All posts by csb10.top

Steven Mullaney claimed vital wickets in the middle overs•Getty Images

They say that Steven Mullaney is unsung, but little is left unsung on NatWest Blast Finals Day. The cricket takes place to a musical backdrop and Mullaney spotted his moment, exercised his lungs and took Nottinghamshire into the final of the NatWest Blast.Hampshire played their part in an engrossing, fiercely contested semi-final before succumbing by 23 runs, but if anybody shifted the equilibrium it was Mullaney, the dismissal of James Vince for 56 from 32 balls the most crucial moment of all as Vince swept and Brendon Taylor, running in too far from deep backward square, clutched the ball over his head.Vince has been looked at in all three formats by England, his last appearance coming in T20, against Sri Lanka on his home ground at the Ageas Bowl in July last year. Too often, he looked irresolute, departing to weak shots, but the majority of those who have followed have also been found wanting to similar degree.This innings was a timely reminder of his quality, but Mullaney whose medium-paced mix-ups also caused Tom Alsop to chip a return catch and defeated a prodigious mow by George Bailey to bowl him, denied Vince the chance to make his mark in the final in an unbroken spell of 3 for 22.Add the run out of Michael Carberry – a direct hit by Samit Patel from short third man – and Nottinghamshire, looking powerful and well balanced, had secured a shot at the trophy against Birmingham, their first appearance in the final since 2006.Only in the last few overs did Nottinghamshire’s victory look assured. With 30 needed off three overs, and four wickets standing, three wickets in an over from the former England left-armer Harry Gurney settled the issue. Riki Wessels held the first two in front of a posse of photographers at long-on, turning round with a thumbs-up after the second one as if to say “that’s in case you missed it”.Notts’ 169 for 7 felt like serviceable job by a quality batting line-up, but it was far from impregnable. They were hopeful that Dan Christian’s 24 from 12 balls at the death had tipped the balance. But they could not have afforded too much mayhem from Shahid Afridi at the top of the order in reply: they got none at all.Afridi is one of cricket’s great capricious talents. His 42-ball hundred against Derbyshire got Hampshire to Finals Day; he marked it with a first-ball duck. Nottinghamshire matched him in the first over with Patel’s left-arm slows. Patel, a confident fellow, would have relished it. He pulled his first ball down slightly short and Afridi deposited it into the hands of deep midwicket. He does nothing by half.Christian, Notts’ captain, said: “It was a bit tight especially when James was thrashing us around everywhere. His was a huge wicket. Steven Mullaney was fantastic. He has had a difficult time at Trent Bridge this season with short boundaries and flat pitches and bowling in the middle overs so it was nice to see him get the wickets.”Vince also felt that Mullaney’s mid-innings wickets had broken them. “It was hard in the middle overs, but they did not lose wickets and we did,” he said.Hampshire’s threat lies in their trip of spinners. Mason Crane, Liam Dawson and Afridi went into Finals Day with 41 wickets between them as well as economy rates all under 7.5 runs an over. They were again central to their challenge, sharing 4 for 80 in 12 overs. Wessels nearly broke them in making 48 from 27, Patel played them wisely, but on a pitch offering a little grip they completed a job well done.There is no more dangerous opening combination in the Blast than Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales and Wessels. Hales, long-limbed and languid, flows into the slightest width. Wessels, squatter and crouched in old-fashioned style, hunts down a bowler in calculated fashion. For both to be silenced at 71 for 3 in the eighth over was arguably damage limitation enough.The most dangerous, on this occasion, was Wessels, who had just milked Dawson’s left-arm slows for three successive boundaries when he failed to work Crane into the leg side and popped a catch to cover.Hales made history in the final of the Royal London Cup – his 187 not out was the highest-ever score in a Lord’s final – and had that competition still been positioned at the end of the season, it might have propelled him into England’s Ashes tour party. He still might make it, and claims that his T20 form has taken him to a higher level.Afridi picked up a catch on the edge of the circle at short third as Hales carved at Chris Wood. The left-armer added Tom Moores in the same manner for nought: the murmurings on the bench of his father, Notts coach Peter Moores, to “watch the ball” going unheeded.Patel v Crane was cagey, but no worse for that. Crane is no longer the promising ingénue, his leggies now dropped with confidence. Patel is one of the best workers of spin in the country. Crane’s return of 1 for 22 brought him a minor victory, but Patel had eyes for the longer game. Those figures were later matched, somewhat surreptitiously, by the ageless Afridi, revelling in a big occasion – until he self-destructed with the bat.Patel then struck Dawson down the ground for six, but the next was flightier and wider and Patel, who had made room, sliced helplessly at it like a man about to totter from a high bar.At 122 for 5 with 27 balls left, the contest was at its sharpest. Christian’s muscular 24 from 12 balls included three sixes in four balls off Kyle Abbott, but his next assault flew flat to cover. Two excellent sides were nip and tuck. All that was clear at the interval was that it was anyone’s game – and it turned out to belong to Notts.

Recent losses have prompted anger, and there remain “too many cooks” in the Sri Lanka set-up: these were the grouses of interim coach Nic Pothas following the nine-wicket drubbing at the hands of India, in the first ODI in Dambulla. Pothas’ comments come less than two months after Graham Ford quit as head coach, also because he felt the team and coaching staff were subjected to too much undue influence.While Ford never spoke out about the frustrations that led him to leave, Pothas has now made strong hints about his annoyance at outsiders meddling in team matters. He has also criticised Sri Lanka’s fickle selections.Sri Lanka have had a long history of administrators and selectors treading on coaches’ and captains’ toes – a phenomenon that has contributed to the extremely high turnover in the head coach position, and the early resignation of several captains.”You do get angry – to say ‘too many cooks’ is probably accurate,” Pothas said of his emotions following the recent string of losses. “You get frustrated. Am I angry with the players? Absolutely not. The players work as hard as anyone can ask of them. They’ve been superb. Support staff have been out of this world. Brilliant. They work endless hours with planning and helping the boys. You can’t fault anyone within that changing room.”Sri Lanka’s decline in 2017 has been alarming, having featured a torrid tour of South Africa, unprecedented losses to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and most-recently a 0-3 pummeling in the home Tests against India. While at times members of the coaching staff have been optimistic the team’s form would turn around soon, no one has been able to pinpoint a specific time for when improved results can be expected. For Pothas, lack of control of team matters inhibits his ability to raise the team from their slump.”If it was up to me and we had control over what we did, then we could probably give you a timeline [for improvement],” he said. “It’s a question you probably need to ask a few other people as well. For me, if we were left alone and you could work with this group of players, you could get some stability and consistency over a period of six months. You’d see massive improvements.”These are seriously gifted players. You give them a little bit of time – you give them a little bit of love, a little bit of care, and build up that confidence, you’ll see results quick.”The criticism Pothas has leveled at the selectors, meanwhile is not new. Since the Sanath Jayasuriya-led selection committee took over in May last year, Sri Lanka have fielded 40 players in ODIs – a figure the selectors have been widely panned for. This is, however, the first time a team insider has spoken out about the challenges this kind of selection policy presents.”When you get consistency within a team of players, you will see improvements in performance,” Pothas said. “When we’re getting new players every game, it gets very difficult from a confidence point of view. From the player’s point of view it’s very difficult. It’s difficult for us – the coaching staff – to create a strategy.”On the game itself, Pothas described Sri Lanka’s batting collapse – in which nine wickets were lost for 77 runs – as “unacceptable”. Their eventual score of 216 all out always seemed unlikely to trouble India’s strong top order.”We probably didn’t read the situation well enough. Yes, there were some execution issues as well. What we always try to drive home in the changing room is if you make the right decision but don’t execute, we’re more than happy with that situation. Today we were a little bit more on the making the wrong decisions side unfortunately.”

While we’ve been spending our time at ESPNcricinfo headquarters translating some of the most common Afrikaans cricket terms into English, it seems there may be a bigger task. Dean Elgar, South Africa’s stand-in captain, is looking for the meaning of another word; a word that he knows explains something about him which he can’t quite explain himself.”If you take me off the field, I am quite a reserved and quiet guy, and if I get to know the person, I can be a clown. But once I cross the line, you can see it in my batting, I’m a bit tougher and more nuggety, as everyone has been calling it. I still don’t know what that word means.”It means spending several seasons racking up runs on the domestic scene even when the national top-order was so clogged the chances of a promotion were slim. It means scoring over 1000 runs in a season, still being overlooked for higher honours and keeping going. It means brushing off a pair on Test debut and scoring a series-winning century on your first away tour in the absence of the senior core who cushioned your arrival. It means watching Alviro Petersen struggle and retire; Stiaan van Zyl struggle and get dropped; Stephen Cook struggle then spark and then struggle again to find himself sidelined and accepting the responsibility that comes with having to stabilise the side because of that.It means being Dean Elgar in the only way he knows how and at Lord’s over the next five days, it is how the whole South African team will be.Elgar’s XI will begin South Africa’s quest to continue a proud run on the road in the last 11 years, dented only by their defeat to India in 2015. Since then they have won in Australia and New Zealand but this will be the real test of whether they have retained their away-from-home advantage, because they are underdogs and Elgar likes it that way.”We tend to play better when we are up against it,” Elgar said. “Everyone gets along and tours well. When you are away from home, that’s the only family you have.”Dean Elgar will fulfill a family ambition at Lord’s•AFP

Not this time, though. In attendance at Lord’s will be the families of several of the South African players including Elgar’s. His father and his old school coach will be in attendance, after promising Elgar years ago that if he ever played a Test at Lord’s they would be there. “They saw something in me a little bit more than what I saw when I was nine years old. They said if it happens one day [play at Lord’s] then they were going to come and watch.”Getting to this venue has long been an Elgar-family aim and now that he is here, he admitted it has lived up to expectation. “Everything about Lord’s seems to want you to do better. You hear all the folklore when you’re growing up and you watch it on TV, and it always looks so nice. Once you reach the big arena all those memories come flooding back, and you have your first opportunity to play here and try do well here. It’s an enhanced feeling when you get here, an emotion to try and do well,” he saidElgar won’t just be trying to bat well, he will also want to captain well and for that to happen, he needs to ensure the sense of occasion does not overawe him. “As a captain you have to look at it as another game of cricket. You can’t let the occasion get the better of you. You’ve got to think about the team first and venue later,” he said. “You can sit on the balcony after the day’s play and admire what’s happened or play the play back in your head. But you can’t let the venue overwhelm you.”No-one can say what kind of captain Elgar will make because he has only done it seven times before at first-class level so Lord’s will be the template for his leadership style. Though Elgar will hand the armband back to du Plessis for the second Test if all goes according to plan, he still hopes to remain part of the brains trust as he evolves from purely a player to a figure in a position of some power.”I can contribute more within the team environment and will maybe be thinking a little bit less about myself and more about the team,” Elgar said. “That sometimes happens in international cricket — you do tend to just worry about your own game and not have to make the tough calls, which is sometimes a blessing or a curse. But leadership is about making those tough calls.”One of them may be on team selection as South Africa decide whether they will veer from the usual seven specialist batsmen and settle for six in order to play a second allrounder in Chris Morris. On a green-tinged pitch, Morris may get the nod and things could be tough for batsmen but Elgar has already defied that. He scored a century when Somerset played Middlesex earlier this season, a stint that formed the core of his preparation for this series.”I loved it. It was a very good three months for me at Somerset,” he said. “It was solely for me to come over was to give myself the opportunity do well in this Test series and gain experience in foreign conditions and try and play a lot of cricket as possible.”In that time, he has already raised his bat at Lord’s. If he does again will take him from nuggety to noteworthy in an instant.

Joe Root admitted England had let a huge opportunity to claim a first global one-day title slip away when they slumped to defeat against Pakistan, but coach Trevor Bayliss believes that finishing in the semi-finals reflected where the team currently stands.Having completed the group stage as the only unbeaten side, England were brought crashing to earth by a superlative Pakistan bowling performance on a pitch which pushed their batting order out of their comfort zone. From the moment of Root’s dismissal in the 28th over, they lost 8 for 83 in 22 overs, hitting just three boundaries after the 30-over mark.For Root, this was the third near-miss of his career, following the 2013 Champions Trophy final against India and last year’s World T20 final against West Indies, leaving England to focus on the 2019 World Cup – also on home soil – to break their duck in 50-over tournaments.”It was a golden chance for us to win something and all we can do now is keep looking towards that World Cup and use this as a really good platform,” Root said. “Throughout the whole time, Morgs [Eoin Morgan] and the rest of the guys know that we’re not the finished article but we have made huge steps and huge strides.”We’ve got to continue to do that and we’ve got to work out ways where we can get on the right side of these results and in scenarios when things aren’t favourable to us. It is a good learning curve for us but we’ve got to keep the same drive that we’ve had over the last 18 months to keep getting better so that, when that World Cup does come round, we’re in the best shape possible and give ourselves the best chance of really contending that final.”Bayliss, who took charge in the summer of 2015, following England’s embarrassing group stage exit at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, was more sanguine about the exit despite his team’s most laboured effort with the bat since they threw caution to the wind two years ago.”I know you guys had us down as the favourites here, but that certainly wasn’t out of the team or from my point of view. Where we finished, third or fourth, is probably about right at the moment, we’ve still got a lot of work to do and we know that, but it is what we’re building towards.”I’m still very disappointed we didn’t win against Pakistan, I thought we’d been playing well enough to win, but we came up against a good side that played well.”The issue of whether England had lost their home advantage due to the abrasive nature of the used pitch at Cardiff did not come into the players’ minds, according to Bayliss. Though he did cite conditions as one of the key factors in the match, he also credited the way Pakistan’s bowlers hit the correct lengths for the pitch.”It is just the way it is, you’ve got to play on different wickets wherever, sometimes at home and sometimes away,” he said. “It is just one of those areas where we’ve got to improve at.”I think the conditions did have a part to play and I thought the Pakistanis used them extremely well. I thought the lengths they bowled were what most teams try to achieve, there was very few half-volleys and very few long-hops, and that is something that we’ve spoken about.”Bayliss backed his team to brush off their disappointment over the next few days and focus on the second half of the season. There are three T20s against South Africa next week – the squad featuring a new of new names – leading into a four-Test series. Then, in August, West Indies arrive for a multi-format tour.”One of the good things with this team is that we have played worse than this over the last couple of years, been knocked over easily in games and it doesn’t seem to affect them,” he said. “That is one of the reasons why we will keep competing at this level because they can put it to the back of their minds and go out and play their natural way the next time.”For Root, there is an immediate challenge to focus his mind as he prepares to begin his England Test captaincy. He was handed the job in February, but with the focus on one-day cricket, it has taken a back seat until now. Root is rested from the T20s against South Africa so the next time he pulls on an England shirt it will be the Lord’s Test against South Africa.”That is exciting, but I haven’t really thought about it too much over the last week or so,” Root said. “Certainly over the next couple of weeks I’ll get my head around that and all the challenges it will bring. More importantly the opportunities it will bring as well. There is plenty to look forward to and plenty to play for.”

Coming into a crucial game against Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad made a few tactical calls that would have likely invited criticism had they lost. The real eyebrow-raiser was the omission of Kane Williamson in favour of Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi. After all, Williamson has played an important part in building on the platform laid by the openers, batting deep to take the pressure off a relatively fragile lower-middle order. He has scored 232 runs in six innings, including two fifties, at a strike-rate of 162.23 – he has scored more quickly than Warner, Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh.The rationale behind retaining Moises Henriques as the first-choice allrounder might have been questioned as well. While Henriques has three fifties and has done well with the bat, he has done little with the ball, so why play him ahead of Williamson, the better batsman? However at the end of the game, which Sunrisers won by seven wickets with 10 balls to spare, VVS Laxman, the team’s mentor, could smile, a man comfortable in the knowledge that the merit of his plans was reflected in their clinical execution.First Nabi proved his backers right. Playing only his second match in nearly a month, he was handed the ball in the Powerplay, bowled Lendl Simmons off his fourth delivery, and went on to complete his four overs on the trot, conceding only 13. Laxman said Nabi’s inclusion was to counteract Mumbai’s left-hand heavy top-three which includes the in-form Parthiv Patel and Nitish Rana. The absence of rust in Nabi, Laxman said, showed the constant state of preparedness in the Sunrisers camp.”We have players on the bench who can straightaway come into the playing XI and perform,” Laxman said. “Nabi is someone very good not only after the Powerplay, but also in the Powerplay. That was the rationale behind getting Nabi in. To come and straightaway be in excellent rhythm and also execute the strategy which we had for the opposition batsmen was really good to see. Those first two-three overs set the tone for the match.”On a sluggish surface where a chase of 139 could have been tricky, Shikhar Dhawan batted with restraint to finish with an unbeaten 62 off 46. His 91-run partnership with Henriques, who scored 44 off 35, closed the doors on Mumbai. Despite Henriques conceding 15 runs in the only over he bowled, Laxman talked up his utility as a bowler even as he empathised with Williamson.VVS Laxman said Mohammad Nabi’s success showed the match-readiness of the Sunrisers bench•BCCI

“We have to also understand that he came into bowl in the 14th over. As an opposition batting line-up, they will be looking to target the fifth and sixth bowlers,” Laxman said. “But, I thought he bowled really well last match. We should be very happy with the way Moises has contributed to the Sunrisers franchise, not only with his batting and bowling but he is a leader within the group. Even on the field, his inputs are very good, and he definitely helps Warner by giving various suggestions.”It is very frustrating I am sure for someone like Kane Williamson, because he is in outstanding form. But when you have only four overseas players to play with, you have to work out what is the best combination to go out on that particular day, against that particular opposition, keeping the conditions in mind.”He also lauded Yuvraj, who made 9 off 11 balls, for gritting it out despite having hurt his hand. Yuvraj also reportedly nursed a calf niggle and was seen wearing a brace on his left leg. With Sunrisers close to securing a playoff spot and the Champions Trophy looming, there is bound to be concerns over Yuvraj’s fitness. Laxman, however, felt the injury wasn’t very serious.”He should be okay. Just that the hand got jammed into the ground while he was fielding. So there is some contusion, but luckily we are next playing a match after four days, so there is enough time for him to recover. But credit to him to go out there in spite of the pain, taking the responsibility that I will go out and bat and try to win the match.”Another noticeable aspect of Sunrisers’ performance was the energy demonstrated on the field, with animated discussions between the captain and the bowler ahead of almost every over. At times, the tactical talk spilled over from beyond the boundary as well. On one occasion, coach Tom Moody appeared to be shouting out instructions from the dugout to swap the fielders at cover and short-third man. Promptly, Vijay Shankar, at third man, exchanged places with Siddarth Kaul at cover.”I think it’s quite common. Davey is in crucial [fielding] positions, he’s at long-off or long-on. Sometimes it is very clear from the dugout, who is a better fielder in a certain position,” Laxman said. “If a captain misses out, then the instruction is sent to players saying it is better to swap [fielders]. That happens quite frequently.”You’ve also seen that Tom will… Whenever Davey is in front of the dugout, discussing various options [happens]. Just know what Davey is thinking about. T20 cricket is so quick, sometimes some outside help may be useful for the captain. This isn’t the first time it is happening, and it won’t be the last.”

ScorecardSam Robson and Stevie Eskinazi both scored half-centuries before getting out in their 80s as Middlesex opened their Specsavers County Championship title defence against Hampshire.The pair added 105 for the second wicket with both reaching their milestone with unassuming yet not run shy stays at the crease.But Hampshire, who bowled with a man light for the majority of the day after Fidel Edwards went off injured, battled hard in the evening session to even up the contest – after turning 220 for 2 into 290 for 6 at the close.James Franklin decided to have a toss and duly won it and elected to bat – the Middlesex captain looking down not up with overcast skies overshadowed by a decidedly flat looking pitch.There were cheers from supporters around the ground as a steward unfurled and raised a “Middlesex County Champions 2017” flag above the away dressing room.Robson has a knack of scoring early season runs – with his first three scores of last season 231, 106, and 99 disproving the general thought of April suiting the swing bowlers.He began this knock in style clipping Edwards through midwicket to the boundary with the first delivery before following up with two further fours soon after.But the fast paced opening was dulled as Gareth Berg and Kyle Abbott tidied up – with Edwards forced to sit out the rest of the day after his 21st over hamstring injury, after previously pulling out of a delivery in the run-up.Robson lost his opening partner Gubbins to a corking ball from Edwards when the fast bowler found some late movement to take the edge before second slip Rilee Rossouw pulled off a stunning low catch.Robson was dropped by Rossouw on 40 which saw the South African miss the rest of the day with a hand injury. He continued to cut and clip off his legs in text book style reaching his fifty in 82 deliveries.After a century stand with Eskinazi, Robson finally departed for 84 when he nicked Berg to Jimmy Adams, standing at second slip in place of Rossouw.Dawid Malan accompanied Eskinazi, who reached his third first-class fifty in 102 balls, with the former smashing two sixes.The evening found Hampshire finally turn a reasonably one-sided day around with four wickets falling in the session. Firstly, Malan guided the impressive Brad Wheal to Sean Ervine at first slip, before the Zimbabwean bowled Eskinazi for 82 three overs later – the ball clipping the very top of off-stump.Adam Voges, who suffered a head injury at the Ageas Bowl last year, scored 24 quickly before he chopped Kyle Abbott onto his own stumps. John Simpson struggled by scoring just nine in 58 balls before he carelessly drove Wheal to substitute fielder Mason Crane at point.

Australia’s day two plan was simple: bat all day and wear down an Indian bowling attack trundling through an 11th Test match of the season. But the execution of this plan was made difficult by an untrustworthy Bengaluru pitch, and a snarling, desperate home side, intent on getting in the Australians’ faces, and in turn, their wickets.What played out was riveting, low-scoring stuff. Australia’s 197 for 6 was their lowest score in a full day’s play since Nagpur in 2008, when a Mexican stand-off on a flatter pitch – MS Dhoni employed 8-1 off-side fields which the tourists could not shake – reaped a mere 166 runs. But, where Simon Katich in particular met that grind with mounting frustration, Matt Renshaw responded to Virat Kohli’s niggle with a broad grin, and a deliberate one at that.”I don’t try and say too much out there,” Renshaw said after his 60 from 196 balls took him past 400 balls faced for the series. “I just try to smile, because in my past experience, smiling seems to unnerve the bowlers a bit more than talking back. They seemed to get quite frustrated.”I was just trying to enjoy it and laugh at what he was saying because some of it was quite funny. He [Kohli] was just reminding me to run off and go to the toilet again, which happened in Pune, so it was quite funny. We all took it pretty well and we know that they’re trying to get under our skin because we’ve got a one-nil lead in the series.”Renshaw had a ringside seat as Kohli tried pointedly to distract his opposite number Steven Smith. “There was a bit of talk, but I think that’s because they’re trying to unnerve each other and try and get under the skin. But it was all good fun and good contest out there,” he said. “It was really loud out there when he was doing that. It’s something I’m probably not used to, but it’s about embracing different conditions and challenges that we get.”Incredibly, the surface at the Chinnaswamy Stadium may actually be more difficult than the one prepared for the first Test in Pune. Spin, bounce and pace are all variable, requiring Renshaw and the rest of the Australians to adapt further still to every ball spun or seamed down towards them.”I think Pune we knew was going to spin. This one, we don’t really know which one is going to spin. That’s the challenge,” Renshaw said. “Some are turning quite a lot, some are not turning as much, some are going on with the angle. It’s trying to play for the one that doesn’t turn and then if it goes past the bat, it goes past the bat. But it’s probably a bit harder against the quicks because it’s not bouncing as much or some are going up.”I think every run is vital. We sort of felt like we were just about to get on top of the game when I got out, so it’s quite frustrating from that point of view. If we’d got a few more runs, me and Shaun Marsh, we could have had complete control of the game.”The mental challenge presented was underlined by how successive Australian batsmen fought their way into a position where they may have been able to assert themselves, only to drop their guard. Smith did so, then Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, and finally Shaun Marsh. “It probably wasn’t a great move from me, but Jadeja is a really smart bowler and he probably saw me coming, so he fired it down there,” Renshaw said. “I tried to get a bit of pad on but just missed it.”However, the visitors were still able to ward off the threat of a batting collapse, steadily adding runs across the day to leave Matthew Wade and Mitchell Starc with a chance to build a significant lead on day three. In doing so, it appeared that all had taken something from watching Renshaw, who said his own determination to stay at the crease had been derived from a creative interpretation of junior cricket rules devised to give everyone a go.”I wasn’t the biggest bloke. Instead of retiring us on balls, they retired us on runs, so once we got to 50, we had to retire and someone else would come in,” Renshaw said. “I didn’t really want anyone else to bat, I just wanted to bat for myself. I tried to get to 50 as slow as possible. I don’t think it was my fault, it was my size.”

ScorecardNick Gubbins has been overshadowed of late•Getty Images

Nick Gubbins hit an unbeaten half-century to steer England Lions to the brink of victory in their warm-up game in Sri Lanka A before they were foiled by a spectacular storm.Not that the Sri Lanka President’s XI could be entirely written off. Gubbins was on 52 from 80 balls, and the Lions were on 171 for 6, still needing another 28 to win, when an alarming flash of lightning sent the players scurrying from the field.Thunder had been rumbling around Moratuwa, in the southern suburbs of Colombo, for a while, and within minutes it was raining heavily. But the result was never the priority for the Lions in this game, as they aimed to make the most of their only match practice before the first of the two four-day games against Sri Lanka A starts in Kandy on Friday. In that respect, Gubbins and coach Andy Flower declared it a major success.

No comeback joy for Leach

Getty Images

Jack Leach got through his first match back since remodelling his action with mixed results.
Leach, whose illegal action was spotted at the national academy in Loughborough, so preventing his consideration as a replacement on England’s Test tour of India, completed the three-day match against a Sri lanka President’s XI in Moratuwa without any major malfunctions.
Success was hard to come by, however. Leach took one late-order wicket in the first innings and then conceded 68 runs without success in 14 overs before a late storm prevented a positive result.

The game was played with pink Kookaburra balls, as the first four-dayer in Kandy will be, before the teams revert to red balls for the second match in Dambulla.”It was good for me to spend some time out there, and if you look through the game I think all of our batsmen and bowlers have got something out of it,” said Gubbins, who had a sterling season for Middlesex in 2016 but whose development has been overshadowed by the Test honours bestowed in recent months on fellow openers Keaton Jennings, who is skippering the Lions, and Haseeb Hameed.Two of Gubbins’ Middlesex team-mates, Ollie Rayner and Tom Helm, impressed with the ball as the Lions worked steadily through the six wickets that remained in the Board President’s XI second innings at the start of the final day.Rayner took the only two wickets of the morning session in a single over, both courtesy of Joe Clarke. Clarke was again wicketkeeping with the Lions taking no chances with Ben Foakes’s back problem, although the Surrey man is still hoping to take the gloves for the first unofficial Test.Clarke took a sharp catch then claimed a tidy stumping, and ended the match with seven victims after being doubtful himself before the match because of a wrist problem.Sam Curran then made an important double breakthrough after lunch, and Helm claimed the wicket a probing spell deserved when Hameed took a good catch running back from midwicket.Hameed then dominated an opening stand of 51 inside 12 overs with Keaton Jennings, making 39 from 45 balls including seven boundaries until he fell lbw to the left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara.Jennings had only contributed seven to that partnership, but the Lions captain accelerated after tea, crunching a six over midwicket and scoring three of his seven fours with the reverse sweep that famously brought him a century on Test debut in Mumbai before Christmas. He retired a single short of 50 to give the other batsmen some time in the middle in a pressure situation – and it was Gubbins who made the most of that opportunity, hitting two sixes and earning praise from Flower for his skill against the spinners.”It’s my first time in the subcontinent – the camp in Dubai before Christmas was the closest I’d been previously,” Gubbins reflected, while in his post-innings ice bath. “So it’s a new experience, and I definitely learned lessons from the first innings, when I got out quite cheaply.”That’s been the aim of the winter: experiencing some new conditions and making myself a better player. I was pleased with the way I batted in the second innings of our game against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, and to come here and put into practice is really pleasing for me.”The Lions leave Colombo for Kandy on Wednesday morning, to face a Sri Lanka A team led by Dhananjaya de Silva, who made an impressive debut in Test cricket against Australia late last year.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:05

Highlights – Mohammad Sami defends four in final over

In a nutshellIt doesn’t matter if you were watching this or not, no one knows how this happened. How a team that needed 17 from 19 balls with nine wickets in hand, a team that required seven from two overs with only three wickets down, somehow contrived to muck up a T20 chase and lose by one run. Especially since that team was Quetta Gladiators.This was every inch as routine a chase as Quetta managed 24 hours earlier. It had the colossal partnership, this time a 133-run monster between Kevin Pietersen and the in-form Ahmed Shehzad, and the inevitability of the asking rate decreasing over by over. It even had the opposition coach calling for an early timeout and losing his rag at the expense of his team.But in inexplicable fashion, Quetta got to within a metre of the finish line, and stayed there, almost as if they were caught in quicksand. Or maybe they just wanted to give last-over bowler Mohammad Sami the best birthday gift of his life on the day he turned 36. In any case, the defending champions seized the moment as the table toppers froze like a deer in headlights to eke out the unlikeliest of wins and secure a playoff spot.Islamabad’s innings had been defined by an inability to take off even though the platform had been set by Hussain Talat, so highly regarded by everyone at the franchise yet only playing his first match. He provided the impetus after Dwayne Smith’s first over dismissal, and was particularly punishing on another emerging player, Hasan Khan. Talat dominated the Islamabad innings early on – off the 74 runs made while he was at the crease, Talat was responsible for 56. They were, incredulously, in a winning cause.Where the match was wonIt wasn’t, simply put. It was lost in a haze of confusion and panic that swept right across the Quetta team. It began with an ordinary decision to give Pietersen out lbw to break the century stand, and with seven required off 12 balls, the strange call to send in Anwar Ali instead of a regular batsman backfired.Rumman Raees and Mohammad Sami hit their lengths regularly, Raees consistently going for yorker length and more or less pulling it off each delivery. The first ball from Sami was poor, but Anwar Ali failed to put it away. Bedlam ensued, and Islamabad were that bit more composed at the end. Even so, they never should have won this funny old game, but somehow, they did.The men that won itRaees and Sami deserve all the credit they will get for pulling a rabbit out of the hat, but one unsung hero was Islamabad’s veteran allrounder Shane Watson. As Islamabad’s innings struggled to move through the gears towards the end, and with Misbah-ul-Haq struggling badly for timing and Brad Haddin for form, it looked like they might have to settle for a total near 150.However, Watson provided a measure of competitiveness with forceful power hitting in the final over, with Anwar conceding 18. It saw Islamabad surge to 165, and as was evident less than two hours later, they needed every one of those.Strength in numbersThe second-wicket stand between Pietersen and Shehzad was the highest of this year’s edition of the PSL and second-highest in the two-year history of the competition. It saw the Gladiators make a 133 runs in 86 balls, and during that time, Pietersen also became the most prolific six-hitter in the PSL this year, with three more strikes clearing the rope to take him to 11 in six innings.The moment of the matchThe most perfect illustration of how panic had fogged the minds of Quetta’s batsmen in those final overs at the crease was displayed on the very last ball of this remarkable contest. With Quetta needing three to win and two to tie, their leading scorer Rilee Rossouw was on strike. Sami bowled a fast low full toss on leg stump, and the South African couldn’t get under it, mistiming it instead straight to Misbah at midwicket.Rossouw ran the first one, but seemed to give up right there, resigned to defeat. What he hadn’t noticed was Misbah’s throw to the bowler had been fumbled, and Thisara Perera at the other end was charging down the wicket to attempt a second run. Rossouw looked at Perera and bizarrely sent him back. It was a surreal moment to end the most fantastical of contests.Where they standThe only positive for Quetta is they’re still top of the table, and destined for the playoffs. Islamabad’s one-run win means they are guaranteed to join the Gladiators there, and for now occupy second place.

ScorecardHimanshu Rana followed up his century in the first ODI with a 66-ball 58•PTI

A strong batting effort, led by fifties from Harvik Desai and Himanshu Rana, helped India Under-19s level the five-match series with a rout of England Under-19s in the second ODI at the Brabourne Stadium. After India posted 287, their bowlers combined to bowl England out for 158.Rana, coming off a century in the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium, showed exemplary defensive technique to weather an accurate opening spell from Matthew Fisher. After Fisher had Prithvi Shaw bowled, Shubman Gill and Rana played some delightful strokes in an 82-run second-wicket stand, particularly square of the wicket on both sides, as England’s bowlers persisted with the shortish length that had earned them success in the opening game.Given the slow nature of the pitch and England’s failure to adjust their lengths, Rana faced no trouble in pulling off the front foot. It seemed, however, that most of India’s batsmen too struggled to adapt to the difference in pace from the series opener. On 24, Gill slapped a cut to point and Rana, shortly after hitting his fourth consecutive fifty-plus score, popped a catch to short midwicket, both batsmen through their shots too early. Priyam Garg, one of six inclusions in India’s XI from the previous game, was strangled down the leg side off Fisher. At that point, India had slipped from 102 for 1 to 108 for 4.Wicketkeeper Desai began India’s rebuild by just picking off what was on offer: England’s spinners weren’t consistent in lines and lengths, and their fielding was shoddy. Along with handy contributions from the middle order, he carried India past 200. Desai struck 10 fours in his 75 before he found cover with a drive he was too early into, giving Fisher his fourth wicket.Cameos from Kamlesh Nagarkoti (36 off 32 balls) and Shiva Singh, who struck two reverse-slaps over short third man and a flicked six over fine leg in his 12-ball 23, helped India post 287. England dropped two catches and conceded nearly 90 runs in the final 10 overs.In their reply, England were rocked early by India’s opening bowlers. Seamer Shivam Mavi, in particular, beat the outside edge repeatedly with nippy outswingers. Opener Max Holden was caught down the leg side. George Bartlett was caught behind, and Harry Brook, who looked solid during his 26, chopped on, another victim of a slow surface.Euan Woods and Ollie Pope led England’s recovery with a staunch fourth-wicket partnership that kept India’s spinners at bay. Both batsmen looked fluent before being dismissed in clumsy fashion: Pope was run-out at the striker’s end, calling for a run to square leg that was never on and Woods chipping a catch to mid-off. Not long after, Tom Banton misread the length from left-arm spinner Anukul Roy, and was bowled attempting to cut a slider. England’s fate, by then, was all but sealed at 101 for 6 in the 24th over.Delray Rawlins, England’s match-winner in the previous game, was fluent from the outset. He was the only batsmen from both teams to persist with cross-batted strokes off the spinners, employing the sweep and reverse-sweep to fruition. He forced India’s spinners, who troubled the rest of the batting line-up, to over-compensate. He profited while waiting on the back foot too, rocking back and muscling sixes straight down the ground. No other batsman in this series has come close to matching his power. He was lbw for 46, off the bowling of Ishan Porel, but the ball may have pitched outside leg.Roy picked up three wickets, while Mavi and Porel chipped in with two each to round off a much-improved performance from India.