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A round-up of the second day’s action from the Ramadan T20 Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jul-2013
ScorecardShabbir Ahmed finished with 5 for 23•Pakistan Cricket BoardShabbir Ahmed’s five-wicket haul powered United Bank Limited (UBL) to beat Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by four wickets.PIA captain Shoaib Malik, after a Man-of-the-Match performance in the last game, became Shabbir’s first victim off only the second ball of the match. PIA lost another early wicket when Shabbir removed Malik’s opening partner Agha Sabir with the score at 34 in the fifth over. Faisal Iqbal’s run-a-ball 48 steadied one end, but a flurry of wickets in the death – five in the last 19 balls, capped off by Shabbir dismissing Ali Raza and Fahad Iqbal off the last two balls of the innings limited PIA to 129.Opener Asif Ali started UBL’s chase positively, striking three sixes and a four but Salman Saeed struck in successive overs to leave UBL at 37 for 2 in the sixth over. With the asking rate hovering at a modest 6.5 per over, Mohammad Sami and Faisal Athar came together and added 35. Sami and Mohammad Irshad fell off consecutive balls in the 17th over, but Athar, who had five fours to his credit, held firm as UBL won the match with five balls to spare.
ScorecardYounis Khan, who remains outside Pakistan’s limited-overs, hit a brisk half-century to drive Habib Bank Limited to a competitive score before part-time offspinner Asad Baig ran through Water and Power Development Auhtority’s middle order to complete a comfortable victory.Imran Farhat, another experienced player who finds himself sidelined from the national team, failed to give HBL a strong start after they won the toss. His opening partner Baig fared better, making 29 as he shared a 41-run stand with No. 3 Fahad Masood. The run-rate picked up in the second half of the innings as two senior players, Younis and Hasan Raza, put together 55 in 33 deliveries. Raza hit three sixes in his 27, and Younis struck seven fours in his unbeaten 54.In the chase, WAPDA were in a reasonable position in the 13th over, with Sohaib Maqsood’s 40 guiding them to 93 for 3. It unravelled spectacularly after that, though, as their final seven wickets went down for 15 runs. What made it more galling for WAPDA was that the wickets weren’t taken by regular bowlers – Baig, who has only one wicket in his 27 first-class matches, bagged 4 for 12while Raza, who has 27 wickets in 175 domestic one-dayers, took two in his first three deliveries to wrap up the match.

Warwickshire wrapped up an innings victory on the first session in Abu Dhabi, with Rikki Clarke taking three of the remaining six MCC wickets to fall

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Mar-2013
ScorecardWarwickshire wrapped up an innings victory during Wednesday’s first session in Abu Dhabi, with Rikki Clarke taking three of the remaining six MCC wickets to fall.Joe Denly, who had recorded a century on the third day, and Peter Trego took the MCC score on to 350 before Oliver Hannon-Dalby broke through. Trego departed for 87 from 76 balls but, with 81 still needed to make Warwickshire bat again, the MCC innings rapidly subsided.Clarke and Chris Wright claimed the wickets, with Denly the eighth man out for 146. The last six wickets fell for 52 runs in 16 overs, Clarke finishing with 4 for 33 and Wright 8 for 110 in the match.”The way the MCC guys played in the second innings showed what good players they are,” MCC head of cricket, John Stephenson, said. “On paper this team is extremely strong, but after losing the toss and being asked to field first on a pitch like that, was always going to be a bit of a struggle.”With respect to the day-night format, the match went really well on the whole. All the pink balls stood up fantastically well, they were very durable, had good visibility throughout, and there were no complaints from any of the players. I’m really pleased with how things went from that perspective – I just wish we could have got a few more runs in our first innings.”

This was the second time in a week that Sussex have batted out the final day for a draw in a position of weakness

Vithushan Ehantharajah at Lord's08-Jun-2013
ScorecardLuke Wright’s career-best 187 saved Sussex’s day•Getty ImagesThis was the second time in a week that Sussex have batted out the final day for a draw in a position of weakness. But their effort at Lord’s outdoes their resistance at home against Nottinghamshire for sheer audacity. At no point in this match were Sussex in control until the final evening when, with a lead of 177, they covered the boundary with fielders and dared Middlesex to dream with 20 overs to go.That luxury was afforded to them by some late lusty hitting from Luke Wright, who finished with his first class best of 187. Middlesex had a go – shuffling their pack to give Joe Denly, Neil Dexter and Gareth Berg the 178 chase a good go – but at 50 for 3, they gave called it off, with a deep sense of regret.Wright’s show reel may consist exclusively of limited-overs bashing but when his team needed him most, he has played a patient role with great conviction. Whenever the seamers were too full or Ollie Rayner was too short, we were treated to glimpses of his hitting – each blow increasing Sussex’s lead and adding to Middlesex’s frustration.The armchair view of Wright is that he’s afflicted with a sort of batting Tourette’s syndrome but it’s simply not the case: “It’s not like I’m out there I want to come down and slog it for six,” he says. Since returning from the IPL, where “you’re going in for 15 or 20 balls”, he has been on a training diet of red balls, even when going into one-day matches, and he exploited the elongated conditions to bat for just over nine and a half hours in the match.His first port of call with Ed Joyce was to see off the new ball – taken immediately – and then making parity, which they achieved that when their partnership reached 154. Joyce in particular looked determined; wearing a short ball from James Harris early on, but on 82 he benefited from another drop from Dexter at first slip after he chased a wide ball from Rayner.However, on 98, the edge of his bat was found again – this time Rayner taking a smart catch down to his left at second slip, off the bowling of Harris. It was the second time Joyce had fallen two short of a hundred this season – his previous effort being south of the river against Surrey. Wright made no such mistake.’Most people had written us off’- Wright

A draw from the jaws of defeat
“It feels a bit like a win. Going into the last two days most people would have written us off, and rightly so. But to stop Middlesex getting the win and going above us was big, along with another game we’ve gone unbeaten. They would have thought they were pretty close and I feel for them because they’ve played the better cricket in this game.”

On Test ambitions
“I don’t think you ever completely give up on it but you have to be realistic. There are a lot of young batters who are ahead of me and my game has naturally gone towards one day and Twenty20 cricket. In terms of the ODI side, I’m desperate to get back in and if I keep getting 180s this season then I wouldn’t give up on it. But I have to be realistic about it.”

Fancy a go at 178 from 20 overs?
“Not with that field out! I need a few more people up if I’m honest.”

When Ben Brown played a horrible cut to Adam London at point and Chris Jordan got an inside edge on a ball through to the John Simpson, Wright was joined by Will Beer, with whom he batted for 40 overs in Sussex’s first innings as they stared an innings defeat in the face.Today they seemed much more at ease, despite a Middlesex win still the strong favourite. Beer, who has centuries in club cricket to his name, showed good judgment and footwork as he stuck with Wright, who brought up his first Championship century since July 2011.Curtailing his attacking instincts in both innings, Wright’s 77 in the first stands out like a sore thumb on a card where no other Sussex player passed 25. His effort in the second also came in the aftermath of some poor shots from the top order and goes down as one his best ever as he showed just how “proper” a batsman he can be.That being said, a close lbw shout when he first came to the crease was voided by a no-ball and he was also dropped by Tim Murtagh on 40 – a fairly routine chance at deep square-leg. That was one of five catches that Middlesex put down; Chris Rogers also failed to hold on when he ran back from mid-off to catch a lofted drive that Wright, on 153, didn’t get to the pitch of.He punished them playing a few more shots – including an 11-ball burst in which he scored 24 – which proved to be the difference. Middlesex might have won on points, but it was the Sussex dressing room that harboured the most satisfaction as they remain unbeaten and, more importantly, in pole position.

After his frighteningly fast and swerving 5 for 20 to rout West Indies for 70, Mitchell Starc conveyed his desire to put off surgery on his ankle for as long as possible

Daniel Brettig01-Feb-2013Having bowled as irresistibly as he did against West Indies at the WACA, it’s little wonder that Mitchell Starc is earnestly hoping a bone spur in his ankle will not worsen to the point of requiring surgery during Australia’s manic 2013 schedule.Starc has already chosen to forego this year’s IPL in order to rest after the forthcoming tour of India ahead of the Ashes. Now, after his frighteningly fast and swerving 5 for 20 to rout West Indies for 70, he conveyed his desire to put off surgery for as long as possible. A procedure to clean out the problem would require about three months in recovery – time Starc and Australia simply do not have this year.”It’s a calcification to protect the bone through the force the ankle cops when bowling, but obviously causes a bit of pain,” Starc said in Perth. “You can feel it when you push on it, but it’s not affecting my bowling at the moment. It’s not something I want to go under the knife for and miss up to three months to clean it up, missing the time bowling and having to build yourself up.”Three seasons ago I had two spurs in the same ankle and played two thirds of the season with it, so it’s not an issue we’re all worried about at the moment and I’m happy to play with it.”There have been a few times so far in his young career when Starc has looked unplayable, and this was one such day. Moving the ball at high pace and landing the ball repeatedly on a line and length to discomfort the best batsmen, much of Starc’s bowling seemed wasted on a West Indies batting line-up that has been in Australia little more than a week and warmed up with a festival match on the Manuka Oval featherbed.”There have been days when I’ve bowled a lot worse and taken more wickets,” Starc said. “It all came together today, I felt very smooth and had enough pace but there was enough in the wicket also.”You get that extra bounce and carry in Perth, we wanted to hit the stumps as often as we could and needed to get that fuller length. Sometimes the execution isn’t quite there, but today all the bowlers executed very well.”What we’ve spoken about is shortening the gap between our very good, like today, and our not so good, a bit of which you saw against Sri Lanka. If we can keep winning and closing that gap, we’ll go a long way towards achieving our goals.”West Indies captain Darren Sammy did not concede he had erred by choosing to bat first, instead suggesting his batsmen should have re-adjusted their goals for a decent score once they had witnessed a few overs of the ball zipping around.”It’s disappointing, we know the plans and the goals we had for this tour, obviously it didn’t start the way we wanted, but it’s just the first game of a five-match series,” Sammy said. “We’ve got to come back stronger on Sunday, dust ourselves off and believe we can be successful against them.”We’ve had battles against Australia in the past, the last series at home they similarly won the first game very easily and we came back strongly for the rest of the series. We know we have the ability to bounce back, and that’s what I’m going to tell the boys. Yes it’s going to be hard to wipe what happened from the memory, but we’ve had good games against them and we’ll think about the positive things.”Sammy took one point of solace from the debut of the tall young fast bowler Jason Holder, who extracted steep bounce and some movement though defending a pitiful total.”In spite of what [Glenn] Maxwell was doing, coming hard at him, he kept his cool and bowled in some very good areas,” Sammy said. “That’s a plus for us and hopefully we can have much more runs to defend in the next game.”

Luke Pomersbach’s brutal assault fired Brisbane Heat to the semi-final of the BBL as they dished out an eight-wicket mauling to Hobart Hurricanes at the Bellerive Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2013
ScorecardLuke Pomersbach’s brutal assault at the top of the order fired Brisbane Heat to the semi-final of the BBL as they dished out an eight-wicket mauling to Hobart Hurricanes at the Bellerive Oval. Pomersbach smashed 82 off just 42 balls as Heat overhauled the 151-run target in the 15th over to get the much-needed win which put them on equal points with Hurricanes and Adelaide strikers, but their superior run rate helped them set up a semi-final clash with Melbourne Renegades.Pomersbach set about the chase at a frenetic pace on a sticky Hobart pitch and was particularly severe on Doug Bollinger and Jason Krejza. While Bollinger was taken for 27 off his first two overs, Krejza leaked 31 from his two.Pomersbach brought up his half-century off 24 balls, the fastest fifty of this year’s competition, and hit 13 fours and two sixes. Bollinger removed the other opener, Peter Forrest, early, but a 107-run stand in less than 10 overs between Pomerbach and Joe Burns ended Hurricanes’ tournament.”We’re the underdogs now,” Pomersbach said on the team’s entry to the knockouts. “We’re going in there, we’re going to give it everything and I’ve got a really good feeling about it.””We probably misjudged the wicket a little bit although I think it probably suited their bowlers, that sort of slow medium pace,” Hurricanes captain Tim Paine said.Hurricanes chose to bat first and made a steady start with a 47-run opening partnership, but the scoring rate stayed below seven for almost three-quarters of the innings. Only some late aggression by Jonathan Wells – 40 off 24- and Owais Shah, 32 off 28, helped the team to get to 150. James Hopes was miserly in his bowling, giving away 18 off four overs, while Dan Christian picked up two wickets.

Pakistan are searching for alternate venues for their limited-overs series against Australia later this year after Sri Lanka backed out of hosting it

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-2012Pakistan are searching for alternate venues for their limited-overs series against Australia later this year after Sri Lanka backed out of hosting it. The Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) is scheduled to be held in August, clashing with the dates of the proposed Pakistan-Australia series.”We are looking for other venues to host Australia,” Subhan Ahmed, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told ESPNcricinfo. “We were in negotiations to finalise Australia series in Sri Lanka but due to their Premier League which is to be held in August directly clashing with our plan, we have to find another venue.”In March, the Sri Lanka board had agreed in principle to host the series. At that time, there had been no decision on the SLPL. The proposed first season of the league had been cancelled last year and it was only earlier this week that a new deal was signed by the Sri Lanka board to hold the SLPL this August.Nishantha Ranatunga, the secretary of SLC, explained the decision to pull out was because of the amount of cricket being played in Sri Lanka. “We will not have enough grounds and facilities with the SLPL being played. That is one reason,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “Also, if we are playing too much cricket, the wickets will not be in good condition for the World T20 (in September).”The Pakistan-Australia series was scheduled to comprise five one-dayers and three T20Is to help the sides prepare for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. Pakistan had originally considered Australia and South Africa among the venues to host the series.Pakistan have had to play their home series in neutral venues since an attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009. The UAE has been their location of choice recently; they played a full series against England there earlier this year.

Ian Blackwell took a career-best 7 for 52 with his left-arm spin as Durham secured a 19-run victory against Australia A

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Aug-2012
ScorecardIan Blackwell took a career-best 7 for 52 with his left-arm spin as Durham secured a 19-run victory against Australia A. The visitors were well placed on 99 without loss chasing 224 but after Ruel Braithwaite made the initial breakthroughs Blackwell, following his crucial innings on the second day, worked his way through the middle order.The openers, Ed Cowan and Liam Davis, resumed with a half-century stand already to their name and made good progress for nine overs until Cowan fell to Braithwaite who then quickly removed Michael Klinger for a duck.Blackwell, who played one Test for England in 2006, then started to make his impression by dislodging Peter Forrest but the key breakthrough came in his next over when Davis, who had made 62, was trapped lbw. Before this game Blackwell had only played second XI cricket since May, yet soon had three wickets to his name when Tom Cooper was caught behind for a duck.George Bailey and Tim Paine momentarily steadied the chase but Blackwell then jolted the innings again with two wickets in two balls. Firstly Bailey was caught by Ben Stokes at slip and Nathan Coulter-Nile was taken at short leg. Mitchell Starc hit the hat-trick ball for four but was bowled from the next delivery he faced against Blackwell, whose seventh wicket was that of Jon Holland.The last-wicket pair, Paine and Alister McDermott, edged Australia A towards their target but the last ball of Mitchell Claydon’s first over back in the attack ended the game when McDermott picked out deep cover.This was Australia A’s last warm-up match before their two-match series against England Lions which begins on August 7 at Old Trafford.

Giles Clarke has been rubberstamped as ECB chairman for a third term after the completion of the election process where he was the only candidate for the role

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Mar-2012Giles Clarke has been rubber stamped as ECB chairman for a third term after the completion of the election process where he was the only candidate for the role.The 41 members of the ECB, which comprises the 18 first-class counties, 21 county boards, the MCC and the Minor Counties Cricket Association, returned Clarke as chairman for a third term which runs until the AGM in 2015.”I am honoured to be re-elected as Chairman of the ECB until 2015, and would like to thank the members for their continued confidence and support,” Clarke said. “We have a magnificent complement of players, fans, volunteers and staff representing our sport, from the grassroots structures to the top of the professional game. Their continued dedication and commitment to the sport is irreplaceable, and deeply appreciated by all those who love the game.”Before taking up the role of chairman, Clarke, as ECB chairman of marketing, was instrumental in the controversial deal that saw live television rights sold exclusively to Sky Sports in 2005. In January, he brokered an extended agreement, with Sky remaining the sole live broadcaster of cricket until 2017 after paying an estimated £260 million.Clarke recently settled his legal dispute with sports marketing company IMG out of court. IMG had brought a libel case against Clarke over an email he sent to the BCCI about meetings between the Indian board, IMG and several county representatives over what Clarke thought were discussions about forming an IPL-style competition in England.

Chris Rogers, Joe Denly and Eoin Morgan all made half-centuries as Middlesex reached 229 for 3 in response to Sussex’s 283

David Lloyd at Lord's31-May-2012
ScorecardChris Rogers was closing in on a second consecutive Championship century at the close on day two•PA PhotosChris Rogers is clearly warming to this captaincy business. Asked a month or so ago to take charge of Middlesex’s Championship side while Neil Dexter tried to find some form, the 34-year-old Australian found runs hard to come for a few innings.But Rogers, who averaged 58 during last season’s title-winning campaign in Division Two, finished today just seven runs away from completing back-to-back centuries. An unbeaten 138 to secure a draw against Lancashire at Liverpool last week signalled his return to prime form and here he moved smoothly into the 90s.By the time bad light ended play six overs early, Middlesex were only 54 runs behind Sussex – and, with seven wickets in hand, there is plenty of power for them to add. Get a good lead and then put the visitors under real pressure will be the plan.With Joe Denly having contributed 67 to a second wicket stand of 145 and Eoin Morgan making 52 of the 77 so far added with Rogers for the fourth wicket, the scoreboard suggests reasonably plain sailing for Middlesex. But a lot of hard graft and a fair bit of good fortune during the early stages of their innings should not be discounted.Indeed, Sussex’s total of 283 looked as though it might be highly competitive while Jimmy Anyon and Steve Magoffin were making excellent use of the new ball. Magoffin pinned Sam Robson lbw without scoring and Denly, especially, had a torrid time against Anyon. Two edges went into the slip cordon without finding a hand before a no-ball call almost certainly saved the former England batsman when he was still short of double figures.Given that the unfortunate Dexter has been left out of this match in order to accommodate an extra bowler, Middlesex looked light on batting. It was crucial, therefore, that Rogers and Denly battled through – and battle they did.As happened during the Sussex innings, batting became much easier once the new ball lost some of its shine and hardness. Runs began to flow, to such an extent that Denly’s dismissal – padding up to Monty Panesar – came as quite a surprise. Dawid Malan did not last long. But if Sussex thought they could make real headway, then the ever-more-determined Rogers and the increasingly fluent Morgan stopped them in their tracks.This was Morgan’s fourth innings since his return from the IPL (where he failed to see even a minute’s action for the eventual champions, Kolkata Knight Riders). More importantly, it was his first decent chance to start putting a winter of woe behind him. He took it with both hands.Dropped from England’s Test team after a poor series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, Morgan seemed to be losing confidence, rather than regaining it, when he faced the same opponents in limited-overs cricket during February. But here he was standing noticeably taller at the crease and starting to time the ball beautifully again.”I felt good,” Morgan said. “It’s nice to be back and spending time at the crease is what pleased me most. I think it is very important I score runs in all forms of cricket. I’ve been told [by England] that weight of runs is the way back in.”With Kevin Pietersen announcing his retirement from limited-overs internationals, Morgan has it in him to be England’s best batsman at the shorter forms of the game. He still regards Pietersen’s absence as “a hammer blow”, however, and insists it will be “very hard to replace his runs”.Talking of runs, by adding another 41 runs for their last two wickets this morning, Sussex completed an impressive recovery. Totalling 283 after being 66 for 5 represents a good effort – an effort which would have looked better still had Middlesex not managed to cling on during the early stages of their reply.Ben Brown, batting at No. 7, posted a season’s best 70 on Wednesday and tailenders Anyon and Panesar raised the bar on Thursday when runs were badly needed. Add Magoffin’s unbeaten contribution at No. 9 and Middlesex endured a frustrating hour or so before wrapping things up.Steven Finn could not improve on his three-for but perseverance paid off for Tim Murtagh, who forced Anyon to play on and, in the process, collected five wickets in an innings for the first time this season.There was still time for Panesar to play a couple of glorious drives down the ground, to general approval from almost everyone at Lord’s. The real battle was still to come, however, and it was one Middlesex were winning by the close of play.

Shahid Afridi has said he views his upcoming stint with the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League as an opportunity to gain exposure and prepare for next year’s international assignments

Umar Farooq12-Dec-2011Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder, has said he views his upcoming stint with the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League as an opportunity to gain exposure and prepare for next year’s international assignments. Afridi and Pakistan team-mate Abdul Razzaq have both signed with the Renegades for Australia’s new Twenty20 tournament, and Afridi said he was taking the tournament very seriously because he had sacrificed his off season to play in it.”My commitment with the Big Bash holds a lot of importance because it was an off season for me,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “It will not only help me maintain momentum but also give me good preparation considering the tough conditions and strong opponents in Australia.”Afridi goes into the tournament, which starts on December 16, on the back of an impressive year with the ball in which he has taken 45 wickets in 27 ODIs at 20.82, with four five-wicket hauls. He struggled with the bat during the 2011 World Cup but got his highest score of the year, 75, in the third ODI of Pakistan’s recent series against Sri Lanka in the UAE. He said he expected his legspin to be effective on Australian pitches but hoped to also contribute with the bat.”Legspinners can achieve a lot in Australian conditions and I am looking forward to contributing with my bowling,” he said. “I’ve been satisfied with my bowling performance but there is need for improvement in my batting. I am looking to play some good innings.”Razzaq goes into the series after missing the ODIs in Bangladesh due to a shoulder injury he sustained during the series against Sri Lanka. He said he had completely recovered from that and was looking forward to getting back to Twenty20 cricket. Razzaq averaged 29.22 for Leicestershire during the Friends Life t20 in England this summer and said he hoped to find form in the BBL.”The format is very exciting and familiar but equally tough,” Razzaq said. “I picked up an injury last month but I am fine now and looking forward to the Big Bash event. I hope I can find good touch.”