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Royal Challengers come into the game on the back of two defeats, while Royals stopped a losing streak in their last match

Himanshu Agrawal13-May-20235:16

‘RCB bowlers should fancy themselves in Jaipur’s afternoon conditions’

Big picture: Competition heats up

Only two points separate Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, and with the round-robin stage at its business end, they will be wary of not tightening things further. Royal Challengers are among two teams locked on 10 points.While being placed seventh and having the better NRR can still give them hope of a top-four finish, Royal Challengers travel to Jaipur following back-to-back defeats in Delhi and Mumbai, where the opposition chased down 182 and 200 respectively, with ease.Their bowlers have conceded 180-plus four times in their last five games, twice each on either side of a remarkable defense of 126. That win over Lucknow Super Giants remains their only victory in their last four matches, and they will be wary of a Royals side which thumped Kolkata Knight Riders to reignite their own campaign.Three defeats in a row seemed to have taken the juice out of what had started as a near-perfect season for Royals. Two of those losses came in an unsuccessful defense of 212 and 214 in the final over – sandwiched between a batting collapse of 118 – before Yashasvi Jaiswal and Yuzvendra Chahal brought Royals back on track.But despite that inconsistency, it is not too late for both Royals and Royal Challengers to remain in contention for the playoffs. Maybe Royal Challengers can take heart from having beaten Royals by seven runs earlier this season; and if that happens at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium too, then it could soon turn out to be a Royal battle for the playoffs.

Recent results

Rajasthan Royals WLLLW
Royal Challengers Bangalore LLWLW

Team news

The big question

Kedar Jadhav was RCB’s impact sub in their last game•RCB

Impact Player strategy

Royals dropped Obed McCoy for their last game after using him as Impact Sub against Sunrisers Hyderabad. If he is left out again, Royals might swap either of Jaiswal or Dhruv Jurel with KM Asif depending on whether they are batting or bowling first.RR probable XII: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 4 Joe Root, 5 Devdutt Padikkal, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 , 8 R Ashwin, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal, 12 Kedar Jadhav had replaced Mahipal Lomror as Impact Sub for Royal Challengers against Mumbai Indians, though it didn’t work out as intended. So if they bat first against Royals, they might start with Jadhav, and bring in either Mohammed Siraj or Harshal Patel when they bowl. And it could go the other way round if they happen to chase.RCB probable XII: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Glenn Maxwell, 4 Mahipal Lomror, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Anuj Rawat/Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 , 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Vyshak Vijaykumar, 11 Josh Hazlewood, 12

Stats that matter

• It could be interesting to see which opening pair trumps the other in Jaipur. Among those with a minimum of eight first-wicket stands and a total of 200 runs added this season, Royals’ Jaiswal and Jos Buttler have the best run rate of 10.03, while Royal Challengers’ Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis have the most runs with 650.
• However, there could a twist in the tale. Royal Challengers have the most wickets in the powerplay this season (25), and the best average. Nine of those wickets have gone to Mohammed Siraj, who is third on the wicket-takers’ list during that phase only on account of a barely worse average of 18.22 than Royals’ Trent Boult, who is second with 18.11. Also, Boult has the second-most wickets in the first over of a game in IPL history.
• Chahal, with the second-most wickets (21) so far this season, holds a clear advantage over du Plessis, the highest run-getter (576). Royal Challengers’ captain has managed only 34 runs from 40 balls against Royals’ legspinner, while being dismissed twice. But both Chahal and R Ashwin might be wary of Glenn Maxwell, who strikes at 173 and 200 respectively, against them.
• The last time Royal Challengers beat Royals in Jaipur was in 2012, when Kohli and Harshal Patel were part of the winning side.

Pitch and conditions

Jaipur has hosted four matches this season, and the scores batting first in the last three of those have swung from 202 to 118 to 214. All four games started at 7.30pm local time, with the side batting first as well as chasing winning twice each. However, the Royal Challengers match will be the first this season to begin at 3.30pm. And among all Indian grounds to have hosted at least 15 IPL matches starting at either 3.30 or 4pm, Jaipur has the lowest run rate of 7.92.Meanwhile, the temperature in Jaipur is expected to hover around 40 degrees Celsius in the afternoon, though it might fall as evening draws closer.

Despite the defeat to Sri Lanka in the tri-series final, Graeme Cremer was positive about Zimbabwe’s overall performance through the series

Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo27-Nov-2016There was a kind of symmetry to this tri-series, which started and ended with a capitulation by Zimbabwe’s batsmen. The difference, for captain Graeme Cremer, was that this time around his team made Sri Lanka work much harder for their win. Defending 160, Zimbabwe took a wicket with the first legitimate delivery bowled and Sri Lanka toiled for 38 overs for their six-wicket victory.”When we went out there, we said even if they get our score one wicket down, we’ll make it as hard as we can for them,” Cremer said. “We weren’t going to go searching for the wickets, but we wanted to put them under pressure and make it the hardest 160 they’ve scored. That was our goal.”Cremer had Kusal Mendis caught in the deep for 57, while left-arm quick Brian Vitori – who was not originally part of Zimbabwe’s squad for this series – nipped out three wickets at the top of the order. Vitori’s was one of three surprising changes Zimbabwe made to their XI for this match. Malcolm Waller was brought back, without making much impact, but Tarisai Musakanda, the 21-year-old Mid-West Rhinos batsman, sprinted to an eye-catching 36 on debut.”We hadn’t really put on a big total [previously], so we felt that maybe just changing it up a little bit, and putting up something different to all the innings that Sri Lanka have had might work,” coach Heath Streak explained. “Musakanda is someone we’ve been holding back, but we just felt it was the right time. They didn’t know much about him, and he showed exactly what he’s got.”I think he’s got a bright future. I’m very happy with him. And then Vitori, we picked him for exactly what he showed today. We felt we needed him. (Dhananjaya) De Silva and (Kusal) Perera have been really damaging up front, and we got them both early, so that paid off.”Vitori had played for the Zimbabwe A side against Pakistan last month, before heading to Cape Town to fulfill a club contract. Because of this, he was not originally included in Zimbabwe’s tri-series squad, but had been training with the group since his return from South Africa. “He had a contract in Cape Town, and we’d wanted him to stay but he had to go down and fulfill that,” Streak explained. “But he managed to get back here, despite missing out on the Test series. And he’s been practising and bowling with us here in the nets with the boys, and giving all our batters a hard time, so we felt that maybe he could do that to the opposition.”Cremer admitted to have made a mistake by choosing to bat first•AFP

Cremer conceded that, in hindsight, bowling first might have been Zimbabwe’s best choice upon winning the toss. The weather forecast for the match hinted at rain, with the afternoon looking particularly iffy. As it turned out, Zimbabwe batted through gloomy low cloud and rain, while Sri Lanka’s batsmen had the benefit of bright sunshine that dried the pitch and eased batting conditions.”In hindsight, we probably could have bowled first,” Cremer said. “But the way it looked this morning, we thought it would only get worse or stay how it was. The wicket was a bit sticky this morning, so it took a lot of turn. But it looked really good to bat out there this afternoon. It’s just one of those things. We couldn’t predict that.”Unpredictable weather aside, Streak suggested that 240 would have been a defendable total on this pitch. “It was a wicket that over 600 runs had been scored on recently,” Streak said. “It was still quite dry, although obviously with a bit of rain, it got a little bit tacky. Despite that, no-one really got out, other than Masakadza, to an unplayable delivery.”It wasn’t a 300 wicket by any stretch of the imagination. We could have got to 240 or 250 if we’d batted a bit more sensibly, and if we’d done that it could have been a different story today. We’ve got to move on and take the good part of the series with us, and learn from the things that we didn’t do so well, and make sure we don’t repeat them in the future.”Despite Sunday’s defeat, Cremer was positive about Zimbabwe’s overall performance through this series. The hosts were able to knock West Indies out of the competition, while batsmen Sikandar Raza and Craig Ervine have found some form, averaging 54.33 and 36.75, respectively, across five innings.”We’re still trying to find the right combinations,” Cremer said. “Streaky has just come in [as coach]. I haven’t been captain for that long. So we’re trying to find the right XI for the conditions we play in, whether we go away or we play here. A lot of positives. We’ve got a lot of young guys coming through. Carl Mumba is a bright prospect. Musakanda of course. PJ Moor is still really young in international cricket, and we know he can play at this level. Raza played really well in a few innings. It’s good to see him back in a bit of form. Sean Williams showed signs today that he’s starting to get back into it. So we’re quite excited for the couple of months ahead.”Zimbabwe will – hopefully – be starting their domestic season at the beginning of December. Their next scheduled assignment is away, to Sri Lanka, in June, but coach Heath Streak insisted that other fixtures would be added to the calendar in the new year.”We’ve got some tours that we’re working on, between now and [Sri Lanka],” Streak said. “We’ll definitely have some cricket between now and the time we got to Sri Lanka next year. Guys have got provincial cricket, and we’ll get together as a national squad where opportunity arises. There is a lot of specific stuff that we want to work on and keep improving. I’ve spoken about fielding, but there are all sorts of things that we need to put in place. There will be a lot of cricket early next year.”

Cites disagreement with SportScotland over attempts to move on from last year’s damning racism report

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2023Cricket Scotland chair Anjan Luthra has announced his immediate resignation after just six months in the role, amid the ongoing fallout from last year’s damning report into racism in the Scottish game.Luthra tweeted a statement on Friday morning in which he expressed his disagreement with the way SportScotland – the body that oversaw his appointment as chair – was looking to run cricket, claiming it was bowing to “the demands of a lobby group and a handful of individuals associated with them – even if that means the wider sport and community will be negatively impacted”.Cricket Scotland was placed into special measures last year after the Changing the Boundaries report found 448 examples of institutional racism in the game.Luthra said in a six-month update earlier in March that progress had been made on diversity, only for his comments to be criticised by anti-racism organisation Running out Racism. According to the BBC, four members of Cricket Scotland’s equality and anti-racism working group subsequently resigned in protest.”Cricket Scotland can announce that Anjan Luthra has resigned as chair with immediate effect,” the board said in a statement. “The organisation thanks Anjan for his hard work and input during his time as chair.”The Changing the Boundaries report, carried out by Plan4Sport, was commissioned after revelations by former players Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh, both of whom have been critical of the board’s recent efforts.As well as lacking a chair, Cricket Scotland is also currently without a chief executive, after it was announced that interim CEO Gordon Arthur would be stepping down for personal reasons at the end of April.

Gujarat Lions batsman Aaron Finch said that the team’s poor net run rate at this stage of the season provided the motivation for him to complete a swift chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore

Akshay Gopalakrishnan in Bengaluru27-Apr-20172:03

‘It was a conscious effort to attack’ – Finch

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s batting in the 2017 IPL has hardly reinforced why they boast three of the five highest totals in IPL history. Out of the eight times they have batted this season, only thrice have they put up a total in excess of 150.On the heels of the lowest-ever IPL total, RCB tumbled to 134 on Thursday night after another underwhelming performance against Gujarat Lions. With no IPL team having ever successfully defended a total of 150 or less in a completed innings at the Chinnaswamy, the best RCB could have done was pick up early wickets and hope Lions went into a shell.They ticked the first box, reducing Lions to 23 for 2 in the fifth over. But any plans of applying the choke thereafter were thwarted by a rampaging Aaron Finch. Finch ran up the fastest half-century by a Lions batsman, off 22 balls, batting with a sense of urgency not necessarily associated with a chase of 135. As a result, Lions stormed home in 13.5 overs and RCB were consigned to another heavy defeat.”Sometimes, in a small run chase, you can make the mistake of trying to bat slowly, and before you know, the run rate is 7, 8, 9 an over,” Finch said. “It was a conscious effort to attack. We were just trying to get ahead of the run rate. So even if something did happen, there were a couple of guys behind myself and Suresh – Jadeja, Faulkner, Dinesh Karthik… if something went wrong, we could still pick up the pieces.”Then, there is the matter of net run rate that can leave teams twitchy when the various permutations come into play towards the end of the league stage. Languishing at the bottom with a NRR of -0.844, Lions have now sprung up two places, and the net run rate is considerably better at -0.360.”At this stage, you still got to keep winning games,” Finch said. “If you’re in a position where you can really accelerate and make sure you finish as quickly as possible, it’s great. We’re lucky we got into a position like that tonight.”Lions’ bowlers used the new ball well on a slightly spicy Chinnaswamy deck that had more pace than in previous games. Nathu Singh and Basil Thampi got the ball to jag around a bit. Andrew Tye’s accuracy then hastened RCB’s slide after the early loss of Virat Kohli. Tye got one to nip away from Chris Gayle to find the left-hander’s outside edge. Next ball, he harried Travis Head by finding extra bounce from the back-of-a-length region, and had him edge to slip.”Anytime you take wickets in the Powerplay, it’s a huge bonus,” Finch said. “That’s just a part of the game that we’ve been missing. When we were down with pressure, we saw some misfields and a couple of catches going down in the past, but today was a pretty polished performance, and we saw some young quicks, Nathu and Basil, really stand up with the new ball against some of the best players to have ever played this format.”Lions threw in an element of surprise when they opted to open with the scratchy Ishan Kishan, who had been left out of their previous game. “We knew that they’d open with Badree, Chahal has been bowling in the Powerplay and Pawan Negi as well. It was a case of having a left-hander at the top,” Finch explained.Finch felt that the pitch exceeded their expectations. RCB’s bowlers didn’t help themselves by repeatedly erring in their lengths to him. While it was the in-between length that probed batsmen, Finch was offered a steady diet of fuller balls that he mowed over the short leg-side boundary, and short ones that were crunched off the backfoot.”In the second innings, it came onto the bat nicely,” Finch said. “Once the brand new ball was gone, there wasn’t much extra bounce. We thought it would be a little bit low and slow, but it played a lot better and turned out to be a pretty good wicket.”Finch was also pleased with the team combination and reassured that Lions hadn’t lost hope yet. “Coming to a place like Bangalore where the ball can travel around, to bring in the experience of James Faulkner was a good move. Obviously, he bowled beautifully.”It was a very good performance from the team tonight. We’ve put ourselves in this position by being poor in a couple of games. We’re still very confident, though. We have a good side, but time will tell.”

Craig Ervine, batting on 53, holds the key for Zimbabwe, who are 73 runs from their target but have just two wickets in hand going into day five

Abhimanyu Bose05-Jan-2025Ismat Alam’s century on debut and Rashid Khan’s six-for bookended a day of dominance for Afghanistan, who will come back on the fifth and final day needing just two wickets to seal the match and the series against Zimbabwe.Ismat, who had come into the Test with a first-class average of 92 and had converted all four of his fifties at the level into centuries, also converted his maiden Test fifty into a century to help Afghanistan finish on 363, setting Zimbabwe 278 to win.After that, it was all Rashid magic as he ran through Zimbabwe, who fought back with a gritty fifth-wicket stand between captain Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza, but in the end Afghanistan were in a winning position at stumps.Zimbabwe had a bright start in their chase of 278. Ben Curran hit two late cuts as Zimbabwe took 12 runs off Fareed Ahmad’s first over. Seven runs came off the next over before the Afghanistan bowlers found more discipline and started to dry out the runs. While there was some movement on offer with the new ball, the fast bowlers could not really threaten the Zimbabwe openers.Spin was introduced in the tenth over in the form of Zia-ur-Rehman and the left-arm spinner struck in his third over. Joylord Gumbie had reverse-swept him for four off the first ball of the over, but when he went for another reverse-sweep he ended up gloving the ball behind to first slip.From there on in, it was the Rashid show for Afghanistan. He first got one to spin in from the rough outside off to knock Curran over. In the next 37 balls, Zimbabwe managed just 14 runs and Takudzwanashe Kaitano released the pressure by authoritatively pulling Fareed for a six over backward square leg.Rashid then changed ends and drew the top edge from Kaitano as he went for a sweep. Abdul Malik ran across from slip to take the catch down the leg side, giving Zimbabwe another breakthrough just before tea.Blessing Muzarabani walks back with his career best innings figures of 6 for 95•Zimbabwe Cricket

In the third over of the final session, Dion Myers slashed at a wide delivery from Rashid and got a thick edge for four, but Rashid hit back by trapping him in front with a wrong’un, for his 400th international wicket.At 99 for 4, Zimbabwe were in trouble but the senior pair of Raza and Ervine combined to frustrate Afghanistan with a 58-run stand. They were watchful and kept the runs ticking with plenty of singles in the absence of close-in fielders. They hit just the one boundary in a partnership that lasted 19 overs.Rashid finally broke through, although it had little to do with his bowling. Raza, ever so watchful until then, was tempted into a drive as Rashid threw down a half-volley outside off, but he couldn’t get it over the cover fielder, much to his frustration.Sean Williams, nursing a back injury from the first day of the Test, was next on Rashid’s radar, as he got another one to spin in from the rough outside off to crash into off stump with Williams missing a sweep. That completed Rashid’s fifth Test five-for in just eight games. One ball later, he darted in a quick, flat legbreak that spun past the outside edge to crash into Brian Bennett’s off stump.In the next over, Zia trapped Newman Nyamhuri, as Zimbabwe lost three wickets in seven deliveries, still 100 runs away from their target.Ervine fought on for Zimbabwe, hitting Rashid for two boundaries either side of the wicket in the next over before depositing Zia over midwicket. He took Zimbabwe past 200 with a cover drive and hit another boundary down the ground – a misfield at long-on that helped him to a second half-century in the match.Soon after, Zimbabwe’s No. 10 Richard Ngarava pulled up holding his calf, and with lights fading, it brought on stumps with Zimbabwe still needing 73 and Afghanistan two wickets from victory.Afghanistan began the day 205 runs ahead and scored quickly with Ismat and Rashid finding the boundary regularly. But the latter failed to get out of the way of a Blessing Muzarabani bouncer and gloved a catch behind to give him his maiden Test five-wicket haul.Ismat carried on, hitting three fours in four overs after Rashid’s dismissal, and went past Ibrahim Zadran’s 87 in 2019 for the highest score by an Afghanistan batter on Test debut. With Zimbabwe spreading the field, he was forced to slow down but with Yamin Ahmadzai for company, he brought up his century and celebrated with a series of fist pumps. The celebrations were worth it after he had fallen for a two-ball duck in his maiden international innings.He fell on 101, miscuing a pull off Muzarabani, after which Afghanistan added just seven runs.

Narrow victory means England will qualify for the semi-finals if they win on Saturday

Valkerie Baynes04-Nov-20221:56

Moody: This performance a reflection of Australia’s campaign

Glenn Maxwell did his best to keep Australia’s semi-final hopes alive with an assertive, unbeaten half-century, but the hosts’ chances of reaching the knockouts are out of their hands after a classy performance from Afghanistan, who gave them an almighty scare chiefly through Rashid Khan at Adelaide Oval.Defending champions Australia needed to contain their opposition to 106 runs or fewer to overhaul England’s net run rate even before England play Sri Lanka in their final group game on Saturday. The hosts managed 168 for 8 from their 20 overs on the back of Maxwell’s knock after Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi took five wickets between them to restrict their opponents to a total that looked competitive for the match but not so much to ensure their progression .New Zealand have sealed a semi-final berth (Australia needed to beat Afghanistan by 185 runs to beat their NRR) and it was the Black Caps’ 89-run victory in their opening match that proved so costly to Australia’s title defence. Now, only an upset by Sri Lanka over England will see Australia through; if England win, they will join New Zealand in the next phase.Chasing 169, Gulbadin Naib shared a 59-run stand with Ibrahim Zadran for the third wicket but with a flurry of four wickets in nine balls – two to Adam Zampa in his last over – Australia wrested back control of the match. Rashid frightened the home fans, while thrilling his own supporters at the ground known as his ‘second home’ when he plundered an unbeaten 48 off 23 balls at the death, but Australia managed to hold on and win by four runs.2:59

Moody: Much more to Starc’s exclusion than it being a tactical selection

Controversial call
There was plenty of buzz about this match, given what was at stake for Australia, and the chatter grew ever louder when Mitchell Starc was left out of their line-up. Aaron Finch and Tim David were replaced by Cameron Green and Steve Smith less controversially after both failed to pull up adequately from hamstring injuries. But Starc making way for Kane Richardson left commentators and spectators confounded. Starc had been largely used through the middle overs at this tournament, but his damaging yorker and proven ability to blast out opposing sides were seen as a potential missed opportunity on this occasion.As it happened, Richardson struck with his third ball of the tournament, removing Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a sprightly 30 off 17 balls. Gurbaz had made an eventful start, smoking the sixth ball of the Afghanistan innings into the second tier over deep square leg off Josh Hazlewood, surviving a sharp run-out chance as bowler Pat Cummins side-footed the ball onto the stumps and apparently hurting his shoulder as the two collided inadvertently in the process. Gurbaz was deemed fit to bat on and made a valuable contribution.Maxwell, Marsh play their part
Mitchell Marsh found himself at the crease in the third over after Cameron Green fell for just 3, slashing Farooqi to Gulbadin at slip. David Warner had helped himself to four fours by this time, and was running for everything. But it didn’t work. Marsh had seen Warner and Smith depart in the same Naveen over before he was put down at point by Najibullah Zadran off Gulbadin with 19 to his name. Marsh went on to reach 45 off 30, slog-sweeping Mujeeb Ur Rahman over the square-leg boundary and sending Gulbadin’s leg-cutter into the stands straight down the ground. But he fell top-edging Mujeeb straight above his head for Gurbaz to hold the catch behind the stumps.David Warner consoles Rashid Khan after his near-miss•AFP/Getty Images

Cue Maxwell’s excellent knock as he powered his way to 54 not out from just 32 deliveries. He peppered the boundary with some impressive shots through the covers and twice cleared the fence over midwicket to keep Australia’s tempo and heads up.Afghanistan tease heartbreaker
Naveen’s three wickets were pivotal in putting a lid on an Australian side needing as big a total as possible to help their troubled title ambitions. Then, Gurbaz’s bright start and Gulbadin’s determined innings before he was run out by an excellent Maxwell throw from midwicket had Afghanistan within touching distance the magical 106-run total that would have helped Australia’s NRR comparison with England considerably. When Afghanistan went from 98 for 2 to 99 for 5 and 103 for 6, they were still shy of the mark.Then in came Rashid, a star of the Adelaide Strikers’ side in the Big Bash, to compile his career-best T20I score. He proceeded to smash four sixes, including back-to-back maximums off Richardson into the stands over deep midwicket and long-off and another off Marcus Stoinis beyond deep square leg that left his side needing 12 off the last two balls of the match. He managed two into the gap between long-on and long-off followed by a four that left Afghanistan just short of their target but the crowd not short of excitement.

Belligerent batting display ensures visitors make good use of only practice ahead of Tests

Vithushan Ehantharajah08-Feb-2023England XI 465 (Brook 97, Lawrence 85, Root 77, Foakes 57) vs New Zealand XIFor a warm-up fixture that had started to feel like an afterthought before it had even begun, England made the first meaningful day of cricket on this tour count. A score of 465 was blitzed in 69.2 overs against a New Zealand XI, with 55 fours and 17 sixes hammering home a mantra that the hosts are all too familiar with.As New Zealand’s favourite son Brendon McCullum watched those under his care squeeze plenty of juice from their only competitive day’s batting before the first Test begins a week Thursday, it was clear the apparently blasé approach to this fixture did not carry over onto the field. There was no toss, with England given the opportunity to bat the entirety of day one ahead of bowling all of day two. There was no Ben Stokes, either, with the captain opting to go through his own preparations to offer up an extra batting spot and give Ollie Pope another small dose of leadership. Only nine tourists were named in the XI ahead of the 2pm start.Adding to the cushty nature was the presence of Blackcaps captain Tim Southee. A white baseball cap hinted at an incognito look at the opposition, but any whiff of espionage was quashed when Southee caught up with McCullum before sitting down with Stokes and the England staff to chat about anything and everything. Better concealed was the former New Zealand limited-overs batter Anton Devcich in full England training gear. The Hamilton local has been lending a helping hand in training.Though play ended prematurely at 8:23pm with 20.4 overs of the 90 remaining, this had been a worthwhile endeavour. Particularly for Harry Brook, leading the way with a pugnacious 97, followed by 85 for Dan Lawrence, 77 for Joe Root and an accomplished 57 from Ben Foakes.Brook’s knock was the one of note, fast-tracking the innings, notably during a five-over spell before tea in which he and Yorkshire team-mate Root hammered 47. The pair combined for 115 in 16.1 overs for the fourth wicket, following starts from Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Pope that had lifted England to 95 from 17 overs.This was originally pencilled in as a four-day affair, as per the posters dotted throughout the ground, before the reduction to two to focus solely on the pink-ball elements ahead of the day-night opener in Mount Maunganui. That decision was ultimately made in Pakistan, a series also preceded by a reduced two-day scrimmage against England Lions. On that occasion, the decision to trim off a day was taken after conversations among the players at stumps on day two.Joe Root steers into the covers during his innings of 77•Getty Images

The knock-on effect of that discussion has been to give the players more ownership of their individual games, particularly when off-duty. That includes rest. Brook, for example, pulled out of a deal with SA20 franchise Joburg Super Kings to spend a bit more time at home after his player-of-the-series exploits in Pakistan.”I made the decision with England to pull out of the new South Africa competition and that was massive for me,” Brook said. “I was meant to travel on the 7th and I wasn’t quite ready to be completely honest, and I’m glad I pulled out in the end. That month was massive, just to be able to spend some time with the family and relax and not really touch a cricket bat was good. Hopefully I can come back in full flow this year and dominate.”Not that he’ll be lacking for the experience or coin. A £1.3million deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad for the upcoming IPL has only just sunk in. It is the fulfilment of a dream, even if he wasn’t expecting to go for as much. “Every little helps,” he said with a wry smile.This time last year, Brook was a non-playing member of England’s white-ball tour to West Indies. As he says, a fair bit has changed.”Last year was probably the best year of my life, lifestyle and cricket-wise, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Standing here saying I’m a World cup winner is unbelievable and nobody can ever take that away from me. It was a phenomenal year.”Related

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His work on Wednesday afternoon in Hamilton was far more attacking than his three innings across six days in Bloemfontein and Kimberley had been in last week’s ODI series: 97 off 71 versus 86 from 87. All four of his sixes during the ODIs came in the same knock of 80 in the second match. Today, five in a row came in the 36th over after Brook had played out a first-ball dot from legspinner Adithya Ashok. The first of those blows – comfortably the biggest of his nine – landed on Tristram Street which runs along the west of the ground. An attempted attempt for a 10th to take Brook to three figures was snared smartly on the thirf boundary to give Jarrod McKay the second of his 3 for 72. The first – cartwheeling Crawley’s middle stump – was the most spectacular blow landed.”To be honest, the way we’re playing cricket at the minute, it doesn’t really change,” Brook said, when asked about switching continents and ball colours in the space of a week. “I batted a lot slower for the 80 I got in South Africa than I did out there. We’re looking to put pressure on the bowlers, trying to hit them off the spot and keep the pressure on throughout.”He admitted to a degree of pressure in his own head to score briskly, which in turn meant his movements were a bit off by his own exacting standards. Nevertheless, he was impressed with his ball-striking beyond that one devastating over.”I think I’ve got a little bit stronger so I feel like I’m hitting the ball a bit harder,” he said. “Whether that’s just because I’ve been given the freedom to go out and play in a positive way and take the match on or I’ve just got stronger. I just feel like I’m hitting the ball a lot harder than I was before.”It was hard not to sympathise with those chasing leather, particularly given the heavy green tinge to their side. Ashok, for instance, only has one first-class appearance under his belt for Auckland against Central Districts back in October, though he did take 5 for 108 in his only innings of that game. Even with the misfortune of being thrashed around here for 82 from nine overs, he did at least emerge with the dismissal of Root, albeit a fortuitous caught-behind down the leg side off a lackadaisical sweep.By then Root had had his fun, pulling out the now-characteristic lap over third man for the first of two sixes, sending a reminder to the watching Southee after the hard launch of that shot in last summer’s Trent Bridge Test. By the time Lawrence got stuck in, the inferiority of the New Zealand attack was shining through as the sun dimmed.Play was at its most competitive when Kyle Jamieson had the ball in hand, and 15 overs of constant pressure throughout the day will have boosted Southee more than his eventual haul of 3 for 65. Jamieson has not played international cricket since picking up a back injury in that same Test in Nottingham, and has been working up to full fitness with limited-overs cricket.After shaking out a bit of rust on his return to whites, he removed Duckett with a neat delivery that drew the left-hander forward and slightly across for an edge through to Tom Bruce at second slip. A return in the final session exploited a bit of extra juice with the floodlights to square Lawrence up for another catch to Bruce in the cordon, before Will Jacks was turned inside-out to be caught at first slip this time.New Zealand’s coach Gary Stead has not confirmed whether Jamieson will make his comeback in the first or second Test. The decision won’t be made on this outing alone, although given England’s mood, and the absence of Trent Boult, perhaps it should be.

Victoria had earned a handy first-innings lead but Liam Guthrie hit back for Queensland

AAP18-Nov-2023Queensland took two crucial late wickets to set up an absorbing final day in their Sheffield Shield match against Victoria.The home side were 156 for 6 in their second innings, an overall lead of 237. Victoria looked like they were taking firm control after tea on a see-saw third day, with captain Will Sutherland and Campbell Kellaway posting a crucial 90-run stand for the fifth wicket.But Mitchell Swepson bowled Kellaway for 30 and eight balls later Liam Guthrie had Sutherland caught behind for 66 in a massive double breakthrough.Related

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Sunday’s morning session will be telling, with Victoria needing a solid rearguard contribution from their lower order. It will then be a question of how well the Queensland top order weather the new ball in their run chase.Queensland’s James Bazley is out of action because of a hamstring problem and Guthrie has stood up superbly, taking 4 for 38 from 10 overs.”To keep them to lead of 230, it’s good for us,” Guthrie said. “To have them six down at stumps is a good effort.”Earlier, the visitors resumed on 106 for 5 and made a bright start. Jimmy Peirson and Jack Wildermuth put on 55 for the sixth wicket before Fergus O’Neill made the breakthrough, having Peirson caught behind for 28.Wildermuth fell nine runs later, caught behind off Mitchell Perry and top-scoring with 40. Gurinder Sandhu made an unbeaten 25 and Swepson contributed 16 at No. 11 as Queensland restricted Victoria’s first-innings advantage.Guthrie then snared three wickets to leave Victoria 48 for 4 and Queensland looking like they were taking control.Sutherland played an outstanding captain’s knock, hitting nine fours and two sixes off 77 deliveries. Kellaway’s 70-ball innings featured two fours and a six, but he was dismissed going for a big hit off Swepson.”I haven’t really got any runs this season, so it was a really good scenario that suits my game – I could be really positive and aggressive,” Sutherland said.”It’s definitely turned into a bit of a new-ball wicket.. we’re going to need to be really positive tomorrow morning.”

The allrounder has cited issues with the team environment as the reason for her decision, and looks forward to “playing domestic cricket around the world”

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Aug-2022Deandra Dottin, the scorer of the fastest century in Women’s T20Is, has announced her retirement from the West Indies team. The allrounder made the announcement via Twitter, citing reservations with the team environment as the reason behind her decision.Dottin has made no indication that she has retired from any other team barring West Indies. She is currently representing Barbados at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and said in her retirement announcement that she is “looking forward to playing domestic cricket around the world”.Related

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Whether this includes the inaugural Women’s CPL that begins on August 30 – she is set to captain Trinbago Knight Riders in the three-team tournament – remains to be seen, since the tournament will be played under the auspices of Cricket West Indies. She is, however, set to play for the Manchester Originals in the second season of The Hundred in the UK.”There have been many obstacles during my cricket career that I have had to overcome[.] [H]owever, the current climate and team environment has been non-conducive to my ability to thrive and reignite my passion,” Dottin wrote in her announcement.”I am appreciative of the opportunities afforded to me and I have ruminated on my decision over a period of time. Playing for the West Indies and representing the region has been an honour. During my 14 years of playing, I have trained at my best and grown as a player physically, mentally and emotionally. It is the combination of this growth that has assisted me in reflecting on what is truly important to me.”With much sadness but without regret, I realize that I am no longer able to adhere to team culture and team environment as it has undermined my ability to perform excellently.” Dottin is West Indies’ most-capped international cricketer, having played 124 T20Is (she has also played two for Barbados at the ongoing Commonwealth Games) and 143 ODIs since her debut in June 2008. She has scored 3727 ODI runs at an average of 30.54, including three hundreds, and 2697 T20I runs – 2681 for West Indies – at 25.93, with two hundreds. Among the 38 batters to have scored at least 1000 T20I runs, only four have a better strike rate than Dottin’s 122.98.The most memorable display of her spectacular hitting came at the T20 World Cup in 2010, where she smashed an unbeaten 112 off just 45 balls against South Africa in St Kitts. She reached her hundred in 38 balls – it remains the Women’s T20I record, and was the overall record in all T20Is until October 2017, when South Africa’s David Miller hit a 35-ball hundred against Bangladesh.With the ball, Dottin has picked up 72 wickets in ODIs and 62 in T20Is, including a career-best haul of 5 for 5 against Bangladesh in 2018 – the best bowling figures in Women’s T20 World Cup history. Injuries had limited her bowling workload in recent years, but she still made a contribution when she stepped up for the rare over of medium-pace. In the opening game of this year’s Women’s World Cup, she stepped up to bowl the final over when New Zealand needed six runs to win with three wickets in hand. Dottin, who had only bowled 11 overs in the preceding three years, won West Indies the match, conceding just two runs while picking up two wickets and completing the match-ending run-out.

Sussex captain Luke Wright has said that they are ready to give Mustafizur Rahman some time off before his stint with the county next month

ESPNcricinfo staff21-May-20163:40

Nannes: Great opportunity for Mustafizur to grow

Sussex captain Luke Wright has said that they are ready to give Mustafizur Rahman some time off before his stint with the county next month. Reports suggest that they expect him to make his debut on June 10 in the NatWest T20 Blast game against Kent in Hove.Given the progress of the Hyderabad Sunrisers in the ongoing IPL, it is likely that he will be busy till May 29, after which he is supposed to join Sussex for the NatWest T20 Blast and the Royal London One-Day Cup.But he has recently informed people close to him in Dhaka that he is eager for a break after the IPL. But the general view in the BCB is that they want Mustafizur to play in the UK, which they feel will set him up strongly in his career.Wright was confident that Mustafizur, who has already missed their first NatWest T20 Blast match against Gloucestershire on Friday, would play a number of games for Sussex whenever he arrives in Hove.”Fizz is definitely coming but we are just clarifying the number of games he is going to play,” Wright told the . “We have to understand he is a young lad who has been away from home for a long time in an environment where he doesn’t speak the language. He’s also played a lot of games so we want to give him enough time to rest so that when he does come over we get the best out of him.”We always knew he was likely to miss the first two games so it is a case of whether he misses an extra game or not. Obviously we’d like him for as many games as possible as he is in such great form but either way he’ll still be available for a large chunk of the matches.”Wright said that they would wait for Mustafizur to arrive, given the reputation he already carries. He has so far taken 15 wickets in the IPL, after performing exceedingly well for Bangladesh against India, South Africa and Zimbabwe last year, and in the World T20 this year.”When we did our research on him people told us what a big player he was going to be. When someone like Kumar Sangakkara says he is a special talent then you sit up and take notice.”He’s proving how good he is out in India at the moment so we’ve done very well to get him on the deal we have as I don’t think he’ll be quite so cheap in the future,” he said.