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Dean Elgar appeared to have taken over leadership duties after Bavuma left the field

Firdose Moonda26-Dec-2023Temba Bavuma suffered a strain to his left hamstring in the first session of the Boxing Day Test against India, putting his participation in the match in doubt. Bavuma left the field in the 20th over and was sent for a scan soon after. A Cricket South Africa statement said he will “undergo daily medical evaluations to determine” if he will play any further role in the match.Bavuma was fielding at mid-off when Virat Kohli drove Marco Jansen through extra cover and he gave chase. The ball stopped before reaching the boundary and Bavuma did not have to dive to haul it in but as he caught up to it, he clutched his hamstring and went down in pain. He received treatment on the field and then left, unaided. Dean Elgar, the former Test captain playing in his last series, moved himself from slip to mid-off and appeared to have taken over leadership duties.This was Bavuma’s first outing since South Africa’s semi-final at the 50-over World Cup against Australia on November 16, where he was carrying a right hamstring strain. Bavuma picked up that injury while fielding in their final group match against Afghanistan in Ahmedabad on November 10, but did not leave the field at any stage and batted for 49 minutes as South Africa successfully chased 245. He did not have a scan in India but progressed with a rehabilitation program at training and was cleared to play the semi-final, even though he conceded that he was not 100% fit. South Africa lost that match by three wickets.Bavuma was rested from their next assignment of three T20Is and three ODIs against India which started on December 10 and was due to play a four-day first-class match between December 14 and 17 to prepare for the Test series. He missed the game because of a family bereavement. On the eve of the Test Bavuma declared himself, “mentally as fresh as ever,” and he was a strong presence in the field for the first 90 minutes of play (which started half an hour late after overnight rain).If he is unable to bat, South Africa will be a player short for the rest of the game as Bavuma cannot be replaced due to an external injury, and he may also be a concern for the New Year’s Test. The second Test starts on January 3 in Cape Town.

The batter will play for MI Emirates, owned by the same group as Mumbai Indians and MI New York, his IPL and MLC teams

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jan-2024Tim David has joined MI Emirates in the ILT20 but may be required to leave the tournament early if selected in Australia’s squad for the T20I series against West Indies next month.David’s BBL season is complete after Hobart Hurricanes failed to make the finals, so he has a window to play in the UAE and has been brought in under the tournament’s wildcard system, which allows teams to sign two additional players beyond the original limit of 22.David plays for Mumbai Indians in the IPL and MI New York in the MLC, all owned by the same group.Related

• Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood could play both West Indies and New Zealand T20Is

• Stoinis says ODI omission makes 'complete sense'

• Warner expected to play West Indies T20Isover ILT20

The ILT20, which starts on Friday, runs until February 18, with Australia’s three T20Is against West Indies taking place between February 9 and 13 in Hobart, Adelaide and Perth. The squad is expected to be named next week.David had a poor BBL with just 112 runs at 16.00 and a strike rate of 134.93 in nine innings but will likely remain in the selectors’ plans ahead of the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA in June. In 19 T20Is for Australia, he averages 24.21 with a strike rate of 157.57David Warner, who has arrived in the UAE for his stint with Dubai Capitals, will definitely have to cut short his time at the league, with chair of selectors George Bailey confirming earlier this month that he would be selected to face West Indies.David has previously missed Australia T20I duty during 2022 to play in a franchise league, but he now holds a central contract having earned an upgrade last year by playing enough games.”I think that’s the same with all our Australian contracted players. If they’re going to be selected in a squad then they’re available,” Bailey said earlier this month regarding Warner. “If they’re not then it depends on what sort of domestic cricket responsibilities they have.”Marcus Stoinis, meanwhile, has gone to South Africa to play for Durban’s Super Giants in the SA20, but will also return to face West Indies.Australia then have another three T20Is in New Zealand later in February, their last before the T20 World Cup in June. However, a number of key players, including Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, have IPL deals, which the selectors view as an ideal build-up.England batter Dan Lawrence is another wildcard signing for the ILT20 having joined Desert Vipers.

Josh Hazlewood has risen to No. 2, while Kuldeep Yadav has achieved a career-best 16th place

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2024India offspinner R Ashwin has become the No. 1 ranked bowler in men’s Tests for the sixth time, following his nine-wicket haul in the fifth Test against England in Dharamsala. Australian quick Josh Hazlewood has achieved his career-best ranking – No. 2, level with Jasprit Bumrah – after taking six wickets in the Christchurch Test win against New Zealand.India’s left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav has risen 15 places to a career-best 16th after taking seven wickets in the Dharamsala Test.In the men’s rankings for Test batters, India captain Rohit Sharma has moved up five places to sixth, Yashasvi Jaiswal has risen two spots to eighth, while Shubman Gill is at a career-best No. 20. After playing nine Tests, Jaiswal has an aggregate of 740 rating points; only two batters have earned more, according to the ICC – Australians Don Bradman (752) and Mike Hussey (741).Ireland’s Harry Tector has risen to fourth place in the men’s ODI batting rankings after scoring 141 runs in two matches against Afghanistan in Sharjah. Pakistan’s Babar Azam still leads the charts with Gill and Virat Kohli at Nos. 2 and 3, and Rohit at No. 5.Kane Williamson, Joe Root and Babar form the top three in the men’s Test batting rankings, while Suryakumar Yadav, Phil Salt and Mohammad Rizwan lead the T20I charts.Keshav Maharaj, Hazlewood and Adam Zampa are the top ranked bowlers in men’s ODIs, while Adil Rashid, Wanindu Hasaranga and Akeal Hosein are Nos. 1, 2, and 3 in T20 internationals. Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Nabi and Shakib Al Hasan are the top ranked allrounders in men’s Tests, ODIs and T20 internationals respectively.India are the No. 1 team across formats, while Australia and England are No. 2 and 3 in Tests; Australia and South Africa are No. 2 and 3 in ODIs; and England and Australia are in second and third place in T20 internationals.

Afridi, who was unhappy with the manner of his sacking, still feels his concerns have not been addressed appropriately but was willing to put the saga behind him

Danyal Rasool01-Apr-2024The PCB and Shaheen Shah Afridi have reached an uneasy truce after PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi met the player in Kakul earlier today. Afridi, who was deposed as Pakistan T20I captain after just one series, was thoroughly disgruntled with the manner of his sacking and the lack of communication from the board. Relations deteriorated further when the PCB put out a statement on their website containing quotes from Afridi, ostensibly offering Babar Azam, the incoming captain, his full support and stating it was an honour to lead Pakistan.ESPNcricinfo understands that while Afridi still feels his concerns have not been addressed appropriately, the player was willing to put the saga behind him and move on.Afridi was incensed by a statement containing words which were neither approved nor said by him, and ESPNcricinfo understands the PCB acknowledged to the player that an internal error had been made on the board’s part. Though Afridi continues to feel the manner of his sacking was neither fair nor transparent, it is understood relations with Babar – a long-time close friend of Afridi’s – remain strong.Related

• Shaheen Afridi rejects Pakistan vice-captaincy offer

• A nervous smile and a forced handshake – dealing with a crisis, the PCB way

• Babar Azam back as Pakistan's white-ball captain

• Shaheen on returning captain Babar: 'I have nothing but respect for him'

• PCB and Shaheen Afridi hold crisis talks after statement furore

There are no concerns about Afridi being unavailable for Pakistan’s upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which begins later this month in Rawalpindi, with the fast bowler looking to turn his focus back on his game.Afridi’s obvious displeasure was significant enough for PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi to head to Kakul, where the Pakistan players are training at a military camp. The PCB, for its part, released a statement saying the chairman met the players “to gather firsthand insights into the training camp”.The PCB released a photograph of Naqvi and Afridi shaking hands, though it is understood no individual discussion at length between the pair took place. “The chairman also took the opportunity to interact with the players, personally commending them for their dedication and active participation in the camp. He expressed satisfaction over the players’ enthusiasm and commitment towards enhancing their fitness levels,” the PCB statement read.The camp ends on April 8, with New Zealand arriving in Pakistan on April 14 to play 5 T20Is from April 18 to 27.

The project involved erecting a fresh stadium in five months, with drop-in pitches transported from Florida by land to New York

Nagraj Gollapudi15-May-2024Eisenhower Park in New York, the first modular stadium in international cricket, is ready for the T20 World Cup. The 34,000-seater venue, about 25 miles east of New York City, was formally launched on Wednesday by Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man and a World Cup ambassador.The ICC will conduct test events at the new venue in the days leading up to the World Cup, which begins on June 1 and will be played in the West Indies and the USA. New York will host eight of the 16 matches in the USA with Dallas and Texas hosting four each. The first match at Eisenhower Park, located in Nassau County, will be played on June 3 between South Africa and Sri Lanka.Eisenhower Park will also host a warm-up match on June 1, which ESPNcricinfo has learned will feature Bangladesh and India. During the main tournament, India will play three games in New York including the marquee contest against Pakistan on June 9.Related

• New York's beautiful monster: how a cricket venue was created from scratch

• 'Growing the sport in our time zone crucial to our long-term survival'

The project at Eisenhower Park, one of the most ambitious ever undertaken by the ICC, involved erecting a fresh stadium in five months on what in January was just normal park land. A significant part of the challenge involved preparing drop-in pitches in Florida and transporting them by land to New York before installing them both in the main square as well as the practice areas.Four drop-in pitches were put in place in the main square to go with six others for training a short distance from the ground. The pitches have been prepared by Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions, which is headed by Damian Hough, the head curator at Adelaide Oval. The outfield, meanwhile, was built by LandTek Group, a USA-based turf-making business that has prepared playing surfaces for baseball teams New York Yankees and New York Mets, and soccer (football) club Inter Miami.Usain Bolt brings out his trademark pose at Eisenhower Park•ICC/Getty Images

“We’ve turned what was park land and an informal cricket ground into what you’ll agree looks like a world-class cricket stadium that you might find anywhere,” Chris Tetley, ICC’s head of events, said in a media interaction on Tuesday.While the Bangladesh vs India warm-up game will be the first featuring two international teams at Eisenhower Park, Tetley said “community cricket events” would be staged in the last two weeks of May to understand the operational demands and the management of the resources including testing the infrastructure. “There will be proper cricket played there before the first match of the event,” he said.

Tickets still up for grabs for India vs Pakistan

Tetley said that fans could still avail of “limited opportunities” to buy tickets to all eight matches of the T20 World Cup in New York, including the India vs Pakistan match.”There are still limited opportunities for people to buy tickets to any of the matches,” he said. “A few tickets and hospitality to all games have been made available, and will be made available as we get the odd returns back from allocations that have had to be withheld.”So much as I’d like it to be a sellout, right now, not quite. So the last few tickets are available for those that get online quickly.”

PBKS had dominated proceedings right from the toss, but their batters tumbled from 62 for 2 to 78 for 7 in the 168 chase

Alagappan Muthu05-May-20242:15

Moody: CSK tactically clever with Santner’s selection

Punjab Kings showcased their very best and worst selves all in the course of about 45 minutes and in the end the bad outweighed the good as they lost to Chennai Super Kings by 28 runs.Sam Curran’s men had dominated proceedings right from the toss. A target of 168 should’ve been well within their reach, especially when they strung together a period of play where they hit six boundaries in 18 balls between the fifth and the seventh overs.The equation at that point was 112 off 78 with eight wickets in hand. This was not the time to collapse but collapse they did, losing both their set batters, their captain and their finisher. They tumbled from 62 for 2 to 78 for 7. And CSK rose from fifth place to third place.

CSK stutter

It all began with CSK ticking every box they shouldn’t tick in a batting innings in T20 cricket. They lost a wicket in the powerplay. Ajinkya Rahane’s poor IPL continued with his fifth score of 15 or less. Then just as they were recovering – backing up overs that went for 19 and 9 runs – they lost three wickets in 11 balls, including their top-scorer Ruturaj Gaikwad (32 off 21) and their spin-hitter Shivam Dube (0 off 1). Then just as they were recovering from that – backing up overs that went for 11 and 9 runs – they lost another wicket. Ravindra Jadeja, batting at No. 6, was in during the ninth over and made sure to stay there almost through to finish. His 43 off 26 balls was crucial to the total CSK ended up with.

Chahar’s masterclass

Rahul Chahar was once again at the forefront of the PBKS bowling performance, even though he was facing a line-up full of left-handers. He coped by trusting his googly and by staying out of their hitting arcs. These are defensive skills and they are proving more and more valuable. Fifteen of the legspinner’s 24 deliveries arrived outside the batter’s off stump, or even wider, and fetched him all three of his wickets.2:13

Rapid Fire review – Will CSK finish in the top four?

Harshal back to his old self

181 runs. That’s how many Harshal Patel gave up in his first four games of this season. 181 runs. That’s also how many Harshal has given up over his last seven games this season. He’s also picked up 13 wickets along the way. He’s become a bowler transformed – or so it seems. Really though, a death overs specialist runs the risk of splits like these. It’s the difference between executing what you want perfectly and missing your mark by a few inches. Harshal secured two of his three wickets with slow, sharply dipping yorkers. One of them was MS Dhoni for a first-ball duck. He spoke about how he doesn’t rely on technique as much as feel, which is why he wasn’t at his best at the start of the season; he was rusty. But with overs under his belt, he has gotten better and better.

A strange pitch

This pitch, on first sight, seemed to be pretty good for batting. But eventually it became clear that it was playing some tricks. Harshal mentioned that since it was a day game and the square was so dry he was getting reverse swing from as early when he came on to bowl, in the 10th over. Later, in the evening, the new ball started to deck around. It offered extra bounce, which interfered with the shots that Gaikwad and Dube tried to play, but also kept low, without which Daryl Mitchell might not have been lbw. When the ball got old, it held in the pitch and took turn. Both Chahar and Jadeja produced double-wicket overs.

CSK’s bowling leader

CSK have lost Deepak Chahar and Matheesha Pathirana to injury but have been able to stay in the race for the IPL playoffs because Tushar Deshpande has improved beyond sight. He was the one selecting the ball that they were going to use at the start of the game. That is typically the responsibility of a very senior player. This guy was once their net bowler. His rise has been phenomenal. Deshpande took out PBKS’ two big guns in the top-order – Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw – in the same over. His first six balls of the match increased CSK’s chances of victory by 18.66%.1:32

Jaffer: Punjab’s batters messed up big time

The recovery

The thing with defending small totals is everybody has to be perfect. CSK had one bowler who was nailing his lengths. Constantly looking to hit the deck, which is where all the vagaries were coming from, whether it was extra bounce, or the ball holding up, or keeping low. Deshpande’s upright seam position also helped him get sideways movement. The Rossow ball nipped in against the angle and left his stumps splayed before he could even react. Beaten for both pace and movement.But overs five, six and seven cost CSK as Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh went on the offensive. They were pulling off jaw-dropping shots. A ramp over third man for six when there was no room and the ball was climbing. An inside-out drive over cover for four when the ball was darted in on or even outside leg stump.

The collapse

Mitchell Santner has a history of putting in high-impact performances. In his second game for CSK, he hit the last ball for six to win the game. But being a left-arm spinner in a team that already has Jadeja, he tends to ride the bench. This was his 16th game for CSK in five years. He only came in because Mustafizur Rahman had to leave early and Pathirana and Chahar were injured. Still, he is a player who knows his strengths and he backed them, bowling nice and tight on the stumps and asking the batters to hit him to the longer boundary, down the ground. That’s how he got Shashank.In the next, the ninth over, Jadeja took out Prabhsimran. In the next over, Simarjeet Singh got rid of Jitesh Sharma and so on and so on. Five wickets. Sixteen runs. Twenty-eight balls. PBKS kept trying to hit themselves out of trouble. They were unable to soak the pressure; unable to bat at a different gear.This is the kind of situation that CSK thrive in. So even when there came a point where Ashutosh Sharma was dropped very poorly by Moeen Ali, they had Jadeja up their sleeve and he produced a wicket off the very next ball, Sam Curran falling to another big shot, and then in the same over, Ashutosh too succumbing to a wild swing. That was 78 for 7 and that was the game.

Harry Tector could be a doubtful starter after injuring his thumb against India

Ashish Pant06-Jun-20248:17

O’Brien: Ireland want to right some wrongs

Match details

Canada vs Ireland
June 7, New York, 10.30am local, 2.30pm GMT, 8.00pm IST

Big picture – All eyes on New York pitch

It’s been a rough start for cricket in New York with more focus on the pitches than the cricket that has been played on them. No team has gone past 100 at this venue in four innings, with uneven bounce and prodigious movement up front bringing about plenty of criticism.The fast bowlers have so far held sway here, having picked up 18 of the 26 wickets to fall while going at an economy rate of 5.46. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 77 here on June 3 and South Africa took 16.2 overs to chase that down. On Wednesday, India rolled out Ireland for 96 and while their chase was slightly more comfortable, Rohit Sharma retired hurt after being struck on the upper arm, while Rishabh Pant was also hit on his elbow and required some attention.Just two days later, as Ireland gear up to play another fixture in New York against Canada, the build-up has entirely centred around the pitch.Related

• Undercooked pitch could undermine India-Pakistan spectacle

• Klaasen on New York pitch: Batters need to suck it up

“It’s tough to adjust when you don’t know what you have to adjust to,” Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan said after their eight-wicket loss against India. “You’ve got to take into account that when you play the game you need a really good surface or as good as surfaces you can get and unfortunately what we’ve seen over the last couple of games just doesn’t necessarily live up to that. So hopefully, over the next day or so it can hopefully flatten out a little bit and we can see some good cricket come Friday.”It is an important game for both Canada and Ireland, who have suffered losses in their opening games. Another loss here and the road to Super Eights becomes challenging. Canada, who played their opening fixture in Dallas where they went down to USA in a high-scoring clash, haven’t been in great T20I form. They have lost each of their last five T20Is, and all the pitch talk here might not bode well for their confidence.”This wicket is a bit, kind of, what you can say, a tricky one. So you cannot play some of the T20 shots. So you have to play conventional cricket. And what I see, it’s playing on the up, it’s a little bit difficult than Dallas,” Canada batter Navneet Dhaliwal, who scored a 44-ball 61 against USA, said. “It’s a lot of lateral movement so there’s a lot of swing comparatively to Dallas so if you kind of want to basically hit the good-length balls it’s a bit difficult.”The Canada-Ireland fixture will likely take place on pitch no. 4, the same one that hosted the India-Ireland clash and the warm-up game between India and Bangladesh. In addition to the surface, the slow, sand-based outfield has also not helped the batters in any way. Which will be the first team to cross the 100-mark in New York?

Form guide

Canada LLLLL
Ireland LWWWL

In the spotlight – Dilon Heyliger and Mark Adair

Dilon Heyliger’s all-round abilities could be useful for Canada. He has been in good bowling form this year, having picked up five wickets in as many games while going at a tick over eight an over. His medium-pace and wicket-to-wicket lines might be perfect on this New York surface. So can his lower-order ball-striking. No other Canada batter has a higher strike rate than Heyliger in T20Is since the start of 2023 – 243.75. He’s hammered 117 runs off just 48 balls, with most of them coming in the death overs.Mark Adair picked up the key wicket of Virat Kohli on Wednesday•Getty Images

Mark Adair has been in excellent form this year. He is comfortably Ireland’s highest wicket-taker in 2024 with 18 scalps in 10 T20Is and an economy rate of 8.16. Moreover, he knows the kind of lengths to bowl on this surface having bowled four overs for just 27 runs on Wednesday while also picking up the key wicket of Virat Kohli.

Team news

Both teams might want to go pace-heavy on this surface. Offspinner Nikhil Dutta went for 41 runs in 2.4 overs in Canada’s opening game, so there is a chance they could bring in left-arm fast bowler Rishiv Joshi to boost their pace-bowling resources.Canada (probable XI): 1 Aaron Johnson, 2 Navneet Dhaliwal, 3 Pargat Singh, 4 Nicholas Kirton, 5 Shreyas Movva (wk), 6 Dilpreet Bajwa, 7 Saad Bin Zafar (capt), 8 Dilon Heyliger, 9 Nikhil Dutta/Rishiv Joshi, 10 Kaleem Sana, 11 Jeremy Gordon.There was visible bruising on Harry Tector’s right thumb after he was struck by a rip-roaring Jasprit Bumrah bouncer. Ireland batting coach Gary Wilson said Tector seemed fine after an initial inspection, but a call on his availability for the Canada clash would be taken a bit later. If he does not recover in time, Ireland might bring Ross Adair into the mix.Ireland (probable XI): 1 Paul Stirling (capt), 2 Andy Balbirnie, 3 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 4 Harry Tector/Ross Adair, 5 Curtis Campher, 6 George Dockrell, 7 Gareth Delany, 8 Mark Adair, 9 Barry McCarthy, 10 Josh Little, 11 Ben White.

Pitch and conditions

It’s another early-morning start in New York and the weather looks good for a game of cricket. The temperature is likely to hover around the 29-degree (Celsius) mark. Expect it to be a little humid as well.

Stats and trivia

• Canada and Ireland have a 2-2 head-to-head record in T20Is, but haven’t met since 2019. Their last T20I was back in 2013.
• Canada captain Saad Bin Zafar has an economy rate of 6.14 against right-hand batters in T20 cricket. Ireland’s line-up is entirely composed of right-handers.
• Mark Adair is sixth on the wicket-taker’s list in T20Is this year, with 18 in 10 games.

• Quotes

  “We were probably a little bit off with our lengths with the ball, but it was going to be very difficult to defend 96. I think very rarely do you see a team get rolled and then the next innings is also very low. Speaking to [India head coach] Rahul Dravid after the game, he said that they were able to manage that so well because they knew they only had to get 96, but he also said if the shoe was in the other foot, it could have been a different story.”
  “Drop-in wickets take time to settle down. I think normally it takes around a year or so. It’s not ideal – I think it’s a bit early, but still, it’s a challenge. Like the par for Dallas is what, 180-190, and par for here is 120-130. It’s a different wicket and a different kind of competition, you can say. It’s exciting, basically.”

The left-handed middle-order batter represented UAE in 38 ODIs and 47 T20Is

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-2024UAE batter Muhammad Usman has announced his retirement from international cricket. The Lahore-born middle-order batter represented UAE in 85 international games – 38 ODIs and 47 T20Is – across six years.Usman made his T20I debut in February 2016 against Netherlands followed by his ODI debut against Scotland a few months later. Overall, he scored 1008 runs at 31.50 in 38 ODIs including one century and four half-centuries while in 47 T20Is he finished with 891 runs, with three fifties. He was also part of the Asia Cup squad in 2016 where he top scored for UAE with 176 runs in seven games.Usman was born in Lahore and played five first-class and 58 List-A matches. His 1517 List-A runs came at an average of 34.47 and included nine fifties and a century. He last played an ODI and T20I in February 2022 against Oman and Nepal respectively.The 38-year-old expressed his gratitude and hoped to continue being part of cricket post-retirement.”It has been an incredible journey with the UAE cricket team and the cricket board,” Usman was quoted via a press release. “I would like to thank everyone who played a role in my journey including my team-mates, coaches and other support staff. I feel blessed and proud that I got the opportunity of representing UAE for 85 international matches.”I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life as I want to remain associated with the sport. I want to wish the UAE team and the players the very best in what is a very exciting time for the game in the country.”

Duo put on 77 to take Spirit up to second in the table

ECB Media13-Aug-2024Heather Knight and Deepti Sharma guided London Spirit to a vital seven-wicket win at Headingley in the Hundred to keep their team in the hunt for the play-off stages and knock out their opponents, Northern Superchargers.The pair put on 77 to take Spirit up to second in the table, on nine points, and they will now keep an eye on events at Trent Bridge on Thursday with the Trent Rockets and Oval Invincibles fixture deciding the final make-up of the top three.For Superchargers, a win today would have guaranteed their place in the last three for the second successive season but their campaign is now over.The damage was done by Spirit’s bowlers up top. After just 14 balls, Superchargers were three down – Tara Norris, Eva Gray and Dani Gibson each claiming a wicket to see the back of Superchargers’ top three – including the dangerous Phoebe Litchfield.Litchfield’s fellow Aussie, Annabel Sutherland – so often a stand-out player for Hollie Armitage’s side – attempted a rebuild for her side but when she picked out long-on off Deepti, hopes of a formidable total for the hosts fell away. Alice Davidson-Richards’ 33 ensured they had something on the board, but their 99 felt 7 felt below par.Superchargers were going to need early wickets and scoreboard pressure to make a game of it but Meg Lanning dispatched a couple of sixes in an 11-ball 20 to get Spirit ahead of the chase.Linsey Smith came on to dismiss Lanning, and briefly lifted Superchargers hopes with two more wickets, but that brought Knight and Deepti together and they weren’t to be separated.Initially patient, they accelerated towards the end and were relatively untroubled in what could have been a pressure chase – the experienced international duo showing their class to keep Spirit hopes alive and spell the end for Superchargers.Meerkat Match Hero Deepti said: “I think all credit goes to our bowlers. We had a meeting and we executed really well.”I think personally I’m used to these kind of conditions. The wicket is slightly on the slower side, sometimes skiddy, but we managed it really well in the first innings and the second as well.”I like challenges and really like to bowl and bat in those kind of situations. We only focus on our games and yeah we will sit there and [watch] the other games.”

No prospect of a result after several sessions lost to rain, but 40-year-old ends season in style

ECB Reporters Network29-Sep-2024Leicestershire’s rain-hit Vitality County Championship match against East Midlands neighbours Derbyshire ended in the tame draw that had been long anticipated as the curtain came down on the season at the Uptonsteel County Ground.What would otherwise have been a decidedly unmemorable final day was rescued by the veteran Derbyshire stalwart Wayne Madsen, whose sixth century in this fixture took his career tally of first-class runs against Leicestershire to 2,032 at an impressive average of 63.50.The 40-year-old hit 11 fours and a six in an unbeaten 105, although it was not a chanceless century. He was dropped at midwicket on 72, which would have left him tantalisingly on 1,999 against the Foxes.Skipper David Lloyd made 73 as Derbyshire posted 252 for three declared in their first innings in reply to Leicestershire’s 280 all out, in which Lloyd’s three for 43 was his side’s best performance with the ball. The first two days of the match had been lost to the weather.Nonetheless, it is a season Derbyshire will want to forget after finishing bottom of the Division Two table with just one win from 14 matches, while it did not reach the conclusion Leicestershire had been hoping for in August, when they were still contention for a promotion place.Three draws and two defeats in their last five matches put paid to that ambition and 2025 will be their 20th consecutive season in Division Two.Resuming at 264 for eight, Leicestershire added 16 runs before Zak Chappell uprooted debutant Alex Green’s middle stump to end their first innings, Pat Brown having had Sam Wood caught at first slip, both with the second new ball.Ben Cox, a possible contender to take over from Lewis Hill as captain next season, finished on 42 not out.Leicestershire had been bowled out in 87.1 overs. With a minimum 86 overs left in the match, some watching were hopeful that each team might forfeit an innings to leave Derbyshire a target of 265, which at least would have created a meaningful conclusion to the match, even if the prize at stake was no more than regional pride.But if there had been any discussions around manufacturing a finish, they clearly did not end in agreement. Derbyshire emerged from the pavilion to little apparent purpose other than to add such batting bonus points as they could to the three they picked up for bowling, although nothing can now alter the fact that they have finished bottom of the table for the 17th time in their history.Then again, after five defeats in six matches coming into this one, it could be argued that it is better to finish the season with a draw than another loss.As it happened, by lunch Derbyshire were well on the way to that objective at 79 for one from 18 overs, left-arm spinner Liam Trevaskis picking up the sole wicket to fall with his first delivery when Mitch Wagstaff edged to slip.Against a depleted Leicestershire attack, with no Josh Hull, Chris Wright, Scott Currie or Rehan Ahmed for a variety of reasons, runs came relatively easily at times.Green, 6ft 6ins and not 18 until February, bowled his first overs in first-class cricket but found there was little margin for error with length or line on an unresponsive pitch, although he troubled the batters at times.Lloyd, who has had a chastening first season as Derbyshire’s captain, completed his fourth half-century of the campaign, but after 11 fours he was denied the chance to register his first hundred since his triple century against Derbyshire for Glamorgan in 2022 when he slashed at a delivery from Ben Mike outside off stump and was caught at slip.Harry Came had been the second wicket to fall, edging to wicketkeeper Cox off Ben Green, one of six seamers deployed by the home side.Madsen’s stand with Brooke Guest added 132, the 40-year-old clearly in the mood to take advantage of the docile conditions on a bright, if cool afternoon, providing some entertainment for the pockets of keen spectators, reaching the 100-run milestone for the 39th time in his first-class career with an uppercut off Mike for his 11th four.