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Pune unable to chase down 182 victory target
Posted 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
Posted 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.
Trescothick unbeaten on 193 after batting through second day
Posted by: | CommentsMarcus 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
Posted 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
Posted 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
Posted 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.”
Young left-hander completes maiden century to help secure win for Sussex
Posted by: | CommentsSussex stumbled against Durham on Saturday but survived nonetheless to score a two-wicket County Championship victory at Chester-le-Street. Resuming on 237-4, the visitors needed 72 to win and their mainstay was Luke Wells, who rode his luck somewhat but still completed a maiden century.
The 20-year-old left-hander put together a fifth-wicket stand of 128 with Ben Brown as Sussex moved to within 32 of victory.
But they then lost four wickets for 17 runs, all to Ruel Brathwaite (5-56). Having earlier been troubled by Mitch Claydon, Wells was himself one of the victims.
He made 103 runs in all and his was the sixth wicket to fall – Sussex still needing 21 to win at the time.
However, they steadied themselves to reach their target and celebrate a win which had appeared unlikely at the start of day three, when Durham were 265 runs in front with five wickets in hand.
Day Three
An unbroken stand of 88 between youngsters Luke Wells and Ben Brown has left Sussex in sight of victory over Durham at Chester-le-Street. The duo steered the visitors to 237-4 by the close of day three after they had bowled out their opponents for 210, leaving them requiring 309 in the final innings of the Division One contest.
Wells – the son of ex-Sussex captain Alan Wells bettered the 62 he made on his debut at the end of last season as he reached stumps with 74 to his name. Brown contributing 39 to the partnership after Sussex, who had at one stage been 98-1, lost veteran Murray Goodwin to slip to 149-4 in their run chase.
Durham had begun Good Friday’s action with a 166-run advantage but lost their remaining five wickets in the first hour for the addition of only 44 runs.
Dale Benkenstein, on 38 overnight, did complete his 50 off 65 balls before falling to Monty Panesar, who then bowled Mitch Claydon to wrap up the innings. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (4-43) claimed the other three wickets.
Visitors win at New Road as Chopra posts first-class best of 228
Posted by: | CommentsWarwickshire made it two wins from two at the start of the new LV County Championship season with an 88-run triumph over Worcestershire. Set 278 in 75 overs, the hosts were bowled out for 199 with time to spare at New Road thanks to another fine display from Chris Woakes.
The talented seamer furthered his England claims by knocking over the top three in the order on his way to figures of 6-49, meaning he has now taken 16 first-class wickets already this season.
However it was Ant Botha who claimed the crucial scalp of Alexei Kervezee, who had threatened the Bears’ victory push with a fine 65 from 91 balls.
Gareth Andrew (26) supported Kervezee in a stand of 66, but Woakes then returned to claim three more victims in the space of 14 deliveries.
Warwickshire themselves had suffered a batting collapse in the morning session, having resumed on the final day of the Division One fixture on 411-3.
They lost five wickets in a hurry, Varun Chopra amongst them for a career-best 228, his second double ton already in 2011 – but Botha’s unbeaten 28 allowed skipper Jim Troughton to declare at 461-8.
Gayle first century
Posted by: | CommentsThe pitch was proving to be tricky for the quicks and Kolkata opted to start with a spinner after having posted 171. Yusuf Pathan, who was battling a knee niggle, opened the bowling. After three good deliveries, Yusuf strayed on the leg stump and Dilshan cashed in with four through square leg. With that, the flood gates were opened.
Chris Gayle has arrived. He smashed his way to his first IPL century, the second-fastest in this edition of the competition, and was the architect of Bangalore’s victory over his former team, Kolkata. Gayle formed powerful partnerships with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli as Bangalore were untroubled in their chase of 172, winning by nine wickets.
In the fourth over, Gayle had scored just three singles – while Dilshan had notched up 19 – when he was offered a full toss. He drove it down past the non-striker for the first of his 17 boundaries. It didn’t matter what Bangalore tried after that. Jaidev Unadkat was dispatched with disdain as Gayle went down on one knee, smacking him for six over long-on. Shakib Al Hasan was tossed around like a limp ragdoll, slogged over midwicket and mowed over deep square. Yusuf was smoked through the covers. Gayle even showed a touch of deftness, playing one fine to the third man boundary.
The Gayle force blew on though. Together with Kohli, he brought the required run rate down to less than a run a ball. Kohli was given some room to express himself too, taking advantage of full balls offered by Balaji and showing off his wrist work against Bhatia. Kohli almost had too much fun and denied Gayle a century with a boundary off the first ball of the 18th over, that left Bangalore with just two to win. He blocked out the rest of the over to make amends.
It didn’t matter who was given the ball, even though spin proved difficult to get away during the Kolkata innings. Manoj Tiwary was slapped over long-on and even mishit for six. Medium pacer Rajat Bhatia was hit for 17 runs in his second over, 16 off Gayle’s bat. At the end of 12 overs, Bangalore were cruising on 123 for 1 when Dilshan was bowled by L Balaji, who controlled the swing admirably.
Yusuf, batting at four, allowed himself five balls to settle before depositing a Mohammed delivery over long-on. After Gambhir was caught by Dilshan at extra cover, Yusuf unleashed. He destroyed Aravind, pulling the short one for four, smashing the full one for six and dispatching the low full toss to the boundary.
The quicks redeemed themselves a bit with Khan bowling a decent last over, mixing up slower balls and yorkers, and Aravind claiming the wicket of Yusuf, who was trying to force the ball over long off but only got it as far as Kohli.
Harbhajan five crash Chennai
Posted by: | CommentsBadrinath tried his best, though. His first scoring shot – a gorgeous off-driven boundary against Munaf Patel of the third ball he faced, set the tone for the night but it was the late cuts that really caught the eye. In the seventh over, he caressed Harbhajan Singh to third man and in the ninth over, he glided Rohit Sharma to backward point boundary. He even lofted Rohit for a pretty six – with the high front elbow and a graceful swing of the bat – over long-off in the same over. He pulled down the shutter briefly to consolidate after the fall of Michael Hussey and MS Dhoni before he opened up again in the end overs. Though Badrinath batted with so much serenity under pressure that he eclipsed Rohit’s knock on the elegance scale, he was left with too much to do on his own. And in the end overs, he looked a forlorn figure in the middle, hardly getting the strike as his team-mates succumbed meekly.
Rohit Sharma dazzled the senses, Harbhajan Singh sucker-punched with three wickets in an over, and Mumbai Indians hustled on the field to go around a sublime S Badrinath and clinch a well-fought win at the Wankhede Stadium.
With 59 runs required from 37 balls, Badrinath sashayed to the leg side and laced an excellent square drive off Lasith Malinga to close the gap. The situation turned grim again as S Anirudha, who had pulled Kieron Pollard for a six, swung a full toss from Harbhajan Singh to deep midwicket to leave Chennai needing 42 from 24 deliveries.
It was an over later that Harbhajan, who had earlier lured Suresh Raina into hitting a return catch, killed the contest with a triple strike. He slipped one past the attempted slog-sweep to bowl Albie Morkel, lured R Ashwin to hole out to long-on, and induced Joginder Sharma to top-edge a slog. Badrinath kept up with the fight, even getting a six in the final over, but Chennai’s fight had evaporated into the Mumbai night during that Harbhajan over.
He paddle-scooped a low full toss from Bollinger for a six over fine-leg before he turned brutal against Suresh Raina in the 19th over. He smote the second delivery, a gentle length ball, over wide long-on, top-edged a slog sweep for couple, and torpedoed the next delivery over cowcorner as Raina leaked 17 runs. Rohit fell in the final over, holing out to long-on, but by then he had entertained the Mumbai crowd in some style.
Rohit had one more crowd-pleasing, and game-turning, moment left in the night. When Chennai needed 64 runs from 47 balls, Dhoni top-edged a swat-flick and Rohit charged in from third man and flung himself forward to pouch a stunner. It was the beginning of the end for Chennai.
