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ESPNcricinfo’s updates from the 38th game of IPL 2020

Debayan Sen20-Oct-2020

The hosts have had a poor sequence of results under Malinga, but the world champions haven’t done much better

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Mar-20201:45

Kieron Pollard – The T20 behemoth

Big picture

Before the ODIs, you could make the claim that these two sides were relatively evenly matched. And although it’s true that West Indies are defending T20 world champions and Sri Lanka will have to qualify for the main draw of the T20 World Cup later this year, perhaps they are not so far apart in the shortest format. West Indies have failed to win each of their last five T20I series, even losing a recent match to Ireland, with whom they drew the series 1-1. Of their last eight series – a sequence that stretches back to July 2018 – they have only won one.What is almost beyond doubt, however, is that West Indies possess greater firepower with the bat, and have the greater number of game-changing players. Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell and Shimron Hetmyer are each a daunting prospect on their own, let alone in the same batting order. Perhaps their bowling is weaker, but with Dwayne Bravo’s immense experience to call upon, they will still back themselves.Sri Lanka, who were thrashed in T20Is in both India and Australia in recent months, will hope that the good vibes and confidence from the ODI whitewash will roll on into the T20I series. As a bonus, Sri Lanka have regained Angelo Mathews the bowler. Before 2015, he had actually been one of the canniest new-ball operators around, frequently delivering tight powerplay spells, allowing the likes of Lasith Malinga or a spinner to attack from the other end. With Thisara Perera appearing to have hit form with the bat, and Avishka Fernando in good nick as well, the hosts will hope to end a torrid stretch of T20I form.

Form guide

West Indies WLLWL
Sri Lanka LLLLL

In the spotlight

Can Lasith Malinga feasibly captain the side in the T20 World Cup this year? Here is perhaps the most important question for the T20 side right now. The team won a T20 World Cup under his leadership in 2014, but that was a different age, with outstanding senior players in support of Malinga’s leadership. The worry now is that Malinga is too poor a man-manager to get the best out of his players, many of whom are reasonably young, and often inconsistent. Although still the best player in the team, Malinga’s captaincy record since taking over a second time is beyond woeful. If Sri Lanka have another poor series under him, especially after they have had an outstanding ODI run, the selectors may step in.With Chris Gayle out of the picture, the superstar Sri Lanka fans will most want to watch over the two matches is undoubtedly Andre Russell. Thankfully for them, he comes into this series in good form, having carved up the Bangladesh Premier League only seven weeks ago, hitting 225 runs at a strike rate of over 180, while taking 14 wickets as well. And although West Indies have been through a lean run in terms of series victories, Russell has not been a part of a West Indies XI since August 2018. If there’s anyone who can change an entire side’s fortunes, it’s him.Kieron Pollard holds very little back•AFP

Team news

With Evin Lewis not picked in the squad, West Indies have a decision to make as to who will partner Simmons at the top of the order. They could even be tempted to try Shai Hope, who although not always a first-choice T20I player, has been in outstanding touch in Sri Lanka. Brandon King is another opening option. The bowling is harder to predict. Provided Fabian Allen has recovered from the shoulder injury he sustained during the third ODI, they may be tempted to play two spinners.West Indies (possible): 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Shai Hope (wk), 3 Shimron Hetmyer, 4 Kieron Pollard (capt), 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Fabian Allen, 9 Hayden Walsh Jr., 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Kesrick Williams/Oshane ThomasAlthough Kusal Mendis is in excellent form, there is a chance he could be left out in order to bring Shehan Jayasuriya – who bats, but also bowls offspin – into the side, to give captain Malinga another spin option.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 2 Avishka Fernando, 3 Kusal Perera, 4 Shehan Jayasuriya, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Isuru Udana, 10 Lasith Malinga (capt), 11 Lahiru Kumara

Pitch and conditions

The pitch for the third ODI seemed a little slow, but that didn’t stop both teams scoring 300. Generally, Pallekele surfaces do a little bit for the seamers, under lights. No rain is forecast.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have lost 11 and won only a single T20I under Malinga since he took over for the second time in late 2018. He picked up four wickets in four balls in the one match they won.
• Sri Lanka have won six, and lost only three matches against West Indies. One of those losses was in the 2012 T20 World Cup final, however, and another came in the 2016 World edition.
• This match will be Kieron Pollard’s 500th T20.

The former Australia captain featured in an advertisement for a telecommunications company, which was aired during the BBL 2018-19 opener on Wednesday

Daniel Brettig20-Dec-2018Australia’s former captain Steven Smith has become the first member of the trio of players suspended over the Newlands ball-tampering scandal to leverage his disgrace and redemption narrative for commercial reasons, appearing in an advertisement aired during Wednesday night’s Big Bash League opener in Brisbane.Featuring in a campaign for the telecommunications company Vodafone, a sponsor of the Adelaide Strikers who defeated the Brisbane Heat in the opening game, Smith is seen intercut with footage from his tearful Sydney press conference upon his return home from South Africa, where he was stripped of the captaincy and banned from playing for a year by Cricket Australia.The commercial also stages a re-enactment of school visits Smith undertook during the year as part of his CA-imposed community service, while he is heard in voiceover talking about how low things got for him. “I was in a pretty dark space. It made me realise what other people go through and what they need to get through those difficult times,” Smith is heard saying.”It was just about being upfront and honest and taking responsibility. It’s nice to be back at the [Sunderland] club, I just love being in a contest. It’s just you versus the bowler.”I’ve certainly had some difficult days. But it’s OK to be vulnerable. Everyone makes mistakes; it’s about the way you respond to it that’s really important. I want to come back better than I was.”ALSO READ: Smith, Warner need time to reintegrate into ‘dysfunctional family’ – LangerESPNcricinfo understands that Smith was not paid by Vodafone for the appearance, but it is an exercise in testing his connection with the public and potential customers of commercial entities who would wish to use him as a selling point in the future. Smith and Warner are banned until the end of March 2019, while Bancroft’s suspension concludes in late December – he is likely to return to the field for the Perth Scorchers in their BBL fixture against Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston on December 30.Smith, Warner, Bancroft and CA all paid heavy financial and commercial penalties for the Newlands scandal and the players’ subsequent bans. Magellan cancelled its three-year contract with CA as a naming rights sponsor to the home Tests, while Asics (Warner and Bancroft), LG Australia, Toyota (Warner), and Commonwealth Bank and Sanitarium (Smith) all cancelled personal sponsorship deals.At the same time, Smith and Warner had their IPL contracts cancelled, while Bancroft was also denied a previously arranged stint in English county cricket.Intriguingly, Smith’s agreement with Vodafone may have been more complicated had he still been under contract to CA. Following this year’s A$1.18 billion broadcast deal with Foxtel and Seven, the former company had asked to be defined as a telecommunications provider, meaning they would prefer that the governing body not enter into another sponsorship in that area of the market. Three, Vodafone and Optus have all been CA partners in the past.

Dhananjaya de Silva has been shunted around the Sri Lanka batting line-up a fair bit, but for now, he seems to have found a place in the lower-middle order

Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Aug-2018There is a point at which Dhananjaya de Silva could have felt aggrieved. Since first turning heads at the international level in 2016, no player has been moved around – up the batting order, down the batting order, out of the team, back into the team, out of the squad altogether – than de Silva. Occasionally, his omission was justified, such as in the middle of last year when he was clearly low on confidence. Often, he was shunted around because the selectors had holes to fill and de Silva seemed capable of batting both in the top order, and from lower down.Now, after having been out of the ODI side since the Champions Trophy last year, de Silva is back playing the format. It’s no real surprise given the trend so far that he batted on Sunday in a position he had never held before – No. 7. It is also little surprise – given his obvious talent – that he excelled, hitting 84 off 66 balls to give Sri Lanka fleeting hope of chasing down a target of 364. His was Sri Lanka’s best individual innings in the series so far.”When I came to bat at No. 7, my main focus was on how to get close to the big target that South Africa had set us,” de Silva said. “I had been down to play at 6 but because the team wanted a left-hand/right-hand combination earlier in the innings, I had to come lower, at No. 7. There was nothing wrong with the wicket – it was a 350-plus pitch. But we lost early wickets and the target became difficult. Otherwise we could have got those runs if we had had wickets in hand.”In truth, Sri Lanka never seemed likely to chase the target of 364, but perhaps it is that positive attitude that has helped Dhananjaya weather the uncertainty in a side where his exact position in the set-up – in ODIs and Tests – seemed to constantly be in flux. In Tests, he has been Sri Lanka’s steady No. 3 since December, averaging 44.9 in that position. In one-dayers, he has been effective as an opener, as he is for his domestic side Tamil Union, averaging 49.8 from that position in internationals. But so topsy-turvy has his career been so far, that it is in the lower order that he now expects to be picked.”Getting dropped is part of playing cricket for Sri Lanka, but we as players know we have to grab the opportunity when it does come,” de Silva said. “I’ve been told that my position in the ODI side is down at No. 6 or 7, so I will have to train and play accordingly.”The good news for Sri Lanka is that on Sunday’s evidence, de Silva may have what it takes to cut it as a one-day finisher. He is quick on the short ball, scores runs around the field, and though not a power-hitter, he has shown himself capable of finding the boundary, hitting eight fours and three sixes in that latest innings. If Sri Lanka lose a few early wickets, de Silva also seems more capable than the likes of Thisara Perera of being able to construct a long innings and head up a meaningful recovery. Sri Lanka had been 155 for 6 early in Sunday’s innings, but he put on 95 alongside No. 8 batsman Akila Dananjaya to haul Sri Lanka to a respectable – if insufficient – total. He was out attacking in sight of a maiden ODI hundred, with the required run rate having risen to over 11.”I’m disappointed to miss out on the hundred, because you won’t get many opportunities to score an ODI hundred from lower down the order. At the time, I was trying to score a lot of runs quickly – trying to get about 15 an over, before Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi came back into the attack at the death.”

Half-centuries from Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis took South Africa’s total to 314 – from 5 for 2 and 190 for 6

The Report by Alagappan Muthu26-Mar-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:41

De Kock stalls New Zealand despite finger trouble

Injured tendon? The liability New Zealand hoped to exploit became a blaring irritant to their hopes of levelling the series as Quinton de Kock – with a strapped finger on a splint – produced 90 runs of the highest quality. That he has turned 12 of his 29 innings into scores of 50 or more is testament to why South Africa wanted him in their XI for this Test, no matter what.

NZ’s rare opening stand

• 3 Fifty-plus opening stands by New Zealand in 38 Test innings against South Africa since 2000. Before this, they had averaged 17.43 in the last 37 innings.

• 36.50 Average runs per wicket added by South Africa’s last four wickets this series. Their first six wickets have averaged only 32.69. South Africa added 124 runs after the fall of their sixth wicket in Hamilton, and 265 runs for their last four wickets in the first innings in Wellington.

• 29.22 Average of South Africa’s batsmen at No. 8 or lower in this series, as opposed to New Zealand’s average of 14.60. South Africa’s tail has had a significant bearing on this series given that the two teams’ top-orders have similar averages.

• 76.27 Quinton de Kock’s strike rate in his 118-ball 90; the other South African batsmen scored at 52.63. De Kock had rescued South Africa with quick runs in Wellington too – a 118-ball 91 after coming in to bat at 94 for 6.

• 4-93 Matt Henry’s best figures in Tests, on debut at Lord’s in 2015. His figures in South Africa’s first innings equalled that effort.

On a pitch supporting seam movement and under clouds promising swing, South Africa’s 314 was a better-than-par total. To Tom Latham, it might have looked like a monstrous one. He had not passed 10 in the series, and suddenly had 28 overs to survive against Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada. By stumps, however, he had put on the highest opening partnership of the series with Jeet Raval. The determination both men showed, making 67 runs in the process, was necessary, considering they had let South Africa off the hook. A team that had been 190 for 6 should not have made it to 314.Apart from undermining themselves, New Zealand were also fighting their weather. Forty nine overs were lost on the first day and a few more went down the drain at Seddon Park on the second. Both delays were caused by showers that did not last that long.Perhaps the only reason Kane Williamson thought better of leaving the field to investigate who was sabotaging his team with repetitive rain dances was the wickets his bowlers were able to give him. Matt Henry, on comeback, was responsible for four of them. His strength is bowling a full length and controlling his line well enough to test batsmen outside off stump. So much that in 75 deliveries to right-handers, barely any slipped down the leg side.De Kock, being left-handed, coped far better as he made 26 runs off 28 deliveries from New Zealand’s stand-in spearhead. And if Henry couldn’t make him budge, what chance did the rest have? De Kock launched Jeetan Patel’s offspin for a six over midwicket. He carved cuts behind point when there was little room, and his pull shots were outstanding. He finished with 90 off 118 balls – an innings in defiance of a pitch that wasn’t all that great for strokeplay.It was slow as Temba Bavuma found out, toe-ending a pull to first slip. The humidity and cloud cover ensured there was consistent swing too. Knowing that – and perhaps the fact that a draw was enough to win another trophy – Faf du Plessis reached into his closet and put on his Adelaide gear: do as you please but you won’t get past me. It wasn’t that he was particularly troubled by the bowling. At a drinks break, when a chair was run out for him, the only way du Plessis could have looked more at home was if his dog Giorgio had been by his side and there a braai in the background. So calm was du Plessis, just sipping on his water and chatting with his partner.New Zealand needed something magical to remove the South African captain, and they got it soon after he got to his 12th Test fifty. Latham, at short leg, saw du Plessis premeditating a lap sweep and began moving quickly to his right. He had already covered a yard or so when the ball came within his reach, and then, it was a matter of letting his reflexes take over and hoping they were good enough. Latham stuck out his right hand and secured a catch to give Mitchell Santner a wicket. The left-arm spinner had to wait 61 overs to get into the mix.Williamson was far more partial to his quicks, and Henry would feel unlucky that he still does not have a five-for in Tests. He nabbed Philander, who became the sixth South African to the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets, with a teaser outside off stump. Latham did his bit again to enable the wicket with a fine catch, low to his right at second slip.Henry found the edge again the very next ball, but it fell short of the cordon and Keshav Maharaj survived. Later, an inswinging yorker only just missed making a mess of Morkel’s leg stump. Neil Wagner knocked over Rabada in the next over to finish the innings and deny his team-mate his fifth.

Zimbabwe’s domestic season, due to start this weekend, has been postponed for logistical reasons and will now begin later this week

Firdose Moonda10-Dec-2016Zimbabwe’s domestic season, due to start this weekend, has been postponed for logistical reasons and will now begin later this week. Two matches of the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s first-class competition, were due to start on Sunday but will now, according to Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), get underway later this week.Zimbabwe Premier League games – 40-over matches that form part of a club competition – were due to start Saturday but have also been moved back. “We regret to announce that unforeseen logistical challenges have forced us to postpone both ZPL and Logan Cup fixtures that were scheduled for this weekend,” the board told ESPNcricinfo in a statement. “We are, however, confident action will finally get underway this coming week.”Though ZC did not give a date, there were suggestions that the season may begin from December 15. One source close to the players confirmed they were informed of the decision via email and that the two matches, which were due to start on December 11 will now start on December 15.The statement came less than a week after ZC announced a bumper domestic season to run from December until August. The first-class competition is due to feature 12 rounds – each team plays the other four times – and is seen as crucial to keeping Zimbabwe’s hopes of being competitive in Test cricket alive.On Tuesday, a day after the announcement of the new season, players from two of the four provincial sides – the Eagles and the Mountaineers – refused to train in protest over unpaid salaries. Although contracts have been issued, provincial players have not been paid for November and were told to expect payment by next Friday, December 16. Nationally contracted players and administrative staff have been paid.

Plans to revive the oldest international cricket rivalry have been confirmed with the USA and Canada set to play three 50-over matches on October 13, 14 and 16 in Los Angeles

Peter Della Penna29-Sep-2016Plans to revive the oldest international cricket rivalry have been confirmed with the USA and Canada set to play three 50-over matches for the KA Auty Cup on October 13, 14 and 16 at Woodley Park in Los Angeles. The Auty Cup has not been played since 2013, in King City, where Canada retained the trophy after securing first-innings points in the drawn two-day match before sweeping a pair of Twenty20s – there was no result in the one scheduled 50-over game then.The matches will serve as key preparation for USA ahead of their participation in ICC World Cricket League Division Four, which begins October 29 at the same venue. The Auty Cup had originally been slated for the weekend of October 22-23, but according to sources the series was mutually decided to be brought up a week in part so that USA can have an extra week of preparation after the Auty Cup and ahead of Division Four.The tentative plan is for members of USA’s squad based outside of Los Angeles to fly in on October 12 and depart the night of the 16th before returning to Los Angeles the following weekend on October 22 for seven days of training and warm-up matches against local Los Angeles club sides leading into their first match of Division Four on October 29. The top two teams in the tournament, which also features Bermuda, Denmark, Italy, Jersey and Oman, will be promoted to WCL Division Three, scheduled for early 2017.”Canada certainly have some very talented players,” USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake, who coached Canada at the 2011 World Cup, said in a press release on Wednesday. “This Auty Cup will be a very good test for our USA team. We are looking forward to the challenge.”For Canada, these are the senior team’s first international matches since the 2015 World T20 Qualifier in Scotland and Ireland, where they went winless to finish last in Group B. It is also the first 50-over matches for Canada since January 2015, when they finished in last place at the six-team Division Two tournament to be relegated to Division Three. Canada is joined in Division Three by Uganda, Singapore and Malaysia.”Cricket Canada is excited about the opportunity to take on the USA again,” Cricket Canada general manager Ingleton Liburd stated in a press release. “We are hoping for some quality 50-over cricket, and hope we can retain the KA Auty Cup while we are on US soil.”The ICC press release announcing the matches also declared that the Auty Cup matches, along with USA and Bermuda’s games at Division Four, will be used to help pick a 15-man squad for an ICC Americas Combined team to participate in the 2017 WICB Nagico Super50 regional tournament. The ICC Americas office had conducted an open trial in Indianapolis last September to help pick a combined team, which featured six USA and nine Canada players, for this year’s tournament.Following the Nagico Super50, six ICC Americas players received Caribbean Premier League contracts, an opportunity which is expected to be offered again for 2017.

Sam Robson’s name has slipped down the list of potential England partners since the last of his seven Tests in August 2014.

George Dobell at Lord's17-Apr-2016
ScorecardSam Robson took advantage of Warwickshire’s early waywardness•Getty Images

Sam Robson’s name has slipped down the list of potential England partners since the last of his seven Tests in August 2014.But at Lord’s, against an attack with a good reputation and inserted on a damp April morning, he provided a reminder of his qualities with an assured century that has given Middlesex a strong platform in this match.Robson’s game is admirably simple. He cuts terrifically well, drives fluently and is efficient off his legs. That is every bit as strong a repertoire as Alastair Cook and he seems to have managed rather well.His problem in his spell in the Test side – his first spell we should probably say – in the summer of 2014 was some uncertainty on and outside off stump. Unsure whether to play or leave, he nicked off a few times early in the summer and was bowled in his final two innings, once as he left one that swung back into him. He passed 50 twice in 11 innings, including a century against Sri Lanka at Leeds.His experience of the life-cycle of an England player – the glare of the spotlight, the focus of the media and the disappointment of his axing – appeared to leave him struggling for equilibrium for a while. He had, until today, scored only one first-class century since he was dropped and, in a disappointing 2015 campaign, averaged a modest 30.72 in the Championship season.But here he showed a good defensive technique – and Keith Barker’s left-arm swing examines a batsman’s ability on the off stump as well as the best in county cricket – and an ability to punish the poor ball that suggested he had recovered his confidence in his style of play.”My off stump play is a strength of mine,” Robson said afterwards, “but, for a little while 18-months or two years ago, I went away from that a bit. But I’ve tried to strengthen it even more recently and I know I have to stick to my game and what I’m good at.”He also has a hunger for runs that is reminiscent of Cook, too. There was no sign of relief or relaxation once he reached his century. His next 10 runs were among his slowest of the innings and his determination to establish a match-defining position was impressive. His skills – patience, denial and accumulation – are not especially fashionable. But, in Test cricket at least, there is still a place for them. If he can sustain this start to the season, his time could yet come again.It would be premature to suggest he is ripe for a recall just yet. This Warwickshire attack, without the injured pair of Chris Woakes and Boyd Rankin (Rankin has “a niggle” in his side and will be assessed again in a couple of days, while Woakes has a minor strain behind his knee and is expected to be fit for the next match) bowled poorly before lunch and perhaps lacked the persistent pace to exploit any potential weakness against the short ball. On one of the few occasions Robson was tested, an attempted pull off Rikki Clarke flew off the top edge and perilously close to Chris Wright at fine leg.His opening partner, Nick Gubbins, was also impressive. While he, like Robson, was the beneficiary of some obliging bowling he played a couple of strokes – notably a back-foot force of a perfectly respectable ball from Wright – that hinted at unusual class. He, too, was troubled by Clarke’s bouncer – one attempted pull flew over the keeper’s head – but, that moment apart, he looked a player of considerable potential. It is no surprise that Middlesex felt they did not require Chris Rogers this season, or that Paul Stirling may be allowed to play on loan elsewhere in the coming weeks.Having effectively given Middlesex a 120-run lead – the score from 31 overs at lunch – Warwickshire tightened up considerably in the afternoon session. With the warmth of the sun appearing to quicken the pitch Wright struck twice in two deliveries, first taking Gubbins’ edge with one that appeared to surprise him with its pace and bounce and then, next delivery, having Nick Compton acrobatically caught off the shoulder of the bat as he pushed at one he could have left. It is unlikely one failure will have any adverse repercussions for his Test place, though Robson and Adam Lyth’s fine starts cannot be completely ignored.Later Dawid Malan left one from Barker that did not swing – he had been set-up by a series of balls leaving the bat – and Adam Voges played on, deceived by a little inswing. Had John Simpson, on 13, been taken by Ian Westwood at point off Clarke, Warwickshire might have felt they were back in the game.As it was, Robson – who scored 175 out of 317 on the day – continued to cut and drive his way merrily and needs only 25 more for his second double-century against this opposition. It could well prove a match-winning contribution.Ian Bell admitted that, in hindsight, his decision to bowl first was probably an error. He also knows that, with no heavy roller in use in this match, the indentations made on the first day on a damp surface could become problematic for batsmen later in the game.”We weren’t at our best before lunch,” he said. “And Robson has played very well. It was a 50-50 decision to have a toss. There had been a lot of rain around London in recent days and the covers were on all day yesterday. There was frost on them this morning.”It did enough, but were didn’t get enough balls in the right area. In hindsight, I’d probably have the toss, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.”