Tag Futebol

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.”

Nottinghamshire and Middlesex go into the final day of this match with everything at stake

George Dobell at Trent Bridge08-Sep-2016
ScorecardJake Ball took out the top three•Getty Images

There was a time, not so long ago, when these late season Championship encounters held little significance. Sure, one team might be challenging for a title but, as recently as 20 years ago, such matches very often lacked relevance or competitive edge. The season drifted off to sleep with the same gentle familiarity as “Sailing By” and the Shipping Forecast.Not any more. Here we are in the second week of September and Nottinghamshire and Middlesex go into the final day of this match with everything at stake. The side that loses will be relegated or see their hopes of a Championship title severely dented. Both have to win. Both can win. We are all set for a classic at Trent Bridge.So, as county cricket tears itself apart in the quest for a few dollars more – or a few million dollars more – it is worth reflecting on one of the great success stories of recent years: promotion and relegation works. It has improved county cricket markedly. It has made it tougher, more interesting. And, partially as a result of the increased edge to the competition, England’s players go into the fierce environment of Test cricket better prepared for the rigours they will face.It is no coincidence that England have won five of the last seven Ashes series; no coincidence that the side that reached No. 1 in 2011 contained four men in the top seven (Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior) who made centuries on Test debut – two others, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell, made half-centuries – and a bowler (James Anderson) who started with a five-wicket haul. We risk diluting the success of the Test team when we meddle with its foundations.That Nottinghamshire’s hopes of survival remain just about alive is largely due to some decent batting from Steven Mullaney and Brett Hutton and another incisive new-ball spell from Jake Ball. Ball’s fitness levels might need to improve if he is to enjoy a long Test career – unlike Chris Woakes, for example, it is noticeable that his fourth spell is significantly less hostile than his first, irrespective of the softening of the ball – but with the new ball he is, already, a terrific bowler.After taking a hat-trick in the first over of Middlesex’s first innings, he struck first ball in their second. And if Nick Gubbins, so compact and calm around, might regret being drawn into pushing at one he could have left well alone, the delivery that accounted for Sam Robson – nipping in sharply and taking the off stump as Robson tried to leave it – was a gem.There was a revealing irony in that dismissal. As Nick Compton went out to bat in the first innings, Robson warned him to watch out for the booming outswing that had just dismissed him. Moments later Compton was walking off having been trapped in front by one that cut back. Here Robson had been undone by the same trick. It bodes well for Ball, and England, that he has such skills. If Nottinghamshire do go down, second division batsmen face quite a challenge next year.Dawid Malan, also beaten by one that nipped back, but this time to the left-hander from round the wicket, also departed before the close. Middlesex bat pretty deep – Toby Roland-Jones is a No. 9 who could be a No. 6 – but Notts will know the allrounders will be padded up in the morning.At his best, this is the sort of situation Compton would have relished. But now? He has had looked a defeated man at times this summer, beset by the doubts and scars that torture nearly all batsmen in the end. But perhaps this challenge – and it is a hell of a challenge – might be yet the thing to reinvigorate him, entwine him to the heart of this team’s title challenge and prove to himself what most of those watching will know: at this level, at least, he remains a class act with much more to give.Batting on the fourth day is unlikely to prove easy. Samit Patel, again looking as solid as anyone (technically rather than physically), was undone by one that cut back and kept horribly low while, in the final over of the day, Compton was beaten by a legbreak from Imran Tahir that turned so sharply you imagine Don Bradman, at his best, might just have been good enough to edge it.Middlesex did not bowl especially well earlier in the day. While Steven Finn finished with three wickets, he gained two with balls that might uncharitably be described as long-hops – certainly the one that Michael Lumb edged as he tried to cut would have to be described that way – and the other with a leg-before decision that seemed to be heading down the leg side. They may yet regret allowing Notts to score 50 or so more than might have been the case.But the fragility of Nottinghamshire’s batting has let them down all campaign. Here, they fought for a while, but like addicts slipping back into bad habits, they couldn’t resist for long. A waft here; a poke there: at least three of the top four will reflect that they played a huge part in their own downfall.Jake Libby, poking at one without moving his feet, was first to go, before Tom Moores slashed to point and Lumb tried to hit his cut too hard. None of them averages 30 in the campaign. And while that can be tolerated for a couple of youngsters learning their trade at this level, it requires compensation from senior players. There has been none of that compensation this year, with nobody in this team averaging even 38 and only Mullaney averaging more than 35.He batted nicely here. He plays the cover drive as nicely as anyone in the county game and has an efficient cut that was well fed by a diet of Finn long hops. Hutton, too, attacked selectively and eked out 40 runs for the last two wickets that might yet save his county from the drop.But the sense that Notts had failed to take advantage of a slightly off-colour display from Middlesex was underlined by the manner in which they lost their last three wickets: Ball missed an attempted whip into the leg side; Imran slogged one to cow corner – where Roland-Jones clung on to an outstanding catch leaning backwards having originally misjudged his run and lost sight of the ball in the sun – and Harry Gurney was run-out. Each one of them was unnecessary and, in a match – a season, even – where another 10 runs might yet prove crucial, just a bit sloppy. Ollie Rayner finished with four wickets without ever looking particularly dangerous on a surface offering him some assistance.Still, it all leaves this match beautifully poised. Triumph and disaster loom. It will be painful for some but it’s meant to matter. And the fact that it still does, at this late stage of the season, is something to savour.

Sussex fans in the NatWest Blast quarter-final at Hove were told by an ECB official to stop protesting about the possibility of T20 city franchises – and the possibility is receding in any event

David Hopps13-Aug-2015Sussex fans in the first NatWest Blast quarter-final were ordered by an ECB employee to take down a banner protesting against the possibility of a city-based T20 tournament in England as unease over the future direction of the English game spilled onto the terraces for the first time.Perhaps the banners can be stored away for the time being, in any case. Traditionalists on the terraces can relax – a huge rise in attendances for this season’s NatWest Blast has begun to counter calls for revolution.The banner stating Say No To City Franchises was smuggled into Hove and displayed at times during the first Blast quarter-final between Sussex and Northants, but when the protests continued at the after-match presentation, an ECB official politely intervened. Although no reason was given, disrupting the post-match coverage was presumably seen as an act too far.Tension among traditional county fans about the future direction of T20 cricket in England has been an underlying theme of the summer as the ECB has undertaken a summer of private consultation in its search for a way to rid the professional game of joint debts of around £110m and reports have surfaced of a possible eight-team city league.But the panic, for the moment is overstated. County chief executives and chairmen have been assured by the ECB heirarchy that there will be no rush to make changes before the broadcasting deal ends in 2019.Strong resistance among the counties was partly responsible for that, as those eager for change, such as the new ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, recognised the futility of his revolutionary zeal, but there are other reasons too.There are two major international tournaments in England in that time – a Champions Trophy and a World Cup – and to damage those by internal wrangles would be unforgiveable. The commercial landscape is also changing rapidly and the argument over some form of free-to-air coverage is still raging.This year’s NatWest Blast has also made great strides – attendances have risen by around 20-25% with some counties, Birmingham and Yorkshire among them, showing particularly marked rises.Sky, who already pay more than £260m over four years for broadcasting rights to English cricket, were reported last month to favour a deal for an eight-team city-based Twenty20 competition intended to rival IPL and the Australian Big Bash. The proposed deal would have seen the new Twenty20 league shoe-horned into a compact July window, with assurances that centrally-contracted England players would be freed to take part by a reduced international schedule.Counties could potentially be around £2m a year richer if such an outcome came to pass. This would effectively more than double the annual share-out from the ECB, but the suggestion caused trepidation among many counties that under such a scenario they could be left with a lot of money but reduced credibility.A proposal to run two T20 tournaments – one involving city franchises, one retaining the 18-team structure – would also entail the slashing of the Championship to 12 matches and could render the county tournament a second-class citizen and, as such, risk its eventual collapse.All that encouraged whispers of a rebellion against the new ECB power brokers, not just Harrison, but head of commercial Sanjay Patel and chairman Colin Graves, leading Harrison to write to the counties to seek to appease the most implacable opponents.Graves, who has repeatedly said that county cricket needs to pay its way, is thought to favour a city-based T20 series which would be played in a block with nightly TV matches and aim to attract the biggest international stars.The term “franchise” is misleading, however. Even under the most radical English model, teams would be owned by the ECB, or the counties hosting the matches, not by private companies, so ensuring that money remained in the game for the general good.One compromise still being pushed in some quarters is simply to adopt two divisions of nine with promotion and relegation and market the First Division far more aggressively, but even that compromise might not necessarily be adopted if the rising attendances this summer continue into next season and empower those who argue the current system can succeed.A switch to two divisions carries an assumption that the counties with larger international grounds would eventually come to the fore, but there has been little sign of that this season, with only three of the eight qualifiers for the NatWest Blast from the Test match counties.More will become clear when a working party under the chairmanship of the Warwickshire chief executive, Colin Povey, reports in the autumn – perhaps one of the last acts before Povey stands down as Warwickshire’s chief executive.This story was updated at 1700 on August 13 with additional information

Oli Stone, the England Under-19 captain, took four wickets to earn his team a 119-run lead on the second day in Cape Town

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2013
ScorecardOli Stone, the England Under-19 captain, took four wickets to earn his team a 119-run lead on the second day in Cape Town.Stone was not the original captain for the trip but replaced the injured Shiv Thakor last week. He did not bring himself into the attack until six other bowlers had been used, after suffering a dislocated finger in the warm-up match, but soon made an impact with two wickets in two balls removing South Africa’s top-scorer, Murray Coetzee (50), and Vassilli Orros as the home side slipped to 120 for 5.He claimed two further wickets to complete an efficient display by England who had earlier extended their first innings to 313. Ed Barnard, who scored a century on the opening day, was only able to add seven to his overnight score before being bowled sweeping.South Africa made a solid start in reply before Harry Finch, a 17-year-old from Sussex, had Andries Gous and Shaylin Pillay caught behind in quick succession. A partnership of 60 between Coetzee and Diego Rosier, the captain, followed to leave the game evenly balance but Miles Hammond had Rosier lbw to start the collapse.

Abhimanyu Mithun, the Karnataka fast bowler, has been named as Praveen Kumar’s replacement in India’s Test squad for their tour of Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2011Abhimanyu Mithun, the Karnataka fast bowler, has been named as Praveen Kumar’s replacement in India’s Test squad for their tour of Australia. Irfan Pathan, the Baroda allrounder, has been picked for the last two one-dayers against West Indies, marking his return to the international setup after more than two years.After Praveen was ruled out of the Tests with a fractured rib, the selectors had to add another seamer to the 17-man squad for Australia and the place was expected to go to either one of Mithun, Vinay Kumar or Irfan Pathan. Mithun got that spot, but a place in the ODI squad was vacated because Umesh Yadav is departing for Australia early. Irfan’s performances in the ongoing domestic season have been rewarded with that spot for the final two one-dayers.Irfan has not played for India since 2009, but drew attention because of his performance in this season’s Ranji Trophy, in which he is the leading wicket-taker in the Elite division, having taken 21 wickets in three games.Mithun took six wickets in three Tests on the tour of Sri Lanka in July 2010, his debut series. However, he had to make way for the returning Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth after that series, and his next opportunity did not come until May 2011 in the Caribbean. He took three wickets in the Test against West Indies in Barbados but was subsequently left out of India’s tour of England.He has also been in and out of India’s one-day squads, typically only being called up as a replacement for other players. He replaced Praveen for the home ODIs against West Indies. He and Vinay both played the third ODI, at Motera; Vinay took 2 for 39 in eight overs while Mithun took just one wicket and conceded 47 runs from his seven overs. Vinay has been a more regular member of India’s one-day team – he has 11 wickets from his last eight ODIs – but has never been part of an India Test squad.Mithun joins Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Ishant Sharma in India’s pace department for the Australia tour, with Zaheer Khan selected provisionally, subject to him proving his fitness before the squad’s departure. Seven of the players from the Test squad – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha and Wriddhiman Saha – will leave early for Australia, on December 8, to prepare for the series. The first tour game is a two-day match that starts on December 16, while the first Test starts December 26.Irfan’s inclusion is the only change to the ODI squad for the home series against West Indies, which India lead 2-1. Rahul Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary, none of whom have played a game in the series so far, remain in the squad.India squad for last two ODIs: Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel (wk), Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Varun Aaron, R Ashwin, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Sharma

Shaun Marsh has lost his race to be fit for Australia A’s game against England at Hobart and has been replaced by Ed Cowan

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Nov-2010Shaun Marsh has lost his race to be fit for Australia A’s game against England at Hobart that starts on Wednesday, and has been replaced by Ed Cowan.Marsh was originally named in the squad for the final warm-up match before Brisbane in the hope that he’d recover from an injury he picked up in the one-day series against Sri Lanka.”Shaun was originally selected in the Australia A squad subject to fitness after injuring his lower back during the Commonwealth Bank Series against Sri Lanka,” said Cricket Australia physiotherapist Kevin Sims.”Unfortunately that injury hasn’t healed well enough for him to take part in this tour match for Australia A against England. We will continue to monitor Shaun’s return to fitness.”Cowan, the 28-year-old Tasmania opener, comes into the squad after making 65 against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield earlier this week and chairman of selectors Andrew Hildreth said it’s a chance for him to press his claims.”It’s unfortunate that Shaun’s injury hasn’t healed well enough in time for this match, however it provides Ed Cowan with a fantastic opportunity,” said Hildreth. “Ed performed well for Australia A during the off season against Sri Lanka A in Queensland and has continued that good form for Tasmania so far this season.”

Daniel Vettori was pleased with the 1-1 series outcome yet fully aware that hard work was in order

Cricinfo staff15-Dec-2009BJ Watling’s debut Test, especially his unbeaten 60 in the second dig, pleased his captain•Getty Images

At the end of a 1-1 series that New Zealand can claim to have dominated slightly more than Pakistan, Daniel Vettori was pleased with the outcome yet fully aware that hard work was in order. In hindsight this was a match and series that New Zealand should have won, but after a promising opening stand the Napier weather had the final say and Vettori felt his side was unfortunate not to edge an absorbing series.”I suppose we had an opportunity [but] the rain denied us this afternoon, so we’ll look back at that with a bit of disappointment,” he said. “We’re pleased we fought long and hard enough to give ourselves a chance. Taking six wickets this morning was always going to be a tough ask but we did it really well. And then the way that BJ [Watling] and Tim McIntosh set us up, it looked like if we could continue that we had a good chance of winning.”There was a lot of disappointment in the home camp when the rain came, which Vettori said had not foreseen playing such a large role. “I didn’t think there was ever a case for it to completely take over the game,” he said. “We thought there was the possibility of a little bit but not have a washout.”Vettori said that the belief within the team this afternoon was that if they could get through the first ten overs without giving Pakistan an opportunity to break in, then the game, and consequently the series, was theirs to win. “We just needed to get a platform to build off, and just show some intent. We probably didn’t do that in the first couple overs but once we got past that we really set it up. The fields were spread wide and we were able to dictate play, so if we continued that way we had a really good chance of winning.”It took New Zealand a lot to bowl Pakistan out for 455 on a Napier surface known for the amount of runs on offer. Looking back at the events of the last two days of this match, Vettori felt that different types of pitches needed to be produced to allow the bowlers be better used. “You don’t want the batting to be at its best on the fourth and fifth day,” he said. “The way we went out to bat this afternoon showed that and I think on Test-match wickets you want some variable bounce. On the fourth and fifth days you want it to get harder and harder to bat on, and this wicket just got better and better. Every time we’ve come to Napier we’ve probably said the same thing.”For a side that has struggled to find solidity and consistency at the start of the innings for some time – since McIntosh’s debut in December 2008 this was the 17th opening pair New Zealand have used – the unbeaten 90 that was put on today was an encouraging sign. Vettori was impressed, particularly with Watling’s debut performance.”In his first Test match, to dictate play, and the momentum he took into it, that was always going to be difficult this morning but he once he settled in he really dictated play,” he said. “Pleasing for a guy in his first Test to be able to do that.”Vettori termed the series as competitive, starting with the opener in Dunedin where both sides were on an equal footing when pressing for a win, to Wellington where New Zealand were outplayed, to Napier where the home side had the momentum on a difficult track to bowl on. “We’re happy with it [the series] on a number of aspects, but we’ll continue to look back at that first innings in Wellington as the part of the series that really let us down,” he said.New Zealand still have issues to sort out at the top. McIntosh gave his flagging career a fillip with 74 in the first innings in Napier and an unbeaten 23 in the second, but still has not entirely convinced as an opener. Martin Guptill, used as opener and No. 3, scored 88 runs in five innings. Daniel Flynn’s prospects as an international top-order batsman continue to look slim after he scrapped together 62 runs in three Tests. Peter Fulton, recalled to the side for the first two matches, had a series to forget.”There are issues but a couple of guys stood up over the course of this match. Tim McIntosh in the first innings and BJ today,” said Vettori. “We still put 470 on the board so we have to look at our batting as a collective effort but there are areas of concern within out batting unit.”I think our seam bowlers were fantastic throughout the series and you couldn’t really ask for too much more. Like always, we’ve just got a little bit more to work on with our batting.”Vettori promoted himself to No. 6 for this match and immediately contributed with his fifth Test century, but was not willing to commit himself to that place in the future. “That depends on the make-up of the team,” he said. “I still prefer to go in with six batters and four bowlers but we need a couple of those batsmen to be able to bowl. Look at the likes of a [Jesse] Ryder when he’s fit and [Grant] Elliott when he’s fit, they contribute a number of overs. I’m sure that will be debated with the other selectors but the option for me to go there is there, and it its needed I’ll do it.”

“When I started first-class cricket, I bowled a lot with my left arm. But later, it became about 60% right arm, and 40% left arm.”

Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Jun-2025″I don’t know which arm I’ve taken more wickets with,” says Tharindu Rathnayake of his wicket tally in domestic cricket. “I’ve never looked at it properly. I’ve bowled a lot with both my arms.”If this seems like bragging, Rathnayake continues to speak as if being able to bowl with either arm is a normal experience to which anyone could relate. It must seem natural to him, though – he has 337 first-class wickets, and 122 List A dismissals.”When I started first-class cricket, I bowled a lot with my left arm. But later, after a couple of years, it became about 60% right arm, and 40% left arm.”Related

• Shanto, Mushfiqur hundreds headline Bangladesh's dominance

• 'These are not easy runs' – Mushfiqur reflects on 'special' century

Right, so why, on day one of his debut Test, against Bangladesh in Galle, did Rathnayake bowl 15.5 overs of right-arm offbreaks before he tried his first ball of left-arm spin?”I just felt that the ball that turns into the batter is harder for them to face because this wicket is suited to the batters. When you bowl right-arm offspin against right-handed batters with the red ball, it’s not easy for them to play. When I bowl offspin, I also have more options with the fields I can set. With left-arm spin, because the wicket is not behaving as we want it to, they can put the ball into gaps, and they have more scoring options.”To what extent Rathnayake knows this unusual craft is not clear yet. Unlike Kamindu Mendis, the other ambidextrous spinner in the side, Rathnayake is primarily a bowler. In the match-ups age, though, being able to bowl with either arm could be a supremely useful skill. Rathnayake seems to be aware of that potential.”Before we come to the match, in our planning, we talked about what each batsman is better at facing, and which sides they hit to,” he said. “So I try to create plans around their weaknesses, and change which arm I’m bowling with according to that.”Though Rathnayake claimed two wickets – both left-handers caught at slip against his offbreaks – in his first session of Test cricket, he said the Galle pitch got better to bat on through the day.”There was a little moisture early on, but it dried out. There wasn’t much spin. I’m expecting it to stay good until day four.”

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.

“I look forward to the challenge and respect the need for results”

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Sep-2022Mark Boucher has been appointed as the new Mumbai Indians coach, his stint beginning from the 2023 edition of the IPL. The announcement came a day after ESPNcricinfo had reported that Boucher, the head coach of the South Africa men’s national team till the end of their campaign at the upcoming T20 World Cup, was the frontrunner for the position. The vacancy opened up after Mahela Jayawardene was elevated to a more global role within the Mumbai Indians group, which now has teams at the IPL, the SA20 league and the UAE’s ILT20.”Their history and achievements as a franchise clearly put them up there as one of the most successful sporting franchises in all of world sport,” Boucher said of Mumbai Indians in a franchise statement. “I look forward to the challenge and respect the need for results. It’s a strong unit with great leadership and players. I look forward to adding value to this dynamic unit.”Related

• Neighbours out to prove a point in rare World Cup clash

• Boucher's exit after eventful tenure leaves big hole in coaching staff

• Timeline of Boucher's SA stint: success, failure, and drama

Boucher announced earlier this week, immediately after South Africa lost the Test series in England 2-1, that he would be stepping down from the position after the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.While he might not have extensive experience as a coach on the T20 franchise circuit, Boucher had a run as wicketkeeping coach at Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2016 IPL. Prior to that, he had also played for Knight Riders as well as Royal Challengers Bangalore. Soon after, he moved to take charge as head coach at Titans on the South African domestic circuit before moving to the lead role at the South Africa men’s national team.”The way he [Boucher] has transformed South African white-ball cricket in the last two years, he’s been brilliant, and he is also someone that we felt thinks differently and will contribute in a very positive way to Mumbai Indians,” Jayawardene said in a video released by Mumbai Indians on Twitter. “Especially when we have a group of players with the skillsets that we have, then we have a young group coming through as well. So that transition is something that we need to manage, and we feel that Mark is going to be the best man for that.”Akash Ambani, Mumbai’s owner, said he believed Boucher would add “immense value” to the five-time champions with “proven expertise” as a coach both on and off the field.