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Both batters hit centuries as hosts complete 378-run chase at a scoring rate of almost five

Karthik Krishnaswamy05-Jul-20221:21

Dravid: Brand of cricket depends on your players and their form

England came to Edgbaston having gunned down targets of 277, 299 and 296 in their last three Test matches. On Tuesday they made it four in a row, pulling off their highest successful chase in Test cricket as Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow completed sparkling unbeaten hundreds, making India’s celebrated bowling attack look utterly bereft of ideas in near-perfect batting conditions.Root sealed victory with a reverse-sweep, a symbolic moment if there ever was one. He played the shot or variants thereof – including a reverse-lap off Shardul Thakur for a six over the slips – four times in the closing overs of the game, as England picked off the last 46 runs of their target in just 34 balls. Pure Bazball.This has been an unusual summer of relatively flat pitches and an exceedingly flat batch of Dukes balls, but this sequence of audacious chases has come against two of the best fast-bowling attacks in the world – attacks that came to England last year and went away with a 1-0 series win and a 2-1 series lead respectively. A remarkable achievement for Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, the new captain and coach, even if the long-term viability of their all-out-attacking philosophy will be put to test more rigorously in due course, when England play in more bowling-friendly conditons.England began the last day needing 119, and India needing seven wickets. England had never successfully chased a target of this magnitude, and India had never lost while defending one of this magnitude. Now, venomous early bursts from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were India’s only way back into the game.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

A ball-change in the second over of the morning – two balls had gone out of shape in the first 59 overs of England’s innings, and the third would also be replaced by the time the match was done – brought India a brief window when the replacement Dukes moved around appreciably, but it didn’t translate into a wicket. Bumrah and Shami beat the edges of both batters, and on one occasion Root inside-edged the ball narrowly past his stumps, but the two fast bowlers were also erratic, drifting too wide or too straight, with Shami conceding eight byes in the space of two overs.These errors were ruthlessly punished, and often even reasonably good balls. Bairstow met an off-stump ball from Bumrah with a full face to punch it between mid-on and midwicket, and Root opened his bat-face late to routinely steer good-length balls in the corridor either side of gully.One such back-cut brought up Root’s 28th hundred in Test cricket, and England were rushing along by this stage, with Root hitting five fours in the space of just four overs. At one stage, it appeared as if Root could dash to the target all by himself; Bairstow had beaten Root to 90, but he was still in the 90s when Root had moved to 135.Bairstow wouldn’t be denied his second hundred of the match, of course, and his fourth in his last five Test innings, getting there with a scampered single after pushing Ravindra Jadeja into the leg side. He celebrated with three back-to-back boundaries in the next over – slapped through point, drilled down the ground, pulled through midwicket – with Mohammed Siraj at the receiving end.That over, the penultimate over of the match, left Siraj nursing figures of 15-0-98-0. He went for nearly six an over in the first innings too, though there were four wickets to go with it. Thakur, meanwhile, conceded 113 in 18 overs across the two innings while taking just the one wicket. These two were part of an India attack that created sustained pressure on England last summer. On this visit, the two of them and Ravindra Jadeja, who extracted very little from the pitch while bowling a negative line from left-arm over, left Bumrah and Shami carrying too much of a burden to manage by themselves.

At the 14th attempt, the unthinkable happened: the team asked to bat first managed to win a match

Matt Roller03-Mar-2021At the 14th attempt, the unthinkable happened: the team that lost the toss and were asked to bat first managed to win a match in the 2021 Pakistan Super League.Winless in their first four games of the season, Quetta Gladiators were unlikely candidates to break the infamous chasing streak, and it was an unlikely contender who fired them to a defendable total. Usman Khan, making his official T20 debut at the age of 25, hit 81 off 50 balls to lead them to 176 for 7, a total which could and should have been significantly higher but for a stumble in the middle overs.Related

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With the ball, the wizardry of their two main spinners, Qais Ahmad and Mohammad Nawaz, was key, as Multan Sultans became the first side to fall short in a chase despite yet another half-century from Mohammad Rizwan – his third in five innings to date in this tournament.Usman Khan’s debut fireworksAll of the talk about Quetta Gladiators coming into this season revolved around their top-order batting, and specifically their two platinum picks at January’s draft. In Chris Gayle and Tom Banton, they had a ready-made opening partnership between the one of the GOATs in the shortest format and one of its brightest young talents.Things have not played out as planned. Gayle played two innings at No. 3 before departing for Antigua, winning a recall to West Indies’ T20I set-up at the age of 41, while Banton was dropped after making nine runs in two innings and watched Wednesday night’s game from self-isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.In their absence, the unknown Usman was plucked from obscurity and played one of the innings of the season to date. He was last seen playing in the D20 tournament in the UAE in December, having made a couple of first-class appearances for Karachi Whites in October 2017, but was thrown in at the deep end alongside the 18-year-old Saim Ayub and got the Gladiators off to a flying start.Usman was strong all around the ground, but particularly square of the wicket, with a preference for the leg side. He was particularly punishing against Carlos Brathwaite, whom he hit for 27 in 11 balls including a four and two sixes at the end of the 13th, but his best shot was a clean strike over long-on against Imran Tahir.Sultans fight backTahir was making his first appearance of the season, coming into the side alongside Imran Khan and Shan Masood as Usman Qadir, Shahid Afridi and Chris Lynn were left out. It was an emotional night for him, as he dedicated his first wicket to his close friend Tahir Mughal, who passed away in January following a battle with cancer.And Tahir’s second wicket, which saw him trap Usman lbw when reverse-sweeping on 81, sparked a mini-collapse. Faf du Plessis had struggled for timing, making a run-a-ball 17 and playing on off Sohail Khan the ball after Usman’s dismissal, and it took a pair of cameos from Azam Khan and Mohammad Nawaz to drag the Gladiators to 176 for 7 after their 20 overs.Shahnawaz Dhani bowled some superb yorkers at the death, managing to extract movement from the old ball at high pace, but struggled for consistency and ended up conceding 44 from his four overs.Rizwan’s strong startRizwan and James Vince started the chase well, racing to 53 for 0 inside the powerplay to stay level with the required rate as they took advantage of a loose start from the Gladiators’ seamers and feasted on the legspinner Zahid Mahmood. Sarfaraz Ahmed also burned both of his side’s reviews early on.But Qais and Nawaz came on after the powerplay and immediately put the brakes on. Qais removed Vince in his first over, feathering an edge through to Sarfaraz, and pinned Shan Masood lbw trying to sweep in his second. The four overs immediately after the powerplay brought only 16 runs, leaving the required rate up at 10.8.Rizwan led the rebuilding job, surviving an optimistic stumping shout from Sarfaraz on 49 but batting with the fluency that has defined his tournament, but Qais struck for a third time as Rilee Rossouw spooned a catch to fine leg. Sohaib Maqsood holed out to long-on, leaving Khushdil Shah as the only real support for Rizwan, and despite an expensive third over from Dale Steyn, the rate continued to look beyond them.The curse is brokenMohammad Hasnain made two breakthroughs bowling at high pace in his third over, removing both Shah and Brathwaite, leaving Rizwan as the last man standing. He holed out off Mahmood, who had Sohail caught at long-on a ball later, and should have had a hat-trick but for Ben Cutting’s drop at mid-off. Tahir whacked a six over the covers off Hasnain, but the Gladiators managed to close the game out regardless.The Gladiators are still bottom of the pile on net run-rate, level on points with the Sultans. Both sides have identical records, having lost four games out of five, and are already in real danger of missing out on the play-offs.

The Namibia juggernaut notched their fourth straight win, while Singapore fell to their fourth straight loss to crash out

The Report By Peter Della Penna in Dubai27-Oct-2019Gerhard Erasmus struck four sixes off a 29-run over in the 13th to highlight a dominant night for the tournament’s hottest team as the Namibia juggernaut notched their fourth straight win, beating Singapore by 87 runs on Saturday night at Dubai International Stadium. Namibia captain Erasmus notched his second straight fifty to clinch a spot in the playoffs of the T20 World Cup Qualifier while Singapore fell to their fourth straight loss to bow out of the tournament, having struggled since the mid-tournament bowling ban placed on offspinner Selladore Vijayakumar.Singapore captain Amjad Mahboob won the toss and chose to bowl in the hopes of restricting Namibia to a total that would need to be chased down in roughly 13 overs, depending on Namibia’s exact score, in order to pass them on the net run rate tiebreaker with an equal six points in the event of a win. They had a reasonable shot of doing so at the seven-over mark after Singapore struck thrice in three overs to make it 55 for 3.Stephen Baard skied a flick off Sidhant Singh with the medium pacer calling off the infield to take a return catch at short cover in the fifth. Niko Davin fell into a trap hooking Janak Prakash to Singapore’s best fielder, Tim David, at deep backward square in the sixth. Craig Williams then became Sidhant’s second wicket slicing to backward point in the seventh to round out the sequence with another bow and arrow celebration.But Sidhant had nothing left in his quiver to deal with Erasmus. Taking on the captain in his final over, Sidhant repeatedly opted for length deliveries and Erasmus capitalized on the true bounce of the pitch by tonking him over square leg and midwicket on four consecutive occasions for six. Sidhant went around the wicket for the fifth ball and though he denied Erasmus the chance to emulate Garry Sobers and Yuvraj Singh, the Namibia captain still managed to slice a wide yorker over third man for four. A skier off the last ball was put down by David at midwicket with Erasmus on 39 and he continued to punish Singapore for the next six overs before finally perishing to a flat slog to deep midwicket off Mahboob in the final over.By that stage though, Erasmus had completed two devastating stands: 70 runs for the fourth wicket with JP Kotze and another 53 in five overs with JJ Smit for the fifth. Erasmus was one of three wickets in four balls to end the innings for Singapore captain Mahboob, but there were only faint smiles in the Singapore family box above the team dugouts.Needing to chase the target of 192 in 12.3 overs in order to pass Namibia on net run rate, Singapore tried their best to imitate Netherlands against Ireland at Sylhet in 2014, swinging hard from the first over. But instead of 24 runs off Andy McBrine, they lost two wickets in the first six balls to Jan Frylinck. Surendran Chandramohan was bowled off his pads with an inswinger for a golden duck before Aryaman Sunil skied a slog over point. Aritra Dutta fell skying Christi Viljoen to mid-on making it three wickets in the first ten balls.The big scalp of David was dropped twice in two balls in the third over but he only managed to last until the eighth over before charging left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz, waving through a skiddy arm ball to be stumped for 19. At 49 for 5, the match was effectively done before the halfway point of the chase. Singapore lasted until the 18th over before Viljoen and Frylinck finished off the tail.Namibia can finish no lower than third place in the group regardless of Sunday’s results on the last day of group play, guaranteeing them at least two chances to clinch a spot in the T20 World Cup for the first time.

What was it Shakespeare said about a “thankless child”? Jason Gillespie would have reflected on Will Rhodes’ obduracy with a wry smile

Paul Edwards20-Sep-20181:38

Worcestershire relegated after Essex hammering

ScorecardSummer clings on in Sussex but the county’s thin hopes of promotion have been scattered on the blustery wind. Having arrived at the ground this morning sustained by the envision that they might challenge Warwickshire’s first innings 440 and then embarrass their visitors in the second half of the game, Ben Brown’s players eventually left the field with their opponents 238 runs to the good and all their wickets intact. A few hours earlier Kent had secured promotion and their match at Edgbaston next week seems certain to be a First Division title decider. The bad light that ended the cricket 13 overs early probably seemed rather fitting for home supporters.And it was grimly ironic that Will Rhodes, the player who helped make Warwickshire safe in this game, was recommended to his new county by the current Sussex coach, Jason Gillespie, who had been responsible for the all-rounder’s development when in a similar post at Headingley. Rhodes’ unbeaten 76 in Warwickshire’s second innings took his total of championship runs this season to 850 at an average of 42.5. As Yorkshire’s supporters sigh with relief at their own county’s survival in the First Division they may reflect how much easier that passage might have been had their batting been strengthened by Rhodes’ unflappable presence.Certainly the opener’s good footwork and thumping drives have been features of Warwickshire’s season and his unbroken first-wicket stand of 141 with Dom Sibley, their third century partnership in six innings, finally stamped on any notions Brown’s bowlers might have hatched of taking early wickets and inducing panic. Rhodes’ fearless batting – he slog-swept Danny Briggs for six in the twelfth over – confirmed he has made a success of leaving Yorkshire, the county he had represented since the age of ten. It is a trick few players manage to pull off. Gillespie, of course, will congratulate Rhodes and be pleased for him but he may also reflect on his praise with a wry smile. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child” exclaims King Lear.Yet anyone who expected Sussex to subside in an unsightly heap once their promotion chances became fanciful underestimated the culture of enjoyment and achievement that Gillespie has encouraged at Hove. They also failed to allow for Brown’s competitive instincts and that is normally a grave oversight. This was proved in the first hour of the day’s play when he and David Wiese extended their sixth-wicket stand to 196. Brown’s method is quiet but it captures the attention. There are normally four taps of the bat in the crease, often in two sets of two, and then a firm crack of bat on ball even if the shot is defensive. Obduracy comes as standard.Wiese is hewn from similar rock and the pair looked secure until he was bowled by a ball from Chris Wright which nipped back but also kept low. He was seven short of what would have been a deserved century and his dismissal was crucial to Warwickshire’s progress. None of the remaining batsmen scored runs with Wiese’s unfussy ease and the hour’s cricket before lunch was characterised by close-set fields and a throttled run-rate.Immediately after lunch Jeetan Patel switched himself to the Sea End and this change proved decisive. A couple of sharpish off-spinners prompted Brown to push forward tentatively for a third and he edged an arm ball to Jonathan Trott at slip. He had made 99. Nearly but not quite. It seemed to sum up Sussex’s season. And home supporters had barely got over their misery at the dismissal of their skipper when Chris Jordan top edged a sweep off Patel to Ryan Sidebottom at backward square leg.With Tom Haines’ ankle ligament injury rendering him for the rest of this game, Joffra Archer and Ollie Robinson became their side’s last pair and Archer’s innings was ended on 16 when he edged a very rapid delivery from Olly Stone to second slip, where Sibley took an unnervingly good two-handed catch above his head. Sibley then trotted off to the pavilion with Rhodes and ten minutes later the pair strode out purposefully to begin what may be any team’s final innings at Hove this year.

Sussex won for only the second time this season by beating Surrey at Hove but they still can;t be discounted as quarter-final contenders

ECB Reporters Network03-Aug-2017Tymal Mills shook Surrey’s top order•Getty Images

Sussex kept alive their slender chances of progressing in the NatWest T20 Blast with a convincing eight-wicket victory over Surrey at Hove on Thursday.Sussex had gone into the match bottom of the south table with just one victory from eight matches. But they built on a fine bowling display by Tymal Mills to tear into the Surrey attack with such force that, chasing a target of 149, they got home with 6.3 overs to spare.Openers Chris Nash and Stiaan van Zyl brought up the 100 in only the seventh over with Nash racing to his half-century off just 24 balls with seven fours and three sixes.Van Zyl started more slowly but then made up for lost time, hitting eight fours and two sixes in his 21-ball 52. By the time Surrey finally broke through, in the ninth over, the Sussex the opening pair had put on 120 and the match was effectively over.Nash was out in the following over, lbw to Gareth Batty for a 36-ball 64. But by that time Sussex had to score at just over two runs an over. Sam Curran’s two overs went for 31. Stuart Meaker bowled just one, but it was mauled for 22 runs, while Moises Henriques’ solitary effort cost 24.Sussex captain Ross Taylor said: “Nash and van Zyl were fantastic, and they have only been an opening partnership for a short time. They played outstandingly well against one of the leading sides in the competition.”We are also a different side when Tymal Mills is playing. He took three very important wickets. There are only a few players in the world who has the impact that he has.”Coach Mark Davis was just as impressed, saying: “This was the most complete performance I’ve seen our team have for a very long time. We were outstanding with the bat. It was strong hitting, not slogging. With Tymal we live on a day to day to day basis. But he is someone we want to keep fit. Today he showed what he can do when he does play and he really mixed it up very well.”Surrey had been disappointed with their score of 148 for 8, especially after Aaron Finch had crashed three boundaries off the opening over from Danny Briggs.Stiaan van Zyl rushed Sussex to victory•Getty Images

But Finch, beaten for pace, gloved Mills to Nash at slip off the second delivery of the second over. And Mills struck again in his next over when Jason Roy, who had hit his previous, slower delivery straight past him for four, skied to Laurie Evans at point.The best innings was played by Henriques, playing his first match for Surrey since breaking his jaw in three places after an horrific collision with team-mate Rory Burns at Arundel two years ago.Henriques hit seven fours in his 31-ball 41 before skied Will Beer to Nash at deep extra-cover. After that the best knock came from Ollie Pope, who played a perfect scoop shot for four on his way to an inventive 34 from 23 balls. But when he was sixth out at 142 in the 18th over, caught behind off Chris Jordan, Surrey were unable to finish their innings on a high note.Tom Curran was out in the next over and Surrey’s last four overs brought just 19 runs. Mills was the star man in the Sussex attack. Returning to the side after missing the previous two fixtures with injury, he had figures of three for 20 from his four overs.

Montu Datta, the match referee of the halted Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club v Abahani Limited DPL Super League match, has said that he has not submitted his report to the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis

Mohammad Isam14-Jun-2016Montu Datta, the match referee of the halted Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club v Abahani Limited DPL Super League match, has said that he has not submitted his report to the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis, the BCB standing committee that runs the tournament. He said that he only sent them an email containing his version of the events that transpired on June 12.The match was halted on Sunday when on-field umpires Gazi Sohel and Tanvir Ahmed walked off the field citing “illness” as the reason, after the Abahani players and fans protested when umpire Tanvir adjudged Raqibul Hasan not out following an appeal for stumping in the 16th over of Doleshwar’s innings. The umpires consulted with Datta and subsequently left the field. The match was not played on the reserve day, Monday.CCDM’s Dhaka Premier League coordinator Amin Khan had claimed on Monday that Datta had submitted his report which effectively postponed the game as it was not held on the reserve day too. Amin said that Datta only mentioned that the umpires cited illness as the reason to not conduct the match and did not write anything about any team, players or supporters using abusive language or threatening the umpires.But Datta said the match referee’s report is based on the umpires’ report which has not been submitted to him yet. He further said that both reports had to be submitted only after the match was completed.”How can I submit my match report before the game is completed?” Datta said. “Until the match is completed you cannot really propose any action against anyone. You cannot take anyone to task without a hearing and if we had completed the match today [Monday] we could have followed the steps required to implement our verdict.”What I gave [to the CCDM] wasn’t a report. I sent them an email telling them what had happened on Sunday. At the time of sending them the mail, the umpires hadn’t even submitted their report. How can a match referee prepare his report when the umpires haven’t given theirs?”Datta also said that his report would also include what the umpires had written about Tamim Iqbal, who was seen arguing with Sohel after the stumping appeal.

Australia allrounder Shane Watson is set to join the Test squad in the West Indies on Wednesday, following the birth of his second child in Sydney

ESPNcricinfo staff27-May-2015Australia allrounder Shane Watson is set to join the Test squad in the West Indies on Wednesday, following the birth of his second child in Sydney. Watson, however, will not participate in the three-day tour game against WICB President’s XI in North Sound, the only warm-up match before the two-Test series gets underway on June 3.The allrounder had delayed his departure for the Caribbean due to the impending birth of his second child – who was born on May 24 – and was uncertain for the first Test.Apart from Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Steven Smith and David Warner will also miss the warm-up match, after the team management opted to rest players returning from the IPL season.Australia XI: Chris Rogers, Shaun Marsh, Michael Clarke, Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Brad Haddin (wk), Peter Nevill, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Fawad Ahmed

Newlands witnessed its second consecutive one-sided game as Sydney Sixers needed just 8.5 overs to breeze past Yorkshire’s 96 and give the county side the rudest of welcomes to the main draw

The Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran16-Oct-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIt was sort of a day for Yorkshire•Getty Images

Newlands witnessed its second consecutive one-sided game as Sydney Sixers needed just 8.5 overs to breeze past Yorkshire’s 96 and give the county side the rudest of welcomes to the main draw. The Sixers showed why they are among the better bowling units in this competition, keeping Yorkshire to a score below 100 under sunny skies. The seamers shared all nine wickets to fall, striking with such regularity that the innings failed to gather any momentum.It was as if the teams were batting on different pitches. It was a collective struggle for Yorkshire as several across-the-line swipes failed to find the middle of the bat; punches and lofts hit the toe end of the blade and didn’t have enough to clear the fielders. That only two batsmen went past the 20s – the highest score was Joe Root’s 25 – was indicative of how tough it was. When Brad Haddin and Michael Lumb swung and swished, the ball hit the sweet spot more often than not and found the boundary 16 times during their association. Yorkshire managed only 11 boundaries in all.The Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale himself found it hard to get bat on ball after opting to bat first, and had limped to 8 off 18 balls before he walked across his crease opting to improvise against Josh Hazlewood, only to see his leg stump cartwheel. After Phil Jaques fell for a breezy 19, the seamers applied the stranglehold that stayed through the innings. At one stage, Yorkshire managed only eight runs off five overs. Root broke free with a flick to midwicket and a pulled six – the only one of the innings – off Watson. However, the slowness of the pitch consumed him as well as he swung too early against Moises Henriques and lost his off stump.The run-rate took a beating as well – it stayed below five an over for seven consecutive overs, sneaked above five for a couple of overs before slipping again. The pressure piled on with every quiet over as the middle order ended up swishing at thin air as if they were shadow-practising a sword fight. Yorkshire managed only three boundaries of those coming in the last ten overs. Mitchell Starc, who leaked 13 off his first over, came back well, landed his yorkers correctly and finished with 3 for 22.The only consolation in the field for Yorkshire were the wickets of Shane Watson and Brad Haddin. Though Watson lasted just one over, Haddin lasted eight and by the time he was done, the Sixers were eight away from victory. Haddin and Lumb charged the bowlers and bashed the ball to all corners, propelling the score to 62 for 1 after just five overs. It was over so quickly that the few who showed up in the stands had more time to kill before the second game of the evening. With two wins, the Sixers went one step closer to the semi-finals.There was a touch of irony too to the proceedings, that the two players who made the maximum impact in this annihilation, Starc and Lumb, have both represented Yorkshire.

Cricket will take another step towards a new era next week when Kent and Glamorgan stage their County Championship match under floodlights

Andrew McGlashan11-Sep-2011Cricket will take another step towards a new era next week when Kent and Glamorgan stage their County Championship match under floodlights with the pink ball in the latest part of trials to see whether the format is viable for first-class and Test matches.While reaction to the experiment has been mixed – and spectators could well end up huddled under blankets with a Thermos – Gary Keedy, the Lancashire spinner, who was part of the MCC match against Nottinghamshire in Abu Dhabi when the same format was used in March, believes the proposals have a future.”The game in Abu Dhabi for me was a total success,” Keedy told ESPNcricinfo. “I support the experiment and whether it works in this country only time will tell. I wouldn’t want to play a competitive match until a few games had been played and everyone was happy with the outcome. I’m not saying Kent-Glamorgan won’t be competitive but it will be the ideal time to try it out.”My experience is that if you give it enough chances – and it will probably take more than one or two games to find out – that it can be a success. There is arguably a tough period at twilight where the transition from light to dark can be difficult, but we’ve all played under floodlights and we can all bat under floodlights, we are not strangers to that any more.”Although Keedy’s primary role is with the ball he did have a chance to experience conditions with the bat in Abu Dhabi and didn’t think they would be too tough to overcome. “I actually had a chance in the twilight period. It’s like anything, once you adapt to conditions everything becomes easier. To start with you have to get used to picking the ball up, seeing the shadows and once you get through that it’s just like batting as normal.”The Championship game at Canterbury is set to be played using a pink Tiflex ball – the manufacturer that has provided balls for Division Two – but in the longer term Keedy suggests that the Duke brand may be the best solution if a pink version can be produced because he has found that ball lasts longest. One of the main concerns about the coloured ball for first-class cricket is whether it will stay in decent condition for 80 overs.”The white Kookaburra scuffs up quite quickly and can go from pink to brown, depending on the surface, but if they are prepared to change the ball that could be a solution,” Keedy said. “I actually find it easier to bowl with a brand-new Kookaburra than I do a brand-new Dukes, whether it’s the seam or lacquer I don’t know. So, for me, a pink Kookaburra is certainly easier to bowl with but it’s one of those things that we won’t know until we try it.”Despite the floodlit experiment now arriving in county cricket the English game is probably the least likely market for the format in the future, partly because of the climate and also because international crowds – which is the ultimate reason for the idea of floodlit Tests – are still healthy in England.”The one thing you’ll get by playing in September is you know it will be dark whereas if you tried it earlier in the summer you’d barely need the floodlights so it would defeat the objective,” Keedy said. “In the subcontinent it’s dark at six so it works brilliantly. If you are playing mid-June in a floodlit game [in England] you could be playing at 9 o’clock and not need the lights.”

Set a demanding target of 361 in a minimum of 76 overs on the last day of this game at Grace Road, Leicestershire fell just 23 runs short

George Dobell at Grace Road27-Aug-2010

ScorecardSometimes the margins between success and failure really are agonisingly small. While history may well remember the summer of 2010 as one of the most miserable in the history of Leicestershire CCC, it could all have been different.Set a demanding target of 361 in a minimum of 76 overs on the last day of this game at Grace Road, Leicestershire fell just 23 runs short. Had they won, it would have been the fourth highest successful run chase in their Championship history and they would have jumped to third in the table.As it is, however, the draw for which they were forced to settle ends any lingering promotion hopes and, realistically, any chance they had of focusing on cricket for the last month of the season. There will be no silver lining for Leicestershire.In the end, Surrey almost stole the win. With Chris Tremlett suddenly transformed into a world-class fast bowler – which is not how he looked for most of the day – Leicestershire lost 5 for 42 in 11 overs of the final session and were left clinging on with eight wickets down.Surrey didn’t really deserve the win. Tremlett’s last spell apart, their bowling was toothless and their fielding quite awful. For young men, the likes of Arun Harinath and Tom Lancefield (‘Lance-can’t-field’ as one comedian in the press box puts it) are remarkably ponderous and unreliable.There were times when some of Surrey’s more senior players could barely conceal their frustration. Still, both sides deserve credit for showing the enterprise to set-up a run chase. While the declaration bowling in the morning was far from pretty, it did allow for a fascinating final couple of sessions.Leicestershire were well on track at one stage, too. A stand of 183 in 36 overs for the fourth wicket between Jacques du Toit and Paul Nixon ensured the run-rate never climbed much above six and, with both men going well, Surrey looked bereft of ideas.Both men scored their first championship centuries of the season. Du Toit, who pulled impressively and drove one straight six off Gareth Batty’s off-spin, started cautiously (his first 50 contained just one boundary and occupied 96 balls) but accelerated smoothly, with his second 50 taking just 46 deliveries. 39-year-old Nixon was less orthodox. Several times he demonstrated his penchant for the reverse-sweep, but he also ran between the wickets superbly and drove nicely. His century contained nine boundaries and occupied 140 balls.Intriguingly, both men are out of contract at the end of this season and far from certain to win new deals. These innings may not make much difference, either. Increasingly it is finance, not cricketing merit, that will govern such issues and, as many players may shortly discover, it will not pay to be out of contract at the end of the next couple of seasons.The loss of du Toit, clipping to mid-wicket, precipitated a decline, however. Tremlett produced yorker after yorker to dry up the scoring and, when Nixon was deceived by Jade Dernbach’s excellent slower ball and dragged it on to his stumps, the chase was over. It was a brave effort from Leicestershire, however. Particularly for a side dismissed as “dreadful” by their own chairman on the first morning of the match.Meanwhile, off the pitch, Leicestershire’s board held an informal meeting on Thursday night to discuss the implications of the players’ letter demanding the resignation of the chairman, Neil Davidson.The board subsequently released a statement which, more or less, said nothing. It read: “An informal meeting of Directors took place on Thursday 26th August to
bring those Directors returning from holiday up to date with recent events at the club. A full Board meeting is scheduled for Friday 3rd September when the Chairman returns from holiday. A statement will be released after that meeting.” Elsewhere, the petitioners calling for a Special General Meeting have written to the club’s president, David Wilson, asking him to intervene in the matter.