“I don’t think it’s unfair for someone to say ‘I think the technology has got it wrong on this occasion.'”

Vithushan Ehantharajah05-Feb-20243:48

Where did India win the Vizag Test?

Ben Stokes has questioned the DRS for giving Zak Crawley out lbw but does not believe it was the reason England lost the second Test in Visakhapatnam.India levelled the series 1-1 with victory by 106 runs on day four, bowling the tourists out for 292 in pursuit of 399. Just as in the first innings, Crawley was the leading scorer, this time with 73, while no one else passed 36.Crawley was holding firm as wickets fell around him in the morning session. At the end of the 42nd over, he was struck on the pad by a length delivery from Kuldeep Yadav, which was given not out on the field by standing umpire Marais Erasmus.India captain Rohit Sharma took his time before asking for a review and was rewarded when Erasmus had to subsequently overturn his original decision. The contentious element seemed to be the impact of the ball into leg stump, which, to the England captain, looked far less certain than DRS’ projected path.Related

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“Technology in the game is obviously there,” said Stokes at stumps. “Everyone has an understanding of the reasons it can never be 100% which is why we have the umpire’s call. That’s why it’s in place.”When it’s not 100% as everyone says, I don’t think it’s unfair for someone to say ‘I think the technology has got it wrong on this occasion’. And that is my personal opinion. I will say that.”But in a game full of ifs, buts and maybes, I am not going to say that’s the reason why we haven’t got the result we wanted. I’m just saying my personal opinion is that the technology has gone wrong on this occasion, and I think that’s fair to say.”India appeal for an lbw against Zak Crawley•Getty Images

Crawley walked off with 205 still to get, closely followed by Jonny Bairstow five balls later, leaving England 194 for 6 going into the afternoon session. India needed just 26.4 overs to take the remaining four wickets to square matters ahead of a 10-day break in the series. The teams will meet again for the third Test in Rajkot, which begins on February 15.Asked if he was looking to escalate his complaints, Stokes added: “You can’t really do much with things that have been and gone. A decision has been made, and you can’t really overturn a decision that has been made. That is where I stand on that.”

The captain made another half century and with help from the lower order lifted the visitors from 77 for 6

Andrew McGlashan22-Mar-2024Heather Knight was again to the fore as she lifted England out of trouble in Nelson and into a position where the visiting spinners were able to squeeze the life out of New Zealand’s chase to take a 2-0 lead in the T20I series.At various stages it looked like the return of Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr would inspire New Zealand to bounce back from their opening loss in Dunedin. But when Kerr fell having got the requirement down to an achievable 50 off 33 balls, the home side’s middle and lower order fell away.Between them England’s three frontline spinners – Charlie Dean, Linsey Smith and Sarah Glenn – produced figures of 12-0-74-4. Dean and Glenn had earlier played key roles with the bat in partnership with Knight as they lifted England from 77 for 6 to what became a very impressive victory.

Sophie Devine’s early impact

It did not take long for Devine to get back into the action after her delayed arrival in the series due to the WPL. With her first delivery she had the dangerous Sophia Dunkley caught at midwicket and later in the powerplay cleaned up Tammy Beaumont as England struggled for early momentum.New Zealand were well on top when Maia Bouchier toe-ended an attempted reverse scoop into the covers after labouring for 12 off 20 balls and when Amy Jones lofted into the deep off Lea Tahuhu it left England 57 for 4 at the midway point.Heather Knight played her second superb innings of the series•Getty Images

Heather Knight’s rescue act

Things got worse for England before they got better as Danielle Gibson and Bess Heath both departed to leave them seemingly in a heap at 77 for 6 in the 14th over. But, crucially, the in-form Knight was still there and put together another superbly crafted half-century to follow her match-winning hand in the opening match.Such was the way she was able to play alongside Dean and Glenn that, despite the problems England faced, 59 runs came off the last six overs which included Knight twice clearing the rope and Glenn finding the boundary twice in the final over from Devine which cost 18.Having initially had to hold the innings together, Knight went from 22 off 23 balls to finish with 56 not out off 40.

Linsey Smith’s perfect return

A direct-hit run out from Glenn to find Bernadine Bezuidenhout short gave England an early boost in the field, but New Zealand were tracking well at 35 for 1 after four overs with Suzie Bates and Kerr together.Then, with her first ball in international cricket for nearly five years, left-arm spinner Smith had Bates top-edging to short fine leg, a success that was greeted by joyous celebrations from her team-mates. It was the start of a big role for England’s spinners.Smith went on to concede just one boundary in her four overs, as did Glenn, while Dean picked up the huge wicket of Devine when the New Zealand captain missed a sweep to be lbw.However, it was the medium-pace of Gibson that put England firmly on course for victory when she had Kerr taken at short fine leg having played confidently for 44 off 36 balls. As in the first game, Maddy Green became stuck and the asking rate quickly climbed. Lauren Bell returned to claim two wickets in three balls and there was far too much for the lower order to do.

Proteas seamer notches seventh five-wicket haul for Notts as home side edge opening day

ECB Reporters Network05-Apr-2024Dean Elgar and Jordan Cox made eye-catching debuts for Essex but it was Elgar’s fellow South African Dane Paterson who stole the show on the opening day of the Vitality County Championship season at Trent Bridge.Opener Elgar, who retired from international cricket earlier this year, looked more than capable of filling the void left by Sir Alastair Cook, defying typical opening-day conditions with a classy 80.He shared a 112-run third-wicket partnership with the brightly talented former Kent batter Cox, who went on to make 84. But Paterson, who flew back from a winter at home only on Wednesday, powered a Nottinghamshire fightback by taking 5 for 49 with his wily medium pace.Paterson bowled Elgar with one of several outstanding deliveries as Essex, runners-up in Division One last season, slipped from 170 for 2 to 176 for 5, before closing on 244 for 9 from 77 overs, time having been lost to a wet outfield at the start and bad light in the evening.Cox impressed his new employers with a mature performance but one which, Elgar apart, lacked any meaningful support.Elgar announced himself with a boundary first ball, dispatching a Brett Hutton half-volley through cover. In testing conditions, the South African was 31 from 62 at lunch, having survived a number of tricky moments without giving a chance.Feroze Kushi, without a Championship appearance since last June but preferred to Nick Browne to open with Elgar, made a brisk 18 that included an audacious six off Nottinghamshire debutant Dillon Pennington, who then had him squared up and edging to first slip.Paterson, Nottinghamshire’s most consistent performer with the ball, took over from Pennington at the pavilion end and soon tempted Tom Westley into a nibble outside off stump, wicketkeeper Joe Clarke taking a good, diving catch to his right.Clarke has the gloves in this match because a Nottinghamshire batting line-up bolstered by the return of England’s Ben Duckett for his first Championship match for 11 months, and by the addition of Jack Haynes, another signing from Worcestershire, could not accommodate regular ‘keeper Tom Moores.As Nottinghamshire searched for a further breakthrough with the Kookaburra ball – in use for the first of four Championship rounds this year – Elgar and Cox dominated much of the afternoon session, the former completing his half-century off 86 balls, Cox reaching that mark from 10 balls fewer soon after lofting leg-spinner Calvin Harrison over the straight boundary for the day’s second six.Elgar was playing with such assurance, drawing on the experience of his two previous county stints with Somerset and Surrey, that a debut century looked there for the taking. But the session ended with Paterson, having switched to the Radcliffe Road end, taking wickets in consecutive overs before tea.Back for his fourth season at Trent Bridge after topping 50 wickets in each of the first three, Paterson produced the ball of the day to bowl his compatriot – angled in from round the wicket and straightening just enough to pass the edge and clip the off bail.Moments later, Paterson was celebrating again as another fine delivery trapped new batter Matt Critchley in front, leaving Essex 174 for 4 at tea, which quickly became 176 for five on the resumption as Paterson continued his excellent spell by dismissing Paul Walter, tamely caught behind, to claim a third wicket in the space of 16 balls.His fifth wicket in all soon followed, Adam Rossington deceived by another superb ball that took out his off stump, giving the bowler figures of four for 24 from an eight-over second spell, and a seventh five-wicket haul in Championship cricket.Cox’s hopes of a debut hundred were also thwarted, having overtaken Elgar with his 11th four only to perish next ball when Harrison turned one past his defensive bat to bowl him. All-rounder Lyndon James, meanwhile, dismissed Simon Harmer and Shane Snater to give Nottinghamshire three bowling points, with Essex still looking for a first batting point.

Warwickshire happier with draw after only 19 overs possible on final day

ECB Reporters Network08-Apr-2024Warwickshire and Worcestershire launched their Vitality County Championship season with a draw after bad weather shunted a hitherto intriguing game up a cul-de-sac at Edgbaston.Worcestershire were frustratingly denied a chance to press for victory on their return to Division One after a wet outfield prevented play before lunch on the final day. After the loss of the last session the previous day, that took too much time out of the match for Brett D’Oliveira’s side to capitalise on the strong position they had built, largely through Kashif Ali’s two superb centuries.In the sliver of play that was possible on the final day, they took their overnight score from 237 for 2 – and lead of 264 – to 295 for 3. Jake Libby advanced to 101 not out, his 17th first class century, before another downpour proved terminal.Warwickshire’s bowling attack, which will expect to be “better for the outing”, in the words of head coach Mark Robinson, secured just one more wicket when Olly Hannon-Dalby clutched an instinctive return catch from a straight drive by Rob Jones. There was little joy for the other bowlers and least of all for left-arm spinner Danny Briggs who was adjudged to have delivered seven leg-side wides.With the match consigned to stalemate, Libby continued implacably to his ton while Adam Hose enjoyed some time in the middle of his former home ground, restraining his usual attacking game to collect an unbeaten 17 in over an hour.If there was some frustration for Worcestershire at being denied an opportunity to record their first Championship win at Edgbaston since 1993, there was also plenty of room for satisfaction. They acquitted themselves extremely well on their return to Division One.They were the better side with bat and ball. Kashif’s first two first-class centuries – 110 and 133 – lit up a match largely conducted under an unbroken canopy of grey while overseas debutants Nathan Smith and Jason Holder offered promise in the seam attack.”We played some really good cricket during the game,” D’Oliveira said. “Kashif had a really special game and is a really special cricketer. I am excited by the journey ahead of him. Our overseas guys have fitted in really well. First and foremost, they are excellent characters who have slotted straight into the dressing room. Jason is brilliant for me as a captain to have to bounce ideas off. Nathan is a highly talented bowlers who has already showed what he can do in this match.”Every we time we come up we are favourites to go down and we have been relegated a few times, so that’s reasonable, but this year we aiming to us that as a strength and surprise a few people.”Worcestershire will travel to Trent Bridge to face Nottinghamshire on Friday with confidence high. Warwickshire, meanwhile, will aim to be much improved against Durham at Edgbaston after missing Sam Hain (personal reasons) and Liam Norwell (injury) at the heart of their bowling and batting during this match.Robinson admitted that he did not know when either player would return. “We will be better for the outing, as they say. Gary [Barwell] and his groundstaff team did a great job to get a game on but conditions were difficult for the bowlers. I think all the bowlers struggled in the wind and with soft take-off points but Worcestershire’s probably coped a little bit better than ours.”We haven’t been where we want to be during this match. Our prep was affected because we lost one player the day before the game and another one on the morning of the game, but we haven’t bowled particularly well and it was a disappointing session with the bat where we lost five quick wickets to hand Worcestershire the initiative.”Liam Norwell will not be available for a while. He has an injury which we are looking into to get a bit of clarity. The good news, if you can have good news about an injury, is that it is not the disc in his back that has been the problem in the past. With regard to Sam Hain, I don’t know if he will be available for the next game. We will give him all the time and space he needs.”

A comprehensive all-round performance helped Pakistan clinch the low-scoring encounter

Danyal Rasool02-May-2024Pakistan secured their first win of the tour, beating West Indies by eight wickets after a comprehensive all-round performance. It came thanks to a clinical all-round performance after the visitors won the toss and batted first, with Sadia Iqbal and Nida Dar taking three wickets each to skittle West Indies out for 84. There were no real jitters in the chase despite the manner of Pakistan’s defeat in the third T20I, and, spearheaded by Ayesha Zafar, they eased to victory with 21 balls to spare.A day after Pakistan named a near-unchanged squad for the upcoming tour of England, the players repaid that faith with what was by far the most impressive performance of the tour. Despite the series having slipped out of Pakistan’s reach, they began with a sharpness and urgency that belied how little was truly on the line.Qina Joseph was caught out of her crease off Iqbal and stumped first ball to set the tone. But it was the wicket of Hayley Matthews, West Indies’ talismanic captain and the outstanding performer of the series, that gave Pakistan true belief. After an uncharacteristic struggle, she was caught off Fatima Sana’s bowling after managing just a run in nine balls.Shemaine Campbelle was the only batter who scored runs and pushed the run rate up but was run out at an inopportune time after a 20-ball 26. The dismissal opened the floodgates as Pakistan took complete control thereafter, with four wickets falling for as many runs towards the death overs as West Indies stuttered along to 84 for 9.Pakistan had made hard work of an eminently gettable target late on in the third T20I, but there appeared no such danger today right from the outset. A breezy cameo from Sidra Ameen set the tone early, and when she and Muneeba Ali fell in quick succession, Zafar and Gull Feroza took complete control. Zafar in particular was in great touch finding the gaps and the occasional boundary to keep the score ticking over. Some sloppiness leaked into West Indies’ game as two relatively simple catches were put down off Matthews’ bowling, but in truth, the game was a foregone conclusion by then.Appropriately, the game ended with one of the shots of the day from Zafar, who lofted a half-volley over mid-on for an elegant boundary to make the win official.

His 61 not out was enough to beat Sussex despite four-wicket haul for Tymal Mills

ECB Reporters Network02-Jun-2024Glamorgan claimed their first win of the 2024 Vitality Blast with a 25-run victory over Sussex in Cardiff, with Sam Northeast’s 61 not out enough to set up a winning target.Four wickets for Tymal Mills helped to restrict Glamorgan to 183 for 7 from their 20 overs but a solid Glamorgan bowling display, and a much improved effort in the field from their first match in this competition against Surrey, saw them defend the target.James Coles top scored for Sussex with a career-best 69 not out but he had little support from the rest of the Sussex batting line up.The star with the ball for Glamorgan was Mason Crane who finished with figures of 2 for 22 from his four overs as Sussex finished on 158 for 6.Regular wickets throughout the Glamorgan innings meant they had to fight to keep the scoring going, but significant contributions all down the order allowed them to post a competitive total. The home side’s powerplay brought 56 runs for the loss of two wickets with Chris Cooke and Northeast going well.Cooke was given a life on 21 when Dan Hughes slipped while attempting to take what should have been a straightforward catch off the bowling of Danny Lamb. Just as it looked as if Glamorgan would take full advantage of this mistake, Cooke was dismissed by Mills.A solid stand of 68 between Northeast and Colin Ingram seemed to be setting a platform for them to attack the Sussex bowling in the death overs. Two wickets in two balls from Mills pegged them back once again. The first was Ingram who was bowled off an inside edge, then Marnus Labuschagne was bowled next ball by one that beat him for pace.Mills had Dan Douthwaite caught by Oli Carter for 11 to take his second four-wicket haul of the competition so far.Northeast was there at the end, hitting the last ball of the innings for six to set Sussex a target of 184.Sussex started brightly thanks to an expensive over from Tom Bevan but two Sussex wickets inside the powerplay slowed them a little. A steady stand of 42 between Carter and Coles kept them in the contest. Carter was dismissed for 33 when he was caught by Eddie Byrom off the bowling of Ingram, although Glamorgan felt they had dismissed him in the previous over when a low catch from Tom Bevan was adjudicated to have not been taken cleanly by the umpires.As had been the case throughout the Glamorgan innings, regular wickets meant that there was always the need for an element of rebuilding and three quick wickets saw Sussex go from 73 for 2 to 85 for 5. Just at the point where Sussex needed to accelerate, Crane put the brakes on thanks to his excellent spell that did not concede a single boundary.The second of Crane’s wickets came from a fantastic boundary catch from Labuschagne that saw him toss the ball back into play to claim the wicket of John Simpson.Coles batted intelligently for his first fifty in T20 cricket, but with no support around him the required rate kept climbing. By the start of the 18th over Sussex needed 65 runs, a task that was too much for them as Glamorgan secured their first win of the season.

England duo star on county return after Luke Wood mops up resistance with three wickets

ECB Reporters Network17-Jul-2024Lancashire 136 for 2 (Salt 70, Livingstone 54*) beat Nottinghamshire 131 for 7 (James 51, Wood 3-23) by eight wicketsLancashire became the second North Group side to qualify for the Vitality Blast quarter-finals, brushing struggling Nottinghamshire aside by eight wickets chasing 132 at Emirates Old Trafford as England duo Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone starred on their return to county action.Second-placed Lightning joined leaders Birmingham in progressing courtesy of their seventh win in 13 games, set up by a polished bowling display led by left-arm quick Luke Wood’s season’s best three for 23 in limiting his former county to 131 for seven.All-rounder Lyndon James top-scored with a career best 51 off 38 balls before Salt underpinned a successful chase with a more destructive 70 off 42, including five sixes, in his first innings after T20 World Cup duty.Livingstone, another returning international, also contributed a wicket, three catches and 54 not out off 37 with three sixes. He shared a second-wicket 112 with Salt as victory was sealed with 5.3 overs remaining.Lancashire became the first county to achieve 150 wins in Blast history.From the moment Outlaws captain Joe Clarke got a thick edge behind off Saqib Mahmood’s pace, leaving the visitors two for one after eight balls, Lightning controlled things.The Outlaws, inserted, slipped to 28 for four inside six overs, Wood claiming his first – Jack Haynes caught at deep square-leg – added to other scalps for spinners Chris Green and Tom Hartley.The latter, England’s left-arm spinner, had Matt Montgomery caught at deep square-leg for his first wicket in any format since May 12, owing much to him being a squad member only at the recent T20 World Cup.In terms of games won, Nottinghamshire (144) are the second-most successful side in Blast history. But they will want to forget this campaign having only won twice so far.James and Tom Moores shared a fifth-wicket 53 inside eight overs and hit a six apiece to stem the tide and at least get the Outlaws into an innings which saw home captain Keaton Jennings employ four spinners to share 12 overs.Irish overseas debutant George Dockrell wasn’t one, but Livingstone was.And he broke the partnership when Moores miscued a wider delivery to long-off for 26 – 81 for five in the 13th over.After Wood struck again to get Liam Patterson-White caught at deep cover, James reached his fifty off 37 balls – by which time Nottinghamshire were 122 for six early in the 19th over.But, having mixed power with invention, James fell next ball to a brilliant diving catch from Livingstone at deep mid-wicket to hand Wood his third wicket.The visitors did well to get the total they did, though it just didn’t feel like one to threaten Lancashire’s progression through to a 17th quarter-final in 22 seasons.Afghanistan quick Fazalhaq Farooqi had Luke Wells caught at point in the second over of the chase – 14 for one – to raise Outlaws’ hopes.Livingstone, in at three, was dropped in the deep on five and 20 en-route to a fifty later achieved with the winning hit – a pulled six off Farooqi.Salt pulled Olly Stone for an early six and hit Luke Fletcher for two more in succession over the off-side shortly afterwards.By the time Salt reached his fifty off 31 balls, Lancashire – now on course for a home tie in the quarters – were motoring at 84 for one in the 10th over.Salt hit two more sixes off Fletcher’s seam to bring up the century partnership with Livingstone before falling to Patterson-White’s spin.

Test captain says the players need to play more red-ball cricket to improve in Tests

Danyal Rasool03-Sep-20244:02

The anatomy of Pakistan’s fall in Tests

Pakistan’s performances in the Test series against Bangladesh have been difficult to justify, and their captain Shan Masood made little attempt to do so. Following the shock 2-0 defeat at home, he called for long-term solutions beyond superficial changes, emphasised the need for Pakistan to play more red-ball and Test cricket, and admitted his side tended to “keep making the same mistakes”.”In the batting department, and not just in this series, we need to improve in the second innings,” Masood said. “We tend to collapse quite frequently. We did well in each first innings, losing both tosses when there was weather around. We scored 448 and declared, and then 274, and when we reduced them to 26 for 6, that was a reflection of the pitch. That was the pitch we batted on and scored 274. We started well with ball and bat, but over four or five days, you need to be mentally tough throughout to make it count.”Pakistan’s tendency to fall apart as games go deep isn’t just a problem for Masood’s tenure, but it has been amplified over the last five Tests. In Melbourne and Sydney, Pakistan got themselves into promising positions before letting the game get out of hand, and let slip situations from where Bangladesh needed to break records to recover.The first Test in Rawalpindi was just the third time in history that a side declaring their first innings with six or fewer wickets down went on to lose, and Bangladesh’s 262 in the second Test is the highest total for a team that lost its first six wickets under 50 runs. Those Bangladesh recoveries, aided by Pakistan sustaining injuries to key bowlers and misfiring with the bat, led to the 2-0 result scarcely anyone predicted.Related

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Masood praised Bangladesh’s “discipline”, and said their Test experience demonstrated the value of regular red-ball cricket.”Bangladesh have two players who have played 70-90 Tests (Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahman), and Litton [Das] and Mehidy [Hasan Miraz] have played close to 40. We need the same level of red-ball exposure. Test cricket is the ultimate format of the game. You need experience. It’s obvious we need more Test and red-ball cricket. Whatever format you play is the format for which you’ll produce players. You can’t play more T20 cricket and get Test players. You can’t prepare for science and then sit a maths exam. If you’re being tested for maths, you study maths. To play red-ball cricket, you must play red-ball cricket.”We have to respect the opposition and Bangladesh’s discipline was superior to ours in both Tests. We have to look at ourselves and the kinds of mistakes we made this series, and we made plenty. Test cricket, in terms of fitness, whether mental or physical, lasts for four or five days. What we’ve shown this series is that’s something we need to work on.”With more Test cricket coming up, Pakistan’s players have virtually no avenue to prepare by playing red-ball cricket. Most of this squad will play the 50-over version of the newly created Champions Cup from September 12 to 29, before launching almost immediately into a three-Test series at home against England. With the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament, coinciding with that series, the problems of limited red-ball cricket are unlikely to be alleviated soon.The issue of player fitness has constantly weighed on Masood and the team management, with Pakistan attributing to it some of their more contentious selection decisions. Masood said last week that the extra seamer at the cost of a spinner for the first Test was to distribute the workload more lightly among four pace bowlers. For the second Test, both leading fast bowlers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah were rested, and Pakistan’s three-pronged pace attack was notably bereft of pace in comparison to Bangladesh’s.Both Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah were rested for the second Test•AFP/Getty Images

Masood admitted Pakistan might have been better served not resting the duo collectively. “We kept Naseem in the 12, because we might have had to play four fast bowlers, which we could have done considering the load this weather might put on the bowlers. But we chose to go with Mir Hamza for the left-arm angle we were missing with Shaheen so a lot of thought went into it. Never easy resting your two premier bowlers.”If I could do it again, maybe we would have split Naseem and Shaheen between the two Tests. You have to be fair to them. Shaheen has played a lot of cricket in the last two years. Naseem has just come back from injury; his last Test was against New Zealand in Karachi. You have to look at the overall health of players; we have lots of cricket coming up and you have to look at the whole picture.”Masood has been in Pakistan cricket long enough to know its administrators and selectors aren’t known for patience; his staccato career – 35 Tests in 11 years – exemplifies this. Appointed just five Tests ago, he may still be a new captain, but he knows he wasn’t the obvious choice at the time, and is playing to prove his place in the side as much as his leadership credentials. Having become the first Pakistan captain to lose his first five Tests, and averaging 28.60 in ten innings, he understands how quickly the walls can close in.”I am not worried for my job security,” he said. “I took this job to make the changes we believe will help this team. If I believe this team can go in a certain direction, even if my personal failure takes Pakistan to that direction, I will be content. However much time I get I’ll be grateful for and do my best.”At the moment, Pakistan have the worst of both worlds, with neither Masood nor his team able to find results that offer breathing space. After the next home series against England, Pakistan travel to South Africa, and they are currently eighth out of nine in the World Test Championship table.Masood drew hope from the positions Pakistan got themselves into, pointing to four of the five Tests played under his captaincy. “If you do something good once, it’s an encouraging sign, and then you try and repeat it. We took time to adjust in Perth, but after that, in Melbourne, Sydney, both Pindi Tests, the game was in our hands and then we let go of it. This is something we have to work on.”From encouraging signs, it’s turning into something we’re not good at and need to improve. When you back an opposition into a corner, you need to be clinical in putting that side away. Whether it’s Australia or Bangladesh, the answer as to what mistakes we’re making is the same.”

Glamorgan closing in on big win after claiming three second-innings wickets

ECB Reporters Network31-Aug-2024Leicestershire’s international pair Ajinkya Rahane and Peter Handscomb battled hard to give their side a chance of saving the game, after Glamorgan’s Colin Ingram had continued his batting masterclass.Rahane was 47 not out and Handscomb unbeaten on 33, Leicestershire 144 for 3, trailing by 155, when bad light stopped play with 21.2 scheduled overs remaining.Both the Indian and Australian were dropped by Glamorgan legspinner Mason Crane, two of his three dropped catches coming off his own bowling, in moments which may come back to haunt the home side as they chase victory on the final day.That was after Glamorgan had declared on 550 for 9, with a lead of 299, Ingram unbeaten on a personal best 257, Crane getting his day off to a better start with 49 runs to his name.Glamorgan started the day in a strong position and soon set about building on those solid foundations, with Colin Ingram carrying on as he had done over the previous two days.Having already notched his first ever double century, the fastest Glamorgan player to 1,000 runs in a season, he notched his first ever 250, confidently progressing in serene fashion.He had good support from Crane who was one short of a well deserved half century when he was dismissed in one of the most unfortunate ways possible.Ingram hit the ball firmly back down the ground, bowler Rehan Ahmed got a fingertip to the ball which went on to hit the stumps at the bowler’s end before Crane could regain his ground.New Zealander Fraser Sheat hit a breezy 34 while Ingram mainly watched on, Ned Leonard had one nice boundary before the declaration came just before lunch with Glamorgan nine down, 299 runs ahead on the first innings scores.Ingram was 257 not out, having been on the field for all but one ball of the match, batting just three minutes short of ten hours, as Glamorgan added 119 runs to their total during the morning.Leicestershire had a mountain to climb when they came out to bat, with their opening bowler, Ian Holland, also opening the batting.Both sides needed patience and Rishi Patel and Holland withstood an impressive opening salvo from Timm van der Gugten and Fraser Sheat.It was Dan Douthwaite who made the breakthrough, nipping one back to trap Patel LBW. Ned Leonard got the ball to nip back even more sharply to bowl Leicestershire captain Lewis Hill.Van der Gugten got in on the act with one which lifted outside off stump and Holland tamely lobbed it to point where Billy Root to the catch.That brought Indian Ajinkya Rahane and Australian Peter Handscomb together, who were always likely to form the nub of the resistance.Glamorgan had their chances as Rahane gave two caught and bowled opportunities to Mason Crane when on 32, but the leg spinner put them both down, the first low to his left and the second sharp to his right.Handscomb was on 26 when he pulled Sheat firmly in the air to midwicket where once again it was the unfortunate Crane who spilled the chance.There was confusion over bad light at the end of the day, but the early finish was inevitable after the umpires tried to come back on for 10 balls only to be forced to call events off in the growing gloom.

Musheer, Sarfaraz, Rinku, and Reddy all fell cheaply to Kamboj and let go of the advantage India B had going into day three

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Sep-2024Even as Abhimanyu Easwaran stood tall from one end to post an unbeaten 143 for India B, Anshul Kamboj ran through the batting unit to take 5 for 66 to give India C the advantage by stumps on day three in Anantapur. With one day of action remaining, India C are now favourites to claim the first-innings-lead points, with India B still 216 runs behind at 309 for 7.Day three began with India B on 124 for 0. The opening pair of Easwaran and N Jagadeesan were looking to build towards overcoming India C’s first-innings score of 525, but Kamboj struck in the day’s fourth over, dismissing Jagadeesan for 70.That triggered a slide that had India B sipping to 194 for 5, with each of those dismissals belonging to Kamboj. After getting Jagadeesan caught behind, the seam-bowling allrounder had both Khan brothers – Musheer (1) and Sarfaraz (16) – dismissed lbw, and then followed it up with the wickets of Rinku Singh (6) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (2). While Ishan Kishan caught Rinku off Kamboj, Reddy was out bowled.However, Easwaran, from an overnight score of 51, could not be dislodged through the day. He brought up his 24th first-class century after lunch, and with the help of 12 fours and a solitary six finished the day seven short of his 150. With Washington Sundar (13), he added a 43-run sixth-wicket stand, and with Sai Kishore (21), he stitched a 46-run partnership for the seventh wicket.The two promising lower-order partnerships were ended by Vijaykumar Vyshak and Mayank Markande respectively, while Rahul Chahar (18*), coming in at No. 9, saw off the last eight overs with Easwaran on a day when only 65 overs were bowled.India B’s middle-order crumble, which saw them lose 5 for 65, now leaves them with very slim chances of earning any points from this round two fixture. If India C take the last three wickets and claim the lead – which they are favourites to do – they will earn three points and be guaranteed to move to the top of the Duleep Trophy table. India C’s best-case scenario, though, would be to enforce follow-on early on the final day and then hunt for the six points on offer for an outright win.