Four half-centuries in Saurashtra’s innings, thus far, have put Bengal on the back foot

Shashank Kishore17-Feb-2023Stumps Bengal’s Ranji Trophy aspirations have taken a massive jolt with Saurashtra pulling away from their clutches slowly but surely on a leaden second day of the final at Eden Gardens.The match appeared to be on an even keel when Bengal, having been bowled out for a paltry 174, had Saurashtra fighting for survival at 109 for 4. Then they ran into Sheldon Jackson and Arpit Vasavada, who put together 95 to steady the innings.After Jackson fell for 59, letting aggression get the better of him in mistiming a pull to deep square leg, Vasavada flicked a switch and focused on crease occupation to blunt the bowling on a deck that had generous swing and seam movement on offer all day.Unlike Saurashtra, Bengal’s fast bowlers struggled for consistency and paid the price. This played into the hands of Chirag Jani, who used every opportunity to put the loose ball away to quickly race away to a half-century, before slowing down in the last half hour, in a bid to try and return undefeated on Saturday.Jani’s unbroken stand with Vasavada was worth 113, and as Bengal trudged off at the end of a long day, dejected and left to rue what could’ve been had they been more consistent.The morning began with a lot of promise for Bengal as Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep repeatedly troubled nightwatchman Chetan Sakariya in the air and off the pitch. In the first half hour alone, Sakariya was beaten thrice on the inside edge, hit on the box, roughed up by a bouncer and survived a close chance.Harvik Desai, though, was solid and brought up his half-century with a neat little flick. However, he didn’t last long and was superbly removed by Mukesh. After subjecting him to a succession of away-going deliveries, Mukesh had him lbw with a nip-backer with Harvik playing all around it.Five overs later, Ishan Porel got into the act as he struck in his very first over. After troubling Sakariya with two rib-ticklers, he had him rooted to the crease and playing inside the line of a delivery that hit the seam and nipped away to hit top of off. Bengal were now a boisterous bunch and smelt a real opportunity.Like he did in the semi-final against Karnataka, Jackson, coming off a match-winning 160, kept Bengal interested as he played some stylish drives on the up from time to time. In trying to stick with his attacking mantra, Jackson also ensured Saurashtra kept chugging along at a fair clip to eat into the deficit.Bengal were unlucky not have Jackson on 19 when a mistimed pull off Akash Deep landed short of deep square. Saurashtra were 134 for 4 at that point. But that was the only little blot in Jackson’s counterattack.After lunch, Bengal returned to try and rough him up with short balls but couldn’t sustain it long enough for them to build any kind of pressure. By the time they dismissed Jackson, Bengal’s mood was more of relief than ecstasy at having broken a key partnership.Vasavada grounded the bowlers and negated any threat they may have posed by playing copy book cricket, seemingly intent on playing late, leaving deliveries and eliminating any little risk he may have taken while he was batting with Jackson.Where Bengal lost wickets in clumps, Saurashtra were far more cautious and solid. As their pace trio of Mukesh, Akash and Porel grew tired, Saurashtra feasted on the more-friendly medium pacer Akash Ghatak and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed, who failed to get any purchase off the pitch.Jani brought in the confidence of making a backs-to-the-wall 72 and 77 in the two knockout games coming into the final, and showed he was every bit effective as a regular batter would be. His two big wickets of Anustup Majumdar and Abishek Porel had helped Saurashtra crack make key breakthroughs with the ball. Now his innings had a deflating effect on Bengal, who know they have possibly one roll of the dice left to make some sort of a comeback in this match.A second title in three seasons can’t seem closer. If and when the moment arrives, it could yet be a fitting prize for both Saurashtra and one of their favourite sons, Cheteshwar Pujara, who is celebrating a special century of his own in faraway New Delhi.

Motie dismissed both the set batters as the hosts slipped from 248 for 2 to 311 for 7

Deivarayan Muthu08-Mar-2023Aiden Markram and Tony de Zorzi fell short of their hundreds as West Indies roared back into the game through Gudakesh Motie, Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers after tea on an atypically dry Wanderers pitch. Motie, the left-arm fingerspinner, dismissed both the set batters to weaken the strong foundation they had laid earlier in the day. From 248 for 2, South Africa suddenly slid to 311 for 7 at stumps.When Markram was in supreme control, South Africa were rattling along at over four runs an over. Motie, who was working his way back from a lower-back injury, shook off the rust in the last session and combined well with Holder to apply the brakes on South Africa. Roston Chase, the other spinner, also found grip, turn, and bounce, which could pique the interest of South Africa’s own spinners.The hosts had also picked two specialist spinners – Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer – in a rare instance. It was so rare that the last time South Africa played two spinners in Johannesburg was way back in 1965.For Markram, it was business as usual, after South Africa had opted to take first strike. He unfurled a variety of picture-perfect drives, both off the front foot and back, in the front of square. When West Indies shortened their length, Markram was also quickly in position to pull them away. When he was on the verge of his hundred, though, he tried to manufacture a sweep behind the wicket and ended up lobbing it to slip off the toe end. It snapped a breezy 116-run second-wicket partnership with de Zorzi.Gudakesh Motie took three wickets on the first day•AFP/Getty Images

De Zorzi reached his maiden Test half-century and continued to score freely until the final session of the day. He managed only ten runs off 31 balls after tea as Motie and Holder tightened up their lines and lengths.Motie bowled de Zorzi with delightful turn and drift from over the wicket while Holder had Temba Bavuma offering no shot to an inducker after having plugged away outside off. Alzarri Joseph then had Ryan Rickleton slashing behind to Joshua Da Silva for 22 off 49 balls. Then, just before stumps, Mayers got rid of both Wiaan Mulder and Harmer with the second new ball.The clatter of wickets in the last session – five in all – starkly contrasted with the passage of play in the morning session, when West Indies struck just once. West Indies’ fast bowlers had looked to pepper Dean Elgar with the new ball, but every time they dug the ball into the pitch, it sat up, allowing the batter more time to put them away. Motie then dropped one just short of a sweeping length and had Elgar caught at short fine leg for 42.Markram, who scored 115 and 47 in the Centurion Test, looked good for back-to-back hundreds, but he fell agonisingly short of the mark. De Zorzi was also denied a ton and was part of a late collapse that dragged West Indies closer to parity. However, with the surface expected to slow down and deteriorate as the match wears on, South Africa might feel like they already have a healthy score on the board.

Eddie Byrom makes 81 as Marchant de Lange impresses on return to former club

ECB Reporters Network07-Apr-2023Glamorgan continued to dominate their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Gloucestershire, finishing the day on 388 for eight to give them a commanding lead of 223.The innings was built around hundreds from Kiran Carlson and Billy Root as the Glamorgan middle order took the game away from the visitors.A well made 81 for Eddie Byrom set the foundation for what came after as Glamorgan’s batting line-up made a very decent start to the season on a pitch where you had to fight to get yourself set.The standout performer for Gloucestershire was Marchant de Lange who claimed figures of three for 72 on his return to his old club.The day started with nightwatchman Timm van der Gugten still at the crease and he didn’t last long, spooning a catch to Graeme van Buuren off the bowling of left arm spinner Zafar Gohar who had been given the new ball from the Cathedral Road end.When David Lloyd was bowled by Tom Price and de Lange cleaned up Sam Northeast, Glamorgan were 35 for three and Gloucestershire looked to be clawing their way back into the match. Carlson and Byrom had other ideas, as they shared a stand of 160 that took Glamorgan into the lead.Byrom was watchful at first before looking to attack once well set, but Carlson was a bundle of energy from the moment he reached the crease, his first scoring shots were back-to-back boundaries off Ajeet Singh Dale.Carlson had some luck on 39, Zafar putting down a very difficult chance that was high and spiralling while running away from the ball. Carlson was also dropped on 77 when Ollie Price didn’t hold on to a much easier chance at slip. It was a catch that Ollie Price did take that broke the stand between Byrom and Carlson. Byrom had a dash at a ball outside off stump from de Lange and Price took a great grab at a very short gully.The departure of Byrom didn’t slow Carlson down, he reached his first hundred since July 2021 from 128 balls. A return to form for Carlson will be very welcome for Glamorgan after the 24-year-old had a disappointing season in 2022.Carlson’s wicket came when he was trapped lbw by Ollie Price to leave Glamorgan 253 for five, pushing towards a three-figure lead.With Colin Ingram dropping down the order due to a neck spasm there was pressure on Root and Chris Cooke to make the most of the strong foundation that had been laid for them, and their stand of 69 took Glamorgan past 300 to claim their second batting point.With Cooke gone it was left to Root to steady the batting efforts, and other than when he was also the beneficiary of some good fortune when another dropped chance in the slips from Price on 76 his innings was without real drama and contained some very classy shots.Ingram came into bat at nine but didn’t see out the day, edging a ball from de Lange with Ollie Price this time hanging on to a very good catch.Root reached his hundred just before the end of play as he finished the day undefeated on 104, reaching his century with a cover drive for four as Glamorgan claimed complete control of this match.

Deshpande and Chahar did their bit with the ball too, and then it was over to Conway, Gaikwad and Dube to knock off the runs

Himanshu Agrawal06-May-20233:02

Moody: ‘Pathirana completely shut the door on Mumbai’s power-hitters’

On a pitch where the ball was stopping, it was actually Chennai Super Kings’ pace trio of Matheesha Pathirana, Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande which combined to take seven wickets and restrict Mumbai Indians to 139. Super Kings never looked in trouble during the chase at Chepauk, where Ruturaj Gaikwad’s rapid cameo in the first four overs set them up for the six-wicket win.Chahar’s twin strikes had reduced Mumbai to 14 for 3 in the third over; and although Nehal Wadhera and Suryakumar Yadav added 55 to stage a recovery, Pathirana applied the brakes in the death overs. Mumbai managed only 17 – while losing four wickets – in the last three overs, as Wadhera’s maiden T20 fifty turned out to be a solitary effort.The win takes Super Kings to the second spot on the points table, even as third-placed Lucknow Super Giants have an extra game in hand. Mumbai on the other hand, remain sixth.

Pathirana, middle- and death-overs specialist

Only twice in the seven matches this season has Pathirana been introduced before the 11th over. For anyone to have bowled at least 120 balls in that period, he has the best economy rate and average during that phase.On Saturday, he was introduced in the 13th over, just after Wadhera and Suryakumar had given Mumbai hope of a respectable total. Pathirana’s first two overs went for only eight off the bat, and MS Dhoni kept his remaining overs for the death. He returned to start the 18th after the two overs before that were taken for 29 and gave only two runs aside from bowling Wadhera. Seeing the batter make room, he fired a yorker which hit middle stump at 145kph.Mathesha Pathirana celebrates the wicket of Tristan Stubbs•BCCI

Pathirana mixed his lengths as much as he varied his pace. That – combined with the two-paced nature of the pitch – might have been why Tristan Stubbs struggled for timing, eventually slicing to cover-point on being foxed by a slower ball. Pathirana ended with 3 for 15 – all wickets came in the death overs – and further enhanced his reputation of being the season’s best death bowler so far for a minimum of 60 balls bowled in that phase.

Wadhera propels Mumbai to 139

With Tilak Varma out injured for this game, Mumbai were missing a solid middle-order batter. And forced to rebuild after the top-order failure, Wadhera opened up after the powerplay when he gently cut Ravindra Jadeja for four to deep backward point, and then drilled Moeen Ali to deep extra cover.Once Wadhera picked up some momentum, he looked confident enough to keep attacking spin: Jadeja was slog-swept over short fine to start the 11th over, before he beat short fine leg with another sweep off Maheesh Theekshana in the 14th. And with five overs to go, he cracked the innings’ first six by launching Theekshana over long-on.Wadhera’s fifty took 46 deliveries when it was raised in the 17th over, after which he swept, pulled and scooped Jadeja for fours, although his knock of 64 didn’t prove enough.Nehal Wadhera scored his maiden IPL fifty•BCCI

Gaikwad starts in a hurry, Dube finishes in style

Super Kings posted 46 in the first four overs, out of which Gaikwad had bashed 30. That included four fours and two sixes, as he got Super Kings’ chase rolling alongside Devon Conway. The first over included a drive and a flick for four off Cameron Green, while he turned the screw in the third over.Mumbai introduced left-arm seamer Arshad Khan, and Gaikwad went 6, 4, 4, 6: a pull over midwicket, a guide behind point, a punch past the bowler and a swivel-pull over long leg. Gaikwad was dismissed off the first ball of the fifth over by Piyush Chawla, who again turned out to be the standout performer with the ball for Mumbai.Although Chawla was hit for a four and a six by Ajinkya Rahane, he had the last laugh when he trapped the Super Kings batter with a googly in the ninth over. That came after earlier getting Gaikwad with the legspinner. Chawla’s four overs went for only 25, and he was bowled out inside 11 overs.Soon after, the platform that Gaikwad had laid was further built by Shivam Dube, who provided the finishing kick. Two sixes off debutant left-arm wristspinner Raghav Goyal in the 14th over and one swung off Arshad Khan to Mumbai’s dugout two balls before the winning run took Super Kings to a comfortable win after they had lost two and had a game washed out just before.

CEO Stuart Cain says security has been stepped up, with crowd behaviour also under scrutiny

Matt Roller15-Jun-2023Warwickshire have ramped up security levels to mitigate the threat of activists running onto the Edgbaston pitch and disrupting the first Ashes Test, and have also prepared a spare pitch that will be used in the event that the playing surface is damaged.Just Stop Oil, a coalition of environmental action groups, have disrupted a number of high-profile sporting events in the UK over the past 18 months including Premier League football matches, the final of rugby union’s Premiership and the World Snooker Championship.”Like most high-profile venues, the security’s already tight,” Stuart Cain, Warwickshire’s chief executive, said. “We’ve had a severe terrorism threat for the last four or five years, so you do plan very rigorously to manage that. But obviously it brings another dimension on top with some of the things that have gone on.”The ground have introduced enhanced bag-checks and pat-downs on entry and are encouraging fans to arrive early in order to ensure that they are in the seats in time for the start of play on Friday morning.”If you rock up at 10.40am with a rucksack, hoping to get in at 10:45am for the anthems, you’re just not going to make it,” Cain said. “We’ve got protection like that and then we’ve got more protection around the ground and around the perimeter.”The ICC and Surrey also prepared a spare pitch for the World Test Championship final at The Oval last week, while MCC took measures to protect the Lord’s Test against Ireland, which eventually passed without incident despite England’s team bus being briefly delayed by a protest in central London on the first morning of the match.”It’s not unusual to have a spare wicket because who knows what might happen?” Cain said.”But it’s just become a bit more pronounced this year because of some of the concerns about what might happen with different kinds of protest groups. We’re ready on the perimeter, we’re ready in the ground, in the stands and around the rope. We hope that most people respect the fact that people just want to come and watch a great day of cricket and go home safely. “The vast majority of tickets for the first four days of the Test have sold out and both captains are expecting lively crowds. “The Hollies Stand there is pretty vocal, but it’s great,” Pat Cummins said. “It’s why playing and winning overseas is hard – because you’ve got hostile crowds who are pretty vocal in which team they’re supporting.”But Cain is responsible for ensuring that the crowd’s behaviour does not get out of hand – as it did during England’s victory against India last year, when some fans were racially abused. “There’s a lot we’ve done around promoting a safe and welcoming environment here,” he said.”I was really disappointed we had the issue, but I was really pleased with the response. We were able to pinpoint the two guys that were alleged to have caused the racist abuse, and then working with the police, they were both charged with a racially aggravated public order offence. I think really the best way to stamp some of that stuff out is real consequence.”You try to make sure that you have facilities that mean everyone feels safe and welcome here: things like prayer rooms, food offerings, alcohol-free areas. Making sure that if you are a group of girls coming to watch, you feel safe and there’s no sexism; if you are a couple of gay guys, you feel safe, there’s no homophobia.”It has become a lot more complicated now to stage games like this, but I do think that the atmosphere, the environment, the stadium and the day out that fans have is better as a consequence of that.”

“It’s nice to go out and show everyone the last 10 years haven’t been a fluke”

Andrew McGlashan17-Jun-2023Some centuries mean a bit more than others. But a few of Usman Khawaja’s since his triumphant return to the Test side have had added significance.Firstly, there was the comeback itself at Sydney in the last Ashes, an opportunity he thought may never come around. Then, having long carried a tag of being unable to play spin, which should really have been shed when he saved the game in Abu Dhabi in 2018, he dominated in Pakistan on a hugely significant homecoming tour. Then he followed that with a century against India in Ahmedabad a few months ago.And now Edgbaston in 2023, ten years on from his first Test tour of the country which had brought his only other fifty. Despite a prolific return to the side, his average in England – 17.78 before this match after two low scores in the World Test Championship final last week – had not gone unnoticed.When he late cut Ben Stokes down to deep third to bring up a 15th Test hundred the celebration showed what it meant. Never mind the dab or the LeBron James inspired dance, this was something more guttural as he let out a roar and hurled his bat in the air, leaving him standing with arms aloft holding his helmet.”I honestly don’t know,” Khawaja, with daughter Aisha on his knee at the press conference, said of what prompted the celebration. “Think it was a combination of three Ashes tours in England, being dropped in two of them. I don’t read the media, genuinely I don’t, but I’m getting sprayed by the crowd as I’m walking out there today and as I’m going to the nets that I can’t score runs in England, so guess it was more emotional than normal.Related

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“Feel like I’m saying this all the time, same thing happened in India. Not that I have a point to prove, but it’s nice to go out and score runs for Australia just to show everyone that the last 10 years haven’t been a fluke.”The theme from Khawaja over the last few years has been how comfortable he now is being himself. “It’s just what you see is what you get, this is Usman,” he said. “I don’t try to hide it. I’m not perfect, I make mistakes, but I’m happy to be out there and show everyone the real me. Don’t know why the bat throw happened, but it happened. That was me.”As Khawaja said, his previous Ashes history in England had not been a happy one. A top score of 54 in the first of six previous meetings in 2013. He was dropped for the final match of that series at The Oval. He did not make the 2015 tour during a near two-year absence from the Test side, then in 2019 he was the fall guy to accommodate Marnus Labuschagne on Steven Smith’s return from concussion at Old Trafford. This time he had come prepared.”England is, in my opinion, the toughest place in the world to bat for top-three batsmen,” Khawaja said before the tour. “If I’ve learned anything, it is work hard, train hard and [when] going to England, go with low expectations. You are going to fail as a batsman, but when you do score you try to cash in as much as you can.”Usman Khawaja celebrates reaching his ton•PA Images via Getty Images

Cash in he did. And how Australia needed him. Khawaja had watched from the other end as David Warner dragged on against his arch nemesis Stuart Broad. He watched as Labuschagne edged behind for the first golden duck of his Test career. He watched as Smith was given lbw to Stokes to leave Australia three down before lunch.With some help from Travis Head, Cameron Green and latterly Alex Carey, he has been the key difference between Australia having a chance to stay level with England on first innings and conceding a likely match-defining lead.The century was in a mould of the previous six he had made on his return to Test cricket, with an almost zen-like calmness. Led by Broad, England were very good with the new ball early in the day. Khawaja was beaten on occasions but never ruffled although there was not the amount of seam or swing that has previously troubled him.While runs have flowed at home, he has equally left his mark overseas. Since January 2022, Khawaja has scored more than 1000 runs outside Australia. No batter has scored more runs in away Tests with the next most prolific batter in away Tests in this period being Joe Root, who has 802 runs in an equal 19 innings.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

It appeared that the second new ball had finally done for him on 112 when Broad, from around the wicket, a line that has not troubled Khawaja the same as it has Warner, brought a terrific delivery back into off stump only for his foot to have been inches over the line.His play against Moeen Ali brought back memories of how he had dominated Pakistan’s spinners last year on some docile surfaces. Watchfully respecting the good balls, but quick to apply some pressure (not that Stokes sees his bowlers being hit for boundaries that way) with sweet, crisp footwork. He rarely misjudges length against the spin.”England, to their credit, they stuck to their guns, kept the field up and eventually got the wicket of Heady by just keeping the guys up,” Khawaja said. “It was good cat and mouse.”The comparison between Khawaja and his opening partner is hard to ignore. While Warner battles to get the ending he wants in Sydney early next year, Khawaja is mapping out the most glorious final coming to an international career littered with ups and downs. And though this is likely a final tour of England – “unless I pull a James Anderson,” he said – that finishing point may be some time off yet.

Kent muster just 170 despite belligerent counterattack from Grant Stewart

ECB Reporters Network 10-Jul-2023Warwickshire 155 for 2 (Yates 53*) trail Kent 171 (Stewart 50, Hannon-Dalby 4-56) by 16 runsWarwickshire dominated the first day of their LV= Insurance County Championship with Kent at Canterbury, reaching 155 for two at stumps, a deficit of just 16. Rob Yates was unbeaten on 53, while Sam Hain was 29 not out.Earlier Oliver Hannon-Dalby took 4 for 56 as Kent were bowled out for 171, a score that would have been even lower had Grant Stewart not blasted 50 from 45 balls. The hosts’ last three wickets added 93, more than half their total.Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, originally signed for the Vitality Blast, made a rare first-class appearance and bowled five overs, taking nought for 17, having been awarded his Warwickshire cap in a short ceremony before the start.Kent chose to bat in broad sunshine at the Spitfire Ground, but approached their innings as if they were still in T20 mode. Their openers were diligent enough in seeing out the first ten overs but the loss of Ben Compton seemed to flick a switch, ushering in a spell of four wickets for 19 runs in the space of 4.5 overs. Chris Rushworth started the collapse when he found Compton’s edge and he was caught behind for 9.Joe Denly lasted just just four balls before he was lbw to Henry Brookes for 1 and Harry Finch’s first red-ball appearance of the season was even shorter as he made a three-ball duck, Rushworth finding his bottom edge and Michael Burgess taking a sharp catch standing up to the stumps.Jack Leaning had made a relatively untroubled 7, but when Tawanda Muyeye nudged the ball to mid-on he hared down the wicket and made it almost as far as the striker’s end before realising his partner hadn’t moved, allowing Will Rhodes to walk in and break the wicket.Jordan Cox nearly met the same fate and although he was spared by a misfield, he’d made just 15 before he pulled Hannon-Dalby to Alex Davies at square leg. A disastrous session for the hosts came to an end when the same bowler had Muyeye lbw for 38.If that decision was harsh, Muyeye was the only batter who could really claim he had been unlucky. Joey Evison went for 4 in the second over after lunch, victim of a tumbling catch by Burgess after he’d nicked Hannon-Dalby and it was left to Stewart to play the Stokes role. He smashed Hannon-Dalby for a six that sailed over cow corner and through the branches of the St. Lawrence lime tree and was joined by Matt Quinn for a stand of 40 that proved the highest of the innings.Quinn’s frenetic 15-ball cameo yielded a six and three fours before Brookes had him caught by the sub fielder, his brother Ethan, for 25.Arshdeep Singh hit his first ball for six, but he left the pyrotechnics to Stewart, who dumped Hannon-Dalby for successive sixes over cow corner before his luck ran out when the same bowler had him caught on the boundary.It had been an entertaining hour, but it looked a low score and lower still as Warwickshire advanced to 69 without loss. The opening stand was broken when Alex Davies was lbw for 42, perhaps unluckily, to Evison. Hamid Qadri then had Will Rhodes caught behind for 25, but Yates was on 42 when Kent missed a difficult chance to run him out and he and Hain were otherwise unflustered as they batted through the evening session.

Fynn Hudson-Prentice’s determined 65 from No. 7 held up Leicestershire for a while

ECB Reporters Network10-Sep-2023A season’s best 5 for 73 by fast bowler Matt Salisbury gave Leicestershire the early advantage against Sussex in a LV= Insurance County Championship match they must win to keep up their chances of promotion from Division Two.Fynn Hudson-Prentice’s determined 65 from No. 7 held up Leicestershire for a while at Hove but the visitors were still happy enough, after putting Sussex in, to bowl them out for 262 and then score 68 for 2 in reply in 21 overs’ batting before the close, with opener Rishi Patel finishing unbeaten on 36 – exactly the score he needed to complete 1,000 championship runs for the season.Sol Budinger fell early for a duck, skying a pull at Ari Karvelas high to midwicket, but Patel continued to impress in what has been a breakthrough season for the 25-year-old former Essex player, who is averaging more than 50, and Leicestershire’s only other wicket to fall was that of Lewis Hill, caught off Tom Haines’ medium pace swingers for 11.On a hard-fought day the 30-year-old Salisbury brushed off a disappointing new ball spell, when 28 runs came from his first four overs, to take the prized wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara on his return to the attack before lunch and then, in the afternoon, also remove James Coles for 44.And there was more to come from him at the start of the final session when Salisbury reacted well to hold Hudson-Prentice’s leading edge off his own bowling before dismissing Henry Crocombe lbw for six and Karvelas brilliantly held by a diving Colin Ackermann at second slip for 18.Leicestershire came into the match in third place in Division Two, 24 points behind Worcestershire but with a game in hand on the county currently in the other promotion position behind near-certain second tier champions Durham.There were four wickets for Leicestershire’s seamers in an entertaining morning’s session, after they initially saw Haines and Tom Clark get Sussex’s first innings off to a flying start.Haines, in particular, scored freely and the pair also scampered a number of quick singles to rotate the strike and frustrate the visiting attack, but after the fifty partnership had arrived in the eighth over it was Chris Wright who made the breakthrough an over later.Clark, pushing forward on 15, was beaten off the pitch and edged low to third slip where Budinger scooped up a good low catch and, in the 10th over, Haines’ 29-ball 39 – featuring eight fours – ended when, after driving Scott Currie’s first and third balls to the straight boundary, he edged another attempted forcing shot waist-high to Budinger.It was 80 for 3 when Tom Alsop was brilliantly caught by a diving Umar Amin at midwicket for 10 from a solid clip off his toes against Tom Scriven’s medium pace, and a good-sized crowd then saw Indian Test star Pujara settle in with some excellent strokes as the runs continued to flow despite Leicestershire’s early successes.And the visitors’ decision to bowl first was fully vindicated when Pujara, on 26, was drawn into an indeterminate push at a fine ball from Salisbury and edged low for Ackermann to fall to his left at second slip and take a sharp low catch.Honours were even in the afternoon session, with Leicestershire taking another three wickets but both Hudson-Prentice and Coles looked comfortable in predominantly cloudy, warm and humid conditions.Oli Carter went for 16, steering a rising leg-cutter from Currie – on loan from Hampshire for the last three fixtures of the summer – to second slip, but Sussex’s total had moved steadily from 135 to 179 before Coles, who hit seven fours, clipped Salisbury to mid wicket.Jack Carson also looked disgusted with himself when he too lifted a full delivery on his pads from Scriven to mid wicket to go for five, but Karvelas hoisted Currie into the pavilion for six and Hudson-Prentice completed his half-century just before the tea interval, at which Sussex were 231 for seven.Hudson-Prentice hit eight fours in his 92-ball effort, spanning almost two and a half hours, but it was Salisbury who had the final word to give Leicestershire the edge going into day two.

Meg Lanning is feeling confident ahead of her WBBL return but has refused to commit to being available for Australia’s tour of India in December

AAP17-Oct-2023Australia captain Meg Lanning is confident she has more good cricket in her but has refused to be drawn on her availability for the upcoming tour of India.After missing the Ashes in England earlier this year over health concerns, Lanning is back in action ahead of the Melbourne Stars’ WBBL campaign. The 31-year-old declined to elaborate on her second extended break from the game during the last two years.Lanning missed Australia’s recent home series against West Indies but could head to India for a historic day-night Test in Mumbai in December.Related

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“I haven’t thought that far ahead [about India],” Lanning said on Tuesday in her first media appearance for more than six months.”I’m back playing some cricket, which is nice.”I’m really enjoying it, and I still feel like I have a little bit more to give, but what exactly that looks like, I’m not sure.”As for returning to captain Australia, Lanning said she had not “really got that far”.”I’m just worrying about this next couple of weeks with the Stars,” she said.Lanning admitted she barely watched any of the Ashes as Alyssa Healy captained Australia as they retained the urn in England courtesy of a drawn series.She put the bat away after finishing the inaugural Women’s Premier League with the Delhi Capitals in March.”I didn’t bat for a fairly long time,” Lanning said.”Probably I needed a little bit heading into the WNCL.”But I have played a lot of cricket over the years so I do feel like the skillset’s there.”It’s just about getting into a confident position and feeling good in my mind that I can go out there and play. I feel like I’m in that position now.”Lanning initially took a break from cricket last year following Australia’s gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, returning for the home series against Pakistan in January.She led Australia to a Twenty20 World Cup title in South Africa in February, before again taking leave on the eve of the Ashes on medical grounds.Lanning’s Stars will open the WBBL season with a match against the Sydney Sixers at North Sydney Oval on Thursday night.