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Alana King helped herself to a career-best haul after a rain delay as the home side produced a strong performance

Andrew McGlashan10-Feb-2024Standout performances from Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath enabled Australia to recover their composure after the heavy defeat three days ago to secure the ODI series in convincing style. It means they are 8-4 ahead in the multi-format contest leading into the Test match, and can’t be overtaken.Mooney anchored Australia’s innings with an unbeaten 82 off 91 balls without ever finding top gear after Alyssa Healy had struck a crisp half-century. South Africa kept themselves in the game by removing McGrath and Ash Gardner in quick succession, but Annabel Sutherland and Alana King played handy innings down the order alongside Mooney.McGrath and Kim Garth then did the significant damage with the ball. Garth’s swing accounted for Laura Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch, while McGrath had Tazmin Brits and the key wicket of Marizanne Kapp both held in the deep in the space of four balls.Beth Mooney was unstoppable and finished 82 not out•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Rain interrupted South Africa’s chase after 14 overs and for a while looked like it may not relent to allow the game to be completed, but it resumed as a 31-over contest. South Africa immediately needed ten an over, which proved way beyond them and wickets fell in a rush including three in an over for King, who was a whisker away from a hat-trick.South Africa had made an encouraging start after Healy won another toss. Phoebe Litchfield’s lean series continued when she found cover, and after seven overs Australia had been held to 21 for 1 with Kapp producing an opening spell of 4-2-5-0.But Healy, who was given a life on 27 when a very tough chance was spilled at deep square-leg, started to increase the tempo alongside Ellyse Perry as the pair added 82 for the second wicket. Masabata Klaas produced a brilliant inswinger to remove Perry, and after passing fifty from 61 balls, Healy somewhat carelessly flicked to deep square-leg.Mooney, who took 13 balls to get off the mark, and McGrath built another important stand, although progress was often hard work. McGrath broke the shackles with five consecutive boundaries off Ayanda Hlubi but was beaten by one that skidded through from Chloe Tryon in the next over. Gardner was then pinned lbw by Kapp to leave Australia 187 for 5 in the 37th over.Alana King knocked her stumps over while hitting a waist-high no-ball for six, and then hit the free hit for six as well•Getty Images

Mooney brought up her fifty from 71 balls and would go on to add 32 from her next 20 deliveries as Australia accelerated in the final ten overs. A brace of superb catches – one by Wolvaardt at cover and another by Nadine de Klerk in her follow through – dented Australia’s ambitions a little, but their total was given a boost when 13 runs effectively came from one delivery. King swung a huge full toss from Klaas for six (demolishing her stumps in the process) and then dispatched the free hit as well.Wolvaardt has not managed to get going in the ODIs and soon edged Garth to first slip. At the other end, Darcie Brown, who replaced a rested Megan Schutt, was bowling with good pace and struck Brits a nasty blow on the wrist.Brits fought through the pain before finding deep midwicket and South Africa’s best hope then vanished when Kapp, who had been so inspirational in the second game, helped McGrath into the hands of deep-backward square-leg.Either side of the rain delay, de Klerk and Sune Luus added 50 but Australia had plenty of breathing space.

Fast bowler backs his team to bounce back and praises Josh Hazlewood for picking up a five-for

Alex Malcolm08-Mar-2024Matt Henry has been a one-man band for New Zealand so far in this series. He is their leading wicket-taker (11) and leading run-scorer (85) and is single-handedly keeping the Black Caps’ hopes alive after another difficult day against Australia in Christchurch.He second-top-scored for New Zealand in the second Test running with an important 29 as they were bowled out for 162 having been sent into bat on a seam-friendly Hagley Oval pitch. Josh Hazlewood put on a supreme display of bowling to take 5 for 31Henry was then equally good during his turn, prising out three of Australia’s top four including the in-form Cameron Green to keep New Zealand in the contest. But despite bearing a heavy load, he refused to put any blame on New Zealand’s batters after they were bowled out for under 200 for the third successive innings.”It’s not a concern,” Henry said. “I think looking at our batting line-up we’ve got world-class players there. They’ve been fantastic for a number of years. I [haven’t] got any doubt that they’ll be great and they’ll be fine moving forward. It’s day one of a Test match. The ball is allowed to move around and guys are allowed to bowl well. That’s what happens when you come across world-class performers. They have their day sometimes.”Henry instead heaped praise on Hazlewood saying he provided the perfect example for the New Zealand bowling group to follow.New Zealand haven’t been able to get past 200 in any of their three innings this series•Getty Images

“Josh bowled exceptionally well,” he said. “Obviously watching him go about his work today, it was probably a bit of a blueprint for how we wanted to bowl out there as well. It was a matter of being accurate for a long period of time and creating pressure and he did that beautifully and thankfully we managed to do that in periods tonight as well and to get a few poles.”There were times though during Australia’s reply when it looked like tough Test cricket at one end and very comfortable batting at the other. Henry was nearly unplayable as he worked over Australia’s top-order with relentless pressure.He finally got the slice of luck he deserved when Usman Khawaja was bowled around his legs after the ball clipped the underside of his thigh pad and ricocheted onto leg stump. He later set up Green with a superb sequence. Green continued his Wellington plan of skipping down to Henry to disrupt his length. Henry kept dragging his length back and beat the edge multiple times. The first time Green stayed at home, Henry pushed fuller and seamed one in through the gate to hit the top of off via the pad.Related

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But in between times Green and Marnus Labuschagne profited from some very unthreatening bowling from Tim Southee and Scott Kuggeleijn. Labuschagne shook any concerns about his form, playing beautifully under pressure to finish 45 not out at stumps.The debutant Ben Sears showed some promise to help Henry out by dismissing Steven Smith, who made a horrible misjudgment padding up to a full delivery that was projected to be crashing into off stump.”It doesn’t get much better than that for a first wicket does it,” Henry said. “Searsy is a quiet man and he works really hard. Obviously being a young fast bowler for him to start his career like that was outstanding. I think he showed today so much control and excitement and he kind of got the ball rolling for us.”I think we were obviously bowling well and not much was happening and he was able to get that first breakthrough and we could build some momentum from there. Absolutely stoked for the way that he started.”Henry said it would be critical for New Zealand to bowl well at the start of day two as Australia have a chance of setting up a significant first-innings lead. “Tomorrow morning will be a big moment with the ball. We’ll make sure that we come out there and hopefully we can take some early wickets and put Australia under some pressure and then get back into some batting.”

Hardik Pandya’s issues with fitness appear to have tilted the scales against him

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jul-20246:24

Newsroom: What can we expect from SKY the captain?

Suryakumar Yadav is set to be appointed India’s new T20I captain ahead of Hardik Pandya, the incumbent vice-captain of the side, for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.Suryakumar will take over from Rohit Sharma, who retired from T20Is, along with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, after leading India to T20 World Cup glory in the Caribbean last month.Though Hardik was Rohit’s deputy at the T20 World Cup and is a more experienced captain – he has led India in three ODIs and 16 T20Is, apart from leading Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians in the IPL – it is understood fitness concerns and workload management may have tipped the scales against him.Hardik had suffered an ankle injury during the 50-over World Cup at home last October-November and was out of action until the start of IPL 2024, when he returned to lead Mumbai. Hardik has featured in just 46 of the 79 T20Is India have played since the start of 2022.Suryakumar, meanwhile, has previously captained Mumbai in the domestic circuit. More recently, he led India to a 4-1 series win over Australia in the T20I series last November, followed by a 1-1 series scoreline in South Africa. Suryakumar is also among the first names in a first-choice India XI in the format.Related

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The T20Is in Sri Lanka will be India’s first assignment under new coach Gautam Gambhir, who takes over from Rahul Dravid after the T20 World Cup. It’s also seen as the first step towards building for the next T20 World Cup which India is set to co-host in 2026.A young Indian squad, led by Shubman Gill, just returned from Zimbabwe earlier in the week after completing a 4-1 T20I series win. The squad included just three players from the side that won the World Cup.It is understood that the selectors will meet on Wednesday to finalise the touring party. Along with three T20Is, the tour will feature three ODIs.

The series could provide match practice, or serve as an audition, for a couple of back-up players likely to be picked in the Test squad

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2024 • Updated on 25-Oct-20247:07

What India A squad for Australia tour indicates about Border-Gavaskar Trophy selection

Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead the India A squad on their tour of Australia later this month.Gaikwad, who has begun his Ranji Trophy season with scores of 86, 0 and 145 for Maharashtra, is one of the contenders for the role of reserve opener for India’s five-Test tour of Australia, which will closely follow India A’s tour. That role has gained extra significance with India captain and opener Rohit Sharma set to miss one of the first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar series for personal reasons.Apart from Gaikwad, the 15-member India A squad also includes two other candidates for that role in Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has been named vice-captain, and Sai Sudharsan.The matches against Australia A could provide match practice, or serve as an audition, for a couple of other back-up players likely to be picked in the Test squad. Devdutt Padikkal, B Indrajith and Ricky Bhui are set to be the middle-order batters in the India A squad; Abishek Porel and Ishan Kishan the wicket-keepers; Nitish Kumar Reddy, Tanush Kotian and Manav Suthar the allrounders; and Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed and Prasidh Krishna, replacing the initially picked Yash Dayal, the fast bowlers.Abhimanyu, 29, has been part of India’s Test squad previously – in Bangladesh in 2022 – and he has been in superb form this domestic season, scoring two hundreds in the Duleep Trophy, another century in the Irani Trophy, and beginning the Ranji Trophy season with a ton for Bengal. Sudharsan, 23, made a first-class hundred for English county Surrey in August, before scoring a century in the Duleep Trophy and a double-hundred in Tamil Nadu’s Ranji Trophy match in Delhi.Having recovered from a hernia, 21-year-old allrounder Reddy made his T20I debut for India against Bangladesh earlier this month and is currently a reserve player in India’s Test squad for the home series against New Zealand. He is seen by India’s selectors as a promising allrounder who could improve with more experience and exposure.

India opt for intra-squad warm-up

India A are scheduled to play Australia A in two four-day matches in Mackay from October 31 to November 3 and in Melbourne from November 7 to 10. They will then play the India squad in a warm-up match in Perth from November 15 to 17 before the first Test against Australia begins on November 22.India have opted for this intra-squad game as their warm-up to the Test rather than a practice match against an Australian domestic side. This is a departure from their preference on their last two tours of Australia. They began the red-ball leg of their 2020-21 tour with a three-day game against Australia A, and played a four-day game against a Cricket Australia XI before their Test series in 2018.19.

India A squad for tour of Australia

Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vice-capt), Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudharsan, B Indrajith, Abishek Porel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Manav Suthar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna

“If I speak, I’ll get into trouble. So I better stay quiet on that,” TKR captain Pollard said of the incident

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2024An lbw decision against Antigua and Barbuda Falcons batter Imad Wasim that swayed between out and not out for over 10 minutes led to “chaos”, controversy and an unusual delay in the CPL game against Trinbago Knight Riders in Port-of-Spain.The initial not-out decision was briefly overturned by the third umpire Nigel Duguid before Wasim was called back to resume batting, which sparked off animated chats between TKR captain Kieron Pollard and the on-field umpires Christopher Taylor and Patrick Gustard.The incident happened on the second ball of the tenth over of the chase right after Sunil Narine had Hassan Khan stumped for 36 off 20 balls. Falcons needed another 67 off 65 deliveries when Wasim looked to defend his first ball with a forward press in front of the stumps, and Narine, from around the wicket, pitched the ball on a good length, before it went on to hit Wasim’s pads right in front of middle stump. The loud lbw appeal was first given not out by umpire Taylor, which Narine asked Pollard to review. When Pollard did, ball-tracking showed the ball hitting leg stump, which would have meant a golden duck for Wasim.Wasim, however, looked confident that he had edged the ball before it hit his pad. He was seen chatting with the umpires before he started walking off, and was even willing to, in turn, review TKR’s review as replays on the big screen showed he had edged it. Falcons assistant coach Curtly Ambrose was watching the replays in the dugout too with the rest of the squad, and was seen gesticulating from just beyond the boundary to protest against Wasim’s dismissal.The umpire soon reverted his decision to not out after seeing the inside edge, but only to spark off an animated conversation between Pollard and both on-field umpires, with this time the TKR coach Phil Simmons signalling from the dugout. It led to a near 12-minute delay, with the TKR camp clearly unhappy about the eventual decision, and later seeing Wasim hitting the winning runs too.Despite the loss on Thursday, TKR are still second on the points table. But they have not sealed a playoffs berth yet, and a visibly upset Pollard kept things very short at the presentation. “If I speak, I’ll get into trouble,” he said about the Wasim incident. “So I better stay quiet on that.”Falcons captain Chris Green was more expressive. “Chaos, absolute chaos,” Green said. “I don’t know what went on. He was given out when he shouldn’t have been, and then he stood over the rope and he probably shouldn’t have – but he was told to. Absolute chaos. I don’t know what happened, but this tournament continues to entertain in different ways… Really happy with the win. We outplayed them in all facets of the game tonight, and we thoroughly deserve that win.”

Wasim Jaffer said that they will need to find a way to win games at the start of tournaments going forward

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-20256:01

A deep dive into Afghanistan’s recent rise

Dale Steyn backed Afghanistan to win an ICC tournament within the next decade. To do so, he suggested that they inject patience into their individual and collective games.Afghanistan beat England in a thriller in Lahore but couldn’t make the knockouts of the Champions Trophy 2025. They lost their first match to South Africa and looked in trouble against Australia as well before rain intervened.”Back in the day, a lot of players would go play county cricket,” Steyn said, “Or they would go play first-class cricket to improve their skills and improve their patience really. I think we live in a time now where people are not patient enough. We can hardly watch two seconds on an Instagram story and it just feels like the Afghanistan players are similar when they’re playing their cricket.”They want things to happen so quickly. This ball must be a wicket, there’s no patience to building up and taking a wicket. And sometimes, the batters are the same, they’re batting in the first over. There’s so much movement happening in the crease, so they’re trying to hit a six and they’re trying to get the game going.Related

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“I think a lot of them play T20 cricket around the world, which is great, it’s great for their pockets and it’s great for them to learn. But, maybe, spending some time in four-day games might help, because one-day cricket is essentially a shortened version of a Test match. It’s got its moments where T20 is applied. But patience is one of the biggest things that Afghanistan players need to learn, and once they get that down, honestly, in the next decade, they could win ICC tournaments, for sure.”5:03

How can Afghanistan build on their progress?

Wasim Jaffer, who also praised Afghanistan’s rapid rise at the international level, identified their inability to hit the ground running in tournaments and fragility in their batting line-up as issues they need to look into going forward.Ibrahim Zadran made a match-winning 177 against England but Sediqullah Atal couldn’t convert his 85 against Australia into a big score. Their top-three have not set up a game collectively and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, arguably their best batter, finished with 16 runs in three games.”Afghanistan are on the rise,” Jaffer said “And you’ve got to applaud them because they’ve played semi-finals [at the 2024 T20 World Cup], they’ve beaten good teams and, when they beat anybody it’s not an upset anymore. So, you can expect Afghanistan to put on a show.””They will be disappointed [with] the way they started the first game. In such a short tournament, it’s important to start really well because you don’t get too many chances. One loss and you could be out of the tournament, which happened here.”Their batting needs to improve as well. We say that they are not a big chasing team. Their [Nos.] 3, 4, 5, even though Atal played well today, Rahmat Shah needs to be more consistent. He got a 90 in the first game, [Hashmatullah] Shahidi got stuck today, Gurbaz is their main player, he had a very off tournament. That’s where I think they lacked this time.”

Kuldeep and Prasidh set up the victory by sharing eight wickets between them

Sidharth Monga06-Dec-2025 • Updated on 08-Dec-2025KL Rahul resorted to spinning the coin with his left hand and finally won India a toss for the first time in their last 21 ODIs. They followed it up with a nine-wicket win to show what a challenge it had been for them to stay competitive and force a decider against South Africa, despite losing both the earlier tosses in this series.The beleaguered Prasidh Krishna began India’s turnaround, bowling Quinton de Kock after a sensational century. Kuldeep Yadav – playing with the dry ball for the first time in the series – then ran through the lower middle order to restrict South Africa to 270, after they would have entertained thoughts of 350 at various points in the innings.

India penalised for slow over-rate

India’s players have been fined 10% of their match fees for their slow over-rate against South Africa in the second ODI in Raipur on December 3.

KL Rahul’s team was ruled to be two overs behind the target in match referee Richie Richardson’s estimation, and the team was penalised in accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC’s code of conduct for players.

The charge against India was levelled by on-field umpires Rod Tucker and Rohan Pandit, third umpire Sam Nogajski, and fourth umpire Jayaraman Madanagopal.

The low target allowed Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal to be measured in the initial overs, as the ball moved for longer and the dew appeared later than in the first two matches. Rohit shepherded Jaiswal in the early parts of his innings as the youngster found his tempo in a new format. However, Rohit didn’t stay long enough to watch him cruise to a maiden ODI hundred.In the end, the match wasn’t as simplistic as “win the toss, win the match” – it ebbed and flowed with a variety of conditions presenting themselves.Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana used the early moisture – perhaps a touch extra, to stop the pitch from drying out in the first innings – beautifully to tie South Africa down. Ryan Rickleton was opening, with Aiden Markram pushed down the order – to No. 5 – in Tony de Zorzi’s absence. Arshdeep took Rickleton’s edge in the first over. Rana followed it up with a maiden. India bowled three maidens in the first eight overs and only two edged boundaries from de Kock’s bat took South Africa to 25 for 1.Quinton de Kock brought up his seventh ODI ton against India•BCCI

The introduction of Prasidh, already under fire in this series, brought South Africa an opportunity to break free. De Kock took a special liking to him, pulling him for two sixes in his first two overs and playing the two shots of the day: an aerial extra-cover drive on the up for a six and one along the ground for four. Prasidh went for 27 in his first two, and runs started to flow in a 113-run stand between de Kock and Bavuma. The latter scored only 48 of those in 67 balls, which was more indicative of the conditions and the quality of bowling. De Kock, on the other hand, was already 63 off 55 at this point.The pitch had settled by now, and Matthew Breetzke took down the part-time spin of Tilak Varma, playing in place of Washington Sundar. By the end of the 26th over, the fifth-bowler combination of Prasidh and Tilak had leaked 56 runs from their five overs. De Kock was well on his way to a seventh century against India in just 23 innings. No one has scored more against India. Nor has any visiting batter scored more than his seven centuries in India.Related

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This is when, at 158 for 2, Prasidh started his second spell. His first over went for just two. Rana came on at the other end, with India desperate for a wicket. De Kock hit a four to take South Africa past a run a ball for the first time. In Prasidh’s next, Breetzke tried to get back to dominating him and made an error in judging length. He was out plumb lbw playing back and across the line to a ball hitting top of off. In the same over, Markram ended up chipping one to Virat Kohli, fielding close at short cover.Given the depth in their batting and the need to capitalise on the overs before the extra fielder went out for the last 10 overs, South Africa kept going. The run rate stayed up, but de Kock ended up playing all around a long half-volley from Prasidh, dismissed for 106 off 89 out of a score of 199 for 5 in 32.5 overs.Dewald Brevis and Marco Jansen kept attacking, but the return of Kuldeep brought new challenges. India needed to bowl five overs of spin in the last 14, which could have been tricky. However, Kuldeep was cherishing the dry ball for the first time this series as well as the older ball for the first time in his career, since the bowling side is now allowed to bowl with only one of the two balls after the 34th over.Brevis and Jansen were bullish in their response. They were not willing to play out Kuldeep, the leading wicket-taker in the series despite a predominantly wet ball in hand. When Kuldeep started the second over of this new spell, there had been 19 balls without a boundary. The extra fielder would go out in two overs as well. Aware of a big shot around the corner, Kuldeep kept tossing the ball wide and taking it away. Both of the batters holed out in the same over.Rohit Sharma celebrates with Kuldeep Yadav, who took four wickets•Associated Press

Kuldeep’s wizardry picked up two more wickets – only Adam Zampa has taken more hauls of four or more since Kuldeep’s debut – and Prasidh wiped off the last man.If South Africa had to compete in this defence, they needed early wickets. The ball moved around for Jansen and Lungi Ngidi, but seven wides in the first two overs and the occasional calculated strike from Rohit kept India in touch with the asking rate.Even as Jaiswal struggled, Rohit took the game on, charging and pulling Ngidi for a six and chipping Keshav Maharaj for a four against the turn. His trademark imperious pull made an appearance soon enough. While Jaiswal’s strike rate hovered around 50, Rohit got to his 94th score of 50 or more at a run a ball, buying Jaiswal time.It hasn’t been an ideal scenario for Jaiswal, filling in for the injured captain Shubman Gill. He was obligated to hit out in the first two ODIs as India strived for above-par scored to counter the toss disadvantage, but here, he could use the extra time and post a big score before Gill takes over again.The innings flowed smoothly after he reached 50 off 75 balls. He reached his hundred in just 36 more balls, becoming the sixth batter to be a centurion for India in all three formats. He batted with the two others in this chase. After Rohit fell 25 short of what would have been a 34th ODI hundred, Kohli displayed yet another upgrade to his game: he took his sixes tally to 12 – more than he has ever hit in a series before. He finished unbeaten on 65 off 45, as India won with more than 10 overs to spare.

His father, Gary, said that when Green was born there were concerns over his life expectancy

Alex Malcolm14-Dec-2023Australia allrounder Cameron Green has revealed he was born with chronic kidney disease and at one stage had a life expectancy of just 12 but has been able to manage the issues throughout his professional cricketing career.Green, 24, was left out of Australia’s XI for the opening Test of the summer against Pakistan in Perth with Mitchell Marsh usurping him as the incumbent allrounder in the side during the Ashes series in England earlier this year.But Green, who is by nature a very shy and reserved person, revealed to Channel 7 that he has been dealing with the disease for his entire life, having hardly made it known to even team-mates or friends.”My parents got told when I was born that I had chronic kidney disease,” Green told Channel 7. “Basically, there’s no symptoms, it was just picked up through ultrasounds.”Chronic kidney disease is basically a progressive disease of your kidney’s health function. Unfortunately, mine doesn’t filter the blood as well as other kidneys. They’re at about 60% at the moment which is stage two.”I consider myself very lucky that I’m not as affected physically by chronic kidney disease as other people who are affected by the same thing.”With chronic kidney disease there’s five stages, with stage one being the least severe, and stage five being transplant or dialysis. Fortunately, I’m stage two, but if you don’t look after them enough, it goes back down.”Kidneys can’t get better. It’s irreversible. So anything you can do to slow the progression, you basically try and do.”Green’s disease was picked up when his mother Bee Tracey had her 19-week pregnancy scan. His father Gary, who has been hugely influential on Green’s cricket career, said there were initial fears he may not live past the age of 12. “At the time it was unchartered territory as such, the prognosis wasn’t great,” Gary Green said. “There were life expectancy issues that he might not expect to live past twelve years of age.”Green said he has managed the issue reasonably well throughout his career to date and has only had one concerning episode while playing for Australia in an ODI against New Zealand in Cairns last year. He made 89 not out in a successful run chase after bowling five overs and fielding the full 50 but experienced severe cramping while he batted.”I think it was pretty well documented that I had a pretty long day of bowling and a pretty long bat as well, and then had a cramping episode,” Green said. “It took me a long time to realise that it was probably my kidney function that was affecting my cramping.”I always thought I didn’t drink enough, didn’t eat enough, didn’t look after myself during the game as well as I could have, but I think over time I realised that I was doing absolutely everything right, but I was still cramping, unfortunately.”Green said it took him awhile to reveal it to his team-mates, who had wondered about his capacity to handle the all-round workload.”I have told a few guys in the cricket world. The coaching staff are all over it,” Green said. “I think all the guys in the Aussie cricket team, I’ve told. After a few cramping episodes, I probably had to come off and tell them that it’s probably more than not being professional enough because I knew in the background I was eating and drinking as much as I could to give myself the best chance.”

Veteran strikes with three quick wickets but Hannon-Dalby five-for gives Warks the edge

Andrew Miller19-Sep-2023Warwickshire 72 for 4 (Rhodes 36*, Murtagh 3-17) trail Middlesex 121 (De Caires 40, Hannon-Dalby 5-29) by 49 runsThere’s a chance that Tim Murtagh was feeling rather sheepish when, shortly after 4pm, he stepped out of the pavilion as Middlesex’s No. 11 to witness – in the middle distance, and on the most central and prestigious strip that Lord’s has to offer – a guard of honour lined up to mark his impending retirement.The gesture was touching, as was the roar of approval when he blocked his one and only delivery from Chris Rushworth straight back down the pitch, but the timing was a touch discombobulating. After all, at 100 for 9 on the first day of Middlesex’s – and therefore, potentially, Murtagh’s – penultimate match of the season, it wasn’t as if the prospect of a later, and more terminal, visit to the crease was off the table just yet.And besides, there was something about Middlesex’s distracted display up to that point – even by the standards of their flatlining season – that had reeked already of “benefit match”. Murtagh’s inclusion, for his 264th first-class appearance and his 91st at Lord’s, had come at the expense of the club captain Toby Roland-Jones, and so (apart from anything else) had further weakened one of the most brittle batting line-ups in the land. On the face of it, it seemed an odd moment to ignore the realities of their ongoing race to the bottom with Kent.Warwickshire’s Oliver Hannon-Dalby duly reminded them what was at stake with a route-one haul of 5 for 29 in 10.5 overs: each of his first four wickets was the reward for a hint of movement on a probing off-stump line, until Josh De Caires, counterattacking gamely at No. 7 for an enterprising 40 from 58 balls, clipped him low to midwicket to leave Murtagh high and dry on 0 (1). All out for 121 then, with an uptick of zero batting points to Middlesex’s survival bid.But with Kent’s own bonus-point quest being stymied by Tom Lammonby and Lewis Goldsworthy down at Taunton, up stepped Murtagh for his main event, and for the penultimate time on his favourite stage. Seven overs and three wickets later, he’d shown once again that – in bleak autumnal conditions and in your county’s hour of need – sometimes a timeless display of ball-on-a-string seam bowling is all a team needs to get back on an even keel.Murtagh is 42 years old now, and has effectively been a Lord’s specialist this season, with five of his six Championship appearances now coming at HQ. But what a specialist, and how effective! His ten-wicket haul against Kent in April remains the key reason why Middlesex are not (quite) in the relegation positions, and on this evidence – though Warwickshire closed the day with a degree of poise through Will Rhodes’ 36 not out – it’s not out of the question that Murtagh ends up accounting for half of Middlesex’s four Championship wins in this campaign. There’ve been 14 wickets on this first day, after all. Even allowing for a two-hour rain delay, it’s hard to see this one finishing as a draw.Murtagh needed a solitary ball to sow those familiar seeds of doubt, as Rob Yates flinched outside off to a delivery that typically was there to be hit until it was not. His next offering was more inviting still, swinging across the left-hander and gathering shape as it did so, to induce an uncertain flat-footed cut and a fat inside-edge into his stumps – Warwickshire were 0 for 1 after two balls, and the game was unquestionably afoot.Three overs later, with just one run chiselled from his offerings, Murtagh struck again, courtesy of a superb diving take from John Simpson, flinging himself low to his right to scoop up a snick off Kraigg Braithwaite that was never destined to reach the cordon. Alex Davies then flapped his second ball over the cordon for four as Murtagh hit the seam and found extravagant bounce outside off; that shot was almost certainly on his mind six balls later, as he stabbed a fat front pad down the line to be pinned for the plumbest lbw imaginable.Even when his spell was done, Murtagh’s impact was arguably still apparent. Ethan Bamber replaced him at the Nursery End, and duly struck with his second ball – from round the wicket, with a touch more pace behind his nip off the seam, to crash past Dan Mousley’s defences and into his off stump. At 42 for 4, the contest was properly in the balance, but Rhodes and Ed Barnard quelled the threat as the light faded, to leave much more of the same required on Wednesday – at Lord’s and at Taunton – if Middlesex are to keep their hopes alive.If, however, the worst does come to pass for the club, then there’s really no escaping where the fault will lie. Another sickly batting card has left them relying on a soon-to-be-retired stalwart for one more bail-out, and even that is unlikely to be enough if the second innings serves up a similarly passive display.Warwickshire won the toss and the wickets were quickly passed around, not unlike a puppy at a primary school – soft and moreish. Rushworth struck the first blow, snicking Mark Stoneman’s edge for 13, one ball after he’d induced an almighty waft outside off. Hannon-Dalby bagged the second, as Sam Robson planted his front foot on off stump and was surprised by a hint of nip back into his pads. Craig Miles then came round the wicket to unroot Jack Davies’ off stump, before Ed Barnard struck one over later, condemning Ryan Higgins’ own stump to a similar fate.Barnard then made it two in four overs as Simpson wafted into a flimsy cramped cut and feathered an edge through to Michael Burgess for a duck, as Middlesex limped to lunch, five-down and freefalling.And once the afternoon rain had abated, it was over to Hannon-Dalby, flapping his limbs like a latter-day Bob Willis as he cantered in from the Nursery End, hounding a succession of techniques with high-kicking, stump-threatening line and length. Only De Caires, in the midst of a fine late-season flurry with bat and ball, found the gumption to resist, with a deft scoop over the keeper among his five fours, and a flat slam into the Grandstand for six for good measure. But Murtagh aside, not too many of his team-mates have yet found the fight to match their team’s needs.

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.