Cricinfo

Cross, Macleod Help Scotland Stay Unbeaten

... Poulose on the pads while he played down the wrong line for a duck in the third over. After being hit hard bowling around the wicket by Maqsood, he switched to bowl over the wicket and produced a skied leading edge that was taken by Calum Mac Leod at long-on in the fifth over. He finished with 2 for 23. Berrington runout show continues. In Scotland's dramatic seven-run win over Netherlands in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night, Richie Berrington clinched victory by charging in from long-on with a pair of picture perfect relays to Safyaan Sharif over the bowler's stumps off back-to-back deliverie for the last two wickets. Oman were decently positioned at 51 for 2 in 10 over, but Con de Lange struck with a ball sliding in to beat Khawar Ali's cut on the first ball of the following over. Aqib Ilyas, who made a half-century against Hong Kong in Oman's previous match, was looking solid at the other end on 19 but new batsman Khurram Nawaz was ...

Warne's Tip Swepson Is His Own Man

... Lyon and O'keefe. I sometimes wonder how the Australian national selectors think, they make very bizarre calls. GR 8 GAUR on January 16, 2017, 7:06 GMT. Welcome! This will be your last trip to India. Scuderi on January 16, 2017, 1:53 GMT. Strike rate of 48.6 is pretty impressive. Scrop on January 16, 2017, 0:11 GMT. Soon we gonna see the end of a budding spinner in India. When coming to picking spinners for SC tours, Australia seem just pick some unknown and lesser known spinners and hope something good happens. That is not the way forward. Australia pick players well ahead of WC tournament and stick with them, the same shall be adopted for spinners for SC tours as well. Agar, Zampa, Doherty, Hauritz all brust into the scene but none given consistent chances to shine. They should have 3 test level spinners to call upon anytime to be ready to play, rotate them in Aus conditions sadly its only one spinner that too a half spinner in Lyon. cricfan 06964670 on January 15, 2017, 21:20 GMT. they won't pick him anyway. they didn't pick Fawad despite him touring. AKS 286 on ...

Focus On Saha, Parthiv In Irani Cup Clash

... for a hit. Stillness is not something you associate with Parthiv - he is either chirping behind the stumps or cutting, pulling and doing the dab-and-run routine with the bat. Meanwhile, Saha, normally a man of few words, is still talking. A few other boys seem to have approached him for cricketing advice and he appears to be more than generous with it. Watching Parthiv, 31, and Saha, 32, is a fascinating exercise not least for the contrasts they offer. While it is tempting to speculate what's going on in their minds, you can be sure that neither of them is going to reveal much. When asked about them competing for the same slot, Parthiv expectedly took the diplomatic route. "It's just a game between Gujarat and Rest of India, so we will stick to that," he said. "I think it's not a game between two players. We all know ...

The Curious Case Of Shakib Al Hasan

... to Richard Hadlee's 42.51, among allrounders with 2000-plus runs and 100-plus wickets. Hadlee's batting contribution was relatively meagre, but he was the main weapon for New Zealand's bowling attack, taking 34% of their wickets. Shakib Al Hasan has contributed almost 14% of Bangladesh's runs and 28% of their wickets in the Tests he has played in © ESPNcricinfo Ltd. This statistic will admittedly favour the bowling allrounders more than the batting ones, as a bowler's share of the total wickets is higher than a batsman share of total runs (as only four or five bowlers do the bowling compared to six or seven specialist batsmen in a team). However, this number does indicate Shakib's value to Bangladesh, compared to those of other allrounders to their teams. Shakib is also one of only four players to have held the record for best bowling figures and highest Test score for a team: till Taijul Islam's 8 for 39 against ...

Handscomb Turns Millimeter Into An Acre

... reprieve, this time on 10. Technically, though, it was perhaps not a reprieve, for replays showed Junaid had overstepped again. But this no-ball was not checked by the third umpire, so the upshot was that Handscomb missed out on another free hit. The record. When Babar Azam drove a single to mid-off to move to 47, he reached the milestone of 1000 runs in one-day international cricket. But this was not just any milestone. Azam had got there in his 21 st innings, which meant that he had equalled the all-time record as the quickest to that landmark. The others to have done so in 21 innings are Viv Richards, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Quinton de Kock. The missed stumping. Matthew Wade has pulled his weight with the bat in this series - in the first match he became just the second Australian ever to score an ODI hundred from outside the top six - but his work ...

Yuvraj's First Ton Since 2011 World Cup

... What a joker we have got in a slot occupied by Viru, Sachin. This bloke just plays for his place in the team. A 50 run inning in 7 or 8 matches. A total misfit to be in the national team. Robin 292 on January 19, 2017, 17:38 GMT. Surely Dhawan and Rahul needs runs and a shave. Inside Hedge on January 19, 2017, 16:49 GMT. Top innings by MSD, good to see him get a ton after a long time. It's interesting to see from the related stats table that Quinton de Kock has already racked up 11 tons as a keeper. As many have predicted, by the time he finishes, he'll own several world records. India don't have the greatest numbers against England in ODIs, most ppl will be surprised to read some of these stats. Until today, the highest individual score was only 138. Abhijit Sane on January 19, 2017, 16:49 GMT. Any statistics about the utterly useless Shikhar Dhawan. List of non stop failure as opener. Mubthasim Mohammed ...

Van Der Merwe Delivers Tense Win For Netherlands

... Peter Della Penna. Van der Merwe gives the finishing touch. Fifteen deliveries, 15 scoring shots and zero dot balls for van der Merwe after arriving with the pressure rising in the chase. He tickled the first ball he faced - a yorker - past short fine leg for four and turning yorkers into runs was a recurring theme in his innings. The pivotal sequence came in the 17 th over as Bilal returned after his first-over gems on the off stump line to Stephan Myburgh and Ben Cooper. Four of the first five balls in the 17 th over bowled by Bilal were yorkers, but Netherlands scored off every one. The crème de la crème came on the third ball when van der Merwe took a step forward to convert it into a low full toss, carving it perfectly between point and backward point for four. Bilal dropped short on the last ball and van der Merwe pulled him with ease past short fine leg for another four to conclude a 12-run over. Van der Merwe dug out a yorker for the winning shot over point as well. "I think that in my time with the ...

Sridharan Sriram To Coach Australia's Spinners In India

... of Pak who had batted first. Then Pak spinners Iqbal Qasim & Tausef Ahmed approached Bedi with a receptive mind, Bedi unofficially gave free bowling tips to them on how to use that Bangalore pitch. End result-India lost that test. Today Maninder is remembered as the last man out in 1986 tied test at Chennai & Gavaskar's final test is remembered as giver of 1 st time test-series win to Pak in India. Wish Indian government had arrested Bishen Bedi before he could advise Qasim & Tausef. Test Cric Rox on January 18, 2017, 4:37 GMT. @ Extra Silly Point on January 18, 2017, 2:01 GMT Cheers - well said, as a fellow indian - a pity when the more rational voices are drowned in the usual chest thumping one upmanship tsunami on these blogs, not to speak of the several indian pretender names blogging here. at the very least this move by CA ...

Dead Rubber Sets Up Farewell For Mangal

... I status, and the ICC funding package attached to it, the farewell match is virtually a non-existent concept. However, the Desert T 20 tournament is a rare shift from that on both fronts. Associate teams are always desperate for more cricket, but this tournament comes without the desperate measures attached to it. For former Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal , who announced his retirement at the start of the month, it means he has been afforded the opportunity by the Afghanistan selection - of which he is set to take over the head role - to have a "farewell series" in the words of Afghanistan's team management. Mangal has been warming up daily with the Afghanistan squad in the UAE and was listed as the 14 th man on the team sheets for their wins over Ireland and United Arab Emirates. But, with a semi-final place assured heading into the day, Afghanistan made ...

Behardien Prepared For Another High-pressure Job

... its such a high-pressure job. Batting at No 5,6 and 7 is high risk-high reward.". Now, Behardien faces the biggest risk, with possibly the biggest reward of his career. With several senior players resting over the next week, his success in the domestic T 20 competition, where he finished as the third-highest run-scorer and helped the Titans claim the title, has been recognised and he will lead South Africa in three T 20 s against Sri Lanka. For him, as it would be for many others, it is "the proudest moment of my career.". Farhaan Behardien has played a significant hand in some of South Africa's most memorable wins, including a record chase against India in Dharamsala © AFP. Behardien has some leadership experience at the Titans, most recently in the T 20 final when regular skipper Albie Morkel left the field in the first over with a hamstring niggle. "David Wiese and I took over the reins and navigated the team through that period," Behardien explained. "Our style was for the players to empower themselves and to make their own decisions. When the pressure moment is on, they need to make good decisions.". That is the ...