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Kingma's hat-trick sets up Netherlands' sweep of Namibia

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The seamer’s maiden five-wicket haul in List A cricket knocked over Namibia for 181 and consigned them to the last place in the WCL Championship

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Dubai08-Dec-2017
ScorecardVivian Kingma is never shy about showing his excitement after taking a wicket. Or six. And when that sixth wicket caps off a hat-trick like it did in a five-wicket win against Namibia at the ICC Academy, that unbridled joy gushes out like a geyser.Kingma’s first wicket after Netherlands had sent Namibia in came in the fourth over when Karl Birkenstock, playing his first match of the tournament, spliced a pull to mid-off. The rest of his haul came via bowled, lbw or caught behind the wicket as Kingma swung the ball regularly past the outside edge. By the end of the Powerplay, Kingma had Stephan Baard edging to slip and Craig Williams nicking behind to debutant wicketkeeper Scott Edwards.In the interim between Kingma’s twin three-wicket spells, Gerhard Erasmus made a splendid 81 off 75 balls. Erasmus played the Dutch spinners with ease, casually whipping the left-arm duo of Roelof van der Merwe and Pieter Seelaar against the turn through the leg side. In the 25th, he slogged offspinner O’Dowd into the ICC Academy car park for a massive six.But at the other end, Erasmus struggled to find a willing ally in his effort to repel the Dutch bowling unit. Zane Green tickled an edge off van der Gugten to Edwards before Kotze fell to O’Dowd. Ryan ten Doeschate, bowling his first over for Netherlands since 2011, began with a full toss but four balls later found his radar to get Jan Frylinck wafting outside off for a healthy edge to Edwards to make it 125 for 6.Erasmus brought up a run-a-ball fifty and, with only the tail to provide support, he targetted van der Merwe. He hit four boundaries in the 28th and 30th overs to chase the left-arm spinner out of the attack, perhaps regrettably so as rather than looking at posting another 250-plus total, they collapsed to Kingma.Peter Della Penna

After seeing Erasmus cut him for four in his first over back, Kingma began the 34th with a fuller ball and got the batsman edging a drive behind for his fourth wicket. JJ Smith had his off stump knocked back, driving at a fullish delivery to give Kingma his maiden List A five-for. Desperate to shield the stumps, Bernard Scholtz shuffled across to the hat-trick ball and missed a belated stab. The umpire had raised his finger even before Kingma turned mid-sprint to look back to confirming the landmark.A return catch by van der Merwe a few overs later ended the innings in 36.4 overs, meaning the Dutch had almost an hour to bat before the scheduled lunch break. They reached 60 for 2 in 14.3 overs as Wednesday’s centurion Ben Cooper flashed an edge behind off Williams to trigger the interval.When play resumed, the pitch began to deteriorate markedly. Williams and Sarel Burger each snagged a second wicket within a few overs after the restart while spinner Scholtz bowled Sikander Zulfiqar with a ball that kept low after the batsman had charged down the pitch, leaving the Dutch needing a suddenly tricky looking 77 runs to win.But ten Doeschate calmed the situation with his 11th List A fifty. True to his average of 64.24 in one-day cricket for the Netherlands at the start of play, the allrounder didn’t skip a beat in his first innings back in orange, cruising to an unbeaten 65 off 58 balls. He took his time to settle before sizing up Scholtz’ left-arm spin in the 34th over, pulling for four before consecutive shimmies down the pitch produced sixes over long-on and long-off to end the spinner’s day.A delightful straight drive off Tangeni Lungameni brought up ten Doeschate’s half-century off 46 balls as the Dutch needed 24 to win off the final 12 overs. Having thrown in the towel in the face of ten Doeschate’s demoralising dissection of their attack, Lungameni conceded the winning run with a short ball that was signalled as a wide.The win completed Netherlands’ fourth sweep in seven rounds of the WCL Championship tournament as they ended on 22 points, three points clear of second-placed Scotland. Namibia finished in last place with just three wins from 14 matches, finishing three points behind Nepal to take the wooden spoon.

India 'surprised' at dampness on Wanderers pitch on final day

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A team source told ESPNcricinfo that the pitch on day four was the flattest out of all the days of the Test, which didn’t make sense to them; the dampness, they felt, was extraordinary and helped bind the track

Sidharth Monga in Johannesburg02-Feb-2018India’s win at the Wanderers might have seemed like a matter of breaking one partnership in the final innings and running through the rest, but the ​”​surprising​”​ dampness on the pitch on the fourth morning left them fuming and made them work much harder for wickets than what they felt was par for the course.A team source told ESPNcricinfo that the pitch on day four was the flattest out of all the days of the Test, which didn’t make sense to them because the surface had got progressively difficult to bat on, to the extent that the umpires, worried about the players’ safety, suspended play on the third evening. The team believes the dampness helped bind the pitch.There had been heavy rain on the third night, which left the outfield wet and unfit for the usual 10am start, forcing play to begin at 11am. “The other thing they are worried about, which is interesting, is that the pitch is a little bit… just a slight bit of dampness on the top of the surface,” Mike Haysman said in his report on , announcing a delay in the start of play. “That’s all. With a bit of sun, I guess there is no breeze… So just a slight bit of dampness on the top of the grass.”A Gauteng Cricket Board source told ESPNcricinfo: “The ground staff normally remove the covers by 7am but because of the rain they removed it later with the result that the normal sweating under the covers had not completely dried by 10am.”India feel this was more than normal sweating. “When we looked at the pitch first thing in the morning, it was wet,” an India team source told ESPNcricinfo. “It was very wet to the ​touch.”India believe the dampness delayed the return of the pitch to its natural self. “The way the ball misbehaved after tea, it should have started that after the first half hour,” the source said. TV experts also felt the pitch had become less unfriendly to bat on, with Sunil Gavaskar lying down on the pitch during the lunch break, suggesting it had gone to sleep.On the first day, 25 balls beat the bat in the opening session of 27 overs according to ESPNcricinfo logs, 40 times in 25 overs on day two, 18 times in 23.5 overs on day three, and 12 times in 19.2 overs on day four. The first session of day four – truncated to 90 minutes – was the only one of the match without a wicket; the first sessions on the first three days consumed two, two and three wickets.​​In the face of a “”, a flat pitch, India say sealing victory came down to “our patience and our skill”​, especially with the sun coming out late on day four​. To the extent that, in the middle session, they rested it all on the second new ball. They wanted to have as many to defend when the second new ball became available. For the first time in the match, India used Hardik Pandya for a longer spell, and Pandya mostly bowled wide outside off, conceding 15 runs in six overs. When Pandya was done with his spell, South Africa needed 127, and the new ball was 31 overs away.India were prepared to go all out with the new ball, but eventually things began to happen sooner. Ishant Sharma dismissed Hashim Amla to a catch to short midwicket, ending the only century-run stand of the match, worth 119 runs. About 15-20 minutes before tea, the uneven bounce became more pronounced, claiming AB de Villiers with a rising delivery before the break and Faf du Plessis with one that stayed low after it. Mohammed Shami then ran through South Africa’s resistance.It was a sticky situation for Cricket South Africa and GCB. After the suspension of play on day three, they were left hoping the pitch would not misbehave further because if play had been abandoned – although it might have saved the home team from a defeat – it would have resulted in heavy sanctions from the ICC, including no international cricket at their premier venue for a year. That also may have affected the sold-out Pink-Day ODI, scheduled on February 10. In the end, Wanderers got away with just a poor rating and three demerit points, keeping the rest of the cricket for the season.

'So many soft dismissals in one match hurt a lot' – Kohli

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India’s captain has asked every member of the team to reflect on the soft dismissals and errors made by them

Sidharth Monga in Centurion17-Jan-2018The message from a dejected and hurting Virat Kohli to the rest of his team-mates is clear: it is unacceptable to lose the way India did in home-like conditions in Centurion despite given a chance to escape by South Africa throwing their wickets in the final session on day one. Kohli asked every individual to reflect on the soft dismissals and errors made by them.This was widely considered India’s best chance to win a Test in South Africa: the pitch was flat and slow for the first three-and-a-half days, South Africa failed to seize the advantage after winning the toss, India had the best batting conditions of the match to themselves in the first innings, but they let it slip with two silly run-outs, a few loose shots, and dropped catches on the field.”At the end of the day one team has to lose,” Kohli said. “As a team you always try to win. You can accept defeat but not the way we played, the way we let the advantage slip out of our hand, that is not acceptable from a team’s point of view. So many soft dismissals in one match hurt a lot. Because you work so hard, you prepare for a match, you get into good situations, shift the game towards you, and then the momentum shifts because of these mistakes. That feels very bad as a team. Individuals have to sit and reflect on these things themselves. They do it, I am not saying they don’t reflect on it, but we have repeated these mistakes in both matches.”Kohli asked the team to be ask itself tough questions. “We have not come here to play the way we have done,” Kohli said. “That is something that we need to definitely speak about. We need to be hard on ourselves. We need to ask ourselves if we are giving 120% for the team every time we bowl a ball or play a ball or field a ball. That is something individuals need to reflect on themselves, but as a team we are definitely going to lay out these things in the open.”We will ask the guys to be honest about what they were feeling at particular stages in the game. Unless you speak about it and lay it out in front of everyone, there is very little chance of improving. The mistakes that we made have been really about not putting attention to detail at important stages of the game. It is something we definitely need to take into account and sit down and discuss as a team.”However, Kohli didn’t feel the selections of the XIs in both sides had any bearing on the result. Ajinkya Rahane, India’s best all-conditions Test batsman, has been sitting out on “current form”. It was a shocking move to Indian cricket’s followers the morning Rahane was left out of the first Test, but Kohli said “no one” wanted Rahane in the XI, and the outrage has only come after the results. In this Test, India left out their best bowler from Cape Town, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and also lost out on his batting: he faced the most balls by an India batsman in Cape Town. Kohli was asked if having too many options might have confused them.”Look when something doesn’t work, obviously it’s going to be spoken against,” Kohli said, pointing to media and fan reaction. “We are pretty used to that. We as a team don’t think of what the opinion going around is, and I’ve clarified that before also. There are many people that are involved in making a decision for the playing XI. A lot was spoken about Bhuvi as well but Shami performed in this game. So now no one is talking about that.”So you know it’s all about whoever goes out on the field and performs. We obviously look at the conditions that we are playing in and we decide as a management group and the captain myself sitting together that what is the best XI that we can take on the field. And then we don’t sit back and think, ‘Oh we could have done that or we should have done that.’ You make one decision and you back it. It’s always that scenario.”While he refused to concede that there needs to be a debate on the XIs, Kohli said the team would need to assess every move it had made on tour. He didn’t agree that more preparation, or coming early to South Africa, might have helped, which somewhat went against his comments about the crowded international schedule, during the home series against Sri Lanka that preceded this tour.”See, I don’t believe in that,” Kohli said when asked if coming early would have helped them counter the conditions better, particularly in Cape Town. “We had a result in three days in Cape Town, and we had no complaints and we really enjoyed the pitch we played on because we had an equal chance of winning the game there. We were not good enough to do that, that’s a different thing, but it wasn’t like we were set a total, the team had declared, and we were outplayed. We had opportunities in both the games, that’s probably the smallest positive that we can think of at this moment.”Look, I am not going to sit here and try to comfort anyone, we need to be hard on ourselves if we need to do special things. We need to sit down and ask ourselves whether we are giving enough every time that we go out on the field. We should be reflecting on all our decision-making and all the actions that we have made in this game and the previous game and act upon them.”Kohli said a team needed a certain obsession, a “madness”, to win away from home in such conditions.”It doesn’t feel nice that you come out and you feel good as a team and then you are not able to execute what you want to,” Kohli said. “It almost has to be a madness to be able to win away from home. And you have to live that every minute, every day of being on tour. As I said it is a very individual thing but we need to discuss this as a team for sure.”I can’t speak on behalf of selectors as to what they are thinking. Obviously the selectors will come into the conversation as well when we are looking at planning for future tours also because we have a lot of cricket away from home. This was not the only tour. We have to identify all the areas that need improvement. And accordingly act on those. Obviously the selectors are going to be a big part of that conversation.”Kohli admitted South Africa were the better team irrespective of the conditions, but this defeat hurt a little more because India had conditions in their favour. “Well, we were quite disappointed in Cape Town as well, there was an opportunity to win also,” Kohli said. “Look, Test cricket, it doesn’t matter where you are playing. Teams have beaten us also at home at times but these conditions are something that we are used to playing at and we should have certainly done better than what have.”Having said that it’s about which team plays collectively better. South Africa collectively were a much better team than us regardless of the pitches we played on. Their bowlers put relentless pressure on us as a batting unit, and their batsmen as well, after losing a few wickets, they would string in a partnership. They showed more character than us.”

Sri Lanka's rare chance to cap successful tour

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In five matches against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh have lost four and drawn one, but Sunday is their last chance to restore a degree of respectability to the affair

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Feb-2018

Big Picture

It had begun so well. Bangladesh may still have been stinging from Chandika Hathurusingha’s surprise exit, but in the first three matches of the tri-nations ODI series, they stomped both oppositions, and appeared as if no side was capable of so much as challenging them in home conditions. Then came the 10-wicket thumping in Mirpur. Since then, in five matches against Sri Lanka (across formats), Bangladesh have lost four and drawn one. The absence of Shakib Al Hasan – due to injury – has been telling.Sunday’s T20 is their last chance to restore a degree of respectability to the affair. With Tamim Iqbal set to return to the top of the order after missing Thursday’s game, and the top order firing in any case, the batting appears to be stable. Much will depend on how a young, largely inexperienced Bangladesh attack can contend with a suddenly-confident Sri Lanka batting order. On Thursday, the visitors ran down Bangladesh’s highest-ever T20 score inside 17 overs. Sri Lanka are not a world-beating limited-overs side yet, though. There are holes in their batting order – Bangladesh must only work out how to exploit them.For the visitors, the pressure is off. They have already performed better on this tour than expected, especially as they had begun the trip with a loss to Zimbabwe. A victory to seal the T20 series would be further indication that Hathurusingha is setting the side back on track. Tougher examinations await, but with Sri Lanka snapping an eight-match T20 losing streak on Thursday, early signs appear healthy.

Form guide

BangladeshLLLWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka WLLLL

In the spotlight

Mushfiqur Rahim has had a modest tour. In 10 innings going back to the start of the tri-series, he has only crossed fifty three times. As his 66 off 44 on Thursday demonstrated, however, Bangladesh’s batting appears exponentially stronger when he is productive. He had, in fact, been one of the primary contributors to Bangladesh’s excellent tour of Sri Lanka last year. In the continued absence of Shakib, Bangladesh will look to Mushfiqur to carry the middle order again on Sunday.Associated Press

In the ODI series Kusal Mendis had been unconvincing, but he batted himself into form on a flat Chittagong Test-match pitch, and has now produced his first outstanding T20 innings, hitting 53 off 27 balls on Thursday. Few would have picked him for an opener, but that is a role he has flourished in over the past few weeks. Prior to his injury, Kusal Perera had probably been slated to open alongside Danushka Gunathilaka, but if Mendis produces another good innings on Sunday, he will probably keep that position in the Nidahas Trophy next month.

Team news

Tamim’s return to fitness is the good news for Bangladesh. Zakir Hasan is likely to make way for him in the opening slot. Sabbir Rahman’s continued poor form could see him make room for Mohammad Mithun, while Abu Jayed and Mahedi Hasan could also get chances by replacing Mohammad Saifuddin and Rubel Hossain.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Mushfiqur Rahim, 4 Mohammad Mithun/Sabbir Rahman, 5 Afif Hossain, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Ariful Haque, 8 Mahedi Hasan/Mohammad Saifuddin, 9 Nazmul Islam, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Rubel Hossain/Abu JayedSri Lanka are likely to field the same XI, though perhaps it is possible that Asitha Fernando will come in for Shehan Madushanka.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Kusal Mendis, 3 Upul Tharanga, 4 Dasun Shanaka, 5 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 6 Thisara Perera, 7 Dinesh Chandimal (capt.), 8 Jeevan Mendis, 9 Akila Dananjaya, 10 Isuru Udana, 11 Shehan Madushanka

Pitch and conditions

The picturesque Sylhet ground has batting-friendly pitches, as was evident during the BPL. In four evening games last year, the ground averaged 174 for sides batting first in the domestic T20 tournament. The weather in Sylhet will be significantly cooler after sunset.

Stats and trivia

  • Before Thursday, Kusal Mendis’ highest T20 international score had been 22. He did not make double figures in five of his previous eight innings.
  • Mushfiqur Rahim is two dismissals away from completing 50 in T20 internationals. He would be the fifth wicketkeeper to the milestone, after MS Dhoni, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Shahzad and Dinesh Ramdin.
  • Thisara Perera needs one more wicket to complete fifty in T20 internationals. Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara and Ajantha Mendis are the other Sri Lankans to have achieved this feat.

Quotes

“It is not that easy to do well in international cricket straightaway. They have the potential.”
“I am excited about the potential of this team. I don’t think we are playing near our potential.”
Sri Lanka coach Chandika Hathurusingha feels Sri Lanka still have a long way to go

Axed Akmal's Lahore Qalandars future in doubt

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It is understood that the batsman has not even been travelling to the stadium ever since he was dropped from the side following a poor run in the tournament

Umar Farooq16-Mar-20181:46

The ups and downs of Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal’s future with Lahore Qalandars is increasingly uncertain after a troubled campaign for the team and batsman. Six losses in nine games have left Lahore firmly rooted to the bottom of the table and Akmal’s poor form – and familiar questions about his attitude – have seen left him out of the squad. ESPNcricinfo understands that he has not even been travelling to the stadium with the side anymore. Regardless, as per the contract he has with the franchise, he will take home USD 160,000 at the end of the season.That represents some fall for a player who lit up the league in its inaugural season, finishing as top scorer in 2016, making 335 runs at 83.75. He was less successful last season but was retained by Lahore and was always thought to be an important part of the side.But after making just 57 runs in five games in the ongoing season he was dropped, the trouble beginning with a bizarre run-out during the group stage match against Peshawar Zalmi. Since his axing, he has been attending training sessions at the ICC academy.The decision to drop Akmal, ESPNCricinfo understands, was a unanimous one, with team owners, managers, coaching staff and captain all on board. It is also understood that an upset Akmal has responded by sending angry messages to the team owners complaining about the captain Brendon McCullum talking to the media about him.”Umar is a complicated guy and we all know he has well-documented troubles throughout his career,” McCullum told ESPNcricinfo. “But he is incredibly talented and he has done special things in his career and if his career has to finish now, I think it’s fair to say that he has underachieved.”I think it’s a hard message and sometimes you need that, because as a cricketer you need to be honest with yourself and you need those who are prepared to be honest with you.”This is not the first time Akmal has had a fallout with his team – it follows the pattern of his ouster from the Pakistan side. Last year his career took a major hit after the PCB had omitted him from the list of 35 centrally contracted players. He was the most notable omission, with his fitness having been a major concern.He was then involved in a very public spat with national head coach Mickey Arthur, which subsequently led to the PCB slapping a three-game ban on him during domestic season and a fine of PKR 1 million. Besides that, the PCB also revoked all No-Objection Certificates issued to him for participation in overseas tournaments for two months, forcing him to miss the Bangladesh Premier League.Having dropped Akmal, Lahore brought in overseas player Anton Devcich, who smacked a 42-ball 62, albeit in a losing cause, during the match against Islamabad United.”We did not do it purely based on his performance,” said Aaqib Javed, Lahore’s head coach. “As a senior player there is a responsibility but when you are not able to deliver in five games then, as a team, you start thinking of trying something new before it is too late.”We still had chance and we wanted to try our second options. Then we played our sixth match only to score our highest total in the tournament. We then went on to win our next three games. So now getting him back at this stage is difficult because the youngsters you trusted have delivered, it’s unfair if they don’t get more chances.Aaqib also said that it was the management’s concern to look after and support an out-of-form senior player.”We haven’t deserted him but we have allowed him to take a back seat and relax and think,” he said. “He has a full career ahead of him and it’s not the end of the road. He is a good player, and everyone has their ups and downs, but all you need is to show character and push yourself. He can do it and we expect him to do it.”

I want to play all three formats for my country – Umesh

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The RCB quick wants to play all three formats of the game for India, and not just Test cricket as he has done in recent times

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Apr-2018Royal Challengers Bangalore fast bowler Umesh Yadav wants to play all three formats of the game for India, and not just Test cricket as he has done in recent times.”That’s a tag I’ve carried all along,” Umesh told the IPL website while talking about being regarded largely a long-form specialist. “Because in Test cricket, you have a lot of time to play around with your pace and swing. If you have the talent, you can reverse it.”I want to play all three formats for my country because I enjoy all three formats. I have age on my side, and I believe I have the ability to deliver in all formats. I try and give it my best because whether you’re bowling in limited-overs cricket or in Tests, you have to hit the same length with the new ball.”With competition from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, Umesh has played only 71 ODIs since his debut in 2011 – the last in September 2017 – to go with his 36 Tests. And he’s played just one T20 international – against Sri Lanka in 2012, when he took 1 for 24 in three overs.Umesh was speaking about his aspirations to play all formats for India after his 3 for 23 – all the wickets in one over – was instrumental in RCB’s win against Kings XI Punjab. That performance followed a 2 for 27 in Kolkata, his first IPL game of the 2018 season.”When you get a fast bowler as your coach, especially one who invests a lot of confidence in you, gives you all the help and support you need, your own confidence as a bowler starts soaring,” Umesh said of the role RCB bowling coach Ashish Nehra had played. “Nehra told me, ‘You’ve got pace at over 140, so you must try and pitch it on the stumps. If a batsman tries to hit you straight or comes down and clobbers a six, that’s fine with me.'”So I tried to give it all the energy I had, hit the right lengths and areas. And I’ve been able to do this because of him. Ever since our camp began, he’s made me practice bowling at the stumps, with the off stump as the marker in the off side.”The Kings XI openers had raced to 32 for 1 in three overs when Umesh had Mayank Agarwal caught behind, the first strike in an over that changed the game. “Over the past three-four months, I have played a lot of cricket against Mayank Agarwal,” Umesh said. “So my strategy was to make him play as straight as possible with my stump-to-stump line. And that’s what I kept trying. I pitched up the first delivery, luring him into a flashy hit, and that’s what he did.There were more celebrations next ball, as Aaron Finch unsuccessfully reviewed the lbw decision given against him. “With Aaron Finch, I knew he’s someone who’s never too comfortable if you bowl him an inswinger at the start of the over,” he said. “So I bowled one on a good length and into the stumps, swung in it with a lot of pace and that ploy worked for me.”The fifth ball of the over, a short one that Yuvraj pulled, could had been caught had the fielder at deep square leg not misjudged the trajectory. The sixth ripped through the left-hander’s defences from around the wicket. “Initially my plan was to bowl the first deliveries on a good length, then bowl a bouncer and then bowl on a length again,” Umesh said. “I worked on my plans, and I executed them well. That’s precisely why I got those three wickets.”With five wickets in the first two games of the 2018 season, Umesh has more opportunities to impress his RCB – and India – captain Virat Kohli.

Dwayne Bravo: "We always said experience will get the better of youth"

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Reactions from the Chennai Super Kings players soon after they won their third IPL title

ESPNcricinfo staff27-May-2018Contrasting emotions were on show after CSK sealed their third IPL title•BCCI

MS Dhoni: “I think by the time you reach the final, everyone knows their roles and responsibilities, so you don’t have to speak a lot. Yes, when you’re fielding, you have to adjust your plans at times. You push your bowlers to give as less runs as possible so that you’re not chasing extra runs. Other than that, even if you see today, we knew what our batting style is and how our batsmen bat. If someone is finding it difficult, there’s no reason why someone else coming behind him will find it easy to score runs. So it was good we didn’t lose too many wickets in the first half, because a lot of times you can get into the feeling that you need a good start to chase down 179. Then they have a mystery bowler in the form of Rashid, but what you also have to keep in mind is Bhuvi is equally deceptive, because with the new ball, he can swing it either way. He bowls a very good length so, it’s not only one bowler. They had a few bowlers who could put pressure on the batsmen, so I thought it was a very good batting effort. At the start, yes maybe we felt we have to get moving, but we had the belief that we had the firepower to get the runs.”I think we talk a lot about age, but what’s important is the fitness aspect. Rayudu is 33, but he covers good ground. Even if he plays a few games where he’s spent a lot of time on the field, he’s not going to turn up and say I’m stiff. So fitness matters more than age. What we have seen is that our fitness has improved. Most of the captains want players who move well on the field. It doesn’t matter who was born in which year, you have to be fit and agile. At the same time, we knew the shortcomings and had to accept areas that you won’t be brilliant in. If I am pushing Watson to stop a single, there’s a good chance he would burst his hamstring and won’t be available. You don’t want Watson or a Bravo injured because that will mean shuffling a lot of players to get the right combination or the same strength. Age is just a number.”We are going to Chennai tomorrow. The plan was to go there irrespective of the result. We plan to meet fans and people close to the franchise. We will all have a get together in the hotel and enjoy the evening because this has been a fantastic win.”Shane Watson: “Look, it’s been a special season. To get an opportunity again, for CSK to give me a chance after the previous season with RCB is incredible. Things fell my way nicely at certain times. To come good in such a big game means so much to the franchise. After those first 10 balls [when Watson scored no runs], I was hoping to catch up and at least get to a run a ball and then go from there. It’s good I was able to get a couple of boundaries. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was very skillful with the new ball. We knew if we could get through six overs without much damage, we knew once the ball stopped swinging, it would be easier to get runs later. To have the support from Tommy Simsek (physio), Stephen Fleming and MS Dhoni, especially towards the later stages, has been incredible. They’ve been superb with my recovery. The good thing is I don’t have to play for three-four months now.”Dwayne Bravo: “It’s been good, a special moment because the team hadn’t played together for two years. For most of the guys, this was the first time with the franchise. Then we had to move from Chennai. Lot of things were going wrong, but we kept focus. There’s nothing better than winning titles. That’s why I’m very happy for the team. We always said experience will get the better of youth. The amount of games all of us have put together are for moments like these. Shane Watson batted on one leg, struggling with a hamstring injury, but his experience got him through. He’s a world-class player and I’m very happy for the entire team.”CSK coach Stephen Fleming: “Each year has been different, we’ve been lucky to get a core group of players. We managed to stay consistent with a core set of skills, while other teams were chopping and changing. Experience tends to come through. It was this year, the quality of those players, you have to look at specialists as well. We just value and hope the big players on the big stage will come through. It’s just a case of support in a lot of areas, a lot of man management in the group. 23-24 can be a large group to manage. Important to prepare the players, communicate. It’s a nice relationship.”Harbhajan Singh: “It’s brilliant to see what Watson brings onto the table, at this ground, no matter how many runs you have, everything is possible. So glad to be part of the winning side, this is my fourth IPL title. Considering Kane Williamson was in good form and they had a lot of middle-order batsmen who are right-handers, MS Dhoni wanted a bowler [Karn Sharma, who played ahead of Harbhajan] who can take the ball away. These days it’s a trend, wristspinners are bowling more and more, fingerspinners aren’t bowling that much. Hopefully that will change next year, well done to Karn Sharma.”Shardul Thakur: “Last year, I was part of the final but couldn’t win. This year, it’s incredible. I can’t express the feeling in words. I’m on top of the world. The last game was on my mind. I knew I had to bowl well at the death. Today, I was right on top of the ball, executed what I wanted.”Ambati Rayudu: “I was really fortunate to have such a great season. I worked really hard for it, happy I could score the winning runs. The wicket looked slow, I thought it was damp but it got much better. I was confident we could chase this.”Ravindra Jadeja: “It’s good to be part of a champion team. We did a good job on and off the field. Win or lose, we played as a team. Very happy that we’re champions after a gap of two years.”Deepak Chahar: “Enjoyed the role of bowling with the new ball. I was waiting for my chances. Thanks to Mahi bhai, he believed in me. Everyone’s dream is to play in the IPL and then win it. One of my dreams has come true.”Lungi Ngidi: “It has been amazing. This season has been a rollercoaster of emotions. It’s lovely to have that (pressure) on your shoulders, and take the game one ball at a time.”

Chris Woakes ruled out of Australia ODIs with knee problem

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Seamer managing “chronic” problem and won’t return before India series but Ben Stokes is progressing well after a hamstring injury

George Dobell18-Jun-2018England have confirmed that Chris Woakes will take no part in the limited-overs series against Australia as he deals with a “chronic” knee injury. Ben Stokes is also not expected to play in the three remaining ODIs but could return in next month’s T20 series with India.Woakes sustained a tear in his right quad during the second Test against Pakistan in Leeds, but a statement released by the England management now suggests it was caused in part by “a flare-up of a chronic right knee problem”. He was given an injection in the knee a week ago and has begun a rehabilitation and conditioning programme.England are putting no date on his return to action, but he will not feature in any of the games against Australia or the T20s against India. He will be reassessed ahead of the ODI series against India that starts on July 12.”I’m aiming for the India ODIs and fingers crossed I can play some cricket before then so I’m ready,” Woakes said. “Whether it’s for Warwickshire or England I’m not sure. The word chronic makes it look like it’s drastic but the knee is not something I’m worried about.”Woakes’ absence has been felt keenly by England in recent days. As their top-ranked ODI bowler, and easily most impressive white-ball seamer in Australia and New Zealand, he has the responsibility for bowling at the start and end of the innings; areas that have been exposed a little in the defeat against Scotland and, at times, during the victory over Australia in Cardiff.Woakes missed almost the entire Champions Trophy in 2017 after sustaining a side strain during the opening moments of the game against Bangladesh. He has managed the knee problem for several years, having had surgery in 2015.”I’ve had the same problem for about eight or nine years and it’s been niggling away at me but I’ve got on with it and put up with the odd niggle because it’s not the sort of thing that will get better overnight,” he said.”With the quad injury it was a good time to get a jab in there and settle it down. I don’t know what the definition of chronic is but it doesn’t really stop me from playing cricket. It just flares up and during Headingley it felt sore but compared to a couple of weeks ago it feels like a million dollars.”There may also be some concern at Warwickshire. The county felt that Woakes required more bowling before returning to Test cricket following his spell in the IPL. To go from bowling a maximum of four overs to bowling in a Test, they felt, required more time and conditioning work. It will have been noted that both England seamers who went from the IPL to the Test team – Woakes and Stokes – without a warm-up match sustained injuries.With the World Cup looming as England’s priority for next year, Woakes suggested he would consider whether managing his fitness might mean missing out on the IPL.”IPL is a great thing for players to have the opportunities to improve themselves, at the same time as earning a hell of a lot of money, but I think next year will be tricky,” he said. “If I don’t get retained that’s when I will have to ask myself whether it’s worth going in the auction again, with such a big summer ahead. It’s something I’ll know nearer the time, especially going into what could be the biggest summer of my career. You want to make sure you’re in tip-top condition for a home World Cup.”There is better news of both Stokes and Eoin Morgan. Morgan, who missed Saturday’s game in Cardiff due to a back spasm, took part in training at Trent Bridge on Monday morning and hopes to play in the third ODI against Australia on Tuesday, while Stokes is said to be “progressing well” after sustaining a torn left hamstring a couple of weeks ago. His batting is unrestricted and he is able to run at 90% capacity so will begin a “return-to-bowling programme” this week.Stokes will be with the squad for the fourth and fifth ODIs in the hope that he is fit to play in the T20s against India in July.

Tammy Beaumont stars for Vipers to put Surrey Stars to the sword

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Tammy Beaumont continued her fine run of form to anchor Southern Vipers’ run-chase at Guildford

ECB Reporters Network22-Jul-2018Southern Vipers 145 for 3 (Beaumont 62*) beat Surrey Stars 141 for 9 (Dunkley 66) by seven wickets

ScorecardSouthern Vipers’ bid to repeat their success of 2016 in the Kia Super League began with an impressive seven-wicket win over Surrey Stars at Guildford.Tammy Beaumont, making her Vipers debut after switching from Surrey during the winter, led her side to victory with an unbeaten 62 as their target of 142 was reached with three overs to spare.Batting at No.3 instead of her usual position at the top of the order for England, Beaumont produced some typically aggressive shot-making as Vipers recovered from an early wobble when they were 21 for 2 to race to an impressive victory.She added 99 in 11 overs with Mignon du Preez who contributed 48 off 31 balls, including eight fours, although she was dropped on 35. When the South African was stumped off Mady Villiers in the 15th over Vipers only needed 22 to win. Beaumont hit ten boundaries in 45 balls faced and was one of several performances to impress the watching England Head Coach Mark Robinson.Surrey’s total of 141 for 8 always looked light with a parched lightning-fast outfield giving batsmen full value for their shots.That they at least got a competitive score was largely down to a superb 66 off 43 balls from Sophia Dunkley. Six days after she celebrated her 20th birthday Dunkley played an innings of great maturity after coming in with her side reeling on 18 for 4 after four overs.Dunkley and Dane van Niekerk, one of three South Africans in the Surrey team, added 63 in 9.4 overs with Dunkley the dominant partner. She wasn’t afraid to come down the pitch against the spinners and hit straight. Dunkley lofted Paige Schofield down the ground for six and her ten boundaries included one straight drive that perfectly dissected two fielders on the rope standing no more than 20 yards apart.Dunkley showed her power through the offside too, hitting severalf her boundaries between cover and mid-off and it was a surprise when she fell in the 18th over, one of three leg-side catches expertly held by Danni Wyatt.Van Niekerk contributed 31 but, like Dunkley, she fell to off-spinner Fi Morris. The 24-year-old’s first victim was Surrey captain Nat Sciver, who mis-timed a drive to mid-off in the fourth over. Tash Farrant picked up wickets in her first two overs and swung the new ball impressively, bowling Lizelle Lee off an inside edge and then claiming the prized scalp of Sarah Taylor (6), who was bowled through the gate on her Surrey debut. With Amelia Kerr removing Bryony Smith in the second over when she picked out extra cover Vipers had made the best possible start.But Dunkley and van Niekerk repaired the damage impressively, although accurate bowling never allowed them to score at more than seven an over. Morris finished with 4 for 22 and Farrant bowled impressively on a pitch offering good pace and carry, finishing with 3 for 16.Surrey needed early wickets to give themselves a chance and claimed both openers in the first four overs. Marizanne Kapp got one to nip back through Wyatt’s defences and four balls later claimed the crucial wicket of skipper Suzie Bates, courtesy of a brilliant catch at backward point by Lee. But that was as good as it got for the Stars.

Jos Buttler's day of second chances as England's slips don't prove costly

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Dawid Malan’s omission meant another new-look cordon for England and his replacement at second slip had an interesting day

Andrew Miller at Lord's10-Aug-2018It’s not just the covers that were doing the Hokey Cokey on the second day at Lord’s. In, out, in, out … the same applied to England’s slip cordon, freshly reconstituted for this Test after Dawid Malan’s own drops caused him to be dropped after the Edgbaston Test, but still every bit as erratic as this week’s weather.Take the new incumbent, Jos Buttler – England’s one-day wicketkeeper, so a reasonably safe pair of hands, you might have thought. Not quite as safe as Chris Woakes clearly hoped, as he achieved the remarkable feat of dropping, then catching, consecutive batsmen in consecutive overs.”Nope!” was James Anderson’s succinct response, when asked afterwards if he’d ever seen anything like it before.All was just about well by the end of it all, especially with Virat Kohli among Woakes’ second-gasp victims. But as if England’s task of forcing victory had not been made sufficiently complicated by the rain, this was another self-harming display from their close catchers. Unlike at Edgbaston, however, India – and Kohli in particular – were unable to pay them pay for their profligacy.Graphic: Jimmy Anderson has had exceptional returns in Tests over the past three years•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Get in the ****ing mitts!” Woakes was lip-read as having said after the second of his drops – a flying but fair chance as Hardik Pandya fenced high to Buttler’s right at second slip. Whether that was a specific request to re-arm Buttler with the keeper’s gauntlets or just an understandable expression of annoyance, only Woakes will know.But, by God, he’d worked hard to earn the rewards that England’s cordon were once again squandering. Back in the side after injury, and back at a venue where he had hoovered up 14 wickets at 10 in two previous Tests, he put his winter woes in Australia behind him with the sort of ball-on-a-string spell of outswing that briefly threatened to outshine even Anderson, England’s pastmaster of such methods.1:35

England’s best catchers aren’t in the slips – Hussain

None of India’s batsmen could lay a bat on him – except, of course, when they did, and then it was in the lap of the gods as to whether the chance stuck or wriggled to safety.”It was frustrating because, though we were forced to change the slip cordon, they’ve worked hard again this week, and we want to be taking as many chances as we can,” said Anderson, whose five-wicket haul (blessed with no missed chances) proved instrumental in restricting India to a paltry 107.”It’s an area to improve but thankfully [Jos] made up for both mistakes straight away and credit to him for keeping his focus. Often your head can drop when you drop a catch, but he kept his cool and took the two he needed to.”There’s nothing worse as a bowler when you’re working hard to create chances and they get dropped. But no-one means to drop a catch. We know they are working hard, more so in England when the ball is moving around, it can wobble a bit. But we’ll keep working on it to get that slip cordon nailed down so we don’t have to worry about it too much.”Joe Root, England’s captain, was also guilty of gifting a let-off, to Ajinkya Rahane on 5, as he brought himself into fourth slip with Stuart Broad finding his groove from the Nursery End. Little wonder that, when Sam Curran joined the fray, he chose to bypass his fielders by curling a beauty through Dinesh Karthik’s flimsy defences.”It’s a five-match series and it’s a long way to go,” said Rahane, India’s vice-captain, at the close of play. “In this series you can’t be too harsh on yourself as an individual and team. You back your ability and team is backing you and every individual. We have to go out there and give our best with each and every innings. We have to forget about this innings. Next innings, we have to go and bowl well, get them out and bat well again.”His words would have applied equally to England’s Buttler-fingered fielders. But in the final analysis, those slips in the slips slipped out of the mind’s eye. In spite of everything that the weather has thrown at Lord’s over the past two days, and in spite of their fielders’ continued frailties, England have got their foot on the throat of this contest, and the series.