Tag Futebol

Back as captain, he says Ajinkya Rahane fulfilled the leadership responsibility with flying colours in Australia

Sidharth Monga04-Feb-20214:10

Virat Kohli: My relationship with Rahane is based on trust

Of all the series in all the times, the one that Virat Kohli chose to miss turned out to be an epic to end all the epics. In his absence, losing a player by the day, India managed to come back from 1-0 and 36 all out to win the series in and against Australia, but in a different country, in a different setting, Kohli was experiencing something that will remain the moment of his life. Those looking on from outside must have wondered if he did experience some fear of missing out, but to Kohli there was no question he was going to miss the birth of his first child even if it meant watching on phone as Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur put together stand moments before the doctor called Kohli and wife Anushka Sharma in.”I don’t think the two can be compared,” Kohli said when asked what he went through when away from India’s best series but also experiencing something incredible in his own life. “To me, becoming a father has been, and will remain, the greatest moment in my life, in both our lives. That is something that has to be experienced to understand what I am saying.”Secondly the connection with the team doesn’t go away in any situation, especially when you have given everything for the team, especially the Test side, for the last six years, on a daily side. Being motivated to take Test cricket on top, take Indian cricket on top. The whole group has put in so much effort. You are connected invariably. And I was watching all the games. I clearly remember when Shardul and Washington were going through that partnership, I was watching it on the phone just before we had to go in when the doctor called us. That’s how connected you are to the team. That’s how much you are looking forward to guys doing well.”I was so happy and proud to see the whole team come back in the series like we did. And everyone deserves all the credit for what they did in Australia. I wouldn’t even say what ‘happened’, because it was purely out of determination, grit and belief that they achieved what they ended up achieving. That is something that is going to remain in the hearts and minds of Indian cricket fans forever. Whether I was a part of it or not, to me that doesn’t matter as much as what it matters to the Indian cricket team and the whole country. I was very proud and very happy for all the boys but I came back for a moment that is, and will be, the most special in our lives forever.””It’s quite evident on the field that we enjoy each other’s company” – Kohli on Rahane•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

In Kohli’s absence, Ajinkya Rahane led India to the scarcely believable comeback, which led to debates if Rahane was indeed better off being the full-time captain. Former captain Bishan Bedi was the leading voice asking for the change, but Rahane was quick to say he had no such ambition. Now back as captain for the home series, Kohli was ready to be in the driving seat with his trusted navigator by his side.”Things in the change room are different to what is seen from the outside,” Kohli said. “That fact Jinks [Rahane] mentioned what he mentioned is not just Jinks and me, but between the whole team. The camaraderie of the whole team is based on trust and knowing all of us are working towards only one goal, and that is to see India win.”I would like to mention, he fulfilled his responsibility in Australia with flying colours, it was amazing to see him lead the team towards victory, which has always been our goal. Between me and Jinks, we have always enjoyed batting with each other. It’s quite evident on the field that we enjoy each other’s company. It is just mutual respect and the bonding, more than just on the cricket field. We do chat off the field as well. We stay in touch. And it’s just based on trust. Hence Jinks said what he said.”Between me and him, on the field he has always been someone who has always had the capability and the space to come in and give inputs at different stages of the game, and we do have discussions on the field towards where the game is heading. I go and discuss a lot of things with him to get more clarity and perspective other than me focusing on team plans. That’s how we work together. That’s a massive, massive reason for the success of the Indian team in the Test format. That partnership, that camaraderie will be the same as it has been. The mindset for me, him and everyone remains to take Indian cricket forward.”

The 1983 World Cup winner will stay in power until 2021-22

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-2019Roger Binny was elected as president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) on Thursday, winning by 943 votes to the 111 that his competitor MM Harish got. This is the former India allrounder’s third stint at the KSCA – he was a vice-president from 2007 to 2012 – and it will keep him in office until 2021-22.Former India women captain Shanta Rangaswamy, who resigned from the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee on Sunday, became the first woman to be elected to a managing committee in the KSCA.Binny, 64, was part of the World Cup-winning side in 1983, finishing the tournament as the highest wicket-taker. He played 99 games for India (27 Tests and 72 ODIs) scoring a total of 1459 runs and picking up 124 wickets.The Supreme Court of India had ordered all state associations in India to conduct elections by October 4. Several of them have announced their results but the KSCA is one of few to have chosen a cricketer as its president after former captains Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin took charge in Bengal and Hyderabad respectively. Saurashtra too have a former player as its chief – Jaydev Shah, who played over 100 first-class games. He is also the son of longtime cricket administrator Niranjan Shah.This isn’t the first time a cricketer will be running things in Karnataka cricket, though. Anil Kumble was elected president of the state association in 2010, and his team included the likes of Javagal Srinath and Vijay Bharadwaj, as well as Binny. Brijesh Patel, too, has served in various capacities in the KSCA over the years. Additionally, this time, KSCA also has a former umpire as its joint secretary – Shavir Tarapore.

ECB trials for The Hundred in September will feature experiments with “various elements of the playing conditions”, according to the PCA

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Aug-2018ECB trials for The Hundred in September will feature experiments with “various elements of the playing conditions”, according to the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), which has been helping to coordinate player availability for the test outings at Trent Bridge and Loughborough.Daryl Mitchell, the PCA chairman, has previously warned that the competition won’t succeed if players aren’t on board. The pilot matches are aimed at informing the ECB’s decision-making process and Mitchell indicated feedback may help determine “if the format is workable”.The PCA has been critical of the way the proposed 100-ball format was announced, with minimal consultation, earlier in the year. However, the organisation has now been in contact with players to help facilitate the trials, with a number of details still to be worked out.Plans for the new competition, to begin in 2020, have reportedly involved numerous tweaks to the game, some more outlandish than others. It is thought that 20 five-ball overs is now the preferred format, but little is set in stone beyond the concept of each side facing 100 deliveries.The PCA hopes that representatives from the majority of the 18 counties will be able to take part in the trials, with men’s games being hosted at Trent Bridge on September 16, 17 and 18. Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire have agreed to cancel a 2nd XI fixture in order to provide players.Women’s matches will be played at Loughborough on September 14, 15 and 27.”The trials will provide an opportunity for players to get involved and to experiment various elements of the playing conditions which will be tested before providing feedback to the ECB on if the format is workable,” Mitchell, who plays for Worcestershire, said.”After the proposed 100-ball format was announced in April, consultation with PCA members has been regular, with numerous conversations and meetings between the ECB, PCA and player representatives to discuss playing regulations. All current male players have been contacted today to notify them of the details for the pilot matches with player availability coordinated via the counties and the ECB.”Mitchell said he expected that “three or four XIs” would be selected, in order to “maximise investigations” into the new format, with all of the players involved set to receive match fees.

With an estimated recovery period of two weeks for his ankle injury, Wahab Riaz will play no further part in the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jun-20171:30

Tait: Junaid an able replacement for Wahab

Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz will take no further part in the Champions Trophy, after injuring his ankle while bowling against India on Sunday. A scan confirmed a “deltoid ligament complex”, and Wahab will need two weeks to recover.Wahab, who returned the most expensive figures in the Champions Trophy with 87 off 8.1 wicketless overs against India, twisted his ankle in his follow-through in the 46th over of the innings. The PCB has put in a request for a replacement player to the ICC Technical Committee.In four ODIs this year, Wahab has conceded 260 runs and taken two wickets at an average of 130 and an economy rate of 7.72.Apart from Hasan Ali and Mohammad Amir, who was also forced off the field with cramps against India, Pakistan’s only other fast bowling options in the squad are Junaid Khan and allrounder Faheem Ashraf.Pakistan’s second group game is against South Africa on June 7, at Edgbaston.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ openers laid the foundation for a total of 164 and their bowlers overcame the threat of a Glenn Maxwell fifty to go to the top of the table

The Report by Alagappan Muthu04-May-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGautam Gambhir struck his 30th IPL fifty to help Kolkata Knight Riders post 164•BCCI

“One interesting decision and everyone forgets you hit a fifty in the last game.” It seemed Glenn Maxwell was still smarting from an incorrect caught-behind decision in Kings XI Punjab’s previous game against Gujarat Lions. He couldn’t score any runs then, but on Wednesday, it was almost like he couldn’t be stopped.Almost, because Piyush Chawla found a way, and did so at the perfect time. Maxwell fell for 68 off 42 balls with his side still 45 runs away from a target of 165 with only 26 balls in hand. A well-populated Eden Gardens reveled in the tension. So did a bowling attack that featured six internationals. Kolkata Knight Riders closed out a victory by seven runs and climbed to the top of the table.Andre Russell had 11 runs to defend in the final over and he did so by picking up one wicket, apart from two run-outs, to finish with 4 for 20 in four overs. He was Knight Riders’ battering ram, but he needed Chawla to make that decisive dent. By contrast, Kings XI were reliant on one man and he had far too much to do.Maxwell took on the challenge though. He came in with the score on 13 for 3 and his determination to contribute was apparent in the shots he played – flicks and cuts against the Knight Riders quicks, who bowled too short at him, and powerful lofts down the ground against the spinners. Essentially, Maxwell wanted to limit the risks he took. His fifty came off only 29 balls, by which time he had played only one reverse sweep.Towards the end of his innings, the cross-batted shots kept coming out and one of them did him in. Maxwell misread a googly from Chawla, played a reverse sweep against the turn and was adjudged lbw by umpire Anil Chaudhary. The batsman walked off unhappy because he felt he was hit outside the line of off stump, and while replays indicated more than half the ball had been outside the line, some of his anger may have been directed at himself. He was the only Kings XI batsman who showed any kind of control and with him out of the way, Knight Riders breezed past the finish line.The result seemed never in doubt when Russell had knocked over Marcus Stoinis and Vohra in his first two overs. Morne Morkel had M Vijay caught at mid-off in the fourth over as the Kings XI top order paid the price for not taking time to understand a slow pitch.Knight Riders fared better in that department as well. Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa struck fluent half-centuries and added 101 runs for the opening partnership. Though the run-rate they maintained was only 7.48, they laid an excellent foundation for the big-hitters down the order by punishing a bowling line-up that couldn’t get their length right.On a sluggish pitch, short-pitched bowling allowed the batsman time to pick his spots, as Stoinis found out in the third over when Gambhir pulled a couple of fours away. It also allowed time to recover after making a mistake, as Mohit Sharma found out in the fourth over when Uthappa came forward to a back of a length delivery and was still able to drive it past point.On top of that, Kings XI dropped Uthappa three balls after Gambhir was run-out. The culprit, Mohit, recovered well though. He and Sandeep Sharma switched to a mix of yorkers and slower deliveries for the last five overs. That meant Yusuf Pathan and Russell could not bring their power-hitting into play and Knight Riders had to settle for only 43 runs in that period.Kings XI have dropped to the bottom of the table with six losses in eight games. They went in with only three overseas players on Wednesday – Maxwell, Stoinis and David Miller – after Shaun Marsh’s back injury ruled him out of the IPL two days ago. Hashim Amla, who was brought in as a replacement, sat out because he had arrived in India on the day of the match and had had very little time to prepare.

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.”

India could take heart, confidence and bragging rights after an overwhelming victory over England in their Group A game in Colombo

The Report by George Dobell23-Sep-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHarbhajan Singh took four wickets and was named Man of the Match on his first game for India in over a year•Getty Images

The result may not have great significance in this World Twenty20 but India could take heart, confidence and bragging rights after an overwhelming victory over England in their Group A game in Colombo. England’s confidence, meanwhile, must have been crushed after a defeat that can only be described as humiliating.Both teams had already qualified for the Super Eight stage of the tournament and this result made no difference to the opposition they will face in those games. But, by inflicting such a resounding defeat on the reigning champions and No. 1-rated T20I side, India underlined the impression they have the personnel to challenge anyone in this competition.India, despite resting three members of their first choice side, won by 90 runs with England’s enduring fallibility against spin bowling exposed in brutal fashion once again. Bear in mind that these two teams face each other in a four-Test series in India in the coming months and alarm bells will surely be ringing at Lord’s.England’s first error was to misread the pitch. While India included two specialist spinners, England dropped Samit Patel to make way for the extra seam option of Tim Bresnan. Their ploy of testing the India batsmen with short deliveries was met with a series of cut and pulls that suggested either that England’s bowlers – Steven Finn apart – lack the pace for such a ploy, or that, in these conditions anyway, the reputation of Indian batsmen as flat-track bullies has been greatly exaggerated. The truth probably lies somewhere between the two conclusions.But the defining feature of this match was England’s inability to combat spin bowling. India’s two frontline spinners claimed six wickets for 25 runs in eight overs as England collapsed from 39 for 2 to 60 for 9. At that stage, England were in danger of being dismissed for the lowest T20I score – beating the 67 by Kenya against Ireland – before a last-wicket stand of 20 prevented that one indignity. Still, England’s final total of 80 was their lowest in T20Is, surpassing the 88 they managed against West Indies at The Oval in 2011. The margin of defeat is also the largest, in terms of runs, England have suffered in T20Is and the largest victory inflicted by India.England were struggling even before the introduction of spin. Set 171 to win, a total some way above par on a pitch that was just a little slower than anticipated and did not allow England any time to settle in, they lost Alex Hales in the first over, bowled by inswing as he attempted to heave one over the leg side, before Luke Wright fell in the third over, attempting to pull a delivery too full for the stroke.It was MS Dhoni’s decision to introduce the spin of Harbhajan Singh in the Powerplay that precipitated England’s decline. Harbhajan, playing his first international game for more than a year, produced a wicket maiden to start – Eoin Morgan was bowled by a quicker arm-ball as he made room to cut – before Bresnan top-edged a sweep, Jos Buttler gave himself room but missed and Graeme Swann skipped down the wicket and missed a doosra. Harbhajan finished with 4 for 12, the best figures by an Indian bowler in T20Is.

Smart stats

• The 90-run win is India’s largest in Twenty20 internationals. Their previous best win (in terms of runs) was the 39-run triumph over Sri Lanka in 2012. The defeat is also England’s worst defeat surpassing the 84-run loss to South Africa in 2009.

• England’s total of 80 is their lowest ever in Twenty20 internationals. Their previous lowest was 88 against West Indies in 2011.

• Harbhajan Singh’s 4 for 12 is the best bowling performance by an Indian bowler in Twenty20 internationals surpassing RP Singh’s 4 for 13 against South Africa in 2007. Harbhajan’s performance is also the fifth-best in the World Twenty20.

• The economy rate of the Indian spinners (3.11) is the third-lowest in an innings in Twenty20 internationals (minimum 48 balls bowled).

• Rohit Sharma’s 55 is his second-highest score in Twenty20 internationals. It is also his fifth fifty-plus score overall and his first such score against England.

Piyush Chawla also enjoyed England’s clueless batting. Jonny Bairstow, reading the googly as if it were in Greek, missed a slog-sweep, while Craig Kieswetter, his foot nowhere near the pitch of the ball, was undone by a legbreak and edged to slip. It was, by any standards, a dreadful performance with the bat.Earlier Rohit Sharma helped India plunder 51 from the final four overs of the innings after it appeared they had squandered a decent start. Sharma, who has endured some miserable form in recent times, produced a powerful innings of 55 in 33 balls to lead India to 170 for 4 in their 20 overs.While a partnership of 57 in 7.5 overs between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir had built India a strong platform of 80 for 1 after 10 overs, a tight spell of bowling from Swann arrested their progress. Kohli, in particular, looked in sparkling form. He got off the mark with consecutive boundaries through the covers: the first a gorgeous, front-foot drive off Finn; the second a punch off the back foot off Stuart Broad. Bresnan’s attempts to intimidate him with the short ball were met by an upper cut and then a pull for boundaries.Gambhir lost little by comparison. He took successive boundaries off Jade Dernbach in the second over of the innings, first pulling a long-hop through midwicket before guiding a wider ball to point, while throwing his hands whenever offered any width and crashing boundaries through point off Finn and Broad.Kohli gave one desperately difficult chance. On 25 he came down the wicket and, with that characteristic flick of the wrist, cracked Broad over midwicket where a leaping Swann could only get his fingertips on the ball as it raced to the boundary.Swann was the one man to apply some control for England. Coming on after the six Powerplay overs had realised 52 runs for the loss of one wicket, his four overs conceded just 17 runs and produced the key wicket of Kohli who, beaten in the flight, lofted his attempted on-drive to deep midwicket.It might have been better for Swann. Had wicketkeeper Kieswetter been able to gather cleanly, Gambhir might have been stumped on 26 with the score on 80 for 1. The batsman, deceived in the flight, was drawn down the wicket and stranded when Swann beat him but Kieswetter could only deflect the ball and allowed India to steal a bye.Still, Swann’s spell and the wicket of Kohli slowed India’s run rate. From the halfway stage of the innings they were able to add only 39 from the next six overs as Broad shuffled his bowlers – England’s captain bowled his four overs in four separate spells – to good effect.The final four overs of the India innings brought 51 runs, however. First Rohit Sharma gave himself some room and dabbed a short ball from Broad over the vacant first slip area to the boundary before, next delivery, he took advantage of the short fine leg to pull another short delivery behind square to the boundary. In all the over cost 13.It signalled the acceleration from India. Dhoni punished a full toss from Dernbach through the covers, before Sharma hit two more full tosses – one from Bresnan the other from Dernbach – for four and six to third man and point respectively. Sharma brought up his 50 – from just 31 balls – with a sweep off another full toss from Dernbach.While Dhoni was brilliantly caught in the final over – Buttler, on the boundary, took the catch but, feeling himself falling over the boundary, threw the ball to Hales who completed the dismissal – the damage had been done. England’s bowlers, who contributed eight wides and a plethora of full tosses and short balls, might not attract the criticism of their batting colleagues, but they were little more impressive.

Alan Richardson bagged a six-wicket haul as Worcestershire boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation and dented Lancashire’s title bid with a crushing 10-wicket win

01-Sep-2011
Scorecard
Alan Richardson made excellent use of a helpful pitch to boost Worcestershire’s survival hopes•PA Photos

Lancashire have put themselves in contention to win the County Championship by being in some ways a team greater than the sum of its parts, winning eight matches by pooling their resources more effectively than rivals with more obvious stand-out performers. Above all, their asset has been character and it is that quality that will come under close scrutiny now.They were beaten here by 10 wickets in a day and a half, having batted poorly in both innings. The result, built around a valiant near-century by James Cameron and the excellence of veteran seamer Alan Richardson, who finished with 6 for 22, not only makes the race for the title even more of a close-run battle but gives Worcestershire every chance of avoiding relegation at Yorkshire’s expense.Given that they began the season as every pundit’s favourite to go back to Division Two, their achievement deserves almost as much attention as Lancashire’s apparent attack of the jitters although inevitably it will not be given it.The fact is that Glen Chapple’s side began this round as title favourites but will end it having been knocked off the top of the Division One table and possibly down to third place. Warwickshire – perhaps even Durham, though they have only one match to go after the current round – will look at their own chance with fresh enthusiasm.Lancashire picked off the last four Worcestershire wickets in the first hour, Chapple himself – showing no sign of the knee problem that had kept him off the field for part of the previous afternoon – taking three after Kyle Hogg had broken the key partnership between and Cameron and Ben Scott at 97 when the wicketkeeper edged a wideish ball to his Lancashire counterpart.
Richard Jones was lbw offering no stroke before Cameron, having reached 98, was rather cruelly denied his hundred, bowled by one of several balls at the Diglis End that kept low. Kemar Roach followed him in quite quickly after another straight ball beat his optimistic swing.Worcestershire’s lead of 76 looked handy but Lancashire nonetheless would have expected to set themselves something relatively testing for the last innings. Instead, they were dismissed for 80 in just over 30 overs, the end coming just before 3pm. It is their lowest all-out total since Glamorgan dismissed them for 51 at Liverpool in 1997.Richardson, who is enjoying the most productive season of his career at 36, followed Chapple’s example of bowling full and straight and Lancashire’s batsmen, gripped by a combination of impatience and panic, succumbed one after another, whether by failing to move their feet, playing back when they should have been forward, or else just swinging carelessly across the line. Five of his six wickets were leg-before.Roach, the West Indian fast bowler whose pace only added to Lancashire’s jitters, bowled Chapple and Saj Mahmood with two frighteningly quick deliveries, claiming a third victim when Hogg, who had hit him a few meaty blows in the first innings, stepped back in search of another but was again beaten for pace.Stephen Moore, the Lancashire opener, was absent, attending the birth of his first child in Manchester at the very moment his teammates were falling apart. But even Peter Moores, the Lancashire coach, admitted it would have been unlikely he would have made much difference.”I don’t know what difference Stephen would have made but babies take precedence over cricket matches and quite rightly so,” Moores said. “He has had a little girl and we are delighted for him. There was never a dilemma over whether he would stay because family comes first.”It is disappointing result obviously but we batted poorly on both innings. We did not score enough runs in either to create any kind of pressure and there can be no complaints. The pitch had a little bit in it, a little bit uneven in bounce, but we lost five wickets to full straight balls which you cannot afford to do, especially in the top six.”But like the defeat in the Twenty20 semi-final last weekend, we have to take it on the chin. We will scrub ourselves up and prepare for next week. We have two matches left and if we win both I think we will win the title. Win one and we are in the frame. We will find out over the next two games if we have the character to do it.”Lancashire’s batting was collectively bad and while Moores backed away from coming down hard on his own players – in public, at any rate – he must have despaired at their lack of application and times and his assessment of Cameron’s performance said plenty.”He showed what could be done. He played himself in, didn’t play and miss an awful lot and didn’t get hit on the pad an awful lot. He showed the right game for that pitch and can take pride in the fact that, batting wise, he was the difference between the sides.”Richardson, meanwhile, having raised his tally to 62 wickets for the Championship season confirmed the view of pitch liaison officer Jack Birkenshaw that only negligible blame could be attached to the behaviour of the track.”I have played on a lot worse wickets this year, a lot more bowler friendly at least,” he said. “It did a little bit and maybe the odd one stayed down but in general I thought it was a really good wicket, certainly not a day and a half wicket.””We did not see that coming this morning, for sure, and I was a bit surprised that Lancashire crumbled as they did because they have shown a lot of fight this season but it was just one of those days when we bowled well and it all clicked.”The Staffordshire-born seamer reckons Worcestershire have earned the right now to determine their own fate after putting clear daylight between themselves and next-to-bottom Yorkshire.”We set out this season to be as competitive as possible and apart from in a couple of games we really have been competitive,” he said. “We have surprised some people, given some teams a bit of a fright and we have scraped together four wins. The fact that we are two games from the end and not in the relegation zone is a reflection of how well we have played.”At both ends of the table, at this stage what lies ahead is as much a test of nerve as technique. Lancashire, under pressure every season to stop the constant reminders of how long it is since they last won the Championship – 1934 in their own right, 1950 when they shared it with Surrey – must now prove that theirs is strong enough. Hampshire are their next opponents, at Liverpool next week, followed by Somerset at Taunton in the final round.

Round-up of the fourth day’s action in the Karnataka Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2010Stuart Binny’s unbeaten 47 took Bijapur Bulls home by two wickets in a last-ball finish against Mangalore United in Bangalore.Chasing a target of 143, Bijapur had slumped to 76 for 5 in the 12th over before Binny steadied the chase, even as wickets kept falling at the other end. Eight runs were still needed when Deeepak Anish was dismissed off the first ball of the last over. However, Binny kept his cool to steer his side home off the last delivery.Opener Karun Nair had earlier top-scored for Mangalore, with 63 off 52 deliveries, after losing his partner Bharat Chipli off the second ball of the match. Nair added 75 in 64 with Daniel Sequeria for the fifth wicket. Medium-pacer Nithin Muly took 4 for 15 to restrict Mangalore to 142 for 7.Ganesh Satish’s unbeaten half-century helped Malnad Gladiators beat Mysore Maharaajas by seven wickets in Bangalore.Sathish, the Malnad captain, hit four fours and a six in his 58 off 55 deliveries ato set up the chase of 134. Ryan Ninan’s 15 off 7 ball ensured there were no nerves towards the end as Malnad won with five balls to spare.Mysore, put into bat, had earlier struggled to 101 for 6 in the 19th over in the face of disciplined bowling by the Malnad spinners. However, captain Chethan William hammered four fours and a six off the five deliveries he faced to lift his team to 133 for 7.Bangalore Provident won their first game in three matches when they chased Bangalore Brigadiers’ 141 for 9 with seven wickets in hand.Wicketkeeper Thilak Naidu smashed an unbeaten 65 off 52 deliveries and dominated a 93-run opening stand. With 38 needed off 24, Aniruddha Joshi hit two sixes and a four in his 25 off 14 balls to dash Brigadiers’ hopes.Syed Ibrez and Lokesh Rahul had earlier got Brigadiers off to a strong start, putting on 85 off 74. However, their dismissals triggered a collapse as Brigadiers slumped to 108 for 5. N Vinu Prasad then hit three sixes in his 26 off only seven deliveries to enable his side to post a competitive total.

Mady Villiers nearly saves the day with the ball, after magnificent 80 from Orla Prendergast

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Sep-2024Ireland 170 for 5 (Prendergast 80) beat England 169 for 8 (Beaumont 40) by five wicketsIreland’s women squared the T20I leg of their series against England in thrilling – and familiar – fashion at Clontarf, with Mady Villiers reprising her heroic efforts at the death in last week’s third ODI, only for the contest to turn once again on a calamitous error in the field.In Belfast on Wednesday, Villiers had engineered three wickets in as many balls, including a run-out, only for Hollie Armitage’s final-ball misfield to gift Ireland their winning boundary. This time it was Villiers herself who was at fault, despite having once again claimed back-to-back bowled dismissals to leave Ireland needing two runs from two balls with a brand-new batter on strike.Christina Coulter Reilly, however, was able to scramble the winning runs after driving her first ball straight back at Villiers, who gathered and shied when she might have had time to turn and run for the stumps, and gave away two overthrows to allow Ireland to close out the campaign with their second nerve-jangling win in five games.It was, nevertheless, a deserved win for Ireland – in particular for Orla Prendergast, whose 80 from 51 balls was the day’s stand-out performance. While she was marshalling the chase, with solid support initially from Gaby Lewis and then from Leah Paul, England’s inexperienced line-up had few answers, and at 163 for 2, with seven runs needed from seven balls, there was only one realistic winner.Kate Cross, however, capped her maiden series as England captain with one last stand-out performance. Having dismissed Amy Hunter with the fourth ball of Ireland’s innings, she then bowled Prendergast with her final delivery of the tour to transfer all of the pressure onto Ireland’s middle-order.After a single from Paul, Sarah Forbes found the boundary with her first ball off Villiers to reduce the requirement to two runs from four balls. But Villiers responded by prising out with her very next ball, then added Jane Maguire first-ball to give England a huge opportunity to close out the series with a 2-0 win. It wasn’t to be.Earlier, England had posted a competitive 169 for 8 after being asked to bat first. Bryony Smith followed her matchwinning fifty in Saturday’s opening T20I with 28 from 26 balls in an opening stand of 44 with Tammy Beaumont, who top-scored with 40 from 34.Paige Scholfield made 34 from 31 to inject some urgency through the middle overs, but Prendergast served notice of a fine allround display with two wickets in as many overs to dent England’s big finish, before a brace of run-outs in the final over. As it turned out, those missing runs would prove crucial.”I knew if I got myself in and got a start, I would convert and accelerate towards the back end,” Prendergast told TNT Sports at the end of the match. “It was our last game of the summer. To put in a really good performance to finish to show how good a side we are was what motivated us.””We’ve kept ourselves in the game and gave ourselves a chance to win,” Cross added. “But Mady’s overs and tight finishes seem to be a theme of the week.”Orla batted brilliantly, she put us under a lot of pressure. We were trying to keep her off strike, but she kept finding the boundary. Sometimes, you just have to accept that someone has batted well, but we could have won that game right at the end there.”Pressure does funny things to people. If you give Mady that moment again, 99 times out of 100 she just runs and knocks the bails off.”