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Joe Root believes England are up to the challenge of beating South Africa in a Test series for the first time in a decade

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2015Joe Root believes England are up to the challenge of beating South Africa in a Test series for the first time in a decade. Root, who has yet to play a Test against South Africa, will be one of England’s key players as the No. 2-ranked batsman in the world and vice-captain to Alastair Cook and he is predicting an “entertaining spectacle” between two sides with clear strengths and weaknesses.England have arrived in South Africa and begun preparations for the four-Test series by taking on an Invitational XI in Pochesfstroom. Among their first concerns will be settling on a new combination at the top of the order – likely Alex Hales opening alongside Cook with Nick Compton at No. 3 – and establishing the identity of the third seamer behind James Anderson and Stuart Broad.South Africa have issues of their own to deal with after a chastening 3-0 defeat in India, with coach Russell Domingo admitting “there is a lot of work to do”. Aside from a batting order struggling for form, Vernon Philander suffered ankle ligament damage that will keep him out of the first two Tests and Dale Steyn is also a fitness concern after hurting his groin in Mohali last month.They will still be able to call on Morne Morkel, along with the talented Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada, who will present a significant challenge on faster, bouncier surfaces than England are used to. Root said that the fast-bowling contest could be what ultimately decides the series.”It should be a really entertaining spectacle, with their attack and our attack as well, in those conditions – I’m looking forward to getting out there and being a part of it,” he told ESPNcricinfo.Asked if England could win away from home against the top-ranked Test side, he replied: “Absolutely, yeah. I think it’s going to be a really close series, and a really interesting battle with the two seam attacks. The way that Stuart and Jimmy lead our attack, with some very exciting guys below them as well, it could be an interesting battle against the No. 1 side in the world.”England last played South Africa in 2012, when a 2-0 home defeat hastened the retirement of Andrew Strauss and led to Cook’s elevation to the Test captaincy. They have not beaten South Africa since 2004-05 – with Anderson the only survivor from that tour – and have not won a Test series overseas since India in the winter of 2012, Cook’s first in charge and also the scene of Root’s debut.A successful start for Cook as Test captain was followed by a nightmarish year in which England suffered a 5-0 Ashes whitewash, lost at home to Sri Lanka and tentatively began to rebuild after the loss of several key players. Cook contemplated giving up the captaincy (and was also sacked from the role in ODIs) but his authority has never been stronger after England regained the Ashes with a 3-2 win earlier this year.Root – the man widely considered next in line – said Cook’s drive to get better set the perfect example for a young team still finding their way.”He’s been developing as a captain since he took on the role, it’s something that you can never really practice until you actually do it and I thought the way he approached this Ashes, both on and off the field – obviously the way he trains and the example he sets as a player and batsman have always been exemplary, but as a leader and his tactical nous over the last 12 months has been remarkable. He’s always learning all the time and he’s always willing to learn, which is exactly what you want from a leader.”Under Cook, Root has become a key player for England, particularly since coming back from being dropped at the end of the 2013-14 Ashes, and already in 2015 he has broken his country’s record for international runs in a calendar year. Root hopes there is improvement still to come and cited a batsman England will come up against over the next few weeks, AB de Villiers, as the current gold standard.”He is a big inspiration and I think it’s important as players that we look to learn from guys like him,” Root said. “He’s one of the guys taking the game forward and moving it on all the time and we’ve got to make sure as individuals, we have that responsibility to try and develop our games and try and stick with the best in the world and go past them if we can.”

Former Kerala captain and junior national selector M Balan Pandit has died in Ernakulam, Kerala on June 5, aged 86

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jun-2013Former Kerala captain and junior national selector M Balan Pandit has died in Ernakulam, Kerala on June 5, aged 86.A wicketkeeper-batsman, Pandit began playing first-class cricket in 1946 and represented Kathiawar, Kerala and Travancore-Cochin. In a career spanning 46 first-class matches, Pandit scored 2,317 runs including five hundreds at an average of 29.70.He was a wicketkeeper for Kathiawar in the match against Maharashtra, in December 1948, when Bhausaheb Nimbalkar scored an unbeaten 443 runs, the highest first-class score by an Indian batsman.In a Ranji Trophy match in 1959 against Andhra, his 14th for Kerala, Pandit scored an unbeaten 262, which was the record individual score for Kerala before Sreekumar Nair hit a triple century against Services in 2007.As a wicketkeeper, he completed 35 catches and three stumpings during his first-class career.As an administrator, Pandit was a member of India’s junior selection committee and was also the chairman of Kerala’s selection committee. He also served as vice-president of Kerala Cricket Association.

Tom Westley fell to the last ball of the day as Essex stumbled in their pursuit of Leicestershire’s first-innings 372

17-May-2012
ScorecardLate wickets by Nathan Buck and Wayne White put Leicestershire in the driving seat at the end of the second day of their Division Two clash with Essex at Grace Road. Buck had Adam Wheater caught behind and White trapped Tom Westley lbw for 81 with the last ball of the day, to leave Essex on 239 for 5 – still 133 behind the home side’s first innings total of 372.Westley and Mark Pettini (57) looked to have given Essex the edge with a third-wicket stand of 133 until the two late dismissals turned things in Leicestershire’s favour again.
David Masters completed a six-wicket haul at the start of the day as Leicestershire suffered a late order collapse. The hosts would have been disappointed to miss out on maximum batting points having resumed on 323 for 5, losing their last five wickets for 21 runs in eight overs.Masters, who left Leicestershire to join Essex five years ago, finished with 6 for 82, the fifth time in 11 games against Leicestershire he has taken five wickets – last season he claimed a career best eight for 10 against them at Southend.The 34-year-old seamer, who had picked up four of the five wickets to fall on the first day, collected two more as Leicestershire’s innings folded rapidly following a 20-minute stoppage for a rain shower. White, having reached 50 off 104 balls, edged Charl Willoughby to slip before Masters dismissed Ned Eckersley with a catch behind, then bowled Matthew Hoggard to bring the innings to an end.On the slow-paced pitch, Billy Godleman and Alviro Petersen gave Essex their best start so far this season. They put on 54 in 17 overs until Hoggard struck twice in successive overs, trapping both openers leg before wicket.Westley and Pettini put the brake on Leicestershire’s progress with a gritty partnership, although both survived difficult chances. Will Jefferson just got his fingertips to an edge from Pettini and Westley was put down by Ramnaresh Sarwan at slip on 31.White finally broke through Pettini’s defence to flatten his off-stump and end a stand of 135 in 42 overs, then Buck had Adam Wheater caught behind, before White snapped up the vital wicket of Westley – who hit 12 fours in his 172-ball innings.

Shane Warne and Rajasthan Cricket Association secretary Sanjay Dixit are waiting for the BCCI’s judgement on the issue after a hearing in Mumbai

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2011Shane Warne and Rajasthan Cricket Association secretary Sanjay Dixit, the protagonists of an argument over the changing of pitches in Jaipur during the IPL, are waiting for the BCCI’s judgement on the issue after a hearing in Mumbai. They appeared before a panel comprising IPL chairman Chirayu Amin, Ravi Shastri and IMG’s legal counsel John Loffhagen, and gave their versions of the incident, which took place after Rajasthan Royals lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.”We had a long meeting and the judgement is awaited,” Dixit said. “Our views have been heard by the panel and the hearing was conducted in a very good atmosphere. The proceedings of the hearing are confidential. I am not at liberty to reveal the proceedings.”Dixit said the hearing was only about the complaint he lodged with the IPL regarding Warne’s alleged misbehaviour. When asked if the RCA was considering filing a criminal complaint against Warne, Dixit said he would wait for the judgement before making a decision. Warne attended the hearing with Sean Morris, Rajasthan’s chief executive, and they left immediately after without speaking to the media.The RCA had complained to the BCCI and IPL that Warne reportedly abused Dixit after his team’s loss to Bangalore in Jaipur. The pitch used for that game, and the previous one against Chennai Super Kings, was different from the one Warne’s team had enjoyed a strong home advantage on. The reported that RCA venue director Narendra Joshi had written to IPL’s chief operating officer Sundar Raman, alleging that Warne had publicly abused Dixit by calling him “a liar and egoistic,” and demanded action against Warne.Since the pitch was changed on May 9, Warne and Dixit have engaged in a war of words that has been fought in public, private and through the media. The hearing in Mumbai followed RCA’s rejection of an apology offered by the Rajasthan franchise, with the state board also threatening further action if the matter was not resolved to its satisfaction.

Marlon Samuels batted steadily, bowled economically and took two wickets to lead Jamaica to a 47-run win in a Twenty20 game against the USA in Lauderhil

Cricinfo staff23-May-2010
ScorecardMarlon Samuels batted steadily, bowled economically and took two wickets to lead Jamaica to a 47-run win in a Twenty20 game against USA in Lauderhill. Samuels’ half-century led Jamaica to 145 for 3 and then the bowlers restricted the hosts to 98 for 9.Jamaica lost opener Donovan Pagon for 13 after getting sent in but Samuels, who made an unbeaten 52, and Wavell Hinds added 54 for the second wicket to put the innings on track. The acceleration was provided by Danza Hyatt, who came in at No. 4 and smashed 48 off 22 balls before falling to the last ball of the innings. Hyatt helped add 72 runs off 46 balls for the third wicket with Samuels.USA’s chase slipped from 26 for 0 to 39 for 5 in the space of four overs and there was no recovering from such a collapse. Wicketkeeper Ashhar Mehdi top scored with 28 in a total of 98. Samuels, Bevon Brown, Krishmar Santokie and Hyatt all took two wickets each to ensure a Jamaican victory.

Surrey close with lead of 133, after seven wickets for spinner Will Jacks

ECB Reporters Network31-Aug-2024A maiden century in only his third first-class innings from the 19-year old, locally raised left-hander Freddie McCann helped take Nottinghamshire’s reply to 405 at Trent Bridge despite a caree-best seven for 129 from Surrey spinner Will Jacks. Batting again, Surrey ended the third day of their Vitality County Championship match 133 ahead on 13 for 1.Play was soured in the afternoon, however, when Jacks, selected in both England’s white-ball squads for their games against Australia in September, smartly fielded a pull on the bounce at short mid-wicket and threw the ball hard and high towards the wicketkeeper causing McCann to take evasive action.Umpires James Middlebrook and Paul Pollard immediately summoned Surrey skipper, Rory Burns, and applied five penalty runs under Law 42.3.1 for “throwing the ball at a player in an inappropriate or dangerous manner”. The matter will also now be referred to Surrey for any further disciplinary action they deem condign.Half an hour later McCann became the fourth victim in the innings of Jacks’s off-spin, slog-sweeping to long-on for 154. And Jack Haynes soon went for 68 to the same all-rounder but the follow-on target of 376 was passed just after tea with six wickets down.On 144 for 3 overnight after the nightwatcher had gone to what proved Friday’s final ball, the home side lost Joe Clarke in the morning’s fourth full over when, rashly, he advanced to launch a straight drive at Jacks only to be stumped as the ball spun sharply out of the rough trough thew gate. Clarke, gone for four, was Jacks’s third success in 11 balls after his breakthroughs the previous evening.He remained a threat at the end from which fellow off-spinner Farhan Ahmed had taken seven wickets on the opening two days. But, with Haynes surviving an early alarm when edging a Cam Steel leg-break between wicketkeeper and slip on three, resistance of some character brought lunch at 231 for 4.The partnership had added 154 when McCann departed after 268 balls of high application straight after Haynes had posted a sixth fifty in his 15 innings since joining from Worcestershire. None of these though has passed 77 and the pattern continued when, glancing, his thin legside edge was taken behind.Kyle Verreynne, the South Africa wicketkeeper in his maiden county innings after arriving as Nottinghamshire’s third overseas player this season, was joined by Lyndon James to see the innings to 369 for 4 at tea. But two overs after they had averted the follow-on, James, slicing a drive to backward point for 23, gave Steel his first success in completing 22 of the 110 overs.With bonus points decided as five to Surrey, four to Notts, Liam Patterson-White was leg-before, one run later, giving Jacks his only six-wicket bag since his success at Rawalpindi in the first of his two Tests, against Pakistan in 2022. He had bowled a mere six championship overs hitherto this year.Rob Lord, on debut, came and went for 10 to Steel and Ahmed to Jacks without score as the final four fell for 21 in 30 balls, leaving Verreyyne unbeaten on 50 from just 60 balls. Leading by 120 on first innings, Surrey then faced spin at both ends from the off.It took Ahmed eight balls to add to his match tally when Dom Sibley clipped to mid-wicket but after seven overs bad light intervened with eleven of the day’s quota left unbowled. Surrey’s pursuit of an eighth win in nine games and a third successive championship title was put on hold for the night.

Dhawan made 99 but his team couldn’t give him any support until the No. 11 came out and took an extremely minimal part in a fifty-run partnership

Deivarayan Muthu09-Apr-20233:34

Dhawan and the difficulty of being an anchor batter in T20s

Shikhar Dhawan watched nine wickets tumble around him, but he stood out amid the rubble, his unbeaten 99 taking Punjab Kings to a respectable 143 for 9. That total looked even more respectable when Sunrisers lost their openers Harry Brook and Mayank Agarwal early with the slower balls gripping the Hyderabad surface.But Rahul Tripathi rose above the conditions to score a sprightly half-century and give Sunrisers their first victory of the season. He contributed 63 in an unbroken 100-run stand off 52 balls with his captain Aiden Markram to help ice the chase and hand Kings their first defeat of the season.

Bhuvneshwar, Jansen go bang, bang, bang

On Friday, Sunrisers’ seamers were neutralised on a black-soil turner. Two days later, Bhuvneshwar and co. were on the money from the get-go on a pace-friendly red-soil Hyderabad track. Bhuvneshwar struck first ball to trap Prabhsimran Singh lbw for a duck.Much like Bhuvneshwar, Jansen, picked ahead of legspinner Adil Rashid, exploited the early swing on offer. The left-arm seamer struck with his second legal ball to pin IPL debutant Matt Short lbw for 1. He won another lbw appeal from umpire Bruce Oxenford next ball, but Jitesh Sharma overturned the on-field decision on review. Jitesh managed four before Jansen had him chipping a drive to mid-off in his next over. T Natarajan also found swing in the powerplay as Sunrisers’ seam attack thrived at home.

Dhawan or nothing for PBKS

Once the early movement disappeared for the seamers, Dhawan took some trips down the pitch and hit them over the top. However, at the other end, legspinner Mayank Markande, who was playing his first game for Sunrisers, tore through the middle and lower order with his stock ball and the wrong’un. The innings was going so badly pear shaped that Kings had to Impact Sub a batter for a batter, bringing Sikandar Raza in for the already dismissed Prabhsimran, but it didn’t really help matters. Together the two players contributed 5 runs off 7 ballsMarkande, meanwhile, came away with figures of 4 for 15 in his four overs. Dhawan quietly played him out, but laid into Natarajan and Umran Malik, taking 61 off 31 balls from them. He reached his fifty off 42 balls by launching Natarajan over midwicket for six and then went 6,4,6 against Malik in the 18th over. Dhawan was dropped three times along the way, but he carried on until the end of the innings. He contributed 52 in an unbroken 55-run partnership for a last wicket with debutant Mohit Rathee – an IPL record.Dhawan’s 69.2 was the second-highest percentage of runs scored in a completed IPL innings that went 20 overs or ended with a team all out. It was second only to Brendon McCullum in the first match of the IPL, where he shellacked 158 out of KKR’s total of 222 (71.2%).2:49

Moody: ‘Tripathi showed that he is of high value’

Tripathi, Markram see SRH home

Sunrisers decided to shake up their batting line-up by pairing up Agarwal with Brook at the top. Brook seemed comfortable with pace on the ball, but when Arshdeep Singh cut it down to 117kph and bowled a knuckle ball, he was bowled through the gate for 13 off 14. Then, when Agarwal dared to sweep Rahul Chahar off the stumps, he spliced a catch to long-on, leaving Sunrisers at 45 for 2 in the ninth over.Tripathi and Markram then got together to settle the innings. When Chahar darted it quicker and flatter outside off, Tripathi used the pace to glide the ball behind point. When Chahar slowed his pace down and tossed up his legbreaks, Tripathi stretched out to either drive him inside out over extra cover or sweep him over midwicket. He treated Rathee with even more disdain, smashing him for two sixes and two fours in eight balls.Tripathi’s high intent and execution allowed Markram to sit back and tap the ball into the gaps. Fittingly, it was Tripathi who finished the game for Sunrisers with eight wickets and almost three overs to spare.

Nangeyalia Kharote triggered a collapse late in the chase but Australia clung on to win by two wickets

Sreshth Shah05-Feb-2022Nivethan Radhakrishnan was the hero for Australia in the third-place playoff match as his all-round show downed Afghanistan in a close contest. His three-wicket haul limited Afghanistan to 201, and his 66 from No. 3 set up the chase. Australia were in for a scare when they went from 193 for 5 to 196 for 8 late in the contest, but they hung on, winning by two wickets.Radhakrishnan, known for being an ambidextrous spinner, used his right-arm offbreaks to run through the Afghanistan middle order. Suliman Safi was adjudged lbw while trying to sweep Radhakrishnan, given out even though the impact seemed to be outside the line of the stumps. Safi had to walk back for a promising 37. Bilal Ahmad holed out down the ground and Noor Ahmad was bowled trying to slog Radhakrishnan as he finished with 3 for 31.The early bowling impact from Australia, though, came from the seamer William Salzmann, who also grabbed a three-for. It was his opening spell that rattled Afghanistan, and by his second over, he had sent Nangeyalia Kharote and Allah Noor packing. Salzmann also contributed to the third Afghan wicket when his throw from cover caught Mohammad Ishaq napping outside his crease.After Radhakrishnan got into the act with the Safi wicket, Khaiber Wali was run-out trying to pinch a single that wasn’t there before Salzmann returned to dismiss Afghanistan’s highest scorer Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai (81). With five fours and five sixes, Ijaz’s hand ensured Afghanistan had some sort of total to bowl at, and his 79-ball innings took the side past 200. He held up one end when wickets were tumbling from the other, and he eventually fell to Salzmann in the 49th over while trying to find the boundary.Cooper Connolly then knocked the tailenders over, leaving Australia needing 202 to win.Radhakrishnan walked in at No. 3 when Teague Wyllie fell early for 13. He took his time against Afghanistan’s spin attack, and put on 60 with Campbell Kellaway in 15.2 overs. Their stand took Australia past 100, before Kellaway was bowled by the left-arm wristspinner Noor soon after reaching his fifty. Noor was soon in the act again when he bowled Connolly with a googly.Radhakrishnan, though, kept the innings moving, his occasional boundaries taking Australia closer. He had begun his innings with two cover drives for four before dispatching a short Noor delivery for another boundary. He even played a dab, a sweep and a cut and reached his fifty in 72 balls. He was the fifth Australian out when he was stumped after misreading the flight of a Shahidullah Hasani delivery.At 167 for 5, Australia were expected to cruise to victory, but Kharote was not going down without a fight. With Australia in the 190s, he removed wicketkeeper Lachlan Shaw and Salzmann in quick succession. Between the two wickets Kharote sandwiched an effort from backward point that ran Corey Miller out.With five to defend and only the No. 11 still to come, the game was in the balance going into the last two overs. Joshua Garner and Jack Sinfield knocked off four singles in a nervy 49th over, before Garner found the gap through a packed infield in the first ball of the final over to give Australia the bronze medal.

Seamer will miss first two games of 2021 as well after nine-match ban imposed by CDC

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2020The ECB have confirmed that Mitchell Claydon, the Sussex seamer, missed Thursday’s T20 Blast quarter-final defeat against Lancashire due to a nine-match suspension for ball-tampering after applying hand sanitiser to the ball.Claydon, the veteran Australian who joined the club from Kent last winter, admitted a charge relating to altering the condition of the ball after being pulled up in a Bob Willis Trophy match against Middlesex, in which he took three first-innings wickets.Sussex initially suspended him for six games across formats, releasing a short statement at the start of September ahead of their Bob Willis Trophy fixture against Surrey, before he returned to the side for the final two matches of the Blast group stage.He was left out of the side for the quarter-final on Thursday after initially being named in a 16-man squad – his replacement, Will Beer, batted at No. 8 and was not used with the ball – and the ECB announced after the game that he had been made unavailable for selection.A Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) panel met on Wednesday to discuss Claydon’s sanction. He was charged with a breach of two ECB directives which said that his conduct should be regarded as “unfair and improper” and “prejudicial to the interests of cricket and likely to bring the game into disrepute”.The CDC panel took into account the six-game suspension that Sussex had already imposed, and suspended him for a further three matches, including the Blast quarter-final. He will now miss the first two games of the 2021 season.Sussex will also face a CDC hearing panel after being charged in relation to the incident, which could see them docked points for the 2021 season.

The former West Indies opener has chosen not to extend his contract, and believes it is time for him to move on from the post

Nagraj Gollapudi19-May-2019Phil Simmons will step down as Afghanistan coach after the World Cup. The former West Indies opener, who was appointed to the position in December 2017, said the time was right for him to move on as the target he had been given – of helping Afghanistan qualify for the World Cup – had been achieved.Simmons is understood to have communicated his decision to the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Saturday. His contract, which runs until the end of the World Cup, would likely have been extended given Afghanistan’s results during his tenure, including their tournament win in Zimbabwe at the World Cup Qualifier last March.”I have thought about it and I have actually given the ACB my notice that I will not be renewing my contract,” Simmons told ESPNcricinfo. “I will move on to something different once my contract expires on July 15.”I signed up originally for 18 months and I think I have done a lot in this period. It is time for me to move on to something else now. To want to get to the World Cup – that was ACB’s goal at the time they appointed me. My goal is always to leave things better than when I joined: the way we practice, the way we think about the game, the way we assess other teams. I’ve tried to help the players in all those areas.”Simmons’ decision to not extend his contract came close on the heels of the ACB’s much talked-about change in the side’s leadership, which brought an end to Asghar Afghan’s four-year captaincy reign across formats. Gulbadin Naib was appointed ODI captain, while Rahmat Shah and Rashid Khan were put in charge of the Test and T20I teams respectively. Rashid and Mohammad Nabi, the two global superstars of Afghanistan cricket, had strongly criticised the move, tweeting in support of Afghan. Nabi said it wasn’t “the right time” to change the captain, and credited Afghan for helping the team “gel” well. Rashid, who has also been the ODI vice-captain, called the move “irresponsible and biased”.Simmons revealed that neither the ACB nor the national selection committee had consulted or alerted him to the changes, catching him off guard.”No, I was not aware of it. I was not given any reasons. It was the decision of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the selectors,” Simmons said. “How can I take it? I can’t change it. So I have to just get on with what I have to do and make sure the squad is preparing in the same way I wanted them to prepare barring the [captaincy] change.”