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Returning quicks close out soggy win after Markram, Brevis and Ferreira cameos

Firdose Moonda10-Sep-2025Don’t read too much into it, but South Africa took the lead in the three-match T20I series against England after winning a game initially reduced to nine overs a side by batting for 7.5 and then defending an adjusted five-over target.Wet conditions in Cardiff stalked the match throughout as play began two hours and 20 minutes after the scheduled 6.30pm start, and was then interrupted with seven balls remaining in South Africa’s innings.South Africa were on track for a total over 100 thanks to a top-score of 28 from captain Aiden Markram, who sold for R14 million (US$800,000 approx.) at Tuesday’s SA20 auction and hit two fours and two sixes in the 14 balls he faced. Markam shared in a 32-run second-wicket stand with Lhuan-dre Pretorius before Dewald Brevis and Donovan Ferreira put on 36 off 15 balls to form the spine of a competitive total.A heavy burst of rain ended South Africa’s innings prematurely and England were set a reduced target of 69 of 30 balls. With a required run rate of 13.8 an over, their task was always going to be tough but losing Phil Salt and Harry Brook for ducks made it even more difficult. Jos Buttler returned to the top of the order and scored 25 off 11 but needed support against South Africa’s top seamers to challenge for the result to go England’s way.

Wood proves his worth

England made a late change to include left-arm seamer Luke Wood in their XI in place of Jofra Archer, who was wrapped in cotton wool in wet conditions. Wood seized his opportunity: his second ball, and first to the left-handed Ryan Rickelton, swung away, Rickelton drove with no footwork and edged to Buttler for a golden duck.Luke Wood claimed Ryan Rickelton for a first-ball duck•AFP/Getty Images

Markram hit Wood over mid-off for the innings’ first boundary later in that over, then back over his head for six and over mid-on for four at the start of his second over but Wood came back well. Pretorius tried to hit over the leg side but miscued towards mid-off where Brook dived forward to take a stunning catch and Wood ended with 2 for 22.

Brevis justifies the big bucks

After breaking the SA20 pay record and selling for R16.5 million (approx US$944,000) a little over 24 hours ago, Brevis is expected to produce big things and he delivered. When Liam Dawson was brought on in the fifth over, Brevis played the no-look six first up and then smashed a low full toss into the sightscreen for six more. He is a strong player of spin and dispatched Adil Rashid too, over midwicket for his third six.But when Sam Curran was brought on, to bowl his first international spell of the year, he foxed Brevis with an ultra-slow slower ball that Brevis played too early and edged to third. Still, his cameo in partnership with Ferreira showed off his quality – and the reason Pretoria Capitals were willing to splash the cash.Dewald Brevis drills a six down the ground•AFP/Getty Images

Welcome back, South Africa’s strike bowlers

The wisdom of picking Kagiso Rabada, who sat out the ODIs in both England and Australia with ankle inflammation and will have a big role to play in upcoming tours to Pakistan and India, and Marco Jansen, who has not played for almost three months, could have been questioned but both seemed keen to be back.Rabada’s first ball back was full to Phil Salt, who picked out Kwena Maphaka at deep backward square with precision. Rabada barely had time to celebrate his early strike before Buttler hit his fourth and fifth balls, both pace-off, for four and then six to close out the over strongly.Jansen beat Jacob Bethell to start but was then dispatched over midwicket for six before he had him caught at cover. After Brook missed a coupe, Jansen then found extra bounce to beat his uppercut and ended with a slower ball. He bowled a second over, mixed up his pace well and ended with the wicket of Buttler, caught off the inside edge, to end the game as a contest.South Africa were without Lungi Ngidi, ruled out of the series with a hamstring strain sustained at training on Tuesday, and Keshav Maharaj, who tweaked his groin during the warm-ups. Nandre Burger will replace Ngidi – who is due to fly home on Thursday – and will join up with the squad ahead of Friday’s second T20I in Manchester.

West Indies fast bowler will be available for final three games as Durham look to avoid relegation battle

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Sep-2024Durham have signed West Indies fast bowler Chemar Holder for their final three games of the County Championship season.Holder, who has played a Test and an ODI for his country, will be available for the round of Championship games starting on Monday, when Durham host Lancashire at Chester-le-Street. He replaces Neil Wagner, the New Zealand left-armer, whose stint was cut short by injury.”We are pleased to welcome Chemar to Durham for the final stages of the season, he is an exciting tall quick bowler who will add a point of difference to our available bowling group,” Marcus North, Durham’s director of cricket, said.”With international call ups and a number of injuries, it was extremely important to bring in an additional seamer and we are pleased to have secured a bowler of Holder’s quality.”Holder won a Test cap in 2020, after impressing in the domestic first-class system, and has also featured for Warwickshire in the County Championship. He spent more than a year out of the game after requiring shoulder surgery but was given a CWI franchise contract earlier this year as West Indies looked to keep him part of their fast-bowling pool.Holder said: “It feels very good to be a part of Durham and to be playing county cricket for a second time.”Once I step on the field, I always put my best foot forward and leave everything out there. I will put my all into the upcoming games and am looking forward to this opportunity. I can’t wait to get started if I am selected this week and give my all for Durham.”Durham are currently seventh in Division One of the Championship, 24 points clear of second-bottom Lancashire.

The captain’s two wickets threatened a huge result but West Indies’ depth saw them home

Shashank Kishore03-Jun-2024

John Kariko’s excellent spell put pressure on West Indies•ICC via Getty Images

From being labelled as the nearly men in the cut-throat world of associate cricket, the tide is beginning to turn for Papua New Guinea. They missed the bus in 2014 and 2016 after frittering away a good chance to qualify but are now playing their second T20 World Cup in three years, after breaking through for the first time in the UAE in 2021.Sunday’s T20 World Cup 2024 opener against West Indies was only their eighth against a Full Member and, for a while reputation counted for little as PNG smelt an upset. After having huffed and puffed to 136, they had West Indies on the racks at 97 for 5 in 16 overs. Then their dreams were shattered as Andre Russell and Roston Chase bailed West Indies out.Related

• Chase seals West Indies' jittery victory against spirited PNG

• 'I had to take it home' – Calm Chase eases West Indies' opening-game nerves

Assad Vala, the PNG captain, felt they may have been in a position to challenge West Indies with a “few more runs towards the end” after playing catch up for most parts of their innings. From 34 for 3, PNG recovered courtesy a fine 43-ball 50 by Sese Bau. Then towards the end, Kiplin Doriga injected momentum to make an 18-ball 27.”I think batting as well, I think we didn’t play the crucial moments the way we wanted,” Vala said. “They had batsmen towards the end, which we didn’t. I think we missed out on a few runs towards the end as well. But I think credit to them. They got a lot of experience. So, I think we played really well. We executed our skills really well.”We just couldn’t execute towards the end when we were put under pressure, but really happy with the overall performance of the boys. We didn’t post the target we wanted, but they fought till the end, so really happy with the effort.”Assad Vala’s two wickets had PNG dreaming•ICC via Getty Images

With Tony Ura, PNG’s highest run-getter and arguably their most destructive batter, gone early and Vala out for 21 to a sensational catch at backward point by Chase, PNG needed someone to step up, and Bau’s efforts gave them chance to be in the contest.Fast bowler Ale Nao dismissed Johnson Charles first ball. They should have had Nicholas Pooran first ball, but for a lbw shout PNG chose not to review, with replays confirming the ball had pitched in line and would have hit middle and leg. Pooran eventually got going as he went after Bau to hit him for 18 in his only over, but his dismissal for a run-a-ball 27 in the ninth over had PNG turn the screws as the spinners came storming back.Vala dismissed Brandon King and Sherfane Rutherford, while John Kariko, the 20-year-old left-arm spinner, built on his wicket of Pooran to finish with figures of 4-0-17-1 to count as one of many positives for PNG. All told, PNG were in the contest until the 18h over.”I think Sese Bau batted really well. And John Kariko, the left-arm spinner bowled really well. I think, Alei upfront with the new ball. There was a lot of stuff that we did really well,” Vala said. “I think there are a lot of positives to take out from the game today. I think the overall performance was really good, but just the key moments that we just couldn’t put the nail in the coffin. But I think as I said before the effort was outstanding, we kept fighting against a really good side so happy, really happy.”How crucial did the decision to not review Pooran prove to be? Vala pointed to their inexperience of using technology as the reason for the one that got away.”It’s a bit of a funny story,” Vala said. “It was a bit like in street cricket, we don’t use a lot of DRS, so there was a lot of calls coming from everywhere – take it don’t, take it, take it, don’t take it. I didn’t know who to listen to but it is something we can learn from like I said we need to get the communication right when we [play] in the upcoming games.”

Mumbai, Kerala, Karnataka in knockouts; other knockout spots will be finalised on December 5 after the last round of league matches

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2023Captain Deepak Hooda led Rajasthan from the front to confirm their quarter-final berth in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with a 43-run win against Himachal Pradesh in Chandigarh. The teams that top each of the five groups will earn direct quarter-final qualification and Rajasthan did that by taking an unassailable lead at the top of Group D, with 20 points and a match to go for most teams, with second-placed Gujarat, with 14 points, not in a position to overtake Rajasthan even if they win their last game against HP.Hooda’s 77 off 90 balls from No. 5, after a patient 61 off 110 by opener Ram Chouhan, and a quick 51 off 30 in the end by Karan Lamba powered Rajasthan to 260 for 7. Mayank Dagar finished with expensive figures of 3 for 53 from eight overs while Vinay Galetiya and Vaibhav Arora picked up two apiece in their frugal ten-over spells. HP’s reply was mainly led by two half-centurions: Ekant Sen’s 56 at the top and Sumeet Verma’s attacking 73 off 51 from No. 6. But Aniket Choudhary’s 4 for 44 broke the back of the middle order and also dented their chances of making the knockouts.

Qualification rules for knockouts

• There will be two pre-quarter-finals before the quarter-finals so a total of ten teams will make the knockouts

• There are five groups and the top-two teams from each will qualify for the knockouts

• The teams topping the five groups will directly qualify for the quarter-finals and will be ranked from one to five based on their points/number of wins/NRR

• The second-placed teams from each group will be ranked from six to ten based on their points/number of wins/NRR; from those top-ten rankings, the sixth-ranked team will also directly qualify for quarter-finals

• The teams ranked seven to ten will play the pre-quarter-finals

• If two teams finish on the same number of points for the top-two positions, the team with more wins will rank higher; if the wins are also equal, the result of the head-to-head fixture from the league stage will rank the winner higher

• If points and wins are equal and above clause is not applicable, then the team with the higher NRR up to the league phase will decide the higher position.

In Group C, a strong display from Haryana’s bowling attack powered them into the quarter-finals as they bowled out Karnataka for just 143 before completing a five-wicket in. Haryana are currently on top with 24 points and Karnataka second with 20 points and a match to go, and even if the two teams end on 24 (if Haryana lose to Jammu & Kashmir and Karnataka beat Mizoram) at the end of the league stage, the team that has won the head-to-head contest between the joint-table-toppers will get the first position and direct quarter-final qualification.Despite the loss, Karnataka reached the knockouts because even if they lose their last game and finish on 20, and are levelled by Uttarakhand (if they win their last match), the head to head between Karnataka and Uttarakhand is in favour of Karnataka.The victory was even more momentous for Haryana, being their first 50-over win against Karnataka since they first played each other in 2006. Sumit Kumar led the attack with three wickets, complemented by two each from Anshul Kamboj, Nishant Sindhu and Yuzvendra Chahal, which reduced Karnataka 42 for 5, 74 for 8 and then 102 for 9 before Vijaykumar Vyshak’s counter-attacking 54 from No. 10 stretched the score to 143. Haryana had an early stutter in the chase when V Koushik’s twin strikes reduced them to 35 for 3, but Sindhu (43) and Rohit Sharma (63) combined for a 99-run stand to all but seal the chase.

Mumbai, Kerala enter knockouts but not in quarter-finals yet

Tripura caused an upset in Bengaluru by beating Mumbai by 53 runs (VJD method), but Mumbai still managed to retain their position at the top of the Group A table with 20 points, the same as Kerala, and well clear of third-placed Tripura, who can’t make the knockouts anymore.Since the top-two teams of each group reach the knockouts, Mumbai and Kerala are through, but which one goes to the quarter-finals directly and which makes the pre-quarter-finals will be decided after their last games. Even on Tuesday, if the two teams finish on the same points, Mumbai will make the quarters because they defeated Kerala in their fixture earlier in the league stage.

Afghanistan’s second innings lasted only 7.1 overs on the third morning

The Report by Hemant Brar29-Nov-2019West Indies took just an hour on the third morning to wrap up the one-off Test against Afghanistan, winning by nine wickets in Lucknow.Resuming the day on 109 for 7 in their second innings – under floodlights due to poor visibility – Afghanistan could last only 7.1 more overs as Jason Holder picked up the remaining three wickets. Rashid Khan fell to Holder’s first ball of the day with Shane Dowrich taking a wobbling catch diving to his right.Next, with Afsar Zazai trying to farm the strike, Holder flattened Yamin Ahmadzai’s off stump when he got the opportunity.In his next over, the West Indies captain dismissed Zazai too as Afghanistan were bowled out for 120. Holder finished with figures of 3 for 20, his unexpected decision to bowl after winning the toss two days ago now just a distant memory.Set 31 to win, West Indies eased to the victory but not before Amir Hamza got Kraigg Brathwaite caught behind for eight. The Barbados batsman now averages 12.26 in his last ten Tests with a highest score of 49.For debutant Hamza, it was a good outing personally as he finished with six wickets in the match, apart from hitting 34 from No. 9 in Afghanistan’s first innings.

From allowing Jason Holder and Shane Dowrich to put on 212 for the eighth wicket to the soft dismissals of Solomon Mire and Craig Ervine, day four in Bulawayo didn’t go to plan for the hosts

Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo01-Nov-2017Zimbabwe coach Heath Streak admitted it would be tough for his side to bat themselves back into the match after conceding a 122-run first innings lead against West Indies in Bulawayo.”There’s still a long way to go, 92 overs,” he said. “And it’s slow going out there, not an easy wicket to score quickly on. So we’ve got to get through a session and get ourselves into a position where we can maybe consider giving them a target. But it’s very tough, especially with the deficit we’ve had to make up, and the pitch being so slow.”Zimbabwe found themselves 23 for 3 in their second innings before a half-century from Sikandar Raza – his second of the Test – took them to 140 for 4 at stumps.”There’s still a lot of cricket to be played tomorrow,” Streak said. “A hard fighting day and a hard fighting first session. It’s not too far until the new ball, and we’ve got to get through that and see if we get some sort of total to defend.”He added that, after several missed chances in the field, Zimbabwe had only themselves to blame for allowing Jason Holder and Shane Dowrich put on a record 212-run partnership. “They put us under pressure, and we didn’t help ourselves with a few dropped catches,” Streak said. “We’ve got ourselves to blame for giving them that lead, but we’ve just got to deal with where we’re at now.”He lamented the soft dismissals that heaped pressure on Zimbabwe’s middle order once again, suggesting that wickets in hand could have helped Zimbabwe push for more of a lead heading into the fifth day.”Hamilton [Masakadza] got out to a good ball that hooped back quite a bit, but then Solomon [Mire] got out to a soft dismissal even by his own standards,” Streak said, describing Mire’s swipe across the line at a ball from Kemar Roach that trapped him lbw. “He does play aggressively, but on that wicket and with that length, it’s very difficult to play that type of shot, especially on a fourth-day wicket when you’ve had a lot of evidence of balls keeping low. So those are the sorts of dismissals we want to get rid of. Even Craig Ervine, if he’s honest with himself, got out to a pretty soft dismissal. It wasn’t like the ball did a heck of a lot.”If we had taken maybe two wickets off there, Mire and Ervine’s wickets, then it’s 140 for 2 and that’s a pretty good score. We’d have wickets in hand if we want to push on and try and get some sort of lead and put them in.”One bright point for Streak was the batting of Raza and Peter Moor, who reined in his attacking instincts to finish on 39 not out from 152 balls at the close. ” PJ [Moor] is a very determined guy first of all, and he’s a very intelligent guy who has worked out watching the other guys,” Streak said. “It’s not easy to just go out there and play shots, so he’s adjusted his game accordingly to the wicket. His batting in the first innings has also given him some insight into how to do it. Anyone who has gone out there and batted for a period of time, you can see there haven’t been easy or free flowing innings from anyone.”Apart from being slow, the pitch also fell short of Zimbabwe’s expectations in terms of help for the spinners. “Having a bit of cool weather around, has meant that the wicket hasn’t dried and dusted up as much as we would have liked,” Streak said. “So it’s been a little more placid than what we’d hoped. We wanted a wicket that would spin and break up, but the weather conditions on day one and two made the deterioration of the wicket much slower than it ought to be. Normally in October you get hot, dry days and then that deterioration happens a lot quicker.”

Jonny Bairstow admits he is still unsure of his role in England’s white-ball set-up, but hopes his Champions Trophy appearance will count in his favour

Andrew Miller13-Sep-2017Jonny Bairstow admits he is still unsure of his role in England’s white-ball set-up, but hopes that the fact he is the man in possession will count in his favour when the one-day squad reconvenes in Durham this week for the one-off T20 ahead of five ODIs against West Indies.Bairstow became something of a cause célèbre earlier in the summer when, despite a run of form in all formats that any player in the game would envy, he could not force his way into a powerful one-day batting line-up, not even as wicketkeeper, where Jos Buttler is preferred in the shorter formats.However, Bairstow eventually got his opportunity during England’s most recent one-day campaign, the Champions Trophy in June, when Jason Roy’s dramatic loss of form became too acute for the management to ignore.Thrust in to open the batting for the first time in his international career, Bairstow responded with a hard-worked 43 from 57 balls in a low-scoring semi-final against Pakistan at Cardiff, an innings that was put into context by the struggles that his team-mates endured. From a comfortable position of 80 for 1 in the 17th over, Bairstow’s dismissal triggered a collapse to 211 all out, and an eventual eight-wicket defeat.However, with Roy back in form and a fair bet to resume his established partnership with Alex Hales at the top of the order, Bairstow is hopeful but not unrealistic about his chances of being given an extended run in the team.”I don’t mind where I play and bat, as long as I’m in that XI,” he said. “I finished the Champions Trophy opening the batting, which I like to think I’ve done alright. So wherever it is there’s an opportunity, hopefully I’ll get the nod.”I’ve been in and out, one game here and there over a period of time, and at some time it’d be nice to get a decent run, not just one series but a couple of series that you can get your teeth stuck into – into a role, a side and a series.”One small but significant change to Bairstow’s standing in the one-day squad is his restoration to reserve keeper duties, following the omission of Sam Billings from the squad to face West Indies. And that, in turn, follows an impressive run of form behind the stumps from Bairstow in the Test side.Jonny Bairstow flicks through midwicket•Getty Images

“I’ve been delighted with my keeping this summer,” he said. “I’ve been really really happy with it, it’s something I’ve worked very hard on. There was a lot said about it a year ago, and for people not to be talking about it, that’s what you want.”I like to think I’ve kept nicely enough over the summer to say that I’m the second keeper in the ODI squad,” he added. “If I’m keeping in Tests, for 150 overs, instead of 50 or 20 overs, I’d like to think my keeping is up to scratch to keep in one-dayers as well.”Despite a record-breaking year in 2016, there was still a degree of fallability to Bairstow’s technique coming into the English season. However, his upturn in fortunes has stemmed from long hours of practice with Bruce French, the wicketkeeping coach. During the West Indies series, the ball was at times swinging appreciably – particularly for James Anderson and Ben Stokes – but a small technical change helped him adjust to the late movement and cling on to most things that came his way.”My fingers are cooked!” he joked. “It was swinging, it was wobbling, but that’s keeping in England. It was something that’s actually quite enjoyable. If it’s coming and it wobbles on you, you either take it in the chin or try and catch it.”That’s a big thing that’s changed, previously I was catching it closer to my body. Imagine a dinosaur trying to catch it with short arms, you can’t go anywhere, whereas if you catch it further out in front and it does wobble, you can give with it and go with it.”The coming one-day series promises to be closely fought, irrespective of West Indies’ lowly ranking – at No.9 in the world, they will need to seal an improbable 4-0 or 5-0 scoreline to ensure automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup.However, following an improvement in relations between CWI and its star players, most notably Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, West Indies will field a team that has more in common with the line-up that won the World T20 in India 18 months ago. And Bairstow, who needs no reminding of West Indies’ competitive spirit following a hard-fought 2-1 Test series win, is relishing the challenge that awaits in the coming fortnight.”It’s exciting. It’s great to be playing a one-day series with them at pretty much full strength,” said Bairstow. “But it’s important that we concentrate on ourselves. The press completely wrote West Indies off at the start of the [Test] series, which was pretty unfair and uncalled for, and they showed to everyone the strength and character that they have. With any West Indies side, you are going to have a lot of skill, desire and will to prove people wrong. That’s the nature of sport and I thought the way they played, especially at Headingley, hats off to them.”Jonny Bairstow was speaking on behalf of Royal London, proud sponsors of One Day cricket. Visit royallondoncricket.com to find out more.