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Brilliant Rossouw-Sarfraz stand maintains Quetta's perfect record

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Rilee Rossouw and Sarfraz Ahmed combined for the second biggest stand in PSL history to spearhead a seven-wicket win for Quetta Gladiators over Karachi Kings

The Report By Danyal Rasool11-Feb-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:20

Watch – Rossouw, Sarfraz fifties flatten Karachi

In a nutshellA 130-run partnership between Rilee Rossouw and Sarfraz Ahmed – the second highest in PSL history – saw Quetta Gladiators beat the Karachi Kings by seven wickets. The pair came together with the Gladiators tottering at 30 for 3 in the fifth over but they combined power hitting with composure, not to mention superb running between the wickets. It was a chanceless stand, a masterclass in how to deal with pressure and gradually take control of a game.On Friday, Mohammad Amir was the Kings’ most impressive opening bowler. This time his opening partner Sohail Khan took up the mantle, bowling a consistently good length on the off stump line, seaming the ball away from the right-hander. It wouldn’t have been out of place on the first morning of a Test match. He got his rewards, dismissing Ahmed Shehzad, Kevin Pietersen and Asad Shafiq in the space of four balls only for momentum to be stolen back by Rossouw and Sarfraz.Karachi had earlier started off quite cautiously. Chris Gayle scratched out an unconvincing 11 and Kumar Sangakkara searching for form holed out to extra cover for 25. By the end of the fourteenth over, they were 87 for 3. From there, they were never going to get a par score, and only poor death bowling by last year’s finalists – Tymal Mills excepted – took Karachi to their final total of 159. But Rossouw and Sarfraz saw to it that it wouldn’t be enough.Where the match was wonWhile the Gladiators fourth wicket partnership was impressive enough, it only really began to pose a threat after a moment Karachi only had themselves to blame. Five balls into the ninth over of the Quetta innings, a no-ball was called because the Kings’ didn’t have enough fielders inside the circle. That bit of self-inflicted harm was punished severely, Rossouw launching the free hit for six over midwicket. The final ball met the same fate as a good over suddenly went for 19. The asking rate came under eight and the batsmen had all the answers.The men that won itRossouw, who was so impressive against Lahore on Friday in holding Quetta’s innings together, was the main architect again, albeit in a more destructive manner. Forty runs came off his first 21 balls before the former South African international slowed down as Quetta’s captain Sarfraz began to find his timing.The pair’s running between the wickets is especially worth pointing out. Pressure was regularly placed on Karachi’s fielders and several ones were converted into twos. At no stage did it look like a wicket was about to fall, from the moment the pair got together right to the last delivery, a full toss which Rossouw dispatched to the extra cover boundary.1:23

WATCH – Rossouw’s match-winning 76*

Tidy Tymal MillsThe only phase where Quetta looked like being outplayed was between overs 14 and 19 of the Karachi innings. From 87 in 14, Sangakkara’s men plundered 64 runs off the next five overs, taking advantage of wayward – and frankly bizarre – lines and lengths from Quetta’s bowlers.At one point, it looked like they might even get to 170. They might have done were it not for Mills, who more than justified his T20 reputation with a superb spell by varying his pace and line regularly to finish with 2 for 21 in four overs. That included a disciplined final over which yielded just eight runs and ensured Karachi’s total didn’t get out of hand.Moment of the matchIt is often said Quetta do not have superstars in their lineup, relying instead on team performances. There is one glaring exception to that of course in the form of Pietersen. However, when he came in today at 23 for 1, he edged the first ball from Sohail to the wicketkeeper. It was a poor shot first up against the seaming ball and it left him with three runs in two matches. Other teams might struggle in the absence of a contribution from such an instrumental player, but Quetta have still managed to win both their games, showing there might be something in their reputation of being a team rather than just a collection of individuals.Where they standQuetta are the only team to still boast a 100 percent record and sit at the top of the table on four points. Karachi, conversely, are the only side to lose both their games and sit at the bottom of the league. This defeat means Karachi Kings have lost 9 of their 11 PSL matches with their only wins coming against Lahore Qalandars.

Gambhir, Lynn blaze away in record chase

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Kolkata Knight Riders gunned down a target of 184 without losing a single wicket – a world record in T20 cricket

The Report by Alagappan Muthu07-Apr-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:30

Hogg: Bamboozled by Lynn’s six-hitting

Kolkata Knight Riders took down a target of 184 without losing a single wicket – a world record in T20 cricket – and the man that did the heavy lifting was Chris Lynn.Promoted to open the batting for only the second time in 86 T20s, he equalled the franchise’s second-fastest fifty – off 19 balls – put on the IPL’s highest opening partnership – 184* – with Gautam Gambhir and finally secured victory with 5.1 overs to spare.The result – as emphatic as it was – highlighted Gujarat Lions’ weak bowling attack and the mistake they made by choosing four opening batsmen as their overseas players.Lynnsanity – 93 not out off 41 balls, eight sixes, six foursMaking Lynn bat as high as possible makes sense. He smacks fast bowling at an average of 43.10 and at a run-rate of 10.19 an over. At his most recent T20 tournament – the Big Bash – he hit a boundary every four balls.Brendon McCullum, his captain at the Brisbane Heat, told the commentators that the idea of bowling a good length to Lynn was a non-starter. The very length that makes Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni potent. As a result, Gujarat Lions’ best bowlers were used for only three out of the first six overs.Left-arm wristspinner Shivil Kaushik, in only his second season of the IPL, and Manpreet Gony, playing in the tournament for the first time since 2013, were asked to pick up the slack in the fielding restrictions. It led to a Knight Riders record as they made their highest score in the Powerplay – 73 runs.Gambhir’s rage – 76 not out off 48 balls, 12 foursGambhir actually outscored Lynn at the start, so much that he made his best score after six overs in the IPL. Of the 40 runs he made in this period, 16 came in a single over off Kaushik, whose unorthodox bowling action tends to affect his control.Kaushik was perhaps introduced into the attack to mess with Lynn’s timing, but Gambhir, being an excellent player of spin, took charge. The head-to-head on the night read 23 runs off 13 balls with five fours.With both ends leaking runs, Lions were simply unsure of what to do. And that was all dandy for the Knight Riders captain, who racked up his 32nd IPL fifty, two short of David Warner’s record.Lions’ bowling woesChasing teams had won four out of five IPL matches in Rajkot before Friday, but Lions would have fancied their chances, all the way up to the point where five of their six bowlers conceded economy rates of 10 and more. Kulkarni was smashed for 42 in 2.5 overs, Gony 32 in two, Kaushik 40 in four , Dwayne Smith 23 in one and Shadab Jakati 30 in three.Two of their first-choice picks – Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja – are injured. Their eight overs were sorely missed. Considering the team management would have known that going into the game, it was a surprise that James Faulkner and Andrew Tye were ignored. Their ability to change the pace and bowl yorkers would have been useful in throwing off Lynn and Gambhir, who were basically pressing forward, lining the balls up, and golf-swinging them for six.Whens Lions had it goodFifty three runs in the final four overs. That’s the high Lions were brought down from. Their batsmen had done well to not buckle under pressure through the middle overs. Not even when they made only 39 runs in six overs between the 10th and 16th.Suresh Raina had never made a fifty in his first match of an IPL season. He corrected that with an innings that wasn’t always perfect but pretty useful. If people wanted to point out his four mis-hits fell between fielders, two dropped catches and the missing of an easy run-out chance, he can point to the scoreboard and say he made 68 off 51 balls.Dinesh Karthik was the other batting mastermind. He hit 11.28 runs per over – his second-highest in an innings of 25 balls or more. His 47 was the cameo Lions needed especially after their openers fell after helping put on 52 runs inside the Powerplay.Brendon McCullum smashed Kuldeep Yadav for a six and four before hitting across the line and falling lbw. It was the 21st time he has fallen to left-arm spin in the IPL and now averages 17.80 against it. Jason Roy was undone by Piyush Chawla, which brought his tally against legspin in T20s to 48 runs off 47 balls and five dismissals.

Bennett, Neesham lead New Zealand's canter

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New Zealand, in familiar conditions overhead and underfoot, cruised past Bangladesh by four wickets in Clontarf to stay unbeaten in the tri-series

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJames Neesham added two wickets to go with his crucial fifty against Bangladesh•Getty Images

A harrying spell of pace-bowling from Hamish Bennett, playing his first ODI since January 2014, and fifties from James Neesham and Tom Latham led New Zealand’s drubbing over Bangladesh in the third game of the tri-series, in Clontarf, the venue’s first game between two Full Member nations. New Zealand utilised conditions they are well accustomed to, and executed substantially better than Bangladesh to stay unbeaten in the tri-series. Bangladesh, meanwhile, continue their elusive chase for a win over New Zealand away from home, or at a neutral venue.Latham set up New Zealand’s chase of 258 with a steady half-century, but it was an 80-run, fifth-wicket partnership between Neesham and Neil Broom that turned the game decisively. Bangladesh had clawed their way back, after Ross Taylor’s wicket in the 31st over had left New Zealand at 147 for 4. But Broom laid down anchor and Neesham counter-attacked, displaying their natural batting tendencies.At no point in the innings did the asking rate creep over 6.15: their toughest equation was 91 off 89 balls with six wickets in hand. Such was New Zealand’s control over the chase. With Neesham in fine hitting form – he hit a boundary in each over between overs 34 and 39 – Broom accumulated 48 off 64 before he missed a full, straight ball. By then, however, New Zealand were cruising.The pitch, a comparatively barren surface compared to the tournament opener in Malahide, may have lost some of the zing of the morning, and gradually eased out for batting as the day progressed. Spin, Bangladesh’s most productive asset, didn’t perform. Mashrafe Mortaza leaked runs. Bangladesh’s bowling attack was cut to just two weapons, Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain. Both bowlers, incisive and accurate, took two wickets apiece, but New Zealand were effective in negating Bangladesh’s penetration.The day began in ideal pace-bowling conditions – a quick surface and overcast morning conditions. Seth Rance and Bennett started by angling the ball away from Bangladesh’s left-handed openers. A wide mid-off was an indicator that it was New Zealand’s plan all along. Rance generate appreciable lateral movement, but Bennett’s whippy action and pace continually hustled Bangladesh’s openers. Both Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar were rushed into their pulls and cuts, many false strokes even plonked into gaps.Yet, both batsmen displayed admirable discipline to pick their areas and shots. Soumya went through the off-side infield repeatedly but also intentionally lofted Rance’s occasional wayward line over the fielders.After Tamim found sweeper cover off Neesham in the 16th over, Sabbir Rahman was undone by Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin eight balls later. Those wickets allowed New Zealand an opportunity to pile on the pressure. In a 10-over period, between overs 18 and 27, New Zealand bowled 33 dot balls.Bangladesh’s batsmen struggled against Ish Sodhi’s legspin, in particular. Soumya didn’t account for the extra revolutions, and therefore extra bounce, that a legspinner imparts as his sweep found midwicket for 61. Shakib Al Hasan, struggling for fluency, clipped one to mid-off.Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur then not only limited the damage but also added 59 valuable runs for the fifth wicket. Mushfiqur had eased to his fifty when, in an attempt to guide a length delivery to third man, he found an edge that was snaffled up by Ronchi.In their recent ODI series against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh had laid emphasis on holding wickets in hand for the end overs but that didn’t quite go to plan against New Zealand as they lost their top half by the 38th over. Mahmudullah and Mosaddek Hossain, therefore, were left with little choice but to collect whatever they could. Thirteen runs were scored off four overs after Mushfiqur’s dismissal, the 41st over was a maiden.Mahmudullah, it seemed, lost his timing as his innings progressed and eventually fell to a stunning catch at short fine leg from Rance in the 48th over. Mosaddek, in between, provided some impetus to Bangladesh’s slog overs with four fours in the space of eight balls.Bennett collected two more wickets in the final over, using a hard length and his pace to get past Bangladesh’s lower order. The last four overs yielded just 23 runs, leaving Bangladesh well short of a total that could have challenged New Zealand.

Davies' risk brings handsome reward for Lancashire

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Very many other cricketers have possessed a similar cast of mind, of course, but few achieve their goal with quite the gleeful devil evinced by Alex Davies

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford20-Jun-2017
ScorecardAlex Davies steadied Lancashire with a fine century•Getty Images

Alex Davies irritates opponents and seems to greatly enjoy doing so. Very many other cricketers have possessed a similar cast of mind, of course, but few achieve their goal with quite the gleeful devil evinced by Davies. For example, Hampshire had only to place two short midwickets during the second session of this day for him to clip the ball along the ground between them. Such calculated daring brought Davies a third Championship century of the season and it refreshed Lancashire supporters on an afternoon when the heat blanketed anyone emerging from shade.Davies’s approach is often garlanded with risk. He was dropped twice on the way to his hundred and on 17 he would have been run out by the length of a 1930s dole queue had Matt Salisbury’s throw hit the stumps. But Davies seems to savour danger, too. For all his 22 years and, one might assume, relative maturity, he grins out of his photographs like one of William Brown’s outlaws in Richmal Crompton’s once popular stories. One can imagine him scrumping apples or making good use of a catapult in the age before screens sought vainly to dull the young. That disarmingly wide-eyed innocence deceives no one; Davies is one of cricket’s good-hearted rascals and one of the game’s undiluted competitors.He is also a fine batsman. By the time he was caught at deep square leg by Michael Carberry off James Vince’s fifth ball of the innings he had taken Lancashire to within 26 runs of avoiding the follow-on. That task was completed by Dane Vilas and Ryan McLaren during a session when the bat held sway over the ball and the day drifted into the warm reverie of a summer evening. At one stage, the batsmen were having a drink, Lewis McManus was changing his wicketkeeping gloves and a Hampshire cricketer was removing grit from a team mate’s boots. Our cricket ended at nearly seven o’clock with Lancashire 117 runs in arrears and Vilas unbeaten on a fine 76. The crowd drifted off for their restorative suppers and perhaps they will be encouraged a little by the South African’s disciplined application.In mid-afternoon, though it seemed longer than that, the home supporters – all sun hats, polo shirts and cotton dresses – had required reviving for other reasons. Having seen Hampshire complete their recovery from 177 for 6 and post a healthy 395, they had then watched as Lancashire lost their first three wickets for a mere 69. This decline began when Rob Jones, having taken a blow on the helmet from Gareth Berg, was snared lbw for 2 by the next delivery, which caught him on the crease.That was a fine piece of cricket by this impressive Hampshire team and it was followed by another four overs after lunch when a Berg inswinger removed Luke Procter’s off stump. Steven Croft, Lancashire’s normally combative captain, then played perhaps the most quiescent innings of his career, scratching a single from 32 balls in 54 minutes before he was leg before when playing no recognisable shot at all to a ball from Kyle Abbott which nipped back off the pitch.Lancashire’s recovery from these toils was led by Davies and it was begun by his rather skittish partnership of 74 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Having taken only two runs from five overs near the beginning of their stand, the pair then collected 47 from the next 30 balls. Chanderpaul got off the mark with two cover-driven fours and he and Davies both took sixes off the same Brad Taylor over. Runs came in something of a torrent on this true pitch which currently facilitates attacking strokeplay. Davies manufactured fours to third man and clipped the ball backward of square and Chanderpaul, who can exhibit all the gay daring of a borough surveyor examining a warehouse, matched Davies shot for shot, but was stumped for 33 when lured forward by an excellent ball from the offspinner, Taylor which turned past the outside edge. Yet Vilas batted with even more disciplined aggression into the evening session and it suddenly seemed ages since the last rites of Hampshire’s inningsThose had begun when James Anderson, who bowled with more threat in six overs on the second morning than he had managed in 22 on the first day, removed Taylor in the third over but Salisbury then put on 43 for the last wicket with Abbott. Indeed, so unruffled were the last-wicket pair that it seemed Abbott would follow Jack Brooks’ example in the previous first-class match on this ground and cruise to a maiden century. Alas for such Natalian dreams, Salisbury skied McLaren to Chanderpaul at mid-on when Abbott was 97 and the visitors’ innings ended on 395.Hampshire were well-placed with that total on the board and were in an even stronger position in mid-afternoon. But ultimately the day belonged to Davies. Short, combative and increasingly skilful, Lancashire’s wicketkeeper long ago won the respect of his colleagues; he can now add the fond regard of the county’s supporters, all of whom know that he is one of those players who always give of their best and whose loyalty has been firmly pledged. A year ago his career was threatened by a knee injury and in early April he had yet to score a first-class hundred; now he has three of them although not yet a full cap. Lancashire cricket is both his livelihood and his sporting love. She will never suffer if he can prevent it.

Mitchell, D'Oliveira tons puts Worcs on top

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Daryl Mitchell and Brett D’Oliveira ended a lean start to the County Championship season with centuries on a day of personal milestones as Worcestershire took charge of the Division Two match against Derbyshire

ECB Reporters Network21-May-2017
ScorecardDaryl Mitchell and Brett D’Oliveira ended a lean start to the County Championship season with centuries on a day of personal milestones as Worcestershire took charge of the Division Two match against Derbyshire at Derby.The opening pair put on 243 in 54 overs with Mitchell, who made 120, completing 10,000 first-class runs for Worcestershire when he got to 87. D’Oliveira scored 150 from 232 balls as the visitors closed day three on 323 for 3, a lead of 48 over Derbyshire, who needed a ninth-wicket stand of 45 between Tony Palladino and Tom Taylor to get to 275. Worcestershire skipper Joe Leach took 4 for 50 from 23 overs.Palladino and Taylor held up Worcestershire for 20 overs in the morning to steer Derbyshire to a second batting point that had looked unlikely when Leach struck twice in consecutive overs.Daryn Smit edged low to Mitchell at second slip and after Jeevan Mendis had driven Nathan Lyon for six and swept the Australian offspinner for two fours, he loosely clipped Leach to deep square leg. But Worcestershire’s hopes of wrapping up the innings were dashed by the tail until Ed Barnard came on at the City end and had Taylor caught behind to give Ben Cox his 200th first-class catch.Palladino was lbw to a full-length ball to leave Worcestershire with a potentially tricky 20 minutes of batting before lunch but there were few alarms as the openers closed in on Derbyshire’s total.D’Oliveira drove and cut Taylor for four fours in five balls but he should have been caught on 42 at square leg by Ben Slater off Shiv Thakor who was comfortably the pick of Derbyshire’s attack.Mitchell reached his landmark by driving Mendis through the covers for three just before tea, his 25th first-class century coming off 128 balls, before D’Oliveira completed his first in all cricket since last May from 160 balls.The stand was finally broken by Thakor who had Mitchell lbw playing across the line and Leach hit two sixes in the penultimate over before D’Oliveira finally fell with his side still in with a chance of forcing a win on the last day.

Gloom for Middlesex as Somerset end losing run

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Somerset claimed their first win of the NatWest T0 Blast campaign by plundering 207 for 9 at Uxbridge and then restricting Middlesex to 186 for 7 in reply

ECB Reporters Network16-Jul-2017
ScorecardAdam Hose arrested Somerset’s run of defeats•Getty Images

Somerset claimed their first win of the NatWest T0 Blast campaign by plundering 207 for 9 at Uxbridge and then restricting Middlesex to 186 for 7 in reply.Adam Hose top-scored for Somerset with a sparkling 59 from 28 balls, with two sixes and eight fours, and Craig Overton was the pick of the visiting bowlers with 3 for 24.The 21-run victory margin will be a huge relief to Somerset, who had lost nine of their ten previous T20 Blast matches, stretching back to last season.
That unwanted run had only been cut short by a No Result against Glamorgan at Cardiff the previous evening, when rain swept in after 17 overs of the first innings. Both Somerset and Middlesex now have three points from four South Group matches.Middlesex’s reply got off to a stuttering start with captain Brendon McCullum continuing his poor run of form by chipping a slower ball from Josh Davey to mid off on 7. The New Zealander has now scored just 36 runs from four innings in the competition.Michael Leask’s off spin then accounted for the equally prized scalp of Dawid Malan, the left-hander dragging his back foot out of the crease when he attempted to flick to leg and being smartly stumped by 18-year-old debutant Tom Banton for 7. The delivery was signalled a wide but the dismissal left Middlesex 25 for 2.Eoin Morgan helped Paul Stirling put on 66 in nine overs for the third wicket but Middlesex still required another 117 from nine overs when Stirling skied Overton to deep mid wicket from the first ball of the 12th over to go for 39. He had pulled the first ball he faced, from Davey, over mid wicket for six and there were four legside sixes in all for the stocky Irishman – two of them off Max Waller’s leg spin and the other pulled off Roelof van der Merwe’s slow left arm.Morgan laboured to 33 from 31 balls before hitting Waller high to long on and although both James Franklin and John Simpson hit out defiantly the required run rate continued to climb.Not even taking 26 from the 15th over, bowled by Davey and including three sixes, a four and two wides, could resuscitate the Middlesex innings and soon afterwards Franklin lofted the impressive Overton to long on to go for 25.Simpson departed in the 18th over, caught at extra cover for 27, and Ryan Higgins thumped six fours in an unbeaten 35 off just 16 balls to give a good-sized crowd some extra entertainment in the last few overs. Overton finished the match by having Toby Roland-Jones caught at long off for 1 from the final ball.Earlier, Steven Finn struck twice in his first four balls to reduce Somerset to 19 for 2 in the third over, after they had chosen to bat first. Finn’s first ball was pulled low to mid on by Jim Allenby, who had scored just 3, and then Peter Trego was bowled for 1 by a beauty which trimmed the top of his off stump.Somerset’s innings, though, was revitalised by a third wicket stand of 56 in 4.3 overs between Lewis Gregory and Hose. Gregory, opening for the county for the first time in any format, drove Roland-Jones handsomely over mid off for six and also struck five fours in a 22-ball 37 before being bowled by leg spinner Nathan Sowter’s first ball at the start of the eighth over.At halfway Somerset were 99 for 3 and Hose uppercut Finn for six over third man on his way to a superb 22-ball first T20 fifty. Meanwhile, Finn was being scooped cleverly to fine leg for four by James Hildreth, who stepped outside his off stump to play the shot.Hildreth raced to 38 from 19 balls, slog-sweeping and pulling Sowter for successive sixes before the same bowler turned and sprinted fully 30 yards toward long on to bring off a magnificent running catch after seeing the batsman sky another attempted big hit. He and Hose had added another quickfire 56 in 4.4 overs, with Hildreth hitting three sixes and three fours.Hose drove Sowter over long on for six before being adjudged lbw to the Australian-born leg spinner to leave Somerset 143 for 5.The closing overs featured some more useful hitting by Van der Merwe and Overton, after both Leask and Banton had fallen cheaply. Van der Merwe made 17 before being caught at mid wicket off Tim Southee in the 19th over and Overton reached 19 off 11 balls, including a huge six swung off Southee, before being dismissed in the final over.That success was at least some consolation for Roland-Jones, whose four overs cost 51 runs, and it was a surprise that Higgins did not bowl more than his two overs of medium pace, in which he claimed the wicket of Leask and conceded only nine runs.

Bowlers lead the way as Patriots complete double over Warriors

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Chris Gayle’s slowest half-century set it up, and his bowlers finished the job on a slow pitch, as the Guyana Amazon Warriors fell agonisingly short of a win against St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots

Peter Della Penna in Lauderhill06-Aug-2017
1:26

‘We came out on top in the key moments’ – Brathwaite

The slowest T20 half-century of Chris Gayle’s career wound up being an incredibly valuable one as St Kitts and Nevis Patriots defended 132, including seven off the final over, to beat Guyana Amazon Warriors by four runs in Florida. Two run-outs on either side of a Carlos Brathwaite yorker in a chaotic last over sealed a second win in two days for the Patriots.Gayle storm turns into soft drizzleGayle struck 85 off 52 balls on this ground five years ago against in a then record score of 209 for 2, against New Zealand. On this weekend’s pitch, timing the ball off the wicket was difficult. Three of the six balls Gayle hit to or over the rope in his innings came off full tosses. However, he still only had 15 dots in his 55-ball unbeaten 66, searching for singles far more than usual to take Patriots to 132 for 3. They needed every bit of Gayle’s output after fellow opener Evin Lewis, who scored a T20 century on this ground a year ago against India, struggled to 4 off 15.U-S-A! turns into U-S-ehhhhh…Amazon Warriors captain Martin Guptill sat out with a left hamstring strain. It meant that USA captain Steven Taylor, who grew up 20 minutes away in Miramar and has spent most of his life playing on the Lauderhill wicket, was promoted from No. 5 to open with Chadwick Walton in pursuit of Patriots’ 132 for 3.The Central Broward Regional Park was the site of one of Taylor’s two T20 centuries for USA, but after scoring 7 on Saturday, he only managed a skewed two over point that came off his first ball facing Samuel Badree. Five dots of pressure followed before the American charged down the wicket. Badree was expecting it, and bowled slightly wider and flatter. Devon Thomas collected for a simple stumping.Afghanistan’s presidential maiden CPL wicketOne of Mohammad Nabi’s nicknames in Afghanistan is “The President” for his icon status. Both he and Rashid Khan went wicketless on day one in Florida, and Rashid endured a frustrating time in the field again on Sunday, finishing with 0 for 36 in four overs.It took 11.2 overs of the second innings before Nabi finally took the first wicket by an Afghan in the CPL. Nabi had conceded just eight off his first two overs and two balls into his third, Babar Azam tried to take him over Brathwaite at long-off. But the Pakistan batsman was beaten in flight and a simple catch was taken to create a bit of CPL history. After his 0 for 17 on Saturday, he ended with 1 for 18 on Sunday.Supersub one moment, human the nextFabian Allen came on as a sub fielder for Brandon King and pulled off an early contender for catch of the tournament, perhaps even the catch of 2017. Jason Mohammed was on 41, with 31 needed off four overs and seven wickets in hand. Two overs earlier, Jason Mohammed had carved Brathwaite over cover for six. He tried to find that region against Hasan Ali at the start of the 17th.
Mohammed timed the ball fairly well but struck it much squarer as it hung up in the crossbreeze. Allen was cover sweeping and tracked 20 yards before flying through the air, reaching out with his preferred left hand to pluck an absolute stunner.Allen showed he was human after all though, just one over later. Gajanand Singh drove to Allen, who fumbled a collection on the boundary and then compounded the error with a horrendous relay that beat Thomas and the backup fielder for two costly overthrows in a tense chase.No doubting ThomasAmazon Warriors needed eight off the final over with five wickets in hand and Gajanand on 28. After a single first ball by Rayad Emrit, Brathwaite fired a yorker down leg for a wide. Emrit called Gajanand through to steal another run, but Thomas fired a direct hit to remove Emrit.A single by Sohail Tanvir put Gajanand back on strike. But the batsman was bowled as he tried to ramp a Brathwaite yorker, to elevate the tension in the ground. New man Veerasammy Permaul missed a swipe on a delivery angled through his legs – another bye was attempted to try and get Sohail Tanvir through to strike, but Thomas struck with a direct-hit again. Amazon Warriors now needed a four from Rashid off the last ball to force a super over. But he couldn’t get bat on Brathwaite’s full one off the last ball.

Moeen's 53-ball onslaught sets up crushing England win

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Moeen Ali produced one of the most breathtaking batting assaults in international history, a 53-ball hundred that included an incredible eight sixes in the space of 14 balls, as England withstood a withering riposte from the mighty Chris Gayle to seal an

The Report by Andrew Miller24-Sep-20170:36

The might of Moeen

England 369 for 9 (Moeen 102, Root 84, Stokes 73, Cummins 3-82) beat West Indies 245 (Gayle 94, Plunkett 5-52, Rashid 3-34) by 124 runs
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMoeen Ali produced one of the most breathtaking batting assaults in international history, a 53-ball hundred that included an incredible eight sixes in the space of 14 balls, as England withstood a withering riposte from the mighty Chris Gayle to seal an unassailable 2-0 series lead in the third ODI at Bristol.The final margin of victory, 124 runs, may have been comfortable for England in the end, but it required a performance of rare brilliance from Moeen to put his team’s total beyond the range of a spirited West Indies side, who rallied with impressive resolve from a humiliating final six overs in which their seamers were panned for 93 runs.Set a daunting 370 to win, having at one stage had England wobbling on 217 for 6, West Indies stayed in the hunt until Gayle’s dismissal for 94 from 78 balls in the 27th over. At 176 for 4, it was an insurmountable loss, especially after Marlon Samuels had been sent on his way for 11 via a contentious DRS overturn, although Jason Holder cracked a brisk 34 from 26 balls to maintain the defiance into the 40th over. It was left to Adil Rashid – the man whose dead-eyed shy from midwicket had sawn Gayle’s innings off in its prime – and a maiden five-wicket haul from Liam Plunkett to snuff out the last of West Indies’ resistance.For much of the contest, a packed Bristol crowd might have assumed that a 132-run stand for the fourth wicket between England’s two biggest names, Joe Root and Ben Stokes, would be enough of a treat to mark their day out. But Moeen had other ideas. The sheer audacity of his hitting is best expressed in the purity of his final 14 balls – 6, 6, 2, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 2, 4, 1, 6, 0, 6 – with which he transformed a meandering run-a-ball 39 into the fastest ODI hundred ever made on English soil.As the blows rained down, West Indies’ resolve went to pot – and it had been pretty resolute up to that point, with England forced twice to battle back from uncompromising scorelines – first when Root and Stokes rescued them from 74 for 3, and then when Moeen and Chris Woakes came together at an awkward 217 for 6 in the 35th over.But the ferocity of the dead-eyed Moeen ripped the contest from their clutches. His onslaught was triggered by the return to the attack of Miguel Cummins, who up to that point had been West Indies’ outstanding bowler with a haul of three prime wickets – namely Root, Alex Hales and the off-colour Jos Buttler. But Moeen cleared his front foot from the very first ball he received, battering him for back-to-back sixes to bring up his fifty from 41 balls.And that was just the start. Another six from the final ball of Cummins’ over segued into three more in a row off Holder, as West Indies conceded a grim 50 runs in two overs. Jerome Taylor might have ended the fun thereafter but Gayle dropped a slashed cut at point with Moeen on 87, whereupon the hapless Cummins was slammed into the stands twice more in three balls to bring up a stunning century.The final moments of Moeen’s innings had a touch of comedy about them as he was dropped twice in two balls by Ashley Nurse, the second an absolute howler off a top-edged slog, before picking out Holder one ball later. Poor Nurse had already clung onto a blinder two overs earlier, as he intercepted a scudding slog from Woakes to long-on, only to fling the ball over the boundary for six as his momentum took him over the rope.It was all a far cry from the tentative beginnings to England’s innings. After being asked to bat first on an unnerving greeny-brown surface that Eoin Morgan hoped would “play better than it looks” (not half…), England’s openers struggled initially for timing. When Jonny Bairstow popped a leading edge back to Holder to fall for 13 – his lowest completed ODI innings in his last eight visits to the crease – England were 28 for 1 after six overs, and braced for an attritional afternoon.Hales, widely touted for an Ashes call-up, showed flashes of his form in making 36 from 35 balls before being pinned lbw by Cummins, whereupon Morgan, bereft of runs in the course of his nomadic T20-led late-season, was done in first ball by Holder, a perfect lifter on off stump that kissed the edge of a tentative bat through to Shai Hope.At 74 for 3, the innings was in the balance, but Stokes and Root were unruffled as they set about laying the groundwork for what would prove a monstrously successful rebuild.After milking the spinners throughout the middle orders, Root signalled a change-up in tempo with an emphatic slog-sweep for six over midwicket off Nurse, and Stokes was all too willing to take up the challenge, crashing Nurse for consecutive sixes down the ground to threaten carnage. However, Rovman Powell, sticking to his guns in a restrictive spell of seam-up, tempted Stokes into a rash swipe to deep point for 73, and when Cummins produced a snorter to tickle the off bail of Buttler, he followed up by luring Root into a loose waft across the line. It could have been a decisive intervention. Instead, it merely unleashed the fury of Mo.And that could well have been that, so far as a contest was concerned. West Indies, however, have found a rare means of battling back in adversity on this tour – from their response to humiliation at Edgbaston in the Test series, to their victory in the Durham T20 after the Lord’s defeat, and now with the return of the Universe Boss from last week’s hamstring strain.With nine fours and six sixes in his 94 from 78 balls, including three in a row off Moeen to rebalance his overall match figures, Gayle’s presence alone kept the contest bubbling going into the final half of the innings. But then, a familiar shortcoming sold him short. With England forever on the alert for his increasingly fallible running between the wickets, Rashid at midwicket pinged down the non-striker’s stumps, and West Indies’ top gun was gone by a matter of millimetres.By then, the deck-hitting excellence of Plunkett – another man, maybe, with distant Ashes aspirations – had cranked open the top of West Indies’ batting order. In particular his early extractions of Hope and Samuels – albeit contentiously – were reward for the time-honoured virtue of pace and bounce outside off stump. And fittingly, it was Plunkett who wrapped up the contest with 65 balls remaining, as Holder holed out to long-off.

Phillips and Astle picked in updated New Zealand squad

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Colin Munro and Matt Henry back in the ODI set-up after missing out on Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-2017Wicketkeeper-batsman Glenn Phillips and legspinner Todd Astle are among the players added to New Zealand’s squad for the upcoming limited-overs series in India. Also in the updated squad are batsmen Colin Munro, George Worker and Henry Nicholls, and fast bowler Matt Henry.These updates to the squad were made following the fourth one-dayer between New Zealand A and India A – the New Zealand selectors had named a truncated squad earlier, and said it would be expanded based on the A-team’s performances in India.While Phillips and Astle have already debuted for New Zealand, neither had played ODI cricket. Phillips impressed with a century in the second one-dayer against India A, and might be asked to take up keeping duties in the XI. Tom Latham, however, remains the frontrunner to replace the retired Luke Ronchi behind the stumps. Astle was the most economical of the New Zealand A bowlers in the one-dayers, his five wickets in three games coming at just over five an over.Munro and Henry are more familiar faces, and could have big roles to fill. Munro is expected to open the innings with Martin Guptill, with coach Mike Hesson specifically having said the side is looking for brisker starts than those provided by the Guptill-Latham combine. “We need to generate a strike-rate at the top,” Hesson had said, adding later in his press conference: “The beauty of Colin is he is a boundary hitter. He doesn’t so much adapt to conditions, he plays one way – batting in the middle order can make that difficult, and he has had success since we moved him up in T20s.” Munro will hope to impress in this new role if indeed given it, and finally firm up a place in the squad – he has been in and out of the 15 this year, playing the home series against Australia but missing the South Africa series, then playing the series in Ireland but being left out of the Champions Trophy squad.Meanwhile with Mitchell McClenaghan opting out of a central contract so he can focus on T20 leagues and having been left out of the squad for this series, there’s an opening on the fast-bowling front which Henry will hope to fill. He had been left out of the Champions Trophy squad himself, so is on the comeback trail.Worker played in the series against Ireland in May, batting at No. 3, but was also not picked Champions Trophy. Hesson hinted that he too might be an option to open in India, should the need arise. Nicholls, who has been captaining New Zealand A in India, is yet to play an ODI in 2017.Ross Taylor and Worker will return to New Zealand after the ODIs, with legspinner Ish Sodhi and the big-hitting Tom Bruce taking their spots in the T20 squad.Gavin Larsen, New Zealand selector and New Zealand A manager, said of the additions: “Todd has been one of the best white-ball players in domestic cricket the last few seasons and he’s backed that up with a strong showing for New Zealand A. Todd brings all-round skill to the squad, quality legspin, is athletic in the field as well as being able to contribute with the bat.”Glenn has made an immediate effect in domestic cricket and has certainly taken his opportunity over here with New Zealand A, including an outstanding 140 not out. Glenn is an option for us with the gloves in both Twenty20s and ODIs, so we feel we have our bases covered with the 15 we’ve picked.”The team will play two warm-up 50-overs games, before the three ODIs kick off on October 22 in Mumbai. The three-T20 series begins on November 1 in Delhi.ODI squad: Kane Williamson (capt), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, George WorkerT20 squad: Kane Williamson (capt), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee

Leeward end with upper hand in draw

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Leeward Islands took a big first-innings lead and walked away with 10.8 points, compared to Windward’s 5.8

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2017
ScorecardWICB Media/Randy Brooks of Brooks LaTouche Photo

Leeward Islands walked away with the majority of points in their drawn game against Windward Islands after taking a big first-innings lead. Set a fourth-innings target of 222, Leeward then played out the draw, but not before they had lost six wickets for 112.Electing to bat first, Windward found themselves in a good position in the first innings, with Roland Cato (90) and Kavem Hodge (41) guiding the team to 213 for 3. However, they went on to lose seven wickets for 20 runs to be dismissed for 233. Seamers Jeremiah Louis and Mervin Matthew took seven wickets between them.Leeward openers Chesney Hughes (89) and Keacy Carty (74) then set about putting together a strong platform for the side with a 149-run opening partnership. Despite a slump, Nkrumah Bonner’s 69 helped Leeward past 300 and they ended with a 110-run first-innings lead.Windward’s response in the second innings was much stronger. Devon Smith scored a quick 185 and Hodge struck a rapid fifty as the side looked to push for a result with a declaration of 331 for 3 that left Leeward with a target of 222. Liam Sebastien, Audley Alexander and Shane Shillingford then all picked up two wickets each as Leeward reached 112 for 6 by stumps.