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In scheduling the women’s final at MCG, organisers are hopeful of topping the record for a women’s cricket match

Daniel Brettig30-Jan-2018Two more editions of the burgeoning Women’s Big Bash League will help build anticipation for a standalone Women’s World Twenty20 tournament in 2020, with a showpiece final expected to draw the largest crowd for a women’s cricket fixture.That’s the view of Australia’s captain Meg Lanning, who was visibly enthused by the concept of the World T20 standing apart from the men’s event as a forerunner to further growth for the women’s game. The dual women’s and men’s tournaments were launched in Melbourne on Tuesday with Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney announced as host cities: both finals, the women’s on March 8 – also International Women’s Day – and the men’s on November 15, will be held at the MCG.In scheduling the women’s final at Australia’s biggest venue, organisers are hopeful of topping the record for a women’s cricket match – the estimated 70,000 who turned up to Eden Gardens in Kolkata for the 1997 50-over World Cup final won by Australia. The biggest attendance for a women’s sporting fixture of any kind was set in 1999, when 90,185 witnessed the women’s football World Cup final between the USA and China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The overall attendance for that event was 1,194,215 – an average of 37,319 per match.Among other venues, the SCG will host both women’s semi-finals and one of the men’s semis, with the other to be held at Adelaide Oval. Perth’s new stadium has also been awarded matches. “I think it shows how far it’s come,” Lanning said of the standalone event, which will follow this year’s event in the Caribbean. “The support for the women’s game’s been great throughout the Ashes and been building over time and that’s not just cricket, it’s sport in general. To show that we want to play a final here at the MCG and fill it out, I think, it just shows where it’s headed.”For it to be a home World Cup I think that’s a very special moment as a player and we saw how successful the one in 2015 was here with the men’s, so the fact it’s a standalone tournament for the women and the final’s going to be here at the MCG on International Women’s Day, that’s certainly something we want to be a part of.”Cricket Australia has worked assiduously on the WBBL over the past two years, gaining greater television traction than first expected, and there are longer-term plans to move the tournament into its own October slot in the calendar rather than running concurrently with the men’s BBL as is currently the case. Fixtures for the WBBL semi-finals, in which first and second-placed Sydney teams will have to travel to play in Adelaide and Perth against lower-ranked opponents due to the matches being held as double-headers with the men’s playoffs, has highlighted the difficulties of running the vents side by side.”At the start of the year everyone knew the finals would be held where the men’s were and it’s a difficult one, I don’t think everyone’s going to win out of it,” Lanning said. “The fact you’ve got two of the same teams playing in the same state I think it makes a lot of sense to have them as true double-headers and I think that’ll help really build excitement and hopefully the crowds are bigger as well. WBBL is about the fans’ experience and hoping to bring new fans to the game … it’s probably not ideal for the Sydney teams but we knew that at the start of the year.”I think it’s something we could look at. I think we saw through the Ashes with that standalone series that it created a lot of interest and the crowds were really good, so it’s definitely something we can look to, especially with this T20 tournament being standalone it makes a lot of sense.”Australia currently hold neither 50-over or T20 crowns in the women’s game, while the men’s team have long been one of the shortest formats strugglers. This was acknowledged by the captain Steven Smith, who also admitted he could not say for sure whether or not he would be leading Australia at the 2020 event.”Who knows? A couple of years away obviously. I’d like to be,” Smith said. “I think playing in a World Cup here in 2015 it was incredibly special to be a part of, so I’d love to be a part of the World T20 and captain that side, but it is a couple years away.”[We need] the right balance of players and the right way to play the game. A lot of strategy has come into T20 cricket now and the right match-ups with the right guys bowling to the right batters and things like that. There’ll be a lot of strategy around it and I think the right personnel to get the job done.”

Centuries from Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay led India’s response to England’s 537 on an engrossing third day in Rajkot

The Report by Sidharth Monga11-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:13

Ganguly: Pujara is a must for India at No.3

Cheered on by his passionate but impassive father and his much more demonstrative wife, Cheteshwar Pujara scored an emotional century in the debut Test for his home ground of Rajkot. M Vijay complemented him with a more temperate defensive display of 126 off 301 balls to take India closer to safety after they had conceded 537 in five sessions on a pitch expected to become difficult as the game progressed. The 209-run partnership between Vijay and Pujara made them the most prolific duo for India since the start of 2010.The pitch didn’t deteriorate as much as expected, but to look at scores of 537 and 319 for 4 and conclude that it was a featherbed that produced boring cricket will be a disservice to the batsmen and bowlers who showed a lot of discipline and persistence. There was turn on offer but not variable, and there was a bare patch on a good length for seamers to work with. While for most periods of the day the England’s bowlers kept the batsmen honest without necessarily threatening them, they will be disappointed the quicks failed to generate reverse and the spinners got cut and pulled regularly.There was always something to work with, but whenever the bowlers got it right, Vijay and Pujara, who came together when Gautam Gambhir’s feet got him into a messy tangle to the seventh ball of the day, worked hard to thwart them. Especially while having to go through almost scoreless periods against the seam of Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad. In the first session Woakes tested them with a five-over spell of six runs and three body blows for Pujara. In the second session Broad went 5-4-1-0, targeting that bare patch just short of a driving length. In the final session Broad and Ben Stokes asked questions with the new ball.During the Woakes spell in the morning, 14 runs came in 10 overs. While Broad charged in mid-afternoon, 10 overs yielded 18 runs and a chance shelled by debutant by Haseeb Hameed at short cover. Unlike Pujara, Vijay had driven on the up to a ball that landed in that dry patch, and was reprieved on 66. India then welcomed DRS when Pujara successfully reviewed an lbw call when on 86, with extra bounce helping overturn the on-field decision.While England didn’t give the batsmen much to work with, the batsmen were good enough to recognise spells of play they could exploit. Scoring happened in spurts. Pujara came out and attacked Moeen Ali – out twice to the offspinner in 53 balls before this Test, he used his feet to disrupt his length. India had added 41 in nine overs to their overnight 63 in this period as Pujara raced away to 25 off 29.Then came Woakes. He didn’t just bowl short at Pujara, he bowled an excellent line, straight at his lid. Pujara, committing to the front foot almost every delivery, kept taking his eye off the ball while trying to sway. To his credit, Pujara never threw his hands up in self-defence, which would have brought the glove or the edge into play. Arvind Pujara, his father who was a wicketkeeper for Saurashtra, watched on without emotion. Puja, his wife, looked concerned.Ben Stokes gave England a much-needed wicket•Associated Press

Pujara scored 6 off 32 in these 10 overs. Once Woakes was done, England went to the man who makes things happen for them. This follow-up after that stranglehold was crucial with half an hour to go to lunch. Stokes, though, began with a half-volley second ball. Pujara’s intent meant he was on to it to drive it to the cover point boundary. Then a straight ball was glanced away, and Pujara had found his flow again. From 118 for 1, India added 44 in this period of eight overs to own the session. In the space of 25 balls, Pujara hit six boundaries to double his score of 31.Vijay at the other end had his own flow. For long periods of time you only noticed him when a possible two was kept to one because Pujara is not the quickest runner. Otherwise he would be leaving balls outside off, defending those at the stumps, and taking ones or twos only when they were too short or too straight. Vijay was there for his partner, though. After Pujara had been hit for the third time, he got right behind a ball in defence. At the non-striker’s end, Vijay’s bat went in the air, and the glove knocked it in applause, reassuring his partner that he just needed to get through that period of play.This amount of concentration can be exhausting especially when you are going at a little better than a run every three balls like Vijay was. Vijay, though, had one tool at his disposal: the lofted shot against the spinners. Every now and then, without any rhyme or reason, never ostensibly looking for a release, he would step out to spinners and languidly chip them back over their head. He attempted it six times, hitting two sixes each off Moeen And Zafar Ansari, and a four each off Ansari and Adil Rashid. Those 32 runs were the lubricant for his innings, the final session of which he spent hobbling after being hit in the knee.There was no spurt in the middle session in which 66 runs came. The drama in the middle session belonged to the Pujara family. Ansari’s reintroduction brought the first bit of natural variation. Pujara was caught right in front, but given the bounce in the pitch – earlier a Rashid googly had failed to draw an lbw verdict because of that reason – and also with the reviews to be reset in 10 overs, he challenged the decision. Finally Arvind showed emotion, that of visible relief as his son, whose cricket has been his preoccupation for more than a decade, was allowed to go for the 14 runs needed to bring up his century.Pujara gave everybody a nervous few minutes, spending eight balls on 99 before coming back after tea to score the 100th run. Then, against the run of play, Pujara steered the first ball of a new Stokes spell straight to first slip to be dismissed for 124. England still had an hour and a half to make further inroads. The plans and their execution was spot-on. The seamers bowled consistently around the sixth stump to Kohli, but the India captain seemed determined to not go after them even if it meant scoring just 1 run off the first 16 balls he faced.If there was one criticism of Vijay’s batting and Cook’s captaincy, it revolved around Rashid. Cook underused his most threatening spinner of the day, and Vijay – for some strange reason, despite being such a good player of spin – played the wrong ‘uns off the pitch. In what turned out to be the penultimate over of the day, Rashid got Vijay caught at short leg with a googly followed by Ansari snaring the nightwatchman Amit Mishra.Not that it mattered now, but India ended the day 19 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.

Virender Sehwag has indicated that he will retire from international cricket in order to take part in the Masters Champions League (MCL), a UAE-based Twenty20 tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2015

Sehwag since his last India match

• Has scored 1173 runs in 22 first-class matches at an average of 37.84, with three centuries

• Scored a fourth-innings 109 for the MCC against Durham in a pink-ball day-night match in Abu Dhabi

• Left his home state Delhi at the start of the 2015-16 season to play for Haryana

• Moved from Delhi Daredevils to Kings XI Punjab at the start of the 2014 IPL season, and scored a century in the semi-finals against Chennai Super Kings

Virender Sehwag has indicated that he will retire from international cricket in order to take part in the Masters Champions League (MCL), a UAE-based Twenty20 tournament.The rules of the MCL, which is scheduled to begin in January, state that players taking part must have retired from all international formats. On Monday, while reminded of this stipulation at an MCL event in Dubai, Sehwag said he would retire in order to play the tournament.He later confirmed the news in a video interview with . “Yes I’m going to play this tournament,” he said. “I will retire soon from international cricket. I’ll announce it officially and then you people can get to know that and then I can take part in this tournament.”Sehwag added that his retirement would not just be from international cricket but the IPL as well. “I’ll retire from international cricket and IPL so I will not be playing those leagues,” he said. “So I will play only MCL.”Asked if he would miss international cricket, Sehwag gave a typically matter-of-fact reply. “The last couple of years I’m not playing. So I was missing [it] but now I am taking this decision that I’m going to retire very soon, so I’m pretty happy with my career.”Before his trip to Dubai, Sehwag had been captaining Haryana in the Ranji Trophy, and had scored two half-centuries in their first two matches of the season. He will be joining his Haryana team-mates in Mysore on October 21, and the Haryana Cricket Association secretary Anirudh Chaudhry has indicated Sehwag will play the rest of the season for the team.The MCL, scheduled to start in January 2016, is due to feature a number of retired international greats. On Monday, the homepage of the MCL website sported an image of eight players lined up side-by-side, seen from the back. On the backs of seven T-shirts were the names ‘Sangakkara’, ‘Gilchrist’, ‘Sehwag’, ‘Lara’, ‘Wasim’, ‘Kallis’ and ‘Mahela’, with a question mark on the back of the eighth T-shirt. The MCL event did not declare names of the franchise teams that will be competing in the event.Sehwag, a day short of his 37th birthday, is widely considered one of India’s greatest opening batsmen, and revolutionised the art of batting against the new ball in Test cricket with his aggressive approach, scoring at a strike rate of over 80 in the longest format. Sehwag has been out of India’s plans for over two years, having last played for the national side in the Hyderabad Test against Australia in March 2013.Sehwag played 104 Tests, 251 ODIs and 19 T20Is, scoring over 17000 international runs and picking up 136 wickets with his offspin. His greatest moments came in Test cricket, where he made 23 hundreds including the only two triple-centuries by any Indian batsman, while his ODI achievements included the format’s second double-hundred.

Lancashire have announced a fourth consecutive year of heavy losses, £1.5 million for 2012

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-2013Lancashire have announced a fourth consecutive year of heavy losses, £1.5 million for 2012, as the impact of their ground redevelopment problems, which included lengthy legal battles, continues to be felt.However, the club are confident that with the Ashes returning to Old Trafford this year, work on the ground nearing the end of the latest stage, and the recent naming agreement with Emirates, that the financial results will show an improvement from next year.Lee Morgan, the club’s finance director, said: “When we embarked on this journey back in 2007 with the creation of our detailed business plan, we knew we had many obstacles to overcome; however, nobody could have foreseen how high, and how many there were going to be, much of which is well documented.”Rebuilding nearly an entire stadium on an existing site whilst still trading throughout is fraught with risk and stacked with difficulty, but was absolutely necessary to protect the history, the heritage and most importantly the future of this great venue.”Lancashire’s figures for 2012 were hit by one of the wettest summers on record, which impacted many counties, with key Friends Life t20 fixtures at Old Trafford being washed out, while the Twenty20 against South Africa was also struck. In comparison to 2011 when they won the County Championship, there was also a shortfall of more than half a million in prize money.”The loss is again substantial,” chairman Michael Cairns told the Manchester Evening News. “However, as forecasted last year, it is broadly in line with our expectations.”Over the past four years we have suffered more than our fair share of unanticipated hurdles and costly interruptions to our development project. While this is often the case with multi-faceted construction programmes, it’s reasonable to say that some of our challenges have been far from the norm.”In addition, the serious fall off in paid attendances in all forms of domestic cricket, and most recently the T20 international, has all impacted significantly on the club’s finances.”Although Old Trafford will host an Ashes clash this year, Cairns warned that any season when they are not awarded a Test – such as 2015 – will be difficult for the club which has tried to diversify its sources of income with a profitable events business built around The Point development next to the pavilion.”Any year in which we are not allocated one of the major Tests will be a tight financial year, with 2015 being our next challenge in this respect,” Cairns said. “My belief is that an unhealthy number of clubs will be facing extremely difficult financial times, especially if the level of ECB distributions were to be significantly reduced.”

Jos Buttler hammered a 56-ball hundred as England Lions won the 1st unofficial ODI against Sri Lanka A by 68 runs

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2012
ScorecardFile photo: Jos Buttler struck the first limited-overs century of his career•Getty Images

Somerset’s young wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler confirmed some of his potential as one of the most promising of England’s one-day prospects, with the first limited-overs century of his career against Sri Lanka A in Dambulla. Buttler hammered a 56-ball hundred to build on the good work from another tyro, Alex Hales, and his Somerset team-mate Craig Kieswetter as England Lions racked up 335 for 5 on their way to a 68-run win in the first unofficial ODI.Another fresh face, that of Nathan Buck, did the damage with the ball, outshining the more experienced opening pair of Jade Dernbach and Chris Woakes to take 4 for 39 as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 267. Samit Patel also chipped in with three wickets to remind the selectors of his ample abilities ahead of England’s forthcoming one-day commitments in the United Arab Emirates.Sri Lanka A, whose line-up included full internationals of the calibre of Surav Randiv, Thilina Kandamby and Seekkuge Prasanna, got their reply off to a brisk start but lost wickets at regular intervals. Despite contributions right down the order, they were bowled out with 27 balls of their innings remaining, with Kandamby’s 54 the top score.England’s performance showcased the talents of several of their next generation. Hales, who fell six short of his own hundred, and Buttler have already played in a handful of Twenty20 internationals, while James Taylor, the Lions captain, and Jonny Bairstow have been introduced to one-day international cricket in the last 12 months.Taylor had expressed the hope that England’s batsmen would click in Sri Lanka but, after losing the toss and being put in, the Lions fell to 47 for 2 in the 10th over. Following Joe Root’s dismissal for 18, Taylor managed just 5, to bring his tally in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to 181 from eight innings. That brought Bairstow to wicket, however, and he and Hales put on 120 in 23 overs to regain the momentum, before the Yorkshire man fell to Kosala Kulasakera for 47.Hales went shortly after but Kieswetter helped up the tempo with a 38-ball 50 – before becoming Thilan Thushara’s third wicket – as he and Buttler added 100 in 12 overs. The 21-year-old Buttler then saw to it that England would post an unassailable total, adding 56 in partnership with Patel from the final four overs – of which Patel’s contribution amounted to a seven-ball 5.

Marcus North’s 104 off 99 balls led Western Australia right up to the line but it required No. 10 Ryan Duffield to get them over it in what was a nerve-jangling finish at the WACA

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2011
ScorecardMarcus North’s 104 of 99 balls was the highlight of Western Australia’s innings•Getty Images

Marcus North’s 104 off 99 balls led Western Australia right up to the line but it required No. 10 Ryan Duffield to get them over it in what was a nerve-jangling finish at the WACA. North had levelled the scores with three balls left to go in the match, but in going for the winning run was run out. Phil Adams was left with the job of finishing things, but was stumped next ball. Duffield, who has scored a grand total of five runs in List A cricket, walked out and managed to get the required run to give Western Australia the victory.Both teams had lost one wicket too many in the first 20-over half of their split-innings. South Australia scored at a good rate, reaching 109 in the first twenty, but lost four wickets. Opener James Smith was steady at his end, but once he was out for 68 within five overs of South Australia’s second innings, it meant there was not enough of a base for the lower order to build on. Cameron Borgas scored 47, but South Australia were not able to bat through the 45 overs, bowled out for 235 in 44.2.Western Australia had a similar problem, finding themselves 95 for 4 at the end of their first innings, and needing 160 to win in the last 25 overs. Mitchell Marsh held up one end while North attacked from the other in a 71-run partnership. Once Marsh fell, wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi came in and hit a quick 31. His 64-run stand with North looked like it would see Western Australia through, but there was some late drama in the match, as Ronchi nicked one behind off Daniel Christian with 12 required off 11, setting up a nail-biter of a last over.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith has credited India for bouncing back and levelling the series, retaining the No. 1 Test team crown in the process, but he also praised his team for keeping the hosts on the run till the very last minute

N Hunter18-Feb-2010Graeme Smith has credited India for bouncing back and levelling the series, retaining the No. 1 Test team crown in the process, but he also praised his team for keeping the hosts waiting till almost the last minute.”The game could have been easily over just after tea [on the first day] going by where we were sitting,” Smith said. “If anything, we created pressure on India. In this series, they had everything to lose and we had everything to gain. So we have come up with our heads above the water in terms of what we have achieved.”However, Smith could not deny the fact that Thursday’s result hurt South Africa, who once again came so close to winning a series in India for the second consecutive time as the home team escaped to series-levelling victory again in the final Test. Hashim Amla and Ashwell Prince started the final day confidently but once Prince fell to a rare rush of blood just before lunch, the onus was solely on Amla to carry on the visitors’ resistance. Wayne Parnell and Morne Morkel understood that all they needed to do was follow Amla’s orders and they took the fight till the end.”I think the grit and determination was there the whole day,” Smith said. “The fact is we needed to come out and bat on a fifth-day wicket to save the Test match. Hashim is the glue who held it all together and we managed to find some guys to bat around him. Especially guys like Wayne and Morne, who got stuck in facing 50 to 60 balls, which is a terrific effort from a tailender under these conditions.”Smith felt the team had shown their will after the collapse after tea on the first day. Seven South African wickets fell from a position of 228 for 2 at the end of the second session; after the 100-plus partnership between Amla and debutant Alviro Petersen, the batting succumbed to pressure and good bowling.”We just let ourselves down in the last session [on the first day] and gave India the advantage, which they took with both hands,” Smith said. “We know that in the subcontinent it is very difficult to play catch-up cricket. Once we gave them the upper hand, they really drove the bus through the door.”Comparing the two Tests, Smith felt South Africa lacked precision in Kolkata, as opposed to the clinical victory in Nagpur. “We were not precise enough in our first innings with bat and ball. We dropped a few chances and we never really bowled in the right areas like we did in Nagpur.”Four catches and a stumping were missed during the Indian innings, resulting in four centuries from Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni. It was also surprising to see the waywardness of Dale Steyn, Morkel, Parnell and Paul Harris after their accuracy in the first Test. “They [India] scored at a high rate, which we weren’t able to control with the ball, which probably was disappointing as well,” Smith said. “We started the Test in a really solid way. At tea [on the first day], we were sitting really pretty. Then we just go into a situation where we lost two in-batters [Petersen and Jacques Kallis].”Smith added the failure of rest of the middle order hurt the team’s chances. “The guys coming in were lacking in confidence and suddenly wickets fell in a chunk and the pressure was created as it was the case with India in Nagpur where we were able to create pressure on them with the reverse swinging ball,” he said.He also confessed that the presence of Mark Boucher, sitting out with to a back injury, could have helped them take control of the situation. “Maybe, that is where we lacked someone with experience, someone like Mark [Boucher], who has played a huge amount of Test cricket,” Smith said. “We just never had anyone who could stop the momentum that India gained in that last period. There were nine balls left but 20 minutes of play [as well]. The way India were getting through the overs we probably would have got another three or four overs after that.”Smith is returning home tonight, after being ruled out of the ODI series with a finger injury sustained on the eve of the second Test. Even if South Africa are likely to feel his absence, Smith had a positive message for his team. “The fact that we have been able to come and draw in India is a credit to in itself. If you look at recent stats and recent records of teams that have come here, not many teams have been able to push India like we have been able to push them in these conditions. So that is a positive for us and the credit to our character.”

Orr century, Currie five-for give Hampshire the edge until flying finish at Trent Bridge

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay20-Sep-2025Worcestershire 188 for 7 (Brookes 57, Currie 5-34) beat Hampshire 237 for 7 (Orr 110, Waite 3-60) by three wickets (DLS) Worcestershire ended a week that saw them relegated in the Rothesay County Championship by winning the Metro Bank One-Day Cup by three wickets in a sensational finish to a rain-affected final at Trent Bridge, despite a brilliant century from Ali Orr for Hampshire.Chasing a twice-revised target of 188 from 27 overs after Hampshire had made 237 for seven in 45, the Rapids clinched victory with two balls to spare after ninth man Henry Cullen, with four required to win, was caught on the boundary at long leg only for the fielder, Kyle Abbott, to touch the rope while the ball was still in his hand.The heartbreak for Hampshire came only a week after their defeat by Somerset in the Vitality Blast final.Hampshire’s Scott Currie, who had earned an England call-up earlier in the week but was not required for the T20s against Ireland, looked to have bowled his side to victory here as three wickets in his final over gave him figures of five for 31.But after Ethan Brookes hit four sixes in a superb 34-ball 57 to haul Worcestershire back into contention after falling behind the rate required, Matthew Waite’s two sixes in a five-ball 16 set up what had seemed an unlikely victory with 13 needed off Brad Wheal’s final over.Until then, Orr’s 110 – his third century in this season’s competition – including two sixes in addition to 10 fours and came off 130 balls, looked to have been the match-winning performance.It took a superb one-handed catch off his own bowling by Waite to dismiss him.Orr and fellow left-hander Nick Gubbins (38) put on 82 in 16.2 overs for the first wicket, but the opening pair apart, all-rounder James Fuller’s 23 from 20 balls was the highest Hampshire score in the face of a disciplined response from Worcestershire’s seam attack.Ali Orr’s century gave Hampshire the upper hand in the early part of the final•Getty Images

Bowling nine overs each, Waite took three for 60, Ben Allison impressed with two for 41 and a miserly Tom Taylor took one for 24.Play had begun at the scheduled 11am start time, with Worcestershire opting to bowl first, perhaps with a nod to overcast conditions.Orr and Gubbins, mainstays of the Hampshire batting along their path to a fourth final in the last seven editions of the 50-over competition, had the upper hand against Taylor and Khurram Shahzad, hitting nine boundaries to be 55 without loss in the opening 10-over powerplay.Allison and Waite slowed their progress – and forced a breakthrough when Waite squared up Gubbins, who was caught at backward point off a leading edge. The skipper’s 38 had taken him to 707 as the leading runscorer in this season’s competition.Fletcha Middleton departed between showers, mistiming Taylor to be caught at extra cover. The second break for rain came at 141 for two from just under 31 overs, after which Hampshire pushed the accelerator.Orr walloped Brookes over deep midwicket before completing the fifth List A century of his career in a costly over for Waite that included a six and three fours, reaching the milestone off 118 balls with 14 fours in addition to his two maximums.But Worcestershire removed Toby Albert via a top-edge to deep square and Ben Mayes, bowled by Brookes before Waite ended Orr’s impressive innings via a brilliant one-handed caught-and-bowled.Worcestershire’s bowlers maintained their grip, conceding only one boundary in the last five overs, delivering 15 dot balls and picking up two more wickets as Fuller and Andrew Neal both picked out Brookes on the fence at wide long-on.Their chase did not begin until 5.15pm after a long stoppage between innings but it got off to a flyer despite – 28 without loss from four overs after 19-year-old Daniel Lategan had lofted Wheal high over wide long-on for the first six of the innings.But two setbacks checked their progress as Roderick sliced Fuller to third man and Currie’s first ball had Lategan caught behind.Kashif Ali and Jake Libby added 62 for the third wicket but their rate of progress was well behind what was needed as Gubbins rotated his quintet of bowlers, none of whom gave away easy runs and when Kashif was caught on the reverse at backward point, the Rapids still needed 94 at 93 for three in the 17th.Libby was caught behind swinging at Currie, at which point Hampshire were clear favourites with Worcestershire still 81 short and less than seven overs remaining.But Brookes kept them in contention and though Currie ended his charge via a steepling catch to ‘keeper Ben Brown and dismissed Rob Jones and Taylor in his last over, Cullen had the final word.

Gloucestershire make hosts sweat in low run-chase before Test class comes to the fore

Alan Gardner22-Apr-2024In the end, it was a scrape to victory. Having played the Tricky Third Innings card to leave Gloucestershire deep in a hole the previous evening, Sussex were made to work hard for the points on the final day. Obdurate batting from Miles Hammond and Zafar Gohar stretched the game out, leaving a target of 144 in 49 overs; Sussex then lost four wickets before they had got halfway. But in Cheteshwar Pujara, the home side had an ace up their sleeve. In a nervy finale, his unbeaten 44 trumped a tenacious five-for from Gohar.There have been more False Dawns for Sussex in recent years than you might find at a lookalike convention for characters. But after three rounds of the Championship – which, with better weather, might have produced three wins – they are the pace-setters in Division Two and look a tougher unit than was previously the case.It was after beating Gloucestershire here in their final fixture of 2023, confirming Sussex’s third-place finish, that head coach Paul Farbrace spoke of the need to add experienced recruits to a young squad that had nevertheless made significant strides, winning as many first-class matches (three) as they had managed in the three preceding summers. Danny Lamb, who had already agreed a move from Lancashire, and John Simpson fit the bill in that regard, and both have been prominent in Sussex’s strong start.Farbrace has not been afraid to ruffle feathers in a bid to shift the club out of its discomfort zone – the decision to let Ali Orr leave over the winter caused consternation, while Chris Adams, the title-winning former Sussex captain, and Ian Gould, another Hove stalwart, both quit advisory roles after being sidelined – but he has also conceded that he didn’t get everything right in his first season, vowing in particular to give the players greater responsibility for how they approach games.Simpson, installed as captain, has set the tone in the field, unflappable with the gloves and in career-best form with the bat. In each of their three games this season, Sussex have responded to solid first-innings totals by their opponents – Northamptonshire made 371, Leicestershire 338 and Gloucestershire 417 – with even more substantial efforts. They nearly burgled a result after triggering a similar collapse against Northants, then saw a commanding position washed away by the rain at Leicester (where Simpson made 205 not out and Lamb 134 in a total of 694 for 9 declared).This time Sussex were not to be denied, although Gohar did his single-handed best. Gloucestershire’s left-arm spinner took the new ball (perhaps in part because his side were behind the over-rate) and struck in his second, third, seventh and eighth overs to leave the scoreboard reading 70 for 4. Gloucestershire thought Simpson had been caught at leg slip off Gohar when he had made just 2, but the fifth-wicket pair chipped 42 off the target before another wobble.Having gone charging off trying to get the chase done, beneath lowering skies and the threat of rain, it was ultimately a nuggety, unbroken stand between Pujara and Lamb that hauled Sussex over the line.”We weren’t at our best at various times of the game but we now expect to win games,” Farbrace said. “We have got a good balance in our team, we bat all the way down and we feel confident. It’s nice to be top but it doesn’t mean anything – we want to be top at the end of the season.”Gloucestershire went into Monday’s play staring down the barrel, just 19 runs in front with four wickets standing – though with the memory of last week’s escape against Yorkshire, when they batted through the final day for the loss of just two wickets, to fortify them. Hopes of a repeat rose through the morning, as Hammond and Gohar played sensibly and with few alarms to bat out the session.Jack Carson was into the attack early and spin seemed the likeliest route to a Sussex breakthrough with the old ball. After bedding in, Hammond twice reverse-swept James Coles for boundaries before lofting the same bowler down the ground for six; a pull off Lamb went fizzing to the rope to raise his second half-century of the match.In between those flashes of aggression, there was precious little to warm those Sussex supporters hunkered in their deckchairs. Carson turned one past Gohar’s outside edge. Jayden Seales had Hammond fending the ball in the air but not to hand in front of square on the off side. With the session drawing to a close, Carson threated to dislodge Hammond with successive deliveries: an inside-edge saved him from lbw, before the absence of any bat allowed Gloucestershire’s No. 4 to survive one turning through to the keeper.With 75 runs added and no wickets lost, the visitors were perhaps halfway to making the game safe. The lead was approaching three figures, and if Hammond and Gohar could just take some shine off the second new ball… but the pairing didn’t get that far. Shortly after the resumption, Carson’s change of angle to over the wicket accounted for Hammond, playing around one skidding on from a leg-stump line; two balls later, Dom Goodman was trapped by the ball spinning into him.Sussex’s relief was palpable, and although Zaman Akhter swung the bat merrily again to help add 39 to the target, Seales needed just two deliveries after belatedly being given a go with the new ball to snuff out the resistance. Those in the deckchairs could sit a little more easily. By the time Lamb hit the winning runs some three hours later, they were doubtless comfortably numb.

Short smashed 84 before Thornton bagged a four-for and Rashid Khan a three-for in Strikers’ 51-run win

AAP14-Dec-2022Adelaide Strikers have made an impeccable start to their BBL campaign, dazzling with both bat and ball to trounce Sydney Sixers by 51 runs at Adelaide Oval.After amassing an imposing 184 for 6 on Wednesday evening, largely on the back of Matthew Short’s 84, Henry Thornton’s career-best 4 for 20 helped Strikers restrict Sixers to 133 for 7.Thornton and legspinning wizard Rashid Khan starred with the ball for Strikers who exacted some retribution for last season’s Challenger Final between the two sides at the SCG, which the Sixers won in a last-ball heart-stopper to advance to the decider.Jordan Silk top-scored for Sixers, whose lacklustre reply spluttered early and never recovered. Introduced in the third over, Thornton struck twice in his first three balls, dismissing dangerous duo Kurtis Patterson and James Vince.Josh Philippe and captain Moises Henriques both fell victim to Rashid wrong ‘uns as Strikers’ grip on the contest tightened.With the asking rate escalating out of control, Sixers were aiming to match the home side’s 30-run haul when they took the two-over power surge but could muster just six runs, corralled by Strikers’ two best bowlers, Rashid and Peter Siddle.Thornton returned to the attack near the death and skittled Dan Christian and Sean Abbott. Earlier, Short led Strikers’ assault with the bat after surviving the BBL’s historic first-ever DRS challenge.After the early loss of Jake Weatherald, Strikers temporarily plummeted to 2 for 2 when umpire Bruce Oxenford ruled Short lbw to Abbott.Short successfully reviewed the decision, television replays confirming the ball was missing the stumps, and made the most of his reprieve, smoking the Sixers attack in his classy 53-ball knock.Short was wonderfully supported by the competition’s all-time leading runscorer Chris Lynn and swashbuckling England import Adam Hose, who both impressed for their new side.Abbott and 19-year-old Afghan legspinner Izharulhaq Naveed were the pick of Sixers’ bowlers picking up three and two wickets respectively.