All posts by csb10.top

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAshley Allen – CPL T20 / Getty

Kieron Pollard nicked the battle of big-hitters against Carlos Brathwaite as the Shere Bangla National Stadium were enthralled by both batsman’s six-hitting abilities. Pollard’s 24-ball 55 – that had six huge sixes – helped Dhaka Dynamites to their third win in a row, this time beating Khulna Titans by four wickets in the final over.Khulna had earlier made 156 for 5, a remarkable recovery from a sluggish 47 for three in the first 10 overs. The late addition came mostly through Brathwaite’s unbeaten 64 that included six sixes in the last 5.5 overs. Abu Hider took two wickets while Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan and Shahid Afridi took one each.Dhaka’s chase, however, started even poorer. They were 41 for 5 at one stage, but Pollard’s cluster of sixes bought them back into the game, before Jahurul Islam and Mosaddek Hossain took them to victory with a ball to spare.Slow to startKhulna struck only five boundaries in the first 10 overs after being sent to bat. They also lost Michael Klinger, Dhiman Ghosh and Nazmul Hossain Shanto during the same period. The lack of boundaries played a big factor in each of these batsmen’s dismissals.Klinger’s cross-bat took a top edge and was well caught at mid on by Hider, off Shakib. The bowler-fielder combination then switched roles as Hider took Dhiman’s wicket in the sixth over, the skier taken in the second attempt by Shakib.Narine easily scalped Shanto in the tenth over when the batsman charged him needlessly, only to be stumped by Jahurul Islam for a 25-ball 24.Khulna’s late burstEerily similar to their previous game, Brathwaite got into his stride soon after Mahmudullah got out. He first struck Afridi for two sixes in the space of three balls, first over the bowler’s head and then over midwicket. Shakib then went for 17 runs in the 16th over, which included another six over midwicket that went deeper than the one in the previous over.Rilee Rossouw got out in the next over to end the rapid 54-run fifth-wicket stand but Brathwaite struck his fourth six before reaching his maiden T20 fifty off just 25 balls. In the final over, both his sixes off Hider went straight, the second slightly bigger than the first. He finished with six maximums in his unbeaten 29-ball 64.Pollard’s reply to BrathwaiteDhaka, too, slipped like Khulna in the first half of their innings. Abu Jayed had Evin Lewis skied to mid off in the first over, Afridi slammed one to cover in the second over before Jofra Archer bowled Cameron Delport with a quick delivery. Mahmudullah took a sharp catch to remove Narine and Dhaka’s crisis deepened further in the ninth when Shakib was caught for 20.But the scenario changed in the space of five balls, of which four went for sixes off Pollard’s bat. All of those went over long on, despite Mahmudullah’s varying lengths. That over, the innings’ 11th, cost 25 runs. Pollard didn’t spare Brathwaite either, hitting his compatriot for two sixes, both on the leg side in the 13th over that cost 20 runs. From a precarious position, Dhaka had reduced the chase to 58 off the last seven overs.The pullback via ArcherJofra Archer, whose pace has troubled a few batsmen in the BPL, used it to good effect in the 14th over. He gave away just three runs, after which Shafiul picked up the key wicket of Pollard in the following over. Much of the credit for Pollard’s wicket, however, should go to Archer for bringing some control to the Khulna attack. Between the 14th and 17th overs, Khulna conceded only two fours as Dhaka went left needing 27 off the last three overs.Some local creditThe lack of contribution from the local players had been a concern in the BPL but the way Jahurul and Mosaddek played out the last 5.1 overs should be appeasing. They narrowed the chase down with two balls to go, but Jahurul’s reverse off Brathwaite, with four needed, was a was superbly executed. The pair added 43 in their unbroken seventh-wicket stand.What they said“I gambled with that reverse scoop off the second last ball. This is the first time I played in a match.”

Dean Elgar was more upset than Aiden Markram after the young opener failed to reach a century on Test debut. Markram was run out for 97 at the non-striker’s end, while attempting to steal a single to help Elgar, who was on 99, get to his hundred. Elgar called for the run and then sent Markram back, by which time the batsman was already too far down the track to make his ground.While Markram walked back to applause from his team-mates, Elgar sunk to his knees in disappointment and later apologised to his new opening partner.”I have never really looked at the game from a selfish perspective. I think I wanted it (the hundred) so badly for him I caught myself in no man’s land,” a bashful Markram later said. “Dean and I have come a long way and developed a good relationship. It was tough for him and a bitter pill to swallow. But I told him at tea that he really needs to kick on and that’s all that matters.”Elgar was 128 not out overnight and ended the day as the leading run-scorer in Test cricket in 2017. Though he will be in a race with India’s Cheteshwar Pujara for that spot, Elgar has already gained much stature among his team-mates, who see him as a leader in their line-up.”He has a very hard personality. He is a proper fighter. It reflects in his cricket. He puts his hand up when times are tough. He doesn’t score runs [only] when it’s easy, he scores when it’s rough,” Markram said. “He is a leader in the side and we’re incredibly happy for him now that he’s the leading run-scorer in the year.”Markam’s awe may extend beyond the others. Being new to the international scene, Markram need look no further than Elgar if he wants to understand how to succeed on this stage and it seems he is already taking tips.”I have massive respect for him. It’s never easy to bat out a full day,” Markram said. “That’s your goal as an opening batsman. Very rarely do I set myself a goal of how many runs I’m going to get, it’s more of a time goal. Generally the longer you bat, the easier it gets. You’ve got to take your hat off to the innings Dean played.”While Elgar will hold the headlines for now, Markram knows it is not long before he is expected to do the same. He has been touted not just as a long-term opener but also as a future captain and he admitted it is a challenge trying to keep it real, so to speak, but he is doing his best.”It’s something you’ve got to get used to dealing with. It’s not always a nice pressure to try and deal with because you don’t want to let anyone down. I genuinely just try to block it out because at the end of the day it’s a needless pressure that you are going to have on your shoulders,” he said. “You think back to yourself that it’s also just a game. There was a stage when I was batting out there that I sort of realised, it’s not the be-all and end-all. If you do get a good ball, it’s part of the game.”

There can’t have been many punters who left the County Ground at Bristol on Sunday night feeling short-changed. With Moeen Ali scorching all before him with his sensational 53-ball hundred, and Chris Gayle responding with ominous intent during his 94 from 78, a grand total of 28 sixes were struck in the course of the two innings – the most ever scored in an international match in England. That’s entertainment, as Gloucestershire’s marketing men would amply agree.And yet, had it not been for a less prominently celebrated performance, England’s eventual 124-run win would have been significantly less comfortable, and perhaps even in doubt altogether. Instead, once the dust had settled on a pulsating afternoon’s strokeplay, there were Liam Plunkett’s figures standing out from the carnage – a career-best haul of 5 for 52 in 8.1 match-sealing overs.It was, as Plunkett readily agreed, something of a killjoy’s performance. This is, after all, a player who has been forging an invaluable niche in England’s one-day plans in recent seasons – that of the mid-innings aggressor, the man whose extra oomph can force a mistake out of even the most well-set batsman, or demand that they shelve some of their intent in a bid to keep their powder dry for the slog overs.And that he did to impressive effect in the course of a run-laden contest. After entering the attack in the tenth over, his first two wickets were classic heavy-ball dismissals, as first Shai Hope and then – controversially – Marlon Samuels were drawn into drives and beaten by extra bounce outside off stump. Then, when he returned in the 34th over, Plunkett’s second-ball bouncer lured Jason Mohammed into a top-edged slap to square leg, before Devendra Bishoo and Jason Holder completed his haul with the contest effectively settled.”Everyone wants to see sixes and fours, so you try to come in in that middle period, and close a team down,” Plunkett said. “That’s why I do like it, because you feel as though you can run the game in that period. I love to be the bad guy for the crowd, it means I’m not getting hit out of the park.”He’s clearly revelling in that villainous role. Plunkett’s Bristol haul propelled him into elite company among England’s one-day cricketers – with two matches remaining of the 2017 season, he has become the joint third-most prolific wicket-taker in a home ODI summer, with 20 scalps – alongside his regular middle-overs partner, Adil Rashid, who himself picked off three wickets to hasten West Indies’ demise in Sunday’s contest.Liam Plunkett struck twice in his first spell•Getty Images

“If we can squeeze them in that middle period, it’s invaluable,” said Plunkett. “That’s what me and Rash have done in the last year or two, because people are getting set and looking to knock it around a bit, and not take as many risks. So if you can get a couple of big wickets there, it gets the tail in earlier and hopefully limits the damage at the back end. So I do relish it, trying to take a few wickets, and [at Bristol] I did that.”Plunkett didn’t have everything his own way during his afternoon’s work. In fact, he suffered the indignity of being pounded for the biggest six of the match: his second ball to Gayle was swiped clean out of the ground over midwicket. But he took stock and adjusted his approach accordingly – aided, he said, by the prep he’d been able to do thanks to dressing-room footage of Gayle’s previous performances.”The two bouncers I bowled to him, he flapped at to get out of the way, but the ball he hit for six was chest high, which obviously isn’t a good delivery,” Plunkett said. “I still backed myself to go at his head or mix the pace up, but you’ve got to stick to your plans. The stuff that’s in the dressing room gives you reminders before you go out, but if you don’t bowl well, it’s still your fault. There’s no-one else to blame but yourself.”After a washout in Nottingham, England have now secured an unassailable 2-0 series lead in the five-match series, and Plunkett has few doubts about his team’s ability to wrap up the rubber in Wednesday’s fourth ODI at The Oval. His side, he believes, are simply better than West Indies, the No.9-ranked ODI side, who must now go through the ICC’s qualification tournament if they want to secure one of the two remaining places at the 2019 World Cup.”We feel as though, if we can get an early wicket, we can get on top of them,” he said. “We feel like we do back ourselves, we’re a good team. Obviously you can never take it for granted, but if you can get one [wicket], you can squeeze them because they’re a team that likes boundaries and play out dot balls. We feel we are a better team because we hit boundaries but also run the ones and twos.”That said, the Gayle factor can never be entirely discounted. After all, who needs ones and twos when you can deal exclusively in fours and sixes?”He played nicely, didn’t he?” said Plunkett. “We know he’s dangerous. You look at the stats he’s got, even his bowling – he’s got 160 wickets or something – so he’s a great cricketer, isn’t he? We’ve got a method though, we have to try and squeeze him, although if you miss, he’ll hit it miles. You need to shut him down and try to get him to run the singles he doesn’t want to run – because a couple of run-outs have saved us as well.”Perhaps coincidentally, the Bristol ODI was England’s last international fixture before the announcement of England’s Ashes squad – and while the days have long since passed of players earning themselves winter-tour places on the strength of an outstanding performance in the season-ending NatWest Trophy final (for instance, Ashley Cowan in 1997), the circumstances of this late-September series are not entirely dissimilar.Thus, in the wake of the stress fracture that has scuppered the hopes of Middlesex’s Toby Roland-Jones, could there yet be a vacancy for a tall deck-hitting seamer with the stamina and experience to give Australia’s batsmen the hurry-up on flat pitches?Plunkett, understandably, is refusing to get his hopes up. After all, he hasn’t played a Test match for England since 2014 while, through a combination of injury and England call-ups, he has played just two first-class matches for Yorkshire this season, albeit that included a hard-earned four-wicket haul against Somerset at Scarborough.”I’ve not played that much so, I guess, there’s nothing to go by,” he said. “I guess they know what they’re going to get with me, I’ve been around for plenty of time, so if I got the go-ahead, happy days. But I can’t see it happening.”Obviously I’d love to go in the Ashes squad, but I know it’s far for me. I’ve done well in white-ball cricket and I’ve been successful in that, so maybe they think me as a white-ball bowler. But I am happy where I’m at and I feel good in the one-day team right now.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:20

Agarkar: India did everything right in Indore

Between January 2013 and the start of this series, India-Australia ODIs had produced an average first-innings score of 321. The first two ODIs bucked that high-scoring trend, with India defending 281 and then 252, but a belter of a pitch in Indore seemed set to catalyse a return to the old order. Coming back from a calf injury, Aaron Finch scored his eighth ODI hundred and put on 154 for the second wicket with Steven Smith to project visions of 350 into Australia’s minds.But thanks to their wristspinners, and then their two expert death bowlers, India kept them to 293 for 6, taking five wickets and only conceding 77 in the last 14 overs. Australia didn’t get a sniff thereafter, as seventies of varying moods and tempos from Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane at the top of the order and Hardik Pandya at No. 4 led India to a series-clinching victory by five wickets, with 13 balls remaining. It was their ninth ODI win in a row, equalling their best ever sequence.

Happy I got to bat for so long – Pandya

On his bowling…
I was just trying to bowl fast offcutters. And it actually nipped, it actually gripped the pitch and moved. I got to know that when I bowled a slower ball earlier. The wicket was too dry and I had to do something different. Can’t just bowl seam up and get whacked. So I just assessed the conditions pretty well and that’s why eventually I got the wicket.
Did he feel pressure after Kohli fell?
I don’t think so. I was batting on 40 or something and the equation was also a run-a-ball so it was time to play and take the game deep, and then obviously the boundary balls will always be there because the runs were not much. We had Mahi bhai [MS Dhoni] in the back end, we bat pretty deep so it was just a matter of spending time on the pitch, taking singles and we all knew that if we keep doing the right things, taking singles, we would eventually win.
Batting at No. 4…
It does not make any difference where I bat. Rather than seeing this as a challenge, I see this as an opportunity to do something nice for the team. When I was told I was going to go out to bat next, I was happy. This is the first time I’ve played so many balls, so it was great.
On bowling with Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah…
We keep talking to each other and discussing what the wicket is doing, and what kind of deliveries we should be bowling. They are outstanding – they bowl equally well at the start and at the death. It’s amazing to have guys like that. It gives me confidence to go all out and express myself.

Rohit gave the chase its early fillip with an innings of gasp-inducing strokeplay. There were four sixes in his 62-ball 71, three of them off the quicks: a full one from Nathan Coulter-Nile lofted flat and straight, a bouncer from Pat Cummins hooked into the roof of the stands behind square leg, and a short ball from Kane Richardson – a reaction to seeing the batsman jump out of his crease – muscled in the same direction and out of the stadium. With his partner in such form, Rahane simply slotted into his slipstream, giving him as much of the strike as he could, and helping himself whenever the bowlers dropped short or angled down the leg side. The two added 139 in 130 balls.Both openers fell in the space of 12 balls, and it was Pandya, rather than the incumbent Manish Pandey, who walked in at No. 4. India needed 147 from 159 balls at that point, which called for stickability rather than the ball-striking Pandya is known for. And so he proceeded to play an innings befitting the situation. He gave Ashton Agar early warning of the lengths he wasn’t supposed to bowl, hitting the first balls of successive overs from the left-arm spinner over the long-on boundary, but otherwise simply looked to turn the strike over and build a partnership with Virat Kohli. He showed plenty of poise against the seamers, showing a full face to anything threatening the stumps, and it was Kohli, eventually, who got out playing a big shot at the end of a third-wicket stand of 56.That wicket was immediately followed by that of Kedar Jadhav, who top-edged a slash off the fourth ball he faced. With India needing 88 off 88 at that point, Australia had the smallest of openings, but Pandya and Pandey closed the door with a fifth-wicket stand of 78 off 63 balls. In the end, 294 was simply not a challenging-enough target, and both captains suggested at the post-match presentation that this was a 330-340 pitch.Hardik Pandya made his second fifty of the series•BCCI

Australia were looking at a score in that region when they were 206 for 1 after 36 overs. At that point, Kuldeep Yadav had seemed the unlikeliest bowler to turn the match around. Finch had just hit his third six off the left-arm wristspinner, a miscued loft that might have been caught at long-off on a bigger ground. Apart from that one shot, Finch had picked Kuldeep’s variations better than pretty much any Australian batsman in this series, and looked utterly in control against him. Kuldeep’s figures at that point read 7-0-55-0.And yet – perhaps reckoning that his part-timers were unlikely to do any better on this surface – Kohli persisted with Kuldeep, and he struck in his next over, Finch picking out deep midwicket with a slog-sweep.India suddenly looked transformed. Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah kept Glenn Maxwell in check with their changes of pace, and then Yuzvendra Chahal, returning to the attack in the 41st over, dangled his legbreaks wide of off stump, inviting the batsmen to reach out and hit him against the turn. The 3.1 overs following Finch’s dismissal only produced 12 runs, and Smith, jumping out to the returning Kuldeep in the 42nd over, failed to reach the pitch of a wrong’un and holed out to long-off.Maxwell followed next ball, leaving his crease too early and giving Chahal the opportunity to slip another wide legbreak past his edge. Dhoni completed his 100th ODI stumping for India, and Chahal had dismissed Maxwell for the third time in three innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Bumrah took over thereafter, and Australia only scored 38 off their last six overs.Having won the toss for the first time in the series, Smith opted to bat, and his openers were steady rather than spectacular against some controlled new-ball bowling from Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah. They recognised there was little margin for error on this pitch, and strove hard not to give the batsmen width. Both bowled largely back of a length to Finch, denying him his favourite shots through the V.The openers saw out that period, and Warner was just beginning to look dangerous, having hit Chahal for a straight six, when Pandya bowled him with an offcutter than slid past his outside edge. Pandya did an important job through the middle overs with his cutters, cross-seam deliveries and quicker bouncers, and showed Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah the way to bowl when they eventually returned to close out the innings.The two wristspinners, however, were able to exert far less control on Finch and Smith. Having bided his time against the new ball, Finch now took full toll whenever the spinners landed in his arc. In all, he would hit five sixes, all of them down the ground. He also preyed on the spinners’ anxiety to not pitch it too full, and rocked back on a couple of occasions to muscle pulls off balls that were only slightly short.At the other end, Smith worked the ball cleverly into leg-side gaps, the pick of his shots a pick-up flick against the turn off Chahal, made possible by his dancing footwork down the track. Two-thirds of the way into Australia’s innings, the second-wicket pair looked unstoppable. It only took one little opening, however, for India to expose their batting frailties once more.

1:14

We weren’t aggressive with our spin – Sangakkara

On a day when a sparse crowd of approximately 5,200 cast doubts on the financial viability of the CPL making future visits to Florida, Jamaica Tallawahs wouldn’t mind staying away. Though Tallawahs’ new owner is exploring the possibility of shifting some of their home games to Lauderhill, the defending CPL champions are winless after three matches at the venue, falling to Barbados Tridents by 12 runs on Saturday.On a pitch where getting in wasn’t easy, a series of nuggety contributions, led by Shoaib Malik’s 33, took Tridents to 142 for 7. Though Lendl Simmons produced a half-century in reply, there was little support down the order, and Tallawahs finished on 130 for 6.Williams’ mime celebrationKesrick Williams, Tallawahs’ highest wicket-taker last year, opened this season’s tally early. Off the last ball of the Powerplay, Kane Williamson mistimed a pull straight to Jonathan Foo, who was inside the circle at midwicket.As he celebrated, Williams mimed, pulling an imaginary notepad out of his trouser pocket. He then flipped through the pages in his palm before making a mark for Williamson’s wicket and putting the notepad away. Then, in the 18th over, Williams dug the notepad back out of his pocket when Shoaib Malik holed out to deep midwicket.The big ballerPowered by Lendl Simmons’ rapid start, Tallawahs looked like they would cruise in the chase. Wayne Parnell bowled erratic lines in a 15-run first over. Parnell sent down three leg side wides, and then overcompensated to offer width. Simmons carved two short and wide balls behind point for fours, and in between, flicked one off his pads through fine leg.Coach Paul Nixon was full of praise for Simmons in the buildup to the first match. After working over Parnell in the first over, he was similarly at ease against Tridents’ spinners, hoicking Akeal Hosein straight back for six in the sixth over. He ended his Tallawahs debut, having top-scored with 53 off 46.The first ballerKumar Sangakkara batted at No. 3 last year for Tallawahs, but with the Gayle-Walton opening tandem gone, the new captain walked out to open the batting. He only lasted one delivery, slicing Ravi Rampaul to point.The no-ballerOverstepping was a problem Mickey Arthur had to deal with early in his tenure as Pakistan coach, making him lose what little hair he had left. Wahab Riaz showed the problem hasn’t been cured entirely.Wahab showed clever thinking by working Andre McCarthy over with the short ball before bowling him with a full and straight ball in the seventh over for 15. What was not so clever was Wahab’s inability to keep his foot behind the crease, as proven by replays, allowing McCarthy to return to the crease and take his second-wicket partnership with Simmons to 62.Wahab very nearly cost himself another wicket at the start of the 19th over when Williamson’s outrageous leaping catch at deep midwicket accounted for Rovman Powell. Replays were touch and go as to whether or not Wahab had any portion of his foot behind the line. The third umpire gave him the benefit of the doubt, though Tallawahs coach Nixon was visibly frustrated with the decision.The brain fadeTallawahs had just suffered a crucial blow when Shakib Al Hasan was adjudged lbw to end the 13th over to make it 82 for 3, leaving the equation at 61 required off seven overs to win. With Simmons well-set on 53, they needed him to kick on but he fell on the first ball of the 14th in embarrassing fashion.Simmons sliced Shoaib’s first ball to short third man. Powell was fresh at the crease and the pair’s lack of chemistry showed in a dicey call. The throw to wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran drew him away from the stumps to allow Powell to make his ground.Simmons was in the middle of a leisurely stroll down to the other end, not expecting a throw to come his way. The alert Pooran caught Simmons napping and whipped a relay to the bowler’s end, the throw hitting the stumps with Simmons a yard short. Pooran celebrated his sneak attack by doing a handstand. The Tallawahs innings never regained momentum.

No result

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:54