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Perth Scorchers beat Melbourne Stars off the final ball to secure a place in the Big Bash final and the Champions League

The Report by Alex Malcolm16-Jan-2013
ScorecardMichael Hussey celebrates after hitting the winning runs•Getty Images

You need more than the Duckworth/Lewis method to work out how the Perth Scorchers won this extraordinary semi-final against Melbourne Stars, and qualified for the Champions League again. Rain reduced the contest from a 20-over affair to an 18-over match at the end of the Stars’ magnificent batting display. Then more rain initially reduced it to a 17-over chase, before a 13-over pursuit of 139 was finally begun.You could talk about the ten runs needed from James Faulkner’s final over, and Jackson Bird’s drop of Michael Hussey from the first ball of the over. But the match, the BBL final, and the Champions League berth all hinged on what appeared to be the last ball of the match.Adam Voges took strike, needing three runs to win, and two to force a one-over eliminator. Faulkner, who was controversially made the stand-in captain for the Stars with both Shane Warne and Cameron White on sanctions for slow over-rates earlier in the tournament, stood at the top of his mark with his actual captain, Warne, and the former acting captain, White, trying to set a field to keep the scoring to two or less.The trio parted ways, all pointing every which way. Faulkner delivered a brilliant wide yorker that Voges missed and despite Hussey running through for a bye the Stars thought they had won the match, until they saw standing umpire Mick Martell’s right arm outstretched to signal a no-ball.The Stars’ three captains had failed to notice they only had three men inside the circle. To rub salt into the wound Faulkner also over-stepped the frontline. Either way the Stars looked at it, the ball needed to be re-bowled and the Scorchers needed just one to win.Hussey, of course, struck the winning runs over mid-on, and the Scorchers booked a home final for Saturday night at the WACA.The Scorchers can thank Shaun Marsh for getting them there. Chasing 139 to win, Marsh produced another astonishing hand. His innings of 68 from 40 balls was the difference in the end. The Scorchers were 1 for 38 after five overs, having lost Herschelle Gibbs to a hamstring strain and Nathan Coulter-Nile to a superb running catch from Brad Hodge.Marsh then targeted debutant Alex Keath, who was called upon for his first over by one of his captains. The left-hander assaulted the youngster, taking 27 from the over. Both a full toss and a half volley landed in the long-on bleachers. Then two elegant cover drives found the cover rope in different ways, one on the bounce, the next along the carpet. The fifth ball went for six again, the sixth Marsh took a single to retain the strike in a commanding display of batting.Off the first ball of the seventh over, Marsh slashed Bird to third man to bring up his fifth half-century of the tournament, and the third in a row. He and Voges continued to find the rope with ease before Marsh holed out with 38 runs still needed.But it only brought Hussey to the crease to hook his second ball for six. His 18 not out from 12 balls was vintage Hussey, but credit must really go to Voges who finished with an unbeaten 36 from 21 deliveries to help the Scorchers to the most remarkable of victories. Given the wet conditions and the shortened match, Warne did not bowl for the first time in the BBL.It was a result that never seemed likely after the Stars’ phenomenal batting display. Simon Katich asked the Stars to bat with one eye on the looming rain clouds. Cameron White was promoted to open and nearly doubled his tournament run tally in 53 balls of brutal hitting. White had managed just 90 runs in seven innings this tournament. His 88 here looked a match-winning effort. After a cautious start the Stars were 1 for 69 through the first ten overs. But then White and Hodge cut loose. They hit 10 sixes between them, each as large as the next. No bowler was spared with the exception of Coulter-Nile who conceded only a run a ball while his colleagues were clubbed to all corners of a packed WACA ground.A rain delay brought about White’s downfall as he picked out long-off first ball after the resumption. It did not stop Hodge though. His unbeaten 70 from 43 deliveries helped the Stars to an imposing total of 2 for 183, which would have certainly been in excess of 200 had they been allowed to bat the 20 overs.Hodge received a life on 40 when the makeshift wicketkeeper Hussey missed a stumping chance. But the gamble of gloving Hussey would pay dividends in the end for the Scorchers. Perth will host the BBL final for the second successive year, and despite the disgrace and disappointment of the 2012 Champions League, they will be there again in 2013.

England foundered from the start under the lights at Seddon Park, enabling New Zealand to inflict a 55-run trouncing

The Report by David Hopps12-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHamish Rutherford hauled one into the sponsors’ area and almost felled a couple of stilt walkers•Getty Images

England have never successfully chased a target of such magnitude to win a Twenty20 international and they certainly did not chase this one. They foundered from the start under the lights at Seddon Park, enabling New Zealand to inflict a 55-run trouncing. After all the talk of small boundaries, for England they seemed to be expanding by the moment.The ICC rankings system certainly knows how to lose faith with a side after a bad night’s cricket. England, third at the start of the night, were sixth by the end of it. T20 is a volatile business. The series will be settled in Wellington on Friday.Brendon McCullum had carried the fight for New Zealand, striking 74 from 38 balls and manfully thrusting a daunting total into English faces after they had gained control in mid-innings. England conceded 38 off the last two overs, Stuart Broad and Jade Dernbach the bowlers to suffer, and even though Dernbach silenced McCullum’s belligerence at deep cover on the penultimate ball of the innings, England had nothing to show for some tigerish fielding.Just as striking was the degree to which New Zealand’s fast bowlers outdid their England counterparts. They found movement under the lights never imagined by England earlier in the innings as they preferred the back-of-a-length approach that had served them so well in the opening T20I in Auckland.England, victors in the opening T20I in Auckland when they batted first and made their highest total in this format, opted to chase when Stuart Broad won the toss on a dry, lightly cloudy evening in Hamilton. “Probably should have batted first,” Broad accepted.Ian Butler stood out with an impeccable spell of 2 for 9 in four overs as England’s innings never found any impetus. Butler has had some discouraging times in a career and almost abandoned New Zealand cricket to play county cricket in England but he has had a good season with Otago Volts and this was a night that told of a bowler with appetite restored. James Franklin bowled well, but his four-for largely fell upon him.England never recovered from losing three wickets for 24 by the fifth over. Alex Hales was bowled by Mitchell McClenaghan as he tried to work to leg, Luke Wright edged his sighter to gully, and Jonny Bairstow, cramped as he pulled Butler, got it no further than short-fine leg. When Michael Lumb was bowled off his pads, charging Nathan McCullum’s off spin, England limped to the mid-point at 47 for 4.It all left Morgan facing circumstances that he did not naturally relish, a batsman with too much time on his hands. Morgan likes games to be set up for him, but this one felt more like a set up favoured in American gangster movies.It is not often that Morgan seems overpowered by a situation, but it was the case here. He reached 13 from 22 before he fell to Butler. He needed good fortune to get that far, surviving a stumping chance – a McCullum brotherly combination that went amiss – and was badly dropped off Butler at deep midwicket when Hamish Rutherford battered one to the floor off his chest.By the time Samit Patel was run out by yards, failing to negotiate a single to Trent Boult who hit direct from mid off, England’s innings had entered the realms of black comedy. The only consolation came from Jos Buttler’s maiden T20I fifty. Buttler has been favoured with the gloves ahead of Bairstow as a statement that England wish to keep him in the side. His reputation is built on short, explosive innings, and his 54 from 30 balls in a hopeless task did him no harm.After the somewhat unnatural six-hitting extravaganza in Eden Park, Seddon Park had a more satisfying cricketing feel. It is another compact ground, with straight boundaries around 65m, but a few extra metres and a more logical shape provided a more gratifying setting for another packed house. Even so, after England gave the first over to the offspinner, James Tredwell, it took all of four balls before Martin Guptill smashed him for six into the sightscreen. There were ten sixes in all for New Zealand, five of them to McCullum, their jaw-jutting captain. England, so supreme in Auckland, managed two in reply.Finn had placed a marker a few paces from the stumps in an effort to control his occasional habit of colliding with them. Stay left of that, and you will be okay, seemed to be the message. His thoughts soon strayed elsewhere as Rutherford hauled him into the sponsors’ area and almost felled a couple of stilt walkers.New Zealand rattled along at around ten an over from the outset. Jade Dernbach was wearing a strapping on his heavily-tattooed left arm after being accidentally spiked in practice, presumably denying onlookers the chance to read several ancient Tibetan dictums.Wright, who looks too perky to sit down in a tattoo parlour, came up trumps for the second successive match, his medium pace bringing 2 for 24 to follow his 2 for 29 in Auckland. He arrested an opening stand of 75 in 8.2 overs when Rutherford tried to fiddle one to third man and was caught at the wicket. There was the wicket of Ross Taylor, too, who hauled him to Bairstow at deep midwicket. Acclaimed as the returning hero since ending his self-imposed exile, Taylor has so far amassed more ovations than runs.When Dernbach’s slower balls began to make an impact – Colin Munro hauling to Bairstow at deep midwicket and Grant Elliott having his bails trimmed by a back-of-the-hand delivery, the judder in New Zealand’s innings had become pronounced. But it was nothing like the judder England were about to experience.

Virender Sehwag has been dropped from India’s Test side for the first time since he made an emphatic comeback to the long format with a century in Adelaide in 2008-09

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Mar-2013Virender Sehwag has been dropped from India’s Test side for the first time since he made an emphatic comeback to the long format with a century in Adelaide in 2007-08. That, incidentally, remains his last century outside Asia. No replacement has been named for Sehwag for the remaining two Tests of the series against Australia, which makes Shikhar Dhawan a favourite to open in the Mohali Test starting on March 14.The two remaining Tests of the current series, which India lead 2-0, are the last ones they are scheduled to play before they go on four continuous overseas tours beginning with South Africa later this year.In his first reaction, Sehwag – who had been dropped from the ODI side for the series against England in January – tweeted: “Will continue to work hard for my place in the team. I trust my game and am confident that, ‘I’ll be back.’ Best wishes to the team.”Since his comeback, Sehwag’s performance outside Asia might have been questionable, but he kept his place in the side with typically dazzling match-winning knocks on the lower and slower tracks. Outside Asia, since Adelaide, Sehwag has scored just 523 runs in 12 Tests, at an average of 22.73 with a highest of 67. In Asia, though, over the same period he has amassed 3622 runs at 57.49, at a game-changing strike rate of 94.1.However, over the last two years, the big innings began to dry up even in Asia. After his 173 against New Zealand in Ahmedabad in November 2010, he had to wait more than two years for another Test century. In November 2012, Sehwag earned another lease of life with a typical century against England again in Ahmedabad but, between then and being dropped, he has had scores of 25, 30, 9, 23, 49, 0, 2, 19 and 6.This is a big fall for India’s most prolific opening combination in Tests: Gautam Gambhir was dropped before the start of the Australia after three years without a Test century. Now India are possibly looking at a raw opening combination going into South Africa.Not even naming a replacement opener is a big statement made by selectors who don’t seem to have other options available but have still gone ahead and omitted him. Dhawan, his Delhi team-mate, is now a front-runner for Mohali, but Ajinkya Rahane can’t be ruled out either. Sandeep Patil, the chairman of selectors, did say before the start of the England series that Rahane was picked as a middle-order batsman, but the Indian team management has been flexible and doesn’t always stick to statements made in the press.India squad: MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), M Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Cheteshwar Pujara.

The participation of Sri Lanka players in the 2013 IPL, which begins on April 3, has been thrown into some doubt following political tensions in India over the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka

Amol Karhadkar, Andrew Fidel Fernando and Nagraj Gollapudi19-Mar-2013The participation of Sri Lanka players in the 2013 IPL, which begins on April 3, has been thrown into some doubt following political tensions in India over the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Players’ Association has raised strong concerns about the safety of Sri Lanka cricketers who will play in Chennai, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, and officials from a couple of franchises admitted that the IPL has “verbally communicated” the same concerns to them.The political fallout of the issue has led to the DMK, a Tamil Nadu-based party, pulling its ministers out of the federal coalition government in New Delhi and threatening its future. There have been at least two reported attacks on Sri Lankan tourists in Tamil Nadu in the past few days and Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry has asked its nationals visiting Tamil Nadu to exercise caution. The fear is that the controversy will snowball and put players at risk.Thirteen Sri Lanka players are contracted to IPL teams in 2013, with fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara and offspinner Akila Dananjaya part of the Chennai Super Kings franchise. Ten matches will be played in Chennai.In Sri Lanka, the players’ association said it was currently consulting with its parent organisation, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, to determine a course of action that will ensure cricketers’ safety. “We have sent a letter to FICA outlining the situation, which they are not aware of at the moment,” SLPA general secretary Ken de Alwis said. “They will talk to their security consultants and get back to us about what needs to be in place.”
Alwis said, however, that the cricketers who are set to play in the tournament have expressed confidence in existing security arrangements. “The players aren’t worried at all. In fact, I spoke to a few of them and they said, ‘No, security will be tight, and we’re not too concerned right now.'”
In India, where the issue was given a dramatic twist on Tuesday with the DMK’s withdrawal from the government, franchise officials now say the IPL is concerned at events. “They [IPL] have told us that the federal government might impose certain restrictions with regard to Sri Lankan nationals travelling to Chennai. If that happens, [we have been asked to] be prepared to play those games without the Lankan players,” a franchise official said on condition of anonymity.Most of the franchises contacted by ESPNcricinfo said they were not really concerned about the league stage, where they could ask teams not to field their Sri Lankan players for the Chennai matches. The “real concern” for them is the Eliminator, scheduled to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May 22. “If the situation doesn’t improve by then and either or both teams have to do without one or two key players, the match could be seriously affected,” another franchise official said.While for seven teams, it will mean being without the services of one or two players for a game, the biggest impact will be for the Chennai Super Kings, the host team, who might have to do without Kulasekara and Dananjaya for all eight home games.The first IPL game in Chennai will be between the hosts and Mumbai Indians, for whom Lasith Malinga is a key player, on April 6.

Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies this year will comprise five ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals but no Tests, because of the difficulty in finding a window for a full tour

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2013Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies this year will comprise five ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals but no Tests, because of the difficulty in finding a window for a full tour. The dates for the tour have not yet been finalised.”The Pakistan issue, it’s fair to say that we haven’t completely concluded negotiations or the final dates, but we’re confident that will be done shortly,” WICB chief executive Michael Muirhead said in Port-of-Spain. “It won’t be a Test series anymore; we’re going to be focussing on five ODIs and two T20s. We have just not finalised with Pakistan, them signing off on the schedule we have been provided.”The WICB president Dave Cameron said he was not happy about the absence of Tests but there was little that could be done. “I don’t think we are satisfied,” Cameron said. “But circumstances have dictated for this year that that’s what we’re able to put in, and hopefully we’re going to able to build on that next year.”Pakistan were originally scheduled to play two Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s in the Caribbean in June and July, but West Indies planned a tri-series involving India and Sri Lanka, which shortened the window. The WICB had asked the PCB if their tour could be rescheduled to August. That, however, interfered with Pakistan’s plan to host India and to play out the Zimbabwe series that was postponed last year.

Kings XI Punjab’s campaign in IPL 2013 gathered pace with their second consecutive win, a stroll in the park compared to their adrenalin-charged chase against Pune Warriors

The Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran23-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHarmeet Singh made an impact in his first game of 2013•BCCI

Kings XI Punjab’s campaign in IPL 2013 gathered pace with their second consecutive win, a stroll in the park compared to their adrenaline-charged chase against Pune Warriors. A fine bowling effort from the Kings XI’s seamers, backed by some sharp fielding, restricted the bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils to a modest 120, which the Kings XI batsmen chased comfortably with three overs to spare.Kings XI opted to bowl on a slow Kotla track and they didn’t let partnerships to blossom, the highest being 39 between David Warner and Manprit Juneja. Mahela Jayawardene’s promotion to the opening position clicked against Mumbai Indians, when he made 59, but today his innings ended on 4 when he edged Praveen Kumar to slip. Roelof van der Merwe’s promotion to No.3 didn’t work as he top-edged Parvinder Awana to cover. It set a pattern for the evening as several batsmen from both sides perished to top-edges.Perhaps it was the slow nature of the Kotla track that prompted Kings XI to bring in the seamer Harmeet Singh, known for his back-of-the-hand slower balls. Playing his first game of IPL 2013, replacing Manpreet Gony, Harmeet was hammered for a four and a six by Virender Sehwag off consecutive balls in his first over. In his second, he frustrated Sehwag with his slower balls, forcing the batsman to improvise. Sehwag looked to open up, made room and ended up scooping the ball low to extra cover, where Mandeep Singh timed his dive well and took the catch.Warner gave the innings some impetus with a flurry of boundaries in one over by Piyush Chawla, taking 16 off it. The stand between Warner and Juneja was the only period in which Daredevils had a semblance of control, until Harmeet steered the momentum Kings XI’s way in his second spell. Juneja pulled a slower ball, bowled short, straight to fine leg, before Kedar Jadhav top-edged to extra cover in the same over.The boundaries dried up with the procession of wickets and it only increased the pressure on Warner. The drought lasted four overs before Warner clipped Praveen behind square leg, before the bowler knocked the base of the base off stump with a swinging yorker. In the end, Daredevils limped to 120, in contrast to the record-shattering pyrotechnics earlier in the evening by Chris Gayle and Royal Challengers Bangalore.Adam Gilchrist fell three balls into the chase, trying to smash his way into form and convince his franchise he can still hold his position in the team, seeing how certain franchises are grappling with the issue of non-performing overseas captains. Mandeep gave the chase momentum with scoops and cuts off the seamers, but a promising knock was cut short thanks to a direct hit by Warner. A top-edge sent back Manan Vohra and at 70 for 4 in the tenth over, Daredevils had narrowed the gap a bit. However, David Miller ensured no further jitters as he and David Hussey took Kings XI closer.

Fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to the foot injury he picked up during a practice match last week, and Sri Lanka Cricket has replaced him with seam-bowling allrounder Dilhara Lokuhettige

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2013Sri Lankan fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara is unlikely to travel to England for the Champions Trophy, after failing to recover sufficiently from an ankle injury he sustained on May 18. Welegedara failed a fitness test on Wednesday morning, and Sri Lanka Cricket have since named seam bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige as a replacement. The selection was cleared by the sports minister, but has not yet been approved by the ICC.Lokuhettige, 32, played eight ODIs for Sri Lanka in 2005, and two Twenty20 internationals in 2008. He has six ODI wickets at 36.83. He has largely been picked on his form in the recently concluded List A tri-series in Pallekele, where he was the joint highest wicket-taker: nine scalps at an average of 17.66. If approved, he will be one of four pace specialists on tour, with Lasith Malinga, Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Kulasekara also traveling. Allrounders Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews are part of the squad as well.”SLC have written to the ICC Event Technical Committee regarding this replacement,” an SLC statement said. “The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.”Welegedara had picked up the injury during the penultimate match of the tri-series, which he left, in pain, during his third over. His chances of traveling to England had looked promising on Tuesday after scans revealed no breaks or fractures, but inflammation persisted and he was unable to put sufficient weight on his landing foot.Welegedara, also 32, was the leader of Sri Lanka’s Test pace attack, but has been plagued by injury in the last 12 months, in which he only completed one Test match. He strained his groin playing England in March last year, before tearing a shoulder muscle before the Pakistan series in July. He recovered in time to travel to Australia at the end of the year, but tore a hamstring early in the second Test in Melbourne, and has not played any international cricket since. Largely regarded a Test specialist, Welegedara has not played limited-overs international cricket since June 2010.The Sri Lanka squad leaves for England in the early hours of Monday morning.

Phillip Hughes is adamant he can repair his shaken confidence in three warm-up matches ahead of the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge

Daniel Brettig in London18-Jun-2013Phillip Hughes is adamant he can repair his shaken confidence in three warm-up matches ahead of the first Investec Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, starting with Australia A’s fixture against Gloucestershire in Bristol from Friday.A paltry return of 57 runs in five limited-overs innings on this England tour so far has not enhanced Hughes’ claims to a spot in the Australian top order for the Test matches to come, particularly when they are added to his poor record against England – 154 runs at 17.11 in five Tests spread across the past two series – and a dire recent tour of India.But the selectors’ decision to send Hughes and Matthew Wade to Bristol to join Australia A will now afford Hughes a trio of first-class matches in which to strive for runs before the Test squad rolls into Nottingham. A century or three over the next two weeks would not only enhance Hughes’ chances of retention in the Test team, but also send self-recriminating thoughts of a poor Champions Trophy to the back of his mind.”I’m really looking forward to getting a couple training days in Bristol and starting Friday,” Hughes said in London. “Hopefully spend a bit of time in the middle and get my mental game around the red ball now. It was disappointing to be knocked out and lose those games of cricket in the Champions Trophy, but that’s behind us now, it’s about moving on.”We’ll be disappointed for a day or two but it’s all about the red ball now and we’ll get into preparation. Behind the scenes in the nets now all my focus will be on the red ball. It can be at times tricky to juggle formats but the beauty of it is there’s still a way to go before the Ashes and we’ve got some good cricket coming up to that first Test.”Largely due to a homespun batting technique that relies heavily on an uncluttered mind and an exceptional eye rather than precise footwork or a watertight defence, confidence is more critical to Hughes’ chances of success than most. This contention is backed up by his penchant for scoring great swathes of runs on some days and looking like the bat is an alien object in his hands on others.The latter state of affairs was in evidence at The Oval against Sri Lanka, where Hughes used the inside and outside edges far more often than the middle on his way to a fretful 13. He did not look like a batsman thinking clearly and simply about the task at hand. Nevertheless, Hughes argued that four years around international cricket now meant he would be far better prepared to do so when the Ashes begin than he had been on his previous visit to England in 2009.”It’s a tough one,” Hughes said of keeping distractions from his mind at the batting crease. “The older you get the better you are at it, I think. You speak to players in the past and they sometimes say you mature at 28-29 years of age. One thing for me is I’ve still got age on my side. I’ve been very lucky to be around the international scene for four years, and I feel like I’m in a lot better space than I was four years ago. I feel like my game’s come a long, and also mentally it’s come along. I suppose it’s a pleasing thing going forward, but day in day out I’m still looking to get better.”One thing around the Ashes is huge hype, so it’s about staying as calm as possible and wiping out as much media and outside influence as possible, and keeping a tight team unit. I remember the memories of four years ago and personally how disappointed I was and everyone was when we lost that series. That’s in the back of my mind. As a kid growing up you want to win Ashes series and that’s what we always talk about.”There was evidence of Hughes’ gathering mental strength in India of all places, where he emerged from a nightmarish first two Tests to make a fighting 69 in Mohali then a battling 45 in Delhi. Those innings don’t sound like much, but they showed rare persistence on a generally dysfunctional tour, and caught the approving eye of the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, among others. Hughes will need to repeat the trick over the next two weeks if he is to keep his Test spot.

Gary Ballance led the way for Yorkshire with a dazzling career-best one-day score of 139 in their 32-run win over Unicorns at Headingley.

13-Aug-2013
ScorecardGary Ballance smashed 139 in 113 balls•Getty Images

Gary Ballance led the way for Yorkshire with a dazzling career-best one-day score of 139 in their 32-run win over Unicorns at Headingley.It was just the sort of warm-up that Ballance wanted ahead of England Lions’ two-day encounter against the Australians starting on Friday at Northampton, and his two other county colleagues in the national side also enjoyed an outstanding match.Alex Lees scored a faultless 63 off 74 balls with six boundaries and put on 134 in 23 overs with Ballance, who was later joined in a frenzied stand of 76 in only 35 balls by Liam Plunkett, the allrounder striking 25 not out off 16 balls and going on to take a couple of wickets..But the star of the batting show was undoubtedly Ballance in making Yorkshire’s only century in the competition so far this season, his runs coming off 113 deliveries with 15 fours and three sixes, but off-spinner Jack Leaning hogged the limelight later on with an astonishing return of 5 for 22 off four overs.Unicorns, who had a worthy century-maker of their own in Matt Lineker, were set 267 to win the Group C clash, but were eventually out for 234 in 38.2 overs.Yorkshire made a poor start with captain Andrew Gale pushing forward to Dominic Reed in the third over and caught at second slip by Lineker. It became 16 for 2 in the following over as Dan Hodgson hung out his bat at Chris Skidmore and was held at first slip by Keith Parsons.Lees and Ballance soon mastered the situation and began to score freely although Lees had a fortunate moment when he narrowly avoided disturbing the bails while trying to prevent a ball from legspinner Josh Poysdon rebounding into his stumps. Both batsmen reached their half-centuries in the same over from Garry Park that the century partnership was raised, Lees off 56 balls with five fours and Ballance off 52 deliveries with seven boundaries.Park eventually made the breakthrough by trapping Lees lbw as he attempted to reverse sweep a ball which was too full and some of the rhythm went out of the batting for a few overs, Adam Lyth being bowled by Park when aiming through midwicket and Jack Leaning falling to Aneurin Norman.That made it 185 for 5 in the 34th over but Ballance and Plunkett suddenly unleashed a torrent of strokes which kept the scoreboard constantly on the move, Reed bearing the brunt of an assault from Ballance which saw him concede 17 off 1 over and 24 off his next, two of Ballance’s shots clearing the rope in between him galloping to his century off 98 balls with 10 fours and a six.During this assault, the unfortunate Reed saw Ballance dropped off a skier to Luke Beaven at square leg soon after completing three figures. Ballance’s run spree continued until the last over of the innings when he went for another big hit, this time off Beaven, and was caught in front of the football stand by Park.Yorkshire’s 266 for 6, their highest score of the season, was always going to prove challenging for Unicorns but they went about their task with gusto and kept themselves up with the required rate.
Tom Lancefield and Lineker, who had a first-class season with Derbyshire in 2011, put on 77 in 14 overs for the first wicket before Lancefield slashed at Plunkett and was caught behind for 39.While the stylish Lineker was still there Unicorns were always in with a chance and he reached his 50 off 56 balls with five fours. At the 30-over stage they were 176 for 4 compared to Yorkshire’s 169 for 3, but Lewis Hill was caught hitting out at Plunkett and there was relief in the home camp when Lineker tried to sweep the offspin of Leaning and was lbw for 107 from 105 balls with nine fours and a six.Leaning also got rid of the dangerous Parsons and was far from finished because in the 38th over, with 38 wanted, he bowled Beaven and had both Norman and Reed caught to finish with 5 for 22, Yorkshire’s best figures of the season.

Ajit Chandila has been granted bail by a Delhi court in the IPL spot-fixing case after finding the prosecution to have some “missing links” in their case

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-2013Ajit Chandila has been granted bail by a Delhi court in the IPL spot-fixing case. According to , the court took the decision after ruling that the prosecution had “missing links” in their case.Chandila and his Rajasthan Royals team-mates Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan had been arrested, along with 11 bookies, on May 16 and charged under the Indian Penal Code section 420 and 120B, which deal with fraud, cheating and conspiracy. Sreesanth and Chavan had successfully made bail and were released on June 11.The court also directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to examine the issue of the missing links within a month. “It is very surprising,” the judge said. “There are some missing links in the case. I am sending the full file to the Commissioner of Police to let the case be examined.” The court also fixed October 7 as the date for hearing the prosecution’s plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to the three cricketers and the others arrested.Chandila was named as one of the accused in a 6000-page charge sheet issued by the Delhi police, along with Sreesanth and Chavan. In June, the police had invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), a special law passed by the Maharashtra state government to tackle organised crime syndicates and terrorism, against all three cricketers. But after the police failed to provide adequate evidence to support the addition of the MCOCA charge, a court in Delhi had upheld Sreesanth and Chavan’s plea for bail. The two of them were released from custody on June 11, while Chandila had not applied for bail then.Chandila had later submitted that he had been falsely implicated and said the police had “mischievously added” provisions of the MCOCA to the charges to keep him from getting bail. His counsel Rakesh Kumar had said Chandila had no connections to Dawood Ibrahim or his aide, Chhota Shakeel, who are among India’s most wanted criminals. Both of them are also charged in the case and the police allege that they control the betting syndicate in India.