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The West Indies coach said he was pleased with the day’s proceedings in Bulawayo, despite a dearth of wickets after an early burst

Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo29-Oct-2017West Indies coach Stuart Law praised his seamers for a strong early effort in “arctic conditions” at the start of the second Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. While the mercury was as high as 38 degrees Celsius earlier this week, temperatures plummeted in the days before the game and dropped as low as 13 degrees today.”In these conditions, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, it’s hard work,” Law said. “You’ve got to concentrate. All in all I thought our seamers bowled well up front in arctic conditions.”West Indies’ quicks nipped three of Zimbabwe’s top order out inside the first hour of play, and they might also have removed Hamilton Masakadza early on had it not been for a no-ball from Shannon Gabriel. Law rued the missed opportunity, saying: “We had a wicket off a no-ball which has hurt us. We need to rectify that. We have spoken about it because it has happened quite often. We’ve just got to make sure we don’t do it again.”The error from Gabriel aside, there wasn’t a lot wrong with West Indies’ effort and Law singled out Kemar Roach for particular praise. Roach, who has taken 14 wickets in his last four Tests before this one, removed both Solomon Mire and Brendan Taylor in his opening spell.”He’s leading our attack,” Law said. “He’s our most experienced bowler and has the most wickets as well. He’s had some time out of the game as well, so it’s good to see him back in. He’s bowled superbly for us in England, thought he bowled well in the first Test and exceptionally well again this morning.”In conditions suited to spin bowling, it was thought that Devendra Bishoo would also prove a handful for Zimbabwe, especially after his nine-wicket haul in the first Test. He struggled in the cold, however, and went wicketless on the first day despite the turn on offer. “Bishoo struggled to get his hands warm so it didn’t quite come out for him,” Law explained. “The wicket is spinning square before lunch on day one again. It’s probably not an ideal five-day wicket, but it is what it is.”With Gabriel nursing what appeared to be some tightness in his hamstring, and Jason Holder also leaving the field during the day, West Indies turned to some of their part-time bowlers. Jermaine Blackwood came on as first change, while Roston Chase’s offspinners were used far more extensively than they had been in the first innings of the first Test.”The wickets aren’t going to be anywhere near conducive to seam bowling, so we’ve got to keep our seamers fresh,” Law explained. “It’s not about winning the game on day one, there are four more to go. If we blow them out in the first hour and a half of the first day we’re not going to set ourselves up well. Using Jermaine Blackwood for a period of time, although not the way I would have gone, he came on and did a good job. Went for eight runs off four overs, couple of plays and misses.”There was little further joy for West Indies after their early breakthroughs, with Hamilton Masakadza and PJ Moor putting on 142 for the fourth wicket, but Law remained hopeful that West Indies could reassert themselves on day two.”Take nothing away from Hamilton and Pete Moor, they dug in and put up a good partnership. They had a bit of luck – Hamilton with the no-ball – but he’s certainly played well. He hits the ball well and on wickets like these he’s tough to contain as well. We know that at times there are going to be partnerships, we’ve just got to hang in and get a wicket. We saw in the first Test that if you get one or two you can start a rot. Fingers crossed we can start one tomorrow.”

India completed a 2-1 T20I series win after their bowlers defended 67 in a decider shortened by rain to eight overs a side

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy07-Nov-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:47

Harris: Rohit’s catch won India the game

Just over a week ago, Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah were India’s bowling heroes in a gripping, high-scoring ODI series decider in Kanpur. On Tuesday they combined to deny New Zealand once again, this time in an eight-overs-a-side dogfight on a damp, grippy surface in a rain-shortened maiden international game at the Greenfield Stadium.Sent in to bat, India struggled to force the pace against square turn from Mitchell Santner and canny changes of pace from Tim Southee and Trent Boult. Virat Kohli got off to a bright start, clattering Ish Sodhi for four and six off his first two balls, but holed out on 13, and the rest of the batsmen couldn’t quite find their timing on a difficult surface.If the conditions and the bowling weren’t hard enough to contend with, they also ran into Santner who had a storming day in the field. He took two good catches to send back the openers off successive balls, and later pulled off a spectacular assist to remove top-scorer Manish Pandey, sprinting from long-on, throwing himself to his right, plucking the ball out of mid-air and flicking it to Colin de Grandhomme coming the other way from deep midwicket.All this left New Zealand 68 to win their first proper series, in any format, in India, and Chahal and Bumrah led the defence with combined figures of 4-0-17-2. New Zealand scored 44 off their other four overs, but it wasn’t quite enough.Colin Munro began the chase ominously, stepping out to the first ball he faced and launching Bhuvneshwar Kumar over the midwicket boundary. Bhuvneshwar pulled things back through the rest of the over with a succession of knuckle balls, the last of them sneaking past Martin Guptill’s slog and rattling his off stump, and New Zealand were 8 for 1.Munro’s power made him a key wicket for India, and Bumrah prised him out with three excellent balls – all of them hitting the deck just short of a good length and forcing the left-hander to hit against the right-arm-over angle. Two dots forced Munro to charge out, Bumrah saw him coming and shortened his length, and his cross-bat heave skewed over mid-on, from where Rohit Sharma sprinted to complete a tumbling stunner. Only three came off that over.Chahal, relishing the grip and turn on offer, kept the ball wide of off stump to both right- and left-hander, and didn’t concede a single boundary in his two overs. Every second ball he bowled was a dot, and this was especially commendable given the pressure he bowled in.Colin de Grandhomme had just launched Kuldeep Yadav for a flat six over long-on – perhaps the cleanest hit of the night – when Chahal came on to bowl the sixth over with New Zealand needing 32 off the last three. He beat the bat with his first two balls to de Grandhomme, both on a length too short to hit down the ground but not short enough to hit square, both pitching outside off and making him reach, one a slider and one a ripping legbreak.India used Bumrah in the penultimate over, and even though it wasn’t his best over – it included a wide, a succession of byes, and a full-toss flicked for four by Tom Bruce – it still only cost 10 runs, and left New Zealand 19 to get off the last six balls.Kohli went for Hardik Pandya rather than Kuldeep, and the allrounder closed it out, though not without a couple of alarms. De Grandhomme stung Pandya’s left hand with a powerful straight hit, and next ball clubbed a slower one over the square leg boundary to bring the equation down to 14 off three. A wide next ball made it 13 off three, but Pandya pulled himself together and found the lengths to deny de Grandhomme and Santner any more big hits.

WAPDA made it two wins in two in the Super Eight stage of the QeA to put one foot in the final

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2017WAPDA sitting prettySalman Butt’s Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) are in prime position to reach the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final, becoming the only side in the competition to win both Super Eight games, and opening up a ten-point lead in their group. Batting first against United Bank Limited (UBL), they posted 243 and conceded a 32-run lead to UBL, for whom Mohammad Nawaz, who has had an indifferent tournament with both bat and ball, marked a return to form with 88, while Umar Siddiq score 67.Butt took charge in the second innings, top-scoring with 66, but lack of support from his teammates meant WAPDA could only set UBL 189 to chase. As it turned out, that was more than enough for the WAPDA bowlers, particularly Waqas Maqsood and Zahid Mansoor, who took four wickets each as HBL succumbed for 131, virtually guaranteeing their opponents a final berth.Runfest or bowlers’ paradise?The game of the round took place between a Mohammad Hafeez-led SNGPL and Usman Salahuddin’s Lahore Whites. SNGPL scored a near-impregnable 411 in their first innings, thanks to a century from Khurram Shehzad, with Iftikhar Ahmed posting 87 and Asad Shafiq chipping in with 59. Lahore Whites responded relatively solidly, an unbeaten 96 from Mohammad Mohsin and half-centuries from captain Salahuddin and Hamza Akbar helping them to 344.Trailing by 67, the Whites needed to dismiss their opponents quickly. Their bowlers seemed well aware of what was required, taking just 36 overs to send SNGPL packing for 93, 39 unbeaten runs coming from Hussain Talat. A target of 161 gave the Whites a shot, but their batsmen, too, looked to have caught the bug afflicting SNGPL. It took just 29 overs for SNGPL to skittle them out for 88, with Mohammad Abbas taking five wickets to put his side two points clear at the top of Group 1.HBL cruiseSalman Afridi carried his bat in the first innings for Habib Bank Limited (HBL) to set up a comfortable seven-wicket win. HBL scored 252, before their bowlers blew away Lahore Blues for 68, Umar Gul taking five wickets and forcing Saad Nasim’s side to follow on. They did put on a vastly improved show in the second innings, Nasim himself top-scoring with 60, but the damage had already been done. They could only set HBL 93 to win, which they achieved comfortably for the loss of three wickets to leapfrog the Blues to second position in the table.Fawad watch Fawad Alam’s side did win by six wickets, but he missed out on the opportunity to bolster his credentials for an international recall, scoring a duck in the first innings. He did hit the winning runs for his side, however, finishing the second innings unbeaten on 19 as SSGC chased down KRL’s target of 182 to keep his side in with an outside chance of qualifying for the final.

All of the left-arm fast bowler’s deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2018The ICC has announced the suspension of Papua New Guinea’s Nosaina Pokana with immediate effect, following an independent assessment that found the left-arm fast bowler’s action to be illegal. The assessment revealed that all of Pokana’s deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations. Pokana was reported during an ODI between PNG and Hong Kong in Dubai on 8 December 2017, and had undergone an independent assessment of his bowling action on 6 January 2018 at the National Cricket Centre, Brisbane.In accordance with Article 6.1 of the ICC Illegal Bowling Regulations, Pokana’s international suspension will also be recognised and enforced by all National Cricket Federations for domestic cricket events played under their jurisdiction.Pokana can apply for a re-assessment after modifying his bowling action.

Cricket West Indies has made a number of changes to the coaching and support staff keeping in mind the World Cup Qualifiers and Women’s World T20 scheduled for later this year

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2018Cricket West Indies has appointed former South African fast bowler Alfonso Thomas as the bowling coach of the senior men’s team. The board made a number of changes to the coaching and support staff for the current squads keeping in mind the World Cup Qualifiers and the Women’s World T20 scheduled for later this year.Former West Indies legspinner Rawl Lewis, who previously worked with the side as team operations manager during their successful World T20 campaign in 2016, was named the team manager.Thomas, who represented South Africa in a sole T20I in 2007, has held specialist roles in Championship cricket in the UK. The former Somerset limited-overs captain, who is ninth on the list of most successful T20 bowlers, has also played in the IPL, BBL and the BPL, with 263 T20 wickets to his name.”We are focused on improving team performance, as well as broadening and deepening the coaching expertise in the region,” CWI director Jimmy Adams said. “We know we’ve got vital games and tournaments this year and we’re confident that these appointments will strengthen the Windies squads for this year and our future plans.”The other new inclusions in head coach Stuart Law’s crop are team physio David Kershaw and strength and conditioning coach Corey Bocking.In relation to specific changes, CWI chief executive Johnny Grave said, “Joel Garner has agreed to become an Ambassador, supporting the fundraising IT20 match at Lord’s at the end of May and helping us launch the Windies Foundation planned for later this year. Ronald Rogers will remain in the region working with Alzarri Joseph on his rehabilitation programme following his stress fracture.”

Jos Buttler top-scored for England in the opening ODI at Seddon Park, but two fumbles behind the stumps aided New Zealand’s path to a final-over victory

Andrew McGlashan in Mount Maunganui26-Feb-2018Jos Buttler top-scored for England in the opening ODI at Seddon Park, but two fumbles behind the stumps aided New Zealand’s path to a final-over victory. Between well-matched sides, Buttler conceded that England need to be better at converting those chances into wickets.Buttler’s first mistake gave Tom Latham a life on 47, a thin edge down the leg side off Adil Rashid, then late in the chase he couldn’t cleanly glove a stumping opportunity that would have dismissed Tim Southee first ball – the delivery after Ross Taylor was stumped – and left Mitchell Santner with the less secure support of Ish Sodhi and Trent Boult to try and secure victory.He also failed to gather a return that would have run out Colin de Grandhomme, but that didn’t prove costly – save for the one extra run – as de Grandhomme fell to Ben Stokes next ball, the moment when the returning allrounder appeared to be winning the match for EnglandButtler, though, wasn’t the only culprit with Jonny Bairstow spilling a chance – albeit a tough one – in the deep off Latham, although again the cost was minimal as Latham fell next over. However, in a game decided with just four balls remaining every run mattered. England’s ground fielding also became a touch ragged during the latter part of the chase, although the dew may have been a factor.”I think we can be sharper in the field,” Buttler said. “I think we were a little bit sloppy for our standards – especially on small grounds like that, defending the boundary and shot-stopping in the ring obviously highlights it because the ball runs away. That’s an area we need to improve. We missed a few chances as well. To try and create wicket-taking opportunities when two good players get in in a partnership in one-day cricket, the half-chances we need to try and take them.”Buttler’s innings – 79 off 65 balls – did not include the late onslaught that is so often a feature of his game, and was witnessed with such impact at Sydney last month. That was largely due to the skill of Southee and Boult in the closing overs, with Buttler saying he felt back to somewhere near his best after a scratchy T20 tri-series.Southee, who Buttler spent two years with at the IPL as part of Mumbai Indians, made smart use of slower deliveries which, coupled with a sluggish pitch, meant the batsman had to do all the work. Southee only erred once to costly effect against Buttler in his final three overs, dragging down the first ball of his last over which was deposited for six, but otherwise didn’t go for more than a single against him at the death.”It’s quite a fun battle having spent a lot of time with someone who knows the strength of your game, but I’ve also tried to read his game and stuff like that,” Buttler said. “But he bowled really well and it’s something I’m very aware of – sides try and take pace off to me.”That’s the name of the limited-overs game: always staying one step ahead.

Alyssa Healy’s maiden international hundred took Australia to their highest score against India ever, and a 3-0 clean sweep in the ODI series

The Report by Annesha Ghosh in Vadodara18-Mar-2018Getty Images

When Australia toured India the last time, in 2012, Meg Lanning’s 128 had hoisted them to their highest total against India of 300 for 7. On Sunday, Alyssa Healy’s 133 – her maiden international century in her 112th innings across formats – bettered that record to 332 for 7 and consigned the hosts to a 97-run defeat.In becoming the first Australia women wicketkeeper to notch up an ODI hundred, Healy’s 115-ball innings helped her side to their third-highest total in the format, the highest ever by a visiting team against India, and contributed to a 3-0 clean sweep. The win also propelled Australia to the top of the ICC rankings in ODIs, superseding England.That Healy and Australia could pummel India after having elected to bat was down to a slew of gaffes from the Indian fielders, including seven dropped chances – six of which were fairly straightforward ones – and a missed stumping. Australia were on 29 for 1 in the eighth over, thanks to Ekta Bisht already having sent back Nicole Bolton, the highest run-scorer of the series, with a plucky return catch, when the sloppiness in the field began.Until then, Shikha Pandey’s figures were 3-0-7-0, and Healy’s score read 13 off 22. But it proved to be the most expensive over of the match, as Lanning caressed a cover drive for four off the first ball, followed by a four and a six from Healy. Pandey’s shot at redemption came off the last ball, with Healy flicking her nonchalantly to deep square leg only to be given a life by Mona Meshram, who was playing her first game of the series, having come in Veda Krishnamurthy. Not only did Meshram let the ball through her hands, but it trickled over the rope for a four.When an encore of the almighty mess occurred in the 20th over, with Meshram parrying a pull off Pooja Vastrakar over the deep-square leg boundary for a six, Healy was on 56 off 53 balls, having brought up her half-century off the 47th ball of her innings.That was India’s third miss, the second being that of Ellyse Perry off Deepti Sharma. Deepti drew Perry out of the crease with a ripping offbreak that took an inside edge before feathering her back pad. The wicketkeeper, Sushma Verma, could neither pouch it nor could catch Perry short of her ground.Amid the multiple let-offs by the hosts, Lanning drove uppishly to Mithali Raj at cover to be dismissed for 19, bringing the 45-run second-wicket stand with Healy to a close, while Perry was caught behind off Pandey for 32. Vice-captain Rachael Haynes then brought up her 1000th ODI run en route to her 39-ball 43, while Beth Mooney chipped in with a 19-ball 34 and Ashleigh Gardner with a 20-ball 35, having been dropped twice – on 11 by Vastrakar and 15 by Sushma – in three balls off Kaur’s third over.Healy upped her scoring rate to capitalise on the reprieves. She notched up her maiden international century off the 94th ball of her innings. In Pandey’s eighth over, she was dropped for a third time by Deepti at extra cover. Her 133 featured 17 fours and two sixes.Even though India had never successfully chased anything beyond 245, their opening stand of 101 in 13.4 overs gave them every bit a chance to improve on the stat. Smriti Mandhana, followed up her fifty from the previous game with a 42-ball 52, partnering teenager Jemimah Rodrigues who made 42 off 41 having got a chance in place of Punam Raut.For all their fluency in strokeplay, it was a thick outside edge from Rodrigues that brought India’s century opening stand. The momentum tilted in favour of Australia for the first time in the chase within the following two balls. Rodrigues was caught off a loopy length delivery, a stunning run-and-dive catch from Haynes at mid-on. Next ball, Mandhana misread the trajectory of a full ball on middle-and-off that pinged her on the front pad.Harmanpreet’s underwhelming run of form this series did not snap; she fell for 25. Haynes then pulled off a second terrific catch, snaffling Raj low at midwicket off Jonassen. The next over, Meshram’s horrid day came to an agonising end as she picked out Nicola Carey for a five-ball one, reducing India to 182 for 5.Deepti Sharma knocked off 36, Sushma Verma smacked three fours and a six, but the pair fell five balls apart as a diving Lanning at extra cover caught Sushma, while Deepti conceded her middle stump to a Perry inswinger. In the same over, the 40th, Perry had Pandey caught behind for a first-ball duck.Bisht, who had wounded her left hand while attempting a return catch off Haynes, retired out and India had folded in 44.4 overs.

The former Australian captain and longtime commentator, has confirmed his retirement from cricket broadcasting after knocking back offers from the Seven and Fox Sports networks

Daniel Brettig15-May-2018Bill Lawry, the former Australian captain and longtime commentator, has confirmed his retirement from cricket broadcasting after knocking back offers from the Seven and Fox Sports networks to cover the game after Channel Nine’s loss of free-to-air television rights after 40 years.Ultimately, it was the connection to Nine that stopped Lawry from going elsewhere to continue as a commentator, where even at the age of 81 he remained one of the most vibrant and compelling of the network’s cricket callers. He leaves behind a legacy of joining Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket revolution, followed by years behind the microphone alongside the likes of Richie Benaud, Tony Greig and Ian Chappell, setting a standard of enthusiasm and showmanship that many have tried unsuccessfully to emulate.”Yes I am [retiring]. I’ve had 40 great years at Channel Nine and been very lucky and I think the time’s just right,” Lawry told . “I think it’s just been such a wonderful journey and I don’t want to spoil a great journey. I’ve seen the best cricketers for the last 40 years, I’ve been through the Packer years, I’ve commentated with guys like Ian Healy and Mark Taylor and all the new boys and it’s just been a wonderful journey I never really expected.”I’ve had a phone call or two, which is fair enough, and I said no because Channel Nine’s been my home, I’ve been very happy there and I think when you’ve had such an enjoyable trip, at 81 years of age I think it’s just the time to call it quits. My wife hasn’t been well for probably five or six years so it was either call it quits or cut it short and Channel Nine have been very good. I certainly have enjoyed the Boxing Day Tests and the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, it’s just a great atmosphere, the best cricketers in the world playing on the two best grounds probably in Australia, and it’s just been a magnificent journey, almost a dream come true.”I think the time Packer called us together way back in 1975-76, I remember Keith Stackpole and I went to the first meeting or two and I said ‘this will only last for a couple of years, let’s enjoy ourselves’, so we were way off the mark there. But I think we’ve seen the change of cricket, from basically being amateurs, I played 17 years of first-class cricket for virtually nothing, which I would’ve done again because I didn’t know anything different. But the modern era brought on by Packer and Richie leading Channel Nine into a new era and all the others popping up, it’s just been a fabulous time.”Lawry said he was saddened for Nine and its employees having lost the rights to cover cricket, with two of three international formats to now go behind Fox Sports’ paywall, while Seven chimes in to cover Test matches and 43 of 59 Big Bash League games. “It was disappointing for all the people who work there because they’ve just been fantastic, from the CEO down to the boy who runs around with the sandwiches,” Lawry said.”It’s just been a great team effort, some wonderful producers and directors and cameramen and guys down in that horrible [outside broadcast] van, freezing cold for six or seven hours getting the best replays in the world, it’s just been a wonderful effort by Channel Nine and everybody involved.”It brought modern cricket into the home, their replays, the third umpires, stump cam and all that rubbish, Greigy and his pitch report way back in the early days sticking a key into the pitch, it just brought people right into their home how Test and one-day cricket’s played and then Twenty20 cricket. Modern-day cricket’s been fantastic I think for all sports – golf’s improved, tennis has improved, and I think it all goes back to Kerry Packer throwing a lot of money at a project he wanted to win.”Getty Images

Recalling the early days of the operation, Lawry said he was intimidated by the likes of Benaud and Fred Trueman in commentary, but appreciated the strong guiding hands provided by Packer and his first producer, David Hill.”It was a nervous time. When Keith Stackpole and I fronted up to the commentary box for the first game and it was Richie Benaud and Freddie Trueman, we sat in the back of the box and listened to Richie, who’d been 11 or 12 years at the [BBC] so he was an experienced campaigner, and Freddie Trueman was a great storyteller,” Lawry said. “I looked at Stacky and said ‘we can’t do this’, but we did and we really enjoyed every minute of it, the best seat in the house to watch the best cricketers.”I think the success of World Series Cricket was purely due to the quality of the cricketers, the World XI, a great West Indian team and Ian Chappell mustering an Australian team and the good coverage. The highlight was being part of a team that Richie led. It was new territory for everybody, Richie was the key to it all and so calm and collected and then we had guys like Greigy and Ian Chappell coming in after the two years of playing and we’ve had all the visitors, the Ian Bothams and Michael Vaughan last year, Michael Holding and all the wonderful West Indian cricketers who’ve come on as commentators.”I’ve had the best seat in the house watching the best cricketers. The modern cricketer has been fantastic – who can forget Dennis Lillee or Viv Richards, all the wonderful moments we’ve had. When you look around the box and you see all the greats, Michael Clarke’s come in, Mark Taylor’s come in, probably one of the best captains we’ve had, Ian Chappell and Greigy came in and they weren’t great friends early on, so that was interesting watching two opponents who competed very hard. I remember one day at Football Park one evening, the great Barry Richards came in and he was as white as a sheet, I said ‘what’s wrong Barry’ and he said ‘it’s murder out there’, the pitch was a little bit underdone and Lillee and these guys were giving him a working over so the cricket was fantastic.”Reflecting on Packer, Lawry said one of his key pieces of advice was to ensure that the audience was always the focus, the better to avoid self-indulgence or going over the heads of the broad cross-section of the Australian community who repeatedly tuned in. “The most important people were our audience, we weren’t very important,” he said. “Kerry made that clear very early on, he said ‘you guys might’ve played Test cricket and think you’re good, but 80% of our audience don’t really understand the game of cricket because it’s a complicated game’ and he was completely right.”As for the future, Lawry said he looked forward to being a guest at the Australian Open tennis tournament, which Nine will now cover instead of the cricket, and doubted others would imitate his memorably excited calls of the fall of a wicket. “I’ll probably yell ‘he’s got him’ but so will somebody else, I might register that call!” he said. “I can’t imagine Ricky Ponting yelling ‘he’s got him’, he’s probably yelling ‘that’s 5 to 2 the favourite’ I reckon.”

Harmanpreet Kaur’s three-for and a 17-ball 27 leads Thailand’s rout

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jun-2018
ScorecardHarmanpreet Kaur plays a glance down the leg side•Getty Images

India rested Mithali Raj, their highest run-scorer from Sunday, experimented with their batting order and yet walked away comfortable winners. They posted 132 for 4 before Thailand huffed and puffed to 66 for 8 at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur. This was India’s second win in as many matches.Sent in, openers Mona Meshram and Smriti Mandhana put together 53 before being separated in the 10th over. Veda Krishnamurthy’s promotion in a bid to regain form didn’t yield fruit again as she was out for a 14-ball 11. This was only her second double-digit score in eight matches. A 17-ball 27 from Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain, and her 49-stand with Anuja Patil gave them end-overs impetus.In reply, Thailand lost their opener Nattakan Chantam in the fourth over, but the second-wicket pair Naruemol Chawai and Boochatham put up a concerted resistance, but managed just 31 off the next 52 balls. But Thailand went on to lose a wicket each in their next four overs, tottering at 52 for 6 by the 17th.Harmanpreet’s 3 for 11 in three overs, and commendable spells from Deepti Sharma and Poonam Yadav handed India a comprehensive win.

On the pitch Leicestershire are in rude health, threatening to beat Middlesex and lodge their third successive Championship win

David Hopps at Grace Road21-Jun-2018
ScorecardLeicestershire are showing a new lease of life under their effervescent coach, Paul Nixon. He has not been afraid of tough decisions, removing his captain, Michael Carberry, on the grounds of tactical limitations with the Championship season not halfway through. And that after Carberry, a former England batsman, was lured to the club by the chief executive, Wasim Khan, with the promise of the job. Nixon, back at a county where he enjoyed success as a player, clearly is a man with the courage of his convictions.With every day that Carberry remains on leave, “considering his future”, the chance that he will return lessens. It would be no surprise to discover that lawyers are exchanging crisp exchanges about how long a promise of a captaincy applies. The salient fact is that sports teams should be free to change captains as they wish, or the whole game will be much the worse for it. Anyway, mid-season captaincy changes make good pub chat, even if they involve decent professionals.On the pitch Leicestershire are in rude health, threatening to beat Middlesex and lodge their third successive Championship win: quite an upset even considering Middlesex’s strange impotency since relegation.As not so long ago Leicestershire went almost three years without a win, that would be remarkable. Middlesex’s Twitter feed responded by spending more time recording their one-wicket victory in the 2nd XI Cup than it did registering the little matter of their 194-run deficit on first innings at Grace Road. They do have some good youngsters, proof of the excellent groundwork driven by their director of cricket, Angus Fraser.That margin owed much to Colin Ackermann’s career-best 196, Gavin Griffiths’ career-best 40 (he was probably the most excited and said he had “been working on my batting”) and six wickets between them for young pace bowlers Griffiths and Zak Chappell.But even with life returning to county cricket’s quietest ground – where even the Apple Turnovers in The Meet are probably just turning over to go to sleep – problems brew. The minute Leicestershire improve, the bigger clubs are circling.Will Chappell, their little young quick, succumb to the charms of Notts’ coach Peter Moores and tread a path once taken by Stuart Broad? How many counties are telling Ben Raine they will turn him into the next Ben Stokes, give or take a court case? Transfers happen, and Nixon would do well to fight even one of them off, but the county system is in urgent need of either a transfer system or beefed-up compensation. Smaller counties are raided for their best players, which happens, they are poorly rewarded and then people rail that they are “uncompetitive”. Well, there’s a reason for that.Leicestershire’s position could be even stronger: they spurned four catches as Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling shored up Middlesex after they had lost three for 60 in the face of 427. Leicestershire’s new-ball bowling was insistent and the bounce was not always reliable, such as when Mohammad Abbas caught Max Holden lbw on the back foot. As for Sam Robson, his season remains bereft: a chary 15 before he edged Raine to Neil Dexter at third slip.Chappell then jagged one back to splinter Stevie Eskinazi’s middle stump. Kevin Shine, the ECB’s lead bowling coach has warned: “We need to manage expectations around him, be patient and we will have a very exciting cricketer for the future.” And Chappell had a first-class bowling average the wrong side of 50 not so long ago. That will fall, nobody quite knows how rapidly.Stirling, typically bullish, added 80 for the fourth wicket but after reaching his half-century pulled Raine to midwicket. A Chappell bouncer did for Hilton Cartwright, an inswinger from Griffiths trapped John Simpson lbw and Chappell collected two more lbws with consecutive balls to James Harris and Steve Finn.Malan finished unbeaten on 78. Stirling said he “looked brilliant” in making it then suggested that Middlesex, having made only 233 on first innings, had the capacity to overhaul that 194-run deficit. Mathematicians would scoff at the faulty logic, cricketers will warn from experience that anything is possible, but Middlesex – champions one year, relegated the next, and still in the bottom half of the Second Division – have yet to cover themselves in glory in a season that they could never have expected. Funny lot, Middlesex.