Alec Stewart warns Surrey are in danger of heading ‘in the wrong direction’ of the Championship

Richard Hobson at The Oval10-Jul-2019The sun was at its warmest of the week, but the Oval at its quietest as two true men of the game stood no more than ten yards apart dissecting a riveting contest and placing it in the context of their campaigns. While Matt Walker, Kent’s head coach, exuded pride and joy, Alec Stewart warned that his own Surrey group are in danger of heading in the wrong direction of the Championship.Kent know all about the second division having spent eight seasons there before earning promotion last summer. Surrey were celebrating the first division title back then, but events of the past four days and the eventual result reflect what has happened in 2019. Kent’s young players have risen to challenges and their bowlers could not have operated with more discipline. They are doing the basics very well. Meanwhile, Surrey have been hit by injury, inconsistency and perhaps self-doubt.And so, while Kent now stand five points from being level with Yorkshire in third place, Surrey teeter above only Nottinghamshire. As it happens, Surrey and Notts meet at Trent Bridge starting on Saturday. “It is alright saying we are a good side with good players,” Stewart, the director of cricket, said. “They have to show why they have earnt the right to be called good players.”Ollie Robinson completed Kent’s first Championship win at the Oval for 11 years by driving Dean Elgar over long on, emphatically ending a chase of 121 that began calamitously when Morne Morkel removed Zak Crawley and Joe Denly for first over ducks. The six raised Robinson’s unbeaten half-century from 41 balls to reinforce a collective impression of an improving side brimming with self-belief.”I think we played some brilliant cricket,” Walker said. “We spoke to coaches and people from outside when we came up, but as a player you don’t really know what it will be like and you have to learn quickly. While we have made mistakes, this result shows how far we have come in a short space of time. To be honest, I am extremely proud of the group. That little innings from Ollie when the chips were down was pretty special.”Stewart thought that Surrey’s determined attempt to defend what always looked to be slightly too few runs typified the 60 percent of the time they have played well overall. “That other 40 percent has proved expensive,” he said. “We have to realise if we carry on as we are, we will be going in the wrong direction. People say we have batsmen out of form. No, we have batsmen out of runs. They are hitting the ball well, but their shot selection is costing them dearly.”Will Jacks may replace Scott Borthwick against Notts having scored a half-century in the second team’s innings defeat to Essex this week. Amar Virdi did not play there, and Stewart revealed that the off-spin bowler has been with the first team group not as a contender to play – the intended switch with Gareth Batty apart – but to work under supervision on fitness, strength and conditioning as well as skills.Virdi has been given targets under threat that his season will be over, before it has effectively begun, unless he meets them. “Over the past two weeks, he has worked exceptionally well, but that has to be the norm,” Stewart said. “You have to be fit and look after yourself, and be careful. If not, you are either an injury waiting to happen, or your performances drop off. He is responding, he is starting to understand that. It might appear tough love, but we want him to go on and play for England.”Here, Virdi spent lunch bowling at a stump on the edge of the square as the contest itself hung in the balance. Kent had taken the remaining four Surrey second innings wickets for 39 runs in the first hour, but the chilling opening over from Morkel – to describe it as ‘hostile’ barely conveys the threat – suddenly gave the chase a tougher appearance.Sean Dickson then fell to the last ball before the break going too far across to Rikki Clarke, and when Daniel Bell-Drummond nicked one from Sam Curran, Kent were still 71 runs short. But Heino Kuhn responded positively and Robinson, having held six catches in the Surrey second innings, showed maturity beyond his 20 years. Oddly, Rory Burns held back Morkel’s return until Kent needed only 34 more to win.”This is probably one of our best wins of the past few years,” Robinson said. “I would be lying if I said there were not a few nerves out there after the first over, but we knew a couple of partnerships would do it. I had never been in that situation before. I had never won a game for Kent so it does feel special. I think we have upset the odds a little bit. Not many people would expect us to be where we are.”

Allrounder left out after enduring tough outing at Edgbaston, with Somerset left-armer set to take over spin duties

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2019England have dropped Moeen Ali from their squad to face Australia in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, with Somerset’s left-arm spinner Jack Leach called up in his place. James Anderson and Olly Stone also miss out on the 12-man group through injury, as England attempt to fight back from 1-0 down in the series.Moeen endured a difficult time in the opening Test at Edgbaston, taking three wickets at a cost of 172 runs to go with scores of 0 and 4; he was dismissed by Nathan Lyon in both innings, extending the offspinner’s mastery over him to nine of his last 11 dismissals against Australia.England seem set to hand a Test debut to Jofra Archer, who was included in the squad for the first Test but left out as a precaution while he continued to work back to full fitness after a side strain suffered during the World Cup. He played for Sussex 2nd XI in a three-day game this week, taking 7 for 106 and scoring a century to prove his readiness.The other option to replace Anderson, who suffered a recurrence of his calf injury after bowling four overs at Edgbaston, is Sam Curran. The left-armer has played 10 Test, most recently for Ireland’s visit to Lord’s last month.Despite coming into the Ashes as the leading Test wicket-taker in the world over the last year, Moeen’s form had suffered a dip at the World Cup, where he lost his place in the starting XI after defeat to Australia in the group stage. His place is likely to be taken by Leach, who was England’s spinner for the four-day Test against Ireland – winning Man of the Match for his 92 as nightwatchman, having only been required to bowl three overs.While Moeen has been a valuable contributor for England since his debut in 2014, his career has not been without its ups and downs. He suffered a chastening Ashes in Australia two winters ago, losing his place on the New Zealand leg of England’s tour – with Leach handed a debut in Christchurch.He returned in style against India at the Ageas Bowl last summer, claiming nine wickets in the match, and was then England’s leading wicket-taker on their tours of Sri Lanka and the West Indies, though his returns with the bat remained light.However, presented with a turning Edgbaston pitch – on with Lyon claimed a nine-wicket haul – Moeen was unable to provide either control or wicket-taking threat. On the fourth day, with England hoping to limit Australia’s lead, Moeen was ruthlessly milked as Steven Smith went on to record his second century in the match.England’s problems in the opening Test extended to negligible contributions with the bat from Jason Roy, Joe Deny, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow, but the selectors, headed by Ed Smith, have shied away from making any major changes. Rory Burns did enjoy success, scoring his maiden Test ton, while Joe Root made 57 and 28 after moving up the order to No. 3.England squad: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes

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.

Selectors stick to 13-member squad that was picked for the last ODI against Australia women

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Sep-2019A still recovering Deandra Dottin couldn’t make it to West Indies women’s squad to face Australia women in a three-match T20I series starting on Saturday. There were several other senior players making way as well, including opener Hayley Matthews who had been suspended from taking part in the recently concluded ODI series between both teams.

West Indies T20I squad

Stafanie Taylor (Capt), Anisa Mohammed, Afy Fletcher, Chinelle Henry, Shamilia Connell, Stacy Ann King, Natasha McLean, Britney Cooper, Kyshona Knight, Reniece Boyce (wk), Karishma Ramharack, Shabika Gajnabi, Sheneta Grimmond
In: Anisa Mohammed, Britney Cooper, Reniece Boyce (wk), Shabika Gajnabi, Sheneta Grimmond
Out: Deandra Dotin, Shemaine Campbell, Hayley Matthews, Kycia Knight, Chedean Nation, Shakera Selman

West Indies haven’t played any T20I cricket since June, when they beat Ireland 3-0 but lost to England 1-0, with two matches washed out. Six of the players who went to the UK could not find a place in this squad, making way for new face such as wicketkeeper Reniece Boyce, offspinner Sheneta Grimmond and allrounder Shabika Gajnabi. Both players – in fact all 13 members – were part of the squad that had been picked for the third ODI against Australia earlier this week.Kycia Knight remains sidelined by a back injury she picked up during those 50-over games while legspinner Anisa Mohammed makes a T20 comeback having played her last short-format game in February 2019.

Muhammad Musa Khan, Khushdil Shah and Usman Qadir are the new faces in the T20I squad

Danyal Rasool in Lahore21-Oct-2019Not only is Sarfaraz Ahmed absent from the Pakistan Test and T20I squads bound for Australia, in a major shake-up, head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq has named a host of new faces in both the touring groups.

Pakistan squads

T20Is: Babar Azam (capt), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz
Tests: Azhar Ali (capt), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Nasim Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah

Muhammad Musa Khan, the 19-year-old seamer, has been included in both the squads. Khushdil Shah, the 24-year-old middle-order batsman, and Abdul Qadir’s son Usman Qadir, the 26-year-old legspinner, were the new faces in the T20I squad, to be captained by Babar Azam, while Azhar Ali’s Test side included Kashif Bhatti, the domestic veteran who bowls left-arm spin and is the fifth-highest wicket-taker in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy this year, and Nasim Shah the 16-year-old fast bowler, who was a surprise pick. He rose to prominence with a six-wicket haul on his Quaid-e-Azam Trophy debut last year, and has fast become something of a regular for Central Punjab.ALSO READ – Usman Qadir: lost in Pakistan, found in AustraliaIn Pakistan’s post-World Cup shake-up, Sarfaraz had been sacked as captain of the Test and T20I sides and a decision on the ODI captaincy was put on hold, as Pakistan’s next 50-over assignment isn’t until July next year. Also out of the Test side are Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali, who is nursing an injury, Shadab Khan, and Mohammad Amir, who had announced his retirement from the longest format earlier this year.In T20Is, there was no place for Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal, who were selected in controversial circumstances for the series at home against Sri Lanka recently, while Ashraf and Mohammad Nawaz were also left out.”A series to Australia has always been a challenge for Pakistan, and is very important, too,” Misbah said. “Being a player, it was always our wish to go to Australia and perform well, and win games and series there. because Australia, England and South Africa are places where it is incredibly difficult to win, and when you do, the world sits up and takes notice. We want to play competitive, aggressive, fearless cricket there, because this is the only way to beat them at home.”The team we have selected has been chosen with that in mind, and we have a number of surprise packages in our team that we feel confident will be able to challenge Australia. Be that T20Is or Test cricket, you will see young, exciting players. My message is clear: we want youngsters to get a chance, we believe in them and they are our future. If you go to Australia and want to compete, you have to have firepower in the fast-bowling department. We aren’t just going to compete, we are going to win, and we are confident these boys will perform.”There are a number of surprises in the squad, but the call-up of Qadir perhaps tops them all. Just last year, a disillusioned Qadir had declared that he didn’t want to play for Pakistan, and wanted to represent Australia instead.Less than a fortnight ago, Misbah rhetorically asked a packed press conference which legspinners he was ignoring in Pakistan cricket, indicating there was no one coming through, and Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan were the only options. When a journalist mentioned Qadir’s name, there was a ripple of laughter, and even Misbah joined in, and pointed out that Qadir hadn’t been playing domestic cricket in Pakistan.In another notable recall, Mohammad Irfan was named in a Pakistan squad for the first time since September 2016, with the previous coach Mickey Arthur deeming him incompatible with the high-performance fitness culture he believed was necessary to make Pakistan a modern-day limited-overs force. The 37-year-old paceman will be the oldest player in a side that’s otherwise notable for its youth.One of the less surprising – but still notable for its significance – changes was the introduction of Mohammad Rizwan to Pakistan’s T20I and Test squads as the first-choice wicketkeeper after a long wait on the sidelines. Between the start of 2017 and the start of 2019, Rizwan didn’t feature in a single international game but with Sarfaraz now out, the path for Rizwan to come back is clear. He has, however, only ever played a single Test match, which came nearly three years ago in New Zealand.Imran Khan, meanwhile, is also back in the side for the first time since Pakistan’s last tour of Australia in January 2017. Incidentally it was on that tour, under Misbah’s captaincy, that then coach Mickey Arthur publicly questioned the fitness of bowlers such as Imran and Sohail Khan – the former was not picked after that series. Three of his nine Tests have come in two separate series against Australia.Azhar and Babar will captain the Test and T20I squads respectively, with the T20I series a chance for Pakistan to bounce back from the 3-0 home defeat to Sri Lanka and reinforce their claims as one of the favourites for next year’s men’s T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia. The Test series will be the first assignment for Pakistan in the World Test Championship, and it could not have been a more challenging start; Pakistan have lost each of their last four series in Australia 3-0, representing 12 consecutive Test losses.The action in Australia begins with the first T20I on November 3 in Sydney, followed by games in Canberra (November 5) and Perth (November 8), before the Test matches take place in Brisbane (November 21-25) and Adelaide (November 29 to December 3).

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.”

Marcus Stoinis and Josh Inglis chip in with useful hands as WA climb out of a hole

The Report by Alex Malcolm29-Nov-2019Exciting Western Australia allrounder Cameron Green has continued his outstanding recent form with an unbeaten 95 to dig the home side out of a hole against South Australia on day one at the WACA.Marcus Stoinis also made an excellent 79 and shared a 122-run stand with Green after WA had slumped to 4 for 94 earlier in the day. Green struck 16 boundaries in a fluent innings, but was left five short of a second Sheffield Shield century when stumps were called.WA battled early with two unusual dismissals accounting for new opening pair Jake Carder and Cameron Bancroft. Carder, on debut, chopped on trying to leave a ball outside off stump. Bancroft, having been released from the Test squad to play for WA, fell to a leg-gully trap for the fourth time in five innings when he glanced Joe Mennie to Jake Weatherald.Shaun Marsh continued his sublime touch, cruising to 41 before gifting a return catch to Chadd Sayers. Captain Ashton Turner was Sayers’ second victim when he was caught behind. Sayers became the fifth South Australia bowler to take 250 wickets as WA teetered at 4 for 94.But Green and Stoinis steadied the ship and looked like they would take the game away from the Redbacks until Stoinis was run out. He called for a single thinking he had beaten Wes Agar at point, but Agar produced a stunning diving save and return to the keeper in one motion, leaving Stoinis stranded after he was sent back by Green.Josh Inglis picked up where Stoinis left off and helped Green move WA towards 300.

However, with Zimbabwe batting diligently so far in the third innings, the visitors have a tough road to victory

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Jan-2020Angelo Mathews batted for ten hours to hit Sri Lanka’s first double-century in five years, helping put his team in a near-unassailable position in Harare. But with Zimbabwe batting diligently so far in the third innings, the visitors have a tough road to victory. As it stood at stumps, Zimbabwe were 127 runs behind, with all ten second-innings wickets in hand. Although the occasional ball kept low, there was no substantial turn nor significant wear on the pitch to encourage the spinners.At least Sri Lanka’s batsmen have given their team a chance of victory however, with Dhananjaya de Silva and Niroshan Dickwella both hitting 63 through the course of the day. Zimbabwe’s best bowler was debutant Victor Nyauchi, who dismissed de Silva, and finished with 3 for 69 from his 32 overs. Offspinner Sikandar Raza took two wickets in two balls in the third session, and eventually finished with 3 for 62, but those lower-order breakthroughs were not quite as hard-won as Nyauchi’s.Their openers then faced 17 overs without major incident. Prince Masvaure was solid in defence through 52 balls, the fatigue of two days in the field not weakening his concentration. Debutant and concussion substitute Brian Mudzinganyama was just as solid, playing out 51 balls of his own. He came into the game on account of a delayed concussion to another debutant, Kevin Kasuza, who had been hit on the helmet at short leg on day three, and on day four showed symptoms of a concussion, which ruled him out of the match.Where on day three Mathews’ progress had been a struggle, he was much more assured on Wednesday. Although Nyauchi beat his outside edge in the morning and offered a half-chance off Ainsley Ndlovu on 108, he seemed much more at ease, inching forward in the first session, then gradually growing more aggressive through the second and third sessions. Mathews has never faced as many balls as the 468 deliveries he did in this innings.That he seemed fresh right until Sri Lanka’s declaration, hitting a six off Ndlovu to get into the 180s, then completing the double-century with an aerially swept four off Raza, was a testament to the work he had put in over the last few months. In 2018, he had been dropped over fitness issues. There was no doubt he was in outstanding shape in Harare.It was also fitting that it was Mathews who finally got to 200 after other Sri Lanka batsmen had perished in the 190s and 180s in recent years. Although at one point in his career he seemed destined to take the batting mantle from Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, his Test form had fallen away since 2016, while injuries forced long layoffs. Big runs for him on this tour augur well for a year in which his team play important World Test Championship series, Sri Lanka will hope.Through the course of his mammoth innings, Mathews was involved in two partnerships that saw Sri Lanka take control of the Test. He and de Silva combined for 98 for the fifth wicket – de Silva making 63 of those runs, pulling and driving confidently through the early overs of that first session, until he holed out to mid-on, trying to raise the tempo against Nyauchi.Dickwella then came to the crease and played with uncharacteristic care, hitting only one boundary in his first 87 deliveries, though he frequently picked up singles, twos and threes into the outfield to maintain a strike rate close to 50. He was dropped on 45 off the bowling of Nyauchi, but was out for 63 in the dying minutes of the second session, missing a sweep off the bowling of Raza, to be struck in front of off stump. He and Mathews had put on 136 together – Sri Lanka’s most profitable stand.Suranga Lakmal was also capable in partnership with Mathews, making 27, but became the first victim of Raza’s double strike when he let a full delivery slip between his legs, and overbalanced to stumble momentarily out of the crease, only for Regis Chikabva to whip the bails off in a flash. Raza immediately bowled Lasith Embuldeniya with a delivery that straightened to miss the bat and hit off stump, and bowled a surprise yorker to Kasun Rajitha as well, who managed to dig it out just in time to prevent the hat-trick. Mathews, who was on 196 as Raza was threatening to leave him stranded so close to a double-hundred, finally got to the milestone in Raza’s next over.

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.

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.”