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Two wickets apiece from left-arm spinners Brad Hogg and Ashton Agar stifled the Adelaide Strikers and handed them their first loss of the tournament by defending 133 at the Adelaide Oval to give the Perth Scorchers an 18-run win

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jan-2015
Sorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAdam Voges’ unbeaten 54 propped Scorchers’ innings•Getty ImagesTwo wickets apiece from left-arm spinners Brad Hogg (2-11) and Ashton Agar (2-24) stifled the Adelaide Strikers, who suffered their first loss of this season as the Perth Scorchers defended a total of 133 to win by 18 runs. The Scorchers’ win was set up first by an unbeaten fifty from Adam Voges, and later by four bowlers who took two wickets each to move them to second in the points table.The Scorchers’ top three batsmen didn’t get great starts after they were put in to bat, scoring a total of 41 runs before Voges, at No. 4, led the charge. After Adam Zampa disturbed the top order, Shaun Tait and Ben Laughlin knocked the stumps to reduce the Scorchers to 5 for 75 in the 13th over. However, Voges resisted and counterattacked, and combined with Ashton Turner and Yasir Arafat to charge them to 6 for 133, striking six fours in his 36-ball 54.The Strikers started with a strong opening stand of 38 in 5.2 overs, before the openers fell within 10 runs. They lost their third wicket without much progress and were 3 for 65 in the 11th over, and never recovered from there. Hogg struck in his third over with the wicket of Travis Head, and from thereon the chinaman bowler and Arafat ran through the middle and lower order, aided by a run-out.Hogg came back to have Ryan ten Doeschate caught at long-off in his next over for 4 and Agar bowled Johan Botha with a quicker delivery to leave them reeling at 92 for 7. The win was sealed after Arafat dismissed Zampa and Kane Richardson in successive overs as the Strikers lost their last six wickets for 41 runs. Andrew Tye was the fourth bowler to pick two wickets. The loss does not affect the Strikers’ position in the table as they still sit at the top and have a two-point lead over the Scorchers and Sydney Sixers.

New Zealand offspinner Jeetan Patel rocked Yorkshire with a brilliant hat-trick as Warwickshire stalled their advance to the quarter-finals of the NatWest Blast by winning with two balls to spare.

Jon Culley at Headingley18-Jul-2014
ScorecardJeetan Patel’s hat-trick proved in a victorious cause•Getty ImagesNew Zealand offspinner Jeetan Patel rocked Yorkshire with a brilliant hat-trick as Warwickshire stalled their advance to the quarter-finals of the NatWest Blast by winning with two balls to spare.Laurie Evans kept the Bears’ chance of finishing in the top four places in the North Division alive with a superb unbeaten 69 off 43 balls that included one enormous six, driven on to the roof of the Football Stand from the off-spin of Azeem Rafiq with such power that it bounced up and over the apex.Patel dismissed Kane Williamson, Andrew Gale and Adam Lyth with consecutive deliveries in his second over, becoming the fourth Warwickshire’s bowler to achieve a T20 hat-trick.James Anyon, Imran Tahir and Keith Barker did it, Barker against Yorkshire at Edgbaston in 2010. There have been 16 hat-tricks in English domestic T20 and five of them involve one or other of these sides, Yorkshire also finding themselves on the wrong end of one against Leicestershire at Grace Road in 2007, when Jeremy Snape did the honours.What was all the more impressive about Patel’s feat was that they were all what you might call authentic dismissals, with no miscued slogs. Williamson was leg before and both Gale and Lyth were bowled off stump, beaten playing back to balls that spun. Combined with the skilful removal of Alex Lees, lured down the pitch and stumped in his first over, they gave Patel career-best T20 figures of 4 for 19.The triple calamity left Yorkshire reeling at 72 for 5 in the ninth over after winning the toss but they recovered to post a competitive score after Tim Bresnan and Adil Rashid combined to add 68 runs from 44 balls in an undefeated seventh-wicket partnership.Bresnan hit 45 from 36 balls, of which nine runs came after he was dropped by John Webb at deep-backward point in the last over of the innings, bowled by the former Yorkshire seamer Oliver Hannon-Dalby, which was his only chance. Adil Rashid scored 29 from 20 deliveries.It was good stuff from a Yorkshire perspective but hardly edge-of-your-seat viewing. There were 10 fours in the Bresnan-Rashid partnership but only five in 13 and a half overs of the Yorkshire innings before they got going, and not one six.It was not the kind of cricket to excite the casual fan hoping to be spectacularly entertained and that has been the verdict after too many matches, and not only this season. The razzmatazz marketing that many counties deliver superbly is in danger of appearing to be for a product that does not exist.Perhaps the record for Yorkshire of Aaron Finch says rather a lot. The Australian big-hitter, whose arrival prompted Yorkshire’s publicity machine to suggest nearby residents should board up their windows and spectators should equip themselves with hard hats, enjoyed one big night when he hit 88 against Lancashire at Old Trafford but has otherwise shown scarcely a glimpse of the firepower that brought him his world record 156 against England last year.His other eight innings have yielded 79 runs in total and his latest effort began with two respectful leaves against Rikki Clarke, who then took the pace off a ball to have him caught at mid-off.At least on this occasion there was Evans to come up with some old-fashioned T20 gusto in what turned out to be the match-winning performance, with a moment or two of modern innovation too in the shape of a scoop for six off Ryan Sidebottom from the last ball of the 19th over after a run of five fours in eight balls against Rich Pyrah and the former England left-armer that finally swung a tight contest in Warwickshire’s favour.Patel, typically modest, played down his own contribution afterwards. “It was important to get Kane because he can do such damage and the balls that bowled Gale and Lyth were decent balls, hitting off stump, so some would say it was good bowling but sometimes you get a bit of luck,” he said.”It was my first hat-trick but I’m not sure it affected the game that much beyond meaning they got 140 instead of 150. What got us across the line really was those partnerships with Rikki Clarke and Ateeq Javid at the end and a fantastic innings from Laurie, who is a guy with a lot of skills who can hit the ball to different parts of the park, and that makes it very hard for the opposition to defend.”

Rohit Sharma believes opening the batting improves his game and has welcomed competition for that spot in the Indian one-day side

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2014India batsman Rohit Sharma believes opening improves his game and has welcomed competition for that spot in the ODI side. Since Rohit was sidelined with finger and shoulder injuries in September, Ajinkya Rahane has stepped in and has performed well at the top.”Competition will always be good for the game,” Rohit told . “Guys will try harder and produce good results. Personally, I am not even thinking (about competition) as I have a lot of other things to do like get fit first and work my way back onto the field.”Rahane was “very well-suited to do the opening job” according to his captain MS Dhoni. He has occupied that position for a majority of his domestic career and a collected a maiden ODI century in England as well. Rohit, though, was converted into an opening batsman in January 2013 and the move brought about resurgence in his career. He averages 43.20 from 39 innings as opener compared to an average of 31.72 in 79 innings at other positions.”As an opener, you have to be a little more cautious with the two new balls moving around,” he said. “The ball does quite a bit. While opening, you have to be extra focused. Being cautious has helped my batting. It’s not that when you bat in the middle order, there is no challenge or you have to be a little less cautious, but opening has helped get the best out of me.”Rohit’s primary focus at the moment is on recuperating. He had to miss the Champions League T20 and the ongoing West Indies ODIs, but is hopeful of playing the Tests and the one-day tri-series with England and Australia in Australia before the World Cup.”Finger is fine. I am feeling well. It’s almost 70-80% healed. It is in the last stage of healing. I am going to start gripping my bat from tomorrow (Friday).”

Imrul Kayes smashed 50 off 21 balls to propel Bangladesh A to a six-wicket win over Sagicor High Performance Centre in the first T20 at Kensington Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jun-2014
ScorecardAndre Russell rescued the Sagicor HPC innings in the company of Andre Fletcher•WICBImrul Kayes smashed 50 off 21 balls to propel Bangladesh A to a six-wicket win over Sagicor High Performance Centre in the first T20 at Kensington Oval. Chasing 152 to win, Kayes got Bangladesh off to a rollicking start, and they had reached 71 in only the sixth over when he was stumped off offspinner Ashley Nurse, having struck five fours and four sixes by then. Shuvagata Hom, who made 27 off 24 balls, and Sabbir Rahman, who scored an unbeaten 34-ball 41, built on Kayes’ platform to guide Bangladesh A to the target with 20 balls remaining.Sent in to bat, Sagicor lost five wickets inside the first 10 overs, and were barely going along at a run a ball, before opener Andre Fletcher got together with Andre Russell to put on 75 for the sixth wicket in 44 balls. Russell scored 48 off 26 balls, with five fours and two sixes, while Fletcher made 57 off 43, with seven fours. Fast bowler Shafiul Islam was Bangladesh A’s most successful bowler, with figures of 3 for 22 in his four overs.

The 2014 USACA National Championships, already hit by Indianapolis’ decision to terminate its agreement to host the tournament, also faces problems of sponsorship and negligible online ticket sales

Peter Della Penna31-May-2014The 2014 USACA National Championships, already hit by the loss of a venue, faces problems of sponsorship and negligible online ticket sales. The tournament has also drawn flak for the $6 million cost of constructing the World Sport Park, the venue for the tournament, in Indianapolis.No tickets had been sold on the tournament website, , since its launch in February, according to a source involved in the staging of the event. The website was taken down on Friday after the city of Indianapolis terminated its three-year agreement to host the USACA National Championships from 2014-2016.”We have sold no tickets of real consequence,” the source told ESPNcricinfo. “This was not unexpected though as they are general admission and can be purchased at the gate.”Tickets were being offered at prices of $10 per day for adults for the originally scheduled four-day event while a tournament pass cost $32. Tickets for children were priced at $5 a day or $15 for a tournament pass.The tournament couldn’t draw any sponsorship, despite several discussions with potential sponsors, and the city’s termination letter had indicated difficulty in this area due to lack of cooperation from USACA. The website had stated that the event was expected to draw more than 5,000 visitors and varying sponsorship opportunities were listed, starting at $2,500 and going all the way up to title sponsorship of $25,000. The title sponsorship included a “special ‘cricket chat’ event with president of the United States Cricket Association and players of the event”.Local politician Zach Adamson, City-County Councilor At Large for Marion County, said the lack of interest in the event and its eventual cancellation was inevitable. He also said the plan to use $6 million to build the World Sports Park facility was a poor use of municipal funds.”Anybody with Google had serious suspicions that this tournament would probably not occur,” Adamson told ESPNcricinfo. “I think the administration has done a good job of diverting attention away from the reality that they planned to spend $6 million of our sorely needed road dollars on this cricket park. I don’t have anything against cricket or any other sport they would play at this field, but it was a risky gamble on the best of days and not one that I think was a responsible investment of taxpayer funds.”Adamson said that city officials had justified the money spent on the park by saying it would bring revenue to the city after an agreement was struck in September 2013 to host the tournament from 2014 to 2016. However, according to Adamson, USACA’s past troubles in staging events – some were either postponed or cancelled – should have raised a red flag.”I don’t have a lot of understanding about the inner workings of the cricket community but the only thing I have an understanding of is what I read of a Google search of the organisation after the announcement that we had a contract,” Adamson said. “And it was the justification for the investment that the city was spending on this park because ‘Look, we already we have a contract for tournaments that will bring in revenue and international eyes on the city of Indianapolis.'”When we started to do a little background research, we found numerous questions that had arisen from not really seeing the organisation producing the kind of tournaments they said they would do with a number of other cities. There were early suspicions that just because we have a contract with them doesn’t mean that we’ll fare any better than other cities that may have also had contracts with them that would never see those tournaments.”According to news reports, the construction of an irrigation system at the park damaged the water wells of houses adjacent to the ground and the city had to pay more than $50,000 in property damages to some of the constituents.Several public relations goodwill gestures – such as Mayor Greg Ballard’s trip to Hyderabad, India to promote the city’s ties with cricket and a formal invitation to Prince William and Kate Middleton to attend the National Championships – also did not work. According to Adamson, there was never enough support to justify the project going forward from a local point of view.”A mayor really does need to be a visionary to bank on investments that may have a return that puts the city in a place where we can get a leg up on other cities across the country,” he said. “In that respect I think the mayor is right to do those things, but those were all gambles. When you’re gambling on something, you need to make sure you have good odds that you’ll be successful at that gamble. With the cricket association, especially the organisation that he paired up with, the odds were not very good that this was going to be a successful venture. What I found on the internet and what everybody was finding was there were questionable dealings with this organisation from the get go. It was not a very good bet.”

The injuries to two major Sri Lankan bowlers will help Bangladesh as they look to bounce back after a massive defeat in Mirpur

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando and Mohammad Isam03-Feb-2014Match factsTuesday, February 4, 2014
Start time 0930 local (0330 GMT)Dilruwan Perera has a chance to strengthen his claim to a permanent Test spot•AFPBig PictureHaving received their fourth-worst clobbering in Mirpur, Bangladesh need to find their resolve to make the Chittagong Test more of a contest. Peppered by bouncers in the first Test, the Bangladesh batsmen appeared more interested in providing short-lived entertainment than working through the tough periods. The end result was the kind of performance that diminished the advances Bangladesh have made in Test cricket.Though the batting was their most conspicuous failure, Bangladesh will also want to eliminate the fielding mistakes that squandered key chances in Mirpur. Their bowling was not as toothless as Sri Lanka’s total of 730 for 6 suggests, but they too could do with a boost in spirit.Two injuries to major Sri Lanka players will make Bangladesh’s task easier in the second Test, however. Rangana Herath’s problematic knee has flared up and Shaminda Eranga has a thigh strain after a month of heavy work, ruling both out of the Test.*Perhaps in light of their workload over the past month (they played 18 Test-match days in January), Sri Lanka have had an unusually casual lead-in to the second Test. They trained at a low intensity on both days before the Test, perhaps also concerned that sore bodies could lead to more injury.Some players may also be beginning to experience tour fatigue. Sri Lanka were in the UAE since the first week of December, and had fewer than 48 hours at home before they left for Bangladesh. With the limited-overs matches and Asia Cup also on the horizon, there is no end in sight. Their challenge will be to stay motivated and in control of their cricket. There have been four series since 2010 where Sri Lanka have taken a 1-0 lead, then finished with a series-leveling loss, and while Bangladesh will have to improve substantially to push the visitors, Sri Lanka should be wary of allowing their effort to subside.Form guide (last five matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh: LDDWL
Sri Lanka: WLWDW
In the spotlightDilruwan Perera’s best contribution on debut had been his 95 from No. 8, but in Mirpur he showcased an appetite for wickets as well, as he extracted more turn than any other bowler. Sri Lanka require a reliable bowling allrounder to balance their side, and having tasted Test success, Perera will hope to sustain it. A bagful in Hearath’s absence will go some way to ensuring he is picked for the England tour in June.Tamim Iqbal made 6 and 11 in the first Test, and there is pressure on him to score in this game. He doesn’t have three cheap innings on the trot on too many occasions, and will be expected to make a bigger contribution.Pitch and conditionsThe pitch is a typical Chittagong wicket – slow and flat. There will be far less bounce on offer for the faster bowlers, and runs will be available readily. The outfield is a little hard because there was a water shortage for three weeks last month, which affected the ground area. The grass has re-grown but the sandy base has remained.Teams newsMarshall Ayub is ruled out with a wrist injury and has been replaced by Imrul Kayes. The other major news is the dropping of Robiul Islam, which means that Rubel Hossain, who averages 81.23 in 19 Tests, has been retained. These were confirmed when chief selector Faruque Ahmed announced the 12-man team, which means that either of Abdur Razzak or Mahmudullah will make the playing XI.Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Shamsur Rahman, 3 Imrul Kayes, 4 Mominul Haque, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), 7 Nasir Hossain, 8 Mahmudullah/Abdur Razzak, 9 Sohag Gazi, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Al-Amin HossainNuwan Pradeep and Ajantha Mendis are the likeliest replacements for Eranga and Herath. Sri Lanka will almost certainly stay with the same side elsewhere.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 6 Angelo Mathews (capt), 7 Kithuruwan Vithanage, 8 Dilruwan Perera, 9 Ajantha Mendis, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Nuwan PradeepStats and trivia There have been five centuries at this ground by Bangladesh batsmen, two of which were scored in the last Test here in October. Kumar Sangakkara has passed 50 in his last five innings against BangladeshAngelo Mathews averages 99.60 in his last four TestsQuotes”Senior players like me, Tamim and Shakib have to take up the responsibilty to get the runs.”
“We’re not very worried if Eranga and Herath can’t play tomorrow. We have Nuwan Pradeep who took a lot of wickets in the one Test that he played, in Dubai, so we have some bench strength.”
* February 3 12.00pm GMT This story was updated after it was confirmed that Herath and Eranga will miss the Test

Northamptonshire’s injury problems are growing ahead of the start of the new season

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Apr-2014Northamptonshire’s injury problems are growing ahead of the start of the new season. Jackson Bird, the Australia fast bowler, has been ruled out due to a back complaint, allrounder David Willey is unlikely to start the season due to his own back problem and Rob Newton has picked up a thumb injury.Bird, who has played three Tests for Australia, has been ordered to rest for four months by Cricket Australia so will be unable to take up his county deal which had already been reduced to six Championship matches. Northamptonshire have said they have made an offer to another overseas fast bowler as a replacement.”Obviously this is disappointing news with the start of the cricket season less than two weeks away,” the club said in a statement. “However the club has been aware of Jackson’s potential ongoing injury for some time, having already amended his original contract in order for his workload to be managed more carefully to allow him a pre-season in Australia.”Their pace-bowling resources have been further hit by the likely unavailability of left-armer Willey for the opening match against Durham as he continues to be hindered by the back problem that hampered his winter and forced him out of the England performance programme in Australia.Newton’s fractured thumb at least appears less serious and he may yet be available for the start of the Championship – Northamptonshire do not being until the second round of matches so Newton has some extra time on his side.The county can ill-afford to lose more batsmen. Alex Wakely, the one-day captain, is expected to miss the entire season after rupturing his Achilles on the pre-season tour of Barbados. He underwent surgery last week and is now at the start of what will be a six-month recovery.David Sales is also suffering from a calf injury while Ben Duckett, the England Under-19 batsman, has a knee problem.

Namibia will be led by Gerhard Erasmus in the Under-19 World Cup, which kicks off in the UAE in February

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-2014Namibia U-19s squad for the World Cup

Gerhard Erasmus (capt), JJ Smit (vice-capt), Cobus Brand, MP Delport, Michiel du Preez, Zane Green, Joshuan Julius, JP Kotze, Malan Kruger, Jano Coetzee, Xander Pitchers, Wayne Raw, Ricardo Strauss, Bredell Wessels, Tiaan Snyman

Namibia will be led by Gerhard Erasmus in the Under-19 World Cup, which kicks off in the UAE in February. Their 15-player squad includes several players who turn out for the senior national team – and are currently playing in the World Cup 2015 Qualifier in New Zealand – like Erasmus, JJ Smit, Xander Pitchers and JP Kotze.”Our batting is a good mix of left- and right-handers, explosive stroke-makers along with players that can build partnerships and have the ability to make big scores and take us to competitive totals, such as Gerhard Erasmus, Alexander Pitchers and Malan Kruger,” Namibia’s high performance coach Rangarirai Manyande said.Namibia is slotted into Group B, along with Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Australia. They will go into the World Cup following extensive preparation, having played in various competitions in South Africa.

The future of the West Indies Test team will be mapped out early next year with the coach Ottis Gibson and the new director of cricket Richard Pybus set to meet to discuss how to respond to the recent slump in results

Andrew McGlashan 23-Dec-2013The future of the West Indies Test team will be mapped out early next year with the coach Ottis Gibson and the new director of cricket Richard Pybus set to meet to discuss how to respond to the recent slump in results.Four of West Indies’ last five Tests have been heavy defeats and without rain in Dunedin it would have been five losses on in a row, undoing the strides made over the previous year where the side had strung together six straight Test victories.Their next Test assignment is not until May when they host New Zealand in a return series, but although Gibson wants to use the gap to make a considered judgement on his team, it seems inconceivable that significant changes won’t take place. Pybus only joined the WICB in late October, shortly before West Indies went to India, so there has been limited opportunity for him to work with Gibson.”We’ve had some discussions already about where we are and my thoughts on what we need to do to move forward,” Gibson said. “There’s a meeting pencilled in for us when we get back, including the selectors, to try and plot the way forward. We have five months before the next Test series which gives us some time.”West Indies were hampered in New Zealand by the absence of Kemar Roach, due to a shoulder injury, and Chris Gayle, but the discussions between Gibson and Pybus will also need to focus on the status of players such as Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards, who have doubts over their viability for Test cricket, and whether to recall other experienced figures such as Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo.In the aftermath of the 2-0 loss against New Zealand, which was sealed by a collapse for 103 in the second innings in Hamilton where all 10 wickets fell in a session, Darren Sammy spoke about careers being on the line but Gibson said there will be no hasty decisions.”When you’ve just lost a series, and the way we’ve lost, emotions run high and people start talking about careers being on the line and it’s a bit premature,” he said. “We can get home, let the dust settle and assess where we are. We can come up with a plan, but also decide who the right personnel are.”He did, though, concede that patience was wearing thin especially when it came to the batting performances. “Batting collapses happen. In our team they happen too often. It’s a sickening feeling when it happens to your team.”In the short term Gibson has the limited-overs leg of the New Zealand tour to focus on, which brings with it a change of captain – Dwayne Bravo replaces Sammy for the ODIs, but not the T20s – and Gibson hopes for a fresh approach.”Dwayne brings his own energies,” he said. “Sometimes what is going on in the Tests can drain the players, it can have a drain on the captain as well. Having a new figure head in the one-dayers, and some new players, means we aren’t taking too much baggage into the series.”There is also the chance that Gayle will be available for the two Twenty20s that round off the tour next month. Gayle picked up a hamstring injury during the one-day series in India and was ruled to have not recovered in time for the 50-overs segment of this trip. He is currently in Sydney, believed to be as part of his rehabilitation programme, and Gibson said the main target for him was the World Twenty20 defence in Bangladesh.”We’re in communication with him and the people he’s working with in Australia,” Gibson said. “He’s still injured so would be an unnecessary risk to fast track him with what lies ahead. The World T20 is coming up – a format where he is king. He should be available for the two T20s.”

Amit Mishra, the India legspinner, said a significant variation in pace was one of the factors for his success on the recent tour to Zimbabwe

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Aug-2013Amit Mishra, the India legspinner, said a significant variation in pace had brought him success on the recent tour to Zimbabwe.Mishra, who last played an ODI in 2011 before being picked for the playing XI in Zimbabwe, finished as the highest wicket-taker in the series, with 18 wickets in five matches at an average of 11.80, equalling Javagal Srinath’s record for most wickets in an ODI bilateral series. His performances in the series included a career-best 6 for 48 in the fifth ODI.”The significant change was the variation of pace,” Mishra told . “Earlier, my deliveries used to come at a slower pace, which allowed the batsman to adjust. Now I am trying to bowl at a pace and still extract spin.”Mishra revealed that the changes were a result of better fitness and tips from former India bowlers Narendra Hirwani and Anil Kumble.”I was injured for a while last year and I was in NCA for recovery,” Mishra said. “That’s the time I worked with the likes of Anil Kumble, Narendra Hirwani and the other coaches at the academy who helped me become a better bowler. He [Kumble] told me about the importance of variation in pace and also told me how to out-think a batsman. I worked on my googly with him and that’s also paying dividends.”In spite of an ODI debut in 2003, Mishra has played just 20 one-dayers and 13 Tests for India since his debut in 2008. He hopes that his performances against Zimbabwe will better his chances of playing more Tests for India against stronger teams.”I know the challenges will be greater, but that’s where I have to show that I have become a better bowler. And for that to happen, I have to be selected first in the Test team. My job is to keep performing.”