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Only a victory in Melbourne will keep the Ashes alive heading into the new year

Andrew McGlashan24-Dec-2021There is a chance that 2021 finishes as a record-breaking year for Joe Root, and record-equalling for England, but for significantly different reasons.Root currently sits fourth in the list for most runs scored by a batter in a calendar year, and needs 159 to go ahead of Mohammad Yousuf’s golden 2006 mark. His team, meanwhile, is one defeat away from equalling the record for most Test losses in a calendar year, which is currently at nine, registered by Bangladesh in 2003.Related

• Zak Crawley's Ashes SOS – why England have kept the faith

• 'Not good enough' – Root admits anger at England's results

• Has cricket turned into an obligation for England?

The two records are closely linked. If Root achieves his in a single innings – ideally the first time England bat in the match – it will give them a chance of avoiding the second. Having not passed 300 yet in the series, where they trail 2-0 after two games, they have to put up a total that will pressure Australia, even if the MCG pitch is on the livelier side, more than seen of late.”It’s been very enjoyable personally, in terms of batting, spending time out there making some big scores, but nothing compares to winning,” Root said of personal success amid a struggling team. “If I perform well in the last three Tests here, it gives us a good chance of getting the scores on the board to win games.”Root has twice fallen after passing 50 in this series, nicking Cameron Green on both occasions, with England having produced just four half-centuries – the other two coming from Dawid Malan. Root carries a huge burden in this fragile batting order and desperately needs others around him to lift their games. There are likely to be changes with Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow in the mix with Root imploring his fellow batters to keep it simple.”It’s asking all of our batters, whoever it is that does play, to do basic things very well. Give yourself an opportunity to go and make big runs and build big partnerships,” he said. “I bang on about that all the time but it’s the fundamentals of batting: be willing to concentrate for long periods of time, being able to wear bowlers down, take themselves deep into an innings and make those big scores that put you ahead of the game.”If you look at these last two games, it’s been mental [lapses], not through lack of confidence or anything like that, but understanding of conditions and sniffing the danger. I think we can be a bit smarter about that.”He is also willing to carry that responsibility himself as he continues to search for a first Ashes hundred in Australia, having spent time working in the nets at the MCG to ensure he knows where his off stump is, so he can judge what to play and what to leave.”That’s the most frustrating thing on my part, an experienced batter shouldn’t be making that mistake twice,” he said. “Hence why I’ve been doing the work and I expect better from myself.”Despite the continued batting problems, it was the bowling that dominated the fallout from Adelaide after Root’s comments that he felt England got the lengths wrong, which led to Ricky Ponting questioning why he did not push the bowlers into changing.Does Joe Root have a big score in him to finish the year?•AFP

“I like to give our bowlers, especially the senior ones, that responsibility,” Root said. “They have more than 300 Tests between them and over 1000 wickets, and they know what they are doing. It’s working alongside them, it’s not a dictatorship. Every now and again, you don’t always agree on everything and that’s fine. Ultimately, it’s about coming to a point where you get the results we want. Unfortunately, in the last game, we didn’t quite get there.”There has been differing reaction from within the England camp with Stuart Broad saying in his column, which came out while the second Test was still progress, that the economy rates would have “gone through the roof” by bowling fuller, while in the James Anderson suggested there could some validity in the criticism, although he referenced data that showed Australia were no fuller.”We have to be better at assessing it during a game,” Anderson said. “We can’t just go after the game ‘we should have bowled fuller’. If we are bowling too short, at lunch we need information back, saying we need to push our lengths up. We have to be a bit more proactive at that too as a whole group.”In Australia, you have to hit the pitch hard and bowl every ball as if your life depends on it, as fast as you can, because you don’t get anything here for just putting it on a length. You have to put your back into it. It is a balancing act to make sure it is full enough but not floaty. Look at the numbers. They show both sides bowled similar lengths. They did not bowl any fuller than us. But it is a case of the difference in techniques of the batters. It must be, because they took 20 wickets and we didn’t.”All parts of England’s game are going to have to work harmony in Melbourne if this series is to be alive going into 2022, but it could well be Root who has to make the difference for them in the end.

Three wickets apiece for Hampshire bowlers as wickets tumble in South Coast battle

ECB Reporters Network01-Aug-2020Hampshire 77 for 4 trail Sussex 176 (Salt 68, Garton 54*) by 99 runs Ajeet Dale took three wickets on his Hampshire debut and Mason Crane returned his best first-class figures in England for three years as Hampshire had just the better of the first day against Sussex in the Bob Willis Trophy at Hove.Right-arm seamer Dale, who is on a rookie contract with the club after coming through their Academy system, took two wickets in two balls and finished with 3 for 20 while leg-spinner Crane took the last three wickets to fall as Sussex were dismissed for 176 in 61.1 overs after winning the toss. The hosts fought back in the final hour though, taking three late wickets as Hampshire reached 77 for four at stumps.It had been hard going for the Sussex batsmen and they were indebted to opener Phil Salt, who top-scored with 68, and George Garton, who held the lower order together with an undefeated 54. The pitch offered few terrors and there were quite a few soft dismissals.There had been no hint of the stranglehold Hampshire’s attack would go on to impose on the batsmen when Keith Barker and James Fuller leaked 25 runs off their opening overs but left-armer Barker then settled into a probing spell with his next seven costing just four runs.He made the breakthrough in the seventh over when Tom Haines (14) padded up to a ball that swung a touch and trapped him lbw.Ian Holland struck next in the 17th over. Harry Finch, who had taken 22 balls to get off the mark but was beginning to settle, played down the wrong line and was lbw for eight to leave Sussex 56 for 2.Dale had initially struggled to get his line right and he was a touch fortunate with his first wicket when Tom Clark (2) mis-timed a pull to a ball outside off stump and Barker dived forward at mid-on to take an excellent low catch.But there was nothing wrong with his next delivery which moved late off the pitch to Ben Brown, who feathered an edge to wicketkeeper Lewis McManus. Holland struck again with the last ball before lunch when Delray Rawlins was leg before for a duck, leaving Sussex 73 for five and in some strife.Salt was typically aggressive when given the opportunity and had progressed to 68 from 83 deliveries, with 11 fours, when he toe-ended an attempted pull and Fuller took an excellent diving catch in his follow-through.Ollie Robinson was badly dropped at third slip by Felix Organ off Barker on four but only added seven more runs when he played on to the fourth ball of Dale’s second spell to leave Sussex 125 for seven.Sussex debutants Jack Carson and Henry Crocombe, two of nine players in the home team who have come through their Academy system, helped Garton add 31 for the eighth and ninth wickets, but both fell during an impressively controlled spell from Crane. Carson (5) fatally played back to the top-spinner and Crocombe (2) was smartly stumped by McManus after being lured forward.Garton, though, twice hit Crane for six to loosen the shackles before Mitch Claydon (3) swung across the line to give Crane his third wicket and figures of three for 23. Garton’s excellent unbeaten 54 came off 107 balls with five fours and was his third successive first-class half-century.Sussex fought back with the ball. Organ was caught off a no ball from Robinson on 14 had not added to his score when former Kent seamer Claydon found a feint inside edge to claim his 300th first-class wicket.Another debutant – off-spinner Carson – made an even quicker impression when Joe Weatherley (19) edged his second ball in first-class cricket before Robinson came back to bowl skipper Tom Alsop (21) and have night-watchman Crane caught behind for a duck.Earlier, both sides had observed a minute’s silence before play started to remember the victims of the Covid19 pandemic. They then took the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Glenn Maxwell is proud of his team for finding ways in foreign conditions to make it 4-0 against Pakistan, but he wants just a little more from them

Daniel Brettig30-Mar-2019Glenn Maxwell and Australia are targeting a 5-0 sweep of Pakistan to finish their dual tour of India and the UAE, which has delivered the tourists as a group and Maxwell himself an enormous amount of growth.Clearly benefiting from added responsibility as an advisor to the captain Aaron Finch, Maxwell has played a pair of his finest limited-overs innings since the 2015 World Cup to help the Australians seal the Pakistan series and get within one game of 5-0. His role in the team, a subject of considerable debate this summer, appears to have crystallised as a middle-order specialist with the occasional promotion, and peaked with an innings of 98 on Friday night that ensured the team had just enough runs to squeak past Pakistan.”It’s very exciting for us, and that’s all the motivation you need, to have a clean sweep in a foreign country after we haven’t had a lot of success over the last 12 months,” Maxwell said. “It’d be great for this group to win 5-0, I feel like we’ve played some extremely good cricket over here, we’ve adapted brilliantly to different conditions and everyone’s chipped in at different times as well. It’s been a really good team effort the whole time. One more big effort for us over here, then blokes can take their holidays.”Much was made of the fact that Maxwell gave up the chance to score a century by chasing a dicey second run in the final over of the innings, leading to his dismissal for 98, but he had no qualms about giving up a personal milestone for the team. “It would have been nice to get a hundred but I was really happy with the way I played today,” Maxwell said.”To put that partnership on with [Alex] Carey, to get us to a total we thought we could defend – I was really proud of the way I went about it. The hundred doesn’t really matter too much to me. I’m not going to look back on my career when I’m done and think about all the hundreds I’ve missed. I’m going to think about the wins we had.”Finding a way to better contribute to wins has been a theme of Maxwell’s recent months in the team, as he, Finch and coach Justin Langer have worked towards the current formula. Maxwell was happy to admit he had made plenty of errors along the way, but showed in a vital stand with the wicketkeeper Carey that there is growing maturity to his expansive game.”The last two games I’ve come in a bit earlier when we’ve lost a few wickets back to back and there’s been a little bit of pressure on when I’ve gone out. It’s actually been nice to get through that, be able to get myself into my innings and not just go out and play a cameo knock in the last 10 overs.”I was able to get myself in and really assess the conditions. That’s playing to the conditions and playing how you should as a middle-order batter and those sorts of opportunities come up when conditions are tough and the top order’s found it difficult. That’s why they get out and that’s why you go in at those times. For me it’s about getting through those tough times and giving myself that chance to go at the back end.”I’ve made a lot of mistakes as a middle-order batter and not quite made it to the time where I can go. It was nice to be there for the back end and delay the bigger hitting until a little bit later when we felt like we could comfortably get to a total we could defend.”More broadly, the team found a way to outlast Pakistan despite the chasers getting themselves in a position where, needing 49 from seven overs with seven wickets in hand, they really should have won. “It’s one of those games where because we’ve got a bit of winning momentum behind, you find a way to win these. If you look back six to seven months ago, probably even less, we were probably on the other side of it,” Maxwell said.”We were finding ways to lose when we were in winning positions [a few months ago]. It’s a funny thing winning momentum. When you’re winning games, you just find a way to win. That’s the great thing about this group at the moment. We’re finding ways to win in different conditions, different ways.”With that ball getting really wet it was hard for us to control that partnership through the middle and they were batting really well, the wicket was skidding on nicely and we just had to hang in there for a little bit longer. That’s where I’m really proud of this group, we just hung in there and kept the run rate at bay.”

Bangladesh have lost 13 of their last 14 T20Is, and will need to resolve their batting issues, particularly their difficulty with rotating the strike

The Preview by Mohammad Isam09-Mar-2018

Big picture

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are at opposite ends of the confidence spectrum as they face up in the Nidahas Trophy. Bangladesh haven’t won an international match since January 23, since when they have lost two ODIs, two Tests and three T20s on the trot. Sri Lanka on the other hand have looked like a different unit, following their successes in Bangladesh. Their five-wicket win over India showed where their confidence currently stands.Their chase against India, in which the middle order latched on to the fast start made by the top order, was quite pleasing. Although Kusal Mendis fell cheaply, Kusal Perera struck a superb 66 off 37 balls before big hitters Dasun Shanaka and Thisara Perera rounded it off with precision. It might have been against a second-string India attack, but Sri Lanka were happy to beat them.They would, however, be slightly worried about their bowlers. Akila Dananjaya went wicketless, and Nuwan Pradeep was carted around, which meant part-timers Jeevan Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka had to share six overs. Their fast bowlers, including Thisara Perera, would be inclined to bowl short at the Bangladesh batsmen, given their moderate success using this length earlier this year.Facing Sri Lanka’s short-ball barrage is one of several problems Bangladesh could face. Their 139 for 8 against India was not just sub-par, but a reflection of their mentality. They played out 68 dot balls as they mistimed several attempts to hit boundaries. Even Liton Das and Sabbir Rahman, who got out in the thirties, were guilty of eating up dot balls. Mushfiqur Rahim got out at the wrong time.What will encourage Bangladesh would be their bowling, which looked slightly improved in the India game. Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain and Mehidy Hasan bowled well, as did Nazmul Islam, although he was underbowled. Having lost 13 of their last 14 T20Is, though, they will need to find ways to build on these small gains.

Form guide

Sri Lanka: WWWLL (last five matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh: LLLLL

In the spotlight

Having missed much of Sri Lanka’s tour of Bangladesh through injury, Kusal Perera stormed back into international cricket with a quickfire 66 against India. More fireworks will be expected on Saturday.Soumya Sarkar was Bangladesh’s top scorer in T20 internationals in 2017, despite not holding on to his place in the Test and ODI teams. He has crossed 40 three times in his last five innings, and will be expected to carry that form forward.Associated Press

Team news

Sri Lanka may switch Nuwan Pradeep with Suranga Lakmal to bolster their pace attack.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Kusal Mendis, 3 Kusal Perera, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (capt & wk), 5 Upul Tharanga, 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Jeevan Mendis, 9 Akila Dananjaya, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Nuwan PradeepBangladesh have plenty to worry about but perhaps it is not their bowling, which could deter them from adding a seventh batsman to their line-up.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Liton Das, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah (capt), 6 Sabbir Rahman, 7 Mehidy Hasan, 8 Mustafizur Rahman, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Nazmul Islam

Pitch and conditions

The pitches will get slower and more spin-friendly as the tournament goes on. There is a chance of showers in Colombo but the weather is expected to clear by 5pm.

Stats and trivia

• Kusal Perera’s 66 in the last game was his eighth T20I fifty – he joined Kumar Sangakkara as the Sri Lankan with the most fifties in the format without scoring a hundred.
• Tamim Iqbal has now gone 12 innings without a 50-plus score in T20Is, since scoring an unbeaten century against Oman at the 2016 World T20.

Quotes

“It is a good wicket, so chasing 170-180 isn’t that hard. We have to bowl better, but I guess we should have scored more runs [in the previous game] too.”

Hamish Rutherford and Mahela Jayawardene hammered centuries in New Plymouth, making it the highest-aggregated T20 ever

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Dec-2016In a record-breaking 497-run T20 match in New Plymouth, Neil Wagner defended eight off the final over to help Otago clinch a one-run thriller against Central Districts. It became the highest aggregate of runs in a T20, beating 489 scored by India and West Indies in Lauderhill in August this year. Otago raced to 249 on the back of a 46-ball hundred by Hamish Rutherford, before Mahela Jayawardene’s 48-ball century kept Central Districts in the hunt. With two required off the final ball, Dane Cleaver was run-out.Jayawardene batted till the 19th over during his third T20 century – 116 off 56 balls. Central Districts needed 21 off 11 balls when he was dismissed. Tom Bruce kept firing at the other end with a 22-ball fifty. A no-ball and a wide in the penultimate over helped Central Districts, before a six from Bruce brought the equation to 10 off seven. However, they couldn’t score a boundary thereafter. Wagner conceded eight off the first five balls of his over. Cleaver was subsequently run-out, and the Otago players ended in a heap while celebrating.”Wags has been sensational in the death throughout this whole campaign so to have him bowl that over was exciting,” Rutherford said. “I just said to him, ‘Mate, come on, this is what you play cricket for’. And as Neil usually is, he was absolutely fizzing for it. Once it got down to that last ball, it took a while to understand what we were going to do and we thought about maybe a Super Over but to walk away with an actual victory at that point was amazing.”Openers George Worker and Jayawardene had given the chase a flying start by putting on 50 in just four overs. Worker fell for 35 off 20 in the last over of the Powerplay, to Jimmy Neesham, and captain Will Young managed 16 off 10 balls. Needing 145 runs off 10.5 overs, Jayawardene and Bruce clobbered 124 in only nine overs. Jayawardene smacked 11 fours and six sixes when he reached his century. Bruce knocked three fours and six sixes in his unbeaten 61 off 29. Neesham was the only bowler to concede at less than 10 per over in the innings, with figures of 2 for 37.”I guess you look back and say he gave us two chances and unfortunately we put them down,” Rutherford said of Jayawardene’s innings later. “I’m not sure where that would have ended up if they were taken. But again you can’t put it away from him, it was a quality innings – untroubled, he hit some nice shots in nice areas and didn’t try and manipulate too much.”Otago had cashed in on their decision to bat as the openers Anaru Kitchen and Rutherford plundered 100 runs in 8.2 overs. Both scored their half-centuries off 25 balls. They put on 130 in 11 overs before Kitchen’s stumps were knocked over by left-arm spinner Marty Kain’s flat delivery, for his 54 that included three fours and five sixes. Rutherford and Neil Broom then joined forces to hammer 67 runs in the next five overs. Rutherford took only 21 balls for his next 50 runs to score his maiden T20 hundred. He holed out to long-on of Seth Rance for 106 when they were three runs adrift of 200 with four overs left.Neesham scored an 11-ball 18 before he also fell to Rance. Broom was unbeaten on 42 off 24 and Michael Bracewell struck the three balls he faced for a four and two sixes to post the highest T20 total in New Zealand and the seventh-highest overall.The win helped Otago to third on the points table, two points behind second-placed Central Districts.”I’m sure it’s something everyone will remember for a long time. These moments really come crucial towards the end of the tournament, you remember those moments, those games, those tight finishes so that will put is in good stead moving forward,” Rutherford said.

Saeed Ajmal has had his PCB contract suspended following his recent outburst about the testing procedures for suspect actions where he accused the ICC of double standards

Umar Farooq12-Nov-2015Saeed Ajmal has had his PCB contract suspended following his recent outburst about the testing procedures for suspect actions where he accused the ICC of double standards.Ajmal was given a category B deal earlier this year in the latest batch of central contacts having been demoted from the top level following his difficult return to international cricket after remodelling his action.”Why just target the off-spinners?”Ajmal asked in interviews with Zainab Abbas on Dunya News and with Geo Super. “Why not the left-arm spinners, legspinners or fast bowlers?”I can tell you that I have been through this bowling assessment process so many times and have watched and studied this issue so closely that I can vouch that if tests were carried out, there would be many other bowlers whose bowling actions would exceed the 15 degrees extension limit.”Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, said: “I am disappointed what Saeed said recently and we have taken a minimum action against him by suspending [his contract] and held his monthly retainer. We have also asked him to write to us about why he talked like that. We have always supported him, helped him throughout in his tough time and even hired Saqlain Mushtaq to work on his action.”Ajmal has not played for Pakistan since April when he took one wicket in two ODIs against Bangladesh and was also wicketless in a T20. During the 2015 English season he struggled for Worcestershire in the County Championship, claiming 16 wickets at 55.62.

Chennai Super Kings’ new recruit, fast-bowling South African allrounder Chris Morris, was quite pleased with how Wednesday’s match against Kings XI Punjab turned out

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Apr-2013For Chennai Super Kings’ new recruit, fast-bowling South African allrounder Chris Morris, Wednesday night’s match against Kings XI Punjab was a mixed bag. He leaked 11 runs in his first over, but finished with tidy figures. He began the day nervously – “I left my bag behind at the hotel” – but ended it feeling part of the set-up, having “never waved so much at a crowd in my life”.Overall, it was quite a clinical performance from Super Kings, as they strolled to a ten-wicket victory over Kings XI at their home ground. That, the players who spoke after the match from both camps agreed, came down to the hosts not having scored enough runs. Kings XI were a comfortable 106 for 3 after 14 overs, before being skittled out for 138 with a ball to spare.Talking to the IPL website about Kings XI’s slide, Morris said: “I think we bowled well. It was a good wicket to bat on, and I thought the guys played well to pull it back the way they did.”Morris got his first over in the fourth of the match, and began with an impressive ball in the blockhole. However, he then strayed a bit in line, getting too close to the batsmen’s pads, and was hit for two four by Manan Vohra. In his second over, M Vijay dropped a simple catch off his bowling, allowing David Hussey a life. In his third, Morris got his first wicket as Azhar Mahmood mistimed a pull. “It was unbelievable to get that first [wicket]. I knew he was going to have a go. I thought I would take the pace off and fortunately it worked for me, because he is quite a dangerous player,” Morris said. “I am very happy that my plans worked.”In his final over Morris claimed the wicket of Ryan Harris to finish with 2 for 27, figures that he was quite satisfied with: “Unbelievably happy with my first [match]. If anyone told me before the game what my figures would have been, I would have taken it.”Morris had arrived in India on Monday, following the conclusion of his domestic commitments, and learned he would play during Tuesday’s training session. “I had a bit of a run with the team and [the coach] Stephen Fleming came to me and said we need you in this role. Then I had a rough night’s sleep and got it together this morning.”Expectedly, Morris said, the conditions were new to him: “There is not as much bounce as in South Africa and that I have to get used to, but I will work in practice and I will get better.”Vohra, who was one of the key figures in Kings XI’s victory in their opening game against Pune Warriors, said his team had fallen well short of a par score on this pitch. “It was good batting track and we scored really few runs. A total of 180 was needed here.”The ball was coming on to the bat really well, and we were playing well. But when David Hussey got out, a couple of bad shots made it [the slide] happen.”

Mahela Jayawardene doesn’t think a lack of training sessions in Mirpur or a chance to assess the conditions earlier than the day of the game affected his team; they were in control but gave the match away because of a few critical mistakes, he says

Siddarth Ravindran at the Shere Bangla National Stadium14-Mar-2012Few things highlight the relentlessness of the current international schedule like Sri Lanka’s itinerary over the past few months. A difficult and challenging tour of South Africa was almost immediately followed by a gruelling Commonwealth Bank series in Australia, five days after which they were playing their first match in the Asia Cup.The short gap between tournaments and a massive political rally in Dhaka on Monday meant the first time the Sri Lankans came to the Shere Bangla stadium since they landed in Bangladesh was for their opening match against India. Even Virat Kohli, Man of the Match on Tuesday and a batsman in the form of his life, acknowledged the difficulties in adapting from the bouncier pitches in Australia to the ones in the subcontinent.Mahela Jayawardene, though, didn’t think a lack of training sessions in Mirpur or a chance to assess the conditions and tailor game-plans earlier than the day of the game affected his team. “No not really, I thought we needed a few days off,” Jayawardene said. “We played five games in ten days in Australia, including travelling, and then had a 24-hour trip to Bangladesh, so we needed two days off, and because of the situation yesterday [Monday], we were forced to rest and I think the boys were quite happy with that. We had a good practice for about an hour and a half before the game, no complaints.”The manner in which Sri Lanka’s top order set about dismantling India’s bowling early in the chase didn’t suggest any difficulty in having had to switch continents. Jayawardene’s drives, cuts, dabs and pick-up shots towards deep-backward square leg in an hour of controlled aggression had India scrambling to limit the damage.Mahela Jayawardene: “My bad shot and two wickets in the first over of the Powerplay – that probably cost us the match.”•Associated Press

A combination of a pitch that was getting easier to bat on and a speedy outfield also helped Sri Lanka believe they weren’t out of it, though India had put on a big score. “Three-hundred, I thought, was gettable on this wicket,” Jayawardene said. “We batted really well but we made quite a few mistakes [too], and that has probably cost us the game.”One of the mistakes he was referring to was the shot that led to his downfall. Sri Lanka were flying at 124 for 1 in the 19th over when his attempt to run a wide ball very fine to the third-man boundary, ended up being too fine and a catch for MS Dhoni. The fielding, too, was a bit lax – a dropped catch, several close run-out chances missed and some fumbles. In the absence of the rested Lasith Malinga, they also had the problem most teams in world cricket seem to be currently facing: plugging the runs at the end of the innings. Dhoni and Suresh Raina plundered 95 in the final ten as Sri Lanka’s bowlers sent down full toss after full toss, many of them heading for the pads.”There are a lot of ifs and buts, I should not have played the shot I played, we were cruising at that time. As a team I think we gave away 15 runs on the field, we are a much better fielding side. Our last ten overs of the bowling wasn’t disciplined enough, its crucial we don’t make mistakes like this against a good opposition.”Despite those lapses, Sri Lanka were still in the game when the batting Powerplay was taken in the 36th over of the chase, with both Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne having settled in. R Ashwin sent both back in an over, as, sweeping, Sangakkara didn’t connect well enough, and Thirimanne didn’t connect at all. “I thought we were in control of the game for quite some time,” Jayawardene said. “Except for my bad shot and two wickets in the first over of the Powerplay – that probably cost us the match.”What also scuttled Sri Lanka was the absence of their two allrounders, Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera. Mathews has shown himself to be adept at closing out matches, while Perera’s powerful strikes would have helped the chase. More importantly, Jayawardene would have had more bowling options – he had to resort to using Chamara Kapugedera at one point in the double-century stand between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir.”It is tough to get a combination going, both Thisara and Angelo are injured, we are trying to see what is the best combination we can come up with. Given the wicket, we thought we should play the extra batsman and chase.”Edited by Nikita Bastian

S Badrinath scored 97 not out as South Zone’s batsmen quickly chipped away at the 337 North Zone notched up in their first innings

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsS Badrinath closed in on what will be his 27th first-class century•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

He may only have played two Test matches, and his age may be considered a disadvantage as India looks to groom young players for the future, but it hasn’t stopped S Badrinath from being a run-machine in domestic cricket. He was as it again in the Duleep Trophy final, scoring 97 not out on the second day to ensure his side South Zone are odds-on favourites to take the first-innings lead.South are just 39 runs behind North Zone’s 337, and with Badrinath still at the wicket and plenty of batting to come, they will be aiming to take a commanding lead.Badrinath was watchful against North’s seamers, and hit just one boundary in the first 49 deliveries he faced. Once the spinners came on, he cut loose, smashing North captain Amit Mishra for a four and a six down the ground in the 39th over, before hitting him for two boundaries on the leg side. After a steady period, Badrinath accelerated again towards the end of the day, playing two glorious drives to the off-side fence off seamer Yashpal Singh.That left him on 90 with four overs still left in the day. A less experienced batsman may have gotten anxious and attempted a rash stroke, but Badrinath is no stranger to being near a first-class century – he has 26 – and he was patient enough to play out the last few overs.South’s healthy run-rate of 4.25 was aided by aggressive half-centuries by Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey. Uthappa had a strike-rate of 104.76 in his 66, and laid into North’s seamers early. Ishant Sharma, the India seamer’s, sixth over went for 14 runs as Uthappa hit him straight back over his head for four and then pulled him for six over square leg. Ishant ended up conceding 61 runs in his 13 overs on the day.Uthappa reached his half-century of 54 balls and celebrated it by hitting three consecutive boundaries off Sumit Narwal. His dismissal, though, was disappointing, as he top-edged an attempted pull off Joginder Sharma to mid off. Uthappa had been involved in an 85-run opening stand with Abhinav Mukund, who was out for 34 to Narwal.Pandey was also guilty of throwing his wicket away after a stroke-filled innings. He was severe on the spinners, striking Mishra for two sixes and hitting part-time spinner Mithun Manhas out of the attack with consecutive sixes over midwicket in his second over, and a four and a six in his next. Pandey attempted one shot too many, and lofted Narwal straight to Ishant at mid-off, when he was on 74.South were 243 for 3 at that stage, and North were denied any chance of a fightback by Badrinath, who remained solid till the end of the day. Badrinath was the top-scorer in the Ranji season in which he scored 922 runs at an average of 131.71, and appears to have carried that form over to the Duleep Trophy.North would have been satisfied with their batting performance in the first session, as they added 71 to their overnight score of 266 for 7. Joginder started by hitting R Vinay Kumar for consecutive boundaries off the first two balls of the day. Badrinath made what proved to be a successful decision to bring left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha into the attack in the eighth over of the morning. Ojha baffled Joginder with one that pitched on middle, went past the edge and hit the top of off.Overnight centurion Paras Dogra responded by taking three boundaries off the next over from Vinay Kumar, but then hit Ojha straight to mid-on to fall for 167. Narwal, who proved with his two half-centuries in the semi-final that he can be useful with the bat, hit seamer Sreenath Aravind for two fours and a six in one over, but eventually became Aravind’s third victim of the innings, losing his middle stump while attempting a slog.North had ensured they went past the 300-run mark, but the response from South left their total looking quite a few short.

Afghanistan continued their superb form in this tournament, sealing a 29-run victory over USA to maintain their unbeaten run and secure passage to the Super Fours

Cricinfo staff11-Feb-2010
ScorecardHamid Hassan continued his superb bowling form with three more wickets today•International Cricket Council

Cheered on by a vocal crowd of over 1,000, Afghanistan continued their superb form in this tournament, sealing a 29-run victory over USA to maintain their unbeaten run and secure passage to the Super Fours. After the early loss of Mohammad Shahzad, Afghanistan’s top five rallied to post 135 for 4. Shapoor Zadran’s miserly opening spell pegged USA back in the first five overs, and once again Hamid Hassan was in the wickets, picking up three today in another emphatic win.Afghanistan’s total, though competitive, was by no means unbeatable, and once again they needed a strong performance from their bowlers to back up the work done by the batsmen. Zadran, who was the architect of yesterday’s win with some frugal bowling, was at it again today. Charging in, he found good pace and some movement, and conceded just six runs in his opening spell. He was well supported by Mirwais Ashraf at the other end, but Afghanistan’s fielding mirrored that of USA in the first innings, as three run out chances were missed in the first five overs and two catches were dropped in the innings.Ashraf also found some nip off the pitch, felling Sushil Nadkarni with a sharp bouncer in his third over. After a slow start, Nadkarni slashed Karim Sadiq to the point boundary, but mistimed a lofted drive in the next over to depart for 12. With the required run rate edging towards 10 an over, Lennox Cush hoicked Mohammad Nabi to Nowroz Mangal at long-on and USA’s hopes began to fade. Hassan, who has been instrumental to Afghanistan’s success, dismissed Carl Wright with the first ball of his spell as the batsman drove hard but in the air and straight to Nabi at short cover as USA were reduced to 54 for 3 in the 13th over.Timroy Allen lofted Nabi high over long off, but had his stumps shattered in Hassan’s next over to depart for 9. Aditya Thyagarajan, whose unbeaten 72 was the highlight of USA’s batting yesterday, repeated the shot off Sadiq’s offspin, but then had his off stump similarly uprooted by a buoyant Hassan. Rashard Marshall unleashed some classy drives in his 19, but by the time he came to the wicket the result was already all but sealed, and after his run out in the final over USA closed on 106 for 7.After Mangal had won the toss and decided to bat, Afghanistan’s innings got off to an uncharacteristically muted start as Shahzad struggled to get off the mark. After a few airy slashes, he departed for a fifth ball duck, his nervy swish resulting in a nick to Wright. Noor Ali also battled to time the ball in the first few overs, but found some touch with the introduction of Imran Awan in the sixth over, cracking the first three balls he faced from him to the boundary with a series of pulls and flicks to leg.Ali was run out for 26 after a mix up with Mangal two overs later to bring Sadiq to the crease. Sadiq aimed a wild swipe at his very first ball and was lucky to survive as long as he did, being dropped twice in the midst of a shoddy fielding effort from USA. His frenetic innings ended when he was stumped charging down the wicket to Allen’s medium pace with Wright standing up.All the while Mangal had been accumulating runs well at the other end, and was particularly strong off the front foot. Aggressive batting was a feature of Afghanistan’s innings, but unfortunately so was their poor running. To add to Ali’s dismissal, Sadiq should have been run out for two but was given a life after Steve Massiah missed an easy chance with an inaccurate throw from mid off. Mangal was also run out for 30 after more confused running, to leave the innings poised at 89 for 4 after 15 overs.Nabi and Raees Ahmadzai took a heavy toll on the bowling with some thrilling strokeplay in the closing overs, adding 46 in quick time to inflate Afghanistan’s total. Nabi got going with a glance to the fine leg boundary before unleashing a remarkable inside-out drive, lofted over the covers for six, and following that up with a fierce pull through midwicket in the next over. Swinging hard at everything, Ahmadzai finally found the boundary off the final two balls of the innings courtesy of more poor fielding to finish on 26 from 17 balls. Ultimately, their aggressive approach provided Afghanistan’s bowlers with the breathing space they needed to complete another victory.Afghanistan’s win confirms their place in the Super Fours and takes them one step closer to their dream of a trip to the West Indies for the World Twenty20 tournament. For their part, USA will have been pleased with their win over Scotland in the opening game of the Qualifiers, but their heavy loss to Ireland yesterday and capitulation today confirms the hard work still needed for them to be competitive at this level.