All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardEllyse Perry struck a boundary to win the game for Australia with one ball remaining•Cricket Australia

Ellyse Perry anchored a tense chase of 227 with an unbeaten 93 to help Australia beat South Africa by two wickets in the first ODI in Canberra. Perry, who walked out to bat with Australia at 39 for 2 in the 10th over, held the key for the home team throughout the innings, and succeeded in taking them across the line off the penultimate ball.She struck six fours and two sixes in her 107-ball knock. That was after Australia’s bowlers had combined to keep South Africa down to 226 for 5 at the Manuka Oval.After Australia fell to 49 for 3, Perry began rebuilding with a 52-run, fourth-wicket stand with Alex Blackwell. South Africa hit back when legspinner Suné Luus had Blackwell caught for a 51-ball 25. Jess Jonassen got going in a hurry, slapping two fours and a six, before Luus struck again, ending her innings on 21 off 17 balls.Wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy and Perry then shifted momentum towards Australia with a 48-run partnership. South Africa, though, chipped away and left Perry to get 32 with the lower order. Perry added 28 with Megan Schutt in an eighth-wicket stand off 20 balls, reducing Australia’s target to just four off the last five balls. Schutt was stumped off the legspin of Dane van Niekerk, the South Africa captain, in the first ball of the final over, before Perry struck a boundary four balls later to seal the game. Luus finished with three wickets, but was expensive, leaking 52 runs in seven overs.South Africa’s innings was built on the back of a combined team effort. Openers Lizelle Lee and Luus got off to a start, putting on 52 at a run-a-ball. Lee was dismissed off legspinner Kristen Beams for a 29-ball 38. Luus added 67 more for the second wicket with Mignon du Preez, before she was caught behind off Perry, having top-scored with 52. Contributions from du Preez (37), Marizanne Kapp (29 not out) and Chloe Tryon (25 not out) helped South Africa add quick runs in the end overs.Perry shone with the ball too, finishing with 2 for 33 in eight overs. Beams and Grace Harris were both economical and took a wicket apiece.

Former New Zealand captain Debbie Hockley has been elected president of New Zealand Cricket. Replacing Stephen Boock, Hockley will serve in the role for the next three years.A member of the ICC’s Hall of Fame, she scored 4064 runs in 118 ODIs, including four hundreds. She also played 19 Test matches, averaging 52.04. She was the first woman to play 100 ODIs, and also the first to score 4000 ODI runs.Hockley will be the first woman president of the New Zealand board in its 122-year history. She will be joined by former New Zealand international Ingrid Cronin-Knight, who will be the director. The current director, Greg Barclay, will be the new chairman of New Zealand Cricket.

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc is confident he will be ready for the first Test against South Africa in Perth in November after declaring himself fit for a Sheffield Shield appearance next week.Starc had surgery five weeks ago after a horror incident in which he suffered a deep laceration to his left shin when he slid into the metal plate at the base of a set of stumps during a training drill in Sydney.He was already due to be rested from Australia’s ODI tour of South Africa and did not play at all during the Matador Cup, but is expected to take the field for New South Wales in their first match of the Sheffield Shield season against Queensland at the Gabba starting on Tuesday.”I’m hopefully on that plane on Monday to Brisbane and [will] get some good bowling in and get back playing and ready to go for the first Test,” Starc told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.Although he has not bowled since the end of Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in September, Starc expects to be unrestricted in his output in the Shield match. The round of Shield games will be the only chance for Australia’s selectors to assess their players before naming the squad for the first Test.Shaun Marsh appears an unlikely starter for the WACA Test after suffering a hamstring injury, which should open the door for Joe Burns’ return to the side after being dropped in Sri Lanka. Australia must also decide on the make-up of their attack, with the key question being who comes in as the third fast man alongside Starc and Josh Hazlewood.Jackson Bird is effectively the incumbent, having taken seven wickets during Australia’s win in Christchurch in February, before the selectors reverted to a twin-spin attack in Sri Lanka. However, Peter Siddle could also come under consideration having made his return from injury during the Matador Cup.But assuming Starc is fit, his inclusion is likely to be the key for Australia, after he snared a remarkable 24 wickets in the three-Test series in Sri Lanka. Before his injury, Australia’s selectors had already decided Starc needed some time at home to freshen up ahead of the Test summer, although several of his team-mates played in the recent ODI series in South Africa.”The boys have been on the road for a very long time, there’s a lot of time away from home,” Starc said. “I think they’ve had two weeks, maybe three weeks tops between May through to now. I think just being back home might relax everyone a little bit.”

Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal has had surgery after being struck on the hand while playing a domestic match last week.Chandimal suffered “multiple dislocations around the right thumb area” after he was hit during a Mercantile tournament match. The recovery period for the injury is three weeks and the Sri Lanka team management said that Chandimal is expected to be fit for the team’s tour of Zimbabwe in October and November. Although the schedule for the tour has not yet been announced, the first Test is likely to begin on October 29.Chandimal’s, Sri Lanka’s vice-captain, was also the side’s designated wicketkeeper during the recent home Test series against Australia. He struck a crucial 132 in the first innings of the Colombo Test to lead Sri Lanka from 26 for 5 to an eventual 163-run win that helped them sweep the series 3-0.Chandimal has also been prolific this year, making 1451 runs from 36 matches across formats including four centuries. He also scored five successive ODI fifties between June and August this year, but missed out on becoming the first Sri Lanka batsman to score six consecutive fifties when he was dismissed for 48 in the second ODI against Australia.He also stood in as captain during a part of the ODI and T20I series against Australia, after Angelo Mathews suffered a calf injury.

Steven Finn has admitted enduring the most frustrating period of his career after a hamstring injury ruled him out of the one-day series against Pakistan.Finn has been sidelined for four weeks after tearing his hamstring during Pakistan’s brief second-innings chase at The Oval. While he hopes to play again for Middlesex before the end of the season – in what could be a County Championship winning campaign – it caps a difficult period for him where his standing in the England side has slipped.”This has been the most frustrating nine months of my career so far. But, will come out the other side of this latest setback stronger for it,” Finn tweeted following confirmation of his latest layoff.Finn flew home from last year’s tour of the UAE to face Pakistan with a foot injury before returning to be the most consistent of England’s quicks at the start of the Test series against South Africa. However, his troublesome 2016 then took hold when he picked up a side strain in the Johannesburg Test and, during his recovery from that, suffered a calf injury which, much to Finn’s frustration, ruled him out of the World T20.Finn made his belief that he was fit for the World T20 known, which led to a mild ticking off from the England management, and head coach Trevor Bayliss encouraged him to channel those frustrations into success in the middle at the start of the home season.However, Finn was short of his best in the Test series against Sri Lanka, although he managed seven wickets at 28.14, before not playing a part in the following one-day series.Against Pakistan, he endured his first wicketless Test in the opening match at Lord’s and was omitted at Old Trafford. He returned at Edgbaston and in the second innings made a crucial contribution with the wickets of Misbah-ul-Haq and Sami Aslam during England’s victory push. At The Oval, though, he finished with 3 for 110 to end the series with five wickets at 70.40 – plus a torn a hamstring.Finn’s place in the one-day squad has gone to Durham’s Mark Wood after his successful return from injury.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Kevin O’Brien came good with bat and ball to lead Ireland to a six-wicket win•Getty Images

Ed Joyce’s fourth ODI century and Kevin O’Brien’s all-round brilliance combined to give Ireland a six-wicket win over Afghanistan in the third ODI in Belfast.Ireland’s bowlers, led by O’Brien’s 3 for 28 in 9.1 overs, put up a strong performance after they lost the toss and dismissed Afghanistan for 236. O’Brien then made another crucial contribution, scoring 75, and his fourth-wicket partnership of 144 with Joyce helped the hosts cruise to the target in 47.3 overs and level the five-match series 1-1. Joyce remained unbeaten on 105.The chase wasn’t smooth until the Joyce-O’Brien partnership: Ireland were reduced to 29 for 3 in the ninth over after Hamid Hassan struck twice. Ireland captain William Porterfield edged to first slip for 1 in the second over, before Sean Terry was trapped lbw for 3 by one that came back in. Asghar Stanikzai introduced spin in the ninth over and the move immediately paid off as Stuart Poynter picked out backward square leg off Mohammad Nabi’s second delivery.Joyce and O’Brien then steered Ireland to safety by batting together for 28.5 overs. O’Brien struck seven fours in his 85-ball knock before falling in the 38th over, with Ireland requiring 64 off 77 balls.The breakthrough hardly provided respite for Afghanistan. Paul Stirling chipped in with an unbeaten 39 off 37 balls to dominate an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 64 with Joyce, who reached his century off the first ball of the 48th over and hit the winning runs two balls later.Ireland could have been pushed harder if Afghanistan’s batsmen had built on Mohammad Shahzad’s platform. He held firm with 81, his third consecutive half-century, even as wickets tumbled around him.Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah and Samiullah Shenwari fell without doing much to leave Afghanistan on 63 for 3 in the 17th over. Shahzad, who had marched to 36, resurrected the innings through a 76-run fourth-wicket stand with Stanikzai. The duo kept Ireland’s bowlers at bay for 15 overs, before pace bowler Peter Chase removed both batsmen in the space of three deliveries. Stanikzai chased a wide one and got an edge towards third man where Joyce completed a running catch, before Shahzad found first slip in his attempt to guide a short delivery.Afghanistan once again lost quick wickets. That they passed 200 was down to Nabi and his 52-run eighth-wicket stand with Rashid Khan, who scored 24 at No. 9. Nabi was the ninth man dismissed, for a 41-ball 40, and Afghanistan were bowled out in 49.1 overs. O’Brien and Barry McCarthy finished with three wickets each.

The USA Cricket Association has filed a lawsuit in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Broward County, Florida attempting to stop six Caribbean Premier League matches from being played in Lauderhill. The matches were to be played at the Central Broward Regional Park from July 28 to 31 and the USACA argued that the CPL did not go through the proper sanctioning process to be able to stage games in the USA.ESPNcricinfo had access to the court filings that were made on the afternoon of July 18, showing the defendents as Broward County, Broward County parks & recreation, CBRP parks and recreation manager Duncan Finch and Lauderhill Mayor Richard J Kaplan. Along with USACA, the plaintiffs in the filings are listed as former USACA executive secretary Kenwyn Williams and current USACA vice-president Owen Grey. The court documents showed that Williams directly filed them with the 17th Circuit Court, listing himself as “Managing Director” of USACA. In a sworn affidavit included in the court filings, Williams claimed to have been managing director of USACA since March 2015 and that he reports directly to Grey.However, the USACA has no formal paid or board position by that title and Williams is not listed as a current staff or board member on their website. Lawyers representing USACA had sent Williams a cease and desist notice last month after he threatened to sue Broward County over the CPL staging, claiming he did not represent the interest of USACA, which was suspended in 2015.However, Grey and Williams have been longtime allies since Williams’ time on the USACA board in 2012. Grey offered his support to Williams last month after the cease and desist letter was sent to Williams and Grey’s status as a co-plaintiff in the case is an indication of conflict within the board. Grey has signed a sworn affidavit in support of the suit dated July 13 and included in the court documents.In the filings, Williams stated that USACA is seeking an emergency injunction to stop the matches, claiming that the board is the sanctioning authority for cricket in the USA and that the CPL had bypassed them to reach an agreement with Broward County. Williams also argued that Broward County’s actions to partner with the CPL “tortuously interfere with USA Cricket’s prospective economic relationship, causing irreparable injury to petitioners’ revenue potential and reputation” and that the revenue is “desperately needed to promote and develop amateur cricket among its thousands of members.”However, USACA’s sanctioning authority was stripped by the ICC in June 2015 under the terms of USACA’s administrative suspension.As part of support documents in the court filings, Williams submitted a letter dated June 6, 2012, written by then ICC Americas regional development manager Martin Vieira, stating that the ICC “recognize USACA as the sole governing body for the sport in the United States of America and can confirm that they are in good standing and in compliance with all rules and regulations of the ICC.” Vieira has since retired and been replaced by Ben Kavenagh and the letter predates USACA’s suspension by three years. While announcing the suspension, ICC chief executive Dave Richardson had labelled the USACA “unprofessional and not trustworthy”.Also included in the documents was a letter written to CPL chief executive Damien O’Donohoe, attributed to ICC operations manager Clive Hitchcock, dated November 16, 2015, which claimed that “the CPL, as the event organizer, must apply for sanctioning/approval of the matches/event to be played in the USA” because USACA is the home governing body. However, the letter also acknowledged USACA’s suspension and stated that “the final decision on whether to approve/sanction the matches will be taken by the ICC within two months of having received the application.”ICC Americas and CPL officials declined to comment on the legal filings made by Williams, when contacted by ESPNcricinfo. Mayor Kaplan did respond, saying that he believed the matches would go ahead as planned and that Williams’ attempt to block the matches would be struck down.”I am very confident that the injunction will fail and the games will proceed since USACA is not the sanctioning body for international games in the US,” Kaplan, who is also a practising lawyer, told ESPNcricinfo. “That authority is exclusively controlled by the ICC which authorised the games. This lawsuit demonstrates the problems that we have had trying to schedule international games within the US and I thank the ICC in taking the action that they have.”

Bengal pacer Shib Paul announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in Kolkata on Monday. Paul, who made his debut in the 2000-01 season, finished with 220 first-class wickets from 61 matches at an average of 24.95. In 61 List A matches, he claimed 86 wickets at 24.68.”All these years, the only thing I have known is cricket. The game has been an integral part of my life. I am happy to have played for Bengal all these years and am grateful for all the support that I received from my coaches, team-mates and the CAB,” Paul said during his farewell. He made the announcement after his team, Kalighat Club, won the P Sen Trophy Invitational meet at Eden Gardens. CAB president Sourav Ganguly and Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary were also present at Paul’s farewell.The bowler was a regular for Bengal in the mid-2000s and was selected in the India squad twice – for the Mumbai Test against Australia in October 2004, and the two-Test series against Bangladesh in December that year.”Sharing the dressing room with Dadi (Sourav Ganguly), Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar will remain the most cherished moment of my playing career,” Paul said. He added that his most memorable dismissal was Marcus Trescothick’s wicket during England’s tour match against an Indian Board President’s XI in February 2006.”I took the wicket of England opener Marcus Trescothick in 2006. He just left the delivery and the ball went on to hit the off-stump,” Paul said.Paul’s last first-class match was Bengal’s Ranji Trophy clash against Karnataka in December 2014. His last List A appearance was in April 2008 and he also played eight T20s in 2007.

Despite having played over 300 ODIs in a career of over 17 years, and 226 international matches across formats all over India, Virat Kohli arrived early in Ranchi ahead of the first ODI of the series against South Africa. Despite the wealth of experience he has and being an ODI great, he wanted to suss out the conditions and get a few batting sessions out of the way as he plays just the one format for India these days. And his mantra remains the same: giving 120%.It translated into a fine ODI hundred, his 52nd in the format, and helped India to a 17-run win in the opening ODI.”I’ve said it before if I’m arriving somewhere I’ll arrive at 120%,” Kohli said after receiving his 44th Player-of-the-Match award in ODIs. “[I came early] because I wanted to get hold of the conditions a little bit, bat a couple of sessions in the day and one in the evening, so my prep work was done. I took a day off before the game because I’m 37, I also need to look after the recovery. I visualise the game a lot in my mind, and as long as when I think about the game, if I see myself being as intense, as sharp, taking the fielders and bowlers on, then I know I’m in a good space and I kind of relax and play out there.Related

• Harshit takes the first step in fast bowlers' race for 2027 World Cup

• Stats – Kohli and Rohit smash records in Ranchi run-fest

• Kohli, Harshit, Kuldeep star to give India 1-0 lead

• Most sixes in ODIs – Rohit breaks Afridi's 15-year record

• Kohli dictates South Africa's reality from within his bubble

“Today was really nice to get into the game like that. The pitch played quite decently in the first 20-25 overs before it started to slow down. I just felt like let me just go out there and just hit the ball, not think too much about any of the other stuff, it’s just me and the ball coming at me and just enjoy the game of cricket which was the very reason I started playing this game. It was just about staying in the space of enjoyment, and of course, when you get a start and you get a situation then you know what you’ve done over so many years, the experience kicks in, and you understand the situation and you’re able to build an innings.”Being asked to bat, Kohli went out to bat in the fourth over to join Rohit Sharma after Yashasvi Jaiswal was caught behind for 18. Kohli got to his fifty off 48 balls and then his century off 102 balls in good batting conditions with captain KL Rahul at the other end. He finished on 135 off 120 balls that was studded with seven sixes – only the fifth time in his ODI career of 294 outings that he struck more than five in an innings and led India to a strong total of 349 in front of a packed house in Ranchi. It was his second ODI century of the year, the other being the unbeaten 100 against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy earlier this year in Dubai.”If you play 300-odd ODI games and so much cricket over the last 15-16 years, as I said if you’re in touch with the game and you know that when you’re hitting balls at practice, your reflexes are there, your physical ability is there to bat long, if you can bat an hour and half to two hours in the nets without taking a break, you’re kind of meeting all those markers. I understand if there’s a dip in form, you look for games and you try to get that form back. But as long as you’re hitting the ball well and you’re playing good cricket, I think at this stage with the experience that I have for me, it’s about being physically fit, mentally ready and excited to play the games that I’m playing, and more or less everything else should take care of itself.”I’ve never been a big believer of a lot of preparation. All my cricket has been mental. As long as I feel mentally I can play the game, I work physically very hard every day of my life it’s got nothing to do with cricket anymore, it’s just the way I live. So as long as my fitness levels are up and my enjoyment and mental sharpness is there, then you can visualise the game and you see yourself running as hard, reacting fast on the ball, then you know it’s fine. [I know] one of the days when the game opens up and you get a start, you’ll be able to score some runs.”

Western Australia 465 (Inglis 122, Whiteman 102, Connolly 79, Neser 5-68) and 263 for 6 dec (Marsh 94, Wildermuth 3-38) drew with Queensland 367 (Clayton 85, Labuschagne 77, McDermott 68, Gannon 5-57) and 120 for 1 (Khawaja 64*, Labuschagne 35*)Mitchell Marsh smashed 94 as a specialist batter before the Sheffield Shield match between Western Australia and Queensland petered out to a draw on a sedate WACA surface.Set 362 runs off 62 overs, Queensland never went for the target and the match ended when the captains agreed to call it off midway through the final session on the last day.Opener Usman Khawaja looked in fine touch and finished 64 not out to ensure Queensland avoided any late nerves. Captain Marnus Labuschagne tuned up for the Test summer with an unbeaten 35 on the back of his 77 in the first innings.With Test allrounder Cameron Green facing a long stint on the sidelines due to a back injury, a number of players in the match were under the spotlight. Test aspirant Matthew Renshaw made an untimely double failure after edging behind to Matthew Kelly on 15 having scored just six runs in the first innings.WA counterpart Cameron Bancroft, another possible option to open for Australia if Steven Smith shifts down the order, fared even worse after making a pair earlier in the match.”He’s [Bancroft] so resilient. He’s been through so much in his career. He’ll be fine,” WA captain Sam Whiteman said after the match.Batting at No.4, Marsh top-scored in WA’s second innings of 263 for 6 dec after rescuing his team from a top-order collapse. He also scored 13 in the first innings, but did not bowl in the match.”Mitch is in for a big summer. His workloads are going to be managed very carefully by Cricket Australia. We are hopeful we might see Mitch with ball in hand for the next Shield match,” WA coach Adam Voges said after play on day three.Allrounder Aaron Hardie, who looms as a like-for-like replacement for Green, missed the match due to a quad injury but is likely to return for WA’s next Shield match against Tasmania starting on October 20 at the WACA.Quick Lance Morris sustained a minor quad injury during training and is pushing to be available for the One Day Cup game against Tasmania on 25 October.With WA resuming on 106 for 3, a lead of 204, there was intrigue over how they would approach the situation. Marsh had mostly been watchful late on day three, but was in a trademark aggressive mood as he reached his half-century with a push that rocketed to the boundary.Fringe Test quick Michael Neser threatened by targeting a crack, but Marsh was unperturbed as he put the foot down. His most belligerent shot was smashing a short delivery from debutant Tom Straker that thudded into the ground’s famous grassbanks.Marsh tried to reach his century with one mighty blow, but mistimed and holed out much to his chagrin as he threw his bat in the air.Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis backed up his first-innings century with a quick-fire 48 to claim Player-of-the-Match award. His confidence was obvious and he toyed with legspinner Mitchell Swepson, who had the last laugh but struggled to have much impact across the match.The pitch flattened considerably after tough early conditions when WA lost the wickets of Bancroft and Jayden Goodwin off the first two balls bowled by Neser, who was Queensland’s standout bowler with six wickets for the match.”Phenomenal bowler and I was very happy how he started the season,” Labuschagne said of Neser, who could also be in the Test mix.