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She scored an unbeaten 19-ball 28 before claiming her maiden five-wicket haul

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-202134-over match: A sparkling all-round display from Fatima Sana helped Pakistan Women finish their tour of West Indies on a high note, their 22-run win by the DLS method narrowing their ODI series loss to a 3-2 margin.Sana first helped Pakistan set a challenging target with an unbeaten 19-ball 28 at the finish of their shortened innings, and followed that up with her maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs.Rain delayed the start of play, and interrupted play once more during the 19th over of Pakistan’s innings, after West Indies had put them in. With the match reduced to 34 overs a side, Pakistan stepped up their scoring rate. To the platform of 82 for 2 that Muneeba Ali’s 59-ball 39 had helped construct before the rain break, they added 108 in their remaining 15.2 overs, with Omaima Sohail (34 off 37), Kainat Imtiaz (21 off 24) and Ayesha Naseem (16 off 14) chipping in usefully before Sana provided the final flourish. West Indies’ bowlers struggled for accuracy too, sending down 20 wides with Shamilia Connell (eight) and Chinelle Henry (five) particularly culpable.Set a revised target of 194 in their 34 overs, West Indies made a strong start with Deandra Dottin (37 off 47) and Britney Cooper (40 off 53) making solid top-order contributions and two others in their top five getting past 20 as well. But Pakistan’s bowlers ensured their scoring rate remained in check, and when Stafanie Taylor fell for 21 in the 25th over, West Indies needed 74 in 55 balls with six wickets in hand.With Sana – who had already taken the key wickets of Dottin and Cooper – making regular inroads with her medium-pace, West Indies struggled against that asking rate, eventually getting bowled out for 171 off the last ball of their innings.

Spin was the way to go on the night, and the visitors got it right

Sidharth Monga27-Jan-20231:27

Mitchell: ‘Santner is one of the best white-ball spinners at the moment’

New Zealand were put in on a pitch that turned, and were then expected to bowl in the dew, but they managed to score what turned out to be enough off India’s fast bowlers. Half-centuries from Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway and an early burst from Finn Allen took New Zealand to 176 after which they went to spin straightaway unlike India who didn’t have the headstart of knowing it was turning.While New Zealand got only 56 off the 10 overs bowled by the spinners, they managed 119 off the 10 overs of pace. The sharply cut grass perhaps did the trick for New Zealand as the ball didn’t quite become a bar of soap and kept gripping for their spinners.Captain Mitchell Santner displayed his guile and skill, taking a wicket first ball, bowling a maiden in the powerplay and then coming back to take Deepak Hooda in the 16th over to seal the game. The one big difference in two sides was that pacer Jacob Duffy bowled his first two overs for 10 and a wicket, and once the asking rate started creeping up, this pitch just proved too difficult for Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya.

Finn Allen blazes away

Coming off successive ducks in an ordinary ODI series, Allen enjoyed the freedom this format affords batters. He started off with a mis-hit, but then began smacking the ball around with only two fielders out. In 4.1 overs, New Zealand were 43 for 0 thanks to his 35 off 22.

Washington Sundar applies the brakes

Among those four overs was one bowled by Washington Sundar. The ball gripped for him, and he refused to give the batters anything full. Only three came off that over, and even though Allen managed to slog-sweep him for a six at the start of the next, he ended up dragging the next slog-sweep to deep midwicket, which was placed squarer than usual.

Watch Ind vs NZ on ESPN

You can watch the first T20I between India and New Zealand on ESPN Player in the UK and on ESPN+ in English and in Hindi in the USA.

In the same over, Washington played around with Mark Chapman before taking a spectacular one-handed return-catch diving full length to his right. India quickly went to more spin, bringing on Deepak Hooda even if it meant bowling inside the powerplay. It now became 54 for 2 in seven overs.1:29

Is Devon Conway New Zealand’s best all-format batter?

Devon Conway carries on

Somebody needed to bat well for New Zealand during the middle overs because they were still going to need a big score because of the dew expected. Conway, who hardly got any strike during the Allen fireworks, was just the man. He got going with the reintroduction of pace, taking 16 off the eighth over, bowled by Umran Malik.Conway’s strong wrists and a whole array of sweeps helped him find placement against the spinners. Even as Glenn Phillips, and later Mitchell, struggled to go at a run a ball, Conway kept scoring the runs in the middle overs. In the end, he and Mitchell chose to play out Kuldeep Yadav and Washington to set themselves up for the death overs.

Two good overs, two ordinary ones

That description above will remain the definition no matter which side’s point of view you take. Mitchell took a decent 17th over from Pandya for 16 by hitting the first and the last balls for sixes for down the ground. Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Mavi made excellent comebacks in overs 18 and 19, conceding just ten runs for the wickets of Conway, Michael Bracewell and Santner.In the 20th, though, Arshdeep missed his yorker and even overstepped once. Mitchell took full toll: 23 runs off the first three legal balls. Arshdeep came back with three yorkers, but still New Zealand had got to a good total provided the dew didn’t prove to be a big handicap. Mitchell, 17 off 16 at one stage, ended with 59 off just 30.

India lose early wickets

Bowling in the second innings, the plan was clear: get spinners on early before it becomes difficult with the dew. Bracewell bowled Ishan Kishan with a beauty with the new ball, but Duffy proved to be the bonus. He was difficult to get away, and also took out Rahul Tripathi.When Santner brought himself on, India were 15 for 2 in three overs. India possibly recognised this wasn’t quite a match they could take deep and then rein in the asking rate and finish it off. Shubman Gill didn’t give himself a sighter of Santner. He saw the first ball pitch short of a length, set himself up for the pull, but was defeated by massive turn which resulted in an easy catch off the top edge.Santner’s control of his craft, aided by the gripping pitch, was on full display when he bowled a maiden . India, 33 for 3 after six.

Mitchell Santner swings middle-overs tussle NZ’s way

An array of sweeps from Suryakumar, and Pandya’s hits down the ground, kept India in the hunt. They even took 41 off the nest four overs, but they still needed 103 from the back ten. Santner once again pulled India back with a one-run over. He had conceded just five off 12 to Suryakumar.That over meant risks needed to be taken against Ish Sodhi in the next over. One came off, but then Suryakumar just timed a chip shot too well, sending it too straight for a catch to long-on. With 89 required off the last eight, Pandya tried a big hit off Bracewell, but the ball didn’t turn, took the edge, and India were left needing a miracle.The towel started making more frequent appearances, Hooda and Washington managed to score just enough to keep India alive in the game. With 67 required off the last five, though, Santner played around with Hooda with changes of pace and trajectory before getting him stumped.Washington was defiant in his 50 off 28, but he had too little support left and too much to do.

New-ball duo help Yorkshire make most of only 42 overs possible on rainy day at Headingley

ECB Reporters Network19-Jul-2023New-ball duo Matthew Fisher and Ben Coad helped Yorkshire make the absolute most of only 42 overs of play possible on a rainy day one at Headingley as they restricted promotion-chasing Sussex to 120 for 6.Sussex, third in Division Two with eight draws and a win, are one of only two unbeaten sides in either division of the LV= Insurance County Championship this season – Glamorgan the other.But they were put under intense early pressure after surprisingly electing to bat first under a cloudy sky and on a green-tinged pitch.Seamers Fisher and Coad shone with 4 for 53 from 13 overs and 2 for 10 from 12 respectively during a day including a pair of two-hour plus rain delays.After electing to bat, Sussex captain Tom Alsop top-scored with 35, while 54 overs were not bowled.One of Yorkshire’s major issues over the past season-and-a-half of four-day cricket – they were relegated last September – has been the lack of matches Coad and Fisher have played. With them fit and firing, the county look a completely different proposition.Yorkshire have only won twice since the start of 2022, and this is only Coad’s 11th Championship appearance and Fisher’s ninth in that time. They have only played together on six occasions in that period but complement each other superbly.While Coad is not blessed with the pace that Fisher has, he will find any ounce of help off the pitch or through the air to trouble batters – and that’s exactly what they did.An all-Tom opening partnership of Clark and Haines was removed as Sussex slipped to 18 for 3 inside six overs, including Fisher’s wickets with successive deliveries.Coad made the initial breakthrough by getting Clark caught at second slip by Adam Lyth, leaving the score at 6 for 1 in the third over.England fringe quick Fisher then had the other left-handed opener Haines caught behind by Jonny Tattersall before bowling James Coles first ball. He played expansively at an in-ducker, leaving the Hove county 18 for 3 in the sixth over.A two-and-a-quarter-hour rain delay, including lunch, then came from 11.55am before Coad and Fisher struck once more apiece prior to the rain returning at 3.20pm, resulting in another two-and-a-half-hour break.Coad forced Oli Carter to inside-edge a drive onto his stumps before Danial Ibrahim feathered a forward defensive shot against Fisher behind as the score fell to 57 for 5 in the 25th over.Sussex captain Alsop batted with a decent slice of fortune in his 96-ball 35, which came to an end late in the day when he edged Fisher shoulder-high to Ryan Rickelton at third slip.The first five of the left-hander’s six boundaries were scored behind the wicket, including his first which was inside-edged just past his off-stump off Fisher.Sussex were at least boosted late in the day by Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Australian overseas seamer Nathan McAndrew, who shared an unbroken 44 for the seventh wicket.Hudson-Prentice looked the most assured Sussex batter on show with 29 not out and McAndrew was strong on the pull and cut in hitting six boundaries in an unbeaten 25.

Matt Short also makes his return from injury ahead of Australia’s T20I tour of New Zealand

Alex Malcolm16-Sep-2025Despite retiring from ODIs earlier this year Glenn Maxwell will play 50-over cricket for his state side Victoria in the first two Dean Jones Trophy matches of the new summer to help prepare for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand.Maxwell, 36, has been named in Victoria’s 14-player squad for their first two matches against Queensland and Tasmania at Allan Border Field on Wednesday and Friday respectively. Maxwell has played just one List A match for Victoria since March 2022, and that was against New South Wales in October last year.Fellow Australian T20I squad member Matt Short has also been named for his first game of cricket in any form since the MLC in July, after he was ruled out of the five-match T20I tour of the Caribbean then both the T20I and ODI series against South Africa at home in August due to a side injury. Like Maxwell, he has not played a 50-over fixture since the Champions Trophy.Related

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Captain Will Sutherland will only play in game one before departing to India to join the Australia A tour ahead of the second four-day game in Lucknow. Peter Handscomb will captain in game two.Young batter Oliver Peake, who is yet to make his Victoria 50-over debut despite making his List A debut for Australia A in July against Sri Lanka A, is unavailable as he is already in Lucknow playing in the first four-day match against India A. Todd Murphy is also playing for Australia A in India.Harry Dixon and Sam Elliott will play both games for Victoria before departing for India to play for Australia A in the 50-over matches in Kanpur that start on September 30.Meanwhile, Marnus Labuschagne will captain Queensland against Victoria on Wednesday and Western Australia on Sunday, also at Allan Border Field. Xavier Bartlett is unavailable due to Australia A duty while Mark Steketee (minor hamstring) and Callum Vidler (stress fracture) are also absent. Test opener Usman Khawaja won’t play either of Queensland’s 50-over matches this week as he continues his preparation for the start of the Sheffield Shield summer ahead of the Ashes.Former New South Wales allrounder Hayden Kerr is in line for a Queensland debut as is former Australian Under-19 World Cup winning captain Hugh Weibgen.Tom Straker and Lachlan Hearne will play both matches against Victoria and WA before departing to India to join the Australia A 50-over squad.Hearne has been called up to his first Australia A squad as an injury replacement for Aaron Hardie. Hearne has only played eight List A matches but the left-hander made an impressive 107 off 91 balls against his former state New South Wales in February.Victoria squad: Will Sutherland, Peter Handscomb, Blake Macdonald, Callum Stow, Cam McClure, David Moody, Glenn Maxwell, Harry Dixon, Marcus Harris, Matt Short, Mitch Perry, Sam Elliott, Sam Harper, Tom RogersQueensland squad: Marnus Labuschagne (capt), Jack Clayton, Benji Floros, Lachlan Hearne, Hayden Kerr, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Gurinder Sandhu, Tom Straker, Mitchell Swepson, Hugh Weibgen, Jack Wildermuth

Wednesday’s final also pits two domestic greats against each other: Muzumdar vs Pandit

Shashank Kishore21-Jun-2022

Big picture

“Whoever wins, Shivaji Park is the winner,” a former Mumbai player quipped.He was referring to this year’s Ranji Trophy final and how Amol Muzumdar and Chandrakant Pandit, two Mumbai greats who honed their skills at the fabled nursery of late Ramakant Achrekar, are now on opposite sides.Mumbai vs Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday will bring together two old friends who know everything about each other. Muzumdar actually played under Pandit in 2003-04 and enjoyed one of the most prolific seasons of his career. This, after he had been contemplating retirement.Related

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• Mantri and Raghuwanshi's contrasting methods turn MP's fortunes

• Pandit's time-tested philosophy fires MP's Ranji Trophy dream

• Muzumdar to Mumbai's next gen: 'The world is your oyster'

• Jaffer and Sarfaraz: A tale of friendship and fire

Both men share the same coaching philosophy: it’s about the players and nothing but the title constitutes success. It’s a sentiment embedded into Mumbai players when they get the cap. Pandit has been part of six title wins as coach; Muzumdar will be looking to steer Mumbai to their first under him, in his maiden season, and their 42nd overall.Except for Dhawal Kulkarni, who was part of their previous title win in 2015-16, none of the other Mumbai players know what it is to win the Ranji Trophy just yet. It’s the same for MP. Barring Pandit, who was captain when they last made the final in 1998-99, the others will experience the final feeling for the first time.Mumbai have a gifted, young batting line-up, led by Prithvi Shaw, who is the only one among the big guns to have not scored a hundred this season. Yashasvi Jaiswal has made three in a row, Suved Parkar debuted with a double ton, and Armaan Jaffer and Sarfaraz Khan – team-mates and competitors who scored hundreds for fun in junior cricket – are coming off big contributions in the semi-final.Kumar Kartikeya picked up six wickets in the second innings to see Madhya Pradesh through to the final four•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

MP might look unheralded by comparison but they still have Rajat Patidar, who lit up the IPL, Yash Dubey and Himanshu Mantri – two old-school openers who love to dig in and bat deep – and Akshat Raghuwanshi, an 18-year old batter so impressive it took Pandit all of one look in a practice game to pick him into the main squad.MP have been very result-oriented this time; coming out of a group that had the likes of Kerala and Gujarat, they had no other choice. This meant their bowling had to be on point and so it was. Puneet Datey leads a seam attack that has combined to pick up 47 wickets so far, second-best to Bengal’s 60. Their best spinner Kumar Kartikeya is second on the list of highest wicket-takers this season with 27 scalps in five matches. Saransh Jain, Anubhav Agarwal and Gaurav Yadav are always on hand for support.So everything is set. The pandemic wiped out a lot of domestic cricket over the last two years. But now, over the course of the next five days, 22 men – a lot of whom play away from the IPL spotlight – will have the opportunity to make history.

Form Guide

Mumbai: DWWWD (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Madhya Pradesh: WWDWW

In the spotlight

Mumbai’s success this season has been a result of their batters putting up huge first innings totals and then grinding the opposition to dust. But their captain hasn’t got going yet. Prithvi Shaw‘s stocks have fallen over the past year. Once a first-choice pick in the Indian team, he has now been bypassed by Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill. A Ranji Trophy final is a high-profile game and if he can make a big one here, he might just be able to persuade the national selectors to give him a second chance.Five-wicket haul in the quarter-final, five-for in the semi-final, a maiden IPL stint – life may look like a bed of roses currently for MP’s Kumar Kartikeya. But the man hasn’t been home in over a decade. He can only go back after making a name for himself. That was the deal. Leading Madhya Pradesh to their first ever Ranji Trophy title should probably do the trick.Yashasvi Jaiswal made two hundreds in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy semi-final•Special Arrangement

Team News

Barring late injuries, both squads are unlikely to make changes from the XIs that played the semi-final. That said, MP could spring a surprise by fielding Kuldeep Sen, the fiery fast bowler who missed both knockout rounds due to injury. Mumbai: 1 Prithvi Shaw (capt), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Armaan Jaffer, 4 Suved Parkar, 5 Sarfaraz Khan, 6 Hardik Tamore (wk), 7 Shams Mulani, 8 Dhawal Kulkarni, 9 Tanush Kotian, 10 Mohit Avasthi, 11 Tushar DeshpandeMadhya Pradesh: 1 Yash Dubey, 2 Himanshu Mantri (wk), 3 Shubham Sharma, 4 Rajat Patidar, 5 Aditya Shrivastava (capt), 6 Akshat Raghuwanshi, 7 Saransh Jain, 8 Anubhav Agarwal, 9 Gaurav Yadav/Kuldeep Sen, 10 Kumar Kartikeya, 11 Puneet Datey

Pitch and conditions

June is an unusual time for first-class cricket in India, and given the rain all around, the groundstaff have found it extremely challenging to get the grounds in Bengaluru ready for the Ranji Trophy knockouts and the India-South Africa T20I that was abandoned on Sunday. This is the first time the Chinnaswamy Stadium will be hosting a first-class game in over two years, and the curator hopes for a surface with decent grass cover and excellent bounce. There will be plenty of moisture for the seam bowlers to work with.

Stats and trivia

• Mumbai have lost only one of the 12 finals they have played in the last 30 years. That was to Gujarat in 2016-17. Incidentally, Mumbai were coached by Pandit then. They haven’t made a final since.
• Mumbai are one of only three teams this season (Andhra and Rajasthan being the other two) to not concede a century.
• Mumbai’s bowling average of 19.73 is the best for any team in this Ranji Trophy.
• The average of MP’s seam bowlers (19.91) is the best among all teams that made the Ranji knockouts this season.

Quotes

“We haven’t looked at the quarter-finals or the semi-finals or the finals. There are systems that are working in the dressing room, and we would like to follow that till the last ball is bowled in the Ranji Trophy season. That was our commitment at the start of the season.”
“I don’t tell state associations what my expectations are. Those who know the dos and don’ts of bringing Chandrakant Pandit on board only get in touch with me. My working principle is simple: complete trust in me by the establishment and letting me have complete freedom to operate if you want results.”

Wayne Parnell takes four wickets as Superchargers win Leeds dead-rubber

ECB Reporters Network31-Aug-2022Northern Superchargers 135 for 8 beat Southern Brave 119 for 9 (Ahmed 33, Parnell 4-18) by 16 runsSouthern Brave’s disappointing title defence in the men’s Hundred ended with a whimper as they failed to chase 136 in a dead-rubber defeat against Northern Superchargers at Headingley.Both teams, out of finals contention before a ball was bowled here, should have performed better with the bat on a pitch which was tired but not disastrously so.England’s Harry Brook top-scored with 29 for Superchargers, who were inserted by the reigning champions and made 135 for 8. Fledgling legspinner Rehan Ahmed and seamer James Fuller each finished with 2 for 20.In reply, Brave slumped to 34 for 4 in 26 balls and failed to recover. In posting 119 for 9, they suffered a fifth defeat in eight – this one by 16 runs.Ahmed continued his impressive day with 33, but South African left-arm quick Wayne Parnell’s outstanding four for 16 ensured the Superchargers finish with a fourth win added to as many defeats.After a breezy start, Superchargers were checked by the varied spin of legspinner Ahmed, offie Paul Stirling and left-arm wristspinner Jake Lintott. The latter two struck once apiece. Three of their top four all reached 20 and failed to go on.After the early departure of captain Faf du Plessis to Ahmed, caught by mid-on running around towards mid-off, his opening partner Adam Lyth made 20, David Willey reached 22 and Brook with his aforementioned 29. But all holed out to catches in the deep as the score fell to 91 for 4 after 67 balls.Callum Parkinson celebrates the wicket of James Vince•Getty Images

Seamer Sonny Baker had Lyth caught at deep midwicket off a top-edge and Brook caught in the same position pulling before Ahmed struck again when Adam Hose found long-on.Michael Pepper, David Wiese and Parnell all made it into double figures and threatened late acceleration, though Brave were as clinical with the ball and in the field as they were so often last year and not enough this. Seamer Fuller removed Wiese and Rashid in the penultimate set of five – again to catches in the deep.In many ways, this Brave performance was a microcosm of this season’s campaign: inconsistent. After being polished with the ball and in the field, they were all over the place with the bat in the early stages of their reply, losing some serious firepower in the first 26 balls.Related

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Quinton de Kock was run out trying to take a suicidal single to short fine-leg before Parnell’s left-arm seam accounted for Stirling and Alex Davies. Left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson then bowled captain James Vince. From 34 for 4, Ahmed and Ross Whiteley steadied with a partnership of 27.However, when the latter miscued Adil Rashid’s legspin to long-on, leaving the score at 61 for 5 after 49 balls, it felt a decisive juncture. So it proved: big-hitting Singaporean Tim David drilled Wiese to long-off shortly afterwards.The feewheeling Ahmed continued his impressive day, and a turnaround was on the cards when he shared 28 in 16 balls with Fuller, both hitting strong shots down the ground. But when Ahmed miscued Parnell to long-on, leaving the score at 104 for 7 after 83 balls, 32 runs were still required.That target became 26 off 10, and it was all but game over when Parnell yorked Fuller for 25 to leave 22 still needed off six. Willey closed things out by bowling Baker, even celebrating with a forward roll.

After winning back-to-back games, Kings have managed just one more win in four – and they are set to be without the experience of Kagiso Rabada once again

Hemant Brar21-Apr-20234:37

Tait backs Arjun Tendulkar to deliver at the death

Big picture: Two teams on different trajectories

There’s a popular meme template: how it started and how it’s going. Mumbai Indians’ journey so far in IPL 2023 fits that perfectly. They began the season with two crushing defeats before bouncing back with three wins on the trot.Even before those two defeats, their batting had looked solid on paper. But the lack of runs from Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav threw a spanner in the works. With both coming into their own over the last two games, Mumbai look a much stronger unit.For Punjab Kings, Mumbai’s opponents on Saturday, things have gone the other way round. After winning back-to-back games – something they failed to do last year – they managed just one more win in their next four outings.Kings’ plan with bat was that their captain Shikhar Dhawan plays the anchor’s role and others hit around him. But Dhawan’s shoulder injury caught them without a back-up plan.And now they have the added worry of Kagiso Rabada having picked up a niggle – he missed their last game due to this, and ESPNcricinfo understands he will sit out the game against Mumbai too.*Injury issues aside, Kings need to figure out their best combination of overseas players. Sikandar Raza was the Player of the Match against Lucknow Super Giants but was left out for the RCB game. Kings may have to revisit that decision.

Form guide

Mumbai Indians WWWLL
Punjab Kings LWLLW

Team news: Archer-watch

Kings will once again be without Dhawan and Rabada. On Thursday, their fielding coach Trevor Gonsalves said Dhawan would take “at least another two to three days” to be fully fit. Mumbai will be optimistic about Jofra Archer as he has shown vast improvement since he felt the discomfort in his right elbow post the first match. He even bowled full tilt during the practice session on Thursday, and Jason Behrendorff, too, said on Friday that Archer was “not too far away”.

Impact Player strategy

Mumbai Indians: If Archer is available, he could come in for Riley Meredith. Else Mumbai could field an unchanged side with Tilak Varma and Meredith as their Impact Player pair.Probable XII: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Cameron Green, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 , 6 Tim David, 7 Nehal Wadhera, 8 Jofra Archer/, 9 Arjun Tendulkar, 10 Hrithik Shokeen, 11 Piyush Chawla, 12 Jason BehrendorffPunjab Kings have lost three of their previous four games•Associated Press

Punjab Kings: Nathan Ellis will continue in Rabada’s stead. Prabhsimran Singh and Rahul Chahar could once again be their Impact pair.Probable XII: 1 Atharva Taide, 2 , 3 Liam Livingstone, 4 Harpreet Singh, 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 M Shahrukh Khan, 8 Sam Curran (capt), 9 Harpreet Brar, 10 Nathan Ellis, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12

Stats that matter

• Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan have given Mumbai flying starts in IPL 2023. Among those pairs who have opened at least three times this season, Rohit and Kishan’s scoring rate of 9.61 is second only to Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 9.75.
• So far in this season, Kings have lost three or more wickets inside the powerplay on three occasions, the joint-most for a team along with Kolkata Knight Riders.

Pitch and conditions: Win toss, bowl first

The Wankhede is a chasing ground. Since the start of 2021, the teams batting second have won 22 out of the 32 night T20s played at this venue. Spinners have been more successful here this IPL; they have 13 wickets at an economy of 7.64, while fast bowlers have nine at 10.17.*

Brooke Guest’s second hundred sets up declaration after stand with Wayne Madsen

ECB Reporters Network01-May-2022Glamorgan narrowly failed to pull off a thrilling run chase as the LV=Insurance County Championship Division Two match at Derby ended in a pulsating draw.Set 331 in 55 overs, Marnus Labuschagne with 85 from 87 balls and Sam Northeast’s 81 off 101 balls put Glamorgan on course before fast bowler Ryan Sidebottom raised Derbyshire’s victory hopes with 4 for 50.Sidebottom removed Northeast to reduce Glamorgan to 308 for 8 but James Harris and Timm van der Gugten, batting with a runner, held on for the draw.Derbyshire wicketkeeper Brooke Guest had earlier scored his second century of the game to equal a 126-year record when he became only the second Derbyshire ‘keeper to make two hundreds in a match.Wayne Madsen also scored an unbeaten 135, sharing a third wicket stand of 276 in 76 overs with Guest, before Derbyshire declared on 349 for 3.David Lloyd with 49 launched the chase with Labuschagne but the Glamorgan captain was issued with a Level One warning on the field for abusive language after he was given lbw by umpire Paul Pollard.Guest and Madsen batted through the morning to set up the drama that unfolded against an attack that was a bowler down after van der Gugten left the field yesterday with a hamstring injury.Guest reached his landmark when he cut the leg spin of Labuschagne for his ninth four to complete his second hundred and equal the record set by Bill Storer against Yorkshire at Derby in 1896.Madsen celebrated yet another century, his 33rd first-class hundred for the county, by cutting Andrew Salter to the boundary and the pair scored 117 runs in the session to take the lead to 268.Derbyshire made their intentions clear after lunch with Guest dispatching a Salter full toss over the ropes at long on and pulling Lloyd’s medium pace for another six.The declaration came when Guest was caught behind down the leg side, leaving Glamorgan to score at more than six an over to achieve victory.Derbyshire took only four balls to get their first wicket with Salter falling to a superb diving catch by Leus du Plooy at third slip off Suranga Lakmal.The big wicket was Labuschagne and Sam Conners twice found his outside edge only for the ball to fly wide of the slips.When he did offer a chance, Derbyshire failed to take it with Mattie McKiernan spilling an edged drive off Sidebottom at first slip on 27.That was always likely to prove costly and Labuschagne twice drove off-spinner Alex Thomson for six on his way to a 49 ball 50.Lloyd was one away from a half-century when he played across the line at Sidebottom and was lbw; he was clearly unhappy with the decision and was issued with the warning for swearing loudly as he marched up the pavilion steps.Labuschagne was dropped again on 74 by Guest but Sidebottom finally got him when he failed to clear cover.Kiran Carlson’s 37 from 35 balls and Chris Cooke with 32 from 25 gave Glamorgan the momentum but Sidebottom and Anuj Dal stemmed the run flow and, crucially, took wickets.Northeast pulled Dal for six but when he drove Sidebottom to third man in the penultimate over with 23 still needed, Glamorgan called off the chase with both teams taking 14 points after an enthralling final day,

Government funding of £35m over five years can make “massive difference” to game’s accessibility

Matt Roller05-Apr-20240:42

UK Prime Minister Sunak gets bowled by young cricketer

James Anderson believes that the British government’s £35 million investment in grassroots cricket will “make a massive difference” to the sport’s profile and accessibility over the next five years.Rishi Sunak, the UK’s Prime Minister, announced a funding package at The Oval on Friday morning which Richard Thompson, ECB chair, described as a “seminal” step towards his ambition to make cricket “the most inclusive team sport in the country”. The ECB plans to build 16 “all-weather cricket domes” in cities across England by 2030.”Cricket [in England] has never had an investment of this size before from government,” Thompson said. “A million children that would never have had the chance to play cricket will now get that chance… that is frankly outstanding. [We] hope that will really develop into something bigger and make schools even more committed to cricket because we’re going to be providing the coaching, the facilities and the equipment.”Related

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• ECB to train teachers as coaches to boost cricket in secondary schools

• Ebony Rainford-Brent targets 2030 in ACE's long road to representation

The ECB has already funded a prototype dome in Bradford, which opened last year, and plans to launch two more in Walsall and Luton before the end of this summer. “When the government invests this amount of money, they need to invest in something they know works – and this works,” Thompson said.The funding package also includes investment into the ECB’s partnerships with charities Chance to Shine, the Lord’s Taverners and the ACE Programme, which have an emphasis on engaging children from lower socio-economic groups, those with special educational needs and disabilities, and the black community respectively.”If we can get a bat and ball in people’s hands early enough, and you’ve got the facilities there, then you hope they enter a pathway,” Thompson said. “We’ll work into a hub-spoke model so you’ve got a school, a dome, local clubs – everything will be linked back into local clubs as well – so it’s a bit more joined-up, more coordination.”Things aren’t happening in isolation… my ambition for cricket is to become the most inclusive team sport in the country: you can’t do that if you’ve not been playing at state schools. Take Jimmy, as the best example: if Jimmy’s dad hadn’t played cricket, he probably wouldn’t have played. That shouldn’t be the case.”Anderson, who is part of the ECB’s state-school taskforce, said: “Being in a dressing room of very few state-school players, this could just make a huge difference. I would have loved the chance to play more at school. I know my mates who showed an interest in it would have liked access to the equipment and to have played more – but we just didn’t.”UK prime minister Rishi Sunak plays indoor cricket at The Oval•PA Photos/Getty Images

Only around 6% of schoolchildren in the UK attend fee-paying schools, but more than half of the contracted England men’s players for 2023-24 did so at some stage in their education – some after winning cricket scholarships. Anderson attended his local state school in Burnley, and started playing the sport thanks to his father Mick’s passion for it.”My experience of getting into cricket was basically through my dad,” he said. “Getting into the county set-up was a bit of my mate’s mum telling the coach to have a look at me, and stuff like that. So it was a lot of luck involved to get where I’ve got to. I think anything we can do to make those steps easier is important.”Anderson said that cricket facilities at his school were “non-existent” with “no access” to the sport. “I actually had to ask my dad to ask our cricket club to cut a pitch on the outfield to help us play one or two games a year, because we just didn’t have the facilities at all. We had a shale-type athletics track, then a couple of grass football pitches – but that was literally it.”There’s always been a big number of privately-educated players in the [England] changing room. We talk a lot about trying to make the game inclusive and diverse and if you don’t give kids a chance to play at school, then it’s not making it inclusive or diverse. That is what this is going to help; it’s going to make a massive difference.”But also, I love playing the game – and this isn’t all about getting the next generation of England cricketers. It’s also just about getting people to experience this sport, which teaches you so much as a person: teamwork, communication, and so many other skills that will benefit you in life.”The funding is linked to England’s hosting of the women’s and men’s T20 World Cups in 2026 and 2030 respectively, events which Thompson hopes can help cricket to further grow its profile. “Football suffocates everything,” he said. “We have to double down on the fact that cricket is England’s summer sport and do everything we can to enable that to be the case.

Lauderhill is scheduled to host three Group A matches in three days, two of them pretty crucial for the hosts USA and Pakistan

Sidharth Monga14-Jun-2024Chances for cricket in Florida received a boost after a dry first half of Thursday, a day before Lauderhill hosts three T20 World Cup Group A matches in three days, two of them pretty crucial for the hosts USA and Pakistan. Not to forget Ireland and Canada, who haven’t yet been knocked out of the tournament. If the first match, between USA and Ireland, is washed out, though, USA will become the second team from Group A to go through to the Super Eight.After quite a few flights into Miami and Fort Lauderdale were cancelled on Wednesday, teams, production crews and commentators all made it into Fort Lauderdale on Thursday. While there were still delays in flights because of inclement weather en route, Fort Lauderdale itself had remained dry till late afternoon. The drizzle in the evening was expected to die down by night followed by forecast for some showers from 9am to 11am on Friday. Flash flood warnings for the larger area continued to remain in tact.However, the conditions at the ground were a cause for optimism. Mark Adair, the Ireland allrounder was impressed with what he saw. “I don’t think there was too many people who came to leave the hotel, but no, at the ground today, it was actually remarkably dry,” Adair said. “I think there’s still wet patches over the far side of the ground but you know considering what the place has been through 24 hours before I think the place is looking pretty good.”The USA opening batter Steven Taylor, who comes from Florida, also said the drainage at the ground is good. “Growing up here at the stadium, it has always had a nice drainage,” Taylor said. “So, we always hope that once the next day doesn’t rain, there’ll always be cricket. But we can’t stop the weather. So, whatever happens, we just have to work with it.”Saurabh Netravalkar, the USA left-arm fast bowler, said they were preparing as if the match was going on as scheduled. “Actually I haven’t thought about it [the weather] at all,” Netravalkar said hours before leaving from New York on Wednesday evening. “Now we are seeing and hearing that there’s rain, but from our perspective, what is controllable is to expect that we are going to have a full game and we have to try our best to get a victory ’cause even Ireland is a top side. They might have lost two games, but they’re a good team.”If USA beat Ireland or get one point from the match, they will qualify. After their defeat to USA and India earlier, Pakistan are left hoping no team goes past four points. For Pakistan to have a chance of going ahead, they need Ireland to beat USA and then beat Ireland on the Sunday. If Ireland win both their games against USA and Pakistan, they will give themselves a chance but their net run rate is not looking very healthy. Canada, who beat Ireland earlier, need USA to lose to Ireland for them to have a chance of progressing should they upset India on Saturday.