All posts by n8rngtd.top

“When I come here I don’t expect to play straight away,” he said on the eve of Sunrisers’ first home game of the season, against Rajasthan Royals

Hemant Brar in Hyderabad28-Mar-2019Imagine being one of the biggest names in world cricket, but still unable to find a place in the playing XI when it comes to the IPL. Dale Steyn is a prime example. Given that an IPL team can field a maximum of four overseas players each game, Steyn – arguably the greatest fast bowler of this era – has been left cheering his side from the dugout on many occasions in the past.Martin Guptill may not hold the same cult status as Steyn, but his T20I record is right up there with the very best. While he didn’t get any bids during the auction ahead of the 2017 season, Guptill, the second-highest run-getter in T20Is, was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for his base price of INR 1 crore (USD 140,000) this time around. Guptill, though, knows he might have to wait to make his Sunrisers debut.”It’s funny. When I come here I don’t expect to play straight away,” Guptill said on the eve of Sunrisers’ first home game of the season, against Rajasthan Royals. “It was the same when I was with Kings XI [Punjab in 2017]; I didn’t play straightaway. Just sit back and watch, and try to do as much as I can to help the guys who are playing.”I got an opportunity to play with Mumbai a couple of years ago and Kings XI the next year. I had the year off last year, and coming here this year, I am looking to forward to hopefully getting an opportunity when the time comes but it’s one of those things; you bide your time until you get selected.”However, Guptill doesn’t get too worried about what happens during auctions.”I have been up in the auction a few times and I have been picked up but when I go into the auction, I go in with reasonably low expectations. If I get picked up, that’s great and if I don’t get picked up, then I am not too disappointed.”Of late, Guptill’s form has been a bit up and down. During the ODI series against India at home, he managed just 47 runs in four innings. A disc injury then kept him out of the T20I series, before he regained fitness and struck form with back-to-back ODI hundreds against Bangladesh.Guptill revealed that a couple of flaws had crept into his batting which he ironed out with the help of his Auckland coach Mark O’Donnell.”I had a few issues with something in my game during the India series at home. There were a couple of balance issues. I wasn’t loading up properly in my sit up and that was causing me to play different lines than what I would have liked to. But I watched a lot of footage of what I was doing at that time and what I was doing previously that was working for me.”I managed to work on those hard and come on the other side and got a couple of centuries against Bangladesh. I am just looking to carry on that sort of rhythm and form that I had there and if I get an opportunity to play, hopefully I can translate that in the middle.”While he may or may not get a chance to play for Sunrisers soon, Guptill is looking forward to facing the likes of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi at the nets, which he believes will help him firm his plans for the World Cup.”I haven’t faced Rashid yet but I have played with him in the CPL a couple of years ago. He’s an amazing bowler, very hard to face because he bowls so quick. I am looking forward to batting against him in the nets and figuring out how to play him because we got them [Afghanistan] second [third] game at the World Cup this year. So I will be trying to face him in the nets so that I can put some plans in place before I face him at the World Cup.”

The legspinner saw a specialist in London and is set to return to Pakistan where he will undergo further tests

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Apr-2019Pakistan legspinner Shadab Khan has been given a two-week course of medication by doctors in England, along with a prescription of complete rest, in an attempt to cure the virus that ruled him out of their forthcoming series. He will now return home from London and undergo another round of blood tests in Lahore next month to determine his fitness for the World Cup.Shadab was originally named in both squads for the England series and World Cup only to be ruled out two days after the announcement after failing a blood test. He was subsequently replaced with fellow legspinner Yasir Shah, while the PCB arranged an appointment with a London-based gastroenterology and hepatology specialist.The possibility of being without Shadab, a key player over the last two years, would be major dent ahead of the World Cup, although the PCB is optimistic that he may still recover in time. The PCB can make changes to the squad without seeking ICC permission until May 23. After that date and through the tournament, the ICC’s technical committee will process any replacement requests.Shadab was the only frontline spinner named in Pakistan’s original 17-man squad to tour England, however, the presence of Mohammad Hafeez, back after a thumb injury, and Imad Wasim gives them options in the spin department for a one-off T20I and a five-match ODI series between May 5 and 19.Pakistan also have Mohammad Amir pushing for a World Cup spot, having been named alongside Asif Ali as the two men outside the World Cup 15. Amir’s form over the past 18 months hasn’t been good enough to win selection in the preliminary squad but he has the chance to restate his case in familiar conditions – the country where his last ODI high point occurred in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy.

Sean Dickson, Heino Kuhn shine with the bat as task proves too great for Surrey’s bowlers

Daniel Norcross at Beckenham23-May-2019By the end of this fluctuating, frequently fascinating match, 22 players and a couple of physios will quite definitely have earned their sleep. Whether Surrey’s bowlers, who threw everything they had at a Kent side that showed exceptional character to survive a turbulent fourth day and force a draw, will be able to achieve the sanctuary of somnolence, is an altogether different matter.Kent began the day needing an additional, and highly improbable 380 runs to pull off victory with nine wickets in hand. Had they succeeded it would have been the 12th-highest successful run chase in County Championship history. The fact that scribes were rushing around, consulting scorers and
archivists in search of this arcane statistic tells you how well Kent’s middle order negotiated the bulk of a terrific day.Adam Riley, the nightwatchman, survived what in retrospect was a crucial 35 minutes before Sam Curran uprooted his leg stump with a yorker speared in from round the wicket. But in what proved perhaps the pivotal moment of the match shortly after, Curran was forced from the field, clutching
his hamstring. Surrey have had wretched luck with injuries this season, and being a bowler down on an unresponsive track under glorious blue skies put an ultimately impossible burden on the pace bowling trio of Morne Morkel, Rikki Clarke and Conor McKerr. Throughout this match the new ball has been a disproportionately powerful weapon. To be deprived of their chief exponent of swing was a cruel blow so early in the day.What followed was the day’s first flashpoint. Clarke, twice in two balls was convinced he had Daniel Bell-Drummond. The first was a superb piece of umpiring by Graham Lloyd who adjudged that the noise everyone heard was in fact the ball brushing the back of the batsman’s leg. The second decision was perhaps a little tighter. Bell-Drummond looked to be trapped bang in front on the knee roll. He might just about have jammed the ball into his pad. If he hadn’t, he was stone dead.Clarke took the latter view and expressed his displeasure. The umpires convened. Words were spoken. We will find out soon enough if there are ramifications. Surrey have been reprimanded before, and rather too often for their comfort. They really don’t need an appearance before the Cricket
Disciplinary Commission. The sound and fury was soon forgotten as Bell-Drummond was adjudged lbw in Clarke’s next over.Three down at lunch and the game was still very much Surrey’s for the winning. By tea, thoughts had flipped to an improbable and spectacular Kent run chase as Surrey’s bowlers laboured with the older ball. Once again Sean Dickson defied the attack with a compact and organised display. He fell nine runs short of what would have been his second century of the match, edging Clarke behind.Between now and late July many eyes will be on potential England openers for the Ashes. Dickson might just be one to keep an eye on. His wicket was the only one to fall in that middle session and Kent went to tea requiring a further 193 to win from 35 overs with six wickets in hand. Six and a half really given Riley’s nightwatchman status.Morkel inevitably was entrusted with the new ball as soon as it became available. Immediately he picked up Ollie Robinson, caught at midwicket to end a stand of 70 with Kent’s captain Heino Kuhn, who was threatening to reach the parts that other diminutive South African-born middle-order batsmen can’t reach.Robinson’s departure was followed soon after, though, by Kuhn, who was at the very least dismayed, incandescent with fury perhaps, when Lloyd decided that a ball that leaped from Morkel and seemed to take his shoulder was judged to have grazed his bat en route.At 263 for 6 and with another 26 overs to be bowled, fleeting thoughts of Kent’s highest fourth-innings run chase were abandoned. It was all about the draw now. Had Clarke, who bowled magnificently throughout this game, not overstepped when enticing an edge from Wiaan Mulder (again umpire Lloyd the adjudicator) into the momentarily gleeful hands of Dean Elgar at slip, that draw would most likely never have come. Instead Mulder hung on to the end to register an unbeaten half-century on his Kent debut to go with his five wickets.Alex Blake and Darren Stevens negotiated 70 balls between them and Harry Podmore managed to see out the last four overs to bring home ten points for the home side.Promoted teams often struggle in Division One. This year only one side will be relegated. In the last ten years, an average of eight points per match has been enough every year but one to guarantee finishing above the bottom club. Kent have so far managed 43 points in four matches. More importantly, they have stood toe to toe with the champions and despite a poor session at the end of day two, have come out with honours even.Their fans needn’t fear relegation. After a performance like this, they can entertain loftier ambitions.

Broadcaster seeks to capitalise on ‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity to spread the sport to wider UK audience

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2019The World Cup final on July 14 could become the first men’s international fixture to be televised on free-to-air TV in the UK since the 2005 Ashes, after Sky Sports reneged on its previous stance and announced that it would be lowering its paywall in the event of England making it through next week’s semi-final at Edgbaston.England’s victory over New Zealand at Chester-le-Street last week guaranteed Eoin Morgan’s men a place in the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1992, when they beat South Africa at Sydney but went on to lose in the final against Pakistan at Melbourne.England have not contested a final on home soil since 1979, when they lost to West Indies at Lord’s, and Sky’s executives have recognised the historic opportunity that this contest could represent, to spread the sport to as broad an audience as possible.Sky UK and Ireland Chief Executive Stephen van Rooyen said: “We are proud to be the broadcaster for a home Cricket World Cup – one of the world’s biggest and most exciting sporting events.”Our aim has always been to celebrate what could be a ‘once in a generation’ moment of a home team in a big final on home soil. So, if England reach the final, we will make the match available to everyone so the whole country can be part of a rare and special big sporting moment.”Sky’s decision comes after their coverage of the tournament had been overshadowed in the UK by the women’s football World Cup, which has been broadcast throughout by the BBC. England’s semi-final against the USA on Tuesday drew 11.7 million viewers, the BBC’s biggest television audience of the year. England’s World Cup cricket fixtures, by contrast, have drawn an average of 450,000.The contrast was addressed earlier this week by the England fast bowler, Liam Plunkett, who was asked on BBC 5 Live whether he would support calls for the final to be made more accessible to the English public.”I’m not sure they’re going to do it, but it would great for everybody to be able to watch that,” Plunkett said. “Playing for England, you’re the pride of the country and you want people to be able to access that and watch that. I’m not sure it’s going to happen but for the guys, you want as many people to watch it as possible.”It’s always nice to be on a bigger platform,” Plunkett added. “Hopefully people tune in to watch that game. It would obviously be great to have as many people watching as possible, we feel like we’ve built something special here as a team. It would be nice to go all the way and to have big numbers watching that final if we get through and win, that would be huge.”A proportion of free-to-air cricket access was already set to be reinstated from next year onwards, with the advent of the ECB’s new 100-ball competition, after Sky agreed to cede some of its exclusivity to the BBC as part of a new £1.1billion rights deal from 2020-2024.Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive who brokered the deal, recently described Sky as “cricket’s best friend” – the broadcaster has been involved in cricket since 1990 and has been the exclusive partner for home internationals since 2006 – and Plunkett later tweeted to clarify his remarks.”Sky Cricket are an incredible partner for the game and have been for the past 20+ years,” he wrote. “I was asked a question & I never said that it should be on FTA. My words have been twisted & the headline is misleading. The whole country is behind us. Keep believing.”There are no details yet as to where the match would be broadcast if England did make it through. The BBC and Channel 4, the last two free-to-air channels to broadcast international cricket, would be options, although Sky might also consider making the match available via YouTube, which was the approach taken by BT Sport for the all-English Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur last month.

South Africa captain backs calls for minimum wage as he concedes Kolpak and T20 deals remain “dangling carrots”

George Dobell05-Jul-2019South Africa captain Faf du Plessis believes it would be “amazing” if the ICC was to act on Jason Holder’s suggestion of introducing a minimum wage into international cricket. However, du Plessis also conceded it was “a long way from happening”, and said that he would be taking time after the World Cup to weigh up his own future as a South Africa player.Holder, the West Indies captain, made the suggestion in February following Duanne Olivier’s decision to sign a Kolpak deal with Yorkshire. He warned that unless “something is properly done to keep players a bit more grounded financially” it could become hard to maintain the quality of international cricket, and he revealed he had held discussions with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) on the subject.Du Plessis was positive about the possibility of such an initiative, with the issue of losing players to the T20 circuit or Kolpak deals remaining an “area of big concern” for CSA. But in accepting that South Africa could lose more players once the tournament has ended, he admitted he had not yet come to a decision about his own career. JP Duminy and Imran Tahir have already announced plans to retire from international cricket following South Africa’s final World Cup game on Saturday.”There are almost two groups of players when it comes to South African cricketers,” he said. “There’s your Test players – and for them the Kolpak option is the dangling carrot – and there are your white-ball specialists, where the T20 circuit around the world [is the carrot]. Both of those areas are a big concern for cricketers in South Africa.”Looking at the one-day side, your players that will move on from the Proteas would potentially move on to the T20 circuit, maybe bar one or two, but that is generally where the opportunities lie for the white-ball players. I think, naturally, with some of the guys finishing, they’ll do that. That will become the biggest issue for us to try and stay away from for all players. And that’s including myself.”My plan was to commit fully to the World Cup and not even think of anything else further than the World Cup because I didn’t want my mind to start drifting into the future. I wanted to be completely present in this World Cup.”Right now is possibly not the best time to be making decisions because you are disappointed – I won’t say emotional – but you don’t want to be in this mode when you are making career decisions. So, for me, it will be a case of taking some time off and reflecting on what the future looks like for me; what’s my purpose going forward; is it still playing all three formats for South Africa? Those are the things that I would need to consider.Faf Du Plessis drives it through the offside•Getty Images

“I feel in terms of my own game, the last year is certainly the best I have ever played. I still believe I’m on top of my own game, so performance-wise there is no question marks there.”It’s just making sure that there’s a lot of purpose to what I’m doing. I’ve had a huge belief the last year and it’s been very easy for me to not even consider anything else because my purpose in captaining this team has been so strong. I didn’t even think of anything else.”So, in the two or three weeks after this tournament, I will have a real look and see what the future holds for me.”The route of South Africa’s problems are economic. The cricket board is simply unable to match the money on offer in T20 leagues or county cricket and has seen a steady stream of departures in recent years. And while du Plessis acknowledged that South Africa are not alone in suffering with such issues – he referred to all nations other than England, India and Australia as “second-tier nations” – he did not feel any further distribution of wealth is likely.”It would be great for the rest of the teams if you could do that,” du Plessis replied when asked if he would welcome the ICC subsidising international salaries where appropriate. “If I had that much power to say that to the ICC I think I would have said it a long time ago. That is the perfect world, but we don’t live in a perfect world.”Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies and Pakistan: I think all of us fall into the same category, like maybe your second-tier nations and then you get your top tier which is a little bit different. West Indies are a great example. They probably are the worst off and that is why they have lost so many players to the circuit.”I think England, Australia, India will always be the higher-paid nations. It is easier for the guys who are playing for England or Australia or India to remain in their countries and just play their cricket there. Obviously the currency is very strong but also the packages that they get paid are obviously a lot different to your smaller nations.”If that changes, it will be amazing for the rest of the world, but I think it’s a long, long way from happening.”

Seamer takes 3 for 4 before Pant and Virat Kohli hit half-centuries to steer the chase in third T20I

The Report by Saurabh Somani06-Aug-20195:16

Dasgupta: The unbeaten 65 could change Pant’s career

West Indies put up an improved performance in the final T20I, with their batsmen having their best day collectively, but it wasn’t enough to deny India a 3-0 sweep, with terrific bowling upfront by Deepak Chahar complemented by a match-winning partnership. Kieron Pollard’s first T20I half-century in more than seven years took West Indies to a competitive 146 for 6, but half-centuries by Virat Kohli (59) and Rishabh Pant (65*) and their century stand for the third wicket meant India hunted down the target in 19.1 overs.The Chahar effect
Deepak Chahar reduced West Indies to 14 for 3 inside four overs, taking out the top three and getting the ball to hoop around corners and jag both ways. It was a magnificent exhibition of swing bowling, yanking batsmen out of position, hands following the ball, feet not in sync. Chahar bowled three overs on the trot, and had figures of 3 for 4 at the end. He wouldn’t complete his quota, but his strangulation at the top meant India could come out of the Powerplay with hardly much against them. On a pitch that offered turn to the spinners and held up a bit, and with short boundaries, that was crucial.Rahul Chahar – Deepak’s double first cousin – was making his international debut and fulfilling a childhood dream of the two playing for India together, but the leggie had to cede the limelight to the seamer.In his first over, with Sunil Narine facing up with the specific mandate of going after the bowling, Deepak kept his lines tight at the start. Then he threw one a bit wider, but it was still nibbling in the air. With leaden feet, Narine could only toe-end a flat-bat hit to Navdeep Saini at mid-on. Both Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer fell in Chahar’s next over, done in by balls that most left-hand batsmen would have fallen to. Both times, Chahar slanted the ball across them, and got it to swerve back into the batsman like a Formula 1 car taking a hard left. Pads were rapped, appeals were belted out, and fingers were raised. Lewis even burned a review for his team, though to be fair to him, he might have thought the ball was missing leg – it wasn’t, because the initial angle had dragged him far enough across.Deepak Chahar removed West Indies’ openers•Associated Press

The Pollard-led revival
The start was rocky, but the depth and power in West Indies’ batting meant they could kick on nonetheless and still end up with an adequate total. Pollard, at No. 4, showed off his power with several clean hits down the ground. He hit six sixes, which meant that even though there were periods of dot balls building up, getting the run rate back into healthy territory was only a hit or two away. Pollard fell to a Saini slower ball, but Rovman Powell – fresh off a power-packed half-century in the second T20I – showed he wasn’t a one-hit wonder with a rollicking finish that took West Indies past 140, and might have also taken him into the wishlists of several IPL franchise owners.The Kohli-Pant stand
With Kohli taking control of the chase and Pant showing his full repertoire, India’s innings never fell in choppy waters. Two shots each by both batsmen stood out. Pant twice drove Keemo Paul inside-out over extra-cover, the ball pinging off the bat and flying over the boundary. The execution of the shot was stunning enough both times, but the fact that Pant could conceive of the shot was extraordinary in itself. Pant would hit his trademark unorthodox shots too, including a reverse-sweep and an audacious flick, but those drives were shots associated more with pitches where the ball comes on nicely and 200 is par.Kohli too had his wow moments. A ball after he had seen a leading edge off Carlos Brathwaite fall in no-man’s land but hang in the air long enough to steal two, he unleashed a cover drive that landed millimetres inside the cover boundary. Two balls later, facing Paul now, Kohli sent the ball whirring to the deep-midwicket fence, whipping through the line with wrists of steel and timing of silk.The two had come together at 27 for 2 in the fifth over, both under a bit of a cloud. Pant had fallen cheaply in the first two T20Is, and while Kohli had managed to stick around longer than Pant, he hadn’t looked fluent. In this game too, they played within themselves at the start, getting used to the pace of the pitch, and then began opening up. They ended up adding 106 in just 12.5 overs, with the last five overs of the stand yielding 55 runs. It was a partnership that finished the match off as a contest, but Pant ensured there was a flourish at the end, driving Brathwaite straight back over his head and into the sightscreen for the winning hit.

Willey claims four wickets, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Adam Lyth post fifties in Yorkshire victory

ECB Reporters Network29-Aug-2019Yorkshire lifted themselves off bottom spot in the North Group with a landslide 80-run victory over Northamptonshire in a Vitality Blast dead rubber at Headingley, with ex-Steelback David Willey starring with four new-ball wickets.Both sides went into their penultimate fixture of 2019 with no chance of qualifying for next week’s quarter-finals. The Vikings were bottom of the table with two wins from 12 games and the Steelbacks two places higher with three wins from the same number of fixtureBut Yorkshire amassed 187 for 7 thanks to fifties for openers Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Adam Lyth, who made 51 and 50 respectively, and then a breezy 38 off 16 balls from Harry Brook, who later took four catches – a joint Yorkshire record in a T20 fixture.In reply, former Northants Blast winner Willey struck four times in his first three overs, at a cost of only 11 runs, leaving the Steelbacks 43 for 5 after six. That was game over as they later slipped to 107 all out in 18 overs and Willey finished with 4 for 18.Having won the toss, Yorkshire’s innings could be split into three parts.They flew out of the blocks as captain Kohler-Cadmore and Lyth shared 88 of 91 for one in the first 10 overs. They then both fell the ball after reaching their fifties.Northants dragged things back as the hosts reached the 15-over mark at 122 for 3.Experienced left-arm spinner Graeme White was excellent in removing Lyth and former team-mate Willey, who both offered leg-side catches.Then, the Vikings regained their momentum as Brook, back in the side having made way following a run of low scores, found his range to help pick up 65 off the last five overs. He mixed power with invention, pulling South African Dwaine Pretorius for six and ramping him for four next ball in the 16th over. He also smashed Rob Keogh’s off-spin for a huge straight six into the upper reaches of the new Emerald Stand.Northants captain Josh Cobb used eight bowlers, with Keogh and Pakistani seamer Faheem Ashraf also claiming two wickets apiece.The visitors then got off to a flying start in their chase, with Richard Levi hitting the first three balls of the innings from Lyth for four before planting the fifth ball over mid-wicket for six into the Western Terrace, the same stand Ben Stokes peppered in Sunday’s Ashes heist. But he slapped Willey straight to mid-wicket with the first ball of the second over.Tim Bresnan bowled Adam Rossington with the first ball of the third and Willey struck again with the first ball of the fourth when he had Cobb caught at deep backward square-leg before getting Pretorius brilliantly caught by Will Fraine running back from point later in the over.Alex Wakely then holed out to deep square-leg off Willey, ending a miserable Powerplay at 43 for 5, before Bresnan struck again in the sixth to get Ashraf caught at mid-on with only two runs added to the total.South African left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj bowled Keogh early in the eleventh over as the score slipped to 68 for 7 before off-spinner Jack Shutt had White and Nathan Buck caught at long-off by Brook.Tom Sole played a lone hand for 41 not out before Lyth had Blessing Muzarabani caught behind to wrap things up.

The Sri Lankan smashed a 22-ball fifty, but it wasn’t enough to take defending champions Knight Riders home in a chase of 161

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu11-Oct-2019
The last time Barbados Tridents made the CPL final, in 2015, Kieron Pollard was their captain. Four years later, Tridents, led by Jason Holder, toppled Pollard’s Trinbago Knight Riders in front of a raucous Trinidad crowd to set up a final clash with Guyana Amazon Warriors, who have won 11 of their 11 games in CPL 2019 so far.A torrential downpour had delayed the arrival of Tridents’ team bus, a floodlight tower experienced power failure, JP Duminy was forced to retire hurt in the first innings, but Tridents overcame the odds to end Knight Riders’ hopes of a three-peat.ALSO READ – Pollard: A mercenary and a legendAfter helping Tridents loot 43 off their last two overs to finish with 160 for 6, Ashley Nurse took 2 for 14 with the ball to send Knight Riders’ chase spiraling out of control. When Pollard was run out for 23 off 16 balls, the crowd fell silent and Tridents’ owners were celebrating. Knight Riders’ Sri Lankan recruit Seekkuge Prasanna, however, threatened a jailbreak with 22-ball half-century and dragged the chase to the last over.Knight Riders needed 14 off the final over and Prasanna was on a boundary-hitting spree, having launched slower-ball specialist Harry Gurney out of the ground. Left-arm seam-bowling allrounder Raymon Reifer, who had earlier hit an unbeaten 24 off 18 balls, pinned Prasanna in front with a dipping yorker to seal Knight Riders’ fate.Third-time unlucky
Javon Searles drew an outside edge from Johnson Charles with the second ball of the match, but wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin dropped it. Searles then had the opener skying a loft in his second over, but neither Lendl Simmons nor Chris Jordan attempted the catch in the infield and reprieved him again. Charles then managed a mere eight runs off 15 balls from Sunil Narine and Khary Pierre before searching for a release against Ali Khan. Charles ventured another lofted hit, but the USA seamer hit a hard length and had him splicing a catch to mid-off.ALSO READ: Pierre: Trinbago Knight Riders’ master of thriftOh hello, Ashley Nurse!
Before this game, Nurse had last bowled on September 22 in Tridents’ first home match of the season. He hadn’t quite fired with the bat either until Thursday. While other higher-profile names like Alex Hales and Shakib Al Hasan fell cheaply, Nurse punched 24 off nine balls at a strike-rate of 266.66.When Nurse entered to bat, Tridents were 112 for 6 in the 18th over and their coach Phil Simmons confirmed that Duminy would not return to bat because of a “hamstring twinge”.Nurse was up against the Barbados-born Jordan, who had conjured a double-wicket over earlier in the evening. But the onset of dew meant Jordan couldn’t grip the ball and dished out a beamer that was smoked for a six over the bowler’s head. Jordan then attempted a slower ball later in the over, but Nurse manufactured pace for himself and slugged it over midwicket for another six.He cracked another six in the last over of the innings, bowled by Ali Khan, to push Tridents to a competitive total along with Reifer.Seekkuge’s salvo
Narine kickstarted Knight Riders’ chase with four fours off the first over, bowled by Shakib, but was tricked by Gurney’s slower cutter in the third. Lendl Simmons, the second-highest run-getter this season, had a rare failure, chipping a similar slower ball from Jason Holder to mid-on. USA’s legspin-bowling sensation Hayden Walsh Jr. and Nurse then carved up the middle order, leaving Knight Riders at 81 for 5 in the 12th over. Pollard briefly gave his side hope by muscling Walsh Jr. for a brace of sixes down the ground, but a mix-up with Prasanna four overs later resulted in his dismissal. At this point, Knight Riders still needed 41 off 25 balls. Prasanna then went cray-cray, as did the Knight Riders fans. Guney was dumped onto the roof, and the ball bounced out of the Brian Lara Stadium. Walsh Jr. wasn’t spared either as Prasanna took him for back-to-back sixes. However, Reifer had the final say, ensuring we will have a new champion this season.

His unbeaten 80 enabled Australia to overcome the loss of David Warner and Aaron Finch to win by seven wickets

The Report by Danyal Rasool05-Nov-2019It didn’t take long for Steven Smith to clamp down on any whispers he might be surplus to the requirements of the Australian T20I side. A commanding half-century that combined pugnacity and poise in exactly the right doses steered Australia to what ended up being a stroll of a chase against Pakistan with victory by seven wickets. It needn’t have been as easy as that, though, and didn’t look nearly as comfortable when they lost David Warner and Aaron Finch inside the powerplay, more than a hundred runs still to get without the comfort blanket of an explosive Glenn Maxwell in the middle order.It was an innings every bit as modern as T20 cricket requires of its players, but the 51-ball 80 Smith struck contained shots that wouldn’t have been out of place at this year’s Ashes. Eleven fours and a six, exactly a half-century of them, came in boundaries, and by the final two overs, Smith was properly peaking. You almost wished Pakistan, who had done quite well at the end of the first innings to post 150, had put up something more challenging than that, if only to watch a little bit more of the game’s hottest player operating at his best.Steven Smith goes after a short ball•Getty Images

He was helped by the belligerence of Australia’s openers, making their intentions plain as early as the second over. Warner took apart Imad Wasim, normally so reliably economical in the powerplay, finding four fours in what seemed like all four corners of the ground to get Australia off to a flyer, before his run of unbeaten scores was ended by Mohammad Amir. Their dismissals within three overs of each other was, in truth, the only time in the whole contest where it felt Pakistan were within a punter’s chance of making a game of it in Canberra’s first T20I, but having added 48 in the powerplay, Smith knew he could take his time to settle in without the asking rate spiralling out of control.Pakistan’s bowling in the phase right after left something to be desired, though, and Smith was given regular opportunities to relieve the pressure, finding four boundaries in the next three overs. That was in stark contrast to the exceptionally frugal efforts of their Australian counterparts, who executed what looked like well thought out plans to each of Pakistan’s batsman.Babar Azam was denied the fuller lengths that allow him to step into those gorgeous cover drives, some of which he unfurled in the early stages before Australia pushed their lengths back, to immaculate success. Haris Sohail was cramped for room with length deliveries that ended with him skying one in the air in a near-replica to the way he was dismissed in Sydney, while an improved Adam Zampa meant Pakistan didn’t have the release in the middle overs so vital to pushing their score up to 170, close to which appeared par on a cracker of a batting surface.Iftikhar Ahmed gave Pakistan a strong finish•Getty Images

The top order, once more, left Azam on his own to fend off the Australia attack. Fakhar Zaman’s tortured existence at the crease lasted seven balls before driving a catch straight to mid-off, while Mohammad Rizwan struggled with the exact problem his predecessor was criticised so heavily for. The dot balls mounted at his end, only increasing the pressure on Azam to keep the runs flowing. It wasn’t until Iftikhar Ahmed came in at No. 6 that Pakistan took Australia’s bowlers to task; until then, the run rate was barely over a run a ball.Exceptional work in the field saw Azam dismissed for exactly 50, underestimating the strength and accuracy of Warner’s throwing arm as he turned for a second, with the throw from deep midwicket smashing into the stumps with the Pakistan captain well short of his ground. It appeared the end for any sort of competitive score, but Ahmed put on a display of brilliant hitting the top order looked utterly incapable of to make his first half-century. Kane Richardson came in for especially heavy punishment in his final over, which leaked 22, as, against all odds, Pakistan posted 150 thanks to Ahmed’s 34-ball 62.Australia had done enough in the first ten to ensure they never required much explosive hitting to get to the target. The odd boundary was all they needed in the second half of their innings, with a player of Smith’s class comfortably capable of providing that. When he wasn’t playing unseemly, albeit mightily effective, ramp shots and tennis forehands, he was piercing gaps in the offside that barely seemed to exist.A tight 16th over from a much improved Shadab Khan – Pakistan’s best bowler by some distance – was the last time things got slightly hairy for the hosts, with 30 needed off four at that point. Half of those would come in the next over, though, with Smith taking Amir apart while displaying the full array of his capability for good measure. From thereon, Australia would ease home without really getting out of third gear. In truth, that could be said about the entire evening in a somewhat forgettable game, lit up only by the shimmering brilliance of a man fit to play international cricket no matter what the format.

Maharashtra, Delhi and Jharkhand also make it to the Super League on the last day of the group phase

Hemant Brar18-Nov-2019Despite losing their final Group C match against Maharashtra and finishing with the same number of points as four other teams in the group, Punjab made it to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20 Super League on the basis of their superior net run rate.Apart from Maharashtra, who topped the group, and Punjab, Delhi and Jharkhand from Group E also advanced to the next round on the final day of the group-stage action. Karnataka and Baroda from Group A, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan from Group B, and Mumbai and Haryana from Group D were already through to the Super League, which will be followed by the semi-finals and the final.Punjab win five-way race despite defeatAzim Kazi and captain Rahul Tripathi’s unbeaten half-centuries helped Maharashtra beat Punjab and took them to the pole position with 20 points. Railways also had a chance to join them but they faltered against Himachal Pradesh, leaving five teams – Punjab, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad and Railways – tied on the second spot with 16 points each.Had there been only two teams tied on points, the winner of the head-to-head contest would have qualified for the next stage. But that particular playing condition didn’t apply here and Punjab made the cut, thanks to their healthy net run rate.After opting to field, Punjab had Maharashtra on 90 for 4 in the 12th over but Kazi (71* off 36) and Tripathi (63* off 27) added 111 in just 48 balls in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand to propel them to 201 for 4. Punjab captain Mandeep Singh led the chase with 67 off 49 balls but there wasn’t much support from the other batsmen. In the end, Punjab could manage only 156 for 7 and fell short by 45 runs.In the Railways v Himachal game, Nitin Sharma (76 off 51) and Prashant Chopra (47 off 30) helped Himachal to 193 for 4. Mrunal Devdhar (26 off 15) started well for Railways but once he was dismissed, the chase fell apart. Railways eventually stuttered to 139 for 9, losing the game – and the qualification spot – by 54 runs.Delhi prevail, Jammu & Kashmir failThe equation was relatively simple in Group E. Jharkhand with 22 points were at the top, with Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir tied on 18 points with a match in hand.Delhi beat Odisha by 20 runs on the back of Lalit Yadav’s three-wicket haul. After opting to bat, Delhi made 149 for 6, with Shikhar Dhawan top-scoring with a 33-ball 35. In response, Odisha were all out for 129 in 18.1 overs. Apart from Lalit, Nitish Rana and Pawan Negi also chipped in with two wickets each.Had Jammu & Kashmir won their game against Gujarat, they would also have been on 22 points, making it a three-way tie at the top. But they crumbled against Chintan Gaja and Hardik Patel and were dismissed for 101. Gujarat then knocked down the target in just 13.3 overs. Jammu & Kashmir’s defeat meant Jharkhand also made it to the next round.Elsewhere, Haryana trounced Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh eked out a narrow win against Puducherry, and Bengal defeated Assam but none of those results had any bearing on the qualification scenarios.