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Spitfires make it six wins from seven games in thrilling four-wicket victory with just one ball to spare

ECB Reporters Network04-Aug-2019Adam Milne was the star with bat and ball as South Group leaders Kent Spitfires made it six wins from seven games in the Vitality Blast with a thrilling four-wicket victory, with just one ball to spare, in a tense, low-scoring contest against Hampshire at Beckenham.When Heino Kuhn hit a Kyle Abbott full toss straight to extra cover from the first ball of the final over, with Kent needing 10 runs to overhaul Hampshire’s 135 all out, it seemed as if the visitors were favourites to complete a fourth successive win of their own and a third in four days.But New Zealand fast bowler Milne, who had earlier taken 3 for 21 to help to restrict Hampshire’s total to manageable proportions on a sluggish surface, strode in to loft his first ball for two to the leg side, strike his second ball over extra cover for four and then complete another two for a drive to long on.Adding to the drama was the sight of non-striker Grant Stewart pulling a hamstring as he raced back for two and dived for the crease at the bowler’s end, and then having to be helped from the field in clear distress.But, with only two runs now being required off the last two balls, and Milne crucially retaining the strike due to Stewart’s bravery, he top-edged a pull at Abbott’s penultimate delivery over short third man for another four to finish on 12 not out from only four balls faced.As a mark of how hard stroke play was, Kuhn top-scored for Kent with a well-judged 41 from 33 balls while James Vince’s 44 for Hampshire took him 47 balls, with only two fours.Milne was one of four Kent bowlers to record outstanding figures, which offset their fifth bowler going for a total of 56 runs from four overs. He helped to reduce Hampshire to 29 for 3 early on and also claimed two late wickets while Hardus Viljeon took 3 for 15, Stewart 2 for 23 and Mohammad Nabi 1 for 17 in his four skilful overs of off spin.Kent’s reply began with five quality boundaries from Daniel Bell-Drummond but he skied the last ball of the third over to depart for 21 and Ollie Robinson was smartly stumped for five by Lewis McManus when he drove over a near-yorker from off spinner Brad Taylor.Taylor then brilliantly ran out Zak Crawley for 22, hitting the bowler’s stumps on the turn after sprinting across the pitch to field when Kuhn turned down a short single into the legside off his own bowling and Crawley could not regain his ground.Nabi made 14 before carving Abbott to deep cover in the 15th over, and Kuhn and Alex Blake added 32 before the left-handed Blake, on 18 and having pulled Liam Dawson for six, lofted Chris Wood to long on from the first ball of the 19th over. But Kuhn, and particularly Milne, were equal to an equation of 17 runs being needed from the last 11 balls when Blake fell.After Hampshire had been asked to bat first, Rilee Rossouw hit the first two balls of the third over, from left arm seamer Fred Klaassen, for leg side sixes but saw Aneurin Donald sky to mid off later in the over to go for 7. Then, in the next over, Rossouw himself mishit to mid off when Viljeon replaced Milne.Sam Northeast’s latest return to bat on his native Kentish soil was not a happy one, as he edged the pacy Milne to keeper Robinson on one, and Dawson struggled for fluency in partnership with Vince as Hampshire’s fourth-wicket pair could only add 33 in seven overs before Dawson pulled Stewart straight to deep square leg to go for 12.At the halfway mark Hampshire were 58 for 3, and – despite sixes from Chris Morris off Klaassen and Stewart – they continued to find Kent’s bowlers difficult to attack.Morris fell to Stewart for 17, caught at long on, but then came an extraordinary 15th over in which Klaassen bowled two high full tosses – the second of which meant he was withdrawn from the attack. A first free hit had only cost Kent a single but now a second free hit, with Bell-Drummond employing his own medium pace to complete the over after himself starting with a no ball full toss, being struck for six over deep mid wicket by James Fuller.Fuller also clubbed Bell-Drummond for four and, in all, 24 runs came from a nine-ball over and, suddenly, with five overs remaining, Hampshire had 110 on the board.Milne and Nabi, however, restored order after Viljeon had removed Fuller for 17, caught upper-cutting to third man, with Nabi’s off spin accounting for McManus and Milne bowling both Taylor and Vince, who was ninth out.In the end, Hampshire could not bat through their 20 overs, with Wood skying to long on off Viljeon with four balls of the innings remaining unused.

The former India captain says there are “better options than Raina”, and wants Dhoni to bat more aggressively

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jul-2018The Indian team management may be grappling with questions over their ideal No. 4 in ODIs, but Sourav Ganguly has picked “KL Rahul, eyes closed.” The former India captain felt playing Rahul in that position that would ease the pressure on MS Dhoni, who he pointed out was “struggling” and needed to start “hitting” at No. 6.Virat Kohli the India captain, admitted that an unsettled middle order was one of the concerns for the side as they prepare for next year’s World Cup. Ganguly believed the team management “isn’t looking after their best batsmen properly” and isn’t sending out the right message with the constant chopping and changing.”Your top four have to be the best players; you have to persist with them. Go and speak to KL Rahul and say I’ll give you 15 games, just go and play,” Ganguly told . “India need a No. 4. MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik are very good at five, six and seven. But a top class player has to be at four.”Ganguly was making a case for that batsman being Ajinkya Rahane or Rahul, who was left out of the series-deciding final ODI in Headingley. Rahul, who started the tour with a scintillating century in the Manchester T20I, managed only 9 not out and 0 in the first two ODIs.”Two of your best batsmen aren’t being looked after properly,” Ganguly said. “I’m not saying it’s deliberate, maybe it’s a mistake, maybe you look at it differently from the other side. From this side, I feel those two have to play at four, else it’s too much of pressure on Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli. In South Africa, you won, Kohli got three hundreds in six games. If Kohli doesn’t get a hundred, you will find it difficult to win matches.”Getty Images

When Ganguly was asked why India didn’t have a settled look a year on from the World Cup, he said: “Because they don’t give enough opportunities. KL Rahul got a magnificent hundred in Manchester. In the other two T20Is, he was out to one brilliant catch in Bristol. He was not out in Nottingham, missed out at Lord’s and then he’s dropped. You won’t be able to produce players like that.”According to Ganguly, the No. 4 debate isn’t the only worry for India. He also felt a “struggling MS Dhoni” needed to be told to play more aggressively, while they need to move on from Suresh Raina, who had returned to ODI cricket after nearly three years. Raina top-scored with 46 in India’s loss in the Lord’s ODI, but had little else to show for in the remaining two matches, looking completely out of depth, both against spin and the short ball.”I think there are better players around, with all due respect he’s [Raina] played for long periods of time, got runs in ODIs, but not much overseas. But you need to move on,” Ganguly said. “If Dhoni’s got to play, he has to get into positions where he has to keep hitting. If he has 24-25 overs to play, you’ve got to build an innings and he’s struggling at the moment.”He may turn it around, you don’t know what’s in store for great players – he’s been a great player for India in the shorter formats – but at the present moment he’s not been turning it around and it’s been that way for a year, year-and-a-half or probably more. So they need a good player at four and five, and then if they think MS Dhoni is the way forward, him at six and Pandya at seven.”

After scoring his maiden T20 century to help Delhi Daredevils record their biggest win in the IPL, Sanju Samson was very pleased he was able to do “something special”

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Apr-2017Sanju Samson came into Indian cricket with the reputation that he could become the next big thing. He was 16 when he made his T20 debut for Kerala, and in little over a year, was part of an IPL franchise. The teenager’s temperament stood out, to the point that he made a half-century batting at No. 3 in only his second game for Rajasthan Royals. Eventually though, the surprise factor faded, and the pressure got to him. Two middling IPL seasons followed in 2015 and 2016 but, on Tuesday, he took a step towards putting those memories behind him with a maiden T20 hundred that set up Delhi Daredevils’ biggest ever win.”I am very happy about this day. It’s one of the special days of my life,” Samson said at the post-match press conference. “Every cricketer here in India, his dream is to play for Indian team, which is the world’s best cricket team. So if you want to get into it, you have to be something special, you have to do something special. So I’m happy that I played one innings but there’s a long way to go.”He was bought by the Daredevils in 2016, and despite playing all 14 matches that year, he was dismissed for less than 20 seven times and finished with an unimpressive strike-rate of 112. Now, after his team had begun the new season by losing a game they should have won, Samson walked out to bat in the second over and was 35 off 19 balls with six fours by the end of the Powerplay. Then after seeing off the Rising Pune Supergiant spinners, Imran Tahir, the No. 1-ranked bowler in limited-overs cricket, among them, he made 41 off 16 balls to help push the total to 205. There were times in the past when quality bowling would force Samson into choosing the wrong shot, but he was able to keep that weakness in check and later praised the Daredevils support staff for backing him.”I think Rahul Dravid, Zubin Bharucha, Paddy Upton and each member of the team who has supported me throughout,” Samson told . “Last IPL season was not a great season for me, but they supported me throughout and I dedicate this knock to them.”I was 17 when I was with the Rajasthan Royals and since then I have been working with Dravid and feel very blessed to be learning under his guidance. Not too many people get this chance and I feel I am extremely lucky to have him around and guide me.”This success came on the back of a disappointing first-class season for Samson. Besides the lack of runs – he averaged 30.36 from 11 innings for Kerala – he was pulled up for disciplinary issues by the state association. It was alleged that he had left the team in the middle of a match, after being dismissed for a duck, and did not return until 8 or 9 pm. This led to an in-house inquiry and a KCA panel let Samson off with a warning. On Tuesday night, he said lows like that helped shape the person he was.”You need to have bad times to learn what life is about, I think. If you keep on achieving success, I think, you do not learn. If you do mistakes in cricket, or if you do mistakes in life, you learn from it and you become a better person. I think my past has helped me become a better cricketer and a better human being.”

Glamorgan have appointed Robert Croft, one of the most iconic figures in cricket in Wales, as their new head coach

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Feb-2016Glamorgan have appointed Robert Croft, one of the most iconic figures in cricket in Wales, as their new head coach.Croft, 45, has signed a rolling contract after emerging as the preferred candidate following a recruitment process led by Hugh Morris, Glamorgan’s chief executive and director of cricket.Glamorgan’s interest, at least as an inital shortlist, also stretched to such potential candidates as Ottis Gibson, the England bowling coach, but they have entrusted their coaching future closer to home to one of the proudest, and occasionally abrasive, figures in Welsh cricket history.”Robert was the outstanding candidate in the recruitment process and his record of achievement as a Glamorgan player and an international cricketer further enhanced the impression that he made when he laid out his coaching vision,” Morris said.”His long association with the club, his knowledge of the squad and his vision for the future were the most significant elements of his interview and we are very pleased that he has accepted this opportunity.”There was significant interest in the role from a broad spectrum of coaching talent and while rival candidates had their merits, we concluded that Robert was the best man for the job.”Croft, who is currently with the England team in South Africa in his capacity as a consultant spin bowling coach, will return to Cardiff next week to oversee pre-season preparations having spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach.He worked alongside Toby Radford, whose involvement with the county ended at the end of last season.Croft made his Glamorgan debut in 1989 and went on to take 1,117 first-class wickets in a career punctuated by Championship success in 1997 – one of three in the county’s history – a Sunday League crown and 71 appearances for England in Tests and One-Day Internationals.”Glamorgan has been my home club for 28 years as a player and a coach and it was a very special moment when I was offered the chance to lead this group of players,” Croft said.”I’m under no illusions as to the scale of the challenge that we will face but I have taken it on knowing that there is a collective desire to drive things forwards.”The hard work starts now and I¹ll be looking to meet with the players and the back room team to firm up our plans as soon as I return to the UK.”Efforts have been made in recent weeks to strengthen a thin first-team squad with Harry Podmore taken on loan from Middlesex to bolster pace bowling ranks during college absences and Timm van der Gugten, the Netherlands’ Australian-born seamer, also signed on a three-year contract.Glamorgan now dances to the tune of its successul 1990s side, with Morris doubling up as chief executive and director of cricket, Croft now in the lead coach role and Steve Watkin, the former indefatigable seamer, retained as assistant coach.A decision has been postponed as to whether an additional assistant is required to fill Croft’s previous position.

Australia A needed only one session of the third day to wrap up an 80-run victory against Zimbabwe Select XI, after setting them a target of 241 to win

The Report by Firdose Moonda20-Jul-2013

Scorecard File photo – Fawad Ahmed’s 4 for 23 hastened Zimbabwe Select XI’s defeat on the third day•Associated Press

Australia A needed only one session of the third day to wrap up an 80-run victory against Zimbabwe Select XI, after setting them a target of 241 to win. At 51 for 4 overnight, it was merely a matter of time for Australia A, and Pakistani-born legspinner Fawad Ahmed was the man who sped up the clock.He made a loud claim for a call-up to Australia’s Ashes squad as he ended the match with eight wickets, although the national selectors may need some information on the pitch he achieved these figures on. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo on Friday, Zimbabwe’s captain, Brendan Taylor, confirmed he was concerned about the surface, which was dry, slow and taking plenty of turn.That will not detract from the inadequacies of their batsmen. Hamilton Masakadza was the only one to record a half-century in the match, and his defiance was the only thing that kept Australia A at bay for a short while. Masakadza shared a 67-run fifth-wicket stand with nightwatchman Kyle Jarvis, who once again showed why he could bat higher up if needed.He made a confident 34 and when he was dismissed, Zimbabwe folded. They lost their last five wickets for 38 runs, in another lower-order collapse which exposed their weakness against spin, which was laid so bare on their March tour of West Indies. Ahmed cleaned up the tail and David Warner took the final wicket; his notable contribution of the match.Warner scored 17 runs in both innings in an attempt to show his readiness to rejoin the Ashes squad, and will need to make a greater impression in South Africa. Australia A will play South Africa A in two four-day matches starting next Wednesday, although the wintry conditions could make for similarly interesting surfaces.For Zimbabwe, a five-ODI series against India beckons, and they have plenty to think about. The form of their bowlers – Jarvis, Elton Chigumbura, Tendai Chatara and Natsai M’shangwe, will be pleasing to new coach Andy Waller, but batting concerns continue to worry them.Neither opener, Vusi Sibanda and Sikandar Raza, showed the right temperament and technique against Australia A’s pace attack, and with Taylor misfiring, the middle order looks fragile. Masakadza will need to score many more runs, and inspire the same from the rest, if they hope to put on a decent show in the coming months.

You cannot beat experience. Although 22-year-old James Harris tried to stand alone on centre stage, it was two thirty-somethings, Brendan Nash and Darren Stevens, who ended up sharing the honours by scoring unbeaten centuries

David Lloyd at Canterbury19-Jul-2012
ScorecardDarren Stevens played a stand-and-deliver innings•Getty Images

You cannot beat experience. Well, not always at any rate. And although 22-year-old James Harris tried with all his might to stand alone on centre stage, it was two thirty-somethings, Brendan Nash and Darren Stevens, who ended up sharing the honours by scoring unbeaten centuries to mastermind a spectacular Kent fightback.Harris still deserved plenty of praise for an encouraging performance that, at its peak, saw the young fast bowler boasting figures of 4 for 33 from 12 overs – a burst that gave Glamorgan real hope of following Tuesday’s win against Northants with a commanding start to this game.But, by close of play, even he looked battle-worn as century-makers Nash and Stevens took their well deserved applause for innings of contrasting style but equal worth. Their unbroken stand of exactly 200, in 46 overs, left Kent in command and ready to push for a victory that would underpin their promotion challenge. For both batsmen, this was a second championship hundred of the season. And by joining forces so effectively they not only lifted the hosts away from the early difficulty of 110 for 4 but also quashed at least some of Glamorgan’s enthusiasm.Harris, who missed the first half of the campaign while recovering from a groin operation, produced a beauty with the new ball to remove Rob Key and then needed something a little less menacing to find the edge of Ben Harmison’s bat.But it was two wickets in two balls from Harris soon after an hour’s stoppage for rain that really threatened Kent- and left Glamorgan believing they could quickly follow Tuesday’s first win of the season with a second four-day success. Sam Northeast’s attractive half-century ended when he played across the line while Mike Powell – up against the county who bade him farewell after last summer – snicked fatally to fall for a painful golden duck.Enter 36-year-old Stevens to face the hat-trick delivery. He blunted that threat with a forward defensive but, within minutes, boundaries were flying off his bat. Three came off Huw Waters, three more flowed in quick succession when John Glover took up the attack and for a time it looked as though Stevens would reach three figures before Nash – even though Nash had a 30-run start.Nash is not the sort of batsman to be easily ruffled by a friend or foe, however. The 34-year-old former West Indies Test batsman carried on in his unhurried way, punishing the bad ball when it came and happy to admire Stevens’ stand and deliver style at the other end.In fact, having rushed to 50 from 42 balls, Stevens slowed a touch while Nash accelerated – duly completing his century from 158 deliveries with 14 fours and celebrating the landmark with a rocking-the-cradle salute to his new-born son. As for Stevens, there was a rare scare on 92 when he almost ran himself out. But the hundred arrived, safely enough, from 125 balls with 18 fours and, like Nash, he looked hungry for more at the close.During the course of his innings, Stevens passed 10,000 first-class runs. On top of that, the power of his hitting damaged Marcus North – who needed ice treatment on his left ankle after stopping a shell of a drive at short extra cover – and almost removed umpire David Millns, who was struck, but not harmed, by a fierce pull while standing at square leg.For Glamorgan – who also had Waters off the field at one stage with a stomach upset – some good news was needed. It came at tea with the announcement that head coach Matthew Mott is staying with the county, despite having been interviewed for the head coach job at New Zealand.

Shane Warne will be a source of captaincy inspiration for Ross Taylor as he aims to instil a winning mindset in his New Zealand side

Brydon Coverdale23-Jun-2011Shane Warne will be a source of captaincy inspiration for Ross Taylor as he aims to instil a winning mindset in his New Zealand side. Taylor conceded past New Zealand teams have sometimes felt that a draw was as good as a victory, and that’s an attitude he wants to change after being handed the leadership this week.The drawn-out process to find Daniel Vettori’s successor took nearly three months, as New Zealand Cricket waited for Taylor and the other contender, Brendon McCullum, to return home from the IPL. But it was in India that Taylor worked under the captaincy of Warne at the Rajasthan Royals, and he said he was inspired by the way Warne handled his men and never gave up.”Warnie is one of the most aggressive captains. One of the things I learnt from Warnie and admired about him was trying to get the best out of the team and individuals, and just winning from anywhere,” Taylor told ESPNcricinfo this week. “If you have a mindset of winning from any situation then more often than not those tight games will go your way.”And that’s an attitude that hasn’t always been present in New Zealand teams of recent years. They have won only two of their past 21 Tests, a stretch that goes back to October 2008, and during that time their only victories came against Bangladesh in Hamilton and Pakistan in Dunedin. It’s nearly a decade since New Zealand have won a Test away from home against anyone but Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.”I think sometimes we probably did feel that way [that a draw was as good as a win,” Taylor said. “The way Test cricket is going there are not a lot of draws these days. The only time there are draws are if the wicket is really flat or if the weather plays a part. More often than not, the way Test cricket is played, Tests are won more often than not. We need to have that mindset. If we go out there just to draw series then we’re going to get ourselves into trouble. If we go out there to win, it’s a nice positive mindset to have.”The good thing for New Zealand is that two of their next three Test series are against Zimbabwe, who are returning to the five-day format after six years of self-imposed exile. That gives Taylor four winnable Tests within his first year in the job, and after playing Australia and South Africa they next year head to the Caribbean, where they won the series on their last tour in 2002.The schedule is encouraging, at a time when New Zealand are starting afresh, with a new captain, a recently-installed coach, John Wright, a revamped selection process, and a high-performance system now being overhauled by John Buchanan. The aim is to lift the side from their current position of eighth on the ICC Test rankings table, above only Bangladesh.”We’ve got some big series coming up,” Taylor said. “We go to Zimbabwe, then to Australia, then Zimbabwe come here, then we’ve got South Africa here, then we go to the Caribbean after that. We’re eighth in the Test rankings. If we can be somewhere from fourth to sixth in 12 months I think that would be a realistic goal. That’s something I think we can attain in the next 12 to 18 months.”The ultimate is to sit up at No. 1 or 2 and it’s not that long ago, probably at the start of my career we weren’t too far away from that. But we’re down the bottom and in some ways that’s probably a nice thing – the only way to go from here is upwards. We’ve got some big series coming up, against Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. If we play like we know we can play on a more consistent basis then I’m sure we’ll go up those rankings.”

The seniors may have returned, but by no means can India anticipate an easy warm-up before taking on more fancied teams

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran15-Jun-2010

Match Facts

Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Start time 1430 (0900 GMT)Tamim Iqbal – in the form of his life•BCB Media

The Big Picture

The seniors may have returned, but by no means can India anticipate an easy warm-up before taking on more fancied teams. The Zimbabwe tour taught their under-strength side to respect weaker teams and to not take things for granted. It was also a reality check on their bench strength, exposing more weaknesses than positives. It seemed like the IPL hangover lingered for much longer than it should have.Though the results were far from ideal – there were three defeats in four games, including two against Zimbabwe – it was a learning experience. The fast-bowling back-up is still work in progress, so much will be expected from the likes of Zaheer Khan to not only carry the attack, but also guide the rookies from here on in.The pressure that comes with defeat is nothing new to the current Indian set-up, and their captain MS Dhoni is confident of a turnaround. Experimentation will continue till the World Cup, perhaps to a lesser extent, but Dhoni will have to ensure the intensity doesn’t drop against teams like Bangladesh, who are capable of surprises.Bangladesh flattered to deceive as a team in their recent Tests against England, which they lost 0-2. There were some memorable individual performaces – from Tamim Iqbal for example – but as a unit, they lost the plot. Strong top-order starts were followed by collapses, as a matter of routine. The middle order looked scratchy and incapable of carrying on the job. But their captain Shakib Al Hasan acknowledges they’re a far better limited-overs side, with their spinners having a better chance to succeed. The slow surface at Dambulla should suit them.

Form guide (most recent first)

India LLWLL
Bangladesh LLLLL

Watch out for…

If Bangladesh have to name one world-class batsman who can walk into any line-up, it would have to be Tamim Iqbal. Tamim is a player who combines power with elegance, traits he shares with India’s Virender Sehwag. If it is there to be hit, he will dish out the treatment, irrespective of the state of the match or his own innings. He walloped hundreds at Lord’s and Old Trafford, and was a class apart from his colleagues down the order. Like Sehwag, he also doesn’t believe in scratching around in the nervous nineties.Virender Sehwag himself is meanwhile returning from a shoulder injury. For the second year in a row, his absence hurt India at the World Twenty20, with Gautham Gambhir out of sorts in the West Indies. India will be relieved to have Sehwag back after the woes of M Vijay, Dinesh Karthik and Naman Ojha at the top in Zimbabwe.

Team news

Saurabh Tiwary is the only new face for India, but it’s uncertain if they will try him out immediately. The seniors will get first preference because they’ve had a month’s break and will have to get back in to the groove quickly. While the batsmen pick themselves, it will be interesting to see if India go in with a second spinner, in which case R Ashwin or Pragyan Ojha could edge Praveen Kumar out of the eleven.India (likely) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautham Gambhir, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Pragyan Ojha/R Ashwin/Praveen Kumar, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish NehraMohammad Ashraful was handed a lifeline in England but failed yet again. Will he get another chance?Bangladesh (likely) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Naeem Islam, 9 Shafiul Islam, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Abdur Razzak

Stats and trivia

• India have a 50% win record in Dambulla, winning four out of eight matches. Bangladesh have never played an ODI here.
• Bangladesh have won only two out of 21 matches against India. In neutral venues, they have won one out of five, with the win coming, quite famously, in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
• India’s opening pairs have struggled to string together partnerships in Dambulla: in eight innings they average 15.50 runs per stand, with only one half-century.

Quotes

“This is a new beginning before the World cup, fielding and fitness are a priority, and the players have realised they have to work on it.”
.”The boys are really looking forward to this tournament. It is very important for us. We know it’s a very difficult task but not impossible.”

Ecclestone, Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt-Hodge turn in the command performances to order

Valkerie Baynes07-Oct-2024When the going got tough, three of England’s most senior players stepped up to preserve their unbeaten start to the T20 World Cup.Sophie Ecclestone – the spearhead of England’s four-woman spin attack – contained a threatening South Africa with her 2 for 15 from four overs, despite their 124 for 6 making them the first side to pass 120 in Sharjah’s run-scoring desert. Then came Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Nat Sciver-Brunt, two vastly experienced batters who shared a 64-run stand for the third wicket to see England home by seven wickets with four balls to spare, and give them two wins from as many games.Ecclestone has been at the top of the world T20I rankings for four-and-a-half-years, yet went wicketless in England’s tournament opener against Bangladesh.On Monday, South Africa were looking strong at 37 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, then Ecclestone entered in the seventh over and straight away enticed a thick edge from Laura Wolvaardt, although wicketkeeper Amy Jones couldn’t hold a difficult chance.Ecclestone returned in the 11th over and conceded just two runs while threatening the top of a struggling Anneke Bosch’s middle stump. Then, crucially, Ecclestone removed South Africa’s two most dangerous batters, Wolvaardt swiping across the line as the ball crashed into middle and leg and Marizanne Kapp, who was ominously poised on 26 from 17 balls when she charged and missed to hear the death rattle behind her.Sciver-Brunt said that England’s opening match against Bangladesh had taught them the best way to deploy Ecclestone in Sharjah, where the pitch has been slow and the boundaries are vast.”She’s a bowler that can bowl wherever in the innings,” Sciver-Brunt said. “Saving her for a couple overs for when batters really want to get after her, having had a go on that wicket already, we learned pretty well that’s what would be really difficult, and she executed that really well.”Both sides were left to rue chances and half-chances, and England’s run-chase spluttered early on before the senior pair hit their stride.When Maia Bouchier strode down the pitch and lofted Kapp down the ground for a one-bounce four, it was England’s first shot in anger, as they reached 8 for 0 after three overs.After the powerplay, England were 28 for 1, Alice Capsey having arrived when Bouchier was out lbw to Kapp and trying to get things moving with two boundaries off one Chloe Tryon over.Related

• October 7 at the T20 World Cup: Spinners in focus in 2023 semi-final rematch

• Sharjah's lack of pace key to England, South Africa's fortunes

• Sciver-Brunt and Ecclestone lead England to classy victory

• England loss puts Kapp's batting position and spin efficacy in focus for South Africa

Capsey’s soft return catch to Nadine de Klerk prompted Wyatt-Hodge to get creative. She lapped Nonkululeko Mlaba, though the shot only went for two, and tried a couple of times to launch Sune Luus down the ground before latching onto one over the bowler’s head for four.Her 41 from 40 deliveries had been the standout performance of England’s victory over Bangladesh, and her run-a-ball 43 kept England in a close contest against South Africa while being more patient than usual.”It’s funny because she’s been very frustrated for both of the innings,” Sciver-Brunt said. “She’s probably used to being 70 off 40, but the innings that she’s playing for us are so important, and just being able to hit it in areas that only she can [find] probably makes her quite difficult to bowl at, even in these conditions. Hopefully she can continue doing that and not get too frustrated.”Sciver-Brunt, by contrast, is characteristically unflappable, and she moved up a gear in the 15th over with twin leg-side fours off Kapp’s fourth.By the time Wyatt-Hodge was stumped off Mlaba, England needed 11 off the last two overs and two more boundaries from Sciver-Brunt, including the winning runs clubbed over extra cover off Ayabonga Khaka saw them home.”When I came to the middle, obviously we were a little bit behind the rate,” Sciver-Brunt said. “But I knew that [would change] if me and Danni stayed together, put a partnership together, ran really well. I think that from the first game, that’s something we really wanted to do, run really well between the wickets, knowing that boundaries are quite hard to hit on that wicket. The importance of running twos and then maneuvering fielders out the way so that you can hit into a gap a bit easier. That was the plan.”England’s next match is against Scotland on Sunday, meaning an extended period of down-time before they return to Sharjah again with qualification very much in their own hands.”Two wins out of two, we’re pretty happy,” Sciver-Brunt said. “We’ve got about a five-day gap now until our next game so we’ll be taking that time to reset, have a couple of days off and then go again. We’re really happy to get over the line today and I’ll just be celebrating that.”

Centuries for Luke Wells, Josh Bohannon keep Northants under pump on shortened day

Paul Edwards27-Jul-2023
If anything is to help this game reverse up Stalemate Close, it is probably the black saucers of earth that lie at each end of the pitch. Batters regard them with suspicion while spin bowlers, of which Lancashire have two specialists, view them with delight. If only our top order can build a lead, they thought this morning, we could frolic in the footmarks on Friday. So as expected, when play began at Emirates Old Trafford on this third day, three hours late and with 29 overs snipped from our ration, Lancashire put the hammer down on an attack lacking Ben Sanderson, Tom Taylor and Rob Keogh.Carnage followed. Big style. And Phil Salt played one of the innings of the season, scoring a century which outshone even those of Luke Wells and Josh Bohannon and reminding everyone, perhaps including Salt himself, that his talents need not be confined to white-ball cricketThat said, Northamptonshire’s injured bowlers have taken 39 of their side’s 108 Championship wickets in 2023 and this day’s two sessions showed how sorely they are missed. To a degree, it also revived memories of the evening’s cricket at Blackpool just over a fortnight ago, when Lancashire’s attack was shredded by Dan Lawrence and Doug Bracewell. This time, however, it was Keaton Jennings’ batters who did the shredding, scoring 377 runs in 67 overs and ending the day with a lead of 156 runs and power to add on the morrow.Even in the present era, such fast-forward cricket lent the evening unreality. The achievement of bonus points every 50 runs, significant partnerships and the batter’s individual landmarks blurred into each other and passed with notebook-defeating speed. Rounds of applause blended into each other, for there always seemed something for home supporters to clap. Wells reached his first century of the season off 171 balls, Bohannon his second off 143 balls and Salt also made his second three-figure score of the campaign, reaching that landmark off 74 balls with his third straight six to add to his 11 fours. So yes, there were plenty of big shots but what was most noticeable, particularly during Bohannon’s 126-run stand for the third wicket in 19 overs with Salt, was the whippet-speed of the running between the wickets as ones became twos if the fielder had to make any ground towards the ball.And as so often on such occasions, catches went down, some more culpably than others. White had little choice but to throw his catch at deep square leg back inside the boundary as he toppled over the rope, thus giving Wells a life on 78, but shortly afterwards Lewis McManus had no such excuse when he spilled a very straightforward chance off Dominic Leech. McManus was standing back, Leech was standing aghast and Wells was still standing on 85 not out.The one Northamptonshire fielder to emerge from the massacre with any credit was Ricardo Vasconcelos, who took an unremarkable catch to dismiss Wells off White for 119 and then a very remarkable, one-handed, diving effort off the same bowler to remove Bohannon for 128. But the loss of those wickets was acceptable collateral damage for Lancashire, although the same could hardly be said when Croft received a box-splintering blow in the knackers from White and fell to earth like a lightweight on the end of a haymaker.Salt’s dismissal, caught at deep square leg off White for a 77-ball 105 brought the curtain down on chaos. Nine overs from the close, Bell was caught on the deep square leg boundary by Vasconcelos for 15 and Croft and Tom Bailey later fell to Luke Procter, who, along with White, was the only Northamptonshire bowler who will wish to consult his bowling figures this evening. But those late successes seemed taken from another game, one far detached from the mayhem of a post-tea session in which 222 runs were scored in 35 overs, and one even further removed from the sight of Salt hitting fours and sixes that astounded even his batting partner.