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Anuja Patil took three wickets to restrict Sri Lanka to 134 in a match shortened 17-overs-a-side, and followed it up with her maiden T20I fifty and an unbroken century stand with Rodrigues

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo24-Sep-2018Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur run between the wickets•SLC

Eighteen-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues reeled off her second consecutive half-century, with allrounder Anuja Patil also hitting her maiden fifty in the format at the other end, as India breezed to a target of 135 with seven wickets in hand, in the fourth T20I against Sri Lanka, in Colombo.In a match shortened to 17 overs due to a wet outfield, Sri Lanka had batted fearlessly, with Shashikala Siriwardene and Chamari Atapattu propelling the hosts with a 52-run third-wicket stand through the middle overs. But they were stymied by offspinner Patil, who took 3 for 36 in her four overs. Ultimately, their 134 for 5 was insufficient against the batting might of India. Although India were 41 for 3 at the end of four overs, thanks to the bowling of Oshadi Ranasinghe, Rodrigues and Patil combined for an electric 96-run fourth-wicket stand, and the team stormed home with eight balls to spare – Rodrigues completing her fifty – her third in T20Is – and hitting the winning runs, with a six down the ground.The result means India have won the T20I series, as they now lead 3-0 with one match to play. They had also won the ODI series 2-1 earlier on the tour.Thanks to a slew of early boundaries, India were well ahead of the required rate by the time Rodrigues and Patil came together. Patil, in particular, was able to ease her way into the innings, as the pair ensured the early stutter did not deteriorate into a full-blown collapse. They were busy at the crease, completing several well-judged twos and tight singles, before the boundaries began to come in a heap. Rodrigues led the charge, hitting two fours in the ninth over, bowled by Sharina Ravikumar. Patil soon was hitting ravishing square boundaries of her own, and was especially punishing in the 14th over, bowled by Siriwardene, in which Patil hit three fours – reaching her fifty with the last of those shots, off the 36th delivery she faced. India, by now, were cantering to the target, with only 12 needed off the last three overs. Rodrigues’ disdainful winning six summed up India’s batting dominance in this match, and indeed, through the major part of the series.Patil had earlier been expensive in her four overs, but had also made key breakthroughs, having opener Yasoda Mendis caught at the long-on boundary in the third over, before bowling No. 3 batsman Hasini Perera with a ball that skidded and stayed low, in the fifth. Sri Lanka’s two senior batsmen – Siriwardene and Atapattu – threatened to take the game away from India at times, but fell within two overs of each other, which substantially dented Sri Lanka’s advance. Patil returned in a later spell to remove the dangerous Nilakshi de Silva. With some tight bowling in the closing overs, India ensured that Sri Lanka did not make effective use of the platform Siriwardene and Atapattu had laid down.

The India captain says that giving Rayudu enough game-time between now and the World Cup will sort the No. 4 conundrum

Varun Shetty in Guwahati20-Oct-20181:49

Kohli backs Rayudu for No. 4 spot

Ahead of the first ODI against West Indies, India captain Virat Kohli said that his team has come close to figuring out their combination for the World Cup, which begins in May 2019. India have 18 ODIs between now and the World Cup and this time will be used to perfect what Kohli called a “sorted” batting order. Ambati Rayudu’s return to the ODI team is at the centre of this certainty after over a year of deliberation for the No. 4 spot with Kohli almost categorically stating that the Hyderabad batsman had it.”The only position that we were trying to figure out for a long time was No. 4,” Kohli said. “We tried many players which unfortunately could not be capitalised or cemented in the way we wanted. We were looking at Rayudu for England but some guidelines had to be followed because of which he couldn’t make it.”The guidelines that Kohli was referring to were those pertaining to fitness. After a dazzling IPL season where Rayudu made 602 runs at 43 with a strike-rate of almost 150 in Chennai Super Kings’ title-winning return to the tournament, he was in line for a return to international cricket after two years. But he couldn’t make it to India’s limited-overs tour of England after failing the yo-yo test, a mandatory requirement for India’s selection process.That meant India’s prolonged shuffling of batsmen at the No. 4 spot continued, with KL Rahul and Dinesh Karthik getting opportunities to make their cases one more time in an 18-month hunt that has involved Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya and Manish Pandey.At last month’s Asia Cup, however, Rayudu broke into the XI to take Kohli’s spot and made two fifties.Ambati Rayudu plays one on the leg side•PTI

“He made it to the Asia Cup and the team felt that he is designed to play that middle-order batsman’s role,” Kohli said. “So the batting is more or less balanced now and these 18 games would be to get the perfect combination that we want to take into the World Cup. All games together, barring injuries or niggles, we want one combination to play through and through.”Apart from bowlers resting here or there in one-day cricket, we only changed the No. 4 slot because we wanted somebody to cement it. We believe that Rayudu is the right person to capitalise because he’s experienced and he has won many games for his state and in IPL cricket. He has a great one-day record already for India, so I think the batting order is sorted as far as we’re concerned.”Rayudu, of course, batted mostly at No. 3 in the Asia Cup, where he has got most of his runs – 687 at 68.70 – for India, apart from one game where he opened the innings. In the quadrangular series before the Asia Cup, Rayudu batted at No. 4 for India A, and in the Vijay Hazare Trophy following the Asia Cup, he turned out at No. 5 in both matches that he played for Hyderabad. His adaptability was also on show during his successful season with CSK and this experience of jumping up and down the order seems to have been a key factor in Rayudu’s favour, particularly in a batting line-up that often has to follow a formidable performance from the top three.”Giving him enough game-time between now and the World Cup, I think that particular slot will be sorted. If you see our one-day performances there’s not much to ponder on apart from that one slot. The bowlers are bowling well, the batsmen are batting well. The lower order hasn’t got much batting because Shikhar [Dhawan], Rohit [Sharma] and myself have made a lot of runs. Having those experienced guys in the middle order will definitely help us and we feel quite settled as a batting unit.”With this seemingly a fortified plan, Kohli also ruled out experimentation in terms of pushing batsmen who normally play below No. 4 into that slot barring specific match situations.”If the openers bat till the 30th over, you send someone who can do a better job than me; there’s no rocket science to it,” he said. “In T20 cricket you do that all the time. Invariably you would want a consistent batting line-up. But if there is a situation, if it’s 40 overs and you’re only two down, someone who can capitalize on those next 4-5 overs better will step in. As a team, we understand that and the batting order is always ready. The guys below No. 4 are always flexible. It’s always about what the team wants, and being flexible is important.”

Having got to only 64 in ten overs after electing to bat, Jozi Stars made big strides to complete a 50-run win and pick up a bonus point

The Report by Liam Brickhill in Cape Town04-Dec-2018Chris Gayle had warned before this game that it was Reeza Hendricks, rather than Gayle himself, who posed the most formidable threat to Cape Town Blitz, and Hendricks proved him right with his fourth successive score of fifty or more in the Mzansi Super League.After his 55 against Tshwane Spartans last week and back-to-back hundreds against Durban Heat and Nelson Mandela Bay Giants, Hendricks blazed his way to a 48-ball 79 to set up Jozi Stars’ dominant 196 for 4. Dan Christian then backed up Kagiso Rabada’s accuracy with the new ball to collect 4 for 22 in a massive 50-run win that took Stars to second on the tournament table with a bonus point, with Duanne Olivier also chipping in with 3 for 38.Stars lost Gayle to a travel-weary chip to mid-on off Nandre Burger in the fourth over and Blitz worked up considerable pressure in the early exchanges. Steyn did as Steyn does with the new ball, and Burger too impressed in his first outing for Blitz, having come into the side to replace Anrich Nortje. But Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen combined to take 18 off Andile Phehlukwayo’s first over, taking the rate above a run a ball for the first time in the sixth over.Hendricks’ innings started as a slow burn, and as he had done against Heat and Giants, he showed just how much time there is to build an innings in T20 cricket, provided one can shift swiftly through the gears. Hendricks’ strike rate was hovering just over a run a ball at the ten-over mark, but he hit six sixes in the next five overs and was joined in the fray by van der Dussen, who swiped a six and a four in Burger’s comeback over later in the innings.It seemed Hendricks was set for a third ton, having raced to a 40-ball fifty before he went on the charge, ruining Phehlukwayo, Steyn and Mohammad Nawaz’ figures in a flurry of boundary-hitting. He fell attempting a seventh six off Malusi Siboto in the 16th over, and van der Dussen soon followed him to the dugout. But Christian, Pite van Biljon and Dane Vilas kept the momentum going with the bat.Christian and van Biljon kept their strike rates well over 200, while van Biljon combined with Vilas to pillage 25 off the last over of the innings, bowled by Malusi Siboto. Stars made 132 off the last ten overs, Hendricks masterminding what turned out to be an almost perfectly paced T20 innings.Needing close to 10 an over from the start of their chase, Blitz wanted a rapid start, but Rabada gave up just a single in his first over, very nearly removing de Kock with his fifth delivery after stringing together four dots. De Kock survived a strong appeal for a catch down the leg side in Beuran Hendricks’ first over, and he eventually holed out to Nono Pongolo in the deep for a scratchy 15-ball nine.At the other end, Janneman Malan collected five boundaries in the Powerplay with some crisp hitting but lost his timing as the pitch slowed down in the evening, while his namesake Dawid got going with two boundaries in the first over he faced from Olivier but was soon caught in the deep off Christian.Rabada’s accuracy, ably backed up by Pongolo and Christian, kept Blitz behind the asking rate throughout. The hosts were further set back by regular wickets, with Farhaan Behardien and Asif Ali falling in consecutive overs without having made much impact on the run rate. With the required rate rocketing above 20, Janneman swiped across the line to be pinned lbw by Christian for 43, and Blitz quickly folded.Christian removed Phehlukwayo and Mohammad Nawaz with successive deliveries and came within a couple of millimetres of a hat-trick when he completely deceived Steyn with a canny slower ball in the 18th over. In the very next over, it was Olivier’s turn. He bounced Kyle Verreynne out and then flattened Steyn’s middle stump with a yorker, but his attempt at a hat-trick went awry as he slipped the crucial delivery well down the leg side. It made no difference to the result, of course, and in the final over Pongolo had a reverse-lapping Siboto easily caught behind to end the match and secure a bonus point.

Steve Rhodes said that turning pitches in the subcontinent are as acceptable as quick tracks in places like Antigua

Mohammad Isam25-Nov-2018A spin-friendly pitch in Chattogram is as acceptable as a green and bouncy track in Antigua, said Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes. He said that visiting teams are not surprised with these conditions when they come to play in the subcontinent, adding that batsmen didn’t quite manage to play well under pressure against spinners during the Chattogram Test which Bangladesh won by 64 runs in under three days.Rhodes was responding to questions a day after the Test that drew some flak for being so stacked in favour of spinners, who took 34 out of the 40 wickets in the game. In Antigua in July this year, the West Indies and Bangladesh pace bowlers had combined to take 24 out of the 30 wickets that fell, as the visitors went down by an innings and 219 runs.”I think in the subcontinent you come to expect turning wickets, so it is no surprise,” Rhodes said. “It is a turning wicket in Colombo where a Test match is going on between England and Sri Lanka. It is just a different type of wicket. I take you back to the Antigua Test where we played on very alien conditions: green and bouncy; a swinging Duke ball which nipped around a lot. It was very different.”I think that’s the beauty of playing around the world. There’s lots of different ways of playing this wonderful game. Coming to Bangladesh and playing on different wickets did make [for] some intriguing cricket. When you feel a little bit worried about getting out [on a turning pitch], you tend to play in a manner that is a little bit counterattacking. Sometimes that looks like rash batting for Test cricket. But it is the pressure that you are being put under and you’re trying to make that bowler not bowl as well. You counterattack a little bit.”Rhodes said that Shimron Hetmyer did put Bangladesh under the pump with his counter-attacking style, particularly in the second innings when he started to take on the spinners. “I thought Hetmyer’s innings was very interesting. He counterattacked us. I was so glad to see him gone in the second innings. He could have caused danger if he lasted an hour.”I thought Mominul [Haque] played wonderfully well when the pitch was turning on the first day. It was possible to score runs.”Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes gives Ariful Haque some pointers•AFP

With the prospect of another spin-friendly pitch awaiting in Dhaka, Rhodes said their target of trying to win the series 2-0 shouldn’t take the focus away from his plan to make Bangladesh a better side away from home. “We just have to make sure we are ready to play away from home. It is something that I am conscious of. But take nothing away from what happened. It is a really good win against West Indies,” he said.”I am very respectful for them as cricketers. They will come back hard in the next Test. We need to be ready for that. I want to win 2-0.”Rhodes said that Bangladesh could go with the strategy of a four-pronged spin attack if the conditions suit them, mainly because the four bowlers have complemented each other. He said that Nayeem Hasan, who became the youngest bowler ever to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut, offers something different than Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who has been the regular offspinner since 2016.”Nayeem is a wonderful prospect. Five wickets on debut at that age is incredible,” Rhodes said. “The way he fitted into the four-man attack was wonderful. He is different to Miraz. Both can play in the same team. Nayeem has height and bounce, which is totally different from Miraz, who himself has wonderful skills.”History has shown that on most occasions, you play a Test with two spinners, three paceman and an allrounder. When the West Indies played with four quicks and really no spinners, it was their way of doing it. If we feel four spinners is the right way, it is our aggression and style of doing it, so what?”But Bangladesh have concerns, particularly about the opening batsmen who have continued to fail in the three Tests played in the home season so far. Imrul Kayes and Liton Das didn’t do the job against Zimbabwe while Soumya Sarkar, who replaced Liton, hardly made any difference against West Indies.Rhodes, however, defended Soumya’s dismissals, but admitted that Imrul’s Test form was a concern given his recent ODI form. “Soumya got a good ball in the second innings,” Rhodes explained. “He didn’t do a lot wrong. In the second innings he went for a big drive, he nicked a turning ball, which happens. You have to get people time to settle in there. We will look at that situation, and all the members of the squad, and hopefully give you guys some sort of news on that.”[Imrul] is finding it tough. We will look at his position definitely. Like all players who are not managing to get the runs, he feels upset and we feel for him. He is part of our team. We want him to do well. His ODI form was absolutely magnificent, and then you scratch your head about what’s wrong with him in Tests. Every opener struggles, but we want to get it right.”

On a pitch made for fast bowling, the offspinner bamboozled Perth Scorchers before Burns and Cutting powered through the chase

The Report by Alex Malcolm05-Jan-2019A magical spell from Mujeeb Ur Rahman helped Brisbane Heat break their drought in the 2018-19 BBL, as they beat the struggling Perth Scorchers at the Perth Stadium.On a pitch purpose-built for fast bowling, Mujeeb’s mystery spin completely bamboozled the Scorchers top order after they were sent in to bat. He took 2 for 10 in four overs, which included two wides. The Scorchers, at one stage, looked like they might not muster 120. But another gem from Ashton Turner gave them a target to bowl at. Turner made 47 from 30 balls when no other Scorchers batsman struck at better than a run-a-ball.Nathan Coulter-Nile, having been left out of the Australian ODI side due to fitness concerns, made a statement with the ball, taking 3 for 25 to give the Scorchers a chance. But some powerful hitting from Ben Cutting and Joe Burns saw the Heat home with 10 balls to spare to get them off the bottom of the table.Mujeeb the magicianIn the previous game at Perth Stadium, such was the fire and pace in the pitch that the Scorchers did not bowl a single over of spin. The Heat decided to bowl Mujeeb twice in the Powerplay, and it paid dividends. Michael Klinger and Cameron Bancroft, Scorchers’ fifth opening combination in six games, were extremely cautious. Mujeeb conceded five runs in 12 balls, two of them to wides. Klinger and Bancroft got the Scorchers through the Powerplay unscathed, but their 56-run partnership chewed up 8.3 overs, before Bancroft holed out for 26 off 27 balls. Mujeeb returned in the 10th over and baffled Klinger, nearly bowling him with a wrong ‘un before deceiving him with a leg break to have him stumped by a mile. Mitchell Marsh struggled to get going, scoring 11 off 16 balls before Mujeeb bowled his last over in the 15th. He had Marsh caught at backward point first ball. Mujeeb’s figures were the joint second-most economical figures by a Heat bowler in BBL cricket, and the Scorchers were in a huge hole with the run-rate at just six per over.Cameron Bancroft goes for a big one•Getty Images

Umpire indecisionAshton Turner held the key again. He struck the only three boundaries between the end of the Powerplay and the start of the 19th over. His placement and running between the wickets were excellent again as he tried to make up for Marsh and Ashton Agar’s struggles. He had reached 35 off 24 balls, and the total 5 for 120, with seven balls left. He was facing the express James Pattinson and took a wild swing at a length ball, appearing to get a huge nick to keeper Jimmy Peirson. Heat were convinced. The umpire shaped to raise his finger and then changed his mind and shook his head. Pattinson and his skipper Chris Lynn were livid. The non-decision allowed Turner to score 12 runs in the last over, including a powerful cover drive and an outrageous scoop over the keeper’s head for six before he fell for 47 from 30 balls. It helped raise the total to 6 for 135, but it came at a cost, with Turner reaggravating a right shoulder injury that has plagued him in recent years. He was unable to field in the second innings.Coulter-Nile fires upNathan Coulter-Nile was left out of the Australian ODI squad for the series against India due to “back soreness”. But he told pre-game that he felt there might have been a slight communication breakdown between the selectors, the medical staff and himself. He did note that he had a scan on his sore back after the ODI squad was announced, but was cleared to play for the Scorchers. He took two key wickets in the Powerplay, forcing Max Bryant and Brendon McCullum to both miscue to mid-on by generating bounce. He cranked it up to speeds above 140kph. Lynn and Matthew Renshaw steadied with a decent partnership of 39, although Lynn had a lot of luck, including Klinger dropping a simple catch. Jhye Richardson finally claimed Lynn, with Klinger making amends under a skier. Jason Behrendorff trapped Renshaw in front, before Coulter-Nile returned to find Peirson’s outside edge to give the Scorchers an outside chance.Cutting cuts looseThe Heat needed 43 runs from 42 balls with five wickets in hand. That became 29 from 21 after Joe Burns and Ben Cutting scored one boundary in 3.3 overs and absorbed 10 dots between them. Burns released the pressure with a huge slog sweep for six off Agar. Cutting took strike to Richardson, with Heat needing 21 from 18 balls. He had been struggling with a back complaint. He decided to stand and swing. He hit 20 off the over. The first strike was one of the biggest of the tournament, into the upper deck of the Perth Stadium at square leg. He then lasered two cover-drives and finished the over with a powerful blow straight to the sightscreen off a low full toss to level the scores with two overs left. Burns found the winning runs when he attempted to hook AJ Tye and the ball ricocheted off the helmet to third man.

“I think it’s really important that we do involve those ex-players in the game more and give them a stronger voice”

Daniel Brettig07-Feb-2019Former Australian Test greats such as Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath and Simon Katich can expect high paying short stints as consultants for the national team in the wake of assistant coach David Saker’s sudden resignation. Such flexibility is necessary, said the Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts, in light of the lucrative career options now available to former players, who receive fat pay cheques to share their expertise as commentators and corporate speakers.Ponting has previously been involved with the Australian team on this basis, successfully helping to coach the T20 side during last year’s triangular series with England and New Zealand, before an Achilles tear sustained while shooting a commercial prevented him from also doing so in the UAE against Pakistan. During the home summer, he was preoccupied by working with the broadcaster Channel Seven.”There’s no doubt that the remuneration in cricket for players is far higher than the remuneration for coaches,” Roberts told ESPNcricinfo. “And that’s something that’s not without its challenges. We don’t have an unlimited pool of funds to invest in coaches, but certainly we want to be investing as much as we can, and navigating those challenges as best we can. I think there’s opportunities to utilise some of those ex-players in shorter bursts if you like, given they’re not all in a position to be a coach 52 weeks of the year either, given their other commitments in other parts of the game.”I think it’s really important that we do involve those ex-players in the game more and give them a stronger voice, embrace their perspective to a greater degree, and whether that means that’s just in open forums where we invite their feedback on some of cricket’s big questions or whether it’s involving them in a mentoring capacity or in a formal coaching capacity, we want to be covering all those bases and utilising all the expertise they’ve got.”Not all of those ex-players will have a desire to be coaches, so [for] those that don’t have a desire to be coaches, there’s other roles outside the commentary box that they can play too. So we do have the opportunity to involve them for shorter periods of time rather than all or nothing so there are a bunch of different solutions to that challenge but it is an ongoing challenge.”Roberts, who played first-class cricket for a strong New South Wales in the 1990s and formed numerous alliances with the aforementioned players, also discussed his close relationship with Waugh, a consistent source of counsel and blunt advice. Waugh and Roberts share a common grade club in Bankstown, while he and Gilchrist were housemates for a time during their younger days.”I’ve got a really good relationship with Steve Waugh and I’ve been fortunate to have had that for I guess 25 years now, and he’s one of the most universally respected people in our game, respected for his performance on the field, for his leadership, for his integrity, and for the fact that he’s such a straight shooter,” Roberts said. “He’s a person you call when you want the truth rather than wanting something to be sugar-coated. You know you’ll get the truth when you ask a question of Steve.”That’s one of the beauties of what he brings to cricket, one of the things people respect so much about him. So I’m really looking forward to his ongoing involvement – he’s been more involved in the game in the background than people would realise in recent years, mentoring a number of players and I hope that continues, and that young players really benefit from his mentorship ongoing, and I certainly benefit from the relationship and the ability to call on him, and also on many other former players and team-mates of mine.”Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, see them regularly around the commentary boxes, played quite a bit against Brendon Julian and various other commentators, Greg Blewett and I were in the Australian Under-19 team together with Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn and Kasper [Michael Kasprowicz]. So to be able to just get a sense check of how they’re feeling about the game, Ricky Ponting I played quite a bit against, and unfortunately he ran me out one day with a direct hit run out, so I don’t remember that fondly but I do really respect Ricky’s views on the game as well.”

Sydney Sixers collapsed spectacularly, losing their chance to host their semi-final

The Report by Daniel Brettig10-Feb-2019Glenn Maxwell’s brilliance and Sydney Sixers’ total collapse combined to serve up a semi-final berth for Melbourne Stars against Hobart Hurricanes, and a home semi-final for Melbourne Renegades, in an afternoon of high drama at the MCG.In the final qualifying game of the Big Bash League 2018-19, the Stars looked to be struggling to mount a defendable total in the first 15 overs of their innings, before Maxwell did nothing short of detonating as 77 runs were piled up in the final five. Maxwell’s innings, as captain of the Stars, not only pushed the hosts to a total unimaginable with five overs remaining, but appeared also to knock the stuffing out of the Sixers.Their innings was to trigger a series of surrenders in the face of Melbourne pressure, as all the Stars bowlers enjoyed success – none more so than the spin pair of Sandeep Lamichhane and Adam Zampa.Before Maxwell
Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques sent the Stars in to bat and, after a shaky opening over by Lloyd Pope, of which Marcus Stoinis took full advantage, the visitors appeared to have much the measure of their hosts on a pitch that offered some variable pace to the bowlers. Merely 1 for 39 from the Powerplay, 2 for 63 from 10 overs and 3 for 91 from 15 overs, the Stars were battling to put up a score that looked capable of being defended even if the surface offered some encouragement to spin.Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe both delivered economical spells, aided also by Sean Abbott. Maxwell, meanwhile, had fashioned his way to 17 from 20 without quite looking at ease. As captain he had witnessed Peter Handscomb depart after building a similar platform, and could not afford to do likewise. The cogs of Maxwell’s brain could be seen almost visibly to be ticking over as he pondered ways of lifting the Stars to higher ground. First, he sized up his erstwhile Test match team-mate Lyon, bowler of the 17th over.After Maxwell
Jumping down the track to Lyon’s second ball of the over, Maxwell found sweet contact and the crowd beyond long-on. When Lyon adjusted his length, Maxwell hung back to pull wide of long-on for four more. Sixteen from that over, despite the run out of Dwayne Bravo, had Maxwell and the Stars looking up, and they did not look back. Two fours and a six meant Abbott’s 18th over reaped 15 runs; a six and a four meant 15 more from Tom Curran’s 19th.But the best was saved for last, as Maxwell leapt three times into Ben Dwarshuis in the 20th, taking full advantage of the left-armer missing his ideal yorker length on both full and short sides. At the death, Maxwell had piled up 65 from 22 balls before falling, while the Stars’ tally of 77 between overs 16-20 was the most ever in the closing five overs of a BBL innings. At the end of a summer of some frustrations for Maxwell, he had delivered the kind of innings to underline the rare nature of his talent.Stars win through to semis
Left with a far steeper chase than anticipated, the Sixers were soon losing wickets. Bravo pouched a couple of early catches from miscues, before Maxwell chimed in once more to coax a top edged pull shot from his opposite number Henriques and claim wicket No. 3.Daniel Worrall’s bouncer/short of length combo had accounted for James Vince, and he then offered up an offcutter slower ball to have Daniel Hughes pushing tamely to shortish cover. At 4 for 34 inside five overs the Sixers’ chances of winning the game were all but gone, leaving swift recalculations by the visitors as to what they needed to do to retain a home semi-final against Melbourne Renegades. The magic number? 108.Sixers hand Renegades a home semi
Maxwell had kept his spin bowlers Zampa and Lamichhane in reserve, and they were to apply the final touches to an enormous Stars victory – enough to in turn ensure their rivals the Renegades found themselves hosting rather than travelling to face the Sixers in the knockouts. Both Zampa and Lamichhane found useful skid, bounce and spin off the surface, the better to flummox a Sixers lower order already one batsman short due to the balance of the selected side.Jordan Silk was stumped artfully by Handscomb off Zampa, Curran was lbw to Lamichhane’s googly, and the allrounder Abbott’s cut at Zampa resulted in a superb reflex catch by Maxwell at slip – this was a day on which he could truly do no wrong. By contrast, the bouncing bat of Lyon precisely at the moment the bails were whipped off by Handscomb for a run-out rather summed up the Sixers’ dirty day. They will now be back in Melbourne for the semis.

ECB Reporters Network12-Apr-2019
James Bracey hit a stylish 65 to lead a solid Gloucestershire reply to Derbyshire’s first-innings total of 291 on the second day of the Specsavers County Championship match at Bristol.In reply, the hosts had reached 202 for 5, skipper Chris Dent contributing 33, the same unbeaten scores that both Gareth Roderick and Ryan Higgins had made by the close. Luis Reece claimed 2 for 33 from 16 overs.Left-hander Bracey faced 120 balls, hitting 12 fours, before falling to a stunning catch at point by Anuj Dal off Tony Palladino. The 21-year-old Bristol-born batsman looks set to build on an impressive first full season of county cricket last year.Earlier, Derbyshire had added 35 to their overnight total of 256 for 7 before being dismissed nine short of a third batting point. Higgins and Matt Taylor finished with three wickets each.On another bright, but cold day, the visitors had advanced their score by only two runs when Higgins sent back Dal, lbw for 3.Logan van Beek had his middle stump sent cartwheeling by Taylor shouldering arms, but Palladino and Ravi Rampaul added a valuable 25 for the last wicket before the latter edged Howell to second slip.Gloucestershire had around an hour to bat before lunch and reached 26 for one by the interval, Miles Hammond having been caught at second slip for 6 off left-armer Reece.As on the opening day, a slow pitch made it difficult to score quickly. Dent and Bracey were watchful in adding 84 from 27 overs, but Bracey also produced some sparkling off-side strokes to reach fifty off 57 balls, with 10 fours.Dent had faced 115 balls and look settled when getting an inside-edge onto his stumps off a delivery from Alex Hughes that appeared to keep a bit low.Derbyshire quickly picked up another wicket, George Hankins carelessly clipping a catch to mid-wicket off Reece and departing for a duck with the total 97 for 3.It was 110 for 3 at tea. The final session saw Bracey fall unexpectedly, tempted by a wide ball from Palladino and staring in horror as a flashing shot off the meat of the bat was plucked out of the air by Dal moving to his left.From 111 for 4, Roderick and Howell build steadily in a fifth-wicket stand of 46. Howell appeared in good touch, striking five fours, before being comfortably caught at cover by Matt Critchley off van Beek from a shot he will want to forget.At 157 for 5, Gloucestershire were still 134 behind and needed another significant partnership. They got it through the patient Roderick and more aggressive Higgins, who had added 45 by the time bad light ended proceedings three overs early.

Australian opener ready to put past behind him as he prepares to lead Durham into the county season

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-2019Cameron Bancroft says that he is ready to put the past behind him as he prepares to lead Durham into the County Championship season, but accepts that others may take longer to forgive him for his role in the ball-tampering scandal that rocked Australian cricket last year.Bancroft, 26, was last month named as Durham’s captain for the 2019 season – a surprise appointment from the club’s new director of cricket, Marcus North. However, it is an honour that the player himself is eager to live up to, after claiming to have grown as a person in the course of his enforced absence from the game.”Of course I haven’t had a lot of experience at first-class level captaining but I think all captains, all leaders, at some point in their lives started off captaining zero games of cricket,” Bancroft said. “That’s where I’m at right now and I’m just looking forward to learning about my team-mates, to being a part of the Durham County Cricket Club.”They’re a team that have had a few changes to the squad over the last 12 months and I know they’re all really excited and looking forward to the future and I look forward to sharing and being a part of that.”Images of Bancroft flashed around the world in March last year when, midway through the Cape Town Test against South Africa, he was caught using sandpaper to rough up the match ball, and even attempted to hide the evidence by stuffing the object down his trousers.It led to a nine-month ban from the sport for Bancroft, and 12-month bans for his senior colleagues, David Warner, who was deemed to have hatched the plan, and Steve Smith, who as captain was responsible for his team’s on-field behaviour.Bancroft said he “one hundred percent” hoped to return to the Australian Test team alongside Smith and Warner.”It would mean a lot to me, definitely,” Bancroft said. “But I also know that I’ve got a lot of really great things in my life and even playing just club cricket back home in Perth, it’s a game that I felt like, you get really self-absorbed and single-minded in your pursuits to achieve things.”But I think at the forefront is just the enjoyment of it all and if I do that I know that the result will take care of itself and it might not be. Hopefully that will happen one day.”Bancroft admitted, however, that he had contemplated walking away from cricket.”I’ve had moments where I’ve been really flat, really down,” he said. “You’re in a grieving phase, and you’ve got to be really honest with yourselves. Particularly as men you can sometimes really hold onto things, can’t you? So being able to express that to my family and I’ve had a really great sports psychologist back home. To be able to honour that within yourself is really important.”Walking home one day to where I was staying I had a thought that perhaps cricket wasn’t going to be for me … but once I started playing grade cricket for my club, I had so much fun.”Cameron Bancroft adjusts his pants at short extra cover•Gallo Images/Stringer

The ban was, he reflects, an unexpectedly positive experience, in spite of the turmoil it caused at the time. Bancroft immersed himself in yoga, to “detach myself from the story of being a professional cricketer”, and got involved with volunteer projects, including a camping exhibition with the Kyle Andrews Foundation, which cares for sick and terminally ill children.”As much as I missed cricket, the opportunity it gave me to look at myself was one of the best things that ever happened to me,” he said. “I had to go home. Sit with myself, grieve, forgive myself, and then ultimately move forward.”I’ve learned a lot about myself, I think being able to take time to detach myself from cricket was something that I found a lot of joy in. To know that the identity and person I created from being a professional cricketer, a game which I love, I think I was just able to connect a lot with different parts of the community, meet a lot of great people.”Turning that event from South Africa into a positive was something I was really proud of and to have that opportunity to grow as a person, you’d be silly not to take those steps forward.”

The Chennai Super Kings captain summed up a tense and seesawing final, full of mistakes from both teams, in typically pithy fashion

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-20195:03

We were hoping for a Watson six that didn’t come – Fleming

They reached their eighth IPL final, and came within one ball of winning their fourth title, but MS Dhoni doesn’t think Chennai Super Kings played “very good cricket” along the way. Middle-order batting, he felt, was one area that “never clicked”.After losing a seesawing final in dramatic circumstances, Dhoni summed up the contest in typically pithy fashion: both teams made a lot of mistakes, and kept “passing the trophy to each other”.”As a team we had a good season,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. “But I think we need to go back and reflect as to how we reached the finals, and I don’t think it was one of those years where we played very good cricket and we got into the finals. I think there was plenty that could have been done from our side, especially in the middle-order batting, it never really clicked for us from the start, but somehow we were able to manage.”Today also, losing the game always hurts, but today was one game that we should have done slightly better. And looking at it as an IPL final, I think both the teams, it was quite funny: we were just passing the trophy to each other. We committed a lot of mistakes, and Mumbai Indians also did the same. At the end of the day the winning team was the one that committed one mistake less than the other team.”I think it was a very good final, it went close, last ball, so couldn’t have gone better, but overall I think we need to go back to the drawing board and see the areas where we need to improve for next season.”Dhoni credited his bowling attack for keeping Super Kings competitive through the season, but stressed that there were gaps that the team would need to plug to maintain their levels next season.”I think the bowlers did very well for us,” he said. “Even today, if you see, it was not a 150 wicket. It was definitely a more than 150 wicket. But the bowlers throughout the tournament they kept us into the hunt, and they kept performing, they kept getting wickets when it was really needed. And batting also, overall, somebody kept chipping in, and that’s how we kept winning games, and whenever the bowlers restricted the opposition to a decent score, we were able to chase it down.”I think that’s how we did fairly well in the tournament. But again, you know, to be consistent, to come back next year, and try to get into the knockout stages of the tournament I think we’ll have to really think hard.”As to whether he would be back next year, Dhoni kept it enigmatic. Sanjay Manjrekar, the commentator on presentation duty, concluded his interview by telling Dhoni, “well done, and we’ll see you again next season.”Dhoni’s response was brief. “Hopefully, yes.”