All posts by csb10.top

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMeg Lanning made 51 off 35•Getty Images

Alyssa Healy made an unbeaten 25 off 12 to pull Australia home with one ball to spare in the third women’s T20 international against West Indies in Melbourne. Australia wrapped up the series 3-0 with one match remaining as captain Meg Lanning led the chase of 150 with a 35-ball 51.Elyse Villani contributed 28 at the top of the order but it was Lanning who provided the innings momentum, striking eight fours as she took Australia past 100. However, Anisa Mohammed sent back Jess Cameron and Ellyse Perry in successive overs after Lanning was bowled by Shanel Daley. Alex Blackwell followed for a slow 19 as Australia were reduced to 6 for 120, needing 30 off 16.Healy stepped up, hitting a six and two fours off her first five deliveries to bring the asking-rate back under control. Erin Osborne hit the first ball of the 19th over for four to make it 12 needed off 11 and Australia eased home after that.West Indies had made 6 for 149 after choosing to bat, with Stafanie Taylor striking 11 fours and a six in scoring 78 off 58 upfront. Shemaine Campbelle struck 24 off 13 at the death, while Rene Farrell and Sarah Coyte picked up two wickets each.The fourth T20 will be played on Sunday in Sydney before the four-match ODI series starts next week.

Australia’s distraught captain Michael Clarke has spoken about Phillip Hughes on behalf of the national team, revealing that his No. 64 ODI shirt will be retired out of respect for their departed friend and teammate.Clarke spoke for around two and a half minutes, promising “I’ll do my best” and fighting back tears with almost every sentence. During these moments it was difficult to imagine the Australian team turning out for a Test match in Brisbane as soon as Thursday next week – Clarke’s predecessor Ricky Ponting has stated he does not think they can.”Words cannot express how we feel as a team right now. To Greg, Virginia, Jason and Megan, we share in the deep pain that you’re feeling,” Clarke said. “Apart from when he was at home on the farm with his beloved cattle, Hughesy was at his happiest playing cricket for his country with his mates. Things were all put into perspective when Hughesy said ‘where else would you rather be boys, but playing cricket for your country’.”We’re going to miss that cheeky grin and that twinkle in his eye. He epitomised what the baggy green is about and what it means to us all. the world lost one of its great blokes this week, and we are all poorer for it. Our promise to Hughesy’s family is that we will do everything we can to honour his memory. Last night I asked Cricket Australia if Hughesy’s Australian one day international shirt No. 64, could be retired, to which they agreed. That means so much.”His legacy of trying to improve each and every day will drive us for the rest of our lives. We’d like to thank everyone both here and overseas for the touching tributes to Hughesy in recent days. Our dressing room will never be the same. We loved him and always will. Rest in peace, Bruzzy.”Clarke paused longest before uttering the words “our dressing room will never be the same”. Knowing this, Ponting has expressed his belief that the first Test against India should not go ahead as scheduled.The match is due to begin at the Gabba on Thursday. However, on Friday CA’s chief executive James Sutherland said that cricket would go on “when we’re ready”, and added that the players had not yet been consulted about their feelings on whether the Test should go ahead.It is believed the Hughes family wants the Test to go ahead, but the raw emotions displayed by Clarke while reading a statement from the Australia team and staff on Saturday morning made it hard to imagine the players being ready to take the field again so soon. Ponting said it would be a miracle if they were in the right frame of mind for a Test.”It’s been such a tragic week for the Hughes family and the cricket community and I can’t imagine how anybody can be expected to play Test cricket on Thursday,” Ponting wrote in the . “In fact I don’t think it would be right. Even if the boys think they can play, it would be a miracle if they find the right frame of mind needed for five days of cricket.”Ian Chappell has said he believes the Test would provide the players a good opportunity to concentrate on something else, after several days of grieving. That sentiment was echoed by Allan Border, who said it would all come down to whether the players wanted the match to go ahead.”My personal view is that rather than sitting around I think they might be better off playing,” Border said on . “It would be very difficult, I’m not shying away from that. Sitting around in your room you’re going to be thinking about it 24/7.”India’s tour match against a Cricket Australia XI, which was due to take place in Adelaide on Friday and Saturday, was cancelled after Hughes died on Thursday. Sunil Gavaskar said it was difficult to imagine the players being in the right frame of mind to play the first Test.”I guess it’s something the boards will have to look at,” Gavaskar said on NDTV in India. “The first Test is almost a week away but I am sure nobody would be in a mood to play. Nobody would be in the right frame of mind.”

Ryan Harris bowled sixty balls at Queensland training on Tuesday. Not a single one was a bouncer.While this was primarily so he could hone issues of rhythm and technique, Harris’ reluctance to send down a short ball spoke much for the changes wrought to cricket by the death of Phillip Hughes. So did the fact that two days out from what would have been day one of the Gabba Test, Harris was at Allan Border Field in his state colours.Harris, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and company must wrestle with one of the many awfully mixed emotions arising from Hughes’ death. They have been reminded of the destructive power of the bouncer, reeled at this fact, and yet must eventually find a way to harness it again. It will take time.”It’s inevitable it’s going to happen – I’ve been bowling bouncers for a long time and I’ve hit guys before,” Harris said in Brisbane. “It’s part of the game but it just gives you that extra bit of doubt now about a very small percentage of what happened. I’m sure we’ll get back eventually to the way we were playing last summer, but it’s going to be tough because we base our game on aggression.”That question will take longer to answer than a more immediate one, around who will consider themselves fit to play in the first Test in Adelaide from December 9. Harris has experienced this dilemma before, when his mother Gai died of lung cancer in 2006. Even so, he remains unsure of when he will be ready.”I’m still thinking about it, I’ll see how I go tomorrow,” Harris said of Hughes’ funeral in Macksville. “Every individual is different. Personally I’ve lost my mother before and the best thing for me was I was probably pushed to play for my father and my brother and it probably helped. But even still, it’s going to be tough for some boys. It’s going to be tough for me.”I’m going to have to work it out when we get to Adelaide and see how I feel. I feel good having been out today, which was good. Keeping busy this morning has allowed me not to sit around and think about tomorrow, to be honest. Each individual is different. The boys who were there and witnessed what happened … I can’t speak for them because I couldn’t imagine what they’re going through.”There will be a lot of love, a lot of pain and a lot of shared memory of Hughes at his funeral in on Wednesday. Harris and his Australian team-mates are all making the trip, mainly via an overnight stay in Sydney on Tuesday. Many of their eyes will be on their captain Michael Clarke, who will continue to carry a significant burden of friendship and leadership by speaking during the service.”We want him playing. He’s our captain and our leader and through this whole thing he’s shown why he is,” Harris said. “He’s hurting and he’s had a lot to deal with, he’s been just unbelievable. We’ve had some good chats as a group the last few days and he’s just been fantastic. So we want him there, but we’ll see how it goes.”We’d have liked a bit longer but that’s just reality. There’s a Test series on and there’s games to be played. That’s what we have to do. Those who can prepare will and those who can’t will need more time. It’s a 50/50 but the bottom line is we’ve got a date to work to now. The idea was we had a chat yesterday and we just wanted a date to work towards. Some guys can and some guys may not be able to.”Let’s just get past tomorrow first. It’s going to be pretty bloody hard. The thing about this is that no-one knows. No-one’s been in the situation of losing a teammate and a very good mate and trying to play a cricket game less than a week later. No-one’s been in that situation. We’ll get through tomorrow, see how we all feel and get to Adelaide and regroup.”

ScorecardShardul Thakur is the leading wicket-taker this season so far•PTI

A five-wicket haul from the medium-pacer Shardul Thakur helped Mumbai take firm control of their Ranji clash against Bengal in Kolkata. Mumbai began the day at a commanding at a commanding 306 for 4, thanks to a hundred from Shreyas Iyer, but they were able to add only 108 more runs to that total on day two, as three scalps apiece from Veer Pratap Singh and Laxmi Shukla saw the visitors bowled out for 414. Siddhesh Lad scored 62, but their last five batsmen together could only contribute 27, as Mumbai were dismissed inside 36 overs of the day. Bengal’s reply, though, was blighted by wickets at regular intervals, as Thakur carved open the top and middle order on his way to collecting 5 for 37 – his third five-for in as many matches – and with 23 scalps so far, he is the leading wicket-taker this season. Manoj Tiwary top-scored for Bengal with 63, but he was hard-pressed for support at the other end, as the hosts were precariously placed at 130 for 6 at stumps, still trailing by 284 runs.
ScorecardOnly 52 overs were played in Gwalior, with Baroda holding the edge against Madhya Pradesh thanks to a three-wicket burst from fast bowler Sagar Mangalorkar. Baroda, who began at 291 for 6, were dealt an early blow when their overnight batsman Deepak Hooda was dismissed for 85 four overs into the day. Baroda did not last much longer, as Puneet Datey (5 for 101) and Avesh Khan (3 for 49) ran through the lower order and bowled them out for 358. MP, however, lost three crucial wickets before the day ended as Mangalorkar struck at regular intervals. They ended the day 255 runs adrift.
ScorecardJammu & Kashmir’s bowlers were rewarded for their toil with five wickets, but Uttar Pradesh still ended the day in Kanpur relatively comfortable at 267 for 5. UP lost their overnight half-centurion Akash Verma (57) early in the day, but his opening partner Tanmay Srivastava kept the score ticking, even though the batsmen at the other end failed to stay long enough to support him. Srivastava stroked 15 fours, but fell one short of a hundred, as he was trapped lbw by Waseem Raza (2 for 43) in the 68th over. Arish Alam (38) and Eklavya Dwivedi (23) were at the crease when stumps were called.
ScorecardHeavy rain in Chennai meant that no play was possible on day two between Tamil Nadu and Railways. Tamil Nadu had made 144 for 4 on the first day – also marred by rain- at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Ross Taylor had not scored a fifty during Sri Lanka’s visit until his 96 in Dunedin on Sunday, but despite a string of mediocre scores, the batsman said he had never been out of form. His previous four innings had yielded an aggregate of 65, but he rebounded to play a knock that was instrumental to New Zealand’s progress to 315 for 8 in the sixth one-dayer.”It was nice for me to score some runs, because it’s been a long time between drinks,” Taylor said. “I wasn’t out of form, I just wasn’t scoring any runs. We were still winning games, so the team could probably carry me for a little bit. At the same time, you have your own standards and you want to contribute to a team performance. I wasn’t doing that. Today was a start. It’s a long campaign and hopefully I’m scoring runs heading into the World Cup.”Taylor had tinkered with his technique in the early stages of Sri Lanka’s tour, but suggested he returned to a more familiar approach on Sunday. He had also worked with long-time mentor and coach Martin Crowe during the series.”I probably worked on a few things that didn’t work,” Taylor said. “It was just nice to go back and keep it simple. With [Crowe], we worked on using my feet a bit more as well as some other things to evolve my game a little bit and hopefully be a better player. It would have been nice to get a hundred with Kane Williamson, but it wasn’t meant to be.”Taylor scored almost a third of his runs square on the offside, hitting five of his seven fours in the arc between third man and deep cover. He had been guilty of trying to cut too close to his body earlier in the series, particularly to the spin of Rangana Herath, but was largely untroubled on Sunday.”I get myself into trouble when I look too square too early,” he said. “If they bowl me something there, then your instinct takes over and you start looking for that shot. When it’s not there, sometimes, you’re waiting for a little bit of a release. But today my feet started moving even better than it did the other day. (Tillakaratne) Dilshan saved a couple, but I probably got one or two past him.”The match was also Daniel Vettori’s 280th ODI for New Zealand, making him the most-capped one-day player for his country. Vettori had a guard of honour from his teammates as he walked onto the field, and delivered eight overs at an economy-rate of 2.75. He was particularly effective against Mahela Jayawardene, who narrowly avoided being dismissed by Vettori twice.”Dan didn’t want a big hoo-ha about the event, but it’s a special moment for a player who has had a great career,” Taylor said. “He will go down in New Zealand history as one of our best. He’s been bowling pretty well in most games, but today he got the ball to hold a little bit, and that’s always been great. Mahela and Kumar Sangakkara are pretty good players of spin, but he was able to bowl dot balls to them on a pretty good wicket.”

ScorecardFile photo: Abhimanyu Mithun picked up three wickets to put Karnataka on the brink of the final•AFP

Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar’s burst with the second new ball after fifties from Aditya Tare and Shreyas Iyer left Karnataka on the brink of their second successive Ranji Trophy final.At the end of the third day at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Mumbai were 277 for 6, 168 runs adrift of their target of 445, with Siddhesh Lad and Abhishek Nayar, who walked in to bat at No. 8 against medical advice, at the crease.Vinay and Mithun came hard at Aditya Tare and Akhil Herwadkar, but they survived the initial burst. Herwadkar was fortunate to survive a leg-before shout off Mithun in the fourth over of the day when he tried to play across the line and missed the ball. He wasn’t so fortunate in Mithun’s next over, when he was lbw playing the same shot, just as he had been in the first innings.Four balls later, Robin Uthappa, keeping wicket in the absence of the injured CM Gautam, dropped a regulation catch to reprieve Shreyas Iyer. The usually aggressive Iyer gave respect to the seamers early on and made the most of his life. Once he got off the mark with a full-blooded cover drive off Mithun off the 15th ball he faced, Iyer started to score freely.

Tare reprimanded for umpire criticism

Mumbai captain Aditya Tare has been reprimanded for his outburst against umpiring at the end of the first day’s play. Tare had suggested that Vineet Kulkarni had got two decisions wrong, both of which had gone against Mumbai. Match referee V Narayan Kutty charged him with a code-of-conduct violation and cautioned Tare after he pleaded guilty.

Tare was as comfortable at the crease as he has been all along since taking over captaincy. He punished anything that was pitched slightly full or wide and his fifty came up with a streaky boundary through the slip cordon.With boundaries flowing from both ends, Mumbai had raced past 150. Iyer then threw his wicket away right after reaching his half-century. Mithun, brought on for a second spell, banged his first ball in wide outside off. Iyer tried to pull and the miscued stroke lobbed to substitute J Suchith at midwicket.Suryakumar Yadav joined Tare and played out the half an hour that remained in the first session, scoring only a single off the first 34 balls he faced. He continued to block post-lunch, and Tare also slowed down. With the strike not rotating, Mithun, Vinay and S Aravind bowled within the stumps and got the old ball to reverse. Suryakumar struck his first boundary off his 68th ball, a backfoot punch off Vinay. In the first hour after lunch, the pair added just 28 runs.In the last over before the drinks, needing only two runs for his century, Tare poked at an away-going ball from Aravind and Uthappa held the edge this time.Suryakumar then began manufacturing strokes, with a flick through midwicket off Aravind, the shot of the day. But his innings flickered only till Vinay took the new ball 20 minutes before tea.Mithun struck in the second over with the new ball. He hit a crack on a good length and the ball rose sharply to leave Suryakumar, who could only glove it to Uthappa. In the next over, Nikhil Patil gave Kunal Kapoor catching practice at short midwicket, leaving Mumbai at 237 for five.Wilkin Mota hung around for a while alongside Siddhesh Lad, before he failed to read a Shreyas Gopal googly and saw the ball crash into the stumps off his inside edge. With 12 overs remaining, Abhishek Nayar walked in, much to everybody’s surprise, with the target still 177 runs away. Nayar had spent 24 hours in hospital after falling awkwardly on his head on the opening day. Nayar seemed a little disoriented at the start of his innings, but he hung on with Lad for the 51 minutes that remained till stumps.

ScorecardVictoria celebrate after winning the Sheffield Shield for 2014-15•Getty Images

Victoria have won the 2014-15 Sheffield Shield by staving off Western Australia’s bowlers and securing a draw on the fifth day of the final at Bellerive Oval. As the away team, the Warriors had to win the match in order to claim the title and they set Victoria a chase of 334 on the final day; the Victorians made no attempt to chase down the runs, and finished the day on 4 for 158.The triumph is a fitting farewell for coach Greg Shipperd, whose 11-year tenure with Victoria is ending, and probably for veteran opener Chris Rogers, who is expected to retire after this year’s Ashes tour of England. It was the state’s first Shield title since 2009-10 and their fourth under the stewardship of Shipperd, who took over after the tragic death of David Hookes in 2004.It was also an especially impressive turnaround after they finished on the bottom of the table last summer in what was Matthew Wade’s first season as captain. Victoria won six matches under Wade this season, despite playing only twice at the MCG, and by the end of the summer their side was so strong that Wade’s predecessor Cameron White could not even squeeze into the XI.The final day was always going to be a challenge for Western Australia given Victoria needed only a draw, but they perhaps did not help themselves by batting on for six overs in the morning. They declared on 2 for 293 with Marcus Harris on 158 and captain Adam Voges on 36, but the target of 334 was never likely to interest Victoria.Rogers made a determined 17 from 66 deliveries on his way to a second Shield title with Victoria, before he was bowled by Nathan Coulter-Nile, and his opening partner Rob Quiney settled in for a long stay. Marcus Stoinis was caught and bowled for 8 in unusual fashion when his cut ricocheted off Cameron Bancroft at silly mid-off and back into the hands of the bowler.Victoria were 2 for 70 in the 37th over of the 96 allocated for their innings, and that became 3 for 98 in the 56th over when Quiney was caught behind off Andrew Tye for 53. But the only other breakthrough was when Peter Handscomb was bowled by Coulter-Nile for 13 in the 65th over, which left Victoria at 4 for 123 and gave the Warriors a sniff.However, Wade and veteran David Hussey settled in to steer the Victorians to safety and to the Sheffield Shield title, their unbeaten 35-run partnership coming from 30 overs. At the end, Victoria were 4 for 158 with Hussey on 37 from 169 deliveries and Wade on 9 from 99.