All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardLewis Gregory celebrates his maiden Championship hundred•Getty Images

Reigning Specsavers county champions Middlesex appear on course for their fourth successive draw of an uninspired Division One title defence after Somerset enjoyed the best of a sun-kissed second day at Lord’s.As the Middlesex bowlers endured a wicketless morning session, centuries by Dean Elgar and Lewis Gregory allowed the visitors to bat on until well after tea before their declaration on 443 for nine.In the 22 remaining overs of an extended 104-over day that helped make up for Friday’s rain delays, Middlesex went in at stumps to reach the mid-point of the match on 42 without loss – a first innings deficit of 401. Their openers, Nick Compton and Nick Gubbins, endured a stern test to finish unscathed on 19 and 21 respectively.Somerset were indebted to a record sixth-wicket stand between Elgar and Gregory which rescued their side from the depths of 80 for six to the undoubted riches of four batting bonus points.Elgar crunched a season-best 158 while Gregory, in hitting 137, sailed past his previous best – an unbeaten 73 scored against Yorkshire at Headingley last season – to post his maiden first-class century in his 78th innings.The hosts spurned their one and only pre-lunch opportunity whilst gifting a life to Gregory with his score on 31. Fencing at a lifting delivery from Toby Roland-Jones, the right-hander was downed, one-handed at second slip by Ollie Rayner who, moving late to his right, appeared to lose the ball in the backdrop.Soon afterwards, Gregory rubbed salt in Middlesex wounds by plundering consecutive, cover-driven boundaries against Roland-Jones to move to an attractive 84-ball 50 with 10 fours.Elgar, the South Africa Test batsman, posted his second century of the season with a straight six against off-spinner Rayner. The left-hander danced down the pitch to deposit one over the Nursery End ropes and reach the milestone from 186 balls and with 15 fours to go with his maximum. It was the 31st first-class hundred of his career and his first at Lord’s.The pair saw off the second new ball and batted on after lunch to take their side beyond 300. In doing so they created a new sixth-wicket record for Somerset against Middlesex, beating the 196 scored by Peter White and Maurice Tremlett at Bath in 1959.Gregory marched on to secure his maiden first-class hundred with a leg glance against Tom Helm that flew to the ropes in front of the Pavilion. He punched the air, fist-bumped with Elgar and embraced his partner before holding his bat aloft to receive the acclaim for his 186-ball century which included 15 fours.The duo added 249 before Middlesex bagged their first wicket in 70 overs’ play by ending Elgar’s six-and-three-quarter-hour vigil. It needed a beauty to do so – a James Franklin leg-cutter from the Nursery End that held its own against the Lord’s slope to feather the edge and give John Simpson his fourth catch of the match.Gregory added a further 47 in tandem with Josh Davey but finally went after 333 minutes at the crease. Aiming to pull a length ball from Roland-Jones, he top-edged to long leg where Tom Helm pocketed the skier. Gregory faced 231 balls for a score that included 17 fours and a six.Davey muscled a cameo 47 against his former club before top-edging a pull to midwicket to give Helm a second scalp, then Jamie Overton (37) skied to long-on to be caught by 12th man James Harris.Substituting for Roland-Jones, Harris – who has returned from a second rolling-loan stint with Kent – made good ground running in from the ropes for Rayner’s sole wicket of the innings as Somerset declared nine down at 5.10pm. Tim Murtagh, Roland-Jones, Helm and Franklin all claimed two wickets apiece for the weary Middlesex attack.

Match facts

Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kings XI Punjab
Hyderabad, April 17, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)3:44

Hogg: Morgan should be given another opportunity

Form guide

• Sunrisers Hyderabad (fourth): lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 17 runs, lost to Mumbai Indians by 4 wickets, beat Gujarat Lions by 9 wickets

• Kings XI Punjab (fifth): lost to Delhi Daredevils by 51 runs, lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets, beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 wickets

Head to head

Overall: Sunrisers Hyderabad go into the tie leading 6-2 and are chasing their fifth consecutive win against Kings XI Punjab. At home, Sunrisers lead the head-to-head 3-1.Last season: Sunrisers won both games, including a final-over finish in Chandigarh, where Kings XI lost despite a supreme 96 from Hashim Amla.

In the news

Kings XI captain Glenn Maxwell made it clear after their 51-run loss to Delhi Daredevils that “everything was a weakness” and that it was getting to the point where he would have to pick “uncapped players”, perhaps indicating the seniors weren’t performing up to potential. David Miller and Eoin Morgan might not feel too comfortable with their places in the XI too if Martin Guptill and Shaun Marsh have recovered from injuries.Mustafizur Rahman was left out of the Sunrisers XI last match, but it would be surprising to not see him return considering his success in Hyderabad – seven wickets at 25.85 and an economy rate of 6.96 in the IPL. Last year, he also picked up 2 for 9 in four overs against Kings XI. It could all mean Ben Cutting, who has been good but not extraordinary, getting the axe.

The likely XIs

Sunrisers Hyderabad 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 David Warner (capt), 3 Moises Henriques, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Ben Cutting/Mustafizur Rahman, 8 Bipul Sharma, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Rashid Khan, 11 Ashish NehraKings XI Punjab 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Glenn Maxwell (capt), 6 David Miller, 7 Axar Patel, 8 KC Cariappa, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Sandeep Sharma

Strategy punt

• Sunrisers’ spin threat Rashid Khan, who usually bowls early in the innings, could be saved to bowl to Maxwell and Miller later on since they have never faced him before.
• Sandeep Sharma, who has dismissed Warner twice in the Powerplays before, may get an extended spell in the first six overs.

Stats that matter

• Sunrisers have a 10-1 record while chasing at home. Overall, chasing teams have lost only two of the last ten games played there.
• David Warner’s form against Kings XI is superlative. He has scored half-centuries – 52, 59, 81, 58 – in each of his last four matches.
• In IPL 2017, spin has dominated the first innings of matches in Hyderabad. Pacers conceded 266 runs off 162 balls (economy of 9.85) in the first innings while spinner conceded only 76 runs off 78 balls (5.84).
• Hashim Amla’s fondness for Ashish Nehra’s bowling is displayed by his exemplary numbers against the fast bowler: in ODIs, he has 77 runs in 48 balls and in IPL, he has scored 25 runs off 11 deliveries.
• Rashid Khan has bowled inside the Powerplay in every IPL game this season. He has also taken a wicket off his first over every time.
• Sunrisers wicketkeeper Naman Ojha has been in an extended rut in the IPL. He averaged 13.60 and 13.70 in the last two seasons with a highest score of only 37.

With three needed off three balls, and a spot in the Vijay Hazare semi-final up for grabs, Aamir Gani pulled off a delightful inside-out cover drive for four to ensure Bengal chased down their target of 319 in style.Gani’s cameo followed sturdy contributions from the top order as Shreevats Goswami (74 off 88 balls), Anustup Majumdar (66 off 59 balls) and Sudip Chatterjee (unbeaten on 60 off 51 balls) all made half-centuries and did an excellent job keeping up with the asking rate.That meant Maharashtra were knocked out of the knockouts, and that Rahul Tripathi (95 off 74 balls) and Nikhil Naik’s (63 off 52 balls) efforts were in vain. They had smashed 109 runs in the last 10 overs to put a strong total on the board, and then their bowlers had pushed Bengal pretty hard in the chase as well. Shrikant Mundhe dismissed the set batsman Majumdar in the 49th over to force the equation to 15 needed off 10 balls with five wickets in hand and Shamshuzama Kasi struck with the third ball of the final over. The next one, however, was smashed for the match-winning boundary.Bengal would have to face the MS Dhoni-led Jharkhand in the semi-final on Friday, a six off his bat making sure his team would be one of the final four. The six-wicket victory though was set up by the bowlers who reduced Vidarbha to 159 for 9 after they had chosen to bat first. Only Ravi Jangid (62 off 87) and Ganesh Satish (35 off 54) made any contributions of note. Rajneesh Gurbani, the No. 9, did his best to make 22 off 70 balls so that Vidarbha at least played out their quota of overs. Considering they were 18 for 4 at one point, that was something of a consolation for Faiz Fazal and his men.Jharkhand’s Monu Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 27. Varun Aaron (1 for 41) and Shahbaz Nadeem was at his stifling best, picking up 1 for 13 from eight overs. Their good work was supported by the batsmen with Ishank Jaggi top-scoring with 41 off 61 balls and remaining unbeaten.

Colin Graves has hailed a “watershed” moment for cricket in England and Wales after the ECB board unanimously agreed to trigger the formal process by which changes to the organisation’s constitution can be agreed.Graves, the ECB chairman, insisted the changes would make “the whole game stronger” and suggested cricket could now “attract a whole new audience” with the creation of an eight-team T20 tournament for 2020.As a result of the board’s decision, all 41 constituent members of the ECB (the 18 first-class counties, the MCC, the Minor Counties Cricket Association and the 21 recreational boards) will now be sent amended Articles of Association to approve. The ECB requires 31 positive responses within 28 days of the date on the letter for the changes to be passed. A non-response is effectively a no vote.The key change relates to the formation of the new competition. Whereas the previous Articles insisted that all 18 first-class counties took part in each of the main competitions run by the ECB, the new Articles will specify that, for the proposed T20 competition only, eight new teams will be permitted to compete and the counties will be excluded.”The ECB board today gave their unanimous support to trigger a formal process to change the game’s Articles of Association and allow a new T20 competition,” Graves said.”Our members have seen the evidence for why the new T20 proposal is the right way to reach new audiences, create new fans and fuel the future of the game.”Together, we can now take a huge opportunity to not only create a deeper engagement with those who currently follow cricket but to attract a whole new audience and ensure the sustainability of our game. This is a watershed moment for us all to make the whole game stronger.”The ECB also announced a fuller review of its Articles of Association, which will cover financial regulations. The process is expected to take around six to nine months with the expectation that it will culminate in a proposal to adopt a new set of Articles at the ECB’s AGM in May 2018. A review of the ECB’s governance structures, to be led by Ian Lovett, deputy chairman of the ECB, will also be undertaken.And, in another sign of the weakening grip of the first-class counties – specifically their members – upon the professional game, the ECB announced its intention to establish new Memorandums of Understanding. Rather than agreeing separate MoUs with the first-class counties, the county boards, the premier leagues and the minor counties, the stated aspiration is “to create a single entity for cricket in each county, in line with the shared strategic framework defined by Cricket Unleashed [the ECB’s five-year plan for the game]”.”Two years ago, on becoming chairman of the ECB, I promised members open discussion, transparency and accountability with my main objective of attracting more revenue into the game to be passed onto its stakeholders,” Graves said.”The Articles and governance reviews I am announcing today are very much part of delivering this vision. Good governance is critical to effective decision-making, minimising risk and protecting reputation. It’s essential for the future success of cricket.”

Will number 13 prove lucky for South Africa? That may depend if they keep on winning. The figure will mark their new record winning streak in one-day internationals if they overcome New Zealand in Christchurch.There have been some impressive displays among those 12 victories. Six times batting first they have posted over 300, and four times over 350; in another they chased down 372; and in eight of the matches they have bowled out the opposition.However, regardless of their current form, they still see improvements to be made. The victory in Hamilton became a nail-biter, as AB de Villiers and Andile Phehlukwayo guided them home with a ball to spare, and was one of their hardest earned of the unbeaten run.”We haven’t played the perfect game yet,” said batting coach Neil McKenzie.”Twelve in row has shown what we have been doing over last year has really worked. The big thing is we’ve got try get to play that perfect game and hopefully that comes in a semi or final. But the blueprint has got to be honed in every game you play.”A semi-final or a final. South Africa crave that global piece of silverware. The perfect game in a semi-final, never mind a final, is something they have been unable to do in 10 of the 11 multi-team tournament semis they have reached. The one success came against Sri Lanka in the 1998 Wills International Cup, the precursor to what is now the Champions Trophy.All the culture camps, all the team spirit, all the victories – no one will really know if it will make a difference until that chance comes up again.De Villiers rated the Hamilton victory was “10 out of 10” for the experience of winning a tight game, but “zero” when it came to conditions, given the pitches in the Champions Trophy are unlikely to turn anywhere near as much.With the Napier match having been shifted to Seddon Park because of the former’s poor drainage, there could yet be another spinning pitch in the offing so the remaining three matches – beginning with Christchurch on Wednesday – perhaps offer the best chance of something closer to English conditions.”All one-day sides gauge themselves on periods where you lead up to a Champions Trophy or pinnacle series,” McKenzie said. “It bodes well for us going to England where we’re going find the same sort of conditions generally.”Although South Africa will not entertain the notion, it would be a useful exercise for them if this series conjured up a deciding match in Auckland early next month. It would still only be for a bilateral victory, but it would at least give them the taste of a winner-takes-all match.

Mushfiqur Rahim has been kept under observation for multiple injuries but it is his thumb that’s more worrying than the blow to the neck he suffered on the fifth day of the first Test. According to team physio Dean Conway, he will need more time to recover from the finger injury.”His finger injury is worse,” Conway told reporters. “The hairline crack that has been found is new. He will need to give more time for this injury.”At the same time however, local doctors have reportedly advised him not to take the field for at least a couple of weeks even though the neck scan revealed no damage. Conway said that Mushfiqur may need at least three weeks to fully recover from the hit on the neck.”Doctors in New Zealand usually advise not playing for three to four weeks. In England they advise not taking the field for two to three weeks. In that regard, Mushfiqur may need three to four weeks to return,” he said.If Mushfiqur does sit out the Christchurch Test, wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan will step up and make his Test debut.

New Zealand allrounder Mitchell Santner will re-join Worcestershire next season with his director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, affirming that he has some “some unfinished business” at New Road.Santner will link up with Rapids for the NatWest T20 Blast, which is now in a condensed midsummer slot, after the conclusion of the Champions Trophy being held in England in June.He will hope that it is a more successful undertaking than last season when he bowled four overs in the opening match against Durham Jets but then suffered a broken finger in the field and was never seen again.Rhodes is delighted to land the services of Santner for a second spell, subject to obtaining the normal visa clearances and a No Objection Certificate from New Zealand Cricket.Rhodes said: “For T20 cricket, people with three disciplines are really exciting. We know spin is a major player for T20 cricket so to have a top spinner is fantastic. We know Mitch can hit the ball out of the ground, because he has done that, but also being a left hander is useful to the composition of our top six – and he is also a great fielder.”There is some unfinished business with Mitch. Last summer he was very unlucky to pick up that finger injury that needed pinning in the first game he played.”We know he is a good player, an international player, but I always like to have signings where people have got something to prove and I think he feels that way so that’s why it is an exciting signing.”Losing Mitch was a massive blow to our hopes of qualifying. We’d had a good start and him playing all those games would have been an extra bonus for us.”Worcestershire have already signed Australian allrounder John Hastings for the 2017 campaign. Hastings’ previous county loyalties have been with Durham but they remain under financial pressure after major restructuring, and an ECB bailout, prevented them from going bankrupt.

ScorecardCameron White has started the domestic season in excellent form (file photo)•Getty Images

Cameron White continued his outstanding start to the season by steering Victoria to a five-wicket win over South Australia on the fourth day at the MCG. The Bushrangers were set 201 for victory and at 4 for 109, the match still could have gone either way. But White, captaining the side in the absence of Matthew Wade, scored an unbeaten 40 to keep the Redbacks at bay.Victoria began the morning on 0 for 36 and soon lost opener Travis Dean in unusual fashion when on 20 he tried to evade a Kane Richardson that didn’t bounce as much as he expected, and the ball bounce off his arm and onto the stumps. Axed Test seamer Joe Mennie picked up two wickets when Marcus Harris was caught behind for 34 and Marcus Stoinis was trapped lbw for 11.Glenn Maxwell, batting at No.4, moved to a watchful 29 before he flashed at a Richardson delivery outside off stump and played on, and when Aaron Finch (33) fell to a fine diving catch by wicketkeeper Alex Carey off Richardson, the Victorians were 5 for 152. It meant 49 runs were still required with only five wickets in hand.However, wicketkeeper Sam Harper (26 not out) accompanied White through to the finish to complete a fine win for Victoria, who had conceded a first-innings lead. White finished the match averaging over 100 in this Shield season so far, having already topped the competition run tally in the Matador Cup.