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A see-sawing game went overtime as the young England allrounder raised his game to another level

Tristan Lavalette28-Dec-2019
Sixers won the Super Over by 1 runA starring all-round performance from Tom Curran propelled the Sydney Sixers to a thrilling victory over crosstown rivals Sydney Thunder in the first Super Over decider this BBL season.Moises Henriques scored 14 of the Sixers’ 16 runs in the Super Over, which proved just enough as the Thunder fell one run short in reply with Curran holding his nerve with the ball.Tom Curran has a knack for thriving in pressure situations•Getty Images

In the Sixers’ nerve-jangling chase of 150, Thunder held sway throughout before a late flurry from Curran (35 from 17 balls) almost single-handedly forced extra time of the Sydney Smash.The Sixers (3-2) won their second straight game, while the Thunder lost for the first time this season.Hales explodes before Thunder slideMuch of the Thunder batting is built around the opening partnership of the explosive Alex Hales and elegant Usman Khawaja, who was mainly a spectator with the Englishman providing the early pyrotechnics.Hales smashed 27 inside the opening three overs, including five boundaries and an audacious swivelled six off a stunned Ben Dwarshuis. Khawaja joined the party with a smoked six over the small midwicket boundary off Jackson Bird, who was having a tougher time than his brilliant season debut on Boxing Day.The Sixers desperately needed a breakthrough and Sean Abbott came through with his first legal delivery, as Khawaja fell for 16. Abbott caused problems by cleverly changing his pace and was unlucky not to have removed Hales on several occasions.With his earlier momentum halted, a frustrated Hales holed out to Curran immediately after the Powerplay as the Sixers impressively clawed back into the contest.The Thunder’s slide continued when spinner Lloyd Pope’s wrong ‘un lured a struggling Matthew Gilkes out of his crease to be stumped. Having lost 3 for 6, Callum Ferguson and Alex Ross needed to consolidate in the middle overs.Callum Ferguson raises his bat•Getty Images

Ferguson plays lone hand as Pope shinesThe Thunder scored only 24 runs between overs five and 11 as Lloyd Pope, with his crop of red hair standing out, took charge with a menacing concoction of loop and wrong ‘uns.Finally managing to get hold of Pope, Ross showcased beautiful foot work and hit the legspinner over cover for six. Other than that, the batsmen mainly worked the ball around in a bid to leave wickets intact at the end.The partnership ticked past fifty before Ross decided to change gears in the 15th over as he targeted Curran. It worked a treat initially when he smashed a six over long-on before holing out two balls later to a superb diving catch to Abbott.Pope finished a mesmerising spell (3-23) by bowling Chris Green with another precise wrong ‘un. Having initially stymied the Thunder, Curran fittingly provided the finishing touches (2-23) as the Thunder fell short of their desired total despite a fifty from Ferguson. Having won the toss and decided to bat, he wouldn’t have been pleased his side could only get 37 runs in the last five overs and finish on 8 for 149.Thunder chip away at SixersWith James Vince missing due to a mishap before play, the Sixers’ rejigged batting opened with Hayden Kerr alongside Josh Philippe. The Thunder needed early wickets and Ferguson backed his spin-heavy attack with Jonathan Cook clean bowling Kerr in the first over.Philippe was uncharacteristically subdued, but Daniel Hughes showcased sublime touch to race to 27 off 16 balls inside the Powerplay. Philippe just couldn’t get going and was trapped lbw by Chris Morris after falling across his stumps.Is that going for six? Oh wow, it is!•Getty Images

Henriques was the key wicket but he continued his hot form, highlighted by clubbing Green into the second tier. Green had better success against Hughes though, knocking over his leg stump.The wicket out of seemingly nowhere left the contest evenly poised, but then tilted towards the Thunder when Jordan Silk was brilliantly run-out by a direct hit from Green at long-on. The Sixers were 4 for 72 with half the innings still left to play.Curran’s heroics ensures tieKnowing the chase likely rested on his shoulders, Henriques nudged the ball around to ensure the run-rate didn’t spiral out of control. Jack Edwards provided some valuable support in a stabilising 38-run partnership until holing out in the 17th over.It meant the Sixers needed a difficult 40 off the final 21 balls. Curran, who batted brilliantly in the death against the Perth Scorchers, hit boundaries off his first three deliveries to change the momentum.The game flipped again when Henriques fell in the 18th over, deceived by a slower Daniel Sams delivery. Needing 16 off the final over, Curran smashed a six off Chris Tremain’s first delivery and then hit a boundary off the penultimate one to inch the Sixers within two runs. In a dramatic finish, Curran was caught short of his ground after attempting the second match-winning run.Henriques stars in the Super OverCurran couldn’t replicate his batting heroics in the Super Over as he fell first ball to Morris. Henriques recovered the situation with two extraordinary scooped shots – the second going over the third man boundary – to score 14 of the Sixers’ 16 runs.Khawaja and Hales could only muster five runs off Curran’s first four balls before the right-hander smashed a six to ensure the match came down to the last ball. Hales hit a boundary but the Thunder fell agonisingly short.

The home team’s pace trio shared nine wickets between them to knock New Zealand A over for 65

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2018Umaid Asif picked four wickets in two overs•PSL

Pace trio Waqas Maqsood, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Umaid Asif took nine wickets between them to skittle New Zealand A for 65, before the batsmen shrugged off the paltry target with more than seven overs to spare, as Pakistan A romped to an eight-wicket win in the first unofficial T20I in Dubai.New Zealand lost three early wickets to the opening combination of Maqsood and Afridi, finding themselves at 11 for 3, with the latter on a hat-trick at one stage. First-change Asif then tightened the noose, snaffling five in quick time to finish as the pick of the bowlers with 5 for 20, his best T20 figures. Only captain Corey Anderson and wicketkeeper Tim Seifert offered a modicum of resistance. But once they were separated by Asif, with a slower ball that Anderson dragged on to his stumps, the innings went into a steep nosedive again. Despite Seifert’s 26, which included five fours, the visitors folded up inside 13 overs.In response Pakistan lost their openers early, Sahibzada Farhan run out for 1 and Umar Amir hit wicket for 20 off Kyle Jamieson. But there were no hiccups thereafter as the third-wicket pair of Iftikhar Ahmed and Hussain Tallat stitched together a partnership of 44 off 51 balls to see the hosts home.

A quickfire unbeaten 140 from Shreyas Iyer and a 72 from Vijay Shankar steered India A to a seven-wicket win against South Africa A to seal the tri-series final in Pretoria

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2017File photo: Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten century handed India a the series title•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

A quickfire unbeaten century from Shreyas Iyer and a half-century from Vijay Shankar steered India A to a seven-wicket win against South Africa A to seal the tri-series final in Pretoria. Iyer and Shankar put on 141 for the third wicket to eclipse Farhaan Behardien’s century earlier in the day, when five wickets between Shardul Thakur and Siddarth Kaul had restricted the hosts to 267 for 7 in 50 overs.India A were jolted early when Junior Dala removed openers Sanju Samson and Karun Nair in the first six overs, leaving them in trouble at 20 for 2. But Iyer, who had not scored a fifty earlier in the series, and Shankar, who had scored a duck in his previous match, joined forces to deny South Africa another wicket for more than 28 overs, while lifting India’s run rate towards five an over. Shankar fell for 72 off 86 after striking nine fours, before Manish Pandey joined Iyer, who went on to register his highest List A score of 140 off 131 balls, with 11 fours and four sixes. The fourth-wicket pair put on an unbroken 109 in only 12.3 overs to seal the win with 19 balls to spare. Pandey, with scores of 55, 41*, 86*, 93* and 32*, was named Man of the Series.India A had capitalised on their decision to bowl when Kaul and Thakur cut through the top order and left South Africa A 32 for 3 in the ninth over. Khaya Zondo and Behardien steered them past 100 before No. 7 Dwaine Pretorius scored a quick 58 off 61 balls, which featured five fours and two sixes, to help them past 200. Behardien remained unbeaten on 101, having helped set India A a challenging target, but it wouldn’t prove enough against their middle order. Thakur ended with 3 for 52 and Kaul with 2 for 55.

Jason Roy fell narrowly short of breaking Robin Smith’s 23-year-old record for the highest ODI score by an England batsman but he is confident that one of the new generation will eclipse it before long

Alan Gardner at The Oval29-Jun-2016Jason Roy fell narrowly short of breaking Robin Smith’s 23-year-old record for the highest ODI score by an England batsman but he is confident that one of the new generation will eclipse it before long.Roy’s innings of 162 followed another record-breaking performance at Edgbaston last week – in which he and Alex Hales knocked off 256 without loss – as England sealed the series against Sri Lanka with a game to spare. However, he was dismissed with 27 still needed for victory on his home ground, and six to pass Smith’s 167 not out at Edgbaston in 1993.”Yeah, 100% someone could break that,” Roy said. “We’ve seen it at Edgbaston, seen it here today – that was obviously a great pitch, tough to defend. Credit to the Sri Lankans, they did bat well, it was just a remarkable evening.”Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, backed up that view after Roy led the way in a chase of 308 in 42 overs – only the fifth time England have overhauled a 300-plus target in ODIs, and the third inside 12 months.”Not to take anything from Jason’s innings today but certainly within our batting line-up I think we’ve guys who have enough talent and ability to push past that,” he said. “Certainly the other day, if we had batted first at Edgbaston and got off to a similar start, you’d think that one of them would go past it.”Jos Buttler probably doesn’t need as many balls as anybody else to go past it. Against New Zealand last year, we got 400, Rooty got a 72-ball hundred and could have kicked on past it. The way to look at it, with the ability and power in the side, we have a lot of match-winners, which is something to be proud of.”England were handicapped on this occasion by the loss of Hales to a back problem and saw his replacement at opener, Moeen Ali, dismissed early in the innings. But Roy, who made an unbeaten 112 in the second ODI, ensured Sri Lanka would remain winless despite posting their highest total of the series in a match disrupted by rain.”Part and parcel of being a successful international player is making form count and Jason epitomised that today,” Morgan said. “He showed the experience of a player way beyond his years, a lot of guys might have got 80-90 or even a hundred and then got out. To go on and get 162 and make a substantial match-winning contribution was outstanding.”The manner in which Jason and our batting unit plays is we do take risks but we’re minimising risk by training very hard and bridging the gap between taking a risk and failing. We have enough firepower to do that and the innings by Jason reinforces the confidence within the batting unit to do that.”Superlative England performances have started to come along with increasing regularity and Roy described the atmosphere in the dressing room as “incredible” as the team continue to embrace a no-fear style of play.”To back up the performance in Edgbaston was extremely special. Not many words to describe how I’m feeling now, I’m just excited to get back in the dressing room and see the boys and celebrate a series win,” he said.”It’s my home ground, I’ve got a few people in to watch, which was hugely special. Credit to the boys, they allow me to go out there and enjoy myself and play the way I want to play. I’ve got no worries about getting out in the first over because I know the guys are backing me. It’s an incredible dressing room to be part of at the moment.”Morgan said that a decision on whether Hales would be fit to play in the final match of the series, at Cardiff on Saturday, was “too early to call” and he would be assessed on Thursday afternoon.

Matt Coles claimed five wickets in his opening spell as 17 wickets fell on the first day at Canterbury an followed another impressive display from Mark Fottitt

Tim Wigmore at Canterbury07-Jun-2015
ScorecardMatt Coles demolished Derbyshire’s top order with five wickets in his opening spell•Getty Images

Draped in sunshine, this was a day that showed off Canterbury at its picturesque best: a time for suntan lotion, ice cream and fun on the bouncy castle. When Kent chose to bat after winning the toss, their bowlers would have envisaged a lazy Sunday afternoon enjoying their batsmen’s attractive strokeplay.No one, anywhere, was talking about Wirksworth 1874. That game, 141 years ago, was the scene of Derbyshire’s lowest score – a paltry 36 – against Kent. It was a record that seemed briefly threatened as Matt Coles decimated Derbyshire’s top order. His new ball burst of 5 for 8 rendered Derbyshire’s commendable efforts with the ball rather futile.Coles has just turned 25 yet the mantle of attack leader sits easily on his broad shoulders, as the broad grim he wore leading Kent off in the evening sunshine was testament to. Recent weeks have confirmed him as a cricketer of rare talent: the sight of Kumar Sangakkara being beaten for pace, as Coles managed at Beckenham, is rarely spotted in the shires.After Kent’s disappointing total of 205, Coles took it upon himself the challenge of wrestling Kent back into the game. Pitching the ball up and moving it late at pace, Coles removed Ben Slater’s middle stump and then snared Chesney Hughes lbw before the opening over was out. Tillakaratne Dilshan survived a vociferous lbw appeal off his first ball; it looked like he had been saved by an inside edge.It mattered not. Dilshan drove aerially at a delivery that moved away in Coles’ next over, and Derbyshire were 0 for 3. Ten minutes from Coles had undone the hard-earned gains Derbyshire’s bowlers had won over five excellent hours.Worse was to follow. Twenty-seven balls of toil for Billy Godleman, Derbyshire’s skipper here in lieu of Wayne Madsen, ended when he was neatly snaffled by Sam Northeast in the slips. Scott Elstone followed in Coles’ next over, trapped lbw on the crease for a duck.Coles had been cheered on by a boisterous bunch on the bank who, as Derbyshire slumped to 23 for 5, took delight in mocking them with a few renditions of ‘Can we play you every week?’ Darren Stevens ensured they had no reason to stop as two batsmen perished lbw to his nagging wicket-to-wicket bowling; when Wes Durston was dismissed, he had scored 35 of Derbyshire’s 37 runs.As they closed amid the wreckage of a scorecard that read 67 for 7, how removed Derbyshire’s mood must have been from a few hours earlier. In ordinary circumstances, limiting Kent to 205 batting first at Canterbury would have been cause for celebration.In an international summer that will largely be defined by how well England play left-arm pace – they didn’t begin well against Trent Boult and now Australia’s two Mitchells lie in wait – Mark Footitt is tantalising some with the prospect that England might be able to retaliate in kind.
Not that you would suspect as much from his run-up. Footitt begins rather diffidently, only accelerating onto the crease with his last few paces. Even then there seems to be something missing; Footitt has a lazy right-arm that falls away in his delivery stride.It is an apparent chink that some coaches have tried to rectify. They shouldn’t have bothered. Under Graeme Welch’s astute guidance, Footitt has embraced his flawed action to produce startling results. Following a back operation after the 2012 season, Footitt took 42 first-class wickets in 2013 – then a career best – and doubled his tally in 2014.Here, he took his ninth first-class five-wicket haul since the start of 2014. Showing the timeless value of a left-armer who can jag the ball back to the right-hander from over the wicket, Footitt trapped Daniel Bell-Drummond and Rob Key lbw in the day’s very first over. As one would expect, and hope, of a bowler who can touch 90mph, Footitt has a venomous short ball, delivered with no discernible change in his action. But he deployed it as a weapon of shock rather than stock, and all five of his wickets came with deliveries pitched up.Unlike Footitt, Tony Palladino has no such England aspirations, yet he is scarcely less valuable to Derbyshire. Armed with a sweatband on his left wrist, Palladino’s action is immaculately grooved. While he normally shapes the ball away from the right-hander, Palladino can get deliveries to nip back, as Fabian Cowdrey found out when a ball that he left alone removed his off bail. It was testament to Palladino’s parsimony that he did not concede a boundary until his 104th delivery; only at the end of his 18th and final over did his economy rate nudge above one.Yet Kent had significant spells when they seemed unperturbed. Northeast’s straight drives had the locals purring during a stand of third-wicket stand of 96, at over four runs an over, with Joe Denly. When Calum Haggett and Adam Riley later added an untroubled 53 for the ninth-wicket, there was no hint of the bedlam that was to come in the final two hours of the day.As three wickets fell with the total on 146, a Kent supporter captured the mood by grumbling: “Dilshan’s looking at it thinking this is a bloody good wicket.” But on this barmy, utterly intoxicating day, the Sri Lankan would be one of eight batsmen to be dismissed for a duck.

The debutant Faf du Plessis helped South Africa hang on for a thrilling draw on the final day in Adelaide

The Report by Brydon Coverdale26-Nov-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Faf du Plessis became the fourth South African to score a century on Test debut•Getty Images

Faf du Plessis would not have been playing in this Test were it not for JP Duminy hurting his Achilles tendon at the Gabba. And just as Duminy did on debut in Perth four years ago, du Plessis has grabbed his first chance at Test cricket to provide a remarkable result for the South Africans. At the WACA it was a near-record chase of 414 for victory; this time South Africa’s challenge was to bat for four and a half sessions on a wearing Adelaide Oval pitch to salvage a draw.Thanks to du Plessis, they did so. Thanks to du Plessis, the scoreline remains at 0-0 heading into the decider in Perth, despite Australia having had the best of the first two Tests. And thanks to du Plessis, Australia’s bowlers will have only four days to recover from some serious exhaustion, especially Peter Siddle, who sent down 63.5 overs for the match and was so debilitated by the time he bowled the final over of the match that he could barely stand up.Of course, it wasn’t all down to du Plessis. Early in the day, AB de Villiers played against type to score 33 from 220 balls without a boundary. Jacques Kallis again fought off his hamstring strain to provide important support in a 110-ball innings of 46. And Dale Steyn, Rory Kleinveldt and Morne Morkel did just enough to ensure that the No.11, Imran Tahir, would not be required. For South Africa, who will lose the No.1 Test ranking if Australia take the series, it was a draw that felt like a win.For Michael Clarke and his men, it was an opportunity missed. There wasn’t a lot more the Australians could have done, especially with James Pattinson’s injury leaving them a bowler short throughout the fourth innings. But there were some half-chances that they were unable to take, the kind of tiny openings that on a day like this must not be wasted. An Australian victory was still possible until the final over of the last hour of the match.By that stage, Siddle looked as if he’d just run a marathon. Somehow, he kept running in and his pace barely dropped, but Morkel was good enough to block out the over, which left South Africa on 8 for 248 when stumps was called. The score was irrelevant to the South Africans, who had given up on the chase of 430 on the fourth afternoon. Wickets were all that mattered. And a couple of breakthroughs in the final 40 minutes kept the contest alive.Steyn fell for a 28-ball duck when he chipped an inswinging full toss from Siddle to midwicket, where Rob Quiney snapped up a sharp catch. And Kleinveldt survived for 17 deliveries before he missed a yorker and was bowled by Siddle for 3. In the end, Siddle finished with 4 for 65 from 33 overes, but his herculean effort was more than matched by du Plessis, who ended up unbeaten on 110 from 376 balls. For any batsman, it would have been a magnificent innings; for a debutant, it was preposterously good.Most notable was the fact that du Plessis did not become overawed by the situation. He spent an eternity in the nineties but was not flustered, the team goal of survival overshadowing his own ambitions. When he eventually pushed two runs through cover off Ben Hilfenhaus and became the fourth South African to score a century on Test debut, after Andrew Hudson, Jacques Rudolph and Alviro Petersen, he acknowledged the applause and then settled straight back down to continue his job.The milestone took him 310 deliveries, but he was far from stagnant. He played his shots when the opportunity arose and finished with 14 boundaries. He was as calm as Duminy had been back in 2008; in fact, his effort was much more impressive because the conditions were tougher and nobody else in the line-up managed so much as a half-century. The Australians thought they had du Plessis twice in the first session, only to be denied on review.Both came off the bowling of Clarke, who drew positive lbw calls from Billy Bowden when du Plessis had 33 and again on 37. The first time, the batsman’s review showed the ball had pitched a fraction outside leg stump; the second time it revealed that the two noises Bowden had heard were bat on ball and bat on ground – the ball had not even struck du Plessis on the foot or pad.The Australians also used up their final review shortly before lunch when du Plessis, on 49, offered no shot to a Nathan Lyon delivery that pitched and struck him outside the line of off stump but was turning enough to interest Clarke. However, Eagle Eye suggested the ball would have bounced over the top of the stumps, and Clarke was left to consider how he would find six wickets in two sessions with no further reviews available.In the last over before tea, they had a chance when du Plessis edged Hilfenhaus and Matthew Wade, standing up to the stumps, couldn’t grasp the catch. Ed Cowan also put down a tough chance at short leg in the final session when Steyn clipped Siddle off his pads and the ball flew low to the ground, and they were the kind of opportunities the Australians couldn’t afford to miss.Cowan did complete a much easier catch in close when Lyon, who bowled 50 overs in the innings and 94 for the match, drew an inside edge onto pad from Kallis that popped up to short leg. Kallis had made 46 and given his injury, his effort was just as critical as that of du Plessis. De Villiers also played a key role until he was bowled by Siddle for a laborious 33 from 220 deliveries, an innings that did not include a boundary and was second only to Chris Tavare’s effort at Madras in 1982 in terms of the lowest strike-rate for an innings of at least 30 runs in Test history.De Villiers was happy defending and that was all South Africa really needed. They also required someone to stick around for the whole day, and du Plessis obliged. For the first time since 1921, Australia and South Africa had played out two consecutive draws. And for the second time this series, Australia saw a potential victory evade them. It all comes down to Perth.