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Both sides were still mulling the balance of their attacks as rain hit the build-up

Alex Malcolm03-Mar-2022

Big Picture

Australia’s arrival in Pakistan for their first Test tour of the country in 24 years has been billed as a momentous occasion for world cricket and it is certainly important. However, they are the sixth nation to tour since 2019 and the fourth to play Test cricket behind Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa.It is perhaps just as significant that Australia have not played Tests overseas since mid-2019, due to the impact of Covid, prior to Pakistan’s first home Test in a decade against Sri Lanka. Since then, Australia have had 14 Tests at home while Pakistan have only played five at home and 12 away. Pakistan have won seven of their last eight Tests including two at home against South Africa early last year. Australia are coming off an Ashes series where they thumped England 4-0, with Sydney’s rain the only thing preventing a whitewash.Australia are at full strength but outside of Usman Khawaja, David Warner and Steven Smith, the rest of the batting group has very little first-class experience in Asia. Pakistan are missing some key contributors from the side that was very successful in 2021 with Abid Ali still recovering from a heart problem, while Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Haris Rauf are all absent at least for the first Test.Australia look stronger on paper but that could be neutralised in the conditions and with a very limited preparation. They only arriving in Pakistan at the start of the week and rain wiped out their last training session on Thursday.Related

• Australia, depleted Pakistan prepare for dive into the unknown

• A chance for Pakistan cricket to make the most powerful off-field statement

• Cameron Green's international education gets first overseas test

• Nathan Lyon: 'My mindset is to win 3-0 in Pakistan'

• Mohammad Wasim Jr in line for Test debut as Pakistan ponder five-man attack

Form guide

(Last five matches; most recent first)
Pakistan WWWLW
Australia WDWWW

In the spotlight

Shaheen Shah Afridi looms as one of the key men in this series and he will have to shoulder the load of leading the attack without Hasan alongside him. He was the leading quick bowler in Test cricket during 2021 with 47 wickets at 17.06 and has faced Australia before in two Tests in Australia where he bagged just five wickets for the series as Warner and Marnus Labuschagne plundered four scores of 150 plus between them in two Test matches, with Warner making 335 not out in Adelaide. But Shaheen is now far more experienced and Australia showed some vulnerability against the pace of Mark Wood in the Ashes. Late left-arm swing at high pace either with the new or old ball could rekindle memories of Wasim Akram.Steven Smith was Bradman-esque on Australia’s last overseas Test series in the 2019 Ashes and he also starred on the 2017 trip to India, scoring three centuries in a four-Test series. However, since facing England in 2019 he has averaged 36.86 from 14 Tests and is coming off a home Ashes series where he passed 30 just twice in eight innings and failed to make a century. The batting surfaces were challenging during that series and he will likely enjoy the pitches in Pakistan far more. But his latest concussion is also another concern having not faced fast bowling in the nets until two days ago since he knocked himself out in the T20I series against Sri Lanka. If Australia are to succeed in the subcontinent over the next 12 months they will need large contributions from Smith. He will want to make an early statement.Shaheen Shah Afridi will be vital to Pakistan’s attack•AFP/Getty Images

Team news

Pakistan have a lot to ponder. Firstly one of Shan Masood or Imam-ul-Haq will open alongside Abdullah Shafique in the absence of Abid Ali. The absence of Ashraf upsets the balance and the damp weather on Thursday has left them weighing up the extra bowler or extra batter. If they go for the former, it could mean a Test debut to Mohammad Wasim Jr.Pakistan (possible) 1 Shan Masood/Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Babar Azam (capt), 5 Fawad Alam, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Mohammad Wasim Jr, 8 Nauman Ali, 9 Sajid Khan, 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 11 Naseem ShahAustralia’s top seven is settled but Pat Cummins said they are debating whether to play three quicks or two spinners and will wait for the toss although the extra pace bowler would seem the likely option. There were some questions over which three quicks it would be, but Scott Boland is likely to miss out with the return of Josh Hazlewood. Australia did not confirm which of the two back-up spinners is in the frame. Legspinner Mitchell Swepson has long been the understudy to Lyon and the likely man to partner him but Ashton Agar’s left-arm orthodox is tempting for the selectors if the surface is slow.Australia (possible) 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 David Warner, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood

Pitch and conditions

The pitch was under covers on Thursday with rain preventing both sides from training but they got a good look at it on Wednesday and it appeared flat and excellent for batting. The cooler weather in Rawalpindi also means the surface is unlikely to break up. In the last three Tests played here since 2019, the fast bowlers have been very successful. The forecast is good for the opening day but rain could be a factor later in the game.

Stats and trivia

• Since Test cricket returned to Rawalpindi in 2019, Shaheen has the most wickets at the venue taking 12 at 19.83 just ahead of Hasan Ali with 10 at 11.40 in the only Test he played there.
• In seven Tests against Pakistan, David Warner has made 1084 runs at 108.40 with five centuries and two fifties. Only one of those centuries has come outside Australia though, in the UAE in 2014.
• Australia faced Pakistan in the UAE in 2018, but the last Test they played on the subcontinent was in September 2017 against Bangladesh. Darren Lehmann was the coach, Smith was captain and Australia played one fast bowler, three spinners and two allrounders.

Quotes

“There could be times when the scoreboard is only ticking over at two runs an over and for our batting group we’ve just got to be prepared to bat and bat and bat. If there are certain stages where you feel it will speed up be brave enough to take on those opportunities.”
Pat Cummins on Australia re-learning the rhythms of playing Test cricket on the subcontinent“We know the significance of Australia coming to Pakistan and we are excited about it. They are one of the best sides in the world and we can’t take them easy. They are quite an experienced side and we have planned accordingly so there will be good cricket.”

History will be made one way or another at the CPL final in 2020

Peter Della Penna09-Sep-2020

Big picture

It’s the CPL blue bloods vs the sea blue jerseys in this year’s final. One side is very familiar with their role in the winner takes all championship showdown. The other couldn’t be more alien to the playoffs, let alone playing for the title.Three-time champions Trinbago Knight Riders have been the chalk team virtually since the CPL’s inception. They have never missed the playoffs and have topped the regular season table in three of the last four seasons. The old Oakland Raiders NFL teams of the late Al Davis era might have been envious of the commitment to excellence the Knight Riders have demonstrated in 2020 though, reeling off a run of 11 straight victories as they attempt to be the first CPL side to finish as undefeated champions.Though the Knight Riders have more than their fair share of stars to draw upon, the standout quality from this group has been their collective depth. Sunil Narine, Colin Munro and Ali Khan have all missed time due to injury, but the Knight Riders haven’t skipped a beat as they received handy contributions from unheralded sources like Tion Webster, Jayden Seales and 48-year-old legspinner Pravin Tambe. You know TKR is a juggernaut when Akeal Hosein – arguably the fourth choice spinner behind Narine, Fawad Ahmed and Khary Pierre – is claiming a Man of the Match award in the tournament semi-final after claiming 3 for 14 in a nine-wicket romp over the Jamaica Tallawahs.Standing across from the Knight Riders at Brian Lara Academy on Thursday morning will be the St Lucia Zouks. They have been bottom-feeders throughout their history, making the playoffs for just the second time in eight seasons this year. After years of historic futility, an infusion of Afghan might in 2020 has sparked Daren Sammy’s side to their first ever tournament final.A decade ago it would have been unthinkable for three Afghanistan players to be present in all the world’s franchise leagues combined. But the country’s players are in ever-increasing demand and the trio in the Zouks starting XI – Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran and Zahir Khan – are a microcosm of the battling qualities which have seen both Afghanistan and the Zouks rise in prominence.Their fighting spirit, along with shrewd captaincy from Sammy, has spread throughout the team. On paper, one might think it impossible for a team that has produced just two half-centuries with the bat all season – both by Roston Chase – to be capable of going all the way to the final. But a never say die attitude in the field has galvanized them to some improbable wins. Defending 92 to beat the reigning champions Barbados Tridents tops the list, but sparking a Tallawahs collapse from 84 for 0 to defend a total of 145 isn’t far behind. So it shouldn’t be too surprising then that their bowling unit led by Scott Kuggeleijn, Nabi and Zahir shredded the Guyana Amazon Warriors for 55 in the semis, the second lowest total in CPL history.Logic says the Knight Riders are the obvious choice to prevail on home soil in the final. But there is nothing logical about how the Zouks have continued to defy the odds to arrive alongside them with tournament hardware on the line. One way or the other, there will be a historic result – a maiden undefeated champion or a maiden Zouks crown – by Thursday afternoon.Rahkeem Cornwall smashes one over long-off•Getty Images

Form guide

Trinbago Knight Riders WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
St Lucia Zouks WWLLW

In the spotlight

Tion Webster only played half the matches in the league stage, but he has been finding form at the right time as a more than capable replacement in the top-order, first for Narine and then for Munro. He ended the league stage with an unbeaten 41 off 33 balls against St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, then followed it up in the semi-finals with 44 not out off 43 balls against the Tallawahs. While both innings came chasing targets of 78 and 108 respectively, many top order players have found batting tricky in the second innings on tough surfaces. Webster on the other hand has remained carefree and that confidence may play a significant role in the final.Last year it was Hayden Walsh Jr who played a leading role for the Barbados Tridents on their way to the title. Another Liberta Blackhawk from Antigua has a chance to play a key role if his team lifts the trophy in 2020. Rahkeem Cornwall has hit the most sixes for the Zouks, with 13 in nine innings. In an event where most batsmen have struggled to time the ball to the rope, his strike rate of 142.62 has given the Zouks short but fiery starts. The big man showed off his agility in the field on Tuesday’s semi-final with a superb catch diving forward at slip to end the first innings.

Team news

If the Knight Riders were unwilling to risk Colin Munro in the semi-final, it’s unlikely he’ll be fit enough for this game. Ali Khan has bowled below full pace in his two matches back from a hamstring injury. TKR management will have to decide whether they value his experience in a final – he took a wicket first-ball in 2018 against the Amazon Warriors at the same venue to give TKR a huge lift – is enough to keep his place ahead of Seales.Trinbago Knight Riders (possible): 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Tion Webster, 4 Tim Seifert (wk), 5 Darren Bravo, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt.), 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Khary Pierre, 10 Fawad Ahmed, 11 Ali Khan/Jayden Seales.The Zouks have had a fairly settled side down the stretch of the season. It’s unlikely they have any fitness issues after a semi-final which lasted a combined total of 18.1 overs. Expect an unchanged XI.St Lucia Zouks (possible): 1 Rahkeem Cornwall, 2 Mark Deyal, 3 Andre Fletcher (wk), 4 Roston Chase, 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Javelle Glen, 8 Daren Sammy (capt.), 9 Scott Kuggeleijn, 10 Kesrick Williams, 11 Zahir Khan.

Pitch conditions

The five highest totals in the CPL this season (all 172 or more) have all come in 10 am starts at Brian Lara Academy, all made by the team batting first in victory. Though T20 strategy traditionally points teams towards chasing, things could be different in the final, if only because the Knight Riders were responsible for four of those five wins and the Zouks round out the stat. Expect a higher scoring contest than the pair of semi-final duds.

Stats and trivia

• The two half-centuries scored by the entire Zouks roster – both by Chase – are the fewest for any CPL finalist since the inaugural season when the 2013 CPL champion Jamaica Tallawahs had one apiece from Kumar Sangakkara and Chris Gayle. However, the Zouks total of two is the fewest for any team in the current 10-match regular season format as teams only played seven league stage matches in the 2013 CPL.
• Darren and Dwayne Bravo are the only remaining players from the 2015 Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel squad, the previous incarnation of the Knight Riders, which won the first of the three championships for the TKR franchise.
• Though the Zouks don’t have a title as a franchise, it would not be the first title for several of their players. Deyal played one match as a member of the Red Steel in 2015. Kesrick Williams was the leading wicket-taker for the 2016 champion Tallawahs while Leniko Boucher joined the Zouks in 2020 after being a member of the 2019 champion Tridents.

Quotes

“We have come here and played fantastic cricket throughout the tournament and we need the cherry on top of it. Looking around the dressing room, you don’t see overconfidence. You see guys who want to improve each and every time out.”
“We didn’t come here to celebrate a semi-final. You don’t carry anything from before into the finals. It’s a clean slate. Whoever plays good cricket on the day… on Thursday we’re going to come with the same attitude.”

‘You can’t, on the day before the announcement and a team that’s been working for something for year and even longer than a year, come and say, ‘I want to make a comeback now.”

Firdose Moonda14-Jun-20192:03

Morkel: Management’s decision to not include de Villiers is right

South African middle-order batsman Rassie van der Dussen was “not surprised” to hear AB de Villiers wanted to play in the 2019 World Cup but believes it would have set a “difficult precedent” if the former captain was included. It would also likely have meant van der Dussen himself would not be at the tournament.ALSO READ: AB de Villiers revelations could bring South Africa World Cup squad closer – Faf du Plessis“It’s not necessarily the best question to ask to me because I am involved in it but had he not retired it definitely would have influenced me directly,” he said. “But you can’t, on the day before the announcement and a team that’s been working for something for year and even longer than a year, come and say, ‘I want to make a comeback now’. I am not saying he was wrong or he was right; so don’t misquote me. But it would have set a difficult precedent – not necessarily a wrong one, because it’s still AB, he is still one of the best players in the world – I just think it was handled maybe not in the correct way from his side.”Rassie van der Dussen celebrates his fifty•AFP

South Africa’s squad was informed of de Villiers’ desire to come out of retirement at their pre-tournament team camp, which included scaling the Table Mountain and training at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria. Though some, like Kagiso Rabada, have given little away about their opinion on the matter, van der Dussen explained de Villiers had been given options to make a comeback, which he refused.”As I believe it, Ottis [Gibson, the head coach] and Faf [du Plessis, the captain] gave him opportunities to, say, ‘Let’s manage your workload going into the World Cup because we want you to play a World Cup’. He had a fair chance to manage that and he said no and that he is happy to retire and that’s fair enough. And Faf accepted it, Ottis accepted it and they stood by it,” van der Dussen said.ALSO READ: Did de Villiers want to have his cake and eat it too?Zondi, Gibson and du Plessis have all confirmed they told de Villiers he could have time off but would need to play some part in the series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka which took place earlier this year to stay in contention. Van der Dussen made his ODI debut in the series against Pakistan and impressed. Van der Dussen scored five half-centuries in his first nine ODI innings to earn his place in the World Cup squad and, at the tournament, has so far been South Africa’s most convincing performer with the bat.Van der Dussen is South Africa’s second-highest run-scorer with 113 runs from his three innings, one run behind Quinton de Kock. He has labelled the tournament the ultimate test of a player’s ability, which is why he understood de Villiers’ interest in coming back.”I wasn’t surprised [that he wanted to come back],” van der Dussen said. “The media and the press reports quite a lot on AB and the things he’s said and how his last year has gone. I wasn’t surprised that he would want to make a comeback on the world’s biggest stage. That’s the thing all the biggest players in sport have in common. They want to perform when the pressure is on and when the stage is at its biggest.”Despite knowing he may have missed out if de Villiers had been accommodated, van der Dussen does not think the situation has put extra pressure on him to put in de Villiers-esque performances but hinted that if the situation demands it, maybe he could do just that.”In terms of did it affect me? No. I am quite happy to be mentioned in the same sentence as AB. He is obviously one of the best there has ever been,” van der Dussen said. “So do I have to replace him? I don’t feel I have to. Can I play match-winning innings for my country? I believe I can. Is that what he did? Yes, he did. It didn’t have as big an effect as I think people would like to believe it had.”

The board, however, is yet to enter into talks with the South African Cricketers’ Association, despite the current MoU expiring at the end of April

Firdose Moonda04-Mar-2018Cricket South Africa has committed to maintaining a revenue-share model with its players as it enters negotiations over a new memorandum of understanding with the South African Cricketers’ Association.The current MoU, which has been in place since 2014, expires at the end of April and is redrafted every four years and has always included a revenue-share model But, in December last year, acting CEO Thabang Moroe and president Chris Nenzani told journalists they might consider rethinking the structure of their player contracts.At the time, Moroe made several suggestions of how CSA could shake up contracts including awarding them across different formats and mentioned that the revenue-sharing model would be re-examined. However, at a board meeting on Saturday, CSA backtracked from that and resolved to keep the financial model, which will go some way to easing player concerns over their financial futures.”We remain committed to the revenue share model,” CSA president Nenzani said. “We are a big employer with many constituencies and have sought over the past few months to engage with them with a view to preparing for the negotiations with SACA. The collective agreement ends in April this year. We will be ready to commence negotiations in advance of that date.”However, that does not mean the situation between CSA and the players has been completely resolved. ESPNcricinfo understands that CSA have yet to hold an official meeting with SACA over the status of the MoU and have delayed talks by at least a month. Usually, meetings between CSA and SACA take place in the first week of February but, to date, there has been no sit-down between parties.A concern for SACA is that the window for contracting franchise players opened on March 1 and will close at the end of April and a delay in talks could hamper the process of completing these contracts. Franchise players were believed to be so unhappy with the lack of clarity over the MoU that they were considering boycotting some parts of the first-class competition, which is in its final three rounds, unless some progress was made.CSA has appointed a four-man task team to deal with the negotiations for the MoU. Franchise CEOs Jacques Faul (Titans), Nabeal Dean (Cobras), Greg Fredericks (Lions) and provincial CEO Thando Booi (Border) will look into how a collective agreement with SACA can be reached.

Ish Sodhi, who played three games, found dip, drift and turn to pick up nine wickets, including the second-best figures in the competition’s history, and the best since 2012

Will Macpherson in Sydney18-Jan-2017Ish Sodhi, the New Zealand legspinner, said his career-best 6 for 11 in T20s that knocked defending BBL champions Sydney Thunder out of contention has rejuvenated his love for the game.Sodhi who played three games for Adelaide Strikers found dip, drift and turn to pick up nine wickets, including the second-best figures in the competition’s history, and the best since 2012. He admitted, however, just a few weeks ago, he had “faced a few setbacks at home” and “wasn’t in the form I wanted to be in”.”The boys have rejuvenated my love for the game,” he said. “On the field and off it, just the conversations I had with guys like Brad Hodge. Today I got to meet one of my heroes growing up, Stuart McGill, and you can’t put a price on that. I will take some great experiences back home with me and hopefully I can impact some of my team-mates.”I had faced a few setbacks at home, and I wasn’t in the form I wanted to be in. I got it back in the T20s for New Zealand and I’m glad that I have transferred it to performances in the BBL. I don’t know if I’ll be back next year – it’s quite unfortunate that our seasons clash so heavily. I love it here though – if I get the chance again, if it is next year or five years time, I’ll be happy.”After a mixed showing for Northern Districts in New Zealand’s domestic T20 competition, he was recalled for the final two T20Is against Bangladesh this month. He picked up five wickets before joining Strikers as an overseas replacement for England’s injured Chris Jordan.He eventually filled the role vacated by Adil Rashid, who has been on international duty. Rashid’s absence has been a major factor in Strikers being the first side to fall out of finals contention this season. Despite his best performance in the shortest format till date, Sodhi was critical of his first over because he went wicketless.”If I’m really harsh on myself, I probably took a little time to adjust to the conditions. In the first over, I bowled like I was at the MCG or Adelaide Oval – a little flatter and into the deck so I could spin it on,” he said. “But there was more in the surface for me – I should have used it from ball one. I got going in the second over and it worked out really well for me.”Of his meeting with MacGill, he said: “He spoke a lot about repetition. Growing up, if you liked legspin, you loved watching MacGill bowl, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, those guys. Just to sit down with him was inspiring. He didn’t have to say much – he did tell me a lot, which was great – but just being in his presence was amazing.”He’s a guy who gave me something to look up to when I was younger and something to look forward to. He taught me a lot and hopefully I can continue to make him proud.”

Pakistan batsman Younis Khan will bring the curtains down on his ODI career after the first match against England at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2015Pakistan batsman Younis Khan will bring the curtains down on his ODI career after the first match against England at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.Younis, 37, played 264 matches in an ODI career that spanned 15 years. With 7240 runs, Younis is currently sixth on the list of highest run-getters for Pakistan in ODIs. Earlier this month, he overtook Javed Miandad’s record to become Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in Tests.Overall, Younis scored seven hundreds and 48 fifties at an average of 31.34, but had been on the fringes of the limited-overs side in recent months; he managed just one century since 2008, against New Zealand last December.”I am really pleased to announce that today I am retiring from ODI cricket after deliberation with my family, wife, and close friends,” Younis said. “I feel satisfied and grateful to almighty for showering numerous blessings on me. It is one of the his great blessings that I, by my own will, have taken this decision to retire from ODI cricket after having retired from T20 cricket already.”Explaining his decision, Younis said that he had to be honest with himself while contemplating his ODI future. “During my 15-year long association with ODI cricket, I always tried my best to play positive cricket for my team both as captain and as a player. But now I feel that the time has come when I should call it a day from one-day cricket,” Younis, who captained Pakistan in two stints, first in 2005-06 and later in 2009, said. “I hope that our young players will exhibit the same passion with which I played my game with strict adherence to discipline and fitness.”I would like to thank the PCB, selection committee and my fellow players who always respected and encouraged me. It is difficult to bid adieu to one-day format, but I believe in being sincere and honest with myself as well as with my profession. Pakistan cricket has a bright future ahead. We have been the champions in this game once and I believe we have all necessary ingredients to become champions once again.”While Younis has been in fine form in Test cricket, scoring eight hundreds from his last 15 matches at an average of 68.68, his records in ODI were less impressive. Last year, after being dropped from the ODI squad for the home series against Australia, a hurt Younis lashed out at the PCB, challenging the board to build a team without him in the mix. Despite being out of favour in ODIs at the time, Younis eventually returned to the squad for the home series against New Zealand, and was also included in the team’s World Cup squad. He however had a tournament to forget, scoring just 43 runs from three matches and was eventually axed from the line-up.Younis’ ODI retirement leaves him as an active international cricketer in just Tests. He had retired from Twenty20 Internationals after leading Pakistan to the World T20 title in 2009 in England, their first trophy on the global stage since the 1992 World Cup win.

The match had almost all the ingredients of an absorbing Twenty20 match

The Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran27-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShane Watson gathered pace towards the end to finish unbeaten on 98•BCCI

The match had almost all the ingredients of an absorbing Twenty20 contest. Sunrisers Hyderabad lost their top order in a cycle-stand collapse, before Darren Sammy led a lower-order revival to push the score to 144. On a pitch assisting the seamers, Rajasthan Royals had to deal with a testing opening period of swing and seam, which the experienced duo of Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson negotiated. Watson, coming off a century in Chennai, paced his innings and powered Royals home with a blistering unbeaten 98.Watson wasn’t the only Australian making waves at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. James Faulkner demolished the Sunrisers’ top order during a five-wicket haul, the first of IPL 2013. Faulkner and the innocuous Ajit Chandila reduced Sunrisers to 29 for 6, raising expectations of early finish. The top six registered scores of 2,0,4,4,6,4 – leaving much responsibility on Sammy.Kumar Sangakkara had dropped himself for three games owing to his indifferent form, but his return made no difference as he joined the early procession of wickets. After Akshath Reddy fell off a leading edge against Chandila, Sangakkara chased a wide delivery from Faulkner and edged to second slip for 4.Though the pitch gave a lot of assistance to the seamers in terms of movement and bounce, the shot selection by the Sunrisers was poor. Shikhar Dhawan slashed straight to backward point and Karan Sharma, walking in unexpectedly at No.5 – just as Amit Mishra did in Chennai – succumbed to the pressure of needing quick runs by top edging Faulkner to fine leg. Thisara Perera perished to a one-handed slog down to long-on before Hanuma Vihari gloved Kevon Cooper down the leg side. It was the first time Royals had managed so many wickets in the Powerplay.Sammy and Amit Mishra scripted Sunrisers’ recovery with a stand of 58. Sammy made room against the seamers to clear cover and shoveled the ball over midwicket to give the innings some impetus. He hit the first six of the innings in the 13th, a pull off Siddharth Trivedi over deep midwicket. He celebrated his fifty – his first in T20s – in unique style, pulling out a baby pacifier tied around his neck sucking at it, for his baby daughter.The seventh, eighth and ninth wickets added 115, giving the Sunrisers bowlers a fighting total to try and defend.Watson and Dravid, however, used their experience to counter the swing and prevent the loss of early wickets. Several deliveries came back into the right-hander, but Watson ensured he played the ball late, dabbing it down to third man and behind point. He did offer some chances, though. On 16, an outside edge off Perera just beat a diving Sangakkara, and another just dropped short of Sammy at slip.Royals had progressed to 53 for 1 after ten overs, with the asking rate passing nine. The partnership gathered pace in the second half of the innings, Dravid launching Royals’ march with a six over long-on. A costly Ishant Sharma over, which leaked 20, included three fours and a six by Watson. The next, off Perera, went for 15 and hastened Royals’ march to the target. Three powerful blows to deep midwicket, by Watson off Karan Sharma, sealed a clinical win.

Tickets for this year’s World Twenty20 will be as cheap as $0.25 for group games and between $2.50 and $45 for the final

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Mar-2012Tickets for this year’s World Twenty20 will be as cheap as $0.25 for group games and between $2.50 and $45 for the final. The ICC has announced the global sale of tickets for the tournament, which will be held in Sri Lanka, from today. The tickets can be bought online from the ICC’s website. The low prices are in sync with those during the World Cup 2011, which drew large local audiences to the grounds.Eight percent of the tickets available to the public are on sale now, with the remaining ones becoming available on August 1 to ensure availability closer to the event. There is a limit of six tickets that any one person can purchase for the group stage matches, and four tickets from Super Eights onwards. The tournament kickstarts with hosts Sri Lanka taking on Zimbabwe on September 18.The attractive ticket pricing for the ICC event comes after Sri Lankan as well as visiting England supporters were angered by exorbitant prices for daily tickets during the ongoing England-Sri Lanka Test series.Attendance to the group games of the women’s World Twenty20 will be free of charge. The women’s semi-finals and finals are scheduled on the same day and ground as the men’s games and the tickets for the men’s games will be valid for both.Edited by Devashish Fuloria

Daniel Vettori believes that an official window for the IPL in the sport’s annual calendar could put the country v IPL argument to rest

Sharda Ugra26-Apr-2011With the IPL once again putting to test – and with largely one-sided results – the debate of club versus country, Daniel Vettori believes that an official window for the IPL in the sport’s annual calendar could settle the argument. One alternative for smaller boards would be to then go down the path that Vettori hopes New Zealand cricket will take when signing in on the Future Tours Programme for the next few years.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in Delhi, Vettori said the controversies such as Chris Gayle’s spat with the West Indies board, and the discussions between the Indian and Sri Lankan boards over the early release of Lankans from the IPL for the England tour, would not arise if the IPL found its way into the international calendar as well.”For me, there’s a simple solution – you create a window for the IPL and all these probems go away, all the discourse and the conversations about it stops instantly,” Vettori said. “A number of people have been talking about it for a long, long time. That would be great, otherwise people will continually be put into these situations and it’s a tough decision.”A long-standing captain of New Zealand until he stepped down following the World Cup, Vettori leads the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. He pointed out the dilemma faced by international cricketers when having to choose between country and the IPL. “Everyone wants to play for their country,” he said. “But if you understand the amount of money that’s involved and its pressures, and sometimes the lack of certainty around your place in the team, it can make it [the decision] difficult. Like I said you can take all those things away by creating a small window around the IPL.”Vettori said New Zealanders had “missed big chunks” of the IPL in the first three seasons, because the team at the time was involved in New Zealand Cricket’s (NZC) previous FTP commitments, though they had largely been supportive of their players. He said NZC were looking to accommodate the IPL in their plans when the new cycle of the FTP comes around.”I think New Zealand is going to try in earnest to make sure that it [players missing out on IPL] doesn’t happen in the future and we hope so,” Vettori said. “We hope that that window is cleared out because the guys enjoy playing here and there’s financial security as well, which helps a lot.”West Indies and England have their international calendars directly overlapping with the IPL’s March-April schedule, but it is not yet certain whether the other ICC member boards would want to create their own tacit ‘windows’ when formulating their FTP arrangements in the coming months.Vettori’s position in the IPL is a unique one: he has stepped down from the New Zealand captaincy and retired from Twenty20 Internationals, but in the IPL he is leading a T20 outfit. His decision to quit Twenty20 internationals came from his desire to focus on his Test cricket. “It [retirement from T20Is] may not be a permanent thing,” he said. “At this point in time I would prefer to concentrate on Test cricket and be ready for it, we don’t actually play a lot of international Twenty20s so I’m not missing out on too much.”After captaining the team for such a long time, in some ways it is better to let the new captain find his feet without having the ex-captain in his face the whole time,” he said. “I think it will be a little bit easier for him coming in.” New Zealand are yet to name his successor with the two candidates for the job being Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor. Vettori, however, refrained from naming his choice.”My opinion is irrelvant because I don’t have any say; I’m good friends with both the guys and enjoy their captaincy styles. They’re both quite aggressive captains,” he said before correcting himself, “Well they’ve been aggressive vice-captains and I think they’ll do a really good job on the field.”The amount of time that is taken up outside of cricket and the pressures that come from there,” Vettori said, would be an “eye-opener” for the new captain. “That is always going to be the hardest thing to deal with, but they are both mature young men. So I think they will be good for New Zealand whoever they choose Ross or Brendon.”Bangalore have won two of their first six matches and Vettori has found the job of leading a team made up of a diverse group of players “probably more of a challenge” than captaining an international team. “In your national team you know everyone well, you know what to expect pretty much in a given situation,” he said. “In IPL, you are getting to know the guys all the time, you are learning all the time, as you have never seen some guys play before. You have to find out different things, so it’s probably more of a challenge captaining an IPL team than captaining an international team.”On Tuesday, Vettori will lead Bangalore against his old team the Delhi Daredevils, with both teams trying to climb up the points table. Vettori said the IPL remained “fluid” in the sense that “one man on his day” could decide games. “Your whole concept of where you are as a team changes so quickly,” Vettori said, referring to the impact of Chris Gayle’s century against Kolkata that took Bangalore up from second-last to fifth. “So if we win this next one, I think we are up to second or something like that.”Barring table-toppers like Mumbai Indians, Vettori said it still remained difficult for sides “to get a real grasp of where you are as a team, because the competition is so close”. He predicted that as the IPL drew closer to the semi-finals, there was a good chance that there would be “close to seven eight teams with something like seven wins and seven losses, or eight wins and six losses. It’s really hard to know where you are.” For the next eight hours or so, Vettori and Bangalore would just like to be on top of their game.

Steven Croft’s instinct to attack has not always served Lancashire’s best interests and there was a moment here when even the knowledge that he was his side’s last line of defence was not enough to curb his enthusiasm

Jon Culley at Old Trafford07-May-2010

ScorecardSteven Croft’s instinct to attack has not always served Lancashire’s best interests and there was a moment here when even the knowledge that he was his side’s last line of defence was not enough to curb his enthusiasm. Tea was half an hour away, Lancashire had just lost their sixth second-innings wicket with their lead only 54. One mistake by the 25-year-old allrounder and Lancashire’s tail would have been exposed to a Somerset attack with their tails up.There must have been hearts in mouths on the Lancashire balcony, then, when Mike Munday, the Somerset legspinner, fed Croft a tempting full toss and the right-hander launched it ambitiously towards the leg-side boundary. For a moment the fielder at deep midwicket eyed the shot eagerly, but to Lancashire’s relief it cleared him and the boundary.Otherwise, Croft did virtually everything right and when Somerset conceded, after spending an hour after tea trying for a seventh wicket and getting nowhere even with the new ball, that time had run out to force a result, it was to Croft’s three hours at the crease that Lancashire owed their survival.His unbeaten 66, with nine fours as well as that six, had steered Lancashire to a lead of 130, with four wickets still standing, at which point Marcus Trescothick, the Somerset captain, decided that playing out the final hour would have been a pointless exercise.And thereby ended an unexpectedly absorbing final day to a match that was robbed of 83 overs by the weather, a day which had begun with Lancashire plunged into trouble by some fine bowling by the under-rated Alfonso Thomas, who took three wickets in the morning session and another just after lunch to encourage Somerset’s belief that they might just pull off a first win of the season.Thomas, the South African allrounder, varied his length to good effect, keeping Lancashire’s batsmen on their toes with some balls aggressively dropped in short and then surprising one or two with fuller balls that swung.Lancashire negotiated the first 30 minutes or so without alarm but when Trescothick, using his bowlers intelligently, replaced Damien Wright with Thomas at the Stretford End he was rewarded with a wicket first ball as Thomas took out Luke Sutton’s middle stump.Trescothick gave Thomas the Statham End for his second spell and he enjoyed more success, nipping one back off the pitch to bowl Paul Horton. What was still a mere setback for Lancashire began to look more worrying as Thomas then had Stephen Moore bowled off a bottom edge and they could have been four down at lunch had Trescothick, diving to his left at first slip, not dropped Ashwell Prince, again off Thomas’s bowling.The miss cost nothing, as it happened. Immediately after the resumption, Thomas jammed in a short delivery to Prince that his his fellow South African tried to avoid but could not, gloving a catch to the wicketkeeper as he swayed back.With that, in effect, Lancashire were 9 for 4. Thomas took his sweater with figures of 4 for 24 from 14 overs but there was more trouble for Lancashire when Trescothick introduced Munday’s leg-spin at the Stretford End, the move bringing an instant dividend as the captain himself holding a comfortable catch at slip as Mark Chilton tried loosely to despatch Monday’s first ball.Croft lost one source of potential assistance when Kyle Hogg steered Damien Wright lazily into the hands of the wider of two gullys but, with Glen Chapple applying his experience to a dogged rearguard at the other end, Croft assuredly defended his own. Even with the new ball, Somerset could make no more inroads.