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You can be hero and villain on the same night. Ask Amit Mishra and Ashish Reddy

The Report by Sidharth Monga25-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
One more stump for picket fence in the backyard•BCCI

You can be hero and villain on the same night. Ask Amit Mishra and Ashish Reddy. Reddy scored a whirlwind 36 off 16 balls to help Sunrisers Hyderabad get 59 off the last four overs and give them something to bowl at. Mishra kept them alive with the wickets of Michael Hussey, M Vijay and Suresh Raina. However, Mishra, promoted to No.5, wasted 21 balls for just 15 runs, and dropped MS Dhoni even before he had opened the account. Reddy was given the last over to bowl with 15 to defend, and a now-rampaging Dhoni to face. Reddy completely froze, and bowled the most predictable slower balls imaginable for Dhoni to win it easily.Spared villainy was Dwayne Bravo who bowled length in the final overs to allow Reddy those runs, but more crucially batted like a rabbit in the headlights, manufacturing – as the IPL’s wont has been – a thriller out of nowhere. He played out a maiden from Karan Sharma – who registered this IPL’s most economical four-over figures of 0 for 8 – in the 16th over. Then he holed out on the bowling of Ishant Sharma for a near game-changing 7 off 16.The man who well and truly snatched heroism from villainy was Dhoni. He too began dozily, playing six dots before he top-edged Dale Steyn to long leg where Mishra missed him. How Dhoni made Sunrisers pay for it. Firstly, after Bravo’s maiden left Super Kings needing 46 off last four, Dhoni hit two sensational and consecutive pulled sixes off Steyn, who at times bowled at close to 150 kph. One over midwicket, and the other dragged from wide outside off to clear long-on. This was brutal hitting against the best bowler in the world.Bravo, though, turned it around again, and Sunrisers went to Steyn to bowl the 19th over with 27 runs to play with. Dhoni played another calculated over. Steyn bowled with third man and fine leg up to defend areas down the ground. Dhoni dabbed the first past short fine leg for two, and square-drove the second over point for four. The third one he slogged over deep midwicket. This was the first time Steyn was hit for three sixes in an IPL innings, and only the second time in any Twenty20 game.Steyn came back, though, with Ravindra Jadeja’s wicket, and left Super Kings needing 15 to win off the last over. Darren Sammy, the IPL debutant, was the only man who had bowled earlier on the night and had an over to go. Cameron White, though, went to Reddy. Perhaps he was thinking if this was Reddy’s evening, it might be his night too. It wasn’t.Reddy began with a back-of-the-hand slower ball that was almost off the pitch. He ran up again, and tried the same slower ball again. Dhoni missed, but it was not as though he had not picked it. Reddy had got lucky Dhoni didn’t connect. Reddy, though, tried it again, and Dhoni smacked it clean out of the ground. Eight off four now. Reddy was clearly nervous. He tried the normal yorker now, and missed his line by feet. Five wides. Hang on. Dhoni admits to having touched it. So three off four now becomes four off three. Dhoni pulled the next slower ball to beat long-on and bring the win that put Super Kings level with Royal Challengers Bangalore at the top of the table.Watching all this, Shikhar Dhawan would be wondering whatever happened to what should have been a special Sunrisers debut for him. He came out from a month in the cold storage, braved a blow in the unmentionables, scored a fifty to give Sunrisers a total to bowl at, but ended as a footnote on a night Dhoni went from 0 off 6 to 67 off 37.

AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary hit 24 off the final over, bowled by Nehra, to pull off an improbable win, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s first in four games

The Report by Abhishek Purohit17-Apr-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAB de Villiers played a match-winning cameo, together with Saurabh Tiwary•AFP

Chris Gayle was going at around a run a ball against some tight bowling. Then he calmly decided to shift gears. The bowling ceased to matter; five consecutive sixes came against the bowler with one of the best economy-rates in the IPL, Rahul Sharma. Treating that Rahul over as an aberration, Pune Warriors responded with more tight bowling, with Ashish Nehra yorking Gayle. But AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary hit 24 off the final over, bowled by Nehra, to pull off an improbable win, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s first in four games.For more than three-quarters of the game, the Royal Challengers had played catch-up to the Warriors. After Robin Uthappa’s 69 took the visitors to 182, they had kept the Royal Challengers, and Gayle, in check for 12 overs. Gayle and Virat Kohli, game-changers both, had crawled along in a partnership of 30 in 35 deliveries. The asking-rate had ballooned to over 13, with 111 needed from 50. It claimed Kohli, who found deep point as he tried to hit out.Kohli’s dismissal fired up Gayle, who was on 37 off 35 then. Rahul bowled short, he bowled full, he went around the stumps, he went wide of the crease, he went wide of Gayle. To no avail. Five consecutive sixes later, the asking-rate was down by more than a couple of runs.Warriors were stunned but they recovered quickly. Ashok Dinda, battling a painful side strain, conceded just 12 in two overs, including seven off the penultimate one with Royal Challengers needing 28 from 12. In between, Nehra had, for once, found the perfect yorker to send Gayle back for 81 off 48.De Villiers and Tiwary kept the Royal Challengers in the hunt, hitting a six each to take 16 off the 18th over bowled by Angelo Mathews. Dinda’s final over, the19th, seemed to have left Royal Challengers too much to get in the 20th over – 21.De Villiers scrambled outside off to play the scoop off the second delivery in the final over, arming it past the wicketkeeper for four. Nehra delivered a low full toss and a length ball next. De Villiers smoked one straight down the ground for six; the next one was scooped nervelessly for another six over fine leg. With three needed off the last ball, Tiwary swung a length ball over the long-on boundary even as the rain came pouring down. Marlon Samuels, who had gone for under three an over, had two overs left.Somehow, the Royal Challengers’ batsmen had delivered after their bowlers had once again conceded a substantial score. Uthappa did most of the scoring with a power-packed half-century at the top of the order with Jesse Ryder and Samuels chipping in with smaller contributions.The opening partnership between Uthappa and Ryder was worth 63 in seven overs. By then, Uthappa was in complete control. He timed three consecutive reverse-sweeps off Dilshan, with two of them beating short third man. He was put down by KP Appanna at long-off, a tough diving chance off Vinay Kumar in the 12th over but departed in the next as he sliced Daniel Vettori to point. The Warriors went at the same rate of around nine an over after Uthappa’s dismissal with Samuels smashing the spinners for a couple of sixes. As it turned out, though, even 13 an over wasn’t enough to deny Gayle, De Villiers and Tiwary.

Former ICC chief Malcolm Speed says the Associate nations’ lock-out for the 2015 World Cup is “insular and backward-looking”

Daniel Brettig06-Apr-2011The ICC’s decision to stage the 2015 World Cup without any provision for Associate members smacks of “insular, backward-looking” attitudes among the game’s custodians, former chief Malcolm Speed has said.The scaling down of the tournament to a 10-team event in 2015, in Australia and New Zealand, without so much as a qualifying tournament for smaller nations, has been met with plenty of opposition. The saddest element of the decision, said Speed, was simply that it reflected a persistent retreat from global gains made earlier in the 21st century.”I don’t have a problem with the 10-team World Cup. I think other formats have been tried and haven’t worked, but I do have a problem with the 10 teams qualifying automatically,” Speed told . “I would’ve preferred a system where the last two full-member countries in the one-day rankings are challenged by the top two Associate members, but it seems that’s not going to happen.”It’s consistent with the thinking I saw at the executive board towards the end of my tenure, but certainly not with the thinking earlier in my time, when there was a much broader view of the future of world cricket.”Self-interest is a powerful force at any meeting of nations, as Speed discovered to his detriment when his time as CEO was terminated in 2008. While making it clear there were useful voices at work on the ICC executive, Speed said that they did not, in this instance, speak loudest. “The decision strikes me as an insular, parochial decision that just perpetuates the 10 full-member countries, who are actually full members because they are Test-playing countries.”They’re not full members because they’re ODI-playing countries, they are chosen because they can sustain Test cricket. But other countries are then excluded from the major one-day tournament, so I think it’s a very insular, backward-looking decision.”Speed has just published his memoirs, , in which he discusses the politics of World Cups and the mixed blessing of India’s dominant position as the unrivalled financial leviathan of the game. “It’s the major operational benefit for the game, but it’s also the major governance threat,” he said of India’s power. “It’s the sort of opportunity any other sport would gladly welcome, as has cricket, but it brings with it some serious difficulties.”

P Ranganathan, the former Kerala Ranji batsman, has been appointed coach of the state side for the 2010-11 season

Cricinfo staff14-May-2010P Ranganathan, the former Kerala Ranji batsman, has been appointed coach of the state side for the 2010-11 season. A BCCI Level II coach, Ranganathan had previously coached the state’s Under-14, 19 and 25 sides.TC Mathew, the secretary of the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), said Ranganathan was appointed based on his impressive work with the South Zone U-25 team in particular. “He is currently the only Ranji Trophy player in the State with a Level II coaching certificate and he knows the players personally,” Mathew told the .A right-handed batsman, Ranganathan played 26 first-class games between 1985 and 1993, scoring 1110 runs at 26.42 with a century and six fifties. His appointment follows the sacking of Vedam Hariharan last season, who was dismissed after just one season. Last November, Hariharan had slapped the KCA with a legal notice claiming Rs 50 lakh in damages for non-payment of salary and unfair dismissal.

Sean Jarvis warns of deepening divide between “haves and have-nots” at domestic level

Andrew Miller03-May-2024Sean Jarvis, Leicestershire’s chief executive, has warned that county cricket is facing its “Premier League moment” with the ECB’s impending sale of equity stakes in the Hundred, and has urged the game not to create the same divide between haves and have-nots that is currently afflicting English football.Despite being the reigning Metro Bank One-Day Cup champions, as well as top of Division Two in the County Championship after a rain-affected first month of competition, Leicestershire’s lowly status within English cricket was compounded last month when their bid for a Tier 1 team in the new women’s competition from 2025 was overlooked by the ECB – a decision that left the club “crestfallen”, according to a strongly worded statement.”We didn’t use that word lightly,” Jarvis told ESPNcricinfo. “We had every part of the business involved in our tender process, from the commercial team to the catering, because we genuinely believed it was an amazing opportunity for the ECB to tear up the rule book, and give a club like Leicestershire an opportunity to do something different.”Related

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Instead, that decision means that Leicestershire are now one of seven first-class teams that will not be hosting international men’s cricket, Hundred matches or top-flight women’s domestic games from next year onwards, and Jarvis – whose 14 years of experience as commercial director at Huddersfield Town have informed his approach to cricket management – is concerned that the club is running out of opportunities to retain its relevance in a fast-changing game.”When do we get a leg up?” Jarvis said. “We want to be playing in the first division and reaching the quarter-finals of white-ball competitions, and that’s where we believe we’re headed. But if you compare us to, say, Nottinghamshire, who have a Hundred team, T20 Blast matches, and now women’s cricket, when you don’t get these things it does knock you back. That’s where I get frustrated with the ECB.”The gulf between the sport’s haves and have-nots could be set to grow in the coming weeks, however, as the ECB moves closer to a final decision on the future of the Hundred, after a protracted consultation period. The current expectation is that host venues will receive a 51% equity share of their respective teams, with the remaining counties sharing up to 30% of the competition’s remaining value.”This could be our Premier League moment, if we’re not careful,” Jarvis said, referencing the moment that football’s top flight broke away from the Football League in May 1992. “It’s the top six or seven clubs that call the tune. They are effectively protected all the time by the finances they generate, and it’s the others that are at the beck and call of the trap door.”I’ve been in that situation,” he added, having been involved in Huddersfield Town’s two seasons in the Premier League in 2017-19. “They got relegated to League One [third tier] this weekend, so if you’re one of the have-nots, getting into that party doesn’t guarantee you long-term success.Leicestershire are the reigning One-Day Cup holders•Getty Images

“We’re at a very significant and exciting point in the future of the game,” Jarvis continued. “In terms of cricket in the UK, we’ve maybe reached the limit of domestic investment into the game. The Sky TV contract is what it is, as are the audiences that we’ve already got. But the game needs further investment, because the players are demanding higher salaries, and many grounds are crumbling.”If we get the Hundred decision right, it could catapult UK cricket internationally. That’s what happened with the Premier League, when it overtook the likes of Serie A and the Bundesliga. But we’ve got to be strong, and not simply allow the big boys to become bigger and even stronger.”There’s got to be a way that protects all clubs, and that includes the recreational game as well, because it will be detrimental to places like Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Kent and Northants in the long-term, if they’re not given that opportunity to come and sit at that table.”For that reason, Jarvis believes that the “Open Pyramid” option for the Hundred, whereby all 18 counties, plus MCC as the major stakeholders of London Spirit, compete in a two-tiered structure with the future prospect of promotion and relegation, should be not be discounted from the discussions.”The ECB must never, ever take away the opportunity for this club to win silverware in any competition,” Jarvis said. “We’re a classic example of the underdog winning something, and I’ve stressed that that must always be the case.”Whatever the upshot, Jarvis recognises that a major overhaul of Grace Road is overdue, and that Leicestershire’s share of the Hundred windfall – allied to strategic partnerships with Leicester City Council and other local business interests – should allow the club to produce a venue that can better serve the needs of one of the largest sporting communities in the country.”There’s an urban myth that the green area of Grace Road is the largest in the world, even larger than the MCG,” Jarvis said. “The good news is that we own our land, even if the infrastructure around it is very outdated. So with the cash injection from the Hundred, there’s a real opportunity to spend that money wisely, and give Leicestershire County Cricket Club a fighting chance going forward.”

Zimbabwe had earlier been bowled out for 144 after losing their last four wickets for just seven runs

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jan-2023Ross Adair, playing only his second international game, stroked a 47-ball 65 to help Ireland to a six-wicket victory against Zimbabwe, and level the three-match series going into the decider in Harare on Sunday.Chasing 145, Ireland made a steady but sedate start, as Adair and Andy Balbirnie added 48 for the first wicket. Two quick wickets from Ryan Burl looked to give Zimbabwe a way back into the game, but Adair and Harry Tector stitched together a 59-run partnership that put the visitors in sight of the win. Adair was eventually dismissed in the 16th over, having struck two fours and four sixes during his half-century, but Tector (26) and George Dockrell saw Ireland home in the final over, with two deliveries to spare; Dockrell finished the game with a six off Brad Evans, who leaked 38 runs from 3.4 overs.Earlier, Zimbabwe, in the absence of Gary Ballance, who was hit on the helmet in the previous game, managed 144 from their 20 overs. The team lost Tadiwanashe Marumani in the first over, but rebuilt through Innocent Kaia (25) and the captain Craig Ervine (42). At 117 for 4 in the 16th over, the hosts were looking for a final flourish, but two quick strikes from Graham Hume derailed their momentum. Zimbabwe lost their last four wickets for just seven runs, to be bowled out for 144.Hume ended with figures of 4-0-17-3, while Tector took 2 for 22 from his four overs.

Scorchers will spend the rest of the entire season on the road after WA government changed the border restrictions

Tristan Lavalette and Alex Malcolm15-Dec-2021Perth Scorchers will spend the rest of the BBL season on the road with their December 20 home fixture against Hobart Hurricanes moved from Perth Stadium.Cricket Australia was left scrambling on Wednesday to reschedule the fixture after the Western Australian government tightened its border with New South Wales, which has a surge of Covid-19 cases amid the Omicron variant. Under a reclassified “extreme risk” category, travel from New South Wales to Western Australia will not be permitted effective from December 18 unless approved under the strictest of conditions. Victoria is already classified as “extreme risk” by the WA government.Scorchers and Hurricanes both played matches in Sydney in recent days meaning they would not be allowed entry into Western Australia. It was confirmed on Thursday that the December 20 fixture had moved to Tasmania with the teams, currently in Hobart, having played each other on Tuesday night at Bellerive Oval.Having played their season opener against Brisbane Heat at home, Scorchers will be locked out of Western Australia until the state’s hard border comes down on February 5 with players and coaching staff planning to spend the remainder of the BBL interstate. Their second match of the season against Adelaide Strikers was moved from Perth Stadium to Sydney Showgrounds and played behind closed doors after Strikers weren’t allowed into Western Australia because they had played their season opener in Melbourne.Scorchers’ home fixtures against Melbourne Renegades on December 26 and Melbourne Stars on December 30 have been moved to Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. Scorchers’ home games against Sydney Thunder on January 5 and Sydney Sixers on January 6 are also likely to be played in Sydney.But the upheaval has not affected the unbeaten Scorchers, who can take heed of last season’s runners-up finish after playing only four games at Optus Stadium.”We are accepting the challenge and look forward to embracing it,” Scorchers batter Cameron Bancroft told ESPNcricinfo earlier in the week. “We have to enjoy this time together and just try to have fun with it.”The fifth Ashes Test, which was originally scheduled to be played in Perth, was recently shifted to Hobart, while the ODI between Australia and New Zealand on January 30 at Optus Stadium remains in doubt.

Buttler left England camp on Sunday but is expected to return for Australia ODIs

Matt Roller07-Sep-2020Jos Buttler will miss England’s final T20I of the summer for family reasons. Buttler, who hit a match-winning 77 not out in the second game of England’s series against Australia on Sunday, left the biosecure bubble at the Ageas Bowl following the game.Subject to Covid-19 testing, Buttler will be return to the England camp when they move up to Manchester, and will be available for the first ODI against Australia on Friday.Buttler’s absence may mean an opportunity at the top of the order for Tom Banton, who has been used in an unfamiliar No. 4 role so far in the series and has made 10 runs in two innings.There are also concerns over the availability of Eoin Morgan, who hurt the ring finger on his right hand in the field in Sunday’s win.Morgan went off with his finger – the same one he had fractured playing for Middlesex in 2018 – pointing the wrong way, but returned to the field with it strapped up at the end of the over and was fit to bat. With the series won, England may take the view that it is not worth risking him. If he is unavailable, Moeen Ali – vice-captain during the ODI series against Ireland earlier this summer – would be the likely stand-in.

Durham slip to fourth straight Championship defeat to stay stuck to bottom of table

ECB Reporters Network22-May-2019Gloucestershire have secured their first win of the County Championship Division Two season by defeating Durham by six wickets at Emirates Riverside.The visitors required only 53 runs to win in the morning after the opening partnership between Chris Dent and Miles Hammond had knocked off more than half their target of 117 the previous evening. Although they lost three further wickets, Gloucestershire eased their way to victory to move up to third on the table, eyeing a potential charge for promotion.Meanwhile, Durham slipped to their fourth defeat in a row in the Championship, remaining rooted to the bottom of Division Two.Gloucestershire began the day only one wicket down but they lost nightwatchman Josh Shaw without adding to their overnight score as Chris Rushworth made the breakthrough. Shaw had been dropped two balls previously by Ryan Pringle at third slip, but Ned Eckersley claimed a routine catch to send him on his way.Hammond made a solid knock of 36 to put Gloucestershire on the verge of victory. However, Matt Salisbury struck with his first ball of day three to deny the opener the chance to see his team over the line, edging behind to Eckersley. Salisbury then bowled George Hankins just before James Bracey and Gareth Roderick were able to see out the comfortable win.The visitors’ clinical edge with the ball and in the field was the difference between the two sides. Gloucestershire capitalised on familiar failings in the Durham batting ranks to surge through the order twice in two days. Ryan Higgins, David Payne, Matt Taylor and Shaw were all on form, posing problems with their accuracy and the ability to find movement off the slow track.Graeme van Buuren played a pivotal role in Gloucestershire’s victory when he ran out Cameron Bancroft on day two. The Aussie looked well set on 40 not out in his attempt to dig Durham out of trouble. However, Bancroft hesitated after his partner, Liam Trevaskis, called for a tight single, allowing van Buuren to collect at cover before connecting with an accurate throw at the stumps.Bancroft’s dismissal epitomised Durham’s season in the Championship to date, failing in the decisive moments. Head coach James Franklin has made changes since replacing Jon Lewis, but he has yet to find a cure for his side’s batting woes in the four-day format.Franklin said: “It has certainly been a tough start. Four games and four losses. It is what it is and we have 10 more games to try to show improvement and progress in this format of the game.”Make no bones about it, the guys in the dressing room are hurting really badly. In some ways it’s quite good that we have 10 days until the next first-team game to clear their heads and regroup to get a method to compete in the next four-day game against Derbyshire.”Durham host Derbyshire and Northamptonshire in back-to-back matches at the beginning of June where they are in dire need of improvement to end their win-less run in the Championship. Gloucestershire now prepare for a showdown against Lancashire at Cheltenham, beginning on Monday.

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.