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Fast bowler has all the attributes for English conditions, but lessons learnt from previous trips may stand him in good stead

Daniel Brettig18-Jul-2019Watch Jackson Bird bowl in Australia and most swiftly reach a similar conclusion: perfect for England. Tall, accurate and generating bounce and movement both ways, he has long been among the most consistent performers down under, as demonstrated by his recurring presence around the fringes of the Test team in a decidedly strong era for pacemen.Take Bird some 20 hours’ flying time to the other side of the world, however, and his seemingly well-grooved skills have tended to desert him. He struggled for impact in his one Test here, at Durham in 2013, and two county stints in 2015 and 2016 at Hampshire and Nottinghamshire tallied 34 wickets in 11 games at an average near enough to 40, while also giving up more than 3.5 runs per over.Nevertheless, Bird has continued to front up, earning a berth on the Australia A tour and thus a chance at Ashes selection by hoarding 50 wickets at 22.22 for Tasmania in 2018-19, after 37 at 21.81 the previous summer. Ahead of the internal trial match between two Australian sides that will provide the selectors with the final information they need to cut 25 players down to 16, Bird knows he is duelling for, at best, one remaining bowling spot with the likes of Peter Siddle, Chris Tremain and Michael Neser. When he takes the Dukes ball in Southampton, he will do so with the words of no less a Dukes exponent than Stuart Broad in his mind – they are worth recounting for all of Australia’s Ashes aspirants. “I’m probably not trying to swing the ball as much as I used to,” Bird said. “I’ve fallen into the trap over here a couple of times when I’ve come and played county cricket as well, to just focusing on swinging the ball rather than bowling the right length and I think that’s what’s cost me really.”I’ve spoken to a lot of guys that have played cricket over here, in either Ashes or guys I’ve played with, guys like Stuart Broad and stuff like that, and they just say you’ve got to bowl the right length that’s going to hit the top of the stumps or hit the knee roll [on the pad] and if the conditions suit it will swing anyway.”That’s all I’m trying to focus on doing and I think in the spells where I’ve bowled a bit full or been too expensive it is probably for that reason, so the spells that I’ve bowled well in I’ve been hitting the wicket and hitting the top of the stumps – it’s a good blueprint going forward.”The memories Bird has accumulated from numerous England trips should give him a decent chance of squeezing into the Ashes squad, although he was realistic about the fact that while many of the group assembling in Southampton on Thursday were already nailed on, he was very much in the group on the edge of things.”I assume there’s probably only one spot available, if that, for the fast bowlers, so I’m enjoying my time over here,” Bird said. “We’ve got a good bunch of guys that have had a good couple of weeks in this Aussie A stuff and we’re all looking forward to getting down to Hampshire.”I felt pretty good, I think I’ve improved from Arundel last week, so made a couple of good strides over the last week. I probably went for a couple of runs in my first spell but I thought I brought that back nicely and bowled a good spell in the middle of the day and, yeah, was pretty happy with the hit-out.”Anytime you come up against a Lions team, it’s a good hit-out, and this game was no different. There were a couple of guys in their Test squad against Ireland that were playing, so it’s good to bowl to a few of their batters who are on the fringe as well, in case they do get picked in the Test squad and you do play against them, at least you’ve got a bit of experience against them. You can never take that too lightly.”Frustration at Cricket Australia over the quality of county opposition rolled out for warm-up games on previous Ashes tours has manifested itself in the pitting of the two Australian sides against one another in Southampton next week. While the selection of the teams is a mystery, Bird revealed that the groups will be training separately, a likely necessity due to the sheer size of the group otherwise.”We don’t really know what the teams are going to be and how they’re going to pick the teams so that’ll be interesting to see what happens there in the next couple of days,” Bird said. “I think we’ve got a bit of an idea of what’s going to happen, I think were training separately and stuff like that, so we’ll at least try and make this game as competitive as possible.”It’s the only red ball hit-out for a couple of the guys that have been playing in the World Cup. I think those games can drag on a bit if they’re not taken too seriously so hopefully it’s 100% the whole time.”And with all players and staff crammed into the one hotel, that could make for some intriguing dynamics at the breakfast bar, among other places. “It might be a team rule, can’t fraternise with the opposition!” Bird joked. “It’ll be pretty funny I reckon, especially after a couple of weeks on tour, there’s going to be a few blokes who’ll cop it from other blokes I reckon, airing a bit of their grievances over the tour. It’ll be good fun.”

The opener smashed his sixth IPL hundred and 21st overall in T20s to lead Kings XI Punjab to 193 for 3, a score that proved too much for Sunrisers Hyderabad

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu19-Apr-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:26

Agarkar: Sunrisers lacked firepower in the chase

Prior to the start of IPL 2018, Kings XI Punjab’s director Virender Sehwag said Chris Gayle would be worth the money spent on him if he were to win his team two or three games. Gayle has now played two match-winning innings in two matches. Four days after his 33-ball 63 against Chennai Super Kings, Gayle shellacked his sixth IPL hundred and 21st overall in T20s to consign Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first defeat of the season.On Sunday, Gayle lined up CSK’s medium-pacers, but adopted a different approach against a formidable Sunrisers attack. He saw off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first spell and later unleashed a brutal assault on Rashid Khan’s legspin. All told, Gayle smashed 42 off 16 balls from Rashid at a strike-rate of 262.50.Gayle batted through the innings for his 104 not out off 63 balls, which also included four twos. In pursuit of 194, Sunrisers lost early wickets as well as Shikhar Dhawan to an elbow injury, and there was no way back for them, despite fifties from their captain Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey.

Tye’s knuckle balls do the job

Andrew Tye, the Kings XI Punjab seamer, finished with figures of 4-0-23-2. Those two wickets included those of Kane Williamson and Deepak Hooda, both deceived by knuckle balls. Here’s Tye at the post-match press conference:
On choosing the knuckle ball: “It all depends on how I’m feeling at that time – whether the knuckle ball or the offcutter or the legcutter, back of the hand or anything – all depends on what I feel is working for me on the day. Today it was the knuckle ball, so I stuck with it and bowled a lot of them. Sometimes it works, sometimes I get hit into the crowd and look like a bit of an idiot.”
On the advantage of bowling second: “As a bowler [we] look what the opposition has done, what bowlers have worked for them. [Today] we summed it up to this: it was skidding on a bit, so a good hard length when the ball was new was sort of not bouncing. So you could pull it back a little bit, and [use] the slower balls to hit hard on that wicket to give the batsman no freedom to hit in the arc.”

Kings XI’s Jekyll-and-Hyde start
After becoming the first captain to opt to bat this season, R Ashwin reckoned Kings XI would be better off setting a target as opposed to chasing one against the best attack in the tournament at one of India’s larger grounds. Gayle and KL Rahul began cautiously against the swing and change-ups of Bhuvneshwar and Chris Jordan, and played out 12 dots in the first three overs. Gayle then launched Kings XI’s innings when he hit four boundaries in seven balls, including three leg-side sixes off Jordan and Rashid. In between, he was dropped on 14 by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha off Rashid’s first ball – a difficult chance off the toe end when he looked to cut.Rahul, at the other end, had an early scare when he was given out lbw on 5, but he survived after a review thanks to a thin inside edge. Rahul moved to 18 off 20 before being pinned in front by a Rashid skidder. Rahul’s Karnataka team-mate Mayank Agarwal flickered briefly before slicing Siddarth Kaul to backward point for 18 off 9; by then Kings XI were 83 for 2 in the 11th over.Chris Gayle raises his bat upon reaching his 21st T20 century•BCCI

Gayle v Rashid: round-II
With two wickets falling in quick succession, Gayle slowed down and brought up his fifty off 39 balls. He then kicked into top gear and became only the second batsman, after AB de Villiers, to take Rashid for four sixes in an over. Gayle did so off successive balls, in the 14th over, which cost 27 runs.When Rashid erred too full, Gayle simply opened up hips and put the sightscreen in danger, and when Rashid dragged his length back he mowed the ball over the leg side. The visual moment of the over, though, came when he hared back for a second run off the last ball and wore a wry smile.With their premier spinner leaking runs, Sunrisers were forced to look beyond their frontline options. Deepak Hooda, however, could not do much with his part-time offspin.Gayle’s party continues
After getting to his first fifty off 39 balls, Gayle surged to his second off only 19 balls. He moved to 99 with his 11th six – the most by a batsman this season – and raised the landmark by guiding one past backward point in the 19th over. He brought out the ‘cradle’ celebration and later dedicated the knock to his daughter, who will turn two on Friday.Gayle found supporting hands from Karun Nair (31) and Aaron Finch (14*) as Kings XI finished strongly at 193 for 3. Rashid, the best T20 bowler right now, was left nursing his worst figures of 4-0-55-1.Sunrisers sink in chase
Sunrisers suffered a major setback in the first over when Dhawan retired hurt after taking a blow to the elbow, and he did not return to bat. Mohit Sharma varied his pace excellently and bowled both Wriddhiman Saha and Yusuf Pathan to leave Sunrisers at 37 for 2 in five overs.Williamson and Pandey worked past the early strikes with a 76-run stand for the third wicket, but they struggled to keep in touch with the soaring asking rate. Mujeeb Zadran’s mystery spin, Andrew Tye’s knuckle balls, and the bigger boundaries in Mohali did not help Sunrisers’ cause either. When Williamson holed out for 54 off 41 balls in the 15th over, Sunrisers were left needing 81 off 34 balls. It was just too much for a middle order lacking muscle.

The number 13 is unlucky for some. For South Africa it will mark a new record winning streak in one-day internationals if they overcome New Zealand in Christchurch

Andrew McGlashan21-Feb-2017Will number 13 prove lucky for South Africa? That may depend if they keep on winning. The figure will mark their new record winning streak in one-day internationals if they overcome New Zealand in Christchurch.There have been some impressive displays among those 12 victories. Six times batting first they have posted over 300, and four times over 350; in another they chased down 372; and in eight of the matches they have bowled out the opposition.However, regardless of their current form, they still see improvements to be made. The victory in Hamilton became a nail-biter, as AB de Villiers and Andile Phehlukwayo guided them home with a ball to spare, and was one of their hardest earned of the unbeaten run.”We haven’t played the perfect game yet,” said batting coach Neil McKenzie.”Twelve in row has shown what we have been doing over last year has really worked. The big thing is we’ve got try get to play that perfect game and hopefully that comes in a semi or final. But the blueprint has got to be honed in every game you play.”A semi-final or a final. South Africa crave that global piece of silverware. The perfect game in a semi-final, never mind a final, is something they have been unable to do in 10 of the 11 multi-team tournament semis they have reached. The one success came against Sri Lanka in the 1998 Wills International Cup, the precursor to what is now the Champions Trophy.All the culture camps, all the team spirit, all the victories – no one will really know if it will make a difference until that chance comes up again.De Villiers rated the Hamilton victory was “10 out of 10” for the experience of winning a tight game, but “zero” when it came to conditions, given the pitches in the Champions Trophy are unlikely to turn anywhere near as much.With the Napier match having been shifted to Seddon Park because of the former’s poor drainage, there could yet be another spinning pitch in the offing so the remaining three matches – beginning with Christchurch on Wednesday – perhaps offer the best chance of something closer to English conditions.”All one-day sides gauge themselves on periods where you lead up to a Champions Trophy or pinnacle series,” McKenzie said. “It bodes well for us going to England where we’re going find the same sort of conditions generally.”Although South Africa will not entertain the notion, it would be a useful exercise for them if this series conjured up a deciding match in Auckland early next month. It would still only be for a bilateral victory, but it would at least give them the taste of a winner-takes-all match.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said the board is investigating Barisal Bulls’ decision not to field Chris Gayle in the BPL’s second qualifier on December 13, but did not elaborate on the matter when pressed further

Mohammad Isam20-Dec-2015

Eliminator toss ‘not a major issue’

On Tamim Iqbal’s allegations of abuse against the Sylhet team owner
“The disciplinary committee has prepared the initial report. It will be placed in the next board meeting. If there are any recommendations in the report, the board will take the appropriate decision.”
On match referee Raqibul Hasan’s coin-picking incident from the Eliminator match
“We couldn’t find [a rule or law] anywhere about how the toss is to be declared by the match referee, whether he should declare it while the coin is on the ground or after he picks it. In 70-80% of the BPL matches, we have seen a similar way of doing the toss. It is a big problem, and we don’t know what the rule is in this regard.
“We are not seeing it as a major issue because the two captains [Kumar Sangakkara and Mahmudullah] and the commentator [Alistair Campbell] didn’t raise any complaints. Neither did it happen in the other matches. We will have to ensure though that this doesn’t happen in the future.”
On Tillekaratne Dilshan tripping Imrul Kayes
“He [Dilshan] was fined Tk 20,000 [$256] after the incident.”

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said the board is investigating Barisal Bulls’ decision not to field Chris Gayle in the BPL’s second qualifier on December 13, but did not elaborate on the matter when pressed further.The Barisal management informed at the time that Gayle had complained of back pain on the morning of the game. The BPL was Gayle’s comeback tournament since undergoing back surgery.During the press conference in Mirpur on Sunday, Hassan was asked if the BCB had received any information or complaints regarding specific allegations of corruption in the BPL. He said the board had not received any, but added that they were looking into the Gayle issue.”One could hold suspicion about certain matches from the BPL’s first two seasons,” Hassan said. “But none of that caught our attention this time. Our local ACSU team, who worked during the BPL, didn’t inform us of anything, but it is a continuous process.”At the same time, there is one issue which they are already working on. It is about Chris Gayle’s [non] appearance in the semifinal [Qualifier]. There is some discussion about it. We are looking into it. I am not saying there was anything untoward but we are investigating the matter.”When asked to explain the Gayle issue further, Hassan said it would not be wise to discuss the matter without any specific complaint.When contacted, the Barisal franchise co-owner Rizwan bin Farouk said the team was not going to force Gayle into playing a game with a back injury.”If the player is injured, he can’t play. You can’t force him to play. He has had an operation. When he called the doctor, he was told to go back immediately,” Farouk told ESPNcricinfo, adding that the franchise’s contract with Gayle was for him to play “four to five matches” during the BPL season.Gayle played four games, scoring 139 runs including an unbeaten 92 against Chittagong Vikings on December 9. During his stay for Barisal, he was also left out of the December 10 match against Dhaka Dynamites.BPL governing council chairman Afzalur Rahman Sinha was quoted as telling the Bengali daily during the Barisal-Rangpur qualifier that the council had learned of Gayle’s unavailability just before the game. He said the council would investigate the Barisal franchise’s decision not to pick Gayle.”We have to examine if there was any other motive in this regard,” Sinha told . “We have to find out why Gayle wasn’t played. We will investigate the matter after the tournament. They could have let us know earlier. The BCB physio and doctors could have looked after the problem. But they didn’t tell us.”We heard that he won’t be playing a little while before the match began, and that he will be leaving [the country]. If he had an injury, he wouldn’t be able to field the full game yesterday [December 12]. It would have been revealed in the field.”The BCB and the BPL’s governing council and technical committee, however, do not have the jurisdiction in the composition of a team’s playing XI, according to the BPL’s rules and playing conditions.At the toss of the same game, Barisal captain Mahmudullah said Gayle was going to join his BBL team in Australia and was hence unavailable. Their manager told the media that Gayle had notified the franchise of his back pain on the morning of the match. “He informed us this morning that he has back pain, which is why he can’t play today. Because he just returned from injury, we didn’t force him. Gayle wants to have treatment of his back pain in Australia,” Barisal manager Saidul Islam was quoted as saying by .In the post-match press conference Sabbir Rahman said the Barisal team had known of Gayle’s unavailability earlier. “After our last match, we heard that Gayle wouldn’t be playing this game,” he said.

Captain Daryl Mitchell completed the 10th Championship century of
his career as Worcestershire nudged ahead of Essex in the Division Two table

31-May-2013
ScorecardDaryl Mitchell made the most of a dead game•PA Photos

Captain Daryl Mitchell completed the 10th Championship century of
his career as Worcestershire nudged ahead of Essex in the Division Two table
after a rain-hit draw with their promotion rivals at New Road.With more than 200 overs lost because of the weather, the home side occupied
the crease throughout the last day with Mitchell making 156 towards a
declaration in the last hour at 351 for 6. This fulfilled all objectives in taking them into a lead of 136 while accruing
four batting points and restricting their opponents to two for bowling.Essex stuck to their task but the ball did not swing as it had done for
Worcestershire’s Jack Shantry when the left-arm seamer posted a personal-best
Championship return of 7 for 69 in dismissing the visitors for a below-par
215.There were some uneasy moments for Mitchell early in the day but nothing that
could shake his temperament as he set about building his first Championship
hundred since last August. The first 50 was easier on the eye, with nine fours in 66 balls, but the next
phase took twice as long as he became becalmed, albeit with less than half of
the strike, through 15 overs in the 90s.A square drive off Sajid Mahmood took the pressure off as he moved into three
figures with his 15th boundary and there was another change of gear as he
accelerated to a third 50 from 53 balls.After the early season domination by seam bowlers, it was the turn of batsmen
to enjoy a day in warm sunshine, although for most of the time the scoring rate
was pegged at little better than three runs an over. The only wicket to fall in the morning was that of Matt Pardoe, caught at short
leg for 17 when offspinner Tom Westley nipped in for one over to break an opening
stand of 62.However, there was to be a lot more toil for Essex as Mitchell shared in only
the second and third century partnerships for Worcestershire this season. Moeen Ali hit 10 fours in making 54 out of 127 before he was caught at extra
cover off Graham Napier and Thilan Samaraweera played with customary efficiency
as the third wicket yielded 107 in 28 overs.Essex finally claimed some reward with the new ball as David Masters took three
wickets before Samaraweera, unbeaten with 70, took his team to their target of
350 with 13 balls to spare. Masters began his spell by bowling Mitchell after
the opener had batted for a little over five hours.

Derbyshire secured their fourth win of the season, by a ten-wicket margin over Essex, to establish a lead at the top of Division Two

Alex Winter at Chelmsford25-May-2012
ScoreboardKarl Krikken has been head of cricket at Derbyshire for just over a year and the anniversary was toasted with a thumping victory. It was reward for his work not only in charge of the first team for 12 months but in his previous job as academy director.The team he has moulded together totally dominated an opposition many others had tipped for promotion. The Derbyshire dominance was confirmed by the 18 overs it took to reach their target of 94. Martin Guptill, perhaps the best overseas player in the game currently, thumped a 42-ball half-century to polish off a wonderful three days – three days that saw Derbyshire win a fourth game in seven.Guptill missed out in the first innings with a poor stroke but atoned in sublime fashion, lifting Charl Willoughby over his head for six, then over mid-on for four, then through cover off a length for four more. It was an emphatic innings and highlighted how he caps off a squad nicely blended by Krikken with home-grown talent and astute acquisitions.Of the home-grown, Paul Borrington, a Repton schoolboy, needed runs and got a confidence-boosting 30 not out, playing a couple of commanding drives of his own and lifting Tom Craddock past mid-off for four, then through midwicket to finish the game. Another four players in the XI have been part of the Derbyshire academy, which was only established eight years ago but is now beginning to bear fruit.”We always knew some of those academy guys would come through,” said Krikken, who was Derbyshire’s first academy director before replacing John Morris as head coach last May. “And fortunately we’ve signed some very good players, some from out of the wilderness really.” Those from the wilderness include Wes Durston, whose century continued his excellent form and whose part-time offspin claimed the key wicket of Owais Shah during a morning session where Derbyshire took three wickets and effectively won the game.Shah was far too early on a short ball and lost his leg stump. Durston also claimed the catch from Mark Pettini’s top-edged pull – a similar shot to that which saw David Masters very well caught by Jon Clare running back from midwicket to gave David Wainwright his eighth wicket in the match.Wainwright was also brought in from the wilderness. In the morning he produced another classic to take out Ben Foakes’ middle stump. He provides a service the envy of all sides – a genuine match-winning bowler. “He has been brilliant,” said Tim Groenewald, who joined from Warwickshire in 2009. “He’s fitted into the side really well and it’s been the case with a lot of guys from other clubs, you move elsewhere you come to life.”Groenewald was alive on the second evening with two wickets while Essex were still behind. He had Tymal Mills lbw to complete an outstanding match haul of 5 for 52 in 31 overs. Groenewald’s smile was evidence of a side filled with belief. Their players, some hungry from a lack of cricket elsewhere, are joyful to be playing the game; Wainwright could have bowled every over himself, such was the way he charged back to his bowling mark to skip in again. It was his first-innings haul that set up the win.Also behind the success has been the new captain Wayne Madsen – unexpectedly given the job before the start of the season after Luke Sutton’s retirement. “After we lost Luke we wondered if we had a leader in the side but Wayne’s come in and been immense,” Krikken said. “And our overseas player, Martin Guptill, has also been immense and he’s one of the lads, in the field he chases things, he throws himself about, we even had him doing twelfth-man duties last year. They’ve all bought into what we’re doing; it’s a really good dressing room.”We’re a good side. They’re young players who are still learning. We’ll even take a lesson from today, in how we bowled at James Foster.”Foster made 96 largely slog-swept runs, some from a guard outside off stump, as he tried to farm the bowling from seven wickets down. He and Willoughby, who was 0 not out, added 39 for the tenth wicket, the only thing Krikken had to criticise his players.There is a slight cautionary note to go with Derbyshire’s positive start. They are yet to play Kent or Yorkshire – second and third at the moment – and they will lose Guptill after the Friends Life t20. But Usman Khawaja is a talented replacement and this win was a sign that Derbyshire have a squad capable of outperforming everyone’s expectations.

Reigning champions Hampshire enjoyed the best of a five-overs-per-side slog in rain-soaked Tunbridge Wells

05-Jun-2011
ScorecardReigning champions Hampshire enjoyed the best of a five-overs-per-side slog in rain-soaked Tunbridge Wells as Kent slid to their second Friends Life t20 defeat inside three days.Having posted a total of 78 for 1, Hampshire restricted the hosts to 58 for 2 to secure a comfortable 20-run win in a game that finally got under way at 6pm after a three-hour delay.Match umpires Steve O’Shaughnessy and David Millns had inspected conditions at The Nevill at 4.30pm and again at 5.30pm before finally, at 5.45pm, deciding to play the reduced game. The vast majority of a 4,000 crowd had already left.Having lost the toss and taken only 11 runs from their two powerplay overs, bowled by Azhar Mahmood and Charl Langeveldt, Hampshire quickly made up for lost time.Their left-handed opening pair of Jimmy Adams and Michael Lumb bludgeoned 28 from Simon Cook’s only over. The over included three consecutive sixes from Adams, one of which flew into the Kent committee marquee while the next sailed over it.Not to be outdone, Lumb then clipped four successive sixes in Adam Ball’s sole over of the evening, which also cost 28. Rookie left-armer Ball hit back by bowling Lumb for 35 from 11 balls with his final delivery to take the score to 67 for 1 after four overs.Matt Coles sent down a tidier final over to concede 11 and leave Adams unbeaten with 33 from 15 balls faced, while Spitfires faced a daunting asking rate of 15.8 runs an over for victory.Rather than opening up their reply with their big-hitters, Kent surprisingly stuck to their tried and tested batting order, only to lose openers Rob Key and Joe Denly inside two overs and with only 11 on the board.Darren Stevens temporarily improved their chances by taking 20 off Imran Tahir’s over, including a six onto the pavilion roof, but Chris Wood bowled a tidy fourth over, leaving Kent to hit 34 off the final over from visiting captain Dominic Cork. Cork, however, conceded just 13.Stevens had done his utmost for the Kent cause, to finish unbeaten with 45 from 16 balls, but Hampshire travelled home with the points.

South Africa ended the third day at the Queen’s Park Oval in a position of total dominance thanks to the fearsome bowling combination of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel

The Bulletin by Liam Brickhill12-Jun-2010Close:
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dale Steyn picked up for 5 for 29 to reach 200 Test wickets in just his 39th match•AFP

South Africa ended the third day at the Queen’s Park Oval in a position of total dominance thanks to the fearsome bowling combination of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, who combined to skittle West Indies for just 102 in their first innings.After Morkel’s opening burst left the hosts’ top order in tatters, Steyn ripped through the middle and lower order to take 5 for 29 and become the fourth fastest bowler to reach 200 Test wickets behind Clarrie Grimmett, Dennis Lillee and Waqar Younis. Graeme Smith gave his bowlers a rest after their hard work, choosing not to enforce the follow-on, and by the close he had found the form that had eluded him on the tour thus far to take South Africa to 155 for 2 with an unbeaten 79, a lead of 405.Morkel bowled with great effort to extract life from a slow, low pitch and bully the top order from the crease in the morning session, reducing West Indies to 12 for 3 as Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash and Chris Gayle were removed with back-of-a-length deliveries.Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Narsingh Deonarine rallied briefly with a 59-run fourth-wicket stand, but Steyn then tore through the middle order, reverse-swinging the ball at high pace as six wickets fell for just four runs in 28 deliveries. Denesh Ramdin showed some pluck as he took West Indies’ score past 100 in a 27-run partnership with No. 11 Nelon Pascal, but Jacques Kallis then returned for a second spell and wrapped up the innings with the wicket of the tailender.South Africa were in control of the game within the first hour, as Morkel bowled with discipline and patience and found pace and alarming bounce off a placid pitch. Dowlin had stern questions asked of his technique against the short ball, and the whereabouts of his off stump, before he lost patience and pushed at one that he should have left.Morkel made it two wickets in two balls when he had Brendan Nash caught behind off the glove with the first delivery of his next over. Umpire Steve Davis didn’t think he had got anything on it, but the South Africans were convinced and asked for a referral, upon which Davis’s decision was overturned. With the first ball of his next over Morkel got the wicket that South Africa really wanted, as Chris Gayle went to pull a back-of-a-length delivery that wasn’t quite short enough for the shot and the resulting inside edge cannoned into his stumps to put West Indies in serious trouble at 12 for 3.With Morkel and Steyn taken off after their opening spells, Chanderpaul and Deonarine began to settle and took a particular liking to Paul Harris, who bowled six unsuccessful overs for 25 runs. They managed to weather another short burst from the opening pair before lunch, but when they returned, refreshed after the break, West Indies’ capitulation was quick in coming. The partnership was broken as Steyn went round the wicket and sent down a brutal bouncer at Chanderpaul, who gloved an easy looping catch to Mark Boucher.Dwayne Bravo, too, was bounced out shortly afterwards, although in his case it was a lack of bounce that contributed to the dismissal. Morkel dug one in halfway down and Bravo, expecting the ball to rear up at him, crouched and turned his head away but the ball kept low and flicked the glove on its way through.In a sustained assault of fast bowling of the highest standard, Deonarine was next, shouldering arms to a delivery that reversed in to him from around the wicket to have his stumps splayed. Shane Shillingford fell to the very next ball as Steyn continued to find devilishly late movement at high pace and the batsman was struck on the pad right in front of the wicket.Ramdin managed to survive the hat-trick ball – though it was wide of off stump and he flashed wildly at it – but three balls later Steyn reached the 200-wicket milestone by beating Sulieman Benn for both pace and movement to rattle his stumps.His fifth wicket came just two balls later, as Ravi Rampaul – like Deonarine before him – failed to pick up the reverse swing as Steyn came round the wicket and he left a ball that clattered into his off stump. With that, West Indies were 75 for 9 and Steyn’s four overs since the lunch break had yielded five wickets, for the cost of just four runs.When Ramdin took three boundaries off his 14th over, Steyn was pulled out of the attack, but the fightback was a brief one as Kallis nipped Nelon Pascal out in the second over of his spell. Deciding against the follow-on, Smith and Alviro Petersen put on 56 without much discomfort despite the fact that the pitch was beginning to exhibit huge variations in bounce.
After Petersen was trapped in front of his stumps by Benn for 22, Hashim Amla suffered his second failure of the game, driving Shillingford uppishly into the hands of a diving Deonarine in the covers to reduce South Africa to 79 for 2.But Smith fought to a half-century off 78 balls and Kallis was also in belligerent mood, his first boundary a massive six over long-on off Shillingford. He took South Africa’s lead past 400 with a savage pull off Pascal before fading light forced the players from the field.

Defending champions keep pace at top of table as Storm stumble again

ECB Reporters Network30-Jun-2024Southern Vipers completed a comprehensive bonus point victory at the 1st Central County Ground to keep them well in the running for the semi-final places in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.Captain Georgia Adams claimed 3 for 17 from six overs, with seamer Mary Taylor also picking up three wickets, as Storm were bowled out for just 156 having been put into bat.A masterful 65 not out from Georgia Elwiss along with 49 from Ella McCaughan helped see the home side over the line within 30 overs.The visitors started slowly thanks to tidy bowling from Freyas Davies and Kemp, the former returning to bowl after building up her strength having suffered successive stress fractures, with the left-armer claiming her first wicket back in the fifth over.Storm skipper Sophie Luff steadied the ship with Emma Corney as they put on 40 runs before Taylor cleaned up the opener for 20 with a heatseeking top-of-off delivery.That brought Fran Wilson to the crease who kept the scoreboard ticking over but chipped a simple catch straight to Elwiss, with Luff trapped lbw by Charli Knott three overs later.Nat Wraith then looked to take the attack to Vipers, but couldn’t find anyone to stay with her as wickets tumbled at the other end.Amanda-Jade Wellington lasted just nine ball before she was rapped on the pads by Adams, with two wickets falling in the 32nd over as Niamh Holland was bowled for 8 and Alex Griffiths was involved in a horrible mix up in the middle which saw her run out without troubling the scorers.Wraith then chipped a catch to Linsey Smith for 31 and the Storm found themselves 148 for 8 at the end of the 34th over.The final two wickets fell in successive balls, as Chloe Skelton edged a wide delivery to Rhianna Southby before Mollie Robbins was castled by a pitch perfect yorker from Taylor – Storm all out for 156.Vipers started their reply positively, with 33 runs coming off the opening five overs, McCaughan and Knott ticking along at the same pace. But the Australian feathered an edge behind to Wraith off Wellington which saw her walk back to the pavilion in the eighth over.This brought Elwiss to the crease who, along with McCaughan, batted calmly in their 73-run stand for the second wicket.McCaughan pounced on anything wide and short, with five of her boundaries coming behind square of the wicket, while Elwiss in particular favoured the off side.With the score on 112 and Vipers needing just 45 for victory, McCaughan was trapped lbw by Wellington on 49, playing her first game in three weeks.Elwiss then upped the ante taking three boundaries off Griffiths and followed it up with another trio of fours off Wellington to take the home side within 15 runs of the win.Adams skied a catch straight to Griffiths to give Skelton her wicket, but a boundary from Kemp took the Vipers to single figures required with a single off the fourth ball of the 30th over sealing a bonus point win for the reigning champions.

“He is looking just that little bit preoccupied – maybe at this stage he is thinking about the WTC [final],” Gavaskar says

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Apr-20231:45

Where did it all go so wrong for Mumbai Indians?

Sunil Gavaskar feels Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians and India captain, should take some time off from the ongoing IPL and come back fresh for the last few league games and the subsequent World Test Championship (WTC) final.”I would like to see some change in the batting order [for Mumbai Indians],” Gavaskar said on Star Sports after Mumbai Indians lost by 55 runs to Gujarat Titans on Tuesday. “Honestly, I would also say that Rohit should maybe also take a break for the time being, and keep himself fit for the World Test Championship [final]. [He can] come back again for the last few matches, but right now, [he should] take a little bit of a breather himself.”On Tuesday, Rohit was dismissed for 2 (off eight balls), an attempted flick ending up as a leading edge that flew high and into bowler Hardik Pandya’s hands. His form with the bat has been mixed, much like his team’s season. Although they started with successive losses, Mumbai Indians came back to win three in a row before again losing two back-to-back games. While Rohit has scored 181 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 135.07, he has been dismissed between 20 and 45 on four occasions; his highest of 65 – his only fifty this season – came in a Player-of-the-Match performance against Delhi Capitals.The IPL ends on May 28, with the WTC final scheduled to start on June 7 at The Oval, where India will be facing Australia. Gavaskar wondered if Rohit had already started to think about that game, given its importance – India had lost the previous WTC final to New Zealand.”He is looking just that little bit preoccupied. Maybe at this stage he is thinking about the WTC [final], I don’t know,” Gavaskar said. “But I do believe that at this stage he needs a little bit of a break, and come back for the last three or four matches so that he is in rhythm for the World Test Championship [final].”So far this year, Rohit has played six back-to-back ODIs against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, before four Tests against Australia followed two weeks later. And, just after that, he played the second and third ODIs against Australia after missing the first ODI because of family commitments.Mumbai Indians’ next match is against Rajasthan Royals at home on Sunday. As things stand, they are at No. 7 on the ten-team table with three wins from seven games, not as bad as the bottom-place finish last season but far off the standards they have set as the most successful team in IPL history.”It’s going to be a miracle that’s going to make them qualify [for the IPL playoffs],” Gavaskar said. “The way they are at the moment, yes, they could conceivably finish [at number] four, but they will have to play some extraordinary cricket, both batting as well as bowling.”