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The 18-year old legspinner picked up five wickets in only two overs to ensure Afghanistan beat Ireland by 17 runs in a rain-shortened match and furthered their record-breaking winning streak

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Mar-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Ireland’s middle order could not handle Rashid Khan’s clever changes of pace•Peter Della Penna

Twelve little balls of legspin. How much damage could it really do? Well, it could change the fate of a T20I, vault the practitioner to the greatest of heights and protect a proud winning streak that seemed all but dead. Before Rashid Khan, no one had ever taken a five-wicket haul in as little time as two overs in Twenty20 international cricket. The record, though, was merely a byproduct of his ability to vary pace, prey on the pressure the Ireland batsmen felt and then toss up the hit-me ball, which invariably turned out to be a googly that bamboozled everyone. The slogs came, the stumps were broken, the rest became history.Afghanistan came into the match with nine straight wins in the shortest format. It was already a world record, but their hopes of pushing it to 10 took a major hit when heavy rain lashed across the Greater Noida Sports Complex. With only the pitch and the bowler’s run-ups under covers, the majority of the outfield took on a lot of water and it was testament to the ground staff that the match even restarted. Ireland had been 65 for 2 in 6.1 overs when the weather intervened, which put them 12 runs ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score considering the target was 185. Then the rain stopped.And Rashid went to work. He hoodwinked Kevin O’Brien and Gary Wilson with wrong ‘uns in his first over. His next one was a triple-wicket maiden and it simply trampled upon all the hope Ireland had of levelling the three-match series. Their target was revised to 111 in 11 overs – or 46 runs to win off the remaining 29 balls. It was a tough ask but perhaps some of the senior batsmen should have taken a little time to get themselves set again. Instead, they chose to hit out as wildly as the tailenders who would follow and 65 for 2 became 93 for 9 in what could well have been the blink of an eye.All of that made for excellent viewing for opener Najeeb Tarakai. He had hammered 90 off 58 balls to become the only man not named Mohammad Shahzad among in the list of top six scores by an Afghanistan batsman in T20Is. Spending two hours on the sidelines watching the showers lash across the ground wouldn’t have been pleasant for him after driving his team from the doldrums of 12 for 2 in the third over to 175 for 6 by the time he was dismissed in the 20th. It was his first half-century in the format, including seven fours and five sixes, and most importantly, it turned out to be match-winning effort.

Group B round-up: Ishan Kishan’s rearguard effort, Karnataka’s last-wicket stand between K Gowtham and S Aravind highlight opening day of fifth round

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2016Ishan Kishan’s second century this season, an unbeaten 162, helped Jharkhand recover from 80 for 4 to end up with 359 for 6 at stumps on the opening day of their fifth-round Group B fixture against Delhi at the St Xaviers College ground in Thumba. Unmukt Chand, leading in Gautam Gambhir’s absence owing to national duties, went in with three seamers, and the decision seemed justified until Kishan walked in to bat at No. 6. He first forged a 116-run stand with Ishank Jaggi (55) and followed that up with a 120-run stand with Kaushal Singh (39). Kishan’s runs came at a strike rate of 76.06; he hit 14 fours and six sixes.Karnataka recovered from 120 for 7 to post 267 against Vidarbha in Baroda. Their No. 10 K Gowtham, also the side’s leading wicket-taker so far with 18 scalps, top-scored with an unbeaten 60 to somewhat negate the damage inflicted by medium pacer Lalit Yadav, who scythed through the middle order. He finished with 5 for 67. Vidarbha failed to strengthen their grip as the last-wicket pair of Gowtham and S Aravind added 78, before Yadav returned to complete his maiden five-wicket haul. Vidarbha were 10 without loss at stumps.Four of Rajasthan’s top five failed to capitalise on strong starts on an attritional day against Odisha in Patiala. They went into stumps on 249 for 5 in 78 overs, with SF Khan, on first-class debut, unbeaten on 65. The fifth-wicket stand of 76 between Mahipal Lomror, the 16-year old who represented India at the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, and Khan was the highest of the innings so far. Five Odisha bowlers shared the spoils, with Dhiraj Singh being the most economical among the frontline bowlers.Intermittent showers meant no play was possible between bottom-placed sides Assam and Saurashtra at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Play will start 30 minutes early on each of the remaining three days, weather permitting.

Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell provided overdue contributions in the middle order to help Steven Smith guide Australia into the triangular series final with a strong victory over the West Indies in Barbados

The Report by Daniel Brettig21-Jun-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:11

Australia beat West Indies by six wickets to secure berth in tri-series final

Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell provided overdue contributions in the middle order to help Steven Smith guide Australia into the triangular series final with a six-wicket win over the West Indies at Bridgetown in Barbados.Interim coach Justin Langer had been eager to see how his team responded under the pressure of possible tournament elimination, and Marlon Samuels’ fine hundred in partnership with Denesh Ramdin ensured Australia’s batsmen had little margin for error at Kensington Oval.However, Smith produced the workmanlike innings of a leader and was able to coax Marsh into one of his best and most complete international innings, albeit on a surface that bore closer resemblance to Australian climes than any other in this series. Maxwell then came in with the game still in the balance – Australia needed 62 off 50 balls – and responded with a starburst of shots that will help his own sense of esteem enormously after a series in which he was dropped for two matches.Even so, the Australians will still want to improve their fielding and bowling, two areas that were found wanting in the afternoon. On the fastest pitch of the tournament so far, three early wickets to the new ball gave Australia a fine start after Smith sent West Indies in. However Samuels found a willing ally in Ramdin and the pair put on 192 together, the best fourth wicket stand in all ODIs between the two teams.After Samuels went on to his first ODI hundred against Australia, late-innings hitting left the visitors to question their choice of bowling first. The selectors again ignored spin, and another indifferent fielding display was emphasised by Matthew Wade dropping Samuels on 65.Early on it appeared that the pace in the pitch would be ideal for Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja to set up Australia’s chase, but both were to be hurried up by deliveries skidding through and out in the teens. Shannon Gabriel, the debutant, generated significant pace from his muscular action, though his impact was offset by the withdrawal of Jason Holder due to injury after two overs.Smith and George Bailey sought to stabilise the innings, conscious there was little in-form batting beneath them. They did well for a time, but Bailey was uncomfortable against the turn and lift gained by Sulieman Benn – amid a selection of loose balls – and skied a catch with 184 still required.The Australians elected to send Marsh in ahead of Maxwell, and the gambit paid off richly. Marsh enjoyed the extra pace in the pitch and grew nicely into his innings in Smith’s company, using some of the cross bat shots he had learned at his home ground at the WACA in Perth. With Smith working the ball around sensibly they kept the target in sight, and were able to generate the odd piece of slipshod West Indian fielding.In the end, the efforts to stretch the fielders cost Smith his wicket as he was comfortably run out when the target was looming within sight. His exit though served a useful purpose by allowing Maxwell to enter the fray. Earlier in the tournament he had looked completely at sea on slow Guyana surfaces, but now got past a nervy first few deliveries to accelerate in thrilling style.Though these closing passages served mainly to change the margin of victory rather than preventing defeat, Maxwell’s fireworks – including one audacious switch-punch six off the spin of Sunil Narine – will make a major difference to his confidence heading into the final and beyond. Marsh, too, will benefit from a fine innings that showed the kind of maturity the selectors have been hoping to see from him for quite some time.On a fine day in Bridgetown, West Indies replaced Jerome Taylor with Gabriel, while Australia named the same XI chosen for the washed-out encounter with South Africa. This meant that the visitors again ignored the spin of Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon, while the hosts went in with the dual spin of Narine and Sulieman Benn.Starc had missed the previous encounter with the West Indies, and he immediately found pace and bounce to his liking. It was too much for Johnson Charles, who edged a fast, full delivery in the very first over, and Andre Fletcher fared little better as he groped at a succession of balls whirring across him.Hazlewood also generated plenty of lift, and it was with one such delivery that ended a promising Darren Bravo innings as Smith held a one-handed as he dived from a wide first slip. Fletcher was being battered verbally as well as technically by Starc, and it wasn’t long before he was taken off the shoulder of the bat at backward point.Three wickets down with the ball still new, West Indies were in a most precarious position when Ramdin joined Samuels. Initially their response was obstinate defence, absorbing the bounce and speed of Starc and Hazlewood, then the early forays of James Faulkner, Scott Boland and Mitchell Marsh.Nearly seven overs passed without a boundary, and it was 64 for 3 in the 20th over when Samuels decided Boland and Marsh had to go. In the space of two overs he clattered 27 runs from the support seamers, tilting momentum back towards the west Indies for the first time all innings.Batting conditions had eased considerably, and Smith had no quality spin-bowling option to change things up. He resorted to the part-timers of Aaron Finch before trying Maxwell, and neither man could procure a wicket. Samuels and Ramdin carried on with increasing authority, setting up the ideal platform for West Indies’ brute force further down the order.Ultimately Ramdin would fall short of a century, bowled having a swing at Starc, but critically Smith had been forced to use up his striker bowler’s overs well before the end of the innings. Pollard arrived in ideal circumstances, but after a Maxwell attempt to catch him off Hazlewood became six when the fielder’s foot slipped onto the midwicket rope, he was unable to repeat the trick against Boland.Australian frustration at the match situation was borne out in numerous verbal stoushes with Pollard and Samuels in particular – on the fringe of elimination, it was the most animated they had been all tournament. The niggle was evidence of a team trying to assert themselves, but also of the heightened stakes in the match. Smith, Marsh and Maxwell would rise suitably to the occasion. West Indies are left needing to beat South Africa to qualify for the decider.

Glamorgan have qualified for the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast with a win over Somerset in Cardiff led by a career-best bowling spell and an innings of 54 from Colin Ingram

ECB Reporters Network22-Jul-2016
ScorecardColin Ingram has had a fine white-ball season•Getty Images

Glamorgan have qualified for the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast with a win over Somerset in Cardiff A career-best bowling spell and an innings of 54 from Colin Ingram allowed Glamorgan to make the knockout stages with two games still to play.Ingram has played as a white ball specialist this season as a result of an ongoing knee injury and he has made the most of his chances in the side, leading the run-scoring charts for Glamorgan in T20 and 50-over cricket.With victory enough to secure that prized quarter-final spot Glamorgan would have been pleased to win the toss and chase, their preferred method in Cardiff where they are convinced that the ball comes on to the bat better under the lights.An ugly looking pitch but one with decent pace and carry greeted the players but while the runs flowed for Somerset so the wickets fell. Midway, they were 90 for 5, a tendency begun by Mahela Jayawardene, who looked in supreme touch on his way to 16 from 10 balls, but who he fell when he mistimed a cover drive off the bowling of Timm van der Gugten.The most spectacular of those wickets to fall was that of Peter Trego who missed a rocket from Shaun Tait that knocked his stumps out of the ground. It that same over Tait induced an edge from James Hildreth with an outswinger that should have been caught by Mark Wallace but the Glamorgan ‘keeper could not hang on to it.Hildreth made the most of his life, going on to top score for Somerset with 39 from 28 balls. If Glamorgan had taken that chance they could have been chasing around 120; instead they would need 153 to claim victory.The surprise package of the night was Ingram’s bowling as he picked his best T20 figures of 3 for 20 with his occasional leg breaks. He bowled with real guile, with the ball that had Lewis Gregory out stumped particularly impressive. By adding bowling to his stellar batting form he has further cemented his place as Glamorgan’s star man in this competition.While van der Gugten impressed with his bowling, he was out done by his Dutch colleague Paul van Meerkeren who bowled with real pace and was unlucky not to claim more wickets. He did dismiss Mark Wallace who top edged a catch to long leg but there were a number of other chances that fell just short of a fielder. His figures of 1 for 45 did not accurately reflect how well he bowled.Glamorgan lost David Lloyd in the eighth over to bring together Ingram and Aneurin Donald who registered the fastest ever first-class double hundred against Derbyshire this week.Between them they turned what could have been a difficult chase into a stroll as they put together a stand of 76 from 53 balls. Ingram fell before the job was finished but he had done enough for Glamorgan to win by seven wickets with 12 balls to spare.Somerset captain Jim Allenby expressed his frustration at Somerset failing to perform on what he judged to be a very good Cardiff pitch.”It is disappointing and frustrating,” he said. “In all the years I played at Glamorgan and that his the best pitch that I have seen. That was a fantastic cricket pitch, short boundaries, everything that you want as a batsman and we have been bowled at for 150 on it.”So it’s really frustrated as a team and also individually on missing out on getting a big score out there. These things happened but it has happened all too often this season.”

Fast bowler hopes for more opportunities with seamer-friendly ball after five-wicket haul

Firdose Moonda10-Jun-2021Lungi Ngidi hopes to have more opportunity to bowl with the Dukes ball after it helped him earn his second Test five-for in St Lucia. Ngidi, who took 6 for 39 against India on debut in January 2018, rated the Dukes ball as more seamer-friendly than the Kookaburra, used in South Africa, or India’s SG, because of the way it behaves.”I prefer the Dukes ball. It stays harder and moves around a lot more,” Ngidi said after the first day’s play. “The Kookaburra ball tends to get a bit soft and once it gets soft, it doesn’t really swing and you try to look for reverse swing. The SG gets scuffed up really quick and it’s a really hard ball to maintain. But the Dukes ball is really a test of skill. Once you can get the wrist position right and hone in on your area, you can be very successful with this ball. Having bowled with it now, I hope I bowl with it for many, many years.”Ngidi had never used the Dukes ball in a Test match before, having not played any Tests in England or in the Caribbean before this tour. He did have access to it when practising in South Africa and said the training group was “trying everything to control that ball,” and showed off the results of their persistence inside two sessions on the first day.South Africa dismissed West Indies for 97, for their second sub-100 total since 2004, through a combination of aggression and discipline that Ngidi explained could be difficult to get right in favourable conditions. “You can get carried away, especially when it’s nipping around and swinging like that,” he said.In the morning session, South Africa were anything but over-excited by conditions. While Kagiso Rabada and Ngidi kept the brakes on West Indies, Anrich Nortje tore through the top order. “My role definition has been very clear – it’s been to make sure I keep one end quiet. We do have some really quick bowlers and a lot of batsmen were struggling with them so for me to give them nothing was part of the plan,” Ngidi said.Related

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His morning’s work was seven overs for 10 runs and he returned after lunch to take five wickets for nine runs, having changed ends in between whiles. “I felt more comfortable from the other end and my rhythm clicked,” he said. “It’s been a work in progress. I had to work very hard in the gym, on fitness, and the most important thing was the skill side of things and being able to swing the ball away from batters.”Ngidi celebrated his second five-for with an emotional gesture to the heavens and then settled in to watch West Indies’ enjoy some, albeit not the same, success. Teenage debutant Jayden Seales, playing in just his second first-class match, took 3 for 34 and Ngidi was particularly impressed with his performance. “I was keeping a close eye on him. His seam presentation is what I tried to do when we were bowling,” Ngidi said. “He has got a great wrist behind the ball, a very clean action and it seems like he can run in all day, so he is a danger. It’s a very exciting future for the West Indies with him in the line-up.”South Africa will hope it’s not too exciting, just yet. Their lead of 31 is still some way behind what Ngidi thinks could be match-winning, especially on a surface that will continue to suit the quicks. “On this wicket you are never really in. Maybe a lead of 150-200, we’ll take that,” he said. “But it’s still moving around a bit so any lead we can get, we will take as bowlers.”

New Zealand have named big-hitter Tom Bruce and allrounder Ben Wheeler in their 14-player squad for the upcoming T20s against Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Dec-2016

New Zealand squad

Kane Williamson (capt), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Colin Munro, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wk), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Ben Wheeler
In:* Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, James Neesham, Ben Wheeler
Out: Grant Elliott, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Adam Milne, Henry Nicholls, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor
*

New Zealand have named Central Districts batsman Tom Bruce and allrounder Ben Wheeler in their 14-man squad for the upcoming T20Is against Bangladesh. Allrounder Corey Anderson, who has been plagued by a back injury for the major part of 2016, has been picked as a batsman.Fast bowler Trent Boult was selected but will be rested for the first of the three T20Is. Fellow quick Tim Southee was rested for the entire series in preparation for the two Tests that follow.Batsman Ross Taylor, who had had surgery to remove a benign growth in his left eye after the Hamilton Test against Pakistan in late November, was not picked for this series, but will return to domestic T20 cricket “within the next few days”, according to selector Gavin Larsen.Anderson had played in the World T20 in March, before the back injury ruled him out of the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa. He then returned for the five-ODI series in India in October, where he was also picked as just a batsman. Anderson scored only 31 runs in four games and tried his hand at bowling in the final match – four overs, 27 runs, no wicket. Subsequently he was left out of the Chappell-Hadlee ODIs in Australia, which Taylor had also missed due to his surgery.Larsen said the uncapped batsman Bruce would boost the squad’s hitting power. “Tom has been one of the leading players in the Super Smash [the domestic T20 competition] the past two years and is one of the cleanest strikers of a cricket ball in the country. He has averaged 76 at a strike-rate of 174 so far this season, so Tom has proven himself to be a very dangerous player,” Larsen said. “Power is a critical element to Twenty20 cricket, so to have him alongside the likes of Martin [Guptill], Corey and the two Colins [Munro and de Grandhomme] is an exciting prospect.”Left arm pace-bowling allrounder Wheeler, also from Central Districts, had played six ODIs between June and August 2015, but is yet to play a T20 international. He has not contributed much with the bat in the Super Smash so far this season, but has six wickets from five games at 27.16.”Ben has put in a lot of hard work to get to this point again, so we’re looking forward to having him back in the mix,” Larsen said. “His ability to swing the ball at a decent clip can trouble any batsman, as he has shown in domestic cricket this season.”We’ve got some really exciting players coming through and it’s important to give them opportunities and introduce them to the international stage. There are a number of players who just missed out – the likes of Mark Chapman, Neil Wagner, George Worker and Seth Rance were all seriously considered.”The three T20s against Bangladesh will be played from January 3 in Napier. This series is New Zealand’s first T20I assignment since the World T20.

Kemar Roach chips in with three as Sri Lanka collapse around Lahiru Thirimanne’s battling 70

Madushka Balasuriya21-Mar-2021Kemar Roach and Jason Holder combined for eight wickets between them as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 169 on the opening day of the first Test in Antigua. Lahiru Thirimanne top scored for the visitors with a hard-fought 70 off 180 balls, but only three other Sri Lankan batsman would get to double digits, as they crumbled against a disciplined bowling performance from the hosts.While it was Roach that was arguably the more impressive of the two, with his impeccable lines and lengths, it was Holder that would reap the benefits of the pressure created, picking up his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests. Roach, meanwhile would finish with figures of 3 for 47. John Campbell and Kraigg Brathwaite saw off an hour without any hassles, with West Indies ending on 13 without loss.While Holder had been tight throughout the day, it was in an uninterrupted spell after tea that he burst into life. He picked up four of his five wickets during this spell, including the wickets of both Dickwella and Thirimanne – Sri Lanka’s last two recognised batsmen – just as the pair would have been harbouring hopes of fashioning an unlikely rearguard salvo, having put on 58 for the sixth wicket.The first to go was Dickwella, who up until that point had played an uncharacteristically reserved innings. Having left several wide outside off alone, and having flayed a couple somewhat fortuitously backward of square on the offside, Dickwella finally produced the edge he had been teasing as Rakheem Cornwell completed a comfortable take at slip.That would put a considerable dampener on an already slow scoring rate, the pressure of which would tell a few overs later as Thirimanne played on to his stumps, to one that was angled in from around the wicket – a tactic that the West Indies had employed across the board to Sri Lanka’s left-hand batsmen.Holder would then have Suranga Lakmal out caught in his next over before trapping Lasith Embuldeniya lbw to close-out the innings, either side of Roach producing an absolute ripper to oust Dushmantha Chameera’s off peg.Roach had undoubtedly been the standout performer until that point, exemplified by his spell after the lunch break, when he picked up the wickets of both Dhananjaya De Silva and Pathum Nissanka.His first victim was De Silva; having got a few to move away past the outside edge of the right-hander, he eventually got his man, luring him into the drive but this time seaming the ball back in past the inside edge to clip the top of off stump. It was a well setup wicket, and one that was just reward for a consummate Test-match spell.And it was more of the same for Roach’s second. Immediately after the drinks break, he would get another good length delivery to move ever-so-slightly away from the batsman – this time Nissanka – whose gentle defensive prod could only find its way to first slip.Much of the damage for the visitors however took place in the morning session when they yet again lost their top-order for barely 50 runs on the board. Cornwall and Holder had picked up a wicket a piece, while Kraigg Brathwaite had effected a splendid runout.

Pakistan secure clean sweep of trophies after holding nerve in tricky run-chase

Firdose Moonda14-Feb-2021Pakistan subjected South Africa to their first T20I series defeat in the subcontinent and fourth successive T20I series loss, leaving them empty-handed from their first tour to the country since 2007. In an entertaining finale at the Gaddafi Stadium, Pakistan relied on Mohammad Rizwan and the lower order to take them home, while Babar Azam enjoyed his best knock of the series after scores of 0 and 5 in the first two matches.This victory was Pakistan’s 100th T20I win, making them the first team to register a century of success in this format.South Africa have no similar good news to report. They saved one of their worst batting collapses for last and lost seven wickets for 55 runs to slump to 65 for 7 just after the halfway stage of their innings. It was up to David Miller to prop them up and he pulled off one of his most authoritative knocks while ushering the tail to take South Africa to a competitive total.The side fielding second has found it difficult to control the ball in the wet conditions but South Africa put on a spirited effort when their turn came. However, their frontline seamers were all expensive and untidy, allowing Pakistan to win with eight balls to spare. If anything, South Africa will take heart from the knowledge that their second-string side fought hard in Pakistan, but it won’t take away from the pressure building on this outfit. South Africa have only won two out of eight trophies in the Mark Boucher era, dating back to December 2019.Dream Debut Zahid Mahmood was called up to the Pakistan squad in place of the injured Shadab Khan and had to wait for the last match for an opportunity but he made the most of it. He started with a short ball that Janneman Malan smashed through long-on but soon recovered to take two wickets, and could have had a third in his opening over to celebrate a dream start to international cricket.Mahmood’s first victim was South Africa’s stand-in captain Heinrich Klaasen, who tried to sweep the first ball he faced but didn’t account for the extra bounce. He top-edged to Usman Qadir at short fine-leg. With the next ball, Mahmood had Malan trapped in the crease by the topspinner in front of middle stump. It was given not out initially but Mahmood convinced Babar to review with three seconds left on the clock and ball-tracking showed that Malan was out.Three balls later, Mahmood thought he had Andile Phehlukwayo when a full ball hit him below the knee roll but the review showed it had pitched just outside leg stump. But Phehlukwayo didn’t last much longer. He slog-swept the next ball he faced to deep mid-wicket, leaving South Africa 48 for 6.Mahmood enjoyed more success in his third over when he bowled Dwaine Pretorius with a delivery that turned gently as Pretorius attempted to mow it over midwicket and missed.David Miller revived South Africa with an outstanding counterattack•AP Photo

Miller Time David Miller wanted to have an influence on South Africa’s performance and he ended up scoring more than half of their runs and sharing in a 58-run ninth-wicket stand with Lutho Sipamla to ensure they set Pakistan a challenging target.Miller had only faced one ball when South Africa slumped to 48 for 6, in the eighth. Though the situation was dire, it meant he had more than half the innings to bat, giving him time in the middle that he does not usually benefit from. Miller’s first boundary came from a sweep shot off Qadir, whom he also swiped through square leg. But he really cashed in on Mahmood’s final over, sending him for two sixes over long-on to put South Africa in sight of a hundred.With only the tail to bat with, Miller waited to get as close to the death as possible before he took the bowling on. He took two fours off Shaheen Shah Afridi and a monstrous six off Hasan Ali before tearing apart Faheem Ashraf’s final over, with four sixes. Miller benefitted from some ordinary captaincy from Babar, who did not let Qadir bowl out, and poor lengths from Faheem, who bowled short throughout the over and then dished up a full toss at the end.In total, South Africa scored 54 runs off the last four overs, and Miller scored 45 of those. He was leg-side dominant and scored 57 in that area, including five of his seven sixes and four of his five fours. This knock was also Miller’s first half-century T20 cricket in almost two years. His last one came 13 innings ago, also against Pakistan, when he scored an unbeaten 65 to set South Africa up for a match-winning total in Johannesburg in March 2019.Rizwan falls short of record Rizwan’s magical week has ended. After scoring his first Test century last Sunday and his first T20I hundred on Thursday, Rizwan was on track to join Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle as one of only three players to reel off four fifty-plus scores. He took on South Africa’s left-arm spinners, Bjorn Fortuin and Jon-Jon Smuts and pulled, cut and slogged anything short, wide or slow but was undone by Tabraiz Shamsi.The wristspinner almost bowled him with a delivery that was low on leg stump and squirted past, and could have had him caught behind but Klaasen could not hold on to a tough chance from the bottom edge. Shamsi’s next ball was yorker-length, Rizwan tried to sweep and missed and was struck on the boot in front of middle stump. He reviewed, in hope, but ball-tracking showed his leg stump would have been disturbed and he had to go for 42. Shamsi’s star rises After spending the early part of his career playing second fiddle to Imran Tahir, Shamsi stood up as South Africa’s best bowler in the country of Tahir’s birth. He collected career-best figures of 4 for 25 in this match to cap off a sterling series in which he turned the ball more than the home spinners and consistently challenged batsmen who can pick and play spin.After taking a wicket with his first ball and threatening Rizwan twice before getting rid of him, Shamsi bowled Hussain Talat with a straight ball, as Talat played for spin and left off stump exposed, and then had Asif Ali caught at long-on looking for six but failing to get hold of the ball. Shamsi finished the series with six wickets for 61 runs at an economy rate of just over five runs an over.

Tournament’s director says two other franchises have been lined up to replace them this season

Andrew Fidel Fernando26-Jun-2021Two franchisees have had their contracts terminated ahead of the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), but the tournament’s director says two other franchises have been lined up to replace them.*The IPG group, who organises the tournament for SLC, has said it has dropped the Colombo Kings and Dambulla Viiking sides for breach of contract. Ravin Wickramaratne, the SLC vice-president in charge of the LPL, told ESPNcricinfo that this will not change the board’s plans for the tournament, however. It is currently slated to run from July 30 to August 22.Related

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In the first edition of the five-team tournament, the Dambulla Viiking, who had made the semi-finals after finishing second on the table in the league stage, were owned by Sachiin Joshi and Viiking Ventures, while the Colombo Kings, also a semi-finalist, were owned by Murfad Mustafa and Faza group.”Those two franchises (Kings and Viiking) have [been] terminated, but I’ve received other potential franchisees, whose details have been sent to the ICC for them to check,” Wickramaratne said. The ICC vets franchise owners as part of their anti-corruption procedure. “I can’t reveal who the owners of those teams are yet, but the other three team owners (of Galle Gladiators, Kandy Tuskers , and Jaffna Stallions) are still there.”Wickramaratne also confirmed that the 2021 edition will have five teams, though there were rumblings of a sixth team entering the fray.As with the first edition, the entire tournament is scheduled to be played at Sooriyawewa (Hambantota) to make a biosecure bubble easier to maintain.*This story originally stated that the teams had pulled out, but the tournament’s organisers say it is they who have let go of the teams.

Former Yorkshire and Australia batter cites uncertainty around Covid-19 restrictions for decision

Matt Roller12-Jan-2022Darren Lehmann has resigned from his role as men’s head coach of Northern Superchargers, the Hundred team based at Headingley.Lehmann, the former Yorkshire and Australia batter, has started to step back from his coaching commitments since suffering a heart attack on his 50th birthday in early 2020. He stepped down as head coach of Brisbane Heat ahead of the ongoing BBL season, moving to a role as assistant, and has now left the Superchargers ahead of the 2022 edition of the Hundred.”It’s with a heavy heart that I have taken the decision to step down as men’s head coach at the Superchargers,” Lehmann said in a statement. “As for many people, the continuing uncertainty around Covid-19, quarantining and restrictions begins to play a part in your decisions.”I loved my time with the Superchargers. Last season, despite all the challenges of Covid, was up there with one of my coaching highlights.”The UK public got behind the new competition and I see it going from strength to strength. I thank the Northern Superchargers supporters, my coaching staff and the players and wish them all well.”Related

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Heather Jackson, the Superchargers’ chair, confirmed that Marcus North, Durham’s director of cricket, would be “taking on lead cricket responsibilities” and that he would be responsible for recruiting a new head coach, along with Andy Dawson, their general manager.Andrew Gale, Lehmann’s assistant coach, has not had his contract renewed with the Superchargers after he was sacked by Yorkshire following racism allegations made by Azeem Rafiq.Lehmann’s own appointment as Superchargers coach came under scrutiny after Rafiq first made his allegations of institutional racism in late 2020. Lehmann was banned for five ODIs in 2003 after using racially abusive language following his dismissal in a game against Sri Lanka.A statement from the ECB made no mention of Lehmann’s previous comments. The ECB’s decision in November to suspend Headingley’s right to host international and major matches extends to knockout fixtures in the Hundred, but it remains the Superchargers’ home ground for regular-season games.The 2022 edition of the Hundred is due to start in early August. The window for player retentions opened on December 1, and teams have been negotiating with players and their representatives over the last six weeks.