All posts by n8rngtd.top

Joe Leach hits 84 as Nos. 8-11 pile on the runs against Nottinghamshire, who are 99 without loss in reply

Paul Edwards23-Apr-2021
The great summers of Jim Griffiths are long past. Northamptonshire’s No. 11 played 138 innings in his 13-year first-class career, scoring 290 runs at an average of 3.33. His salad day – in truth it was little more than a lettuce leaf enrobed in a dab of Heinz – arrived on July 19, 1982, when he pummelled Gloucestershire’s attack for 16 at Bristol. Otherwise, spectators on the county circuit would talk fondly of the times they saw old Jim make no runs at all.Griffiths the Prolific came to mind this lovely Friday afternoon as we watched Charlie Morris bat against Nottinghamshire. Morris is also a No. 11 but faced 67 balls for his ten unbeaten runs. Much more to the point, he kept Joe Leach company for 141 minutes as the pair put on 81 for Worcestershire’s last wicket, a partnership that delayed lunch by half an hour and extended the home side’s first innings until just after three o’clock. Morris used to be a member of the Number Eleven Club, albeit he was never remotely in Jim’s class. But he’s worked at his batting in the manner of the modern professional and who knows how many he would have made had he not run out of partner?Morris’s stand with Leach was only the third in a series of trials for Steven Mullaney’s bowlers. At 4.30 on Thursday afternoon Worcestershire were 216 for 7 and the visitors could look forward to chipping away at a modest total. Nearly 24 hours later the last three wickets had more than doubled the score and it was therefore to the credit of Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed that Nottinghamshire did not suffer the general chaos that so often follows a last-wicket stand.Related

• Harvey Hosein sets tone for Derbyshire defiance as Durham face tough victory push

• Dom Bess meets his calling with maiden Yorkshire five-for

• Middlesex seamers combine for stunning rout as Surrey lose their London pride

• Jake Libby lives up to the scenery with century against former team-mates

• Chris Rushworth rekindles Riverside love affair as David Bedingham makes eyes with career-best 257

The openers put on an unbroken 99 in 44 overs and our evening’s play ended with the sort of proficient strokeplay and quiet accomplishment that Walter Keeton or George Gunn would have recognised and appreciated. Hameed worked Alzarri Joseph down to third man, thereby reaching his fifty off 136 balls. The pick of his four fours was a clip through midwicket off Leach and this may yet be a significant innings for a 24-year-old who has yet to make a hundred for Nottinghamshire. Slater batted unobtrusively well, too, and such serene accumulation will have pleased the visiting coaches.In truth, though, Worcestershire’s resistance had already given our cricket a curiously misshapen quality, with Nottinghamshire’s first innings being the appendix to the day rather than its main body. Certainly this New Road pitch suits batsmen intent on occupation, for it is predominantly low and moderately paced. It might well offer the spinners a little more assistance on Sunday but at present any variable bounce has been well covered by Hameed and Slater. That said, the openers were probably grateful for any help that was going; before their quiescent partnership this evening their highest opening stand of the season was 11 in four attempts.Odd records were also set in Worcestershire’s innings. For example their total of 436 was the fifth occasion in eight red-ball games that they had made over 400 in their first innings. This was a fine effort, one that had been launched by Daryl Mitchell and Jake Libby’s first-wicket stand but then maintained after a collapse by Joseph and Ed Barnard, both of whom completed their fifties this morning. Joseph made 61 before he chipped Zak Chappell to Joe Clarke at short mid-on and Barnard’s fine 58 ended when he tried to cut a ball from Liam Patterson-White that was too close to him and edged a catch to Tom Moores.Which leaves us with that last-wicket stand, the eccentric centrepiece of our day. Leach took the main role, of course. After reaching his half-century off 99 balls, Worcestershire’s skipper whacked Mullaney for a straight six and followed it with a cover drive. Then, just before our delayed lunch Chappell bowled to Morris and Mullaney placed six close fielders, none of them in the slip cordon. It is a tactical stratagem roughly translated as: “Sod this for a game of soldiers. Stick it up his nose.”After lunch Lyndon James bowled to Leach with the fielders practising an extreme example of social distancing. Off the fifth ball Worcestershire’s skipper managed a single and next over we went through a similar rigmarole. By the time Leach edged Patterson-White to slip Nottinghamshire’s ire was comparable to that of the local patriots who had noticed that someone had failed to honour St George’s Day by hoisting England’s flag on the cathedral tower. Shakespeare’s birthday was therefore marked by a hunt for the wide-chopped rascal, the bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog responsible for the insult. Investigations were continuing this evening. Hameed will continue tomorrow.

Piet Botha and Prasanna Agoram are the other additions in the Lions backroom staff

Firdose Moonda17-Jun-2021Former South Africa international JP Duminy has been appointed head of the batting department for the Johannesburg-based Lions team for the 2021/22 season. This is Duminy’s first coaching job.The Lions, who have kept their name from the franchise system but now only represent the province of Gauteng in the new two-tier system – North-West were the other team that made up the franchise and will play as North-West in Division 1 – have also acquired the services of former Warriors coach Piet Botha as bowling coach and former national team analyst Prasanna Agoram to bulk up a backroom staff that also includes former North-West player Jimmy Kgamadi. Wandile Gwavu, who has been the Lions head coach for the last two seasons, will continue in that role.While Gwavu and Kgamadi will work exclusively with the men’s provincial side, Duminy, Botha and Agoram have been contracted to the province for the entire pipeline which will involve women’s and age-group teams.Duminy, who had a 15-year international career, retired from Test cricket in 2017 and from white-ball cricket after the 2019 World Cup. He has since been involved in commentary for a variety of international and league fixtures, most recently the ongoing PSL.Agoram worked with the national men’s team for 11 years until January this year when he was replaced by Rivash Gobind, who joined the team for the tour of Pakistan. While Cricket South Africa did not give explicit reasons for parting ways with Agoram, it is understood they were looking to give the analyst position to a local candidate. Agoram, who is from India, remains held in high regard in South Africa as the Lions have demonstrated.”In our quest for excellence, we have secured Prasanna Agoram, undoubtedly the cricketing world’s number one High-Performance Analyst. As the High-Performance Manager, Prasanna adds an unquantifiable value to the Lions Cricket system, overseeing talent acceleration from grassroots through to professional level,” Lions CEO Jono-Leaf Wright said.The 2021/22 season will see South African domestic cricket played under a new system to the one that was in place since the 2004/5 season. Instead of a six-team franchise competition and 14-team provincial set-up, the franchises have been discontinued, and 14 provinces have been divided into two tiers. Provinces in each tier will compete in four-day and one-day cricket while a T20 tournament in the form of the Mzansi Super League is also expected to take place.

Bhuvneshwar, Chakravarthy back in squad; Samson misses out

Varun Shetty20-Feb-2021India have named three of IPL 2020’s top performers – batsman Suryakumar Yadav, wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, and allrounder Rahul Tewatia in their squad for the five-match T20I series against England that begins from March 12. The squad also has the returning Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rishabh Pant and Varun Chakarvarthy, but the injured Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson, and Mayank Agarwal, who were all part of India’s last T20I assignment in Australia late last year, have missed out on selection. Jasprit Bumrah is also not part of the squad.These are maiden call-ups for Yadav, Tewatia and Kishan, who put on some of the most sparkling batting displays during last year’s IPL which ended shortly before India flew to Australia. Thirty-year-old Yadav is the most experienced cricketer of the trio, while 22-year-old Kishan – who made 173 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy hours before the squad announcement – has long been seen as a potential India player since breaking through with the Under-19 team. The pair of them formed a deadly combination in Mumbai Indians’ top three, particularly towards the end of their title-winning campaign in the UAE. Kishan takes the place of Samson, who was the second wicketkeeper in India’s last few series.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The selection of 27-year-old Tewatia, in comparison, is another case of a player transcending limitations in other formats and finding a path to the national team via the IPL. Like T Natarajan, who was called in to replaced the injured Chakravarthy – himself a product of T20 leagues – in Australia, Tewatia made his abilities known with stellar performances in last year’s edition, particularly an innings where he went from struggling on 5 off 13 to hit six sixes off his last eight balls to take Rajasthan Royals to victory against Punjab Kings. He played a few other key knocks of a similar flavour, while being Royals’ only fixed domestic bowler throughout their campaign.Of the players returning to the squad, Sharma, Bhuvneshwar and Chakravarthy all missed out during the Australia tour through injuries. Pant though had been overlooked for those T20Is with India opting to trial KL Rahul as wicketkeeper. That experiment now appears to be put on hold with the young left-hander winning the team management’s faith with sublime performances in the Test series that followed.Also coming back into the fray is Axar Patel, who made his Test debut as a replacement for Ravindra Jadeja last week, who continues to be in rehabilitation himself. Bhuvneshwar last played for India in December 2019, a T20I against the West Indies, and has been on the road back since missing a majority of IPL 2020 with a thigh injury and rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He played four games for his state side, Uttar Pradesh, in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and completed a 10-over spell for them on Saturday against Karnataka.He will likely lead India’s fast bowling contingent, which has Natarajan, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, and Shardul Thakur who make up a diverse and relatively experienced line-up. Mohammed Shami, who wasn’t part of the T20Is in Australia and who picked up an injury to his hand later in the Tests, remains absent. Among the batsmen, both Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan retain their places, as does Shreyas Iyer. Tewatia, Axar, Washington Sundar, and Hardik Pandya make up the allrounders, although it is still uncertain whether Pandya is fit enough to play in a bowling role. Yuzvendra Chahal is the only other wristspinner.

Rachael Haynes and Jess Jonassen played starring roles with bat and ball in a 71-run victory

Daniel Brettig07-Apr-2021What do you do when you’ve just broken a world record for the most consecutive wins in your sport?If you’re Meg Lanning’s irrepressible Australians, you celebrate your 22nd consecutive win momentarily, take a sightseeing hike up Mount Maunganui on your rest day, then promptly go back out again and win No. 23 to claim another trophy – Australia’s ninth consecutive Rose Bowl victory over New Zealand, keeping possession of the Trans-Tasman silverware for a 22nd year.Despite the most aggressive of starts from Alyssa Healy in a scene-setting stand with Rachael Haynes, this was not Australia’s best or most complete performance. Nevertheless, it provided another reminder of how the team’s depth makes them such dastardly opponents: New Zealand, though enjoying numerous fruitful passages, were never able to reach a point of critical mass.Defending a tally of 271 rather than the 300 or so they had appeared likely to make when Healy, Haynes and Lanning were all scoring fluently, the tourists were able to find plenty of assistance in the evening air at the Bay Oval.Initially, it was Tayla Vlaeminck and Megan Schutt swinging the new ball with plenty of venom, then Jess Jonassen, Georgia Wareham and Ash Gardner extracted plenty of turn from the surface with which to stifle any threatening New Zealand partnership.Haynes’ innings was the platform off which Healy was able to launch early on, clouting three boundaries in her first four balls and spoiling to add to that trio for virtually every ball thereafter. While Healy’s timing and placement were not always pristine, her intention to dominate was typical of the way in which Lanning’s team have assumed such a prime position in the game.Lanning’s own innings was a high-quality cameo, and when she was dismissed at 180 for 2 in the 34th over, it appeared difficult to see New Zealand conceding anything less than another 100 runs. That they were able to corral the remainder of the innings, as much as Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney and Nicola Carey tried to clear the boundary, was down to an excellent spell from the offspinner Leigh Kasperek – stepping, for once, out of the considerable shadow of Amelia Kerr.Leigh Kasperek’s 6 for 46 were the best-ever Women’s ODI figures against Australia•Getty Images

Gaining just enough spin while maintaining a disciplined length, Kasperek was ultimately able to pluck 6 for 46 – in fact, no bowler had ever returned a better analysis against Australia in a 50-over match, an achievement Kasperek will rightly be able to cherish for years to come.Nevertheless, 272 was still a hard target under lights, something the Australians were quick to exploit in their first floodlit ODI since 2019. Vlaeminck in particular made life difficult for the home side’s top order, delivering her outswingers at considerable pace and ensuring New Zealand, after the early losses of Lauren Down and the captain Amy Satterthwaite, needed to think as much of survival as scoring.Kerr and Hayley Jensen were able to take the scoreboard as far as 76 at reasonable pace, and after the opener picked out long-off from the bowling of Wareham, they were still well placed at 120 for 3 just beyond the halfway point. At that point Kerr chose the wrong Jonassen ball to charge and failed to get to the pitch, leaving the spin to create a slice and a catch to backward point.From there New Zealand were subjected to the now familiar squeeze imposed by Lanning and her bowlers, pushing the required rate up and up until errors started to be made. Wareham and the shrewd Jonassen were the primary beneficiaries in terms of wickets, but all the Australians played their part whether with the ball or in the field.None summed this up better than Perry, who saved a six struck by Maddy Green when she dived backwards to catch the ball right on the rope and then threw it back off-balance while remaining, in the third umpire’s judgment, millimeters inside the boundary.It’s the sort of desperation, even in times of relative comfort, that has kept Australia at the top of the pile. Unless something drastic takes place, it should keep them there for quite some time yet.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers in Mohali

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit12-May-2012

Match facts

Sunday, May 13, 2012, Mohali
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Azhar Mahmood has produced timely contributions with bat and ball•AFP

Big Picture

Just when you think Deccan Chargers cannot slip any further, they prove you wrong. They smashed 117 runs off the last nine overs against a Delhi Daredevils attack with four international bowlers, and then proceeded to concede 193 in 16.4 overs to David Warner and Naman Ojha. Their attack did not have a single overseas bowler, and the most experienced Indian bowler, Amit Mishra, went for 44. Precious little has gone their way this season.In their previous game, against Kings XI Punjab, Chargers had lost three big wickets in eight deliveries as their chase derailed in the middle overs. Kings XI are in seventh position on the points table but are still in with a chance of making the playoffs. However, they will be wary of the fact that they have lost their previous four games at home this season.

Form guide

(most recent first, completed games)
Kings XI Punjab: WLWWL
Deccan Chargers: LLLLW

Players to watch

Shikhar Dhawan, with a career Twenty20 strike-rate of 118.36, often struggles to accelerate when he gets himself in. His strike-rate of 171.42 during his innings of 84 against Daredevils, however, was his highest among his 15 half-centuries. What can he do in Mohali?Azhar Mahmood hasn’t imposed himself on the tournament with either bat or ball, but he has produced timely contributions with both. It was a tight over from him, and another from Parvinder Awana, that precipitated the mid-innings collapse in the game against Chargers.

Stats and trivia

(Stats, as on Saturday)

• Chargers have taken the least wickets, 60, and have been the most expensive attack, at 8.47 runs per over, this season
• Chargers’ 74-run defeat to Chennai Super Kings in Visakhapatnam is the heaviest this season (in terms of runs).
  

  Quotes

  “Batting is not our major concern. It has mainly been bowling. We have missed one of our frontline bowlers in Ishant Sharma. The rest are young raw kids… in crunch times, experience does count.”

Bangladesh spun their way to an emphatic 71-run victory in the first Twenty20 international against Ireland in Belfast

Report by Ian Callender at Stormont18-Jul-2012
ScorecardBangladesh spun their way to an emphatic 71-run victory in the first Twenty20 international against Ireland in Belfast with Elias Sunny recording his country’s best ever figures.The Ireland batsmen had no answer to Sunny, the slow left-arm spinner, who took 5 for 13 as Ireland were restricted to 119 for 8, never threatening the tourists’ imposing 190 for 5 on a blameless Stormont pitch.The start was delayed by 30 minutes because of two heavy showers just before the start but that was the only respite the home team enjoyed. William Porterfield won the toss and asked Bangladesh to bat but from the off the team that are not even on the Twenty20 world ranking table meant business.Tamim Iqbal with a run-a-ball 31 and Shakib Al Hasan, with nine boundaries in his 57 from just 33 deliveries, put Bangladesh in control and although both batsmen were out, along with the captain Mushfiqur Rahim in the space of 21 balls, the mayhem was just beginning.Ziaur Rahman came to the middle at 120 for 4 and after facing just 17 balls he had scored 40, including five sixes. Four successive balls in the 16th and 17th overs from Paul Stirling and Max Sorensen cleared the boundary as the Ireland bowlers wilted.Boyd Rankin, playing only his third game since the World Twenty20 qualifying final in March, was match rusty and, significantly, his best over was his last which gave Ireland some hope for the remaining two games in the series, on Friday and Saturday when they will also have George Dockrell available.Dockrell, the Ireland Under-19 captain, also suffered on Wednesday as the England team they will be playing in the World Cup next month bowled them out for 94 in Leicester before a thunderstorm hit the ground.But it is the Ireland batsmen who will have the most homework to do in the next 24 hours. They have to work out how to play left-arm spin because while Sunny grabbed the headlines with his wickets, Abdur Razzak was even more economical, conceding just nine runs in his four overs and picking up the prize scalps of Porterfield and Kevin O’Brien. And it will be surprising Shakib, the world’s No 1 all-rounder in one-day cricket, does not bowl better in the next two matches.Of Ireland’s 119 runs, more than half (63) came from seven overs of pace, including 25 from the first two overs as Porterfield raced away, hitting two fours and two sixes. But he failed to survive Razzak’s first over and when Paul Stirling ran himself out in the next Ireland were immediately on the back foot.Only Gary Wilson looked anyway comfortable against the spin, although even he was helped to his unbeaten 41 by facing four overs from the returning opening bowlers. But that was about giving Mortaza and Abul Hasan overs under their belt with the game already won.Sunny finished with 5 for 13 and became the first cricketer to win Man-of-the-Match awards on debut in two formats. He had taken seven wickets on Test debut against West Indies.Bangladesh complete the requisite number of qualifying games on Friday to enter the Twenty20 rankings table and another victory will see them included in ninth place, above Ireland and, on the evidence of the first match, it will be well deserved.

Jamaica’s Sabina Park is set to get floodlights, according to Jamaica Cricket Association officials

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-2013Jamaica’s Sabina Park is set to get floodlights, according to Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) officials. JCA president Lyndel Wright told Jamaica newspapers that the board has entered into partnership with Consolidated Energy Partners, while treasurer Nigel Logan said the fixtures should be ready in time for Jamaica’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) matches.”Sabina Park Holdings has entered into an agreement with Consolidated Energy Partners, a member of the Genco Group Of Companies, for the provisioning of floodlights at Sabina Park,” Wright was quoted as saying by the .Logan, who is also director of Sabina Park Holdings and the chairman of its lights committee, said the project will be financed by Consolidated Energy Partners. “The funding, it’s going to be financed by the supplier. The lights will be GE lights and they will be excellent for cricket and have definition similar to what you see in the IPL.” The lights should be ready by August 5, he said, ahead of Sabina Park’s opening CPL match.The idea of floodlights had been mooted earlier this year with the CPL in mind, as Jamaica was the only center among the tournament’s six venues that did not meet the requirements to host day-night matches – reportedly a criterion for hosting CPL games.

Ireland A wicketkeeper Neil Rock has been included as back-up to the regular Lorcan Tucker

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2020Ireland have named a 16-man squad for back-to-back ODI series against UAE and Afghanistan in January 2021, which will be their first international matches since a 2-1 ODI series loss in England this August. The squad comprises the majority of the group that travelled to England over the summer, though there is no place for George Dockrell, William Porterfield and Boyd Rankin, as head coach Graham Ford continues to bring through a new generation of young players.Gary Wilson also misses out, staying at home to attend the birth of his second child, and will be unable to join the squad afterwards due to Covid-19 protocols. As a result, 20-year-old Ireland A wicketkeeper Neil Rock has been included as back-up to the regular Lorcan Tucker.Twenty two-year-old fast bowler David Delany has also been included in the ODI squad, and is in line to make his ODI debut. Delany, who is allrounder Gareth’s cousin, had played in the T20 World Cup qualifiers in 2019 but has since been missing through injury. He was preferred to Peter Chase, who had travelled with the squad to England but whose last ODI had come against Afghanistan in 2018.Ireland had hoped to play a series in the UAE before Christmas and made plans for a triangular tournament also involving Scotland and the hosts, but the boards were unable to come to an agreement in time.Instead, they will now play a four-match ODI series against UAE in January, with dates to be confirmed in the coming days. The fixtures will form part of the same tour as their World Cup Super League series against Afghanistan, which is due to be staged in Abu Dhabi.Several players and support staff will remain in “Covid-safe conditions” at home in case replacements need to be flown out at some point in the series, according to a Cricket Ireland media release.Ford said that despite playing only three internationals since March’s lockdown, he felt as though his squad had made good progress during the year.”It goes without saying that 2020 has been a difficult year, but the lads have acquitted themselves well and can be proud of what they have managed to achieve,” he said.”We’ve beaten the T20 World Champions West Indies in a T20I in the Caribbean [this year], beaten Afghanistan for the first time in a T20I in the subcontinent and beaten the current World Cup champions England in their own backyard [during the ODI series in August]. Those wins have helped build self-belief within the players and have demonstrated the progress we are making as a squad.”We have two challenging series ahead of us, but we’re looking to create a sense of momentum going into a big year – a year that will feature multiple tours, a full home season and a T20 World Cup at the back end.”The tour will be Ireland’s first since Stuart Barnes joined the support staff as assistant coach and national bowling lead on a full-time basis, after his secondment from Somerset during the England series last summer.Ireland ODI squad to play UAE and Afghanistan: Andy Balbirnie (capt), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, David Delany, Gareth Delany, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, Kevin O’Brien, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young

“We have seen how big these things can be in a high-profile tournament like the IPL”

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-20203:16

KL Rahul to Virat Kohli – I’ll ask IPL to ban you and AB de Villiers for KXIP game

The DRS, at present, only allows players to review lbws and decisions involving edged catches. Should its scope be expanded to allow reviews for wides and no-balls for high full-tosses? Virat Kohli certainly thinks so.”I am going to speak as a captain,” Kohli said during an Instagram Live chat with his India team-mate KL Rahul on the Puma India handle. “As a captain, I would like to have the ability to review a wide, which could be a wrong call, or a waist-high full-toss, which could be a wrong call.”We have seen this historically how big these things can be in such a high-profile tournament like IPL and in general T20 cricket.”It is a fast-paced game and you can miss a small margin and we have all seen this is a big factor. If you lose the game by a run and you are not able to review that wide, it could make a massive difference in someone’s campaign.”