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Alastair Cook knows a bit about being under pressure in Test cricket. He has come through it to the tune of over 12,000 runs but is aware that some team-mates will be playing for their futures in the two Tests against New Zealand which start next week.As recently as two matches ago, Cook had to dig deep into his resolve to overcome “dark times” in Australia, coming through with a double century in Melbourne that, while maybe not career-saving, was certainly career-reaffirming. This series in New Zealand is much lower-key, but the focus will be on two of Cook’s fellow batsmen.Mark Stoneman and James Vince have been given a show of faith after mediocre Ashes, benefitting from this series being seen as part of the same touring block rather than the chance of a fresh start. A new selection team is unlikely to be so forgiving come the summer if they don’t make runs here.”The selectors have picked pretty much the same squad of players,” Cook said. “It’s given the guys an opportunity who have experienced the Ashes and did okay – it may sound funny, but if you marked a series that we lost 4-0, a lot of people did okay – the chance to make the jump to become fully fledged international players or someone else gets another opportunity. The next two weeks, like every series you play, could define people’s futures.”Cook will empathise with the feeling. There was 2010 and a barren run of form which put his place on the line, then 2014 when he was on the brink of quitting the captaincy before a dogged 95 against India at the Ageas Bowl. And less than three months ago he spoke of the significance of his Melbourne double century, saying he had been “embarrassed” by his earlier form on the tour and felt he was in “last-chance saloon”. Two months to reflect on it hasn’t dulled the memories.”To be able to bat like that, you’ve got to be doing the right stuff mentally and still be on it,” he said. “There were some dark moments on that tour, but to keep going like that and then deliver shows you have something.”Stoneman, who at the start of the week in Hamilton spoke of what he has to learn from Cook, will walk out alongside him to open the batting in this series regardless of the make-up of the side because there is no other opening option. He settled himself with a positive 48 in the red-ball warm-up in Hamilton after two failures against the pink ball he will face from Thursday.The situation is not quite so clear-cut for Vince at No. 3 and could yet depend on how many overs the management feel Ben Stokes can get through. He did not bowl in the middle in Hamilton and will be put through his paces in Auckland on Monday. If he can’t act as a frontline fifth bowler, and it is sounding unlikely at the moment, he would still play as a batsman but probably at No. 5, and to allow an extra bowler that would mean dropping a batsman. That would be Vince.”That’s the quandary,” Cook said of the balance of the attack, of course no longer the man who has to be part of the decision-making process. “Personally I think we need five bowlers with the make-up of our bowling attack.”It could be, therefore, that the side in Auckland, although only subtly different in personnel, will have quite a different feel to the one in Sydney in early January. Alongside the potential of Stokes being a batsman at No. 5 is Stuart Broad not taking the new ball alongside James Anderson. There is a sense that Joe Root wants to start making this his England team, rather than the team of the man he inherited off.”When he took over, he had South Africa and West Indies in the summer but was probably not going to shake it up too much and make big decisions,” Cook said. “But I do think in his mind after the Ashes he was thinking, ‘How do I re-build the side?’ I still wouldn’t be surprised if Stuart did take the new ball, I don’t know that, but I think there is a really good opportunity to see other people because with 900 wickets between them, that you know what you’re going to get.”Root will hope the same can be said of Cook.

ScorecardDuanne Olivier releases the ball•AFP

Derbyshire are on course to end their long wait for a home victory in the County Championship after they completely dominated the second day of the Division Two match against Middlesex at Derby.Derbyshire have not won at home in the Championship since they beat Leicestershire at Derby in September 2014Middlesex were shot out for 157 with South African fast bowler Duanne Olivier taking 4 for 26 on his Derbyshire debut and despite a two hour break for rain, the home side closed on 118 without loss to lead by 226 runs.The visitors attack was again weakened by the absence of England seamer Toby Roland-Jones who has a sore back and Derbyshire will go into the last two days confident of wrapping up a first home win since September 2014.They seized the initiative from the moment Middlesex captain Sam Robson fell to the first ball of the second over of another sunny morning when Ravi Rampaul trapped him lbw for 19.Robson had batted for 122 minutes so to get him early was a big boost and they picked up nightwatchman Ollie Rayner in the next over when he was pinned by a full length ball from Hardus Viljoen.John Simpson played a typically combative innings and with Paul Stirling was rebuilding the reply until they both fell in the space of two overs.Simpson was looking dangerous but on 32 he left a ball that swung in to take the off stump and Stirling was lbw to Tony Palladino in the next over to reduce the visitors to 124 for 7.Olivier swept away the tail after lunch by having Tom Helm smartly caught low down at first slip by Wayne Madsen and trapping James Harris in front with one that came back to give Derbyshire a significant first innings lead of 108.Middlesex needed quick wickets to stay in the game but although Luis Reece survived a sharp chance to second slip off Helm just before the rain arrived with Derbyshire 56 from 21 overs, the Derbyshire openers played with increasing authority after the skies cleared.Slater completed his 50 from 73 balls when he cut Helm for his seventh four and was unbeaten on 63 with Reece not out 47 at the end of a highly satisfactory and encouraging day for Derbyshire.

With less than a year left to the World Cup, Mike Hesson, the 43-year-old head coach of New Zealand, has announced he will step down.Hesson made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday afternoon in Auckland. A New Zealand Cricket media release stated that he wanted “a break from the rigours of international cricket, and to spend more time with his wife and children.””There’s so many other leaders in the playing group and in the support staff,” captain Kane Williamson said. “I think we can’t underestimate that. Hess was a big part of the environment but a lot of that was including others, giving others responsibility, and they’ve taken that responsibility on for a number of years and offered so much to that environment.”Him and Brendon [McCullum] were huge in that, and that’s certainly been a strength of Hess’ and we want to continue that moving forward. There are number of parts where that was shown. Certainly the backing of players for long periods, where guys could actually come into the environment and not feel like one day they’re here and the next day they’re there. [They said] actually, no, there’s an investment from everyone here and you’re good enough and you’re backed and cricket has good days and bad days and it doesn’t matter who you are.”Hesson is set to leave in July, one year ahead of when his contract would have expired. NZC chief executive David White said he attempted to persuade him to stay on and guide the team through the World Cup in May 2019 but understood the decision.So ends a six-year term, the pinnacle of which was New Zealand’s performance in the last World Cup when they made it to the final for the first time. Also notable was their dominance at home in Test cricket. Under Hesson’s charge, the team won eight out of 11 series.”This job requires 100 percent commitment and is all consuming,” he said. “I know what’s required over the next 12 months, but if I’m honest, I don’t feel I have the capacity to give the job what it deserves. NZC, in particular David White and the board, have given me incredible support, including flexibility and options. But the idea of missing a match, a tour or a format, as has been proposed at different times, has never sat well with me.”With New Zealand’s next international assignment only in October, when they play Pakistan in the UAE, the board has some time to find a new coach.Hesson’s tenure got off to a bumpy start during his first year in charge. A proposal to have separate captains for the Test and limited-overs sides resulted in Ross Taylor, who had been leading New Zealand since 2011, resigning before making himself unavailable for the tour to South Africa in December 2012. McCullum took over the reins with Taylor returning to the fold a few months later when England came to visit in February 2013.Hesson’s partnership with McCullum, and subsequently Kane Williamson, have been some of the most successful years in New Zealand cricket history. He finishes with an even 21 wins and 21 losses in Tests, 65 wins and 46 losses in ODIs and 30 wins and 26 losses in T20Is.”We remember the 2015 World Cup as a great time for New Zealand and Mike should be recognised for the huge part he played in that,” said McCullum. “His meticulous planning and eye for detail gave us our best chance of success and he can be proud of what he helped the team achieve. Personally, I regard him as the best coach the Blackcaps have ever had.”

ScorecardLeicestershire are showing a new lease of life under their effervescent coach, Paul Nixon. He has not been afraid of tough decisions, removing his captain, Michael Carberry, on the grounds of tactical limitations with the Championship season not halfway through. And that after Carberry, a former England batsman, was lured to the club by the chief executive, Wasim Khan, with the promise of the job. Nixon, back at a county where he enjoyed success as a player, clearly is a man with the courage of his convictions.With every day that Carberry remains on leave, “considering his future”, the chance that he will return lessens. It would be no surprise to discover that lawyers are exchanging crisp exchanges about how long a promise of a captaincy applies. The salient fact is that sports teams should be free to change captains as they wish, or the whole game will be much the worse for it. Anyway, mid-season captaincy changes make good pub chat, even if they involve decent professionals.On the pitch Leicestershire are in rude health, threatening to beat Middlesex and lodge their third successive Championship win: quite an upset even considering Middlesex’s strange impotency since relegation.As not so long ago Leicestershire went almost three years without a win, that would be remarkable. Middlesex’s Twitter feed responded by spending more time recording their one-wicket victory in the 2nd XI Cup than it did registering the little matter of their 194-run deficit on first innings at Grace Road. They do have some good youngsters, proof of the excellent groundwork driven by their director of cricket, Angus Fraser.That margin owed much to Colin Ackermann’s career-best 196, Gavin Griffiths’ career-best 40 (he was probably the most excited and said he had “been working on my batting”) and six wickets between them for young pace bowlers Griffiths and Zak Chappell.But even with life returning to county cricket’s quietest ground – where even the Apple Turnovers in The Meet are probably just turning over to go to sleep – problems brew. The minute Leicestershire improve, the bigger clubs are circling.Will Chappell, their little young quick, succumb to the charms of Notts’ coach Peter Moores and tread a path once taken by Stuart Broad? How many counties are telling Ben Raine they will turn him into the next Ben Stokes, give or take a court case? Transfers happen, and Nixon would do well to fight even one of them off, but the county system is in urgent need of either a transfer system or beefed-up compensation. Smaller counties are raided for their best players, which happens, they are poorly rewarded and then people rail that they are “uncompetitive”. Well, there’s a reason for that.Leicestershire’s position could be even stronger: they spurned four catches as Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling shored up Middlesex after they had lost three for 60 in the face of 427. Leicestershire’s new-ball bowling was insistent and the bounce was not always reliable, such as when Mohammad Abbas caught Max Holden lbw on the back foot. As for Sam Robson, his season remains bereft: a chary 15 before he edged Raine to Neil Dexter at third slip.Chappell then jagged one back to splinter Stevie Eskinazi’s middle stump. Kevin Shine, the ECB’s lead bowling coach has warned: “We need to manage expectations around him, be patient and we will have a very exciting cricketer for the future.” And Chappell had a first-class bowling average the wrong side of 50 not so long ago. That will fall, nobody quite knows how rapidly.Stirling, typically bullish, added 80 for the fourth wicket but after reaching his half-century pulled Raine to midwicket. A Chappell bouncer did for Hilton Cartwright, an inswinger from Griffiths trapped John Simpson lbw and Chappell collected two more lbws with consecutive balls to James Harris and Steve Finn.Malan finished unbeaten on 78. Stirling said he “looked brilliant” in making it then suggested that Middlesex, having made only 233 on first innings, had the capacity to overhaul that 194-run deficit. Mathematicians would scoff at the faulty logic, cricketers will warn from experience that anything is possible, but Middlesex – champions one year, relegated the next, and still in the bottom half of the Second Division – have yet to cover themselves in glory in a season that they could never have expected. Funny lot, Middlesex.

ScorecardJoe Denly had a night to remember as he scored a hundred and then took a hat-trick as Kent Spitfires beat Surrey by six runs in their Vitality Blast opener at the Kia Oval.In front of a crowd of 23,291 Denly made 102 from 63 balls, helping the Spitfires to 173 for 6 after they had won the toss.Surrey were on course for a successful chase when they reached 135 for 3 in the 13th over with Ben Foakes going well before Denly, bowling his occasional leg breaks, made another decisive contribution. Rikki Clarke was stumped coming down the track, Jamie Smith lbw padding up and Matt Pillans caught by wicketkeeper Sam Billings off a top-edge into the leg side.”I may have taken a hat-trick in the garden before but not out in the middle,” Denly said. “And if I’m honest it was a naughty hat-trick ball, caught down the leg side, but I’ll take it because it got us back in the game. As a specialist batsman the century probably means more to me but I’ll take the hat-trick – it was a very nice moment.”Research by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians revealed that Denly duly became the first player in List A 50-over or T20 cricket to score a hundred and take a hat-trick in the same match. There were three previous instances of 50 and a hat-trick in T20, and seven in List A.

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Kent’s victory was far from certain. Freddie van den Bergh and Morne Morkel departed cheaply to leave Surrey needing 18 off 16 balls but Foakes took a precious boundary off Carlos Brathwaite in the 19th over to get the equation down to nine off 12 balls with two wickets in hand.However, he could only watch at the other end as New Zealander Adam Milne sealed victory by yorking Gareth Batty and having Jade Dernbach caught behind off successive balls. Surrey were bowled out for 167 with seven balls unused and Foakes was left stranded on 75 not out.It was quite a night for Denly, who passed 4,500 T20 runs during an innings where he seldom took any risks, ruthlessly punishing anything short or wide instead.His stand of 104 off 66 balls with Heino Kuhn for the second wicket laid the foundations for Kent’s formidable total.The Spitfires looked on course for more than 200 when Denly was in full flow but they were pegged back by Pillans, who finished with 3 for 22 including Denly, who drove wearily to long on in the final over after striking 12 fours and two sixes.Pillans also picked up debutant Brathwaite, who was brilliantly caught by the diving Smith, and skipper Billings (14). Surrey skipper Dernbach, who had removed Daniel Bell-Drummond for a second-ball duck in the first over, returned to pick up Alex Blake as he finished with 2 for 32.Surrey’s reply began well. Foakes and opener Rory Burns needed just 40 balls as they thrashed 85 for the second wicket after the early loss of Will Jacks. Seamer Ivan Thomas came in for particular punishment as his two overs disappeared for 37 runs.Even when Burns (39) lost his leg stump trying to work Callum Haggett down the leg side and Ollie Pope fell cheaply Surrey needed 65 from 64 balls with six wickets in hand. Denly, though, had other ideas and Surrey, who were without five internationals including their Australian pair Aaron Finch and Nic Maddinson, were left to reflect on a second successive defeat.

Ross Taylor swats the ball away•Getty Images

Arguably the most well-rounded team performance of the season for Jamaica Tallawahs helped them maintain their perfect start to CPL 2018 as they ended their two-game home stretch at Sabina Park with a 47-run win over St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, spoiling a return for native son Chris Gayle.Three batsmen – Glenn Phillips, Kennar Lewis and Ross Taylor – contributed 40-plus scores to set a stiff target of 179 after the Tallawahs lost the toss. In response, the Patriots crawled out of the gate at 2 for 1 in three overs and were three down by the end of the Powerplay. They never recovered as six different Tallawahs bowlers took wickets to keep them to 131 for 9.Patriots pay for fielding errorsTwo of the three high scorers on the night for the Tallawahs received reprieves early in their innings. The first came to Phillips on 11 in the sixth over. Substitute fielder Hayden Walsh Jr., who was on after Gayle exited in the fourth over with a thumb injury, charged in from deep square leg after Phillips miscued a pull off Carlos Brathwaite. But Walsh was distracted by Jeremiah Louis running toward him from midwicket and, despite getting two hands to the ball, couldn’t hold on. Phillips went on to make 41 off 38 balls.The second came to Taylor, who skied a chance which was snapped up easily at extra cover when he was on 6, off the bowling of Anton Devcich in the 10th over. However, the third umpire called Taylor back to the crease after replays showed Devcich had overstepped the line. The free hit was swatted for six by Phillips, who up to that stage had scored a sluggish 15 off 21 balls before finishing with 26 off his last 17.The two sides of LamichhaneIn an innings where Tallawahs scored at a run rate of 8.9 per over, the lone bowler who kept Patriots in the match during the first half was the 18-year-old legspinner from Nepal, whose end economy was 5.25. It didn’t start that way though.Lamichhane’s first seven balls were hit for 16 runs, including two sixes by Man of the Match Kennar. But after the first ball of the 7th over was hit straight for six, Lamichhane dragged his next ball to a sixth stump line outside off and Kennar struggled to reach out with the result a skied catch to Tom Cooper on the boundary at long-off.Two balls later, Lamichhane trapped Andre McCarthy with a googly. Off his final 17 deliveries, he conceded just five runs. Taylor struggled most of all, beaten repeatedly outside off stump to go scoreless in four deliveries against Lamichhane. At the end of his four-over spell, Tallawahs were 113 for 3 and Taylor on 11 off 20 balls.Cottrell gets shelledThe momentum shifted drastically once Lamichhane left the attack as Tallawahs plundered 65 off the last five overs. Taylor in particular played with a newfound freedom once Sheldon Cottrell entered in the 16th over. In the first four balls after Lamichhane’s spell ended, Taylor went 6, 6, leg bye and 6. Taylor scored 40 off his final 15 balls, including 28 off 8 against Cottrell during the 16th and 19th overs that featured two fours and three sixes by the New Zealand batsman. Cottrell ended with 0 for 44 on the night as Taylor provided a big lift heading into the innings break.In Lew of runsEvin Lewis’ dramatic form drought continued at Sabina Park on Wednesday night. After Gayle played all 12 balls over the first two overs and managed to come away with just one run, Lewis buckled under the mounting pressure when he finally got on strike, fending at back of a length ball angled across by Oshane Thomas for a second-ball duck. It’s his second straight duck and he has scored just 1 run off 10 balls this season.Cooper’s struggles continued as well after coming in at No. 3. Krishmar Santokie, who bowled a maiden to Gayle in the second over, snared Cooper thanks to a caped crusading effort by captain Andre Russell flying through the air at mid-off for a spectacular catch in the fourth over to make it 9 for 2.Gayle, who had been dropped on 1 at backward point by Kennar off Thomas, started to stir in the fifth with a pair of sixes off Thomas but offspinner Steven Jacobs struck in his first over of the season, getting Gayle to slash to short third man to end the sixth over. Ending the Powerplay at 39 for 3, spinners continued to tie down the Patriots. Adam Zampa and Imad Wasim each collected a pair of wickets. When Imad had Brathwaite skying to long-on to make it 93 for 8, Patriots were in the process of being blown out, before Cottrell made cosmetic adjustments to the final scoreline with some late hitting. But the result was never in doubt for the Tallawahs.

ScorecardMiddlesex staged a spirited fightback in the late-afternoon gloom to raise the prospect of victory over Gloucestershire on the final day of the Specsavers County Championship match at the Brightside Ground.After being bowled out for 242 and conceding a first-innings deficit of 54, the visitors were further frustrated by the loss of 26 overs to bad light on a day when their hopes of remaining on the fringes of the Second Division promotion race were in danger of being utterly extinguished.But their seam bowlers made up for lost time during the final session, reducing Gloucestershire to 87 for 4, a lead of 141 with six second-innings wickets in hand.Needing to win this game and then beat second-placed Kent next week to retain any chance of making an instant return to Division One, Middlesex will seek to force the issue in the morning in the hope of setting up a realistic run chase in the afternoon.But they will first have to find a way past stubborn Gloucestershire opener Miles Hammond, who will resume on 43 not out after defying the visitors for two hours and 45 minutes. He has already negotiated 108 balls and more of the same iron resolve will be required if he is to usher his team to safety on the final day.If Gloucestershire’s intention was to forge a meaningful lead and then declare, they were quickly disabused of the idea during an afternoon punctuated by regular breaks for drizzle and poor light. Sensing an opportunity to put themselves back in contention, Middlesex’s battery of seam bowlers took full advantage.They were aided and abetted by Gloucestershire skipper Chris Dent, who was needlessly run out for three by Nick Gubbins. James Bracey was next to go, James Fuller producing an in-swinger to knock back the left-hander’s off stump.Worse followed for the home side when Benny Howell chipped Tim Murtagh to midwicket and Gareth Roderick departed in identical fashion, held by Dawid Malan off the same bowler. Having seen three top-order batsmen perish in single figures, Gloucestershire were well and truly under the cosh at 59 for 4.Thereafter, the defiant Hammond and fifth-wicket partner Jack Taylor adopted resolute defence mode to see out the final 11 overs without further mishap, no mean achievement in increasingly challenging conditions.David Payne earlier claimed three wickets in the space of 11 balls to summarily end Middlesex tail-end resistance and put the hosts in a position of strength by the end of a hard-fought morning session.Resuming on 182 for 7, Middlesex added 60 runs in painstaking fashion before Payne mopped up the tail to finish with figures of 3 for 51. James Harris and Ethan Bamber raised stubborn resistance in an eighth wicket stand of 53 in 25 overs, but the advent of the second new ball proved decisive.Gloucestershire effected the breakthrough they so badly needed when Harris, having chiselled 35 from 84 balls, offered a return catch to Payne. Fuller came and went quickly, pushing at a length ball from Payne and offering a straightforward catch to wicketkeeper Roderick, while last man Murtagh cut a short-pitched delivery to point without scoring, leaving Bamber high and dry on 27 not out.

Gautam Gambhir scored a 16-ball 15•BCCI

Gautam Gambhir and Kulwant Khejroliya led Delhi into the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018-19, starring with a century and a hat-trick respectively, for a five-wicket win over Haryana at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Delhi will now face the winner of the Jharkhand-Maharashtra quarter-final at the same venue, on October 18.Delhi, who had finished second in the combined A and B groups, first dismissed Haryana for 229 thanks to Khejroliya’s 6 for 31. After that Gambhir, celebrating his 37th birthday, smashed 104 off 72 balls as they achieved victory in 39.2 overs.

Khejroliya on his bond with Gambhir

The story of how Kulwant Khejroliya went from waiting on tables in Goa to being discovered in Delhi is now well known. During his early years, Khejroliya had coach Sanjay Bharadwaj to thank for mentoring him, along with Gautam Gambhir. “Sanjay Bhardawaj took care of all my expenses, of stay and food in Delhi. He supported me like a son,” Khejroliya said on Sunday after the quarter-final. “And then Gautam , Nitish Rana , Unmukt are all from the same club, they all supported me.
“When I came to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Cricket Academy, Gautam used to practice there. I bowled to him in the nets and he told sir that ‘the boy has a lot of talent, you should focus on him, pay attention to his fitness and diet.’ And whenever he would come, I kept asking him for tips and he used to help me always, tell me which areas to work on. Even now, I ask him if I have any questions. He keeps telling us that if we want to go ahead, we have to play with a certain attitude.”

Haryana’s decision to bat backfired, with two early wickets from Khejroliya reducing them to 37 for 3 in the 10th over. Opener Chaitanya Bishnoi got together with No. 5 Pramod Chandila to raise 140 for the fourth wicket, as Haryana seemed to shake off the early inroads.However, with the team 177 for 3 in the 39th over and looking good to hit 250-plus, Khejroliya took a hat-trick that included both set men. Coming back into the attack, he got Bishnoi (85) to toe-end the ball as he tried to clear the infield and Gambhir held the catch running back at cover. The next ball, Chandila was castled by one that came back in off the seam, departing for 59. Finally, Amit Mishra was trapped plumb in front with a full delivery, giving Khejroliya his second List A five-wicket haul.He would go on to get Arun Chaprana too, for his best ever List A figures, bettering the 5 for 22 he took against Uttar Pradesh in March 2017. It marked a fine comeback from injury for Khejroliya who played only two matches towards the end of the league stage, having sat out the rest with a sore elbow.”Gautam told me this is a very important over and if I can get one wicket, it would be brilliant,” Khejroliya said after the match of his hat-trick over. “I wanted to bowl stump to stump with good line and length as there was good reverse as well. There was no plan for the hat-trick ball. I, kind of, wanted to bowl it straight and [it] worked.”After Bishnoi and Chandila, 18 extras were the next best contribution for Haryana, with no other batsman surpassing 15 as they were bowled out in 49.1 overs.Haryana’s strength so far in the tournament had been their bowling, but Gambhir took the match away with an aggressive start. Playing his shots from the outset, he got Delhi off to a flier, with the run rate staying above six for three quarters of the chase. Gambhir was severe on all bowlers, and forced Mishra to take Yuzvendra Chahal out of the attack early, smacking him for three fours in his third over. Haryana had gone with a spin-heavy attack that had no less than three legspinners in Chahal, Mishra and Rahul Tewatia, alongwith Jayant Yadav’s offspin. While that was their best attack, it also played into Gambhir’s hands, who is an excellent player of spin.Gambhir raised his century off just 69 balls, his second of the tournament after the 151 he had made against Kerala in a league match. He has now got 490 runs and sits third on the table, only 12 behind Puneet Bisht, Meghalaya’s professional and Gambhir’s former Delhi team-mate, and Abhinav Mukund, who has 560 runs. Interestingly, before hitting these two hundreds, the last time Gambhir got to three figures in a 50-over game was in an ODI against Sri Lanka in July 2012.At the other end, Dhruv Shorey gave Gambhir solid support with a patient half-century. Shorey wasn’t always fluent, but stuck around to put on 118 runs in 21.4 overs for the second wicket after Unmukt Chand had been caught behind for 15. Soon, trying to manufacture room to hit Tewatia through the off side, Gambhir missed the ball and dragged his foot outside to be stumped.Gambhir’s wicket led to a mini-wobble for Delhi, with Tewatia taking three wickets. They went from 172 for 1 to 185 for 4, losing Shorey and Himmat Singh, but with the target not too far away and plenty of time left, Nitish Rana’s quick 37 of 28 balls ensured no further alarms. Rana fell with victory in sight, but by then Delhi had all but booked their semi-final date.

Oman held on in a nervy finish behind Jatinder Singh’s 73 to maintain their unbeaten run with a three-wicket win over Denmark.In a game which had sloppy fielding from both sides, Denmark paid dearest for dropping Jatinder twice – on 5 and 19 – as he went on to anchor Oman’s chase of Denmark’s 154.It arguably should have been a much smaller target and a less taxing chase but the hosts were guilty of a number of drops that allowed Denmark off the hook after being under pressure following their decision to bat first. An edge by Zameer Khan to second slip off Kaleemullah was followed by a full inswinger by Bilal that trapped Hamid Shah to leave Denmark 9 for 2 in the third over.Freddie Klokker’s decision to take on Mehran Khan for a third run after chasing down a drive from mid-on resulted in a direct hit run-out leaving Denmark 36 for 3 at the end of the Powerplay. It could have been 36 for 4, but Saif Ahmad was spilled by Khawar Ali at slip off the very next ball by Jay Odedra. Khawar had injured his right shoulder a short time earlier diving to stop a boundary and left the field immediately after the drop, eventually leaving the ground with his arm in a sling for further evaluation.Oman had reduced Denmark to 59 for 5 and maintained pressure that resulted in another chance when Bilal returned for a second spell and bounced Anique Uddin on 17, resulting in an uncontrolled hook to deep fine leg that was spilled by Sufyan Mehmood. The two misses resulted in 55 extra runs as the pair built up a 64-run partnership that came to an end in dubious circumstances when Uddin was given out lbw for 31 to Odedra on a ball which video showed was sliding down leg.Denmark wound up losing their last five wickets for 31 runs after Bilal returned to hasten a finish with two more wickets as they were bowled out in 41.4 overs. It meant Oman had to bat 25 minutes before lunch and they reached 20 for 1 in eight overs by the interval.Khawar had been due to come in at three but with his shoulder wrapped in ice, Oman’s middle order struggled without him. Denmark opened with spin from both ends and did not bowl an over of medium pace until the 25th before reverting to spin the rest of the way. It almost worked as Nicolaj Laegsgaard, Bashir Shah and Saif worked their way through Oman’s order.Jatinder was on 59 at 128 for 5 when he called for a suicidal run to midwicket that Fayyaz Butt turned down. Both batsmen wound up at the non-striker’s end but Fayyaz alertly left his crease before Hamid’s throw reached Abdul Hashmi behind the stumps, allowing Jatinder to continue. Khawar entered at No. 8 and contributed an unbeaten 9, helping Oman get across the line after Jatinder fell with 10 needed to win.1:36

‘It was Important to get a victory over Uganda’ – Karim

Kenya bounced back from a lopsided loss to USA with a six-wicket win over Uganda. Uganda were committed to playing Irfan Afridi but received news less than an hour before the toss during warm-ups that he had been suspended with immediate effect from bowling in international cricket. It forced Uganda to make him the third change to the XI from their last game as Frank Nsubuga, Brian Masaba and Kenneth Waiswa all saw their first action of the tournament.After choosing to bat first, Uganda struggled to make 177 for 9. Captain Roger Mukasa’s lean run at the tournament continued as he chopped on to Lucas Oluoch for 11. Fellow opener Arnold Otwani, who had crossed 50 in Uganda’s first two matches in Oman, edged Emmanuel Bundi behind for six runs. Ronak Patel was then smartly stumped by Irfan Karim off a leg side wide standing up to Sachin Bhudia’s medium pace to make it 33 for 3 in the 13th over.Dinesh Nakrani and Masaba built a 66-run stand to hold Kenya’s bowling unit at bay but pressure from Shem Ngoche finally resulted in a wicket for Narendra Patel, who dismissed Masaba for 21. Nakrani fell to Bhudia immediately after reaching his 50 while Ngoche’s stifling spell of 2 for 13 ensured Uganda would not get past 200.Kenya were likewise under pressure early in their reply when Nsubuga struck twice with the new ball bowling offspin to leave Kenya 33 for 3 at the end of their Powerplay. Riazat Ali Shah trapped Rakep Patel in the first over after drinks to make it 71 for 4 and Uganda had a golden chance to put Kenya under more pressure in Riazat’s next over when Nelson Odhiambo edged him to slip but Ronak spilled the chance.Karim and Odhiambo never looked back in a 107-run partnership, as they both scored half-centuries, clinching victory with 25 balls to spare.

Eleven years since he made his IPL debut with Delhi Daredevils, Shikhar Dhawan is set to play for his home team again in 2019. ESPNcricinfo understands that the batsman is likely to have been traded by Sunrisers Hyderabad in exchange for three players – Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem.Sunrisers had chosen not to retain Dhawan ahead of last year’s auction, where the franchise paid INR 5.2 crore (approx USD 820,000) to buy him back. Since then, there have been murmurs about him being unhappy about his price tag, which eventually led to Sunrisers releasing him through the trade. Since Daredevils had bought the trio of Shankar (INR 3.2 cr), Nadeem (INR 3.2 cr) and Abhishek (INR 55 lakhs) for a total of INR 6.95 crore, Sunrisers would need to pay the balance amount in cash.Dhawan last played for Daredevils in the first season of the IPL in 2008. Then he moved to Mumbai for a couple of years and finally arrived in Hyderabad, initially playing for Deccan Chargers for a year before joining Sunrisers in 2013.Dhawan has been the leading run-scorer for Sunrisers with a tally of 2768 from 91 innings at an average of 35.03 and strike-rate of 125.13. In the 2018 IPL, he made 497 runs at 35.50. His smart strike-rate was 142.82, better than his normal strike-rate of 136.91.Although regular captain David Warner was the force behind Sunrisers’ IPL win in 2016, Dhawan also played a key role at the top of the order. In fact, the Warner-Dhawan combine (2357) is the third-most prolific pairing behind Chris Gayle-Virat Kohli (2787) and AB de Villiers-Kohli (2525)In case the deal does go through – both franchises have been tight-lipped, making no public comment – it remains to be seen whether Daredevils have gained much from it, having released three allrounders, all Indians, two of whom (Shankar and Nadeem) are frequent first-choice picks in the XI.The Dhawan deal is the second big trade ahead of the next IPL auction, scheduled for December 16. Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier released South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock to Mumbai Indians in a money-only trade, which involves a franchise selling the player in exchange for money, as opposed to swapping him for another player.The other trade in the first trading window was RCB releasing Mandeep Singh to Kings XI Punjab in exchange for Australian allrounder Marcus Stoinis.