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Champions bowled out for their lowest T20 total of 74 as Ben Green, Matt Henry, Lewis Gregory chime in

ECB Reporters Network24-May-2023Revenge was sweet for Somerset as seamers Craig Overton and Matt Henry led them to a crushing eight-wicket Vitality Blast victory over reigning champions Hampshire Hawks at sun-drenched Taunton.Beaten in last season’s semi-finals by the same opponents, the hosts dominated from the start after winning the toss, Overton claiming 3 for 8 from four overs and Henry 2 for 19 from three to leave the Hawks 27 for 5.The Blast title holders never recovered and were bowled out for 74, their lowest ever T20 total, in 16.1 overs, Ben Green taking 3 for 11 and Lewis Gregory 2 for 13, while Overton added four catches to his heroics with the ball.It was a ruthless display by the Somerset seamers, backed by some razor-sharp fielding. In reply, the hosts breezed to 74 for 2 off just 9.3 overs, Tom Banton smiting 40 off 24 balls.Overton and Henry appeared to be trying to outshine each other when the Hawks innings began in front of a packed crowd, both maintaining excellent line and length.Sam McDermott fell to the last ball of Overton’s opening over, caught two-handed to his left by Tom Kohler-Cadmore at slip.It was 9 for 2 when Henry struck with his first delivery, bowling James Vince between bat and pad with a ball that nipped back. The New Zealand Test bowler then had Joe Weatherly caught at mid-on by Overton off a skyer to make it 12 for 3 in the fourth over.By the end of the six-over powerplay, the Hawks were in disarray at 26 for 3. Their plight worsened when Overton had Tom Priest caught behind attempting to pull a short ball.Overton notched his third victim in the same over as Toby Albert was also snaffled by wicketkeeper Banton, going hard at a wide delivery.
Albert had scooped a six off Henry, but it was a rare moment of defiance from the Hawks as Overton produced 17 dot balls in bowling his allotted four overs straight through from the River End.Rightly impressed by his opening attack, Somerset skipper Tom Abell did not make a change until the eighth over, which saw Peter Siddle replace Henry.Ross Whiteley hit fours off successive balls from Gregory and Liam Dawson pulled a a six off Green as Hampshire briefly threatened a recovery.But, having helped take the score to 57, Dawson fell to another Overton catch, this time at fine leg off a scoop, and Scott Currie went in the same Gregory over, the 12th of the innings, bowled off a bottom edged pull shot.Whiteley had reached his side’s top score of 18 when caught by Kohler-Cadmore, diving forward at long-off, having made decent contact with a Green full toss.At 61 for 8, the Hawks were down and out. Chris Wood was pouched by the diving Overton at mid-off off Green, who completed the rout by having Nathan Ellis, who had taken 13 off Henry’s final over, caught at long-on by the same fielder.Somerset’s big-hitting batting line-up were never likely to be troubled chasing such a paltry total and Banton soon signalled his intentions to end the match early by clearing the ropes with a ramp shot off Wood in the third over.A scoop off Ellis brought the England T20 international another boundary, followed next ball by a clip through the leg side for four. Will Smeed was caught at short third man for 5 in the same over, but by the end of their power play, Somerset were comfortable at 37 for 1.Banton launched another six over mid-wicket off Dawson before being stumped in the same over chasing a wide one. Kohler-Cadmore (18 not out) got off the mark by smashing the spinner over wide long-on for a maximum and by then the outcome had long been beyond doubt.

The seventh-wicket pair put on 166, the third successive century partnership of the innings

Himanshu Agrawal13-Mar-2022Jharkhand posted a mammoth 769 – their highest score since they began playing first-class cricket from the 2004-05 season onward – on the back of wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra’s commanding knock of 266 and No. 8 Shahbaz Nadeem’s unbeaten 123, his highest score in first-class cricket. These followed Virat Singh’s innings of 107 from Saturday, as Nagaland stared at a mountain to climb after spending 177 overs on the field across two days.It was a day where multiple records tumbled: Jharkhand achieved their highest first-class score by far, eclipsing the 556 they had made against Hyderabad in 2015; Eden Gardens witnessed its second-highest first-class total; and Kushagra bagged the second-highest score by a Jharkhand batter in first-class cricket.Kushagra and Nadeem added 166 for the seventh wicket, capitalising on some ineffective bowling as well as poor fielding from Nagaland, who dropped Kushagra on 132 on the second morning after also giving him lives on 10 and 44 on the first day. Eventually, Kushagra took only 269 balls to hit 266, 160 of which came in boundaries.He reached his double century off 213 deliveries in the morning session, and displayed a range of strokes throughout the day: a drive to bisect cover and mid-off, a pull between fine leg and deep square leg, a punch off the back foot and a loft over the bowler’s head, among others.At the other end, Nadeem displayed the patience and application of a frontline batter, grinding his way to a second first-class century. He got to his fifty off 100 balls, and reached the three-figure landmark off 196 deliveries. He hit 14 fours, and one effortless six, a casual walk down the pitch to legspinner Khrievitso Kense followed by a gentle loft over long-on.Nagaland’s frustrations on the day were summed up when a straight drive from Nadeem off medium-pacer Raja Swarnkar in the 161st over hit the stumps at the bowler’s end and ricocheted to the rope for four.Earlier, overnight batter Anukul Roy had got to a half-century before falling for 59 to end a 128-run partnership with Kushagra. Jharkhand were 489 for 6 at that point; if Nagaland thought they would soon be done chasing leather, Kushagra and Nadeem rid them of that notion by putting on the third successive century stand of the innings.

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.”

The Hurricanes’ batting order came under scrutiny during a very slow phase which ultimately left them short of runs

Andrew McGlashan11-Jan-2020A powerful half-century from Alex Hales set the Sydney Thunder on their way to a victory which took them third in the table, but they needed the calm head of Alex Ross to carry them through a late wobble against the Hobart Hurricanes.Hales and Usman Khawaja added 96 for the first wicket but a series of poor shots kept the Hurricanes in the game until Ross, who was an off-season signing from the Adelaide Strikers, got the job done with four balls to spare.The Hurricanes’ batting tactics had again been curious as they left Ben McDermott and David Miller until late in the innings. McDermott and George Bailey, who gave the innings some life, added 64 in six overs while some handy late blows from Clive Rose pushed them over 160.Middle-order muddleIn the last couple of matches the Hurricanes have used Simon Milenko at No. 3 and it’s been a questionable tactic, particularly with how he played in this innings. He is known as a strong hitter, but plodded his way to 17 off 21 balls which did nothing except dig a hole for the innings after Caleb Jewell had provided some early impetus in the Hurricanes’ equal best powerplay of the season: 1 for 51. There was a 43-ball period from the end of the fifth over to early in the 13th – which included the whole stand between Milenko and Bailey – where the Hurricanes did not manage a boundary. When Chris Morris hit Milenko’s leg stump it was a good thing for the Hurricanes and one of those wickets where the opposition may ponder how wise it was to take it. McDermott, who is an Australia T20 player, did not come to the crease until the 12th over and then took time to get himself in. He struck impressively towards the end of the innings, but it is something the Hurricanes will have to look at.Bailey’s reminderIt was Australia’s new selector who broke the shackles when he struck back-to-back sixes off Arjun Nair in the 13th over. He then took consecutive boundaries off Chris Tremain and deposited Morris over long-on with a brilliant shot played off his back knee. It was his most substantial innings of his final season – Bailey, who ended his Sheffield Shield career in December, will retire when the Hurricanes’ campaign is over to take up his role alongside Trevor Hohns and Justin Langer. The innings carried him over 4000 T20 runs and was a reminder of what he has been capable of. The TV replays suggested he didn’t hit the one he was given out to, instead striking the ground.Perfect platformThe Thunder’s chase was quickly out of the blocks against some poor powerplay bowling. Qais Ahmad was given an early over – the fourth – with Hales taking the majority of the 18 runs from it as he hit strongly down the ground. By the end of the six overs the Thunder were cruising on 0 for 66. Hales went to a 28-ball fifty and the back of the chase had been broken. He was given a life on 51 when McDermott couldn’t get a glove on a stumping chance, but it didn’t cost too many as Hales picked out long-off to give the Hurricanes their first opening, although when he fell the Thunder needed 67 off 58 balls and it should have been much simpler than it became.A wobble, but a winKhawaja picked out deep square, where Nathan Ellis lost the ball before clinging on, and when the in-form Callum Ferguson was lbw the pressure started to mount. Morris appeared to have struck the telling blows when he swung Ellis for a four and a six in the 17th over but lazily popped a catch down to long-on in the next over to expose the lower order. However, Ross was in control and did what Morris couldn’t by depositing Rose into the stands to bring the requirement down to 10. Daniel Sams played an awful swipe to leave four needed off the final over and when Nair was able to give Ross the strike back he hammered Ellis through point.

Left-hander will start the season coaching Yorkshire’s batters after quitting red-ball cricket

Vithushan Ehantharajah03-Apr-2024It speaks of the crossroads at which Dawid Malan finds himself that he will start the 2024 season moonlighting as a batting coach for Yorkshire.Even with the T20 World Cup two months away, Malan, the ICC’s No.11-ranked T20I batter – Phil Salt (second) and Jos Buttler (ninth) are the only Englishmen sitting higher – seems unlikely to make the squad for the 2022 title defence. Despite being halfway through his year-long ECB central contract, he is already looking at what comes after.Malan will turn 37 in September and announced during the 50-over World Cup in November that he would be parking first-class cricket to prolong his white-ball career, which includes the T20 Blast this summer. Though he was left out of the white-ball tour of the Caribbean at the end of last year, stints at the SA20 and PSL kept him busy in a winter that began with the 50-over World Cup in India.He returned from Pakistan two weeks ago and, at present, has no plans to hit balls again until the start of May. In the meantime, Yorkshire batters now have an extra sounding board at Headingley, with over 100 caps and centuries in all three international formats. For Malan, it will show him whether coaching is an avenue he would like to pursue once he decides to call it a day.”It’s quite exciting,” said Malan. “I’m going to do a bit of coaching in my off time and help the boys out two or three days a week. I’ll work with the firsts and seconds, whoever is around. I’ll see if I can share some of my knowledge, if anyone wants it, and if it’s something I enjoy for after cricket.”I still feel I’ve got two or three years of playing if things go well and I can still perform, but I want to give back as much as I can now. It’s exciting to be back and give myself a different kind of challenge for this time of year than I usually have.”It’s an unofficial capacity. Whoever is at home, be it first team or second team, I’ll throw some balls and speak to whoever wants to speak to me about batting without treading on any of the coaches’ toes.”Related

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Malan pitched the role to head coach Ottis Gibson last week, who was surprised. Gibson was in for a further shock on Wednesday when Malan also revealed he could U-turn on his first-class retirement this summer if “that itch” comes back, or his summer is limited to just the Blast and the Hundred, in which he was picked up by defending champions Oval Invincibles in last month’s draft after his release by Trent Rockets.”At first I was a little bit surprised because I was thinking: ‘Is he thinking retirement already?'” Gibson said on the initial conversation, before adding: “And then you tell me that he wants to play red-ball cricket, so I’m like, ‘Wow, where is he going with this?'”Nevertheless, Gibson would welcome Malan back into the Championship fold. He has only played 17 first-class matches for Yorkshire since moving north from Middlesex in 2020, but boasts an impressive average of 55.93 from 1,622 runs, with five centuries. Anything resembling that output will go far in helping a young squad surer of their footing – and no longer weighed down by a 48-point deduction – in their push to return to Division One. Ultimately, the caveat to all the above is Malan’s schedule.At this juncture, international commitments look unlikely. Despite top-scoring for England at the 50-over World Cup with 404 runs at 44.88, Malan was left out of Matthew Mott and Jos Buttler’s squads for the Caribbean. Other high-profile batters missed out to preserve them for the Test tour of India at the start of 2024. Malan’s absence, however, felt like moving on outright.Malan was in and out of the Multan Sultans’ XI in the PSL•PSL

Ben Stokes’ decision to pull out of contention for the World Cup could yet open the door for a recall, with Malan fulfilling a similar role as a left-handed anchor. But Rob Key pointed to his recent output in T20Is when explaining his omission from the squads that faced West Indies and his form was middling over the winter.”I’d like to be,” Malan said, when asked if he was in consideration to defend the T20 title he contributed to two years ago. “I wouldn’t say performance would have anything to do with it. In 2023, I had a pretty good year in 50-over cricket and I wouldn’t say I’m old, considering Jimmy [Anderson] is 42 or something like that! I can’t see it being an age thing, and there’s a tournament in a few months’ time.”Obviously I know they might want to go in a different direction. That’s absolutely fine. They’re entitled to do whatever they need to do that they think is the best way to move English cricket in the right direction. I still feel I’m good enough and young enough to do it. That’s out of my control, selection-wise.”Malan was coy about why his time might be up as an international cricketer. He had a conversation with the management following the conclusion of England’s dire ODI campaign in India, but was unwilling to divulge what exactly was said. A meeting with Key in the next fortnight will give him clarity on where his future lies.”I have no idea what they are thinking at the moment,” he said. “We have got appraisals in 12 or 14 days so I’ll probably find out a bit more then. I will just take it as it comes. I am not looking too far ahead or wanting something that might not be there.”If it is, it is; if it isn’t, it isn’t. I have made peace with that. I have a different path that I am looking at at the moment in terms of the last two or three years in my career and if things pop up, they pop up. And if they don’t, they don’t. It’ll be interesting to see where things are and, yeah, it’ll be good to have a good chat with Keysy.”

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.”

Theekshana starred with a three-for after Dhananjaya’s 93 dragged them past 200

Madushka Balasuriya30-Jun-2023Sri Lanka survived an almighty scare as they scraped past Netherlands by 21 runs to kickstart their Super Six campaign on a nervy but winning note. It was a victory built on the back of a career-best 93 from Dhananjaya de Silva and a backs-against-the-wall bowling effort led by the excellent Maheesh Theekshana, who picked 3 for 31.But every inch of this win was contested by a persistent Netherlands outfit, who first restricted Sri Lanka to a subpar 213 and then nearly pulled off a nail-biting chase. Better sides than them have fallen foul of the twin threats of Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga, who picked up five wickets between them on the day. Two run-outs, when the required rate throughout was essentially less than four an over, only adds credence to this notion. Netherlands captain Scott Edwards was left stranded on an unbeaten 68-ball 67, as he ran out of partners on a sticky surface that was taking turn and displaying some uneven bounce.The result means Sri Lanka join Zimbabwe on six points at the top of the table, with the winner of their clash on Sunday guaranteed qualification to the World Cup. As for the Netherlands, they can still get up to a maximum of six points but will now need one of Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe to lose both their remaining games.Theekshana also made an impact with the bat, sticking it out in the middle with Dhananjaya during a vital 77-run eighth wicket stand. With the game won by 21, the importance of Theekshana’s gritty 28 cannot be overstated, especially seeing that it came after Sri Lanka had been reduced to 131 for 7.Netherlands did all the running for much of the game. Starting with the very first delivery of the game, when Pathum Nissanka slashed wildly at one outside off stump to be caught at cover.That would be one of three wickets for the excellent Logan van Beek, who would also send Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka packing – all before the end of the first powerplay.Nissanka’s wouldn’t be the only questionable stroke by a Sri Lankan batter, as several were dismissed trying to hit out. This though was down to Netherlands persisting with nagging lines and lengths, allied with Sri Lanka’s inability to find singles and rotate strike consistently. The build up of pressure had batters falling while attempting to break the shackles. And, if not, the odd one that kept low would do the trick.Logan van Beek proved too hot for the Sri Lanka top-order batters to handle•ICC via Getty Images

This was essentially the tale of Sri Lanka’s innings, as Netherlands bowled wicket to wicket and refused to allow for easy runs. It was only Dhananjaya who showed the patience to thrive on this surface.He stitched together successive stands of 33, 29, 35 and 77 with Dimuth Karunaratne, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga and Theekshana respectively, to drag Sri Lanka to a defendable total.In defence of their target, Sri Lanka knocked over both openers for ducks inside the first two overs. But then the game began to slip away. Wesley Barresi and Bas de Leede – who had grabbed three wickets earlier – put on 77 for the third wicket, in a partnership that was highlighted by its industrious nature. The pair found boundaries frequently, but more than that they scrambled for every run.By the start of the 15th over they were going at a rate beyond six an over. But it would be their exuberance to grab every advantage that would be their downfall, as an ill-advised second would see Barresi run out. Barresi’s wicket would be followed by Teja Nidamanuru five balls later. De Leede and Edwards then put on a 41-ball 36.Theekshana returned to go through a gap between de Leede’s bat and pad to clean him up. He then executed a double-wicket maiden to send Netherlands tumbling to 133 for 7.From that point on it was a lone hand from Edwards, who employed the sweep to great effect and found ones and twos with ease. This would bring the target closer, but Sri Lanka were into the tail and so they chipped away. After an incredible throw to the non-striker’s end by keeper Kusal Mendis saw Shariz Ahmad run out, Hasaranga castled Klein with a googly.Edwards then looked to farm the strike alongside Dutt, but an inswinging yorker from Shanaka dispatched the latter. That Shanaka was even bowling at that stage was only down to the fact that Lahiru Kumara had been able to complete just two overs before being withdrawn with a side strain.

The India allrounder could feature in three County Championship games and the 50-overs Royal London Cup

Deivarayan Muthu and Matt Roller21-Jun-20223:29

Shastri: ‘Washington is going to be one of India’s premier all-format allrounders’

India allrounder Washington Sundar will turn out for Lancashire in county cricket this season, subject to fitness and visa clearance, ESPNcricinfo has learnt.Washington, 22, could be available for up to three County Championship games, from July, and the entire 50-overs Royal London Cup. He could become the second Indian to feature in English county cricket this season after Cheteshwar Pujara, who racked up 720 runs in eight innings at a stunning average of 120 for Sussex in division two. Shreyas Iyer had signed up as Lancashire’s overseas player for the Royal London Cup in 2021 but had to eventually pull out because of a shoulder injury.”I am extremely excited to play county cricket for the first time with Lancashire Cricket,” Washington Sundar said in a media statement from the county. “To play in English conditions will be a great experience for me and I can’t wait to play at Emirates Old Trafford.”I would like to thank both Lancashire Cricket and the BCCI for allowing this opportunity [to] happen and I’m looking forward to joining up with the squad next month.”Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket performance, welcomed Washington into the set-up. “Washington is a multi-format all-rounder whose skills with both bat and ball will be a great addition for us in the Royal London Cup and County Championship this summer,” he said. “His international and IPL experiences will be invaluable in the development of our younger cricketers, many of whom he will be playing with during his stay. The addition of Washington is one that will excite our members and supporters, along with helping our continued push to bring silverware back to Emirates Old Trafford.”Lancashire are currently third on the County Championship division one points table, behind Surrey and Hampshire, with 108 points. They will resume red-ball cricket with a clash against Gloucestershire from June 26 after their Vitality Blast T20 games.Washington is currently working his way back from a hand injury at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. The red-ball games in England will be Washington’s first since he sustained a finger injury while playing a three-day tour game against a County Select XI in Chester-le-Street in July 2021. The injury had sidelined him from that England tour and the second leg of IPL 2021.Washington has suffered multiple setbacks because of injury and illness since last year. He was lined up to return to action for his state side Tamil Nadu in the 20-overs Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, but it is understood that the Indian team management had then warned Tamil Nadu against rushing him back into action.He then made a successful return in the 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy, taking 16 wickets in eight games at an economy rate of 4.77 in Tamil Nadu’s run to the final. It paved the way for his India white-ball return, for a three-match ODI series in South Africa, but he had to miss that after testing positive for Covid-19.Washington Sundar has suffered multiple injury setbacks in recent times•BCCI

Washington marked his comeback with all-round contributions at home in the ODI series against West Indies, but that was short-lived, too, as he sustained a hamstring injury ahead of the T20Is.More recently in IPL 2022, he hurt his webbing twice and played just nine games for Sunrisers Hyderabad, scoring 101 runs and claiming six wickets. The franchise’s head coach Tom Moody pointed out that the injuries to Washington and T Natarajan shook up the balance of the XI.Washington’s Lancashire gig will clash with the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), which kicks off on June 23 in Tirunelveli. Washington is with Salem Spartans in the TNPL, but it is understood that he did not take part in the side’s preparatory camp in Chennai.The red-ball games for Lancashire could be Washington’s opportunity to prove his form and fitness. While speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s analysis show T20 Time:Out during the IPL, Ravi Shastri, the former India coach, talked up Washington as a future all-format allrounder for India.”He is going to be one of India’s leading allrounders,” Shastri had said. “He is the future. You have [Ravindra] Jadeja today. Three years down the line, if Jadeja is still fit, he will play. There is Axar [Patel] around. But this guy is your premier allrounder across all three formats of the game. Hear what I am saying. Three formats of the game.”This guy is a serious cricketer. He is still very young, he has got to understand his own game, how good a player he is. Shot selection will come, especially for the white-ball format. [If he] works on his fitness so that he is not injury-prone, India have got a serious cricketer in him. Across all formats of the game. I think it is up to him really to do the hard yards on fitness. No excuse. He can’t depend on X, Y, Z. He has to look at himself in the mirror and say I want to work hard and I want to be the leading allrounder in Indian cricket over the next three years. And he can do it. Easy.”

Lapses in the field a reason why India couldn’t capitalise on any kind of momentum, Virat Kohli says

Sidharth Monga27-Nov-20201:37

Pandya: ‘We lost wickets when we were getting the rhythm’

Hardik Pandya’s lower-back injury, which has taken away his bowling, for the time being, has affected India’s team balance in a big way, but there was good news for India’s fans after the first of the three ODIs in Australia. Not only did Pandya give a good account of himself as a batsman, top-scoring with 90 off 76 from 101 for 4, he also dropped a hint he might be ready to bowl come the World Cups. There are three of those in the next three years: for T20Is in 2021 and 2022, and the ODI variety in 2023. He said he was bowling already but still not confident physically or skills-wise he could do it in games.”It is a process,” Pandya said when asked where he was with respect to a return to the bowling crease. “I am looking at a long-term goal where I want to be 100% of my bowling capacity for the most important games. The World Cups are coming. More crucial series are coming. Whenever it is required.”I am thinking as a long-term plan, not short term where I exhaust myself and maybe have something else [injury] which is not there. So it is going to be a process, which I am following. I can’t tell you exactly when I am going to bowl but the process is on. In the nets, I am bowling. It is just that I am not game-ready but I am bowling. It is all about confidence and the skill has to be at an international level.”ALSO READ: Monga – India’s one-dimensional batsmen hurting their five-bowler strategyThe absence of Pandya the bowler hurts India all the more because they have no part-timer to hold the fort for the time being. Ravindra Jadeja is the only two-dimensional player in the ODI squad in Australia, but he plays as the fifth bowler, leaving no allowance for any of the bowlers to have an off day. At least three of them had it in the series opener, which resulted in a humongous target of 375.Pandya said India needed to groom someone promising even if there was no natural allrounder coming through. “That has been the question always, right?” Pandya said of the missing link in the side. “We have to find and maybe make… I have always believed that… even when I came into the circuit, I was not always the allrounder which I wanted to be. But with time I groomed myself and became that bowling option. I worked on my bowling.Hardik Pandya launches one down the ground•Getty Images

“Yeah, it is always going to be difficult when you go with five bowlers. When someone is having an off day you don’t have someone to fulfil the quota. More than injury, the sixth bowler’s role is when someone among the five bowlers is having a bad day. I think it is going to be… maybe we will have to make, maybe we will have to find someone who has already played India, and groom them and find a way to make them play.”Pandya went on to make a cheeky suggestion: “Maybe we should look in the Pandya family only. There is one sitting at home.”Brother Krunal has been tried in T20Is by India, but not in the ODIs. It is probably because they already have one fingerspinner in Jadeja, and they need either a seam-bowling allrounder or a batsman who can turn his arm over.India’s captain Virat Kohli admitted they didn’t have such an option in the touring party in Australia. Asked if he would have a bowl himself, Kohli joked he might bowl if Aaron Finch were batting. He called for his specialist bowlers to pick up wickets to make up for the absence of that cushion of a sixth bowler and asked for a better body language.”The key to winning games is picking up wickets,” Kohli pointed out. “That is something we were not able to do. Also, lapses in the field were also a reason why we couldn’t capitalise on any kind of momentum, the pressure that we created in the early part of the innings.”Everyone needs to show the intent for the entire 50 overs. Probably we played 50 overs after a long time. That could have an effect, but having said that we have played so much ODI cricket that it is not something we don’t know how to do. I think the body language in the field wasn’t great after around 25 overs. It was a disappointing part. If you don’t take your chances against a top-quality opposition they’ll hurt you and that is what happened today.”

For the second time in two games, powered by Pollard, Mumbai ransacked runs aplenty from their last five overs

Deivarayan Muthu01-Oct-20202:36

What ails Glenn Maxwell at the IPL?

After Rohit Sharma made his second half-century in his last three innings in IPL 2020, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya went on a boundary-hitting spree to launch the Mumbai Indians to 191 for 4, which proved to be more than enough in the end. For the second game in a row, Pollard helped Mumbai ransack 89 off the last five overs, his unbeaten 47 off 20 balls exposing a Kings XI Punjab attack that lacked a death bowler. They had seemingly managed their bowlers so poorly that offspinner K Gowtham, picked ahead of legspinner M Ashwin, bowled the final over in the first innings, leaking four sixes to Pollard and Pandya.In pursuit of 192, the Kings XI lost Mayank Agarwal in the powerplay and captain KL Rahul laboured to 17 off 19 balls before legspinner Rahul Chahar knocked him over. Nicholas Pooran briefly matched his West Indies captain and mentor Pollard’s ball-striking with 44 off 27 balls, but it wasn’t enough to prick the ballooning asking rate. Chahar kept dangling legbreaks away from Glenn Maxwell’s reach, and ultimately had him holing out for a painfully slow 11 off 18 balls. Jasprit Bumrah and James Pattinson then closed out a 48-run victory, putting Mumbai on top of the points table.Cottrell’s comeback
After giving up as many as 30 runs to Rahul Tewatia in a frenzied finish on Sunday, Sheldon Cottrell started with a wicket-maiden on Thursday and conceded 20 in his next three. The left-arm seamer angled a length ball into Quinton de Kock and then got it to curve away to castle the batsman for a duck in the first over. Soon after, Suryakumar Yadav was run out for 10 off seven balls.Ishan Kishan, who had cracked 99 forcing a Super Over against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, struggled against Cottrell, Mohammed Shami and legspinner Ravi Bishnoi, who kept sliding the ball across the left-hander with his googlies. Cottrell finished his quota of four overs by the 13th over; Mumbai were 83 for 2.The storm after the calm
Looking to hit his way out of trouble, Kishan ventured a slog-sweep against Gowtham, but couldn’t clear the longer leg-side boundary, falling for 28 off 32 balls. Pollard, though, shook up things by planting his front leg and smoking Bishnoi over his head for six. Sharma, quiet until then, slammed 4, 4, 6, 6 against Jimmy Neesham. The New Zealand allrounder ditched his into-the-pitch legcutters for attempted yorkers, but kept erring with his lengths. The first four, a ramp that was precisely placed to the right of long leg, brought up his fifty off 40 balls. The pick of that boundary sequence was the final six that was clattered over extra-cover just after the man from that boundary had been whisked off to long-off.It needed a relay catch at the boundary from Maxwell and Neesham to remove Rohit for 70 off 45 balls. He was on 43 off 37 balls at one point, but accelerated before Pollard and Hardik took over.Hardik, playing as a specialist batsman as Mumbai have opted against rushing him back into bowling after his back surgery last year, also laid into Neesham, taking 17 off five balls from him. Kings XI, seemingly having miscalculated, asked Gowtham to bowl the last over and Pollard duly finished the innings with a hat-trick of mighty sixes.Kings XI fade away
Agarwal gave Kings XI a jump-start in the chase, attacking the short balls from Trent Boult and James Pattinson, moving to 25 off 15 balls. After Jasprit Bumrah darted in two more short balls, he seamed a full ball in and burst through the defences of Agarwal. In the next over, Karun Nair, who came in at No.3, dragged Krunal Pandya back onto the stumps. Rahul, who could neither find the boundary nor the gaps, was dismissed by Chahar in the ninth over as the required rate shot past 11.Pooran was particularly strong off the back foot, pulling Chahar and Bumrah for six and four. Twenty-one of his 44 runs came in front of square on the leg side. His bright innings, though, was cut short when Pattinson pushed a full ball away from his reach and had him edging behind.Chahar, meanwhile, took a leaf out of Yuzvendra Chahal’s playbook, lobbing slow legbreaks wide of off stump to frustrate Maxwell. Maxwell eventually played a desperate slog-sweep and picked out deep midwicket. Gowtham struck two fours and a six, but the boundaries he had given up earlier in the evening had a greater impact on the result.