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Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince took huge advantage of another pitch at Colwyn Bay to drive bowlers to distraction

Paul Edwards at Colwyn Bay19-Jul-2015
ScorecardAlviro Petersen shared a 321 stand with fellow South African Ashwell Prince•Getty Images

One rather doubts that the songs of George Formby feature prominently in Lancashire’s post-match victory celebrations; judging from what can be heard near the dressing room: a strident beat recognisable from rugby league matches and the repetition of the county’s name does the job perfectly well. Still, there were times on the first afternoon of this game when it seemed that Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince could play Glamorgan’s bowling with “little sticks of Colwyn rock”.By the close, Petersen and Prince’s unbroken third-wicket stand of 321 had steered Lancashire to 425 for 2, a score which already puts the Division Two leaders in a virtually impregnable position. They had inflicted suffering on the grand scale, destructive almost as soon as they began their partnership and they wreaked progressively more havoc as the afternoon drifted into the evening. In the final session 192 runs were scored off 32 overs.The Port Elizabethan pair’s demolition of Glamorgan’s seven-man attack was appreciated by all the 2200 spectators and it gave partisan pleasure to at least half the crowd. While this may be Glamorgan’s home game, the delightful Penrhyn Avenue ground is only an hour and a half’s drive from Formby’s birthplace in Wigan; it is far easier to get to for most local Lancashire supporters than it is for the Glamorgan followers living in the valleys, where some rather different singing goes on.The red rose was, therefore, as well represented as the daffodil in the throngs enjoying their burgers and pints on the popular side. There were plenty of Lancastrians, too, on the attractively-tiered green slope. Indeed, some might argue that this outground is the envy of millions of people in the Western economies at the moment: they have a bank which is conveniently situated and it makes them money.They may have applauded even more loudly had their team been steered to prosperity by two batsmen whose development had taken place in Lancashire but they are also aware that they lead Glamorgan by 47 points, albeit having played a game more. Should Lancashire win here, promotion will soon be a matter of quite simple arithmetic.The truth, however, is that neither side should lose this game, for it is being played on a wicket as flat as the most avaricious batsman could desire. Add to that, short boundaries and a fast outfield and you have the sort of conditions ripe for plunder and record-breaking.Neither Petersen nor Prince passed up the opportunity to boost their already healthy averages. One therefore had to be careful not to be sucked into a swamp of statistics by the sort of cricket that sends Opta men into numbers nirvana; much better, surely, to select the most significant records that were broken.Let it be noted, therefore that when Prince and Petersen returned to a standing ovation from the members in the pavilion at close of play, their stand was already a third-wicket record for matches between these sides. The pair had set a comparable record when they put on 258 against Derbyshire at Southport in May but their partnership is also now the second highest third-wicket stand in Lancashire’s history. Only Michael Atherton and Neil Fairbrother’s 364-run partnership against Surrey in 1990 lies ahead of them.The stroke-making of both players was close to faultless. They performed with the confidence of batsmen who had absolute trust in the surface on which they were playing. One lost count of the times Prince crunched the ball through midwicket or the occasions on which Petersen drove relatively blameless bowlers through the covers. Boundaries, rather than wickets, came in clumps but by the end of the day, the pair were not sated. There could have few more ominous sights for Glamorgan’s bowlers than seeing Petersen pat back Dean Cosker’s final over.Petersen will resume tomorrow on 205 which is only five short of his career-best first-class score; he has already hit 27 fours and a straight six off Cosker which landed in the gardens of one of Penrhyn Avenue’s russet-roofed houses. Three Lancashire players were sent to look for the ball for there was little prospect of them having anything else to do.By contrast, Paul Horton’s part in the day was long completed by the time Petersen and Prince came together. The Lancashire opener was trapped leg before in the seventh over by a ball from Michael Hogan which perhaps kept a little low. Horton took his leave with a reproachful glance at the pitch although he had probably changed his opinion by the end of the day.The rest of the morning was taken up with Karl Brown batting as felicitously as anyone to make his sixth fifty in seven Championship innings. Timing the new ball with seemingly little effort, Brown batted with grace and style but then frustrated his supporters when he was bowled when playing across a straight ball from David Lloyd. Some thought that a Brown century was going to be the main course at Colwyn Bay; instead it was merely the amuse bouche.As for Glamorgan’s bowlers, they did their best on a surface they must have come to loathe. In the 85th over Hogan was driven three times in succession to the extra-cover boundary by Preince; a few minutes later Petersen hit Lloyd for six fours in seven balls.”Come on Glammy, give us a wicket!” some yelled but it was a voice crying in the wilderness. By that stage Jacques Rudolph’s bowlers could have been forgiven for reckoning that they would have been better employed following George Formby’s example and cleaning a few windows instead of playing this wretched game.

With a depleted Australian side, and dwindling crowds at ODI matches in the country, the upcoming series may further struggle to bring in the crowds

Brydon Coverdale10-Jan-2013Once upon a time, the one-day international tri-series was a highlight of Australia’s cricket summer. You need only catch a World Series Classics replay on Fox Sports to be reminded that the stands were usually heaving with scantily-clad men and women, kids holding home-made banners, and if it’s a match from the early 1980s, terry-towelling hats. Tony Greig and Bill Lawry would be calling the action with such fervour that you’d think each game had the World Cup riding on it.How times change. The triangular series is gone, although it was resurrected last summer with India and Sri Lanka in the country, and the crowds don’t flock to 50-over cricket in anything like the numbers they used to. Twenty20 internationals and the Big Bash League have been brought in with the aim of attracting the younger fans, Test cricket remains the premier format, and one-day internationals are left searching for relevance.It is into this environment that an Australian outfit led by George Bailey and lacking drawcards like David Warner and Shane Watson will venture on Friday, taking on Sri Lanka in a series that two years from the next World Cup, has little riding on it. The broadcasters, Channel Nine, have voiced their displeasure at the lack of big names in Australia’s side, although they might change their tune if Aaron Finch tees off on debut.”I can probably understand it coming from Channel Nine,” Bailey said in Melbourne on Thursday. “I think they’re about to go into negotiations for the TV rights. I think that was a pretty tactical move to try to talk down one-day cricket and what the Australian team’s putting out. But it’s still called the Australian cricket team.”On Friday, the Channel Nine cameramen will do their best to focus on the most densely populated stands at the MCG, but there will be huge numbers of empty seats as well. When Australia and Sri Lanka met at the MCG in a one-day game earlier this year the crowd was approximately 29,000, while only 19,000 turned up when they played at the same venue the summer before. By contrast, the BBL Melbourne derby attracted 46,000 fans last weekend.”I might have a bit of a left-field view but I think the way sport is shown on TV now is so good and you get so much information thrown at you that the better it gets delivered to your couch, the less reasons there are to leave and watch it at a ground,” Bailey said. “Big Bash is popular because it goes for three hours and it fits in nicely. There’s no doubt one-day cricket takes a bit longer, and I think Test matches are becoming a real event in themselves.”It’s as much about the spectacle as the event itself and the cricket. One-day cricket, as far as crowds go, will be challenged at different times. But I still think the actual cricket itself is very good. There is always going to be a huge element of luck in T20 and I think Test cricket will always be the ultimate test, and I think one-day cricket certainly sits nicely in the middle of those two.”If the last couple of ODIs between the sides at the MCG are any indication, the Melbourne crowd will feature plenty of Sri Lankan supporters from the city’s large ex-pat population. Despite the format’s battling status in Australia, 50-over cricket remains immensely popular in Sri Lanka, and the team’s captain Mahela Jayawardene said he was confident that if the series started well, it would find an audience.”There’s been a lot of cricket played in the summer, and West Indies are coming, there is the Big Bash,” Jayawardene said. “But I think there’s certainly a lot of interest in world cricket for the 50-over game. For players it will still be exciting, trying to push yourself, but once you play a few good games [the fans] will get into it. I think it’s all about how the series is going to start and how exciting it is going to be.”We’ve got a really big appetite for 50-over cricket [in Sri Lanka]. I think that’s something that drives the national team a lot. They [the Sri Lankan public] enjoy their one-day cricket and T20 cricket a lot more than Test cricket. We don’t get big crowds for our Test matches … but in one-day cricket they definitely get behind the team, they have a good time and enjoy their one-day cricket.”These five matches will also be the first in Australia to be held under new ICC rules that, among other things, prevent captains from placing any more than four fieldsmen outside the circle at any time. The rules aren’t quite as radical as the split-innings experiment Australia trialed in the Ryobi Cup last summer but the game’s governing bodies hope they will lead to more exciting ODIs as the cricket world builds towards the 2015 World Cup.”The rule changes are going to be interesting. We’ve had them for a couple of years at the domestic level,” Bailey said. “My only concern with those is not to continue to make them too batter friendly. I don’t necessarily think higher-scoring games become better games of cricket. An even contest between bat and ball still provides the best games of cricket. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the international players adapt.”I think four [fielders] out has challenged the spinners at a domestic level, but I’ve also seen the best spinners adapt pretty well and still find ways to dominate the game or contribute really well in games. I like the fact that bowlers do get a second bouncer. I like the fact that that leaves a bit more uncertainty in the over. I think they’re interesting rule changes. Anything that provides a little bit of uncertainty, even to make captains or teams think a little bit more on their feet, are good changes for the game.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the second one-dayer between India and West Indies in Visakhapatnam

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya01-Dec-2011

Match facts

Friday, December 2
Start time 1430 (0900 GMT)At a venue that shot MS Dhoni into the limelight in 2005, the Indian batsmen will want to cash in•AFP

Big Picture

As the tour moves to the YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, the contest between the teams – which seemed rather predictable to begin with – has acquired a more exciting taste following a couple of manic finishes in the lead-up to this game. A draw with the scores level in the third Test and a nail-biting finish in Cuttack, during which Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav provided an insight into the intricacies of human behaviour under pressure, have spiced up a home season characterised by one-sided contests and poor crowds.Visakhapatnam should not worry about poor crowds – it’s only hosted three internationals in six years and it would be an exception if the game doesn’t entertain. A high-scoring venue, teams have gone past 250 in each of the six ODI innings here – twice while chasing successfully. In what could be a battle of the bats at a venue that shot MS Dhoni into the limelight in 2005, the Indian top order will not want to fall victim to the “soft dismissals” that their captain Virender Sehwag criticised them for after the Cuttack game. Even more so for West Indies. They were troubled by India’s seamers in Cuttack, but are now at a venue where the bowlers’ skills and variations have been of limited value in past games.

Form guide

India WWWWW (Most recent first)
West Indies LLWWW

Watch out for…

The decision to rest MS Dhoni has given Parthiv Patel an opportunity to stake his claim for a place in the limited-overs side to Australia, where he toured as the first-choice wicketkeeper in 2003-04. He didn’t have the best home series against England, getting starts but not going beyond 38 in four games. His recent form, though, has been good. He scored centuries in successive games for Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy, and will hope to extend this run into international cricket.Lendl Simmons didn’t play in the Test series against India, left out of the squad after Adrian Barath returned from injury. An attacking batsman upfront, Simmons, while not an automatic pick in the longest format, has been in good touch in the 50-overs version. In 2011, he averages 56.41 in 13 games with seven half-centuries and one ton. He took a while to get going in Cuttack before falling for 19. Will Vizag be different?

Team news

Manoj Tiwary and Ajinkya Rahane are part of the squad but unless there are niggles or injury concerns, India could go in with the same team that won in Cuttack.India (possible) 1 Parthiv Patel (wk), 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 R Vinay Kumar, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Umesh Yadav.Legspinner Anthony Martin had some success against India when they toured West Indies earlier in the year, but will the visitors go in with Sunil Narine for this match? An offspinner, he made a name for himself during the Champions League T20. He dismissed Dhoni and Suresh Raina, and used a variation he calls the “knuckle ball” that takes the ball away from the right hander.West Indies 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Adrian Barath, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Danza Hyatt, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Andre Russell, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Sunil Narine/Anthony Martin.

Stats and trivia

• India’s win in Cuttack was only their second by a one-wicket margin in ODIs. The previous instance was in Auckland in 2003, against New Zealand, when Ashish Nehra hit the winning runs.
• Twenty years ago, on December 6, 1991, these two teams were involved in a tie, in Perth.
  

  Quotes

  “There is no excuse for anybody not scoring runs.”
  
  

Imran Farhat, the Pakistan opener, is considering legal action against Mazhar Majeed, the player agent allegedly at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal engulfing the Pakistan team

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2010Imran Farhat, the Pakistan opener, is considering legal action against Mazhar Majeed, the player agent allegedly at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal engulfing the Pakistan team. Farhat was named by Majeed on Tuesday in fresh video footage as one of seven players he has working with him.”Instructions have been given to our lawyer in London to send a notice to Mazhar Majeed,” a source close to Farhat told ESPNcricinfo. “We want Majeed to clarify and prove what he has said, or at least admit that what he has said was unintentional and incorrect. Otherwise we will take legal action for defamation against him.”The possibility that Majeed took Farhat’s name mistakenly, the source said, is being considered. “He might have been talking about someone else and Farhat’s name came up by accident but this has to be clarified by him.”, a Pakistani TV channel, broadcasted previously unseen video footage in which Majeed takes the names of four more Pakistani players who, he claimed, work with him. The footage was shown as an exhibit in the ICC’s provisional suspension hearings of Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir, held in October in Dubai, and was part of the evidence submitted by ICC against the three suspended players linked to the spot-fixing scandal.Farhat was part of Pakistan’s squad in the series against South Africa but was dropped for the tour of New Zealand. His axing is likelier to be the result of poor performances, however, and the relative success of a new opening pair in Taufeeq Umar and Mohammad Hafeez.

A round-up of the third day’s play of the second round of the RBS Pentangular Cup

Cricinfo staff09-Jan-2010Karachi Blues 172 for 6 (Kamal 39, Yasir 4 for 66) and 272 lead Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited 400 (Hafeez 110, Mughal 98, Haroon 4-87) by 44 runs
Scorecard
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited are in an excellent position to force a win over Karachi Blues at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex. Though they were able to add just 73 more to their overnight score, losing five wickets, they had gained a substantial lead of 128; soon enough, their bowlers, led by legspinner Yasir Shah’s 4 for 66, had added significant pressure on Karachi, limiting them to 172 for 6 at stumps, just 44 ahead.SNGPL captain Saleem Mughal, the overnight batsman, missed his century, dismissed for 98 but his team was backed by other important contributions, including the 41 extras, to reach 400. Karachi, in their second innings, had struggled from the outset, losing their first three wickets with just 40 on the board, and though Ali Asad (23), Asim Kamal (39) and Azam Hussain (37) got starts, they failed to consolidate. Karachi lost their sixth wicket just before stumps, and have much to do to achieve a draw tomorrow.
Scorecard
The Rest have reached a position of control at the National Stadium after bowling Sialkot out for 280, and extending their lead to a healthy 302 with five wickets in hand at stumps on the third day. Sialkot had competed well on the second day, reaching 280 for 5, but a five-wicket haul from fast bowler Tabish Khan allowed them to add just 65 more to their overnight score. As a result, The Rest secured a first-innings lead of 67, and their batsmen, in the second innings, ensured the advantage remained with them.They did suffer an early wobble, however, with three wickets down for 52, but Aamer Sajjad (88) and Naved Yasin (71), the stars with the bat from the first innings, continued their excellent form, adding 132 for the fourth wicket. Though both were dismissed before stumps, the lead remains substantial and some quick runs from the two unbeaten batsmen, Saeed Bin Nasir and Naeem Anjum, on the final day could prompt a declaration in an effort to bowl out Sialkot.

Hurricanes have stamped themselves genuine BBL title contenders with a fifth straight win courtesy of a brutal unbeaten 68 from Tim David

AAP10-Jan-2025Tim David fired for the second time in as many matches to steer Hobart Hurricanes to a convincing win over Sydney Thunder and top spot on the BBL table.Hurricanes ran down Thunder’s 164 for 6 at Ninja Stadium on Friday night with 19 balls to spare, with David finishing unbeaten on 68 from 38 balls.David, elevated to No. 5 after Ben McDermott suffered hamstring soreness while fielding, came to life in the two-over power surge, hitting 26 from six balls. David iced the win with a six off Wes Agar, his sixth six of the match.The 28-year-old played an almost identical hand in Hurricanes’ win over Adelaide Strikers in their previous match with an unbeaten 62 from 28 deliveries.Hurricanes have won five matches in a row to stamp themselves as genuine title contenders with three games remaining before the finals. They have missed the finals in the past two seasons and are one of two teams yet to lift the BBL silverware.They overcame an injury scare in the field when skipper Nathan Ellis crashed head-first into an advertising board in the 15th over when diving trying to stop a boundary. He was assessed by medical staff and remarkably returned to the field soon afterwards and continued to bowl.Thunder drop from first to third on the ladder with four wins from eight games. Earlier, David Warner top scored for them with an unbeaten 88 off 66 balls in an innings that took time to get going.Thunder didn’t hit a boundary until the fifth over and grafted to 85 for 3 after 13. But they picked up the pace towards the back end, with Sam Billings contributing 28 from 15 balls.Warner, who snapped his bat early on, looked more comfortable the longer he went and took the long handle to Ellis in a final over that went for 17 runs.Young gun Sam Konstas failed to fire for Thunder after a whirlwind two Tests against India and was out for 4 from nine balls, gloving a short ball from Riley Meredith.Openers Mitchell Owen and Matthew Wade got Hurricanes off to a flying start in the chase with the latter hitting George Garton out of the ground.Hurricanes lost three wickets to keep Thunder somewhat in the hunt before David and Chris Jordan steered them home.

Injury jinx strikes left-armer once more, as coach Mott admits 2019 veteran isn’t ready

Andrew Miller21-Oct-2023
Reece Topley’s cruel misfortune with injury has struck once more with a suspected broken finger set to rule him out of the remainder of England’s World Cup campaign. But Jofra Archer will not be considered to replace him despite England now facing five must-win matches even to reach the tournament’s knock-out stages.Topley, who took four wickets in England’s solitary win over Bangladesh at Dharamsala, was once again his team’s most penetrative seam bowler, claiming three wickets in his 8.5 overs, including the big scalp of Quinton de Kock with the second ball of the match.However, he left the field with one ball remaining of his fourth over, after stooping to intercept a fierce drive back down the ground from Rassie van der Dussen. The shot had flicked the tip of his left index finger before flying away for four, and though he did return to claim two more wickets after undergoing lengthy treatment, he was not called upon to bat as England succumbed to a crushing 229-run loss, their largest losing margin in men’s ODI history.”I thought Reece Topley going back out to bowl with a broken finger showed great spirit,” Matthew Mott, England’s coach, told Sky Sports at the end of the contest, before clarifying that the team was still awaiting the full diagnosis. “We’re still waiting on that, but it’s very much looking like it’s a crack. Certainly that’s the early diagnosis, but we’ll find out properly with X-rays.”Topley’s own reaction as he left the field spoke volumes about the situation, however. He pushed over a chair and kicked out at a box behind the boundary boards, as he stalked to the dressing-room after yet another dose of extraordinary misfortune.Having featured on this ground in the World T20 in 2016, Topley did not play international cricket over the next four years as he battled back from a career-threatening stress fracture of the back, and having earned selection for last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, he was ruled out before the competition began after twisting his ankle on a boundary marker ahead of a practice match in Brisbane. Then, having joined Royal Challengers Bangalore for this year’s IPL, he suffered a dislocated shoulder while fielding in his opening match.And now, he faces the prospect of another early exit from the competition. However, his replacement will not be Archer – who has been with the squad as their solitary travelling reserve, with the loosely expressed hope that he might be considered fit enough to feature at the back end of the competition, as he continues his rehabilitation from a long-term elbow problem.Mott, however, has now admitted that that will not be happening. ESPNcricinfo understands that Archer will instead leave India within 24 hours of England’s defeat. “Jof is actually not going to be considered for selection,” Mott confirmed. “He’s come out, he’s reported to the medical staff, but he’s not going to be able to play a part in the end of this campaign.”Any replacement will now be flown in directly from the UK, with Brydon Carse perhaps the most likely candidate after featuring in England’s home series against New Zealand in September. There is no stipulation that a replacement must be like-for-like, so they could use Topley’s injury as a chance to alter the balance of their squad.The news caps one of the most disastrous evenings in England’s World Cup history. Even allowing for the depths that the team plumbed in a series of abject campaigns between 1996 and 2015, never before had they conceded a total as high as South Africa’s 399 for 7, nor succumbed to such a vast defeat. And as defending champions, their campaign already looks dead in the water, with matches against Sri Lanka, India, Australia, Netherlands and Pakistan still to come.Related

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“I can’t sugarcoat that, it was a hard night for us,” Mott admitted, adding that England’s decision to bowl first – in heat that Heinrich Klaasen, South Africa’s matchwinning centurion described as “brutal” – had been informed by statistics, rather than a gut feel for the conditions.”I think we come in with really good intentions in this game,” he said. “It was a fantastic cricket wicket. We looked at the ground stats, it said it was a good chasing ground. On reflection, I thought the heat was probably more than we bargained for. It certainly looked a little bit like a warzone there at times, particularly after Topley went off.”In a measure of what might have been, England actually outscored South Africa – 67 runs to 59 – in the first ten-over powerplay, but crucially they had lost four wickets by that stage, compared to South Africa’s one.”Hindsight is great. But we went out there in that powerplay to do a job and we were well on the way to doing that, and obviously it spiralled out of control in the last 10 overs,” Mott said, with Klaasen and Marco Jansen pounding a 151-run stand for the sixth wicket in just 80 balls.Jofra Archer has been with England’s white-ball squad since September, but isn’t ready for a recall•PA Photos/Getty Images

“That was class batting at the end there, with two set batters. We’d got five wickets in the first 40 overs, we’d probably done the bulk of the work to be honest, a couple more wickets there, we could have restricted them to under 300, which I think in these conditions would have been very achievable.”When pressed by Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain on England’s decision to do away with three allrounders in Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran, and leave their batting dangerously top-heavy with David Willey batting out of position at No. 7, Mott conceded that the criticism of the decision was “a fair shout”.”These are the sort of games you’ve got to learn from, and now we’re backed right into a corner,” he added. “Looking at our match-ups with South Africa, we wanted to go a little bit pace-heavy. We thought that was our best way of taking wickets throughout the innings, but that balance is something we’ll definitely discuss going into the next game.”But it is very clear for us what we need to do now. Net run-rate is basically a non-event for us. We just have to win all our games and hope things go our way. But it’s certainly not the spot we really wanted to be in.”

Bracey combines with Ryan Higgins to lead recovery at Cheltenham

ECB Reporters Network25-Jul-2022Northamptonshire 30 for 0 trail Gloucestershire 317 (Bracey 79, Dent 54, Higgins 50) by 287 runsJames Bracey gave a reminder of the ability that earned him an England Test cap as Gloucestershire posted 317 all out on the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match with Northamptonshire at Cheltenham College.The 25-year-old left-hander top scored with 79 off 137 balls, receiving excellent support from Ryan Higgins in a sixth-wicket stand of 110, which rescued their side from 167 for 5 after winning the toss.Offspinner Rob Keogh was the most successful Northants bowler with 3 for 61. By the close of a day packed with attacking batting and wickets aplenty for a sizable festival crowd, the visitors had replied with 30 without loss from 12 overs.Play began under heavily overcast skies and a disappointing festival for Marcus Harris continued when Jack White clipped the top of the Australian’s stumps with the total on 11.Related

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Ollie Price looked in good touch helping Chris Dent add 50 for the second wicket, but the 21-year-old departed in disappointing fashion having made 23, bowled off stump looking to hit a delivery from James Sales through midwicket.Dent was unbeaten on 49 when lunch was taken at 112 for 2. Rain delayed the resumption by 25 minutes before the experienced opener moved to fifty off 89 balls. Another poor shot cost Dent his wicket on 54, edging an attempted cut off Ben Sanderson to second slip where Will Young pouched a sharp catch.It was 122 for 3 and four runs later Miles Hammond fell for 25, nicking a defensive shot off Tom Taylor through to wicketkeeper Lewis McManus. Graeme van Buuren got off the mark with a sumptuous cover driven four off Taylor, but made only 14 before chasing a wide ball from Keogh and directing the ball straight to Simon Kerrigan at cover.Gloucestershire were in a hole when Higgins joined Bracey. The allrounder made a somewhat manic start to his innings, but gradually settled down to play some fine shots. Higgins lifted Kerrigan over long-on for six before the more studied Bracey reached only his second half-century in 16 Championship innings, having faced 82 deliveries.It was exactly the approach Gloucestershire required and allowed Higgins freedom to play his shots as they took the score to 250 for 5 at tea.Higgins went to fifty with a sweep off Keogh for his fifth four, but tried to repeat the shot next ball and was pinned lbw, having faced 79 balls.
Bracey, who had produced a string of elegant cover drives, continued to accumulate without alarm and Zafar Gohar kept the tempo of Gloucestershire’s innings high with a pulled six off Sales.Gohar was given a life on nine when top-edging a similar shot and dropped by Taylor at square leg, a tricky chance running away from the pitch. Having played with such assurance, Bracey fell to another ill-judged shot, aiming a big hit to leg off Keogh and miscuing a catch to cover. Gohar quickly followed, well caught by the diving Kerrigan at fine leg off Sales for a frantic 19.Tom Price hit Kerrigan for a straight six before the second new ball was taken at 317 for eight. He fell lbw to White in the first over with it and when Zak Chappell was bowled having a swing at Sanderson, Gloucestershire had lost their last five wickets for 40 runs in somewhat kamikaze fashion.By contrast, Northants openers Will Young and Emilio Gay adopted a no-risks policy to see out a potentially tricky period before the close.

Stead believes there could be up to 30 players pushing for selection in the coming years

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2021New Zealand coach Gary Stead believes there could be up to 30 players vying for positions in the ODI side heading towards the 2023 World Cup in India.New Zealand return to the ODI format for the first time in a year against Bangladesh on Saturday – they have only played four matches since the 2019 World Cup final – and while the focus is not yet firmly on the next edition, circumstance will bring some new faces in the side.Kane Williamson will be missing the whole series with an elbow injury, Ross Taylor has been ruled out of at least the first game in Dunedin and Colin de Grandhomme is also unavailable as he has surgery on an ankle problem that has plagued his season.Related

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“It is exciting as coach when you sit round the selection table and start looking at the names you expect to keep coming through the way they are developing,” Stead said. “It’s hard to write 15 names down when there could be up to 30 vying for those spots, that’s a good place to be though.”The strength of New Zealand cricket at the moment is seen in the Blackcaps but it’s also driven from below that with our New Zealand A programmes, the domestic game as well is also in good heart because we are producing people who perform well when they come to international level.”There could be three debutants on Saturday with Devon Conway and Will Young set to replace Williamson and Taylor, while allrounder Daryl Mitchell is an option for the middle order depending on the balance of the side.New Zealand have used 26 players so far this season across the T20I and Test series against West Indies, Pakistan and Australia, with this era considered to be the greatest depth the game has had in the country.The match in Dunedin will be the first time since 2014 that neither Williamson nor Taylor have featured in an ODI for New Zealand. The captain is certain to be part of the 2023 campaign and Taylor has previously spoken as having the desire to push towards the tournament, but having a new combination at Nos. 3 and 4 – even if only for a short time – will have its value.”They are two positions in the order that we have a lot of faith in and strength in New Zealand cricket,” Stead said. “The opportunity for Devon and Will to come in is really exciting for them. They are both fine players which we’ve seen in our domestic formats and also international cricket to date.”Both have made their international debuts this season: Conway in the T20I side, where he has scored 366 runs at 52.28 and Young in the Test series against West Indies, where he first replaced the injured BJ Watling then the absent Williamson who was at the birth of his first child.

He struggled initially but converted a nine-ball-three and a run-a-ball 20 into a match-winning 94 off 50

The Report by Sidharth Monga06-Dec-20194:32

Star Sports Match Point – Pathan runs out of adjectives for Kohli

An unmistakable sign of greatness shone through as Virat Kohli sealed India’s sixth straight successful chase at home, their second-highest successful one overall.For a large part of the chase, Kohli kept fighting himself, unable to find his touch, but he found a way to turn a start of a nine-ball-three and a run-a-ball 20 in a two-run-a-ball chase into a match-winning 94 off 50. And he didn’t play all that well. Let it sink in. That’s greatness right there.Animated, furious at himself and the opposition, Kohli had a capacity crowd live the chase with him. At one point, he hit a six and mocked Kesrick Williams’ signature celebration wherein he pulls out an imaginary notebook from his pocket and pretends to strike off the batsman’s name off.This was a rare high-scoring T20 match where the side scoring fewer runs in boundaries ended up winning. India managed 120 in boundaries as compared to West Indies’ 134, but West Indies made up for it with the extras they conceded: 21 to India’s four, not counting leg-byes, which are not a sign of ordinary discipline.West Indies refuse to slow downThe last time India won the toss, they chose to bat against South Africa, knowing fully well defending is their weaker suit, especially in dewy conditions. That, though, was with a series lead in hand. In the series opener against West Indies, they stuck to chasing. West Indies knew they had their task cut out.From the moment Evin Lewis got stuck into Washington Sundar in the first over, West Indies were on a mission to get themselves a defendable total. It didn’t matter that Lendl Simmons fell in Deepak Chahar’s first over. Brandon King hit the third ball he faced for four. Nor did Lewis’ wicket for 40 off 17 in the sixth over slow them down. When King fell in the 11th over, Shimron Hetmyer immediately hit Ravindra Jadeja for four.Chahal makes the differenceIt seemed India may have missed a trick not bowling the legspin of Yuzvendra Chahal the moment Kieron Pollard walked out. It was 107 for 3 after 11 when Chahal could have exploited Pollard’s weakness against legspin. Instead Shivam Dube was hit for 13, and Jadeja for 12 in the next. However, by getting the wickets of Hetmyer and Pollard in the 18th over, Chahal may have made sure West Indies don’t make an absolute killing of the final few overs. Jason Holder’s nine-ball-24, though, took them to a total India have never chased successfully before.Rahul charges at West IndiesDew was going to play a part, but India still needed a quick start to this chase. Back as opener in Shikhar Dhawan’s absence, KL Rahul provided just that. He went after Holder in the second over, and then made sure India didn’t fall streets behind when Kohli struggled for a start upon the early dismissal of Rohit Sharma. Along the way he became the third-fastest to 1000 T20 international runs in terms of innings taken to get there.BCCI

The Kohli showAt the other end, though, Kohli was just not himself. But in being that, he was more himself than he can ever be. At every shank, he kept admonishing himself. Then he tried harder, and shanked harder. West Indies, generous with wides, were smart with their changes of pace. Perhaps a word or three flew too. A border-line no-ball call for height went West Indies’ way. Kohli reacted to everything, especially to the bowlers’ interaction with him. Many a great batsman are known to go in their shell and only respond to chirping once the job is done, but Kohli was thriving on it. He was perhaps looking for it. Who knows if there was any chirping?All we know is Kohli was not happy, and he was willing himself to concentrate harder. Reading body language is usually fraught with risks, but you could obviously say Kohli on this night was in some other zone. And with every single he took, the asking rate went up. At the halfway mark, India needed to go at 11.9 an over. Hayden Walsh then bowled a lovely over but Kohli got away with an inside edge for four. In the next over, Holder set him up for the slower bouncer, which has brought him success with Kohli before, but this top edge sailed over for six. Then he smacked a full toss for four and fought with the umpires for a no-ball. The man was fighting every inch, hyper aware of everything.In the 13th over, Williams bowled two no-balls, but it was still obvious that Kohli was struggling for timing against him. Amid all this, Rahul drilled Khary Pierre straight to long-off. India still needed 78 off 39, and Kohli had only just begun to find his bearings.EndgameIndia promoted Rishabh Pant, which brought them double dividend. Apart from the right-left combination, it meant the legspinner Walsh didn’t bowl anymore. And Pant made sure of that with the first ball he faced, getting down on a knee and smacking Pierre for a six. Kohli fed off it, and went after Holder in the next over. Nineteen runs came off five balls, and at 55 required off 34, India’s win probability had gone from 27 to 73 according to Cricinfo’s forecaster.Trying big hits, Pant and Shreyas Iyer fell to keep West Indies interested but Kohli was never going to come back with the chase unfinished. Not on this night.