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A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group B matches played on December 24, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Dec-2014
ScorecardDelhi marched to their second win in as many games by thrashing Rajasthan by an innings and seven runs at Feroz Shah Kotla. Navdeep Saini led the charge with four wickets, restricting Rajasthan to 232 in the second innings.The visitors started the day on 78 for 2, trailing by 161 runs, but Saini struck twice in two deliveries, trapping Ashok Menaria lbw for 19 and Rajesh Bishnoi caught behind for a duck. Opener Siddharth Saraf and Arjit Gupta fought back with a stand of 87 runs for the fifth wicket. But offspinner Shivam Sharma (3 for 40) broke the partnership by dismissing Gupta for 37. Rajasthan could not make a comeback from there. Varun Sood (2 for 39) dented them further with a double flow, removing Dishant Yagnik and Aristh Singhvi within five overs. Saraf tried to fight till the end with his 88, but the lower order could not resist for too long and they were all out in 99.3 overs, giving Delhi seven points.
ScorecardPriyank Panchal’s unbeaten half-century led Gujarat’s effort, on the last day in Rajkot, as they collected three points in the drawn match against Saurashtra, who got one point. Gujarat finished the day on 130 for 2 after they were set a target of 324, once Saurashtra declared on 364 for 5.Gujarat’s opening stand was broken by a run out when Samit Gohel fell for 15 at the score of 24. Panchal and Bhargav Merai put on 97 for the second wicket, and the match ended soon after Merai was caught behind for 36. Panchal’s 75 not out featured eight fours.Earlier, Saurashtra scored 84 runs in the morning once they resumed at their overnight score of 280 for 3. Sheldon Jackson extended his score from 124 to 156, but Jaydev Shah could only move from 17 to 26, before he was caught off Kushang Patel. Jackson fell for 156, his highest first-class score, and Saurashtra declared not too long after they crossed 350.
ScorecardNot a single ball was possible in the drawn match between Vidarbha and Haryana in Rohtak due to bad weather. Morning fog and bad light later on meant that Haryana took three points for their slender two-run first-innings lead.

No matter how ordinary England have been as an ODI side, India’s comeback, in spirit and in their minds, has been remarkable

Sidharth Monga at Edgbaston02-Sep-2014About three weeks ago the India players looked like they were being led to the gallows. Dispirited, just turning up to take their beating. No matter how ordinary England have been as an ODI side, the comeback, in spirit and in their minds, has been remarkable. This ODI series could easily have ended as an extension of the Tests. Losing can become a habit hard to kick. Sometimes when you lose as badly as they did – their opening stands over the last four Tests added up to 187, only a few more than Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan at Edgbaston – you become your own opposition.India haven’t, and they have improved every game. It needed an inspiring knock, which came from Suresh Raina, to start them off. Two matches later they played the near-perfect ODI. MS Dhoni thinks so, too. “The good thing is, we have kept improving from the first ODI on,” he said. “That’s definitely a big positive. It was a good toss to win today. The fast bowlers bowled really well initially and gave us those early breakthroughs, because of which we were able to put pressure on their middle order. Overall, I’m very happy. Jinks [Rahane] also got a century. We got an opening partnership. So a complete game for us.”When wins come about so easily for a team that failed to win a single game on their last two ODI tours, when the opposition is so clearly out of their league, it is well advised to not get lulled into a false sense of confidence. However, Dhoni won’t have the sense of achievement questioned. He was asked after the match if he felt his side was pushed and tested enough by England, keeping in mind their previous two overseas series and with an eye on the World Cup. “How do you want us to be tested?” an unimpressed Dhoni shot back.Dhoni went on to say they were not tested because they didn’t let England test them. “That’s what happens in cricket,” Dhoni said. “At times, you get early breakthroughs and you think that your batting or bowling has not been tested. You only get tested when you don’t get those breakthroughs. When you don’t get those early wickets and then the wicket doesn’t help you in middle overs, the spinners find it difficult to get wickets.”We were not tested because our fast bowlers bowled well initially in the game. Where they didn’t bowl well, the spinners took the responsibility. So on and off it was good. Batting, we have kept improving from the first game, which I feel is important. We will only see how much we will be tested. Testing is good, but you don’t always want to be tested. You want to win games easily too, you don’t always want to hang in until the 49th-50th over.”India’s openers rattled off the majority of the target to capitalise on good work by the bowlers•Getty Images

There had always been a fear that India will forget the Test debacle once they resume winning in the ODIs, or in Tests at home. This has been a strange old tour. India have been hopeless in the last three Tests, England even more so in the ODIs. When asked how much of a consolation this series win would be to India, Dhoni suggested Tests were a different universe, a universe he didn’t want to travel to at the moment.”It’s not only that,” Dhoni said. “It’s not about consolation prizes. It’s about winning the series. Once you have lost the Test series, there is no real point thinking about it, because it is done and dusted. With the World Cup coming up, it is very important we start doing well outside the subcontinent. We don’t think about what happened in the Test series, and what will happen in the future series.”When you are having a tough tour, and when you are switching formats during that tough tour, this mindset can help arrest a slide. “We kept it simple,” Dhoni said. “The change of format helps. The demands are very different. That to some extent eases the pressure.”This win was extra special for Dhoni. He has won the World Cup and Champions Trophy as a captain, but this ODI gave him an accumulative record too. It took him past Mohammad Azharuddin as India’s most successful captain in ODIs. Dhoni took the moment to thank the players who have made it possible. “When I started leading the team, I got a fantastic team then, and I have got a fantastic side right now,” Dhoni said. “There will be ups and downs, but thanks to everyone. Whoever I have played with. Without their contribution it wouldn’t really have been possible. All the senior players I played with and who played under me, followed by the youngsters. I personally feel we are a very good, fantastic ODI side. And there will be ups and downs, but what is important is to keep the intent positive. Thanks to all the players.”

Australia star Aaron Finch was upstaged on his Yorkshire debut by local boy Alex Lees, who clubbed a superb unbeaten 61 in an eight-wicket win over Derbyshire.

Press Association30-May-2014
ScorecardAdil Rashid strangled Derbyshire with 2 for 19•Getty Images

Australia star Aaron Finch was upstaged on his Yorkshire debut by local boy Alex Lees, who clubbed a superb unbeaten 61 in an eight-wicket win over Derbyshire.The world’s No.1-ranked Twenty20 batsman made his much-heralded arrival at Headingley after a spell in the Indian Premier League with Hyderabad, but scored just 19 as 21-year-old Lees stole the show and guided Yorkshire to their first NatWestT20 Blast win of the season.Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid took two wickets apiece as Yorkshire survived some poor catching to limit their visitors, who are still searching for a first win of the season in any format, to 127 for 6.Derbyshire got off to a flying start and were 28 without loss after the first three overs before Stephen Moore became the first man to fall with Oliver Robinson, on Twenty20 debut, running him out with a direct hit from cover for 18. Robinson’s debut got even better shortly after when he caught the dangerous Chesney Hughes at deep square leg as he attempted to pull Plunkett.Derbyshire were rocking in the eighth over courtesy of two wickets in three balls from Rashid, who first bowled Marcus North round his legs and then had Wes Durston trapped lbw.The clatter of wickets slowed the rate, with just two boundaries in the next five overs, before Plunkett claimed his second wicket, with Lees claiming Scott Elstone, who had earlier been dropped by Jack Leaning, at short-midwicket for 14.Gareth Cross made 20 before he was done by Richard Pyrah’s yorker and Wayne Madsen finished unbeaten on 34 as the visitors posted a seemingly below-par total.Finch made a statement of intent with a six in the first over, but was then kept largely off-strike, briefly by Andrew Gale, who was caught at point by Elstone off the bowling of Mark Footitt for 7, and then by Lees.In fact, Finch faced just nine balls in the first six overs as Lees took charge, hitting six fours in seven deliveries as Yorkshire powered to 70 for 1.Finch fell for 19 when he was caught and bowled by countryman North, but Lees brought up his maiden Twenty20 50 off 30 balls in the next over. He and Jonny Bairstow, with an unbeaten 29 not out then guided Yorkshire home with 36 balls to spare and the minimum of fuss.

New Zealander Hamish Marshall held up Hampshire’s victory bid on day three at Bristol by spearheading a battling Gloucestershire recovery. His unbeaten 84 kept his side alive

Press Association16-Apr-2014
ScorecardHamish Marshall kept Gloucestershire alive•PA Photos

New Zealander Hamish Marshall held up Hampshire’s victory bid on day three at Bristol by spearheading a battling Gloucestershire recovery.Marshall ended the day unbeaten on 84 as Gloucestershire recovered from 183 for 7 to reach 308 for 9 in their second innings, with Marshall and seamer David Payne forging a record ninth wicket partnership for the county against Hampshire of 92 at almost five runs an over.Payne, who hit two fours and a six off successive deliveries during one Michael Carberry over, was dismissed for 44 in the last over of the day as Gloucestershire closed with a 190-run lead.Alex Gidman’s 72 allowed Gloucestershire to stage an initial comeback from 48 for 3, yet they continued losing wickets at regular intervals before Marshall and Payne breathed life into a game that appeared lost.Hampshire added just five runs to their overnight score, with wicketkeeper Adam Wheater the last man out for 82 as Matt Taylor returned career-best figures of 5 for 75, yet a first innings total of 422 meant Gloucestershire needed a solid start as they set about erasing a 118-run first innings deficit.But James Tomlinson kept Hampshire on top, removing openers Michael Klinger and Chris Dent to leave Gloucestershire reeling on 6 for 2, before first innings centurion Will Tavare went for 18, trapped lbw by Matt Coles.Gidman and Marshall repaired some of the damage as Gloucestershire moved to 79 for 3 by lunch, before a 76-run fourth wicket partnership was broken by Sean Irvine, who had Gidman caught behind, ending an innings that included 11 boundaries.Ervine then struck again, bowling Gidman’s younger brother Will, and not even the loss of Wheater with a hand injury for the evening session – Will Smith deputised behind the stumps – could disrupt Hampshire’s flow until Marshall and Payne took charge. Six Hampshire bowlers shared the nine wickets to fall, with Ervine, Tomlinson and Coles taking two each.

Jeroen Smits, the former Netherlands wicketkeeper, has resigned from his position on the KNCB board with immediate effect as he felt accountable for the team’s poor performances in the World Cup Qualifiers, where they finished seventh

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-2014

Jeroen Smits, the former Netherlands wicketkeeper, has resigned from his position on the KNCB board with immediate effect. A press release from the KNCB indicated that Smits, the technical director of “top cricket” in Netherlands, felt accountable for the team’s poor performances in the World Cup Qualifiers in New Zealand, where they finished seventh.”The Netherlands team faces a new period of at least four years outside of top-flight cricket. A new Dutch team will have to be built up,” Smits said. “That’s a task that needs new faces”.An old-style wicketkeeper who could bat a bit, Smits was one of the most dependable members of the team’s 2003 and 2007 World Cup sides. He made 44 international appearances, including 38 full ODIs, and has 49 dismissals behind the wicket to his credit. He had been a member of the board since December 2012, having previously served as the chairman of selectors.

Scorecard
Rob Quiney outperformed his opening partner and Test batsman Chris Rogers on a rain-affected opening day in Hobart, where Victoria reached 3 for 119 at stumps. Quiney was unbeaten on 57 at the close of play, with the nightwatchman Scott Boland yet to score, after Tasmania’s captain George Bailey asked the Bushrangers to bat in challenging conditions.Rogers was caught at gully off the bowling of Adam Maher for 3 before Quiney and Peter Handscomb put on 54 for the second wicket, a useful stand under the circumstances. Handscomb was bowled by James Faulkner for 19 and Cameron White made 33 before he was caught behind off the part-time medium-pace of Mark Cosgrove.