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Shahzad, Rajapaksa romp to victory after Bopara, Munaf star with ball

Aadam Patel29-Nov-2021Chennai Braves 114 for 0 (Rajapaksa 55*, Shahzad 54*) beat Northern Warriors 108 (Bopara 2-6) by ten wicketsEleven days and 26 games later, the Chennai Braves finally got themselves their first win of the Abu Dhabi T10, at the ninth time of asking.”Better late than never,” as player of the match, Bhanuka Rajapaksa said post-match. They had the Sri Lankan to thank as he notched up his third half-century of the tournament with 55 not out off just 23 deliveries. Alongside the always-entertaining Mohammad Shahzad, who hit 54 not out off 29 balls, the pair ensured that the Braves got their first points on the board.Of course, it was all a little too late. After eight consecutive defeats, the Braves looked all but destined to end their first experience at the Abu Dhabi T10 without a win to their name. Without Nicholas Pooran – their icon player – throughout the tournament, the Braves have lacked match-winners and an injury to Yusuf Pathan certainly didn’t help.Angelo Perera, handed the captaincy midway through the tournament, praised two of their more experienced players in Ravi Bopara and Munaf Patel for orchestrating their win, as Northern Warriors were bowled out for 108. It was the first time that the Braves had managed to take more than five wickets in an innings.From the moment Curtis Campher trapped the devastating Kennar Lewis for a golden duck, the Braves looked like a team determined to end their hoodoo thus far. Campher had Moeen Ali caught at deep backward square leg, just as he was getting going and despite the tournament top scorer, Rovman Powell smashing young Englishman, Roman Walker, for three sixes in the seventh over, Shanaka got the West Indian in the next, Powell sending one straight to Campher in the deep.With the very next ball, Shanaka dismissed Umair Ali and after Bopara picked up two wickets in the penultimate over. It was left to Dhananjaya Lakshan to get rid of Imran Tahir, before Oshane Thomas was run out with a ball to spare.”A lot of credit goes to the bowling unit and also, we had a good outing in the field,” said Perera. “Yes, it was frustrating [to be winless], but today we had a different plan and Ravi and Munaf took the responsibility of talking to the bowlers and their experience has shown today. I think they executed the plan really well.”In their previous three matches, the Braves had managed totals of 107, 89 & 57, so chasing 109 was never going to be a walk in the park. However Rajapaksa and Shahzad got the job done in style. After a tight first over from Tahir, Shahzad let loose with five boundaries off Abhimanyu Mithun in the second. Together, the pair picked away at the total, sucking the energy out of the Warriors – who knew that they also had no chance of progressing to the play-offs.There was still 21 needed off three overs when Oshane Thomas was brought back into the attack. Thomas has had a fascinating tournament thus far, picking up the only hat-trick of the T10 in his first game, before returning the worst figures in T10 history with 0 for 50 in his two overs against Team Abu Dhabi. Yet, he came back from that, with three wickets the following night against the Deccan Gladiators.Related

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However, Rajapaksa ensured that this was another night to forget for the West Indian, who after getting run-out for a duck, was dispatched by the Sri Lankan for 20 in his second over. With a majestic drive over the sweeper cover, the 30-year-old brought up his fifty in style.And it was left for Shahzad to bring up his half-century too with a six, which also sealed the win. Between them, the pair hit 15 fours and six sixes and at long last, the Chennai outfit had some points on the table and something to shout about.”When I was batting with Shazy [Shahzad], I can’t really run so it’s really a case of see ball, hit ball,” said Rajapaksa. “I guess it worked tonight!”As the league stage of the tournament comes to a conclusion with just four games remaining, the four play-off spots have already been decided. Team Abu Dhabi, Deccan Gladiators, Bangla Tigers and Delhi Bulls will make up the sides ready to battle it out over two play-off days on Friday and Saturday. It remains to be seen which two sides will finish as the top two and thus have two bites of the cherry, as they look to make the final of the Abu Dhabi T10.In the earlier game, Liam Livingstone smashed a brutal 59 off 24 to help Team Abu Dhabi reclaim top spot, as they edged out Deccan Gladiators by eight runs.

Carsen, Kasperek and Kerr took two wickets each to restrict Sri Lanka to a modest score

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jul-2023New Zealand 107 for 5 (Bates 44, Kerr 34, Priyadharshani 3-17) beat Sri Lanka 106 for 9 (Gunaratne 26, Kerr 2-18, Carson 2-20, Kasperek 2-21) by five wicketsNew Zealand’s spinners Eden Carson, Amelia Kerr and Leigh Kasperek combined to take six wickets and restrict Sri Lanka to 106 for 9 to set up a five-wicket win in the opening T20I of the three-match series in Colombo.Opener Suzie Bates and No. 3 Kerr then knocked off 78 runs between them from the 107-run target to ensure New Zealand had scored enough before a middle-order stutter to win with seven balls to spare.New Zealand cashed in on their decision to bowl by getting the big fish Chamari Athapaththu first ball, castled by offspinner Carson. The second-wicket stand of 37 between Vishmi Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama was the only good sign for the hosts before Kerr took a return-catch to send Gunaratne back for 26. Sri Lanka never recovered from that and lost five wickets for just 35 runs to stumble to 72 for 6 in the 15th over. Returning to T20 internationals after nearly two years, offspinner Kasperek had Samarawickrama stumped and trapped Kavisha Dilhari lbw to finish with 2 for 21.Anushka Sanjeewani and Oshadi Ranasinghe revived Sri Lanka’s innings briefly by stitching a stand of 29 for the seventh wicket to take them past 100 but Sanjeewani’s run out broke the partnership before Kerr ran out Udeshika Prabodhani and took Ranasinghe’s return-catch as well, on the last ball of the innings, to finish with 2 for 18. New Zealand had used as many as eight bowling options.The visitors lost Bernadine Bezuidenhout early in the chase before Bates and Kerr put them in command with a 58-run stand, scoring 44 and 34 respectively. New Zealand withstood a wobble when offspinner Inoshi Priyadharshani struck twice in three balls and then in her next over as well to send back Kerr, Sophie Devine for a duck and Maddy Green for 5. With 30 required off 38 balls, New Zealand were still in command and Bates nearly took them all the way home before falling for 44. Georgia Plimmer knocked off the winning runs not long after.

Siddle, Boyce, Conway’s efforts with the ball in vain for Strikers in Lynn’s last BBL game of the season

Tristan Lavalette14-Jan-2023Brisbane Heat revived their struggling BBL season and spoiled the returns of Travis Head and Alex Carey with a 17-run victory over Adelaide Strikers in sweltering conditions.After being sent in, under-pressure Heat mustered a modest 154 in temperatures nudging 40 degrees celsius at the Adelaide Oval.But they bowled superbly with seamer James Bazley claiming three wickets to thwart Strikers’ star-studded batting order and sour former Heat star Chris Lynn’s final BBL match of the season.It was the second time Heat beat Strikers this season to climb off the bottom of the ladder.

Johnson’s rapid pace again impresses

Tearaway Spencer Johnson was a shining light in Heat’s big home loss to Perth Scorchers with fiery bowling in his BBL debut.There was intrigue if the left-arm quick could back it up and Johnson did just that with a maiden over to start, where he hit speeds of 150kmh to fluster Lynn. So impressive was Johnson that Australian great Adam Gilchrist on the Fox broadcast likened the 27-year-old to his namesake Mitchell Johnson.But Johnson, who played in the 50-over Marsh Cup previously for South Australia and was on Adelaide Strikers’ list last season, was brought back to earth in his next over by a typically fearless Lynn.He returned in the 16th over amid the power surge and impressively held his nerve. Johnson then claimed his maiden BBL wicket with a perfect yorker to knock over Wes Agar to cap another fine performance.

Strikers’ star-studded batting order fail to fire

There was much anticipation over the return of skipper Head, whose belligerent Test batting against West Indies and South Africa seemingly had him primed for the BBL. But Head lasted just two balls after being bowled by left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann much to the disappointment of the home faithful.New batter Lynn was keen to finish his strong first campaign with Strikers on a high and started with a gorgeous drive to the boundary off Kuhnemann. But he was bogged down by Johnson before falling to Kuhnemann for 22 off 24 balls. It was a disappointment for Lynn, who finished with 416 runs at a strike-rate of 141 from 11 matches.Returning from Test duties, Alex Carey fell in the next over for just two and Strikers’ chase never recovered.

Labuschagne falls short of maiden BBL half-century

The returns of Test trio Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Renshaw and skipper Usman Khawaja failed to spark Heat against Scorchers.They hoped to cash in at the traditionally batting-friendly Adelaide Oval, but Khawaja fell for two in the third over before Labuschagne and Renshaw turned things around with a 42-run third-wicket partnership.Renshaw looked in sweet touch, but for the second straight game couldn’t kick on. With inventiveness, including well executed scoops, Labuschagne anchored the innings as he eyed a maiden BBL half-century in his 19th match.But he fell short and Heat struggled in the backend. English batter Sam Hain, who mostly grew up in Australia and played for their Under-19s side, was unluckily run out at the non-striker’s end after a touch from spinner Ben Manenti in his follow through. He made just six, but Heat had cobbled together a total that surprisingly proved more than enough.

Boyce winds back the clock

Former Australia T20 legspinner Cameron Boyce has proven a solid replacement for talisman Rashid Khan, who left to play in South Africa’s new T20 league.The 33-year-old had bowled well without reward in Strikers’ last two matches before making an impact on a slow surface offering some spin.He came into the attack in the sixth over with Strikers under pressure from big-hitting opener Josh Brown. Boyce smartly took pace off the ball to lure Brown into a false shot for his first wicket of the season.He then bowled well during the middle overs and broke a dangerous partnership between Renshaw and Labuschagne.Boyce fortunately picked up the wicket of Renshaw with a half-tracker, but was rewarded after building pressure through mixing up his speed.Having once been a much-hyped prospect, playing seven T20Is from 2014-16, Boyce’s career was derailed by injuries before he spectacularly re-emerged late last season with four wickets in four balls for Melbourne Renegades against Sydney Thunder.It led to being recruited by Strikers, who wanted suitable cover for Rashid which has proven prophetic so far. After he finished his four-over spell, Boyce went off the ground with a suspected calf niggle and Strikers will be hoping it is not a serious injury.

The IPL has initiated steps to ensure that all contracted cricketers, except those with international commitments, are made available for the entire season

Ajay S Shankar16-Nov-2009The IPL has initiated steps to ensure that all cricketers who have been contracted by its franchises are available to play for the entire season from next year, except those with international commitments. This effectively means that these contracted players, and their national boards, will have to put the IPL ahead of their domestic commitments.A press release issued on Monday said that in case of a default, the IPL will impose penalties on such players, including termination of player contracts and a ban on future participation, although Lalit Modi, the league’s chairman, told Cricinfo that this would only happen in a worst-case scenario.In what can be seen as a two-pronged deterrent, the IPL, which is owned by BCCI, will also ask the governing council of the Champions League Twenty20, comprising senior officials from India, Australia and South Africa, to take “appropriate action” against participating national boards in that tournament if they don’t issue an IPL clearance for their players citing domestic commitments as a reason. While an IPL ban will affect players directly, any sanction on participating in the Champions League will impact the national board, which gets a share of the money from the organisers apart from an appearance fee for its competing domestic team.However, the IPL said that this move does not cover players with international commitments and those who will play in matches scheduled under the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) during the tournament. These decisions were finalised during the league’s workshop in Bangkok last week to ensure that the IPL franchises get their best players, who have been paid huge amounts by the teams, to be part of the league.

Expansion opposed

The IPL has confirmed its previous decision to expand to 10 teams from 2011, but the move was opposed during the recent Bangkok workshop by one franchise, believed to be Chennai Super Kings. “A discussion for the addition of two new franchises in Season 4 was held with the same being adopted with 7 of the 8 franchises being in favour of increasing the number of teams to 10,” an IPL statement said. The Chennai franchise, owned by N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, is apparently concerned that the addition of teams would impact the value of existing franchises, and cut into their share of the central sponsorship pie that includes a billion-dollar TV rights deal. It will also necessitate a fresh auction of all players before the fourth season. But an IPL official said that the addition of more teams would add more money to the pool in terms of franchise purchase fee, which is expected to run into millions of dollars.

“The IPL will work with all the cricket boards to ensure that cricketers contracted with the eight franchises are available for the season,” Modi told Cricinfo. “The IPL 2010 season is in March-April, when a lot of domestic domestic tournaments will still be on. This is a one-off situation. A worst-case scenario could mean penalties on such players (who skip IPL matches citing domestic commitments), including termination of contracts, jeopardising future participation. However, we do not want to walk that path and are hopeful that we can sort this through discussions with the boards.”The next IPL will be held from March 12 to April 25, instead of the usual April-May slot, to avoid a clash with the ICC World Twenty20 that starts soon after. However, this advanced IPL schedule clashes with the Australian domestic season, which ends on March 23, and the South African season that ends on March 28. Players from both these countries are among the most sought-after in the Indian league. The Australian cricketers will then be busy with the New Zealand series that ends on March 31.Apparently, the IPL wants to adopt the model of the Champions League Twenty20, which ensured that the best players from the top domestic teams from the seven participating countries (India, Australia, South Africa, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand) were available for the multi-nation club tournament. “Given that this was also the founding principle of the Champions League Twenty20, it was agreed that in the event any of the member boards not issuing an NOC to their players for participation in the IPL, on the pretext of domestic engagements, IPL could make a representation to the governing council of the Champions League for taking appropriate action against the members boards’ participation in the League,” the IPL release stated.The BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa are founding partners of the Champions League and its governing council comprises Lalit Modi, its chairman, Niranjan Shah, its vice-chairman, N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, Dean Kino, CA’s business and legal affairs head, and Gerald Majola, CSA’s chief executive.The IPL press release added that the measures discussed at the workshop in case of a no-show by the players include “termination of player contracts and barring from future participation in the IPL, of players that have signed contracts, but fail to make themselves available for playing in the IPL.”This will exclude any instances wherein players would have international and FTP commitments and was aimed at ensuring that players make themselves available for the IPL post their FTP commitments, especially, since such players would have already received a player release to play in the IPL from their respective boards.”

“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.”

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.

NZ batter heads back to Trent Bridge after helping Rockets to Hundred title last year

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2023Colin Munro has signed for Notts Outlaws as an overseas player for the 2023 Vitality Blast.Munro, the 35-year-old left-handed top-order batter from New Zealand, was part of the Trent Rockets team which won the men’s Hundred title in 2022.He has three centuries from 62 T20I innings with a career strike-rate of 156.44, and has represented New Zealand on 123 occasions across all formats. Munro is also the 12th-highest run-scorer in T20 history, having scored 9,195 runs.”I’ve witnessed first-hand how much the crowd get behind the team with the Rockets last summer and when I’ve been fortunate, or unfortunate, to come up against the Outlaws at home,” Munro said. “I’m joining a team which plays an aggressive brand of cricket which suits my style and how I like to go about scoring runs. I want to come in and add my experience to what is already a well-oiled machine.”Related

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Munro scored 206 runs in nine matches for Trent Rockets last season at an average of 41.2 and strike rate of 168.85. In addition to The Hundred and previous stints in county cricket with Hampshire and Worcestershire, Durban-born Munro has IPL, PSL, Big Bash and CPL experience, with titles in the latter two tournaments and a total of 365 short-format appearances around the world.Peter Moores, Nottinghamshire’s head coach, described Munro as “a quality player”.”We’ve spoken a lot about Dan [Christian] and what he brought to us; experience, quality and a positive and dynamic style of play,” Moores said. “I see Colin in the same bracket. He’s got his game sorted, he’s played T20 cricket all around the world and he will complement the likes of Alex Hales at the top of the order.”We’re conscious of the fact that Ben [Duckett] has done really well for England and there’s more than a fair chance that we’ll miss him for parts of the summer. That’s one of the reasons we wanted to bring Colin in, to make sure we have that wealth of experience to call upon.”Christian, who won the Blast with Notts Outlaws in 2017 and 2020 as part of a glittering global T20 career, recently announced that he would retire from cricket at the end of Sydney Sixers’ current BBL campaign. Duckett, meanwhile, returned to the reckoning with England’s Test and T20 sides late last year.

Back-to-back champions rack up 226 for 4 to hand Welsh Fire hefty defeat

ECB Media16-Aug-2025Oval Invincibles 226 for 5 (Cox 86*, Henry 2-39) beat Welsh Fire 143 (Bairstow 50, T Curran 4-15) by 83 runsOval Invincibles, led by an inspired Jordan Cox, smashed the highest score in the history of the Hundred, racking up 226 for 4 from their 100 balls as they crushed Welsh Fire by 83 runs at the Kia Oval.Asked to bat first in front of a packed home crowd, the Invincibles’ innings sprung into life inside the first 10 balls, Will Jacks hitting Matt Henry for back-to-back boundaries.Tawanda Muyeye then deposited David Payne for two sixes in a row as the home side started to put their foot down, racing to 54 for 0 after the 25-ball powerplay.Saif Zaib came into the attack and made a fortunate but much-needed breakthrough, Muyeye pulling a half-tracker into the hands of Payne on the square-leg boundary.Henry returned to the attack to remove Jacks, Chris Green taking yet another fine running catch in this year’s tournament. Invincibles reached the halfway mark of the innings on a very healthy 89 for 2.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Cox deposited Ajeet Singh Dale, playing his first game in the Hundred, for three consecutive sixes over the leg-side boundary and then sent him over the rope again from the final ball of the set with an incredible reverse-scoop.Sam Curran joined the party, hitting Green for back-to-back sixes to bring up the Invincibles 150, both he and Cox targeting the shorter boundary to devastating effect.Singh Dale dropped Cox at short-third and the batter took advantage of the life, striking Paul Walter for three sixes in a row, bringing up a 21-ball fifty in the process.Curran went caught in the deep off Green, which brought Donovan Ferreira to the middle, the South African promptly clubbing his first ball down the ground for six.Ferreira launched another six before being caught at long-on by Steve Smith to a chorus of boos. Cox, notably not named in England’s white-ball squads for the upcoming matches against South Africa and Ireland, closed out the innings with 14 runs from the final three balls, finishing 86 not out from 29 deliveries, with 10 sixes.Welsh Fire’s chase started dreadfully, Steve Eskinazi slapping the first ball from Jason Behrendorff to Muyeye who moved well to hang on at backward point.This set the tone for what would be a muted second half, the task just too tough. Jonny Bairstow made an aggressive 50 and Tom Kohler-Cadmore played enterprisingly for 31 from 16, but Fire could only make 143 all out, Tom Curran taking 4 for 15.Cox, named Meerkat Match Hero Cox, said of his power hitting: “Last game I unfortunately lost that front leg and basically had no power then. I did a bit of work in the nets with Donovan, he’s all about base, and it helped.”On the Invincibles, he added: “It’s a proper team and a privilege to be a part of it, to be honest. The depth we’ve got is incredible and it gives you that freedom for sure. We’re playing some pretty good cricket.”

Bangladesh have nearly 500 on the board, but they lost a little ground when they lost five wickets for 26 runs

Andrew Fidel Fernando18-Jun-2025Bangladesh have made 484 for 9 in Galle so far, which is often a winning first-innings score at this venue.But so batting-friendly does this surface appear so far, that even Bangladesh’s assistant coach is willing to claim a definitive advantage. “It’s hard to tell who is in the driving seat – it depends on who is winning each session,” said Mohammad Salahuddin, Bangladesh’s assistant coach. Sri Lanka bowling allrounder Milan Rathnayake had similar things to say. “It’s not easy [to judge which team is ahead]. Both teams did really well today.”Both Rathnayake and Salahuddin also agree that this is an unusually batting-friendly Galle track.”It still looks like a batting-friendly pitch. I hope the wicket can break in the next couple of days,” Salahuddin said.”The pitch is definitely one that favours batters,” Rathnayake said. “Even though it’s the second day, it’s just as good for batting. I don’t think it’s changed since yesterday.”Rathnayake thinks Sri Lanka clawed their way back into the contest in the final session of a rain-interrupted second day. Bangladesh began that final session on 423 for 4, but finished the day on 484 for 9, having lost 5 wickets for 26 runs towards the end of the day.Rathnayake insists that his wickets during that late period, with the old ball, came from conventional swing, rather than reverse swing. And Salahuddin seemed to agree.”I will take the positive from Sri Lanka’s bowling – they maintained the ball very well in that last session, unlike the previous five sessions,” Salahuddin said. “If that’s so, we can use this exact method in our bowling.”Rathnayake, meanwhile, chose to focus on the period of day two in which Sri Lanka made their greatest gains- the last half of the final session. Early in the day, they had missed at least three chances – a catch that went down at short midwicket, plus two run-out opportunities.”We did miss a few chances and it did have an effect,” Rathnayake said. “But at the end of the day our bowlers did make a recovery. Though their batters did well we could have cut down their runs by holding our chances. But I think the bowlers made some ground at the end of the day.”

Panthers were never really in the contest, with six of the top seven failing to reach double figures

Danyal Rasool12-Sep-2024Naseem Shah’s opening salvo with the ball ensured Markhors came away with victory in the opening game of the Champions One-Day Cup against Shadab Khan’s Panthers.Panthers won the toss and inserted Mohammad Rizwan’s side in, with Kamran Ghulam’s 102-ball 115 setting the platform for the formidable 347 Markhors posted. Panthers were never really in the contest, with six of the top seven failing to reach double figures as Naseem’s 3-27 helped reduce them to 52 for 6. A late rearguard by Amad Butt, who managed a spirited 72, was much too little much too late, and the Markhors secured a 160-run win.The opening game of a tournament the PCB had set so much faith and investment in saw Faisalabad attract a decent crowd, which grew as the afternoon heat gave way to evening. Panthers had Markhors on a leash early on, prising Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Faizan out before they could really get going. Offspinner Mubasir Khan was the pick of the bowlers, getting rid of Zaman and Salman Ali Agha, but against most of the other bowlers, Markhors made hay.Shadab Khan was picked off in the middle overs and never returned to bowl, but fellow legspinner Usama Mir was smashed for 83 wicketless runs in his full quota. Amad Butt bore the brunt of a sizzling cameo from Abdul Samad; his 25-ball 62 helped Markhors add 83 runs in the final five overs, posting a total that appeared well above par.Naseem, aided by Shahnawaz Dahani, killed the game off before the chase ever took flight. A combined 5 wickets for 56 ripped through Panthers’ batting order, with Panthers briefly in danger of the heaviest defeat in Pakistan List A history. Amad combined with Mubasir and Usama for a pair of half-century partnerships, which staved off that prospect, but Panthers’ fate had long since been sealed.