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.

He’s been compared to Shane Warne and has been talked up as the next big spin hope, but the 18-year old isn’t losing focus

Andrew McGlashan07-Nov-2018He’s been compared to Shane Warne and proclaimed a saviour of Australian cricket, all before his 19th birthday. But rather than being overawed by it all, legspinner Lloyd Pope is embracing his life-changing experiences as he turns heads with his leg-breaks and wrong ‘uns.Pope burst onto the global scene with his remarkable figures of 8 for 35 against England in the Under-19 World Cup quarter-final, pulling Australia back from the brink of elimination in a manner Warne would have been proud of. Then in just his second first-class match he claimed 7 for 87 against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield, becoming the youngest player to take a seven-wicket haul in the competition. On Wednesday, his first Big Bash contract was confirmed when he signed with Sydney Sixers.In the current climate of Australian cricket, where each day appears to bring another sacking, resignation or associated drama, Pope’s rapid rise has been enough for some to suggest that international cricket should come sooner rather than later. While he isn’t getting carried away, the spotlight certainly doesn’t sit uneasily for him.”It’s a different challenge, but I guess I like the media attention. Just trying to ride the wave at the moment. The attention is one thing I feel more off the field. When I’m out there I just sort of let cricket take over,” he said. “My dad’s told me that each time I take wickets ‘you’ve change your life today’ so it’s a really good feeling.”Pope’s father, Myles, has been a major influence on his early development, offering encouragement and advice while even as a young teenager coaches spotted that he may have some special – “a natural turner of the ball,” he was termed.”Think I was around 8-10 years old [when I started] and I’ve always just tried to jump in the nets and bowl as much as I can,” he said. “My dad’s been a big influence, just telling me to go out and bowl. A couple of coaches said I had natural talent, a natural turner of the ball one of them said and if I could continue with that I’d have a bright future.”Pope has had one session with Warne when he was younger – “amazing feeling to shake his hand, to know he knows who I am” – but stressed how he was keen to forge his own path, while absorbing all the advice he could. His sharply spun googly has been the delivery to really catch the eye and the aspect of his first dip into the BBL that he is excited about is the chance to have the license to go through a full range of variations.”I’ve had a bit of a red-ball focus recently with Shield cricket but it’s going really well, it will be nice to get the white ball back in my hands and try some more variations. There are different challenges, in red-ball cricket it’s a lot about consistency and in white-ball cricket it’s about a lot more variations and being able to out-think batters a lot more quickly.”And while talk of international honours will follow Pope around, especially if the wickets continue to come, he is keeping his feet on the ground. “I’ve only played three matches so I’m more worried about keeping my place in the Redbacks team, if I can do that I’ll be a very happy man.”

Uttarakhand make it five in five, Karnataka lodge protest against Saurashtra. More in our Ranji round-up

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2018Aaron gives Odisha heartbreak
Odisha had to endure a massive heartbreak in Ranchi, going down by two runs to Jharkhand for their second loss of the season. This was their narrowest loss in terms of runs in the competition. Subhranshu Senapati, the 21 year old, who is fast becoming their new batting lynchpin was the last man standing, unbeaten on 157 when Varun Aaron castled No. 11 Dhiraj Singh.Odisha were down and out at 193 for 9 in their chase of 260. The last-wicket pair added 64 to take them within touching distance. This loss dents Odisha’s chances of a knockouts berth, as they’re now placed sixth in Group C with 13 points in five matches. The top two sides in the group – Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – are on 28 and 24 points respectively.That Jharkhand gave themselves a shot at victory was thanks largely to a solid second-innings unbeaten 132 by former captain Saurabh Tiwary. The win puts Jharkhand within touching distance of the top two, with four matches still remaining.Uttarakhand all but through to knockouts
Uttarakhand are well on their way to the quarter-finals in their debut season. Their fifth win on the trot took them 14 points clear of second-placed Meghalaya in the Plate Group. Mumbai have the biggest winning streak of eight matches in the tournament’s history, a feat they achieved between 1961-62 and 1962-63 seasons. Fast bowler Deepak Dhapola, who finished with a match haul of 11 for 111, is now the leading wicket-taker of the season. His 37 wickets in four matches have come at a mind-boggling average of 9.89 and a strike rate of 23.6.
Karnataka protest“I’m happy we made 91 in the second innings.”The irony wasn’t lost on anyone as Vinay Kumar gave his appraisal of the Rajkot surface where Karnataka were trounced by Saurashtra for their first loss this season. For the record, both sides were shot out for under 100 in the second innings, with the match finishing close to tea on the third day.A day after the match, the KSCA confirmed they had lodged an official complaint with the BCCI over the nature of the Rajkot surface, where the spinners picked up 38 of the 40 wickets. Both ends were abrasive, with plenty of cracks and indentations that had the ball shooting up, leaving both sides preferring to sometimes bring on their part-time spinners. Vinay and Abhimanyu Mithun, Karnataka’s pace duo, had minimal roles with the ball, while Saurashtra fielded an all-spin attack.This, Sudhakar Rao, the KSCA secretary, argued was the biggest hint that they’d laid out an underprepared surface.”The pitch was under-prepared. We had filed one complaint on the first day itself,” he said. Saurashtra didn’t have a medium pacer in their playing XI and they opened the bowling with spinners. It appears that the nature of the pitch was pre-planned. We don’t think a neutral curator was consulted. As a punishment, we want the touring team to be awarded full points.”Click here for all the Ranji Trophy scorecards from this round

Tamil Nadu win, finallyIt’s increasingly becoming a trend they do not want to carry any further. After doing all the early running, Kerala slipped to their second straight loss this season, this time to Tamil Nadu at Chepauk. It was no coincidence that for a second straight outing, Jalaj Saxena, their talismanic allrounder, had a forgettable outing. This loss does not entirely rule them out of knockouts contention, but comes as a blow nonetheless. For Tamil Nadu, it was vital, for it keeps them in the hunt after wet weather denied them in the first two matches of the season.The hero was T Natarajan, the left-arm seamer, who picked up his first five-wicket haul of the season to give his side a 151-run victory. This was the first five-for by a Tamil Nadu fast bowler at home since J Kaushik’s feat during the 2011-12 season.Here’s the winning moment:
Gambhir signs offHaving spent a majority of his time during the second innings off the field, Gautam Gambhir was denied a final innings for Delhi on the final day of their fixture against Andhra. Delhi batted out a draw after pocketing a first innings lead. Later after the match, he took centre stage at a felicitation ceremony with both teams in attendance at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

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.

Reeza Hendricks and Wiaan Mulder have been left out of the line-up after being in the mix for the first three fixtures

Liam Brickhill11-Mar-2019Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla will return to South Africa’s squad for the remaining ODIs against Sri Lanka, while JP Duminy is also in line to play his first international cricket for four-and-a-half months as South Africa look to put the finishing touches to their squad ahead of the World Cup.Weight of runs has forced Markram back into contention after he was left out of the first three games, with his outstanding recent form including back-to-back centuries that have helped propel Titans to the top spot on the Momentum One-Day Cup table.

Squad for last two ODIs

Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.

Reeza Hendricks and Wiaan Mulder are the two players from the original squad who will sit the next two games out, with the group growing from 14 to 15 for the ODIs in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.Captain Faf du Plessis welcomed the return of experienced hands Amla and Duminy, who has made a successful comeback for Cape Cobras after being out of action following shoulder surgery.”We’ve spoken about the balance we’d like, and when you add JP to that you only need five overs from him and your allrounder,” du Plessis explained. “It’s a real good balance that he brings to the table. Obviously, his experience is amazing. The most important thing from JP’s point of view is that he got over his injury. So it’s great that he got runs, but that was the concern from us, just from the leadership group that he goes and plays two games, gets back into cricket. Because we know when he’s back what he brings to the team from a performance point of view. So good that he comes back into the next two games with some nice form.”We know what Hash has got,” du Plessis added. “Hash has played a lot of cricket for South Africa. He’s got an amazing record. But we needed to make sure Reeza got an opportunity this series. If Hash gets another opportunity coming back into the side, hopefully he grabs that with both hands.”The main concern for me with all the players is that you need make sure you put performances on the board to go to the World Cup. It’s about our best and most in-form team that’s going. Everyone in the dressing room knows that, and I believe it’s making us want to raise the bar on our own performance.”Du Plessis’ sentiments were echoed by national selection panel convener Linda Zondi. “Experience is always a key factor in major tournaments such as the ICC Men’s World Cup,” he said. “It is great to see how well JP has regained his best form after being out of action for so long.Dale Steyn celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

“What has also been highly encouraging is see how well the Proteas have played when they have returned to franchise cricket. It is important that they should dominate at this level and that their skills should rub off on our emerging talent. JP, Aiden and Dwaine Pretorius have all made significant contributions to their franchises in recent matches.
“We will use the final two matches in the ODI series to continue to examine all the options that are available to us as far as the World Cup squad is concerned.”Du Plessis added that Dale Steyn, who has been a part of the one-day squad for the series but is yet to play a match, is understanding of the need to field test new players such as fast bowler Anrich Nortje.”Dale understands. Anrich needs to play some games. That is a position that’s still needs to be selected. As far as Dale in concerned, he’s going to the World Cup. So we need to make sure who is our next fast bowler, and if we want to take a next fast bowler,” du Plessis said.”So we want to give Anrich as much opportunity as possible. He’ll definitely get another opportunity out of the next game, and then hopefully Dale in one of the other games.”Du Plessis denied that Steyn’s absence had anything to do with managing the paceman’s workload to keep him fresh for the World Cup. “No, because he’s not going to play a lot of cricket,” the captain explained. “He’s not going to the IPL. So for now his workload can continue, he can keep bowling in the nets. There was a thought of releasing him to go and play in the Titans, but the Titans are playing well and the balance of their side is probably going to stay the same, so we thought best just to keep training with us. He will get one game out of the next two.”

Warwickshire were made to follow on despite Dom Sibley’s 132 and lost four second-innings wickets before the close

George Dobell at Edgbaston13-Apr-2019Warwickshire 346 (Sibley 132, Milnes 3-50) and 79 for 4 trail Kent 504-9 dec by 79 runs
Warwickshire face a fight to save their opening Championship game of the season despite Dominic Sibley continuing his fine form. Sibley made his fifth century in five successive first-class games to keep his side in the match but, with none of his colleagues able to reach 50 – only two other men in the top nine reached 20 – Warwickshire conceded a first-innings deficit of 159 and were forced to follow-on.By the close, they had lost four second-innings wickets, including Sibley for 5, and still required 79 more runs to make Kent back again. Without the lower-order allrounders who used to bolster them – the likes of Keith Barker, Rikki Clarke and Chris Wright, who were all allowed to leave – or the injured Ian Bell, their batting looks just a little brittle. You wonder whether Chris Woakes, who will play for Warwickshire’s 2nd XI in a limited-overs game in the next few days, might have played as a specialist batsman.That all means that Kent are closing in on their first victory in the top division of the County Championship since September 2010. As a coincidence, their coach at the time was Paul Farbrace, who is the new director of cricket at Edgbaston. Darren Stevens is the only member of this Kent team who played in that match.Given how newly promoted sides have struggled to stay in Division One in recent seasons – last season, Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire both finished in the bottom three – this could prove a crucial game. These two are fresh from Division Two, after all, with many people suggesting Kent may struggle.But their excellent first-innings batting has given them a strong foundation in this match. And with their bowlers reacting well to the challenge of staying in the field for five sessions in succession so far – they bowled 120 overs in Warwickshire’s first innings before enforcing the follow-on – they have an excellent chance to secure an important win. But for a memorable fightback from Somerset last week, it could easily have been two wins from two.If they do go on to win, they will owe a great deal to Zak Crawley. Having made a match-defining century in the first innings, he also held on to a succession of outstanding catches in the slip cordon – not least the brilliant, diving effort to end Sibley’s second innings – to ensure his bowlers’ work was not wasted. He really does look an outstanding prospect.Much the same could be said about Sibley. While his team-mates prodded and pushed at the moving ball, he played admirably straight, left well and was not seduced into any of the hard-handed strokes that were to prove their undoing. He is patient and he is disciplined, but he also had a wide array of strokes with the on-drive that brought up his century a particular highlight. The only time he looked troubled in this innings was as he approached his century and he may well have been a little unfortunate to be adjudged leg before for 132.Sibley’s partnership with Tim Ambrose, who passed 11,000 runs during the day, gave Warwickshire hope. The pair added 87 in 30 overs and, with Kent’s attack tiring – Daniel Bell-Drummond, with four first-class wickets from 100 matches, took the second new ball – it seemed Warwickshire would creep past the follow-on mark. But Ambrose’s dismissal, shuffling in front of one from Stevens, opened the floodgates to a collapse that saw five wickets fall for the addition of just 32 runs.The impressive Harry Podmore broke the back of their resistance with a spell three wickets for six runs in 11 balls including Sibley. By the time the last pair – Jeetan Patel and Ryan Sidebottom – came together, Warwickshire required 82 to avoid being sent back in.They almost did it, too. With Patel leading the way in typically aggressive fashion, the 10th-wicket pair took advantage of some fielding lapses – Patel should have been stumped, Sidebottom should have been caught – to add 73, before Patel was caught at mid-off as he attempted to thrash one back over Stevens’ head.Podmore soon made inroads in Warwickshire’s second innings, too. Will Rhodes was trapped in front by one that swung back to take advantage of him over-balancing to the off-side, before Liam Banks was well caught as he edged a somewhat unnecessary forcing stroke and Sibley, perhaps wearied by his exertions, was drawn into a drive at a wide ball that he admitted he would have left in his first innings. Adam Hose edged a good one that left him a little off the pitch, though he could have left it.”The start of last season was a disaster for me,” Sibley said afterwards. “I was really struggling and things couldn’t have got much worse. But I’ve worked hard and I’ve changed my trigger movement. It’s great to get hundreds rather than fifties or sixties. I know there are places [available] there [in the England side] but I’m just concentrating on scoring runs for Warwickshire.”It’s disappointing to lose four wickets in the last session today, but this game hasn’t gone. Hopefully we can go past them and put them under a bit of pressure.”

Chris Liddle and Tom Smith claimed three wickets each as Gloucestershire skittled Surrey for just 88

ECB Reporters Network17-Apr-2019Chris Liddle and Tom Smith claimed three wickets each as Gloucestershire skittled Surrey for just 88 to win their opening Royal London One-Day Cup match at Bristol by 147 runs.The home side were bowled out for 235 after winning the toss, having been 156 for one, with Chris Dent and Gareth Roderick the main contributors, while Rikki Clarke and Tom Curran shared seven wickets. It looked a below par total. But Surrey turned in a hapless batting display, Jason Roy top-scoring with 19 as they were bowled out in only 24 overs.Liddle finished with 3 for 17 and left-arm spinner Smith 3 for 7 from two overs. Tightly as Gloucestershire bowled, it was an abject display by the visiting batting line-up.The game was played in bright sunshine on a slow pitch. Surrey made a quick breakthrough when George Hankins chased a wide delivery from Clarke and edged through to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.The best batting of the day followed as, having taken time to assess the pace of the pitch, Dent and Roderick played with increasing freedom.
Skipper Dent was first to his half-century, off 62 balls, with four fours and a pulled six off Clarke, and Roderick soon followed, off 65 deliveries, having struck seven boundaries.The pair were making batting look easy, Roderick having lofted Liam Plunkett over midwicket for six, when they fell in quick succession. Dent skied a catch to mid-on off Clarke to end a stand of 152 in 25 overs and the next over saw Roderick miscue to mid-off to give Curran his first wicket.The collapse that followed was a major surprise. Soon Gloucestershire were 171 for 5, with Ian Cockbain bowled off stump by Gareth Batty and Jack Taylor stumped attempting to swing Will Jacks’ offspin into the leg side. Benny Howell and Ryan Higgins added 43 for the sixth wicket before falling to Clarke and Curran respectively and there was little contribution from the tail as Gloucestershire were bowled out inside 48 overs.Tom Smith appeals for a wicket•Getty Images

Surrey looked strong favourites at halfway, but never recovered from losing Mark Stoneman to the third ball of their innings, bowled by Dan Worrall with a ball that nipped back off the seam. It was the start of a sorry procession, Liddle removing three of the top five in Roy, Rory Burns and Foakes, while Jacks, on 17, dislodged his leg bail attempting to pull Worrall as Surrey slumped to 61 for 5.There was simply no resistance as Howell had Ollie Pope caught behind down the leg side for 13, Clarke was bowled by Higgins and Smith polished off the tail by sending back Curran, Batty and Plunkett in the space of 11 balls.The speed with which the match ended caught everyone by surprise and Surrey – three times finalists in this competition between 2015 and 2017 – were left to reflect an opening group performance that was little short of embarrassing.Surrey head coach Michael Di Venuto was disappointed by his side’s performance.”It would be nice to start this competition well, but we have made a habit of doing the opposite in recent years,” Di Venuto said. “It was a particularly disappointing batting performance. We had a bit of bad luck with a few of the dismissals, strangles down the leg-side and a hit-wicket, but in general we didn’t adapt to the sort of pitch we were playing on.”Hopefully, we have got this out of our systems early and we will be looking to put things right quickly against Sussex at Hove on Friday.”

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.”

Adam Lyth, Tom Kohler-Cadmore fall just shy of centuries on even day in Leeds

David Hopps03-Jun-2019This is where it’s at, baby: Yorkshire and Essex duking it for supremacy. Not quite how Sir Neville Cardus would have put it, admittedly, but when the World Cup is in full flow, and England are involved in a troubled run chase, the Championship needs to go full-on Iggy Pop, the grandfather of punk, to grab even a tiny share of attention.While the World Cup understandably dominates attention over the next month or so, the Championship will take shape. Surely Somerset will never have a better chance of winning county cricket’s premier tournament for the first time than this year. As for Yorkshire and Essex, they are still not sure what their seasons will deliver. The next three days will reveal much. The winner, if there is to be one, may be pleasantly surprised by their lofty position come Thursday evening.An even first day has left us none the wiser about which side might prosper. Yorkshire were dominant just after tea at 224 for 2 with the prospect of hundreds for both Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, but Simon Harmer’s tightly-engineered off-spin held Essex together, as it must, and neither hundred materialised as Yorkshire lost four wickets for 28 in 13 overs and they came to rest at 289 for 6.David Willey, omitted from England’s World Cup squad, was one of those wickets, leg before as he propped forward at Harmer. It’s fair to say that as he walked off you would not have been tempted to bottle the air around him and sell it as a Happiness Potion.Headingley’s World Cup matches are still to come, of course, and they will be enhanced by the magnificent new Emerald Stand, which will remain empty for this match while a few final touches are carried out but which gleams virginal white between the cricket and rugby sections of the ground. The decrepit old stand where the sun never dared intrude has been replaced by something more uplifting. People may even be caught smiling.It is a grand development – £43m worth, of which Yorkshire’s share was £18m – and brings a sense of beauty to a ground that once upon a time only admired beauty in a Geoffrey Boycott defensive push, Fred Trueman’s outswinger or Brian Close’s bruised forehead and where most of the cognoscenti would have probably dismissed Keats’ Grecian Urn as something you couldn’t rightly sup out of.But their Lust for Life, as Iggy once put it, centres proudly around the County Championship and there was much to sharpen their interest: a debutant batsman, and from Huddersfield, too; signs in Kohler-Cadmore’s 83 that has game is maturing nicely; a condemnatory statistic about Yorkshire opening stands that just will not go away; and an Essex wicketkeeping crisis, not that they would admit to being too interested in that.The debutant opener was Will Fraine, who moved from Nottinghamshire in the middle of last season, and whose father is a senior figure in an ice cream company that is one of Yorkshire’s major sponsors. His 39 from 69 balls was not quite the indulgence promised by the Idaho Valley Mint flavour, but was a sober affair, prospering largely through learned steers through backward point, head determinedly over ball, enough to satisfy the members on first sight. Sam Cook brought one back to bowl him through the gate.Fraine is the latest player to try to address some very un-Yorkshire shortcomings at the top of the order. According to the Yorkshire specialist Graham Hardcastle, it is 20 matches since they have managed a hundred stand for the first wicket in first-class cricket when Shaun Marsh and Kohler-Cadmore did so against Surrey at The Kia Oval; there again, they were responding to 529.The fact that such a skilful player as Lyth has routinely been one of those openers makes it an even more unlikely statistic. Lyth did his share of playing and missing in making 95, but otherwise had few alarms, his most uncertain moment perhaps coming on 17 when he edged Cook just in front of second slip.Lyth was also involved in the run out of Gary Ballance, who is searching for a century in six successive Yorkshire matches. Len Hutton once made a hundred for Yorkshire in seven successive matches, although that sequence was interrupted by England calls. It was an avoidable run out, a casual first run being followed by joint uncertainty over the second, Sam Cook’s throw from square leg doing the rest.Lyth could barely have succumbed more to self-blame had he walked home in bare feet wearing a placard saying ‘Stone Me’. “It was my fault,” he said. “It’s not great when you run the best batsman in the country out. I can’t honestly tell you how awful it felt. I can’t apologise enough. He said he would forgive me if I got 150 so he hasn’t forgiven me.”England might only have eyes for the World Cup at the moment, but the Ashes will soon be here and in these parts they are adamant that Ballance, defiantly playing as deep in the crease as ever, should be part of them. Lyth’s excessive self-blame proved as much.Lyth’s departure to a defensive push at Jamie Porter soon after tea gave Will Buttleman the first of two simple catches – he also held Kohler-Cadmore’s attempted drive – to adorn his emergency uptake of the keeping gloves after Robbie White injured an ankle in training, so ending his loan spell from Middlesex; he came in on debut against Hampshire last season, too, when Adam Wheater was injured midway through a match.Michael Pepper damaged a finger against Kent last week, soon after returning from an appendix operation and Wheater, the senior man, is a long-term absentee with a badly-broken finger. They said it would be difficult replacing James Foster, but nobody said it would be downright dangerous.

The former India captain said there had been a lot of “baffling” decisions by the team management, including how Rayudu and Rahane had been handled.

Nagraj Gollapudi11-Jul-2019″Baffling.”That was the word former India captain Sunil Gavaskar used to express his disappointment with the Indian team management’s decisions ahead of, and during, their World Cup 2019 campaign. India had topped the league stage of the tournament, but lost by 18 runs against fourth-placed New Zealand in a thrilling semi-final.Matt Henry and Trent Boult had reduced India to 5 for 3 in their chase of 240, but there was some surprise about MS Dhoni’s batting position, with the most experienced member of the team coming in at No.7, with all of Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya sent in ahead of Dhoni.Dhoni didn’t walk out even when India became 24 for 4 in 10 overs, with Jimmy Neesham taking a spectacular one-handed catch to send back Karthik. The general expectation was that the situation was ideal for Dhoni’s experience and calm, but it was Pandya who came out to join Pant.Both young players put their heads down in a 47-run stand for the fifth wicket, playing with confidence and composure. However, Pant went for the slog-sweep against Mitchell Santner, with the bowler having built up pressure through tight bowling, and was caught at deep midwicket. Pandya was out to a similar shot, as the asking rate mounted.Gavaskar felt that Dhoni should have been the one to join Pant when the fourth wicket fell, since he could have settled any nerves that Pant, as a rookie, might have felt.”At that stage (24 for 4) you did not need two players playing in the same mould,” Gavaskar told on Thursday, the day after India’s defeat. “Both (Pant and Pandya) are attacking players. It could have been an MS Dhoni coming in at this stage and talking to Rishabh every second delivery.”He would have assessed from the non-striker’s end what exactly Rishabh Pant is feeling: is he getting a little impatient? You have sent two people whose natural game is to go bang-bang, and at that stage, with the ball doing all kinds of things and the pressure being there, four wickets gone – you wanted somebody to hang in there. That was baffling.”When India’s captain Virat Kohli was asked why Dhoni walked in at No. 7, the lowest he has batted in the tournament, he said the role Dhoni had been given some games into the tournament was to be there at the end. “Well, he’s been given that role after the first few games of being in a situation where he can, if the situation’s bad, control one end, like he did today,” Kohli said. “Or if there is a scenario where there are six or seven overs left, he can go and strike.”Gavaskar pointed to Ambati Rayudu as one batsman who would have had the ability and experience to handle the situation following the top order collapse. Rayudu had been on the list of standbys for India’s World Cup squad, but wasn’t called up despite two men being rendered unavailable through injuries, following which he announced his retirement from all cricket.Rayudu had batted 14 times at No.4 since his return to the Indian ODI squad last year in the Asia Cup, but he wasn’t called up to the team, with Pant flown in when Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out and Mayank Agarwal included when Vijay Shankar had to exit.”Let’s face, there have been a lot of baffling decisions over the last couple of years. Ambati Rayudu for example – he should have been brought here,” Gavaskar said. “Why and how can you explain to me you bring in a Mayank Agarwal? He hasn’t played a single ODI as yet. He just came before the Sri Lanka game, the last league game, (so) you want to him to make his debut in a semifinals or a final in case a slot was open? Why not bring in an Ambati Rayudu, who is your standby? Very disappointing to see what happened yesterday.”VVS Laxman, too, was critical of the selectors and the Indian team management for preferring Vijay Shankar over Rayudu in the original squad. “Yes, Vijay Shankar can contribute with the ball (too), but what about the experience the Indian middle order required?” Laxman said. “Who is that batsman at No. 4? It has been musical chairs: 13 players have been tried and tested, but they have not been given enough opportunities. In a semi-final ultimately, those kind of decisions will affect the team, which it did.”MS Dhoni smashed a six late into the chase•AFP

Gavaskar said the Indian fans deserved answers to some of the rationale behind the decision-making. “Last year you say we found our No. 4,” he said, referring to when Kohli had anointed Rayudu as the man to fill that spot. “So what happens to that No. 4? He is now left out of the original squad. Then when you have the opportunity when Vijay Shankar gets unfortunately injured, you bring somebody else in. This is something nobody can understand. The Indian public is entitled to answers – what is the thinking behind this (selections).”It is not the selection committee’s decision. It is the team management which has been asking these things. We are not saying you are wrong but at the moment what we are seeing didn’t work out, so we need to know.”Gavaskar said even someone like Ajinkya Rahane could have been an option at No.4, given his sound technique. Rahane had been tried at that position earlier, but was dropped, and Gavaskar felt the batsman was given confusing messages.”You have tried Ajinkya Rahane. He was your middle order batsman for such a long time. Suddenly you are only going to consider him as an opening batsman because in the middle overs he is not a finisher, he does not take runs, whatever, whatever excuses we heard,” Gavaskar said.”In those conditions in Manchester, what did you need? Somebody with technique. Somebody who could have been around to see that period off and then eventually leave the field open for a Hardik Pandya or even a MS Dhoni.”