All posts by csb10.top

Canterbury defended 250 to seal their spot in the final of the Ford Trophy 2016-17. Wellington fell short of their target by 28 runs, but will get a second go at making the title bout on February 15 when they play Central Districts in the third-preliminary final. This is courtesy their top-of-the-table finish in the round-robin stage; the loser of the preliminary-final between Nos. 1 and 2 plays the winner of the preliminary-final between Nos. 3 and 4.Three wickets in an economic spell from fast bowler Matt Henry went a long way in ensuring Canterbury’s win. He claimed two of Wellington’s top three cheaply, before returning to end a feisty last-wicket stand between Brent Arnel and Hamish Bennett that had added 32 at over a run a ball. In between Henry’s strikes, several Wellington batsmen got starts but only Luke Ronchi managed to convert that into a half-century. Pacers Henry Shipley and Andrew Ellis were also incisive and economical, taking five wickets between them, to ensure Wellington never got away.Canterbury’s total was built around half-centuries from Chad Bowes and Todd Astle. They were wobbling at 10 for 2 after being inserted, but opener Bowes held the innings together with his 84. After he and Astle were out, another hiccup happened with two wickets in two balls (Ellis caught behind and Johnston run out in the 42nd over), but Cole McConchie ensured they did not slide with a swift, unbeaten 40. Canterbury were eventually bowled out with three balls to spare, most of the damage being done by the spin of Jeetan Patel and the new-ball pair of Arnel and Bennett. But their total of 250 proved more than enough in the end.Central Districts had only one win in their first six matches in this season’s Ford Trophy. They won their last two group games with bonus points and made the playoffs. Now they’ve won their first playoff, beating Northern Districts by 48 runs in New Plymouth, to be one step away from the final. They will need to beat Wellington – who lost only one match in the round-robin stage – on February 15, to have a shot at what had looked like a highly improbable title at one stage.Central Districts chose to bat and were propelled to 336 for 7 on the back of a maiden List A century from Tom Bruce and knocks of seventy-odd at the top and bottom of the order from George Worker and Kieran Noema-Barnett. Bruce and Noema-Barnett’s runs came particularly quickly; Bruce’s 100 came off 81 balls and included eight sixes, while Noema-Barnett’s 74 came off 49 balls. Amid the carnage, Northern Districts’ Scott Kuggeleijn and Ish Sodhi maintained economy rates under five, and shared four wickets between them.Northern Districts’ middle order made a decent fight of it, with three half-century partnerships in good time – going into the final 10, they needed 105 with six wickets in hand and two set batsmen at the crease. But then the bottom five managed only 16 runs among them to end the challenge. When they were bowled out for 288 in the 49th over, Kuggeleijn was left stranded on 85 off 52. Fast bowler Seth Rance and left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel were the most effective of the Central Districts bowlers, picking up three apiece in tidy spells.

John Hampshire, the former Yorkshire captain and England batsman who went on to become an international umpire, has died at the age of 76 after a long illness.Hampshire, who scored a century on his Test debut, against West Indies at Lord’s in 1969, played eight Tests and three ODIs for England, but will be best remembered as an integral member of the great Yorkshire side that dominated the County Championship in the 1960s.In a 23-year career that included spells with Derbyshire, Tasmania and, briefly, Leicestershire, Hampshire scored a total of 28,059 first-class runs at 34.55, including 43 hundreds – the vast majority of those coming during his 456 appearances for Yorkshire.He debuted for the club as a 20-year-old in 1961 and won the County Championship on five separate occasions, holding his own in a team packed with club legends including Geoff Boycott, Ray Illingworth, Fred Trueman and his first captain, Brian Close. An upright front-foot driver with a strong leg-side game, he was one of the most handsome batsmen of his time.”Initially Yorkshire might have been a difficult dressing room to feel at home in, but Brian Close was a tremendous captain,” Hampshire told ESPNcricinfo in one of his final interviews earlier this year.”He integrated everyone. Most of the guys, they wanted to do well because they wanted the side to do well. And they wanted other players to do well. There were some terrific rows, but they were cricket rows. They weren’t personal vendettas or anything like that. Closey was the ringleader a lot of the time, but as soon as they were finished it was, “Right, come on, we’ll have a drink.”Hampshire, like many in that side, could be an intimidating figure on first meeting, but once respect was won, hidden behind a serious exterior was a warm and self-deprecating humour.Just a year after the end of his playing career in 1984, he became a first-class umpire, and stood for the first time in a Test match at Old Trafford during the 1989 Ashes.Later that year, he and John Holder were invited by Pakistan’s captain, Imran Khan, to stand as neutral umpires during Pakistan’s home series against India, a move that helped pave the way for that to become the standard across all international matches. In total, Hampshire stood in 21 matches up until 2002, and finally retired from the county circuit in 2005.Andy Flower, coach of England Lions, was a prominent figure in the Zimbabwe side that was coached by Hampshire upon their entry to Test cricket in the early 1990s and maintained the friendship from that point.”He was very passionate about Zimbabwe cricket,” Flower told ESPNcricinfo. “He grew to love the country, and its cricket, and he was a very important part of our early years. He gave us a really good grounding in the basics of the game, which served us very well.”I last saw him at Lord’s during the summer. He was there as a guest of the ECB, and we had a couple of great chats during the day. Even though he was unwell, he was always such a strong and generous guy, so he’d still be smiling and giggling at himself.”It was always the right balance with John, between playing hard on the field, and relaxing and chatting off it. When he was coach and I was captain, he would often sit me down with Scotch or a good wine – he fancied himself as a connoisseur – and we’d talk about the game for hours.”In March 2016, Hampshire stepped up to the role of Yorkshire president, an appointment he described as being “the icing on the cake” of his career. To some extent, it was a final show of brotherhood by Yorkshire because his county career at Headingley had ended in disillusionment. In 1978, Hampshire famously was instrumental in a batting go-slow at Northampton in protest at a six-hour century by Geoffrey Boycott. It cost his side a bonus point and Boycott the captaincy. Hampshire replaced him but only for two seasons, before he departed for a simpler life at Derbyshire.”From a very humble beginning, getting trains, trams and buses to Headingley to practice in the winter in hope of getting a game for Yorkshire Seconds, to being president. I think it’s quite an achievement,” he said.”John epitomised everything that’s good about Yorkshire County Cricket Club,” said Steve Denison, Yorkshire’s chairman. “Brave, talented and with a heart of gold, he captained Yorkshire, scored a century at Lord’s on his Test debut and became a highly respected umpire after hanging up his playing whites.”Loved by players and members alike, John capped his wonderful life in Yorkshire cricket as our club president last year. On behalf of everyone involved with and connected to the Club, I would like to extend our most sincere condolences to John’s wife Alison and two sons Ian and Paul. He will be sorely missed by all at Headingley.”

Dhaka Division finished second in the NCL’s Tier-1 after their innings and 78-run win over Barisal Division at Sylhet International Stadium.When they batted first, 18-year old Dhaka batsman Saif Hassan became the youngest batsman in Bangladesh to score a double-hundred. His 204 was, however, not the highest score of the innings as Taibur Rahman reached 242 off 302 balls with 26 fours and a six. Saif’s 410-ball knock included 20 fours and a six, as Dhaka declared on 588 for 6.For Barisal, seamer Tawhidul Islam took 5 for 87 in 20.5 overs. The batsmen could not build on his good work though as they were bundled out for 189. Dhaka fast bowler Shahadat Hossain took four wickets to help enforce the follow-on. Barisal were bowled out on the fourth morning for 321 with Shahriar Nafees top scoring with 104 off 143 balls. Dewan Sabbir and Nazmul Islam took three wickets each.

>

Maiden first-class centuries from Kuldeep Yadav and Saurabh Kumar lifted Uttar Pradesh to 481 against Baroda in Nasik. UP had been reduced to 207 for 7 on the opening day before an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 153 between Kuldeep and Saurabh took them to 360 for 7 at stumps. That partnership extended to 192 after play resumed, although the duo fell short of the record eighth-wicket stand for UP – 204 between Anand Shukla and Sagir Ahmed against Rajasthan in 1961-62.Sagar Mangalorkar, the right-arm pacer, broke through for Baroda, having Saurabh caught for 105. A run-out ended Kuldeep’s stay, after he had added 43 more for the ninth wicket with Imtiaz Ahmed. Kuldeep had made 117. Imtiaz further shored up UP by dominating a last-wicket partnership of 39 with Ankit Rajpoot and staying not out on 41. Managalorkar and Babashafi Pathan took three wickets each.Baroda lost five wickets in their reply, but Kedar Devdhar struck an unbeaten 120 to take them to 242 for 5. Devdhar and Aditya Waghmode put on 82 for the first wicket before Baroda lost wickets in a cluster. It took an unbroken 91-run sixth-wicket stand between Devdhar and Irfan Pathan (51*) to put the innings back on track. Medium-pacer Imtiaz Ahmed inflicted the bulk of the damage with three wickets. Baroda trail by 239 runs.At the Palam Ground in Delhi, Shreevats Goswami’s maiden double-century propelled Bengal to 475 for 9 before they declared against Madhya Pradesh.After Bengal were reduced to 88 for 4, Goswami and Abhimanyu Easwaran had put on 97 for the fifth wicket to take Bengal to 185 for 4 at stumps on a truncated first day.The duo could only add 17 more to that before Easwaran was trapped lbw by Chandrakant Sakure for 80. Goswami batted on and was helped by contributions from Pragyan Ojha (32), Veer Pratap Singh (24) and Sayan Ghosh (20*) as he stayed unbeaten on 225. Sakure finished with 3 for 105 and Puneet Datey took 4 for 105. MP lost Aditya Shrivastava for a first-ball duck before ending the day on 19 for 1, trailing by 456.Mayank Sidhana struck 115 while captain Gurkeerat Singh fell seven short of a century as Punjab put up 468 against Mumbai at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. Mumbai lost early wickets in reply, and were reduced to 8 for 2 at stumps.The day had begun with Punjab on 216 for 4, with Gitansh Khera on 4 and Sidhana on 11. Khera fell for a patient 16 that came off 64 balls after which Sidhana and Gurkeerat came together for a sixth-wicket partnership of 178 that pushed the score past 400. But Punjab collapsed to lose their last five wickets for 34 runs.The slide began with Gurkeerat’s dismissal for 93, caught behind off Tushar Deshpande. Sidhana fell to the same bowler in his next over, and though Manpreet Gony scored 31, the lower order was dismissed quickly. Suryakumar Yadav took a career-best 4 for 47.Punjab used four bowlers for the 7.2 bowlers they sent down. Shreyas Iyer was dismissed for a second-ball duck and Armaan Jaffer was trapped lbw by right-arm medium-pacer Kamal Passi. Mumbai were behind by 460 runs with eight wickets in hand.Tamil Nadu captain Abhinav Mukund led a strong reply to Gujarat’s 307, but fell one run short of a century as TN ended the second day on 154 for 2 in Belgavi.Abhinav and Kaushik Gandhi offset the early loss of Laxmesha Suryaprakash, who was caught behind off Rush Kalaria for 6, with a second-wicket stand of 141. Kalaria struck for a second time, bowling Abhinav on 99 shortly before stumps. Gandhi remained not out on 43.Earlier, Gujarat had resumed their first innings on 267 for 7 with Axar Patel on 28 and Chintan Gaja on 2. Axar was the eighth man dismissed, for 44, before the innings ended with Gaja’s dismissal for 20. Left-arm medium-pacer T Natarajan took 3 for 86 for TN.

South Africa’s Test captaincy is not up for discussion and will return to AB de Villiers once he is match fit. De Villiers has been sidelined since July with an elbow injury and has been replaced by Faf du Plessis, who has yet to lose a match in his stand-in stint, but will have to hand the job back when de Villiers returns.”At the moment it’s clear to us that Faf is stand-in captain and AB is the current captain when he comes back, looking at his fitness and so on,” Linda Zondi, South Africa’s convener of selectors, said after the Hobart Test.Although the board and not the selection panel appointed the captain, Zondi said the directive is likely to be to give de Villiers his job back once he is back on the park. When de Villiers underwent surgery in late September, he was diagnosed as needing eight to ten weeks of recovery time which should put him on track to play the home series in Sri Lanka in December-January. De Villiers will not have had any game time since mid-July, when he turned out for the Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League.Zondi has not expressly said de Villiers will need to play some domestic cricket but has indicated that the panel would like him to have some game time. “We will be guided by the medical team in terms of where he is and in terms of match fitness,” Zondi said. “That’s important. He has been away for five months – a long time. For starters, he has to be match fit. We will take it from there.”Should de Villiers need to play some cricket, his only opportunity will come in the domestic T20 competition. There was some talk of de Villiers joining the squad ahead of the day-night Test in Adelaide, which is preceded by a two-day warm-up game in Melbourne, in a bid to put himself in contention for the pink ball Test but both coach Russell Domingo and stand-in captain du Plessis had brushed off such suggestions. To that end, de Villiers had not traveled to Australia yet, and it appears unlikely that he will.That would mean du Plessis has at least one more match in charge to add to a legacy against Australia that has already seen the team make history. Du Plessis led the ODI side to a first-ever 5-0 whitewash against Australia and a third successive Test series win in Australia. He has impressed with his skills as skipper and Zondi admitted the selectors were pleased with the way du Plessis had progressed.”We nominated Faf to be a stand-in captain and he has done a very good job,” Zondi said. “It was an easy process for us when the decision was made because he was already a T20 captain. So it was continuation. We are excited to have him as a leader.”It just gives us more options. And we have other guys. Like I said, Hashim Amla, who also brings that experience. We are quite excited about how Faf has shown leadership but we are not going to be carried away.”It may be surprising to hear Zondi mention Amla among the leaders, especially after he stepped down as captain earlier in the year. However, Amla is the most experienced batsman, and in the absence of Dale Steyn, the most experienced member of the squad overall, and although he has only contributed 48 runs across the two Tests, has been involved in team discussions and at the forefront of celebrations.

South Africa legspinner Imran Tahir has been fined 30% of his match fee, apart from being given two demerit points, following a heated exchange with Australia batsman David Warner during the fifth ODI in Cape Town, the ICC said on Thursday. The hosts have also been fined for maintaining a slow over rate during the match.An ICC release said that Tahir had shown “a lack of respect” towards the on-field umpires by ignoring their requests to stop verbally engaging with Warner around the 38th over of Australia’s chase. Tahir was found to have violated Article 2.1.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which deals with behaviour that is “contrary to the spirit of the game”.Two demerit points were also added to Tahir’s record, in keeping with Article 7.3 of the revised Code. If Tahir gets four or more demerit points within a two-year period, these points could be converted into at least two suspension points, which could end up in a ban from one or two matches. According to the ICC’s rules, two suspension points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is, whatever comes first.South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was docked 20% of his match fee, while the other players were fined 10%, after they fell one over short of their target once time allowances were taken into consideration.If South Africa commit another over-rate offence within the next 12 months, with du Plessis as captain, it will be deemed as his second offence and he will face a suspension.Both du Plessis and Tahir pleaded guilty to the offences and accepted the sanctions imposed by match referee Chris Broad. The charges were laid by on-field umpires Shaun George and Joel Wilson, third umpire Nigel Llong and fourth official Adrian Holdstock.

West Indies have dropped Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin from their ODI squad for next month’s tri-series in Zimbabwe, which also features Sri Lanka. Courtney Browne, the head of West Indies’ selection committee, informed Pollard and Ramdin about their axing via email.The emails, accessed by ESPNcricinfo, were sent by Browne earlier this week. Browne’s message to both players was straightforward, saying they had been dropped and telling them they were free to seek clarification from him or the selection panel if they wanted. Considering the squad has not been officially announced yet, ESPNcricinfo sought a comment from the WICB on Wednesday, but the board did not respond.Both Pollard and Ramdin had poor returns in the recently concluded limited-overs series against Pakistan in the UAE. Pollard managed 43 runs in the three T20s, and bowled two overs, going wicketless. In the three-match ODI series, which West Indies lost 3-0, Pollard scored 42 runs at an average of 14.00. He took one wicket in the 12 overs he bowled across the three matches.Ramdin, who was recalled to the ODI squad, compiled 79 runs at 26.33 in the three ODIs and did not feature in the T20s. Browne’s selection panel had dropped Ramdin from the squad for the four-Test series at home against India earlier this year. Ramdin made the news public on Twitter before the squad was announced, and was subsequently sanctioned by the WICB.Ramdin has endured difficult times in the past 18 months. Despite helping West Indies level the Test series 1-all at home against England, Ramdin was stripped of Test captaincy immediately after the 2-0 home Test series loss to Australia.Pollard, meanwhile, has had mixed returns since returning from knee surgery last November. Pollard was picked for the tri-series at home in June, involving Australia and South Africa, and was instrumental in West Indies finishing as runners-up, scoring 205 runs at 41.00 including two half-centuries.Browne, who replaced former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd as chairman of selectors in June, has taken some bold decisions during his short tenure, including dropping Darren Sammy after he had led West Indies to their second World T20 title.Sammy did not hide his frustration when he called the symposium organised by the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association in July, to clear the differences between the board and the players, a “publicity stunt” on his Twitter account.

The players’ draft for this year’s Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will be held on September 30, according to the league’s governing council. The tournament will begin on November 4, brought forward by two days as earlier announced.The BCB did not confirm whether the draft this year would follow last year’s format, when franchises called out their choice of local and overseas players after going through multiple rounds of lotteries to choose who called first. In the end, the icon players (the top Bangladeshi cricketers) were distributed equally among the franchises through a separate lottery.There will be seven franchises this year, one more than the six that played in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Khulna and Rajshahi have returned after missing out in 2015. They will join defending champions Comilla Victorians, Barisal Bulls, Rangpur Riders, Dhaka Dynamites and Chittagong Vikings. The Sylhet franchise, which according to the BCB had breached franchisee agreement terms, will miss out.The identity of the Khulna and Rajshahi franchise owners is not known yet, though the BCB mentioned that Gemcon Group and Mango Entertainment Ltd had “specifically expressed interest in owning the Khulna and Rajshahi franchises respectively”.The board will announce the names after the Eid break.

ScorecardTom Abell switched into coloured clothes and made a classy century•Getty Images

A century from 22-year-old Tom Abell against Sussex at Taunton, helped Somerset to secure home advantage in the quarter finals of the Royal London Cup.The young batsman batted without equal to score 106 off 117 balls, as Somerset held off a late revival from the Sussex tailenders, to win by 10 runs.Somerset, having chosen to bat first, might have felt this was not to be their day having slipped to 15 for 2 inside four overs. Mahela Jayawardene and Peter Trego were the men out as 21-year-old Jofra Archer put Sussex in a commanding early position.Jim Allenby’s quickfire 30 was the dominant feature in a 32-run stand with Abell, for the third wicket. However, when the captain departed, once again off the bowling of Archer, Somerset were back in trouble at 47 for 3.Despite the mounting pressure, Abell batted with great maturity and with the help of one or two middle order partners, took Somerset to a score that was respectable, if not altogether satisfactory.He added 70 for the fourth wicket with James Hildreth and 42 for the eighth with Craig Overton. Although Lewis Gregory and Ryan Davies chipped in with useful runs, it was Abell who led the way. He posted his second List A fifty without too many alarms and finally passed three figures for the first time in one-day cricket, off 107 balls with nine fours and a six.Ten balls later he was run out for a fine 106 as Somerset crept towards the 250 mark.In the end, they fell 13 runs short of that milestone when Tim Groenewald became Archer’s fifth wicket at 237. Archer finished with the impressive figures of 5 for 42 off 9.1 overs.Although the 50-over season has been something of a damp squib for Sussex, to date, they would certainly have fancied their chances of posting a second win of the campaign, in this their penultimate game in the Royal London Cup.Somerset, however, had different ideas and with Groenewald and 25-year-old Josh Davey leading from the front, with the ball, the visitors found themselves well and truly behind the black ball.Opening batsman Philip Salt departed in the second over, without scoring, lbw to Davey, before Harry Finch was run out by the man of the moment Abell at 25 for 2.It got worse. Captain Luke Wright became Groenewald’s first victim at 59 for 3, and after Chris Nash had been trapped lbw, first ball, by Gregory, seven runs later, Groenewald returned to pick up the important wickets of Ed Joyce and wicket keeper Ben Brown.When Chris Jordan became Trego’s first victim at 95 for 7, Sussex were heading for a landslide defeat. However, Archer and Ajmal Shahzad added 61 for the eighth wicket to leave Somerset wondering whether 237 would be enough.Archer, having struck two fours and as many sixes in his 35, was eventually bowled by Max Waller, who also took the wicket of Shahzad.Will Beer and Danny Briggs did their bit to keep Sussex in with a chance of victory, adding an unbeaten 52 for the last wicket. However, it was not to be and in the end, Somerset kept their cool to not only make sure of victory, but to secure a home tie in the last eight.

Australia will look to the experience of World Cup winners Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell to help them qualify for the tri-series final in their must-win match against West Indies on Tuesday. Both men were named in the XI for Sunday’s match against South Africa in Barbados, which was washed out with only an over bowled; both are expected to retain their places against West Indies.Maxwell failed to reach double figures in the first two matches of this series and was subsequently dropped, and was not immediately recalled even when David Warner was ruled out of the campaign with a broken finger. Starc’s workload has been managed as he plays his first series back following ankle surgery, and Australia have lost only the matches in which he was rested.”We had Maxi back in, Mitchell Starc coming back in, a bit of World Cup experience,” stand-in coach Justin Langer said after the washout against South Africa. “They’re all pressure games. Certainly, in this instance, over these last two [matches] there’s real pressure. It’s game on.”We haven’t done ourselves any favours in the sense of we haven’t got ourselves automatically into the final like we would have liked. It’s good to see guys under pressure, and this is a little bit more pressure than a normal one-day international on Tuesday.”Stretching back to February’s tour of New Zealand, Maxwell has scores of 0, 6, 0, 0 and 3 from his five most recent ODI innings. Debutant Travis Head was initially given the first chance in the middle order after Warner’s injury, but Maxwell’s experience makes him an appealing option at the business end of the tournament.”When you lose someone like David Warner you lose a bit of that experience,” Langer said. “Maxi has played a bit of cricket now, but also his dynamic fielding. We’ve talked a bit about our fielding over this tournament. To bring Maxi back into this side, his fielding adds a lot.”We’ve talked a bit about not being able to finish off our innings as well as we would have liked to. We thought with the way he goes about his business that would add something to that, and obviously his offspin bowling. It’s nice to have that up our sleeve.”Australia also need to decide on the make-up of their attack for Tuesday’s game against West Indies after leaving legspinner Adam Zampa out of Sunday’s match. Zampa is Australia’s leading wicket-taker in the series but struggled to contain the West Indians in his most recent match in St Kitts, where he took 2 for 60 from seven overs.”We’ve got to consider a couple of things now,” Langer said. “Adam Zampa will definitely come into it. He probably would have played [on Sunday] had it not have rained. That was more strategic with the wet outfield. But then you’ve also got to consider how we go against West Indies and whether we bring Nathan Coulter-Nile back in, because he’s played a couple of games.”I think he [Zampa] has been pretty good. He probably just got his lines a bit wrong the other night, and some of those big West Indians if you get it in their wheel-arc, as we saw they’re going to belt you out of the ground. He’s learning, and he was the first to admit after the game that he perhaps just didn’t get his strategy right. The reason he didn’t play [against South Africa] is purely and simply because of the rain, and we thought with the wet ball he might not be able to hold it as well.”