All posts by csb10.top

Fresh from their quarter final victory over Shropshire in the 38 County Two Day competition at Shifnal last week, Somerset Under 19’s travel to the RAF ground at Vine Lane in Uxbridge to take on Essex in the semi finals on Tuesday and Wednesday this coming week.The side will be strengthened by the inclusion of two Somerset Second Eleven players, all rounder Arul Suppiah and bowler Michael Parsons who plays in place of the injured Tom Moss.Under 19’s team manager Peter Robinson told me: "After last week’s performance we are feeling very confident ahead of the Essex game, particularly with Arul coming back to strengthen the batting and Michael Parsons as the extra bowler."Essex had a comfortable one day win over Cambridgeshire last week to reach this stage of the competition, so will present strong opposition. However if Somerset are successful at Uxbridge the final will be played at Nevil Road Ground in Bristol, on September 1st and 2nd.

Durham player, James Brinkley, has announced his retirement from county cricket.28 year old James made his Durham debut in 2001 after six years at Worcestershire and three years with Scotland. James teaches PE at RoyalGrammar School in Worcester during the winter and plans to concentrate onthis permanently.James said: “I wish the Club all the best for the future. I’ve thoroughlyenjoyed my time at Durham, but this year hasn’t turned out as I planned andI feel it’s time to move forward with my teaching and hopefully resumeplaying for Scotland.”Durham Coach Martyn Moxon said: “James has been a model professional duringhis time at Durham and we all wish him well for the future.”

Under 15s Gloucestershire v Devon at Bedminster CC – Lost by 5 wickets

Gloucestershire 139 T Legge 25, G Low 24Devon 140-5

Under 15s Gloucestershire v Wales at Panteg CC – Lost by 4 wickets

Gloucestershire 166-5 in 50 overs H Zaidi 58*, E Bressington 32, J Reid 34Wales 167-6

Under 15s Gloucestershire v Oxfordshire at Banbury CC – Won by 48 runs

Gloucestershire 272-3 in 50 overs H Zaidi 102*, E Bressington 81Oxfordshire 224 G Low 3-39, J Reid 2-47

A letter has been received by League Chairman, Alan Bundy, with reference to a cricket tournament in Goa, India in January/February 2003. If you are interested …. read on.MARGAO CRICKET TOURNAMENT, GOA, INDIAThese are the provisional details for the tournament. It will be played over a period of two weeks at approximately the last week of January and first week of February, to meet with the end of the Ranji Trophy matches.Three grounds in Goa will be used, all of which have staged first-class matches in the past.The tournament will comprise of eight teams being divided into two sections of four, which shall consist of a league table basis, with the group winners contesting the Final at the Margoa Cricket Club, the hosts.It is hoped that many side from all over the world will be participating in this annual festival and teams will play at least four or five games each. Prize money of 1lakh Rs (about £1,500) is on offer.Accommodation in the area is good and there would be a range of good hotels with a range of price levels, giving each party a good range of choice. Meals and drinks are reasonably priced everywhere. Most if not all teams will be accommodated in the Colva area, this cutting to a minimum the amount of travel involved. It also means fine beaches and fine facilities on those beaches, this in turn meaning that it would be a very good place for a family holiday.A further possibility would be that, should any participating teams wish to play a game, or possibly even two games, in either Bombay or Bangalore en route either to or from Goa, this could easily be arranged. This would naturally depend upon the amount of time being available to each party. If you were not interested in the Tournament but might be interested in a Tour, it would be possible to arrange very good games in Bombay, Hyderabad, Madras, Bangalore, Kerala or Goa itself.If you were interested in considering the matter further, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time. I would be h appy to come to meet you, and your colleagues, too, in order to discuss the matter.Contact details: Roy and Sunita Killick, Kurtarkar Galaxy, Flat S8, Venelim Colva, Salcete, Goa, India. Telephone 0832 788538. Fax 0832 731997. e-mail: [email protected].

Ireland allrounders Paul Stirling and Shane Getkate are set to travel to Jamaica and link up with the rest of the squad after returning negative Covid-19 tests. The duo had to stay back in Florida and self-isolate at a hotel after having tested positive for the virus, days after the cancellation of their ODI series against USA.Simi Singh and Ben White, who had missed the first ODI against West Indies on Saturday after testing positive via a routine antigen test, are still awaiting the results of their RT-PCR tests after a service delay. According to a Cricket Ireland release, both players could miss the entire series.Meanwhile Andy McBrine, who had to retire hurt after being struck on the helmet while batting on 34 in the first ODI, will have follow-up assessments over the next 48 hours for a “mild concussive episode”. The release said that his symptoms were “very minor” and that he would be in line for selection for the second ODI if he passes his assessment on Monday.A string of Ireland players had tested positive before the T20Is against USA last month, following which the ODI series was cancelled. Andy Balbirnie and McBrine also had to then isolate as they were deemed close contacts of Stirling and Getkate and were allowed to join the squad in Jamaica after returning negative tests.The last two ODIs are scheduled to be played on January 11 and 14, with a solitary T20I to follow on January 16.

“To bat with someone like him just gives you so much confidence and freedom to just go and try and express yourself.”Those were the words of 25-year-old Tom Moores, the Deccan Gladiators wicketkeeper-batter, after he and Andre Russell put on 94 for the fourth wicket in just 32 deliveries to get their campaign off to a winning start against Chennai Braves in the Abu Dhabi T10.When the pair came together, the Gladiators had been stuttering, having managed just one six in the first five overs. But Moores and Russell bludgeoned nine of them in the remainder of the innings to catapult the Gladiators to a match-winning total of 146. Both faced just 17 balls each.Asked what the conversation was like between the two when they were in the middle, Moores, who plays for Nottinghamshire, replied, “Who could hit the biggest six…? Which, obviously, I knew I was gonna lose. We had a bit of fun, it wasn’t too serious at all, which really helped me just relax and be confident. We were just having a smile and enjoying it. And that’s what we talked about, to have fun, to enjoy our cricket. Every game we play we’re really lucky to be doing it.”Since Russell’s arrival, at No. 5, the pair dictated the pace of the innings, wresting momentum from the Braves, who had started well by removing Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Tom Banton and Anwar Ali in the first 4.4 overs. Russell got off the mark with something of an uncharacteristic stroke: a delicate cut played with soft hands past third man. But he needed no invitation to launch one over midwicket when Dasun Shanaka gave him a delivery right in the slot.The next over, the legspin of Samiullah Shinwari got the treatment as Russell hammered him for two consecutive sixes. By the end of the seventh, he had walloped to 31 off 11, while Moores was on a run-a-ball five.Andre Russell sent the ball miles•AFP

Moores was fortunate not to run himself out off the second delivery he faced as Munaf Patel failed to collect the ball at the bowler’s end. He made his luck count, smashing Dhananjaya Lakshan for two huge sixes and bringing up the team hundred with a whack over long-on. Curtis Campher – who took four wickets in four deliveries at this ground for Ireland during the recently concluded T20 World Cup – was also dispatched for 26 as the Gladiators amassed 80 runs between the sixth and ninth overs. Russell was on 42 off 15, while Moores had got himself up to 39 off 13.”To bat some time with Dre who has done that time and time again… he’s the best at doing that, so to watch him and have the best seat in the house was great,” Moores said. “Someone like him has helped me a lot. I knew him a little bit from playing back home for Notts and he’s someone who has done this time and time again. So he was just giving me tips and bits of advice here and there. To be honest, I was just trying to keep up with him.”Moores, in fact, went one better, as he hit another six, off Ravi Bopara, in the final over to go past Russell’s unbeaten 43 off 17 and set the highest team score of the season so far. He finished on an unbeaten 47 off 17 and took home the Player-of-the-Match honour.In the end, despite a valiant effort from the Braves, with Angelo Perera and Bopara both scoring half-centuries, they fell 24 runs short of the target. Their tally of four sixes across their ten overs was dwarfed by the ten that the Gladiators managed, and Moores underscored that six-hitting is even more pivotal in this format of the game.”We did talk about six-hitting ability,” he said. “Those extra two runs do add up. If you compare the two scores, those extra twos can change a game and be the difference. Having someone like Dre in your team, he’s naturally gonna clear the ropes and all the rest of us need to just do our thing and hit as many as we can.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:42

Hogg: Kings XI need to get Shaun Marsh in

No side had chased down 189 to win an IPL game at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Having conceded 28 more than the average first-innings score at this venue, Kings XI Punjab needed their batsmen to pull off a heist. Instead, they sunk to 64 for 5 in the 11th over, with Glenn Maxwell, Eoin Morgan and Hashim Amla all dismissed. From there on, it was a no-contest and Delhi Daredevils won their first home game of the season by 51 runs.Shahbaz Nadeem, the left-arm spinner, did the early damage by removing Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha. Amit Mishra used the Kotla surface well, and got rid of Maxwell for the fourth time in five innings. The Kings XI captain came in at No. 6 and fell for a duck. The final nail was though was hammered by Corey Anderson, who trapped David Miller lbw for 24 off 28 balls, to go along with a robust cameo earlier in the day. Axar Patel pocketed his highest IPL score of 44, but it was merely academic.Kings XI ‘Indians’ control first half
Daredevils have preferred to invest in young Indian batsmen to take charge upfront. Kings XI Punjab have done the same on the bowling front. This was therefore a contest within a contest.While Karun Nair was snaffled down the leg side for a duck, continuing his wretched form since scoring a Test triple century in December, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant wasted starts. With Daredevils reduced to 120 for 5 in the 16th over, it was left to Chris Morris and Corey Anderson to provide the final flourish.Until the last five overs, Kings XI had won the battle of the Indian players, with all of Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, Varun Aaron, Axar Patel and KC Cariappa among the wickets. But doing half a job is rarely good enough.Daredevils’ overseas players deliver
The platform was set by Sam Billings, who found 40 of his 55 runs on the leg side. He hit six of his nine fours in the Powerplay – all on the leg side – and his belligerence was crucial to Daredevils posting a massive total on a slow pitch.Billings was not the only batsman who defied the surface though. Anderson, who missed the previous season after going unsold, along with Chris Morris and Pat Cummins had great success muscling the ball in the slog overs. Anderson’s unbeaten 39 off 22 balls was particularly damaging for Kings XI. He came in at 103 for 4 in the 13th over and turned it into 188, with three sixes and a four in the last 12 balls of the innings.Aaron gamble fails
Varun Aaron had an IPL economy rate of 8.79 across 39 matches prior to this game and despite two average outings this season, he was persisted. His erratic lengths, often on the shorter side, were perfect for batsmen looking to exploit the shorter legside boundary.Billings hit Aaron for three successive fours in his first over – two pulls and a flick behind square leg. Then Iyer hit him for two fours in three deliveries soon after Nair’s dismissal. It meant Kings XI couldn’t build momentum despite getting wickets.Aaron conceded 45 off his four overs, with two wickets being scant consolation. Eventually Kings XI paid the price for conceding 68 off the last five overs.

Match abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKusal Mendis overcame a scratchy start to hit nine fours and two sixes in his 107-ball 102•AFP

The second ODI between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was called off due to incessant rain in Dambulla. Play was called off at 8.45pm, an hour and 15 minutes before the cut-off time.It was an anti-climax after the game was shaping up to be an intense contest. Kusal Mendis’ maiden ODI hundred took Sri Lanka to a formidable 311, but Taskin Ahmed’s hat-trick in the last over capped off a fine last 10 overs for Bangladesh.Taskin first had Asela Gunaratne caught at mid-off off the third ball of the final over. Suranga Lakmal was the next to go when he holed out to midwicket. Nuwan Pradeep, having the unenviable task of keeping out the hat-trick, was bowled off an inswinging yorker.That meant Taskin was the fifth Bangladeshi after Shahadat Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain and Taijul Islam to reach this milestone, which he celebrated with his typical spread-eagle celebration.A win for Bangladesh would have given them their first bilateral ODI series win over Sri Lanka, but that was always going to be tough given no side had ever chased down over 300 to win in Sri Lanka.That Bangladesh got into the game was thanks largely to a lower-order collapse from the hosts – they lost their last six wickets for 40 to end up at least 20 short of what they looked set to get. Mendis built the platform through two vital stands: 111 for the second wicket with Upul Tharanga and 83 for the third wicket with Dinesh Chandimal before the collapse.Tharanga, playing in his 200th ODI, steadied Sri Lanka after they lost Danushka Gunathilaka in the third over. He struck Mehedi Hasan, the offspinner, for two fours in the eighth over before leaning into a beautiful cover drive off Mustafizur Rahman in the 10th over.Mendis was scratchy to begin with, a healthy edge flying between Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah at a wide slip position to reprieve him early on. Having scored just seven off his first 25 deliveries up until then, the boundary released the pressure. From there on, though, he was a different batsman.The control with which he was batting resulted in Tharanga slipping into the role of an accumulator. The pair raised the century stand and looked good for more, but Bangladesh had a breakthrough in bizarre circumstances. Tharanga, trying to steal a run after Mushfiqur half-stopped a Mustafizur beamer, was run-out for 65 at the bowler’s end through a direct hit from Mahmudullah at short fine leg in the 25th over.Mendis hammered the next ball, a free-hit, for a six and then reached his fifty with a boundary off the fifth delivery. Mustafizur conceded 20 off the over, with Sri Lanka showing no signs of slowing down. He reached his century in the 36th over, thereby raising the possibility of hauling his side close to 330. But the dismissals of Chandimal and Mendis in successive overs set them back.Mendis’ dismissal – taken off the rebound by Taskin on his followthrough – left Sri Lanka at 216 for 4 in the 38th over. Milinda Siriwardana and Asela Gunaratne then patched things together with a 55-run stand for the fifth wicket.Mehedi who dropped Siriwardana on 24 at midwicket had the last laugh when he bowled him in the next over. Gunaratne though continued to bring out his paddles and the big heaves to hit a 29-ball 39 to take Sri Lanka past 300 before Taskin took centrestage in the final over. However, rain had the final say.

ScorecardAlex Blackwell struck 65 to steer Australia’s chase of 254•Getty Images

Alex Blackwell struck a timely 65 to help Australia recover from a middle-order slide and chase down 254 against New Zealand in the second women’s ODI in Mount Maunganui. Blackwell’s knock followed on from Beth Mooney’s 57 at the top as Australia made 256 for 6 to win by four wickets and level the three-match series.Mooney helped Australia recover from the early loss of Nicole Bolton for 17 in the seventh over. She added 87 for the second wicket with her captain Meg Lanning. However, the introduction of 16-year old legspinner Amelia Kerr dented Australia’s chase. Kerr struck twice in her first over, the 21st of the innings, bowling Lanning for 44 and Elyse Villani for a first-ball duck. Mooney fell in the same fashion six overs later, as Australia slid from 109 for 1 to 138 for 4.But Alyssa Healy and Blackwell made sure the runs kept flowing and shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 81 off 85 balls. Blackwell, in her first game back from a hamstring injury, walked out to face the hat-trick ball, but managed to get off the mark straight away. “It’s never nice to face a hat-trick ball. I was just thinking about playing as straight as possible,” she said. “It was a bonus to score off the first ball, that settled me. I would have liked to finish not out.”Healy became Kerr’s fourth victim when she was caught and bowled in the 41st over for 36. Blackwell was caught behind with Australia 17 away from the target. Jess Jonassen and Ashleigh Gardner ensured her effort wasn’t in vain as they knocked off the remaining runs with 16 balls to spare.”We know it’s a really good wicket here and the outfield is exceptional, so 250 wasn’t something we were too concerned about,” Blackwell said. “I think we can continue to improve with the ball as well, but today was a much better effort.”Suzie Bates, the New Zealand captain, felt lapses in the field cost them. “I don’t think we fielded well today, it was probably our worst fielding performance this series,” she said.Bates showered praise on Kerr, who finished with 4 for 54 runs in 10 overs. “I probably left her a little bit late. For a 16-year old, you would think she’d be under pressure, but there is no such thing as pressure to her, she just wants to bowl. She knows her game and the game of cricket really well. She knows exactly what she wants to do and has pretty good control. She is going to be a massive star for us and she was a key bowler for us today.”Kerr, who dismissed Lanning with a googly, especially cherished that wicket. “She’s one of the best players in the world, and to get her with a googly is wow, it’s something I have been working on a lot,” she said. “The bowling coach told me to bowl the googly to Lanning, and luckily, it worked. And she is tough to bowl to, so I was glad I didn’t need to bowl to her for too long.”When New Zealand batted, after being asked to, Bates dominated the early going, and made 35 of the 55 runs her team had scored at the time of the dismissal. Amy Satterthwaite and Katey Martin joined hands for a third-wicket stand of 87. Once the association was ended, with the dismissal of Martin, the onus on building the innings fell on Satterthwaite. Perkins chipped in with 38 and helped Satterthwaite add 63 for the fifth wicket that pushed the score past 200.Satterthwaite hung on till the 47th over. She made 85 off 117 balls, falling 15 short of what would have been her fifth consecutive ODI century. New Zealand stumbled towards the end, losing two more wickets after her dismissal to finish with 253 for 8. Amanda-Jade Wellington took three wickets for Australia, but Perry, who opened the bowling, stood out in her short spell, finishing with 1 for 9 in four overs.

Uttar Pradesh were bowled out for 58 in their 90-run defeat to Railways in Jaipur. Their chase began on a poor note – by the first nine balls of UP’s chase, seamers Amit Mishra and Anureet Singh had reduced them to 0 for 3. Sarfaraz Khan (18) and Rinku Singh (16) were the only batsmen to score in double-figures in an innings that lasted 13.3 overs. Earlier, Mahesh Rawat’s third successive fifty, an unbeaten 58 off 42 deliveries, carried Railways to 148 for 8. Coming in to bat in the fifth over, with the score at 33 for 3, Rawat held one end up, even as the other batsmen failed to build on their starts and support his effort. Praveen Kumar took the first three wickets to fall, conceding 18 in his four overs.Dishant Yagnik slugged three sixes in a 15-ball 32 to power Rajasthan to a match-winning total of 161 for 6 against Chhattisgarh at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Three of Rajasthan’s top four got starts, but their run rate was still under seven an over when Yagnik walked in to join Tajinder Singh at the start of the 17th over. Yagnik and Tajinder (27* off 18) proceeded to add 50 for the sixth wicket in 23 balls, with Yagnik falling off the last ball of the innings.Chhattisgarh’s chase did not pick up any real steam early on, the first ten overs only bringing 65 for the loss of three wickets. Their No. 4 Shubham Agarwal scored 51 (44 balls), but found little support as they eventually ended on 136 for 7. Fast bowler Aniket Choudhary was Rajasthan’s most successful bowler, with figures of 3 for 21.