All posts by n8rngtd.top

Ben Stokes’ trip to New Zealand sparked speculation that he could be involved in England’s Ashes campaign but that prospect is all but over

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2017Ben Stokes has concluded his spell with Canterbury and returned to the UK for Christmas. When Stokes flew to New Zealand last month, it sparked speculation that he could be involved in England’s Ashes campaign but, with the series lost and the CPS still determining whether to press charges against the allrounder for his part in a fight in September, that prospect is all but over.Canterbury said that Stokes was leaving for “family reasons” and that he would always be welcome to return. Stokes played in three Ford Trophy matches, with scores of 2, 34 and 0 to go with one wicket, as well as three Super Smash games, one of which saw him hammer 93 off 47 balls.”Ben has been great around the club, the team and the staff,” Canterbury CEO, Jez Curwin, said. “We can’t fault his attitude or his all-round contribution in his time with us and we are sorry that he couldn’t stay with us for longer but Ben knows that he will always find a welcome here should the opportunity arise for him to return.”Stokes travelled to New Zealand to spend time with family – he was born in Christchurch and his parents live there – as well as gain some playing time while the police investigation into his night out in Bristol continued. Stokes was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm and has not been considered for England selection since, although he was named in England’s one-day squad to face Australia next month.”I have thoroughly enjoyed training and playing with Canterbury,” Stokes said. “Everyone here has gone out of their way to make me feel at home. It’s a wonderful club and I couldn’t have asked for any more from my time here.”

All the talking points from the third day at the Wanderers, which was marked by inconsistent bounce and batsmen getting hit on the body

Sidharth Monga in Johannesburg26-Jan-2018

• The trigger to take the players off was the third ball of the ninth over of South Africa’s second innings. Nineteen minutes before scheduled stumps, the umpires decided to go off as a Jasprit Bumrah delivery hit Dean Elgar on the grille of his helmet. The pitch had had exaggerated bounce and seam from the start, but on day three various batsmen took blows on the body.
• The first official conversation regarding the condition of the pitch took place during the tea break on day two. Both team managers said they were briefed that it could get difficult to handle once the new ball was taken. India’s innings ended with the first ball of the second new ball, but South Africa had to start their innings against the new ball. Elgar was hit four times on the body during the eight-and-a-half-overs that were bowled.
• India have made it clear both to the match referee and the media that they want to continue playing. South Africa have told the match referee that they won’t comment on whether they feel the pitch is safe or not. However, they have also said they will continue to play should the match referee deem the pitch safe.
• As of now India stand in a dominant position in the match, having set South Africa 241 to win and taken one of their wickets early in the final innings. Their batsmen took more than a few blows to the body, but continued batting.
• “This is the wicket prepared… We also batted on it… We can’t complain about this wicket… Our aim is to play this Test, and our aim is to play… We all knew when we came to South Africa that we would get wickets like this,” said Sunil Subramaniam, India’s manager.
• South Africa coach Otis Gibson said his team had not asked for such a pitch. All they had asked for, according to him, was pace and bounce. He also said they have not complained about the conditions or expressed a desire to not continue even once.
• In the end, the officials have decided to carry on with the match as scheduled. More than 10,000 tickets have been sold for the fourth day’s play, which will be the first weekend day of the Test. None of the first three days have brought more than 8018 spectators to the ground.

Mandeep Singh’s 29-ball 45 helped Punjab tie Karnataka’s total, before his unbeaten 10 off four balls was instrumental in his side clinching the eliminator

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2018Mandeep Singh’s 29-ball 45 helped Punjab tie Karnataka‘s total of 158 before his unbeaten 10 off four balls was instrumental in his side clinching the one-over eliminator in a Super League game in Kolkata.Electing to bowl, Punjab secured the big wicket of Mayank Agarwal when Manpreet Gony had him caught for 6. Karnataka soon slid to 35 for 3 with Karun Nair and K Gowtham falling for 13 each to seamers Baltej Singh and Gony. Karnataka’s recovery was eventually down to a 64-run alliance between R Samarth (31 off 29) and CM Gautam (36 off 31). But, another collapse reduced Karnataka to 102 for 6, with Baltej removing Gautam and Stuart Binny in the space of two deliveries. Karnataka, though, were powered past 150 thanks to Aniruddha Joshi’s 19-ball 40 that included six fours and a six. Baltej finished with figures of 3 for 21, while Gony took two wickets for eight runs in four overs.In their chase, Punjab remained on course for a comfortable win with Mandeep and captain Harbhajan Singh, who batted at No. 3, putting on a blistering 67-run stand in 6.1 overs. Harbhajan, who has set a reserve price of INR 2 crore at the IPL auction, has been in good batting form recently and has batted higher up the order. He smashed 33 off 19 balls, including five fours and a six.However, after Harbhajan was dismissed in the ninth over, Mandeep and Gurkeerat were dismissed within the space of four balls. With Yuvraj Singh also falling after a 25-ball 29, Punjab began to wobble and eventually couldn’t close out the game. Left-arm seamer S Aravind picked up two lower-order wickets out of his tally of four, while legspinner Pravin Dubey, who picked up seven wickets in the last two matches, managed two scalps. Mandeep, however, did better when he got a shot at redemption in the one-over eliminator. A capped player, Mandeep has set his price at INR 50 lakh at the auction.

Victoria were ahead by 160 runs and had nine second-innings wickets in hand at the WACA

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2018
Chris Tremain sends down a delivery•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Fast bowler Chris Tremain’s first seven-wicket haul in first-class cricket gave Victoria the ascendency on day two against Western Australia at the WACA.Tremain had five of his seven victims caught behind the wicket in an outstanding display of fast bowling on a surface that offered bounce and seam movement.Josh Philippe made a brisk 62 at the top of the order before he edged Tremain to first slip, while Ashton Turner was the unluckiest victim, strangled down the leg side for 44. Wicketkeeper Sam Harper took four catches while Dan Christian took two of his three catches at first slip, as the Warriors conceded a 90-run first innings lead.The Bushrangers lost Travis Dean late in the day after a 61-run opening stand with Marcus Harris. Peter Siddle kept out eight balls as the nightwatchman to give the visitors a 160-run lead heading into day three.

The Sri Lanka fast bowler has not joined the Rajasthan Royals squad because of a back complaint, and is set to undergo further tests

Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Apr-2018Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera is in doubt for Sri Lanka’s Test tour of the West Indies in June, due to a back complaint.He has also been ruled out of at least the first three weeks of the IPL, and remained in Colombo instead of joining the Rajasthan Royals squad. Further medical tests will determine the exact length of his layoff and recovery.”He has had some back stiffness, so we expect it to be three more weeks at least before he can return to bowling,” Sri Lanka chief selector Graeme Labrooy told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ll reassess after that and see where he is.”Initial tests were inconclusive but did not out a stress fracture, the likes of which had kept Chameera out of action for several months in late 2016. The injury was sustained last week during first round of the Super Fours Provincial Tournament – a tournament Chameera will now take no further part in.For Royals, who had bought Chameera at his base price of INR 50 lakhs (approx. USD $77,000), his absence is unlikely to be a major loss, given the presence of other overseas quicks Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Ben Laughlin in the squad.If it transpires that Chameera is out of the tour of the West Indies, however, Sri Lanka will go into that series without the pace-bowling firepower they would have liked, with Nuwan Pradeep and Shehan Madushanka also under injury clouds. The first of the three Tests begins on June 6.

Yorkshire staged one of the greatest fightbacks in County Championship history after being skittled for 50 on the opening day

ECB Reporters Network06-May-20182:04

Yorkshire complete epic comeback

ScorecardSteve Patterson, who claimed a career-best, and Ben Coad tore out four Essex wickets for no runs in the space of 23 balls to set up one of the most incredible comeback victories in County Championship history.Essex had started the day requiring 141 to reach their 238-run target with six wickets standing. The end came at 12.30pm, half an hour before lunch, with Essex still 92 runs short.It was a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of Yorkshire, who almost exactly 48 hours earlier had been all out for a humiliating 50 in little more than 18 overs. It became the sixth-lowest first-innings total to win a Championship match.It was Essex’s first defeat in the Championship for 20 months, spanning 19 games, since they lost at Chelmsford to Glamorgan in the match that confirmed their promotion to Division One. Yorkshire took 19 points for their win to Essex’s three.Yorkshire’s second victory of the season was sparked by Jonny Bairstow, who elevated himself to open the second innings after tea on the first day and thrashed 50 in double-quick time to alter the destiny of the game, and then set up by Harry Brook’s maiden first-class hundred.Yorkshire came back from being dismissed for 50 in the first innings to win by 91 runs•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

It was finished by Patterson who claimed career-best figures of 6 for 40, beating the 6 for 56 he took against Durham in June 2016, the last time he had a five-wicket haul.”It was a really difficult first day for us. The first session was probably the worst session of cricket I’ve ever been involved in,” Patterson said. “But I thought the courage and the belief we showed from that moment on, for the rest of the game, was pretty impressive. A lot of people stood up at tough times and made important contributions and thankfully several days later we’re celebrating victory.”It’s hard to win four-day games no matter who it’s against, so you’ve got to savour the victories. From where we were in the game nobody would have backed us to be where we are now.”But the one thing about Yorkshire in all the days I’ve been in the side is we’ve got tremendous belief and we’ve got some fantastic talent in the dressing room. We know if we truly believe and stick together you can achieve anything in the game. And that’s shown in the last two days.”Coad broke Essex’s resistance after 25 minutes of play when he dismissed Ryan ten Doeschate and followed with the wickets of James Foster and Simon Harmer in the space of 11 of his own deliveries.Patterson had rattled through the first Essex four wickets on the second evening, and sent back the man upon whom Essex’s hopes rested, Dan Lawrence, to claim his fifth of the innings. At that stage the county champions had lost four wickets in 23 balls with the score stuck resolutely on 114.England Test captain Joe Root bowled the first over of the day from the River End and almost had Lawrence lofting airily to extra cover where the ball eluded two converging fielders. However, Lawrence calmed down after that rush of blood and brought up Essex’s hundred two balls later.ten Doeschate, who had cut Patterson for a thumping four, was the first in the procession after helping Lawrence to negotiate the first seven overs without concern. The pair had put on 59 in 23 overs, lifting Essex from 55 for 4 before Coad got one to keep low and had the Essex captain lbw for 34.James Foster lasted just three balls before Coad nicked his outside edge and Bairstow, standing up, took the catch. Simon Harmer became Coad’s third victim when he played over a delivery and went 1bw.Lawrence’s 100-ball stay for 32 ended when Patterson removed his middle stump as he played around a straight one. Peter Siddle and Jamie Porter put on a dozen runs for the ninth wicket before Porter became the latest lbw victim and Patterson’s sixth. Siddle was the final wicket to fall of an extraordinary match when Tim Bresnan trapped him in front.

The matches in question in Al Jazeera’s documentary are the England-India Test in Chennai in December 2016, and the Australia-India Test in Ranchi in March 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff27-May-20183:05

Watch – Alleged spot-fixing in the India-Australia Ranchi Test

Cricket Australia and the ECB have said there was no “credible evidence” linking Australian and English Test players to spot-fixing, as alleged by TV channel Al Jazeera in its documentary, which focuses on various forms of corruption in the sport.The Tests in question are the England-India Test in Chennai in December 2016, and the Australia-India Test in Ranchi in March 2017. Al Jazeera’s allegations are that during certain periods of the game some England and Australian batsmen scored at a rate specified by fixers for the purposes of betting.Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, said the “limited information” the board had was discussed with “all the England players” and they “emphatically deny the allegations, have stated categorically that the claims are false and they have our full support.”CA requested Al Jazeera for raw footage and un-edited material to assess the allegations and determine whether an investigation was necessary. The BCCI said they were working closely with the ICC.

ICC wants ‘un-edited and unseen evidence’

. “The ICC has now had the opportunity to view the documentary into corruption in cricket and as we have previously stated, we are taking the contents of the programme and the allegations it has made extremely seriously,” Alex Marshall, the ACU’s general manager, said in a statement. “A full investigation led by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, working with full cooperation from all Member countries identified in the programme, is now underway to examine each claim made.
“We have been in ongoing dialogue with the broadcaster which has refused our continual requests to cooperate and share information which has hampered our investigation to date. The content of the programme, is of course useful to the investigation, but I would now urge the production team to provide us with all un-edited and unseen evidence they are in possession of, to enable us to expedite a thorough investigation.”

In the documentary, a person Al Jazeera identified as Aneel Munawar, an Indian national who is said to work for crime syndicate D Company, is seen naming three England players and two Australian players to the undercover reporter as being part of the fix.The names of the cricketers were edited out in the documentary but Al Jazeera said it would pass on information to the relevant authorities. The channel said the two Australians named by Munawar had not responded to the allegations; while the three England players “categorically denied the allegations” through their lawyers, stating that they were “made by a source who is a known criminal,” and that the likelihood of a batting team fixing scores “to within such degree of precision as alleged is highly improbable, if not practically impossible.”Al Jazeera, however, claimed that the information passed by Munawar to the undercover reporter about run-scoring in a certain passage of play was accurate in both Tests. The instruction, the channel claimed, was for the batsmen to score slowly so that the actual runs scored would be lower than what the illegal betting market was placing bets on.The channel said there was no evidence to indicate any other England or Australia players had been involved or aware of the alleged plot.CA said it had not yet had the opportunity to view the raw footage containing the allegations, and requested Al Jazeera for the same. “Together with the ICC, we are aware of the investigation by Al Jazeera into alleged corruption in cricket,” CA chief executive James Sutherland said in a statement. “Although not having been provided an opportunity to view the documentary or any raw footage, our long-standing position on these matters is that credible claims will be treated very seriously and fully investigated.”Neither the ICC or Cricket Australia is aware of any credible evidence linking Australian players to corruption in the game. We urge Al Jazeera to provide all un-edited materials and any other evidence to the ICC investigation team, so, if appropriate, a full and thorough investigation can be conducted.”A similar message emerged from the ECB. “There is nothing we have seen that would make us doubt any of our players in any way whatsoever,” Harrison said. “Neither ECB nor the ICC is aware of any credible evidence connecting any England players to any form of corruption. ECB had been aware of the planned Al Jazeera documentary for some time but have not been given the full content. There have been repeated requests for any evidence and unedited materials to be shared with the ICC so they can fully investigate.”We, like other member Boards, are disappointed that Al Jazeera have not been more cooperative and responsible when making such serious allegations.”A BCCI statement said: “The BCCI has a zero-tolerance approach to any activity or act that brings the game of cricket to disrepute or mars the integrity of the game. The BCCI anti-corruption unit is working closely with the ICC anti-corruption on the alleged claims by a television channel.”

The fast bowler, who is currently recovering from injury, also admitted the scale of the controversy took the players by surprise

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jun-2018Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has suggested that a win at all costs mentality played a part in the deterioration of the team’s on-field behaviour which ultimately led to the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.On field antics had already raised eyebrows during the Ashes and earlier in the series against South Africa – Nathan Lyon was fined for a send-off given to AB de Villiers – before the dramatic events unfolded at Newlands which led to captain Steven Smith and David Warner being banned for a year and Cameron Bancroft for nine months.Hazlewood, who is missing the current one-day series in England due to a back injury, said it was only the results on the field which mattered and not how the team or players were portrayed, something that he believes the new coach Justin Langer is trying to change.”It’s a big tour always South Africa, coming off the back of an Ashes as well which was quite stressful,” Hazlewood told . “All big tours are stressful and that added pressure we probably put on ourselves as much as anyone to win.”Where the stress has come from is that we are pretty much measured on our cricket ability, not as people off the field, which we had probably got away from in the past six months, 12 months. A focus only on results I guess drives people to do different things and we are only measured on our cricket success.”I don’t think that’s how it is now, I think that’s changed a little bit, JL has talked a lot about how we are behaving off the field and we are going to be measured on that as well which is a good sign.”Hazlewood admitted that the Australians didn’t grasp the seriousness of the ball-tampering controversy until the following morning when it had started to register back home. Smith was immediately stood down for the remainder of the Cape Town Test before the trio involved were handed their sanctions a few days later.”We went to bed that night and Australia hadn’t woken up yet, when it hit back in Australia and we woke up it was quite surprising how big a reaction it was,” he said. “It wasn’t massive in South Africa, all the Australian writers know it’s going on here and there and around different teams and people have been done in the past, I guess they talked it down a bit if anything but once it hit home the media went the other way and the reaction was massive.”Hazlewood also hinted at agreement with Langer that Smith – who Langer said in an interview with Sky Sports “maybe just wasn’t strong enough in his leadership” – lacked the experience needed to keep the team on track but added that these days players are often required to do all their learning on the international stage.”Cricket-wise I think he was ready, he probably wasn’t ready with everything that came with it I guess,” he said. “It’s a different time now where we’re basically cricketers from the time we leave school and we don’t really experience life outside of cricket and the cricket environment, back in those times they probably got out in the world, had a few jobs, learned a lot of life lessons. Now you go straight from school into a cricket environment and cricket is all you know.”

Jamie Overton claimed four wickets and bowled with impressive pace as Somerset took control at New Road

ECB Reporters Network23-Jul-2018Somerset 337 and 44 for 0 lead Worcestershire 257 (Wood 65*, J Overton 4-61, Davey 4-68) by 127 runs

ScorecardJamie Overton and Josh Davey shared eight wickets to give Somerset the upper hand despite staunch resistance from Luke Wood and the Worcestershire lower order on day two of the Specsavers County Championship match at Blackfinch New Road.Jamie Overton picked up his first Championship wickets of 2018 on his way to figures of 4 for 61 from 15 overs and bowled with considerable pace. He has gradually been built up to full match fitness via playing in the Royal London Cup and Vitality Blast and impressed in his second Championship game of 2018.After Worcestershire were dismissed for 257 in their first innings – a deficit of 80 – Somerset openers Marcus Trescothick and Ed Byrom then extended their overall advantage to 127 by the close.Their position would be even stronger but for the efforts of Wood, who is on loan to Worcestershire for a month from Nottinghamshire. The paceman came to the wicket at 120 for 7 and featured in crucial partnerships of 46 with Ross Whiteley and 84 with Dillon Pennington.Wood ended unbeaten on 65 from 77 deliveries and struck 10 boundaries. His efforts not only enabled the home side to avoid the possibility of being asked to follow on but also secured two batting points.But Worcestershire will still need a major turnaround in the overall trend of the opening half of the match if they are to stave off the threat of a fifth defeat in eight Championship matches. As well as Somerset bowled, some of their front-line batsmen will be disappointed at the manner of their dismissal.Somerset had resumed on 324 for 9 and added 13 more runs before Jack Leach edged Ed Barnard to first slip.Worcestershire quickly ran into trouble when they launched their reply with the quickfire dismissal of openers Travis Head and Daryl Mitchell. Head pushed forward to Davey and edged to Craig Overton at third slip and Mitchell flicked at a Craig Overton delivery and was caught down the leg side by Steven Davies.Joe Clarke struck four boundaries but surrendered his wicket in a tame manner when he clipped Davey straight to midwicket.Moeen Ali’s innings was a mixture of class shots and being given a searching examination by Jamie Overton and after making 30 he drove loosely at the paceman and nicked through to Davies. Skipper Brett D’Oliveira was then trapped lbw by the same bowler in the last over before lunch.Worcestershire continued to lose wickets at regular intervals with Barnard (29), who had been promoted to No. 6, and debutant Alex Milton both ousted on 120 in successive overs by Davey and Craig Overton respectively.Wood and Whiteley played with freedom in putting on 46 in six overs before the latter was bowled by the returning Jamie Overton. But his dismissal brought in Pennington, playing only his second Championship match, and he showed his mettle and willingness for a fight in adversity alongside Wood.The innings finally ended when Pennington was bowled by Jamie Overton and then Steve Magoffin popped a Davey delivery up on the on side.

Kieron Pollard’s team, already occupying bottom position and having the worst net run rate of the competition, had it reduced by a further 0.15 after they were found to be two overs short against Jamaica Tallawahs

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2018In a first, following the introduction of new rules in the Caribbean Premier League this year, St Lucia Stars were punished for slow over rate by having their net run rate docked. The Stars, captained by Kieron Pollard, completed their bowling innings against Jamaica Tallawahs in 94 minutes: nine minutes longer than the permissible 85. As a result, their net run rate was reduced by 0.15.The new rule punishes teams that fail to complete their 20 overs in the allotted 85 minutes, after taking into account all allowances for stoppages. In accordance with that, Stars were deemed to be two overs short. The first over results in a docking of 0.05 from the team’s NRR, with each following over reducing the NRR by 0.10.The Stars ended up losing the match by 21 runs. This latest penalty adds to their woes in what has been a wretched CPL season, where they are currently bottom of the table. They also have, by some distance, the worst net run rate in the competition, which has now been exacerbated by this latest penalty.