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Elsewhere, Haryana were reduced to 119 for 7 on their home ground by Jammu & Kashmir while a Jadeja helped Saurashtra claim the upper hand against Kerala

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-20173:05

Priyank Panchal: Gujarat’s batting mainstay

Gujarat seamer Chintan Gaja’s 8 for 40 destroyed Rajasthan as they crumbled to 153 all out after opting to bat in Surat. The defending champions then went to stumps on 90 for 1, after they lost Samit Gohel (46) in what turned out to be the last delivery of the day.In the morning, Rajasthan never really recovered after Gaja cleaned up opener Amitkumar Gautam off the third ball of the day. Thereon, the visitors went from 32 for 3 to 62 for 6, with the dismissal of Siddharth Dobal giving Gaja his second five-wicket haul. The 23-year old was playing his ninth first-class game.Rajasthan’s only partnership of substance was between Rajesh Bishnoi (43*) and Tajinder Singh (45) – 70 runs for the seventh wicket. But, things unraveled quickly once Tajinder was dismissed by Gaja.Seven wickets between seamers Mohammed Mudhasir (4 for 34) and Ram Dayal (3 for 35) helped Jammu & Kashmir reduce Haryana to 119 for 7 in Lahli.On a day when only 45 overs were possible before bad light stopped play, Haryana were put in and lost their top three within 11 overs, Mudhasir taking all of them out to leave the score at 23 for 3. Then they slumped to 88 for 7 until an unbroken 31-run stand between captain Amit Mishra and Harshal Patel helped them see off the day without any further casualty.Left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja’s 6 for 112, his eighth first-class five-for, was instrumental in Saurashtra bowling Kerala out for 225 in Thiruvananthapuram after the latter opted to bat first. Sanju Samson (68) was the only Kerala batsman to pass fifty before he was removed by left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat, who finished with two wickets.Kerala lost openers Mohammed Azharuddeen and Jalaj Saxena early on before Samson and Rohan Prem carried out the repair job with an 82-run stand. But Jadeja had Prem lbw and Samson followed 10 overs later. Their dismissals triggered a collapse as Kerala lost their last seven wickets for 77 runs. Offspinner Vandit Jivrajani finished with two wickets as well. In reply, Saurashtra’s openers Snell Patel and Robin Uthappa began solidly to finish the day on 37 for 0.

Beaton was reported after West Indies’ second ODI against New Zealand, in which he returned figures of 1 for 60 in eight overs

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Dec-2017West Indies pacer Ronsford Beaton has been reported for a suspect bowling action during West Indies’ second ODI against New Zealand on Saturday. Beaton sent down eight overs in that match and picked up 1 for 60.As per the ICC’s regulations pertaining to suspected illegal actions, Beaton’s action will now be further examined. He will have to undergo testing within 14 days. Beaton can continue to bowl, though, until the results of the test are known, which means West Indies can continue to use his services in the third and final ODI against New Zealand in Christchurch on Tuesday.Even so, Beaton’s suspect action is now an added cause for concern for a West Indies side that has struggled in ODIs this year. West Indies have already conceded the ongoing series 2-0 and have lost 15 out of the 21 ODIs they have played this year.The setback comes early in Beaton’s international career. He made his debut in the current series against New Zealand, and in his first two ODIs conceded 102 runs in 17 overs while picking up one wicket.

The Scorchers coach also lashed out at Cricket Australia for releasing D’Arcy Short, Travis Head and Alex Carey from the national team squad to play in Sunday’s BBL final

Daniel Brettig04-Feb-2018Perth Scorchers coach Justin Langer has attacked critics of the Big Bash League club’s list management, saying his efforts to keep a strong West Australian group together over time were justified by the development of the players. Langer also lashed out at Cricket Australia for releasing D’Arcy Short, Travis Head and Alex Carey from the national team squad to play in Sunday’s BBL final.Responding to accusations of contract “bundling”, whereby players receive generous state contracts to counterbalance lesser payments within the BBL salary cap, Langer said the performances of players such as Andrew Tye should mean Western Australia and the Scorchers should not be questioned as to whether they were flouting CA’s regulations, which outlaw states from offering any “inducement” for players to choose a particular BBL club.”Give me one example and then we can talk about every single one of these practices of bundling contracts,” Langer told when questioned about the Scorchers’ contracting. “It’s tougher, to be fair, for the states with two teams, but they also have huge populations. So they’ve got the opportunity to do what we do.”Let’s use AJ Tye [for example]. The same AJ Tye we took off the scrapheap of club cricket about six years ago, the same guy who went to Sydney Thunder, didn’t like it and wanted to come home, who loves Perth and Western Australia, who just got $1.5m in the IPL auction, who just took five wickets because he’s improved in our programme. If we’re doing the wrong thing by that, I’ll cut my leg off. It’s unbelievable.”We had 21 guys play for us in 10 games this year which is extraordinary, and five or six of them are young Western Australia kids. We didn’t have Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff or the Marsh brothers play the whole series for us. We do proudly want our guys to stay but along the way we lose D’Arcy Short and Marcus Harris, and Bradley Hogg and Craig Simmons and Mike Hussey because we can’t afford to keep them. That’s the truth. We’re really fair on our players. All this dialogue I’ve been hearing this series, I guarantee now we’ve lost the semi-final, no-one will talk about it again.”ESPNcricinfo has confirmed that the Scorchers are not under investigation by CA for their contracting practices, despite queries being raised with the governing body by at least two other BBL clubs and public questions being asked by the likes of Brad Hodge and Dirk Nannes. At the same time, Langer denied he had pressured members of the WA state squad to stay with the Scorchers, saying “they’re all big boys” with managers to negotiate on their behalf.Langer said that any players who chose to stay in WA rather than taking bigger contracts with other BBL teams in the eastern states did so because they loved playing for the Scorchers and staying in their home state. He also said that the club had benefited from hard work done over the past five years – since Langer became state and BBL coach in 2012-13 – to foster a culture that players wanted to be a part of, irrespective of how much they were paid.Getty Images

“So D’Arcy Short’s left, Marcus Harris has left. Mike Hussey and Brad Hogg, who are two of my best mates, they left. Craig Simmons left. What, so I’m coercing players? Give me a break,” Langer said. “If they don’t want to stay – every professional has a manager these days, they’re all big boys – if they don’t want to stay, they can go. If they want to stay because they love being here and they love the WACA family, and we win a lot, so why wouldn’t they want to stay here?”The problem is you’ve got to work really hard to do that [create a winning culture]. But it’s easy to point fingers and say ‘they must be cheating’ or ‘JL must be coercing players’. Are you joking? All winter when our coaches are in the cold WACA indoor centre, keeping an eye on our Under-17 and Under-19s kids, no-one’s telling us then we’re coercing them to stay.”Or we’re keeping an eye on our whole programme, we’re watching club cricket all day – that’s the hard part of it, to develop this culture. But let’s not worry about doing all of that, that’s too hard, let’s just point our fingers and say they’re doing the wrong thing. Give me a break.”On the subject of CA’s decision to release Short, Carey and Head for the tournament final, Langer said he was disappointed by the inconsistency after his team was unable to pick Tye or Ashton Agar for the semi-final. He also claimed that the decision contravened MoU discussions during last year’s fractious pay dispute where players were ruled out of playing T20 matches on consecutive days. Carey and Short will both play in Adelaide on Sunday after playing for Australia in Sydney on Saturday night.”What I don’t like is the inconsistency, I find it phenomenal really,” Langer said. “We were told at the start of the Big Bash that none of the players who were in the Australian team would play the Big Bash and now all of a sudden they are. There’s no doubt the scheduling’s an issue and we’d like to see our best players, but we also know at the start of the season that Australian international cricket takes priority.”I’m not pumped about the inconsistency of it, I sort of get it, but there were all of the arguments that went on about the MoU and we didn’t enjoy some of that dialogue that they don’t play the next day and all that sort of stuff. I’d just like to see things consistent, that’s all. We would’ve loved to have Ashton Agar and AJ Tye playing for us the other night and now al of a sudden that changes. Even if D’Arcy Short played, I’m happy with that because I never worry too much about the opposition, I worry about us”That’s where it’s difficult for me, one of the hardest things about the Big Bash competition is trying to forecast and contract who you might have and who you might not have because of international commitments, and we all do that. That’s where list management is so crucial, and so to change what we understand, that’s pretty disappointing.”

Suresh Raina scored his third successive 50-plus score after Baroda opener Urvil Patel smashed 96 runs off 54 balls

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jan-2018Umang Sharma’s 47-ball 95 and captain Suresh Raina’s 56 off 47, his third successive 50-plus score, powered Uttar Pradesh to a seven-wicket win over Baroda in Kolkata. Set a target of 193, UP romped home with eight balls to spare and completed their fifth win from six games.Electing to bowl, UP’s bowlers were put to the sword by Baroda openers Kedar Devdhar and Urvil Patel. They put on 74 runs in 9.3 overs before Devdhar was dismissed for 37 off 32 balls off left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan. Devdhar, who is listed for a reserve price of INR 20 lakh in the IPL auctions, had a good run in the inter-state leg of the tournament where he made scores of 100 and 62* earlier this month. He also scored 77 off 53 against Delhi on Monday.Urvil, 19-years old, went on to put on 92 runs for the second wicket with captain Deepak Hooda, who smashed a 25-ball 45. Hooda has played for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the past and has set his reserve price at INR 40 lakh. He is expected to have takers at the auction for his middle-order biffing. Urvil eventually finished with a smashing 54-ball 96, including 12 fours and four sixes. Almost every UP bowler went for plenty of runs, with Praveen Kumar conceding 45 runs in three overs. While Mohsin picked up two wickets, Amit Mishra was the most economical with figures of 0 for 28 from four overs.Baroda had a good start with the ball, too, as left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya, expected to be a major draw at the auctions, bowled Shivam Chaudhary with the first ball of the innings. UP, however, rallied spectacularly with Raina and Umang putting on 160 runs for the second wicket in 15 overs. Both batsmen were dismissed in the space of six balls, but Rinku Singh’s 11-ball 26* ensured UP were home without much difficulty. They are now on top of the Group B standings in the Super League.

Until the second T20I against Pakistan at Eden Park, New Zealand’s summer had gone without a blemish but since then they have won once in seven outings

Andrew McGlashan in Hamilton24-Feb-2018Kane Williamson is confident that New Zealand’s recent problems in T20 won’t damage their confidence in the one-day game as they prepare for the marquee white-ball section of the season.Until the second T20I against Pakistan at Eden Park, New Zealand’s summer had gone without a blemish but since then they have won once in seven outings. However, their ODI record stands at eight wins on the bounce ahead of the Seddon Park opener against England.”I think we park the T20 for now and focus on a lot of the good one-day cricket we’ve been playing,” Williamson said. “The plans are fairly different so it’s important we go back to that. We know it’s a tough challenge against England.”We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. There’s been some good one-day cricket played by our group but we do know we’ll have to adapt to the opposition and the surfaces which have been different throughout each venue.”Those surfaces will include a used pitch for the opening match, the same that was played on for the T20 last weekend, which is expected to again offer purchase for the spinners. Williamson is ready for England’s “very aggressive” approach with the bat, but still sees a place for the more nuanced side of one-day accumulation.In the T20s it felt as though there was too much on the shoulders of Martin Guptill and Colin Munro, but the longer format brings the traditional skills of Williamson and Ross Taylor back to the fore and makes a very strong-looking top four. Williamson was able to practice leaving the ball in the nets on Saturday and you sensed he was itching to be able to build an innings again.”I think T20 cricket keeps pushing the boundaries of cricket, whether into the one-day game or even the Test game – you see people being a lot more positive,” he said. “But at the same time, that doesn’t completely change it – because you do get on surfaces that require a lot more batsmanship, perhaps more defence for a period of time, to get through some of those tougher moments.”T20 is definitely having an influence, but it’s important that all of us don’t get too carried away with it at times when the conditions might dictate something else.”Williamson was not getting wrapped up in Ben Stokes’ comeback – for all that Stokes has looked impressive in the nets, a player returning after such a long break could actually work in New Zealand’s favour at the start of the series – although he acknowledged the enviable all-round depth England have.”That comes back to the cricket we want to play, our plans, our styles,” he said. “There are a number of quality matchwinning players in the English side who have been playing good cricket. It’s tough to focus on one name.”The main question marks around the New Zealand side heading into this series are the middle order and whether the five-six combination of Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls packs quite enough of a punch, notwithstanding Williamson’s belief that batting doesn’t always have to be gung-ho.Latham as wicketkeeper in the top five adds the balance that New Zealand want, but his one-day runs have dried up again this summer as they did last season. Nicholls is making a decent fist of the finisher’s role at No. 6 with three half-centuries in eight matches this season, but when serious lower-order hitting is needed it falls to Colin de Grandhomme who has a strike-rate of 112 from his 11 ODI innings.Williamson, though, remained confident in his side to find another level after the limited competition provided by West Indies and Pakistan in the 50-over game.”The way they’ve been adapting to conditions, which have changed a lot, has been a real strength,” he said. “So it’s important we look to do that again, but at the same time we want to be fluid in how we operate in terms of guys perhaps being able to adjust to slightly different roles when that’s required.”

At a meeting in Mumbai to gather feedback on the 2017-18 season from captains and coaches, a number of voices called for a return to the three-group Ranji Trophy format, which gives each team a minimum of eight matches in a season

Arun Venugopal13-Mar-2018

Other issues discussed

• Rest days between matches during the Vijay Hazare Trophy

• Increasing and standardising boundary sizes across grounds

• Playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in a league-cum-knockout format

• Use of DRS in domestic cricket

• Scheduling matches with weather conditions in mind

Captains and coaches of India’s domestic sides have called for an increase in the number of round-robin matches in the Ranji Trophy and the use of quality balls in domestic tournaments. At a meeting in Mumbai to gather feedback on the 2017-18 domestic season from the captains and coaches, there were discussions on scheduling, umpiring standards, pitches and pay hikes. Sourav Ganguly, the chairman of the BCCI’s technical committee, Saba Karim, the board’s general manager of cricket operations, and MSK Prasad, the chairman of the senior men’s selection committee, were present at the meeting.ESPNcricinfo understands the BCCI had invited teams to offer feedback on the aforementioned issues about a month ago. It is learnt that a number of coaches and captains favoured reverting to the earlier Ranji Trophy format in which the teams, divided into three groups, played a minimum of eight matches each. The new format introduced last season, had 28 teams split into four groups of seven each, meaning each side played six matches in the group stages. Andhra coach Sanath Kumar said an increase in the number of matches played would give players more opportunities to showcase their talent. “After working so hard ahead of the season, almost 80 percent of the teams will only get to play 24 days of first-class cricket [in the existing format],” he told ESPNcricinfo. “They should ideally get to play more cricket.”Mumbai captain Aditya Tare echoed Sanath’s opinion and said the current format made it difficult for teams to come back into the competition after a bad start. “If a team has had a bad game or has missed a game due to the weather, it becomes very difficult for them to get into the groove,” he said. “Take the example of Hyderabad, who missed two games at the start of the last season due to rain, and found it hard to come back into the competition. So going back to the three-group format will be better and players will also have better opportunities.”Both Tare and Sanath said nearly every team welcomed the return to the home-and-away format in the Ranji Trophy after the experiment with neutral venues in 2016-17, and also the concept of neutral curators. The quality of balls used in domestic cricket, however, has been another persistent issue. Balls going out of shape has been a frequent occurrence in the Ranji Trophy over the last few years – there have been instances of balls being changed as many as three or four times in a single session.The players have also urged the BCCI to revisit the use of the SG LE white ball in the shorter formats. The captain of a top state team felt the gulf in the quality between the white Kookaburra ball and the SG Test LE was huge. “I can understand the logic of playing with the SG Test LE if it was used in limited-overs internationals played in India, like the SG Test which is used in Test matches in India and thereby employed in Ranji Trophy cricket as well,” the player said. “When you play with the white Kookaburra in international matches, it would make sense for players to get a hang of it in domestic cricket as well.”Sanath, however, said that while the BCCI had agreed to work on the quality of the balls, it had indicated that the use of the SG Test LE would continue. “The BCCI said it will work with the manufacturers to ensure the quality of the red and white balls get better,” he said. “The board feels the SG Test LE can be used in limited-overs internationals played in India and in the IPL over a period of time, after improvements are made to its quality.”Umpiring was another area that left a lot to be desired, according to Tare, and was a matter of concern for many that attended the meeting. “When players do something wrong they are penalised for that. We are criticised or dropped following a bad performance,” Tare said. “The umpiring has been an issue for many years now and something has to be done to ensure that certain standards are maintained. If someone is consistently having bad games as an umpire, then he could be made to go back to officiating in age-group cricket [to prove his abilities]. That’s what my suggestion was.”A state captain felt it was also time to return to the run-quotient rule instead of net run-rate, which is used as the tie-breaker when teams are level on points. “I have raised this issue several times in the past, but there has been little progress on this front,” he said. “I don’t think the net run-rate is relevant in the longer format. The bowling should also come into play and that’s why the quotient rule works better.”The coaches and captains, though, welcomed the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators’ decision to increase the remuneration of players. The revised pay structure will see a first-class cricketer earn INR 35,000 per day for a four-day match apart from a percentage of the BCCI’s profits. “It is a real boost for the players and will give an incentive to talented cricketers to pursue cricket as a professional option and not drop out in favour of other career options,” Sanath said.

Mumbai are in dire need of a change of fortune, but Chennai Super Kings may not be in an obliging mood

The Preview by Vishal Dikshit27-Apr-20184:43

Agarkar: Rohit needs to bat a bit higher

Form guide (most recent matches first)

Chennai Super Kings: Beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets, beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by four runs, beat Rajasthan Royals by 64 runs
Mumbai Indians: Lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 31 runs, lost to Rajasthan Royals by three wickets, beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 46 runs.

Big Picture

Since playing the tournament opener in Mumbai, the two most successful teams in IPL history have had contrasting journeys in the last 20 days. Table-toppers Chennai Super Kings have most bases covered and are dominating the league with only one loss so far whereas defending champions Mumbai Indians are languishing at the bottom with only one win to their name.Mumbai’s ride hasn’t been as bad as Delhi Daredevils’ but when they were bowled out for 87 by Sunrisers Hyderabad at home, they had moved one step closer to pressing the panic button. Two more losses and they will virtually be out of the playoffs race. But their next opponent is a team that has only become stronger in the last week. Super Kings’ batting order looks solid, opening bowlers move the ball around, Dwayne Bravo delivers with bat and ball in the death overs, and MS Dhoni’s six-hitting during his 70* off 34 against Royal Challengers Bangalore is surely not going to soothe any Mumbai bowler’s nerves.Mumbai’s bowling has not stuttered much though. Their middle order has been the main weakness and even though individual efforts have stood out sporadically, the entire unit hasn’t been able to come together to clinch the crucial moments, especially in the dying moments of their close losses. Mayank Markande continues to strangle the opposition, one of their top-order batsmen scores runs in nearly every game, Jasprit Bumrah doesn’t leak too many runs, but something is still amiss. Mumbai need to plug their holes quickly because time is running out.

Likely XIs

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Ambati Rayudu, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Sam Billings, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Imran TahirMumbai Indians: 1 Suryakumar Yadav, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Rohit Sharma (capt), 5 Krunal Pandya, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Mitchell McClenaghan, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Previous meeting

Who knows how different Mumbai’s season could have been had they beaten Super Kings in the opening match. Mumbai had them at 118 for 8 in the 17th over after scoring 165 for 4 before Bravo turned Mumbai’s music down and made them dance to his own tunes.

Strategy Punt

Mumbai need to make some changes, be it in personnel or shuffling of the batting order. Learning from their only win so far, they could open with Rohit Sharma, who scored a majestic 94 off 52 at No. 4 against Royal Challengers, but had effectively opened after they were 0 for 2 in the first over. Rohit’s slow starts and late flourishes are not a secret anymore. His strike rate in the IPL Powerplays since 2015 is 127.3 so if Evin Lewis can do the hitting initially and Rohit later on, they may have a better chance to utilise his batting style.

Stats that matter

• Ambati Rayudu has scored 283 runs this season at a strike rate of 159 and average of 47.2. He needs 113 more runs to make this his most prolific IPL season. He also needs 84 runs to reach 4000 runs in T20s.
• Super Kings’ economy rate in the middle overs stands at 8.57, only behind Rajasthan Royals’ 8.59. Imran Tahir has been crucial in that phase with six wickets.
• Tahir has enjoyed bowling at the MCA Stadium in the IPL. The legspinner has 15 wickets from eight innings at the ground, with an average of 17 and economy rate of 8.2.
• Dwayne Bravo has an enviable record against two of Mumbai bowlers in T20s. He has scored 30 runs off 16 balls against Jasprit Bumrah and 40 off 18 balls against Mitchell McClenaghan.
• Expect Mustafizur Rahman to bowl as soon as Ravindra Jadeja comes out to bat. The allrounder has scored only 16 runs off 18 balls against him in all T20s, and has been dismissed four times.
• Kieron Pollard could draw inspiration from his record against Dwayne Bravo to turn his form around: 182 runs off 111 balls with a strike rate of 164.

Fantasy picks

Krunal Pandya and Shane Watson. Picking allrounders is the safest bet in fantasy for obvious reasons. Krunal has been the most economical Mumbai bowler (7.04) this season, has taken four catches and six wickets in 15 overs. He also bats at No. 5 nowadays, above Kieron Pollard and Hardik, which allows him time to score more runs. Watson has struck a century, boasts of a strike rate of 162 this season and is their joint second-highest wicket taker, with an economy rate of 8.23. He could well be one of the most valued allrounders this season.

Zimbabwe Cricket has named two 15-man squads, including most of their national players, to feature in a three-team 20-over tournament, including Kenya

Firdose Moonda08-Jun-2018Zimbabwe Cricket has named two 15-man squads, including most of their national players, to feature in a three-team 20-over tournament, including Kenya, as part of the build-up to next month’s T20 triangular series. Zimbabwe are due to host Australia and Pakistan but player threats to strike over unpaid salaries have put the matches in doubt, though it now seems ZC is taking action to ensure the games go ahead.ZC has paid one month’s worth of salaries after the cricketers gave the board an ultimatum to pay all outstanding monies by June 25 or face a player boycott. At the time of their demand, players were owed three months of salaries and match fees from last July’s tour to Sri Lanka and it remains to be seen if the part-payment is enough to cancel their protest.Sources have confirmed that players are assembling in Harare over the next two days, and will consult with their lawyer Gerald Mlotchwa, to decide their next steps. The players have engaged the services of a lawyer in a bid to resurrect their player association, which ceased to exist since 2015. At the same time, Zimbabwe’s interim coach Lalchand Rajput is also expected to arrive in the country at the weekend and the practice matches have been planned in order to for Rajput to get a first look at the players at his disposal.Despite ZC sacking all the coaching staff following their failure to qualify for the World Cup, it has re-engaged with some of them. Former national bowling coach Douglas Hondo will coach one of the teams, Zimbabwe Select, in the warm-up T20 matches. The other team, a Board XI, will be coached by Shepherd Makunura, a former A-team coach. Anesu Mupotaringa and Stanley Chioza, who worked as physiotherapist and analyst respectively for the national team, are back in those roles.The tournament consists of ten matches, two per day, from Monday until June 18. “This is a training squad which will, eventually, be trimmed before the final squad for the T20I series is announced,” Walter Chawaguta, convener of national selectors said. “The tournament involving Kenya will effectively allow the new coach an opportunity to get a glimpse of the players in action.”Some players, notably former captain Graeme Cremer, allrounder Sikandar Raza and fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani have not been named in either of the two squads. Raza and Muzarabani are playing at clubs overseas but there was no reason given for Cremer’s omission.Zimbabwe Select: Donald Tiripano, Kevin Kasuza, Brian Chari, Christopher Mpofu, Sean Williams, Ernest Masuku, Tarisai Musakanda, Kyle Jarvis, Brendan Taylor, Ryan Burl, Rugare Magarira, Liam Roche, Tafadzwa Tsiga, Wellington Masakadza, Tendai ChisoroBoard XI: Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Hamilton Masakadza, Elton Chigumbura, Prince Masvaure, Peter Moor, Tendai Chatara, Richard Ngarava, Ryan Murray, Brandon Mavuta, John Nyumbu, Nyasha Mayavo, Mohammad Faraz Akram, Natsai M’shangwe

Only once has a West Indian bowler struck more than the 13 times he did in a single Test match, and that was back in 1976

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jun-2018He took a few wickets with pace. Then a few more with bounce. Even some with lateral movement. Shannon Gabriel was so good in St Lucia that he vaulted into the record books. Only once has a West Indian bowler struck more than the 13 times he did in a single Test match. And that was back in 1976, when Michael Holding wrapped England up and put them in his pocket.”It’s a great feeling,” Gabriel said after the game. “If someone told me, ‘Shannon, you’ll play Tests and take 100 wickets’, I would’ve told him, ‘you’re crazy!’ I’d like to thank family and friends for supporting me.”I was prepared well for this series, getting myself fit. As long as you get wickets, pains and aches go away. I was supported well by Kemar (Roach), he was unlucky. Miguel Cummins kept coming at the batsmen. (Jason) Holder was also very good. Anything other than a loss is good. We can take plenty of positives from this Test.”There was only one clear star though, at least in captain Holder’s eyes. “Shannon was absolutely outstanding. I don’t think words can describe the spell he bowled in both the first and second innings. He was aggressive. His pace was up. He caused trouble with every spell he came in and bowled and he stood up. He put us in a position to draw this Test match.”West Indies had won the first Test of the series and were fighting to protect their 1-0 lead at the Darren Sammy stadium. Gabriel was a key part of that, picking up 5 for 59 and then bettering it with 8 for 62. Only three times in the last 23 years has a West Indies bowler taken five wickets in each innings. On the back of that, Gabriel has leapt 11 places up to No. 12 on the ICC Test bowlers rankings.The other saviour for West Indies was opener Kraigg Brathwaite. He soldiered on for 60.3 overs even as the top order crumbled – they were 64 for 4 chasing 296 – to shut down Sri Lanka’s hopes of levelling the series. The hosts had a little help from a timely spell of rain as well.”Congrats as well to Kemar [Roach] and Kraigg, both reaching milestones in this Test match,” Holder said. “Three-thousand Test match [runs] as an opening batter is remarkable and obviously Kemar getting 150 wickets. Very very pleasing to see our guys getting some landmarks and hopefully they can keep pressing forward.”The other major talking point from the Test match was a ball-tampering issue that broke out on the third day. The umpires laid a complaint against Sri Lanka’s methods at maintaining the red-ball, following which they refused to take the field for two hours. Eventually, their captain Dinesh Chandimal was charged by the ICC for breaking the code of conduct.Holder would not be drawn into talking about the incident, but he did feel aggrieved that there was little communication between the officials and the West Indies team. “To be honest I wasn’t aware of what was going on early in the morning. Then we got some information of what was going on. Obviously we’ve seen what has transpired and what has come of it. I choose not to get involved with it. The game is in the control of the match referee. Just a bit disappointed with how it was handled. We basically sat around for two hours with not much information.”Holder was far more open in talking about the final Test of the series, starting on Saturday. “Its obviously a special occasion, the first day-night Test in the Caribbean. I guess the people of Barbados – I’m from Barbados as well – will come out and support us. They’re really avid cricket fans and it should be a really good spectacle at the Kensington Oval.”

Having known him since high school, Mathews feels the opener has added a lot of stability to the inexperienced Sri Lanka side

Andrew Fidel Fernando 22-Jul-2018Dimuth Karunaratne’s outstanding run over the past 18 months is down largely to his experience. So said Angelo Mathews, of a batsman he has known since high school. He and Karunaratne played together for St. Joseph’s College in Colombo, for a team in which Mathews was the star captain. But Mathews, like everyone else, has been lavishly outscored by Karunaratne in bowler-friendly series.Karunaratne’s aggregate across the two Tests is 356 – 195 runs more than the next highest-scorer. He has also passed 50 in each of his four innings, and is the only centurion so far, having made 158 not out in the first innings in Galle.”With experience you improve, and you learn from your mistakes,” Mathews said. “We all can see that Dimuth is not repeating his mistakes. That is the quality a batsman should have. I have been with him since school. I know him in and out and he is a strong character. He doesn’t easily give up.”Although Karunaratne was an inconsistent performer in the first few years of his career, he has seemingly matured into a more reliably run-producer since the start of 2017. He had scored over 1000 runs in the last calendar year, in which he hit centuries against Bangladesh and India, as well as making 196 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi – an innings that set up victory in that game. Now, in 2018, he averages 65.15 after four Tests.”The way he has batted in the last year or so has been brilliant,” Mathews said. “He was outstanding in UAE when he got those huge runs in both games. Once again, here, he showed that on difficult wickets he can score runs. If you all recall, on a difficult wicket against India at the SSC last year, he scored a hundred as well. He has added a lot of stability into our line-up.”What Karunaratne has done well on the spin-friendly pitches in this series, is search out scoring opportunities, Mathews said. “You always can get a good ball on these wickets. You can’t wait for the good ball. On these tracks, you’ve got to score runs, and keep rotating the strike so that it gets easier. That’s what Dimuth has done.”Although Karunaratne has helped set up the series whitewash, Sri Lanka require five more wickets to close out the second Test.”Beating the No. 2 team in the world is something special, and it’s going to be a huge achievement for us as we’re an inexperienced side,” Mathews said. “We will enjoy that. But we have a job at hand tomorrow morning. The first couple of wickets are going to be crucial. If we can knock off a couple early then we can enjoy the victory.”