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Sri Lanka fast bowler to be reunited with former national coach Mickey Arthur

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2022Suranga Lakmal has signed a two-year deal with Derbyshire, where he will be reunited with his former national coach Mickey Arthur, after announcing that he will be retiring from all forms of international cricket following Sri Lanka’s upcoming tour of India.Lakmal, the 34-year old fast bowler, did his best work in Test cricket, having so far picked up 168 wickets from 68 matches. One-hundred-and-thirty of them came away from home.”I’m indebted to Sri Lanka Cricket for giving me this astonishing opportunity and having faith in me to bring my motherland honour, as it has been [an] absolute pleasure to be associated with the board that shaped my professional life and also enriched my personal development,” he said in his retirement letter submitted to Sri Lanka Cricket.Arthur, who joined Derbyshire as director of cricket late last year, praised Lakmal’s attributes as a bowler and a leader in welcoming him to the club.”Suranga is among Sri Lanka’s all-time greats with the ball and it’s brilliant to be able to bring him to Derbyshire for the next two seasons,” he said. “We have big ambitions for the project at Derbyshire, and Suranga’s decision to retire from international cricket and commit to the club shows he’s as excited about those plans as the other players and coaches.”He knows my standards and can set the example for our young players on and off the field, and to add his quality to our ranks gives us a whole new dimension with the ball.”Lakmal added: “Experiencing county cricket is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and the chance to work with Mickey again was something I couldn’t turn down.”I’ve loved every second of my international career, and I would like to thank Sri Lanka for giving me the opportunity to live my dream. Hopefully I can bring that experience into this new challenge, to help the young bowlers, who are already making an impact at Derbyshire.”The spin-friendly conditions in Sri Lanka often pushed him into the sidelines, but on tour, Lakmal’s ability to hold a line and length over long periods of time and his knack for moving the ball both off the pitch and in the air made him an important asset. So far, he has a five-for in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies. His away average, accordingly, is an entire 15 points lower than his home average, even though his record in five Tests in England, 12 wickets at 51.83 between 2011 and 2016, bucks that trend.Lakmal has also captained Sri Lanka in five Tests, winning three of them – two against South Africa during the home series in 2018.In the last six years, Lakmal has been Sri Lanka’s seam-bowling spearhead. He has contributed to several excellent results during that time, taking 4 for 39 in the second innings to set up victory in Port Elizabeth in 2019, 3 for 25 in the second innings to fashion a win in Bridgetown the previous year, and a match haul of 7 for 119 as Sri Lanka struggled late to draw a rain-affected match in Kolkata in 2017. Since 2018, he has been especially consistent, taking 72 wickets and averaging overall 24.73 across the next four years, and 22.61 away from home.However, he departs without a real successor in place. Dushmantha Chameera has been good in limited-overs cricket, but has not been a regular member of the Test squad partly owing to fitness concerns. Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando have also only made sporadic appearances in the Test team.Lakmal made his debut for Sri Lanka in December 2009 and largely performed a holding role in limited-overs cricket, picking up 109 wickets from 86 ODIs and eight wickets from 11 T20Is.

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.

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.”

The 35-year old opener will not be part of New South Wales’ final match of the season against Queensland next week

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Mar-2018New South Wales opener Ed Cowan has announced his retirement from first-class cricket following his team’s 23-run defeat against Victoria, which put them out of contention for the Sheffield Shield title. Cowan will not be part of the Blues’ final match of the season against Queensland next week.The 35-year old has 10,097 runs in 143 first-class matches over a career spanning nearly 15 years.”It’s been a wonderful journey and I’m grateful for all those who contributed along the way,” Cowan said. “I’ll always cherish the great memories and friendships that the game has afforded me. I feel incredibly lucky to have played around the world with so many great people over such a long period of time.The former Australia Test opener, who has 1001 runs in 18 matches, last represented the national side in July 2013. He has also featured in 53 games for Tasmania.”I’m indebted to NSW Cricket, which invested a lot of time, money and energy in me from a young age,” he said. “It’s equally as important to recognise everyone at Cricket Tasmania, who were hugely formative in my career.”Cowan will continue to play Premier Cricket with Sydney University. “I have loved the game from my earliest days and feel incredibly lucky to still do so. At this stage I will continue to play Premier Cricket with Sydney University for the remainder of this season and beyond as we aim for successive titles.”The leading run-scorer in the 2016-17 Shield season, Cowan played only five of New South Wales’ nine matches this season and finished with 336 runs.Cricket NSW CEO Andrew Jones praised Cowan’s contribution to cricket. “Ed is a great example of what hard work, self-belief and an ongoing desire to learn can achieve,” Jones said. “He continued to be attracted by the quest to master batting even after playing for Australia and retires at or near the top of his game. Ed should be proud of his achievements playing for NSW, Tasmania and Australia and scoring more than 10,000 first-class runs. He will remain a valued member of the NSW cricket family.”

Russell Domingo will have to reapply for his position of South Africa coach if he wants to continue after the England tour in May-August 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2017Russell Domingo will have to reapply for his position of South Africa coach if he wants to continue after the England tour in May-August 2017. Cricket South Africa (CSA) have confirmed they will begin a recruitment process to appoint a head coach after the England tour and through to the 2019 World Cup.”The Board of Directors also resolved to commence the recruitment process for the appointment of the Proteas Head Coach to take charge after the tour to the UK until after the 2019 edition of the ICC World Cup,” CSA said at the end of a release about a review into domestic cricket.Domingo, who took over in May 2013, has twice had his contract extended. It was originally set to run until the 2015 World Cup, before CSA took a unanimous decision to extend it till April 2016. Then, last October, it was decided to extend it till the end of the England tour.Until then, Domingo’s position had seemed less than secure, after a string of below-par performances including the loss of two major Test series in 2015-16 – in India and against England at home – an early exit from the 2016 World T20, and a bottom-place finish in an ODI triangular series in the West Indies. A four-person independent panel assigned to review South Africa’s performances over that period was expected to put Domingo’s position under scrutiny, but the cancellation of the review process gave him some breathing room.Since then, South Africa have bounced back, winning Test series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka at home either side of beating Australia 5-0 in a home ODI series and 2-1 in an away Test series.In a press conference at the end of the Sri Lanka Tests, Domingo had outlined his vision of how he would like South Africa to play under him, but refused to look too far beyond his current contract.”I could go tomorrow,” he had said. “Nothing is certain. I by no means look too far ahead in my coaching career. I take it one series at a time. You never know what’s around the corner in coaching. I’ve always felt that the support that I’ve got from the players is the most important thing. If you’ve still got the support of the players, that’s all that matters. I’ve always felt I had that. It’s out of my control, what happens happens.”

Jason Holder’s West Indians are staring humiliating defeat in the face after three days of their opening tour match against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2015
ScorecardJason Holder’s batting is the only thing preventing the West Indians from an innings defeat to a Cricket Australia XI•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Jason Holder’s West Indians are staring humiliating defeat in the face after three days of their opening tour match against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane.The visitors are 7 for 125, still needing another 76 runs to make the modest CA XI bat again, six of whose members are making their first-class debuts, while only Jordan Silk (his 22nd match) and Cameron Boyce (45th) have played more than 10 fixtures apiece.After resuming at 4 for 245, the CA XI progressed to 444 thanks to solid contributions by Jimmy Peirson (64), Matthew Short (76), and James Bazley (50), before the tail wagged via the blades of Tom Andrews (33) and Boyce (32).In addition to claiming four wickets, Holder was the only West Indian to concede fewer than four runs an over on the smallish Allan Border Field. Then, and not for the first time, he was as his side’s only prospect of forcing the hosts to bat again on the final day.Holder was stranded on an unbeaten 26 after the top order melted away in disconcerting fashion. Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels could manage just 26 runs between them.

The IPL crisis has taken a new twist with Mumbai Police summoning the Chennai Super Kings chief executive, Gurunath Meiyappan, to its Crime Branch for questioning in connection with betting

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2013The IPL crisis has taken a new twist with Mumbai Police summoning a top Chennai Super Kings official, Gurunath Meiyappan, to its Crime Branch for questioning in connection with betting. He is expected to appear between 11 am and 5 pm on Friday after the police rejected his request for an extension until Monday.The news is embarrassing – and potentially damaging – for the IPL and its parent body the BCCI, given that Meiyappan is the son-in-law of BCCI president N Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns the Super Kings franchise. Meiyappan’s exact designation is unclear at this point but his twitter handle says “team principal” and he has been a regular on the team dugout during matches and at the franchise table during the IPL auctions.Television visuals on Friday morning showed Meiyappan leaving Srinivasan’s house in Kodaikanal, a hill resort town where the BCCI chief has been spending the last few days.The summons was affixed to the door of Meiyappan’s Chennai residence and been served to, and accepted by, a manager at the Super Kings office.”We need to verify certain issues raised and claims made by Vindoo Dara Singh during his interrogation,” the joint commissioner of police Himanshu Roy said. “It may be necessary to confront Meiyappan with Vindoo to verify whether there is any truth in the latter’s claims. It is obvious that if Vindoo was merely socialising with him, we would not have summoned Meiyappan.”There was no official statement by the franchise.However, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla did speak briefly on the issue. “The Mumbai and Delhi Police are competent authorities and let them finish the investigations before jumping to any conclusions,” he said, when asked whether Srinivasan should step down from the post of BCCI president accepting moral responsibility for the crisis. “How can you term anyone guilty before the investigations are completed? Let the police report be submitted and then we will be in a better position to talk further.”The development followed reports circulating in the media since Tuesday on the proximity of Virender “Vindoo” Dara Singh, who was arrested that day in Mumbai for links with bookies, to the Super Kings franchise. Those reports, which included pictures of Vindoo watching IPL matches in the company of Super Kings captain MS Dhoni’s wife, were not denied in the 48 hours since.Later in the evening Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s general manager (cricket development), met Mumbai Police’s joint commissioner Himanshu Roy. It was learnt that the meeting was primarily to seek Mumbai police’s cooperation in the BCCI’s internal investigation of the case against suspended cricketers. The Supreme Court had on Tuesday directed the BCCI to complete the internal inquiry within 15 days.The police crackdown on bookies continued in other parts of the country. In Kolkata, ten people, including one bookie, were arrested for being allegedly involved in cricket betting. “We have arrested 10 people, including a bookie last night. We are investigating thecase. They will be produced before a court today [Friday],” deputy commissioner Santosh Pandey told PTI.Initial investigations said they had bet on a match between Mumbai Indians and Super Kings.

Kent scored 300 runs in the day to grind home their first-innings advantage over Leicestershire and reach 404 for 6, an overall lead of 263 runs at the mid-point of the game

24-May-2012
ScorecardKent scored 300 runs in the day to grind home their first-innings advantage over Leicestershire and reach 404 for 6, an overall lead of 263 runs at the mid-point of the game.Resuming on their superior overnight position of 104 for 2 – in response to Leicestershire’s modest 141 all out – Kent spent two sessions doggedly enforcing their lead. Centurion Michael Powell and James Tredwell cracked on in the final hour to add an unbroken 92 for the seventh wicket against a weary Leicestershire attack.The second day started with Kent skipper Rob Key and his overseas pro Brendan Nash at the helm, with both seemingly hell-bent on grinding the visiting attack into the dirt. Nash at least played some attacking strokes in his innings of 76 with eight fours, while Key appeared content to drop anchor and bat almost six hours for a dogged 85.Their third-wicket stand of 131 in 43 overs ended almost without a murmur at St Lawrence when Nash, driving at a low full toss from Wayne White, picked out Greg Smith in the gully to stun the Kent members.Winter recruit Powell marched in to join Key in adding 86 in tandem with Key until, just 15 short of his first hundred of the season, the Kent skipper chopped on against Josh Cobb to make it 253 for 4. Stroke-maker Darren Stevens upped the tempo with a chancy but quickfire innings of 23 from 33 balls that ended all too soon when the right-hander miscued an attempted sweep and picked out Cobb at mid-on, with Kent already 151 ahead.Geraint Jones perished soon after tea when, in attempting to drive, the toe of his bat hit the ground and inadvertently scooped the ball to Jacques du Toit at short extra cover. Though visiting skipper Matthew Hoggard continued to ring the bowling changes – he used eight bowlers in all – neither Powell nor Tredwell could be dislodged thereafter.Powell, who hit his maiden century for the county against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in April, reached the three-figure milestone for the first time at Canterbury after four hours and from 246 balls.He duly punched the air with delight, but took guard again to the following ball and accelerated his scoring rate in the six remaining overs through to the close as Kent hammered home their dominance going into the third day of four.

The BCCI’s Working Committee has rejected IPL franchises Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Sahara Pune Warriors demand for a reduction in the franchisee fee

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Apr-2011The BCCI’s Working Committee has rejected Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Sahara Pune Warriors demand for a reduction in their their franchisee fees. The two new franchises, which made their debuts this season, had sought a 25% waiver on the grounds that the BCCI had stated in the bidding document that each team would play 18 league matches in a season, but the schedule was later pared down to 14 matches per team.The two teams have already paid 75 per cent of this year’s installment and wanted the balance waived. They argued that the reduction in matches was a breach of the terms of the Invitation to Tender the board issued before the two new teams were bought. Since they had based their bid on the number of matches to be played, a reduction in matches should therefore be accompanied by a reduction in the franchise fee. However, the committee voted to turn down the request at its meeting in Mumbai today.In March 2010, the Sahara group bid $370m to became owners of the Pune franchise while a consortium of five companies called Rendezvous Sports World offered US$333.33m for Kochi. The amount is to be paid in installments over 10 years.

Ravi Bopara boosted his chances of a Test recall with a seven-wicket haul as England Lions crushed Bangladesh in three days in the tour match at Derby

21-May-2010
ScorecardRavi Bopara followed up his seven wickets in the game with 28 in the second innings as Lions hurried to victory•Getty Images

Ravi Bopara boosted his chances of a Test recall with a seven-wicket haul as England Lions crushed Bangladesh in three days in the tour match at Derby.Bopara ended a stubborn last-wicket stand to finish with four for 14 in the innings and seven for 23 in the match and then took the Lions to the brink of a nine-wicket victory before he was bowled in the final over before lunch for 28.Lions skipper and England opener Alastair Cook spent time in the middle before next week’s Lord’s Test with an unbeaten 42 from 55 balls as his team easily chased down a target of 86. Bopara has not played Test cricket since last summer but the Essex allrounder could now come into England”s plans for Lord’s if the selectors decide to rest players.Bangladesh will be hoping captain Shakib Al Hasan makes a speedy recovery from the chickenpox which kept him out of this game after their batsmen wasted the chance to spend time in the middle before Lord’s.Only Jahural Islam showed the necessary application required on a pitch that helped the seamers to score an unbeaten 58 off 153 balls and was the only Bangladeshi batsman to pass 50 in the game.At least Rubel Hossain dug in to see him to his half-century and made the Lions bowlers work for the last wicket on a hot, humid morning. The contest had been decided on the previous afternoon when the tourists lost wickets to a rash of ill-judged shots to collapse to 139 for 9 a lead of just 63.Jahural and Rubel continued the stand which had rescued their side from a two-day defeat and batted for another 11 overs before Bopara struck. Jahural brought up his 50, which came off 129 balls, by driving Liam Plunkett through the covers for his fifth four and he hit two more to at least give the Bangladeshi bowlers a modest target to defend.The last-wicket pair had been together for 18 overs and had added 40 runs when Bopara found the outside edge of Rubel’s bat to give wicketkeeper Steven Davies his sixth victim. The best Bangladesh could hope for was to make the Lions work for the runs and they should have removed Bopara on five in the fourth over when he cut Robiul Islam hard to gully where Mahmudullah spilled the chance.Shafiul Islam beat Cook several times but the opening pair had taken the Lions to within 10 runs of victory when Bopara, who had faced 47 balls and hit four fours, pushed forward at Abdur Razzak’s left-arm spin and was bowled.The Lions needed just three balls after the interval to wrap up victory with Moeen Ali easing the memory of his first-ball dismissal in the first innings by dispatching Razzak for six and four.