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Defending champions CP need another 216 runs to win the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2021Central Punjab made a decent start to the target of 356 as they need another 216 runs to win the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final. Usman Salahuddin and Mohammad Saad were unbeaten at the crease having scored 51 and 27 respectively as CP head into the final day with eight wickets in their hands.The day started with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa resuming from their overnight score of 243 for 5 with a lead of 286 runs. Kamran Ghulam, managed to add 11 more runs to his 104 before departing while Khalid Usman, who was unbeaten on 14, smacked 53 off 73 balls to propel the innings. KP folded for 312 as Waqas Maqsood ripped through the tail, ending with figures of 4 for 77 to add to his 3 for 59 in the first innings.Central Punjab, the defending champions, were off to a cautious start in the chase. The opening partnership was broken in 22nd over by offspinner Sajid Khan – the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 64 scalps – as he sent back Ali Zaryab. Muhammad Akhlaq and Salahuddin then put up a 54-run stand before Arshad Iqbal dismissed the former for 48. Saad then joined Salahuddin at the crease as the duo batted through the final session to take CP to 140 for 2 on day four.

Update follows the Supreme Court of India asking the BCCI to reconsider the length of the ban in March this year

Nagraj Gollapudi20-Aug-2019Sreesanth, the one-time India fast bowler, can finally breathe a little easy after the BCCI ombudsman Justice (retd) DK Jain reduced his IPL 2013 spot-fixing ban to seven years, the sanction period now ending on September 13, 2020. This comes five months after the Supreme Court of India “set aside” the BCCI ban – originally for life – and asked the board to “reconsider” and “revisit” the length of any fresh ban, preferably within three months.The sanction has been imposed retrospectively from September 13, 2013, when Sreesanth was slapped with the life ban by the BCCI’s disciplinary committee. He was then found guilty of breaching the code of conduct for his alleged role in the IPL corruption and spot-fixing scandal that year.The BCCI’s decision had followed the arrest of Sreesanth and two other Rajasthan Royals players by Delhi Police for alleged promises made to bookmakers during the 2013 IPL. The charges against Sreesanth pertained to the match against Kings XI Punjab, played on May 9 in Mohali, that Royals won by eight wickets. The disciplinary committee charged Sreesanth guilty of corruption, betting, bringing the game into disrepute and not informing the board’s anti-corruption unit of being approached by bookies.However, the Supreme Court pointed out the three-member disciplinary committee – comprising then BCCI president N Srinivasan and two vice-presidents Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah – had not considered the relevant provisions of the code before arriving at the length of the ban which ranges from a minimum of five years to a maximum of a life ban. The court said the BCCI disciplinary committee did not “advert to the aggravating and mitigating factors” listed under its code.Consequently, the court asked the BCCI to set aside the life ban and review the “quantum of punishment/sanction” to be imposed on Sreesanth. That decision was left to the BCCI’s ombudsman in the absence of a disciplinary committee which can only be formed post the board’s elections.Before arriving at his decision, Justice Jain heard both Sreesanth and BCCI, both of whom were represented by their lawyers. Sreesanth’s legal counsel, Krishna Mohan K Menon, said that his client’s conduct was fair throughout the inquiry conducted by then BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit head Ravi Sawani with the bowler not contesting any offence alleged against him and cooperating fully.Menon said Sreesanth, who was 30 in 2013, had no knowledge of the “bookie nexus operating behind the scenes” during the IPL. Menon also said the alleged incident did not have any impact on the result of the IPL match which Royals, Sreesanth’s team, won “comfortably”. Menon added the spot-fixing scandal itself had no material or commercial impact on the tournament in 2013. According to him, Sreesanth had “maintained good conduct” throughout his playing career and was a committed family man and a philanthropist.Menon also told the BCCI ombudsman that while determining the sanctions, he ought not to consider Sreesanth’s “biological life” but his “sport life”. Menon explained that Sreesanth, who is currently 36, has “only 3 years of active sporting life” and hence the ombudsman should consider all these factors.”It was thus, pleaded by the Ld. Counsel that having regard to all these factors, Mr. Sreesanth has already suffered sufficient punishment for the alleged offences and therefore, he does not deserve further sanctions,” Justice Jain noted in his order.In response, the BCCI argued that a life ban was just for Sreesanth for the various aggravating factors. Among those listed were: the player showed no “remorse” at any point during the investigation process, that he had been “infamous for his uncontrolled presentation of negative temperament in the form of anger, frustration and scuffles on field” with other players, that he was mature enough to understand the consequences of his offence, that there was material evidence he had received a sum of INR 10 lakh “in lieu of the offence committed”.”The award of sentence, less than a life ban in a clear case of match fixing, can clearly impact public confidence in the game of cricket,” the BCCI is credited as saying in the order.The board argued that the disciplinary committee was “merely” required to determine, after considering all the relevant factors, whether they aggravated or mitigated the offence. The quantum of punishment, the BCCI said, was a matter of discretion of the panel.Justice Jain agreed with the BCCI’s zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and any offence committed under its code could not be “ignored” and “dealt with leniently.” However, he pointed out that the zero-tolerance approach “cannot dilute consideration of the relevant factors” while imposing sanctions.Justice Jain concluded that he had found a “few mitigating circumstances” under the BCCI’s code as pointed out by Sreesanth. “Although the BCCI has referred to his erratic behaviour, both on and off the field, with fellow players, but nothing has been brought on record by the BCCI to show that any sanction was imposed on him in the past. On the contrary, he was regularly participating in the national and international matches. In the report of the Commissioner there is no allegation that Mr. Sreesanth did not co-operate in the Inquiry.”Additionally, the BCCI has not been able to controvert the specific plea of Mr. Sreesanth that the offences allegedly committed by him did not substantially damage the commercial value of the IPL matches, or even the final result of the subject match. I am, therefore, convinced that mitigating circumstances are attracted in the instant case.”According to Justice Jain, Sreesanth’s “prime years,” especially as a fast bowler, were nearly over. He had already served six years of the ban, which has barred him from playing any form of cricket both in India and overseas.”Bearing in mind, all these factors, I am of the view that banning Mr. Sreesanth from participating in any kind of commercial Cricket or from associating with any activities of the BCCI or its affiliates, for a period of seven years with effect from 13.09.2013, i.e. the date from which, the period of ban imposed by the Disciplinary Committee had commenced, will meet the ends of justice.”

For the South African allrounder, the plans don’t change when bowling at the death to someone like the Knight Riders star

Sidharth Monga in Delhi29-Mar-20192:54

I have trained my whole life to bowl yorkers and bouncers – Morris

Be thick-skinned and follow your plans. Russellmania is all around this IPL, but the key to bowl to him is to not get psyched out, according to Chris Morris, who is all set to play his first IPL match of the season. He will be entrusted to bowl the death overs for Delhi Capitals, and at the death, on the opposite side, will be Andre Russell.Russell has already won Kolkata Knight Riders two games with highly impactful innings, first helping hunt down the biggest target in the last three overs of any T20 match and then going berserk batting first to set up a rare batting-first win in Kolkata. In 36 balls in the middle, he has killed two contests. His strike rate this season is 269.44, he has hit a six every four balls to go with a four every fifth.”Dre Russ is an absolute genius at hitting the cricket ball, it’s as simple as that,” Morris said. “End of the day, I think it has to be a case of he misses and I hit. I don’t want to give away too many tactics or anything. Like I said, Russ is an unbelievably good batter and he’s dangerous.”I’ve always said to people I look like a duck… a duck swimming on the water is nice and calm but underneath their feet are kicking like this. I might look calm and collected, but inside my brain’s working overtime. You just trust your training. I’ve practised my whole life to bowl yorkers, I’ve practised my whole life to bowl bouncers, so basically I’ve got to trust my training and hopefully at the end of the day, he makes a mistake.”The larger plans wouldn’t change even against Russell, according to Morris.”It’s all the same for me,” he said. “Playing against RCB, if you get the openers, you have AB [de Villiers] or Virat [Kohli] coming in. It doesn’t change, you’ve still got to hit your areas. The tactics might change for different field sets and stuff, but end of the day you’re bowling at the death so your mindset doesn’t change.”You’re going to get hit, you’re going to go for sixes. So whoever’s got the thickest skin is going to come out on top. So as a fast bowler, when you’re at the game you know that one of your bowlers is going to get hit today, if not two of them going for 50-plus. The sooner you accept that, the better cricketer you’ll be. If it’s your day, make it count. If it’s not, something will come up tomorrow. You just crack on to your next one.”It can be a tricky decision to make for a captain too. There might be a temptation to hold back your best bowlers because Russell is still in the dugout. But Morris suggested that such a ploy could be counter-productive.”You always try to take wickets,” Morris said. “If you’re taking wickets, that slows down run rates. It’s pretty simple. You never ever try to keep a guy out there because you’re worried about a guy coming in. Your job is to take wickets, that’s what you’ve got to do.”It still means the sooner Russell comes into bat, the better it is for the opposition. And it is the job of Russell’s team-mates to make sure they stick around so that Russell has the freedom to try to hit every ball for a six.”His role is extremely important, he understands the impact value that he has from the team going from like 180 to 215, like the previous game,” Knight Riders’ Robin Uthappa said. “There’s an impact that he creates in those last four-five overs. It’s important for him to have that sense of freedom. It would be great for him to be in a situation where he has a batsman batting with him, so as to have the freedom to go out there and go after each ball that he faces. And he understands that as well.”I think the fact that he led Jamaica Tallawahs in the CPL has given him a sense of responsibility towards the team and he looks at himself as a senior statesman in the group and wants to make every outing of his count. He understands the value he brings to the side.”

After his devastating 9 for 67 on Thursday, Graham Onions will be have free rein to attack Nottinghamshire again on the final day after Durham established a commanding lead by the end of day three

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge17-Aug-2012
ScorecardMark Stoneman made a century to put Durham in charge at Trent Bridge•Getty Images

After his devastating 9 for 67 on Thursday, Graham Onions will be have free rein to attack Nottinghamshire again on the final day after Durham established a commanding lead by the end of day three, pushing for the win that will almost certainly preserve their place in Division One and make a substantial dent in Nottinghamshire’s chances of claiming a second County Championship title in three seasons.Durham, who were bottom of the table before Phil Mustard stepped down from the captaincy in favour of Paul Collingwood, have hauled themselves out of the relegation places with two wins in a row — during a run of five on the spin in all competitions — and now sense the chance of putting daylight between themselves and the other scrappers.They have a lead of 341 to take into the final day and will not need many more to feel they can declare securely and allow Onions off the leash again. Nottinghamshire, with two large holes in their run-scoring potential where Samit Patel and James Taylor would normally sit, will do well to escape with a draw.Durham built their position of strength on a fine century from their opening batsman, Mark Stoneman, whose six years with the county have not been blessed with enough such days. The left-hander has passed 50 some 19 times in first-class matches but this was only the fourth he has turned into a three-figure score.His career-best 128 against Sussex last August was his first century in the Championship for four years yet he batted in this innings as if it were a routine occurrence. He went to 50 off 90 balls with a four off Luke Fletcher and having proceeded unfussily into the 90s showed no sign of nerves. Indeed, at just the point at which you wondered if he might become a little jittery he produced five scoring shots in a row to move from 90 to 103 against the left-arm spin of Graeme White, the last two of which brought him his 13th and 14th boundaries.Having not given a chance, the sequence of shots that ended with his dismissal soon afterwards made a bizarre contrast. First sweeping White, he was horribly dropped at deep backward square by Alex Hales; then, having taken a single in between, he hooked Ben Phillips and was dropped again by Paul Franks, who let the ball slip through his hands on the rope at long leg, giving Stoneman six. The next ball then shot through at ankle height to have him out leg before.Stoneman lacked substantial support from Durham’s top order. Will Smith, the junior partner in a stand of 62 for the first wicket, edged Fletcher to the wicketkeeper for 15, and Phil Mustard, after a sound start, went for 21, feathering a catch behind in an attempted pull. Dale Benkenstein steered Fletcher straight to gully.Keaton Jennings looked comfortable until falling leg before to Phillips, contributing 31 to a second-wicket partnership of 74. Scott Borthwick was bowled by White for 4, at which point Nottinghamshire had hopes of keeping Durham’s lead below 300 with only four wickets still standing.But Collingwood’s alliance with an impressive Mark Wood late in the day added 61 for the seventh wicket before Wood was caught behind driving at Fletcher. Collingwood finished the day unbeaten on 51 and — unless Onions goes lame overnight — Nottinghamshire are effectively out of the game.As much as they will miss the batsmen on international duty, it is the absence of their injured talisman, Andre Adams, which has cost them heavily. His wicket-taking consistency has been at the centre of Nottinghamshire’s success over the last few seasons and they have no one else who poses a similar threat. At times, compared with the damage Onions was able to inflict, it seemed Fletcher, Phillips and company were bowling on a different strip.

A round-up of matches on the second day of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Mar-2012Group ACanada notched their first win of the qualifiers by holding on to beat Papua New Guinea by six runs at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai. Canada raced away to 38 from the first 3.3 overs, but were slowly pegged back by some economical bowling from Mahuru Dai and Hitolo Areni, who both finished with 1 for 27 from their four overs. Nitish Kumar anchored Canada’s innings with 57 from 44 balls while Hiral Patel chipped in with 34. PNG got off to a steady start in their chase, led by opener Asad Vala, who made 52. But they allowed the asking rate to climb too far and left their final assault a little too late. Despite 50 runs from the last five overs, they fell agonisingly short.Blistering half-centuries from Jamie Atkinson and Irfan Ahmed propelled Hong Kong to an eight-wicket win over Bermuda, their first of the tournament, at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai. Chasing 162, the pair savaged Bermuda’s attack, adding 113 together from just 12 overs after the loss of opener Babar Hayat for 6 in the first over. Ahmed perished on 50 to the medium pace of Janeiro Tucker, but Atkinson made sure there would be no last-minute stumble, finishing the match in style with a six of Kamau Leverock. So savage was their assault, that four of the six bowlers Bermuda used had economy-rates in the double-digits. In all, Atkinson’s 87 took just 55 balls and contained 13 fours and two sixes. Bermuda posted 161 for 5 on the back of a run-a-ball 43 from captain David Hemp and a late assault from Leverock (18*) and Tucker (31 from 19) that saw 73 runs come off the last six overs.Afghanistan scrambled home with two-balls to spare to beat Netherlands by four wickets. The Dutch posted 159 courtesy of Alexei Kervezee’s 58 from 43-balls. Michael Swart also made 22 from 16-balls opening the batting. Afghanistan’s chase was led by a partnership of 58 between Nawroz Mangal, who made a 19-ball 26 and Mohammad Shahzad: his 54 with eight fours seeing his side home, despite 2 for 12 from Mudassar Bukhari. Nine were needed from the final over but two fours from the bat of Noor Ali Zadran saw Afghanistan over the line.Shakti Gauchan took 4 for 20, including a hat-trick, as Nepal produced their second win in two matches after bowling Denmark out for 82. Denmark has been 58 for 2 but their collapse left them with no chance as Pradeep Airee almost knocked off the target himself. He plundered seven fours and four sixes in making 65 from 43-balls as Nepal won by nine wickets with seven overs to spare, Airee finishing the game in fine style with a big six.Group BItaly made it two wins in two games as they stopped United States of America short by eight runs at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. USA’s chase of 138 suffered an early blow when their captain Sushil Nadkarni was caught behind off the first delivery of the innings bowled by Gareth Berg. Vince Pennazza tied USA down, giving only 11 runs off four overs and claiming two wickets. Damian Crowley chipped in with three strikes and despite an unbeaten 35 from Asif Khan, USA managed only 129 for 8. Carl Sandri had earlier smashed four sixes on his way to an unbeaten 49 off 28 deliveries to help Italy recover from 26 for 3 and post 137 for 6.Ireland responded to yesterday’s surprise defeat to Namibia with a comprehensive victory over Kenya. Read the full report here.Roger Mukasa made a run-a-ball 45 to set up Uganda’s three-wicket win over Oman. Chasing 129 Uganda took until the last over to reach their target with Arthur Ziraba making 26 from 25 balls. Hemal Mehta conceded 16 from his four overs but his tight spell wasn’t enough after Oman failed to capatalise on several of their batsman getting good starts. Zeeshan Siddiqui reached 30 from 15 balls but he was run out and nobody else could produce a meaningful contribution to guide the innings.Louis van der Westhuizen blasted a century as Namibia made it two wins out of two with a comfortable 49-run win over Scotland. Read the full report here.

Mohammad Hafeez’s Man-of-the-Match winning 83 in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Dubai has extended his prosperous run as opener

Umar Farooq in Dubai19-Nov-2011Mohammad Hafeez’s Man-of-the-Match winning 83 in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Dubai has extended his prosperous run as opener, a slot that has been a headache for Pakistan in recent years.Hafeez made his international debut in 2003 as part of the sweeping changes after the World Cup debacle in South Africa. He flitted in and out of the Pakistan team for seven years, and it was only during the controversial tour of England last year that he cemented a place in all three formats of the game.Since the comeback in 2010, he’s amassed 1350 ODI runs at a solid 39.79 and snapped up six Man-of-the-Match awards, assuring him a permanent slot. He said he had to work hard on his batting technique to succeed but his bowling was a natural ability that required little work.”I worked very hard on my technique, which has paid off and really given me (a lot of) confidence,” Hafeez said at the post-match press conference on Friday. “I am very thankful to the support staff, especially my batting coach – Shahid Aslam – who really worked hard with me to correct things. And I am very happy with the way I am performing for my country.”Besides runs at the top of the order, Hafeez has also chipped in with his tight offspin bowling, a combination which has boosted him to the third spot in the ICC’s one-day allrounder rankings. “Bowling is natural for me, I don’t really work very hard on it,” Hafeez said. “Basically I am a batsman, I can understand the psyche of the batsmen.”The confidence given by the management is very important, especially by the captain. Previously Shahid [Afridi] was using me very well and now Misbah [ul-Haq] – with whom I had played at the domestic level too. So in any situation, he trusts me and if required asks me to do the job for the team and it has really worked.”Misbah highlighted Hafeez’s importance to the team, and praised the allrounder’s contributions. “You can say he’s one of the best allrounders because of the way he has performed over the last one-and-a-half years,” Misbah said. “He’s really doing well for Pakistan team in all formats, be it Twenty20s, one-dayers or even Tests. He can bat, bowl well, is good at fielding and is improving day by day. It’s really a blessing to have a person like him in the team.”

Durham’s 450-mile round trip to New Road proved to be a wasted journey when their fixture with Worcestershire was abandoned without a ball being bowled

05-Jun-2011
ScorecardDurham’s 450-mile round trip to New Road proved to be a wasted journey when their Friends Life t20 fixture with Worcestershire was abandoned without a ball being bowled.Steady rain set before the scheduled start and, despite the provision for an additional hour, umpires Nick Cook and Nigel Cowley took the call-off decision at 4.45pm.Worcestershire chief executive David Leatherdale confirmed the club had taken out insurance cover for games in the competition.It is the first time Worcestershire have had a ‘no result’ in a Twenty20 home match since the floods of 2007 forced them to move to Kidderminster in the second half of the summer.

Mumbai proved they are the best team in the tournament and reclaimed their by now customary at the summit of the table by battering Pune at the DY Patil Stadium

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran04-May-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Sharma were impressive with the ball, but Pune could not capitalise, as they failed with the bat yet again•AFP

Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians are geographically the two closest IPL franchises but they couldn’t get any further from each other in the points table. Mumbai proved they are the best team in the tournament and reclaimed their position at the summit of the table by battering Pune at the DY Patil Stadium, whose freefall continued with a seventh successive loss that kept them firmly at the bottom.Mumbai gave another demonstration of the depth of their batting talent, as two men who have had little batting time this season, T Suman and Kieron Pollard, fired them to a competitive total. Their brilliance undermined the efforts of the Pune spinners who had initially shackled Mumbai.Yuvraj Singh, who has under-bowled himself in the IPL, removed the rocks at the top of the Mumbai batting, Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu. Then, legspinner Rahul Sharma prised out two important wickets with the most economical spell of the season (4-0-7-2) to leave Mumbai at an insufficient 114 for 5 after 15 overs. Suman and Pollard, however, got stuck into the erratic Alfonso Thomas to lift Mumbai to a competitive score.Mumbai had briskly moved to 56 for 1 after seven overs, before Rahul and Yuvraj pulled them back. Rahul’s combination of quick legbreaks and topspinners proved hard to get away, before Yuvraj made the big breakthrough in the ninth over, getting Tendulkar to hole out to short extra cover. Yuvraj and Rahul choked the innings in a four-over passage of play that yielded only 13 runs. That forced Rayudu to attempt the big hit, but he holed out to long-off.Suman was surprisingly promoted ahead of Andrew Symonds and Pollard for his first proper hit this season, and he provided Mumbai the momentum they desperately needed. In an innings where everyone else had struggled to score at a run-a-ball till then, Suman came out blazing, racing to 19 off seven with a couple of stylish sixes.Rahul returned and removed the struggling Rohit Sharma and Suman in two overs, but in between those strikes Suman showed off his timing with a four and a six to long-off against Thomas. Pollard then provided the final flourish, unleashing his brand of brutal straight-hitting. Thomas bore the brunt as he was whipped for 27 in the penultimate over, and Pollard’s quickfire 30 made sure Pune’s batsmen had a challenge on their hands.Pune’s reply got off to a horror start as Jesse Ryder sliced the first ball to backward point. Graeme Smith has not been in the best touch with the bat for quite a while now, and that spell continued today. Manish Pandey’s timing was completely awry, and the decision to promote Abhishek Jhunjhunwala meant the big guns, Yuvraj and Robin Uthappa, were pushed too low in the order.The most expensive over in the first ten overs of the chase fetched only nine runs, and the asking-rate soared past 11 by the halfway stage. Lasith Malinga then harried Yuvraj with a series of bouncers, the last of which was awkwardly popped towards third man where Munaf Patel took a tumbling catch. It was the knockout blow, and Yuvraj was left on the floor.The big news ahead of the match was that Pune had bought former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. Even if that does prompt a dramatic turnaround, it might be too late for Pune, as even winning all their remaining matches may not be enough to make the semi-finals.