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Hampshire have preserved their Division One status on the final day of the season after defeating Nottinghamshire by eight wickets at Trent Bridge

ECB/PA24-Sep-2015
ScorecardMichael Carberry saw Hampshire home and kept their Division One hopes alive•Getty Images

Hampshire have preserved their Division One status on the final day of the season after defeating Nottinghamshire by eight wickets at Trent Bridge. They secured the victory needed to keep their hopes alive after chasing down a victory target of 200, and their perseverance was rewarded shortly after 3pm, when news filtered through from Headingley that Sussex had succumbed to the county champions, Yorkshire, by 100 runs.”I’m so happy right now. I don’t know what it feels like lifting a cup, but this probably feels just as good, if not better,” said Fidel Edwards, Hampshire’s former West Indies fast bowler whose match haul of 10 for 145 was instrumental in the victory.”To come here and win was a great effort where we showed our class,” Edwards told BBC Radio Solent. “It’s a great feeling to be staying Division One. It’s been a good team effort and we’re really happy right now. Come next year, it’s going to be hard to beat us.””We’ve played some really good cricket in the last few weeks,” said James Vince, Hampshire’s captain. “I think we’ve got the balance of our side right, and that will stand us in good stead for next season. Fidel Edwards has been outstanding. On a flat pitch like this one having someone like him who can get wickets makes a big difference.”Openers Jimmy Adams and Michael Carberry had laid the foundation for the win by putting on 89 together on the third evening and after a watchful half hour they took their stand into three figures. Adams moved to his 50 from 81 deliveries and Carberry followed shortly afterwards, running Stuart Broad for back-to-back boundaries to the vacant third man area to reach the milestone.The opening stand reached 129, at which point Jake Ball struck with two wickets in as many deliveries. Adams chopped on to his stumps after making 70 and then Lions captain James Vince was cleaned up first ball by his fellow squad member.Carberry’s half-century had arrived in 110 deliveries and he made sure there was no way back into the contest for the hosts as he unleashed a flurry of shots, before scampering a single to mid-on to clinch the contest.Carberry closed on 84 not out and Will Smith was unbeaten on 34 at the end. Nottinghamshire’s defeat, their first loss in eight matches, confirmed their third place finish in the table.

Pakistan’s raw attack dealt with the loss of Umar Gul and Junaid Khan well till tea, before fading in the final session

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran22-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Rahat Ali picked up three wickets, including the big one of Hashim Amla•Associated Press

Before the start of the Test Pakistan received the unpleasant news that two of their main bowlers won’t be available – Umar Gul out due to a sore throat and Junaid Khan still recovering from the injury that kept him out of the Newlands Test – leaving their pace attack with a total of only two caps coming into the match. South Africa also had an injury-related jolt as Jacques Kallis was forced out with a calf problem he picked up during an optional training session.Two sessions into the game, it was Pakistan who were dealing with the losses better than South Africa, having dismissed five of the home side’s mighty batting line-up. They gave it away in the final session, though, with AB de Villiers marching towards an easy-on-the-eye 16th Test century and South Africa’s lower-order again proving hard to dislodge.Before de Villiers took charge of the innings, it was Hashim Amla who troubled Pakistan. Amla extended the form that made him the world’s No. 1 Test batsman to serve up a stylish 92, and in the company of de Villiers, took South Africa to a position of strength before a double-strike from Rahat Ali lifted Pakistan, and denied Amla another Test hundred.Rahat had also provided the early wicket after Graeme Smith won his third toss in a row and for the third time took the slightly unpopular decision, this time to bat. Rahat began with a wayward over, in which he was caned for a couple of boundaries by Alviro Petersen, bringing back memories of his ineffective Test debut earlier this month in Johannesburg. He made amends in his second over, though, as an incutter had Petersen lbw for 10.The teenager Ehsan Adil, the third fast bowler to debut for Pakistan this series, had an even better start as he struck on the third ball of his Test career, getting Smith to nick a catch to a diving Younis Khan at second slip.South Africa were 38 for 2, and with Kallis missing, they were a batsman light. Pakistan’s raw attack, however, wasn’t consistently threatening and offered plenty of freebies. Amla led the recovery with an innings filled with the whiplash drives and the high-risk strokes that he makes seem routine. He was involved in a couple of substantial partnerships, first with Faf du Plessis and later with de Villiers to keep South Africa motoring along at four an over.The pressure Pakistan had applied through the early wickets quickly dissipated as their bowlers sprayed the ball around, regularly overpitching or providing too much width. There were plenty of boundaries and towards the end of the session, du Plessis took Rahat for three fours in four deliveries as South Africa took 35 runs off the final seven overs before lunch.Saeed Ajmal, Pakistan’s hero in the Newlands Test, was unable to keep the runs down initially, but he exerted more control after lunch. With only two runs coming off the first three overs after the break, du Plessis decided to try throw Adil off his length by skipping down the track but he could only nick the shortish ball through to the keeper.Still, there was no let-up in the scoring as Amla and de Villiers provided a treat of shots. De Villiers was felled by a beamer from Mohammad Irfan, but that didn’t prevent him from playing his usual inventive strokes, including reverse-sweeps and late dabs past slips. He also regularly picked up singles, and with Amla capitalising on the many overpitched, hit-me deliveries on offer, South Africa coasted towards 200.Amla showed how confident he was by skipping down the track and launching Ajmal over mid-on for four to move to 80. There was a lull in his scoring after that and he survived a loud appeal for caught-behind even after Pakistan used the DRS. Soon after, though, he attempted a drive away from his body – usually not advisable, but Amla plays it perfectly often – and feathered to the keeper. Dean Elgar’s dismissal soon after left South Africa at 196 for 5 and with their bowling allrounder Robin Peterson in the middle.Peterson had been pivotal to turning the Newlands Test South Africa’s way with a combative 84, and he again showed his value with the bat, playing sensibly to forge a 52-run stand with de Villiers. What wasn’t sensible was his running between the wickets, and despite a loud call of ‘No,’ from de Villiers he didn’t turn back from an attempted single till it was too late and was beaten by a direct hit from Mohammad Irfan.If Pakistan were looking to wrap the innings up quickly after that, they came up against Vernon Philander, who has hassled them repeatedly with the ball this series, and now frustrated them with the bat. There were no desperate-tailender swings, as he worked his way to an unbeaten 45, highlighted by a couple of imperious pulls for four.Towards the end of the day, there was plenty of interest around whether de Villiers could complete his century before stumps. He needed nine off the final over, and though he played a breathtaking upper cut for four, de Villiers ended unbeaten on 98.It wasn’t all one-way traffic, but yet again South Africa managed to find a way to emerge on top, as they have so often in recent years.

Ian Bell was relieved to be back in the runs after making a half-century on day two in Galle

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2012Ian Bell was relieved to be back in the runs after making a half-century on day two in Galle, his innings of 52 amounting to more than his combined total during England’s three Tests in the UAE earlier this year.Bell’s fifty was the main contribution to England’s first-innings total of 193 and he was pleased to spend some time in the middle after a miserable series against Pakistan.”It was nice to change a pair of gloves for the first time this winter,” Bell said. “The foot movement was going well for both seamers and spinners so it’s very nice. I’ve done a lot of practising and a lot of netting but just haven’t had time out in the middle and felt quite out of nick. You need to be in good form when you play against good spin.”After making 835 runs against Sri Lanka and India during 2011, Bell was hailed as England’s most attractive player. But he slumped against Pakistan, scoring just 51 at an average of 8.50 – almost 15 times lower than his mark in the summer.”I’ve tried to get back to real basics and just watch the ball and let everything else take over,” he said. “Sometimes you get so desperate to score runs it gets harder and harder. When you get across the line it’s about scoring runs.”Bell was tormented by Saeed Ajmal in the UAE, unable to pick his doosra. But he has worked hard on his methods against spin, travelling out early to Sri Lanka for extra practice sessions while acclimatising.”When you’re in the nets you have to put things in place to test yourself to try and get better. All the way through the levels – and you can see in the Lions now – we know we all have to get better at playing spin it’s a long-term goal but we’re working to get better.”We’re working hard, getting in to good positions, using our feet, being able to go back. Everyone had their own gameplan, whether it’s to be positive to use their feet or to hit over the top but you have to be right on it. If you don’t get it right you’re going to lose wickets.”England again crumbled against spin, losing eight wickets to slow bowling as Rangana Herath took his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests with 6 for 74. Herath eventually bowled Bell, spinning one past his outside edge – a delivery Bell might have played differently without the influence of DRS.”You’re more aware that you have to play more with the bat than the pad and in general you have to be hitting a lot of the balls,” Bell said. “The game hasn’t changed but there are more lbws. Now you have to play in front of your pad, you can’t play with bat behind pad, and you have to get a good stride because it’s not going to go over the top.”Edited by Alan Gardner

The ICC has asked its president Sharad Pawar to intervene in a growing controversy over the sale and distribution of tickets for the World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2011The ICC has asked its president Sharad Pawar to intervene in a growing controversy over the sale and distribution of tickets for the World Cup. A letter written to Pawar by David Becker, the ICC’s legal head, and published by the Indian channel , warns of the growing discontent among the ICC’s commercial partners over tournament tickets due to them and the possible financial fallout.It has also recommended that the 4,000 general tickets for the World Cup final not be sold at the “box office” but instead “sold to defined cricket fans that are associated with the event and have requested purchase”. This, it said, was because the high demand for these tickets created the “potential for chaos and physical injury when the box office sales open”.Pawar is the chairman of the tournament’s Central Organising Committee and a former president of the BCCI, where he still enjoys considerable influence (He is also president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, which is responsible for the Wankhede stadium). As reported by ESPNcricinfo, the hosting agreement makes the national boards (the hosts) responsible for the distribution, stamping and printing of gate tickets and hospitality tickets; it also says the hosts “will exercise strict control” to conduct efficient orderly production and distribution and hospitality. “It is apparent that certain Hosts have failed to comply with this requirement,” the letter said.The sale and distribution of tickets among the public has become a matter of concern for two main reasons: the small number of tickets available for the final, and the poor distribution system, online and through snail mail, of tickets to buyers. Becker’s mail says the issues have been regularly highlighted at Board level in recent months.”We understand that Kyazoonga have been unable to distribute all of the tickets purchased online by customers some months ago for the reason that they have not as yet received all the physical tickets from the respective cricket venues/associations,” the letter said. “We have received many complaints from fans who purchased tickets but are yet to receive them despite having paid for these tickets more than six months ago and being informed at the time that these would be couriered to them by early February. Apart from the threat of claims for compensation from these customers, this is causing a significant public relations issue for the ICC.”We also know that the Kyazoonga website crashed on several occasions yesterday due to the massive demands placed on the system when tickets for the final were placed on sale.”The letter also deals with the supply of tickets to the ICC’s commercial partners. It said the ICC had not received any tickets for matches in the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and had received complaints from its commercial partners, “who have paid millions of dollars to receive rights and benefits which include the timely provision of tickets and hospitality”. It notes the impact this could have on the relationships with these partners and says it is “highly likely that some or all of them” will seek compensation from the ICC and/or withhold payments. The letter quotes an ICC commercial partner writing to CEO Haroon Lorgat saying, “This is an $80m sponsorship and to say you are bound by the BCCI is inexcusable.””The ICC is awaiting a response from him [Pawar] to decide on further course of action,” Colin Gibson, the tournament media director, told .The problems with ticketing have arisen because the BCCI chose to print and distribute tickets through multiple state associations rather than one central ticketing agency. This has led to delays in the physical tickets being made available for those who have bought them online and the inability to forward the sponsors share of the tickets so they can invite their guests to games.For example, the tickets for Sunday’s India v England match which has been shifted to Bangalore were only received on Wednesday. Whenever it was brought into discussions over the course of the past year, the hosts had informed the ICC that matters were under control. As the tournament got underway, the lack of centralised control that has led to ticketing chaos. Organisers say that the official ticketing agency, Kyazoonga.com, has not been informed about how many tickets will made available for online sale and at what cost for the Mohali semi-final on their website. It says, however, that such claims for compensation from either disgruntled fans or unsatisfied commercial partners will be set off against any distributions due to the relevant hosts.ICC chief Pawar is in New Delhi today and will be at the Kotla match between West Indies and South Africa and is expected to discuss the issue with officials.

Alex Obanda butchered 79 from 48 balls to lead Kenya to a resounding victory over Canada in the World Twenty20 Qualifiers in Dubai

Cricinfo staff10-Feb-2010
Scorecard
Alex Obanda butchered 79 from 48 balls to lead Kenya to a resounding victory over Canada in the World Twenty20 Qualifiers in Dubai.Following their disappointing defeat to minnows UAE in their opening game, where their conservative approach strangled hopes of chasing 165, Kenya came out firing in pursuit of a modest total from Canada. Obanda dominated a 126-run opening stand with Steve Tikolo, which came from only 76 balls.The pair were severe on the generous serving of short balls dished up from the Canada bowlers, who were clearly wilting in the heat of the Kenyan attack. From the first over Obanda unfurled an array of rasping cuts and pulls, taking 13 off Umar Bhatti’s opening over, as he raced to his fifty from just 23 balls.The pair reached 64 inside the five overs and, while Tikolo didn’t get much of the strike, he was no less aggressive when he did. His 50, from 36 balls, included five fours and a six, enough to reminded everyone that, even at the age of 38, he remains one of the most gifted batsmen outside Test cricket.It made made a mockery of the target Canada scrapped together earlier in the day. They were inserted by Maurice Ouma and lost John Davidson in the first over of the game, bowled by Hiren Varaiya for a duck. Rizwan Cheema, the Canada captain, opening with Davidson tried to arrest the early momentum with a couple of big shots, but things didn’t improve for his side as Hiral Patel fell for four in the fifth over, pulling a short ball from Jimmy Kamande straight to Tikolo at square leg.The bulk of the runs came through contributions from Cheema (32), Geoff Barnett (30) and a run-a-ball 36 from Ashish Bagai. Despite these useful starts, none of the batsmen could get away. Kamande’s nagging offspinners choked the middle order and his dismissal of Cheema, with a doosra, was one to remember. The batsman had no clue as it spun away from him and clipped the edge through the wicketkeeper Ouma.Medium-pacer Nehemiah Odhiambo, who was the pick of the bowlers in Kenya’s opening match, was again in the wickets today, as he bowled a devastating ‘death’ over of yorkers to collect three wickets and give away just four runs.It set the momentum which Obanda and Tikolo lifted to another level to revive Kenya’s hopes of progressing in the tournament.

Mumbai are playing their third game in four days, and that workload could have an impact in the eliminator

Vishal Dikshit12-Mar-20256:16

Mithali Raj: Harmanpreet finds a way to score against Giants

Who’s playing

Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Gujarat Giants (GG)
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, 7.30pm IST

What to expect: two wounded teams eyeing a final spot

Even though both Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians come into the eliminator after losing their last league games, Mumbai look a little more wounded. They lost their first home game at Brabourne Stadium in the WPL on Tuesday, they dropped four catches in the game, leaked a lot of runs in the field, and they are playing non-stop cricket at the end of the tournament. The eliminator on Thursday will be their third game in four days after back-to-back matches to start the week and should they make the final, it will be four games in the span of six days for Mumbai.Giants have no such issues. The margin of their loss to Mumbai on Monday was just nine runs after Bharti Fulmali’s blazing finish, their Indian players are stepping up at the right time to take some of the load off the overseas stars, and their run of three straight wins before heading to Mumbai would have given them bundles of confidence.Except they have never beaten Mumbai. In these three seasons of WPL, Mumbai boast of a 6-0 record against Giants but going by their last clash, the next contest may not be as lopsided as this stat suggests. One of the factors behind Giants’ rise in the points table was their middle-order batting led by captain Ashleigh Gardner and Deandra Dottin, even if they struggled to find the perfect opening partner for Beth Mooney. Giants have been the slowest starters in the powerplay this WPL (run rate 5.97), but then they pick up fabulously in the middle overs with a scoring rate of 8.81 (better than anyone else), and have been the second-best finishers at the death (10 per over) behind only Royal Challengers Bengaluru.Related

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• Priya Mishra spins her way into the spotlight

• The rise and roar of Kashvee Gautam

• Harmanpreet adds more aggression to her game

Going by this WPL’s trends, what could possibly decide the match will be Giants’ middle overs, when they will be looking to press the pedal but will be up against the mighty bowling of Mumbai – the best bowling side in that phase. Amelia Kerr, their star bowler in the middle overs, might have leaked plenty of runs on Tuesday, but had all the catches been taken off her bowling her figures might have been different. Her ability to excel under pressure – as was seen in the T20 World Cup last year – could be on display again on Thursday.Going into the toss, both captains would be relieved to know which way the coin falls might not matter too much: while teams have still been opting to chase, the tide has turned at the end of the league stage with teams batting first winning the last three games. Before that, only two games had been won batting first out of 17.While Mumbai will be eyeing their second final in three years after losing to RCB in the eliminator last year, the onus is on Giants to not make this year’s final match-up a repeat of what we saw in 2023.

Form guide

Mumbai Indians LWWLW (last five matches, most recent first)
Gujarat Giants LWWWL

Team news

Both teams went unchanged into their last league games but will be concerned about their opening combinations. If Giants haven’t found anyone to partner Mooney, Mumbai’s strategy to promote Kerr to the top hasn’t worked in three attempts.Gujarat Giants (probable): 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 Kashvee Gautam, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Ashleigh Gardner (capt), 5 Phoebe Lichfield, 6 Deandra Dottin, 7 Bharti Fulmali, 8 Simran Shaikh, 9 Tanuja Kanwar, 10 Meghna Singh, 11 Priya MishraMumbai Indians (probable): 1 Hayley Matthews, 2 Amelia Kerr, 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Amanjot Kaur, 6 Yastika Bhatia (wk), 7 G Kamalini, 8 S Sajana, 9 Sanskriti Gupta, 9 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Parunika Sisodia

Players to watch: Harmanpreet Kaur and Beth Mooney

Harmanpreet Kaur loves playing Giants. She averages nearly 79 against them, scores at a rate of 171 and has four half-centuries against them. Harmanpreet’s tally of 315 runs is the most a batter has accrued against Giants. She has not been at her consistent best this season and, in the absence of solid batting options after her, another big score against Giants would give her a lot of confidence potentially going into a final.A big-match player like Beth Mooney will be crucial for Giants•BCCI

Beth Mooney has been Giants’ only hope at the top of the order for large parts of the season. Fortunately for them Harleen Deol has come good at No. 3 lately, but Mooney has done the heavy lifting to give them steady if sedate starts. RCB’s openers showed on Tuesday that you could go after Mumbai’s top bowlers too, and Mooney could take a leaf out of Smriti Mandhana’s book. She has two half-centuries this season, not even close to her best, and she’ll be itching to get a big one against Giants’ nemesis in the eliminator.

Key stats

• An average of nearly 70 combined with a strike rate that’s touching 153 is largely unheard of in WT20s, but such is Nat Sciver-Brunt’s purple patch this time. She currently has the Orange Cup and became the first batter to cross 400 runs in a WPL season. If she scores another 80 on Thursday – her highest score in the WPL – she will become the first player to reach 1000 WPL runs
• Ash Gardner is the top run-scorer (559) and the top wicket-taker (25) for Giants in WPL history
• There are three allrounders this season who have over 200 runs and more than five wickets so far, all from Mumbai and Giants: Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews and Gardner
• Kerr and Matthews lead the wicket-taking charts so far this WPL with 14 scalps each. Giants’ top wicket-taker is Kashvee Gautam with ten

Seventeen-year-old local batter Jewel Andrew also on Falcons’ books as initial squad of 12 named ahead of player draft in July

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2024The Pakistan trio of Mohammad Amir, Imad Wasim and Fakhar Zaman will turn out for new franchise Antigua & Barbuda Falcons at CPL 2024. Falcons have also signed Australia offspinner Chris Green and Afghanistan allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai for their debut season.West Indies’ Brandon King and Fabian Allen were also signed, along with 17-year-old batter Jewel Andrew, who played the Under-19 World Cup for West Indies earlier this year.In all, Falcons have signed 12 players so far, which means they will need to sign five more players at the draft in July to round-out their squad.Related

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Other big signings for CPL 2024 so far have included Tim David and Jason Roy (Trinbago Knight Riders), Heinrich Klaasen (St Lucia Kings), and Wanindu Hasaranga and Tristan Stubbs (St Kitts and Nevis Patriots).Antigua & Barbuda Falcons, the new franchise, replaces Jamaica Tallawahs at the CPL. Antigua had previously hosted a CPL franchise named Antigua Hawksbills in the first two CPL seasons, but that was replaced by St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in 2015.The 2024 edition of the CPL will take place from August 28 to October 6 with games taking place in Antigua for the first time in ten years. Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago are the other venues. The National Stadium in Providence, Guyana, will host the final.

Antigua & Barbuda Falcons squad list

Imad Wasim, Fakhar Zaman, Brandon King, Fabian Allen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Amir, Chris Green, Hayden Walsh Jr, Shamar Springer, Kelvin Pitman, Jewel Andrew, Joshua James

PCB head Najam Sethi says board and government will share “cost of lighting routes” during matches in Lahore

Umar Farooq26-Feb-2023The PCB and Punjab government have reached an agreement that will see PSL games go ahead as scheduled in Lahore and Rawalpindi.The PCB head Najam Sethi tweeted on Sunday, as Lahore’s first PSL game, between Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi was underway, that the board and Punjab government had agreed “to share cost of lighting routes during PSL matches in Lahore… PSL matches in Lahore and Pindi shall continue as scheduled.”ESPNcricinfo understands that the ice breaker was PCB reaching out its patron-in chief Shahbaz Sharif, who is the prime minister of Pakistan. That brought to an end a standoff that threatened to see all of Lahore’s remaining games played in Karachi.”I am grateful to the Chief Minister Mr Mohsin Naqvi for accepting and understanding the PCB and PSL franchisees’ position,” Sethi said.
“I am also thankful to the franchise owners for their overwhelming and unconditional support to the PCB throughout this process. We remain committed to working with the local governments and sharing with them ideas and suggestions on how they can utilise the PSL more strategically to generate revenues, like any other major sport extravaganza.”