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Opener’s 89 holds her side together before Katie Levick, Phoebe Turner defend modest total vs Thunder

ECB Reporters Network13-Sep-2023Northern Diamonds gave their chances of qualifying for the final stages of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy a massive boost with a comprehensive 48-run victory over cross-Pennines rivals Thunder at Sale Sports Club.Lauren Winfield-Hill continued her brilliant white-ball form for Diamonds with a barnstorming 89, before Katie Levick with four wickets and Phoebe Turner with three, sealed the win in a game which the hosts looked to be in control of at the interval after bowling out the visitors for a below-par 196.Diamonds got off to a quick start with Winfield-Hill beginning where she left off against Western Storm by hitting a trio of boundaries in the first few overs as the score raced along in the early morning sunshine.But Thunder hit back when Phoebe Graham produced a cracking delivery which nipped back and removed Sterre Kalis’s bails for eight.Winfield-Hill continued to dominate the bowling, hitting fours at will as Graham and fellow opening bowler Tara Norris proved expensive with the visitors reaching the end of the powerplay on 63 for 2.With Hollie Armitage departing just before that in the ninth over for nine, attempting to reverse sweep Hannah Jones, Diamonds gave a hint of the trouble that was to come as Thunder successfully introduced the spin of Jones, Fi Morris and Olivia Bell to brilliant effect.Jones had Emma Marlow trapped in front for nine before Bell ripped out Diamonds’ middle order with a succession of wickets which dragged the home side back into a game Winfield-Hill had threatened to take away from them.Rebecca Duckworth played well for her 27 off 54 balls as she and Winfield-Hill put on 46 runs for the fourth wicket before she was bowled by Bell leaving the former England opener struggling to find another partner of note.The pressure of carrying the innings eventually became too much for Winfield-Hill. who was bowled by the returning Norris for 89 off 90 balls including 14 fours. It was a superb knock but her departure hastened the end for Diamonds who quickly lost Leah Dobson and Turner to the rampant Bell before Levick became the Thunder off-spinner’s fourth wicket.By then the score was 169 for 8 and Naomi Dattani mopped up the tail’s dogged resistance with the wickets of Grace Hall and Jessica Woolston to leave Diamonds posting an underwhelming 196 all out off 46.4 overs.With both sides desperate for the win, nerves were jangling as Thunder began their innings with one delivery from Lizzie Scott’s first over going for five wides.Runs flowed for the first five overs until Liberty Heap was bowled by a fine delivery from Woolston for 14 to leave Thunder 27 for 1.Dattani looked to rebuild and the hosts passed 50 before she was brilliantly caught down the leg side by Winfield-Hill off Levick’s third ball with the spinner’s fourth ball trapping Morris in front without scoring to leave Thunder suddenly up against it at 54 for 3.A captain’s innings was required and Ellie Threlkeld looked up for the challenge as she and Seren Smale began to build a fourth-wicket partnership which slowly pulled Thunder back into the contest.A wicket looked vital for Diamonds and Turner obliged as she began a spell that would turn the match the visitor’s way with Smale top edging a delivery to depart for 33 before Threlkeld’s vigil ended slightly unluckily when she found Marlow on the leg side boundary for 31.With that the stuffing was knocked out of the Thunder reply and Turner took another one to claim Daisy Mullan without scoring with Levick accounting for Norris lbw for one.Graham quickly followed the same way to the same bowler for a third-ball duck and despite some resistance from Laura Delaney and Bell the game was up when the latter was run out for eight and Jones fell the same way as Thunder were dismissed for 148.

Oshada Fernando has been subbed in for the second match running

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jul-2022Sri Lanka have been hit with another Covid-19 case after opener Pathum Nissanka tested positive, taking the number of players since the start of the Australia series to six.”He was found to be positive during an Antigen test conducted on the player yesterday morning, following the player complaining of feeling unwell,” an SLC statement said. “A PCR test carried out later in the day confirmed the result. Nissanaka was immediately isolated in a different hotel upon identification and will undergo Covid-19 protocols.”For the second time in two matches, Oshada Fernando has been brought in as the Covid substitute after he replaced Angelo Mathews, the first player to test positive, during the opening game in Galle.Since then Praveen Jayawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva, Asitha Fernando and Jeffrey Vandersay have also been positive with the quartet ruled out of the second Test.Mathews was able to take his place in the side for this game having completed his five-day isolation period.With two days of the series remaining, Australia have managed to avoid any Covid cases within their squad. Andrew McDonald, the head coach, arrived late for the tour last month after testing positive before leaving.Sri Lanka have a short turnaround to their next Test with the opening match against Pakistan getting underway in Galle on June 16.

Akila Dananjaya had a day to remember and a day to forget in the space of an over

Madushka Balasuriya03-Mar-20210:25

Pollard on six sixes in an over: ‘An achievement that’s right up there’

In one of the more ridiculous T20 run-chases you will witness, Kieron Pollard became just the third player to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket off the same bowler, Akila Dananjaya, who had rocked West Indies’ chase just an over earlier with a hat-trick.It felt like it was either sixes or wickets for most of West Indies’ innings as an opening stand of 52 in 3.2 became 52 for 3 when Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle (on his comeback) and Nicholas Pooran fell in three balls to Dananjaya. Eight balls later Lendl Simmons also departed, lbw to the impressive Wanindu Hasaranga, before Pollard’s immense response.Facing the next over from Dananjaya he joined Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh in having taken 36 off an over with some of the shots almost going out of the small ground in Antigua. West Indies’ powerplay tally of 98 was also a new record and the wild ride continued when Pollard was also lbw to Hasaranga before relative calm was brought to the game’s final minutes by Jason Holder, who was returning to the T20I fold.His 29 off 24 balls saw West Indies home with four wickets and 41 balls to spare after they had limited Sri Lanka to a sub-par 131 for 9, on what was a good batting surface. Such was the feast and famine nature of West Indies’ batting – 75% of their runs (102) came in boundaries off just 19 deliveries – that the innings required Holder’s steadying touch despite all the preceding pyrotechnics.So devastating was Pollard’s innings that it took off most, if not all, of the sheen off what would have otherwise been a dream return to international cricket for Dananjaya. That said, much of the uncertainty in West Indies’ chase was brought on by Hasaranga, whose back-to-back scalps of Pollard and Fabian Allen – the hosts still needed 31 runs with four wickets in hand at that point – had sown doubt.In the first innings of the rain-interrupted game, Obed McCoy’s 2 for 25 was the pick of the figures, but it was an all-round effort for West Indies with each of the six bowlers used picking up a wicket. Aside from a brief period when debutant Pathum Nissanka and Niroshan Dickwella put on a 51-run second-wicket stand, the West Indies bowlers were always in control. The fact that just the three boundaries were conceded in final 10 overs tells its own story.Kieron Pollard became the third batsman to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

West Indies seamers keep batters in check Holder exercised all his considerable experience and showed exactly why the selectors had chosen to put their faith in him. Utilising his entire repertoire of variations – yorkers, slower balls, slower bouncers, you name it – he reeled back the Sri Lanka innings in the middle overs, just as they would have been looking to up the scoring.His four overs went for just 19 runs, and accounted for the wicket of Dickwella, who had been growing increasingly frustrated as a result of the obduracy of Holder and the West Indies bowlers in general.Alongside him, Dwayne Bravo – another veteran returning to the side – and the much greener McCoy used similar variations to keep the visiting batsman quiet.Fidel Edwards meanwhile also enjoyed a fruitful return to international cricket. At 39, he still showed he was able to hit the 140kph mark fairly regularly, and he was rewarded with the wicket of Angelo Mathews.Nissanka impresses in brief cameoBoth Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews were guilty of picking out fielders when it would have been easier not to, while other seasoned campaigners, Dickwella and Thisara Perera, will not want to look back at their shot selection. But in Pathum Nissanka there was Sri Lanka’s one bright spark in an otherwise forgetful performance with the bat.While he has impressed in first-class cricket, here he showed off his T20 chops. Coming in following the early dismissal of Gunathilaka, Nissanka showed no sign of nerves, comfortably rotating the strike initially, before switching gears. A glorious slog sweep for six over deep midwicket off Kevin Sinclair was undoubtedly the highlight of his innings, while a few more well-placed boundaries served to show some of the reasons behind his selection.He will still be disappointed though at his inability to build on what was a promising start, getting bogged down towards the end of his innings, culminating in an ill-judged saunter down the tracks that saw him stumped off a flighted Fabian Allen delivery. He finished with 39 off 34 balls.Akila Dananjaya took a hat-trick to shake West Indies•AFP/Getty Images

All aboard the Dananjaya rollercoasterRarely will a bowler’s emotions have fluctuated as wildly on a cricket field as Dananjaya’s; by the end of his second over, the young spinner could hardly have accounted for a more perfect return to international cricket. He had just picked up his first-ever international hat-trick, one which included the wicket of Gayle. And in the process he looked to have hauled his side back into a game that was slipping away fast, following some lusty hits from Lewis and Simmons.That was the good. What followed next is the cricketing equivalent of being subjected to a pop quiz that you haven’t studied for at all, and having no option but to simply stare at a blank piece of paper, resigned to your fate, as you solemnly evaluate the life choices that led you to that point.Maybe even that doesn’t quite sum up the dread and helplessness Dananjaya must have felt as Pollard proceeded to activate what is known in video game parlance as “boss mode” to pummel, crush and wallop six straight sixes off Dananjaya’s third over.Dananjaya to his credit did try and mix things up, but whether he went length, full, wide of the stumps, around the wicket, or fired it on the pads, the result remained the same. Dananjaya, in his very next over, was hit for his seventh consecutive six by Holder, and on the next ball Holder was dropped at deep midwicket by debutant Ashen Bandara. No support for HasarangaHasaranga continued on from his fine form in the Lanka Premier League, where he had topped the wicket-taking charts. He muddled the West Indies batsman with his precise lines and lengths, and dangerous variations. His four overs brought about three wickets and went for just 12 runs. But more than that, it was clear the West Indies batsman were struggling to execute their plan A – whack everything out of the park – against him.None of the other bowlers could back him up, something they will have to do if Sri Lanka are to bounce back in the series.

The Indian batsman says that he has turned down ‘lucrative offers’ from overseas leagues to play top-tier cricket in India

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Aug-2019Ambati Rayudu’s decision to come out of retirement has widely been described as a U-turn, but according to the batsman, it was nothing of the sort. He has turned down “lucrative offers” to play in overseas leagues, he said, and his top priority is now to “get runs for Hyderabad” in the Indian domestic circuit.”I declined lucrative offers to play in T10 and T20 leagues in Canada and other countries. I have come out of retirement for well-wishers,” he told . “It is not a U-turn as for good reasons I believe I have good amount of cricket left in me. My top priority is now to get runs for Hyderabad.”It has been a strange few months for Rayudu. He had retired from first-class cricket last year to focus on his white-ball career, and was soon announced as India’s first-choice No. 4 batsman for the World Cup by none other than Virat Kohli. He was, however, left out of the World Cup squad in favour of Vijay Shankar and slotted in the list of standby players. If that wasn’t bad enough, when Shikhar Dhawan and Vijay picked up injuries, Rishabh Pant and then Mayank Agarwal – the latter wasn’t even in the list of standbys – travelled to England to join the squad. Rayudu announced his retirement soon after, but has over the past week withdrawn his announcement and reached out to Hyderabad Cricket Association, who have also been welcoming.Rayudu said that being ignored for the World Cup was “shocking”. “I had worked very hard to be ready for the World Cup. I quit red-ball cricket for the World Cup. I was extremely fit and doing the role, which the team asked me to do at No. 4 and suddenly when you are not in the team, it was shocking,” he said. “There was no communication from the team members also.”Was it a matter of poor form, or did not playing first-class cricket hurt his chances?”The main reason was that I wanted myself to be fully fit and fresh for the World Cup. I didn’t regret that move and my sole intention was to do well in World Cup then,” he said of quitting the longer format. “I don’t agree that since I didn’t play in Ranji Trophy, I didn’t get runs for India.”In fact, I had a very, very good tour of New Zealand [a couple of 40s and a 90 in the ODIs]. Of course, it took a game or two to get back to my form. I was the highest run-getter in New Zealand. I was happy with the way I was batting and shaping up. It was unfortunate that [the selectors] had different combinations in mind and that didn’t work out for me.”As for Hyderabad, they have left the door open for Rayudu, with Noel David, the chief selector, saying that Rayudu had “at least five years of cricket” left in him, and hoping that Rayudu would help groom the next lot of players.If he does return to the side, however, Rayudu wants the environment to change from the current one, where, he says, “the Hyderabad colours are for sale”.”It is time there is a good ambience and there should be no pressure on the players. The best team should be selected. I feel that the players are playing under pressure. The infighting in the association is not good for cricket. Sadly, I feel the Hyderabad colours are for sale and it is important the players should perform to earn a place in the team,” he said. “I remember when I had to score a lot of runs to get into the team, whether it was Under-16, Under-19 or Under-22. We were not sure of our places because the competition was very high.”It is different now. I feel sad sometimes when deserving players are overlooked while others get into the team. It is very painful.”
Once back, despite everything, Rayudu might even want to throw his hat in the ring to be the Hyderabad captain.”It is good to lead the side. Red-ball captaincy is crucial as it needs a lot of tactical acumen. I can talk to selectors on captaincy,” he said. “At this stage of my career, I have nothing to prove to anyone. My goal is to take Hyderabad to a new high. We are a young team, which is exciting. I’m part of so many teams. I know how the winning culture would be and I want that in the Hyderabad team whether it is through captaincy or not.”For me, it is not a comeback although I had announced the retirement when it was an off-season. It is important that there is a good environment in Hyderabad cricket. The players should be given confidence and there should not be any sense of insecurity. There was never deficit of talent in Hyderabad.”

Renshaw helped Somerset get to the top the Division One table – taking them within reach of a maiden title win – prior to their innings defeat against Surrey on Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2018Australia opener Matt Renshaw’s stint with his county side Somerset has been cut short after he suffered a broken finger during the four-day match against Surrey at Guildford.Renshaw, who was signed as Cameron Bancroft’s replacement for the club, is currently the side’s top run-scorer. He made 513 in six four-day matches, including three centuries, and 180 runs in six One-Day Cup games. Notably, Renshaw’s 1180 runs in 24 innings is the best by anyone in first-class cricket this year and narrowly so. He is five runs clear of Sri Lanka’s Roshen Silva, who will likely take the top spot once the day-night Test in Barbados begins on Saturday.”Matt sustained a fracture on the top of his finger,” Somerset coach Jason Kerr said. “After speaking with Cricket Australia it has been agreed that he will return to Australia sooner rather than later.”Sadly for us that means it is the end of his time with Somerset this season. It’s a huge blow to us because he has been brilliant both on and off the field. He fitted into the dressing room very well and a player of that calibre is going to be missed.”Renshaw was expected to be available until the end of June, and return to the club in mid-August. His sublime form had helped Somerset get to the top the Division One table – taking them within reach of a maiden title win – prior to their innings defeat against Surrey on Friday. His century on first-class debut for the club also made him the 14th man to do so in Somerset’s history and the first since Alviro Petersen in 2013.

While speaking of the respect the team has for Anil Kumble’s achievements as a cricketer, has offered little about the events that led to his resignation as head coach

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-20171:44

Sanctity of change room is paramount – Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli, while speaking of the respect the team has for Anil Kumble’s achievements as a cricketer, has offered little about the events that led to Kumble’s resignation as head coach on Tuesday, three days before the start of the limited-overs series in the West Indies.”Anil has expressed his views and taken a decision to step out,” Kohli said at a media briefing in Port-of-Spain, where India play the first ODI against West Indies on Friday. “We all respect that decision. It is something that has happened right after the tournament (Champions Trophy).”Even though he was pressed to reveal the differences with Kumble, Kohli maintained that he could not break the culture of not divulging dressing room details in public. “I’ve had 11 press conferences that have happened during the Champions Trophy… We have created a culture over the last three-four years that whatever happens in the change room, we’ve tried to maintain the sanctity of the change room throughout,” he said. “That is what the whole team believes in. For us that is paramount. I’ve always respected that and we have continued to maintain that as well.”While stepping down as head coach Kumble spoke about the reservations Kohli had with him, but Kohli refused to be drawn into the issue. “It’s his opinion, his point of view which I respect,” Kohli said about Kumble, India’s leading wicket taker in Tests and ODIs, going public with the differences between the two. “I have total respect for him as a cricketer and what he has achieved for the nation. All the years that he has played. There’s no taking away that aspect of him at all. And we all respect him totally.”On being asked whether Kumble’s approach affected the team (negatively), Kohli didn’t give a direct reply. “Like I said, for me what’s most important is to maintain the sanctity of the change room and what happens in the change room is something that’s very sacred and private to all of us, and something that I would not express in details in a public scenario. As I said, his point of view is out there and we respect that decision.”Hours after resigning as India coach, Kumble said he had been informed for the first time on the same day by the BCCI that “the captain had reservations with my style and about my continuing as head coach”. Kumble, whose contract ended with the Champions Trophy but had been given an extension to take the team to the West Indies, termed his working relationship with Kohli ‘untenable’. He announced his resignation while the squad was flying to the Caribbean.Two days before the Champions Trophy had kicked off in England, it emerged in the media that India captain Kohli had told BCCI officials that some players were uncomfortable with the “intimidating” style of Kumble’s man management. As a result, despite India’s success in Kumble’s year in charge, during which the team climbed to No.1 in the Test rankings, the board advertised for fresh interviews for the head coach’s position instead of extending his contract. Incidentally, Kumble did reapply for the job then.

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner believes his side hasn’t played to potential over the last two years, but hopes they will be able to overcome two successive losses while facing Mumbai Indians on Monday

Nagraj Gollapudi in Hyderabad17-Apr-2016David Warner, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, believes his side has failed to work out the “complete game” in the last two IPL seasons, but hopes his team will be able to “gel together” in their next match, against Mumbai Indians on Monday.Sunrisers have lost both their matches so far and sit at the bottom of the points table. Last year, they had failed to qualify for the knockouts, finishing third from the bottom with seven wins and as many losses. The biggest positive was the form of Warner, who was the leading run-scorer with 562 runs from 14 innings.Warner remains the team’s go-to batsman especially in the absence of Yuvraj Singh and Kane Williamson, both of whom are nursing injuries and likely to miss a fair amount of matches in the first half. But Warner has tried to make up for those losses. He hit a quickfire half-century in a valiant chase of 228 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their season opener.But against Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday, Warner and his opening partner, Shikhar Dhawan, faltered to leave Sunrisers precariously placed at 36 for 3 in the first six overs. It was a passage which Tom Moody, the coach, felt cost them the match. And Warner agreed.”In hindsight we didn’t bat as well as we planned,” Warner said. “Chasing 228 is always a big ask at any venue, but we know in Bangalore 200 gets run down a lot. We just weren’t good enough on the day. Then, in the other game, we didn’t start well – we lost three wickets in the first six. That is not ideal. You need 160-170 to defend at least.”Our bowlers have sort of missed the mark in the last two games – I felt that execution was not there. We bowled probably one or two bad overs last night, but were good upfront. We still haven’t had the complete game. Last year and this year we still haven’t worked out the complete game, the batters haven’t worked well with the bowlers. We have to try and gel and work together as much as we can.”Interestingly, 44% of Sunrisers’ runs this season have been scored by Warner and Eoin Morgan. Unlike some of the other teams, Sunrisers have lacked firepower in the middle. But Warner felt it was the responsibility of the top four to carry the team through.”You are not going to get the depth as you like,” he said. “You have to use your resources smartly, which is very challenging. I don’t think we have a weakness there [in the lower order]. It is about getting our top four to bat through ten overs. That is where the runs come – top four is where the bulk of the runs come and I guarantee you No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 will do their job very well then. We have to work on how we are going to get our balance right, how we can use our Indian players well.”Warner was mindful of the damage a third successive loss could do early in their campaign. “We have got to really come out firing,” he said. “This game is going to be the game where we gel together. They are going to be hungry as well because they are in the same position as us. We have to be switched on and make sure we keep executing our plans, we can’t keep talking about it, we have to do it on the day.”Even as he offered perspective on the team’s shortcomings, Warner didn’t shy away from pointing out his own mistakes, including his dismissal against Knight Riders. He had backed away to cut Umesh Yadav, but was too early into the stroke and handed a catch to short cover to fall for 13 in the fourth over.”I have got out a fair bit like that,” Warner admitted. “You pick up the ball so early, but you try and place the ball. We always tell ourselves when we are trying to place the ball that you actually don’t go through with the shot and it sort of just pops up like that. I always walk off and wonder ‘why did I do that?’ Because it is hard when you are out there; some people understand that and some don’t. When you are out there, sometimes you go through with it and sometimes it just stops and you wonder ‘man, how do I get out of that?’ I don’t even know sometimes.”What hurt Sunrisers was the timing of his dismissal, which came four balls after Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed. “I was disappointed with the way I got out,” he continued. “I have had success doing the same thing against Morne Morkel. But the wicket from his end was bouncing. At the other end Yadav was getting it to skid through. I know there is a height difference, but still there was a little bit of inconsistency. That is where you talk about giving yourself some time. I know I did not give myself the time. I was a bit rushed, but sometimes in the game that gets you going, sometimes it can be your downfall as well.”

Abahani relinquished a golden opportunity to sign Shakib Al Hasan and some other top names in Bangladesh cricket, instead focusing on youth

Mohammad Isam25-Aug-2013Abahani relinquished a golden opportunity to sign Shakib Al Hasan and some other top names in Bangladesh cricket, instead focusing on youth. It could yet end up as the smartest move as most of the Bangladesh players will be busy in October, taking on New Zealand at home, coinciding with the business-end of the Dhaka Premier League.”Our focus is youth this year,” said Abahani official and BCB ad-hoc committee member Ismail Haider Mallick. “We didn’t go for Shakib and Mahmudullah. We want to pick players who will be fully available during the whole league and not just for a few matches.”Their first pick was Liton Kumar Das, a young wicketkeeper-batsman and it was followed by the likes of young allrounders Alauddin Babu and Taposh Ghosh. There is a sprinkling of experience in the form of Shahriar Nafees, Nazimuddin and left-arm spinner Nabil Samad but the majority of the 14 players they picked are below the age of 25.Shakib has only played for Abahani in one season, in 2008-09. It ended badly, with the supporters trying to assault him after Abahani lost to arch-rivals Mohammedan by one wicket in the title-deciding game.Defending champions Victoria Sporting Club also let go of a chance to draft Shakib and Tamim Iqbal, instrumental in their triumph last year. They went for Nasir Hossain, now a player of high demand in the domestic circuit.The two newly-promoted sides, Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity and Kalabagan Cricket Academy, were lucky to have their share of some senior players. Batsmen Faisal Hossain and Shuvogoto Hom Chowdhury went to Khelaghar while Marshall Ayub, Sahagir Hossain and Talha Jubair went to Kalabagan Cricket Academy.