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For the first time since 1974, two Indian bowlers – R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – occupy the top spots in the ICC Test bowling rankings

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Dec-2016Ravindra Jadeja’s maiden ten-wicket haul in the fifth Test against England in Chennai helped him rise to second in the ICC Test bowling rankings, a list led by team-mate R Ashwin. This is the first time since 1974 that two India bowlers occupy the top spots in the bowling rankings. The last pair was left-arm spinner Bishan Bedi and legspinner Bhagwath Chandrasekhar. Having gained 66 points, Jadeja is now eight behind Ashwin.In the recently-concluded Test series against England, Ashwin took 28 wickets at an average of 30.25. Jadeja claimed 26 wickets at 25.84, and an economy rate of 2.31. Of the 93 England wickets to fall in the series, both combined to take 54. Jadeja overtook Josh Hazlewood, James Anderson, Dale Steyn and Rangana Herath on the list. Ashwin has held the top spot since overtaking Dale Steyn and James Anderson in October this year.Jadeja also leapfrogged to No. 3 on the allrounders list, also topped by Ashwin. Jadeja contributed with 224 runs at an average of 37.33 with two fifties. Ashwin chipped in with four fifties with the bat, making 306 runs at 43.71.Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc also moved up to a career-best sixth position after picking up seven wickets in the first Test against Pakistan at the Gabba. ‘

A century by Ben Slater could not disguise Derbyshire’s batting frailties against Gloucestershire at Derby

ECB Reporters Network31-Aug-2016
ScorecardBen Slater hit his first hundred for nearly two years•Getty Images

Derbyshire suffered another first innings batting failure despite a century from Ben Slater as Craig Miles bowled Gloucestershire back into the Division Two match at Derby.Slater’s 110, his first county championship hundred for nearly two years, should have set Derbyshire up for a commanding total but the last seven wickets fell for 67 runs as they subsided to 242 with Miles finishing with outstanding figures of 4 for 30 from 17 overs.Gloucestershire had bowled poorly after Derbyshire elected to bat and moved to 91 without loss until Miles ran through the top order to change the course of the day.Derbyshire hit back in the closing overs with Gareth Roderick falling to Tom Milnes but Gloucestershire held the initiative at stumps on 27 for 1 , 215 behind.Derbyshire would have expected to have a much bigger total to defend when Slater and Billy Godleman plundered some desperately poor bowling in the first hour to cruise along at six an over.Gloucestershire’s seamers failed to maintain an accurate line and it was only when Jack Taylor’s off-spin was introduced at the City end in the ninth over that they managed to exert some control.Only Miles consistently posed problems and he made the first breakthrough when Godleman drove firmly but straight to cover where Taylor took a good low catch.It was the first of three wickets in as many overs as Liam Norwell found some late movement to have Alex Hughes caught behind and then Wayne Madsen drove to point without scoring.Slater and Broom set out about rebuilding the innings after lunch with the opener adding to his three one-day hundreds this season before a second collapse handed the initiative to Gloucestershire.Broom had looked fortunate to survive an lbw appeal against Miles but edged to second slip in the bowler’s next over and Matt Critchley drove a return catch to Taylor before tea.The decline continued when Slater was caught down the legside in the sixth over after tea and Tom Milnes failed to beat David Payne’s throw from mid on when he was sent back by Harvey Hosein who faced 31 balls before he got off the mark.Will Davis drove and pulled Josh Shaw for three consecutive fours but when he edged the next delivery to second slip, Derbyshire had let an opportunity slip away on a decent pitch in good batting conditions.Milnes struck an early blow when he found bounce and movement to have Roderick caught at first slip but Derbyshire have a lot to do to claim a first championship win of the season.

In the final, Pakistan were outclassed with the bat, outsmarted with the ball and outdone in the field

Danyal Rasool11-Sep-20223:18

Maharoof: ‘These young lions will be treated like heroes’

A tournament that began for Sri Lanka with tumult at home and turbulence in the UAE has ended with them taking home the Asia Cup trophy. Pakistan were the side at the receiving end of this thumping, outclassed with the bat, outsmarted with the ball, outdone in the field, and out-thought in the captaincy department by an electric Sri Lankan performance which wrapped up a commanding 23-run win.Bhanuka Rajapaksa formed the backbone of the Sri Lankan innings, rescuing his side from 58 for 5 with an unbeaten 45-ball 71 that saw them post 170. It was followed by a spirited showing in the field as Sri Lanka outmatched Pakistan’s intensity, with Wanindu Hasaranga and Pramod Madushan taking seven wickets between them during a listless batting performance.It had begun so smoothly for Pakistan, with Naseem Shah’s opening-over wicket appearing to set the tone for Pakistan. Haris Rauf was in similarly breathtaking form, never more so than during an extraordinary sixth over where he threatened the stumps nearly every ball. By then, both Pathum Nissanka and Danushka Gunathilaka had been accounted for, and Dhananjaya de Silva and Dasun Shanaka would soon follow.A revival led by Rajapaksa and Hasaranga helped Sri Lanka force themselves back into the game and a spirited finish ensured they’d post a competitive score. It was assisted by some ordinary ground fielding and catching by Pakistan; their best fielder, Shadab Khan, had a notoriously poor outing. Sri Lanka, by contrast, showed in the field how desperately they wanted this. Pakistan were stifled through the first half and then blown away in the second.The Sri Lanka players celebrate their victory•AFP/Getty Images

Babar Azam’s side never quite sure how to pace their innings, with an unrelenting Sri Lanka refusing to let them grind through the gears. In the end, it was a mismatch between a side that had brought their A-game and one that never quite found theirs. Long before it became official, it was evident Sri Lanka would win their sixth Asia Cup trophy, capping a sensational tournament by saving their best performance for last.Naseem Shah’s first over
Whatever gift Shaheen Afridi possessed that got batters out in his first over seems to have been bestowed on Naseem in his absence. In a mesmeric start where the 19-year old found high pace almost right from the off, Kusal Mendis was done in for a golden duck by a near unplayable delivery. It made a beeline for the stumps, at searing speed, and the hapless Mendis could do little about it. The inswinger went through the gap between bat and pad, and uprooted off stump after clipping the thigh. It was Pakistani fast bowling at its scintillating best.The umpire’s call
First, there was a slice of luck, and then the glorious skill. Off the fifth ball of his innings in Rauf’s scintillating sixth over, the bowler sent down a near unplayable leg-stump yorker at the in-form Rajapaksa. The batter played all around it, with the ball crunching into his foot. The umpire deemed it not out, only to have his decision upheld by the barest of margins, with Hawkeye deeming it to be umpire’s call on impact. To the naked eye, it looked out from just about every angle.With Pakistan on top, it was a colossal moment in the final, and Rajapaksa wouldn’t let it go to waste. What followed was an innings of high class, that saw through a period of consolidation while Hasaranga at the other end took on a more proactive role. Sri Lanka were slowly chipping away at Pakistan, and without taking too many risks, Rajapaksa had brought up a 35-ball half-century.2:25

Maharoof: ‘Probably the best I have seen Rajapaksa bat’

Most memorable of all though, was the way he took on Naseem at the end, a bowler who had begun so sensationally in the Powerplay. A flick of the wrists deposited him over backward square leg in his penultimate over, before a four and a six off the innings’ final two balls ensured Sri Lanka had all the momentum with them at the break.The Sri Lankan first over
There might never have been a game that saw such a contrast at the start of each bowling performance. While Naseem was unplayable to begin Pakistan’s work, Dilshan Madushanka was anything but. It wasn’t until the sixth ball that the innings even began with the left-arm seamer starting off with a no-ball and following it up with four wides, one of which went down to the boundary for an extra four. Pakistan had nine to their name without a legal ball being bowled and a free hit to follow. But Madushanka would come back smartly to allow just three more through the over, and Sri Lanka ensured it was a blip rather than a harbinger of what was to follow.The entire second innings
There was so much to enjoy about Sri Lanka in the field it’s almost impossible to pick out individual moments. Madushan’s two-in-two to remove Babar and Fakhar Zaman set the tone. It also helped that an off colour Mohammad Rizwan never really figured out how to manipulate his innings according to the needs of the target.Shanaka was especially canny about using his bowlers, perhaps in stark contrast to Pakistan who mysteriously opted not to have Mohammad Nawaz bowl out his quote. Throwing the ball to the offspinner de Silva just as the left-hander Nawaz came in to bat at No. 5 proved a masterstroke, with a couple of sensational dives in the field saving valuable runs off the first two balls, followed up by four dot balls that saw the asking rate balloon to 14.Sri Lanka caught like a side possessed, too, whereas the only montage you could make of Pakistan’s fielding would be about their sloppiness. In the end, there was a yawning chasm between the performances the two sides put in, with the result a fair reflection.

India did not take part in 2010 and 2014, the two previous times cricket featured at the Games

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jul-2023India’s men’s and women’s cricket teams are set to compete in the Asian Games for the first time, with the BCCI’s apex council approving their participation in the upcoming Games in Hangzhou in September-October. Cricket has featured twice in the Asian Games before – in 2010 and 2014 – but India didn’t take part either time.As in the 2010 and 2014 editions, T20 will be the format of the cricket event in Hangzhou.”We are going to participate in the Asian Games,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah confirmed on Friday. “The Apex Council has approved the participation of our men’s and women’s teams.”With the Men’s ODI World Cup, which is scheduled to begin on October 5, two days before the end of the Asian Games cricket competition, the BCCI is expected to send a second-string men’s team to the Games, and a full-strength women’s team.Bangladesh (2010) and Sri Lanka (2014) won the men’s gold medals in the previous editions of the Games, while Pakistan won the women’s gold both times.Related

• Gaikwad to lead second-string India side in Asian Games

• Ambati Rayudu withdraws from Major League Cricket stint with Texas Super Kings

• BCCI allows two bouncers per over and changes Impact Player rule for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

• Rayudu to retire from IPL after final against Titans, promises 'no U-turn'

BCCI mulls policy to prevent early retirements

Among the other matters discussed by the apex committee was the issue of players retiring from international and domestic cricket in order to participate in overseas leagues. The most recent case of this is Ambati Rayudu, who retired after the final of IPL 2023, following which he signed up with Texas Super Kings for the upcoming inaugural edition of Major League Cricket.As things stand, Indian cricketers can only feature in overseas leagues if they are no longer involved in international cricket or in BCCI-run tournaments including the IPL. While only a handful of Indian players have so far gone on to play in overseas leagues after their retirements, the mushrooming of leagues around the world has raised the concern that players could retire early to play in these new tournaments.”We’ll come out with a policy to prevent the trend of pre-determined retirement,” Shah said. “The office-bearers will make a policy and send it back for approval.”

Brisbane Heat put up a brave chase and needed 10 from two balls but Marizanne Kapp closed out the game

AAP06-Nov-2023Sydney Thunder made a statement in the WBBL, hitting the club’s highest ever total before holding on for an eight-run win in the top-of-the-table clash against Brisbane Heat.Led by hard-hitting openers Tahlia Wilson and Chamari Athapaththu, Thunder smashed 204 for 4 at North Sydney Oval.Heat were gallant in reply to get the equation down to 24 off the final over, before Jess Jonassen whacked two sixes of Marizanne Kapp to make it 10 needed off two balls. But the South African bowler held her nerve.Related

• Athapaththu bludgeons Stars to help Thunder go top

• Perry's perfect all-round performance crushes Renegades

• Mack, Gibson heroics trump Sciver-Brunt's fifty for Strikers' last-ball win

Wooden-spooners last year with only one win, Thunder now lead the WBBL with a 5-1 record and a game in hand over the rest of the top four.Athapaththu has been a star, but equally impressive is the form of the Thunder’s entire top order. Wilson hit 83 from 54 balls in the best night of her WBBL career, setting the tone early with a 102-run opening stand with Athapaththu from 63 balls.The 24-year-old has made an art of piercing the leg-side field in this tournament, and seven of her 11 fours – as well as a six off Courtney Sippel – came in that fashion on Monday.Heat only had themselves to blame, dropping Wilson three times in her fiery innings.Athapaththu continues to be destructive, hitting 58 off 31 deliveries. She flayed the ball at will through the offside when offered width, and helped take 15 off Amelia Kerr’s first over when she hit the spinner back over her head for six.The Sri Lankan brought up her 50 off 25 balls, doing so in style by slow-sweeping Jonassen for two sixes in one over. The runs took Athapaththu to the top of the scoring charts for the tournament, with 304 at an average of 50.66 and a strike-rate of 143.39.More remarkably, the she was overlooked by everyone in the overseas player draft, before later being scooped up by Thunder.Heather Knight banged out 38 off 19 balls, as Thunder took 69 from the final five overs. Jonassen copped the most treatment, going for 0 for 48 from three overs, while Kerr was 0 for 43 from her three.Sippel had more success, removing Athapaththu and Phoebe Litchfield to finish with 2 for 31, while Nicola Hancock’s 2 for 32 included the wickets of Knight, and Kapp for a golden duck.Mignon du Preez gave Heat some hope in the chase with 61 from 37, but she was caught trying to take on Hannah Darlington in the penultimate over.Jonassen handed the hosts a late scare, but it wasn’t enough to pull off what would have been the competition’s highest-ever chase.

Women’s retainers are currently at 70 per cent of their male counterparts

AAP04-Apr-2023Cricket is in the box seat to become the first major Australian sport to achieve pay parity at a domestic level, after a landmark deal to significantly increase the earnings of female players.Women emerged as the biggest winners in cricket’s pay deal on Monday, with an extra AU$53 million in the player pool over the next five years and a pay rise of 66 percent.Those winnings will be felt most significantly at domestic level, where the average pay packet will sit at AU$151,000 for players with state and WBBL deals.The majority of dual-format female players will also earn six figures for the first time, with minimum state contracts set at around AU$60,000 and the lowest-paid WBBL player on close to AU$20,000.

How Australian women’s cricket is winning

• Top women’s CA contract holder with a WBBL deal now able to earn AU$800,000

• Next six contracts potential to earn on average AU$500,000

• Minimum and average CA women’s contract increases 25%

• Number of contracts rises from 15 to 18

• Average domestic earnings for a player with WNCL and WBBL contract now AU$151,019

• WBBL salary cap doubles to AU$732,000

• Top WBBL player can earn AU$133,000; average retainer doubles to $54,200

• Two additional state (and ACT) contracts per team

Match payments have also been brought in line with men’s, with a touch over AU$2000 paid per day played, topping up the salaries to the biggest in women’s sport.The figures leave women’s retainers in state contracts at 70 per cent of their male counterparts, with genuine belief parity can be reached in future deals.”We’re on a journey,” Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said. “We have seen an overall 26 percent increase in player pay, but a 66 percent increase in payments to our female players.”We are on a path, we are not there yet. But we have taken a major step forward in closing the gap.”Both CA and the players’ union will put a focus on trying to further commercialise the game, with a doubling of the WBBL salary cap to AU$732,000 aimed at keeping the best overseas talent.”If we unlock commercialisation, that’s the key,” former Australian star Rachael Haynes said. “If we do that, I think we will get parity.”Enabling players more time to invest in themselves and their game, naturally that will help them get better.”Officials are also predicting multiple female players could crack the AU$1 million mark, when combining their national salaries, WBBL deals and overseas contracts.While national contracts are well below their male counterparts, the top-earning female will now earn AU$800,000 combined from their Australian and WBBL deals, while the next six will average AU$500,000.”I think we’ll have a few of millionaires in the next few years,” Australian Cricketers Association CEO Todd Greenberg said. “And so they should because they’re the best in the world at what they do.”

A wrap of the Momentum One Day Cup matches on February 7, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2016Cape Cobras consolidated their position at the top of the standings with a comfortable six-wicket win over Lions in Paarl.Lions, who were sent in to bat, were shot out for 133. Save Dominic Hendrick’s unbeaten 44, there was little of note in the innings that lasted 40.3 overs. Beuran Hendricks, the left-arm seamer, returned figures of 3 for 18 off eight overs, while Dane Paterson, Wayne Parnell and Dane Piedt had two scalps apiece.The Cobras stuttered at the start by losing Parnell and Omphile Ramela early, but Andrew Puttick ate into the target with an unbeaten 63. He was helped by Stiaan van Zyl, who made 35, as Cobras won with 16.5 overs to spare.An unbeaten century from opener Rudi Second, followed by three-wicket hauls from Mbulelo Budaza and Michael Erlank, sent Knights to a 74-run win over Warriors in East London.The bonus point win meant that Knights were dragged from the bottom of the table, with 13 points, five behind the Warriors in the final play-off spot with two rounds to play.Having elected to bat, Knights lost Reeza Hendricks and Michael Erlank early, but Second and Botha drove them forward with a brisk 100-run partnership. Botha was aggressive, striking 63 off 54 balls, including seven fours and a six. Second’s century,which contained only four fours, was a measured effort. Werner Coetsee strengthened Knights’ advantage with a cameo lower down the order, as they finished with 258.JJ Smuts was the pick of the bowlers for Warriors, claiming figures of 2 for 49. He then gave the chase early thurst with his 21st List A fifty, but the rest of the batsmen fell away. Budaza, playing only his 10th List A game accounted for Smuts,Jerry Nqolo, and Yaseen Vallie to finish with career-best figures. Erlank then wrapped up the tail to dismiss Warriors for 184 in 43.3 overs and seal Knights’ third win of the tournament.