All posts by n8rngtd.top

Captain all praise for KKR’s “flawless” showing at IPL 2024, a sentiment echoed by this team-mates Mitchell Starc and Sunil Narine

Ashish Pant26-May-20241:21

What changed for Starc towards the end of the season?

Shreyas Iyer called the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2024 final “comprehensive”, lauding his team for playing “like invincibles throughout the season”.”This is what we demanded from the team and every individual, they stood up on the right occasion,” Iyer said after KKR secured a third IPL title, their first since 2014. “It is hard to express how we are feeling right now. The wait was so long. We played like invincibles throughout the season. There is so much to cherish right now.”KKR enjoyed one of the most dominant IPL campaigns ever, equalling Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals from 2008 for the fewest losses across a season (three). Having topped the league table, they beat SRH in Qualifier 1 by eight wickets with 38 balls to spare and amped it up a notch in the final with another eight-wicket rout, this time with 57 balls remaining.Related

• Report – KKR's bowlers rip through SRH to win third IPL title

• 'GG has not just been a mentor, he's been a leader in every department'

• Stats – KKR's season of dominance

• Cummins after loss to KKR: 'Old mate Starcy turned it on again'

• Big game, white ball, first over: Starc's romance for the ages

“It is pleasing and the performance has been flawless throughout. I am running out of words right now,” Iyer said of KKR’s season. “We have been tremendous right from game one, and when we stepped [out], all we demanded from ourselves was to back each other no matter the situation.”The game could have gone either way – they have been playing phenomenal cricket, SRH, throughout the season. Today, we were lucky enough to bowl first and, at the same time, every situation went in our favour. Thanks to SRH [for] the way they have played throughout the season. They have been simply phenomenal.”It was one-way traffic from the time Mitchell Starc snared Abhishek Sharma with arguably the ball of the tournament. It pitched on middle and leg and zipped sharply past Abhishek’s outside edge to smash into off stump. That wicket started a slide; Vaibhav Arora took out Travis Head for a first-ball duck with a peach of an awayswinger before Starc struck for a second time, dismissing Rahul Tripathi for 9, and SRH were 21 for 3 inside five overs.”That [big games] is when all the big players stand up,” Iyer said of Starc. “It was a high-pressure game. He has been so good off the field. He has never shown any sort of complacency in his work ethic. Every time we used to go for the plunge pool, he used to be there… something for everyone to learn.”Iyer was also effusive in praise of Andre Russell, who picked up 3 for 19 in 2.3 overs to finish with 19 wickets for the season, his best tally with the ball at any IPL. “He has got that magic wand, which he is hiding somewhere on the field,” Iyer said. “He is hoping to come and bowl and deliver for the team. He is waiting for me to call him all the time.”Russell has been lucky for us. Almost in a majority of the games, whenever he has bowled, he has picked up the wickets and he has given us the breakthrough.”Mitchell Starc was bending the ball sideways in his opening spell•AFP/Getty Images

Starc: ‘There have been plenty of jokes about the money’

Mitchell Starc reckons being “more experienced and older” since the previous time he played in the IPL (2015) helped him deal with the pressure of his huge price tag. Starc became the most expensive player in the history of the IPL, going for INR 24.75 crore (US$2,982,000 approx.) at this season’s auction. He then had a tough start to the campaign, going for 100 runs across his first two games without getting a wicket, but was Player of the Match in both KKR’s playoffs – the first time a player has done this at the IPL.”There have been plenty of jokes and whatnot made about the money,” he said with a laugh after the final. “It’s been a long time since I have played in the IPL. I am certainly an older and more experienced player now. It’s probably helped with managing all the expectations or leading the attack or whatever it maybe. I am certainly glad I am a bit more experienced and older to deal with all of that.”Personally, it has been a lot of fun, been great to learn and see how these guys go about it. Full credit to the whole squad of players and staff, it has made my life pretty easy.”It is a great night for KKR. What a game, what a series, what a season. It was an upward journey through from the start of the IPL to now, but we have a fantastic squad of bowlers and batters and our staff have been fantastic to get everyone peaking at the back end of the tournament. We have been such a consistent side. We haven’t had one or two people standing out, it’s been contributions from everyone. So, great to contribute personally but I think the fact that we’ve had everyone contribute throughout the year has been a big part of our success.”

Narine: ‘Couldn’t ask for a better birthday gift’

Sunil Narine said the freedom he got, especially form team mentor Gautam Gambhir, to express himself with the bat made a huge difference to his season. His final tally read 488 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 180.74. He also got 17 wickets, and took home the MVP award for a record third time.”Getting the role to just go there and express myself, trying to get the team off to a flier, that’s key,” Narine said. “The backing of the support staff, especially GG [Gambhir] just saying, ‘go there and enjoy it, just try to win a few games for the team; I am not asking you to do the entire season, but just a few games.’ That was very good advice.”This is Narine’s third IPL title with KKR after 2012 and 2014, and it came on his 36th birthday.”Coming into the ground today it felt like 2012 [when the final was also played in Chennai]. I think the feeling is overwhelming and I genuinely couldn’t ask for a better birthday gift,” he said. “I am enjoying my cricket at the moment, batting, bowling and fielding. What helps is when your team is winning. We have a great bunch of guys who put out a lot of work throughout the season and the fight we gave throughout the season is very good. It shows how good a team we are.”

With Thursday’s forecast bleak, another abandonment will see South Africa in the World Cup final

Daniel Brettig03-Mar-2020Match abandoned A wash out at the Sydney Showgrounds ensured South Africa would top group B and so play Australia in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup at the SCG on Thursday evening, after England meet group A’s pace-setters India in the first semi-final.Rain that halted Thailand’s earlier clash with Pakistan did not abate into the evening, leaving the South Africans to shake hands with their West Indian opponents.They will now wait to see whether the wet weather forecast to set in on Sydney this week will also see them through to the final at the MCG on Sunday, with no reserve day available after Thursday and the two group winners to sail to the decider as a result.”Hopefully we can get a game on Thursday, but it’s something we can’t control and we just have to make sure we are well prepared,” Chloe Tryon said. “It’s their home ground, we know they’ll be a lot of people. We have to make sure are switched on from the first ball. We want to play the world champions, we have wanted that for a while, and to play them in a semi-final is the biggest game for us.”Australia have never lost to South Africa in four previous T20I World Cup meetings, the first in 2009. India and England split their two most recent T20I encounters in the triangular series with Australia that preceded the World Cup.

Alex Doolan’s maiden first-class half-century is unlikely to save Tasmania from defeat at the Gabba, where Ben Cutting’s three wickets put Queensland within sight of victory at stumps on the third day

Cricinfo staff03-Nov-2009Tasmania 156 and 6 for 209 (Doolan 59, Cutting 3-33) trail Queensland 382 by 17 runs

Scorecard
Ben Cutting picked up 3 for 33 to drive Queensland closer to victory•Getty Images

Alex Doolan’s maiden first-class half-century is unlikely to save Tasmania from defeat at the Gabba, where Ben Cutting’s three wickets put Queensland within sight of victory at stumps on the third day. At stumps, the Tigers were 6 for 209 and still trailing by 17 runs, with Daniel Marsh on 40 and Brett Geeves on 16.However, the visitors were going to require some individual brilliance on the final day to save the match after Queensland’s bowlers again proved a handful in their home conditions. The key breakthrough came just before tea, when Doolan (59) hooked Cutting and was caught on the boundary.It was an unfortunate lapse in concentration from Doolan, who had batted for more than three hours and had helped his captain George Bailey provide some fight. When Bailey departed shortly after tea for 25, caught behind off Daniel Doran, the Bulls sensed an opportunity.Cutting followed with two more breakthroughs and finished the day with 3 for 33, and Tasmania will need their former skipper Marsh to bat for as long as possible on the fourth day to have any hope of survival. Queensland started the day still at the crease but lost their final wicket, Chris Swan for 82, from the first ball of the morning.

The South Africa fast bowler has partnered with a United Nations initiative for the cause

Firdose Moonda07-Dec-20216:09

Ngidi: “Will do best I can to effect change”

On average, a woman is murdered in South Africa in the time it takes for a T20 match to be played. Over the course of an ODI, two women die. Those are numbers Lungi Ngidi finds hard to ignore.”A woman is killed every four hours in South Africa. That is unbelievable. Mentally, I can’t grasp it,” Ngidi said to ESPNcricinfo. “Just hearing things like that and knowing I have my own mother, cousins, sisters and female friends, it shocks me. It’s not something that you want to be sitting worrying about every day, so something needs to be done about it.”Ngidi’s remarks have come during the annual international campaign against gender-based violence, instituted by the United Nations, that takes place between November 25 and December 10, but he has been thinking about the impact of gender-based violence for months.”This is something that really took off during the lockdown period for me. We are always so busy, we don’t really get time to read up on the stuff that’s happening in the country, but during that period this was something that was highlighted and it stuck out like a sore thumb,” he said.Related

• Ngidi says South Africa must take BLM stand

• SACA says criticism of Ngidi's BLM stance 'unfair'

• Cricket South Africa unveils plans to tackle racism in the sport

• Ngidi: 'Everyone being on same page puts us in a good position'

Many countries reported an increase in domestic abuse during the hard lockdowns of 2020. South Africa confirmed more than 120,000 cases in the first 21-day shutdown. Police figures say 53,293 sexual offences were reported in 2019-20 in the country, an average of 146 per day, up from 52,420 in 2018-19 (143 per day). Most of these were cases of rape: the police recorded 42,289 rapes in 2019-20, nearly 116 per day, up from 41,583 in 2018-19.”I felt that in some way I could contribute and I could make some sort of difference,” Ngidi said. “The main thing is trying to make sure it’s no longer just lip service and that there’s actually something being done. And those who have the power to actually make sure are being held accountable.”Ngidi will be partnering with the United Nations Women for Change programme and the Uyinene Mrwetyana Foundation, set up in memory of the 19-year-old student of that name who was sexually assaulted and murdered in Cape Town in August 2019, sparking nation-wide protests against the abuse of women.Mrwetyana was also honoured by Springbok rugby player Makazole Mapimpi, who wore a wristband with her name on it at the 2019 rugby World Cup. “With Mapimpi, the tribute to Uyinene was a massive statement because it happened on a stage like that,” Ngidi said. “This is why I believe sport has the ability to effect change. Just that little gesture brought a lot of attention and some people who didn’t know [now] know what happened.”Protest in sport against social discrimination has become common over the last 18 months, since the murder of George Floyd and the rise of the antiracism movement. In South Africa it was Ngidi who sparked a dialogue with the Black Lives Matter movement when he answered a question at a press engagement last July, shortly after England and West Indies became the first international teams to take a knee.”As a nation, we have a past that is very difficult, with racial discrimination, so it’s definitely something we will be addressing as a team, and if we are not, it’s something I will bring up. It’s something that we need to take very seriously, and like the rest of the world is doing, make the stand,” he said at the time.It has taken the South African men’s team 15 months and a board-mandated instruction to reach the point where they are collectively making the gesture. Through that period, Ngidi has been one of the players who has been steadfast in taking the knee on every occasion he could, and in speaking out about injustice.”The way I was raised is to speak about something if it’s not right,” he said. “I believe I have the responsibility as someone who plays for the national team. As someone who can influence change, I feel it’s one of my responsibilities to say something.”It’s not like I am out here looking for attention or trying to rally other people to do what I believe in, but this is what I believe in and I can see there’s other people affected by this as well. I will do as best as I can to try and effect some change.”Ngidi’s work against gender-based violence will focus on education and support for those who are abused, and for the perpetrators of that abuse, he said. “Fundraising is important but the main objective is to start seeing a difference in terms of what is actually being done instead of just financial donations. To actually physically do stuff is the most important.”South Africa’s statistics of violence against women are a consequence perhaps of the overarching environment of toxic masculinity in the country. Ngidi said he “could never explain” why crimes against women take place but that he wants to understand and prevent them from happening as frequently.

Ashes-bound spinner takes 3 for 16 as Bears edge past Northants in low-scorer

ECB Reporters Network09-Jun-2023Birmingham Bears returned to winning ways in the Vitality Blast with a 30-run victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks in a low-scoring contest on a turning track at Edgbaston.Spinners dominated as the Bears, having chosen to bat, were bowled out for 137 in 18.5 overs after left-arm wristspinner Freddie Heldreich continued his excellent Blast campaign with a career-best 4 for 27. Heldreich took a wicket in each of his four overs as only Sam Hain (35 from 31 balls) and Alex Davies (32 from 18) passed 15 for the home side.The Steelbacks reply was then even more emphatically smothered – 107 for 9 from 20 overs – by the four-pronged home spin attack. Dan Mousley took 3 for 14 and Moeen Ali 3 for 16 to help his side to their first win in four attempts under his leadership before he now leaves to join England’s squad ahead of next week’s Ashes opener.Davies supplied the Bears with a punchy and, it was to prove, priceless start despite quickly losing two partners. Rob Yates lifted Tom Taylor to deep square leg and Moeen’s unproductive batting return to the Bears was completed when he skied David Willey to mid-off. The England player departs for Test duty on the back of 48 runs in four Blast knocks.Davies perished in pursuit of his third six when Saif Zaib took a well-judged catch on the rope in front of the Hollies Stand off Heldreich. That was the spinner’s fourth ball – he struck another big blow with his tenth which Glenn Maxwell, having hit the previous ball into the Hollies, chipped tamely to extra cover.Heldreich’s 17th delivery inflicted further damage when Mousley missed an attempted pull and fell lbw and when his 19th ousted Chris Benjamin, to another well-judged catch by Zaib at deep mid-wicket, the Bears were 93 for 6. As so often, the burden of responsibility fell on Hain and when he was bowled, making room to cut Zaib, a moderate total was assured.The Steelbacks found the going even tougher against the twirlers, notably Mousley who took two crucial wickets for eight in his first two overs. The 21-year-old bowled Chris Lynn and Josh Cobb either side of taking a fine catch in the deep to remove the dangerous Emilio Gay off Maxwell.Moeen then struck twice as Willey edged behind and Lewis McManus heaved to deep midwicket where the effervescent and ubiquitous Mousley took the catch. After ten overs, the Steelbacks had stuttered to 50 for 5 with 88 needed from the last ten.Scoring at that rate in such conditions was out of the question. Zaib and Taylor nurdled 29 from 30 balls but Mousley returned to the attack to have Taylor caught at extra cover and Danny Briggs hit James Sales’ middle stump to collect his 249th T20 wicket.A quest for 63 from the last five overs was hopeless. Zaib (25 from 29 balls) was bowled behind his legs sweeping at Moeen and the Steelbacks subsided swiftly under the shimmering mosaic of pinks, oranges and ochres in the dazzling iridescence of a Birmingham sunset.

Mumbai’s innings looked like it was going smoothly but some sensational defensive bowling helped CSK seal the game

Sidharth Monga14-Apr-20242:45

‘Dhoni may be surprising even himself’

Sensational defensive bowling from Chennai Super Kings did what might have seemed unthinkable: successfully defend a total in the night at Wankhede Stadium. And it was not a huge total: pushed just over 200 by a MS Dhoni cameo of 20 off the last four balls of the innings after Shivam Dube had continued his dream season with an unbeaten 66 off 38.For large parts it was a contest that fit the billing: between the two most successful teams in the IPL and two of the three most popular teams. For large parts, it seemed the defending champions CSK would be outgunned. Jasprit Bumrah restricted them with four overs for just 27 and the Mumbai innings looked like it was going smoothly, but Matheesha Pathirana started the comeback with two wickets in his first over.Still, Mumbai were favourites going into the last seven, needing 83 with eight wickets in hand, but their fast bowlers led by Pathirana executed their plans of making batters hit into the bigger part perfectly, eventually winning by 20 runs. Rohit Sharma scored a century but it was only to Mumbai’s detriment: he scored just 14 off 14 between overs 13 to 18 and then found another wind when the task had become mathematically impossible.1:38

Is Shivam Dube booking his ticket to the T20 World Cup?

Cat and mouse for startersThis match was also a tactical classic from both sides. CSK promoted Ajinkya Rahane to open because he was carrying a niggle and thought it was better if he just batted in the powerplay. In a way it worked tactically too: Ruturaj Gaikwad hasn’t been going at a million miles an hour in the powerplay and could also be there for when Bumrah bowled. Either way, Rahane didn’t last, and Gaikwad had to come out in the second over. Mumbai then started to bowl cheap overs of spin before Dube got a chance to bat.When Dube came in, that was it for spin, and Bumrah came back to bowl a second over inside the first ten for only the second time this IPL. Except that Mumbai did have to bowl overs of less-than-express pace. Dube took a toll of Hardik Pandya and Romario Shepherd as Gaikwad slowed down from his starts of 24 off 12 to offer a catch on 39 off 31. Rohit dropped him, and Gaikwad took 29 off nine before he got out.Bumrah stifles but Hardik blinksHardik started reining CSK back in with clever use of a wide slower ball to get Gaikwad. Then Bumrah just bowled two ruthless overs full of attempted yorkers. Only one boundary came off the 17th and 19th, leaving CSK at 180 for 3. The problem for Mumbai was, that they had to now go to Hardik, Shepherd or spin for the last over.The captain took the challenge on, but came a distant second to Dhoni, offering him the length to hit a hat-trick of sixes. Dhoni’s IPL this year: 25 balls, 59 runs, no dismissal.2:06

Was Pathirana’s spell among the best-ever at Wankhede?

Pathirana has to interveneYet again Mumbai started like they would make short work of a target around 200 after gunning RCB’s 196 down in 15.3 overs. Rohit and Ishan Kishan looked smooth and brutal. Seven overs, 70 runs, not a sweat broken.Enter Pathirana, coming back from an injury break. The first ball was a loose one on the pads, and Kishan found midwicket with precision. Six feet on either side and it would have left a hole in the boundary boards. However, following that lucky break, Pathirana was sensational. He welcomed Suryakumar Yadav with a 151.2kmph wide yorker and followed it up with a wide bouncer with the deep third placed fine just for the ramp. The assist came from Mustafizur Rahman, who took it overhead, flicked it back up, stepped outside, and came back to take the catch.The middle oversRavindra Jadeja bowled four overs on the trot for 37, which is commendable in dewy conditions on a Mumbai night. Rohit, though, seemed to have overcome his recent threat of left-arm spin by taking 22 off 13 Jadeja deliveries. Runs kept coming from the other end until Pathirana came back.2:54

Was Hardik Pandya’s decision to bowl the final over sound?

A defensive masterclassIt was all in Pathirana’s basket now. Three overs to bowl out of seven with Mumbai needing just 83 with all the firepower in the dugout. Pathirana began with a dot to push it over two a ball for the first time. Then a subtle slower ball got the fluent Tilak Varma out. Then both former and current captains of Mumbai froze.Shardul Thakur followed that over with wide-line slower balls. Both Rohit and Hardik faced three each for a single each. A frustrated Hardik even wasted a review on a wide. Tushar Deshpande followed it up with a boundary-less over and the wicket of Hardik. Rohit seemed to have run out of gas and timing.Tim David raised some hope with successive sixes off Mustafizur but he again went wide and out of David’s reach to get the wicket. Pathirana provided the finishing touch by rattling Shepherd’s stumps with a quick, straight delivery, the license for which he got because he had the bigger leg-side boundary to play with.However, it was the slower balls from the other end that complemented Pathirana. At one point, they had bowled 13 for just four runs. They ended up with 27 slower balls for 36 runs, which was still way better than Mumbai’s execution of the delivery.

Brilliant century in partnership with Vince all but seals title for Surrey, as fielding lapses cost hosts

Andrew Miller22-Sep-2023Less than a week has elapsed since Hampshire were hunting down a teasing target of 267 against Leicestershire at Trent Bridge in the Metro Bank Cup final, and somehow contrived to trip up with victory at their mercy. At Chelmsford, they made amends in thrilling final-over fashion – and in the process all but settled another tussle for silverware, albeit not their own – as Essex’s valiant bid for the County Championship title crumbled in the face of a brilliant Liam Dawson century.Dawson, whose dismissal for 57 at Trent Bridge on Saturday had been the turning point of that tense contest, once again fell short of sealing the deal when, with 20 runs still needed from 23 balls, he crashed Matt Critchley into Nick Browne’s midriff at short cover, to offer Essex the most slender of late lifelines.Hampshire’s tail, however, wasn’t about to let two chases slip in a week – not even when Keith Barker, the man who couldn’t connect for Saturday’s winning hit, ran past a slog for glory with two runs needed. Instead, Ben Brown did the needful with a thump to deep midwicket off Simon Harmer, to seal the contest with five balls remaining, and trigger a wave of euphoria in Surrey’s dressing-room down at The Oval, where they had spent much of the day watching their season’s work flash before their eyes.With no dog in that particular fight, however, Dawson’s own mission for the day had long since been completed: in racking up 119 from 150 balls, his third century of a stellar Championship season, he not only rescued Hampshire from a sickly 32 for 4 with a pivotal fifth-wicket stand of 184 with James Vince, but oversaw a momentum swing at the top of the Championship standings that would have given less resolute characters motion sickness.The tale of the tape was thus: Essex had begun the penultimate round with a deficit of 18 points, and with scant hope of closing the gap given that Surrey were at home to the relegation-bound Northants. And yet, after a clatter of morning wickets at the Kia Oval had condemned Surrey to the follow-on, Essex seemed dead-certs to capitalise on the champions’ missed moment with their seventh win on the bounce, and slash that deficit to a meagre four points.Instead, they were left to rue a fielding display studded with errors, including a huge let-off apiece for each of Hampshire’s main men: Vince on 16, dropped in the deep by Critchley off Harmer, whose three habitually early wickets had left his opponents punch-drunk, and then critically, Dawson on 50, a leaping edge to slip off Critchley himself, where Alastair Cook – a key focus of attention amid reports of his impending retirement – couldn’t recover as the chance clanged off his chest.If the Vince reprieve, at 52 for 4, helped to snap Hampshire’s game-brains back into place, then Dawson’s let-off, 97 runs later, was the moment that Essex’s belief visibly ebbed from their performance. Blow by blow, they were beaten back by two World Cup winners – men who were present in the dressing-room through England’s 2019 triumph, and who know full well, by osmosis as much as through their own clear abilities, how to pace a chase that never threatened to tick over a run a ball. “It’s just a different colour ball,” as Paul Collingwood, England’s assistant Test coach, put it recently when describing the ever-converging methods of the red- and white-ball games.Dan Lawrence made a swashbuckling half-century•Getty Images

Vince’s first shot in anger had been a dismissive drive back over Harmer’s head for six, but after his let-off, he shelved the aerial strokeplay and set about taking lumps out of his team’s target with a volley of five stroked fours before tea that took him to an ominous 43 from 30, with 179 still needed in 39. In theory, it was in Essex’s interest for Hampshire to have an incentive, but such was the pair’s poise on the resumption that the requirement seemed to drain away by stealth. The mood around Chelmsford was hardly aided by news of Surrey’s dour dead-batting down at The Oval, and Dawson duly slapped Sam Cook through point to bring up the century stand at almost the precise moment that Northants shook hands on their relegation-inducing draw.With his century in sight, Vince hoisted Cook handsomely over long-on for his second six, only to come unstuck in Critchley’s subsequent over, hacking a skewed drive to Dan Lawrence in the covers. But even that seemed too little too late for Essex, especially when Umesh Yadav’s brilliant sprawling effort at backward square off Dawson, on 97 at the time, was deemed to have been a bump-ball. Two balls later, Dawson crunched Critchley down the ground for his 14th four, and celebrated with a raise of the arms to put the seal on a truly mighty all-round season.In the final analysis, Essex will know, however, that they blew a golden opportunity to take the title to a straight shoot-out. They claimed nine Hampshire wickets in the course of the day’s play, after all, two of which had come in a perfunctory round-up of their first innings, seven hours and several lifetimes earlier in the day.At that early stage of proceedings, with Chelmsford’s replay screen gleefully showing footage of Surrey’s slide towards their follow-on, Essex could smell the unease emanating from south London. Even as he was flicking off Tom Prest’s bails to end an excellent knock on 108 and give Harmer his sixth wicket of the innings, Adam Rossington began sprinting for the pavilion to pad up, in a clear sign of how Essex intended their second innings to pan out.Sure enough, Rossington re-emerged ten minutes later in a gambit for quick runs, but instead served up a tame three-ball duck that rather set the tone for a nondescript first ten overs of the declaration push, a passage that was coloured – perhaps inevitably – by the play within a play.The notion of Cook’s impending retirement had been shot down by Essex in a snotty statement on Thursday afternoon (the tone of which had perhaps been informed by their sudden realisation that the title was back up for grabs). However, that hardly discouraged a knot of photographers from congregating at the foot of the stairs to greet his (final?) emergence from the Chelmsford pavilion.And for 38 deliveries spanning 45 minutes, Cook captured the attention – if not the zeitgeist – in a poignantly out-of-kilter display. Were this officially a valedictory innings, one might suggest it was an apt metaphor for Cook’s raging-against-the-light career, as he fought valiantly against his natural inclinations, seeking to raise the tempo in the T20-prescribed fashion, only to lose his shape, and ultimately his wicket, in the process.Cook thrashed and he yanked and, just once, he connected with a meaty lump through the line off Kyle Abbott as Essex finally reached the boundary from the first ball of the seventh over – a powerplay it had not been. But then, two balls after connecting on a cut that burst through Prest’s hands at point, Cook wound into a cramped pull off Abbas, and under-edged through to the keeper.His departure was another dead-pan vignette: an old cricketer leaving the crease, almost visibly resisting the urge to raise his bat as an uncertain tribute gathered momentum around the ground, before allowing himself just the hint of a grimace as he disappeared into the dressing-room. Whatever it is that remains of his storied career, he’d be giving nothing away just yet.With the prologue done, then, the declaration push could begin in earnest, as a man rather better equipped for such a situation strode out for a Chelmsford farewell that had fewer caveats. Lawrence duly inside-edged his second ball through fine leg for four (it’s how many, not how, as Cook would doubtless agree), but thereafter he batted like a man with a very personal reason to swipe some silverware from under the noses of his future employers.Were it not for Essex’s Championship ambitions, Lawrence might well be up at Trent Bridge right now, preparing for England’s ODI against Ireland on Saturday. Instead he did his international prospects no harm at all in absentia, unfurling a range of preposterous cross-court forehands, including a full-blown helicopter whip for six off Abbott, to inject the impetus that Essex urgently needed. His 45-ball half-century drove the agenda in an 83-run stand in exactly 12 overs with Tom Westley, whose 45 from 49 ended when he launched Abbott to deep cover on the stroke of lunch.Alastair Cook walks up the steps to the dressing room after being dismissed•Getty Images

The lead at that stage was a handy but still skinny 225, so more leverage was required. Enter Paul Walter at No. 4, who clouted Dawson over midwicket for six before being bowled next ball for 13, and Umesh Yadav, who bashed his first two balls over the Tom Pearce Stand for his fifth and sixth sixes of the match, then immediately holed out to long-on in search of a seventh. In between whiles, Critchley and Harmer misfired to deep cover to give Abbott a four-wicket haul, as the contest reset for round four.Meanwhile, down at The Oval, Surrey by now were deep into their go-slow, with Rory Burns and Dom Sibley setting themselves to defend their title advantage at any cost, so Essex seized their chance to hurtle back into contention. Rossington set the standard with a wonderful grab down the leg-side, stretching with his left glove to prise out Tony Albert from Sam Cook’s fourth ball, and then it was over to the inevitable Harmer.The mere act of Harmer stepping up at the River End seemed to spook Fletcha Middleton, whose third-ball sweep was a harbinger of his imminent demise as it ballooned off a top-edge into space at square leg. Three overs later, he connected better – and worse – as Jamie Porter stooped at square leg to cling on, and Harmer made it two in the over when Nick Gubbins closed his face too early and chipped a leading edge to cover for 9.Another harbinger followed, however, in Harmer’s next over. Prest, yet to settle after his first-innings efforts, hacked impetuously down the ground but Walter at long-on couldn’t cling on. This time, however, it didn’t seem to matter; Harmer merely turned at the top of his mark and induced Prest into a flinch off the pads to short leg to leave Hampshire 32 for 4 and floundering.And yet, Dawson’s arrival to join Vince, allied to Essex’s crucial lapses, would turn the afternoon’s expectations upside-down.

He shares 193 stand with Rapids skipper Jake Libby as Jack Taylor’s ton goes in vain

ECB Reporters Network10-Aug-2023Worcestershire Rapids keeper-batter Gareth Roderick marked his return from illness with a superb century against his former club to help secure an 85-run success in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup at New Road.Roderick had missed the opening three games in the tournament but continued the excellent form he has been demonstrating in the LV=Insurance County Championship with his List A best score of 137.He showed his battling qualities in fighting through a testing time with the new ball in seaming conditions after the Rapids had been put in to bat.But Roderick, who spent eight seasons with Gloucestershire, then accelerated to such an extent that he faced only 114 balls and hit four sixes and 12 fours.Rapids captain Jake Libby, also enjoying a prolific season, gave him excellent support during a partnership of 193 in 23.2 overs, a Worcestershire record for the third wicket against their local rivals.With Kashif Ali and new signing Logan van Beek providing late impetus, Worcestershire’s total of 375 for 7 was their second-highest in 50-over cricket.Gloucestershire then lost wickets at regular intervals against the seamers including four for van Beek.Jack Taylor, who has scored four Championship hundreds against Worcestershire, provided some late entertainment for the Gloucestershire supporters in the 4,000-plus crowd with a 94-ball century.But it only served to bring some respectability to the outcome as Worcestershire sealed a third win in four matches.Worcestershire made five changes from the side beaten by Somerset at Taunton on Sunday with Brett D’Oliveira, Azhar Ali and Cameron Jones injured and Joe Leach and Dillon Pennington rested.Netherlands international van Beek was handed his debut and there were recalls for Matthew Waite and Ed Pollock, Roderick and Brown.Pollock and Roderick were given an examination by Zaman Akhter and Tom Price, who had taken a hat-trick and scored a century on the same day in the corresponding LV=Insurance County Championship match between the sides.Tom Price made the first breakthrough when Pollock edged to first slip and the powerplay only yielded 24 runs.Roderick and new batter Rob Jones fought through this challenging period and gradually upped the tempo.Jones, initially on loan from Lancashire before starting a three-year contract next summer, gloved Anwar Ali through to keeper James Bracey.But from this juncture bat dominated ball for the remainder of the innings with Roderick in prime form and given superb support by Libby in surpassing the 159 by Tom Fell and Alexei Kervezee at New Road nine years ago.A single off Paul van Meekeren enabled Roderick to move to three figures and was the cue for a standing ovation.A straight six by Roderick of Anwar Ali established the third-wicket partnership record against the visitors and it came out of the blue when Libby (86) was pouched low down at gulley off Zaman Akhtar.Roderick produced the shot of the innings with a reverse scoop for six off Tom Smith but in the same over he sliced the spinner into the hands of short third.Smith also held onto a return catch from Ben Cox but the innings momentum was sustained by Kashif Ali and new signing van Beek.Kashif Ali raced to 39 from 22 balls before he pulled Graeme van Buuren to backward square leg but van Beek struck Tom Price for two sixes over long off in making an unbeaten 41 from 19 balls.When Gloucestershire batted, Matthew Waite bowled an excellent opening spell, beating the bat on several occasions and deserving better figures than 6-1-12-0.It was van Beek who made the first breakthrough when Bracey holed out to Kashif Ali at wide mid on.Ollie Price, a century-maker in the recent Championship match at Cheltenham, fell to Ben Gibbon via a sharp catch by Rob Jones at backward point.Pat Brown came into the attack and three wickets went down inside his first three overs as Gloucestershire subsided to 80 for 5.Harry Tector was run out after being sent back when he turned Brown to cover and failed to beat Kashif Ali’s throw to Ben Cox.Van Buuren went lbw and Chris Dent offered a simple caught-and-bowled.Sub fielder Rehaan Edavalath got into the thick of the action with an excellent diving catch at midwicket to dismiss Tom Price off van Beek.Libby brought himself into the attack and had Anwar Ali taken at deep cover before Tom Smith was neatly caught down the leg side off Baker.But Taylor illuminated the dying embers of the game with some big hitting and his century included five sixes and five fours before he and van Meereken were dismissed in successive balls from van Beek.

Surrey opener leads from front in testing conditions with first substantial score of summer

Matt Roller05-May-2022The clock is ticking. England’s first Test under new leadership – in the form of a managing director, a coach, a captain, support staff and possibly a selector – is four weeks away and their opponents New Zealand have already named their touring party. With a squad expected to be announced within the next two weeks, there are only a few days of cricket left for hopefuls to impress.When Rob Key scrolls through the County Championship scores on his phone on Thursday night from his hotel room in north London ahead of the first round of interviews for the coaching vacancies at Lord’s next week, he will see several familiar names. For all the appetite for bolters from the shires, the most notable centurions were Dom Sibley at Emirates Old Trafford and his former opening partner Rory Burns at the Kia Oval.Burns’ innings was a grind, with 107 hard-fought runs spread across the best part of six hours. Asked to bat first by Northamptonshire on a green pitch – albeit one a long way across the square, with an unusually short boundary to one side – Burns played-and-missed several times early on as Ben Sanderson nibbled the ball around on a length but by the close, Surrey’s 261 for 6 put his innings into context.They also had to make do without Ollie Pope, who was due to play but ran straight from the warm-ups to the dressing-room toilets and went home “unwell”, and Jamie Smith, who suffered a hamstring injury during his unbeaten double-hundred in Bristol last week, though Ben Foakes returned to the side after missing the Gloucestershire draw with a minor back complaint.”Putting bums on seats, that probably wouldn’t have done it – but I was very happy with doing it,” Burns said of his innings. “That’s pretty vintage in terms of how I go about it [batting] and I thought the discipline I played with was up there. It’s something I pride myself on, so I’m pretty happy.”They’ve put us in to bat for good reason and we’d have done the same thing and it’s offered something all day. Sometimes you’ve got to be disciplined and earn the right. Even with the older ball, it kept the bowlers interested. The pitch was slowish and the ball carried on doing things throughout the day, swinging for periods and it nipped around pretty consistently so it’s tough graft.”Tough graft, in keeping with Burns’ season so far. Before this innings he had made only 119 runs, spread across six innings at an average of 23.8. His Surrey side are the Championship’s early leaders but his own form was clearly a source of frustration. When he reached three figures off 245 balls thanks to a thick edge through gully, his primary emotion was relief rather than joy.Burns’ idiosyncratic technique has been a source of fascination for pundits and analysts throughout his Test career, scrutinised in minute detail. He appeared to cut down on his movements before release at the start of the season but they were more pronounced in this hundred, with his trademark lean towards midwicket – to align his dominant left eye with the ball – more obvious. He admitted that he had “been tinkering a little bit” at the start of the season but was reluctant to give much more away: “I don’t know. I got a hundred, so who cares?”The answer is that England might – though it should be acknowledged that Northants’ attack is significantly different in style to the ones they will face across seven Tests this summer. Burns lost his place for the tour of the Caribbean last month and his route into the side is not obvious, not least after Alex Lees’ bright start to the season and with Key’s admiration for Zak Crawley well-known.But Burns has a central contract, and while his Test average of 30.32 is not as high as he might like, it is the highest of any specialist batter to debut under Joe Root’s captaincy. Besides, timing matters. “Well, it’s nice to get a hundred,” Burns said when asked about his hopes for a recall. “That’s the thing, isn’t it?”One of Burns’ charges may well come into contention for the first Test too, though it remains to be seen if Sam Curran is fit enough to be considered as a genuine allrounder after only 10 overs to date this season following the stress fracture which ruled him out of the winter. His unbeaten 71 was the day’s only fluent innings and included a towering straight six off Simon Kerrigan; he has the chance to put right the fact that he has never scored a professional hundred in the morning.Northants have battled hard for three consecutive draws at the start of this season and their seamers plugged away, with Luke Procter’s nibbly medium pace proving particularly effective. He removed the in-form Ryan Patel early on, chipping to cover, then had two in two balls, going wide on the crease to bowl Hashim Amla then trapping Will Jacks lbw.Their main concern was that Ricardo Vasconcelos – who has been tasked with captaining and opening the batting this season – went off feeling ill inside the first hour. “He started to feel nauseous after going out onto the field and he was sick in the dressing room when he came off,” John Sadler, their head coach, said. “Hopefully he will be okay after he’s had a night’s sleep and some more rest.”

South Africa captain says they had prepared for left-arm spin and was confident of a strong comeback

S Sudarshanan03-Oct-20251:56

Wolvaardt: We’re much better than 69 all out

South Africa’s collapse in their Women’s World Cup opener against England was down to “one of those days where the top order and the middle order failed on the same day”, according to their captain Laura Wolvaardt. Sent in to bat in Guwahati, South Africa were bowled out for 69, their third-lowest total in women’s ODIs, and lost by ten wickets.Wolvaardt insisted they were “much better than 69 all out” and backed her side to bounce back.”I think our prep has been good, I don’t think there were too many demons in the pitch,” she said after the match. “It was just one of those days where everyone went out early and that happens in cricket sometimes. It was not a pitch that we were super foreign to. We spent a lot of time in these conditions in the last couple of months, so definitely wouldn’t put it on the wicket.Related

• Jafta: SA ready to reset after 'blowout' against England

• Smith and Jones set seal on England's rout of South Africa

• Smith puts the skids on South Africa to ignite World Cup campaign

“We are much, much better than 69 all out. As a group, we just need to put it behind us as quickly as we can and move forward, because if we’re going to take that into the next game, it’s going to be a very long tournament for us.”South Africa knew what to expect from England, who had two kinds of left-arm spinners, with Sophie Ecclestone’s release point being much higher than that of Linsey Smith.Marizanne Kapp became Linsey Smith’s third victim•Getty Images

On the eve of the match, South Africa’s batting coach Baakier Abrahams oversaw Wolvaardt’s preparation against left-arm spin closely. He specifically asked the net bowlers to change angles and bowl from wide of the crease as well. The focus was on her footwork and shot selection, and Abrahams reminded her of the forward defence with a straight bat. At one point, he praised her shot selection to a particular ball but pointed out that her head was falling over. Towards the end of her stint that lasted nearly 45 minutes, he nodded in approval.On Friday, though, it took Smith only two balls to dismiss Wolvaardt, who chipped a return catch. Smith then used inswing to beat the inside edges of both Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp and hit the stumps. South Africa were four down just 31 balls into the game and couldn’t recover.”You can’t really fault our preparation. Yesterday, personally, I was super specific in my training,” Wolvaardt said. “I had someone bowl like Lauren Bell would and I had the left-armer [bowling] at me. I had already planned which guard I would take and what my options were and what my strong options were. To have that soft dismissal today was very disappointing with all the preparation that we had put in. We’ve been very well-informed by all of our coaches. It’s just one of those days where we played the wrong line for the ball swinging in.”While batting has been South Africa’s stronger suit heading into this World Cup, the defeat put their Nos. 3 to 6 in the spotlight. In ODIs since the start of 2023, South Africa have been one of the top batting teams. That is largely due to Wolvaardt and Brits, the most prolific pair in this period. In the same time frame, their Nos. 3 to 6 average 28.08, the worst among all eight teams at this World Cup. That is down to Kapp not playing all games, plus some players moving up and down the order.”Our middle order has actually been better this year than they have ever been,” Wolvaardt said. “I think the likes of Sune [Luus], Marizanne, Chloe [Tryon], [Annerie] Dercksen, who didn’t play today, have really been scoring a lot of runs throughout the past few series. I don’t think that we have any trouble in our middle order at the moment. It’s just one of those days where both top order and middle order didn’t fire.”In South Africa’s last ODI before the World Cup, they were dismissed for 115 with Pakistan left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu taking 6 for 26. Not all of South Africa’s frontline players played that game, since they had already won the series. Wolvaardt didn’t read much into the similarities between that performance and this one against England.”Those were two quite different spinners. Smith was very good with her swing and her drift today, whereas Sandhu in that game got a lot of turn over the wicket. So very different conditions. In that Pakistan game, we probably didn’t adapt well to a turning wicket, probably a lot more turn than what we were used to, very out of our comfort zone conditions-wise, whereas today, it was just a total collapse. We just didn’t apply ourselves well enough with the bat.”South Africa’s second game in the World Cup is against New Zealand in Indore on October 6.