India declared late on day two, leaving Australia to negotiate a pitch that is beginning to show signs of wear

The Report by Sreshth Shah26-Dec-2018On a day when the bowlers found no real purchase – barring occasional uneven bounce – from the MCG surface, India continued their batting dominance, consolidating their overnight position before declaring just under half an hour from stumps.India rode on the back of a 170-run third-wicket stand between Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara – the overnight pair batted out the first session – before useful contributions from the middle order took them to 443 for 7. Their bowlers then tested Australia’s openers for the last six overs of the day.Australia collected five wickets on the day, and the manner of a couple of them may have caused furrowed brows among their batsmen. Balls that stayed low accounted for Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, and instances of such misbehaviour are only likely to grow more frequent as the Test match wears on.Nathan Lyon, so influential in Adelaide and Perth, struggled for a similar impact on a pitch with much less bounce for him to exploit. As on the first day, India’s batsmen comfortably negated the offspinner, using their feet to reach the pitch of the ball, and drove him through the covers or midwicket almost every time he went too full. A switch to round the wicket didn’t help Lyon either, and it took him nearly 40 overs to earn his first wicket of the game. By the time Lyon struck after tea, trapping Rahane lbw with a ball that kept low, India had already built handsomely on their first-day platform.Kohli and Pujara began the day crisply, flicking and nudging to the long square boundary for a collection of threes, before settling in to protect their wicket. They weathered Australia’s bowlers, adding 62 runs before lunch and ensuring India’s second straight wicketless session.4:00

Laxman: Pujara showed application and looked at ease

Kohli chose to curtail his game after a few outside edges scuttled past the slips. He had collected his 20th Test half-century in the day’s first over, but was troubled by Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins early on. It was an unusually defensive innings but it kept India in control and he walked off at lunch, a smile plastered on his face, having successfully completed the mission India had in mind for the opening session. At the other end, Pujara brought up his 17th Test century, and his second of this series, with a straight drive off Lyon a couple of overs before lunch.After lunch, Kohli was troubled by a sore back that forced the physio Patrick Farhart onto the field. Kohli appeared to be struggling, getting down on his knees between deliveries. In an eventful over from Starc soon after the physio’s appearance, Kohli pulled in front of square for three, then hit another pull for four. By the time the over had ended, however, Kohli had steered an upper-cut right into the hands of third man. It was relief for Australia, a sedate celebration after almost 70 overs of no joy.Pujara would have liked to build on his 17th Test hundred, but he received a delivery from Cummins that he could do little about. It snaked through low off the surface from just short of a good length, and slid under Pujara’s back-foot defence and took out off stump. Cummins didn’t celebrate too hard, perhaps aware that the uneven bounce could pose a danger to Australia’s batsmen too.Pujara’s dismissal brought Rohit Sharma, who had missed the second Test due to injury, into the middle. He took the back seat early on, as Ajinkya Rahane took control till tea. Rohit looked comfortable in the middle – at one point his control percentage was 96 – but nearly fell against the run of play when he top-edged a sweep off Lyon. Substitute Peter Siddle, however, dropped a simple chance at backward square leg, handing him a reprieve on 16.Following Rahane’s dismissal, Rohit went on to add 76 for the sixth wicket with the No. 7 Rishabh Pant, who also enjoyed a bit of good fortune, with Cummins dropping him at long-on off the luckless Lyon.With Australia’s lead bowlers struggling for incision on the largely docile surface, Mitchell Marsh bowled a long spell of stump-to-stump medium-pace in the afternoon, with Tim Paine standing up to the stumps. Marsh finished as Australia’s most economical bowler, conceding only 56 off his 21 overs.With the day coming to a close, Rohit finally began to hit out. He swatted a length ball to deep midwicket to bring up India’s 400, and celebrated his 10th Test fifty, his second in Australia, two overs later. Australia took the third new ball in the 166th over, with Starc and Hazlewood returning for another late spell, but the harder ball only made run-scoring easier for Rohit and Pant. Both creamed fours off one Starc over, before Pant fell for 39, miscuing a leg-side heave. Ravindra Jadeja was out the next over, and at 443 for 7 Kohli declared, having kept Australia on the field for nearly 170 overs.Aaron Finch and Marcus Harris were left to face six tricky overs before stumps. There were two inside-edges in Ishant Sharma’s first over, and from the other end Jasprit Bumrah rattled Harris’s helmet with a short ball. The openers managed to survive this period, adding eight runs by stumps.

The Pakistan left-armer has signed for eight games in this year’s English T20 competition.

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Feb-2019Mohammad Amir, the Pakistan left-arm seamer, will return to Essex for part of the 2019 Vitality Blast. Amir, who was involved in Essex’s 2017 Championship success, has signed for eight games in the T20 competition.Amir is due to arrive in time for Essex’s first fixture in this year’s Blast, against Middlesex at Lord’s on July 18, before missing two games due to family commitments. He will then be available until mid-August before heading to the Caribbean Premier League.”I’m very excited to return to Chelmsford and re-join my Essex team mates,” Amir said. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time here in 2017 and I’m looking forward to playing my role in the club’s success this season.”Essex have already re-signed Australia legspinner, Adam Zampa, one of the few successes of last season, as well as bringing in T20 veteran Cameron Delport for 2019. Last year, they finished third from bottom in the South Group, winning just two of their 14 games.The club also failed to reach the Blast quarter-finals in 2017, but Amir was a success, taking 14 wickets in 13 games and with an economy of 6.77.”Mo is one of the most exciting bowling talents in the world and I’m ecstatic he’s going to be back with us,” Essex’s head coach, Anthony McGrath, said. “He has the ability to bowl at a fast pace whilst swinging the ball both ways and showed a real desire to come back to Chelmsford and be an Eagle again.”Everyone has seen how devastating he can be with the ball and the talent he has, so I think alongside our other overseas player, Adam Zampa, we’re going to have one of the most dangerous bowling attacks in the Vitality Blast this year.”

Both Sri Lanka captain Karunaratne and South Africa captain du Plessis shower the Durban hero with effusive praise

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-20190:57

First Lara, then Perera – all the records Sri lanka broke to beat South Africa

“I’m a little tired now, I don’t know what to say.”But for 309 minutes, Kusal Perera knew exactly what to do. Sri Lanka were rank underdogs in this fight. They were pummeled 2-0 in Australia, never even getting close to putting up a total of 250. Their captain was sacked. Their team stripped for parts. Rookies few had heard off were put on the plane to South Africa and now, after four days of outrageous cricket in Durban, they have emerged the victors, chasing down 304 with one wicket to spare.And it was all down to the man who didn’t know what to say.”Especially great effort as a team,” Perera finally managed. “Especially lower-order batsmen, they gave me good support. And because of that I believed in myself.”I did something … I did my part. But we won as a team. The partnerships in the whole innings were great – that’s why we were able to chase 304. You can’t just mention one person or partnership. Even if you scored one run, that counted to the win. All XI of us had to bat. It’s the best Test I’ve played for Sri Lanka.Perera was breathtaking with bat in hand. He barely flapped an eyelid when Sri Lanka lost their ninth man with the target still 78 runs away. He defended with unreal calm. ran like there were ants in his pants, took body blows – 150kph deliveries kept thudding into him – and brushed them off like they were mosquito bites.”In places like these [South Africa], it’s never going to be easy, like [it is] in Sri Lanka. These bowlers are all top five in the world. You never know what kinds of balls they are going to send at you. They don’t give you any room, and they have so much experience. There were very few loose balls.”In these couple of matches, I think I’ve copped six or seven blows to the head. In these tracks, if you’re not willing to wear balls on the body, you might as well not be batting. I don’t know how many times I got hit – honestly I’ve lost count. But you can’t think about those things while you are batting. In Sri Lanka the fastest you get is 130-140kph. Here you get balls that are 150kph. When you come to a country like this, if someone tells you you can bat without getting hit, that’s a lie. We have to be smart about it. That happened to me. That’s what cricket is about.”Highest tenth-wicket partnerships in successful chases•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

At the other end, the most No. 11 of No. 11s, Vishwa Fernando hung on. He made only six runs – four of those from overthrows. There were five extras in that time as well. But the rest of the 67 that Sri Lanka needed to record only their second Test win in South Africa came off Perera’s magic bat. And it spared no one.Dale Steyn was muscled for six over midwicket. Multiple times. One of the world’s greatest fast bowlers was reduced to shaking his head and scratching his chin. Faf du Plessis took the new ball hoping that would help them take the wicket but Perera farmed the strike so beautifully that Fernando faced only seven deliveries in this period.”I didn’t even look at the scoreboard when Vishwa came in and we had a lot of runs to get. I just tried to play it over by over and get us close, little by little. Vishwa told me: “I’ll hit the ball with my body, if nothing else. You do what you can, Kusal .” I took a lot of strength from that. Without any fear I took the single and gave the strike to him. He did a huge job. If he had got out, there wouldn’t have been a point, because we would ahve been all out. I don’t know how many balls he faced. Those are valuable, valuable balls. What he faced was worth more than my runs.”Eventually, in the 86th over, Perera glided a short and wide delivery to the third-man boundary and almost as soon as he made contact he let out a cathartic scream, holding his hands aloft and savouring that “special” feeling.”That was really awesome,” newly appointed captain Dimuth Karunaratne said. “We knew coming into this game that we had a chance. Earlier in 2012, we won a match here in Durban. We had a tough series in Australia but we learnt lots of things so I thought the boys will give their best in South Africa.”We lost lots of matches last few years. Even the Sri Lankan fans, who all are looking to see when we were going to win. So I think it’s a proud moment for us as a team, as a captain, and as a country as well. Winning in South Africa is a real proud moment.”It showed in the Sri Lankan dressing room, which flew into chaos upon seeing the winning shot. Coach Chandika Hathurusingha was leaping about, punching the air. The other players around him were on their seats, roaring in delight. Each of them went over to get a piece of their match-winner, so much so that Perera didn’t even have time to collect a stump as a souvenir. Someone else had to do it for him.Kusal Perera and Vishwa Fernando celebrate a sensational Sri Lanka win•Getty Images

In December 2015, Perera went through the ordeal of a false positive drug test. He faced a four-year ban from cricket, but Sri Lanka Cricket helped him fight the charge and eventually win the case in court. In December 2016, he toured South Africa for the first time but with the team in flux, he was made to bat out of position at No. 3 and discarded after one Test. Perera finally came back to the Test side in June 2018 and now stands as a hero. There might perhaps be only one other man who knows how he feels right now. Brian Lara, who too made an epic unbeaten 153 to win a see-sawing Test match against superior opposition in the company of a No. 11 batsman.No wonder that even the opposition captain couldn’t hold back his praise. “Perera was obviously unbelievable,” du Plessis said. “To get 160-170 out of that score will take a Superman effort. So he deserves all the accolades that come to him after this game.”I thought 300 was enough on this wicket. I’d be lying if there wasn’t emotions going through me on the inside. Difficult for a captain to tactically… you want to try and protect the lead and then you want to bowl at the tail-ender and he played that beautifully. Whatever we tried, we brought the field up, he still managed to get a one away or a boundary away. Just kept knocking away every over. Towards the end, we got a few balls at the tail-ender but unfortunately there were a few plays an misses. Would’ve been nice if there’d been a nick.”

The batsman appears to have become the frontrunner to keep wickets should Quinton de Kock pick up a mid-game injury at the World Cup

Liam Brickhill20-Mar-2019The South Africa squad for the World Cup has not been announced yet, but it seems increasingly clear that Quinton de Kock will be South Africa’s only specialist wicketkeeper at the tournament, with David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen around as potential back-ups.Of the two, van der Dussen has kept a few times at the provincial level, but Miller could well be the first choice should someone need to step in mid-game if de Kock picks up an injury. Miller has done the job before, first for KwaZulu-Natal Inland Under-19s and once for Dolphins in a three-day game. He was also the South African team’s keeper at the Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes tournament in October 2012.So, it had been a gap of almost seven years when Miller took up the gloves during the second ODI against Sri Lanka at Centurion – de Kock had bruised a finger – and he has been repeatedly field tested in the subsequent games. During the first T20I on Tuesday night, it was Miller who took the field as wicketkeeper, with de Kock fielding at mid off and midwicket. De Kock very nearly taking a catch in the outfield too, and later took back the gloves for the Super Over.While he had previously filled in at the end of games during this series, on Tuesday night Miller was behind the stumps and under pressure from ball one. When ball two, bowled by Dale Steyn, brought an edge and a regulation catch that was safely pouched, a bit of that pressure dissipated. Miller, however, appeared a little surprised and unsure how to celebrate.”I’m not too sure, it’s still a bit unknown to me,” Miller said of his wicketkeeping experience. “I was surprised [by the catch second ball] and I wasn’t sure how to celebrate. I’m just trying to make sure the ball gets in the hands, and I’m trying to be as neat as possible. It’s a good challenge and it’s good fun.”I prepped pretty well to be honest, so it wasn’t shock [to take the catch]. But a lot of excitement, emotion and all that. It’s a new challenge that I’ve been asked to do, that I’m not going to turn down. Quite a relief, and I’m pretty happy with it. [When I threw the ball up to celebrate], the ball didn’t end up in the right place. I wanted it to go straight up, but it ended up behind me. But anyway.”He wasn’t done. In Imran Tahir’s third over – the 13th of the Sri Lankan innings – Miller read a googly that had flummoxed Kamindu Mendis and pulled off a sharp stumping to get rid of Sri Lanka’s top scorer. “I actually prefer standing up than back,” Miller said of keeping to Tahir. “And I’ve played a lot of domestic cricket with him at the Dolphins and obviously numerous years with the Proteas, so I can pick him pretty well. I was very stoked with that. The stumping was a highlight for me.”Kamindu Mendis top-edges a six over wicketkeeper David Miller•Getty Images

Mark Boucher, the former South Africa wicketkeeper and current Titans coach, has worked with Miller at training sessions this season, while de Kock has also helped out wherever possible to get him prepared to keep wicket in a match situation. While he appeared slightly flat-footed at times, Miller’s performance with the gloves was functionally flawless, and the preparation has clearly paid off.”It’s not a natural thing that I’ve done,” Miller said. “I’ve been a keeper in the past, when I was growing up. But it’s not professional cricket. I’m as comfortable as I can feel. But I’ve prepped pretty well. It’s not something that they’ve just decided to stick me in as keeper and I haven’t prepped. I’ve prepped pretty well. And the more I work on it, the more it’s going to feel comfortable.”His captain Faf du Plessis didn’t deny Miller’s nerves ahead of the audition, but praised the stand-in’s ‘perfect day’.”We’re working with Dave behind the scenes to explore that option,” du Plessis said. “He was nervous to do it in a full match, but what a way to start with that nick off Dale, and a perfect day behind the stumps.”When asked whether the trialling of Miller as a wicketkeeper meant he would be the back-up at the World Cup and de Kock would be the only specialist, du Plessis’ response was typically forthright: “Bru, I don’t know. I’m not a selector, I’m not anybody. I’m just a player.”Should de Kock pick up a major injury in England, South Africa would be able to draft in a new wicketkeeper to their squad according to the ICC’s World Cup regulations. But if something were to happen to him during a game, the evidence suggests that Miller would be a more-than-handy back-up.

The tour was originally scheduled to begin in early May, but was postponed following the Easter Sunday blasts in Colombo

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2019The PCB has announced that Pakistan’s Under-19s will tour Sri Lanka from May 23 for a series of five 50-over matches. The tour was originally scheduled to begin in early May, with the team set to depart Pakistan on April 30, but was postponed following the Easter Sunday blasts that left over 250 dead in Colombo.The original schedule consisted of two four-day games and three one-dayers against Sri Lanka’s Under-19s, in Galle and Hambantota. Now the tour will consist only of one-day games, all in Hambantota, on May 26, May 28, May 31, June 2 and June 5. The team will depart for Karachi on June 6.The team will be captained by Rohail Nazir, the 17-year-old Islamabad wicketkeeper-batsman, and coached by Azam Khan.Zakir Khan, the PCB’s director – international cricket, said the decision to go ahead with the tour was made after reviewing the security arrangements made by SLC.”I am pleased to confirm the Pakistan U19 cricket team’s tour to Sri Lanka is now back on track following 21 April tragic events,” Zakir said via press release.”Pakistan have themselves been a victim of terrorism. In the past decade, we have suffered massively, both financially and in terms of growing and developing cricket in our country, following international teams’ refusals to visit Pakistan.”When the offer for a revised schedule came on the table, the PCB management team unanimously agreed they will not allow any cricket playing country to go through the same difficulties and challenges as Pakistan. In such difficult times, the cricket family needs to stand together and support their member.”The decision to visit Sri Lanka is not only to show solidarity with them but to also practice what we preach.”In reaching the decision, we have reviewed and are satisfied with the security plans Sri Lanka Cricket have to put place for the Pakistan U19 cricket team. We have complete faith and confidence that our team will be well looked after in Sri Lanka.”In making the final decision, the PCB also took consent of the relevant authorities who backed our view to support Sri Lanka in these difficult times.”Pakistan Under-19 squad: Rohail Nazir (capt & wk), Mohammad Taha, Abbas Afridi, Akhtar Shah, Basit Ali, Haider Ali, Khayyam Khan (wk), Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Junaid, Mohammad Wasim, Niaz Khan, Saim Ayub, Shiraz Khan, Suleman Shafqat, Qasim Akram
Reserves: Amir Ali, Irfan Niazi, Mohammad Amir, Nadir Shah, Said Nazir
Coaching staff: Azam Khan (coach-cum-manager), Mohtashim Rasheed (assistant coach), Faheem Shah (physiotherapist), Saboor Ahmed (trainer), Usman Hashmi (analyst)

While both teams struggled on the slow Bangabandhu pitch, New Zealand did less so, and won the final match of the series by 83 runs

The Bulletin by Rahul Bhatia22-Apr-2019
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

While both teams had difficulties on the slow pitch at the Bangabandhu ground, New Zealand struggled less, and won the final match of the three-match series by 83 runs. It had been a difficult strip to play on: only Scott Styris, Craig McMillan and Chris Cairns handled it well. They snatched back the initiative after Bangladesh had prised out their top order. In the end, their contribution during the late overs – 99 runs in the last ten – took the game out of Bangladesh’s reach.Styris scored 51, a responsible innings that gave his side stability after they were reduced to 105 for 4. He and McMillan put on 86 runs for the fifth wicket, and made the runway ready for a take off. That Cairns took off the way he did where others struggled to score was as astonishing as the distance of his hefty blows. In 16 balls, he smacked 34 runs. It was the third-top score of innings, and runs came far more easily than with him at the crease than when either Styris or Mathew Sinclair were. In Cairns, New Zealand had an x-factor that Bangladesh just didn’t.Though New Zealand started the day well, with a 72-run opening partnership, they looked uneasy, as if unsure of how to deal with the slow track. Sinclair and Nathan Astle tried to blast their way out when patience was required instead. They did have some success, however, against Tapash Baisya, who went for 22 in four overs before being taken out of the attack. Against the other bowlers, runs did not come quite so easily. The slow scoring rate led to Chris Harris’s promotion to No.3 in the order after Astle’ run out, but when he arrived at the crease, his innings was cut short by umpire Akhtaruddin who adjudged him leg-before to a delivery that pitched well outside the line of leg stump.Not long afterwards, Hamish Marshall followed, chipping a catch off Mohammad Rafique to Rajin Saleh (102 for 3). Sinclair, at the other end, had contributed to Astle’s run out, taking a non-existent single, but shrugged it off and continued to keep the scoreboard ticking. He managed to pierce through the wall of fielders, but had his moments of indecision, when balls just about missed the edge of his bat, and an attempted hoick over long-on flew over the man at square leg. He finally fell, chipping one back to Rafique (105 for 4).Rafique (4 for 63) had conceded only 26 runs in his first seven overs, but Styris and Cairns dented those figures. Rafique was repeatedly swatted for boundaries, and nothing he tried could stop the run-flow. Even though he removed Styris, who scored 51, as well as McMillan, who hammered back a catch, he came up against a murderous Cairns.Rafique had his moment in the sun, though, when he opened the batting for only the fifth time in 68 games. Before he was dismissed for 21, he played off-side strokes of quality. But his side were always in the doghouse after being reduced to 48 for 3, and the innings thereafter was a struggle less for success, more for survival. Nafis Iqbal scored a slow 40, and Khaled Mashud remained unbeaten on 36.The victory meant that New Zealand had won every international of the tour. But Bangladesh’s brief periods of resistance were heartening. They were beaten badly in most encounters, but were not giving up without a fight.

James Emmerson deputises after official match scorer fails to show up for World Cup game

George Dobell12-Jun-2019Match organisers in Taunton were forced to turn to the press box when it became apparent they were missing a scorer for the World Cup match between Pakistan and Australia.Moments before the toss, James Emmerson – a stewardship officer with the Church of England – was asked to deputise when it became apparent that one of the official scorers wasn’t going to arrive. The original choice claims he had no knowledge he was expected to score the game.Emmerson is no stranger to scoring. His detailed scorecards and knowledge of statistics make him a popular figure in the press box, where he has worked from time to time as the media’s scorer, while he has previously deputised as an official scorer for two Tests and an ODI at Old Trafford when the Lancashire scorer has been busy on county duty. In one of those Tests he demonstrated the unflappable temperament which served him so well in Taunton by somehow managing not to miss a single delivery despite his fellow scorer vomiting heavily over both him and his scorebook during play.Remarkably, Emmerson managed not just to fulfil his duties as official scorer in Taunton (alongside Gloucestershire stalwart Keith Gerrish, who was the other official scorer) but fulfil his original role keeping the media updated on any items of statistical interest as they arose.”He did an amazing job in tough circumstances,” Sally Donoghue, the Chief Operating Officer at Somerset told ESPNcricinfo. “It was all very last minute, but he was very calm and seemed to enjoy every minute of it.”Emmerson said: “I did enjoy it. It was a great honour to score such a prestigious match and I hope I gave a good account of myself.”

Home side bowled out for 172 before Toby Roland-Jones lifts spirits with two early wickets in Gloucestershire reply

ECB Reporters Network07-Jul-2019Gloucestershire 59 for 2 trail Middlesex 172 (Shaw 4-33) by 113 runsJosh Shaw returned his best figures of the season as Gloucestershire gained the upper hand by bowling Middlesex out on the opening day of their County Championship clash.The 23-year-old paceman finished with 4 for 33 as the home side were dismissed for just 172 at Merchant Taylors’ School, with former Middlesex all-rounder Ryan Higgins taking 3 for 52. However, Toby Roland-Jones brought the Seaxes back into contention with a fiery spell in the evening session, picking up both wickets to leave Gloucestershire 59 for 2 at the close.It was the first time Roland-Jones had captured more than one wicket in a County Championship innings since the first of the two major back injuries that put the brakes on his career in September 2017.With cloud cover and an outfield moistened by overnight rain, it was unsurprising that Gloucestershire captain Chris Dent spurned the opportunity of a coin toss. After a 15-minute delay while the surface continued to dry out, the home side made steady progress, passing 50 for only the loss of Stevie Eskinazi, leg before to Chadd Sayers.Initially, it was the outfield that appeared to cause the most problems for Middlesex, with Sam Robson sauntering down the pitch after hitting what looked a certain boundary – then belatedly running a quick two when the ball stuck in the grass.Even after Sam Robson nibbled at a widish delivery from Shaw and was caught behind, Nick Gubbins and Dawid Malan saw their side through to lunch without any further alarms.Malan settled down to play his shots, the pick of them a crisp cover drive off Shaw, but he then attempted to pull him through the leg side and sent a top edge ballooning into the hands of mid-on. Four balls later, Shaw moved one away from Gubbins to take the edge – and the tone of the innings shifted as wickets began to tumble.Higgins inflicted some serious damage on his former county, having Robbie White caught behind and pinning Tom Helm lbw before Nathan Sowter played on.John Simpson gave Higgins the charge, pulling him for four and then lifting two fuller-length deliveries over the top with the same outcome. But Simpson’s miscued shot off Shaw brought the Middlesex innings to a close, with the bowler racing towards square leg to take a skier and register his fourth wicket.That left Gloucestershire to negotiate 19 overs and Dent and Miles Hammond made a solid start by scoring 31 from the first eight.Dent then cut Roland-Jones’ first ball to the boundary – but the third left Hammond and took the edge for Malan to scoop up the chance at second slip. James Bracey lasted just four deliveries and failed to score as he fell to Roland-Jones in similar fashion, with Eskinazi taking the catch this time.