Pune unable to chase down 182 victory target
By · CommentsVirat Kohli hit an innings of 67 on Friday as Royal Challengers Bangalore scored a 26-run victory over Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League.
Chasing 182 for victory, Pune made 155-5 with Jesse Ryder top-scoring with 51 off 34 balls.
Earlier and batting first after losing the toss, Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan put on 57 in just over six overs before Rahul Sharma dismissed them both in successive overs. Kohli and AB de Villiers then added 66 before Alfonso Thomas dismissed the latter after he made 26.
Kohli needed just 36 balls to reach his 50 and together with Saurabh Tiwary managed to hit three sixes and a four from Jerome Taylor’s next over.
Kohli (67 off 42 balls) holed out in the deep off Thomas in the next over, but the Pune bowlers could not prevent Bangalore compiling 181-5.
Onions burst sets up eight-wicket victory
By · CommentsEngland seamer Graham Onions ran through Warwickshire’s lower order to pave the way for Durham to complete an eight-wicket success over Warwickshire on the final day at Chester-le-Street. Onions, making only his second appearance since missing 16 months after surgery on his back, claimed 4-28 as Warwickshire were dismissed for 137 in their second innings.
Resuming at 52-4 in the morning, only Tim Ambrose with 50 made any impression as Durham took regular wickets to leave themselves a target of 102 in just under two sessions.
Scott Borthwick followed his 4-25 haul – adding the scalp of Paul Best to his three victims the previous day – with an unbeaten 48 to see Durham home in the 11th over after tea.
Borthwick, opening in place of first-innings centurion Michael Di Venuto who has an injured leg muscle, was well supported by Gordon Muchall (30) in a second-wicket stand of 55.
Muchall fell with 19 still required but Ben Stokes (6no) joined Borthwick to finish the job.
Yorkshire’s history-making young wicketkeeper Barney Gibson has his sights set right at the very top as he targets a future place in the England team. The 15-year-old became the youngest first-class cricketer in county history when he was picked for Yorkshire’s game against Durham University.
Aged just 15 years and 27 days, Gibson has his future stretching right out in front of him, but already knows he wants to go right to the pinnacle of the sport. He acquitted himself well behind the stumps, conceding just five byes in 81.2 overs and taking two catches, one a fine diving effort off Oliver Hannon-Dalby.
He followed up with his first visit to the crease on Thursday, finishing one not out after being sent in at number 11 and was thrilled with his first-class outing, and says he wants to make it all the way into England colours.
Asked about which players inspired him to take up the game, he looked to Australia for his answer.
“Adam Gilchrist, ” he said. “As a wicketkeeper-batsman he is a great role model.”
Manoj Tiwary’s 61 ended up being enough for the Kolkata Knight Riders to defend their 148-7 and beat the Delhi Daredevils by 17 runs in the Indian Premier League.
Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag produced a typical flying start to thrill the home crowd but he could only make 34 before he was sent back to the hutch.
Venugopala Rao and Yogesh Nagar threatened a revival when they hit 38 runs between them for the seventh Delhi wicket, but they could not quite pull it off.
Kolkata spinner Iqbal Abdulla’s deadly spell yielded figures of three for 25 to stop the hosts from gaining any real momentum as they could reach just 131-9 to fall short.
Sent in to bat first, the Knight Riders struggled to amass an imposing total in the face of controlled bowling by the host seamers.
Marcus Trescothick sparked his season into life with an unbeaten 193 as Somerset gained the upper hand against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl. The visitors ended on 405-5 in reply to Hampshire’s first innings total of 285 with Trescothick, who has endured a poor start to the season, batting through from the start of play to stumps.
The home side was given some hope when Arul Suppiah (19) was caught at the wicket but Trescothick took control with stands of 70 and 80 with Nick Compton (22) and James Hildreth (31) respectively.
South African Friedel de Wet caught and bowled both Hildreth and Craig Kieswetter, who added 58 to the total as he shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 131 alongside his skipper.
Debutant Alex Barrow made only 14 before being the last wicket to fall, with Trescothick taking his tally to 28 fours and two sixes as the closed on his double century at stumps.
Dutchman Kervezee hits three figures in Pears first win
By · CommentsAlexei Kervezee hit a fine century on Thursday as Worcestershire battled to break Nottinghamshire’s grip on their County Championship match and claim what would be a first win of the season. The champions had earlier pushed on from their overnight 291-8 to post 382 for a lead of 67, with all-rounder Paul Franks top-scoring with 82 as he guided the tail to earn two further batting points.
Alan Richardson claimed figures of 5-98, but Worcestershire’s spirits were further dampened after lunch when they lost their first four wickets for 56. At that stage, Worcestershire still needed 11 more runs to make Notts bat again. However, Kervezee showed real class to compile his fourth first-class hundred and they closed on 256-5 with a lead of 189.
The Dutch international finished the day on 123 not out from 176 balls, having hit 18 fours and a magnificent straight six to bring up three figures, while partner Gareth Andrew was unbeaten on 56.
Andrew himself hit eight fours and a six, and if Worcestershire can extend their lead past 250 then Nottinghamshire will face a difficult chase on the final day.
Ishant thrashed kochi with five
By · CommentsHis hair bobbed up and down in characteristic fashion as Ishant ran in, fingers behind the seam and wrists snapping at the release, and the length was nearly always full. The first has been an ever-present theme with him in good and bad times, the second image hasn’t always been consistently repeated, and the third was a pleasant surprise.
If you needed a punctuation mark to describe this game, you’d choose a big, bold exclamation mark and colour it a deep crimson red. Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s scorecard was stunningly woeful at the end of four sensational overs: 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0 were the scores of the batsmen sucker-punched by Ishant Sharma, who harassed them with seam and bounce. And Kochi never recovered from that soul-crushing spell.
Kochi were 2 for 4 then and all their hopes rested on their opener and captain Mahela Jayawardene, who was a forlorn figure in the middle, watching the destruction unfold in front of him. Ishant wasn’t done yet; he reserved his best for Jayawardene. After trapping Kedar Jadhav in front with a sharp incutter in the fourth over, he produced a brute of a delivery to knock out Jayawardene, and Kochi, in the same over. It screamed up from back of a good length, held its line and kissed the edge of the defensive prod en route to the delighted Kumar Sangakkara. Jayawardene gave an inquisitive, and accusing, look at the pitch before he turned and departed the crime scene. Ishant’s figures read an incredible 5 for 6 and Kochi were 11 for 6 from four overs, and though there were a couple of face-saving contributions from Ravindra Jadeja and Thisara Perera, they were rapidly heading along a cul-de-sac.
Ishant entered the scene after Dale Steyn took out Brendon McCullum in the first over with a delivery that jagged away to take the outside edge. It was the beginning of Kochi’s nightmare as Ishant stunned them with a triple strike. Parthiv Patel stabbed at a delivery that bounced and seamed away from him to the keeper, Raiphi Gomez (what was he doing at No. 4?) was taken out for a first-ball duck by a sharp incutter, and Brad Hodge combusted off the fifth delivery. He played a loose and ambitious off drive, wafting outside the line of the full delivery that cut in to rearrange the furniture.
It was the 11th over, bowled by Perera, that changed the landscape. Both Sangakkara and Cameron White, who was on 6 from 17 balls, pulled two short deliveries to the boundary to take 11 runs in that over. It wasn’t your massive “big over” that the IPL throws up on a daily basis but it was the spark that ignited Deccan, and Sangakkara in particular. In the 12th over, he dragged Vinay Kumar for two leg-side boundaries and threw in the conventional and the upper cut to collect two more fours in the 14th over, off Perera. He continued to slash and heave and even unfurled a paddle-swept boundary off Sreesanth but the next over over from Vinay brought Kochi back.
Vinay had White holing out to deep midwicket off the fifth delivery and induced Sangakkara to edge a slower one off the next. The lower order couldn’t produce anything substantial and the question lingered at the end of their innings: Was 129 going to be enough? Ishant answered it in some style.
Duncan Fletcher is new India coach
By · CommentsFletcher, though, is unlikely to join India for the tour of the West Indies in June. “The contract with Fletcher is for two years,” N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, said. “He may not join the team in West Indies as he has some prior commitments.
Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach and Zimbabwe captain, has been appointed India’s coach, ending weeks of speculation over who will succeed Gary Kirsten. The BCCI announced the decision to give Fletcher a two-year contract after a Working Committee meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday. Eric Simons’ tenure as the team’s bowling coach was also extended.
It has been reliably learnt that Kirsten played an important hand in recommending Fletcher for the job. Also the board consulted some of the senior India players, including captain MS Dhoni, before finalising Fletcher’s appointment.
Fletcher, 62, was in charge of England when they beat Australia in 2005 to regain the Ashes for the first time since 1986-87, and was credited with turning around England’s fortunes in Tests during his eight-year stint, first with Nasser Hussain and then with Michael Vaughan.
In 1994, Fletcher applied for his first high-profile job – the head coach of South Africa. He was one of the three candidates interviewed. His competitors were Eddie Barlow and Bob Woolmer. Eventually the three-man panel comprising Peter Pollock, Raymond White and Ali Bacher agreed on Woolmer, who stayed in the job till 1999. Fletcher, meanwhile, operated as South Africa A coach for a while before taking up the England assignment.
According to Bacher, Fletcher’s style of coaching draws a lot from his playing days.”Hardworking, disciplined, very professionally driven and played to his utmost potential even if he was not blessed with extraordinary talent,” Bacher said. “He brings the same characteristics to his coaching.”
Dilshan leave IPL early
By · CommentsDilshan told “I am not aware (of the exact date). Both boards are still talking.” He was speaking hours before his team, the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s clash against Delhi Daredevils. Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishanta Ranatunga also confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Dilshan’s departure was still uncertain. “We are not yet clear and are in talks with the BCCI and should expect a date in a day possibly,” he said. Confusion reigns over Tillakaratne Dilshan’s return from the IPL to join the Sri Lanka squad for the tour of England with the first warm-up match starting on May 14, a three-day fixture against Middlesex. Dilshan, who was appointed Sri Lanka captain in all three formats once Kumar Sangakkara stepped down after the World Cup, wanted to join the rest of the squad in advance, even as early as “May 10″, but it is understood that the decision is not solely his own. Incidentally, the BCCI and Sri Lanka Cricket board are in talks about Dilshan’s release date and a decision is expected in the next few days.
Dilshan is keen to depart for England at the earliest because this will be his first big assignment as Test captain and he wanted to get a chance to mix with the rest of his players, a majority of whom are inexperienced. Also with Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene only joining the squad in time for Sri Lanka’s second practice match against the England Lions on May 19, Dilshan felt his early presence was necessary.
Even Dilshan’s franchise is unaware about the Lankan’s exit from the IPL. “You will have to contact the Sri Lankan Cricket board,” Siddhartha Mallya, Bangalore’s owner said. Dilshan, who was bought at the auction for $650,000, has been a subdued presence with just one half-century in five matches.
Meanwhile it is understood that both Sangakkara and Jayawardene have found support from their respective franchises on their decision to leave for the England tour mid-May. Jayawardene, captain at Kochi Tuskers, would fly immediately after the match against Rajasthan Royals on May 15. Sangakkara, who is in charge of Deccan Chargers, would leave a day later, after the game against Pune Warriors.
Bangalore hard time to win
By · CommentsIt had looked like a cakewalk when Kohli was finding the boundaries at will in a breezy half-century that stunned Delhi. But David Warner provided the inspiration Delhi needed with a direct hit from the deep that ran out AB de Villiers. After Morne Morkel bowled Kohli two deliveries later, 65 needed from 66 deliveries quickly became 44 required from 30, and the Feroz Shah Kotla crowd started buzzing with the hope of a home victory. But Syed flicked and steered Umesh Yadav for successive boundaries to bring the equation down to 12 required off two overs, and Bangalore didn’t allow Delhi back again.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore lower order scraped 22 runs from 15 deliveries to steer their side past Delhi Daredevils’ 160 – a target that had looked small when Virat Kohli was at the crease, and stiff after his dismissal. But Daniel Vettori and J Syed Mohammad found the boundaries when they were needed, and got Bangalore home with three deliveries to spare.
The way Kohli had begun in a blaze of boundaries, Delhi hadn’t looked like getting a look-in. Coming in after Tillakaratne Dilshan had been dismissed off the second ball of the chase, Kohli launched six fours off his first ten deliveries. He started with successive boundaries on either side of point off Ashok Dinda, and then laid in to Irfan Pathan, dismissing him for four fours in an over.
Irfan is trying to make a comeback to the Indian team, but looked helpless against Kohli, becoming too predictable with his attempt to bend the ball back in at gentle pace. Kohli took full toll, flicking, driving and glancing him for 16 runs as Delhi surrendered the advantage of the early breakthrough.
To add to Delhi’s troubles, they had to contend with Chris Gayle at the other end. The Jamaican carved Morne Morkel over cover and then hammered him over long-on. Kohli and Gayle took another 17 runs off Dinda as Bangalore raced to 62 for 1 in five overs. Though James Hopes got Gayle with a surprise bouncer to end an 82-run stand off 43 deliveries, Kohli casually flicked the next delivery for four to bring up his fifty in 31 balls.
Then came the moment that got Delhi back in the game. AB de Villiers took on Warner’s throw from deep midwicket for a second run, and found himself nowhere close when the ball shattered the stumps. Two balls later, Morne Morkel got Kohli to play on, and suddenly Bangalore were 96 for 4.
Warner had found the initial movement too hot to handle, and was cleaned up by a perfectly pitched delivery from Zaheer that came back into him. Sehwag got off to his usual carefree start, slamming his first delivery for four and twice edging Aravind just short of the men behind the wicket. His luck eventually ran out when he was caught inches short of his crease by a Mithun throw.
At 115 for 3 with five overs to go, however, Delhi had managed to set the base for the final onslaught, but Rao’s blind charge to Vettori made him lose his stumps. Some late sixes from Irfan Pathan and Naman Ojha lifted Delhi to 160, a score that proved inadequate ultimately.
