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Both teams are still in the race for the semi-finals, but there is also a Champions Trophy place at stake

Ashish Pant02-Nov-20235:10

Hayden: ‘Would like to see Rashid Khan bowl early against Netherlands’

Big picture: Semi-finals and Champions Trophy to play for

England – check, Pakistan – check, Sri Lanka – check, Netherlands – next?Coming into this tournament, Afghanistan had just one win – in 2015 – to show for their previous two World Cup campaigns. Now, they have beaten three previous World Cup winners in this edition alone, and are gunning for two crucial points against Netherlands to turn up the heat in the race for the semi-finals.Lucknow was Afghanistan’s adopted home turf back in 2019, when they faced West Indies in one Test, three T20Is and three ODIs. While they did not have much success in the ODIs back then, the familiarity with the venue could give them an edge in this contest.Related

• Stats – Netherlands' record-breaking rearguard blitz

• Crafty Azmatullah Omarzai on his way to be Afghanistan's own Hardik Pandya

• Farooqi hits his straps to help keep Sri Lanka under wraps

• Netherlands hope to keep 'intensity, dedication and spirit' intact in race for Champions Trophy spot

Afghanistan have solved some serious problems during their campaign. They were overly reliant on their top order for runs but the middle order has come to life with Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai finding form. Fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi is coming off a four-wicket haul against Sri Lanka, having shown there’s more to Afghanistan’s attack than just spin.And they have been clinical – not mercurial – in their victories. After dismantling England comfortably during their defence in Delhi, they chased down targets against Pakistan and Sri Lanka with a calmness that showed they belonged at the World Cup. Another victory will take Afghanistan to eight points, level with Australia and New Zealand who are in third and fourth place.Afghanistan, however, are up against a team that also has much to play for. Netherlands are still in the running for the semi-finals, though their chances are slim, but they have a real shot at qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy. To do that, they need to finish in the top eight at this World Cup, and taking two points off Afghanistan will open a four-point lead over the two teams currently below them (Bangladesh and England).Having taken down South Africa earlier in the tournament, Netherlands come into Friday’s fixture fresh off a win against Bangladesh. Their bowling – apart from the thumping against Australia – has been consistent but their batting has lacked firepower. Netherlands have scored 250-plus just once in this high-scoring tournament and have needed their middle and lower order to come to their rescue several times.At a venue where run-scoring hasn’t been as easy, Netherlands will need to find a way to succeed against an Afghanistan attack that is much more than the exceptional Rashid Khan.

Form guide

Afghanistan: LWLWW (last five ODIs, most recent first)
Netherlands: LWLLW

In the spotlight: Azmatullah Omarzai and Aryan Dutt

Azmatullah Omarzai had a mere 35 runs in four ODI innings at 11.66 at the end of 2022. The allrounder has turned a corner in 2023: 305 runs in 12 ODIs with three fifties and an average of 43.57. He is currently Afghanistan’s fifth highest run-scorer in the tournament with 203 runs at 50.75. He has also chipped in with his medium pace, taking five wickets at 39.80. Omarzai’s variations in the middle overs could be key.Offspinner Aryan Dutt has bowled the first over for Netherlands in every game so far this tournament and has been economical in the powerplay. He has sent down 23 overs in the powerplay, taking three wickets and conceding just 4.56 per over. No other bowler has bowled more maidens than Dutt’s seven and he will be coming into the game high on confidence after taking 1 for 26 in ten overs against Bangladesh.

Team news

Ikram Alikhil hurt his finger against Sri Lanka but Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott confirmed the wicketkeeper-batter was available for selection. If Lucknow is likely to aid spin, Afghanistan could look to bring in Noor Ahmad for Naveen-ul-Haq. They played four spinners against Pakistan in Chennai and Noor took 3 for 49 in that match.Afghanistan (possible): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq/Noor Ahmad, 11 Fazalhaq FarooqiNetherlands are unlikely to make changes to the XI that beat Bangladesh.Netherlands (possible): 1 Max O’Dowd, 2 Vikramjit Singh, 3 Wesley Barresi, 4 Colin Ackermann, 5 Scott Edwards (capt & wk), 6 Bas de Leede, 7 Sybrand Engelbrecht, 8 Logan van Beek, 9 Shariz Ahmad, 10 Aryan Dutt, 11 Paul van Meekeren

Pitch and conditions: Another slow burner?

The pitch for the game is a mixture of black and red soil and could help the spinners. Before the square was re-laid earlier this year, the Ekana Stadium wasn’t known for high scores. Only once in 16 ODI innings has a team scored 300-plus here – by South Africa earlier in the competition.

Stats and trivia: Mujeeb on the cusp of a hundred

• Mujeeb Ur Rahman is one away from 100 ODI wickets. If he gets there on Friday, he will be the fourth Afghanistan bowler to reach the landmark.
• Vikramjit Singh is 12 short of 1000 runs in ODIs.
• Rahmat Shah needs 95 to become the fourth Afghanistan batter to reach 4000 runs in international cricket.
• Scott Edwards has played three ODIs against Afghanistan and scored a fifty each time.

Quotes

“We are here at a World Cup, we’re not playing the Champions Trophy. The focus is the semi-final for us. We’re not interested in what’s happening in two years’ time. We’ve got a game to win tomorrow.”
“We’re not going to make the semis by just talking about it. We have to play good cricket. How well we start tomorrow is going to be crucial and how well we finish.”

Dunkley, Jones knocks in vain for England as Australia go 6-0 up in series

Valkerie Baynes01-Jul-2023An unbeaten half-century by cool-as-you-like opener Beth Mooney saw Australia to victory with one ball to spare in a thrilling first T20I against England in front of a crowd of 19,527 at Edgbaston.The Australians maintained their reputation for withstanding pressure, embodied by Mooney’s 61 not out off 47 balls in the face of wickets to Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone in the last two overs of the match, to go six points up in their multi-format series and leave England needing to win all five remaining matches if they are to wrest back the Ashes. Annabel Sutherland struck two crucial boundaries and Mooney one, with Australia needing 16 runs off the last two overs. Georgia Wareham managed to hit the first ball she faced for the winning run.Related

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A half-century from Sophia Dunkley and Amy Jones’ quickfire 40 gave England something to defend and they almost pulled off a coup, as Ecclestone, Bell and Sarah Glenn picked up two wickets each. Despite Dunkley’s fifty and an assertive 29 off 22 balls by Heather Knight – the pair putting on a 55-run stand for the fourth wicket – England were in a hole with the bat. Their 36 for 2 after six overs was their lowest T20I powerplay in 12 innings and no other batter reached double figures, after Jones.

Jones lifts England

Dunkley started at a strong tempo, scoring seven of the eight runs which came off the first over of the match, bowled by Megan Schutt – who was back in action after being overlooked for the Test, which Australia won to take a four-point lead into this match. The Australians were left confounded when Danni Wyatt drove at Darcie Brown and missed, the ball hitting off stump which visibly wobbled but the bails didn’t dislodge. But there was no more fortune for Wyatt when she attempted to loft Schutt over extra cover and missed again as the ball gripped off the surface, pinging off stump out of the ground. Alice Capsey and Nat Sciver-Brunt fell cheaply, Capsey when her bat bounced up off the pitch when she tried to return to her crease as Brown gathered off her own bowling and threw down the stumps at the striker’s end.Dunkley brought up her fifty off 42 balls but then Tahlia McGrath broke through in her first over with a slower, fuller ball which Knight sent straight to long-on and Jones entered the fray, and rode her luck. On 3, she struck the ball just short of backward point and set off, bowler Jess Jonassen failing to take the throw cleanly for what would have been a run out. Three balls later, Jones overturned an lbw decision when replays showed she had got bat on ball. Jones also survived on 15 when she was dropped by Wareham, running in from deep midwicket. But Jones’ ball-striking was decisive and she capitalised on those errors, lofting Schutt over Wareham’s head for six straight after her let-off, then whacking four off the last ball over the covers to take 18 from the over. Jones sealed her 40 off just 21 balls when she heaved Ashleigh Gardner over deep midwicket for six off the last ball of the innings.Amy Jones’ quickfire 40 lifted England at the death•Getty Images

Two in two times three feat. Schutt, Jonassen and Glenn

Schutt returned to the attack and made a breakthrough for Australia, removing Dunkley who was trying to swing big to the leg side and sent a leading edge to Brown at short third. Schutt was then on a hat-trick, having had Sciver-Brunt caught by Wareham running in from deep midwicket on the last ball of her previous spell. But Danielle Gibson, on her international debut, managed to play the ball late to the off side safely.Jonassen also claimed two wickets in two balls after Gibson edged to McGrath at extra cover to fall for just 1 and Alyssa Healy caught Ecclestone down the leg side, Jonassen ultimately finishing with 3 for 25 to be the pick of Australia’s bowlers.Later, legspinner Glenn gave England a sniff late in Australia’s innings when she had Gardner caught behind by Jones and then bowled the big-hitting Grace Harris for a first-ball duck with a slower one that turned into the batter who edged onto her stumps.

Mooney sees through dramatic chase

Silence descended on the crowd as Glenn sat under a steepling catch to remove Healy for 5 off seamer Bell and they erupted as she held it at backward point. Jones kept herself in the action with the stumping of McGrath, who had been accumulating nicely at 40 off 28 balls, off Ecclestone. In the 13th over, Australia were level with where England had been and needed to score at more than eight runs an over.Gardner skied the ball so high back above bowler Bell’s head she struggled to pick it out on descent and didn’t end up getting close. Next ball, Mooney managed to turn a full ball off her pads past short fine leg to bring up her fifty. But then Glenn removed Gardner and Harris and all of a sudden Australia were under pressure, even more so when Bell rattled Ellyse Perry’s off stump.Sutherland sent Bell to the square-leg boundary to ease the tension and Mooney then hit Bell’s last delivery up and over the covers to the rope, leaving Australia with just five to get off the last over. Sutherland drove Ecclestone’s first ball straight down the ground for four but then skied to Jones with two balls remaining. Wareham, however, stayed calm as she punched towards cover and set off for the run Australia needed.

The inexperience in the bowling ranks didn’t help, the Zimbabwe captain says

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur25-Feb-2020Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine has said that his batsmen should have taken advantage of the drizzle to stay in the one-off Test against Bangladesh for longer. The visitors were bowled out for 189 in their second innings, eventually losing by an innings and 106 runs. They lasted just 52.3 overs on a cloudy fourth day with occasional drizzle.Ervine said that the batsmen shouldn’t have played shots in the air, rather let the ball get soaked more in the rain. “Batting first, we should have got at least 400,” Ervine said. “The wicket was good enough to post a score like that. Getting bowled out for 265 put us on the back foot and allowed Bangladesh to go past us. We could have also batted better in the second innings. The wicket wasn’t really that bad. I thought our bowlers worked hard to get those six wickets. Obviously [we] didn’t hit the right areas enough, but I just thought that our batting let us down.”It was a combination of application and execution. The guys obviously tried to go over the top and didn’t execute the plans properly. In the past, it has been difficult to bat last in Dhaka. Possibly, guys played a few too many shots because of the turn. But the ball was wet because of the drizzle.”Zimbabwe still had some conviction left in their batting when Ervine, who made a century in the first innings, got set with Sikandar Raza. They added 60 for the fifth wicket before Mominul Haque ran out his opposite number with an excellent direct hit from the covers.”It was very disappointing,” said Ervine. “At the time it seemed like myself and Raza were going well. We got some momentum on our side, and then we basically gave it back to Bangladesh. I have always wanted to get back-to-back hundreds in a game, and I thought today was the perfect opportunity.”He said that Zimbabwe missed Sean Williams the most, but also suffered due to an inexperienced bowling attack.”Sean Williams is a big part of our team,” Ervine said. “He contributes with the bat, ball and field. We missed him hugely.”We have an inexperienced bowling line-up. Charlton Tshuma was playing his first game. Victor was playing his third Test match. Ainsley played a handful of games. Donald Tiripano is the experienced one. We just didn’t hit the right areas for long enough. Without doing that, you can’t build any pressure.”

Fast-bowling duo pick up five wickets to restrict Sri Lanka to modest score on a flat pitch

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Jan-20203:25

Iyer’s resolve, Kuldeep’s variations – five reasons why India beat Sri Lanka

India flexed their bowling muscles against an underwhelming Sri Lanka batting unit in Indore, Navdeep Saini taking two wickets and going for 18 across four rapid overs, while Shardul Thakur neutered the opposition at the death with three wickets of his own.Having kept the visitors to 142 for 9 – a total Lasith Malinga felt was 25-30 short of a competitive score – India then flexed their batting muscles. KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan flew through the Powerplay overs and put on 71 for the first wicket, breaking the back of the target. Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli then made thirties to carry the hosts to victory, with 15 balls and seven wickets to spare.Although there were bursts of energy in Sri Lanka’s batting, these never lasted long enough to put India under serious pressure. Each of Sri Lanka’s top three got starts, but none could make more than 35. The middle and lower order (this Sri Lanka lineup bats to as low as No. 9) kept being undone by India’s wiles.Wanindu Hasaranga’s three successive boundaries to finish gave the innings a sheen of respectability, but the moment, Rahul hit two stunning cover drives back-to-back against Malinga, it became clear just how good this pitch was, and how much Sri Lanka were going to struggle to defend this score.BCCI

Sri Lanka fail to capitalise on start
Avishka Fernando had looked good too at the start of Sri Lanka’s innings. He had hit his own sumptuous cover drive, off Jasprit Bumrah, to get off the mark, before spanking Saini through the legside twice soon after. But when he was tested with spin, his timing fell apart. Trying to launch Washington Sundar over mid-off in the fifth over, he managed only to find the fielder, departing for 22 off 16. At the other end, Danushka Gunathilaka struggled his way through the Powerplay before Saini rattled his stumps with a 148 kph full delivery in the eighth over.Kusal Perera then looked good through the middle period, hitting three sixes off the spinners, including an audacious reverse-pull off Kuleep Yadav. But with Sri Lanka’s scoring rate now flagging, he holed out trying for a fourth six – Kuldeep claiming the wicket immediately after that reverse-pull. Still, Sri Lanka were only four down, in the 14th over. There was plenty of firepower to come, you thought. Not a lot of big-hitting materialised, however, as Thakur and Saini in particular kept making breakthroughs in the last third of their innings.KL Rahul imposes himself in the PowerplayEach of the six boundaries India hit in the Powerplay came off Rahul’s bat. He clattered Lahiru Kumara through the legside for his first four, then smoked the next four boundaries through the covers – against both seam and spin. There were nervous moments during this stretch as well. In the fourth over he got a top edge off de Silva that fell into space on the legside. In the fifth over Lahiru Kumara struck him in the ribs. But he almost single-handedly hauled India to 54 by the end of six overs – a near ideal start to this chase. It took Dhawan almost until the end of the ninth over to hit his first boundary, but Rahul’s confident work had more than accounted for his tetchiness.Hasaranga made the first inroads with the ball, first bowling an advancing Rahul through the gate with a googly, before trapping Dhawan in front (the original decision was overturned in Sri Lanka favour on review), but by this stage Sri Lanka badly needed wickets to be falling at the other end as well. They didn’t.Sri Lanka’s struggle for menace with the ballSri Lanka were hamstrung by the absence of Isuru Udana, who went off the field with a muscle strain in the fourth over, after making a stop at short third man. Dasun Shanaka – Sri Lanka’s fourth-choice seam bowler – put in a decent shift as a replacement, getting through four overs for only 26 runs. But he lacked Udana’s guile. Iyer would be dismissed for 34 off 26 by Kumara, but Kohli was never going to let this chase meander. He hit a four and two sixes off the last six balls he faced, and the match was done.

Australia may also host India for a day-night Test next summer

Daniel Brettig22-Nov-2019Brisbane’s inferior facilities may yet see it hosting Afghanistan under lights in the first Test match of next summer, before the better-equipped venues in Adelaide and Perth claim the first two of four matches against India who are expected to be open to a day-night fixture for the very first time.Cricket Australia’s negotiations with the BCCI for next season’s Test fixtures will be aided by the fact that India will have finally played day-night matches by then, starting with a Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata on Friday.However as the Indian board’s administration makes numerous moves back towards more traditionally bullish postures – under the new presidency of Sourav Ganguly – there will be the question of how many concessions the BCCI will make to CA’s tour schedule preferences, which will include at least one day-night Test.The Test team will be eager for the advantage of hosting India at the Gabba, where they have been unbeaten against all comers since 1988, but this must be balanced with India’s desires and also the fact that Adelaide Oval and Perth Stadium are a long way ahead of Brisbane in terms of amenities, likely crowds and capacity. Kevin Roberts, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, admitted to the possibility of the Gabba hosting Afghanistan for the first Test of summer before the India matches are played elsewhere.”If the Test summer proper did start that way, it’s a possibility, but there’s a lot to work through,” Roberts told SEN Radio. “We don’t have any preconceived ideas on that, we’re in the middle of executing the season, making sure we can deliver a really good experience to fans at the ground and through our broadcasters, and then we’ll get on to planning next season. We’re really keen on making sure we can learn from each season before we approach the next one.”From a playing perspective there’s no doubt there’s a very strong case for the Gabba to host the opening Test from a playing perspective, and that’s consistent with the comments from Shane Warne and Michael Vaughan and others. There’s a number of other perspectives though, we’ve seen governments around the country invest significantly in venues – a new stadium in Perth, the government’s invested upwards of a billion dollars in that, and that adds another dimension.”So you’ve got to consider the fan perspective, the players’ perspective, government perspectives, and that’s the beauty and complexity of sport, everyone has a piece of it, and it’s never simple to balance things across all of those different groups.”The Gabba has long drawn complaints about both its issues of accessibility – being surrounded on two sides by two of Brisbane’s major arterial roads – and also the lack of ambience within a concrete bowl suited far better to football than cricket.An investment of some A$35 million has been pledged by the Queensland state government to improve these areas in concert with the construction of a cross-river rail service linking the Gabba to the Brisbane CBD, though this is not expected to be completed before 2024. In a five-Test Ashes series, the Gabba is guaranteed the first match, but India’s preference for four matches makes things somewhat more complex for CA.”That $35 million will go basically into better amenities for the fans and it all leads towards the cross-river rail opening in about 2024, so a very different experience for fans not only getting to the match but a better experience of the facilities,” Roberts said. “So more contemporary spaces for fans to mingle rather than just coming along and sitting in a seat as you might’ve done 10 years ago.”Either way, the prospect of a day-night Test against India is growing by the day. “There’s no question day-night Test cricket needs to play a stronger role in the Test landscape going forward,” Roberts said. “We’re having productive conversations with India about the prospect of us playing day-night tests against each other in the future. Let’s hope this week’s experience in Kolkata is a really powerful one for them and a good experience that gives them more confidence about more day-night Test cricket to keep going forward.”

Babar extends his record as tournament’s leading scorer with characteristically classy 63

David Hopps24-Aug-2019Only one county, Derbyshire, has ever gone through a T20 season in England without a victory and Glamorgan now have two matches left to avoid the same outcome. They came to Taunton in the nick of time for Somerset’s quarter-final ambitions and obliged by conceding a 25-run victory that never looked in doubt.Somerset’s defeat against Gloucestershire in the West Country derby in Bristol on Friday night had undermined their prospects of a top-four finish, and with it a quarter-final place, but thanks to Middlesex’s defeat against the leaders Sussex at Uxbridge earlier on Saturday, Somerset sneaked ahead of them on run rate and returned to the top four with two matches remaining.They owed much once again to their opening pair of Babar Azam and Tom Banton, who front loaded their innings with a stand of 61 in 5.4 overs. Babar, the leading scorer in the tournament, led the way with 63 from 42 balls. He now has 541 runs at 60.11 and few, if any, players anywhere in the world approach T20 with such a combination of ambition and security.Glamorgan deserve sympathy for the four washouts that have afflicted their season, and understandably they are now blooding youngsters in what skipper Colin Ingram termed “a hostile environment”, but they have been poor for all that and any prospect they had of nailing Somerset’s 177 for 8 perished for within nine balls with the departure of their two gun batsmen, Shaun Marsh and Ingram himself.Marsh, playing only his second match for Glamorgan after breaking his arm, damaging his shoulder and then being called up for Australia’s World Cup squad, edged Jerome Taylor’s ball to first slip as it left him off the seam.As for Ingram, his demise for 1 from the only ball he faced owed everything to Nick Selman’s accident-prone first T20 match of the season. His run out of Ingram was the accidental saw-off the summer as he pushed the ball to extra cover where Tom Abell, tight in the circle, threw down the wicket, Ingram having long abandoned all hope. Soon afterwards, Selman had to dive for the crease to avoid being run out himself and was clanked on the helmet by the throw. He needed to go through concussion protocols, although he appeared more in need of them when he ran out Ingram.As Glamorgan collapsed in front of a capacity crowd, confounded by Max Waller’s googly (oh, the irony that Cardiff is a venue for The Hundred when Taunton is not), and as David Lloyd put up single-handed resistance with a plucky 63 from 37 balls, discussion also turned to the performance of the experimental hybrid pitch, interwoven by up to 5% polyethylene yarn.This was the third hybrid pitch that has been openly revealed in the Blast this season, but that does not necessarily mean there have not been others, or whether they have all been identical, such is the ECB’s habitual secrecy, especially when something untested is the order of the day. This one appeared to have less natural grass than the one at Old Trafford and may have been all the worse for it.But over-analysis of Glamorgan’s second-innings crawl is best avoided. Lancashire also made 189 for 3 against Durham at Old Trafford earlier in the tournament, with Durham collapsing to 117 in reply, but in both cases the inferior side batted second.It is also true that, from 86 for 1 at midway, Somerset would have had designs on 200, which encourages the suspicion that the pitch died somewhat, but that start was courtesy of Banton and Babar. Tom Abell, Somerset’s captain, identified their partners hip as the place where the match was won – and he will hope the same is true of the tournament.Come to Taunton these days and a spectator yearns to be assured by Babar and electrified by Banton, the next England T20 batsman off the rank, most probably against New Zealand later this year. Banton plays contemptuously, strikingly so for one so young, whether he intends to or not. Babar’s talent, which has him ranked as the No. 1 T20 batsman in international cricket, is more understated and as yet much less susceptible.Banton’s imperious innings was halted by T20 debutant Roman Walker, an England under-19 from Wrexham, who had him dropped first ball at 45 attempting a reverse lap and dismissed him with his fourth as he holed out to deep square.That signalled a loss of momentum for Somerset as the next six overs yielded just 28 runs. Unable to break loose against spinners Andrew Salter and Callum Taylor, the seasoned campaigner James Hildreth scored at less than a run a ball in contributing a clarty 22 before he was run out by Ingram’s direct hit from mid-off.At 114 for 2 with six overs remaining there was work to do, but Glamorgan were inhibited by an intercostal injury for their seamer Dan Douthwaite which ended his stint after two overs.Babar’s perfect straight six as he hit Ruaidri Smith into the Sir Ian Botham Stand signalled a change of pace. By the time he holed out at deep square, Somerset were up and running again. Marchant de Lange, hitting speeds above 90mph, struck the stumps three times in the final over as a trio of batsmen made room without effect, but even allowing for Taunton’s short boundaries, the late rush of wickets already felt like a consolation.

Fast bowler Sohail Tanvir and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul claimed five wickets between them to help set up a seven-wicket victory for Guyana Amazon Warriors against Jamaica Tallawahs in a top-of-the-table clash at Providence on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jul-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFast bowler Sohail Tanvir and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul claimed five wickets between them to set up a seven-wicket victory for Guyana Amazon Warriors against Jamaica Tallawahs in a top-of-the-table clash at Providence. After skittling Tallawahs for 100 in 18 overs, Amazon Warriors got to the target with 12 balls to spare on a typically slow surface. Guyana now have three wins in three matches, having already beaten St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Trinbago Knight Riders.Tanvir laid down the marker, having Chris Gayle, who smashed 108* in his previous match, lbw with an inswinger off the first ball he faced. Permaul then struck twice in two balls, in the fifth over, removing Kumar Sangakkara and Chadwick Walton. Tallawahs crawled to 29 for 3 at the end of the Powerplay, having scored only two boundaries during that period.Three boundaries then came in the space of eight balls as Rovman Powell and Shakib Al Hasan threatened a recovery. They lofted Australia legspinner Adam Zampa for sixes down the ground, after Powell had hit a four over Permaul’s head.But then Shakib holed out to deep midwicket off Permaul. Zampa also struck, undoing Nkrumah Bonner – who had come into the XI for Andre Russell – and Andre McCarthy for ducks to leave the visitors at 80 for 6. The lower order folded, and Powell was the ninth batsman to be dismissed, for 38. Barring Powell, only Shakib managed to pass 20.The chase wasn’t easy for Amazon Warriors. They fared worse in the Powerplay than Tallawahs, scoring 13 while losing captain Martin Guptill and Dwayne Smith to Pakistan left-arm spinner Imad Wasim, who finished with figures of 2 for 6. Chris Lynn and Jason Mohammed, however, settled Amazon Warriors with a 42-run partnership for the third wicket in 9.2 overs. The stand ended when Mohammed was pinned lbw for 22 by Shakib. The wicket hardly dented the hosts though, with Lynn and Anthony Bramble teeing off for 48 in 4.4 overs to seal the chase.Permaul bagged the Man-of-the-Match award for his career-best T20 figures of 3 for 20. After the game, he said he had focused on bowling a tight line. The two wickets that I picked up earlier really set up Jamaica and we kept bowling consistently, picking up wickets at the crucial stages of the game,” he said. “It is important to bowl wicket-to-wicket [in Providence]; we know the conditions very well. It [The pitch] is a bit two-paced and keeps low.”Amazon Warriors have a day’s break before taking on Patriots at home on Saturday, and Knight Riders on Sunday. Tallawahs have three days to regroup before facing Barbados Tridents in Bridgetown on Monday.

Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who finished the Ranji season with 645 runs including four successive fifty-plus score in the knockouts, has been named as the captain of the 15-man Rest of India squad

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2016Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who finished the Ranji Trophy season with 645 runs including four successive fifty-plus scores in the knockouts, has been named as the captain of the 15-man Rest of India squad. They will play 41-time Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai in the Irani Cup at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, starting March 6.The squad, which was announced shortly after the Ranji final, featured two Saurashtra players – Sheldon Jackson and Jaydev Unadkat. Jackson tallied 538 runs in 10 matches at 57.41, while Unadkat had a breakthrough season after injury, taking 40 wickets at 20.12.The squad also included the top two wicket-takers of the season – Jharkhand left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and Assam pacer Krishna Das. Punjab pacer Barinder Sran, who recently made his international debut in Australia, and Vidarbha offspinner Akshay Wakhare were also in the bowling mix.Karun Nair, who scored 500 runs this season compared to last time’s 709, was one of the two Karnataka players in this year’s Irani Cup squad, along with Stuart Binny. Vidarbha’s Faiz Fazal and Jammu and Kashmir’s Ian Dev Singh add more weight to the batting line-up. Andhra’s Srikar Bharat was the other wicketkeeper in the squad apart from Ojha. Assam’s Arun Karthik, who was the third highest run-getter this season behind Shreyas Iyer and Akhil Herwadkar, and allrounder Jalaj Saxena, who piled up 588 runs and 49 wickets, didn’t find a place in the squad.Rest of India squad: KS Bharat, Faiz Fazal, Karun Nair, Sheldon Jackson, Naman Ojha (captain), Stuart Binny, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, Nathu Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Barinder Sran, Krishna Das, Sudip Chatterjee, Ian Dev Singh, Akshay Wakhare.

Preview for the match between Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors in Raipur

The Preview by Rachna Shetty in Raipur27-Apr-2013

Match facts

Sunday, April 28, 2013Start time 2000 IST (1430 GMT)Mahela Jayawardene will hope a change of scenery will bring good fortune to Delhi Daredevils•BCCI

Big Picture

With the tournament only half complete, the match between Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors is not quite the battle of the wooden spoons. But both teams will be looking to haul their sputtering campaigns back on track after poor shows in their last respective games.Daredevils squandered any confidence gained from beating Mumbai Indians by losing to Kings XI Punjab. It was a showing consistent with their other six losses in the tournament so far, making the win seem an aberration. The team is still hopeful but their poor run has put them in a place where they have to win each remaining match.Daredevils will be hoping there will be some serendipity for them in Raipur, which hosts its first IPL match. The stadium had hosted one stage of the BCCI’s Corporate Trophy earlier in the year, and the batsmen did well on the surface.For Warriors, the game will be an indicator of whether their players have recovered from the mauling they received from Chris Gayle in their last match. Coach Allan Donald spoke about the mental scarring, but the team has had a few days off to rest and pick up the pieces. Their mix-and-match captaincy formula has hurt them but against Daredevils, their bowling will have a chance to make an impact early on.

Form guide

Delhi Daredevils LWLLL (most recent first)
Pune Warriors LLLWL

Players to watch

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the only bowler spared from the hammering that Chris Gayle meted out. The youngster has impressed throughout the tournament, picking up early wickets, with his swing bowling. He has plenty of skill to trouble Daredevils’ fragile top order.Mahela Jayawardene has always led from the front and his stint as captain with the Daredevils is no different. He’s taken the flak for some under-par performances and his own batting has been poor. Daredevils need an inspirational performance from him to improve their sinking chances.

Stats and trivia

• Daredevils have won two of the four games they played against Warriors, with one being a no result
• Virender Sehwag is the seventh highest run-getter in the IPL, with 2051 runs from 71 matches at an average of 31.07.
• Yuvraj Singh needs 13 runs to reach 2500 T20 runs.
• Ross Taylor needs 42 runs to reach 1000 IPL runs

West Indies opener Chris Gayle scored an unbeaten 65 to take his side to a comfortable eight-wicket win against Afghanistan in Colombo

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsWest Indies opener Chris Gayle scored an unbeaten 65 to take his side to a comfortable eight-wicket win against Afghanistan in Colombo. Gayle, who averages 64.30 in all international matches this year, and 70 in the three T20Is, took his time to get going, but accelerated later as West Indies reached the modest target of 123 with more than five overs to spare.Gayle and Dwayne Smith put on 29 runs in the first five overs for the first wicket, before Smith was dismissed. Gayle started to hit a few boundaries, and with Johnson Charles added 59 runs in the next six overs, which diminished Afghanistan’s hopes of an upset. Offspinner Karim Sadiq, who gave away eight runs in his three overs, and seamer Shapoor Zadran were economical, but the West Indies batsmen scored off other bowlers to secure their chase.Unlike West Indies, Afghanistan couldn’t accelerate their scoring when required. Asghar Stanikzai scored his second half-century in two matches, guiding the innings for the most part. But before he could boost Afghanistan’s scoring at the death, he departed in the 18th over to leave them at 100 for six. A couple of sixes towards the end took them to 122, pegging the required run rate at just a little more than six runs per over – that wasn’t enough. West Indies bowled well collectively: none of the bowlers went for more than 6.50 runs per overs, with four of them being among the wickets.Afghanistan face India in their first World Twenty game on September 19 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, and West Indies face Australia at the same venue three days later.