end of play. I thought they played really well, [Joe] Root and [Dawid] Malan in particular. We were only one or two wickets away, but with Root a dangerous player and if he got going he might’ve made things difficult for us. But fortunately we were able to pick them up and the rest is history.”Coming here today I thought if we could get one or two early wickets, with the new ball only being 18 overs away at the start of play, then 180 was a lot of runs. It was very pleasing that Josh was able to come out and do what he did this morning, I thought his length was exceptional and to get the wicket of Joe Root really put us in a good position and I could breathe a little more easily then.”Smith’s decision not to enforce the follow-on has been subject to plenty of criticism, akin to that faced by his mentor Mark Taylor when he also declined to send England in again at the Gabba in 1994. Then, as now, the hosts subsequently endured two difficult days before ultimately winning by a wide margin. Smith said he had thought primarily about preserving the bodies of his pace bowlers, while putting down the sharp swing generated by England’s bowlers to a combination of night conditions, a lack of breeze and a smart choice of ball on their part.”We were 215 runs in front of the game. People say it swings a lot more at night, it probably does a little bit more and the conditions were favourable for the England bowlers, who exploit anything in the wicket when it’s like that,” Smith said. “It was very still that night as opposed to the first day when it was quite windy. I think when it’s still and not as windy it does a bit more, which was the same today, quite still and our new ball swung a lot too, as we saw from the first ball Starcy bowled.”My rationale was we were a long way in front in the game, if we bat reasonably well … I thought we batted pretty poorly to be honest to get to 350 [in front] … but if we batted reasonably well then we should be getting up over 400. We didn’t do that but we were still a long way in front and confident.”We know it’s a long summer and I think these bowlers we’ve got are very valuable, and just giving those guys a little bit of a rest always makes me confident they can come back and do the business they need to do. So give them a rest and keep the England bowlers bowling. They bowled 150 overs in the first innings and part of an Ashes series is that it’s long, and if you can tire out their bowlers early in the summer then it can make a big difference at the back end. But I will say over the last day or so I have had a few different thoughts, and I’ve read a lot of things, but in the end we’ve won the game so it’s all irrelevant.”As for the loss of the DRS reviews, shortly after ICC regulations were changed to remove the top-up at the end of 80 overs, Smith said he needed to be smarter. “I guess your thinking sort of changes a little bit now with the umpire’s call – and whether you keep it, or if it’s missing you lose it,” he said. “It’s a tough one, and I certainly think my thought process around it has changed a little bit. Sometimes there’s more hope [than being confident a batsman is out] – and if it’s just touching the stumps we’re all right [and keep the review]. It’s an interesting one, but something I can continue to work on and try and get it as consistent as I can.”Josh Hazlewood dismissed Chris Woakes with the second ball of the fifth morning•Getty Images

Overall, Smith said he felt there was plenty of improvement left in Australia’s performance, not least more consistency with the bat after a poorly second innings. But he also pointed out that in Nathan Lyon, the world’s leading Test wicket-taker this year, and Pat Cummins he had two players at very near to the top of their games.”I think we can improve. I think we let ourselves down a little bit in the second innings with the bat, albeit for the top order in the night things were tough and England bowled particularly well, we’ve got to give some credit there,” Smith said. “Yesterday afternoon the way we batted was a little bit disappointing, we gave a few wickets away there, didn’t grind things out for long enough and try and bat for longer and get a bigger total, so we probably missed a trick there.”I think Nathan is bowling as well as I’ve seen him bowl, he’s hitting great lengths, he’s very confident, he’s bowling exceptionally well. A lot of credit’s got to go to Patty Cummins as well, I think he bowled brilliantly throughout this game. Even last night when things probably weren’t going our way, he was only going at one and bit an over still keeping the pressure on, beat the bat a few times, got the key wicket of Malan at the end of the day. He had a particularly good game with ball and bat as well, he contributed with Shaun [Marsh] in the first innings to help get us in a position to drive the game.”It’s always tough coming back from 2-0 down, particularly when you’re away from home. You can be only one or two bad sessions away from the series really. That can play on people’s minds when you’re behind. So we have to be confident, do what we’re doing, do the basics really well. Getting first-innings runs is really crucial, as we saw in this game, and just backing up day in, day out and making sure we’re doing what we can to get this series to where we want it to be.”