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England women orchestrated two mini-collapses – one at the start and one in the middle-overs – to secure victory over Australia women in the second ODI at Hove and draw level

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2013
ScorecardKatherine Brunt picked up two wickets, including that of top-scorer Jess Cameron•Getty ImagesEngland’s bowlers orchestrated two mini-collapses – one at the start and one in the middle-overs – to secure victory over Australia in the second ODI at Hove and draw level in the Ashes. Jess Cameron tried her best to keep Australia in the lead, but her lone stand of 81 was in vain.England’s defence of a 257-run target was near perfect as they dismissed Meg Lanning and Rachel Haynes for nought each. Cameron, coming in at No. 3, held one end steady and her 63-run partnership with Jodie Fields looked to put Australia back on the right track, but a spell of three wickets in five overs, beginning in the 29th with Jenny Gunn’s sharp return catch to remove Alex Blackwell, brought England back into the ascendancy.Jess Jonassen herded the tail during a run-a-ball 34 but she ran out of partners and Australia were bundled out in the 49th over. Seamer Kathrine Brunt and left-arm spinner Holly Colvin picked up two wickets each for England.Having won the toss, England put in a solid batting performance led by Charlotte Edwards, who scored her second fifty of the series, this time a match-winning effort.A 70-run stand between Edwards and Sarah Taylor was followed by a 77-run fourth-wicket partnership between Lydia Greenway and Arran Brindle that laid the foundation for the charge at the death as England made 41 runs off the last five overs. Left-arm spinner Jonassen continued her form with the ball, picking up 2 for 29 to go with the four wickets she took in the first game.Both teams have four points each heading into the third ODI on Sunday.

While the opening day belonged to youth the second was a day that celebrated the experience of 35-year-old Gareth Batty and 38-year-old Dale Benkenstein

Vithushan Ehantharajah at The Oval11-May-2013
ScorecardSpin continued to play a key part as Gareth Batty took four wickets•Getty ImagesWhile the opening day belonged to youth with Ryan Buckley’s maiden five-wicket haul on debut, the second was a day that celebrated the experience of 35-year-old Gareth Batty and 38-year-old Dale Benkenstein.As Batty kept Durham in check with four wickets, Benkenstein, who had already played eight first-class matches before Buckley was even born, negotiated a turning pitch and rain delays to take Durham into a first innings lead, and himself past 9,000 first-class runs for the county.It wasn’t just rain that stalled proceedings at The Oval. Pigeons, never shy of tucking into the seeds here on the outfield, were ballsy enough to wander close to the pitch, some even having the temerity to dart across the pitch as the bowler ran in.It irked Stuart Meaker, who needed three attempts to complete a single delivery in the 73rd over after pulling out initially because one of the feathered troublemakers started hopping toward the pitch, ominously. However, it was only Batty who could really look at himself and say he gave it his all; on three occasions he dispersed a cluster of pigeons by charging at them and waving his arms about like a man possessed by a, well, pigeon.In the morning session his arm waving was more right-arm orthodox, and accounted for the wickets of Will Smith and Mark Stoneman, who started the morning with a host of boundaries as he brought up 50 off only 53 balls. Bowling in tandem with Gary Keedy, the pair – with a combined age of 73 – made use of a good, turning track although it was Batty who generating the most bite.Were it not for Batty, Durham could have built up a far more convincing lead by stumps, which should tell you a lot about the calculated nature of their batting. The forecast for the day was for showers an hour or so after lunch and, after an initial stoppage, the rain settled in and hung around to tea.A turgid period of play resulting in Ben Stokes dragging one on and Collingwood going five balls after tea, both to Zander de Bruyn but the introduction of Phil Mustard looked like it might get up the nose of Surrey, as he played his natural game to good effect; driving well off the seamers and saving a variety of sweeps against the spinners.At the other end, Benkenstein picked up singles and patiently waded through overs to find the bad balls and when they arrived he put them away. But when Mustard went, the tail soon followed as Batty tricked Callum Thorp into playing inside the line of his arm-ball, catching the edge and allowing Jason Roy to do the rest at slip (albeit at the second attempt). Tim Linley then removed Mark Wood and Chris Rushworth in the first over with the new ball, in successive deliveries, bringing young Buckley to the crease.He was shielded by his elder, who took it upon himself to try and thrash a few runs as the day wound down. Batty placed eight men evenly spaced out to cover the entire boundary; bringing them in from the fifth ball of the over to trap Buckley on strike for the change of overs. When they did, he stood up to Linley and defended with confidence off the back foot before seeing out the last over of the day.It was a day that tested the resolve of the few watching, but one that did enough to move this game along at a decent pace. Both sides should be credited for that.

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has said he was “perfectly happy” with where MS Dhoni batted in the IPL final against Mumbai Indians and stated that the captain batted at No. 7 because he was there to win the game for the team

ESPNcricinfo staff27-May-2013Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has said he was “perfectly happy” with where MS Dhoni batted in the IPL final against Mumbai Indians and stated that the captain batted at No. 7 because he was there to win the game for the team.Chasing 149 at the Eden Gardens, Super Kings were reeling at 3 for 3 within the first 10 balls, as they lost Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina and S Badrinath. But captain Dhoni came out to the middle only in the seventh over when they had lost two more wickets, of Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja, with the score on 36, with Mumbai in control of the game.”He has a role to play,” Fleming said. “He was left not out at the end after recovering a pretty poor innings but the strength of the side is that we have key players that come in at key times and if you’ve watched most of the season you would have seen that.”Despite being unbeaten, Dhoni ran out of partners as wickets kept falling and the asking rate kept rising. His 45-ball 63, including five sixes, wasn’t enough as Super Kings fell short by 23 runs.”He is there to win the game for us,” Fleming said. “We have other players that should have put us in a position to win. They didn’t do that so he had to recover the situation. And hence he went in when he did. But I’m perfectly happy with where he batted.”Super Kings won 11 out of 16 league matches this season and won more matches than any other team away from home. But their franchise was affected by off-field issues after their top official, Gurunath Meiyappan, was arrested by Mumbai Police.”We actually had a pretty good IPL,” Fleming said. “It was…trouble-free up to the last week, [but] we as a team played very well. We’re usually inconsistent but we were probably the most consistent we’ve ever been and even in that semi-final we played well and deserved to be at the top.”I guess as a coach it’s very satisfying that we were able to maintain an element of consistency in a long and topsy-turvy tournament. But we just got through a lot in the last week and we didn’t respond that well and we would have loved to have responded well on the field but we were outplayed so hats off to Mumbai.”Super Kings played their fourth consecutive IPL final, and their fifth overall, but failed to get their hands on the trophy, like last year. Admitting to a lacklustre display in this year’s final, Fleming was keen to set the record straight next time.”Last year we lost when we played well, this year we lost playing poorly, well the batting side of it was poor. We’re still proud of making five out of six finals but we’d like to have won four out of five or three out of five, for sure. The fact that we won two is great but this certainly hurts and the goal now is to get into this situation again and try and rectify it.”Fleming was lavish in his praise for Mumbai’s bowling which routed Chennai to 39 for 6 in the eighth over. “I thought [Lasith] Malinga bowled an outstanding spell,” he said. “He took the new ball for them, which he hasn’t done for a while and they looked desperate. It was almost like they knew they were short of runs, that it was only a par score.”We just had to get through that first spell and it was something in the short break that we talked about and look with Mike Hussey, he got probably one of the best balls of the IPL and that certainly gives any side a lift and he has the same effect on us.”

Jahurul Islam’s unbeaten 49 guided Duronto Rajshahi to their fifth win in the competition, against Sylhet Royals, who lost their second game this season by five wickets in Mirpur

The Report by Mohammad Isam05-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJahurul Islam, with his third significant knock in a row, took Rajshahi to a final-over win•AFPJahurul Islam’s unbeaten 49 guided Duronto Rajshahi to their fifth win in the competition, beating Sylhet Royals, who remain top of the table despite the defeat.Tamim Iqbal’s absence, after he hurt his left hand while fielding, made the chase of 148 appear more impressive. After Charles Coventry and Dilshan Munaweera gave Rajshahi a positive start, they lost four wickets quickly, and Jahurul faced a familiar task of steadying the innings.After Jahurul and Ziaur Rahman were separated in the 15th over, Jahurul added 46 off 29 balls with Mukhtar Ali to reach the target in the final over. Mukhtar was given more of the strike and the aggressive allrounder made the most of his opportunities as he struck two sixes and a four in his 17-ball 29.This was Jahurul’s third match-winning knock in a row: he scored 57 and 38 not out against Barisal Burners and Rangpur Riders before this match.The Rajshahi bowlers had also contributed to the win, with left-arm spinner Monir Hossain and Munaweera taking two wickets each. After a strong second-wicket partnership between Paul Stirling and Mushfiqur Rahim, who added added 51 runs, the Royals lost their way as they went for too many attacking strokes.Ben Edmondson, Naeem Islam jnr and Mukhtar took a wicket each, and helped Rajshahi restrict their opponents to 147. The seamers had made scoring difficult by changing the pace of their deliveries on a slow wicket.Mushfiqur and Stirling, who scored 34 and 24 respectively, were the highest scorers for the Royals as none of their big-hitters down the order contributed much.

ESPNcricinfo previews the match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils at the Wankhede Stadium

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit08-Apr-2013Match factsTuesday, April 9, 2013
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Not a familiar sight for Mumbai fans•BCCIBig PictureThe last time Ricky Ponting played at Wankhede Stadium, he was leading Australia in a one-dayer against India. There was no IPL yet. Ponting made a half-century, and one can imagine the kind of reception he must have got from the Mumbai crowd, which has a ready ability to heckle visiting teams and captains. More than five years later, when Ponting walks out to the toss on Tuesday night, you can be sure there’ll be nothing hostile about the crowd’s behaviour towards the Mumbai Indians captain. It’ll be the franchise’s first home game of the season, and Wankhede will know, and respect, what it is witnessing when Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar walk out together.Not only will Mumbai be backed by the screaming hordes, they will also be lifted by the presence of their key bowler, Lasith Malinga, who is likely to be fit for his first match this season. Malinga should come in for one of Mitchell Johnson or Dwayne Smith.Mumbai had a batting failure against Chennai Super Kings, and were hauled back from the edge of defeat by an acrobatic catch from Kieron Pollard, who had bailed them out with an unbeaten fifty earlier in the game.Till the penultimate over against Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils were winning the game easily, David Warner having guided the chase sensibly. Then Warner was run out, and the rest choked. Daredevils have lost both matches so far, and will be hoping Virender Sehwag has recovered enough from his back troubles to play. Daredevils will also welcome back last season’s highest wicket-taker, Morne Morkel, and the feisty Roelof van der Merwe, who will join the squad after playing in South Africa’s domestic T20 final.Players to watchSachin Tendulkar has received many shocking lbw decisions over his career. The one he got against Chennai Super Kings wasn’t one of them, still, his reaction was about as livid as you’ll ever see Tendulkar on the field. It is surprising the match referee did not have anything to say. That is a different matter, but Tendulkar’s disgust showed his desperation to make runs. Has the presence of another legend at the other end made him even more determined?Morne Morkel had 25 wickets last IPL season at just over seven runs an over. Indications are he will play, and if he does, the tall fast bowler should enjoy the bounce the Wankhede generally offers. Mumbai have had batting stutters in both matches so far, and facing Morkel will be a testing prospect.Stats and trivia Last year at Wankhede, Mumbai Indians were shot out for 92, with the Daredevils quick bowlers picking up seven wickets. Kieron Pollard is eight short of 3500 T20 runsQuotes”T20 is a game of improvisation but you have to strike a balance between improvising and sticking to your own style. I want to balance it out even more so that it does not get too much one-sided.”

Sussex took control of their Championship Division One game with Durham, reducing the visitors to 92 for 4 before rain forced an early close at Arundel.

18-Jul-2012
ScorecardSussex took control of their Championship Division One game with Durham, reducing the visitors to 92 for 4 before rain forced an early close at Arundel.That score represented a minor recovery for bottom-of-the-table Durham, who have yet to record a four-day win this season, after James Anyon had taken two wickets with successive balls to reduce them to one for two in the third over. Mark Stoneman struck a half-century but he was removed by Monty Panesar shortly before the lunch interval to put the hosts back in the ascendancy.Although Durham’s new captain Paul Collingwood had recovered from a broken hand to lead the side his luck did not hold at the toss and his batsmen soon found it a struggle in overcast, damp conditions after they were put in.In his second over Anyon made the breakthrough when Will Smith fenced outside off stump and Mike Yardy dived to his left at second slip to take an excellent catch. Gordon Muchall lost his off stump to the next delivery driving airily but Ben Stokes did manage to avert the hat-trick.Stokes was soon timing the ball sweetly and had hit four boundaries in his 20 when Steve Magoffin was rewarded for an excellent new-ball spell with a wicket in his seventh over. He tempted Stokes with extra width and his full-blooded drive was intercepted in front of his face by Yardy in the slips.That left Durham 34 for 3 but opener Stoneman, who made a century in the equivalent fixture last season, and the experienced Dale Benkenstein staged a decent recovery with a stand of 50 in 13 overs.Stoneman timed the ball crisply, accelerating to his second half-century of the season with a flurry of seven boundaries in 20 balls when Luke Wright and Kirk Wernars, who was making his first championship appearance of the season, came into the attack. But shortly after reaching his half-century off 80 deliveries with nine fours Stoneman, who had taken two boundaries off Panesar in his first over, missed an attempted pull at the left-arm spinner and was leg before.There was just enough time for Collingwood to get off the mark with a boundary through the covers when rain forced the players off five minutes before lunch with 27.4 overs bowled. Umpires Nigel Llong and Neil Mallender made three afternoon inspections in the hope of making a resumption but further rain forced them to abandon the day’s play shortly after 4pm.

Australia’s Michael Clarke has been named captain of the ICC’s Test Team of the Year, while South Africa quick Dale Steyn has made it to the team for the fifth year in a row

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Aug-2012Australia’s Michael Clarke has been named captain of the ICC’s Test Team of the Year, while South Africa quick Dale Steyn has made it to the team for the fifth year in a row.Test Team of the Year stats

Alastair Cook: 1005 runs at 52.89 in 12 Tests
Hashim Amla: 915 at 65.35 in 10
Kumar Sangakkara: 1444 at 60.16 in 14
Jacques Kallis: 660 at 55.00 in 9
Michael Clarke: 1355 at 58.91 in 14
Shivnarine Chanderpaul: 975 at 65.00 in 11
Matt Prior: 442 at 31.57, with 30 dismissals, in 12
Stuart Broad: 47 wickets at 24.10 in 10
Saeed Ajmal: 72 at 24.29 in 12
Vernon Philander: 56 at 16.57 in 9
Dale Steyn: 44 at 24.18 in 10
AB de Villiers: 807 runs at 62.07 in 10

The team comprises Alastair Cook and Hashim Amla as openers, with Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis, Clarke and Shivnarine Chanderpaul slotting into the middle order. Matt Prior has been chosen as the wicketkeeper, and Saeed Ajmal is the spinner in the XI. The pace attack includes Stuart Broad, Vernon Philander and Steyn. AB de Villiers was chosen as 12th man.For Amla, Kallis and Sangakkara, this is the third consecutive year that they have made the team, while for Cook and Broad it’s the second.The team was announced alongside the shortlists for the ICC’s annual awards ceremony on Thrusday. The players were chosen by a panel consisting of former players – West Indies batsmen Clive Lloyd and Carl Hooper, Sri Lanka opener Marvan Attapatu, Australia allrounder Tom Moody and England Women’s captain Clare Connor – based on their performance between August 4, 2011, and August 6, 2012.Lloyd, who was the chairman of the selection panel, said apart from statistics, the playing conditions encountered by the cricketers were taken into account while picking the team. “The selectors did utilise a vast amount of statistics from the period under observation, but we also took into account all other factors like the opposition, pitch conditions, match situation etc.”The process of selection was a difficult one, with a lengthy debate between the panel on all the top performances during the voting period, and various combinations were considered.”The ICC ODI Team of the Year will be announced prior to the awards function, which is set for September 15 in Colombo.ICC Test Team of the Year 2011-12: Alastair Cook, Hashim Amla, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis, Michael Clarke (capt), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Saeed Ajmal, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers (12th man)

The Bangladesh Cricket Board is in talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board about a short tour to the country next month

Mohammad Isam14-Dec-2012The Bangladesh Cricket Board is in talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board about a short tour to the country next month. BCB president Nazmul Hassan said that the talks are now all about a suitable timeframe for the tour.”We can’t go in December so we will speak to the PCB today, about whether we can fit in a small tour before the BPL,” Hassan told ESPNcricinfo.Bangladesh’s proposed tour to Pakistan hit a snag earlier this year when, on April 19, a Dhaka court order embargoed a series between the two scheduled for the end of April.In November, Hassan said that the BCB had made a “written commitment” to the PCB to go ahead with the tour.On Friday Hassan explained that they are now in the second phase of talks with the PCB because the first phase, which dealt with security issues, was satisfactory. “I have spoken to those who went for the security assessment and they are quite satisfied,” he said. “If we can agree on a time, we will go next month.”He also said that the players and the support staff will be spoken to about the tour, but no one will be forced to go on the tour. “The last time when we discussed [touring Pakistan], we wanted to talk to the players and find out their opinion. We will also speak to foreign staff but it is highly likely that they won’t go. That we can understand. We don’t want to force them.”Back in March, the ICC had introduced a “special dispensation” to be made only in “exceptional circumstances” that allowed bilateral series to take place even if the ruling body determined it “unsafe” to appoint its officials for these series. This would allow such series to be manned by “non-neutral match officials”, a departure from the ICC’s Standard Playing Conditions.Hassan said the dispensation will take effect if the ICC doesn’t send its officials to conduct the matches. “They [ICC] are quite clear about it. They want us to decide if we want to go or not. We will submit a security plan to them, after which they will decide whether they will send their match officials or not. If they don’t, we will have to appoint match officials.”

Australian Steve Magoffin made an instant impact for Sussex with a debut seven-for to seal a notable ten-wicket win over the defending champions, Lancashire, inside three days.

Graham Hardcastle at Aigburth14-Apr-2012Steve Magoffin, the tall fast bowler who last month played a crucial all-round role in Queensland’s Sheffield Shield Final win over Tasmania at the Gabba, made an instant impact for Sussex with a debut seven-for to seal a notable ten-wicket win over the defending champions, Lancashire, inside three days.Here, in chilly Liverpool conditions far removed from the heat of Brisbane, Magoffin bounded up the hill from the Pavilion End to add the wickets of Ashwell Prince, Glen Chapple, Kyle Hogg and Simon Kerrigan to the three he took during Thursday’s evening session, so clinching 22 points for his new county.”That’s pretty much the coldest I have ever played in,” said Magoffin, whose match figures of 9 for 55 were the second best of his career. “It was 40 degrees and humid the last time I played at the Gabba. It’s not so much when you’re bowling as when you aren’t that the temperature is a problem.”Magoffin’s Shield final was no easy ride either. He suffered back spasms on the opening day and the following morning had to make an emergency call to Martin Love, the Queensland physiotherapist and former Test batsman, to help him get out of bed. He returned to take one second innings wicket and then score an unbeaten 26 as they just about crept over the line in a nervy pursuit of 133.”I had various tablets to get myself out there,” he said at the time. “I probably sounded like a Tic-Tac packet running in there.”Lancashire, 85 for four at the start of the third day, still trailing by 91 runs, began positively thanks to Prince and Luke Procter, their young all-rounder whose style of play was not so long ago described as a cross between Neil Fairbrother and Darren Lehmann by the club’s assistant coach, Gary Yates. Procter drove and pulled Monty Panesar’s left-arm spin for successive boundaries during the day’s ninth over, but fell to the England spinner when he skewed a lofted on-drive to Luke Wells at point.Magoffin bowled the majority of his overs from the River End during the match but switched ends before lunch with great effect, getting Prince caught behind for 58 and Chapple caught at first slip by Michael Yardy, whose first-innings hundred had put Sussex in such a dominant position.Rain delayed the start of the afternoon session by 25 minutes, though it was only a brief stay of execution for the hosts because Magoffin bowled Hogg and had Kerrigan caught behind to make the perfect start to his third spell in English cricket following brief stays at Surrey and Worcestershire, where his wife, Becky, worked in the club’s offices.”I didn’t learn I was coming here until late March when I got the call to say that the qualification scenario had changed with my wife being British and that they could get me in to play here on a spouse visa as an overseas player,” he said. “I haven’t played here in four years, and I’ve been restricted because of not playing international cricket. I’m here for a few months and looking forward to contributing. Mark Robinson [Sussex’s coach] has got me over to do that role, to bowl maidens and build pressure.”Lancashire’s fate was sealed when Ed Joyce swept the solitary run required off the third ball of the Sussex chase, leaving them with a lot to ponder ahead of Thursday’s meeting with Warwickshire on this ground. Chapple, their captain, said: “We got into the game on the second day and played some decent stuff, but it was a little bit ‘too little, too late’. It was a poor toss to lose but they definitely outplayed us.”

The Sydney Sixers cruised to an easy 64-run win over the hapless Adelaide Strikers to cement their place in the top four of the Big Bash League

The Report by Andrew Fuss10-Jan-2012
ScorecardStuart MacGill took a catch and bowled a spell of 4-0-12-2 in the Sixers’ win•Getty ImagesThe Sydney Sixers cruised to an easy 64-run win over the hapless Adelaide Strikers to cement their place in the top four of the Big Bash League.Adelaide appeared to have restricted the Sixers to a gettable target of 151, thanks to some tight bowling from Alfonso Thomas who took 3 for 24 off his four overs. He was well supported by spinners Daniel Salpietro and Aaron O’Brien, who were miserly with their mixed bag of spin.Nic Maddinson smashed 31 off 20 and looked in good form before Salpietro removed him, caught at point. Moises Henriques was the only other Sixer to impress with the bat, building an innings of 42 of 37 deliveries to help the visitors past the 150-run mark.But the Strikers never got started, losing the captain Michael Klinger in the first over thanks to a brilliant catch from veteran Stuart MacGill.Some brilliant spin bowling followed from Steven O’Keefe and Nathan McCullum, both in their first appearances for the season. The pair combined to rip through the Stikers middle order, taking 4 for 16 to all but end Adelaide’s finals’ hopes. The Sixers move into third with a home match against the Scorchers in the final round of matches set to possibly decide who gets a home semi-final.Man of the match O’Keefe finished with the impressive figures of 3 for 20 off four overs. MacGill also impressed – despite his anger towards the umpire for having to remove his hand towel so as not to distract the batsman – finishing with 2 for 12 off his four overs.