With one eye on how difficult it will be to bat in the fourth inning in Colombo, Zimbabwe coach Heath Streak is keen on securing a first-innings lead

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo15-Jul-2017Concurring with Rangana Herath that batting will be tough in the fourth innings, Zimbabwe coach Heath Streak said his side would aim to have Sri Lanka chasing 200 at a minimum. With the hosts still 63 runs behind, Zimbabwe have a rare chance to take a first-innings lead.”I’d like to get 400 runs in front, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Streak said. “Anything over 200 to 250 runs is going to be really tough on the fourth and fifth days. Between 250 and 280 would be a really competitive target. But first we’ve got to get out the two batsmen at the crease at the moment [Asela Gunaratne and Rangana Herath]. They can both bat.”Pulling ahead in an away Test has been difficult for Zimbabwe in recent times. Since 2000, over a spell of 28 matches, they have earned a first-innings lead only four times – once in the West Indies and thrice in Bangladesh. Streak was hopeful of adding Colombo to that list.”It’s going to be a really interesting day’s play tomorrow,” he said. “Hopefully, we can pick up those last few wickets quickly, and if we do get a lead, that will be a bonus. Then it’s going to be an exciting few days.”Zimbabwe’s strong position has partly been delivered by their captain Graeme Cremer, who took 3 for 100 from 30 overs. He has turned the ball more than any other spinner in the match and produced two outstanding deliveries to dismiss Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis.”There are times where we just let things drift a little bit, but all in all I am very happy.” Streak said. “Cremer was outstanding today. He bowled some really dangerous balls and could easily have a five-for already. It’s nice to be in the position we are in, but its only two hard days and there’s lots more in the Test match if we are going to give ourselves a chance to challenge Sri Lanka.”Zimbabwe have lost 12 Tests and have never won a match against Sri Lanka. The most recent of those defeats came in October and November last year, when Sri Lanka dominated both matches. The series victory in the ODIs, however, has instilled new belief among the tourists.”We are making history on the tour so we would change that as well,” Streak said. “It’s about backing positive options – something we really encouraged the guys to do on this tour. We know we have to do that again. With Rangana and the other spinners, it’s going to be hard work.”

Loughborough Lightning produced an upset in the Kia Super League when they defeated the previously unbeaten Surrey Stars by 81 runs at The Oval

ECB Reporters Network26-Aug-2017Elyse Villani plundered 71 off 39 balls•Getty Images

Loughborough Lightning produced an upset in the Kia Super League when they defeated the previously unbeaten Surrey Stars by 81 runs at The Oval.On the same pitch that Surrey had been knocked out of the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast the previous evening, the Surrey women were roundly outplayed, although they still progress to Finals Day at Hove on Friday.Surrey, needing 172, made a poor start when Tammy Beaumont was lbw to Kirsten Beams in the third over. And they suffered another big blow when their big-hitting South African opener Lizelle Lee, who had hit a 44-ball 72 in the previous game against Western Storm, was caught on the deep square-leg boundary for just one.When Marizanne Kapp lost her off stump to Ellyse Perry, Surrey were really up against it at 24 for 3 in the sixth over.Natalie Sciver showed some fight when she hit Georgia Elwiss for three successive fours. But then she played on to Sarah Glenn for 24 off 18, and when Sophia Dunkley was bowled by Beth Langston and Laura Marsh was caught at deep square-leg – the three wickets falling in three overs – it really was all over for Surrey at 65 for 7 in the 14th.Lightning, who had lost three of their previous four games, had elected to bat first and lost their first wicket to the fourth ball of the innings when Sarah Glenn skied Laura March to Rene Farrell at midwicket.But fine attack innings by first Elyse Villani and then Perry lifted them to a formidable 171 for 3.Villani hit ten fours and three sixes in her 39-ball 71, and then fellow Australian Perry took over with four fours and four sixes in her unbeaten 68 off 53 deliveries.Villani was particularly destructive at the top of the innings, with a strike rate of 182.05. She launched her innings by hitting Laura Marsh for a six and two fours in four deliveries, but her third boundary came after she was dropped just inside the rope.She reached her fifty when she jumped down the wicket to straight drive Alex Hartley for six, and then drove and reverse swept the next two balls for fours.Perry hit Sciver for two fours and two sixes in the penultimate over, which went for 22 runs.

West Indies coach Stuart Law wants his players to focus on learning their roles in ODI cricket, ahead of next year’s qualifying tournament to reach the 2019 World Cup

Andrew McGlashan22-Sep-2017West Indies coach Stuart Law has challenged his one-day squad to use the remainder of the series against England to prove they should be part of the team who will now need to contest the qualifying tournament next year to reach the 2019 World Cup.Defeat at Old Trafford in the opening match of the series condemned West Indies to the long route to a World Cup spot, with the qualifying tournament set to take place in Zimbabwe early next year. That leaves Law with the rest of the England tour and then three matches in New Zealand at the end of the year as their only scheduled ODIs to firm up their best one-day squad.”Our plan is to go to Zimbabwe next year with a settled team, a team where everyone knows their roles and what they want to achieve,” Law said. “It’s a balancing act because what some players bring is extraordinary and you don’t want to nullify that effect. We’ve still got some selectorial conversations to have, to understand if we have the best players to take this team forward.”There’s plenty of A-team cricket in the Caribbean – Sri Lanka are there and England are coming next year so there are opportunities – but I’d like to go to New Zealand with a team which is pretty settled before the qualifiers.”Chris Gayle, who tweaked a hamstring at Trent Bridge, and Marlon Samuels have returned to the side for this series. Other players could come back into the mix with Law saying that Sunil Narine would be a certain pick if he made himself available. Narine was Man of the Match in the T20 against England at Chester-le-Street, but said he wanted to play some domestic one-day cricket before returning to the format he last played nearly a year ago.The dates for West Indies’ domestic one-day tournament, the Regional Super50, have yet to be confirmed, but last year it began in late January so may not leave Narine much time to stake a claim for the squad to go to the qualifiers. Another player who may come back on the radar is Andre Russell, whose one-year ban for missed drugs tests finishes on January 31, 2018.”Most people would be excited to have a guy like Andre Russell champing at the bit to play international cricket,” Law said. “Sunil Narine showed his class in the T20. He stated he wanted to get some 50-over cricket in, which is fair enough, but if he decides he wants to give ODIs a go he’d be one of the first picks with the spin he provides.”Kyle Hope was brought into the side at Trent Bridge after Gayle’s injury, while Miguel Cummins replaced Devendra Bishoo as West Indies went with a different balance of side. While Law is aware of the players currently outside the squad, he is keen to put his faith in those currently on duty.”This group I feel has a lot of good, that’s why they are here,” he added. “We are just making sure they understand how they want to play, they are caught between T20 and Test cricket a little at the moment and need to find a tempo for this format.”

The two spinners finished with match hauls of eight wickets each to clinch the unofficial Test series for Sri Lanka 2-1

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2017
ScorecardWICB Media/Athelstan Bellamy

Left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara and offspinner Shehan Jayasuriya were at the forefront of Sri Lanka A’s series-clinching win in the third unofficial Test against West Indies A, with a match haul of eight wickets each. Their combined efforts meant West Indies A were limited to scores of 181 and 118 in their two innings, to hand Sri Lanka A a comfortable ten-wicket win within two days of play.Pushpakumara, who had a haul of 12 wickets in the second four-dayer, took 4 for 67 in the first innings, with support from Lahiru Kumara and Jayasuriya, who picked up two each. West Indies A’s innings of 181 was propped up single-handedly by Sunil Ambris, who scored his fifth first-class century, even as no other West Indies A batsman managed to score more than 20.Sri Lanka A then took a 92-run lead despite a few stutters with the bat. Captain Dhananjaya de Silva top-scored with 64, while Roshen Silva contributed 52 before retiring hurt.Jayasuriya then took centre stage, accounting for West Indies A’s top six for returns of 6 for 60. Like their first innings, only one West Indies A batsman managed a score of more than 20; in this instance captain Shamarh Brooks hit 52. Pushpakumara ran through the lower order, with 4 for 19, to leave Sri Lanka A with a target of 27 runs to win. The visitors needed only 5.5 overs to reach the target on the third evening.

Having established a massive first-innings lead, Karnataka pummeled UP with the bat again, as their openers played out an unbroken 262-run partnership

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2017R Samarth and Mayank Agarwal struck centuries on the final day, as a drawn game against Uttar Pradesh ensured Karnataka‘s place in the knockouts on the basis of first-innings points. The Karnataka openers put up an unbroken stand of 262, after their bowlers had established up a first-innings lead of 324. The three points they earned put them at the top of the Group A table with 26 points; with Delhi on 23, the massive lead the two teams have in points have ensured their passage to the knockouts.UP’s response to Karnataka’s mammoth 655 had floundered on the third day itself, as they lost five wickets by stumps. The overnight pair of Rinku Singh and wicketkeeper Upendra Yadav couldn’t go on to build a big partnership, with Rinku dismissed in the fifth over of the day for 73. Left to bat with the tail, Upendra stitched a useful ninth-wicket partnership of 40 with Ankit Rajpoot (19) to lift Uttar Pradesh over 300. Upendra was eventually unbeaten on 49, with UP dismissed for 331.Karnataka then put up another dominating show with the bat. Dismissed for 16 in the first innings, Samarth capitalized on the opportunity to bring up his third century of this Ranji season. His 126 came off 183 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. At the other end, Agarwal scored his third century in as many games, pairing a 90 in the first innings with 133 off 171 balls. The pair scored at close to 4.5 runs an over.Ambati Rayudu’s unbeaten 52 anchored Hyderabad‘s chase of 142 in their four-wicket win over Assam in Guwahati.Assam’s seamers, Arup Das and Rajjakuddin Ahmed had lifted the side’s hopes of defending a small total by rooting out Hyderabad’s top order for 18 within the first seven overs. Sixteen-year-old legspinner Riyan Parag’s two wickets then reduced Hyderabad to 69 for 5 before Rayudu and Akash Bhandari comfortably secured the win.Earlier, Assam had resumed their second innings from 300 for 7, and the overnight batsman Amit Sinha went on to complete his second first-class century. However, the lack of partners at the other end meant that Sinha could help Assam add only 31 runs to their overnight total.

The two openers scored centuries while the fast bowler picked up a five-for to lead Central Districts to a victory by an innings and 86 runs

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2017Central Districts held sway of their match from the moment the coin came down in their favour. They chose to bat, put up a mammoth total, with their openers and No. 3 providing 325 of their 498 for 7 declared, and used scoreboard pressure to buy themselves a win over Canterbury by an innings and 86 runs.George Worker and Greg Hay set the ball rolling, scoring 111 and 140 respectively. And when the third-change bowler Tim Johnston broke through their partnership with the score on 188, the record-breaking Brad Schmulian came out and threatened the score a century to back up his double on debut last month. He fell 26 runs short, but had set up Central Districts to dictate terms for the rest of the game.The bowlers played their part as well, allowing only three Canterbury batsman – Michael Pollard (62), Cole McConchie (56), Cam Fletcher (50) – to reach fifty in two innings. Seth Rance picked up a five-for to ensure his side gained a whopping 304-run lead and Blair Tickner took the reins after the follow-on was enforced, picking up 4 for 41. It was Canterbury’s second loss of the tournament, and totals of 194 and 218 suggests their batsmen had succumbed fairly meekly.

Matt Rawnsley, the former left-arm spinner, will be named as the replacement for Tom Scott at New Road

George Dobell and David Hopps28-Dec-2017Matt Rawnsley, a former Worcestershire player and businessman, is poised to be announced as the new chief executive of Worcestershire.ESPNcricinfo understands that Rawnsley has won the role ahead of other shortlisted candidates including Vikram Solanki, a former captain and past chairman of the Professional Cricketers Association, and an assistant coach at Surrey.Rawnsley, 41, made 100 appearances as a left-arm spinner for Worcestershire across all formats between 1996 and 2002.But it is his subsequent business experience which also attracted Worcestershire. Rawnsley has been a director since 2013 of the Barnes Group (UK) Ltd. The engineering company is based in Evesham, and deals in the production of industrial and aerospace consumer products and springs.Rawnsley inherits a county in a state of flux, not to say tension, following the departure of the director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, after a 33-year association with the club.Rhodes was sacked following an internal investigation into his failure to report the arrest of Alex Hepburn on suspicion of rape in early April; he did not inform the club’s management until the player was charged in November. Rhodes was driven by what he saw as his duty of care towards his own player and even negotiated a new contract for Hepburn at the club.As part of the fallout, Rawnsley is expected to gain more powers than his predecessor as CEO, Tom Scott. Worcestershire members will decide at the annual meeting on March 22 whether to accept proposals that the CEO has overall responsibility for the club’s affairs, rather than be on the same level as the director of cricket, as is the current set-up.Such uncertainty is not ideal for a county that won promotion to the first division of the Specsavers Championship in September, but which has yo-yoed between the two divisions for the past decade.Worcestershire, among the smaller first-class counties, have made a profit for six successive seasons and became a successful breeding ground for players under Rhodes.Rawnsley faces many challenges in continuing that trend and in further developing a New Road ground which lies on a flood plain of the adjacent River Severn.

Half-centuries from Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla led South Africa to a dominant position before a late collapse brought India roaring back to life

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy13-Jan-20181:07

Cullinan: It’s a hardworking pitch for both batsmen and bowlers

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAfter all the talk of the pace and bounce of the Highveld, Centurion ended up providing India the most subcontinental conditions they could have expected on this tour. The skies were blue, the pitch was brown, and R Ashwin bowled the bulk of India’s overs.That could have been the extent of India feeling at home. For the first 80.4 overs of the day, South Africa’s batsmen had pitched tents on this flat, friendly surface and pinned family photographs onto the canvas. Aiden Markram had fallen narrowly short of a hundred, but Hashim Amla looked all set to stroll past that milestone, and South Africa were 246 for 3.And then, Centurion 2018 turned into Kolkata 2010. Amla and Alviro Petersen had scored centuries that day, only for South Africa to collapse from 218 for 1 to 296 all out, in a typically Eden Gardens post-tea collapse.Here, South Africa lost three wickets for the addition of five runs, two of them to run-outs, and India, out of nowhere, were back in the game. They hardly deserved to be: Ashwin and Ishant Sharma apart, their frontline bowlers had been poor.Deserve, however, has nothing to do with Test cricket; a few overs is all it takes, sometimes, for a match to swing 180 degrees.It began, as it often can, with a moment of brilliance on the field. Amla got on his toes, rode the bounce of a short ball from Hardik Pandya, and tucked it gently into the on side. Faf du Plessis called for one, and Amla, after a moment’s hesitation, responded. That moment was enough; Pandya sprinted across in his follow-through, swooped on the ball, spun around, and fired a direct hit at the bowler’s end. Amla was gone, for 82.In walked Quinton de Kock, a left-hander. Ashwin, from round the wicket, greeted him with a quick-turning offbreak in the channel outside off stump. New to the crease, de Kock pushed at it without really moving his feet and edged to slip.All the swirling excitement and anxiety of the moment got to Vernon Philander, who ten minutes earlier would not have expected to put on his pads. A bunt into the leg side, and a mad dash to the other end despite his captain yelling at him to stay put cost him his wicket. South Africa were 251 for 6 and India flooded the stump mic with yelps of delight.For most of the first eight-ninths of this day, India’s voices had been muted. The first four South African wickets had added 85, 63, 51 and 47, indicative of an attack that seldom applied pressure from both ends, and a top order that batted with a great degree of comfort.Playing only his seventh Test innings, Markram passed 50 for the fourth time, and looked a natural fit at this level. Taking guard on off stump, he stood tall and stood still at the crease, making no trigger movement and as a result remaining perfectly balanced. Time and again India’s seamers slipped in the full, straight lbw ball in vain; Markram’s head refused to fall across to the off side, and he punched and drove handsomely through the V, the area wide of mid-on proving particularly productive.When the quicks dropped short, he punished them with punches and slaps through the covers and, on one occasion, a dismissive pull. The Saturday crowd at Centurion got to see all these shots frequently, since the fast bowlers, Ishant apart, kept feeding him boundary balls.Jasprit Bumrah showed control with the new ball, but sprayed it around in all his subsequent spells, while Mohammed Shami, much like day one in Cape Town, was wayward and below top-pace with the new ball. Just when he seemed to be finding some rhythm and reverse-swing around an hour after lunch, Shami went off the field, looking a little under the weather. India’s team management later clarified it was a “mild headache”.Bounce apart, there wasn’t a whole lot of help for the seam bowlers, and perhaps this was why India went in with Ishant ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had picked up 4 for 87 and 2 for 33 in Cape Town. Ishant responded impressively, coming on as first change and testing Dean Elgar’s footwork and judgment with his angle, a bit of seam movement, and a fullish length that drew the left-hander forward.Having fought his way through this spell, Elgar survived a testing period against Ashwin just before lunch, getting beaten twice in 10 balls, with India unsuccessfully reviewing for caught-behind on one occasion. Soon after lunch, Elgar stepped out and drove Ashwin back over his head – perhaps the shot of an anxious batsman looking to hit his tormentor off his length – but the next time he tried stepping out, he didn’t reach the pitch of the ball and ended up stabbing a catch to silly point.This was India’s best period of play all day, with Ashwin finding dip and bounce at one end and Ishant bowling tightly at the other. These two couldn’t keep bowling forever, however, and South Africa soon returned to free-scoring ways, with Amla turning the clock back with the wristwork on his flicks and back-foot punches. It took a change of angle for India to effect their next breakthrough, Markram edging Ashwin behind when he went around the wicket. The ball, angled across Markram, didn’t spin back as much as he expected, but it was the length that did him, pinning him awkwardly to the crease – rather than going neither forward nor back, he was trying to do both at the same time – and making him jab away from his body.AB de Villiers was busy right from the time he came in, unveiling the reverse-sweep to pick up a boundary off Ashwin when he was still in single figures, but there was a touch of looseness to his game as well. A jab away from his body at Bumrah resulted in an inside-edge that nearly trickled onto his stumps, and when he tried the same shot against Ishant after tea, he chopped on for 20. The ball had begun to keep low every now and then and this was a shot he could have avoided.At that point, though, South Africa were still in too dominant a position to worry unduly. Amla was looking at his serene best, putting Shami away disdainfully when he kept dropping short in a brief post-tea spell, driving Ashwin against the turn with a twirl of his wrists, and, on 79, keeping out a shin-high shooter from Bumrah as if it was a perfectly normal delivery. Just when he looked set to coast to a century and beyond, however, a moment’s hesitation brought India roaring back to life.

With the equation reading 45 off 52 balls with eight wickets in hand, Lahore Qalandars should have won this game easily; but they didn’t, and Andre Russell’s hitting downed them in the PSL’s first ever Super Over

The Report by Danyal Rasool02-Mar-2018In a nutshellLast night’s billing for the contest between Peshawar and Quetta as the game of the tournament looks horribly premature now. In a T20 contest that had more ebbs and flows than most Test matches, Islamabad United edged out Lahore Qalandars, after dragging them, against all logic, into a Super Over – the first in the PSL’s history. Chasing 16 in the Super Over, Andre Russell smashed 10 off the last two balls off the hapless Mustafizur Rehman, the six to seal it cruelly going over Brendon McCullum’s head at long on to put his side on the brink of elimination.This was a match that highlighted how low Lahore Qalandars’ confidence had dipped after beginning this season with three losses. If ever a game was set up to be a stroll to kick things off, it was this for Lahore, requiring just 45 off 52 balls with eight wickets in hand. But there was a sense of unease to it, as Agha Salman, who scored what then seemed a match-winning 48 – holed out to fine leg. As McCullum hung on, playing an uncharacteristic knock that began as sensible but ended up with him having lost all rhythm, it increasingly began to look like he was the man that stood between Lahore and another implosion. After he was run out in the final over, it looked like Lahore had indeed blown it, before an unlikely six by debutant Salman Irshad took them to a Super Over. Victory, however, was still elusive.Islamabad began poorly, with Lahore’s decision to open the bowling with Fakhar Zaman proving inspired. He struck in the first over, and it wasn’t until Hussain Talat – batting far too low at number eight – came in that the innings picked up any momentum. He smashed an unbeaten 33 off 21 to ensure they crossed 120, with every run worth its weight in gold a couple of hours down the line.Where the match was wonSimply put, in the head. With the Qalandars needing 45 off 52 balls with eight wickets in hand, this game didn’t look like becoming the classic it ended up being. But from the moment Agha Salman was dismissed, jitters began to sweep through the Qalandars. Their lack of batting depth was a concern, exacerbated by everyone that came in after failing to so much as reach double figures. The run rate slowly began to creep up and the pressure on McCullum grew, with Lahore struggling to put the game to bed whenever opportunities arose. Before you knew it, Lahore were eight down with seven required off the final over. It should never have come to this.The men that won itHussain Talat gave Islamabad a total to defend, but from thereon, Mohammad Sami and Andre Russell took over. Sami was superb during his four-over spell, targeting the stumps at pace, not allowing McCullum to free his arms. It was particularly impressive since Sami’s is exactly the kind of bowling that McCullum thrives against. What was more, Sami found his lengths in the Super Over, where, even though he conceded 15, it was a score they could chase down. That was thanks to Russell, who, back from a year out, still remembered how to hold his nerve under pressure to clear long-on and nick the game off the final delivery.The decisionMcCullum may go down as the pioneering captain of the T20 generation, but did he balk at a big decision in the Super Over? Sunil Narine had conceded 10 runs in his four overs while Mustafizur, usually exceptional, had an off day, giving away 39 in his allotment. It appeared straightforward who to hand the ball to for the Super Over, but McCullum, perhaps – just perhaps – didn’t fancy a spinner up against Russell. He gave the ball to Mustafizur, who didn’t quite find his lengths, wasn’t brave enough to attempt the yorker, and bowled a wide off the fourth delivery. Maybe that’s overanalysing it, but Lahore, having lost all four of their games and on a six-run losing streak overall, should expect some of that from the media and their exigent fans.Where they standLahore are firmly at the bottom of the pile, with no wins or points from four games. Islamabad United have 4 points, joint with Peshawar and Quetta. Karachi and Multan occupy the top two slots after their game was washed out today with 7 and 5 points respectively.

Friday’s raid on the Cape Town stadium was the third such instance since 2015, according to the Western Province Cricket Association

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Apr-2018Armed robbers raided Newlands on Friday, smashing the glass doors of multiple suites at the Cape Town stadium and making away with TVs, liquor and other items. This was the third time since 2015 that the ground had been hit by robbers, according to a Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) release.The raid began shortly after midnight, according to the WPCA, when a woman approached security personnel at Gate A and asked for directions to a nearby church. She returned five minutes later, only this time she was joined by three accomplices who jumped the fences, apart from “more than 15 other men”, some of whom had guns. They forced the security officials to provide them keys to the Presidential Suite.The raid lasted less than an hour, and ended with the robbers making away with the stolen goods in three vehicles.”The South African Police Services are busy with an extensive investigation into the event and we will also reassess our security measures, including the possibility of having more cameras installed,” the WPCA statement said.”As an Association we are disturbed by the robbery and will do our utmost with the help of the South African Police Services to get to the bottom of this and try and prevent a reoccurrence of this type of incident. We will seriously look within our budgetary constraints to improve our security situation at the stadium.”Whilst it is truly appalling for this type of robbery to take place at our iconic cricket stadium where we have enjoyed some wonderful memories this past season, we are thankful that the security guard caught up in this crime was unharmed. He has been offered the necessary counselling in order to help him recover from this ordeal.”