Glamorgan have confirmed the signing of the South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn for a seven-match stint in the Natwest T20 Blast

ESPNcricinfo staff20-May-20162:42

Cullinan: Not in Steyn’s best interests to have a rest period

Glamorgan have confirmed the signing of the South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn for a seven-match stint in the NatWest T20 Blast. Steyn will join the team after completing the ongoing IPL season with Gujarat Lions. Glamorgan are scheduled to start their tournament against Surrey on May 26 – Steyn may have to miss the match if Lions make it as far as the IPL’s second Qualifier on May 27 or the final on May 29.Steyn’s decision to play for Glamorgan leaves him potentially at odds with CSA, his home board. South Africa had left Steyn out of their ODI squad for a triangular series in the West Indies, which begins on June 3, in order to rest him ahead of a Test series against New Zealand in August. The Natwest T20 Blast coincides with the triangular series.
“The timing of this opportunity is ideal and there is no better way to prepare than playing in the IPL,” Steyn said. “I know that Jacques [Rudolph, the Glamorgan captain] and the rest of the team have set an initial target of qualifying for the quarter-finals and I will do all that I can to give the team the best possible start.”It’s also a valuable opportunity to get some overs under the belt in the lead up to the SA Test series in a controlled T20 environment.”

Dasun Shanaka took five wickets on his ODI debut and Dinesh Chandimal struck his first ODI hundred for five years as Sri Lanka proved too strong for Ireland in Malahide

Tim Wigmore at Malahide16-Jun-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDasun Shanaka demanded attention with a fine all-round display in Malahide•Getty Images/Sportsfile

Dasun Shanaka has the batting build of an unobtrusive nurdler, and his bowling seems of the innocuous wicket-to-wicket variety. He is a cricketer who invites underestimation.In his embryonic international career, his impact has been with bat or ball, never both. But on his ODI debut against Ireland at Malahide, he married both disciplines to bring victory to Sri Lanka in spectacular style.There are decent debuts, and then there is this. Shanaka’s day begun by harrumphing 42 off 19 balls, and ended with him becoming only the 12th bowler in ODI history to take five wickets on debut. All enough for Sri Lanka to take victory, by virtue of a D/L recalculation after rain, by 76 runs.All year, he has revelled in embarrassing those who have put him down. In January, 16 of the 46 deliveries the Saracens Sports Club bowled to him in a domestic T20 were pummelled for six.In February, he was used as a relief bowler in a T20I against India and responded with 3 for 16.In May, he was a slightly incongruous name in Sri Lanka’s touring party, until 112 against Leicestershire pushed him into the Test team. Once there, he promptly bundled out three of England’s top four within eight balls.Just as in the First Test at Headingley, Shanaka was brought on more in hope than expectation, with Angelo Matthews needing to end an irritating opening stand.There had been concerns that Sri Lanka’s packed batting – Upul Tharanga returned at No. 8 – would leave too much of an onus on Shanaka’s bowling. But under muggy Malahide skies, Shanaka promptly got a delivery to swing in appreciably to uproot Paul Stirling’s off stump, and soon after tempted Ed Joyce into an aberrant swipe to Dinesh Chandimal behind the stumps.These dismissals, Ireland’s two most prized wickets, gave Sri Lanka a grip on the game, and Shanaka would return to ensure they did not relinquish it.The upshot was that Ireland will have to wait to end their six-year run without defeating a Full Member in a home ODI, a statistic unbecoming for a cricket nation of such aspiration.For spells of Ireland’s innings Sri Lanka’s hold on the game was threatened, as Kevin O’Brien forged worthy alliances with William Porterfield and Stuart Poynter, and an especially fruitful one with Sri Lanka’s fielders.There are two sorts of roulette players: those who cash in when they have struck lucky and those who double down, convinced one moment of fortune will beget another and they can bankrupt the casino by the time the night is out. One imagines that O’Brien is the sort who would either return from Monte Carlo with a new yacht or having lost his house trying.Having reached five, O’Brien advanced down the pitch to Seekkuge Prasanna’s legspin, and attempted to chip the ball to secure a couple. He was too early on the delivery, mistimed his shot and proceeded only to hit the ball straight to Kusal Perera at long on. But Perera misjudged the ball, just as O’Brien had, fumbled a routine catch and ended up taking it while his feet were over the rope.Some would have regarded this as a cue to rein themselves in but to O’Brien this was only an excuse to double down. After facing three more balls, O’Brien pulled Nuwan Pradeep to fine leg, into Dhananjaya de Silva’s hands but then through them: another six. Another five later, and O’Brien heaved Pradeep to long off where Angelo Matthews, running over his shoulder, saw the ball fall to the ground once more.Soon after followed a rain-enforced break, but it did quell O’Brien’s flirtation with peril, especially with the asking rate at nine: he thumped a ball straight to short fine leg, but was reprieved once more. So the four deliveries that could have ended O’Brien’s innings instead produced 20 runs.Given that fielders were never going to dismiss him, Sri Lanka instead relied on the umpire to award O’Brien lbw playing across Pradeep. The upshot was that Sri Lanka’s reputation as merciless against Associates was maintained.As for Chandimal, it has been five years since his last ODI century, and the roar when he ended that run spoke of awareness that such a wait did scant justice to his talent.This was an innings of style, in Chandimal’s pristine drives and flicks to the legside, but above all defined by impeccable placement and savvy. Chandimal did not recourse to power hitting, and nor did he need to: in making 100 not out from 107 balls, he scored only six fours but ten twos and 50 singles.To see this innings it was possible to imagine that the revolution in ODI batting had never happened, but Chandimal correctly deduced that any score over 250 would be onerous to chase.Either side of an 88-run partnership with Matthews, Chandimal forged two substantial stands with debutants. First Kusal Mendis, doughty as a novice number three in the Test series in England, scored a half-century that exhibited finesse and some resplendent straight driving. Then Shanaka emerged, in no mood to play with such subtlety, and plundered 24 in five deliveries from Max Sorensen.For Ireland, the day brought joy to a debutant of their own. Barry McCarthy was handed his Ireland cap by John Mooney, the cricketer who has been anointed to replace.There are obvious parallels. Both are Leinster-reared from strong cricketing families: Mooney’s elder brother and McCarthy’s younger sister are internationals. Both are zestful cricketers who bowl around 80mph, provide ballast to the lower order – not that McCarthy showed it here, slashing his fifth ball behind – and are fine fielders.It was apt that McCarthy’s debut was at Malahide. A testing spell to Ben Stokes in the net three years ago earned him a recommendation to Durham, and then a professional contract. Last summer, he became the first Irishman since the 19th Century to play county cricket before making his international debut.So many felt his selection for Ireland overdue. McCarthy took only two balls to vindicate them, eliciting Danushka Gunathilaka to edge to slip. “It’s a beautiful day,” belted out the tannoy system.McCarthy would doubtless have been of a mind to agree, but not those in the crowd, who had to enlist their umbrellas, which should be compulsory for any Irish cricket fans, for protection from the intermittent showers.A combination of the weather and the football – Ireland are unfortunate that both these ODIs coincide with European Championship matches for the two Ireland sides, and the Malahide club house was packed to witness Northern Ireland’s victory – contributed to an underwhelming crowd, only narrowly into four figures.As McCarthy and Ireland’s other 80mph seamers, O’Brien’s canny cutters apart, were lined up by Sri Lanka, Ireland had cause to be grateful for their returnee: Boyd Rankin, playing his first ODI for Ireland for four years.He had only played one international at Malahide before, when he took 4 for 46 for England against Ireland in 2013. Here, his extra pace yorked Shanaka and helped limit Sri Lanka to just 25 from the last four overs. But Shanka would return to extend Ireland’s anxious wait for a marquee home win, and with bowling of archetypal Emerald Isle ilk.

Kraigg Brathwaite, whose 74 could not prevent West Indies from falling short of the follow-on mark on day three of the Antigua Test, praised India’s bowling attack for the pressure they sustained through the day

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2016Kraigg Brathwaite, whose innings of 74 could not prevent a struggling West Indies batting unit from falling short of the follow-on mark on day three of the Antigua Test, praised India’s bowling attack for the pressure they sustained through the day.”I think I haven’t seen any bowlers bowl so well in the early stage of the innings,” Brathwaite said. “They bowled with a lot of discipline. They also set attacking fields and really backed it up with good disciplined bowling.”Replying to India’s 566 for 8 declared, West Indies were bowled out for 243. Following on, they ended the day 21 for 1, with Brathwaite dismissed in the first over.”It’s a bit of both,” he said, when asked whether West Indies’ situation was more a reflection of poor batting or good bowling from India. “As a batsman, you have to know when you have to curb your aggression and defend, or when to attack. I think it’s all about individual batsmanship as a whole. It’s about having confidence in what you do and building partnerships and bat throughout the third day.”While there was no denying the uphill nature of the task West Indies face over the last two days of the match, Brathwaite said their batting line-up was capable of saving the game.”We had just a bad day,” he said. “We have some really good batsmen. Today it didn’t go well but tomorrow we should come back and bat really well and put some runs on the board.”He expected the pitch to remain good to bat on and hold together on days four and five “Little bit of grass. I don’t think it will crack up. The bounce is still good and we have to come tomorrow and see if it continues or if it gets low.”

Moeen Ali made his third Test hundred and his second match-defining score in as many innings to rescue his side from a familiar top-order collapse in the fourth Investec Test.

The Report by Andrew Miller11-Aug-2016Pakistan 3 for 1 (Azhar 0*, Yasir 0*) trail England 328 (Moeen 108, Bairstow 55, Sohail 5-68) by 325 runs

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMoeen Ali once again demonstrated the power that resides in England’s allrounder-laden middle order as he stroked his way to a brilliant counterattacking 108 – his third Test hundred and his second match-defining score in as many innings – to rescue his side from a familiar top-order collapse in the fourth Investec Test.By the close of the opening day’s play at the Kia Oval, England had seized control of a contest that could yet propel them to the top of the world Test rankings, if results elsewhere go their way. Left with three overs in which to go for broke before the close, Stuart Broad prised out Pakistan’s most obdurate find of the tour, Sami Aslam, lbw for 3, as England inched closer to their coveted clean sweep of series wins against all Test opponents.But, with Wahab Riaz back in the Pakistan side and restored to the fire-breathing hostility that had secured the spoils in the last Test series between these sides before Christmas, they had been required once again to take the scenic route to the ascendancy.The first delivery of Moeen’s innings summed up the challenge that England faced shortly after lunch, as he arrived at the crease to join Jonny Bairstow with his side floundering on 110 for 5 after winning the toss under overcast skies, and on a livid green pitch that looked more threatening than it actually turned out to be.Wahab – with three wickets, one drop and a no-ball reprieve already to his name in the first eight-and-a-half overs of a typically vigorous onslaught – greeted the incoming Moeen with a scorching bouncer that tailed into the left-hander and sconed him so hard on the badge of his helmet that it rebounded clean into the hands of backward point.Pakistan, at this stage, were swarming as only they can when that whiff of cordite hits their nostrils. But Moeen’s refusal to be flustered is a trademark of his game, and in the course of two vital and urgently-paced stands – 93 for the sixth wicket with Bairstow and 79 with England’s man of the moment, Chris Woakes – he first shored up the foundations of England’s innings before taking the game away in the final session from a tiring Pakistan attack.Sohail Khan once again emerged as Pakistan’s stand-out wicket-taker, with 5 for 68 in 20.4 toiling overs, but Pakistan’s fielders were unable to match the application of their bowlers. Mohammad Amir proved especially luckless in his best spell since his return to Test cricket as a genuine opportunity to roll England aside inside two sessions hit the turf with a thud.

Hales decision under scrutiny

Two England players retweeted footage that appeared to cast doubt on the veracity of the catch that dismissed Alex Hales. Hales looked furious after he was adjudged to have been caught by Yasir Shah at mid-wicket. While TV replays appeared inconclusive, some felt that still pictures suggested the ball may have bounced.
Certainly Hales’ Nottinghamshire team-mate Stuart Broad seemed to think Hales had been unfortunate. He tweeted: “Replays are unclear? You don’t believe that do you?” Hales, however, seemed to accept the umpires’ decision had been far from straightforward, tweeting a pixelated picture with the comment: “Bit blurry to be fair.”

Despite the excellence of their contributions, both Moeen and Bairstow were the beneficiaries of key reprieves early in their innings that Pakistan will be sure to rue as this contest develops. On 13, and without having added to his lunchtime score, Bairstow poked flimsily at another exocet outside off stump and lobbed a simple catch to Yasir Shah at backward point.Wahab’s celebrations, however, were cut short by umpire Marais Erasmus’s outstretched arm – and the bowler could have no complaint. He had been warned after the first ball of the over that he was getting close to transgressing, then called for both of his subsequent deliveries, the second of which was the vital one.Bairstow, whose 83 at Edgbaston had arguably been the defining knock of that contest, instantly bunted a four through the covers to rub salt in Wahab’s wounds, and set about ensuring that Pakistan would be made to pay for his let-off.It wasn’t just Wahab whom the pair had to overcome. At the other end, Amir was locating that prodigious late swing that made him such a threat in his first coming as a Test cricketer, and on 23, he rapped Bairstow on the back pad with a fierce late inswinger that Pakistan felt obliged to review – the ball was shown to be slipping over the top of off stump.Then, on 9, came the key let-off, as Azhar Ali at third slip made a Horlicks of a low edge off Amir that hit him on the wrists. A similar juggled opportunity had earlier been good enough to send Gary Ballance on his way for 8, but this one refused to stick, as did another technical chance at the hands of the same fielder six runs later, although only a harsh judge could criticise Azhar for this one – a firm clip off the pads against Yasir that struck him on the chest at short leg but rebounded out of his reach.But as the session progressed, England’s confidence grew, and with it the urgency in their run-harvesting. Bairstow’s exemplary judgment of a quick single means that his stands are rarely anything less than hyper-charged, and with tea approaching, the pair were reprising their game-changing efforts in the second innings at Edgbaston.Moeen clipped the debutant Iftikhar Ahmed over midwicket for the first six of the innings, then rolled his wrists on a pull through midwicket four balls later to join his team-mate on fifty, and though Bairstow fell soon afterwards for 55, dangling his bat outside the line to inside-edge Amir through to the wicketkeeper, the arrival of Woakes offered Pakistan no let-up.With an England-record 23 wickets in a Test series against Pakistan, Woakes would be having the time of his life with or without any extra strings to his bow. Throw in his sublime form with the bat, however, and you end up with an allrounder with the form and confidence for any situation. With his cover-drive in preposterously good order, he cashed in on Wahab’s angle across his bows to breeze along to 45 from 57 balls, before feathering a thin edge to give Sohail and Pakistan a late chance to get their way back on track.Sohail did his best to oblige, extracting a marginal lbw against Stuart Broad for 0 before bowling Steven Finn through the gate for 8 to give Moeen a nervy few minutes as he biffed his way through the nineties with only James Anderson for company. But, having flashed a four past a baffled Younis Khan at slip, he took a premeditated swipe for six over deep midwicket off Yasir, to complete his century and cement England’s revival.Though he fell soon afterwards for 108, caught at square leg to complete Sohail’s five-for, Moeen’s personal contribution had all but doubled England’s halfway innings total.There had been little in the day’s opening exchanges to hint at the ebb and flow to come, with Alex Hales’ contentious early dismissal at square leg appearing to come against the run of play, given the fluency of Alastair Cook and Joe Root’s initial strokeplay. Hales, on 6, clipped firmly to Yasir at square leg, who scooped a low chance that umpire Oxenford referred upstairs for a second opinion. His initial instinct was that it carried, but the incident happened so quickly that none of the TV cameras could keep up with the blur of action, so the decision stood.England, however, had reckoned against the determination of Wahab to make an impact on the series. After entering the attack in the 12th over, he should have struck with his 13th ball, when Iftikhar shelled a low edge at first slip off Cook – ironically the same position in which Mohammad Hafeez, the man whom he had replaced, had been standing when he gave Root a crucial reprieve at Edgbaston last week.For once, Cook failed to make that sort of a let-off pay. He had added just one more run when he leant back on a pull against Sohail and under-edged into his own stumps. One over later, Root, whose stunning double-century at Old Trafford has been bookended by a cluster of limp dismissals, was suckered by Wahab’s extra pace and lift to tickle an edge through to Sarfraz Ahmed.In Wahab’s next over, he made it a collapse of 3 for 5 in 15 balls when the under-pressure James Vince was detonated from the crease by a fierce lifter that forced a defensive back-foot poke to give Sarfraz his second catch of the morning. At that stage, the contest was ripe for the seizing. But Moeen and his middle-order cohorts had other plans.

A round-up of the third day’s play in round one of Ranji Trophy Group A matches

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Oct-2016Dhawal Kulkarni’s six-for and Abhishek Nayar’s unbeaten 45 led Mumbai to a tense two-wicket win on the third day against Tamil Nadu, to start their title defense in Lahli. Once Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 185, Mumbai stuttered on their way to chase 97, being 35 for 5 at one point, before Nayar saw them through.Mumbai had a shaky start to their chase, as Aswin Christ removed the openers and K Vignesh got rid of Kaustubh Pawar, Armaan Jaffer and Suryakumar Yadav, leaving Mumbai still 62 adrift with five wickets left. Nayar, who was promoted from No. 7 to 5, held one end with a brisk innings. He got brief support from Aditya Tare’s 23-ball stay, but Crist had the captain caught behind after the team crossed 50. Kulkarni was then caught behind off Vignesh, before Balwinder Sandhu’s eighth-wicket stand of 30 with Nayar took the score to 90. Sandhu fell for 12, but Nayar, on his 33rd birthday, used five fours and two sixes to earn six points for Mumbai.Tamil Nadu started their day on 153 for 6, ahead by only 64, and could add only 32 more as Kulkarni ran through the tail. B Aparajith, who was on 15 overnight, kept resisting, but ran out of partners. He was unbeaten on 28 as Kulkarni dismissed J Kousik, Christ, M Mohammed and Rahil Shah. Kulkarni finished with his 13th five-for in first-class cricket, and maiden match haul of 10 wickets, his 6 for 47 having come on the back of 4 for 31 in the first innings.Uttar Pradesh were left with a daunting task to save the match after conceding a first-innings lead to Madhya Pradesh and being asked to follow on in Hyderabad.Bowled out for 176 in the first innings, UP ended the day at 118 for 2, still trailing Madhya Pradesh by 171 runs. Opener Tanmay Srivastava (60*) and Sarfaraz Khan (18) were at the crease, having added 38. A call on whether Suresh Raina can bat will be taken on the morning of the final day. Raina is recovering from a mild fever and didn’t bat in the first innings.Wicketkeeper Eklavya Dwivedi was the top-scorer in UP’s first innings with 37, while Kuldeep Yadav made 36. MP’s new-ball pair of Ishwar Pandey (3 for 65) and Gaurav Yadav (4 for 44) did bulk of the damage. Gaurav had last played for Madhya Pradesh in November 2014.Gujarat made slow progress, but were still in the fight for the first-innings lead against Baroda after half-centuries from Bhargav Merai (70) and Manpreet Juneja (66 not out), in Jaipur. They went into stumps on 277 for 4, still needing 267 runs to pocket three points.Their hopes will hinge largely on Juneja and Rujul Bhatt (38 not out), who shared an unbroken 100-run stand after the Pandya brothers – Krunal and Hardik – removed Merai and Parthiv Patel, the captain, in quick succession to leave Gujarat at 177 for 4. Irfan Pathan was wicketless, while Munaf Patel had one.Railways consolidated their position against Punjab with a 116-run lead on the third day in Delhi. Shivakant Shukla, who made 128 in the first innings, built a solid opening stand with Saurabh Wakaskar, before the latter retired hurt on 56. Shukla ended the day unbeaten on 86, with Railways at 180 for 2 in their second innings.Earlier, Punjab, who resumed on 154 for 4, added only 61 to their overnight total as medium-pacer Manjeet Singh Choudhary picked up three of the six wickets to fall, including the wickets of Gurkeerat Singh Mann (66) and Uday Kaul (61). Choudhary finished with 4 for 56, while Anureet Singh and Deepak Bansal picked up two wickets apiece.

The ECB has not given up plans of hosting the first day-night Test in England in 2017

George Dobell12-Sep-2016The ECB has not given up plans of hosting the first day-night Test in England in 2017.While plans to host Warwickshire’s final Championship match of the season against Lancashire at Edgbaston under lights have now been shelved – both clubs remain in danger of relegation from Division One and are unwilling to add an element of experimentation into such an important fixture – ESPNcricinfo understands that fixtures in Division Two will be considered instead.Matches at Leicestershire (who host Glamorgan) and Gloucestershire (who host Sussex) from September 20 are deemed especially suitable, with none of the clubs involved in the promotion challenge. All the clubs involved would have to agree before it is confirmed that the match could be held under lights. ESPNcricinfo understands that Leicestershire may be precluded from using their lights for the fixture due to planning restrictions.While sitting outside in the evening in late September might not be hugely attractive to spectators, the ECB feel it is necessary to conduct further tests – not least into the deterioration of the pink ball used in day-night Test cricket – before making a final decision as to whether a floodlit Test could be played in England next year.Edgbaston remains the target venue for the first floodlit Test in England with West Indies the opponents identified. That Test is due to start on August 17. Warwickshire has already hosted a 2nd XI fixture under lights at Edgbaston.”Tickets for that game go on sale in mid-October,” Neil Snowball, the Warwickshire CEO, told ESPNcricinfo. “So we really need to have made a decision before then so people know what they are going to be watching.”I went into that Second XI match open-minded and came out of it very positive about day-night cricket. We would like to make it work and I think the ECB would, too, but we would need to come to a conclusion within the next few weeks.”Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, remains a supporter of pushing the day-night concept forward after the inaugural floodlit match in Adelaide last year.”We are looking at it from a sample size of one at the moment but on reflection that seemed like a good match for Test cricket,” he said. “The question will always be: is that something we can and should replicate in this country, are there other things we can do? What I don’t want us to do is stick our head in the sand and pretend everything will be okay. There will always be people who will saying everything is fine and dandy as it stands, but with the shifting sands of international cricket we need to be proactive rather than reactive.”There remains a chance that one of the Ashes Tests in 2017-18 could be played under lights – Australia have day-night Tests against South Africa and Pakistan in their coming season – and while Strauss said he would ideally want England to play one before an Ashes campaign he would still be open to the idea regardless.”Where I am generally with day-night cricket is that I don’t want to let performance get in the way of taking Test cricket forward, so if Australia want us to play a day-night Test then I think myself, our coaches and players are comfortable with that as a concept. What we’d need to be clear on is how we prepare ourselves properly for that. We’d want to give ourselves the best chance of winning an Ashes series in Australia.”Should the plans for shelved for 2017, it seems unlikely England or Wales would host a day-night Test before the 2020 season. The tourists in high-summer of 2018 are India, where broadcast times would not be suited to later start times, while Australia return in 2019 with little need for any novelty value to assist with ticket sales.

Queensland secured their place in the Matador Cup finals with a three-wicket win over Victoria at Drummoyne Oval, thanks largely to contributions from Marnus Labuschagne, Ben Cutting and Nathan Reardon

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2016
ScorecardBen Cutting picked up 4 for 56•Getty Images

Queensland secured their place in the Matador Cup finals with a three-wicket win over Victoria at Drummoyne Oval, thanks largely to contributions from Marnus Labuschagne, Ben Cutting and Nathan Reardon. Set 279 for victory, Queensland reached their goal with four overs to spare after Labuschange (89) and Reardon (64) steered the innings with a 144-run fourth-wicket stand.The result means that Queensland are likely to finish on top of the table, while Victoria must wait on the outcome of the last match between South Australia and Tasmania – should the Redbacks win with a bonus point, they will knock the Bushrangers out of the top three. The winner of the other remaining game, between New South Wales and Western Australia, will take the other place in the finals.Victoria regained a number of international players after the ODI tour of South Africa and Aaron Finch helped them get away to a strong start, scoring 79 in a 121-run opening stand with Cameron White (69) before Queensland’s spinners – Mitch Swepson and Jason Floros – accounted for them both. Glenn Maxwell made 28 and Matthew Wade 32 in Victoria’s 7 for 278, while Cutting claimed 4 for 56.Queensland’s chase began briskly though a 70-run opening stand inside nine overs, but then lost both Usman Khawaja (38 off 27) and Jimmy Peirson (36 off 29). Labuschagne and Reardon combined for their partnership after Joe Burns fell for 17, and Cutting steered the lower order home with an unbeaten 19 off 12 balls.

India’s bowlers required just 38.1 overs to wrap up a 246-run victory on the final day of the second Test in Visakhapatnam

The Report by Andrew Miller21-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:36

Ganguly: Jayant’s temperament was spot on

India’s bowlers required just 38.1 overs to wrap up a 246-run victory on the final day of the second Test in Visakhapatnam, as England’s resolve – fatally weakened by the loss of two wickets late on the fourth evening – was finally cracked with nothing but pride left to play for. The damage had been done in a frantic morning session in which they slumped from 87 for 2 to 142 for 7, and the tail succumbed meekly after lunch, with only Jonny Bairstow showing any real resistance with 34 not out.The margin of victory perhaps overstated the gulf between the sides – the key difference, in every sense, was India’s captain and Man of the Match Virat Kohli, whose aggregate of 248 runs single-handedly accounted for the deficit in England’s balance. But, having fought so hard for so long, especially in the second half of the contest, the speed of their final-day demise was dispiriting for England, with the third Test in Mohali looming large next week.Contrary to all pre-match predictions, the pitch still wasn’t spinning dramatically by the final day, but it was skidding through at a hustling pace to match India’s turbo-charged over-rate – they bowled 33.4 in the morning session, including an extraordinary ten in the first half-hour alone as Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin tied England in knots at a rate of knots.The devastating dismissal of Alastair Cook, in the last over of the fourth day, had left England fearing the worst when play resumed, and there was an inevitability about the identity of the first victim of the morning. Ben Duckett’s rich strokeplay and inventive attitude will doubtless serve him well as his England career progresses, but in this situation – and particularly against his nemesis, Ashwin – those attributes had roughly the same value as an INR 500 note.Sure enough, having withstood 15 deliveries without opening his account, Duckett dropped to one knee in a bid to hit his way out of a corner, but succeeded only in gloving a sweep onto his thigh pad and into the gloves of the wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. As he trooped disconsolately off the pitch, Duckett might as well have walked straight onto the England bench. His record against Ashwin alone in this series made grim reading – 40 balls, 15 runs, three wickets. He’ll be back, but perhaps not in Mohali next week.Jayant Yadav clipped Ben Stokes’ off stump with a beauty•AFP

Moeen Ali was the next to go, his technique against the spinners looking solid right up until the moment Jadeja got one to grip in the rough outside off, and accelerate onto his inside edge for Kohli to complete a lobbed catch at leg gully. From 75 for 0 after 50 overs, England were now in freefall at 101 for 4 after 74 – the flip-side of their siege mentality being that India were now camping as many as five close catchers under every new batsman’s nose.Such close attention didn’t bother Ben Stokes at first. He had been so solid in defence in the first innings, and continued his tried-and-trusted methods in a 33-ball stay. But, when India turned to the second new ball – and in the process, gave Jadeja’s fingers a rest after 25 overs on the trot had left him with the outstanding figures of 34-14-35-2 – the lankier offspin of Jayant Yadav conjured the ball of the match.A faster, flatter offbreak from around the wicket drifted as Stokes played back, then spat past his edge to clip the outside of his off stump. Stokes nodded his appreciation as the bowler hurtled past in celebration, and when Root was nailed by Mohammed Shami nine balls later, the teams might as well have shaken hands there and then.Root had once again been England’s most accomplished technician on the day. But, having survived an early reprieve when Kohli spilled a sharp chance at leg slip, he was pinned on the crease by a zippy nipbacker from Shami and sent on his way for 25 from 107 balls.There was time for one more breakthrough before lunch, as Adil Rashid top-edged an attempted ramp over the slips, to give Shami his second wicket of the innings, and the denouement came in a resigned procession after the resumption.Zafar Ansari completed a match every bit as ignominious as Duckett’s when Ashwin skidded a flat offbreak into his off stump for a duck, before Jayant produced a carbon copy of England’s demise in the first innings, trapping Stuart Broad and James Anderson with consecutive lbws. Anderson completed his comeback Test with a king pair, remarkably the first by an England batsman for 110 years.That wasn’t the sort of history that Cook’s men had targeted at the start of the tour, but with three matches to come and some clear signs of life amid the ruins of today’s effort, there will be chances to atone in the coming weeks. But a few correct calls at the toss would be a start.

Misbah-ul-Haq will play the third and final Test against Australia and will do so as captain

Osman Samiuddin01-Jan-20174:10

Samiuddin: Once Misbah realises he is not worth his place in the side as a batsman, it’s time for him to call it a day

Misbah-ul-Haq will play the third and final Test against Australia and will do so as captain.After the final-day loss in Melbourne, in which a second-ball duck prolonged a run of low scores for him, Misbah had spoken of the possibility of retirement from Test cricket and had not ruled out the likelihood of doing so before Sydney.But Pakistan’s management confirmed today he will lead the side out at the SCG on January 3.”Misbah will play at Sydney and he will be captain,” the PCB’s director (media), Amjad Hussain, said.Pakistan traveled to Sydney on New Year’s Eve and cancelled training on the first day of the year.What happens after Sydney is unclear. Pakistan do not play another Test until a series in the Caribbean in April-May 2017.Misbah’s comments post-Melbourne were the strongest indication that he will step down but he has fallen short of confirming it.It could be that he waits to arrive back in Pakistan before he announces his decision and it could also be that the result in Sydney, a dead rubber now, could have a role to play in his decision.Misbah has scored 20 runs in four innings on the tour of Australia so far and the duck in Melbourne brought concerns over his lack of form into the spotlight again. Six innings across Pakistan’s tours of New Zealand and Australia have brought Misbah only 64 runs, at an average of 10.67. After the match he said there was no point staying in the team if he couldn’t contribute the runs.”I always believed that if I couldn’t contribute to the team then it’s no point staying there,” Misbah said after Melbourne. “This is a point where I need to think about that, even before the next game [in Sydney] and after the series. Next couple of days I will think about it and decide what to do. There is no point in hanging around and doing nothing.”Misbah had conceded that he was contemplating retirement during the series against England in the winter of 2015. The prospect of leading the team against India kept him from making that decision but when that series did not materialise, Misbah chose to continue in his role and lead the team in difficult away series.”I was thinking about my retirement long ago, even when I was playing against England in Dubai,” he said. “I was thinking then that we had possibly Tests against India, so I would play that and that’s it.”But then we had difficult tours like England, New Zealand and Australia, I thought that is not right time. I’ve been there for last six-seven years, developing this team. I have to face these difficult series. That is why I hung around. Even at that stage my plan was not to play for another two-three years. I have to think about that, haven’t finalised it.”

Some of the doubts over the Under-19 series between India and England were addressed on Friday when the BCCI announced the schedule for the seven-match tour

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2017The two Under-19 Tests between India and England originally supposed to be held in Tamil Nadu have been relocated to Nagpur.

India Under-19 ODI squad

Heramb Parab, Het Patel, Himanshu Rana, Ayush Jamwal, Vivekanand Tiwary, Prithvi Shaw, Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Harvik Desai, Rahul Desraj Chahar, Kamlesh Singh Nagarkoti, Salman Khan, Priyam Garg, Shiva Singh, Yash Thakur, Mayank Rawat, Rohan Kunnumal, Ishan Porel

The four-day matches, starting on February 13 and 21, will follow five youth ODIs in Mumbai. Wankhede stadium will host the first, fourth and fifth 50-over matches on January 30, February 6 and February 8 while the Cricket Club of India will host the remaining games on February 1 and 3.The confusion around this tour began two weeks ago when the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which was meant to host the two youth Tests, expressed its inability to do so because of “domestic programs”.On January 7, the TNCA had sent a letter to the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri asking to be excused from hosting duties. “We have a heavy backlog of matches because of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) and the Vardah cyclone,” RA Palani, the joint-secretary and interim caretaker of the TNCA, was quoted as saying in the .”We have to conduct the TNCA first division matches, lower division games and inter-university matches. We need grounds to hold our own matches. At a time like this, it will be extremely hard for us to take the responsibility for two under-19 Tests.”It is learnt the BCCI had checked with the Vidarbha Cricket Association last week about whether they would be ready to host the matches and had received a favourable reply immediately. Both youth Tests will take place at the VCA stadium in Nagpur.