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Division Two champions Lancashire look set to finish the County Championship season unbeaten after strengthening their grip on their final match against Kent

25-Sep-2013
ScorecardRob Key made his fifth Championship century of the season to rescue Kent•PA Photos

Division Two champions Lancashire look set to finish the County Championship season unbeaten after strengthening their grip on their final match against Kent at Canterbury. Lancashire reached the mid-point of the clash on 75 without loss in their second innings – an overall lead of 99.Having dismissed Kent for 260 to claim a narrow first-innings advantage of 24, Red Rose openers Paul Horton and Luis Reece survived 21 overs through to stumps to dent Kent’s hopes of notching a first home Championship win of the season.Having started the day brightly by taking Lancashire’s final two wickets for the addition of just 15 runs – Ashwell Prince failing to add to his overnight 134 – Kent’s first-innings batting was again found wanting until their former captain Rob Key dug in for his fifth Championship century of the campaign.Responding to Lancashire’s 284, Kent suffered a miserable start and at 7 for 3 the follow-on looked a real possibility until Key saved face with a 118-ball century.The hosts lost opener Sam Northeast for a duck after only 13 deliveries when the right-hander clipped firmly into the hands of midwicket against Kyle Jarvis. Eight balls later and with only a single to his name, Daniel Bell-Drummond then allowed one from Oliver Newby to squeeze through bat and pad and pluck out off stump.Brendan Nash lasted three deliveries before he sparred outside off against Newby to be caught at the second attempt by Tom Smith at third slip as the procession back to the changing rooms continued.However, Key then found a willing ally in fourth-wicket partner Ben Harmison as the pair batted on either side of lunch to add 158 in 35.1 overs – the highest partnership of the game by far. Harmison posted his fifth half-century of an improving campaign from 103 balls while Key looked comfortable throughout as he eased 10 fours and a six during his three-hour ton.Harmison celebrated his fifty with a six off Newby but the bowler enjoyed revenge soon after by trapping the left-hander leg before for 59. The slide continued when Darren Stevens went in similar fashion to the lively Jarvis as Kent’s last five wickets mustered only 41 runs.Sam Billings was superbly caught one-handed at second slip by Andrea Agathangelou, Adam Ball also went leg-before and James Tredwell shouldered arms against Tom Smith to lose his off stump. Key then went for 134, snared by spinner Stephen Parry, who also bowled Kent’s last man Matt Hunn to give Lancashire a narrow lead.At the start of the day Kent required barely half-an-hour to polish off the Lancashire first innings. Debutant Hunn had Prince pocketed at second slip to give the rookie from Suffolk figures of 2 for 51, then Stevens bagged his 200th first-class wicket by having Parry caught in the cordon to deny Lancashire their third batting bonus point.

Stuart Broad found himself in a familiar position for England captains – trying to explain a calamitous display against spin bowling

David Hopps in Colombo23-Sep-2012Stuart Broad found himself in a familiar position for England captains – trying to explain a calamitous display against spin bowling – as his side, dismissed against India for 80 in 14.4 overs, registered England’s lowest total in Twenty20 internationals.”It doesn’t change our destiny a huge amount – we still hop on a bus to Kandy in the morning,” Broad said. “It is not like tomorrow is going to be a different day. It is not as if we have to go home or anything.”It was understandable, indeed it was necessary, that Broad found consolation in the fact that both sides had already qualified for Super Eights and that, for the sake of their travelling supporters, England and India were already locked into matches in Pallekele (near to Kandy) or Colombo respectively, irrespective of whether they finished first or second in the group.But that underplayed the psychological effect that a defeat of such magnitude will have on a relatively untried England batting line-up that had grown in confidence during the warm-up matches but which collapsed spectacularly when faced by the first real test against significant opposition.As Broad had mentioned destiny, he did bring to mind Freud’s theory of repetition compulsion – a psychological phenomenon in which a person (or in this case the England cricket team) repeats a traumatic event, or its circumstances, over and over again.Freud’s theory says the patient does not remember anything about what he has forgotten or repressed, but just acts it out until the end of time, which is a depressing thought for when England next face spin bowling in Asia as well as an intriguing challenge for the team psychologist. The alternative, of course, would be to listen instead to Mushtaq Ahmed, the spin bowling coach, and start hitting the ball down the ground.”Our error today is we lost early wickets,” Broad said. “Spinners always enjoy bowling to new batsmen. We talked the other day about how we need to hit straight and hard and today to lose the first couple of wickets across the line was a bit disappointing. Hitting straight was a much better option than going across the ball.”England’s display was so woeful that when they lost their ninth wicket at 60 they were in danger of recording the lowest score in T20 internationals, undercutting Kenya’s 67 against Ireland. Somehow, they avoided that. But this was their heaviest defeat, by runs, in T20 internationals.There was no alibi for the batsmen and Broad was not about to give them one. There was no sharp turn – there may be as the tournament progresses so if England do reach the semi-finals and face India once more at Premadasa it could be worse – and India’s 170 for 4 was, at most, 10 over par so the target did not demand the impossible.”I don’t think the wicket turned massively to be honest,” Broad said. “The guys getting out said it was just skidding on a little bit. There was a little bit of turn, Harbhajan bowled very nicely with his top-spinner going well but no, I don’t think it was a raging turner or anything.”We made it easy for India in the end. We will have to learn from our mistakes and there were some pretty clear ones in the batting line-up. Young guys seem to learn pretty quickly.”He did not entirely exonerate the bowling, where England suffered in this match by giving Tim Bresnan a run out as a fourth seamer, in defiance of a dry pitch, because of their conviction that the ball will seam and swing in Pallakele and he will play in their opening Super Eight tie against West Indies or Ireland on Thursday as a result. The fielding was also scrappy by England standards, but these were details compared to the car crash of a batting performance.”I think we were a little bit sloppy in places: we had a few soft twos in the outfield,” Broad conceded. “We didn’t hit our lengths as well as we could up front. But I think it was the lowest first-innings score on this ground so far in the tournament. We thought it was very chaseable. The wicket was pretty flat, although it didn’t have the pace in it that it had the other night.”It will be interesting to see what the Pallakele wickets offer. There has been talk that in the Sri Lankan Premier League it seamed around a bit. We knew it was a bit dryer at the start but we wanted to try a different balance of side with the four seamers in a game that we could afford to lose. It was a risk that we took and it didn’t help us.”Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, was quick to point out England’s deficiencies. “This is a sorry display from England,” he said. “There’s been a lack of footwork, application and the will to stick around and fight it out.” It was accurate enough but England regard Gavaskar as a serial critic; perhaps this is a comment that will be heading for the dressing room wall.

A round up of the sixth day of matches of the European Championship Division One Twenty20

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jul-2011Denmark won the European Division One Twenty20 final after beating Italy by six wickets in St Clement. Italy chose to bat and were left in tatters by the Danish bowlers, who skittled their opposition out for 83.Andy Northcote’s 38 (off 37 balls) was the only score over 20 in the Italy innings, and he was bowled while attempted a heave against legspinner Bobby Chawla, who took 3 for 26. Chawla was responsible for tearing through the top order and left-arm spinner Bashir Shah (3 for 14) crippled the middle order. Northcote had added 43 for the second wicket with Damian Crowley, who also perished while attempting a big shot, holing out to long-off. Italy were in a sound position at 67 for 2 in the 12th over, but in a dramatic collapse, lost the next eight wickets for 16 runs.Denmark stuttered in their chase and slipped to 16 for 3 in the fifth over. But Rizwan Mahmood’s patient 31 (off 47 balls) and Aftab Ahmed’s 24 (off 18 balls) saw them to victory with 11 balls to spare. Mahmood’s innings under pressure won him the Man-of-the-Match award. Both Denmark and Italy will participate in the World T20 qualifiers in the UAE next year.Jersey finished third in the tournament with a convincing eight-wicket win over Guernsey, also at St Clement. Guernsey’s innings began unsteadily when they were reduced to 20 for 2 but Ross Kneller’s 37 (off 32 balls) was the glue that held their innings together. With no sizeable partnerships and 19-year old left-arm spinner Ben Stevens (4 for 14) on fire, Guernsey made 158 for 8. Jersey had little trouble reaching the target. Edward Farley’s 90 (off 48 balls) was the mainstay of their innings; it also played a role in winning him the tournament’s Most-Valuable-Player Award. Jersey won in 17.2 overs.Norway took fifth place after a six-wicket demolition of France in St Martin. Norway chose to field and blasted France out for just 70. Forty-one year old Pakistan-born medium pacer Zaheer Ashiq’s 4 for 2 in 1.3 overs proved too much for France. Norway lost both their openers for ducks, No. 3 batsman Ashiq for 6 but Zeeshan Ali’s 33 not out (off 40 balls) took them to victory with 19 balls remaining.Gibraltar won the ninth place play-off, beating Germany by 23 runs in St Helier. Gibraltar recovered from 13 for 2 to 157 for 7. A third-wicket partnership of 65 between Mark Bacerese and Kieron Ferrary, which was the highest of the match, helped Gibraltar to a defendable total. Germany’s innings was punctuated by wickets and they were bowled out for 134. Iain Latin took 3 for 34.Croatia finished the tournament in last place, losing by 86 runs to Israel in St Brelade. Herschel Gutman scored 51 (off 37 balls) and small contributions from the rest of the batting line-up took Israel to 172 for 7, a target that was too stiff for Croatia. Eliezar Samson took 4 for 7 and nine of the Croat batsmen failed to get into double-figures. They were bowled out for 86.

Ed Cowan and George Bailey slammed centuries to give Australia A an overwhelming advantage on the second day at Townsville

Cricinfo staff26-Jun-2010Sri Lanka A 78 and 32 for 0 trail Australia A 402 (Bailey 154*, Cowan 126) by 292 runs

ScorecardGeorge Bailey made an unbeaten 154 with 14 fours and six sixes•Getty Images

Ed Cowan and George Bailey slammed centuries to give Australia A an overwhelming advantage on the second day at Townsville. It was hard work for the Sri Lanka A bowlers as the hosts stretched their lead to 324 before declaring.The day began with Usman Khawaja getting to a half-century. Khawaja and Cowan made steady progress before the former was dismissed for 69 by Sachithra Senanayake, nearly 23 overs in to the day’s play. The pair had added 141 for the second wicket, and that was followed by another century stand, this time between Cowan and Bailey. Cowan was eventually dismissed by Nuwan Pradeep for 126, caught by the wicketkeeper. Bailey and Peter Forrest added 94 in quick time to take the score past 350. Bailey scored in fifth gear, smashing 14 fours and six sixes in his 154 off 138 balls. He declared at 402 for 4, leaving the visitors to bat out 11 overs till stumps.The opening pair of Lahiru Thirimanne and Tharanga Paranavitana ensured they didn’t lose a wicket. The Sri Lankans will face a test of skill and character as they look to save this game with two days remaining.

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.

Ilyas, Shoaib and Nadeem score fifties to anchor the chase; UAE still searching for their first win

Abhimanyu Bose21-Jun-2023Oman followed up a disciplined bowling performance with confident batting display to make it two in two in the World Cup Qualifier group stage. Jay Odedra, Bilal Khan and Fayyaz Butt helped restrict UAE to 227 before half-centuries from Aqib Ilyas, Shoaib Khan and Mohammad Nadeem and a nifty knock from Ayaan Khan helped them seal victory with four overs to spare.Ilyas and Shoaib put on a 100-run stand for the third wicket in Oman’s chase, but in a three-over period, Rohan Mustafa cleaned Ilyas up and trapped Zeeshan Maqsood lbw. On top of that, Shoaib, suffering from cramps, had to trudge off.But Ayaan and Mohammad Nadeem made sure UAE never got back in the game with a run-a-ball 76-run partnership that all but put the game to bed, with Shoaib returning to bat to see the game off.Oman got off to the perfect start after winning the toss and choosing to bowl. Bilal trapped UAE captain Muhammad Waseem lbw in the third over and Butt had Mustafa strangled down leg in the next.Vriitya Aravind and Rameez Shahzad then rebuilt for UAE, putting on an 87-run partnership. Aravind started quick, taking on Butt for 11 runs in the sixth over. But he slowed down after that and scored just one more boundary which was squeezed past slip off Maqsood.Shahzad on the other hand started slow, taking ten deliveries to get off the mark. It took till the sixteenth over for him to really get going, pulling Mohammad Nadeem for four through midwicket and following it up with a punch down the ground for another boundary next ball.Shahzad cut Odedra for four behind point in the 25th over and then looked to give him the charge, when the offspinner bowled a length ball that spun in to crash into his stumps.Four overs later, Odedra got one to spin in sharply from outside off to bowl Aravind out one run short of a half-century.Jay Odedra was among the wickets•ICC/Getty Images

Basil Hameed then gave a simple catch at point off Ayaan Khan before Odedra knocked over the dangerous Ali Naseer with another peach that spun past the outside edge from a length.Asif Khan, who looked stuck till then, responded to the fall of wickets by beginning to up the tempo as he took on Odedra for a six over long-on and a four over cover. With Asif there as the enforcer, Aayan Afzal Khan held up one end, scoring just three off 15 in their 20-run stand before Butt had Asif caught at cover in the 40th over.With the score still on 154 and having lost seven wickets, UAE were in threat of being bowled out for under 200. But then, Aayan began his assault on the bowlers. In the 41st, he pulled Bilal for a one-bounce four over midwicket before taking Butt for three back-to-back fours in the next over. He hit Maqsood for consecutive boundaries as well. He brought up his half-century off the first delivery of the final over and finished unbeaten on 58.UAE started well with the ball as well. Junaid Siddique and Ali Naseer started off with maidens and the pressure soon told on the Oman openers in the fifth over.Kashyap Prajapati looked to cut a short and wide delivery from Siddique but only found an edge to Hameed at slip. In the last ball of the over, Jatinder Singh went after another short and wide ball only to cut it to Karthik Meiyappan at point.Ilyas and Shoaib then batted UAE out of the game. They were happy to go after Meiyappan and Aayan and Zahoor Khan didn’t find much luck against them either. They looked in complete control until Mustafa knocked Ilyas over with a length ball that spun in to beat his attempted cut.Shoaib having to go off with cramps and Maqsood getting out in quick succession lifted the UAE camp, but Ayaan and Nadeem snuffed out any hopes they may have had.Ayaan took on the role of aggressor as he raced to 41off 36 balls, while Nadeem stayed solid and kept turning the strike over.By the time Ayaan got out, holing out to midwicket off Aayan, Oman were firmly in the driving seat and Shoaib came back out and went on to bring up a half-century of his own. Nadeem got the winning run, and brought up his fifty, with a single to deep third as UAE slumped to two defeats in two games in their campaign.

The left-arm quick has been ruled out of action for four to five weeks, according to team physio Bayjedul Islam

Mohammad Isam19-May-2022Bangladesh left-arm quick Shoriful Islam has been ruled out of the rest of the Test series against Sri Lanka after he sustained a right hand injury on the fourth evening in Chattogram. An X-ray revealed a fracture and Shoriful has been ruled out for four to five weeks, which is likely to make him unavailable for the first West Indies Test as well, set to start on June 16.The selectors didn’t name a replacement for Shoriful while announcing an unchanged squad for the second Test in Dhaka starting May 23.”Shoriful Islam had a contusion of the right hand while batting,” Bayjedul said in a BCB release on Thursday. “After the fourth day’s play an X-ray was carried out which has revealed a fracture on the base of the 5th metacarpal bone. Such injuries tend to take around three weeks to heal followed by a couple of week’s rehab. He will not be available to play for four to five weeks.”Kasun Rajitha struck Shoriful on his right hand after he tried to fend away a short ball in the 167th over of the Bangladesh innings. Physio Bayejidul Islam came out a couple of times to tend to him but Shoriful continued to bat. Four overs later, he fell down screaming in pain after swinging and missing at Rajitha.Shoriful eventually retired out to close the Bangladesh innings on 465 and he didn’t come out to bowl at all when Sri Lanka batted again.Bangladesh are already without Taskin Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the Chattogram Test due to injuries. Taskin’s participation is also a concern for Bangladesh’s West Indies tour next month as well. Taskin, who consulted a specialist in London for his shoulder injury earlier this month, is undergoing conservative treatment at the moment, so the selectors are yet to decide if he will be considered for the Tests in the West Indies.”We are not getting Shoriful for the Tests in West Indies. Taskin too is most likely unavailable for the red-ball matches. We might get the pair in the white-ball part of the tour,” Minhajul Abedin, the BCB chief selector, said.Bangladesh are likely to head for the tour on June 5 to play two Tests, three T20Is and three ODIs till mid-July.

If the batting can back up the bowling, the visitors can make this a fabulously exciting series

Danyal Rasool25-Dec-2020

Big picture

This isn’t the Boxing Day Test that’ll fill the most column inches, generate the greatest number of app notifications or create the most viral hashtags on Twitter. Mount Maunganui, sadly, is no match for Melbourne as New Zealand and Pakistan don’t quite stack up against their giant neighbours, Australia and India, who also face each other on the same day. But for those interested in more niche contests, more arcane storylines, and arguably equally absorbing cricket, tuning into this Test instead of that one promises to leave you equally satiated.

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Set aside the financial might of Australia and India, and you’ll find New Zealand vs Pakistan stacks up well against it on cricketing merit. New Zealand, for one, don’t intend to play dark horses to anyone these days, as they look to clinch two further Test wins to complement their 2-0 series win against West Indies and get one foot in the World Test Championship final. Pakistan, though heavy underdogs, will be buoyed by an impressive performance against England despite losing the series 1-0; the scoreline doesn’t quite reflect how close they were to a memorable series win. If they can bring that same fight, and, more importantly, bowling quality, to these two Tests, New Zealand will find these Tests won’t be the cakewalk the ones against Jason Holder’s men ended up being.New Zealand, though, are a fearfully well-oiled machine who relentlessly stack up the series wins at home. Only South Africa and Australia have beaten New Zealand in a Test series at home since January 2011. For much of this time, the core of this side has contained arguably two batsmen and two bowlers who rank among the greatest ever New Zealand cricketers: Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Tim Southee and Trent Boult. The presence of Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls and Neil Wagner ensures the home side is neither unbalanced nor overly reliant on a handful of individuals.Related

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Pakistan, meanwhile, have been left reeling by the absence of Babar Azam, who was due to make his debut as Test captain. It not only leaves a big hole in the heart of the batting line-up but also means Mohammad Rizwan needs to take on even greater responsibility – as stand-in captain, batsman and wicketkeeper, while the openers, who didn’t quite manage much against New Zealand A last week, will need to step up. The trio of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Abbas with the ball are by far Pakistan’s biggest hopes of discomfiting New Zealand over the next fortnight, with a helping hand from the batsmen carrying the potential to make this a fabulously exciting series.

Form guide

Pakistan DDLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand WWWWLHenry Nicholls has fought his way to become one of New Zealand’s first-choice picks•Getty Images

In the spotlight

Henry Nicholls might have been thought of as a utility squad player when he made his Test debut four years ago, and didn’t look up to much when Pakistan last visited in 2016, managing just 69 runs all series. It was a different story in the UAE two years later, where he demonstrated the sort of unflashy grit that has made him a mainstay in the New Zealand middle order. Managing two steely fifties, and a history-making, series-winning hundred in the third Test, he was among the unsung heroes for New Zealand as Williamson swept the awards, and his value to this New Zealand Test side has only increased since. With an average on the right side of 40, and 174 in his last Test innings against West Indies, Nicholls is in the sort of form to set the record straight.Mohammad Abbas‘s eyes might light up at how green the New Zealand surface will invariably look, much as West Indies’ did when they opted to bowl after winning the toss twice. New Zealand first innings scores of 519 and 460, however, suggested the colour of the surface doesn’t mean a whole lot without quality bowlers. Abbas, who butters his bread thanks to his accuracy and seam movement, would do well to remember that. If he manages to keep his focus on what his strengths are: line, length and subtle seam movement, rather than getting greedy and throwing the ball up in search of unrealistic swing movement, he may well be unplayable.

Team news

New Zealand have a full-strength, well-rested squad available to them, with Williamson back, having missed the second Test against West Indies for the birth of his daughter. That could edge out Will Young, with the rest of the line-up likely unchangedNew Zealand (probable): 1 Tom Latham, 2 Tom Blundell, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Daryl Mitchell, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Trent BoultBalance is the problem for Pakistan, with the absence of a genuine allrounder in the squad. Shadab Khan might have been tasked with that job, but with him ruled out, Pakistan look set to play potentially a batsman light.Pakistan (probable): 1 Shan Masood, 2 Abid Ali, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Fawad Alam, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (capt & wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Yasir Shah/Sohail Khan, 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Mohammad Abbas, 11 Naseem Shah

Pitch and conditions

Mount Maunganui has hosted only one Test till date – against England last year. It was something of a turgid surface, albeit one that led to a New Zealand innings victory. The toss, and early wickets with the new ball, will be vital. The weather is fine for four out of five days, with rain expected for much of Sunday.

Stats and trivia

• Before New Zealand commenced their current unbeaten home run against all sides barring Australia and South Africa, Pakistan were the last side to beat them in a series, 1-0 in 2010-11.
• New Zealand’s fast bowling attack is significantly more seasoned than their Pakistani counterparts. Pakistan’s entire fast bowling contingent in New Zealand – Abbas, Afridi, Shah, Sohail Khan, Ashraf – have a combined 169 Test wickets. Each of Southee (296), Boult (272) and Wagner (215) have more wickets on their own.

An unbeaten 85 from discarded England allrounder see Blast holders to nine-wicket win over Midlands rivals

David Hopps23-Aug-2019At least one England batsman was a picture of charm and grace after a desperate Ashes day. The only problem was that it was Moeen Ali, not required at Headingley, but instead refreshed by a bit of an August break and playing with grace and charm to win an engrossing West Midlands derby in the Vitality Blast.Moeen is a World Cup winner, with 186 England appearances to his name, but for all that experience he never appears more at home than in this fixture. His unbeaten 85 from 46 balls, allied to a half-century from Riki Wessels, immaculately judged a difficult run chase as Worcestershire overhauled Birmingham’s 184 for 5 with eight balls to spare.Moeen certainly enjoys facing his former county and last season hit centuries in the Royal London One-Day Cup and Vitality Blast matches at Edgbaston.Worcestershire go second in North Group and, along with Lancashire and Notts, are well placed to reach the quarter-finals by the time the group stages end next Friday: Moeen, unlikely to win an Ashes recall, can concentrate his thoughts on leading them to successive Finals Days. Birmingham, now eighth, are left to scrap with the rest and can console themselves that none of their rivals are posturing with intent.Blast crowds are on the up and around 12,000 at Edgbaston witnessed a match that was in doubt until deep into the contest. With 34 needed off four overs, Alex Thomson conceded 20 – Moeen strking successive sixes over long-on – and that was that.Worcestershire were under pressure when they required 80 off eight overs, but Moeen targeted Will Rhodes’ first over, which went for 19. A conservative over against Henry Brookes seemed too close for comfort, but when the boundaries were essential, Worcestershire found them: Moeen’s straight six off Jeetan Patel with 51 needed from 32, or Wessels’ leg-side drag against Oliver Hannon-Dalby to leave 34 off 24.Moeen stroked six sixes, five of them down the ground, while Wessels, typically, found innumerable ways to deflect and drag the ball square of the wicket. Wessels came close to falling lbw when he failed to reverse sweep Chris Green on 39, and Moeen plopped a ball or two into the open spaces, but for the most part their judgment was impeccable”I always felt we were one big over away from winning it,” Moeen said. “There was a bit of dew around and it wasn’t easy for their spinners. It’s always nice to be back playing for Worcestershire. I’ve just been going back to basics a bit.”Thoughts did not just alight on an England player currently jettisoned, but also on those who might yet be called up to reinforce a frivolous batting line-up. If Jason Roy can make a case for Test inclusion solely because of the splendour of his limited-overs form then with England in an Ashes pickle, Dominic Sibley must have had designs on a persuasive 30-odd in a T20 derby? After all, there is no Championship cricket to be had at the moment, so absurd as it sounds how is he meant to do it?Sibley, uncapped and, compared to Roy, unheralded, is a batsman designed for the long haul. He is leading the chase to 1000 runs in Division One, with 949 runs at 55.82, ahead of Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance and Hampshire’s Sam Northeast, but it’s unclear if anybody is all that interested.He began in such orthodox fashion against Worcestershire that it briefly looked as if he actually thought he on Test debut. Sadly, for collectors of cricketing oddities, he then he awoke to his task in hand and charged down the pitch to swing Pat Brown over midwicket into the Hollies Stand. Then he upped the ante, missed a sweep against Ed Barnard, wandered out his crease in vague expectation of a run and was stumped. Twelve runs off 14, as they say at Headingley, where England’s batting had been vanquished earlier in the day, was “neither nowt nor summat”.If Sibley had a unmemorable night, the Bears’ batting line-up had one of their most productive nights of an up-and-down campaign. Sam Hain, Adam Hose, Matthew Lamb and Mark Burgess all energised the innings in turn.Hain has had an extraordinarily consistent tournament with nine innings between 21 and 85, but although he comfortabley tops Birmingham’s run chart with 382 at 42.44, he is only striking at 119. The impression lingers that he is always driving himself forward, never entirely content with his scoring rate, and when he advanced to Dillon Pennington and popped him into the hands of deep midwicket, he left with another condemnatory shake of the head, one caused primarily by healthy ambition.Hose showed a bigger hitting range. His 48 from 23 included two sixes apiece off Moeen and Barnard. He hit Barnard for two sixes in an over, the second of which struck a spectator in the face at long-on. As if momentarily losing concentration, he changed tack and was caught off extra cover, trying to clear the infield.Lamb hunted out the short leg-side boundary – when he wasn’t threatening to injure the Worcestershire attack with straight drives. Pennington, sensible lad, ducked out of the way of a straight drive. Brown, stopped the next straight drive with his shin, grimaced his way through a third over, and never made the fourth. Birmingham had a score to reckon with, but they didn’t reckon with Moeen.

Dan Christian’s 37-ball hundred was the second quickest in England and the seventh fastest of all time as Notts Outlaws ruled the roost at Wantage Road

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jul-2018
ScorecardDan Christian struck the one of the fastest hundreds in the history of T20 to get Nottinghamshire off the mark at the second attempt in the Vitality Blast with a 58-run win at Northamptonshire.Christian’s 37-ball century with seven fours and eight sixes was the joint-seventh fastest in the history of the format and the second-fastest in the domestic game. It was Christian’s second T20 hundred and the third T20 hundred by a Notts batsman.His brutal hitting saw Notts rack up 219 for 6 – equalling the highest T20 total at Wantage Road only set on Wednesday – and despite Ben Duckett’s 88 from 45 balls, Northants were bowled out for 161.Northants’ captain Alex Wakely said: “I was pretty proud of the response after our defeat in the first game. We were a bit of a shambles on Wednesday but we were on the ball today and put them under early pressure before one bloke came out and played a pretty special knock.”Christian arrived at the crease with Notts 81 for 4 in the 10th over having been sent in and set about dismantling the Northants bowling with some of the cleanest hitting seen at Northampton. He struck three consecutive sixes off Graeme White’s left-arm spin – over deep midwicket, long-off and then a huge strike a long way back over long-on.

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He saved his biggest strike for Nathan Buck who was hammered over his head and onto the roof of the Ken Turner Stand among an over that cost 28 before the final over of the innings, bowled by Rory Kleinveldt, disappeared for 22 with two more Christian sixes. 80 runs came from the final five overs.Christian’s partnership with Samit Patel added 97 runs in 45 balls to take Notts to a total beyond their ambitions at the half-way stage. Patel skipped down to lift White over long-on and heaved him through midwicket for four in his 35 in 26 balls.Northants had removed their usual tormentor, Riki Wessels, for just 6 – bowled trying to pull Ben Sanderson – and also picked up Tom Moores for 15 and Steven Mullaney for 21 in a Powerplay that yielded 50 for 3 but Christian’s brilliance from there effectively won the game.Duckett kept Northants in the game for the first half of the chase, by flashing past fifty in only 17 balls. He took 30 from the third over, bowled by Samit Patel with a succession of sweeps. Three consecutive sixes preceded three consecutive fours. He swung Mullaney into the sight-screen at the Wilson End but trying to hit the same bowler over the off side, top-edged to Paul Coughlin who claimed a fine catch on his Notts debut.But Duckett was the only batsman to show for Northants who lost Richard Levi to a leg-side strange for just 3 and Josh Cobb caught at deep-midwicket for only 6. The chase suffered a huge blow when Alex Wakely was sent back by Duckett trying to come back for a second run and was run out for 11 after a diving save on the boundary by Will Fraine.After Duckett’s dismissal, Northants subsided and when Harry Gurney took out Buck’s leg-stump, victory was completed by a handsome margin to get the defending champions underway for 2018.