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Has Suresh Raina always been on the heavier side, or has he put on weight recently?

RCB are in turmoil, can't believe how bad they've been with the bat this year.
Reply 2961
Mustafizur needs to work harder if he wants more success as batsmen have begun reading his bowling better, according to Mashrafe.

After coming back from a shoulder surgery late last year, Mustafizur was out of sorts vs NZ and was dropped for the Hyderabad Test in India. He bowled well in patches vs SL, especially in the Test series, but wasn't at his best in the two completed ODIs and the first T20I. In the second T20I against Sri Lanka, however, he took 4 for 21 but was expensive in his only appearance for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2017, conceding 34 runs in 2.4 overs. He has been benched since then, and Mashrafe said that the tournament will be a difficult one for the team and Mustafizur, as they are placed in the same group as hosts England, Australia and New Zealand.

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha, meanwhile, says the SL tour was up there with the "very best" for the country.
Reply 2962
Pakistan vs WI tomorrow. Windies need to improve having gone on to lose five wickets in the first 30 overs of the game, and drop straightforward catches, in Kingston. The tourists' only concerns might centre around their misfiring top order. Shehzad must surely deliver soon? Apart from a pair of fifties, Shehzad has struggled to get going since his return to the highest level during the limited-overs leg of this tour. With Pakistan's selectors showing impatience at the top order - Kamran Akmal has already been dropped from the Champions Trophy squad - Shehzad must be feeling the pressure of playing for his place again.

West Indies' squad is unchanged from the one that fell to a seven-wicket defeat in Kingston. One of Shimron Hetmyer and Vishaul Singh could make way for Jermaine Blackwood, while Misbah-ul-Haq did say Pakistan would consider the possibility of playing two spinners. That would also give them a fifth bowling option, so necessary in an attack that relies on three fast bowlers. If Pakistan win this Test, it will mark their first ever Test series win in the Caribbean. The first Test marked the sixth time two Pakistan bowlers took six or more wickets in a Test. The last time this happened was in 2002.

In other news, Yorkshire beat Notts in the Royal London One-Day Cup, Root hitting 75 - and pulling his brother Billy for six to seal the victory.
At Lords for the Middlesex v Gloucestershire game. Toby Roland-Jones and Adam Voges have ensured it will be competetive.

Beer in hand!
Reply 2964
Original post by barnetlad
At Lords for the Middlesex v Gloucestershire game. Toby Roland-Jones and Adam Voges have ensured it will be competetive.

Beer in hand!


Very jealous. Enjoy it mate!

A great day’s cricket yesterday. Smith and Manoj Tiwary ensured that Pune sealed their position at fourth place in the points table with a commanding 50-run stand. The hosts were put in to bat by Virat Kohli and the openers, Ajinkya Rahane in particular, found it difficult to score runs freely on a dry surface. But Bangalore added to their own woes when Kohli dropped Tripathi when he was just 11. Pune collected 43 runs in the Powerplay, but only 26 in the next five overs, hitting only one four. Tripathi's departure in the ninth over brought Smith and Tiwary together and the duo lifted the run rate with aggression. Smith smacked two more boundaries in the 14th over before he departed for a 32-ball 45, which included five fours and a six. Tiwary remained unbeaten on a 35-ball 44 and, alongside MS Dhoni, helped Pune post a respectable 157. Smith and Tiwary scored at 9.09 runs an over in the 5.3 overs they batted together.

In the other match, Patel and Jos Buttler got Mumbai off to a flier, with a 43-run opening stand from just 3.6 overs, and Jasprit Bumrah eventually forced a narrow win in a tense tiebreaker against Gujarat - the first of the season.
Reply 2965
WI six down for 186, Chase unbeaten on 131 after Abbas and Amir claimed two wickets apiece, for 47 and 52 off 18 and 22 overs respectively. The former claimed Hetmyer, caught by Azhar for 1, and Singh, caught by Younis for 3. Younis also snaffled Dowrich off Shadab for 29, after Hope kicked behind to Sarfraz off Yasir for 5. Sarfraz caught Brathwaite off Amir for 9, and Powell was trapped in front by the same bowler for 38, leaving Chase not out at stumps alongside Holder, on 58.

The day started ominously for WI but they recovered to post 120 in the final session. West Indies slumped to 37 for 3 at one stage and threatened scoring less than 200 at another, when Pakistan reduced them to 154 for 6. That's Chase fourth score of over fifty in Test cricket, in his ninth match. Three of these four knocks have come after his team was four down for less than 70, including a match-saving 137 vs India in Jamaica last August. Chase said they would want a minimum of 350 from here, especially as he expected the pitch to deteriorate quite a bit going forward.

Pakistan have opened up a nine-point lead on West Indies in the updated ICC ODI rankings. Pakistan, ranked No. 8, and West Indies, ranked No. 9, are in a race to be in the top eight come September 30, the cut-off date for direct qualification for World Cup 2019 - only the top-eight teams qualify directly for the showpiece 50-over tournament. At the other end of the rankings, SA and Australia have retained their No. 1 and 2 positions and India and New Zealand have swapped places, with India moving up to No. 3. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh remain No. 6 and 7 respectively, with Afghanistan rounding off the top ten, above Zimbabwe and Ireland. West Indies have ODI series against Afghanistan and England scheduled before the cut-off date, but will not be part of the eight-team Champions Trophy in England in June. Last month, West Indies had lost an ODI series to Pakistan 2-1 at home.
(edited 6 years ago)
Nothing beats being there and I enjoyed an afternoon of cricket at Lords. Excellent century from Ian Cockburn who timed the run chase just right.
Reply 2967
The England squad is nice and settled for the CT. Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes have started to make their mark in the IPL in recent days and they will be gaining from the experience. But is the lack of gametime for others an issue? Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy have also been in India but have played only six IPL matches between them. Sam Billings, who will be keeping wicket on Friday in the absence of Buttler, has made more of an impact for the Delhi Daredevils.

SL have appointed Allan Donald as a consultant fast bowling coach for the Champions Trophy to be played in England in June. Donald was due to join Kent this summer as assistant coach but his arrival had been delayed because of work-permit issues and the county has agreed to release him for a two-month stint with Sri Lanka. Donald will now take up his role with Kent in 2018 after completing his Level 3 coaching qualification. He worked as a bowling coach for South Africa for four years until the 2015 World Cup. He was also hired by Australia to mentor their bowlers for the Sri Lanka tour in July 2016 and has worked with two IPL franchises - Pune Warriors and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Reply 2968
Pakistan 172-3, after removing WI for 312. Mohammad Abbas had Holder caught by Sarfraz for 58, before Chase made 131 before Amir had him caught by Younis. Joseph was bowled by Yasir for 8 to wrap up the innings, with the spinner ending with 2-83. Abbas posted 4-56, having Bishoo caught by Younis, while Amir claimed 3-65.

Azhar is 81 not out, alongside Misbah on 7, after Babar and Younis both fell for ducks. The former was caught and bowled by Gabriel, the latter snaffled by Gabriel off Bishoo, following Shehzad being caught by Hope for 70 off Bishoo. WI will be frustrated Shehzad was gifted three lives. Bishoo extracted an outside edge from Shehzad to have him caught at slip with the score at 155 after he was dropped as early as the third over, and was dismissed twice off deliveries that turned out to be no-balls. Shannon Gabriel was the first culprit, Roston Chase was the other.
Go Mumbai ! Into the play-offs
Reply 2970
A good day’s cricket on Monday, as we saw Buttler and Rana's 61-run stand for the second wicket set up a platform that Rohit Sharma eventually used to seal MI qualification for the play-offs. The duo scored at 8.31 runs an over in the 7.2 overs that they batted together. Pawan Negi, who had earlier starred with the bat for RCB, finally dismissed Buttler and Rana two-overs apart, but the early damage had already been done.

Elsewhere, Stokes scored his maiden hundred in T20s and combined with MS Dhoni for a 76-run stand for the fifth wicket, which guided Pune past Gujarat. The hosts needed eight runs an over from the onset in their pursuit of a 162-run target, but Gujarat's seamers Pradeep Sangwan and Basil Thampi tore through Pune top order, leaving them reeling at 11 for 3 by the second over. Stokes looked in ominous form right from the onset, though. He raced away to 25 off 17 to keep the required rate in check and kept his head when Pune were reduced to 42 for 4 in 5.3 overs. Stokes remained unbeaten on a 63-ball 103 that guided Pune home. Dhoni and Stokes had scored at 7.12 runs in the 10.4 overs that they batted together.

Smith says he told Pune management to do everything they could to secure Stokes at the auction. Stokes has won three Man-of-the-Match awards in eight matches in IPL 2017, each performance leading to a Rising Pune Supergiant victory.
Misbah getting back to back 99's. Ouch.
Reply 2972
Twice yesterday, West Indies were denied the wicket of Shehzad on account of a bowler overstepping. In the first instance, Gabriel struck Shehzad plumb in front of the stumps, only for a review to show it was a no-ball. Shehzad was on 21 at the time and that delivery was Gabriel's sixth no-ball of the innings. A few overs later, Chase, bowling off spin, would have had Shehzad out stumped for 32 had he not overstepped. Overall, West Indies conceded nine runs in no-balls in Pakistan's innings on the second day, eight from Gabriel.

The no-ball issue isn't a new one facing the side. In the first Test in Jamaica, West Indies gave away 12 runs in no-balls in Pakistan's first innings, six from Gabriel. Although there were no wicket-taking chances squandered because of overstepping in that innings, West Indies still ended up conceding 27 runs in extras in Pakistan's total of 407. West Indies did fight back in the final session in Bridgetown on Monday, taking three wickets in a space of five overs, but they will have to lift their game considerably given the lack of assistance for seamers on the track and Pakistan's score of 172 for 3 at the end of the day.

Today, Pakistan were removed for 393, with Azhar falling for 105 (his 13th Test hundred), courtesy of a Dowrich catch off Bishoo. Bishoo ended with 3-116, following his claiming of Shehzad and Younis yesterday. Gabriel claimed 4-81 - removing Babar yesterday for 0, Sarfraz and Shadab for 9 and 16 via Powell and Hope catches, and Yasir to round off the innings, caught by Dowrich for 24. Holder also claimed three, for 42, removing Misbah on 99, caught by Hope, Shafiq trapped LBW for 15, and Amir caught by Hope for 10. In reply, WI are 40-1 after losing Powell, caught by Sarfraz off Abbas for 6, leaving Brathwaite and Hetymer not out on 8 and 22 respectively.

WI will rue missed chances after they claimed three wickets for 13 runs before tea, but they will regret allowing Pakistan's tailenders to make sizeable contributions after the Windies had Pakistan seven down at tea for a lead of 17 runs. In all, Pakistan added 64 runs - of which Yasir scored 24 - during the latter stages of their innings. Pakistan went from 316 for 4 to 329 for 7 at one stage, having lost Misbah, who was also stranded on 99 vs WI last time out.
best 2017 ipl line up? based on form mine would be

1 warner / narine
2 amla / gambhir
3 Robin uttapha
4 Rohit Sharma
5 Kedhar Jadhav
6 MS Dhoni (c + wk)
7 Ben Stokes
8 Chris Morris
9 Mitchell McClenagahn
10 Bhuvaneshwar Kumar
11 Imran Tahir / Rashid Khan

1 leggie (ft)
1 offie (pt)
4 pacers
4 pinch hitters
1 accumulator
consistent middle order
Reply 2974
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Cable knit is back!
In Northampton today but did not go to the One Day cup game v Worcestershire. Very cold for May so no wonder the home side opted to field first
Reply 2976
Big game in the IPL tomorrow, as Delhi face Gujarat, in a battle of 6th vs 7th. The race to qualify for the play-offs is reaching its conclusion.

DD beat RCB recently but lost to KKR and KXIP, while the Lions were defeated by Pune and Mumbai, but also beat lowly Bangalore. Zaheer Khan is still injured, DD have lost Billings to England duty, but Morris and Rabada will be available until May 7. With Jason Roy away on international duty, Lions' roster now only has five fit overseas players - B-Mac, D Smith, Finch and Faulkner, and Suri.

A lot will rest on Sanju's ability to start. His SR vs pace is 153. But force him to play spin and his strike-rate drops to 107; it dips even further to 75 over 20 balls faced in the Powerplay. With that in mind Jadeja may bowl to him early, but Daredevils have a way to stifle Lions' top-order, too. Morris has dismissed Raina three times in 17 balls, giving away only 12 runs, and has also knocked over B-Mac twice in 13 deliveries, at the cost of 17 runs. Morris is one of the men to have bowled at least 10 overs in the death in IPL 2017. His economy rate of 7.76 ranks third in that list after Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Andrew Tye.

DD could deploy Iyer instead of Samson because, in 30 T20 innings at the top, he averages 30.78 and strikes at 132. In 17 innings at all other positions, he averages 16.40. But I'd keep him in the middle order. In the IPL, he averages 51 against spinners, and hits them at 136 per 100 balls. Against pace, the corresponding figures come down to 22 and 122. DD have had differing luck at the top of the order, with four different combinations used, behind only Royal Challengers Bangalore. Delhi's biggest opening stand in a match amounted to 53 runs - the worst among all teams this year - and their average scoring rate of 7.81 is the second-worst. D Smith has had a poor year: he averages 23, strikes at 122, and has bagged seven ducks.

Roy will instead turn out for Surrey in two Royal London One-Day Cup fixtures later this month, following the completion of this week's ODI series against Ireland. He has played a peripheral role for Gujarat in his maiden IPL stint, with just three outings and a top-score of 31 from 21 balls to date, and having indicated last month that an early return to county cricket was on the cards, he has now been released by the ECB to play in two RLODC matches against Essex on May 12 and Hampshire on May 14.
Reply 2977
WI end the day 264-9. After Powell fell on day three, Yasir claimed 6-90: he removed Brathwaite, caught by Younis for 43, Chase caught and bowled for 23, Dowrich and Shafiq caught by Shafiq and Younis for 2 and 1, Joseph caught by Amir for 7, and Hope caught by Azhar for 90. Abbas picked up a second wicket, clean bowling Singh for 32, ending with 2-57. Amir conceded 44 runs but also claimed a wicket, having Hetymer bowled for 22.

The day ends with Pakistan firmly in the ascendancy. Hope spent five hours at the crease but WI lost three wickets in eight balls for one run in the final five minutes of play, leaving them with a lead of 183 with one wicket in hand. Hope says he takes "some responsibility" for the five wickets they lost in the last session and he was "not pleased" about missing out on his maiden Test century but he led West Indies from 41 for 2 past 200 by batting over five hours for his 90. He had half-century stands with Kraigg Brathwaite, Roston Chase and Vishaul Singh. After making only 5, 6 and 2 in three previous innings in the series, and playing his ninth Test, it represents a welcome change.
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 2978
I'm really excited for these Ireland matches, you know. They may not be the side of the mid-00s, when they burst onto the international stage and were the finest minnows around, but that's largely because their squad is ageing and their best players are either on the hill or well over it. For years, the ECB were guilty of keeping Ireland at arm's length and not embracing associate cricket, but there's been a change in narrative now and a welcoming of Ireland, which is great. The matches are sell-outs and I'm hopeful for a great atmosphere. Really, it's a damning indictment of the ECB's outlook that this is the first time in 11 years Ireland have been invited over for a tour.

The future looks bright for Ireland. They have incorporated many grass-roots initiatives to boost the popularity of the sport. Subject to approval in June, the path will be cleared for them, and most likely Afghanistan, to apply for Test status and begin a new era at the top table. They have already achieved great feats, of course. They beat the Windies in 2007 and 2015, and England in 2011. William Porterfield, the O’Brien brothers, Boyd Rankin (absent this week through injury) and Ed Joyce their greatest run‑scorer are into their 30s. There is talent behind them not least Paul Stirling - and the Irish have of course had to deal with their best players seeking to further their careers overseas, with Joyce, Rankin and Eoin Morgan all pursuing international careers with England.

Bairstow, meanwhile, warmed up for England’s one day international against Ireland with a career best 174 in 113 balls vs Durham as Yorkshire completed their highest successful one-day run-chase, scoring 339 for four to win by six wickets in the Royal London One-Day Cup. Alongside Root, who added 55 for Yorkshire, Bairstow led a stand 189 for the second wicket inside 26 overs after Durham’s Cook and Richardson both hit hundreds and Jennings scored 72 in their side’s 335 for five. Bairstow, who was dropped on 71, hit seven sixes and 16 fours before being caught off Weighell. And Morgan says Stokes will return to an England team with “all the attributes” to win the CT after an impressive IPL stint which has seen him pick up three man-of-the-match awards to date and score 103 not out against Gujarat Lions on Monday.


Even in the absence of several first-choice players, England will expect to win both games at a canter. Bairstow will need to impress now that Sam Billings has been earmarked to keep wicket in the absence of Buttler, in spite of Bairstow's solidity as the Test No.1. Bairstow's innings of 174 from 113 balls for Yorkshire vs Durham will stand him in good stead, while Ireland will back Murtagh to impress. At 35, he has barely featured for Middlesex in the RLODC so far, but he has good knowledge of English pitches and is a wise, old head. England will line-up with Roy and Hales, followed by Root, Morgan, Bairstow and Billings. You imagine they will deploy one spinner - Rashid or Mo - with Willey, Plunkett, Ball and Wood selected. O'Brien's return from a hamstring injury is a welcome boost for Ireland. That said, his brother, Niall, could conceivably give way to Andy Bilbirnie, with Gary Wilson taking the gloves.

Bristol is set to host its 14th ODI, and 16th international fixture all told, following two T20Is in 2006 and 2011. Of those, England have featured in 10 of the last 11 ODIs, dating back to 2001, but their record is inauspicious. The last of their three victories came against West Indies in 2009. The following year they lost to Bangladesh for the first time in their history. England's last two fixtures at Bristol have failed to be completed. The match against India was abandoned in 2014, while there was no result against Sri Lanka last year.
Reply 2979
What a win for the Windies. Removed for 268, when Azhar snaffled Bishoo for 20 off Yasir, who completed figures of 7-94, WI ran riot: Pakistan were bundled out for 84, with Gabriel claiming 5-11 - Azhar caught by Hetmyer for 10, Misbah and Shafiq sent back for ducks caught by Hope and Powell respectively, Yasir clean bowled for 0, and Amir snaffled by Singh for 20. Joseph claimed 2-42, having Dowrich snaffle Babar for a duck, and trapping Shehzad leg before for 14. Holder claimed 3-23, removing Shadad via the keeper for 1, Sarfraz via a Chase catch for 23, and Younis trapped leg before for 5. Azhar and Shehzad's conservative approach - they scored six in the first six overs of the chase - set the tone - and they never recovered.

Only once have Pakistan made a lower score in Tests against West Indies than the 81 today, which is their 10th lowest Test score. Gabriel's figures have only been bettered twice in WI history - Colin Croft had taken 8 for 29 in Port of Spain in 1976-77, while Corey Collymore took 7 for 78 in Kingston in 2005. Gabriel's match figures of 9 for 92 are the second-best for a West Indies pacer in Tests against Pakistan. WI seamers claimed 10 wickets for the first time in six years, and 2015 was the last time West Indies won a Test match after conceding the first-innings lead: also in Bridgetown, vs England. Yasir's figures are the second-best for any Pakistan bowler vs WI (Imran Khan took 7 for 80 in Georgetown in 1988) and his figures are the 3rd best by a Pakistan bowler in a losing cause against any opposition. He was let down by his batsmen, though. Pakistan lasted 34.4 overs - only once before have they been bowled out in quicker time by West Indies in Tests.

The seeds of the win were sown during the course of the fourth afternoon when Hope, who averaged little over 15 in eight Tests prior to this, made a 90 that stretched the lead to 187.
(edited 6 years ago)

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