3rd ODI
Pakistan 308/6 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 172 (44.0 ov)
Pakistan won by 136 runs
Babar Azam became the third Pakistan player - and eighth overall - to score three consecutive ODI centuries as he top-scored with a 106-ball 117 in Pakistan's commanding 136-run victory over West Indies in Abu Dhabi. The win completed Pakistan's 3-0 sweep of the ODI series and enabled them to displace West Indies at No. 8 in the ODI rankings.
Azam put on a run-a-ball 147 for the second wicket with captain Azhar Ali, who scored a century of his own to become the only Pakistan player to score three hundreds as ODI captain. The top-order hundreds formed the backbone of Pakistan's total of 308 for 6, a score that looked beyond West Indies almost from the start of their scratchy, plodding reply.
The margin of victory could have been even bigger had Pakistan's middle- and lower-order batsmen fully capitalised on the strong launchpad provided by Azam and Azhar. Pakistan had moved to 232 for 2 by the time their partnership had been broken in the 39th over; they added just 76 runs thereafter, as successive batsmen struggled to find their timing on a slowing wicket and against an older ball. The last ten overs of Pakistan's innings yielded only two boundaries, one of which was possible only thanks to a lazy misfield by Evin Lewis at deep backward square.
But if the end of Pakistan's innings appeared anti-climactic, it was still lively compared to the dreary run-chase that followed. Showing an inability to rotate the strike, against pace and spin alike, West Indies' batsmen got stuck and never approached the run rate required to mount a genuine challenge. By the end of the 30th over, West Indies had soaked up 112 dot balls - as many as Pakistan had faced in their entire innings - and were wallowing in the gloom of impending defeat with the score 119 for 5. Their limp effort continued thereafter as the match drifted towards its inevitable conclusion.
On a flat pitch that became slower and more sluggish over time, the best time for batting was at the very start. Having won the toss, Pakistan batted first - for the third time in a row - and made the most of the good conditions early on, racing along to 36 off the first four overs. Opening bowlers Azarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel clocked up speeds in excess of 140 kph - Gabriel hit the late 140s several times - but could not quite find the control to match. Sharjeel Khan was characteristically strong square of the wicket, while Azhar showed nice touch, flicking through midwicket, driving down the ground and playing a commanding cut past backward square.
The introduction of Kraigg Brathwaite and Jason Holder slowed the tempo of Pakistan's innings somewhat, before Sunil Narine and Sulieman Benn helped West Indies regain a greater measure of control, stifling the batsmen with their lack of pace and disciplined lines. Benn was rewarded in his second over when Sharjeel lost patience and hit a well-flighted delivery straight to Joseph at long-on.
With the spinners continuing to exert the squeeze, Azhar and Azam meandered along, bringing up the team's 100 in the 20th over. But as the partnership got going, the runs began to flow again. Once Azam was set, he found the gaps with increasing ease. Azhar used the sweep and slog-sweep with great effectiveness against Benn. Pakistan's second 100 runs came off just 83 balls.
It was Holder who ended their partnership when Azhar, batting on 101, played a tired heave across the line of a slower ball that clipped the top of off stump. Shoaib Malik was dismissed by Narine next over as West Indies began to pull things back for the second time in the innings, just when Pakistan would have wanted to push on. Azam picked up ones and twos as he approached his century, but, with only three wickets down, Pakistan would have wanted rather more than that.
Azam departed off the last ball of the 46th over, looking to paddle-sweep a yorker-length ball from Kieron Pollard, only to find his leg stump disturbed. Pakistan were 280 for 4 with four overs remaining. They added another 28, but the late charge towards which they had been building never actually materialised.
It didn't need to. West Indies' openers, Lewis and Kraigg Brathwaite, started steadily, putting on 45 off 56 balls before Lewis, on ODI debut, was bowled around his legs by Sohail Khan. That partnership turned out to be the biggest of West Indies' innings, as wickets fell regularly thereafter. A 42-run sixth-wicket partnership between Holder and Denesh Ramdin was the only other stand of substance, but it came after the match was all but lost. Once Imad Wasim broke that stand, the end came quickly, with the last five wickets falling for the addition of just 13 runs.
3rd ODI
Australia 371/6 (50.0 ov)
South Africa 372/6 (49.2 ov)
South Africa won by 4 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)
David Miller's third ODI hundred helped South Africa pull off the second-highest chase of all time and seal the series against Australia with two matches to spare. Miller has chosen not to play his domestic cricket at the Durban-based Dolphins this summer but thrilled his former home crowd during the highest successful chase at Kingsmead with a heroic knock that will become the stuff of legend.
In the 31st over, with Miller on 26 and South Africa needing to score at more than eight runs an over, he tweaked a groin muscle running between the wickets. At the start of the next over, South Africa lost their fifth wicket and their last specialist batsmen when JP Duminy holed out. They were 217 for 5 and victory was 155 runs away. But Miller dug deep and along with another local lad, Andile Phehlukwayo, with whom he put on 107 off 70 balls for the seventh-wicket, took South Africa home.
Miller's innings completely overshadowed Australia's efforts. David Warner and Steven Smith notched up a century each to build on an opening stand of 110 in 13 overs. Australia plundered 71 runs off the last five overs to post what they would have thought was a match-winning score. The truth is that they should have put on more. Australia went quiet in the middle period and managed just 67 runs between the 14th and 28th over, at a rate of under five.
Imran Tahir controlled the squeeze but was assisted by Dwaine Pretorius, Phehlukwayo and Duminy, who all understood that pace off the ball would be the most effective. Australia's inexperienced attack, which has been their Achilles heel throughout the tour, could not copy that. Mitchell Marsh was their most economical bowler while the spinners, Adam Zampa and Travis Head, conceded 83 runs in 10 overs between them. That was less than Dale Steyn, who leaked 96 runs to hold the unenviable record of the most expensive effort by a South African bowler in ODIs. But Steyn won't mind after the batsmen bludgeoned the bowlers' blues away.
South Africa's chase was set up by Hashim Amla, who underlined his return to the side with a quickfire 45 that included nine fours in a rare display of power-hitting from the master of finesse, and Quinton de Kock, who topped up on his Wanderers hundred with 70 off 49 balls. But they lost 3 for 39 when Faf du Plessis, de Kock and Rilee Rossouw were dismissed in the space of 39 balls and although they had kept up with the required run rate, it seemed Australia had taken control.
Duminy and Miller saw off three boundary-less overs and the match seemed to be drifting to the inevitable but then Miller changed his tone. He took 15 runs off Zampa, including a six and two fours - a flat sweep over midwicket for six and fours on either side down the ground - to hint that South Africa were still in the hunt.
Three more boundary-less overs followed and then Duminy was dismissed and responsibility fell on Miller. He survived a review in the 34th over, on 40, when Matthew Wade was convinced Miller had edged John Hastings behind but Snicko did not agree. That gave Miller the rare opportunity to spend a lengthy period of time in the middle and made full use of it, despite his injury.
Miller pulled with power and timed the ball well. Even when he lost Pretorius to a leading edge, after a stand of 48 in 6.3 overs, he found the perfect partner in Phehlukwayo, who should have been dismissed from his first ball. Chris Tremain appealed for a caught behind but umpire Adrian Holdstock did not hear the edge. Australia had used their review so could not refer it upstairs but if they had been able to, replays showed Phehlukwayo would have been out. If he felt guilty, it did not show. His response was to flick Mitchell Marsh off his pads to allow South Africa to enter the last 10 overs needing 88 runs to win.
On 71 off 54 balls, Miller was the man in charge and ushered Phehlukwayo through strike rotation while scoring boundaries seemingly at will. When Australia decided to pitch it up, Miller got underneath full deliveries and swung hard. He reached his hundred off 69 balls when he whacked a short-of-a-length delivery behind square on the leg side but the best was yet to come. As the 47th over came to an end, Miller sent Daniel Worrall on to the grandstand roof and out of the ground with the biggest of his six sixes.
South Africa needed 24 runs of the last three overs, 17 off the last two and thanks to Phehlulwayo's ten in the penultimate over, just three off the final over. Phehlukwayo hit the winning runs, with four balls remaining, to leave Australia stunned.
After Warner's eighth hundred - and fourth in 2016 alone, which makes this year his most successful in the format - and Smith's shifting gears to go from 16 off 31 balls to a hundred off 104 balls, they would have thought they had done enough. But, on batsmen-friendly surfaces throughout the country, South Africa have showed that enough is a relative concept. In so doing, they won their first bilateral series against Australia since 2009 and their first ODI in five meetings against Australia at Kingsmead, dating back 2000.
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Monday, 3 October 2016
Day 4 IND beat NZ & are 2-0 up in 3 match series - IND no.1 test team
India 316 & 263
New Zealand 204 & 197 (81.1 ov)
India won by 178 runs
At the historic Eden Gardens, in front of 12,068 people, India became the No. 1 team in the world with a 178-run victory over New Zealand and captured their fourth series trophy on the trot.
It isn't groundbreaking for a team to dominate in their own conditions. And granted, the heat and the pitches left New Zealand feeling out of place - picture Mr Bean in an MI6 facility - but when you watch R Ashwin conjuring wickets, or Mohammed Shami demolishing stumps; when you watch M Vijay leaving the ball or Cheteshwar Pujara attacking the spinners; when you watch Virat Kohli raising his game, it is difficult not to wonder whether India have found themselves an XI capable of becoming something special.
New Zealand did the best they could in the absence of their regular captain and best batsman Kane Williamson. He had finally recovered from a fever to come out of his hotel room and watch the match from the ground. He would have felt proud of Tom Latham's polished 74. He would have enjoyed Matt Henry's big-hearted performance. He would have wanted to run out to the field when the ninth wicket fell and do his little bit for his men. But 376 was too big a target in the final innings.
The coin was in love with Kohli, doing as he bid for a sixth time in a row, in Kolkata. The weather too wanted to be on his good side, giving him the perfect conditions to ambush New Zealand late on the second day. In Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he also had the ideal weapon to exploit a pitch that offered seam, swing and variable bounce. On the fourth day, when conditions had become better for batting, India remained tenacious. They remained patient. They were a little petulant too, putting the umpire under needless pressure every time the ball hit pad or beat bat. India often get on rolls like these. But it isn't often that they make it last. Someone gives it away. A ball down leg. A wicket thrown away. This XI, though, may just be learning to shed those bad habits.
Take Ashwin for example. He had seen that Latham had changed his technique; that he was taking a shorter front stride so that he could be in a better position to play the ball that doesn't turn and avoid being lbw. It paid off beautifully. He survived the first few minutes. His footwork grew assured. A good cover drive off a half-volley got him going. A delectable flick shot later in the innings exemplified that he was reading the length early and well. He went to tea unbeaten on 74.
Ashwin got him in his first over after tea. The ball was looped up. It was bowled wide. It was a tease. Like the smell of chocolate to a man who has never eaten anything other than salad. Latham went for that sinful cover drive and the outside edge was taken by Wriddhiman Saha, moving smoothly to his left.
And then there was Shami and his sexy reverse swing. BJ Watling read that a fuller delivery was tailing into him. Appropriately, he brought his front pad down the line and made sure the bat came down close to it. A second later, he was watching his off stump cartwheeling all over the place. The ball had moved one way in the air and then promptly the other way off the pitch to beat the outside edge. Shami can't possibly have intended for that to happen; it would just be scary if he did.
Twelve out of the 20 wickets India took in Kolkata went to the seamers. Admittedly, the pitch suited them better in the early stages, but not often have India made use of that advantage. On the fourth day, when conventional swing went AWOL along with the uneven pace and bounce, they used what was given to them - scoreboard pressure and reverse swing - brilliantly. This is why India should feel upbeat about their chances. Their fast bowlers aren't place-holders for the spinners anymore.
But it is India, it was a spinner who got things going. Ashwin mystifies batsmen with his flight and Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor were the latest scratching their heads all the way to the pavilion. One was lbw because the ball dipped, the other was lbw again because it drifted away and as a result the Kolkata Test claimed the record for the most lbws in a Test in India. The count finished at 15.
Ravindra Jadeja went around the wicket to the left-handed Henry Nicholls in the 36th over. From the amount of work he puts into his action, a batsman expects the ball to turn. He often plays for that turn, or at the very least, worries about it so much that it brings uncertainty into his game. Nicholls was put through this harrowing sequence of events and sent on his way to the pavilion as a good length ball, holding its line just outside off stump, took the edge and was taken superbly by Ajinkya Rahane at slip.
Only six times has a team ever made 376 or more to win a Test. Never has it been done at Eden Gardens, where the highest successful chase took place more than a decade ago and finished at 120 for 2. The contribution from Saha to put his team in such a strong position should not be underestimated. He became only the fourth Indian wicketkeeper to hit two fifities in a Test.
On the West Indies tour, Saha was demoted one spot from No. 6 with the team management saying they wanted to reduce the pressure on him when they went in a batsman short. India have not opted for that combination at home against New Zealand but Saha stayed in the lower order. On his home ground, he produced an innings that may well become something of a signature. He was happy to take blows to his body from the fast bowlers. He used their pace, nudging them behind point or towards backward square leg. And having blunted them, he gorged on spin. Five of his six fours and 28 of his unbeaten 58 came off the bowling of Mitchell Santner. It was only the fifth time in Test history that a batsman from No. 8 had made two fifties in a Test.
There were two Indian wickets standing on the fourth morning, when the pitch showed signs that it had slowed down. Neil Wagner picked up one of them to move his career tally to 99. Playing his 25th Test, he could have tied with Richard Hadlee's record for the fastest New Zealander to 100 Test wickets but the final wicket went to Trent Boult.
New Zealand 204 & 197 (81.1 ov)
India won by 178 runs
At the historic Eden Gardens, in front of 12,068 people, India became the No. 1 team in the world with a 178-run victory over New Zealand and captured their fourth series trophy on the trot.
It isn't groundbreaking for a team to dominate in their own conditions. And granted, the heat and the pitches left New Zealand feeling out of place - picture Mr Bean in an MI6 facility - but when you watch R Ashwin conjuring wickets, or Mohammed Shami demolishing stumps; when you watch M Vijay leaving the ball or Cheteshwar Pujara attacking the spinners; when you watch Virat Kohli raising his game, it is difficult not to wonder whether India have found themselves an XI capable of becoming something special.
New Zealand did the best they could in the absence of their regular captain and best batsman Kane Williamson. He had finally recovered from a fever to come out of his hotel room and watch the match from the ground. He would have felt proud of Tom Latham's polished 74. He would have enjoyed Matt Henry's big-hearted performance. He would have wanted to run out to the field when the ninth wicket fell and do his little bit for his men. But 376 was too big a target in the final innings.
The coin was in love with Kohli, doing as he bid for a sixth time in a row, in Kolkata. The weather too wanted to be on his good side, giving him the perfect conditions to ambush New Zealand late on the second day. In Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he also had the ideal weapon to exploit a pitch that offered seam, swing and variable bounce. On the fourth day, when conditions had become better for batting, India remained tenacious. They remained patient. They were a little petulant too, putting the umpire under needless pressure every time the ball hit pad or beat bat. India often get on rolls like these. But it isn't often that they make it last. Someone gives it away. A ball down leg. A wicket thrown away. This XI, though, may just be learning to shed those bad habits.
Take Ashwin for example. He had seen that Latham had changed his technique; that he was taking a shorter front stride so that he could be in a better position to play the ball that doesn't turn and avoid being lbw. It paid off beautifully. He survived the first few minutes. His footwork grew assured. A good cover drive off a half-volley got him going. A delectable flick shot later in the innings exemplified that he was reading the length early and well. He went to tea unbeaten on 74.
Ashwin got him in his first over after tea. The ball was looped up. It was bowled wide. It was a tease. Like the smell of chocolate to a man who has never eaten anything other than salad. Latham went for that sinful cover drive and the outside edge was taken by Wriddhiman Saha, moving smoothly to his left.
And then there was Shami and his sexy reverse swing. BJ Watling read that a fuller delivery was tailing into him. Appropriately, he brought his front pad down the line and made sure the bat came down close to it. A second later, he was watching his off stump cartwheeling all over the place. The ball had moved one way in the air and then promptly the other way off the pitch to beat the outside edge. Shami can't possibly have intended for that to happen; it would just be scary if he did.
Twelve out of the 20 wickets India took in Kolkata went to the seamers. Admittedly, the pitch suited them better in the early stages, but not often have India made use of that advantage. On the fourth day, when conventional swing went AWOL along with the uneven pace and bounce, they used what was given to them - scoreboard pressure and reverse swing - brilliantly. This is why India should feel upbeat about their chances. Their fast bowlers aren't place-holders for the spinners anymore.
But it is India, it was a spinner who got things going. Ashwin mystifies batsmen with his flight and Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor were the latest scratching their heads all the way to the pavilion. One was lbw because the ball dipped, the other was lbw again because it drifted away and as a result the Kolkata Test claimed the record for the most lbws in a Test in India. The count finished at 15.
Ravindra Jadeja went around the wicket to the left-handed Henry Nicholls in the 36th over. From the amount of work he puts into his action, a batsman expects the ball to turn. He often plays for that turn, or at the very least, worries about it so much that it brings uncertainty into his game. Nicholls was put through this harrowing sequence of events and sent on his way to the pavilion as a good length ball, holding its line just outside off stump, took the edge and was taken superbly by Ajinkya Rahane at slip.
Only six times has a team ever made 376 or more to win a Test. Never has it been done at Eden Gardens, where the highest successful chase took place more than a decade ago and finished at 120 for 2. The contribution from Saha to put his team in such a strong position should not be underestimated. He became only the fourth Indian wicketkeeper to hit two fifities in a Test.
On the West Indies tour, Saha was demoted one spot from No. 6 with the team management saying they wanted to reduce the pressure on him when they went in a batsman short. India have not opted for that combination at home against New Zealand but Saha stayed in the lower order. On his home ground, he produced an innings that may well become something of a signature. He was happy to take blows to his body from the fast bowlers. He used their pace, nudging them behind point or towards backward square leg. And having blunted them, he gorged on spin. Five of his six fours and 28 of his unbeaten 58 came off the bowling of Mitchell Santner. It was only the fifth time in Test history that a batsman from No. 8 had made two fifties in a Test.
There were two Indian wickets standing on the fourth morning, when the pitch showed signs that it had slowed down. Neil Wagner picked up one of them to move his career tally to 99. Playing his 25th Test, he could have tied with Richard Hadlee's record for the fastest New Zealander to 100 Test wickets but the final wicket went to Trent Boult.
Sunday, 2 October 2016
Day 3 IND lead NZ by 339 runs & 2nd ODI's SA 2-0 AUS & PAK 2-0 WI
Day 3 IND V NZ
India 316 & 227/8 (63.2 ov)
New Zealand 204
India lead by 339 runs with 2 wickets remaining
India had two huge things in their favour on Sunday - a first-innings lead and a first-rate innings from Virat Kohli. While his team-mates copped good ones or were roughed up by the variable bounce in the pitch, the Indian captain found a way to be at ease in the face of a fired-up New Zealand pace attack. It took a truly naughty delivery, one that was pitched short but stayed extremely low, to dismiss him five short of a fifty. By then, he had taken the sting out of the new ball and paved the way for Rohit Sharma to ratchet the lead up to 339. Never had a team made as many in the fourth innings at Eden Gardens and the highest target chased down at the venue was a mere 117.
The key to batting in tough conditions seems absurdly simple when you put it in words - moving your feet quickly and meeting the ball late. Kohli showed signs of that very early in his innings. His comfort at the crease rattled New Zealand and it wasn't like they didn't have good plans against him. They tried bouncing him out with short leg, leg gully and deep square leg in place. But Kohli shuffled across, swiveled on his back foot, rolled his wrists over the ball, and made sure it went to ground. Then came the full and wide deliveries. Kohli either avoided them or got his front foot right forward, meaning he could play the cover drive with his hands a lot closer to his body.
With time at the crease, Kohli displayed aspects of his game that have made him irresistible in one-day cricket. Awareness of the field: in the 17th over, with Neil Wagner bowling from around the wicket with a packed leg-side field, Kohli carved a bouncer to the vacant third man boundary. Manipulating the field: in the 20th over, he took a tossed-up delivery from Jeetan Patel and flicked it a yard or two to the left of short midwicket but kept it several feet to the right of mid-on.
A free-flowing half-century from Rohit took the game even further away from New Zealand. He had coped well when the ball was new and was reacting in bizarre ways off the deck. But as it got older and softer, it became easier to line up and few players can hit through the line as well as he can. In the 40th over, Rohit took a short ball from Boult and deposited it in the stands behind deep square leg. The timing was pristine. A large crowd at Eden Gardens - who have been spoiled by Rohit before - was treated to picture-perfect cover drives and cuts that ranged from delicate to dismissive. From 29 off 59 balls, finished on 82 off 132.
New Zealand had had their moments early in the day. This third-day surface was such that consistently bowling back of a length in line with the stumps, or just outside off, would provide rich reward. Matt Henry had proved as much in his first spell, setting up M Vijay with three short balls before a beautiful, pitched-up outswinger took the edge and went to slip. Cheteshwar Pujara was given the same treatment, but the short balls he faced were a lot more venomous. One barely rose over the stumps, another rapped him on the glove. When the fuller one came, Pujara was lbw. Replays, however, indicated the ball would have gone down leg.
India's lead was at 136. Two of their best batsmen had been dismissed. And those in the dressing room may still have felt nervous because the pitch was starting to misbehave more frequently.
In the first over of India's second innings, a good length ball from Trent Boult reared up and hit Shikhar Dhawan's left hand. In the third over, another delivery bouncing extravagantly, this time off a shortish length, forced a break in play as Dhawan was hit on the same hand and needed medical attention. He was on 0 for 14 balls before he hit a fuller and wider delivery through the covers for four. On Test comeback, he would have preferred a less stern examination. And perhaps a few more runs than 17.
Henry bounced Ajinkya Rahane out, benefiting from the ball coming off the deck a little slower than the batsman expected. India were 43 for 4 but, for the second time in the day, New Zealand lost focus after beginning quite well.
They had resumed their first innings in the morning at 128 for 7 and were propped up by BJ Watling and Patel, who added 60 runs for the eighth wicket. But after a rain break, R Ashwin broke the partnership with his first ball of the day, a beauty that danced away from Patel in the air and turned his slog over midwicket into a top-edge that was caught just beyond the cut strip at mid-off. The wicket had come after India had changed the ball and Patel was dismissed for his highest Test score of 47.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in the third over of the day, established that reverse swing was on offer. He had taken five wickets in 10 overs on Saturday and had he added one more this morning he could have become the first Indian pacer to take a six-for at home this century. However, it is his partner who is better at making the old ball a threat. Mohammed Shami pinned Watling in front of middle with a full-length delivery that curved in late and quite rapidly too. In his next over, he had the No. 10 Wagner lbw as well and New Zealand were all out for 204.
2nd ODI
South Africa 361/6 (50.0 ov)
Australia 219 (37.4 ov)
South Africa won by 142 runs
A decade after the most high-scoring ODI in history, the Wanderers witnessed something far less competitive. South Africa's batsmen overwhelmed Australia for the second time in as many matches, despite the visiting captain winning the toss and choosing to chase on a Wanderers pitch brimful of runs. The final margin of 142 runs was South Africa's second-biggest over Australia.
Where at Centurion it had been Quinton de Kock handing out the punishment, here it was the captain Faf du Plessis who prospered, helped either side of his innings by strong contributions by Rilee Rossouw and JP Duminy. Their innings ensured a difficult day for the Australian pace debutants Joe Mennie and Chris Tremain, who were taken for 160 runs between them in 20 overs.
In reply to a steep target of 362, the tourists were never able to mount a decent challenge from the moment Aaron Finch skied an attempt to pull Kagiso Rabada in the second over. From there, regular wickets stymied progress to make it a more or less stress-free afternoon for the Proteas, who always had plenty of runs in reserve even as Travis Head posted his highest ODI score.
On a pristine day for batting and a friendly pitch, Australia's bowlers struggled again in the absence of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Du Plessis' 111 was a fine example of high tempo and good placement, not requiring a single six despite striking at nearly 120 runs per 100 balls. Duminy's was a bigger-hitting innings, after Rossouw had produced a flurry of boundaries against the new ball to set South Africa on the road to a big total.
After de Kock destroyed Australia's bowling attack in making 178 in the opening match at Centurion, the visitors dropped Scott Boland and Daniel Worrall, replacing them with Mennie and Tremain. South Africa did not make any changes to the team that won the first match of the series. The captain du Plessis indicated that Hashim Amla was fit to return and had simply been left out, leaving Rossouw at the top of the order.
It was Rossouw who duly got the Proteas going in the early overs, repeatedly piercing the off-side field with well-timed strokes that flew across a fast - if somewhat uneven - Wanderers outfield.
Both Mennie and Tremain were able to beat the bat numerous times with a modicum of early seam movement, but in between whiles, a high number of boundaries meant there was little scoreboard pressure imposed. It wasn't until John Hastings entered the attack that a wicket fell, de Kock failing to get hold of a lofted drive and offering a catch to Tremain.
Du Plessis' early minutes at the crease were eventful and painful, as a shy at the stumps struck him on the glove as he ran through for a single. The blow required treatment, and he was to be struck there again soon after by another ball that popped up towards the splice of the bat.
However the pain subsided enough for du Plessis to get into his stride, as Rossouw maintained his form. Together they took South Africa to 146 after 24 overs, separated only when Rossouw skied Hastings just when a century beckoned.
Duminy's arrival brought a further period of acceleration, with du Plessis also lifting his scoring rate with nifty placement and the occasional burst of power. Australia's captain Steven Smith was hard pressed to find bowlers capable of keeping things quiet, and when Duminy began swinging - striking the first three sixes of the innings - a tally in the region of 400 looked momentarily possible.
The Australians regrouped somewhat in the later overs, dismissing Duminy and du Plessis in quick succession to pull the run-rate back slightly, and it was a fair measure of the conditions that the hosts were left feeling they could have made even more than they did. That being said, only a strong partnership or two from the potentially explosive Australian top order was going to be able to turn the contest their way,
However these sorts of stands have been missing from Smith's team of late, with victories in Sri Lanka compiled in lower-scoring circumstances. Finch's early wicket set the tone, with a critical moment to follow when Smith was well claimed down the leg side by de Kock from the bowling of Dale Steyn just as he looked capable of dominating.
The vice-captain David Warner seemed similarly poised after moving to 50, but then threw away his innings by clouting a Duminy long hop straight to midwicket. That dismissal left Head and the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade trying to resurrect the innings, but their stand of 69 in 61 balls served only to delay the inevitable.
Having entered this tour at less than full strength in bowling, the Australians needed to compensate in batting. A complete failure to do so in games one and two has left the series only one match away from being decided already.
2nd ODI
Pakistan 337/5 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 278/7 (50.0 ov)
Pakistan won by 59 runs
Pakistan followed up their 3-0 T20I series win by sealing the ODI series with yet another clinical display against West Indies in Sharjah. Pakistan's 59-run win was set up by their most and least experienced batsmen - Shoaib Malik and Babar Azam - who combined to display the art of batting through the middle overs on a slow surface to lead them to 337 for 5, the third-highest total in Sharjah.
Azam struck a chanceless century, his second successive one, and Malik blitzed 90 as the pair strung together 169, Pakistan's highest stand for the third wicket against West Indies. In reply, West Indies found the chase too steep and could only manage 278 for 7.
Openers Azhar Ali and Sharjeel Khan put West Indies under pressure from the outset after Pakistan opted to bat. Sharjeel used his bottom hand to clear the infield regularly, collecting three fours and a six in his 12-ball 24 before West Indies hit back, removing both batsmen in the space of three balls.
Thereafter, Azam and Malik stalled West Indies with sound technique and calculated risks. Azam pierced the field while Malik went over it, both equally effective in collecting frequent boundaries and keeping the score moving. Sulieman Benn's introduction was delayed, but Malik capitalised on the bowler's modus operandi of flight and loop from around the wicket.
Malik struck five sixes off Benn - three in succession in the 27th over - by shimmying down, getting underneath the ball and going over the arc between long-on and midwicket. The period between overs 21 and 35 yielded 107 in conditions not suited to effortless run-scoring.
In between, Azam unfurled classy drives through cover and found gaps in the outfield to accumulate runs. After Malik carved one to point, Azam utilised Pakistan's strong platform. His 126-ball 123 included nine fours and a six, which indicated his ability to maintain a high strike rate through ones and twos. Neither Malik nor Azam offered even a "half-chance" until their dismissals.
Towards the latter stages of the innings, West Indies seemed to stall Pakistan's ease at finding the boundary through clever variations in pace until Sarfraz Ahmed plundered four fours in five balls in the 47th over. Sarfraz struck an unbeaten 60, but it went largely unnoticed behind Azam and Malik's pyrotechnics.
West Indies needed to pull off the highest successful chase in Sharjah to stay alive in the series, but their innings got the same start as the four previous games on this tour: an early wicket. Johnson Charles, looking to clear the off-side infield, toe-ended a catch to cover off Mohammad Amir to start the slide.
Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo were left with the task of stabilising the innings in the face of some accurate bowling. Their 89-run second-wicket stand was built on the back of some sweetly-timed boundaries and plenty of singles, but it also took up 118 balls - not quick enough for a steep chase in tough run-scoring conditions.
However, West Indies remained in the fight as Bravo took the onus of accelerating by attacking left-arm spinners Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz. He struck three sixes over long-on off overpitched deliveries, two of which cleared the ground.
Hasan Ali, though, removed Bravo with an athletic piece of fielding off his own bowling. Bravo nudged a yorker towards short leg and Hasan sprang towards the ball in his follow-through, picked up while sliding, turned around and fired an accurate throw at the non-striker's end, all in one swift motion.
Marlon Samuels was up against a mounting asking rate and a wily bowling side. He stuck around for 52 balls and struck 57, but the enormity of the task in front of West Indies meant that his effort didn't suffice.
Eventually, the asking rate was too steep an ask even for West Indies' powerful middle order. That they couldn't capitalise on six dropped chances by Pakistan told the story.
India 316 & 227/8 (63.2 ov)
New Zealand 204
India lead by 339 runs with 2 wickets remaining
India had two huge things in their favour on Sunday - a first-innings lead and a first-rate innings from Virat Kohli. While his team-mates copped good ones or were roughed up by the variable bounce in the pitch, the Indian captain found a way to be at ease in the face of a fired-up New Zealand pace attack. It took a truly naughty delivery, one that was pitched short but stayed extremely low, to dismiss him five short of a fifty. By then, he had taken the sting out of the new ball and paved the way for Rohit Sharma to ratchet the lead up to 339. Never had a team made as many in the fourth innings at Eden Gardens and the highest target chased down at the venue was a mere 117.
The key to batting in tough conditions seems absurdly simple when you put it in words - moving your feet quickly and meeting the ball late. Kohli showed signs of that very early in his innings. His comfort at the crease rattled New Zealand and it wasn't like they didn't have good plans against him. They tried bouncing him out with short leg, leg gully and deep square leg in place. But Kohli shuffled across, swiveled on his back foot, rolled his wrists over the ball, and made sure it went to ground. Then came the full and wide deliveries. Kohli either avoided them or got his front foot right forward, meaning he could play the cover drive with his hands a lot closer to his body.
With time at the crease, Kohli displayed aspects of his game that have made him irresistible in one-day cricket. Awareness of the field: in the 17th over, with Neil Wagner bowling from around the wicket with a packed leg-side field, Kohli carved a bouncer to the vacant third man boundary. Manipulating the field: in the 20th over, he took a tossed-up delivery from Jeetan Patel and flicked it a yard or two to the left of short midwicket but kept it several feet to the right of mid-on.
A free-flowing half-century from Rohit took the game even further away from New Zealand. He had coped well when the ball was new and was reacting in bizarre ways off the deck. But as it got older and softer, it became easier to line up and few players can hit through the line as well as he can. In the 40th over, Rohit took a short ball from Boult and deposited it in the stands behind deep square leg. The timing was pristine. A large crowd at Eden Gardens - who have been spoiled by Rohit before - was treated to picture-perfect cover drives and cuts that ranged from delicate to dismissive. From 29 off 59 balls, finished on 82 off 132.
New Zealand had had their moments early in the day. This third-day surface was such that consistently bowling back of a length in line with the stumps, or just outside off, would provide rich reward. Matt Henry had proved as much in his first spell, setting up M Vijay with three short balls before a beautiful, pitched-up outswinger took the edge and went to slip. Cheteshwar Pujara was given the same treatment, but the short balls he faced were a lot more venomous. One barely rose over the stumps, another rapped him on the glove. When the fuller one came, Pujara was lbw. Replays, however, indicated the ball would have gone down leg.
India's lead was at 136. Two of their best batsmen had been dismissed. And those in the dressing room may still have felt nervous because the pitch was starting to misbehave more frequently.
In the first over of India's second innings, a good length ball from Trent Boult reared up and hit Shikhar Dhawan's left hand. In the third over, another delivery bouncing extravagantly, this time off a shortish length, forced a break in play as Dhawan was hit on the same hand and needed medical attention. He was on 0 for 14 balls before he hit a fuller and wider delivery through the covers for four. On Test comeback, he would have preferred a less stern examination. And perhaps a few more runs than 17.
Henry bounced Ajinkya Rahane out, benefiting from the ball coming off the deck a little slower than the batsman expected. India were 43 for 4 but, for the second time in the day, New Zealand lost focus after beginning quite well.
They had resumed their first innings in the morning at 128 for 7 and were propped up by BJ Watling and Patel, who added 60 runs for the eighth wicket. But after a rain break, R Ashwin broke the partnership with his first ball of the day, a beauty that danced away from Patel in the air and turned his slog over midwicket into a top-edge that was caught just beyond the cut strip at mid-off. The wicket had come after India had changed the ball and Patel was dismissed for his highest Test score of 47.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in the third over of the day, established that reverse swing was on offer. He had taken five wickets in 10 overs on Saturday and had he added one more this morning he could have become the first Indian pacer to take a six-for at home this century. However, it is his partner who is better at making the old ball a threat. Mohammed Shami pinned Watling in front of middle with a full-length delivery that curved in late and quite rapidly too. In his next over, he had the No. 10 Wagner lbw as well and New Zealand were all out for 204.
2nd ODI
South Africa 361/6 (50.0 ov)
Australia 219 (37.4 ov)
South Africa won by 142 runs
A decade after the most high-scoring ODI in history, the Wanderers witnessed something far less competitive. South Africa's batsmen overwhelmed Australia for the second time in as many matches, despite the visiting captain winning the toss and choosing to chase on a Wanderers pitch brimful of runs. The final margin of 142 runs was South Africa's second-biggest over Australia.
Where at Centurion it had been Quinton de Kock handing out the punishment, here it was the captain Faf du Plessis who prospered, helped either side of his innings by strong contributions by Rilee Rossouw and JP Duminy. Their innings ensured a difficult day for the Australian pace debutants Joe Mennie and Chris Tremain, who were taken for 160 runs between them in 20 overs.
In reply to a steep target of 362, the tourists were never able to mount a decent challenge from the moment Aaron Finch skied an attempt to pull Kagiso Rabada in the second over. From there, regular wickets stymied progress to make it a more or less stress-free afternoon for the Proteas, who always had plenty of runs in reserve even as Travis Head posted his highest ODI score.
On a pristine day for batting and a friendly pitch, Australia's bowlers struggled again in the absence of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Du Plessis' 111 was a fine example of high tempo and good placement, not requiring a single six despite striking at nearly 120 runs per 100 balls. Duminy's was a bigger-hitting innings, after Rossouw had produced a flurry of boundaries against the new ball to set South Africa on the road to a big total.
After de Kock destroyed Australia's bowling attack in making 178 in the opening match at Centurion, the visitors dropped Scott Boland and Daniel Worrall, replacing them with Mennie and Tremain. South Africa did not make any changes to the team that won the first match of the series. The captain du Plessis indicated that Hashim Amla was fit to return and had simply been left out, leaving Rossouw at the top of the order.
It was Rossouw who duly got the Proteas going in the early overs, repeatedly piercing the off-side field with well-timed strokes that flew across a fast - if somewhat uneven - Wanderers outfield.
Both Mennie and Tremain were able to beat the bat numerous times with a modicum of early seam movement, but in between whiles, a high number of boundaries meant there was little scoreboard pressure imposed. It wasn't until John Hastings entered the attack that a wicket fell, de Kock failing to get hold of a lofted drive and offering a catch to Tremain.
Du Plessis' early minutes at the crease were eventful and painful, as a shy at the stumps struck him on the glove as he ran through for a single. The blow required treatment, and he was to be struck there again soon after by another ball that popped up towards the splice of the bat.
However the pain subsided enough for du Plessis to get into his stride, as Rossouw maintained his form. Together they took South Africa to 146 after 24 overs, separated only when Rossouw skied Hastings just when a century beckoned.
Duminy's arrival brought a further period of acceleration, with du Plessis also lifting his scoring rate with nifty placement and the occasional burst of power. Australia's captain Steven Smith was hard pressed to find bowlers capable of keeping things quiet, and when Duminy began swinging - striking the first three sixes of the innings - a tally in the region of 400 looked momentarily possible.
The Australians regrouped somewhat in the later overs, dismissing Duminy and du Plessis in quick succession to pull the run-rate back slightly, and it was a fair measure of the conditions that the hosts were left feeling they could have made even more than they did. That being said, only a strong partnership or two from the potentially explosive Australian top order was going to be able to turn the contest their way,
However these sorts of stands have been missing from Smith's team of late, with victories in Sri Lanka compiled in lower-scoring circumstances. Finch's early wicket set the tone, with a critical moment to follow when Smith was well claimed down the leg side by de Kock from the bowling of Dale Steyn just as he looked capable of dominating.
The vice-captain David Warner seemed similarly poised after moving to 50, but then threw away his innings by clouting a Duminy long hop straight to midwicket. That dismissal left Head and the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade trying to resurrect the innings, but their stand of 69 in 61 balls served only to delay the inevitable.
Having entered this tour at less than full strength in bowling, the Australians needed to compensate in batting. A complete failure to do so in games one and two has left the series only one match away from being decided already.
2nd ODI
Pakistan 337/5 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 278/7 (50.0 ov)
Pakistan won by 59 runs
Pakistan followed up their 3-0 T20I series win by sealing the ODI series with yet another clinical display against West Indies in Sharjah. Pakistan's 59-run win was set up by their most and least experienced batsmen - Shoaib Malik and Babar Azam - who combined to display the art of batting through the middle overs on a slow surface to lead them to 337 for 5, the third-highest total in Sharjah.
Azam struck a chanceless century, his second successive one, and Malik blitzed 90 as the pair strung together 169, Pakistan's highest stand for the third wicket against West Indies. In reply, West Indies found the chase too steep and could only manage 278 for 7.
Openers Azhar Ali and Sharjeel Khan put West Indies under pressure from the outset after Pakistan opted to bat. Sharjeel used his bottom hand to clear the infield regularly, collecting three fours and a six in his 12-ball 24 before West Indies hit back, removing both batsmen in the space of three balls.
Thereafter, Azam and Malik stalled West Indies with sound technique and calculated risks. Azam pierced the field while Malik went over it, both equally effective in collecting frequent boundaries and keeping the score moving. Sulieman Benn's introduction was delayed, but Malik capitalised on the bowler's modus operandi of flight and loop from around the wicket.
Malik struck five sixes off Benn - three in succession in the 27th over - by shimmying down, getting underneath the ball and going over the arc between long-on and midwicket. The period between overs 21 and 35 yielded 107 in conditions not suited to effortless run-scoring.
In between, Azam unfurled classy drives through cover and found gaps in the outfield to accumulate runs. After Malik carved one to point, Azam utilised Pakistan's strong platform. His 126-ball 123 included nine fours and a six, which indicated his ability to maintain a high strike rate through ones and twos. Neither Malik nor Azam offered even a "half-chance" until their dismissals.
Towards the latter stages of the innings, West Indies seemed to stall Pakistan's ease at finding the boundary through clever variations in pace until Sarfraz Ahmed plundered four fours in five balls in the 47th over. Sarfraz struck an unbeaten 60, but it went largely unnoticed behind Azam and Malik's pyrotechnics.
West Indies needed to pull off the highest successful chase in Sharjah to stay alive in the series, but their innings got the same start as the four previous games on this tour: an early wicket. Johnson Charles, looking to clear the off-side infield, toe-ended a catch to cover off Mohammad Amir to start the slide.
Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo were left with the task of stabilising the innings in the face of some accurate bowling. Their 89-run second-wicket stand was built on the back of some sweetly-timed boundaries and plenty of singles, but it also took up 118 balls - not quick enough for a steep chase in tough run-scoring conditions.
However, West Indies remained in the fight as Bravo took the onus of accelerating by attacking left-arm spinners Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz. He struck three sixes over long-on off overpitched deliveries, two of which cleared the ground.
Hasan Ali, though, removed Bravo with an athletic piece of fielding off his own bowling. Bravo nudged a yorker towards short leg and Hasan sprang towards the ball in his follow-through, picked up while sliding, turned around and fired an accurate throw at the non-striker's end, all in one swift motion.
Marlon Samuels was up against a mounting asking rate and a wily bowling side. He stuck around for 52 balls and struck 57, but the enormity of the task in front of West Indies meant that his effort didn't suffice.
Eventually, the asking rate was too steep an ask even for West Indies' powerful middle order. That they couldn't capitalise on six dropped chances by Pakistan told the story.
Saturday, 1 October 2016
2nd Test Day 2 IND V NZ
India 316
New Zealand 128/7 (34.0 ov)
New Zealand trail by 188 runs with 3 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
In recent times, India's fast bowlers have been limited to making token appearances at home. If there is swing in the air, they are kept on. If not, bring on the spinners and smother the opposition. Sometimes, even in helpful conditions, India's quicks aren't accurate enough and simply to stem the runs they are taken off. In Kolkata, on a pitch offering variable bounce, it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar yanking the game India's way with a five-wicket haul.
New Zealand would feel aggrieved they went to stumps at 128 for 7 because they lost three of their wickets - including captain Ross Taylor's - when conditions were at their worst. There had been an hour and half's break due to rain. It was very overcast when play resumed. The light had faded and the ball, apart from swinging and seaming, was keeping quite low. Essentially, a red carpet for Bhuvneshwar.
Play resumed at 4 pm. There was one cursory over of spin before the quicks came back. Mohammed Shami got one to trampoline from back of a length. It beat the edge. Taylor flashed a wry smile. Bhuvneshwar made one hold its line. It took the edge. Taylor flashed a wry smile and was walking back. Mitchell Santner was trapped lbw by a short one that crept through. Next ball, Bhuvneshwar hit Matt Henry's off stump to complete his second five-for in three Tests and his first one at home.
It helped that India had 316 on the board, when New Zealand's innings began in the morning session. Shami trapped Tom Latham in front with an inswinger from around the wicket. Bhuvneshwar had the luckless Martin Guptill bowled off his elbow; it was the seventh successive time in Test cricket he had been dismissed by one of the two new-ball bowlers.
Bhuvneshwar then dismissed Henry Nicholls with a ball that should have been left alone. For once, the mistakes were being committed by the batsman and India's quicks were so disciplined that they delayed the arrival of spin to the 15th over. You had to go back almost a decade to see the last instance of spin coming on at a later time when India have played at home - against South Africa in 2007-08.
Jadeja had Luke Ronchi plumb in front in his second over of the day, but umpire Rod Tucker disagreed. Soon enough, though, the batsman came forward to a ball on middle stump, looking for the ball to spin away. It didn't. This time Tucker upheld Jadeja's raucous appeal, though HawkEye seemed to suggest it may have been sliding down.
If India's bowling was unrelenting, their batting was purposeful. Wriddhiman Saha chose a fine occasion to hit his maiden half-century in India. His team was playing its 250th Test at home - at his home ground in fact - and was looking for a total above 300. Saha knew he had to be careful at the start. There was the new-ball factor, and New Zealand had come back on the second day refreshed. Soon though, he had to hit out as India lost their eighth and ninth wickets with the addition of a mere nine runs. A lofted cover drive of the highest order - never mind that it went for six - brought him his fifty and thrust India over 300. Eventually, he was unbeaten on 54.
The day had begun with a bouncer. Saha responded with a cover driven four next ball. Later, the hard new ball, pitched short by Trent Boult, barely whistled over the off stump. For the rest of that over, the 91st, Ravindra Jadeja had to contend with balls flying past his ears. Saha was hit on the elbow and the rib cage. Jadeja smacked the third ball of spin for six over deep midwicket. Just as their partnership was becoming dangerously big considering it was for the eighth wicket, Neil Wagner broke through.
Some say the health of Test cricket is dire; that Twenty20 has swindled the fan base because anything can happen. In Kolkata, two good teams and a pitch that was helping the bowlers proved it isn't hard to replicate that excitement no matter the format. Besides, you get a nice, fat five days of it. More to love.
It was compelling stuff, really. New Zealand were bowling to a plan. Jadeja and Saha were determined not to let them succeed. They added 41 runs in 74 balls, and a measure of how well they assessed conditions and stood up to them was that there were only three boundaries this morning in the partnership.
India have often used one partnership, one mistake from the opposition, even a change in the wind to get on a roll at home. To prevent that Ross Taylor asked Wagner to go around the stumps, posted a short leg and a leg gully. Jadeja knew what was coming, but couldn't help himself. He was cramped by the line. He couldn't get on top of the bounce. The short ball - though it was telegraphed - was top-edged to Henry at long leg.
Mitchell Santner trapped Bhuvneshwar plumb in front in the 100th over but umpire Tucker misread it. So Santner did his best to recreate the same play the very next ball and the finger went up. This time, though, HawkEye seemed to indicate it wouldn't have hit the stumps. Shami came out and got three fours away, but when he pulled Boult in the air to long leg, Henry raced to his right and pulled off a stunning catch to end the innings.
New Zealand 128/7 (34.0 ov)
New Zealand trail by 188 runs with 3 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
In recent times, India's fast bowlers have been limited to making token appearances at home. If there is swing in the air, they are kept on. If not, bring on the spinners and smother the opposition. Sometimes, even in helpful conditions, India's quicks aren't accurate enough and simply to stem the runs they are taken off. In Kolkata, on a pitch offering variable bounce, it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar yanking the game India's way with a five-wicket haul.
New Zealand would feel aggrieved they went to stumps at 128 for 7 because they lost three of their wickets - including captain Ross Taylor's - when conditions were at their worst. There had been an hour and half's break due to rain. It was very overcast when play resumed. The light had faded and the ball, apart from swinging and seaming, was keeping quite low. Essentially, a red carpet for Bhuvneshwar.
Play resumed at 4 pm. There was one cursory over of spin before the quicks came back. Mohammed Shami got one to trampoline from back of a length. It beat the edge. Taylor flashed a wry smile. Bhuvneshwar made one hold its line. It took the edge. Taylor flashed a wry smile and was walking back. Mitchell Santner was trapped lbw by a short one that crept through. Next ball, Bhuvneshwar hit Matt Henry's off stump to complete his second five-for in three Tests and his first one at home.
It helped that India had 316 on the board, when New Zealand's innings began in the morning session. Shami trapped Tom Latham in front with an inswinger from around the wicket. Bhuvneshwar had the luckless Martin Guptill bowled off his elbow; it was the seventh successive time in Test cricket he had been dismissed by one of the two new-ball bowlers.
Bhuvneshwar then dismissed Henry Nicholls with a ball that should have been left alone. For once, the mistakes were being committed by the batsman and India's quicks were so disciplined that they delayed the arrival of spin to the 15th over. You had to go back almost a decade to see the last instance of spin coming on at a later time when India have played at home - against South Africa in 2007-08.
Jadeja had Luke Ronchi plumb in front in his second over of the day, but umpire Rod Tucker disagreed. Soon enough, though, the batsman came forward to a ball on middle stump, looking for the ball to spin away. It didn't. This time Tucker upheld Jadeja's raucous appeal, though HawkEye seemed to suggest it may have been sliding down.
If India's bowling was unrelenting, their batting was purposeful. Wriddhiman Saha chose a fine occasion to hit his maiden half-century in India. His team was playing its 250th Test at home - at his home ground in fact - and was looking for a total above 300. Saha knew he had to be careful at the start. There was the new-ball factor, and New Zealand had come back on the second day refreshed. Soon though, he had to hit out as India lost their eighth and ninth wickets with the addition of a mere nine runs. A lofted cover drive of the highest order - never mind that it went for six - brought him his fifty and thrust India over 300. Eventually, he was unbeaten on 54.
The day had begun with a bouncer. Saha responded with a cover driven four next ball. Later, the hard new ball, pitched short by Trent Boult, barely whistled over the off stump. For the rest of that over, the 91st, Ravindra Jadeja had to contend with balls flying past his ears. Saha was hit on the elbow and the rib cage. Jadeja smacked the third ball of spin for six over deep midwicket. Just as their partnership was becoming dangerously big considering it was for the eighth wicket, Neil Wagner broke through.
Some say the health of Test cricket is dire; that Twenty20 has swindled the fan base because anything can happen. In Kolkata, two good teams and a pitch that was helping the bowlers proved it isn't hard to replicate that excitement no matter the format. Besides, you get a nice, fat five days of it. More to love.
It was compelling stuff, really. New Zealand were bowling to a plan. Jadeja and Saha were determined not to let them succeed. They added 41 runs in 74 balls, and a measure of how well they assessed conditions and stood up to them was that there were only three boundaries this morning in the partnership.
India have often used one partnership, one mistake from the opposition, even a change in the wind to get on a roll at home. To prevent that Ross Taylor asked Wagner to go around the stumps, posted a short leg and a leg gully. Jadeja knew what was coming, but couldn't help himself. He was cramped by the line. He couldn't get on top of the bounce. The short ball - though it was telegraphed - was top-edged to Henry at long leg.
Mitchell Santner trapped Bhuvneshwar plumb in front in the 100th over but umpire Tucker misread it. So Santner did his best to recreate the same play the very next ball and the finger went up. This time, though, HawkEye seemed to indicate it wouldn't have hit the stumps. Shami came out and got three fours away, but when he pulled Boult in the air to long leg, Henry raced to his right and pulled off a stunning catch to end the innings.
Friday, 30 September 2016
Day 1 of Test IND V NZ, PAK V WI & SA V AUS 1st ODI's
2nd Test: India v New Zealand
India 239/7 (86.0 ov)
New Zealand
India won the toss and elected to bat
Since 2015-16, most of India's Tests at home have been played on pitches that were prone to turn in the first hour. Kanpur wasn't as extreme, but there was nothing there for the fast bowlers. New Zealand would have arrived in Kolkata expecting more of the same. The grass on the pitch could well have been arranged to spell "surprise." Kane Williamson was stuck in the dressing room with a fever, but his men gave him a get well card that read "Skipper, we applied pressure for longer" as they reduced India to 239 for 7.
Matt Henry helped them forget they had lost another toss. He courted the outside edge and Eden Gardens was only too willing a wingman. The entire square had been dug up and relaid for the new season and bowling back of a length posed a serious challenge to the batsman because of inconsistent bounce. Henry bowled Shikhar Dhawan in his first over of the match and then dismissed the in-form M Vijay with a beauty. Trent Boult set a trap for Virat Kohli and sprung it before the batsman could reach double-digits.
India needed someone capable of playing time. They lost three wickets in the morning session, but with the sun beating down, conditions would change. If a batsman could last the early stages, he could really cash in. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane did for nearly 50 overs, each setting himself up for a century. But New Zealand didn't let them get to the landmark. In the final session of play, Neil Wagner had Pujara caught at short cover for 87 and Jeetan Patel deceived Rahane with pace to trap him lbw for 77.
Part of New Zealand's success was down to their ability to keep the runs down. Even when they couldn't pick up any wickets in the second session, they allowed India only 79 runs in 31 overs. By doing so, they were able to make sure India couldn't bat them out of the Test as they had done in the second innings in Kanpur. Ross Taylor's captaincy and field placements were important in that regard. He had catching men on the drive and the flick, knowing the pitch was offering extra bounce. His bowlers were either wide outside off stump, testing the batsmen's patience, or at the stumps, knowing they had protection on the leg side, where India could secure only 12 boundaries. These were either scored off overpitched deliveries - Pujara's flicks early in his innings - or really good shots - Rahane's flick in the 61st over after getting on top of a Santner delivery turning away from him.
India's run-rate struggled to get over three, but they had two batsmen who could lay the foundation for a big first innings. The thing was, when they made the mistake, New Zealand pounced on it. Pujara drove on the up, was caught by Martin Guptill, on his birthday, and a 141-run partnership was broken. Rahane was trapped by a quicker ball from Jeetan Patel after he had forced the batsman back into his crease. The 36-year old offspinner had long abandoned hopes of playing international cricket again. He was chosen ahead of Ish Sodhi despite having only a "day and a bit" to acclimatise. But his control of line and ability to drift the ball made him dangerous.
Only four batsmen reached double-figures for India. Dhawan's comeback was limited to 10 balls, Henry making him drag a cut onto his stumps. The 24-year old fast bowler repeatedly beat the right-handers' outside edge by straightening the ball off the seam and eventually dismissed Vijay by going a bit wider of the crease, although that may just have been a quirk of fortune because Henry had just been warned for running onto the danger area by umpire Rod Tucker.
Kohli had come out had come out seeming determined not to let the bowling get the better of him. He had made a point to prepare for the ball bouncing awkwardly and was quite circumspect when Wagner banged it in. He was 5 off 24 balls when, from the other end, Boult presented a full, but not quite overpitched, delivery. It was hit through the covers for four. The width on offer had triggered the run-scoring instincts in Kohli. In trying to repeat the stroke, to a ball even wider outside off stump, a ball that he probably could have left, he nicked to gully where Tom Latham took a super catch over his head.
Henry finished the day on a high for New Zealand with the second new ball, pinning R Ashwin lbw in the 84th over, although replays indicated it may have slid down leg. They would know, though, that India's bowlers are capable of being as disciplined as they were and they have to win without their best batsman to stay alive in the series.
1st ODI
Pakistan 284/9 (49/49 ov)
West Indies 175 (38.4/49 ov, target 287)
Pakistan won by 111 runs (D/L method)
The 21-year-old Babar Azam enhanced his promising reputation with a maiden ODI hundred against West Indies on Friday. That, sandwiched between Sharjeel Khan's half-century, and a late cameo from Imad Wasim, led Pakistan to 284 for 9 in a match reduced to 49-overs-a-side because of a floodlight failure. Chasing 287, courtesy the Duckworth-Lewis revisions, West Indies sleepwalked their way, much like they had done in the T20Is, to 175, and suffered another demoralising defeat.
There is an air of serenity around Azam. He is technically correct in defence and drives with the head over the ball. He was among very few to receive glowing appraisals from coach Mickey Arthur after the disastrous tour of England.
In Sharjah he walked in to face the second ball of the match, after a Shannon Gabriel beauty that had Azhar Ali nicking behind for a duck. It took a stunning catch from Kieron Pollard at the edge of the wide long-on boundary to ultimately dismiss Azam in the 43rd over for 120 off 131 balls. In between, there was a display of solid strokes coupled with risk-free cricket and a stroke of luck - he survived a close lbw appeal off Sulieman Benn early in his innings. He lugged 70 of his runs through ones and twos: excellent running in humid conditions.
Azam first added 82 for the second wicket with Sharjeel, and then 99 for the fourth with Sarfraz Ahmed. Wary of the seam movement generated by Jason Holder and Gabriel, Azam played copybook cricket more often than not. It wasn't until Sharjeel cut loose that Pakistan began to lift the scoring rate - he clattered 44 of Pakistan's 60 in the Powerplay.
West Indies' Powerplay, on the other hand, was a crawl. If they hoped to stop the rot at the top of the order by introducing a debutant in Kraigg Brathwaite, who had played 31 Tests before this game, they were in for a reality check. They managed all of two boundaries in their first ten overs, both supplied by Johnson Charles before he was dismissed by Mohammad Amir.
After posing a threat with a bevy of away-going deliveries from over the wicket, Amir had switched his angle to around the wicket and coaxed the ball to straighten enough to take the outside edge. West Indies had to wait 30 balls for their next boundary, which was also Kraigg Brathwaite's first, off the 34th ball he faced.
Kraigg Brathwaite's poor debut ended when he angled Hasan Ali behind in the 13th over for 14 off 38 balls. In fact, it was the second-slowest, in terms of strike rate, by a West Indian on ODI debut. Mohammad Nawaz, the left-arm spinner, then unravelled the chase with three quick strikes, including wickets of Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin. When Kieron Pollard sliced a catch to deep point, Pakistan were 99 for 5 and the asking rate had crept towards eight. Marlon Samuels briefly swung his way to 46 before West Indies were bowled out in 38.4 overs. They just couldn't find a way to adapt, again.
Sharjeel, though, had adapted well enough, even as West Indies blocked his favoured leg-side region during Pakistan's innings. He responded to the seamers' modus operandi of testing in the channel outside off by hitting a flurry of boundaries straight down the ground. He scythed Gabriel over mid-off for a brace of fours before shovelling Carlos Brathwaite and Holder over long-on.
The introduction of spin, however, slowed Pakistan down. Only 65 runs came off the next 15 overs for the loss of Sharjeel and Shoaib Malik. Benn, who bowled slower through the air as opposed to firing it in, provided West Indies with a breakthrough when he had Sharjeel skewing an outside edge to short third man for a 43-ball 54. Twenty balls later, Sunil Narine found Shoaib Malik's outside edge, which was held at slip.
In between the two wickets, Azam endured the first of the two insecure moments during his knock. Benn slid in an arm-ball, which rapped him on the pad. Ahsan Raza, the on-field umpire, shot down the appeal, but Holder insisted on a review. Hawk-Eye showed that the ball would carry onto hit the top of the stumps, which meant umpire's call was upheld. Then in the 27th over, Azam escaped when Carlos Brathwaite failed to effect a direct hit off his own bowling following a mix-up with Sarfraz.
Sarfraz, himself, was reprieved on 5 when Ramdin fluffed a stumping chance. He proceeded to keep the score ticking with Azam. Just as he threatened to cut loose, Holder duped him with a slower ball.
Azam, however, carried on to raise his ton off 119 balls, having been on 50 off 74 balls. He reached three figures when he drove Narine through the covers in the 38th over. He celebrated the landmark by leaping in the air before performing the sajdah.
Azam then spanked Benn and Narine for leg-side sixes, but when he attempted one against Carlos Brathwaite, Pollard snaffled the big hit. A floodlight failure, which lasted for over an hour, handed West Indies some respite. Pakistan were limited to 24 for 3 in 4.3 overs upon resumption, but it was only crumbs of consolation for the losing side.
1st ODI
Australia 294/9 (50.0 ov)
South Africa 295/4 (36.2 ov)
South Africa won by 6 wickets (with 82 balls remaining)
Quinton de Kock became the holder of South Africa's second-highest individual score in ODI cricket with a career-best 178 as his side eased to a series opening victory over Australia. De Kock steered South Africa to the third-highest successful chase at SuperSport Park and ensured they drew first blood in a weekend of clashes against Australia. Sandwiched between ODIs on Friday and Sunday is a Rugby Championship fixture on Saturday. All the matches take place on the Highveld, de Kock's stomping ground, and on Friday night, he owned it.
None of the Australian bowlers were spared de Kock's aggression. He took on pace and spin, anything on the pads or overpitched, the short ball and the wide ball. His was an innings that started with impeccable timing and placement and turned into belligerent bludgeoning, especially on the leg side. More than two-thirds of de Kock's runs came in that area, including nine of his eleven sixes and he made Australia's 294 appear utterly inadequate.
On a fairly flat pitch and a fast outfield, Australia should have breached 300 and, given their start, could have been eyeing many more. Australia were 88 for 1 in the 13th over before Andile Phehlukwayo pulled them back. He took 3 for 16 in four overs and finished with a career-best 4 for 44 in just his second ODI to lead a seam attack whose experience trio of Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell and Kagiso Rabada all had off days.
The South African seamers' inconsistencies in length suited Australia's almost-reckless approach. Five of their top six got starts but only George Bailey converted his. He scored a third half-century in four innings and shared in a 79-run seventh wicket stand with John Hastings, whose fifty was his first in international cricket, to take Australia close to 300 but not close enough to challenge South Africa.
De Kock was authoritative from the start. He flicked a Hastings delivery on the legs into the stands and followed up with a flog through point to announce his intent. South Africa's fifty came up inside seven overs and Rilee Rossouw, de Kock's opening partner who filled in for an ill Hashim Amla, had only contributed 17 of those runs.
Rossouw did not remain an understudy for too long. He plundered three boundaries off each of Mitchell Marsh and Scott Boland to catch up to de Kock and the pair were on 43 each, with the score on 87 after 10 overs.
De Kock's fifty came first, off 38 balls, with a pull off Travis Head. Rossouw's followed in much quieter fashion, a single, but it came off the 36th ball. At 120 without loss after 15 overs, Australia were all but out of the contest and they had not even introduced their best bowler.
Adam Zampa was brought on in the 18th over, after Rossouw and de Kock had destroyed Scott Boland's figures by taking 18 runs off his fourth over, and had immediate success. Zampa's first ball was a legbreak, Rossouw brought out the reverse sweep and was trapped in front.
De Kock was on 82 when Rossouw was dismissed and had got there by playing the ball late and using deft, albeit powerful touches, but when Faf du Plessis joined him, he switched gears. He thumped a low full toss from Daniel Worrall to mid off, in a rare example of playing a shot down the ground instead of square, and then reached his hundred, off 74 balls, with an almighty pull over midwicket.
Zampa came under attack as well and de Kock took three boundaries off his fourth over and three sixes off the first three balls of his sixth, With each one, there was a suspicion de Kock might emulate Herschelle Gibbs' six sixes in an over. Gibbs was part of the commentary team, and looked on as de Kock went past his own highest score of 175 by drilling Marsh through the covers. Those were the last runs de Kock scored before holing out, 11 runs short of overtaking Gary Kirsten, who holds South Africa's highest individual score of 188.
It was left to Farhaan Behardien and David Miller to finish off after du Plessis and JP Duminy were dismissed cheaply. The wickets won't matter much to South Africa after they won with 13.4 overs to spare.
De Kock's performance completely overshadowed Phehlukwayo, but he emerged as South Africa's best bowler on the night. He broke through at a crucial time, when Aaron Finch flicked a short ball to fine leg where Wayne Parnell caught it low down.. Four deliveries later, Phehlukwayo had Steve Smith trapped lbw, missing an attempted glance. And three overs after that, had Marsh caught behind by a diving de Kock.
Imran Tahir, the only other South African to concede at under six runs an over, had Travis Head stumped by a googly and Australia were five-down just over halfway in their innings and in danger of not batting out their overs. Bailey's fifty was his third in four innings while Hastings' was his first against a South African attack that, Phehlukwayo and Tahir aside, struggled for consistency.
That may not be South Africa's main concern ahead of the Sunday game though. Instead, they will be closely monitoring Steyn. Although he bowled his full complement of overs, Steyn left the field twice and was seen clutching the shoulder he broke last summer several times.
India 239/7 (86.0 ov)
New Zealand
India won the toss and elected to bat
Since 2015-16, most of India's Tests at home have been played on pitches that were prone to turn in the first hour. Kanpur wasn't as extreme, but there was nothing there for the fast bowlers. New Zealand would have arrived in Kolkata expecting more of the same. The grass on the pitch could well have been arranged to spell "surprise." Kane Williamson was stuck in the dressing room with a fever, but his men gave him a get well card that read "Skipper, we applied pressure for longer" as they reduced India to 239 for 7.
Matt Henry helped them forget they had lost another toss. He courted the outside edge and Eden Gardens was only too willing a wingman. The entire square had been dug up and relaid for the new season and bowling back of a length posed a serious challenge to the batsman because of inconsistent bounce. Henry bowled Shikhar Dhawan in his first over of the match and then dismissed the in-form M Vijay with a beauty. Trent Boult set a trap for Virat Kohli and sprung it before the batsman could reach double-digits.
India needed someone capable of playing time. They lost three wickets in the morning session, but with the sun beating down, conditions would change. If a batsman could last the early stages, he could really cash in. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane did for nearly 50 overs, each setting himself up for a century. But New Zealand didn't let them get to the landmark. In the final session of play, Neil Wagner had Pujara caught at short cover for 87 and Jeetan Patel deceived Rahane with pace to trap him lbw for 77.
Part of New Zealand's success was down to their ability to keep the runs down. Even when they couldn't pick up any wickets in the second session, they allowed India only 79 runs in 31 overs. By doing so, they were able to make sure India couldn't bat them out of the Test as they had done in the second innings in Kanpur. Ross Taylor's captaincy and field placements were important in that regard. He had catching men on the drive and the flick, knowing the pitch was offering extra bounce. His bowlers were either wide outside off stump, testing the batsmen's patience, or at the stumps, knowing they had protection on the leg side, where India could secure only 12 boundaries. These were either scored off overpitched deliveries - Pujara's flicks early in his innings - or really good shots - Rahane's flick in the 61st over after getting on top of a Santner delivery turning away from him.
India's run-rate struggled to get over three, but they had two batsmen who could lay the foundation for a big first innings. The thing was, when they made the mistake, New Zealand pounced on it. Pujara drove on the up, was caught by Martin Guptill, on his birthday, and a 141-run partnership was broken. Rahane was trapped by a quicker ball from Jeetan Patel after he had forced the batsman back into his crease. The 36-year old offspinner had long abandoned hopes of playing international cricket again. He was chosen ahead of Ish Sodhi despite having only a "day and a bit" to acclimatise. But his control of line and ability to drift the ball made him dangerous.
Only four batsmen reached double-figures for India. Dhawan's comeback was limited to 10 balls, Henry making him drag a cut onto his stumps. The 24-year old fast bowler repeatedly beat the right-handers' outside edge by straightening the ball off the seam and eventually dismissed Vijay by going a bit wider of the crease, although that may just have been a quirk of fortune because Henry had just been warned for running onto the danger area by umpire Rod Tucker.
Kohli had come out had come out seeming determined not to let the bowling get the better of him. He had made a point to prepare for the ball bouncing awkwardly and was quite circumspect when Wagner banged it in. He was 5 off 24 balls when, from the other end, Boult presented a full, but not quite overpitched, delivery. It was hit through the covers for four. The width on offer had triggered the run-scoring instincts in Kohli. In trying to repeat the stroke, to a ball even wider outside off stump, a ball that he probably could have left, he nicked to gully where Tom Latham took a super catch over his head.
Henry finished the day on a high for New Zealand with the second new ball, pinning R Ashwin lbw in the 84th over, although replays indicated it may have slid down leg. They would know, though, that India's bowlers are capable of being as disciplined as they were and they have to win without their best batsman to stay alive in the series.
1st ODI
Pakistan 284/9 (49/49 ov)
West Indies 175 (38.4/49 ov, target 287)
Pakistan won by 111 runs (D/L method)
The 21-year-old Babar Azam enhanced his promising reputation with a maiden ODI hundred against West Indies on Friday. That, sandwiched between Sharjeel Khan's half-century, and a late cameo from Imad Wasim, led Pakistan to 284 for 9 in a match reduced to 49-overs-a-side because of a floodlight failure. Chasing 287, courtesy the Duckworth-Lewis revisions, West Indies sleepwalked their way, much like they had done in the T20Is, to 175, and suffered another demoralising defeat.
There is an air of serenity around Azam. He is technically correct in defence and drives with the head over the ball. He was among very few to receive glowing appraisals from coach Mickey Arthur after the disastrous tour of England.
In Sharjah he walked in to face the second ball of the match, after a Shannon Gabriel beauty that had Azhar Ali nicking behind for a duck. It took a stunning catch from Kieron Pollard at the edge of the wide long-on boundary to ultimately dismiss Azam in the 43rd over for 120 off 131 balls. In between, there was a display of solid strokes coupled with risk-free cricket and a stroke of luck - he survived a close lbw appeal off Sulieman Benn early in his innings. He lugged 70 of his runs through ones and twos: excellent running in humid conditions.
Azam first added 82 for the second wicket with Sharjeel, and then 99 for the fourth with Sarfraz Ahmed. Wary of the seam movement generated by Jason Holder and Gabriel, Azam played copybook cricket more often than not. It wasn't until Sharjeel cut loose that Pakistan began to lift the scoring rate - he clattered 44 of Pakistan's 60 in the Powerplay.
West Indies' Powerplay, on the other hand, was a crawl. If they hoped to stop the rot at the top of the order by introducing a debutant in Kraigg Brathwaite, who had played 31 Tests before this game, they were in for a reality check. They managed all of two boundaries in their first ten overs, both supplied by Johnson Charles before he was dismissed by Mohammad Amir.
After posing a threat with a bevy of away-going deliveries from over the wicket, Amir had switched his angle to around the wicket and coaxed the ball to straighten enough to take the outside edge. West Indies had to wait 30 balls for their next boundary, which was also Kraigg Brathwaite's first, off the 34th ball he faced.
Kraigg Brathwaite's poor debut ended when he angled Hasan Ali behind in the 13th over for 14 off 38 balls. In fact, it was the second-slowest, in terms of strike rate, by a West Indian on ODI debut. Mohammad Nawaz, the left-arm spinner, then unravelled the chase with three quick strikes, including wickets of Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin. When Kieron Pollard sliced a catch to deep point, Pakistan were 99 for 5 and the asking rate had crept towards eight. Marlon Samuels briefly swung his way to 46 before West Indies were bowled out in 38.4 overs. They just couldn't find a way to adapt, again.
Sharjeel, though, had adapted well enough, even as West Indies blocked his favoured leg-side region during Pakistan's innings. He responded to the seamers' modus operandi of testing in the channel outside off by hitting a flurry of boundaries straight down the ground. He scythed Gabriel over mid-off for a brace of fours before shovelling Carlos Brathwaite and Holder over long-on.
The introduction of spin, however, slowed Pakistan down. Only 65 runs came off the next 15 overs for the loss of Sharjeel and Shoaib Malik. Benn, who bowled slower through the air as opposed to firing it in, provided West Indies with a breakthrough when he had Sharjeel skewing an outside edge to short third man for a 43-ball 54. Twenty balls later, Sunil Narine found Shoaib Malik's outside edge, which was held at slip.
In between the two wickets, Azam endured the first of the two insecure moments during his knock. Benn slid in an arm-ball, which rapped him on the pad. Ahsan Raza, the on-field umpire, shot down the appeal, but Holder insisted on a review. Hawk-Eye showed that the ball would carry onto hit the top of the stumps, which meant umpire's call was upheld. Then in the 27th over, Azam escaped when Carlos Brathwaite failed to effect a direct hit off his own bowling following a mix-up with Sarfraz.
Sarfraz, himself, was reprieved on 5 when Ramdin fluffed a stumping chance. He proceeded to keep the score ticking with Azam. Just as he threatened to cut loose, Holder duped him with a slower ball.
Azam, however, carried on to raise his ton off 119 balls, having been on 50 off 74 balls. He reached three figures when he drove Narine through the covers in the 38th over. He celebrated the landmark by leaping in the air before performing the sajdah.
Azam then spanked Benn and Narine for leg-side sixes, but when he attempted one against Carlos Brathwaite, Pollard snaffled the big hit. A floodlight failure, which lasted for over an hour, handed West Indies some respite. Pakistan were limited to 24 for 3 in 4.3 overs upon resumption, but it was only crumbs of consolation for the losing side.
1st ODI
Australia 294/9 (50.0 ov)
South Africa 295/4 (36.2 ov)
South Africa won by 6 wickets (with 82 balls remaining)
Quinton de Kock became the holder of South Africa's second-highest individual score in ODI cricket with a career-best 178 as his side eased to a series opening victory over Australia. De Kock steered South Africa to the third-highest successful chase at SuperSport Park and ensured they drew first blood in a weekend of clashes against Australia. Sandwiched between ODIs on Friday and Sunday is a Rugby Championship fixture on Saturday. All the matches take place on the Highveld, de Kock's stomping ground, and on Friday night, he owned it.
None of the Australian bowlers were spared de Kock's aggression. He took on pace and spin, anything on the pads or overpitched, the short ball and the wide ball. His was an innings that started with impeccable timing and placement and turned into belligerent bludgeoning, especially on the leg side. More than two-thirds of de Kock's runs came in that area, including nine of his eleven sixes and he made Australia's 294 appear utterly inadequate.
On a fairly flat pitch and a fast outfield, Australia should have breached 300 and, given their start, could have been eyeing many more. Australia were 88 for 1 in the 13th over before Andile Phehlukwayo pulled them back. He took 3 for 16 in four overs and finished with a career-best 4 for 44 in just his second ODI to lead a seam attack whose experience trio of Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell and Kagiso Rabada all had off days.
The South African seamers' inconsistencies in length suited Australia's almost-reckless approach. Five of their top six got starts but only George Bailey converted his. He scored a third half-century in four innings and shared in a 79-run seventh wicket stand with John Hastings, whose fifty was his first in international cricket, to take Australia close to 300 but not close enough to challenge South Africa.
De Kock was authoritative from the start. He flicked a Hastings delivery on the legs into the stands and followed up with a flog through point to announce his intent. South Africa's fifty came up inside seven overs and Rilee Rossouw, de Kock's opening partner who filled in for an ill Hashim Amla, had only contributed 17 of those runs.
Rossouw did not remain an understudy for too long. He plundered three boundaries off each of Mitchell Marsh and Scott Boland to catch up to de Kock and the pair were on 43 each, with the score on 87 after 10 overs.
De Kock's fifty came first, off 38 balls, with a pull off Travis Head. Rossouw's followed in much quieter fashion, a single, but it came off the 36th ball. At 120 without loss after 15 overs, Australia were all but out of the contest and they had not even introduced their best bowler.
Adam Zampa was brought on in the 18th over, after Rossouw and de Kock had destroyed Scott Boland's figures by taking 18 runs off his fourth over, and had immediate success. Zampa's first ball was a legbreak, Rossouw brought out the reverse sweep and was trapped in front.
De Kock was on 82 when Rossouw was dismissed and had got there by playing the ball late and using deft, albeit powerful touches, but when Faf du Plessis joined him, he switched gears. He thumped a low full toss from Daniel Worrall to mid off, in a rare example of playing a shot down the ground instead of square, and then reached his hundred, off 74 balls, with an almighty pull over midwicket.
Zampa came under attack as well and de Kock took three boundaries off his fourth over and three sixes off the first three balls of his sixth, With each one, there was a suspicion de Kock might emulate Herschelle Gibbs' six sixes in an over. Gibbs was part of the commentary team, and looked on as de Kock went past his own highest score of 175 by drilling Marsh through the covers. Those were the last runs de Kock scored before holing out, 11 runs short of overtaking Gary Kirsten, who holds South Africa's highest individual score of 188.
It was left to Farhaan Behardien and David Miller to finish off after du Plessis and JP Duminy were dismissed cheaply. The wickets won't matter much to South Africa after they won with 13.4 overs to spare.
De Kock's performance completely overshadowed Phehlukwayo, but he emerged as South Africa's best bowler on the night. He broke through at a crucial time, when Aaron Finch flicked a short ball to fine leg where Wayne Parnell caught it low down.. Four deliveries later, Phehlukwayo had Steve Smith trapped lbw, missing an attempted glance. And three overs after that, had Marsh caught behind by a diving de Kock.
Imran Tahir, the only other South African to concede at under six runs an over, had Travis Head stumped by a googly and Australia were five-down just over halfway in their innings and in danger of not batting out their overs. Bailey's fifty was his third in four innings while Hastings' was his first against a South African attack that, Phehlukwayo and Tahir aside, struggled for consistency.
That may not be South Africa's main concern ahead of the Sunday game though. Instead, they will be closely monitoring Steyn. Although he bowled his full complement of overs, Steyn left the field twice and was seen clutching the shoulder he broke last summer several times.
Tuesday, 27 September 2016
1st Test IND Beat NZ by 197 runs
India 318 and 377 for 5 dec beat New Zealand 262 and 236 by 197 runs
R Ashwin picked up his 19th five-wicket haul as India wrapped up a 197-run win in their 500th Test match. Needing six wickets at the start of the fifth day, India endured a wicketless first hour as Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner stretched their fifth-wicket stand to 102, but the wickets came quickly thereafter. The win arrived 43 minutes after lunch when Ashwin had Neil Wagner lbw with a carrom ball. Chasing a nominal 434, New Zealand had been bowled out for 236.
Ashwin finished with innings figures of 6 for 132 and match figures of 10 for 225 in 66.2 overs. Bowling with a callus in the middle finger of his bowling hand, he used the carrom ball frequently after lunch, possibly because he was finding it difficult to grip the offbreak. He took two wickets with it - of Wagner and Ish Sodhi, who walked across his stumps to get bowled around his legs - but the big breakthrough came with a big-spinning offbreak, pitching outside Santner's leg stump and turning across him to force an edge to gully.
It ended a hugely impressive performance from Santner, who faced 179 balls in the innings and 286 in the match in addition to bowling 55.2 overs of left-arm spin and picking up five wickets.
Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja did the bulk of the bowling, sending down all but 18 overs of New Zealand's innings, which lasted 87.3 overs, and 134.2 of the 183.2 overs India bowled in the match. At times India's selection of two spinners and two seamers looked questionable, but Mohammed Shami showed why he had been included by taking out two wickets in two balls in a short, sharp spell of reverse-swing - which had been in scant evidence in the match until that point - before lunch.
By the time Shami came on, bowling all those overs was beginning to have its effect on the spinners. Ronchi gifted them his wicket with a loss of concentration in the first over after drinks, but the new batsman, BJ Watling, was looking comfortable, sweeping and cutting delightfully. The sixth-wicket partnership had moved to 29 when Shami measured his run-up.
Bowling around the wicket to the left-handed Santner, he gave early warning of reverse-swing with an lbw shout off his second ball. The ball was probably doing too much and missing leg stump. The last ball of his second over was a near mirror image. Shami was bowling over the wicket to the right-handed Watling, and the ball tailed into him to pin him to the crease. Again, the ball swung appreciably, but replays suggested the ball would probably have hit some part of leg stump - umpire's call, perhaps, had DRS been in use.
Then, first ball of his next over, reverse-swing into the left-handed Craig, who played the initial line without really moving his feet, and left a big gap for the ball to swerve through and crash into the stumps.
As had been the case through the match, there had been plenty of help in the first half-hour of the morning, and the ball turned and jumped extravagantly past the edge on a number of occasions. Santner's reaction to being beaten by Ashwin was a wide grin, suggesting there was little he could do against a ball turning so far.
But even when it was beaten, his defence looked solid; front leg coming down the pitch rather than across to guard against the lbw, bat close to pad, and hands refusing to get drawn by the turn.
As the morning wore on, the turn became slower, and batting easier, especially off the back foot. Ronchi, his footwork nimble and decisive, began to dominate Ashwin. He had looked comfortable against the offspinner even on the fourth evening, jumping out to hit him over the long-on boundary and making room to cut him off the stumps.
Now, having mostly faced Jadeja in the early exchanges - 17 out of his first 23 balls of the day - he moved to fifty with a cover-drive for two off Ashwin, and four overs later came down the track to lift him over mid-on for four. By the end, he had scored 37 off the 33 balls he faced from Ashwin.
Santner too was opening up, but always playing within his limitations; his go-to attacking shots were the cut, whenever anyone dropped a little short, and the slog-sweep, when he saw a bit of air and room to free his arms, hitting a six each off Ashwin and Jadeja.
The wicket came off Jadeja's bowling, and it came off an ill-advised shot. Till then, Ronchi had hit all his lofted hits with a straight bat, but now, with long-off back and mid-on in, he looked to slog-sweep against the turn, and only managed a top-edge that skewed high to point.
R Ashwin picked up his 19th five-wicket haul as India wrapped up a 197-run win in their 500th Test match. Needing six wickets at the start of the fifth day, India endured a wicketless first hour as Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner stretched their fifth-wicket stand to 102, but the wickets came quickly thereafter. The win arrived 43 minutes after lunch when Ashwin had Neil Wagner lbw with a carrom ball. Chasing a nominal 434, New Zealand had been bowled out for 236.
Ashwin finished with innings figures of 6 for 132 and match figures of 10 for 225 in 66.2 overs. Bowling with a callus in the middle finger of his bowling hand, he used the carrom ball frequently after lunch, possibly because he was finding it difficult to grip the offbreak. He took two wickets with it - of Wagner and Ish Sodhi, who walked across his stumps to get bowled around his legs - but the big breakthrough came with a big-spinning offbreak, pitching outside Santner's leg stump and turning across him to force an edge to gully.
It ended a hugely impressive performance from Santner, who faced 179 balls in the innings and 286 in the match in addition to bowling 55.2 overs of left-arm spin and picking up five wickets.
Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja did the bulk of the bowling, sending down all but 18 overs of New Zealand's innings, which lasted 87.3 overs, and 134.2 of the 183.2 overs India bowled in the match. At times India's selection of two spinners and two seamers looked questionable, but Mohammed Shami showed why he had been included by taking out two wickets in two balls in a short, sharp spell of reverse-swing - which had been in scant evidence in the match until that point - before lunch.
By the time Shami came on, bowling all those overs was beginning to have its effect on the spinners. Ronchi gifted them his wicket with a loss of concentration in the first over after drinks, but the new batsman, BJ Watling, was looking comfortable, sweeping and cutting delightfully. The sixth-wicket partnership had moved to 29 when Shami measured his run-up.
Bowling around the wicket to the left-handed Santner, he gave early warning of reverse-swing with an lbw shout off his second ball. The ball was probably doing too much and missing leg stump. The last ball of his second over was a near mirror image. Shami was bowling over the wicket to the right-handed Watling, and the ball tailed into him to pin him to the crease. Again, the ball swung appreciably, but replays suggested the ball would probably have hit some part of leg stump - umpire's call, perhaps, had DRS been in use.
Then, first ball of his next over, reverse-swing into the left-handed Craig, who played the initial line without really moving his feet, and left a big gap for the ball to swerve through and crash into the stumps.
As had been the case through the match, there had been plenty of help in the first half-hour of the morning, and the ball turned and jumped extravagantly past the edge on a number of occasions. Santner's reaction to being beaten by Ashwin was a wide grin, suggesting there was little he could do against a ball turning so far.
But even when it was beaten, his defence looked solid; front leg coming down the pitch rather than across to guard against the lbw, bat close to pad, and hands refusing to get drawn by the turn.
As the morning wore on, the turn became slower, and batting easier, especially off the back foot. Ronchi, his footwork nimble and decisive, began to dominate Ashwin. He had looked comfortable against the offspinner even on the fourth evening, jumping out to hit him over the long-on boundary and making room to cut him off the stumps.
Now, having mostly faced Jadeja in the early exchanges - 17 out of his first 23 balls of the day - he moved to fifty with a cover-drive for two off Ashwin, and four overs later came down the track to lift him over mid-on for four. By the end, he had scored 37 off the 33 balls he faced from Ashwin.
Santner too was opening up, but always playing within his limitations; his go-to attacking shots were the cut, whenever anyone dropped a little short, and the slog-sweep, when he saw a bit of air and room to free his arms, hitting a six each off Ashwin and Jadeja.
The wicket came off Jadeja's bowling, and it came off an ill-advised shot. Till then, Ronchi had hit all his lofted hits with a straight bat, but now, with long-off back and mid-on in, he looked to slog-sweep against the turn, and only managed a top-edge that skewed high to point.
Sunday, 25 September 2016
Royal London One Day Cup Knockout Stages
Somerset 214-1 beat Worcestershire 210 by 9 wickets
Warwickshire 283-7 beat Essex 213 by 70 runs
Surrey 279-9 beat Northants 276 by 1 wicket
Yorkshire 256-9 beat Kent 245 by 11 runs
Warwickshire 283-7 beat Essex 213 by 70 runs
Surrey 279-9 beat Northants 276 by 1 wicket
Yorkshire 256-9 beat Kent 245 by 11 runs
County Championship Division 2 fixtures till end of season
ESSEX BT DERBYS BY INNS AND 62 RUNS Essex 530-9 dec v Derbyshire 165 & 303
SUSSEX BT GLOS BY INNS AND TWO RUNS Gloucestershire 367 & 158 v Sussex 527
GLAMORGAN BT WORCS BY 5 WKTS Worcs 163 & 393 v Glamorgan 280 & 278-5
NORTHANTS DRAW WITH LEICS Leics 519 & 292-6 dec v Northants 397-7d & 118-1
Sussex 283 & 236-8 beat Glamorgan 252 & 263 by 2 wickets
KENT BT GLOS BY INNS & 69 RUNS Gloucestershire 221 & 243 v Kent 533-6 dec
ESSEX BT LEICS BY AN INNS AND 10 RUNS Leicestershire 238 & 175 v Essex 423
Worcestershire 201-3 dec & 404-8 beat Northants 551 & 50-1 dec by 2 wickets
DERBY DRAW WITH GLOS: Gloucestershire 331 & 10-0 v Derbyshire 242 & 360
ESSEX BT WORCS BY AN INNINGS & 161 RUNS Worcs 230 & 210 v Essex 601-5 dec
NORTHANTS BT GLAM BY 318 RUNS Northants 269 & 305-7 dec v Glamorgan 124 & 132
KENT BT SUSSEX BY AN INNS AND 127 RUNS Sussex 180 & 189 v Kent 496
Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan by 10 wickets Glamorgan 220 & 232 v Glos 363 & 92-0
Northants beat Kent by 10 wickets Kent 230 & 184 v Northants 384 & 31-0
SUSSEX WIN BY AN INNINGS AND 59 RUNS Leicestershire 119 & 135 v Sussex 313
Derbyshire drew with Leicestershire
Essex lost to Glamorgan by 11 runs
Northamptonshire beat Gloucestershire by 114 runs
Sussex lost to Worcestershire by 11 runs
Gloucestershire drew with Sussex
Kent drew with Essex
Leicestershire beat Glamorgan by 26 runs
Worcestershire beat Derbyshire by 9 wickets
SUSSEX BT GLOS BY INNS AND TWO RUNS Gloucestershire 367 & 158 v Sussex 527
GLAMORGAN BT WORCS BY 5 WKTS Worcs 163 & 393 v Glamorgan 280 & 278-5
NORTHANTS DRAW WITH LEICS Leics 519 & 292-6 dec v Northants 397-7d & 118-1
Sussex 283 & 236-8 beat Glamorgan 252 & 263 by 2 wickets
KENT BT GLOS BY INNS & 69 RUNS Gloucestershire 221 & 243 v Kent 533-6 dec
ESSEX BT LEICS BY AN INNS AND 10 RUNS Leicestershire 238 & 175 v Essex 423
Worcestershire 201-3 dec & 404-8 beat Northants 551 & 50-1 dec by 2 wickets
DERBY DRAW WITH GLOS: Gloucestershire 331 & 10-0 v Derbyshire 242 & 360
ESSEX BT WORCS BY AN INNINGS & 161 RUNS Worcs 230 & 210 v Essex 601-5 dec
NORTHANTS BT GLAM BY 318 RUNS Northants 269 & 305-7 dec v Glamorgan 124 & 132
KENT BT SUSSEX BY AN INNS AND 127 RUNS Sussex 180 & 189 v Kent 496
Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan by 10 wickets Glamorgan 220 & 232 v Glos 363 & 92-0
Northants beat Kent by 10 wickets Kent 230 & 184 v Northants 384 & 31-0
SUSSEX WIN BY AN INNINGS AND 59 RUNS Leicestershire 119 & 135 v Sussex 313
Derbyshire drew with Leicestershire
Essex lost to Glamorgan by 11 runs
Northamptonshire beat Gloucestershire by 114 runs
Sussex lost to Worcestershire by 11 runs
Gloucestershire drew with Sussex
Kent drew with Essex
Leicestershire beat Glamorgan by 26 runs
Worcestershire beat Derbyshire by 9 wickets
County Championship Division 1 fixtures till end of season
LANCS DRAW WITH YORKSHIRE Lancashire 494 & 232-3 dec v Yorkshire 360 & 188-0
MIDDLESEX BT DURHAM BY INNS & 80 RUNS Durham 204 & 252 v Middlesex 536-9 dec
HAMPSHIRE BEAT NOTTS BY 176 RUNS Hampshire 319 & 393-7 dec v Notts 245 & 291
SURREY BT WARWICKSHIRE BY 226 RUNS Surrey 252 & 390 v Warwickshire 247 & 169
DURHAM DRAW WITH WARKS Durham 207 & 195-3 dec v Warwickshire 381-8 dec
SOMERSET DRAW WITH HAMPSHIRE Somerset 587-8 dec v Hampshire 338 & 254-5
Surrey 480 & 38/0 beat Lancashire 287 & 230 by 10 wickets
YORKSHIRE BT NOTTS BY 305 RUNS Yorkshire 282 & 263-4 dec v Notts 94 & 146
DURHAM DRAW WITH NOTTS: Nottinghamshire 313 & 17-1 v Durham 244 & 385-8d
HAMPSHIRE DRAW WITH YORKSHIRE: Hampshire 222 & 84-4 v Yorkshire 281 & 238-5d
LANCASHIRE DRAW WITH SOMERSET: Lancashire 422-9 v Somerset 553-8d
WARKS DRAW WITH MIDDLESEX: Warwickshire 172 & 120-4 v Middlesex 242 & 267-7d
Warwickshire 152 & 123 v Somerset 95 & 211 - Somerset win by 31 runs
MIDDLESEX BEAT NOTTS BY FIVE WICKETS Notts* 241 & 240 v Middlesex 247 & 235-5
SURREY DRAW WITH HAMPSHIRE Surrey 329 & 248-3 v Hampshire 582-9 dec
YORKSHIRE BT DURHAM BY 228 RUNS Yorkshire 460 & 225-2 dec v Durham 265 & 192
*Notts relegated to Division 2
Durham 401 & 246 beat Surrey 367 & 259 by 21 runs
Lancashire 259 & 80-1 drew with Middlesex 327 & 240-8 dec
Yorkshire 390 & 44-0 beat Somerset 145 & 286
Durham 361 & 297-4 beat Hampshire 411 & 245-9 dec by 6 wickets
Middlesex 270 & 359-6 dec beat Yorkshire 390 & 178 by 61 runs (Middlesex champions)
Somerset 365 & 313-5 dec beat Nottinghamshire 138 & 215 by 325 runs
Warwickshire 219 & 279-7 dec beat Lancashire 152 & 109 by 237 runs
MIDDLESEX BT DURHAM BY INNS & 80 RUNS Durham 204 & 252 v Middlesex 536-9 dec
HAMPSHIRE BEAT NOTTS BY 176 RUNS Hampshire 319 & 393-7 dec v Notts 245 & 291
SURREY BT WARWICKSHIRE BY 226 RUNS Surrey 252 & 390 v Warwickshire 247 & 169
DURHAM DRAW WITH WARKS Durham 207 & 195-3 dec v Warwickshire 381-8 dec
SOMERSET DRAW WITH HAMPSHIRE Somerset 587-8 dec v Hampshire 338 & 254-5
Surrey 480 & 38/0 beat Lancashire 287 & 230 by 10 wickets
YORKSHIRE BT NOTTS BY 305 RUNS Yorkshire 282 & 263-4 dec v Notts 94 & 146
DURHAM DRAW WITH NOTTS: Nottinghamshire 313 & 17-1 v Durham 244 & 385-8d
HAMPSHIRE DRAW WITH YORKSHIRE: Hampshire 222 & 84-4 v Yorkshire 281 & 238-5d
LANCASHIRE DRAW WITH SOMERSET: Lancashire 422-9 v Somerset 553-8d
WARKS DRAW WITH MIDDLESEX: Warwickshire 172 & 120-4 v Middlesex 242 & 267-7d
Warwickshire 152 & 123 v Somerset 95 & 211 - Somerset win by 31 runs
MIDDLESEX BEAT NOTTS BY FIVE WICKETS Notts* 241 & 240 v Middlesex 247 & 235-5
SURREY DRAW WITH HAMPSHIRE Surrey 329 & 248-3 v Hampshire 582-9 dec
YORKSHIRE BT DURHAM BY 228 RUNS Yorkshire 460 & 225-2 dec v Durham 265 & 192
*Notts relegated to Division 2
Durham 401 & 246 beat Surrey 367 & 259 by 21 runs
Lancashire 259 & 80-1 drew with Middlesex 327 & 240-8 dec
Yorkshire 390 & 44-0 beat Somerset 145 & 286
Durham 361 & 297-4 beat Hampshire 411 & 245-9 dec by 6 wickets
Middlesex 270 & 359-6 dec beat Yorkshire 390 & 178 by 61 runs (Middlesex champions)
Somerset 365 & 313-5 dec beat Nottinghamshire 138 & 215 by 325 runs
Warwickshire 219 & 279-7 dec beat Lancashire 152 & 109 by 237 runs
Friday, 9 September 2016
2 T20I SL 0-2 AUS
1st T20I
Australia 263/3 (20/20 ov)
Sri Lanka 178/9 (20/20 ov)
Australia won by 85 runs
In 90 minutes of outlandish clean-striking, Glenn Maxwell marked a monumental return to form, sent Sri Lanka into freefall, and stole their T20I world record from under their noses.
The scorecard says he hit nine sixes in his 65-ball 145 not out, but it felt like he had hit so many more. It says there were 14 fours in this Maxwell mauling, but so quickly did they come, one after the other, that who is to tell when one boundary ended and another began? It was a blur of bludgeoned sweeps, of wallops down the ground and, occasionally, of enterprising strokes behind the wicket. Australia made 263 for 3. This is the joint-highest T20 score, in addition to being the biggest score in T20 internationals, beating the 260 Sri Lanka had hit against Kenya.
Maxwell had opened the innings in place of the injured Aaron Finch, and he quickly set about knocking Sri Lanka's bowlers out of shape. So battered were they by the end of the Powerplay, in which Australia had cracked 73 for 1, that they soon became helplessly complicit in Maxwell's plunder. Thigh-high full tosses were sent down with masochistic abandon. Errors bred further errors in the outfield. In the 18th over, a catch was dropped, though that was off Travis Head, who was the second-highest scorer with 45 off 18 balls. Each of Sri Lanka's four main bowlers conceded at least 12.75 per over.
The hosts' batting went much better, though they were never really in the hunt. The top three fell cheaply, but Dinesh Chandimal hit 58 off 43 and Chamara Kapugedera 43 off 25. Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland took three wickets apiece, as Sri Lanka finished on 178 for 9 - 86 runs short of the 264-run target.
The first over had cost Sri Lanka only three runs, and though Maxwell hit the innings' first boundary - smoking an overpitched Suranga Lakmal delivery through cover - it was David Warner who doused the scene with petrol, and began the raging fire. Warner eyed up seamer Kasun Rajitha, playing his third international, and banged four consecutive fours in the third over, three of those coming on the off side. It was not long before Maxwell matched that aggression. The first six of the match was a reverse-sweep off Sachithra Senanayake. A four followed next ball, off the same shot.
Neither Warner's dismissal by Senanayake nor the end of the Powerplay made much difference to Maxwell's approach. Decent balls - like Rajitha's slower one on the stumps in the ninth over - where whacked disdainfully over long-on. Then when the bad balls came, like the full toss from Rajitha immediately after, Maxwell biffed that over the boundary as well.
The first of those consecutive sixes brought him his half-century, off 27 balls. He took a further 22 to reach his hundred. Sri Lanka rifled through bowlers in this period, trying off spin, left-arm spin, seam, and whatever it is that Thisara Perera bowls. None of this could make so much as a dent in Maxwell's confidence, which by now was magnetic. Thisara, in fact, came closest to getting him out, in the 13th over, though that wasn't particularly close: Kapugedera, who caught Maxwell on the deep midwicket boundary, had trod on the rope and had to abandon the catch anyway as his momentum was taking him over the rope.
Having reached his first T20 century, and second in international cricket (both have come against Sri Lanka), Maxwell set his sights on the records. His first six in triple figures was perhaps the best of the lot, as he sliced Lakmal beautifully over the deep-cover boundary, immediately after having hit a four to fine leg. Finch, running the drinks in this match, holds the individual T20 record of 156, and Maxwell was in pursuit. When he biffed three consecutive sixes over long-on, off Senanayake, he moved to 134, with 19 balls still remaining in the innings. Head, though, indulged in some brutality of his own, hitting three sixes and four fours in his innings. One of those sixes came over long-on, off Thisara Perera. It was that shot which gave Australia the team total record.
Tillakaratne Dilshan has led outrageous chases before, but when he was bowled trying to clang a Mitchell Starc ball through the leg side in the first over, Sri Lanka's already slim chances became even slimmer. Kusal Perera was out slashing Boland to third man, soon after. By the end of the Powerplay, Sri Lanka had mustered 56 for 3, but with the required rate almost 15, the chase just became about limiting the severity of the loss.
Kusal Mendis made an attractive 22 replete with a pulled six off James Faulkner, and an imperious, lofted off-drive off Moises Henriques, but he was out in the eighth over. Chandimal pulled his team through those early overs, scoring heavily with his horizontal bat shots, the flat-batted four down the ground off Boland in the fourth over the most memorable among them.
Chandimal and Kapugedera put on Sri Lanka's best partnership, taking a particular liking to the spinners as they made 44 from 29 balls. But they both holed out soon enough. Sri Lanka hit 100 runs in boundaries. Maxwell, who had been dropped from the squad entirely for the ODIs, struck 110 in boundaries by himself.
2nd T20I
Sri Lanka 128/9 (20/20 ov)
Australia 130/6 (17.5/20 ov)
Australia won by 4 wickets (with 13 balls remaining)
Sri Lanka had been changing their side every match and Australia had already sent several men home, but like a well-heeled theatre troupe, the players that remained delivered the same performance they seemed to have given many times over this series.
Sri Lanka won the toss again, batted again, did well for a little while, but mainly collapsed to a modest 128 for 9. Australia were disciplined with the ball, and athletic in the field, bruising at the top of their innings, a little shakier in the middle against spin, but got home with some comfort. The margin of this particular victory was four wickets, and they had 13 balls to spare - Glenn Maxwell providing the game's best innings again. If you have been following this series closely, though, this report may feel familiar.
One point of difference was that this was Tillakaratne Dilshan's final international. What didn't change, really, was his limited impact with the bat. He was out for one, edging an attempted cut off John Hastings to slip, before the stadium had even properly filled. Kusal Perera dazzled briefly before sending a top edge off James Faulkner to a running, diving David Warner, to be dismissed inside the Powerplay, for 22. That wicket brought two more in quick succession. Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis were both out in single figures, seven runs apart.
Steering clear of trouble at the other end, was a serene Dhananjaya de Silva, who had leant into a flowing cover drive off Mitchell Starc's fourth ball, and set about gracefully collecting runs into the outfield after that. He was light on his feet to spin, and was wise to the seamers' pace variations, hitting five fours in his 62 off 50 balls. One of the more memorable of his strokes was a delightfully late dab to third man, off Maxwell. At the other end, teammates played out a series of forgettable innings. Only de Silva and Kusal Perera made double figure scores.
Chamara Kapugedara and Thisara Perera were both out slogging Adam Zampa, and Seekkuge Prasanna holed out at long on, to Faulkner, and it was these two bowlers who each collected three wickets this time around. They were economical as well as penetrative - neither conceding 20 runs off their four overs. John Hastings was also effective taking two for 23, while Mitchell Starc ensured he would not go wicketless in a single innings of the tour, when he had de Silva caught at mid off in the final over of the innings.
The first over of Australia's response produced just two, but the remainder of the Powerplay was full of Maxwell and David Warner's pyrotechnics. They struck their first boundaries in Sachithra Senanayake's first over - Warner unleashing a particularly vicious reverse-sweep. Suranga Lakmal was carted for 13 in the next over, and Maxwell's reverse-slap for six made an appearance soon after, when he hit the game's first six off Sachith Pathirana.
The fifth and sixth overs, bowled by Senanayake and Thisara Perera, were Australia's most productive, yielding 20 and 19 respectively. Eighteen of those runs against Thisara came off four consecutive balls - Maxwell clubbing him over the deep square leg first up, then slapping three nonchalant fours.
The Powerplay brought 75 runs, and the openers had virtually made the game safe by the ninth over, when Sri Lanka removed Maxwell for the first time in two games. He played on to a full delivery, and the bowler, Seekkuge Prasanna delivered a graceless send-off, which left the departed Maxwell fuming.
That wicket, though, introduced a significant wobble to the innings. Pathirana claimed two wickets in the next over, and Faulkner was run out soon after. Australia needed fewer than 20 runs when Dilshan claimed his first wicket, and fewer than 10 when he took his second, but both breakthroughs prompted joy from the retiring star, and gave an adoring crowd a reason to chant his name. Travis Head finished the match with a slog-swept six that burst through the hands of Senanayake, at cow corner.
Australia 263/3 (20/20 ov)
Sri Lanka 178/9 (20/20 ov)
Australia won by 85 runs
In 90 minutes of outlandish clean-striking, Glenn Maxwell marked a monumental return to form, sent Sri Lanka into freefall, and stole their T20I world record from under their noses.
The scorecard says he hit nine sixes in his 65-ball 145 not out, but it felt like he had hit so many more. It says there were 14 fours in this Maxwell mauling, but so quickly did they come, one after the other, that who is to tell when one boundary ended and another began? It was a blur of bludgeoned sweeps, of wallops down the ground and, occasionally, of enterprising strokes behind the wicket. Australia made 263 for 3. This is the joint-highest T20 score, in addition to being the biggest score in T20 internationals, beating the 260 Sri Lanka had hit against Kenya.
Maxwell had opened the innings in place of the injured Aaron Finch, and he quickly set about knocking Sri Lanka's bowlers out of shape. So battered were they by the end of the Powerplay, in which Australia had cracked 73 for 1, that they soon became helplessly complicit in Maxwell's plunder. Thigh-high full tosses were sent down with masochistic abandon. Errors bred further errors in the outfield. In the 18th over, a catch was dropped, though that was off Travis Head, who was the second-highest scorer with 45 off 18 balls. Each of Sri Lanka's four main bowlers conceded at least 12.75 per over.
The hosts' batting went much better, though they were never really in the hunt. The top three fell cheaply, but Dinesh Chandimal hit 58 off 43 and Chamara Kapugedera 43 off 25. Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland took three wickets apiece, as Sri Lanka finished on 178 for 9 - 86 runs short of the 264-run target.
The first over had cost Sri Lanka only three runs, and though Maxwell hit the innings' first boundary - smoking an overpitched Suranga Lakmal delivery through cover - it was David Warner who doused the scene with petrol, and began the raging fire. Warner eyed up seamer Kasun Rajitha, playing his third international, and banged four consecutive fours in the third over, three of those coming on the off side. It was not long before Maxwell matched that aggression. The first six of the match was a reverse-sweep off Sachithra Senanayake. A four followed next ball, off the same shot.
Neither Warner's dismissal by Senanayake nor the end of the Powerplay made much difference to Maxwell's approach. Decent balls - like Rajitha's slower one on the stumps in the ninth over - where whacked disdainfully over long-on. Then when the bad balls came, like the full toss from Rajitha immediately after, Maxwell biffed that over the boundary as well.
The first of those consecutive sixes brought him his half-century, off 27 balls. He took a further 22 to reach his hundred. Sri Lanka rifled through bowlers in this period, trying off spin, left-arm spin, seam, and whatever it is that Thisara Perera bowls. None of this could make so much as a dent in Maxwell's confidence, which by now was magnetic. Thisara, in fact, came closest to getting him out, in the 13th over, though that wasn't particularly close: Kapugedera, who caught Maxwell on the deep midwicket boundary, had trod on the rope and had to abandon the catch anyway as his momentum was taking him over the rope.
Having reached his first T20 century, and second in international cricket (both have come against Sri Lanka), Maxwell set his sights on the records. His first six in triple figures was perhaps the best of the lot, as he sliced Lakmal beautifully over the deep-cover boundary, immediately after having hit a four to fine leg. Finch, running the drinks in this match, holds the individual T20 record of 156, and Maxwell was in pursuit. When he biffed three consecutive sixes over long-on, off Senanayake, he moved to 134, with 19 balls still remaining in the innings. Head, though, indulged in some brutality of his own, hitting three sixes and four fours in his innings. One of those sixes came over long-on, off Thisara Perera. It was that shot which gave Australia the team total record.
Tillakaratne Dilshan has led outrageous chases before, but when he was bowled trying to clang a Mitchell Starc ball through the leg side in the first over, Sri Lanka's already slim chances became even slimmer. Kusal Perera was out slashing Boland to third man, soon after. By the end of the Powerplay, Sri Lanka had mustered 56 for 3, but with the required rate almost 15, the chase just became about limiting the severity of the loss.
Kusal Mendis made an attractive 22 replete with a pulled six off James Faulkner, and an imperious, lofted off-drive off Moises Henriques, but he was out in the eighth over. Chandimal pulled his team through those early overs, scoring heavily with his horizontal bat shots, the flat-batted four down the ground off Boland in the fourth over the most memorable among them.
Chandimal and Kapugedera put on Sri Lanka's best partnership, taking a particular liking to the spinners as they made 44 from 29 balls. But they both holed out soon enough. Sri Lanka hit 100 runs in boundaries. Maxwell, who had been dropped from the squad entirely for the ODIs, struck 110 in boundaries by himself.
2nd T20I
Sri Lanka 128/9 (20/20 ov)
Australia 130/6 (17.5/20 ov)
Australia won by 4 wickets (with 13 balls remaining)
Sri Lanka had been changing their side every match and Australia had already sent several men home, but like a well-heeled theatre troupe, the players that remained delivered the same performance they seemed to have given many times over this series.
Sri Lanka won the toss again, batted again, did well for a little while, but mainly collapsed to a modest 128 for 9. Australia were disciplined with the ball, and athletic in the field, bruising at the top of their innings, a little shakier in the middle against spin, but got home with some comfort. The margin of this particular victory was four wickets, and they had 13 balls to spare - Glenn Maxwell providing the game's best innings again. If you have been following this series closely, though, this report may feel familiar.
One point of difference was that this was Tillakaratne Dilshan's final international. What didn't change, really, was his limited impact with the bat. He was out for one, edging an attempted cut off John Hastings to slip, before the stadium had even properly filled. Kusal Perera dazzled briefly before sending a top edge off James Faulkner to a running, diving David Warner, to be dismissed inside the Powerplay, for 22. That wicket brought two more in quick succession. Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis were both out in single figures, seven runs apart.
Steering clear of trouble at the other end, was a serene Dhananjaya de Silva, who had leant into a flowing cover drive off Mitchell Starc's fourth ball, and set about gracefully collecting runs into the outfield after that. He was light on his feet to spin, and was wise to the seamers' pace variations, hitting five fours in his 62 off 50 balls. One of the more memorable of his strokes was a delightfully late dab to third man, off Maxwell. At the other end, teammates played out a series of forgettable innings. Only de Silva and Kusal Perera made double figure scores.
Chamara Kapugedara and Thisara Perera were both out slogging Adam Zampa, and Seekkuge Prasanna holed out at long on, to Faulkner, and it was these two bowlers who each collected three wickets this time around. They were economical as well as penetrative - neither conceding 20 runs off their four overs. John Hastings was also effective taking two for 23, while Mitchell Starc ensured he would not go wicketless in a single innings of the tour, when he had de Silva caught at mid off in the final over of the innings.
The first over of Australia's response produced just two, but the remainder of the Powerplay was full of Maxwell and David Warner's pyrotechnics. They struck their first boundaries in Sachithra Senanayake's first over - Warner unleashing a particularly vicious reverse-sweep. Suranga Lakmal was carted for 13 in the next over, and Maxwell's reverse-slap for six made an appearance soon after, when he hit the game's first six off Sachith Pathirana.
The fifth and sixth overs, bowled by Senanayake and Thisara Perera, were Australia's most productive, yielding 20 and 19 respectively. Eighteen of those runs against Thisara came off four consecutive balls - Maxwell clubbing him over the deep square leg first up, then slapping three nonchalant fours.
The Powerplay brought 75 runs, and the openers had virtually made the game safe by the ninth over, when Sri Lanka removed Maxwell for the first time in two games. He played on to a full delivery, and the bowler, Seekkuge Prasanna delivered a graceless send-off, which left the departed Maxwell fuming.
That wicket, though, introduced a significant wobble to the innings. Pathirana claimed two wickets in the next over, and Faulkner was run out soon after. Australia needed fewer than 20 runs when Dilshan claimed his first wicket, and fewer than 10 when he took his second, but both breakthroughs prompted joy from the retiring star, and gave an adoring crowd a reason to chant his name. Travis Head finished the match with a slog-swept six that burst through the hands of Senanayake, at cow corner.
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