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Former New Zealand batter reveals details of alleged incident in his new autobiography

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2022Former New Zealand batter Ross Taylor claims he was “slapped” by one of the owners of the Rajasthan Royals franchise during the 2011 season of the IPL.Taylor made the revelation in his new autobiography, , and says the incident took place following a defeat against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali.”The chase was 195, I was lbw for a duck and we didn’t get close,” Taylor wrote in his book, an excerpt of which was published on . “Afterwards, the team, support staff and management were in the bar on the top floor of the hotel. Liz Hurley was there with Warnie [Shane Warne]. One of the Royals owners said to me, ‘Ross, we didn’t pay you a million dollars to get a duck,’ and slapped me across the face three or four times. He was laughing and they weren’t hard slaps but I’m not sure that it was entirely play-acting. Under the circumstances I wasn’t going to make an issue of it, but I couldn’t imagine it happening in many professional sporting environments.”Royals have not issued a statement in response yet.Having spent three years at Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from 2008 to 2010, Taylor played one season for Royals – in 2011 – after he was bought for USD 1 million at the auction. In his book, Taylor said he wished he had stayed at RCB.”While it was amazing to go for a million dollars, in the long run I would’ve been better off if RCB had got me for US$950,000,” Taylor wrote. “If they had, it would have been my fourth year with them. While the IPL is pretty unsentimental, there is loyalty towards long-serving players and I probably would have had a longer IPL career as a one-franchise player. On the other hand, if I’d stayed at RCB, I wouldn’t have played with greats such as Virender Sehwag, Shane Warne, Mahela Jayawardene and Yuvraj Singh.”When you fetch that sort of money, you’re desperately keen to prove that you’re worth it. And those who are paying you that sort of money have high expectations – that’s professional sport and human nature. I’d paid my dues at RCB: if I’d had a lean trot, the management would have had faith in me because of what I’d done in the past. When you go to a new team, you don’t get that backing. You never feel comfortable because you know that if you go two or three games without a score, you come under cold-eyed scrutiny.”Taylor played 12 games for Royals in 2011, scoring 181 runs at a strike rate of 119, after which he played three more seasons for Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors India.In his book, Taylor had also revealed that he had experienced racial insensitivity while playing cricket in and for New Zealand.Who are Royals’ owners?
The Royals franchise – which won the inaugural IPL – was bought in 2008 by Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt Ltd, a consortium of business entities. The major investors in this consortium comprised: Tresco International Ltd (Suresh Chellaram family, 44.2% stake), Emerging Media (IPL) Ltd (owned by Manoj Badale, 32.4%), Blue Water Estate Ltd (Lachlan Murdoch, 11.7%). A year later, in 2009, the Royals became the first franchise to broaden its ownership by selling an 11.7% stake to Kuki Investments Ltd, led by Raj Kundra, husband of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty. The deal, at the time, was reportedly for US$15.4 million approx.In 2015, Kundra was banned for life from cricketing activities by the Supreme Court-appointed RM Lodha Committee, after investigations into the the 2013 IPL corruption scandal revealed he was involved in illegal betting. The Lodha Committee also suspended Royals for two years.In 2021, Badale became the lead owner of the Royals franchise by upping his stake to 65% after an injection of funds from global investors. Also, last June, RedBird Capital Partners, a global private investment firm that has interests in the parent company of Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox, bought a 15% stake in Royals.

Lord’s will play host to the start of the Stokes-McCullum era, not to mention a bizarrely out-of-form Williamson

Matt Roller01-Jun-2022

Big picture

The champions are back. One year ago to the day, New Zealand arrived at Lord’s for the first of three seismic Tests: the first two – a draw in London followed by a convincing win in Edgbaston – gave them only their third-ever series win in England and their first since 1999; the third was their crowning moment, beating India at the Ageas Bowl to become the inaugural World Test Champions.For England, that Lord’s Test represented a sliding-doors moment, the first step on the Joe Root-Chris Silverwood era’s gradual, then sudden descent towards self-destruction. With fans back in the stands for the first time since the pandemic, England declined the opportunity to chase 273 in 75 overs, instead grinding their way to 170 for 3; Root defended the move but lost the goodwill of his team’s supporters and never won it back.When selecting the squad for the series – which saw several multi-format players rested after their IPL excursions – Silverwood had created a rod which was used to beat him for the next seven months. “Playing the top two teams in the world […] is perfect preparation for us as we continue to improve and progress towards an Ashes series,” he said, fatefully; one win in six home Tests and a 4-0 drubbing in Australia sealed his fate.Related

• Ben Stokes wants 'blank canvas' not 'reset' as England begin new Test era

• Broad relishing latest reinvention after brush with Test mortality

• Southee: 'The Kiwi way is to muck in and get the best out of what we've got'

• Henry Nicholls, Trent Boult doubtful for first Test against England

• Potts to make debut at Lord's in first Test

And so 12 months on, England have a new look about them; a snarling, bearded, tattooed one with a distinctly Kiwi flavour, personified by the new captain-coach combination of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. The pair have spoken at length about positivity, mindsets and brands of cricket since their respective appointments but this week will be the first chance for their side to walk the walk.Unsurprisingly, there have been changes in personnel. Only five members of the side that played the equivalent Test last year are retained in the playing XI which England named on Wednesday and even the survivors have a sense of freshness: Root has been released from the burden of captaincy, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope have been shuffled into new positions and James Anderson and Stuart Broad are recalled after they were jettisoned in the Caribbean.One of their most pressing tasks is to win back their fan base, a challenge highlighted by the public’s reluctance to shell out extortionate sums for tickets at Lord’s. Of course, there is a fine line between attacking, attractive cricket and recklessness, but McCullum’s track record as a captain suggests he will strike the balance.New Zealand, meanwhile, are entering a new era of their own, with this series representing a benchmark for their succession planning. “We’re quite a different team to even a year ago at the World Test Championship,” Gary Stead, their understated coach, said on Monday while pointing to the retirements of Ross Taylor and BJ Watling. “Those changes are felt within the team but that’s an opportunity for someone else to come up and play the game.”The transition has not been seamless so far: New Zealand have played three two-match series since the WTC final and won none of them, losing 1-0 in India before back-to-back 1-1 draws at home to Bangladesh and South Africa. On the back of a warm-up defeat to a County Select XI at Chelmsford last week, there is just a hint of vulnerability.It is their batting line-up which will come under particular scrutiny. Will Young is yet to nail down his spot at the top of the order while the engine room of Kane Williamson, Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell have had limited preparation time after their involvement in the IPL. Even still, they will prove tough first opponents for England’s new regime, especially given their main strength – fast bowling – remains unaffected.

Form guide

England: LDDLD
New Zealand: LWWLLKane Williamson will return to Test cricket at Lord’s•PA Images/Getty

In the spotlight

Only seven weeks ago, Joe Root was still England’s Test captain and for a fleeting moment it seemed as though he was determined to cling onto that position despite a run of one win in 17. Instead, he handed the reins to Stokes and has kept a low profile since, warming up for this series with six appearances – three in the Championship, three in the T20 Blast – for Yorkshire. Most ex-captains return to the ranks in the twilight of their career and with a limited shelf-life but at 31 and in the form of his life, Root could press on for many years to come.Kane Williamson‘s persistent elbow injury means he has played a solitary Test since the WTC final and missed New Zealand’s entire home summer. When he has played, he has struggled for form: at the IPL, he finished the season with a glacial strike rate of 93.50 after Sunrisers Hyderabad opted to retain him on a INR 14 crore (USD 1.86 million approx) contract. Following a purple patch, the last 12 months have served a reminder of Williamson’s mortality.

Team news

England named their playing XI on Wednesday, with Matthew Potts due to make his Test debut after he was preferred to Craig Overton as the third seamer. The reshuffle in the batting line-up sees Pope promoted to No. 3, a position he has never batted in first-class cricket, while Root, Jonny Bairstow and Stokes form the middle-order engine room. Jack Leach plays his first home Test since 2019.England: 1 Alex Lees, 2 Zak Crawley, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Matthew Potts, 9 Jack Leach, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.Trent Boult, who arrived late from the IPL, was under consideration before New Zealand trained on Wednesday but appears to be a major doubt. Henry Nicholls, whose rehabiliation from a calf injury was delayed by a positive Covid test, has been ruled out and Williamson confirmed Daryl Mitchell will bat at No. 5 in his place. The main selection call is whether Ajaz Patel – who has not played a Test since taking 10 wickets in an innings against India in Mumbai – should be included, with Stead hinting that he might earlier this week. If he plays, one of Kyle Jamieson, Neil Wagner or Matt Henry will miss out.New Zealand (possible): 1 Tom Latham, 2 Will Young, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Devon Conway, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Matt Henry/Ajaz Patel.Stuart Broad and James Anderson pose in the Long Room•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Pitch and conditions

After an unseasonably dry spring, the rain has returned in London this week and may cause some delays over the weekend, though the first two days are expected to be clear. Pitches at Lord’s have been significantly better for batters this season with an average of 34.24 runs per wicket in the Championship, compared to 20.76 on the green seamers of 2021. There was still some live grass on the surface 24 hours before the toss, but cut much shorter than New Zealand are used to from their home pitches. Supporters have been encouraged to wear red, white and blue to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubillee but some empty seats are expected after slow ticket sales.

Stats and trivia

• Ben Foakes will play his first Test in England, after five in the Caribbean and three in both India and Sri Lanka. Potts and Alex Lees will also make their home debuts.
• Root needs 111 runs to reach 10,000 in Tests; he would be the 14th player and second Englishman to reach that landmark.
• Stokes is 18 sixes away from overtaking his coach, McCullum, as the leading six-hitter in Test history. Stokes is currently sixth on the all-time list; Tim Southee is 15th.
• New Zealand are unbeaten in their last four Tests in England. They have twice gone five Tests in a row without losing in England, from 1937-49 and from 1986-90.
• Southee needs seven wickets in the match to go clear of Glenn McGrath and Sir Richard Hadlee as the leading overseas wicket-taker in Tests at Lord’s.

Quotes

“There’s been talk around the word reset, which is something that I don’t particularly like. I just see this as a complete and utter blank canvas for this Test team going forward.”
“I’ve seen him a couple of times around the hotel and it is strange to see him in it, but good on him. He’s done exceptionally well in his transition from cricket and to get a job like this shows you the type of person he is, and the coach he is as well.”

They underwent a second test inside three days on Monday, following a first negative test last week

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jun-2020Pakistan’s touring party in the UK is set to get bigger after six more players who returned two successive negative Covid-19 tests became eligible to join the initial squad of 20 in Worcester.Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz all underwent a second test inside three days on Monday, following a first negative test last week. All the players are currently in isolation at a five-star hotel in Lahore and are likely to fly out later this week to England.Currently, the 18 players who returned two negatives as well as two reserve players – Musa Khan and wicketkeeper Rohail Nazir – are part of the group of 20 who flew to Manchester on a chartered plane organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The tour group also consists of 11 support-staff members. While head coach Misbah-ul-Haq flew with the squad from Lahore, bowling coach Waqar Younis and physiotherapist Cliff Deacon arrived in England from Australia and South Africa respectively.Among the players that will now join the squad, Hafeez and Riaz had earlier tested themselves at a private laboratory in the wake of their returning positive results after the first round of testing by the PCB. Although the re-test came back negative, the board didn’t consider the result valid as the tests were conducted outside the testing protocols.Meanwhile, Kashif Bhatti, Haris Rauf, Haider Ali and Imran Khan have tested positive, but are believed to be asymptomatic and are in isolation. They will be tested again in a few days, with players needing to return two negative tests to become eligible for selection.Team masseur Malang Ali has also tested positive twice while his back-up Mohammad Imran has tested positive once. Both will remain in Pakistan to finish another round of testing. The group that reached England late last week also underwent a fresh round of testing on Monday, and are awaiting their test results.The tour comprises three Test matches and three T20Is in August and September. All six games will be played behind closed doors.

The ruling comes at a particularly beneficial time for Hafeez, with the PSL just around the corner

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2020Mohammad Hafeez is free to bowl again after his bowling action passed an assessment test. The Pakistan allrounder, who has faced troubles with the legality of his bowling action throughout his career, was reported in a Vitality Blast game in August last year. An assessment at Loughborough University then concluded the bowler’s elbow extended beyond the permitted 15-degree threshold, and he was banned from bowling in the ECB competitions.However, after undergoing testing at LUMS university – also an ICC-accredited testing centre – in Lahore, an independent panel concluded his elbow did not exceed the maximum 15-degree mark, and therefore, the suspension was lifted.The ruling comes at a particularly beneficial time for Hafeez, with the PSL just around the corner. Due to agreements between international cricketing boards, the ECB ban meant he was prohibited from bowling in international games as well as competitions organised by other boards around the world, including at the PSL.Hafeez has been reported, suspended and subsequently cleared a number of times in the past six years when the ICC began to crack down on illegal bowling actions with greater frequency. But Hafeez’s problems with his bowling action go back a long way. He was first reported over 15 years ago during an ODI tri-series in Australia in 2005. In 2014, his action was reported during the Champions League T20, and then again following a Test match against New Zealand later that year. Having twice been found over the legal limit for elbow extension, Hafeez was banned from bowling for 12 months.After his ban ended, he returned to bowling after clearing a bowling test in 2016 but the issue arose again in October 2017, when he was reported during an ODI against Sri Lanka. He was suspending from bowling once more, before being cleared by Loughborough University in May 2018. A few months later, during an ODI against New Zealand, Ross Taylor implied Hafeez was bowling with a bent arm, leading then Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed to slam Taylor’s gesture “disgraceful”.

‘I don’t think we need to go after Mushfiqur, he was trying hard to get him out’ – Mashrafe

Mohammad Isam at The Oval05-Jun-2019Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza defended Mushfiqur Rahim after he hit the stumps with his elbow when trying to run out Kane Williamson. The incident took place in the 12th over of the New Zealand innings when the Ross Taylor – Williamson partnership was at an embryonic stage.As the two batsmen got involved in a mix-up, Tamim Iqbal threw the ball from mid-on with Williamson still well short of the crease and almost given up. But Mushfiqur took the ball in front of the stumps, with his feet behind, and tried to break the stumps. Straight away Tamim and Shakib reacted in a way that suggested they knew what had happened, while the rest of the stadium were cheering the big wicket.Williamson and Taylor went on to add 105 runs for the third wicket, that set New Zealand in the right path.Mushfiqur Rahim’s error hands Kane Williamson a lifeline•Getty Images

Mashrafe, who was also following the ball closely during that incident, said that he wouldn’t blame Mushfiqur for the mistake and expects him to bounce back from it quickly. He said that with the catches he had taken off Taylor and Colin de Grandhomme, Mushfiqur had already started to make amends.”I don’t think we need to go after Mushfiqur,” Mashrafe said. “He was also trying hard to get him out. That throw was straight, but as a keeper it was hard to know if it was straight or not. Suddenly the stumps hit his elbow, but it happens. Mushfiqur is a professional player. He knows how to handle all of this. It is not as if this was the first mistake in Mushfiqur’s life. Every player makes mistakes.WATCH – Highlights of Mushfiqur’s error on Hotstar (India only)”For example, in the last match Soumya dropped a catch, but he has caught many difficult ones before that. I think that it can happen with Mushfiqur, and that it may happen again is a normal thing. We are not here to blame anyone, we are here to give our best. Even after that, the catches that Mushfiqur took off Ross Taylor and Grandhomme, those could have been turning points.”I don’t think there is a need to create pressure for anyone and neither do I think that he needs to think about this. If everything goes well in the next match, you will see that everything is fine again.”Mashrafe said that falling 30 runs short of their desired total was a bigger problem on the day. He said that Mushfiqur himself getting run out after a mix-up with Shakib, after they had added exactly 50 runs for the third wicket, was also a crucial point in the game.”If you don’t score big, you have to take all those chances. It happens in cricket. No one wants to make mistakes. I think the bigger mistakes was when we batted. If we managed to score 30 more runs, it could have been a different game.”That run out [of Mushfiqur while batting] was the turning point. They both got set in that moment. Again, Shakib and Mithun had their partnership broken when they were putting it together. If any of those two partnerships had gone into eighties or a hundred, things would have been different,” he said.

On a high-scoring, field-first ground, fighting considerable amount of dew, Kolkata Knight Riders nearly won with an under-par 178 but failed to defend 59 in the last 23 balls

The Report by Sidharth Monga09-Apr-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
4:40

Agarkar: Lower-middle-order form will gladden Mumbai

On a high-scoring, field-first ground, and fighting considerable dew, Kolkata Knight Riders nearly won with an under-par 178 but failed to defend 59 in the last 23 balls. In the cauldron, with the home crowd burning their ears and a wet ground underfoot, the visiting Knight Riders just froze in the field after taking out almost all the big guns from Mumbai Indians.

Rohit receives reprimand

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has been reprimanded by match referee Sunil Chaturvedi for showing excessive and obvious disappointment with the umpire’s decision when he was adjudged lbw by CK Nandan. Rohit admitted to the Level 1 offence, 2.1.5 of the IPL Code of Conduct.
The incident occurred in the 10th over of Mumbai’s chase when Rohit went onto the back foot to play a flat offbreak delivery from Sunil Narine and got a thick inside edge onto his pad. Narine and his team-mates appealed vociferously for lbw and Nandan gave it out within seconds. Rohit was visibly upset with the decision and stood his ground for a few seconds before walking off slowly. TV cameras also appeared to film Rohit saying a few words towards Nandan as he walked past the umpire.
Replays later showed Rohit had also let out a big scream as soon as he was given out, and subsequently held his bat up in a gesture to indicate he had edged it.

Almost. Because at 119 for 5, Mumbai sent out Hardik Pandya, whose cameo met Nitish Rana’s hitherto solid innings to stage a heist. Rana went from 29 off 23 to 50 off 28, and Hardik hit the winning runs in his 11-ball 29. The night belonged to the brothers after Krunal Pandya dragged Knight Riders back with his left-arm spin of 4-0-24-3. Two of these wickets read c Pandya b Pandya.Looking London, going Tokyo with K PandyaChris Lynn came into this match on the back of an explosive 93, but he goes at only 6.16 against left-arm spin. It was expected, then, that Krunal would bowl early in the innings. Knight Riders had already run away to 44 in four by the time he came on, and Lynn was not on strike first ball. Doesn’t matter, because Krunal took two bonus wickets of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa in that over.Sometimes a wide is better than going for a boundaryThe other thing about Lynn was his wagon wheel in his 93. He scored 52 off those runs in 17 hits to leg, and not one behind square. So Mumbai bowled to him with a long-on and a cow corner, short and into the body, denying him the swing of the arms. The quicks even bowled two wides to him down the leg side. In the end, against Jasprit Bumrah, Lynn went to hit square, to miss that man at cow corner, and moved too far across to be lbw with Knight Riders at 67 for 3 in the eighth over, with a middle-overs slowdown to follow.Pandey to the rescueManish Pandey, who before this match had scored 53 off 53 Harbhajan Singh deliveries, was part of that slowdown when Harbhajan and Krunal turned the screws. Pandey, though, can shift gears dramatically. His overall strike rate in IPL is 111 over the first 30 balls of an innings, and 173 off the next 30. Here he went from 35 off 30 to 81 off 47, taking Mitchell McClenaghan apart in a 23-run final over.Confusion at the topPerhaps Mumbai don’t trust Parthiv Patel to bat anywhere other than against the new ball. Perhaps they want a big batsman in the middle. Perhaps they are not giving it enough thought, but their top four remains a muddle. Knight Riders bowled superbly against Jos Buttler, Parthiv, Rana (promoted ahead of Rohit Sharma) and Rohit to reduce them to 74 for 3 in 10. There was swing for Trent Boult, pace from Ankit Rajpoot, and guile from the two spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine.Pollard gone, game over?This was now becoming Kieron Pollard v Knight Riders. Pollard even blocked out a whole over from Kuldeep to turn 73 off 41 into 71 off 36. Soon it went past two runs a ball and nudged 2.5 a delivery as Pollard struggled against fellow Trinidadian Narine. Pollard was now ripe for the taking, and Chris Woakes did so with a wide bouncer. This was the 17th over, the wheels were about to come off.Own goal after own goalThe ground was pretty wet by now. The pitch was still flat. The boundaries were still small. Mumbai still needed just one man to get on a roll. It all began with a fielding error. Rana set off for a desperate single, the throw from mid-off came in, and Woakes didn’t have the ball in his hands when he removed the bails. Rana should have been out for 28 off 22. And then both of them got on a roll.With Gambhir off the field, Suryakumar Yadav bucked the trend of bowling the best bowler in the 19th, and kept 18th and 20th for Boult. Nineteen came off the 18th over with Boult missing the yorker twice. It is arguable if they should have been bowling yorkers with the wet ball, but at Wankhede, length is not the answer either. Youngster Rajpoot kept going for the yorker in the 19th, conceding two sixes but also taking out Rana with one.With 11 required off the last over, Boult went full for the first two balls. Two leg-byes and a single should have been the result but the ball slipped under stand-in captain Suryakumar’s hands at long-on. Now with Hardik on strike instead of Harbhajan, Boult went for the bouncers. A dot ball and a wicket should have been the result, but substitute Rishi Dhawan slipped under a sitter. What should have been a single became a boundary, what should have been an easy catch became two runs, and Knight Riders weren’t left with anyone else to blame.

Sam Billings found his best form since returning from IPL before Kewnt staved off a six-hitting assault from Shahid Afridi and Darren Sammy to hold off Hampshire by eight runs at Canterbury

David Hopps08-Jun-2016
ScorecardSam Billings found his best form since returning from IPL•Getty Images

When you are reeling from an onslaught of eight sixes in 22 balls, Shahid Afridi has a look of wild ambition about him and his batting partner Darren Sammy is looking more he-man by the minute, it is hard to keep faith that victory is in your grasp.Kent held their nerve as Hampshire’s high-impact duo reeled off their moves like a couple of seasoned tag wrestlers, withstanding their late assault to claim an eight-run win in the NatWest Blast.Canterbury is one of the quietest grounds on the circuit, where even the hum of the ice cream van is in danger of receiving a noise abatement notice, but as Hampshire recovered in that unfettered phase from 97 for 5 to 157 for 6 – slashing the requirement to 37 in four overs after being out of the game – the squeals of apprehension were getting louder by the moment.But David Griffiths’ mastery of yorkers at the death, completing an excellent spell of 2 for 24, saw Kent home, Afridi toeing a low full toss to Darren Stevens at long-on and Sammy falling with 11 needed off five balls when he flayed and edged to the wicketkeeper. The last pair produced no grand finale, Kent thereby gaining revenge for their nine-run defeat last week at the Ageas Bowl.Hampshire are the acknowledged masters of T20 cricket in England with six successive appearances at Finals Day; Kent, beaten quarter-finalists in two cup competitions last season, pronounced themselves the most exciting young batting side in the country.But Twenty20 has little respect for reputations and both had started slowly in this season’s NatWest Blast with one victory in three. Canterbury therefore staged what could be regarded, even this early in the tournament, as the first crunch game of the season and Hampshire, bottom of the Championship and disrupted by injuries, will now need a considerable change of fortune if they are going to extend their extraordinary Finals Day record.”It was a game that never felt done and dusted,” said Kent’s skipper Sam Northeast. “It’s never ideal when you’ve got Sammy and Afridi walking out, hitting it from ball one. Griff has been brilliant for us and it’s great to have him fit again after his back surgery. He’s seriously one of the best bowlers at the death when he’s fit and that was a remarkable little spell from him again.”Sean Ervine, Hampshire’s captain, had single-handedly kept Hampshire’s chase alive, reaching his half-century with a full-shouldered long-on swing against Stevens, 17 off the over announcing the charge. When Ervine was run out by Griffiths, Hampshire finally had Afridi and but 112 for 6 was no sort of preparation. “With two superstars at the back, we have to take the game deep,” bemoaned Ervine. “Four run outs didn’t help us either.”Without Michael Carberry, injured, and James Vince, elevated this season to England’s Test side, Hampshire’s top order is vulnerable. They were three down for 51 in the seventh over. Jimmy Adams chipped to mid-on; Lewis McManus ran himself out at the non-striker’s end, sent back by Adam Wheater who had driven straight to Denly in the covers; and Wheater was deceived by Ivan Thomas’ slower ball.Sam Billings’ return to Kent from a first season of IPL had been low key until now, but in his third appearance in the NatWest Blast since his stint with Delhi Daredevils he displayed some of the adventure which last season began to cement his reputation. His unbeaten 55 from 30 balls was capped by an audacious steel-wristed swept six off Tino Best.Few would have anticipated such entertainment 24 hours earlier with the Canterbury outfield underwater after taking the brunt of one of the brief thunderstorms that have crossed the country this week.With that in mind, having been put into bat, Kent would be satisfied with a Powerplay return of 52 for 0 on a slow surface. Denly and Bell-Drummond hunted the short legside slope towards the Lime Tree Café with alacrity and when Denly twice flicked Afridi for six into the building site at midwicket, where a series of retirement homes are in the early stages of development – Rob Key rumoured not to be interested – Kent’s authority was clear.By the time, Kent’s openers departed in the 11th over they were 98 runs to the good. Denly sought the leg-side boundary once too often and Liam Dawson took a neat, diving catch, and Best ardour was roused by the sight of Bell-Drummond’s splayed stumps. Dawson, a vital controlling influence, found some encouragement from a damp pitch that had escaped the covers, persuading Northeast and Billings to allow themselves a brief reassessment.Hampshire lacked three bowlers who made such a contribution to their success last season. The veteran Yasir Arafat decamped to Somerset on a season-long loan, Danny Briggs joined Sussex to escape his creeping reputation as a specialist one-day spinner and Chris Wood is out for the season with a knee injury. That is 53 wickets down, with Briggs also going at only seven an over.Against their replacements, Northeast and Billings broke free. Billings lofted straight and then, as Denly had before him, majored on the short leg-side boundary. When he swept Best into the building site, Kent’s stewards already seemed to have a retirement flat in mind, leaving Gareth Berg to jog around the security fencing to retrieve the ball himself.

Unmukt Chand came agonisingly close to converting his recent scores into a big one, but his stroke-filled 99 helped Delhi win in a tense finish against Haryana

The Report by Sidharth Monga in Delhi18-Oct-2015
ScorecardFile photo: Harshal Patel picked up four wickets, but couldn’t prevent Haryana’s defeat

Unmukt Chand’s recent scores have read: 52, 90, 64, 56, 84, 51 not out. In the second innings at Kotla, in a chase made tricky because of zero experience in the Delhi middle order, Chand came agonisingly close to converting it into a big one, but his stroke-filled 99 helped Delhi win in a tense finish.When Chand became the fourth wicket to fall, Delhi needed only 60 on a slow pitch where batsmen were getting more and more difficult to dislodge, but Delhi supporters became tense. Soon it became apparent why, with Haryana growing a leg, their players finding a voice, and two wickets falling immediately. Pradeep Sangwan, who opens the innings both with the bat and ball in all local tournaments in Delhi, then eased the situation with a couple of fours early on. Harshal Patel and Ashish Hooda bowled their hearts out in the afternoon. Harshal bowled 12 straight overs either side of lunch for 39 runs and two wickets, Ashish’s afternoon analysis read 7-2-16-1, but Delhi prevailed by four wickets in the grudge match against the side led by former Delhi player Virender Sehwag.The day began for Delhi with 155 required and all their wickets intact. The pitch had become slow. Looking at how Haryana’s lower order had dragged the innings out, it looked increasingly difficult to get wickets if the batsmen did not become adventurous. Gautam Gambhir, though, for the second time in the match, fell to a contentious lbw in the second over of the day. He was fine 10% of his match fee for trying to mislead the umpire by suggesting the ball hit him higher than it actually did.The experiment of Mohit Ahlawat at No. 3 failed with a pair against the rookie wicketkeeper’s name. Nitish Rana and Chand then steadied the innings with sensible batting. Chand, who began the day on 48, batted with intent. He drove beautifully through the covers, none of such boundaries coming off half-volleys. He drove them on the up, with a long stride in to get into position. He slowed down in the 90s, and when he got the short and wide delivery to cut, he managed just the outside edge. Chand later said he was not aware he was batting on 99. “I was not looking at 100, but at the 224 the team needed,” he said.Harshal and Hooda got into their zone. Four wickets fell for 29 runs, the injured Ishant Sharma began to walk up and down in the Delhi balcony. It would have been interesting if he would have been available to bat and also able to run. Coming in with 41 required, Sanwgan eased the nerves by racing away to 10 off 13. This was decisive batting. Drawing confidence from the other end, Milind Kumar, the No. 6 batsman under pressure, went to weather the storm.Once the score went past 200 and Haryana had to go to Jayant Yadav and Sanjay Pahal, Milind too opened up. Yadav admitted he should have done better on a last-day pitch than 14 overs for 48 runs and no wickets. “I have let myself down,” he said. “If I had chipped in with one or two wickets or held one end up like Manan did for Delhi, this game would have been closer.”Milind ended the game with two fours in one over, one through gully and the other through midwicket. Relief was palpable all around. Milind raised his bat to the spectators, and Delhi rose to the top of the table after a disastrous off-field start to the tournament. The team management, too, has been under pressure with their left-field selections, but for the moment they sit pretty.

Fourteen Associate teams attempt to outwit, outplay and outlast one another in Ireland and Scotland starting Thursday at the World Twenty20 Qualifier

Peter Della Penna in Belfast08-Jul-20152:06

The tournament format explained

Fourteen Associate teams will attempt to outwit, outplay and outlast one another in Ireland and Scotland starting Thursday at the World Twenty20 Qualifier. The six surviving teams after an intense 51-match event in 18 days will earn a ticket to India for the 2016 World Twenty20 next March. With the World T20 scaling back from a biennial event to once every four years from 2016 onwards – and no guaranteed places for Associates in the 50-over World Cup – there is even greater desperation in this tournament.To add to that, the event has been trimmed from 16 to 14 teams from the last time it was held in the UAE, while two playoff berths in the knockout stage have also been slashed. Now, only the top four from each group will advance to the playoffs. The respective table-toppers during the round-robin challenge receive immunity until the semi-finals as well as the prize of a guaranteed slot for the main event in India.Duckworth-Lewis may play a massive role at this event, unlike the last time. Consistent rain that washed out much of the official warm-up matches may have teams pining to bat last, with overs reduced and all 10 wickets in hand.

Group A

The favoritesContinuity in the Ireland squad has been a hallmark of their success in their title-winning runs from 2012 and 2013. However, only five players remain from the squad that secured the trophy three years ago and a slew of retirements since 2013 has left them somewhat vulnerable. The bowling unit is particularly untested with Trent Johnston and Tim Murtagh’s T20 retirements leaving a gaping hole in the pace department.Scotland exposed the lack of depth in their batting last month with senior players William Porterfield, Paul Stirling and Gary Wilson absent from a pair of swift defeats in Bready. The youth brigade of Andrew Balbirnie, Tyrone Kane and Craig Young need to step up if the big guns don’t fire.Hong Kong have had a steady build-up to the tournament, splitting a T20 series with Namibia in May before travelling to England. They won against a Sussex second XI and tied with Warwickshire second XI in two high-scoring affairs before defending 113 against Netherlands in their last warm-up.Irfan Ahmed has struggled under the spotlight of bigger Associate tournaments in the past but comes into this tournament in excellent touch. The squad is also boosted by the return of vice-captain Mark Chapman in the middle order. Hong Kong’s biggest asset is their pace bowling unit spearheaded by Ahmed, Aizaz Khan and captain Tanwir Afzal, who will all be a handful on seaming wickets.Battle for playoff spotsSompal Kami will have a big role to play in Nepal’s bowling unit•ICC

After finishing third at the last qualifier, Nepal had extensive preparation leading into this event but fared poorly in the Netherlands just before coming to Ireland, winning just one of the four T20Is. It did not get much better on arrival with a low total against UAE in a warm-up loss on Wednesday.Nepal’s bowling attack is their biggest asset, particularly their pace unit. Sompal Kami and Karan KC will have big roles to play but the focus will be on what kind of support the batting unit can give the captain and vice-captain – Paras Khadka and Gyanendra Malla. Sharad Vesawkar was the hero of the knockout stage in 2013 and top-scored in their loss to UAE, so if his bat can heat up it will cool down pressure elsewhere.Papua New Guinea have the most cramped schedule for any team in group stage, with their first match coming three days later than anyone else before having to wrap up six games inside of eight days. The team has shown during their pre-event tour in the UK that they are geared up to get over the hump that saw them fall agonisingly short in 2013. They faced up for two matches each against Worcestershire second XI and Gloucestershire second XI, winning one against each of them.Pulling up the rearNamibia won the Africa Qualifier in March to get to Ireland and registered a two-run win at home against Hong Kong in May. The early signs since landing for the tournament were not good though as they were blitzed by Scotland and Canada. Since making 59 against Botswana on March 28, Gerrie Snyman has scored 60 runs in eight innings, across formats. If his bat doesn’t fire, Namibia are in trouble.USA were dealt a significant blow with the withdrawal of Steven Taylor ahead of the tournament. His bat served as a great leveller against high-class bowling but without him they may be overmatched. Despite non-existent team preparation, USA benefit from a favourable schedule in terms of rest days and sequencing of opponents, starting off against Nepal.Jersey make their debut in the qualifier after winning the European Championship in May. They registered a surprise win over Kenya on June 29, defending 157 after a 64 from Ben Stevens. A truer reflection of their abilities came in the last two days against Afghanistan, who bowled them out for 46, before Scotland won by 69 runs on D/L method after racking up 199. They’ll do well to avoid the wooden spoon.

ESPNcricinfo previews the one-off Twenty20 between England and India at Old Trafford

The Preview by Andrew Miller30-Aug-2011

Match facts

Stuart Broad keeps his eye on the ball in training•PA Photos

August 31, Old Trafford
Start time 1800 (1700 GMT)

Big Picture

A week of relative downtime, and India’s tour of England is finally up and running. Three low-key county fixtures – against Sussex, Kent and Leicestershire – have given a bruised squad a chance to rediscover that winning feeling, and with a trio of hard-earned victories to fall back on, attention now turns to the limited-overs leg of their campaign, starting with the one-off Twenty20 at Old Trafford on Wednesday.As far as India are concerned, a change ought to be as good as a rest. A chance to swap their benighted whites for their familiar blue one-day outfits is an opportunity to draw a line under their shortcomings of the Test series, and revert to the mindset of champions. After all, less than five months have elapsed since that night of nights in Mumbai, and no matter how poorly they may have fared in the interim, they’ll always have that achievement to fall back on.Wednesday’s fixture, however, is unlikely to prove much about the mindset of either set of players. In Twenty20 cricket, it is England, not India, who are the reigning world champions, although their squad has little in common with the one that triumphed in the Caribbean in 2010, and has been selected very much with a view to next year’s defence in Sri Lanka.A trio of youngsters – Alex Hales, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes – are vying for an opportunity to present their credentials, under the leadership of Stuart Broad, whose captaincy career started edgily against Sri Lanka in June, but will doubtless have benefitted from an injection of confidence courtesy of his Man-of-the-Series performance in the Tests against India.As for India’s line-up, it’s a pragmatic blend of old and new. Gautam Gambhir heads back home, and Sachin Tendulkar will sit this match out, but Rahul Dravid, at the age of 38, will make his T20I debut – in recognition, perhaps, of the liveliness of English wickets and the fallibility of some of his batting colleagues against the moving ball. With no Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir or Harbhajan Singh, among others, there’s an air of experimentation on display in India’s selection. But, ahead of the serious business in the ODIs, this is clearly the game in which to test the waters.

Dhoni slighted?

In a bizarre incident, India captain MS Dhoni was stopped from entering the area where the ECB had organised a photoshoot for the Indian players. When Dhoni walked to the indoor centre inside the Old Trafford ground, he was refused entry by a Lancashire county official since he was wearing spikes. “It is the manner in which he spoke to Dhoni that is annyoing,” Shivlal Yadav, the Indian team manager said.
The official remained adamant despite Dhoni’s attempts to explain his case. According to Yadav, at that point Dhoni decided to walk away. The Indian management has reported the matter to John Carr, the director of operations at the ECB.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
England LLWWW
India WWWWL

In the spotlight

In the build-up to their triumphant World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, England stumbled upon a pair of hard-hitting openers in Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb almost by chance. The challenge, with a year to go until the defence of their title, is to find a combination that can prove equally as explosive. Kieswetter endures, even though his problems against the moving ball appear to hamper his effectiveness in English conditions, but Lumb appeared to bid farewell in a flaccid final outing in Bristol. Into the breach, therefore, steps the young Nottinghamshire slugger, Alex Hales, whose raw power has proven effective even in the naturally swinging environment of Trent Bridge. At the age of 22, his time is now.It’s a young man’s game, so they say, but not if that man in question is Rahul Dravid. Back in 2007, when India first fell in love with Twenty20 cricket, Dravid, along with Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, opted out of the epoch-changing campaign in South Africa. He didn’t even play in India’s last World Cup victory, the 50-over version at home, but now, with his country in need of a solid batting presence on the most abject of tours, he’s finally been given his bow. In the circumstances, it’s little surprise he’s announced his retirement from the limited-overs game at the end of this tour. But before then, we’ll have a chance to see one of the game’s smoothest operators get to grips with the rough and tumble of the fastest format.

Team news

With the probable selection of Alex Hales at the top of the order, England are set to field their 19th opening partnership in 38 Twenty20s. The bowling attack is set to have a familiar look to it, with Jade Dernbach’s performance in a rain-reduced game against Ireland having cemented his value in the shortest form of the game. Jos Buttler, who once again demonstrated his big-hitting credentials for Somerset on Twenty20 finals day, could find himself squeezed out of the reckoning by fellow newcomer, Ben Stokes.England: (possible) 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Ravi Bopara, 6 Ben Stokes / Jos Buttler, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Stuart Broad (capt), 10 Graeme Swann, 11 Jade DernbachDravid’s debut coincides with the end of Gautam Gambhir’s tour. He has not been himself since thwacking his head on the Oval turf while dropping Kevin Pietersen in the fourth Test, and has finally bowed out with a concussion. Parthiv Patel, the diminutive wicketkeeper who first made his name on the 2002 tour of England, is set to open the innings, with the twin spin attack of Amit Mishra and R Ashwin also likely to get an outing.India: (possible) 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Rahul Dravid, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt / wk), 7 Amit Mishra, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Munaf Patel, 11 R Vinay Kumar

Pitch and conditions

Old Trafford had a reputation as being one of the quickest decks in world cricket, until the square was rotated as part of the ground’s redevelopment. Since then, the pitch conditions have been somewhat subcontinental, although that didn’t aid Sri Lanka in their ODI-series-deciding loss earlier in the season. The weather, ever a factor in Manchester, is set fair. Which is nice.

Stats and trivia

• England’s most recent Twenty20 against India came at Lord’s in the 2009 World Twenty20, when Ryan Sidebottom’s aggression on a lively pitch helped to defend a middling total of 153 for 7.
• The only other Twenty20 between the two teams came in Durban in September 2007, a match made unforgettable by Yuvraj Singh’s six sixes in an over off England’s current captain, Stuart Broad. Yuvraj finished with the fastest half-century in international cricket, as England were knocked out of the World Twenty20 in the group stages.

Quotes

“The Test series is hard to forget because from an England point of view we played very well and confidence is high. But it’s different in the white-ball game, they have a
few new players and we have to be aware of that.”
“He went to an eye specialist today and it seems he continues to suffer from concussion.”
Shivlal Yadav, India’s manager, on the end of Gautam Gambhir’s tour