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Illness affected final season for Glamorgan stalwart

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2017Glamorgan batsman Will Bragg has announced his retirement from cricket with immediate effect at the age of 31.Bragg was only able to play a handful of County Championship matches in 2017 due to illness, although he did enjoy a successful Royal London One-Day Cup campaign when he registered a career-best 94 against the Kent Spitfires at Swansea.”It’s been a great experience to come through the age groups of Welsh Cricket and represent Glamorgan for over a decade,” he said.”Last season was a frustrating one for me personally and I believe now is the right time for me to step away from the game and start focusing on building a new career in another area.Born in Newport, Will initially signed for Glamorgan as Mark Wallace’s understudy behind the stumps, before developing into a specialist top-order batsman.He enjoyed his most consistent season for the Welsh county in 2016 when he switched to No. 3 from opening and passed 1,000 first-class runs for the third time, hitting a career-best 161 not out against Essex in Cardiff.He went on to score over 5,500 First-class runs for Glamorgan across an impressive 11-year career.”Will Bragg has been an integral part of Glamorgan for more than a decade,” said Glamorgan’s chief executive Hugh Morris. “He was a big part of the dressing room and a fine batsman for the club, so it’s sad to see his career end prematurely.”

New Zealand’s left-arm spinner claimed Fakhar Zaman with his version of the carrom ball, but now he knows everyone is talking about it

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2018Inspired by watching R Ashwin. Honed in English county cricket. Unfurled against Pakistan in Hamilton. Mitchell Santner’s new delivery, his version of the carrom ball, has been the talk of New Zealand over the last few days.During the fourth one-day international at Seddon Park, Santner defeated Fakhar Zaman, who was well set on 54, when the opener advanced down the pitch and was bowled. Closer inspection revealed Santner had flicked the ball out of his fingers, rather than spinning it in the traditional way for a left-armer, and the delivery gripped to turn the opposite way, from the left-handers leg to off stump.”I’ve been working on a few things and the grip is very similar to Ashwin’s. He used it against us in the Test series over there and I thought ‘yeah, that’s not a bad ball’ so thought I’d give it a crack,” Santner said after New Zealand wrapped up a 5-0 whitewash in Wellington.”I actually used it in county cricket and some of the T20 stuff over there, but on a pitch that suits, it works better because it’s hard to put a lot on it. I am just flicking it out. If there is a little bit of spin, ideally I’d use it a little bit more.”The challenge now for Santner is that everyone is looking for the delivery, which has been termed the “Santner Claw” in New Zealand.”You guys have been analysing it quite a bit now so I might have to put it away,” he joked. “I might have to disguise it a bit more because every time I look up it’s on the big screen. It adds another element to my game. I tend to just work with changes of pace so if one can go the other way it puts a bit of doubt in the batsman’s mind. If you can stay one step ahead, predict what the batsman can do, then it’s ideal.”Santner chipped in with quietly effective performances with the ball during the five one-day internationals: 1 for 34 in Nelson, 1 for 43 in Hamilton (when the carrom ball came out) and then 3 for 40 in Wellington when Pakistan got closest to nipping a victory.He was aided by New Zealand’s quicks having invariably made inroads to leave Pakistan in recovery mode, although at the Basin Reserve responded to his captain’s call to quell a late charge which put New Zealand under a rare spot of pressure. Santner responded with the wickets of Haris Sohail and Shadab Khan, the two half-century makers, before adding Faheem Ashraf”On a holding wicket like that there was more chance for me to get a few wickets and that’s what happened,” he said.New Zealand are unbeaten during their season – 12 victories alongside an abandoned T20 against West Indies – as their attention now turns to the three T20s against Pakistan followed by the marquee part of their summer with the T20 tri-series involving Australia and England before the latter stay for one-day and Test series.”Looking forward to both those series, they are quite big for us,” Santner said. “But first things first it’s the T20s against Pakistan and hopefully we can take the momentum into the tri-series.”

Fast bowler Michael Neser took 4 for 1 in 3.1 overs to leave South Australia reeling at the Adelaide Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2018
ScorecardMichael Neser in his follow through•Getty Images

Fast bowler Michael Neser tore through South Australia’s middle order to put Queensland in a strong position on day two at Adelaide Oval.The Bulls added just 16 runs on the second morning before being bowled out for 342 in their first innings. Redbacks quick Daniel Worrall picked up the last two wickets to finish with four for the innings.South Australia moved to 29 for 0 loss before losing three wickets for nine runs, with Brendan Doggett claiming both Jake Weatherald and Travis Head.Callum Ferguson and Jake Lehmann battled briefly before Neser took 4 for 1 in 3.1 overs to leave the Redbacks reeling at 7 for 89. Adam Zampa made a quick-fire 57 to try and salvage something from the wreck but Mitch Swepson put an end to that to hand Queensland a 180-run first innings lead.Left-arm seamer Nick Winter removed both Bulls openers in the second innings but the Redbacks have a huge mountain to climb to get back into the game.

Ross Taylor produced one of the greatest ODI innings – a large part of it on one leg – to help New Zealand level the series 2-2

The Report by Andrew McGlashan in Dunedin06-Mar-20181:57

‘Magnificent’ Taylor levels one-day series

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
New Zealand took a gripping series to a decider as Ross Taylor produced one of the greatest one-day innings in staging a magnificent chase in Dunedin to hunt down an imposing 336. What made Taylor’s career-best unbeaten 181 from 147 balls even more remarkable was that the latter part was played after he injured himself diving to make a second run shortly after reaching three figures.Incredibly, New Zealand got home with three balls to spare when Henry Nicholls swung Tom Curran over the leg side after Colin de Grandhomme hammered 23 off 11 balls to help take the pressure off a limping Taylor. However, in fading light, it was Taylor that did most of the finishing as he took a six and a four in the space of three balls against Chris Woakes in the 47th over, then took him over midwicket again at the start of the 49th to remove any doubt. New Zealand still haven’t lost at this ground. After today, they may feel they never will.It was another wonderfully absorbing contest between these teams, back to the high-scoring variety seen in 2015 in England. Centuries from Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root were the centrepiece of England’s innings, but they suffered a middle-order meltdown as they lost 8 for 46 to slump from 267 for 1 to 313 for 9. Still, it was the second-highest total on the ground – it would become England’s second-highest first-innings in defeat.Ross Taylor struggles to stay on his feet•Getty Images

Taylor combined with Tom Latham – the same pair that did so much to win the opening match of the series – to add 187 in 25.5 overs for the fourth wicket as New Zealand recovered from 2 for 2, and then the loss of Kane Williamson when replays showed he hadn’t edged the ball.Taylor, who gave one chance on 84 when Bairstow couldn’t gather a catch at deep midwicket, brought up his 19th ODI century from 98 balls, but shortly after, on 109, suffered an injury when making his ground for a scampered second. He was patched up by the physio – who made multiple trips to the middle – and hauled himself between the wickets, but largely opted to have a swing. He sent both Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid out of the ground, taking his sixes tally to six, with the fifth of them landing on the roof of a building adjacent to the sightscreen.Latham played superbly in support, having arrived when Williamson was given caught behind pulling at Stokes’ first delivery. Colin Munro had earlier reviewed a stone-dead lbw first ball against Mark Wood, so the New Zealand captain had no recourse. When the asking rate touched nine-an-over, Latham took two sixes in three balls off Wood and Stokes. He might have been lbw twice, once to Moeen Ali and once to Adil Rashid, but was so far down the pitch on both occasions that the umpires were perfectly in their right to say not outLatham fell to Tom Curran’s slower-ball, finding mid-off with 63 needed from 48 balls. De Grandhomme was promoted and struck his first two balls for four, followed by two sixes off Curran in the 44th over to firmly swing things New Zealand’s way. Woakes went for just three off the 45th and Curran then removed de Grandhomme, but there would be no denying Taylor.England will wonder how they have not wrapped up the series. When Bairstow and Root were together adding 190 in 27.2 overs, they were on course to challenge 400. But Bairstow’s dismissal to Munro sparked a horrendous collapse, as Ish Sodhi bagged a career-best 4 for 58. After the top three, the next batsmen to reach double figures were Rashid and Curran at Nos. 9 and 10.England had raced out of the blocks, reaching 77 off the 10-over Powerplay against some inconsistent bowling and fallible fielding. Sodhi broke through with his second ball, Roy top-edging to short fine leg, but that just set the stage for Bairstow and Roy.Bairstow reached his third ODI century – all made as an opener – from 83 deliveries while Root reached his from 99 balls, although that came in the midst of England’s late slump. For Root, it was his first century in 26 international innings – in which time he has passed fifty on 12 occasions – while for Bairstow it broke a sequence against Australia and New Zealand where had missed the chance to convert a few starts.Such was the way Bairstow, given a life on 74 by Mitchell Santner at cover, was progressing, that Roy’s England record 180 – made against Australia in Melbourne – was in danger. Yet things were about to change very quickly. Bairstow skied an off-cutter and Jos Buttler’s promotion to No. 4 lasted two balls when he chipped a catch back to Sodhi.There was no thought of momentary consolidation with Eoin Morgan hoisting Trent Boult into the leg side. New Zealand’s fielding suddenly went up a notch with Munro taking an excellent catch running back. Stokes then picked out deep square leg and Moeen lofted down the ground where Tim Southee made excellent ground running in to take the ball by his bootlaces.When Woakes chipped Munro to long-on, Root was in danger of running out of partners before his century. He, too, fell before the end and it was left to Curran to offer any semblance of a finish as he took 18 off the last over. The days of 336 being virtually unchasable are long gone. Still, this was remarkable.

Peshawar dominated Karachi in a must-win game and completed a massive 44-run victory to open up the race for semi-final spots

The Report by Arun Venugopal15-Mar-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIn a nutshellKamran Akmal’s 51-ball 75 and Darren Sammy’s blinding assault in the latter half helped Peshawar Zalmi overwhelm Karachi Kings by 44 runs. More importantly for Peshawar, the win helped them remain in contention for the next round. After electing to bat first and racking up 181, Peshawar’s bowlers stifled Karachi, who were already weighed down by scoreboard pressure.It reflected in how Karachi approached their chase – Joe Denly and Colin Ingram played out five and eight balls respectively before departing for ducks even as the Powerplay score read 35 for 2. Babar Azam was the standout batsman with his silken drives and flicks, and notched up his third consecutive fifty, but while he finished with a 50-ball 66, the target was too steep for him to gun down on his own. Karachi’s scoring rate remained a cause for concern for the most part, and they were striking at less than six runs an over even at the end of 10 overs.There were brief spurts of rousing play, particularly when Shahid Afridi struck four sixes off four successive deliveries he faced. But, he perished for 26 off 8 balls when he holed out to long off off left-arm spinner Liam Dawson, who finished with 3 for 17 in his four overs. Azam struck a few sixes towards the end but was eventually dismissed in the 17th over as the closing stages of the match became a mere formality.Karachi’s struggles with the bat mirrored those of Peshawar’s at the start of their innings. They lost Mohammad Hafeez to Mohammad Amir in the second over, and despite Akmal’s brace of sixes, they could only crawl to 31 for 1 in the Powerplay. At the halfway mark, Peshawar managed to reach only 58 for 2, but Akmal, who was dropped on 32, managed to swing the momentum soon after with some audacious hitting. Akmal was backed up by Saad Nasim, who smashed 35 off 18 balls, and Sammy’s unbeaten 15-ball 36, as Peshawar ransacked 123 runs in the last 10 overs.Kamran Akmal lays into a cut shot•AFP

Where the match was wonIt would be fair to say that Karachi had things under control until the end of Peshawar’s 13th over where the score read 82 for 3. But Akmal, having completed his third fifty of the tournament, teed off with two successive sixes of the next over, bowled by Afridi, while Nasim wasn’t to be left behind as he collected a six off his own off the last ball. That 21-run over was followed by 14 runs in the next over before Usman Khan, who remained insulated from Akmal’s clear-the-leg-and-whack carnage and produced a spell of 4-0-11-3, concede only two runs in the 16th. The next over, bowled by Mohammad Irfan, though, was going to be mammoth – Sammy tonked three sixes and Nasim one as they amassed 28 runs. Nasim then smacked Amir for a hat-trick of fours in the next over, as Peshawar managed 64 runs in the last five.The men who won itYou would struggle to look beyond three men – Akmal, Nasim and Sammy. While Akmal and Nasim added 37 runs for the fourth wicket, Sammy and Nasim put on a 42-run partnership for the fifth. That each of the batsmen passed around the hitting baton among themselves ensured that there was no let up in scoring momentum.Where they standPeshawar’s victory takes them to eight points from nine matches, and they remain with a chance of making the playoffs. Despite the loss, Karachi hold on to third position with nine points.

The hosts have been over-reliant on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for their runs. Will one of them do the job again against CSK?

The Preview by Sruthi Ravindranath24-Apr-20183:42

Agarkar: RCB over-reliant on Kohli, de Villiers

Big picture

Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. The two usual suspects have been the ones making the runs for Royal Challengers Bangalore, with the rest struggling to find any kind of form. While Kohli’s efforts have come in defeats, de Villiers bailed RCB out in two tense situations – smashing an unbeaten 90 in their previous match and a 57 against Kings XI Punjab.Their opponents at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, however, have had different match-winners in their four wins so far. Without being heavily dependent on an individual, Chennai Super Kings had at least one batsman step up in each victory. What looked like a bowling-heavy team with eight bowlers during their first game, is now a well-rounded side with eight batsmen, including a number of finishers to do the job.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Form guide (most recent match first)

Royal Challengers Bangalore: defeated Delhi Daredevils by six wickets, lost to Mumbai Indians by 46 runs, lost to Rajasthan Royals by 19 runs, defeated Kings XI Punjab by four wickets
Chennai Super Kings: defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by four runs, defeated Rajasthan Royals by 64 runs, lost to Kings XI Punjab by four runs, defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets

Both RCB and CSK seem to unleash their best and the worst in the death overs. They are the best batting sides and the least effective bowling units in this critical period. While CSK have scored at 12.12 and conceded at 10.89, RCB’s numbers are 11.24 and 12.86 respectively. In the match against Delhi Daredevils, RCB let them score 57 runs in the last four overs after having kept the run-rate to 7.31 until then.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bowling woes aside, RCB also have a batting line-up to be concerned about. They have tried three opening combinations in five games – Quinton de Kock being the only constant – and have had just one 30-plus partnership for the first wicket. Their opening stand lasts 10.6 balls on average, which indicates they have not survived even two overs on an average this season. None of the RCB batsmen apart from Kohli and de Villiers have made a 50-plus score: Mandeep Singh’s 47 is the best of the rest.

In the news

CSK legspinner Imran Tahir, who missed the previous match because of illness, said on Twitter that he was feeling well and was “all set” for the game.

The likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Manan Vohra 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Mandeep Singh, 6 Corey Anderson/Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Siraj/Kulwant Khejroliya, 11 Yuzvendra ChahalChennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Sam Billings, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Deepak Chahar, 10 Karn Sharma, 11 Shardul Thakur

Strategy punt

CSK could save Shane Watson to stop de Villiers. In T20s, Watson has dismissed de Villiers two times, giving away 55 runs in 49 balls.RCB could use the legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal against the in-form Suresh Raina. Against Chahal in the IPL, Raina has been dismissed four times in eight matches. He has scored just 79 runs in 57 balls.Both the teams are likely to field unchanged XIs. CSK’s strategy to play Ambati Rayudu at No. 4 had paid off; Tahir, although up for selection, might be left out considering he has had a middling tournament so far.

Stats that matter

• While MS Dhoni boasts an average of 61.8 at the Chinnaswamy, Raina has scored only 156 runs there in nine innings.
• Kohli’s tally of 706 runs against CSK is his highest against any team. While he is only 18 short of 2000 runs at the venue, Kohli needs 10 runs to overtake Raina as the top run-scorer in the IPL over 11 seasons.
• Although the record between these two sides in Bengaluru is tied at 3-3, the last two encounters did not go well for RCB – they scored 154 both times and lost.

Fantasy picks

No doubts about this: Kohli and de Villiers would be obvious picks, considering their records at home. Kohli has three centuries and de Villiers has 11 50-plus scores in Bengaluru.Deepak Chahar has the best economy rate during Powerplay for Super Kings this season: 7.50. He has conceded just 98 runs in 13 overs in this period, and also took three wickets at an economy of 3.75 to deny Sunrisers Hyderabad a win on Sunday.

Quote

“It feels like a dream. Even when I was with RPS and when Dhoni wasn’t the captain, he supported me a lot. I was thinking if he’d pick me in the squad for CSK. He’s a very different person. When a person like him gives you confidence then then it’s obviously good for me.” –

The Derbyshire captain made his second ton of the competition as part of an impressive all-round display

ECB Reporters Network01-Jun-2018
ScorecardBilly Godleman’s second hundred in this year’s Royal London Cup led Derbyshire to a 51-run win at Northamptonshire to keep them firmly in the hunt for a place in the knockout stage.It was an impressive all-round display from Derbyshire, led by Godleman, who made a career-best 137 in the opening game of the competition at Edgbaston and followed up with an unbeaten 125 from 142 balls to steer his side carefully to 265 for 2 on a slow wicket.The score was easily defended with all six bowlers taking wickets as Northants subsided for 214 to leave their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage hanging by a thread.Godleman steered Derbyshire, having won the toss, with typically nugetty effort with few memorable strokes but a most-determined innings. He got going with a flashing cover drive off Ben Sanderson, struck another boundary past mid-off and a fierce pull backward of square as Derbyshire finished the Powerplay on 37 without loss.Boundaries were at a premium but he swung Josh Cobb over midwicket before bursting the hands of short-fine leg for his ninth four to move to 98 and then raising his third List A century in 127 balls.His opening partnership of 182 with Ben Slater was the record first-wicket stand in this fixture.Slater, fresh from his century against Yorkshire on Wednesday, began his innings with two firm pulls but otherwise was content to run the bowling around and build the partnership. He swept Graeme White for four and pulled Cobb over midwicket.A leg-side flick off Nathan Buck raised his sixth List A fifty in 78 balls with five fours. He then switch-hit Rob Keogh to the backward-point fence but completely missed a full toss from the same bowler and was clean bowled for 94.Northants’ chase, as was the case in the previous match against Durham, was in early trouble. Rob Newton chipped Wayne Madsen to midwicket for just 2 and Josh Cobb clipped Ravi Rampaul to mid-on for 6 before Alex Wakely, after a stand of 51 for the third wicket, tried to reverse-sweep Matt Critchley and was plumb lbw for 19.Ben Duckett has endured a miserable season so far but here, got set by driving Wayne Madsen – who bowled a seven-over opening spell for just 21 runs – over extra-cover before reverse-sweeping Critchley’s legspin three times for boundaries in going to just a first half-century of the summer in 59 balls.Duckett and Adam Rossington shared a partnership of 53 for the fourth wicket before Duckett lifted Alex Hughes into the hands of long-on to fall for 57 and Rossington, having reached a fortuitous 40, swung at Duanne Olivier and lost his leg stump.Northants needed 107 from 11 overs but despite Rory Kleinvedlt striking two leg-side sixes they fell well short.

Australian legspinner Adam Zampa did not disguise the fact that Essex’s Twenty20 season needs to improve – and fast- after a home defeat against Glamorgan

ECB Reporters Network13-Jul-2018
ScorecardChris Cooke carried Glamorgan to a two-wicket victory off the last ball of a dramatic final over as Essex’s third defeat in four games left them desperately needing to shore up a faltering season.The South African wicketkeeper-batsman hit a four from Neil Wagner’s final delivery to give Glamorgan their second Vitality Blast win of the season.Cooke’s masterly display of hitting brought him 60 from 29 balls, including four sixes and three fours, in a turnaround which included a stand of 61 for the ninth wicket with Timm van der Gugten from just 28 balls.Adam Zampa had done his best to rein in Glamorgan and give Essex a second win with three for 17 from his four overs. The Australian leg-spinner had been the only Eagles bowler to come out with any credit from the heavy defeat by Surrey at the Oval the night before when he took two for 20.Essex had been undone after being asked to bat when they suffered another spectacular collapses, losing their last eight wickets for 50 runs in just 40 deliveries, falling from 117 for two to 167 all out.

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And that after an opening stand of 48 from 32 balls between Adam Wheater and Varun Chopra, and another between Tom Westley and Ryan ten Doeschate of 62 from 27 balls for the fourth wicket. The loss of Ravi Bopara to a suicidal run-out and ten Doeschate next ball for a 28-ball 43 that included three sixes, prefaced the rapid decline.Zampa did not attempt to gloss over Essex’s shortcomings He said of the third defeat in four games: “It’s hard to put into words how disappointing that was. Two defeats in two days isn’t great for momentum.”It was a bit of everything. The batting, we lost wickets in clumps at crucial times. 170 here isn’t enough. Then with the ball we’d done well taking wickets, but we were just losing the crucial moments, just some decision-making. There are things we need to get right very quickly otherwise the tournament is going to crawl away from us very quickly.”Zampa was not sure if Essex are a team short on confidence at the moment. He said: “I’ve only been here a short while so I don’t know what the guys’ characters are like. It’s one of those things, it can turn around pretty quickly as well. If we can get the little things right, it’s T20 cricket and you can get a bit of a roll on. But we’re going to have to sort it out pretty quickly.”We’ve got the skills, everyone playing at this level has got the skills, it’s decision-making and the mental side of things.Michael Hogan bowled four miserly overs for 22 runs and two wickets, and was backed by Graham Wagg’s two for 30 at the height of Essex’s misfortunes.Glamorgan had made steady progress in their reply until Wagner was introduced for his Essex Blast bowling debut. With his fourth ball he had Usman Khawaja swishing at one down leg-side to be caught behind.Colin Ingram, who habitually flays Essex with centuries, found himself tied up in knots by Zampa, and in frustration swept the Australian leg-spinner straight into Chopra’s hands at backward square leg for just two. Zampa then did for David Lloyd, who played all around one and was bowled, He might have had a third but Chopra dropped a simple chance at deep square leg when Donald was 27.When Bopara had Graham Wagg and Andrew Salter bowled in successive deliveries in an over that went for just two runs, Glamorgan were on the verge of suffering a collapse of their own. They were 107 for seven, still 61 runs from their target with 34 balls left. But then the fireworks began.Craig Meschede gave himself room and was bowled to give Zampa his third wicket, his final over conceding just three runs. Cooke then took over. Suddenly 11 were needed off the last over. Cooke took a single off the first ball from Wagner, and Timm van Gugten a single off a wide from the second. Two more for Cooke reduced the target to six from four balls, then five from three, four from two and two from the last ball. A wide from the sixth ball tied the scores before Cooke hit the winning boundary to cow corner.

Zaman shrugged off Sarfraz’s histrionics, suggesting that the team are comfortable under their captain and that, perhaps, a bit of sound and fury was what was needed to sharpen them up

Liam Brickhill in Harare04-Jul-2018Despite Pakistan overcoming Zimbabwe to secure their place in the tri-series final, their captain Sarfraz Ahmed was vocal in the criticism of his bowling attack. “The bowling was not up to the mark,” he said shortly after guiding his side to a seven-wicket win. “They have to work hard.”Sarfraz had been a loud and, at times, stroppy presence behind the stumps during Zimbabwe’s innings. The very first ball of the day seemed to set the tone, as Sarfraz let rip with a fearful ear-bashing at Fakhar Zaman when he was slow off the mark from midwicket, allowing Zimbabwe opener Cephas Zhuwao to get off the mark. There wasn’t much let up thereafter.But Zaman shrugged off Sarfraz’s histrionics, suggesting that the team are comfortable under their captain and that, perhaps, a bit of sound and fury was what was needed to sharpen them up on a particularly cold winter’s day in Harare. “Yeah, he’s the kind of person who does that sometimes,” said Zaman. “But he’s very good at getting us up on the field. We’re used to it and he’s our captain. And well, it works for us and it worked today.”Sarfraz also had some fiery words for his bowlers, ticking Shadab Khan off during an over when Solomon Mire hit him for two big sixes. Mire took the attack to Pakistan’s bowlers, and Zaman admitted that Zimbabwe had scored 20 to 30 more runs than they thought was par on this pitch.”We were expecting 130 to 140 on this pitch, but Mire played a very good innings,” Zaman said. “We knew that we have a very deep batting lineup – we have Shadab at no. 9 – so we were confident we could chase it.”As it turned out, Pakistan’s lower order wasn’t needed as Zaman and Hussain Talat cracked forties before Sarfraz finished things off with an ice-cold, unbeaten 38. While his tongue-lashing geed them up, Sarfraz’s batting was the picture of limited-overs sangfroid and provided a different sort of a lesson to his team. Zaman said that spending time under Sarfraz had helped him improve his own game, particularly in T20 cricket.”In the start in T20 I was hitting every ball in my striking zone, and after playing eight to 10 games I sat with some senior players like Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed, and spoke about my gameplans with them,” Zaman said. “I realised that I could play proper cricket shots and be successful, and that’s what I’ve been doing recently.”Pakistan’s win means they are assured of a place in Sunday’s final, though they have a dead rubber against Australia tomorrow. Bucking their recent trend in short-format cricket, Australia have won two in two in this tournament and they were buoyed by an opening victory against Pakistan which included Billy Stanlake’s 4 for 8.”We’ll just keep it very simple [against Australia],” Zaman said. “[Stanlake] bowled really well in the last match but every day is a new day. We’ll play him well.”

Leicestershire have lost all four home matches at Grace Road after another sluggish batting display at Grace Road

ECB Reporters Network27-Jul-2018
ScorecardA half-century from Billy Godleman underpinned by some explosive hitting by Hardus Viljoen helped Derbyshire Falcons maintain their current mini-revival by overhauling a modest total by Leicestershire Foxes, who have so far lost all four of their home fixtures in the Vitality T20 Blast while winning their three away from Grace Road.Godleman recovered from running out the Falcons’ danger man Calum MacLeod off the second ball as the Falcons chased a target of 150, his unbeaten 57 steering his side to back-to-back wins in the competition after their first four matches ended in defeat.Viljoen smashed 32 off just 16 balls to snuff out any real hope of the Foxes keeping their East Midlands rivals below their total of 149 for 5 on a used pitch.When he was dismissed, skying one to mid-off off Neil Dexter, the target was down to 33 off 30 deliveries and his dismissal merely prefaced the arrival of skipper Gary Wilson, whose 21 off 11 balls helped Godleman finish the job at the end of a good week for the county, who completed only their second Championship win of the season at Chesterfield on Wednesday.The chase had begun disastrously for the Falcons with Macleod, whose 58-ball century against Northamptonshire last time out enabled his side to register a first win of the season, run out without facing a ball as Godleman called a quick single only for Colin Ackerman to beat his partner with a direct hit running in from mid-wicket.With a build-up of threatening cloud away to the east and reports of rain elsewhere, Leicestershire were anxious to complete the five overs minimum required in the Falcons innings to ensure a result, which produced another dividend for the home side in the event, Wayne Madsen hitting Ben Raine straight to mid-off.But then a rather loose over from Mohammad Abbas, conceding three boundaries, handed the initiative back to the visiting side, who were 45-2 at the end of the powerplay, compared with the Foxes’ 38-1 at the same stage.At the halfway stage, the Falcons needed 82 more with eight wickets in hand, although they suffered a setback in the 11th over as 22-year-old Anuj Dal, a tidy right-handed who had batted nicely in only his fourth senior match, was bowled when he attempted to haul a ball from Neil Dexter in the direction of square leg, but new batsman Viljoen punished Gavin Griffiths with a couple of boundaries in the next over to keep his side on track.The Falcons became adept at pushing singles and the Foxes were not able to come up with too many dot balls, and when Viljoen lofted Mohammad Nabi’s off-spin high over probably the longest boundary on the ground they looked to have the chase in their grasp, with 47 needed off the final six overs.Viljoen fell with 33 still needed but Wilson’s experience ensured there were no alarms as the target was reached with eight balls to spare.Mark Cosgrove’s 65 off 53 balls was the mainstay of a Foxes innings that began explosively with Dexter crashing Madsen’s opening over for six and four and then falling leg before attempting a paddle sweep.On a sluggish pitch that made fluent scoring difficult, the Falcons bowled tight disciplined lines and conceded only four boundaries during the powerplay overs.Cameron Delport, who never looked in good touch, thick edged Ravi Rampaul to short third man, and at the halfway stage the total was a modest 58 for 2.Raine went for just six after a painful innings that saw him twice on the deck, hit once in the lower abdomen and then on the ankle, and there was no significant acceleration in the scoring rate until Cosgrove got hold of Viljoen with a six and two fours in the 13th over.It prefaced a better finish for the home side, the last eight overs adding 82, with Ackermann, who hit the ball out of the ground at the Pavilion End off Rampaul, and Mohammad Nabi maintaining the momentum after Cosgrove missed a Rampaul slower ball.Nabi’s powerful and sometimes innovative hitting brought him 18 from 13 balls to swell the total to 149, which at least gave the Foxes more to defend than once looked likely.