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The 75-year old complained of “tiredness and fatigue” on Friday evening and his speech became a “little bit cluttered”

PTI18-Jan-2021Former India legspinner BS Chandrasekhar is recovering in a hospital after suffering a “very, very minutest stroke.””Chandra is recovering very well, and he will be back home on Wednesday or Thursday,” his wife Sandhya Chandrasekhar told PTI.The 75-year old complained of “tiredness and fatigue” on Friday evening and his speech became a “little bit cluttered”, according to her.On the advice of doctors that he needed neurological treatment, Chandrasekhar, was admitted in Aster RV Hospital, where he was kept in the emergency care unit for medical observation.Sandhya said that Chandrasekhar has now been shifted to regular ward and is undergoing physiotherapy.”There is some kind of blockage in the brain. It’s a very, very minutest stroke,” she said. “There is no problem. It’s not a life-threatening thing. Please convey to fans that Chandra is very much stable. He has a very strong willpower.”In his 16-year career, Chandrasekhar played 58 Test matches capturing 242 wickets.

The opener, who made a half-century on debut at the SCG, has been sidelined with a shoulder injury

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jan-2021Will Pucovski has been ruled out of the final Test against India due to the shoulder injury he sustained at the SCG with Marcus Harris, the Victoria left hander, confirmed as his replacement.Pucovski landed heavily in the field when diving to make a save on the final day and later went for scans, which coach Justin Langer revealed yesterday he was already due to have to check on another issue.He travelled to Brisbane with the rest of the squad but did not train in the two days leading up to the Test.”I think there’ll be some discussions around Will’s recovery,” Tim Paine said. “What that looks like I’m not sure at the moment.”For Harris, who has been preferred ahead of shifting Matthew Wade back to open, it will be his first Test since the 2019 Ashes when he came in midway through the series as a replacement for Cameron Bancroft but made just 58 runs in six innings.Harris wasn’t part of the original Test squad but was added following the injuries to Pucovski (concussion) and David Warner (groin) which ruled the pair out of the opening two matches. He was then retained when Joe Burns was dropped after the second Test in Melbourne.Harris was Pucovski’s opening partner for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield earlier this season and the pair shared a record-breaking stand of 486 against South Africa with Harris making 239. He followed that with scores of 71 and 45 against West Australia then made 35, 25 not out, 26 and 5 for Australia A in the two warm-up matches.”Harry’s just a no-fuss very good player,” Paine said. “He’s been working his backside off in our hub for a while now. He’s had huge numbers in Sheffield Shield cricket and deserves this opportunity. He just goes about his business, brings a bit of comedy to our team and he’s a relaxed character.”He’s certainly someone we like having in and around our group and someone we have full confidence in that if he gets in and gets a start tomorrow that he’ll cash in and make the most of it.”Pucovski’s shoulder injury is another tough blow for the 22-year-old who was finally able to make his much-anticipated Test debut at the SCG and hit a composed 62 in the first innings.It also means that Australia will have used five opening batsmen during the four-match series against India. Burns and Wade were paired together for the opening two matches before Warner and Pucovski joined forces in Sydney.

The South Africa allrounder became the most expensive overseas player ever at the auction

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Feb-20213:02

Is RR’s bowling unit sorted?

Chris Morris, the South Africa allrounder, and New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Jamieson were the biggest winners at the 2021 IPL auction. Morris became the IPL’s most expensive overseas player ever signed at an auction when he was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for INR 16.25 crore (USD 2.2 million approx), while Jamieson recorded the day’s second-highest figure, signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 15 crore (USD 2 million approx).Two more spending records were broken, dispelling doubts over a cautionary mood in the Covid-19 era. Karnataka’s offspinning allrounder K Gowtham became the most expensive uncapped buy in IPL history when Chennai Super Kings signed him for INR 9.25 crore (USD 1.2 million approx). And Punjab Kings’ INR 8 crore (USD 1 million approx) for Australian fast bowler Riley Meredith made him the costliest uncapped overseas player ever. The day’s two other millionaires were Glenn Maxwell – picked up by the Royal Challengers for INR 14.25 crore (USD 1.95 million approx) – and his compatriot Jhye Richardson, signed by the Kings for INR 14 crore (USD 1.9 million approx).Notable mentions included Cheteshwar Pujara returning to the IPL after seven years – the last time Pujara played any form of T20 cricket was in March 2019, for Saurashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – going to the Super Kings for INR 50 lakh, and Arjun Tendulkar, the very last name out of the hat, going to Mumbai Indians for INR 20 lakh. On the flip side, some big names like Aaron Finch, Jason Roy and Sheldon Cottrell remained unpicked.Chris Morris was signed by Rajasthan Royals for $2.2 million•Getty Images

After a slow start to the proceedings, Maxwell became the day’s first millionaire. Maxwell began at his base price of INR 2 crore and the bids quickly spiralled, with the Royals, the Super Kings, and Kolkata Knight Riders also fighting for his signature.Maxwell had spent seven seasons with the Punjab Kings (Kings XI Punjab till last season), scoring 1383 runs at a strike rate of 157.69, and helped the team reach the final in 2014.Then Morris’ name came up and sparked a fierce bidding war – his eventual fee climbing more than 20 times from the base price – involving four different teams, with the Royals eventually beating out the Royal Challengers, Mumbai Indians and the Kings to sign him. He had played for the Royals during the 2015 season and was the team’s joint-highest wicket-taker that year with 13 wickets.Morris overtook Yuvraj Singh (INR 16 crore in 2015), Pat Cummins (INR 15.5 crore in 2020) and Ben Stokes (INR 14.5 crore in 2017) as the costliest buy at an IPL auction, but the Royals believe it was money well spent.”We did due diligence, he’s an ex-Royal who can deal with a price tag like that,” Jake Lush McCrum, the Royals CEO, said. ” He is a quality bowler through all phases of the game, can win us games with the bat too. We did stretch, that was our last bid, luckily Kings XI held back. Delighted to have him back with the Royals.”Related

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• The lowdown on Jhye Richardson, the latest millionaire in the Punjab Kings ranks

• IPL 2021 auction: The list of sold and unsold players

The Royal Challengers also came close to bagging Maxwell’s Australian team-mate Steven Smith, but were eventually beaten out by Delhi Capitals, who signed him for INR 2.2 crore. The Capitals also bolstered their squad with the addition of India quick Umesh Yadav, for INR 1 crore.Having missed out on Maxwell, the Super Kings did eventually manage to get another allrounder, fighting off bids from the Kings to land England’s Moeen Ali for INR 7 crore.The Kings also tried to secure Shakib Al Hasan for INR 2.6 crore, but Bangladesh’s premier allrounder was eventually sold for INR 3.2 crore to his former team, the Knight Riders, with whom he won the title in 2012 and 2014.The Kings signed England opener and the top-ranked T20I batsman Dawid Malan for his base price of INR 1.5 crore. They then splashed INR 14 crore on Richardson, winning a lengthy battle against the Capitals and the Royal Challengers for the Perth Scorchers fast bowler. Soon after, the Kings and the Capitals locked horns yet again, this time for Hobart Hurricanes seamer Meredith. The Capitals went as high as INR 7.75 crore for Meredith’s signature, but the Kings sealed the deal with their INR 8 crore bid.Tamil Nadu finisher Shahrukh Khan, who recently won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, also landed a giant payday thanks to the Kings, who signed him for INR 5.25 crore, more than 51 times his base price of Rs 20 lakh.Mumbai, the most successful IPL team and two-time defending champions, spent most of their purse on boosting their already stellar bowling attack, signing Adam Milne (INR 3.20 crore), Nathan Coulter-Nile (INR 5 crore) and Piyush Chawla (INR 2.40 crore). But, with the day’s very last transaction, they landed arguably the biggest surname in Indian cricket.

The groundwork for the marquee event in October will have been laid by both teams irrespective of the result

Andrew Miller19-Mar-20216:31

Will England field same XI? Kishan instead of Rahul for India?

Big Picture

Here we go then, this is the contest that makes all the agonies and frustrations of recent months worthwhile. In the midst of a pandemic, we’ve got a treat in store. The world’s top-two ranked teams going head to head in a contest that, to judge by the ding-dong battle we’ve enjoyed so far this series, could yet be a full dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup final in just over six months’ time.The only pity is that there will be no crowd present to create the full bear-pit atmosphere that this contest deserves. There were 66,000 spectators present to watch India’s series-leveller in game two, before the gates were slammed shut once again due to Gujarat’s surge in Covid cases – and all the signs point to a similar arrangement when the ODIs begin in Pune next week. But in keeping with the impressive intensity that cricket at all levels has managed in this lock-down era, there will be no let-up on either side when the teams stride out to the middle on Saturday.Eoin Morgan was granted his full-strength squad for this series, to the chagrin of those who believe that England’s prospects in last month’s Test series were compromised as a consequence. But he has consistently stressed the need for his team to learn their lessons fast before the mad schedule of the English summer pulls his star players in every direction. And so, while he would no doubt have been delighted to wrap up the series with a better showing in match four, it’s not simply a case of putting on a brave face when he says he is relishing this chance to road-test his troops in their highest-stakes contest since 2019.Related

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• Morgan: Series decider is 'closest thing to a WC final'

After all, England have made it their business in recent years to embrace the expectation that comes with their front-running style of white-ball cricket. And while the circumstances are somewhat different, this contest carries with it the same sort of manufactured gravitas that England conferred on their fifth ODI against Australia at Old Trafford in 2018, when the chance was there to serve their greatest rivals a 5-0 series drubbing, and Jos Buttler dragged them over the line with a thrilling century in a one-wicket win. It’s not putting too fine a point on it to suggest that that chase, and the lessons learnt within it, were instrumental in England holding their nerve in the following years’ World Cup final.As for Virat Kohli, the lessons and pointers that he too has gleaned in the past four games have been invaluable. England have won three out of the four tosses in the series to date – a significant advantage given the onset of dew under the floodlights. But Kohli’s consistent message, that he was unconcerned about his team having to do it the hard way, bore fruit on Thursday evening, when they put enough runs on the board to squeeze England until they squeaked in their mounting run-chase.The manner in which India have won their two matches has been particularly instructive. On both occasions, it has been the devil-may-care exuberance of their rookies that has sparked the team into life, with Ishan Kishan’s debut fifty in game two giving way to Suryakumar Yadav’s scintillating 57 from 31 on Thursday. But neither has had a chance to come good in the same contest yet – and nor has Rishabh Pant, although with four scores between 21 and 30, and 102 runs from 79 balls all told, he doesn’t seem far away from cutting loose in his habitual fashion.The concern once again for India has been elsewhere in their batting order. KL Rahul’s struggles just will not go away, and while he does have an IPL looming in which he can re-find his range, the manner in which England have gone for the jugular in the powerplay, with Jofra Archer and Mark Wood dovetailing with such violent intent, will be hard to replicate outside of contests against Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada at Delhi Capitals in the IPL.Rohit Sharma, likewise, has not yet found his range, in spite of a first-ball six on Thursday – Archer has now bagged him three times in 15 balls in T20s, at a cost of ten runs. Shreyas Iyer has been an important source of mid-innings momentum, most notably in the two games when Kohli has been undone by Adil Rashid, but for a side that is actively targetting a fearless new approach to their batting, the feeling persists that they have at least one too many anchors in their current first-choice line-up.In the bowling stakes, the two teams have subtly different problems. India remain wedded to their five-man attack, which offers no wriggle-room on a day when one of them gets taken for a journey – as it nearly happened on Thursday to Washington Sundar. But equally, that pressure to perform on a ball-by-ball basis can create some seriously hardened competitors. Hardik Pandya was the under-sung hero in match four, as he skidded through his four overs for 16 runs, while Shardul Thakur held his nerve at the death, just as Archer was threatening to reprise his IPL range-hitting. Sometimes, when you are walking a tight-rope, that imperative not to look down can be emboldening.England have broader options, but rather less defined roles. Archer, Wood and Rashid are the clear backbones of their World Cup line-up, but with no second spinner – not even a part-time option such as Joe Root provided in 2016 – the less express seam of Sam Curran, Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan has proved a touch too hittable at key moments in this campaign. Curran’s indefinable status in the side epitomises England’s uncertainty. He bowled four overs for 22, including a wicket-maiden in the powerplay in game two, but just five for 45 as England’s sixth option in the rest of the series combined.These are, however, fairly good problems to have in the final approach to a major tournament. Win or lose in the series decider, both England and India will emerge from these five games with their plans a touch more clear, and their hunches explored in an environment that they couldn’t have ascertained against less potent opponents. The groundwork for October will have been laid by both teams, come what may.

Form guide

India WLWLL

England LWLWW

In the spotlight

This could be Dawid Malan’s moment of reckoning. England’s No.1-ranked T20I batsman has endured a series of untimely fallowness in India – 80 runs from 77 balls all told, with four scores between 14 and 24, and no real sense that he was about to cut loose before he was cut short. It doesn’t feel like an over-extrapolation to suggest that Morgan hasn’t ever rated Malan quite as highly as his remarkable record might deserve, but this is the sort of dress rehearsal that can make or break perceptions. More than anything, the skipper values big-game players, so a matchwinning hand on Saturday’s stage may yet ink his name among the must-haves for October. That said, the manner of Malan’s demises in this series have been revealing – his attempts to force the pace against the spinners have come unstuck in each of his last three outings, and if that’s a sign that he’s liable to get bogged down in the middle overs in India where previously he has skipped through the gears, then his card may already be marked.Suryakumar Yadav slog-sweeps one fine•Getty Images

Suryakumar Yadav’s maiden international innings was an utter joy to behold. As carefree as his Mumbai Indians’ team-mate Kishan in match two – and all the more valuable to his team in that it came in the first innings of the match, and effectively landed a blow against the head in this toss-and-dew dominated series. The raucousness of his opening blow, a Roy Fredericks-esque pull for six over fine leg off a fired-up Archer, was so timely for his team, for it showed he would not be cowed by the express pace of England’s quicks, and signalled a charge towards, first, their best powerplay total of the series, and ultimately the top innings score too. He admitted afterwards that he had been encouraged by Kohli to keep things simple and play as he has been doing so consistently at the IPL. If he can follow that showing up with a similarly unfettered display on Saturday, it’ll take something special from England to match it.

Team news

Rahul’s struggles got no better on Thursday – in fact, his 14 from 17 balls was arguably a worse contribution than another short sharp duck would have been. But having been backed to battle through his form slump by Kohli, it would be intriguing to see him get the heave-ho now, even though Kishan’s potential recovery from a groin niggle sends a challenge to India’s brains trust. If there is to be a change, then T Natarajan, and his line in pinpoint yorkers, could get a chance to bolster India’s bowling now that he has emerged from his quarantine period. Sundar had his moment in the second game, but his offspin landed squarely in the hitting arc of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow on Thursday.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Washington Sundar/T Natarajan, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Rahul ChaharIt’s hard to see England changing their formula right now (thanks for coming, Moeen Ali) although their surfeit of left-handers in the middle order did encounter a bit of a pile-up when Thakur got his wide cutters going towards the back-end of the innings. Could there be a temptation to mix up the batting order a touch? Stokes snuck in ahead of Morgan in match four and reaped the benefits of a longer lead-in with his best innings of the series, 46 from 23, but as suggested by Dinesh Karthik on , his natural fit in these conditions could be as high as No.3. Certainly, if he did grind along to a run-a-ball 20 in the early stages of his stay, he’s proven beyond any doubt that he would have the gears to go big.England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Eoin Morgan (capt), 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood.

Pitch and conditions

It’s back to the scene of India’s victory in match two on Saturday, as the teams line up once again on the pitch where Kishan and Kohli made short work of England’s target of 166 for 3. According to Paul Collingwood, England’s assistant coach, there’s been water added to the surface since that game and the cracks have sealed back up, and he doesn’t expect it to prove as slow and low as was the case when batting first in that match. And there’s a precedent for recycling in this series already: the black-soiled surface for the last game, used in the opening match too, proved to be the best batting pitch of the series so far, with enough carry off the deck to reward shots in both innings. Although, as Kohli acknowledged afterwards, the dew factor was a bigger consideration than ever in the closing overs of the game.

Stats and trivia

• One way or another, a lengthy unbeaten series record will come to an end tomorrow. England have won seven and drawn one of their last eight T20I series, dating back to their last tour of India in 2018.
• India, meanwhile, have won six and drawn one of their last seven T20I series, dating back to Australia’s victory in February 2019.
• Malan is still on course to break Babar Azam’s record for the fastest batsman to 1000 T20I runs – 26 innings. He needs another 65 in his next two knocks, having reached 935 from 23 to date.
• England have been fined 20 per cent of their match fees for a slow over-rate in the fourth T20I, a penalty that took into account the lengthy delays for two third-umpire reviews for catches by Malan and Rashid on the fine leg / third-man boundary.
• Both Archer and Wood have gone at less than a run a ball in the powerplay in this series so far. Archer has claimed two wickets in 48 balls, at a cost of 45 runs; Wood has picked up three in 30, while conceding 18 runs.

Quotes

“I’m enjoying it a lot. Even when I’m playing in the IPL or domestic cricket, I bowl a lot of overs in the death or fourth, fifth or sixth over in the powerplay. So, I bowl a lot of overs where batsmen come hard at bowlers. Kind of getting used to it now.”

Shardul Thakur says he relishes the pressure of bowling the tough overs in a T20 contest“We go into the next game with a huge amount of pressure on our shoulders as a team, because whoever wins that game wins the series. That’s great for us as a team, especially with a T20 World Cup coming up because the more pressure situations we get put into as a team the more I think we’ll benefit from it.”

Ben Stokes wants England to feel the heat as the World Cup draws ever closer.

Frantic, unscripted, triumphant, despondent day as hosts seal innings win at Headingley

Paul Edwards06-Jun-2021
Another Sunday evening and another group of players lounge on the outfield of a Test match ground drinking beer and chatting. But this time the players are wearing the white rose on their caps and their mood is utterly transformed from the gloom that cloaked them just a week ago.Among them is Dom Bess, who was last man out in the Roses Match, but this glorious Sunday at Headingley was the architect of a victory whose effects on Yorkshire’s season will not yet be fully understood until perhaps the end of September when we assess pivotal points in what is already a summer of wonders. For the moment, the glory and the drama of this day at Leeds must suffice. It will be enough.When Yorkshire won the County Championship in 2014 and 2015 they did so because they possessed a quite outstanding team. But they also found ways to win games, to prise victories from unpromising situations even when they were not playing particularly well. On May 2 there was one such triumph here when Northamptonshire were beaten by one run; now Steve Patterson and his players have another to go with that; and their supporters, who were watching their first cricket for nearly 21 months, will begin to wonder if this could also be a summer in which they will hear songs of triumph.Some flesh on these bones, I think, and some acknowledgement of Sussex’s part in what was a wonderful game. Let us rewind just a couple of hours or so: Ben Brown’s side are 180 for 4 and on course to achieve the draw some would argue their resilience merits. There are 22 overs left in the match. Bess is bowling from the Emerald Stand End but the ball is not deviating much and the memory of Tom Haines’ dismissal, caught off one that turned and bounced early in the morning is no more than a shadow on the day’s tapestry.Related

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Then Aaron Thomason, who has withstood the Yorkshire attack for 245 minutes in this innings, and nearly eight hours in the match, attempts to drive a ball he has no reason on earth to play. A catch is edged to the safe hands of Adam Lyth at slip and out troops Danial Ibrahim, debutant, history-maker, headline-grabber, half-centurion, fine cricketer….and just 16 years old. Three balls later Ibrahim is walking back to the pavilion having made a duck. One wonders what he will make of his four days in Leeds. Good luck, lad.But they were dismissals that changed this game utterly. It was as if ten thousand volts had suddenly passed through the old ground. Yorkshire’s fielders, who had been so lethargic and seemingly resigned to the draw, now stalked between overs like wild animals after small prey. David Willey steamed in from the Kirkstall Lane End and three overs later he more or less repeated Bess’s achievement. Jack Carson fended the left-arm seamer to Jordan Thompson at leg gully and Stuart Meaker stabbed his second ball to Harry Brook at short leg. The Sussex innings was now a shambles on 187 for 8 and no one was thinking of an early handshake.Yorkshire’s fielders now crowded round Henry Crocombe as victory became probable. Two short legs and a leg slip clearly revealed Willey’s line of attack but knowing something is going to happen is not the same as dealing with it when it does. Crocombe’s desperate attempt to avoid a magnificent bouncer merely gloved a catch to wicketkeeper Harry Duke.David Willey chimed in with three wickets•Getty Images

There were 16.2 overs to be bowled when Brown was joined by Jamie Atkins, who until just over a month ago also had no idea what it was like to play first-class cricket. Sussex had lost five wickets for seven runs in 32 balls but Atkins held out with Brown and batting became negotiable, easier if never easy. Sussex supporters following the game on the live stream may have begun to wonder if an improbable draw could be clawed from what once seemed inevitable defeat yet had seemed even earlier a probable stalemate.Bess, whose permanently grubby flannels and permanently tousled mien make him looks like one of The Bash Street Kids out of , had taken four wickets and Willey three. Surely their work was done. But then Brown glanced one thin down the leg side, Bess dived to his right from leg slip but spilled the catch and damaged a finger on his bowling hand. Gradually a Yorkshire victory that had appeared out of a high-clouded Headingley sky seemed to be slipping away.There were six overs to be bowled when Patterson, who also took the final wicket in the one-run victory over Northamptonshire in May, took the ball and came in to bowl from the Emerald Stand End. He straightened his fourth ball to Brown who groped at it and there was a thin snick. Duke caught the ball and Patterson appealed for a caught behind, not realising that the noise was the ball clipping the off stump. The Yorkshire captain, normally the most phlegmatic of chaps, a man of sensible eating and wise investments, clenched his fists and roared his triumph. There was uproar on the field and even in the stands. Two hours later chants of “Yawksher, Yawksher, Yawksher” could be heard coming from The Headingley Taps where many pints toasted the win.By the evening it felt as if we had watched two days’ cricket. In the first Ali Orr, the ninth Sussex cricketer to be given his first-class debut in 13 matches and less than a year, had made a polished 67 before playing over the top of a Bess yorker in mid-afternoon. On that same first day Travis Head had driven rather wildly at Thompson and nicked a catch to Duke. That distant day had been calm and it had sketched the clearest of narratives towards civilised handshakes and maybe the odd comment about an unresponsive pitch. Then Bess dismissed Thomason and a second day had begun: frantic, unscripted, triumphant, despondent.And they are singing still in the pubs around Headingley…

Afghan seamer taken out of attack for two high full tosses in 19th over that costs 24

ECB Reporters' Network13-Jun-2021Durham pulled off what will go down as one of the more extraordinary wins in their T20 history as Leicestershire Foxes threw away what looked like a nailed-on victory in the Vitality Blast at the Uptonsteel County Ground.Chasing 169 to win this North Group match after Scott Steel hit 53 against his former team-mates, Durham were 108 for 8 in the 14th over and still needed 49 with only four overs left. That came down to 23 off two after Gavin Griffiths conceded 15 in the 18th but winning still looked a tall order.Yet former Leicestershire man Ned Eckersley and Liam Trevaskis saw their side home with an over to spare as the Foxes conceded 24 in a calamitous 19th over that was started by their overseas player Naveen-ul-Haq and ended by Ben Mike after the Afghan fast bowler was ordered out of the attack for bowling two head-high no-balls.Naveen’s first and sixth balls were called for height, the second of which Eckersley ramped for four, adding nine to the total just from no-balls. In between came a two, two singles and a leg-bye and a four for Trevaskis when he should have been caught at deep midwicket, Arron Lilley losing the ball in the sun.Naveen’s second no-ball meant he could not bowl the extra delivery. Mike took over and Eckersley clubbed the free hit for six over long-off to complete a 36-ball half-century and win the game to a stunned silence from the home crowd.Earlier, Durham had restricted the Foxes to what looked like a below-par 168 for 9, with Lilley hitting 31 but Matty Potts and ex-Leicestershire seamer Ben Raine taking three wickets each. Having been 117 for 3 in the 14th over, the Foxes stumbled from 155 for 4 to 166 for 9, losing five wickets for 11 runs in 15 balls.Steel’s 53 included five fours and two sixes, Lilley’s 31 off 21 balls with sixes off Paul Coughlin over midwicket and two down the ground in consecutive balls off Scott Borthwick’s legbreaks.Durham’s reply was off to a blistering start as David Bedingham blasted 38 off 19 balls with three sixes off left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson’s opening over. At 58 for two after 6, they looked well placed but after a bad call by Raine saw Cameron Bancroft run out they lost five wickets for 20 runs in 22 balls.Lilley, who had Jack Burnham caught at short third man in an attempted reverse sweep and Coughlin leg before, took his third wicket as Borthwick missed the ball trying to work to leg but a career-best 3 for 26 was small consolation for what happened at the end as Trevaskis took four and a six over deep midwicket off Griffiths and Naveen’s afternoon turned into a nightmare.

United knocked out in the second eliminator after producing PSL’s best-ever league stage performance

Danyal Rasool22-Jun-2021The league stage suggested that Islamabad United were red-hot favourites for their third PSL title, but a comprehensive Peshawar Zalmi performance guaranteed that they wouldn’t even make it to the final.A ruthless bowling performance from Zalmi was followed up by a clinical chase, spearheaded by the irrepressible Hazratullah Zazai and debutant Jonathan Wells. Their 126-run partnership led to an eight-wicket rout of Shadab Khan’s side, with the chase of 176 was achieved with more than three overs to spare.Zalmi were on top from start to finish, aside from a four-over spell at the back-end of the first innings, where a spirited Hasan Ali knock ensured that United would at least remain competitive in the contest. The match began with an unfortunate run-out of Usman Khawaja when Shoaib Malik was controversially deemed to have got his foot to a ball that went on to clatter into the non-striker’s stumps. Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz kept a lid on things, even if Colin Munro cut loose from time to time, ending up as United’s most potent hope in the first half of the innings.But it was the middle stages where Zalmi pulled clear. Amad Butt and Umaid Asif came back in strongly to pick up regular wickets, with Shadab, Iftikhar Ahmed and Brandon King all falling cheaply. There was a danger that United would end up being bowled out under 120 before Hasan’s brutal onslaught gave his side hope.In reply, United kept Zazai on a leash for the most part, bowling away from his hitting arc. But the failure to get more wickets up top meant there was always the fear that Zalmi had enough firepower at the end to catch up with a climbing run rate. Wells and Zazai saw off the pressure without throwing their wickets away, the Australian doing particularly well in his first game to adjust to conditions and pace his innings accordingly. It was in Shadab’s third over that they cut loose, smashing the United captain for three sixes in four balls on a forgettable day for Shadab; he would go on to concede 55 in his four. He has never been as expensive in PSL history, and his team was on the ropes.Zazai and Wells seemed to mirror each other for most of the stand, which was finally broken after 126 hard-fought runs when Zazai chopped on to Mohammad Wasim. The asking rate was almost run-a-ball by then, and a Shoaib Malik blitz – 32 off 10 balls – made light work of the last rites.The Hasan Ali cameo Is it really a cameo if a player ends up being their side’s top-scorer? United looked like they had blown their chances at a spot in the final spectacularly after a listless display from the top and middle-order saw them reduced to 110 for 8. Crucially, though, Hasan was still out there, and he wasn’t in the mood to simply bat out 20 overs. Two fours and two sixes off Asif’s 17th over just whet his appetite as the 26-year old let loose in a blur of monstrous shot-making. Zalmi were guilty of being one-paced to him, and Ali loved the ball coming onto the bat; Riaz was tonked for 19 in the penultimate over as the two-time champions plundered 64 off the final four.Wasim offered fantastic support at the other end, thumping a pair of sixes on his own as the frontal assault continued from both sides. Hasan, meanwhile, was heroically run out trying to get back on strike for the final delivery, having raced to a sizzling 45 off 16. No player deserved a half-century more, but the knock had given his side more than a fair chance.Mohammad Irfan’s eventful dayPlenty went on with Irfan today, but one thing it really shouldn’t detract everyone from is the veteran’s unerring consistency of performance. For the third consecutive game, Irfan conceded exactly 21 runs in his four overs, astonishing figures as bowlers around him have found themselves clubbed to all parts. The pace and length variations continue to remain unpredictable, as batters as diverse as power hitters and anchors struggle to settle against the giant Zalmi bowler.He also doubled up with the priceless wicket of Munro at a time when the New Zealander had helped United off to a flying start and looked exceptionally threatening. He was unfortunate not to have had him a few balls earlier, coaxing an outside edge that Kamran Akmal spilled. Off the final ball of the over, though, Munro played at one down leg side, and this time, Irfan had the wicket he deserved.It wasn’t – as we now know – what will dominate Irfan-related chat in the game’s aftermath. He pulled up with an injury at the end of his spell umpire Aleem Dar deemed less than convincing, refusing to allow a substitute fielder in his place. That meant Zalmi were forced to play with just ten players for a brief period before Khalid Usman was permitted to come on as a cover. But Irfan’s most salient contribution to the contest had already been made.Where they stand United are eliminated despite boasting the best ever group stage performance in the PSL. Zalmi go through to face Multan Sultans in Thursday’s final.

The stand-in coach for the tours of Bangladesh and Pakistan will be joined in the backroom by former Sri Lanka batter Thilan Samaraweera

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Aug-2021New Zealand’s stand-in coach Glenn Pocknall believes ​”there is a huge amount of growth” the team can look forward to from the uncapped pace bowler Ben Sears, who is among the fresh faces selected for the white-ball tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh beginning September.Pocknall is standing in for regular head coach Gary Stead, who is taking a break before he joins the squad alongside batting coach Luke Ronchi for the T20 World Cup in the UAE in October. Also joining the new coaching staff for the Bangladesh and Pakistan tours will be former New Zealand fast bowler Graeme Aldridge, who will be the bowling coach, and the former Sri Lanka batter Thilan Samaraweera, who has been named the batting coach. Samaraweera has previously worked with New Zealand during their tour of Sri Lanka in August 2019.Related

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New Zealand’s regular bowling coach Shane Jurgenson will rejoin the squad as head coach for the T20I series against Pakistan.With a number of first-team players including Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson and Lockie Ferguson unavailable owing to their involvement in the IPL, which clashes with part of the tour, several young players who have shown promise at the domestic level have been drafted into the squad. This includes the top-order batters Finn Allen, who is in all three squads, and Rachin Ravindra, who is in the squads for the T20I tour of Bangladesh and the Pakistan ODIs.Glenn Pocknall is standing in for Gary Stead on New Zealand’s upcoming tours of Bangladesh and Pakistan•Getty Images

Sears, who featured in the Under-19 World Cup in 2016 alongside Ravindra and Allen, has come through the NZC pathways system and Pocknall feels he is one to watch out for.”He is 22 years old, he is still pretty raw in terms of the first-class cricketer. For him, the world’s his oyster,” Pocknall said. “He has got all the skills and attributes of bowling fast. It is just harnessing his skill and harnessing his mind in the right direction, wherever that takes him, we will see. There is a huge amount of growth that we could all look forward to. It is just a start for him, he will be relishing the opportunity.”He’s got the pace since he was a kid. We just have to harness that, with the body growing in right position and mind growing in the right direction, the outcome that we are looking for at the end of the day is trying to get all the pieces of the puzzle together. “Pocknall also heaped praise on Allen, who missed out on selection for the T20 World Cup. “At the moment, there is so much depth in New Zealand cricket that you could probably blanket over 25 names. He is still new to international cricket but he did have a great season last year. He is only young and he has got a bright future.”The squad, led by Tom Latham, leaves for Bangladesh on August 23 for the T20I series when they will play five T20Is. This will be followed by the Pakistan tour, which includes three ODIs starting September 17, and five T20Is. Pocknall believes that with depth in the squad, the team will be able to step up to the challenge in the subcontinent. New Zealand will play three ODIs from September 17, followed by five T20Is.”I can’t wait to get over there,” Pocknall said. “It’s a part of the world I haven’t been to – both Bangladesh and Pakistan. There is a challenge in the unknown in terms of conditions. I know we have got a group that has depth. So whatever is thrown at us, we are gonna work together and achieve what we want to achieve. It’s an exciting time.”

SLC confident they can keep the bubble secure with the tournament being staged in different venues unlike last edition

Madushka Balasuriya02-Dec-2021The SLC has confirmed that spectators will be allowed up to 50% of stadium capacity for the second edition of the Lanka Premier League, starting on Sunday.Fans entering the stadium will need to be double vaccinated, with a period of at least two weeks having elapsed since receiving their second dose, Arjuna De Silva, the head of SLC’s medical committee, revealed on Thursday. The board said that the tickets will be available for online purchase in the coming days.Related

• Mathews could miss entire LPL due to thigh strain

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“We have had discussions right along with the Ministry of Health, and they have agreed to give us 50% spectators,” Arjuna said at a media briefing ahead of the tournament. “There is a new variant [Omicron], but that is immaterial, as we always follow the health guidelines. We are asking for spectators who have been double vaccinated for at least two weeks.”The ongoing Test series between Sri Lanka and the West Indies is the first instance of fans being allowed in a stadium in Sri Lanka since the pandemic last year.Sri Lanka’s bio-bubble protocols were successful during the last year’s LPL, with no Covid-19 cases detected during the tournament – two cases were reported before its start. All the matches took place at a single venue last year. This time around, though, most of the games – including the playoffs – will take place at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, with the action switching to Hambantota for the start of the Eliminator and the final.”There could be a problem when moving from venue to venue,” Arjuna said. “That was the problem faced during the IPL, though that was also because many teams had to fly to different venues. But we’re confident we can keep the bubble secure.”As per the Covid protocols, players will be tested every five days during the competition. Before entering the bubble, a player who is already in the country must do a PCR test 48 hours prior, and quarantine himself for 24 hours. Double vaccinated (by an SL/WHO-recognised vaccine) foreign players and local players flying in from abroad will be required to show a negative PCR test 48 hours before arrival, as well as an on-arrival PCR. They will also need to quarantine for three days after that.Most of the protocols will remain the same for the non-vaccinated players too, except the quarantine period, which will be extended to six days. They will also need to undergo both a PCR and antigen test before entering the bubble.”This is just to further ensure the safety of the players and the security of the bubble,” Arjuna said.SLC will also be obtaining the services of the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, along with the Sri Lankan sports ministry’s anti-corruption officers, to oversee the tournament.”There are three anti-corruption officers, nominated by the ICC. There were anti-corruption officers last year as well,” SLC CEO Ashley De Silva said.When asked if there had been any anti-corruption breaches reported during the inaugural edition, Ashley said: “We have not been notified of any approaches last year. But we do have their [ICC] anti-corruption unit and the anti-corruption unit from the ministry [of sport] officiating in this year’s tournament.”Although the inaugural edition of LPL had largely been deemed a success, the lead-up to the second season has faced significant hurdles. The tournament was postponed twice to avoid clashes with other T20 leagues around the world. And of the five franchises that competed in the first edition, three have been terminated by organisers, including the Jaffna Stallions franchise, who had won the first season. Colombo and Dambulla franchises are the other two to have been terminated.Upon the defending champions’ exit, the Stallions owners alleged mismanagement and a lack of transparency within the league. Earlier this week, the former owner of the Dambulla Giants made similar allegations.

CWI and PCB to hold meeting to determine fate of tour after all remaining touring party members have been tested again

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Dec-2021West Indies’ ongoing tour of Pakistan has been cast into doubt with five more members of the touring party testing positive for Covid-19. The five include players Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, and Justin Greaves, along with assistant coach Roddy Estwick and team physician Dr Akshai Mansingh.Cricket West Indies (CWI) confirmed that all three players will be unavailable for the remaining games – one T20I on Thursday and three ODIs – and that all five members who tested positive will remain in isolation for 10 days. They will not be allowed to join the main group until they return negative tests. Once all remaining members of the touring party have been tested again, CWI and PCB officials will meet to determine if the tour can continue.Related

• Cottrell, Chase, Mayers test positive for Covid-19

• Shadab's all-round display seals Pakistan's series win

With Sheldon Cottrell, Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers having already been ruled out due to positive Covid-19 tests earlier, and a finger injury to Devon Thomas (sustained during the first T20I), the West Indies are now short of six players, raising questions over the viability of the tour continuing.That leaves the tourists with only 14 available players to choose from in their T20I and ODI squads, with the batting particularly hard hit. Only Nicholas Pooran, Brandon King, Shamarh Brooks and Darren Bravo remain available among specialist batters.Cottrell, Chase and Mayers had returned positive results in the initial tests that were done after the team’s arrival in Karachi on December 9. The trio missed both the T20Is that have been played so far, with Pakistan taking a series-winning 2-0 lead after winning both. The third T20I is scheduled for Thursday, December 16.West Indies were already without many of their senior players for the tour, due to rest, injuries or personal reasons, with none of Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Evin Lewis or Fabian Allen available.