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Round-up of the second day of the third round of the Ranji Trophy Super League

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2010

Group A

Abhinav Mukund tormented Saurashtra with a double-century•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Laxmi Shukla marked his 100th first-class game with a maiden double-century that has left Assam staring at an intimidating first-innings score from Bengal at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.The contest had been pretty even at the end of day one when Bengal had finished on 257 for 5. But the game was firmly in Bengal’s control by stumps on the second as they piled up 562 for 6, thanks to a record 417-run stand between overnight batsmen Shukla and Wriddhiman Saha, who is also Bengal’s wicketkeeper. Their stand is the third-highest for the sixth wicket in all first-class cricket and the highest for that wicket in the Ranji Trophy. Shukla’s 250, his fifth 100-plus score in first-class cricket, was laced with 35 fours and three sixes while Saha was more patient in his unbeaten 178 off 355 balls, striking 15 fours and three sixes. In reply, Assam had reached 10 without loss but have a mammoth task ahead of them.Mumbai bounced back into a favourable position against Railways at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, and now can even fancy their first outright win of the season. In the absence of any centurion for the first time in three matches, the defending champions could manage only a slender 18-run first-innings lead. The man responsible for their quick downfall was seamer Anureet Singh, who picked up his second five-for of his three-season old Ranji career. But by stumps Mumbai had retained the control as Railways lost three wickets. Offspinner Ramesh Powar tested Railways’ patience and temperament, picking two wickets, including set opener Marripuri Suresh for 28.In the morning the overnight pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Sahil Kukreja started comfortably and looked set to raise a big partnership. But an erroneous decision to go for the pull against Anureet by Kukreja resulted in an easy catch. The very next ball, Rahane saw his off stump disturbed, defeated by a combination of movement and pace. Kukreja’s 50 was the highest score for Mumbai, and his partnership with Rahane was the best pairing (67 runs). Mumbai’s strong middle order floundered and the last four wickets fell without any addition to the score.But on a pitch that has enough for both the seamers and the spinners, Mumbai hold the edge.Shikhar Dhawan, the left-handed opener, consolidated Delhi‘s dominant position against Gujarat at the Feroz Shah Kotla with an unbeaten century which gave his team a 177-run lead with seven wickets in hand at the end of the second day. Delhi’s bowlers had done their bit on day one, skittling out Gujarat for 71, and the batsmen took over on the second. Dhawan added 99 with opening partner Unmukt Chand before Gujarat hit back, grabbing three wickets for 25. But their hopes of limiting Delhi’s lead were thwarted by an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand between Dhawan, who scored his tenth first-class ton, and Yogesh Nagar that has yielded 124 and put Delhi on track to achieve their first win of the competition this year.

Form Guide

Tracking ESPNcricinfo’s players to watch this season
Piyush Chawla: Went wicketless in 19 overs against Baroda who gained a 119-run first innings lead
Ravindra Jadeja: Bowled 35 overs for 99 runs and no wickets against Tamil Nadu
Virat Kohli: Fell cheaply against Gujarat, making just 6 in the first innings
Abhinav Mukund: Smacked a double-century against Saurashtra, batting through the first two days
Ajinkya Rahane: Made 43 for Mumbai against Railways, helping his team gain a slender first-innings lead
Rohit Sharma: Made just 1 in Mumbai’s reply against Railways

Saurashtra had to bear a wicketless second day against Tamil Nadu at the Khandheri Cricket Stadium in Rajkot as opener Abhinav Mukund and S Badrinath piled it on. The progress was steady as Tamil Nadu got themselves into a virtually impregnable position. Mukund smacked 25 fours and a six in his unbeaten 217, his tenth first-class score of a hundred or more, while Badrinath, the more attacking of the two, moved to 142 off 219, his 24th century in the format. The pair have added 280 – TN ended the day on 483 for 2 – and will look to bat Saurashtra out of the game and strengthen their position in the group standings where they are currently second.

Group B

Ambati Rayudu’s 91 off 130 balls gave Baroda a 119-run first innings lead against Uttar Pradesh in Vadodara. Yusuf Pathan and Munaf Patel had done the job for Baroda on day one, bowling UP out for 190, and on Thursday it was Rayudu’s turn as he took the table-toppers from a precarious position at 113 for 4 to a substantial first-innings total.Rayudu has made his name as an aggressive batsman in Twenty20 cricket, after making the transition from the Indian Cricket League (ICL) to the Mumbai Indians, and is now Baroda’s leading run-getter this season. He was well supported in a 147-run stand by Kedar Devdhar, who played the sheet anchor role, taking 212 balls to get to 66.UP fast bowler Sudeep Tyagi was not afraid to use the short ball early on and got the crucial wicket of Yusuf Pathan in his 2 for 80. Rayudu’s knock should have ended on 80, when Tanmay Srivastava appeared to have held a low catch at leg gully off RP Singh, but the third umpire decided there wasn’t enough evidence to declare the catch clean. Singh got his man 11 runs later, though, and then Bhuvneshwar Kumar took three of the last five wickets, which Baroda lost for 49 runs, to finish with figures of 4 for 51. UP ended the day at 25 for 0, as openers Srivastava and Digvijay Singh batted out ten overs.Haryana surprised Karnataka at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Rohtak and put themselves in a position of control at the end of the second day. Karnataka would have hoped to compile a challenging first-innings score with two of their star batsmen, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey, at the crease at the start of the day. But the batting failed to measure up against Haryana’s new-ball bowlers Joginder Sharma and Sanjay Budhwar who split five wickets each.Once the overnight batsmen had been dismissed after getting starts, the main resistance to Haryana’s seam-and-swing charge came from captain R Vinay Kumar, who, along with Abhimanyu Mithun, who had showed plenty of determination with the bat when India toured Sri Lanka earlier in the year, helped Karnataka reach 222. In response, half-centuries from Sunny Singh and opener Nitin Saini, who is still unbeaten, pushed Haryana to 146 for 3, leaving them confident of gaining a first-innings lead against last year’s runners-up.A collective batting effort propelled Himachal Pradesh to 473 against Punjab at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharmasala. Though there were no centuries, the lower order batted determinedly to ensure the advantage gained on the first day remained with Himachal. Overnight batsmen Manvinder Bisla and Mukesh Kumar helped themselves to half-centuries and added 100 for the fifth wicket. Both fell in quick succession but Kuldeep Diwan (61) and Rishi Dhawan (41) took on the mantle, putting together 89 and taking their team past 400. Vikramjit Malik and Ashok Thakur, who made for an excellent fast-bowling combination last season, chipped in with 19 and 21 respectively to frustrate Punjab. And if it wasn’t enough, they picked up a wicket each to leave their opponents at 54 for 2 at stumps.

Worcestershire have signed Ben Scott, the 28-year-old wicketkeeper, on loan from Middlesex.

Cricinfo staff04-Dec-2009Worcestershire have signed Ben Scott, the 28-year-old wicketkeeper, on loan from Middlesex. He will arrive at New Road at the beginning of next season for a minimum of four weeks to fill in for Ben Cox, Worcester’s 17-year-old first-choice keeper, while Cox completes his A-Levels.Angus Fraser, the Middlesex director of cricket, said the move was instigated by Worcestershire and suited both the clubs and Scott himself.”Worcestershire have a young keeper who they regard highly, but educational commitments mean that he is unavailable until the end of June 2010, a situation that encouraged Steven Rhodes, Worcestershire’s director of cricket, to contact me about the availability of one of Middlesex’s wicketkeepers.””I informed Steven of Middlesex’s position and he asked whether we would be prepared to allow Ben to go on loan to Worcestershire until their young keeper became available.”Middlesex endured a torrid season in 2009, finishing eighth in Division Two of the Championship and Scott struggled, making 167 runs at 12.84 from eight first-class games. He was replaced by Simpson who fared better, contributing 170 runs at 28.33 from his three games.”Ben had a difficult season in 2009; a summer that culminated in us favouring John Simpson as our first eleven wicketkeeper. During his time in the first team John performed extremely well and showed great promise,” said Fraser.”His potential did not go unnoticed, with the ECB selecting him for one of their winter performance squads. In my view John performed well enough last season to merit his selection in the first eleven for the start of the 2010 season, which Ben has been made aware of.”Fraser was keen to assert that Scott’s future remains with Middlesex and the conditions of the loan mean that Scott could return to London at any time.”Ben has repeatedly been told that he remains a part of Middlesex’s plans moving forward and the club very much want him to be with them during pre-season.””The loan agreement allows Middlesex to recall Ben at any point, should John Simpson sustain an injury that prevents him from playing. Middlesex can also recall Ben should John’s form no longer merit him a place in the first eleven.”Josh Knappett, another young wicketkeeper in the Worcestershire squad has had limited opportunities to impress while Steven Davies, currently in South Africa with England’s Test squad, was at New Road. Davies’ move to Surrey, announced in August, could have opened the door for Knappett while Cox was unavailable but Worcestershire opted to sign Scott instead.Scott could feature against Middlesex in the Championship on April 9 and has said he wants to use his opportunities at Worcester to reclaim his starting spot for Middlesex.”I am extremely excited by this new challenge and I am looking forward to the experience. I am grateful to Worcestershire for potentially giving me the opportunity to play first eleven cricket and my full intention is to show Middlesex that I not only have what it takes to play in their first eleven, but also to go on and perform at a higher level.”

Track the squads ahead of the new seasons as clubs build their lists

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-2025 • Updated on 25-Aug-2025

Adelaide Strikers

Men: Hasan Ali (Pak), Cameron Boyce, Jordan Buckingham, Alex Carey, Mackenzie Harvey, Thomas Kelly, Chris Lynn, Harry Nielsen, Jamie Overton (Eng), Lloyd Pope, Alex Ross, Jason Sangha, Liam Scott, Matt Short, Henry Thornton, Luke Wood (Eng)
In Jason Sangha (Thunder), Mackenzie Harvey (Renegades)
Out Brendan Doggett (Renegades), Jake Weatherald (Hurricanes)Women: Jemma Barsby, Tammy Beaumont (Eng), Darcie Brown, Sophie Ecclestone (Eng), Anesu Mushangwe, Tahlia McGrath, Bridget Patterson, Madeline Penna, Megan Schutt, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Laura Wolvaardt (SA)
In
Out Katie Mack (Scorchers)Related

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Brisbane Heat

Men: Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pak), Tom Alsop (Eng), Xavier Bartlett, Max Bryant, Lachlan Hearne, Spencer Johnson, Usman Khawaja, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan McSweeney, Colin Munro (NZ), Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Callum Vidler, Hugh Weibgen, Jack Wildermuth
In Lachlan Hearne, Hugh Weibgen (Thunder)
Out Mitchell Swepson (Stars)Women: Lily Bassingthwaighte, Bonnie Berry, Lucy Bourke, Nadine de Klerk (SA), Sianna Ginger, Lucy Hamilton, Nicola Hancock, Grace Harris, Chinelle Henry (WI), Jess Jonassen, Charli Knott, Grace Parsons, Georgia Redmayne, Jemimah Rodrigues (Ind)
In TBC
Out Laura Harris (Thunder)

Hobart Hurricanes

Men: Rehan Ahmed (Eng), Iain Carlisle, Nikhil Chaudhary, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Rishad Hossain (Ban), Chris Jordan (Eng), Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Billy Stanlake, Matthew Wade, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster, Mac Wright
In Jake Weatherald (Strikers), Beau Webster (Stars)
Out Caleb Jewell (Renegades)Women: Nicola Carey, Heather Graham, Ruth Johnston, Lizelle Lee, Nat Sciver-Brunt (Eng), Hayley Silver-Holmes, Amy Smith, Lauren Smith, Linsey Smith (Eng), Molly Strano, Elyse Villani, Danni Wyatt-Hodge
In TBC
Out TBCCaleb Jewell has moved from Hurricanes to Renegades•Getty Images

Melbourne Renegades

Men: Jason Behrendorff, Josh Brown, Harry Dixon, Brendan Doggett, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Caleb Jewell, Hassan Khan (Pak), Nathan Lyon, Fergus O’Neill, Ollie Peake, Mohammad Rizwan (Pak), Tom Rogers, Tim Seifert (NZ), Will Sutherland, Adam Zampa
In Jason Behrendorff (Scorchers), Brendan Doggett (Strikers), Caleb Jewell (Hurricanes)
Out Mackenzie Harvey (Strikers)Women: Alice Capsey (Eng), Emma de Broughe, Deandra Dottin (WI), Tess Flintoff, Milly Illingworth, Sophie Molineux, Naomi Stalenberg, Georgia Wareham
In Tess Flintoff (Stars)
Out Ella Hayward (Stars), Georgia Prestwidge (Stars)

Melbourne Stars

Men: Austin Anlezark, Scott Boland, Hilton Cartwright, Joe Clarke (Eng), Tom Curran (Eng), Sam Harper, Liam Hatcher, Campbell Kellaway, Glenn Maxwell, Hamish McKenzie, Haris Rauf (Pak), Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Mark Steketee, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson
In Liam Hatcher (Thunder), Mitch Swepson (Heat)
Out Beau Webster (Hurricanes), Joel Paris (Scorchers)Women: Sophie Day, Kim Garth, Dani Gibson (Eng), Ella Hayward, Amy Jones (Eng), Marizanne Kapp (RSA), Meg Lanning, Rhys McKenna, Ines McKeon, Georgia Prestwidge, Sophie Reid, Annabel Sutherland
In Ella Hayward (Renegades), Georgia Prestwidge (Renegades)
Out Tess Flintoff (Renegades), Hasrat Gill (Thunder)

Perth Scorchers

Men: Ashton Agar, Finn Allen (NZ), Mahli Beardman, Cooper Connolly, Laurie Evans (Eng), Sam Fanning, Aaron Hardie, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis, Bryce Jackson, Matt Kelly, Mitchell Marsh, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, David Payne (Eng), Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner
In Joel Paris (Stars), Bryce Jackson
Out Jason Behrendorff (Renegades)Katie Mack has signed with Scorchers•Getty Images

Women: Chloe Ainsworth, Maddy Darke, Sophie Devine (NZ), Amy Edgar, Mikayla Hinkley, Ebony Hoskin, Alana King, Katie Mack, Lilly Mills, Beth Mooney, Paige Scholfield (Eng), Chloe Tryon (SA)
In Katie Mack (Strikers)
Out TBC

Sydney Sixers

Men: Sean Abbott, Babar Azam (Pak), Jafer Chohan (Eng), Sam Curran (Eng), Joel Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques, Hayden Kerr, Todd Murphy, Mitch Perry, Josh Philippe, Kane Richardson, Lachlan Shaw, Jordan Silk, Steven Smith
In Kane Richardson
OutWomen: Caoimhe Bray, Maitlan Brown, Lauren Cheatle, Sophia Dunkley (Eng), Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Elsa Hunter, Amelia Kerr (NZ), Ellyse Perry, Courtney Sippel, Mady Villiers
In Elsa Hunter
Out TBC

Sydney Thunder

Men: R Ashwin (Ind), Tom Andrews, Wes Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Sam Billings (Eng), Ollie Davies, Lockie Ferguson (NZ), Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Ryan Hadley, Shadab Khan (Pak), Sam Konstas, Nathan McAndrew, Blake Nikitaras, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, David Warner
In
Out Liam Hatcher (Stars), Jason Sangha (Strikers), Hugh Weibgen (Heat)Women: Chamari Athapaththu (SL), Samantha Bates, Ella Briscoe, Hannah Darlington, Sienna Eve, Hasrat Gill, Laura Harris, Shabnim Ismail (SA), Anika Learoyd, Phoebe Litchfield, Taneale Peschel, Georgia Voll, Tahlia Wilson
In Laura Harris (Heat), Hasrat Gill (Stars)

Out Sammy Jo-Johnson (retired)

Riaz and Maroof put up a crucial stand of 39 off 28 balls to finish the job for Pakistan with 10 balls remaining

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2023Fatima Sana’s three-for and a combined effort from batters helped Pakistan win the first T20I against New Zealand in Dunedin. It was Pakistan’s first-ever win against New Zealand in the format.Having elected to bat first, New Zealand got off to a steady start before medium-pacer Sana struck in the sixth over to remove Bernadine Bezuidenhout for 13. She then went on to dismiss Kate Anderson in the eighth over and pin Suzie Bates in front in the tenth to leave New Zealand at 59 for 3. She conceded just 18 runs off her four overs.Sophie Devine and Maddy Green then cautiously started the repair job but Aliya Riaz came back to remove the former for a 17-ball 11. Nida Dar then dismissed Georgia Plimmer in the 16th over.Green and Rowe then added 28 off 24 balls to take the total past 100. Green hit five boundaries during her stay and was unbeaten on 43, as New Zealand set Pakistan a target of 128.In the chase, Pakistan openers Muneeba Ali and Shawaal Zulfiqar started slowly, scoring 30 runs in the powerplay. Devine broke the stand in the ninth over, removing Muneeba for 23, following which Zulfiqar and Dar built towards the target.Zulfiqar departed for 41 and Dar for 23, leaving Pakistan with 35 runs to get off 38 balls. Riaz and Maroof came together for a fourth-wicket stand of 39 off 28 balls and finished the job with 10 balls remaining. Riaz scored the winning runs, a six off Jess Kerr in the 19th over.

Joey Evison, the successor to “Stevo”, also impresses as Leicestershire fall well short

David Hopps26-Aug-2022Put those Darren Stevens retirement stories away for a moment because he is not quite finished yet. A return to Leicestershire, the county where his career began, felt like a fairytale ending – only he has no intention to end. Influential contributions with bat and ball helped give Kent an 82-run win in this Royal London Cup play-off and now takes them to a semi-final tie against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl on Tuesday.If Stevens’ intervention with the bat felt entirely predictable – 41 from 24 balls with The Meet Café & Bar at deep midwicket fearing partial demolition from his wrecking ball – his bowling spell was a bonus. Ten overs in mid-innings for 37 runs felt as if Leicestershire had taken their largesse too far as he was met conservatively throughout. It was canny stuff but perhaps not that canny. He had a towel down before his final over, as if determined to see the job through, and suitably somebody should have brought him out a little stool to sit on while they did it.Grace Road is one of the quieter grounds on the circuit, even in their first home knockout tie for 11 years, but sporadic cries of “Stevo” punctuated the day, often for no specific reason. Perhaps some of them came from Leicestershire supporters who would like him to return for a final year. Coincidentally that knockout tie was also against Kent when Paul Nixon, now their head coach, made 31 in a three-wicket win. Considering the ECB’s machinations, it’s a toss-up who is most likely still to be around another 11 years from now – Leicestershire or Stevens.His last ball should have been the perfect finish. Scott Steel, who fulfilled the anchor role for Leicestershire much as Ben Compton had done previously for Kent, risked a leg-side pick-up, but it fell to the 12th man, James Logan, on the half volley and trundled for four. By the time Logan left the field, his duties complete, Stevens’ hands were still on hips in mild-mannered exasperation, but his job had been done.Leicestershire still needed 196 from 21 at 9.33 an over at that point and even though they had seven wickets left they never really made contact with it. A flurry of runs and then Steel swung rather mindlessly at a short ball from Nathan Gilchrist to sky one straight up in the air and fall for 65 from 94 balls.The batter who might have turned the tie for Leicestershire was Wiaan Mulder, their South African allrounder, one of the driving forces behind their play-offs place. Mulder made 81 from 71, his innings ending when he was bowled by a delivery that jagged back substantially, and low, from Joey Evison, who suitably is the young allrounder positioned to fill Stevens’ shoes. Nobody sang “Joey” in homage, even though he had earlier made an excellent half-century, but as Stevens has already recognised, he is a player of considerable promise and can write his own tunes.Related

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Kent’s early incursions came through Harry Podmore, whose career has been so curtailed by injury that a decade after his county debut for Middlesex he was playing only his 99th match across all formats. That he was fit and firing after recovering from severe side and knee injuries was a considerable bonus. His first wicket was a bit of a gimme as Nicky Welch slapped him to point, but he bowled Rishi Patel and Lous Kimber with excellent deliveries that seamed back through the gate. Grant Stewart made short shrift of the tail to finish with 4 for 42. Kent had been helped a little by the fact that the surface died a little as the game progressed, but as Nixon agreed, Leicestershire did not lift their game when most needed.Stevens’ innings had been marked by a succession of flat bats with Ed Barnes conceding three of his four sixes, enough for Barnes to finish with undistinguished figures of 2 for 75 in eight overs, his mood uplifted by two good wickets. Leicestershire set two short thirds to him and appeared to have a theory, but it didn’t come off. Predictably, he eventually fell short at deep midwicket and a repair bill for The Meet was avoided after all. It was another South African who carried Leicestershire’s fight with the ball, Beuran Hendricks, a lithe left-armer who is more slippery than he looks, was the bwler who silenced Stevens and he was the pick of their attack with 2 for 35.Half-centuries from Evison and Compton in an opening stand of 95 in 18 overs handed Kent an initiative that they never relinquished. Evison drove Kimber from the attack with three sixes in two overs between straight and long-on before he was dismissed trying to sweep Steel; Compton, his off stump clipped by Mulder as he played defensively, made 56 from 80 balls with only four boundaries and was probably out at a perfect time, although he loves batting so might not think so. A third Kent half-century, this time from Joe Denly, kept Leicestershire at bay.

Jayden Seales hits back on debut after Windies are rolled aside for 97

Firdose Moonda10-Jun-2021Fourteen wickets fell on an eventful first day at St Lucia, where South Africa inched in front aftter dismissing West Indies for their lowest total against South Africa.Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen put their team in the lead after Lungi Ngidi’s second Test five-for and a four-wicket haul from Anrich Nortje saw West Indies shot out for 97. The visitors, touring the Caribbean for the first time in 11 years, adjusted well to conditions that suited their pace pack.West Indies were left to rue their decision to bat first, especially as their attack were unable to cause the same problems as South Africa’s on a pitch that appeared to flatten as the day wore on. Although the bounce remained true and the carry good, West Indies’ attack did not generate the same seam movement as South Africa’s, neither did they bowl with the same militaristic discipline, but they took four of the top six with debutant seamer Jayden Seales responsible for three of those wickets.Seales, playing in just his second first-class game, was the most impressive of the home pack on a day for the quicks that belonged to South Africa’s fast men. They impressed with accuracy and aggression and condemned West Indies to only their second sub-100 total since 2004. No West Indies batter scored more than 20 and no partnership was worth more than 24 in a reflection on South Africa’s incisiveness and solid slip catching.Kagiso Rabada set the tone and looked back to his menacing best when he beat Kraigg Brathwaite with the new ball on several occasions but did not find the edge. Instead, it was Nortje who struck at the other end. He bowled Shai Hope in the perfect fast bowler’s fashion as the ball angled away and hit the top of off stump to break a 24-run opening stand.Anrich Nortje celebrates a wicket with Dean Elgar•AFP/Getty Images

Nortje could have had a second wicket off the next ball when he greeted Nkrumah Bonner with a menacing short ball that Bonner appeared to top-edge onto his badge. South Africa reviewed while Bonner had a concussion test. The former was unsuccessful and showed no bat involved and though he was deemed fit to continue, he was reassessed at the end of the innings, and duly replaced by Kieran Powell for the remainder of the contest.Three balls after Bonner’s helmet blow, Nortje bowled Brathwaite with a delivery that jagged back into the West Indian captain and onto the outside of the off stump. While Bonner and Roston Chase spent 65 balls together trying to rebuild, but accumulated just 14 runs. Chase took 25 deliveries to get off the mark, and the pressure told. Bonner was squared up by Rabada and edged to Quinton de Kock before new batter Kyle Mayers tried to pull a Nortje length ball but gifted Rassie van der Dussen a catch at extra cover in the next over on the stroke of lunch.At that stage, Ngidi had bowled seven overs for 10 runs and had not taken a wicket, but he made up for it after the break. After Jermaine Blackwood played the poorest stroke of the line-up when he hung his bat out to a back-of-a-length Nortje delivery and was caught at gully, Ngidi had success with his first ball of the second chase.He generated extra bounce to have Roston Chase caught at second slip and four balls later had Joshua da Silva caught low at third slip, after edging a ball that moved away. Four overs later, Rahkeem Cornwall tried to smash Ngidi over the slip cordon but miscued and Markram took the catch running from first slip towards third man. In his next over, Ngidi had Roach caught behind and four overs after that, finished the innings off when Holder pushed at a ball outside off and was caught at second slip.Jayden Seales is jubilant after dismissing Keegan Petersen for his first Test wicket•AFP/Getty Images

South Africa’s reply started inauspiciously when Dean Elgar recorded a duck in his first innings as permanent Test captain. Elgar left the first four deliveries of South Africa’s reply alone but was drawn into playing at the fifth which Kemar Roach pitched fuller than the rest and closer to the off stump. The ball took the outside edge and Blackwood took a good catch at third slip, diving to his left.Roach had hopes of another in his next over when Markram withdrew from his stroke and edged between the wicketkeeper and Cornwall at first slip. Markram also had an appeal for lbw against him, off Roach, turned down; Replays showed an inside edge. At the other end, Keegan Petersen impressed with his tight technique and confident defence and the pair took South Africa to tea.Petersen only lasted three balls after the break and fell to the first one he faced off fellow newcomer Seales. The teenager, playing in just his second first-class match, started off with good pace and plenty of energy and took the splice of Petersen’s bat with the last ball of his first over. Jason Holder took the catch at second slip to give Seales his first Test wicket.Seales could have had another two overs later when Rassie van der Dussen was given out lbw for 5 but reviewed. Replays showed the ball was missing leg stump by some distance and van der Dussen survived, only to slash Seales through the gully before a more confident pull off Holder.Markram knuckled down and showed rare glimpses of positive stroke play, such as the backfoot drive off Mayers and the slap through the covers off Cornwall, but it was only when he pulled Seales in front of square to level the scores that he looked properly in control. He brought up his fifty off 99 balls and seemed set to take South Africa to the close but Seales had another burst to come. He forced Markram to play at a ball on fourth stump which took the edge on its way to Joshua da Silva. Markram departed for 60.Related

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That brought another debutant, Kyle Verreynne, to the middle but he could not keep van der Dussen company to the close. Seales got his third when Verreynne flashed at a short ball and got a thick outside edge for da Silva to collect.South Africa did not send in a nightwatchman but stuck to their usual batting line-up and Quinton de Kock accompanied van der Dussen to the close. With only allrounder Wiaan Mulder to come before the tail, West Indies will be hopeful of keeping South Africa’s lead from ballooning beyond their reach and staying competitive in the Test.Play began with West Indies, as they have done for the last 11 months, taking a knee in support of anti-racism. For the first time since the athlete activist movement began, South Africa opted to give their players individual choice over their gesture after their collective decision last year not to take a knee but to wear armbands and raise a fist instead.Rabada, Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen and Kyle Verreynne took a knee. Elgar, Markram, Mulder and Nortje raised a fist while de Kock stood. On the sidelines, South Africa’s entire support staff took a knee while one reserve player raised a fist and another stood.”We come from a diverse country. Everyone is entitled to their own choice,” Ngidi said at the close. “I have been very clear on my stance. Everyone is happy for everyone. We play for South Africa and that’s all we are trying to do as players.”

‘It’s not about egos or anything like that, it’s about sending your best team to the World Cup,’ South Africa coach says

Firdose Moonda16-Feb-2020The one person South African coach Mark Boucher is sure of ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup did not even play in the series against England, which ended on Sunday. South Africa lost 1-2 and head straight into another rubber against Australia on Friday, where they could sport a very different squad that could even include AB de Villiers, who Boucher indicated is a shoe-in for the tournament later this year.”He’s a discussion in the media and in the public but he is no discussion for me. I have had chats with him and we will probably know pretty soon what’s going to happen with him,” Boucher said. “Like I said from day one when I took over, if we are going to a World Cup, I would like to have our best players there.”If AB is in good form and he is raring to go and he makes himself available for the time we have asked him to be available; if he is the best man for the job, then he must go. It’s not about egos or anything like that, it’s about sending your best team to the World Cup to try and win that competition.”ALSO READ: Ice-cool Morgan hands England 2-1 series winDe Villiers retired from all international cricket in May 2018 but attempted to make a comeback for the 2019 50-over World Cup, which was blocked by national selectors. At the time, it was explained that the refusal to let de Villiers back was because he had snubbed a request to play in two ODIs leading up to the tournament. This time, de Villiers will be part of South Africa’s build-up, although it is not clear how many matches he will be required to play.South Africa have a two-month break after the Australia series, which includes three T20Is and three ODIs and will be followed by a white-ball tour of Sri Lanka and a visit to West Indies that includes five T20s. Early indications were that de Villiers would return to the national side after the IPL but with Australia bringing a full-strength squad, de Villiers may be convinced to come back earlier so South Africa can settle on combinations.South Africa are expected to announce their squad on Tuesday, with Faf du Plessis and Kagiso Rabada, who were rested for the England series, likely to be back.That will give South Africa further options to consider as they look to refine their playing group for the T20 World Cup, after Boucher conceded that he still has vacant spots in this team. “A couple of questions have been answered – maybe in a positive way, maybe one or two in a negative way but least the questions have been answered and we are getting an idea of which positions are filled,” he said.Although Boucher did not reveal exactly which places had been claimed, a quick glance at the series suggests the openers have sealed their spots. Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma, who has just five T20 caps to his name, got South Africa off to three strong starts with stands of 92, 48 and 84 and finished as the first and second top-scorers for their team.Though South Africa had some middle-order challenges, Boucher was “very happy with the batting,” as a whole. That suggests Rassie van der Dussen, Jon-Jon Smuts, David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen, who only played the final match, have all done enough to remain in contention for the T20 World Cup.The performance of the attack was less satisfying for Boucher, with South Africa failing to defend 222 at SuperSport Park. “The bowling has, at times, been very good. We’ve got wicket-taking ability but as a unit we are not hitting our straps enough and there are a couple too many soft options. If we can clean that act up then I think we are going in the right direction,” Boucher said.In particular, he wants to work on bowlers’ skills, especially the yorker but stressed that it is difficult to focus on that in between matches because of the tight travel schedule. “We did speak about trying to nail more yorkers but it’s difficult to train those sort of things because we play, we travel, we play, we travel,” he said. “I don’t think the skill is where it should be and that’s something we need to work on. We are looking at a camp that we can put together so that we can work on particular things with our bowlers and our batters.”While Lungi Ngidi, who defended seven runs off the last over in East London, is unlikely to have been the focus of Boucher’s comments, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Beuran Hendricks and even Dale Steyn will want to take notes so they know what’s expected of them as South Africa head into their next assignment. Rabada and Sisanda Magala, who has spent the series working on his fitness, are the other options South Africa will consider.Overall, Boucher has assessed his first full series as national head coach as “tough,” but no different to what he thought it would be when he took the job in mid-December.”I knew it was going to be tough,” Boucher said. “I don’t want to get emotional about the whole thing. You’ve got to try and be practical and look at where we are as a team and understand that there is a lot of hard work to do.”With regards to our Test cricket, we are a long way off the mark so we need to work nice and hard there, especially on our batting. In one-day cricket, we are a very young side and I was pretty happy with the way that went. We are in a stage now, I don’t like to call it rebuilding, but we are looking at opportunities for guys to stand up and take responsibility for a position that they could own for a long period of time. If there is a chance to give guys opportunity, then I think we must.”Despite a number of debuts – South Africa handed out five in the Tests and three in ODIs – the team has not won a series since March last year, which speaks to the dire straits they find themselves in. But for Boucher, this time seems to present possibilities for new heroes, and maybe for a veteran like de Villiers, to come back.

Ponting’s advice followed time-honoured lines of Perth – leaving the ball on length, being selective on balls to drive and cashing in on the cut and the pull

Daniel Brettig in Perth13-Dec-2018Australian cricket’s fundamentals will be on trial at the new Perth Stadium over the next five days, as an undermanned team led by Tim Paine will seek to level the series with an Indian side traditionally all at sea in fast and bouncy conditions but now increasingly sure of themselves on days when the red ball flies.Searing first day temperatures, in excess of 35C, will complicate the decision for either captain at the toss, but Paine was clear that whichever way it fell, his team would need to start as strongly as they did in Adelaide before sustaining their efforts more coherently thereafter. To that end, former captain Ricky Ponting joined the team for their final training session, offering advice to the batsmen that followed the time-honoured lines of Perth – leaving the ball on length, being selective on balls to drive and cashing in on the cut and the pull.”I know he’s always in and around our group, I know he has been for the last six to eight months to be fair, and he’s working with Channel Seven so he’s around the venues. And one of the things we’re trying to do is get our ex-players back, so he’s just another one when he’s around we try to tap into,” Paine said of Ponting. “Him in particular i think, he makes our batting group walk a bit taller and fills them with confidence, so I’m sure they were all speaking to him today at certain periods.”You want to be judging the length of balls well but we know in Perth traditionally, and even at this venue, in the short amount of time it’s quite quick and bouncy, so it’s one of the things we’ve spoken about, something you speak to all the time when you come to Perth, it’s just about adjusting to different conditions. All our guys have had experience doing it at first-class level so this week will be no different.”In declaring that Australia’s batting lineup would be unchanged in addition to the playing XI itself, Paine delivered a strong vote of confidence in both Aaron Finch and Mitchell Starc, the opening batsman and pace bowler who both had indifferent matches in Adelaide, the former against the moving ball and the latter struggling to control the sort of swing he had been trying to regain for some time. As an aggressive batsman and a piercing fast bowler, Finch and Starc are the sort of players who could quickly swing a match on a pacy pitch.Aaron Finch was left with one stump standing•Getty Images

“Finchy’s been successful at international cricket, I think he played really well in the UAE, he’s like any other player, he just needs that one score to get that little bit more self-belief at Test level that we know he’s got at international T20 and one-day cricket,” Paine said. “Finchy’s no different to any other player. You’re not going to succeed at international cricket unless you stick to your strengths, and Finchy knows the best way he goes about his batting. We’ve just got to keep him on track and make sure he keeps trying to do that. If he does, he’ll come good for us.”I think [Starc] will swing it out there, the conditions are going to suit him down to the ground and one thing I know about Starcy is when he cops a bit of criticism normally he takes it pretty personally and that sometimes gets the best out of him. So pretty pumped to see him go tomorrow or the next day and see what he can produce. We know his best is the best, so really excited to have him in our team and we realise how lucky we are to have him.”We’ve got a really settled and experienced bowling attack, so I don’t think we’ll have to say too much. They know what works at Test cricket, they’ve done it before and played on all types of surfaces and adapted really quickly. So this wicket might play really well, we don’t know, it’ll just be about having a look in that first half an hour and whatever team can settle and adjust to the conditions better are going to get well ahead of the game.”Paine conceded he had been in a state of some emotional anguish at the end of the Adelaide Test when he questioned the accuracy of ball-tracking, leading to the Virtual Eye operator Ian Taylor to reiterate his open invitation to the players to see how the technology worked, based on picking up the ball at numerous fixed positions on its way down the pitch. But he was also hopeful for better policing of no-balls in Perth, after Ishant Sharma’s transgressions for one wicket and another lbw appeal were shown to be only two of many by the broadcasters.”No I haven’t [taken up the offer] but I have thought about it,” Paine said. “It was at the end of a pretty close Test match and I was probably a little bit emotional or upset that a couple of things didn’t go our way, but I certainly understand how it works and understand the technology. It was more a bit of frustration coming out that we got a few wrong and we thought a couple might’ve been hitting the stumps that weren’t. Can it get better? Yep. Do I have the answer? No.”I spoke to them [the umpires] on one of the days really quickly [about no-balls], because I was watching the telecast in the change room, so just to get an idea of whether they were communicating to the umpires in the middle which they said they were. What I do know is, it’s not an easy job, they’re standing two or three metres away and the guys are running in fast and it all happens pretty quickly. As long as we’re aware of it and looking at solutions that can help that process then I’m all for it. But I hope this Test match it is done a little better.”ALSO READ: Under-scanner Ishant works hard to rectify no-ball problemAs for his battered finger, Paine again insisted he was “fine”, but reflected on what may unfold in terms of the vice-captain Josh Hazlewood taking over in the event of a further injury. In addition to Hazlewood, the likes of Finch, Travis Head and Usman Khawaja all have extensive captaincy experience, either in domestic or limited overs international matches. “I’m sure he’d sneak himself up to mid off or mid on there somewhere, but no I don’t think it would change a great deal,” Paine said. “Josh is certainly a very level and experienced cricketer and highly respected in our group. We’ve got a number of guys who’ve captained a lot of teams in Australian domestic, BBL, that sort of stuff, so I’m sure we’d be fine if something did happen.”We’ve got an inexperienced group in terms of Test matches played, but quite an experienced group in terms of age and first-class games and captains. There’s a number of guys you can go to and our bowling attack is really experienced. There’s certain periods where I’m bouncing things off a lot of the guys to be fair. One of the things we’re trying to do is develop a lot of leaders. It doesn’t happen overnight, but the more responsibility and the more you can involve other people, the more they’re going to develop and the quicker they’re going to develop.”

The opening partnership, Babar Azam’s form, the middle-order positions and balance of the attack: Mickey Arthur has admitted he has a lengthy list of issues to resolve

Osman Samiuddin09-Oct-2017Before this series began, Pakistan were faced with a few questions. Some were familiar ones, like who should open. Others were new – who replaces Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan in the middle order, and how does that impact the order?Nine days into the series, 1-0 down to a side one place below in the Test rankings, and faced with the very real prospect of losing a long-standing unbeaten home record, coach Mickey Arthur admitted their answers to these questions were wrong.Arthur: It’s a bit of a worry. It is a worry. I’ve got a lot of faith in Babar because I think he is a very good player. But his white-ball form needs to start transforming into Test form. He’s had a very slow start to his Test career, for a player of his ability. I’m still confident that he will come through and that he will be a very good player for Pakistan going forward. We’ve just got to guide him through as best we can.”Arthur: It’s kept me awake at night to be honest. It’s tough. I thought we had it nailed I’ve got to be honest. I was comfortable that we had the right combinations. I was comfortable we had enough left-hand, right-hand combinations. I thought we had the next best batsmen available in Pakistan playing for us. I’ll be honest I’m not 100% sure now.And before we tour again, we’ve got a long break now before we go to England, we’re going to have to sit down and really apply our minds and have a look again as to what we think is our best top six going forward.Arthur: It’s still too early to say. I would’ve loved Asad to be playing the innings he is from No. 4 because that just solves the problem for us. With him going down to five, it throws up another conundrum for us because he’s playing so well at five, is that his right position? I’m not so sure. We’re going to have to really apply our minds going forward with what our right top six is.Arthur: In terms of rationale one of the things always pointed out about Pakistan cricket is that there hasn’t been any continuity. We’ve tried to get continuity with our players, albeit the right decision or the wrong decision. We’ve tried to create continuity – Pakistan cricket is synonymous with dropping players, bringing them back, dropping them again, bringing them back again. We want to give guys an opportunity and then we can make a proper decision on it.Has our opening partnership worked for us in this series? It probably hasn’t but that is something we’ll discuss going forward. The easy option would be Azhar going back up and that then opens another position at no. 3. At the moment we’ve got a lot of soul searching to do to figure out what our best top six is.Arthur: We just thought it was our best possible attack, whether that was right or wrong, it’s something I need to get my head around. I’ve come from and coached in places where pace dominates and wins games. I’ve got to get my thinking round these totally different conditions.Whether we like it or not though our attack has done a job. We should’ve chased down 136 in Abu Dhabi. Without a doubt. And then we would’ve said the attack has done its job.The other thing is, no disrespect to the spinners we’ve got because they’re young, but if it’s Yasir Shah and Saeed Ajmal, it’s a no-brainer. But we don’t have Saeed Ajmal as the second spinner. We’re working with a set of young spinners. Bilal Asif and Mohammad Asghar have worked the house down. Asghar will be good. When we give him that opportunity is something we need to look at. And perhaps the opportunity was here. Maybe tactically I messed up on that.Strategically when we set about looking at how we’d go about this, we asked for wickets that did a little bit more than they have done. We asked for a little bit more grass because that would nullify Sri Lanka’s spinners and give our quick bowlers an opportunity. Whether that can happen in the UAE, I’m not sure. Maybe that was a pipe dream as far as I was concerned. But that was our strategy going into the series.

Worcestershire must overturn a Glamorgan run chase on the final day at New Road to keep their promotion challenge bouyant

ECB Reporters Network15-Aug-2016
ScorecardJoe Clarke fell two runs short of a hundred•Getty Images

Graham Wagg’s first five wicket haul of the season and a record-equalling performance by keeper Mark Wallace enabled Glamorgan to finally dismiss Worcestershire for 393 on day three of the Specsavers County Championship clash at New Road.But fine knocks from England Lions batsman Joe Clarke (98) and vice-captain Joe Leach (65 not out) enabled the promotion-chasing home side to set a 277 target although the pitch remains batsmen-friendly.Then Leach struck an early blow for the home side as Nick Selman was caught behind without a run on the board – his third successive duck as Glamorgan closed on 16 for 1Wagg finished with 5 for 90 from 33 overs of toil in the scorching heat while Wallace matched his own and Colin Metson’s Glamorgan record of nine dismissals in a see-saw match.However the individual highlight of the day was teenager Lukas Carey pulling off one of the catches of the season to deny Clarke a fifth first class century of the campaign. Clarke pulled a delivery from Wagg which looked to be sailing over the square leg boundary for six. But Carey, 19, stuck out his right hand and held onto the ball at full stretch on the edge of the rope to end Clarke’s fine knock.The home side had resumed on 150-2 – and within two overs had lost two wickets as Tom Fell and Tom Kohler-Cadmore were dismissed.
Fell had failed to add to his overnight 65 when he drove hard at Wagg and nicked through to Wallace. Kohler-Cadmore completed a pair when he pushed forward to Michael Hogan and was also caught behind.Worcestershire, who trailed by 117 runs on first innings, were then effectively 35 for 4 but Clarke and Ross Whiteley responded with a fifth wicket stand of 104 in 36.1 overs.Clarke looked in particularly fine form until Carey’s stunning catch and Whiteley was dismissed in bizarre fashion by Wagg’s next delivery. The left hander ducked under a Wagg delivery but left his bat upright periscope-style and the ball ballooned off it into the hands of Wallace. Ben Cox and Ed Barnard were both trapped lbw to Craig Meschede and Wagg who completed a five wicket haul.Leach and Jack Shantry provided further resistance in a ninth wicket stand of 56 with the former going to his half century with a six over long-on off Owen Morgan.