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A defiant century from Hashim Amla was not enough for South Africa as Tillakaratne Dilshan took Sri Lanka to a competitive total and helped defend it by causing a mini collapse in the middle order

The Report by Firdose Moonda09-Jul-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Hashim Amla became the fastest to 14 ODI centuries•Associated PressThirteen is thought to be the number of misfortune. For Hashim Amla and South Africa, it was the opposite until today.On the 13 occasions before this one when Amla has scored an ODI century, South Africa have emerged victorious. He recorded his 14th century – becoming the quickest to the mark – in Pallekele but the result was not in his team’s favour.Tillakaratne Dilshan’s enterprise in the first ten overs and wickets in the middle and latter portions of the South African chase bookended a the Sri Lankan comeback and ensured the three-match series will go to a decider on Saturday. Dilshan raced to a half-century in 40 balls to set Sri Lanka up for a competitive total and then ended South Africa’s biggest partnership – 75 between Amla and AB de Villiers – to clear Sri Lanka’s path to victory.South Africa were 101 for 2 in the 20th over when Dilshan lured de Villiers forward with a flighted delivery but the South African captain could not clear long-on. He was comfortably caught by the substitute fielder Thisara Perera well inside the field to spark a mini-collapse. South Africa lost five wickets for 26 runs with Dilshan claiming three of those and the gash was too big for even Amla, who scored his second successive ODI century, his third in four matches and his third on this tour so far, to mend.The visitors’ shortcomings were further highlighted by a much improved Lasith Malinga, who took wickets at the top and tail of the South African innings, and the loss Dale Steyn. The pace spearhead had bowled 2.2 overs when he was struck on the right thumb after Dilshan drilled the ball back at him. Steyn was taken for an x-ray which revealed severe bruising. Though there wasn’t a fracture, he will need to be monitored over the next few days to determine his availability for the rest of the tour.What will hearten South Africa is that Steyn batted for 35 minutes. He appeared in discomfort at times but scored 23 runs and starred in a 53-run stand with Amla that almost gave South Africa the unlikeliest of resurgences.Steyn batted with a resolve that was absent in some of his team-mates, most worryingly Jacques Kallis. After Quinton de Kock was bowled by Malinga from around the wicket, it was up to Kallis to build a foundation in the chase but he lasted only seven balls before being bounced out by the same bowler.Despite Steyn’s injury, Kallis did not bowl either, which has left his contribution in the series to just one run in two matches and he has been thoroughly outplayed by his competitor in the all-rounders department, Ryan McLaren. Although McLaren was dismissed cheaply, overcome by the pressure created by the spinners, he dismissed four batsmen at the death of the Sri Lankan innings, including three in one over, to curb their charge.Sri Lanka’s lower order implosion – five wickets for 11 runs – was sparked by Mathews edging McLaren to the keeper. The Sri Lankan captain had contributed to his team’s highest stand of the innings, 71-runs with Mahela Jayawardene which ensured the efforts of Dilshan upfront were not squandered.Jayawardene had battled through the stranglehold Imran Tahir and JP Duminy created and the trouble he had with legspinner’s googly. He eventually fell to a wrong ‘un but ushered Mathews through a tricky middle-overs period to help build a competitive total in the same mentoring way as Dilshan had handled his stand with Lahiru Thirimanne.By the time Thirimanne, who was promoted to No. 4 arrived at the crease, Dilshan already had a half-century, had single-handedly got Sri Lanka’s scoring rate above six an over before South Africa began to rein Sri Lanka in. Tahir, Duminy, McLaren and Morne Morkel conceded only 44 runs between the 10th and 19th overs. Thirimanne could only score slowly and eventually succumbed to frustration when he hit Tahir straight to mid-wicket but the 62 runs he put on with Dilshan were crucial to Sri Lanka’s chances.Soft dismissals aside, Sri Lanka batted with a good enough understanding of the surface to ensure they would not have to rue mistakes. Similarly, their lapses in the field which included two dropped catches – Amla on 67 and Miller on 0 – can be overlooked because they did not prove too costly even though Amla moved on to a three-figures. Instead they will focus on the advantage their spinners gave them. Dilshan, Sachitra Senanayake and Ajantha Mendis bowled 24.1 overs between them and their six wickets cost only 102 runs. The Sri Lankan performance was not perfect but it did not have to be.

India A batsman Sanju Samson has said that his biggest takeaway from playing in Australia in the Quadrangular Series was understanding the dynamics of batting in the middle order and adjusting his game according to the match situation

Gaurav Kalra and Kanishkaa Balachandran04-Aug-20146:41

‘Wicketkeeping helps me stay involved in the game’ – Samson

India A batsman Sanju Samson has said that his biggest takeaway from playing in Australia in the Quadrangular Series was understanding the dynamics of batting in the middle order and adjusting his game according to the match situation.Samson, the Kerala batsman who was part of the India Under-19 team at the World Cup earlier this year, is primarily a top-order player, even for his franchise Rajasthan Royals. Samson finished as India A’s highest run-scorer with 244 runs from seven innings with two fifties with an average of 81.33, given that he was dismissed just thrice. Samson had dropped down to No.6 and also kept wicket in all games. Though he failed in the final against Australia A, scoring 5, India still went on to win the tournament.”I am not used to playing in the middle/lower order,” Samson told ESPNcricinfo after arriving in India. “I took the opportunity and I always wanted to finish games for my team and be not out at the end. I was not out in four innings and I learnt how a batsman needs to convert his game according to the situation, playing in different conditions and bowlers, especially down the order.”Samson’s top score of 81 in the opening game came in a losing cause, but it helped India stretch Australia after India were limping at 84 for 6 chasing 253. He made a bigger impact in matchwinning unbeaten knocks of 55 – batting at No. 7 – and 49 in successive matches. Samson’s performance on tour won the praise of India A coach Abhay Sharma, who called the batsman ‘India’s future’.Abhay said Samson was dropped down the order in order to manage his workload as a batsman and wicketkeeper. Abhay said he was impressed with the way Samson adjusted to his new position.Samson admitted that he needs to work harder on his wicketkeeping. Nevertheless, it is a role he enjoys as it helps him stay focused for the entire duration of the match. Abhay too agreed that he needed to sharpen his technique.”I like to be involved in the game as much as I can,” Samson said. “Keeping [to] every single ball keeps you involved. It was an interesting experience and I kept in all seven matches and in those conditions it was a very good experience for me. I do know that I have to work a bit more on my wicketkeeping when I go back home.”Samson is yet to be picked for India, and while expectations are high after his impressive showings with Royals, he isn’t placing heavy expectations on himself yet. He is happy to take it one step at a time and focus on performing in tournaments with the A squad.”There are crores of players playing cricket and they all want to play for India. They know that India is a strong team and it’s tough to get in. But as I said I don’t want to think on those lines. I am happy to be playing good tournaments.”He said such tournaments have helped him understand his game better. “I started playing the game just to enjoy myself, not to play for India or do miracles and I had started to win games for my team. I see myself as an improved and mature cricketer day by day and I am learning from each and every game I play. I’ve seen a lot of improvements in my game in the last year.”

London will play host to the best campus cricketers from around the world, with teams from eight countries taking part in this year’s world finals of the Red Bull Campus Cricket competition

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jul-2014London will play host to the best campus cricketers from around the world, with teams from eight countries taking part in this year’s world finals of the Red Bull Campus Cricket competition.Leeds Bradford MCC (UK), University of New South Wales (Australia), University of Liberal Arts (Bangladesh), Rizvi College (India), Karachi University (Pakistan), Assupol Tukkies (South Africa), International College of Business and Technology (Sri Lanka) and Jamaica (West Indies) are the eight teams who will contest the competition which will be held in a round-robin format from July 21 to 26.The group stages, scheduled till July 23, will be held at the Wormsley Cricket Ground, while The Oval will host finals day, on July 26.Theunis de Bruyn, the 21-year-old batsman who plays for Titans, and Aiden Markram, who captained the South Africa Under-19 team to World Cup glory in February this year, are some of the stars who will take part in the Twenty20 tournament.”There will always be sportsmen and sportswomen who develop only in their twenties,” the tournament’s sporting director and ICC match referee, Chris Broad, said. “So, the chance that Red Bull Campus Cricket gives players [who have not been part of their country’s age-group cricket system] is to showcase their stuff.”England fast bowler Stuart Broad, who himself will be battling it out at The Oval against India later this summer, echoed his father Chris’ opinion. “Red Bull Campus Cricket provides a great platform for cricketers to compete on a world stage,” he said. “They are challenging themselves against the best with the opportunity to win not only the tournament, but perhaps a professional contract.”

New York and South East were announced as co-champions of the USACA T20 National Championship after the final was stopped due to rain

Peter Della Penna in Lauderhill16-Aug-2014New York and South East were declared co-winners of the USACA T20 National Championship after the final was stopped due to rain after six overs with South East 34 for 3. After waiting more than three hours due to heavy showers, play was finally called off with both teams sharing the tournament title.Adil Bhatti of the Atlantic Region was named best batsman of the tournament while Camilus Alexander of the South East Region was named the tournament’s best bowler. Nisarg Patel of South West was named the tournament’s most valuable player.The Championship was scheduled to have 19 games over three days. However only three full games could be played. Six more matches were rescheduled as 10-over games and were completed on Saturday morning. Four others, including the final, ended up with no result. Four matches could not be held due to rain while the tournament runner-up matches never got underway after a player walkout which took place after the semi-finals were scrapped to accommodate an earlier start to the final.

Jacques Kallis, who scored an unbeaten half-century to take Kolkata Knight Riders into the final of the Champions League T20, said that his international retirement has given him an opportunity to work harder on T20s

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-2014Jacques Kallis, who scored an unbeaten half-century against Hobart Hurricanes in the Champions League T20 semi-final, has said that his international retirement has given him an opportunity to work harder on Twenty20s. Kallis’ unbeaten 54 off 40 balls steered Knight Riders’ chase against Hurricanes after the side was 44 for 2 in the eighth over, while chasing 141.”I am playing less cricket now. So I am more enthusiastic and more energised for the amount of cricket I do play now,” he told . “The biggest thing is it has given me more opportunity to work on my T20 cricket. I have put a lot of time into it and it is nice to see the hard work paying off. I have worked on giving myself bigger scoring options and allowing myself to become a better T20 player.”The former South African allrounder had retired from Tests in December last year and quit all formats of international cricket in July, following a poor ODI series against Sri Lanka. Since then, Kallis has played three T20s for Knight Riders in the Champions League and had scores of 6 and 6 before his fifty set up the 14th successive T20 win for the side. It also took Knight Riders into their first Champions League final.His innings came after the Knight Riders’ spin-heavy attack had restricted Hurricanes to 140 for 6. The Australian side could not break the chokehold of 16 overs of spin and were lifted by a late charge from Shoaib Malik, who took 21 runs off chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav in the penultimate over of the innings. Malik finished with an unbeaten 66 off 46 balls, with four fours and as many sixes, and looked at ease playing the spinners.”We practised a lot against spinners before the game. Credit to the KKR spinners for bowling the way they did today. This is the first time I played against Kuldeep Yadav and I have to say he is a really good bowler,” Malik told . “He does need to work hard on his bowling if he has to stay at the top. He is just 19 years old and the way he is bowling is exceptional. If he keeps working hard, one day he will be one of the main bowlers for India.”Malik said that the regular strikes and the lack of partnerships did not allow Hurricanes to accelerate and he had to change his game plan and ensure he stayed until the end to push the team towards a challenging score.”I did not want to play the way I did in the first phase of my innings,” Malik said. “Whenever I thought about accelerating we always had a wicket falling at the other end. When you are losing wickets your preference as a batsman is to bat the full 20 overs and that is what I did.”

Joe Denly will return to his home county of Kent next season having been released from the final year of his contract at Middlesex following three difficult seasons.

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2014Joe Denly will return to his home county of Kent next season having been released from the final year of his contract at Middlesex following three difficult seasons.Denly, 28, left Canterbury, the city of his birth, at the end of the 2011 season with the ambition to revive his England prospects at a Division One county. But his career slipped and he managed only two centuries across all formats in three seasons with Middlesex.He returns to the county where he graduated through the academy and made his first-class debut in 2004. He scored 4658 first-class runs at 35.02. He has also made four one-day centuries for Kent and it was in the limited-overs format where he made his England debut in 2009. But he played only nine ODIs and four T20s, making two fifties, before being dropped.”It’s great to be coming home,” Denly said. “As I said at the time, it was a difficult decision to leave Kent but I don’t regret the experience I had at Middlesex. I’m leaving a very good club with great people from the back room staff, team and management and wish them all the very best, but now feels like a great time to return.”There’s a lot of familiar faces still here and plenty of talent coming through from the academy and I’m looking forward to helping them in any way I can and help build a successful future.”Denly will rejoin a younger and more inexperienced squad than when he left. But the squad, once again under Rob Key’s captaincy, showed signs of promise in 2014, particularly in the Royal London Cup where they reached the semi-finals.Kent’s chairman of cricket Graham Johnson said, “That such a return has been possible says much about the potential of the club right now and is also, in no small measure, a tribute to the way two county clubs can work together for the betterment of the game as a whole.”My thanks go out to Middlesex in what they have done to make this move possible. To get Joe back is great – he is an extremely talented player in all forms of the game who, at the age of 28, has many seasons to come at a time when his experience suggests his best years are ahead of him.”Angus Fraser, the Middlesex director of cricket, added: “It is always disappointing when the signing of a good player fails to turn out as you hoped and, sadly, this has been the case with Joe. In the three seasons Joe has spent with Middlesex we have witnessed glimpses of what he is capable of producing but, frustratingly, these displays have not come around as often as everyone wanted.”Joe’s lack of consistency gave younger cricketers like Nick Gubbins and Ryan Higgins the chance to impress, which they did, thus reducing Joe’s first eleven opportunities. With Joe not getting regular first team exposure, Kent made contact with us to ask whether we would consider allowing them to speak to him about returning to Canterbury. We discussed the matter with Joe and, having thought long and hard about the approach, realised that the move, and the greater opportunities and security it would offer Joe, was the right way forward.”

A round-up of WICB Professional Cricket League matches that ended on November 17, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2014Barbados were forced to accept a draw against Trinidad & Tobago in their opening game at the Queen’s Park Oval, as rain denied them a chance to shut out a match they had dominated.The Barbados bowlers, led by left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican and Carlos Brathwaite, skittled T&T for 96 in the first innings, giving their side a formidable 264-run lead. Warrican took 4 for 12, cleaning up the middle and lower order after Carlos Brathwaite dismissed three of T&T’s top four batsmen.Asked to follow-on, T&T began the final day at 163 for 3 and quickly slipped to 193 for 5 before the game ended with their score at 213 for 5.Earlier, Barbados’ dominant first-innings performance was built around Kraigg Brathwaite’s 182 and a 76 from wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich. The pair came together with the score at 85 for 4 and stabilized the innings with a partnership of 176. Barbados lost a few quick wickets after Dowrich was dismissed but Kraigg Brathwaite shepherded the tail-end batsmen to steer the score to 360.Jamaica began their Professional Cricket League campaign with a hard-fought, 13-run win over Windward Islands, sealed by a final-innings seven-for from legspinner Damion Jacobs.Jamaica had grabbed the initiative in the first half of the match itself, courtesy a fine all-round showing from left-arm spinner Nikita Miller in a game that was dominated by the bowlers – apart from Miller, there was only one other fifty in the game, in Windwards’ chase, from Devon Smith.Miller had scored 57 from No. 8 in Jamaica’s first innings, pushing their total past 200, before 4 for 25 off 18 to wreck Windwards’ reply along with pacer Marquino Mindley, who picked up a five-for on first-class debut. That meant Windwards had conceded a 198-run first-innings lead, and it looked like the game had slipped well away from them. No one told their bowlers though, as they combined to skittle Jamaica for 162 the second time round. Left-arm spinner Alston Bobb was the destroyer-in-chief with 5 for 48 – a tally, which added to a career-best innings haul of 6 for 45 in the first innings, gave him his career-best match haul of 11 for 93.Windwards’ batsmen, led by openers Smith (74) and Tyrone Theophile (40) who added 91 runs, made a good fist of the chase of 261, but fell just short against Jacobs’ wiles.Guyana, meanwhile, registered an innings and 10-run win against Leeward Islands. They had got to 343 in the first innings courtesy a Narsingh Deonarine century, and then the Guyana spinners, led by legspinner Devendra Bishoo, took over.Bishoo combined with left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and pacer Ronsford Beaton to shoot out Leewards for 94 in their first innings. Each of those bowlers took three apiece, as four of the Leewards line-up were out for ducks. The follow-on was enforced, and while Leewards did better the second time around, the first-innings lead of 249 that they had conceded proved too much to overcome.Bishoo led Guyana’s charge in the second innings, taking 4 for 67. Permaul, who took the new ball, also chipped in with a couple of strikes as Leewards fell for 239, 10 short of making Guyana bat again.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a soft-spoken person but he could not hide his excitement after receiving the Polly Umrigar Trophy for the Cricketer of the Year

Amol Karhadkar in Mumbai22-Nov-2014India medium-pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a soft-spoken and shy person but he could not hide his excitement after receiving the Polly Umrigar Trophy for the Cricketer of the Year award at the annual BCCI awards function in Mumbai on Friday.”This reminds me that when Virender Sehwag was awarded the Cricketer of the Year trophy in 2007-08 and I was the Under-19 cricketer of the year, I walked up to him and asked him if I could see from close how the big Cricketer of the Year trophy is,” Bhuvneshwar told the audience. “It feels really special to hold this trophy today.”Over the last two years, Bhuvneshwar has established himself as a key member of the Indian team in all three formats. While he cemented his place in the side with accurate swing bowling, his batting flourished during India’s tour to England earlier this year. Bhuvneshwar finished with 263 runs and 22 wickets in seven Tests, 17 wickets from 22 ODIs, and seven wickets from as many T20 internationals during the period considered for the award.”I would like to thank all my team-mates today,” Bhuvneshwar said. “Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to hold this trophy.”While all of Bhuvneshwar’s team-mates applauded his achievement, the gathering stood in unison when former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar was presented the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award by his former team-mate and BCCI interim president Shivlal Yadav.”I was going through the list of the previous award winners and it’s an immensely honourable feeling to have joined such a special league. I thank the BCCI for honouring me with this prestigious award,” Vengsarkar said. Two of the previous 21 recipients – Chandu Borde and Ajit Wadekar – also gave Vengsarkar a standing ovation.While several top BCCI officials attended the function, N Srinivasan and Sundar Raman skipped the event. The ICC chairman and the IPL chief operating officer have been under investigation by the Supreme Court for their alleged involvement in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal.

Adam Voges scored his second century of the match but it was not enough for Western Australia to stop Victoria securing a 117-run win on the fourth day at the WACA

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2014
ScorecardAdam Voges scored his second century of the match but it was not enough for Western Australia to stop Victoria securing a 117-run win on the fourth day at the WACA. Set 405 for victory, the Warriors looked headed for a big defeat at 5 for 111, but a strong partnership between Ashton Agar and the captain Voges gave them some hope of holding off the Bushrangers.Voges and Agar put on 156 for the sixth wicket after Chris Tremain and Scott Boland picked up two wickets each as the top order struggled. Voges had made 101 in the first innings and reached triple figures again, and Agar scored 62 before he was caught behind off the bowling of Daniel Christian, who collected 3 for 18 and was named Man of the Match after also scoring a century.Christian, Fawad Ahmed and John Hastings ran through the tail to leave Voges unbeaten on 139 as Western Australia were dismissed for 287, the same total they had made in their first innings. The win pushed Victoria to the top of the Shield table at the halfway point of the season.

Pakistan allrounder Mohammad Hafeez has been ruled out of the World Cup with a calf injury

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Feb-2015Pakistan allrounder Mohammad Hafeez has been ruled out of the World Cup with a calf injury. Opener Nasir Jamshed is set to replace him in the squad, after he was approved by the ICC’s Event Technical Committee.Pakistan also have lead spinner Saeed Ajmal available for the World Cup, after his reworked action was cleared by the ICC, but the PCB named Jamshed as a replacement. Hafeez is the second Pakistani player to miss the tournament with an injury, after Junaid Khan.”It’s confirmed that Hafeez is unfortunately out due to an injury. Captain Misbah-ul-Haq, coach Waqar Younis and chief selector Moin Khan decided the replacement as they wanted an opening batsman in place of an opening batsman,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said.The board chief also said Jamshed already has an Australia visa and is expected to join the squad in five days to be available for their opening match against India on February 15 in Adelaide.Hafeez picked up the injury while batting in the second ODI against New Zealand in Napier on February 3. He was ruled out of the World Cup after undergoing MRI scans on Friday in Sydney, following which he was advised a month-long rest. The allrounder was available only as a batsman in the tournament after he had been suspended by the ICC in December.He was scheduled to undergo an official test with a reworked action in Brisbane on February 6, which the PCB wanted pushed back to February 10 because Hafeez was not fit.