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Durham seamer Chris Rushworth has been named the Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Year and hopes further success can push him towards England honours

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-20151:13

Rushworth’s pride at top award

Durham seamer Chris Rushworth has been named the Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Year, and hopes further success can push him towards England honours.Rushworth, 29, claimed 83 wickets at 20.61 in the County Championship, which set a new Durham record, and 100 across all formats. Significantly, 46 of his Championship wickets were taken away from the favourable home conditions of Chester-le-Street.His prolific season follows a 2014 campaign where he bagged 65 wickets in the Championship – during which he went teetotal for the year to raise money for charity – and he hopes that he still has the chance of forcing the selectors’ hand and earning an international call-up.”I am over the moon, it is a massive achievement,” Rushworth said. “To be voted for by fellow players and your peers is a very privileged moment and one I’m very proud of.”Personally this year couldn’t have gone any better, 83 wickets to go past a club record, it’s just a shame we didn’t win anything as a team. Personally, I couldn’t be more pleased and to finish off with this award wraps up a brilliant season.

PCA awards

Reg Hayter Cup for the PCA Player of the Year
Chris Rushworth (Durham)
Overall PCA County MVP
Chris Rushworth
John Arlott Cup for the PCA Young Player of the Year
Tom Curran (Surrey)
Investec Test Player of the Summer
Stuart Broad
Waitrose Women’s Player of the Summer
Anya Shrubsole
PCA Team of the Year
Alastair Cook (capt) (Essex and England)
Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire and England)
Joe Root (Yorkshire and England)
Sam Northeast (Kent)
Luke Wright (Sussex)
Ben Stokes (Durham and England)
Alex Davies (Lancashire)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire and England)
Matt Coles (Kent)
Jeetan Patel (Warwickshire)
Chris Rushworth (Durham)

“For myself this award is massive and the biggest individual award in county cricket. You play against these guys quite a few times a year so to be voted to win this award is a huge achievement and I’m very grateful and proud.”Hopefully it’s the next step to progressing towards further honours. To receive this from guys who have also had fantastic seasons and to pip them to the post is fantastic moment.”The guys that have won it in recent years have gone on to play Test cricket like Adam Lyth, Moeen Ali and Nick Compton, so that is definitely in my sights. Hopefully I have another good season next year and I can put my name in the hat for Test selection.”The Young Player of the Year award went to Tom Curran who claimed 105 wickets across all formats, helping Surrey to promotion in the Championship and the to final of the Royal London Cup. Having been confirmed that his qualification period to become eligible for England is completed at the end of October, Curran has been added to the England Performance Programme Squad for the training camps in South Africa and Dubai.”We have had a great season as a side this year,” Curran said. “Losing in the Royal London Cup final was a huge disappointment but it was still a good achievement and we won the second division of the LV=County Championship which was a special day as well. I’m very pleased for our side and it’s great to be able to contribute to our success.”At the start of the season I was just trying to do the simple things well and then I started taking a few wickets and, as long as the summer is for us cricketers, it has actually gone really quickly and a little surreal if I’m honest.”He also paid tribute to his younger brother, Sam, after the 17-year-old made a considerable impact in his first season. He claimed 22 Championship wickets, 15 in the Royal London Cup and seven in the T20 Blast, while also showing his talent with the bat in almost carrying Surrey to victory in the final at Lord’s and then making an unbeaten 61 in the last Championship match against Northamptonshire.”It has been a very special summer for Sammy as well,” Tom said. “He came in half way through the season when we went down with a couple of injuries and he has shown everyone he has got what it takes. It’s great to be bowling with him and I am so pleased for him this year.”Playing for England would be the ultimate for any young cricketer and that is my goal but I am concentrating on Surrey first and hopefully the rest will take care of itself and I know that is how Sam feels too.”Stuart Broad won the Test Player award after his outstanding Ashes series including the iconic 8 for 15 at Trent Bridge, fellow opening bowler Anya Shrubsole won the Women’s Player of the Year award and Gloucestershire’s Michael Klinger took the double of NatWest T20 Blast and Royal London Player of the Year after his prolific white-ball season.Shrubsole said: “I am absolutely honoured to have won this award and it makes it more special that it is selected by your team-mates, so it is a nice end to what has been a difficult year. Despite not achieving what we wanted as a team, I am pleased with the way I bowled. A special mention must go to Katherine Brunt who was brilliant with bat and ball this summer, she received my vote. It’s nice to do well personally but it was just a shame we didn’t quite regain the Ashes.”Jim Cumbes, the former Lancashire, Surrey, Warwickshire and Worcestershire player and Lancashire chief executive, was given the Special Merit Award to mark his 50 years of service to the game. He was CEO at Old Trafford from 1998 and 2012 and oversaw the major redevelopment of the ground which involved extensive legal battles.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s search for a permanent head coach has attracted five aspirants who have applied for the post, according to the CEO Ashley de Silva.

Sa'adi Thawfeeq17-Oct-2015Sri Lanka Cricket’s search for a permanent head coach has attracted five aspirants who have applied for the post, according to the CEO Ashley de Silva.De Silva confirmed that all five applicants who had sent their CVs by the October 6 deadline were from overseas, but did not disclose their names as the applications had been sent on the trust of anonymity.”These applications will be processed and evaluated at the next interim committee meeting scheduled for October 20,” De Silva said. “We will take the next course of action after that. If we are not satisfied with the applicants, we may have to head hunt for one.”With Sri Lanka’s sports minister announcing that the SLC elections will be held in January, there is the likelihood of a new administration coming into place. However, De Silva assured that whoever is selected would be given a two-year contract with their performance to be reviewed after one year.Jerome Jayaratne, Sri Lanka Cricket’s head of coaching, is currently the interim head coach of the Sri Lanka team for the ongoing home series against West Indies. His appointment came four days after Marvan Atapattu resigned as the national team coach.

West Indies allrounder Kieron Pollard will miss the remainder of Cape Cobras’ Ram Slam T20 Challenge after injuring his right knee during the clash against Knights in Paarl

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Nov-2015West Indies allrounder Kieron Pollard will miss the remainder of Cape Cobras’ Ram Slam T20 Challenge after injuring his right knee during the clash against Knights in Paarl.Pollard picked up the injury while turning quickly to field a ball, but despite experiencing discomfort, he returned to bat in the second innings, hammering 23 off 12 balls to power his team to a four-wicket win. A CSA release later confirmed that Pollard will return to the Caribbean on Wednesday for treatment.”We are severely disappointed about the loss of a stalwart like Kieron,” Paul Adams, Cobras’ coach, said. “Kieron has given his all. The fact that he went out to bat after he got injured, underlines his dedication and commitment to the team. He has been an inspiration to the whole squad.”Pollard was named the Ram Slam T20 Challenge player of the year during the 2014-15 season, as he ended the tournament with 14 wickets and 243 runs from 11 matches, helping Cobras to the title.The news also came as a blow to the Adelaide Strikers, who confirmed that Pollard was ruled out of the upcoming Big Bash League season, scheduled to begin next month. The Strikers, who announced the signing of England legspinner Adil Rashid last week, will now have to find another international signing to replace Pollard.”This is obviously terrible news and our first concern is that Kieron can make a full recovery from his injury,” Tim Nielsen, the SACA high performance general manager, said. “He’s become a regular at Adelaide Oval and I’m sure both our fans and players will be devastated not to see him in Strikers’ colours.”Kieron is a unique player because he has all-round ability as a batsman, bowler and fielder, so it’s going to be difficult to replace him but we’re investigating all options and will try to find the best fit for the team. Our first match against the Melbourne Stars is less than four weeks away now, so there’s a lot of work to do but we’re confident we can find a suitable replacement.”

M Vijay was fined 30% of his match fee for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision on the third day of the Feroz Shah Kotla Test

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2015M Vijay was fined 30% of his match fee for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision on the third day of the fourth Test against South Africa at the Feroz Shah Kotla.Vijay, who tried to evade a bouncer from Morne Morkel, was given out caught behind by Kumar Dharmasena. Vijay gestured that he was hit on the arm guard as he walked off. His actions amounted to breaching Article 2.1.5 of the ICC code of conduct, which relates to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during an international match”.The charge was levelled by Dharmasena and Bruce Oxenford, the onfield umpires, and CK Nandan, the third umpire.All level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50% of a player’s match fee.

Mashrafe Mortaza has conceded that Bangladesh’s effort was scratchy, but said that his side will draw confidence from sealing their second-highest chase in T20s

Mohammad Isam in Khulna15-Jan-2016Mashrafe Mortaza has conceded that Bangladesh’s effort was scratchy, but said that his side will draw confidence from sealing their second-highest chase in T20s. Despite some hiccups, Bangladesh reached the target of 164 in 18.4 overs, after having overhauled West Indies’ 164 in the World T20 in 2007.”We were not up to the mark,” Mashrafe said. “We had that early run-out [of Soumya Sarkar] and if Mushfiqur [Rahim] or Sabbir [Rahman] didn’t get out at those points, we could have finished it in 17-18 overs. But good thing was that we didn’t panic at any stage, which we used to do in the past.”It is helpful to play in such wickets though I thought it was a scratchy performance. I think chasing this big total will give us more confidence. It is one of our biggest successful chases in T20s so the win is quite a relief. It wasn’t easy chasing 165 so I hope we can hold on to this effort.”Mashrafe was also pleased with the performances of Al-Amin Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman. They shared four wickets and gave away only 10 runs in the last two overs of the first innings. Zimbabwe were given a strong platform for a final push by a 101-run opening partnership between Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda, but Al-Amin and Mustafizur pegged the visitors back.”Al-Amin was our best T20 bowler before his action was reported,” Mashrafe said. He is one of our best death bowlers. I have been saying that Mustafizur is unplayable. I think we have good balance at the death with Shakib and myself also there.”Mashrafe also said that he made a mistake by not using debutant Shuvagata Hom in the middle overs. Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman bowled four overs during that period while conceding 36 runs. Shuvagata was then sent into bat at No.4, ahead of Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan, but managed only six runs.”He is playing as a bowling allrounder. I could have brought him on instead of Mahmudullah or Sabbir. I sent him to bat at No 4 because I wanted to see him bat in these situations,” Mashrafe said.

A round-up of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy games played on January 18, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Deepak Hooda’s 35-ball 53 kept Baroda’s chase on track until the 17th over•ICC

Baroda survived three wickets in the penultimate over of their chase and managed to knock Mumbai out with a slender one-wicket win to book a final berth with a marginally better net run rate. Baroda’s pursuit of 152 was led by Deepak Hooda’s 35-ball 53 until the 17th over before Sagar Trivedi struck twice in the 19th over, which was followed by a run-out, and Bhargav Bhatt eventually sealed it with a four on his first ball. Baroda, level with Mumbai on points after the win, ended with a run rate of 0.299 compared to Mumbai’s 0.196.Dhawal Kulkarni dismissed Kedar Devdhar on the first ball of Baroda’s chase and Pravin Tambe got rid of Mrunal Devdhar (18) and Hardik Pandya (28) before they could capitalise on their quick starts. Hooda’s fifty steered them well past 100 with the help of five fours and a six before Yusuf Pathan (1) and Hooda fell within six balls and Baroda were 126 for 6, still needing 26 from 23 balls. Pinal Shah struck two fours to bring it down to a comfortable nine runs from the last two overs, but Trivedi’s double blow made it a tense chase again. He struck twice in three balls and Rishi Arothe was run-out on his first ball, to make the score 149 for 9, but Bhatt finished things off with six balls to spare.Earlier, Mumbai were put in to bat and saw low scores from their top-order batsmen, except Shashank Singh’s 23-ball 25. Shreyas Iyer, Aditya Tare and Siddhesh Lad could score only 20 runs together and they were reeling at 49 for 4 after Bhatt removed Shashank and Lad on consecutive deliveries, before the middle and lower order came to the rescue. Suryakumar Yadav (57*) first put on 47 runs in six overs with Abhishek Nayar, and then another 55 runs in under six overs with Shivam Dubey to help them put on a respectable score, but it didn’t prove to be enough.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh will face Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final after completing their eighth win on the trot, by beating Delhi by three wickets at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai.Chasing 159, UP were reduced to 68 for 5 in the 11th over with twin-strikes from medium-pacer Navdeep Saini. Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma got the important wicket of Suresh Raina in the seventh over, for 22, after the batsman had struck four fours. Eklavya Dwivedi then took control of the chase with an unbeaten 49 from 35. He partnered with Praveen Kumar (18 off 13) to add 40 runs for the seventh wicket, after which he shared an unbroken 31-run stand with Amit Mishra (19 off nine) to take UP home with two balls to spare. Dwivedi smacked five fours and two sixes during his knock.Put in to bat, Delhi were hauled to 158 for 6 by opener Unmukt Chand’s 35-ball 48 and No. 7 Pawan Negi’s unbeaten 41 from 23. Delhi were 95 for 5 in the 14th over after their top and middle order was dented mainly by the spinners. Medium-pacer Amit Mishra removed Gautam Gambhir for 13 and Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav took two each before Mishra also dismissed Chand in the 12th over, and soon Delhi were 105 for 6 in the 15th over. But Negi’s late surge lifted them in the death overs. He paired with Manan Sharma to add an unbeaten 53 in the last 5.1 overs to take them past 150.
ScorecardJharkhand slumped to their third straight loss as Gujarat strolled to a six-wicket win, hunting down the target of 143 with 35 balls to spare, in Mumbai. Gujarat chose to bowl, and their bowlers gained the ascendancy with early wickets. Jharkhand lost three wickets and struggled to find the boundaries in the first 10 overs, which yielded 52 runs.However, the middle order – Saurabh Tiwary (22), Ishank Jaggi (39) and Kumar Deobrat (21) – provided the required acceleration with brisk cameos. The last 10 overs produced 90 runs as Jharkhand finished with 142 for 6. Rush Kalaria picked up two wickets while RP Singh produced figures of 1 for 20 in his four overs.In the chase, openers Parthiv Patel and Priyank Kirit Panchal got quickly into their stride. The pair added 26 in 18 balls before Parthiv was bowled off the bowling of Vikash Singh. Manpreet Juneja and Panchal then combined for a 58-run stand, before both fell in quick succession.However, Gujarat’s middle order’s quickfire contributions – all struck at a strike rate of over 200 – helped them romp to the target in 14.1 overs. Kaushal Singh claimed two scalps, but all the Jharkhand bowlers lacked economy.

Bangladesh held their collective nerve against Pakistan, as Mahmudullah’s cameo secured a five-wicket win and a place in the Asia Cup final

The Report by Mohammad Isam02-Mar-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:29

Bazid Khan: Sharjeel, Hafeez never deliver when it matters

Those who watch cricket regularly will tell you that in a tight contest, the winning side will always show some signs of their impending triumph. Mahmudullah’s upright blast over extra cover at the start of the 17th over can only be described as the shot of the tournament so far. In a tight chase of 130 against Pakistan, it was only fair that Mahmudullah struck the blow that took Bangladesh to the Asia Cup final.Despite Shakib Al Hasan’s brain freeze to Mohammad Amir in the 18th over, Mashrafe Mortaza struck two heroic fours immediately after to ease Bangladesh’s nerves. Then, in a manic 19th over bowled by Mohammad Sami which included two no balls, Mahmudullah’s squeezed boundary past point all but sealed victory for the hosts. Once Mahmudullah duly knocked off the winning runs with a slog past midwicket, he and Mashrafe wheeled away in wild celebration, nearly ramming into their on-rushing team-mates.Mahmudullah’s unbeaten 15-ball 22 was perhaps the most important innings of his career, particularly because he was at the crease in the last over of the 2012 Asia Cup final, when Bangladesh fell short by two runs against Pakistan. This game went into the last over too, but mostly because Bangladesh lost wickets at crucial stages and were trying their best not to crumble to Amir. The other Pakistan bowlers were all shoddy, and they were not helped by the team’s very poor effort in the field.Still, it was Bangladesh who were pegged back early in their 130-run chase. Tamim Iqbal was the first to go as a rare leg-before victim of Mohammad Irfan, who brought the ball into the batsman and hit the striding front pad half-way up. Luckily, Soumya Sarkar found Sabbir Rahman willing to stick around to weather the initial Amir storm. After the pair had safely negotiated those two overs, they looked for runs off the other bowlers. Soumya managed to hit Amir for an elegant four through midwicket, while Sabbir’s only boundary in his 15-ball 14 also came through a roll of the wrist, through fine-leg.Sabbir fell to Shahid Afridi in the ninth over, missing a charge completely to be bowled. Soumya survived a few close calls with miscued hits dropping short on a number of occasions, but he was generally hitting them well on the leg-side. Mushfiqur Rahim was also lucky to survive a close leg-before appeal to Afridi before Amir and Malik brought Pakistan into the game in the space of eight deliveries in the 13th and 14th overs.Having been brought back for a single over as his second spell, Amir yorked Soumya by clattering into his leg-stump. Soumya had made a run-a-ball 48 that had five fours and the pumped six into the midwicket stands, but when he got out, Bangladesh needed 47 off 40 balls.There was much expected from the experienced duo of Mushfiqur and Shakib at that stage, but Mushfiqur was given out leg-before trying to reverse-sweep Malik in the over after Soumya got out.Taskin Ahmed and Al-Amin Hossain were Bangladesh’s best bowlers, stepping up in the absence of Mustafizur Rahman, who was ruled out through a right side strain. Taskin bowled his first maiden over in his T20I career in a first-spell that saw him give away just one run. His second spell produced the wicket of Umar Akmal; he finished with figures of 4-1-14-1. Al-Amin bowled two tight overs at the top, giving away just nine runs before returning in the last four overs to give away four and 12, as Bangladesh decently closed out the Pakistan innings for 129 for 7.Pakistan’s innings followed the same pattern of their previous games, losing three early wickets. Khurram Manzoor sent to open the batting, played out the first over and then got out for one off the first ball of the second, an Al-Amin delivery that jumped on him outside off-stump. It was the third time in the four Asia Cup matches that Al-Amin had taken a wicket in his first spell. Sharjeel Khan was bowled after missing a slog off Arafat Sunny in the fourth over, after he had faced just eight balls till that point, hitting a four and six.Mohammad Hafeez was unlucky when he was given out leg-before by umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge when even on the first view, it looked as if the Mashrafe Mortaza delivery was climbing. Replays confirmed that it was yet another erroneous decision by an umpire in the Asia Cup. When Taskin removed Akmal in his second spell, Pakistan ended with the lowest score – 34 for 4 – in the first ten overs against Bangladesh.Sarfraz Ahmed and Malik then joined hands for a fifth-wicket partnership. Malik struck Shakib for a six that was as straight as an arrow, and also found three fours on the off-side as well as one that was tickled past long-leg. Sarfraz got both his sixes with swings to midwicket, and tucked into fours through covers, midwicket, and mid-on.Malik was in the groove when he mistimed Sunny to the deep midwicket boundary for 41 off 30 balls. Soon, Sarfraz reached his second T20I fifty with an inside-out blast over cover in the penultimate over.But it was Mahmudullah’s inside-out blast over the covers that would be the most memorable moment of the game, as Bangladesh got themselves to the final of a tournament that they were fearing a bit more than the World T20 itself.

A last-minute captaincy switch, late changes to the squad, top-order exodus and doubts over Lasith Malinga’s fitness have all left Sri Lanka in disarray, heading in to their World T20 defence

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Mar-20164:27

Arnold: SL bowlers skillful, but need confidence

Big picture

After arriving in India, Angelo Mathews had said he hadn’t been prepared to take up the captaincy, but as a senior, he mused, “How can [he] say no?” It is a strange situation. Sri Lanka have chosen their leader for the defence of a major international trophy the same way most people would nominate a sober driver for a night out. Expectations are also suitably low. Mathews may have taken plenty of chases home safely in the past, but this time it’s believed someone slicker will pick up the trophy.If T20 is the format of helter-skelter mayhem, then Sri Lanka’s approach to the tournament has set the standard. In eight matches played against Full Member oppositions this year, Sri Lanka have lost seven, and been captained by three different men. In the 24 hours before the team departed to India, they not only got a new captain and two fresh players, but a whole new selection committee as well (fans, though, might have been more at ease if Kumar Sangakkara had been rather than made a selector). The top order has been a jumble. The bowling spearhead’s joints seem to be in full-scale revolt. And Tillakaratne Dilshan may have gone overboard with his hair dye – though, you have to admit, it will go nicely with the new team kit’s warm colour palette.The outlook, however, is not totally hopeless. If Lasith Malinga can somehow recover in time to be a force in the campaign, Sri Lanka will still have the attack that was the bedrock of their T20 wonder years. Rangana Herath makes slow-motion dives in the outfield, but, on a good day, may still set rapid collapses in motion as well. Nuwan Kulasekara has lost his big inswinger, which is a bit like Coke not making their cola. Yet he is still gleaning profit from slower balls, yorkers and the away-seamer. They also have new kid Dushmantha Chameera. He may be built like the poles he is trying to knock over, but plenty of top batsmen have found out in recent months that his bouncer doesn’t mess around.Sri Lanka will also be hoping to rediscover that big-tournament mojo that spurred so many of their campaigns between 2007 and 2014. It would be fair to say that Sri Lanka have been the most dominant World T20 side, over the tournament’s five iterations. This time, though, they are grappling with a top-order exodus and a propensity to crumble to defeat from strong positions. They will need to spring a surprise to get to the semi-finals. A tournament triumph may require a string of small miracles – the first of which would ideally be performed on Malinga’s left knee.

At the helm

Because being the most accomplished batsman and opening the bowling are not big enough jobs, Angelo Mathews has been given the captaincy as well. Among Sri Lanka’s concerns though, is his recent batting form. He had hit 81 not out against New Zealand in January, but was quiet through the Asia Cup. If he can return to his best in this tournament, Sri Lanka’s middle order may become formidable again.On the strategy front, Mathews’ conservatism has played a role in matches slipping away from Sri Lanka. Perhaps this is something that can be addressed by new coach Graham Ford – in whose first tenure Sri Lanka had played dynamic, attractive cricket.

Key stat

4
This is the number of T20Is Sri Lanka have won since the 2014 World T20 final, losing 10 in the same period. By comparison, in the two years up to that final, Sri Lanka had won 19 T20Is and lost just eight. It has been a dramatic slide.

Leading men

Dinesh Chandimal had lost his place in the team during the last World T20, but is among the few players stringing together good performances ahead of this tournament. He does have his critics. Chandimal is aggressive in the longer formats, but is the kind of batsman who needs a few quiet overs in the middle before the boundaries flow. As such, there were questions as to why he would open the innings in T20s, but he helped alleviate those concerns with scores of 50, 37 and 58 in the Asia Cup. His glovework is on a steady incline as well, though sadly his appeals haven’t been as watchable recently.T20 is not a format made for Rangana Herath. Arguably, cricket was not a pursuit made for him either. Yet, through sheer power of will, he has excelled at both. Last time, in Bangladesh, Herath delivered arguably the greatest T20 spell so far. Though his limited-overs hauls have not been so dramatic in the years since, he has nevertheless been effective through the middle overs. Look for bowling figures like 1 for 21, or 0 for 18, and know that “Rangana was here”.Angelo Mathews will have to juggle multiple responsibilities as Sri Lanka look to regroup•AFP

Burning question

There are many questions this team needs to answer and almost all of them are burning. Let’s pick a few out of the inferno:Can Thisara Perera come good with bat or ball? In recent months, he has often been out cheaply, before delivering expensive overs.Is Tillakaratne Dilshan too slow at the top of the order now? His wiles have certainly grown sharper as his reactions have slowed, but those breakneck starts are becoming more infrequent.Can Sachithra Senanayake be a reliable second spinner? A pre-remodeled Senanayake was instrumental to Sri Lanka’s 2014 triumph, but how will the straight arm go this time? If pitches wear towards the end of the tournament again, Sri Lanka will need him to play a big role.Can the team cover for the lack of fielding quality from the big bellied? Herath and Malinga are vital to the attack, but may get around the field quicker if they rolled around horizontally.How can Dushmantha Chameera be used effectively? He has shown himself to be a wicket-taking bowler, but occasionally Sri Lanka have looked to him to contain.

World T20 history

Despite the bleak outlook this year, Sri Lanka have had a knack of getting their act together when the tournament starts. They didn’t make huge waves in the 2007 edition, but have made the semi-finals in each of the four World T20s since then, and been finalists in three of those. Unsurprisingly, the tournament’s highest scorer (Mahela Jayawardene) and highest wicket-taker (Malinga) are Sri Lankan.

In their own words

“We found it really hard to even compete in the Asia Cup sometimes, and that is the truth we admitted. We didn’t play good enough cricket to get to the finals. But this is a fresh tournament for us. We have learnt so many things from the Asia Cup and we will take that experience going forward.”
– Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews

An extraordinary day’s cricket saw 21 wickets fall and Leicestershire, having declined to enforce the follow-on, close with a lead of 313 with four wickets remaining in their second innings

ECB Reporters Network09-May-2016
ScorecardBen Sanderson gave Northamptonshire a boost•Getty Images

An extraordinary day’s cricket saw 21 wickets fall and Leicestershire, having declined to enforce the follow-on, close with a lead of 313 with four wickets remaining in their second innings.Captain Mark Cosgrove’s decision not to ask the visitors to bat again surprised many after the Leicestershire seamers occupied only 46.3 overs in dismissing Northants for 151. But Cosgrove felt the pitch – quick, with some nip in it for the seamers, but no minefield – might deteriorate sufficiently to make batting last a difficult prospect, however small the target.”With the pitch nipping around, and the occasional ball starting to keep low, making it tough to bat last, I felt it was more valuable to have the runs on the board,” said Cosgrove. “We’re 300 ahead, which is a good position to be in, hopefully we can get another hundred and get bowling at them again. The pitch isn’t a minefield, but if you keep putting the ball in the right area you’ll get enough chances to win the game.”Northants opener Jake Libby  said they were not surprised not to be batting again.”We thought we’d be back in the field, because of the amount of time left in the game and I guess their theory is the wicket is going to go a bit up and down.”There’s always going to be enough in the pitch to keep the bowlers interested, but there’s pace too, the ball comes on to the bat nicely, so you can get your runs too. We feel we’ve clawed our way back into the game, and if we can take their last four wickets quickly tomorrow, anything is possible.”Northants had begun the day well, picking up Leicestershire’s five remaining first innings wickets for just 21 runs, with Olly Stone and Ben Sanderson benefitting from bowling line and length, something the visitors signally failed to do on the first day of the game.Leicestershire’s bowlers picked up where their opponents left off, taking three wickets before lunch. Ben Duckett went leg before to Ben Raine, hit in front by a delivery that swung back in to the in-form left hander. Alex Wakely never looked comfortable before losing his off stump to the same bowler, but Libby had been batting well when he was unluckily caught down the leg side on 32 by wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien in Wayne White’s first over.The afternoon session was a procession. Northants quickly lost Josh Cobb who, having looked in good form, threw the bat at a wide delivery from Clint McKay and edged a catch behind. Richard Levi had struggled to 19, made from 61 balls, when he too fell to a wide delivery, edging Neil Dexter’s loosener to O’Brien.Dexter’s relatively gentle medium pace continued to prove effective as two balls later, Steven Crook pushed hard-handed at a straight delivery and edged to gully. Rory Kleinveldt also came and went  in short order, edging a Dexter out-swinger to first slip.Stone was bowled by a White delivery which stayed low, and Azharullah and Sanderson also fell to the allrounder, the former caught at first slip, the latter leg before.Leicestershire’s second innings batting proved equally fragile. Horton may have been a touch unfortunate to be given leg before to Kleinveldt, the ball striking the pad well above the knee roll, but Dexter was comprehensively bowled by Stone.Sanderson, formerly of Yorkshire before a four-year spell out of the first-class game, then picked up three quick wickets, including that of Cosgrove leg before with a delivery which stayed low, before O’Brien and Aadil Ali took the lead past 300 with a stand of 53 for the sixth wicket.Even then there was to be drama, with Ali edging the last ball of the day from Sanderson to wicketkeeper Adam Rossington.

Despite Royal Challengers Bangalore losing their sixth game of the season, batsman KL Rahul has said the team was peaking as the 2016 IPL approached its business end

Deivarayan Muthu in Bangalore12-May-20161:22

Road ahead for us is very clear – Rahul

Despite Royal Challengers Bangalore losing their sixth game of the season, and needing to win their remaining four to possibly make the playoffs, batsman KL Rahul has said the team was peaking as the 2016 IPL approached its business end. RCB were sixth in the standings after their six-wicket defeat to Mumbai Indians at home on Wednesday.”The plans are clear, we need to win all our games,” Rahul said. “I honestly believe that the team is peaking – the batting has come together, we’re fielding well, we’re taking some good catches, the bowling is getting better and better with each game. We need to win four out of four. We’re going to go out there and play fearless cricket.”Rahul was pushed down the order against Mumbai, in spite of enjoying success as an opener in previous games, to accommodate the returning Chris Gayle, who was out for 5. Gayle has been dismissed for less than ten in all seven innings since his century against England in the World T20, but Rahul urged support for the West Indies batsman.”Chris is dangerous up the order and we all know if he fires he can get us to 200-250 on any wicket, on any ground,” Rahul said. “You back a guy like Chris Gayle to go out there and give his best for the team. You can’t always expect him to deliver; sometimes it doesn’t happen.”The ball did not come onto the bat on Wednesday night, as it usually does at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, forcing the batsmen to manufacture shots. After Virat Kohli stabbed Mitchell McClenaghan to fly slip and Gayle toe-ended Tim Southee to mid-off, left-arm spinning allrounder Krunal Pandya suffocated RCB further with the joint-second best spell – in terms of economy (3.75) – by a spinner bowling a full quota at this venue.”After losing Virat and Chris early, we had to obviously change plans,” Rahul said. “The wicket was sticky, it was a bit damp, and it wasn’t easy to start hitting the ball right away. That’s what me and AB discussed – to take our time initially and if we batted out ten overs, then we could look at a target after that.”Rahul had come in to bat at the fall of Gayle’s wicket in the fourth over and went on to make his fourth half-century – and best score – of the season: 68 off 53 balls. He and de Villiers added 43 in 6.3 overs for the third wicket before Krunal dismissed de Villiers for 24 off 27 balls. Rahul also overcame an ankle niggle to ramp up the pace in the end overs, leading RCB to 151, which he thought was an “ideal score”.”After the loss of the first two wickets, we decided to get around 140-150, which was an ideal score,” Rahul said. “150 was what we discussed during the strategic time-out. We were happy with what we got. In the second innings it got easier to bat.”Mumbai’s chase boiled down to them needing 55 off the last five overs and then they lost Ambati Rayudu for 44 off 47 balls. Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler, however, ran down the target with eight balls to spare.The RCB captain Virat Kohli, who had been dismissed for his first single-digit score of the season, said his team had been about 20 runs short, and that he would relish the pressure of the remaining matches. “We will literally play knockouts now and I love this situation,” he said.