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Their 671 for 9 declared is the highest score without a batter making a hundred, Kent 45 for 1 in reply

ECB Reporters Network13-May-2022Surrey dominated Kent on day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Beckenham, posting 671 for 9 declared before reducing Kent to 45 for 1, a deficit of 626.The Division One leaders broke the world record for the highest first-class total without an individual batter making a hundred, and equalled the first-class record of seven for the number of players making half-centuries without passing three figures. After Ollie Pope and Ryan Patel had made 96 and 76 respectively on day one, Jamie Overton smacked 93 from 92 balls, Ben Foakes made 91, Sam Curran 78, Colin de Grandhomme 66 and Jordan Clark 54 not outThe hosts meanwhile maintained their 100 percent record of conceding at least 500 in every first innings so far this season, with Nathan Gilchrist’s 3 for 121 the least awful bowling figures.Ben Compton and Daniel Bell-Drummond were the not-out batters at stumps on 14 and 7, after Dan Worrall removed England’s Zak Crawley for 17.Kent went into day two clinging to the hope that early wickets might keep them in the contest and they struck early when Foakes edged Matt Quinn behind.Surrey responded with a century partnership between Overton, in as a deluxe night-watchman, and Curran. Overton produced an array of shots and raced past 50 with successive fours off George Linde. When he holed out to Darren Stevens he was dropped near the boundary by Jordan Cox, who seemed to misjudge the flight, and in the same over Curran then passed 50 with a single.Overton subsequently hit Stevens for a six that cleared the stand and smacked Stevens’ next delivery for a maximum over the sightscreen, but he was out in the next over, bowled by Linde, seven runs short of his second first-class century. The dismissal meant Surrey became the first team ever to lose three consecutive batsman in the nineties in first-class cricket, following Pope’s departure late on day one.Surrey were 470 for 6 at lunch and although Curran was stumped on 78 off Linde, de Grandhomme became the sixth Surrey batter to score a half-century when he took two from Gilchrist.Will Jacks was out for 20 when he swiped Gilchrist to square leg, where Cox took a low catch, before de Grandhomme was eventually run out by Quinn, but the last-wicket duo of Clark and Worrall took Surrey past the previous world record for a score without an individual hundred, the 609 posted by Namibia against Uganda in 2010-11.Tea was delayed until 4.34pm at which point, with the lingering grains of hope draining away from the home fans, Surrey declared, leaving Worrall unbeaten on 44.Kent were left with 19 overs to navigate until stumps and were probably relieved they only lost Crawley, who was caught behind at the start of the eleventh over.

After having been blown away by Umar Akmal blitz on Monday night, Quetta Gladiators rebounded with a punishing win against Islamabad United in Sharjah

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAfter having been blown away by Umar Akmal’s blitz on Monday night, Quetta Gladiators rebounded with a punishing win against Islamabad United, their fourth of the tournament, in Sharjah. Victory meant that Quetta took the top spot from Peshawar Zalmi, who had edged a thriller in the first match of the day. The Quetta bowlers vindicated Sarfraz Ahmed’s decision to bowl by knocking over Islamabad for 117 in 19.1 overs. Sarfraz himself then led the chase with a typically busy fifty.New Zealand allrounder Grant Elliott, who had cracked a fifty against Australia three days ago in Brendan McCullum’s final ODI at Seddon Park, struck twice in two balls to set the match up for Quetta. Brad Haddin was first stumped by a canny back-of-the-hand slow roller, and then Sam Billings was trapped leg-before. Elliott’s double-blow lifted Quetta, after a quick start from Shane Watson, who stood in as captain again; Misbah-ul-Haq was still injured.The slide seeped into the lower order as well, with Imran Khalid’s 18 being the second-best score, following Watson’s 28-ball 40. The pitch had slowed down considerably, but Islamabad’s shot selection was iffy. Each of Quetta’s six bowlers punched his name into the wickets column, Elliott being the best with figures of 3 for 25.Andre Russell, who had managed only 10 off 13 balls with the bat, engineered a double-strike of his own in the chase, and accounted for Quetta’s top three. Sarfraz, however, built on opener Ahmed Shehzad’s 41, and sealed the win with seven wickets and 23 balls to spare.Sarfraz largely profited from sweeps and pulls during his unbeaten 51 off 39 balls, including six fours. Mohammad Nawaz, meanwhile, scratched his way to 14 not out off 21 balls, despite repeatedly getting beaten outside off by Saeed Ajmal.

Craig Miles collected his second five-wicket haul of the match as Gloucestershire bowled out Lancashire for 253 on the third day of the LV=County Championship clash at Bristol

ECB/PA09-Jun-2015
ScorecardCraig Miles continued to enjoy facing Lancashire•Getty Images

Craig Miles collected his second five-wicket haul of the match as Gloucestershire bowled out Lancashire for 253 on the third day of the LV=County Championship clash at Bristol.The 20-year-old seamer took 5 for 60 to complete match figures of 10 for 121 and leave his side chasing a victory target of 252. Karl Brown top scored for Lancashire with 56, while Ashwell Prince contributed 43 and Jordan Clark 48.By the close Gloucestershire had reached 26 for 1 in the quest for a Championship double over their visitors this season, with the in-form Michael Klinger unbeaten on 15, and a compelling contest was still in the balance.It was Miles’ day. In addition to the wickets he picked up with some disciplined bowling from the Ashley Down Road End, he produced a fine piece of fielding at mid-on to run out Prince as the batsman attempted a quick single.Miles likes playing against Lancashire. He has now claimed 24 wickets in four Championship games against them at an average of 16.70.
Lancashire began the day on 14 without loss and progressed to 93 for 2 by lunch, Miles pinning Paul Horton lbw for 6 playing no shot and forcing a misjudgement from Alviro Petersen, who looped a catch to point having reached the same score.Brown and Prince produced a solid stand of 77 either side of the interval, ended by Prince’s rash call. With the total still on 117, Steven Croft fell for a duck, leg-before to Miles pushing forward defensively.Brown moved to his second patient half-century off the match, from 161 balls, with nine fours, before edging an attempted cut off Benny Howell and offering a catch to wicketkeeper Cameron Herring, on as a substitute for the injured Gareth Roderick.James Faulkner fell for 4 to a sharp one-handed catch by Howell at cover off Matt Taylor and a 147 for 6 Lancashire led by only 145.
They were indebted to Clark and Alex Davies for adding 53 before Davies, on 28, carelessly clipped a Howell half-volley straight to Will Tavare at midwicket.Clark fell to the second new ball after a handy 65-ball innings, and Tom Bailey produced some clean striking to finish unbeaten on 27 after Glen Chapple and Kyle Jarvis had perished cheaply.Jarvis struck a quick blow as Gloucestershire began they victory bid, bowling Tavare for a duck off an inside edge as he looked to drive through the covers. But Klinger and Chris Dent saw things through to the close, with their side requiring a further 226 on the final day.

The primary reason for the postponement is because “participants are still not vaccinated and as such, are vulnerable” to the virus

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2021The Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy, which was scheduled to begin in January 2022, has been postponed following a fresh surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in India and the growing threat of the Omicron variant. In a letter to the affiliated units of BCCI, which ESPNcricinfo has seen, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that the primary reason for the postponement is because “participants are still not vaccinated and as such, are vulnerable,” as those below 18 years of age are still not eligible to take the vaccine in the country.”We have been closely monitoring the situation in lndia and across the world, and it is estimated that the caseload will shoot up in the immediate future if the situation is not controlled now,” Shah said in the letter. “After consulting experts and seeking views of the medical teams and operations team, it has been decided that keeping health and safety in mind, the U16 Vijay Merchant Trophy is postponed for this season.”We must exercise caution and not be adventurous and put the health of our talented cricketers at grave risk.”On Thursday, India reported 13,154 new Covid-19 cases, the number of active cases stands at 82,402.The BCCI announced in July that it was confident that all tournaments, including those for various age groups and women, will be played this season.”Ahead of the domestic season, we had said that will endeavor to have a full season across age groups,” the letter further said. “We started off well and are now mid-way into the season having completed 748 matches when we have again encountered a serious issue, The cases across lndia are spiraling and despite being a large number of adults doubly vaccinated, they have still been infected.”The tournament was scheduled to be played between January 9 to 21, in four venues across Agartala and Guwahati.

After staging possibly one of the greatest ODI comebacks, that helped Pakistan thrash West Indies by 126 runs, Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi said his goal going into the game was to give back to the team and not just ‘survive’.

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jul-2013In his last 10 matches before the ODI against West Indies in Guyana, Shahid Afridi had scored 142 runs at an average of 17.75 and had taken just three wickets. It was a run of failure that had forced his ouster from the Pakistan team for the Champions Trophy. But after staging possibly one of the greatest ODI comebacks, that helped Pakistan thrash West Indies by 126 runs in the first ODI in Guyana, Afridi said his goal going into the game was to give back to the team and not just ‘survive’.”I try hard and I back myself and I want to thank people back home,” Afridi said. “It is not time for me to just survive in the team, but to give a lot to the team. It was not easy to survive so I tried to stay positive.”On a pitch where batsmen from both sides struggled to score runs, Afridi’s 76 came off 55 balls and his 120-run partnership with Misbah-ul-Haq rescued Pakistan from a dangerous 47 for 5.”Whenever I got the ball in my zone I went for it,” Afridi said. “I knew Misbah was at the other end. I knew he would stay till the end, it gave me the confidence to go after it.”Afridi, who finished with seven wickets for 12 runs, making it one of the best all-round performances in ODI cricket, was thrilled with his bowling: “Oh wow, wow, wow, wow what a pitch it was for me to bowl on. I just kept it simple, and it worked.”Calling the track ‘one of the more difficult pitches’ he had played on, Misbah said he targeted a score of 200, as he believed it would challenge the West Indies batting.

Comeback king

Afridi’s performances in matches in which he’s made a return to ODIs (after missing out on one or more series) have been excellent. In eight such matches he averages 46.85 with the bat from seven innings, including four half-centuries. His bowling outshines his batting in these matches: he has taken 23 wickets, including two five-fors, at an average of 10.30 and a strike rate of 15.3. His impact in these matches is reflected in the number of Man-of-the-Match awards he’s won in these eight games – four.

“It was a much-needed performance,” Misbah said. “Especially the way Shahid Afridi played. It is one of the more difficult pitches I have played on. It was seaming, it was stopping, it was really difficult to middle the ball. I thought if we could reach 200, we could fight. And Shahid helped me. On a pitch that it was difficult to middle the balls Shahid was hitting fours and sixes. Jason Holder bowled well. The fielding was wonderful. Everybody was charged up. Every bowler bowled well.”West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo called it “a game to forget”. Bravo praised his bowlers, specially Jason Holder, for their early spells, which reduced Pakistan to 47 for 5, but said a player like Afridi could simply change the momentum of the game. Bravo also stressed that his batsmen would need to regain their confidence quickly if West Indies had to draw level with Pakistan by winning the second ODI on Tuesday.”It’s hard to pinpoint where we went wrong. As a batting unit, we let ourselves down,” Bravo said. “Coming after the last two disappointing games in Trinidad, we came here to Guyana, we had a good practice session. I think the batters lacked confidence and as a batting group, the team lacked runs. They have a very good bowling attack, so credit to the Pakistan team. They got to a good total after 47 for 5. Afridi changed the momentum, but he played his part with the ball, also. We should give credit to them, they outplayed us. It’s something we have to definitely look at again.”While admitting that the team played badly, Bravo ruled out any changes to the side, saying it wouldn’t help West Indies.”That XI was our best XI and we believe in the team,” Bravo said. “We have to back the players who did it for us, but yeah, making changes after one game is not going to help. We have to give players the opportunity to continue to get back that form and we know how dangerous our key players can be once they get back into form. Changes will not sort the problem, it is a more mental situation, so once you get over that, we’re going to be fine.”In spite of a poor day in the field, Bravo said his bowlers had improved from their last two games against India and Sri Lanka in the tri-series. “One of our biggest improvements from the last two games in Trinidad was the last 10 overs,” Bravo said. “They only scored around 50 runs in the last 10 overs, while in the games in Trinidad, the teams scored over 100 runs in the last 10 overs.”

Henriques praises Mustafizur’s skills in restricting Australians

Sreshth Shah04-Aug-20211:59

‘Great for Australia to be exposed to these conditions’ – Moises Henriques

On a difficult, sticky and turning Mirpur deck, 21-year old Afif Hossain hit an unbeaten 31-ball 37 to drag Bangladesh out of a bit of a mess, helping rescue the hosts from 67 for 5 to winning with eight balls to spare. After the victory, Afif said he knew all along that as long as he was not dismissed, Bangladesh would emerge victorious. However, he said that a useful piece of advice from Mahmudullah, the T20I captain, went a long way in achieving that outcome.”When I went out to bat, Riyad bhai just told me one thing. To take two-three overs to settle in,” the 21-year old said. “And personally, my ambition was to return after finishing the game. First thing I did was to assess the wicket and to understand what needs to be done on this surface.”I was aware that if I stay late, I can finish the match. The plan for both Nurul Hasan and me was to just score without losing a wicket because the run-rate was under check.”Afif Hossain is pumped after taking Bangladesh to victory•AFP/Getty Images

After the match, Mahmudullah said that Afif and Nurul showed “maturity” in their partnership. He said that their half-century stand brought “relief” to a “tensed” camp that was downcast after sliding into a losing position after a terrific bowling show.The T20I captain also praised Shakib Al Hasan. Shakib blitzed his way to a 17-ball 26 to keep Bangladesh ahead of the required run-rate early on after returning 1 for 22 in his four overs. Mahmudullah said that “Shakib once again showed how important a player” he is for the Bangladesh team. Shakib’s momentum-building innings, in a low-total run-chase, allowed Afif and Nurul to play risk-free cricket when the pressure was high.Henriques praises Mustafizur’s skillsThat Afif had to take Bangladesh only past 122, however, was courtesy of the bowling effort in the first innings. Left-arm seamers Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam shared five wickets for 50 runs in their combined eight overs, and Afif said their returns had equal impact on the match result that now sees Bangladesh lead Australia 2-0 in the five-match series.”Our pace bowlers made full use of the home advantage we have,” Afif said. “It was natural that our bowlers would bowl to a plan that is successful on these decks. But it needed backing up from the fielders too, which we received.”Mustafizur – who finished with an economy of 5.75 and the wickets of Josh Philippe, Matthew Wade and Ashton Agar – was also the beneficiary of praise from the opposite camp. Moises Henriques, who has played both with and against Mustafizur in the IPL, said that for Australia to put up better totals, it would be paramount to combat the sort of skill Mustafizur brings to games on slower surfaces.”Today Mustafizur showed how quickly he adapts,” Henriques said after the match. “He bowled 24 slower balls (laughs) and did not bowl anything pace on. He just summed up the conditions really well tonight.”The amount of revolutions he gets on the slower ball even on a good wicket is hard to play anyway, let alone on a surface like that. We need to find a way to combat that, and try and get as many runs as possible. It’s quite clear it’s not a 160 to 200 wicket, but we need to find a way to get to 140 or 150 whatever that might be.”

For Somerset, the accent is now on avoiding relegation in the Championship and ducks for Nick Compton and Marcus Trescothick did not help as Sussex threatened further misery

Ivo Tennant08-Jul-2013
ScorecardMarcus Trescothick now has three ducks in a row for Somerset•Getty Images

For Somerset, the visit of the Australians and two no-less-bumper T20 crowds have made for a pleasing diversion from the nitty-gritty reality of the LV= County Championship.They are now not aiming to win it, as was expected of them at the start of the season, but merely looking to remain in the First Division. To that end, they were bowled out for 244 by Sussex upon winning the toss and conceded runs at a disturbingly rapid rate in reply; there was scant indication on this day at last that their survival goal would be achieved.At least this match will not finish within five sessions, as was the case when these two sides met at Horsham earlier this summer. There were, though, plenty of additional surprises: Nick Compton out for a duck, ditto Marcus Trescothick, although, sadly, he has not scored a run in his last three innings; a smaller attendance than normal for the opening day of a Championship match; and the non-appearance of Ed Joyce, the Sussex captain, who will dip in and out of this contest.Joyce, and George Dockrell, the Somerset spinner, are both required to play for Ireland in a World Cup qualifying match against the Netherlands. Assuming that is completed in one day, they will participate in the third day of this match – also assuming, of course, it is not over by then.One is a first-class match and the other is not, yet the one-dayer is deemed to be of more importance. It is all unsatisfactory and only devalues county cricket.Maybe it was inevitable that Compton, excluded by England from their party for the first Test this week, would be dismissed by an Australian. Steve Magoffin it was who gained sufficient movement to have him caught at first slip in the second over. Trescothick had already gone by then, edging a ball from James Anyon that lifted sharply outside off stump.Normally there is assistance for the new ball bowlers only in the first hour at Taunton, but now this was to be the scenario for much of the day.Given how swiftly Sussex bowled out Somerset at Horsham, and their respective positions in the Championship, perhaps it was not such a good idea to leave some grass on the pitch.Jamie Overton, after tea, relished the movement off the seam this afforded him, soon having Luke Wells edging to first slip. Steve Kirby had Chris Nash caught behind, but Somerset’s change bowling was far from impressive.Mike Yardy and Matt Machan both reached half centuries rapidly, off 40 and 56 balls respectively, each with ten fours, and during a period of 12 overs added 113 runs against medium pace which constantly erred in length. Yardy was six runs short of a century by the close. Given the fine weather, there will be a positive result, for sure – perhaps before Joyce re-appears.The two Somerset batsmen who profited were James Hildreth, who chose to take on the Sussex attack in reaching a half century at virtually a run a ball with eight fours, and Craig Kieswetter, who batted responsibly before chancing a single to mid on that could only have been born of T20 cricket; Anyon threw the wicket down from only a few feet distant.Magoffin finished with four wickets, including that of Alviro Petersen, caught behind off a thin edge. There were useful runs at the end of the innings from Alfonso Thomas, assisted, reasonably ably, by Steve Kirby, who took 32 balls to get off the mark.

Kent stay just out of reach as New Zealand quick defends 18 off final over

ECB Reporters' Network02-Jul-2021Adam Milne took a hat-trick off the final three balls to clinch a thrilling 11-run victory for Kent Spitfires over Surrey at Canterbury, smothering the visitors in the death overs to leave them on 180 for 6, in reply to the Spitfires 191 for 4.Milne took 4 for 38 and defended 18 in the final over, bowling Ollie Pope with the fourth delivery and getting Kyle Jamieson caught on the long-on boundary with the penultimate ball to make the result all but certain. He then had Laurie Evans caught off the last ball of the innings to seal an astonishing recovery.Surrey looked heavy favourites when Will Jacks smashed a T20-best score of 87 from 54 balls, but after putting on 92 for the second wicket with Evans, who made 57, the run rate steadily increased.Kent had posted a challenging 191 for 4, thanks to another hefty partnership between Jordan Cox and Jack Leaning, who hit 61 not out and 50 respectively.After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Kent lost skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond to the second ball of the innings, lbw to Jacks, for nought. Zak Crawley made 24 before he was bowled by Jordan Clark and Joe Denly top-edged Gus Atkinson to Pope for 36. The run rate slowed before, not for the first time this season, Leaning and Cox rescued Kent with a stand of 90 for the fourth wicket.Leaning reached 50 and although he was out next ball, driving Jamie Overton to Clark, Clark’s final over went for 19, Alex Blake hitting 12 not out and Cox ending the innings with a six over cow corner.Surrey made a ferocious start. Fred Klaassen ripped out Jamie Smith’s middle stump for 9, but Evans and Jacks batted through the next 10 overs until Klaassen had the latter lbw.Kent were right back in it when Jamie Overton holed out off Milne, caught by Qais Ahmad for 6, and Surrey needed 34 from the last two overs. The penultimate, bowled by Klaassen went for 16, and Milne’s first three balls cost six runs, but the fourth splayed Pope’s stumps and needing to hit successive sixes, Jamieson perished in the deep.

India eased to victory over Bangladesh in the first Twenty20 international in Vadodara. The 49-run win was set up by an opening stand of 130 by between Poonam Raut and Thirush Kamini

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Apr-2013
Scorecard
India eased to victory over Bangladesh in the first Twenty20 international in Vadodara. The 49-run win was set up by an opening stand of 130 by between Poonam Raut and Thirush Kamini. Both struck half-centuries, Raut smashing 75 off 56 balls with 10 fours and Kamini striking seven boundaries in her 57-ball 56. Their stand helped India reach a formidable 143 for 3. Salma Khatun, the Bangladesh captain, grabbed three wickets for just 12 runs and she was her team’s only saving grace in the defeat.Khatun also did well with the bat, making an unbeaten 49 off 43 balls, but there was virtually no support from the other end. The asking-rate, too, was too high, and Bangladesh could only settle for 94 for 7 in the end. India used seven bowlers, six of them bagged a wicket each.

Skipper slams 75 from 44 to help make short work of small chase

ECB Reporters' Network15-Jun-2021Luke Wright entered the 2021 Vitality Blast with a stunning 75 off 44 balls as Sussex Sharks made it three wins from three with a seven-wicket victory over Essex Eagles.The Blast’s all-time leading run-scorer missed the opening two rounds after splitting the webbing in his hand while practising fielding on the eve of the competition. But he made up for lost time by bringing up his fifty in 33 deliveries as Sussex chased down Essex’s below-par 128 for eight with 36 balls to spare.Wright looked at home right from the start, with boundaries from his second and third deliveries – two of eight fours.Opening partner Phil Salt earned a life when he bludgeoned a full toss to mid-on, only to earn a reprieve for the umpire to judge the ball to have been above waist-height, much to Simon Harmer’s chagrin. Salt was run out for 13, after putting on 54 with Wright before Travis Head added 60 together with the skipper.Wright continued to his 26th Blast half-century, going past 8000 T20 career runs, with a pair of straight sixes and another over cow corner. He departed with six still needed but Delray Rawlins clattered the winning runs over long-off soon after.Wright’s day had started perfectly as he won the toss and stuck the hosts in – although Will Buttleman struck successive sixes in the fourth over. On a used hybrid pitch, scoring proved difficult for Essex with only Buttleman, Michael Pepper and Jimmy Neesham’s strike rates topping 100, for those who reached double figures.The strain on scoring was exemplified by the last over of the Powerplay, which saw just one run, as Paul Walter struggled to lay a bat on Chris Jordan – the run rate throughout the innings hovering just below seven an over.To add to the Eagles’ woes, wickets were a regular occurrence. Tom Westley and Buttleman fell in the Powerplay – the former picking out deep midwicket off George Garton and the latter slapping a Tymal Mills slower ball to cover.Walter was stumped, Ryan ten Doeschate clubbed old pal Ravi Bopara to long off, Pepper – having scored 38 off 25 balls – drilled to extra cover, Harmer miscued to midwicket, Jack Plom skied to mid-off and Neesham was comprehensively bowled.Garton ended up with 3 for 31, with Mills, Jordan and Bopara all going at under a run-a-ball.