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Offspinner Ashley Nurse has made a comeback into the West Indies T20 squad after more than two years

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Sep-2017After more than two years out of the side, offspinner Ashley Nurse has made a comeback into the West Indies T20 squad. The 28-year old last played a T20 international in January 2015, but has been picked for the one-off game against England later this month, in place of legspinner Samuel Badree, who was unavailable due to a prior commitment. West Indies retained the other 12 players that featured in the squad for the home T20I against India in July.

West Indies T20 squad changes

IN: Ashley Nurse
OUT: Samuel Badree
Squad: Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Ronsford Beaton, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Ashley Nurse, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton (wk), Kesrick Williams

Nurse has so far gone wicketless in the four T20 internationals he has played since his debut in April 2011 but has been one of the main bowlers for Barbados in List A matches. He was the leading wicket-taker in their domestic 50-over competition last season. Recently, however, he hasn’t been as impressive, going wicketless for Trinbago Knight Riders in the two CPL matches he has played.”We have a good mix of experience and youth that should adapt to English conditions quickly,” chairman of selectors, Courtney Browne said. “Coming off the series win against India in the Caribbean in July our expectations is to see the team play a highly competitive game and bring that T20 Caribbean atmosphere to England.”The experience Browne talks about includes the likes of Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels and Jerome Taylor. And leading the younger players is opening batsman Evin Lewis, who scored a 53-ball hundred against India less than two months ago.The only T20 between England and West Indies will take place on September 16 in Chester-le-Street, before a five-match ODI series starts on September 19 at Old Trafford.

“I think through the middle overs we need to probably improve our wicket-taking options”

Hemant Brar24-Jan-20224:33

Dravid: ‘We played some poor shots while chasing’

For India coach Rahul Dravid, the ODI series against South Africa was an “eye-opener”. India lost the series 3-0 and Dravid felt it was “poor shots” that cost them the first and the third match.In both those games, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli kept India’s chase on track but neither batter could convert their half-centuries into a big knock. Once Dhawan and Kohli got out, the middle and lower-middle order, in the absence of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, failed to finish the job.Related

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In ODIs, India prefer a safety-first approach while batting. When asked if they should change that template, Dravid said, “We certainly could do better in the middle overs. We understand the template, and a large part of that template is dependent on the balance of your squad. Some of the guys who really help us balance out the squad and give us those all-round options at No. 6, 7 and 8 were not available for the selection. Hopefully, when they come back, it will give us a little more depth, which will allow us to play in a slightly different style.”Having said that, even South Africa who batted first on two occasions scored 290 [296] and 280 [287]. If I think back to the 30th over [of the second innings] in both these games, we should have actually chased them down. We didn’t because we played some poor shots and we didn’t play smart cricket at critical situations.”During the series, the Indian spinners were outbowled by their South African counterparts. While Dravid didn’t single out the spinners, he did say taking wickets in middle overs was something the team needed to work on. India tried something different on that front in the third ODI: their seamers hit the deck more often than they had done in the first two outings and fetched slightly better returns.”I think through the middle overs we need to probably improve our wicket-taking options,” Dravid said. “Spinners do play a big role in that but also with the quicks coming back and the kinds of balls we bowl, we have discussed that. We do understand that’s an area in the game we have been behind a little bit – the ability to take wickets through the middle overs – and what we need to do about that.”Before the series, stand-in captain KL Rahul had said the team was looking at Venkatesh Iyer as their sixth bowling option. However, Iyer wasn’t given an over in the first ODI, though he did bowl five in the second before being left out for the last one.”When you are a sixth bowler in the team, it can happen you are not required to bowl,” Dravid explained. “The idea is obviously to try and develop people like Venkatesh Iyer as a sixth bowling option, whether it’s Venkatesh or Hardik when he comes back. We also have got the option of someone like Jadeja who has been batting really well and can potentially bat at No. 6 at certain times when he is back from the injury.”Dravid had high praise for Deepak Chahar – “Such players who can contribute with the bat down the order make a big difference”•AFP/Getty Images

There has been some discussion about Iyer’s batting position too but Dravid said the team management was “very clear with him” about his role in the side.”I know he has batted at the top of the order for KKR [in the IPL] and at times for MP [Madhya Pradesh, Iyer’s domestic side], though he has batted in the middle order as well for MP. In our team, we were looking for a No. 6 who can be a sixth bowling option. That was the role we had for him here because we have quite a few options at the top of the order at this point, especially when Rohit comes back.”One of the few positives for India in the series was Deepak Chahar’s performance with the bat in the last ODI. Chasing 288, India were 223 for 7 at one stage but Chahar, playing his first match of the series, struck 54 off just 34 balls to take them close. He had pulled off a similar chase in Sri Lanka but here India fell short by four runs.Dravid was full of praise for Chahar and Shardul Thakur, who scored 50* and 40* in the first two ODIs while playing as seam-bowling allrounders.”He [Chahar] has shown in the opportunities that he has got with us in Sri Lanka and over here as well that he has got some really good ability with the bat,” Dravid said. “I have seen him at India A as well and I know he can bat quite well. Obviously, we know what he can do with the ball. It’s nice to have people like him and Shardul, who we saw in the last couple of games being able to contribute with the bat as well. Such players, who can contribute with the bat lower down, make a big difference.”We will certainly try to give him [Chahar] a few games along with Shardul and others who can step up over the next year or so.”Apart from the allrounders, Dravid said the team was trying to give a longer run to their middle-order batters too.”That was the whole idea even on this trip,” he said. “If you see, we didn’t really change the middle order, except Surya got a chance in the last match. Otherwise, we didn’t change the batting order at all. So we want to give them that consistent run and that security. Once you give people that, then you also got to demand performances and really big performances because that’s an expectation when you play at this level for your country.”

Umran Malik’s five-for goes in vain as Titans hit four sixes in the last over

Alagappan Muthu27-Apr-20222:38

What makes Rahul Tewatia hard to bowl to?

A 21-year old and a 22-year old made the world sit up and take notice. Abhishek Sharma carved up Rashid Khan. Umran Malik roughed up Hardik Pandya. The new kids were gunning for the old pros. And it made this game all kinds of breathtaking. The result, if anyone cares, is that Gujarat Titans chased down 196 to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets. But honestly, this was way more. This was the IPL at its most vivid, pulse-pounding, heart-breaking best.Because in the space of 40 overs, we saw the future of Indian cricket and the enduring brilliance of one the greats in T20 history. Rashid actually did the unthinkable twice, bowling his fifth-most expensive spell ever but then turning around and hitting three sixes in the final over and winning the game off its very last ball.To get it to that point though, Titans needed Wriddhiman Saha at the top, scoring 68 off 38 and Rahul Tewatia in the middle, plundering an unbeaten 40 off 21.The most unreal battle
Abhishek has come up against Rashid only once before. But that’s in an actual IPL match. Who knows how many times these two had sparred at Sunrisers training. And if events on Wednesday were any indication, they missed out on a massive money-making opportunity. Charging admission to the nets while those two did battle would have raked in puh-lenty because the 21-year-old kid kept pwning a modern-day master.Rashid ended his night with figures of 4-0-45-0. Abhishek was responsible for 34 of those runs, which came at a strike rate of 226, a massive improvement on the figure (107) left-handers usually manage against the Afghanistan ace in this tournament.Titans had done their homework. They knew Aiden Markram was going a mere 115 runs per 100 balls of spin this season. They brought Rashid on to counter his threat, but Abhishek’s presence at the other end completely killed the plan. There was even a moment that signalled loud and clear that the youngster was picking the variations out of the hand. In the 15th over, when a ball was dropped short on leg stump, Abhishek didn’t shape to pull but instead made room for himself and straight-bat lofted it over cover because he had seen it was the googly.That one moment exemplified this whole head-to-head. Rashid Khan was no mystery to Abhishek Sharma.Shashank Singh smashed 25 off six balls•BCCI

The surprise cameo
Shashank Singh is 30 years old. It was already 2019 by the time he made his professional debut. This game is cruel enough. But to start so late…Except this is the IPL era. There are 10 franchises with tons of scouts whose networks reach the very corners of the country. If you’ve got talent, you’re going to be found.Shashank strikes at 142 in T20 cricket. He goes at 99.25 even in one-day cricket. He’s a born and raised big hitter. Just needed the stage to show it off. Well, here it was.Lockie Ferguson ran in to bowl the 20th over and Shashank thumped him for 6, 6 and 6. The first was pure reaction. The ball was full. He drove on the up. Six down the ground. Now the mind games began.A fast bowler getting hit out of the park usually comes back with a bouncer and Shashank was waiting for it. Boom. Six over midwicket. A fast bowler leaking runs in the last over goes back to basics. And Shashank, yet again, was waiting for it. Yorker turns into full-toss. Scooped for six over fine leg.Markram was supposed to be Sunrisers’ pace-hitter, and he was, scoring 56 off 40 balls in a third-wicket partnership with Abhishek that contributed 96 off 61. But the innings that took Sunrisers all the way up to the stratosphere came from a total unknown.Umran Malik blasted out five wickets including those of Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya•BCCI

The most unreal five-for
Malik needed only four deliveries to break through. Until then, everything the Titans touched was ending up on the boundary.Saha is a deeply underrated batter, especially in the powerplay, where his strike rate of 134.04 has him rubbing shoulders with legends like Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist and Chris Gayle.He was single-handedly leading a team with a flawed top three into a winning position. But then Malik came on and broke his opening partner’s stumps. 69 for 1. Then he broke Saha’s stumps. 122 for 3. Then David Miller’s. 139 for 4. And finally Abhinav Manohar’s. 140 for 5.This was a visceral spell of fast bowling. Most Malik spells are because he is all about speed. He runs in from a distance. He explodes into the crease. And the ball comes out as if shot through a cannon. Only the very best batters can handle such a barrage. And even they are no match when a delivery at 150 kph lands in the perfect spot.Saha was done by an inswinging yorker. Manohar was taken out by one that seamed away off the pitch. Hardik was beaten for pace, the first ball he faced bruising his his back shoulder, another one catching him halfway into a pull shot. Let that sink in. Malik caught Hardik and his ferociously quick hands halfway through a shot. He really is quickRahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan made 59 runs in the last four overs•BCCI

Tewatia time
At the end of Malik’s spell (4-0-25-5), ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster gave Titans a 12% chance of winning the game. And that was enough to wind Tewatia up.The required rate was 17.5 when he sent one of the season’s best death bowlers for 12 runs in the 19th over. T Natarajan missed his yorker by just a few inches and that was enough for the full-time miracle worker to smash it over deep midwicket for a six.Still, Sunrisers had 21 runs to play with in the final over. But that came down to 15 when Tewatia slog-swept Marco Jansen’s first ball for another six. That bent-knee strike is just lethal, and has a range spanning mid-off to square leg. All it takes is the slightest mistake from the bowler and Tewatia is already under the ball, preparing to send it into orbit.Even with all that, it came down to Titans needing nine off the last two. Jansen knew this was it. He had to win the game with this ball. His best bet was hiding it from the batter’s reach. Wide yorker.Sliced for six.Rashid broke the game open with that shot. And he was able to do that because he knows the way a bowler will think in that situation. After that, it was just a matter of those incredible wrists powering the ball over the rope.Three off one now. Jansen goes slower bouncer. Rashid hooks on instinct. It flies to long leg. Natarajan is there. He leaps. The entire ground country holds its breath. A split second stretches into eternity. The ball beats the fielder. By inches. And the game is over.Except it’s not. Because we’ll still be living it for years to come.

Jade Dernbach and Morne Morkel shared eight wickets as Somerset, who had followed on 279 runs behind, were bowled out for 210

ECB Reporters Network22-Jun-2018
ScorecardSurrey routed Somerset by an innings with more than four sessions to spare to replace them at the Specsavers County Championship table.Jade Dernbach and Morne Morkel shared eight wickets as Somerset, who had followed on 279 runs behind, were bowled out for 210 in 61.2 overs to hand Surrey victory by an innings and 68 runs.Only James Hildreth, who finished unbeaten on 89, offered prolonged resistance to a rampant Surrey seam attack. It is the first time since 1958 that Surrey have won three games in succession by an innings and they went on to win the Championship that season as well.The odds on a first title since 2002, which was when Surrey last won at Guildford, will have shortened after this impressive performance.They set victory by taking five wickets in the first hour as Somerset, who resumed on 18 for 0, lurched to 69 for 5.Morkel made the breakthrough with his first ball of the day, trapping Matt Renshaw lbw half forward for two. Dernbach then picked up the first of two wickets in his opening spell when George Bartlett drove loosely and was caught behind.Ed Byrom could only fend off the next delivery – a well-directed bouncer from Morkel – to short leg then Dernbach pinned Tom Abell deep in his crease.Rikki Clarke had Steve Davies held in the gully at which point Somerset had lost five wickets for 51 runs before Hildreth and Lewis Gregory dug in, either side of lunch.They added 62 runs to raise Somerset hopes of a fightback before another well-directed short ball from Morkel broke the stand as Gregory edged low to Clarke at slip.Dom Bess played down the wrong line and lost his off stump to Clarke but Josh Davey gave Hildreth good support in an eighth wicket stand of 62 although Davey rode his luck. Surrey were convinced he had been caught behind before he had got into single figures and he was dropped on 19 by Scott Borthwick at second slip.Hildreth pulled offspinner Amar Virdi, who was being watched by England’s chief selector Ed Smith, into the adjoining road for six and coped well with Morkel’s pace but he ran out of partners. Davey eventually gloved another good lifter, this time from Dernbach, to wicketkeeper Ollie Pope and Tim Groenewald played on for a second-ball duck.Morkel applied the final touch when Max Waller, batting as concussion replacement for Jack Leach, who had been struck on the helmet by the South African on the second day, edged another bumper to Pope.Hildreth hit 13 fours and faced 127 balls but lacked support against a Surrey side who look well equipped to end their long wait for the title on this evidence.

India’s ODI captain had reached the top for the first time in 2005, more than 16 years ago

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jul-2021Mithali Raj has reclaimed the No. 1 spot among women ODI batters more than 16 years after she had first reached the perch – it’s the eighth time at the top for her – after her aggregate of 206 runs in the 2-1 series defeat to England lifted her four spots in the latest update to the rankings.Related

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• Mithali Raj: 'I don't seek validation from people'

• Nida Dar becomes the first Pakistani to 100 T20I wickets

Raj had started the three-match series at eighth place, but the chart-topping batting performance, including a match-winning 75* in 86 balls in India’s win in the third ODI, put her at the top of the table for the first time since February 2018. The first time she was No. 1 was way back in April 2005 after she had scored 91* against New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup; the difference of more than 16 years at the No. 1 position is the longest for any woman batter. England’s Janette Brittin was at the top for the first time in 1984 and the last time in 1995, while New Zealand’s Debbie Hockley achieved the feat for the first time in 1987 and for the final time in 1997.Among the England players to have gained following the series win were batters Lauren Winfield-Hill and Sophia Dunkley and Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross, Nat Sciver and Sarah Glenn among bowlers.Winfield-Hill moved up 14 places to No. 41 after hitting 42 and 36, while Dunkley continued her rapid rise, rising 80 places to 76th after scoring 73* and 28. Left-arm spinner Ecclestone moved to a career-best sixth position, a gain of four spots, after returning 3 for 33 and 2 for 36, Cross’ 5 for 34 in the second ODI pushed her up from 25th to 18th position, while Sciver and Glenn both moved up one spot to 22nd and 43rd, respectively.Nida Dar recently became the first Pakistani – man or woman – to pick up 100 T20I wickets•IDI/Getty Images

Among the Indians, Deepti Sharma went up one place to No. 12 after picking up 3 for 47 in the last ODI, while Jhulan Goswami rose four places to No. 53 and, among batters, Shafali Verma’s 44 and 19 in the last two games helped her gain 49 places to reach 71st.T20Is: Nida Dar gets into top 15
Pakistan spinner Nida Dar, who became the first from her country to reach the milestone of 100 T20I wickets, moved from the 21st to the 15th position after finishing with four wickets in the three-match series in the West Indies.West Indies swept the three-match series, and that was reflected in the rise of Shamilia Connell and Stafanie Taylor among the bowlers and Chedean Nation and Kycia Knight among the batters.Connell picked up five wickets in the series, and moved up 14 slots to 27th place, while Taylor, who picked up a hat-trick in the final fixture on her way to 4 for 17, advanced ten places to reach 42nd position. Nation progressed 17 places to 61st and Knight 20 places to 71st.

Australia take cautious approach to side strain recovery, Boland expected to be fit after SCG tumble

Andrew McGlashan07-Jan-2022Josh Hazlewood will miss the final Ashes Test in Hobart as Australia continue to take a cautious approach to his recovery from the side strain he picked up in the opening match at the Gabba.However, Australia are confident that Scott Boland will have no major ill-effects from the tumble he took on the final ball of the second session at the SCG which left him needing a scan on his ribs after his elbow jammed into his side.Boland did not bowl after tea, having claimed two wickets during the opening session as England fell to 36 for 4, but would have been able to return late in the day if needed. He may not be used again in the first innings if Australia wrap it up quickly but should be available for the final innings of the match.If Hazlewood had been fit for this Test, Boland would have been left out despite his stunning 6 for 7 at the MCG. Now he will hope to play three matches in a row, although will face pressure from Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser who both featured in the Adelaide day-night Test.Scott Boland clutches his side after slipping on release•Getty Images

Coach Justin Langer said after the third day’s play in Sydney that Hazlewood would be held back for Australia’s upcoming white-ball cricket which includes an ODI series and one-off T20I against New Zealand followed by a T20I series against Sri Lanka which CA confirmed on Saturday morning”Unfortunately Josh hasn’t come up, hopefully he’ll be right for the white-ball game,” he said. “It’s been really tough on him, he’s been really hanging out to play this Ashes like everyone.”A CA statement said: “Hazlewood, the national selection panel and sports science and sports medicine ream agreed he would remain in Sydney for the next three weeks before joining the squad for the One-Day International Series against New Zealand and T20 International Series against Sri Lanka.”The New Zealand and Sri Lanka series will form part of his preparations for the Test and white-ball tour of Pakistan from early March.”Langer added that Richardson, who has been nursing a lower leg problem since the second Test where he took a five-wicket haul, would be in contention under lights in Hobart.”To have guys like Michael Neser and Jhye… they’ll both be in contention. It’s exciting to have these options with a couple of our players going down.”Related

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Mitchell Starc is the only specialist Australia quick to have played every Test of the series with captain Pat Cummins forced to sit out Adelaide after being a close contact of a Covid case.Having dominated the first session at the SCG – stringing together 11 maidens in a row either side of lunch while taking three wickets – Australia’s attack came under sustained pressure for the first time in the series from Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow, although they have remained well ahead in the contest, to pose a few questions to Cummins.”I thought our first two hours, similar to what we’ve seen this whole Test series, was as relentless bowling as I’ve seen from Australian cricket,” Langer said. “Then as we’ve been waiting for throughout the series, a great fightback. I thought Ben Stokes was courageous with his side [injury], Jonny Bairstow a brilliant Test hundred, he got a rough knock on his thumb.”England had the better of us in the second two sessions. That will be good for Pat and his captaincy development. It can’t always be rainbows and butterflies as he’s probably found so far. We’ll talk about how we are going to attack England in the morning but so far he hasn’t put a foot wrong and don’t think he has today, either.”

Josh Little’s four-wicket ends up as a footnote in the game as Ireland fail to chase 174

Sreshth Shah18-Jul-2022Lockie Ferguson used his assortment of quick deliveries and change-ups to take a four-wicket haul, and in the process left Ireland 31 runs short of New Zealand’s score of 173, handing the visitors a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.In sunny (and warm) Belfast conditions, Ireland dominated for most of the first innings, leaving New Zealand struggling at 100 for 5, but Glenn Phillips’ late flurry with the bat pushed the visitors to 173 for 8 in 20 overs.After Phillips’ unbeaten 52-ball 69, Ferguson took charge of proceedings, dismissing Gareth Delany and Paul Stirling early. He then returned to remove Ireland’s top scorer Curtis Campher for 29 and took the final wicket of the game, Craig Young caught behind.Ireland had some positives, especially left-arm seamer Josh Little’s four-wicket haul that strangled New Zealand for most of the first innings. But they conceded 61 runs in the last five overs and that proved to be the turning point in the end. Phillips was the man who did most of the damage in this period and because of that he was fittingly named Player of the Match.NZ bowlers rally around FergusonEarly wickets were needed for New Zealand’s fairly inexperienced bowling unit to defend 173, and they came starting with a backpedaling catch from captain Mitchell Santner in the third over. Jacob Duffy, playing for the first time since his appearance against Bangladesh in 2021, forced a miscued inside-out shot from Andy Balbirnie to get that opening wicket. After that, Ferguson picked off Stirling and Delany fairly cheaply.The middle-overs squeeze came from Santner, James Neesham and Ish Sodhi, the trio sharing five wickets in their 11 overs, as Ireland stumbled to 96 for 7 by the 13th. The seventh wicket was that of Campher’s, who appeared to be the only Irish batter willing to muster up a challenge, but he was done in by a Ferguson yorker – plumb lbw – and then the tail wagged but not for long enough.As the pitch got older, run-scoring got tougher, and Santner and Neesham in particular made it even more difficult by changing their speeds and not offering deliveries at the arc of the Irish batters. Santner picked up the wickets of Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker with edges to short third man and the wicketkeeper respectively while Neesham’s two strikes in the 17th over sent Ireland from seven down to nine down in the space of four balls.Ferguson then finished the game off, delivering a bouncer to No. 10 Young, who gloved it to the debutant Dane Cleaver.New Zealand struggle with the batWith key senior players missing from the T20I tour for New Zealand, the onus was on Martin Guptill to provide a rollicking start after they were put in to bat. But while he did race to 24 off 11 balls, three of his five boundaries were off the edge, and he eventually fell searching for a big shot to Mark Adair in the third over. His opening partner Finn Allen smacked a cut off Little straight to cover for 1 off 7 balls and the debutant Cleaver fell early too, gloving a short ball from Little through to the keeper.At 38 for 3, New Zealand’s innings needed resuscitation. Phillips tried to do that by pushing his partner Daryl Mitchell for an extra run whenever he could on a Stormont ground where the square boundaries were quite large. But Mitchell struggled with timing, and Campher’s medium-pace had him walking back to the pavillion after he top-edged a short ball for a 10-ball 5. At 54 for 4, Ireland had the upper hand.Phillips’ rescue actWith only New Zealand’s middle and lower-middle order left, Phillips reined in his shot-making to try and last the whole innings. In Neesham, he found someone who could be the risk-taker, and Neesham’s 16-ball 29 in a partnership of 46 helped New Zealand reach triple-digits by the 14th over. However, Neesham fell next ball to left-arm spinner George Dockrell before the slog-overs explosion could really come about.Joined by No. 7 Michael Bracewell – on T20I debut – Phillips was on 28 in 31 balls with six overs to go. But he thumped Little for two fours in the 15th over to get his strike-rate to over 100, and then, off the same bowler, slashed a four behind point in the 19th over to reach his fifty in 45 balls.Phillips saved his best for the final over. After surviving a lucky toe-ended shot that squirted past the keeper for four, Phillips clattered Adair for four and six to take 19 runs off the 20th to not only finish on a tidy 69 but also hand New Zealand the momentum at the break.

Mahmudullah top-scored with a 44-ball 56 to help Khulna ace their 167 chase, consigning Rajshahi Kings to their fifth loss in seven games this season

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRaton Gomes/BCB

Ariful Haque smashed an unbeaten 19-ball 43 to lift Khulna Titans to their fourth win of the season from an improbable situation against Rajshahi Kings in Dhaka. With 36 required to win off 18 balls with three wickets in hand, Ariful hammered all 36 runs to consign Rajshahi to their fifth loss in seven games this season.Chasing 167, Khulna were led by captain Mahmudullah’s 44-ball 56, which featured eight fours and a six. His dismissal though, in the 14th over with 60 runs still to get, sparked a collapse that saw Khulna slip to 128 for 8, before Ariful’s match-changing cameo.Belligerent fiftiesRajshahi had slipped to 21 for 3 in three overs, after they were asked to bat first. But Dwayne Smith, playing his first game of the season, and Mushfiqur Rahim kept attacking. Smith was particularly effective on the leg side, frequently pulling and heaving boundaries in the arc between square leg and long-on. He struck seven fours and four sixes in his 36-ball 62.Mushfiqur hit a 33-ball 55, that included four fours and three sixes, before he holed out to deep midwicket in the 16th over. From that point, Rajshahi could only add 25 runs in 25 balls to finish at 166 for 8. Junaid Khan finished with 4 for 27 in his first BPL game of the season.A boundary an overMohammad Sami took two early wickets in the chase to restrict Khulna to 13 for 2. Mahmudullah and Rilee Rossouw were hardly deterred, continuing to attack to capitalise on the Powerplay. Khulna hit 13 boundaries in the first 10 overs, at least one in each over, to gain control of the game. However, they lost wickets in clumps right through their innings, as Rajshahi quickly gained the ascendancy.Changing the gameWith 36 to win and Junaid Khan at the other end, Ariful was forced to hog the strike. In the 18th over, he hit three boundaries – two fours and a six – off Hossain Ali through mid-off, which cut the equation down to 18 runs off 12 balls.He then faced all six balls of the penultimate over, bowled by Sami, taking him for nine runs, including a sweep over square leg. Smith, defending eight off the final over, erred with two straight full tosses. Ariful heaved the first over square leg for six and scooped the second for four through fine leg.

The tournament titled Lanka T10 League will be played over 12 days in June 2023

Madushka Balasuriya21-Nov-2022Sri Lanka Cricket has pencilled in June 2023 for the launch of its inaugural T10 league. Titled the Lanka T10 League, the tournament will also host both a men’s and women’s tournament in the same slot first – meaning matches would take place “concurrently,” potentially on alternating days, though SLC is yet to iron out the details.Related

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SLC also announced that six men’s teams and four women’s teams will take part, with each to be named after a Sri Lankan city – similar to those in the Lanka Premier League.While the precise dates and venues are yet to be finalised, it is expected that venues in Kandy and Hambantota will likely host the matches, while SLC anticipates substantial player registrations – over 1600, which was the number for the most recent Abu Dhabi T10 League – for the yet to be announced player draft.Each team will be allowed a 16-member squad, in which there can be a maximum of six foreign players.The tournament will be held over 12 days in June next year. However, going forward it is understood that SLC will look to hold it in December, with the LPL set for the August window.”Next year also we will have the LPL in December, but going forward we have reserved a window in August for that,” SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said. “So for next year, we will have the Lanka T10 in June and the LPL in December, but from 2024 onwards, the T10 tournament will move to December and the LPL to August.”Sri Lanka has long been a proponent of T10 cricket, with it being the first Full Member to sanction and endorse its players to participate in the Abu Dhabi T10 League. Since then, the cricket boards in the West Indies, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have followed suit.

Fresh off a triple-century, David Lloyd passes fifty for sixth time this season in promotion push

ECB Reporters Network26-Sep-2022Glamorgan made good progress on a rain-ruined first day against Sussex in their push for promotion from Division Two of the LV= County Championship.Eight points behind second-placed Middlesex at start of play and needing a win to give them a chance of finishing in the top two, they progressed at more than five runs an over in the 41.2 overs possible at the 1st Central County Ground, reaching 221 for 3.Indian batter Shubman Gill led the way with an unbeaten 91 off just 102 balls while skipper David Lloyd, fresh from his triple hundred against Derbyshire last week, scored 56 against an anodyne Sussex attack.Skipper Lloyd bucked the recent trend at Hove by batting first when play began an hour late because of morning rain. His decision was quickly justified as Glamorgan made serene progress on a flat pitch.Brad Currie was the pick of the Sussex attack and took two wickets but the home side, who haven’t bowled an opposition out twice all season, struggled to back him up.Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashfraf, who is playing the final game of a three-match trial before Sussex decide whether to sign him for 2023, was withdrawn after bowling three wayward overs for 21 runs with the new ball.At the Cromwell Road end Currie was much more effective and he broke through in his fifth over when Eddie Byrom was surprised by a ball that left him off the pitch which he edged to wicketkeeper Charlie Tear for 21.Gill and Lloyd put on 57 in 12 overs between further stoppages either side of lunch with few alarms with Lloyd, who scored an unbeaten 313 in his last Championship innings, passing fifty for the sixth time this season. It was a surprise when left-armer Sean Hunt went round the wicket and thudded the ball low into his pads as the batter played half-forward. Lloyd’s 56 came off 64 balls with six fours and two sixes.Sam Northeast became Currie’s second victim when he edged an outswinger which Tom Alsop caught low at first slip with the total 151 in only the 27th over.Even with the floodlights on, Gill and Billy Root had little trouble in adding a further 70 runs in 15 overs before the players came off again 20 minutes after tea because of bad light. Gill, strong on the front foot and dismissive of anything short, has so far hit two sixes, including an effortless pick-up over mid-wicket off Currie that was the shot of the day, and 11 fours. Root is unbeaten on 17.Umpires Paul Baldwin and Tom Lungley held two further inspections before calling play off at 5.15pm but Glamorgan will feel it has been a productive day.