Key hundred holds up Lancashire promotion push

Rob Key’s first Championship century inside 16 months helped Kent prosper on the opening day of their LV= County Championship clash with Division Two leaders Lancashire in Canterbury

ECB/PA01-Sep-2015
ScorecardRob Key added another hundred to his large collection at the St Lawrence Ground•Getty Images

Rob Key’s first Championship century inside 16 months helped Kent prosper on the opening day of their LV= County Championship clash with Division Two leaders Lancashire in Canterbury.On an overcast day when 26 overs were lost to rain and bad light, Kent’s top-order flourished against a weakened and lethargic Lancashire attack to post 235 for 3 from only 70 overs’ play.Key hit a season’s best 113 and featured in stands worth 72 with Daniel Bell-Drummond and then 149 inside 35 overs with Joe Denly on a day when Lancashire – who began the round needing five points to clinch promotion – clearly expected ball to dominate bat.Without three key members of their pace attack – including the division’s leading wicket-taker in Kyle Jarvis as well as their overseas pro James Faulkner, both with fractured hands – Lancashire elected to field first when play started on time at 10.30am.However, only 28 balls were bowled during a staccato opening session before the players, with Kent on seven without loss, fled for cover from a heavy shower for an early lunch just after noon.Key might have gone for 3, when Alviro Petersen downed a slip catch off Glen Chapple with the home total on 23 without loss, yet Kent’s only casualty of the opening two sessions came after 28.3 overs.With his score on 37 after 103 minutes at the crease Bell-Drummond, walking across his stumps and aiming to leg, was trapped lbw by a Tom Bailey off-cutter to make it 72 for 1.Key scored only four boundaries in his patient 116-ball 50, two of which came with straight drives in successive overs from left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan, as Key and Denly set out their stall to bat time.Denly reached his 79-ball 50 with a sweetly-timed leg-side clip off Chapple for his eighth boundary, while Key reached three figures with an all-run four after straight driving the same bowler. The hundred came off 179 balls and included 11 fours, 10 of them boundaries.It was Key’s first Championship century since May 5 last year when he scored 126 in the win over Surrey. It was also his 24th first-class hundred on the ground for Kent, where he is comfortably the county’s leading run-scorer with almost 8,000 runs to his name.Bad light took the players off for a fourth time shortly before 5pm and Key and Denly both perished soon after the resumptions half an hour later. Denly, playing late to the skiddy pace of Jordan Clark, departed lbw for 65 then Key, after 201 balls, fenced at a Clark lifter and spooned a comfortable catch to gully off the shoulder of the bat in the same over.Lancashire might have finished the day on an even bigger high had Karl Brown held onto a sharp slip chance offered by home skipper Sam Northeast when on 4, but the opportunity, off the bowling of Clark, went to ground allowing Northeast and night watchman James Tredwell to bat out the three remaining overs through to stumps.

Watson may quit Test cricket after axeing

Shane Watson is considering his future in the game after being axed from the squad for the Mohali Test on disciplinary grounds

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Mar-2013Shane Watson is contemplating his future in the game after being axed from the squad for the Mohali Test on disciplinary grounds and then leaving the tour to be with his pregnant wife. Watson was one of four players punished by the team management for ignoring team orders.Since being named Michael Clarke’s vice-captain in 2011, Watson’s Twenty20 and ODI displays have remained strong but his Test appearances have been neither consistent nor convincing. His struggles in India despite being one of only two batsmen to have made a Test hundred on the subcontinent were a major contributor to Australia’s 0-2 deficit.There is little doubt Watson’s T20 career will continue for he is scheduled to return to India in April for the IPL, where he had also indicated he would return to bowling for his franchise rather than his country. In ODIs he has the lure of the 2015 World Cup to sustain him. But it is now plausible that at 31 he has played his final Test match.”Any time you’re suspended for a Test match unless you do something unbelievably wrong, and obviously everyone knows what those rules are … I think it is very harsh,” Watson told reporters at the team hotel in Chandigarh. “At this point in time I’m at a stage where I’m sort of weighing up my future and what I want to do with my cricket in general, to be honest. I do love playing, there is no doubt about that, but at this point in time I’m going to spend the next few weeks with my family and just weigh up my options of just exactly which direction I want to go.”There are lot more important things in life – I certainly do love playing cricket and that passion is still there and I feel like I’m in the prime years of my cricket career. From that perspective I still feel like I’ve got a lot to give. But from a holistic perspective I’ve got to sit down with my family and decide which directions they are.”Watson, along with James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson were told this morning by the coach Mickey Arthur that, in an unprecedented decision, they would not be considered for the third Test. After the loss in Hyderabad, inside three and a half days, Arthur had asked every member of the squad to let him know three points on how their individual performances and those of the team could be improved. These four players did not comply with the directive.Watson said he had been going to tell the team management that he would need to miss the fourth Test to be with his wife, who is due at the end of the month, but had been informed of his axeing before he could do so. “I was about to communicate that to Mickey and the leadership group today but they obviously beat me to it by telling me I wasn’t selected for this Test match,” he said. “Also overnight, things have changed and Lee wasn’t going to tell me things had changed because she knew how much it meant to me to be able to play this Test match. It was due in a couple of weeks but it’s looking like things have sped up a little bit.”With four players unavailable, Australia’s squad is down to 13 players for the Mohali Test, and if wicketkeeper Matthew Wade’s ankle does not heal, they will have to pick a team from 12.

Elgar, du Plessis tons build huge lead

Hundreds from Dean Elgar and Faf du Plessis led South Africa A to a commanding position against Sri Lanka A in the first unofficial Test in Durban

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2012

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Hundreds from Dean Elgar and Faf du Plessis led South Africa A to a commanding position against Sri Lanka A in the first unofficial Test in Durban. Having resumed on 141 for 2, South Africa A asserted their authority through a 292-run stand for the third wicket. Despite losing wickets at the end of the day, they were on course to bat only once.Elgar, who has played sparsely since making his comeback from a knee injury, was on 78 overnight and added 93 runs to his total. He spent six hours and 52 minutes at the crease and struck 19 fours in his innings. Du Plessis, who is captaining the side, scored at a slightly faster rate and his 144 came off 225 balls. The pair put on a chanceless stand, characterised by patience as Sri Lanka’s bowlers showed discipline, although they lacked incisiveness.Sri Lanka A finally made a breakthrough when du Plessis was caught at first slip, 15 overs after the second new ball was taken. Two balls later, Elgar was dismissed in similar fashion, giving Kaushal Silva a catch off a thin outside edge.South Africa A lost their third wicket in four overs when Thami Tsolekile was trapped lbw by Kosala Kulasekara. Tsolekile has been widely tipped as the replacement to Mark Boucher and he had taken four catches in Sri Lanka’s A’s innings to boost his chances. He managed only four with the bat, though.Farhaan Berhardien, who had an unsuccessful tour of Zimbabwe with the Twenty20 side, rebuilt with Ryan McLaren. Their partnership was worth 58 when McLaren offered a catch to short leg to end the day. Sri Lanka’s bowlers have already been in the field for nearly 122 overs and still have two allrounders in Wayne Parnell and Rory Kleinveldt to dismiss before they can bat again.

Kohli, RCB set for Chinnaswamy return

Kohli likely to be in action for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Chinnaswamy, with the venue also “on track” for IPL 2026

Shashank Kishore13-Dec-2025The decks have been cleared for the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to be back on the BCCI’s radar after newly-elected KSCA chief Venkatesh Prasad has received a go-ahead from the Karnataka government to host matches, a week after being elected. The BCCI is believed to have been apprised of the recent developments too.The immediate implications are that Virat Kohli could be back playing at the Chinnaswamy, with the KSCA set to move Vijay Hazare Trophy matches involving Delhi from Alur owing to security and logistical challenges. As things stand, Kohli and Rishabh Pant have been named in a jumbo Delhi squad and both could be available for the first three matches.Prasad and vice-president Sujith Somasunder held meetings with chief minister Siddharamaiah, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar and other government officials in Belagavi earlier this week on the sidelines of the state’s assembly session and the conversations are understood to have been fruitful.ESPNcricinfo understands the KSCA is also making provisions to be able to accommodate 2000-3000 fans by throwing open certain stands to the public, considering the high-profile nature of matches involving two Indian superstars.At the meeting with the government officials, the Prasad-led KSCA committee reiterated their commitment to implementing as many changes as feasible from the Justice John D’Cunha report on the Chinnaswamy Stadium.While hosting matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy is seen as a starting point, Prasad and KSCA are keen on ensuring Bengaluru doesn’t lose out on hosting IPL matches.”We’re on track for the IPL to be back,” an office-bearer privy to the developments told ESPNcricinfo. The KSCA is expected to begin work on the D’Cunha recommendations in a phased manner.”To avoid any future incidents, we have put in place precautionary measures. We have granted permission accordingly,” deputy chief minister Shivakumar said after the state’s cabinet meeting on Friday. “The Home Minister will hold discussions with the KSCA president and police officials.”The venue hasn’t hosted any top-flight cricket since the June 4 stampede that marred Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL victory celebration, leading to 11 deaths and several injuries. KSCA’s Maharaja Trophy was shifted to Mysore in August, while the venue also lost out on hosting five Women’s World Cup matches, including the final, due to the ongoing impasse.”We have no intention of stopping cricket matches. But crowd-management measures need to be examined,” Shivakumar said. “We also intend to implement the recommendations of the Justice Michael D’Cunha Committee in a phased manner. Venkatesh Prasad too has agreed to this.”

ICC set to approve continental qualification system for LA Olympics 2028

The six teams each in men’s and women’s categories are set to be decided based on the top-ranked team from each continent

Nagraj Gollapudi31-Jul-2025The ICC is set to approve a continental qualification system to decide the six participating teams in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. That means that Full Members such as Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka among others, could miss out on cricket’s much-anticipated return to the Olympics after over a century.ESPNcricinfo understands that the board discussed a proposal at the recent AGM which allows for one team from each continent. Though some details still need to be finalised, in essence, the majority approval for a regional qualification system is in place, with a minority of members expressing dissent.Six teams each in the men’s and women’s categories will contest for Olympic medals between July 14 and 29 in 2028 after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed cricket to be added to the roster for the first time since the Paris 1900 Olympics. While the ICC’s initial thinking was that it would shortlist the top six-ranked teams at a pre-determined cut-off date, several Full Member countries believed such an approach wouldn’t allow for a wider representation of countries from across the globe.Related

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That has now changed to a one-country-per-continent qualification system, which is thought to be more in line with the Olympic participation ethos.Which countries are shortlisted will be based on the rankings on a set date. But if the ICC plan goes through, it could mean the Olympics may not have one of the most widely watched contests in global sport: India vs Pakistan. Based on the current ICC T20 rankings, in both men’s and women’s competitions, India will qualify from Asia, Australia from Oceania, England from Europe, with one between USA or one of the islands from the Caribbean from the Americas, while South Africa qualify from Africa. ESPNcricinfo understands that the ICC is still discussing the participation of USA, who potentially get direct entry as hosts.But questions remain around the make-up of the USA men’s team, the majority of whom are US residents but not naturalised US citizens. The ICC is also concerned that the USA women’s team are not in the top 20-ranked teams at the moment. A final decision is likely to be taken at the ICC’s next quarterly meeting in October.The ECB, along with Cricket Scotland and Cricket Ireland, have formed Great Britain Cricket as an entity, which will help facilitate players from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to represent Great Britain at the Games.An artist impression of Brisbane Stadium in Victoria Park for Brisbane 2032 Olympics•Queensland Government

As for West Indies, CWI wrote to ICC in May, pitching two ideas that could allow one of the regional countries to represent the Caribbean in the Olympics. One suggestion was an internal qualifying tournament conducted among the Caribbean countries with the winner heading to the Olympics. The other involved conducting a global qualifying pathway that would pit countries in the five ICC development regions alongside regions in the West Indies.For the sixth team, the ICC is considering the option of a global qualifier, the structure for which is still being fine-tuned.Speaking on Thursday to BBC’s , ECB chairman Richard Thompson said that the IOC was keen on having a team from each continent which satisfies the Olympics charter. “The preference from the IOC is to work to the ‘five ring’ principle, which is teams from each of the continents represent their continent,” Thompson said.The ICC is also optimistic about increasing the number of participating teams in the next two Olympics – in 2032 in Brisbane and in 2036, the venue for which is yet to be finalised by IOC. Thompson said that with India expected to bid hard to host the 2036 Summer Games, cricket could receive a massive boost.”The hope is, when we get to Brisbane, we might be up to eight or ten teams, and in 2036, there’s a three-way shoot-out between Qatar, Saudi and India, and clearly the real hope is that India get in it 2036, in which case, cricket will be front and centre. Who knows? It could be ten or 12 teams by that stage.”At this stage, we are there by the invitation of the IOC and on that basis, you abide by their rules, and that is to play the geography of your game as opposed to necessarily the top six playing nations.”

Paine makes rapid climb to Adelaide Strikers head coach

The former Australia captain replaces Jason Gillespie after the state and BBL roles were split

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2024Former Australia captain Tim Paine has been named Adelaide Strikers’ new BBL head coach less than two years after he finished his professional career.Paine, who was Jason Gillespie’s assistant last season, will take the role vacated by Gillespie’s departure with the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) deciding to split the state and BBL jobs. Last week Ryan Harris was confirmed as South Australia’s new head coach.Related

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Paine has moved rapidly through the coaching system. He is currently working with NT Strike in the Top End T20 series, last season was an assistant to Adam Voges for Australia A and has also worked with the Under-19 set up and the women’s team. He had previously spoken about his interest in the BBL role if the two men’s coaching jobs were broken up.”I am honoured and excited by the opportunity to coach such a well-established and strongly supported club, and I can’t wait for the start of BBL|14 in December,” Paine said.”After spending time in Adelaide last year, I believe the Strikers team and the whole of South Australian cricket has huge potential and I’m looking forward to being part of taking it forward and winning a few trophies.”Last season Strikers went on a late run with four consecutive victories to squeeze into the finals where they defeated defending champions Perth Scorchers in the Knockout before falling to eventual winners Brisbane Heat in the Challenger.Paine’s international career ended controversially when he resigned on the eve of the 2021-22 Ashes.His first major duty will be overseeing the BBL draft alongside Strikers’ captain Matt Short on September 1. The club have yet to confirm a pre-draft signing and will have picks 5, 11, 20 and 29.Rashid Khan has been a long-time figure at Strikers and had been due to return last season before being ruled out through injury. He will be part of MI Cape Town in the SA20 which overlaps with the BBL during January and it has yet to be confirmed whether he will nominate this year.Strikers will be boosted by Chris Lynn being available for the entire tournament after he signed a new one-year deal having previously left the BBL early to play in the ILT20.Current Adelaide Strikers BBL squad: James Bazley, Jordan Buckingham, Cameron Boyce, Brendan Doggett, Chris Lynn, Lloyd Pope, Alex Ross, D’Arcy Short, Matt Short, Henry Thornton, Jake Weatherald

Delhi Capitals sign Fraser-McGurk as Ngidi's replacement

Ngidi is still recovering from a lower back injury he suffered during the SA20

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Mar-2024Delhi Capitals have signed Australian top-order batter Jake Fraser-McGurk as replacement for Lungi Ngidi for IPL 2024.Ngidi is still recovering from the lower-back injury he suffered during the SA20 earlier in the year. Fraser-McGurk, who played three matches for Dubai Capitals in the ILT20 this season, will join Delhi Capitals for his base price of INR 50 lakh. Fraser-McGurk was impressive in the ILT20, hitting 109 runs in his three innings, with a best of 54, at a strike rate of 213.72.Fraser-McGurk, who also bowls some legspin, was listed as an allrounder at the last IPL auction. So far, though, he has only bowled four overs in professional cricket – and just the one in T20s.Related

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Touted by Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting as a potential all-format star for Australia, the 21-year-old Fraser-McGurk made his international debut last month, playing two ODIs at home against West Indies.He has played 37 T20s so far and strikes at 133.54.As for Ngidi, Delhi Capitals was his second team in a stop-start IPL career, which started with Chennai Super Kings in 2018. In 2022, he was acquired by Delhi Capitals at the auction. Overall, he has played 14 IPL games, picking up 25 wickets with an economy rate of 8.30.Ngidi being ruled out leaves Delhi with Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Jhye Richardson and Rasikh Salam in the fast-bowling department, while Mitchell Marsh is their fast-bowling allrounder.Earlier this week, England batter Harry Brook pulled out of IPL 2024 following the death of his grandmother in February. Delhi Capitals did not name a replacement for Brook.

Ball-by-ball: Wickets, lots of scrambling, a RONSBU missed – it was all happening at the Chinnaswamy

Five needed from six with three wickets in hand. Easy? Not on the night. It was high drama as Super Giants scraped through against Royal Challengers

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-2023A high-scoring match lit up by a 15-ball half-century from Nicholas Pooran came down to the final over with Lucknow Super Giants needing five runs to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore, with three wickets in hand. There was already drama in the air, with Ayush Badoni dismissed hit-wicket – his bat hitting the stumps after he had one-hand-scooped a six – and Royal Challengers incurring an over-rate penalty that meant they’d only be allowed four fielders outside the 30-yard circle. A highly eventful final over followed, with Harshal Patel coming within inches of winning the match for Royal Challengers before Super Giants prevailed by one wicket, the fourth time the IPL had witnessed that victory margin. Here’s how it unfolded:19.1: Harshal to Unadkat, 1 run
Yorker on off but Unadkat gets it out to mid-off.19.2: Harshal to Wood, OUT
Harshal castles Wood! It’s that dipping slower ball and it has done Wood in! Crashes into middle-stump!
Mark Wood b Patel 1 (2b 0x4 0x6 6m) SR: 5019.3: Harshal to Ravi Bishnoi, 2 runs
Full outside off, Bishnoi digs it out through point and they get two! He found the gap and they ran hard for their lives!
Harshal also becomes the 16th Indian bowler to get 100 IPL wickets.
Ravi Bishnoi is the new batter, by the way.19.4: Harshal to Ravi Bishnoi, 1 run
Banged in short and Bishnoi pulls it to deep square and now LSG need 1 off two deliveries. Scores are level!19.5: Harshal to Unadkat, OUT
Holes out at long-on! Banged in short and Unadkat went for the pull. Picks up Faf du Plessis, who takes it reverse-cupped before switching it to a more normal hold.
Jaydev Unadkat c du Plessis b Patel 9 (7b 1×4 0x6 19m) SR: 128.57Here’s Ashish from the ground – It’s gone absolutely crazy the moment Faf took the catch. He bobbled, but hung on. LSG surely the more nervous team at the moment. The roof has gone off at the M Chinnaswamy.What has happened here?! Harshal looks to run out the non-striker! But he misses and then has a throw at the stumps but it won’t count! Because you can’t throw after attempting to run the non-striker out. Harshal will bowl again!One needed off one. One wicket left. Will LSG win? Or will we have a Super Over? Harshal Patel to Avesh Khan. BRING IT ON!19.6: Harshal to Avesh Khan, 1 bye
Harshal beats Avesh but he sets off for the run. DK fumbles! And they get the single away! LSG win amid high drama! Karthik didn’t collect cleanly and Bishnoi was already halfway down after throwing his bat while setting off only. The fumble means Avesh got through to the other end. Avesh throws his helmet as the celebrations begin.

Lockie Ferguson set to make Manchester Originals debut following recovery from injury

The Originals had lined up Anrich Nortje as Ferguson’s replacement but the latter returned to fitness sooner than expected

Matt Roller28-Jul-2021Lockie Ferguson, the New Zealand fast bowler, could make his Manchester Originals debut against Welsh Fire on Saturday after recovering from a side strain.Ferguson missed Yorkshire’s final two Vitality Blast group games after picking up the injury. He was not considered for selection in the Originals’ first two Hundred fixtures and has been ruled out of Wednesday night’s match against Northern Superchargers, but is in contention for the weekend game in Cardiff.ESPNcricinfo understands the Originals had lined up Anrich Nortje, the South Africa fast bowler, as a short-term replacement for Ferguson. Nortje, who had been touring Ireland with the national team, had agreed a contract to play up to three matches, but following a delay in the processing time for his visa and with Ferguson returning to fitness sooner than expected, he is now due to return home instead.Simon Katich, the Originals’ men’s head coach, said after their defeat to Oval Invincibles on Thursday night: “Lockie’s got a little bit of a side strain. He got that recently playing for Yorkshire in the Blast – he’s had a fantastic summer for them – and unfortunately he hasn’t come up for the start of the Hundred but he’s getting closer and closer. It’s hard to put a timeframe on it just yet but we’re hoping that he might be ready to play for us soon.”Meanwhile, Carlos Brathwaite has revealed that he is set to captain the Originals for the rest of the group stage following Jos Buttler’s departure on England Test duty. “Obviously Jos is gone, so I’ve been asked to step in and be the men’s captain,” he told the BBC’s podcast. Brathwaite captained West Indies in 30 T20Is between 2016 and 2019.David Willey is due to step in as Ben Stokes’ replacement as captain for the Superchargers on Wednesday night, with Faf du Plessis still sidelined after suffering symptoms of concussion in the lead-up to their first game against Welsh Fire.Elsewhere, London Spirit have signed the Middlesex batter Joe Cracknell as a replacement for Dan Lawrence, who misses the rest of the group stage on Test duty. Cracknell, 21, has averaged 26.93 at a strike rate of 140.27 in 15 T20 appearances to date and impressed the Spirit’s captained Eoin Morgan in the Vitality Blast this year.

Australia not making most of good positions – Smith

Despite a century from Aaron Finch, Australia conceded many clutch moments and, subsequently, the series, plagued by a familiar batting collapse

Alagappan Muthu in Indore24-Sep-2017Australia had most things going in their favour to construct a fine first innings. For the first time in the series, they had won the toss. Their bowlers did not have to toil under the heat, as they did bravely in Kolkata. Nathan Coulter-Nile abandoned his last-minute practice to watch the coin go up and the moment he saw it was his captain Steven Smith walking up to talk to the host broadcaster, he threw his arms up in the air to celebrate. He knew Australia were batting, and for the first 37.4 overs, they did so like a dream – the scoreboard read 227 for 1 with Aaron Finch, the comeback man, scoring a century.”That was kind of the template we were trying to set,” Smith said. “Two guys in the top four going on, – one guy getting a hundred obviously, sort of the others bat around. Our first 38 overs were very good.” In Kolkata, the Australia captain took the blame for not finishing the game himself, for not turning a partnership of 76 runs into something in the region of “140”, which might well have been enough in a chase of 253. Indore, however, was turning out much better.But, off the fifth ball of the 38th over, they lost Finch, the backbone of their innings. In the 42nd, Smith was caught for 63. Next ball, Glenn Maxwell fell and, consequently, Australia lost their way, making only 69 runs off the last 74 balls. They had lost a massive advantage and Smith conceded this has been happening too often.”That’s probably bit of a trend for this format and the Test format as well,” he said. “We are quite often getting ourselves in good positions but not taking advantage of those. Today was no different, first 30 overs. We continually address it. It’s just hard to put your finger on what we are actually doing or not doing to get the results we are after. Today, it was about execution.”Smith had to accept that India’s bowlers caused a few of those problems. “I think [Jasprit] Bumrah and Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar] are probably two of the best death-overs bowlers going around, particularly when the wicket sort of slows up a little bit as it did [today]. We still need to find a way. We set a template really well. The first 38 overs were magnificent. We set it up and we just weren’t [able] to execute it in the back end.”Another crucial moment Australia couldn’t win came in the 37th over of India’s chase. Hardik Pandya had whacked Ashton Agar for a six and a four, and wound up to do it again. But the left-arm spinner held the length back and secured a leading edge. It flew up towards cover where Smith tried to get under a very tough catch but couldn’t hold on. He had dropped Rohit Sharma in Chennai and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in Kolkata. Pandya joined the list in Indore, and a man who should have been out for a run-a-ball 41 went on to make a match-winning 78 off 72.”It went in the air and was swirling a little bit; [there was] a fair bit of spin on the ball. I expect myself to take those chances,” Smith said. “If I get my hands to the ball, I expect to catch them. At the moment, my catching hasn’t been good enough. I think I’ve dropped one in every game I’ve played so far [in this series]. I’ve been working hard, just might need to work a little bit harder to try and set the standard. But yeah, disappointing result.”The only bright spot for Australia in the match was Finch. After recovering from a calf injury that had kept him out of the first two games of the series, he produced a high-quality century, accelerating from 36 off 54 balls at the end of 19 overs to 101 off 110 in the 34th.”I think he played really well today; [he] summed things up early, understood the pace of the wicket, played his big shots at the right time, made some good decisions. We’ve been talking about it as a batting group, we’ve been having a lot of those collapses in the middle overs. I thought the decisions he made throughout his innings were very good: keep the right balls out, attack the spinners. It was just a well-paced innings. It’s nice to see him back.”

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