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Kings’ forgettable season came to an end as Quetta finished with a win though they are unlikely to progress

S Sudarshanan20-Feb-2022The first match of Sunday’s double-header in the PSL in Lahore was an odd one; neither the winning team nor the losing one would have been happy at the end of it. Quetta Gladiators needed to win their final match of the league stage by a huge margin in order to keep their hopes of qualification alive, mathematically. Kings, who held the upper hand for most parts, skittled away a strong start with the bat to go down by 23 runs.It was a case of old habits dying hard for Kings as a forgettable PSL season came to an end with their ninth defeat in ten matches. Kings lost seven wickets for just 37 runs with Gladiators’ Khurram Shahzad picking four on T20 debut, turning the chase on its head. It meant Kings were restricted to 143 for 8 in their chase of the 167-run target.Gladiators chose to bat first and their openers struggled to get going. Will Smeed fell early while Jason Roy made use of the powerplay to get off to a fast start. However, Roy was far from his belligerent self, bringing the edges of his blade into play more often.Imad Wasim and Umaid Asif snuck in some economical overs as Kings captain Babar Azam rotated his bowlers quite regularly. That did not deter Roy and James Vince, who added 90 for the second wicket. Vince’s attempt at upping the scoring rate resulted in his dismissal, as he was bowled by fellow Englishman Lewis Gregory while trying to play a big shot across the line.Roy soon brought up his third half-century in the season but then fell in the final over, holing out to Mir Hamza. Thanks to Roy and Iftikhar Ahmed, Gladiators collected 41 off the last four overs to post 166.Kings were on course for overhauling the target and registering their second successive win when Babar and Joe Clarke, who had a forgettable outing with the gloves, were in the middle. The duo blazed through the powerplay, finishing 51 for none – Kings’ best this season – and added 87 for the opening wicket. Legspinner Ashir Qureshi was taken for 15 in his second over, which signalled the openers’ intent.Player-of-the-Match Shahzad, first got through Azam’s defense before castling Sharjeel Khan, who hit 16 off just seven balls. Clarke then completed his first fifty of the season before missing an attempted heave off Mohammad Irfan to be bowled.Kings never recovered from those setbacks as Gladiators tightened the noose to shut the game. Shahzad’s blows ensured a winning end to Gladiators’ campaign, even though they are likely to be knocked out.

Bairstow, Duckett post imposing 173 but it’s only just enough in epic at Headingley

Valkerie Baynes24-Jul-2021Welsh Fire 173 for 4 (Bairstow 56, Duckett 41) beat Northern Superchargers 168 for 7 (Brook 62, Ahmad 4-13) by 5 runsA blistering half-century to Jonny Bairstow capped by a devastating bowling performance from Afghanistan legspinner Qais Ahmad delivered Welsh Fire a nail-biting five-run victory over Northern Superchargers in their Hundred clash at Emerald Headingley.Harry Brook launched a valiant rescue mission after the hosts had stumbled to 50 for 4 inside the first half of their sizeable run chase. He nearly pulled it off with a knock of 62 from just 31 balls which was every bit as impressive as Bairstow’s.Having seen Jemimah Rodrigues rack up a jaw-dropping 92 not out off 43 on the same excellent batting track in the afternoon match – the highest score across the men’s and women’s competitions so far – Bairstow would doubtless have wanted to press on. But, even though they only have him for the first two matches before he reports for England Test duty, Welsh Fire won’t have any complaints.The crowd swelled from the 5026 for the afternoon match between the women’s sides, won by Superchargers on the back of Rodrigues’ innings, to 10,324 for the men. The relative lack of students in fancy dress suggested the throngs in the pubs lining the route to the ground at lunchtime had decided to stay put. But the largely civilian-clad fans in attendance were in strong voice, quietened briefly when Ben Stokes fell cheaply, but whipped into song by Brook’s charge.Bairstow blitz
If you could only write one player’s name on the Hundred, Bairstow would have to be right up there in lights and, in his first outing of the tournament, he lived up to that billing with an explosive innings that included five fours and three sixes.He launched David Willey over wide mid-off for six on the 11th ball of the match and then hit Willey’s next two deliveries for four. He drove Mujeeb Ur Rahman past a diving Stokes at mid-off for another four and then pummelled Brydon Carse into the fifth row over deep midwicket. Bairstow brought up his fifty off 28 balls with a mammoth six off Mujeeb that sailed into the stands 20 rows back over deep midwicket.Jonny Bairstow came out of the blocks firing for Fire•Getty Images

Stokes, captaining in place of the absent Faf du Plessis, brought himself on and made the breakthrough with his third legitimate delivery, a back-of-a-length ball which Bairstow pulled straight to Willey at deep midwicket. Ben Duckett got in on the act with 41 off 27 balls, including six fours. Combined with Jimmy Neesham’s unbeaten 30 off 11 balls and Glenn Phillips’ 23 off 14 – including two sixes, the first of which he powered off Adil Rashid high into the stand cleared by Liam Livingstone in the T20I last weekend – they helped push Fire to what was comfortably the highest total of the competition to date.Brook no challengers
Brook had been in fine touch for Yorkshire this season with a Championship century and seven scores above 40 in his last eight T20 matches at Headingley. On this occasion, he clattered five sixes and three fours to keeper the Superchargers in the hunt.Brook shared a 68-run stand with Tom Kohler-Cadmore, in the side after recovering from a broken finger which kept him out of much of Yorkshire’s Blast campaign. When Kohler-Cadmore was run out on the 74th ball, Superchargers still needed 55 runs to win and Brook didn’t stop. In the next set of five, he picked off another four and a six off Liam Plunkett, who had bowled with good pace in his first pro game for nine months but was expensive.Brook’s impressive effort ended however, when he was trapped lbw by Ahmad, two balls after the same bowler had John Simpson holing out to Ian Cockbain at long-on during a frenetic passage of play in which Carse also survived a drop and failed run-out attempt by Matt Critchley.Superchargers needed 11 off the last set of five but Jake Ball held his nerve, despite copping a hefty blow to the heel of his hand as Matty Potts struck the penultimate ball back at him with force. Carse managed just one off the last ball instead of the six needed to tie and Fire prevailed.

Qais on song

Welsh Fire accounted for both Superchargers openers in the space of five balls, Adam Lyth spooning Critchley straight to Tom Banton at cover after a short and sweet 25 off 14 and Chris Lynn caught by Ian Cockbain off Ahmad for a run-a-ball 11.Ball then had Stokes caught by Phillips at deep cover for just 5 and when Willey’s attempted drive off Ahmad resulted in a low edge to Critchley at backward point, he was forced to walk off to a blast of “Where’s Your Head At” by Basement Jaxx and Superchargers were in terrible trouble.Just 20 years old, Ahmad ended with 4 for 13 off 20 balls – Stokes was the only other bowler to concede less than a run a ball – his early dismissal of opener Lynn and his role in ending Brook’s innings proving pivotal.

Says she wants to get the best combination ready for the T20 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2020India women’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur is all for experimenting with the side by giving chances to youngsters in the ongoing tri-series against England and Australia, in order to get the “best combination” ready for the upcoming T20 World Cup, starting February 21.”We went out to Australia earlier than a lot of teams and are in the midst of a tri-series with England and Australia, which will be a perfect platform for us,” she wrote in her column for the ICC. “We’ll also be able to experiment with selection and we’ll look to find our best combination during that series. One thing is for sure – we won’t be afraid to give chances to newcomers.”While 16-year old batter Richa Ghosh was rewarded for her good run in the Women’s Challenger Trophy by earning a call-up for the tri-series as well as the T20 World Cup, Shafali Verma, the 15-year old opener who has been impressive for India since her debut last year, will also be playing her first big tournament.”We have brought Richa Ghosh into our squad recently on the back of her great performances in the Women’s Senior T20 Challenger Trophy. We have to find out what our best team is and those games will give us a chance to decide that before the World Cup,” Kaur wrote.India, who have won just one out of the three games so far in the tri-series, will be facing hosts Australia on Saturday, where a loss will put them out of contention for the final. They’re yet to find a solution for their long-standing middle-order issues, which has affected them in this series as well. They’ve been impacted by the form of Veda Krishnamurthy and Taniya Bhatia, who average 18.75 (10 innings) and 6.66 (eight innings) in T20Is respectively since last year. Even in the ongoing series, they’ve made just 17 and 19 runs respectively in three games.Following the tri-series, India would be playing the warm-ups ahead of the big tournament, and with middle-order options in Harleen Deol and Ghosh, India could make some changes in the line-up.”If I look back two years, India’s 50-over side was doing well and our T20 was struggling. But in the past two years, we have transformed as a T20 team and are very positive going to Australia. We haven’t always managed to deliver on our potential as a team and winning games is always about how well you’re able to execute your skills.”While Kaur has been a lynchpin for India in the ODIs with her big-match temperament, she has not shone through as much in T20Is, registering only three 40-plus scores in her last 17 innings. She smashed her career-best 103 in the format in November 2018 after which her form has not been as impressive, but she hopes to “step up” soon and win some games for her team.”Each and every member of the squad has a part to play and we need to give our all to win any game,” she said. “I’m just hoping I can step up and win some games for my team when they need me.”

“I’m not insecure about where I bat,” says Indian captain on moving down the order to accommodate all three openers

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai13-Jan-20203:21

Happy to bat at number four – Kohli

KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan are both in form in the lead-up to India’s ODI series against Australia starting Tuesday, and India captain Virat Kohli revealed that playing both of them, along with Rohit Sharma, in the XI could be a possibility. Rahul and Dhawan opened together and made useful contributions in the recent T20Is against Sri Lanka, and with the return of Sharma, who was rested for the T20Is, it appeared that India would be forced to pick one out of Dhawan and Rahul. But India are now considering a new combination for the upcoming ODIs.

Kohli reiterates openness to d/n Test in Australia

India captain Virat Kohli has reiterated that India are “open” to playing a day-night Test in Australia when they tour for four Tests in 2020-21, after the T20 World Cup. India recently played their inaugural day-night Test, against Bangladesh in Kolkata, winning the game by an innings and 46 runs.
“We played the day-night Test here, we’re pretty happy with how it went and it’s become a very exciting feature of any Test series so we’re absolutely open to play a day-night Test,” Kohli said. “We’re ready enough for the challenge and whether it’s Gabba or Perth, doesn’t matter to us, we do have the skillsets as a team to compete against anyone in the world, anywhere, in any format of the game – whether it’s white ball, red ball or pink ball. We’re ready to play anything.”

“All guys in form is always a good thing for the team,” Kohli said in Mumbai, where the three-match series begins. “You don’t want a guy out of form for him not to start in the XI. You obviously want to have the best players available and then choose from what the combination should be for the team. We’ll figure out what combination we want to go in with, there’s a possibility all three might play.”Rahul has been in more prolific form of late, having scored three half-centuries and a century against West Indies in three T20Is and as many ODIs, before making 54 and 45 against Sri Lanka in the T20Is. Dhawan missed the games against West Indies with an injury and he slotted back straight in the XI against Sri Lanka in Sharma’s absence, finishing the series with an impressive 52 off 36 to stake his claim for the opening slot again.Playing Sharma, Dhawan and Rahul together would push Kohli to No. 4 and Shreyas Iyer to No. 5, but that would then create a problem for the lower order. India will be forced to pick one out of Rishabh Pant and Kedar Jadhav for No. 6 as dislodging Ravindra Jadeja from the No. 7 slot would reduce the bowling options to four. Kohli said he was “very happy” to move from his usual No. 3 spot to accommodate the in-form batsmen, but he did not say anything about the lower-order combination.Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul share a light moment•AFP

“Yeah, big possibility, very happy to [change my batting position],” Kohli said. “I’m not possessive about where I play and I’m not insecure about where I bat. Being the captain of the team, it’s my job to make sure that the next lot is also ready as well. A lot of the other people might not look at it that way but your job as the captain is not only to look after the team right now but also to prepare a team that you can leave behind when you eventually pass it on to someone else.”So I think these are times where you need to be aware, it’s very easy to get into a personal zone saying, ‘no, I need to get runs’. It’s not like that, it doesn’t work like that. The vision has to be always on the larger picture and figure out how you can make these guys more confident. If at all someone has to take responsibility, it should be me and give the other guys opportunities as well. I’m very open to it and I really want to see guys stepping up and taking responsibility. That’s part and parcel of being captain and it’s good to see players finding their game, realising their own potential when you’re captain. I think that’s probably the most satisfying thing you can feel as a captain.”In order to slot both Jadhav and Jadeja, India could consider leaving Pant out, hand the wicketkeeping gloves to Rahul and play Jadhav at No. 6 as the sixth bowling option. Batting coach Vikram Rathour had said on Sunday they had not considered that option then, but the management was open to giving it a thought.”Rohit is an obvious choice, of course. Shikhar and Rahul are playing well, Shikhar has done tremendously well in one-dayers, Rahul is in great form. There are still a couple of days to go, the management will sit down and make a choice. I don’t see an issue, one of them will have to sit out, so that’s okay,” Rathour had said.When asked if Rahul would keep, he had said: “We haven’t really started thinking on those lines yet. At this point I think Pant is the first wicketkeeping option. Rahul can keep, that’s a skill he has so it will depend if the team management feels at any stage we require that.”

The Delhi openers added a massive 232, thereby bringing their deficit down to only 15 runs with seven wickets in hand against Bengal

The Report by Arun Venugopal in Pune18-Dec-2017Gautam Gambhir plays through the off side•AFP

Delhi not only learnt from their opponents’ mistakes on the first day, but also thrived on them as Gautam Gambhir (127) and Kunal Chandela (113) doubled-teamed Bengal to all but secure the first-innings lead. After mopping up Bengal’s last three wickets for the addition of only 17 runs on the second day, Delhi ended the day on 271 for 3, with Gambhir caught behind off Mohammed Shami on what turned out to be the last ball of the day. Delhi trail Bengal by only 15 runs with middle-order batsmen Rishabh Pant and Himmat Singh still to come.

Chandela credits college cricket for his rise

Kunal Chandela began his first-class career in fine fashion with three fifties in as many innings. The 23-year-old right-hander scored 64 against Hyderabad on debut and followed it up with 81 and 57 against Madhya Pradesh in the quarter-finals. While he had done enough to justify his selection ahead of Unmukt Chand, Chandela realised the importance of making a big score for himself and his team.
“I wasn’t converting my fifties [into big knocks],” Chandela said. “I had a chat with the coaches, who asked me to give myself some time. The more time I gave myself it was better for me and the team.”
He said batting alongside Gautam Gambhir during the course of their 232-run partnership helped him focus better. “Gauti was very supportive and helped me wherever I was making a mistake,” he said. “He asked me to back myself and hit the balls that are meant to be hit. At one point, I played the sweep when he said I was playing very well straight so I didn’t need to do it.”
In 2016, Chandela, who was Delhi captain Rishabh Pant’s senior at school, grabbed attention in the Delhi cricketing circle with a triple century to help North Zone beat West Zone in the All-India Inter-Zone Tournament. “College cricket helped me a lot. Players of a different generation knew it was [like] first-class cricket,” he said. “It was good for me to play days’ cricket. I got to experience four-day cricket there.”

The 232-run opening stand between Gambhir and Chandela also solved a problem that coach KP Bhaskar had described ahead of the quarter-finals as the team’s only weakness. Before Monday’s double-hundred stand, Delhi openers had posted only one 50-plus partnership all season. Despite some testing bowling from Shami and Ashok Dinda with the new ball, Gambhir and Chandela were scoring at a good clip – there were six fours hit in the first seven overs. Gambhir fancied his pulls, slices and dabs during the course of his 42nd first-class hundred even as Chandela, whose game appears to be built on balance and economy of initial movement, drove effortlessly on the way to a maiden century in his third first-class match.Shami was inconsistent on a day he had to shoulder a huge chunk of Bengal’s bowling workload. During the course of the 23.2 overs he bowled, Shami produced spurts of inspiration, like in the last half-hour when he attempted to bounce out Gambhir and Nitish Rana with a leg gully, deep square leg and a fine leg. Shami’s efforts finally earned him a wicket after he went around the stumps for one delivery and aimed for Gambhir’s body with a short-pitched ball. Gambhir couldn’t evade the ball as it brushed his glove, caught by the wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami down the leg side. Furious with himself, Gambhir slammed his bat against the sightscreen on his way back, but he had reasons to smile for the better part of the day.Along with Chandela, he sought to derive maximum value out of any loose deliveries that came their way. Delhi scored 178 of their 271 runs in boundaries, and the Chandela-Gambhir combine contributed 162 of those. More often than not, their boundaries arrived in clusters, and the resultant spikes in scoring messed with Bengal’s rhythm. On one occasion, Chandela smashed B Amit – Bengal’s most disciplined bowler of the day – for four fours in an over: a punch through the off side, a streaky prod and a brace of flowing drives. Delhi whipped up 131 runs in 30 overs in the second session. The strike-rates of both batsmen were similar too, at around 58. While Gambhir brought up his century off 123 balls, Chandela took 149 deliveries.There was also some good fortune for Gambhir. He was the beneficiary of two reprieves, on 44 and 101. On the first occasion, Dinda provoked an edge in the 19th over but Sudip Chatterjee dropped the offering at slip. Then, in the 40th over, Gambhir edged one behind off Aamir Gani’s offspin, but umpire Abhijit Deshmukh turned down Bengal’s loud pleas. Chandela, who has three fifties from as many first-class innings, brought up his hundred with a majestic swivel to pull the ball to the fence.After an underwhelming pair of sessions, Bengal showed marginal improvement after tea. They had gone wicketless for 61 overs, but sent back Chandela thanks to an excellent effort from Goswami, who flung to his right to complete a one-handed catch off Amit. Goswami completed his second catch soon after when Dhruv Shorey shaped to pull a short delivery from Dinda.Earlier in the morning, Bengal’s lower order folded up without much fight in 7.2 overs. Navdeep Saini began the destruction by trapping Goswami in front of the stumps after beating him for pace. Gani was run out thanks to a direct hit from Manan Sharma at midwicket, who also caught Dinda’s attempted hoick that ballooned up.

Two years into the job, Steven Smith is already thinking of the 2021 Test tour of India, which he craves to lead in and win

Adam Collins in Mirpur26-Aug-20171:04

Gambhir: Australia will start favourites in Bangladesh

Occasionally, selection is just as much a pointer to the coming months and years as it is for the five days ahead. That is the case with Steven Smith’s side for the first Test in Mirpur. They will be making two changes to the XI that lost their previous Test, in Dharamsala against India in March.Ashton Agar returns after four years away, while Usman Khawaja is principally back to get into the Test groove again before the Ashes opener in November. Smith’s explanation of Steve O’Keefe’s omission from the squad, in favour of Agar, is instructive of his longer-term leadership goals. Namely, that he plans to be around for a long time.Since Allan Border, no Australian leader has spent more than Ricky Ponting’s seven years in the job, the rest staying for somewhere short of five. With two candles nearly on the cake for Smith, he is already thinking four years ahead to the next time Australia is due for a Test series in India, one he craves to lead in and win.While O’Keefe’s numerical return at Test and first-class level is top class, at 32 he is nine years Agar’s senior. The younger man has far from bashed the door down on conventional measures, claiming his first-class wickets at more than 40 apiece. Despite his two Ashes Tests in 2013 (for just two wickets) he remains, to a certain extent, a project player. But that project aligns neatly with Smith’s own: the aforementioned Indian return bout in 2021.”He’s come a long way,” Smith said of Agar’s inclusion. “For us it’s more looking to the future. Ashton has obviously been on the radar for a long time and someone we see as having a pretty bright future. Four years’ time back in India it’s something I want to achieve while I’m captain. I want to win in India, that’s big on my bucket list.”Similar logic applies to Khawaja. Aside from a dismal run in Sri Lanka last year where he lost his subcontinental spot, he has a body of work to dream of since returning to the side two Australian summers ago. But Smith made a more basic point about why Khawaja has nudged ahead of Shaun Marsh in the pecking order.”Usman obviously hasn’t played any cricket since the Sydney Test match, that was his last game and that was a long time ago,” he said. “We need to get him back into the fold and get him playing cricket again.” Before the home Ashes, Smith means, where the stylish left-hand batsman remains a lock.The series presents an opportunity for both Glenn Maxwell and Usman Khawaja•AFP

It isn’t just the fortunes of Khawaja that have changed since that Sri Lankan shocker. Whitewashed three-zip after going in favourites, expectations for India were measured, to say the least. But there, they stopped the rot and put on a better than commendable show, not least by breaking a nine-game losing snap in the region. It governs a far healthier mindset.”Something I learned a lot about in India as a captain in particular was knowing the different tempos of the game and when to attack a little bit more,” Smith said. “It’s been a good learning experience for me. I think the key to winning overseas is to ensure that you’re adapting consistently and putting those performances on the board consistently.”This confidence translates to relying on four bowlers alone to capture 20 wickets. Smith has been reluctant to use Glenn Maxwell’s spin since his return to the Test side in Ranchi, and seldom bowls himself now despite earning his national debut as a bowler first.”I know I copped a little bit of criticism for not using him [Maxwell] as much in the India series but again, you’ve got two quality spinners and they’re there to do a job,” Smith said. “In an ideal world, someone in the top six could bowl some good medium pace or good pace, it’d be ideal, but at the moment we’ve got to go with what we’ve got.”The tacit message to Maxwell came in response to the next question put to Smith, about England’s allrounder penchant. May it necessitate a seaming allrounder for Brisbane in November? “Yeah it could,” the Australian captain said. “They’ve got a very deep line-up.”With Smith also detailing a scenario where five specialist bowlers could be included for that series opener – a fit fab four of Australian quicks (Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson) alongside Nathan Lyon – it’s doubly important for Maxwell to use these Tests to make himself indispensable at six. “He does have an opportunity,” Smith continued. “He played pretty well in India, a lot better than other guys in that last Test. He certainly has the opportunity to nail down that spot, that’s for sure.”For all the inevitable Ashes chat, Smith was quick to clarify that Bangladesh won’t be underestimated, given they bossed over England inside three days the last time they played a Test here. Bangladesh also beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka to level a three-Test series in March. “We’re going to have to be at our best here,” he said.A slightly dry surface has been chosen in Mirpur among the two shortlisted, but Smith was reluctant to enter the encounter worrying too much about that. “There’s a ‘no whingeing’ policy about anything here in the subcontinent, wickets certainly fall under that,” he said. “They’ve put some grass clippings down to make it look a bit greener than what it is but it’s pretty dry underneath. I dare say it’ll be pretty slow.”Off-field, it is the first time an Australian team of any variety has played since the conclusion of the bitter pay war earlier this month, finally striking an agreement that made this tour possible. As a consequence, Smith acknowledged the importance of now rebuilding the brand of the game and national team after a torrent of bad blood was shed between players and administrators.”The pay dispute went on longer than we all would have liked but thankfully it’s all dealt with now,” he said. “We can move on with playing and trying to win back a few fans that we perhaps may have lost along the way. I think we’ll do that by playing good, hard fought cricket and winning games of cricket.”Bangladesh is good a place to start as any. Smith’s predecessor Michael Clarke put a premium on winning away and had middling success in doing so. For Smith, he managed it at the first time of asking in New Zealand, but came away without a trophy in the next two attempts. So drawing from the qualified-success of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, there is no better time or place to square the ledger and begin charting the course to his long-term Indian summit.

Worcestershire sealed a place in the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast when they overcame a sluggish pitch and a determined Derbyshire side by four wickets

ECB/PA17-Jul-2015
ScorecardJoe Leach ensured Worcestershire got over the line and into the quarter-finals•Getty Images

Worcestershire sealed a place in the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast when they overcame a sluggish pitch and a determined Derbyshire side to win the North Group match at Derby by four wickets.Derbyshire skipper Wes Durston hit 32 and Billy Godleman 33 in a total of 149 for 8 with Saeed Ajmal taking 2 for 21 in four overs. Despite Richard Oliver’s 45 from 38 balls, Worcestershire also found it hard to get the ball away against tight bowling with Alex Hughes taking 2 for 21. But Joe Leach hit an unbeaten 18 from 12 balls to secure victory and condemn Derbyshire to finishing bottom of the group.Derbyshire wanted to end on a high but were soon in trouble against disciplined bowling which was rewarded with three wickets in the Powerplay. Leach found some extra bounce to have Hamish Rutherford caught at slip in the second over and although Chesney Hughes twice dispatched him to the midwicket boundary, he was bowled making room off the last ball.Shiv Thakor carved Ed Barnard low to point in the fifth over and again it was Durston, the Falcons leading run-scorer in the T20, who led the fightback by sweeping Brett D’Oliveira’s first ball over square leg for six and pulling the legspinner wide of long-on for four.

Insights

In matches as tight as these on pitches as sluggish as these, know-how is so important. Worcestershire are flying high, now qualified for the quarter-finals with this win, while Derbyshire are consigned to the bottom of the North Group. This match was well balanced for much of its course and with 45 required from five overs it could easily have gone either way, but Worcestershire know how to win and Derbyshire do not. Leach’s 12-ball 18 again demonstrated the value of intensity in T20 cricket – it was only a 14 minute innings but he earned his money in a tight, pressurised situation.

But when he tried to launch Ajmal into the pavilion, he failed to clear long-on where Barnard took a well-judged catch to end a stand of 47 from 38 balls with Godleman, who swung Daryl Mitchell high over midwicket for two sixes to bring up the 100.But he sliced the next ball to point and when Wayne Madsen skied a drive at Ajmal to deep mid-off in the 15th over, Derbyshire were 102 for 6 before Alex Hughes and Tom Knight added 39 from 27 balls to get the total past 140.With the ball not coming on to the bat, Derbyshire were still in the game if they could take early wickets and Thakor struck in the fifth over when Mitchell pulled him to deep midwicket. Tom Kohler-Cadmore cut Alex Hughes to backward point in the ninth over as a combination of spin and seam denied Worcestershire a boundary for 21 balls and 85 from the last 10 overs was far from straightforward.Richard Oliver pulled Nathan Rimmington for his seventh four but then skied a drive to long-on off the last ball of the 12th over and the pressure was starting to tell when D’Oliveira miscued Alex Hughes to point.Worcestershire needed a big over and Munro delivered by taking 16, including a six over midwicket, from the 14th bowled by Durston but he then chipped Greg Cork to deep square leg in the next over.With 45 needed from the last five overs, Whiteley drove Thakor over long off for six and then swung Rimmington over long-on but was then yorked going for another maximum although four byes off the last ball reduced the target to 22 from 18 balls. Leach drove a Rimmington no-ball for four from an over which cost 10 and Worcestershire got home with three balls to spare.

Manoj Tiwary sounded the first unofficial salvo in the run-up to the India-Australia series when he said that a good number of Australian batsmen had been “wanting” in their technique against the India A spinners

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2013Manoj Tiwary sounded the first unofficial salvo of an otherwise far ‘kinder, gentler’ run-up to an India-Australia series in a long time when he said that a good number of Australian batsmen had been “wanting” in their technique against the India A spinners on day two of their three-day practice match at the ICL Guru Nanak College Ground in Chennai.Tiwary, a free-spirited batsman, became the second centurion in the India A innings, scoring 129 as his team was all out for 451 just before tea on a rain-affected day. After the day’s play, with Australia scoring 131 for 4 and losing all four batsmen to the spinners Rakesh Dhurv and Jalaj Saxena, Tiwary didn’t hold back, either on opinion or prediction.”They haven’t played the spinners as well as they could have – because I think the technique was [found] wanting,” he said. Australia were tootling along at a good clip against the four India A medium pacers before spin was introduced in the 21st over. Left-arm spinner Dhurv had Ed Cowan leg before in the 23rd over and Australia lost three more wickets before stumps. Off-spinner Saxena had Phil Hughes stumped and Usman Khawaja bowled, both scoring 1. Of all the batsmen, it was only Shane Watson who looked completely in control.Tiwary said of the bulk of the Australian top order, “They were not sure of their defence to be honest. That’s why they were not stretching enough to play the spin and not going back enough to play their shots.” Australia are without captain Michael Clarke and opener David Warner and Tiwary was not without his assessment. “If this is the way they are going to bat, it’s going to be difficult for them to be honest… to face quality spinners like Bhajjupa (Harbhajan Singh) and Ashwin and Ojha. The way they are bowling, it will be very difficult for them.”Should the wicket in Chepauk, where the first Test begins on February 22, be like what it was at the Guru Nanak College ground – slow, low, with very little pace and minor turn – Tiwary predicted more worries for “all their bowlers.”Watson though said there was, “absolutely no doubt about what India is going to hit us with.” The start of the tour, he said, was proving to be a “big learning curve for a lot of the guys” and that the best approach to playing spin in India had to be “proactive.” Spinners he said must “certainly” be attacked. “You can’t just allow them to settle in a certain line and length and allow them to be able to bowl that ball over and over again. At some stage that ball is going to turn and bounce and do something. As individual batsmen, we have to find a game plan to have as much success as we can.”Australia’s lesser-experienced batsmen, he said, were however, “very talented guys.””They have scored a lot of first-class runs in different conditions and it won’t take a very long time to find a game plan and a technique that will work here.”Lost in the assessment of Australia’s response to the two rather unheralded Indian spinners was Tiwary’s own performance; every time he has been given an opportunity against touring sides, he has scored runs this season, getting 93 against England A before his century in Chennai. “I came out to play this match, not to impress anyone but just to make myself happy after scoring runs. I was very conscious about getting big runs here to prove myself that I can score runs against quality opposition as well,” he said.One of the shadow men for spots in the Indian Test middle order, Tiwary more talked about for his one-day game said, “My dream has always been to play Test cricket. It depends on the selectors what they think about me and whether they can show some faith in me. My job was to score runs and I will do that as long as I play first-class cricket and four-day cricket.”The push for an India spot, he said, demanded a high degree of determination because of the competition. “You know the competition is so high you can’t miss out in an innings because you will go back few months of selection.” When asked whether he considered his game good enough to handle fast bowling adequately, he said that he was not concerned what his game “looked” like. “What I can do is I can score runs and if you can only look ugly and score runs, I will still go for runs. It doesn’t matter if I look odd or ugly in facing quick bowlers. I know my game and I know how to score runs. That’s how I have been able to score more than 5000 runs in seven or eight years of first-class cricket.”