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ECB Reporters Network08-Aug-2018
ScorecardJohann Myburgh started his long farewell from professional cricket by thumping an unbeaten 54 to keep Somerset top of the South Group of the Vitality Blast.Opening batsman Myburgh, who began his county career at Hampshire, announced he would retire from the sport at the end of the season earlier this week.And the decision to quit might have been made prematurely as he clinically smashed the ball around the Ageas Bowl to chase down 129 with six wickets in hand.Hampshire had toiled to an unconvincing total but where the hosts had struggled, Myburgh appeared to find the going much easier as he stroked boundaries at will.Myburgh added 32 for the first wicket with Steven Davies, who was brilliantly caught in the covers by a diving Liam Dawson. He was unfazed by the loss of partner as he got his head down and kept the run rate ticking at just above the six and over needed.Peter Trego was deceived by a Mujeeb Ur Rahman variation, as he played on, and James Hildreth hit straight up in the air to be caught keeper Tom Alsop, but Myburgh remained comfortable.Myburgh moved to his 11th format fifty and although Liam Dawson had Corey Anderson lbw, eased Somerset to a six wicket victory with seven balls to spare.Earlier, Lewis Gregory won the toss and elected to bowl on the same wicket that Southern Vipers had posted 159 earlier in the day – a quickish wicket, which slowed throughout the two games, albeit with steady bounce.Hampshire never got to grips with the pitch though, despite James Vince firmly cutting Max Waller through point first ball and Rilee Rossouw dispatching a six over cow corner.That was as good as it got for the hosts as the wickets fell with regularity, with the runs failing to arrive.Rossouw started the slump when he dragged a full ball to mid-wicket, before Jerome Taylor found Vince’s leading edge, with Tom Abell completing the snaffle at backward-point.Hampshire were left 45 for 2 at the end of the powerplay and quickly lost Tom Alsop skying to mid-wicket and Liam Dawson offering up a simple catch at point.Sam Northeast attempted to anchor an end – scoring 30 off 36 balls – but nobody else could build around him.The former Kent batsman eventually fell off a top edge, which James Hildreth easily caught at short fine leg, before Joe Weatherly was bowled.Hampshire didn’t manage to strike a boundary between the eighth and fifteenth over which summed up their misery.

The match against Kings XI Punjab will be the allrounder’s last of the season before he joins England’s preparatory camp for the World Cup

Hemant Brar in Bengaluru23-Apr-2019It’s difficult to get noticed in a team that has Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, but Moeen Ali has definitely made his presence felt at Royal Challengers Bangalore this season.While Kohli (387), de Villiers (332) and Parthiv Patel (283) have more runs than Moeen, his 216 runs have come at the best strike rate among all the batsmen in the team – 168.75. Moeen played crucial roles in Royal Challengers winning their two most recent matches. His 66 off 28 balls set the platform for a 200-plus total against Kolkata Knight Riders, and his 26 off 16 ensured Royal Challengers piled on enough – just about – to beat Chennai Super Kings.”My job in the team is to do that [take the pressure off Kohli and de Villiers],” Moeen said on the eve of Royal Challengers’ match against Kings XI Punjab. “It is very difficult for a team to win if you rely on just two guys batting because they feel the pressure as well. My job is to come and score some runs and be part of the batting group, and contribute in winning games.”I think it gives a lot of confidence if Virat and AB don’t score, or if one of them doesn’t play, like AB didn’t against KKR, we can still score 200-plus. I have the confidence in my own game and belief that I can also score runs just as quick as them and take games away from the opposition. It won’t always happen, but I know I can do that.”I might be a quiet sort of person, but I’m quite confident in my own game. Before I even came to RCB, I said to myself (that) I wanted to score the runs that I could. I know I can do it, it is just going out and having the confidence to do it.”Dale Steyn’s arrival has given Royal Challengers a welcome injection of new-ball potency•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Apart from Moeen’s contributions, one other aspect of Royal Challengers’ game in their last two outings was the difference Dale Steyn has made to their attack. In their first eight matches of the season, their bowlers had only taken three wickets in the Powerplay overs, at an average of 144.33. In their last two games, they have taken seven at an average of 9.85, with Steyn claiming four.”He’s been massive,” Moeen said. “We didn’t take wickets in Powerplays and now since he has come, we’ve been taking wickets. When you take two, three, four wickets [in Powerplays], most of the time you’re going to win the game.”I think just the name of Dale Steyn [is enough]. Well, he has not played much in the last couple of years, but he still has class. The way he bowls, the swing… he pitches it up, he’s quite brave in the way he bowls. It’s probably the thing that we’ve been lacking in this team and it has cost us in a few games. But having him has been huge for our bowlers as well – the way he sets the tone in the first couple of overs. Anybody can get smashed but he has been fantastic.”Wednesday’s game will be Moeen’s last of the season before he leaves to join England’s camp ahead of the World Cup. This means he will miss at least three games for Royal Challengers.”It’s not ideal, obviously,” Moeen said. “I think it’s worse when there are three games to go, that there’s not much cricket left and you always think, ‘I could’ve played those three games’. If there were six-seven games, it was a little more understandable. But it’s a small window. And knowing that there could be a chance of going through if we win all our games, then you miss out on a potential semi-final and stuff.”But I’ll definitely keep an eye out and see how they’re going, hoping that we’re winning all our games. It’s also difficult to leave a team, especially when I’m in a bit of form and I want to keep going in the IPL, trying to improve my game. I feel like I’m a big part of the boys and I’ll miss them. It’s a shame but there’s obviously the World Cup, which is very important as well.”

Denmark will now rely on help from Uganda and Bermuda in matches to be replayed on Sunday in order to keep Jersey or Malaysia from leapfrogging them on the net-run-rate tiebreaker

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Kuala Lumpur05-May-2018Shane Deitz flicks off his pads for runs through the leg side•Peter Della Penna

Vanuatu’s late rally after three consecutive losses at the start of the WCL Division Four has put Denmark’s final-standings fate out of their own hands as the NiVans upended the Danes by five wickets with as many balls to spare at the Kinrara Academy Oval to become the first team all week to successfully chase a target at the ground.Overhauling Denmark’s 234 with half-centuries from the top three – vice-captain Jonathon Dunn (86 off 139 balls), Joshua Rasu (69 off 77), and Patrick Matautaava (53 off 42) – Vanuatu registered their second successful chase in three days. Dunn had scored only 15 runs in Malaysia coming into the match while Matautaava more than doubled his week-long output of 49 runs. Rasu ended three runs short of doubling his group-stage tally.All three were due for a score, particularly Matautaava after his Player-of-the-Tournament performance at Division Five in September, and they came up trumps in style against Denmark. Dunn and Rasu put on 116 for the first wicket before Matautaava took over following the dismissal of Rasu. Matautaava blasted his way to a half-century off 33 balls, putting Denmark in serious jeopardy of not only losing outright, but also losing their net-run-rate tiebreaker advantage over Jersey.Denmark entered the day with a 12.2 over or 54-run net positive differential with Jersey on the net-run-rate tiebreaker. At one stage, thanks to Matautaava’s blitz which took the score to 167 for 1 in 31 overs, most of that differential was on the brink of being wiped out. But the spin troika of Bashir Shah, Nicolaj Laegsgaard and Saif Ahmad dug deep to stretch the game into the final over, with Saif nipping out Matautaava and captain Andrew Mansale to slow Vanuatu’s charge and, in the process, help preserve some of their tiebreak advantage over Jersey in spite of the loss. Shane Deitz, however, whacked a six off the first ball of the final over to seal the chase.Vanuatu’s bowlers set up the win with an excellent display at the death after Denmark had set themselves up for a launch from 182 for 4 at the 40-over mark thanks to half-centuries from Anders Bulow and captain Hamid Shah. But the middle order failed to kick on, adding only 40 through the next eight overs before Nalin Nipiko and Matautaava took two wickets each off four consecutive balls to end the 49th and start the 50th.Denmark will now rely on help from Uganda and Bermuda in matches to be replayed on Sunday in order to keep Jersey or Malaysia from leapfrogging them on the net-run-rate tiebreaker and into the promotion slots to move up to Division Three.

Captain keen to make up for lost time as tour to West Indies looms in December

Valkerie Baynes16-Nov-2022England Women are set to be bolstered by the return of Heather Knight for next month’s tour of West Indies, after England’s captain declared herself fit again following hip surgery.Knight was sidelined for a large chunk of the home summer after injuring her hip during the first of three T20Is against South Africa in July. She missed the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – where England finished a disappointing fourth – after a flare-up ruined her bid to play some part in the event and left her on crutches in constant pain.It was at that time she decided to have an operation to repair torn tissue and damaged cartilage, and remove a piece of bone in her right hip joint which meant she missed India’s subsequent visit to England, the Hundred and the current WBBL. But Knight has come through a tough rehabilitation process to be ready to fly to the Caribbean for three ODIs, starting on December 4, followed by five T20Is.”It feels like it’s been a long old rehab but I’ve just come good the last couple of weeks and am getting back to pretty much full training now,” Knight told ESPNcricinfo. “Fielding has probably been the one thing that’s been a little bit niggly and a little bit of pain, but I’ve had a really good couple of days so I’m fit to go to the West Indies, which is great.”It’s just the last couple of weeks, certain positions that the hip didn’t really like, but the last few days it’s been good as gold so I’m ready to get back and play.”Related

• Heather Knight hopes hip surgery will 'extend career' as she targets winter return

• Sciver pulls out of India series to 'focus on mental health and wellbeing'

• Captaincy takes Amy Jones right out of her comfort zone

• Ashley Noffke in contention to be named England Women head coach

Not only was the operation a success, Knight explained that it had slightly changed the shape of her hip joint to give her more freedom of movement.”It’s actually a much healthier, better hip joint than it was,” she said. “It hadn’t been an issue that was on the radar, but I played in one of those T20s against South Africa and it flared up really badly and I knew it was something new that was not good.”As the Commonwealths got closer I had a bit of a flare-up. Basically that got worse and worse and I was in pretty much constant pain which obviously wasn’t very pleasant and was quite wearing. I was still hopeful that I was going to play because these things can clear up pretty quickly but, as I got worse and worse and ended up on crutches, I pretty much knew that Commonwealths were a no-go.”Knight is thrilled that she can return to action against West Indies, with the ODIs forming part of the ICC Women’s Championship, in which England are yet to get off the mark following their 3-0 defeat by India in September. The five T20Is to follow will play a key part in England’s preparation for the T20 World Cup in South Africa in February.Despite being “gutted” at spending so much time out of the game, Knight made good on her aim to make the most of it, enjoying seeing family and loved ones, travelling and moving house.”Sometimes when you’re a cricketer you forget the other side of your life and here you are, outside of cricket,” she said. “It was slightly strange watching but I just tried to make the most of it and knuckle down with the rehab and work on a few other things that could hopefully prolong my career a little bit more. “It’s certainly been a tough grind, particularly the last month trying to get back into it and all the rehab you have to do. I don’t think you realise until you’ve gone through a serious injury the sort of hard work you have to do on a day-to-day basis to try and get back.”I’m really grateful for the support I’ve had from the medical team. They’ve been outstanding and got me in a position that, obviously, I had to work very hard to get to, but a position where I could get back playing for England. I feel like I’ve lost a bit of time and I’m ready to get out there and get back playing cricket.”For Knight, the hardest part was not being able to contribute for her team, particularly at a home Commonwealth Games.”I felt like I could have played a really big role and helped us be successful,” she said. “It’s always tough missing out but those were the unfortunate cards that I was dealt.”During Knight’s absence, England gave opportunities to a clutch of emerging players, including teenagers Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp, who thrived alongside fellow youngsters Issy Wong and Lauren Bell, debutantes earlier in the summer.The youth policy is the legacy of Lisa Keightley, England Women’s head coach who left the post at the end of her tenure in September with the naming of her successor imminent. It also has Knight facing the prospect of returning to a side containing a number of players that she has yet to captain.Nat Sciver skippered England through the Commonwealth Games before spending time out of cricket herself for mental-health reasons. Amy Jones led the side through the three ODIs and a 2-1 T20I series victory against India, a role Jones freely admitted took her out of her comfort zone.Sciver is back training with England and “going good”, according to Knight, who acknowledged that Sciver stepping back from the game had been a courageous move, even though players are increasingly doing so to look after their mental wellbeing.”It’s a really good decision and brave decision by her,” Knight said. “I still think it’s a tough decision but people like Nat taking time out and being very open with reasons, it’s only a good thing.”It’s also a bit of an eye-opener to try and not let it get to that stage for a lot of players and making sure that we’re doing everything we can and managing ourselves better to try and not get to that stage. We have a lot of support medically to try and do that as well, but certainly it’s a topic that people are more comfortable talking about, in my experience, and being a bit more willing to be vulnerable when things are tough and you need to take that time.”As franchise cricket increases and the amount of international cricket that we have increases, as players we have to find a way to find little pockets to get fresh and I think we’re all learning that. I think the place Nat got to, where she felt she had to take a break, it’s trying to learn and find ways to manage players and support them as best I can as captain, but also decisions above me in terms of workload management and trying to get players that are at their best for England at the right time.”As draining as a failed Commonwealth Games campaign clearly was on many players who had hoped – and expected – to be among the medals, Knight is backing her side to enter the T20 World Cup without any scars.”The Commonwealths certainly were a disappointment but you’ve got to remember you lost a T20 semi-final by four runs, one that could have easily gone our way, and then you’re in a gold-medal match,” Knight said. “There’s a lot of things we could have done better, but it’s also remembering the good things we’ve done and it’s not the end of the world. We’ve had a lot of success in T20s.”We lost to India by four runs and T20 can sometimes swing like that. But I think we’ll take a lot of learnings from it, particularly the young girls playing in their first global competition. That experience will be great for them, they know what it’s about, they know the different pressures of tournament cricket and how it can affect you and how you can deal with that and hopefully take it forward into the World Cup.”The girls winning that T20 series against India was brilliant, with the side we had. I think we had an average age of maybe 23 or 24, so a really good achievement to beat India 2-1 in that series after the Commonwealths.”

Zimbabwe coach confirms Sean Williams will return for second ODI, but Blessing Muzarabani remains unlikely to feature in the series

Andrew McGlashan30-Aug-2022Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton is seeing encouraging signs that his players are learning how not to “freeze” against the strongest opposition, and hopes that the batters can put together a complete performance during the remainder of the ODI series against Australia.Having been put into bat, the top order – led by a career-best 72 from Wessly Madhevere after the openers had negotiated the first ten overs – built a solid if an unspectacular platform during the opening game on Sunday, as Zimbabwe reached 185 for 4 in the 43rd over before losing their last six wickets for 15.However, Houghton was buoyed by the performance after their recent displays at home had relied on runs from the middle and lower order, led by the prolific Sikandar Raza.Related

• Williams: 'Definitely a big skill gap' between Zimbabwe and Australia

• Houghton interview: 'Real test will be to play fearless cricket against India, Australia'

• 'I like the challenge' – Madhevere hopes for a run at No. 3

“I’ve been quoted about fearless cricket,” Houghton said, Yes, we want to play fearless cricket; we want to see guys expressing themselves. I’ve seen these guys play franchise cricket, and I’ve seen what they can do; and [then] see them play international cricket, especially against these strong sides, and freeze a little bit. Somehow, I’m trying to take away that freezing.”For me, to see our two youngsters go out there against [Mitchell] Starc and [Josh] Hazlewood and get us 40 off the first ten without losing a wicket – that was a big plus for us. Now you can sit down in a team meeting and say, ‘Yes, it was a little different and a little scary going out first against these guys but look what you achieved. What can you do the next game and the game after?’.”It’s building blocks all the time. Tours like this don’t happen very often for us, so when you get the opportunity it’s a real learning for us.”Houghton was open in admitting that the skill gap between Zimbabwe and teams such as India and Australia is “huge”, but is focusing on ensuring the team move back up the rankings and compete with sides around them.He hoped that some of what the players learn in Townsville can be put to use in the T20 World Cup next month when they will return to Australia for the Group B qualifiers in Hobart with the aim of reaching the main draw.”The skill gap is huge between us, India, Australia and England – there’s no hiding from that,” Dave Houghton•AFP/Getty Images

In the more immediate term, Houghton wanted to see an improvement in the team’s fielding for the second ODI on Wednesday, recalling previous landmark victories and how it is an area Zimbabwe can compete in regardless of batting and bowling skill.”The skill gap is huge between us, India, Australia, [and] England – there’s no hiding from that,” he said. “Your batters are better than us, they’re more experienced, your bowlers are taller and faster than us. What we can do is field competitively, which I wasn’t happy about the other day; [I] thought we were lethargic and looked very jetlagged.”For us to compete with these sides and try to get a win against them – which we’ve done over the years with our giant-killing sides – every part of your game has to be right on song from the beginning. If we put a score on the board, [and] then bowl and field incredibly well, we can put enough pressure on sides [so] that if they aren’t quite on their game we can beat them.”Houghton suggested the batters may take a different approach to trying to finish the innings, having had trouble combatting the short deliveries in the first match, where Cameron Green bagged a maiden five-wicket haul.”What we talked about at the end of the game is how we get that last bit of our innings organised a bit better,” he said. “They were all trying to take it on but weren’t quite good enough at it, so is there another way? Can we ramp it a bit? Maybe, if we don’t hook, can we back away and cut?”These are all things for them to solve themselves, but we need to play the backend better which, for us, [is] a new situation. The games we won against Bangladesh – and when we did compete well with India – we got all the runs at the middle and back, and nothing at the front. So hopefully we’ll put both ends together at one stage on this tour.”Houghton confirmed that experienced allrounder Sean Williams would return after an elbow injury ruled him out of the opening match, and would likely replace a fast bowler. However, Blessing Muzarabani is unlikely to feature on this tour as he continues his recovery from a thigh injury with the focus on getting him ready for the T20 World Cup.

Australia’s coach has said he will have a ‘close look’ at various aspects of the side including leadership, and that Finch had ‘put his best foot forward’ with his performances in the T20 tri-series

Liam Brickhill in Harare08-Jul-2018Two formats, eleven games, three wins. Thus ends the first chapter in Australia’s new era after their defeat to Pakistan in the final of the T20 tri-series in Zimbabwe. But while they have lost more than they have won over the last month, they have gained in experience according to new coach Justin Langer, who also hinted that Aaron Finch could assume the role of captain across both limited-overs formats.”After this tour we’ll have a really, really close look at everything we’re doing at the moment including our leadership, which is such an incredibly high priority in Australian cricket,” Langer said. “Finchy has definitely put his best foot forward in this series. So we’ll look at that. We’ll look at all our staff. We’ll look at everything to make sure we keep flying forward, as is the expectation of the Australian cricket team.”After England’s 5-0 ODI hammering in England last month, Langer had conceded that Australia would need to work out whether Tim Paine was the right man to captain them in that format. Finch’s performances in this tri-series will certainly bolster his credentials for the role; he was the leading run-scorer, with 306 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 201.31, including a world-record 172 against Zimbabwe. He is second only to Fakhar Zaman in terms of overall T20I runs in 2018.”He’s been brilliant,” Langer said. “Finchy and I spoke privately yesterday and I told him he’s done a great job at the top of the order. To have someone that dynamic is a great example to all our players. As we saw from Pakistan today, you’ve got to play fearless cricket. D’Arcy [Short] started taking steps towards that today, like we’ve seen from him in Big Bash cricket. That’s how he needs to play his cricket.”Australia also have the leading wicket-taker in T20Is this year in Andrew Tye, but, as Finch pointed out, taking wickets will only get you so far in T20 cricket if you’re not also stopping the flow of runs.”When we’re having a big over, they’re very big,” Finch said. “Ten overs over 10 today, one over 20. Not a great way to structure a bowling performance. You’re always going to be under pressure regardless of how many wickets you take if they’re some of your stats. It’s just about guys getting back to the basics and making sure that they’re executing when there’s no pressure on so that when the time comes in a final like this, they’re confident in their skills and able to deliver.”Australia appeared to have the second half of the match well under their control when Glenn Maxwell struck twice in the first over, but Fakhar and Sarfraz Ahmed, and then Fakhar and Shoaib Malik led Pakistan’s riposte with the bat to wrest back control and hurt Australia’s bowlers “badly”.”You can’t take anything for granted against the number one team in the world,” said Finch. “Or any international team. They’ll hurt you if you’re complacent. I don’t think we were complacent, I think with the ball we just mis-executed and got hurt badly. Guys had really good plans, but just missed slightly, and that’s all it needs to be in T20 cricket against good players.”While Australia won’t be leaving Zimbabwe with the tri-series trophy, they have at least gained considerably in experience – the lack of which has created an imbalance in Australia’s squad, according to Langer.”I think we’ve shown, throughout this series and in England, just our lack of experience,” said Langer. “The only way you get experience is by number one, playing, but also having some really tough experiences. We’ve certainly seen that in England, and also the last two times we’ve played Pakistan. They’re the number one team in the world.”Whilst it looks horrible on the surface to lose, I think looking at the bigger picture, I was very impressed with the way Jhye Richardson and Billy Stanlake stood up today. They’re both really young cricketers, but besides Jhye’s last over, he fielded brilliantly and bowled really well. Billy’s been good throughout the series. So there’s some great experience for those guys. We’ve shown our inexperience over the last six weeks, but we’ll be much better for it.”To have a couple of experienced guys who are playing well, like Glenn Maxwell, Finchy and AJ Tye is awesome,” added Langer. “In a great team you’ve usually got eight of those sort of players with a couple of younger players. We’ve probably got three experienced players with eight very inexperienced players. So the balance isn’t quite right at the moment, but hopefully moving forward we’ll get that balance back as we usually have in an Australian cricket team.”

Zimbabwe could not come back after losing five wickets in the first seven overs in Harare

Mohammad Isam31-Jul-2022Mosaddek Hossain’s stunning opening spell set up Bangladesh’s series-levelling win against Zimbabwe in Harare. The part-time offspinner completed his maiden five-wicket haul in just the seventh over of the innings, and became only the fourth Bangladesh bowler to take a five-for in T20Is, after Elias Sunny, Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib Al HasanWith Zimbabwe in tatters, Sikandar Raza scored a fighting half-century – his second of the series – but a total of 135 proved inadequate. Opener Litton Das spearheaded Bangladesh’s chase with a half-century and the target was achieved with seven wickets in hand and 15 balls to spare.Five wickets in seven overs
Opening the bowling for the first time in T20Is, Mosaddek struck with the first ball of the match – Regis Chakabva edging the wide, innocuous delivery to the wicket-keeper. Wessly Madhevere, who had struck a fifty in the first T20I, slammed one straight to cover-point where Mahedi Hasan took an easy catch off the last ball of the over.In his second over, Mosaddek had captain Craig Ervine caught at slip while attempting a reverse sweep, reducing Zimbabwe to 6 for 3. Sean Williams was next to go, chipping one back at Mosaddek in the fifth over, with the bowler having to jump to complete the return catch.Mosaddek completed his five-for when Milton Shumba dragged one towards deep midwicket, only to see Hasan Mahmud run hard and complete a diving catch. Mosaddek became the first Bangladesh bowler to take the first five wickets to fall in an innings, and 31 was the lowest score for which Zimbabwe had lost their first five wickets in a T20I.Sikandar Raza struck 62 off 53 balls and added 80 for the sixth wicket with Ryan Burl•AFP/Getty Images

Raza leads the recovery
Raza and Ryan Burl stopped the slide with an 80-run stand for the sixth wicket. Raza scored his second half-century of the series, hitting fours through cover and deep third, and also sixes over the leg-side boundary. He struck 62 off 53 balls before falling to Mustafizur in the 19th over.Burl had fallen in the 18th, when Hasan Mahmud bowled him for 32. Towards the end of the innings, Luke Jongwe struck a late six, as Zimbabwe tried to capitalise on the recovery that Raza had led.Litton starts quickly
Litton got Bangladesh’s chase off to a quick start when he struck Tanaka Chivanga for two sixes and a four in the third over. But he lost his opening partner Munim Shahriar cheaply for the second game in a row when Richard Ngarava bowled him through the gate.Litton added 41 for the second wicket with Anamul Haque but got out shortly after reaching his half-century – his 56 off 33 balls included six fours and two sixes. Anamul struck two fours in his 16, but once again got out soon after getting set.The final act
Afif Hossain was unbeaten on 30 off 28 balls and Najmul Hossain Shanto made 19 off 21 balls to take Bangladesh to the target. Their unbroken 55-run stand for the fourth wicket ensured there were no more hiccups for Bangladesh, who had lost their previous two wickets in the space of four balls.The seven-wicket victory brought Bangladesh level at 1-1 in the series, with the decider on Tuesday in Harare.

Half-centuries from Jos Buttler and Sam Curran swept England towards a competitive total before Jack Leach struck late in the day

The Report by George Dobell in Pallekele14-Nov-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIf there was any doubt how much assistance the surface in Pallekele would provide for spinners in this match – and there really wasn’t very much – it was banished within a few minutes of the start of the second Test.The first and final balls of the second over of the innings, bowled by offspinner Dilruwan Perera, fizzed past the outside edge of Rory Burns’ bat. By the close, 10 of the 11 wickets to fall had been taken by spinners with few more dramatic than the last – Kaushal Silva being bowled by a beauty from Jack Leach that drew him forward, gripped and turned past the outside edge to clip the top of off stump. Not many are expecting to be here on Sunday.Certainly Joe Root would have been delighted to win his seventh toss in succession in Test cricket. England’s theory – and they are probably right – is that batting (or at least run-scoring) on this unusually dry surface will become more difficult throughout the game. While it is possible that the pitch will, instead of the pitch crumbling – there is little if any precedent for that here – simply lose pace, scoring runs is unlikely to become any easier.That England were able to set something around a competitive total in such circumstances was largely due to half-centuries from Jos Buttler and Sam Curran. Both men owed their success to the use of calculated aggression, confidence in their own ability and abundant natural talent.There was a time when batsmen would have reacted to the turning ball and pressure that Sri Lanka built with careful defence and hours of concentration. Not any more. Buttler’s first response was to attempt to sweep (either reverse, conventional or lap) almost every delivery he received – at one stage he swept five balls in an over and 51 of his 63 runs came from different variations of the stroke – while Curran thumped six sixes, all of them before he had hit a four, in a remarkable late-innings blitz. The modern game has lost some qualities it used to have – some rigour, some grit, some attrition – but it might never have offered more entertainment.Both Buttler and Curran started their innings in fairly conventional fashion. But Buttler soon abandoned that after just recovering his ground to avoid being stumped before he had scored and instead reasoned that his best method of combating the turn was to sweep. Sometimes he swept through extra-over, sometimes he swept just past the keeper’s left hand and, at one stage, Akila Dananjaya was swept for three fours in succession.While the shot eventually brought his downfall – he top-edged a reverse to backward point – his innings had helped revive England just as they appeared to be falling away. Burns, who batted nicely in making 43, was the only other man in the top seven to reach 20.Curran’s contribution was every bit as impressive. England were 225 for 9 when James Anderson joined Curran but, so well did he strike the ball and farm the strike that the final pair added 60 in 11 overs in a stand – the highest of the innings – that seemed to dishearten an increasingly ramshackle Sri Lanka.Curran thrashed six sixes – he has now brought up all three of his Test fifties with a six, and has hit more sixes than anyone else in Test cricket this year – while Anderson contributed just seven runs in the partnership. Five of those sixes were off the unfortunate Dananjaya- twice he was driven over long-off, once over long-on, once he was pulled and once, impossibly, he was swatted over extra cover when the bowler delivered a wide one in an attempt to thwart him – while Perera was also lofted over mid-off to help England progress from an adequate total to, perhaps, a dangerous one. Anderson was also reprieved on review after he had been given out lbw first ball.Sri Lanka will rue a couple of missed opportunities, though. Curran was reprieved on both 1 – when Niroshan Dickwella whipped off the bails just before Curran overbalanced and fell out of his ground – and again on 7 when he edged the deserving Dananjaya through the left hand of a diving slip fielder.He was dropped on 53, too. On that occasion Malinda Pushpakumara, who came into the side in place of the retiring Rangana Herath, was back on his heels on the long-on fence and subsequently put down a relatively straightforward chance driven straight into his midriff. It summed up the latter stages of an increasingly untidy performance in the field by a somewhat demoralised Sri Lanka side.For all the talk of spin, it remains seam – or at least pace – that appears Keaton Jennings’ weakness. Here he fell jabbing at one he could have left from Suranga Lakmal; the only man to fall to seam bowling all day.Burns was the most comfortable of England’s batsmen. Three times he swept Dilruwan to the boundary; on another occasion he cut him there. He also picked up an early boundary off his legs from the seam of Lakmal. It was some surprise when he was drawn forward and edged to slip by a fine delivery in Dananjaya’s first over.While Burns might be forgiven for wondering how he could play such a delivery, Root might be forgiving for wondering how he missed the one that bowled him. Lunging forward to the left-arm spin of Pushpakumara, Root left a gate so large you could reverse park a caravan in it and simply missed a straight one. It was the third time in the series he has been dismissed by left-arm spinners. Shades of Kevin Pietersen, perhaps?Ben Stokes started his first innings at No. 3 in typically positive style. He was down the pitch to his first delivery, bowled by Lakmal, and flicked his third through square leg for four. But while there was another flowing drive to the boundary off the seamer, life against spin proved harder. He survived a reviewed appeal for lbw on 10, on the basis of umpire’s call, but fell in almost identical fashion shortly afterwards, back when he should have been forward and struck on the back pad by one that turned and beat his outside edge.For the second match in succession, Adil Rashid contributed valuable runs, too. England were 171-7 when he came to the crease but, so well did he strike the ball that England added 45 – the second-highest partnership of the innings – for the eighth-wicket.England may yet regret a couple of somewhat soft dismissals, though. Moeen Ali simply missed a short ball he had tried to turn into the leg side, while had Ben Foakes called for a review, he would surely have won a reprieve after being adjudged to have edged to slip. Replays suggested the ball brushed both his front and back leg but at no stage touched his bat. In a low-scoring game, such moments could yet prove crucial.