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Surrey took another significant step on their way towards a first Championship title since 2002 as they bowled Essex out for 126 and enforced the follow-on at Chelmsford

Matt Roller at Chelmsford05-Sep-20181:45

Drama at Taunton as Somerset and Lancashire tie

ScorecardSurrey took another significant step on their way towards a first Championship title since 2002 as they bowled Essex out for 126 and enforced the follow-on at Chelmsford.With Somerset’s game against Lancashire ending in a spectacular tie as they failed to chase 78 on a turning pitch at Taunton, Surrey will go 43 points clear at the top if they complete victory here, and if this performance from their bowlers is anything to go by, they may not even have to bat again.Their four-pronged seam attack of Morne Morkel, Tom Curran, Rikki Clarke and Conor McKerr shared ten wickets between them, and it was Clarke who did most of the damage. In a nine-over spell from the River End he removed Ravi Bopara, Ryan ten Doeschate, Tom Westley and Simon Harmer to quash any hopes of an Essex recovery after they had slumped to 20 for 3.Clarke moved the ball considerably in the air, finding late swing and benefiting from the variable bounce on offer – a handful deliveries shot up off the pitch – as he rattled through the middle-order in conditions that could hardly have suited his medium-fast seamers better; the sun did not so much as threaten to escape behind a sheet of clouds, and bad light and drizzle brought proceedings to an end only seven overs after tea.As much as Surrey’s season will be remembered for Rory Burns’ runs and Morkel’s fearsome mid-season form, it is impossible to overlook Clarke’s contribution. He now has 37 Championship wickets at a shade over 20, to go with 392 runs and 13 catches; he turns 37 at the end of this season, and not even his most ardent supporters could have predicted the transformative effect he would have on this side when his move from Warwickshire was confirmed last season.Clarke also added useful runs in the morning session in an enterprising innings of 56. After pulling his first ball for a nonchalant four, he offered stubborn resistance in bowler-friendly conditions alongside Curran, before clubbing 26 runs off his final 13 balls as he ran out of partners.It was a largely brutish innings, with a couple of orthodox slogs down the ground for six, but he threw in a deft reverse-sweep and an elegant cut as if only to prove how malleable his game is.Rikki Clarke produced a penetrative burst•Getty Images

While Essex will attribute their surrender to poor shots and a batting order that has not fired all season, Surrey were irresistible with the ball. Curran and Morkel were hostile in their opening spells, as their accounted for Nick Browne, Varun Chopra, and Dan Lawrence, before Clarke ran through the middle order and McKerr mopped up the tail.On the day that Alastair Cook’s new three-year deal at the club was confirmed, Chopra must have felt disappointed with his dismissal, caught well by (guess who?) Clarke in the slips playing a flashy drive at a ball he had no need to play. He now averages 16.7 this season; when Cook returns, he looks like the man most likely to drop out.Tom Westley, another Essex batsman struggling for runs, was the only one in the top eight to reach double figures, and fought hard before falling one short of just a second half-century of the season.Westley was not at his fluent best – as was the case in his gritty 56 at Taunton and in last week’s win over Hampshire – but he was organised, determined, and creamed a pair of cover drives for four in the space of three Curran balls. He looks to have benefitted from the decision to leave him out of the second half of Essex’s Blast campaign, and will hope that he can find his best form before the season’s close.The tag of champions-elect can loom over a team at this stage of the season, but Surrey look good value for it. Their visit to Taunton in the penultimate round of games had been highlighted as a possible title-decider – and they can expect another lively wicket if the Championship race is still alive – but wins here and at New Road next week would effectively wrap the pennant up.On the basis of this performance, it would be impossible to argue that they have not been good value for it.

Sunny Sohal has been ruled out of the tournament in Oman beginning next week, with a serious knee injury that will require surgery next month

Peter Della Penna01-Nov-2018USA batsman Sunny Sohal has been ruled out of the WCL Division Three in Oman beginning next week, with a serious knee injury that will require surgery next month. Left-arm spinning allrounder Nisarg Patel has been drafted in as a replacement in USA’s 14-man touring squad.A statement from USA Cricket on Wednesday said that Sohal had “failed his scheduled fitness test”, forcing him to be replaced. Sohal had stated on social media on October 21 that he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee on October 5 in Barbados during USA’s final training session ahead of their first match against eventual champions Combined Campuses and Colleges at the recently concluded CWI Super50 Cup.Sohal, who turns 31 next week, subsequently posted again on Wednesday on social media, announcing he had surgery scheduled for November 7 to repair the ligament damage. Reconstructive surgery for an ACL tear typically requires nine to 12 months of recovery time. USA team-mate Jessy Singh suffered a similar ligament tear last year that required surgery in September 2017 and he did not make a return to the national team until last month at the Super50 in Barbados.Sohal made his USA debut in January at the previous Super50 Cup, rebounding from back-to-back ducks at the start of his national team career to finish the tournament as USA’s second-highest scorer with 166 runs including two fifties. It helped earn him a contract with Barbados Tridents in the recent Caribbean Premier League. Prior to coming to the USA, Sohal had also played 22 matches in the IPL across its first four seasons, for Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers.Nisarg, 30, last played for USA against Kent at the 2017-18 Super50 Cup in February and has seven appearances in total for the country at senior level though he was a member of USA’s Under-19 World Cup squad in Sri Lanka in 2006. He made his senior team 50-over debut for USA during the 2017 Auty Cup against Canada, playing a crucial role with his 3 for 35 in USA’s series clinching win. Nisarg is also one of the few USA players with experience playing in Oman, having played two of three matches during USA’s tour there last December, including a best of 47 while opening the batting, and 2 for 42 in a three-wicket loss.USA’s squad is expected to depart for Oman this weekend ahead of their first match against Uganda on November 10. They will also be competing against Denmark, Kenya, Singapore and the hosts in the six-team round-robin event from November 9 to 19 in which the top two teams advance to WCL Division Two, scheduled for next April in Namibia.Squad: Saurabh Netravalkar (capt), Jaskaran Malhotra (wk), Nisarg Patel, Steven Taylor, Alex Amsterdam, Jannisar Khan, Roy Silva, Monank Patel, Timil Patel, Aaron Jones, Hayden Walsh Jr., Elmore Hutchinson, Ali Khan, Nosthush Kenjige

Dwayne Bravo opens up on the events that led to West Indies pulling out midway through their India tour in 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Nov-2018Looking back the events that transpired in India, would you do anything differently?The only thing I would do differently is tape everyone. Record everyone who was in there. I’m the only player that really paid for what happened in India. The only one who never get the opportunity to play one-day cricket again. I made a stand, as the captain, as the leader of the team, for the best interest of my players, and by extension the players who have come and played for West Indies cricket. At the end of the day, it wasn’t fair on our bosses to send us on tour and cut the guys’ contract by 75 percent. It was just really unfair.Was it unanimous?Collectively as a team, we decided what to do. I listened to every single player. Apart from one player, everyone signed on a piece of paper, that they were all in support of leaving the tour. But we did not just decide to walk away from the tour. There were different times when we tried to reach out to both our WIPA president [Wavell Hinds] and the cricket president [Dave Cameron, Cricket West Indies president].
So we threatened [to pull out] from the first game, but we played. We threatened for the second game, but we played. The [fourth] game we went out (the whole team accompanied Bravo to the toss), so it was just a message and a signal, trying to let them know that we are not happy with whatever is going on.I remember fully well before we said we weren’t going to play the first game, 3 am in the morning, I get a message from the BCCI boss, the old one, Mr [N] Srinivasan, that “please take the field.” I listened to him – and woke up at 6 am to tell the team that we have to play. And everyone was against playing. Everyone thought that I panicked and chickened out and all these things.But I was more concerned about the players’ future more than anything else, because it was a serious decision to not play and walk away from the tour. All of us could have been banned for life. So by taking the opportunity and listening to the bosses of BCCI, that was one way to ensure that we are protected.After that first game what happened?We played the first game, we beat India, then we traveled to Delhi. At that time the president [Cameron] was in Dubai, which is few hours away from Delhi. He said he is still not going to come and meet us.BCCI

Where was WIPA president [Hinds] all this time?In Jamaica. They [Hinds and Cameron] were scheduled to come, I think, two weeks after the ODI series, by when most of us would have left. Only the Test team would be there. We play the second game, we lose, then the third game rained out, so we stayed in Delhi for an extra week. Again the president [Cameron] refused to come. Then we went to Dharamsala, up in the hills, that’s where we play the last game.Did anyone from BCCI still try to influence you all to continue to play?After we played three of the games, we decided we’re going to see how far we reach. Hopefully someone from the West Indies board come and assist us. I remember talking to Mr Lloyd (Clive Lloyd, chairman of selectors at the time), pleading to him basically that he can actually make a difference in this situation because at the end of the day he’s Clive Lloyd. “If you pick up the phone, call the president [Cameron] and said sort this out, he (the president) has to listen.” It’s Clive Lloyd, one of the biggest names in world cricket. I guess that call was never made and at the end of the day Dwayne Bravo and to a lesser extent [Kieron] Pollard – who got a bit of the blame – but it was all on my shoulders.For people to really understand that one of the reasons we even had that fallout between players and the board as far as the contracts is concerned, in January of 2014 we had a WIPA general meeting. The WIPA president Mr Hinds said that we have a proposal – we want to implement a professional league system and in order for that to take place, they asked the West Indies men’s senior team to take a salary cut. So, the senior players who were in the meeting – myself, [Ramnaresh] Sarwan, [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul – we all agree. We said okay, yes we can take a salary cut, let’s discuss figures. The president [Hinds] said that there are no figures yet. They wanted to know whether or not the players would be willing to take a salary cut and when at the end of that meeting our answer was yes, we can take a salary cut, let us know the percentage.The next time we hear from WIPA, or see anything about our contract or new figures, was in October, when the team was already in India. When the team arrived in India – I was already there playing Champions League for Chennai Super Kings – couple of the players message me, “skipper, did you see the new contract?” I said, no. When you look at it, you see, straight across the board, the players’ salary was cut by 75 percent. That’s where it really, really happened, where everything break down. I straightaway get on to Wavell Hinds. He says, “Bravo, tell the players do not sign the contract, it’s not still cast in stone, do not sign the contract.”Wavell Hinds told you not to sign the contracts?Yes, which I relayed that to the players. After, before we play our first game (first ODI), that we had a Skype call with Wavell Hinds.You should’ve recorded that?As I said that is the only regret I have, that I did not record these things. We said to him “who gave you the rights to negotiate our new contracts without discussing it with any player?” He said he talk to some players. We said, “who you talk to?” He said he talk to Denesh Ramdin and Darren Bravo. Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin both stand up and say, “Wavell, that’s a lie. That never took place.” Wavell Hinds had nothing to say.Then, his next excuse was he sent the information to Samuel Badree months ago and it was Samuel Badree’s responsibility to relay the message to the players. Samuel Badree said to him, in his face, “Wavell Hinds I am a cricketer. It is your job [and] that’s why we elect you as president.” You can’t send a player who is on tour, playing cricket, a 90-page contract, saying to go through it [and] relay the message to the players. That’s where it all break down, where it all went wrong.After that tour the BCCI said it was owed by the CWI about USD 40-plus million because the players left the tour?It was a big damage. Obviously a hefty bill. To me my concern was players and our contracts.Do you think the BCCI was on the side of the Windies players? Or they understood the players?Yeah, they understood, of course. Because they were very supportive of all of us. Actually they even offered to pay us whatever we were losing. We was like, “we don’t want you to pay us. We need our board to sort out our contracts.” The BCCI was very, very supportive and that is one of the reasons why most of us were still able to continue playing without any serious, serious problems taking place.

After last playing a Test in January 2018, the bowler has only featured in ODIs and T20Is since he was not 100% fit during the Australia Tests

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jan-20192:37

It’s very rare that our top order doesn’t click – Bhuvneshwar

Not bowling for a long time in international cricket in 2018 impacted his bowling rhythm, India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar has stated ahead of the second ODI against Australia in Adelaide on Tuesday. Bhuvneshwar largely played limited-overs matches in 2018 when India traveled for the three toughest overseas tours for any India side – to South Africa, England and Australia – largely because he was battling niggles and trying to get his rhythm back.Bhuvneshwar hasn’t featured in a Test since playing in Johannesburg, in which he was Player of the Match, in January last year because he had to sit out of the Test series in England, where he was expected to play a big role in swinging conditions, with a back injury he picked up in the ODI series in England. He returned two months later for the Asia Cup in the UAE, and has only played ODIs and T20Is since then, against West Indies at home and in Australia for the ongoing tour.When asked if the break from international cricket affected his rhythm, he said: “It did impact [my rhythm]. Match rhythm is totally different when it comes to bowling. I was trying everything to be in rhythm in the nets. But it can’t be a 100% when you compare to a match. It wasn’t great in the last match but it wasn’t bad as well. It can improve as the matches will go on. I was trying everything to be in rhythm.”I was going through niggles at that time [in England], and when you have a niggle you can’t be a 100%. Since then and now, I have trained a lot, especially during the one month of the Test series. That is the reason I am back to [bowling at] 130-135kph, whatever the thing is. The main thing is I’m niggle-free right now. That’s the main thing for me.”On Saturday, Bhuvneshwar took the field after over a month since playing the third T20I, which was also in Sydney, to finish with 2 for 66. He struck with his eighth delivery by removing captain Aaron Finch with an inswinger, which also fetched him his 100th ODI wicket. Later, he dismissed top-scorer Peter Handscomb in his third spell, one delivery after the batsman was dropped at the long-leg boundary by Ambati Rayudu at the start of the 48th over.Associated Press

Even though Bhuvneshwar was part of the Test squad in Australia, India relied on the pace battery comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami to win the series 2-1. Bhuvneshwar revealed that he was not a 100% fit during the four-Test series.”See, I was fit but I couldn’t say that I was a 100% because in Test matches, it’s a five-day match, so I really didn’t know I would be able to go through that thing. What was good was we had bowlers who could play at that time, and I got time to be 100% fit again. I wasn’t really sure that time.”In the nets I wasn’t planning or preparing to bowl in the ODIs. I was preparing like I have to play in any of the Tests. I was preparing in that manner. There wasn’t anything specific that I could do. But it was just normal bowling and increasing the number of overs. If I was bowling four overs [to start with], then go to six, then eight, then 10. The key thing for me is to be niggle-free, and be in bowling rhythm.”To switch to training for the ODIs, Bhuvneshwar was seen practising by placing a shoe on the pitch for accurate lengths and trying the yorkers, a weapon he uses often with the old ball in the death overs.”This (keeping shoes on the pitch) is something that I’ve been doing for some time,” he explained. “So keeping shoes there and bowling yorkers, practicing that thing. I didn’t practise that for almost a month now because in Tests, we hardly needed that. And I didn’t play a match. Going into an ODI or T20I series, you need that thing. So I was practicing that.”Apart from yorkers, Bhuvneshwar also possesses the knuckle ball which he uses once the ball gets older and the swing wears off. Apart from Bumrah, who has been rested for the ongoing series, Bhuvneshwar is India’s key bowler for both the opening overs and the death overs, with the World Cup under five months away.”The skills needed are totally different,” Bhuvneshwar said. “You are trying to swing the new ball and take wickets. With the old ball, you are looking to bowl yorkers or slower balls. But they are both difficult. When you are bowling with a new ball, there are only two fielders outside the circle. With the old ball, batsmen don’t care how many guys are outside the circle. [The] skills are also different.”

Pakistan’s captain said the responsibility to turn things around rested with everyone, including the coaching staff, for a problem that’s been recurring for the past two years

Danyal Rasool in Centurion28-Dec-2018Less than three full sessions before the match ended with a commanding South African victory, Pakistan found themselves in relative control. They had a lead of 59 runs and still had nine wickets in hand to influence the result of the Centurion Test. But then Duanne Olivier and Kagiso Rabada went on a wicket-taking spree and that was that. Looking back on the three-day defeat, Sarfraz Ahmed pointed to that period of play with great regret.”We had an opportunity yesterday after tea. If we played one more hour, we had the opportunity to put runs on the board,” Sarfraz said. “But we didn’t capitalise on that, lost too many wickets and so lost the match.”It has become a pattern to such an extent, it almost approaches ritual status: the end of a Test match Pakistan could have been on the right side of, undone by the briefest of phases where the fall of one batsman has foreshadowed two, three, or in cases like yesterday, nine. While at times almost appearing at a loss to explain why these capitulations had become such a regular feature, Sarfraz said no one could be completely absolved from responsibility.”We are struggling in the second innings. We get a good start but whenever one wicket falls, we are not able to take control of the match. This has been happening for over two years, since Hamilton 2016. It has been so long we now need to realise where we’ve made mistakes. It is everyone’s responsibility, including the coaching staff’s.”We had the opportunity after tea yesterday again, but we failed to capitalise. We lost too many wickets by playing loose shots. We get under pressure too quickly and it becomes mentally challenging in the second and fourth innings.”More than once, he termed the SuperSport Park surface a “bowling paradise”, but refrained from offering any criticism of a pitch that saw no batsman from either unit look particularly comfortable for an extended period, and the match end well inside three days. Sarfraz, instead, said his side were better served focusing on their bowlers, who, along with a few of the younger batsmen, he termed “positives”.”I think a couple of positives in this match, the way Babar (Azam) played in the first innings and Imam-ul-Haq and Shan Masood in the second played, they showed great character. Another positive is our bowling. If we have runs on the board, we have the ability to bowl them out for any target.”I don’t want to say too much about the pitch. If you see it’s two and a half days, it’s not an easy pitch to bat on. Every batsman is struggling. The first 30-40 balls are not easy. If you see in the second innings, even Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar struggled early on. Early on, all batsmen are struggling. It is not an easy Test pitch, batting is very difficult. It is a bowling paradise kind of pitch.”Another positive for Pakistan will be the renewed availability of Haris Sohail and Mohammad Abbas, both of whom Sarfraz said would be fit for the Newlands Test, which begins on January 3. Asked if his side planned to spend the extra couple of days working on certain aspects of their cricket or resting, a world-weary Sarfraz finally allowed himself a smile.”I think rest is best.”

Magnificent four-pronged pace assault stirs memories of Caribbean heyday

George Dobell in Barbados24-Jan-2019Just for a moment on Thursday afternoon, we could have been back in the 1970s or 80s.Just for a moment, with Kemar Roach doing a more than passable impression of Malcolm Marshall – and yes, that IS high praise, but spells of five wickets for four runs in 27 balls tend to deserve such praise – and Jason Holder doing a passable impression of Joel Garner, this West Indies attack looked as skilful, intimidating and entertaining as their illustrious predecessors. As a quartet, they generated pace, gained movement and bowled with almost relentless discipline.It’s true there were a couple of poor shots from England batsmen. Keaton Jennings, for example, was drawn into a loose drive, while Moeen Ali’s top-edge jab at a short ball – the first delivery he faced – sustained a worrying decline in his personal form. Since the start of the Ashes (November 2017) Moeen is averaging 18.36 in 11-and-a-half Tests with a top score of 50. Since the Sri Lanka tour, he’s averaging 11.14 in three-and-a-half Tests. If he maintains that sort of trajectory, it will not be long until Jack Leach is keeping him out of the side by virtue of his superior batting.But this was, in general, a case more of fine bowling than feeble batting. West Indies’ seamers bowled with pace and skill in extracting life and movement from the surface that was largely been absent when England bowled in the first innings of the match. And if one or two batsmen will feel they could have done a bit better – both Rory Burns and Jonny Bairstow appeared to be beaten for pace by the skiddy Roach – two or three more could be forgiven for scratching their heads and wondering what more they could have done.Take the wicket of Ben Foakes, for example. He was drawn into a forward defensive stroke by a fine delivery from Alzarri Joseph that was angled in but left him and took the edge on the way to the keeper. Or Sam Curran, who received the sort of fast, rearing short ball from Shannon Gabriel that would have pleased Patrick Patterson (had he bowled it; nobody would want to face it). Or Joe Root, who was set up by a series of balls leaving him, and pinned by one that nipped back and trapped him leg before. These were, by any standards, fine deliveries.Still, to lose 10 wickets for 54 runs in 21.3 overs will rightly cause concern in the England camp. And while they may feel, with some justification, that they have had the worst of the pitch – 18 wickets fell in the day and there is every sign that it will deteriorate further – they would do well to reflect on their fortune with tosses in recent times. You cannot reap the rewards of eight successive toss wins, and not accept the challenge of losing the ninth.So, just as the 51 all out in Jamaica (2009) raised questions for England, so should this. Was their warm-up schedule – just two, two-day games in an environment lacking any intensity – adequate? Or did it underestimate their opposition? There were two first-class games (and a two-day game) ahead of the Tests on the Ashes tour, after all.Equally, what role did selection play here? While it is, in many ways, counter-intuitive to highlight the selection of the bowlers after a batting collapse, all the evidence so far suggests that Stuart Broad or Chris Woakes, with their extra height and pace, might have extracted more from the pitch than Curran. Also, England picked two spinners. They claimed one for 115 in 29 overs in West Indies’ first innings and, though Moeen started to enjoy conditions in the second, Adil Rashid was asked to bowl just two overs before the close. West Indies, by contrast, picked only the allrounder Roston Chase, and did not deliver a single over of spin at any stage of England’s innings.And where are England’s fast bowlers? While one of West Indies’ opening bowlers (Gabriel) generated pace of 92.4 mph at one stage (Joseph also hit 89.6 mph), one of England’s (Curran) had an average pace of 78.9. They have different skills, of course. But Gabriel also generates movement and the fact remains that, on many surfaces, the harder bowlers hit the pitch, the more chance they have of getting something out of it. West Indies had three seamers with average speeds higher than any of England’s seamers. As was the case in Australia, this enduring England weakness has been exposed.So we may reflect on this as something of a reality check for England. They had reached No. 2 in the world rankings thanks to some fine cricket, certainly. But several old weaknesses remain – not least the inability to nail down a top order and the propensity to collapse (they lost nine wickets in a session here, but have lost 10 in a session three times since October 2016). Perhaps winning at home against India and away against a modest Sri Lanka has flattered them a little.So, a grim day for England. It was noticeable, though, that as Roach led the West Indies team off the pitch, the England supporters who make up the majority of the crowd here gave them a sustained standing ovation. They knew they had seen something special.Yes, this performance will sting English cricket for a while. But anyone who loves cricket will be able to rejoice in the excellent performance of a West Indies side who were dismissed, by some, as no-hopers (“very ordinary, average cricketers,” according to Geoff Boycott) in the lead-up to the series.In Joseph and Shai Hope, and Shimron Hetmyer, Kraigg Brathwaite and Oshane Thomas, they have the nucleus of a side who could lead them to many better days in the future. That, for us all, would be something to celebrate.

Hanuma Vihari and Ajinkya Rahane wipe out the deficit after the Ranji champions send back the openers

The Report by Sreshth Shah in Nagpur14-Feb-2019The day belonged to Vidarbha’s Akshay Karnewar, whose maiden first-class century handed the Ranji Trophy champions a 95-run first-innings lead, but a fighting partnership between Rest of India’s Hanuma Vihari and Ajinkya Rahane wiped out the deficit to bring the Irani Cup contest back on an even footing on Thursday’s third day.At stumps, RoI were 102 for two, having inched seven runs in front on a deteriorating pitch, where Vidarbha will have to bat last.Karnewar’s 133-ball 102 – with 13 fours and two sixes – helped Vidarbha post 425 in response to RoI’s first-innings total of 330. Karnewar was ably assisted by overnight batsman Akshay Wadkar, whose 139-ball 73 had arrested a collapse on the second day.Despite losing Wadkar before lunch, Karnewar did not curb his aggression. After reaching his half-century, he struck the day’s first six, when he smashed Dharmendrasinh Jadeja over midwicket, and he followed it up with a glance in the next over to take Vidarbha closer to the RoI total. The new batsman, No. 9 Akshay Wakhare, played his part too, and gave Vidarbha the lead in the 114th over of their innings when he tickled one down to fine leg just before lunch.The 76-run eighth-wicket stand between the two was finally broken just after lunch, when Karnewar shaped to pull Rahul Chahar’s half-tracker, but the ball stayed low and trapped him in front. Wakhare soon followed, bowled off Chahar’s googly while trying to drive through the off side.Vidarbha were 56 ahead at that stage, but a last-wicket partnership of 39 between Yash Thakur (10) and Rajneesh Gurbani (28 not out) frustrated RoI further, and a drive to long-on from the latter took Vidarbha past 400. Ankit Rajpoot later claimed the final wicket, with Thakur lbw to one that swung in late.Nineteen-year-old Chahar (4-112) was the pick of the RoI bowlers. He dismissed Vidarbha’s two highest scorers – Karnewar and Wadkar – and wasn’t afraid to show off his variations, earning two wickets courtesy his wrong ‘un. Chahar could even have had a fifth wicket when he found the outside edge of Gurbani’s bat late in the innings, but RoI captain Rahane fluffed the chance at first slip, much to the dismay of the close-in cordon and the bowler.In the morning, Karnewar had struck three consecutive boundaries off Rajpoot to give Vidarbha a rapid start to the day. The flurry even led to a brief exchange of words between batsman and bowler, but Karnewar continued confidently, scoring at a good clip and bringing up his century in glorious fashion when he muscled a six over midwicket off Jadeja in the over before lunch.When RoI came out to bat, an hour before tea, Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal gave left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate the new ball. The plan paid off when Anmolpreet Singh looked to take the bowler on in the seventh over, only to toe-end a leg-side heave to long-on.That brought Vihari into the middle, and together with Mayank Agarwal (27), they tackled the difficult surface by looking to play straight. Vihari, in particular, played mostly in the V to the spinners, and his battle with Wakhare’s offspin made for fascinating viewing.However, Agarwal, who made 95 on the first day, holed out in the 12th over trying to take on Wakhare. He skipped down the track to a ball that wasn’t quite there, and miscued the shot to Mohit Kale at long-off. That brought in Rahane, who worked the ball around in the company of Vihari to chip away at the lead.Rahane found his groove courtesy a full-toss from Sarwate, and that leg-side whip briefly led to a rise in the scoring rate as Vihari also played a beautiful drive through the covers and followed it up with a lofted shot over long-off.But Karnewar stemmed the flow of the runs when he began varying his pace more than usual, in a bid to extract more spin, and that made Vihari and Rahane bat cautiously. Their prod-and-push style led to two half-shouts for lbw and a difficult dropped chance at short leg, but the batsmen stuck it out. Intriguingly, of the 35 overs they have faced so far, RoI have had to deal with pace in only four, all from Gurbani.The day ended with a good spell of spin bowling under the setting sun. Sarwate and Karnewar troubled Vihari and Rahane no end, but they survived, which was crucial. When stumps were called, their stand stood at 56 runs, and Vidarbha had a slender lead.With rain expected overnight, RoI will have some plotting to do for the penultimate day if they are to push for a win. In case the game ends in a draw, Vidarbha will lift the Irani Cup for a second year in a row on the back of their first-innings lead, but there are still 180 overs of play remaining, weather permitting.

With the World Cup less than two month’s away, Pakistan’s head coach has cast doubts over the fast bowler’s inclusion in the side “going forward”

Umar Farooq26-Mar-2019Mohammad Amir’s ODI numbers since the 2017 Champions Trophy make for worrying reading if you’re a Pakistan fan. With just five wickets from his last 14 ODIs and the World Cup less than two months away, Pakistan’s head coach Mickey Arthur has cast doubts over the fast bowler’s inclusion in the side “going forward”.In the 21 months since that Champions Trophy final against India in June 2017, Amir has gone for an average of 92.60, failing to complete his quota of 10 overs even once. The spotlight on him only increased after he was named in the Pakistan squad for the ongoing series against Australia, only to be dropped immediately after another wicketless, expensive outing in the first ODI in Sharjah.While both Arthur and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq have previously backed Amir as a bowler for the big occasion, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to see him seal a spot in the squad for the World Cup, which begins on England on May 30.”Yes, Amir’s form is a worry and nobody is more worried than Amir,” Arthur said. “I still think he is an incredibly skilled bowler and has all the attributes to be successful. He has got a big match temperament and we will see how we use him going forward.”Amir has potentially three more chances to make an impression in Dubai, with three ODIs left in the series against Australia. Things haven’t gone according to plan so far for Pakistan, who lost the first two matches convincingly after resting six key players (as well as a seventh later in Faheem Ashraf). The team faced further ire when makeshift captain Shoaib Malik suggested after the second ODI in Sharjah that Pakistan were using the series merely to test their bench strength, and that winning or losing did not matter.Arthur, however, put those suggestions to bed, claiming that Pakistan were always out to win, and that the environment in the dressing room was positive.”Every time we play for Pakistan, we are playing to win,” he said. “You ask the guys in the dressing room, I am a very bad loser. We hate losing. We are representing a very proud cricket nation and we never want to lose. We are testing our bench strength, but we will never sacrifice our intensity and the will to win.”The attitude of the guys that we have around here has been incredible. These guys will become very, very good cricketers. The other guys [who have been rested for this series] have been in a tough system for two years. These guys are only now making their way like Mohammad Hasnain, Abid Ali, Saad Ali. Shan [Masood] and Rizi [Mohammad Rizwan] have been in and out of our ODI side. Umar Akmal is back. We are trying to increase the depth of Pakistan cricket.”We get castigated for not giving opportunities to the younger guys. Now we are giving them the opportunities are we are being castigated again. There seems to be no winning. What people need to understand is that we are a very passionate cricket team and whenever we go on the field, it is to win. We represent 210 million people and it is so important. Myself, Inzi [Inzamam ul Haq and the selection panel have a plan in place which is to have our core group of 15 ready and firing to go by April 23, when we go to England, to win the World Cup for Pakistan.”

CSA has advised the fast bowler to return home as a precautionary measure ahead of the 2019 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff03-May-2019A back niggle has brought an early end to Kagiso Rabada’s IPL season. Cricket South Africa has advised that the fast bowler return home as a precautionary measure ahead of the 2019 World Cup, which begins on May 30 with the tournament-opener pitting South Africa against hosts England.Rabada, the leading wicket-taker of IPL 2019 with 25 in 12 games, had complained of discomfort after Delhi Capitals’ match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 28. He missed Capitals’ next match, against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday, and underwent scans on his back the following day. Capitals shared the scan results with CSA, and on Friday the franchise confirmed that Rabada had been advised to return home. As a result, Rabada will miss Capitals’ last league game, against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday, as well as their playoff matches.”Kagiso experienced stiffness in his lower back a few days ago and was taken for scans for further investigation,” South Africa team manager Mohammed Moosajee said. “The scan results, combined with further assessment by our physiotherapist Craig Govender. who is fortunately in Delhi, led the CSA medical committee to the decision to withdraw him from the remainder of the IPL.”Kagiso has a history with back injuries and the CSA medical team is taking the best measures to ensure he is fully fit for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup starting this month. He will consult with a back specialist upon his return and proceed with a treatment and rehab programme.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“It is indeed very hard for me to leave the Delhi Capitals at this stage of the tournament,” a Capitals statement quoted Rabada as saying. “But with the World Cup just a month away, a collective decision has been made for me in this regard. It’s been a tremendous season for me with the Delhi Capitals, both on and off the field, and I truly believe that our team can win the trophy.”Ricky Ponting, the Capitals coach, conceded that it was a “tough loss” but expected the team to cover for the star pacer’s exit.”It was a decision which was taken of our hands. It was a decision that Cricket South Africa made. He had a sore lower back in the last couple of games and after our last home game here it got a little worse,” Ponting said. “So CSA took the decision as precautionary measure to ensure that he is fit for the World Cup.”It’s a massive loss obviously but it’s a loss that we can cover. We have someone like Trent Boult, who is a world-class fast bowler. He had a terrific season for the Daredevils last year. With him coming to the side now we think we can cover for the loss of Rabada quite well.”The injury to Rabada is the latest in a long line of fitness worries for South Africa’s fast bowlers ahead of the World Cup. Dale Steyn’s IPL also ended prematurely following a shoulder injury, while Lungi Ngidi (side strain) and Anrich Nortje (shoulder) were ruled out even before the tournament began.

Performance in Ireland tri-series has given everyone a lot of confidence, says chief selector Minhajul Abedin

Mohammad Isam21-May-2019There will be no changes to the 15-man provisional World Cup squad Bangladesh had announced over a month ago, with Minhajul Abedin, the chief selector, saying that the performances in the Ireland tri-series, which Bangladesh won, had convinced the selectors that the squad was the right one.”There is much confidence on and within the 15-member squad currently in England,” Abedin, who was also the team manager during the tri-series, told ESPNcricinfo. “Everyone in the squad has shown that they are capable of performing at the highest stage, which is why we selected them in the first place.”The question marks were mainly over Abu Jayed and Mosaddek Hossain, but both passed with flying colours. Mosaddek’s quickfire half-century against West Indies in the final helped Bangladesh clinch their first multi-team ODI trophy, while Jayed took 5 for 58 against Ireland in an earlier game.Liton Das and Rubel Hossain, also not considered automatic starters at the World Cup, also did enough in their limited opportunities during the tri-series to stay in the squad. Liton hit a 67-ball 76 against Ireland in his only outing, while Rubel picked up 1 for 41 in the same game.Four reserve players – Taskin Ahmed, Farhad Reza, Nayeem Hasan and Yasir Ali – had travelled to Ireland for the tri-series, but will now continue training in Dhaka along with the two other standby players – Imrul Kayes and Taijul Islam – in preparation for the July series against Afghanistan A, who will play two four-day and five one-day games.Most of Bangladesh’s World Cup squad is now training in Leicester before the squad – including captain Mashrafe Mortaza and Tamim Iqbal, who were given a break – head to Cardiff for their two warm-up games against Pakistan and India on May 26 and 28 respectively.Squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Saifuddin, Abu Jayed, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain