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Englishman scores unbeaten 108 from 65 as Jaffna Stallions fall short in clash of second and third

Madushka Balasuriya10-Dec-2020How the game played outLaurie Evans delivered the first century of the Lanka Premier League as his unbeaten 65-ball 108 powered the Colombo Kings to a six-run win over the Jaffna Stallions.Evans’ innings was the quintessential slow-burner, a run-a-ball start followed by a gradual shifting of gears towards the business end of the innings. That it was played on a pitch where all other batsmen generally struggled made it all the more impressive.Evans had scored just 15 runs inside the Powerplay period as the Kings crawled to 31 for 1. By the end of the 11th over he had brought up his 50 off just 34 deliveries. The next few overs saw the Kings content with milking the singles, with the odd boundary thrown in. It was in the 15th over though that Evans finally unleashed, taking Binura Fernando for 25 runs, courtesy a six off a no-ball after the bowler had dished up a waist high-full toss, followed by two more boundaries.The final five overs would go for 45 runs, 23 of which were scored by Evans. Andre Russell added a flourish with two sixes and four before being dismissed off the final ball of the innings, as the Kings made 173 for 4.In their chase the Stallions put together several threatening partnerships – four over 30 runs – but they were undone by the inability of any of their batsmen to stick through the innings. Spin again proved to be difficult to get away as the trio of Qais Ahmed, Ashan Priyanjan and Tharindu Kaushal gave away just 51 between them in their eight overs.This saw the Stallions’ asking rate gradually rise to above 10 an over, but with big-hitters like Thisara Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga still to bat, they were always in with a shot. Which is precisely how the game would pan out – well, almost.Perera arrived at the crease with 83 need from 40 deliveries; midway through the 16th over he, along with Shoaib Malik, had brought the equation down to 49 from 26 deliveries. But Russell would pick up both in consecutive deliveries to derail the Stallions’ chase.From then on Suranga Lakmal and Hasaranga attempted to knock off the remaining runs, but some outstanding death bowling from Isuru Udana, Russell and Dushmantha Chameera ensured an ultimately comfortable victory for the Kings.Star of the dayEvans was touted as one of the more explosive foreign stars to sign up for the LPL, but thanks to the likes of fellow big-hitters in the Kings ranks like Russell and Udana, he has been somewhat unfairly overshadowed. Not this time though; on a pitch that wasn’t as easy for batting as in earlier games, Evans showed patience and then exhibited his explosive range of hitting, a set of skills that will prove invaluable with the knockout games coming up.Turning pointRussell might have conceded 46 runs in his four overs, but picking up the wicket of both Malik and Perera back-to-back was undoubtedly the critical moment in the game. If even one of those two had been around, the Stallions would have gone close.Where the teams standThe result means that the Stallions are now certain to finish third in the group, with the Kings vying for top spot with Dambulla Viiking in Friday’s game. The loser of that match will play the Stallions in the semis.

Both squads need to undergo a mandatory six-day quarantine upon arrival in the city on January 27

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Jan-2021India and England will get just three days to train before the first Test of the four-match series starts on February 5 in Chennai, as both squads need to undergo a mandatory six-day quarantine upon arrival in the city on January 27.A 32-member English contingent led by Joe Root will land on Wednesday morning, from Sri Lanka, while the India players are scheduled to arrive in the city in batches through the day. Root and co. will link up with the trio of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Rory Burns, who landed in Chennai over the weekend.Despite the Indian government permitting spectators up to 50% capacity for outdoor sports, the first two Tests, to be played in Chennai, are set to be behind closed doors with the BCCI and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) deciding to take a “preventive measure”.The BCCI has booked out a hotel exclusively for both teams to ensure a bio-secure environment. Players are allowed to have their families with them, but no one can step out of their rooms during the initial six-day quarantine. Once the mandatory testing process has been completed, both teams can use the swimming pool at the hotel, for which the TNCA is understood to have got special permission from the local government authorities.Teams and families cannot exit the bubble during the series and would need to restrict their movements between the hotel and the ground. To ensure the player bubble remains secure, the TNCA has created three zones to demarcate boundaries for all stakeholders. Zone 1 is restricted to both teams, support staff, match officials and team-liaison officers. Zone 1A will contain players’ families and net bowlers. Zone 2 is meant for TNCA office bearers and BCCI officials, who can’t step onto the ground. Zone 3 will be outside the stadium, comprising security and police manning the venue.The four-Test series is part of the ICC’s World Test Championships (WTC). While India remain favorites to make the WTC final after their historic triumph in Australia, England are still in the hunt along with New Zealand and Australia. England’s 2-0 win in Sri Lanka will give the side the belief that they could challenge India despite Virat Kohli’s team having defeated the visitors 4-0 last time around, in 2016.Root said on Monday that it would be “strange” to be cooped in the room for nearly a week upon arrival in India. “It’s going to be strange,” Root had said in Galle after England’s series win. “We’ve got to be quite realistic: we are going to have seven or eight days with no cricket now, with six days in quarantine. Then we will have three very important days of preparation ahead of the series.”The England tour is the first international series being hosted in India during the pandemic. South Africa had to abort their limited-overs series last March as the Indian government imposed the first national lockdown to counter the spread of the virus. India is second on the global list of countries to report most number of Covid-19 cases, with the count inching close to 11 million officially.

Matt Renshaw and Jimmy Peirson added a century stand as Queensland closed in on a lead

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2021Bryce Street gave another example of his ability to bat long periods of time with a career-best 117, his third first-class century, as the match against Western Australia at the Gabba continued to be a forgettable experience for bowlers.Street’s hundred was followed by half-centuries for Matt Renshaw and Jimmy Peirson as Queensland closed in on Western Australia’s total with the match seemingly destined for a stalemate.Marnus Labuschagne had started the day in sight of a century but fell eight runs short when he got an inside edge into pad which looped to square leg.Usman Khawaja had got himself set when he tickled a catch down the leg side and Street’s 335-ball stay was ended by a spectacular catch at long leg by Liam Guthrie to haul in a top-edged hook.Renshaw and Peirson then added 103 for the fifth wicket as Queensland, who are top of the table, opted against declaring behind to try and open up the match.Jake Carder, playing his first Shield match of the season, claimed the last wicket of the day when Peirson was sharply caught at slip.

No other Full Member has sent an age-group team on tour since the start of the pandemic last year

Umar Farooq27-Mar-2021Pakistan will become the first country to resume age-group level tours since the start of the pandemic. The Under-19 team will tour Bangladesh next month for a series of five one-day matches and a four-day game starting from April 19 in Sylhet.Every traveling member will be vaccinated beforehand and the tour will have in place similar protocols as for the senior teams. The team and its management will be tested for Covid-19 before entering the camp and, after the return of negative tests, members will be allowed to move into a biosecure bubble, for which the players will convene in Lahore.The tour has been arranged to prepare the players for the next ICC Under-19 World Cup, scheduled to take place in the West Indies next year. Prior to their departure, the team will play two 50-over practice matches and a three-day match during a 10-day long camp that will run from April 3 in Lahore.Six players from the group that played the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa in 2020 were retained for this tour: Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Fahad Munir, Qasim Akram, Mohammad Irfan Niazi, Mohammad Shehzad, and Tahir Hussain. As per the ICC age criteria for the upcoming Under-19 World Cup, only players born on or after 1 September 2002 will be eligible.Pakistan named six batsmen including Abdul Faseeh, the leading run-getter with 524 runs at 65.50 last year in the national Under-19 one-day tournament. Several of the players have already begun to make waves on the domestic circuit in Pakistan; opener Abdul Wahid represented Balochistan in the last domestic season, while batting allrounder Akram was one of the star performers for Central Punjab, and subsequently selected by Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League.”The tour provides a wonderful grooming opportunity for the players against one of the most formidable U-19 sides at present, which won the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup last year,” Pakistan’s U-19 head coach, Ijaz Ahmed, said. “We have a talented bunch of players and a number of them have proven their worth already on the domestic circuit in the recently concluded season.”The squad also includes players who represented Pakistan Under-19s in the World Cup; the tour will help further develop the skills of these players as they are our future. The tour will be a challenging one for us and one that will stand these players in good stead in this developmental stage of their careers. The series will also help us identify the potential players that we will field in next year’s World Cup in the West Indies.”Pakistan U19 squad: Abbas Ali, Abdul Faseeh, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Fahad Munir, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Irfan Niazi, Mohammad Shehzad, Qasim Akram and Rizwan Mehmood, Haseebullah and Raza-ul-Mustafa, Aaliyan Mehmood, Ali Asfand, Arham Nawab, Faisal Akram, Ahmed Khan, Asim Ali, Muneeb Wasif, Tahir Hussain, Zeeshan Zameer

With both sides languishing in the bottom half of the points table, they can’t afford another batting meltdown

Deivarayan Muthu23-Apr-2021

Big picture

Both the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals have plenty of cream in the middle, but their top orders are squishy at best. After their designated opener Ben Stokes was sidelined from the tournament, the Royals bumped Jos Buttler up to the top, but he has been dismissed twice in three innings inside the powerplay. His opening partner Manan Vohra hasn’t lasted beyond the fourth over in four innings. In IPL 2021, no team has lost more wickets in the first six overs than the Royals (ten) and their powerplay run rate of 6.75 is also the worst among all teams in the league.With Liam Livingstone, a potential top-order replacement, also returning home after citing bubble fatigue, the Royals are scrambling for reinforcements. Yashasvi Jaiswal or Anuj Rawat, who is uncapped in the IPL, could displace Vohra from the top.Related

• Jofra Archer ruled out of entire IPL 2021

• Rassie van der Dussen lined up as Rajasthan Royals replacement

• Liam Livingstone leaves IPL 2021 citing 'bubble fatigue'

The Knight Riders haven’t been too flashy in their powerplay either, losing three wickets fewer than the Royals during this phase. While Nitish Rana bounced back from Covid-19 to start the tournament strongly, Shubman Gill continues to lack enough punch in the powerplay. In their last game, even an Andre Russell-led comeback couldn’t save them against the Chennai Super Kings.With both sides languishing in the bottom half of the points table, they can’t afford another meltdown at the top, especially on one of the better batting pitches in the IPL.

Team news

England quick Jofra Archer has been ruled out of IPL 2021 after being advised by the ECB to focus on his rehab after having undergone a finger surgery.The Royals have lined up South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen as cover. The 32-year-old has never been part of the IPL before but has had stints at the CPL and Global T20 Canada.

Likely XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Nitish Rana, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Sunil Narine, 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Kamlesh Nagarkoti/Shivam Mavi, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Prasidh KrishnaRajasthan Royals: 1 Jos Buttler (wk), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal/Anuj Rawat, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Shivam Dube, 5 David Miller, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Chetan Sakariya, 11 Mustafizur Rahman/Andrew Tye

Strategy punt

• The Knight Riders have opened their attack with spin in all their four games this season, but against the Royals, who have lost all their ten wickets in the powerplay to pace, there is a case for them to give the new ball to Pat Cummins and Prasidh Krishna.
• The Royals could consider replacing Mustafizur Rahman with Andrew Tye, the slower-ball specialist who can now bowl out-and-out pace as well. If the Knight Riders throw Sunil Narine into the opening mix, Tye could counter him with his excess pace and bounce. Even otherwise, Tye could be matched up with Rana, who like Narine, isn’t comfortable against short balls at speeds north of 140kph. So, Jaydev Unadkat slotting in for Shreyas Gopal and Tye for Rahman could potentially give their seam attack a new dimension and prepare them for life in the absence of Archer.

Stats that matter

• The Knight Riders have won just one out of their nine IPL games at the Wankhede Stadium.
• Chris Morris has a fine head-to-head record against Russell in T20 cricket. He has got Russell three times in 23 balls while giving away 34 runs.
• Eoin Morgan has scored 243 runs in five innings against the Royals at an average of 81 and strike rate of 157.79 – his best record against an IPL side. Morgan is also 43 runs away from 7000 in T20 cricket.

Boris Johnson’s spokesperson says PM supports Oliver Dowden’s ‘over the top’ comment

George Dobell07-Jun-2021The ECB has been accused of going “over the top” in its punishment of Ollie Robinson by a UK government minister. Oliver Dowden, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS), called on the ECB to think again after it suspended Robinson from international cricket pending a “disciplinary investigation” into tweets he made in 2012 and 2013, comments which were later supported by Boris Johnson, the prime minister.The tweets, written when Robinson was aged 18 and 19, contained both racist and sexist comments as well as unsavoury references to Madeleine McCann and Gary Speed.Related

• Amnesty may offer solution as English cricket catches up with society's shifting values

• Robinson apologises for posting 'racist and sexist' tweets

• Ollie Robinson suspended from all international cricket

• Robinson has what it takes on-field; batters have much to prove

While Mr Dowden, who has been head of the department for DCMS since 2020, accepted the tweets were “offensive and wrong” he urged the ECB to reconsider its course of action.”Ollie Robinson’s tweets were offensive and wrong,” Mr Dowden wrote on Twitter. “They are also a decade old and written by a teenager. The teenager is now a man and has rightly apologised. The ECB has gone over the top by suspending him and should think again.”Later on Monday, Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister is supportive of the comments from Oliver Dowden that he made via tweet this morning. As Oliver Dowden set out, these were comments made more than a decade ago [sic] written by someone as a teenager, for which they’ve rightly apologised.”The ECB declined to comment on Mr Dowden’s remarks.R Ashwin, the India allrounder, also expressed sympathy towards Robinson. While understanding the “negative sentiments” towards Robinson, Ashwin said he felt “genuinely sorry for him being suspended after an impressive start to his Test career”.