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Quetta Gladiators, and the winner between Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi, will pick their foreign players for the final of the PSL from a list of 12

Osman Samiuddin03-Mar-2017Quetta Gladiators and the winners of the third playoff, a virtual semi-final between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings, will pick from a pool of approximately 12 foreign players to play in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final in Lahore on Sunday.The pool was created from the nominations of each franchise – and subsequently whittled down – to cover for the absence of contracted foreign players, who are unwilling to travel to Lahore over security worries.How many are picked from the list – which includes players from Bangladesh, South Africa, Zimbabwe, England and West Indies – will depend on which team – Karachi or Peshawar – make it to the final.None of Quetta’s contracted foreign players will be traveling to Lahore, so they can pick up to five from the list. As many as four of Peshawar Zalmi’s foreign contingent may be willing to travel to Lahore, which will come as good news to organisers and fans. If that is the case, they may not even have to pick a name from the list.Though reports have suggested that all five of Peshawar’s foreign players are willing to go to Lahore, ESPNcricinfo understands that the best case scenario is four going: captain Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Chris Jordan and Dawid Malan. The fifth, Samit Patel, has not been given an NOC by his county Nottinghamshire, and will not travel to Lahore. None of the players have publicly committed to traveling; in an interview with last week Jordan chose not to comment when asked if he would travel.If Karachi win though, they will need to pick a number of players. As it stands, only Ravi Bopara from their foreign contingent is going to Lahore, having tweeted his indication to do so before the game. Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Ryan McLaren will not travel.Should Karachi win, organisers as well as franchises will have to face up to the prospect of playing the final with a vastly different side to the one that made it through the league and knockout stages. Names within the pool include Bangladesh’s Anamul Haque, South Africans Morne van Wyk and Richard Levi, as well as Sean Ervine and Graeme Cremer from Zimbabwe.The final names will only become apparent after the game between Peshawar and Karachi. There is one name on the list that both Quetta and Karachi had nominated. In case both sides want that player at the end of tonight’s game, a coin toss will determine who gets first pick. If Peshawar win, there are no conflicts with Quetta.Most of the players in the pool have already secured visas to travel, and those currently without one should be able to procure them by the time they travel to Lahore. It is expected that the foreign players who are traveling will not be staying in the city overnight, flying in and out on the same day.

KL Rahul scored his fifth half-century of the series and said after the second day that he was a little disappointed about not converting any of the starts into big scores

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Dharamsala26-Mar-20171:58

‘Best pitch of the series’ – KL Rahul

Before the start of the Border-Gavaskar series, KL Rahul had four Test centuries and only one fifty. Now, halfway into the fourth and final Test, he has added five more half-centuries to his tally but hasn’t converted any of them into a hundred. On Sunday, having scored 60 and laid the platform for India’s reply to Australia’s 300, he was out to a short ball from Pat Cummins.”Quite honestly, not regretting anything,” Rahul said when asked about the series he has had so far. “Obviously, a little disappointed that I have not been able to convert the starts and get big runs for the team. As an opening batsman, my responsibility is to spend as much time in the middle as I can, try and get big scores in the first innings so that we don’t have to bat in the second innings.”On a personal front, [it] hasn’t been the worst series for me. Got starts, batted really well, enjoyed batting in the middle, and the Aussie bowlers haven’t made it easy. They have challenged us in all the games. Thoroughly enjoyed batting and hopefully [I can play] one good knock in the second innings. Might be the knock I have been waiting for the whole series.”Not for the first time in the series, Rahul was out playing an aggressive shot. This time, he tried to hook Cummins – having earlier either swayed away from or fended at his other short balls – and toe-ended it to cover. Rahul said he had bungled the execution of the shot rather than the thinking behind it.”Horrible execution for sure,” he said. “But having batted out there in the middle for a long time, I thought I could have taken him on as there were no fielders at the back. Like I said, horrible execution, the intent was right.”But I can always sit here and question intent and a hundred things. But then in the middle, I thought I could take him on but [it was] unfortunate it didn’t go my way. Hopefully, in the second innings, I can get him away. So I will go out with a positive intent in the second innings again.”Rahul said the conditions had given some assistance to all of Australia’s bowlers, the spinners and the quicks, and that they had kept India under pressure right through the day.”It has been a fantastic cricket wicket,” he said. “Something in it for everybody. [Nathan] Lyon and [Steve] O’Keefe spun it and of course, [facing] Josh [Hazlewood] and Cummins in the first session, I can say, is the toughest session I have faced in Test cricket so far.”They put the ball in the right areas and they swung the ball, bowled with a lot of pace and venom. There is something in it for bowlers and it will keep us interested in the second innings when we go out there to bowl.”Given the control Australia exerted, Rahul said India had done well to end the day where they did – six down and trailing by 52. He said India’s pace of scoring – they have made their runs at 2.72 per over so far as compared to Australia’s 3.38 in their first innings – was a reflection of how well Australia bowled.”I think we played really well,” he said. “They did put a lot of pressure. They put the ball in the right areas. It’s not like we missed out on any boundary balls. These are the sessions in Test cricket that you have to grind it out and play these off.”You tell yourself that the runs will come, maybe after tea in the last hour. When I was batting in the first session, my intent was to give the ball and the bowlers the respect and I can come out in the second session and make some runs.”One prominent feature of the Dharamsala pitch has been the cracks on its surface. In the morning session, Hazlewood, in particular, got the ball to misbehave frequently off them, though this tendency died down as the ball grew older. Rahul said the cracks would continue to play an influential role in the match.”I think the ball will do things off the cracks,” he said. “Even when we bowled the first day, a few balls did do something funny off the cracks. The conditions are really good for the fast bowlers like I was mentioning. The conditions aren’t too hot. There is some swing out there and the fast bowlers out there are enjoying bowling on this wicket.”

Sri Lanka opener Upul Tharanga has said that being picked consistently in the team has been the key to his mental state and good performances in recent matches

Andrew Fidel Fernando13-Mar-2017Sri Lanka opener Upul Tharanga has said a consistent place in the national team over the past eight months has empowered his batting, after being picked inconsistently over the past few years. Tharanga’s third Test century in Galle comes in the wake of an impressive ODI ton in South Africa last month, and a good tour of Zimbabwe last year.In Angelo Mathews’ absence, Tharanga had also been named ODI captain for the South Africa series, and T20 captain for the series in Australia, when only a year ago, he had struggled to find a place in any of Sri Lanka’s sides.”In the last two or three years, I was in and out of the side – I’d play one series and then miss another one,” Tharanga said. “When that happens as a player, it’s hard to keep that confidence. In the last eight months I played continuously, and that’s been key to my mental state. The captaincy in the limited-overs matches has also helped. That showed me that the selectors had some sort of trust in me. In the Zimbabwe tour and the South Africa tour especially, where there were very good bowlers. With the runs I was able to score there, my confidence rose.”Tharanga said he had especially been disheartened by the seemingly arbitrary nature of his omissions from the Test side – recounting the occasion he had been dropped from the squad after top-scoring in the previous Test, in 2014. Though his overall average is 34.02, he has scored his runs at 40.90 since the start of 2014.”I think I’ve only been unsuccessful in one Test since 2014 – a match against India. In matches against South Africa and Pakistan I did score runs. But then, for instance, after I’d hit a 92 and a 45 against Pakistan in one match, I wasn’t even in the 15-man squad for the next series [in New Zealand]. I can’t do anything about that. I guess people are entitled to make those decisions. I do accept that there were some failures – and you can’t guarantee your spot – but it’s up to me to be consistent. If you can do that you can expect to stay in the team.”And that is the key – to be consistent. As an opener, if you get set, there’s no point scoring forties and fifties – that’s not really worth it for the player or the team. What you’re expected to do as a top-order player is get to a big score. “Though Tharanga has played in five of Sri Lanka’s six most-recent Tests, he has been moved around the order. He batted at no. 5 in Zimbabwe, then at no. 7 in South Africa. With Kaushal Silva now omitted from the Test squad, Tharanga has been asked to open the batting and that is a role he relishes, he said.”It’s not that easy being moved around, because there are big differences in the way you approach those two roles – opening the batting, and playing in the middle order. As a cricketer, though, I prefer to bat in the position that I’m used to, which is as an opener. I can play with freedom there. Either way, you’ve got to do what’s best for the team, and I’m happy to do that.”Sri Lanka has been harsh to openers in recent years however, with pitches generally favouring bowlers, and tracks in Colombo and Pallekele proving especially helpful to seam bowlers. As a result, the average opening partnership in the country since the start of 2014 is 22.45. This is, by a distance, the lowest in the world – seven runs clear of the next-toughest nation for opening batsmen (West Indies). Tharanga knows he has his work cut out for him, with six further Tests scheduled at home over the next six months.”Usually we think Sri Lankan pitches are slow, but the new ball isn’t so easy to face the new ball here anymore. If the ball starts to swing, it becomes like England, and since it’s Sri Lanka, often you don’t even expect that kind of movement. In the first five or 10 overs, it’s very hard to make runs. In the second innings, of course, the spinners can sometimes open the bowling and they come into the game. You can’t really go for your shots early.”

Alastair Cook served up his tenth career List A century to guide Essex to their third win in three Royal London Cup matches this season

ECB Reporters Network04-May-2017
ScorecardAlastair Cook recorded his 10th List A hundred•Getty Images

Alastair Cook served up his tenth career List A century to guide Essex to their third win in three Royal London Cup matches this season.Cook paced his innings with some devastating hooks and pulls, to go with well-judged nudges, accelerating from the halfway point to reach 127 as Essex posted a formidable 315 for 8 from their 50 overs. Although Phil Mustard and Ian Cockbain laid the platform for Gloucestershire’s reply with a third-wicket stand of 95 in 15 overs, they eventually fell 29 runs short after a late clatter of wickets.Cook’s first fifty took 65 balls, his second 20 balls less, while at the same time his boundary tally went up from three for the first to six for the second. When he was finally out, he had faced 134 balls and hit 12 fours.Cook shared partnerships of 82 with Nick Browne for the first wicket, 99 with Varun Chopra for the third and 57 in six overs with Ravi Bopara for the fourth. Bopara marked his 32nd birthday with a 23-ball 37 during which he passed 9000 career List A runs, before taking three wickets to help finish Gloucestershire off.As Essex chased late runs to pass 300, left-arm seamer Chris Liddle came back to claim three wickets in his last 20 deliveries to finish with 4 for 54.Gloucestershire’s requirement started at nearly six-and-a-half an over and had hit 10 with 10 overs to go, but Mustard (90) and Cockbain (79) traded big hits before the wicketkeeper departed after slamming seven fours and two sixes. Jack Taylor also joined the party with a six in his 25-ball 34, but it was not enough as Gloucestershire lost 4 for 29 in 5.3 overs at the death.Essex were put in and Browne took the opportunity to bat himself back into form in his 40-ball 42. The left-hander survived a sharp caught-and-bowled chance to Liam Norwell before he was the first to go as he clipped Benny Howell off his legs to Michael Klinger at midwicket.Cook settled and accumulated steadily but, the ball after he reached his half-century with another single into the covers, he lost his second partner when Tom Westley chased one outside off stump from Liddle and was caught behind for 5. Cook was dropped on 67 when he pulled Norwell to the midwicket boundary where Jack Taylor not only floored the catch but helped it over the ropes.Having moved Essex from 101 for 2 to bring up 200 with Cook, Chopra took an ill-advised run to Chris Dent at mid-on on 41 and was three yards from home when the direct throw broke the wicket. Cook and Bopara then kicked on before the younger Taylor, Matt, claimed a catch low down at deep midwicket off Tom Smith to send back the allrounder.Cook followed three runs and five balls later when he drove Liddle uppishly to Kieran Noema-Barnett at extra cover. The same Gloucestershire partnership accounted for Ashar Zaidi before Ryan ten Doeschate went lbw to Howell. Simon Harmer brought up the 300 with an extravagant reverse-sweep for four before Adam Wheater was caught behind from the final ball of the innings.The Gloucestershire openers had put on 74 in 17 overs when Harmer turned one away from Klinger and Zaidi tumbled backwards in taking the catch at short third man. The batsmen had become bogged down and Dent underlined the frustration when he tried to hit Harmer over the top and found sub fielder Callum Taylor at long-off.With the required rate rising, Mustard decided to chivvy things along and pulled Harmer for six to bring up his fifty from 63 balls. Cockbain then deposited ten Doeschate for a huge six over cow corner and Mustard hit another out of the ground at midwicket to ruin Harmer’s figures, the offspinner ending with 2 for 69.The return of Matt Quinn broke the third-wicket stand when Mustard sent a leading edge high to deep extra cover, where Cook claimed it at the second attempt. Noema-Barnett didn’t last long before holing out to Taylor on the midwicket boundary, but Cockbain kept up the tempo and reached his fifty from 51 balls.Jack Taylor and Cockbain slammed straight sixes in the 42nd over, as Wagner made a costly return that leaked 21 runs and ended with Cockbain being caught off a free hit. But after helping put on 70 in nine overs, Taylor tried to hit Quinn over wide mid-off and was pouched by Harmer.Cockbain finally departed, caught at deep cover by Cook off Bopara, who then claimed the wicket of Howell, caught at short third man by Zaidi, to finish with 3 for 34. Finally Norwell went down the wicket to Zaidi and was stumped.

AB de Villiers has described the Kolpak exodus that afflicted South Africa cricket as “something of the past” and talked up the importance of CSA’s new T20 competition

Firdose Moonda23-May-2017The first thing South Africa were confronted with at the start of a three-month tour of England was the past. Stiaan van Zyl and Rory Kleinveldt were members of the opposition South Africa faced in their warm-up matches against Sussex and Northamptonshire respectively in the lead-up to the three-match ODI series which starts on Wednesday.Neither did much damage, and some in the South Africa camp were quite pleased to see their former team-mates – JP Duminy, who captained in those matches, shared a photo of himself and Kleinveldt and called it “a career highlight” to meet as opposing skippers – but the context was significant.Over the last few months, seven recently capped internationals including van Zyl signed Kolpak deals to play county cricket, citing the threat of Brexit closing the door on such earning opportunities in the UK and the lack of the same at home as reasons for turning their backs on the country of their birth. South African cricket was thought to be teetering towards a crisis but the predicted drought did not come. Talented youngsters stepped up, often in key roles, and South Africa have reason to be optimistic about their future.”We are not harping on too much on what we lost, rather focusing on what we have gained over the last few months,” AB de Villiers, South Africa’s ODI captain, said. “Yes, here are quite a few talented guys we have lost, which is not good for our depth at home. There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s part and parcel of what we are confronted with in recent times. We can’t stop guys from going where they want to go and playing cricket where they want to play cricket. I feel it’s something of the past.”De Villiers could be right on that front. Not only might it become more difficult, or perhaps even impossible, for South African cricketers to get work permits in the UK but they may not actually want them. This year CSA will launch a new T20 competition, which de Villiers is convinced will create incentives for players to stay in the country. “The T20 tournament will make a big difference in keeping guys over there. I truly believe the systems have been put in place to make sure it’s important for the guys stay at home,” he said.Initial details of the tournament will be announced by the end of the month and the team owners are expected to be revealed at a high-profile ceremony in London shortly after the Champions Trophy final on June 18.South Africa will hope they are part of proceedings that day as, for now, the ICC event and not their own local league is at the forefront of their minds. “It’s really important for us to focus on what we are dealing with now: a big series coming up,” de Villiers said. “We have no reason not to be confident with our recent performances, beating Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. We are pretty confident.”As the No. 1-ranked ODI side, fresh off a record-equalling string of 12 victories and with some of the best players in the world at their disposal, South Africa can feel upbeat. Moreover, they have ideal preparation time over the next week. “It doesn’t get any better than playing in England before a big tournament against the hosts,” de Villiers said.He remains wary of England’s strengths, despite South Africa beating them the last time they met in early 2016, but sees them as a good measure for his own side. “They are one of the favourites,” he said. “They have an all-round balance with quite a few options for the captain in the bowling department and they bat deep. And then most of them are athletes, they move around well in the field. Like us, the balance is their strength.”Conditions should also suit South Africa, with de Villiers describing cricket in England as “beautiful to watch”. But de Villiers will do more than just watch, declaring himself available for all South Africa’s matches after he sat out of the warm-ups with a respiratory tract infection. “I am probably 95% getting over that flu,” he said. That’s one thing South Africa hope is truly in the past.

Malcolm Waller believes confidence bred by the ODI series victory has bled into the Tests as well

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Jul-2017There is growing excitement in the Zimbabwe camp about a strong match position, which could turn into a historic win. Zimbabwe have lost 12, and never won a Test against Sri Lanka. Although the pitch is not quite as spin-friendly as was expected, a lead of 262, with four wickets in hand, translates to an excellent position.Malcolm Waller, who was involved in the unbeaten 107-run stand that helped transform Zimbabwe’s situation, said the confidence bred by the ODI series victory has bled into the Tests as well. “The guys are extremely positive after the one-day series,” Waller said. “It was great and it helped all of us mentally. We thought we’ve got a great chance here. If we can go out there tomorrow and put on another 100 runs, you never know what’s going to happen. It will give us a really good fighting chance.”Zimbabwe had earlier been 59 for 5, before Sikandar Raza struck up two long associations, first with PJ Moor, then with Waller. “It was a really shaky start and it put us under lot of pressure in the changing room,” he said. “But the batters, we sat down and talked about going out and fighting, and showing that you mean business.”It was a great partnership between Raza and PJ Moor. I think that stabilised the things and brought back the positivity. At the end of the day, we can be happy with what we have.”While Sri Lanka’s interim coach Nic Pothas believed the pitch had become easier for batting, Waller said conditions were testing, despite having maintained a strike rate in the 90s for parts of his innings. While there was turn on the pitch, only occasional deliveries leapt out, he observed.”I wouldn’t say that is really easy for batting. We saw the odd one did turn. You’re always going to get the odd one that turn and jump. I think we were concentrating on every ball and it’s never easy out there. Especially in the second innings in Sri Lanka, the pressure is always on. Graeme Cremer, being a wristspinner – there is more turn for him than the finger spinners.”Zimbabwe’s performances on this tour have been something of a surprise, not least because they had had a modest 2017 themselves. Earlier in the year, they had lost a five-match ODI series to Afghanistan, and more recently had been defeated by Scotland in an ODI. Having come to Sri Lanka immediately after tours to Scotland and the Netherlands, Zimbabwe have hit their stride as an outfit, Waller said.”We came a long way to here and we’ve had a good couple of weeks on tour now. I think we’re starting to gel really well now. Guys are getting good ideas, and it’s definitely a lot more positive in the camp. We’ve got good fighting spirits and everyone is getting on well. Everyone is helping each other and pushing on.”

On a day of two halves, Sri Lanka’s bowlers fought back after a 188-run opening stand between Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, taking six wickets for 141 to leave the Pallekele Test nicely poised

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy12-Aug-2017
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:43

Maharoof: Tremendous fightback from Sri Lanka

The first half of the day produced a massive opening partnership, a seventh successive 50-plus score for KL Rahul and a second century of the tour for Shikhar Dhawan. Then, Sri Lanka hit back through their trio of left-armers, the orthodox spin of Malinda Pushpakumara, the unorthodox spin of Lakshan Sandakan, and the swing of Vishwa Fernando.India scored 188 without loss in the first 39.2 overs of the day, and 141 for 6 in the remaining 50.4. Having won their third toss of the series, they would have taken 329 for 6 at stumps, given the strength of their lower order, and given the amount of turn – albeit slow, for now – this Pallekele pitch is beginning to offer. But, given the position India’s openers put them in, Sri Lanka would have ended the day thrilled with their efforts to pull things back.The first two wickets came from aggressive shots against Pushpakumara, Rahul stepping out and failing to clear mid-on, and Dhawan sweeping hard but uppishly to square leg. Given that opening, Sri Lanka’s bowlers ensured the pressure did not let up. Having seemed to go through the motions right through the morning session and for most of the post-lunch session, they suddenly began bowling with purpose.Pushpakumara, who dropped short far too often at the SSC, bowled much fuller here, attacking the stumps and keeping batsmen guessing with his scrambled-seam delivery. On a day when India went at 3.65 per over, Pushpakumara finished with 3 for 40 from 18 overs. He entered the attack late – in the 40th over of India’s innings – but made such an impact that Dilruwan Perera, Sri Lanka’s most senior spinner, didn’t bowl a single ball after lunch.Sandakan, meanwhile, forced the batsmen to keep a wary eye on his wrist to pick the variations out of his hand, and in the process, they sometimes misread his variations in trajectory. Cheteshwar Pujara, rocking back to cut one that wasn’t short enough, top-edged to slip.Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane saw out a testing period until tea, and found no release after the interval. Sandakan kept floating the ball above Rahane’s eyeline and got it to dip, forcing him to reach for the ball. Fernando, consistently clocking speeds in the high 130s, began finding a hint of reverse, accentuating his angle across the right-handers. He teased Kohli, bowling wide outside his off stump, daring him to drive. Kohli picked off a couple of overpitched balls, and ignored the rest.Dip undid Rahane and a loose drive undid Kohli, even if the bowler in each case wasn’t the one that initiated the respective plans. Rahane, reaching well in front of his body, played across a Pushpakumara ball that didn’t turn and also kept slightly low. Kohli, having fought his way to 42, threw his hands at a wide, flighted delivery from Sandakan and nicked to slip.With 13 balls left in the day, Fernando, armed with the second new ball, belatedly struck. In his 18th over of the day, he slanted one across R Ashwin, pitching just short of a good length. In his previous over, from the other end, he had kept swinging the ball back in. This one just went with the angle; Ashwin poked, and Niroshan Dickwella dived across first slip to grab a stunning one-hander.The mood of the match was transformed, and the events of the morning seemed to belong to a distant past, although they had ensured India were probably still in the ascendancy.Those events had occurred at great speed, the openers scoring their runs at 4.75 per over, with Dhawan going at close to a run a ball, capitalising on the smallest sign of width from the quicks and using his feet superbly against spin.Rahul made his seventh successive 50-plus score in Test matches, becoming the joint record-holder alongside Everton Weekes, Andy Flower, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kumar Sangakkara and Chris Rogers. As was the case with most of the previous six innings, he looked good for a century before getting himself out, against the run of play.Batting was expected to be at its easiest on the first day, with the pitch looking dry beneath an even but not extravagant cover of grass. Kohli chose to bat again, and Sri Lanka made life easy for his batsmen by failing to make use of the new ball.Fernando, pushing close to 90mph and getting some swing, began reasonably well, finding Dhawan’s outside edge in his second over, the ball not quite carrying as third slip dived in front of second. Lahiru Kumara, however, leaked runs, pitching persistently short, feeding Dhawan’s cut and Rahul’s pull.Kumara went out of the attack after bowling just three overs and conceding 26. In his place came Dimuth Karunaratne, who, having dismissed Pujara in Colombo, now began to trouble Rahul with his wobble and lack of pace. He beat his outside edge once, then clipped it – once again the ball didn’t carry to the slip cordon – and then caused an attempted flick to balloon high over mid-on. Kumara, running back and watching the ball over his shoulder, got his hand to the ball on the dive, but couldn’t hold on.That chance, in the 12th over, would be the last of the session. Leading the spin attack in Rangana Herath’s absence, Perera wasn’t allowed to settle, Dhawan dancing down the track in only his second over to loft him over mid-off. Rattled, the offspinner dropped short a couple of balls later and Dhawan pulled him for another four.A return to the attack with a slightly older ball made no difference to Kumara’s fortunes – he went too full, rather than too short, in his first over back, and both Rahul and Dhawan drove him for fours. By the 20th over, both batsmen had brought up their fifties.India ended the first session on a dominant note – Rahul cutting and driving Perera for two fours in the last over before lunch – and continued in that vein after the break, with both batsmen finding the cover boundary off Fernando with drives on the up against good-length balls. Then, Dhawan brought out the sweep that had served him so well in Galle, hitting Sandakan square and fine.Aside from a top-edged cut from Rahul off Sandakan, which flew to the left of Angelo Mathews at slip, there was little sign of a wicket arriving, but the belated introduction of Pushpakumara provoked a mistake from Rahul, a mistake that would have far-reaching consequences.

Worcestershire Rapids turned current form on its head by beating arch-rivals Birmingham Bears by five runs in the NatWest T20 Blast at Edgbaston

ECB Reporters Network04-Aug-2017Worcestershire Rapids turned current form on its head by beating arch-rivals Birmingham Bears by five runs in the NatWest T20 Blast at Edgbaston.In front of a bumper crowd of 15,113 (a record for a Bears home T20 group game) the Rapids totalled a meaty 190 for 7, built on a lightning start supplied by openers John Hastings (51 from 20 balls) and Joe Clarke (34 from 15).That target proved too much for the Bears who ended on 185 for 7, their challenge undermined by the excellent spin of Mitchell Santner who claimed 3 for 16 despite resistance from debutant Dominic Sibley and Grant Elliott.Put in, the Rapids made a seriously rapid start as Hastings and Clarke thrashed 75 in 28 balls. At one stage, five successive balls – three from Colin de Grandhomme in an over that cost 30 and two from Boyd Rankin – were lifted for six.John Hastings’ 20-ball 51 set up Worcestershire victory•Getty Images

Hastings hit four fours and five sixes and Clarke clubbed two fours and four sixes before both perished to calm catches by Aaron Thomason at deep midwicket.A brake was applied by the spin of Sibley. The new signing from Surrey delivered 4-0-20-1, collecting his first Bears wicket when Santner was well-caught by Jeetan Patel at long-on.The innings lost momentum in the middle but gathered impetus again later thanks to the improvisation of Brett D’Oliveira who made an unbeaten 35 off 24 balls.Birmingham also started briskly but were pegged back by tandem spin. The fifth over, from Santner, cost just one run and brought the wicket of Ian Bell, caught at short third man. Santner then added the wicket of Sam Hain, stumped, in his next over before Adam Hose fired a fierce return catch back to D’Oliveira.Sibley was within a single of a debut half-century when he skied Mitchell to Santner at long-on. The Bears’ were running out of potential match-winners and another one disappeared when Elliott reverse-swept Santner to short third man.De Grandhomme thumped two sixes on his way to 23 from 12 balls but after he was superbly caught by Ed Barnard on the point boundary off Joe Leach, the Bears’ challenge subsided – and the Rapids’ qualification push was well and truly rebooted.

Ishan Kishan and Aniket Choudhary were left out of the squad that levelled the two-match series in South Africa last month

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Sep-2017Rishabh Pant has been picked in India A’s 14-man squad and Karun Nair named captain for the two four-day games against New Zealand A starting September 23 in Vijayawada. Pant replaces his former India Under-19 team-mate Ishan Kishan, who kept wicket in the two four-day games in South Africa, which India A levelled, last month.Priyank Panchal, the Gujarat opener and the previous Ranji Trophy season’s highest run-scorer, returned to the side after missing the tour of South Africa because of dengue. Vijay Shankar, the Tamil Nadu allrounder, picked in Panchal’s place for that tour, was left out.Panchal made back-to-back centuries in the Duleep Trophy opener, and is likely to open the batting with R Samarth, the only other specialist opener in the squad. Abhinav Mukund, who was initially picked for the South Africa tour, only to miss out after being called up for the Test tour of Sri Lanka, has been left out.K Gowtham, the Karnataka offspinner, drafted in as a late replacement for Jayant Yadav, who missed the four-day games in South Africa because of his father’s death, retained his place. Gowtham was India A’s second-highest wicket-taker (seven) in two matches, behind Shahbaz Nadeem (11).The selectors also pruned the squad from 15 to 14, leaving out left-arm fast bowler Aniket Choudhary. Shardul Thakur, left out of the ODI squad for the first three matches against Australia, is likely to speahead the pace attack.The first game will clash with the Duleep Trophy final, scheduled from September 25 to 29 in Lucknow. It is likely that a majority of the India A players could miss that game.The Duleep Trophy, originally scrapped from the 2017-18 domestic calendar, was a last-minute addition to the domestic calendar following a letter from Sourav Ganguly, head of BCCI’s technical committee, to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators.India A Squad for two four-day games: Priyank Panchal, R Samarth, Sudip Chatterjee, Shreyas Iyer, Ankit Bawne, Karun Nair (capt), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, K Gowtham, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Ankit Rajpoot

Following an impressive showing in the IPL and domestic cricket, a call-up for the T20I series against New Zealand has put fast bowler Mohammed Siraj closer to realising his India dream

Arun Venugopal23-Oct-20171:10

Mohammed Siraj: Fast lane to team India

BioMohammed Siraj’s rise over the last year has been as fascinating as it has been swift. The son of an autorickshaw driver in Hyderabad, Siraj got hooked to the game while in class seven after he was part of the team that won an inter-school tournament. From then on, he would frequently skip classes to play tennis-ball cricket. His pace and an ability to take wickets in clumps meant he acquired a cult status in his mohalla in the Banjara Hills locality.It wasn’t until 2015 that Siraj took to playing with the cricket ball, upon a friend’s insistence. He took took a slew of five-fors in his first few club matches and soon found himself in Hyderabad’s Under-23 side, and then in the senior team. While he played only one game in his first season in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy, he grabbed eyeballs the very next year with 41 wickets at an average of 18.92 as Hyderabad made the quarter-finals. He was subsequently picked in the Irani Trophy to play for the Rest of India.Earlier this year, aged only 22, Siraj made the jump to the big leagues when Sunrisers Hyderabad acquired him for a whopping INR 2.6 crore. During the 2016-17 domestic season, Siraj admitted to being taken in by the lavish lifestyle – the air travel and five-star accommodation – a professional cricketer’s life offered. Midway through the IPL, Siraj was doing promotional events and obliging requests for selfies, even if somewhat awkwardly. Such initiation is certain to come in handy once he links up with the Indian side for the T20Is against New Zealand.StrengthsSturdy and athletic, Siraj has a deceptive run-up, which initially suggests that a left-arm bowler is steaming in. He is, however, a right-armer and by his own admission is a natural at getting the ball to swing into the right-hander. It was only since 2016 that he started expanding his repertoire. He has always been able to bowl a pretty quick bouncer though, something that had impressed his captain David Warner and team mentor VVS Laxman in the Sunrisers set-up.FormSiraj picked up 10 wickets from six games in the IPL, including a four-for against Gujarat Lions. He took that form into the India A tour of South Africa, where he took a match haul of 5 for 103 in the only unofficial Test he played. He also claimed five wickets from three limited-overs matches against South Africa A and Afghanistan A. Siraj took 2 for 74 in the only Duleep Trophy game he played last month, and in the first unofficial Test against New Zealand A, he bowled the obstinate Jeet Raval for 34 and broke Will Young’s stumps for a duck as well. He also finished with two wickets in the two List A matches against New Zealand A.