Northamptonshire’s seamers took five wickets in the second hour of play to bowl the visitors back into a match which ended the day finely balanced at Grace Road

Press Association27-Apr-2015
ScorecardOlly Stone took out Leicestershire’s middle order•Getty Images

Northamptonshire’s seamers took five wickets in the second hour of play to bowl the visitors back into a match which ended the day finely balanced at Grace Road.The hosts lost five for 37 and were grateful to Clint McKay and Ben Raine who stuck around long enough to give them a first innings lead before they were bowled out for 305. However, Northamptonshire had time to put on 105 for 2 before stumps for an advantage of 51.Leicestershire’s overnight batsmen Angus Robson and Ned Eckersley had batted without alarm in taking the Foxes’ first innings from 102-1 to 139 when Robson, on 75, cut at a rising delivery from David Willey and edged to Stephen Peters at first slip.Eckersley then edged an outswinger from Olly Stone to Alex Wakely at second slip for 28, before Willey bowled Neil Pinner for a duck off the inside edge, a well-pitched up delivery that swung back at the right-hander.Soon afterwards, Mark Cosgrove drove at a ball from Stone that left him off the pitch and edged a catch behind, and when Niall O’Brien went in the same way shortly before lunch, driving at a delivery from Mohammad Azharullah without getting to the pitch of the ball, Leicestershire had gone from 139 for 1 to 176 for 6.When Tom Wells went caught behind feeling for a wide delivery from Stone shortly after lunch, Leicestershire were still 50 runs adrift of Northamptonshire’s first innings total, but McKay joined Raine in compiling a partnership of 87 for the eighth wicket.Australian seamer McKay, making his first-class debut for Leicestershire, hit five fours and one six in going to 47, but was caught at long-on by Willey off the bowling of Josh Cobb as he attempted to bring up his half-century with another maximum.Raine also went for 47, hitting across the line at a slower delivery from Azharullah, and Charlie Shreck chipped Rory Kleinveldt straight into the hands of Richard Levi at midwicket to bring the innings to a close.A first innings lead of 54 looked a useful one for Leicestershire, and it would have been even more so if Leicestershire had not dropped three catches in the evening session. Peters was dropped twice, by Pinner at second slip and McKay at long leg, both times off Raine, in going to 50 before finally being held at gully by Robson off Shreck.Levi was also put down, by Robson off the unfortunate Raine on 17, before being held by Pinner at second slip off the same bowler for 20.

After Varun Aaron’s four wickets helped India A bowl Bangladesh A out for 228, Shikhar Dhawan struck an unbeaten 116 off 112 balls to take the hosts close to the lead

The Report by Sidharth Monga in Bangalore27-Sep-2015
Scorecard
Shikhar Dhawan struck his third first-class hundred in three matches•PTI The three national selectors watching India A dominate Bangladesh A would have been mostly satisfied with what they saw on the first day of the three-day match in Bangalore. Varun Aaron bowled quick and took four wickets to help bowl Bangladesh out for 228, and Shikhar Dhawan, who didn’t complete the Sri Lanka tour with injury, then effortlessly scored his third first-class hundred in three matches to take India close to a lead already. However, there was a brief scare when Dhawan, selected for the T20s and three ODIs against South Africa, had to apply magic spray on the right hand when batting in his 70s. He didn’t field at slip either, where he had incidentally injured his hand. However, he batted on, which was a good sign. Ravindra Jadeja bowled nine overs without a maiden and produced one close lbw shout.Bangladesh selectors will want to look away from yet another scorecard. While Sabbir Rahman scored a sublime 122 off 131 balls, it was not enough to undo the ridiculous collapse that happened around him. On a flat and easy-paced pitch, most of the other Bangladesh A batsmen seemed in a competition to throw their wickets away, playing too may shots and playing them injudiciously. Put in, they lost the first four wickets for 0, 0, 2 and 0 in 15 minutes, and the last four for 4, 0, 0 and 0 in 2.2 overs. In between Sabbir teamed up with Nasir Hossain (32) and Suvagata Hom (62) to avoid a total wipeout. Even those two partnerships were streaky.Aaron presented a case for retaining him in the Test side with four wickets, but he will be the first one to acknowledge that he will have to work much harder for wickets in international cricket. He made an accurate start to his day, pitching the first ball just short of a length and just outside the off stump of the left-hand opener Soumya Sarkar. Sarkar pushed at it, and down the wrong line, to edge it behind. These kinds of things happen when you put the ball in that avenue of apprehension, but a first-class No. 3 – and a captain of side – rarely goes out of his way to nick a ball that has odds of being called a wide – even in first-class cricket. Mominul Haque did just that, and Aaron had two wickets in his first over.Anamul Haque played loosely outside off to Ishwar Pandey, and Liton Das flicked Aaron straight to mid-on to make it 4 for 6 in the sixth over. This brought together Sabbir and Nasir. The latter has been the thorn in the sides of the Indian teams on this tour, and he began doing the same. Not without luck, though, with edges flying safely often. However, his tendency to move away from the line of the ball got him soon enough. Abhimanyu Mithun produced the perfect delivery for a such a batsman: holding its line just outside off to take the edge.Sabbir and Hom were more assured than the previous 44-run stand. Sabbir played some attractive shots, was severe against anything pitched short, and treated spinners with disdain. He hit 18 fours and a huge six off offspinner Jayant Yadav. Aaron, though, came back in the afternoon to end that resurgence. This was his most important wicket of the day, arguably the only one he had to work for. He bowled with pace, he bowled with bounce, and then pitched one outside off to see Hom not get close to the line and edge it behind the wicket, fifth such dismissal out of the first six.Sabbir then dominated the 38-run seventh-wicket stand, of which Saqlain Sajib scored just four. One moment Sabbir was on his knees to do the , after reaching his hundred, and on the next, he was down on his knees in exasperation after watching the last four batsmen fail to provide any resistance. They all fell to gentle offbreaks from Jayant.There was a gentleness to Bangladesh bowling, too, especially with Rubel Hossain getting injured and walking off in the sixth over of the Indian innings. There was a long way to go to stumps, and Dhawan feasted on the Bangladesh spinners. Not that Rubel posed much threat: Dhawan had hit him for three fours in his first over. At times during Dhawan’s innings, the fielders were as if they were non-existent. He played around with the fields expertly, including the use of the reverse sweep. He hit 16 fours and two sixes in his 116 off 112 balls.Bangladesh were a resigned unit, and Dhawan didn’t let them off easy. In the 153-run opening stand, Dhawan’s partner, Abhinav Mukund, scored just 34. Curiously Bangladesh continued bowling spin in fading light, allowing India to bat on until 5.06pm. The moment they re-introduced pace, the umpires took the players off. Bangladesh were left needing much more fight, and awareness, than they have shown if they are to salvage some pride on a tour they have lost a three-day match to Ranji champions Karnataka too.

Even at 12 for 3, Brendon McCullum was not thinking about purely trying to save the first Test at Lord’s – something that ultimately proved 9.3 overs out of reach in one of the finest Tests staged on the ground.

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's25-May-2015

Even at 12 for 3, Brendon McCullum was not thinking about purely trying to save the first Test at Lord’s – something that ultimately proved 9.3 overs out of reach in one of the finest Tests staged on the ground.When Ross Taylor was lbw to Stuart Broad before lunch it was not McCullum who came down the pavilion steps at No. 5 but BJ Watling. But the plan was not to shut up shop but to try and form a platform for a “second launch”. For a while, as Watling and Corey Anderson added 107 in 27 overs, McCullum dared to dream that another incredible New Zealand story could unfold only for the match to end in a defeat that would have been scarcely believable 48 hours earlier.”It just organically happened that we realised it was probably a little bit beyond us,” he said. “But at least when Corey was batting, he’s such a free-scorer and with the field the way it was, who knows, if he’d been able to manufacture a partnership, how close we may have got. I thought our No. 10 and 11 did well to hang on there as long as they did and BJ Watling for me, it was another example of how important he is at soaking up the pressure which is why we promoted him to try and set up for a second launch.”To England’s credit they were too good for us in the crucial stages but I’m still really proud of our guys and the way we kept going. I thought it was a fantastic Test to be a part of, to play five days in front of full houses at Lord’s and for it come down to the final 10 overs is a testament to how good it was.”New Zealand still only have one Test victory at Lord’s, the win in 1999 that helped them secure the series victory. The best they can hope for this time, in a two-match series that deserves to be longer, is a share of the spoils from Headingley and for all McCullum’s positivity this will always be a match that got away after their dominance on the second and third days.”It hurts a lot, I won’t lie,” he said. “At the same time there’s an element of pride that we continue to play a style of cricket that gives us our greatest chance. There will be times when teams can stand up to you and withstand the pressure and come out on top. You just have to doff the cap, say well played and make sure next time you get the chance you go hard again and ask the same question. Who knows, at Headingley we may see a different result but I’m sure our guys will continue to play the same style.”McCullum said there were some “sore bodies” in the dressing room, among them Watling with his knee and neck and also Anderson with a back niggle. The three frontline quicks all bowled more than 50 overs in the match, with Trent Boult sending down 63, but McCullum insisted the team would be ready to go again”Emotionally our guys are really steady and that’s allowed us to be able to play some good cricket so that will be the message, no knee jerk reaction to a performance like this because we were pretty good for most of it.”

“If you’d given me a choice at the start of the series between taking the ICC Championship points game 2-1, or winning the overall ODI series without those four Championship points, I would have gone for the points, no question.”That’s what New Zealand Women captain Suzie Bates had said in February after her team lost the ODI series 3-2 to England, despite an initial 2-1 lead that helped them go up a place in the ICC Women’s Championship. Only points from the first three ODIs were counted for the ICC tournament, and even though they got those, New Zealand are still second from bottom, only ahead of India.Now in India for the third time, just like head coach Haidee Tiffen, Bates feels familiarity with the conditions has provided them with the required knowledge and knowhow to win the upcoming ODI series against India in Bangalore.”Our focus is not just three first three matches, but on the entire series,” Bates told ESPNcricinfo. “From playing point of view, spin is obviously going to play a much bigger part than it does at home. We’ve got some quicks in our team that we still think we can use out of them, but the best we can play their spinners and the best our spinners can bowl, I think that will be crucial.”As a group we’ve talked about how fast the outfields can be [in India] but you’ve got to give yourself time to adapt when you are out in the middle and you’ve got to have wickets in hand to make the most of scoring runs at the end of the innings. We’ve talked about making sure that we play nice and straight and not playing around our pads because with the ball turning and perhaps staying a little bit lower than we are used to is not coming on as well as it does at home, so we’ve got to be more tight with our technique.”With the ball we are not going to get the bounce we are used to so adjusting our lengths as quick as we can. We’ve toured here before and we’re so well looked after that challenges off the field seem to have disappeared.”Tiffen toured India in 2003 for a bilateral series and later in 2007 for a quadrangular series. She is now on her first assignment after taking over as head coach and feels acclimatising to the conditions and pitches will be the main challenge.”Conditions-wise I think learning to apply yourself in the heat that’s a challenge,” Tiffen said. “They’ve got some world-class players like Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, and they’ve got some young spinners coming through and it is a tough place to tour. Obviously the pitches are slightly different as well, they perhaps take a little bit more turn.”The first three ODIs will be in focus again for the Women’s Championship and the teams that finish in top four will directly qualify for the 2017 World Cup in England. A 3-0 score at the start of the series will see New Zealand jump straight to joint-third with West Indies. And if they win 2-1, they will be placed fourth.However, they will be without Sara McGlashan, their most experienced player, who made herself unavailable for the series. While Tiffen said that would give an opportunity to the younger players, Bates said it was not something to worry about as there’s enough depth in the squad.”She’s got a personal [reason] and is looking at her career outside of cricket,” Tiffen said. “That will provide an opportunity for other people to step up and we are looking at a few players to perhaps fulfil that No. 4 role. I suppose it’s about trying to find out questions of those players and who can adapt quickly and pay a role for us there.””I know we haven’t been as consistent as we’d like as a group with the bat and we have relied on some of the top order but Amy Satterthwaite has had match-winning performances for us at No. 3 and she’s a class player,” Bates said. “Kate Broadmore has come on for us internationally at that No. 4 spot.”Look, I think there’s always pressure on the top order…that’s what they are there to do, score the runs, and we know Sophie [Devine] can whack the ball and we’ve got Rachel Priest as well who’s been outstanding over the last series against England and West Indies, she’s been really consistent. Sara’s a huge loss, especially in the field she leaves a bit of a hole there at cover that I might have to step up my game for.”Among the other youngsters to watch out for, Bates spoke highly of tall fast bowler Lea Tahuhu, one of their bowling stars from the 2013 World Cup in India, spinning allrounder Leigh Kasperek, who took 3 for 19 in a warm-up against India A on Friday, and 18-year-old pacer Hannah Rowe.”Lea Tahuhu, although she’s been in the side for a number of series, she’s an exciting fast bowler and can bowl the ball pretty quick and she’s become more and more consistent for us opening the bowling,” Bates said. “We’ve got a couple of exciting allrounders – Anna Peterson and Leigh Kasperek – they bat lower order and bowl a bit of spin and these conditions will be really useful. There’s lots of other young girls – Hannah Rowe is probably our youngest, who bowls reasonably quick and swings the ball. She’s a netball player from back home as well so she brings a lot of skills and she’ll just grow and learn from these conditions, she hasn’t played much outside of New Zealand.”And when asked to pick between a scoreline of 2-1 from the first three matches and winning the series 3-2, Bates happily said: “5-0.”

Full scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Collins Obuya completed his fifty in 34 balls•ICC

Collins Obuya’s half-century and some tidy bowling helped Kenya quell Oman’s chase by seven runs and register their second straight win in the World T20 Qualifier in Edinburgh.Sent in to bat, Kenya were off to a steady, if not racy, start, their openers, Narendra Kalyan and Irfan Karim, adding 29 runs before Rajeshkumar Ranpura accounted for Karim in the sixth over. Two overs later, Kalyan was trapped in front by Zeeshan Maqsood to reduce Kenya to 33 for 2.Obuya and Nehemiah Odhiambo then joined hands to raise 39 runs in 4.5 overs. After Odhiambo’s dismissal, Obuya put on 52 in 5.5 overs in the company of captain Rakep Patel, who scored 21 off 15 balls, to increase the run rate.Obuya brought up his fifty off 34 balls with a six off Ranpura in the 18th over, but he perished three balls later. Kenya scored 45 in their last five overs to finish with 143. Debutants Munis Ansari and Maqsood picked up two wickets each along with Ranpura, who gave away only 17 runs in four overs.Oman’s reply was stifled by some thrifty bowling from left-arm seamer Lucas Oluoch and left-arm spinner Shem Ngoche. Oman managed to score only 25 in the Powerplay, with two maidens from Oluoch, and were on 49 for 3 after 10 overs, Ngoche picking up two of the wickets while Oluoch bowled four overs on the trot, giving away only 10 runs.Oman struggled to get any partnerships going at the top of the order with Jatinder Singh, with 31 off 34 balls, making the only substantial contribution. They, however, gave Kenya a scare at the back end as No. 7 Amir Ali smashed a 20-ball 30 to bring Oman closer to the target. With 24 required off the last over, he was dismissed by Odhiambo off the third delivery, effectively ending Oman’s hopes. Ngoche finished with figures of 3 for 25.

Andre Fletcher and Kevin Pietersen powered St Lucia Zouks to 179 against Trinidad &Tobago Red Steel before rain washed out the game

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-2015
Match abandoned due to rain
ScorecardFile photo – Andre Fletcher set up St Lucia Zouks’ innings with a fifty•LatinContent/Getty Images

Andre Fletcher struck 57 off 49 balls and Kevin Pietersen hit 42 off 26 balls as St Lucia Zouks ran up 179 in 20 overs, the highest CPL score at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in Gros Islet before rain washed out the match.Rain arrived five balls into the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel’s chase, forcing the second game of the season to be called off, with the teams taking a point each.Fletcher and Johnson Charles gave Zouks a strong start after the hosts were inserted. They raced to 37 in four overs before Jacques Kallis had Charles caught at short midwicket for 16. Fletcher, joined by Kevin Pietersen, built the innings before kicking into higher gear in a partnership worth 70 in 8.5 overs. Though both batsmen departed in successive overs, late contributions from Henry Davids (27), Darren Sammy(15) and Kyle Mayers (19) ensured that Zouks finished with a formidable total.Fletcher and Pietersen hit 13 boundaries between them while Kallis was the pick of the bowlers for Red Steel, claiming figures of 2 for 31.Kallis would later begin the chase with a four and a six before rain cut the match short.

A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy Group B matches on October 4, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2015
ScorecardPunjab took only 39 overs to bowl out Railways on the final day•ESPNcricinfo LtdLeft-arm spinner Varun Khanna’s eight-wicket haul, his maiden five-for, helped Punjab complete an innings win against Railways in Mohali and move to the top of Group B.Defeat appeared imminent for Railways when they resumed the final day on 125 for 5, still 283 runs away from making Punjab bat again. Railways lost their first wicket in the 10th over of the day for the addition of 20 runs, when Khanna removed Karn Sharma. However, overnight batsman Arindam Ghosh put on 50 runs in the company of Arnab Nandi (33) before Khanna had Nandi caught and bowled.The other significant partnership for Railways came through Ghosh and Krishnakant Upadhyay who added 40 runs for the ninth wicket. But it wasn’t long before the last two wickets fell, and Ghosh was left stranded on 98. Railways’ innings lasted 39 overs on the fourth day.
Scorecard Seamer B Ayyappa’s 6 for 71 was instrumental in Andhra securing the first-innings against Mumbai in Vizianagaram, after the visitors fell seven runs short of Andhra’s 244.Resuming on 158 for 5, Mumbai inched forward through Siddhesh Lad and Abhishek Nayar, and closed in on the 200 mark when Nayar was run out in the 80th over. Mumbai lost two more wickets in the next 10 overs, for the addition of 36 runs: Ayyappa dismissed Dhawal Kulkarni and, more crucially, Lad for 86 and later cleaned up the tail to collect his maiden five-wicket haul.Andhra then batted solidly in their second innings to ensure they walked away with three points.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh shared a point each in Moradabad, following a strong batting display from Madhya Pradesh. In reply to UP’s 686 for 7, MP, who began the day at 234 for 3, were buoyed by a 150-run stand for the fourth wicket between Aditya Shrivastava and Devendra Bundela. Shrivastava, playing in only his fourth first-class match, made his way to 169 before being caught behind off Ankit Rajpoot. Rajpoot also accounted for Bundela, who scored 80, in his next over, but Harpreet Singh, the No.7 batsman, held firm at his end, striking an unbeaten 88 to lead his team to 531 for 7, and denied UP a first-innings lead. Rajpoot was UP’s best bowler, taking 4 for 87.

Tim Paine scored an unbeaten century and Evan Gulbis claimed 4 for 12 as Tasmania cruised to a 93-run victory over South Australia at Blacktown

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-2015
ScorecardTim Paine made an unbeaten 109•Getty ImagesTim Paine scored an unbeaten century and Evan Gulbis claimed 4 for 12 as Tasmania cruised to a 93-run victory over South Australia at Blacktown. Paine batted throughout the Tasmania innings to finish unbeaten on 109 from 141 deliveries in Tasmania’s 4 for 234, and despite a strong opening partnership the Redbacks were unable to get near the target.Travis Head (39) and Tim Ludeman (21) put on 57 for the opening wicket but both men fell to Gulbis, who also claimed the final two wickets of the South Australian innings and effected a run-out to get rid of Sam Raphael for 20. South Australia struggled to gain any momentum through the middle overs as the spin of Clive Rose (2 for 26) and Xavier Doherty chipped in with wickets.In the end, the South Australia innings ended in the 41st over when they were bowled out for 141. They only just managed to score more for their whole innings than Tasmania’s opening pair, Paine and Ben Dunk, who combined for 134 before Dunk was caught off the bowling of Head for 67 from 99 deliveries.Scoring wasn’t easy on a slow surface and Paine paced his innings well, striking four fours and one six along the way. James Faulkner added an important 32 from 38 balls, including one six; he also claimed the wicket of Callum Ferguson later in the day.

Legspinner Yasir Shah and fast bowler Mohammad Irfan have been recalled to Pakistan’s T20 squad for the forthcoming two-match series against Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jul-2015

Legspinner Yasir Shah, fast bowler Mohammad Irfan and pacer Sohail Tanvir have been recalled to Pakistan’s Twenty20 squad for the two-match series against Sri Lanka.Fast bowler Wahab Riaz, who had fractured his hand during the Tests against Sri Lanka last month, has also been named in the squad, but will be included only once he clears a fitness test. The PCB has drafted in uncapped left-arm fast bowler Zia-ul-Haq as a replacement if Wahab fails the test.Haroon Rashid, Pakistan’s chief selector, said that Wahab was expected to start bowling from July 24 and would have to be cleared by the National Cricket Academy coaches before he could join the squad.”Wahab Riaz is expected to start bowling from July 24, 2015 after recovering from hand injury sustained during the Test series against Sri Lanka, under the supervision of NCA coaches and would be included in the squad upon clearance that he is injury free and bowling to their satisfaction,” Rashid said. “Otherwise Zia-ul-Haq – a budding young fast bowler having toured recently with Pakistan A – would take his place in the team.”Zia was part of the Pakistan A squad that toured Sri Lanka in May this year. He took six wickets in three List A games on the tour, and three wickets in the three-match unofficial Test series.Irfan, who suffered a pelvic fracture during the World Cup, had already been picked for the ODI series against Sri Lanka. He has bowled 27 overs and taken one wicket in the three completed matches of the series so far.Yasir, who last played a T20 international in September 2011, was included after consistent performances across Tests and ODIs on the tour. He was the highest wicket-taker in the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka, with 24 wickets at an average of 19.33, and took a career-best 4 for 29 in the third ODI.Tanvir’s previous T20 international for Pakistan was against Bangladesh in April but since then, he has played in the Natwest t20 Blast and the Caribbean Premier League – for Somerset and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots respectively – apart from Pakistan’s domestic T20 competition. Rashid said the selectors had been monitoring Pakistan players in the UK and the CPL, and decided to pick Tanvir based on his performances in the leagues as well as his experience in the T20 format.Pakistan T20 squad: Ahmed Shehzad, Nauman Anwar, Mohammad Hafeez, Mukhtar Ahmed, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan, Shahid Afridi (capt), Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Imad Wasim, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz/Zia-ul-Haq

Royal Challengers Bangalore spinner Iqbal Abdulla had reported a suspect approach by an individual posing as a fan during IPL 2015.The incident, understood to have taken place in the Royal Challengers’ hotel in Bangalore during the early stages of the IPL, came to light when it was reported by the newspaper. ESPNcricinfo also confirmed it with a BCCI insider but Abdulla remained unavailable for comment.According to the insider, Abdulla was being flooded with text messages from an anonymous number for some time. The person, introducing himself as a fan of the left-arm spinner, was constantly requesting to be photographed with the player. After reading multiple texts that the supposed fan was waiting for him in the hotel lobby, Abdulla relented and acceded to the request of being photographed with the fan.Soon after, the person asked Abdulla if he would be able to pass on inside information about team composition and other matters. Abdulla is then understood to have shoved him away and immediately reported the incident to the integrity officer deputed to his team.Ever since the 2013 corruption scandal, the BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit assigns one of its officers to each of the eight IPL teams all through the tournament. The BCCI source revealed that the integrity officer followed the prescribed protocols and informed the hotel authorities to not let the person enter the hotel premises again.This is the second incident of a fixing approach that has come to light about IPL 2015. A Rajasthan Royals player had reported an approach from a teammate just before the IPL, which resulted in Mumbai’s Hiken Shah being suspended until the BCCI disciplinary committee decides on quantum of punishment for him.