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Left-arm spinner Sadia Yousuf’s five-wicket haul demolished Ireland Women’s chase to help Pakistan Women complete a 89-run win to take the series 2-0.

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-2013
ScorecardLeft-arm spinner Sadia Yousuf’s five-wicket haul demolished Ireland Women’s chase and helped Pakistan Women complete a 89-run win to take the one-day series 2-0.Chasing 249, Ireland suffered an early loss but an 84-run partnership between opener Clare Shillington and Cecelia Joyce kept the innings going. Yousuf got the big breakthrough for Pakistan when she had Shillington caught behind for a steady 39 in the 19th over, bringing an end to the only substantial partnership in the Irish innings. Yousuf struck again to dismiss Joyce for 49 in the 21st over and Ireland’s chase seemed to lose steam thereon, as they kept losing wickets regularly. Having dismissed three of Ireland’s top-order batsmen, the left-arm spinner came back to clean up the tail and the Irish innings folded for 159, 89 runs short of the target.Pakistan, who chose to bat, followed a similar trajectory in their innings. The openers began steadily, adding 49 runs, before a 94-run partnership between Javeria Khan and Nain Abidi built a solid platform for Pakistan to attack in the last 10 overs. Abidi fell for a 69-ball 50, while Javeria scored 81 off 105 balls with eight fours. In-form batsman Bismah Maroof hit a few attacking shots and looked good to take Pakistan to a big score. However, the side managed to lose their last five wickets in the last three overs, and three of those wickets fell to run-outs. From the relative strength of 237 for 5, the Pakistan innings ended on 248, with Bismah the last batsman out.The win caps off a successful series for Pakistan ahead of their Women’s T20 World Cup qualifiers against Thailand, Zimbabwe and Netherlands, which will be played on on July 23, 25 and 27.

Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh shared an opening stand of 246 – the second-highest Australian partnership for any wicket in ODIs – in a clinical dissection of Scotland, who were beaten by 200 runs.

The Report by Jonathan Coates 03-Sep-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAaron Finch peppered the boundary with seven sixes and 16 fours•Getty Images

Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh shared an opening stand of 246 – the second-highest Australia partnership for any wicket in ODIs – in a clinical dissection of Scotland, who were beaten by 200 runs.The pair erased Geoff Marsh and David Boon’s Australia record of 212 for an opening partnership, made against India and a record that had stood proudly since 1986. That wasn’t the only record to fall. Australia’s 362 for 3 surpassed the 345 they scored against the same team, made here four years ago, and the 334 for 6 they made against Scotland at the 2007 World Cup.In the field, the hosts were athletic and efficient, but their bowling was blunt. They didn’t concede any boundaries for six overs, after choosing to field first. The score was 12 for no loss at that stage but Scotland simply couldn’t stem the flow of runs that followed.Finch didn’t quite reprise the brutality of his world-record Twenty20 score in Southampton, but played impressively, waiting for the right ball and picking his spot. He may have set Twenty20 records last week but he only had 107 runs from seven ODI innings before the trip to Edinburgh. On 24, he advanced to Majid Haq’s second ball of the day and was beaten. To the bowler’s dismay, the ball also deceived Northamptonshire wicketkeeper David Murphy.At the other end, Marsh did not look comfortable for a long time and struggled to adjust to the lack of pace in the pitch; but the batsman grew in confidence after punching offspinner Haq for two fours in consecutive overs.Few will remember those early difficulties when scrutinising the scoreboard in years to come. It took Marsh 87 balls to get to 50, but 61 deliveries later he had 150. He struck 16 fours, the same as Finch, and five sixes to Finch’s seven in a display of breathtaking acceleration.Gordon Drummond, who combined with Iain Wardlaw to make life difficult for the Australia batsman at the start, was the only bowler other than Haq to manage finish with respectable figures as Scotland tried in vain to build confidence for their final World Cricket League Championship matches in Belfast later this week.Australia’s strategy was simple: build the run rate from five an over to six and seven, keep wickets in hand and then go ballistic. When the Powerplay was called after after 33 overs, Wardlaw came back on with Finch 108 and Marsh 62 and the score at 181 for no loss.It was civilised carnage from then on, at least until the 48th over when Wardlaw had Marsh and Shane Watson caught off successive deliveries by Gordon Goudie in the deep. In those 15 overs, Australia added 166 runs. The first wicket went to Haq, as Finch mishit a big shot, but the batsman’s departure did nothing to slow the scoring.The two young Scotland openers, Freddie Coleman and Hamish Gardiner, came out to bat under a warm sun and dropped anchor in a steep chase, and soon Mitchell Johnson and Clint McKay had a wicket apiece.Matt Machan, who has impressed this season for Sussex, constructed an attractive 39 before holing out and Preston Mommsen, Scotland’s captain in the absence of Kyle Coetzer, was run out attempting a single.Faulkner deceived Berrington with a ball out of the back of his hand and Fawad Ahmed claimed his first ODI wicket as Scotland laboured to 162 all out in 44 overs. Johnson picked up the early wicket of Coleman and then came back to dismiss three tail-end batsmen in successive overs.

N Srinivasan has said he will stand for re-election as BCCI president at the Indian board’s annual general meeting, to be held in Chennai on September 29

Amol Karhadkar19-Sep-2013N Srinivasan has said he will stand for re-election as BCCI president at the Indian board’s annual general meeting, to be held in Chennai on September 29. The announcement is not a surprise but his success, a foregone conclusion a few months ago, is now hostage to several legal and judicial issues that are beyond his control and may crystallise formal opposition to him.Under BCCI rules, any presidential candidate has to be nominated by two associations from the incumbent’s home zone – south zone in Srinivasan’s case, and that is where the focus is shifting.As Srinivasan left the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Thursday after attending a meeting of the board’s marketing committee, he was asked if the other members from south zone were standing besides him. His response was succinct: “I am going to stand,” he said, before taking a dig at the media for speculating on the numbers game in the event of an election.While Srinivasan has made his candidature public, it cannot be ascertained at this point if the murmurs within the board opposing Srinivasan’s stubbornness to hold on to the chair will turn into a credible organised lobby sufficient to match Srinivasan both in terms of stature and power. The early runner seems to be Shashank Manohar, Srinivasan’s predecessor, a lawyer with a no-nonsense yet low-profile attitude.Manohar hasn’t yet made any concrete or public move towards returning to job he left in 2011 but it is believed that efforts are on to persuade him to contest against Srinivasan. One official privy to the developments told ESPNcricinfo that Manohar has shown interest but he is still gauging his support, especially from the south zone.Manohar, who hails from the central zone, will need a proposer and a seconder from the south zone – most of whose members are staunch Srinivasan loyalists. It is believed that the anti-Srinivasan lobby – comprising senior politicians in New Delhi who are also part of the BCCI top brass – has been exerting political pressure on the Goa Cricket Association to shift its allegiance from Srinivasan.The same lobby is also working on the Andhra Cricket Association to be the other member needed to set up a candidate. “Our stand is still undecided. We will discuss with our member units and then decide, since there is no hurry as such,” an ACA official said on Thursday.Both sides also have an eye on two important legal developments that could impact the election. One involves the IPL fixing case, in relation to which Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested in May. Mumbai Police is expected to file its chargesheet any day and the gravity of the charges against Meiyappan could play a part.Srinivasan himself has already been chargesheeted – in his capacity as managing director of India Cements – in a corruption case involving a top political leader from Andhra Pradesh. If he is arrested in this case – and it is not impossible, given the high-level political machinations at work – then the board might agree to replace him as the BCCI president, even though the issue has nothing to do with cricket. “If that happens, we will have to find a new face,” a Srinivasan confidant conceded.It is these uncertainties that the Cricket Association of Bihar has sought to tap into through a public appeal to the BCCI members. The CAB – which is not a part of the BCCI – had filed the petition in Bombay High Court against the constitution of the IPL probe commission and on Tuesday made a “sincere appeal” to BCCI members to reject Srinivasan’s candidature. “He continues to be in a ‘step aside’ situation as president,” the appeal said. “The BCCI cannot afford to have a president who will be in a permanent state of ‘step aside’ and not be involved in its day-to-day affairs.”Despite all this, Srinivasan remains the most powerful person in the board and the man to beat in the elections. He has the support of many member associations but, as the BCCI AGM draws closer, the equation within the board could yet change dramatically.

Four-hundred-and-fifty-five runs, the most ever for a T20 match in England and fourth highest in all T20 cricket, were plundered in just over three hours of ferocious cricket

Freddie Wilde at The Kia Oval15-May-2015
Scorecard11:47

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Four-hundred-and-fifty-five runs, the most ever for a T20 match in England and fourth highest in all T20 cricket, were plundered in just over three hours of ferocious cricket as a typically boisterous Kia Oval crowd of almost 13,000 sang, jeered, drank and cheered their night away as Surrey slid to 25-run defeat in spectacular fashion.A masterful team batting effort in both strategy and execution from Glamorgan saw them record the fourth highest score in the history of domestic T20 in England, 240 for 3, as they began their 2015 campaign with an explosive victory. Even though Surrey recorded their fifth highest T20 score in response, they were never really in contention to chase the runs, losing wickets at regular intervals, eventually bowled out with three balls to spare.After losing the toss and being put into bat, Glamorgan began their innings with cautious, but positive, intent. Mark Wallace struck two fours in the second over of the innings before he was caught at mid-off for 10 off the bowling of Tom Curran. Wallace’s demise brought the South African-born pairing of Jacques Rudolph and Colin Ingram together.Rudolph seemed happy to play second fiddle to his partner, hitting no boundaries in the Powerplay, while Ingram, who was spectacularly caught off a no-ball when on just 9, struck three fours and two sixes to see Glamorgan exit the sixth over nicely positioned at 53 for 1.

Insights

Last season Surrey were particularly successful in the T20 Blast deploying an army of spinners on dry pitches, but spin-duo Gareth Batty and Zafar Ansari were thwarted by a wonderful array of sweeps and reverse sweeps from Rudolph and Ingram as they capitalised on a short boundary.
Given the clearly flat pitch and small boundaries it is hard to read too much into the bowling performances. However the batting efforts will obviously give great cause for encouragement for both. Glamorgan highest total last season was 192, that score incidentally coming in the equivalent fixture last year; Surrey’s highest score was 188, also in the same fixture.
Freddie Wilde

It will please Glamorgan that Rudolph and Ingram, both former international players of clear class, but perhaps not particularly attuned to T20, scored at strike-rates of 158 and 193 respectively, well above their career records of 116 and 125. Glamorgan lack real firepower in the lower order following the departure Jim Allenby and Cooke is the only player with a strike-rate of more than 127. Surrey meanwhile, will be encouraged that they scored 215 on a day when Roy failed.Effortlessly moving through the gears in the middle overs, and with both men passing fifty, Batty and Ansari conceded 87 runs from seven overs and neither took a wicket. But it was not only the spinners who were punished by Glamorgan. Seamer Matt Dunn had a day to forget, going wicketless and conceding 54 runs from his four overs.The 141-run partnership was broken in the fifteenth over as Rudolph, clearly looking to accelerate further, mis-timed a heave to mid-on to depart for 62. Two overs later Ingram followed his captain back to the pavilion when he was bowled by a Wahab Riaz, whose figures at the end of his third over were an impressive 1 for 16.That was as good as it got for Wahab and Surrey as Chris Cooke and Ben Wright hammered 58 from the final three overs, including 29 off a single Wahab over in which Cooke hit three sixes in four balls. It may have been the home team on the receiving end of the onslaught but the crowd were in balmy spirits as the innings came to a close. Cooke finished 46 not out off 19 balls, while Wright blitzed 16 from his seven. Glamorgan had scored 138 for 2 from their final 60 deliveries.Colin Ingram plundered 91 off 47 balls•Getty Images

Surrey lost last season’s leading run-scorer Jason Roy after just four balls of the chase, but there was no dampening the sense of occasion nor optimism as Kumar Sangakkara joined Steven Davies at the crease. Sangakkara struck three consecutive fours in the fifth over but Surrey fell behind the rate almost immediately and when they lost Sangakkara just before the end of the Powerplay there was an overwhelming sense that this enormous chase was going to be too many.Davies and Aneesh Kapil then departed in quick succession and when Dean Cosker, who finished with 4 for 30, dismissed Gary Wilson and Vikram Solanki off consecutive balls in the tenth over, the match was as good as lost.The party atmosphere continued deep into the Surrey innings however, as Ansari clubbed an unbeaten 67 off 32 balls. No one stuck with him though and Surrey were eventually bowled out for 215 with three balls remaining.Surrey had lost but you would not have known it looking at sections of the crowd – their loyalty to the home team was at best questionable and at worst non-existent. For many, the cricket was but a sideshow to the fun and games as the match wound to a close.It was T20 as it was designed to be: high-scoring, high-octane, furious, manic, explosive and fun. Better a raucous stadium than an empty one.It is the Blast’s misfortune that just a fraction of its matches are televised because at The Oval the country missed the perfect occasion to kick off the most important season in the tournament’s history. It wasn’t watched by anyone outside of the 12,832 people in the ground. But the match showed what domestic T20 cricket in England can be. And it was brilliant.

Rob Key hit 89 on his return to County Championship action but Surrey emerged with the opening day honours at a redeveloped Beckenham as Kent’s first innings fell away sharply to 282 all out

ECB/PA24-May-2015
ScorecardRob Key was back in the Kent side and made his best score of the year•Getty Images

Rob Key hit 89 on his return to County Championship action but Surrey emerged with the opening day honours at a redeveloped Beckenham as Kent’s first innings fell away sharply to 282 all out amid a rash of poor strokes. In reply Surrey were 17 for 1 at stumps, having lost Zafar Ansari leg-before to Matt Coles for 3 in eight awkward overs before the close.Key added 133 in 28 overs with Sam Northeast, who made a fluent 73, but from 182 for 2 Kent let things slip badly on a good pitch after three wickets went down for just seven runs in mid-afternoon. Sam Billings, Fabian Cowdrey and Coles did offer some further resistance following the sudden slide to 189 for 5, but too many wickets were gifted to a Surrey bowling attack depleted by the loss of Luke Fletcher to a back spasm after the on-loan seamer had sent down just six overs.Nothing better summed up the nature of Kent’s disappointing decline than the hard-hitting Coles’s departure for 21 when the big left-hander tamely chipped a return catch to Jason Roy when he bowled a single over of his occasional seam just before Surrey took the second new ball.Cowdrey was then leg-before to the deserving Matt Dunn for a grafting 39, and the same bowler soon wrapped up the innings by castling last man Ivan Thomas.Kent club captain Key is playing under Sam Northeast’s leadership in this game, having missed two Championship games after dropping himself following three unproductive four-day matches with the bat at the start of the season. But Key, who hails from Beckenham, has always enjoyed playing on the ground, which has not hosted any senior county cricket since 2012 due to the construction of a new 2000-seater stand, a new indoor school, and the addition of commercial and multi-sports facilities. He also has a magnificent career record against Surrey, against whom he has now scored 2096 first-class runs at an average of 63.51, with eight hundreds and ten further scores of 50 or more.Key was soon at the crease from No 3, after Kent had won the toss but lost Joe Denly in the second over, and initially he featured in a stand of 49 for the second wicket with Daniel Bell-Drummond. Denly was leg-before for 0 to a nip-backer from Fletcher, and it could have been worse for Kent had Bell-Drummond not been dropped by Rory Burns at third slip off the second ball of the match, bowled by Dunn.As it was, Bell-Drummond played nicely for 20 before pushing forward to an arm ball from left-arm spinner Ansari and being given out leg-before when the ball hit his front pad just before the inside edge of his bat.But Northeast came in to hit nine fours and a driven six off Ansari in his 93-ball innings while Key – who has been playing in Kent’s Second XI in order to regain his batting form – looked to gain quickly in confidence after advancing down the pitch to Ansari early in his innings and lofting a cleanly-struck six over long off.There were seven fours besides, including the cover boundary which took him to his half-century, as Key sailed past his previous season’s best of 34, made against Lancashire at Old Trafford in the last week of April. He had made only 86 runs in six innings before taking his self-enforced break from first team action, and last summer scored just 561 Championship runs at 22.44.Just when it looked certain that Key would complete a ninth first-class hundred against Surrey, Key was adjudged lbw to a quicker ball from Ansari – although it seemed as if the batsman might have got some bat on it. He had faced 134 balls.Two balls later Northeast edged Tom Curran to second slip, trying to force into the offside, and Darren Stevens then lifted a simple catch to mid off, driving at Dunn, to depart for a duck.Billings and Cowdrey saw Kent through to tea at 224 for 5, but afterwards Billings was rightly livid with himself when he flashed at a short wide ball from Curran and edged a catch behind. They had added 46 for the sixth wicket but Calum Haggett was soon gone too, for a duck, nicking Curran to first slip as the sun and warmth of earlier in the day turned to cloud cover and plunging temperatures in the final session.

On Wednesday morning Australia began their defence of the Frank Worrell Trophy. By Friday evening they had retained it

The Report by Brydon Coverdale05-Jun-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMitchell Starc claimed 4 for 28 to ensure Australia faced only a small chase•Getty Images

On Wednesday morning Australia began their defence of the Frank Worrell Trophy. By Friday evening they had retained it. Such is the nature of modern scheduling that a two-Test series was all Australia and West Indies could arrange. Such was the nature of the Roseau conditions that this abbreviated campaign began with an abridged match, won by Australia within three days.The third and final day began with West Indies on 25 for 2 and in danger of capitulating. They needed 145 more to make Australia bat again. Australia’s morning began perfectly when Darren Bravo was taken at mid-off by a diving David Warner off Josh Hazlewood for 5. But then came the complication: Marlon Samuels and debutant Shane Dowrich ground out the highest partnership of the Test.Their 144-run union threatened not only to take the match into a fourth day but to pull it out of Australia’s grasp and back into competitive territory. Only one wicket fell in each of the first two sessions. But then came the collapse. After tea West Indies lost their last six wickets for 27, set Australia a target of 47, and provided the rain and light held out, a three-day finish was on again.David Warner had no intention of coming back on Saturday. He thumped a four and a six off Jerome Taylor’s first over, then another six off Shannon Gabriel in the second over. Warner edged Taylor to slip for 28 with five runs still needed, but Steven Smith joined Shaun Marsh and finished the job within the first five overs of the innings, a nine-wicket win satisfying the Australians ahead of the second Test in Jamaica.In the end it looked clinical, but there were times throughout the match that West Indies were in the contest. When they reduced Australia to 126 for 6 on the second day, they sent some nervous moments through the Australian camp. But the unbeaten 130 from debutant Adam Voges was the big difference, his work with the tail giving Australia a comfortable first-innings buffer.While Dowrich and Samuels were together there were also slivers of hope for West Indies. Both men were steady in the morning session before becoming more expansive after lunch. Within the space of three balls, Samuels lifted Nathan Lyon over mid-on for a four and a six, and his half-century came from his 115th delivery.Dowrich also cleared mid-on for a six off Lyon and brought up his fifty from his 153rd delivery with a pull for four off Mitchell Johnson. Soon, West Indies were back into the lead. If Dowrich and Samuels could bat on, if they could set up a chase of 150 or 200 runs, who knows what might have happened. But it was not to be. Dowrich drove Hazlewood to a catching short mid-on for 70, and it signalled the beginning of the end.After tea, the wickets began to tumble. Jermaine Blackwood advanced, missed a low full toss from Lyon and was stumped by Brad Haddin, who failed to take the ball cleanly but kept his head well enough to complete the job. In the next over, Samuels top-edged a pull off Johnson to Hazlewood at fine leg for 74, and it was all down to the wicketkeeper and bowlers.Denesh Ramdin chopped on off Lyon, Jerome Taylor was lbw for a golden duck to a Mitchell Starc inswinger, and a few overs later Starc finished the job by bowling Devendra Bishoo and Gabriel from consecutive deliveries. Jason Holder was left not out on 12, and Australia were left with the task of beating the cloud and bad light if they wanted an extra day off between matches.Warner made sure they did just that. All that was left was a Man-of-the-Match presentation for Voges on debut, and a reworking of weekend plans for the Dominican fans, who reasonably would have expected cricket in their country on Saturday and Sunday. By collapsing before tea on the first day having chosen to bat, West Indies set themselves behind from the start of this game. And it was an advantage Australia were never likely to give up.