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The left-arm seamer took 2 for 14 to set India back before the captain shellacked a rampaging, unbeaten 79 in the chase

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy22-Sep-2019Testing left-arm seam from Beuran Hendricks, making his first appearance of the series, and a breezy half-century from Quinton de Kock led South Africa to a series-levelling nine-wicket win at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The victory was emphatic, arriving with 3.1 overs still left to play, but South Africa’s cause was aided by India’s strategy, which was drawn up with one eye on next year’s T20 World Cup.No team had ever chosen to bat first in six previous T20Is at this ground, but India did so. They did so, Virat Kohli said, because they wanted to improve on their weaker suit – setting targets and defending them. “Come the World Cup,” he said, “toss is not in your control.”

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On an evening where conditions changed significantly at the innings break, the toss turned out to be quite significant. Dew came into play particularly during the second innings, and batting became easier. Even so, de Kock was in terrific form, and there was little India’s bowlers could do to stop him. All the trademark shots – the pull, the flat-bat slaps over the covers, the pick-up shot over backward square leg – were in evidence as he ran to an unbeaten 79 off 52 balls, with Reeza Hendricks and Temba Bavuma slipping neatly into his slipstream in partnerships of 76 and 64 (unbroken) for the first two wickets.Beuran Hendricks celebrates a wicket•Associated Press

India could have had de Kock when he missed a sweep off Washington Sundar’s offspin on 28, and had a confident lbw appeal turned down by umpire Nitin Menon. Ball-tracking suggested that the ball would have gone on to hit a good chunk of leg stump, but India had wasted their review in the previous over, when a Deepak Chahar hit Reeza’s front pad with a delivery that would definitely have missed leg stump.That appeal apart, India didn’t seem to have any real ideas to dismiss de Kock or even tie him down. Two of India’s less experienced bowlers, Navdeep Saini and Krunal Pandya, had off-days, going for a combined 65 in 5.5 overs, and Hardik Pandya – who took the only wicket – went for 23 in two overs as de Kock punished anything remotely short.In the past, India have often adopted a conservative, ODI-inflected approach that has hurt them against teams with more hitting depth. In this series, their selection has emphasised batting depth, with three spin-bowling allrounders at Nos. 7, 8 and 9. With this cushion below them, the top order seemed to be under instructions to go after the bowling and not worry too much about preserving wickets.The new approach helped them get off to an excellent start, with Shikhar Dhawan looking full of purpose, moving around the crease or stepping out of it, to try and put bowlers off their lengths and exploit the Powerplay restrictions. It was most evident in the sixth over, against the left-arm wristspin of Tabraiz Shamsi. Mid-on was initially inside the circle, and Dhawan stepped out and hit a six over that fielder. Mid-on dropped back, long-off became mid-off, and Dhawan launched the next ball over the new man in the 30-yard circle.When Dhawan fell for 36 off 25 in the eighth over – Beuran Hendricks had earlier dismissed Rohit Sharma for the third time in only four balls in all T20 cricket – India seemed well placed at 63 for 2.But the pitch was beginning to change perceptibly, with the ball no longer coming on with the shine off, and South Africa’s bowlers were beginning to find ways to exploit it. There was turn for spinners Shamsi and Bjorn Fortuin, and the seamers began varying their pace regularly and bowling into the surface. Run-scoring became a struggle, and the big hits stopped carrying.Between them, Nos. 3 to 8 – Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, the Pandya brothers, and Ravindra Jadeja – made 70 off 85 balls. Beuran was particularly impressive with his left-arm seam, getting the ball to move off the seam and extracting steep bounce. He finished with figures of 2 for 14 in four overs. India only scored 58 in their last 10 overs, and South Africa were well on their way to squaring the series.

Worcestershire surrendered the last remaining unbeaten record in the competition after reeling off four successive wins

ECB Reporters Network15-Jul-2018
ScorecardWorcestershire Rapids suffered their first setback in this season’s Vitality Blast as they went down by 12 runs to Yorkshire Vikings at New Road.The Rapids surrendered the last remaining unbeaten record in the competition after reeling off four successive wins.They still head the North Group but Yorkshire’s third win in four matches means they have joined Lancashire Lightning and Notts Outlaws on six points – just two behind the Rapids.Yorkshire batted consistently after being put into bat with Adam Lyth, Harry Brook, Gary Balance and Jonathan Tattersall all making useful contributions in steering them to 179 for 7.The Rapids never recovered from losing opener Martin Guptill for a second ball duck and, despite some late hitting from Ross Whiteley, they closed on 167 for 8.Skipper Steven Patterson and Tim Bresnan picked up three wickets apiece for the Vikings.The Vikings were given a flying start by Lyth after being put into bat and the left hander set the tone with three boundaries in the opening over from Dillon Pennington.The former England opener deposited Pat Brown over cover for six and raced to 35 out of 41 off 21 balls.Brown had his revenge when Lyth holed out to Ross Whiteley at deep square leg.Tom Kohler-Cadmore was making his first appearance at New Road since moving to Yorkshire from Worcestershire mid-way through last season.But he was overshadowed by Lyth and made only five before being yorked by Pennington.Ballance looked in good touch and struck four sixes – including two in an over from Rapids skipper Brett D’Oliveira – in his 40 from 21 balls.Travis Head – back with Worcestershire after his recent spell of white-ball action with Australia – brought about his downfall as Balance went for one big hit too many and Daryl Mitchell held onto the skier at deep midwicket.Mitchell then made an impact with the ball in the next over as Harry Brook flicked him straight to Joe Clarke at short fine leg at 118 for 4 in the 13th over.On loan Nottinghamshire seamer Luke Wood returned to the attack to have Jack Leaning caught at long on.Brown ended his spell with two wickets in two balls. Vikings keeper Jonathan Tattersall fell at deep mid wicket – after Mitchell parried the ball back inside the boundary for Guptill to complete the catch – and Bresnan was lbw.When the Rapids began their reply, Bresnan struck in his first over as Guptill went for an expansive drive and was caught behind. Clarke smashed him over deep midwicket for six but perished to the next delivery after making 17 with Patterson accepting the chance at mid-off.Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as the Rapids slipped behind the required scoring rate.Mitchell clipped Patterson behind square and fell victim to smart catch from Bresnan and Ben Cox was held at long off in Azeem Rafiq’s first over.Head now carried the Rapids main hope but on 23 he became the first success for Vikings debutant Jordan Thompson.The 21-year-old right armer, a product of the Yorkshire Academy, deceived Head with a slower ball and Ballance made no mistake at deep midwicket. Bresnan then came back and claimed D’Oliveira as his third victim.Much depended on Whiteley, who hit six sixes in an over in last season’s fixture at Headingley, but after making 37 he carved Patterson on the off side and Jack Leaning took a fine low catch.Patterson dismissed Wood for his third success of the innings as the Rapids were unable to conjure up the necessary runs.

Sanju Samson said it was upto the youngsters in Delhi Daredevils’ line-up to repay the faith shown in them by the management

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-2017Delhi Daredevils became the second team in three days to be at the receiving end of a chastening lesson: never drop Robin Uthappa’s catch. On Friday, Amit Mishra and Sanju Samson circled under a top-edged pull from Uthappa, before both bailed out at the last moment. Uthappa, then on nine, went on to smash a 33-ball 59, his second consecutive half-century. When he was run-out in the 13th over, Kolkata Knight Riders needed only 44 runs off 46 balls to complete a chase of 161, which they did with 22 balls to spare.Twenty-two-year-old Samson admitted that the reprieve cost Daredevils the game. When asked if there was a miscommunication between Mishra and him, he said it was difficult to communicate in the noisy environment.”Yeah, I think that cost us the match. It’s a very busy crowd here. There’s a lot of noise, so it’s not easy to communicate when the ball goes up. It happens in [a] match, but I think we need to forget it and move on. We have a match day after [against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali].”After his century against Rising Pune Supergiant, Samson has made a start in almost every innings, including scores of 42 and 39, but hasn’t kicked on. On Friday, his dismissal after making a 38-ball 60 in the 14th over disrupted Daredevils’ momentum at the wrong time; they scored only 37 runs in the last six overs.”There is a lot more ahead, I think I am still learning,” he said. “[If] I need to finish games, I need to play the whole 20 overs. Whenever you play 20 overs, the team has the best chance of winning the match. I am trying for that. I am still learning and I hope I will learn someday soon.”Following their fourth consecutive defeat, Daredevils are at the bottom of the table with only four points in seven games. Samson admitted he couldn’t put a finger on why success has eluded his team for so long. He was philosophical in his response.’We are youngsters, but we have been playing four-five years of IPL. I think we are experienced enough to make the team win.’•BCCI

“When you play a sport like cricket, failure comes more than success,” he said. “As sportsmen, we all know how to come back from failure, so I think we need to keep going. In life also we face a lot of failures and have doubts, but we need to have faith and go in with a positive mindset. It’s very difficult, but that’s the beauty of the game. We have to challenge ourselves and move on positively.”Samson refused to buy into the suggestion that Daredevils’ batting-line up comprising young, fairly inexperienced Indian batsmen like himself, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant were struggling under the pressure to perform.”We need pressure to perform in tough conditions. We are youngsters, but we have been playing four-five years of IPL. I think we are experienced enough to make the team win.”He suggested that the team owed better performances to their management and mentor Rahul Dravid.”It’s impossible to find a better team or a management than this,” he said. “We also feel bad that the team supports us so much and gives us so many good opportunities and yet we aren’t able to win games. But, we can’t take the emotions into the game. We will have to instead keep learning and keep doing better.”With Rahul sir, youngsters like us learn a lot and he always backs us. We just want to perform and we just want to win matches for him. So we are just waiting for that to happen.”

Graham Napier, the Essex allrounder, has announced he will retire at the end of 2016 English season to take up a position running his cricket academy

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jan-2016Graham Napier, the Essex allrounder, has announced he will retire at the end of the 2016 English season to take up a position running his cricket academy.Napier, 36, made his Essex debut in 1997 and is widely considered a player unlucky not to have earned an England cap in white-ball cricket. The closest he came was when he was named in the 2009 World T20 squad but did not feature in the starting XI during the tournament.It was in T20 where he has produced the most stunning performance of his career when in 2008 he struck 152 off 58 balls against Sussex with a then world-record 16 sixes. His career-best first-class score of 196 off 130 balls in 2011 was also an extraordinary display of hitting against Surrey, at Whitgift School, when he equalled Andrew Symonds’ first-class record of 16 sixes in an innings, a mark which has subsequently been overtaken by Colin Munro’s 23 for Auckland.With the ball, Napier can be quick when conditions – and his body – allows and has developed into a fine death bowler in one-day cricket. In 2013 he took four wickets in four balls during a Yorkshire Bank 40 match against Surrey, where he finished with a career-best 7 for 32. His first-class record, which includes batting and bowling figures around the 30 mark, highlights his versatility as a cricketer.Napier is retiring to take up the role of Director of the Graham Napier Cricket Academy at Royal Hospital School in Suffolk which is due to open in September.”The opportunity at RHS is one that I could not turn down,” Napier said. “I feel the time is right to move on, and give back to the game that has given me so much. I have loved every second of playing for Essex, and will be doing my best to make sure I retire with a bang at the end of the season.”Ronnie Irani, Essex’s cricket committee chairman, said: “Graham has had a fabulous career in all three formats of the game for us, and has been the very definition of loyalty over the past 19 years which is what Essex and its supporters are all about. We naturally wish Graham all the best with his next career move and he will be sorely missed.”

India’s captain has a plan in place for the new ODI regulations and a new bowling star to spearhead his strategy

David Hopps05-Jun-2013″It’s good to be in England.” MS Dhoni did not just utter it once, he uttered it twice. But, oh dear, Dhoni is in Wales, a land proud of its distinct national identity. For all Dhoni’s charming smile, the good folk of Cardiff will be shuddering, there will be revolution in the valleys and in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerych-wyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the village with the longest name in Britain, they will be lost for words. There again, with a name like that, that is not altogether surprising.Welsh passions have occasionally boiled over. Robert Croft, a former England spinner, much loved in the Land of Song, was such a proud Welshmen that he always insisted he was playing not for England but for the British Lions. Croft once got into a dressing room altercation with Mark Ramprakash when Ramprakash questioned his allegiance.But India’s captain need not worry himself unduly about his slip. Britain is routinely confused over whether it regards itself as Great Britain, the United Kingdom, or three of the UK’s constituent parts: England, Scotland and Wales. That is even before you consider the European Union.If Croft leads a party of protesting Welsh nationalists outside the ground they will be lost in the general melee because, by the time the match begins, Cardiff will not be in Wales, it will be part of Little India. India v South Africa, the opening match of the Champions Trophy is sold out, and flags of saffron, white and green will fill Bute Park. The bottomless passion for cricket among India and Pakistan fans will help to bring this tournament alive.The ECB (that is actually the England and Wales Cricket Board, not that everybody remembers the silent W) expects 10 of the 15 matches to be full to capacity – 11 if India top the group and return to Cardiff for the semi-final, perhaps to meet England. If there is one thing Cardiff could rely on, it is if England reached the semi they would know they were in Wales.But that is not all. Even those who know they are in Wales might be confused once they reach the stadium. For years, the locals have implacably referred to the ground as Sophia Gardens, in defiance of its renaming as the Swalec Stadium when the old ground was largely demolished in the search for international cricket. And we have to admit, ESPNcricinfo has often not known what to think.Thanks to naming rights issues, for the Champions Trophy, and Champions Trophy alone, the ground has been rebranded as Cardiff Wales stadium, with poor old Sophia Gardens nowhere to be seen, except in the hearts of tens of thousands of county supporters.It is astonishing what confusion can descend upon a cricket ground once the politicians and business executives get involved. They would be better advised to turn their attentions to why so many shops are boarded up in St Mary’s Street.Dhoni, of course, proves that all this renaming malarkey is largely a waste of time unless somebody posts it on Facebook.One matter Dhoni was definite about was that India will respond to the new rules – two new balls and more fielders in the circle – by fielding five specialist bowlers. “With the new rules it will be very difficult to play four bowlers and rely on the part-timers so definitely five bowlers will feature,” he said. “It depends who you consider an allrounder and who you consider a bowler.The team, at a best guess, will have Rohit Sharma and Shikar Dhawan as openers and Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin batting at No 7 and No 8. The weather is set fair in Cardiff, at least for this week, so India should be able to field two spinners without suffering as a consequence.This is the first tournament India have played outside their own country under the new regulations — two new balls and an extra fielder in the circle. In India, the regulations keep the balls harder in the middle overs and make strokeplay more possible, but in England, more conducive to seam bowling in any event, the bowlers will have a distinct early advantage.The emergence of Umesh Yadav, in particular, makes India well equipped to take advantage with the new ball when batting but there are questions over whether they can achieve early stability with the bat if the conditions are testing. Even so, they should begin overwhelming favourites against a South Africa one-day side which lacks the strut of its Test counterpart.”The game, you can say, has changed a bit with the introduction of the new Laws,” Dhoni said. “It means if you keep wickets in hand you can really exploit the conditions and make a lot of runs. Most of the teams will see a bit of a change in their approach and try to keep wickets intact in the first 10 when the new ball may do a bit.”The fast bowlers have a really important role. If you see the way the game has progressed, and see the statistics, most of the sides in the first 10 overs will be happy to get 40 or 45 runs and keep as many wickets intact as possible. That loss of 20 runs in the first 10 you can make up later if you have wickets in hand. If a side gets going more often than not they will end up scoring more than 300. We need to adapt quickly.”Yadav, who collected five top-order wickets in as many overs against Australia, has been allowed a privilege not granted to other members of the Indian party. He married Tanya Wadhwa, a fashion designer, in Nagpur on May 29 and has been allowed to bring his wife on honeymoon. There will be a few envious looks from team-mates in the hotel reception.

Virat Kohli’s side steamed past Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians to No. 3 in the league

The Report by George Binoy11-May-201220 overs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSteven Smith was in the hot seat, trying to contain a powerful Royal Challengers line-up•AFP

Sourav Ganguly, the under-performing Pune Warriors captain, sat out of the game; Steven Smith took over the leadership; and the hosts made as many as five changes to their XI in an attempt to avert a seventh consecutive defeat. None of it dowsed the powder keg that is the Royal Challengers Bangalore batting line-up, though. Chris Gayle launched half a dozen deliveries into the crowd; Tillakaratne Dilshan anchored the innings and then accelerated it; and even Saurabh Tiwary converted an iffy start into a useful performance. A total of 173 was much too large for Pune Warriors’ misfiring batsmen.The chase was severely damaged in the first over, when Zaheer Khan struck twice, and almost certainly done for in the fourth, when Michael Clarke was dismissed. Warriors were 22 for three. The Royal Challengers bowling has struggled this season – they are the most expensive unit – and tonight’s performance, albeit against a weak opponent, would have lifted them. Nine is the most wickets they’ve taken in an innings this season. Virat Kohli’s side steamed past Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians to No. 3 in the league.There had been rain before the toss but the shower after it was the one that delayed the start by an hour. The strong crowd stayed patient, though, and when play finally began, they were thoroughly entertained. By Gayle. He began carefully, playing three consecutive dots in debutant medium-pacer Krishnakant Upadhyay’s first over. Having sussed the rookie, Gayle bookended Upadhyay’s second over with long-arm sixes over extra cover and midwicket.Gayle barely ran. Of his 31 balls, 13 were dots and nine were singles. There were no twos or threes. When he hit the ball along the ground it was brutally hard to the fielders. In the sixth over, Gayle destroyed Bhuveneshwar Kumar with four sixes – straight, midwicket, long-on and long-off. He got to his half-century in 24 balls, his quickest this season. Royal Challengers were 66 for 0 at the time and Dilshan’s contribution was 11 off 13 deliveries.Only Angelo Mathews kept Gayle quiet. After conceding three runs in his first over, Mathews had Gayle caught on the long-on boundary in his second. Mathews would finish with figures of 1 for 14 in three overs.Warriors began to fight after Gayle’s dismissal, the next 27 balls cost only 19 runs and produced Kohli’s wicket. Royal Challengers’ acceleration, however, resumed in the 14th over, when Dilshan and Tiwary, promoted ahead of de Villiers, scored 16. Dilshan then took a hat-trick of fours off Upadhyay.At one point it seemed Tiwary would stagnate and de Villiers might not get to bat. Tiwary, however, began to muscle boundaries and Dilshan’s dismissal for 53 brought de Villiers to the crease. After three quiet balls, he launched the final one of the innings over the straight boundary.Ganguly’s replacement, Mohnish Mishra launched the chase by driving his third ball past mid-off for four. He was trapped lbw by Zaheer Khan with the next. Zaheer then handed Manish Pandey his fourth duck of the season with one that straightened off the pitch from round the wicket and uprooted the off stump. Clarke and Gayle use the same bat-maker but Clarke’s attempt at clearing the boundary ended in deep midwicket’s hands. Warriors were floundering.Robin Uthappa has had an indifferent tournament for someone who takes home $2.1 million a season, but he sparkled today. Unfortunately for Warriors, it was just that – a sparkle. They needed a searing furnace.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Deccan Chargers and Pune Warriors Indians in Hyderabad

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran09-May-2011

Match facts

Tuesday, May 10, Hyderabad
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)The fielding of both teams will be in focus•Associated Press

Big Picture

Both these teams know that they are all-but-mathematically eliminated from the race for the play-offs. That makes the task of motivating the teams even harder for two captains who haven’t had the best of times in the IPL, Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara. The two were team-mates during the first three seasons at Kings XI Punjab, a team which floundered in 2010 and the dismal form has continued for them this season as well.One area that Deccan Chargers will definitely need to lift is their fielding. Both of the defeats over the past week came after the a series of fielding lapses allowed the Man of the Match to turn in a game-changing performance. Yusuf Pathan was reprieved three times as he launched a late onslaught to power Kolkata Knight Riders to a tall score, and Virender Sehwag’s masterpiece had several slices of luck as well.What Pune Warriors will have to be wary about is Deccan’s new-ball attack. Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma are forming a potent combination, and will pose a big threat to the Pune top-order. Deccan’s back-up bowling hasn’t been as threatening though, and if Pune are a touch cautious early on, they could capitalise when the weaker links come into the attack.

Form guide (most recent first)

Pune: WLLLL (eighth in points table)
Deccan: LLLWL (ninth in points table)

Team talk

Deccan’s trouble has been that their overseas players have done moderately well, but not well enough to win matches. They could consider giving Michael Lumb a game to give them the impetus at the start, in place of either JP Duminy or Dan Christian.Pune made plenty of changes in their previous match to finally end their losing streak. If Sourav Ganguly is deemed match fit, he is likely to slot in at the top of the order, perhaps taking the place of Jesse Ryder. That frees up an overseas slot for Jerome Taylor to return, perhaps in place of Shrikant Wagh.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team Selector.

In the spotlight

Pune bet big on Robin Uthappa but the returns have been modest so far. He is now being used higher up the order, giving him more time to make an impact. He has shown flashes of brilliance, clearing the boundary with ease on occasion, though the finishing skills for which he was bought has seldom been on display.Ishant Sharma has had several outstanding matches this season, with the highlight being his dismantling of Kochi’s top order. He was spot-on in Deccan’s previous match against Delhi as well, and Tuesday’s encounter will be his last chance to convince the national selectors he deserves a spot in the one-day squad for the West Indies tour.

Prime numbers

• Alfonso Thomas has the third-highest number of wickets in T20s, behind Dirk Nannes and Albie Morkel
• With 104 sixes, Cameron White is 11th on the list of batsmen with the most Twenty20 sixes
• Kumar Sangakkara has an abysmal captaincy record in IPLs, winning only six of the 23 matches he has led in

The chatter

“When I look at my team, I can’t imagine how we lost so many games with that talent. We just haven’t clicked.”

“If you don’t hold on to the chances that you create, especially when that is wicket you need, it is tough to win the game.”