All posts by n8rngtd.top

Mooney, Lanning, Gardner, Brown, Jonassen put in crucial contributions as India fall just short

Firdose Moonda23-Feb-2023Australia have reached a seventh successive T20 World Cup final but not without an almighty fight from India, who came five runs short in a thrilling semi-final in Cape Town. The margin of defeat is four runs smaller than it was at the Commonwealth Games final last year, but that will be little consolation for India, who came agonisingly close while chasing 173.They were clumsy in the field, conceded at least 15 runs through overthrows and misfields and dropped two crucial catches – of Meg Lanning on 1 and Beth Mooney on 32 – and were equally nervy between the wickets. Two crucial run-outs dented their chase including that of Harmanpreet Kaur, which led to India’s slide.The India captain was ill on the eve of the match and briefly hospitalised with a fever but fronted up to lead her side and almost took them home. After a poor start which left India on 28 for 3 in the fourth over, Harmanpreet shared in a 69-run fourth-wicket stand with Jemimah Rodrigues and then brought up her first fifty of the tournament. She had barely celebrated it when her bat got stuck in the ground while sliding it for a second run and Alyssa Healy was quick to break the stumps, leaving India’s middle and lower order to get 40 runs off the last 32 balls.

Shafali Verma fumbles, then flounders, then finally holds on

Shafali Verma was responsible for the first misfield on a messy day for India, when she dived over the top of a Healy drive to allow what should have been a single turn into two in the first over. India let at least two more ones get doubled up on before they got their first wicket when Healy charged against Radha Yadav and was stumped to give them some joy.Radha should have had another in her next over when Mooney lofted a drive to Shafali at long-on. The ball came to her at waist height and should have been easily taken but she let it slip through her hands and bounce over the boundary. Mooney went on to hit three more fours before trying to cut a Shikha Pandey ball that was too close to her body and found Shafali again. She was stationed at point and made no mistake this time for the simple catch. She was clearly relieved and celebrated by banging the ball into the turf. Mooney was dismissed on 54, which meant Shafali’s miss cost India 22 runs.

Ashleigh Gardner’s late attack

After Healy and Mooney’s opening stand of 52, and Mooney and Lanning’s 36-run stand off 27 balls, Ashleigh Gardner arrived to put the finishing touches on an innings that was well set up. She found her first boundary with a clip off Sneh Rana in an over that cost 14 runs and then upped the ante for high-octane entry into the last five overs. Gardner slog swept Radha over midwicket, then lofted her between long-off and cover and then took back-to-back boundaries off Renuka Singh. She had plundered 28 runs off her first 14 balls and put Australia in a position to push for a total above 170. She was bowled by a Deepti Sharma yorker in the 18th over, and Australia still managed 30 runs in the last two overs to reach 172.Ashleigh Gardner’s cameo pushed Australia forward•ICC/Getty Images

Mayhem in the middle

India’s chase started in the worst possible way when Shafali was given out lbw as she missed a flick off Megan Schutt. She was hit above the knee roll and reviewed, with both height and the prospect of the ball missing leg stump on the cards, but was confirmed out on umpire’s call. Five balls later, a Gardner arm ball trapped Smriti Mandhana in her crease as she tried to defend and Australia reviewed on suspicion of pad first. They were right and India had lost their openers.But the worst came in the over after that when Yastika Bhatia, included in the side after last playing in India’s tournament opener, flicked Darcie Brown to Grace Harris at short midwicket and set off for a run even though Rodrigues didn’t move. By the time Bhatia turned to get back, Harris’ throw had already reached Healy, who had the time to run in and break the stumps. India were 28 for 3 in the fourth over.Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur took India close•AFP/Getty Images

Rodrigues rides the wave and Harmanpreet falls short

Rodrigues and Harmanpreet were not rattled by the early wickets and took charge of the innings for the next 6.4 overs. Harmanpreet showed few signs of being under the weather and Rodrigues displayed the confidence she showed against Pakistan. Harmanpreet struck India’s first six with a strong swing over long-on and Rodrigues turned it on with two gorgeous lofted off drives off Georgia Wareham. India were 93 for 3 after 10 overs, with the required run rate at eight an over and the pair were going smoothly.Rodrigues started the second half of the innings with another classic drive and then tried to get cute against a Brown short ball. She shaped up to ramp it over Healy’s head but got a thin edge and was caught behind to leave her captain to complete the chase. Harmanpreet got to her fifty off 32 balls and took India to within 40 runs of victory before she was run-out for the first time in nearly five years in T20Is, and India’s lower order couldn’t take them over the line.

Young allrounder Tess Flintoff has been added to the squad

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jul-2023Australia allrounder Heather Graham has been ruled out of the ODI series against Ireland and the Hundred after she suffered a right calf strain.Cricket Australia (CA) added young uncapped pace-bowling allrounder Tess Flintoff to the squad for the three ODIs that begin at the Clontarf Cricket Club in Dublin on Sunday.Flintoff hogged the limelight in the WBBL last November when she smashed the record for the fastest half-century, off 16 balls, in the competition’s history for Melbourne Stars. Recently, she scored a 48-ball 70 at No. 7 for Australia A against England A in Loughborough.CA stated that Graham will remain with the team in Ireland to begin her rehabilitation before returning to Australia to continue this with Cricket Tasmania. Graham was supposed to play for Northern Superchargers in the Hundred, which starts on August 1, after the tour of Ireland. In the 2022 edition, she played three matches and scored just 33 runs and picked up two wickets.Australia are coming off a 2-1 defeat in ODIs and T20Is against England, eventually drawing the Women’s Ashes in the multiformat series.

Oza, Egodage and Theertha also part of the Mughal-led squad that will make its maiden appearance in the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Sep-2022United Arab Emirates have named 15-year-old Rishitha Rajith in their squad for the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, starting later this week in Bangladesh. Rajith, a right-arm seamer, is uncapped in international cricket.There was, however, no room for her elder sisters Rithika and Rinitha, who were part of the last UAE squad, which finished seventh in the T20 World Cup qualifier last week.Another teenager, Mahika Gaur, who was with Manchester Originals in the women’s Hundred earlier this year, is also part of the 15-member side. The team will be led by Chaya Mughal.UAE will be playing the T20 Asia Cup for the first time, having qualified by making the final of the Women’s T20 Championship earlier in June, along with Malaysia.Related

• Fatima Sana out of Women's Asia Cup with twisted ankle

• Women's T20 Asia Cup: Bangladesh to face Thailand in opener on October 1; India versus Pakistan on October 7

• Fit-again Rodrigues returns to T20I squad for Women's Asia Cup

• Nuthyangana, Sewwandi and Methtananda named in Sri Lanka's squad for women's Asia Cup

• Jahanara, Fargana return to Bangladesh squad for Women's T20 Asia Cup

The batting will revolve around Esha Oza, who is the leading run-getter for UAE in T20Is. In 41 games, she has 1119 runs at an average of 32.91 and a strike rate of 121.76. She has also scored two hundreds, and her best of 158 not out is the second highest individual score in women’s T20Is.She will be supported by Kavisha Egodage and Theertha Satish. The two were the top run-getters for the team in the qualifier tournament. Theertha scored 130 runs an average of 26.00 and a strike rate of 98.48, while Egodage collected 118 at 39.33, at a strike rate of 72.39.Thirty-six-year-old Mughal, who has the joint-most wickets in the format for UAE, is by far the oldest player in an otherwise quite young squad.Oza, Egodage, Theertha and Mughal were all part of the inaugural FairBreak Invitational Tournament in May this year.”This is a historic moment for our UAE Cricket Women,” Andrew Russell, Emirates Cricket Board national development manager, said in a media release. “Playing in the first-ever Women’s Asia Cup is a great honour and one we are confident our ladies will take great pride in.”Robin Singh, the board’s director of cricket, said, “The Asia Cup fields a line-up of impressive talent from the world of women’s cricket. Over the past number of tournaments our ladies have been challenged, which they have embraced with confidence and shown a remarkable maturity to learn. This will be an incredible opportunity for them as they continue on their, and UAE Cricket Women’s journey.”UAE will open their campaign against Sri Lanka on October 2. All matches will be played in Sylhet.Squad: Chaya Mughal (capt), Esha Oza, Kavisha Egodage, Rishitha Rajith, Khushi Sharma, Theertha Satish (wk), Lavanya Keny, Priyanjali Jain, Suraksha Kotte, Natasha Cherriath, Indhuja Nandakumar, Mahika Gaur, Vaishnave Mahesh, Siya Gokhale, Samaira Dharnidharka

Royals’ opening pair has been in red-hot form, but they come up against a Titans attack that has been bossing the powerplay. Who will come out on top?

Sreshth Shah15-Apr-20235:30

Bishop: Titans should bowl Rashid to Buttler straight away

Big Picture – Rematch of the IPL 2022 final

Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals meet for the first time this season, following wins that should’ve been more clinical than they were. Rahul Tewatia’s scoop off Sam Curran gave a nervy Titans points against Punjab Kings while Sandeep Sharma held his nerve to clinch victory against MS Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings. They’d both want to be more ruthless on Sunday.Royals have had all their success setting sizeable totals and defending them. Against Super Kings, they became the first team to successfully defend a sub-190 score, earning their third bat-first win in four games. Titans meanwhile have put together chases in a calculative manner, with a deep batting line-up, and have lost just once chasing in 12 games since the start of IPL 2022.Rashid Khan could play a big role. Jos Buttler (strike rate 69 and four dismissals in 11 innings), Sanju Samson (strike rate 98) and Shimron Hetmyer (four dismissals) struggle against him. But Titans are not wholly dependent on Rashid either. Since the start of IPL 2022, no team has taken more powerplay wickets (35) than Titans with Mohammed Shami and Alzarri Joseph proving difficult to handle this year too. Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar and David Miller have shown form as well.Royals will want their openers to set the tone. No pair this season has scored more runs in partnership quicker (194 runs at a strike rate of 202) or hit more powerplay boundaries than Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal (19 apiece). They also do exceedingly well against spinners, averaging 72 runs per wicket, the best (by far) among the 10 teams. Their experienced bowling has been exceptional too. R Ashwin (6.4) and Trent Boult (7.3) are among the tidiest bowlers in terms of economy this season while Yuzvendra Chahal (10 wickets) is an early purple cap contender.The rematch of the IPL 2022 final promises to be a high-quality affair between in-form teams. The perfect way to end week two of IPL 2023.

Form guide (most recent match first)

Titans: WLWW
Royals: WWLW

Team news – All eyes on Trent Boult

Boult was rested due to a “small niggle” in their last game. If he returns, then fellow pacer Kuldeep Sen gets benched (and perhaps Adam Zampa makes way on the overseas roster).Titans have no injury concerns.

Toss and Impact Player strategy

Based on who bats and who bowls, Dhruv Jurel and Yuzvendra Chahal are likely to be the Impact Player swaps for Royals. Titans could use Josh Little and Vijay Shankar similarly.Gujarat Titans
Bat-first XI (possible): 1 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Sai Sudharsan, 4 Hardik Pandya, 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 David Miller, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 Alzarri Joseph.Bowl-first XI (possible): 1 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Hardik Pandya, 4 Vijay Shankar, 5 David Miller, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Mohammed Shami, 8 Josh Little, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 Alzarri Joseph.Rajasthan Royals
Bat-first XI (possible): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Devdutt Padikkal/Riyan Parag, 4 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Dhruv Jurel, 7 Jason Holder, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Sandeep Sharma, 10 Trent Boult/Adam Zampa, 11 Kuldeep Sen.Bowl-first XI (possible): 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Jason Holder, 6 Devdutt Padikkal/Riyan Parag, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Sandeep Sharma, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Trent Boult/Adam Zampa, 11 Kuldeep Sen.

Pitch and conditions

Since IPL 2021, only twice in nine occasions has a team successfully defended in Ahmedabad. The average first-innings winning score in this period is 175.Sunday evening will be hot, with temperatures around 35 degrees C.

Stats that matter

• Shubman Gill is not fluent against Boult or Chahal. He has a strike rate of 98 against the pacer and 104 against the spinner.
• Sanju Samson enjoys facing Mohammed Shami: scoring 54 runs in 28 balls with only one dismissal.
• Shimron Hetmyer has faced Shami five times in T20s. He’s been dismissed by Shami on four of those occasions.
• Hardik Pandya has been out for single digits in all his three innings this season.
• David Miller has been among the best IPL chasers recently. Since the start of IPL 2022, he has been out only twice in 11 innings in a chase. He averages 184 with a strike rate of 151 batting second in that period.

Postponement of second WI vs Aus ODI has domino effect on Pakistan series

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jul-2021Complications due to Covid-19 has cut an entire T20I out of Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies. Set to begin a day later than originally scheduled (July 28), also due to the pandemic, the series will now feature only four T20Is, instead of the previously planned five.

The new schedule for WI vs Pakistan

July 28: 1st T20I, Bridgetown

July 31: 2nd T20I, Providence

August 1: 3rd T20I, Providence

August 3: 4th T20I, Providence

August 12: 1st Test, Kingston

August 20: 2nd Test, Kingston

This is the result of one of the non-playing staff in the West Indies set-up testing positive for the virus two days ago. It forced one of their ODIs against Australia to be postponed and that in turn has had a domino effect on the Pakistan series, prompting the PCB and the CWI to strike off one of the T20Is that was part of the original tour calendar.Ricky Skerritt, the Cricket West Indies president, said: “Together with the PCB, CWI have examined various scenarios, and we jointly agreed that the best solution in the present circumstances is to cancel the first T20I and play a four-match T20I series starting on Wednesday and keep the rest of the tour schedule unchanged.”Both Pakistan and West Indies, who are the defending champions, are on the final legs of their preparation for the T20 World Cup to be held in the UAE from October 17.

Joseph, Seales picked up three wickets each while debutant Phillip, Mayers returned two each

Associated Press25-Jun-2022Bangladesh showed progress in making 234 against West Indies after being forced to bat first in the second Test at Daren Sammy Stadium on Friday. It was a marked improvement from their 103 all-out in the first innings of the first Test in Antigua, where they lost with almost two days to spare.West Indies’ class was still on show on Friday when they reached stumps at 67 without loss. Openers John Campbell and Kraigg Brathwaite were unruffled in making 32 and 30 respectively.Anderson Phillip, given his Test debut in place of Gudakesh Motie, earned the first wicket with his second delivery when he bowled Mahmudul Hasan Joy for 10.Tamim Iqbal looked like he had his eye in while hitting nine boundaries for 46, but he was rooted to the crease while poking at Alzarri Joseph and was caught in the covers.Related

• Siddons rues batters not converting starts as Bangladesh collapse again

• The anatomy of Bangladesh's top-order woes

• Why is Bangladesh's batting on the decline in Tests?

Anamul Haque, who last played a Test eight years ago at the same ground, was developing a good partnership with Najmul Hossain Shanto until they were rapped on the front pads by Phillip and Kyle Mayers respectively, and lost reviews. Anamul made 23 while Shanto scored 26.Captain Shakib Al Hasan soon edged Jayden Seales onto his stumps on 8, and Nurul Hasan was caught behind on 7 after Joseph glanced his glove.Bangladesh were 159-6 at tea with Litton Das settled in, but as soon as he reached his 14th Test fifty, he was dismissed by Joseph on 53.The tourists passed 200 thanks to tailenders Shoriful Islam, who hit five boundaries off Roach for 26, and Ebadot Hossain, who was 21 not out.Seales and Joseph claimed three wickets each with Phillip and Mayers two each.Campbell and Brathwaite showed there were no tricks in the pitch when they scored at more than four an over in 16 overs to reduce the deficit to 167 runs.

The opener smashed 129 off 60 balls after which Mohit took 5 for 10 to knock out Mumbai

Hemant Brar26-May-20231:24

Manjrekar: Gill a once-in-a-generation player

Shubman Gill’s majestic 129 off 60 balls powered Gujarat Titans into the final of IPL 2023 with a 62-run win over Mumbai Indians in Ahmedabad. Titans will face Chennai Super Kings at this very ground on Sunday in a bid to defend their title.Earlier, rain delayed the match by 30 minutes. With the weather around, Rohit Sharma opted to chase after winning the toss. Titans didn’t have a great start, but Gill’s knock lifted them to a mammoth 233 for 3. This was Gill’s third hundred in four matches; only Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler (four each) have scored more in a single edition of the IPL. The knock took Gill’s run tally to 851. Once again, only Kohli (973 in 2016) and Buttler (863 in 2022) have had more productive seasons.No team had chased down this many in the IPL. And then Mumbai lost two early wickets. But they didn’t go down without a fight. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma took them to 72 in six overs before Rashid Khan castled the latter. From there on, Suryakumar kept them in the contest almost singlehandedly with his 61 off 38. But Mohit Sharma uprooted his leg stump when the batter missed a scoop. In the next over, Rashid trapped Tim David lbw to end Mumbai’s hopes.Mohit, who hadn’t bowled till the 14th over, used his slower balls to good effect and finished with figures of 2.2-0-10-5.Shubman Gill earned praise from everybody, including the opposition captain Rohit Sharma•BCCI

Unstoppable Gill

Despite scoring at least one four in every over from the second to fifth, Titans reached only 38 for no loss after five. Gill then latched onto Chris Jordan in the last over of the powerplay. The second legal delivery of the over was too short and sat up on this sticky pitch. Gill waited for it and pulled it with disdain over deep square leg. The next one was slightly short outside off. Gill once again showed no mercy and cut it ferociously to the cover boundary.Luck too was on Gill’s side. In the same Jordan over, he punched one uppishly to the right of mid-on where Tim David dived, got both hands to the ball but couldn’t hold on to it. He was on 30 at that point.Titans finished the powerplay on 50 for no loss but Wriddhiman Saha was struggling for timing. In the fourth over of the innings, Akash Madhwal had hit him on the helmet with a skiddy bouncer, and soon after Piyush Chawla had him stumped with a leg-side wide. It was the sixth time in 16 innings this season that Chawla struck in his first over of the match.Gill brought up his fifty off 32 balls. And then he cut loose. In a space of nine balls, he hit five sixes and a four off Madhwal and Chawla. He didn’t slow down even in the 90s; his second fifty took just 17 balls. Immediately after reaching his hundred, he smashed Cameron Green for 6, 4 and 6. By the time Gill holed out to deep midwicket, off Madhwal, Titans had reached 192 in the 17th over.

Titans retire out Sudharsan

All this happened while Sai Sudharsan was playing second fiddle to Gill. But with nine wickets in hand, Titans needed both batters to attack. The 18th and 19th overs combined went for just 16, after which Titans retired out Sudharsan who scored 43 off 31. Rashid replaced him in the middle and hit his first ball for four. Hardik Pandya then applied the finishing touch, hitting the last two balls of the innings for four and six.Suryakumar Yadav lost his leg stump to Mohit Sharma•BCCI

Shami strikes twice in powerplay

Coming into this game, Mohammed Shami had represented Titans three times against Mumbai. On all three occasions, he went wicketless. Tonight, though, he struck twice inside the powerplay to put Mumbai on the back foot. Nehal Wadhera, who came in as Impact Player for Madhwal, was caught behind in the first over of the chase, and Rohit top-edged a pull in the third.In between those two dismissals, Hardik hit Green on the left forearm with a short ball, forcing the batter to retire hurt. During the first innings, Ishan Kishan had walked off the field after Jordan’s elbow hit him in the eye when the two were crossing each other. So when Rohit departed, leaving Mumbai 21 for 2, it felt like they were effectively 21 for 4. But Green came out to resume his innings later, and Kishan’s injury had seemingly resulted in a concussion, so Mumbai replaced him with Vishnu Vinod.

Rashid, Mohit trump mighty Mumbai

Varma started by hitting two sixes in his first four balls, and then smashed Shami for four fours and a six in a 24-run over. He had moved to 43 off just 13 with 100% control over his shots. Hardik turned to Rashid in an attempt to put the brakes on the scoring rate. The spinner duly obliged his captain by bowling Varma when the batter tried to sweep him.At the fall of Varma’s wicket, Green came out once again, and was looking dangerous. He and Suryakumar added 52 in 5.2 overs before Josh Little pinged his leg stump with a delivery that seamed in from good length.Suryakumar, though, was still battling in the middle. He reached his fifty, off 33 balls, with a scoop-pull over the wicketkeeper’s head. He brought down the equation to 79 needed from 34 balls before Mohit sent him packing. Two balls later, the seamer had Vinod caught at extra cover.David was Mumbai’s last hope. Hardik, as always, had saved Rashid’s one over and brought him on in the 16th. With his third ball, Rashid trapped David lbw. The batter reviewed the decision but he couldn’t have been more out. From the other end, Mohit cleaned up the tail to pick up his maiden five-for in T20 cricket.

The loss, by a huge 98-run margin, has pushed LSG out of the top four with the playoffs not far away

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-May-20242:49

Narine has joined Russell on the ride to success – McClenaghan

Sunil Narine crashed 81 off 39 deliveries and Ramandeep Singh got only six balls to face and smashed 25 in those. In addition, Phil Salt, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Shreyas Iyer played aggressive innings. All of which meant that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) surged to 235 for 6 in their 20 overs, which in Lucknow – one of the lower-scoring venues in IPL 2024 – was always going to be incredibly difficult to surpass.The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) innings didn’t really take off. There was a 50-run second-wicket partnership between KL Rahul and Marcus Stoinis, but even that went at too slow a pace (they took 33 balls) to cause serious problems for KKR. Once that stand was broken, the innings fell apart quickly, the last nine wickets falling for 67 runs, as the required rate ballooned out of control.Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana took three wickets each. Andre Russell took two. And Ramandeep claimed two catches, the first of which was one of the most spectacular of the season.Sunil Narine brought up his fifty in 27 balls•BCCI

Narine crushes it in the first 12 overs

Salt was the first aggressor, hitting 24 off the first nine balls he faced. But he was soon out for 32 off 14, and from then, it was the Narine show.Narine warmed up with five fours, then started getting the big hits going at the end of the fourth over, bludgeoning a Mohsin Khan short ball over deep square-leg, clubbing Krunal Pandya over deep midwicket not long after, and later thrashing Yash Thakur over the square-leg boundary. In the middle overs, he dealt almost exclusively in sixes, and by the end of his stay, he had walloped seven, to go with six fours. He holed out to long-off attempting another six off LSG’s best bowler Ravi Bishnoi, who was the only one to finish with an economy rate lower than 11.Ramandeep Singh celebrates after taking a back-tracking blinder•BCCI

Ramandeep plays a cameo to remember

LSG had a good period between overs 14 and 18, where they conceded only 45 while taking three wickets. Thanks to Narine, Salt and Raghuvanshi, with whom Narine shared a 79-run partnership, KKR were headed for a mammoth score. But the slight slowdown might have given LSG a foot in the door.Ramandeep pushed the total back into gargantuan territory in spectacular style. He took a two in front of square on the leg side to start with, bashed a six over cow corner second ball, bludgeoned one over long-on fourth ball, ramped a four over short third next, then thumped a full toss over midwicket to finish the innings. To recap, he went 2, 6, 1, 6, 4, 6.As if scoring at a strike rate of more than 400 wasn’t impressive enough, he also pulled off one of the catches of the season to get rid of Arshin Kulkarni. Speeding towards the boundary from point, he kept his eyes on a leading edge that had gone high into the air, and put in a spectacular dive to get his hands on a ball whose trajectory he did not seem like he would intersect. He took another catch at deep point later, to dismiss Rahul, the other LSG opener.Harshit Rana, on return from disciplinary suspension, sent back KL Rahul on his way to a three-for•Associated Press

And then LSG crumble

With a required rate of almost 12 set from the start of the innings, LSG were always going to struggle, given the quality in KKR’s attack. They scored 13 off the fourth over, bowled by Mitchell Starc, but then Narine came in with a four-run fifth over, and by the end of the powerplay, the required rate was up near 13.When LSG tried to hit out, wickets fell rapidly. At no point did they seem to have the measure of this chase. On a slow track, on which KKR’s slower bowlers were effective, Rahul’s wicket set off a collapse.

They were originally booked at a hotel 90 minutes from the cricket ground in New York

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jun-2024Pakistan have made a change to their accommodation in New York, switching to a hotel closer to the cricket ground in Nassau County, where they will play two T20 World Cup group games on June 9 and June 11.Pakistan were originally booked to stay at a hotel about an hour and a half away from the venue. ESPNcricinfo understands the PCB took exception to the arrangement and arranged for the team to move to a hotel in Long Island, about a ten-minute drive from Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.Pakistan arrive in New York from Dallas on June 7 and play India at the venue two days later. The Indian team has been accommodated at a hotel about ten minutes from the ground, and have been in New York for more than a week, having played their warm-up match against Bangladesh and their first group game against Ireland at the venue.Generally at World Cups, hotel bookings are handled by the ICC working with the Local Organising Committee (LOC), a body that includes the host board. It is rare for teams to change hotels but given Sri Lanka’s experience during their stay in New York, arrangements have come under scrutiny.Sri Lanka were staying in Brooklyn ahead of their game against South Africa, 90 minutes from the ground. The logistical complications resulted in them cancelling their training session on the eve of the game to prevent fatigue. Ahead of their morning match, Sri Lanka were forced to start their day at 7am and ultimately succumbed to a heavy defeat against South Africa. Bowler Maheesh Theekshana called the scheduling and logistics “unfair” and Sri Lanka’s manager Mahinda Halangoda told ESPNcricinfo they had lodged an official complaint about their travel arrangements in this tournament.The PCB decided not to wait and raised concerns about their hotel being too far from the ground, insisting on a change in accommodation. The ICC eventually acquiesced to the request. Pakistan play India on Sunday 9 June, and Canada two days later in New York.

Manchester franchise hoping to challenge United and City as IPL investors arrive in “UK’s number one sporting city”

Matt Roller14-Feb-2025Lancashire officials have played down the idea that Manchester Originals could be seen as a consolation prize by the RPSG Group, who are finalising a deal for 70% stake in the franchise after missing out on a minority share in London Spirit.Lancashire shortlisted four bidders with links to IPL franchises, though Reliance, the owners of Mumbai Indians, were removed when they won the auction for a stake in Oval Invincibles. The RPSG Group – who run Lucknow Super Giants – eventually saw off competition from Kolkata Knight Riders and Amit Jain, whose bid involved a cricketing partnership with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.The auction for Originals took place three days after the RPSG Group had missed out on London Spirit, the Lord’s-based franchise, in a three-hour bidding war with a Silicon Valley tech consortium. They were the final bidders remaining as Spirit’s valuation reached an eye-watering £295 million, and instead secured Originals at a valuation of £116m.Related

• Northern Superchargers officially renamed Sunrisers Leeds

• James Anderson registers for Hundred draft

• Hundred teams lean on new IPL partners in recruitment for 2025 season

• Lancashire want IPL link for Manchester Originals

• Hundred sale explainer: Who has bought what and for how much?

Lancashire have stressed that the RPSG Group had been their preferred partner for a significant period of time, and RPSG Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka has insisted his commitment to “developing a deep bond” with the club, saying he sees “huge potential” in the partnership.”Lord’s is Lord’s, but Manchester is Manchester,” Shashwat Goenka, Sanjiv’s son and the group’s vice-chairman, said at a launch event at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday. “While we did bid aggressively for Lord’s, we stopped at a point and I’m extremely happy with Manchester. We’ve been delighted with our interactions with Lancashire and I’m very excited with this partnership.”James Sheridan, Originals’ chair, played down the significance of the failed bids in London. “It doesn’t concern us,” he said. “We’ve had some amazing conversations… I was actually on the phone to one of Shashwat’s colleagues the minute after the auction finished in London. We’re not concerned. We’ve got 100 percent, total confidence that RPSG is in the right place.”ESPNcricinfo revealed last year that officials from the RPSG Group had visited Manchester during the Hundred, while Lancashire also sent a delegation to Kolkata – where RPSG is based – last year. “The team from Lucknow have just been exemplary from a partnership approach, right from day one,” Sheridan said. “We have got a fantastic partner that we can build something very special with.”Lancashire opted to sell part of their stake in Originals but will retain 30% and plan to include a reserved matters provision – effectively a set of veto rights – while drawing up contracts over the next six weeks. They will use their windfall of more than £30 million to pay down their debt and invest in infrastructure projects, including the development of a second home venue in Farington, near Preston.Daniel Gidney, Lancashire’s chief executive, believes that new investment will eventually help Originals compete with Manchester’s two Premier League football clubs. “We’ve talked about Manchester being probably the UK’s number one sporting city… We want the Manchester franchise in the Hundred to become the third-biggest sports team in Manchester and challenge those two [United and City].Sheridan and Gidney speak to the press•Lancashire CCC

“That is the scale and level of the ambition of both of us as partners… This is something that is incredibly exciting for us and that is why we wanted to partner with an IPL team and we always have done. You’ve got a 1.4 billion population of people who adore cricket: why wouldn’t we want to inject a bit of that energy and passion into Manchester and Lancashire?”The two parties did not confirm as much but it is widely expected that the franchise will be renamed Manchester Super Giants from 2026, following the lead of the Lucknow and Durban teams in the IPL and SA20 respectively. The RPSG Group also own Mohun Bagan, the Kolkata-based football club who play in the Indian Super League.LSG reached the play-offs in their first two IPL seasons before missing out on net run-rate last year, and spent a record INR 27 crore (£2.54m approx.) on Rishabh Pant at November’s auction. The arrival of four IPL owners in the Hundred has led to speculation that Indian men’s players could feature in future, but that appears unlikely in the short term.”If you could get Rishabh Pant playing in the Hundred, you’d have a lot more eyeballs on what’s going on,” Sheridan said. “But we all know that the BCCI doesn’t allow that to happen at the moment… I don’t think that is likely to change anytime soon.” Goenka added: “Where Indian players play and don’t play is the prerogative of the BCCI.”Phil Salt and Beth Mooney, who have both been retained for 2025, said that the partnership will benefit Originals. “There’s definitely a new level for this tournament to find,” Salt said. “At the inception of the IPL, their ambition was to bring the world’s best tournament that we’ve ever seen… We sit here today knowing full well that our ambition is to bring the world’s best cricket to Manchester.”Mooney, speaking from Vadodara shortly before playing for Gujarat Giants, added: “The IPL changed the landscape of men’s cricket, and we’re seeing that starting to happen with the WPL heading into its third season… The exciting part of the Hundred is that it’s only going to get bigger and better.”