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Ben Stokes took five to restrict India to 358 before India’s bowlers fluffed their lines

Alagappan Muthu24-Jul-20250:49

What makes Crawley and Duckett click as a pair?

0:52

Manjrekar: India batted in different bowling conditions from England

Pant’s willingness to put his body on the line – he is set to miss the fifth Test – ushered India to an above-par total. He finished with 54 off 75 balls and hit the 90th six of his Test career, equalling Virender Sehwag who holds the national record. He also went past 465 runs on this tour, which meant he eclipsed Alec Stewart and now has the highest tally for a wicketkeeper in a Test series in England. Not bad for a man who came to the office wearing a moonboot.Stokes continued his stellar series with the ball, picking up 16 wickets – a new career-best going past his efforts on debut in the 2013-14 Ashes. It is often said when he has the ball in hand that he makes things happen. That’s possibly because he is never afraid of having a punt. Sometimes, he bowls too full and that works because he gets movement both ways – Thakur found that out the hard way. Sometimes, he bowls way too short for way too long and that works because he has the strength to hurry batters up – Washington Sundar found that out the hard way. A peach brought him his fifth wicket – angled in, nipping away, taking Kamboj’s outside edge for a duck.3:28

Thakur: Pant’s pain-bearing capacity is really high

England built on their captain’s hard work with Duckett especially showing how little the margin of error is to him now. He turned a pretty good ball, on the base of off stump, maybe even outside, into a boundary through midwicket that kept two fielders interested all the way through and the crowd absolutely loved it. They went “oooooooohhhhh…yaaaaaaaayyyyyy” as Siraj and Washington were beaten. Given he was able to do that, it was barely a surprise that any time India went too straight, Duckett was able to access the square-leg region to great profit. He went to fifty without a single boundary on the off side and celebrated the landmark with a back-foot punch for four through cover.Crawley, at the other end, had to be a lot more circumspect. He took 14 balls to get off the mark and those runs came with a reminder of the danger the pitch still posed as a Jasprit Bumrah delivery rose up sharply to rap him on the bottom hand. That is why India would feel like they have let themselves down. There was help to the fast bowlers right through the day. Those late wickets they picked up resulted in a mini-session where it was revealed how hard it was to bat out there when the ball was in the right areas. Just that it was difficult to find for a bowling unit that isn’t used to this kind of bounce. Their stock length coupled with the movement on offer kept beating the edge. So they went fuller, only to stray a little too close to the pads or the half-volley mark.Crawley, in particular, played some sumptuous drives through cover and down the ground, and it looked like the opening partnership itself might see England through to stumps. India did raise their game towards the close and they need to raise it again on the third day to keep themselves in the fight. Otherwise the revellers in the party stand – repurposing the Mitchell Johnson song for Siraj – would be proven right. India bowled to the left. They bowled to the right. Their bowling was, well…

England expect pitch for first Test to spin but are not fazed by the challenge ahead

Vithushan Ehantharajah22-Jan-2024It was as recently as November that the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium was renovated with a new roof covering its stands. That explains why Brendon McCullum is gazing up at it like he’s been reacquainted with an old friend who has done something a bit different with their hair.It might have also been the look of a man wondering if he could have put a dent in it in his heyday. Has he cleared the stands here before? “Not for a long time,” he said with a smirk before adding a more honest: “absolutely not”.He gave it a good go back in 2010. A slap-happy Hyderabad special saw him blaze four sixes in a mammoth innings of 225. The striking was crisp, 26 boundaries all in, and the innings itself seemed a breezy affair despite taking the best part of six hours. It remains the highest Test score on this ground.Related

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• Robinson: 'Getting stuck into the opposition is a role I've taken upon myself'

Over 13 years on, McCullum was back out in the middle as red balls flew around him during England’s first training session in India. The hosts’ lack of numbers for their optional session meant greater freedom for the opposition to roam. Most made a beeline for the pitch.”It looked good,” McCullum said. “It looks like it’s going to spin.”It may not turn right from the word go, but you’d think at some stage it will turn and I’m sure spin will be a huge factor throughout the series.”Crucially, none of this was framed as a problem. Indeed there is a clear sense England have come into this tour with an edict not to let themselves be rattled by a home board curating their own pitches. McCullum even went as far as vouching for the groundsman, calling him “a good fella” who does “a really good job”. Years of embracing cricket in these parts – “a home away from home” – and the uncontrollables that come with it have left him with the view that the uncertainty should be relished. It provides the scope for something memorable.”When we started out on this journey a fair while ago we wanted to provide as much entertainment as we possibly can,” McCullum said. “We felt that gave us the best chance as well. What better stage to do it on – against India, in India?”There’ll be many eyeballs watching around the world and it’s a huge opportunity for us. India is the land of opportunity, and that’s what sits in front of us now. That’s the exciting thing. how long the games go, I’ve no idea but I’m sure both teams will stick to their respective styles. Throughout the Ashes, it was two heavyweights going at it with different styles, and I expect it to be the same in this series.”There was more caution when discussing Ben Stokes, who McCullum likened to a “greyhound”, suggesting the captain’s recovery from an overdue knee clear-up is going as well as can be expected.Brendon McCullum will oversee England’s fortunes in India•PA Photos/Getty Images

He was similarly non-committal on the keeping situation, which took on a new dynamic once Harry Brook pulled out of the tour for family reasons. Ben Foakes’ protracted training session with the gloves on Monday seemed to give the game away, though Jonny Bairstow may also start to cover for Brook’s loss. Meanwhile, Tom Hartley continues to impress and could be in line for a Test debut as one of the spin trio alongside Jack Leach and Joe Root.There are still important decisions to ratify, combinations to sort, gut calls to make. And for all the good work under McCullum, bonhomie and a few rounds of golf do not make you immune to the sorts of errors that have blighted previous England tours.But there is a prevailing sense of calm entering into battle with a team who have won their last 16 home series. A simplicity borne out of the fact there is more to gain than lose for a group of players seemingly blessed by perspective. And it was hard not to wonder if a tour of India, where McCullum’s legacy as a cricketer was cemented, is exactly the kind of series to underline his unique qualities as a coach.”Obviously it’s no secret that we’re trying to enjoy ourselves as a team as well,” McCullum said. “And those things away from cricket are obviously super important to this side. A lot of our mesaging is consistent, not just around the cricket field but around daily life and that includes ennoying yourself.”We’ve got to take 20 wickets with the ball in each Test match and we’ve got to get one more run than them with the bat. It’s not rocket science but it will be the nuances of the game, and when to stick and when to twist, which will be the fascinating part. That’s what I love about this series – we are going to be tested, and our methods are going to be challenged and we’ll see where we are at. But it’s a pretty exciting opportunity.”

“Untimely shot selections seem to be deeply embedded in the T20 batting culture of our senior team,” the CWI president says

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-20221:41

Simmons: Batters need to take a look at themselves

Ricky Skerritt, the Cricket West Indies president, has promised a “thorough postmortem” in a scathing assessment of the team’s early exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup.In a statement posted on CWI’s website and on Twitter, Skerritt laid the blame firmly at the feet of West Indies’ batters, saying their poor shot selection and failure against spin was key to the two-time champions bowing out in the first round of the tournament in Australia.Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Ireland – who defeated West Indies by nine wickets on Friday – advanced to the Super 12s with two wins from three matches apiece in the first round.”I am deeply disappointed with the performance results of our team in Australia and I appreciate the sense of utter frustration that is being experienced by many,” Skerritt’s statement said. “The ongoing inability of our batsmen to prevail over opposing slow bowling continued to be an obvious weakness in Australia, and untimely shot selections seem to be deeply embedded in the T20 batting culture of our senior team.”West Indies have lost six of the eight matches they have played in T20 World Cups since their 2016 final triumph in India.Related

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• Ireland knock out West Indies with commanding victory

In their opening match of this edition, they were bowled out for just 118 chasing 161 against Scotland before managing to defend a modest 153 for 7 against Zimbabwe, thanks to Alzarri Joseph’s 4 for 16 and Jason Holder’s 3 for 12. But Ireland easily overhauled their 146 for 5 on Friday to cruise into the next round. West Indies noticeably struggled against spin through the middle overs in all three of their games.Brandon King’s unbeaten 62 off 48 balls was the sole bright spot of West Indies’ innings against Ireland after they inched their way to 41 for 2 in the powerplay, scoring just five fours and one six in that time. In contrast, Ireland struck six fours and four sixes in the first six overs of their chase.Against Zimbabwe, Johnson Charles – replacing King, who was ill at the time – was West Indies’ top-scorer with 45 off 36 balls, and only four West Indies batters reached double figures against Scotland in a display coach Phil Simmons described as “unprofessional”.Skerritt went on to say that he was determined to find a solution to West Indies’ slide.”I want to assure stakeholders that a thorough postmortem will be carried out on all aspects of our World Cup preparation and performance and that solutions will be found in keeping with CWI’s strategy to improve the quality and sustainability of cricket on all fronts, and in all formats.”West Indies cricket is bigger than any one individual or event and continues to need the input and support of all stakeholders.”

There were five run-outs during Pakistan’s chase, before rain gave the home side a win by the DLS method

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jul-2021West Indies Women successfully defended their low total of 125 in a rain-affected second T20I against Pakistan Women to seal the three-match T20I series in North Sound on Friday. The hosts won the match via the DLS method, with Pakistan Women seven runs short of the par score of 110 when rain stopped the game with two overs remaining. Pakistan had five run-outs, with Nida Dar top-scoring with 28.Having elected to bat first, West Indies rode on contributions from middle-order batters Chedean Nation and Kycia Knight, who hit 28 and 30 not out respectively, and injected urgency into the innings after coming together at 69 for 4 in the 14th over.Knight and Nation stitched a 32-run stand from 26 balls for the fifth wicket, both hitting two fours and a six apiece. For Pakistan, Anam Amin and Fatima Sana picked up two wickets each, with the latter conceding just 18 runs from her four overs and also bowling a maiden.Pakistan suffered early blows during their chase, with the top three back in the dugout with just 25 runs on the board. Hayley Mathews bowled Javeria Khan in the first over, while Javeria Rauf and Iram Javed were among the five Pakistan batters who were run-out. Pakistan’s innings also featured rain interruptions and the worrying incidents of two West Indies players – Chinelle Henry and Nation – collapsing on the field and being taken to hospital.Dar and Sidra Nawaz’s partnership of 42 for the fourth wicket helped stabilise the innings, but it wasn’t enough as rain interruptions threatened an early finish. Nawaz’s dismissal for a 25-ball 17 sparked a mini-collapse, with Pakistan losing three wickets for 11 runs. Aliya Riaz (17* off 15) and Sana (8* off 6) showed intent at the end, but the rain came down just after the pair had taken 15 runs off Anisa Mohammed’s 18th over, denying the game a potentially thrilling finish.

India are going for a 5-0 whitewash. Will they play Rishabh Pant?

The Preview by Shashank Kishore01-Feb-2020

Big picture

New Zealand are in Kane Williamson territory in Tauranga, but he could just rest his left shoulder with the series already lost. Two back-to-back losses in the fashion they did have raised questions of their finishing abilities, ‘chokers’ to some if social media is a barometer. They’re currently in that kind of space where they’ll gladly take a win, however it comes.Colin Munro’s return to form makes it one headache less and he walks into a venue where he has two hundreds and a half-century in five innings at an average of 61.40 and strike rate of 193. But New Zealand’s recent dip in form, including the Australia whitewash, remains a larger worry as they constantly fight to remain in public memory.Spirit of Cricket – like their juniors were lauded for at the Under-19 World Cup – is fine, it’s also time to win. This message may not be explicitly written or told to them, but the players will know deep down that in a World Cup year, every opportunity counts and they should make the headlines for wins too. Not just being the nearly men who win hearts.Two weeks ago, India were playing in Bengaluru. Then having traversed several time zones to play in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington in the space of five days, India are in Mount Maunganui. Camping here for three days should give them as much joy as they’ve derived from winning back-to-back Super Over thrillers.India’s uninhibited approach to a T20 innings is a refreshing change. Batsmen aren’t worried about preserving their wickets, the team is open to being flexible, Virat Kohli has no problems batting out of position and KL Rahul keeping wickets lends better balance. Manish Pandey, who struggled to break into the first XI earlier, is a beneficiary of this change.Injuries to their frontline fast bowlers in the format – Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar – have pushed them to test their reserves, and the replacements have all delivered at some stage. Shardul Thakur, for example, has proven to not just be a swing option but also a death-bowling option. His hitting doesn’t quite make the lower order seem brittle anymore.Navdeep Saini gives them bristling pace, Jasprit Bumrah the consistency. Shivam Dube is also getting into the rhythm of bowling regularly, thereby accruing valuable experience that should help him should he be on the flight to Australia for the T20 World Cup. The result of the bowling rejig has meant one of their wristspinners, mostly Kuldeep Yadav, has had to sit out. The team management may as well give him a go come Sunday.

Form guide

New Zealand LLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India WWWWW

In the spotlight

Sanju Samson is a fine white-ball striker but desperately needs a score to back his ability. With Shikhar Dhawan likely to be slotted back into the squad as soon as he’s fit, Sunday could be Samson’s final opportunity at making amends.Tim Seifert’s half-century that complemented Munro’s in Wellington went unnoticed because of the frenzied finish. He strikes at 137 in 24 T20Is, enough indication of his hitting abilities. New Zealand will want him to finish off games with the bat as the next part of his learning. With the gloves, he’s proven to be as tidy as they come.

Team news

Whatever is written here can only be speculative, because Saturday was a travel day, with no training session or press conferences to provide any markers. Rishabh Pant is yet to get a game, so there is a case for the team management to bring him in and rest Rahul. If Kohli chooses to rest, it could mean Rohit comes back to lead. And if they want to bring in Kuldeep Yadav, it could be at Yuzvendra Chahal’s expense.India (likely): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Sanju Samson, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Rishabh Pant, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Jasprit BumrahMartin Guptill didn’t come out to bat in Friday’s Super Over because of a collision with Scott Kuggleijn on the field. Williamson’s status isn’t yet clear. However, New Zealand may want to rest him with an eye on the ODI series to follow.New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Colin Munro, 3 Tim Seifert (wk), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Bruce, 6 Daryl Mitchell, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Ish Sodhi, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Hamish Bennett, 11 Scott Kuggleijn

Pitch and conditions

The town is built around a hill and the wind patterns aid swing. It could be hard for bowlers running in against the breeze, but the surface is one with true bounce and good carry. It should be full of runs.

Stats and trivia

• The average first innings score in the five games that have produced a result at Bay Oval is 199
• New Zealand’s dot-ball percentage at the death has been 34. India have scored significantly faster, and have a dot-ball percentage of just 25 in the same period
• The team batting first has won each of the five games here

The Pakistan allrounder is expected to sign a two-month deal to take in the T20 Blast

George Dobell28-Dec-2018Northamptonshire are closing in on the signing of Faheem Ashraf for the Vitality Blast.ESPNcricinfo understand Faheem, the Pakistan allrounder, has agreed a contract with the club and expects to be available for the entire duration of the 2019 T20 season in England.The competition starts in mid-July – immediately after the World Cup – with the group stages finishing on August 30 and Finals Day taking place on September 21. Pakistan do not currently have any international commitments during that period.While Faheem first gained attention as a seamer – he has opened the bowling for Pakistan in most of his recent international appearances – his explosive batting offers Northants huge potential. He has, at this stage, just one career T20 half-century to his name – and a best of 21 at international level – but could well prosper if utilised as a pinch-hitter.He memorably exploited a short boundary mercilessly in thrashing 60 from 34 balls in a Champions Trophy warm-up match against Bangladesh at Edgbaston last year.Northants, who have denied Faheem’s signing, have previously announced the signing of South Africa’s Temba Bavuma as an overseas player in the County Championship.

A new opening colleague for Warner every summer is becoming a tradition in Australian cricket and Cameron Bancroft comes to the role with strong credentials

Brydon Coverdale21-Nov-20171:30

‘I can forge my own reputation’ – Bancroft

First it was Phillip Hughes. Then it was Ed Cowan. Then Chris Rogers. Then Joe Burns. Then Shaun Marsh. This year it looked like being Matt Renshaw, but instead will be Cameron Bancroft. This is the roll call of batsmen who have started Australia’s Test summers as David Warner’s opening partner; Rogers is the only man to have done so more than once. A new opening colleague for Warner every summer is becoming a tradition in Australian cricket.Renshaw may be unlucky to have been dropped following an encouraging start to his Test career, but Bancroft certainly comes to the role with strong credentials as a foil for the destructive Warner. If patience is a virtue, no player in Australia in recent years has been as virtuous as Bancroft. In 2015, he occupied the crease for a remarkable 797 minutes in compiling 211 for Western Australia in a Sheffield Shield game against a strong New South Wales attack.And after entering this summer fresh from a 512-minute double-century for Gloucestershire at the tail end of the county season, Bancroft carried his bat for 76 and then scored 86 in the second innings against a New South Wales attack boasting Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. Then he followed up with another double-hundred next game against South Australia.

“I certainly think I can get better at concentrating and batting for long periods of time,” Bancroft said on Tuesday. That seems a near unattainable goal. In the recent game against New South Wales, Bancroft was involved in every delivery for the first three and a half days of the contest: wicketkeeping, carrying his bat, wicketkeeping again, and then nearly reaching a century as opener in the second innings.”Most of us were in his ear the whole game,” Hazlewood said this week. “He’s a good fighter, I guess, and he’s put the runs on the board this summer, and in previous summers.”Warner’s observations of that Shield match were that Bancroft was technically sound and knew his own game well. “He looks very complete in the nets,” Warner said. “I’ve been very, very happy with what I’ve seen of him.”This is not the first time Bancroft has been within touching distance of a baggy green. In 2015, he was chosen in Australia’s squad for the Test tour of Bangladesh when Warner was injured. Bancroft would have opened alongside Burns on that trip, but the tour was postponed for security reasons. An inconsistent stretch of form followed for Bancroft, who admits that at times he can be too intense, too focused for his own good.”It was difficult, I just wanted it so badly,” Bancroft said. “I wanted it so badly and I wasn’t patient enough. It took me a little while just to sit back and kind of go, this is where I want to go, just got to trust it … I can get a bit tense and try a bit too hard at times. I think over the last five years of my career it’s been something I’ve had to learn and develop.”Having that work ethic and that intensity is a really good thing and a really positive thing in the right times but learning when those times are, that’s part of the challenge of being a professional cricketer and it’s probably taken me a lot of time to learn about it.”Bancroft was “stitched up” (in the words of Warner) this week when told jokingly that new players in the team have to make a speech at dinner; Bancroft did so without hesitation. But one task he won’t have to be tricked into is fielding under the helmet at short-leg. Typically, that position is thrust upon the newest member of the side, but Bancroft has made short-leg his own specialist spot.”At the start, I just did the role because I was the youngest player in the [Western Australia] side,” he said. “Then I took a couple of really good chances and I thought about it and thought, there’s probably no-one really in the world who sits there and thinks ‘I want to be really good at this’. I remember a couple of years ago at the cricket academy I worked really hard on it and set myself a goal to be really good in that position.”There’s a lot of luck involved, or reaction. I think wicketkeeping helped – my ability to stay low and things like that … I have fun doing it. I feel like you’re always in the game, and I love the prospect of being able to make a difference to the game by taking a catch or even stopping a run that gets flicked and it hits you or something. It’s a challenge that I embrace.”

Sandeep Patil, India’s former chairman of selectors, has said “there were lots of discussions” around MS Dhoni’s limited-overs captaincy around the time he retired from Test cricket in December 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2016Sandeep Patil, India’s former chairman of selectors, has said “there were lots of discussions” around the future of MS Dhoni’s limited-overs captaincy around the time he retired from Test cricket in December 2014. Dhoni’s unexpected exit from the longest format mid-way through India’s Test series in Australia came as a “shock”, Patil said, but he was happy that Dhoni decided to move on when he realised his mental and physical fitness were not up to scratch.Patil, whose four-year term as chief selector ended today, said his panel deliberated making a leadership change in ODIs then, but eventually decided not to, keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup was only a couple of months away at the time. “Absolutely [Dhoni’s captaincy was under threat]. There were lots of discussions that happened regarding that, [and] it’s not like they happened once, they happened a lot,” Patil told ABP News. “There was discussion about his one-day captaincy, there were discussions on his finishing…”But we selected him because… a time had come, the World Cup had come – [if] you try, before the World Cup, giving a new player the captaincy seat, [you should] give him a good run. But that opportunity didn’t come to the selectors. We didn’t have enough time to experiment.”Dhoni, who still captains India in ODIs and T20s, had announced his retirement shortly after the Boxing Day Test ended in Melbourne, with the team trailing 2-0 after three matches with one to play. Patil said that Australian tour was a tough one for the team and Dhoni’s decision was “sudden”, but he was best placed to decide on his future. “I wouldn’t want to say… that it was a sinking ship, but it was a tough series. Our players had to face quite a few difficulties there, the performance wasn’t quite right, save for Virat Kohli.”In such a situation, for a senior player to take this decision – to suddenly take this decision – was shocking. There was a lot of discussion even among us [selectors], ‘How did this happen?'”But it was his decision. What the player is thinking and understands… his body, his thinking, his fitness, only he can decide on all those things. Selectors can’t decide that. I feel that Dhoni understood this and took the right decision at the right time.”Patil said the selectors did ask Dhoni about the timing of his retirement when the panel next met to select an ODI squad. But, in the end, the decision was a selfless one, he said. “[Since it was mid-way through a series], we questioned him and his response was that ‘this is the level of contribution that should be coming from me to the team, when that wasn’t happening, then I myself felt that I should be out’. Very few players can take a decision like that. Very few players can think like that. Everyone generally thinks I should play more, let me play one more series, let me play for another year…”The other big retirement Patil’s panel had to deal with was even more high-profile: the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar. Patil recollected the precise moment he first had a chat with Tendulkar about his plans for the future, in December 2012. Patil said Tendulkar made the decision to quit ODIs after he and fellow selector Rajinder Hans had that chat with him during the Nagpur Test against England. The selectors, Patil said, did not force anything on Tendulkar.”I remember, it was a Test match in Nagpur, December, 2012. After Sachin got out, that was when we, the selectors, decided that we will go to Sachin and ask him what his intention is. And that was a job I did, because I was the chairman, and Hans was also with me, and we spoke to him to know what he had in mind.”We have never told any player, let it be Sachin Tendulkar or any other player, ‘that is enough, now we are going to drop you’. We wanted to ask ‘what’s the plan in your mind’. [And] Sachin wanted to focus more on Test cricket. So when we spoke – and it was quite an open discussion – he decided that he will retire from one-day cricket and, in front of me, he called Sanjay Jagdale, who was the [BCCI] secretary then. He himself said ‘I don’t want to play one-day cricket now’. I felt that was a very good thing, what Sachin did.”Tendulkar’s Test retirement came a year later, following a farewell series against West Indies in November 2013.Former India opener Virender Sehwag, who had previously told ESPNcricinfo that he was “hurt” by the manner in which the selectors dropped him in 2013, more recently said it would have been nice if the selectors had offered him a farewell Test as well. Patil said while he empathised with the players, it was not their right to ask for a farewell match. “If you decide that everybody should get a farewell, then it becomes wrong. And this decision is not the player’s, it’s the BCCI’s. I can understand how it feels, because I too have come through that phase. You talk of Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar… The farewell that Sachin got, that was different.”But, perhaps, after that, the expectation went up among the rest that ‘I too should get one’. But it didn’t happen, and they felt unhappy, became annoyed. And I understand why they became displeased, but the sport is such that when you… retire, many things come out; many things that you shouldn’t say, you end up saying, and later there is repentance. But we don’t place much importance on these things.”

Northamptonshire dismissed Championship Division Two rivals Kent for 208 to wrap up an innings-and-23-runs victory with almost a day-and-a-half to spare at Canterbury

ECB/PA06-Aug-2015
ScorecardAzharullah picked up three second-innings wickets as Kent succumbed inside three days•Getty Images

Northamptonshire dismissed Championship Division Two rivals Kent for 208 to wrap up an innings-and-23-runs victory with almost a day-and-a-half to spare at Canterbury.Hosts Kent seemingly had little desire for the fight as they lost nine wickets in less than two sessions to gift a 23-point win to Northants. That left Kent second from bottom and they went straight into the nets afterwards having banked only three points from this their seventh defeat in 12 Championship games.Resuming on 90 for 1 at the start of Thursday’s play, Kent lost four more wickets in the morning session of what transpired to be a one-sided clash.Once again, poor shot selection led to their demise with Joe Denly starting the rot with a meek clip off his hip straight into the hands of Josh Cobb at short midwicket. Captain Sam Northeast was pinned leg before when playing across a full length ball from Azharullah, as was Ben Harmison, whose painful 36-minute stay for 3 ended with a near identical stroke against Ben Sanderson.On 27 Rob Key had raised Kent’s 100 in fortunate circumstances with a top-edged hook against Azharullah that was palmed over the ropes for six by Maurice Chambers at long leg. But after adding another nine to his own score Key perished when another miscued pull against Sanderson sailed to Azharullah who safely pouched the opportunity to make it 121 for 5.The capitulation gathered pace after lunch when Darren Stevens was adjudged leg before for 15 to the excellent Olly Stone who, in tandem with Azharullah, sent down 53 of the 78 overs needed to skittle Kent.Stone then cleaned up Calum Haggett with the very next delivery for a golden duck and although James Tredwell survived the hat-trick ball, the end for Kent was nigh. Azharullah had Tredwell caught at long leg, one of three Kent players to be caught out on the hook, as was top-scorer Sam Billings (43) leaving Chambers to polish off the win by rearranging the stumps of Kent’s last man Matt Hunn.Northamptonshire captain Alex Wakely said: “I’ve just said in our team meeting that I believe that to be the best collective bowling performance that I’ve ever witnessed by a Northants team. We barely bowled a bad ball throughout and really made life tough for a Kent batting line-up that is chock full of experienced players.”I’m very proud of that performance considering we were missing the two spearheads of our attack. Stone and Azharullah were magnificent and Ben Sanderson has again proved a real asset. We’ve also given ourselves a valuable day off ahead of our T20 quarter final.”Northeast said: “I thought Northamptonshire bowled really well on this pitch. There wasn’t much in it for our lads, but they got out of it what they could.”A couple of us made starts in this match but nobody went on to play a match-defining knock. We all have to stick our hands up and say that wasn’t good enough. We have four games to go in this competition now. We need to look at our practice and how we’re going about things because there’s no denying that we’re very inconsistent.”

A round-up of matches from the Caribbean T20 on Thursday, January 17, 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAnother all-round performance from Darren Sammy sealed a victory for Windward Islands in St Lucia and took them to third position in the points table. Sammy took two wickets and followed it up with a 28-ball 41 which included four sixes.Chasing 141, Windwards were reduced to 57 for 5 after nine overs by Dwayne Smith who took three wickets in three overs. Sammy walked out and stitched a 70-run partnership with Liam Sebastien who remained unbeaten with a run-a-ball 33. When Windwards needed 40 from four overs, Sammy smashed 24 off his next six balls before he was bowled by Javon Searles. Windwards finished the chase with an over to spare.Earlier, Barbados got off to a slow start after winning the toss as they were reduced to 19 for 2 by Sammy in the fifth over. Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich took the score to 50 but both were dismissed soon. Kyle Mayers’ knock of 37 from 21 pushed the run-rate up after he clobbered four sixes. Ashley Nurse’s cameo helped Barbados to 140.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAn all-round performance by Guyana got them four points against Leeward Islands and kept them in the hunt for a place in the play-off. They are now at fourth position in the points table and have a match left.After Guyana chose to bat, their openers, Derwin Christian and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, gave the team a stable start but their run-rate was under six even after ten overs. Once they departed, Christopher Barnwell steered the innings till the end with a 36-ball 61 that included nine boundaries. He and Royston Crandon (16* off 6) hit 53 off the last three overs to take the total to 156.Leewards were 62 for 1 in the 12th over but the regular fall of wickets after that made the chase tougher for them. Guyana’s Steven Jacobs bowled a parsimonious spell, giving only 15 runs in his four overs. He was supported by Crandon, who claimed 1 for 12 in three. Devon Thomas scored 46 off 27 but his knock was in vain as Leewards fell short.