All posts by n8rngtd.top

The Melbourne Stars have been uncatchable at the top of the points table for a while, but they have now lost three matches in a row

The Report by Daniel Brettig25-Jan-2020AB de Villiers arrived with a masterful display for the Brisbane Heat to lead them to a yawning victory over the suddenly listless Melbourne Stars at the MCG. The Stars have been uncatchable at the top of the points table for a while, but they have now lost three matches in a row.On a slow surface, the Heat were kept quiet early after shuffling their batting line-up dramatically, but de Villiers bided his time to find the best way to go on the attack, before unleashing a succession of sixes, most of them off the back foot, to rush the Heat to 186 with 88 runs from the final six overs. He had significant assistance from Marnus Labuschagne in the closing overs, as both took a heavy toll on the Stars’ replacement paceman Dilbar Hussain.There was a decided lack of intensity about the Stars in their pursuit of the total, in contrast to the Heat’s high level of focus. This was personified by the excellent spells from James Pattinson and Mitchell Swepson, who ensured the Heat have destiny very much in their hands ahead of their final qualifying game against the Melbourne Renegades.Heat go higgledy piggledyNeeding a victory to stay in touch with the BBL top five, the Heat’s decision-makers Darren Lehmann and Chris Lynn unveiled a line-up that might easily have involved names in a hat or at the very least a dartboard. Ben Cutting was promoted to open with Sam Heazlett, de Villiers was handed the wicketkeeping gloves and Labuschagne shunted down to No. 6 in their latest attempt to wring a winning performance from a talented but imbalanced squad.Heazlett got a few early boundaries away, but neither Cutting nor Lynn could find their timing as the Stars again relied heavily on spin. There was a sense of aimlessness as the Heat drifted to 3 for 98 after 14 overs, having leapt to 38 from the opening three, as de Villiers struggled once more to find the sweetness of hitting that has marked many of his best T20 innings.De Villiers catches fireOn a sluggish MCG pitch, it took time for de Villiers to figure out that it was not particularly easy to tee-off on the front foot, and to conjure an alternative route to the boundary. He laboured to 13 from 16 balls with six overs remaining and then showed the crowd he could use his trademark wrists and fast hands to swing freely at short-of-a-length spin bowling while sitting back in the crease.What followed was the acceleration that won the Heat the match, as de Villiers ransacked six sixes and two fours to add another 58 from his final 21 balls. Two other figures had contrasting fates as a result: the beneficiary was Labuschagne, who was able to build into his innings before detonating in the final over with two sixes of his own. The fall guy was Hussain, a left-field choice as the replacement for Haris Rauf, who found his skiddy 140kph seamers landing obligingly in the slot for both de Villiers and Labuschagne.Heat prosper through classical skillsNo lesser judges than Bradman and Benaud always reckoned that the best combinations in cricket involved the use of high pace bowling opposite tantalising wristspin, and there was something of that ilk about the way the Heat were able to ensnare a decidedly sleepy-looking Stars’ batting line-up. Though Matt Renshaw’s opening over was expensive as he dropped short to Marcus Stoinis, Pattinson bowled with genuine speed and no little fire to coax a mistake from the opener, and then followed up by bursting through Seb Gotch.The Stars’ hopes then rested on Glenn Maxwell, but his stay was swiftly ended by the other half of the classical combo, as Swepson skidded a flatter delivery through his defence, and went on to claim two more. There was very little sense of purpose about the way the Stars undertook the remainder of their chase, with Peter Handscomb running himself out and Nick Larkin’s rearguard effort having far too little in the way of support to be meaningful. The Stars are still top of the table but with plenty of thinking to do about the finals.

England recover from rusty batting display and hosts’ bright start to run chase to seal victory

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2020England overcame several scares in their first game back in sky blue since the World Cup final to beat an inexperienced Cricket South Africa Invitation XI by 77 runs as they warmed up for next week’s ODI series in Paarl.Jason Roy struck a fluent 104 as he continued his comeback from a shoulder injury, but there was precious little else for England’s batsmen to shout about as they were bowled out for 240 in 44.1 overs.And it looked as though they were set for a humbling defeat when Jacques Snyman started positively in the run chase, taking them to 91 for 1 after 17.3 overs, but after Matt Parkinson and Tom Curran made breakthroughs, the hosts’ raw middle order was exposed, with a collapse of nine for 72 handing England the win.Despite the low-key nature of the contest, Roy admitted to having been a bit “giddy” at the prospect of getting back on the field with England, having been rested for the tour of New Zealand before Christmas before picking up a shoulder injury at the Mzanzi Super League.”It was nice to get the shirt back on,” he said. “I was pretty giddy getting on the plane back home to come out here. Obviously I haven’t represented England for a while now so it’s quite nice to get going.”Playing a warm-up game in Paarl when the last game you played was in the World Cup final is quite difficult but we’ve got to build foundations again going forward for the next few years.”[The World Cup win] is a memory that we can keep close to us, but we’ve got to move forward and work hard for the next four years now until the next World Cup.”After winning the toss and choosing to bat, England made a disastrous start as they slumped to 16 for 3 after 19 balls. In a passage that must have reminded the tourists’ supporters of several games more than a decade ago, a fast bowler named S Tait struck early – though this time it was the left-armer Stephan, as opposed to Australia’s Shaun – trapping Jonny Bairstow lbw and having Joe Root caught down the leg side first ball. Eoin Morgan then chopped on, shaping to cut Imran Manack’s offspin, to leave the tourists in trouble.Joe Denly, in an unfamiliar role at No. 5, steadied the ship with 29, but he and Tom Banton fell to Smangaliso Nhlebela’s left-arm spin in quick succession to leave England five wickets down with only 109 on the board. Part-timer Andile Mokgakane bowled Sam Curran, but Roy began to find some rhythm, shifting through the gears to reach a 94-ball hundred as he added fifty for the seventh wicket alongside Chris Woakes.Woakes continued to tick over with Tom Curran and Chris Jordan, but the wickets continued to fall as England eventually limped up to 240, Matt Parkinson the last man out with 35 balls unused.In response, Snyman, a top-order batsman from Pretoria, started aggressively despite the early loss of Kabelo Sekhukhune, who was bowled by Sam Curran. He struck Woakes for six, before taking 14 from a Curran over, while No. 3 Jean du Plessis struck a couple of boundaries to leave the CSA XI 58 for 1 after ten overs of the chase.But the introduction of dual spin in the form of Adil Rashid and Parkinson stemmed the flow of runs, as du Plessis was stumped off a wide and Jesse Christensen was clean bowled. Snyman’s scoring dried up, as he added only one boundary after the Powerplay, and was eventually trapped in front by Tom Curran.Curran also removed the team’s senior player in Qaasim Adams, the 35-year-old Western Province batsman, before a run-out, and two wickets apiece for Woakes and Jordan sealed England’s win.One mitigating factor in England’s wobbly display with the bat was a two-hour power-cut, due to load-shedding, that hit the ground midway through the first innings. It left Roy unsure of how to pace England’s innings, and also caught him unawares at the moment he reached his century.”I thought the umpire stitched me up, to be honest!” he said. “Everyone started clapping and I didn’t have a feeling because I didn’t get clapped for my fifty or anything.”I could only assume it was for my hundred so I raised my bat. He said ‘are you sure they are not clapping the team’s 150?’ I said ‘I bloody hope not’, as I would have looked like a bit of a muppet.””It was frustrating without [the scoreboard] but more with the team score because you don’t know where you are after 10, 15 or 20 overs. It is annoying especially when you get to the 30-over mark. You like to know where you are at that point.”

“We deemed the risks (in India) to be very low,” says Dr Shuaib Manjra

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2020How did CSA look at the situation before travelling to India?
Prior to the India tour, Cricket South Africa had engaged in a risk assessment to determine whether it was safe for us to travel to India. At that point in time, India had about 30 cases isolated. None of the cities that we were going to play in [Dharamsala, Lucknow and Kolkata] had any cases recorded of the novel coronavirus. And, at that point, the world was a very different place. We deemed the risks to be very low, and therefore we proceeded with the tour while taking the necessary precautions.How did things change while the team was in India?
While on tour in India, the world had clearly become a different place and we had to take cognizance of the fact that there was a change in global environment. Largely, the pandemic had moved from the east to the west, where Europe had become the new epicentre of the disease, the United States was affected, the World Health Organization had called it a global pandemic and countries were closing their borders.But since we were in India, we had to look at a number of scenarios: the local conditions in India, which was still considered as a low-risk country; we had to look at what was happening in South Africa, which was at low to medium risk, and then we had to look at the global environment, as to what was happening in the world in places like Europe, including France, Spain and Italy, and also in the United States, where we saw a rapid escalation of the disease.Looking at all three conditions, we had to predict where this disease was going to go and what the potential risks were for the tour. Some of the risks were that a few countries would close their borders and we would remain stuck in one country or the other. South Africa itself may have closed its borders, with the entire team stopped from leaving India or entering South Africa; or alternatively, we would have been quarantined or isolated in South Africa. So those were some of the scenarios that we thought of, but importantly and ultimately, it was the players’ frame of mind that was the determining factor.In fact, Joe Root, England’s captain, had said the same thing about their tour to Sri Lanka [which was also cancelled] though Sri Lanka had fewer cases than England did. But the players were in a different frame of mind – they were thinking about what was happening back home to their families, the risks about being stuck in Sri Lanka, the medical services in Sri Lanka, and therefore, they decided to go back home. So the players’ frame of mind had an important role to play in terms of the decision made by the BCCI in consultation with Cricket South Africa.ALSO READ: Sourav Ganguly indicates IPL 2020 likely to be ‘truncated’Was everyone comfortable while in India? What safety measures were taken?Absolutely [comfortable]. We ensured that the players were isolated in their hotels and every place that they were being transferred to – the hotel, the grounds, the team bus or the aircraft – was appropriately sanitised. They were not allowed to leave or go out and we ensured we had sufficient security around us to ensure that we didn’t get close to the public. We took sufficient means to ensure that the players were protected. Some even decided to wear masks while they were travelling.So, from the chain of movement that we had, we ensured that whether it was the change-room attendant or anyone else and even in the restaurants that we went to, they were all wearing masks. So, from their point of view, we were pretty isolated and largely immunised from the outside world, which also reduced the risk of infection significantly. And so we did take appropriate measures; we even travelled from city to city by a chartered flight and were whisked through airports and security. Even after we landed, we were similarly whisked through the security into the team bus and the hotel. So in a sense, we were in a quarantined state.What is the scenario for the next couple of weeks?
We relied on expert evidence and guidance such as the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, the Department of Health, the Center for Disease Control in the United States and the World Health Organization. We looked at the recommendations that they have made for different countries, which they have divided into high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk countries. Even with medium- and low-risk countries, they have made specific recommendations. Some of our own measures have been educating the players about the disease – what it is, what it means, what the symptoms are, recognising the symptoms, monitoring themselves in terms of temperature and any other symptom that could come with respect to COVID-19. So we are comfortable that they know what the symptoms of the disease are.What has been your recommendation to the team?
We have continued to make our experts available to them, so should they have any concerns about the symptoms even post the tour, they would contact us or the medical staff closest to them from the cricket fraternity, who would assist them. We have recommended that all players either self-isolate or social distance them for a minimum of 14 days. That would be the proper way to protect people around them, the community, their families and, in particular, the vulnerable people in their families. In this period, should anyone develop such symptoms or any other factor that is a cause for concern, we will ensure that they are investigated appropriately and managed as per the protocols that are currently existing.

Australia missed Steve Waugh, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie only in spirit as they routed India by 125 runs

Anand Vasu14-May-2020Australia missed Steve Waugh, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie only in spirit as they routed India by 125 runs to win the World Cup for a historic third time. The mischievous smile rarely left Ricky Ponting’s boyish face as he led from the front, playing the innings of his life for an unbeaten 140 that powered Australia to 359/2 from 50 overs. In the face of great pressure chasing 360, India were given fleeting glimpses of hope by Virender Sehwag (82) and the rain, but succumbed to 234 all out in 39.2 overs.Without losing a single game on their way, Australia stamped their authority on world cricket. The mantle rested easily on Steve Waugh’s shoulders, and Ponting can now tell the world that he has lived up to every expectation Australian fans would have had.For the Indians a much cherished dream came crashing down to earth at the Wanderers. With no player having experience of being in a final as big as this, their bowlers appeared nervous and jerky after their captain gave them first use of the conditions. Zaheer Khan, charged up, oozed nervous energy as he charged in and delivered a 15-run over to get the game under way, accompanied by a few kind words to Adam Gilchrist.The best time to have a cheeky word with aggressive Australian batsmen is when they are walking back to the pavilion, not when they’ve just played and missed. Showing the stomach for a big fight, Gilchrist proceeded to tear the Indian bowling apart.He telegraphed his intentions early on, crashing the first ball of the third over, delivered by Zaheer Khan, to the long-off fence. From then on, there was no stopping him. Srinath, in particular, was treated severely, walloped for five fours and a six before he was taken off the attack. At the other end, Hayden was circumspect, getting his eye in and playing second fiddle.After Gilchrist had piled misery on the experienced Srinath and raw Zaheer Khan alike, Ganguly was forced to turn to his only spinner in just the 10th over.It paid dividends soon enough. Having slowed a touch after reaching his half-century off just 40 balls, Gilchrist attempted to heave Harbhajan over midwicket. With two fielders in the deep, there was little margin for error. The extra bounce from Harbhajan ensured that Gilchrist was beaten; the top edge swirling high towards midwicket where Sehwag held on to a well-judged catch.India had their first breakthrough, with Gilchrist gone for 57 (48 balls, 8 fours, 1 six) in the 14th over. While he would have been disappointed at falling against the run of play, he could take heart from the fact that he put Australia right on top with his contribution in a better-than-run-a-ball 105-run partnership for the first wicket.As is so often the case in one-dayers, one wicket paved the way for another.
The fall of Gilchrist slowed things down considerably and not a single boundary was struck in the 5.5 over spell it took for the second Aussie wicket to fall.Extracting big turn from the damp spots on the wicket, Harbhajan got a ball to turn square from outside the leg and Hayden (37, 54 balls, 5 fours) could only manage a faint edge to wicketkeeper Rahul Dravid. Australia were 125/2, one ball shy of the 20-over mark.India savoured their twin strikes, and it was a good thing they did, for they was little else to celebrate on the day.What Gilchrist and Hayden did, Ponting and Damien Martyn did better. They batted India out of the game with a belligerent 234-run partnership in 30.1 overs that powered Australia to a mammoth 359/2, the highest-ever score in a World Cup final. The bowling was well short of even being tidy – they conceded as many as 37 extras – and paid the price.You can’t help but feel for Srinath, who might well have played his last one-dayer for India. After all, who wants to end a career with the figures of 10-0-87-0 in a World Cup final?For the Indian seamers, who have done a sterling job all series, the final proved the moment when the law of averages caught up with them, along with a determined batting line-up.Using the launchpad afforded them by Gilchrist’s early burst, Ponting and Martyn took time to play themselves in. Once they did, there was no holding back. Australia’s captain showed the world exactly what he was capable of perpetrating, hitting eight sixes and four fours in a 121-ball 140. He unveiled an array of pull shots, sending his sixes sailing into the stands in the arc from midwicket to square leg.Martyn, while not playing the breathtaking shots that Ponting essayed, scored at a fast clip while every now and then unveiling the kind of delicate artistry that would have classicists purring with delight. A back-foot cover drive that sailed over the ropes showed a sense of timing that few in the world of cricket can match. With 88 off just 84 balls in a World Cup final, Martyn can be well pleased with his effort.At the end of the Ponting-Martyn assault, Australia had 359/2 in 50 overs.Drawing deep into the resources of a well of optimism and hope, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag walked out to attempt to make this World Cup final the greatest ever by pulling off a sensational win.One can only imagine the pressure piled onto the shoulders of Tendulkar as he stared down the wicket to Glenn McGrath first up. After pulling him unconvincingly to the midwicket fence off the fourth ball, Tendulkar tried to repeat the shot off the very next ball. The extra bounce beat him and the resultant top edge bobbed straight up in the air for McGrath to catch in his follow-through.The Australians had the big wicket they wanted; Tendulkar was back in the pavilion and a mere four runs were on the board. For most Indian fans, hope took a beating as the man who scored 673 runs in this World Cup was back in the pavilion.Ganguly (24) did his best to keep up the run rate, but fell to the pace of Brett Lee in the 10th over. Just three balls later, Mohammad Kaif was back in the hut for a duck and India were reeling at 59/3.From there on India did their best to keep up the pace, but were flagging when the skies opened and rain poured down at the Wanderers, threatening yet another twist in the tale with India on 103/3 in 17 overs. Even this rate was possible only as Ponting turned to his slow bowlers, in order to get through the overs. Brad Hogg and Darren Lehmann were introduced early and Sehwag went after both. Three consecutive boundaries off Lehmann in the 14th over got the Indian fans in the ground on their feet.Hogg too got a taste of the action, going for a four over cover and a six over long on off the third and fourth balls of the 15th over.When play resumed with the threat of rain gone, Ponting went back to his strike bowlers and they delivered the goods.While Sehwag kept the hopes of Indian fans up with good clean hits, the asking rate kept climbing. The sheer volume of runs required meant that scoring at a run a ball did nothing to arrest the steady climb of the required run rate.
Dravid, meanwhile, played foil to Sehwag, nudging singles and attempting to keep the scoreboard ticking over and the strike rotating. Ones and twos, however, were never going to be enough and soon Sehwag began to feel the pressure.Using his range of strokes, Sehwag thumped a couple of pulls, a slog-sweep and an extra-cover drive for three fours and six. Reaching 82 off just 81 balls, he probably had the Duckworth/Lewis target in mind as he attempted a suicidal run in the 24th over. Driving Bichel firmly to mid off, Sehwag set off for a single and was well short of his crease when Darren Lehmann’s throw nailed the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Sehwag’s 10 boundaries and three sixes brought much joy to Indian fans.Dravid (47) played a dogged hand and Yuvraj Singh made a brisk 24, but neither could do anything to stop Australia’s march.Wickets fell at regular intervals, shared almost equally between all the bowlers and India’s resistance was cut short on 234 in 39.2 overs. While Ganguly might rue his decision to bowl first, you can’t help but feel that Australia were simply too good on the day. And yes, on every other day they walked out to play cricket in their successful 2003 World Cup campaign.

Stead will still have to go throw a “robust” interview process this month

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Aug-2020Gary Stead, the New Zealand men’s head coach, could be in for a three-year contract extension until the 2023 ODI World Cup. NZC chief executive David White said the board is “delighted” with Stead’s work but the coach will still be expected to go through a “robust” interview process this month.”We are delighted with what he’s done,” White told stuff.co.nz. “When we appoint someone it’s a consultative process with players, management, and then a recommendation to the board. We’re hopeful to have that wrapped up before our board meeting at the end of August.”It’s important that the process is robust and is formal to a degree. It’s appropriate we do that.”White further said if Stead was reappointed, the contract would likely be till the 2023 World Cup in India.”We haven’t agreed a term as yet but I would think that’s likely to be until the next World Cup, which the ICC has now extended to November 2023. That would be a logical period,” White said.Taking over the reins from Mike Hesson, Stead was appointed as head coach in August 2018 for a two-year term until the T20 World Cup in Australia, which, originally scheduled for October-November this year, was recently pushed back until late 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Last week, Stead had expressed his willingness over carrying on in his role and said he had begun discussions with the board about extending his tenure at the helm.”Talks have been pretty positive and, if New Zealand Cricket and the players feel as though I can keep contributing, then I’d be interested in continuing on,” Stead told . He also said he shared a “really strong” working relationship with captain Kane Williamson, adding that they were both gung-ho about taking the team to the next level.Stead, 48, had guided the team to the 2019 ODI World Cup final and, an extension until the 2023 ODI World Cup would mean his overseeing the two upcoming T20 World Cups as well – in 2021 and the following year, in India. That would take his tenure to just a year short of Hesson’s six-year term, the longest served by a New Zealand men’s head coach.

Hafeez is out of self-isolation after breach of biosecurity protocols on golf course

Danyal Rasool13-Aug-2020Pakistan’s worries that there may have been a breach of the bubble they are supposed to maintain on tour appear to be over, with Mohammad Hafeez back with the squad, having returned a negative test for Covid-19.Hafeez was placed in self-isolation on Wednesday and underwent testing, but once the results came back negative on Thursday morning, he rejoined the rest of the squad.The Pakistan allrounder breached the regulations around social distancing during a round of golf on Wednesday. It came to light after he posted a picture on social media with a member of the public, a 90-year old woman who was not part of the biosecure bubble. Though the picture showed them maintaining some distance between them, it was evident they were within two metres of each other.The PCB released a statement acknowledging the breach, and announced that Hafeez was being tested and placed in self-isolation until the test results came back. It was termed an “inadvertent mistake”, with no further action to be taken. ESPNcricinfo understands the decision was taken in consultation with the ECB, whom the statement said were “updated of the decision”.The breach has seen the PCB take a significantly less austere approach than in other instances of breaches over the summer.England fast bowler Jofra Archer was stood down for the second Test and entered self-isolation for five days. He was only allowed to rejoin the side upon returning two negative tests.The same was required of West Indies head coach Phil Simmons, who left the team bubble to attend his father-in-law’s funeral.Earlier this week, 19-year old Kent batsman Jordan Cox was dropped for a Bob Willis Trophy fixture after posing for a photograph with young fans.The golf course where Hafeez committed the breach is open to members of the public, though the players have been instructed to maintain social distancing. Hafeez is not part of the Test squad, but will be in consideration for the T20I leg of the tour, beginning on August 28.Malik to join squad on FridayMeanwhile, Shoaib Malik will join the Pakistan squad on Friday, having earlier obtained permission to skip the first four weeks of training on the tour in order to spend time with his family. Fast bowler Mohammad Musa, who was picked as a back-up to the original 29-member Pakistan contingent on the tour, has been released.August 14, GMT 1140 The story was updated with the news of Malik joining the squad.

After two disappointing seasons at the club, Farbrace is considering a shake-up

George Dobell30-Sep-2020A review of the coaching set-up at Warwickshire is underway with the expectation there could be changes in personnel.Warwickshire finished without a win in their five Bob Willis Trophy matches in 2020 and failed to qualify for the quarter-final stages of the T20 Blast. In 2019, Warwickshire just survived in Division One of the County Championship – they finished seventh – and failed to qualify for the knock-out stages in either white-ball competition, finishing eighth in the North Group of the Blast and seventh in the North Group of the One-Day Cup. For a Test-hosting ground with a large playing budget and illustrious history, that is not deemed adequate.While Paul Farbrace, the club’s sport director, declined to clarify his plans when approached by ESPNcricinfo, it is understood he has reservations about the policy of employing a coaching set-up dominated by recently-retired Warwickshire players.All four of Warwickshire main coaches – Jim Troughton (head coach), Ian Westwood (second team coach), Tony Frost (batting coach), and Graeme Welch (bowling coach) – played for the club. While several of the individual coaches are well regarded – Welch, in particular, has an outstanding reputation and has several spells as a consultant with the England team – there are suggestions that the combination has created an overly cosy environment. Farbrace joined the club at the start of the 2019 season and, after 18 months in which to observe how it operates, appears to be ready to implement some changes.Among those understood to be under consideration to join the coaching staff is David Saker. The former England bowling coach is currently with Sri Lanka but has previously been linked to the role of director of cricket with the club. Indeed, he described the position as “ideal” back in 2012.David Saker watches on•Getty Images

It is understood there was some contact between Farbrace and Sussex about the vacant head coach role at the club following Jason Gillespie’s departure, but it is thought Farbrace will not be pursuing that opportunity.Meanwhile, history has repeated itself after Ismail Mohammed, a young batsman of whom much is expected, has left the club to join Worcestershire. Ismail, a nephew of Moeen Ali, is a 16-year-old who has made a good impression in the Birmingham League. But, feeling his opportunities were limited – he was only recently added to the club’s academy – he has followed the path taken by Moeen at the end of 2006 and moved to New Road. His brother, Isaac, remains part of Warwickshire’s youth set-up.Despite their position in the middle of a large, ethnically diverse city, Warwickshire currently have no players or coaches of BAME background on their senior staff. The club are confident they have things in place to improve this, however, with around 50 percent of their pathway players and almost all of their academy squad coming from such backgrounds.

A sloppy CSK dropped Dhawan four times on his way to his maiden T20 century

Deivarayan Muthu17-Oct-20201:19

Agarkar: Axar has returned the favour to CSK

Shikhar Dhawan – reprieved on 25, 27, 50, 79 – punished a sloppy Chennai Super Kings and powered a challenging chase of 180 on a sluggish Sharjah track, finishing unbeaten on 101 off 58 balls, his first T20 hundred. The victory, secured with one ball to spare, moved the Delhi Capitals back to the top of the points table.It was still anybody’s game at the start of the last over. The Capitals needed 17 off it. Sam Curran had just dismissed Alex Carey and executed his wide yorkers to give up a mere four runs off the penultimate over. With Dwayne Bravo, the Super Kings’ designated death bowler, off the field because he “wasn’t fit”, MS Dhoni turned to Ravindra Jadeja.Jadeja could’ve had Dhawan earlier in the evening, with his third ball, had Deepak Chahar not misjudged a catch in the outfield. Dhawan then whacked him for back-to-back fours and out of the attack. Jadeja vs Dhawan round 2 began with an off-side wide and a bottom edge for a single.A nerveless Axar Patel, facing his second ball of the night, then clattered 6, 6, 2, 6 to cap a thrilling finish and hand the Super Kings their sixth defeat in nine matches.CSK start slow, then explode
Tushar Deshpande struck with his third ball, a skiddy bouncer, getting rid of pinch-hitting opener Sam Curran for a duck. Eleven of the first 12 deliveries the Capitals had bowled were all dots – and it included the first maiden in Sharjah, bowled by Kagiso Rabada.But then Faf du Plessis darted around his crease, manufacturing his own lengths and angles to inject some urgency into the innings. He jumped across off and scooped his South Africa team-mate Anrich Nortje for six before backing away outside leg and creaming his slower variation, clocked at 128kph, through the covers.Du Plessis chanced his arm against Kagiso Rabada, too, pulling him with great power to the midwicket fence. At the other end, Watson took on R Ashwin’s carrom balls and got a move on for himself with a pair of fours. While du Plessis kicked on to a half-century, Nortje blasted out Watson for 36 off 28 balls.Soon after du Plessis lost steam and Rabada had him holing out for 58, becoming the fastest to 50 IPL wickets. When MS Dhoni stepped out and nicked Nortje behind for 3, the Super Kings were 129 for 4 in the 17th over. However, a scorching 50-run partnership off 21 balls from Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja set the Capitals 180.While Rayudu kept advancing down the track and swiping at balls, Jadeja stood deep in the crease, latching onto any errors in length. Both Rabada and Nortje missed their yorkers as Jadeja clouted three sixes over long-on.Dhawan shows the way
Deepak Chahar found swing in the early exchanges like he often does. He nipped out Prithvi Shaw for the fifth time in six innings. He also got Ajinkya Rahane for the fourth time in four innings. Dhawan was largely cautious against him, but he tore into both Curran and Shardul Thakur.Dhoni bowled Chahar out by the eighth over and the Capitals were 60 for 2. If Dhoni was planning to control the defence with his spinners and Bravo, then Dhawan foiled all his plans. He shimmied out to his first ball against legspinner Karn Sharma and spanked it over his head for four. He picked the next ball, a googly, and cut it firmly for four more.With Dhawan taking all the risks, Shreyas Iyer sat back and simply tried to turn the strike over. However, when he looked to manufacture a boundary, he was done in by Bravo’s lack of pace and picked out long-on.Marcus Stoinis then produced a cameo of 24 off 14 balls before Thakur bounced him out in the 16th over. Once Carey holed out in the 19th over, the pressure mounted on Dhawan. However, he didn’t panic, and took the chase deep. And, after having not conceded a six in his four-over spell earlier, it was Patel who closed out the game by smoking Jadeja for three sixes.

“I am not quite sure whether it entirely fits the purpose and has achieved what it intended to”

Press Trust of India30-Nov-2020Greg Barclay, the new ICC chairman, has conceded that the ambitious World Test Championship (WTC) hasn’t quite achieved what it intended to, and the disruption caused by Covid-19 has only highlighted its “shortcomings”. Barclay suggested going “back to the drawing board” after getting the latest – maiden – edition of the competition out of the way.”In short, I don’t think so. Covid has probably highlighted its shortcomings of the championship,” Barclay said during a virtual media conference for wire services on Monday, when asked if the WTC has served its purpose.ALSO READ: WTC finalists to be decided by percentage of points earnedThe WTC schedule was affected in a big way by the pandemic, forcing the ICC to come up with a percentage allocation of points since it wasn’t going to be possible to finish all the scheduled series before the 2021 final at the Lord’s.”… the issues that we have already got, I wonder whether some of it was because of an attempt to develop a Test Championship, clearly designed to drive interest back into Test cricket, provide a bit of context and relevance around the Test matches,” Barclay said.”From an idealist’s point of view, probably it had a lot of merit but practically, I do disagree, I am not sure whether it has achieved what it intended to do.ALSO READ: Kohli – ‘Confusing, very difficult to understand’“My personal view is let’s get through with the little bit that we can in this Covid-19, with reallocation of points and all that […] but once we have done that, let’s go back to the drawing board as I am not quite sure whether it entirely fits the purpose and has achieved what it intended to after being conceptualised four to five years back.”I think we need to look at it in context of calendar and not put cricketers in a situation where it’s a lot worse and not going to help us.”Barclay said that he had the support of some full-member nations on the matter too. “Yeah, I think there would be some countries (who agree with the rethink). It is difficult for some of the full members as they simply can’t afford to play Test cricket,” he said. “Test cricket has got its legacy and I am a purist but I do accept that as much as I want to keep it as it is, less and less countries are able to afford that arrangement and are able to play it.”Very few countries can make it work from a financial point of view.”While Barclay said he believed that T20 leagues would stay, and continue to assist the financial health of the member boards, he wanted bilateral series with context as players’ safety as well as physical and mental health would be paramount in coming days.”My view is that, I think all forms of cricket need to be taken into account,” he said. “You are right, the calendar is increasingly becoming congested and something has to give somewhere.”… but I do respect that each country has the right to develop its own domestic league given it meets the ICC requirements and is properly sanctioned.Greg Barclay at an ICC meeting•Getty Images

“Clearly there is a demand from the playing point of view and commercial partnering perspective. So let’s accept that domestic leagues are here to stay and they have been tremendously contributing to the growth of the really exciting product like the IPL, BBL and CPL.”Context, he reiterated, would be key in keeping bilateral cricket in good health.”It’s an incredibly difficult juggling act to get in there and also, we need to have enough conversations regarding players’ health safety. I don’t think we have had enough conversations,” he said. “Some of the focus needs to be on the integrity aspect of the game and we need to have competitions which are relevant and have context.”When asked about having more global events, which the world body had informally proposed before being rejected by members, Barclay said, “Bilateral cricket is fundamentally important to member countries. ICC runs very, very good events; all countries must have an opportunity to take part in these events.”I am a fan of maintaining ICC events which are world-class, but at the same time, giving an opportunity to members to have bilateral cricket.”On (the lack of) cricket between India and Pakistan, Barclay chose not to get involved, saying it was “not his mandate” and that he understood there were “geo-political” considerations in play, but he did acknowledge the importance of the BCCI to the global game, despite the many ICC vs BCCI incidents over the years: “India is a massively important part of world cricket. Like all families, we have general squabbles but India recognises that ICC needs Indian cricket. We have been able to navigate through differences, if any.”

January 20 last date to submit list of retained players

Nagraj Gollapudi06-Jan-2021The 2021 IPL auction is likely to be held on February 11. The IPL has also set January 20 as the deadline for the eight franchises to submit the lists of retained and released players.Those were two of the key decisions taken by the IPL Governing Council which met virtually on Monday. The dates and venue(s) haven’t been finalised yet for the 2021 edition which the BCCI recently decided would remain an eight-team event.The venue for the auction, which will be a day-long event, has not been finalised yet either. However, it will take place in the short break between the first and the second Test of the India-England Test series which begins in February. The first two Tests of the England series are scheduled in Chennai with the first match to be played between February 5-9. The second Test will run from 13th to 17th.Related

• Rajasthan Royals trade Robin Uthappa to CSK in all-cash deal

• Rajasthan Royals mull releasing Steven Smith

• England tour of India: Chennai, Ahmedabad to host Tests

• BCCI approves 10-team IPL from 2022

IPL in India? Not yet certain
It is understood the three-person panel, which is headed by former India batsman Brijesh Patel and also has former India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha as a member, deliberated on the various options for the venue. With the pandemic continuing to surge in India, the Governing Council is understood to have retained the UAE as one of the options.With the pandemic throwing up several challenges regularly, the IPL remains uncertain about whether to conduct matches on a home-and-away basis which would mean having a minimum of eight venues. The other alternative, which was also discussed last year before moving the tournament to the UAE, is to organise the tournament at few venues which would entail minimal travel for teams.The balance purse
Although the franchises would want the IPL to firm up the tournament venue, they are currently busy finalising the list of players they would want to retain and release. That is the first step to prepare ahead of the auction which for several teams this time would be more about plugging holes than making wholesale changes.Like every year the IPL is likely to enhance the auction purse by INR 3 crore. Incidentally, the Chennai Super Kings, who had glaring holes and finished joint-last on points in IPL 2020, had the smallest purse after the last auction.They had just 0.15 crore left in their purse while the Kings XI Punjab had the largest balance of INR 16.5 crore. Here’s the balance purse for the rest of the teams: Rajasthan Royals (14.75 crore), Sunrisers Hyderabad (10.1 crore), Delhi Capitals (9 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (8.5 crore), Royal Challengers Bangalore (6.4 crore), and Mumbai Indians (1.95 crore).