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This IPL starts off with a lovely battle within a battle, an ad writer’s dream. MS Dhoni, the man who led India to the World cup win, v Gautam Gambhir, the man who played a big hand in that final

The Preview by Sriram Veera07-Apr-2011

Match facts

MS Dhoni’s men have dominated Kolkata in the past, but will be up against a different bunch of players this time•Indian Premier League

Friday, April 8
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big picture

If India hadn’t done well in the World Cup, would it have led to viewer fatigue ahead of the IPL? And since they won, will it translate to an enthusiastic fan base, and even creation of new fans for the game? This IPL will answer that question. There is another question that has been hovering around since the creation of IPL. Have the teams succeeded in creating loyal fan bases? This is the fourth edition and one should ideally see the early signs of loyalty but many teams, barring Chennai Super Kings, have changed their personnel so much that it will be interesting to see how the fans respond. Is fans’ parochial affection to the region/city bigger than their love for the players?For what it’s worth, this IPL starts off with a lovely battle within a battle, an ad writer’s dream. MS Dhoni, the man who led India to the World cup win, v Gautam Gambhir, the man who played a big hand in that final. It’s not as big as the Dhoni v Tendulkar contest, but it’s a mouth-watering prospect nevertheless. So far, Chennai have showcased a winning ethos while Kolkata have provided pathos. From seeking glory in the first season and searching for redemption in the second, Kolkata were fighting to avoid humiliation in the last edition. Will this season offer the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel?Chennai have ensured they didn’t lose too many personnel, a move that will have gladdened their fans and their marketing team, and they still are one of the stronger sides in the tournament. In the past, they relied a lot on the spinners and their seam attack largely depended on Doug Bollinger. This year, they have added Nuwan Kulasekara and Tim Southee and that seam attack looks far more potent. The batting will miss the services of Michael Hussey until the end of Australia’s tour of Bangladesh and Anirudha Srikkanth might open in his absence, along open with M Vijay. The middle order is pretty established with the likes of Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, MS Dhoni and Albie Morkel.Kolkata Knight Riders have been looking for a fresh start ever since the nightmarish first season and this season will start on the same premise. Can Gambhir and the new faces turn things around? Ryan ten Doeschate, Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan will add great value to a middle order that has often proved brittle in the past. Add to that the menacing presence of Yusuf Pathan, and you are looking at a pretty formidable batting line-up.

Team talk

Kolkata might be forced to play all their available overseas players tomorrow. The likes of Brett Lee, Brad Haddin and Shakib Al Hasan will feature only at the end of Australia’s tour of Bangladesh. For Manoj Tiwary, who has decisively slipped under the national radar, this season offers another chance to prove a point or two. Shreevats Goswami, the wicket-keeper batsman who struggled to get a game with Royal Challengers, might get an opportunity to prove his worth.Anirudha might get a chance to open for Chennai in Hussey’s absence. It will be interesting to see if they pair Suraj Randiv with R Ashwin. They are more likely to turn to Shadab Jakati, who has done a good job in the past as a back-up spinner. There is also the interesting sub-plot of S Badrinath. If he performs well, as he has done in the past, the city populace will once again sigh at the alleged “discrimination” against him in the national scene.

In the spotlight

Yusuf Pathan‘s reputation was built in the IPL and he carried that confidence on to play a couple of furious match-winning knocks for India in ODIs. He was replaced by Suresh Raina near the end of the World Cup and will be itching to showcase his brutal power in this year’s IPL. He has the shots, he has the heart – unlike some, he doesn’t retreat further into crease every ball in anticipation of the bouncer – and he has the ambition.Eoin Morgan is that rare commodity in England cricket: an excellent limited-overs batsman. He can unfurl the craziest of the innovative shots and is difficult to contain. He could potentially be the engine of Kolkata’s middle order.In Hussey’s absence, M Vijay will have to take up the burden of scoring against the new ball. His career path has been fascinating: he shrugged off the tag of a Test batsman to play some screaming knocks in the shortest form of the game but the criticism against him is that he either goes too slow or plays too many shots. The critics have demanded maturity in his shot selection and his progress will be closely monitored.

Prime numbers

With 520 runs, Suresh Raina was the third highest run getter in the last year’s IPL. Kallis, who played for Bangalore, was the second highest scorer with 572, behind Sachin Tendulkar.

Last year, Kolkata featured twice in the top four occasions of a team conceding too many extras. They gave away 20 extras against Chennai and 18 against Punjab.

With 13 wickets apiece, Shadab Jakati and R Ashwin were the top wicket-takers for Chennai last year. Kallis also took 13 wickets while Ashok Dinda, playing for Kolkata, picked up nine wickets.

The chatter

“The batting line-up is as good as last year. IPL is not about less pressure. Batting slots are decided according to situation. When all are shuffled up and down the order, it’s according to the situation. If we have to change the batting order, everyone has to be comfortable about doing it..”
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Ryan Sidebottom has said he has ‘nothing to prove’ as an international player but conceded that regular injuries have forced him down the England pecking order in recent times

Cricinfo staff13-Apr-2010Ryan Sidebottom has said he has ‘nothing to prove’ as an international player but conceded that regular injuries have forced him down the England pecking order in recent times.Sidebottom was a surprise inclusion in England’s 15-man squad for the World Twenty20, which starts at the end of April in West Indies. He has been unable to complete a series since England hosted New Zealand in 2008 and was forced to fly home from England’s recent tour to Bangladesh with a thigh problem he picked up in the first ODI in Dhaka in February.In his absence Tim Bresnan and Steven Finn impressed and Sidebottom admits he now has to try and earn his place back. “There’s nothing I have to prove as a player or a bowler, I’ve proved that I’m good enough to play at the highest level. [But] the likes of Finn and Bresnan have come in and done pretty well, so I’ve got to keep going and try to push them out of the side.”Everybody knows what I’m capable of. I’m not the fastest bowler, but I offer accuracy and swing, and I put batsmen under pressure. If [England] need my experience then I’m here.”Sidebottom has played just one Test match in the last 12 months, when he was surprisingly called-up to replace Graham Onions for the final Test against South Africa at The Wanderers. England lost heavily and Sidebottom was unable to make a significant impact. His performance prompted suggestions that his pace was significantly down from when he led England’s attack so successfully in 2008.Yet Sidebottom insists that rather than his pace suffering from injury, there is instead a lack of consistency in his bowling due to the disruption caused by the string of back, hip, groin and Achilles injuries he has endured. “Nothing has changed in my action and my pace hasn’t changed,” he said. “I just need to get back into [match] action. I don’t think there’s much difference at all. What I have found tough is constantly stopping and starting again with injuries.”As a bowler you need rhythm. When I was playing regularly for England, I didn’t worry about anything. But recently, I’ve played one game, been 12th man and then tried to get back in the team. It’s not been easy to find rhythm.”Sidebottom hopes to take some momentum into the World Twenty20 by bowling plenty of overs for Nottinghamshire as they begin their Championship campaign against Kent on Thursday. He bowled 18 overs for Nottinghamshire in a warm-up game against Durham MCCU, collecting 3 for 48 in 18 overs.Mick Newell, the Nottinghamshire coach, thinks Sidebottom needs overs under his belt to be at his best but says Sidebottom has to sustain the intensity he showed between 2007 and 2008. “Ryan likes to bowl, even though it might not look like that when he’s pulling his hair out. He’s not bowled enough overs, whether it’s in nets or matches, because of the injuries he’s picked up.”International cricket is played at a higher intensity than county cricket. He did well for the first 18 months but he’s suffered a little bit with that of late. He’s got to stay at that higher intensity the whole time. But he wants to do well with England for another couple of years yet.”

“I don’t think we can carry on like this,” says chief executive Ashley Giles

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2024Worcestershire are considering a permanent move away from their home ground at New Road after it flooded seven times over the 2023-24 winter. They will stage their first two home fixtures of the County Championship season in nearby Kidderminster and chief executive Ashley Giles is actively exploring the club’s options.New Road is among the most iconic cricket venues in England, with its backdrop of Worcester cathedral, but it is built on a flood plain which relieves the River Severn. Giles, who took over as chief executive last year, said that the flooding problem is getting worse and fears that any further issues could affect their T20 Blast season.”I don’t think we can carry on like this,” Giles told BBC Hereford and Worcester. “It’s costing us a lot of money. We’re going to lose virtually two months of a six-month season. The ground is here to stage cricket, to be a venue for entertainment and hospitality. But conditions are seemingly getting worse.”I’m not sure how much longer this will continue if we keep having to put up with this. As chief executive here, I have to consider all options – and one of those options has to be looking if we move, where do we move, and how do we move? We have a good relationship with both the local councils, city and county.”And would we be building a version of New Road somewhere else? Or could we look at outside investment and build something that could have world-class facilities. That would take a lot of investment. But sport – and cricket – is interesting to investors right now, so maybe the timing is right to look at those sorts of things.”Related

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Worcestershire are not expecting to play at New Road until May 24, when they host Nottinghamshire in the County Championship, but Giles is anxious about the prospect of flooding ruining the start of their Blast season, with their first home fixture scheduled for May 31.”The weather over the next couple of weeks is important, but we are still sticking to the plan of a May 24 return,” he said. “But any extension of the timeline on a return to New Road would be pretty devastating. We’ve now suffered seven full floods this winter at New Road, the last of them over the Easter weekend, which is very late.”The water has now receded and we’re yet to assess quite how much damage has been done but first impressions are positive. It seems that the work done on the square has been retained and there is still good grass. But, if we push back any further we get into the T20 [Blast].”It would be very damaging if we had to move T20 games away from New Road. Kidderminster has been a very good partner to us and we will play two our first two home Championship games there but could they cope with a T20 game? I don’t know. We need to explore these things.”

Holder arrives for start of season

Worcestershire announced the signing of Jason Holder last week, who has arrived in the UK ahead of their opening Championship fixture against Warwickshire this week. Holder is due to play the first five games of the season, before flying home ahead of the T20 World Cup.Holder told ESPNcricinfo in December that he planned to win back his Test spot through domestic red-ball performances after opting out of West Indies’ tour to Australia in order to play in the ILT20, and made two first-class appearances for Barbados last month.”Jason arrived on Tuesday morning from the West Indies and he has already practised with us at Kidderminster,” Alan Richardson, Worcestershire’s coach, told the club website. “He was really keen to get out there and meet the players and the staff and that has been great.”Trying to find overseas players is probably a lot harder than 20-30 years ago with franchise cricket and this year we’ve got the added complication of a T20 World Cup. Jason was really keen. He has been playing for Barbados and played quite a lot of four-day cricket recently. He was keen to continue and then going into the World Cup with the West Indies.”

Head coach McDonald explains how his batters are hoping to deal with the threat of Ashwin and Jadeja

Andrew McGlashan29-Jan-2023Australia hope that specially prepared pitches at home will help them achieve one of the biggest overseas challenges: winning a Test series in India which they have not done since 2004.The squad has traded off a longer build-up on the ground in India – and there won’t be a warm-up match – in favour of a short pre-series camp where the North Sydney Oval curator Kieran Meurant served up the type of surface the head coach Andrew McDonald was hoping for during two days of intense training for those not involved in the BBL.One pitch on the Bon Andrews Oval, adjacent to the main North Sydney Oval, was scarified and scuffed up, alongside having some significant cracks, to try and replicate what is expected to be on offer in India – although nothing can be certain until each Test begins – with SG balls also being used.Australia will arrive in Bengaluru where they will be based for five days before heading to Nagpur for the first Test on February 9, and they have been told that the practice wickets will be close enough to the Test pitches to provide value, but one of the reasons for the short build-up is the belief that conditions they can control at home are of as much value.”Kieran has done a fantastic job here with the groundstaff to produce exactly what we want,” McDonald said. “We feel as though out there the surfaces we got are very similar to what we’re going to confront in India which is very difficult to replicate, but we feel as though we’ve got close to that, so the ground staff have done a fantastic job.The specially prepared pitch Australia have trained on in Sydney•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Often [there’s] no real connection between that practice game into the first Test match. We feel as though we can control the surfaces here. [We] get a bit more control in Bangalore to replicate what we’re going to come up against and then we go into Nagpur fresh and hopefully it pays dividends at the back end.”There’s been assurances given [about pitches in Bengaluru]. We’ll get there and most groundstaff around the world are pretty good at allowing us to get what we want. We’ll wait and see.”Australia prepared in a similar way before going to Pakistan last year with a camp in Melbourne rather than extra days on tour although this time the expectation is for pitches to provide sharper, quicker spin – closer to how the two Tests against Sri Lanka in Galle played out.”We went through a lot of those scenarios,” McDonald said. “I think the new ball is the one that creates more of that slide and when the batters do get done on the inside…we’re preparing for that.”We’ll expect the spinners to bowl early against our opening batters as well with the new ball so all that is taken care of in the training environment. The key to success there is to have a clear method and that will be individually based and depending on the conditions we’re confronted with.”A fit-again Ravindra Jadeja, who took eight wickets on his comeback in the Ranji Trophy last week, looms as a major threat after his Player of the Series role in the 2017 series where he claimed 25 wickets. Whether it be Jadeja or Axar Patel, visiting teams have struggled to combat India’s left-arm spin in recent years.Related

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“We’ve got a similar bowler in Ashton Agar who can help prepare, and also [assistant coach] Dan Vettori, a left-arm thrower,” McDonald said. “We’ll be trying to make sure the batters are clear on their method. It will be an individual method… they’ve got a really good blueprint in some of the Test matches against Sri Lanka in Galle.”While the senior batters in the squad have not been part of the camp, all the frontline spinners have been together with some very specific training for Nathan Lyon, Agar, Mitchell Swepson and the uncapped Todd Murphy. The quartet have worked on the lines, lengths and release positions, aided by the pre-ordered pitch, and have even got as detailed as discussing field settings.Another key reason for getting the bowlers into camp was to be able to increase workloads, with those who have been involved in BBL needing to quickly adjust from four-over spells”Starting to get into that really tactical layer [and] also physical preparation,” McDonald said. “From the fact they’re going to be required to bowl heavy overs and clearly you can’t just shift T20 into Test match cricket.”It’s been one of the great challenges. I’ve heard state coaches talk about it year in year out, switching from BBL back into Shield cricket and how difficult that is. Everyone appreciates how difficult that is and hence why we are here now. There’s some talk around we’re going to India a bit later… but we’re still preparing over here. Still feel like we’ve got two weeks to prepare for that first Test.”

Head coach bemoans ‘silly mistakes at crucial stages’ that, he says, cost them positions of dominance against Pakistan in the Chattogram Test

Mohammad Isam29-Nov-2021Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo was left frustrated by his players giving away strong positions in the Chattogram Test. Twice in the match the home side bounced back from difficult positions but just as they approached a stage of dominance, they let the game slip out of their hands.Heading into the final day, Pakistan are 93 runs away from a win, after their openers Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique added 109 runs for the unbroken opening stand. They put on 146 in the first innings but Bangladesh bowled them out for 286. The hosts had also recovered from 49 for 4 to put up a total of 330 thanks to Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das. But it seems all those fightbacks might be for nothing.Domingo put Bangladesh’s inability to hold on to positions of dominance down to a lack of the killer instinct.”We got ourselves in great position but we were just not able to seal the deal,” he said after the fourth day’s play. “I am sure the players are also very frustrated. We seem to be making improvement in the format but they have been just making silly mistakes at crucial stages. A catch going down, or playing a loose shot or bowling a bad spell. We just can’t seem to sustain for a longer period of time. It is very frustrating.”I think we probably need to understand what to do when the moment is there. Somebody has to take that step in a high-pressure environment. We cannot wait for someone else to do it. Because we have lost so many Tests in Bangladesh’s history, the belief and the confidence to actually grab the game by the scruff of the neck isn’t quite there.”Related

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Nurul Hasan, who came on as a concussion substitute for Yasir Ali, threw away the last good position Bangladesh held in this game. After a bright start to the post-lunch session, Nurul holed out at long-on with his side leading by 196 runs. Bangladesh lost their last four wickets for just five runs, leaving Pakistan with only 202 to chase.”I am not going to criticise players in the media, but I thought we were getting some momentum [before Nurul got out]. I thought we were ahead of the game. We were 196 ahead with four wickets in hand.”Two batters were getting into a good position. We thought that if that partnership was to go for another 40-50 runs, we would have Pakistan under pressure. Then they would have had to bat for an hour before close of play. If you ask Sohan (Nurul) what he’d would do with that ball, he’d not play the same shot. He let himself and the team down with that shot,” said Domingo.Domingo’s other worry is Bangladesh’s top three. Shadman Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Saif Hassan caved in quickly in both innings. Shadman was lbw in both innings, Shanto was iffy outside the offstump, and Saif got into bad positions against the short ball.”It has been disappointing. I wasn’t happy at the way they got out, considering the nature of the wicket. Shadman has come off a hundred in his last Test, be it five or six months ago. We are finding ourselves under pressure against the new ball.”We are playing against a quality bowling attack. Saif is still playing his fifth or sixth Test. He is very inexperienced. Shadman has played maybe 10. It has been tough for them against high-quality bowlers, so there’s a lot of work for them to do in Tests,” he said.Doming said that the Pakistan attack was successful in exposing the inexperience of the majority of the new players but, among them, Saif oozed promise.”Saif has shown glimpses of his capability. Even in the second innings, he was starting to find a bit of confidence and form. I don’t know if Saif has played this sort of intensity and pressure before.”Yasir came to me after the day’s play yesterday and said that he has never been involved in this intense a battle before in a cricket field.”It is a new experience for a lot of these young players. They are playing against a quality side. The expectations are high. Some of the shortcomings are definitely being exposed at the moment,” he said.

Wicketkeeper-batsman “disappointed” with Test omission but ready to press his case in first-class competition

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2020Jonny Bairstow has reaffirmed his ambition to get back into England’s Test set-up and is set to play first-class cricket with Yorkshire for the first time since 2018, with a plan to be involved in two Bob Willis Trophy games between the end of the Ireland series and three T20Is against Pakistan in late August.Bairstow’s most recent Test outing came on the 2019-20 South Africa tour, where he replaced an unwell Ollie Pope in Centurion, and he was left out of squads for New Zealand and Sri Lanka over the winter, with the selectors encouraging him to work on his batting. However, his involvement in England’s white-ball teams, coupled with the Covid-19 hiatus, has left little opportunity to groove his first-class game.He was again omitted from England’s Test group earlier this month, moving across to the limited-overs bubble for three ODIs against Ireland rather than stay on as a reserve for the West Indies series. But he said before the start of the first ODI at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday that he will continue to push for a Test return.ALSO READ: Morgan: England’s white-ball depth the best it has been“That’s my ambition, I want to get back into that fold,” he told Sky Sports. “I was disappointed not to be involved but that’s natural, if I wasn’t disappointed then it’s starting to say ‘thanks very much’. That’s my burning ambition but the only way I’m going to do that is to score runs, starting in this ODI series, [and] to keep well. I’m hopefully going back to Yorkshire to play two four-day games in between this and the T20s. So yeah, the journey to hopefully get back into contention for that starts here.”Since averaging 92.33 for Yorkshire during the 2015 season that saw him recalled as a batsman by England, Bairstow has only played nine times in the Championship, most recently in the Roses game at Old Trafford in July 2018.While his Test form has stagnated in recent years, Bairstow has become a key cog in Eoin Morgan’s one-day side. His opening partnership with Jason Roy was a central plank of the England team that lifted the World Cup for the first time a year ago, but he suggested they would be starting a “new journey” against Ireland at the outset of the ICC’s new ODI Super League, which will go towards qualification for the 2023 tournament in India.”The World Cup final was amazing but there was a journey to get to that,” he said. “We reached the pinnacle of that journey but we’re well aware that now we start a new journey, to continue on from the standards that we set, we have to now go up a gear as well, to keep on moving forward, to keep the standards going higher and higher, leading into this Ireland series, and the ODI series at the end of the summer hopefully against Australia if that all goes ahead.”With several members of the World Cup side absent due to their involvement in the Test series against West Indies and Pakistan, and a younger crop pushing for selection in the white-ball training group, Bairstow said that he had enjoyed taking on a senior role in the camp.”It’s been great … having some younger guys coming in, some less-experienced guys coming in, learning from them as well, the experiences they’ve had in franchise competitions around the world or even in England if they’ve played against certain people. Even in the Irish side there’s a few guys that have played with and against them for the counties. It’s been good, the camp’s gone really well so far, obviously in the bio-bubble it’s very different to the norm but the guys are fresh and raring to go.”

This is the joint-worst streak of losses in IPL history; Capitals meanwhile record their third win in six games

The Report by Peter Della Penna07-Apr-2019Royal Challengers Bangalore slumped to their sixth straight loss in IPL 2019. They first struggled to 149, and then saw Shreyas Iyer wallop 67 after a costly let-off on a two-paced pitch. This knock helped Delhi Capitals overcome a late wobble to secure a four-wicket win. It was their third win in six games this season.Virat Kohli managed to face just 33 balls for his 41 despite staying at the crease until the 18th over, before falling to Kagiso Rabada to start a triple-wicket over. This ensured Royal Challengers didn’t get a finishing kick.Tim Southee struck three balls into the chase to give Royal Challengers a spark with the ball. They should have had Iyer off the last ball of his first, but for a costly fumble by Parthiv Patel, who reacted late. Prithvi Shaw took the attack to him in the next over by hitting him for four successive fours and Iyer went on to hit his first half-century of the season to take Capitals to within striking distance. They lost two more wickets to induce some nerves, but Axar Patel finished off the chase by hitting a boundary with seven balls to spare.Ice Kohl’d

Kohli was nearly out to the first ball he faced when Chris Morris got one to rise off a length. The thick edge flew wide of Shikhar Dhawan at slip, but he couldn’t capitalise on the let off and was pinned off strike for much of the next 90 minutes as batsmen came and went. He faced just 33 of 103 RCB’s deliveries during his time at the crease.Parthiv slashed Morris to third man, where Sandeep Lamichhane took a sharp catch running forward to end the second over. AB de Villiers then became Rabada’s first victim of the day on the last ball of the Powerplay. He miscued a slower delivery to Colin Ingram, who pouched a catch running back from mid-on.Marcus Stoinis, promoted to No. 4, tried to flat bat Axar Patel over long-on but couldn’t clear Rahul Tewatia in the 11th. Moeen Ali showed a bit of intent against Lamichhane, charging him for one of three sixes in his 32 off 18 but was then stumped failing to read a googly.Kohli’s strike rate remained under 100 at the start of Lamichhane’s final over in the 17th as he struggled to generate any rhythm from the lack of strike. He swatted Lamichhane twice over the leg side for six, but was out soon after to Rabada as Royal Challengers tumbled.Rabada on a roll

De Villiers wasn’t his only scalp. Rabada, who was later named Player of the Match, returned to start a devastating 18th over. Kohli skied a drive to Iyer at long-on. Two balls later, he had Akshdeep Nath caught behind after he tried to steer a length ball past the wicketkeeper. Only a ball earlier, he managed to dab it wide of the wicketkeeper for a boundary. The over ended with Pawan Negi failing in an attempt to ramp a short ball over Rishabh Pant. This left Royal Challengers on 138 for 7.Rabada couldn’t seal the deal on what would have been his maiden T20 five-for in the 20th over, but he still only managed to concede just seven runs to complete a sterling spell and ensure the first innings total was well under par.Aye aye Iyer

Royal Challengers fluffed four chances in a wretched display against Rajasthan Royals. While the quantity of let-offs was far fewer here, the quality of the batsman they let off here didn’t help them. Iyer added 63 after being dropped on four as he got a thick edge to Parthiv.Iyer was squared up as he nicked but Parthiv was flat-footed behind the stumps. Despite covering the necessary ground diving right he shelled a one-handed chance.It was the only life Iyer needed as he went on to compile a 37-ball half-century, including 68 for the second wicket with Prithvi Shaw. By the 15th over, the target was under a run a ball and despite the trio of wickets that fell in a flurry sparked by Shreyas’ dismissal in the 18th, Capitals won convincingly.

The wicketkeeper-batsman was guilty of causing damage to a part of the ground during their two-run defeat to hosts Zimbabwe in Bulawayo

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Mar-2018Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad has been suspended from his team’s two remaining Group B matches in the World Cup Qualifier, after he was guilty of causing damage to a part of the ground during their two-run defeat to hosts Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.

Injured Stanikzai ruled out of tournament

Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai, who underwent surgery for appendicitis, has been ruled out of the tournament. Stanikzai, whose surgery happened on the eve of his side’s first warm-up match against West Indies, was initially expected to be out for 10 days. Nineteen-year old legspinner Rashid Khan has been captaining Afghanistan in Stanikzai’s absence.
Stanikzai has been replaced by Afsar Zazai, the 24-year old wicketkeeper-batsman, with the ICC’s event technical committee approving the replacement on Wednesday.

Shahzad was the second wicket to fall in Afghanistan’s chase of 197, in the ninth over, after he had settled in with three boundaries. Upset with himself, Shahzad slammed his bat hard onto the adjacent pitch, leaving behind a noticeable divot as a result. He was fined 15 percent of his match fee and received one demerit point for his actions.As this was Shahzad’s second breach of the ICC’s code of conduct within a two-year period – he was fined the whole of his match fee and handed three demerit points after a T20I against UAE in December 2016 – the accumulated four demerit points, as per the ICC’s norms, translated into two suspension points.The latest penalty comes two months into his return to the national squad, after he spent a year out serving a doping ban. Shahzad’s suspension also leaves Afghanistan on shaky ground for the remainder of the group play. Having lost both their matches so far, Afghanistan are desperate to bounce back in upcoming matches against Hong Kong and Nepal to give themselves the best chance of advancing to the Super Sixes round and maintain hope of qualifying for next year’s World Cup in England.In separate incidents during the same match, Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor and 16-year old Afghanistan offspinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman were also handed out penalties. Taylor was fined 15 percent of his match fee and received one demerit point for showing dissent when umpire C Shamsuddin withheld an lbw appeal against Dawlat Zadran late in the Afghanistan chase. Mujeeb was handed out a 50 percent fine and three demerit points for throwing the ball back at batsman Taylor off his own bowling during the first innings in what the umpires deemed a dangerous manner.Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Nizakat Khan was fined 50 percent of his match fee and given three demerit points for making deliberate and inappropriate contact using his shoulder to barge into Scotland bowler Alasdair Evans while attempting a run.

Meg Lanning’s 134 off 122 balls and Ellyse Perry’s unbeaten 95 sank South Africa in a rain-hit game in Canberra as Australia marched to a 2-0 series lead

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMeg Lanning brought up her century off 94 balls•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Meg Lanning equalled Charlotte Edwards’ record of nine ODI hundreds, the most by a woman, with a quickfire 134 to script Australia’s win against South Africa in the second ODI by 66 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis Method in a rain-hit encounter in Canberra. Lanning and Ellyse Perry, who scored a career-best 95*, put on 224 for the third wicket as Australia put on a competitive 278. A rain break in the chase revised South Africa’s target to 241 from 38 overs and they eventually fell short when rain ended the match with their score on 5 for 119, when they should have been 186.Lanning found herself out in the middle early after electing to bat. Opener Elyse Villani fell in the sixth over, and her partner Nicole Bolton followed in the next over as Mignon du Preez took a stunning one-handed catch while leaping to her right at backward point. Australia were reduced to 2 for 27 and it brought Lanning and Perry together.Lanning dominated the partnership, bringing up her century off 94 balls, while Perry ambled to her fifty off 90 balls. The duo pushed the score past 250 during their 236-ball partnership before medium-pacer Ayabonga Khaka (3-55) took a return catch to dismiss Lanning for a 122-ball 134 that included 20 fours. Perry scored her last 45 runs off 39 balls to overtake her previous best of 93* that she had scored in the previous game on Friday. Her 95* off 129 with seven fours helped Australia to 4 for 278 in their 50 overs.Australia kept things tight at the start of South Africa’s chase, opening with left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen in combination with Perry, and then throwing legspinner Kristen Beams into the mix after 11 overs. Perry broke the opening stand in the second over, Jonassen struck in the fifth over and Beams trapped du Preez lbw for 9 to reduce them to 3 for 45. Opener Suné Luus was still at the crease, but the slow start and the interference of rain in the 19th over meant that South Africa were well behind the revised target when play resumed.Luus scored an unbeaten 60, her personal best and second straight fifty, but two more wickets fell and a second spell of rain in the 32nd over ended the game with South Africa well short of the par score.

Ed Joyce has stepped down from the Sussex captaincy a week after the club suffered relegation to Division Two of the Championship

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2015Ed Joyce has stepped down from the Sussex captaincy a week after the club suffered relegation to Division Two of the Championship. Luke Wright, the T20 captain, is a leading candidate to take over in the other two formats next season although Sussex are yet to confirm Joyce’s successor.Joyce stepped up after Michael Yardy resigned midway through 2012 and oversaw consecutive third-placed finishes in the following two seasons. The Ireland opener passed 1000 first-class runs each time but struggled for form this year, with only one Championship century. He made scores of 2 and 1 as Sussex were beaten by Yorkshire in the final round to fall out of Division One.”It has been an honour to captain Sussex for the last three-and-a half years,” Joyce said. “I couldn’t have asked for a more committed group of players and coaches to work with.”We’ve had a very tough year in 2015 but despite this, we’ve received overwhelming support from the majority of fans and this shows the unity and family feeling that Sussex engenders.”My increasing commitments with Ireland and the stage in my career that I’m at meant that the job this year became more a burden than a challenge to be relished. So the time is definitely right to hand over the reins to a new captain and whoever that is will have my full support. I’m also very determined to get back to scoring lots of runs and helping us back into the first division of the Championship and to performing much better in white-ball cricket.”We have so much talent in the dressing room and so many good people throughout the club that I’m certain we’ll bounce straight back from this season.”Joyce has another year on his Sussex contract to run and his experience at the top of the order should see him retain an important role, particularly after the retirement of Yardy.Wright finished the season as Sussex’s leading first-class run-scorer, with 1220, and also contributed more than 500 in the NatWest Blast as he captained them to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2012.Sussex’s cricket manager Mark Robinson said: “I’d like to thank Ed for all of his hard work and dedication that he has put into the job. He has always led the team with great integrity and commitment, and I’m sure that the new captain will appreciate having a player of the stature of Ed to be able to lean on for advice and support.”