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Captain Alex Gidman came to Gloucestershire’s rescue on the opening day of the
County Championship match with Leicestershire at Bristol

07-Sep-2011
ScorecardCaptain Alex Gidman came to Gloucestershire’s rescue on the opening day of the
County Championship match with Leicestershire at Bristol. Leadership was needed when the hosts slumped to 82 for 5 after losing the toss. Gidman provided it with an innings of 81, sharing a stand of 121 with Ian Cockbain who reached 46 not out, as his side reached 235 for 6.Matthew Hoggard was the pick of the Leicestershire bowlers with two for 30 from
22 overs, while Nathan Buck claimed 3 for 61 from 16. Fourteen overs were lost to rain in the afternoon and in the end both sides could feel satisfied with their efforts.Hoggard and Buck exploited excellent seam bowling conditions after the 10.30am
start and Hoggard made the first breakthrough with the total on 23 as Chris Dent
edged a catch to third slip. Buck then removed Kane Williamson and Chris Taylor in quick succession before having the obdurate Richard Coughtrie caught behind for 30 to make it 72 for
4.Lunch was taken with three runs added, at which point Buck had three for 30
from nine overs. When Hamish Marshall failed to move his feet to a delivery from Hoggard and
departed lbw for three Gloucestershire were in deep trouble and could see their
last flickering hopes of promotion slipping away.But Gidman was in a defiant mood and found an equally determined partner in
Cockbain. The skipper moved solidly to a half-century in 83 balls, with seven
fours. Cockbain collected five boundaries as the century partnership was brought up in
22 overs.Gidman played and missed occasionally on the drive and Cockbain was caught off
a Buck no-ball, but both batsmen also produced some attractive shots to take the
score to 200 and earn a first batting bonus point. Rain then forced the players off at 2.55pm and an early tea was taken.Play resumed at 4.40pm, with 14 overs lost, and with just three runs added
Gidman appeared to be beaten in the flight by off-spinner Jigar Naik and gave
wicketkeeper Ned Eckersley his third catch. Gidman had faced 114 balls and hit 12 fours. He was replaced by brother Will, who is in sight of the double of 1,000 runs and 50 wickets in his first season with Gloucestershire.He and Cockbain were extremely watchful under heavy grey skies as they
painstakingly built an unbroken stand of 32 by stumps. Cockbain was four short
of his half-century, having been in for just over three hours.

Medium-pacer Hamid Hassan single-handedly ended Kenya’s resistance on the fourth and final day to give Afghanistan a 167-win

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2010
Scorecard
Hamid Hassan starred with 11 wickets•International Cricket Council

Medium-pacer Hamid Hassan single-handedly ended Kenya’s resistance on the fourth and final day to give Afghanistan a 167-win and take them to the top of the Intercontinental Cup table. Just 8.1 overs were needed as Hassan bowled Nehemiah Odhiambo and James Ngoche, and trapped Ragheb Aga and Elijah Otieno lbw, to finish with match figures of 11 for 157.Kenya’s lower-order collapse followed a string of determined starts from the top order that enabled them to make a decent fist of chasing 512. Opener David Obuya made a patient 79 while his top-order colleagues, Collins Obuya and Steve Tikolo, played around him. Both scored fifties, adding 90 and 99 respectively with David. Unfortunately for Kenya, none of them were able to kick on and make the big score that was needed if they were to have any chance of victory.Afghanistan took control of the match after making 464 in the their first innings, built around captain Nawroz Mangal’s maiden first-class century, before bowling Kenya out for 160. The 23-year-old Hassan, who was the first Afghanistan cricketer ever to play at Lord’s when he represented the MCC against a select Europe XI in June, 2007, did the damage early, taking five of the first six wickets to leave Kenya reeling at 90 for 6.Kenya’s bowlers had rallied on the third day to bowl Afghanistan out for 207, with offspinner James Ngoche picking up his first five-wicket haul, but the result was never in doubt.Afghanistan will take on Scotland in the final next month, having won five of their six matches in the league phase. Scotland’s only loss in the league came against Afghanistan, who beat them by 229 runs. Hassan was the bowling star in that match as well, with almost identical figures of 11 for 154. He is the leading wicket-taker in the Intercontinental Cup with 35 wickets at an average of 21.17 and a strike-rate of 33.8. His teammate, Mohammad Shahzad, is the top run-scorer, having made 736 runs at an average of 81.77.

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

Needing 292 in 37.1 overs, Afghanistan came agonisingly close thanks to Nabi’s 65 off 32

Madushka Balasuriya05-Sep-20231:43

Were Afghanistan unaware of the permutations?

Afghanistan won hearts and minds, but it was Sri Lanka who won the contest, in a game for the ages in Lahore. The scorecard will say Sri Lanka won by two runs – and in the process recorded their 12th straight ODI win – but that barely scratches the surface in a game that could’ve gone either way.After their heavy loss to Bangladesh, Afghanistan knew at the toss that any chase would have to be completed in around 37 overs for them to get their NRR to qualification standards. Adding a bit of spice to this scenario was the fact that, if they succeeded in doing so, Sri Lanka’s NRR would then drop below that of both Bangladesh’s and Afghanistan’s, thus eliminating the defending champions.As it transpired, with Sri Lanka ending on 291 for 8 – courtesy an 84-ball 92 from Kusal Mendis and a late stand between Dunith Wellalage and Maheesh Theekshana – Afghanistan needed to reach their target in 37.1 overs. For much of the chase Sri Lanka had the game in hand, but then Mohammad Nabi’s 32-ball 65 lit the fuse of belief that spread through the Afghan camp.Rashid Khan sinks to his knees after Afghanistan crashed out of the Asia Cup•AFP/Getty Images

Nabi walked in in with 171 required off 110, and by the time he fell, the equation had dropped to 91 from 64. In between, he had pulled, swatted, cut and slapped Sri Lanka’s bowlers all over the Gaddafi Stadium in an innings that included six fours and five sixes.Related

• Is Sri Lanka's tame finish in ODIs a cause for concern?

• Trott admits Afghanistan were unaware of NRR permutations

• Last leg of Asia Cup matches to be played in Colombo as scheduled

Such was the impact of Nabi’s innings that the rest of the batters – the same ones that had struggled to maintain a high strike-rate against Bangladesh two days prior – would find the boundaries when required to keep up with the run-rate.In the end though it was left to Rashid Khan, who would strike three boundaries in the final four balls of the 37th over to leave Mujeeb Ur Rahman needing to score three off one. Mujeeb would hole out at long-on, but that wouldn’t be that.As the math would have it, Afghanistan could have still qualified if they were to get their score up to 295 in 37.5 overs – essentially with a single six. But incredibly, it appeared this wasn’t communicated to the Afghan players. And so, Farooqi, as the No. 11, would play out two defensive strokes, before being trapped lbw while attempting a third block. Rashid at the other end cut a forlorn figure as Sri Lanka secured an improbable win to finish atop Group B.Until Nabi’s intervention though, Sri Lanka were comfortably in control, more so after the powerplay. Kasun Rajitha, who finished with 4 for 79, was the early enforcer with wickets of top-order batters Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. Gulbadin Naib, pushed up the order, would briefly counter in a 16-ball 20 that included four boundaries, but Matheesha Pathirana would trap him lbw first ball.Fastest fifties in Asia Cup (ODI editions)•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

A 71-run stand between Hashmatullah Shahidi and Rahmat Shah then kept the Afghans in the game, but it was only once Nabi entered the fray that Sri Lanka truly began to fear. No one was safe in this period, not on the field nor in the stands, as Nabi found the gaps with ease. He would strike at 244 against Pathirana, 160 against Rajitha, 366 against Shanaka and 233 against Wellalage. Only against Theekshana did he even slightly struggle, but even so he struck at 128 against him. It would be fitting then that Theekshana would be the one to dismiss him.Prior to his nearly match-winning hand, Nabi had played his role in keeping Sri Lanka to a sub-300 total in what was another great batting surface in Lahore. His 10 overs went wicketless but for just 35 runs, which meant he was the only bowler to go for less than six an over across both teams. This would prove crucial in keeping the Lankans to a chaseable target of 292. Doing the damage with the ball were Naib and Rashid, who would end on figures of 4 for 60 and 2 for 63 respectively.Dunith Wellalage struck crucial runs for Sri Lanka•Associated Press

In their batting innings, Sri Lanka threatened to put the game beyond Afghanistan’s reach at various points but not all the way. The opening stand of 63 off 62 between Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne looked threatening until Naib struck. He would get two more shortly after to leave Sri Lanka on 86 for 3.Then once Mendis and Charith Asalanka put on 102 for the fourth wicket, Rashid would strike to break the stand. He would later effect a run out of Mendis – albeit rather fortuitously – after a dropped return catch from Dasun Shanaka would deflect onto the non-striker’s stumps. He would have Shanaka as well, castling the Lankan skipper around his legs to leave Sri Lanka at risk of not completing their 50 overs.But it was here that Wellalage played the knock that, in hindsight, won Sri Lanka the game. Having entered 227 for 7 in the 40th over, Wellalage would put on a stand of 64 with Theekshana at a touch over run-a-ball to take Sri Lanka to their eventual winning total. He’d make 33 in 39 while Theekshana contributed 28 in 24.

Former India coach wants Jammu and Sunrisers fast man to get BCCI contract ‘straightaway’

Nagraj Gollapudi and Raunak Kapoor18-May-20224:40

Ravi Shastri: ‘Central contract straightaway for Umran Malik’

Umran Malik needs to be given a central contract “straightaway” by the BCCI, in the opinion of Ravi Shastri, who also believes Malik will be “a handful” in first-class cricket and has the potential to even be part of the Indian Test set-up subject to him being put on the development pathway by Indian cricket authorities.Malik, who recently clocked 156.9 kph, possibly the fastest ball in IPL history, is also the fourth-highest wicket-taker this IPL with 21 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 20 and economy rate of 8.93. Playing his first full IPL season, Malik has already bagged a five-for [the second-best figures so far this season], but it is his raw, uninhibited pace that has troubled batters, brought fans to the edge of the seats and excited pundits like Shastri.Related

• Kings' high-risk approach fails to click; Malik, Tripathi shine in Sunrisers' dull season

• Shastri: Jadeja as captain 'looked a fish out of water'

• SRH v MI: Tripathi, Malik keep Sunrisers alive

• Scenarios: All eyes on Capitals and RCB

• Moody on Sunrisers' dream fast-bowling line-up

“Central contract straightway,” Shastri said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out after Malik put on another impactful performance with a three-wicket haul in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s win against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday. “And keep him in the mix, don’t let him float around. Keep him in the mix with the main players and then he learns seeing (and) being around with the [Mohammed] Shamis and the [Jasprit] Bumrahs, and see the way they train, see the way they manage their workload.”Of course, there’ll be the team management there, support staff, that’ll help him do that, but don’t let him stray at the moment. Get him into the mix, and keep him there and groom him.”While Malik has rattled the best batters in the IPL – on Tuesday, Malik hit Rohit Sharma in the helmet – with his extreme pace as well as uprooted stumps, someone like Shami has called on him to focus on combining “pace with accuracy”.”He’ll get better and better,” Shastri said. “You see his bowling once he takes a wicket. Look at the lines he starts bowling as opposed to when he has not got a wicket – that’s when he is trying everything, his lines are all over the place. You don’t want him to cut down on pace. The last thing you would tell him looking for control, cut down on pace. What you want him to do is get his lines right: if he can bowl that stump line, attack the stumps on a constant basis, varying his lengths, he will trouble [batters].”If he gets a wicket and new guy comes in, he can really rattle him because he has got the pace, he can keep the bloke on his toes, but it’s that line – if he gets into that channel, without cutting his pace it will make a huge difference.”Shastri: ‘Get him into the mix, and keep him there and groom him’•BCCI

And if Malik could stick to that plan, Shastri said he would not be surprised if Malik is soon be part of the Indian Test squad. “I promise you, this guy is going to be a handful in red-ball cricket. Handful, really. If he is part of an Indian pace battery that (already) has Bumrah, Shami, you add this bloke in (as) a fourth guy, it’s going to be a serious attack.”Shastri’s views are similar to that of Sunrisers’ head coach Tom Moody, who had said Malik was like a “Ferrari” and there was no point asking him to cut down his pace and focus on line and length.At 22, Malik is enjoying the best time of his life, doing something that comes naturally to him: bowling fast. But you can sense he is also hearing what the experts are saying. After the win on Tuesday, Malik was keen to understand how his senior Sunrisers team-mate Bhuvneshwar Kumar had bowled a maiden in the penultimate over of Mumbai’s chase.Bhuvneshwar pointed out that he had worked out delivering yorkers was the “best option” based on the behaviour of the pitch, and he managed to pull it off. Malik then wanted to know what was the key to bowling successfully in death overs, the most difficult phase in T20 cricket. “The most necessary thing in death bowling is to keep yourself calm because what happens often is the pressure comes as soon as a boundary is hit,” Bhuvneshwar told Malik in a chat on . “So the only thing I will say is how much you can keep calm and have a calm mind then it will help you.”

He was a reliable and gutsy presence at the top of the order for Australia through the 1950s

Daniel Brettig11-Jan-2021Colin McDonald, Australia’s lone resister during Jim Laker’s world record 19-wicket haul in the 1956 Old Trafford Ashes Test, has died at the age of 92.In a lengthy and reliable stint at the top of the order for Australia for the best part of the 1950s and early 1960s, McDonald was a key part of the team in the era spanning the captaincies of Lindsay Hassett, Ian Johnson, Ian Craig and Richie Benaud, playing the last of his 47 Tests on the 1961 tour of England that saw the debut of his fellow Victorian opening batsman Bill Lawry.Batting with a range of partners, McDonald was at his best during the 1955 West Indies tour and the 1958-59 Ashes series at home, the scenes of four out of his five Test hundreds and plenty of cut shots and leg-side deflections with a technique that was dominated by the bottom hand.But McDonald’s most enduring efforts were arguably his run of scores in the Laker-led defeats of the Australians by both England and Surrey during the 1956 tour: scores of 89, 45, 32 and 89 out of team totals worth 259, 107, 84 and 205 represented high skill and no little determination against the turning, spitting ball.Related

• 'I got sick of being called courageous'

• When Jim Laker skittled the Australians

Asked in later years by Gideon Haigh about how he viewed the 1956 Ashes, McDonald offered an unvarnished view of the conditions and how they had been prepared. “England cheated: if by cheating you include the practice of preparing wickets to suit your own purpose,” he said in .”I mean, we wouldn’t have minded so much if the pitches had played true to character. But we’d played Lancashire at the start of the tour and it seamed like a normal Manchester wicket. Then the Test pitch was like Bondi Beach when it was dry and a mud-heap when it was wet. In truth, though, Australians were poor at playing off-spin on slow turning wickets. They tended to thrust at it with firm hands, where the way to do it was play side-on, close to your body, bat inside pad. They bowled well. We batted very badly.”McDonald’s traditional, “take the shine off the new ball” approach to opening served his country well as Benaud fashioned them into the world’s pre-eminent team, culminating in the memorable 1960-61 series against West Indies at home and then the retention of the Ashes in England in 1961.”Colin will forever be remembered as a legend of Victorian and Australian cricket,” Cricket Australia chair Earl Eddings said. “He was fearless against the fast bowlers and skilful when playing the spinners both in Australia and across tours of England, the Caribbean, South Africa, India and Pakistan.”Australian cricket is a better place for Colin’s many years of outstanding service at international and state level, as well as his club career with Melbourne University, Melbourne Cricket Club and Brighton. Our sincere condolences and best wishes go out to Colin’s family.”

The fast-bowling allrounder had missed the first Test, which West Indies lost by 318 runs, due to an ankle injury

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2019Keemo Paul has recovered from his ankle injury and has been drafted back into the West Indies squad straightaway for the second and final Test against India in Kingston, replacing Miguel Cummins, the man who had filled in for him in Antigua.

WI squad for second Test

Squad: Jason Holder (capt), Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, John Campbell, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jahmar Hamilton (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope (wk), Shannon Gabriel, Keemo Paul, Kemar Roach.

That was the only change to the squad for the first Test, which India won by 318 runs. Shai Hope kept wickets then, and might continue to do so with first-choice Test wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich back in Barbados continuing his rehabilitation from an ankle injury, even though back-up keeper Jahmar Hamilton is among the 13 in Jamaica.Cummins didn’t have a particularly good time of it in Antigua, conceding 69 runs in 20 wicketless overs across two innings, as India piled up 297 and 343 for 7 declared while bowling West Indies out for 222 and 100 to earn 60 World Test Championship points.While batting was West Indies’ weak link in the first Test, the bowling unit did let India off the hook somewhat after having the visitors down on the mat at 25 for 3 – Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli among the batsmen out – on the first morning. “We got the early wickets we were looking for but I thought that we tried a bit too hard, we didn’t stick to coming down the channel, we tried a bit too hard with the short-ball plan and stuff like that,” Roston Chase, the only spinner in the XI for the first Test, had said of that performance.West Indies will hope that changes in the second Test. With Cummins out and Paul in, that might be a straight swap in the XI at Sabina Park, unless the conditions call for an international debut for Rahkeem Cornwall, the 26-year-old offspinning allrounder from Antigua.

Lakshan Sandakan, Akila Dananjaya and Dhananjaya de Silva rolled South Africa over for their lowest ever T20I total, but the home side’s chase was by no means straightforward

The Report by Firdose Moonda14-Aug-2018AFP

Sri Lanka ended South Africa’s tour of the island as they started it: by strangling their visitors with spin to win the only T20I in front of a sell-out crowd. But they made hard work of a small chase and lost seven wickets in a tense low-scoring affair, which also served as Dinesh Chandimal’s comeback match.Chandimal was returning from a six-game suspension and played as though he had never been away. He was there at the end and held firm through sustained pressure from the South African pack to see Sri Lanka home. Kagiso Rabada built up a good head of steam, Junior Dala used the short ball well and Tabraiz Shamsi claimed a T20I best of 2 for 26 but their batsmen had not given them enough to work with.South Africa slumped to another batting low; after being dismissed for their lowest Test score since readmission (73) and lowest ODI score in Sri Lanka (121), they were bowled out for their lowest T20I score and literally fell on their sweeps. As a collective, South Africa’s approach to spin appears to have 99 problems and needs more than an annual camp to India to solve.South Africa’s innings started promisingly when Quinton de Kock took three boundaries off the opening over – and only one of them was laced with luck. De Kock inside-edged the first ball from Kasun Rajitha past leg stump before stroking two gorgeous drives.But the sign of things to come was clear in the next over. De Kock was almost run-out at the non-striker’s when Hashim Amla sent him back after initially agreeing to a single. Amla was caught at extra-cover two balls later, trying to scoop a Dhananjaya de Silva delivery over the in-field and bagged a second duck in succession and third on the tour and South Africa’s slide started. De Kock was run out in the next over, trying to sneak a leg bye after he failed to connect to a slog-sweep and he finished as South Africa’s top scorer.Reeza Hendricks’ 29th birthday celebrations were limited to a six off a de Silva half-tracker and back-to-back boundaries off Rajitha before he tried to sweep an Akila Dananjaya’s legbreak, which turned away to hit the top of off stump.Rain interrupted the innings for two minutes at the end of the seventh over, but did not change South Africa’s fortunes. JP Duminy was out lbw on review when he missed a reverse-sweep, giving David Miller the opportunity to build an innings. But that chance was taken away in Lakshan Sandakan’s third over, a triple-wicket maiden.Heinrich Klaasen tried to send a wrong’un over the covers but outside-edged to point, Andile Phehlukwayo pulled out a reverse-sweep off the fourth ball he faced and dragged it onto his stumps, and Kagiso Rabada was struck on the back pad as he misread a googly. Rabada reviewed, in vain.South Africa were 73 for 7 after 11 overs and Miller only had the tail to work with. Under pressure, he tried to sweep Akila but top-edged to short midwicket to leave South Africa in shambles.Sri Lanka would have had some early nerves when Kagiso Rabada struck twice in the opening over of their reply. Kusal Perera gifted Tabraiz Shamsi a catch at mid-on and Kusal Mendis was out lbw on review to an inswinging yorker that would have gone on to hit leg stump.De Silva counterpunched with a pull behind square in Rabada’s next over to get Sri Lanka going. He went on to plunder 14 runs off Lungi Ngidi’s second over, a top-edge over third man for six and drives off the front and back foot.Chandimal got in on the act when he flicked a low Rabada full-toss for four and then showed South Africa how to sweep successfully, smacking a six and a four off Shamsi. The de Silva-Chandimal partnership grew to 53, giving Sri Lanka more than half of what they needed to win, when they were rocked again.De Silva did not get hold of a Junior Dala short ball and gave Phehlukwayo a simple catch at midwicket and five balls later Angelo Mathews was out for a duck, brilliantly caught by Klaasen at short leg, diving one-handed to his left.Dasun Shanaka joined Chandimal and played with the same aggression he showed in his ODI cameos. He struck a hat-trick of boundaries off Shamsi but holed out to deep square leg off a Dala short ball. Shamsi had one more moment in the spotlight, when he burst through Thisara Perera’s defences with a googly.South Africa would only really have started believing when stand-in captain Duminy brought himself on in the 15th over and took a wicket with his first ball. Duminy bowled a slider, Akila tried to smash it through the covers and middle stump was rocked. Sri Lanka only needed 11 runs to win at that stage, though, and Chandimal kept his cool to rotate strike before Isuru Udana drove Ngidi down the ground to end the match with four overs to spare.

A round-up of the second day of matches at the ICC WCL Division Three in Uganda

Peter Della Penna in Kampala24-May-20171:19

‘Rizwan Cheema is quite destructive’ – Nitish Kumar

Canada continued their hot start to Division Three on Wednesday with an 83-run win over Oman at Lugogo Stadium. One day after clubbing 91 off 44 balls, Rizwan Cheema claimed his second-straight Man-of-the-Match award after giving Canada a late surge to 274 for 9 with 42 off 25 balls. Cheema then returned to break the back of the Oman chase with a double-wicket over in the 27th, snaring Naseem Khushi for 22 before trapping Amir Ali leg before for 1 to make it 148 for 7, forcing Oman to subside for 191.Though Cheema received the chief plaudits, Canada’s performance was a consummate team effort. Six players passed 30 in the Canada innings, though none made more than the 44 that teenage opener Bhavindu Adhihetty, who teamed with captain Nitish Kumar for a 77-run opening stand after losing the toss, scored. Oman threatened to contain Canada to a modest total considering Lugogo’s short boundaries when Cheema was dismissed in the 42nd over to make it 202 for 7, but Hamza Tariq (34 off 22) and Nikhil Dutta (41 off 34) partnered for a 72-run stand for the eighth wicket before each fell off the final two balls of the innings to Mohammad Nadeem.Wickets fell regularly early in Oman’s chase as four of their top five fell for single digits, but Zeeshan Maqsood motored on in counterattack-mode with 63 off 62 balls. Oman were well ahead of the required run rate with Maqsood in the middle, but he fell to Satsimranjit Dhindsa in the 22nd to make it 107 for 5, ending a 50-run stand with Ajay Lalcheta. Cheema’s double-strike, a short time later, left Lalcheta running out of partners and he eventually fell for 39 to Kumar, middling a sweep to backward square leg for the eighth wicket to snuff out Oman’s hopes of victory.Rizwan Cheema’s all-round show helped him collect his second Man-of-the-Match award in as many matches•Peter Della Penna

United States of America bounced back from their opening day loss to Oman with a resounding six-wicket win over Malaysia at Kyambogo Oval. Captain Steven Taylor received Man-of-the-Match honors in recognition of USA’s stifling bowling effort in which he finished with 2 for 12 in 9.5 overs. Opening medium pacer Ali Khan was almost as miserly in taking 2 for 7 in five overs while legspinner Timil Patel’s 3 for 36 triggered a middle-order collapse that saw Malaysia go from 90 for 4 to 117 all out.USA’s quick bowling rate meant they batted 14 overs before lunch to reach 51 for 1. Taylor fell for 25 to make it 60 for 2 in the first over after play resumed, slog sweeping to deep square leg in an effort to improve the team’s net run-rate. Power hitters Timroy Allen and Elmore Hutchinson were both promoted up the order with the same intent in mind, but each fell slogging for 1 and 3 respectively.Ibrahim Khaleel and Camilus Alexander calmly knocked off the rest of the runs in an unbroken 51-run fifth-wicket stand that helped USA achieve victory with 21.5 overs to spare. Khaleel top-scored for the second day in a row, ending unbeaten on 49.Uganda defeated Singapore by 66 runs at Entebbe to even up both teams’ records at 1-1. Singapore’s chase of Uganda’s 217 for 9 was thrown off course in the 29th over when first-day Man of the Match Anish Paraam was caught behind off Mohammed Irfan for 20 just after helping his team move past hundred. Irfan continued to burrow through the middle and lower order to finish with 5 for 38 as Singapore were bowled out for 151 in 44 overs.Opener Hamu Kayondo helped set up a defendable total for Uganda with 41, the first of three scores in the 40s for Uganda. The Uganda innings was crawling at just above three per over through the 31st until Shahzad Ukani (46 off 51) and wicketkeeper Arnold Otwani (47 off 46) combined for a comparatively speedy 86-run stand in 77 balls to help set a target well out of reach for Singapore.Thursday is a scheduled off day at the tournament before play resumes on Friday. Canada will look to maintain their unbeaten record against winless Malaysia at Entebbe while USA plays Singapore at Lugogo Stadium. Hosts Uganda takes on Oman at Kyambogo Oval. The winners of the last two contests will remain in strong contention for promotion berths but a loss could be crippling to their chances of advancing to Division Two.

Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum smashed 72 runs in the Powerplay to set up a thrilling last-ball win for Gujarat Lions over Rising Pune Supergiants

The report by Shashank Kishore29-Apr-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dwayne Smith hit nine fours and a six in his 37-ball 63 that gave Lions a headstart in a steep chase•BCCI

This match should have never gone down to the last ball. But a combination of poor shot selection and frantic running between the wickets from Gujarat Lions kept the game alive till the end. On a night when Supergiants’ No. 3 Steven Smith scored a century and Dwayne Smith countered with a 37-ball 63, it was birthday boy James Faulkner who sealed Lions’ chase of 196 with three wickets in hand. This win meant Lions consolidated their top spot in the league standings with their sixth win in seven matches.Steven Smith’s surgical placement, fast hands, quick feet and strong wrists fetched him a maiden T20 century that would have been match-winning on most nights. But it was put to shade by Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith, who needed only 8.1 overs for a 93-run opening partnership. The blazing start allowed Suresh Raina (34) and DineshKarthik (33) the luxury of playing themselves in and taking the game deep.When Karthik holed out to Ajinkya Rahane at deep midwicket, Lions needed 30 off 22 with seven wickets in hand. But legspinner M Ashwin gave away only four runs in the 18th over, Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja were knocked over in the 19th and the pressure mounted.With eight runs to defend, Thisara Perera was given the final over. Faulkner held his shape and swung a leg-side full toss into the square leg boundary. The next delivery was far outside off stump and the second was driven to cover for a single. Raina was bowled off the third ball and Ishan Kishan was run out off the fourth. But Faulkner kept his composure to deliver the finishing blow.The pace was similarly frenetic t the start of the chase. McCullum hammered four boundaries in the third over, from Albie Morkel. Dwayne Smith punished Ashok Dinda and R Ashwin for two fours each as Lions racked up 72 runs in the Powerplay.With his quicks and spinners leaking runs, MS Dhoni turned to Rajat Bhatia whose canny medium pace accounted for McCullum in the ninth over. Dwayne Smith was unfazed, however, swinginganything in his hitting arc to deep midwicket and long-on. With nine fours and a six, there was an air of authority to his batting until he inside-edged a Perera yorker onto his stumps. By then, the equation had been brought down to 81 off 55 balls with eight wickets left. A level-headed half-century stand between Raina and Karthik and a timely cameo from Faulkner finished the game.So Steven Smith ended up on the losing side again. That didn’t look likely when he was toying with the Lions bowlers during a 111-run partnership with Rahane after Supergiants had been put in to bat.Steven Smith made 101 off 54 balls, having built his innings with deft, back-foot flicks and powerful, front-foot drives. With Lions bowling too short and overcompensating later, Smith had straightforward choices to make. The visitors’ generosity peaked in the 10th over when T20 debutant and chinaman bowler Shivil Kaushik bowled Steven Smith off a no-ball and the resulting free-hit lofted for six.Then Rahane, like his new opening partner Saurabh Tiwary, was brilliantly run-out to leave Supergiants at 124 for 2 in the 14th over. Dhoni came in and slugged an unbeaten 30 off 18 to push the total towards 200, which should have been match-winning but Supergiants wilted under pressure.