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“We were all satisfied with how we went about our planning. It just comes down to an execution thing”

Alex Malcolm23-Feb-2021Jhye Richardson said Australia’s bowlers will be looking to improve their execution in the death overs after missing their lengths in the heavy defeat to New Zealand at Hagley Oval in the first T20I of the five-match series.New Zealand had slumped to 19 for 3 in the Powerplay after being sent in to bat, with Daniel Sams and Richardson bowling superbly upfront.However, Australia’s bowlers conceded 76 runs in the last six overs of the innings and 33 off the last two, as Devon Conway produced a stunning 99 not out to lift New Zealand to a winning total of 184 for 5.Richardson was the pick of Australia’s quicks claiming 2 for 31 on his return to the T20I side. He only bowled one over in the last four, picking up the wicket of James Neesham, but he did admit he didn’t quite hit his lengths, conceding a six each to Conway and Glenn Phillips in his four overs.”I think from a personal point of view I certainly missed my length,” Richardson said. “I think they batted really well. The outfield was exceptionally fast. It got a little bit dewy at the end so we found the ball was probably skidding on a little bit more at the end as to the start of the innings which probably helped them a little bit, just in terms of slower balls not sticking into the wicket as much as they were earlier.”If we missed our length we got punished. I think the planning and everything from that aspect was fine. We were all satisfied with how we went about our planning and the decisions made out there. It just comes down to an execution thing.”Australia were then surprised that the ball swung as prodigiously as it did for New Zealand under lights after the dew had settled in with Trent Boult and Tim Southee ripping through the top order to leave them 19 for 4.”They just kept it really simple, didn’t they?” Richardson said. “How often do you see three slips in a T20? We probably didn’t expect the ball to swing for that long and that much, to be honest. [It] didn’t really swing too much in our innings.”It was a little bit of a surprise but knowing that now, it’s something we’ll keep in the back of our mind going into the next game. [Boult and Southee are] two class bowlers and we saw them keep it really simple while the ball was swinging, just bowling a really nice line and length and making us make mistakes.”Richardson was pleased to be back playing at the international level. It was just his second appearance for Australia since his shoulder injury in 2019, and his first in 12 months after missing Australia’s tour to England and the ODI and T20I series against India before Christmas.
He spoke in the build-up about trying to take some pressure off himself after struggling with the weight of his own expectations at the end of the BBL.”I think I had plenty of time between the end of the Big Bash and now to think about how I was going about my last few Big Bash games, putting myself under a lot of pressure,” Richardson said.”I had a lot of time to think and reflect on that and went into the game really wanting to enjoy myself and not put myself under so much pressure because I know what I’ve done to get to this point. I can trust that.”I just went out there yesterday with the sole focus of just trying to enjoy myself and certainly did.”

BP Sandeep will take over the captaincy in the former India batsman’s absence

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2019Ambati Rayudu has opted out of representing Hyderabad in the upcoming Ranji Trophy season. Rayudu had come out of retirement only in August, a few months after he had ‘retired from all formats’ following his non-selection in India’s squad at the 2019 World Cup. According to an interview with , Rayudu said “a lot of politics” in the team made it “uncomfortable” for him to represent Hyderabad.Rayudu, who was Hyderabad captain in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, said: “In all honesty, I was looking forward to play for Hyderabad in Ranji Trophy this season. But unfortunately, the script did not go on the expected lines. There is a lot of politics in the team and the atmosphere was not conducive for good cricket. I felt very uncomfortable.”Rayudu even tweeted to Telangana’s Municipal Administration and Urban Development minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday, asking him to look into the “rampant corruption prevailing at HCA.” In the interview, Rayudu said that he had informed Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president Mohammad Azharuddin, who took over the role in September, about his decision, and felt “election promises” got in the way of the team’s progress. He even alleged that “rich, influential and politicians’ children” get preferential treatment for selection into the Hyderabad team.”I did have a talk with the president. He always said he was trying his best. But it never happened,” Rayudu said. “I feel he should have initiated stronger measures but he did not do that. I feel there were more election promises and as a result, the game suffered.”It hurt me a lot. A few players, who did not deserve to be in the team, were included in the team because of the election promises. If this happens, how can a team improve? My hands were tight (sic) for the playing eleven when it came to few players and they were untouchable during the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament.”If you look at the team, some of the players are selected because of the influence of some club secretaries. Sometimes, merit takes a back seat. This is unfortunate. Rich, influential and politicians’ children get preferences in Hyderabad teams. This is a true fact. We have to stop this buck. Since someone had to speak out, I thought I should do this. This is how bad the system has become in HCA.”Rayudu was also displeased at the choice of Arjun Yadav, the former Hyderabad allrounder, as coach. Rayudu claimed Arjun became coach due to the influence of his father, the former BCCI interim president Shivlal Yadav.This is not the first time Rayudu and Arjun have made news together. During the 2005-06 season, Arjun, who was then the Hyderabad captain, and Rayudu, then playing for Andhra, had been involved in a physical altercation during a Ranji Trophy match.”He is not a qualified coach and has conflict of interest which has not been addressed yet,” Rayudu said. “He is not fit to be the Ranji coach. It is because of his father’s influence he has been able to become the coach. I feel it was an election promise to make him (Arjun) as the coach.”In Rayudu’s absence, left-hand batsman BP Sandeep, who was Hyderabad’s highest run-scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, will take over as captain.

She was suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect, on the same day that saw her named in the squad for the World T20

Liam Brickhill09-Oct-2018South Africa’s preparations for next month’s Women’s World T20 have been struck a major blow after offspinner Raisibe Ntozakhe was found to have an illegal bowling action and was suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect. The ICC made the announcement on the same day that Ntozakhe was named in South Africa’s squad of 15 for the tournament.Ntozakhe was reported during the ODI against West Indies on September 16 in Barbados and had undergone an independent assessment of her bowling action on September 28 at the University of Pretoria. The assessment revealed that all of her deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.In accordance with ICC regulations, Ntozakhe’s international suspension will also be recognised and enforced by all National Cricket Federations for domestic cricket events played in their own jurisdiction. However, she may still be able to bowl in domestic cricket events played under the auspices of Cricket South Africa, and can apply for a re-assessment after modifying her bowling action.CSA has taken immediate steps to work with Ntozakhe’s remodelling of her action, and she will be based at the CSA Centre of Excellence, working with High Performance manager Vincent Barnes.*”The timing of this issue for Raisibe and for our World T20 squad is clearly inopportune but we need to deal with it,” CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe said. “We will work hard to remedy her action and have her retested as soon as practically possible. We are fortunate to have invested in an ICC accredited laboratory in South Africa and this will certainly make a quick turnaround possible.”South Africa’s national selection panel is mulling possible replacement options for the Women’s World T20, and an announcement is expected to be made shortly. Should CSA name a replacement player prior to the start of the Women’s World T20 support period on 2 November 2018, it will not require approval from the Event Technical Committee.

Hardik Pandya’s maiden Test hundred was the highlight of a triumphant second day for India, who made Sri Lanka follow on for the second successive Test match

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy13-Aug-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:19

Dasgupta: Pandya’s century had phenomenal hitting

The second day of the Pallekele Test began with Sri Lanka in their most promising position of the series. It ended with them a long way down the forest path towards another massive defeat, with hardly a sliver of sunlight to be seen. Hardik Pandya slipped the blindfold on them, with a brilliantly paced maiden Test hundred that stretched India’s first-innings total to 487; Mohammed Shami’s new-ball spell applied the machete jab to their backbone, instructing them to keep walking and try no funny stuff; and Sri Lanka themselves walked the rest of the way, a number of their batsmen throwing away their wickets as they slid to 135 all out in only 37.4 overs.Having secured a 352-run lead, Virat Kohli enforced the follow-on for the second time in successive Tests. It left enough time for India to bowl a further 13 overs, enough time to take one more wicket, Upul Tharanga chopping Umesh Yadav onto his stumps. It was Tharanga’s second dismissal in just over four hours. At stumps, Sri Lanka were 19 for 1, needing a further 333 to make India bat again.Sri Lanka’s first-innings largesse allowed Kuldeep Yadav to settle into a menacing rhythm and pick up his second four-wicket haul in only his second Test. He had begun expensively – erring on the full side, usually, or getting swept – as he found himself in the middle of a counterattacking fifth-wicket stand of 63 between Dinesh Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella.But Dickwella, taking one risk too many, slogged down the wrong line of a wrong’un after jumping out of his crease, precipitating a slide that cost Sri Lanka their last six wickets for 34 runs. That slide contained numerous signs of a loss of fight from Sri Lanka: Dilruwan Perera slogged one to deep square leg, Chandimal looked to flick one around the corner without taking a proper stride out, Malinda Pushpakumara left a big gap while attempting a drive against the turn.It was Shami, landing nearly every ball on the seam and making the batsmen play just as often, who set Sri Lanka’s batting horrors in motion. He was at peak rhythm right from his first ball, a bouncer that forced Dimuth Karunaratne to duck hurriedly. Bowling around the wicket to the two left-handed openers, he dismissed both with balls that held their line after angling in from wide of the crease. Both balls landed on the perfect length, and in successive overs both Tharanga and Karunaratne had nicked Shami behind, their feet frozen at the crease.The examination continued against the right-handed pair of Kusal Mendis and Chandimal, with the the latter surviving an lbw appeal, DRS returning an umpire’s call verdict on height. The pressure Shami was exerting – utterly suffocating, despite Umesh Yadav straying onto the pads repeatedly at the other end – played some part in the mix-up that cost Sri Lanka their third wicket, and two pieces of excellent fielding from R Ashwin at mid-on and Kuldeep at extra-cover sent back Mendis in the ninth over of their innings. Four balls later, Sri Lanka were 38 for 4, Angelo Mathews lbw to Pandya, pinned on the crease by one that kept a touch low.In the first two Tests, Pandya had largely been used in a supporting role to relieve the burden on India’s four main bowlers. Now, he had come on as first change. This may have had something to do with the innings he had just played.It was an innings of two distinct halves. Pandya had just reached his half-century when India lost their ninth wicket, some ten minutes before the scheduled lunch break. The interval was duly pushed back by half an hour, and Pandya went on to dominate a tenth-wicket stand of 66, racing from 50 off 61 balls to 108 off 96, with the No. 11 Umesh scoring 3 off 14 in that time.By the time he was the last man out for 108, in the first over after lunch, Pandya had become the second Indian batsman in the series to score a century in a session, after Shikhar Dhawan on the first day of the first Test in Galle. He was out third ball after resumption, slicing a Lakshan Sandakan googly to the fielder on the cover boundary. Sandakan finished with figures of 5 for 132, his first five-wicket haul, coming in his sixth Test match.Sri Lanka had begun the second day with the verve and menace with which they had ended the first, Vishwa Fernando finding extra bounce to have Wriddhiman Saha caught at gully in its second over and leave India 339 for 7. Fernando kept testing the batsmen with swing, bounce and a bit of seam, and at one point beat the No. 9 Kuldeep Yadav four times in succession – three times going past the outside edge and once past the inside edge to provoke a loud lbw appeal.Mohammed Shami undid Sri Lanka’s openers with accuracy and seam movement•Associated Press

Having survived that, Kuldeep put his head down and ground out 26 off 73 balls to help add 62 for the eighth wicket with Pandya. That partnership came at 3.17 an over, indicative of how hard Sri Lanka’s bowlers made both Kuldeep and Pandya work for their runs. During this phase of his innings, Pandya treated the bowling with respect, keeping an eye out for the odd short ball from the fast bowlers, which he put away with pulls, punches and ramps over the keeper.Otherwise, he simply took the singles on offer against Sri Lanka’s defensive fields. The bowlers and Pandya circled each other warily in this period; they knew of his hitting ability, he knew they knew, and for now he would bide his time.Then, Sandakan struck twice in three overs, finding Kuldeep’s edge with dip and turn after drawing him forward with his flight, and then taking a sharp return catch when Shami drove him hard and straight. It brought the No. 11 to the crease, and provoked a change of approach from Pandya.By this time, Pushpakumara had bowled four overs in the morning, and his figures read 22-2-56-3. Over the course of his next five balls, Pandya went on to mangle those figures, taking 26 runs off them with the cleanest striking imaginable, all of it executed with the stillest of heads and the smoothest of bat-swings.He began the over with a flat, slog-swept four, and followed it with a charge down the pitch for a stinging flat-bat hit past the bowler’s left hand. Then came three successive straight sixes, one of them clearing the sightscreen and another punching a hole through it. This was the head-on confrontation that the morning had been building towards all along.Sandakan, varying his pace and keeping batsmen guessing the direction of turn, conceded only three off the next over despite Pandya being on strike through most of it. Then Lahiru Kumara replaced Pushpakumara, pace replacing spin. No matter; Pandya hooked his second ball for six, premeditating by taking guard on off stump and hitting clean and hard. Into the 90s.Another six in the next over, over midwicket off Sandakan, took him to 97, and the century came up with a straight drive off Kumara – a straight-bat push to the left of a diving mid-on. He had become the fifth Indian to score his maiden first-class hundred in a Test match, after Vijay Manjrekar, Kapil Dev, Ajay Ratra and Harbhajan Singh.

Northamptonshire strengthened their position in the 30 overs that were possible on the second day of the Specsavers County Championship match against Sussex at Arundel

ECB Reporters Network23-Jun-2016
ScorecardBen Duckett took more runs off the Sussex attack•Getty Images

Northamptonshire strengthened their position in the 30 overs that were possible on the second day of the Specsavers County Championship match against Sussex at Arundel.Captain Alex Wakely batted through the morning session for his unbeaten 46 as Northants reached 142 for 2, just 36 behind Sussex’s first-innings 178. Rain set in during the afternoon and got steadily heavier and umpires Ben Debenham and Steve O’Shaughnessy abandoned play for the day at 5.10pm.Northants lost just one wicket in the action that was possible when Ajmal Shahzad had opener Ben Duckett caught at second slip by Chris Nash for 72, driving at a pitched-up delivery. The left-hander had added 94 for the second wicket with Wakely and took his first-class aggregate to 718 runs with his fifth 50-plus score of the season.Wakely had a scare on 17 when he edged Steve Magoffin just out of the diving Nash’s reach but otherwise batted solidly in difficult light. Wakely was joined by Rob Keogh in an undefeated third-wicket stand of 26 as Northants reached 142 for 2 at lunch when the rain arrived.

Matthew Carter’s ten wickets on debut proved in vain as Somerset’s veterans completed an epic comeback

Andrew Miller at Taunton17-Jun-2015
ScorecardPeter Trego’s bristling innings helped take Somerset most of the way to victory•Getty Images

After summoning the spirit of the Wurzels in clouting Somerset to a monumental and, potentially, season-altering run-chase at Taunton, a croaky Peter Trego admitted afterwards that he had “blown his larynx” in a lusty dressing-room rendition of the team’s victory song.”I like to add a little bit of Wurzel to the Wurzels team song,” he said. “This is why we play the game and love pulling on the shirt. Win, lose or draw, we put heart and soul into each game, and days like this are worth all the bad days.”There have been a fair few bad days flying around the west country in recent weeks, but the euphoria that greeted Somerset’s achievement on the final day at Taunton was so heartfelt it was as if that eponymous blackbird himself had been been hunted down.The triumph was sealed with five minutes of the morning session remaining as Abdur Rehman launched a volley of three fours in four balls off the 19-year-old Nottinghamshire offspinner Matthew Carter, whose ten wickets on debut proved in vain as Somerset’s veterans completed an epic comeback.”To chase down 400 on a wicket that was assisting, that’s a massive feather in the cap of our batting line-up who have been having their rough times in the season,” Trego said. “But we are coming good and hopefully this will be the catalyst for a few more good results.”It wasn’t simply the size of the chase that astonished – Somerset had themselves been on the wrong end of a 400-plus chase when Middlesex beat them by five wickets at Taunton in April, so they knew that such a feat could be achieved at the County Ground.More remarkable still was their comeback from a first-innings deficit of 210, especially having shipped 300 runs in 71 overs on the first day, with Brendan Taylor’s 152 steering Nottinghamshire towards what ought to have been an unassailable position.”We showed great character to fight back from that deficit,” Trego said. “Our ageing attack bowling the team out for 190, and two ageing middle-order players putting on a hundred partnership. That’s one thing in this game you can’t replace: experience.”Needing a further 127 for victory, but having squandered a very solid start by losing four wickets for 46 in a nervy evening session on day three, Trego launched his day’s work as if he’d come out whistling his favourite refrain. “With a girt big stick I’ll knock ‘im down. Blackbird, I’ll ‘ave ee!”The blackbird in his sights from the outset was Carter, whose 7 for 56 in the first innings had done so much to put the skids under Somerset’s hopes in this contest. But Trego swung his big stick for two whistling cover drives from his first two balls of the day to set an emphatic and aggressive tone for his team.Alongside him in a critical sixth-wicket stand of 116 was Jim Allenby, who bided his time as his team-mate set the tempo by reaching his fifty from 63 balls. Allenby took half an hour to add four runs to his overnight 32, before stepping up his tempo with a whistling pull for four off Jake Ball.The pair had whittled the victory target down to a meagre 42 before the wobble that all of Somerset had expected and feared. Allenby was trapped lbw for 62 by Samit Patel, whose natural feistiness had been exacerbated by the rap on the knuckles he had received for a run-in with umpire Benson on the third afternoon.Tim Groenewald then survived an early chance as Ben Hilfenhaus spilled a skier, running in from third man, but Carter, the unlucky bowler, then claimed an even more vital scalp three runs later, as Trego pushed too firmly outside off once too often, and Steve Mullaney at slip set up an agonising finale, with 36 still needed and three wickets standing.Groenewald ground out a vital 13 before, with the requirement now whittled down to 20, he became Patel’s second lbw victim of the morning. At the other end was the Somerset debutant Michael Bates – one of the finest wicketkeepers in the country, no doubt, but a man who had been released by Hampshire for his failure to score enough runs.But Bates showed immense composure in what could hardly have been a more taxing audition, picking off the gaps in an oddly deep-set field to make 14 not out from 31 balls, then Rehman saw his opportunity for a sprint to the finish, with two back cuts for four through third man off Carter, before a hoick to leg and a punch of the air sealed the glory.Afterwards, Marcus Trescothick, Somerset’s captain, praised the composure of Trego and the tail in sealing a result that has earned them 20 precious points and enabled them to vault from rock bottom in the first division to the mid-table sanctuary of sixth. Suddenly it is Nottinghamshire, with one win from seven and home-and-away losses against Somerset to contemplate, who can’t help but have one anxious eye on that trapdoor.”It wasn’t just how many they got but the fashion they got them in,” he said. “It’s always good to be positive in this situation, when you are trying to bring down low totals. You need to score the runs quickly otherwise the pressure builds up and it plays a different part in the game.””Ow’s yer father?” the Wurzels might have added. “Alright!”

Mark Ramprakash will return to Middlesex as the county’s batting coach, 12 years after crossing the river as a player to join Surrey

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Dec-2012Mark Ramprakash will return to Middlesex as the county’s batting coach, 12 years after crossing the river as a player to join Surrey. Ramprakash, 43, retired last season after a 25-year playing career, in which he made more than 50,000 runs and scored 131 centuries.Ramprakash has agreed a two-year contract and replaces Mark O’Neill who will be returning to Australia on a permanent basis after three years looking after Middlesex’s batsmen. Since his retirement, Ramprakash had been working with England’s Performance Programme, assisting Graham Gooch and Graham Thorpe on the tour of India.A classy middle-order batsman who came through the system at Middlesex, Ramprakash will now bring his wealth of experience to bear on the next generation at Lord’s. Despite a largely unfulfilled 52-Test career for England, he was the last batsman to reach the landmark of 100 first-class hundreds and finished with an average of 53.14.”I am delighted to have been invited back to Middlesex to take up a coaching role at the club,” Ramprakash said. “It is a club I grew up watching and where I had 14 enjoyable seasons as a player.””Middlesex is the club that gave me the chance to achieve what I have in cricket and I am delighted to be able to return to work with and help the current and next generation of Middlesex cricketers. I am excited by the talent in the current crop of players and look forward to contributing to the club.”Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s director of cricket, was particularly pleased to be reunited with Ramprakash, whom he played alongside both for club and country. “I am thrilled to have Mark back at Middlesex,” Fraser said. “It is my job to provide Middlesex’s cricketers with the best possible coaching, support and advice available and in Mark Ramprakash they have that.”His record speaks for itself, and in the past 25 years there has not been a better batsman in county cricket. During 1,221 innings Mark has experienced almost everything it is possible for a batsman to experience and the knowledge that he can pass on to our cricketers is unsurpassable. As a professional cricketer his attention to detail and work ethic were second to none. Though naturally gifted it was not good fortune that allowed him to score more than 50,000 professional runs. A love of cricket, fierce desire and hard work were the cocktail of ingredients.””Mark moved from Middlesex to Surrey in 2000, but I never felt his heart left the club. He has always lived in the county and played cricket for Stanmore Cricket Club when commitments permitted.”It is Mark’s love of the art of batting that makes me believe he will become an outstanding coach. He loves talking batting and Middlesex’s cricketers have a huge resource to tap in to. I believe he is the best man for the job and we are extremely fortunate to have a cricketer of his character and pedigree working at this club.”

A round-up of the action from the first day of the fifth round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division One

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2011Fast bowler Junaid Nadir took five wickets in just 5.1 overs and Pakistan opener Imran Nazir made an unbeaten hundred to give Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) control of their game against Islamabad at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. Junaid was instrumental in bowling Islamabad out for 123 on the first day, snapping up Zeeshan Mushtaq, the innings top scorer, for 38 before running through the tail to finish with 5 for 14. Nazir led ZTBL’s reply, making 105 and sharing an unbroken partnership of 115 with Faisal Athar (46*) for the fourth wicket, as ZTBL ended the day on 212 for 3, a lead of 89.Fourteen wickets fell on the first day at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Rawalpindi were routed for 153, with Naved-ul-Hasan and Sarfraz Ahmed taking four wickets each, before unbeaten Water and Power Development Authority stumbled to 68 for 4. Ahmed and Naved knocked over the hosts’ top four batsmen and Imran Khan picked up two wickets to leave Rawalpindi tottering at 97 for 6. It took No.8 Haseeb Azam, who made an unbeaten 35, to carry the side past 150. Left-arm seamer Mohammad Ayaz ensured it wasn’t all one-way traffic though, taking three early wickets to keep his side in the game.Ali Imran’s six-for helped Pakistan International Airlines scuttle last-placed Abbotabad for 175 before Kamran Sajid’s half-century took PIA to 106 for 3 at the end of the first day at the Abbotabad Cricket Stadium. Imran and Najaf Shah had Abbotabad in immediate trouble at 18 for 4. A mini-recovery ensued but at 90 for 7, Abbotabad looked hard pressed to post much over three figures, but wicketkeeper Mir Azam made an aggressive 63, and found support in Ikramullah Khan (23) to boost his side to 175. Imran finished with 6 for 48.Ahmed Shahzad and Shan Masood, the Habib Bank Limited openers, put their team in a dominating position against Karachi Blues at the National Stadium in Karachi. The pair added 195 for the first wicket, with Shahzad leading the way with a brisk 108 that included 18 fours, while Masood made a more sedate 90. Bilal Shafayat and Khaqan Arsal made sure the momentum would not be lost, putting on 96 together before Shafayat was dismissed for 54. Arsal remained unbeaten on 48, taking HBL to 329 for 4, and will look to pile further misery on the Karachi bowlers on the second day. Offspinner Atif Maqbool took all the four wickets to fall but conceded 142 runs.Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and Qaiser Abbas posted centuries, sharing an unbroken stand of 217 runs, to boost National Bank of Pakistan to 345 for 5 against Sialkot on the first day at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. The pair came together with their side in a bit of bother at 128 for 5 and proceeded to take charge. Kamran made 131, his second century this season, peppering it with 19 fours. Abbas matched Kamran almost stroke for stroke in making his 107 that included 16 fours.State Bank of Pakistan plodded to 224 for 3 in 83 overs against Faisalabad in Sargodha after Mohtashim Ali (63) and Waqar Orakzai put on 109 in a slow opening stand. Orakzai was bowled by Zeeshan Butt for 29 off 111 balls and SBP lost two more quickly to be in some bother at 128 for 3. A relatively positive Adnan Raees and Rameez Alam steadied things in an unbeaten 96-run partnership for the fourth wicket. SBP were also helped by 27 extras, including 12 no-balls.

Round-up of the semi-finals of the Faysal Bank T-20 Cup 2010-11

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Oct-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Yousuf led Lahore Lions into the final with a breezy half-century that helped his side overhaul Islamabad Leopards’ 132 with six wickets to spare in Lahore.Yousuf came in when Azhar Mahmood had struck twice in his first over to reduce Lahore to 18 for 2. Nasir Jamshed was the first to depart, driving Mahmood uppishly straight to cover after having hammered him for 12 runs in three deliveries. Mahmood then struck a huge blow off his next ball, bowling Umar Akmal off the inside edge.However, Yousuf and opener Ahmed Shehzad shut Islamabad out of the game with a 103-run stand that came in 13.1 overs. Yousuf played some pleasing drives down the ground and through the covers. He was also quick to cut anything short outside off, and even reverse-swept left-arm spinner Imad Wasim for a couple of fours. Shehzad was not too far behind, rotating the strike efficiently and hitting some huge sixes over long-on.Islamabad did not help themselves, Zeeshan dropping Yousuf at long-off when he was on 44. With 12 needed from 30 deliveries, Mahmood struck twice again, in his last over, getting both Shehzad and Abdul Razzaq caught at short fine leg. But it was too little, too late for Islamabad, as Yousuf finished the game in style, pulling Iftikhar Anjum over deep midwicket for six. He was the Player of the Match for his unbeaten 57 off 48 balls.Islamabad had earlier begun poorly, losing Raheel Majeed in the opening over bowled by Razzaq. Fayyaz Ahmed steadied the innings with a patient half-century, benefitting from two early dropped chances when on 0 and 13.At 98 for 3 with five overs to go, Islamabad were eyeing a score in the region of 150. However, the Lahore bowlers kept things tight, picking up five wickets to keep them down to 132. Wahab Riaz took two wickets off the last two deliveries of the innings to end with 3 for 26.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
In a high-scoring second semi-final, Karachi Dolphins chased down a huge target with ease, thanks to opener Shahzaib Hasan’s unbeaten 71. Rawalpindi Rams seemed all set to reach the finals after 27-year-old Babar Naeem’s maiden Twenty20 half-century powered them past 200, but Karachi’s batting proved too strong for them.There had been a couple of stoppages during the Rawalpindi innings due to mosquitoes disturbing the players. That didn’t faze the Rawalpindi batsmen, though: opener Naved Malik showed why he has a career strike-rate in excess of 180 by blasting Sohail Khan for two sixes in the second over before carting Mohammad Sami for two fours and a six off consecutive deliveries in the fifth over.He was dismissed in the seventh over after which Naeem and Umar Amin piled on 93 for the third wicket in 49 deliveries. Both of them hit two big sixes each over midwicket and midway through the 15th over had taken Rawalpindi to an ominous 157 for 2. Both fell in the space of three deliveries, and though Naved Ashraf and Hammad Azam hit out, only 52 runs came in the final six overs.Still, it was a stiff target and though Shahzaib hit a six in each of the first two overs, Karachi lost two wickets by the fifth. Shahzaib’s innings was crucial and earned him the Man-of-the-Match award, but there were two thirties – from Fawad Alam and Shahid Afridi – that were equally important.It was Alam’s three boundaries off Azam in the sixth over – costing 21 runs – that re-ignited the chase. He made 31 off 15 to keep Karachi in the hunt before Afridi played a typical Afridi innings: his first three shots fetched him 2, 4 and 6, and he hammered Babar for three sixes over midwicket off the first three balls of the 12th over before falling attempting another big hit.There were few troubles after that as Afridi’s effort had brought the required rate to a manageable 8.5 and Karachi sailed to victory, hastened by a couple of fours by Sarfraz Ahmed and a six by Shahzaib in the space of four deliveries in the 18th over from Sohail Tanvir.

Laura Wolvaardt, Smitri Mandhana, and Katie Mack all play important innings to set up a good total

AAP19-Nov-2024Adelaide Strikers put a severe dent in the WBBL finals hopes of the Perth Scorchers with a 30-run victory as Megan Schutt put on a masterclass.Strikers posted 169 for 6, with Laura Wolvaardt, Smriti Mandhana, and Katie Mack the chief contributors at Karen Rolton Oval. Scorchers slumped to 17 for 4 as Schutt ran through the top order, leaving their finals chances hanging precariously.With two games left, Scorchers remain in fifth spot with eight points and they trail fourth-placed Hobart Hurricanes by a sizeable run rate difference.Strikers, champions of the past two tournaments, climbed from bottom of the ladder to seventh – they have six points but just one match remaining.Strikers were sent into bat openers Mandhana and Mack made an instant impact, taking 40 from the initial four overs. They reached 81 in the 10th over when Mandhana was caught at mid-off from the bowling of Sophie Devine, ending a knock featuring five fours and a six.Just eight balls later, Mack advanced down the pitch but was beaten by a perfectly flighted delivery from legspinner Alana King and was stumped.Wolvaardt soon took centre stage with her rapid-fire innings featuring three fours and three sixes – two from consecutive balls from Chloe Ainsworth.The South African was caught on the cover boundary with three balls remaining and King finished with another stumping on the last ball, giving her figures of 3 for 29.Scorchers’ run chase began terribly with Maddy Darke bowled by Schutt second ball. And in the third over, Schutt struck with consecutive deliveries, dismissing Dayalan Hemalatha and bowling Amy Edgar for a golden duck with a top-shelf inswinger, to boast figures of 3 for 6.Schutt was denied a hat-trick by Scorchers stalwart Beth Mooney, who fell in the next over for 6 as the Scorchers crashed to 17 for 4 from 3.3 overs. Skipper Devine and new signing Brooke Halliday rallied but the task was beyond them.