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Guyana, meanwhile, will host the final in 2025, for the fourth straight year

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2024Barbados’ Kensington Oval will host the CPL final for the first ever time, in 2026. Guyana, meanwhile, will host the final in 2025, marking the fourth straight year that the CPL final will be held at the Providence Stadium.In a press release on Friday, the CPL announced that it had agreed one-year deals with the two venues to host the final for the next two years.”I want to take this opportunity to wish Guyana Amazon Warriors all success on behalf of all Guyanese as we try to make it two in a row,” Mohammed Irfan Ali, the president of Guyana, said just before Amazon Warriors, the defending CPL champions, booked their berth in Sunday’s final. “To all the other teams we wish you well as we play together in unity. I am also very delighted to announce that Guyana will be hosting CPL 2025 finals.”Barbados Royals are two-time CPL winners, having last lifted the trophy in 2019.”Guyana and Barbados have been amazing partners for CPL over the last 12 years and it is really exciting to be able to announce that they will be hosts for the finals in 2025 and 2026 respectively,” Pete Russell, the CPL CEO, said. “We would like to thank the governments of both Guyana and Barbados who have agreed to play host to the conclusion of CPL.”Amazon Warriors beat Royals in the second qualifier, as quickfire knocks from Moeen Ali, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Shai Hope helped them chase down 149 inside 15 overs. Warriors will now play St Lucia Kings for the title, on October 6.

Bowler admits to rustiness after injury, but warns he’ll be ‘done’ if conditions are same all series

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2023James Anderson has admitted that the Edgbaston pitch for the first Ashes Test was “like kryptonite” for him, and warns that if the surfaces for the remaining four matches of the series prove to be similarly flat, then he will be “done”.Anderson, who turns 41 next month, returned the disappointing figures of 1 for 109 in 38 overs during Australia’s two-wicket win in the first Test, and was noticeably overlooked for the crucial new ball when England were striving for a breakthrough on the tense final afternoon.He was unlucky in his first spell of the second innings, when Usman Khawaja – Australia’s player of the match – edged at a catchable height past Jonny Bairstow in Anderson’s first over. But overall, he conceded that his body had felt rusty in his first outing since picking up a groin strain while playing for Lancashire in the County Championship last month.Related

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“This is an Ashes series. It is a big deal,” Anderson wrote in his column in The Telegraph. “When you play on a flat pitch like the one at Edgbaston and take a wicket, a bit more emotion does come out because you have worked extra hard for it.”That pitch was like kryptonite for me. There was not much swing, no reverse swing, no seam movement, no bounce and no pace. I’ve tried over the years to hone my skills so I can bowl in any conditions but everything I tried made no difference. I felt like I was fighting an uphill battle. It’s a long series and hopefully, I can contribute at some point, but if all the pitches are like that I’m done in the Ashes series.”With Anderson below his best, England struggled for penetration at key moments at Edgbaston, and having encountered some difficulty in dislodging Ireland on the final day of their recent Test at Lord’s, there will doubtless be some temptation to bring in the extra pace of Mark Wood for next week’s second Test at the same venue.Anderson, however, is confident that he will be better for the game-time, regardless of his disappointing showing.
“There was a bit of rustiness but I gave it everything I could,” he said. “Having played for a long time, I realise you can’t take wickets every game. Sometimes it is not your week. It felt like that for me. I know I wasn’t on top of my game this week. It was not my best performance. I know I have more to offer and contribute to the team.”The body felt quite good. There is some stiffness but I put that down to the unique conditions. We were running in on a very soft outfield then landing on a rock-hard pitch and that takes its toll on the body more than normal. All the bowlers were feeling that a bit.”Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson led the line for England’s quicks at Edgbaston, with Robinson returning the commendable figures of 40.4-12-98-5 across the two innings. However, his performance was equally notable for his on-field run-in with Usman Khawaja, which has since developed into an ongoing feud with Australia’s media as a whole, following more outspoken comments in his column for Wisden.com.Anderson even stepped in to pull Robinson away from a contratemps with Khawaja in the second innings, but insisted in his column that he wouldn’t be encouraging him to tone down his attitude as the series progresses.”I don’t want Ollie to change,” Anderson said. “I like him getting fired up. He bowls better when he is in that mood. From personal experience, I know I bowl better when I am a bit more aggressive and intense.”I stepped in to chat to Ollie when he and Usman were having an exchange of views in the second innings. It was gentle stuff, they were just talking cricket.”Whenever I watched cricket as a kid I wanted to see bowlers fired up. It makes for better theatre and is a lot more enjoyable to watch. Everyone is just encouraged to be themselves in our team. Some people don’t like getting into a verbal battle. Some do. Robbo thrives on it.”

“I now know the pattern of Test cricket, how long I should bat to get big runs”

Mohammad Isam24-May-2022Knowing his responsibility, understanding the pattern of the game, avoiding looking at hard numbers and changing his training method are some of the things that have helped Litton Das become a more consistent Test batter.Litton’s 141 in the first innings against Sri Lanka in Dhaka is his third Test hundred in the last six months when he has averaged 56.15, after spending six years as an underperforming enigma.Litton said that he is enjoying the responsibility put on him by his team-mates, who believe he can get them big scores. For long, Litton has been regarded as the most talented batter of his generation, with most of the senior cricketers often batting away media criticism towards him. Litton is however more interested in biding his time in the lower middle-order, despite his form.Related

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• All the records Mushfiqur and Litton broke during their 272-run stand

“It stays in the back of my mind that my team wants me to play a big innings,” Litton said. “It helps me knowing that the team depends on me. Where did I score my runs this year? There will be more opportunities. When the senior brothers will not play, I will get my chance (higher up the batting order). I don’t see how I can bat up. I am fine with where I am.”Litton said that when Ashwell Prince was Bangladesh’s batting coach, he explained to him the necessity to bat for time in Test cricket. He added that taking his eyes off from his career numbers has also helped him. Litton, however, remained mum about what changes he made in his training method.”I now know the pattern of Test cricket, how long I should bat to get big runs. What he explained to me, really helped me. I still follow those words.”When I used to see (my statistics), I saw that I was on the backfoot. There was a challenge to go forward. I no longer see (my statistics) because I am more focused on going ahead. I don’t know how far I can go.”Litton’s confidence showed in how he kept hitting pull shots whenever the Sri Lankan pace duo of Asitha Fernando and Kasun Rajitha pitched short and bowled bouncers at him. He scored 47 runs off 28 balls square of the wicket and behind square on the leg side, during his innings.”I think I have been playing the pull shot quite well in the last year-and-a-half. The control was with me. I believed that I could get out of the situation if he was bowling short. I can keep scoring. I kept playing the pull shot because I had the confidence to play the pull,” he said.Litton’s 141 was part of a 272-run sixth wicket stand with Mushfiqur Rahim, who was unbeaten on 175 when Bangladesh were bowled out for 365. In an innings where six batters got out for ducks, the partnership created all sorts of records.”Mushy and I batted under pressure. We wanted to put together a big partnership, and whatever we did, it was good for the team. I have had a number of 150-plus stands with (Mushy) . We knew that we had to make 300-plus batting first in Mirpur. We wanted to bat long since our top-order failed.”When I go to bat, even if the team score is 300 runs, I am under pressure. When I am batting at five wickets down (quickly), I am still under pressure. I start from zero. The normal conversation with Mushfiq was to drag the innings as much as possible. Our first target was to play till lunch.”Bangladesh will consider themselves slightly ahead of the curve after they took Kusal Mendis’ wicket late on the second day. “They are still far behind (Bangladesh’s first innings score). We will have a big chance if we can take one or two early wickets tomorrow. We will be in the backfoot if they can get close to our score or even take a lead,” Litton said, warning that the Mirpur pitch is already showing sign of variable bounce.”It was certainly uneven. One of the first two balls I faced today, was uneven. It was slightly better than the typical Mirpur wicket. I think as the Test wears on there will be deliveries that are more uneven.”

Rohit Sharma will open for India, while Will Pucovski is expected to make a highly anticipated debut for Australia

Karthik Krishnaswamy06-Jan-202110:48

Can Warner and Rohit hit the ground running?

Big Picture

They lost key players before the series, they’ve lost a few more since its start, and they’ve been rolled over for their lowest-ever total. It’s a wonder that India are still holding themselves together, never mind level in the series and looking, by some measures, a better side than Australia in their own conditions.They’ve done this not by becoming more Australian in their approach but by trusting methods that work for them at home: bowling at the stumps rather than in the corridor outside off, and giving themselves insurance by setting strong leg-side fields. Oh, and spin has played as important a role as pace.But for how long can they keep this run going while losing fast bowlers, one after another, to injury? They played the first Test without Ishant Sharma, played the second without Ishant or Mohammed Shami, and now, at the SCG, will be without Ishant, Shami and Umesh Yadav. This would be like Australia losing Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson to injury and being left with Pat Cummins partnering a pair of rookies.In Test cricket, a team is as good as the weakest link in its bowling attack. At the MCG, Mohammed Siraj showed more control and skill than any fast-bowling debutant could reasonably have been expected to, especially away from home, ensuring India didn’t have a weak link that stretched the other bowlers and gave their opposition a pressure-release valve. They will hope Navdeep Saini can pull off something similar at the SCG, even if Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin continue to perform at absurdly high standards.India will need all their parts to work smoothly together, because Australia, for all their flaws, remain a formidable side at home. Thirty-six all out may have been one of the game’s mysterious outliers, a result of the conditions and the planets aligning to turn every error into a dismissal, but it happened primarily because Australia turned in a fast-bowling performance of the highest quality. Their quicks, Cummins in particular, were perhaps just as good with the new ball at the MCG, even if the scorecard didn’t reveal it.Both teams will have rejigged top orders, with David Warner and Rohit Sharma set to return from injury and Will Pucovski making a highly anticipated debut. Both attacks will have new problems to solve, and if either opening combination can survive the first hour-and-a-half, the tone of the series could be transformed. What Steven Smith and Cheteshwar Pujara would give to start their innings against an older ball, against bowlers in their second spells, and with one or two fewer catchers around the bat.Who’ll be the happier captain after the SCG Test?•Getty Images

Form guide

Australia: LWWWW (last five Tests, most recent first)
India WLLLW

In the spotlight

Australia have endured their slowest-scoring home series of the century, and couldn’t be happier to see David Warner back in their side. Warner has a formidable record in home Tests, averaging nearly 66, but Australia are taking a risk by playing him because he hasn’t fully recovered yet from the groin injury he suffered during the ODI series. There’s also the small matter of Jasprit Bumrah to negotiate for the first time in Tests, as well as R Ashwin, who has dismissed Warner more often in Tests than any other bowler bar Stuart Broad.India have an opening batsman to welcome back as well. Rohit Sharma has batted at the top of the order in only five Tests so far, but averages 92.66 there. He hasn’t played Test cricket since November 2019, though, and he’s never opened overseas. If he can see off the first spells of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, though, he could make a huge difference to a side that has only managed opening partnerships of 7, 0, 16 and 0 through the series so far.

Team news

Australia have not announced their XI yet, but the indications are that David Warner and Will Pucovski will open the batting, with Joe Burns and Travis Head dropping out of the side.Australia (probable): 1 David Warner, 2 Will Pucovski, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Matthew Wade, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood.The two main questions facing India were where Rohit Sharma bats, and who comes in for Umesh Yadav. The answers are: at the top of the order, in place of Mayank Agarwal; and Navdeep Saini.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 5 Hanuma Vihari, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Navdeep Saini, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.Related

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Pitch and conditions

Persistent rain in the lead-up to the Test match – and the uncertainty over whether Sydney would host it at all, following a Covid-19 outbreak in the city’s Northern Beaches area – have hampered preparations at the SCG, but its curator Adam Lewis has promised a hard pitch with plenty of grass on it. The traditional turning track at the SCG is now largely a thing of the past, but India’s two spinners will be encouraged by the fact that Kuldeep Yadav picked up a five-for here two years ago, and that Nathan Lyon bagged a ten-wicket match haul against New Zealand last year.Rain has lately bedeviled the SCG at this time of the year, contributing to three draws in the last six Tests at the venue, but the forecast is reasonably encouraging, with mild showers predicted on the first two days and mostly dry weather thereafter.

Stats and trivia

• India have won only one of their 12 Tests in Sydney – an innings win engineered by Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna over a Packer-depleted Australia side in January 1978 – but they have come close on numerous other occasions, with resolute Australian batting, a lack of penetration in their bowling, and/or rain preventing them from pulling off big New Year’s wins in 1986, 1992, 2004 and 2019.
• India have often looked uncomfortable against Nathan Lyon’s dip, turn and bounce over their last two tours of Australia, but the numbers show their own spinners may have outbowled him. Lyon has taken 25 wickets in six Border-Gavaskar Tests in this period, at an average of 31.36. R Ashwin (20.37), Ravindra Jadeja (24.30) and Kuldeep Yadav (19.80) all have better averages in these games, and Ashwin and Jadeja have achieved better economy rates than Lyon’s 2.67 too.
• Lyon needs six wickets to reach the 400 mark in Test cricket.
• Cheteshwar Pujara is 97 runs short of the 6000 mark in Tests, and Ravindra Jadeja 74 short of 2000.

Quotes

“We’ve got a great record here and for a lot of our guys it’s their home ground so they certainly love playing here, they love being at home and they enjoy the conditions. All of our bowlers are New South Welshmen so they know the wicket very well, they exploit the conditions very well and they bowl really well as a group here. The same with our batting. Our two best batsmen – this is their home ground, this is where they do their best.”
“As a team you have three-four plans and you have to see which plan works on a given day. You have to see the wicket as well. But yes we have got three-four plans. We know if plan A doesn’t work for us, we go to plan B and C. It is important to plan well especially when you come to Australia. We know they are a very good team, a very dangerous team. Depending on the situation, depending on the wicket, conditions, also bounce off the wicket, we plan accordingly.”

Second season of league to be held in 2020 after ACB terminates agreement with Snixer Sports

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2019The second season of the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) has been postponed to 2020 after the league’s commercial partner failed to pay the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) rights money. The ACB has terminated the agreement, also citing concerns about the integrity of people associated with Snixer Sports, the partners. The tournament had been scheduled for October this year.”The failure by Snixer Sports to pay the complete rights fees of the first edition as per the fees and payment schedule of the agreement, and concerns about risks for integrity of the league posed by people connected to Snixer Sports are the reasons for termination that form material breaches of the agreement,” the ACB said in a statement.The allegation around the integrity of the people involved is especially pertinent, given the talk swirling around the league in its first season. Mohammad Shahzad reported an approach and it was one of the leagues the ICC’s ACU was keeping an especially close eye on: there were, it is understood, a number of other approaches made that were reported by players to the anti-corruption body.The ACB has written to the Attorney General’s Office of the Government of Afghanistan to “fully investigate the administrative allegations of corruption in the league” and that it remained committed to “ensuring transparency in all its affairs and is accountable to all stakeholders.”Following the signing of the tournament’s MoU in January last year, the first edition of the league was held between October 5 and 21 in Sharjah, UAE and featured a host of international names. Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi, Andre Russell, Brendon McCullum and Rashid Khan were picked as icon players by the five franchises, representing Paktia, Kabul, Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar.A tender for commercial rights to the second season of the league will be issued in due course.The league is the second T20 league to run into problems in as many months. In August, the inaugural season of the Euro T20 Slam was cancelled, only two weeks prior to its scheduled start. The Euro T20 Slam organisers, led by Gurmeet Singh’s Bombay Sports Limited and Woods Entertainment, the same group in charge of the Global T20 Canada, had run into increasing financial difficulties. The Global T20 Canada, too, faced issues, with player protests over unpaid wages.

Phil Simmons, the Afghanistan coach, was pleased with the side’s preparation but stressed on channeling white-ball temperament in Test cricket

Shashank Kishore in Bengaluru13-Jun-20182:34

Rashid will come out as the best spinner in this Test – Simmons

Asghar Stanikzai was asked about “nerves” as he arrived for his first official press conference as Test captain. “I’m hearing this for the first time,” he shot back, setting the tone for the next 15 minutes during which he and coach Phil Simmons talked all things Test cricket and the build-up to their inaugural Test.It was in Bengaluru seven years ago that Simmons truly left his imprint as a coach, when Ireland upset England at the 2011 World Cup. Now, he returns to the venue of that famous triumph in charge of another side, who he just helped qualify for the 2019 World Cup two months ago.Having witnessed the turmoil West Indies went through towards the end of his career, Simmons is aware of the immediate challenge to channel Afghanistan’s white-ball temperament to the longest format.”I was with Ireland for a long time, but they haven’t produced the amount of youngsters in the last four-five years like Afghanistan have,” he said. “The batting is a little bit less but the bowling, you will see a young fast bowler in this Test match hopefully. It shows that they have young talent coming up. And exciting prospects for the future.”Preparation wise, Afghanistan picked two vastly different squads for the T20Is against Bangladesh and their inaugural Test. Only Stanikzai, Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman featured in their 3-0 T20I whitewash of Bangladesh in Dehrarun earlier this month. This decision of allowing players time to prepare for the Test by monitoring their training schedules was a conscious one.”Our preparation has been good. We still had 12-13 players training with red ball,” Simmons said. “Fortunately the three fast bowlers (Wafadar, Sayed Shirzad and Yamin Ahmadzai) were not in T20I squad and they have been concentrating on Test preparation. The two senior spinners Nabi and Rashid am sure will be able to adjust themselves.”Afghanistan are under no illusion about how the pitch will behave and expect India’s three spinners to come hard at them. Having two wristspinners themselves – Rashid and Zahir Khan – along with Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s variations should help cope to an extent.Afghanistan’s players attend the BCCI awards ceremony•BCCI

“You prepare for what you expect. We expected Jadeja, Ashwin, Kuldeep,” Simmons said. “We have had our own Kuldeep in young Zahir. We have bowlers of similar ilk and they have been bowling at the batsmen. My feeling is that I can’t tell you how to prepare for a particular player. When you practice it against a spinner you learn how to play him. So we have put that in front of them and I think they have worked hard enough to be put out there.”Simmons cracked up when asked about “grass on the surface” for this Test. “When I played with them (Afghanistan) in Ireland, it was a little more greener than this and it still turned,” he said. “I think our bowlers are experienced enough to turn on that. It looks a lot darker today than it did two days ago, so I think by the time tomorrow (Thursday) comes it will be dry enough to spin on it.”The surface aside, it was also inevitable Simmons was going to be asked about Stanikzai’s remarks of Afghanistan’s spinners being better than India’s. My captain knows what he is talking about,” Simmons laughed with Stanikzai also grinning beside him. “When you look at it, all spinners in this contest will be excellent.”We know that right now, Rashid is the most difficult spinner to play around. He has not played Test cricket. We have to look and see what happens. but his professionalism will help him to adjust and am sure he will come out well.”Afghanistan have trained in India regularly since making Greater Noida their home base last year. Access to different training wickets and modern facilities has been maximised so much that Simmons downplayed the prospect of being undercooked. He stressed more on the temperament needed to succeed and hoped the team had learnt from experience.”The mental part comes from the way you train, how long you bat and how long you bowl and train in the nets,” Simmons said. “That’s the only way you prepare mentally because when you get out there then you understand what it takes. They have played four-day cricket so they have a fair idea…the good thing about it is that they learn quickly.”The press conference was lit up further when Simmons was asked about Virat Kohli’s unavailability. His answer elicited laughter among those in attendance.”I think there will always be a bit of disappointment in the players not to be on the same field as Virat, but at the same time we look at it as win the Test match and beat India, we don’t beat Virat,” he said. “So we are disappointed he is not playing, but little bit happy that we are not going to bowl to him all the time. We are happy to be here and playing India, Virat is not India.”

Mumbai Indians ended the league stage of the IPL with a table-topping 20 points after they beat Kolkata Knight Riders by nine runs at the Eden Gardens

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy13-May-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:04

Hogg: Game lost for KKR with Yusuf’s reckless dismissal

Mumbai Indians ended the league stage of the IPL with a table-topping 20 points after they beat Kolkata Knight Riders by nine runs at the Eden Gardens. The defeat meant Knight Riders, with 16 points, would not finish in the top two. Sunrisers Hyderabad, who had beaten Gujarat Lions in Saturday’s afternoon game, had ended the league stage on 17.Having made as many as six changes to their line-up in an effort to test their bench strength ahead of the playoffs, Mumbai posted 173 on the back of half-centuries from Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu. Knight Riders were in control of the required rate from the start, but kept losing wickets far too frequently.As many as five Knight Riders batsmen got to 20, and yet their top-scorer only made 33. This proved decisive, in the end, as they fell short of their target by 10 runs. It was Knight Riders’ first home defeat while chasing since 2013.Rayudu fires to lift sluggish MumbaiLendl Simmons came into this game with an ordinary T20 record against left-arm pace – 503 runs off 492 balls, 20 dismissals – and he duly fell to a left-arm quick, flat-batting Trent Boult to mid-off in the third over of Mumbai’s innings. Rohit Sharma, pulling and slog-sweeping crisply, then scored 27 off 20 before Ankit Rajpoot had him lbw with an offcutter. That left Mumbai at a healthy 69 for 2 in 8.2 overs.From there, though, they slowed down. Tiwary and Rayudu were Mumbai’s most productive pair in the 2010 season, and now, seven years on, they added 61 in 7.4 overs. Tiwary struggled to find the boundary once the Powerplay restrictions disappeared, scoring only 18 off 21 from the start of the seventh over before muscling Sunil Narine for successive fours in the 15th over to bring up his half-century. A comical mix-up – he stood unmoved at the non-striker’s end when Rayudu called for a fairly regulation single – ended his innings at 52 off 43 – it was the second-slowest 50-plus score of the season.The four other fifties in that top five (Mandeep Singh, Virat Kohli, Chris Morris and Manoj Tiwary) had all ended up in losing causes.Rayudu, though, ensured Mumbai would post a challenging if not entirely massive total. He began fairly sedately, hitting only one boundary in his first 20 runs, but upped the pace by peppering the leg-side boundaries, the highlight of his innings a pick-up shot over the deep backward square-leg boundary off Boult to bring up his half-century. Despite Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya only scoring 14 off 14 between them, Rayudu’s 63 off 37 ensured Knight Riders wouldn’t run away with the game.Slog on, regardlessGiven that a team has ten wickets to exhaust over 20 overs, the “ideal” T20 innings would consist of batsmen going for big hits right through, with no pause for the rebuilding phases characteristic of 50-over cricket. That approach, however, requires a side that bats deep, with power hitters all the way down to Nos. 9, 10 and even 11.Here, Knight Riders – in a chase of 174, where such an approach may not have been strictly necessary – seemed to be aiming for the platonic ideal of a T20 innings without having the line-up for it. Given that Chris Woakes was ruled out with an ankle injury, and that his replacement Boult is a classic No. 11, Knight Riders’ serious batting only extended up to Colin de Grandhomme at No. 7.Still, they kept going hard; they kept finding the boundaries, but they also kept losing wickets. By the end of the ninth over, they had hit seven fours and six sixes and lost five wickets. Chris Lynn, Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan fell in the 20s, and it felt as if one of them could have attempted to anchor Knight Riders and give them some stability to go with their scoring rate. Instead, all three were out going for big shots.When Yusuf holed out against Vinay Kumar, Knight Riders needed 87 from 66 balls; a perfectly straightforward ask, but they already had their last recognised pair at the crease.Pandey, de Grandhomme steady chaseManish Pandey and de Grandhomme gave Knight Riders the partnership they needed, putting on 41 in 31 balls. De Grandhomme maintained Knight Riders’ momentum, employing deftness rather than brawn to pick up his boundaries. He used Vinay Kumar’s pace to steer him either side of short third man for three fours in the 11th over, before clubbing Hardik Pandya over the midwicket boundary in more characteristic fashion.Umpire S Ravi missed an inside-edge from Pandey to wicketkeeper Rayudu in the 14th over, but Mumbai didn’t have to wait too much longer for a breakthrough, Hardik nipping one back off the seam to bowl de Grandhomme at the start of the 15th. At that point, Knight Riders needed 46 from 35.Knight Riders run out of batsmenPandey’s run of luck continued – substitute fielder J Suchith put him down at deep midwicket when he pulled Tim Southee uppishly in the 17th over. The rest of that over continued to frustrate Mumbai. Kuldeep Yadav guided the next ball past short third man for four, and then escaped being run out while taking a non-existent single when Karn Sharma missed the stumps at the bowler’s end. Then Southee was no-balled for bowling with only three fielders inside the circle. At the end of that over, Knight Riders only needed 25 off 18.But they still only had one real batsman left, Pandey, and he pulled Hardik straight to deep midwicket off the first ball of the 18th over. Having now lost seven wickets, Knight Riders simply had no batsmen left with the skill to score 25 off 17 balls, particularly when umpire A Nanda Kishore gave Kuldeep caught-behind in the penultimate over when the ball missed his outside edge.

Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, was farewelled by around 1000 mourners at a funeral service in Auckland that celebrated one of cricket’s greatest talents and fiercest intellects

Daniel Brettig11-Mar-2016Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, was farewelled by around 1000 mourners at a funeral service in Auckland that celebrated one of cricket’s greatest talents and fiercest intellects.The funeral held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell was broadcast live around New Zealand, and also streamed online. It featured tributes from Crowe’s wife Lorraine Downes, his brother Jeff Crowe, his former international team-mate, Ian Smith, and his school friend David Lyle Morris.In an emotional address, Jeff Crowe remembered the outpouring grief and appreciation for his brother last week in Bangladesh, where he had been serving as an ICC match referee: “It never really dawned on me how deep it all went, what a huge splash he made, what an inspiration he was for so many.”He noted with some awe and puzzlement Crowe’s abilities as a writer. “How did he know how to write a truly clever sentence or paragraph,” he asked. “Then I was reminded by our friend Richard Reid, ‘unlike you Jeff, he actually attended class, and read a book or two’.”Smith recalled being asked in June last year by Crowe to write a eulogy, before witnessing him fight on against cancer to live for another nine months. He spoke of how Crowe first emerged as New Zealand’s leading batsman by battling against ill health, heat and an adverse match situation to save a draw against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 1984, and then went on to dominant innings against the West Indies and Australia, dual innings of 188 apiece in 1985.”You know Stockley, that was great indeed,” Crowe had told Smith, his roommate in Brisbane, after Richard Hadlee’s 9 for 52 “but if we don’t capitalise on that, it won’t be the same.” At the 1992 World Cup, Smith said Crowe’s innovations sent cricket’s best brains “into a collective tailspin”. Smith also read a heartfelt message from Allan Border, and summed up by saying that one word epitomised Crowe: “Passion.”Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill, two cricketers Crowe had mentored, delivered video tributes ahead of New Zealand’s looming World Twenty20 campaign in India. Guptill’s words included: “He always saw something in my game, even when I couldn’t.” Taylor spoke of how Crowe’s email had inspired him to make 290 against Australia in Perth last year after a bad match in Brisbane had him questioning his future: “Hogan’s words made me truly believe and have faith again.”His wife Lorraine spoke about Crowe’s final days, about her feelings of grief at his loss, and also about his faith. “Many knew him as a cricketing legend, I knew him only as my soulmate,” she said. “He could be passionate, romantic, and fun. And he could be as cheeky as hell. He was everything I ever dreamed for in a partner.”I recently asked him ‘what is the most important lesson you’ve learned’. He said ‘I have learned many lessons, but the most important of these is to only hold onto the truth, removing all that is untrue and false’. I asked Marty how he wanted to be remembered. He said ‘for being authentic, loving and full of prayer’.”A host of notable cricketing names attended, including a sizeable New Zealand Cricket delegation: the chief executive, David White; the president, Stephen Boock; the board directors Sir Richard Hadlee, Martin Snedden and Geoff Allott, and the selector, Gavin Larsen.Greg Chappell was present as a representative of Cricket Australia, and also as a former foe: he had captained Australia against New Zealand in Crowe’s very first Test match, and his upright technique had been a source of considerable inspiration for Crowe’s own methods.There were many small touches, redolent of Crowe’s eye for detail. The service order was orange, a favourite colour, while his casket was adorned with the image of a butterfly. The funeral began with footage of Crowe’s innings of 142 against England at Lord’s in 1994, his most cherished performance, accompanied by the Pink Floyd instrumental The Great Gig In The Sky.Following the service, current Auckland Grammar students formed a guard of honour, and also delivered a ceremonial Haka. Crowe’s pallbearers included the actor Russell Crowe, and longtime friends Hilton Mexted, David Lyle Morris, Grant Fox, Steve Wilkes and his brother Jeff.

Beuran Hendricks’ maiden first-class ten-wicket haul helped South Africa A seal a comfortable 121-run win in the second unofficial Test against India A in Pretoria and square the two match series

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-2013 by 121 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Beuran Hendricks (left) collected his first ten-wicket haul in first-class cricket•Getty Images

Beuran Hendricks’ maiden first-class ten-wicket haul helped South Africa A seal a comfortable 121-run win in the second unofficial Test against India A in Pretoria and square the two-match series. Hendricks ran through India’s top order to leave them in tatters at 18 for 5 by the 10th over. The target of 307 appeared beyond the horizon for India at that stage, though Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha hit half-centuries to give the visitors an outside chance.It was Hendricks’ match all through, however. He had picked up five wickets in the first innings and had removed M Vijay in his first over of the second innings on day three, and there was no let-off for India’s batsmen on the last day. Hendricks struck on his seventh ball of the day to dismiss Shahbaz Nadeem, the nightwatchman, and followed it up with the wicket of Dinesh Karthik two balls later. Ambati Rayudu became Hendricks’ ninth victim when he edged one to the wicketkeeper next over. That India lost their best batsman, Cheteshwar Pujara, to a run-out off the first ball of the day meant that the visitors had all but squandered the chase.Rahane and Saha redeemed the situation to some extent for India with a strong sixth-wicket stand of 160. The mammoth partnership was, however, bookended by two collapses, as none of the other batsmen were able to get into double-digit scores. The two batsmen took different approaches when they came together; Rahane did the bulk of the scoring, while Saha held on to his end. He was on 14 off 57 balls when Rahane reached his half-century off 67 deliveries. But Saha soon found relative fluency, driving two deliveries off a Simon Harmer over to the boundary. The partnership was about grind though – they reached the hundred off their partnership off 180 deliveries.It was Hendricks again who got past the defences of Rahane to trigger the second collapse as the last five wickets fell for eight runs. Harmer, who had picked up four wickets in the first innings, added three more to his tally towards the end.

The BCCI has adopted a new digital X-ray based method for the age verification of players

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jul-2012The BCCI has adopted a new digital X-ray based method for the age verification of players. The board believes that this will eliminate the cases of fraud during player selections at various age-group tournaments, the reported. Approximately 900 cricketers below the age of 16 will be tested under the new method, which has been globally accepted as the “most accurate” among various age-determination methods.The new method, knows as the TW3 (Tanner-Whitehouse3) bone maturation process, allows accurate estimation of a player’s age by the analysis of x-rays of the lower end of the forearm of the players.”This is a one-time test and it’ll not be repeated in a player’s entire career. Once he is certified as below 16 years for an under-16 tournament, his age will accordingly be calculated for the higher age-group tournaments like under-19 and under-25,” BCCI consultant and Sport medicine expert Ashok Ahuja said.”The age shown by TW3 method could vary by six months, either more or less. So, for borderline cases, players who are up to four months older than 16 years would be allowed to play in under-16 tournaments, but not older than that.”The TW3 method will replace the currently used Greulich & Pyle (GP) method, which was adopted by the BCCI seven years ago. The GP method age estimations were accurate in the range of two to four years.