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Renuka Singh, Alyssa Healy set to return to action in what will be the first international at the New Chandigarh stadium

Sruthi Ravindranath13-Sep-20251:11

Healy: ‘India a sleeping giant for a long time now’

Big Picture: A dry run for the ODI World Cup

Can either team get better preparation than this in the lead-up to the ODI World Cup? India get to face the defending champions, while Australia get to play one of the tournament hosts and have a chance to acclimatise to the conditions well before other competing teams.Having won nine of the 11 ODIs they have played this year and having beaten England in their backyard in July, India will carry a lot of confidence into this series. However, Australia can be a formidable opponent: they have beaten India in 12 out of the 13 ODIs since Harmanpreet Kaur’s epic knock in the 2017 ODI World Cup semi-finals.India were whitewashed 3-0 in the last two series they had played against Australia. Four out of the last five times they’ve met in an ICC tournament, India have lost, including the semi-final of last year’s T20 World Cup. India will want to use this series not just as a dry run to get their team combination right but also to come up with plans to get past the Australia hurdle. If India win this series, they will enter the World Cup as favourites.Australia, meanwhile, haven’t played ODIs this year since January, when they wiped England out 3-0 in the Women’s Ashes. The last tournament they played was the T20I series against New Zealand in March. But they have ten players who were also part of the 2022 ODI World Cup side in this squad, and have lost just three out of 28 matches they played since that tournament. So, they will back themselves to shake off the rust and hit the ground running. They will be playing in New Chandigarh, a non-World Cup venue, but they will benefit from some quality practice, specifically against spin in the middle overs, which is expected to play a big role in the ODI World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.Related

• Harmanpreet says India believe they can beat Australia 'any day'

• Australia ready to embrace 'little bit of unknowns' at ODI World Cup

• Healy hopes wicketkeeping 'tinkering' avoids recurrence of injury

• She gets knocked down but she gets up again: Sneh Rana's journey

Form Guide

India WLWWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Australia WWWWW

In the spotlight: Alyssa Healy and Sneh Rana

A ruptured plantar fascia at the 2024 T20 World Cup, a knee injury during the WBBL, and a stress fracture in the right foot during the Women’s Ashes. Australia captain Alyssa Healy has been dealing with recurring injuries since late last year which also affected her wicketkeeping. But she made a strong comeback for Australia A in the recent white-ball series against India A, making scores of 91 and 137 not out in the last two one-dayers and also keeping wicket, saying she made a few wicketkeeping ‘tinkering’ to avoid such injuries. A force for Australia in World Cups, she will hope to remain injury-free as she gears up for her first ODI World Cup as captain.Offspinner Sneh Rana has been on a roll ever since her comeback into India’s white-ball sides. A superb WPL season resulted in an ODI call-up, and she impressed immediately with 15 wickets in five games in the tri-series in Colombo in May. She followed that up with three wickets in the ODIs against England. With India expected to go spin-heavy for this series, and the World Cup that follows, Harmanpreet indicated during the squad announcement press conference that Rana will continue to be crucial in the middle overs.Alyssa Healy is set to return to action from injury•Getty Images

Team news: Renuka Singh returns from injury

With Renuka Singh back for the series from injury, she is expected to start ahead of Arundhati Reddy, who had played the ODIs against England, with Kranti Goud as the other fast bowler. India are also likely to go in with Rana, N Sree Charani and Deepti Sharma as spin options.India (probable): 1 Pratika Rawal, 2 Smriti Mandhana, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Jemimah Rodrigues, 6 Richa Ghosh (wk), 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Sneh Rana, 9 N Shree Charani, 10 Kranti Goud, 11 Renuka SinghWill Australia tinker with the XI that last played against England in January? Though left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux is back in the side after a lengthy injury lay-off, she has not been given the green light to play. Healy said Molineux wasn’t “quite ready for the ODI format” and that Australia are “ready to have her back when she’s ready to go” at the press conference on the eve of the first ODI.Australia (probable): 1 Alyssa Healy (capt, wk), 2 Phoebe Litchfield, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Beth Mooney, 5 Annabel Sutherland, 6 Ash Gardner, 7 Tahlia McGrath, 8 Georgia Wareham, 9 Alana King, 10 Kim Garth, 11 Megan Schutt

Pitch and conditions

This will be the first international fixture at the New Chandigarh stadium, which has hosted 11 IPL matches in the last two years, so the conditions are a bit of an unknown for both sides. The weather is expected to be a bit cloudy on Sunday, with the possibility of showers in the afternoon, and clear for the rest of the day.Georgia Voll and Ash Gardner at the nets•PTI

Stats and Trivia

• India last beat Australia in an ODI at home in February 2007. They have lost all ten encounters since.
• Harmanpreet is set to become the third Indian to feature in 150 Women’s ODIs.
• Megan Schutt is set to become the ninth Australian to feature in 100 Women’s ODIs.
• Since June 2024, Smriti Mandhana has scored 1346 runs in 23 ODI innings, 581 runs more than the next best batter. She has scored six hundreds in this period, three more than any other batter.

Quotes

“No doubt, they [Australia] have been very dominating. They have played well all over the world and dominated. But we are also at a stage where, as a captain, we have the belief we can beat them on any day. The processes in the last one and a half years has been good, we have improved quite a lot. Even in England, we beat one of their best sides. These show that we are on the right track.”
“This is the most stable Indian team I’ve seen and I think they’re in a really good place heading into this World Cup, so I’m looking forward to that challenge. The rivalry continues to grow. I know how much they love beating Australia and I know how good they are in their home conditions and that’s really a challenge for us. I think it’s going to be a really enjoyable, hard-fought series.”

The series was to be played in June as part of the World Test Championship cycle

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Apr-2020The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Cricket Australia (CA) have mutually agreed to postpone the two-Test series that was scheduled for June, due to the persisting Covid-19 threat. The boards took the decision with the welfare of their players and communities in mind, and will work together to find a suitable date to play the series once the situation becomes clearer.The series was to be played between June 11 and June 23 in Chattogram and Dhaka, and is part of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. It becomes the third WTC series to affected after the Sri Lanka-England series scheduled for March, and the second Test of Bangladesh’s staggered tour of Pakistan, which was scheduled to begin on April 5.BCB CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury said, “This is understandably disappointing for players and fans of both sides. However, in the current global scenario of the Covid-19 outbreak and considering the nature of the health emergency, the BCB and CA are in agreement that this is the most sensible and practical decision. We hope that the situation will improve soon and we are able to hold this series at a convenient time in the near future. To that end, the BCB will continue to work closely with CA with whom we share a history of support and cooperation.”The series is among two WTC series that are scheduled for June, with England scheduled to host West Indies around the same time. It was also to be Australia’s first visit to Bangladesh since their 1-1 series draw in 2017 – and, in fact, their first meeting in a bilateral setting since that one. Australia had, in 2018, called off hosting Bangladesh for two Tests and three ODIs because broadcasters were understood to have been uninterested in televising the series in the middle of the football season.”Postponing the tour is regrettable,” CA chief Kevin Roberts said through a statement, “but I would like to thank the Bangladesh Cricket Board for the open, honest and responsible discussions that led us to this mutually-agreed position. The health of our people and communities is the number one priority for both Boards and that is reflected in the action we have taken in postponing the two Test matches. As we know, the global cricket calendar is very busy but we will do everything we can to honour our commitment to Bangladesh and will continue to work with the BCB on an agreed date.”Australia are currently second in the WTC table with 296 points, having won two of their three series, while Bangladesh sit at the bottom, in ninth place with no points after one completed series.

The ODIs against New Zealand in March will be used to raise money for the Red Cross bushfire appeal as well

Andrew McGlashan04-Jan-2020Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts would be open to the idea of staging a charity match to raise funds for the bushfire appeal as the natural disaster continues to ravage large areas of the country.Australia is in the midst of one of its worst ever bushfire seasons which has led to fatalities, mass evacuations and significant loss of property. The Christmas and New Year period has been especially severe in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.There have already been a number of initiatives put in place across cricket, including players in the Big Bash League pledging donations for sixes hit and wickets taken and the Australia team auctioning off signed shirts from the Boxing Day Test which had raised over AUD$40,000. On the opening day of the Sydney Test players from both sides wore black armbands in memory of those who have died in the fires while there was a one-minute applause to honour the emergency services.CA has also announced that the ODIs between Australia and New Zealand in March will be used to raise money for the Red Cross bushfire appeal, but if the pieces could be put into place Roberts said the potential is there for a standalone fixture.”I’d love to think we could do something along those lines, we’ve all got great memories that the role those sort of events have played in disaster and tragedy in the past and would like to think we can make the most of those ODIs in March,” he told radio. “We are very open to other initiatives that could include celebrity matches, we’ve got a very crowded cricket calendar, we have to make sure what we do has maximum impact. If there’s time, space and availability of the right people nothing is off the table.”In the past there have been matches staged to raise money after severe bushfires. In 1994, South Africa played an extra game against a New South Wales XI following bad fires in Sydney early in the year. Further back in 1967, after devastating fires in Tasmania, a fundraising match was staged at the MCG and in 1983, Australia played New Zealand in a one-off match at the SCG.In January 2005, the MCG staged the tsunami appeal match between an ICC World XI and an Asia XI to raise money following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. Years later, James Sutherland, who was CA chief executive at the time, recalled the impact of that match and how boards and player associations had worked to bring it together.”Between Tim May [former head of the ACA and FICA] and I, there was always something to fight about, but when that happened we said, ‘We’re going to do something special’ and he was able to get through his FICA the players to commit to come here and play,” he said in 2018. “Together we put on an event that was extraordinary and raised more than A$15 million for a huge tragedy. It was a reminder of the power of what cricket can achieve when it galvanises all its forces.”

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.

Roston Chase dismissed Dimuth Karunaratne late in the day, but not before another century opening stand

Andrew Fidel Fernando29-Nov-2021Pathum Nissanka breezed his way to a half-century, Dimuth Karunaratne fell eight short of a fifty that would have seen him equal a world record, and on a day in which rain washed out the first two sessions, Sri Lanka gained a significant advantage, moving to 113 for 1 in the 33.4 overs that were possible.Before Roston Chase caught-and-bowled Karunaratne late in the day, Sri Lanka’s openers had put on 106 runs in 31 overs – their second century stand in the series. Kemar Roach, returning for this game after having been left out in favour of Shannon Gabriel, was perhaps the best of West Indies’ bowlers, delivering six overs and conceding just 12. Sri Lanka’s batters were largely untroubled by the others.Nissanka was positive almost from the outset. He drilled a full Jason Holder ball down the ground for four to begin the second over, carved Roach past the slip cordon soon after, and although occasionally beaten by deliveries that jagged past his outside edge, was on a constant hunt for runs, moving to 20 off his first 30 balls. Karunaratne was typically conservative by comparison – defending and leaving the majority of deliveries he faced from the seamers, making just 4 from his first 30 deliveries.Eventually though, Holder and Roach wrapped up their spells, and batting seemed to get easier. Kyle Mayers was hit for three fours – twice through the leg side by Karunaratne – in his first two overs, the only two he bowled on the first day. Nissanka attempted to dominate the left-arm spin of Veerasammy Permaul, who was playing his first Test since 2015, coming down the track in Permaul’s second over to launch him into the sightscreen.Soon, Captain Kraigg Brathwaite had spinners bowling from both ends, and although they prompted the occasional mistake, the batters largely settled into a rhythm against them, with Nissanka scoring primarily through the off side, and Karunaratne favouring the leg side, as he often does. Nissanka got to fifty – his third in Tests, and second in the series – off the 74th ball he faced.Karunaratne’s dismissal came against the run of play. Earlier in that Chase over, he had played a late cut and a flick through midwicket, both of which went for four. But Chase found some rip off the last delivery of that over, and turned a ball more than the batter expected, which produced a return catch off the inside half of the bat as Karunaratne attempted to drive him down the ground.If he had got to fifty, Karunaratne would have made seven Test half-centuries in as many innings, a feat only six batters had accomplished. In any case, his last seven scores read 42, 83, 147, 66, 118, 244 and 75.Oshada Fernando survived ten balls before the players went off for bad light. Nissanka was 61 not out off 109 balls, his scoring rate having slowed as the light faded.

Daniel Bell-Drummond fifty in vain as off-spinner becomes leading Championship wicket-taker

Daniel Norcross at Chelmsford30-May-2019After the previous day’s rain, Essex were compelled to bat in the morning session. They didn’t hang around for long. In just four overs they added 25 runs to their overnight score, losing Michael Pepper in the process, and then pulled out, setting Kent a not impossible but hugely unlikely 338 in 90 overs on a pitch where scoring has not been easy.This felt like both a generous declaration, most teams would probably have erred slightly more on the side of caution, and one that acknowledged how tough it was going to be to bowl out this redoubtable Kent side. They may have their limitations, most notably in their seam bowling attack, but they lack nothing in spirit and determination. Only a week ago they had batted through the last day at Beckenham to earn a draw against Surrey, but this felt like a tougher prospect.In Simon Harmer, Essex possess the perfect weapon on a fourth-day pitch, and he was unleashed on Kent as early as the tenth over after Kent had made a serene start against Jamie Porter and Sam Cook. In his second over he had snaffled Zak Crawley, trapped in front for 18. The pattern was set. Just like the first innings, Harmer would wheel away from the River End while the seamers rotated from the Hayes Close End.Joe Denly calculated that the best form of defence against Harmer was attack. It turned out to be a less-than-prudent calculation as he was caught at deep midwicket aiming to deposit the ball into the River Can.When Sean Dickson, who did so much to earn that draw last week, edged the dependable Peter Siddle to Harmer at slip, the visitors had stumbled to 51 for 3 and looked on the verge of subsiding completely. Somehow, amidst much playing and missing, Daniel Bell-Drummond and Heino Kuhn, who was dropped by Tom Westley before scoring, limped to lunch without incurring further losses.That drop didn’t look costly at first, but as Kuhn and Bell-Drummond dug in, even occasionally prospering against attacking fields, heretical thoughts of a possible Kent fightback emerged. Those thoughts would be broken by a less-than-smart bit of thinking from Kuhn. Padding up to Harmer is never a wise move. He generates significant turn, even on the most placid of wickets but, inexplicably, pad up is precisely what Kuhn did. Umpire Robinson had no hesitation in raising the finger.The next time the Robinson digit was elevated to the skies was more of a surprise. Ollie Robinson appeared to get nothing on a sharply turning off break that cannoned off his knee roll and looped, in a gentle parabola to Ravi Bopara at leg gully. The Essex fielders joined in a moderately concerted
appeal. The Kent keeper looked surprised but to his credit made a smart exit. In fairness to the umpire, adjudicating on the flight, trajectory and turn of Harmer must be a near impossible task, such is the action he generates on the ball.The fightback had been halted in its tracks and Kent went fully into reverse gear when Wiaan Mulder wafted horribly at a wide ball from Sam Cook to give Pepper his sixth catch of the match. All the while Bell-Drummond was quietly playing himself into some kind of form. His highest first-class score of the season before Thursday was 41 against Yorkshire and for the first couple of hours it was easy to see why, but by tea the old fluency and promise was returning. In tandem with Darren Stevens, who himself has looked all at sea this year, Kent took the attack back to Essex, with Stevens hitting the last two balls of the afternoon session for four and six.Their partnership of 47 in 11.3 overs offered a twist in the tale of this absorbing match. It was a partnership not without incident as Essex were convinced they had both batsmen on numerous occasions, only to be turned down by Robinson, as Harmer was getting the ball to spit and bounce. Harmer would not be denied however, when Stevens clipped the ball into Lawrence’s hands at midwicket to put the score at 210 for 7 with 100 minutes left for play.The game was now up as Harmer ripped through the remaining wickets of Harry Podmore, Matt Milnes and finally, for a stout but ultimately defeated 81, Bell-Drummond. Essex had wrapped up victory by 113 runs with just over an hour to spare. I say Essex. For all the excellent seam bowling on display, it was Harmer’s 8 for 98, giving him match figures of 11 for 170, which was the deciding factor, together with Alastair Cook’s 215 runs.Harmer has now bagged 29 victims this season and is the country’s leading wicket taker. Not bad for an off-spinner. In April and May. The rest of the country should be afraid of what he may yet achieve this season. Very afraid.

Alex Doolan’s maiden first-class half-century is unlikely to save Tasmania from defeat at the Gabba, where Ben Cutting’s three wickets put Queensland within sight of victory at stumps on the third day

Cricinfo staff04-Nov-2009Queensland 382 beat Tasmania 156 and 219 (Doolan 59, Marsh 49, Cutting 6-37) by an innings and 7 runs

Scorecard
Ben Cutting picked up 6 for 37 and finished with eight wickets for the match•Getty Images

Ben Cutting scythed through Tasmania’s tail to deliver Queensland victory by an innings and seven runs within the first hour of the fourth day at the Gabba. Tasmania began the morning at 6 for 209, needing a miracle to avoid defeat, but the speed of their capitulation was surprising all the same.It took the Bulls 45 minutes to pick off the final four wickets and Cutting grabbed three of them to finish with his best first-class figures of 6 for 37. First he had Brett Geeves caught behind for 17, having added one to his overnight total, and then Cutting removed Brady Jones and Brendan Drew for ducks.Chris Swan finished the task when Daniel Marsh was caught behind for 49 and the Tasmania collapse was so sudden that they had only added 10 runs to their overnight score. It meant Queensland did not have to bat again and consigned the Tigers to their second defeat from their opening two matches.Queensland have one win and one draw, having taken first-innings points against Western Australia last month. The Bulls now travel to Adelaide to begin a match with South Australia on Sunday, while Tasmania have a fortnight off before their next game against New South Wales in Sydney.

Players and coaches involved in the game between Karnataka and Saurashtra have indicated that they would welcome the use of technology in domestic cricket, especially in knockout matches.

Saurabh Somani28-Jan-2019Players and coaches involved in the sometimes contentious Ranji Trophy 2018-19 semi-final between Karnataka and Saurashtra have indicated that they would welcome the use of technology to aid umpires in domestic cricket too, especially in knockout matches.”Definitely, if they can use DRS then nothing like it. We will have a fair game,” Yere Goud, the Karnataka coach, said.Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat was also for the idea. “It’s good for the game, whatever technology you can include,” he said. “We’ve seen it at the international level as well. It has really helped teams. I think the BCCI would be the best judge to look at it. I’m sure people there would be looking at it. Obviously, whatever technology you can include can help the game for sure.”Saurashtra won the game by five wickets on the fifth morning, driven by Cheteshwar Pujara’s 131 not out in the fourth innings, but Karnataka were left aggrieved by umpiring errors, believing that Pujara had got a nick when on 34, shortly after lunch on the fourth day. Vinay Kumar, the bowler, and all the Karnataka fielders appealed spontaneously, but umpire Saiyed Khalid remained unmoved. There was a sound as ball passed bat – though on replays, without the aid of HotSpot or UltraEdge, it was difficult to say conclusively that the sound was the result of an edge.
That this followed from the first innings when Pujara had been given a reprieve by the same umpire when he appeared to have gloved Abhimanyu Mithun behind lent an edge to the proceedings, with the crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium also getting involved as Pujara was greeted by chants of “cheater” and booed.ESPNcricinfo understand that Khalid has been rated as among the top 15 umpires in the country based on this season’s domestic performance, which played a part in him being appointed for the semi-finals.Goud didn’t appear to hold issue with Pujara not having walked. “It is left on the individual,” he said. “Because sometimes players get bad decisions, generally they don’t walk. That has been the case in most of the domestic matches we’ve seen.”On the umpiring specific to the match, Unadkat said both sides had received decisions for and against them, but held that nothing could take away from the way Pujara and Sheldon Jackson (100) constructed the chase, with a 214-run stand for the fourth wicket from 23 for 3.”I think anyone can have a tough game. The ball was moving a lot, deviating from the wicket,” Unadkat said. “I’d just say that [the umpiring] has been neutral for sure… [Karnataka] thought it was out, we thought it was not out. There were a couple of other decisions as well, which went against us, and we didn’t really it take in our mind and play the game, which I think they did.”I’m really happy, don’t want to take any credit away from how we played this game, how we fought after being 23 for 3, and playing the way Cheteshwar and Sheldon played.”Karnataka captain Manish Pandey mentioned the umpiring obliquely, telling the host broadcaster after the game, “Unfortunately, a couple of decisions went against us, maybe a couple of performances would have made a difference today.”

Batsman rescues floundering and hits 17 off the final over as St Kitts & Nevis Patriots clinch last-over thriller

The Report by Peter Della Penna05-Sep-2018Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

A sparkling half-century by Fabian Allen, in his maiden CPL innings, salvaged a floundering St Kitts and Nevis Patriots chase and took them to victory by two wickets over Barbados Tridents at Warner Park on Tuesday night. Allen made an unbeaten 64 off 34 balls to rescue the Patriots from 92 for 6, including 17 runs off the final over, to pull his team through with two balls to spare.The win puts Patriots temporarily in first place, though their regular season is now finished. Trinbago Knight Riders and Guyana Amazon Warriors are one point behind, but both have three league fixtures remaining, two of which are against each other.Shamsi leaves his imprintPatriots’ overseas batsman Tom Cooper had a miserable time at CPL 2018. His six innings yielded just 45, and the team management ran out of patience. When he had to head home for the start of Australia’s domestic season, the franchise sought a replacement and picked South Africa left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who was actually filling the void left by Nepal legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane. In his first outing, Shamsi, who is coming off back spasms, suffered during the tour of India with the South Africa A team, left his imprint.Coming on at the end of the Powerplay, Shamsi struck with just his second ball, trapping Dwayne Smith lbw to end a 45-run opening stand. Smith’s opening partner Sunny Sohal fell leg before as well in the next over to Mahmudullah’s offspin, pinned on the back foot after shuffling across his crease too far to flick. A poor call for a run to backward point resulted Hashim Amla’s run out to make it 66 for 3 at the halfway mark. When Shai Hope was out slogging to mid-off, Shamsi, who did him in with flight, reinforced the advantage.Shamsi didn’t concede a single boundary in his spell of 4-0-16-2. He could have had a third wicket when he beat Roston Chase sweeping, just as he had Smith earlier in the night. Umpire Nigel Duguid denied a strong lbw shout, though the ball had pitched in line with leg stump and would have gone on to hit it. On 5 then, Chase proceeded to make the most of the let-off, carving an unbeaten 38 off 28, including partnerships of 48 with Nicholas Pooran, and an unbroken 53 with Jason Holder to take the Tridents to a competitive total.Mo wickets at the topMohammad Irfan continued to cement his status as the standout bowler of the last two weeks of CPL 2018 with another brilliant opening spell. The tall fast bowler from Pakistan struck thrice in the Powerplay to rein in a hot Patriots start in pursuit of 168.Evin Lewis was beaten for pace in the fourth, offering a simple catch to midwicket while attempting a pull. Irfan struck again two balls later, when he got one to keep a touch low and bowled Rassie van der Dussen. Chris Gayle fell in near identical circumstances to Lewis, in the final ball of the Powerplay by sending a catch to mid-on that reducing Patriots to 52 for 3. Three more wickets had fallen by the 12th over, and Patriots were in disarray, still 77 runs adrift of the target, before Allen saved the day.Fab finishAllen’s biggest claim to fame in the CPL prior to Tuesday night was a one-handed diving catch at the point boundary in Florida last year, one that earned him the top spot on ESPN Sportscenter’s Top 10 Plays.Allen had not batted in his two other CPL outings previously, but had proven earlier in the summer that he was no slouch, striking an unbeaten 75 for West Indies B against Edmonton Royals in the Global T20 Canada. He rescued the Patriots on this occasion with the bat in stunning fashion. With 49 needed off the last five overs, Allen scored the bulk of the 23 runs Patriots made across the next two overs to bring the equation down to a very manageable 26 off 18.But Ben Cutting’s silly swipe to be bowled by Holder off the second ball of the 18th turned things around. The result was Allen being starved of the strike over the rest of the 18th and 19th, as he didn’t face another ball until the start of the final over. But Holder may have possibly miscalculated his bowling options, leaving 20-year-old debutant Dominic Drakes to bowl the final six.Allen pounced on two full deliveries, driving a pair of straight sixes to start the over, then pulled a flat four just short of the midwicket rope to level the scores, before a scampered leg bye secured victory.

Wilkins, who scored 10,966 first-class runs including 18 centuries, had been in deteriorating health for some time

Liam Brickhill02-Oct-2018Chris Wilkins, the former South African provincial and county opening batsman, has died at the age of 74. Cricket South Africa announced Wilkins’ death “with shock and sadness” on Tuesday morning.An aggressive opening batsman who could also bowl nippy medium pace, Wilkins represented Border, Eastern Province and Natal in a career that spanned nearly 20 years. Wilkins settled in KwaZulu-Natal after his retirement, becoming a farmer in the Harding district. He had been in deteriorating health for some time.During his playing days, Wilkins also had a stint with Derbyshire in the County Championship, and in all scored 10,966 first-class runs, including 18 centuries, and took 142 wickets. He was also an excellent fielder, often keeping wicket when he wasn’t bowling, or standing at slip.It was, however, as a limited-overs cricketer that he made his biggest impact during his time with Eastern Province. His ability to hit the fastest of bowlers over mid-on and mid-off made him a feared competitor.In an interview with The Cricket Monthly in 2017, legendary South African fast bowler Garth Le Roux made special mention of Wilkins’ positively modern approach to batting.”One or two batsmen hit me back over my head for six,” he said. “Viv Richards did it once or twice, but the player who tried it most often was Chris Wilkins. He was particularly good at it. He’d move right back on his stumps and hit straight. This also gave him more time to hook and pull anything a bit short. He was the most annoying batsman to bowl at.”On Twitter, former South Africa spinner Pat Symcox commented: “Sad to hear of the passing of possibly one of South Africa’s most attacking batsmen ever. An opening bowler’s nightmare. Chris Wilkins was a legend.”Wilkins transferred his pinch-hitting skills to first-class cricket, forming a formidable opening partnership for Eastern Province with Simon Bezuidenhout. On one occasion Wilkins scored a century in just over an hour and the pair managed to secure a bonus batting point before the lunch interval. With Currie Cup bonus batting points allocated for surpassing set team totals, this would have meant that the pair must have scored at least 175.”On behalf of the CSA Family I extend our deepest condolences to his family, his friends and his many cricketing colleagues,” CSA Chief Executive Thabang Moroe said.