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Leicestershire could still get out of this match with a draw, something that seemed inconceivable at approximately 12.45pm on Sunday

Graham Hardcastle at Grace Road04-Aug-2013
ScorecardTom Smith took three wickets in the Leicestershire first innings as the hosts followed on•PA Photos

Leicestershire could still get out of this match with a draw, something that seemed inconceivable at approximately 12.45pm on Sunday. Some kamikaze batting at the start of their second innings, having been asked to follow-on, had seen them slip to 41 for 3 with a deficit of 185, only seven wickets left and a little over five sessions remaining. Then the heavens opened on the cusp of lunch.Only 27 overs were possible after 5pm, in which time they lost a couple more wickets, and the popular opinion is that more rain will follow to ruin the fourth day, with Lancashire still needing five wickets and potentially a few runs as well in their second innings. Leicestershire currently trail by 98.A draw would not damage the Division Two leaders’ chances of promotion, but a fourth win from five will surely see them with one foot back in Division One even at this stage, with five matches still to play.Leicestershire were at least boosted by a late fifth-wicket partnership of 55 between unbeaten Niall O’Brien, who reached 35, and Matt Boyce. But should the weather not come to their aid, they will need much more of the same on day four.”We were obviously trying to knock them over, but we expected them to show some fight,” a philosophical Simon Katich said. “They hung in there well when they got back on, and we’ve still got five wickets to get tomorrow. Hopefully the weather, which doesn’t look good at this stage, doesn’t cause us problems. But who knows?”There’s nothing we can do about it. Sometimes it goes in your favour when you’re hanging on, and sometimes it doesn’t. I guess if it’s across the country, then we won’t get on. The only danger is if others get on and we don’t.”We got out of jail at Colwyn Bay earlier in the season, but we were robbed by the weather in terms of setting up the first two games against Worcester and Kent. That happens, and other teams will have had it as well.”Leicestershire lost six wickets in just over an hour and a half’s play this morning, with Michael Thornely and Ned Eckersley the most culpable of poor play in the second innings, which they started 226 behind.After Kyle Hogg had Greg Smith lbw with the first ball of the innings thanks to a memorable outswinging yorker, a ball that would have troubled batsmen of higher standing than Smith, Thornely and Eckersley threw their wickets away.Thornely drove Hogg chest high to Katich at mid-off before Eckersley was sent back by Shiv Thakor going for three to deep midwicket. Thakor also gave it away after the resumption when he clipped Glen Chapple to square leg before Boyce was caught behind off Andrea Agathangelou’s offspin just before close.Lancashire are the only unbeaten side in either division of the Championship this season. While their top order has rarely fired, the likes of middle-order duo Katich and Ashwell Prince and their bowlers have set the county out as a cut above their rivals in Division Two.So it was no surprise to see them wrap up Leicestershire’s first innings within the first half an hour of play. Tom Smith took two of the three wickets to fall from 127 for 7 to finish with impressive figures of 3 for 35 from 17 overs in only his second appearance of the season.

ESPNcricinfo previews the second ODI between England and Australia

The Preview by David Hopps07-Sep-2013

Match Facts

September 8, Old Trafford
Start time 10.15am (0915 GMT)Australia captain Michael Clarke is still looking for his first win over England on tour•Getty Images

The Big Picture

Now the traditional Headingley washout has been concluded, it is time to move on to the cricket. Four remaining matches in the NatWest series still give two fresh and experimental squads time to show their true flavour. The sense of anticipation remains, although too many of the showers forecast for Manchester on Sunday might put a bit of a damper on proceedings.England have expectations that Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara can make the sort of impact batting at Nos. 5 and 6 that will carry them through to the 2015 World Cup. Confidence abounds following their hundreds against Ireland in Malahide and a partnership of 226, which was an ODI record for the fifth wicket. S Rajesh, in Numbers Game, has reflected upon England’s commitment since another failed World Cup campaign in 2011 to lifting the strike rate at this stage of the innings.Australia’s tour of England has so far included a 3-0 Ashes series loss, a Champions Trophy campaign in which they failed to win a match and only two international victories: a Twenty20 game against England and an ODI win over minnows Scotland.Fifty miles east of Manchester, Yorkshire will be rueing their ill luck. A third washout in five one-day internationals was not the sort of news that Yorkshire need when they are still wrestling with debts not far short of £20m. Profits of half a million from a capacity crowd of 17,250 have been washed away, leaving Yorkshire with no chance to recover the losses made on an under-budget Test against New Zealand in May. One money-saving scheme has been abandoned as Yorkshire have concluded that the floodlights at the defunct Don Valley athletics stadium are unsuitable.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
England WLWWL
Australia WLLWW

Watch out for…

Fawad Ahmed has attracted attention in the pre-match build-up because of criticism of Cricket Australia’s willingness to allow him to follow his religious beliefs and not wear a brewers’ logo on his shirt. The discord that has sounded from the wings cannot have eased his integration and he will be eager to do what he does best and remind everybody of his legspin prowess. For England, Ravi Bopara has had a decent summer. He played with a new maturity in the Champions Trophy and that century in Ireland furthered hopes that, at 28, he can yet have a consistently rewarding England career.

Team news

Ben Stokes has the capacity to make the grade as a fully fledged allrounder. He batted as low as No. 8 in Ireland but England have resisted the temptation to award a first cap to Chris Jordan, whose bowling suit is a little stronger. Australia are expected to retain the side that gave Scotland a 200-run thumping.England (possible) 1 Michael Carberry, 2 Kevin Pietersen, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Ben Stokes, 9 James Tredwell, 10 Boyd Rankin, 11 Steven FinnAustralia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Shaun Marsh, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 George Bailey, 6 Adam Voges, 7 Matthew Wade, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Clint McKay, 11 Fawad Ahmed

Pitch and conditions

After one of the warmest summers in northern England for many years, the weather has turned a little grouchy, which considering the 10.15am start could make bowling first a big temptation. The Old Trafford pitch was one of the better ones in the Ashes series, although the pace and bounce that was often apparent a few years ago is no longer as common.

Stats and trivia

• England’s last one-day defeat at Old Trafford came in 2006 against Sri Lanka. Since then they have won four in a row, including twice against Australia.
• Australia have won five and lost five of their ten ODIs at the ground.
• George Bailey needs 112 runs to reach 1000 in one-day internationals; Mitchell Johnson is five wickets short of 200.
• Ravi Bopara’s hundred against Ireland took him past Neil Fairbrother, Mike Gatting and Ian Botham on England’s run-scorers list.

Quotes

“My plan is to be annoying, just tick along at that door and hope one day someone comes along and opens it – and I get my chance.”
“He talked up his table tennis, and he’s let himself down a little bit there. That’s probably been a bigger issue for him.”

Preview of the first semi-final between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran03-Oct-2013

Match facts

Friday, October 4, 2013
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)From Sir with love – Ravindra Jadeja’s had a horror tournament with the ball•BCCI

Big Picture

Till Wednesday evening, it was almost assumed that Chennai Super Kings would stay back in Delhi for their semi-final clash against Mumbai Indians, who had just qualified for the knockouts in blistering fashion earlier in the day. Super Kings were on top of Group B, undefeated, but as the night wore on, they slipped one notch below after a crushing defeat to Trinidad and Tobago. T&T not only won, but stormed home in just over 15 overs to top the group. It meant that the West Indian side would end up staying back in Delhi, while Super Kings would have to travel to Jaipur to take on Rajasthan Royals. With the Royals sitting on a 12-match winning-streak at home, stretching back to the IPL, you wouldn’t expect many teams relishing the prospect of playing them there. It shows that in this format, one bad day can make a difference.Super Kings suffered a rare batting meltdown against T&T with only three of their batsmen going into double-figures. Their famed finishers failed in unison and the side lost its last five wickets for 16 runs. Super Kings still played their best team, but as they learned even during the IPL final, even the best sides can defy expectations. They arrived in Jaipur late on Thursday and decided not to practice.Will the Royals’ home streak finally end? There were fears of that happening on Tuesday when the Otago Volts fought back to pick up quick middle-order wickets in Royals’ chase of a middling 140. Brad Hodge rescued them to script a win with nearly an over to spare, but they knew it shouldn’t have been this close. From their point of view, it was good that they were tested ahead of the knockouts.

In the spotlight

Game 1 – 3-0-49-1; Game 2 – 1-0-22-0, Game 3 – 4-0-18-2; Game 4 – 2-0-30-0. Ravindra Jadeja‘s bowling figures. Those for the third game, against Brisbane Heat, were more than respectable, but aside from that, Jadeja’s had a horror of a tournament with the ball, with an overall economy rate of 11.90. He hasn’t had many opportunities to bat either, but in his one chance to occupy the crease for a sufficient period, against T&T, he was run out for 3. While he might still keep his place, Super Kings’ star allrounder will need to turn it around quickly, at least with the ball.Rahul Dravid was asked after the Otago game if his Man of the Match, Rahul Shukla, had done enough to get another game. He may have refused to “give away team secrets”, but after Shukla’s dream performance, no captain would want to bench him. The Jharkhand fast bowler came in as Vikramjeet Malik’s replacement and derailed Otago’s top order with three wickets in his first over. Those blows stood in Otago’s way of pushing for a more competitive total.

Quotes

“Ideally, we would have liked to keep our winning ways and stay here at one place. We would have loved to face Mumbai in the semi-finals but you can’t pick and choose and we are now heading to Rajasthan. They are a pretty formidable side at home and we need to be on top of our game.”

Bangladesh fast bowler Shahadat Hossain has been ruled out for six months after twisting his right knee during the lunch break on the first day of the second Test against Pakistan

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur06-May-2015Bangladesh fast bowler Shahadat Hossain has been ruled out* for six months after twisting his right knee during the lunch break on the first day of the second Test against Pakistan. Shahadat has suffered damage to the ligament and meniscus cartilage on the knee and will require surgery.He had been off the field for a large part of the first session after falling over in his follow through and hurting the same knee while bowling the first delivery of the match. He bowled another ball before limping off. He returned to the field in the 17th over and later took a catch at deep midwicket to dismiss Sami Aslam.He would have been allowed to bowl in the second session, but fell over while bowling some practice deliveries during the lunch break and had to be stretchered off. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the Bangladesh team management had asked Shahadat not to bowl during the interval.Mushfiqur Rahim used Soumya Sarkar to complete Shahadat’s opening over and Sarkar bowled 11.4 overs in the day. Bangladesh now have only one fast bowler and three spinners to try and take 20 Pakistan wickets. Shahadat was chosen for this match only because of an injury to Rubel Hossain, who was part of the XI for the Khulna Test.There is little chance of Shahadat batting in the Test.May 6, 2015 14:30 GMT: The piece has been updated with news of Shahadat Hossain being ruled out

The aggressive bowling of Shaun Tait and the batting of Ravi Bopara combined for Essex to ease them to their first T20 win of the season against Glamorgan

ECB/PA22-May-2015
ScorecardRavi Bopara’s unbeaten 81 took Essex home•Getty Images

The aggressive bowling of Shaun Tait and the batting of Ravi Bopara combined for Essex to ease them to their first T20 win of the season against Glamorgan.Having restricted the home side to 144 for 8 thanks to three wickets from Tait, Bopara was guiding his side to an easy win before floodlight failure at the SWALEC stadium saw the match held up for 30 minutes. Once the lights had come back on, Bopara and Essex continued their serene progression towards victory. Bopara finished on 81 not out off 53 balls and Essex won with 14 balls to spare.The target was par at best for Glamorgan, and when Jesse Ryder was dispatching the ball to the boundary with ease it looked nowhere near enough. When he was well caught by Andrew Salter on the midwicket boundary for 20 runs off just 10 balls the Essex run rate dropped dramatically. Bopara came to the rescue, first with Kishen Velani and then briefly with Ryan ten Doeschate to make the game a formality by the time the lights went out.

Insights

Essex’s team was clearly short of experience and quality in the first week, when, without Mark Pettini and Ravi Bopara for both matches, and Jesse Ryder for the second, they lost twice, both times losing too many wickets in run-chases. A top three of Nick Browne, Daniel Lawrence and Kishen Velani for their second match against Surrey was replaced by a top three of Pettini, Ryder and Bopara against Glamorgan and Essex were triumphant. With Ryan ten Doeschate, Graeme Napier and James Foster below them, Essex have one of the most formidable batting line-ups in the league.

The Glamorgan innings started badly but they recovered well after the early loss of Mark Wallace. The keeper-batsman played out a somewhat fraught innings: in the over he was dismissed he was lucky not to be out caught twice before being bowled by Graham Napier for 5. The South African pairing of Colin Ingram and Jacques Rudolph then built a platform with a partnership of 46 off 33 balls.Ingram rode his luck during his innings, edging over the keeper’s head twice and surviving a chance off Reece Topley that should have been caught by Napier. He could not make the most of his luck and he was caught in the deep the next over by Bopara for 24. Rudolph was out the following over for 30.Things only got worse for the Welsh county when Will Bragg went for 6 caught at long-off and Craig Meschede was run out four deliveries later without facing a ball. The procession of Glamorgan wickets continued when Andrew Salter was clean up by a thunderbolt yorker from Tait to leave the home side 83 for 6.There was a recovery of sorts between Chris Cooke and Graham Wagg, who took the score past 100 before Wagg attempted one expansive drive too many and was brilliantly caught at mid-on by ten Doeschate for 14. Cooke went on to make 31 from 30 balls, the highest score of Glamorgan’s stop-start innings, before he was well caught at long-on by ten Doeschate.Essex were always favourite to win and despite losing both of their openers early Bopara appeared to have things under control. Fresh from his spell with Sunrisers Hydrabad at the IPL the England allrounder made it all look very easy as Essex bounced back from losing twice in two days on the opening weekend.

Chennai could lose out on hosting matches of next year’s World Twenty, to be staged in India, if the issue of its three locked stands remains unresolved

Nagraj Gollapudi15-Jun-2015Chennai could lose out on hosting matches of next year’s World Twenty20, to be staged in India, if the issue of its three locked stands remains unresolved. That was one of the important points of discussion during a meeting in Mumbai on Sunday between the ICC and BCCI officials, who are also yet to agree on the total number of venues for the tournament. While the ICC has recommended five venues, the BCCI is in favour of eight. A final decision is likely to be taken at the ICC Board meeting in Barbados in the last week of June.Although no venues were shortlisted, it is understood that the ICC team was specifically concerned about MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai. Keeping in mind that the three stands (I, J, K) that have been locked during the matches in Chepauk in the last three years, the ICC made it clear that matches could not be played in front of empty stands. The BCCI itself is wary of the venue as ESPNcricinfo has learned that Chepauk does not feature in its shortlist of eight venues. Although the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association is trying hard to get the requisite approvals to throw open the three stands, officials have conceded that Chepauk is likely to miss out.The three stands, which were opened in 2011, were locked and sealed by the Chennai corporation during the 2012 and 2013 editions of the IPL. With the issue unresolved, in the 2014 IPL, Chennai Super Kings played all their home matches in Ranchi. This IPL, too, the three stands remained shut and was one of the main reasons behind the play-off match involving Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore being shifted to Ranchi in May.At the meeting, the BCCI was represented by an eight-man team lead by secretary Anuraj Thakur along with Sundar Raman, Ratnakar Shetty, MV Sridhar, RP Shah, Amrit Mathur and Hemang Amin. The ICC team comprised Campbell Jamieson, Chris Tetley and Dhiraj Malhotra.The BCCI informed that the main reason for insisting on eight venues was the volume of matches involved. A total of 35 matches will be played between March 11 and April 3, 2016 to be contested by 16 teams. The BCCI reasoned that if they stuck to five grounds, each venue would end up hosting seven matches per venue which would only make it difficult to fill up the stadium.An official privy to the discussions said the ICC was happy with the reasons. The twin concerns the ICC had was tackling cost and travel. It is understood the BCCI has given an undertaking to take care of the travel of the teams. The official said the ICC team would now report back to the board to discuss the costs.

The gap between Bangladesh and South Africa in terms of experience and performance is significant but the home captain Mashrafe Mortaza has urged his team to play fearless cricket

Mohammad Isam04-Jul-2015The gap between Bangladesh and South Africa in terms of experience and performance is significant but the home captain Mashrafe Mortaza has urged his team to play fearless cricket.South Africa are the second-most successful T20 team in international cricket apart from being one of the five teams to have played at least 75 T20s. Bangladesh languish below Ireland, Netherlands and Afghanistan in terms of wins and have only played 42 matches in this format since 2006. While many of the South Africans play in the IPL, Bangladesh haven’t had a domestic T20 competition since December 2013 and their only T20 moment of note is the win over Pakistan in April, their only T20 game since they hosted the World T20 in 2014.Mashrafe is also keen to see how his team, which is full of confidence after ODI series wins at home against Pakistan and India, reacts against such strong opposition.”South Africa have a number of players who can single-handedly win them a T20,” Mashrafe said. “We don’t have many such players but if we can play as a team and maintain our consistency, we will do well. We have to play with guts. T20 is a game of courage. We have only one option: to play with self-belief. It would be better to sit at home if we are fearing them. It can happen so in that case we should keep that off the field.”What happened in the past will certainly not be of any help. What we did in the last series won’t come to use either. On the day, we have to start and finish well. If we are consistent, it will give us confidence. We don’t have a good record and we play very few T20s. We have only one experienced T20 player and that’s Shakib [Al Hasan]. They have 8-10 players who regularly play T20s across the world. They are ahead of us in that regard. But it is only a piece of statistics. It will be a different game altogether when we play well in the middle.”Mashrafe is pinning his hopes on his bowlers keeping South Africa to around 160, and said he was happy to see the pace bowlers come to the fore after years of spin being Bangladesh’s only bowling strength.”We have been reliant on spin for around 10-15 years but since the Zimbabwe series, we have been getting positives out of using three pace bowlers in the XI. Spin is still our strength but pacers are also contributing in a big way. We have to ensure our best possible combination is out in the field.”Our bowlers can win us the game. India can chase 300-plus totals but our bowlers were outstanding in that game. Of course our batsmen are doing well but I still feel our bowlers can win us a T20. If a team scores 200 it would be hard for us to chase. Our batsmen will find themselves in the game when the opposition can be restricted to around 150-160.”On Friday, Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha said it was an exciting time to be a Bangladeshi cricketer, given how much their team was winning against higher-ranked opposition. “I think it is an exciting time for Bangladesh,” he said. “I mean it is always good to win but the way we are playing and winning is more exciting.”

Australia A dominated the first day in Chennai as they bowled India A out for 135 and then shaved off 43 from the deficit without loss

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu in Chennai29-Jul-2015
ScorecardAshton Agar returned figures of 12-3-23-2 in the first innings•K Sivaraman

Ahead of the first unofficial Test against against Australia A in Chennai, India A coach Rahul Dravid called for quick, bouncy tracks to challenge the batsmen but instead, the first match served up a slow, low pitch. The track on the first day of the second game was livelier and the first ball of the day summed it up as Gurinder Sandhu extracted excellent carry to Matthew Wade. The challenge was on.The opportunity beckoned and it was the visitors who grabbed it, bowling India A out for 135 in 68.5 overs. The left-arm spinners, Steve O’Keefe and Ashton Agar dismantled the top and middle order, claiming combined figures of 29-8-53-4 before Sandhu made light work of the tail in a spell that read 7.5-2-15-3.Coming together at 53 for 4, Karun Nair and Naman Ojha mounted the lone source of resistance for India A, grinding 56 runs in 197 balls for the fifth wicket. The pair left balls outside off, blocked resolutely, nudged it into the gaps and played out a wicket-less second session even as the pitch slowed down and posed a different challenge – variable bounce.Agar and O’Keefe plugged away, Sandhu swapped pace for offbreaks for an over, and Andrew Fekete attacked the body from around the wicket with a 5-4 leg-side field, but Naman and Karun blunted them.Naman, who celebrated the fifty partnership by swat-pulling an Agar half-tracker, seemed to have loosened the shackles after being bogged down by a clump of dots. It was his first four in 80 balls. However, it turned out to be a false dawn.Four balls later, Naman raced down the track only to be beaten in flight as Wade helped himself to a stumping. Naman’s painstaking 144-minute stay had yielded only 10. Karun then fell for 50, tamely chipping a Fekete ball to square leg, which he later described as a “lapse in concentration.”Fekete had begun well, too, having the openers – Cheteshwar Pujara and Abhinav Mukund – ducking and swaying with the new ball. Pujara and Mukund saw through the first 10 overs, adding 18 runs before Marcus Stoinis struck with his very first ball, an off-cutter that beat Pujara’s defences to hit the top of middle.Enter Virat Kohli. The MA Chidambaram Stadium, which had a decent turnout, roared. It grew louder when India’s Test captain skipped down the track and launched O’Keefe into the sightscreen in the 16th over. However, the crowd was soon hushed into silence when Agar caught Kohli in the crease with an arm ball and trapped him in front for a 42-ball 16. Four balls later, Shreyas Iyer was undone by an O’Keefe ripper that pitched on middle and leg and spun sharply with some extra bounce to tilt the off-stump back.If Kohli’s wicket was reward for accurate bowling after O’Keefe and Agar had strung together 14 consecutive dots, then Iyer’s wicket was a confidence-booster for Agar, who was playing his first competitive game since March after being sidelined by a shoulder injury.In stark contrast to the hosts’ approach, Australia A openers Cameron Bancroft and Usman Khawaja began positively, shaving 43 off the deficit in 13 overs before stumps. Varun Aaron was off-radar, slinging four no-balls while Pragyan Ojha did not get much bite. The India A bowlers will have to step up on the second day if they are to mask the batting failure and pull their side back into the game.

India fast bowler Ishant Sharma has been fined 65% of his match fees for his send-offs to Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2015India fast bowler Ishant Sharma has been fined 65% of his match fees for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct.Ishant had given send-offs to Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal in the Colombo Test, which is against Article 2.1.7 relating to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his/her dismissal during an International Match.”The on-field umpires Bruce Oxenford and Rod Tucker brought the charges to match referee Andy Pycroft, who ruled that Ishant would lose 15% of his match fees for the Thirimanne send-off and a further 50% for the Chandimal one.An ICC press release explained that Pycroft chose a more severe punishment for the second send-off because “circumstances surrounding the second incident, including the more aggressive nature of the conduct, warranted a higher sanction than the first of the two offences”If Ishant commits a similar breach a third time in the next 12 months, he will face will face a sanction of between two and eight suspension points.

New Zealand A claimed the unofficial ODI series against Sri Lanka A with a dominant 117-run victory in Lincoln

Andrew Fidel Fernando10-Oct-2015
ScorecardFile photo – Ish Sodhi’s late wickets meant he finished with the best figures for New Zealand•AFP

New Zealand A claimed the unofficial ODI series against Sri Lanka A with a dominant 117-run victory in Lincoln. No. 3 batsman Will Young’s 85 from 98 deliveries anchored the hosts’ total of 302 for 9, while George Worker, Mitchell Santner and Adam Milne provided supporting innings. Sri Lanka A managed only 185 in response, and were all out in the 41st over. The hosts now lead the four-match series 3-0.Spinners Shehan Jayasuriya and Dhananjaya de Silva had made regular breakthroughs in the first half of New Zealand A’s innings, taking two wickets apiece to have the opposition 111 for four in the 25th over. But Young struck up two fifty-run stands with Santner and Milne, to steady his team’s innings. The tail provided the death-over aggression after Young departed in the 44th over. Jayasuriya finished with figures of 3 for 52.Milne dismissed both Sri Lanka A openers for single-digit scores, and the visitors continued to bleed wickets to both seam and spin. Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella was the only batsman to register a fifty. None of his team-mates crossed 30, as the chase continued to falter. Ish Sodhi took two late wickets to finish with the game’s best figures of 3 for 39.