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SLC hopes the hefty fine will send a “strong message” to the rest of the players regarding such behaviour

Madushka Balasuriya02-Apr-2019Sri Lanka’s Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne has been fined USD 7500 (LKR 1.3 million approx), by Sri Lanka Cricket, following his drink driving episode, which was a violation of his player contract. Karunaratne’s fine is the equivalent of the match fee he would receive for one Test.”When you’re preparing for an important competition like the World Cup, and we’re spending so much money on this upcoming [Super Provincial] domestic tournament, we just cannot tolerate this kind of nonsense,” SLC secretary Mohan de Silva told ESPNcricinfo.On Sunday morning Karunaratne was involved in an accident with a three-wheeler in Borella, a neighbourhood of Colombo, which put the three-wheeler’s driver in hospital with minor injuries. Following the incident Karunaratne was arrested and released on bail, and his driver’s licence suspended. The three-wheeler’s driver has since been discharged from the hospital.Karunaratne, who will be captaining Kandy in the upcoming Super Provincial Tournament starting on Thursday, offered an apology on his Facebook page. SLC however was keen to ensure such incidents are not repeated; the hefty fine, it felt, will send a “strong message” to the rest of the players.”We just want to send a strong message to everyone that we mean business,” de Silva said.

India women have not played ODI cricket since the World Cup final last July but Mithali Raj said the side is well equipped to tackle South Africa’s competitive brand of cricket

Annesha Ghosh in Mumbai23-Jan-2018Much of India’s success at the World Cup in 2017 had revolved around the odd individual performance taking the team over the line. Until their virtual quarter-final win over New Zealand, India’s struggle to fire as a unit – with the exception of their tournament opener against England – was first and most debilitatingly evinced in their group-stage 115-run loss to South Africa. Pitted to face an opposition that almost immaculately played out their “always rising” motto to give eventual winners England an almighty scare in the semi-final, India ODI captain Mithali Raj acknowledged the test of character the forthcoming tour of South Africa will pose for the team and the each of the players individually.

India women coach Tushar Arothe on…

Fitness and fielding: What we found during the World Cup was the [inadequacy in the] fitness levels. We had a couple of fitness camps at the NCA around September-October and that really helped improve the standards. During the Challenger Trophy [the three-team domestic 50-over tournament], you must have seen the fielding levels have gone up.
Preparations for the T20I leg of the tour: During this [one-week] camp, we made some of the wickets a little bouncier, the centre wickets especially. During practice, we gave them [the players] some targets, like the first eight overs or ten overs, and then for the last few overs. Even for bowlers we had a few targets and they had been bowling according to that.

“It’s a very important tour. It’s not going to be easy because we’ve played South Africa before,” Raj said. “They are a very good side; you’ve seen in the World Cup, they almost made it to finals, so it’s going to be very competitive cricket and it will test each and every player and also as a team. It’s important that the girls need to be confident that they’re prepared well for the series.”It was not only at the World Cup that South Africa had brought India’s winning streak at the tournament to an end. The last time India toured South Africa, for the Quadrangular series in May, the hosts had robbed India the opportunity to complete a record 17 consecutive ODI victories, even though the visitors won the title subsequently. Despite the formidable nature of the opponents and the near-seven month “break” during which India played no international cricket, Raj exuded confidence in the preparation the team has had going into the three-match ODI series – their first of the second cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship – that will pave way for five T20Is and a packed home season, featuring back-to-back series against Australia and England.Mithali Raj and coach Tushar Arothe have a chat during a preparatory camp•PTI

“We had enough time to prepare for this series,” she said. “It’s again a beginning for us. We need to start afresh. The young girls have been in the match mould because they’ve been playing the domestic [tournaments]; and we had a week’s preparatory camp here [in Mumbai]. A couple of them [Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy] are coming from the WBBL, so pretty much everybody is into the mode of playing matches.”While the inclusion of three young, uncapped players in the ODI squad has piqued much interest around the up-and-coming lot of Indian cricketers, Raj sounded a note of caution while weighing in on any likely tweaking of a well-tested combination the team management may opt for early on in the tour to accommodate the newbies.”After the World Cup this is our first tour, so I wouldn’t be trying out too many things because it’s important for the core also to get confidence,” she said. So, I’ll be going in with the conventional batting order, so that we get the points because it’s also important we win the matches and, accordingly, whenever we get a chance where we can try out a few things, then probably we can look into changing a few things in the batting order or the combination of the team.The ODI series, starting February 5 in Kimberley, is also set to mark a first for both India and the hosts, in light of the new ICC playing conditions for the ICC Women’s Championship, which came into effect in October 2017: both teams will be required to use two new balls each. While India’s conventional practice with the ball – whether in the subcontinent or overseas – has been underpinned by their reliance on a spin-heavy attack, Raj voiced her disinclination towards trading the time-honoured template with employing a three-pronged pace pack.”It all depends on how the first few games go first – if the spinners are bowling well, why would I actually look in to the other combination?” Raj reasoned. “But again, if, say the spinners aren’t bowling that good then yes we try and look after another combination which can work for the team. But we try and have everything open for us – we have batters who can bowl a few overs. So we try and shape the team in such a way that we have a lot of choices tomorrow. But then it all depends on how the matches go for the first couple of games.”Raj also emphasised on the work put in by the coaching staff, led by head coach Tushar Arothe, in ensuring the bowlers are equipped to close out chases or get handy runs down the order – a shortcoming that played a part in India losing the World Cup final . Given 2018 also marks the year of the Women’s World T20, Raj harped on how India’s performance in the one-dayers could provide a practical groundwork for the T20I leg of the tour – to be led by Harmanpreet.”He [head coach Tushar Arothe] has been working really hard on the bowlers, so we get those lower-middle-order runs,” she said. “I think you know now it is [the ODI series] a start, a preparation for the T20 World Cup. Yes, it’s been a while playing T20 format but we as an Indian team are looking forward to the T20 games and we as a team need to work really hard in this format.”

R Ashwin bagged 5 for 67 after Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow had added a defiant century stand, before Virat Kohl’s fifty cemented India’s dominance

The Report by Andrew Miller19-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:18

Compton: Stokes, Bairstow showed the fight England need

Three days into Visakhapatnam’s maiden Test match, the prospects of England emerging from this contest with anything less than a hefty defeat remain no less bleak than they had appeared at the height of their top-order implosion on the second afternoon.However, this was a day on which their hopes of a fightback in the remaining three fixtures were exponentially boosted, thanks to a feisty series of performances with bat and ball that required India’s champion bowler and batsman, R Ashwin and Virat Kohli, to summon their very best efforts in order maintain their side’s dominance.The tone for England’s day was set by a spirited stand of 110 between their overnight pair of Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow, but their fate was eventually sealed by the wiles of Ashwin, who claimed his 22nd five-wicket haul but first against England, to secure India a priceless first-innings lead of 200.Then, after India had decided not to enforce the follow-on, Kohli reached the close on 56 not out, another imperious display to follow on from his first-innings 167, and one in which he was obliged to overcome an exemplary display of incision and experience from England’s senior bowlers, Stuart Broad and James Anderson, whose combined figures to date are 3 for 22 in 14 overs.India’s overall lead by stumps was an imposing 298, and on a surface now offering sharp turn to the spinners and clear signs of uneven bounce, mere survival will be a challenge beyond anything that England have yet encountered on this trip. Nevertheless, given the naïve hour’s batting that had condemned them on the second afternoon, this was a response from which is no platitude to admit that they will “take the positives”.The general assumption before the start of play was that England would continue to stumble against India’s spin-led attack, and Bairstow’s alarming arrival on the field of play merely sharpened those thoughts. Jogging out to the middle to resume his innings on 12 not out, Bairstow lost his footing as he crossed the boundary line and had to hobble back to the dressing-room for treatment after rolling his ankle.He showed no ill-effects however, turning quickly for two runs in Umesh Yadav’s first over of the day to open his account for the day, and from that moment on, England’s sixth-wicket pairing continued in the same prolific vein that they have displayed all year. Between them, they have now made 772 runs in seven stands in 2016, the most by any batting pair.India stuck doggedly to their guns throughout a fallow first hour – arguably too doggedly, with Ashwin initially stymied in a nine-over spell that yielded an early wasted review for lbw and one half-chance for a stumping off Stokes. However, there was little of the threat and penetration that he had displayed on the second evening.That, in part, was down to the quality of England’s batting. With Bairstow working the singles while Stokes interspersed his hugely improved defensive technique with an assassin’s eye for anything remotely loose, the pair had come within ten minutes of batting clean through the morning session when Umesh produced a beauty, a fast inswinging yorker that crashed into Bairstow’s stumps via the base of his pad.It was a body blow to England’s hopes of approaching parity but, when Kohli opted to take the second new ball soon after the interval, Stokes and Adil Rashid were ready to take full advantage with an enterprising counterattack.The hardness of the new ball suited Stokes’ methods just fine, as he clipped Mohammad Shami’s second ball off the pads through square leg, before rifling a ferocious pull through midwicket. At the other end, Rashid snaffled three fours in a single over from Umesh, the best of them a scorching cover drive that left Kohli at slip spitting with rage.Sure enough, his seamers were soon banished and Kohli instead threw the ball back to his senior spinners, who responded with the day’s most vital breakthrough. Propping forward to the extra bounce of Ashwin, Stokes was given out lbw by umpire Kumar Dharmasena for 70, even though replays implied that he had grazed an inside edge. No matter – the ball had also deflected into the hands of silly point, so the verdict was correct even if the mode of dismissal was moot.Zafar Ansari did his best to support Rashid, who was accumulating fluently at the other end, but having flicked a well-timed four through midwicket off Ashwin, he was pinned on the back leg as he played round a full ball from Ravi Jadeja, and burned up England’s last review with one of the more futile attempts at a reprieve since the last days of Shane Watson.Broad might have wished he hadn’t – his subsequent lbw against Ashwin looked distinctly leg-sided but England had no more recourse to the third umpire. One ball later, however, Anderson had no such doubts as he was nailed plumb in front of middle on the back foot.England’s tail had once again been docked cheaply – the last four wickets had fallen for 30 in 12.2 overs. But, if there had been any suspicion that England were about to surrender the contest and conserve their energy for next week’s third Test in Mohali, then Broad confounded that by bounding in with the new ball in spite of the fact that he was still awaiting the results of a scan on his injured right foot. At the close of play, it was confirmed that he had strained a tendon and, though he will continue to be monitored for the rest of the match, he will be fit to continue.After back-to-back maidens before tea, Broad resumed with the sort of rhythm and bounce through his action that brought images of Trent Bridge 2015 and Johannesburg 2016 swimming into the mind’s eye.He grabbed two wickets in 25 balls before conceding a single run – both of them overturned on review after initially being given not out by Rod Tucker. Murali Vijay inside-edged a nipbacker onto his thigh, for Joe Root to snaffle with a dive in the slips, before KL Rahul feathered the thinnest of tickles through to the keeper. It was so thin, in fact, that no-one behind the bat was sure there’d been an edge, but Broad was convinced, and so too, crucially, was Haseeb Hameed at short leg. His vigorous insistence was enough to persuade Alastair Cook to take a look – something for Kohli and India to consider as they come to terms with the nuances of DRS usage.So out came Kohli with India in a bit of bother at 16 for 2. But perhaps the single most telling measure of his class was his response to Broad with his tail up. Where none of his team-mates had been able to get the ball off the square in his spell, Kohli helped himself to six runs from the first five balls he faced, a flick off the pads for two and a filleted four through the covers.After six overs of Broad, the return of Anderson offered a subtly different challenge, and Kohli’s fellow first-innings centurion, Cheteshwar Pujara, was not equal to it on this occasion. After being pushed back onto his stumps by a sharp bouncer, Anderson followed up with an offcutter to open his gate, before completing his three-card trick with a pummelling nipbacker that burst into the top of Pujara’s off stumpAjinkya Rahane, on 2, was lucky to survive an edge off Rashid that deflected to safety off Bairstow’s knee, when Stokes would have been lurking at slip to pounce. But he endured to the close, on 22 not out, a distant second fiddle to the majestic Kohli, who brought up his second half-century of the match from 63 balls. He was playing on a different surface from the rest of the players on display. England, for all their efforts, are unlikely to be allowed to share his private net.

The South Africans were given a taste of the toil that awaits them as they spent all but 20 minutes of the day on the field before losing two wickets against the Board President’s XI in Mumbai

The Report by Firdose Moonda in Mumbai30-Oct-2015
Scorecard1:30

Moonda: SA will be concerned by the form of their spinners

The South Africans were given a taste of the toil that awaits them in the upcoming Test series after they spent all but 20 minutes of the day on the field before losing two wickets against the Indian Board President’s XI in their only warm-up fixture at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.But the visitors learnt two valuable things from their prolonged stay in the sun: that Imran Tahir may be ready for a Test return ahead of Dane Piedt and Kagiso Rabada can be introduced at some stage in the series.Tahir, who carried drinks in the morning, was only introduced into the attack 10 minutes before tea. He bowled six overs and was the most effective of the three spinners in operation. Although the wicket he claimed – that of Sheldon Jackson who tried to launch him down the ground – was more a result of Dale Steyn’s athletic catching than his own ingenuity, Tahir asked more questions than the offspinners.Piedt, making a return to the highest level after a shoulder injury, was expensive and struggled for control. Simon Harmer was better and bowled cleverly at the end of the innings but neither would have inspired the confidence Tahir did. Piedt bowled like a man who understood he was competing for a place and delivered a succinct reason for why that place should be his.Rabada ran in the same way. He bowled three spells in the first two sessions, when the other seamers had only bowled two each, and showed an understanding of the areas and the lengths needed at this level. With only 14 first-class matches to his name, Rabada’s longer-form match awareness was impressive.Both Tahir and Rabada were only in action after Steyn and Vernon Philander had done what they do best as a new-ball pair, clinically carving through the President’s XI top order.The first wicket fell on the fifth ball of the morning when Unmukt Chand edged Steyn to Hashim Amla at first slip. It was the kind of dismissal Philander has made a career out of and five overs later, he showed why. After flirting with Chesteshwar Pujara’s outside edge, Philander finally found it to end a disappointing outing for the opposition captain.Shreyas Iyer was the next victim, edging to wicketkeeper Dane Vilas, who had a solid outing in his first experience on this tour. Vilas caught all three chances that came his way and like all good wicketkeepers, went relatively unnoticed otherwise.At 35 for 3, the South Africans may have hoped to bat quickly, but KL Rahul and Karun Nair denied them. Rahul, who watched wickets fall from the other end, tightened his own game to avoid falling into the off-stump trap even when the South Africans’ second wave of seamers arrived.Morne Morkel bowled an opening spell of three overs and followed that up with a one of two overs upon his return from a quad injury, even as Rabada constantly threatened. Some relief came in the form of the medium-pacers and the spinners, which may concern the South Africans as Harmer and Piedt could not find a way though.Rahul was strong on the drive and found runs behind square. He brought up 50 off 92 balls, with 80% of those runs scored in boundaries. Nair also found gaps in the field more easily than singles and it took the reintroduction of Philander to stabilise the visitors. He had Nair caught behind after lunch and continued to beat the bat until late in the day to begin answering some of the questions about his ability on subcontinental surfaces.Rahul looked well set, but perished while trying to accelerate, as a flick off Harmer found Faf du Plessis at short fine leg. With the two set men out, the South Africans may have fancied running through the President’s XI but Naman Ojha and Jackson were stubborn in their defence.While the heat and humidity began to take its toll on the visitors, Ojha milked them and brought up a half-century off 76 balls. Again, one of the front-liners had to be called, as Steyn came back after tea to dismiss Ojha in the slips off his first ball. But the President’s XI tail remained resolute and thwarted the South Africans, who put their seamers away as they day grew long, leaving Piedt and Hamer to finish off, which they did.Hardik Pandya made them work for his wicket, and enjoyed flaying the spinners about before falling to Piedt, who was rewarded with a wicket right at the end.South Africa’s day got longer when Shardul Thakur demanded the full attention of their batsmen, who were flagging. Dean Elgar played and missed several times but it was Stiaan van Zyl who was out first. The nightwatchman Harmer was bowled off the last ball of the day, leaving South Africa’s specialist batsmen with a full day to turn the tide tomorrow.

Kevon Cooper bowled a nerveless last over to give Rajasthan Royals a winning start to the season with a slim five-run victory over Delhi Daredevils

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Warner looked ominous, but a brilliant run-out from Brad Hodge helped even the odds, before Kevon Cooper pulled off the heist•BCCI

An electric late rally in the field, completed by a stoic over of pinpoint yorkers from Kevon Cooper, saw Rajasthan Royals begin their IPL campaign with a thrilling five-run win over Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Daredevils were hurtling towards their target after 17 overs, with only 22 runs to get, and a flourishing David Warner at the crease. But Cooper ignited his side with a five-run over in the 18th that ended with a wicket, before a direct hit from acting captain Brad Hodge at cover dismissed Warner in the penultimate over, to give his side hope of a still-unlikely victory.Nine runs were required off Cooper’s final over, but the bowler delivered six yorkers, two of which dismissed panicking Daredevils batsmen, and provided the IPL’s first week with its second nail-biting result. Johan Botha was out lbw, attempting a reverse paddle with seven required from four, before Andre Russell also fell trying to hit the ball fine with six needed from two, only this time Cooper cleaned him up. New man Naman Ojha had to hit a six off the last ball for Daredevils to salvage victory, but could not connect with a wide yorker, sparking ecstatic celebrations from Royals.Daredevils’ death-over meltdown almost mirrored Royals’ returns from the same period of their innings, after the visitors had managed just six runs from their last two overs, and lost four wickets. Royals had arrived in the 18th over at 159 for 3, and were eyeing a 180-plus total that seemed par on a good batting surface. They however lost four batsmen in six balls, including Rahul Dravid, whose immaculately paced 65 off 51 held the team’s innings together.Dravid had arrived at Kusal Perera’s demise in the third over, and aside from a controlled edge to the third man fence first ball, was largely content to collect singles to begin with, despite the fielding restrictions. When the bowlers erred, as Andre Russell did when he served up a wide delivery in the sixth over, Dravid’s placement and timing ensured the desired boundary was achieved.He was dropped twice in the 12th over, when he began to introduce more aggression to his innings, but he was undeterred, and having made only 22 from his first 26 deliveries, he quickly achieved a more laudable strike rate through the middle overs.For Daredevils, Warner was also relatively reticent to begin with, allowing opening partner Unmukt Chand to provide the early innings impetus, and striking at no better than a run a ball until the tenth over of the innings. When he eventually exploded in earnest, with two fours off Rahul Shukla in the 13th over, Daredevils appeared to be executing a measured chase.Warner was dropped early in his innings, and had one more reprieve just after hitting fifty, as he continued to maul some indifferent Royals bowling through the middle overs. Just before Daredevils hit their wall, Warner launched Siddharth Trivedi in the 17th over for 13. After Warner’s demise however, none of the Daredevils batsmen seemed capable of finding the boundary, and Royals achieved revenge for the mighty close defeat they had suffered last year, in the same fixture.

Surrey once again departed Lord’s glum-faced after another defeat. Their record is miserable over the Thames – one win in their last 18 visits

Alex Winter at Lord's15-Apr-2012
ScorecardToby Roland-Jones took four wickets in the second innings•Getty Images

Surrey once again departed Lord’s glum-faced after another defeat. Their record is miserable over the Thames – one win in their last 18 visits. They turned on the wicket as the primary cause of this loss: a soft pitch, perhaps underprepared after poor weather in the days before the match, which created havoc for the 76 overs the final two innings lasted.Chris Adams, Surrey’s team director, described it as the worst pitch he had ever seen at Lord’s. Surrey, in pursuit of 141, lost 6 for 36 to fail by three runs – Surrey’s narrowest margin of defeat to their neighbours.Victory here was envisaged as part of their early-season run to confirm them as many people’s outside tip for the title. Sussex, Middlesex and Worcestershire – with two of those games at The Oval – are the three opponents many would pick out for early-season points. But they were left stunned by their final morning collapse.”It was one of the worst wickets I’ve played on,” Surrey’s captain Rory Hamilton-Brown said. “It went up and down, the seam movement was so exaggerated, people were getting hit and two first-class sides scored not many more than a hundred. It made for a battle out there.”Hamilton-Brown is grateful for a quick return to The Oval next week where Surrey should bounce back against Worcestershire. But his victorious Middlesex counterpart did not see the surface as a hindrance to playing good cricket.”It was one of those wickets you knew there was something in it all game,” Neil Dexter said. “The pitch lasted almost the four days so to be playing on that wicket early season I don’t think was too bad. The way they got out this morning had nothing to do with the wicket, it was the shots and some good bowling.”The victory song in the home dressing room wasn’t quite by Dexy’s Midnight Runners but Middlesex’s “Dexy” – of no pop music fame – was certainly declaring: “I’m in heaven, I’m in heaven” after a miraculous victory.The celebrations probably sent the MCC secretary straight to his inkwell. Tim Murtagh has a history of wild abandon after sealing big wins – once whipping off his shirt to acclaim his success in a T20 quarter-final bowlout for Surrey against Warwickshire at The Oval. Here his fourth wicket sparked a 50-yard sprint towards the Tavern, creating a heap of elated Middlesex bodies on the Lord’s turf.”I think I’ve been watching too much football recently, but that’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had on a cricket field,” said Murtagh, a Liverpool supporter, of what he described as his best win for Middlesex. “It would have been a great shame to lose two games having played decent cricket in both. We have had two collapses in both games but we’ve showed unbelievable fighting spirit.”Middlesex would have begun to move a little uneasily with consecutive defeats and a powerful Durham side arriving next week. This victory is an early fillip for their survival hopes. And they have Andrew Strauss and Steven Finn against Durham, causing a selection headache. Dexter said he will feel bad leaving out players who have done little wrong.None of the bowlers deserved to be dropped. On the final morning, Gareth Berg took two wickets; Tim Murtagh bowled Chris Jordan and took the final wicket; Toby Roland-Jones removed Tim Linley caught at slip and had Hamilton-Brown caught behind.Hamilton-Brown sought to blast his way through the dangers of a seaming ball and varying bounce. His 49-ball half-century was the most aggressive innings of the match. But he watched Tom Maynard, for the addition of three, and Gareth Batty, for a duck, depart as the task of 46 more runs lurched from the formality it was proving the previous evening to a stern examination of technique and guts. Had bad light not intervened on Saturday evening, Surrey may well have claimed the extra half hour that would have allowed Hamilton-Brown and Maynard, both free scoring, to knock off the runs.The small chase was created by Jon Lewis’ five wickets the previous afternoon – the spell of the match. His 17-ball 21 looked to be the late-order innings Surrey needed but he could only look to the heavens as Hamilton-Brown edged Roland-Jones, who was excellent from the Pavilion End, to the wicketkeeper John Simpson. Lewis was then too trusting of Nos. 10 and 11; leaving Linley the entire 38th over to face from Roland-Jones. He nicked the fifth ball to slip. Lewis then offered Jade Dernbach the chance of five balls from Tim Murtagh. A straight-drive gone wrong skied the winning catch to Sam Robson at cover.

On an opening day full of twists and turns, it was fitting that Railways’ choice of opener – Murali Kartik – caused much surprise

Abhishek Purohit24-Dec-2010On an opening day full of twists and turns, it was fitting that Railways’ choice of opener caused much surprise. Baroda, who had chosen to field, were startled to see India left-arm spinner Murali Kartik walk out with Shreyas Khanolkar, in place of regular opener Faiz Fazal.”We had planned this move, it’s not that we went ahead with it just like that. We wanted to have a left-handed opener in the absence of Fazal (who opted out for his sister’s wedding), and Kartik has done the job before as well. I have used him as an opener in my time as captain, and he played some beautiful shots today,” Abhay Sharma, the Railways coach, told ESPNcricinfo. And the plan was executed ably by Kartik, who hammered nine fours and two sixes in making 57, his 17th first-class half-century.Munaf Patel had got the big wicket of Railways captain Sanjay Bangar for 2, but to Baroda’s consternation, Kartik consolidated in the company of young Prashant Awasthi to take the score past 100 from 25 for 2. “I thought they put Kartik in to negate Munaf, who nevertheless beat him on numerous occasions. But yeah, he did the job for his side,” Mukesh Narula, the Baroda coach, said.Yusuf Pathan and Munaf struck right back, taking five wickets for 16 runs as Railways plummeted to 125 for 7. But the visitors refused to give in, and a recalled Yere Goud, playing in place of Fazal, led a recovery along with JP Yadav and Nileshkumar Chauhan as Railways finished on 241 for 8.Abhay admitted they were around 50 runs short of a good total on a wicket where the ball is coming on to the bat. “Around 300 would be a decent score. The wicket looks like it might spin, and there is also some bounce.” Railways are certainly expecting turn, having gone in with three spinners, contrary to expectations.”After the first session when it was nipping around, the wicket seems to have settled down. It should be good for batting tomorrow,” Narula said. “I think 350 would be a par total. I doubt it will spin a lot, even if it does, the turn should be slow.” Narula thinks Baroda have the game under control. “I believe we have the upper hand now, despite their late recovery.”

A round-up of the RBS Twenty20 Cup matches that took place on March 1

Cricinfo staff01-Mar-2010

Group C

One of the tournament heavies Faisalabad Wolves began their campaign by crushing Abbottabad Rhinos by 90 runs at the National Stadium. Mohammad Hafeez and Asif Hussain set up the win with an opening stand of 89 before Asid Afridi, the left-arm seamer on debut, dismissed Hussain. Afridi later made a big impact in the final over, taking four wickets in five balls to leave Faisalabad at 165 for 7. The astute Misbah-ul-Haq, with 40 off 26 balls including four sixes, ensured it didn’t derail his side from an impressive total.Abbottabad’s chase was never on, throttled early by Samiullah Khan Niazi. It turned out to be an evening for left-arm seamers as Samiullah dented the top order with three wickets. Abbottabad then lost three wickets with no addition to the score, including two to the excellent Shahid Nazir and at 57 for 7, the contest was long gone. Saeed Ajmal cleaned up the tail to finish with 3 for 4. Abbottabad are a traditionally weak side but were strengthened this year by the inclusion of a number of Peshawar players such as Yasir Hameed, Yasir Shah and Riffatullah Mohmand and will look to improve results.

Group D

Karachi Dolphins got off to a winning start making light work of Hyderabad Hawks at the National Stadium. They had much to thank the visitors for pressing the self-destruct button before crawling to 119, a target that was always going to be easy.Opener Shahzaib Hasan, a World Twenty20 winner, provided the fireworks during the chase, smashing 46 off 21 balls, including six fours and two sixes. Once Karachi had reached the halfway mark in just the fourth over, Khalid Latif continued the momentum, blitzing 32 off 15 balls. The openers’ charge was enough as the hosts sealed the win in the 10th over. Hyderabad had made a watchful start with opener Sharjeel Khan managing a near-run-a-ball 39, but three run-outs in the space of three overs meant they ended on a well below-par score. Fawad Alam was Karachi’s most successful bowler with 2 for 20.

Group A

Multan Tigers recorded their second consecutive win after cruising past Quetta Bears by seven wickets. Mohammad Hafeez and the tall Mohammad Irfan – at six foot ten, one of the tallest bowlers going – set it up by sharing seven wickets between them to restrict Quetta to a poor 99. Rameez Alam then scored an unbeaten half-century to guide them home within 17 overs. Irfan and Hafeez cut through the middle order to reduce Quetta to 59 for 5 and it was a position from which they never recovered. Hafeez finished with 4 for 17 while Irfan took 3 for 14 before wrapping up the innings off the penultimate ball. Multan lost Babar Ali off the first ball of the chase but Rameez piloted the innings to help them coast home.

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.

Young batter one of four to reach fifty as Lancashire struggle for penetration

ECB Reporters Network12-Apr-2024Tom Prest suggested 2024 will be his breakthrough season by scoring an impeccable 85 as Hampshire edged day one of their Vitality County Championship clash with Lancashire.Former England under-19 captain Prest hinted at his first-class talents with his maiden ton towards the end of last season and opened his account this year with a high-quality knock.He was one of four half-century makers for the hosts – with Nick Gubbins, James Vince and Liam Dawson also reaching the milestone as Hampshire totted up 305 for six in front of their highest first-day-of-the-season crowd from over a decade.Nathan Lyon picked up his first two wickets for Lancashire during a mammoth 32-over day which yielded two for 97.Skipper Vince won the toss and chose to bat first, giving debutant Ali Orr an immediate chance to impress the Hampshire supporters after his winter move from Sussex.His collaboration with new opening partner Fletcha Middleton may need some work after the latter was run out in the ninth over by a George Balderson direct hit after a miscommunication.Orr departed four overs later when Tom Bailey cut him in two with a wicked in-jagger to be caught behind, but from there, Hampshire found more fluency and built partnerships in overcast conditions.Vince had come off a winter of seemingly endless white-ball cricket, taking him from Abu Dhabi to Australia, Dubai to Pakistan.He ended last season’s Championship campaign – one where he become Hampshire’s first batter to 1,000 first-class runs since 2016 – with 56 and began the new campaign in identical fettle.It was a look down and you missed it half-century, coming up in 62 balls but with hardly a shot in anger. It included a cover drive but otherwise kept the ball on a string to ease his side from danger in an 84-run stand with Gubbins, taking the score away from the worrying 26 for two.Gubbins, who had scored twin centuries on Lancashire’s previous trip to Utilita Bowl, unfurled his typically aesthetic yet steady knock to provide the foil for Vince before helping Prest lay the foundations for his innings.Australian spinner Lyon had been due to play for Hampshire in 2020 before Covid prevented him from arriving. His maiden first-class outing on what would have been his home ground saw him strike in his seventh over as Vince tamely turned to leg-slip.Lyon was given the lone front-line spinner furrow, with England left-armer Tom Hartley left out having played in the rain-affected draw against Surrey. The 36-year-old also lured Gubbins into a drive to edge behind three balls after reaching a 112-run 50 but the most intriguing passage of the day was Lyon’s battle with 21-year-old Prest.It began with a sharp chance at short-leg, which was followed by a maiden over where every ball landed on the same spot, before Prest replied with a pair of reverse sweeps. The battle would conclude with 33 runs and 34 dots in 51 balls – including the day’s only maximum on the slog sweep.Prest is one to watch this season after his maiden century in the penultimate fixture of last season, where he took down Simon Harmer in style.His 76-ball fifty oozed quality and underlined his tag but fell short of a century when he gloved a sweep to slip, three balls after Lyon had dropped a difficult chance on the dive. It ended a 93-run alliance with Dawson.Ben Brown fell soon after when Will Williams secured an edge to third slip with the second new ball but Dawson made it a quartet of fifty-makers with an unbeaten 61 – although was dropped on 51 before the close.