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Kent overcome second-innings wobble as seasoned pair bat out to secure draw

ECB Reporters Network08-Apr-2024Joe Denly and Daniel Bell-Drummond both hit centuries as Kent survived a mid-morning scare to earn a draw with Somerset in the Vitality County Championship at Canterbury.Kent were in trouble on 10 for 2 and again at 70 for 3, until a partnership of 222 for the fourth wicket took the sting out of the contest and they closed on 290 for 4 declared. Denly beat his partner to three figures, posting 110 from 142 balls including 11 fours and a six, while Bell-Drummond made 107 not out from 169, with 14 fours.Earlier Kasey Aldridge hit 57 before Somerset were bowled out for 403, a lead of 119. Nathan Gilchrist had Kent’s best bowling figures with 3 for 64.The draw was the clear favourite at the start of day four and one “win predictor” app claimed Kent’s chances of winning were precisely zero. Certainly if any side had a realistic chance it was the visitors.Somerset resumed on 374 for 7 and immediately went on the attack. Aldridge, who was on 50 overnight, drove the first ball of the day for four before he was brilliantly caught at midwicket by Jack Leaning off Gilchrist. Bell-Drummond then ran out Ned Leonard for 1, throwing down the stumps from short mid-on.Jake Ball hit his first ball as a Somerset player for a six into the lower Frank Woolley Stand and a fourth batting point was secured when Josh Davey flicked Wes Agar to third man for a single, but the innings was wrapped up when Ball played on to Gilchrist.Somerset clearly felt they had a chance as their batters sprinted for the dressing room and the more nervous home supporters were soon worried. Kent had a minimum 87 overs to navigate and lost both openers in the first five. Ben Compton went in the fourth, strangled by Ball to a delivery he clearly didn’t think he’d hit and Tawanda Muyeye then swatted Davey to Tom Banton at point.Bell-Drummond and Jack Leaning calmed the situation by batting though till lunch, at which point it was 68 for 2.Somerset’s hopes soared again when Leaning perished in the second over of the afternoon, bowled by Lewis Goldsworthy for 32, but Denly joined Bell-Drummond and quickly wiped out the deficit.Denly, who had also scored a century in his last red-ball innings for Kent in the final game of the 2023 season, clearly felt attack was the best form of defence. He raced to 50 from 53 balls, bringing up his half-century when he glanced Lewis Gregory for four.Bell-Drummond passed the same landmark when he took a single from the same bowler and by tea it was 228 for 2. The tension had subsided and as one observer put it: “I’ve never been so delighted to be bored.”Denly’s century arrived with arguably his worst shot of the day, an edge for two off Goldsworthy that flew over the slips and Bell-Drummond’s followed soon afterwards, when he hit Goldsworthy back over his head for four.Denly was out in the final over when he edged Goldsworthy to Matt Renshaw in the slips, but with any hopes of a win for either side long gone, Kent declared at 4.50pm and the teams shook hands on a draw. Somerset take 15 points and Kent 12.

“I feel that the bowlers are trying more to read the batters’ mind instead of sticking to their strengths,” Kuldeep says

Daya Sagar06-May-2024Though there has been some respite for bowlers of late, with pitches slowing down somewhat and the frequency of 200-plus totals going down along with it, IPL 2024 has been about big hitting and record team totals. And the impact player rule is one of the reasons for it. For Kuldeep Yadav, though, faced with such “non-stop hitting”, bowlers must show courage and remember that they “have more chances of taking wickets”.”Every team is now trying to attack in the powerplay and score as many runs as possible,” Kuldeep said at a press event in Delhi recently. “It slows down a bit in the middle overs because of the open field, so the batters are playing more freely in the powerplay. Those days are gone when teams used to target 45-50 runs in the powerplay. But I think the bowlers must show more courage. If a batter goes for the attack, then a bowler also has more chances of taking wickets.”I feel that the bowlers are trying more to read the batters’ mind instead of sticking to their strengths. They are trying to bowl where the batter looks a little weak. But I think a bowler should understand his strengths and back his strengths. You can see Jasprit Bumrah, who backs his strengths. The way he bowls, any batter is on the back foot. He dominates the batters mentally. All these things become very important.”Related

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Bumrah, of course, has been one of the rare exceptions this season, a bowler who has not only picked up wickets – he is the joint-highest wicket-taker at this stage with 17 wickets – but has also been tough to score off – his economy rate of 6.25 is the best of all frontline bowlers.Kuldeep himself is lower on both the tables, with 12 wickets from eight bowling innings and an economy rate of 8.45, but has been impressive on the whole. And a good example of what he is talking about came in Delhi Capitals’ game against Sunrisers Hyderabad – the team that broke and then rebroke the record for the highest IPL total this season – in Delhi on April 20. Kuldeep conceded 55 runs in SRH’s 266 for 7, but came back with four wickets, those of Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy.”If you are not confident then you will be in a defensive mindset,” he said. “On the other hand, if you are confident, then you are ready to bowl even in the powerplay. I am now ready for all the challenges and always look to take wickets. My self-confidence has increased, and I have a lot of faith in my skills. I see how the batter is batting and how I have to bowl to him. I think where should I bowl to him so that he has a little difficulty in hitting.”Sometimes you can get hit even on good balls, like it happened to me during the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. [Heinrich] Klaasen and Abhishek hit sixes on good balls. But I believed in my skills, and I also got wickets that day. Now I enjoy my bowling more and I have learned all this from experience.”So far this season, Kuldeep has bowled just one over in the powerplay, for 20 runs. At the death (overs 17-20) too, he has bowled only three overs, giving away 33 runs. It’s in the middle phase that he has been used the most and has been most effective: 27 overs for 11 wickets, with an economy rate of 7.85.He is expected to be one of the players Rohit Sharma and the team management depend on during the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA come June. And in a team without many allrounders, Kuldeep is hoping to pull his weight with the bat too. It’s something he has been working on, and he showed glimpses of ability in DC’s last game, when he scored 35 not out in 26 balls with five fours and a six against Kolkata Knight Riders.”Rohit does not talk to me much about bowling because I am doing what he wants from me with the ball,” Kuldeep said. “He was concerned about my batting. He told me to improve my batting. I worked on it during the Test series against England [at home earlier this year] and he was impressed by my hard work. He used to be with me in the nets and speak to me about the nuances of batting. This helped me a lot and now I am enjoying my batting as much as my bowling.”

They survived a rain-reduced match and successfully chased a tricky target to book the spot in the semi-final

Firdose Moonda24-Jun-2024Now, they’ve (almost) done it all. After an undefeated streak of six matches, five of them far too close for comfort, South Africa have survived a rain-reduced match and successfully chased a tricky target to book the spot in the semi-final of the men’s T20 World Cup 2024. They knocked co-hosts West Indies out in the process and have topped their Super Eight group, which means they are also likely to avoid India in the final four. We’ll say it again: is this their time?All the evidence points to a change of fortunes for a team that has so long coveted an ICC trophy and equally long, been denied. South Africa are now winning games they should be losing, scrapping like their rugby counterparts, the Springboks – who won the quarterfinals, semifinals and final, each by one point last year – and finding ways to overcome pressure. There’s a new-found tenacity to them and it’s seen them get to a T20 World Cup knockout for the first time in a decade.Incidentally, when they got to the final four in the 2014 tournament, Aiden Markram had just led the Under-19 team to the World Cup. Now, he finds himself captaining the senior side and he is doing differently and to great success. Markram took the new ball in this match, and bowled himself for a full quota of four overs. He decided to rely on a non-traditional strength: spin. South Africa had never bowled this many overs of spin in a T20 World Cup match (and only bowled more twice before against Sri Lanka in 2021) and the change of tack worked a charm. Between them, South Africa’s spinners took 5 for 79 in 12 overs.Related

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They were largely responsible for keeping West Indies quiet and for several of the 57 dot balls West Indies faced in their innings – the equivalent of 9.3 overs – and the most at this T20 World Cup. Only an 81-run stand between Kyle Mayers and Roston Chase kept West Indies in the game, and they were the only two batters to get an individual score of more than 15.And once the tears have dried, West Indies will look to their batting as the major reason they were unable to advance. Their bowlers worked with what they had and had South Africa 15 for 2 in two overs, before the rain came down. They kept at and removed all the recognised batters. Chase’s 3 for 12 and Joseph’s 2 for 25 meant South Africa were always on tenterhooks but at seven down, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen took it home.Kagiso Rabada collides with Marco Jansen in an attempt to catch Kyle Mayers out•Associated Press

Markram gets funky but fielding gets messy

An eventful first 10 overs saw South Africa drop four catches and Markram become just the second South Africa spinner to bowl four successive overs after opening the bowling in a men’s T20I, and that was with two specialist spinners in the XI. Markram shared the new ball with Jansen, and got a wicket with his first ball, as South Africa won the early exchanges with West Indies 5 for 2 early on.They should have had a third in Jansen’s next over, when Chase, on 12, swiped across the line and hit it straight up. Anrich Nortje had all the time in the world and got under it but could not hold on. Chase added eight more runs and then slog swept Keshav Maharaj to deep midwicket where David Miller could not contend with the aerial ball and the wind and let a difficult chance slip.Then, Maharaj was at square leg when Mayers, on 13, swept to him and he put it down. But the worst of the lot, from a visual perspective, was when Mayers hit Markram down the ground, Rabada and Jansen converged on the ball and didn’t call and collided into each other. Jansen had to leave the field but returned and Markram finished with 1 for 28 from his four overs.

Missing… KG Rabada

The success of South Africa’s spinners meant Markram had no use of Rabada until the 18th over, making it the latest he has ever bowled in this format. Rabada had played 62 T20Is before this one and had bowled in the first four overs in 61 previous instances. The latest he has bowled before was in the fifth over – also against West Indies – in 2021. He has once before been introduced after the halfway stage, in the 11th over in IPL 2021.After top-scoring with the bat, Roston Chase almost turned the game around with the ball•Associated Press

So this was different but still, he had an almost immediate impact. Rabada had seen enough to know pace off was the best option and his first delivery, to Akeal Hosein, could only be dabbed to short third. Hosein and Andre Russell ran but Anrich Nortje picked up and threw quicker and Russell was run-out. Later in the over, Hosein hit a cutter straight back to Rabada, who took a simple catch. His first over cost only one run and held West Indies back from a late surge. He closed out with an over worth 11 runs to keep West Indies to 135.

It’s South Africa in a virtual World Cup knockout – did you need more drama?

Yes, yes, you did. And it delivered. Quinton de Kock took 12 runs off the opening over to get the chase underway but then Russell got hold of the new ball. He strangled Reeza Hendricks down the leg side with his first ball – though the decision needed to be reviewed and reversed after Snicko confirmed the edge – and the had de Kock well caught by Sherfane Rutherford at deep backward square. But that was not where the early tension ended. At the end of that over, the heavens opened and an almighty shower came down, bringing with it memories of… 1992, 2003, 2015 and many other rain-affected matches that South Africans would prefer to forget. The delay lasted 75 minutes and three overs were lost, reducing the target to 123.

Klaasen puts South Africa in front

We all know T20 matches can change in an over but in a rain-reduced match, that is even more amplified. Heinrich Klaasen provided the game-changing passage of play when he took on Gudakesh Motie and broke the back of the chase to put South Africa on course for victory. Klaasen hit Motie’s first ball into the stands and the last three for successive fours, albeit risky. He stayed on the back foot and hit Motie aerially towards Chase, who could not reach the chance despite a full-stretched dive at backward point, then glanced him past short fine and edged it past Nicholas Pooran to leave South Africa needing 53 runs off 10 overs and clear the path to the semi-finals.

England opener leads charge as she admits absence from T20I squad creates unique pressure

Valkerie Baynes26-Jun-2024England’s nine-wicket rout in the first match of New Zealand’s visit represented exactly how the hosts want to play.Having lacked a ruthless streak for much of their victorious ODI and T20I campaigns against Pakistan earlier in the home summer, England crushed the White Ferns on Wednesday, first by bowling them out for 156 in 33.3 overs thanks largely to Charlie Dean’s 4 for 38 before reeling in the target for the loss of just one wicket with a staggering 28.4 overs to spare, via brutal half-centuries from Tammy Beaumont and Maia Bouchier.Beaumont, unbeaten with 76 from 69 deliveries, and Bouchier, who had a breakout tour of New Zealand earlier this year and struck 67 off 50 balls, took England within 20 runs of victory with 137-run opening stand off just 106 deliveries. Combined with England’s spinners Dean, Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn – who took seven wickets between them – it was the sort of clinical all-round performance they had been seeking.Against Pakistan, England scrapped their way to victory in the first ODI before Nat Sciver-Brunt dominated the third, following a second-match wash-out. During the three T20Is, only Danni Wyatt’s quickfire 87 at Leeds stood out after Amy Jones and Dani Gibson rescued them from 11 for 4 in the series opener at Edgbaston and they managed to defend a modest total in the second match by bowling Pakistan out for just 79.It was those sorts of results, Beaumont said after beating New Zealand in Durham, that England had said they wanted to turn into much more dominant victories, especially given the mantra of “inspire and entertain” that has been underpinning their endeavours for the past two years.”We spoke a lot this morning about how we want to play our 50-over cricket, and what inspiring and entertaining is. At times that’s being ruthless and putting on a show like that,” Beaumont said. “To respond to that conversation and go out straight away and put it into action … in particular the bowling was absolutely ruthless.”That’s certainly the word we’ve started to use a bit more,” she added. “We want to enjoy our cricket, we want to show off, we want to show our skills and how much talent there is in that dressing-room, but actually we want to also win games of cricket and really dominate at the same time, and the two can definitely being mutually exclusive. So I think it was still a lot of fun today but still incredibly ruthless, and a bit of a statement for the start of a series.”It’s not necessarily the be-all and end-all. We still want to try and push the game forward and take the game to as many new heights as possible. But at the same time, when you’ve got the foot on the throat, we’re going to try and ram home that advantage.”England’s performance showed what they are capable of, given the talent at their disposal. Heather Knight was barely called upon after arriving with 20 runs still required, Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt went unused, while Alice Capsey and Sophia Dunkley were left out of the starting XI altogether, the latter having won back her place in the squad after a disappointing tour of New Zealand.Beaumont said that while Dunkley’s welcome return increased the competition for places, the same could be said for most spots in the side, as reflected by Ryana MacDonald-Gay’s call-up from an impressive domestic season as cover for injured seamer Kate Cross.Maia Bouchier got to fifty at well over a run a ball•PA Photos/Getty Images

Beaumont and Cross find themselves in a tough place, on the fringes of T20I selection with a World Cup just over three months away but important to England’s 50-over campaign in 2025 and, where applicable, the Test set-up too.And while hosting Pakistan and New Zealand hasn’t carried the same buzz as last year’s Women’s Ashes, Beaumont – England’s double-centurion in the Trent Bridge Test against Australia last June – said she was playing with more freedom now than she was back then, when England came back from a 6-0 points deficit after losing the Test and first T20I to draw by winning both the T20I and ODI series two games to one.”I found the Ashes quite difficult last year,” she said. “You have the high of scoring a double-hundred in a Test match and then literally an hour after the end of the Test, you get told you’re not around for the next 10 days – that kind of took the wind out of your sails a little bit. You then have 10 days of regional cricket and then rock up and you have to win every game of the Ashes to stay in. What the girls did in the T20s was incredible, but actually the pressure to come back in, be the opening batter, and keep that roll on and not be the one that messes it up and loses the Ashes, is pretty tough to deal with.”But unfortunately that’s the situation the likes of myself and Kate Cross are in. It feels like you’ve got to constantly make an impact to stay relevant, but that’s what you have to do. Both of us are good enough at sticking to our game and acknowledging that it’s tough, that’s how it is and it’s not going to get any easier. There’s nothing anyone can do really, unless they pick you in the T20s, but it doesn’t seem to happen. So yeah, that is what it is.”Related

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New Zealand have plenty of reflection and improvement ahead if they are to bounce back, having lost their home T20 and ODI series against England in March and April.Had 20-year-old opener Georgia Plimmer not been run out for 29 pressing on for a single after deflecting Melie Kerr’s shot off her boot straight to midwicket, New Zealand may have been able to forge a much-needed partnership. As it stood, only Brooke Halliday’s half-century stood out, and she was the sole White Ferns bowler to take a wicket after playing as a specialist batter during England’s tour of New Zealand while making her way back from a foot injury.”I was a little bit confused because I was just putting my kit on, but yeah, maybe one day when Georgia gets a little bit older, she’ll be able to say ‘no’ to Melie,” Halliday said. “We talked about recently trying to be in the crease a little bit tighter to the stumps to try and help get the single down at mid-on, so that came back to bite her a little bit there… it’s just unfortunate the way she got out, but good signs.”Individually everyone will probably reflect on batting, bowling and fielding and then we’ll come together as a group and see what we want to work on and how we’re going to approach the next game. We’re not going to dwell too much on it, I’m sure, but you’ve always got to reflect and take what you can out of a game like this.”

Half-centuries from Amy Hunter, Leah Paul and Rebecca Stokell laid the foundations for a 15-run victory

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2024Half-centuries from Amy Hunter, Leah Paul and Rebecca Stokell laid the foundations and Arlene Kelly applied the finishing touches with a three-wicket haul as Ireland took an unassailable 2-0 lead over Sri Lanka with a 15-run win in the second ODI in Belfast.As in Friday’s first ODI, however, Sri Lanka made the hosts earn their win. An impressive all-round display from Kavisha Dilhari and a maiden ODI century from the in-form Harshitha Samarawickrama put Sri Lanka in a position of some control in their chase of 256. A 126-run stand between these two left them needing 84 in 98 balls, with eight wickets in hand, but Ireland hit back thereafter, with Kelly, Jane Maguire and run-outs combining to derail the visitors’ chase.Leah Paul innovates on her way to 81•Cricket Ireland

With her 124-ball 105, Samarawickrama became the third member of Sri Lanka’s ODI centurions club, one match after Vishmi Gunaratne had ended Chamari Athapaththu’s long spell as its sole representative.Having pulled off their record ODI chase to win the first ODI, Ireland put up another impressive batting display after being sent in. Achini Kulasuriya removed both their openers in her new-ball spell, and when Dilhari took out Orla Prendergast, their centurion from Friday, they were 77 for 3. Hunter and Paul got them moving with a 57-run fourth-wicket stand, before Athapaththu struck to send Hunter back for a 71-ball 66.Then came the partnership that set Ireland up for their victory push, with Paul and Stokell adding 114 off 112 balls for the fifth wicket. Paul was out in the final over for 81 off 101 balls, while Stokell finished unbeaten on 53 off 61.

The former Australia quick started his career with the state and has been holding the role in an interim capacity

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Aug-2024Ryan Harris has been named South Australia’s new men’s head coach, filling the role vacated by Jason Gillespie’s departure earlier this year.Harris, who began his playing career with the state, has been leading the men’s programme in an interim capacity over the last few months while the role was recruited for and will take over full-time immediately as pre-season ramps up.Related

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It has yet to be confirmed who will become Adelaide Strikers’ BBL head coach (Gillespie held both positions) but it’s understood splitting the job has become increasingly likely. Tim Paine has previously confirmed his interest in the Strikers’ role should that be the case.”I’m thrilled and honoured to be appointed Head Coach of South Australia where I began my first-class playing journey more than 20 years ago,” Harris said. “Having worked closely with the team last summer and during our current pre-season training, I know what this squad is capable of and can’t wait to get started and build on the positive steps we saw last year.”Under new captain Nathan McSweeney, there is a real sense of self-belief among the group and we’ll be working hard to ensure we hit the ground running with the new season rapidly approaching.”South Australia finished fifth in the Sheffield Shield last season after a fourth place in 2022-23 which followed five consecutive wooden spoons. They were bottom in the Marsh Cup after reaching the final the previous season.There is a chance they will see more of internationals Travis Head and Alex Carey early in the Sheffield Shield window during October.After retiring, Harris moved into coaching with the Australia men’s under-19 team at the 2018 and 2020 World Cups and has also worked in the IPL with Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Capitals. He also had stints as a consultant with the men’s team while Justin Langer was coach.In 2021 he was appointed Queensland Cricket’s pathway manager. He applied to be head coach of Australia Women when Matthew Mott left, having had a short-term stint as bowling coach on a tour of New Zealand in 2021, but was overlooked before returning to South Australia to be their bowling coach.

Stand-in captain Lewis targets 2-0 win after coming through in final-ball ODI triumph

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2024Gaby Lewis says that Ireland’s aim is to keep the buzz going after their thrilling final-ball victory in Belfast on Wednesday, as the format switches from 50-overs to 20 for the Dublin leg of England women’s tour.Lewis, who is currently standing in for Laura Delany, led from the front with a matchwinning 72 from 56 balls in the third ODI, but it was left to Ireland’s lower-order to scramble over the line by three wickets, despite a spirited England fightback led by Lauren Filer and Mady Villiers.The result didn’t impact the series, which England claimed 2-1 after emphatic wins in the first two fixtures, but the feelgood factor has been palpable for the hosts, especially after the disappointment of failing to qualify for next month’s T20 World Cup.Not only can they look forward to eager crowds in Clontarf for the T20Is, but the fact that Ireland came out on top in a contest that was reduced to 22 overs a side clearly augurs well for their prospects in the shorter format.”It’s huge,” Lewis said. “If you suffer a defeat in the last game of the series, you’re on a bit of a downer coming into the next series. But that just puts the defeat to the back of your mind. It’s not forgotten, we have obviously learned from it, but all you can all you can remember is the buzz we had on Wednesday.”So, we’re looking forward to bringing that positivity into these two games this weekend. And especially because it was a shortened game, it gives us that confidence in the T20 format. We’re looking forward to a 2-0 series win this weekend!”Kate Cross, who is leading a new-look England squad in Heather Knight’s absence, admitted that Ireland had been the better team on the day. However, she was proud of the fight they had shown in adversity, and backed a team that has featured six new caps across the three matches to learn more from the setback than they could have picked up in victory – not least Hollie Armitage, whose glaring misfield off the final ball handed Ireland their matchwinning boundary.”Ultimately the result was probably a fair one,” Cross said. “Ireland were the better team in that third ODI, but what our girls did really well was they fought to stay in the game. If you can take games of cricket as deep as possible, then you just don’t know.”We got a little bit of a sniff at the end of that game, but incidents like what happened with Hollie are just part of the game. Obviously it’s more upsetting that it’s off the final ball, but I just said to her that we all made some mistakes in the field at some points, which contributed to us losing that game.”England’s T20I squad will feature some more fresh faces, with Seren Smale and Charis Pavely among the players who could make their international debuts this weekend. Katie George has also been called into the squad, partially as cover for Mahika Gaur, the 18-year-old left-arm seamer whose comeback from a side strain is being carefully handled by the team management.”Mahika is coming back from an injury,” Cross said. “She’s not played much cricket this summer, and to throw her into back-to-back games feels like it might be a bit of a risk for her, especially when there’s a World Cup around the corner, plus a South Africa series and an Ashes to play for this winter.”Katie’s been added to the squad to just give us a little bit more depth in the seam attack. She’s had to fight back through a lot of injuries herself. Stress-fracture rehabs are never easy, you end up doing a lot of lonely work, So for her to have her name back in an England squad is absolutely exceptional for her.”

Sam Harper was fight hard for Victoria as they attempted to narrow the deficit on a surface taking turn

AAP02-Nov-2024Ben Manenti has masterminded a 4 for 7 collapse to spin South Australia into a strong position at the halfway stage of their Sheffield Shield match against Victoria at Adelaide Oval.The offspinner was the central figure behind the visitors’ 45-delivery collapse from 59 for 0 to 66 for 4 in the middle session, before wicketkeeper Sam Harper saved his side from embarrassment, joined in the middle late in the evening by Peter Siddle.Related

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Manenti had Jonathan Merlo caught at backward square leg by Lloyd Pope, before bowling Ashley Chandrasinghe, then taking a sharp catch at second slip to dismiss Campbell Kellaway. Manenti dismissed Peter Handscomb, squeezing a catch to Henry Hunt at short leg, and added Tom Rogers to his list, miscuing a pull shot to Pope at backward point.Victoria captain Will Sutherland feathered a catch to wicketkeeper Alex Carey, as did Mitchell Perry, Liam Scott striking immediately with the second new ball.Harper, who has looked in decent touch, remained the key scalp for SA.In the corresponding fixture last summer, Harper thumped nine sixes in an astonishing 151 off 109 balls to lead Victoria to a thrilling, low-scoring victory.”We’ve still got to get these last three wickets,” Manenti said after stumps on Saturday. “Harps is batting nicely and Sids has been around for years – he can obviously chip in as well.”Get these last three, then get to work with the bat and give ourselves a real good shot tomorrow afternoon or early day four to have a crack and put ourselves in a position to win it.”After resuming at 286 for 9 overnight, SA’s stubborn tail frustrated the Victorian attack on the second morning before their innings concluded when No.11 Pope, who scored a personal-best 17, edged Cameron McClure to Harper.Evergreen ex-Test quick Siddle, who turns 40 this month, was the pick of Victoria’s bowlers, capturing 3 for 57.

He says South Africa “just focusing on the now and not the future” with the race to the WTC final hotting up

Firdose Moonda08-Dec-2024South Africa will “go back to old-fashioned Test cricket” as they look to take five wickets to complete a win on the final day at St George’s Park. This, after they “went searching” in the last 90 minutes of the fourth afternoon.A slightly frustrated Keshav Maharaj, who was the last to strike in the 34th over – before Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva batted out 18.5 overs more – said tighter disciplines will be key with the old ball on a surface that remains relatively good for batting with Sri Lanka 143 runs away from levelling the series.”It requires a lot of patience, especially as the ball gets older and softer. The wicket becomes a little bit more placid but we did go searching a little bit, if I’m honest,” Maharaj said at the post-play press conference. “Hopefully tomorrow we’ll go back to old-fashioned Test cricket like we did in that period where we got those seven wickets in the morning.”Related

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Maharaj was reflecting on the third day’s play where South Africa forced a Sri Lankan collapse of 7 for 67 to take a 30-run first innings lead. Then, Marco Jansen extracted good bounce and Dane Paterson bowled an excellent and accurate spell where he found late movement with the second new ball. This time, South Africa will have to wait 28 overs more before the second new ball is due and they will have to apply their disciplines for longer, especially against batters who are set.The partnership between Kusal and Dhanajaya has grown to 83, with each on 39 not out. While their growing ease at the crease may be causing some concern, South Africa know they are essentially a wicket away from the tail and if they get there, the rest could unravel. “Traditionally, the wickets do happen in clusters. There can be a period where the game goes nowhere and then all of a sudden, it takes one wicket to basically be the catalyst,” Maharaj said. “It’s about staying patient and hopefully reaping the rewards of some hard graft tomorrow morning.”South Africa have already had two lessons in patience – the one when Sri Lanka were 242 for 3 overnight and then finished on 328 all out on day three and the other on the fourth day. Sri Lanka looked comfortable on 117 for 3, with a partnership between Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis that sat at 53, when Maharaj made an important double-strike. He removed Mathews and then Kamindu in successive overs and bowled to a plan that worked.With Mathews, South Africa wanted to “encourage a shot” because they believed they had enough runs on the board for Maharaj gave it extra flight, and Mathews tried to hit him over midwicket and was bowled. “It was a big wicket. It obviously led to the wicket of Kamindu a couple of overs later.”Once Mathews was removed, South Africa tried something different against Kamindu. “It didn’t look like he wanted me to settle in the rough, so [I thought] let me come around the wicket and keep him in the crease,” Maharaj said. “And it just paid off quickly. It paid off with the first ball I tried that.”‘I told you so’ – Keshav Maharaj to his skipper after setting up a trap to knock over Angelo Mathews•AFP/Getty Images

Kamindu edged as he tried to work a delivery that spun into him into the leg side and Kyle Verreynne took an instinctive one-handed catch. Maharaj pointed to Bavuma in celebration, an acknowledgment of how their homework was earning them full marks.At that stage, South Africa had Sri Lanka 122 for 5 and could probably sniff a win. They tried a few things because they felt they had “kind of earned the right a little bit to go searching, but probably not for as long as we did”, as Maharaj put it. Maharaj operated from his end until the last over of the session and continued to experiment with his lengths as he tried to find another breakthrough. At the other end, South Africa rotated through the seamers and though Kagiso Rabada and Paterson both found some movement, Sri Lanka balanced caution with enterprise and saw out the day.In 2019, on this ground, Sri Lanka were 60 for 2 overnight on the second day, chasing 197. They got there without losing another wicket and Kusal Mendis was one of the batters that spearheaded that win. South Africa know the importance of removing him but understand that the best chance of doing that is to make sure their disciplines are strong and they don’t get too far ahead of themselves, knowing that a win would tick another box on their quest to reach the World Test Championship final.”We acknowledge the bigger picture for everything, but it’s about a process. The boys are very comfortable just focusing on the now and not the future,” Maharaj said.South Africa will be guaranteed a place in the final if they win this and their next two matches, and could still get there with fewer than three wins but then they will be dependent on other results.

Chasing 147, Scorchers were in trouble at 37 for 3 before Connolly and captain Ashton Turner combined for a match-turning 68-run partnership

Tristan Lavalette15-Dec-2024
On a ground he has played the hero before, allrounder Cooper Connolly stepped up with a game-changing half-century as Perth Scorchers continued their long-time dominance over Melbourne Stars in the BBL season-opener at Optus Stadium.Chasing 147, Scorchers were in trouble at 37 for 3 before Connolly and captain Ashton Turner combined for a 68-run partnership. Returning from a fractured hand sustained on the ground in last month’s third ODI against Pakistan, Connolly hit 64 from 51 balls before Turner sealed the result in trademark composed fashion.There was late drama when Stars batter Hilton Cartwright was stretchered off the ground in a mini-ambulance with what appeared to be a neck injury. He had given chase from deep point in a bid to prevent a boundary from Connolly and seemed to jar his neck as he sprawled across the turf.Cartwright, a Western Australian cricketer, had the support of a neck brace as he left the ground to warm applause from the fans before being taken to hospital.It was the seventh straight win for Scorchers over Stars much to the delight of the 30,649 crowd – a record for a BBL season-opener.

Connolly and Turner lift weakened Scorchers batting

Stars’ score of 146 for 9 appeared under par, but there were concerns over a weakened Scorchers’ batting line-up missing injured No.3 Aaron Hardie and Josh Inglis, who is part of Australia’s Test squad.Expectations were high over New Zealand opener Finn Allen, who had tuned up for his Scorchers debut with a succession of massive hits during an intra-squad match at the WACA.Allen didn’t bother with a sighter as he launched compatriot Adam Milne for a massive six over wide long-on to trigger bedlam among the orange-garbed fans in the terraces.But he was bowled by Milne on the next delivery before Scorchers slumped further when English batters top-order Keaton Jennings and Matt Hurst struggled to handle the extra bounce.In familair scenes, Turner came to the crease and brought calmness to the middle. He started slowly in trademark style as Connolly did the bulk of the damage.Connolly has said his preference is to bat at No.6 but his flexibility came to the fore as he reached his maiden BBL half-century. He was not able to stay there at the end, like he memorably did in the final of BBL 12. He fell after when Scorchers took the power surge in the 14th over but Turner, who has missed much of the domestic season with injuries, finished the job with an unbeaten 37 as Scorchers reached the target in the 18th over.

Same ol’ Scorchers attack

New season, same old menacing Scorchers attack. It was like a collection of greatest hits for this reliable group of bowlers.Left-arm quick Jason Behrendorff has for years been a devastating weapon with the new ball and this was no exception. He didn’t take wickets in his opening two-over spell, but indirectly helped account for the early dismissals of Joe Clarke and Sam Harper.Behrendorff conjured trademark dangerous swing and started the season with a maiden. The pressure built on Stars with Jhye Richardson the beneficiary at the other end as he capped Scorchers’ early dominance by dismissing Harper plumb lbw as he grinned widely before appealing to the umpire, who raised his finger in a decision that was upheld on review.Richardson capped his fine performance with the wicket of Beau Webster, who had been released from Australia’s Test squad, in the 17th over.It was a well-rounded effort from a full-strength Scorchers attack with speedster Lance Morris bowling at speeds touching 145 kmh, while left-arm spinners Ashton Agar and Connolly each took a wicket in their returns from injuries.

Stoinis starts captaincy reign well before run-out

It’s a new era for Stars, a high-profile franchise that are famously titleless, with Marcus Stoinis taking the captaincy reins from Glenn Maxwell, who stepped down after five seasons in the role.Stoinis came to the crease under pressure but he’s well used to these fast and bouncy conditions having come up through the Western Australian cricket ranks.And he met fire with fire, taking a liking to Morris’ extra pace before smashing Agar for a huge six down the ground. In the process he became the sixth batter in BBL history to reach 100 sixes.With batting conditions becoming easier, Stoinis attempted to bludgeon every delivery like when he launched into a full-pitched Richardson delivery only to break his bat in half.But two deliveries later Stoinis took off for a quick single only for Tye at mid-on to produce a spectacular direct hit to throw down the stumps at the bowler’s end. Stoinis instantly knew his fate and was clearly livid as he threw his head back and chucked his bat in the air.Stoinis trudged off after making 37 off 33 balls but Tom Curran, recruited from Sydney Sixers, gave them a lift in the backend with 37 off 19 balls. But it wasn’t enough as their shorthanded attack missing Scott Boland could not defend the sub-par total.