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Ramnaresh Sarwan, the captain of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, said his team’s hunger to win the Caribbean Premier League was one of the main motivators during the semi-final against Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel

Renaldo Matadeen24-Aug-2013Ramnaresh Sarwan, the captain of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, said his team’s hunger to win the Caribbean Premier League was one of the main motivators during the semi-final against Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel.”We knew we just needed to play smart cricket and perfect the basics,” Ramnaresh Sarwan, the Guyana captain, said after the match. “We had the backing of a lot of the crowd and I think we were hungrier for the trophy. It’s just two games to win and we’re not feeling the pressure.”Guyana Amazon Warriors steamrolled to top of the league stage with five wins and two losses and Sarwan, while not in the best of form, managed to get some exciting cricket from his team-mates.Sarwan’s has not been a regular fixture in the West Indies ODI side and Guyana has another player in Denesh Ramdin who has struggled to cement a place in the side. The pair, however, have injected leaderships into the Guyana side. The motivation and confidence has drawn comparisons with leaders who may not be starring individually for their teams but who have beenable to assemble their squads in the right manner.While Guyana have lacked the bigger stars, compared to the other teams, the players have flourished. Jamaican all-rounder Krishmar Santokie is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 16 wickets so far and Guyana has three batsmen among the top ten run-getters in the league – Lendl Simmons, Martin Guptill and James Franklin. Simmons has been one of the few consistent batsmen, regionally and internationally, while the New Zealanders have become fan favourites.Santokie’s 16 wickets have made a case for his selection in the West Indies T20 side. “I really felt like I should have been given a chance in the West Indies team before,” Santokie said. “I would like a longer run and more so, a more steady run for the West Indies.”Guyana had a few changes to the side with Mohammad Hafeez returning for international duty and Guptill suffering an injury. However, their Sri Lankan signings, Lasith Malinga and Tillakaratne Dilshan had immediate success, playing important roles in the semi-final victory over T&T Red Steels.Simmons, William Perkins and Sunil Narine, have all come to the fore as players who know the Queen’s Park Oval pitch inside out. Narine’s form seems to be peaking at the right time and, with Veerasammy Permaul performing as well, Guyana can limit batsmen looking to attack their bowling. Malinga and Narine aren’t slouches with the bat, which lends depth to the Guyana batting line-up.The team also has a strong reserve line-up. Coach Roger Harper is comfortable with the reach of his team and this can be gauged by the fact that Narsingh Deonarine, an anchor of the Guyana side, has been relegated to the bench. Even the explosive Trevon Griffith can’t make the team as a consistent starter and it shows that Sarwan has potent options. Christopher Barnwell, also due for a big game, can prove to be a trump card for Guyana.”We’ve got a good all-round squad and our bowlers can bat, while we have batters who can bowl. It’s hard to replace Hafeez and Guptill but Malinga and Dilshan have showed in the semis that they can incite the fire we can use to win more games,” Harper said.

Jacques Rudolph, the South Africa batsman, has signed a two-year deal with Glamorgan, subject to receiving clearance from Cricket South Africa.

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Sep-2013Jacques Rudolph, the South Africa batsman, has signed a two-year deal with Glamorgan, subject to receiving clearance from Cricket South Africa.Rudolph is highly experienced in international and county cricket and is set to replace Marcus North as Glamorgan’s overseas player for 2014 and 2015. The deal provides a solid foundation for Glamorgan’s new head coach, set to be appointed in the close season.Rudolph has scored 2,622 runs at 35.43 in 48 Tests and over 16,000 first-class runs, many of them in the County Championship for Yorkshire, where he played from 2007 to 2011. He spent time last season playing for Surrey.Cricket South Africa still need to ratify the deal but South Africa have a very little cricket scheduled on the future tours programme for the 2014 and 2015 British summers: two tests, three ODIs and a T20 against Zimbabwe pencilled in for August 2014, the same matches in Bangladesh a year later and three Tests in Sri Lanka in May 2015.The future tours programme is of course subject to change but prima facie, Rudolph should be available for most of the next two British seasons.Hugh Morris, who will shortly join Glamorgan as chief executive and director of cricket, said: “Signing a player of Jacques Rudolph’s undoubted capabilities and experience is a great boost ahead of the new season.”With an increasingly heavy first-class schedule it will be a huge advantage to have a world-class opening batsman available to us. I look forward to welcoming Jacques to Glamorgan.”Rudolph added: “I’m delighted to be joining Glamorgan on a two-year deal. I enjoyed my time playing for Yorkshire so I’m looking forward to the challenge at Glamorgan and hopefully enjoying similar success.”

Marcus Trescothick hit a 129-ball century as he and James Hildreth put Somerset in command before a major last-session collapse halted their momentum

Alex Winter at Taunton26-Apr-2015
ScorecardStill going strong: Marcus Trescothick brought out his full range during a flamboyant century•Getty Images

A true sporting legend retired after over two decades on Saturday with AP McCoy completing a remarkable career. Cricket has a similar veteran held in such high esteem also with over 20 years of service, just without as many tangible achievements. An ambulance does not follow Marcus Trescothick around either but on the opening day in Taunton, as Trescothick made his 42nd first-class century for Somerset, it was being considered whether this century was the start of the glorious goodbye.He was as good as ever, slamming a 129-ball century and sharing a stand of 261 in 290 balls with James Hildreth for the third wicket – a Somerset record for any wicket against Middlesex. Hildreth made his own flowing century, his highest score since 2012, but Trescothick was still the main attraction as Middlesex were left to ponder their decision to bowl first before a notable fightback with a 79-over old ball.

Harris heading in the right direction

“I haven’t bowled my best,” Harris said. “It’s a bit annoying that my spells have been dragging it back rather than at the top of the day. I felt I’ve gone okay but I’d prefer to bowl well. I’m taking wickets, which is nice but I’m bowling better too.
“We got balls past the bat all day and bowled good balls, just some of them seemed to be cracked into the fence. James Hildreth was cutting balls off a good line to most players. But there was a bit in it all day and it probably did more when the sun came out.”

Somerset lost 7 for 31 to squander their dominance. James Harris took four wickets in 11 balls against Nottinghamshire at Lord’s on the first day of the season and here came up with four more in 18 deliveries, having changed to the pavilion end, to check Somerset’s raging progress which had been five-an-over for most of the day. It was mostly with the old ball, Harris finishing with his best figures for Middlesex and Somerset flopped alarmingly from 377 for 3 to 408 all out. It followed two slips in defeat against Durham.Harris has said this is a huge season for him, in the final year of his three-year contract – although discussions were had last week about a new deal – after struggling since his move to Middlesex to find the form that saw him selected for an England squad after impressing for Glamorgan. He has changed his action back to its original form and 5 for 83 here followed 4 for 75 in the first innings against Nottinghamshire as Lord’s. Harris also claimed a stunning diving catch, running back from mid-on to remove Trescothick. But all seemed well for the hosts at the time.”We could probably have batted longer but at the same time it’s good to see if you get the ball in the right place there’s something there,” Trescothick said. “There’s a bit more pace in this wicket than normal.”The collapse changed the conversation from Trescothick’s future. He made his Somerset debut a year after McCoy rode his first winner and turning 40 this year – the same age as AP – and in the final year of his current contract, going out at the top of his game must surely be a consideration. McCoy was riding as well as ever this season but thought it the right time to bow out, might Trescothick draw the same conclusion?More of this form may provide a fine send off. Here, he shrugged off making 11 and 0 against Durham in the opening round with a blaze of bludgeoned boundaries – 24 of them. Sixteen came before lunch as a first-session century looked plausible. But it was shortly into the afternoon, having been dropped on 95 by Neil Dexter at slip off Ollie Rayner – a very sharp chance from a sliced cut – when a paddle sweep for two brought up Trescothick’s hundred.The long room diners even stood up from their carveries to acclaim a masterful innings. Trescothick himself celebrated unusually exuberantly – a big fist pump in the direction of the dressing room. There was little time to consider the significance before Rayner was swept for four more.The crowd purred with admiration for a vintage knock. Anything slightly off line was typically guided away – 10 of Trescothick’s boundaries came behind square on the off side, including a delicate lift over the slips off Steven Finn. But the pick of the strokes was a drive from a Harris length ball through cover – encapsulating the domination Trescothick exerted. But for how long will it continue?Hildreth is also a Somerset batting legend. More stylish than Trescothick he is more inconsistent, too. And significantly more frustrating given his talent. Hildreth managed just one Championship century last season but has opened up 2015 with a fifty against Durham and now this elegant innings.His second and third scoring strokes were a driven four off Harris and a pull from the same bowler over midwicket for six. His control of the bowling was also best demonstrated against Harris as he returned after lunch. He pulled a ball only slightly short of a length through midwicket. Harris wasn’t far out with his length but felt the need for an adjustment – his next delivery was driven with élan past cover.Hildreth should not have made it that far. Somehow he was dropped by Nick Gubbins on 49. Hildreth popped up a miscued pull to square leg, Gubbins moved two steps to his right and simply took his eye off the catch. A truly astonishing miss. Had it been taken Middlesex’s decision at the toss would have been considered a shrewd move. But it took until after tea to make a series of inroads.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s absence from the West Indies Test squad in Dominica could be felt even before arriving on the island. An in-flight magazine article discussing this year’s Caribbean Tests was emblazoned with an image of none other than the 40-yea

Daniel Brettig in Dominica01-Jun-2015Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s absence from the West Indies Test squad in Dominica could be felt even before arriving on the island. An in-flight magazine article discussing this year’s Caribbean Tests was emblazoned with an image of none other than the 40-year-old Guyanese, as though he was the one item of furniture the editor could be sure of lasting through the edition’s April to June time span.But much to the shock of many, Chanderpaul was unable to go the distance, jettisoned by the convenor of selectors Clive Lloyd and the coach Phil Simmons ahead of the Australia series. Their call sparked numerous spot fires of discontent, none brighter than that lit by Brian Lara, who spoke not in terms of averages and statistics but of respect and history.Caught in the middle of all this is the West Indies team now compelled to go on without Chanderpaul. As a young team they will miss his experience and knowledge, and there is a sense among the players that they would have preferred a less messy conclusion to arguably the most dogged of all Caribbean cricket careers. The articulate Jason Holder tried to walk this line at the team’s first Windsor Park training session, conceding that events had not gone unnoticed by the team but resolving not to let it distract beyond a reasonable level of regret.”The exclusion of Shiv has caused a lot of talk,” Holder said, without specifying whether that talk had taken place within or away from the West Indies dressing room. “That’s beyond me at this present time, my focus right now is on cricket. It’s quite important we put cricket first and try to perform well against Australia.”Chanderpaul’s omission has cast something of a shadow over a team that was otherwise most satisfied to have drawn the recent series against England, a result that placed Australia’s next two opponents closer together than the schedule – a terrible two Tests for West Indies, a gluttonous five for England – would indicate. Holder suggested that the hosts were trying to keep their eyes on progress rather than pettiness.”We’ve taken a lot from it,” Holder said. “Obviously we did pretty well to come back in the series. We drew the series and we’re just looking to keep that momentum going in this series. We did a lot of good things in that last series and we’re just looking to continue on in that rich vein and compete very well in that Test.”Australia are ranked No. 2 in the world and that says a lot. We’re currently down at eight and we need to work our way up. We have to give them the respect they’re due. Obviously we’re coming to compete and win this series. We’re coming in quite hard at them. Looking to be aggressive and at least continue the rich vein of form we had in the England series.”There is another reason for the young team personified by Holder to look as far forward as possible without too much rancour over Chanderpaul. It is well known that Simmons has re-opened lines of communication with the region’s bevy of IPL players, meaning the West Indies team may soon be as competitively stacked for places in the Test XI as at any time since the first Indian Twenty20 tournament in 2008.The likes of Kraigg Brathwaite, Veerasammy Permaul and Holder himself may soon be competing for places with Lendl Simmons, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo – notably for positions on the tour to Australia later this year – meaning that every Test match from here on in must be both savoured and exploited.”He’s been doing a very good job so far,” Holder said of Phil Simmons. “A few guys have bought into what he’s brought. Hopefully going into the future we’ll have some very good times. We’re taking it day by day and just trying to put in as much hard work as possible to this important series.”This is actually my first time in Dominica so I’m really looking forward to it. Heard a lot of things before and obviously seeing the last Test match Australia played against West Indies here. Hopefully it’s a little better than last time in terms of the pitch and we get a good game.”

Alastair Cook praised his team’s attacking mindset after England wrapped up a comprehensive 169-run victory in the first Investec Test at Cardiff

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jul-2015Alastair Cook praised his team’s attacking mindset after England wrapped up a comprehensive 169-run victory in the first Investec Test in Cardiff, adding that they had absorbed the hard lessons of defeat in Australia two years ago but turned their thoughts to the future.Victory was sealed with a full day to spare after Australia collapsed to 242 all out chasing an improbable 412 for victory. Joe Root, the Man of the Match for his first-day 134, took the winning catch off the bowling of Moeen Ali, who finished with five wickets in his maiden Ashes Test to go alongside his first-innings 77.Cook, who won the Ashes on home soil in 2013 but also presided over England’s 5-0 whitewash in Australia, said that there had been no point in his players dwelling on what had gone before, especially with so many new faces in the team who did not play a part in that contest.”It’s like the press conference before the game, everyone was talking about the past but we can’t control that,” Cook told Sky Sports. “Yeah, we were disappointing in Australia but this is here, a different side, with different players and we had to look forward.”We’ve got an experienced four or five guys and some who are really inexperienced in terms of Ashes cricket. You can’t change the past, there’s nothing to write about, but you can try to learn from it and I thought the way the guys went about their business in this game [was great].”You always try to take the attacking option, always hunting for wickets with the ball, and we took some good catches as well.”Few catches were better than the one-handed grab at short midwicket that Cook himself clung on to to remove the dangerous Brad Haddin for 7. He put that down to some hard work during England’s four-day training camp in Spain prior to the start of the series.”Most people thought we were going for a holiday,” he said. “But alongside the golf, the catching was very important. There were a few sore hands but it’s paid off.”Cook said that his players intended to enjoy their Saturday night off in Cardiff before turning their attentions to the second Test at Lord’s, which gets underway on Thursday.”This Test match couldn’t have gone any better,” he said. “We are going to enjoy tonight, enjoy the success and hopefully come back to put in back-to-back performances at Lord’s.”We’ve got a good mix,” he added. “The enthusiasm is there, you only have to look at our football in the morning, the guys are loving being around each other. It’s been a good four days, and it obviously helps when are on top.”Cook singled out Root for particular praise, given the manner in which he salvaged England’s position on the tense first day of the contest. “The way Joe Root played, to be 43 for 3 and score 134 on the first day of an Ashes series when the tension is there was fantastic and the bowlers were superb on a pretty slow wicket.”

Chris Mpofu’s back playing international cricket, having cut some bad habits out of his life, and enjoying a game he had fallen out of love with more than ever

Liam Brickhill in Harare17-Jul-2015Chris Mpofu is feeling good. He might be feeling better, if Zimbabwe were winning, but he’s back playing international cricket, having cut some bad habits out of his life, and enjoying a game he had fallen out of love with more than ever.”I think it’s the best time of my career,” Mpofu said after Zimbabwe’s first Twenty20 match against India. “I’m enjoying cricket more than before. I think it’s the things I’ve changed in my life – I’ve turned into more of a religious person and there are a lot of things that I’ve cut out. I’ll tell you right now that I’m enjoying the game more than ever.”While Zimbabwe plummeted to a 54-run defeat, Mpofu did an admirable job in taking 3 for 33. All three dismissals came after the 15th over and helped to hold India back after they’d threatened a massive total by cruising to 123 for 2 with five overs remaining. “At the end of the day we pulled it back, especially at the death,” he said. “With the fire-power that we’ve got I thought we did quite well because at one stage I thought they could have got to 200.”Mpofu’s wickets came via a canny combination of cutters and slower balls, and for a tall quick he adapted well to a slow, low wicket. Surprisingly, he gave some of the credit for his success to some advice from the Indians themselves.”Because some of these guys are my heroes, I’ve watched them playing in India and I’ve asked them a few things about when they play IPL. They said that you can’t just be predictable and try and bowl length,” Mpofu said. “No matter how quick you are, you have to be a step ahead of them. So I tried to mix my pace and back my skills up, because at the end of the day if I get hit trying to do my skills I’m not worried about that. I’m just trying to make what I do in the nets work in the game. Thank God it worked my way today,” Mpofu said.With fifty T20 games to his name, Mpofu was by far the most experienced member of Zimbabwe’s attack today, and his performance stood in contrast to some of the greener members of the home attack. “I thought maybe the pressure got to our youngsters, which I can understand. If I speak for myself, I don’t think I had too much pressure. I just think we have done it before, so we need to keep our heads up and look forward to the next match.”Maybe there has to be more belief with each and every individual. Maybe it might be the pressure that most of the guys we are playing against are highly rated in the IPL. But guys just need to realise that if you do well against them then you have the opportunity to get recognised. So I think guys need to be free when they come out to play.”After four straight losses during India’s visit, Zimbabwe can only hope for a consolation win in Sunday’s match. The frustration from Zimbabwe’s supporters as the match drew to a close was evident, but Mpofu suggested that the easing of pressure that comes with a lack of expectation may help to provide them with something to cheer about in the final game.”[Victories] are going to come as time goes on. It’s hard when you’re losing, but there are a lot of positives that we can take out of the game. I think we’ll get there. It’s frustrating for the supporters but I think we’ll get there. For us going to the last match we have nothing to lose, so if we can go out and express ourselves… Not many people will expect us to win, but if we go out there with the attitude that we have everything to gain I think we will come out with a victory.”

Zeeshan Maqsood’s unbeaten 86 powered Oman to a seven-wicket win with 10 balls to spare against Canada in a Group B match of the World T20 Qualifier

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Nitish Kumar’s 25-ball 52 for Canada went in vain•ICC/Helge Schutz

Zeeshan Maqsood’s unbeaten 86 powered Oman to a seven-wicket win with 10 balls to spare against Canada in a Group B match of the World T20 Qualifier.Set a target of 134 in a game reduced to 13 overs a side, Oman’s openers Maqsood and Khawar Ali set the tone with a 65-run partnership in 4.2 overs. It was largely a Maqsood show as his 41-ball innings included nine fours and five sixes. Nitish Kumar, Jeremy Gordon and Cecil Pervez picked up a wicket each for Canada.Canada’s innings, after Oman opted to bowl first, was propped up by a 25-ball 52 from Nitish, who scored four fours and three sixes. He raised 69 runs for the third wicket in the company of Navneet Dhaliwal, who scored 28 off 20 balls. Rajeshkumar Ranpura, debutant seamer Mohammad Nadeem and Aamir Kaleem took a wicket each.

Ben Stokes’ five-wicket haul left England on the brink of reclaiming the Ashes with victory in the fourth Test

The Report by David Hopps07-Aug-2015
ScorecardForeboding clung to Australia throughout the second day at Trent Bridge as they successfully delayed what seemed to be inevitable England progress towards regaining the Ashes. The word “successfully” is used loosely. For the second Test in succession, they were faced by the threat not just of defeat, but defeat inside two days, but just as they did at Edgbaston, they summoned enough resistance to delay the suffering.Delaying the suffering is one thing, tempering the condemnation that is already sounding back home quite another. Michael Clarke, poised to lose his second Ashes campaign as captain in England, suffered another disheartening dismissal that, at 34, might yet tip him into international retirement at the end of the series.A two-day Ashes result is such a rarity it last occurred in 1921, and it seemed an evens bet when Australia embarked upon their second innings shortly before lunch with a deficit of 331.Ben Stokes did his best to make it happen. He summoned by far his best bowling display of the Ashes summer, finding markedly more swing than any member of the England attack, but others were beginning to flag. Waiting can be such a tiring business.Stokes took three wickets in consecutive overs late in the afternoon session as Australia’s opening stand of 113 crumbled before their eyes, and left the field briefly for cramp in the final session, but he returned with his effectiveness unimpaired to strike twice more. By the close, with Australia seven down and trailing by 90 runs, he had 5 for 35 in 16 overs and the persistent threat of his boomerang swing will have caused many to see his bowling with different eyes.Stokes was not just the combative, raw-boned allrounder who England envisage can become a game-changing figure for years to come, he was also the fourth seamer who Australia, mistakenly, had gambled that they did not need. The message – one of many unwelcome lessons – will not be lost upon them.Ben Stokes salutes the crowd after bowling England to the brink of Ashes victory•Getty Images

So Saturday survives, for a while at least, even if tickets for the cricket may not quite have the cachet they once had. But at least spectators will now be spared alternative attractions such as Nottingham’s urban beach, where Australians could have more sand kicked in their faces.The fortune that favoured England on the opening day when Stuart Broad’s dream sequence blew away Australia for 60 was reluctant to bestow its favours upon them a second time.Edges turned into play and misses and when England did find the bat, the slip catches that had been brilliantly taken first time around were spurned. David Warner was twice reprieved, firstly on 10 when Alastair Cook could not hold a diving catch at first slip, again on 42 when this time Ian Bell failed to hold a testing opportunity.Steven Finn bowled in lacklustre fashion, there was no spin for Moeen Ali, and the pitch began to quieten. There was a suspicion of drooling around Warner’s moustache. Rogers, too, broadened his range and there was further frustration for England when Wood had him caught at third slip for 47 only for replays to show he had overstepped.He had bowled several no-balls before then without umpire S Ravi thinking to signal it, or mention it. Finn suffered the same outcome in the final session when Peter Nevill was spared. Ravi clearly favours a non-interventionist philosophy of life.Two fraternal handshakes later, though, with half-centuries banked by both openers, the resistance ended. Rogers was the first to go, a slick, one-handed rescue at third slip by Joe Root which bore comparison with Stokes’ own effort the previous day. Warner’s flip pull, which had caused his downfall at Edgbaston, almost cost him when he squirmed Mark Wood over long leg for six. A repeat against Stokes’ bouncer popped up a catch to mid-on. Shaun Marsh’s poor Test was then completed by another catch for Root, a simpler one this time.England’s plans then proved strikingly successful, Cook bringing Stokes in at short cover for Steven Smith and being rewarded when his sliced drive at a wide one was well held low down, taking the bowler, Broad, past Fred Trueman’s tally of 307 Test wickets. Four wickets had fallen in 27 balls and Stokes almost followed up with a run out.Why Smith did not seek to calm the game ahead of tea was mystifying. There is no end to the appetite for batting aggression in this series even when it defies all logic. For England it has become a relief to escape their attritional cricket of previous years. For Australia, the swagger has been around for a long time. But in Smith’s case it looked self-indulgent.The post-tea session was a slog for all but Stokes. Wood’s only intervention could have major ramifications – Clarke caught by Ian Bell after Cook twice juggled the catch towards him. Stokes then removed Peter Nevill and Mitchell Johnson, the latter backing away to make room to what he fatally discovered was actually a huge outswinger. Three left-handers removed in this way from around the wicket – and this was the best of them. England’s colossus had stirred. Perhaps only bad light spared Australia from an extra half hour.Earlier, Mitchell Starc had salvaged his best Test figures of 6 for 111 from a match that otherwise has provided unremitting gloom for Australia. After the delight of the first day came the levity of the second as England added a further 117 for the loss of five wickets. Three of them went to Starc, who swung the old ball skilfully, and late too, and at one stage had six of the first seven wickets to fall.Root, 124 to his name, had played the one innings of quality on the opening day, but he never locked on to the second morning. Starc persisted with wide deliveries outside off stump, and not for the first time Root this series looked fallible, caught at the wicket as he tried to drive.There was curious cricket at the other end, with Johnson serving up driveable deliveries to the nightwatchman, Wood. Starc plucked out his leg stump to end the fun and, in his next over, another lavish inducker emphatically cleaned up Buttler, so continuing his unproductive series.When Stokes fell softly down the leg side against Josh Hazlewood, England, at 332 for 8, had seemed a touch wasteful, but Moeen was joined by Broad, who had arrived at his home ground to see his 8 for 15 already engraved on the Trent Bridge honours board. The pair gambolled along with a stand of 58 in eight overs, Hazlewood suffering the indignity of 20 from one over, including two elegant drives on the up from Moeen and a top-edged six by Broad into the beer queue – a strategic position, one imagines, he will be joining himself before too long.

MS Dhoni has said that he was let down by his fast bowlers, who he felt should’ve “executed the yorkers” better during the death overs

Alagappan Muthu in Kanpur11-Oct-20152:29

‘When you bat down the order, you have to take the blame’ – Dhoni

One over left. Eleven runs to get. MS Dhoni on strike. A 20-year old to bowl. Nails chewed off and throats screamed hoarse, the Kanpur crowd were hoping for the fairytale finish. The India captain was hoping for the same as well, but his skills have declined in the back end of his career and his team’s discipline had gone the same way in the back end of today’s match.”I felt the first 30-35 overs were very good for us, especially when we were bowling,” Dhoni said. “And it was the same when we were batting. Close to 35 overs, we batted really well. But there are a few areas that we have to work on.”One of them being Dhoni’s ability to finish an innings off. “,” he said with a smile, when asked what had been going through his mind in the final over. Dhoni did try for much of his innings. Where previously he would have backed his strength to clear the boundary in front of him, today he got his first by scooping Dale Steyn over the wicketkeeper. The rest of his 30-ball 31 was fueled by his ability to run twos. But, with sixes needed, he could only plop a catch back to Kagiso Rabada and that was that. The “gamble,” as Dhoni put it, did not come off.”It’s not an easy job, it doesn’t always work your way, especially you know, you have to play the big shot. At times [when] the wicket is great and is coming on nicely to the bat, more often than not, you use the pace of the bowler and get away with it. But [on] the wickets like these where the average bounce is a bit low, they can still hit the deck hard and the ball doesn’t really bounce as much as it should. So it becomes it slightly difficult.”While Dhoni had trouble timing the ball, South Africa ransacked 109 runs in the final 10 overs to record the first 300-plus total at the Green Park stadium. Well north of the “260-270” runs that Dhoni thought could be chased down. So the blame was placed on death bowling, again.”It was disappointing because there was reverse swing on offer for the fast bowlers. They should have executed the yorkers or even the back of a length, hitting the deck delivery could have been used more effectively. But we were not able to do that.”If there is some kind of help, we have to make sure we don’t give away too many runs. I think there were two occasions where in in two overs we gave close to 40 runs. That’s a lot of runs irrespective of the format.”It is difficult to put the loss entirely on the bowlers when they have a set AB de Villiers to deal with. Besides, India seemed to have the match won with a sublime riposte from Rohit Sharma. But finishing things off became a problem for the second time in a day. Dhoni did concede that was his “job in the side” but seemed a little grouchy about it.”Yes, when you bat down the order you have to take the blame especially because of the fact that when you finish many games, people always remember the ones you have not finished. One was, of course, the England one, this is another one and one I remember we were playing Sri Lanka at Rajkot that was a few years back.”Dhoni also felt that India’s batsmen could have been a touch more proactive in the overs leading up to the final 10. “Personally I felt close to the 40th over mark, the four-five overs leading to it, those were crucial because we should have got a bit more runs. I’m not saying we should have played a few big shots, but we could have got a few more runs in those particular overs.”That the target India had to chase went beyond their ability was also because they lost their best bowler R Ashwin to a side strain midway through the match.”At that point of time, I had eight overs of Ashwin which I felt I really missed in this game. Of course, he got injured [and] we can’t really help it but till that point of time the game was on [because] we were not giving runs to them. After that, the few overs that were shared by Raina and Stuart Binny, those were the ones where we conceded a fair amount of runs, if not a lot. Then the last few overs, the death bowling was not good.”Still there are a lot of positives that I can take out of this game. We need to give credit to our players given the fact that you missed one of your main bowlers [for] six, seven or eight overs, it is not easy to bowl [and make up for that], specially if you have to bowl after the 30th over onwards.”The way we started, Rohit and Ajinkya’s partnership in the middle and the way Rohit carried on even after getting a hundred. It was hot and humid, but overall the way he batted and carried on, that was very remarkable.”

Milinda Siriwardana and Rangana Herath took seven wickets between them to steer Sri Lanka to a 2-0 series win

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu26-Oct-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details6:02

Arnold: SL tactically ahead at every step

Sri Lanka had come into the series against West Indies in a state of flux, after having lost two home Test series in a year for only the second time. Kumar Sangakkara had retired after the second Test against India, and coach Marvan Atapattu had resigned. However, they rallied to sweep West Indies 2-0, after a 72-run win before tea on the final day of the second Test at the P Sara Oval, despite four sessions getting washed out.Milinda Siriwardana, whose 68 in the first innings turned out to the top score in the match, picked up three wickets in the final innings to trigger the slide. Sri Lanka’s lead spinner Rangana Herath claimed four wickets to skittle the visitors, who began the day at 20 for 1, for 171.West Indies’ innings followed a similar pattern with one batsman making a fifty – Darren Bravo in this case – and the others deflating like cheap party balloons.Siriwardana struck in his first over for the third innings in a row, having Shai Hope stumped for 35. He followed that with the wicket of Jermaine Blackwood 20 minutes before the lunch. In between, offspinner Dilruwan Perera also chipped in to prolong Marlon Samuels’ lean patch against Sri Lanka.Samuels was dismissed for his ninth single-digit score against the hosts in 17 innings, when he feebly poked and nicked to slip where Angelo Mathews completed a sharp, low catch. The dismissal was reviewed and Samuels was given out by third umpire Marias Erasmus, who decided Mathews had caught it cleanly even as the ball bounced out of his right hand and into his left.Herath then engineered a double-strike in his fourth over after lunch to remove Denesh Ramdin and Bravo. Jomel Warrican, one of the few positives in an otherwise dark series for West Indies, summoned some late blows in a last-wicket partnership of 33 to only delay Sri Lanka’s victory.West Indies had begun the day brightly amid overcast conditions, before letting the advantage slip away. Hope was sure-footed and ticked along smoothly. He serenely drove Dhammika Prasad past mid-on, and greeted Herath with a pulled four. Bravo looked fidgety early on, playing and missing outside off to add to a few pokey drives. Soon, a Prasad half-volley provided a release and Bravo found his mojo as he drove it through the covers. He then stepped out and hit Perera on to the sightscreen before a repeat of the big hit brought up only the third fifty stand of the match.West Indies had squeezed out 14 partnerships of more than 20 in this series but none of them had passed 50, until the last day of the second Test. Hope and Bravo addressed the issue, adding 60 together, but it was not enough to help West Indies secure their first Test win in Sri Lanka.