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From 77 for 2, Zimbabwe collapsed to 108 all out in their chase

Danyal Rasool01-Dec-2024Pakistan saw off a brief scare from Zimbabwe to seal a 57-run win and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series in Bulawayo. A late, unbroken stand of 65 in 34 balls between Tayyab Tahir and Irfan Khan following a bit-part batting effort helped them surge to 165 with 34 runs in the final two overs. Even that appeared like it might not be enough when Sikandar Raza and Tadiwanashe Marumani got the hosts off to a flier, with the hosts sitting pretty at 75 for 2 in eight overs.But the fall of that partnership triggered an immediate implosion as Sufiyan Muqeem and Haris Rauf ripped through the Zimbabwe line-up. They lost their last eight wickets for 31 runs as Pakistan wrapped up a win that looked more comfortable on the scorecard than it was for three quarters of the contest.

Pakistan start brightly

The visitors included Saim Ayub in the T20I squad just before the start of the series, and the in-form left-hander was instrumental in getting them up and running. Omair Yousaf took on Blessing Muzarabani in the second over but was fortunate to be out there, having been dropped in the first over. Zimbabwe’s catching was an issue for much of the innings; in the following over, Usman Khan was put down first ball he faced. Ayub picked up the next ball over point for a glorious six, while Usman helped himself to 11 in the over that followed. By the end of the fifth over, Pakistan had romped to 49, and on a belter of a batting surface, 200 did not seem unrealistic.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The spin squeeze

Sikandar Raza’s consistency is almost boring by this point, but he was at his all-round best on Sunday. Bringing himself on when Pakistan were soaring at the end of the powerplay, he sent down four near-perfect overs, landing barely a ball in the wrong place. Thirteen of his 24 deliveries were dot balls as he allowed just 14 runs during his spell. It was during this time that Pakistan slowed almost to a grinding halt, going 63 deliveries without a boundary.At the other end, Ryan Burl and Wellington Masakadza held the fort down as wickets fell at regular intervals; between the end of the 6th over and the start of the 19th, Pakistan could only score 79 runs in 13 overs. It will invariably leave Pakistan with questions to ask of their middle order that seemed unable to cope with the pressure or keep up the scoring rate, with captain Salman Ali Agha struggling most of all.

The scare

An onslaught in the final two overs got Pakistan to 165, but Zimbabwe came out of the traps brimming with belief they could chase this down. Undeterred by the early loss of Brian Bennett and Dion Myers, Marumani and Raza took Pakistan on, and took them down, in the powerplay. Marumani plundered 20 off Jehandad Khan’s second over, while three successive fours by Raza off Abrar Ahmed got Zimbabwe to 50 in the fifth over, quicker than Pakistan had managed during their brisk start.But Zimbabwe’s Achilles’ heel has been the lower middle order, and so it proved once more. As soon as a careless run-out put paid to Marumani’s innings, the rot set in once more. Raza was isolated at the non-striker’s end as Pakistan helped themselves to wickets. Rauf had Ryan Burl slap one to mid-off while Muqeem dismissed Clive Madande, and it soon became obvious any effort at victory would have to be a one-man show.But a lovely change of pace from Jehandad Khan and a sharp catch at point from Ayub drew the curtains on Raza’s enterprising knock, and the game was over as a contest. Muqeem struck twice in the following over, while Abrar polished off the win with the final wicket; Zimbabwe had lost their last eight in 43 balls.

Wicketkeeper says future looks bright after ODI debuts for Mahika Gaur, Lauren Filer and Maia Bouchier

Valkerie Baynes11-Sep-2023Amy Jones has credited an injection of energy brought by England’s three debutants in their opening ODI against Sri Lanka with turning the hosts’ results around after their disappointing T20I series defeat.Mahika Gaur, the 17-year-old left-armer who played 19 T20Is for UAE before making her England debut during the T20 leg of Sri Lanka’s visit, claimed three wickets upon being handed her maiden ODI cap in Durham on Saturday.Fellow seamer Lauren Filer, meanwhile, had the visitors just as flummoxed by her searing pace as the Australians were during the Ashes Test earlier in the summer. Playing her first ODI at the weekend, 22-year-old Filer also took three wickets, including two in two balls, as England romped home by seven wickets to go 1-0 up in the series.”It feels like youth often brings energy and we’ve seen that with the girls that have come in,” Jones said. “They’ve really brought a buzz around them and just a real excitement to play for England, which we all have, but it just looks a bit different when you’re a bit younger.”They really pick people up around them as well. I think English cricket’s in a great place and to see all this competition for places is only a good thing.”As a player, when you are given opportunities like this, it can put a bit of extra pressure on you, especially as a young player, thinking, ‘when other people come back, am I still going to have a place?’ and it can be very easy to put a lot of pressure on yourself. So it’s been so pleasing how they don’t seem to be feeling the pressure. Whether they are or not, they seem really cool. They’re just enjoying it and it’s reflected in their performances.”Related

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Jones took five catches in the match, becoming the first England wicketkeeper to do so in a women’s ODI, including three off Filer, as Sri Lanka were bundled out for 106 in 30.2 overs.In reply, Tammy Beaumont and Emma Lamb broke the back of the paltry run chase with an opening stand worth 61 runs and 24-year-old batter Maia Bouchier, England’s third ODI debutant for the match having previously played 22 T20Is, struck the winning runs with a boundary off Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu in a run-a-ball 17 not out.”She’s great fun to keep to with that extra pace,” Jones said of Filer. “It was quite a slow wicket, I thought, a bit of bounce but not particularly fast up in Durham, so I was really excited when she came on to bowl and still found the carry and pushed me back a bit further.”With a bowler like Lauren, you just feel like you’re getting a catch every ball. I really enjoy keeping to her and was impressed. She’s got something that not many people have in the pace that she has, so she’s definitely an impact player.Gaur claimed the prize wicket of in-form Athapaththu in her third over and then bowled opener Anushka Sanjeewani with an excellent inswinger to reduce Sri Lanka to 26 for 2 before claiming the final wicket of the innings.”I thought they were great,” Jones said. “Mahika, until this series, I’ve never faced her or kept to her or anything, so it feels like she’s just shot up out of nowhere. But I’ve been so impressed, as has everybody. Something different being a left-hander and her height, but she swings the ball so well and she’s really consistent for a young player too. I’m really excited to see where she can get to in her career.”Jones was also backing her side to maintain their momentum heading into Tuesday’s second ODI in Northampton, followed by the last match in Leicester on Thursday.”There was a big ask for energy going into the 50-over games, having not played the longer format in a while and at the end of the season,” she said. “There was a real focus from Lewy [head coach Jon Lewis] making sure that when we’re in the field, we’re fizzing the ball back to me and we are just showing so much energy and I think that really helped as a focus.”As a group we were really disappointed with how the T20s went. Going into any series, when you go in as favourites especially, you want to get the job done and convincingly as well. So to lose those two games definitely it was disappointing. It was really key for us to put in a good performance in Durham and stamp our authority onto the ODI series.”

Phoenix, Invincibles make new signings after Matthew Fisher, Saqib Mahmood ruled out

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2022Tom Helm and Gus Atkinson have signed contracts in the Hundred for Birmingham Phoenix and Oval Invincibles respectively.Matthew Fisher and Saqib Mahmood, the fast bowlers who made their Test debuts for England in the Caribbean, have both been ruled out of the competition with stress fractures of the lower back, leaving both teams seeking replacements.Phoenix have brought Helm back as Fisher’s replacement. He was expensive for them last year, conceding more than two runs per ball and taking five wickets in seven appearances, but was considered unfortunate to miss out on selection at April’s draft.Related

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“Whilst we’re naturally disappointed to lose Matt Fisher, we’re very pleased to have re-signed a talented pace bowler who we know well in Tom Helm,” Craig Flindall, Phoenix’s general manager, said.Helm impressed in the early rounds of the County Championship season for Middlesex this year, bowling with good pace, but took 1 for 56 in four overs in his comeback from a minor injury in the T20 Blast on Thursday night.Atkinson, meanwhile, was an unused member of Southern Brave’s squad last year, signing halfway through the tournament as a replacement. He has not featured for Surrey in the Blast this year due to their seam depth but is highly rated by their management and is likely to play when they lose Reece Topley and Sam Curran to England’s ODI tour to the Netherlands.Each team in the Hundred – both men’s and women’s – signed an extra overseas player in Thursday’s wildcard draft, and men’s teams will add a final domestic wildcard player in early July.

Rizwan’s 51 goes in vain as other batsmen let Pakistan down

Firdose Moonda13-Feb-2021South Africa broke a losing streak that stretched back five T20Is to last February and stayed alive in the ongoing series in Pakistan by successfully chasing 145 in foggy conditions in Lahore.They laid the groundwork for victory after choosing to field for the second successive match and restricting Pakistan to a below-par total, thanks to an outstanding performance by Dwaine Pretorius. He claimed the best bowling figures for South Africa in T20Is with 5 for 17, beating Ryan McLaren’s 5 for 19.Pretorius took a wicket at the start and returned to take four in the last quarter of the innings to keep the hosts to a chaseable total. Reeza Hendricks and Pite van Biljon’s 77-run third-wicket stand set South Africa up for victory, and David Miller sealed it with 22 balls to spare.The final T20I of the series takes place at the same venue on Sunday.The Rizwan showHaving struck an unbeaten 104 in the first T20I, Mohammad Rizwan once again anchored the Pakistan innings with his 51. Again, his innings made up a significant proportion of Pakistan’s total. Rizwan scored 61.54% of their runs in the first match and more than a third of their total in this match.Rizwan was off the mark by slog-sweeping the first ball of the match for four. Then he cashed in on Glenton Stuurman’s first over in international cricket, which was littered with overpitched deliveries onto the pads, and punished his slower ball, and made Lutho Sipamla pay for anything full. Rizwan’s fifty came up off 39 balls and he only faced two more before holing out to long-off off a Pretorius slower ball in a bid to up the scoring rate in the last five overs.Shamsi gets the squeeze onSouth Africa gave away just 50 runs in the nine overs between the end of the powerplay and the start of the last five, thanks largely to their wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi. He bowled ten dot balls in his four overs and did not concede a single boundary as he flighted the ball and varied his pace to keep the Pakistan batsmen guessing. Shamsi was only rewarded with one wicket, which came off his second ball, when Hussain Talat tried a second successive reverse sweep off him but sent the ball straight to van Biljon at backward point.Pite van Biljon and Reeza Hendricks add 77 for the third wicket•AFP

And Pretorius scoops the biggest prizes Pretorius made the first incision into the Pakistan line-up when he had Babar Azam trapped lbw with the second ball of the second over of the match. The ball nipped back in from a length as Babar played around his front pad and was struck in front of middle stump but the Pakistan captain, whose form has been wretched since his return from injury, reviewed to no avail. Despite that success, Pretorius only bowled one over in his opening spell as Heinrich Klaasen rotated his bowlers early on.He brought Pretorius back to replace Shamsi in the 14th over, with Pakistan yet to bring up 100. Pretorius piled on the pressure when he had Iftikhar Ahmed skying an offcutter into the lights, and David Miller at midwicket took an outstanding catch. He then got rid of Rizwan and returned to take two wickets in three balls in his last over, to pick up a five-for. Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Nawaz were both unable to deal with the yorker, with Shah slicing an edge to Klaasen and Nawaz was castled.Taking on the spinAfter a tentative and confused approach to spin in the first match, South Africa were much more aggressive and confident in this game. Hendricks and van Biljon scored 31 runs off 17 balls from Usman Qadir and 20 runs off 19 balls from Nawaz to break the back of the chase.Hendricks got the ball rolling when he made room to hit Nawaz’s first ball for six over long-on, immediately after Shaheen Shah Afridi delivered a wicket-maiden, and then showed no fear against Qadir. Hendricks dispatched a full toss for six before van Biljon sent him over long-on to take 13 runs off Qadir’s first over. Hendricks also picked the googly, and hit it for six, but two balls later Qadir had van Biljon stumped, charging down the track, except that he had overstepped.The Pakistan spinners got the last laugh when Qadir had Hendricks caught at mid-on to break the stand and in the next over, Nawaz drew a leading edge from van Biljon and completed the catch in his followthrough. Qadir found significant turn in his final over but South Africa had done enough to ease their way to a win.

The position was created following South Africa’s horrific World Cup 2019 campaign

Firdose Moonda09-Nov-2019Graeme Smith, South Africa’s former captain, is in line to be their first director of cricket, a position created in the aftermath of their 2019 World Cup exit. Smith confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he was interviewed by the board this week.Suspended interim director of cricket, Corrie van Zyl, and former national selector Hussein Manack were also interviewed for the job, which is expected to be filled inside two weeks, leaving enough time for the appointee to settle in before the home series against England that begins on Boxing Day.The director will be responsible for overseeing all cricket played under CSA’s ambit, which includes the national teams, high-performance teams, age-group structures and the domestic set-up as well. While similar to the ECB’s post – first occupied by Andrew Strauss and now Ashley Giles – it also requires skills in human resources, financial management and managing CSA’s transformation strategy. The CSA’s advertisement required interested candidates to have a qualification in sports management and at least 10 years experience either working in sports or media management, coaching or playing at a first-class level or above.Smith, van Zyl and Manack were interviewed by a five-person panel which included CSA board members Jack Madiseng, Shirley Zinn, Tebogo Siko, and Dawn Makhobo, along with board CEO Thabang Moroe.Smith has the highest profile among the three candidates. He had more-than-a-decade-long playing career with South Africa and was both their youngest and longest serving captain. Since retiring in 2014, he is best known for his commentary but has also dabbled in the business of cricket as well.Six months after quitting the game, Smith joined financial services company Momentum – who were sponsors of South Africa’s ODI team at the time – as part of their corporate social responsibility team. He was involved in the setting up of a cricket sixes event, the proceeds of which went to a conservation charity involved in saving the much-poached rhino. Later in 2014, Smith was named ambassador of the Ram Slam T20, South Africa’s domestic 20-over competition, which was attempting to attain the same status as some of T20 leagues around the world. The tournament no longer exists and has since been replaced by the Mzansi Super League.While Smith would appear as the frontrunner, both van Zyl and Manack have adequate experience and credentials which will leave the panel with a tough decision to make, one that may ultimately come down to how much money CSA is able to spend on this position. The board is forecasting debt of R654 million (approx USD 44 million) over the next four-year cycle and has put cost-cutting measures in place, including a proposed restructuring of the domestic system that is being challenged by the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) in court at the moment.ALSO READ – ‘The financial thing is a hurdle,’ says Faf du Plessis as ex-players stay away from CSAVan Zyl, who has served as general manager to CSA since May 2009 – which included a stint as head coach during the 2011 World Cup. He has extensive knowledge of how the board works and was appointed as interim director of cricket post the 2019 World Cup, only to be suspended late last month for alleged dereliction of duty.Van Zyl’s suspension did not prevent him from being interviewed though. Apart from his experience with CSA, van Zyl was also head coach of Free State from May 1994 to April 1998 and of the Eagles and now Knights franchise from September 2003 to April 2009. He also has a Certificate in Sports Management from Royal Holloway, University of London.Manack has significant experience in the South African system as well, having most recently served on the selection panel whose tenure ended after the World Cup. Hussein was a national selector for seven years from 2012 to 2019, was the convener of selectors at the Lions franchise from 2011 to 2014 and served on the Gauteng Cricket and Lions board. He has both a Level 3 coaching certificate and UK National Cricket Association coaching qualification, a new Manager’s Programme in Business Administration and Sport and Event Management from the University of the Witwatersrand and has worked as the Managing Director of a manufacturing and retail company for more than a decade.Manack is a regular voice on radio commentary in South Africa and also has a long playing career behind him, the bulk of which fell during the Apartheid years, which denied him the opportunity to progress through the ranks in the same way van Zyl and Smith did. Still, he was part of history when he was selected as a non-playing member of the South African squad that toured India on the original Friendship Tour in 1991.No international candidates were in the mix for the director of cricket role.South Africa are also expected to confirm a men’s team director soon. Enoch Nkwe occupied the position on the recent tour to India and though they lost the Test series 0-3, he remains the leading candidate after assurances he would not be judged on the results of that series.CSA has also conducted interviews for a new convener of selectors and Linda Zondi was among those under consideration. Despite a successful tenure which brought through players like Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj and elevated Faf du Plessis to the captaincy, Zondi is understood to have had a falling out with members of CSA and may not be reappointed.

Facing protests from other state associations, the BCCI has revoked the special allowance granted to Puducherry concerning outstation players

Nagraj Gollapudi20-Sep-2018Facing protests from other state associations, the BCCI has revoked the special allowance granted to Puducherry concerning outstation players.Puducherry is one of the nine new teams that the BCCI inducted into domestic cricket as per the Lodha Committee recommendations approved by the Supreme Court. Keeping in mind the unique challenge the Union Territory faced in terms of recruiting local talent, the board relaxed the rules that defined who a local player is.Originally, it was one who had a birth certificate from that state, or was an employee of an organisation in the jurisdiction of that state in the last one year, or a student of an institution in the jurisdiction of that state since August 2017. But the BCCI, with the approval of the Committee of Administrators, gave special allowance to Puducherry, permitting the registration of even those players who have only been working or studying there since August 2018.Some of the other new states objected to Puducherry being given special privileges. For several decades, the BCCI has put a cap of three outstation players, known as professionals, per team. Most times, these professionals are senior players who move out of their native state to play/mentor/coach weaker teams.Puducherry had filled their quota with the appointments of Abhishek Nayar (former Mumbai captain and allrounder), Pankaj Singh (former Rajasthan captain) and Paras Dogra (former Himachal Pradesh batsman) but still went ahead and bought more players who, until recently, had been involved with other states. Many of them were part of Puducherry’s first-ever game on Wednesday in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Manipur, with media reports suggesting there were no local players in the XI.One of the objections came from Ratnakar Shetty, former general manager, game development at BCCI. Currently the convener of the cricket consensus committee at Uttarakhand Cricket Association as well as part of the committee of administrators at Hyderabad Cricket Association, he said eligibility rules ought to be uniform for every team participating in any tournament.”I was shocked to hear that BCCI has given special permission to include more than the (cap on the) number of outstation players in the team,” Shetty wrote in an e-mail to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri which was published by the . “This kills the spirit of the game and the rules of level playing field that was aimed when the eligibility rules were framed.”It also raises the question as to why only Puducherry has been given the special status. I am sorry to say that this decision is not in the interest of domestic cricket and will lead to lot of corrupt practices in future. It also puts all the other states where there was strict compliance to a disadvantage.”The entire purpose behind the Lodha Committee recommending that every state in India have its own cricket team was to encourage local talent to come to the fore. It is understood that though not everyone in the BCCI was convinced about allowing more than the permissible number of outstation players to Puducherry, the CoA pointed out that, for this season, the eligibility norms could be relaxed.The BCCI inducted the Cricket Association of Pondicherry as an associate member last month and told them to start registering players who fulfilled the board’s criteria – employees or students of the state since August 2017. But having just taken root, the CAP requested for more time and was told by the BCCI that it was willing to relax the rules. Accordingly, some outstation players enrolled themselves in local educational institutions or organisations in August to become eligible to play for Puducherry.However, with objections mounting, the BCCI seems to have changed its mind, revoking the special allowance to Puducherry, starting from their next match on Friday. A CAP official confirmed that a “request” had come from the board, asking them to pick only those players registered before August 31, 2017 in the XI and that they would oblige to it.

A career-best T20 innings of 61 by Liam Livingstone and some tight leg-spin bowling by Matthew Parkinson guided Lancashire to a somewhat routine 31-run victory over Durham

ECB Reporters Network23-Jul-2017
Liam Livingstone scored heavily up top•Getty Images

A career-best T20 innings of 61 by Liam Livingstone and some tight leg-spin bowling by Matthew Parkinson guided Lancashire to a somewhat routine 31-run victory over Durham at Emirates Old Trafford.The victory was Lancashire’s third in six games but left Durham with only four defeats to show for their efforts in this season’s competition. Paul Coughlin’s side remain on -4 points thanks to the ECB’s sanction last October and their chances of qualifying from the North Group are already very slim.In truth the margin of victory seemed larger than 31 runs; there was hardly any point in the visitors’ innings when they looked up in control of their pursuit and Lancashire will have to overcome rather more severe tests than that provided by last year’s NatWest T20 Blast finalists if they are to qualify for the quarter-finals.The highlight of Lancashire’s innings for most in the crowd was probably Liam Livingstone’s fifty, which included a couple of sixes off Chris Rushworth, a painful blow on the forearm from the same bowler and a quartet of fours.However, the most effective home batting was produced in the last six overs when Ryan McLaren and Steven Croft put on an unbroken 64 for the sixth wicket, a partnership which hoisted Lancashire to a better than par total.Both batsmen hit sixes off Paul Coughlin’s final over of the innings and McLaren’s 32 off 18 balls reinforced the view that he has been one of his new county’s shrewder acquisitions.But Lightning’s progress had initially been checked by the loss of three wickets in the opening nine overs of their innings. The departure which disappointed the crowd the most was that of Jos Buttler, who was caught at backward point by the Durham debutant Gareth Harte off Ryan Pringle for only four.The England batsman’s dismissal followed that of Karl Brown, brilliantly caught by a diving Harte off Chris Rushworth for eight, and
Arron Lilley, who was pouched by the wicketkeeper, Stuart Poynter off Coughlin for 12.However, Durham’s pleasure at making these early breakthroughs was dulled a little by the shoulder injury suffered by Adam Hickey, who was forced to leave the field when just failing to complete a diving catch off Lilley.Pringle had Livingstone leg before in the twelfth over when playing a rather ugly sweep and the off spinner also dismissed Dane Vilas to finish with 3 for 30. But McLaren and Croft ensured that Lancashire posted a defendable total with Croft finishing on 35 not out.Durham’s reply began with a flurry of boundaries from Graham Clark, two of which were struck off his brother Jordan, but the Durham opener was eventually caught at cover by Livingstone off McLaren for 24.The introduction of Matthew Parkinson brought immediate success when the legspinner had Harte leg before for 11 but Cameron Steel and Jack Burnham were maintaining the momentum of the pursuit before Burnham was bowled by Clark’s excellent slower ball.With nine overs remaining Durham still needed 97 to win and their hopes of achieving this goal were hit when Jordan Clark removed Cameron Steel for 37 and Paul Collingwood for four in the same over.Clark finished with three for 36 and Parkinson added the wicket of Stuart Poynter to end with two for 23 as Durham’s reply ran out of resources.

Surrey captured seven prime wickets in the space of 65 overs on a blameless surface at the Kia Oval to fight back against Middlesex

Andrew Miller at Kia Oval15-May-2016
ScorecardNick Gubbins raced to a half-century but couldn’t register his maiden hundred•Getty Images

On a day of North London sporting collapses, Middlesex’s subsidence against Surrey couldn’t hold a candle to the tragicomic events up at St James’ Park, where Tottenham Hotspur squandered the chance to finish above Arsenal in the Premier League for the first time in 21 years.Nevertheless, the capture of seven prime wickets in the space of 65 overs on a blameless surface meant that, by the close of the first day at the Kia Oval, Surrey’s threadbare attack had recovered manfully in their own game of domestic one-upmanship.After winning the toss on another flat and straw-coloured deck – precisely the sort of surface that the ECB would have had in mind when they introduced their new spin-friendly directive – Middlesex made such hay in the morning session that their lunchtime scoreline of 126 for 0 seemed like a promise of the riches to come.Instead, despite starts for each of their top four including a particularly classy 91 from Nick Gubbins, the day finished with a belatedly claimed new ball from Surrey, men around the bat, and quite a task in hand for Middlesex to secure their full allocation of batting points.Surrey’s cast of bowling absentees could fill most attacks in the land – Zafar Ansari (thumb), Mark Footitt (side), Matthew Dunn (hamstring), Sam Curran (A Levels – how dare he?), Jade Dernbach (stress fracture) and Stuart Meaker (groin, to put it euphemistically) – so when Kumar Sangakkara spilled Sam Robson on 9, a sharp but catchable chance at first slip, it felt like the sort of opportunity that wouldn’t go unpunished.Instead, Surrey stuck to their guns and chiselled out their wickets – two each for Gareth Batty, whose pumped-up performance refused to allow the standards around him to slide, and James Burke, and three for Tom Curran, whose key extraction of Gubbins after lunch was followed by two more in three overs before the close, to inject some urgency into the final moments of the day.Surrey’s first breakthrough came only four balls into the afternoon session, when Robson, on 53, was lured down the wicket by a wide delivery from Batty and beaten round the outside edge as he stabbed half-heartedly into the covers. Ben Foakes whipped off the bails to deny Robson a fourth century of a summer in which he had converted each of his previous three fifties to three figures.Despite Robson’s ongoing form, Gubbins had been the main man of Middlesex’s morning, driving and pulling with particular ferocity as he closed in on a maiden first-class hundred that remains strangely elusive for a man of his talent. Twice before he had reached the nineties, and once again he fell with three figures in sight – a loose waft across the line to a full ball from Curran, and Arun Harinath tumbled at mid-off to scoop the looping chance. Both men had been awarded their caps during the lunch break, and together they took the crowd’s applause again.Adam Voges, back in the side after taking a blow to the head while fielding against Hampshire a fortnight ago, joined Dawid Malan in a third-wicket stand of 72, and at 238 for 2, Middlesex seemed back on course for their dominant first-innings total. But once again, the onset of an interval took some of the wind out of their sails. After the addition of six runs in 20 minutes after tea, Malan aimed a flat-footed drive at Burke to be caught behind for 58, and Burke was back in business soon afterwards as Voges propped half-forward to be sent on his way lbw for 47.Despite the depth in Middlesex’s line-up, and the sun on their backs throughout a near-perfect day for batting, their struggle for dominance continued as Surrey cranked up the pressure. Batty struck again as John Simpson shaped to sweep only to be struck in line with leg stump for 12, while Paul Stirling and Ollie Rayner were no match for Curran in the day’s closing overs.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby’s best T20 bowling figures cheered a miserable Brummie night as Birmingham endured poor weather to move joint top with Durham in North Group

Jon Culley12-Jun-2015
ScorecardOliver Hannon-Dalby was in the wickets for Birmingham•Getty Images

On a night when Edgbaston’s marketing team deserved some sympathy, Birmingham at least fashioned a win, indeed a win that takes them level on points with Durham at the top of the North Group with three matches in hand.You fancied chasing 150 to win from 20 overs might have tested them but after their innings was interrupted by heavy rain only four balls in, the defending NatWest Blast champions emerged with a revised target of 98 from 11 overs, which they chased down successfully with four balls to spare.William Porterfield, who hit the winning boundary, finished 37 not out from 22 deliveries after Ian Bell had hit 38 off 24, the England man following his 65-ball 90 against Durham last week by indulging himself again in the freedom to take liberties, hitting sixes off Ben Hilfenhaus, Samit Patel and Darren Sammy that ensured that a modest turn-out at least had something to enthuse over.

Insights

After the normally parsimonious Jeetan Patel’s first over was clubbed around the park by Riki Wessels, Varun Chopra withdrew his gun spinner from the attack. When Patel returned, in the ninth, Chopra opted for seven consecutive overs of spin and reaped the rewards. They cost 42, compared to 77 in the previous eight, and brought two wickets. Such stinginess laid the foundation for Ricardo Gordon and Hannon-Dalby’s brilliant final three overs of the innings, which prised three wickets for nine. – Will Macpherson

In the Nottinghamshire innings, Oliver Hannon-Dalby finished with a Twenty20 career-best 4 for 29 from his four overs after Riki Wessels had hit 39 from 19 balls.It was when Bell went on the attack against Patel and Sammy in the sixth and seventh overs of Birmingham’s reply, scoring 23 of his runs in the space of eight balls before picking out Wessels at long-off, that the balance swung in the home side’s favour. The opening overs from Hilfenhaus, Jake Ball and Steven Mullaney had kept them behind the required rate after Varun Chopra had been out without scoring immediately before the weather closed in.It was miserable. Edgbaston struggles to attract substantial crowds for Twenty20 at the best of times and Friday nights in June are not meant to be like this. Even Sammy, in his last match for Nottinghamshire before he returns home to play in the Caribbean Premier League, struggled to muster a smile at times, blinking through the drizzle as he ran in to bowl.Asked to bat first, Nottinghamshire had looked favourites in the opening stages of the contest, rushing rushed to 65 for 2 in their Powerplay overs, mainly thanks to Wessels, who plundered three sixes in the space of seven deliveries, two of them as he went after Jeetan Patel in the costliest over of the evening, which brought him 21 runs, and the third off the first ball of the next, off Recordo Gordon.But Wessels was out to the last ball of the sixth over, a well judged catch by Chopra at cover off a soaring top edge. Brendan Taylor, with whom he had added 46 in four overs for the second wicket, then hit Rikki Clarke straight to mid-off in the next over, after which the scoring rate slowed rapidly as Patel and the leg-spinner Josh Poysden applied the brakes impressively, despite the extra challenge of bowling with a wet ball.Poysden, playing in only his second Twenty20 after Warwickshire chose to leave out Boyd Rankin in favour of an extra spinner, conceded only five runs in his first two overs and took the wicket of Greg Smith, leg before in an attempted sweep. Two dot balls to Sammy won some applause from the Edgbaston crowd.Overs eight to 13 saw the Nottinghamshire total grow by a meagre 25 runs, with two wickets lost, although Sammy was not to be contained completely. Indeed, a glazier will be required in the morning after the first of his two sixes smashed through the window of a sponsors’ lounge on the second elevated tier of the vast pavilion, damaging Poysden’s figures at the same time.The same over had begun with the first Nottinghamshire boundary in 41 balls. Sammy launched Atiq Javid for the second of his sixes in the following over but the Nottinghamshire batsmen were never able to reassert themselves in any sustained way.James Taylor, who had driven three and a half hours from London to take his place in the side and the captaincy after England decided they could manage without him, was leg before to a Rikki Clarke full toss, and though Sammy and Sam Wood combined to take 11 off Gordon’s next over the return of Hannon-Dalby at 133 for 6 after 17 put a stop to that.The former Yorkshire seamer dismissed the two in consecutive deliveries, both caught at mid-on. He began hitting the spot with his yorkers and his final over was shaping up very nicely when the first four balls brought just two singles and the wicket of Hilfenhaus to a slower one and it was a shame for him that his final delivery was loose enough for Ball to hit over the top, clearing the rope.Nottinghamshire were none too happy when a range hitting contest staged as one of the evening’s sideshows disrupted their practice between innings, although it probably had no bearing on the outcome.

Questions over Zaheer Khan’s fitness took centre stage during the final session, and for a while overshadowed a fight put up by Railways in response to an intimidating score

The Report by Siddhartha Talya at Wankhede Stadium04-Nov-2012For a moment, it seemed from afar as déjà vu for Zaheer Khan. In July 2011, when India took on England at Lord’s, he made an early impact with the ball but walked off the field due to what was later revealed as a hamstring injury. He subsequently underwent an ankle surgery and did not play competitive cricket for more than four months. Now, a day before India’s squad for the first Test against England is to be picked, he ran in to bowl the fifth ball of his 21st over, got the ball on target but, terminated his follow-through abruptly, clutched his groin, walked back to the umpire to pick up his cap, had a brief chat with a couple of players and returned to the dressing room.However, Ajit Agarkar, the Mumbai captain, said later that Zaheer had been cramping but was expected to take the field on Monday. “He was just cramping badly. It suddenly got a little humid, the last couple of days, probably dehydrated a little bit,” he told reporters at the end of the day’s play. “He should be okay, he should be on the field tomorrow morning.”On a day that he bowled almost 12 overs, looked in rhythm and also probed the batsmen, questions over Zaheer’s fitness took centre stage during the final session, and for a while overshadowed a fight put up by Railways in response to an intimidating score. They finished on 380 for 8, with three batsmen hitting half-centuries; the lower order also made Mumbai work hard for their wickets, and got to within striking distance of avoiding the follow-on.Agarkar said Zaheer was in good shape and that 20 overs bowled across a day and a half were good preparation for someone about to play a major Test series. “There is a Test match at the back of his mind, you want to get yourself ready, bowl as many overs,” he said. “Sure he would have liked a few more wickets but I think 20 overs is a fair workout under your belt as a bowler. You need overs going into big games. Not that he was just turning his arm over. He was obviously trying to get his lines, lengths and rhythm right for the coming Test series. Over the course of the Tests, conditions weather-wise are going to get better so this is probably the toughest workout he’ll have.”The trigger for the uncertainty over his fitness was his absence for five overs after the tea break. But he made his way onto the ground and fielded inside the circle, mostly at extra cover against the two left-hand batsmen in the middle and waited six more overs before being called on to bowl. When given the ball, he asked a few questions, even rapping the batsman on the gloves off a delivery he held back. But at the point of bowling the fifth ball, he prompted further curiosity with his immediate decision to retire to the dressing room.Zaheer, who had bowled nine overs on the second day and had a catch dropped off his bowling, kicked things off on the third. After bowling a few in the channel outside off, he moved to round the wicket, banged the ball in hard, occasionally got it to nip away but Sanjay Bangar and Nitin Bhille, both of whom hit fifties, played him patiently. Zaheer’s first spell of five overs cost just nine runs, and included a boundary driven through mid-off by Bhille.Zaheer returned for his second spell of the day immediately after Abhishek Nayar had broken through to remove Bangar, who was involved in a century stand with Bhille for the third wicket but fell playing a loose drive to extra cover. The pair had again targeted Ramesh Powar, who for the bulk of his bowling spells over two days went for more than six runs per over. Zaheer was called on to bowl the 51st over, for a short spell of 12 deliveries. He got Bhille to edge one towards Rohit Sharma at slip, only for the ball to drop short, but was also driven, again, through mid-off. Mumbai, with Bangar dismissed, opted for spin from both ends during the hour before lunch.Zaheer didn’t have to run too much on the field on the third day, fielding at fine leg, at times at long-off and even inside the circle. As Mumbai shuffled their bowlers, using Powar, Iqbal Abdulla, Nayar, and Agarkar, who had Bhille caught at slip, it wasn’t until the 81st over, when the second new ball was taken, that Zaheer was brought back on.Though he was negotiated well by the Railways batsmen, he got his way past Mahesh Rawat in the third over of his third spell. With the new ball deviating slightly, Rawat tried to drive through extra cover but was caught behind for 68.Against the new man Murali Kartik, who came in at 263 for 6, Zaheer had four slips and a gully, but was counter-attacked. Kartik pulled and then punched him through extra cover for boundaries. But Zaheer bowled through to tea, completed a four-over spell that cost 13 and produced a wicket.Kartik and Ashish Yadav combined for a half-century stand of their own. They, too, scored off Powar and by the time Zaheer was asked to bowl the 99th over, the offspinner had gone for 126 runs in 24 overs. A small Sunday crowd at the Wankhede had much reason to celebrate when Sachin Tendulkar took two catches, one a well-judged skier at mid-off, to dismiss Kartik and Yadav. This, before Agarkar emerged from the dressing room following the close to answer questions that pertained more to the condition of a fellow fast bowler than his own – Agarkar himself had been off the field for a while due to a calf strain.