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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

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

Raghvi Bist and Uma Chetry had given India A hope in their chase but the target proved out of reach

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2024Two wickets in four balls from Tess Flintoff made the difference on the final day between Australia A and India A after the visitors had threatened to close down their target.Raghvi Bist and Uma Chetry built a seventh-wicket stand of 79, the latter playing positively on the final morning, but just as the target of 289 was starting to loom into view, Flintoff changed the game. First she had Chetry splicing a pull into the leg side and then got one through Bist to remove India A’s last two main batting options.Related

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Three overs later Australia A had their ninth when Mannat Kashyap pulled Maitlan Brown to mid-on which all but assured the home side of victory. However, a last-wicket stand of 24 made them work to wrap things up and it was captain Charlie Knott who claimed the final wicket when Sayali Satghare chipped a return catch.”It was a bit nerve-racking at the start. They put on 60 runs or so without a wicket lost,” Knott said. “But we knew once we got one wicket we would get the rest, so we just had to stick in there. They were going pretty aggressive, so we knew something would come.”Day one we felt a little bit nervous, not putting in a great performance with the bat, but the bowling group has managed to do an awesome job and also the second innings with the bat, our lower order really fought to get us to a defendable total.”Key performances for Australia A came from Georgia Voll’s opening-day 71 then Kate Peterson’s five-wicket haul earned a narrow lead. Maddy Darke scored an outstanding second-innings century while legspinner Grace Parsons put in a crucial all-round display with 70 runs across two innings at No. 10 and two wickets in India’s chase.”We only won by 40-something runs in the end, so without those [runs] we wouldn’t have got over the line,” Knott said.The highly competitive four-day game concluded India A’s tour, which included three formats and they played better the longer the trip went on. Australia A won the T20s 3-0 and the one-dayers 2-1.

Rookie left-arm seamer Abhilash Shetty defended 13 in the final over for Karnataka

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jan-2025Karnataka overcame a scare against Baroda to clinch a thriller by five runs and secure a place in the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Devdutt Padikkal’s 102 off 99 balls not long after he got off a flight from Australia won him the Player-of-the-Match award, but it was Karnataka’s catching that made a massive difference to the resultBaroda were cruising in their chase of 282, with their captain Krunal Pandya and centurion Shashwat Rawat bringing the runs required under 100. But from 185 for 2 in the 34th over, Baroda lost 3 for 16 to give Karnataka an opening.Wicketkeeper Krishnan Shrijith dismissed Krunal by flinging himself full stretch to his left to pull off a one-hand catch off V Koushik. In the next over, Shreyas Gopal had Vishnu Solanki lbw. Mayank Agarawal, the Karnataka captain, then ran back 30 yards from mid-off with the ball swirling away to catch Shivalik Sharma.Even as Baroda lost wickets, they had hope as Rawat approached a century. He eventually got to the mark in the 44th over and Baroda went into the last six needing 59 with four wickets remaining. Bhanu Pania, who had smashed an unbeaten 51-ball 134 when Baroda broke the record for the highest T20 score last month, went after Prasidh Krishna in a 15-run over.The wickets of Pania and Rawat in the space of three balls turned the game again. Having gone for 58 in nine wicketless overs, Prasidh bowled a slower bouncer that got Rawat’s leading edge to wicketkeeper Shrijith.Still, Bhargav Bhatt and Raj Limbani kept hitting the vital boundaries to bring the equation down to 13 off the last six balls. But rookie left-arm seamer Abhilash Shetty was not fazed by the pressure. With Baroda needing 8 off the last two, they attempted to steal a second to get Bhatt on strike with six to get off the last ball, but an accurate throw by R Smaran at deep midwicket to the wicketkeeper had Bhatt run out to end the game.That Karnataka had a sizeable total to defend was down to Padikkal, who helped his team overcome the early loss of Agarawal on a pitch that had plenty of assistance for the quicks early on. Padikkal and KV Aneesh put on 133 for the second wicket to lay the foundation of the innings.Padikkal was severe on Baroda off spinner Mahesh Pithiya, using his feet regularly to score boundaries as Karnataka looked to accelerate. He fell soon after getting to a century off 94 deliveries, top-edging a pull to the wicketkeeper off Limbani. From 172 for 2, Karnataka lost a clutch of wickets, but cameos from Shrijith and Abhinav Manohar took them to a match-winning score of 281.

Should Rohit miss the Test, Jasprit Bumrah will captain the team for the first time

Nagraj Gollapudi29-Jun-20224:04

Rohit has not yet been ruled out – Dravid

India captain Rohit Sharma is battling against the deadline to be available for the Edgbaston Test against England after testing positive for Covid-19 once again on Wednesday morning. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Rohit will undergo two further tests – one this evening and another on Thursday – before the Indian team management takes a final decision on his availability for the Test, which starts on Friday. Should Rohit miss the Test, Jasprit Bumrah will captain the side.Rohit, who tested positive on the second day of the warm-up match in Leicester last week, has been serving the five-day isolation as recommended by the UK government. Today was the fifth day, but Rohit was absent from India’s training session.”Rohit is being monitored by our medical team, he is not yet been ruled out,” head coach Rahul Dravid said. “Obviously, he needs to get the negative test to be available. So we will keep monitoring that, we’ve still got close to 36 hours to go. He will have a test later tonight and maybe one tomorrow morning as well. And then we’ll see.”Obviously, he’ll have to come out of that, and it’s really up to the medical team and sports science team to decide on that. We haven’t had a chance to see him, since he is in isolation. But we will keep monitoring the situation.”While there has been no official update from the BCCI on who will lead India in case Rohit doesn’t play in the Test, it is understood that Bumrah will take up the role. India didn’t nominate a vice-captain after KL Rahul, who was named Rohit’s deputy when the squad was picked in May, was ruled out having picked up a groin injury earlier this month.Bumrah was the vice-captain during India’s previous Test series, against Sri Lanka at home. He incidentally has never led in any form of cricket, so this will be his maiden captaincy stint. He will also become the first fast bowler to captain India since Kapil Dev.Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Sri Lanka series, Bumrah had said he would never “shy away” if he was given the opportunity to lead India. “If given an opportunity at any scenario, it would be an honour and I would never ever shy away from that, but it is something that I don’t go looking for,” Bumrah had said. Despite the lack of captaincy experience, Bumrah had said he remained confident of performing the leadership duties as he had grown in his role as a strike bowler both for India and at Mumbai Indians in the IPL.”Whatever role is asked of me, I would do it with the best ability. You are always a leader when you are a senior member of the team, so it’s just a post that comes with you. Basically, you try to help all the people in whatever capacity you can. Even in Mumbai Indians, you have got a lot of senior players but now I am one of the senior players as well, so you help the captain, you help everyone, you play the leadership role even when you are not asked to.”That’s how I look at it. I never want to [be the captain] just for personal satisfaction. It’s just a post, it’s just a name, you have to do your job and you have to help people in the best way you can.”‘We have got contingency plans’ – Dravid on captaincy scenario
If Bumrah walks out for the toss on Friday, he will be the eighth man to lead India since 2021. While Dravid agreed that is not the desired scenario, he felt that the coaching staff and players were well-equipped to handle that challenge.”It is what it is,” Dravid said. “When I took the job even I wouldn’t have predicted that there would have so many captains in the last six-seven months. That happens, right? In the times that we are living in, with Covid, there have been some unfortunate injuries to people. Even here, it is quite unfortunate what has happened to Rahul and Rohit in the last three weeks for us. And sometimes we’ve had to balance out the workloads of people. So it happens.”Of course, it is not something you envisage when you first start off, but if a situation arises then you react to that, you deal with that. And in spite of the number of captains we have had, we have played very good cricket over the last six to eight months. Yes, obviously the South Africa Test series was probably the one I would have liked to have won after going one-up. But even there I thought we were not outplayed, we were very close in a lot of those games. We had a few unfortunate injuries and some of our main players were probably not available for that Test series.”We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that we don’t have to deal with these situations, but they seem to come up and we have to react. We are not fazed by it. We are clear about our communication with people. We know what is going to happen over the next few days. If something happens, we have got contingency plans and, within our group, within our team, we know what’s happening. That’s really important for us.”

A host of Australia white-ball players will be back in first-class action amid the race for the final

Alex Malcolm29-Feb-2024A host of Australia’s white-ball stars are set to play in the next Sheffield Shield round with Matthew Wade, Spencer Johnson, Josh Inglis and Matthew Short all named for their respective states but Glenn Maxwell will not turn out for Victoria.Wade has been named to open the batting for ladder-leading Tasmania against Victoria while Short has been included in Victoria’s side on return from the New Zealand series.Related

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Johnson and Inglis will also play their first Shield matches of the season for South Australia and Western Australia respectively but Aaron Hardie has been ruled out with his ongoing calf trouble.Wade played two games for Tasmania earlier this season including making 105 in a record chase of 432 against Queensland, but has been unavailable since due to T20I commitments for Australia.He hasn’t opened the batting in a first-class since he was asked to do it four times in his last Test series against India in 2020-21. Wade will replace the struggling Tim Ward at the top of the order for Tasmania. Ward has been dropped after three consecutive ducks.Maxwell still has ambitions to play Test cricket again for Australia and remains on the radar for the tour of Sri Lanka next year but he will not play for Victoria this week. Maxwell has appeared in just two first-class matches since 2019 with both coming last year after returning from his broken leg. He hasn’t played a red-ball game since a one-off appearance for Warwickshire in July.Inglis will make his first Shield appearance the season for WA against Queensland at the WACA ground having missed the first seven due to international white-ball commitments. But Hardie has been ruled out with the calf issue he suffered in the last match against Tasmania. There was a hope he might be able to play as a batter only but was not passed fit after also being ruled out of the T20I tour of New Zealand and the Marsh Cup final.Johnson is in line to play his first match of the season and just his fifth first-class match overall after being included in South Australia’s 12-man squad to face New South Wales in Sydney. Johnson has not played a first-class game since Australia A’s tour of New Zealand last April. He took bags of six and seven in his first two Shield matches last summer.New South Wales have included uncapped legspinner Smit Raval, who moved to Australia from India in 2018, in their squad as they aim to push for spot in the final.Under-19 World Cup star Callum Vidler could make his debut debut. The fast bowler took 14 wickets at 11.71 during Australia’s recent success in South AfricaTasmania squad Jordan Silk (capt), Gabe Bell, Iain Carlisle, Jake Doran, Jarrod Freeman, Bradley Hope, Caleb Jewell, Riley Meredith, Billy Stanlake, Matthew Wade, Charlie Wakim, Beau WebsterVictoria squad Will Sutherland (capt), Xavier Crone, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Campbell Kellaway, Nic Maddinson, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Mitch Perry, Will Pucovski, Matt Short, Peter SiddleWestern Australia squad Sam Whiteman (capt), Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Keaton Critchell, Cameron Gannon, Jayden Goodwin, Liam Haskett, Josh Inglis, Joel Paris, Corey Rocchiccioli, D’Arcy Short, Charlie Stobo, Teague WyllieNew South Wales squad Ollie Davies, Jack Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Ryan Hadley, Moises Henriques (capt) Daniel Hughes, Sam Konstas, Blake Nikitaras, Jack Nisbet, Smit Raval, Chris TremainQueensland squad Jimmy Peirson (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Max Bryant, Jack Clayton, Angus Lovell, Ben McDermott, Gurinder Sandhu, Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Mitchell Swepson, Callum Vidler, Jack WildermuthSouth Australia squad Wes Agar, Kyle Brazell, Jordan Buckingham, Brendan Doggett, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Spencer Johnson, Thomas Kelly, Jake Lehmann (capt), Ben Manenti, Nathan McAndrew, Nathan McSweeney, Harry Nielsen

Salzmann took 4 for 48 while Macdonald made 81 to hand WA their first loss in the Marsh Cup since November 2021

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2023Four wickets from William Salzmann, and a vital 81 from Blake Macdonald helped New South Wales hand the all-conquering Western Australia their first Marsh Cup defeat in nearly two years as Blues edged home by two wickets with an over to spare in a rain-effected contest in Sydney.WA had not lost in the 50-over format since November 2021, but in the absence of Aaron Hardie, Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson, NSW took full advantage at Cricket Central, bowling WA out for 216 in 42.2 overs after the game had been reduced to a 43-over affair thanks to a short burst of rain.Macdonald then controlled the chase superbly in a Player-of-the-Match performance, but his dismissal almost caused the Blues to give away the game. They slumped from 206 for 4 to 217 for 8 with some poor shot selection. But Ollie Davies held firm before Salzmann struck two boundaries to end the match.Salzmann was the star with the ball in just his third List A game, taking 4 for 48. He removed D’Arcy Short for a duck – Short’s third of the season – and also picked up the wicket of the dangerous Josh Philippe, who top-scored with 61 to halt WA’s charge after they had rebuilt to 127 for 3 following two early wickets.Salzmann later picked up two more after WA’s much-vaunted middle order failed to capitalise on starts. Sam Whiteman made 41 while Ashton Turner made 25, but both fell to Chris Green. Nick Hobson was left with an inexperienced tail, and the innings collapsed as Salzmann got Charlie Stobo and debutant Hamish McKenzie in quick succession before Hobson miscued to midwicket for 36.Blues had the chase under control, as Macdonald and the top order scored freely against WA’s inexperienced attack. However, Macdonald was fortunate to survive an outside edge off McKenzie’s first over of left-arm wrist spin as it flew past a stunned Turner at slip.Matthew Gilkes made 43 in a 75-run stand with Macdonald before Moises Henriques also combined with him in a 53-run partnership. Henriques was horribly unlucky to fall for 19 when he drilled a drive off WA’s other debutant Mahli Beardman straight at Macdonald who tried to evade it, but the ball bounced off his back and into the hands of McKenzie at mid-on.Jason Behrendorff was the only WA bowler to cause the Blues top order some trouble, as he picked up both Hughes and Macdonald. McKenzie finally got some reward as he completely bamboozled Jason Sangha. That sparked the collapse as AJ Tye picked up Hayden Kerr, Green and Ben Dwarshuis in quick succession, leaving Blues needing five to win with two wickets in hand.Davies had watched it unfold helplessly at the other end having looked untroubled for his unbeaten 30, and Salzmann held his nerve to hit the winning runs.

South Africa will play three ODIs, one Test and three T20Is in Bengaluru and Chennai

Shashank Kishore and Nagraj Gollapudi03-May-2024India is set to host South Africa for a multi-format women’s tour in June-July. ESPNcricinfo has learnt Bengaluru will host the white-ball leg, beginning with three ODIs from June 16, while Chennai will host the one-off Test starting June 28.The three T20Is will be played after the Test, with a view to ensure continuity in formats ahead of the T20 World Cup that is set to be held in Bangladesh in September-October. The ODIs will be played on June 16, 19 and 23, the T20Is on July 5, 7 and 9.The six white-ball games were part of the ICC’s women’s FTP. Both series, along with a visit from New Zealand, were supposed to be played between July and September last year but had to be postponed due to the men’s ODI World Cup and logistics.The one-off Test wasn’t part of the FTP. It was a late addition, as part of CSA and the BCCI’s recent push to promote women’s Tests.This will be the third Test India will play in seven months, having played against England and Australia in December. Those two Tests came on the back of a significant development aimed at taking the “first step towards tackling discrimination” with the BCCI announcing equal match fees for centrally contracted male and female cricketers.Meanwhile, South Africa, who broke their eight-year hiatus from the format when they played in England in June 2022, last played a four-day game in February in Perth, where they lost to Australia by an innings and 284 runs.The tour is also a significant step in the BCCI’s aim to take women’s cricket to newer centres. For the past few years, the BCCI has preferred to host teams across multiple venues in Mumbai citing logistical reasons. They broke away from that norm with the WPL earlier this year, with games held in Bengaluru and Delhi.The three ODIs are part of the ICC Women’s Championship, which will give direct qualifications to the top four teams, apart from the hosts, for the 2025 ODI World Cup, which will be held in India. South Africa are currently second on that table.

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.