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First series win in England since 1999 was firm focus, says vice-captain

Matt Roller13-Jun-2021New Zealand’s series win in England is their first since 1999 and they have an opportunity to add the inaugural World Test Championship title next week when they play India at the Ageas Bowl.Which is the bigger prize? “Both sounds pretty good,” Tom Latham, their vice-captain, grinned after leading them to victory at Edgbaston. “From our point of view, it was about coming here and focusing on these first two Test matches against England and trying to continue doing what we’ve been doing over a couple of years now. Now that we’ve ticked them off, it’s important that our focus shifts to India in a couple of days.”It’s a fantastic achievement from the group. I think it’s important that we celebrate with each other. It hasn’t been done since ’99. For us to come here as a group, it was about trying to play our brand of cricket and I thought we did that really well over the four days and got our rewards at the end.”While New Zealand’s recent record against England has been excellent – they have won four and drawn three of their last seven Tests against them, dating back to 2015 – their away record against the big three of India, England and Australia had been poor since that 1999 triumph, with just two victories in their previous 39 attempts. Latham said that his memories of seeing teams struggle on previous tours made the victory even better.”I certainly remember staying up late, watching teams come over to England and playing Test cricket – at Lord’s, and all these iconic grounds. For us to come here and put a performance on the board that was true to us was really important.”It was about trying to do what we do really well and I thought we did. [It’s] well documented that ’99 was the last time we’d won here and we have been here a couple of times in recent years and haven’t quite got the rewards. It’s certainly an achievement that’s worth celebrating.”New Zealand’s series win also took them back to No. 1 in the ICC’s Test rankings, leapfrogging India, their upcoming opponents. They reached the summit for the first time earlier this year after beating Pakistan, before India nudged past them following their 3-1 series win against England in March.Related

• WTC final: Bowlers promise anticipation of the familiar as well as thrill of the unknown

• Ajaz Patel: Culture and positivity breed our success

• New Zealand romp to series victory as Tom Latham seals 38-run chase

• As it happened – England vs New Zealand, 2nd Test, Edgbaston, 4th day

• New Zealand demonstrate bench strength ahead of World Test Championship final

They made six changes from the team that drew at Lord’s, with Kane Williamson, BJ Watling, and Mitchell Santner suffering elbow, back and finger niggles respectively, and Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson all rested ahead of the main event.Latham said that New Zealand expect to have a clean bill of health leading into that final, and paid tribute to the strength in depth within the squad.”It was amazing from a personnel change of six guys. That hasn’t happened for a long time in this group and it has been a hard team to crack into. For all those guys to get that opportunity – Will Young, Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel – was fantastic. They performed their roles really well.”[Watling and Williamson] are travelling reasonably well. It was important for them to get a little bit of rest in order to be fully fit heading into next week. Fingers crossed we’ll have a fully-fit squad.”As for the challenge India will present, Latham said that their performances on their tour of England in 2018 – albeit in a 4-1 series defeat – demonstrated that they would be tough to beat at the Ageas Bowl.”They’ve got a fantastic set of bowlers, [and] a lot of quality batsmen that have scored runs in different conditions all round the world. They were over here a few years ago and played really well, so we know we’ll have to play well to beat them.”Our focus will shift to them in a couple of days. The preparation has been great but it’s important that we do shift our focus and adapt to a completely different side.”

India’s bowlers lost the second warm-up Twenty20 from a strong position against Pakistan, but Rohit Sharma does not believe the side’s attack is a concern ahead of the World Twenty20

Abhishek Purohit in Colombo17-Sep-2012India’s bowlers lost the second warm-up Twenty20 from a strong position against Pakistan, but Rohit Sharma does not believe the side’s attack is a concern ahead of the World Twenty20. Rohit pointed out that the same bowlers had defended a much lower total against Sri Lanka in the first warm-up match on Saturday.”It was one of those bad days, I would say,” Rohit said. “If you look at the last game against Sri Lanka, the bowlers got plenty of wickets. We defended a low score on that track, 145-odd runs. It was not a par score [for that track] yet the bowlers defended that. Yes, we had an off day today. I am sure we will come hard against Afghanistan and [do well] from there on.”Rohit and Virat Kohli had made fifties to lift India to 185 for 3, which Rohit felt was a decent score on the Premadasa pitch, but barring R Ashwin, who took 4 for 23, all the India bowlers were wicketless and expensive. “The track was very good to bat on. As you saw, more than 180 runs were scored in both the innings. It was a typical Sri Lankan wicket; if you bat well and apply yourself, you will get runs here. It was a good target I felt on this track, because I thought there was a little bit of help for the spinners. But it was one of those days where things didn’t come together.”We still have one more day before our actual game on 19th, so we will see how we should come back. It is not the end, it is just the start. Still a long way to go in the tournament, unfortunately things didn’t go our way today.”Rohit said despite it being a warm-up game, India had come out wanting to win it. “We were very focussed. We were quite intense in the field. It’s just that our bowling didn’t click together, which is a little bit frustrating because if you want to win the game everything has to click together. Our bowlers did a pretty good job in the first warm-up game when we defended 145 on that flat track. I don’t want to take any credit away from them. They have been bowling really well. I am sure they will come on well as the tournament progresses.”Batting is certainly India’s strength, but the openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir haven’t had a decent outing in both warm-up games. Rohit backed the experienced duo to come good. “Getting a good start is important. They have been batting really well, there is no doubt about that. I am sure that in the coming games, when the actual tournament starts, they will come good. They have experience playing in these conditions and it is just a matter of one game, and we are right in it after that.”

Homegrown James takes career-best figures as defending champions lose by an innings and 30 runs

David Hopps09-May-2021Essex’s Championship defence is running aground. In Somerset and Yorkshire, the two counties most fancied to raise a challenge, anticipation will be growing that this could be their year. They now have one win in five and their second defeat of the season – by an innings and 30 runs against Nottinghamshire – will demand an urgent assessment of why their season is going awry.Even the convenience of a third day lost to heavy rain did not allow Essex to give the slightest indication that they might save the game. They trailed by 95 at the start of play, with seven wickets remaining, and would have needed to bat until tea or thereabouts. Instead, they capitulated on the stroke of one o’clock. With half their group games spent they lie second bottom and need a quick response.Dismissed for 99 on a Trent Bridge greentop in the first innings, they lost their last seven wickets for 38. Faced again by encouraging bowling conditions (how could it be otherwise after Saturday’s deluge?), their last six second-innings wickets fell for 29. There is a lot of onus on their top four to fire and, in this game, Tom Westley and Dan Lawrence failed in both innings.Related

• Luke Fletcher bags six wickets as Essex are bowled out for 99

• Alastair Cook may rue lean Trent Bridge harvest as Steven Mullaney makes hay

• Ben Sanderson, Gareth Berg share 19 wickets as Northamptonshire thrash Sussex

How quickly perceptions can change. Little more than week ago, Nottinghamshire were easy to depict as the county that had tried and failed to buy their way out of decline. But they won at the 31st time of asking, shouldering aside Derbyshire by an innings, and have followed that up by thrashing the champions by an innings.They now top Group One and, although they are surely the Katy Perry of the Championship – “You’re hot then you’re cold, you’re yes then you’re no, you’re in then you’re out, you’re up then you’re down” – they might just surprise everyone for qualifying for the top group with a top-two finish.They even had a homegrown player at the heart of their victory. Lyndon James, a willowy allrounder with close-cropped fair hair, followed up a maiden first-class 50 in Notts’ first-innings with career-best bowling figures of 4 for 51, and 6 for 54 in the match. A product of Caythorpe in the Notts Premier League, he will help lift the reputation of a Notts academy that has often invited criticism in recent seasons.With bat and ball, James looked to be a thoughtful cricketer, and indeed had a season as Notts’ 2nd XI captain. He glided to the crease and swung the ball at the high end of medium pace. Notts have not been entirely sure how to get him into the side, but it is in the middle order where he gives them a better balance, allowing them to pick a spinner as well as lighten the bowling load on the captain, Steven Mullaney.The most striking attribute about Notts’ bowling performance, though, was not the individual but the collective. Their consistency never gave Essex an outlet, and the other batter who did resist for any length of time, Paul Walter, was rendered almost strokeless as his 30 encompassed 106 balls.It soon became apparent that after the deluge, and on a warmer but still cloudy morning, the bowlers would still prosper. Nevertheless, Notts needed early proof of that in the wickets column and Fletcher, who took a couple of overs to find his range, provided it by having Nick Browne caught at the wicket with one that left him.Browne, with two half-centuries in the match, scored 43% of Essex’s runs off the bat. With his departure, the dam had been breached. Four wickets fell for nine runs in 25 balls, three of them to James.He began with a double wicket maiden. Ryan ten Doeschate, who invites an lbw, fell to a big inducker and Adam Wheater was bowled through the gate, driving, second ball, hardly the show of resolve that Essex needed. Walter’s obduracy was then ended by a fast catch to his left, at second slip, by Ben Duckett.James had enjoyed a rewarding Championship debut against Essex in 2018 and now he had visions of his first five-wicket haul, only for Haseeb Hameed to drop Peter Siddle at third slip.When Siddle was ninth out, the second new ball was due and Stuart Broad was meaningfully hanging around the stumps as if he quite fancied bowling with it. Mullaney, astutely, allowed James two more overs to get his maiden five-for, but it was not to be and back-slaps at the end of his spell did not dissuade him from a frustrated grimace and scuff of the turf.

The points docked after the Test at the MCG ended up being the difference for Australia

Daniel Brettig09-Mar-20218:06

Ravi Shastri on India qualifying for WTC from bio-bubble: ‘I cannot say enough how proud I am of my team’

Though Australia were comfortably clear in the World Test Championship standings at the time, Australia’s coach Justin Langer has admitted to a feeling of dread when his side dropped four points due to a penalty for slow over rates during the Boxing Day Test against India – ultimately all that separated the team from a place in the final later this year.While Tim Paine’s side won only two of the four series it contested over the period of the WTC, while also having away series against Bangladesh and South Africa cancelled due to complications around Covid-19, they would have claimed enough points over matches played to squeak past New Zealand into second place behind India if not for being docked the four points at the conclusion of the MCG loss.Langer claimed that the team had no idea they were behind the required over rate by enough of a margin to incur a penalty until after the Test concluded, despite regular updates always being provided by match officials. In 2008, Australia’s then captain Ricky Ponting resorted to bowling part-timers at a critical moment of a Test match in Nagpur when there were concerns the team’s over rate had sagged to a level at which he may well have been suspended under the disciplinary system in use by the ICC at the time.Related

• England and India docked two WTC points apiece for slow over rate

• Australia players '100% behind' head coach Justin Langer, says Tim Paine

• Covid summer brings Australia back to the field

• A decade of Glenn Maxwell: is there another chapter to write?

• India are the best Test team irrespective of WTC standings

“Our manager Gavin Dovey had gone home … for Christmas with his family in England, and it wasn’t until after the game that we realised our over rate was down,” Langer told SEN Radio. “That’s really slack on our behalf, but I remember we were in the team room afterwards and I spoke to Painey and Dene Hills, our analyst, about it. I was a bit grumpy about it and I thought ‘imagine if this cost us the World Test Championship’.”And I mentioned it to the players afterwards that two overs down could cost us the World Test Championship. And so, we have to get better at that and make sure it doesn’t happen in Sydney and Brisbane. It didn’t, but we also couldn’t bowl out India twice and we didn’t make enough runs. It was relevant at the time, and it certainly became incredibly significant over the weekend.”At the start of his reign as coach in 2018, Langer had coined the phrase “From Lille to Lord’s”, in reference to a tenure that had begun with a commemorative trip to the battlefields of the Western Front and took in a couple of chances to play finals at the home of cricket: the 2019 World Cup final and this year’s WTC final, albeit before it was moved to Southampton’s Ageas Bowl.The MCG proved costly for Australia, and not just because of the defeat against India•Getty Images

“It’s disappointing for a couple of reasons – one we didn’t get to play in South Africa to have another crack at it after the India series and is it’s disappointing for me because this Test Championship goes over a couple of years, we were in the box seat for a lot of it,” Langer said.”We’ve played some great cricket. Losing to India at home that was really disappointing, but…we got docked two [four] points for a slow over rate, and that cost us. That’s how close it was and how often do you get docked points in Test cricket these days? Rarely. We have that in our control, that’s an attitudinal thing, at the time we probably thought ‘oh it’s not that big a deal’, but that cost us the WTC after what had been two really good years when we were ranked No. 1 again. The things we can control we have to control, and we can’t for a second relax in Test cricket.”After Australia’s white-ball squad returned home from a 3-2 T20I series defeat in New Zealand that he sat out, Langer expressed approval for Glenn Maxwell’s recently stated desire to put himself back into Test match contention given the multiple Test series looming for the national team in Asia over the next two years.”I’m absolutely supportive of that,” Langer said. “We know how destructive he can be. We’re always looking for greater consistency from Maxy and all of our players, but he’s so destructive and so talented and a gun fielder.”I’d love that energy in the field. For example, I think we dropped 16 catches in this Test series, things that are in our control like the over rate, and they’re areas we want to keep getting better at because otherwise the old ‘catches win matches’ costs you. Glenn Maxwell’s fielding, he bowls handy offspinners, absolutely we would encourage him to get amongst it. I’d like to see all our star players playing. It would be good for Glenn Maxwell, but it would be great for domestic cricket.”You imagine young bowlers bowling against a hungry Glenn Maxwell who wants to push to play Test cricket in the future. He’ll be hungry, I’d love to see [Aaron] Finch play as well. I’d love to see all those guys play because never underestimate the benefit for young players, within your team and the opposition, playing against the best players. But that’s going to be a decision for Victoria and I’ll watch that really closely.”It remains to be seen whether Maxwell will be included in the Victorian squad for their coming bracket of Sheffield Shield matches ahead of his next stint in the IPL.

Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has been rested for the remaining three ODIs against Pakistan following a knee operation after the home series against England in March

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Colombo12-Jun-2012Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has been rested for the remaining three ODIs against Pakistan following a knee operation after the home series against England in March. The national selectors have picked the uncapped left-arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon as his replacement.Herath played the first two ODIs in Pallekele, but keeping in mind his expected heavy workload in the Tests as the lead spinner, the team management has decided to let him recuperate till the Test series which begins in Galle on June 22.”We had decided that he would play only two to three games in this series because it’s always tough to return after an operation,” Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, said on the eve of the third ODI in Colombo. “He felt it sore in the first two games. If you noticed while fielding he was struggling a bit.”Weerakoon, 34, has been on the fringes of national selection for a few years. He was the third-highest wicket-taker in the first-class 2011-12 Tier A competition with 42 wickets for Colts Cricket Club. In 2005, the consistency Weerakoon showed for the A team pushed the selectors to include him in the senior squad for three Tests against India in place of Herath, but he didn’t break into the playing XI.”I’m really happy and thrilled about this call,” Weerakoon said. “I got this call after seven years, and seven years means a long time. I made lots of sacrifices during that period.”I think I have done enough to convince them that I deserve a place in the Sri Lanka team. I was told about this decision just a couple of days ago by the team manager (Charith Senanayake).”Weerakoon said that it was his performances in the Premier tournament that earned him a call-up. “I think that’s why I’m here today. I was really determined to make my way into the national side. I never gave up. All I wanted was to represent Sri Lanka, at least in one game. I think that’s why I’m here today.”Weerakoon said that in those seven years he got valuable advice from spin bowling coach Piyal Wijetunge, a former Sri Lanka left-arm spinner. If picked, Weerakoon will become the second oldest Sri Lanka to make an ODI debut, after Michael Tissera, who played his first ODI in 1975 at the age of 36.Jayawardene said Weerakoon’s experience in the domestic circuit – he has 693 first-class wickets – should serve him well. “Personally I feel he is a deserving candidate and hopefully he will get his opportunity tomorrow,” Jayawardene said. “He has been in the shadows of Murali, Malinga Bandara, Herath and Ajantha Mendis for quite some time. He is a fighter. He has a lot of experience in club cricket and the A team.”With inputs from Kanishkaa Balachandran

Steve Magoffin proved the match-winner for Sussex in a gripping climax to their match against Durham

21-Jul-2012
ScorecardSteve Magoffin proved the match-winner for Sussex in a gripping climax to their match against Durham at Arundel. The Australian fast bowler took 6 for 22 as Durham were dismissed for 93 in their second innings, then scored 23 not out to see his side to a two-wicket win.Needing 94, Sussex looked doomed when Magoffin went to the crease at 50 for 7, but Kirk Wernars helped him put on 23 then he and James Anyon knocked off the remaining runs.Durham were almost entirely dependent on their two swing and seam bowlers, Callum Thorp and Chris Rushworth, who had taken four wickets each in the first innings. They shared seven second time around, while home captain Mike Yardy was run out, but once they began to tire the balance tipped back in Sussex’s favour.With 11 runs needed Paul Collingwood gambled by bringing on Ben Stokes in place of Rushworth, who had bowled 15 overs. But eight runs came off the over and Anyon was able to pick off the three remaining runs against Thorp, who finished with 4 for 38 in 17 overs.Sussex’s third win of the season kept them in the top half of the table while defeat left Durham even further adrift at the bottom, still looking for their first win.After the sides finished level on 231 in the first innings, Durham began the day on 80 for 7 and were all out for 93. Collingwood failed to add to his 29, falling in the first over to Kirk Wernars when he became one of the game’s 15 lbw victims. Magoffin did the rest, pinning Thorp lbw before taking out Mitch Claydon’s middle stump.Rushworth had Luke Wells lbw with the sixth ball of the Sussex innings then Joe Gatting was well caught by Scott Borthwick at second slip off Thorp, who also bowled Chris Nash. It became 27 for 4 when Yardy pushed the ball to midwicket and set off for a risky run, which Murray Goodwin declined.When Rushworth brought one sharply back to rock Luke Wright’s off stump Durham were favourites. After lunch Ben Brown was adjudged lbw when well forward to Rushworth and Goodwin nicked a ball on to his pad and was caught at slip.Phil Mustard, standing up to Thorp, took a brilliant leg-side catch to end Wernars’ resistance, but by that time Magoffin had stolen the initiative by running Thorp to the vacant third man boundary then cutting him for four. Those two shots eased the pressure and Collingwood’s overnight prediction that Durham would need a lead of 120 proved accurate.

England’s defence of their World Twenty20 title ended with a 19-run defeat against Sri Lanka

The Report by Andrew McGlashan01-Oct-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIt was the turn of Lasith Malinga to be Sri Lanka’s matchwinner with five wickets•AFP

England’s defence of their World Twenty20 title ended with a 19-run defeat against Sri Lanka, as the home side were cheered on amid a raucous atmosphere generated by a vibrant home crowd. Lasith Malinga ripped out the top order with three wickets in four balls, to immediately set back a tough chase of 170, then returned to finish with 5 for 31 just when Samit Patel offered England a glimmer.Malinga had been relatively quiet in the tournament until today, taking three wickets in five matches, but doubled his tally in the blink of an eye when he was brought on for the third over. Luke Wright, promoted to open after Craig Kieswetter was dropped, unleashed a fierce square cut but sent it straight to backward point, Jonny Bairstow was done by a slower ball to end a difficult tournament and next ball Alex Hales was pinned by an inswinging yorker, although replays suggested it was sliding down leg.There were low expectations from outside the England squad before the tournament and they have never looked like being capable of defending their crown. Patel, at least, could hold his head high with a powerful 67 off 48 balls to show he has been underused whereas others, like Jos Buttler, who gave Malinga his fourth when he hooked to long leg, often appeared out of their depth. Graeme Swann swung strongly, making the highest score by a No. 9 in T20s, and the fifty stand with Patel came from 26 balls but, as against West Indies – whose progression was secured by England’s defeat – it always needed a miracle of Medinah proportions.The top order has cost England throughout the tournament and reshuffling did them no good. From 18 for 3, their hopes were lifted by Patel, who before this innings had not faced a ball in the tournament. Sent in a No. 4, in a failed attempt to keep Eoin Morgan away from the first six overs, he drove a straight six before adding five fours – including three of Ajantha Mendis’ first over – in his first 20 deliveries. For all the talk of spin, Sri Lanka bowled one over of it in the first eight.

Smart stats

• Sri Lanka became only the second team after Pakistan to reach the semi-final stage of the World Twenty20 in three tournaments. They were runners-up to Pakistan in 2009 and lost in the semi-final to England in 2010.

• Sri Lanka’s win was their third in four matches against England. Their only loss came in the 2010 World Twenty20 game. It is also Sri Lanka’s sixth win in home Twenty20 internationals and their fifth batting first (home games).

• Lasith Malinga became the eighth bowler to pick up a five-for in a Twenty20 international. His 5 for 31 is the third-best performance by a Sri Lankan bowler after Ajantha Mendis’ 6 for 8 and 6 for 16.

• Samit Patel’s 67 is the second-highest score by an England batsman against Sri Lanka after Marcus Trescothick’s 72 in 2006. Patel’s previous best in ten innings was just 25.

• The 51-run stand between Patel and Graeme Swann is the highest for eighth-wicket stand for England in Twenty20 internationals. Overall, it is the fifth-highest eighth-wicket stand and the second-highest eight-wicket partnership in World Twenty20 matches.

• Sri Lanka’s total of 169 is their fifth-highest in home Twenty20 internationals and their seventh-highest in the World Twenty20.

Mendis continued to prove expensive when Patel collected two more off-side boundaries and it was his 18-year-old team-mate, Akila Dananjaya, who struck the blow that hurt England the most when Morgan missed a reverse sweep. Ravi Bopara, surprisingly recalled as Kieswetter’s replacement, has looked a tortured soul with the bat of late and it was no surprise when he basically missed a straight delivery from Jeevan Mendis. It may be a while until he is back in an England shirt.Unlike most of the strong totals at this tournament, Sri Lanka’s effort was not underpinned by one substantial effort but was forged by free-scoring throughout the line-up, which quietened the concerns about the middle order. Not that the top three, the big three, failed to lay the foundations and it was Mahela Jayawardene, curiously not officially listed as captain at the toss, who marshalled the first half of the innings with a classy display.England’s bowling attack could be split in half. The combined eight overs of the three players brought into the attack who didn’t face New Zealand – Dernbach, Patel and Bopara – went for 81 while the established trio of Broad, Swann and Steven Finn produced 6 for 82 from 12.Swann evened the contest when he had Jayawardene caught at deep midwicket and next ball Kumar Sangakkara was given caught behind, although he did not appear pleased with the decision, before a counterattacking response from the middle order. It was a fantastic response by Angelo Mathews and Jeevan Mendis to the loss of two key batsmen. Neither took a backward step – Mendis opening his innings with two boundaries off Swann – and Mathews showed elegant clean striking as the fifty stand came from 29 balls.Again England hit back with Broad this time taking two in two balls when Mendis spliced to midwicket and Mathews dragged a pull on to his stumps. Still Sri Lanka kept on swinging and the 18th over, bowled by Dernbach, included a six apiece for Thisara Perera and Lahriu Thirimanne. The sixth-wicket pair added 35 in 19 deliveries to ensure the home side remained ahead of the game. When England’s chase reached the 13th over they were guaranteed a semi-final spot but by then an overwhelming victory was also in the bag. It will take a very good performance to stop them.

In his first game this IPL, the express quick dented Sunrisers both in normal time and then the one-over shoot out

Vishal Dikshit18-Oct-20206:22

Tom Moody: Can’t see Lockie Ferguson missing another game

Super Over Two mid-table sides separated by just two points. Two misfiring middle orders. Two squads unable to use their reserve overseas players in the best possible way. Two teams that were neck and neck with three wins each against each other since 2018. What happened when they met on Sunday evening? A Super Over, of course.Lockie Ferguson made that one-over face-off a one-sided affair though. Playing his first match in over seven months, Ferguson, in the space of three balls, first removed David Warner’s off stump to hand him a golden duck and then hit the base of Abdul Samad’s middle stump with a full and slower delivery, with only two runs allowed in between. A single from Eoin Morgan and two leg-byes off Dinesh Karthik’s pads with a fumble at short-fine leg gave the Kolkata Knight Riders two points from the third Super Over of the season to keep them on fourth place on the points table.Ferguson had earlier dented the Sunrisers Hyderabad chase of 164 with a spectacular spell of fast bowling that read 4-0-3-15 without conceding a single boundary. Ferguson did the damage against a tweaked Sunrisers line-up that saw Kane Williamson open with Jonny Bairstow, and Warner push himself down to No. 4. He allowed just seven in the 18th over when the Sunrisers needed 37 from 18. With 30 to win from 12, Samad and Warner targeted Shivam Mavi on the off side for two fours before the former fell off the last ball of the over – another dismissal that featured Ferguson. Samad had clubbed a full toss to deep midwicket where Ferguson pouched the ball right inside the rope before carefully lobbing it to Shubman Gill when he lost balance.Warner had struck only two fours in his 28-ball 33 when the last over started with Andre Russell bowling a big wide outside off to Rashid Khan from around the wicket which was later called a no-ball. Once Warner got strike, he first found the cow-corner boundary, then hammered a length delivery past the bowler and then whipped an innocuous-looking leg-stump delivery for the third four in a row. With four to get off two, Warner took a double but couldn’t get bat on the last ball and settled for one leg-bye when Russell nipped the ball into his pads. It was time for a Super Over.Sunrisers’ Williamson experiment
Slow starts, an inexperienced middle order, and Warner not looking at his best made the Sunrisers change their line-up. Williamson, who was carrying a hamstring niggle, took charge at the top with fluent strokeplay, hitting consecutive fours off Mavi, while Bairstow muscled Varun Chakravarthy off the back foot. The duo also attacked Russell and Pat Cummins together to finish the sixth over on 58, of which 46 came in boundaries, and was the Knight Riders’ fourth consecutive powerplay without a wicket.But then came Ferguson in the seventh over. Williamson upper cut his first ball to third man to end an enterprising 19-ball 29 that saw Priyam Garg come in at No. 3. Garg couldn’t last more than seven balls as Ferguson’s slower delivery rammed into his stumps and, four balls later, Bairstow found long-off against Chakravarthy.The Warner you haven’t seen
Warner has been struggling by his standards this IPL and on Sunday he got a life on the first ball he faced from Kuldeep Yadav when Karthik missed a stumping after a loopy delivery deflected off the batman’s pad. With his team three down and half the innings left, an uncharacteristically watchful Warner relied on ones and two. At the other end, Manish Pandey was removed by a 148kmh Ferguson yorker. On one hand was Ferguson’s express pace, and on the other was Yadav taking pace off the ball – the duo combined for 18 dots from their seven overs together, which featured no boundaries. Warner saw them off and saved his boundaries for the end, which eventually tied the scores.Knight Riders slow off the blocks
In what was a start-stop-start innings, the Knight Riders struggled to get going properly because Shubman Gill couldn’t find the gaps and ate up 17 dots in his 37-ball 36. Apart from his three consecutive fours off Basil Thampi in the fifth over that helped the Knight Riders register their best opening stand this IPL, it was mainly Rahul Tripathi’s attacking strokes that relatively drove up the run rate. However, Tripathi’s dismissal on the last ball of the powerplay, for 23 off 16, slowed them down again as Rashid Khan came on in the eighth over.Vijay Shankar bowls four for the first time in IPL
Before Khan, though, the seventh over was given to Vijay Shankar, who dried up the runs further with his clever use of length and pace variations. The fifth bowler has been an issue for the Sunrisers and this time they used him smartly – bowling from the seventh over onwards, they got three out of him by the 11th over, for just 15 runs. But it was neither Khan nor Shankar who pushed the Knight Riders back as much as Garg. Two excellent running catches – one at the long-off boundary to remove Gill in the 12th over and the other running in from deep midwicket inside the circle when Nitish Rana top-edged Shankar three balls later, left them on 88 for 3 with just under eight overs left.DK and Morgan show
Russell’s poor run with the bat continued. With plenty of overs left on a slow pitch, his short stay ended when he holed out to deep midwicket for 8 against T Natarajan. Khan’s quota was done by then but the slow and dipping yorkers and full tosses of Sandeep Sharma and Natarajan were still not letting the batsmen score freely. Karthik – like he did against the Kings XI Punjab with a half-century – gave his team a late push with deft footwork. He used the crease better than anyone: he first walked down to sweep a low Sharma full toss for six, then stayed back for a Natarajan yorker to drill it down the ground for four, and then went back again to dispatch another Natarajan delivery for a six over long-on.After 19 overs, the Knight Riders were 147 for 4 with Morgan on 18 off 17 and Karthik 29 off 14. Morgan faced the entire last over from Thampi who kept missing his yorkers. Morgan hit him down the ground, smashed him over square leg for a six and ran three doubles before handing a catch to long-off to collect 16 off the over. Knight Riders had taken 52 from the last four to post a challenging total. It proved to be enough.

The end came sooner than the clouds. West Indies began the day needing 71 with six wickets in hand, but there were no twists as the hosts knocked off the required runs in just over an hour and secured a 2-0 series win

The Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran05-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKemar Roach and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were involved in a half-century stand (file photo)•DigicelCricket.com/Brooks LaTouche Photography

Smart stats

• West Indies won two Tests in a series against a major Test team (excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) for the first time since the 2-1 win against India at home in 2002.

• West Indies completed their first series win against New Zealand since the 1-0 win in 1995-96. West Indies had gone on to lose three of their past four series against New Zealand.

• There has not been a single draw in the last 12 matches in Jamaica. Only two other venues (Headingley and Melbourne) have a hundred-percent result record since 2000 (min 10 matches).

• For only the fifth time since 2000, West Indies completed a successful chase of a 200-plus target. Their highest chased in the same period is 418 against Australia in Antigua in 2003.

• Kemar Roach, who picked up four wickets in New Zealand’s first innings, made his highest Test score of 41. He went past his previous highest of 29 against Pakistan in 2011.

• The 70-run stand between Roach and Shivnarine Chanderpaul is West Indies’ best for the fifth wicket in the fourth innings against New Zealand and level fifth overall for the fifth wicket (fourth innings stands).

The end came sooner than the clouds. West Indies began the day needing 71 with six wickets in hand, but there were no twists as the hosts knocked off the required runs in just over an hour and secured a 2-0 series win, their first against a team other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the last three years. There were fears that the tropical storm, Ernesto, would wash away the last two days of the Test, but much to the relief of the home side the players woke up to clear skies. Kemar Roach and Shivnarine Chanderpaul played contrasting knocks but extinguished any fears that West Indies could capitulate in the anxiety of pushing for that elusive series win.Roach, who came in as the nightwatchman, was the revelation, outscoring Chanderpaul with enterprising shots. West Indies had the edge by the end of the third day but given their propensity to collapse, a couple of early wickets would have redressed the balance. The aim would have been to dislodge Chanderpaul early, but New Zealand found Roach a handful. His plan was to be positive and he wasn’t afraid to drive on the up. New Zealand, expectedly, set attacking fields but he managed to find the gaps.Roach got the chase rolling with a fierce straight drive off Tim Southee, and later in the over smacked a short one over point. Roach’s aggression took the pressure off Chanderpaul, who dropped anchor at the other end and didn’t give the bowlers an inch. Roach rubbed it in further by slapping a short delivery from Neil Wagner past cover to bring up the fifty stand. The writing was on the wall for New Zealand.Roach missed out on a half-century, though, when he drove hard at Kane Williamson and got a thick outside edge to point. When he departed, West Indies were just 23 away from victory. Narsingh Deonarine, who gave New Zealand headaches with his off spin, unleashed a couple of boundaries to take West Indies closer just as the clouds started to appear. The final honours went to Chanderpaul, who dabbed Williamson to third man to bring up West Indies’ first series win against New Zealand since 1996, and their first clean sweep since the 2002 series in Bangladesh.New Zealand, though, failed to give their outgoing coach John Wright a winning farewell. Defeat rounded off a difficult tour, in which they lost the T20s 2-0 and the one-dayers 4-1. They won’t have much time to rectify those errors, with the tour of India coming up in a few weeks.

The rest of the Plunket Shield will be covered via an internet live stream in addition to the regular updates provided on Radio Sport

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2012The rest of the Plunket Shield will be covered via an internet live stream in addition to the regular updates provided on Radio Sport. New Zealand Cricket and Radio Sport announced there would be a live stream on and that would alternate between the three games played simultaneously in each round. Four rounds of matches in the Plunket Shield have been completed; another six remain.Radio Sport’s decision to replace live commentary of Plunket Shield matches with intermittent updates caused a stir among fans in New Zealand, and an online petition was started to change the network’s mind. The live internet stream will appease the fans, according to David White, the CEO of NZC. “Cricket fans have a strong emotional attachment to the Plunket Shield and they want to be able to remain connected to the matches throughout each day’s play,” he said. “We believe this will provide fans with choice and it will certainly increase the channels by which fans can follow their teams.”Dallas Gurney, general manager of talk programming for The Radio Network, said the response from fans to the decision to scrap live commentary had influence the move to provide a live stream. “There was a strong amount of passion and we are delighted to be working with NZC to respond to that passion with this initiative,” Gurney said.