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Thirteen-run win in third and final ODI ended a five-match losing streak for India

Sidharth Monga02-Dec-2020India were five down in 32 overs, staring at a below-par total, and with that a series clean sweep, when Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja came together to nearly double their then score of 152, which turned out to be just enough thanks to a gun spell from Jasprit Bumrah in the end. Pandya ended up with a career-best unbeaten 92 off 76, and Jadeja doubled up his 50-ball 66 with the wicket of a set Aaron Finch and a smart low catch in the field. Australia’s chase went similar to India’s innings – the fourth wickets fell at the exact same point, 123 in 25.3 overs – but the hosts kept losing wickets to fall short by 13 runs.The pitch wasn’t as flat as was expected when India won the toss, and it showed in how they managed to successfully defend what was only the third-highest total in a full-length ODI at this heavy-scoring ground. That slightly tricky surface, and the lack of depth in India’s XI probably resulted in a slightly cagey first half of the innings. There was a stretch where Virat Kohli, who had made a fluent start, went 50 balls without a boundary. Keeping that in mind, the effort of Pandya and Jadeja – 150 in 18 overs – was all the more special.Hardik Pandya bottom-edges a pull past the keeper•AFP

That being the big difference between the two sides, Pandya and Jadeja only really went after the bowling in the last five overs when there was no other option. They were good enough on the day to take 76 off those last five. Australia, though, kept going after the bowling, with Glenn Maxwell adding a 38-ball 59 to an already impressive series. He nearly brought it down to a run a ball with four wickets in hand and a little over five overs to go, but this is when Bumrah bowled him with a yorker to end the contest.

Australia atop World Cup Super League table

Australia displaced England at the top of the inaugural Men’s World Cup Super League points table following their 2-1 victory over India that gave them 20 points, to take their tally to 40.
India, who are assured of a 2023 World Cup berth by dint of being the hosts, earned nine points from the series and are placed at the No. 6 position. World Cup holders England occupy the No. 2 slot, with 30 points.
The 13-team World Cup Super League was introduced earlier this year to impart context to bilateral ODIs as well as to determine the seven direct qualifiers for the next 50-over World Cup, in 2023.

This ended a five-match losing streak for India, and accordingly it didn’t come easy. They lost a wicket early after winning the toss in what was a bat-first series, and then were thwarted by the spin combination of Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa. Shikhar Dhawan chipped Sean Abbott to short cover before Shubhman Gill and KL Rahul fell lbw when sweeping Agar, and Shreyas Iyer edged Zampa to point. It is a chicken-and-egg question: did the falling wickets necessitate a Kohli slowdown or did the slowdown bring about ambitious shots from the other end that resulted in those wickets?Kohli did push up the intent towards the 30th over only for Hazlewood to come back and get him out for the third time in this series. If the previous two short balls got Kohli on the pull, this one was wider and took the nick as he played it on the walk. He ended the year without an ODI century, but any mortal would take two half-centuries in a three-match series in what is bound to be a rusty year.This brought together two allrounders whose batting has been under pressure to justify their selection. With Pandya not bowling, the tag of specialist batsman brings its own pressure while Jadeja – remarkable as he has been upon return – keeps out one wicket-taking spinner. However, their batting has improved a lot in the last couple of years; it was on display in unison at Manuka Oval.Both batted like proper batsmen, getting into their innings without hugely sacrificing strike rate, especially with Pandya keeping the bowlers on their toes. With only two specialist quicks in the XI – debutant Cameron Green did put in four overs – Hazlewood and Abbott had to bowl all of the final six overs. This usually brings familiarity and the opportunity to line bowlers up, which is exactly what Pandya and Jadeja did.Pandya first got stuck into Abbott, taking 17 off the 46th over, reaching 75 off 66 by the end of it. In the last four overs, though, it was all Jadeja as the bowling disintegrated. Abbott failed to bowl to his fields, providing Jadeja relatively easy opportunities to hit boundaries, which he took with both hands. By the end, he had hit more sixes than Pandya and his strike rate was higher too.Debutant T Natarajan gave India their first powerplay wicket in six matches as makeshift opener Marnus Labuschagne played on, but the big one came when Thakur strangled Smith down the leg side for his first non-century score of the series. Finch, whom India reprieved three times in the field, kept the pressure on, but Thakur came back to get rid of Moises Henrqiues, who pulled a long hop straight to midwicket. Debutant Green then got stuck at the start, which brought about a low-percentage loft from Finch.However, Australia kept challenging India. Green, Alex Carey and Agar provided support for Maxwell to accelerate at the other end. Sweep, reverse sweep, switch hit, pull, slog – everything came off as Maxwell took them to 39 required off the last six overs with four wicket in hand.India had to go to Bumrah now. Two singles and two wides later, it seemed Australia were one final push away from breaking the chase down. Bumrah, who had had a catch dropped earlier, found the timber as Maxwell backed away to go through cover. Natarajan and Thakur then came back well to close the game out.

Neither player entered tour bubble ahead of Sri Lanka series after two Covid positives detected

Firdose Moonda22-Dec-2020
Beuran Hendricks and Keegan Petersen have been withdrawn from South Africa’s Test squad to play Sri Lanka.Neither player entered the tour bubble when the playing group convened on Saturday, after two positive Covid-19 results were detected last week. CSA cannot, for reasons of doctor-patient confidentiality, name who the infected players are.The other 17 squad members have tested negative on all three occasions, thus making the environment bio-secure. South Africa will not add any players to the squad for the two-Test series which starts on Boxing Day.Having cleared three rounds of testing, South Africa can begin training as a full squad on Wednesday after having staggered sessions so far. They will also no longer be confined to their hotel rooms at the Irene Country Club and can use communal areas, with social distancing rules in place, but will not come into contact with Sri Lanka, who are housed at the same venue. In addition, they will not be permitted to leave the venue except to travel to SuperSport Park and the Wanderers for the duration of the series.Related

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Cricket South Africa have enforced stricter controls for this series than they did for the England tour – in which players were allowed to play golf at various courses around the Western Cape province – both at the behest of Sri Lanka Cricket and because the England tour was unsuccessful.Three South African players tested positive for Covid-19 – one before the tour, one after entering the bubble and one after the T20 series – as did two hotel staff, and the one-day series was postponed. Two members of England’s touring party also tested positive although, on verification, their results were confirmed as false positives. South Africa, who are also due to host Australia this summer, need the Sri Lanka series to take place without incident to get their international hosting back on track.For that reason, they pushed the final round of domestic first-class matches, which were due to start last Sunday, into next year following positive cases in two of the three matches that began on December 13. Hendricks, Petersen and eight other players in the national squad were part of two of those games.At SuperSport Park, the match between the Titans and the Dolphins was called off after the first day because a Dolphins’ players tested positive while in Bloemfontein, the game between the Knights and the Lions continued despite a Lions’ player testing positive on day three. Several more Dolphins and Lions players were also found to be infected.The impact has been felt by the national squad who have lost at least one certain starter for the Sri Lanka Tests. Hendricks, who has only played one Test, would most likely have been the third seamer in the absence of the injured Kagiso Rabada. Hendricks debuted at the Wanderers last summer and took six wickets in the match, including 5 for 64 in the second innings, and is familiar with conditions up-country, having made the Lions his domestic home. Instead, South Africa will rely on Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje for experience and could hand a debut to Glenton Stuurman, Migael Pretorius or Lutho Sipamla.Petersen was less likely to play than Hendricks but, after three summers averaging over 50 domestically, he made a strong case to be considered at No.3. He should also have been the next man in line after being a non-playing member of the squad last season but will have to make way for one of Sarel Erwee, Raynard van Tonder or Kyle Verreynne for now.Updated squad: Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Rassie van der Dussen, Anrich Nortje, Glenton Stuurman, Sarel Erwee, Wiaan Mulder, Kyle Verreynne, Migael Pretorius, Dwaine Pretorius, Lutho Sipamla, Raynard van Tonder

Will Sutherland and Hannah Darlington took the young player honours

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Feb-2021Shaun Marsh has made it back-to-back male domestic player of the year titles at the Cricket Australia awards with Elyse Villani named the female player of the year. Will Sutherland and Hannah Darlington took the respective young cricketer titles.The voting period of the awards is December 11, 2019 to December 9, 2020. For the men that takes in last season’s BBL, the latter part of last season’s Sheffield Shield and the first part of this season, which was played in an Adelaide hub, and for the women that latter part of last season’s WNCL and this season’s WBBL.During that period Marsh scored 1058 across all formats for Western Australia and Melbourne Renegades. That is split as 609 runs at 55.36 in the Sheffield Shield, which included three centuries earlier this season, and 449 runs in the BBL.He is the fourth player to win the award in multiple years after Darren Lehmann, Michael Klinger and Cameron White.Villani’s award comes after she lost her place in the Australia team in early 2019 and further emphasises the depth on offer. She made 360 runs at 27.69 and a strike-rate of 120.80 in Melbourne Stars’ WBBL campaign, forming a strong opening pairing with Meg Lanning, in which they reached the final before defeat against Sydney Thunder. That followed a strong finished to the 2019-2020 WNCL season for Victoria where she averaged over 50.”To be voted by them is a huge honour and something I don’t really take lightly,” she said. “When my career does come to an end one day, I know I’m going to look back on it really fondly because it’s such a huge honour to be thought of by all the girls.”Player voted awards are so special because it really highlights the respect that players have for one another and I know that’s something the girls really value.”Sutherland, who plays for Victoria and Melbourne Renegades, reached Australia A level this season when he faced India at the SCG. He took a career-best Sheffield Shield return of 6 for 67 against South Australia late last season.”They are strong competitions we have been playing in in the Sheffield Shield and Big Bash with a lot of good young cricketers coming through, so to get that recognition is pretty exciting for me at this point of my career,” he said.Meanwhile, Darlington continued to show herself as one of the most promising young bowlers in Australia by excelling in the Thunder’s WBBL-winning campaign, especially standing out at the death, taking 19 wickets with an economy rate of 6.19.

Bangladesh doesn’t have an Elite Panel umpire, forcing the ICC to make the appointment

Mohammad Isam25-Jan-2021The ICC has named Richard Illingworth as a match official for Bangladesh’s Test series at home against West Indies next month. This will make Illingworth the first neutral umpire in a Test since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.In June last year, when international cricket resumed after the global lockdown because of the pandemic, the ICC had temporarily removed neutral umpires for all international formats owing to the “current logistical challenges with international travel”.But Bangladesh doesn’t have an umpire in the ICC’s Elite Panel, necessitating the appointment of Illingworth. He arrived in Chattogram on January 24, 11 days before the first Test, which will start February 3.Like all inbound travellers from the United Kingdom, Illingworth, too, is currently undergoing mandatory institutional isolation in accordance with the January 13 directive from Bangladesh’s civil aviation authority. All passengers from the UK are required to isolate for four days after their arrival in the country regardless of the result of their first Covid-19 test. After a second test, the passengers must go into home quarantine for another ten days. The strict measures have been put in place following the appearance of the new strain of the Covid-19 virus in the UK.However, since Illingworth has already arrived in Bangladesh, he is expected to go through a shorter quarantine as the BCB usually negotiates with the government for exemptions relating to cricketing assignments. The BCB has already got similar exemptions for their coaching staff as well as the West Indies contingent and TV crew, who arrived from the UK a little over two weeks ago.Illingworth will officiate the two Tests alongside home umpire Sharfuddoula, who will stand in his first Test match. He will become the fifth Bangladeshi umpire to stand in a Test match after Enamul Haque, AFM Akhtaruddin, Mahbubur Rahman, and Showkatur Rahman.

He replaces Malinga, who is understood to be out of contention for selection, having not trained with the squad in the past few months

Andrew Fidel Fernando23-Feb-2021Dasun Shanaka has been appointed the Sri Lanka men’s team’s new T20I captain, replacing Lasith Malinga, who is understood to be out of contention for selection, having not trained with the squad in the past few months. Shanaka has previously led the T20 side – on the 2019 tour to Pakistan, where Sri Lanka won 3-0. More recently, he has also captained the Dambulla Viiking franchise at the Lanka Premier League. He has been handed the captaincy over Thisara Perera, who has also led Sri Lanka in the format before and had also been the captain of the winning LPL franchise.Shanaka’s first assignment will be the three-match T20 series in the West Indies beginning on March 3, and on this tour, Sri Lanka have two uncapped batsmen to choose from. Opener Pathum Nissanka and middle-order batsman Ashen Bandara have both been chosen in the 20-strong squad – Nissanka’s selection in particular having resulted from strong domestic performances.Dilshan Madushanka, a 20-year-old fast bowler with only four senior matches on his record, is the other uncapped player in the squad, while allrounder Dhananjaya Lakshan, who was among the finds of the LPL, has been overlooked.Making a return, meanwhile, is spinner Akila Dananjaya, who last played for Sri Lanka in September 2019, before serving a one-year suspension over an illegal bowling action. Dananjaya has since remodeled his action, but was not especially successful in the three LPL matches he played in since his return. He is one of three frontline spinners in the squad, alongside legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga, and left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan. Two allrounders also add spin-bowling options – the offspin of Ramesh Mendis is available, as is the ambidextrous finger spin of Kamindu Mendis.On the fast bowling front, Sri Lanka will miss Lahiru Kumara, who tested positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the team’s departure to the Caribbean. In his place, the selectors have chosen Suranga Lakmal. Nuwan Pradeep, Asitha Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera and Madushanka are the other quicks in the squad.After Shanaka leads the team in the T20s that begin the tour, Dimuth Karunaratne will take over for the ODI and Test legs that follow. These teams last faced each other early in 2020, in Sri Lanka. On that tour, West Indies had won the T20s 2-0, and Sri Lanka swept the three-match ODI sereis.Sri Lanka squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (ODI captain), Dasun Shanaka (T20 captain), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Ashen Bandara, Oshada Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Thisara Perera, Kamindu Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ramesh Mendis, Nuwan Pradeep, Asitha Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera, Akila Dananajaya, Lakshan Sandakan, Dilshan Madushanka, Suranga Lakmal

Unbeaten 205-run stand turns the tables as champions endure frustrating day in the field

Andrew Miller10-Apr-2021Worcestershire 350 for 6 (Libby 141*, Barnard 116*, Wessels 54, Cook 4-77) trail Essex 490 for 9 dec by 140 runsThere’s been a fetching pink beanie sitting on the wall by the traffic lights on New Writtle Street for three days now. It’s nearly new, to judge by its lack of contours, although perhaps a touch too Middlesexy in hue for these parts. But much like Jake Libby and Ed Barnard throughout their indomitable seventh-wicket stand of 205, it seems to have hit upon an unlikely strip of Chelmsford real estate, and decided that – come wind, rain or shine – there’s nowhere else that it would rather be.The beanie was still there at the close – of course it was. More improbably, so too were Worcestershire’s incumbents, as they warmed to their task on the coldest, gloomiest day of the season so far, to turn a position of pre-ordained defeat into one from which Sunday’s probable stalemate will feel like a hugely significant victory. A punch of the gloves as the pair strode off at the close underlined the extent to which they had changed the narrative of this contest, and that there’s only one team left that’s likely to derive any enjoyment from its denouement.For Libby, of course, this was business as usual. Of all the batsmen in last year’s Bob Willis Trophy, only Sir Alastair Cook managed more than his haul of 498 runs at 55.33, and Cook only vaulted that tally with his commanding century in the final. But in battling his way to the close on 141 not out from 369 balls, Libby reaffirmed his credentials by putting Cook himself – for much of his innings a chilly onlooker from the slip cordon – through the sort of ordeal that all the best openers should aspire to inflict on their opponents.Barnard, by contrast, came with rather less warning of what was in store. Despite his youthful promise – not least as a white-ball allrounder – a previous best first-class score of 75, and a grand total of four centuries in any representative format (most recently a Birmingham Premier League knock for Shrewsbury in 2017) did not exactly scream of the sort of durability that Worcestershire were crying out for, especially when he arrived at the crease at a listless 145 for 6.Worcestershire were still almost 200 runs shy of saving the follow-on at that moment, and if Libby’s dour half-century was providing a steadfast imitation of Tom Westley’s first-day efforts, no-one other than the been-and-gone Riki Wessels had shown any intention of doing likewise. Wessels had thumped and ground his way to a punchy 54 in a fifth-wicket stand of 89 to hint that resistance wasn’t futile after all. But it was surely going to have to be the second innings, with the threat of imminent defeat to focus the minds, where Worcestershire made their stand.But this was not to be the day that Essex’s frustrated champions had in mind. Not after their surging finish to the second day’s play, when Sam Cook’s biting seam movement had shredded the top of Worcestershire’s reply; not after Cook’s fourth-ball breakthrough on the most bitter, wintery morning of the match had taken his personal tally to four wickets in the space of 12 balls. And certainly not in the first over after lunch, when Ben Cox dropped to one knee for a wild sweep that gifted Simon Harmer the first of what, presumably, will be another bucketload of first-class wickets this season, and brought the diffident Barnard out to join his senior partner.Jake Libby is congratulated by Ed Barnard after bringing up his century•Andrew Miller

But if there was one clear difference between the approaches of Essex and Worcestershire in their two innings, it was in the willingness of the latter to go from their strokes – the life lessons, no doubt, of 157.4 overs of hard yakka across the first two days. For all of Worcestershire’s seamers – not least Barnard himself, whose 3 for 67 looks even better in hindsight – there had been a distinct lack of April zip off the deck, and what few edges they had found had been falling consistently short of the cordon.So Barnard himself chose the pro-active route, trusting himself to aim through the covers with relative impunity. Sure enough, it wasn’t until late in the afternoon session that Essex chose to plug a third man through which more than 50 runs had whistled in the course of the innings, with not a single catchable opportunity among them, beyond Adam Wheater’s second-ball drop of Daryl Mitchell right at the top of the innings.Essex are not used to being made to toil for their wickets on home soil – in three home fixtures in last season’s Bob Willis Trophy, only one team, Kent, managed to post more than 200 in any of their six innings, and even they were rolled aside for 112 second-time around. And their frustrations were epitomised when Sam Cook, in his penultimate over of the day, attempted a shy at Barnard’s stumps in his followthrough, but shanked his throw so badly that it almost took out Alastair Cook’s shins at slip before streaking to the boundary.Related

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Both men brought up their centuries in near-identical fashions – a pair of flicks off the pads on 98, and a pair of urgent scampers back for the second run that brought a pair of throaty roars from the visiting dressing rooms. Barnard in particular bore a look of wonder in his eyes as he contemplated his achievement. It was, he admitted afterwards, “a monkey off his back” to broach three figures given his obvious talent, and his stated ambition, given his current age of 24, to become a genuine allrounder at 5 or 6 in the order.”When there is someone at the other end who is confident it makes it easier,” he added. “It gives you the calmness and the confidence you can do it as well. It was a case of batting as long as we can and trying to save the game. We saw it was a good pitch and knew it could be done, so we just had to get a head start and get on with it.”For Essex, this likely failure to record their habitual home victory is far from panic stations despite the rejigged format for this season – especially given the ECB’s decision to up the points from five to eight for a draw. But, for all of the resolve shown by Libby and Barnard, the lack of life in the surface is already a concern given the truncated group stage.”We knew leading up to the season that the ground was particularly dry for this time of year,” admitted Anthony McGrath, the head coach.”Firstly, credit to Worcestershire. The partnership between Libby and Bernard was really good. They batted well. But there hasn’t been a lot in the wicket all game. We needed to make in-roads with the new ball, which we managed last night, but as we’ve seen through the three days that if someone has got through that then it is a pretty benign pitch.”People talk about us not scoring enough runs at home but in this match we have scored a lot of runs but haven’t taken the wickets. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”There is still a day left so I wouldn’t be going anywhere yet. As we have seen over the last couple of years anything can happen here. We still have a healthy lead and if we can go bang-bang in the morning then we will be trying to push the game forward.”

Middle-order batter could also play two Championship games; James Harris joins Glamorgan on loan

Matt Roller21-Apr-2021Gloucestershire have announced the signing of Glenn Phillips, the New Zealand batter, for the duration of their T20 Blast campaign.Phillips, 24, dislodged Ross Taylor to become a member of New Zealand’s first-choice T20I side this season, playing all 14 of their home fixtures and hitting 108 off 51 balls against West Indies. He will provide a wicketkeeping option if James Bracey misses some of the Blast due to England duty, and can also bowl occasional offbreaks.A specialist middle-order batter, Phillips has improved his game against spin markedly during four seasons playing for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League, and is understood to have been discussed as a possible back-up option by IPL franchises ahead of February’s auction.He will add further firepower to a squad that reached Finals Day last summer for the first time since 2007, joining Ian Cockbain, Jack Taylor, Benny Howell and Ryan Higgins in the middle-order engine room. Phillips spent the 2016 summer in the UK playing for MCC Young Cricketers and for Brondesbury CC in club cricket, and this will be his first stint in county cricket.Related

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Phillips will also be available for the County Championship fixtures that take place during the Blast, specifically against Middlesex and Hampshire at Cheltenham, by which point Kraigg Brathwaite’s stint at the club will have ended. He has a solid first-class record, averaging 40.18, and made a half-century in his only Test to date – against Australia in early 2020. Having missed out on New Zealand’s squad for the tour of England, he will be available to play throughout the Blast, and could be an attractive option as a short-term replacement playing during the Hundred.Ian Harvey, Gloucestershire’s interim head coach, said: “Glenn is very exciting to watch and he’s going to add a massive amount to what is already a powerful T20 batting line-up. He can bat at the top of the order, in the middle and also add to our firepower at the end. He’s a bit of an allrounder because he bowls and keeps wicket as well so he will give us plenty of options.”To have someone in your side with the ability to do pretty much everything is a huge bonus and his experience of playing around the world in franchise cricket is going to be a massive benefit for our players. He’s played Test match cricket and can keep wicket so he gives us plenty of options if we want to bring him in for red-ball games.”James Harris has signed for Glamorgan on a two-week loan•Getty Images

Meanwhile, Glamorgan have announced the signing of James Harris, the Middlesex seamer, on loan for their next two Championship fixtures. Harris, who is president of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, came through the club’s academy system before joining Middlesex in 2012, and is returning to Wales on loan for the second time after a similar move in 2014.Harris has fallen down the pecking order at Middlesex and was not named in their squads for the first two Championship games of the season. Glamorgan are experiencing an availability crisis within their seam-bowling department with Ruaidhri Smith and Jamie McIlroy suffering injuries, Timm van der Gugten reporting muscle tightness and Michael Neser yet to arrive as an overseas player, giving Harris an opportunity to play in their matches against Northamptonshire and Kent.

The two match referees and six umpires managed to get to the BKSP eventually and matches began after a delay

Mohammad Isam13-Jun-2021A group of Dhaka Premier League (DPL) match officials escaped major injuries when the car ferrying them to the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP) on Sunday morning was attacked during a violent skirmish between protesting garment workers and the police in the Savar industrial area.Eight officials – match referees Debabrata Paul and Adil Ahmed, and umpires Shafiuddin, Tanvir Ahmed, Abdullah Al Motin, Imran Parvez, Barkatullah Turkey and Sohrab Hossain – were in the car and were on their way to officiate in the two DPL matches scheduled at BKSP on the day. The car was completely smashed. Other vehicles stuck in the tailback were also attacked.Related

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An eyewitness told ESPNcricinfo that thousands of agitated workers attacked the cars that had been held up in traffic in a spree that lasted 15 to 20 minutes. The officials managed to escape with help from local police and BCB security personnel. While there were no serious injuries, broken windows had left glass shards on the officials. Once away from the scene, the officials managed to tidy up and find their way to BKSP, and the games were held after a 30-minute delay.Kazi Inam Ahmed, the chairman of the cricket committee of Dhaka Metropolis, called it an “unfortunate incident”, adding, “The match officials showed great courage in the face of such an incident. They could start the matches at 9.30am. The match officials had a police escort but four of them were facing thousands of people in that protest.”On each match day of this season’s DPL T20 tournament, four matches are held at the BKSP, the country’s biggest sports institute, which has two grounds. The match officials, who are staying in one hotel in Dhaka within a BCB bio-secure bubble, take the 40-kilometre journey to the ground together.

Veteran allrounder contributes 15 sixes and 160 out of 166-run partnership for ninth wicket

David Hopps21-May-2021The oldest swinger in town was at it again in Canterbury, clubbing the ball to all parts, defying age and occasionally defying logic. Darren Stevens played one of the most remarkable attacking innings witnessed in the Championship for many a year as he again underlined his status as one of the most notable servants county cricket has ever known.Stevens’ resounding assault on Glamorgan’s bowling, glorious in its simplicity, brought him 190 from 149 balls. Kent, at one time 128 for 8, made 307 as he walloped 15 sixes and 15 fours. On a day of strong breezes which bent tree branches, removed umpires’ caps and caused advertising boards to take flight, the Stevens whirlwind settled in the middle of the square and caused the most damage of all.At 45 years and 21 days, he became the oldest player to score a first-class century since Chris Balderstone (45 years, 247 days) for Leicestershire in July 1986. (Geoffrey Boycott might remind you that he was a slightly older 45-year-old when he struck two centuries earlier that month, although without Stevens’ shower of sixes.)To put things in perspective, before this round of matches the leading six-hitter in the Championship was Nottinghamshire’s Tom Moores… with seven. To further put things into perspective, Stevens entered this game with six single-figure scores on the bounce. In the past two years he has virtually had to talk his way into squeezing another year’s contract. Kent supporters will hope he again has the gift of the gab in September because they are not yet ready to let go. He is a player who can’t be pinned down, who every so often does wondrous things with bat or ball.How fortunate we feel as we edge gingerly out of this global pandemic, like rabbits out of burrows, to witness cricket so free of guile. How blessed Stevens must feel to still be playing on; he lost his father, who loved watching him play, to a Covid-related illness about a year ago, and lived in a caravan for two weeks on his cousin’s driveway in Leicester so he could talk through the window to his mum, who was self-isolating. Dreadful times, and these are the days that we treasure more strongly as a result.Greedily for the statisticians, the six that mattered most was the one that got away. If only Stevens had made a sweeter connection with a blow down the ground against the legspin of the Australia Test batsman, Marnus Labuschagne, he would have equalled the most sixes in English first-class cricket, jointly held by Graham Napier and Andrew Symonds. As soon as he hit it, he walked away from the crease, pausing momentarily to glance over his shoulder to confirm that Kiran Carlson had held the catch at long-on.

Most sixes in County Championship innings

• 16 – Andrew Symonds, Gloucestershire v Glamorgan, Abergavenny, 1995

• 16 – Graham Napier, Essex v Surrey, Whitgift School, 2011

• 15 – Kevin Pietersen, Surrey v Leicestershire, Kia Oval, 2015

• 15 – Aneurin Donald, Glamorgan v Derbyshire, Colwyn Bay, 2015

• 15 – Darren Stevens, Kent v Glamorgan, Canterbury, 2021

It was by no means certain that Carlson would hang on because in the latter stages of their browbeating, Glamorgan had been run ragged. Stevens was dropped three times, a tough diving chance for Lloyd in the slips when he was 67, on 136 when Labuschagne failed to hold a waist-high, running catch at deep square, and again one run later, this time Billy Root the offender as he pushed the ball over the ropes at deep midwicket.Kent’s ninth-wicket record – 171 by Mark Ealham and Paul Strang – also narrowly survived, and that serves as a reminder of the redoubtable part played by Miguel Cummins, who likes a bit of a tail-end hit, but who loyally committed himself to abstinence. Of their extraordinary stand of 166 in 28 overs, Stevens made 160, Cummins 1 and extras made up the rest; Stevens’ contribution of 96.38% of the partnership runs was a record for 100-plus stands in first-class cricket. Cummins had made 7, from 61 balls, when he dragged on Labuschagne to end Kent’s innings.Stevens majored in leg-side clunks and consummate lofts down the ground. He used the wind intelligently, lofting when it was in his favour, wary when it was not. The most startling six was something different when he dropped to one knee to hit David Lloyd’s medium pace over extra cover. The least impressive was probably his first, a wind-assisted top-edged pull to fine leg against Michael Hogan.Every Glamorgan bowler suffered from Stevens’ assault, although the Australian pair, Labuschagne and Michael Neser suffered less than most. Neser, bearded and strongly built, had sparked Kent’s collapse from their overnight 70 for 2 with inswingers to pick off Jamie Cox, Jack Leaning and Daniel Bell-Drummond, but Stevens treated him to a leg-side pick-up when he lost his line. Labuschagne, the seventh bowler tried, looked spooked as he began with a full toss that was called a wide, but he settled and briefly made Stevens look a little cumbersome.Timm van der Gugten, who had rendered Kent strokeless for much of the morning session, conceded two sixes and still returned 4 for 34 in 19 overs. Andrew Salter’s offspin was the meekest adversary. Stevens cleared the boundary five times two overs; Salter tried to hide one or two, but there was no hiding place; he might as well have been the infant putting his hands over his eyes and hoping that the big, bad man could not see him.Stevens soaks up the applause for his 36th first-class hundred•Getty Images

This was a heartwarming innings, an innings of abandon, one which for all his cricketing nous ultimately reduced to game to the basics of “bat hits ball.” It was apt that this was the week that crowds returned in limited numbers because few players have gained more affection than Stevens has in Kent, and indeed beyond. And as well as the smattering of spectators who braved the cheerless conditions, many more rushed to the ball-by-ball services and the live stream.When named Stevens as one of their Five Cricketers of the Year in April it brought delight to many on the county circuit, and some nonplussed looks beyond. He was the oldest player to be given the honour since Leicestershire’s Ewart Astill in 1933 and his reputation had been built without a single international cap. He did not need to prove himself a worthy recipient, but he did anyway.Later, to prevent stiffness setting in, he bowled a few overs and took a wicket – that of Labuschagne, for the second time this season. Afterwards, his captain, Sam Billings made a dressing room speech in tribute, and a rousing one it would have been. Glamorgan, who must have imagined themselves in a winning position, were 55 for 2 at the close, 252 behind, regathering their poise.

Onus on visitors’ batting to find an extra gear after flat displays in first two T20Is

Andrew Miller25-Jun-2021

Big picture

Three days on from the World Test Championship final, the Ageas Bowl (as it is once again allowed to be known) plays host to a final of a rather less epochal variety. The final T20I between England and Sri Lanka will be a daylight-hours dead rubber after England’s comprehensive victories in Cardiff earlier this week, and if that prospect fails to set your pulse racing then never fear – at least you’ll be able to flick over to Wales versus Denmark during the second innings if the going gets too stodgy.Perhaps that’s unfair. Thursday night’s rain-interrupted second encounter had its moments, perhaps most notably Sam Curran’s sublime side-foot into the stumps to run out Danushka Gunathilaka. But for all that England’s bowlers have been excellent in both contests, the grim truth is that Sri Lanka have limped along to consecutive totals of 129 and 111 in their 20 overs – a series run-rate of precisely one a ball. And impressive though their initial defence of that second total may have been, the jeopardy was short-lived once England’s middle-order pair of Liam Livingstone and Sam Billings had calibrated the appropriate tempo for their chase.It is, as Sri Lanka’s coach Mickey Arthur acknowledged, a case of No. 1 versus No. 9 in the ICC T20I rankings, and the gulf has been plain for all to see. Even the continued absence of England’s most accomplished white-ball batter is unlikely to close up the gap between the sides. Jos Buttler has been ruled out for the remainder of the Sri Lanka tour with a minor calf tear, but Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy – reunited at the top of the order – aren’t exactly a second-best option among white-ball opening partnerships.It’s hard to see exactly where Sri Lanka can hope to catch a break in this contest. Wanindu Hasaranga has impressed once again with his legspin, while their new-ball pairing of Dushmantha Chameera and Binura Fernando bowled with heart and fire in the Powerplay. But Adil Rashid goes from strength to strength, rising to every new role that Eoin Morgan seeks to audition him for, while Mark Wood’s lavish loosener-free pace is a bruising option to bomb the middle overs. When you’re barely stretching the ability of a player with as much star billing as Sam Curran, you know you’ve got your bases covered.Related

• Sam Billings primed to seize his chance after life on England's fringes

• Mickey Arthur: They're No. 1, we're No. 9, and you can see the difference

• Liam Livingstone makes virtue of versatility in pitch for England World Cup role

• Jos Buttler ruled out of Sri Lanka white-ball series with calf injury

Sri Lanka may be tempted to make changes to their line-up, particularly in the batting, but such is the volatility of their current team, at some stage too they will need simply to opt for continuity and trust their chosen players to come out of their shells. That said, it took until the eighth over on Thursday for Sri Lanka to post their first boundary, and nonsensically only two players all night managed so much as hit a four. Kusal Mendis top-scored with a run-a-ball 39; Isuru Udana ruined Chris Jordan’s figures with some belated intent in the 20th over of their innings. Without that, they might not even have scraped past 100.Who knows what England can learn from these contests, although the state of the wickets in Cardiff suggest that they are focused on used-pitch practice given the likelihood of the T20 World Cup taking place in the UAE, straight after the IPL has swiped what little juice the surfaces may have had. That is, after all, the real end-game. This is just another staging post in the quest for further ICC silverware.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)England WWLLWSri Lanka LLLWL

In the spotlight

Dawid Malan has been drafted into England’s ODI squad as a replacement for Buttler, which may help to reassure him that he is still a hugely valued part of the white-ball set-up. But there’s no question he’ll be feeling the heat as the focus intensifies on his place at No. 3. In six T20s this summer – two for England, four for Yorkshire – he has a highest score of 23, while his consecutive scores of 7 and 4 in Cardiff were, incredibly, only his second and third single-digit returns in 26 T20Is. A truer surface in Southampton may be what he needs to get back to his dominant best, although quite how much of a pointer that would be for the T20 World Cup’s conditions is anyone’s guess.Wanindu Hasaranga has been a flicker of hope in a rough period for Sri Lankan cricket. His three-card trick to bamboozle Sam Billings on Thursday capped another fine display of legspin – 2 for 20 in four overs on this occasion – and he is now ranked in the top ten T20I bowlers in the world, according to the ICC. With his combination of accuracy and variety, including a superb googly, if any one player is likely to put in the sort of performance that can earn Sri Lanka a consolation win, it is him.

Pitch and conditions

This will be the first T20 at the Ageas Bowl this season – Hampshire have played a glut of away games in the Blast while the ground was being used as India’s base ahead of the WTC final. To judge by that contest, there should be plenty of carry for the quicks on offer, but most importantly the weather is set fair after the nonsense of this time last week. A pleasant summer’s afternoon is in prospect, come what may.

Team news

As a rule, England are loath to make too many changes to their XIs, although the continued absence of Buttler has caused a degree of upheaval in their ranks. Bairstow is set to open with Jason Roy once more, and probably retain the gloves too, even though Billings was on standby to make his Test debut as a keeper against New Zealand earlier this month. After two blistering displays, Wood may be due a rest – compared to Chris Woakes, his recent workload has been whip-crackingly brutal. Woakes ought to return – otherwise, what did England hope to learn from his recall after a six-year gap? – but then there’s Moeen Ali, absent for ten T20Is and counting.England: (possible) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Sam Billings, 7 Sam Curran, 8 David Willey, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Chris Jordan, 11 Adil RashidThere’s a chance that Sri Lanka may choose to blood their latest all-round prospect, the 22-year-old Dhananjaya Lakshan, whose lusty hitting and variety-laden seam bowling shot to prominence at the recent Lanka Premier League, where he claimed at least one wicket in each of his outings, and thumped Galle Gladiators into the final with some timely hitting in their semi-final victory over Colombo Kings.Sri Lanka: (possible) 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Avishka Fernando, 3 Kusal Perera (capt/wk), 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Dhananjaya Lakshan, 9 Akila Dananjaya, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Binura Fernando

Stats and trivia

• England have won five of their previous eight T20Is at Southampton, including the very first such contest they ever played – and only the second globally – by 100 runs against Australia in 2005.
• Sri Lanka have placed two T20Is at the ground, winning the first by two runs in 2006, but losing the second, ten years later, by eight wickets
• Sri Lanka are yet to score a boundary off Adil Rashid in the series, who has combined figures of 4 for 41 from his eight overs.

  Quotes

  “It’s something I’ve worked hard on for this sort of opportunity, to push my way into a team as someone that can offer something in all three facets of the game.”
  Allrounder Liam Livingstone believes he’s got the skills to enhance England’s T20I line-up“We’re consistently talking about freedom, about taking the handbrake off as a batting unit. But you can only bat as well as you’re allowed to and I thought England were world-class with the lengths they hit.”
  Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur praises the discipline and skill of England’s attack.