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Without their allrounder going into the series, losing their in-form opening batsman to injury during the series decider, India found a way to win

The Report by Sidharth Monga19-Jan-2020
Without their allrounder going into the series, losing their in-form opening batsman to injury during the series decider, India found a way to win the three-match ODI series against Australia despite losing all three tosses. Australia’s decision to bat first left Virat Kohli smiling ear to ear, his bowlers only widened that smile by keeping Australia down to 286 despite a Steven Smith century, but the chase was not your regular stroll that the scoreline suggested. On a testing, slow pitch, Rohit Sharma scored a special century to negate the challenge.In the final equation, on a pitch that spinners from both sides were a threat, the two main quicks from either side proved to be the difference. Jasprit Bumrah was stellar in conceding just 38 in his 10 overs, and Mohammed Shami took wickets with the new ball and old. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, though, were a big letdown for Australia, conceding 130 runs in 16 wicktless overs between them, which meant when the spinners and Josh Hazlewood bowled well, Sharma and Kohli were not under any asking-rate pressure.Australia’s team management had stayed at the ground till late on match eve to know dew wouldn’t play a big role. Combined with a dry pitch, and their own suspect middle order, they wanted runs on board. Shami dealt those hopes a big blow in the first exchanges despite a wayward – eight wides in first three overs – by both of India’s opening bowlers.In the fourth over, Shami got the ball to shape up to swing back into David Warner, but leave him upon pitching, taking the edge. This was a dismissal from an opening hour of a Test match. Bumrah’s edge over Aaron Finch was apparent again with two runs off 13 legal deliveries. Even when India removed Bumrah after just three overs, the edginess remained, especially with Navdeep Saini bowling the eighth over for just two runs.In the ninth over, Finch went for perhaps a highly risky single to Jadeja at point, but Smith was the bigger culprit in not trusting the call from the non-striker. The run-out left Finch furious, and Smith with a big task of shepherding the suspect middle order. Except that he was met in the middle by his clone Marnus Labuschagne, who has quickly shown he doesn’t need much shepherding. Yet, had Kuldeep Yadav collected a slowish throw cleanly he might have run Labuschagne out to make it 57 for 3.4:10

Bowlers set up series-clinching win for India

That error survived, Smith and Labuschagne pulled Australia out of that crisis, taking them into the last 20 overs with eight wickets in hand. This time Labuschagne reached his maiden half-century too. However, just like the last match, Ravindra Jadeja had begun to frustrate the batsmen with tight overs. In partnership with Yadav and Shami, he strung together 45 deliveries without a boundary. Then he had Kohli helping him in the 32nd over.At a close extra cover, Kohli made an excellent diving save to his left to deny Labuschagne a boundary first ball. To the third ball, he dived to his right to dismiss Labuschagne after a maiden fifty. An experiment to pinch-hit with Mitchell Starc lasted three balls with a slog sweep ending up with deep midwicket. Before this double-wicket maiden, at 173 for 2 in 31 overs, Australia were looking good for a score in the vicinity of 320 despite that recent slowdown.If Starc’s dismissal was a sign the pitch was not the usual flat Bangalore surface, Smith’s failure to place the ball in the coming overs only reinforced it. A mix of orthodox and reverse sweeps from Alex Carey gave Australia some momentum in a run-a-ball 58-run partnership, but the moment Carey tried to hit a six even he ended up miscuing Yadav to deep cover. Add to it the reverse swing India extracted, and Smith had to recalculate and target only the very last overs.Smith threatened a final kick with 25 off eight deliveries, but Shami not only had him caught at deep midwicket, he also ensured there was no annoying cameo from the tail.It was obvious fairly early this was not going to be an easy chase. Not often in ODI cricket do you see two fairly close lbw appeals, three plays and misses and one edge falling short against Sharma in the first 10 overs. Also just as rare is Sharma taking extra risks and scoring 41 runs in those 10 overs.Mohammed Shami celebrates the wicket of David Warner•Associated Press

This was a delicate situation. Shikhar Dhawan had injured himself while fielding. KL Rahul was opening with him after having kept for 50 overs. The ball was doing a bit off the seam. India’s batting more or less went till No. 6 Jadeja. Rohit, though, backed himself and knew he couldn’t let India fall behind the game by the time spin came on.So when Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa and Hazlewood put the squeeze on, taking Rahul’s wicket and conceding 35 in the next 10 overs, India could sit back and absorb that pressure. And when pressure was built, Finch didn’t go to his main bowlers to go find the breakthrough. He gambled. First with Labuschagne, then with himself. Twenty runs in two overs. Pressure off. And when Finch finally brought his main bowlers, they released the pressure further. Before Rajkot, Starc had taken a wicket at least in his previous matches; now he had two wicketless outings.Not that Sharma really needed freebies. He knew Kohli was going to set up to play till the end. He kept taking calculating risks, hitting six sixes in his innings, reaching his hundred with India’s score only 154. When he did perish, he did so trying to put the chase beyond doubt, looking to hit his seventh six. It left India 81 to get in 80 balls, and if there were any nerves with a shortened batting line-up, the king of chases was there to soothe them.In Kohli’s company, Shreyas Iyer too made a mini comeback from a mini slump. Kohli missed out on a century, but by the time he fell for 89 India needed just 13 from 25.

A round-up from the latest round of Sheffield Shield matches as teams jostle for a place in the final

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2020
ScorecardDaniel Hughes struck his first Sheffield Shield hundred of the season and Matthew Gilkes made an eye-catching maiden first-class fifty, but New South Wales suffered a late wobble against South Australia. From 4 for 272, they lost 3 for 21 as Chadd Sayers made inroads with the second new ball including the scalp of Gilkes who was caught in the gully 17 short of a century having hit nine fours and three sixes.Hughes dominated the first part of the day with a controlled hundred to give New South Wales a solid base as they looked to bounce back from their defeat against Victoria. Joe Mennie chipped away for South Australia, including a brace of terrific deliveries to bowl Daniel Solway and Jason Sangha, then added Hughes shortly after he brought up three figures when the opener skewed a back-foot drive to gully.Cameron Green drills one down the ground•Getty Images

ScorecardCameron Green made his third hundred of the season as Western Australia overcame a tricky start to enjoy a solid day against Tasmania in Hobart. Green, the promising allrounder who is currently unable to bowl due to a back injury, and Josh Philippe added 121 for the fifth wicket to turn an uncertain position into one from where they will expect to take control of the match against a brittle Tasmania batting line-up.Tasmania had made early inroads after opting to bowl first with Sam Rainbird finding the edge of Cameron Bancroft and Shaun Marsh in the space of three deliveries as the new ball nibbled. Gabe Bell then had Jake Carder flashing another edge to Tim Paine to leave Western Australia 3 for 43. Sam Whiteman started to steady things alongside Green before he became a maiden first-class wicket for Jake Doran with just the fifth delivery he had bowled in the format.Seb Gotch walks off after his second Shield hundred•Getty Images

Seb Gotch struck his second consecutive hundred as Victoria staged a superb fightback on the opening day against Queensland at the Gabba. Gotch, whose maiden ton came against New South Wales last week, reached three figures with a ramp to third man – a shot that also brought him two sixes – as the light faded with the final two wickets having so far added 85.Victoria had stuttered to 5 for 100 with Xavier Bartlett and Cameron Gannon worked through the top order before Matt Short began the fightback alongside Gotch. Short was with two shy of his second first-class hundred when he was pinned lbw by Bartlett having hit 68 off his 98 runs in boundaries. Bartlett would go to claim his first five-wicket haul when he removed Chris Tremain.

England’s bid for Test resurgence will hinge on their success in broadening red-ball playing pool

Andrew Miller05-Mar-2020As England’s Test squad assembles for their tour of Sri Lanka – in the wake of a multi-format tour of South Africa, with a home Test summer looming ever larger on the horizon, and with back-to-back T20 World Cups offering a more immediate route to further global glory, it would be easy to park the ECB’s other stated ambition for the current four-year cycle – victory in Australia in 2021-22 – in the file marked “pending”.And yet, if there’s one lesson to be taken from the abject failure of three of England’s last four campaigns in Australia – and moreover, from the stand-out success of that one campaign to buck the trend in 2010-11 – it is that a failure to get planning months, and even years, in advance is a plan for further failure, full stop.England have, after all, lost nine out of their last ten Tests Down Under, including a 5-0 whitewash in 2013-14 – the same scoreline by which they were thrashed in the 2006-07 campaign that preceded Andrew Strauss’s stand-out triumph four years later.And, as Mo Bobat, the ECB’s performance director, pointed out in the wake of a more recent – and equally rare – England Lions triumph over Australia last week, the groundwork that gets laid now will be of fundamental importance to any hope of a repeat success in two year’s time.For last week at the MCG, an England Lions team featuring a mixture of the tried and the tyros won by an emphatic nine wickets over Australia A, their first victory in an unofficial Test in Australia after seven blank campaigns.And just as Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen et al had batted Australia to a standstill in that famous 3-1 win in 2010-11, it was England’s weight of first-innings runs that proved crucial to their MCG victory. Dom Sibley, fresh from his breakthrough Test tour of South Africa, made 116 out of 428, while Essex’s Dan Lawrence top-scored with 125 – all the while looking as run-hungry as Pietersen himself had been on the England A tour of India in 2003-04 that preceded his own breakthrough year.For a week earlier in Hobart, Lawrence’s 190 had been the highest of three hundreds in an imposing 613 for 8 declared against a Cricket Australia XI. It seems the virtues of batting time, so alien in the modern T20-dominated landscape, haven’t been completely abandoned by the coming generation.Dan Lawrence drives during his hundred•Getty Images

“I was slightly alarmed when I saw it was the first time we’d beaten Australia A ever,” Bobat said during a briefing at Lord’s after his return from Australia.”I remember briefing the players at our camp in January. I talked at length about what it takes to win in Australia and the way we wanted to approach getting results. It’s not rocket science, but we talked quite a lot around making the most of first innings.”Of the four times we had won in Australia over the last 20 years, I think in three of them we scored 500-plus in the first innings, someone had batted for more than four or five hours, and bowlers had put in something like 40 overs in the game – so it was about framing into context what it actually takes to win in Australia.”Situational experience is a key part of what the England Lions programme has become. As Bobat conceded, their actual playing record in recent years is nothing much to write home about – take the Caribbean tour two winters ago, when a Lions side featuring four members of the current Test squad (Keaton Jennings, Jack Leach, Dom Bess and Saqib Mahmood) were crushed 3-0 in a series that exposed some deep-seated issues with playing and bowling spin overseas.But as a means of preparing players for the step-up in intensity and expectation that will come at Test level – or to keep them in the bubble between senior assignments, as in the cases of Sibley, Bess and Zak Crawley since the South Africa tour – it offers the sort of finishing school that county cricket, in its current guise, is struggling to provide in its own right, as Bobat himself told ESPNcricinfo back in December.”In recent years if you purely looked at win percentage, I don’t think our ‘A’ team win percentage would probably be as high as we might have liked it to be,” he said. “But a reassuring thing that I’ve started to communicate this winter, that people have started to get their heads around, is probably moving the Lions from being viewed as a programme that people might pass through on their way to playing for England – which I’m not that keen on as a mantra – to it being a range of experiences and expertise that players can access based on their needs.”So we might have England players, as we saw this winter, who then drop back down and get a bit more exposure and experience, and then go again.Craig Overton celebrates after dismissing Tim Paine•Getty Images

“Playing a game at the MCG against Australia A felt like something we should try and bank as an experience for them,” he added. “Because we wouldn’t want to get to the Ashes in two years’ time and for them to experience all of that for the first time.”It isn’t just what you get on the 22 yards, it’s being on that flight for that amount of time, it’s being in that country and dealing with Aussies just in and around the cricket itself. There are a number of things that you get from that that I would put into that relevant experiences category – dealing with the jet lag, walking out of the MCG through the tunnel. All those types of things, to get that first time, when it really matters, is probably asking a lot for a player, so banking some of that earlier is useful.”For the 2010-11 squad, a lot of that experience came first-hand – meted out by the likes of Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath in their valedictory triumph four years earlier, and stored away for future reference when Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Ian Bell, James Anderson et al returned with vengeance aforethought. But it was England’s depth of fast-bowling options, every bit as much as their vast experience, that made the difference in that campaign – giving them leeway to cope with Stuart Broad going lame midway through the Adelaide Test, or for Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan to come off the bench for the third and fourth Tests and made fundamental contributions.Having been outgunned last summer by an Australian pace contingent featuring, at various points, such quality quicks as Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc, England know that they have the raw materials to fight back in style in two years’ time, with Jofra Archer and Mark Wood both demonstrating an ability to deliver eye-watering spells of raw pace that can rattle the very best.But, with both men currently injured, not to mention in high demand in the white-ball formats too, the challenge of broadening England’s fast-bowling stocks is one that Bobat knows cannot be left to chance. In January, the ECB handed the first of a new range of pace-bowling development contracts to Olly Stone, Saqib Mahmood and Craig Overton, a man whose temperament as a Test prospect is rated perhaps more highly than his bowling at present, but whose six wickets at the MCG were a key factor in last week’s Lions win.”We are making it a judgment on the quality of their current performance and we’re making a prediction on their future potential and all three of those bowlers were deemed to be guys that we thought could add value in the future,” said Bobat. “They are all slightly different, as well. One thing we do know, and we’ve done a huge amount of analysis to understand this, is to be successful all around the world, we need a varied attack.”Whether that variety needs to be augmented by using the Kookaburra ball in county cricket, however, is a question that Bobat isn’t entirely sold on, despite Joe Root’s recent endorsement of the notion and despite Australia turning to the Dukes in their own preparations for English conditions.ALSO READ: Technical tweaks the trigger for Dan Lawrence’s Lions form“A personal view is I’m not totally sold on the idea because I don’t think we know how it’s going to behave in this country,” he said. “Our pitches are not as abrasive, so I think we’re making a bit of an assumption. I’m slightly mindful that we play half of our games at home so let’s make sure we are really strong at home, too. If you start to move away from your own strength, there may be some unintended consequences.”The Ashes isn’t the only thing we plan for, clearly. We’ve got the World Test Championship and we’re very ambitious about what we want to achieve in the two T20 World Cups coming up. “It is my job, though, to help get a broader and richer talent pool, to allow us to be able to select strategically, which will also involve at times giving players a rest.”Increasingly, those rests appear to be coming in the switch between formats, with England’s Test and white-ball squads containing a range of increasingly specialised players … with a handful of notable exceptions. Key among those, of course, is the kingpin Ben Stokes, a man who produced two of the greatest matchwinning performances of all time at Lord’s and Headingley last summer. On his punishing schedule, Bobat is cautious but clear.”If we fast forward to the Ashes, the period before that we play India twice over five Tests [home and away]. We then go to Bangladesh. Then there’s the World T20 in India. If we think someone is going to play all that, I think that we are probably kidding ourselves,” he said.”I’d almost rather not be quoted on this but if we get to a point where Ben Stokes doesn’t have to play in the T20 World Cup because we can prioritise the Ashes that would be a great place to get to.” Planning for all eventualities, even the currently unthinkable ones, is precisely why he’s in his role.

Former quick thinks Woakes can replace Anderson as “figurehead” within 18 months

Matt Roller23-Jun-2020Darren Gough thinks England’s pace-bowling stocks are as strong as they have been since 2005, and has backed Chris Woakes to replace James Anderson as their “figurehead” in the next 18 months.England’s 30-man training group arrived at the Ageas Bowl on Tuesday afternoon ahead of next month’s Test series against West Indies. There are 18 seamers within the group, including a handful of out-and-out quicks who can regularly hit speeds of 90mph in Jofra Archer, Jamie Overton, Olly Stone and Mark Wood.And Gough, who worked with the touring squad as a bowling consultant during last winter’s series in New Zealand, thinks that the current crop is as strong as England have had since the 2005 Ashes.”They’ve got top quality there from that bowling attack,” Gough told ESPNcricinfo, “whether it be from Anderson and [Stuart] Broad – who are getting on now, let’s be honest, but they’re still quality – [Ben] Stokes is working on his batting more now, but can still do a job.”You’ve got pace now too, where you can alternate Wood, Archer, Stone and [Saqib] Mahmood. You’ve got Woakes, who possibly in the next year-and-a-half will replace Anderson as the figurehead at the top. The bowling attack is tidy – tidy indeed. All the tools are there for this England team.”ALSO READ: Quiet achiever Woakes finds his feet overseasGough spent two weeks working with England’s Test squad ahead of their series in New Zealand last year, and was particularly impressed by Woakes’ attitude and desire to improve in overseas conditions.Woakes’ record away from home has come under scrutiny throughout his Test career – he averages 51.68 overseas compared to 23.45 in England – but Gough said he had seen signs of improvement that could help him become the leader of the attack over the next couple of years.”I think Woakes is a top-class performer,” he said. “I sat him down in New Zealand and I said to him: ‘Do you want to be known as a bowler that’s good in England? Or do you want to be in the team all year round? And how much do you want it?'”And he wants it, he really does. I was impressed. In New Zealand and in South Africa, he bowled quicker. He can afford to bowl at 90% in England on most pitches, because they’ll always do a bit and every bowler will be in the game.”But when they go abroad, they try and do the same thing and they wonder why they’re not in the game. For Woakes, he can bowl quickly. I’d like to think it’s clicked now with him. This summer, now he’s in England, he’ll be able to step off the pedal and rest the body.”Gough, a skilled exponent of reverse swing in his own playing days, said that he expects the ICC’s saliva ban will bring spinners into England’s Tests this summer, and force seamers to use other skills to what they are used to in home conditions.Jofra Archer has declared himself fully fit ahead of the West Indies series•Getty Images

“Teams will be more reluctant to go in with out-and-out pace attacks,” he said. “They’ll look to play a spinner, because good ones will play a part. [England] have got options in spin now too: they’ve got Moeen Ali – he’s not a world-class spinner, but he’s a performer and he bowls oppositions out. You’ve got Jack Leach as the left-arm option, you’ve got Dom Bess, the youngster.”It’s as good as they’ve had since 2005. It’s got everything. They’ve got a great chance of winning in Australia [in 2021-22], they really have.”England’s hopes for the series against West Indies were further boosted on Tuesday by Archer declaring himself fully fit following his elbow injury. Archer had scans on his right elbow last week which confirmed the injury was fully healed, and wrote in his column that he could play all three Tests in the series if required.”Bowling has been a gradual progression but despite the fact that I was resting my elbow injury when we went into lockdown in March, I have followed similar loads to the other England Test bowlers,” he wrote. “So far everything feels like clockwork. Crunch in, crunch out, my body feels fresh, and there are no issues with my right elbow whatsoever, touch wood.”Despite the fact that the three matches of this series are played in such a short space of time, I actually think I could play all three. But obviously everyone will be a bit cautious in terms of workload, thinking about the body and what lies ahead.”

The PCB will announce a 42-person touring team, comprising 28 players and 14 support staff

Danyal Rasool11-Jun-2020Fast bowler Mohammad Amir and batsman Haris Sohail have withdrawn from Pakistan’s squad for the upcoming England tour.Amir, who had retired from Test cricket last year, and was thus only eligible for selection for the three-match T20I series, pulled out so that he could be present for the birth of his second child in August, which is when the T20Is are scheduled to be played.There was a spot of confusion* regarding the exact reason for Sohail’s withdrawal. The PCB had initially said that Sohail had opted out because of “personal reasons”, but later issued a statement confirming that he had, in fact, taken “the option [given by the board to the players] of pulling out of the tour due to the Covid-19 pandemic”.The Pakistan players and the support staffers are expected to arrive in England several weeks before the start of the first match to be able to train in the country, as well as complete the mandatory quarantine period for all foreigners travelling to the UK. That means the side will spend over two months in England. The touring party will form a “bubble” where they will not interact with anyone outside of the group, and regular tests for Covid-19 will be conducted on the tour.The three Tests and three T20Is will all be played behind closed doors Additionally, earlier this week, the ICC had approved the use of substitutes if a player showed symptoms of Covid-19 during a Test match. Players’ families will not be allowed to accompany them.The PCB said they would announce a 42-person touring team, with 28 players and 14 support staff to accompany them. Pakistan will be the second side to tour England since the Covid-19 pandemic, with West Indies set to play three Tests in England starting July 8. Three West Indies players – Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul and Darren Bravo – withdrew from that tour, citing concerns around the coronavirus.

Opener thrashes 100 to put himself in frame for ODI debut

ECB Reporters Network26-Jul-2020Phil Salt boosted his hopes of a call-up ahead of the Royal London Series against Ireland after putting the same opponents to the sword with a 58-ball hundred in England Lions’ seven-wicket win at the Ageas Bowl.Ahead of Monday’s squad announcement, the uncapped Salt and James Vince flayed 141 in an explosive 13.5 overs after Jason Roy was dismissed for a golden duck at the start of their pursuit of 297 under lights.It is understood there is little concern about the sore back that has restricted Roy to this sole outing so far but if there are any doubts ahead of Thursday’s opener then England could look to Salt after his sparkling role. The Sussex opener had made just 26 runs in three previous warm-up innings but he crashed 14 fours and two sixes here, which could lead to his inclusion ahead of the three-match series which starts on Thursday.Ireland, featuring eight players who took part in their most recent ODI, had made what seemed a competitive 296 all out in 49.4 overs, captain Andy Balbirnie top-scoring with 60 while Paul Stirling and Harry Tector also made half-centuries, but the total was overhauled with 15.2 overs to spare in this 12-a-side match.While Roy nudged behind off Mark Adair, the Irishman and fellow seamers Josh Little and Boyd Rankin were routinely dispatched to the boundary, with Salt and Vince either piercing the gaps or hitting over the fielders.There was little unorthodox about the pair, Salt mixing some pleasing on-drives with muscular pulls while Vince scored all around the ground, the pair’s sensible aggression bringing 19 fours in the first 10 overs alone.Salt was first to his 50 off 28 balls while Vince required six more and only the emergence of captain Eoin Morgan after 14 overs broke the partnership. Vince was the one to make way after a sublime 66 not out from 43 deliveries.Morgan hit five fours in his 20-ball 22 before he too retired not out at the drinks break, the Lions beyond halfway in their chase. Salt, meanwhile, cleared the ropes off Rankin then Little, who conceded 71 in his 6.4 overs. Salt slowed up a touch before getting to three figures with a push down the ground, carrying on walking after completing the single which carried him to the milestone, with the target now down to double digits.Sam Billings made sure there was no late collapse in a fantastic 30-ball 50, eventually finishing on 54no from 36 deliveries while Liam Livingstone contributed 28 and Laurie Evans 18, as England reached their total in twilight.Earlier on, Tom Helm bowled with accuracy after Ireland had won the toss and collected 3 for 49 while Henry Brooks took 3 for 52 as the tourists were unable to make 300, having been 210 for 3 in the 39th over.Stirling took Tom Curran the distance twice and the opener and Balbirnie were largely untroubled en route to half-centuries. Only when Liam Dawson was introduced did Stirling start to come unstuck, dropped at square leg by Brydon Carse before Billings was unable to gather after the batsman had wandered out of his crease.Stirling’s luck ran out when he swept the slow let-armer to Evans on the boundary for 53 from 55 deliveries to end a 92-run stand, while Balbirnie carved Livingstone to backward point, the first occasion he had mistimed in his 73-ball innings.Tector’s straight drives were a feature of his innings, with Dawson twice and Carson once seeing the ball fly back over their heads for six, but he departed for 55 off 49 deliveries after lumping a Curran full toss to mid-off. Kevin O’Brien’s cameo of 28 from 14 balls livened up proceedings but Ireland lost their way in the last 10 overs, with wickets falling at regular intervals and two balls left unused.

Gloucestershire clinging on at 63 for 8 as bad light intervenes

ECB Reporters Network24-Aug-2020Craig Overton and Josh Davey continued to wreak havoc with Gloucestershire’s batting as Somerset were defied by the weather on the third day of the Bob Willis Trophy match at Taunton.What little play there was saw the visitors stumble from 14 for 3 at the start of play to 63 for 8, chasing an unlikely 385 to win.Overton and Davey ended the day with identical figures of four for 25 and their team were clearly unhappy when umpires Ian Blackwell and Paul Baldwin deemed the light too pour to continue with a possible five overs remaining.While the Gloucestershire batsmen made for the sanctuary of the pavilion, Somerset’s fielders remained on the outfield and head coach Jason Kerr stood in lengthy conversation with the umpires. Clearly concerned that more rain is forecast tomorrow, Kerr and his players were desperate to complete victory, having been denied an almost certain win by the elements in their previous group match against Warwickshire.Heavy overnight rain followed by showers meant no play before tea. When the players finally emerged from the dressing rooms at 4pm, Somerset had a potential 39.4 overs to clinch victory with a day to spare.But at 5.25pm the rain returned, with Gloucestershire 61 for six, and a further ten overs were lost. When play restarted at 6.05pm, only eight remained in the day. With three of them bowled and with the floodlights on, the umpires made the ruling on the light to complete a day of intense frustration for Somerset.Craig Overton had made the first breakthrough of the day, comprehensively beating George Hankins’ defensive shot and uprooting two of his stumps in the first full over to make the score 23 for 4.Ryan Higgins confidently off-drove his first delivery for four and then top-edged a six over third-man off Overton, but soon it was 49 for five as Graeme van Buuren’s loose shot saw him caught behind off Davey.Gareth Roderick failed to trouble the scorers, carelessly chipping a catch to Eddie Byrom at mid-wicket off Davey and at 49 for six, a three-day finish looked in prospect.But the former Middlesex pairing of Higgins and George Scott survived for eight overs as Jamie Overton and Jack Brooks took up the attack.After 40 minutes more were lost to rain, Craig Overton struck with the sixth delivery of the resumption, pinning Higgins lbw for 21.But soon the light was not considered good enough to continue and Somerset will be praying overnight that there is sufficient play tomorrow to complete a dominant performance.

Scans showed the allrounder suffered “a moderate to high grade” injury to his right ankle

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2020Mitchell Marsh will have to wait until later this month to find out whether he will require surgery on the ankle problem he suffered at the IPL after scans showed “a moderate to high grade” injury.Marsh is unable to see a specialist under he completes his 14-day quarantine period on October 10. Speaking earlier this week he was hopeful he would be able to avoid surgery and had his sights set on pushing for a return late in the opening stages of the Sheffield Shield which will be played in an Adelaide hub.ALSO READ: Injury, illness, selection: the ups and downs of Mitchell Marsh“Scans have revealed that Mitch Marsh has suffered a moderate to high grade syndesmosis injury to his right ankle, which he sustained in the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s opening match in the United Arab Emirates early last week,” a WACA statement said.”A specialist will further assess Mitch’s ankle once he is out of hotel quarantine next Saturday 10 October to determine if surgery or non-surgical management is required. Return to play timelines will be mapped out once he has completed quarantine and met with the specialist.”Meanwhile, Western Australia have named a 17-man squad for the Sheffield Shield hub. Players will take part in Premier cricket over the weekend before self-isolating from Monday prior to heading to Adelaide later next week. Their first match is against South Australia from October 10.Ashton Agar, who was part of the limited-overs tour of England and has been quarantining in Adelaide, will link up with the squad when they arrive in the city.Off-season signing Cameron Gannon, the former Queensland quick, is in line for his Western Australia debut while uncapped pair Corey Rocchiccioli and Lance Morris have been included.”We’re ready to go and can’t wait to get over to Adelaide and begin the season,” head coach Adam Voges said. “It’s a tight knit group, the commitment of the players during the pre-season has been excellent and this will hold us in good stead as we enter the hub.”This will be a season like no other, we are well prepared to tackle the challenges that present throughout the year.”Western Australia squad Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green, Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Matt Kelly, Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, Corey Rocchiccioli, D’Arcy Short, Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman

Rashid Khan, meanwhile, produced the most economical spell of IPL 2020, finishing with 4-0-7-3

Alagappan Muthu27-Oct-20204:54

Bishop: Current scenario astoundingly good for IPL

The Sunrisers Hyderabad came into this game having to win everything to stand even the slimmest chance of qualifying for the playoffs. One wrong move could have ended their entire campaign right here, right now. That is a lot of pressure. And yet, they reveled in it.David Warner batted like he used to. Hard hands hitting through the line and eyes only for the boundary. He made 66 off 34 balls. Wriddhiman Saha provided another example of why he shouldn’t be underestimated as a batsman in T20 cricket. He made 87 off 45 balls. On the back of those two knocks, the Sunrisers put up 219 for 2 and smothered the Delhi Capitals with scoreboard pressure.The Sunrisers are now sixth on the points table with 10 points, just two behind the Kings XI Punjab and the Kolkata Knight Riders.Warner, Saha, Bang, Bang
Eleven fours. Two sixes. And 77 runs in the powerplay. Even as the world was debating why the Sunrisers had dropped Jonny Bairstow, their new set of openers were tearing it up out in the middle.Saha bosses the first six overs in the IPL. And he did it again. He faced only 10 balls in that period, but sent four of those to the boundary. He matched Warner shot for shot in an opening partnership of 107 in 58 balls.The Capitals did try to one-up their tormentors. R Ashwin, for example, concentrated on denying Warner any room outside off stump. After trying to manufacture some, the left-hand batsman decided to simply stand still and whack that ball angled into his pads over deep square leg for six.Anrich Nortje, the fastest bowler of the tournament, dropped his pace and attempted to hide the ball from Warner. And this was as early as the fourth over. But it didn’t work. The Sunrisers captain practically skipped across his stumps and cut the ball for four with such class that for a moment a cricket match felt like a Broadway musical.Sunrisers keep the party going
On the back of such a dominant start, and with one of those openers batting deep into the innings, the Sunrisers reached incredible heights. Only once in their history have they ever put up a bigger total than the 219 they racked up in Dubai.The biggest contributor to that total was Saha, who was hitting a boundary every 3.2 balls. He didn’t slow down even after the field restrictions were lifted. Heck, He wouldn’t even let a bout of cramps come in the way of his helping his team win.Saha felt that twinge in his groin fairly early during his partnership with Manish Pandey. And yet, he found the strength to hit 47 of the 63 runs that the Sunrisers made in that time – at a strike rate of 223.Pandey managed just 11 off seven in that stand, but he finished with 44 off 31, to cap off a near-perfect batting effort. There were only three boundary-less overs in the entire innings.Rashid all the way
He’s dangerous even without scoreboard pressure, but with it behind him, he is unplayable. In a chase that required the batsmen to go at nearly 12 an over, Rashid Khan’s figures were incredible. Four overs. Seven runs (!) and three wickets.The Capitals had front-loaded their batting. They had Shikhar Dhawan, who has hit four successive 50-plus scores this season, including back-to-back hundreds.Sandeep Sharma sent him back for a duck.They promoted Marcus Stoinis at No. 3 and Shimron Hetmyer at No. 4.Spin consumed them.When Rashid took his third wicket, the Capitals were 83 for 6 in the 13th over. The slide from there was slow but completely inevitable.

The pair made 83 apiece and shared a 135-run stand while Cameron Green stuck on his return to bowling

Alex Malcolm31-Oct-2020Captain Matthew Wade and Ben McDermott produced a classy century stand to help Tasmania close in a first innings lead against Western Australia.Wade made 83 in his first match of the season after being rested from the opening two Shield rounds to spend time with his family following Australia’s tour of England, and with the heavy forthcoming international schedule in mind.McDermott finished the day 83 not out to continue his excellent early season form. It was his third half-century in four innings this season and he will be hoping to reach his second first-class century on the third day.Tasmania battled through the first hour without loss until Cameron Green’s first spell of bowling in a match in 12 months made a mark. Charlie Wakim edged Green’s first ball through a vacant third slip then the extra pace and bounce of Green removed Jordan Silk, who was left inspecting the blow on his right thumb as he trudged off after ballooning a simple catch to gully.Green bowled just eight overs for the day in two spells of three and five overs, as was forecast pre-game, but was impressive nonetheless taking 1 for 15.Wakim also fell to a short ball from Aaron Hardie five overs later leaving Tasmania vulnerable. But Wade walked out at No. 3 and looked every bit the Test incumbent that he is. His footwork was sharp and his intent to rotate the strike was a feature.After combining with McDermott for a 135-run stand Wade had a brain-fade charging Ashton Agar only to miss a wild swipe and be stumped by a wide margin.Hardie and Lance Morris delivered late blows for WA removing Jake Doran and Tim Paine but McDermott was resolute, guiding Tasmania to stumps just 30 runs shy of the first innings lead.