Category Uncategorized

New Zealand piled on 364, before a familiar middle-order collapse left Thisara Perera waging a lone battle as Sri Lanka sank to a 115-run defeat

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Jan-2019New Zealand 364 for 4 (Taylor 137, Nicholls 124*, Malinga 3-93) beat Sri Lanka 249 (Thisara Perera 80, Ferguson 4-40, Sodhi 3-40) by 115 runsThe third ODI betweeen New Zealand and Sri Lanka was just like the two that had gone before, only more so.

Watch LIVE on ESPN+

Readers from the US can also watch the match LIVE here, on ESPN+

Sri Lanka won the toss and had made three changes to their side, but despite their best efforts, a familiar sequence of events unfolded in Nelson. New Zealand lost early wickets but recovered emphatically, Ross Taylor and Henry Nicholls hitting fine hundreds, while Kane Williamson made an effortless half-century. Sri Lanka failed to take wickets through the middle overs again, which allowed New Zealand to float into the final 10 overs with 234 for 3 on the board, before plundering 130 further runs to finish at 364 for 4.Ross Taylor and Henry Nicholls both hit centuries•Getty Images

The visitors’ reply then began gallantly, the openers hurtling to a half-century stand, and the 100 coming off just 86 balls, before a clutch of wickets fell, and the innings flatlined as the middle overs began. Niroshan Dickwella had produced the rocket-powered start, and Thisara Perera was on hand to tonk a valiant 80 off 63, but for the majority of their innings, Sri Lanka did not have the measure of the mammoth target. They fell 115 runs short, leaving 8.2 overs unused.New Zealand swept the series 3-0, perhaps saving their best batting effort for last. Sri Lanka, whose attack continues to ail, no matter which bowlers are playing or how many, are yet to win a match on tour.Taylor, for who had come into this match with five consecutive fifty-plus scores behind him, cracked 137 off 131 to raise New Zealand from 31 for 2, to a position of outright command in the match. He was involved in two century stands that formed the body of this New Zealand innings. With Williamson, he put on 116 off 130 balls, before Nicholls joined him for a partnership worth 154 off 120.He had begun with a little fortune, almost run out within minutes of arriving at the crease (he would have been on his way had Thisara hit the stumps), before nearly chopping the ball back onto his stumps in the next over. He was strong square of the wicket as usual, while Williamson prospered down the ground. Taylor’s first few boundaries came on the legside, as Sri Lanka continued to bowl into his pads, but he would later unfurl that punishing cut shot as well. He got to his 20th hundred off the 112th ball he faced, by which time the slog overs had arrived, and Taylor found himself in a position to surge. He took an especial liking to the bowling of Lasith Malinga, hoisting him for four sixes in the arc between long on and midwicket between the 41st and 45th overs. He was eventually out trying to hit Malinga for a fifth six, ending up only pulling him into the hands of deep square leg.Ross Taylor and Henry Nicholls both hit centuries•Getty Images

Nicholls, meanwhile, had arrived in the 27th over and had the opportunity to get his bearings and build an innings, Taylor doing a lot of the legwork at the time. Once he was set, though, he became almost as comfortable as the senior partner. Like Taylor, he found plenty of boundaries on the legside, and took an especial liking to Nuwan Pradeep, hitting him for 41 runs off 16 balls. He reached his half century in the 41st over, and was unstoppable after Taylor’s dismissal, looting 47 off the 18 balls he faced in the last five overs. He thumped Malinga over deep square leg for six to bring up his hundred, and finished on an outstanding 124 not out off 80 balls – his maiden trip to triple figures in ODIs.Sri Lanka had hoped Dushmantha Chameera would help take wickets through the middle overs, but unable to find much movement from the pitch, he proved to be ineffective, with Lakshan Sandakan also proving largely modest through that period. The bowling effort was not helped though, by the fact that the two most experienced bowlers often missed their lengths at the death. Between them, Malinga and Pradeep gave away 170 runs off 114 balls.They did, however, produce another bright start with the bat – Dhananjaya de Silva opening alongside Dickwella, after regular opener Danushka Gunathilaka went off the field with a stiff back halfway through New Zealand’s innings. They raced to 66 at the end of the first eight overs before de Silva was trapped lbw by Tim Southee. It was at Dickwella’s demise for 46, however, that the innings hit a wall. Kusal Mendis was run out without facing a ball (not without mild controversy – the replays did not seem to definitively show that his bat had not crossed the crease), Dasun Shanaka was lbw to Ish Sodhi after missing a sweep, and Kusal Perera was caught behind – all this happening in relatively quick succession, which meant that Sri Lanka slipped from 107 for 1 to 143 for 5.Thisara then played himself gradually into the game in the company of Gunathilaka, who came out at No. 7 visibly hampered by his injury, but despite another fine display of hitting – Thisara crashing three sixes and seven fours – the requirement always seemed beyond him. He had been dropped twice, by Tim Seifert on 62 and Ross Taylor on 74, but was out to perhaps the catch of the series. Top edging a cut off Lockie Ferguson, Thisara probably would have cleared backward point had any other fielder been stationed there but Martin Guptill. Back-pedalling quickly from his position, Guptill leapt backwards like a high jumper and with one hand reeled in the ball that was dropping quickly behind him.With that wicket went Sri Lanka’s last glimmer of hope. Within four overs, the remaining four wickets had been taken – Ferguson taking two of those to finish with an analysis of 4 for 40, while Ish Sodhi took the other two and ended with 3 for 40.

David Warner scored the slowest hundred of his career in an uncharacteristic manner and says it gave him the confidence to score more runs in Asia

Brydon Coverdale06-Sep-2017If you were told that one of Australia’s openers had spent six hours at the crease for 123 runs, painstakingly accumulated from 234 balls, with only seven boundaries, you would have complete confidence in declaring that the man in question would be Matt Renshaw. But you would be wrong. This was David Warner posting most un-Warner-like numbers in the first innings in Chittagong, where he put Australia into a strong position with two days to play.This was Warner’s 20th Test century – more than were made by Mark Taylor, or Michael Hussey, or Doug Walters, or Bill Lawry, or Ian Chappell, or Michael Slater, or Adam Gilchrist, all of whom played more Tests than Warner’s current tally of 66. It was also the slowest hundred of his Test career, completed from his 209th delivery, and in extreme heat. And his patience has brought Australia back into the series.”You pretty much felt in from ball one with the fields that they set, they didn’t really have any attacking men around the bat compared to last game,” Warner said after the day’s play. “It allowed me just to rotate the strike and not really have any need to leave your crease all the time.”At the end of the day, they try and shut down the scoreboard. They try and cut your boundaries out and play that way, try and get you caught around the crease and obviously look for that lbw dismissal or bowled through the gate. If you can negate that and you can manipulate the field, you’re going to be facing a lot of balls and you’ve got to be prepared to bat long periods of time.”It was also Warner’s second consecutive century, after his fourth-innings 112 in Mirpur last week, which he described at the time as his best innings. But for sheer single-mindedness and adaptability from his usual verve, this hundred must also be up there. “I think from a patience point of view, definitely,” Warner said. “I always talk about trying to bat long periods for time in these conditions and by far that’s the hottest I’ve ever played in. It was quite challenging to be out there. Coming off yesterday, it was every minute that I was out there.”We were out there for 100 overs the day before. A lot of credit has to go to the two fast bowlers as well. The amount of work that they’ve put in, I think they’ve both bowled 20 overs apiece in this heat. It takes someone with some good fitness to bowl through that, definitely.”Warner’s productive tour has boosted his record in Asia – he arrived for this series with only one century from 26 previous Test innings on the continent. Now, Warner believes that he might finally have found a method that can bring him success in Asia more generally.”It’s a tough environment to come out and try to play your shots and play your natural game,” he said. “You have to find a way and for me it’s taken almost 16, 17 Tests in these conditions to work out what my game plan is and stick to it. As I said before, they play on your ego a little bit, they shut down your runs, they shut down your boundary options, and you’ve got to milk the ones.”You’ve got to be prepared to bat time and you’ve got to have the fitness edge as well to do that. That’s probably the thing that’s going to keep motivating me more now to show to myself that I’ve done that, and now moving forward I can achieve the same success that I’ve had so far over here moving down the line.”Warner’s innings helped Australia gain a 72-run lead by stumps on the third day, though with only one wicket in hand they will aim to bump that advantage up a little further on the fourth morning. There remains plenty of work if Australia are to achieve the victory needed to level the series 1-1, but the batting work led by Warner has at least given them hope.”It’s crucial that we try and put as many runs on the board as possible,” he said. “I wouldn’t say the wicket is deteriorating, there’s a little bit of rough out there created from the bowlers. The middle of the wicket is still nice and true. But as the spinners do, they’ll work out what they need to do and hit those rough areas.”

West Indies coach Phil Simmons lauded the side’s top order for driving their four-wicket win over Australia in the ODI tri-series match in Basseterre

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-20162:36

Top four have been asked to put their dancing shoes on – Simmons

West Indies coach Phil Simmons has credited the side’s top order for driving their four-wicket win over Australia in the ODI tri-series match in Basseterre. Marlon Samuels led the 266-run chase with an aggressive 92, after West Indies benefited from a brisk opening stand of 74 between Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher, and Darren Bravo’s 39 at No. 3.Charles and Fletcher took advantage of the short boundaries at Warner Park to collect six fours and three sixes in the first seven overs. Their swift partnership also allowed Samuels and Bravo to settle and forge an 82-run stand for the third wicket. Once Bravo was dismissed in the 31st over, Samuels opened up to attack the Australian bowlers and helped ensure a comfortable victory for West Indies.”The pressure has been put on the top four to make sure that they set up whatever we have to do at the bottom,” Simmons said. “We know how devastating we can be at the end of an innings with the players we have, so the top four have been asked to put their dancing shoes on and make sure that we are in a position where the latter part of the batting can do what they do, and they’ve done that today and they’ve seen us through.”The 87-ball 92 was Samuels’ second fifty across formats in 2016, after his match-winning 85 not out in the World T20 final against England in April. He had a poor tour of Australia in December-January – scoring only 35 runs in five innings of the three-Test series – and copped heavy criticism, and one of his critics was former Australia legspinner Shane Warne, with whom he had an infamous run-in during the Big Bash in 2013. After his Man-of-the-Match winning knock in the World T20 final, Samuels made a reference to those comments and dedicated his award to Warne. Simmons, however, believed Samuels had left those feelings at the World T20.”I think the fact that he has taken us to victory in the game will be enough for him. I don’t think he’s still worrying about what some people in Australia said,” he said. “I think he answered that in the World T20 final. I think he’s left that there. He’s just happy to score the runs and help the team win.”The West Indies coach stressed the importance of the experience that Samuels and Kieron Pollard brought to the their line-up. Charles and Fletcher have opened in only six ODIs so far and with a young captain in Jason Holder, Simmons believed Samuels and Pollard were important to the side.”In every team you can see there’s experience. You have to have experience all through the team,” he said. “Most of the teams in the world, you have young guys coming in, but only one or two [youngsters] and the rest of the team is experienced veterans, you would call them; after five years, you are a veteran. It’s great to have him, it’s great to have Pollard back because he’s experienced in limited-overs cricket, young Bravo is getting there. So it’s great to have that sort of experience especially where Jason is a young captain and Carlos [Brathwaite] is young.”Despite the victory, Simmons had an area of concern he wanted the side to address, specifically the importance of set batsmen carrying on and finishing the game.”Marlon and Bravo finishing off the game rather than somebody getting out. It’s a case where we have two guys who have put us in a position and they need to carry on. I think there can be a little bit of improvement,” he said. “We are always looking to improve our fielding, which I think today was as good as it has been. And I think we are looking to improve on where we bowl in the first 10 overs and things like that.”

Durham’s limited-overs captain Mark Stoneman made the county’s second highest Twenty20 score of 89 not out to lead his side to a 38-run NatWest T20 Blast win over Leicestershire

ECB/PA03-Jul-2015
ScorecardMark Stoneman’s unbeaten 89 took his side to a winning score•Getty Images

Durham’s limited-overs captain Mark Stoneman made the county’s second highest Twenty20 score of 89 not out to lead his side to a 38-run NatWest T20 Blast win over Leicestershire.Defeat was a blow to Leicestershire’s hopes of reaching the last eight as they prepare to lose the O’Brien brothers, Niall and Kevin, to Ireland’s ICC World T20 qualification bid. They were also without skipper Mark Cosgrove, as his wife was about to give birth, and acting captain Grant Elliott left himself with too much to do.Elliott went in at 35 for 3 in the seventh over in reply to 163 for 5 and when Ben Raine was run out three overs later 106 were needed off the last ten. After securing a tie against Yorkshire by conceding only five in the last over, it was an unhappy return to his home county for Raine. He took none for 56 and spent 20 balls over 19 runs when sent in at No. 4.When Elliott fell lbw trying to hit Scott Borthwick to leg in the 11th over the remaining batsmen faced a hopeless cause and they were all out for 125 with one ball unused.

Insights

Usman Arshad had an outstanding match. His quickfire 28 – which included just one boundary but plenty of good running between the wickets – in a 65-run partnership with Stoneman saved Durham after a mild middle-overs stumble, then Arshad picked up three wickets with his nagging seam bowling, including in-form Agathangelou and danger man Kevin O’Brien with consecutive deliveries in his first over, and proved very difficult to get away, conceding just one boundary and bowling 12 dots. Arshad’s was an unglamorous but extremely telling contribution.

Stoneman helped Durham recover from 98 for 5 in the 14th over. Only Phil Mustard, with 91 at home to Yorkshire two years ago, has scored more in a T20 innings for Durham. The victory ended a run of three defeats for Durham as they prepare to visit Worcestershire on Sunday.Stoneman survived difficult chances off skied leg-side shots on 27 and 73 and cashed in with two straight sixes in the last three overs off Raine. He also hit seven fours in scoring his runs off 60 balls.Usman Arshad contributed 28 off 19 balls to the unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 65 to make sure Durham reached the sort of total they threatened when racing to 45 after four overs after being put in on a glorious evening.Durham were stifled by the offspin of Rob Sayer, a 20-year-old whose only previous first-team appearance was in a one-day match against New Zealand last month. He wasn’t afraid to pitch the ball up and took both wickets through Gordon Muchall and Ryan Pringle clipping to wide mid-on.Arshad continued his excellent night with two wickets in two balls in the third over of the reply. Andrea Agathangelou was bowled attempting to scoop a straight ball to fine leg then Kevin O’Brien drove at the next ball and got a thick inside edge to midwicket. Tom Wells hit three sixes in his 27, but it was all over when he was brilliantly caught at long-on by Pringle to give Arshad a third wicket.

South Africa struggled with the conditions at the Gabba and they will hope not to be similarly surprised at Adelaide Oval

Firdose Moonda in Adelaide19-Nov-2012One of the pillars on which South Africa’s six-year unbeaten run away from home has been built is adaptability. On the sub-continent, they took on spin with all the footwork and flair needed; in England, they had the quicks to take advantage of seamer-friendly and swinging conditions; and the last time they were in Australia, they had the batsmen to negate the home attack.This time, they would have said they have all that and more. The current squad has the potential to field a seven-man batting line-up with two in reserve, includes four frontline seam bowlers, each of whom offers something different, a legspinner and a left-arm slow bowler on the bench. The variety led bowling coach Allan Donald to claim it was the best South African attack he had ever seen but they looked a few shades off that in Brisbane.On a pitch that delivered almost none of what it promised, the much-hyped fast bowlers were reduced to nothing but workhorses. Most of the team, including batsmen Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla and vice-captain AB de Villiers, admitted South Africa expected more from the surface which drove their decision to leave out Imran Tahir and opt for a pace battalion.Quietly, Australia may have been chuckling that their opposition misread conditions, having not played a Test at the Gabba since before isolation. It was an error that proved even in an age where information is easily accessible thanks to technology, there is still great value in experience. Morne Morkel suggested as much ahead of the second match in Adelaide.”There is a lot of talk about the ground and the wicket and that sort of thing,” Morkel said. “For me, it’s important to listen to those sorts of things and to try and learn from them but also to experience those things for myself. As soon as you get caught up in different stories, you could go down the wrong avenue.”No-one in South Africa’s current touring party had ever played a Test at the Gabba before and the coach Gary Kirsten said they were scrambling to get “information from as many sources as possible” in the lead-up. The biggest hint they could have taken was England’s Ashes score in 2010-11, when they piled on 1 for 517 in the second innings, but it seemed that South Africa chose to focus on the “juice,” that Graeme Smith spoke about at the Gabba instead.They will not want to appear similarly ill-informed in Adelaide, where they also have limited first-hand knowledge to draw on. At least Jacques Kallis and Kirsten have played Test cricket at the venue, when South Africa last appeared there in 2001, and Donald took five wickets there in 1994, but neither Morkel nor Steyn have played a Test there, while Vernon Philander and Imran Tahir have not been to Australia as international cricketers before.Philander has already battled to some degree. He is wicket-less on this tour, something that a source close to the team has put down to batsmen starting to play him better by leaving him more rather than any glaring fault of his own. Tahir bowled extensively in the tour match and is expected to make a comeback into the starting XI, which will give the quicks some rest and provide another option.While the team has not been announced, a frontline spinner is expected to play, and it is likely to be Tahir ahead of Robin Peterson. “It will be great to see Imran back, he is a quality guy, quality player and also attacking,” Morkel said. “Imran has been bowling well in nets and working hard on his game.”On a track that is known to deteriorate and offer up inconsistent bounce as the match wears on, both Tahir and Morkel could come into play in the latter stages. With that only being hearsay for Morkel for now, he said he wouldn’t change much about his approach ahead of the match and would concentrate on “creating more pressure” on the Australian line-up and stick to basics like “starting well in that first 20 balls”.One of South Africa’s other goals is to ensure that no more wickets fall off no-balls. They overstepped 23 times in Brisbane and although Morkel was only responsible for two of those, both would have resulted in dismissals.”It’s about having discipline. We’ve been working on it,” Morkel said with shake of the head after being reminded of his no-ball history, most recently at Lord’s in August, when Matt Prior was given a reprieve after being caught off a Morkel no-ball. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow especially because you know the quality of the batsmen and you don’t want to give them another chance. When it happens to me, I try to get on with the job and think that if can get the batsman out once, I can do it twice.”

Ben Hilfenhaus picked up some confidence-boosting wickets after he was axed from the Test team earlier this year, as he helped Tasmania fight back into the match against Queensland

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2011
ScorecardBen Hilfenhaus finished with 4 for 57•Getty Images

Ben Hilfenhaus picked up some confidence-boosting wickets after he was axed from the Test team earlier this year, as he helped Tasmania fight back into the match against Queensland. At tea on the first day, the Bulls were cruising at 2 for 180, but by stumps they had been dismissed for 287, with Hilfenhaus collecting 4 for 57 and Luke Butterworth taking 3 for 54.The openers Wade Townsend and Ryan Broad (57) were in control during the early part of the day, although Townsend had two lives on his way to 82. The wicketkeeper Tom Triffitt put down a simple chance off the bowling of James Faulkner, having earlier watched another of Townsend’s edges sail between himself and the first slip.However, Hilfenhaus ended the 150-run stand and got rid of both openers before tea, Broad edging to slip and Townsend tickling a catch to Triffitt from a ball that swung away and bounced sharply. After the last break, the Bulls struggled, with Hilfenhaus and Butterworth running through the middle order as the Bulls lost 5 for 3 in a four-over period.A last-wicket stand of 41 between Cameron Boyce (26 not out) and Steve Magoffin pushed the Bulls towards the 300-mark, but failing to reach that goal was a disappointing end after such a promising start. Stumps was called after the fall of the final wicket, Magoffin caught for 15 off the bowling of Jason Krejza.