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In February earlier this year Faf du Plessis was back in yellow, leading Jo’burg Super Kings to the inaugural SA20 semi-finals along with coach Stephen Fleming. Two months on in the IPL, du Plessis, in red and gold, launched an audacious assault with Glenn Maxwell as Royal Challengers Bangalore threatened to mow down 227 against Fleming and MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Kohli fined 10% of his match fee

Virat Kohli was fined for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during RCB’s fixture against CSK on Monday. “Kohli admitted to the Level 1 offence under Article 2.2 of the Code of Conduct,” said an IPL release. The statement did not go into details about the incident. “For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee’s decision is final and binding,” the release further added.

After Super Kings had posted 226 for 6 on the back of Devon Conway’s 45-ball 83 and Shivam Dube’s 27-ball 52, they struck early through their Impact Player Akash Singh to dismiss Virat Kohli for 6 in the first over. Mahipal Lomror then fell to Tushar Deshpande in the next over, but du Plessis and Maxwell then tore into Super Kings’ inexperienced seamers to power them to 75 for 2 in the powerplay.Royal Challengers doubled that score by the 14th over, with du Plessis – bruised rib and all – riding his luck to push them even further ahead. Du Plessis had been dropped on 0, by Dhoni behind the stumps, and then on 52 by Maheesh Theekshana off his own bowling. Super Kings dropped two more catches in a lax fielding effort, but late wickets and nifty variations from the Sri Lankan pair of Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana saved the day for them.Theekshana had got rid of Maxwell for 76 off 36 balls with a fizzing 104kph carrom ball in a boundary-less over. Pathirana, who had been taken for 26 off ten balls from Maxwell, had Shahbaz Ahmed holing out in an 18th over that cost just runs to go with that wicket.Royal Challengers’ Impact Player Suyash Prabhudessai then heaved Deshpande for six in the 19th over, but Pathirana successfully defended 18 off the final over with his slingy, on-pace yorkers and slower cutters. He had Prabhudessai caught at deep midwicket last ball with his bowling coach Dwayne Bravo applauding him from the dugout.

Conway, Rahane turn up the tempo

Mohammed Siraj excelled in the powerplay once again, giving up just six runs in his two overs while claiming the wicket of Ruturaj Gaikwad for 3. Conway and Ajinkya Rahane, too, had started slowly, but they turned up the tempo in the fifth over, bowled by rookie seamer Vyshak Vijaykumar. Conway manufactured a scooped four while Rahane hit the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium with a 91-metre six.Rahane then cracked Wayne Parnell for 4,6,4 in the last over of the powerplay, taking Super Kings up to 53 for 1 in six overs. He tried to keep up the attacking intent against Wanindu Hasaranga, but the wristspinner bested him with a wrong’un.3:07

Jaffer: Feeling secure at CSK has probably helped Rahane

Dube dazzles

Hasaranga bowled only two overs and didn’t return after dismissing Rahane because Super Kings had promoted their left-handed spin-hitter Dube to No.4 once again. Royal Challengers matched Dube up with Maxwell, but he got going by launching his own six into the roof of the ground.Conway brought up back-to-back half-centuries and looked good for a maiden IPL hundred, but Harshal Patel eventually cleaned him up for 83 with a dipping yorker. With Royal Challengers not having an out-and-out fast bowler in their ranks, Dube continued to find or clear the boundary. He charged to a 25-ball fifty before Parnell had him holing out in the 17th over.

The drama at the death

Despite the loss of Ambati Rayudu in the next over, Super Kings seemed on track for a total of 230. Siraj, however, nailed his wide yorkers in the 19th over that cost ten runs.Harshal started the final over, which was closed out by stand-in captain Maxwell; du Plessis was off the field during that time because of a side strain.After Harshal bowled two beamers, he had to be taken out of the attack. Maxwell brought himself into the attack, ahead of Hasaranga, and conceded nine runs, including a wide, for the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja off the last four balls.Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell controlled the chase after the early wickets•Associated Press

The du Plessis-Maxwell show

Royal Challengers were two down in two overs, but they still flew out of the blocks, thanks to du Plessis and Maxwell. They played to their strengths, with du Plessis taking down pace and Maxwell spin. Du Plessis was responsible for 45 of the 75 runs Royal Challengers had scored in the powerplay.Maxwell then took centrestage, lining up both Jadeja and Theekshana. Maxwell didn’t spare Pathirana either after the powerplay, shanking him for a 94-metre six over square leg.The pair took their team to 141 off 2 in 12 overs. Eighty-six from eight overs is a manageable ask at the Chinnaswamy, but Theekshana had Maxwell skying behind to set the scene for Super Kings’ comeback.

An unbroken 164-run partnership between Craig Ervine and Sean Williams saw Zimbabwe canter to an eight-wicket victory against Nepal to open their World Cup Qualifier campaign. At a packed Harare Sports Club, Ervine played a captain’s knock to ensure Nepal’s 290 for 8 never looked overwhelming for his side, his fourth ODI hundred the highlight of a brilliant Zimbabwean batting performance. Williams went one better, scoring Zimbabwe’s fastest-ever hundred to help the side wrap up the game with nearly six overs to spare.Zimbabwe started brightly in their pursuit, with Joylord Gumbie taking advantage of the powerplay to strike early boundaries and get the side off to a punchy start. After Sompal Kami trapped him in front, Wesley Madhevere and Ervine continued in the same vein. Zimbabwe were particularly adept at rotating the strike, and quick to punish the loose deliveries. With Nepal’s attack ill-equipped to threaten, especially on a surface as docile as this, the home side had the experience of knowing the game was theirs to lose.That experience proved especially salient when Williams joined his fellow old hand Ervine at the crease. Madhevere had been done in by the short ball, but these two left-handers were perfectly equipped to handle Nepal’s spin. Crucially, they went about neutering Sandeep Lamichhane from the very first over, getting on top of his variations and punishing him whenever he erred in line and length.In the end, the only person discombobulated by Lamichhane’s variety was the bowler himself as he struggled for rhythm. Zimbabwe ensured he registered his second-most expensive figures in ODI cricket, 10-0-77-0, and was wicketless just the third in his career.Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh added 171 for the first wicket for Nepal•ICC/Getty Images

Williams was instrumental in taking pressure off his captain, happy to take on the role of the aggressor. This reflected in the speed with which he brought up his 34th half-century, taking just 41 balls. By then, the asking rate had been tamed, brought down well below six. Soon after a caress through the covers brought up Ervine’s hundred, and as cries of “captain” broke out from the Harare crowd, their leader saluted them back.Ervine took 111 balls for his hundred, and Williams wouldn’t be content with just a half-century either. He continued accelerating as Zimbabwe turned the chase into a formality, and the only obstacle to his century was that Zimbabwe were running out of runs to chase. But with five runs required, he slashed Gulshan Jha to the wide long-off boundary to level the scores. His hundred came in just 70 balls, and the Castle Corner was only too happy to get on its feet again.Nepal had begun so much brighter than they ended, a sensational 171-run opening stand between Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh providing the dream platform on a placid pitch to go and push ahead past 300. But when Bhurtel, whose stroke-making all day had been sublime, was cruelly cleaned up by Wellington Masakadza on 99, Nepal’s day turned. Sheikh fell soon after, and Zimbabwe’s fingerspinners sent them back into rebuilding mode.There were cameos, especially from Kushal Malla and captain Rohit Paudel, but Richard Ngarava seared through the middle order with four wickets, and the innings began to peter out. The last five overs saw just 32 runs scored, and when the players went in for lunch, the sense was that Nepal had well and truly lost momentum.In the end, with Williams and Ervine in that kind of form, none of it might have mattered after all. As the players indulged in a lap of honour to thank a crowd that had stayed back to celebrate, this day in Harare truly belonged to Zimbabwe.

John Turner led a destructive bowling performance as defending champions Hampshire Hawks thrashed Gloucestershire by eight wickets and booked their place in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals.Fast bowler Turner took his Blast wicket tally to 18 with 3 for 15, with Chris Wood’s 3 for 18, Benny Howell’s 2 for 18 and miserly spells from Nathan Ellis and Liam Dawson restricting Gloucestershire to 105.Despite losing two early wickets, James Vince returned to the top of the scoring charts with 55 not out – his eighth fifty of the season – as he and Joe Weatherley knocked off the runs with 33 balls to spare.Hampshire will face Worcestershire at home on Friday after Essex sensationally chased down 195 at the Kia Oval. Hampshire have only faced Worcestershire once before in the Blast – the 2015 quarter-final – which they won due to bad light. Despite reaching Finals Day a record nine times, it will only be the first time since 2013 that the Ageas Bowl has played host to a quarter-final.Other than Grant Roelofsen’s promising 26 and Zaman Akhter’s tail-end 11, no other Gloucestershire batter reached double figures against some intelligent bowling on a slow pitch.Turner, in his debut Blast season, struck with his fifth ball as a zipping delivery found Miles Hammond’s edge before Ben Charlesworth chopped Wood to cover.Ben Wells was brilliantly caught at mid-off two balls after Benny Howell brought him up as Gloucestershire fell to 32 for 3 in the powerplay.South African overseas Roelofsen dispatched the only six of the innings over midwicket but from that point the visitors lost their fluency and wickets tumbled.Howell, against his former county, had Roelofsen slicing to deep point, Ellis had James Bracey picking out long on, and Graeme van Buuren’s attempted slog sweep of Dawson messed up his stumps.Turner returned to knock back Zafar Gohar and Jack Taylor’s leg stumps with virtually identical deliveries, with Wood seeing off David Payne and Tom Smith in the final over.Ben McDermott and Tom Prest didn’t get the memo about attempting to overhit the ball as both fell attempting to muscle the ball to the ropes.But Vince played the pitch and wasn’t scared for his strike-rate to dip below 100. There were moments of aggression; an advance and swing back over van Buuren’s head and a pair of swats through the covers.His half-century came in 37 balls as he passed 600 runs for the season for the third time in his career – he now has 638 runs in this year’s Blast which is already the eighth most in a single series with potentially three more innings to go.Weatherley was equally sensible with his approach in his unbeaten 29 off 26, in the unbeaten 81 run stand, as he minimised his risk-taking and ran hard – although it was Vince who sweetly struck the winning runs through the covers.

Former Australia and New South Wales wicketkeeper Brian Taber has died at the age of 83.Taber, who played 16 Test matches for Australia between 1966 and 1970, passed away on Friday.He made his Test debut against South Africa in Johannesburg where he claimed seven catches and a stumping. He would go on to also face England, India and West Indies during his career.His highest Test score of 48 came against West Indies at Sydney in 1969 in a match Australia won by 382 runs.Taber was widely regarded as one of the best wicketkeepers to represent Australia and was renowned for his impeccable glovework and calm demeanour behind the stumps.In his domestic career, he played more than 100 games for New South Wales and is a member of the state’s Hall of Fame.After finishing playing, he held various roles within the game, including NSW coach and selector and manager of the Australian Under-19 men’s team.”Brian’s vast popularity among former team-mates, and all those fortunate enough to have known him, is just one indication of the impact he had on our game,” Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said.”Brian had a passion for the development of young players, and it is fitting that the Player of the Tournament at the Men’s National Under-19 Championships will continue to receive the Brian Taber Medal.”Cricket NSW CEO, Lee Germon, said: “His contribution to Australian cricket was immense, as a player, coach, manager and selector. Tabsy was universally loved for both his skill as a wicketkeeper and his character as a person. He was such a nice, genuine guy and he will be greatly missed by all.”

Worcestershire 253 for 3 (Jones 122, Libby 82*) beat Northamptonshire 252 (Taylor 100) by seven wickets Rob Jones struck a superb 122 from 126 balls, his first List A century, to lead Worcestershire Rapids to their fourth Metro Bank One Day Cup victory of the season against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. Jones was joined by his skipper Jake Libby (82) in a record third-wicket partnership for Worcestershire against Northamptonshire, putting on 194 runs in exactly 31 overs as they chased down 253 in 43.1 overs with seven wickets to spare.The pair settled the Rapids’ nerves after Northamptonshire centurion Tom Taylor took two early wickets. They paced their chase perfectly, largely ignoring risk to start and working the ball into the gaps to keep up with the run-rate. Gifted three lives by Northamptonshire’s fielders as they started to accelerate, they otherwise looked untroubled throughout. Jones hit 12 fours and three sixes as he repeatedly lofted Simon Kerrigan down the ground, while forcefully driving and pulling the seamers.Taylor had struck an excellent 100 off 80 balls, his second century of this year’s campaign to rescue the Steelbacks from a perilous 139 for seven with Dillon Pennington taking three for 47.The in-form Steelbacks all-rounder had looked a class apart after Northamptonshire lost three middle-order wickets for 18 runs, all to shots drilled straight to fielders. He put on 108 with James Sales (25), striking 14 fours and one huge six onto the roof of the Turner Stand, but chose his shots intelligently, finding the gaps and striking the ball cleanly.Northamptonshire’s hopes were dealt a big blow before play when Prithvi Shaw, the tournament’s leading run-scorer, was ruled out for the rest of the season due to a knee injury. The Indian international who scored a club List A record 244 against Somerset last week, sustained the injury during the county’s win over Durham on Sunday. Scan results received by the club this morning revealed the injury was worse than initially expected.Put into bat, Northamptonshire lost two early wickets and while Ricardo Vasconcelos made 25, he became Pennington’s second victim when he edged low to Josh Baker at second slip.Rob Keogh and Luke Procter started to rebuild in a partnership of 49. Keogh looked fluent, and undeterred after being struck on the helmet by Logan van Beek, he clipped off his legs and pulled Pat Brown to the ropes. His downfall came in tame fashion though when he drove a ball from Brown loosely to point on 35. Brown struck again in his next over when Justin Broad drilled him straight to mid-off.Luke Procter (31) had driven nicely and timed two late cuts behind square off one van Beek over. But he had a rush of blood and came down the track to Baker, attempting to hit the ball over the inner circle only to pick out Gareth Roderick who took a good catch above his head.Luke McManus (15) and Taylor attempted to steady the ship in a stand of 34. McManus dispatched Baker down the ground for six but came forward to Waite and yorked himself as his leg-stump was knocked over with Northamptonshire in real trouble at 139 for seven.In walked Taylor who timed the ball from the get-go, striking Baker back over his head, pulling Waite and Pennington dismissively and hitting Brown down the ground, as well as sweeping the spinners adeptly.Sales hit one early boundary but was content to play the supporting role alongside Taylor until he was trapped lbw by Pennington. Van Beek then struck twice in the penultimate over to wrap up the innings, Taylor the last to go, caught at long-off.Taylor struck in the opening over of the chase, when Roderick was adjudged to have chopped the ball onto his pads, before rebounding to Gay who took the catch at second slip.Ed Pollock had some fun punching down the ground before playing one big shot too many and being caught at deep backward square leg off Taylor.Just three boundaries came in Jones and Libby’s first 50 runs together as they rebuilt, but they kept the run rate over five throughout, advancing towards their target with relative comfort. With Jones starting to fire, Libby too located the boundary ropes as the runs kept coming.Northamptonshire brought in the field and shuffled their bowlers but gifted the Rapids three lifelines which cost them dear. Libby was dropped by McManus on 29 and had another stroke of luck on 60 when Gay put down an easy chance at mid-off off Kerrigan. Jones meanwhile was put down by Broad off his own bowling on 77. He made the most of the reprieve as he advanced to three figures before finally falling, caught in the deep off Kerrigan. An enormous six from Kashif Ali took Worcestershire to the brink of victory, before Libby scored the winning run.

Glenn Maxwell has been backed to play the role of a frontline spinner for Australia during the World Cup after they opted not to replace the injured Ashton Agar like-for-like. They instead brought in Marnus Labuschagne to provide batting cover as Travis Head recovers from his broken hand.It means that Maxwell and Adam Zampa are Australia’s only genuine spin options among their 14 fit players given that Steven Smith barely bowls anymore and Labuschagne’s legspin has faded in recent years. Should Head recover and be able to bowl, his offspin would provide a valuable option.There is yet to be a specific target for Head’s comeback, but he isn’t expected to be available until at least midway through the group stage.Related

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Maxwell took a career-best 4 for 40 in the final ODI against India in Rajkot, and although he averages 47.71 in ODIs, national selector George Bailey believes his bowling should not be underestimated.”Think it’s unfair on Maxi to say he’s not a specialist spinner,” Bailey said. “Think his white-ball spinning record is pretty handy and you could very much consider him a frontline option. We certainly consider that we have two frontline spinners within our first-choice XI.”More broadly across the squad, when you are limited to 15 [players], there are compromises that you have to weigh up [and] which way to want to take a risk. That was all the considerations that we had to take. We certainly think that Zamps and Maxi can do a really good job for us as the frontline spinners and we’ve still got plenty of options for quicks and back-up allrounders.”Maxwell’s outing in Rajkot was only his second ODI since suffering a badly broken leg last year and there have been concerns about how he would cope with an intense World Cup schedule after pulling up with an ankle problem on Australia’s first day of training in South Africa last month.However, Bailey praised the work Maxwell has put in to get himself ready for the tournament although did suggest there may be times when he is given a break from the more high-intensity fielding positions he has traditionally occupied.1:25

What does Labuschagne’s inclusion mean for Australia?

“Glenn’s been so dynamic across his one-day career, not only his ability with bat and ball but just the positions he puts himself in the field. So there’s been a high workload there,” Bailey said. “There may be games here – and not just this tournament, but maybe Glenn for the rest of his career – where he doesn’t have to go to the hot spots, or he might have some games where we can find some quieter spots for him in the field. That’s something we’ll weigh up from game to game.”From mapping out with Glenn…what the build-up to this tournament would look like, he’s done a power of work around trying to get some strength and functionality back into that leg. Fingers crossed that’s all tracking well.”In terms of Head’s potential return, Bailey conceded there was still an element of the unknown but the prospect of what he could bring later in the tournament was too strong to ignore.”We were aware of the risk that if there is a setback at some point that it makes it really challenging for Trav, but he’s a really important player for us,” he said. “We’ll be getting the information of how he’s recovering as the bone starts to heel, but we’ll clearly be able to see how we are progressing in the tournament and how that’s working out as well. Those two will hopefully marry up at some point.”Mitchell Marsh will be able to bowl at the start of the World Cup and should get a run during the warm-up games having not been used against South Africa or India. The plan had been for him to have a run in Rajkot but his 96 in stifling conditions led to a conservative approach.”Would have been nice for Mitch to get a bowl the other night but he was a bit cooked after batting,” Bailey said. “He has been doing a lot of bowling in the background.”Bailey admitted Australia’s lead-in to the World Cup had been far from ideal with a lengthy injury list to manage amid a hectic schedule where they have played eight ODIs in South Africa and India.”We’ve had a lot of cricket and probably a few more moving parts than we’d ideally like this close to a World Cup,” he said. “[It’s] been a little bit of a challenge through some of the one-day series we’ve had over the last couple of years, the timing of them has meant quite often they’ve come at the back of big Test series.”One way to look at it is we haven’t had the chance to put together what you might consider our first-choice XI too often. The great benefit of that is it’s also provided some opportunity for some players who have forced their way into what is our first choice XI, so that’s been great.”That balancing act will continue in the two warm-up matches, especially the first one against Netherlands on Saturday, with Bailey joking about the need for reinforcements.”It will be a bit of an all-hands-on-deck one, particularly early coming off this India series. There’s a few sore bodies and a lot of cricket to be played,” he said. “If you’re an Australian in Kerala and you’d like a game of cricket, feel free to wander down tomorrow.”