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Record Wantage Road crowd enjoy Zaib’s maiden List A hundred as Essex are beaten in tight chase

ECB Reporters Network07-Aug-2022Northamptonshire’s Saif Zaib treated a record Royal London Cup crowd at Wantage Road to a commanding 136, as Northamptonshire pulled off their highest ever run chase in one-day cricket to beat Essex in a thrilling 50-over clash.It was a maiden List A century for Zaib, who was forced to retire hurt on 129 after diving for a second run with Northamptonshire still needing 110. But he returned later to record his highest score in all forms of first team cricket before Tom Sales and Nathan Buck saw their side home by three wickets with two balls to spare.Zaib had combined with captain Will Young in a stand worth 212 in 27.1 overs to set Northamptonshire on their way. Zaib was in aggressive form throughout, hitting boundaries all around the wicket, finishing with 14 fours and four sixes.Related

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Essex’s total of 343 for nine was set up by a sparkling century from Feroze Khushi who shared a partnership worth 169 in 23.4 overs with his captain Tom Westley (67). It was his second List A hundred since making 109 against Durham on 50-over debut last summer. But hopes of capitalising on that start were dashed by Buck who took three wickets in the space of just seven balls to finish with career-best figures of 5 for 59.Essex had lost a wicket in the second over when Josh Rymell chopped on to Buck. Khushi though showed immediate intent, stroking consecutive boundaries off Buck and hooking him for six before greeting a loosener from Tom Taylor with disdain, smashing it square for four. He was equally adept against the slower bowlers Alex Russell and Zaib, firing the ball down the ground and playing a delicate cut to the ropes.He had some moments of luck, earning a reprieve on 43 when he was caught hooking a Taylor no-ball. Later, one delivery after hitting Zaib for a big six over deep midwicket, he was caught in the deep by Ricardo Vasconcelos who threw the ball back in just before he stepped over the ropes. Then on 86, he was dropped at long-on off Zaib but dispatched the next delivery over the bowler’s head for six to move into the nineties.Westley meanwhile kept up the rate at the other end, scoring at a run a ball, stroking the ball sweetly around the park, hitting eight boundaries before he fell to a brilliant diving catch by Will Young at short cover off Russell..Grant Roelofsen (16) played a few aggressive shots but departed when he picked out Vasconcelos on the deep square leg boundary to give Russell a second wicket.Khushi’s stay finally ended when he swung Taylor to Young at deep midwicket.In total He hit 12 boundaries and three maximums off just 93 balls.Robin Das got off the mark by hooking Tom Taylor for four to bring up Essex’s 200 in the 30th over and took consecutive boundaries against Zaib. But on the verge of a half century, he smacked Jack White straight to Young at short cover for a well-made 47.Buck’s spell though was telling. He bowled Will Buttleman and picked up Aaron Beard and Aron Nijjar, both to catches, in quick succession before celebrating his maiden List A five-wicket haul when Shane Snater was caught on the boundary.Feroze Khushi swings over the leg side•Getty Images

Northamptonshire lost two early wickets in the chase against a tight opening burst from Beard and Jamie Porter. Emilio Gay was caught off a leading edge, the first of two early wckets for Beard who also got one to nip back and bowl Vasconcelos (11).Young and Zaib began the process of rebuilding, the captain pulling Porter for four while Zaib steered Beard took two boundaries behind square in the same over.Northamptonshire ended the powerplay on 58 for 2, 13 behind Essex at the same stage, but soon started to make up lost ground. Young, dropped by keeper Buttleman on 27, stroked the seamers around the ground, but reserved his biggest shot for slow left-armer Nijjar when he swung an enormous six over deep midwicket and moved to his half-century off 51 balls.Zaib meanwhile swung Porter through midwicket.and smacked Nijjar ferociously through the covers for another boundary, moving to his half century off 47 balls. He greeted Jamal Richards by hooking him high over backward square leg for six followed by an off-side four to bring up Northamptonshire’s 150 in the 23rd over.He reached three figures off just 79 deliveries and showed no signs of slowing down, hitting a Beard delivery out of the ground over deep extra cover.Young finally fell lbw to Nijjar, one ball after hitting him for six and Northamptonshire quickly lost a second when new batter Rob Keogh was adjudged lbw to Snater.With Zaib still there and Northamptonshire well ahead of the run rate, there still seemed little cause for panic until Zaib went down after diving for a second run.Keeper Lewis McManus (28) though held his nerve, hitting Nijjar down the ground for six and combining in a 54-run stand with Taylor (27). When both fell, Zaib returned to the crease to a huge ovation and dispatched Snater down the ground for six.When he was out caught off Richards, Northamptonshire needed 26 off the last two overs. Snater gifted two no balls before James Sales struck consecutive boundaries and ran a three. Buck hit down the ground for six and played a deft cut down to third to leave Northamptonshire needing just three runs off the final over.

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.”

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.

The left-arm spinner cut through Pakistan A’s middle order before the game ended in a draw

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2018Getty Images

Jon Holland added to a slew of impressive individual performances for the Australians in the four-day tour game against Pakistan A, which ended in a tight draw in Dubai on Tuesday. The left-arm spinner took 5 for 79 on the final day, as Australia pushed for a win, after declaring on their overnight score of 494 for 4, with a lead of 216.However, Pakistan A, led by fifties from Asad Shafiq and Abid Ali survived, despite a flurry of late wickets. They were 261 for 7 in 85 overs when the match ended.Abdid – who struck his second half-century of the game – and captain Asad Shafiq led Pakistanis’ second innings with fifties each. No. 5 Iftikhar Ahmed contributed 45, but Hollad ripped through the middle order. Shafiq was dismissed for 69 off 151 balls when Holland had him caught behind in the 63rd over. Holland bowled unchanged through to stumps, as Pakistan A went from 213 for 3 to 257 for 7.Holland had also dismissed opener Shan Masood for a 44-ball 41, after the opener had attacked Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. The opening stand between Masood and Sami Aslam was worth 53, but once it was broken with the wicket of Masood, first-innings half-centurion Aslam, also departed soon, falling to Michael Neser for 12. The two wickets were followed by the highest partnership of the innings, between Abid and Shafiq, who added 84 before Lyon removed Abid.Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammed Rizwan and Wahab Riaz saw off 16 balls, helping their side get away with a draw.”Really great preparation, it’s been fantastic,” Australia coach Justin Langer said after the match. “We came here a little bit earlier, we have adapted to the heat, we have got some great individual and collective results, I think it has been the perfect preparation so far.”

As Sussex brushed aside their promotion rivals in three days at Worcester, the sense was that the balance of power was shifting in Division Two

Vithushan Ehantharajah at New Road08-Aug-20171:06

County Championship round-up: Warwickshire secure first win

On a day when those around them were hampered by the weather, Sussex completed perhaps one of their most professional wins of the season, beating Worcestershire and the deluge that engulfed most of the Midlands by nine wickets and a day. Having started the match in fifth, Sussex leap to third, with a game in hand on Worcestershire, whose lead in second has been cut to 17 points.Worcestershire were poor. It is hard to remember a Championship game where they have folded so meekly. To lose 12 wickets in five hours play is simply not what you would expect from a young side with a determination at their core that has seen them punch above their weight consistently over the last five years. This is only their third loss of the season but it is the manner of defeat that will jar even the most partisan Pear.Sussex, though, have unfurled a run that now reads five wins in seven, a streak brought about by returns from injury, to form and the sort of swagger that has characterised their teams of the past. Chris Nash’s revival with a first-innings 118, on a tricky day one pitch, wickets shared (Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer and David Wiese took 14 in the match between them) and an array of difficult catches held speak of a team peaking at the right time.Even with rain washing out the morning session, Sussex were still able to make significant strikes in the first passage of play, which started at 1.10pm, removing the remaining two wickets in the Worcestershire first innings – 162 behind – and taking out their top order to leave them reeling on 66 for 5 at tea in their follow-on innings.Aside from the rains, Ed Barnard was the only other uncontrollable that Sussex came up against today. The pick of the Worcestershire bowlers, he held firm to finish the first innings unbeaten on 65 – his third half-century of the season and fourth of his first-class career.His knock threatened to take the hosts beyond their follow-on target, attacking well as he managed the strike effectively with No. 11 and debutant Pat Brown. He managed to take time out of the game when he struck David Wiese for a towering six that landed in the car park towards Worcester Cathedral. However, two balls later, Brown edged behind and Worcestershire had to start all over again.Wiese continued from the Diglis End with an opening eight-over burst that saw him remove Daryl Mitchell, (bowled) Tom Fell (caught at second slip by Harry Finch, his sixth of the match) and then Clarke (bowled off an inside edge) – all three deliveries brought about by movement into the right-hander off the surface.For the second time in the day, it was left to Barnard to fight for Worcestershire’s pride. He took a couple of blows from Stuart Whittingham, who bowled with good pace to remove George Rhodes and Brett D’Oliveira for his first two wickets of the match. Both times, Barnard inspected his helmet and smiled like a man who had found a tenner in his spare pair of jeans rather than knocked on the bonce. If he was punch-drunk, he was snapped out of it by a cluster of wickets at the other end, as Jofra Archer removed Ben Cox, Joe Leach and John Hastings in the space of five balls. Barnard’s smile was long gone.Even in his grind, he was still able to show a wide range of strokes – his charge and thwack back over Wiese’s head for six was Kevin Pietersen-esque in execution and attitude. He had no interest in keeling over like the rest of his side.When he reached 35, he was given a round of applause from Worcestershire fans who had sat through the morning rain – it was his 100th run of the match, without being dismissed. Naturally, it was Barnard who put the hosts into the lead and he fell trying to add to it, skying Stiaan van Zyl to long on, where Whittingham ran in to take a catch (the same fielder had shelled Barnard in the first innings on 43).Naturally, Barnard picked up a wicket in Sussex’s chase of nine: Luke Wells chipping to skipper Joe Leach at midwicket after Mitchell had dropped the same batsmen at second slip. A streaky four through gully from Angus Robson sealed the win for Sussex. It may seem premature, but this match felt like two teams passing each other, with one very clearly on the way up.

Anil Kumble, India’s new head coach, has acknowledged the influence of his predecessors John Wright and Gary Kirsten, and expects to adopt their low-visibility style and remain mostly behind the scenes

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-20161:30

Anil Kumble’s journey from player to coach

Anil Kumble, India’s new head coach, has acknowledged the influence of his predecessors John Wright and Gary Kirsten, and expects to adopt their low-visibility style and remain mostly behind the scenes. Wright was India’s head coach from 2000 to 2005, and was head coach at Mumbai Indians in 2013-14, when Kumble served as the team’s mentor. Kirsten was India’s head coach from 2008 – Kumble’s last year as a Test cricketer – to 2011.”I played a lot under John Wright, he’s been a great influence on how I’ll go about [the role], in terms of being in the background,” Kumble told . “When I became a mentor for Mumbai Indians, I brought John in because he understood a lot about Indian culture and then the way coaches work. So I’ll pick his brain.”I was involved with Gary Kirsten only for the Test matches, a very short period. He was, again, someone who worked in the background and didn’t make himself visible. Exactly how I’d like to work as well. Not in the front, but behind the scenes.”As a bowler, Kumble combined a cerebral approach with a willingness to keep pounding in for long spells no matter what the match situation. Accordingly, he said his coaching style would have “a bit of everything”, giving data its due while trying to strengthen his players’ response to adversity.”Data is important when you have to devise strategies and man-management is extremely crucial,” he said. “You need the team environment to be consistent and healthy, but also competitive. That is something I would look to have in the team.”The team comes first, the coaches play the background role, you are just trying to prepare the team for the best of their ability, for all conditions and all eventualities. You can’t really plan for adversity, but to try to prepare the team to handle those adversities. That’s exactly what we’ll try and address.”Kumble said he wanted to “build leaders” in his playing group, and said his coaching would have to deal as much with off-field as with on-field issues.”[It is] important as a coach to take the burden off the captain,” he said. “Captain has a lot of things on his head, all cricketing decisions and non-cricketing as well. When I was captain I realised that it’s not just taking decisions on the field but off it as well. Those are quite stressful.”Having been with the Indian team for such a long time and having had various experiences of not just conditions, but outside the cricket field, when you’re a coach, you’re not just coach on the field but also off it. You’re trying to build personalities, trying to build leaders. That’s how I’d like to look at this team. There is some wonderful talent, you need to make leaders out of them, try and understand what ticks them. It’s not a quick fix, you have to understand and then take a call.”Defining his role as that of an “enabler”, Kumble said he would not impose his views on the players.”They are already playing a good brand of cricket,” he said. “I will bring my characteristics as well but won’t impose on them. My job is to convince players to buy into what I believe in and what they believe in. At the end of it, they need to own it. If the team doesn’t own what we agree on, then it’s not going to work. I’m only an enabler. I work as an enabler to make sure things happen.”You need to be tough to play international cricket. It’s not only highs that you will see, you will also see lows. The coach’s role is not only to be a coach during successful periods but to be a coach during tough times.”Kumble said he had already spoken to India’s Test captain Virat Kohli, and looked forward to starting his tenure with a camp in Bangalore, his hometown, ahead of the four-Test tour of West Indies in July-August.”We have the West Indies Test series coming up, so that’s something our focus will be on,” he said. “I’ve spoken to Virat [Kohli] and MS [Dhoni, India’s ODI and T20 captain] must be on the flight back from Zimbabwe. It’s nice to have a camp here in Bengaluru before we tour. We’ll sit down and iron out and get ready for the West Indies tour.”Bowling, getting 20 wickets in Test cricket will win you matches. That’s the focus and we’ll take it from there. Batting, we have some great talent there. I believe this team has the potential. It’s a young team and driven by young leaders. Looking forward to working with Virat and MS. Long-term, we have lots of Tests coming up in India, that’ll be our focus.”Kumble starts his role on a one-year term, and most of India’s Test cricket in that period will be at home. Despite this, Kumble said he would focus on improving their overseas record, and that the process could begin at home itself.”I’m really excited,” he said. “This [overseas record] is something I wanted to commit to. You’ll have lot of time to strategise. The team needs to be really fit to meet the demands of Test cricket. Lot of Tests coming up, the first four are in West Indies where the conditions are not that different to India. But the Indian conditions are where we are comfortable with. Focus will be on our overseas record and the mindset we have to address from home itself. We’ll sit down and make a plan to ensure that we train towards achieving those goals.”Returning to a constantly on-the-road lifestyle was the one major concern Kumble had before he applied for the job; he said he finally decided to go ahead after a “long chat” with his family.”I felt it was the right time for me to get involved. I’m still fit enough to run around. It’s a young team so I believe you have to get your hands dirty, you need to be with the players, train with them, be amongst them. If it was a senior team, you can sit back, strategise and address that. But as a young team, you need to be in the middle and that’s something I can do at this stage.”I had a long chat with the family, 18 years on the road, they’ve taken the stress and the burden. My wife and kids have been really supportive. Not easy travelling again so that was a major decision. Once those two were clear, I put my hat in the ring. The process was great, I felt more comfortable because the three members who were interviewing me were my own team-mates, former colleagues. Process was professional and I enjoyed being a part of it. The presentation that was requested, I made my plan and put a blueprint, a blueprint for others to contribute and make it larger and ensure that all stakeholders own that plan and continue to take Indian cricket forward.”

Ben Stokes at his most intimidating muscled England beyond 300 for the third successive match but New Zealand sparked a late collapse to remain very much in contention at midway as the Ageas Bowl produced another excellent batting surface in the Royal Lon

The Report by David Hopps14-Jun-2015
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:24

England pay the price for late collapse

There is more than one way to lodge a score of 300-plus in a one-day international. You can dash there with a state of delirium, as England did, staying true to a spirit of devil may care. Or you can chase it down with ease, as New Zealand did in response, displaying not excitement but merely the composure that grows from two centuries of draining authority.By the time that Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor’s third-wicket partnership was broken, they had added 206 in 32 overs and New Zealand’s last seven wickets needed only 61 from 67 balls, the platform for what ultimately became a slightly edgy victory by three wickets with six balls to spare – a win which gave them a 2-1 lead in this five-match series.Taylor – after his century at the Kia Oval – achieved back-to-back ODI hundreds for the third time in his career. The pair also set a new benchmark in ODI’s for New Zealand’s third wicket, surpassing Geoff Howarth and Martin Crowe in Auckland in 1984.Williamson could probably bungee jump without any measurable rise in his heartbeat or blood pressure. Few international batsmen proceed with such equanimity; he picked off Adil Rashid’s leg spin – a player he knows well from his time at Yorkshire – with aplomb. Taylor’s classy strokeplay provided a perfect accompaniment.England, who for long periods in the field looked resigned to their fate as the Ageas Bowl produced the latest in a succession of excellent batting surfaces, will be left to rue a calamitous end to their innings in which their last five wickets tumbled for 14 in 22 balls.Conservatism does not enter England’s thinking at the moment as they try to reinvent themselves in a more attacking guise, but it was only with nine wickets down that they belatedly nodded to the virtue of batting out their overs and 28 deliveries went unused when the last man, Steven Finn, was cleaned up by Tim Southee. Those wasted deliveries proved hugely influential. They might have accepted the reality of their position a wicket earlier.There were four dropped catches too, catches that might well have turned the game. Taylor escaped twice in successive overs from Mark Wood, firstly on 67 when Jos Buttler might have gone two handed to his right in an attempt to take a catch well within range, and again on 72 when Ben Stokes could not hold a fierce pull, relatively close in at square leg.Wood, fresh again after feeling the effect of back-to-back Tests, often surpassed 90mph and was the likeliest England bowler on view. His return of 1 for 48 is the most economical so far in a series where batsmen have prospered extravagantly.Williamson was also dropped on 109, this time Wood the culprit at mid-off as he drove at David Willey. In Willey’s next over, the 200 partnership was raised, Williamson planted a six down the ground and finally England broke through when Wood this time leapt well at mid-off to hold the catch. Taylor got New Zealand within 13 runs of victory before he fell for 110, dragging Willey onto his stumps. It proved close enough.Earlier, Stokes had been in his most intimidating batting form for England, muscling England past 300 for the third successive match – unparallelled in their one-day history. There will be no more muscular shot all summer than Stokes’ strong-arm heave of Mitchell McClenaghan towards the midwicket burger vans. At a commanding 288 for 5 with 50 balls remaining, England had visions of 370.When Sam Billings’ innovative 34 came to grief, and Adil Rashid fell first ball, Stokes was in no mood to recognise a few complications, still seeking to be the King of the Swingers, the jungle VIP. He was bowled for 68 as he stepped away to batter Ben Wheeler to oblivion and Willey, in his second ODI, and fresh from a productive release to his county, Northamptonshire, in the NatWest T20 Blast, also fell with what by then felt like naïve attacking intent. “Ooh-bi-do, I wanna be like you.” Not this time.Instead, New Zealand’s pace attack had fought back strongly, with Wheeler returning a creditable 3 for 63 on debut, adding Stokes and Billings to his first-up wicket of Alex Hales.It was a bowlers’ morning – at least it used to be. Overcast skies were not quite enough to persuade Eoin Morgan to field first, not with 1369 runs logged in the first two matches, batsmen on both sides feeling a million dollars and bowlers reduced as emphatically as they ever have been to the ranks of the poor bloody infantry.There was swing for New Zealand in the first hour, and some bounce too, and they made decent use of it by removing both England openers, Alex Hales and Jason Roy, cheaply. England’s new-ball attack responded in kind, in less encouraging conditions, later in the day.Wheeler was presented with his debut cap before play by his fellow left-armer Trent Boult, ruled out of the series with a stress-related back condition. Boult’s part in the ceremony was appropriate because Wheeler is very much Boult Lite, finding some serene inswing.Morgan cut a somewhat impotent figure in the World Cup, a captain unable to stamp his imprint on the side. His 71 as the sun burned the clouds away was an innings from a captain who now has a sense of purpose. Add Joe Root’s crisp half-century and England’s third-wicket alliance was a productive one – 105 in 19 overs – before Santner cramped Root as he made room to leg and bowled him off his pads.Santner, heavily punished in the first two matches, but more resourceful here, also might have dismissed Morgan, first when he outwitted him down the leg side but the stumping was missed and again when he failed to cling to a low return chance to his left. Instead, it was Williamson who revived memories of his golden-arm display on the final day of the Headingley Test, defeating Morgan’s slog sweep and setting up the opportunity for the drainingly calm batting performance to follow.

Australia is building a support system in place for offspinner Nathan Lyon, to ensure his path of advice is defined

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide21-Nov-2012If Nathan Lyon’s growing confidence was summed up by the back-spinner he unleashed to dismiss Jacques Rudolph in Brisbane, his valued place in Australian cricket can be measured by how carefully the national team is building a support network around him.Ahead of the Adelaide Test match, Lyon was advised on bowling by the former Australian spin bowler Ashley Mallett, but not directly. Instead, Mallett had discussions with the senior coach Mickey Arthur, who passed Mallett’s advice along to Lyon and also Steve Rixon, who has been appointed as the designated spin coach to allow the other specialist bowling coach Ali de Winter time to work purely with the pacemen.As the season began, Lyon had spoken of how difficult he had found sorting through a myriad of advice during his first year as an international bowler, whether it had arrived via friends, the media or other bowlers and coaches simply calling him up at random to state what he was doing wrong. Eager for Lyon to learn but equally keen to ensure he is not overloaded with voices, Arthur, Rixon and South Australia’s coach Darren Berry have worked assiduously to make sure Lyon’s path is consistently defined.”We’re filtering it through the people he knows best,” Arthur told ESPNcricinfo. “Darren Berry and SA have done a really good job with him, Steve Rixon within my support staff is a really experienced coach and has been very good with him as well. They’ve built a good relationship so he’s been monitoring those messages, and I wanted to have a chat with Ashley Mallett because he’s so knowledgeable on spin bowling and he confirmed what we were doing with Nathan. So I opened up a nice little communication channel there.”I just asked Ashley if he had anything he could mention to me. I’ve designated Steve Rixon within our squad as working with Nathan and I’m really happy they’ve got a good relationship going. Our messages are very consistent with the messages of Darren Berry. Everybody is saying exactly the same thing and that’s the message being delivered to Nathan within our team. That to me is really important, that the players are getting the same messages and not a conflicting message.”No one was more delighted to see an Australian spinner benefit from his expanded repertoire than his captain Michael Clarke, who has shown an instinctive feel for leading slow bowlers from the moment he dived to pouch the sharpest of slip catches from Lyon’s first ball in Test cricket, against Sri Lanka in Galle last year. In addition to knowing the value of spin bowling, Clarke also finds a great deal of fun in it, and the twinkle in his eye when he spoke of Lyon’s variation could only have come from someone who has bowled spin for years himself.”Well, we’re calling it a more than a back-spinner,” Clarke said, grinning. “It’s something he’s worked on and it was nice to see him get a wicket with it [in the] last Test match, so hopefully we’ll see him get plenty more wickets for Australia with balls spinning in both directions.”He can contain if he has to and we can dictate that by the fields we have, but then if there’s an opportunity for Nathan to put more pressure on the [batsmen] I think he’s got the skill to be able to do that as well. He’s bowling well, I thought he came back really well in Brisbane and that shows his character.”I know he wants to do well in front of his home crowd, but as I’ve said to Nathan plenty of times he needs to keep doing exactly what he’s doing, don’t change a thing and he’ll continue to have success at the highest level.”South Africa’s batsmen have now tried several times to hit Lyon out of Australia’s attack in the manner they took to Bryce McGain in Cape Town in 2009, but each time the bowler has responded with better subsequent spells and important wickets. The touring captain Graeme Smith noted Lyon’s importance to this match with a good degree of respect.”Nathan has proven to be a solid performer for Australia. That’s exactly how we view him,” Smith said. “We haven’t taken an arrogant view of him, maybe some other people have. We respect what he is capable of and he will play a role in this game.”

Having guided Australia through the turbulent first eight months of his captaincy, Michael Clarke is decidedly relieved to have a settled support staff

Daniel Brettig23-Nov-2011Having guided Australia through the turbulent first eight months of his captaincy, Michael Clarke is decidedly relieved to have a settled support staff – even if the new head coach Mickey Arthur was not his personal choice for the job.Clarke returned home from a dramatic but ultimately satisfying tour of South Africa on Wednesday, and though he has a surfeit of injuries to contend with, can look forward to tackling the home summer with a strong network around him.Along with Arthur, the team performance manager Pat Howard, the national selector John Inverarity, selectors Rod Marsh and Andy Bichel, Clarke will dial into the first major phone hook-up for the new selection panel on Thursday evening, to deliberate on the team for the first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane.The assembly of cricket experience and sporting intellect is striking, and Clarke also spoke warmly of the assistant coaches Steve Rixon, Justin Langer and Craig McDermott. Rixon was Clarke’s preference to become head coach, but pointed out that Arthur’s appointment would allow him to benefit from the knowledge of both.”I’m stoked we’ve got a coach. Mickey has done a fantastic job in the past with South Africa, and I’m really excited and looking forward to working with him,” Clarke said. “I’ve only spoken to him a handful of times either playing against him with South Africa or over the phone since he’s taken over with WA.”I think Australian cricket needed a coach to be appointed sooner rather than later and I’m stoked that James Sutherland and Pat Howard have put a certain amount of people through a process and Mickey Arthur’s come out on top, so I’m looking forward to working with him.”In my opinion I believe the coach needs to have the support staff around him that he wants and he needs, but if Stumper [Rixon] is the right man for the job, I’m sure Mickey will be more than supportive to see them around, as with Justin Langer and Craig McDermott.”They’re all under contract, I’m not sure how long to, but that’s a bonus for our team if you’ve got some very good cricket minds there, helping us out trying to get us to win games. I think really you’ve probably got the cake and eating it too with Mickey Arthur and Steve Rixon.”As Arthur’s predecessor Tim Nielsen observed, Clarke’s draining first few months in the job benefited from the enthusiasm of a new leader. The broadening of support beneath Clarke will now allow him to concentrate on his batting and tactical thinking as the captaincy starts to become less of a novelty.”It’ll probably make a few of our live a lot easier, that’s for sure. I’m as excited as anybody to get a coach on board,” Clarke said. “There’s been some things happening off the field for the last six months, but our job is to perform on the field.”The communication for me personally with James Sutherland has been outstanding, he’s kept me informed on everything that’s been happening, from the general manger to the selectors, to now the head coach, so they’ve tried to do their best and we’ve tried to do the same. It’s nice that it’s finished, we have our new general manager, our selectors and a head coach, so it’s another reason to be excited for what lies ahead.”Clarke delivered a chuckling “good luck” when informed that Arthur had likened the captain/coach relationship to marriage, but spoke frankly of the need to build a rapport in coming days. Only seven remain between now and the start of the first Test against New Zealand.”Since Mickey took over the job in WA, we’ve been in communication, talking about the WA player,s so there’s been back and forth communication for a while now,” Clarke said. “But the relationship is crucial, no doubt, straight away I respect him for everything he’s achieved as a player but also as a coach.”His success with the South African team is something that I’m sure would’ve played a part in him getting this job. He’s a true gentleman, a fantastic man, and I look forward to learning as much as I can from him and working together.”To me it doesn’t matter where you come from, if you’re the right man for the job, the best man for the job, then I believe you deserve to get it. The benefit of Mickey coming on board is he’s got some other great coaches around him in regard to Steve Rixon, Justin Langer and Craig McDermott. So some pretty smart cricket minds there, working together I can only see us having more success.”

England held Sri Lanka to 187 for 9 to secure a tight, five-run win in the first one-day international of their limited-overs series at the Nondescripts Ground in Colombo

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2010
Scorecard
England held Sri Lanka to 187 for 9 to secure a tight, five-run win in the first one-day international of their limited-overs series at the Nondescripts Ground in Colombo. Claire Taylor’s half-century, her 22nd in ODIs, held England’s middle order together amid a four-wicket haul for seamer Deepika Rasangika as the visitors were bowled out for 192 after being put in to bat. A middle-order collapse hampered Sri Lanka’s chase, and a tight final over from seamer Jenny Gunn sealed the result for England.England made a stuttering start to their Sri Lankan tour, losing opener Heather Knight – bowled by left-arm seamer Rukshala Dharmasiri – without a run on the board. With captain Charlotte Edwards and left-hander Lydia Greenway also falling for single figures, it was left to Taylor and Gunn to repair England’s innings with an 86-run partnership for the 4th wicket.Rasangika then struck back for the hosts, picking up three wickets in two overs – including that of debutant Fran Wilson first ball – as England slipped to 143 for 6. Wickets fell regularly thereafter, with Laura Marsh and Anya Shrubsole providing the only resistance before the visitors were bowled out in the final over.Sri Lanka’s chase got off to a positive start, Chamari Polgampola and Chamari Atapattu putting together a 64-run opening stand. After they were parted, however, England’s spinners ran through the middle order. Edwards, Laura Marsh and Danielle Hazell combined to reduce Sri Lanka to 86 for 5 before Eshani Kaushalya and wicketkeeper Dilani Manodara’s 52-run partnership brought Sri Lanka back into the game.Sri Lanka needed just 55 in slightly over eight overs when Isa Guha returned to the attack and bowled Manodara for a watchful 26. The lower order managed to keep up the scoring rate, Sripali Weerakkody slamming a 16-ball 19 that included a four and a six, but at a cost of wickets. With six runs needed from the final two deliveries, Gunn had Rasangika caught by Shrubsole and then sealed a slim victory with a dot ball to close the innings.The teams meet for the second ODI at the P Sara Oval in Colombo on Wednesday before a series of three Twenty20 matches, starting on November 19 at the Nondescripts Ground.