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A collective effort from Dolphins’ bowlers, led by seamers Rabian Engelbrecht and Craig Alexander, helped them end their season with a 118-run win over Knights at Kingsmead in Durban

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-2016A collective effort from Dolphins’ bowlers, led by seamers Rabian Engelbrecht and Craig Alexander, helped them end their season with a 118-run win over Knights at Kingsmead in Durban. The win, however, had no effect on Dolphins’ position in the points table, as they finished fifth, behind Cobras. The result, however, hurt Knights, as they conceded the second spot to Lions.Chasing 382, Knights were reduced to 25 for 4 in 13 overs. Rilee Rossouw, who top scored with 84, and Rudi Second, the wicketkeeper-batsman, rebuilt the innings with a 148-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Andile Phehlukwayo, the seamer, then broke the stand in the 67th over when he had Second caught by Sarel Erwee. Phehlukwayo soon had Rossouw caught behind as Knights were weakened to 181 for 6. Tumelo Bodibe and Malusi Siboto pitched in with thirties each, but Knights were eventually bowled out for 263. Engelbrecht was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4 for 43.Dolphins had begun steadily, scoring 203 for 3 in 74 overs on the opening day, after being asked to bat. Vaughn van Jaarsveld made 106 – his 14th first-class century – while Senuran Muthusamy and Daryn Smit shone with half-centuries. Dolphins were also helped by lower-order contributions from Keshav Maharaj (31), Mthokozisi Shezi (28*), Alexander (21) and Engelbrecht (28) as they finished with 375. Right-arm seamer Dillon du Preez returned five wickets for Knights.Alexander’s 6 for 60 then ensured Knights were kept to 218 in their reply. Opener Reeza Hendricks was dismissed in the third over, but Michael Erlank hit a fifty to lift his side. Rossouw and Second built on the platform, but the lower-middle order fell away, as the Knights conceded a 157-run first-innings lead.Captain Imran Khan then helped Dolphins consolidate by scoring an unbeaten 106, including 14 fours, with support from van Jaarsveld, who followed his ton with a fifty in the second dig. Dolphins declared on 224 for 3 to set Knights a steep target.

While Derbyshire were gifted a way back into the game by some wasteful Surrey batting, their bowlers remained diligent to battle hard on a pitch that rewarded patience

Vithushan Ehantharajah at The Oval30-Aug-2013
ScorecardMark Footitt’s four wickets ensured Derbyshire remained in contention at The Oval•Getty Images

The Surrey scorecard tells the tale of unconverted starts and a lower-order collapse that saw the final four wickets fall in 13 balls, for the addition of just two runs. But while Derbyshire were gifted a way back into the game, their bowlers remained diligent to battle hard on a pitch that rewarded patience, whether with bat or ball.David Wainwright, back in the side as one of two spinners in the Derbyshire XI, enjoyed his best day of a modest season so far with 3 for 46. Mark Footitt bowled with impressive pace and attacking intent for his four scalps, removing Chris Tremlett and Tim Linley in successive balls to leave him on a hat-trick in the second innings.However, Surrey are ahead thanks to a brilliant 93 from Vikram Solanki, who rolled back the years and dug out a few classics hits – the wristy cover drive and dab through point – to entertain what was a good Friday crowd. Three figures were not meant to be for Solanki although all in attendance thought he merited a standing ovation when he trudged off just seven shy of a second hundred this season.His dismissal was as ugly as they come; a bottom edge down onto his pad before disturbing the stumps. An ungainly end to an innings so classy it made you feel like a better person simply for watching it.The wrists were supple yet strong, as the orthodox spin of Peter Burgoyne and Wainwright – right and left arm, respectively – were manipulated to both sides of the ground with such precision that you wondered whether Solanki was in pursuit of a symmetrical wagon wheel.Aesthetic perfection was still on course when he passed fifty with a skipping drive for a straight six off Burgoyne that finished dead straight. A few loose drives squirted behind point, along with a deflection through a vacant third slip that could be put down to nous rather than negligence. Solanki aside – who is the only player to pass fifty in the match so far – none of the Surrey batsmen who played themselves in stayed around long enough to make it count.Hashim Amla prodded Footitt to third slip after hitting Matt Higginbottom for two crunching square drives in his second over of the day. Rory Burns looked to be getting himself out of a rut before he paid for indecisive footwork to fall lbw to Burgoyne. Zander de Bruyn fell in similar fashion having accompanied Solanki well in a partnership of 96. He could argue that the ball failed to get up, but Wainwright should be credited for a well-disguised arm ball that hurried on.Steven Davies continued to frustrate. It is becoming impossible to enjoy his strokes without knowing a self-inflicted demise is but a juicy full toss away. Hitting his third ball for four – a crisp flick through midwicket after meeting a ball from Wainwright on the full – he inexplicably lobbed a full toss to Paul Borrington at cover, who somehow failed to hold on. The same combination would do for Davies 88 balls later, as he offered another tame catch which Borrington, now at midwicket, took simply.Gareth Batty can be excused from any gripes, his 35 taking Surrey’s first innings lead past 60. That his wicket proved to be the Jenga slab that brought about the collapse does his efforts a disservice and exonerates those before him from blame.The tail should also take responsibility for their poor returns this season. In the last week alone, run-heavy late-wicket stands from Derbyshire and Somerset have seen them win games against Middlesex – victories that saw both climb out of the relegation spots.Given how the pitch is holding up, there is every chance they will be needed for an awkward last innings chase.

Yuvraj Singh has received the Arjuna Award, an Indian government honour to recognise outstanding achievement in sport, from Indian president Pranab Mukherjee

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2012Yuvraj Singh has received the Arjuna Award, an Indian government honour to recognise outstanding achievement in sport, from Indian president Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi. Yuvraj is currently preparing to make a comeback to international cricket after recovering from a rare germ-cell cancer.”It’s a special award for me,” Yuvraj said. “I had been nominated few times but finally I got it this time. It’s a proud moment for me and my family. The award will give me a lot of confidence to make a comeback and perform well.”Yuvraj hasn’t played any top-flight cricket since last November but has been picked for the Twenty20s against New Zealand next month and the World Twenty20 as well. He brushed aside doubts over whether he is fit enough for the rigours of top-flight cricket.”Experts are not watching me. They don’t know about my fitness. It’s me who knows what’s going on. It’s me who is feeling it from inside,” Yuvraj said. “I know myself better and I am confident enough to do well in the World Cup in Sri Lanka.”Following chemotherapy in February and March, Yuvraj began training in June. “I am practising hard at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore,” he said. “The experts over there are watching my fitness level. I know what I am doing and I just want to concentrate on my return and playing cricket.”If you look at the last three months, I am really training hard and peaking well. I am looking forward to play my first game after a year.”Yuvraj also insisted that he had enough practice to be ready for the World Twenty20. “I had played three practice games at NCA. I will get some serious match practice in the two matches against New Zealand scheduled September 8 and 11. Then, I would be playing two more practice matches. So, you see, I will be having seven games before the World Cup. I will be having enough match practice.”

Twilight Sheffield Shield matches will be tried again as part of the push towards night Test cricket in an Australian domestic schedule heavily influenced by the expansion of Twenty20

Daniel Brettig17-Aug-2011Twilight Sheffield Shield matches will be tried again this summer as part of the push towards night Test cricket, in an Australian domestic schedule heavily influenced by the expansion of the Twenty20 Big Bash League.Night Shield cricket was first experimented with in 1994 but the administrative desire to take Test cricket into the night has driven a return to the gambit, which will take place in a handful of matches played in the states that take part in daylight saving adjustments to local time.Shield and limited-overs matches have been heavily weighted towards the first part of the season, with each state having to play six of 10 regular first-class fixtures by the first week of December.This imbalance has been imposed in order to allow the BBL to operate without any crossover with the demands of the state associations between December 17 and January 28, as numerous players leave their states to play elsewhere for the manufactured city-based teams unveiled for the T20 competition.Australia’s players will face the hurdle of having to choose between the polar extremes of Test matches or T20 throughout the show-piece home series against India.The jump between formats will open plenty of questions in terms of tactical adjustments and physical conditioning should the selectors decide to make changes to the team that will face India, as seems likely.A more positive outcome of the schedule is that domestic aspirants for Test selection will get a significant chance to press their claims ahead of the series against New Zealand and India.Matches will be played in a handful of regional centres also, with Queensland to host a one-day fixture in Mackay while New South Wales play in Canberra.The domestic limited-overs competition has been reduced in size in another concession to T20, as each team will play eight preliminary matches rather than 10.Fixtures will revert to 50 overs after last summer’s experiment with a split-innings format, but other playing conditions will be more experimental in nature.Bowlers will be allowed to bowl a maximum of 13 overs rather than the traditional 10, and the batting Powerplay will have to be taken between overs 16 and 40, a change soon to be implemented in international limited overs matches.Also announced is the schedule for the hotly-debated Futures League second tier competition, which reverts to four-day matches with no over restrictions.The number of players allowed over the age of 23 has also been doubled from three to six, allowing young cricketers a better chance to learn from more experienced teammates.

Paul Hawkins says the players’ doubts simply reflect a lack of understanding and is confident of altering the mindset if given a chance to explain the technology to them

Tariq Engineer12-Aug-2010The use of the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) in India is still in the balance given the opposition of several Indian players, including India captain MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar, and the indifference of the BCCI. But the inventor of Hawk-Eye, the ball tracking technology that is most often used for the UDRS, has said the players’ doubts simply reflect a lack of understanding and is confident of altering the mindset if given a chance to explain the technology to them.India were part of the first trial of the referral system during their tour of Sri Lanka in 2008. They struggled with their referrals, getting most of them wrong. The team has been reluctant to use the technology since. However, the technology used in that series was Virtual Eye, a different technology from Hawk-Eye.”The issue of whether to use it or not has nothing to do with cost issues,” Paul Hawkins, managing director of Hawk-Eye Innovations, said. “I think it is mainly whether the Indian team has confidence in the technology. If the Indian players take some time to understand the system fully, that it wasn’t Hawk-Eye [in Sri Lanka]; if it was explained to them properly, those concerns would go away.”Hawkins said he would like to sit down with the players and show them how Hawk-Eye works. He has met with India coach Gary Kirsten in the past and says a lot of Kirsten’s questions were answered.”We are trying to get to speak to some of the players,” Hawkins said. “I think Dhoni has expressed an interest in coming and learning a little bit more. You need to sit down for half-an-hour and explain things properly. Hopefully he [Dhoni] will find the time when it suits him.”Prior to the 2010 India – Sri Lanka Test series, Sri Lanka wanted to use the UDRS but India objected. “It’s still not a 100% correct system,” MS Dhoni said at the time. “Let’s wait and see until the ICC comes up with a foolproof plan.”The ICC’s minimum requirements for the referral system include ball tracking technology, super slow-motion cameras and a clean audio feed from the stump microphone. Hawk-Eye uses triangulation to map the trajectory of the ball as it travels from bowler to batsman. Seven high-speed video cameras record the ball’s path and bounce and relay the data frame by frame to a computer system. This data then allows the system to predict the future movement of the ball. While there is a margin of error involved, Hawkins says it is relatively small (2.6 mm) and the margin is built into the modus operandi of a referral.”Our system’s margin of error is so small, given the protocol that is used, it is kind of irrelevant. You have the zone of uncertainty built in, which is effectively a model of the umpire’s zone of uncertainty.”It is this incorporation of traditional umpiring philosophy into the UDRS that allows the system to be used without completely changing the traditions of the game. For example, when a batsman is hit more than 2.5 metres down the wicket, the umpire is not required to abide by Hawk-Eye’s prediction.”That would massively change the game,” Hawkins said. “Not because of the accuracy of the system, but because it has never been given out in the last 100 years.”Hawkins says the most difficult prediction for Hawk-Eye to make is where the ball travels less than 40 cm after pitching, though it is rare for an LBW to occur when the ball has travelled such a short distance (there has been only one such referral so far). In those instances, it is best to let the umpire decide whether a batsman is out or not.”If there is less than 40 cm of travel, in that instance a good umpire should be giving greater benefit to the batsmen,” Hawkins said. “That is the most difficult – less than 40 cm – as a model. It [the protocol] also protects the tracking system when there has been little data.”

He put on an unbroken 108 with Navdeep Saini after India A’s pace trio had run through the top order

Shashank Kishore05-Sep-2024From the characteristic crouch in his stance to the backlift and manner of defending, it’s hard to miss Musheer Khan’s uncanny resemblance to older brother Sarfaraz. And the similarities don’t end there. Both have a penchant for big scores, even if their modus operandi are entirely different.Sarfaraz is all about gung-ho aggression and there’s an enterprise to his game that’s hard to miss. On Thursday, the opening day of the Duleep Trophy game between India A and India B in Bengaluru, he arched back to ramp his fifth delivery over the close-in cordon off a rip-roaring Khaleel Ahmed, soon after the openers had departed in quick succession.Musheer is the opposite, even if he can appear crabby and unorthodox at times, and he has been proving to be just as effective. Earlier this year, he finished second on the run charts at the Under-19 World Cup and backed it up with a double-ton, a clutch half-century and a match-winning hundred in the knockout rounds of Mumbai’s victorious Ranji Trophy campaign.India B desperately needed Musheer’s pluck when they were cut to size by the pace trio of Khaleel, Akash Deep and Avesh Khan. And he delivered: batting for over five hours to eke out an unbeaten 105 that helped lift India B from 94 for 7 to 202 for 7 at stumps.Having come in at No. 3, Musheer quickly saw the superstars – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz and Rishabh Pant – fall in a heap post-lunch. While batting was difficult, the wickets largely came from shots induced by the pressure the fast bowlers exerted early on.Abhimanyu Easwaran chased a delivery on the seventh or eighth stump. Jaiswal was caught somewhere in between attempting a drive and a cut, and wafted to point. Sarfaraz was trapped lbw playing around his front pad. Pant was out to a brilliant running catch from Shubman Gill at mid-off, to a leading edge off a ball that bounced more than he may have anticipated. Except for Nitish Reddy, who was out to an unplayable Akash delivery that straightened off the seam to hit the top of off, the top order was largely responsible for their own undoing.Musheer soaked all of this in from the other end. The fast-bowling trio repeatedly tested his edges; he could have been out caught in the slips off Akash, off the second ball he faced. During his first half hour at the crease, he struggled to gauge the zip off a green-tinged surface where there was exaggerated seam movement.In a bid to counter it, Musheer tried to walk down the pitch to the fast bowlers.”It was based on the wicket and the conditions,” he later explained. “The ball was cutting off the wicket and swinging too, so I was trying to get as close to the [pitch of] the ball as possible, not give it the chance to swing.”While this wasn’t a bad ploy in principle, he struggled with his execution early on, especially with Khaleel and Akash darting the ball both ways. Even Shivam Dube’s length balls ducked in faster than Musheer anticipated and hit him on the pad while he was on the move. He survived a close lbw shout on impact.Having been on 6 off 52 balls at one stage, Musheer opened up once the spinners came on•PTI

At lunch, he was on 6 off 52 balls, seemingly unsure of where his runs would come. But where others fell looking to force the pace, Musheer fought through passages even when fluency deserted him and survival seemed his only option.Musheer explained his thinking at the end of the day’s play: “I was looking to collect whatever runs were coming my way, and not going searching for runs.”Every now and then, Akash turned into a wrecking ball of energy, doing unexpected things off the pitch. The ball to Nitish in his second spell was one such example. On another day, Akash could have easily had three wickets in his new-ball spell, but on this day he ended it with figures of 8-3-7-0.There was more of the same energy from Avesh, introduced as first change, as he built on that early pressure by hitting the deck and getting appreciable movement off the seam. And this relentless pressure was thrust on the batters for a better part of the first two sessions.It wasn’t until the first sign of spin that Musheer looked in his comfort zone. He welcomed his Mumbai teammate Tanush Kotian with a delicate paddle. Every now and then, Musheer sensed warning signs to rein himself in, like when a loose drive off Kuldeep Yadav’s first delivery flew wide of slip. And he quickly dusted himself off to refocus and bat time. And as he did, the fluency returned. Out came the full-blooded sweeps and the steps out to loft Kotian with the spin as he charged towards his century.At one point in the final session, with Musheer and Navdeep Saini having batted for over 20 overs, Avesh decided to take the short-ball route with two men back on the leg side for the pull. The same fast bowlers who had dictated terms earlier in the day now resigned themselves to a ploy that Musheer made look futile at the end of a long day. There couldn’t have been a bigger validation for his efforts.As Musheer whipped his helmet off and looked skywards, releasing his pent-up emotions and waving his bat to the dressing room after bringing up his third first-class century, Sarfaraz was among the first to jump out of his seat in applause. It was a poignant moment, too; for the better part of the last four seasons, Musheer has done all the applauding. It was now time for the big brother to return the favour, and he was more than happy to oblige.Musheer is only 19 and has bigger challenges ahead of him. But so far, he’s proved, whether at Mumbai or to the national selectors who handed him a Duleep Trophy debut, that he’s entirely at home at the deep end.

Captain says random encounter during spa break reinforced faith in team’s tactics

Andrew Miller27-Jun-2023Ben Stokes says that a random encounter with a non-cricket fan during a spa break between Tests has brought home to him just how important and engaging this Ashes series is proving to be, and has vowed to continue to push for victory at all costs in this week’s second Test at Lord’s.Australia’s thrilling two-wicket win at Edgbaston in the series opener had left Stokes admitting to being “emotionally beat up” after the contest, a statement that seemed at odds with his previous insistence that England under his leadership are not a “results-driven team”.And, with only one side in Ashes history having previously come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 – Don Bradman’s team in 1936-37 – the Lord’s Test might ordinarily feel like a match that England dare not lose.Stokes, however, insisted that he and his players are utterly unfazed by the prospect of bouncing back to square the series 1-1, and said that the public’s enthusiastic response to the team’s “Bazball” tactics will only embolden him for the rest of the campaign.”I think Baz has now just come to terms that it’s a thing now,” Stokes said at Lord’s, acknowledging that the Bazball buzzword is here to stay, despite his coach’s previous protestations.”We got a nice little break, and there’s been lots of people come up to me and saying how enthralled they were with last week,” he added, after a trip to Seaham Hall in Durham, where he is an ambassador. “They obviously wanted us to win but they just loved every minute of it.Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum will maintain their positive approach to England’s tactics•PA Images via Getty Images

“I had a conversation in a men’s changing-room at a spa about the game, which was a bit awkward. He said, ‘are you the cricketer or do you just look like him?’ and I was like ‘it is me’.”He just said that ‘I went down to the pub after work and I don’t even follow cricket, but I was just going to go down for a quick few’ and he ended up having a few more, and just said he was just transfixed on the game.”So when you hear stuff like that, it obviously makes you feel good about what we’re doing as bringing a new fanbase to the game, and it’s reaching people that it might never have reached before, so that’s what we’re about.”The onus on opening the game up to a wider audience feels all the more important following the overnight publication of the long-awaited ICEC report into the sport’s structural inequalities.Stokes opened his press conference with a pre-prepared statement on the matter, and later added: “We’re all about growing the game and just making it bigger than what it is right now, and I think we’ve managed to achieve that quite well.”England’s plans for the Lord’s Test suffered a pair of set-backs on Tuesday morning, with Moeen Ali deemed unfit for selection after his finger injury at Edgbaston, and Mark Wood omitted in favour of Josh Tongue, with Stokes admitting that Wood needed longer to be ready to play a full part in the third Test at Headingley.Related

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However, Stokes insisted that the selection issues had done nothing to dent the overriding feeling of optimism within the squad, adding that Zak Crawley had addressed the team huddle on Monday with an “unbelievable speech” that referenced an ancient Chinese story about a farmer, his horse, a broken leg and an invading army.”It was basically about ‘we’ll see’, one thing happens and might not mean it’s the end of the end of the world,” Stokes said. “You don’t know why things happen, if it’s for a good reason or not, it’s just one of those things to deal with. The team we’ve picked, I’m very confident we can walk away from here with a win. Rather than worry about things that I don’t have, I’d rather be confident in the things I do have.”I don’t want to get misheard when I say we aren’t a results-driven team,” Stokes added. “As I said last week, losing sucks. We always want to win every game we play, but if we don’t come away with the win at the end, then let’s move onto the next game and let’s keep going.”

The Chennai Super Kings quick hasn’t recovered sufficiently from the back injury he picked up recently

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-2022Deepak Chahar, the Chennai Super Kings quick, has been ruled out of the 2022 IPL altogether because of the back injury that had prevented him from taking part in the initial part of the competition. He had picked up the injury while undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, where he was recovering from the quadricep tear he picked during India’s T20I series against West Indies in February.Related

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The initial assessment by the NCA physios suggested that Chahar, acquired by his old team Super Kings for INR 14 crore (US$1.84 million approx.) at the February mega auction, would be able to play a part in the tournament after missing a major chunk of matches. Super Kings were, therefore, expecting their new-ball frontman to return in late April.But that has changed now, and it is understood that BCCI and the Indian team management want him to be in peak shape as India prepare for the T20 World Cup starting in October.A swing bowler with the new ball as well as an able lower-order hitter, Chahar’s absence has already hurt the balance of Super Kings’ side so far this season. They lost their first four matches on the hop, and finally got on the points table in only their previous – the fifth – match of the season, following a win over Royal Challengers Bangalore. Only Mumbai Indians, winless after five games, are below them on the table.