Category Uncategorized

Alex Gidman, the former Gloucestershire captain who moved to Worcestershire in 2015, has been forced to retire at the age of 34 due to a finger injury he suffered in the latter stages of his first season at New Road

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2016Alex Gidman, the former Gloucestershire captain who moved to Worcestershire in 2015, has been forced to retire at the age of 34 due to a finger injury he suffered in the latter stages of his first season at New Road.After picking up the injury in the penultimate week of the season, ahead of a match against Durham at Chester-le-Street, he underwent joint-replacement surgery when he became unable to flex the joint.At the time a recovery period of 12 weeks was expected and Gidman was confident of being fit for the 2016 season, but after consultation with specialist Mike Hayton it has been decided he will not be able to reach the fitness levels to play professionally.”It is with great sadness that I have no choice but to retire from the sport that has given me so much,” he said. “I have been really lucky to have played for so long and I have so many great memories.”Obviously my many years at Gloucestershire included the majority of my success but I have really enjoyed the last 18 months meeting some fantastic people at Worcestershire. I can’t thank the many coaches, team-mates and of course supporters enough. I’m excited about the future, but will miss the game. I wish all the players I have played with the best of luck for the 2016 season and beyond.”Gidman had a disappointing first season at Worcestershire – scoring 397 runs in 12 Championship matches and made one appearance in both the T20 Blast and Royal London Cup – although missed a month of first-team cricket in July after suffering concussion when he was struck by a bouncer against Nottinghamshire.Overall he finishes with 11,622 first-class runs, 4473 in one-day cricket and 1448 in T20 alongside 103 first-class wickets and 71 in List A. His most prolific first-class season came in 2014 – his last with Gloucestershire – where he scored 1278 runs at 45.64 including his career-best 264, which came the day before he confirmed his move to Worcestershire.He reached as far as England A (and Lions) level with tours to the UAE and Sri Lanka in 2004-05 then Bangladesh in 2006-07 – on the back of a domestic season where he scored more than 1200 first-class runs – and played a match against West Indies in 2007 when the Lions opening attack was James Anderson and Stuart Broad. He was also appointed captain of England A for the tour of India in 2003-04, but was forced to withdraw before the tour with a hand injury.

The 2013 Champions Trophy has been deemed such a success that it appears highly likely that the competition will be repeated.

George Dobell22-Jun-2013The 2013 Champions Trophy has been deemed such a success that it appears highly likely that the competition will be repeated.The ICC had originally decided to replace the competition with a Test Championship and the 2013 tournament would be the last one. But after excellent crowds and interest from around the world, the ICC are reconsidering that decision and will discuss their options at their annual conference, from June 25-29 in London.The ICC remain keen to promote Test cricket and feel a Test Championship would complement the World T20 and the World Cup and ensure there was a high-profile competition for each of the three formats of the game. While continuing the Champions Trophy would mean there were two global 50-over events, it is now thought there is sufficient difference between the Champions Trophy and the World Cup and sufficient interest from broadcasters for both to survive.The Test Championship is pencilled into the Future Tours Programme (FTP) for a three-week window in June 2017 in the UK. But the concept in its present guise is compromised by the fact that it would involve just four teams – the top four teams in the Test rankings – and would feature only three games: two semi-finals and a final. As such, it would be of less relevance and interest to those nations not participating and may be less attractive to broadcasters. There is little scope in the FTP for a longer event or a change in venue.The ICC privately acknowledges that, even if the event was held successfully in 2017, there is a concern over its sustainability. Among their issues is the possibility that one of the key nations in terms of broadcast revenues, most obviously India, might not always be ranked among the top four Test nations, while there is also a concern that, outside the UK, games between neutral countries may not be well supported. The ICC is keen to avoid a situation where its flagship Test event is played in near-empty stadiums.While the final of the 2013 Champions Trophy is threatened by poor weather, 12 of the 15 games will have had sell-out crowds (defined as a minimum 95% of the ground capacity) with the multicultural population of the UK helping guarantee enthusiastic audiences at most games. Sensible ticket pricing has also played a part.The Champions Trophy has, for much of its existence, been unloved. But the short, sharp format involving only the top eight sides playing for only 18 days in which nearly every game has a consequence has captured the imagination of the cricket-watching public. By contrast, the 2011 World Cup lasted six weeks and featured some tediously one-sided encounters.There is a chance that the 2013 trophy may have to be shared as rain threatens to intervene in the final. Such is the frenetic international schedule it was deemed impossible to allocate reserve days. England and New Zealand, for example, play a T20 on Tuesday, just two days after the Champions Trophy final, while Australia being their Ashes preparations in earnest on Wednesday when they start a four-day match against Somerset.Whatever its faults, the strengths of the Champions Trophy format have been apparent over the last couple of weeks and, as the details of a Test Championship are considered in more detail, the Trophy has arguably never appeared so attractive.

James Pattinson has asked Cricket Australia to choose a new long-term bowling coach with Test match experience

Daniel Brettig16-Jun-2012James Pattinson, Craig McDermott’s most prominent pupil during a compelling year as Australia’s bowling coach, wants Cricket Australia to choose a long-term replacement with Test match experience, describing such knowledge of international bowling as a “must” for whoever is appointed.CA are set to commence formal interviews for McDermott’s replacement at the conclusion of Australia’s tour of England and Ireland but the team performance manager, Pat Howard, has already spoken with the former Pakistan captain and coach Waqar Younis. Tasmania bowling coach Ali de Winter is another contender, and will work in a caretaker capacity with Australia’s fast men on this tour. Pattinson was adamant that the permanent role should go to a coach with international experience to call upon.”It’s fantastic to have someone as your bowling coach who has had that experience at Test level or [of] international cricket. I think it’s almost a must now, with the amount of cricket that we play, to have someone around the squad who has all that experience in there,” Pattinson told ESPNcricinfo. “For me it is a bit of an emotional roller coaster playing Test cricket, as I’ve found out over the six months I’ve been involved. So to have someone who has that experience and has done that before is outstanding, and definitely a must.”McDermott had an unmistakeable impact on Pattinson’s bowling, encouraging the fuller length and unstinting line that laid waste to New Zealand and India in four Tests before a foot injury halted the 22-year-old’s progress. He returned for one Test in the West Indies and tweaked his back when throwing from the outfield, but is now fully fit for duty in the UK. In the meantime, McDermott called an end to his touring with Australia for family reasons, leaving Pattinson to deal with the loss of a major influence on his progress.”It is tough [without McDermott]. The bowling group were very happy with his input into the team, he did a fantastic job, especially for the young guys coming into the team and trying to find their way,” Pattinson said. “I’m a bit disappointed to see him go, but that’s life. Family things take a toll sometimes. It is sad to see him go, but he’s only ever a phone call away and he’s hopefully going to be there for the rest of my career giving me advice.”I think for me in the West Indies, with such a good start I had [against India], I tried to do a bit too much with the ball and tried to take too many wickets – but the good thing is he’s told me to keep it pretty simple and everything else will take care of itself. It’s great to have him in the back of my mind, [someone] who I can give a call to and get some more advice.”De Winter will need to earn the trust of Australia’s bowlers, though his widely admired work with Tasmania’s seam and swing bowlers has preceded him. “We’ve had little bit of a chat, he’s pretty fresh to me, I haven’t had a lot to do with him over my career,” Pattinson said. “But from all reports he’s a fantastic bowling coach and he’s done really well for Tasmania as you’ve seen over the last couple of years with their success with their fast bowling brigade. So he’s another great inclusion into our squad of staff.”Having arrived in London ahead of a first tour match against Leicestershire on June 21, Pattinson is warming up for a trip that will provide him with valuable knowledge about how to bowl in England. Australia have one ODI against Ireland and five against England, before an Australia A tour will allow Pattinson and others to practice with the Dukes ball in a first-class environment.”The conditions are pretty good for swing bowling over here, so it’s just about my adjusting my skills to the situation and what the pitches throw up,” Pattinson said. “It’s almost a year to the Ashes, so I’ll be doing my best to get as much knowledge of these pitches and tap into some knowledge of past bowlers as well, how they’ve gone over here and how they’ve succeeded.”As the younger brother of Darren Pattinson, who played one Test for England, James Pattinson has plenty of close links to the UK, and was understandably keen to make himself known in the land of his father. “My family’s from here so it is a place I’ve always wanted to go and compete and play cricket,” he said. “It’s going to be a good lead-in for me going into the Ashes and get some experience over here, so I’m looking forward to it.””With my brother it’s always good to have someone who’s got great knowledge of playing over here and the conditions to ring up and have a chat to. I’ll be having a chat to him in more detail in the days to come.”

James Anderson is set to lead England’s attack in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl on Thursday, after being named in a 12-man squad at the expense of Surrey’s Jade Dernbach

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jun-2011James Anderson is set to lead England’s attack in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl on Thursday, after being named in a 12-man squad at the expense of Surrey’s Jade Dernbach.Anderson missed the second Test at Lord’s after suffering a side strain during the first innings of the Cardiff Test, but he was optimistic of a quick return and will be officially passed fit provided he successfully negotiates Lancashire’s Friends Life Twenty20 match against Worcestershire on Sunday.Anderson comes into the squad for Dernbach, who came close to making his Test debut at Lord’s before the selectors decided to go with the extra height of Steven Finn. As it turns out, the lack of variety in England’s attack was exposed at Lord’s, with Tillakaratne Dilshan leading the way for Sri Lanka with an excellent 193.England National Selector, Geoff Miller, said: “Jimmy Anderson is the leader of our bowling attack so clearly he will be a significant inclusion should he get through Lancashire’s Friends Life Twenty20 match against Worcestershire unscathed.”Side strains can be particularly troublesome for bowlers but given Jimmy’s injury was a grade one strain and therefore a low grade injury, he is expected to be fit for selection. A period of rest and recovery has certainly been beneficial and we obviously wouldn’t include Jimmy in the squad if the medical staff weren’t confident of his fitness.”Anderson looked in prime form in Cardiff as he took 3 for 66 before picking up his injury on the second afternoon, although it didn’t stop him being the nightwatchman. Then, in his absence, England’s three-man attack completed a stunning victory on the final afternoon as Sri Lanka were skittled for 82.”It’s been a tough week because I can honestly say I haven’t felt a moment of discomfort since the diagnosis was made so I do believe I probably could have bowled in their second innings,” Anderson told last week’s The Mail on Sunday. “I fully understand the position of the medical staff; this is going to be a long summer and there was no point in taking a risk. But it may have been something that felt worse than it was because of the cold and windy weather.””I had mixed emotions as events unfolded on the last day in Cardiff,” he added. “It was fantastic to see us doing so well, taking the wickets and winning but, at the same time, it was tough to watch them all celebrating and not be involved on the pitch.”Assuming Anderson comes through his match against Worcestershire, England may face a tough decision as to which of their seamers to omit for the Rose Bowl.Stuart Broad’s recent appointment as England Twenty20 captain is an acknowledgement of his senior status within the England squad. Nevertheless, his record in red-ball cricket is becoming something of a concern, with his two wickets at Lord’s costing 154 and coming at 3.75 an over. After 36 Tests, he still averages an unworthy 35.97.”I don’t think he’s quite getting the rub of the green at the moment,” said Andrew Strauss after the Lord’s Test. “He’s bowled some very good balls that are passing the edge, and has probably bowled better than the statistics say. But all of us have to keep trying to improve, and make sure our performances get better.”The likelier man to miss out is Steven Finn, who became the youngest England bowler to reach 50 Test wickets during the Lord’s Test, but who leaked his runs at close to 4 an over and appeared to be lacking in rhythm in the early part of Sri Lanka’s innings.”I think Steven Finn got a lot better as the game went on,” said Strauss. “He’d been out of the side a little bit, so I suppose he had every right to feel a bit anxious at the start. But all our bowlers bring something different, and certainly Jimmy does with his consistent lines and swinging it a bit more than the others. We are very hopeful he’ll be fit.”England squad Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Steven Finn.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, yet again, was left waging a lone battle for the home team following a sorry collapse of its top and the middle orders

The Bulletin by Siddhartha Talya28-Jun-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Hawk-eye
Sulieman Benn grabbed a career-best haul, but his effort was undermined by some hapless West Indian batting•AFP

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, yet again, was left waging a lone battle for the hosts following a sorry collapse of their top and the middle orders that has taken them perilously close to another series defeat. The capitulation was as much a consequence of South Africa’s superiority as of the recklessness shown by some of the West Indian batsmen.South Africa’s first innings lead of 115 was lower than what they had expected. But, as it turned out, it was a handful for a batting line-up that was undone by senseless shot-making in the early stages followed by some crafty spin. West Indies began their second innings on a confident note, with openers Dale Richards and Chris Gayle, finding the boundary by relying on timing rather than power. But the innings soon took a predictable turn, triggered by an aggressive intent that cast aside any determination to survive.Richards began his innings with a crunched four off Dale Steyn through cover, and followed it up with a back-foot punch two overs later. There was a play and a miss, and a streaky boundary through gully, with Gayle at the other end frequently walking up to his partner to remind him of the job at hand.West Indies, also playing with two spinners, would have hoped to cobble up enough runs to challenge a side batting fourth on a deteriorating pitch, and level the series. But that objective was lost on two batsmen in the top order. Richards spooned a catch off a mistimed pull off Steyn, and Narsingh Deonarine, inexplicably, tried an expansive drive first ball, only to be caught by Ashwell Prince, perfectly positioned at short extra cover. Though denied a hat-trick, Steyn returned to surprise Gayle with some inward movement and extra bounce, producing an edge to Mark Boucher.Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash, centurions from the previous Test, battled hard before tea but it was only a matter of time before the spinners began troubling them by targeting the widening cracks on the pitch. Chanderpaul was beaten on a few occasions when Johan Botha, picked in place of seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe, got the ball to spit from the rough just outside the left-hander’s off stump. While Chanderpaul saw off moments of uncertainty with the occasional boundary, Nash found the bowling harder to combat. Botha, continuing on his success from the first innings, snared him when he pushed fatally to one that turned away sharply, nicking to slip.Like in the first innings, Paul Harris kept one end tight with his left-arm spin while bowling in tandem with Botha, and nipped out Dwayne Bravo. Bowling round the wicket, Harris got the ball to shoot away, squaring up Bravo who defended but failed to prevent the ball from bouncing back onto the stumps. When Denesh Ramdin, irresponsibly, slashed at a top-spinner from Botha the next over to be snapped by Boucher, it appeared West Indies were on their way to a three-day humiliation.Shane Shillingford was far from convincing against spin and a fiery spell that followed from the seamers, who began a short-ball barrage. He edged between the slips and almost gifted a catch to Steyn but, guided by Chanderpaul, gradually grew in confidence. Chanderpaul latched on to a couple of scoring opportunities, bringing up another half-century in a crisis with a dab through gully and helping West Indies erase their deficit. But a quicker delivery from Botha broke the stand, as Shillingford, playing for the spin, was struck on the back leg dead in front shortly before stumps.Sulieman Benn had earlier provided a glimpse of the kind of assistance on offer for the spinners, teasing the South African lower order with his variations to finish with his third haul of five or more wickets.Prince survived an early shout for a catch, after the ball lobbed off his glove, but remained firm thereafter to help extend his team’s lead towards the three-figure mark. Benn, though, ensured the frustration didn’t last long, seeing off Botha with serious turn and having Morne Morkel caught at slip with one that held its line.West Indies had been given an opening with the run-out of Boucher – on the second attempt, after the first had been missed by Ramdin – following a mid-pitch collision. Before Benn rounded things off, he was involved in an altercation with Dale Steyn, who, after being bowled by Kemar Roach, appeared to spit on the ground as he passed Benn.

At 35, the current BCCI secretary will be the youngest ICC chair

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-20249:39

Newsroom: What lies ahead for Jay Shah in his new role as ICC chairman?

Jay Shah has been elected unopposed as the new ICC chair, replacing Greg Barclay. He will begin his new role on December 1.At 35, Shah, currently the BCCI secretary, is the youngest to hold the post. Once Barclay, who had been the ICC chair for two terms since 2020, had confirmed to the board that he would not be continuing for a third term, the board of directors had until August 27 to file nominations for the next chair. Only if more than one candidate was nominated was there to be an election, but Shah was the only nominee.”I am humbled by the nomination as the Chair of the International Cricket Council. I am committed to working closely with the ICC team and our member nations to further globalise cricket,” Shah said in an ICC statement. “We stand at a critical juncture where it is increasingly important to balance the coexistence of multiple formats, promote the adoption of advanced technologies, and introduce our marquee events to new global markets. Our goal is to make cricket more inclusive and popular than ever before.”While we will build on the valuable lessons learned, we must also embrace fresh thinking and innovation to elevate the love for cricket worldwide. The inclusion of our sport in the Olympics at LA 2028 represents a significant inflection point for the growth of cricket, and I am confident that it will drive the sport forward in unprecedented ways.”Jay Shah has been the BCCI secretary since 2019•Associated Press

In a statement released by the BCCI, Shah prioritised Test cricket and spoke about “allocating more resources to women’s cricket and differently-abled cricket.””I would also like to work towards setting up a separate program for talent search during my tenure, and I look forward to your support in this program,” Shah said. “While the T20 is a naturally exciting format, it is equally important that Test cricket remains a priority for everyone as it forms the bedrock of our game. We must see to it that cricketers are driven to longer format and our efforts will be channelised towards this goal.”I eagerly anticipate a tenure rich with collaborative efforts, striving to dismantle the barriers that have hindered cricket’s progress. Every challenge we face is an opportunity in disguise, and together, we will transform adversity into triumph. Let’s embark on this incredible journey, hand in hand, united by our passion for cricket and our belief in its extraordinary potential.”Shah is the fifth Indian to head the ICC after Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar, N Srinivasan and Shashank Manohar.After beginning his cricket administration career in the state of Gujarat in 2009, Shah has been the BCCI secretary since October 2019. It was in 2022 that he became a part of the ICC’s influential Finance & Commercial Affairs (F&CA) committee and took over as its chair in 2023. Shah was also re-elected as BCCI secretary in 2022 and his tenure was to run until 2025. Once he takes over as the ICC chair, he will have to relinquish his position at the BCCI and at the ICC’s F&CA committee. Shah was also the Asian Cricket Council president from 2021 to 2024.

Richard Thompson predicts “a long and successful future” for the competition

ESPNcricinfo staff26-May-2023The Hundred is going nowhere before the end of 2028 and has “a long and successful future well beyond that”, according to the ECB’s chair.Several outlets reported last month that Richard Gould and Richard Thompson – the ECB’s chief executive and chair respectively, who previously held the same roles at Surrey – were discussing options to adjust the format of the eight-team, 100-ball competition, or even to scrap it altogether.But, in an interview in the June edition of the magazine, Thompson said that there had been “an awful lot of misreporting” on the tournament’s future, emphasising that it is part of the ECB’s lucrative broadcast deal with Sky Sports which runs until the end of 2028.”We’re signed up with the Hundred until 2028 and there’s been an awful lot of misreporting around that,” Thompson said. “The reality is that the Hundred exists with Sky until 2028 and I’m sure it has a long and successful future well beyond that.”Related

• Where does the Hundred go from here?

• ECB CEO Richard Gould backs India to be responsible partners amid revenue-disparity concerns

• ECB open to private investment in the Hundred as Thompson values competition at £1 billion

• The Hundred 2023 – Women's draft picks

• The Hundred 2023 – Men's draft picks

The ECB announced this week that Sanjay Patel, the Hundred’s managing director, would step down from his role at the end of this summer’s edition. In the announcement, Gould also predicted a “very long and successful future for the Hundred”.A report by Fanos Hira, the Worcestershire chair, earlier this year suggested that the Hundred had made a £9 million loss to date, figures which the ECB disputes. Thompson said: “It’s a historical report looking at the income and cost base of the ECB. And it [the Hundred] will help us across the game.”It depends how you attribute those costs,” he added. “Especially the £1.3m that each county receives a year [which is directly linked to the Hundred]. The game has invested a significant amount of money into the Hundred to ensure that it finds a new audience, which it has done. But the reality is it’s an investment in the future.”The prospect of private investment in the Hundred has also been regularly mooted over the last two years. “We’re only in year three of a very new tournament,” Thompson said on the subject. “And the game has got to make that decision. That’s not an ECB decision.”The Hundred takes place in a standalone window from August 1-27 in 2023, the first time that it has not clashed with any England men’s or women’s international cricket. As a result, the final Test of the English summer is due to finish on July 31 – a situation that Thompson said “absolutely will not” happen again.”It doesn’t feel right, does it? Finishing the Test season in July means the whole season feels truncated,” he said. “My understanding of the decision was they felt there are a significant amount of white-ball internationals playing through September.”And the idea behind that was to give us the best possible chance of defending the 50-over World Cup which starts in October. But certainly, you don’t want a situation where you’re playing just one format or one tournament in the way we are at the moment… the Test summer absolutely will not be squeezed like this in future.”

New Zealand will likely field an unchanged side with Gary Stead not expecting conditions to differ much

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2022Trent Boult will not be available for the second Test against South Africa with his lack of recent bowling deemed to be put him at too great of an injury risk.It means Boult has likely played his last home international cricket of the season with those having IPL deals expected to be unavailable for the ODI series against Netherlands at the end of March.Boult was not in the squad for the opening match of the series in Christchurch as his wife awaited the birth of their third child and though he will join team-mates to bowl in the nets around the second Test it was felt too much of an ask to put him through a game.Related

• Wagner: Winning against South Africa 'no different to any of the other ones'

• Matt Henry: 'Everyone on the team offers something different, and it creates a bit more versatility'

• Henry: 'You pinch yourself when you hear those stats'

• Southee five-for wraps up clinical innings win as SA unravel again

• Stats – SA's second-worst defeat ever, Southee's home record

“[He] is not in a position to be available with his loads and where he’s at,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said. “Since his wife has been having the baby he’s missed out on a lot of opportunities to play cricket and bowl. We just felt the risk of him playing was far too great at the moment.”New Zealand have retained an unchanged 15-player squad for the second Test which means no place for a specialist spinner. Ajaz Patel has yet to return to Plunket Shield action after injury and Stead did not expect conditions to alter much from the first Test where New Zealand’s quicks dominated by bowling out South Africa for 95 and 111. Allrounder Rachin Ravindra is part of the squad should a spin-bowling option be required.”We considered a [frontline] spin option but didn’t feel as though we needed it on this pitch, through history and the way it was looking after the last Test match,” Stead said.The absence of Boult and lack of changes to the squad means the same four-strong pace attack that dismantled South Africa first time around are set to get another chance together. Matt Henry was the leading light with a career-best 7 for 23 as part of a nine-wicket match haul.”He’s always been a good bowler and sometimes you need that opportunity to strike and make the most it,” Stead said. “He bowled beautifully throughout the Test but I thought the whole bowling unit bowled really well together and thought that was one of the reasons we were so convincing.”

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.

‘Where the white balls have been quite prominent in that you can see their quarter seams, and everything with the ball but now it is fully covered’

Sidharth Monga in Bristol06-Jun-2019This was supposed to be a high-scoring World Cup with the bowlers just making up the numbers, but there has been a much closer contest between bat and ball. And according to one of the men responsible for these low scores, Trent Boult, this might all be down to the glossier Kookaburra balls made available for this tournament.Unlike with the red ball, it is hard to tell from the outside how shiny the white ball is. The lot for this World Cup is shinier, says Boult, which has helped the fast bowlers swing it more. Kookaburra, however, is of the opinion that any change in the ball is part of its normal evolution, while the ICC says it is happy with the results yielded.”The ball is actually different for this tournament,” Boult said after New Zealand’s two-wicket win against Bangladesh in another low-scoring match. “They have got a different gloss on them. Or they are painted differently, so I don’t know if you have talked about it too much but there has definitely been a little bit more swing. Where the white balls have been quite prominent in that you can see their quarter seams, and everything with the ball but now it is fully covered. It is nice to hold in the hand. It is moving a little bit. Yeah, we are happy.”ALSO READ: How Kookaburra balls came to rule the worldWhen asked if it was just the ball or the conditions, too, having an impact on the run-scoring, Boult said: “It is hard one. I want to say a lot of it is the ball. But, yeah, conditions have been pretty good all around the world. But I believe there should be a period at the start of play where it is battle of bat versus ball. And it is an even one. It is nice to see the ball moving like it is at the moment.”Boult said the ball for this World Cup felt a bit like the pink ball used in day-night Tests, which has more lacquer on it to help it last a minimum of 80 Test overs. He didn’t know, though, if this was a conscious move from the ICC or Kookaburra. “I have no idea why they have done it like that to be honest. The pink ball was like that. With the pink ball, you couldn’t see the quarter seam. Whether they have gone with feedback on how the pink ball performed, I am not sure.”The white Kookaburra has been a topic of debate ever since it stopped swinging just after the 2015 World Cup. During that tournament, Boult and Tim Southee hooped it round corners to form an ultra-aggressive New Zealand plan where they bowled long spells at the start of the innings. Ever since then, the white ball has rarely swung conventionally, even for bowlers who will extract every last bit of swing available.”I can’t really remember the ball [used in 2015], to be honest, but I can remember it swinging,” Boult said when asked if he saw a big difference between the balls used in 2015 the World Cup and just after. “I don’t know. It is just one of those things. It hasn’t swung like that in New Zealand ever since. Great feeling and great tournament obviously to be a part of. Hopefully we can replicate some of the scenes from back then to 2019.”It turns out this is not a conscious effort on the part of either the ICC or Kookaburra nor is it an overnight development. It might just be natural evolution. “There’s been no directive on changing the white ball for this World Cup, nor anything definitively changed,” Kookaburra told ESPNcricinfo. “There is a constant evolution that dates right back to World Series Cricket in 1977 and through to the pink ball for day-night Test cricket, with improved hardness and finish of the ball the key objectives; we research, test and improve, and this is the result.”The ICC confirmed to ESPNcricinfo it has made no specific request to Kookaburra in this regard. The ball manufacturers, though, are quite happy with the results. “We’re really pleased with the feedback on the white ball in this World Cup to date. Our aim is to provide balance for swing, seam, spin and the batters, and this positive feedback has been consistent with what we’ve heard for the last two years around the world. Perhaps that general improvement is just more obvious right now that we’re on the global stage at a World Cup but it’s not an overnight change; it’s [been] years in the making.”