Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: Rolling Report
ESPNcricinfo’s updates from the 25th match of IPL 2020, in Dubai
Debayan Sen10-Oct-2020
ESPNcricinfo’s updates from the 25th match of IPL 2020, in Dubai
Debayan Sen10-Oct-2020
Team will not take a knee but has decided to demonstrate commitment to inclusion
Firdose Moonda26-Nov-2020The South Africa men’s team will make a statement of anti-racism when they take on England in the white-ball series starting Friday. Their action, which will not be the taking of a knee, has been unanimously agreed on by all members of the squad and will demonstrate their commitment to inclusion.A source close to the team told ESPNcricinfo that the decision was made in the last few days, upon reflection, after their stance on not taking a knee was made public and widely criticised. They will also be wearing black armbands in support of the fight against gender-based violence and to mourn the lives lost to coronavirus.ALSO READ: Mixed BLM messages epitomise South Africa’s moral mazeSouth Africa’s revised position comes after coach Mark Boucher initially indicated that the team would not make any gestures in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement because they felt it was “not something that we have to continue to show, it’s something you have to live.” That was followed by Kagiso Rabada confirming he was “100%” in support of BLM but that the team had collectively made a decision not to take a knee. Rassie van der Dussen was then prevented from answering a question on the subject by CSA.By Wednesday, former national fast bowler Makhaya Ntini, who took a knee alongside current director of cricket Graeme Smith at the 3TC match in July, told he felt Smith should instruct the taking of a knee again as the international season begins. That afternoon the players sent out a statement reiterating their commitment to dismantling racism but saying that they regarded it as a “process, not an event”.The statement did not rule out the making of any gestures, but the rhetoric earlier in the week had appeared to. However, the team have since sought to find other ways to show their support for racial equality and will demonstrate them on Friday.Insiders confirmed that several members within the team were against taking a knee for religious reasons, as it thought that kneeling is an act to be done only before God, but that a new solution has been found.England’s players, who took a knee during their home series against West Indies and Ireland, but not for the visits of Pakistan and Australia, are likely to support South Africa in whatever gesture they perform. ESPNcricinfo understands they will also be wearing black armbands in solidarity with CSA on GBV and Covid-19.”As a team, as a squad, across all three formats, we’ve spoken about how we can create meaningful change over a period of time that is extremely authentic to every player and staff member within our group,” Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, said. “When we put our weight and our voice behind something, we feel that’s extremely powerful.”
Quick looks back on ‘toughest day of Test cricket’ after bowling through the day with a fractured toe
Umar Farooq28-Dec-2020Neil Wagner was carrying the pain of fractured toes*, sustained while batting in the first innings of the first Test against Pakistan, but he persevered through that injury and bowled 21 overs in Pakistan’s first innings because it would have ‘taken a stretcher’ to carry him off the field where he would be sitting and watching his team-mates do the hard work.Wagner was struck on his right foot by a Shaheen Afridi yorker on the second morning, but was later cleared to play if he could tolerate the pain.”I do take a lot of pride in something like that,” Wagner said about bowling through the pain. “But it comes down to the team. There’s still a way of contributing for them. I wouldn’t be wanting to sit on the side with my foot up and watching the boys doing the hard work out there, and I can’t be there to help out. I feel I’ll be left out, I have a bit of FOMO. Injuries happen and it’s unlucky, but I can still walk, I can still do things, I can run. It’s not going to stop me. It’s sore and it’s uncomfortable but it’s just one of those things you have to deal with.
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“Test matches don’t come easy. Playing for your country is never anything you can take for granted. I know how bloody hard I had to work to get to where I am now and I’m sure as hell not going to sit on the side and watch other people do it. I want to be part of it and playing my part. Unless they carry me off on a stretcher, I’m going to try and do everything I can, I guess.”Related
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Wagner had continued to bat after being struck on the toe, getting treatment from the physio and eventually being the last man out for 19, to stretch New Zealand’s first-innings total to 431. Wagner then sent down 21 overs – three on the second day and 18 on the third – picking up 2 for 50 to bowl Pakistan out for 239. Wagner’s effort included a long spell of nine overs, during which he dismissed Fawad Alam before going off the field.Play on the third day was interrupted by several rain breaks, and taking a pain-killing injection in the first one helped Wagner soldier through till the end.”Hurts every time I walk, to be fair,” he said, responding to whether the pain was more acute while bowling. “Just walking to fine leg, doing anything, twisting, turning…as soon as you bend the toe a little bit. I guess obviously standing on it hurts. It’s just one of those things, I guess. Try and put it out of your mind and get on with it. Try to get into the battle and try not to think about it too much. Obviously that’s hard because it’s at the back of your mind the whole time. At the start it sort of felt like – not having to change my action but it felt a little bit awkward towards it. It wasn’t until the first rain break where I just went down and said I can’t bear the pain, got a jab done and that sort of took the pain away for a lot of it and it helped. It’s one of those things, you’ve just got to find a way and deal with it.”To focus his mind more on the task at hand than on the pain, Wagner said he didn’t keep track of the number of overs he had bowled either, and expressed confidence in being able to bowl again in the second innings.”I’ve bowled – I don’t even know how many overs – didn’t want to count them and think too much about it,” he said. “So I’m pretty confident I can bowl again. It’s going to be damn sore, no doubt about it, but bowling is always… I’ve never bowled in a game where something doesn’t hurt, so it’s sort of part of it. It’s a different pain but I’ve just got to find a way of still being able to contribute to the team. There’s still a role to play out there and we still have to come back to get ten wickets again and try and win a Test match. So whichever way I can play a role, still going to have to try and do it.”Wagner called the third day one of the toughest he had experienced, harking back to a Test match against India in October 2016 for a comparable experience.”I went back in the change-room and said it was probably one of my toughest days of Test cricket I’ve ever experienced. Took me back to Kolkata against India, probably one of the toughest matches I’ve played. It was pretty hot and dealing with the heat, humidity and going off and changing your clothes after every four-over spell… I went through four sets and was just completely knackered off the exhaustion of the Indian heat. Today was right up there. It was pretty tough.The possibility of Wagner being available to bowl in the fourth innings will be a boost to New Zealand. Pakistan had collapsed to 80 for 6, and seemed in danger of falling well short of the follow-on mark, but fighting half-centuries from Mohammad Rizwan (71) and Faheem Ashram (91) meant they avoided that fate. New Zealand still have a handsome lead of 192, and are likely to press for quick second-innings runs and a declaration when they start batting again on the fourth day.Wagner praised Pakistan’s grit, but also lauded his team-mates for not letting the intensity drop.”The wicket’s deteriorating at the moment and we knew we had a big task to try and bowl them out today. I think today was the best time to bat, but also it was tough in periods because there was a bit of variable bounce and the ball went up and down a fraction,” he said. “Those cracks are starting to come into play a little bit more now, as the game goes on. But they batted really well. They’ve played well this whole Test match. They bowled really well which gave us nothing, and obviously took a lot of time out of the game. The way they batted – I thought we bowled really well and put them under pressure but they still managed to get a really good partnership. We kept throwing everything at them and they kept counter-attacking against us. But credit to all the guys, everybody kept running in and bowling for each other, working really hard. We bowled as a pack and knew rewards would come our way.”The second and final Test of the series starts on January 3, and it’s one Wagner does not intend to miss if he can help it.”Don’t want to look too far ahead, but you’re going to have to try and force me away,” he laughed. “We’ll sum it up after each day and hopefully it gets better. Hopefully we can do the job and get a couple of days rest for the foot, but we’ll see how it goes.”*This copy was updated on Dec 30 at 11.00am GMT to reflect that Wagner had two broken toes and not one.
“The wicket was not offering anything for the fast bowlers but he was still moving the ball.”
Andrew Fidel Fernando20-Jan-202111 of Stuart Broad’s 17 overs in the second innings in Galle were maidens. Angelo Mathews, who faced 37 Broad deliveries in that innings, managed only one scoring shot against him. At times, Mathews said, it felt like he was facing Broad in England.On a pitch that has historically been unkind to quicks, Broad was not only phenomenally accurate, he also attacked the stumps more than he might at home, bowled leg-cutters that almost spat off the dusty Galle surface, and changed up his pace. He’d also taken three wickets for 20 in the first innings, sparking the collapse that essentially won England the match.Mathews went on to make 71 in the second innings, but thanks in part to Broad’s miserly bowling, Mathews’ strike rate was down at 32.”We all know what kind of a bowler Broad is – he’s taken over 500 Test wickets and he’s one of the best fast bowlers going around,” Mathews said. “On any kind of surface, the wicket was not offering anything for the fast bowlers, but he was moving the ball. One spell I felt like I was playing in England against him because he was moving the ball. That’s very difficult for a fast bowler to do in these conditions in Galle.”England spinners were not far behind on the accuracy front, according to Mathews. Dom Bess and Jack Leach bowled 74.5 overs between them in the second innings, going at less than three an over between them. Leach claimed a five-wicket haul, and Bess took three wickets. They took 14 of the 20 Sri Lanka wickets to fall in the match.”Even the spinners didn’t give anything away,” Mathews said. “They didn’t give loose deliveries at all. Even though the wicket was turning, and they were trying to take wickets. It was pure Test cricket where they held on to a line and length and we actually made a lot of mistakes by trying to go for too many shots too early off good balls, where we couldn’t score off.”Stuart Broad claimed the big wicket of Angelo Mathews•SLC
Despite the England attack’s accuracy, and although many Sri Lanka batsmen got out playing attacking shots, Mathews does not think a more conservative batting approach represents Sri Lanka’s best hope of levelling the series in the second Test. Generally, the thinking at Galle has been to score your runs briskly, before the inevitable unplayable delivery comes your way.”The way I play is different to a Dinesh Chandimal or a Kusal Perera or a Niroshan Dickwella,” Mathews said. “We’ve got to find our scoring options rather than try to copy some other batsman. Joe Root played a magnificent innings and we can learn a lot from the way he batted, but sometimes the shots he played, we can’t play. We need to be able to understand what we can and what we can’t do on these wickets against their bowlers.”It’s not about being conservative. You always have to look to score runs. But you need to understand how you can score runs off these bowlers and in these conditions.”
Touring India, assuredly, is much more than Phil Tufnell’s poverty and elephants
Bruce Taylor06-Feb-2021Touring India, assuredly, is much more than Phil Tufnell’s poverty and elephants. Newcomers must adjust not only to a country of vast contrasts and stunning diversity but also to pitches and match atmospheres unlike any other in the world. In the second of the My India Tour series, Bruce Taylor, the New Zealand allrounder, talks about his Test debut at Calcutta on the 1964-65 tour of India , when he hit a century and took a five-for – the only time this has been achieved by a debutant.I had no time to get nervous about my debut because I only came into the side when Barry Sinclair fell ill and was unable to play. The first thing I remember about the game is John Reid hitting four sixes before lunch – the ground was chocka [full] with 30,000 to 40,000 people. I was pretty nervous before going out to bat but as I went I out I remember Polly Umrigar, then the manager of Indian side, wishing me good luck.I was 10 or 12 overnight, then the next morning Sutty [Bert Sutcliffe] and
I played a few shots. After a while Sutty came down the wicket to me and
said: ‘Listen, son – you could score 100 here if you keep your head down.’Then I hit the next ball for six and Bert just shook his head. The bowling
wasn’t as strong as it is nowadays and there was not as much pressure on me
as you might expect now. I had a few swings and misses. But I became
conscious of how close I was to a century as we were in the last over before
lunch. I managed to score it before the break.We had a couple of hours bowling at them before stumps that day and I picked up a couple. We thought the wicket would take a bit of spin but we got most of our wickets through our medium pacers.I was particularly pleased with getting Bapu Nadkarni’s wicket. He scored 75
against us in the first Test and I came around the wicket to him and got him
first ball. The next morning I got the Indian captain, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.He had batted fairly well, with a fair bit of luck. He got to 153 but had
been dropped a few times. He got a big top edge to one of mine and I
remember going for the ball as it came down near the point area. I thought,
‘If no one else can catch them I might as well try.’I actually collided with our wicketkeeper John Ward who had run across to
take the catch. Fortunately, he held it.I don’t think what I did in that match sunk in until years later. It wasn’t
as if we could go out and celebrate with a few drinks being in India.Other
‘The dinner service was all gold’ – John Reid’s tour in 1955-56.
Much more than cricket – Glenn Turner’s tour in 1969-70.
‘It was like a sauna’ – Richard Hadlee’s tour in 1976-77.
Summer sports to be safeguarded by £300 million scheme in wake of Covid disruption
ESPNcricinfo staff02-Mar-2021English cricket looks set to be the major beneficiary of a £300 million government bail-out for summer sport, when Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveils the Budget on Wednesday.The news will come as a major boost to the ECB, which announced losses in excess of £100 million in 2020 after the sport bore the brunt of the first Covid-19 lockdown.”As a huge cricket fan I know there’s nothing that says summer more than watching your favourite team,” Mr Sunak told The Telegraph. “I can’t wait for sports grounds to be filled with fans with atmosphere again – this £300 million cash boost will help make that a reality.”The 2020 county season, which had been due to get underway last April, had to be postponed until August with most clubs choosing to furlough their staff in the interim, while the ECB were forced to make 62 redundancies at the end of the season.The board did manage to mitigate its losses – which had initially be projected to be in excess of £300 million – by ensuring that England’s men fulfilled their complete summer schedule against West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland and Australia.However, all of those matches, as well as the rescheduled county and women’s season, had to take place behind closed doors due to the pandemic, and county chiefs have warned that a repeat of those circumstances in 2021 would be unsustainable for many clubs.The Government funding – which is expected to be shared between tennis, horse racing, rugby league and women’s football – will be allocated by an independent committee, led by Sir Ian Cheshire, the former chairman of Barclays Bank, and run through Sport England.The scheme is effectively an extension of the Sport Winter Survival Package, announced by the Government in November, which was also a £300 million investment, comprising “soft” loans lasting up to 20 years and grants.Lord Ian Botham told The Telegraph: “Everyone in the cricketing world will be delighted. It’s been a tough time for the sport. But this could give us the opportunity to get the fans safely back in the stadiums, which is the next step. Cricket is our summer sport and I’m pleased that it’s being looked after.”Though the money will be targeted at the professional level of the game, the ECB is understood to have warned the Government that, without the trickle-down effect that gate receipts have on the finances of English counties in particular, the knock-on effects for grass-roots cricket and the women’s game would be significant.Kent’s latest financial figures, released on Tuesday, support that concern, with the club reporting a drop in income of almost £2 million from all areas of the business outside of its ECB funding, including membership subscriptions, ticket sales and catering contracts.”We are facing a critical year from a financial viewpoint,” said Kent Cricket’s Honorary Treasurer, Derek Taylor.Related
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Warwickshire’s chief executive, Stuart Cain, has also welcomed the Government’s measures to safeguard the sport’s finances as “positive news”.”Like most sports, cricket has taken a huge hit over the last 12 months and it’s only prudent financial measures and generous support from our Club Members that have seen us through,” Cain said. “The devil is in the detail so we look forward to more information on how to access the emergency funding after the budget.”Limited capacity crowds are due to be allowed back into stadiums by mid-May, according to the Government’s recently announced road-map, although some county venues are hoping to put themselves forward for pilot events from the early weeks of the season.Cain also confirmed that the club has been working with the ECB and Government on measures to permit larger crowds at Edgbaston during the venue’s first major event of the summer, the second Test against New Zealand in June.”Using protocols such as testing, masks and vaccine certificates along with other social distancing measures, we’re confident that we can get a sizable crowd in to the game safely, setting sport up for when full crowds could potentially return after June 21.”The professional game has been played behind closed doors and cricket clubs across the County have struggled with bars closed and restrictions stopping the game being played in the way we love,” Cain added. “Warwickshire Cricket Board have been excellent in the way that they have helped the recreational game through the pandemic.”
With Ngidi and Behrendorff unavailable, the Super Kings could turn to Tahir for wicket-taking bite
Hemant Brar15-Apr-20218:12
Should the Punjab Kings stick with Meredith and Richardson?
The Chennai Super Kings have built their empire on the mostly slow and spin-friendly pitches of the MA Chidambaram Stadium, where they found ways to control the pace of the fast-moving format. In 2018, their “Dad’s Army” proved that age was just a number. In 2019, they came within one ball of a repeat. But when the tournament moved to the UAE in 2020, they struggled to adapt, mainly because their squad was built for a particular set of conditions.While IPL 2021 is being played in India, little has changed for the Super Kings with no team playing at home through the season. The Super Kings are playing their first five games at the Wankhede Stadium, where the conditions are in stark contrast to those at Chepauk. But while they lost their opening match to the Delhi Capitals despite scoring 188, they showed a glimpse of a changed approach when Moeen Ali and Suresh Raina kept playing attacking cricket despite the loss of two early wickets. They know they need more of that.Their opponents for Friday, the Punjab Kings, began their campaign with a last-ball win against the Rajasthan Royals. Apart from the result, they ticked a few other boxes as well. KL Rahul batted freely for his 50-ball 91, Chris Gayle was also among the runs, and Deepak Hooda, promoted to No. 4, smashed 64 off just 28 balls. While their overseas fast bowlers Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith were expensive, the Punjab Kings would believe they are very close to nailing their best XI.
The Super Kings will have to manage without Lungi Ngidi and Jason Behrendorff as both remain unavailable because of quarantine rules.
Punjab Kings: 1 KL Rahul (capt, wk), 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Chris Jordan, 8 Jhye Richardson, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Arshdeep SinghChennai Super Kings: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Dwayne Bravo, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Deepak ChaharShould the Super Kings pick Imran Tahir to add wicket-taking bite to their attack?•BCCI
Stunning innings from young allrounder makes light work of Somerset’s target
David Hopps11-Jun-2021Surrey 188 for 3 (S Curran 72*, Evans 65) beat Somerset 187 for 6 (Abell 69, Hildreth 31)Surrey are strutting – and how. On the back of their immense performance against Middlesex in the London derby, they withstood a six-hour journey to the West Country to dispense with Somerset in equally bullying fashion. Somerset’s 187 for 6 felt a little inadequate, but Surrey wolfed it down, and spat it out, by seven wickets with four overs to spare. Awesome stuff.Surrey had made 223 for 7 at Lord’s, the highest score in 72 domestic T20 matches on the ground, and their mood had not shifted. Will Jacks, who had made the fastest T20 half-century in 11 years at Lord’s, fell cheaply to Josh Davey, but Jason Roy pummelled the Powerplay and then Laurie Evans and Sam Curran produced a stand of 104 in 52 balls for the third wicket that made light of the chase.Evans’ power-hitting is well known, and he looked in prime form against wayward bowling, but Curran’s not so much. He has five T20 half-centuries and many predict that batting will ultimately become the dominant part of his all-round status. But his unbeaten 72 from 36 balls, with six sixes and five fours represented a career-best and, perhaps, a new level.Some of the sixes, to be frank, needed hitting, especially the two from legspinner Max Waller which set him on his way, but by the time he hauled Ben Green over midwicket, with victory nearing, there was a venom in his strokeplay that showed the gulf between the sides. Once the hundred was raised in the eighth over, it was just a matter of time.Somerset, with Jack Leach and Craig Overton on England duty, look a little thin on options. Their home matches are coming thick and fast – they face Kent at Taunton on Tuesday – and although they have only lost their first two in a 14-match league, they need a reversal of fortunes and fast.Two evenings earlier, on the same ground, Somerset had posted 185 for 7 against Essex and been beaten by three wickets with seven balls to spare. At the interval, the balance felt identical – with the added pessimism that Surrey’s batters had gone stratospheric in their defeat of Middlesex.Watch Somerset regularly and, for all their talent, one of the recurring themes is their captain, Tom Abell, resolutely trying to put things right. There are many excellent professionals in county cricket, but very few who give the impression they are so committed to the cause with every breath of their being.Related
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The outcome of that determination was 69 off 44 balls. Abell has had to work to become a T20 cricketer and, apart from his trademark scoop, which he executed perfectly against Tom Curran to reach his fifty, his game is based on intelligent shot selection.Somerset had a decent Powerplay – 63 for 2 – and, after Tom Banton had left early, reaching at a wide one from Sam Curran to fall at short third man, much of that was down to Will Smeed, who stepped in for the injured Roelof van der Merwe at No. 3, and struck 23 from 13 balls. If van der Merwe was missed, it was with the ball.Smeed is a product of King’s College, Taunton, the alma mater of such luminaries as Jos Buttler, Banton and James Hildreth and, if Somerset’s production line seems, shall we say, somewhat niche, there is no denying its quality. As for Smeed, he was impressive from the outset. In his first two balls, he probably just wanted to get a bat on ball, but found to his delight that he had smoothed Matt Dunn to the cover boundary and stolen a neat single off the next. He was unfortunate to pick out Roy at backward point.Once James Hildreth fell lbw to Gareth Batty (one of a handful of players to have figured in all 18 seasons of the Blast) Somerset faltered. Surrey’s victory owed as much to the post-Powerplay spin squeeze applied by Batty and the slow left-armer Dan Moriarty. By the time Eddie Byrom fell to Tom Curran, cutting, Somerset’s conservatism against some well-drilled overs had become costly. With Marchant de Lange a place too high at No. 8, it was understandable why: without the Overtons (Craig with England, Jamie with Surrey), Somerset are struggling for balance.An 18-run over against Tom Curran, with Abell to the fore, helped to give Somerset a vaguely competitive total, but when Abell fell with 15 balls remaining, mistiming a big leg-side hit against Dunn’s off-cutter, the writing was on the wall.
Three wickets for Thompson help restrict Birmingham as Bairstow, Malan, Rashid return to action
David Hopps10-Jun-2021Yorkshire 147 for 4 (Bairstow 34, Kohler-Cadmore 31*) beat Birmingham Bears 144 for 8 (Hain 59, Thompson 3-23) by six wickets with 11 balls to spareYorkshire encouraged the belief that they have finally assembled a T20 squad that can challenge for honours as they overcame Birmingham Bears by six wickets with 11 balls to spare at Headingley.The presence of three England T20 internationals – Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan and Adil Rashid (carded to come in at No.11) gave them obvious extra pedigree in their first match of the tournament, but it was an energetic approach by young players who have developed while the likes of Bairstow and Rashid has been otherwise engaged that also indicated some lean T20 years might be behind them.Rashid’s absence from Yorkshire’s side, particularly in the Championship, has occasionally attracted pointed remarks, largely unfair, but it is even more striking that this was Bairstow’s first Blast appearance for Yorkshire since 2016. Rashid finished wicketless, but Bairstow and Malan assembled a second-wicket of stand 58 in 34 balls that set them up nicely on a slow but accommodating surface to overhaul the Bears’ sub-standard 144 for 8.If Yorkshire looked focused, the Headingley crowd displayed a split personality – unruly on the West Stand, where down-in-one beer challenges, chants and fancy dress predominated, as if release (perhaps temporary) from lockdown was too much to take; watching with serious intent elsewhere where Tim Bresnan’s return to Headingley in Birmingham colours probably brought learned assessments of his comparative strike rates across all competitions.Birmingham wasted an appealing batting night with a wild top-order display. Will Rhodes’ standing has grown substantially since Yorkshire released him, but he made nought, toe-ending a wide full toss from Matthew Waite to mid-off. Waite, a combative all-rounder playing his first match for two years, also removed Adam Hose who endured a painful blow in the box, bad enough for a five-minute hold-up, then resorted to an over of leg-side slogging, as if disorientated, before one of them fell into the hands of Adam Lyth at mid-on.Jordan Thompson was another effervescent allrounder who had a good night, although for all his energy and ambition, his three wickets were blessed with fortune. Dan Mousley hacked a dirty full toss to long on, Carlos Brathwaite tried to clip a gift outside leg stump and got a leading edge which Thompson sprang backwards to his left to claim. Another caught-and-bowled ended Michael Burgess’ tortuous stay.From 89 for 6 in the 13th over, Birmingham were forced into damage limitation and Sam Hain, who glued things together with 59 from 43 balls, would have been grateful for a rare face of sanity – the unmistakeable figure for Yorkshire watchers of Bresnan, returning to Headingley for the first time since leaving the county at the end of 2019.Hain included three sixes in his 59 – the most extravagant, a falling-backwards ramp shot against the pace of Lockie Ferguson – but, by and large, his was an unobtrusive innings which contrasted with the untamed thrashes going on around him.Bresnan’s presence in the closing overs was a welcome sub-plot for the Headingley crowd which had been unable to offer him a farewell last season. In between the applause at each end of his innings, he spent much of the time desperately urging extra speed from his considerable frame as Yorkshire hunted run-outs; a Ferguson-Thompson combo on the square leg boundary, with Thompson’s throw hitting direct, was the closest effort and sent him diving into the dirt. He did muscle Waite for a straight six before he fell in the penultimate over.Matches between these sides have brought few major batting displays: Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s 94 not out at Edgbaston being an exception. But Yorkshire’s chase was pretty straightforward.Malan had played only one match for Punjab in IPL, but he had also been with England in India and admitted to having felt “a bit of bubble fatigue”. His 23 from 20 balls was that of a man finding his way back. When Malan lofted Bresnan into the leg-side ring and Bairstow chopped on to Danny Briggs, it was left to a trio of younger players to round things off.Kohler-Cadmore’s stand with Harry Brook was a sensible affair – 49 in eight overs. Kohler-Cadmore has had a lean Championship season and he was dropped twice in his unbeaten 31. Yorkshire have often made a meal of closing out matches, so when Brook tried to lift the tempo and fell at long on, there were concerns. But this time Will Fraine’s no-nonsense finale took them home in emphatic fashion.
Peshawar suffer more final heartache as they fell well short in tall chase
Sreshth Shah24-Jun-2021In the final for the first time, Multan Sultans completed one of the great turnarounds in a franchise cricket season to lift their maiden title by comprehensively defeating Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL 2021 final.Two blistering half-centuries from Sohaib Maqsood and Rilee Rossouw made them favourites at the halfway mark, after which regular wickets at key intervals saw off the Zalmi challenge. Although the tournament’s highest wicket-taker Shahnawaz Dahani finished wicketless, the others stepped up on the final day. Blessing Muzarabani and Imran Khan took two wickets each at economies of under seven, and the ageless Imran Tahir collected three.Sultans started the second leg of the PSL fifth on the points table – having lost four of their first five matches – but led by their captain Mohammad Rizwan, went on to win four of the next five to finish the league stage second. They then swatted the Islamabad United challenge in the first qualifier and the win in the final was the crowning glory in their magnificent UAE leg of the season.For Zalmi, it was the third time in the last four seasons that they faltered in the final. They failed to capitalise after keeping Sultans quiet for the first half of the first innings, and their hero of the two eliminators Hazratullah Zazai faced only five balls. Those factors, coupled with the lack of a big partnership a la Maqsood and Rossouw, resulted in the 47-run defeat for Wahab Riaz’s men.Masood, Rizwan fall after blossoming startSent in to bat, it was a slow start for Sultans. Openers Shan Masood and Rizwan were kept quiet by Sameen Gul and Mohammad Irfan in the opening overs, and it was as late as the fourth over that the acceleration began. It was kickstarted by Rizwan as he drove Irfan for a four and then pulled him for six. Masood then cut and flicked Gul for three fours to take Sultans to 42 after the Powerplay, and it seemed the base was set for both batters to continue their assault.However, Masood, on 37, fell victim to a Mohammad Imran slower ball in the ninth over and saw his off stump shattered and Rizwan soon followed when he chopped a wide ball from the same bowler to the wicketkeeper. From 66 for no loss, Sultans had swiftly fallen to 83 for 2, and only nine overs remained in the innings.Maqsood, Rossouw put on a showIt was just a few hours earlier that Maqsood was added to the Pakistan T20I squad travelling to England following news of Haider Ali’s bio-bubble breach, and the batter showed why he had been called up.He began by hitting Riaz for four and six off the first two balls of the 13th and bookended the over with another boundary. He then showed power and finesse in the 15th by hammering Imran for a six over long-on and playing a reverse pat for four behind square. Off Imran’s next over he got inside the line to place a four behind square, following it up with a powerful six over extra cover. By the time the 17th over was done, he had raced away to a 23-ball fifty – his fifth half-century of the season – and celebrated his return to the national set-up after five years.But while Maqsood’s big shots were a sight to behold, there was another man causing equal damage at the other end. Rossouw started his innings with a first-ball four, and that was the tempo he played with all innings. Sandwiched between Maqsood’s assault of Riaz and Imran, he smacked two sixes and a four in a 20-run 14th over from Amad Butt. He started the over by punching Butt down the ground for four. Next ball, he scooped a six over long leg and a few balls later deposited Butt for six over square leg. Rossouw eventually fell for a 21-ball 50, but by then the 44-ball stand of 98 had demoralised the Zalmi bowlers and had Sultans dreaming of 200.And 200 would be breached in the final over. Maqsood survived a caught after Butt’s waist-high full toss was deemed a no-ball, after which the free hit was deposited over long-on. Then came a fortuitous six, as Sherfane Rutherford failed to take a clean catch at the straight boundary. By the end of the innings Maqsood finished unbeaten on 65 in 35 balls, Sultans had reached 206, and Zalmi needed to pull off a record chase after conceding 116 runs in their last eight overs.Akmal keeps Zazai at the non-striker’sZazai’s back-to-back half-centuries in the two eliminators had dragged Zalmi to the final, but on the night he faced only three balls in the first five overs. While Kamran Akmal kept finding occasional boundaries in the opening salvo of the chase, he struggled to get the singles, starving his in-form partner of the strike. By the time Zalmi had reached 36 in five overs, Akmal had scored all those runs.The first time Zazai faced the first ball of an over was the last over of the Powerplay, delivered by Muzarabani. It started by Zazai swatting a length ball over square leg for six in what seemed like an ominous sign for Sultans but Muzarabani returned with a slower ball, angling away, that Zazai was tempted to cut over the off side. However, all he could get was an as thick edge, and Masood at point gobbled it up. Imran Khan then sent Akmal packing by bowling a length ball on off that stayed a bit low and shattered the batter’s stumps.Malik and Rutherford try their bestWith Malik and half-centurion from Eliminator 2 Jonathan Wells around, Zalmi still had enough in the tank to pull the chase off. But boundaries after the Powerplay dried up, and in an attempt to take a second run against Rossouw’s arm at long-on, Wells was run out at the bowler’s end for a 13-ball 6. In the five overs after the Powerplay, Zalmi could add only 27.But in Zalmi, the four-time finalists, there was still some fight left. Malik pumped Imran for six and four after surviving being caught off a front-foot no-ball and then hammered Tahir for sixes over long-on and long-off in the 14th over that went for 21.However, Malik was caught on 48, and while Rutherford kept scything away at deliveries that were in his arc, it was Tahir – the 42-year-old Tahir – who finally broke Zalmi’s back. The West Indian looked to slog Tahir over deep midwicket, only to top edge it for Rizwan to swallow. That had Tahir running towards the dugout, and he would do that two more times in the over. By the time the 18th over was starting off, the remaining Sultans squad members were already standing shoulder to shoulder to run in for the celebrations.