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Josh Cobb and Adam Rossington eased Northamptonshire back to the top of the NatWest T20 Blast North Group with a six-wicket waltz over Leicestershire at Wantage Road

ECB Reporters Network26-Jun-2016
ScorecardJosh Cobb’s half-century sank his former team-mates•PA Photos

Josh Cobb and Adam Rossington eased Northamptonshire back to the top of the NatWest T20 Blast North Group with a six-wicket waltz over Leicestershire at Wantage Road.Chasing just 150 after Mark Pettini’s 56 for the visitors, Cobb and Rossington knocked off the bulk of the chase with a partnership of 89 for the second wicket in 9.4 overs. Northants cruised home with three overs to spare and now, with 11 points on the board, just two more wins from their final seven matches should be enough for a quarter-final place – a home tie is very much in their sights.Rossington arrived in superb touch after a career-best 138 not out in the County Championship during the week and here made his third T20 fifty and second for Northants in 29 balls with nine fours. His timing was exceptional with some clean striking down the ground and also showed a clever touch with two late cut fours – the second of which during a over from Jigar Naik that went for 12 to leave only 57 needed from the final 10 overs.Cobb has relished the number three role and was again in excellent touch. He began by cutting Rob Taylor for his first boundary and he lifted another over midwicket. Kevin O’Brien was introduced and his first ball was heaved over mid-on. His third half-century in four inning was raised in 40 balls with four fours and a six. He chipped Cameron Delport to extra-cover for 57 when two were needed to win.Northants didn’t need a contribution from Richard Levi, in his first game back after a shoulder injury. He took 12 from the opening over – two leg side flicks and a straight drive – but edged Clint McKay to third man. His failure mattered not. There was time for Ben Duckett to lift Mark Cosgrove down the ground and wide of midwicket for boundaries as he and Cobb took their side home.Leicestershire’s total was well below par. Their 149 for 5 was built around a partnership of 74 in 8.1 overs for the third wicket between Pettini and O’Brien. They recovered the innings after the early loss of Mark Cosgrove for 2 and Cameron Delport for 6 – both bowled by Richard Gleeson, whose opening two overs conceded only seven runs.But Pettini clipped the first ball of Azharullah’s spell for six over midwicket – an over that yielded 17 runs and injected momentum into the innings. Petting swung Azharullah to long leg and deftly cut Steven Crook for four en route to a half-century in 31 balls with six fours and a six.Cobb ended the stand with the second ball of his spell – O’Brien chipping him into the hands of Graeme White at long-on – and three overs later Pettini also fell, trying to paddle sweep White and being plumb lbw for 56. It left Leicestershire 111 for 4 with five overs remaining.Paul Horton, playing his first T20 of the season, was left to try and provide the late-innings power and he twice classically drove through extra-cover for four. But facing the first ball of the final over, was struck in the ribs by a Gleeson beamer and retired hurt for 29. Only six runs came from the final over.

The Australia keeper-batter says domestic players struggle to combine cricket and a second career

ESPNcricinfo staff14-May-2020Alyssa Healy is concerned at the prospect of a reduction in Women’s Big Bash and National Cricket League matches, saying it could widen the divide between international and domestic players.Amid Cricket Australia’s financial battles due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all domestic cricket is set to come under pressure and it has been reported that cuts could be made to both female competitions as well as the Sheffield Shield.This comes on the back of an historic season for the women’s game in Australia which included the first standalone WBBL and finished with the T20 World Cup final in front of 86,000 people at the MCG – just days before global sport was shut down by the pandemic.ALSO READ: Megan Schutt braced for women’s game to feel impact of Covid-19In a column for the , Healy wrote the chance to build on that success cannot be wasted. She warned that for domestic cricketers the increasing demands of professionalism are not yet matched by earnings but such are the expectations to train almost year-round that many struggle to earn a second income.”Now is the time to seize the moment and improve the WBBL and Women’s National Cricket League even further,” Healy, who is also on the board of the Australia Cricketers’ Association, wrote. “Recent reports that consideration is being given to reducing the number of WBBL games is concerning. Such a move would be contrary to cricket’s aim to be a sport for everyone.”Not only would it defy the growth of the women’s game, but would amplify the divide between international female cricket and the domestic version.”Domestic female players are experiencing increased pressure to train ‘over and above’ their contractual obligations; many training for nine months of the year for a handful of WNCL and WBBL games.”With such expectation and increased demands from state associations and WBBL clubs, there is limited opportunity for many of our female domestic cricketers to build a second career outside of cricket. An increase in demand has not been matched with appropriate remuneration. As a result, many players are finding it very difficult to have a balanced life, which is resulting in an increased level of wellbeing concerns with the stress of finding a second income to cover daily living expenses.”Any reduction in domestic cricket would have to be approved by the ACA and they are set to be firmly opposed.”Reducing WBBL games has… been strongly represented to us recently; that’s not something they want to do,” Alistair Nicholson, the ACA chief executive, told SEN radio. “Domestic cricket is the strength of the game.”

“Kane is a freak, isn’t he? He’s amazing and will go down easily as New Zealand’s greatest.”

Umar Farooq05-Jan-2021Daryl Mitchell has described getting his maiden Test century as “surreal”, after he stroked 102 at his adopted hometown in Christchurch. New Zealand were 599 for 6 at tea and had a lead of 302, but the captain Kane Williamson allowed the team to keep batting, something Mitchell was grateful for.Mitchell, who was unbeaten on 69 at the time, made the most of the extra time, as he and Kyle Jamieson smacked 60 in 4.5 overs to increase New Zealand’s total to 659.Related

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“It probably hasn’t sunk in yet, to be fair, it’s pretty surreal at the moment,” Mitchell said. “I was given two overs to start after tea, so I thought after two overs we were off but obviously very grateful for Kane and the coaching staff to allow me to get that milestone. I was swinging pretty hard there at points to try and get there and very grateful for that to happen. I was just happy to go out there and try and be busy and contribute to trying to put a total on for us to try and get 10 wickets.”With two days still left in the Test, New Zealand hold all the cards, having already dismissed Pakistan’s opener Shan Masood for a duck in the second innings, ensuring they lead by 354 runs. Mitchell credited Williamson’s sublime double-century for putting the hosts in such a commanding position.

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“Obviously Kane’s 238 .. that’s pretty amazing and he has set us up for a chance to win this Test match,” Mitchell said. “He is a freak, isn’t he? He’s amazing. He makes the game look so easy at the moment and the way he’s going about things, it’s cool to see him doing so well. For me I’ve played against Kane when I was about 14 years old and now to be playing test cricket with him as well. He’s a very special player and probably will easily go down as New Zealand’s greatest.”Pakistan were dismissed for 297 on the opening day, and they did not help themselves with their poor fielding either, as New Zealand capitalised on several dropped catches. Williamson and Henry Nicholls went on to stitch a partnership of 369 runs for the fourth wicket, the best ever at the Hagley Oval. Among the bowlers, Naseem Shah (0-141) and debutant Zafar Gohar (0-159), had particularly forgettable outings, bowling a combined 58 overs without a single wicket.”As a fast bowler there isn’t any excuse,” Shah said on a day when he also bowled nine no-balls. “The wicket was good as it had bounce and I was getting the seam out of it but then there were mistakes which I shouldn’t have done. I was pushing hard to bowl fast hence over stepping. As a fast bowler with no balls, it really shatters your confidence and I am trying to get back on track. During games you can’t really help it out but can learn from your mistake. Test cricket isn’t easy, you have to bowl in one area consistently for a lot more time and you can’t afford to change the line. These are world class players and you can’t give them enough room.”A lot of damage has been done with no balls and those dropped catches. It makes you disappointed, but then you can’t do much about it because it’s part of the game. You can’t stop bowling if anyone dropped your catch but you come in hard and create more chances. It happens in cricket and that is what the learning curve is for us. We have to regroup and come hard with the ball next time.”

Brendon McCullum will miss New Zealand’s pink-ball preparations ahead of the first ever day-night Test due to his role as a witness in the Chris Cairns perjury case

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2015Brendon McCullum will miss New Zealand’s pink-ball preparations ahead of the Test series in Australia, which is scheduled to include the first ever day-night Test, due to his role as a witness in the Chris Cairns perjury case. The New Zealand captain will be in London to testify in the case, for which proceedings begin on Monday, while the rest of the team has a two-day training camp under lights with the pink Kookaburra ball in Hamilton.Opening batsmen Tom Latham, speaking to , said the team will not lack direction in McCullum’s absence. “We’ve got plenty of leaders in the group, there’s plenty of senior players so we’ll go about our business as if we would if he was there,” Latham said. “Kane [Williamson] has captained us a little bit in the past, and there are plenty of other senior players.New Zealand play three Tests in Australia, starting on November 5, the final of which be a day-night match in Adelaide from November 27.The case against Cairns has been brought by the Crown Prosecution Service in the UK, stemming from what it believes to be criminal acts committed by Cairns during the 2012 libel case against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi. Cairns has been charged with perjury – effectively lying in court. Apart from McCullum, other high-profile witnesses called up to give evidence include former New Zealand players Stephen Fleming, Shane Bond and Andre Adams, and New Zealand Cricket CEO David White.

The allrounder, who has a history of back problems, has been diagnosed with the early stages of a stress fracture

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2019Cameron Green, the Western Australia allrounder who has been tipped to soon feature for Australia, will be unable to bowl for the foreseeable future after suffering a stress fracture of his back.Green, 20, has been lauded by Ricky Ponting and compared to Andrew Flintoff after starring for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield with two centuries this season but has been unable to bowl in the last two matches and that will now extend at least throughout the Big Bash.ALSO READ: Cameron Green dampens hype around Australia prospects”Follow up scans this week on Cameron’s lower back have revealed the early stages of a lumbar stress fracture,” Western Australia sports science medicine manager, Nick Jones, said. “This will require an extended period of rest from bowling to ensure the fracture heals adequately.”No timeframe has been set for Cameron to return to bowling, however we are not expecting him to be bowling during the BBL. He will continue to be available for selection as a batter.”Speaking earlier this week, Green had been confident that his current back soreness had not been serious and viewed himself as a genuine allrounder in the future.”Coming through as a junior I’ve always seen myself as a genuine allrounder,” he said. “At times for WA, I was definitely a bowling allrounder, batting nine or ten and not scoring too many runs. So I’m pretty happy I’m getting a couple of runs out the way but in the future, I’d like to be a genuine allrounder.”Trevor Hohns, the Australia selection chairman, said that picking someone at a young age would not be an issue but Green’s back problem would be monitored.”I don’t have an issue with his age, it’s more about whether his body can cope and what he can do bowling, particularly in the allrounder category,” Hohns said. “We know he’s a very good bat, he is a fine up-and-coming young player.”

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

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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.”

Plus Chris Green’s jet-setting T20 career continues, and how Bermuda’s call could prove costly for Sussex

Matt Roller12-Aug-2019The Blast has enjoyed a considerable uplift from England’s World Cup-winning campaign with the competition poised to reach 1 million spectators for the first time (David Hopps writes).Hopes that the 1 million mark could be breached have been dashed before, but with nearly 900,000 sales achieved heading into last weekend’s games, it appears that only a continuation of recent bad weather could stop the target being reached.With the ECB’s emphasis increasingly turning to the launch of The Hundred in 2020, there were fears that the Blast could suffer as a result – and until England won the World Cup for the first time in mid-July the tournament had been matching, but not exceeding, comparable sales in 2018. All that has changed, leaving total ground sales now 14% ahead of the same time last year.London remains the main engine of Blast ticket sales with Surrey and Middlesex responsible for more than 20% of purchases. But the attraction of the Blast is growing in Hove, where Sussex, who went into the weekend games top of South Group, are packing them in with comparable success to two other non-Test grounds, Somerset and Essex.Lancashire, who head the table in the North, are also enjoying their most successful Blast season ever as they have become the best-attended county outside London.***Tom Abell is down on one knee to drive•Getty Images

In the excitement at Taunton on Saturday over Tom Banton’s maiden T20 hundred – another eye-catching innings that will surely propel him into England’s T20 side sooner rather than later – another crucial component in Somerset’s attempts to win the Blast, and with it keep their hopes of a treble alive, gained less attention.Tom Abell’s 63 from 33 balls, including a series of street-smart deflections past the wicketkeeper was another plucky innings from Somerset’s captain, but it was a surprise to discover that the innings put him into the top three in this season’s Blast strike rates.Abell awoke on Sunday morning to the news that he is scoring at 172.2 runs per hundred balls with only AB de Villiers (191.7) and Cameron Delport (180.6) above him (with a minimum of 200 runs scored). A little bloke who packs quite a punch, clearly.***Colin Ackermann could be forgiven a slightly bemused expression as he claimed the most successful global analysis in Twenty20 history.Ackermann, appointed Leicestershire’s Blast captain this season, exploited rare turn in the pitch at Grace Road to return 7 for 18 from his four overs of offspin, figures made all the more astounding for the fact he is primarily a batsman.Searching for an explanation for his success, he offered the thought that he had worked hard on his bowling over the English winter, which he spent playing for Warriors in his native South Africa, and had taken full advantage of the advice of former Test offspinner Simon Harmer, a team-mate at Warriors.That improvement was signalled when he picked up a maiden five-wicket return in first-class cricket in Leicestershire’s first Championship match of this season, a win against Sussex at Hove.But it’s fair to say that Warriors did not recognise they might be on to a good thing. Search his record in all competitions between October and March for the Warriors between October 2018 and March 2019 and there is not a wicket in sight.***Chris Green was handed the captaincy of Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

Birmingham Bears swooped quickly to sign Chris Green to replace the injured Ashton Agar, with Paul Farbrace telling Sky he had been working night and day to find a last-minute replacement (Matt Roller writes).Green is a traditionalist’s worst nightmare of a cricketer. At 25, he is yet to make his first-class debut, though counts Lahore Qalandars, Guyana Amazon Warriors, and Toronto Nationals among his clubs.And he took the freelance lifestyle to the next level last week. After losing the Global T20 eliminator to Winnipeg Hawks on Thursday afternoon in controversial circumstances – the game was called off early due to bad light, and Green’s side lost on DLS – he got a lift to the airport to get on the 11.19pm flight from Toronto to Heathrow.That meant he arrived at 11.05am in the UK, and drove up to Birmingham just in time to meet his new team-mates and have a quick warm-up before Friday night’s game against Nottinghamshire, which started around 18 hours after his previous game – on a different continent, remember – had finished.After seven games for Birmingham, Green will fly straight to the Caribbean Premier League to make his Guyana return. In a blow for fans of nominative determinism, his carbon footprint is racking up.***On the subject of Birmingham, it was unthinkable last year that Ed Pollock – then a world-record holder for his pinch-hitting exploits – would be kept out of the team due to anything other than injury, but he found himself dropped four games into the Blast after a slow start to the competition.While his side was capitulating against Ackermann, Pollock was sat at home after hitting a 39-ball 100 for Warwickshire’s 2nd XI against Durham, and would have been forgiven for wondering why he had been omitted.His situation demonstrates the difficulties of the role he was given – to score at a 200 strike rate from the word go. It is one that comes with a high floor and a low ceiling, and one which requires a team which will stick with you during the rough times. But as long as cricketing orthodoxy – which comes down hard on those who get out playing attacking shots – prevails ahead of new-age T20 thinking, the Pollocks of the world will be up against it.***Delray Rawlins gets low to sweep•Getty Images

Sussex are expected to be without Delray Rawlins for four of their remaining games after the explosive middle-order batsman was picked in Bermuda’s squad for the ICC Americas T20 World Cup Qualifier.While the club is yet to comment publicly, the Bermudian reported that after much wrangling and negotiation, the national team have secured Rawlins’ service for the tournament.Rawlins’ opportunities with the bat have been limited this season – largely due to Sussex’s imposing top order facing so many balls between them – but he is striking at 160.97, and hit a vital 35 not out off 17 balls to see off Gloucestershire at Bristol: he may yet be a big miss.***Any disappointment Kent officials may have felt after their mauling by Somerset on Saturday evening will fade rapidly should their county qualify for Finals Day on September 21 (Paul Edwards writes).The likelihood of that happening has been increased by the return to fitness of skipper Sam Billings, who dislocated his shoulder 80 minutes into his first appearance for his team in April but played a full part in Saturday’s game, albeit he will not be keeping wicket this season.Many of Kent’s performances have already mocked the predictions made about the county in March but the addition of Billings’ clean hitting to a batting line-up which already includes Mohammad Nabi and Alex Blake increases Kent’s chances of making the last eight and even securing a home semi-final.”Sam has come back quicker than we thought he would and he’s worked very hard to get himself in the frame,” the Kent coach, Matt Walker, said. “We’re bringing back a very fine international T20 cricketer but also one of the best one-day captains in the country. It is almost like signing an overseas player.”We’ve coped very well to win six games without him but his return gives a real lift to the dressing room.”

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.

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 pair added 109 off 45 balls for the fourth wicket as Sylhet completed a chase of 190 with two overs to spare

The Report by Peter Della Penna30-Jan-2019How the game played outBuoyed by the return of Ryan ten Doeschate from injury, Rajshahi Kings hauled down a target of 190 in impressive fashion to knock out Sylhet Sixers from playoff contention. Ten Doeschate and Laurie Evans combined for a 109-run fourth-wicket stand to steer a brisk chase, completed with two overs to spare.Sixers were given several opportunities to remain in the match, beginning when Johnson Charles missed a straightforward stumping on Afif Hossain’s first ball off Mehidy Hasan in the second over. Hossain went on to make 29, while Sabbir Rahman made the most of being given not out on 0 after feathering an edge behind – Kings had already burned their review in the field – before going on to make 45.Yet, in spite of all the bonus runs, not to mention Nicholas Pooran’s imperious 76 not out off 31 balls, Sixers bowling unit produced a limp effort. Evans continued his superb form with a solid 76 off 36 balls in the Kings chase. Both he and ten Doeschate fell in the 17th over to Sohail Tanvir, but by that stage the required run rate was well under a run-a-ball. The match was sealed when Tanvir bowled consecutive wides to start what should have been the 19th over, though no legal delivery was registered; a microcosm of Sixers’ day in the field.Turning points

• Pooran hit 21 off Arafat Sunny’s final over in the 14th over to begin a surge of 83 runs off the last seven for Sixers en route to a 21-ball fifty
• Kings were having a sedate Powerplay before Charles ended the sixth over with a trio of fours off Tanvir, taking the score to 51 for 1 at the end of six overs
• Evans began his acceleration in the 14th off Ebadot Hossain with three fours to bring the required run rate back under 10 for the first time since the end of the Powerplay
• Kings needed 41 off 30 balls at the last strategic timeout. Evans began the 16th with a four over extra cover to bring up a 28-ball 50, then continued the over with three fours through the off side, a two, and a six over midwicket, to bring equation under a run-a-ball

Star of the dayEvans, who seemed more relaxed with ten Doeschate back by his side in the chase, one match after the Dutch national sat out with a side strain. After a stretch of three runs in four innings to start off, Evans has now compiled 391 in his last six knocks at an average of 65.20 at BPL 2019, and is currently fourth on runs aggregate behind Pooran, Mushfiqur Rahim and Rilee Rossouw.The big missAny number of them from Charles. The missed stumping was bad but he also seemed uninterested in appealing for caught-behind on the ball that Jason Roy edged. His non-appeal on the Sabbir decision also went against the Kings in the field.Where the teams standKings kept their slim playoff hopes alive by moving to 12 points to break a tie with Dhaka Dynamites for sole possession of fourth place, though Dynamites still have two games remaining while Kings have completed their league phase of matches. Sixers remain on eight points and are eliminated from playoff contention with one match remaining.