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Naman Ojha’s bat, Yusuf Pathan’s right arm and some steady nerves from the fast bowlers proved enough to flummox Chennai Super Kings and lead Rajasthan Royals to their fourth win in a row

The Bulletin by Jamie Alter28-Mar-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outNaman Ojha made 80, his best IPL score•Indian Premier League

Naman Ojha’s bat, Yusuf Pathan’s right arm and some steady nerves from the fast bowlers proved enough to flummox Chennai Super Kings and lead Rajasthan Royals to their fourth win in a row. Ojha’s first half-century of the season, and best score in the IPL, propelled Rajasthan to a formidable total before a miserly spells from Yusuf, who also effected a direct-hit run-out and held two catches, Shaun Tait and Siddharth Trivedi choked Chennai as the “home” side surged to a 17-run victory in Ahmedabad.In Yusuf and Michael Lumb, Rajasthan possess some awesome firepower, but the pair fizzled in hot conditions on an ideal batting pitch. Lumb, who scored crucial 40s in the last two games, fleetingly cut loose while Pathan followed his audacious 34-ball 73 in the last game with a single-digit score. Thus it was left to Ojha to shore up the innings. For the first four overs he was a spectator as Lumb led the charge, playing a series of shots in his 16-ball 30. At 47 for 1 after four overs, Rajasthan were off to a flier. At this stage Ojha was on 14. He was keen to play from his crease and more comfortable against medium-pace than spin, though each of his five sixes came against the slower bowlers, two against Muttiah Muralitharan. Ojha played superb shots off the back foot into the arc between cover-point and short third man that were hit with tremendous bat speed and put pressure on the boundary riders.After the strategic time-out, Faiz Fazal fell, trying to launch Shadab Jakati’s left-arm spin into orbit; that brought Yusuf to the crease with Rajasthan set up at 100 for 2 after 11 overs. The last time he walked out at this venue, Pathan clubbed eight sixes in an audacious innings. Today he batted six deliveries for eight runs, with just one four, before he got a leading edge off Jakati to cover.Ojha, after crossing fifty, relied on two areas for the majority of his runs: that same arc square of the pitch when the seamers were on, and down toward long-on, when the spinners were in operation. Ojha struggled to hit the quicker bowlers down the ground or past cover and, trying to manipulate Thilan Thushara, he got a leading edge on an ugly paddle that short fine leg gobbled up.Adam Voges fell just after for 20 from 19 balls as Chennai limited the damage at the end. Paras Dogra was run out trying to get Abhishek Jhunjhunwala on strike and, having got back on strike, Jhunjhunwala holed out to long-on. Shane Warne completed the hat-trick of wickets in the final over when he was run out without facing a ball. Chennai had bowled the last ten overs for 81 runs and seven wickets, but failed to take that momentum into their chase.After bowling a four-run first over, Yusuf struck in his second when he made a difficult chance look easy: Matthew Hayden charged and drove back firmly but Yusuf stuck out his right hand and plucked the ball. Chennai regained some momentum through M Vijay, who looked in gorgeous touch during his 28-ball 42, but Yusuf then nailed a sharp direct hit from square leg.Chennai’s chances after nine overs still looked favourable. They had lost two wickets, but Rajasthan’s bowlers had been let down in the field, with three chances going down, two off the dangerous Suresh Raina. Lumb failed to latch on to a pull off Tait and Ojha put down a chance on 12 when Raina looked to steer Warne.The strategic time-out has favoured the fielding side this season and so it was here. Four balls after the break, the slow pace of Warne undid Raina, who looked to ping the deep midwicket boundary with a big swish but instead heard the ball crash into off stump. S Badrinath was beaten first up with a fizzing legbreak, with Yusuf at slip licking his lips, to conjure up visions of Warne in a different era. The squeeze was on.Chennai managed just four boundaries in the next five overs, with Trivedi turning in another outstanding outing. His first three overs cost just 15 runs and he mixed slow bouncers with offcutters expertly. With Chennai needing 59 from 30 balls, Warne called on Yusuf for his final over and what an over it proved to be. He fired the ball in flat and quick and, after a wide, a leg-bye, a single and a dot, MS Dhoni was run out going for the second run. Rajasthan exploded in excitement.That turned into trepidation as Morkel clubbed three successive sixes off Warne, but Tait struck with the bouncer to get Badrinath top-edging to Pathan and followed up with Morkel’s wicket as he swung one to the deep. Tait’s pace was just too hot to handle and for the third straight game he’d bowled a crucial spell. Trivedi bowled a tight last over to seal the win.Rajasthan now have the same number of points as Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. They are scripting another memorable comeback.

The former SA captain had reversed her decision to retire in August

Firdose Moonda21-Nov-2025Former South Africa women’s captain Dane van Niekerk will make her comeback to international cricket in the home series against Ireland, more than four years after her last appearance. Van Niekerk announced her retirement in March 2023, after being left out of South Africa’s T20 World Cup squad for the 2023 tournament, but reversed that in August this year. She has been included in both the ODI and T20I squads to face Ireland in a six-match series starting on December 5.Since retiring, van Niekerk featured briefly at the WPL but made a proper return to the domestic game for South African provincial team Western Province. She was included in a national training camp ahead of the 2025 ODI World Cup but did not make the final squad and continued playing locally as she made her case for a return. She is currently the third-highest run-scorer in the Pro50 competition and fifth highest in the Pro20, which has earned her a recall. Now, the door is open for her to push for a spot at the T20 World Cup.”We all know how talented she is, her knowledge of the game and she just needs to perform,” Mandla Mashimbyi, South Africa’s coach, said. “I want her to focus on winning games for this team. She has got a legacy behind her and now she has a second chance to showcase what she can do. She needs to focus on that. I don’t want to create any added expectations on her. She must just try and win games for this team.”Asked specifically about van Niekerk’s fitness, as that was the reason she was initially left out in 2023 – she did not make the running time trial of two kilometres in 9 minutes 30 seconds – Mashimbyi made it clear that is in the past. South Africa no longer strictly applies fitness criteria when it comes to selection and van Niekerk is eligible to be picked by virtue of her performances. “For me, you have to look like a cricketer, move like a cricketer and think like a cricketer If you are able to do that. I am happy,” Mashimbyi said. “As long as she can bat, move in the field, and think, we are good and from what I have seen, she can do that.”Van Niekerk is one of six additions to the ODI squad that reached the World Cup final in India last month, including one uncapped player. Allrounder Leah Jones, who captains Western Province, is in line for her first ODI cap. There are also returns for batters Lara Goodall and Faye Tunnicliffe, while seamer Ayanda Hlubi and allrounders Eliz-Mari Marx and Miane Smit are all in that squad, which will be without several frontliners, who will only play in the T20I series. Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk will all be rested for the ODIs. Anneke Bosch does not feature in either squad and will return to domestic cricket with the Titans.With next year’s T20 World Cup eight months away, South Africa’s focus is on that format and they have selected a first-choice squad for those matches. Captain Laura Wolvaardt and allrounder de Klerk and Kapp will return from the WBBL to play in the series that starts on December 5. Van Niekerk and Tunnicliffe are the only additions to the T20 squad from the 2024 World Cup.South Africa’s run to the last three World Cup finals across formats means they have plenty to work with as they enter a new cycle, and plan towards the 2029 ODI World Cup. The Ireland ODIs do not form part of the Women’s Championship, which will begin with fixtures against Pakistan in March, and therefore allows South Africa some room to experiment as they cast the net as wide as possible.”This is a period full of promise and new energy following our World Cup campaign. Reflecting and resetting were crucial, and I believe we have done that well,” Mashimbyi said. “I am looking forward to working with all the players selected, both the new faces and the returning ones, as we continue our journey. I am particularly interested to see how the new combinations come together, as these elements will contribute to our continued growth as a team.”With the men’s national team involved in a series in India and with no home Tests this summer as per the FTP, the women’s side has the opportunity to take centrestage this summer. They will play at the country’s major venues including the T20I series opener against Ireland at Newlands and the ODI finale at the Wanderers.

South Africa T20I squad

Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Sune Luus, Karabo Meso, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Seshnie Naidu, Nondumiso Shangase, Chloe Tryon, Faye Tunnicliffe, Dane van Niekerk

South Africa ODI squad

Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Tazmin Brits, Lara Goodall, Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta, Leah Jones, Sune Luus, Eliz-Mari Marx, Karabo Meso, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nondumiso Shangase, Miane Smit, Faye Tunnicliffe, Dane van Niekerk

Callum Parkinson collects maiden five-wicket haul for Durham

ECB Reporters Network29-Apr-2024Durham 358 (Ackermann 112, Robinson 90, Bedingham 52) and 131 for 2 (Lees 48*) drew with Essex 488 (Browne 184, Khushi 107, Parkinson 5-131)Essex’s Nick Browne scored his first Championship century for over a year and Callum Parkinson collected his maiden five-wicket haul for Durham, but the Vitality County Championship at the Seat Unique Riverside ended in a draw.Such an outcome had always appeared probable once the third day’s play had been lost. However, having made 488 and taken a 130-run lead on first innings, Essex did their best to force a victory on the final afternoon, only for their efforts to founder on the broad bat of Alex Lees, who made 48 not out in 128 minutes and had steered his side to 131 for 2 when bad light stopped play at 4.40pm.The teams shook hands shortly afterwards, at which point David Bedingham, Lees’ third-wicket partner, was unbeaten on 33.The most notable event of the morning session came in the fifth over of the day when Browne back cut Ben Raine to the boundary to reach his first hundred in 22 Championship innings, a bleak run stretching back to the game against Kent in April 2023.Browne’s century was also a tribute to his patience in this match. He had batted 286 minutes and faced 238 balls to reach the landmark. Five overs later, another boundary from Browne brought Essex their third batting point but that achievement was swiftly followed by the dismissal of Jordan Cox, who was bowled by Parkinson for 36 when he played outside a ball that was deflected via the back pad to the leg stump.Parkinson soon collected his second wicket of the morning when he clean bowled Matt Critchley for 3 with a fine ball that turned past the outside edge and hit off stump. Noah Thain then helped Browne add 55 in 11 overs before being caught at midwicket by Scott Borthwick off Colin Ackermann for 23, but Essex reached lunch on 450 for 6 with Browne unbeaten on 169.The visitors looked to score quick runs in the afternoon session and lost four wickets in doing so, including two run outs in three balls. Browne departed for 184 when attempting a third run and failing to beat Lees’ throw from fine leg and then Harry Duke was sent back by Simon Harmer but Borthwick’s return from midwicket was too sharp.Parkinson then dismissed Harmer and Jamie Porter in the same over to finish with 5 for 131 from 31 overs in Essex’s 488 all out.The visitors’ hopes of causing a collapse were boosted when Borthwick played across a ball from Porter and was lbw for 4 in the third over of Durham’s second innings. However, Lees and Ackermann put on 75 for the second wicket before Ackermann was caught at slip by Cox off Critchley for 32, a fate that had appeared to befall him on 20, only for the umpires to rule that the ball hadn’t carried.Durham took 12 points from the game and Essex received 14, a return which leaves the visitors equal on points with Surrey at the top of the First Division. The champions lead the table purely by virtue of having taken one wicket more than Essex this season.

Allrounder and former captain will undergo further treatment for back injury in Cape Town

Valkerie Baynes01-Feb-2023Stafanie Taylor has been named in West Indies’ squad for this month’s T20 World Cup, subject to a final fitness test.Taylor, the experienced allrounder and former captain who led West Indies to the title in 2016, has been troubled by a back injury. Her last international appearance was an ODI against New Zealand in September, when she scored an unbeaten half-century but retired hurt after a Player-of-the-Match performance, and she has not played a T20I since July 2021.Taylor is joined in a 15-strong squad announced on Wednesday by three other senior players recovering from injury, Shakera Selman, Chinelle Henry and Chedean Nation. CWI also said via Twitter that Taylor had consulted a back injury specialist in Johannesburg and travelled to Cape Town for further treatment and to “commence her return-to-play protocols” ahead of the squad’s arrival on Friday.”The Cricket West Indies medical team will continue to support and care for Stafanie and we wish her all the very best in her efforts to return to full fitness in time to participate in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup,” CWI added.West Indies have also called up three players from the side which contested the inaugural Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup, also in South Africa and won by India on Sunday. Allrounders Djenaba Joseph – who featured in the recent home series against England – and Zaida James were included, as was Trishan Holder, who represented Barbados at last year’s Commonwealth Games.All three played in West Indies’ eight-wicket defeat to India in their final match of the tri-series in South Africa on Sunday after being called in as cover for those senior players undergoing injury rehabilitation.”We continue the developmental pathway to grow women’s cricket in the region, hence we feel the time is right to include three of the Under-19 Rising Stars in the squad,” lead selector Ann Browne-John said. “Zaida brings both left-hand batting and left-arm orthodox bowling, both of which the team has been missing in recent times. Djenaba is a batting allrounder and Trishan a powerful striker and wicketkeeping option. They have all proven that they can hold their own at this level.”Getty Images

Wicketkeeper-batter Shemaine Campbelle will be Hayley Matthews’ vice-captain. The duo are among six players – alongside Taylor, Selman, Shamilia Connell and Afy Fletcher – who lifted the trophy seven years ago.West Indies’ recent form has been a concern, however. They have gone winless in their last 13 T20Is since September last year and all four of their defeats in the tri-series, which concludes with the final between India and South Africa on Thursday, came by considerable margins.Drawn in Group 2 alongside England, India, Pakistan and Ireland, West Indies will open their World Cup campaign against England at Paarl’s Boland Park on February 11.West Indies squad: Hayley Matthews (capt), Shemaine Campbelle, Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Afy Fletcher, Shabika Gajnabi, Chinelle Henry, Trishan Holder, Zaida James, Djenaba Joseph, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Shakera Selman, Stafanie Taylor, Rashada Williams

There are now six Indian players signed up for WBBL which starts next month

Annesha Ghosh29-Sep-2021India batter Jemimah Rodrigues has signed with Melbourne Renegades for her maiden stint at the WBBL and will be joined at the club by team-mate Harmanpreet Kaur.Harmanpreet, who missed the recent ODI series against Australia due to injury, produced the iconic unbeaten 171 in the semi-final of the 2017 World Cup and has previous played for Sydney Thunder.They take the Indian tally to six for the seventh season of the WBBL, with the recruitment of Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma (Sydney Thunder) and Shafali Verma and Radha Yadav (Sydney Sixers) announced earlier in the week. ESPNcricinfo understands at least one more Indian signing is yet to be made public by the clubs.Rodrigues, who is part of India’s squad for the ongoing multi-format tour of Australia, was the second-highest run-scorer at the Hundred in the UK, where she made 249 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 150.90. Her form at the competition helped her overcome a disappointing run with India side against England as she played only two ODIs, making 8 and 4, and was dropped for the T20Is altogether.In Australia, she didn’t feature in the ODI leg of the tour and is likely to face stiff competition from Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Punam Raut for a place in the XI of the pink-ball Test starting Thursday. She is, however, is expected to be in the reckoning for a return to the T20I side.Related

• Harmanpreet Kaur wants India 'to go all out' to win Australia series 'at any cost'

• Sydney Sixers confirm India pair Shafali Verma and Radha Yadav for WBBL

• India duo Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma sign with Sydney Thunder for WBBL

“I’m very excited to be here now and to be part of the Renegades,” Rodrigues said. “I think for me, the main goal over here will be just to pull back and play cricket, play some good cricket and enjoy what I’m doing. I know when I do that and when I’m in that headspace, I’m able to give it my best.”The goal is whatever happens, I want to give it my 100 percent each and every time I’m on the field…I’m really looking forward to it and there’s so much that I’m going to learn, I’m sure about that.”Renegades head coach Simon Helmot was hopeful Rodrigues, a top-order batter who can bowl offspin while adding high value as a fielder, can have a big impact on the side’s campaign this season with them having finished seventh in the previous edition.”Jemimah is an immensely talented young player, who is already making her mark on the world stage at 21,” Helmot said. “She was superb recently in The Hundred over in the UK. Jemimah is a dynamic player who can score quickly and to all parts of the ground.”On the addition of Harmanpreet, he said: “Harmanpreet’s record at international level over the past decade speaks for itself. She’s a match-winner and can take the game away from the opposition in a heartbeat. We also see Harmanpreet being an important addition for our group with her experience and leadership.”Rodrigues and Harmanpreet completed Renegades’ overseas signings alongside uncapped English allrounder Eve Jones also joined the club with their whole squad now locked in for what will be Sophie Molineux’s first season as captain.Squad Sophie Molineux (capt), Makinley Blows, Josie Dooley, Jess Duffin, Ellie Falconer, Holly Ferling, Poppy Gardner, Ella Hayward, Eve Jones, Harmanpreet Kaur, Carly Leeson, Rhiann O’Donnell, Jemimah Rodrigues, Georgia Wareham, Courtney Webb

Captain gets better of counterpart Stokes in ‘pivotal’ duel on second day at Ageas Bowl

Matt Roller09-Jul-2020Jason Holder has described his delight at his plans to dismiss Ben Stokes coming to fruition on Thursday, after his career-best bowling performance put West Indies in the box seat at the Ageas Bowl.Holder had dismissed Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope before lunch in a probing spell that left England reeling at 87 for 5, but after a loose start to the afternoon session, Stokes and Jos Buttler looked as though they might be getting away from West Indies with a counter-attacking partnership. Stokes had been put down twice – once by Kemar Roach, running round from long leg, and the other a simple chance that Shamarh Brooks shelled at short cover – when Holder came back into the attack after the break, which he described as a “pivotal moment” in the match.”It was a big wicket to get,” Holder said. “Stokesy was looking quite set. We put down two chances and he was looking to make us pay for them. When I came on, his partnership with Jos was starting to blossom, and it was important to break that partnership quickly and not let it materialise into something that could really hurt us.”I just wanted to be really consistent to him. He was pretty settled and countering the line that we were bowling by walking across and walking down. I was getting just enough movement there to keep him at bay, and I wanted to keep him playing.”Stokes had used his feet in an exaggerated manner throughout his innings, regularly taking two big strides down the pitch or shuffling across to cover his stumps, and Holder said that it was crucial that his bowlers were not thrown off by his movement.”He was just trying to offset our lines, and a little bit on our lengths too,” he explained. “I think he was trying to get outside the off stump, and force us to either bowl at his pads or to take the ball wider so he could leave.Getty Images

“We were pretty much getting the ball to shape away, but I just wanted our bowlers not to leave the stumps and force him to play off the front foot. The pitch didn’t really have enough zip for us to be consistently bowling short, and when you bowl short at him, you take more modes of dismissal out of the equation. Yes, he did top-edge a pull, but for me that was more of a length ball that he really didn’t get on top of from Alzarri – and Alzarri has that pace that he can definitely put him back.”So I just wanted our bowlers not to get thrown off by it, but to keep him playing. One of the criticisms I had with our bowlers yesterday was that we maybe didn’t make England play enough, but I think today we did a much better job in making them play, and obviously we got the results.”Holder had rallied his troops just as Stokes and Buttler started to get away from them, and he admitted his frustrations that they had been able to score on both sides of the wicket. Throughout the tour he has preached the importance of discipline among his bowlers, and said he was delighted that they had managed to stem the flow of runs and find breakthroughs as a result.”That was a pivotal moment, because they were starting to score, and they were scoring on both sides of the wicket. One of the things that we always focus on is not to let to opposition score on both sides of the wicket, and we had to be disciplined – we weren’t disciplined enough after the lunch break.ALSO READ: Taking a knee ‘meant the world to me’, says Jason Holder“I wanted the guys to get back on it. Shannon [Gabriel], I gave him a quick burst but it didn’t work the way we wanted. So for me, my role was just to come in and not look for wickets but to challenge their techniques and be disciplined. I think once I go into those areas long enough, more often than not you’re going to get the results you’re looking for.”His performance was perhaps all the more remarkable on account of the lack of overs he had bowled so far on the tour. He had managed only five across the two intra-squad warm-ups while nursing an ankle complaint, and admitted that he felt “a bit sore” after getting through 20 on the second day. “Leading up into the Test match I hadn’t got the overs I wanted under my belt,” he said. “Maybe that helped me to be fresh?”Holder wondered on the eve of the Test whether he got the credit he deserved as an allrounder, not least in comparison to Stokes, his opposite number in this match. On Thursday, he admitted that he had “soaked in” the adulation for his performance, but insisted that his job in the match was not even half-done.”My Test match is far from over,” he said. “I’ve still got a massive contribution to make with the bat, and that’s where my focus is going to be channelled now in this innings. One of the things I’ve always strived to do… was to score a hundred in England and to take a five-wicket haul here. I’ve ticked one box so far, so I guess it’s now left for me to knuckle down and try to get a hundred.”

Stand-in keeper showed skills that England has sometimes lacked, but knows his chances will be limited

George Dobell03-May-2019Ben Foakes admitted he has little chance of breaking into England’s limited-overs team despite leading them to victory on debut in Dublin.Foakes made an unbeaten 61 – the only half-century of the match – to help England secure a win that looked unlikely when they subsided to 66 for 5 within 15 overs of their reply. Keeping wonderfully calm despite the apparently hopeless position, Foakes added 98 in 15 overs with Tom Curran for the seventh wicket to see his side home. It meant that he followed the Man-of-the-Match award he won on Test debut with another such award in his first ODI. He is set to make his T20I debut on Sunday in Cardiff.But, as he has seen from his Test career, that is no guarantee of longevity. And despite finishing his maiden Test series in Sri Lanka as England’s Man of the Series, Foakes was dropped after two more games in the Caribbean as England struggled to balance their side. With Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow, who have both been rested following their IPL stints, to come back into the side in the coming days, he knows there is a chance he may never play again.”Can I break into the team? Probably not,” Foakes said. “Jos is probably the best keeper-batsman in the world and Jonny is probably second, if not first. It’s ridiculous.”So just to get the game has been great. It’s something I didn’t expect. I didn’t really think I’d make my debut.”While Foakes is probably right in the short term – there were seven first-choice England players missing from this side, after all, and he was only called up when one of their replacements, Sam Billings, suffered an injury – he did show the skills that this England side has sometimes lacked in recent times.Adapting to the slow surface, he was content to rotate the strike and pick up singles for an unusually long time in modern ODI cricket – his first boundary, a pulled six off Boyd Rankin, came from the 57th delivery he faced – and he showed an unflustered temperament that was a little reminiscent of MS Dhoni. There have been a few times in the recent past that England could have benefited from such composure.”It was one of those rebuilding jobs and I guess that suited my game a little bit,” Foakes said. “I just had to get my head down and fight it out. It was a bit of a grind.”Whenever you lose that many wickets early, you’ve got a job to do to stick in there and not get out. There were a few nerves, but there was never a stage where the run rate was getting out of hand. The guys like Tim Murtagh and the slower bowlers were tough work on that sort of wicket, so the job was to see them off, try not to get out, and when a bit of pace came on, get a bit more value for your shots.”At one stage with Foakes at the crease, England scored just nine runs in six overs with Murtagh and George Dockrell – their bowling speeds around 14 mph apart – bowling their allocation of nine overs each for a combined total of just 56 runs. But with both bowled out with eight overs remaining and Ireland obliged to rely on two debutants in Mark Adair and the impressive Josh Little, Foakes always had confidence in himself and his lower-order colleagues to get the job done. Adil Rashid (10 first-class centuries), Liam Plunkett (three) and Jofra Archer were all still to bat.”Plunkett was coming in No.11 today, so I knew we batted deep,” Foakes said. “In that sort of situation you know what the job is, you don’t go too far out of your comfort zone. It’s just about soaking up the pressure.”Foakes also completed a stumping to dismiss the dangerous Andy Balbirnie. While most of the talk around the dismissal concerned the amount of time Foakes waited for Balbirnie to raise his back leg – Ireland captain William Porterfield subsequently claimed “the ball was pretty much dead” – what was perhaps more significant was the smooth way Foakes collected the leg-side wide.ALSO READ: Archer shows glimpses on debut but rivals raise their game“It was quite wide down leg,” Foakes said, “but I got it back to the stumps. When it’s a sweep you think they might fall over and I just saw he lifted his foot and nicked them off.”While Porterfield admitted the match felt “like the one that got away”, he said he was “proud” of his team and accepted that, in retrospect, he should have called for a review when Foakes was adjudged not out to a leg-before appeal when he had scored 37. Hawk-Eye replays subsequently showed that, had Ireland called for the review, Foakes would have been out.”We should have reviewed it,” he said. “But there were only about 10 overs left and you don’t know if you’re going to get another chance? It probably looked as high as any of them but it was red. If I could go back an hour I’d be reviewing it.”Meanwhile, another debutant, Dawid Malan, sustained a groin injury while batting and will be unavailable* for Sunday’s T20I in Cardiff. Sussex’s Phil Salt has been called up in his place as cover.*May 4, 1000 BST – This story was updated with confirmation of Malan’s replacement

Rachin Ravindra’s 3 for 30 and Finn Allen’s unbeaten 115 took New Zealand home with eight wickets and 63 to balls to spare

Shashank Kishore in Tauranga13-Jan-2018
ScorecardRachin Ravindra and Finn Allen, two men who were part of New Zealand’s disastrous Under-19 World Cup campaign two years ago in Bangladesh where they finished tenth, opened the 2018 edition at home with stirring displays. West Indies, the defending champions, slumped to a eight-wicket defeat at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, the manner in which they collapsed reminiscent of their seniors, who endured a winless tour of New Zealand not too long ago.Ravindra picked three wickets with his left-arm spin while Allen, the No. 3 batsman, brought up a counter-attacking 92-ball century, his first in youth ODIs, as New Zealand cruised home with plenty to spare. Allen, who was unbeaten on 115, forged a second-wicket stand worth 163 with Jakob Bhula, who made 83. Ravindra’s dismissal for 16, flashing at a short and wide delivery that he nicked to the wicketkeeper off Ronaldo Alimohamed, was the only blot in an otherwise ruthless display.A hint of rain and a thick cloud cover made conditions ideal for West Indies’ pacers to exploit. But they sprayed the ball all over the pitch. Their sloppiness on the field didn’t help either. What could’ve been an intense contest turned rather cold halfway through the chase. Allen was strong square of the wicket, but his use of the sweep against spin was particularly impressive as he chugged along consistently at over a run-a-ball. Bhula, slightly more circumspect to begin with, grew in confidence but fell to a tame caught-and-bowled dismissal with the target within touching distance. Allen then saw off the chase with captain Kaylum Boshier just as rain started to spit down.While Allen polished off the runs, it was Ravindra who broke West Indies’ back after their openers Kimani Melius and Keagan Simmons, nephew of batsman Lendl Simmons, put together 123 in 27.2 overs to set a solid platform. Ravindra, who cleverly varied his pace and use of his angles, finished with 3 for 30 off seven overs as West Indies, handily placed at 149 for 2, were restricted to 223 for 8 in 50 overs. Simmons, who battled through the innings and looked set for his maiden youth ODI century, was left unbeaten on 92.

Sachin Tendulkar has suggested that every Ranji Trophy game be played on two different pitches with two different balls to prepare the Test team for bigger challenges in overseas conditions

PTI03-Dec-2016Sachin Tendulkar has suggested that every Ranji Trophy game be played on two different pitches to prepare a better Test team for overseas assignments.He also suggested that bilateral Test series could be made more engaging by having back-to-back home-and-away rubbers so that the strength of two teams remains mostly constant but the varying conditions pose a bigger challenge.”I have thought a lot about neutral venues in Ranji Trophy [which is being tried this season],” Tendulkar said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in Delhi.”I have a suggestion which can be radical. When we go to places like Australia, New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa, we play with Kookaburra balls which swing early. Think about a young Ranji batsman playing with SG Test ball in India and then facing difficulty overseas.”Let us have the first innings on a greentop with Kookaburra balls, which would give openers a challenge. Even the bowlers will have something. Our spinners will also learn how to bowl with the Kookaburra on greentops.”Now let there be a pitch adjacent to the greentop which would be a rank turner. Now the second innings will be played on that track with the SG Test ball which would also help our batsmen play against quality spin bowling. We have been too focussed on playing pace in overseas conditions but we should not forget how to play spin bowling.”Tendulkar felt the use of two different pitches and two different balls would nullify the toss factor.”A captain would start thinking that winning the toss will give him only 10 percent advantage that is his right to choose first,” he said. “But if he chooses to bowl on greentop he should remember that he would need to bat on a turner in the fourth innings.”BCCI president Anurag Thakur was also among the audience.

Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, told a London court that he was present with Brendon McCullum when he allegedly received a call from Chris Cairns inviting him to discuss a ‘business proposition’

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2015Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, has described to a court how he was present in a hotel room in India during the 2008 IPL when Brendon McCullum received a call from Chris Cairns that McCullum described as “a business proposition”.Ponting was appearing at Southwark Crown Court in London via a video link from Australia as the latest prosecution witness against Cairns, who is charged with perjury for allegedly lying under oath in a libel trial, saying he had “never” cheated at cricket.At the time Ponting and McCullum were team-mates for Kolkata Knight Riders in the first year of IPL.”I was staying with Brendon in the team hotel in Kolkata in 2008 on the eve of the first IPL tournament,” Ponting recalled. “We were just sitting, sharing a drink, when he received a phone call – his phone rang. It was a very brief phone conversation, probably less than five minutes. He put the phone down, hung up and said it was Cairnsy and he ‘just made me a business proposition’.””We stayed together for a short time. I didn’t ask any more questions … As soon as I heard it was about business, I wasn’t interested anymore.”Giving evidence last week McCullum, 34, had claimed Cairns sent him a car which took him to his hotel, where McCullum alleged spot-fixing was discussed.Ponting, whose long-time nickname of ‘Punter’ was given to him by Shane Warne, was asked by Orlando Pownall QC, for the defence, whether he considered McCullum knew about match-fixing, and would have understood terms like “spot-fixing” and “spread betting”.He replied: “Right now I would; in 2008, maybe not as much.”Leanne McGoldrick, a players’ agent, also took the witness box on Tuesday, to describe an evening when McCullum, who she was managing at the time, had asked at a dinner at her Christchurch home after New Zealand’s 2008 tour of England whether she thought Cairns was involved in match-fixing.It was on that tour where McCullum gave evidence last week that he had had breakfast with Cairns in a Worcester café where Cairns allegedly made a second approach to him to spot-fix.McGoldrick said McCullum had first asked if she thought any New Zealand players were match-fixing. When she said she didn’t think so, he asked about Cairns. She said she did not think he was.”He said he’d had an occasion in England – in a bar or cafe, I can’t remember which – with Chris, and Chris had asked him whether he knew how to spot-fix.”McGoldrick said: “I was completely shocked … I couldn’t believe what he was saying.”She told McCullum to report the approach and he said he would, but their business relationship ended soon after.The trial continues.