All posts by n8rngtd.top

Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja ripped through Sri Lanka’s top order after India set them 410 to win the Delhi Test or survive the best part of four sessions to save it

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy05-Dec-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBCCI

Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja ripped through Sri Lanka’s top order after India set them 410 to win the Delhi Test or survive the best part of four sessions to save it. Bad light brought the fourth day to an end with a theoretical 13 overs remaining, with Sri Lanka struggling at 31 for 3.Sri Lanka came within six balls of going to stumps just one down. Nigel Llong had a long look at his light meter before motioning Jadeja to bowl, and he duly picked up two wickets in what turned out to be the last over of the day. First, Dimuth Karunaratne stretched forward to defend a topspinner that dipped on him, and nicked to the keeper, playing for non-existent turn. Three balls later, the nightwatchman Suranga Lakmal made a mess of his attempt to block a stump-to-stump delivery, cue-ending the ball into the ground and back onto his stumps.Shami had given India their first breakthrough with an exhibition of searing pace and accuracy. He sent down two bouncers that reared dangerously towards Sadeera Samarawickrama’s head. The batsman evaded the first one, falling onto the floor while swaying out of line, but couldn’t avoid the second, ball kissing his glove and bouncing off his right shoulder to gully.The effort of those back-to-back bouncers in the Delhi smog quickly told on Shami; he vomited and went off the field thereafter. Lakmal had shown similar symptoms while bowling in the morning session, when Sri Lanka again came out with a number of their fielders wearing face masks.There was no such discomfort for India’s batsmen in their second innings; three of them scored half-centuries, with the declaration arriving as soon as Rohit Sharma brought up his in the 10th over after tea.There were two major partnerships in India’s innings. Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara added 77 for the third wicket at just under four-and-a-half an over, and Virat Kohli and Rohit added 90 for the fifth at just under a run-a-ball. Kohli and Rohit only hit eight fours between them, but picked up a steady stream of singles and twos against spread-out fields as Sri Lanka waited for a declaration. Kohli holed out in a bid for quick runs, soon after reaching his fifty and passing 600 runs for the series.Having secured a 163-run first-innings lead in the sixth over of the morning, India came out with clear intent to score quickly. M Vijay, normally so watchful outside off stump, repeatedly looked to drive the new ball on the up, and, having hit two fours in this manner, nicked Lakmal behind on 9.Instead of Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane walked in at No. 3, having scored 4, 0, 2 and 1 in his four previous innings in the series. Rahane likes the ball coming on to the bat, so perhaps this was an effort to have him face a harder, newer ball than normal. The experiment didn’t come off. He struggled to middle the ball in his 37-ball innings, as a control percentage of 64 would suggest, and survived two close lbw shouts before holing out while looking to hit Dilruwan Perera over long-on.Pujara was the freer-scoring batsman in his third-wicket partnership of 77 with Dhawan. He came out full of urgent intent and was typically twinkle-toed against the spinners, stepping out frequently, working the ball into gaps, often calling “two” loudly as soon as he had hit the ball.He hit successive fours off Dilruwan early in his innings, an off-drive and a square-cut, and went to lunch batting on 17 off 15 balls. He found the boundary three more times after lunch before he was caught at slip off Dhananjaya de Silva, playing for turn when the ball went on with the around-the-wicket angle.As in the second innings in Kolkata, Dhawan took his time initially and switched gears effortlessly to reduce the gap between runs and balls. It took him 63 balls to hit his first four, a late-cut off Dilruwan, but the boundaries flowed thereafter, as he stepped out against the quicks, went over the top against the spinners and, as always, scored heavily square of the wicket on the off side. As in Kolkata, he seemed set for a century when he was dismissed, beaten by Sandakan’s turn when he danced down the pitch and went for a big hit.In the morning, Dinesh Chandimal HAD extended his score from an overnight 147 to a career-best 164 before becoming the last man out in Sri Lanka’s first innings. He added 30 for the last wicket with Lakshan Sandakan, who ended up unbeaten on 0 off 20 balls. The No. 11 was beaten multiple times by Ishant Sharma and Shami, but defended stoutly when the line was on the stumps.Chandimal went for his shots, and picked up three fours in the morning, two of them with cuts and uppercuts. That shot, in the end, cost him his wicket, as he sliced Ishant straight to Dhawan at third man.

Usman Khawaja, fresh off his return from the Ashes, smacked 85 in the first innings to lift the Thunder to 175

The Report by Daniel Brettig11-Jan-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsUsman Khawaja played his first BBL match of the season•Getty Images

Australia duty giveth, Australia duty taketh away. Sydney Thunder were hoisted to a narrow victory by the newly available Usman Khawaja over a previously high-flying Perth Scorchers side that lacked Jhye Richardson, AJ Tye, Shaun and Mitchell Marsh among others. In doing so, Khawaja kept the Thunder in contention to squeeze into the Big Bash League semi-finals, while also giving Adelaide Strikers a chance to go a game clear of the Scorchers at the top of the table.Cameron Bancroft and Hilton Cartwright made a bold bid to chase down the Thunder’s total in the closing overs, with one Cartwright straight six managing to hit the top of the grandstand at the Sydney Showgrounds. However Mitchell McClenaghan, who had not enjoyed the best of evenings, was able to find a wide yorker when he needed to with five runs to defend off the final ball of the match.Continuing the innings“He just goes out there and looks from ball one that he’s been batting for three hours already. No obvious weakness, no obvious time that it takes him to build into his innings. From ball one he knows his game so well.” With these words Pat Cummins had described Steven Smith’s domination of the Ashes series, but he might just as easily have been talking about the way Khawaja took up where he had left off when dismissed at the SCG after making 171.Khawaja had not played a single BBL match last season, but his innings here, opposite Kurtis Patterson, Shane Watson and Callum Ferguson, showed the combination of smooth aggression and strike rotation that had helped him dominate the Thunder’s victorious 2015-16 tournament. One straight six off the bowling of Ashton Agar, where he danced down and drove high and long, was so picturesque as to resemble the posed shot he is playing in an advertisement for a popular brand of deodorant this summer. The Thunder will hope he can continue the upward trend throughout the rest of the tournament.Getting them in singlesFerguson was happy to find singles to put Khawaja on strike in a 54-run partnership that seemed set to take the Thunder near 200, but when the left-hander fell to a skier the hosts needed more acceleration from the set batsman. However Ferguson is yet to hit a six in this BBL, and striking in the region of 118 per 100 balls is short of the level of attack the late overs need.As a result Sydney stuttered notably in the back half of the innings, only twice topping double figures in the closing 10 overs. Mitchell Johnson and Joel Paris could both be happy with their bowling figures, while Agar was also able to keep things relatively tight despite missing out on Khawaja’s wicket when Bancroft was unable to complete a stumping from a flat and fullish delivery the batsman played over the top of.Swinger SandhuIn an alternate universe, Gurinder Sandhu is a leading seam bowler in England, bending the Dukes ball at will and using his height to generate edge-catching bounce on grassy strips. In this one, he has slipped from the fringes of the Australian squad – touring India with Australia A in 2016 and also playing ODIs for his country – to the edge of the New South Wales system, and a far from consistent berth in the Sydney Thunder line-up.But on this night he was able to demonstrate the sort of trajectory, wrist position and movement that had first attracted the interest of talent spotters. Late new ball outswing made life exceptionally hard for two Australian Test batsmen in Bancroft and Adam Voges, either side of a probable future Australian cricketer in Ashton Turner being completely flummoxed by a slower ball yorker that pinned him on the back foot in front of the stumps. Fawad Ahmed was able to follow-up with a perfect wrong’un to Voges, leaving the Scorchers in a position from which Bancroft and Cartwright had no choice but to throttle back.(Almost) dropping the BBL“I’m getting sick of all these dropped catches” spat Mark Waugh on Ten’s commentary, after McClenaghan had grassed a straightforward chance from Cartwright, to follow up an even simpler chance from Bancroft that Ben Rohrer allowed to burst through his hands. The standard of catching in the BBL has been generally deplorable, and these mistakes served to allow the Scorchers to stay in the contest for far longer than they had a reasonable right to.Having let the required run rate blow out into the region of 12.5 runs per over, Bancroft and Cartwright then started to peg back the lost ground with big hits, the former taking 10 from the next two balls after Chris Green had been let down by Rohrer’s miss. Green was again the bowler (albeit delivering a loose leg side full toss) when McClenaghan reprieved Cartwright, who smote sixes off the balls immediately before and after the drop.The hitting increased in intensity to a point when Cartwright deposited McClenaghan’s second ball of the final over onto the roof of the stand at long on, and a subsequent no-ball for a delivery reaching the batsman above waist height on the full seemed to have tilted the balance towards the Scorchers. But McClenaghan was able to find the lines and lengths to jam Cartwright and Bancroft with the game on the line, keeping the Thunder in contention despite their many errors.

The legspin-bowling allrounder played 19 Tests from 1951 to 1958 and led the team in eight of them

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-2018Clive van Ryneveld, the former South Africa captain who also played rugby for England, has died aged 89. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and his work as a lawyer included providing assistance to players – the most notable one being Basil D’Oliveira – with their contracts.A legspin-bowling allrounder, van Ryneveld was part of South Africa’s famous Test win in England in 1951. It was his debut match.In all, he played 19 Tests between 1951 and 1958 – captained South Africa in eight of them – and finished with 724 runs and 17 wickets. He had a more successful first-class career, playing 101 games, making 4803 runs and taking 206 wickets. After retiring from cricket, he became one of the founding members of the Progressive political party and also served a term in parliament, representing one of the East London constituencies.CSA acting chief executive Thabang Moroe paid tribute to Van Ryneveld: “On behalf of the CSA Family I extend our deepest condolences to his family, his friends and his many cricketing colleagues. Apart from being an outstanding all-round sportsman he did his utmost to create a level playing field for all South Africans.”

The ECB has bowed to increasing pressure and agreed to an external review of the process leading to the payment of £2.5m to Glamorgan

George Dobell28-Mar-2018The ECB has bowed to increasing pressure and agreed to an external review of the process leading to the payment of £2.5m to Glamorgan. Barely 48 hours after dismissing calls for such an inquiry at a meeting of the county chairmen, the ECB has performed a U-turn which suggests chaos at the heart of the organisation.While an ECB press release suggests the U-turn is the result of “time to reflect” on the request formally made by Somerset and Surrey on Monday, it may not be coincidental that the ECB’s Audit, Risk and Governance committee met on Wednesday in order to sign off the accounts. With such a substantial and extraordinary payment having been made to Glamorgan – and the suggestion that further payments have been promised elsewhere – it is entirely possible the committee required more details before the accounts could be signed off.”Following the ECB’s meeting with the chairmen of the first-class counties and MCC on Monday we have taken time to reflect on this, as a Board,” Colin Graves, the ECB chairman, said in a statement. “The Board agree that it will be valuable to have an external review into the process around the payment.”I recognise there have been questions raised and, whilst answers have been provided, we are determined that the process is fully reviewed.”It was revealed several weeks ago by the that Glamorgan had received the payment in return for not applying to host a Test in the major match allocation that runs until the end of the 2024 season. While the ECB executive insists such payments were agreed, in principle, at a board teleconference in September 2016, the likes of Andy Nash and Richard Thompson, who have resigned from the board in recent days in protest at what they see as a lack of transparency behind such decisions, believe they required more detailed consideration. Both men claim such a payment amounts to favouring one county over others and conflict with the ECB’s constitution.The ECB has not yet published the terms of reference for the review. But while it is understood the county chairmen requested an entirely independent inquiry led by a respected QC, the ECB has appointed Good Governance Institute (GGI) and asked them to look only at “the process leading to the recent payment to Glamorgan”. As GGI were employed by the ECB in a consultancy capacity as recently as the end of last year – they compiled a report entitled “Governance Improvement Programme” – one county has already raised questions over their independence and, as a result, their suitability for the task.There is also concern over the breadth of the review. With several Test-hosting grounds believed to have budgeted for similar compensation payments – the suggested figure was £500,000 for every year they do not host a Test – some of the other counties want to know how they were led to believe such payments were likely. The ECB has agreed to take another look at the policy, but it is currently unclear whether it forms part of the GGI review.”We need to know what other payments have been promised over the last few months,” one county chief executive told ESPNcricinfo. “But this review does represent encouraging progress.”

All but four of the Lodha Committee recommendations are acceptable to these associations, but some of those four are crucial

Sidharth Monga10-May-2018Twelve state associations of the BCCI have informed the Supreme Court that they are ready to implement the Lodha Committee reforms barring four exceptions, the board’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary said a day before a fresh Supreme Court hearing.

State associations that have sent the undertaking to the amicus curiae

• Andhra

• Assam

• Goa

• Jharkhand

• Kerala

• Mumbai

• Rajasthan

• Railways

• Tripura

• Universities

• Uttar Pradesh

• Vidarbha

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which is believed to be against the reforms, is not among the 12 that have agreed to implement them. Maharashtra is the 13th association to have agreed, but because it has run into legal trouble lately, Choudhary didn’t count it. According to the BCCI constitution, a three-fourths majority is required for the reforms to be implemented.The Supreme Court had asked the BCCI office bearers – who had given an undertaking they would ensure the reforms were implemented – to submit their suggestions regarding difficulties in implementing the reforms. The four points the 12 associations found difficult to implement were ‘one state, one vote’, the three year cooling-off period after a term, the constitution of the all-powerful apex council, and the distribution of power and functions between elected representatives of the board and its professional wing.The most significant suggestion put forward by these 12 states is for the board to have six representatives in the apex council as opposed to the one suggested in the Lodha reforms. “The apex council as presently contemplated has three office bearers, which will go up to five,” Choudhary said. “There will be one who represents the board, which will be 37 members, and two for players. Insofar as the board is related, the country is very, very large, therefore my submission is that each zone including a separate zone from northeast, so six representatives.”The implementation of ‘one state, one vote’ and the cooling-off period “doesn’t seem practical” to these 12 associations. The argument against ‘one state, one vote’ has been made in the past, and revolves around the role played by the traditional associations such as Mumbai, Baroda, Saurashtra in big states. They are against the cooling-off period because, according to them, if the two other restrictions – an age cap of 70 years and a total cumulative tenure of nine years – of an official’s tenure are implemented successfully, “the further restraint becomes unnecessary”.”Besides this, you have to contemplate the situation that the office bearers run for three years, then totally new faces come up,” Choudhary said. “That will mean no continuity.”Regarding the exception to the strength of the national selection committee – three now as opposed to five earlier – the 12 states are happy to comply given the team has managed with three for a while now. Given the amount of cricket played in India, though, they would still prefer five selectors.However, in its draft constitution submitted in December 2017, the court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had effectively put aside most of the objections raised.”Each State shall be represented by a state cricket association duly recognised by the BCCI and such associations shall be Full Members,” the draft states. “No State shall have more than one Full Member at any given point of time.” In states with multiple current members, the Full Membership – and its rights and privileges – shall rotate annually among them. The basis of that rotation will be framed by the BCCI.”No office bearer – whether in the BCCI or the state association – shall have consecutive terms,” the draft says. “Further, once an office bearer has completed a term of three years he/she shall not be a member of the governing council or any committee for the next three years.”

Mithali Raj’s unbeaten 97 powered India to a score that was far too much for Malaysia, who were shot out for 27 in the tournament’s opening match

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jun-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMithali Raj’s unbeaten 97 powered India women to 169 for 3 before the bowlers shot Malaysia out for 27 in a resounding 142-run victory to open the Women’s T20 Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Not a single Malaysia batsman managed to make a score in double-figures as India ran through their line-up with six bowlers who bowled a combined five maiden overs. Medium-pacer Pooja Vastrakar was the most successful bowler, taking 3 for 6, while Poonam Yadav chipped in with two wickets without conceding a run in her two overs.India captain Harmanpreet Kaur had elected to bat and was needed in the middle overs to add impetus, after her team had fallen to 35 for 2 just after the Powerplay was done. Her 23-ball 32 did exactly that, but the innings was dictated by Raj, who batted through the 20 overs with a strike rate of 140.57.Raj hit 13 fours and a six in her knock, but couldn’t find the boundary in the last two overs when she was eight away from a century. Her 86-run stand with Kaur came off just 53 balls and she closed the innings off with Deepti Sharma, who did manage to find boundaries at the end to lift India to 169.In response, Malaysia lost half their side within five overs, falling to 12 for 5. Captain Winifred Duraisingam, Sasha Azmi, and Zumika Azmi were the only batsmen to display resistance, but their comparatively long stays at the crease yielded no substantial scores as India completed a massive victory.

A court of appeal found that SLC had failed to hold a mandatory 14-day nomination period following the announcement of the election date

Madushka Balasuriya30-May-2018Sri Lanka Cricket’s elections have been postponed by at least a month after a court of appeal found that the board had flouted election protocol. The move brings into sharp focus the extent of government interference in SLC affairs, with elections having once already been postponed on similar grounds.This latest postponement is the result of a petition filed by SLC presidential candidate Nishantha Ranatunga against the legitimacy of incumbent president Thilanga Sumathipala, on the basis of the latter’s familial ties to the gaming industry. While the court refused to grant the petitioner’s request to hold the elections without Sumathipala, it did not dismiss the petition out of hand. In the deliberation, it found that SLC had failed to hold a mandatory 14-day nomination period following the announcement of the election date – something which SLC had seemingly been granted permission for by the country’s sports ministry less than two weeks prior – and as such ordered elections be stayed, with the matter set to be taken up by the court again on June 14.Elections had initially been announced for May 19 and a nomination deadline set for April 27, but were postponed after Sri Lanka’s sports ministry declared that SLC had violated the country’s sports law in the appointing of an election committee. Sports law dictates that the committee should be appointed on the floor of an Extraordinary General Meeting in front of SLC general membership, whereas SLC had made the appointment at an Executive Committee (ExCo) meeting.SLC however contested that then Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera had granted special permission in this regard, but after Jayasekera resigned from his post on April 11 his replacement, Faiszer Mustapha, called on SLC to follow protocol.As such SLC appointed a new election committee at an EGM on May 19, but with the board constitutionally bound to wait 40 days from the announcement of an election to hold elections, SLC petitioned the sports ministry to waive the waiting period as the nomination period had already taken place. The sports ministry, following consultation with the country’s Attorney General, concurred and allowed elections to be held on May 31.However, in the latest twist, Sri Lanka’s court of appeal has effectively nullified the sports ministry’s and the AG’s decision.While a new election date is being decided, the state of SLC leadership is up in the air. The present board’s term ends on May 31; for them to continue the sports minister will either have to grant an extension to the board’s term limit or appoint an interim committee.

Bangladesh will aim to build on their Asia Cup success as they square off against Ireland in Saturday’s final

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2018Billed favourites to book the final two spots for the forthcoming Women’s World T20 in the Caribbean, Bangladesh and Ireland lived up to the tag in the eight-team qualifying tournament with convincing semi-final wins over Scotland and Papua New Guinea. A victory in the final on Saturday will be as much a contest for bragging rights as it will to validate or reverse the result of the 2015 edition, where Bangladesh finished second behind Ireland.Either Bangladesh or Ireland will face West Indies (in Group A) or Australia (in Group B) in the World T20 opener on November 9 and 11 respectively, pending the result in the final.Ranked ninth and tenth on the ICC multi-format women’s team rankings, Bangladesh finished atop Group A with a 49-run victory at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen hours within Ireland topped Group B by defeating PNG by 27 runs at the venue.Ireland Women players celebrate a wicket•Getty Images/ICC

Bangladesh’s entry into the World T20 comes on the back of a maiden Asia-Cup title-winning campaign in June, where they stunned heavyweights India twice. Ireland, meanwhile, recovered from big-margin, limited-overs series defeats against New Zealand and a 2-1 T20I series defeat against Bangladesh – both at home – less two weeks ago.An unbeaten, three-match-winning streak heading into the semi-final meant the crucial tie against Scotland was only for Ireland’s to lose. Having being put in at the toss by PNG, a wicket off the second ball of the game inspired hopes of a potential upset, but only momentarily. A top-score of 36 from the in-form Gaby Lewis anchored a 47-run second-wicket stand for Ireland, before Lucy O’Reilly’s career-best 3 for 13 rolled over PNG for 86 in 19.2 overs.For Bangladesh, their in-form opening pair of Shamima Sultana and Ayasha Rahman – who had laid the platform for the victors in the low-scoring Asia Cup final – added 51 in 6.5 overs, before middle-order batsman Nigar Sultana’s 31 lifted them to 125 for 6.Scotland wobbled early in the chase, losing opener Rachael Scholes to Bangladesh captain Salma Khatun in the fourth over. But the Bryce sisters – Sarah and captain Kathryn – kept Scotland’s hopes alive, with Sarah collecting a dogged 31 that took Scotland past 50 – in the 13th over.It was, however, a timely strike from legspinner Fahima Khatun, who, on Tuesday became the first Bangladesh bowler – male or female to take a T20I hat-trick, that sent back Sarah and triggered a collapse. Scotland lost 7 for 14 over the following three overs, and the four combined wickets from Nahida Akter and vice-captain Rumana Ahmed strangled them to 76 for 7 snuffed out their hopes of qualification.

The Guyana Amazon Warriors pacer had sent off Australian Ben Cutting by giving him the middle finger with both hands after dismissing him during their clash against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Aug-2018Guyana Amazon Warriors fast bowler Sohail Tanvir has been fined 15% of his match fee for making an obscene gesture during his team’s home game against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots on Thursday. Tanvir accepted the sanction handed to him by match referee Denavon Hayles.The incident occurred during the 17th over of the Patriots innings, when Tanvir dismissed Australian Ben Cutting with a yorker that crashed into the middle stump. As Cutting began walking back, Tanvir showed him a double-middle finger, with Cutting’s back turned to him. One ball before the dismissal, Tanvir had been dispatched for a six over long-on by Cutting.Tanvir finished his spell with 1 for 24 in four overs, which was instrumental in restricting the Patriots to 146 for 5, before the Warriors ran down the target in 16.3 overs, with six wickets in hand. Tanvir was the highest wicket-taker in the previous season, and was subsequently retained by the Warriors, for the maximum price of US$160,000.

A woman sacked by Cricket Australia after she criticised a Tasmanian politician’s policy on abortion access in the state has reached an out of court settlement with the board

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Sep-2018Cricket Australia has avoided the potential of an extensive court battle by settling their case with former employee Angela Williamson who was sacked follow tweets about abortion.Last month, Williamson was heavily critical of Tasmania’s Health Minister Michael Ferguson for his comments on the state’s abortion policy, calling his comments “irresponsible, gutless and reckless”, which led to Cricket Australia claiming she had breached their social media policy.The decision generated significant international headlines and raised questions about the extent of freedom employees had to express political opinions without endangering their employment.Williamson, who had initially rejected an alternate job offer from Cricket Australia to pursue her case in Federal Court, had made strong allegations about the role Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman played in her sacking. Hodgman maintained he had not played any role in Williamson’s dismissal.In confirming the case had been settled out of court, Cricket Australia did not give any other details.”Following ongoing discussions, Cricket Australia, Cricket Tasmania and Angela Williamson have been able to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution of the matter,” a spokesman said.Williamson had been compelled to fly to Melbourne from Hobart to have a surgical abortion earlier this year due to not being able to access the service in Tasmania. She had been employed by Cricket Tasmania for 18 months at the time of her dismissal, and had, prior to working for Cricket Australia, held a job as a government relations manager in Tasmania.Williamson had sought compensation for loss of income, humiliation, damage to her reputation, anxiety and distress.”I spoke my mind on a political issue because I believe strongly in the reproductive health rights of Tasmanian women,” Williamson had said around the time of her dismissal. “I am disappointed the case wasn’t resolved today but I am prepared to continue my fight in the Federal Court.”