Owner Rob McElhenney issued an emotional statement after releasing Steven Fletcher and Mark Howard from Wrexham.
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The world champions will compete in the last four once again after two second-half goals broke Switzerland hearts in an eventful quarter-final clash.
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Skipper’s unbeaten 84 guides Tasmania to a four-wicket win over Queensland after an extraordinary Clayton century gave the hosts hope
AAP05-Feb-2024Jordan Silk has struck a classy unbeaten 84 to lead Tasmania to a four-wicket Sheffield Shield victory over Queensland inside three days at the Gabba.Chasing 224 for victory after Jack Clayton made an extraordinary 102 out of Queensland’s total of 160 in the second innings, Tasmania slumped to 13 for 2 and 99 for 4 on Monday, before Silk held the innings together with a match-winning captain’s knock.Silk was on track for his 12th first-class century, only for teammate Mitchell Owen (29 not out off 15 balls) to strike some lusty blows at the death to secure victory for Tasmania just before stumps on day three. The win keeps Tasmania on top of the Shield table, while Queensland are last with only one win and two draws from seven matches.Silk struck 13 fours in his unbeaten knock, but he paid special tribute to Tasmanian paceman Gabe Bell, who claimed player-of-the-match honours after returning figures of 4 for 40 and 6 for 39.”He’s going fantastic, career-best figures and a 10-wicket haul,” Silk said. “We don’t have that sort of [gettable] chase without his effort.”I’m really rapt with how everyone approached it. It was a good collective effort.”It’s not often we come here [to Brisbane] and get the points.”Queensland captain Jimmy Peirson was among the Bulls to struggle with sickness in the intense Brisbane heat. Clayton was physically ill during his epic 181-ball knock. Ben McDermott was the only other batter to reach double figures having fallen for 16 yesterday.”I’m feeling better today, but I was on my deathbed yesterday to be honest,” Peirson said.”It’s not fun, gastro. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the win today, but [if we can get] three wins in our last three games, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”Tasmanian opener Caleb Jewell was the first wicket to fall in Tasmania’s chase when his wild slash resulted in an edge through to the keeper. The Tigers were in early trouble at 2 for 13 when Tim Ward’s attempted hook off a rising Mark Steketee delivery gave Peirson his second catch.Charlie Wakim (36) and Silk helped steady the ship with a 60-run stand. But when Gurinder Sandhu trapped Wakim lbw before finding the edge of Jake Doran’s bat 10 overs later, Tasmania were looking wobbly at four down and still needing 125 more runs to win.Silk and Beau Webster (28 off 41 balls) led the counter-attack as Tasmania got their run chase back on track. Webster struck three fours and a six, but his bid to keep the runs flowing came undone when he inside-edged Liam Guthrie onto his stumps.Bradley Hope added some handy runs, before Owen struck three fours and a six to shut the door completely on Queensland.
Real Madrid have decided not to pay Vinicius Junior the same salary as Kylian Mbappe amid speculation that the Brazilian might not extend his stay at the Santiago Bernabéu beyond 2027. Contract talks between the player and the club have stalled for months now as the Selecao star is demanding a hike in his salary which the Spanish side are refusing to entertain.
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A DVD of the remarkable Edgbaston Test is being rush released to satisfy the remarkable public appetite for English cricket
Cricinfo staff10-Aug-2005
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In almost less time that it took for Andrew Flintoff to be proclaimed as the new Ian Botham, a DVD of the remarkable Edgbaston Test has been being rush released to satisfy the public’s burgeoning appetite for English cricket.In days of old it took months for highlights videos to find their way to the market, but modern technology, aided by the ability to bypass the cumbersome problems of nationwide distribution to retail outlets, means that within a fortnight the new DVD, entitled The Greatest Test was available.For once, the title might not just be marketing hyperbole. Few games – in fact, few sporting occasions – can match the ebb and flow of fortunes of Edgbaston. For three-and-a-bit days the two best teams in the world went head to head, and the action and drama never let up right to the last ball.The DVD is 95 minutes long and can be bought by clicking here
Australia haven’t lost a Test at Brisbane since November 1988, winning 11 out of their last 16
S Rajesh02-Nov-2005
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Siddhartha Vaidyanathan offers five reasons why India’s outing against Bangladesh may not be so easy
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan16-Mar-2007
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Bashar the glue
With three half-centuries against India, Habibul Bashar has often stood alone amid the disappointing batting efforts. All three fifties have come in losing causes but Bashar’s calm presence is often reassuring. He can hold the middle order together, sealing up one end as his more flashy colleagues take on the bowling at the other. He’s no slouch, though, well capable of stepping it up when the situation demands.Shock power
Floating around Bashar are a group of dangerous batsmen, often veering from the sublime to the ridiculous but one heck of a threat when they come off. India don’t need any introduction to Mohammad Ashraful, not after Chittagong in 2004; neither do they need to be reminded of Aftab Ahmed’s powers, not after Dhaka in 2004. Then there’s Shahriar Nafees, who’s opening exploits include a Test hundred against Australia, Tamim Iqbal and Saqibul Hasan. All are young batsmen in a similar mould, all with oodles of promise.New-ball variety
In Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain, Bangladesh possess a more than handy new-ball pairing to hustle the best. Mortaza’s skiddy cutters will be complemented by Shahadat’s discomforting bounce, a prospect that could unsettle the best. India will remember Mortaza’s contribution on Boxing Day in 2004, when he winkled out Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to help Bangladesh record their first (and only) triumph against India. Mashrafe has also chipped in with the bat, in the two games against India, and his recent exploits in the warm-up match against New Zealand suggest a handy allround talent. Shahadat is yet to play against India but nine wickets in two Tests against Sri Lanka translates into a dangerous talent.Left-arm menace
Rahul Dravid feels this World Cup will be won by the team that manages the middle overs best. India are likely to face a slew of left-arm spinners in that period, with Mohammad Rafique’s darts complemented by Abdur Razzak’s loop and Saqibul’s accuracy. Razzak and Saqibul arrive with economy-rates of 3.5 and 3.7 respectively and India will need to find innovative ways to manoeuvre the ball around with the field spread.More youth, more agility
Bangladesh enter the game with a head-start in the fielding department. Aftab, Ashraful and Saqibul will form an agile inner circle and their enthusiasm could be infectious. India’s main worry has been the ageing nature of the side (Dravid even indicated that they’d need to hide a few fielders) and an efficient performance from Bangladesh would enable them to bridge the gulf. A couple of lucky breaks and they will dream bigger.
An enjoyable stroll through 30 years of one man and his rubbish cricket team
Alan Tyers10-May-2008Not Dark Yet by Mike Harfield
(My Back Pages Press, 149pp) £7.99
This memoir celebrates 30 years in the life of an endearingly hopeless scratch side where the batting averages are a fraction of the waist measurements. The author and a ragtag group of mates, whose abilities range from the largely incompetent downwards, have played one fixture a year against the Oxfordshire village side of Clifton Hampden.The slapstick run-outs, the fights over lbw howlers, the litany of talked-up ringers who turned out to be useless, the desperate struggle to raise 11 players on a Sunday morning – anyone who has played pub or village cricket will recognise and enjoy plenty in this book.Harfield, the team’s captain, traces their triumphs and (mainly) disasters since the first game in 1976, tying the story loosely to current affairs and international cricket in the past three decades.The downside of the book is that the reader will recognise plenty of that material, too: “You guys are history”; Beefy, Lamby, Dickie and the mobile phone; “the bowler’s Holding, the batsman’s Willey”. Much the better stuff is the gentle, droll
evocation of the pleasures of cricket and friendship that endure despite the passage of time. encapsulates nicely the “it’s not the winning, it’s the pub after” mentality that keeps thousands of amateurs, and indeed one or two professionals, coming back year after year, convinced against all evidence that this will be the innings where they finally crack that belligerent, buccaneering 50.The book’s title, incidentally, is from the Bob Dylan song, whose opening line: “Shadows are falling and I’ve been
here all day” seems pretty much to sum up the feelings of the no-hoper hidden down at long leg, for whom this book will be as welcome as the thought of that keg waiting in the pavilion and the rest of the coronation chicken left over from tea.
The strokeplay was majestic and the approach worlds removed from the hesitancy that coloured Sachin Tendulkar’s innings at times over the past couple of years
Cricinfo staff29-Oct-2008
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At times you could have fooled yourself into thinking that it was the irrepressible teenager of Perth 1992 vintage batting, and not the 35-year-old veteran who was supposed to be on his last legs. The strokeplay was majestic and the approach worlds removed from the hesitancy that coloured Sachin Tendulkar’s innings at times over the past couple of years.The situation when he walked in was hardly that in which to unleash a fusillade of shots. At 27 for 2, he might even have been reminded of the bad old days, when the batting rode on his shoulders, especially away from home at venues like the MCG and Edgbaston. These days though, the line-up around him is far more robust and the freedom he batted with today was that of a man determined to enjoy a final flourish in the game that he has
illuminated for so long. Even when India were under siege in the first session, there was safety in the thought that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Man of the Match in Mohali a week ago, was pencilled in at No.7.Brett Lee had already been taken off by the time Tendulkar emerged to raucous cheers, but Mitchell Johnson was bowling just as quick in his place. One bouncer whizzed past his helmet at 151 km/hr but if that was meant to intimidate, it had little effect. A couple of balls later, he was on tiptoe and striking the ball through point, much as he had done at the WACA all those years ago.Johnson tried to tempt him into the sort of airy drive that Rahul Dravid had perished to, but the bait was never nibbled. For 20 balls, Tendulkar was in watchful mode, intent on seeing off the challenge of Australia’s premier fast bowlers. Only when Johnson started to err on the short side did he start to open up, first tucking one off the hips past square leg and then lashing one through the fielder at point.Lee was the culprit on that occasion, and Ricky Ponting turned to him a quarter of an hour before lunch. It was a crucial passage of play. Had Australia picked up a wicket then with the run-rate still well below three, the game might have turned. Instead, Lee was greeted with the most sumptuous of cover-drives. Lee continued to bowl quick and full, but Tendulkar either guided the ball into the off side, or played it straight back. There was no hint that the eyesight or reflexes have faded, no sign of a batsman on the wane.The contest within a contest continued right after lunch, with Lee charging in as he had to dismiss Virender Sehwag earlier in the morning. Earlier this year, in the CB Series in Australia, Tendulkar had decided to use Lee’s pace to bunt the ball over the slip cordon. It was a stroke he unfurled to telling effect in Bloemfontein in 2001, but this was Lee, the quickest bowler in the world, in the quintessential Test match battle of our times, Australia against India.Such labels clearly meant nothing to him because the third ball after lunch nearly went over third man for six. Once again, he had rocked back, arched his spine like a gymnast and twirled the wrists to devastating effect. The score was still modest, 71 for 2, but a massive statement had been made. The unerringly accurate Stuart Clark was then thumped behind point for four more, before Lee responded the way fast bowlers do. The straight, quick bouncer would have parted Tendulkar’s hair if he hadn’t been wearing a helmet, but all he did was drop the wrists and sway out of harm’s way.
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His riposte was far more damaging, a whiplash square of the wicket that got to the ball boys before anyone in the off side cordon had even moved a couple of feet. When Lee subsequently searched for the yorker, Tendulkar drove in classical fashion to the man at midwicket. More than Lee’s raw pace, it was Clark’s accuracy that troubled him most, with one superb leg-cutter almost kissing the outside edge on its way to Brad Haddin.There were still moments to drive the bowler to distraction though. There was little wrong with the delivery that Clark bowled to him when he was on 46, but Tendulkar merely waited on it as though it were a loopy leg break and then cut it fine for four. Soon after, the field changed to 7-2, but rather than be tempted into the shot across the line, he chose the path of discretion.Cameron White was initially viewed with similar suspicion, but once a gorgeous on-drive off Clark had loosened the shackles, Ponting’s first punt at spin was made to look foolish. When White tossed one up fairly wide, he pounced to drive it past extra-cover, and the pick-up over midwicket that followed was a damning verdict on the paucity of the slow-bowling resources in Australian cricket’s post-Warne era.After Johnson and Watson tied him down for a while, it all ended with a false stroke, but by then the momentum had shifted inexorably in India’s favour, with Gautam Gambhir trading circumspection for aggression. Tendulkar has scored nine hundreds against Australia, and as a result half-centuries don’t really linger too long in the memory. This little gem though should have a special place in the collection, right up alongside the one in Adelaide , when he launched into Glenn McGrath after the previous evening’s monastic denial, and the minor masterpiece in Mumbai , when he and Laxman batted sublimely on a minefield to transform a match that had been within Australia’s grasp. Even for the masters, centuries aren’t everything.
The ICC’s panel of experts picked the best XI from the players in the Women’s World Twenty20. Here’s the XI and what they did in the tournament
Cricinfo staff22-Jun-20091 Shelley Nitschke (Australia)
Shelley Nitschke was Australia’s star in the tournament, finishing as their highest run-scorer and wicket-taker. Her prolific scoring ensured she ended fifth overall on the run-scorer’s charts. If her highest of 56 off 38 balls against West Indies in the group stages was one of authority, she followed it up with a superb display with the ball, picking up 4 for 21 in the next match against South Africa.2 Charlotte Edwards (England)
Fresh off the success of the ODI World Cup, Charlotte Edwards masterminded another success on home soil, leading England to the World Twenty20 crown. She was on song during the group stages, blowing away India with a quickfire fifty before her all-round display against Pakistan made sure England finished top of Pool B.3 Claire Taylor (England)
At 33, if there were any doubts about adjusting to the shortest format, the player of the series from the ODI World Cup put them to rest soon. Second on the run charts, a run behind Aimee Watkins’ 200, her average of 199.00 meant she once again walked away with the honours. She was in prime form scoring two unbeaten fifties – the one against Australia in the semi-final was of significant note – and it was only fitting that she hit the winning runs, a boundary, in the final.4 Aimee Watkins (New Zealand)
She had the additional burden of the captaincy to bear after Haydee Tiffin’s retirement, but the leading lady for New Zealand hardly put a foot wrong. Unfortunately, like her predecessor, she had to be content with being second-best. With the leading run-getter in the tournament in their ranks – 200 at 66.66 – New Zealand could have done without a blip from her when it mattered the most, in the final.5 Sarah Taylor (England)
Sarah Taylor impressed with her safe wicketkeeping, along with her steady batting through the tournament. She was the third-highest scorer in the England team with 119 runs, playing as an opening batsman. With one fifty against India, she was instrumental in giving her team good starts at the top of the order.Captain Fantastic: Aimee Watkins•Getty Images6 Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
Suzie Bates finished the fourth-highest run-getter of the tournament, showing consistency as the opening batsman for New Zealand. With scores of 41 not-out, 60 and 24 in successive league matches, she was the mainstay of her team’s batting line-up. She was also handy with the ball, bowling medium-pacers and chipping in with two wickets.7 Lucy Doolan (New Zealand)
An allrounder who can play the big shots, Lucy Doolan was an integral part of the New Zealand team which reached the final. Doolan kept things tight with her off-breaks, picking up a total of four wickets. Her effort against West Indies in the group match stood out, as she followed up a 38-ball 41 with a three-wicket haul.8 Rumeli Dhar (India)
Rumeli Dhar is another allrounder who had a fruitful World Twenty20, scalping six wickets at an impressive economy rate of 4.78 runs per over. However, she had an ordinary time with the bat, scoring just nine runs in four innings. In the match against Pakistan, Dhar blew away the Pakistan top order to set up a comfortable Indian victory.Sian Ruck was clearly the find of the tournament•Getty Images9 Holly Colvin (England)
Holly Colvin, the left-arm spinner, was one of England’s most consistent performers in the competition, bagging nine wickets at 11.77 at an excellent economy rate of 5.30. She was the tournament’s highest wicket-taker, and played a crucial role in helping her team inflict heavy defeats on India and Pakistan in the league stages, taking three wickets against each of them and easing England’s passage to semis.10 Sian Ruck (New Zealand)
Sian Ruck proved a revelation with her left-arm seam bowling, confounding batsmen with her ability to swing the ball both ways and working up some decent pace. She was New Zealand’s star player with the ball, taking seven wickets at 12.28 at a miserly rate of 4.78 per over. Her 3 for 12 in New Zealand’s first game set up a convincing win over Australia, and her 2 for 18 in the semi-final knocked India out. After excelling in her first stint in international cricket, she remains a great prospect for her team in the years to come.11 Laura Marsh (England)
Laura Marsh took at least a wicket in each of the five games she played, and was extremely economical. She wasn’t taken for above six-an-over in a single game and played an important role in boosting England’s bowling line-up. She finished with six wickets at 11.33 at a rate of 3.40-an-over, including an incredible spell against Sri Lanka where she conceded just seven runs in her allotted four overs. In fact, she’s one of the most economical bowlers in the women’s circuit, conceding just 4.23-an-over. She gave away just 12 in the semi-final against Australia, who still posted a competitive 163 which Claire Taylor and Beth Morgan helped overhaul.12th man: Eshani Kaushalya (Sri Lanka)
Sri Lanka’s only claim to fame in the competition was a win against fellow minnows Pakistan but not much could be asked of a team previously unexposed to the Twenty20 format. But Eshani Kaushalya was their best player, finishing as the second-highest wicket-taker with eight wickets at a stunning average of 6.87. She took 3 for 16 against Pakistan to keep them down to a chaseable score and then came up with an even better effort in the next game against England, taking 4 for 18, though the tournament favourites managed an imposing score. She was the only seamer to take four wickets in an innings in a competition where spinners performed better.