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Imrul, Liton add 148 to make light work of the chase as Bangladesh take unassailable 2-0 lead

The Report by Mohammad Isam24-Oct-2018Getty Images

After the fast bowlers significantly slowed Zimbabwe down to a middling 246 for 7 – they looked set to double their score of 147 for 2 in the 30th over – openers Liton Das and Imrul Kayes struck aggressive half-centuries to give Bangladesh a series win. The pair added 148 to ensure Bangladesh’s passage was a smooth one, victory coming in the 45th over when Mohammad Mithun pulled a long hop for six to take an unassailable 2-0 lead.Mohammad Saifuddin, playing in only his fifth ODI, left a mark with a three-wicket haul that bottled up pressure towards the end overs. Mustafizur Rahman and Mashrafe Mortaza were clinical, not allowing the batsmen a final flourish; Zimbabwe managed just 19 off the last five overs.Then heavy dew made the ball greasy, thereby hampering Zimbabwe’s bowling plans. This played into the hands of the Bangladesh openers who shellacked their way towards the target, wiping off half the runs inside the first 25 overs, before Liton fell looking to hit inside-out. Beaten by turn and dip, he sliced a flighted delivery to point to fall for a 77-ball 83.However, Liton nearly didn’t give himself time to settle in. Given out lbw off the fourth ball of the chase to Kyle Jarvis, Imrul coaxed Liton to review Rod Tucker’s decision. HawkEye showed the ball would have missed leg. This proved to be the trigger for Liton’s onslaught as he treated the crowd to an array of dazzling strokes, hitting five fours in the first five overs.As Liton sped away, Imrul consolidated and was the recipient of a reprieve in the 24th over on 58 when Brendan Taylor put down a tough chance off Sikandar Raza. But soon after Liton fell in the same over, Raza removed Fazle Mahmud for his second successive duck – he became the fourth Bangladeshi to earn this unwanted feat in his first two ODIs – to briefly excite the visitors. Having fluffed the opportunity on the first grab, Taylor somehow managed to complete the stumping.Bangladesh recovered from that little spell quickly as Zimbabwe gifted Imrul another life on 70 when Brandon Mavuta dropped him at midwicket off Doland Tiripano. Mushfiqur Rahim and Imrul milked the bowling to add a further 59 for the third wicket before the latter holed out to long-off to give Raza a third wicket, in the 38th over. Mushfiqur and Mithun then scored the remaining 36 without much fuss to extend Zimbabwe’s poor 2018.But it could have been so different had one of Zimbabwe’s batsmen gone on to make three-figures. After the openers departed, Taylor started aggressively, picking off runs without playing a shot in anger. He was particularly swift with his footwork, unafraid of walking across to throw the bowlers off by sweeping against the spinners. In the 23rd over, he reached his first half-century since the World Cup Qualifiers in March, celebrating the landmark with a chip off left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam. Once the landmark was out of the way, he seemed like a man unleashed, hitting straight over mid-off off Mustafizur.Then he lofted Mahmudullah through the line to the deep-extra-cover fence. It seemed he was set, but all the build-up came crashing down when he played an inopportune reverse sweep to be dismissed for 75.All along, Sean Williams was just pottering along, giving Taylor company before he realised the need to step up. He consolidated and was three short of a half-century when he bottom-edged a cut to the wicketkeeper to end a 41-run stand with Raza. This somewhat denied Zimbabwe a late flourish, even though Raza and Peter Moor stuck in and took the innings deep before a clutch of wickets threw them back.

Vernon Philander will return to South Africa for rehabilitation on a groin injury suffered while playing for Sussex

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2017Vernon Philander will return to South Africa for rehabilitation on a groin injury suffered while playing for Sussex. He is expected to be out for “two to three weeks” and will miss Sussex’s Royal London Cup campaign.Philander was due to be available for the first two months of the county season, with a view to acclimatising ahead of South Africa’s tour this summer. However, he only managed to send down 17 overs in Sussex’s opening Championship match – a 226-run defeat to Kent at Hove – and did not take the field in the second innings.Sussex have announced that he will head back to South Africa to rest, ruling him out of their Championship match against Nottinghamshire starting on Friday, as well as the group stage of the Royal London Cup. The club hope Philander will then be able to play in four Championship fixtures, starting with Durham’s visit on May 21.Philander has not played an ODI for South Africa since 2015 and did not make the squad for the Champions Trophy despite being considered for his ability to swing the new ball in English conditions. His fitness for the Test series, which starts on July 6, is likely to be a more pressing concern.

Megan Schutt, Australia’s Player of the Match against Ireland in Delhi, has welcomed the prospect of a probable semi-final showdown with England at the same venue on Wednesday

Andrew Miller in Delhi26-Mar-2016Megan Schutt, Australia’s Player of the Match against Ireland in Delhi, has welcomed the prospect of a possible semi-final showdown with England at the same venue on Wednesday, after helping put her team’s quest for a fourth consecutive World T20 title back on track with figures of 3 for 29 in a comfortable seven-wicket victory.Australia’s victory, which was wrapped up with 40 balls to spare, has drawn them back level with New Zealand on six points in Group A and their spot in the semi-finals was sealed after New Zealand beat South Africa Women.Assuming there are no further upsets in the women’s draw, England will finish top of Group B if they can overcome Pakistan in Chennai on Sunday, which means that the only two teams ever to have won the women’s World T20 are on course to tussle for a solitary place in the final. England won the inaugural event at Lord’s in 2009, but Australia have claimed each of the last three titles, in 2010, 2012 and 2014.”It’s always a good match-up whenever we play England,” Schutt said. “I don’t think there’s ever been a match when either of us has blown the other out of the park. No matter what the conditions are, we will both have to adapt, but I think it will be a cracking game.”Schutt admitted that her team’s prior knowledge of the conditions at the Feroze Shah Kotla could prove to be handy on Wednesday, and backed her team’s spinners, Jess Jonassen and Kirsten Beams, to put the squeeze on a slow surface. Alongside the medium pace of Rene Farrell, who took 2 for 11, the trio conceded just 39 runs in their 12 mid-innings overs.”Obviously it’s a bit of an advantage to see the ground before the opposition,” Schutt said. “I think here in the subcontinent it is very effective having the spinners, getting though overs quick, bowling back to back while tying down the runs. Hopefully we can keep up that strategy going forward.”On Australia’s overall campaign, Schutt insisted they were back in control of their destiny following their “hiccup” against New Zealand.
The speed of today’s victory was also a boon to Australia’s net run-rate, which Schutt admitted had been at the back of the team’s thoughts.”We were all thinking about it,” she said. “Obviously we have to win the game first and that was what we went out there to do today. The batters did really well to chase it down as quickly as they could and it’s in the hands of the other game now.”Obviously we had a bit of a hiccup against New Zealand but I’d rather get that out of the way in the group stages than the semi-finals. Obviously there’s lots of improvement to go, we still haven’t put out that perfect game, but hopefully we can produce that if results go our way and we get to the semi.”England haven’t been at their best throughout the tournament either. Twice they have taken apparently comfortable run-chases down to the wire, including an inordinately tight finish against West Indies in Dharmasala on Thursday, and Schutt was hopeful of preying on their anxieties if they do end up meeting in Delhi next week.”I was watching their run chase the other night,” she said. “It came down to the last ball and the last wicket, so hopefully we can get them juggling those wickets as well.”

Afghanistan leveled the series against Zimbabwe with a three-wicket win in the fourth one-day international at Queens Sports Club, with Mohammad Shahzad’s 80 setting up their pursuit of Zimbabwe’s 184

The Report by Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo22-Oct-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSikandar Raza struck five fours and a six in a determined 113-ball 86•Zimbabwe Cricket

Afghanistan leveled the series against Zimbabwe with a three-wicket win in the fourth one-day international at Queens Sports Club, with Mohammad Shahzad’s 80 setting up their pursuit of Zimbabwe’s 184 for 8. Afghanistan appeared to be cruising to the win while Shahzad was at the crease, but in spin-friendly conditions they laboured over the latter stages of their chase, slipping from 119 for 1 to 178 for 7 before 17-year-old legspinner Rashid Khan sealed the match with a six over long-off.They might have been chasing an even lower total had it not been for Sikandar Raza’s gritty 86. Only two other Zimbabwe batsmen crossed 20 as Afghanistan’s disciplined approach with the ball stifled the top order. Zimbabwe had stumbled to 82 for 6 before Raza and Luke Jongwe cobbled together a recovery with their 65-run partnership, which was the highest of the innings. Raza battled cramp and a withering blow to the groin as he hobbled through his knock, boosting Zimbabwe to a total that was never quite defendable.It looked woefully under par when Afghanistan’s openers, Shahzad and Noor Ali Zadran, cruised past fifty without offering the bowlers a chance. The opening stand was only broken at 72, in the 18th over, when Noor Ali cut left-arm spinner Chisoro to Elton Chigumbura. But it was Shahzad who had led the early charge, as he usually does, and he brought up a 60-ball fifty in the 20th over. He had also marched past 1000 ODI runs for Afghanistan in the process, and continued merrily on his way, swiping fours and sixes off Chisoro and Wellington Masakadza, Zimbabwe’s other left-arm spinner.At the other end, Mohammad Nabi got going in a similarly aggressive mode, and his first boundary was a straight six down the ground off legspinner Tino Mutombodzi. Afghanistan raced past 100, with well over half of the innings still to go, and in desperation Chigumbura turned back to opening bowler Luke Jongwe. He duly picked up a wicket with his third ball back into the attack, Nabi top-edging to mid-on, where Masakadza held onto a catch despite colliding with Tinashe Panyangara.When Shahzad skied a catch to Raza, running back from midwicket in the next over, Afghanistan were 119 for 3 and wobbling slightly. Suddenly Zimbabwe buzzed with energy in the field, and reinvigorated bowlers repeatedly beat the outside edge. Chisoro was the pick of the bunch, and relentless pressure from his end eventually resulted in the dismissal of Nawroz Mangal, who gloved a sweep to Craig Ervine at slip.Afghanistan were 133 for 4 then, needing only 52 to win, and Asghar Stanikzai hurried them closer by attacking the leg-side boundary off both the spinners and the quicks. Again, victory appeared a formality but when Samiullah Shenwari and Shafiqullah fell in consecutive overs, nerves began to set in. Zimbabwe scrapped for every run, and with seven needed Stanikzai was bowled by Sean Williams for 32 to reduce the visitors to 178 for 7. Zimbabwe were into the tail, but Afghanistan’s tailenders hit the ball as hard as their top order and Rashid sealed the match with a huge blow off Williams.Shahzad later said that the side took heart from the presence of allrounders in the side to recover from batting collapses. “It’s a part of the game. Sometimes, the middle order collapses and sometimes the top order collapses,” Shahzad said after the match. “We’ve had batting collapses in the last two matches, so it’s no problem because we have a lot of batting allrounders. We never feel like the match is getting out of hand because we know that one more batsman is there in the pavilion.”Had Zimbabwe been able to scrape themselves past 200, they might have been able to apply greater pressure but their top order was scuppered by Afghanistan’s committed effort. Their top four were all back in the pavilion inside the first 15 overs, and there was relentless pressure as Raza and Chigumbura were able to score just 24 off the next ten overs. A ball-watching Chigumbura was then run out for 15, and an over later Mutombodzi’s stumping left Zimbabwe in serious trouble at 82 for 6.Raza and Jongwe carried the side slowly past 100 in the 35th over, and Raza began to open up as he approached his fifty. He reached the mark with a six and a four off Shenwari in the 39th over, but he was already limping by then and the physio had been called out to attend to a problem in his right leg during the drinks break. He lost Jongwe in the 45th over, caught in the deep for 22, and was then left writhing on the ground when he was struck by a quick delivery from Dawlat Zadran in the 48th over. He bravely weathered the blow, and his own fatigue, to run five twos and a three before he was eventually dismissed by the penultimate ball of the innings for 86. Unfortunately for Zimbabwe, his efforts were all in vain.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe will represent his third first-class club when he joins the Lions for the 2013-14 season

Firdose Moonda17-May-2013Lonwabo Tsotsobe will represent his third franchise in as many seasons after he decided to move to the Lions for the 2013/14 summer. Tsotsobe originally hails from the Eastern Cape and represented the Warriors for seven seasons before changing allegiances to the Dolphins over the past season and will now play for the Lions.How frequently he turns out for the Johannesburg-based franchise will depend on his international commitments. Tsotsobe is a regular member of South Africa’s ODI and T20 team and is often on the fringes of the Test squad, which limits the amount of time he can play domestic cricket.Tsotsobe has also earned a reputation for shirking his domestic responsibilities, although a number of family-related problems were partly to blame for his absence from the circuit. He only turned out for the Dolphins in the one-day competition, where he played nine matches, but did not play a single first-class or T20 match, much to their administrations’ displeasure.Should he make the odd appearance for the Lions, he will team up with Chris Morris and Hardus Viljoen in what could be a fearsome trio of quicks. “He has a tremendous amount of ability and and I believe he will bring experience and guidance to some of the younger players in the squad,” Geoffrey Toyana, Lions coach, said.They will have to wait until after the Champions League T20 to make use of Tsotsobe, though. He will not be able to represent the Lions because he was not part of the contracted squad that qualified for the event.Tsotsobe is not the only big mover this winter. Hashim Amla also left the Dolphins and will ply his trade at Cape Cobras. This leaves the Dolphins’ franchise without two of its most senior players.They have been bolstered by the arrival of veteran wicket-keeper batsman Morne van Wyk from the Knights. The franchise from the Free State also lost Ryan Bailey to the Warriors.

Rangpur Riders scored their third win in the competition defeating Khulna Royal Bengals by 33 runs in a low-scoring match

Mohammad Isam29-Jan-2013
ScorecardRangpur Riders scored their third win in the competition defeating Khulna Royal Bengals by 33 runs in a low-scoring match. The target was a meager 123, but by the 15th over, Riders’ bowlers had turned the game into a one-sided affair before Fidel Edwards completed the victory.Defending a low total, it was Edwards who gave Riders the perfect start with the wicket of Lou Vincent in the first over. The wickets of Mizanur Rahman and Riki Wessels followed soon after. Captain Shahriar Nafees laboured to a 22-ball 14 before getting caught cutting Nasir Hossain. Daniel Harris and
Asif Ahmed battled for a while before both fell within 10 balls of each other to end the Royal Bengals resistance as they collapsed to the lowest total in BPL.Edwards ended up with four wickets as he cleaned up the tail while captain Abdur Razzak took three wickets.Riders were not always on top in the game though. Harris, Royal Bengals’ part-time medium-pacer, took three wickets, a catch and hit the stumps direct to pin them down. Harris removed Danza Hyatt, Cameron Borgas and Niall O’Brien in a four-over spell that dictated the pace of the game.
Kevin O’Brien top scored with an unbeaten 24 off 30 balls with just a
Boundary, but Riders stumbled their way to 122.

A dramatically recast Australian team rued Faf du Plessis’ composure for the second time in the space of four days as South Africa scrambled to 225 then snipped the top off Australia’s batting order on day one of the third Test

Daniel Brettig30-Nov-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMitchell Starc improved greatly in his second spell, finding the perfect length and just enough swing a few minutes before lunch•Getty Images

Though Perth is three hours behind the rest of Australia, the nature of the WACA ground pitch is to encourage a match in fast forward, and so it was again. A dramatically recast Australian team rued Faf du Plessis’ composure for the second time in the space of four days as South Africa scrambled to 225 then snipped the top off Australia’s batting order on day one of the third Test.Twelve wickets fell for 257 runs, but with enough evidence between several rushes of wickets to suggest that batsmen will prosper at some point during the match. Du Plessis’ exemplary, unbeaten 78 was compiled after he came to the wicket amidst the fall of 5 for 14 either side of lunch. It granted South Africa some sort of total to bowl at, enough for Dale Steyn and the fit-again Vernon Philander to nip out Ed Cowan and Shane Watson before the ball had lost its shine.The WACA ground rose mistakenly to laud Ricky Ponting at the fall of Watson’s wicket, but it was the nightwatchman Nathan Lyon who walked out instead. He did Ponting a major good turn in the 37-year-old’s final Test by accompanying a somewhat jumpy David Warner to the close at 2 for 33.Aside from the aforementioned period of frenzy, Australia found breakthroughs difficult to extract on a bouncy but true surface. The Australia bowlers shared the spoils, Mitchell Starc perhaps the pick with a pair of late inswingers to bowl Alviro Petersen and Jacques Kallis in the closing minutes of the morning session. Lyon vindicated his inclusion with 3 for 41, the debutant John Hastings and vice-captain Shane Watson contributed important wickets, while Mitchell Johnson claimed two of his own and intimidated at times with well-directed short balls.Lacking James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus due to their Adelaide exertions, Starc and Johnson were recalled while Hastings made his debut as the into-the-wind trundler so often favoured at the WACA ground.Having been 12th man in Brisbane and Adelaide, Starc found himself taking the new ball at the start of the Test. There was some early swing for him and Petersen was given out lbw by the umpire Richard Kettleborough when one delivery curled back into the opener’s pads, but a review had the ball passing high and wide of the stumps.That ball was not representative of the opening spells for either Starc nor Hastings, who both erred on the short side to give plenty of sighters to Petersen and Smith. Clarke called on Watson at first change and followed up with Johnson at the other end, and their spells signalled a change in the morning. Watson found a little movement either way and bowled a far better length, rewarded when Smith pushed out at ball going across him and edged to Clarke at slip.

Smart stats

• Faf du Plessis has become the first batsman to score more than 70 in each of his first three Test innings. The batsman who got nearest to achieving it was Australia’s Herbie Collins, who scored 70, 104 and 64 in his first three. Andrew Strauss was close too, with scores of 112, 83 and 62.

• This is the third successive instance of the team batting first scoring less than 300 in a Perth Test, following India’s 161 earlier this year and Australia’s 268 in the 2010 Ashes.

• Dean Elgar has become the first South Africa top-order batsman (batting in the top 7) to score a duck on Test debut since Gerhardus Liebenberg in 1998.

• In nine Tests when AB de Villiers has played as wicketkeeper, he has an average of 29.23 with a strike rate of 39.62 and one half-century in 15 innings. When he doesn’t keep wicket, he averages 50.42 at a strike rate of 55.01.

• Nathan Lyon’s 3 for 41 are the third-best figures by an Australia spinner in the first innings of a Perth Test, after Bruce Yardley’s 5 for 107 in 1982 and Shane Warne’s 4 for 83 in 1997.

Johnson produced some nasty deliveries to Smith and some compelling ones to Amla, beating the No. 3 for pace and length on more than one occasion. Having been given a firm idea of how to bowl by two more experienced WACA ground exponents, Starc improved greatly in his second spell. A few minutes before lunch he found the perfect length and just enough swing to burst through Petersen’s drive, and in the next over produced a near identical delivery to do the same to Kallis.South Africa thus ended the session in far worse shape than they had seemed likely to for most of its duration. Starc had learned quickly, helped by the examples of Watson and Johnson. On resumption Hastings commenced an excellent spell up-wind, finding useful outswing in addition to sharp bounce.Amla was fortunate when he flicked Hastings straight to midwicket in the first over, Ed Cowan dropping a simple chance, but in the next he was caught somewhat short of the appropriate gear when de Villiers called a quick single – David Warner’s direct hit found Amla short and saved Cowan the blushes. Unnerved by the run-out, de Villiers walked into a delectable, swerving ball from Hastings in the next over and edged to Clarke at slip.Elgar’s first appearance at a Test batting crease was not pretty – Johnson worked him around the crease with a hostile spell – and he completed a 12-ball duck by gloving a short ball tamely to Wade when trying to hook. The first ball Peterson faced was full, fast and far too quick for him, but it narrowly missed off stump.Slowly du Plessis and Peterson regathered somewhat less shaky ground, punching the ball through the field and taking advantage of Perth’s typically quick outfield. De Plessis eluded a concerted lbw appeal and referral by Watson when ball-tracking had the ball missing leg stump, and the pair had caught a glimpse of tea when Lyon was introduced.There was evidence of loop, bounce and turn in Lyon’s first over, and in his third a shortish ball bounced enough to draw a fatal error from Peterson. Philander contributed another nuisance lower-order innings to follow up, however, advancing to loft Lyon into the crowd at wide long on before he skied to Michael Hussey when attempting a repeat. Lyon had moved around the wicket, and was rewarded further when he claimed the last man Morne Morkel, who had clumped a trio of boundaries from the bowling of Johnson after Steyn played on.Left with a little under an hour to bat, Warner flashed absentmindedly at Steyn’s first delivery. His third angled teasingly across Cowan, who pushed at the line in expectation of some swing, but finding none succeeded only in edging to Kallis at slip for a golden duck. Watson late cut his first ball to the fence, but his tendency to plonk the front pad down the pitch was exploited by Philander, who had the plumbest of lbw decisions bizarrely refused by Asad Rauf. The inevitable review set that call right, and left Lyon to bravely protect Ponting until stumps.

Despite being one of three nations hosting the mega event Sri Lanka find themselves as much as in the same situation as Canada when Kumar Sangakkara goes out to toss with Delhi-born Canadian skipper Ashish Bagai in their opening World Cup match at Hambant

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Hambantota19-Feb-2011Despite being one of three nations hosting the mega event Sri Lanka find themselves as much as in the same situation as Canada when Kumar Sangakkara goes out to toss with Delhi-born Canadian skipper Ashish Bagai in their opening World Cup match at Hambantota.None of the 15 players in the Sri Lanka squad have played at this venue before and they have no first hand information of how the pitch is going to behave and what the conditions are going to be especially under lights. It is in the context of such adversity that Sri Lanka take on Canada.”We trained on the ground and there doesn’t seem to be any issues,” said Sangakkara looking ahead of Sunday’s game. “We need to play well whatever the conditions that we get. It looks a magnificent ground it looks beautiful and the wicket looks fantastic. So conditions will be good for cricket tomorrow.”The guys have been practicing here and they are happy the way conditions are. It’ll be beautiful for cricket and we are all amazed at what a transformation Hambantota has gone through. We will enjoy everything about this ground. Whatever happens with the toss, we need to be strong mentally whether we bowl or bat first we need to do it better than the opposition,” said Sangakkara.”I think our job is to try and win the first game. It’s important to build it up step by step. You have to take it game by game. You can’t change what other people say about us whether they say that we are good enough to win the tournament or whatever,” he said.”We know we are a good team to compete in this tournament and that’s the most important thing rather than worry about anything else. Our focus is on tomorrow’s game. India and Bangladesh are good sides, especially India. They are the best ODI unit in the world and most people expect them to win the tournament.”Not only do Sri Lanka have to overcome the alien conditions that they will confront at Hambantota, but for the team overall it has been a tough four days following the deaths of manager Anura Tennekoon’s father and team member Chamara Silva’s sister. Silva apparently will miss today’s game.”We feel very much for them and at the same time these things bring us closer together,” said Sangakkara. “We just need to concentrate on playing good cricket because they be will wanting us to do well.”Leading his country for the first time in a World Cup, Sangakkara said that it was “a great privilege and an honour not just to captain a World Cup team, but to captain this particular team”. “They are a wonderful bunch of guys and the best we have in Sri Lanka.”Sri Lanka is likely to go in with a two spin, two pace attack with all-rounder Angelo Mathews playing the role of third seamer.The team received a timely morale booster with the arrival of Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lanka’s World Cup hero of their 1996 triumph and present chairman of selectors, at the team’s practice session on Friday.”Aravinda just came to express his confidence in the team. His advice is extremely valuable at all times and he’s a very shrewd thinker on the game and a fantastic cricketer on his own right,” said Sangakkara. “It’s good to have him not just as the chairman of selectors but once in a while just talk to the team. His job has been a tough one especially in the light of decisions he had to make. But he was very forthright in his selections.”Sangakkara was wary of Canada and said that you cannot take them lightly. “If you take the warm-up game they played against England, they lost only by 16 runs. Every team raises their game when the World Cup comes and we need to raise our game and if we do that we can do well.”

Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 64 sets up hosts before three wickets apiece for Sonny Baker, Josh Tongue take Superchargers down

ECB Media17-Aug-2025Originals are right back in the shake-up of the Hundred men’s competition after an ultimately emphatic victory against in-form Northern Superchargers.Jos Buttler’s rich vein of form continued, registering his seventh fifty in the history of tournament to go top of this year’s run-scorers chart.He was ably supported by the classy New Zealander Rachin Ravindra, playing his first match for this year’s edition and striking 31 from just 14 balls, and then Heinrich Klaasen, who roared back into nick with a savage 25-ball 50.Only Matthew Potts offered much counter-thrust, picking up two wickets; but even he was helpless to halt the carnage at the death as Buttler and Klaasen combined for 27 runs from the final 11 balls. In all the Superchargers gave up nine sixes.Much then hinged on the Superchargers getting off to a flyer. Zak Crawley clattered two cover drives from the first set bowled by Sonny Baker, and then smashed a six off his England team-mate Josh Tongue. But a sharp catch at backward point from Matty Hurst saw Crawley depart for a nine-ball 16, and thereafter their chase flatlined.The key moment was the dismissal of Harry Brook, who top-edged an attempted sweep for 11 to give Ravindra his first wicket of this year’s competition.Originals have an enviably varied attack, with Tongue, Scott Currie and the effervescent Baker – last week called into England’s white-ball squads – providing the cutting edge and the Afghan mystery spinner Noor Ahmad offering the sparkle.Tongue and Baker shared three wickets apiece – Baker taking a hat-trick after bowling Dawid Malan for 19 off the 50th ball before returning to claim the final two dismissals, Tom Lawes caught by Lewis Gregory at deep midwicket and yorking Jacob Duffy next ball to wrap up victory.Tongue is now top of the wicket-takers’ list with nine, one ahead of his teammate Currie – while Ahmad was irresistible, taking two wickets and conceding less than a run a ball. Ravindra, with his left-arm spin, offered further control in the middle sets.For the Superchargers it was an afternoon to forget. Only David Miller, with 38, managed to make it past 19. They nonetheless remain in the mix, in a three-way tie at the top, ahead of a crucial week in this intriguing tournament.Meerkat Match Hero Buttler said: “It was hard work but I tried not to get frustrated. We built some partnerships and having guys set was crucial. We’ve played a couple of games here, and seen how the wicket can be. We tried to keep it simple and not to put pressure on our bowlers.”There’s nice variety in our attack, Josh and Sonny complement each other, and adding someone like Noor is a trump card. To put together a performance like that with bat and ball is very exciting.”Phil Salt, Originals skipper, was thrilled with the performance. “It’s been a chasing competition so far, so we’re really pleased with what the top order did today, batting first. Bowling-wise we’ve been pretty strong, with Sonny [Baker] and Scottie [Currie] and the rest doing really well.”Sonny’s brilliant as always, mad as a box of frogs. You just wind him up and let him go! In the last couple of weeks, he’s executed more often than not. It’s now about picking up momentum.”

India captain takes heart from India having put the pressure back on Australia late in the Gabba Test, despite having fallen behind earlier

Alagappan Muthu18-Dec-20246:07

Rohit: ‘No harm in accepting I’ve not batted well’

Rohit Sharma took heart from India’s performance at the Gabba, particularly in the way they were able to save the follow-on and then take a few quick wickets when Australia were batting in the second innings.Although they fell behind in the game – after winning the toss and choosing to bowl – KL Rahul held the batting together in their first innings with his 84 and their lower-order rallied hard enough to effectively dismiss Australia’s hopes of a win. India were helped in large parts by the rain in Brisbane which affected all but one day’s play.”This thing has been in our team for a while now that we don’t give up easily, whatever the situation. We want to keep fighting. Even when we bowled in the second innings, we had the same intensity that we wanted to bowl them out for 60-70 runs because we knew they would play their shots and look to score quickly. That gives you opportunities and we get some as well. But we didn’t have enough time to chase 270-280 in 50 overs.”Related

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• WTC final race – How can India, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka qualify?

Australia batted with the purpose of setting up a declaration on day five, so they went out and took a lot of risks and in the process lost a lot of wickets. They declared on 89 for 7 and had about one session or so to go for a win but then the rains came again.”There’s pressure on the other team too,” Rohit said. “Until you put some pressure on the other team you won’t come to know how they react under pressure. When we were here last, we had chased 320-330 [328] on the last day and they’ll remember that in the back of their mind, they know we are capable of chasing like this. Whatever happened today, it gave us confidence ahead of Melbourne. We’re aware we have to start from scratch, conditions are different there and the ball may not move around so much there like it did here. We have to analyse all this and proceed.”Rohit’s own form is a matter of concern as well with the 10 he scored in Brisbane being his highest score in four innings so far on the tour, including a practice game in Canberra.”Yeah, I have not batted well. There is no harm in accepting that. But I know what’s in my mind. How I am preparing myself. All those boxes are very much ticked. It’s just about spending as much time as possible [batting].”Which I am pretty sure I am just there. As long as my mind, my body, my feet are moving well. I am pretty happy with how things are panning out for me.
Sometimes those numbers can tell you that it’s been a while since he has got big runs. But for a person like me, I think it’s all about how I feel in my mind. What kind of prep I am having before each game. And how I am feeling about myself. That’s the most important thing.”And I am feeling good about myself, to be honest. Yeah, runs are obviously not showing that. But inside it’s a different feeling.”India move to Melbourne on Thursday for the fourth Test of the series which remains locked at 1-1, and the team is fairly pleased with that state of affairs.”It might appear that we were lagging behind in this Test but we take a lot from here,” Rohit said. “I’m immensely proud of the attitude we have shown because runs and wickets are one thing, but if your attitude and character are good then you can turn the impossible into possible.”