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Chasing 185, Malaysia were all out for 40 as 15-year-old Shashini Gimhani took 3 for 9

Shashank Kishore22-Jul-2024Chamari Athapaththu’s T20I best – an unbeaten 119 off 69 balls – formed the heart and soul of Sri Lanka’s crushing win over Malaysia at the Women’s Asia Cup in Dambulla.There was also a dream outing for 15-year-old ambidextrous wristspinner Shashini Gimhani, who picked up 3 for 9 with her left-arm wristspin to send Malaysia on a tailspin in the powerplay from which they couldn’t recover, making it one-way traffic from start to finish.

Athapaththu starts sedately

Vishmi Gunaratne, the half-centurion in Sri Lanka’s win over Bangladesh, was out for 1 when she tamely chipped a check drive to short cover in the second over. But that hardly had any effect on Athapaththu, who kept putting the loose balls away from time to time. She also found some help from a series of lapses by the Malaysia fielders.Athapaththu broke the shackles in the sixth over with back-to-back boundaries and raised Sri Lanka’s half-century in the next over. For much of the first half, Athapaththu’s elegance, and not her trademark brutality, took centre stage. With hardly any pace on the ball, she innovated at times to get well outside the line to flick and sweep, allowing Harshitha Samarawickrama some breathing space to find her gears during the course of a 64-run second-wicket stand.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Athapaththu hit back-to-back sixes off her opposite number Winifred Duraisingam in the 11th over to raise her half-century off 35 balls. Even then, there was a sense that Sri Lanka weren’t fully out of the third gear. Athapaththu received a lifeline on 56 when she was put down by Dhanusri Muhunan at backward point in the 12th over. That was the trigger for her to go into overdrive.

Athapaththu cranks it up

From 85 for 2 in 11 overs, Sri Lanka made 99 in the last nine. Athapaththu made 68 off her own, a majority of those coming in the last three overs. Unbeaten on 76 off 57 at the end of the 17th over, Athapaththu hit one four and five sixes in the last three overs. This included two back-to-back sixes off Aisya Eleesa’s military medium to bring up a century in the 19th, the first-ever in the history of the Women’s Asia Cup.Athapaththu’s modus operandi was simple. Clear the front leg and muscle the ball into the arc from long-on to deep midwicket. Malaysia were so out of depth that they operated much of the second half with barely any protection on the leg side boundary against Athapaththu.Anushka Sanjeewani had the best seat in the house during the course of their 115-run stand off just 62 balls. Sanjeewani’s own contribution to it was 31 off 24. The only semblance of cheer for Malaysia apart from their first wicket came right at the end when Duraisingham picked up two back-to-back wickets to close out the innings.Winifred Duraisingam took 2 for 34 for Malaysia•Asian Cricket Council

Gimhani – Sri Lanka’s World Cup trump card?

Gimhani was one of the four changes Sri Lanka made in a bid to give everyone in the squad a run in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. And she responded by picking up three wickets, including two in two overs inside the powerplay, with her left-arm wristspin.Gimhani imparted plenty of revs on the ball and wasn’t afraid to toss it up. Sure, the quality of the opposition wasn’t the best to challenge her, but figures of 3 for 9 from four overs will be confidence-boosting. Malaysia’s chase never took off and from 17 for 3 in the sixth over, it only kept getting worse. Aina Najwa held on defiantly to bat out 43 balls for her 9 as Malaysia were bowled out for 40 in the final over.Elsa Hunter, who hit the only two boundaries of the Malaysia innings, was one of Gimhani’s three victims.

In case there is no play, and Mumbai Indians beat SRH in the day’s first game, RCB will be eliminated

ESPNcricinfo staff21-May-2023The rain that had been forecast for Sunday evening in Bengaluru came down in torrents not long after the toss in Mumbai in the first game of the day, and with at least another shower forecast for later in the evening, around 7pm local time – toss time – the Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Titans game could well be affected.The match, which is crucial for RCB, who are in a race with Mumbai Indians for the final spot in the IPL 2023 playoffs, is scheduled to start at 7.30pm, but the M Chinnaswamy Stadium was left drenched roughly three hours before the toss, though the rain did lose some intensity at around 4.30pm.At the time of writing this, the main square is under covers, but there are many large patches of the ground under water.Related

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The Chinnaswamy has the high-quality sub-air drainage system, which has in the past allowed matches to begin quickly after ran has stopped. Even on Saturday evening, teams trained not long after a shower.RCB started the day in fourth place, tied on 14 points with Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai, who are playing bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium. As things stand, if Mumbai win, RCB, who have an edge over Mumbai and Royals on net run rate, have to beat Titans, the table-toppers.

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Here are the scenarios, starting with the possibility of the RCB vs Titans game being washed out.No result in the RCB-Titans game
In this event Mumbai will qualify if they win, otherwise RCB will go through to the playoffs.Mumbai Indians and RCB both win
Both Mumbai and RCB will move to 16 points, but this scenario will be stacked in favour of RCB who have the better NRR of the two. Even if RCB win by the barest margin of one run, Mumbai are required to thrash SRH by at least 79 runs to finish ahead of RCB. Even if Mumbai win by a margin bigger than 79 runs, RCB will have the advantage of knowing exactly what they would need to qualify because they are playing the last game.Only one of Mumbai or RCB win
Whichever team wins, moves to 16 points and makes it to the playoffs. RCB losing to Titans is the best-case scenario for Mumbai to qualify with a win.Both MI and RCB lose
This is the outcome Rajasthan Royals will be hoping for, for it would give them a realistic chance of qualifying. If this happens, all three teams – Mumbai, RCB and Royals – will be tied on 14 points. Mumbai will be knocked out on account of their poor NRR.It will come down to NRR between RCB and Royals and here’s what Royals would need from Titans. If RCB bat first and score 180, Royals need Titans to chase down the target in 19.3 overs or before. If RCB field first and concede 180, Royals need Titans to restrict RCB to 174 or less.If the margins of RCB’s loss are tighter than that, then they will go through with a better NRR.No result in the Mumbai-SRH game
In this event, RCB will qualify if they win, otherwise Mumbai will go through to the playoffs.No result in both matches
RCB will qualify on account of superior NRR.

But managing director of England men’s cricket warns against mass sackings as a solution

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2022Ashley Giles has apologised for England’s heavy Ashes defeat but warned against mass sackings as a solution, saying that “systemic change” is needed.Speaking to reporters in Sydney ahead of the fourth Test, Giles, the managing director of England men’s cricket, said “everything will be on the table” following an ECB investigation into the ongoing Ashes campaign after Australia sealed an unassailable 3-0 lead to retain the urn inside 12 days.”Being here now in this position, I absolutely feel the responsibility of losing this Ashes series,” Giles said. “Absolutely, we all do, and we can only apologise.”I know there will be a lot of emotion, a lot of anger about how we’ve lost it but we know it’s not an easy place to come. We can’t kid ourselves. Look, in 34 years we’ve come here and won once. We’ll review the tour and there will be a full review, everything will be on the table. We’ll have to send a report through Tom [Harrison, ECB chief executive] to the board.”Related

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England won only four of the 15 Tests they played in 2021 with two draws and nine defeats. In Australia, they lost the first Test by nine wickets, the second by 275 runs and the third by an innings before lunch on the third day. That means England have now lost 18 of their last 23 Tests in Australia, including 12 of the last 13 with pressure mounting on Chris Silverwood, the head coach, and captain Joe Root as well as the likes of Giles and Harrison.”In terms of my position, that’s not for me to decide,” Giles said. “But you can clearly tell by the way I’m talking that I’m thinking very much about the future and how we take this team forward.”If it was a failing of this leadership, then fine, I’d take that, I’m at peace with accountability. But I’m not the first and I won’t be the last unless we make some change… Unless we look at more systemic change and a collective responsibility and collective solutions, we can make whatever changes we want.”You can change me, change the head coach, change the captain, but we’re only setting up future leaders for failure. That’s all we’re doing. We’re only pushing it down the road.”Giles cited a range of factors in England’s disappointing performances, including a packed playing schedule which he described as “horrendous” and the restrictions and sacrifices that touring during a global pandemic demand. A three-Test tour to the Caribbean in March will do little to relieve his concerns over scheduling and travelling under Covid-related protocols, but it is part of England’s obligation to repay West Indies for agreeing to play in England at the height of the pandemic in 2020.”The last two years have probably been the most challenging of my career,” Giles said. “Performance has almost been the last thing we’ve had to think about. And that’s a really sad situation. But have we got the game on? Have we tried to keep the players fit and well? Yes, we’ve tried. And the wellbeing issue is a massive one.”Giles also blamed the failure of the domestic game in England to prepare players for international level as contributing to their current struggles.”Are we creating [domestic] conditions that will allow us to better prepare our cricketers for playing in the conditions out here? I’m not sure we are at the moment,” Giles said. “What we play, when we play, on what [pitches] we play – that’s a collective responsibility. It’s up to us as ECB but also a conversation to have with the counties.”He also noted the gulf between England, the fourth-ranked Test nation and those above them – India, New Zealand and Australia.”At the moment do we think we are a better side than we are? We are sort of at our level. Fourth in the world is probably where we are,” Giles said. “We’ve beaten the sides below us but, in these conditions, we’re not beating the sides above us.”What’s important is that we don’t try to paper over the cracks. We could easily go to West Indies and win, then win this summer. We could do ‘everything’s alright, rah, rah, rah’ but I think we still need to be truly focused on finding a way we can compete in Australia and in India.”

After confirmation of the early rounds of the Sheffield Shield, a reminder of each states’ list

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-2020With confirmation of the fixture list for the first four rounds of the Sheffield Shield, here is a reminder of the men’s state squads for the 2020-21 season*= CA state contract

R= Rookie contract

IPL= currently in the UAENew South WalesDaniel Hughes plays through the off side•Getty Images

Sean Abbott, Harry Conway, Trent Copeland, Pat Cummins* (IPL), Oliver Davies (R), Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Mickey Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hackney, Ryan Hadley (R), Liam Hatcher, Josh Hazlewood* (IPL), Lachlan Hearne (R), Moises Henriques, Baxter Holt (R), Daniel Hughes, Nick Larkin, Nathan Lyon*, Nathan McAndrew, Arjun Nair (R), Peter Nevill, Kurtis Patterson, Daniel Sams (IPL), Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha (R), Steven Smith* (IPL), Daniel Solway, Mitchell Starc*, Chris Tremain, David Warner* (IPL), Adam Zampa* (IPL)QueenslandJoe Burns plays square of the wicket•Getty Images

Xavier Bartlett, Max Bryant, Joe Burns*, Jack Clayton (R), Brendan Doggett, Blake Edwards, Benji Floros (R), Sam Heazlett, Corey Hunter (R), Usman Khawaja, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne*, Nathan McSweeney, Michael Neser, Lachlan Pfeffer, Jimmy Peirson, Matt Renshaw, Billy Stanlake (IPL), Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Connor Sully (R), Mitch Swepson, Jack Wildermuth, Matthew Willans (R), Jack WoodSouth AustraliaWes Agar celebrates•Getty Images

Wes Agar, Will Bosisto, Alex Carey* (IPL), Tom Cooper, Brad Davis, Jacob Dickman (R), Daniel Drew, Callum Ferguson, David Grant, Travis Head*, Henry Hunt, Corey Kelly (R), Thomas Kelly (R), Jake Lehmann, Conor McInerney, Joe Mennie, Harry Nielsen, Tim Oakley (R), Lloyd Pope, Kane Richardson*, Luke Robins, Chadd Sayers, Liam Scott (R), Cameron Valente, Jake Weatherald, Nick Winter, Daniel WorrallTasmaniaTim Paine works through the leg side•AFP

Tom Andrews, Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, Nathan Ellis, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Tim Paine*, Alex Pyecroft, Sam Rainbird, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk, Matthew Wade*, Charlie Wakim, Beau Webster, Mac Wright.VictoriaMarcus Harris drives through cover•Getty Images

Scott Boland, Xavier Crone, Brody Crouch (R), Travis Dean, Sam Elliott (R), Zak Evans, Aaron Finch* (IPL), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sebastian Gotch, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Jon Holland, Tom Jackson (R), Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell* (IPL), Cameron McClure (R), Jonathan Merlo, Todd Murphy (R), Tom O’Connell, Wil Parker, James Pattinson* (IPL), Mitch Perry, Will Pucovski, Patrick Rowe (R), Matthew Short, Will SutherlandWestern AustraliaCameron Green driving down the ground•Getty Images

Ashton Agar*, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Jake Carder, Hilton Cartwright, Sam Fanning (R), Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green, Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Bradley Hope (R), Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Mitchell Marsh* (IPL), Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Lance Morris, Liam O’Connor, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe (IPL), Jhye Richardson*, Corey Rocchiccioli (R), D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis (IPL), Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman

The Pakistan captain understands the frustrations of their fans but pleaded with them not to get personal

Osman Samiuddin at Lord's22-Jun-2019\0:50

Social media comments hurt us – Sarfaraz

Who says India-Pakistan doesn’t matter anymore? Judging by the reactions of some Pakistani fans to their team’s defeat to India last Sunday, it matters to them, and perhaps a bit too much.The last week has been a cruel one for Pakistan’s players. Becoming the subject of countless memes is now par for the course, but the kind of real-life abuse their players have received has been harrowing.The captain Sarfaraz Ahmed – with his child – was abused to his face by a fan who, having videoed it on his phone, later issued an “apology” in which it sounded as if the fan had been unintentionally caught on camera. Two other players were abused while out shopping. Families have been dragged into it. They’ve been pilloried for daring to be out and about, as if to have dinner itself is a crime. Ex-players have joined this deafening cacophony.The PCB has taken note. “We have advised players to be aware of the situation and be cautious,” a spokesperson said. “It is not correct that we have barred them from going out as is projected in some parts of the media.”Sarfaraz, captured yawning during the game against India, has borne the brunt of it. And ahead of a series of do-or-die games starting with South Africa at Lord’s on Sunday, he looked like a man on whom this last week has weighed heavily.It has been, Sarfaraz admitted wearily, a tough week. They took two days off immediately after the India game and since practice has resumed, Mohammad Hafeez and then Wahab Riaz have also asked for a certain degree of calm and respect from fans.
“Social media and media are not in our control,” he said at Lord’s. “They are so big that you cannot stop them. Teams have lost before but now on social media it is unstoppable. Whoever thinks [anything, they just] write it on social media. That hurts, too much. Players are affected psychologically.”Criticise us on our game, that’s not an issue, but don’t abuse us. Their families get affected. If someone is hitting, then pushing anyone that’s not good. Our fans are emotional and these same people lift us when we win. But if they feel sad on a defeat we also feel the same way.”We feel it much more because we are playing for Pakistan.”Sarfaraz himself has tried to retain whatever semblance of balance he can through all this, insisting that he is like he was before, that cricket brings ups and downs like this. But the pressures are telling.

Cameron Bancroft worked on the ball in an incident, which overshadowed the third day’s play in Cape Town, where the hosts stretched their lead towards 300

The Report by Brydon Coverdale24-Mar-20183:30

Voges: Reputation of Australian cricket comes in question now

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThis series was already a bubbling cauldron of toil and trouble. Not surprisingly, the addition of Cameron Bancroft’s underpants to an already putrid mix could have results as unpredictable as eye of newt and toe of frog. Certainly it resulted in a stink on the third day in Cape Town, where half-centuries from Aiden Markram and AB de Villiers pushed South Africa’s lead towards 300 and rendered Australia’s task for the remainder of this Test very difficult indeed.The morning had started with Australia nine wickets down and 66 runs behind, hoping to close the first-innings gap as much as possible. They added only 10 before Kagiso Rabada had Josh Hazlewood caught at slip to end the innings. By stumps, South Africa had turned their 56-run advantage into a 294-run lead, with five wickets still in hand. Australia will desperately need quick wickets on the fourth morning, and first they will have to find a way through either de Villiers, still at the crease on 51, or Quinton de Kock, who had 29, with South Africa’s total on 238 for 5.But the wickets and runs of the day were somewhat overshadowed by the events of the middle session, when the TV cameras appeared to show Bancroft holding a foreign object while working on the ball, and shortly afterwards he seemed to deposit the item down his trousers. The on-field umpires spoke to Bancroft but did not appear to take any action at the time, however it is certain to become the subject of heated debate in a series already full of controversy.South Africa’s second innings had started innocuously enough, although Australia rued a missed opportunity in the first over when Markram was put down at gully by Usman Khawaja off Mitchell Starc. The only South African wicket to fall before lunch was that of Dean Elgar, who had carried his bat for 141 in the first innings but here edged Pat Cummins to slip on 14, to provide Steven Smith with his sixth catch of the match.Markram and Hashim Amla compiled a 76-run partnership that ended when Amla chipped a catch to Bancroft at cover off Cummins for 31, but all that did for Australia was bring the in-form de Villiers to the crease. He showed few signs of needing to get his eye in, slashing his way off the mark with a remarkable six over the off side off the bowling of Cummins. By the close of play, de Villiers had a 92-ball half-century and had done much to strengthen South Africa’s already excellent position.Associated Press

Markram had moved to a half-century from 91 deliveries and had struck 10 fours and two sixes by the time he fell tamely for 84 in the final over before tea, when he chipped a catch to mid-on off Starc. That lapse in concentration, which was also the umpteenth dismissal on the verge of a break in play during this series, robbed Markram of the opportunity to push for his second century of the series.Faf du Plessis continued his struggle to have an impact in this series, trapped lbw to become the 299th Test wicket of Nathan Lyon. Du Plessis was adjudged not out on field, but if Australia’s review looked little more than hopeful it proved to be well-judged, for the ball-tracking suggested du Plessis was far enough back that height was not an issue, and the ball would have crashed into the top of leg stump. His 20 was the highest score he has made in his past eight Test innings.Temba Bavuma once again failed to get himself in, during what is his first competitive match since January, and his first match at first-class level since last year. On 5, Bavuma edged Hazlewood and was well taken at second slip by the substitute fielder Peter Handscomb, on at the time for Smith.However, any hope the Australians had of finishing the innings quickly were dashed by de Kock and de Villiers, whose partnership by stumps was worth 37. Play ended early due to bad light, and the Bancroft incident looked set to dominate all the post-play discussions. But the hurly-burly is not yet done, the battle not yet lost and won, and the teams will arrive on day four with South Africa in a dominant position.