Kings kept alive their slim hopes of a playoff spot in the PSL

Associated Press06-Mar-2024
Fast bowler Hasan Ali grabbed 4 for 15 as Karachi Kings kept alive their slim hopes of a playoff spot in the Pakistan Super League with a thumping seven-wicket win over Quetta Gladiators on Wednesday.Hasan varied his pace to bowl out Quetta for this season’s lowest total of 118 in 19.1 overs after captain Shan Masood won the toss and elected to field.Karachi cruised to 121 for 3 with more than four overs to spare with opening batter Tim Siefert (49) notching the top score of the game.Quetta are still among the top two with nine points from seven matches while Karachi are at No. 5 with six points from three wins and four defeats.Blessing Muzarabani (2-27) gave Karachi an early breakthrough when Jason Roy (15) top-edged the tall Zimbabwean fast bowler to Hasan at third man in the third over.Hasan then struck twice in his first over when Saud Shakeel (33) and Khawaja Nafay (17) holed out in the deep as Quetta slipped to 68 for 3 in the ninth over.Former Quetta captain Sarfaraz Ahmed’s struggling season continued as he was run out for 7 in a mix-up with new skipper Rilee Rossouw while going for a tight single.Sarfaraz, who was relieved of the captaincy after Quetta failed to got beyond the league stage in the last four seasons, had scored only 22 runs in five innings.Rossouw also couldn’t accelerate against pace and spin in the middle overs before holing out in leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood’s (2-25) return spell. Hasan then rattled the lower order with his change of pace and claimed two more wickets in his last over.Masood’s run of poor form continued in his first season as the Karachi skipper edged Mohammad Amir in the second over when on 7.But Karachi’s overseas signings Seifert and James Vince (27) played confidently against pace and were hardly troubled by mystery spinner Usman Tariq. Quetta was also wasteful in the field with Sherfane Rutherford and Amir dropping sitters in the outfield.Seifert smashed six fours and two sixes before he missed out on the half century and was stumped but veteran Shoaib Malik carried Karachi to a convincing victory with an unbeaten 27 off 20 balls.

KKR and Royals are the only unbeaten teams in IPL 2024 at this stage, while Capitals have just won their first game after two losses

Ashish Pant02-Apr-2024

Match details

Delhi Capitals (DC) vs Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Visakhapatnam, 1930 IST (1400 GMT)

Big Picture – Whose home ground is it anyway?

Visakhapatnam might be Delhi Capitals’ alternate home venue, but it was a sea of yellow when they played here a couple of days back. That was mostly down to them playing against Chennai Super Kings – more specially, MS Dhoni. When they play Kolkata Knight Riders, Capitals will hope for some more red and blue in the stands as they look to climb up the points table.Capitals know what it’s like to fall behind early in the IPL. They lost their first five games in IPL 2023, which made coming back into the tournament tough. The victory against CSK was important keeping that in mind.Related

• KKR vs Royals match moved to April 16

• Dhoni and Pant jazz up Vizag with modern classic

• Pant: 'Whatever happens, I had to be back on the ground'

They don’t have the batting depth that some of the other teams boast of, and will need their top order to fire again, and keep firing through the tournament.Crucially, Prithvi Shaw, who was among the runs in his first outing in IPL 2024 in the game against CSK, and David Warner have excellent numbers against KKR – no one has scored more than Warner’s 1075 against KKR, while Shaw averages 45 against KKR, and his highest score of 99 also came against them, in 2019.Rishabh Pant’s move to No. 3 against CSK showed positive intent from Capitals, and he repaid the faith with a quick half-century.But they will want runs from the other batters, too.It won’t be easy against KKR, who have won both their games so far this season. They had a scare in the opening game of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad but scored a clinical win against RCB. KKR don’t have a lot of holes to plug, but the one area that needs sorting is their powerplay bowling.It’s still early days in the tournament, but KKR have the poorest powerplay economy among all the teams so far – 10.75. That is partly down to Mitchell Starc having a nightmare start to his IPL season. The fast bowler has been taken for a combined 100 runs and is yet to take a wicket. In conditions which might aid swing and seam, Starc will hope for better returns.As will the batting pack with the exception of Andre Russell, Phil Salt and Venkatesh Iyer.Rishabh Pant scored a 32-ball 51 against CSK•BCCI

Team news and Impact Player strategy

Delhi Capitals
Capitals brought in Shaw for the previous game, a move that paid off. He was later subbed off with Rasikh Salam coming in. If Capitals bowl first, depending on the surface, there is a chance Salam or Lalit Yadav get into the first XI, with Shaw coming in later. Vice versa if they bat first.Kuldeep Yadav missed the game against CSK because of a niggle, and Capitals would hope he returns soon, for this game if possible.Another concern for Capitals is the form of their two overseas players Tristan Stubbs and Anrich Nortje. Stubbs was cleaned up for a first-ball duck against CSK, while Nortje has looked rusty in his two outings so far. Jhye Richardson bowled at full tilt in the nets ahead of Capitals’ previous fixture, and could slot in if they want to give a break to Nortje. Capitals could also consider bringing in Jake Fraser-McGurk in place of Stubbs.Probable XII: 1 , 2 David Warner, 3 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 4 Mitchell Marsh 5 Tristan Stubbs/Jake Fraser-McGurk, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Abishek Porel, 8 Anrich Nortje/Jhye Richardson, 9 Mukesh Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Khaleel Ahmed, 12 Kolkata Knight Riders
Varun Chakravarthy bowled just two overs in KKR’s previous game before being subbed off for Angkrish Raghuvanshi. Legspinner Suyash Sharma is another option for that spot, with Raghuvanshi the Impact Player once more swapping places with Suyash or Chakravarthy.Venkatesh seemed to have tweaked his back in KKR’s previous game and was seen hobbling, but bowling coach Bharat Arun confirmed he was “fit and rearing to go”.Probable XII: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Venkatesh Iyer, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Anukul Roy, 11 Harshit Rana, 12 Mitchell Starc has had a horror start to IPL 2024•BCCI

Pitch and conditions

The pitch for the first game in Vizag had a decent covering of grass. It aided swing and seam movement almost throughout the 40 overs, and even swung even more under lights. Similar conditions could be expected for the DC vs KKR game, too. There’s also a warning for excessive heat and humidity in Vizag, so something for the teams to note.

In the spotlight – Can Mitchell Starc have an impact?

After being overlooked for the first two games, Prithvi Shaw “came out of the gate like a raging bull”, in the words of Mitchell McClenaghan on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut.Shaw has had a rough time of it on and off the field in the recent past, but on Saturday, as he strode out for his first hit in IPL 2024, he seemed to be in great touch, scoring a 27-ball 43. Shaw’s form is important to Capitals’ hopes of going deep in the tournament, and they will be delighted with the way he has begun.Every time Mitchell Starc comes on to bowl, it comes with that INR 24.75 crore price tag attached to him. Playing in the IPL for the first time since 2015, Starc has leaked runs big time. He went for 53 in his opening game against SRH and then 47 against RCB and is yet to figure in the wickets column. He will dearly hope to turn his fortunes around the next time he is out in the park.

Stats that matter – Rishabh Pant in sight of 3000

• Pant needs 65 runs to reach 3000 runs in IPL. If he gets there, he will be the 22nd player in the league to achieve the mark.
• Kuldeep picks up a wicket every six balls against KKR, his former franchise. In three matches to date, he has ten wickets with best bowling figures of 4 for 14.
• Warner has smashed Sunil Narine for 195 runs in 123 balls in 16 IPL innings, only falling to him twice.
• Pant strikes at 195.00 against Andre Russell in the IPL but has also fallen to the fast bowler three times in six innings.

  Quotes

  “I hope the crowd will be with DC this time and will support us. We will also make sure the crowd is enjoying. We want to finish on a nice note because it is our last game here in Vizag.”
  “He is one of the most experienced bowlers around the world and also someone who understands the conditions and adapts to them very well. You will see a different version of him in the future. He knows what it takes to succeed.”

Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the stifling of LSG’s batters, before Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma blew away their bowlers

Sidharth Monga08-May-20242:24

Deep Dasgupta: Quite a statement from SRH

Sunrisers Hyderabad obliterated Lucknow Super Giants, first stifling them with the new ball and then sensationally chasing down 166 in just 9.4 overs – the highest 10-over score in any T20. The massive win lifted them to No. 3 on the points table with 14 points in 12 matches, and also gave them a much-needed net-run-rate boost. The chase was so brutal that LSG didn’t even bother with their Impact Player.A lot will rightly be spoken of the explosive batting of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, who got to their fifties in 16 and 19 balls respectively, putting on a hundred between them inside the powerplay for the second time this IPL, both times the highest powerplay scores in all T20 cricket.Related

• 'I'm lost for words' – The Travishek show leaves LSG stunned

• Mumbai Indians knocked out after SRH demolish LSG

However, it was with the ball that SRH set up the win. Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the way with figures of 4-0-12-2, conceding only singles, completely shutting down the LSG top order, which scored just 66 in the first 11.2 overs. That the top order had not been enterprising enough was underscored by the unbroken 99-run stand off 52 balls between Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran, which eventually proved to be hopelessly inadequate.Mumbai Indians were collateral damage on the night, knocked out of contention for the playoffs by this result, the first team at IPL 2024 to be officially out.

Bhuvneshwar gets stuck in

A word about the fear surrounding the SRH batters first. It was that fear which, in part, prompted LSG to bat first. And then they ran into Bhuvneshwar, who was unerring in his length and drew movement off the pitch. Quinton de Kock – 66 off 66 off Bhuvneshwar in T20 cricket overall – managed just 1 off 4 off him, those four balls inclusive of a near-dismissal and his wicket, caught superbly by Nitish Reddy at deep-square leg.Bhuvneshwar Kumar nailed his match-up against Quinton de Kock•AFP/Getty Images

It was a sensational catch made to look easy as Reddy took it over his head, threw it back in the field of play, stepped out and came back to complete the catch, but Sanvir Singh soon outdid him with a low catch diving forward at mid-on to send back Marcus Stoinis. Bhuvneshwar ended the powerplay with 3-0-7-2. Add Shahbaz Ahmed’s 2-0-9-0 to that, and LSG had had their worst powerplay of the year: 27 for 2.IPL debutant, the Sri Lanka legspinner V Viyaskanth, kept the lid on after the powerplay only for Krunal Pandya to inject some momentum into the innings by hitting Jaydev Unadkat for successive sixes, the tournament’s 999th and 1000th. The first one was an extraordinary straight hook to a head-high slower bouncer over long-on. Little did we know the shot would become a mere footnote by the time the night was done.

Badoni, Pooran rescue LSG

KL Rahul, 29 off 33, perished trying to hit the pace of Pat Cummins, and Krunal was run out by the SRH captain and birthday boy as he tried to steal a single when the boundaries were not coming. It had taken 9.1 overs for the first four of the innings, but Badoni and Pooran found the boundary regularly. Badoni led the charge by moving around in the crease and manipulating the field, getting to a fifty in 28 balls. Pooran joined in towards the end, using the pace of T Natarajan and Cummins. Two of the quickest bowlers on display, Cummins and Natarajan, went for 97 between them.Ayush Badoni gave LSG a much-needed lift•BCCI

Head, Abhishek deliver the knockout punch

LSG tried to make use of the slow pitch by bowling K Gowtham’s offspin to the two left-hand openers, which was a sound-enough plan. With Head and Abhishek, though, plans hardly seem to matter. Head pulled Gowtham away for four in the first over, and Abhishek took down Yash Thakur in the second. Again, even Thakur seemed to be bowling to a sound plan: sweeper cover and deep-square leg, bowl into the pitch, but Abhishek pulled him in front of square. So he put two men back on the leg side, and Abhishek made room and carved him through point. By the time they had reached 25 in two overs, plans ceased to matter at all.Head and Abhishek just picked their spots and sent the ball there no matter the pace on the ball, no matter the length, no matter the fields. All told, the ball took that journey to the boundary once every second ball. You can take your pick from among Head’s kneel-down six into the sight screen, Abhishek’s languid pick-up over wide long-on off Badoni’s offspin, or his extra-cover drive for six to end the game… But try as you may, you will struggle to find a shot more incredible than Head off-driving Ravi Bishnoi off the back foot for a huge six over long-off.Head ended up with 89 off 30, and Abhishek, 75 off 28. Gowtham’s economy of 14.50 was the best among all the LSG bowlers.

Gritty innings keeps hosts alive in low-scoring dogfight at Hove

ECB Reporters Network18-May-2024Second division championship favourites Yorkshire are within sight of their first win of the season after having marginally the better of the second day of their match against Sussex at Hove.After 17 wickets had fallen on the first day, matters were a little less frenetic in a tightly fought contest but Yorkshire took a grip on the match after tea. They had gained a first-innings lead of 45 in the morning and Sussex struggled to 194 for seven in their second innings, a lead of 149. Their innings was held together by a dogged five-hour unbeaten 77 by Tom Alsop, who was bowled by a no-ball at 39 and dropped at 58.Play started 45 minutes late in damp and murky conditions. Yorkshire resumed on 176 for seven, a lead of 26 runs, and Sussex took just 33 minutes to take the three remaining wickets for the addition of 19 runs.They broke through after 20 minutes play when Jordan Thompson, surprised by the bounce achieved by Ollie Robinson, deflected the ball onto his stumps with his elbow.For the next over Sean Hunt replaced Tom Haines at the sea end and from his fifth delivery he took a straightforward caught and bowled chance to dismiss Ben Coad. And in the over after that Dom Leech shouldered arms and had his off stump plucked out by a delivery angled into him by Robinson. Yorkshire were all out for 195 with Hunt finishing with career-best figures of four for 64. Robinson (3 for 25) has bowled well this season without much luck and this was the first time in four matches that he had taken more than two wickets in an innings.Yorkshire’s slender lead looked significant when they dismissed both Sussex openers inside the first three overs. Haines was out second ball, fluffing his attempted pull against Thompson to cover in the second over. And in the following over Tom Clark, short of runs and confidence this season, drove tamely at Coad and was caught by Matthew Revis at cover.Alsop and Cheteshwar Pujara brought Sussex back into the match with a third wicket stand worth 74 watchful runs in 24 overs. But then Pujara, playing his last innings at Hove this season, failed to get fully forward to one from Leech and was lbw for a 56-ball 33.Alsop and James Coles took Sussex to tea at 123 for three, a lead of 78, with Alsop unbeaten on 52. After the interval the Sussex batsmen battled hard against a disciplined Yorkshire attack. The visitors took the fourth Sussex wicket when Coles, who had added just two runs since the break, miscued his attempted pull off George Hill and was caught at square-leg for 28.John Simpson, struggling for runs in recent innings after his early season double hundred, was missed in the slips before he had scored but failed to make the most of his let-off. When Coad replaced Root at the Cromwell Road end he immediately had the Sussex captain caught at first slip for an uncomfortable six; 140 for five.Fynn Hudson-Prentice looked in the mood to take the attack to the Yorkshire bowlers but he was sixth out at 155, lbw shouldering arms to Thompson, and then Danny Lamb fell lbw for a duck to Coad.Before play got under way Yorkshire announced that they had signed the Sri Lanka left-arm fast bowler Vishwa Fernando for the next three championship matches.

West Indies’ net run rate is now miles ahead of South Africa’s and England’s in their Super Eight group

Danyal Rasool22-Jun-20242:02

Ganga: Chase is a utility player for West Indies

West Indies 130 for 1 (82*) beat United States of America 128 (Gous 29, Chase 3-19, Russell 3-31) by nine wicketsFor much of T20 World Cup 2024, USA haven’t looked out of place against any side, but West Indies were a class apart against them. A brilliant bowling performance from the spinners spearheaded by Roston Chase was followed up by a chase that was sledgehammer-like in its brutality. Shai Hope crunched an unbeaten 82 off 39 balls, smashing eight sixes along the way as Nicholas Pooran helped him finish the game off with 55 balls and nine wickets to spare.By the end, the contest looked like the first real mismatch USA have been on the wrong side of as they ran out of ideas bowling to Hope, who until now had only played one match all tournament. He would reach his half-century in just 26 balls – the fastest in T20 World Cup history for West Indies – before only speeding up after Jonathan Charles holed out. Pooran and Hope unleashed fire and fury towards the end as the game hurtled to an early finish, plundering the last 53 runs in just 14 deliveries.The game was set up, though, by a disciplined bowling performance led by the wily old hand of Chase. Not by any means West Indies’ most glamorous spinner, Chase didn’t even get to bat against England in the previous game. He showed his all-round value with a statement performance, though, ripping through the USA’s middle order and breaking the back of the innings.Akeal Hosein had played his customary role upfront, squeezing USA in the powerplay, while Andre Russell’s three wickets helped the hosts continue to shackle USA whenever they tried to get a partnership going. The extra bounce Alzarri Joseph generated to dismiss Andries Gous just as he was beginning to whir into full gear ended up being the sliding doors moment for USA, who, in truth, were never close to competitive from that moment on. West Indies, meanwhile, are back with a bang.

Gous’ brief resistance

It seems a long time ago, but for a short while in the second half of the powerplay in the first innings, it looked as if Gous – now the second-highest scorer of this tournament – had turned the tide on West Indies. Halfway through, it was West Indies’ powerplay, having conceded just 13 in the first three overs. But Gous, who nearly took USA home against South Africa with an unbeaten 80 off 47, stormed to a flier once more, punishing the length deliveries of Joseph to help plunder 35 off the final three of the powerplay.It helped USA put on 48 in the first six – their second-highest powerplay score at this World Cup. But with large parts of the middle order misfiring since their early couple of wins, USA needed Gous to press on as he did in the previous game. So when he holed out off Joseph after a bright 16-ball 29, trouble brewed for the co-hosts.

Chase leads the West Indies rally

Roston Chase picked consecutive wickets in the 14th over•ICC/Getty Images

West Indies did not allow USA to post a big score and take the game deep; they were chasing net run rate as well as points in Barbados. Once Joseph had cleared Gous from the path, Chase and Gudakesh Motie had free rein to run rings round the rest. A bit of extra turn did for Nitish Kumar, but it was the Chase show from there.Aaron Jones had just walloped a 101m six, but it didn’t stop Chase bravely flighting the first ball of the spell up to him on the stumps. Jones missed and Chase cleaned him up, but it was the double-strike in his third over that truly crippled USA. Corey Anderson’s desperate run with the bat continued when he was trapped on the back pad plumb in front, before slowing the next one right up, duping Harmeet Singh into lobbing it up straight to point. Chase was wisely bowled out in one four-over spell, with figures of 3 for 19 not flattering him in the slightest.

It’s Hope that kills USA off

There were calls for Hope to be included in West Indies’ starting line-up right from the start. Instead, it’s Brandon King’s injury that paved the way for him to come in, and leaving him out suddenly feels even more perplexing. He lit up his home ground with a sizzling display, ensuring West Indies got ahead of the rate early, and from thereon the contest turned into a run-rate salvage operation.No bowler was spared the brutality of his raw power, and when a heave over mid-off cleared the rope, he brought up a scintillating half-century. But Hope wasn’t fading away; if anything he kicked it up a notch, smashing the hapless Milind Kumar for three consecutive sixes in the ninth over, priming West Indies to the sort of run-rate boosting win they so badly needed.

The India captain stressed on keeping a calm team environment and trusting his experienced players to perform their roles in the semi-final

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-20246:19

Rohit: ‘I don’t think we need to change from what we did in 2022’

India’s captain Rohit Sharma stressed on the importance of keeping the team environment normal and clarity of thought as they prepare to take on England in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 in Providence, Guyana on June 27.”See, we want to treat this game as another game that we have played in this tournament,” he said on the eve of the match. “We don’t want to think about what lies ahead and what is the context of the game and all of that. Everyone knows in the back of their mind it’s a semi-final. But you don’t want to keep talking about it again and again and again. And not to think about what has happened in the past.”The fixture is a re-match of the semi-final at the T20 World Cup 2022, where India suffered a ten-wicket defeat against England in Adelaide.Related

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“I think we are, all of us, the entire group is in a good frame of mind. We are playing well as a team, enjoying each other’s company, enjoying each other’s success at times as well. Yes, we’ve been put under pressure in certain games during this tournament as well, but I thought we responded pretty well. And that is probably because we’re not thinking too far ahead.”We want to think about how well we can play and what we can do as a team for us to achieve the result that we are looking for. Sometimes if you think too much, you then will not be able to make the decisions that you want to make on the field. So, I think it’s important that we stay clear in our mind what we want to do. We have had enough conversations with the players, what is expected out of each one of us. So, it’s time now to just rely on the individual instinct and then take the game forward.”Both India and England will be playing in Providence for the first time this T20 World Cup – it’s a 10.30am start – and assessing conditions quickly will be crucial.”I know it sounds very boring for me to talk about conditions, conditions, because that does matter a lot,” Rohit said. “Because in New York, we saw what the winning score was. So, we want to be a smart cricket team. We don’t want to just talk in one language, which is to just go and swing the bat.”I think it is important for us to understand what conditions are in front of us and what we have to do. And I have spoken about experience in this group, and we rely on that experience from each player to go out and make that decision, whether it is playing the reverse sweep, whether it is bowling a yorker, whether it is bowling a bouncer. We rely on those individuals to make that decision.”1:58

Defeat to England in 2022 semi-final was a ‘wake-up call’ for India – Manjrekar

When asked about India adopting an aggressive batting approach during this T20 World Cup, Rohit picked out their Super Eight contest against Bangladesh as the “perfect game”. In that match, India scored 196 for 5 with only one batter – Hardik Pandya – making more than 40 and the team won by 50 runs.”Yes, it’s important to play without fear,” Rohit said. “Of course. And we have created this environment in the team for the past few years … This format is like that now. Individual scores and individual brilliance don’t matter that much. If someone does it, it’s good, but you shouldn’t focus on it that I have to score 70 runs, 90, or 100 runs. I think the game that we played against Bangladesh was the perfect game. Why I say that is because only one guy scored 50 runs. Rest of the team scored 20 – 30, 20 – 30, and still we reached 198 [196]. Which is a very good score.”That is because the role that we have given each player – he did his role in his phase. That’s why we reached that score. I think this is what our team needs – if we play eight batsmen, they will play their roles and we will get the score we want.”I see the same with bowling – it’s not any one person’s day – they might not get a chance to bowl four overs. He will get a chance to bowl one or two overs. I keep talking to the players about this. I want one or two overs from you. I want those two tight overs. You are creating pressure here so that the other bowler can come and take the wicket from the other end.”So, these small things, we keep talking about these things in the team. I think the message in the team is very clear. Our focus is not on the individual score, it is on the role, how you will play the role.”

The fast bowler hopes some technical changes can put him on track to revive his Australia career

AAP15-Aug-2024Jhye Richardson has returned to the run up that earned him three Tests for Australia, with the hope that his horror run of hamstring woes are behind him.Richardson has made a successful return to competitive cricket this week, playing as part of a Perth Scorchers side in the Top End T20 series in Darwin.Related

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Held back by injuries since his Test debut in 2019, Richardson has suffered four separate hamstring setbacks since his most recent limited-overs international in June 2022.He was initially named to return to Australia’s white-ball squad last summer, before being ruled out when he suffered his latest hamstring injury in the BBL.In the months since, Richardson has been able to get a solid block of net bowling in while only playing one game in the IPL, before pre-season stints in Perth and Brisbane.”I’m trying to avoid problem areas and build that resilience that I haven’t had in the past couple of years,” Richardson told AAP. “I’ve played two games [in Darwin], the body has been good. It’s obviously a different intensity playing competitive cricket again.”Richardson had tinkered with his run up before his most recent hamstring injury, only reaching top speed closer to the crease in a bid to make it more efficient. But he has since returned to his more traditional style, which sees him sprinting in at speeds of close to 22.5kph from earlier in his run up.Jhye Richardson’s injury issues have limited him to three Tests•Getty Images

“We wanted to explore what that looked like, with the goal of getting back to red-ball cricket,” Richardson said. “But I am back to my old run up now, understanding that what I had done previously for 10 years had probably somewhat worked.”I probably just felt a bit rushed. I didn’t feel as balanced. Everyone speaks about rhythm and feeling balanced and strong at the crease. And the ultimate goal is to perform, right? I have put a lot of work into my hamstring, so everyone is comfortable with the fact I can go back to what has worked previously.”Richardson’s fitness comes as a big few years loom for the 27-year-old. Selectors have kept the faith in the West Australian, retaining him on the national contract list despite the long run of injuries.Change is also coming in the Test team, with all three frontline quicks over the age of 30 and back-up paceman Scott Boland 35. Richardson appears the most credentialed man to one day lead the attack, with 11 wickets at 22.09 in his three Tests to date.”I think [it is important to be fit then], but we are looking pretty far into the future there,” he said. “Taking it one step at a time, getting the body right and making sure everything is right on my end, and not worrying about what is happening externally.”We obviously know there will be a transition point at some stage. When that happens, I am not too sure. But ultimately being fit at any time is my goal. Regardless of when the transition happens. And to be able to play Test cricket regardless of who is in the team.”

South Africa lost to Ireland for only the second time in ODIs, with Jason Smith’s 91 in vain

Abhimanyu Bose07-Oct-2024Half-centuries from captain Paul Stirling and Harry Tector, and an all-round bowling effort helped Ireland to a consolation win in the third ODI against South Africa. This was just Ireland’s second win over South Africa in the format.Winning the toss for the first time in the series, Ireland put on their best batting display before their bowlers made the most of friendly conditions under lightsJason Smith, playing his second ODI, made a fighting 91 but it was an effort in vain after Ireland had run through South Africa’s top five inside 20 overs.In the last two ODIs, Ireland bore the brunt of having to bat under the lights and suffered collapses. But on Monday, South Africa found out just how different a proposition it has been to bat second in Abu Dhabi.With the new ball swinging appreciably more under lights than in the last two games (broadcast showed average swing of 2.1 degrees on Monday compared to 1.1 over the previous two games), Ireland’s quicks made early inroads after their batters got them to a competitive total. Mark Adair had Ryan Rickelton edging to the slips cordon in the first over and trapped Rassie van der Dussen in front three overs later.Reeza Hendricks, flown in from South Africa due to the injury to Temba Bavuma, lasted just seven balls as he edged Graham Hume to Andy Balbirnie at second slip.Kyle Verreynne counter-attacked with six boundaries, but was trapped lbw for 38 by Craig Young as he missed his flick after going across the stumps. Smith and Tristan Stubbs tried to rebuild but Young had the latter nicking off with a harmless length ball in the 20th over.There was another stand of resistance between Smith and Andile Phehlukwayo, but the latter scuffed a pull to fine leg to give Fionn Hand a first ODI wicket on debut.Jason Smith scored his first international fifty but in vain•Cricket Ireland

Smith then took charge of the scoring, driving with authority on the off side, but lost partners at the other end. Bjorn Fortuin hung around before being bowled by left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys. Young then had Williams edging it to the keeper as he tried to ramp a short ball.Smith also launched Young and Adair over the leg side for a couple of sixes after bringing up his maiden international half-century. He moved into the eighties with a powerful flick wide of long-on off Adair in the 43rd over, before flicking him through midwicket for another boundary. He finished that over by swatting the fast bowler over wide long-on as he quickly moved into the nineties.But Adair had the last laugh when he caught Smith at deep point to end his resistance as the batter sliced a wide yorker from Hume. He hit nine fours and four sixes in his 93-ball knock, which followed a duck on ODI debut. Hume wrapped up the win when he had Lungi Ngidi edging behind with 23 balls to go.Ireland built their score on the back of Stirling and Andy Balbirnie’s first 100-plus partnership in ODIs. They made the most of good conditions on a fresh pitch, with Stirling starting off with a powerful cover drive off Ngidi in the first over. There were some edges that either went in the gaps or didn’t carry as Ireland’s openers saw out the powerplay.Stirling even took on South Africa’s best bowler in the series, Lizaad Williams, hooking him for six. Balbirnie was slower to start, taking his time to settle in. It was in the 13th over that he really got going, flicking Ngidi through midwicket for a boundary. In Ngidi’s next over, Balbirnie hit him for six before getting a couple of boundaries off Fortuin.There were a couple of quiet overs that followed during which Stirling got to his half-century, but Balbirnie holed out as he miscued a pull off Williams. The 101-run stand between Stirling and Balbirnie was Ireland’s second-highest in ODIs against South Africa.Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie put up a solid opening partnership•Cricket Ireland

Stirling immediately tried to put the pressure back on South Africa as he drove Williams through cover before hitting Fortuin wide of long-on. Curtis Campher started quickly, picking two boundaries off a Williams over before clubbing Fortuin over wide long-on for six. Stirling and Campher added 58 runs for the second wicket before Campher tried to paddle Baartman only to see the ball crash into the stumps.Stirling went on to drive Ngidi over long-off for another six before crashing Baartman behind point for a boundary, but was then cleaned up by an in-ducker for the second straight game, falling 12 short of a century.Lorcan Tucker, fit again and back in the side, kept Ireland ticking alongside Harry Tector, picking up regular boundaries as they added 54 runs to Ireland’s score. The stand was broken when Tucker tried to scoop Phehlukwayo only to sky it behind, with Ryan Rickelton taking a good catch running back.Phehlukwayo struck again in his next over, as George Dockrell cut him straight to point.Tector lofted Ngidi over long-on before cutting him behind through point for four to reach his half-century in the 48th over. Williams, who was not having his best game of the series until this point, finally made his mark in the penultimate over. He left the middle stump broken as Adair went across the stumps to try and scoop him. He then trapped Hand in front next ball and yorked Hume off the final ball to finish the series with 11 wickets.Tector finished on 60 off 48 as he was run out in the final over trying to run a second to keep strike.

Patil and Reddy shared five wickets among them to restrict Pakistan to just 105

S Sudarshanan06-Oct-2024India’s net run rate (NRR) ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 game against Pakistan was -2.90. They had to win and win big against Pakistan for that to become positive and move up in the points table. On a hot afternoon in Dubai, though, India achieved only one of those tasks – beating Pakistan by six wickets to earn two points and open the account with a sluggish chase.The win was set up by Arundhati Reddy and Shreyanka Patil, who combined for five of the eight wickets Pakistan lost. Pakistan huffed and puffed to 105 on the back of Nida Dar’s 28. But on a slow, spin-friendly surface, Pakistan also used their spinners well and denied India the launchpad: they eventually got home in the 19th over with only five fours hit – three by Shafali Verma and one each by Harmanpreet Kaur and S Sajana, playing for the injured Pooja Vastrakar. Back at her familiar No. 4 spot after being promoted to one-down in the opening game, Harmanpreet was the only India batter with a strike rate over 100, in the top six.

Pakistan show early intent

On the eve of the contest, Pakistan captain Fatima Sana spoke about using the power game to hit hard at their rivals. The openers tried to use their feet in a bid to walk the talk after Pakistan opted to bat. Gull Feroza tried to use her feet to counter Renuka Singh’s swing but was undone in the opening over. Muneeba Ali also used the crease so much that the runs hardly justify those. She used even the slightest of width to go over the in-field, like she did twice against Renuka inside the powerplay.Richa Ghosh took a stunner to dismiss Fatima Sana•ICC/Getty Images

Reddy-powered India ‘turn’ the tide

In the absence of Vastrakar, who was out with a niggle, Reddy had to shoulder additional seam-bowling responsibility and was brought on in the fourth over of the game. Immediately she induced a false stroke, with Sidra Amin chipping one towards mid-off. In her next over, Reddy delivered the perfect blow, getting Muneeba to scoop one straight to short fine leg only for S Asha to grass a sitter. A couple of balls later, though, Reddy struck by having Omaima Sohail miscue one to mid-off.A few quiet overs saw Muneeba being stifled, and Patil pounced on the chance to get among the wickets. Anticipating a charge from the Pakistan opener, she threw one wider outside off, past which Muneeba walked and Richa Ghosh did the rest. Dar found it slightly tough to keep the scorecard ticking on her own and losing partners regularly did not help.Reddy first trapped Aliya Riaz in front – the DRS not coming to the Pakistan allrounder’s aid after Hawk-Eye showed it to be clipping leg – before Patil dismissed Tuba Hassan for a three-ball duck. Sana showed a bit of intent and struck successive fours off Asha but fell to a terrific catch by Ghosh. She looked to slog the legspinner out of the ground but Ghosh dived to her right to pluck a one-handed stunner. Reddy then bowled Dar to pick up her third.

India’s strange chase

For India to get their NRR in the positive, they had to overhaul the 106-run target in 11.2 overs. However, India endured a boundary-less powerplay, with Shafali and Smriti Mandhana struggling to put away spin. Mandhana hit some crisp strokes but found the fielders in nine of the ten balls leading to her dismissal. In a bid to break free, she chipped one tamely to backward point.On cue, Sana kept spin on for 13 of the first 15 overs. They frustrated Shafali with lack of speed, as a result of which, she missed putting some of the juicy full tosses away. India ended their boundary drought in the eighth over when Shafali welcomed Tuba with a pull through midwicket. She hit a couple of more fours before holing out to long-on.At the other end, Jemimah Rodrigues – batting at No. 3 ahead of Harmanpreet – kept manoeuvring the field and helping India inch closer. However, boundaries were hard to come by and, when India lost her and Ghosh off successive balls, it seemed Pakistan could do the unthinkable. Harmanpreet then almost saw India home in the company of Deepti Sharma. However, she sprained her neck while turning awkwardly to avoid being stumped and walked back retired hurt. Sajana then came out to hit the winning four that helped India maintain their upper hand over Pakistan in women’s T20Is.

Reddy reprimanded

India fast bowler Reddy has been reprimanded for breaching level one of the ICC Code of Conduct in the game on Sunday. She was found guilty and as a result, handed a demerit point.Article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during an International Match.”The incident occurred in the 20th over of Pakistan’s innings, when Reddy, after dismissing allrounder Nida Dar, gestured in the direction of the pavilion.

Test wicketkeeper Alex Carey and allrounder Liam Scott have helped South Australia beat NSW by six wickets in their one-day clash at the Adelaide Oval

AAP12-Nov-2024Alex Carey continued his superb form and Liam Scott starred with bat and ball as South Australia rocketed to the top of the One-Day Cup table by smashing New South Wales by six wickets in their One-day Cup match.SA sit top of the table in the 50-over format after crushing last season’s beaten finalists at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday. The result was set up by an accomplished performance in the field, rolling the visitors for just 197 after taking regular wickets during the 46 overs.It was a pair of former NSW players who did the bulk of the damage, with fast bowler Harry Conway collecting 3 for 27 from his 9.3 overs, and Jason Sangha picking up 2 for 16, including the key scalps of Nic Maddinson and Oliver Davies. Scott also picked up two wickets, claiming 2 for 31 off his eight overs.NSW’s best contributions came from middle-order batters, with Matthew Gilkes and captain Jack Edwards top-scoring with 35 each.In reply, SA ran into early trouble when Jack Nisbet took the wickets of Mackenzie Harvey and Daniel Drew in consecutive balls as the hosts slumped to 8 for 2.But Carey continued his hot early-season form with the bat, smashing 75 from 63 balls to press his claim for a recall to Australia’s white-ball teams.Jake Lehmann (46 not out) and player-of-the-match Scott (42 not out to back up his two wickets) steered SA home, giving long-suffering supporters reason for optimism.As well as topping the One-Day table, SA are second in the Sheffield Shield after winning two and drawing one of their first three matches.The teams will have a day off before starting their Shield match back at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.