All posts by csb10.top

De Villiers 'upset' at ball-condition query

by csb10.top Uncategorized

AB de Villiers has said he was “pretty upset” at being asked by the umpires to explain the condition of one of the balls during South Africa’s narrow defeat against England at the Ageas Bowl.Rob Bailey and Chris Gaffaney, the standing umpires, spoke to de Villiers before the start of the 34th over in England’s innings, bowled by Keshav Maharaj. De Villiers was animated in his response on the field and the ball was not changed; afterwards, South Africa’s captain said he felt it was being implied that his players were at fault for scuffing up the ball.”The umpires felt the condition of the ball changed,” de Villiers said, “in a way, making me feel that we are responsible. I was quite upset about that. I don’t know what else I can say, I was pretty upset. It’s done and dusted now, nothing happened, there were no fines given or anything like that.”I honestly told the umpires we have nothing to do with the condition of ball, except for the fact that Maharaj bowled five overs on the trot from that end. The ball generally scuffs up when the spinner bowls a few overs. I expressed my views about that and we move on.”Asked if he felt that the implication from the umpires was that his side had been engaging in ball-tampering, de Villiers replied: “Yes. That’s the feeling that I got and I expressed that I was quite upset about it. But like I said, no further steps were taken from both parties.”If I can give my five cents, I felt it was a bad ball and that happens sometimes. The leather comes off and you do get that. Unfortunately the umpires didn’t agree. [But] nothing happened, generally there’s a warning or a fine, none of that happened, which tells me they realised we were innocent in this case.”South Africa were sanctioned last year for altering the condition of the ball in a Test against Australia in Hobart, after their captain, Faf du Plessis, was filmed by television cameras with a mint in his mouth when applying saliva to shine the ball. In 2013, during a series against Pakistan, du Plessis also pleaded guilty to a charge of ball-tampering after rubbing the ball near the zipper on his trousers.Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, said his team were unaware of any suggestion that the ball had been scuffed up. “Normally, if there’s any dispute about the ball, they change it straight away,” he said.The umpiring team of Bailey, Gaffaney, the third umpire, Rod Tucker, and match referee, Andy Pycroft, were engaged in their customary debriefing after the game, with no suggestion that the matter would be taken further.Having seen his team lose out off the final ball by two runs, de Villiers praised England’s bowlers for closing out victory and the series. With ten balls to go, South Africa needed ten runs to win but Jake Ball and Mark Wood conceded just six singles and a leg bye to deny David Miller and Chris Morris.”I thought the boys played a great hand at the end there, to get us so close,” de Villiers said. “I got a bit excited, thought we had it in the bag. Got to give credit to the last two bowlers of England, who finished there, they showed some great skill and good plans.”Unfortunately it didn’t go our way, we didn’t get the lucky bounce – if you want to call it that, a little edge over the keeper. We were just waiting for one little break and it would be game over. The boys gave it their best shot. Chris and David played a great knock, built a great partnership but unfortunately we couldn’t cross the line.”

Hain finds form as Warwickshire cruise

by csb10.top Uncategorized

ScorecardFile photo – Sam Hain made an unbeaten 89 to lead Warwickshire to victory•Getty Images

Sam Hain was in fine form as defending champions Warwickshire got their Royal London Cup campaign started with a win on a wet day at Wantage Road. Hain made an unbeaten 89 as he and Will Porterfield knocked off a DLS-adjusted target of 159 without loss.Warwickshire have had a difficult start to the season in the Championship, with a draw and two defeats, but they shrugged off those difficulties with a strong collective display at the start of white-ball competition. Northamptonshire’s innings was interrupted several times by rain and only Rob Keogh made a score of note as they were dismissed for 151 in a game reduced to 30 overs a side.Hain, the leading run-scorer in last year’s Royal London Cup, removed any doubt that it was a below-par total as he raced to a 30-ball fifty before reining in. The hundred stand came up in the 16th over and Porterfield also recorded a half-century, from a rather more sedate 63 balls, before hitting the winning runs with four overs to spare.It was a welcome return to form for Hain who lost his place in Warwickshire’s Championship side for their last match. He and Porterfield, who shared 180 for the opening wicket to help their side beat Northants at Edgbaston last season, ground their opponents down again with the home side finding nothing in response to a poor effort with the bat.Northants, having been sent in on a cold gloomy day, were certainly not helped by three delays due to varying amounts of drizzle, but failed to develop any significant partnerships. Ben Duckett fell for just 7 in a fine opening spell from Rikki Clarke, slapping straight to extra cover. Alex Wakely then chipped a catch back to the bowler, smartly taken down low by Clarke, who took 2 for 18 in his seven overs, either side of rain delays.Cobb settled well after driving Chris Wright down the ground for his opening boundary. He muscled debutant Grant Thornton over the midwicket fence but to the final ball of an Oliver Hannon-Dalby over in which he had already taken two boundaries, holed out to long-on for 33.Thereafter, Keogh played smartly in a 64-ball half-century but received no support. Adam Rossington mistimed a drive down the ground and was caught by Hain running round from long-on for just 13, Steven Crook rocked back to cut Jeetan Patel, missed and lost his off bail for just 2, two excellent run-outs were effected by Porterfield from backward point before Hannon-Dalby cleaned up the tail with two caught-and-bowled dismissals.

Learned from Chandimal's first-innings knock – Shakib

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Shakib Al Hasan was cagey about what drove him to recklessness on the second evening, but conceded he had done some hard thinking overnight before he resumed his innings where he went on to score a vital hundred on the third day of Bangladesh’s 100th Test against Sri Lanka.Bangladesh had lost two quick wickets and would soon lose a third when he had arrived at the crease yesterday, and though they were in danger of being dismissed well short of Sri Lanka’s 338, Shakib was nevertheless aggressive: he hit 18 off eight balls, and would have been out for 11 had Upul Tharanga held on to a chance at deep square leg.This morning’s session saw a different Shakib, however. He would hit only two further boundaries before lunch, and though he could have been run out on 40, he was largely content to push the ball around for runs into the outfield – relying on the paddle towards fine leg and a back-foot punch through the offside to bring him runs. At lunch he was at 57 off 78 balls, and progressed to his fifth Test century off the 143rd ball he faced.Shakib was unwilling to dwell on why he had been so belligerent on the second day, providing curt answers, or stonewalling the question completely whenever the topic was breached. But he did concede that there certainly had been a change in his mindset.”Yesterday, as I was not out, there was time at night to think about it. And in that time I thought about what approach would be good, especially the way Dinesh Chandimal batted in the first innings,” Shakib said. “I think there was a lot to learn from that knock with respect to how to bat in this innings. That helped. I had to work really hard to get those runs.” Chandimal’s innings had been uncharacteristically measured where he took 300 balls to score 138.Shakib’s century took Bangladesh to a strong position in the Test, as they imposed a lead of 129 at the end of two innings. Bangladesh’s batting saw them move onto unfamiliar territory, having only once earlier taken a first-innings lead after batting second away from home.”If in any situation you can score a hundred, from a personal viewpoint it is a special thing,” Shakib said. “Since there was a big need to score runs here and I could do that, I am very happy. Now the situation is very good, it is in a balanced state.”Sri Lanka cut that lead down to 75 by stumps – their openers combining for 54. In the past, Sri Lanka have overturned two first-innings deficits against Australia last year although they did not have a three-digit deficit in either of those Tests.”I think the first session tomorrow will be the most important session in the whole Test,” Shakib said. “It is very balanced, but if tomorrow if they bat well, the match may get away from us, and if we bowl well and take wickets we will be in the driving seat. A lot depends on that period.”Though there was significant turn on the pitch from the first day itself, there has been less in the surface for the bowlers since. However, Mehedi Hasan and Rangana Herath did get some bite out of the pitch towards the end of day three, which suggests the surface will increasingly begin to favour the slow bowlers as the Test continues.”I think the wicket gives enough assistance, but we have to bowl in very good areas. I won’t say that it is in a very bad state, neither is it in a good state. There is enough help, but for that we have to be patient.”

Babar, spinners put Karachi on board

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
4:34

Watch – Highlights of Karachi’s rain-disrupted win

In a nutshellKarachi Kings registered their first win of this year’s PSL, beating the defending champions Islamabad United by eight runs (D/L method). In a game severely disrupted by rain at the Sharjah Cricket Ground, Karachi won the toss and elected to bowl. Both teams must have watched the first game, evidenced by XIs replete with spin bowlers to exploit a slow, turning pitch.Barring a couple of sixes that Dwayne Smith muscled over long-on, Islamabad wasted much of the Powerplay and by the time rain returned after 7.1 overs, they were struggling at 34 for 2. With the game reduced to 13 overs a side, Misbah-ul-Haq’s men had no option but to tee off right from the resumption of play. However, they struggled to do so and aside from a poor penultimate over from Mohammad Amir that went for 18, Karachi’s disciplined bowling performance kept Islamabad to 90 for 7.In response, Chris Gayle mistimed the third ball he faced to third man, his early trudge back becoming a familiar sight in the PSL. With no one else in his side getting to double-figures, Babar Azam played a sensational innings, blitzing an unbeaten 47 off 30 balls. Mohammad Sami and Shadab Khan were spanked for 18 and 14 in their solitary overs as the 22-year old opener ensured Karachi were ahead of the D/L par score. When the final, decisive shower mercifully put the day’s cricket out of its misery, Babar had done enough.Where the match was wonIslamabad will consider themselves unlucky to have lost this game. The weather’s unpredictability meant the toss was always going to be important, and it didn’t go Misbah’s way. Put in to bat, they lost the hero of the last match Sam Billings for a golden duck, as an arm ball from Imad Wasim trapped him plumb in front. Brad Haddin’s departure forced Misbah and Smith to consolidate but their work was ruined by another spell of rain. By the time play resumed, they were well behind where they needed to be and a late flurry was exactly that: too late.The men that won itBabar may get most of the plaudits for his sublime innings, but the win was set up by outstanding bowling contributions from Karachi’s spinners Imad and Usama Mir. Imad piled on the early pressure by sending Billings and Haddin back early, while Mir was brave in the later stages of the innings, tossing the ball up and extracting substantial turn with his legbreaks. Combined figures of 6-0-25-4 were a just reward for their efforts.The moment of the matchWith Gayle dismissed cheaply and Karachi’s chase in need of guidance, Kumar Sangakkara was expected to build on the 65 he made against Lahore Qalandars on Thursday. But Mohammad Irfan had other ideas. Lumbering in, he bowled a superb yorker from a release point that must have been close to 10 feet high. It was also close to unplayable, and it snuck under Sangakkara’s bat and crashed into the base of off stump.Where they standIslamabad slip to fourth after their defeat, falling behind Lahore on net run-rate with both teams level on four points. Karachi are at the bottom of the table, with this being their only win in four games so far.

Rath and Khans leave Netherlands trekking through the desert

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsNizakat Khan slashes another boundary over backward point to bring up a half-century•Peter Della Penna

At around 9.10pm in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening, Netherlands had one foot in the door of the semi-finals of the inaugural Desert T20 Challenge. They were 49 for 0 in five overs, leaving 100 to get off the final 15. Moments later, Ben Cooper was caught at deep square leg in the final over of the Powerplay, the first domino to fall in a remarkable Scotland win.At around 9.10pm in Dubai 24 hours later, Ben Cooper fell once again in the final over of the Powerplay, bowled by Ehsan Khan of Hong Kong. But, at this stage of the Dutch chase, they already had one foot out the door of the tournament. Going after a target of 184, their leading scorer – Michael Rippon – fell missing a reverse sweep on his first ball in the opening over. Captain Peter Borren was run out after an awful mix-up with Cooper in the second.Cooper went next and, two overs later, Wesley Barresi skied a chance in the circle towards Anshuman Rath at cover. Roelof van der Merwe made it to the striker’s end and was yelling for Barresi to cross so that, if the catch was taken, at least van der Merwe would be on strike rather than a new batsman. But Barresi had already tucked his bat under his arm and begun walking to the pavilion, underscoring the Dutch despondency. Thirty-five minutes later, Nizakat Khan took the final catch to officially KO Holland.Wrath of Khan? No. Rath and Khans? YesComing off their 87-all-out first-innings implosion against Oman and with only a slim mathematical calculation keeping them afloat for a chance at the semi-finals, expectations were low for 17th-ranked Hong Kong, especially coming up against the 11th-ranked Netherlands. Nizakat ambushed van der Merwe in the first over, smacking the first three balls for four through point and over mid-on. Borren and van der Merwe had to pause to realign the field.After two dots, van der Merwe produced the desired result as Nizakat laced a drive to Ahsan Malik at cover point, but he spilled a regulation chance at head height and Nizakat continued to plunder the Dutch attack until he was run out for 59. If they thought the wicket would provide respite, the Dutch were in for a rude awakening.Rath came to the crease at the fall of Nizakat and when captain Babar Hayat fell in the 13th it brought Waqas Khan to the middle. The pair continued to keep Netherlands’ bowling attack off balance with a mix of orthodox and inventive shots to add 77 in seven overs. Rath’s innings stood out most, though, because he played against type. Usually a reserved accumulator, the left-hander charged down the pitch, shuffled back and forth, anything to throw the fast bowlers off their lines. It was an effective ploy allowing him to hit over the infield and pierce unprotected gaps on the boundary.Rath then capped off his Man-of-the-Match performance with the ball by striking on his first two deliveries in the 10th over to reduce Netherlands to 52 for 7, then took another in the 12th. His only blemish on the night came with the score on 69 for 9 when he came in off the deep midwicket rope only to see a chance go over his head and land just over the rope for six. Netherlands added 23 more runs in all as a result, which could be crucial in the context of the net-run-rate tiebreaker if Scotland hands Oman a defeat on Thursday.“Devastated yesterday, embarrassed today”That was Borren’s description in the post-match press conference as he reflected on how the meltdown against Scotland in Abu Dhabi compared to the lie-down against Hong Kong in Dubai, making them the first team from their half of the draw to be eliminated.”The two are not unrelated,” Borren said. “We obviously had a few hours to review yesterday and then to look forward to tonight. The way that yesterday’s game panned out, it probably wasn’t quite long enough given what we’ve done here tonight because we simply were not good enough tonight.”A Hong Kong box of chocolatesHong Kong opened the 2015 World T20 Qualifier in Ireland with a nine-wicket throttling at the hands of Jersey. Two matches later, they defended 129 to beat Ireland at Malahide. A day later, USA doled out a convincing seven-wicket thumping to leave them on the brink of missing the knockout round. Seventy-two hours later, they had beaten Afghanistan for the first time in seven T20 attempts in a last-ball thriller to punch their ticket to the World T20 in India.At this tournament, they followed up a stinker against Oman with a blooming rose of a showing against Netherlands. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, Hong Kong is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. Coach Simon Cook says the side’s inconsistency can be put down to giving young players as many opportunities to play so they can learn and grow on the field.”It’s a challenge,” Cook said. “Our consistency has been slow starting to tournaments. It’s about getting the back-against-the-wall attitude in terms of winning every game from the first game, rather than waiting until we are literally backs against the wall to pull out performances like this.”

Kohli meeting numbs pain for Hameed after unlucky break

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Haseeb Hameed admits he was “taken aback” to be told he had to leave the tour of India, but says he used that realisation as an excuse to meet one of his heroes, Virat Kohli, at the end of last week’s third Test in Mohali.Hameed, who is now in Mumbai as a spectator having had an operation on a badly broken finger in the UK, said he was “devastated” to learn the severity of the injury and tried to plead with the coaches to let him play on with the use of painkillers.But a dressing-room encounter with Kohli helped to assuage the disappointment of the injury, as he overcame his initial reticence to pick the brains of a player whom he found to be “open, honest and humble”.”I actually took Moeen Ali with me,” Hameed said. “After I found out I was going home, I said as a bit of a joke, let’s see if we can get hold of Virat for a couple of minutes.”He’s probably the most sought-after man in world cricket at the minute. I didn’t want to miss that opportunity. Within a couple of minutes he came out. He was great. He said ‘I’m happy to do that, now or later, whenever you want’. He was very obliging.”I was just trying to get an insight into the way he goes about his business: what he thinks, because that’s what sets him apart from other players in the world.”The look on his face when he walked out and got runs… I could tell straightaway that he means business and then he went on and delivered.”I was just trying to get into his mind as much as anything, and he was great: very open and honest. A lot of people see him as this aggressive, borderline-arrogant sort of person on the field, but I think it is pure passion and his desire to win that comes out on the field.”Off the field he’s very humble, I found, and very open with me. I was very grateful for that.”Hameed had clearly made an impression on India’s captain, both on debut at Visakhapatnam, where he batted for 50 overs in the second innings to lead England’s rearguard, and then at Mohali, where he came in at No.8 after suffering his injury, and counterattacked bravely to make an unbeaten 59.After adapting his technique to take the pressure off his injured digit, Hameed had been confident of using the downtime between the third and fourth Tests to regain sufficient fitness to complete his maiden series. England’s medical team, however, had other ideas.Taking a bow: Haseeb Hameed impressed during his debut series•Getty Images

“When I was told I had to go home, I was pretty taken aback,” he said. “I didn’t expect it.”The day before my brother said ‘when will you recover from the break?’ and I said before the next Test. The swelling will go down and I’ll be fine because we’ve got an eight-day break.”But then to hear that I had to go home to have surgery… It did hit me. I was pretty devastated at the time.”I tried to persuade the coaches and the doctor to find a way to work around it. I asked if I could just take some painkillers and strap it up and get on with it in the games. But for the long-term benefit, it just felt better for me to get the surgery done. I’m sure that’s the case. Now it’s just a case of getting myself ready for the English season.”Hameed departed safe in the knowledge that he had made a fine impression at the start of his Test career. While he has only played three Tests, the composure he demonstrated – particularly when batting in that second innings at Mohali – suggested that England had found a long-term partner for Alastair Cook, and a talent that could serve them well for years to come.”I was quite determined it wasn’t going to get to me,” he said. “Obviously if you have a break it’s going to be painful, but I just had to put that to one side and give it my best shot and not let that affect me.”That was partly the reason why I had a couple of nets beforehand: to make sure I was ready. I found that, by trying to get my finger on the bat, it was probably causing me more pain and it felt quite restrictive. So I felt it was better to just hold the bat as hard as I could with the three other fingers. The physio actually said that most of the grip strength comes from the little finger, hence why I found it difficult to start off with. But the more I batted, the more I felt comfortable with it. It went all right.”He hopes to be able to start batting again in six or seven weeks. But, while he admits he has “mixed emotions” about watching his new team play without him, he will watch both this game and the final Test of the series in Chennai from the stands with the family who have been with him every step of this tour and long, long before it.”I’m very close to my family,” he said. “They obviously love the game and they’ve watched me since I was a young lad, so it was only fair for them to come out and watch me play.”Making my debut in my dad’s home state [Gujarat]… things fell into place quite nicely. Every time I went out to bat I was more confident and felt more comfortable.”I’m sure there’s something better in store for me out there because of this injury. I’m a big believer in tough times bringing out the best in you.”

Australia fight, but South Africa still in control

by csb10.top Uncategorized


Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:50

Nicholas: Australia finally showed character

On the first day, this Test was on some sort of stimulant. On the second day, it swallowed a sedative. And on the third day, it took a mood-stabiliser, as a degree normality resumed. There was neither the chaos of Saturday’s 15 wickets, nor the dreariness of Sunday’s wash-out, but rather something in between: seven wickets, a couple of rain delays, a Quinton de Kock century, and a fightback of sorts from Australia’s batsmen. But still South Africa remained in control.The situation at stumps was this: Australia had reached 2 for 121 in their second innings, with Usman Khawaja on 56 and Steven Smith on 18. David Warner had made 45 and Joe Burns a duck, and each would consider themselves unfortunate in their modes of dismissal. South Africa’s fast men asked searching questions of Australia’s top-order batsmen, who at last had a few answers. But they were still a long way from climbing out of the hole they dug on day one.At the close of play Australia still needed 120 more runs to make South Africa bat again. That will be their first goal on day four. Only then can they consider building a target, and thus have any hope of salvaging a positive result from the Test. And although South Africa showed hints of frustration late on day three, as Vernon Philander convinced Faf du Plessis to chance a couple of fruitless reviews, there remained plenty in the pitch for Philander and his colleagues.After South Africa had been dismissed for 326, with a lead of 241 runs, Australia’s second innings started miserably as Burns fell for a duck in the first over when he tickled an attempted leg-glance off a wide Kyle Abbott delivery through to de Kock. It creates a precarious position for Burns, who was dropped in Sri Lanka, recalled for this Test to replace the injured Shaun Marsh, and will fly out of Hobart with 1 and 0 to his name.Warner and Khawaja were watchful during a 79-run partnership, though they were often tested by Philander, Abbott and Kagiso Rabada. Balls seamed and swung, whizzed past edges or narrowly missed the stumps. But for 21 overs the pair survived, even when Warner’s edge off Abbott flew towards third slip, where Dean Elgar ducked under the flying ball, perhaps having lost sight of it, to the astonishment of the rest of the cordon.Abbott eventually had his man when Warner was tucked up by a shortish delivery at his ribs, and tried to work it behind square on the leg side. The ball bounced off Warner’s hip and then ricocheted off his elbow and back into the stumps. But if Warner felt he was unlucky, Abbott had at least had reward for South Africa’s plan to tuck Warner up in that region.Khawaja, who was particularly strong through the cover and point regions, brought up his half-century from his 91st delivery and for the first time in the match, an Australian had reason to raise his bat. There had been a nervous moment early in Khawaja’s innings when Warner pushed to point and took off for a single, and Khawaja gave up on making his ground as Temba Bavuma threw – and missed.Earlier, Josh Hazlewood had completed the second six-wicket haul of his Test career as South Africa were bowled out for 326 shortly after lunch. De Kock and Bavuma were the key batsmen on the third day, compiling a 144-run sixth-wicket stand that added to Australia’s frustration after the entire second day was lost to Hobart’s rain.South Africa started the morning five down and added a further 117 runs to their total in the first session for the loss only of de Kock. And even that took until the fourth-last over before lunch, when on 104 de Kock played a tired-looking drive against Hazlewood and missed a ball that moved back in, and was bowled.Already de Kock had done more than enough damage. His fifth consecutive Test innings of fifty or more placed him in elite company: only Hashim Amla, Alan Melville, Hansie Cronje and Jacques Kallis (three times) among South Africans had achieved that feat before. He brought up his century from his 139th delivery with a single worked through square leg, and he was strong through the leg side right throughout his innings.De Kock’s poise during this series has been notable, as has Bavuma’s patience and ability to halt any momentum Australia’s bowlers might have thought they were getting. Here, Bavuma occupied the crease for 204 deliveries, more than the 197 balls that comprised Australia’s entire first innings. Bavuma was calm at the crease and struck eight fours on his way to 74, before extra bounce and a leading edge to the off side belatedly gave Joe Mennie his maiden Test wicket.Once Bavuma departed the end came relatively quickly. Hazlewood had Keshav Maharaj bowled for 1, Abbott lbw for 3, and then finished the innings with Philander caught behind for 32. South Africa had been dismissed for 326, a total that might not hint at domination of the match. But the story of this game was Australia’s 85 on the first day, and an enormous task remained ahead of them to undo the damage caused by that collapse.

Al-Amin picked for first two England ODIs

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Bangladesh have dropped Taijul Islam and brought in pace bowler Al-Amin Hossain in their 14-man squad for the first two ODIs against England, which will be held in Mirpur on October 7 and 9.Left-arm spinner Taijul bowled decently in the first two ODIs against Afghanistan last week, but he took only one wicket in his 20 overs. He brought control to the Bangladesh attack but was not as penetrating. He was replaced by left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain, in the third ODI, who took three wickets.Al-Amin’s return was slightly predictable after he was not included against Afghanistan despite doing well for Bangladesh earlier this year. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin had said at the time that his fielding was an issue.But with Rubel Hossain being dropped before the third ODI against Afghanistan, there was always the need for a pace bowler who had variation to partner Mashrafe Mortaza and Taskin Ahmed.Squad for first two ODIs: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt)., Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Mosharraf Hossain, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed

Samaraweera to stay on as batting coach

by csb10.top Uncategorized

The BCB intends to extend Thilan Samaraweera’s spell as Bangladesh batting consultant until next year’s Champions Trophy. Cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan said that Samaraweera is prepared to stay on in his role.”We are keeping him,” Akram told BDnews24.com. “Everyone is positive about him. The coach wants him to stay back, and so does everyone else. He also doesn’t have any reservations about it.”Samaraweera joined Bangladesh ahead of the Afghanistan series for a stint that was initially to run until the end of the England series. But now he will be part of the coaching staff for the tours to New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Ireland and England in the upcoming seven months.Bangladesh’s coaching staff has been revamped after Heath Streak and Ruwan Kalpage quit as bowling and assistant coach respectively earlier this year. Courtney Walsh replaced Streak while Samaraweera also joined as batting coach, though the BCB has said it is still looking for a spin bowling coach. Richard Halsall, previously the fielding coach, has been promoted to the assistant coach’s position.

Jennings 171* puts heat back on Notts

by csb10.top Uncategorized

ScorecardKeaton Jennings led Durham’s fightback•Getty Images

The day-long defiance of Keaton Jennings spoiled Nottinghamshire’s hopes of the victory which would have given them a lifeline in Division One of the Specsavers County Championship. The opener joined Michael Di Venuto and Paul Collingwood as the only players to score six Championship centuries in a season for Durham and went on to make an unbeaten 171.Durham were 385 for 8, leading by 316, when bad light forced a break, prompting a declaration which may have been influenced by a forecast of rain on Saturday afternoon. The sun re-emerged and Nottinghamshire, with eight overs to bat, reached 17 before Graham Onions trimmed Jake Libby’s off stump with four balls left.Five of Jennings’ six hundreds have come at Emirates Riverside, underlining the improvement in pitches, and this third-day surface had the visitors looking careworn by lunchtime. Despite having a nightwatchman to bowl at, they went through the session wicketless as Graham Onions passed his career-best 41 and went on to contribute 65 to a stand of 162.Jennings, who was on 32 overnight, almost fell to the day’s second and ninth balls. The first edge off Luke Fletcher fell just short of gully and the second, off Harry Gurney, flew straight through where third slip should have been. Gurney beat him a few times, but generally offered a mixed bag, as did the other left-armer, Luke Wood.Onions applied himself studiously to his task and made only eight in the first 45 minutes. He then off drove Gurney for four and lifted Imran Tahir over mid-on as he scored 49 of the 118 runs added in the session. A straight drive off Fletcher took him to his maiden half-century off 119 balls, earning rapturous applause and a hug from Jennings.After Onions fell lbw when trying to hit Samit Patel over midwicket, the best support came from Barry McCarthy with 28 in an unbroken stand of 51. Fletcher took two wickets with the new ball and Tahir went on a celebratory jig through the covers when Stuart Poynter inside-edged a drive into his stumps.Jennings proceeded at the same measured tempo, reaching 50 off 112 balls, his hundred off 204 and 150 off 285. He fiercely put away any short, wide stuff from the left-armers, drove sweetly and carefully nudged ones and twos. He also showed the skill which allowed him to score 88 in the NatWest T20 Blast final with three perfectly executed reverse sweeps.