All posts by n8rngtd.top

Yorkshire stumble to 165 all out after being inserted on bouncy surface

ECB Reporters' Network22-Jul-2021Gus Atkinson’s four-wicket List A debut helped Surrey make a winning start to their Royal London Cup campaign as they eased past Yorkshire by five wickets at Scarborough.Atkinson, 23, prospered with the new ball on a fast and bouncy North Marine Road pitch, claiming 4 for 43 to bowl the Vikings out for 165 in only 35 overs.Hashim Amla elected to bowl at the start of this Group B fixture, and the South African batting great later went beyond 10,000 career runs in this format with 29 to begin a successful chase. But Mark Stoneman played the match-clinching innings, an unbeaten 73 off 110 balls, having only just returned to Surrey following a four-game T20 loan spell with Yorkshire.Stoneman and co survived 4 for 57 for South African overseas quick Mat Pillans, who moved from Surrey to Yorkshire in late 2018.This fixture included eight players – four on each side – making their List A debuts.Atkinson made the initial breakthrough by bowling Will Fraine in the second over before getting George Hill caught at square leg and Jonny Tattersall caught behind as the hosts slipped to 40 for 4 in the 10th.Matthew Revis, another List A debutant, top-scored for Yorkshire with 43 off as many balls, while Gary Ballance made 39. They shared 81 inside 13 overs for the fifth wicket. But wickets fell quickly once more.The Vikings tumbled from 121 for 4 in the 22nd, losing their last six for 44 as most of the damage was done from the Trafalgar Square End.Opener Harry Duke, Hill, Ballance and Pillans were all undone by extra bounce, while Revis and Dom Bess will reflect on loose dismissals.This certainly wasn’t the way Yorkshire captain Bess would have wanted to celebrate his 24th birthday, with him skewing Dan Moriarty’s left-arm spin to long-off.Hill and Pillans fell caught off top-edged pulls against Atkinson, the latter courtesy of a stunning diving catch on the run towards backward square-leg from wicketkeeper Jamie Smith. Ballance fended a short ball from Conor McKerr to gully, sparking the clatter of wickets.Amla and opening partner Stoneman then steadily shared 59 inside the first 13 overs of the chase. Stoneman hit two fours and slog-swept Bess for six as 14 came off the 12th, only for Pillans to claim two wickets in three balls in the 13th. He had Amla caught at wide mid-on pulling before bowling Ben Geddes, leaving Surrey 59 for 2.That forced Stoneman back into his shell, but he shared an important 54 with Smith. Pillans then struck twice in an over again, getting Smith caught at midwicket for 25 and Ryan Patel superbly caught one-handed in the gully by Tattersall – 116 for 4 in the 29th.Bess also bowled debutant Nico Reifer for an eye-catching 26, but Surrey’s victory was secured with 10.5 overs remaining.

Will Smith recorded his highest first-class score to help Hampshire to a hefty first innings for 548 for 6 declared against Lancashire at the Ageas Bow

ECB Reporters Network05-Aug-2016
ScorecardWill Smith’s double-century underpinned Hampshire•Getty Images

Will Smith recorded his highest first-class score to help Hampshire to a hefty first innings for 548 for 6 declared against Lancashire at the Ageas Bowl.Smith spent nine and a half hours at the crease to score 210 – eclipsing his previous best tally of 201 not out for Durham against Surrey in 2008.Smith, who is standing in for James Vince as captain in this match, had begun the day on 99 following a day of patient batting on a flat track.But he brought up his three figures with the first ball of the morning – cutting firmly to the boundary for his first ton since September 2014. The century, from 285 balls was watchful, bordering on sluggish although an important backbone for his team-mates to play their shots, on a pitch where the only gremlins came when the seam attack bowled a good length.There appeared no way to see the back of Smith, who had survived a dropped catch on 70, with history showing his two previous centuries for Hampshire both ended unbeaten.Around him Tom Alsop had departed after facing just five balls of the day as he was leg before to Tom Smith. But Liam Dawson kept the score ticking along with a fleeting 20 before he had his off stump removed by Jordan Clark.Adam Wheater added some much needed impetus with a quick 29 from 24 balls – contrasting Smith – but departed driving to Steven Croft.
That brought Ryan McLaren to the crease and started Smith’s second century stand of the innings – after the 191 put on with Jimmy Adams in the first day.In-form McLaren scored his fourth fifty of the season with a well-paced knock, adding 129 for the fifth wicket. Meanwhile, Smith edged towards the second double century of his career and finally reached it with an on-drive – 449 balls over a day and half. He soon departed looping Croft up to Simon Kerrigan at wide mid-off for 210.Lewis McManus and McLaren added extra runs as Hampshire meandered towards a declaration. The former ticked an edge behind before the latter ended unbeaten on 81, the declaration finally coming after a nicely controlled hook for six.Lancashire were given 25 overs to bat in the evening, and lost Smith in the seventh over nicking Gareth Berg behind.Berg and McLaren got good bounce and caused problems with the new ball – and the latter should have got on the wicket column when Haseeb Hameed slashed to Mason Crane at point – only for the leg spinner to drop the sharp chance.Hameed and Luke Procter reached the close 70 for 1 – still 478 behind, the follow on set at 399.

The squad will undergo another test before their opening match against Netherlands on Tuesday

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2021Three Sri Lanka players taking part in the Women’s World Cup Qualifier, which began in Harare on Sunday, have tested positive for Covid-19.According to an ICC release, the entire team was tested after one player showed mild symptoms. Two of the players who tested positive are experiencing mild symptoms, while the third is asymptomatic. All three are in isolation and are under medical care.The other members of the squad have returned negative tests, but the squad are isolating as a precaution and will undergo another test ahead of Sri Lanka’s opening match against Netherlands on Tuesday.Related

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“We have playing squads of 15 at the event, which allows for injuries and illness, including COVID-19 to be managed, and in addition teams have had the option of bringing traveling reserves with them.” Said ICC head of events Chris Tetley. “As you would expect, the remainder of the squad are being closely monitored and they will all be re-tested ahead of taking to the field on Tuesday.”The event bio-security plan provides us with protocols to manage positive tests effectively with the intention of enabling the event to proceed whilst keeping all other players and participants safe.”This is the second instance of Covid-19 related to a team taking part in the World Cup Qualifier. Papua New Guinea were forced to withdraw from the tournament, after a spate of infections within their camp left them short of players who could clear the Covid test that would allow them to fly to Zimbabwe.

Offspinner Jeetan Patel sparked a Surrey collapsed and ended with a ten-wicket match haul as Warwickshire raced to victory

Tim Wigmore at Guildford04-Jul-2016
ScorecardJeetan Patel took a ten-wicket match haul to rout Surrey•PA Photos

Warwickshire have won two Championship crowns this century. Each has been defined less by thrilling cricket than a remorseless, unyielding spirit: in 2012 the side drew nine of their 16 games but lost just one; in 2004 Warwickshire were undefeated, but won only five of their 16 matches.This is a side that shares the characteristics of those victorious teams. Brimming with depth in batting and bowling, the Warwickshire vintage of 2016 has a hard, attritional edge. Perhaps that derives from their experience: eight members of the team to thrash Surrey inside three days are aged 29 or over, including five who are 33 or above.All five of those played crucial roles in this match. Jonathan Trott made a high-class century, putting on century stands with both Ian Bell and Tim Ambrose. Returning to the ground on which he learned the game, Rikki Clarke ensured a happy homecoming with a high-class spell with the old ball. Deliveries that jagged late snared Aaron Finch and Sam Curran in consecutive overs, and there was a fine slip catch, too, to claim Tom Curran.But best of all was Jeetan Patel. In an age that fetishes mystery offspin, Patel is a flagbearer for the best of the orthodox art. He has no need for a doosra while bowling with such subtlety and immaculate control, varying his pace, trajectory and delivery point on the crease. His arm-balls recognise that the most dangerous delivery can sometimes be that which does not turn at all. Each of his 46 overs in the game was a distillation of the nous acquired over 16 years and 219 first-class matches.”It’s such a tight league that you have to call on experience to win games. That experience also has to help the youngsters coming through and it is – it’s an exciting time for Warwickshire,” Patel said, suggesting that the new toss regulations might have helped a side with Warwickshire’s character. “It has made it more attritional and scrappy. Teams are playing on flatter wickets which means you’ve got to work harder and do the right things at the right time.”There is a sense that this year represents the generation of 2012’s last viable chance of a repeat. Warwickshire this year are borrowing much from the 2012 template: six of their nine games to date have been draws.That this game ended with such alacrity could be explained by the contrast between Surrey’s spin twins, normally so admirable, and Patel. Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty ended the match with combined figures of 1 for 135 from 32 overs; Patel ended with 10 for 123, following his first innings 5 for 62 with 5 for 61 in the second innings.In the process of this game his haul of first-class wickets for Warwickshire cleared that for Wellington: a small symbol of how, in a county that has been blessed with some of the most mesmerising overseas players in the game, Patel has established himself as an undemonstrative recruit of enduring worth. He now has 270 first-class wickets for Warwickshire at 26.73 apiece, to go with 2101 runs at 27.28, a record that marks him out as the premier overseas player around.”After spending seven years here, I’m probably an adopted Brummie,” he reflected. “I get opportunities to play here and keep playing the game I love. I want to keep winning games for Warwickshire, I want to my titles. It’s up to me as the overseas player to show that professionalism and today was my day.”He has plenty of them. Warwickshire have a bowling attack whose variety and depth is only challenged by Yorkshire, as was exemplified here. The left-armer Keith Barker bowled an outstanding, luckless spell with the old ball before tea; Clarke jagged the ball around with pace and bounce; and the beanpole Boyd Rankin finished Surrey off, leaving Josh Poysden’s legspin virtually unused. Chris Wright, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Mark Adair and, England commitments withstanding, Chris Woakes are all ready to augment the attack, but, even at 36, Patel’s worth stands out above all others.”I want to play for as long as I can,” he said. “You’re a long time retired. Yes, I’m a little bit older but I still feel I’ve got a lot to give – whether that’s in a bowling capacity or a coaching capacity or whatever it is.”On this evidence, Patel will be bowling for Warwickshire for a fair while after his current contract expires, at the end of this summer. “This is handy to go into negotiations with something like this behind my back – we’ll work something out I would have thought.”Surrey’s batsmen could not work Patel out. Until Steven Davies made a sprightly 44, immune to the crumbling edifice of Surrey’s batting order, only Zafar Ansari and Rory Burns offered any resistance worthy of the name.After the early loss of Arun Harinath, the two combined for an alliance of 102 runs in 41.2 overs, including the entire afternoon session, as a rather somnolent air engulfed Guildford on a gloomy day: attritional cricket and an unseasonal wind were far from the idyllic image of festival cricket.Then Patel intervened. Rather aptly, Burns was dismissed not by an ill-judged shot but by the lack of one: he was snared playing on as he tried to withdraw his bat. Two overs later, Ansari was surprised by a delivery with extra bounce, and edged to short leg. Then, “the right-handers came in, we threw the ball into the footmarks, and boom,” as Patel put it.Ben Foakes was lbw to an arm ball; Tom Curran edged obligingly to slip; and Stuart Meaker played down the wrong line. And, just like that, Surrey had lost nine wickets in the final session. Even allowing for Patel’s chicanery and overcast conditions exploited by a menacing spell from Clarke, it amounted a deeply underwhelming effort.”The batting is faulty,” Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, said. “I thought we bowled well, our bowling is moving in the right direction, but our batting isn’t. That is an issue. If you are only making scores of 270, and not batting four sessions, you are making it very hard for the bowlers. There are players with talent, but they are not battle-hardened cricketers. They will get there, but we need to see some results soon.”

van der Dussen and Shamsi win men’s ODI player of the year and men’s T20I player of the year awards

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2021Quicks Anrich Nortje and Shabnim Ismail were named South Africa’s men’s and women’s cricketer of the year respectively at CSA’s annual awards ceremony, which was held virtually on Monday. Nortje became the 12th player to win the newcomer of the year and men’s cricketer of the year awards in successive years.Both players also bagged other major awards, with Nortje being named the Test cricketer of the year, South Africa fans’ player of the year and South Africa men’s players’ player of the year (sharing a tied vote with Aiden Markram). As for Ismail, she also won the women’s T20I cricketer of the year and South Africa women’s players’ player of the year awards.Having previously scooped up the women’s premier award in 2015, Ismail joined Marizanne Kapp (2013, 2014) and Dane van Niekerk (2016, 2018, 2019) as multiple winners in the professional era.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Batter Rassie van der Dussen was named men’s ODI player of the year while left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who is currently No.1 on the T20I bowling rankings, took the men’s T20I player of the year award. Lizelle Lee, meanwhile, claimed the women’s ODI player of the year award.”Anrich and Shabnim have set the highest standards that we expect from our icon Proteas players,” Pholetsi Moseki, CSA Acting Chief Executive, said in a statement. “Anrich’s international career to date has been remarkable. In the space of a year he has gone from being named our International Newcomer of the Year to our overall Player of the Year – an incredible achievement. The pandemic has restricted him to just 10 Test matches to date in which he has taken 39 wickets, including three five-wicket hauls.”Shabnim is the fastest bowler on the women’s international circuit, and she has been the leader of our Momentum Proteas attack for a long time now. She is the only South African to have taken 100 wickets in the T20 International format and she recently passed the significant landmark of 150 wickets in ODI cricket.”She has played a huge role in enabling our Momentum Proteas to break into the top group of countries with a world ranking of No. 2 in the ODI format.”Allrounder George Linde was adjudged the men’s international newcomer of the year while fellow left-arm fingerspinner Keshav Maharaj won big on the domestic front. He was named the SACA Most Valuable Player (MVP) as well as domestic players’ player of the season.Dolphins’ Ottniel Baartman, who recently earned his maiden call-up to the South Africa Test squad, was the inaugural winner of the Makhaya Ntini Power of Cricket Award. Titans’ Markram was named the 4-day domestic series player of the year for racking up 945 runs in seven matches at an average of 94.50, in the 2020-21 season. Former Dolphins allrounder Robbie Frylinck, who had announced his retirement earlier this year, was awarded the one-day cricketer of the season title while Lions’ Sisanda Magala was recognised as the T20 challenge cricketer of the season.

Former India bowling coach has previously had an IPL stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jan-2022Former India bowling coach Bharat Arun has been appointed in the same position by Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the upcoming 15th edition of the IPL.”We are very excited to have someone of the calibre of Bharat Arun joining us as our bowling coach,” Venky Mysore, Knight Riders’ CEO & MD, said in a statement. “He will bring a wealth of experience and expertise to KKR’s strong support staff. We are delighted to welcome him to the Knight Riders family.”Related

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Arun, a medium-pacer who played two Tests and four ODIs between 1986 and 1987, brings with himself considerable coaching experience, having had two stints with India’s national side – first from 2014 to 2015, and then from 2017 till the end of the T20 World Cup in 2021.Before that, he was part of the India team which won the Under-19 World Cup in 2012, and has also been a part of the coaching staff at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, other than being with India’s domestic teams Tamil Nadu and Bengal.”I’m very excited and looking forward to becoming part of a highly successful franchise, such as the Knight Riders,” Arun said. “I have admired the Knight Riders franchise for not only being very successful in the IPL and around the world in T20 leagues but also for the way it is very professionally run.”His time with Knight Riders will not be the first time in the IPL. He spent three seasons – 2015 to 2017 – with Royal Challengers Bangalore as their bowling coach before he became part of the India set-up.”With a strong and successful pedigree in the international game, I’m sure Arun will complement the current staff we have and I look forward to working with him,” Brendon McCullum, the Knight Riders head coach, said. “His experience at international level and the ability to give confidence and clarity to our bowling group will be important, as we attempt to quickly align a new group of players to the values and style of play for KKR.”

The time that an ODI affords – as opposed to T20 cricket – allowed the batsman to get into his groove again

Sidharth Monga25-Mar-20217:48

KL Rahul – ‘I didn’t want to sit back and overthink about two or three bad performances’

It is often joked – given how fans pine for players who are not playing – that the quickest way to improve as a cricketer is to spend some time outside the playing XI. However, that only fits for struggling teams. If your team is going through the kind of patch India is, you can be forgotten in no time at all. And then when you come back to play, the pressure can be immense because you know there are so many new players breathing down your neck.KL Rahul is not exactly that story, but the noise around his failures in the T20I series tells you something about the riches of Indian cricket. Not long ago, Rahul was the answer to India’s long-persisting ailments in limited-overs cricket: a middle-order batsman who could score consistent and quick runs. A couple of indifferent matches, an injury during the Tests ruling him out when India could have done with a batsman, and then four failures in the T20Is against England later, he was suddenly the one having his position questioned.Related

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During all this, those fit and outside the squad spent time in the middle in the domestic competitions and scored tons of runs. Nothing encapsulates it better than the ease with which Krunal Pandya batted with Rahul, who scratched only early in the innings, during the match-winning partnership in the Pune ODI. Rahul had played 31 balls in the middle in the last three-and-a-half months, and Pandya had come off a bumper Vijay Hazare season.Once Rahul got through that initial struggle, he matched Pandya stroke for stroke. It was that time in the middle that T20 cricket doesn’t allow you that Rahul was missing. “I didn’t do anything different [during the T20Is against England],” Rahul said. “I wasn’t too stressed. Obviously, as a player, you are disappointed sitting on the bench. The last time I played was three-three-and-a-half months ago. So I was really excited and looking forward to doing well in the T20 series as well. Every cricketer, every player in the team wants to do that. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, and you accept it.”For me the most important thing was, when I sat back and tried to look back and things, I asked myself if I had prepared well and if I was training hard and if there was anything I didn’t do in terms of preparation. When I thought about it, I had done everything right. After that if I don’t score runs, I can accept that. Having said that, it doesn’t mean you don’t feel disappointed. You do feel disappointed because you are representing your country. And you are playing at this level. You want to keep performing and keep winning games for your team.”But you always have to accept that it is not always going to go your way. You have to be patient at times. I have been doing well at whatever roles and responsibilities that have been thrown at me for the last two-two-and-a-half years. When things were going right, I didn’t question my process, I didn’t question my passion or my commitment to the game or how I was preparing. So I didn’t want to sit back and overthink. You need to accept it sometimes. I was doing most things right. Whatever is in my control. Even after that if you don’t score runs, you accept it and move on.”Having spent some time in the middle, KL Rahul found his footwork and range returning•BCCI

The only thing that changed was the length of the innings, which provided him some time for that initial struggle. “The one-day format, playing at No. 5, I could take a little bit more time than I took in T20s,” Rahul said. “In T20s also, I wanted to give myself time but it wasn’t going my way. Having spent a little time in the middle, having hit a couple of good shots from the middle of the bat, footwork going well, your nerves tend to calm down a little bit more. When I walked in, Shikhar [Dhawan] was batting well. We lost a couple of wickets. I knew when Krunal walked in, me having played a little bit more cricket than Krunal, we knew we had to stitch together a partnership. When you stop thinking about your own personal game and there is a team responsibility ahead, you start thinking a little bit clearer. And having spent 20-25 balls in the middle, I started to feel a little bit more confident.”The more time you spend in the middle, the calmer and more confident you start feeling. Getting a few boundaries off the bat, that sort of calms you down and you start focusing on the task ahead. That is the only thing. I don’t know if top of the order or lower makes much of a difference. The only thing is to spend a bit of a time in the middle.”The return to form won’t move Rahul off his toes, though. “When you are part of this Indian team you always know the competition is going to be really really high,” he said. “You can never sit back and be comfortable and feel like you own your position. You’ll always be challenged. That’s the good thing about… that’s how our country is. There is such a lot of talent, and there will be players coming and knocking on the door all the time. As a player in the team you always try to push yourself and keep training harder and keep working on your game and try to get better and better every time. And whenever the opportunity comes, you try to grab it with both hands. Try to keep doing that every series.”

Yorkshire’s limited-overs captain Alex Lees announced his intention to drop himself barely a month into the job before the NatWest Blast tie against Nottinghamshire was abandoned because of rain

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-2016Yorkshire’s limited overs captain Alex Lees announced his intention to drop himself barely a month into the job before the NatWest Blast tie against Nottinghamshire was abandoned because of rain as the wettest June for years threatens to put a dampener on the competition.Less, the youngest professional to be appointed as a full-time Yorkshire captain since Lord Hawke, called his decision “a no brainer”.He said the decision was inevitable because of the availability of Root and Bairstow coupled with the form of Adam Lyth, who struck two Royal London Cup hundreds in successive days against Northants and Lancashire earlier this week.New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson was put in charge before steady rain at Headingley denied the North Group’s bottom two sides the chance to lift their ailing NatWest T20 Blast campaigns in a match chock a block with England stars including Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Notts’ Alex Hales.”For me, it was a no-brainer,” said Lees. “Obviously Rooty and Jonny come back into the team, so two had to miss out there. Adam comes into the team. You can’t not play somebody who’s just scored back-to-back hundreds off 60 balls.”It’s just a gentle reminder to everyone that nobody’s bigger than this club and going forward, we want to put out the best team that we can.”Meanwhile, Yorkshire plan to pay tribute to Jo Cox MP, who was killed by an attacker in her Batley and Spen constituency on Thursday with a minute’s silence and the players wearing black armbands in their match against Derbyshire on Sunday.

Sri Lanka Cricket has announced it will invest heavily in club teams, and improve the facilities available to them, to beef up the talent available to the national team

Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Nov-2016Sri Lanka Cricket has announced it will invest heavily in the existing club-based domestic structure, although a provincial first-class tournament is also in the works. The board has promised a grant of 11 million Sri Lankan rupees (USD $74,000 approx) for each of the 14 clubs in the first-class tournament, and has also said it will beef up facilities by providing bowling machines, mechanised rollers and other groundskeeping equipment. Ten “Tier B” clubs will get a grant of nine million rupees as well.”We have identified our clubs as the places that we promote, sustain and develop cricket in our country, and we will invest as much as possible in this area,” SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala said. “For Sri Lanka to make an indelible mark on the world arena we need to focus on strengthening and developing our domestic cricket – this will provide us with a world-class pool of players to select from. Our focus is on the quality of cricket and not just the quantity.”The announcement of these grants comes weeks after SLC had reinstated domestic contracts, handing out 85 of them to cricketers from a variety of clubs. This was a repudiation of the pay-model devised by 2015’s SLC interim committee, who sought to better incentivise players by paying out substantial match fees for games played, instead of handing out contracts that guarantee income through the season.The present board also rejected the 2015 interim committee’s vision for Sri Lanka’s domestic cricket, having canned the provincial tournament devised by Mahela Jayawardene.Moreover, these latest grants suggest the board does not want to move away from a club-based domestic structure, despite growing criticism of the competition. Several former players have suggested the current first-class format does not encourage high-quality cricket, and have also voiced concerns that senior cricket has not meaningfully spread beyond Basnahira (western province) and Ruhuna (southern province).SLC is expected to announce the details of a new provincial tournament over the next few weeks. However, this tournament is expected to be much shorter than the club tournament, and is likely to feature just four teams.The Premier League Tournament – for now the main first-class competition in Sri Lanka – will be unchanged from the previous season’s format. Fourteen teams will be split into two groups, before the top sides progress to a Super Eight round-robin.

Phil Simmons, West Indies’ head coach, has praised Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard for their contributions in West Indies’ four-wicket win against South Africa in Providence

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jun-2016Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine were controversial inclusions in West Indies’ squad for the ODI tri-series. They had not played international cricket since November 2015, and did not take part in West Indies’ domestic 50-over competition, which was considered to be one of the WICB’s criteria for selection.The two of them, however, proved the match-winners in the opening game of the tournament, with Narine’s 6 for 27, the best ODI figures by a West Indies spinner, helping bowl South Africa out for 188 and Pollard’s unbeaten, run-a-ball 67 sealing a four-wicket win.Phil Simmons, West Indies’ head coach, praised the pair’s contributions, highlighting Narine’s effort to bounce back from a difficult period, in which he has remodeled his bowling action after it was found to be illegal.”They are the two guys who took the game away from South Africa, and it showed that they’re very important to our cricket,” Simmons said. “Narine himself, coming back from everything he’s been through, to come and perform the way he did today, you have to give him a lot of kudos for his grit and his determination, to come out of where he’s been and to come back and perform like this.”Pollard showed his ball-striking ability by hitting six sixes, but waited for the right moments to play his big shots on a sluggish pitch. West Indies were a slightly shaky 76 for 4 when he walked in and took over.”Pollard’s experience showed there,” Simmons said “His ability to hit the ball but also his experience to guide young [Darren] Bravo and so on through the end. [It] showed in [South Africa’s] innings too, [AB] de Villiers guiding [Rilee] Rossouw. And also, I think we came out and [showed] a little bit more grit and a little bit more determination today.”Simmons was heartened by what he felt was an improved fielding display from his side.”I think, again, the bowling has been fantastic and the fielding is getting to where I would like to see, it’s improving all the time,” he said. “Everybody knows that we can bowl and we can bat, but the fielding in particular has been improving and that has helped in us keeping teams to low scores.”