We have seen some big innings and vital bowling spells in the latest season of the Big Bash League. Which of these do you think made the biggest difference?
ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2017
Do you think we have missed out on an impactful performance in our list? Tell us at [email protected].
Their batsmen found themselves in a punctured raft, taking turns blowing air into it, but they soon ran out of breath. Before long, they were all in the water, with Sri Lanka’s close-in fielders encircling them like sharks
Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo23-Oct-2015Batting collapses come in a range of shapes and sizes. With 11 of the last 12 Tests played in Sri Lanka having yielded results, it’s fair to say the island has seen its share.There are the classic dramatic capitulations. These begin poorly, grow steadily worse through the middle, and end so spectacularly bad that the arrival of the apocalypse is sometimes suspected. One such was India’s fourth-innings in Galle that prompted strident panning of the team’s overseas record, and led to much soul-searching as to the batsmen’s capabilities against spin. Within two weeks, the team had made light work of Sri Lanka in the following Tests.Prasad savours long run
Dhammika Prasad credited the improvement in his bowling average this year to the long spell he has been able to enjoy in the Test side. The P Sara match is his 12th successive Sri Lanka Test – by far his longest continuous stretch in a career that had been previously plagued by injury. He had averaged over 50 before August last year, but has taken 46 wickets at 26.89 since.
“As I play more matches, without getting dropped, I gain confidence and I’ve become a better bowler,” Prasad said. “I had [a] few injuries in the past and I was dropped from time to time. I used to play one match and then miss the next two. When that happens then we also haven’t got that confidence to come back and bowl.”
Prasad said the surprising turn from the P Sara pitch made for the low scores seen in the match so far. “Actually, we never expected this much of turn from day one. I think, bowlers from both sides bowled well. There was assistance from the pitch and in general, our batsmen got some good balls. It’s not that they played bad shots.”
There are batting efforts which take off with a sideways judder, like a plane in a strong crosswind, then fly successfully for a brief period, before, through a series of unrelated mishaps, like the door falling off, and the co-pilot managing to set his pants on fire, the whole thing nosedives. Sri Lanka have been particularly adept at this, as various batsmen have had vulnerabilities of all kinds exposed through the home season. In the end, Angelo Mathews alone is left floating down on his parachute, surveying the wreckage below him with a palm pressed to his face.Over the course of this series, West Indies have mastered another kind of collapse. Theirs is neither explosive nor apocalyptic, but nonetheless deserves to be inspected, and put through a post-mortem. On each occasion this series, their total has crossed 150. One batsman usually gets a half century – or as was the case today – gets very close. And most in the XI, in the upper and lower floors of the batting order, get to double figures, but fail to go on to scores of substance.In this they are like 11 men in a punctured life raft. They all take turns blowing air into it – one guy even tries a little harder than the rest – but they soon run out of breath and give up. Before long they are all in the water, with Sri Lanka’s close-in fielders encircling them like sharks.The P Sara surface was treacherous for sure, but on Friday, Sri Lanka did not have to bowl particularly well for some of their scalps. Dhammika Prasad got a little true bounce out of the pitch, but it was his poor short balls that opposition batsmen perished to. Nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo had cut Prasad for four early in the day, but when he was provided another short, wide ball a few overs later, he sent a nick to the keeper.Darren Bravo’s departure was similar. He survived a yorker-bouncer change-up from Prasad, in the 15th over, ducking the second ball without much discomfort. Then Prasad went short again, but this one was poorly directed – away from the body and easily avoidable. Bravo chopped at it instead, and saw the ball plummet from his under-edge into the stumps. There was a Chaplin-esque slapstick to the dismissal – Bravo was the man who leapt with alacrity over the banana peel, then walked face-first into the lamppost.Then, having seen two wickets fall to a good spell from left-arm spinner Milinda Siriwardene, Denesh Ramdin must have decided Rangana Herath was feeling left out. His heave across the line in the 56th over was a contender for poorest shot of the series; the ball passing several inches from his bat en route to the stumps. Even Herath was so underwhelmed, he celebrated with a mere shrug. Dilruwan Perera was equally undemonstrative as he cleaned out the tail.”We could have done better – some of the shots were not of the best,” the opener Kraigg Brathwaite said of the innings, after he had top-scored with 47. “Once you organise and plan your innings, you could succeed on that pitch.”Having finished the day 113 runs behind, with eight opposition wickets still to get, West Indies face the distinct possibility of having to make the game’s highest score in order to level the series. With the pitch already beginning to take sharp turn, Sri Lanka’s spinners will only become more dangerous – the sharks around the bat will only grow in number. It is not often that a team that reduces the opposition to 200 on the first day, ends the second in such dire circumstances. But then again, most teams do not go three full innings without a 50-run stand.
On a pitch that had not yet begun to take huge turn off the straight, a spinner who seemed to have lost some of his bite of late shaped his entire day’s work around one small patch of loose soil
Andrew Fidel Fernando at the SSC26-Jul-2014Rangana Herath was in the Sri Lanka dressing room when his destiny two days into the future began to materialise. On the first morning of the Test, Vernon Philander bustled in from the SSC’s South End and sent his first one down, full and wide for Upul Tharanga to leave alone.But it was not the delivery or the shot that would concern Herath. Half a second after the new ball left Philander’s hand, the spikes on his right boot dug into the SSC clay, about half-a-metre from the popping crease. Over the next two days, Philander, Dale Steyn, Morke Morkel and Suranga Lakmal would land on that same spot, several hundreds of times, raising little puffs of dust. They would loosen, then break off off small clods from the surface. During the breaks groundstaff would rush in and sweep up each fresh supply of debris with a dustpan and brush.After day three, Faf du Plessis had said Herath could “pitch it on a small piece of coin”. But the circular patch of dark soil that burned in Herath’s brain from daybreak to dusk on day three was closer to the size of a small wheel of cheese. Herath’s teammates like to joke that they cannot trust him around a few slices of cheddar. On Saturday, it was the wheel of cheese that consumed Herath.He bowled 192 deliveries from the Tennis Courts End – 143 of those from over the wicket, with little consideration to whether the batsman was right-handed or left-handed. That rough was his target, and like a man with an incurable itch he kept going back to it, ball after ball. He pitched a few on the stumps too, but that was largely to prevent his ploy from going stale. Everything Herath delivered from over the wicket was governed by that half-square-foot of disintegrating clay.It is easy for spinners to be seduced by rough, because out of the loose dirt, all sorts of manic things can sprout. It is a patch of endless possibilities. First there is the satisfaction of hitting footmarks. When Herath hit his target, as he basically always did, a cloud of dust erupted, almost like the beeps and flashing lights when a pinball hits the bonus button in the machine.What the ball does from there is anybody’s guess. Most of the time, it turns more sharply, but on other occasions it grips the other way. Some balls land and gain pace, like the dark dirt is a well of chaotic, kinetic energy. Others keep so low the rough almost swallows the ball up like a portal. Several go through straight, at the same pace at which they arrived. Herath knows better than most spinners that delivering no turn when some is expected can be as deadly as any magic ball. Sending a ball into the rough is almost an act of surrender, of giving yourself up to the whims of the cricket gods.Hashim Amla sought mostly to pad Herath away on the leg side, safe in the knowledge the ball had pitched way outside leg stump. Herath kept looking for the rough nonetheless, hoping one would pitch and burst past his legs to connect with the off stump. All day he kept landing them on his cheese wheel, but they never did turn that far.JP Duminy pursued a similar strategy in his uncompromisingly sedate mood, only as a left-hander, the lbw was often in play. He faced 26 balls from Herath without taking a single run off him. At his best, Herath works batsmen out scientifically, and if he could, he would have taken a sample of the footmark and sent it off to a lab for analysis. But as it was, all he could do was keep hitting it and hope. Duminy never looked like getting out to the balls pitched outside the footmarks.When one eventually turned more than the rest after many speculative appeals, Sri Lanka burned a review to find the ball had still not turned enough. Yet Herath kept at it, every ball a replay of the last; deliveries flocking to that footmark like animals to a waterhole. Over an hour after Duminy had come to the crease, he finally reached the limits of his patience. He strode out to meet the bowler, but soon found the ball diving and jiving out of that same damned spot to beat the blade. Herath and the rough had won that one.On a pitch that had not yet begun to take huge turn off the straight, a spinner who seemed to have lost some of his bite of late shaped his entire day’s work around one small patch of loose soil. It was a day of discipline for South Africa, and one of scant entertainment for the spectators who had come to the SSC. For Herath, day three was about persistence and hope, bordering on obsession. If Sri Lanka bat as well as they hope to on Sunday, his tango with the rough may resume in two sessions’ time.
A look at the squads and purses of the IPL franchises ahead of the player auction on February 3
Vishal Dikshit02-Feb-2013A total of 108 players* will go under the hammer during the February 3 auction for the 2013 IPL. Each franchise has a salary cap of $12.5 million to spend on their squad, which can have a maximum of 33 players, including 11 from overseas. Here is a team-by-team break-up of the players they currently have and the amount left with them to spend during the auction.Chennai Super KingsB Aparajith, one of the Under-19 World Cup stars, will play for Chennai Super Kings•ICC/GettyCurrent Indian players: 11, slots left: 11
Current overseas players: 6, slots left: 5
Salary cap spent: $9.4 mn, salary cap remaining: $3.1 mn
Present squad: MS Dhoni, M Vijay, S Anirudha, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, S Badrinath, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, B Aparajith, Vijay Shankar, Michael Hussey, Ben Hilfenhaus, Faf du Plessis, Albie Morkel, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dwayne Bravo.
Signed before auction: B Aparajith, Vijay Shankar
Released in November: George Bailey, Doug Bollinger, Joginder Sharma, Suraj Randiv, Yo Mahesh, Abhinav Mukund, Scott Styris, Sudeep Tyagi, K Vasudevadas, G Vignesh.
Delhi DaredevilsCurrent Indian players: 15, slots left: 7
Current overseas players: 8, slots left: 3
Salary cap spent: $11.1 mn, salary cap remaining: $1.4 mn
Present squad: Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Naman Ojha, Ajit Agarkar, Yogesh Nagar, Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Varun Aaron, Unmukt Chand, Pawan Negi, Manpreet Juneja, Kedar Jadhav, Siddharth Kaul, Sujit Nayak, Venugopal Rao, Mahela Jayawardene, Ross Taylor, David Warner, Roelof van der Merwe, Kevin Pietersen, Morne Morkel, Andre Russell, Gulam Bodi.
Signed before auction: Kedar Jadhav, Siddharth Kaul, Sujit Nayak, Venugopal Rao (re-signed), Gulam Bodi (re-signed).
Released in November: Puneet Bisht, Robin Bist, Gulam Bodi, Doug Bracewell, Aaron Finch, Sunny Gupta, Glenn Maxwell, Prashant Naik, Kuldeep Raval, Aavishkar Salvi, Venugopal Rao, Vikas Mishra, Tejashwi Yadav, Zafir Patel.
Kings XI PunjabCurrent Indian players: 14, slots left: 8
Current overseas players: 7, slots left: 4
Salary cap spent: $5.6 mn, salary cap remaining: $6.9 mn
Present squad: Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Mandeep Singh, Siddharth Chitnis, Nitin Saini, Sunny Singh, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Paul Valthaty, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Harmeet Singh Bansal, Parvinder Awana, Rajagopal Sathish, Manan Vohra, Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, David Miller, Ryan Harris, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Azhar Mahmood
Signed before auction: Manan Vohra
Released in November: Kyle Abbott, Love Ablish, Amit Yadav, Ben Cutting, Paras Dogra, James Faulkner, Vikramjeet Malik, Abhishek Nayar, Ramesh Powar, Nathan Rimmington, Stuart Broad
Madhya Pradesh spinner Jalaj Saxena has been bought by Mumbai Indians•West Indies CricketKolkata Knight RidersCurrent Indian players: 12, slots left: 10
Current overseas players: 9, slots left: 2
Salary cap spent: $10.3 mn, salary cap remaining: $2.2 mn
Present squad: Gautam Gambhir, Manoj Tiwary, Debabrata Das, Manvinder Bisla, Yusuf Pathan, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rajat Bhatia, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Iqbal Abdulla, Shami Ahmed, Pradeep Sangwan, Sarabjit Singh Ladda, Eoin Morgan, Brad Haddin, Brendon McCullum, Shakib Al Hasan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, James Pattinson, Sunil Narine
Released before auction: Marchant de Lange
Released in November: Chirag Jani, Sanju Samson, Iresh Saxena, Jaydev Unadkat
Mumbai IndiansCurrent Indian players: 17, slots left: 5
Current overseas players: 6, slots left: 5
Salary cap spent: $10.2 mn, salary cap remaining: $2.3 mn
Present squad: Harbhajan Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, Amitoze Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Pragyan Ojha, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Aditya Tare, Pawan Suyal, Suryakumar Yadav, Sushant Marathe, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishi Dhawan, Jalaj Saxena, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Aiden Blizzard, James Franklin, Mitchell Johnson, Dwayne Smith
Signed before auction: Rishi Dhawan, Jalaj Saxena
Released before auction: Robin Peterson, Herschelle Gibbs, RP Singh, Apoorv Wankhade, Kuldeep Yadav, Rahul Shukla, T Suman (transferred to Pune Warriors)
Released in November: Davy Jacobs, Richard Levi, Clint McKay, Sujit Nayak, Thisara Perera, Jaydev Shah
Pune WarriorsCurrent Indian players: 21, slots left: 1
Current overseas players: 8, slots left: 3
Salary cap spent: $9.2 mn, salary cap remaining: $3.3 mn
Present squad: Robin Uthappa, Ashish Nehra, Murali Kartik, Rahul Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Manish Pandey, Yuvraj Singh, Raiphi Gomez, Mithun Manhas, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ali Murtaza, Harpreet Singh, Anustup Mazumdar, Krishnakant Upadhyay, Mahesh Rawat, Shrikant Wagh, Dheeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Ishwar Pandey, T Suman, Udit Birla, Angelo Mathews, Alfonso Thomas, Wayne Parnell, Marlon Samuels, Luke Wright, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Tamim Iqbal.
Signed before auction: Ishwar Pandey, T Suman, Udit Birla, Steven Smith (re-signed), Tamim Iqbal (re-signed)
Released in November: Sourav Ganguly, Michael Clarke, Callum Ferguson, Kamran Khan, Harshad Khadiwale, Nathan McCullum, Mohnish Mishra, Sachin Rana, Jesse Ryder, Graeme Smith, Steven Smith, Tamim Iqbal, James Hopes.
Pune Warriors will play their first season without Sourav Ganguly•AFPRajasthan RoyalsCurrent Indian players: 11, slots left: 11
Current overseas players: 7, slots left: 4
Salary cap spent: $4.8 mn, salary cap remaining: $7.7 mn
Present squad: Rahul Dravid, S Sreesanth, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Menaria, Stuart Binny, Siddharth Trivedi, Ankeet Chavan, Shreevats Goswami, Ajit Chandila, Harmeet Singh, Dishant Yagnik, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Kevon Cooper, Owais Shah, Samuel Badree.
Signed before auction: Samuel Badree, Harmeet Singh, Dishant Yagnik (re-signed), Owais Shah (re-signed)
Released in November: Johan Botha, Deepak Chahar, Dinesh Chandimal, Aakash Chopra, Paul Collingwood, Aditya Dole, Samad Fallah, Faiz Fazal, Sumit Narwal, Pankaj Singh, Amit Paunikar, Abhishek Raut, Owais Shah, Pinal Shah, Amit Singh, Dishant Yagnik.
Royal Challengers BangaloreCurrent Indian players: 18, slots left: 4
Current overseas players: 6, slots left: 5
Salary cap spent: $10 mn, salary cap remaining: $2.5 mn
Present squad: Vinay Kumar, Arun Karthik, Karun Nair, Sreenath Aravind, Mayank Agarwal, Vijay Zol, Abhimanyu Mithun, KP Appanna, Virat Kohli, Harshal Patel, Syed Mohammad, Cheteshwar Pujara, Zaheer Khan, Saurabh Tiwary, Abhinav Mukund, Sandeep Warrior, Sunny Sohal, P Parameswaran, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Muttiah Muralitharan, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Daniel Vettori, Andrew McDonald.
Signed before auction: Abhinav Mukund, Sandeep Warrior, Sunny Sohal, P Parameswaran (re-signed).
Released in November: Raju Bhatkal, CM Gautam, Mohammad Kaif, Abrar Kazi, Charl Langeveldt, Dirk Nannes, Ryan Ninan, Prashanth Parameswaran, Asad Pathan, Luke Pomersbach, Rilee Rossouw, S Thiagarajan.
Sunrisers HyderabadCurrent Indian players: 14, slots left: 8
Current overseas players: 6, slots left: 5
Salary cap spent: $5.5 mn, salary cap remaining: $7 mn
Present squad: Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Akash Bhandari, Akshath Reddy, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Bharat Chipli, Biplab Samantray, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Ishant Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Veer Pratap Singh, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, JP Duminy, Rusty Theron, Kumar Sangakkara.
Released in November (who were in Deccan Chargers): T Atchuta Rao, Darren Bravo, Daniel Christian, Kedar Devdhar, Manpreet Gony, Daniel Harris, Ishank Jaggi, Tanmay Mishra, Syed Quadri, Sneha Kishore, Sunny Sohal, Tanmay Srivastava, Arjun Yadav.
*18.05GMT, February 2: The number of players has been updated following the IPL’s press release on the eve of the auction
Ravi Rampaul has seen through tough times and the sheer hard graft and dedication with which he’s fought them is an example to those inclined to seek out other reasons for their troubles
Tony Cozier27-Jun-2011West Indies cricket has long since become a virtual international television newscast.The controversies and the chaos, the defeats and the decline dominate the bulletins. With more than enough to fill the reports, they obscure the positives, few as they may be.So, this season, it has all been about the status of Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the two most senior players, following their straight-talking radio interviews that aired their grievances with board, team management and selectors.Chairgate, as the reported flare-up between West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive Ernest Hilaire and West Indies Players Association (WIPA) president Dinanath Ramnarine at the meeting to sort out the Gayle issue has been inevitably dubbed, occupied more attention than the cricket. Darren Sammy’s credentials as captain are so widely and repeatedly questioned that the head coach has felt compelled to beseech the critics to back off. The prelude to the series against India centred, not so much on the cricket as on their patronising decision to leave their greatest player at home to rest prior to the far more significant series in England to follow.Other spicy items have taken the headlines. WICB director Sir Hilary Beckles’ analogy of Gayle as a notorious ‘don’ filled space for a couple of weeks. The president of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, no less, gained the desired media attention by parading at the ODI in Providence with a sign proclaiming “WICB is a disgrace”.If noticed at all, upbeat cricket items such as the dramatic advance of Ravi Rampaul from obscurity to bowling spearhead, the arrival of Devendra Bishoo as a visionary selection, the development of Andre Russell as potentially quality allrounder and the return of Adrian Barath and Fidel Edwards, fit and fast after his back operation, have been mere footnotes. The fact that Russell, Barath, Darren Bravo and Kemar Roach are all under 23 and that the West Indies Under-19s triumphed over Australia in both four-day and one-day formats in Dubai in April hint at a brighter future. Yet gloom and doom lead.If it is up to the WICB, with the cooperation of WIPA, to provide the support such players require to progress, Rampaul provides the example of the individual responsibility that is also necessary but is so often missing. A year ago, he might have despaired over his prospects. He first wore West Indies colours as far back as 2000, a growing boy in the successful campaign in the Under-15 international Costcutter Cup in England in 2000. He then graduated through two Under-19 World Cups, in New Zealand and Bangladesh, and into the senior team for 53 sporadic ODIs before he finally fulfilled his ambition of Test cricket in Australia in November, 2009. It was a long and, in every sense, painful wait.In July 2004, after the West Indies ODI series in England, Rampaul felt the sharp twinge just behind the shin bone, the first sign of the condition known as shin splints common to athletes who place pressure on their legs and the bane of fast bowlers. The problem kept him out of the game for three years. When he returned in July 2007, for another ODI series in England, the layoff showed in his bulkier physique.
If it is up to the WICB, with the cooperation of WIPA, to provide the support such players require to progress, Rampaul provides the example of the individual responsibility that is also necessary but is so often missing.
Fitness was an issue in his debut Tests, three in the 2009-10 series in Australia and two at home against South Africa a couple of months later. His returns were five wickets at an average cost of 109.75 each. Not surprisingly, he was dropped.Coming up to 26 and after his misfortune with injury, he could have thrown out his boots in hopelessness and confined himself to playing for and coaching Preysal, the club in central Trinidad where he had grown up to become the West Indies’ first new ball bowler of east Indian descent. Instead, he chose not to waste the nine years he had waited to fulfil his ambition of Test cricket.He has revealed that, with the encouragement, indeed the insistence, of West Indies new head coach, Ottis Gibson, he worked incessantly on his fitness, as he did on his bowling rhythm and discipline. He pounded the road and dropped pounds. He sent down ball after ball in the nets. His stamina noticeably improved as did his control. At the same time, he also concentrated on his batting, an aspect of his game he had tended to neglect.He hankered to return but it was not until the World Cup that his chance came – and only then because of Kemar Roach’s absence through illness in the last group match against India in Chennai. His sixth ball was to be as crucial as any in his career. It rose from a length and just kissed the edge of the most famous bat in the game on its way to wicket-keeper Devon Thomas. As Sachin Tendulkar turned to head back to the pavilion, Rampaul’s whooping celebration was all to be heard above the deafening silence in the stands. “It was the perfect ball at the perfect time, one of those moments in life you dream of,” he said afterwards. Tendulkar’s opening partner, Gautam Gambhir, No.3 Virat Kohli and Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel at the bottom of the order made up his five wickets, his first such return for the West Indies. The performance would restore the self-belief that injury and disappointment had severely tested over the years.The transformation is substantiated by his returns in the season’s Tests (11 wickets at 20.90 each in two matches against Pakistan, four at 27 in the first Test against India) as has the advance in his batting (a Test average of 23 and increasingly valuable contributions at No.9 hint at allrounder potential). The most astonishing aspect of his bowling are the early strikes that have shaken the foundations of opponents’ innings. The sequence: Against Pakistan, first Test: 1st innings, second ball (5 for one); 2nd innings: third ball (two for one) and fifth ball (two for two). Second Test: 1st innings: 21st ball (17 for one), 25th ball (22 for two). Against India, first Test: first innings, 11th ball (15 for one); second innings, second ball (0 for one). Twice he was denied another early victim by straightforward catches missed at slip. Sammy’s fumble off Rahul Dravid, then six on his way to 112, arguably cost the Test against India.As Steve Waugh in 1995 (missed at 42, out for 200) and Inzamam-ul-Haq in 2005 (missed at nought, unbeaten 117) proved, batsmen of such calibre generally make the most of such generosity. Just as India did last week, Australia won in 1995 and Pakistan in 2005. It was another case of the anguish and the ecstasy Rampaul has had to cope with throughout his career. That he has done so on his own, through sheer hard graft and dedication, is an example to those inclined to seek out other reasons for their troubles.
Stats highlights from the fourth match of the CB Series between Australia and India in Melbourne
S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna10-Feb-2008
|
||
Gloucestershire seamer Matt Taylor impressed on his first appearance of the season against Derbyshire in the LV=Insurance County Championship match at Derby.The 28-year-old exploited helpful conditions to take 2 for 18 from 10 overs as Derbyshire struggled on another day badly hit by the weather.No play was possible until 2pm because of a wet outfield and after Gloucestershire won the toss, Derbyshire reached 130 for 5 before bad light ended play early at 5.20pmOpener Harry Came held the innings together with an unbeaten 59 from 111 balls and Ajeet Dale supported Taylor with 2 for 29 from 11 overs.Gloucestershire’s decision to bowl first came as no surprise given the conditions which were overcast and Marchant De Lange almost struck with the second ball.Came edged to third slip where Miles Hammond could not cling onto a hard chance and the ball ran away to the third man boundary.Came initially scored freely but with the floodlights on and the bowlers getting movement on a grassy pitch, batting was not easy and Gloucestershire did not have to wait long for the breakthrough.Haider Ali played across a full length ball from Tom Price and Came survived another chance when he drove Taylor to gully but Marcus Harris was unable to take what would have been a good catch above his head.Taylor and Dale bowled accurately and the latter was rewarded when he moved one in late to knock out Brooke Guest’s off and middle stumps in the 16th overBoth were making the batters play in challenging conditions and Dale picked up the big wicket of Wayne Madsen in his next over with enough late movement to take the edge and Ben Charlesworth took a good low catch at first slip.The pressure was eased by De Lange who strayed onto the pads too often and both Came and Leus du Plooy took advantage to prevent further setbacks before tea.Came walked off one short of his fourth first-class fifty which he completed in the second over of the evening session but by then he had lost his skipper to the second ball after the resumption.Taylor had been relentless in his line of just outside off stump and du Plooy was drawn into pushing at the left-armer and was caught behind to break a stand of 55 from 89 balls.That brought in Mitch Wagstaff on his first-class debut and the 19-year-old struggled before he became another victim of Taylor’s accuracy.He played and missed several times before the 27th ball he faced moved away to take the edge through to James Bracey.By now the light had got worse and three overs later the umpires took the players off with just under 25 overs still to bowl.
Xavi Simons called his move to Tottenham a “great step,” admitting talks with Thomas Frank convinced him it was where he needed to be.
| Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱 |
Left armer arrives to reinforce club’s bowling stocks ahead of Sri Lanka Test series in August
ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2024Yorkshire have signed Sri Lanka quick Vishwa Fernando for their next three County Championship matches.The left-arm seamer, who has 64 Test wickets at 33.09 in 23 caps, is due to be available for fixtures against Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire and Derbyshire. Fernando played two matches for Durham last season, taking seven wickets at 22.42 for the eventual Division Two champions.Fernando’s acquisition will bolster Yorkshire’s bowling resources, with Matthew Fisher, Mickey Edwards and Matt Milnes all missing through injury. The club went into the latest round without a win in five matches since the start of the season – including a defeat against Middlesex – which has them sixth out of eight in Division Two.The hope is Fernando will help kickstart a much-needed tilt at promotion. He put in strong performances in Sri Lanka’s 2-0 Test series win in Bangladesh which concluded at the start of April. He finished second in the wicket-taking charts with 10 dismissals at 16.10, and will be in the mix for Sri Lanka’s tour of England later this summer, with the first of three Tests beginning on August 21 at Emirates Old Trafford.The 32-year-old has already met up with his county teammates, who are currently in action against Sussex down at Hove, and will turn out for Yorkshire next week against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. Signed solely on a red ball deal, Fernando will be back in action when the County Championship returns on June 23 as the Vitality Blast takes over the calendar. Yorkshire host Gloucestershire at Scarborough for that round before Fernando’s final appearance at Chesterfield against Derbyshire, which begins on June 30.He will take Yorkshire’s second overseas in the Championship, alongside skipper Shan Masood. South African Donovan Ferreira has already been confirmed as the county’s overseas for the Blast.
Despite ending up on the losing side, Stokes was happy with England’s approach in the fourth innings
ESPNcricinfo staff05-Feb-2024
Ben Stokes was run out in the chase•Getty Images
It proved to be the case, but Ben Stokes says at no point did his side believe their lofty fourth-innings target in the second Test against India was too many.Still needing 332 of the 399 set by the hosts, captain Stokes and his team began the fourth day in Visakhapatnam with the trademark self-belief that is a lynchpin of their Bazball ethos.”Coming into this last innings we had full belief in ourselves that we could go and chase that down,” Stokes said at the post-match presentation. “The way in which we go about taking on challenges like that is what we’re about and the number of runs that we needed to get was just sort of another thing for us to try and try and chase down.Related
Ben Stokes' positive aggression is England's new mantra for success
Bumrah and Ashwin beat England's bazballers as India draw level
Bumrah: 'The yorker is probably the first delivery I learned'
Rohit 'proud' of winning with inexperienced squad, but wants more from batters
Gill: 'It wasn't outside noise but the expectations I have for myself'
“In moments like that, in games when you’ve got scoreboard pressure, a lot of runs to chase down, that’s where your process and the way in which we know that we get the best out of ourselves as individuals, that really comes out. And I thought the way in which we applied ourselves and really tried to put India’s bowling attack under a lot of pressure was great. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up on the right side of the result. Congrats to India, I thought they played a fantastic game and, again, another great game to be a part of.”There’s no suggestion whatsoever about how to go out and play, it’s go out and play how you best feel at a given time. We knew the task ahead… and everyone in that dressing room there is a quality player and they are good enough to be able to go out there, assess the conditions or the situation and also assess how they’re feeling and how they best feel to go about getting those runs.”Stokes was further heartened by the fact that England had sliced 67 runs off their task for the loss of just one wicket – Ben Duckett on the third evening – and with Zak Crawley looking in good touch.”The big thing for us was asserting our authority very early and letting the Indian bowling attack know that this is how we’re going to go about the day, trying to not let them settle and make it as hard as we possibly could for them,” Stokes told broadcaster . “I know we’ve got to give credit to [India captain] Rohit [Sharma], the way in which he led, and credit to the bowlers that every time that we would drag the momentum back towards us and sort of felt like we were getting on top of them, they were able to produce something to take the wicket and put us back.”But I’m real pleased with the way in which that we found ourselves in a pressure situation. Chasing runs down in India is never easy, but we were actually able to go out there and stick to everything that we speak about.”Zak Crawley was England’s best batter in both innings•BCCI
Crawley was twice England’s top-scorer, adding 73 runs to his first-innings 76, but ultimately England fell short in the face of Jasprit Bumrah’s timely wicket-taking prowess. Bumrah took 3 for 46, including the dangerous Jonny Bairstow on the stroke of lunch and last man to fall Tom Hartley, to add to his six-wicket haul from England’s first innings and seal victory. But Stokes said Crawley had exemplified his team’s approach to the fourth innings.”That period last night when your openers have to go out, it’s one of those, what do you do? But I think when you have that real clarity, you’re able to see what they did last night,” Stokes added. “We could have easily been 20 for none, and not lost a wicket, but the game’s not really gone anywhere. Yes, we lost Duckett at the end of the day, but we’ve knocked 60 runs off and that’s a huge deficit when you come to a new day.”But Zak, he started again this morning, he sensed the threat in Bumrah early on and then when the spin came on, he looked to assert his dominance a bit more. But a great game for him with the bat, especially considering he’s someone who’s not been exposed to conditions like these for the most part of his career. Very happy for him and I think it’s a great stepping stone for him. “Stokes was also full of praise for his trio of young spinners, Hartley, Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed, who took eight of India’s second-innings wickets between them as the hosts were bowled out for 255, with the more experienced Joe Root bowling just two overs of spin before succumbing to an injury to his right little finger, sustained while fielding. James Anderson, the vastly experienced seamer, took the other two as part of his haul of five wickets for the match.”Looking at Tom, Bash and Rehan – five or six Test matches between them – to put in the performance that they did yesterday, obviously without Joe, and Jimmy having bowled a very long spell on Saturday, I thought what they were able to produce in terms of effort and output was incredible,” Stokes said. “They showed a lot of maturity, a lot of skill beyond their years and experience and it’s something I’m very proud of as a captain.”With the third Test, in Rajkot, not starting for 10 days, England’s squad will head to Abu Dhabi to enjoy a break with their families.