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Dominic Cork admitted he was considering his future in the game after captaining a young Hampshire side to the Friends Provident t20 title

Cricinfo staff15-Aug-2010Dominic Cork admitted he was considering his future in the game after captaining a young Hampshire side to the Friends Provident t20 title on Saturday evening.Cork turned 39 earlier this month but played a pivotal role on finals day – knocking international stars such as Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann off the headlines. Hampshire snuck over the line in an extraordinary finish at the Rose Bowl with the injured Daniel Christian scrambling a leg bye off the last ball of the game to level the scores and win by virtue of fewer wickets lost. Hampshire ended five wickets down while Somerset lost six wickets in their innings thanks to Cork taking two for three runs in the 20th over.It scripted what could be a fitting finale to a career stacked with triumphs but Cork is unsure whether he is ready to part ways with the game after being offered a new contract by Hampshire.”I’ve been offered a deal for next year. I have been offered a contract,” he said. “Ali Brown, Robert Croft, Mark Ramprakash … they’re all over 40 and I’m 39. But as long as I’m physically okay and feel I can make a difference I want to play. I don’t want to be picked because of what I’ve done in the past, I want to be picked because I can make that difference and if I believe I can do that I’ll carry on.”If I don’t think that then it’s time to let some of the youngsters take the ball and have a good time because it’s been a great career. I’m going to think about it and I’m sure I’ll make the right decision for myself and for Hampshire as well.”

She had finished last season as the Player of the Tournament in Thunder’s fourth-place finish

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2024Sydney Thunder have secured Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu’s services for the next three seasons via a pre-draft signing ahead of WBBL 2024-25, which is set to begin on October 27.Athapaththu, who played for Thunder last season as an undrafted player, filled the fourth overseas slot on their roster. She finished the season with a Player-of-the-Tournament performance in Thunder’s fourth-place finish, scoring 552 runs at 42.46 and taking nine wickets.”Committing to Sydney Thunder for the next three seasons was an easy decision because I believe in the vision of this club, and I want to be part of its future success,” Athapaththu said.Related

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“There’s so much to love about my Sydney Thunder family. My team-mates are not just colleagues; they are friends who push each other to be better every day, [which] is important to me. Western Sydney is the heart and soul of Sydney Thunder and representing such a diverse and vibrant community is a privilege to have. It’s been an incredible journey so far, and I’m so excited for what’s ahead.”Unlike in previous seasons where overseas players in the WBBL were contracted on a one-year basis, Athapaththu has signed under the league’s new multi-year contract provision. It allows each club to sign one overseas player for up to three years outside of the draft, which will take place on September 1″Chamari is obviously an exceptional cricket player, but she is also an exceptional human being who is team first and fan first,” Sydney Thunder general manager Trent Copeland said. “We know other teams were interested in signing her, but we made every effort to ensure she came back. To see the way she embraced and engaged with our members and fans last summer was something pretty special and on the field she had one of the WBBL’s great seasons.”Athapaththu has had stints in the WBBL previously with Melbourne Renegades and Perth Scorchers. Last season, after not being selected in the draft, she was added to the Thunder squad as cover for their three overseas players. Thunder open their 2024-25 campaign against Hobart Hurricanes on October 28.

Sydney Thunder updated squad

Chamari Athapaththu, Samantha Bates, Hannah Darlington, Saskia Horley, Anika Learoyd, Phoebe Litchfield, Claire Moore, Taneale Peschel, Georgia Voll, Tahlia Wilson

Former players weigh in on the controversial dismissal at The Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-20231:37

Was Cameron Green’s grab out or not?

Shubman Gill’s dismissal in India’s second innings of the World Test Championship final sparked debate over whether the catch taken by Cameron Green at gully was clean or not.It was a spectacular effort from the 6’7″ Green once again. He had taken a high one-handed blinder with his right hand in India’s first innings to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane, and here he had to dive low to his left and pluck the ball milliseconds before it hit the turf. Replays though suggested it was a close call.Both Gill and his opening partner Rohit Sharma had seen the edge dying on its way to the cordon, so they waited, bringing the TV umpire into play. Previously, contentious catches referred to the TV umpire used to come with a soft signal – out or not out – from the on-field umpires, and there needed to be conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field decision. The ICC has only just scrapped the soft-signal rule, and this was the first instance of a TV umpire adjudicating a contentious catch on his own. In this case the TV umpire Richard Kettleborough saw enough from the visuals to suggest Green had got his fingers under the ball.Rohit didn’t agree though. He seemed to mouth an audible “No” as the “Out” flashed on the big screen at The Oval. Gill, also, put out a tweet after the day’s play, using emojis that suggested he did not believe it was a clean catch. The replays on the broadcast lost a frame between Green catching with his fingers underneath the ball as he fell to the grass and then throwing it up in celebration. Did the ball in that frame – as he rolled his hand over – touch the turf? There seemed to be no conclusive evidence to say either way, and both of ESPNcricinfo’s Match Day experts – Sanjay Manjrekar and Brad Haddin – were of the opinion the right decision had been made.”When you see it real time, it is very important thing to see and something I have advocated to a lot of people about when there is a review for a low catch that goes upstairs to the TV umpire, they get a lot of angles and the frozen image is something that sets the cat among the pigeons,” Manjrekar said. “The viewers see the frozen image and see the leather touching the turf … in real time, it looked like a pretty brilliant catch, just a nice motion. If you ask me if that was a catch, I’d say, yes, brilliant catch.”Haddin said: “I thought it was a clean catch and Green got his fingers underneath the ball. I like it at real time because if you slow it down too much and look at different frames, it can create a lot of doubt. In this case, he had his fingers under the ball and it was a clean catch.”The catch that Cameron Green took to dismiss Shubman Gill•Getty Images

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting also agreed with the interpretation that it was a fair catch. “When I saw it live, I knew it had carried to him on the full, but I wasn’t sure what the action was after that from all replays we have seen,” he told the ICC. “I actually think some part of the ball did touch the ground and it is the interpretation of the umpire that as long as the fielder has complete control of the ball before the ball hits the ground then it is out. That must have been what the umpires’ interpretation was and I think that is exactly what happened. It carried probably six or eight inches off the ground then there was another action after that.”Former India allrounder and coach Ravi Shastri, speaking after the day’s play, said two fingers under the ball often means the ball has touched the ground but, in this case, he could certainly see why the umpire when with the out decision. “If I saw what I saw there as the third umpire, it’s very difficult to say that the ball hit the ground, because you could see the two fingers under it,” Shastri told Star Sports. “I’ve always believed when it comes up with two fingers, the chances of the ball touching the ground are much more as opposed to three fingers, where the three fingers come under the ball. So what I can see of Cameron Green there, there are two fingers. So it’s a tough one, but you go down the umpire’s route, he has to be convinced that the ball has touched the ground.”And let’s not forget, he has got giant fingers, he’s a big fellow, and you can see the angle of the fingers, it’s under the ball. You’ve got the thumb on top, the fingers are wrapped around the ball. Richard Kettleborough, I can see where he’s coming from.”Former Australia opener and coach Justin Langer, on the same segment on Star Sports, agreed with Shastri’s assessment. “Richard Kettleborough is a world-class umpire, and what he goes on, he had to probably give it out. The other thing that I always find interesting is the initial reaction of the fielder. Cameron Green got underneath it and was convinced he had caught it. Often if there’s any doubt, you can see it in the body language of the fielder.”Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh and former India batter Virender Sehwag both said the replays viewed by the third umpire were inconclusive, and giving the batter out based on those visuals was incorrect. “Inconclusive evidence. When in doubt, it’s not out,” Sehwag tweeted, while Harbhajan told PTI: “The replay was inconclusive. They should have zoomed in on his fingers closely before taking the call. It could cost India dearly in the run chase.”That was the last action before the tea interval on the fourth day, with the players leaving the field to boos from the largely Indian crowd. Gill fell for 18 off 19 with his team 41 for 1 in 7.1 overs in a chase of 444.

Tailender Corey Rocchiccioli’s 28-ball 50 pushed Western Australia to 386, before Pucovski made 59 in Victoria’s reply

Alex Malcolm01-Apr-2022A brilliant five-wicket haul from Will Sutherland, and a half-century from Will Pucovski helped drag Victoria back into the Sheffield Shield final against Western Australia on the second day at the WACA.Sutherland’s third Shield five-wicket haul saw Western Australia bowled out for just 386 after beginning the second day at a solid 3 for 290. His withering spell in the morning was vital for Victoria as the ball nipped and swung prodigiously under cloudy skies after barely moving for large portions of the opening day.Western Australia’s total could have been even less without a spectacular 28-ball 50 from No.10 Corey Rocchiccioli. It was the first half-century by a No.10 in Shield final history, and was made all the more extraordinary by the fact he had faced just eight balls and scored one run without being dismissed in his only three Shield matches prior to the final. Rocchiccioli had also never made more than 38 in first-grade cricket for his Perth premier cricket club university.In reply, Victoria batted sensibly in the afternoon against some very consistent bowling, with Pucovski making a composed 59. But at the end of the day, Western Australia’s quicks managed to restrict Victoria’s run rate to 2.53, leaving them in danger of falling well short of Western Australia’s first-innings bonus-point tally, something which could decide the Shield if the match ends in a draw.Western Australia lost 4 for 17 in the first 12 overs of the day, with Sutherland nicking off nightwatchman Matt Kelly, 17-year-old Teague Wyllie – who was playing just his second game – and wicketkeeper-batter Josh Philippe in quick succession. Kelly was squared up by a ball that leapt from a length and nicked to second slip, where Peter Handscomb took a Shield record 24th catch for the season for a non-wicketkeeper, before finishing the day with one more.Wyllie and Philippe fell in almost identical fashion, with Sutherland going wide of the crease to both right-handers to angle into off stump. Both were caught on the crease as the ball straightened a fraction to catch the edge, as Matt Short held two simple catches at first slip.Will Pucovski scored 59 in Victoria’s reply with the bat•Getty Images

In between, Cameron Bancroft, the hero of the opening day, was strangled down the leg side by Scott Boland, falling a touch too far across as he glanced too fine and Sam Harper moved superbly to his left to take the catch. Bancroft finished with an outstanding 141 from 269 balls with 17 fours.Western Australia then slumped to 8 for 322 when Aaron Hardie attempted a booming drive off a Mitch Perry outswinger to be caught behind.But Rocchiccioli, Joel Paris and Lance Morris added 64 for the last two wickets, with Rocchiccioli producing a staggering rearguard. He clubbed four fours and two sixes to reach 50 off 28 balls. Although he had nicked a couple to third man to get his innings underway, Rocchiccioli then unfurled some sensational hitting by slog sweeping Jon Holland for six, and hooking Perry into the stands.Rocchiccioli brought up his half-century with a heave to long-on, and celebrated with a huge smile having reached his highest score at any level of cricket in nearly five years. He was clean bowled next ball trying to launch Sutherland into the Lillee-Marsh Stand to hand the Victorian quick his fifth wicket.Victoria’s openers then started steadily with a 75-run stand against a disciplined Western Australia attack. They had to survive four consecutive maidens at one stage, with Travis Dean fortunate not to fall after Bancroft spilled a low chance to his left at second slip off Kelly.Pucovski looked superb at the other end, producing two silky on drives and a classy cut shot. Dean was less assured and fell not long after tea to an excellent piece of captaincy from Shaun Marsh. He put in a short leg after Dean had inside edged several balls onto his pad. Hardie got one to bounce and seam a touch more, and the inside edge bobbled off his pad to short leg where Wyllie dived forward to take a very good catch.Pucovski remained unflustered, reaching 50 from 107 balls with five fours. But Paris found a way through his rock-solid defence, snaking one back from around the wicket through the gate to scratch the inside edge and hand Philippe a simple catch behind.Victoria’s scoring slowed to a crawl thereafter, and Short’s tortured stay ended as he edged Hardie to second slip for 10 off 45 balls with Bancroft making amends for his earlier miss pouching the chance at full stretch to his right. That is when Perry came in as nightwatchman and did his job.Handscomb played nicely to finish on 39* at stumps, but Victoria remained 239 runs behind with just 42 overs left tomorrow to overcome a 0.77 bonus-point deficit, with 0.01 points accrued for every run scored over 200 inside the first 100 overs, as Western Australia look to add 0.1 to their tally with every wicket taken in the same period.

There have now been eight positive cases in the touring party with two deemed “historic”

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2020One further positive Covid-19 case has been confirmed among the Pakistan touring squad in New Zealand bringing the total to eight.The latest case confirmed on Wednesday was one of three that were under investigation from Tuesday with the other two still to be determined.”This person is a member of the Pakistan cricket squad and was one of the three cases reported as under investigation yesterday,” a statement from the New Zealand Ministry of Health said. “They have now been confirmed to have an active COVID-19 infection. The two other cases remain under investigation.”The team is not allowed to train until the Canterbury DHB medical officer of health determines they are satisfied that any training activities are unlikely to transmit Covid-19.”Two of the eight positive tests have been deemed “historic” and not infectious with the PCB saying in a statement that those players are now isolating on the same floor as other members of the squad who have tested negative.The PCB added that following day nine tests on Thursday, those who continue to return negative test results are expected to be able to train for the rest of their time in managed isolation and after day 12 tests those who clear the 14-day health check will be able to leave managed isolation.”The PCB has been maintaining a close contact with the Pakistan team management in New Zealand and have kept them updated on the return to training process,” the statement said. “The management and the players are fully supportive of the process and keen to get back on to the field as soon as they are compliant with the New Zealand Government rules.”

England were blown away for 146 on the final day at Edgbaston to leave them with a host of questions early in the series

Report by Andrew McGlashan05-Aug-2019They came with hope of batting out the final day and leaving Edgbaston intact, but England were blown away by Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins as Australia completed victory by a crushing 251 runs before tea. Lyon lived up the billing as the major fourth-innings threat with 6 for 49, his best figures against England, and finished with nine in the match.It was Australia’s first victory at the venue in any format since 2001 – which is also their last Test series win in England – and this is the first time they have led an away Ashes since 2005. The lead-up to the match was dominated by a multitude of selection debates, but it was two of the nailed-on names who did the wicket-taking work on the final day to ensure that Steven Smith’s monumental performances will always be associated with victory rather than a stalemate. Given that Australia were 122 for 8 on the first day, it will go down as one of their finest victories even though England were a bowler down.Cummins began Australia’s march to victory on the final morning, by removing Rory Burns with a well-directed short ball, and finished with 4 for 32, in the process claiming his 100th Test wicket in his 21st match when he removed Jonny Bairstow. That was the second-fastest number of games for an Australian pace bowler, behind Charlie Turner’s 17, a game quicker than Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Bill Johnston.There was a milestone, too, for Lyon as he reached 350 Test wickets with the scalp of Ben Stokes as England’s middle order was destroyed. There had been some hope when, despite the loss of Burns – splicing the ball to gully – in the third over the day, they reached 60 for 1 but Lyon was soon getting to work.His first wicket of the day owed a lot to a horrendous shot from Jason Roy who charged down the pitch, was nowhere near the ball and still went through with a swipe to the leg side. The end result was not pretty. He is early in his Test career and has been picked because he is a dynamic player, but this was a bad misjudgement. Joe Denly started positively with a brace of sweeps off Lyon but everything was in the offspinner’s favour and it wasn’t long before a bat-pad chance looped to short leg.Root twice used DRS to overturn poor lbw decisions by Joel Wilson – who had a torrid game – when he was given out to James Pattinson on 4 with the ball missing leg and again on 9 against Peter Siddle when there was an inside edge. The contest between Lyon and Root was absorbing while it lasted, the England captain eager to try and not let Lyon settle, but there was no need for an umpiring decision when he did fall, a thick inside edge being safely held by Cameron Bancroft.Nathan Lyon wheels away in celebration•Getty Images

Four down at lunch and England’s only real hope was to have a wicketless middle session: six balls into the resumption and they lost their fifth. Cummins had troubled Jos Buttler before the break – reviewing a tight lbw that was umpire’s call on height – and Buttler was 1 off 24 balls when he had his off stump trimmed. He played it as though the ball kept low, and perhaps it did a fraction, but he was also beaten by Cummins’ challenging length.On a surface that became slower as the match progressed, Cummins made exceptional use of the short ball throughout the day. Having earlier defeated Burns, he then angled one in at Bairstow’s chest and he couldn’t lower his hands in time. The ball ballooned to slip and Bairstow reviewed, intimating it had come off his arm, but it had just brushed the wristband of the glove as well. Credit to Wilson for the correct decision.Next ball, Lyon got one to spin and bounce at Stokes to take the edge with Tim Paine completing another excellent catch up to the stumps. Chris Woakes played his shots as well as anyone on the day, but the end did not take long to come. In one of the more predictable dismissals Lyon snared Moeen Ali again, caught at second slip, for his fifth wicket then put himself on a hat-trick by removing Stuart Broad with another beautiful off-break. The distance by which Lyon out-bowled Moeen in this match was one of the deciding factors despite Smith’s run-glut.James Anderson, whose injury in the opening session created a hole England couldn’t cover up, hobbled out and denied Lyon the hat-trick. It was Cummins who started the demolition and Cummins who ended it when another short ball was fended to slip by Woakes. Fittingly, too, the ball landed in the hands of Smith.The Fortress had been well and truly breached.

Birmingham had 33 on the board after Matt Fisher’s opening over and engulfed a target of 158 with 25 balls to spare

ECB Reporters Network08-Jul-2018
ScorecardSkilful spin bowling and explosive batting powered Birmingham Bears to an eight-wicket win over Yorkshire Vikings in the Vitality Blast North group at Edgbaston.Yorkshire totalled 157 for 7 thanks principally to Gary Ballance’s high-class 79 (49 balls, six fours, four sixes). But only Ballance batted with freedom against an attack in which the spinners starred with Jeetan Patel taking 4-1-23-0 and the recalled Dominic Sibley 4-0-25-1.If the total looked slightly below par, it appeared even more so after Ed Pollock took 26 off an opening foray from Matt Fisher that left Birmingham 33 for 0 after one over. Pollock’s 14-ball 39 (five fours, three sixes) laid the platform on which Ian Bell and Adam Hose both made half-centuries as they built with an unbroken stand of 83 in 55 balls. Victory arrived with 25 balls to spare.Warwickshire coach Jim Troughton said: “I actually feel like a fan watching our guys bat at the moment. Ed Pollock has got the highest strike-rate in the world now for someone who has scored over 300 runs in T20 cricket. In that first over today he just killed it and that’s what he has done pretty much every innings. Polly takes games away from teams in the Powerplay and he did that today.”Jack Brooks, Fisher’s Yorkshire fast-bowling team-mate, said: “The way they came out they had put the game to bed almost before the innings got going. We’ve told Matt that in Twenty20 cricket you get freak overs sometimes and some really good bowlers have gone for more than he did in that over. Stuart Broad went for 36 once. We said not to get too down about it and laugh it off because we all know what a good cricketer he is.”Put in, Yorkshire slumped to 28 for 3 in the fifth over. Adam Lyth fell to the second ball of the innings, lbw to Henry Brookes, Tom Kohler-Cadmore lifted Olly Hannon-Dalby to deep square leg and Harry Brook sent up a skier off Brookes.Ballance and Jonny Tattersall added 43 from 36 balls before the latter played on to Sibley. As the spinners bowled tightly, Patel, on his 109th T20 appearance for the Bears, delivered his first T20 maiden for the club.Jack Leaning played on to Elliott but Ballance completed a superb half-century from 37 balls including two sixes, both ‘touched over the bar’ by fielders.Brookes’ well-judged boundary catch removed Tim Bresnan off Hannon-Dalby but Ballance and Matt Fisher (17 not out from six balls) thrashed 43 from the last three overs to ensure a competitive total.Fisher’s hitting had given his side late impetus but the 20-year-old then endured a nightmare opening over which included a five-wides, a no ball and two sixes and two fours from Pollock. When the opener departed to a boundary catch off Steve Patterson in the fourth over, his onslaught had already taken his side past 50.Sam Hain soon fell to a fine catch by Bresnan at long leg but if there was a sliver of hope for the Vikings it was quickly snuffed out as Bell and as Hose raised a half-century stand in 33 balls. Hose lifted Azeem Rafiq over long-on for six to take the total past 100 in the tenth over and, in front of a 10,395 crowd, the Bears cruised to their second eight-wicket victory in three games in the competition this season.

Stalemate descended upon the Fischer Ground as Leicestershire and Glamorgan consoled themselves they had found stability after uncertain starts to the season

ECB Reporters Network24-Apr-2017
Scorecard<!–Aneurin Donald ensured Glamorgan reached safety•Getty Images

An unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 87 between Aneurin Donald and Chris Cooke ensured Glamorgan secured a draw after the visitors, asked to chase an unlikely 355 off 57 overs, had subsided to 57 for 4 on the final evening of the Specsavers county championship match at the Fischer County Ground.The early dismissals of first innings centurions Nick Selman, leg below to a Clint McKay delivery which kept low, and Colin Ingram, lbw to a Ben Raine in-swinger, gave the Foxes hope of securing the win.Their chances increased when Zak Chappell produced a brute of a delivery which Glamorgan skipper Jacques Rudolph could only glove to wicket-keeper Lewis Hill, and had Cameron Delport, diving forward from point, not dropped Donald at point when he fended off a Charlie Shreck bouncer with the score on just 65, Leicestershire might well have enforced the win.As it was, however, McKay and Raine were both forced to leave the field with injuries, and though Eckersley shuffled his pack, Donald and Cooke were able to see the game to a conclusion eight overs before the scheduled close.Earlier, an unbeaten century from Mark Pettini, his first for Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground, had enabled Eckersely to declare after Glamorgan’s seamers initially controlled the scoring rate to impressive effect.Fast bowler Marchant De Lange made two early breakthroughs, finding the edge of Eckersley’s bat with his second delivery of the day, Selman taking a comfortable catch at second slip, before Delport failed to middle an attempted drive and gave Lukas Carey the simplest of catches at mid-off.Pettini and Hill were given few opportunities to accelerate, and only when the front-line bowlers were rested were the batsmen able to improve the run rate. Pettini reached his century off 163 balls, and Raine struck three huge sixes off De Lange before Eckersley – not before time in the opinion of a number of Leicestershire supporters – called his batsmen in.

After digging South Africa out from a position of 22 for 3 in a chase of 237 in the series decider against England, AB de Villiers said that he felt he could handle pressure situations better and had pushed himself down the order for that purpose

Firdose Moonda14-Feb-2016If AB de Villiers was less experienced, South Africa might have lost the series to England on Sunday. If AB de Villiers was less experienced, 22 for 3 would have been a hole too deep for him to dig his team out of. If AB de Villiers was less experienced, 237 would have been too much to chase. But AB de Villiers was playing in his 200th ODI and knew exactly what to do: embrace the situation and then overcome it.”You live for those pressure moments,” de Villiers said. “Through an international career, you have ups and down but you always feel you are gong to be tested in moments like that. It has taken me years to feel comfortable and to feel like I have good composure in those situations.”De Villiers knew that after a top-order tumble South Africa needed cool heads. Luckily, he had his calmest team-mate, Hashim Amla, on hand to provide that.”The chat between us was not to worry about the runs and to make sure we get in and not lose another wicket,” he explained. “We’ve done it before. I felt it was really important to take it 10 runs at a time and get to a fifty-run partnership.”After 58 balls together, de Villiers and Amla had that. They’d also survived a squeeze, punished some poor balls and given themselves some breathing room. After another 48 balls, that stand had doubled and South Africa were safe. The captain’s decision to drop himself one lower than the No.4 position he usually bats looked like a stroke of genius and the victory target was well within reach.”I like to push myself a little bit down when we are chasing. I feel I handle the pressure situations well and that’s why I want to be there at the end,” de Villiers said. And if he is there at the end, the South Africans always feel they have a chance.More than his ability and audacious strokeplay, it’s de Villiers’ attitude that keeps his countrymen and, in the space of the last week, his team-mates hopeful. With South Africa 2-0 down, de Villiers rallied his troops and asked them “to keep believing”.He admitted that in facing the prospect of a second series defeat at home in the same summer, they were in a “really dark space”, but that he wanted them to snap out of it.”I asked them to keep spirits up. I asked them to keep believing and have the faith we can come back,” he said. “We showed inspirational videos here and there but we tried to focus on the basics and do the small things right and well, and created more pressure than England and then things went our way.”South Africa also made key personnel changes when they realised the precariousness of their position. They stopped relying on JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien, to operate as the fifth bowler and brought in an allrounder to give them 10 overs. They shortened their batting line-up from a specialist point of view but added two genuine finishers and seemed to find a better balance, even if it’s not something they will stick with long-term.”I like to think we haven’t moved away from that seven-batsmen option,” de Villiers said. “But David (Wiese) and Chris (Morris) brought a different dynamic. Change was needed after the first two ODIs and they breathed an air of confidence into the side.”Wiese has been the more consistent of the two but Morris will be remembered as the hero after his match-winning innings of 62 at the Wanderers. His knock there kept South Africa alive. It gave them the belief de Villiers sought but they still could have drowned in the wave of emotion that match swept over them. That they didn’t only shows how desperate they were to finish the job.”We took a lot of confidence from that but after an emotional game like that, it’s easy to lose your fighting spirit,” de Villiers said. “We were just maybe a bit more hungry than England to really nail it down.”Even so, he praised the opposition for giving South Africa a wake-up call and a warning for what they will offer in tournaments to come. “They are a fantastic one-day team,” he said. “To come back from rock bottom in that 2015 World Cup. The talent was always there but mentally they had to get through a few obstacles.”Morgs played a big part in that. Even though he didn’t have a great series with the bat, he still had the right body language. He is the right man to take England forward. They will be a team to deal with in the next few years, especially at the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2019 World Cup.”If de Villiers keeps performing like he did at Newlands, so might South Africa.

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.