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He first hit a four-ball 17 not out and then returned to dismiss the set Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi to choke Royals

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Apr-20194:02

Manjrekar: Ashwin as captain has a lot of value in T20s

The last time these two teams played, R Ashwin pulled off a mankad dismissal against Jos Buttler and sparked a controversy that spanned continents and lasted weeks. This time he will be in the headlines again, but perhaps for less incendiary reasons.Although he didn’t make the top score, nor did he return the best figures in the game, Ashwin was central to Kings XI’s victory, with both bat and ball. Coming to bat in the final over, he carved a four behind point off his first ball, took a single off his second, and bludgeoned two sixes to end the innings with a high-impact four-ball 17. With Kings XI having made only 12 runs for the loss of three wickets off the previous two overs, they seemed as if they were squandering a solid platform, until Ashwin’s cameo propelled them to an imposing 182 for 6.With the ball, he was arguably even more vital to this victory. He did not concede a single boundary, gave away only 24 runs in his four overs, and took the important wicket of Sanju Samson as well as dismissing Rajasthan Royals’ top scorer – Rahul Tripathi. Although Royals had good partnerships in the first 12 overs of their innings, Kings XI’s spinners squeezed them, and ratcheted up the required run rate to an unmanageable level.This win puts Kings XI back into the top four on the table – though they have played one more match than most other teams. Royals, meanwhile, continue to languish near the bottom of the table. They have now lost six matches to the two they have won.M Ashwin’s supporting handR Ashwin claimed the better figures, but M Ashwin’s legbreaks were arguably even more impressive, on a slow track. He also conceded only 24 from his four overs, but beat the bat more often with his big turning deliveries, and bowled beautifully in tandem with his captain, to keep Samson’s 59-run partnership with Tripathi in check.BCCI

The key dismissal
Royals’ batsmen were guilty of falling into a tepid scoring period through the middle overs, but one batsman who would not have let that happen was Jos Buttler, whose hyper-aggressive instincts might have saved Royals from their eventual slow death. Buttler wasn’t around to face the Ashwins through the middle overs, however, because debutant Arshdeep Singh had already dismissed him at the start of the fifth over, thanks to an outstanding catch from wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran. Buttler attempted to crash an Arshdeep length ball through the legside, but managed only to get a big top edge to the ball. It swirled high, way towards fine leg, but Pooran tracked it down, and dived to complete the catch.Kings XI’s solid foundation
In the chase, opener Tripathi’s 50 off 45 balls seemed a poor innings for Royals, because it put undue pressure on the remainder of the batsmen to score quickly.In the first innings, however, KL Rahul’s even slower 52 off 47 balls, seems like a half-decent contribution, largely because the rest of the top order batted quickly around him. Chris Gayle hit 30 off 22 balls, but more importantly, Mayank Agarwal crashed 26 off 12, and David Miller., who was only slotted in because Moises Henriques turned his ankle after the toss, struck 40 off 27. By the time Rahul was out, at the start of the 18th over, Kings XI had 152 on the board, and were well-placed for a score of over 180, even if they would stutter slightly in the next two overs.Jofra Archer’s superb bowling
England have not named their World Cup squad yet, but Archer’s outstanding turn with the ball can’t have done his chances any harm. He took the game’s best figures – by a distance – claiming 3 for 15 from his four overs. The first of his victims was Chris Gayle – caught behind off an offcutter, but Archer’s best was yet to come. In the 19th over of Kings XI’s innings, he conceded only a staggering three runs, while claiming the wickets of Pooran and Mandeep Singh. He seemed to have swung the game in Royals’ favour, until R Ashwin swung it back again.

Tayla Vlaeminck is part of the Australia A group that will tour concurrently in England

Andrew McGlashan28-Mar-2023Opening batter Phoebe Litchfield has been included in Australia’s squad for the multi-format Women’s Ashes in England later this year alongside Kim Garth while fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck is part of the Australia A group that will tour concurrently.Litchfield, 19, could be in line for a Test debut following the retirement of Rachael Haynes when the Ashes gets underway with a five-day encounter at Trent Bridge from June 22. She will be an option to open the batting depending on where Australia want to use Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy.Litchfield made her international debut against India in December during the T20I series before impressing in her first appearance at ODI level against Pakistan in January with 154 runs in the three-match series.Garth, the former Ireland allrounder who also made her first appearance for Australia in December, could also push for a Test debut as one of the pace options in a bowling attack that does not lack options.Grace Harris is the other player in the squad uncapped at Test level although she is likely to be more in the plans for the ODIs and T20Is which make up the multi-format Ashes.Australia have held the Ashes since 2015 and won by a convincing 12 points to four margin in 2021-22 although the Test produced a gripping contest where England nearly chased down a final-day target before hanging on nine wickets down.”Following the success of the side at the recent T20 World Cup, the focus now turns to the exciting challenge of retaining the Ashes away from home,” national selector Shawn Flegler said. “We’ve been fortunate to have a consistent side across all formats over the past couple of years and as a result we have selected a similar group to the squad which won the T20 World Cup in February.”Phoebe Litchfield has taken her game to the next level in the past 12 months, we view her as a long-term player for Australia and it’s pleasing to reward her progress with selection in an Ashes squad.”The inclusion of Vlaeminck in the Australia A squad is significant with her having not played since early 2022 when she suffered another stress fracture of her foot during that season’s Ashes.”Tayla Vlaeminck is progressing in her rehabilitation and is working back towards full bowling fitness,” Flegler said. “She is a highly regarded talent and is certainly part of our plans moving forward.”With the Australia A tour overlapping the first part of the Ashes, there is a chance for players to cross over if form or injuries require reinforcements with the main group. The A tour will include three T20s and three one-day games between June 21 and July 2.”It’s hugely beneficial to have an Australia A component to the tour and provide an opportunity for our developing players to test themselves in conditions they may not experience in Australia,” Flegler said.”The nature of concurrent tours also offers flexibility and allows players to be available for and cross over into both squads, whether it be from a preparation perspective or to provide an opportunity at international level.From the A squad, left-arm seamer Lauren Cheatle, allrounder Heather Graham and legspinner Amanda-Jade Wellington have been capped at international level alongside Vlaeminck, while seamer Maitlan Brown has come close. Batter Courtney Webb was the WNCL Player of the Season for 2022-23.Australia Ashes squad: Meg Lanning (capt), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia WarehamAustralia A squad: Maitlan Brown, Lauren Cheatle, Maddy Darke, Heather Graham, Nicole Faltum, Tess Flintoff, Charli Knott, Kate Peterson, Courtney Sippel, Tayla Vlaeminck, Courtney Webb, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Tahlia Wilson

There have been few instances of visiting batters being comfortable against India in India and this was one of them

Sidharth Monga09-Mar-20232:22

Chappell: Khawaja’s calmness this series has been exemplary

Australia managed only the fourth opening stand of 50 or more for a visiting side in India in the last five years. Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith batted through the middle session, the first wicketless session of the series, the most comfortable any batting side has been in a session against India in India in the last 10 years. Khawaja scored a fine, patient hundred, only the sixth against India in India in the last five years.Yet it was India who controlled which way the game headed for the most part after losing the toss on a flat pitch. Only to lose the gamble with the new ball at the end of the day and hand Australia a slight advantage. Khawaja ended unbeaten on 104 having brought up the milestone in the last over of the day, and Cameron Green feasted on the new ball to score 49 in 64 in an 85-run stand that started after the loss of two wickets for 19 runs.The Ahmedabad pitch was a complete contrast to the first three Tests. Bowlers had to work hard to maintain control, defend with the fields and attack the stumps. Sometimes the payoff stretched across spells like when Umesh Yadav bowled a spell full of bouncers, and Mohammed Shami took the wicket with a full ball in the next spell, his second. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja managed one each, and Axar Patel provided control in his 12 overs for just 14 runs.A measure of how difficult it was for the bowlers is that India managed to draw only 34 false responses; there were 40 in the first session of the last Test. Yet through most of the day, India made sure the batters had to take risks to even go past 2.5 an over. Knowing they could trust the pitch, Australia waited for the loose balls, which also showed in an unusually high control percentage. The six false responses in 33 overs in the middle session was the highest control percentage for a visiting side in India in a session of Test cricket in India in the last 10 years.This is where the quality of Ashwin and Shami, and the depth in the attack, shone through. For long periods, Ashwin managed to keep the batters in check even though he didn’t beat the bat. The presence of a fifth bowler meant India could toil away tirelessly. It paid off with a break in concentration for Smith, who played Jadeja on, and a beauty from Shami to send Peter Handscomb back to reduce Australia to 170 for 4.The spinners then all but shut down Khawaja and Green, bowling five overs for three runs when Rohit Sharma asked for the new ball. Now this was a departure from how India usually operate on such days. They don’t risk taking the new ball with bowlers who have had a long day in the field. Usually they bowl around four overs with the new ball in the evening, and then have another shot at it on the next morning.India’s bowlers had to toil hard on a flat pitch•BCCI

Here, India took the new ball with nine overs to go, and Green took to it. A flat pitch, bowlers at the end of the day, and suddenly Australia had 54 runs in nine overs. Green did all the damage as Khawaja kept picking singles to start the final over of the day on 99. Then he got a half-volley to strike his 15th boundary having struck at just 41.43 despite having offered only 13 false responses in a 251-ball stay.This was a little like the start with the first new ball. Shami bowled the first ball straight to second slip, then offered more byes, a catch went down, and Australia raced away to 56 for 0 in the first 14 overs. This is when India would have been reminded of the Chennai Test of 2020-21, one of their only three home defeats in the last 10 overs.Led by Ashwin, India started to turn the screws. The second hour went for just 19. Travis Head tried to break the shackles but found mid-on. There was only a hint of reverse for a while, and Shami took out Marnus Labuschagne with that.With not much expected from their lower order, Australia had to be watchful in the middle session. It was also when all the bowlers gave Rohit excellent control. Just 74 were scored in the second session of 33 overs.Finally Smith defended one loosely, getting out to Jadeja for the seventh time, four of them bowled. Nobody has found his timber that often. With a 70-over old ball, Shami managed to hold the line to go past Handscomb’s edge and send the off stump on a cartwheel.The tension built towards the end of the day. Virat Kohli used to wait for the next morning and fresher bowlers to make the next big move. Rohit chose the evening. Green came out the victor.Amid all this, Khawaja just batted in the purest sense. No premeditation, no attempt to force the pace, just organically responding to what was bowled at him. He was severe off the toes, and also quick to work the ball square every time someone dropped short. Forty-six of his runs came between long leg and midwicket, which should tell you how he waited for the loose balls. As he said at the end of the day, it was a beautiful batting pitch and he just didn’t want to get out.

New Zealand keep semi-final hopes alive but need Bangladesh to beat South Africa

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Feb-2023New Zealand thumped Sri Lanka so severely in each team’s last match of the group stage, in Paarl, that they nullified the terrific start Sri Lanka had to the tournament, and gave themselves a chance of qualifying for the next stage, despite their own underperformance in their first two games.By claiming a 102-run victory, set up by terrific half-centuries from Amelia Kerr, who hit 66 off 48, and Suzie Bates, who made 56 off 49, New Zealand easily eclipsed Sri Lanka’s net run rate (NRR). Both teams have four points, but Sri Lanka’s NRR now finishes at a woeful -1.46; New Zealand’s is 0.138, although that won’t be enough if hosts South Africa beat Bangladesh on Tuesday.But Sri Lanka are out of the competition, despite having delivered an upset to South Africa to start their tournament, before also beating Bangladesh. They have never made it out of the group stage in a T20 World Cup.New Zealand’s 162 for 3 was made possible by Sri Lanka’s repeated fielding mistakes – at least two dropped catches, and as many missed run out chances. But it was not an unattainable score, until Sri Lanka’s top order crashed and burned in the space of 4.5 overs – the first five wickets going down for the addition of 13 runs.The collapse rolled on, and Sri Lanka were all out for 60 inside 16 overs. Seamer Achini Kulasuriya, who appeared to badly injure her shoulder while delivering her third over, could not bat.

Kerr and Bates dominate

Bates and Kerr’s 110-run second-wicket partnership, which came off 83 deliveries, was the centrepiece of their victory. Bates had been the quieter of New Zealand’s openers in the powerplay, letting Bernadine Bezuidenhout create the early momentum with her 32 off 20 balls. But in the company of Kerr, she began to settle into a substantial innings. She struck Kavisha Dilhari for consecutive fours – one through deep third, the other through deep midwicket – in the ninth over, and appeared particularly at home at the crease.Kerr, meanwhile, seemed comfortable from the outset. She struck her third ball – from the experienced Inoka Ranaweera – to the boundary, and breezed her way through the middle overs, venturing only the occasional boundary on a pitch not particularly suited for big runs. At the end of the 14th over, she was 31 off 29, and then began to attack more seriously, finding frequent boundaries in front of square, as she muscled the Sri Lanka bowlers through the leg side with particular relish.They were both dismissed in the final over, but despite not having hit a six between them, had inflicted sufficient damage.

Sri Lanka’s woeful fielding

Sri Lanka should have had Bezuidenhout out for 7 when she had been stranded mid-pitch in the third over. But Kulasuriya’s throw from backward square leg was wayward and wicketkeeper Anushka Sanjeewani could not collect.Bezuidenhout should have been out two overs later too, for 19, had Harshitha Samarawickrama held a catch at deep midwicket, off the bowling of Malsha Shehani. But she let the straightforward chance slip through her fingers.Bates was also a benefactor of Sri Lanka’s fielding largesse. She was dropped on 37 by Nilakshi de Silva – a skied chance to mid-on going down. Then in the 16th over, on 41, she could have been out again, had either the fielder at midwicket or the bowler who collected the ball made more accurate throws.But what pressure the Sri Lanka bowlers did create did not translate into wickets on account of their fielding.

Catastrophic collapse costs SL

Although New Zealand had made more runs than they ought to on a difficult surface, a target of 163 was not completely beyond Sri Lanka, particularly if their openers got going. Neither did. Sri Lanka struck only one boundary in the powerplay, as Jess Kerr, Hannah Rowe, and Eden Carson delivered tight early overs.And once the wickets started to fall, they went rapidly. Harshitha was caught in the outfield at deep midwicket, trying to slog her first boundary after a frustrating start. Vishmi Gunaratne was out next over, when Bates completed a spectacular catch running back from mid-on. De Silva had her leg stump rattled by a Jess Kerr yorker.And when captain Athapaththu was out for 19 in the seventh over, lbw on review against a straighter delivery from Amelia Kerr, Sri Lanka were always going to struggle.Had they made in to 123, they could still have finished ahead of New Zealand on NRR and given themselves some chance of qualifying for the semi-finals. But Sri Lanka’s middle order had not produced significant runs even in their wins. And here, they fell rapidly.

Kane Williamson lauded the way CSK did not give Sunrisers any opportunities while chasing what he thought was a “competitive total”

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai27-May-20181:55

‘We had a very competitive total’ – Williamson

Sunrisers Hyderabad topped the league stage, but lost all four games against Chennai Super Kings this season. Captain Kane Williamson lauded the way CSK handled the most high-pressure match of the lot, the final, not giving Sunrisers any opportunities while chasing what he thought was a “competitive total”.In pursuit of 179, CSK lost only two wickets and ensured Sunrisers’ most dangerous bowlers – Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan – went wicketless.”That is the nature of that – sometimes you do have to applaud very good cricket and that was CSK in terms of their batting today,” Williamson said. “It was outstanding, they didn’t give us opportunities, they hit it over the fence rather than to our man. Look, it is such a fine line, I know out there on the park it’s an eight-wicket win but we all saw that there were moments of pressure where the game can change very quickly, and if you’re able to pounce on those then that’s when you take your opportunity. And today, you do credit the way CSK handled those moments of pressure and carried on with their batting performance.”Apart from Shane Watson’s unbeaten 117, Williamson had words of praise for his bowlers too. After Bhuvneshwar started with a maiden over against Watson, Sunrisers restricted CSK to only 35 for 1 in the Powerplay before they took on Siddarth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma.”At the halfway stage on the surface, we thought we had a very competitive total,” Williamson said. “It wasn’t perhaps your usual surface at the Wankhede and it held a little bit and was responsive to the slower ball. So we thought that 180-mark was a really good target and you saw that from our first overs, it wasn’t very easy to get away. I think from that point onwards, that innings of Shane Watson… anyone who turns out with an innings of 100-plus in the final, it was obviously a significant effort and great contribution to their side and very difficult to stop, so a fantastic knock.”I believe after the first few overs, the [required] run rate was climbing, there were risks required and if we were able to pick up a couple of wickets, which we have been doing throughout the season, then all of a sudden it takes a very different shape. Credit to the way CSK played, they showed their experience and got through that period and took the game away from us.”When asked if the bowling of their domestic quicks, apart from Bhuvneshwar, cost them the game, Williamson said: “I’d rather look at the likes of Watson in terms of his innings. He did put us under pressure. You come into a final and that is one of the things you do need to deal with the best you can – pressure. Everybody’s feeling it a little bit and he responded to it beautifully and put us under more pressure. Once again, the way we started with the ball was outstanding, gave us an opportunity. There was a balancing point there which they ran away with.”We look at a variety of surfaces that we played on [early in the season] and I think that was huge in how our bowlers operated, and then we came on to some other surfaces, perhaps a little bit better [for batting], and we were trying to adjust as best as we could.”That’s the nature of T20 cricket, it’s very aggressive, you play looking to get on top of bowlers and at times that can happen to anyone, it’s just one of those things. But he [Kaul] has been a fantastic asset for our side throughout this whole campaign. His death bowling is of the highest quality and he’s got a fantastic slower ball as well. The likes of him and the other boys that were in our attack were brilliant throughout the whole campaign.”Williamson can indeed be proud of his bowling attack, from which two bowlers – Rashid and Kaul, with 21 wickets each – finished behind the tournament’s top wicket-taker Andrew Tye (24). Sandeep and Bhuvneshwar didn’t play all their matches but were frugal, finishing the tournament with economy rates of 7.56 and 7.66 respectively.

De Silva’s term is for two years, and he officially begins on August 15

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2018Harsha de Silva has been appointed Sri Lanka women’s head coach, reprising the role he had performed between 2010 and 2013. De Silva’s term is for two years, and he officially begins on August 15, several weeks before India women’s forthcoming tour of the island. The other major assignment on the horizon is the World T20 in the West Indies, scheduled for November this year.A domestic right-arm seamer in his playing days, de Silva holds a Level 3 coaching qualification, and had been the women’s head coach at the Valley District Cricket Club in Brisbane. De Silva replaced Hemantha Devapriya in the position, after Devapriya resigned five months before the end of his stipulated contract, in June.Among de Silva’s long-term concerns will be to shake Sri Lanka out of an ODI rut that has now stretched for several years. Sri Lanka have lost 12 of the last 13 matches they have played – a sequence that stretches back to last year’s World Cup. Their T20 form is marginally better, but not by much. They had defeated Bangladesh in the recent Asia Cup – a tournament which Bangladesh went on to win – but have won only three of their last 11 T20 internationals.SLC has, however, recently begun to invest in women’s domestic cricket, and will hope that de Silva can help translate those investments into results at the top level.

UAE legspinner becomes just the fifth bowler to pick up a hat-trick in a men’s T20 World Cup game

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2022Sri Lanka were going well. They were 117 for 2 in the 15th over, with Pathum Nissanka playing beautifully and Bhanuka Rajapaksa at the other end. Enter Karthik Meiyappan, a 22-year-old legspinner playing just his 13th T20I, in his third over. And, yes, we got a hat-trick, Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka were gone in a flash. Here’s how Andrew Miller recorded it – just the fifth hat-trick in a men’s T20 World Cup game in our ball-by-ball commentary for the match.14.4: Karthik Meiyappan to Rajapaksa, OUT
Hacked out to deep cover! Another breakthrough for UAE, who aren’t done yet. Outside off, opened the angles to hoist it into the off side, but scuffed the stroke straight down Kashif’s throat
Bhanuka Rajapaksa c Kashif Daud b Meiyappan 5 (8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 62.514.5: Karthik Meiyappan to Asalanka, OUT
Nibbles the edge and Asalanka has a first-baller! Googly with extra bounce, wide of off but the angle across the left-hander lured him in, and Meiyappan is on a hat-trick!
Charith Asalanka c †Aravind b Meiyappan 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 014.6: Karthik Meiyappan to Shanaka, OUT
Hat-trick! Clean through the gate! Oh my! What a stunning way to seal the deal! Sri Lanka’s captain propped forward to the googly, perfectly flighted, biting and bouncing past the inside-edge, clobbering the top of the timbers! What an incredible World Cup moment!
Dasun Shanaka b Meiyappan 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0Here’s the updated list of hat-tricks in men’s T20Is.And here’s where the previous ones were recorded in men’s T20 World Cup games.Brett Lee vs Bangladesh, 2007Curtis Campher vs Netherlands, 2021Wanindu Hasaranga vs South Africa, 2021Kagiso Rabada vs England, 2021

India’s bowlers were also clinical in their defence of 180 against Netherlands

Karthik Krishnaswamy27-Oct-20221:12

Inside the Surya-Kohli bromance

Fifties of vastly different moods and tempos from Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav laid the platform for India to brush Netherlands aside and move to the top of the Group 2 table with a healthy net-run-rate boost. Choosing to bat first on an SCG surface that was considerably slower than the one they played their tournament-opener on at the MCG, India put on a classic display of controlled dominance over Associate opposition, posting a par-ish total and defending it ruthlessly.Chasing 180, Netherlands were never in the game, and for a while seemed in danger of being bowled out for under 100. They avoided that fate, and the No. 11 Paul van Meekeren finished the innings with 4, 4, 4 off Arshdeep Singh to narrow their margin of defeat, but it was still a resounding 56 runs.India’s five specialist bowlers shared the wickets, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep, Axar Patel and R Ashwin picking up two apiece, and Mohammed Shami one.A costly non-review

The new ball swung, and occasionally stopped on the batter too. India scored just 11 runs in the first 2.4 overs of their innings, and van Meekeren picked up a well-earned early wicket too, having an lbw shout upheld after KL Rahul missed the flick off a late inswinger. Rahul didn’t review the decision, even though his opening partner Rohit seemed to suggest to him that the ball might have been swinging down the leg side; ball-tracking eventually proved Rohit correct.Three approaches, three fifties

Rohit struggled for fluency on this sluggish surface but he kept trying to hit boundaries. He survived a dropped chance – Tim Pringle putting down a sitter at mid-on when he was on 13 – and finished his innings with a control percentage of just under 59, but his preparedness to look ugly ensured he kept the scoreboard moving in the first 12 overs of India’s innings. He made 53 off 39 balls; during his time at the crease, the two batters at the other end – Rahul and Kohli – combined to score 28 off 31.Kohli finished with a control percentage of 75. During the first 21 balls of his innings, when Rohit was at the other end, Kohli’s control percentage was 81. Unlike Rohit, he didn’t take chances early on and chose to trust in his ability to score quickly once set. He did this, and found the boundary with increased frequency in the last five overs to score 30 off his last 14 balls, having scored 32 off 30 balls before that.Suryakumar Yadav brought up his fifty off the last ball of the innings•Getty Images

Suryakumar, meanwhile, did what only he and a few others in the world can do. He shuffled this way and that, brought his wrists into play to whip and slice the ball into gaps, and found the boundary five times in his first 12 balls at the crease. He hit seven fours and a flicked six off the last ball of the innings to finish unbeaten on 51 off 25 balls, a jaw-dropping effort on a sluggish pitch but one that you might take for granted given how often he does these things.Together, these three innings worked well for India to achieve what they set out to on the day. The chances Rohit took early on came off often enough for Kohli to begin conservatively, and Suryakumar’s blazing start allowed him to keep going in that vein until the last five overs.India’s total of 179 was their lowest in T20I innings where they have lost only two wickets or fewer, and Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik didn’t even come out to bat, but India probably only aimed for par on a sluggish pitch against Associate opposition. Kohli may probably have taken more risks early on against a stronger team.Max O’Dowd was bowled by Axar Patel•AFP

Bhuvneshwar sets the tone for dominant bowling display

‘Max O’Dowd or bust’ has been a fair description of the Netherlands batting at this World Cup so far, and the early overs stayed with that theme. O’Dowd found the boundary with a pair of pleasing square drives off Arshdeep in the second over, but either side of that Bhuvneshwar went 2-2-0-1, bowling with pinpoint accuracy and dismissing Vikramjit Singh, bowled swiping across the line.With the rest of the top order struggling, O’Dowd had to manufacture boundaries and was dismissed trying to do so, exposing all his stumps to Axar and missing a sweep.The Netherlands challenge fell away after that, as Axar and Ashwin throttled them through the middle overs, before the fast bowlers returned to clean up the lower order. Arshdeep, expensive early on, came back to take two wickets in two balls, a nasty bouncer followed by an inch-perfect yorker, and he was on a hat-trick when he began the final over. By the end of that over, though, his figures had taken a bruising, and van Meekeren had given Netherlands’ fans something to cheer about.

Glamorgan unable to capitalise on dominant opening stand between Lloyd and Northeast

ECB Reporters Network07-Jun-2022 Gloucestershire 159 for 5 (Bracey 63) beat Glamorgan 158 for 8 (Lloyd 68) by five wicketsGloucestershire claimed the third win of their Vitality Blast campaign with a five-wicket victory over Glamorgan in Cardiff thanks to an impressive performance with both bat and ball.Glamorgan got off to a strong start in their batting innings with an opening stand between David Lloyd and Sam Northeast taking them to 90 without loss. From there Gloucestershire came back into the game as Glamorgan made 69 for eight from the last 10 overs of their innings to set a target of 159 to win.James Bracey batted brilliantly to make 63 from 49 balls with support from Glenn Phillips and Miles Hammond to break the back of the chase.Gloucestershire looked to be cruising to the win before three wickets in the space of six balls meant they limped over the line in the end.Having been put into bat the partnership between Lloyd and Northeast put the home side in control of the early stages of the match. Lloyd was the main threat, making 68 from 43 balls, his best score in T20 cricket since 2016.It was the wily Benny Howell who made the breakthrough for Gloucestershire, claiming the wickets of both openers in the space of 15 runs. Those wickets were the first of the eight to fall in the second half of the Glamorgan innings as the visitors wrestled their way back into the game. Howell’s variations and Tom Smith’s left-arm spin choked the Glamorgan middle order as wickets fell with regularity.Once the openers were gone no Glamorgan batter passed 20 with the next highest partnership being just 17 runs. Having been expensive in his first two overs David Payne came back well in the death overs, claiming the wickets of James Weighell and the dangerous Dan Douthwaite.Gloucestershire got off to a similarly impressive start to their innings, reaching 54 without loss at the end of the Powerplay. The introduction of Douthwaite for the seventh over than brought the first wicket with Miles Hammond getting caught on the boundary by Eddie Byrom.A partnership between Bracey and Phillips continued Gloucestershire’s progress towards victory with Bracey reaching fifty off 40 balls. Phillips was happy to play the supporting role while he got himself set but he to started to find the boundary with relative ease before he was well caught at long on by Michael Hogan off the bowling of Douthwaite.With Michael Neser missing due to a positive Covid test, the Glamorgan attack lacked penetration with a damp ball as a result of two brief rain delays not helping them regain control of the Gloucestershire innings. The cluster of wickets right at the death gave Glamorgan some hope but with just eight runs needed from 14 balls Gloucestershire wrapped up with in in the 19th over of their chase.