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Somerset batter brought in for third ODI after finding form in Blast

George Dobell01-Jul-2021England have added Tom Banton to their squad for the third and final ODI against Sri Lanka in Bristol on Sunday.Banton, the 22-year-old Somerset top-order batter, hit a 47-ball century in the Vitality T20 Blast at the start of the week. He has played six ODIs and nine T20Is for England.He joins the squad to provide back-up with Dawid Malan currently absent for personal reasons. Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, of England’s first choice batting line-up, are also missing as they recover from injury.Related

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In a different era Banton, who has more than a touch of Kevin Pietersen about his batting, might already be established in the England limited-overs sides. But with the side currently blessed with impressive depth of top-order options, Banton has been obliged to wait for another opportunity. He has been preferred to other options such as Phil Salt, Alex Hales or Sam Hain.Somerset confirmed that Banton will miss their derby in the Blast against Gloucestershire on Thursday evening, as well as their home fixture against Middlesex on Friday.England are 1-0 up in the three-match ODI series and take on Sri Lanka at The Oval in a day-night game on Thursday.

He also used his spinners effectively to squeeze Comilla during the chase

Mohammad Isam07-Feb-2022How the match played out
Fortune Barishal used spin to squeeze out Comilla Victorians from the BPL’s first contest in Sylhet this year, winning the match by 32 runs. To rub further salt into the wound, Barishal also replaced Comilla on top of the points table with 11 points from eight games.Shakib Al Hasan continued to star with both bat and ball, hitting his second fifty in the competition before picking up 2 for 20 from his four overs. But it was his use of Barishal’s offspinners that kept Comilla quiet. Nayeem Hasan and the part-timers Najmul Hossain Shanto and Chris Gayle combined to pick up four wickets in their eight overs while conceding 44 runs. Nayeem finished with 3 for 29 while Dwayne Bravo also chipped in with two.Earlier, Barishal had a productive batting powerplay and a handy middle-order stand to post 155 for 5, which proved to be a winning total.Big hit
Shakib’s half-century, his seventh in the BPL overall, contained four fours and two sixes – most of them coming down the ground. He added 67 runs for the fourth wicket with Tohwid Hridoy, who scored an unbeaten 31 off 37 balls.Munim Shahriar had earlier given Barishal some impetus with his 25-ball 45. He also targeted the straight boundary, hitting three sixes in the long-on to wide long-on range.Shakib’s form though is a complete turnaround after having scored 46 runs in his first four innings. Since then, he has had scores of 41, 50 and 50, leading Barishal’s batting when it has mostly struggled for big totals.Big miss
Comilla dropped Faf du Plessis to make room for pace-bowling allrounder Karim Janat, but the top and middle-order batters couldn’t make a fist of the 156-run chase. Imrul Kayes and Litton Das couldn’t give Comilla the required start. Mominul Haque top-scored with 30 but neither he nor any of his partners pushed for the run rate.Although Shanto and Gayle were effective with the ball, they haven’t really delivered with the bat for Barishal. Shanto’s runs graph in the BPL is flattening after failing to reach a fifty in the seven matches. Tanvir Islam removed him for 1 in this game as he miscued a slog inside the powerplay. Barishal hasn’t got enough out of Gayle either, who made just 10 today.

Tourists suffer top-order implosion, losing eight wickets in a session in final bat before first Test

ESPNcricinfo staff28-May-2022County Select XI 247 and 112 for 1 (Compton 56*, Ajaz 1-12) need 152 runs to beat New Zealanders 362 for 9 dec and 148 (Jamieson 36, Wagner 36, Porter 5-31)After four playing days of largely serene progress in their build-up towards the first Test, New Zealand were blindsided by the County Select XI at Chelmsford. Jamie Porter ripped out five top-order wickets to belatedly remind the England selectors of his prowess in seaming conditions, and despite recovering somewhat from a parlous position of 9 for 5, the tourists have a scrap on their hands if they are to avert defeat on day four.This second four-day friendly, after a rain-affected outing down in Hove, has allowed New Zealand to rotate their personnel with a view to getting playing time for as many of the party as possible. But Kane Williamson, the Test captain, managed a nine-ball duck in his only outing before next week’s encounter at Lord’s, while there were single-figure scores for Tom Latham, Will Young, Devon Conway (his second of the match), Tom Blundell and Colin de Grandhomme – all likely starters in the Test XI.The dismissal of de Grandhomme completed a five-for for Porter inside five overs, leaving New Zealand on 19 for 6. That anaemic scoreline had improved to 70 when the eighth wicket fell, but the County Select XI were still eyeing up a target below 200, only for some timely lower-order resistance from Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson to stave off complete collapse. A 63-run stand pushed the New Zealanders towards something defendable, before Worcestershire left-armer Ben Gibbon picked up both to complete an impressive outing.The New Zealanders’ second-innings 148 meant the County Select XI would need to score 264 for victory – more than they had managed collectively the first time around. But Ben Compton continued his prolific summer with an obdurate, unbeaten half-century and although Ajaz Patel removed Dom Sibley after an opening stand worth 88, the ECB’s scratch team will return needing 152 more with nine wickets in hand in the morning.There had been little to suggest that New Zealand were in for such a torrid morning examination when the unbeaten openers, Young and Latham, resumed the innings in bright sunshine, having played out a maiden from spinner Liam Patterson-White the previous evening. But Porter struck with his third, 12th, 16th and 18th balls to leave the visitors five down and not yet into double-figures.Young was the first to go, lbw for a three-ball duck playing no stroke to one nipping back in. Williamson, who joined up with the squad this week after leaving the IPL early to witness the birth of his second child in New Zealand, had spent some time in the field on Friday and now walked out in place of Conway in his customary berth at No. 3. But quickly heading in the opposite direction was his deputy, Latham, who thick-edged Gibbon’s sixth delivery to third slip.Ben Compton led the chase with an unbeaten half-century•Getty Images

Williamson has not played Test cricket since November, having experienced issues with a chronic elbow problem. Although he was fit enough to play for Sunrisers Hyderabad at the IPL, his returns were underwhelming, and he would have been hoping for a lengthy stay in the middle ahead of his comeback. Instead, Porter found extra lift from a length outside off stump to induce a startled prod to slip.With Conway, another recent arrival from India, also looking for a workout against the red ball after making 4 off 14 in the first innings, Porter struck again from round the wicket, rapping the left-hander on the pads. Two balls later, wicketkeeper Blundell propped forward to also be given out lbw – although he lingered for some time after the decision, with a strong suggestion that he had got an inside edge.At that stage Porter, who has seemingly drifted out of contention for a Test cap despite being called up to the England squad in 2018, had figures of 4 for 4 from three overs; and they improved still further when de Grandhomme defended the ball softly down into the turf, only for it bounce back and dislodge the bails.The New Zealanders finally got the scoreboard moving with the arrival of Tim Southee, who cracked five fours and a six during a 17-ball innings. He scored 34 out of the 37 added in partnership with Daryl Mitchell for the seventh wicket, before another belligerent slap down the ground off Patterson-White was intercepted by the diving Gibbon at long-on. Mitchell then became the eighth wicket to fall, providing a success for Jack Blatherwick, as his ungainly attempt to pull ended up in the hands of point.From there, Wagner and Jamieson dug in for 20 overs of respectable batting that took the innings into the afternoon session. Gibbon eventually trapped Wagner with a full delivery angled into the pads, before Jamieson’s attempt to thrash the ball into Hayes Close ended up in the hands of Porter at long-off. Wagner and Southee both then delivered ten overs, their first proper bowl before Lord’s, as the County Select XI made a good start in pursuit of victory; Sibley fell cutting at Ajaz but the spinner dropped Tom Haines off Wagner in the penultimate over to sum up New Zealand’s day.

The hosts pinned down Pakistan to a below-par 130 for 7 to coast home with plenty to spare

Deivarayan Muthu11-Oct-2022
On a subcontinental-style pitch in Christchurch, New Zealand’s spin quartet, led by offspinner Michael Bracewell, pinned down Pakistan to a below-par 130 for 7 and set up the hosts’ second successive victory in the tri-series.That Pakistan couldn’t score a single six in their innings summed up the dominance of New Zealand’s spinners. It was the first completed T20I innings in New Zealand a single six in 77 games. Finn Allen, who was picked ahead of Martin Guptill once again, alone hit six sixes during his 42-ball 62 as New Zealand coasted home with plenty to spare.Bracewell, who is more of a batting allrounder for Wellington Firebirds, followed up his 2 for 14 against Bangladesh with an even miserly 2 for 11 on Tuesday. Left-arm fingerspinner Mitchell Santner marked his return from paternity break with 2 for 27 while legspinner Ish Sodhi took 1 for 23. Glenn Phillips also pitched in with an over of part-time offspin as Kane Williamson rifled through his spin options. Thirteen overs were bowled by spinners – the most by New Zealand in a T20I innings – on a day when Trent Boult was rested and Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne were nursing abdominal injuries.Pakistan start well
Mohammad Rizwan gave Pakistan a jumpstart, picking off three fours in the first two overs. Santner took the new ball upon return but uncharacteristically missed his lengths and lines in his first over which cost New Zealand 11 runs. Then when Blair Tickner, who got a game in place of Boult, darted one on the pads, Babar Azam whipped it firmly over midwicket. Pakistan moved to 24 for 0 in three overs.Spin to win

After having bowled six dots to Rizwan, Bracewell dared him to go over the top by bringing Jimmy Neesham into the circle from long-on. Rizwan swung hard but could not find elevation to clear Neesham at mid-on, falling for 16 off 17 balls. Bracewell then found sharp drift to scratch Babar’s outside edge, which was well held by Devon Conway.Bracewell isn’t a big turner of the ball – there wasn’t big turn on offer either – but with drift and bounce, he ensured Pakistan never got away. He was the only bowler to have not conceded a boundary on the day.Finn Allen brought up a 31-ball half-century•Getty Images

Outside of the powerplay, Santner cut his pace down and drew mis-hits from both Shadab Khan and Shan Masood. Shadab was promoted to No.4 once again – he has excelled as a pinch-hitter for Islamabad United in the PSL – but he holed out to long-on on Tuesday.Pakistan’s middle-order batters then sleepwalked through their innings, going 34 balls without a boundary. Asif Ali and Iftikhar Ahmed ended the drought and hit three fours each, but it was not enough to drag Pakistan to a competitive total. Tim Southee did his bit at the death by dismissing Iftikhar and Mohammad Nawaz off successive balls in the last over.Allen makes his case for the T20 World Cup
With Allen showing explosive power at the top, New Zealand are giving him a decent run, in place of Guptill, in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. After managing scores of only 13 and 16 earlier in the tri-series, Allen made his case for the T20 World Cup in Australia with a 31-ball half-century on a pitch where most other batters struggled.Allen manufactured scoring opportunities by dashing out of the crease or backing away. He hit full tilt when he launched a six onto the roof of the Hagley Oval. Conway, meanwhile, sat back and complemented Allen by knocking the ball into the gaps.Pakistan, perhaps, missed a trick and made New Zealand’s job easier by holding spin back until the seventh over. And when Shadab finally came into the attack, Allen hoicked him over the leg side for a massive six.By the time Shadab struck to have Allen stumped in the 14th over, New Zealand were just 14 runs away from victory. Conway and Williamson sealed the deal, a result that keeps Bangladesh alive in the tri-series.

While spotlight remains on Matheesha Pathirana, CSK bowling consultant Eric Simons credits “unsung heroes” Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande for victory

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Apr-20241:35

Gavaskar on Hardik: ‘Ordinary bowling, ordinary captaincy’

Hardik Pandya, the Mumbai Indians captain, felt Matheesha Pathirana was the difference between the two sides on Sunday night as the heavyweight clash billed as the IPL’s “” ended in victory for Chennai Super Kings.Pathirana, who missed CSK’s last two games with a hamstring niggle, was a late inclusion. And he finished with figures of 4 for 28; this included the wickets of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in his very first over, the eighth of the innings, to put the skids on Mumbai after a 70-run opening stand.”Definitely it was gettable,” Hardik said of Mumbai’s 207-run target. “But I think they bowled pretty well, Pathirana was the difference. He came and got the wickets, at the same time they were also quite smart with their approach. They used the longer boundary well.Related

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“It was about batting well and keeping our intent, which we did till Pathirana came in. We were on course to get the total, those couple of wickets [in his first over] we lost set us back. From there we were chasing the game.”CSK had a number of bowlers who used their slower variations well and bowled into the pitch to extract something off the deck in the face of some dew. Shardul Thakur was taken for 33 off his first three overs, but came back superbly in his final over to concede just two to deny a set Rohit Sharma and Hardik with Mumbai needing 77 off 36.Then Tushar Deshpande got into the act, dismissing Hardik by having him hole out to the longer boundary at deep midwicket. Soon, the equation turned into a daunting 72 off 24. Pathirana then came back for his final over to send back the big-hitting Romario Shepherd with a fuller ball that splayed his stumps.While it was natural for Pathirana to get the spotlight after his four-for, CSK bowling consultant Eric Simons felt Thakur and Deshpande turned the game. “The unsung heroes tonight were Tushar and Shardul,” Simons said at the post-match press conference. “Shardul bowled one of the best overs I have ever seen. At that stage they were looking at 12s-13s an over, the game’s very much in the balance. He bowls the over and it goes up at 14. The game turned there.”Matheesha will get a lot of accolades and he deserves it because of the way he bowled and the breakthroughs he gave us. But those two gentlemen did extremely well for us to push the rate out of reach out of MI.”Tushar is a very intelligent bowler. Our conversations are around his tactics, his understanding of conditions and oppositions. One of the things we try and do is make sure bowlers have clarity when they arrive at game and they know exactly what they have to do and also understand the tactics. So not just what the tactic is but also why it is like that. And he has a very clear understanding of the tactic and also why it is like that.”Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians came out second best in the IPL’s “El Classico”•AFP via Getty Images

That CSK’s bowlers found themselves with 206 to defend was down to Shivam Dube’s 38-ball 66 and Dhoni’s cameo – including three sixes in the final over. For much of Dube’s innings, Hardik held his spinners back and preferred to go with pace into the wicket. Offspinner Mohammad Nabi bowled three overs for 19, while Shreyas Gopal, their legspinner, bowled just one over.”It was about what was best at that point,” Hardik said of his tactic to hold back his spinners. “In hindsight we can see how we could’ve used our spinners and done something different, but in the longer term I like to play with what I can work with, that’s percentage cricket. On that wicket, for seamers, it was much more difficult for him [Dube] to do what he did [to pacers] than to the spinners.”The defeat was Mumbai’s fourth in six games. It broke a sequence of two straight wins. Currently eighth on the table, they now get on the road for four away fixtures and are in need of a big second half to remain in contention for the playoffs.In looking for this, Hardik wants the team to keep it simple. “We just need to keep our intensity high, be smart about our plans,” he said. “If we can do that, we can get the goal we want.”

Sutherland started his captaincy reign for Renegades with a loss but produced an outstanding all-round performance with 36 not out and 2 for 20

Tristan Lavalette16-Dec-2024Captain Moises Henriques once again kept his cool in a tense chase as Sydney Sixers overcame a new-look Melbourne Renegades to start their BBL season with a five-wicket victory at the SCG.Chasing a tricky 170, Sixers wobbled in the middle overs before Henriques took over with an unbeaten 53 from 27 balls as the home team hauled in the target with nine balls to spare.The result could have been much different had Henriques been run out on 25 but Tom Rogers’ throw from midwicket was wide.Will Sutherland started his captaincy reign for Renegades with a loss but he produced an outstanding all-round performance with 36 not out and 2 for 20.Sixers, a BBL powerhouse who lost a home final last season, continued their long-time dominance over Renegades. It was their ninth win from ten games between the teams since 2018 with the other game being a no result.

Edwards’ promotion, Henriques finishes

It appeared a challenging chase on a ground where 150-160 has often proven enough in BBL games over the years.After the early loss of opener Josh Philippe, James Vince and Jack Edwards made it look easy in the powerplay with the ball zipping off the pitch in an apparent easing of batting conditions.Edwards made the most of his promotion to No.3 after Dan Hughes injured his arm while attempting a diving catch during Renegades’ innings. His placement was superb as he combined well with Vince in a 62-run partnership.But he holed out to quick Kane Richardson to fall short of a maiden BBL half-century as Sixers soon fell to 136 for 5 when Hayden Kerr had to retire after an apparent hamstring injury.Sixers still needed 34 runs off the final four overs, but Henriques wisely took the power surge and he smashed legspinner Adam Zampa for two sixes in the 18th over to effectively ice the game.Henriques and Ben Dwarshuis were in a rush as they finished the job far easier than had looked possible just moments earlier.

Hassan impresses in BBL debut

Pakistan-born, USA cricketer Hassan Khan proved he was a worthy recruit for Renegades with a solid debut in a tough situation. He entered the attack after the powerplay with Renegades under pressure and had to contend with Vince and Edwards trying to take him on.He recovered from early punishment and settled to showcase his variety as he mixed up his speed nicely. Hassan dismissed Jordan Silk, so reliable in the middle overs for Sixers, with a 72 kmh delivery as he helped put Renegades in a winning position.He finished with 1 for 27 from three overs in a performance to build on for Hassan, who plays for San Francisco Unicorns in MLC.Tim Seifert’s knock of 55 went in vain for Melbourne Renegades•Getty Images

Sixers’ attack rely on experience to fight back

After being thrashed in the powerplay, Sixers’ veteran attack relied on their experience to pull Renegades back.They’ve long mastered conditions at the SCG, where the spongy surface can make batting difficult, as Dwarshuis, Kerr and Sean Abbott mixed up their pace to help get Sixers back into the contest.They bowled into the wicket and made use of a ball softening after the powerplay. It wasn’t a perfect performance with the quicks unusually expensive, but Sixers left-arm spinner Joel Davies stepped up and bowled well from around the wicket to finish with 1 for 24 from 4 overs.

Seifert overshadows fellow recruits

After a disappointing seventh-placed finish last season, Renegades transitioned their roster following the departures of stalwarts Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh and Nic Maddinson.They’ve overhauled the batting and focused on power-hitting with the recruitments of Brisbane Heat title-winning opener Josh Brown, New Zealand’s Tim Seifert and Laurie Evans, who excelled last season in the middle order for Perth Scorchers.All eyes were on the dynamic opening combination of Brown and Jake Fraser-McGurk, who did not disappoint with a first ball boundary off Dwarshuis that was laced through point.Fraser-McGurk was keen to shake off his struggles in the recent white-ball series against Pakistan and connected on a length delivery from Edwards in the second over for a huge six down the ground.He raced to 21 until on his 12th delivery he was deceived by Abbott, who on his first ball cunningly unfurled a subtle change of pace.Brown had little of the strike to that point until taking over with the type of belligerent batting that lit up last season’s finals series. But he contributed a similarly teasing knock to Fraser-McGurk – hitting 22 off ten – as Renegades, who had smashed 44 in the powerplay, stumbled in the middle overs with Evans and Hassan falling cheaply.In contrast to Renegades other new recruits, Seifert paced his innings well to top-score with 55 off 42 balls and shared a 50-run partnership with Sutherland, who had a successful return after a side strain had kept him out of action since early November.

Velocity were bowled out in their Thursday afternoon game, having played the tournament opener on Wednesday night

PTI05-Nov-2020Velocity captain Mithali Raj said her team found it difficult to recover before their match against Trailblazers, less than 12 hours after the first Women’s T20 Challenge game on Wednesday night. Velocity were bowled out for 47 on Thursday afternoon and lost by nine-wickets against Trailblazers.”As far as playing in the afternoon [is concerned], we haven’t even got 12 hours to recover from yesterday’s game. So clearly yes, it has been difficult for the girls to prepare themselves and come back and play the afternoon game after playing last night,” Raj said in the post-match press conference.While the other two teams have rest days between their games, Velocity played two consecutive games in under 24 hours and had to travel between Dubai and Sharjah. They’re the only team in the tournament without days between fixtures in the league stage. They were undone by left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who took 4 for 9. Raj praised Ecclestone’s ability to adapt.”That’s why she’s number one. She came up with a game plan and quickly adapted with her line and length. After Shafali hit her for six she bowled pulled her length onto the shorter side and got wickets in the powerplay.”Jhulan Goswami took two wickets for Trailblazers and said that she merely focused on getting back to match sharpness.”I just stuck to my basics. After a long time I was playing this format of the game, so I just wanted get back the rhythm and momentum. That was my plan.” The 37-year-old said the tournament was good for Indian cricket and that a longer version of it would benefit the youngsters in India’s growing talent pool.”Last year, Shafali played here and was picked in the Indian team and she was so good in the World Cup,” Goswami said. “If we get more matches the youngsters get the opportunity to learn from overseas players and it will be good for Indian cricket.”

Sanjay Manjrekar joins the ESPNcricinfo crew to look back at the first week of the 2023 IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Apr-2023The IPL feels as loud as it’s ever been! In the latest episode of Stump Mic, Sanjay Manjrekar, Matt Roller, Vishal Dikshit and Kaustubh Kumar look back at the first week of the 2023 season, with focus on the new rules, numerous injuries, and more.